BILL'S BIRTHDAY AND CHRISTMAS CARDS

There is a shop in Brunswick, OH, south of Cleveland called Hollo's Papercraft Store. I shopped there when I was making cards with rubber stamps.

This is an Easter card I made using yellow, blue and white paper I bought @ Hollo's.

Hollo's buys paper stock from company's that are going out of business.

They can get the paper (card stock) at a good price and will sell it

at a great price. Card stock was most often $1.00 a pound and there would be 18-21 sheets

in a pound. If you go to the Google and put in Hollo's Papercrafts,  then hit "images" you will see all the card stock they carry - every color of the rainbow, white and colored envelopes, and

envelopes in many sizes. It was a stamper's paradise. "Walk in that door and the feeling

you get is better than an orgasm", said one lady.

The reason for all these words about the Hollo's? This is where Bill gets his card stock and envelopes.

 In fact, I didn't know Bill went to the Hollo's until I had been stamping for several years.

This was taken on a swing in Bill's back yard. Isn't he clever with his photos! and words!!

Bill has a cottage on a river outside Ashtabula, OH. Every fall a group of friends gather for

the Cottage Pumpkinfest to carve pumpkins.

Bill builds T frames and the people dress the T and put a carved pumpkin on top.

This is Santa Pumpkin.

 And.... here is another October Christmas card. These pumpkins were carved by

the guests that attended the Cottage Pumpkinfest.

Notice the red and green and white card stock? Yep, from the Hollo's.

This is a picture of Bill's 5-year birthday party. Bill the the boy at the far right of the 

first row of kids standing up. Such a cutie!

Bill was the Student Director (of the band, I'm guessing) at Ramsay High School

in Mt. Pleasant, PA. He is a senior in this picture.

FRONT OF CARD

This is Bill, wearing the Boy Scout uniform he wore when he was

a Junior in high school. How about that for keeping your figure!

BACK OF CARD

CLEVER!!!

Every year I look forward to May 27th - my birthdate

and Christmas to see what Bill has planned for his greeting.

WHAT IS A BLOG?

I am taking numerous pictures of a jigsaw I am doing. I want to do a blog about my approach to putting
together 1000 pieces of cardboard and coming up with a picture of a big yellow barn. I mentioned this to an acquaintance of mine and she asked me why I would put this in a blog. So I decided to research the word "blog". In my on-line dictionary, the definition for the word blog says -
"A website on which an individual or group of users produces an ongoing narrative". Blogging/blogged is defined as adding/added new material to regularly update a blog. The origin of
"blog" is a shortening of WEBLOG. Get it, a we(b log)??
I then looked for the definition of "log". It is a regular record of incidents or observations. My sister, Susi, once said I didn't keep a diary, I kept a log. She said this because I didn't talk of feelings, emotions, etc. but, instead wrote down what I did from the time I got up until I went to bed at night.
So I looked up the word "diary" and found this - "A farm with cows and milk". Oops, wrong word. " A book where one keeps a record of events and experiences".
Here is an entry from my diary.
January 1, 2014. 30 minutes on the treadmill. supposed to go to marlene's but it is snowing and "when it snow, i don't go". vacuum has been sitting in the bathroom for a week so vaced in there. talked to susi.
listened to evening news. supposed to get more snow. so pretty out. watched tv and downton abbey on dvd. love that show! (When I write in my diary on my computer's text edit i do not use capital letters. Do not use them in my e-mails, either).
Okay. I did list what I did, blah, blah, but I also wrote down emotional things. "Love that show!" and
"So pretty out" are a couple of feelings, right?
But I digress. Back to blogs. My blog is for me first. I love to do it, love to add pictures, enjoy playing with words
and I like the fun positive comments I get from my "viewers". Secondly, the blog is for friends and
family. I did the big blog about my apartment so I could show my sister Susi, my children Rebby and Steve, my friends Carolyn, Marilyn, Bill, Jim and John
 the colors I chose for the living and dining areas, the furniture I
bought, the art I chose for the walls, and last but surely not least, a picture of my painter AND friend,
Rick.
I think that fits the definition of a blog/blogger.
I'm happy all of you are reading it and would naturally want you to enjoy it but the first purpose for
this blog is for me to do with it exactly as I wish - to enter what I want and not be concerned about
people liking it, not liking it, not understanding what it's all about and being a bit critical about it.
(Have you sensed the person who asked me about the jigsaw blog was a bit critical and a "look down
her nose" type of person? Yep. I needed to defend myself. I don't worry that she will read this because she doesn't even have a computer. She says they are a waste of time).
Just had a thought. I am defending myself to the person who will never read it! The people who DO
read this are here because they like to be here. Guess I wrote this to tell me it's ok to do what
I want.
I shall return soon with a jigsaw blog. As the English say, "Ta ta".

The Schefflera (also called Umbrella Plant) Gets A Haircut

 This is my Schefflera plant back when I had my living room/dining area re-done - 2011. This plant
kept growing tall but leaned to one side and looked, to my eye, lopsided. So I decided to give her a
haircut. Before I trimmed the plant back, it stood over 18" high. It is now 6" high. It was amazing to
watch the sprouts come out of the stalks! She seems to grow fatter/fuller and taller overnight.

This is the "baby" umbrella plant. 

That's it about the schefflera and

how she grows.

THINGS FORGOTTEN

I just went to the very first entry to this blog - November ???, 2011 and read thru every entry. In some I said I would do a blog about this or that, in some i said I'd take pics and do a blog, in some i felt there needed to be more explanation. Should I do it now? Nah! If you haven't read back thru here, you don't
know what I've missed, so why bother adding it now. I have some ideas for future blogs.
1. Do a blog showing the funny cards that Bill sends @ Christmas and my birthday.
(Yes, I know I've said this before. Last night I took pictures of the cards so they are ready for publication.)
2. Picture of my Umbrella plant before her haircut and after.
3. Pictures of the Yarn Bombing covers I did for the Sylvania Downtown Yarn Bombing
and then pics of what was yarn bombed.
4. I don't know. Something will come up.
Enjoy this wintry day with temps in the hi 20's. Yay!!