Happy Sunday Folks

Posted on March 16, 2025 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

There is a little less than two weeks to go until the big A to Z Blogging Challenge. I am getting my letters together and hopefully I’ll finish at least the drafts in time. I found the last few years when I had my draft posts made it was a lot easier for me to keep up. I am going to try to get over to visit a few more people this year too. 

In the meantime, I am SO EXCITED because I get to teach a class at our local RAC (Recreation and Aquatic Center). I have been trying to hold a class for the last several months but sadly not enough people signed up. The RAC requires five people minimum and I’ve only had one or two so the classes were cancelled. This month I have five thanks to some friends. I’ll be showing them how to make card sets like this from Creative Memories.

If you are interested, you can get the sets from my Creative Memories site and make some too or you can get the ones that I already made from my Etsy shop. I also got approved to do some classes during the next season about making vision cards and dreamboards. Crossing fingers there will be some interest in that. 

And along the lines of my A to Z theme, I also mailed out some cards as part of a project through the Card Campaign, a group I found during the election last year. I printed and mailed 40 postcards to old Dumpy in the White House. 

The idea was to have everyone send in their postcards on the same day (yesterday the 15th) so that it floods the White House mail. It may not do any good but I have to say that writing those messages was great for my mental health. The return address is the Superior Court Building so there is no way to trace it back to me, although honestly it is free speech so I’m not worried. I said nothing that wasn’t true and nothing that hasn’t been said before by millions of people. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow. It is not one of the holidays I celebrate much for some reason — mainly I’m not Irish LOL. See you again soon!

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Blogging From A to Z 2025 Theme Reveal

Posted on March 11, 2025 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Democracy A to Z is my theme for this year’s challenge. I am strongly in favor of keeping the United States a democracy. I do also happen to be a Democrat but if there was a Republican who actually made some sense or had a good idea about something…LOL who am I kidding.

When I was talking to Tamara from Part-Time Working Hockey Mom she asked me if I was going to do the A to Z this year and I told her I wanted to but wasn’t sure about a topic yet. She suggested that I discuss elections and Presidents and Presidents who deserved the title. At first I was hesitant to discuss politics and honestly I’m just so upset with the way the last election turned out and the terrible things that are going on in our country that I just wasn’t feeling it. Then I remembered Speaker Jeffries’ speech and figured I could use that to get my basis for the challenge.

In 2023 Minority Speaker of the House Hakeem Jeffries gave a speech to the new 118th congress. In it he recited the ideals of the Democratic Party using the alphabet. In case you missed it, have a listen:

It gives me chills. I guess you can figure out what my actual letters will be by listening to the speech, but hopefully I can put a bit more context behind each pairing. 

If you are doing the A to Z this year, let me know! I am loving the bright graphics this year. 

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I’m Participating Are You?

Posted on February 27, 2025 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Another semi-test post here folks. I am going to be participating the the big blackout tomorrow, February 28, 2025 are you?

In case you haven’t heard, because of the crazy shenanigans that are going on in our congress, white house, muskyville or whatever it’s going to be called, tomorrow has been chosen as a day of protest. 

We are NOT going to:

buy anything. No gas, no groceries, no shopping on Amazon or any of the big stores. No fast food, no online shopping. 

If you find you must shop for necessities try the mom and pop store down the corner. 

I, and some others I think, am also going to boycott Facebook and the other social media platforms for the day as well. The library is right up the street, I’ll go there instead of using Google. This is an easy thing to do, just for one day. 
I have even seen confirmation and posts from people like Stephen King who will be participating. Let’s see how big we can make this!
Let me know if you’re going to do it too!  

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And she persists

Posted on February 22, 2025 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

 Sorry to anyone who is getting all these trial runs. I am determined to make it work before April!

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Let’s Try It This Way

Posted on February 22, 2025 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

In my continuing effort to get in synch with the blogging thing again, I am trying to simulcast my WP blog to my Blogger blog. I know that it is possible because I have done it in the past but I stopped because I was having trouble with the photo aspect of it all. I would have to go to Blogger and resize all the photos or they would be HUGE. Anyway, I tried earlier to get from Blogger here and it didn’t go through so now I’m trying to get from here to Blogger. Wish me luck.

Leaving with a picture of the musical notes that are reflected on the roof of the Shoreline Amphitheater. But no, my A to Z this year is not about concerts.

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Did She Give Up??

Posted on February 20, 2025 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Hey there my friends in bloglandia. How the heck are you? I have been severely MIA since my last post in May of last year! I have been commenting on your blog posts occasionally but really I just haven’t had the inspiration or made the time to write my own. Why is that? I really give tons of props to those of you who can post every day. The only time I even come close to managing that is for the A to Z in April or if I’m in another challenge.

