Sunday Night Chit-Chat

It's time for the Sunday Night Chit-Chat! Carla at My 1/2 Dozen Daily initiates the Sunday Night Chit-Chat each week. It is always a good Sunday for me when I am able to participate.

One of many cards I made this week:)

Tonight I am...

Reading...The Widow of Larkspur Inn by Lawana Blackwell and 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life by Crystal Paine. 

Watching...Nothing. I did watch Brave and Wreck It Ralph with my granddaughter this week.

Listening to...the TV in the background. Not sure what's on.

Cooking/baking...I've been at my daughter's for a week and haven't had to cook much.

Happy I accomplished this week...I demonstrated a card for my downline's stamping club (plus learned how to make two new cards); I made 16 cards this week; visited a very dear friend who lives about 1 1/2 hours north of my daughter's; I kept up with the A to Z Blog Challenge; I stayed within my traveling budget:)

Looking forward to next week...Being home:) It's always nice to visit but there's no place like home.

Thankful for today...My wonderful family and friends!

*Bonus Question* What is your regular day to day "outfit"?

I usually go for comfort when I am staying home--sweat pants, sweater or long sleeve top and slippers. 

Well, that's it for me today. I hope you will come back tomorrow for the letter G of the A to Z Blog Challenge.

Kat

F is for Friends

Friends (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As you know if you have been reading my posts this week, I am visiting my daughter and her family. On Wednesday we had a great day crafting with "the ladies" who are very dear friends and neighbors of my daughter. We had such a good day with laughs, food and creativity! Wait till you see the cards we made!

Yesterday I drove north of my daughter's to visit a friend I have known for over 40 years. She is a widow now having lost her husband last year but she has her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren living close by. My visits with Joan are always like "coming home"! I think she probably knows me better than I know myself! My visits with her are always special. 

I believe the saying, "There are friends for a reason, a season and a lifetime." I have had some great friends in my life but the friendships don't always last and when they don't I've found it's best to NOT try to resurrect them. I have tried but it's not the same. Things change, people change, circumstances change.

My favorite friends are the "low maintenance" friends! Now that might sound kinda selfish but I have had some high maintenance friends and they are exhausting! Do you know what I mean?!!!  

I currently have some wonderful "low maintenance" friends and am so thankful for each and every one. And a side benefit of blogging has been "meeting" other bloggers and becoming friends--kinda like pen pals of old! 

Another favorite saying about friends is...

"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

The A to Z Challenge Bloggers take Sundays off because there are only 26 letters in the alphabet and there are 30 days in April so the letter G will be on Monday. However, I am hoping to make it back for the Sunday Night Chit-Chat tomorrow night! 

I hope you, too, have friends who make your life just a little better each day! Have a great day!

Kat

E is for e-books

The e-book I am currently reading

Trying to decide what I was going to blog about starting with the letter E was most difficult but finally decided to write about e-books! I am a diehard book reader! I enjoy sitting down with a real book, turning the real paper pages so I didn't think I would like e-books at all. Last October my hubby bought me an iPad so I decided to try an e-book via the Kindle app. I was pleasantly surprised! While I don't think e-books will ever replace real books for me, I do find them to be a great alternative. 

My next book to read

My favorite aspect of e-books is how little room they take when traveling. I just load up my iPad with some good reads and off I go! It beats having a stack of books and magazine to take with me!

How do you feel about e-books? 

Thanks for stopping by today. I will be back tomorrow with a post on the letter F. Have a great day!

Kat

D is for Daiso and Disney

This week I am visiting my darling daughter and super darling granddaughter! My granddaughter is on spring break this week so we wanted to do something fun for her. We were thinking along the lines of the zoo or aquarium or the bouncy houses or ??? Well, my seven year old granddaughter wanted to go the the mall! The MALL!!! I thought that was a teenager "thing"! Well, she loaded up her purse with $13 one dollar bills and some change and away we went! 

One of our favorite stores is Daiso--a store filled with items from Japan! Items range from $1.50 to $3 and you find items there you won't find anywhere else! I bought some stitch markers for my knitting and a roll of tape for paper crafting. My granddaughter got two dog figurines for her dog collection:) The most fun is just looking at all the items available!

A trip to the mall would not be complete without a look-see at The Disney Store...

Please forgive the picture. I was having my daughter snap the pictures with her phone because I left my camera behind. I had it in my hot little hand but laid it down on the island and left without it:( My granddaughter bought a cute little stuffed bear from the movie Brave at the Disney store.

We visited several other stores, spent all her money, and came home very tired! I think she had a good time and I know I did!

I am so impressed with the other A to Z blog participants who have a theme for the whole month! As I said in a previous post, I am just flying by the seat of my pants! Some of the participants even had their posts written ahead of time. Also not me! But I sure admire the forethought and organization. It has been fun visiting the other bloggers to see what they are blogging about!

Have a great day and be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I come up with for the letter E!

Kat

C is for Cupboard Trilogy Challenge

My Design Team project for The Cupboard Trilogy Challenge this month is an Easter card using the Stippled Blossoms stamp set! I love the way this card turned out--just like it looked in my head:) That's always a plus.

For this project I used the following Stampin' Up! products (some will be missing because I am at my daughter's and forgot my Stampin' Up! catalog--what was I thinking?!!!):

• Card stock: Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette and Raspberry Ripple
• Classic Stampin Pads: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Raspberry Ripple
• Stamp Sets: Stippled Blossoms; sentiment from retired Easter stamp set
• Other: Dimensionals (of course); 5/8" flower trim (Spring catalog); Basic Pearls

Oh, my! What will I come up with for the letter D?!!! You'll have to check back tomorrow to see:)

Have a great day!

Kat

B is for Beau

Beau

Beau is our fourth Great Dane in 34 years of marriage. He is our second "rescue" Great Dane from the Willamette Great Dane Rescue. We got him a year and a half ago from a home where he was abused by a man who wore a hat:( He had a fear of men for a long time but is better with my husband and son but still has a fear of other men. 

In the last year and half we have had a hard time getting him to eat his dog food. We buy high quality dog food for him  but he turns up his nose at it and has continued to get thinner and thinner. Well, it appear that his previous family fed him "people" food and even took him through the drive-thru at McDonald's to get him hamburgers! No wonder he doesn't want dog food. So we have started mixing his dog food with some "people" food and he is eating every last bite! I have always been opposed to giving the dogs "people" food because the vet says it's not good for them but it's not good for the dog to get so thin either!

Beau and Rocky

Beau and our English Bull Dog, Rocky, are the best of friends! They play together and lie on the floor together in front of the wood stove. One of their favorite activities is wrestling in the living room:( 

I hope you enjoyed meeting Beau! 

Thanks for stopping by during the A to Z Blog Challenge. Stop by tomorrow for the letter C!

A is for A to Z Blog Challenge

Ahhh! It's finally here! The day that I have both looked forward to and dreaded for a couple of months now. What a daunting challenge--26 blog posts in a month using the letters of the alphabet! This Challenge was started in April 2010 by Arlie Bird (also starting with an A) and had 100 participants. In 2011 there were about 1300 bloggers and in 2012, about 1700! The last I looked there were 1613 bloggers signed up for this year's Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I am number 533 on the list:) To check out the WHOLE LIST of bloggers in this challenge click HERE. Be aware that links ending with AC means Adult Content.

So for today, I would like to suggest that you visit Arlie's blog Tossing it Out and wish him well on his 2013 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!

Be sure to visit tomorrow to see what I come up with for the letter B:)

Have a great day!

Kathy