*** R E L A X ***

This card just says RELAX and retirement all over it! I have to admit, I totally copied this card idea from a lady on my stamp site. It isn't the best photo I have to admit, but I wanted to share this with you. I played around with it tonight, as well as coloring a whole bunch of those little Riley moose images. My friend Karen from the Boston area surprised me with a Hanna gift certificate on line! Yes ... I was so excited and bought Riley in the bathtub, which I hope to post some day soon, as well as Baking Riley which I am totally in love with right now! He has some polka dotted oven mitts on that I made red and white, so I am hoping I run across some red and white polka dotted designer paper, which I am pretty gosh darn sure I will!

OK ... that was my little thrill for the evening. I know ... what ever blows your skirt up huh? Well, I guess that blew mine up!!

Back to basics ...

Anyone who has a boat load of craft stuff knows that it is very hard to oragnize. I have tried the plastic bins, I have tried to display things, I have tried to hide them, nothing seems to work. I end up with a big mess in my stamp area and then end up stamping at my dining room table ... then I hear my husband say ..."I thought that is why you have a craft area." *** rolling eyes ***

OK, here is the deal, I have too dang much shtuff! I seriously sat down in my little rolling craft chair in the patch work of a spare bedroom we have - what are my options ... well, experts say to remove everything and put it back where you want it, but I honestly don't have the time or patients to do that. What I really got to thinking about was placement ... me thinking feng shui?
So, as I started reading through some of the ideas of organization and placement the obvious, which was #9 in the article ...

9. Put it back!

My mom taught me this one, and it's so important it's mentioned twice! Now that your organized, once you're finished with it -- put it back.

Duhhh, really, that is all I need to do.

So, that said and done is not really solving my problem, but it is a start ... I do have some organizing themes going on. I started off by putting some of my favorite cards up on a bulletin board I got from Wally World (check), then I got the small curtain rods up to hold my craft punches (check), then I have sorted my cardstock and put them into bankers box magazine holders found at Advanced Liquidators (check), not pictured, I have cleaned out my heaping ribbon drawer and have some of my spools in a ribbon keeper and some never used, still in the containers are in a drawer ready to be noticed. I took some binder rings and put a slip not type jobby in the ribbon and hung it on the clip ... works good, and honestly I can look at the clips which I will hand inside my cabinet door and hopefully be able to find the right color and type I am needing.

This my friends is step 1 in getting my room back in work friendly order. I will soon be in this area trying it all out and working hard to remember step #9.

More Seaside ...

After we said goodbye to Val, we walked around down town and ohhh yes ... there was yet ANOTHER elephant ear in the picture for Janelle ... she happily munched on that while wearing the beautiful lei Valerie brought for Janelle.

Rick found a nice USMC hat in one of the shops and we also hit the outlet shops. Well, I was the one looking, Janelle and Rick kicked back and rested while I looked around. I did end up with a black Eddie Baur ball cap to hide my beach hair look.

Then there were bumper cars ... Oh my. There was a while that Janelle and I were the best drivers and then there was a time when we were possibly NOT the best drivers, but it was sure fun!

Our last day was fun, it really was time to go home. We had drizzle a while after Valerie had left the day before and on and off drizzle on Tuesday as well.

We had a nice breakfast out and Janelle wanted to go for one more ride on the bumper cars ... which lead to one more ride on the whirly , spinney things that go VERY fast. Our plan was to ride it, then grab a Starbucks (hot chocolate for Janelle) and head for home. We were almost done with the ride and Janelle said she had a headache ... then she said she didn't want Starbucks !!!!!!!!!! WHAT ... we knew she wasn't feeling well to turn down Starbucks, yeah she takes after her Mom just a tad!

All in all we had a fantastic trip to Seaside and were happy to get home to our nice comfy beds!

Seaside, OR

Here we are ... Seaside on the Oregon coast!

We really look forward to our family getaway every year. Janelle chose Seaside this year ... a nice change and really a great choice! We met our friend Valerie from Seattle on Saturday. The weather was great - we watched a Blues concert in Seaside, walked around town. Janelle was like a magnet to the We're All Ears place... all elephant ears. Janelle's favorite is the original cinnamon and sugar, but there were many choices ... even one that is any two choices you want, which is called Ear Wax ... Eeeew!

After the concert, elephant ear and checking out the town we settled down for dinner at the Creekside Pizza. It was really a nice dinner. We sat at a window seat, overlooking the creek, it really was a relaxing view.

After our humps were filled and settled, we set out for a LONG walk. We were very adventurous ... climbing down the rocks to the water, and walking along the seashore. It was really a great walk and we walked and walked and walked .... really! I was waiting for Janelle to say she was tired, but us adults all looked at each other and then looked back to where our room was and said we should probably turn around. There were so many surf boarders out there in the water, the sun was shining and the breeze was minimal.

We ended the evening with a nice swim in the 90 degree outdoor pool. Ahhhh that felt so good!
Then it was time to dry off, and change into some warm clothes for our evening campfire and s'mores! Yep, that is why they call them s'mores. YUMM

On Sunday, we made a big breakfast of fried potatoes, eggs and bacon and headed for Tillamook, OR. We toured the Tillamook cheese factory. This was a first for Valerie and Janelle. We watched them working in the factory with those big 'ol blocks of cheese and then we got to sample some of them.

Down the road is Blue Heron, which is another cheese facory in a smaller scale, but they had some different samples. Rick and I were lovin' the real blue cheese ... oh yeah! - Good stuff!

Heading back towards Seaside we looked at the beautiful scenery, what a great drive! We stopped in the city of Cannon Beach and sniffed out yet another elephant ear for Janelle while Rick and Val went into the Market Basket for a couple of things for dinner.

Back in Seaside, Val, Janelle and I headed out for a walk on the beach and checked out some of the beach volleyball tournament. Lots of look at there .... *wink*. As we walked along the beach we noticed a couple of helicoptors and were hoping that they weren't there for anything serious. (Low and behold on the news the next morning they had been looking for shark sightings .... YIKES!! I could hear the Jaws music in my head.)
Back at our room, Rick had the fixin's for our taco salad under way. We all pitched in and then sat down to a happy plate of taco salad for dinner.

Then we all went swimming, changed and had our evening campfire and our ration of s'mores and roasted marshmallows for the evening.

Valerie had to leave on Monday, so we got her packed up and joined her at Bagels By The Sea ... what a great place. They have quite the variety of bagles! My favorite was the pretzel bagel with the salt on top ... (dipped into ... of course ... mustard!)