Since it is now February and the A to Z season is fast approaching I decided I needed to get my hand back in the game and make a few practice posts. So here is my hand, literally!

You may or may not remember that a few years ago I lost my wedding ring. It was soldered into an enhancer so I thought it was safe but unfortunately since I wear it 365 24/7 and had done so for well over 30 years, I guess it kind of wore itself out. In any case, I looked down at my hand one day and all that was left was the enhancer.

Obviously I couldn’t just walk around with a gaping hole there so I found another ring I had and put it in that spot. I wore that one for a while and then decided to switch it out for a pearl ring that I thought looked better. I didn’t give up hoping I would find my original set somewhere. Then I started looking at the pearl ring and realized that it was getting worn as well.

In May of this year we had our 40th wedding anniversary. I had wanted to do a thing and renew our vows and thought I’d get a new ring then but as usual life got in the way and a vow renewal never happened. Finally I told my husband that what I wanted for Christmas was a new ring. Being the great husband that he is, he told me to go get myself one. How romantic is that – LOL.

So I now have a new ring that I love. Not quite as much as my original set but it’s a pretty close second and I figure that it should last for another 40 years.

Now that I’ve brushed off the cobwebs maybe I’ll get another post or two in before the A to Z starts. I just picked my theme thanks to a suggestion from Tamara Gerber-Stutz. In any case, I hope that you all haven’t given up on me and will start following my adventures again!

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Maybe I Can

Posted on May 1, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Now that the A to Z is over I want to thank everyone who came by to say hi and left either a like or a comment. I also want to apologize because I didn’t get around to visiting too many people other than the regulars. I’ll try to get to more folks as the month goes on.

I won’t be posting as much this month but I’ll be busier with life. I’m going to a scrapbooking retreat this weekend and I’m working on the concert albums. This is one set I did last time. It’s another Beatles Tribute band that is quite good. Not as flamboyant as the Fab Four but still fun to watch.

I have 4 shows that I’m bringing with me. Let’s see if I can get them all finished. I’ve decided that I don’t need to keep every single photo that I took, just the best or most interesting ones. Also, having to work with only what I bring with me is a challenge of sorts. Plus it is a chance for me to visit with a bunch of lovely ladies, including my best friend from high school. I definitely need the time to decompress and relax a bit.

We have family coming next week to visit my mother-in-law. They’ll be here for about a week. On Mother’s Day two of the kids and I are going to the Giants game. They are giving away cool free stuff.

Then, on the 17th I am going to do something I’ve never done before, TEACH A CLASS! I have signed up with our local senior citizens center to teach some crafting/scrapbooking classes. Now that it’s official, I’m kind nervous! This is what I’ll be teaching for this first class:

It is a refillable notepad holder that has a pocket to hold receipts or notes or whatever. They are made with a couple of sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper and held closed with a magnet. One has a quilter/seamstress theme and the other one is a cruise or vacation theme. I’ve always been a list maker and I hope that other list makers will appreciate them. I am bringing Christmas themed papers and decorations as well because I think that would be something folks would use. What do you think? These are available in my Etsy shop, just in case you’re interested.

Hubby and I will celebrate 40 years of wedded bliss (?) on the 20th. I had hoped to have a renewal of our vows or some big party or something but it’s not happening this year. Maybe for 45? We have taken to staying pretty close to home and at least one of us being here all the time for MIL who will be 99 this July.

So that’s my May. What does yours look like? Are you a list maker? Would you take a class from me? Any ideas for other notepad holders? A TBR list?

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Z is for Little SuZie

Posted on April 30, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Okay, here we are. The last letter in the A to Z challenge for 2024. It is unquestionably one of the hardest letters to fill in my opinion. My theme throughout this challenge has been to write about artists we have seen, scrapbooked or not, that I haven’t written about before. If I haven’t seen a group whose name starts with the letter, one of my steps has been to go to our friend Google and ask, “songs starting with the letter…” whatever letter I’m looking for. If there is no song starting with that letter by any of the artists that I have to work with then I go to the next step which is to pick a band and then search for their songs. If a song has that letter then I can use it!

As I wrote yesterday for Bonnie Raitt, I picked a song that she does sing but she didn’t sing it at the show we saw. Fortunately I made it work. I ran into that same situation here with the letter “Z.” My original title for this post was “EZ Come EZ Go” by Tesla. But when I looked at the setlists for the shows we saw, they didn’t sing that song. Good news for me is that they DID sing a song called “Little SuZi.” Therefore, my A to Z is complete for this year!

