Speaking of Fay. . . .

What does one do during a 3 day tropical storm complete with power outages? One must prepare! First you make sure your PalmOne and your iPod are fully charged and fully loaded. The Palm with eBooks and the iPod with audio books. It's important to be very careful with your selection of books. You don't want to be sitting in the dark with the wind howling outside, driving rain at the windows and bumps on the roof reading a thriller or something by Stephen King - at least I don't! I have a hard enough time reading those in broad daylight on a sunny day! I look for something that will hold my attention enough to distract me from the storm, but not something that takes too much brain power!

Here's what I listened to and read during the storm:
Heaven, Texas
It Had to Be You
Lady Be Good
This Heart of Mine
Dream a Little Dream
Kiss an Angel
all by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
I know! Those are all romances! Those of you who know me know that I am not a fan of the romance novel - but I have to admit they are good during a storm!

I also listened to and read:
Sweet Love, by Sarah Strohmeyer
In My Dreams, by Sarah Addison Allen
Girls in Trucks, by Katie Crouch

I have to say I really enjoyed everything I read and listened to except Girls in Trucks, that chick was getting on my last nerve with her foolishness!

What does one do when listening to a book during a storm when the lights are out?

I sat by the window and embellished bookmarks! I only had to take the stitching out of one and redo it! I guess I didn't have as much light as I thought I had. I actually made a dozen bookmarks, two of each of the above. I need 4 for a swap, I could use a new one and I'm sure I've got some friends who'd like one or two.

Other than that I ate chocolate cupcakes - comfort food, you understand. (I made those as soon as I heard the storm was on the way!)

Bryn's Home!

Bryn is home on leave before he deploys. He brought his bike home and his Jimmy was packed tight with other things he's leaving here while he's gone. After their golf game on Sunday Marshall helped him get the bike out of the trailer. (Hard to believe Bryn once had as much hair as Marshall!)
He'll be here through the 7th of September, so I'll have time to get a better picture before he leaves. (Can you see the debris from Fay behind him? That was all from the driveway!)

This picture was taken in March of 2006. From left to right: Marshall, Megan, Amanda and Bryn. Marshall looks the same, but what a change in Bryn! (This is not the best picture, I was using a camera that decided to die right there at the wedding reception!)

A Magic Wand to Make Your Wishes Come True

My BFF, StudioRose (aka Minion of the Dark Side) recently hosted a Magic Wand Swap on Swap-Bot. My wand is going to a girl who likes vintage lace and things with an earthy feel. Thanks to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay, I had a pretty large selection of branches in my yard to choose from for the base of the wand.


She also liked unique old buttons, and I was able to add one here.


I tried to use her favorite colors, too. I hope she likes it as much as I do!

An Altered Journal

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, so I thought I would share this pretty journal I made for an altered journal swap. I was fortunate to have a swap partner who likes a lot of the same things that I do, including copper and vintage things. That made making this journal so much more fun for me!

Because of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Fay, I'm waiting until the last minute to get it in the mail. Nicki, if you're peeking, I hope you like it!

A New Family Tradition?

My husband retired from the US Navy - that's him in the middle, manning the big gun back in 1985 or 86! Okay, I've been told it's called a weapon and I think it's a 50 caliber, but don't quote me on that.

You could ask our son who is serving in the US Air Force, he could tell you! He's training on this same weapon this week - his Dad's favorite.

Wonder if he could send me a picture? Wouldn't that be cool?