So Tesla. Not a band I was familiar with the first time we saw them as the opening act for Scorpions. And honestly, even after we saw them I wasn’t into adding them to my list of bands to follow. “Hair Metal Band” is how they are described. Definitely true. Lots of hair. I was too busy watching their lead singer (Jeff Keith) look off to stage right throughout the whole show. It was kind of distracting.

We next saw them as the opening act for Reo Speedwagon and Def Leppard. Since there were three bands performing they had a shorter set list.

  • Date: 6/9/2012
  • Venue: Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View CA
  • Artist/Tour: Tesla/Final Sting World Tour
  • Setlist:
  • Cumin’ Atcha Live
  • Edison’s Medicine (Man Out of Time)
  • I Wanna Live
  • Hang Tough
  • Signs
  • Love Song
  • Modern Day Cowboy
  • Little Suzie
  • Date: 9/25/2016
  • Venue: Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View
  • Artist/Tour: Tesla
  • Setlist:
  • Rock Me To The Top
  • Edison’s Medicine (Man Out of Time)
  • Little Suzi
  • Love Song
  • Modern Day Cowboy

They are still not a band I’d go see unless they were opening for someone else. I do like the song, “Love Song” though. The rest are too metal for me.

Well, I did it! I am not sure I’d be able to go through the alphabet again even though there are groups we have seen that I didn’t write about. If you think about it, I’ve been through the alphabet three times now doing this concert theme without repeating so that’s at least 78 different artists! Hope you enjoyed going to the concerts with me. I don’t know what I’m going to do for next year if my space on WP doesn’t hold out! Did you finish your A to Z challenge? Were you able to go visit other folks? I’m going to make that my goal for the upcoming weeks. For now, I’m resting!

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Y is for Need You Tonight

Posted on April 29, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

We had an opportunity to see James Taylor at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) and he is one of my hubby’s favorites so we went. Opening for him was Bonnie Raitt. As with Melissa Etheridge, we were surprised at how much we enjoyed this show. Blues is not really one of our go to genres but she adds enough rock to it to make it fun. Coincidentally, I used James Taylor for the letter “Y” when I did my concert themed A to Z in 2020!

It is always fun to be able to be on the baseball field at the beautiful home of our San Francisco Giants. We had decent seats too!

James Taylor came out and did a song with Bonnie and then later in the show she came out and did one with him.

I have to laugh, she talks in the very beginning about being cold and putting on her vest again. The coldest winter is a summer in SF, right? Also, sorry about the shaky video but I couldn’t keep from bopping during this song.

  • Date: 7/29/2017
  • Venue: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA (now Oracle)
  • Artist/Tour: Bonnie Raitt
  • Setlist:
  • Unintended Consequence of Love
  • Need You Tonight
  • Everybody’s Cryin’ Mercy
  • Spit of Love
  • Love Me Like a Man
  • Have a Heart
  • Something to Talk About
  • Nick of Time
  • Angel from Montgomery
  • Burning Down the House
  • Thing Called Love

I had intended this post to be “Y is for You” because that is a song that Bonnie Raitt sings that I think is really pretty. However, she did not sing it that night and it’s too late for me to change letters around now! So I’m using the “You” in “Need You Tonight” which she did sing. One more letter to go in this year’s A to Z challenge! It’s not an eaZy one either!

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X is for StyX

Posted on April 27, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

“X” can be a really tricky letter and I did a lot of research about song names that start with it hoping to find one that one of our groups did but I couldn’t. I have written about Styx in a previous challenge so I couldn’t use them again. Fortunately we did see Dennis DeYoung who was one of the founding members of the group. He was the opening act for…Pat Benatar…and sang mostly Styx songs so I’m going with that!

Our seats were in one of the upper sections so the pictures didn’t turn out that great but I used one of my scrapbooking templates to fit in some of the better ones. I included one that gives you a little view of the seating at the Winery. Most of the time we are down in the section right in front of the stage – LOL.

  • Date: 08/06/2011
  • Venue: The Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA
  • Artist/Tour: Dennis DeYoung of Styx
  • Setlist:
  • The Grand Illusion
  • Lady
  • Lorelei
  • Blue Collar Man
  • Show Me The Way
  • Mr. Roboto
  • Fooling Yourself
  • Babe
  • Best of Times
  • Renegade
  • Come Sail Away

Because this is such a short one I thought I’d throw in an eXtra, a look at the scrapbook albums I’m in the process of making. You can see that they are still a work in progress. Only the first two are complete. The rest have missing shows as I work my way through the process of scrapbooking them all.

I decorated the covers and painted the dark teal ones.

I was going to add some pictures of one or two of my favorite pages but, you know, space!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend! See you on Monday for the last 2 letters in our A to Z this year. Any ideas who I can come up with for Y and Z?

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