JusJoJan24 – 01/14/2024

Posted on January 14, 2024 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

The prompt for today’s JusJoJan24 is “writing,” something I haven’t been doing very much here! Thanks to Joanne for suggesting it. Side note, JoAnne is my sister’s name.

Back to writing, this is the first post for me this year. Half a month gone already! It is amazing.

To update, we had a fun New Year’s Eve. We went to our friend’s house for a small gathering. It was supposed to be a “geriatric” party and we were going to watch the ball drop at 9 PM so that we could all go home before it got too late. Most of the party did leave (even though our host had the TV on the wrong channel and we didn’t actually get to see the ball drop at 9 New York time – LOL). However, a few of us stayed until midnight and watched the ball drop “for real.” We haven’t been out on New Year’s Eve for many years and it was nice.

I did also make my annual Vision Cards, writing on the back of each my goals for the year. It is my “resolution” system. I figure if I get one thing accomplished in each category during the year I’ve fulfilled my goals. Much less stress this way. Here are this year’s cards:

I have been using the same 6 categories for several years now. It seems to work best for me to cover the areas of my life I most want to work on. We’ll do a check in around June to see if I’ve actually been able to accomplish anything. LOL.

Coming up I have another pop-up craft show next weekend. This time I have Valentine’s Day items…

…and I’ve also been working on a new set of cards. These are hidden reveal cards where you pull the tab up and a message appears:

Here is what it looks like:

They are already up in my Etsy shop in case you are looking for something unique.

And last but not least, we have our first concert coming up, Bryan Adams. We have not seen him in person before so it should be fun. Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics is the opening act. Haven’t seen him yet either.

So that was a little bit of writing plus some pictures. What have you been up to so far this year?ā€‚

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Decidedly December 2023

Posted on December 23, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Well, here’s to another year just about gone. I don’t know where my blogging spirit went. I don’t know where anything went actually. I do some end of year reflecting and one of the questions was “What was amazing this year?” I couldn’t think of anything amazing that happened during the year. I mean, there were some cool things. My A to Z lights adventure was interesting, our concerts were good, our trip to Las Vegas was fun, but nothing hit me as an OMG THAT’S AMAZING moment. How about you? Anything amazing for you this year?

I haven’t posted since October I see. I’ll give you a quick recap of the last couple of months.

We had our 50th high school reunion and it turned out very well. We figure that over the course of three days we managed to see about 100 or so different classmates. We are thinking of having a birthday party for us all when we turn 70 in two years!

I caught the full moon as I do, but I need a new camera because mine broke and I had to use my husband’s and I don’t like it as much as my old one.

I fell going UP the escalator in Barnes and Nobel because it was broken and I had just gotten new bifocals so I wasn’t used to the line. I got a big bruise on my thigh but you don’t want to see that.

I made some new things for the Holiday Boutiques I was doing. I had a total of 4 of them over the course of about 3 weeks. Didn’t do as well as I hoped but at least I made the table fees at all of them. You can find these goodies in my Etsy shop now too!

I have a pair of slippers that have sparkles on them and when I stand in the reflection of the light coming in from the window it does a light show on the wall. You should see it when I move!

We went to see my idol, Stevie Nicks, as our final concert of the year. She never disappoints. Did you hear they made a new Barbie doll in her likeness?

Caught the sunset from my front porch. It is amazing what the sky looks like some times.

Last but not least, our little Christmas tree. It is the smallest one we’ve had since the year of the Charlie Brown tree when I was the only one home. I just wasn’t into doing all the work it takes to put up a big one and decorate the whole house.ā€‚Maybe next year.

This will probably be the final post from me this year. I’m still going to make my vision cards for next year but probably won’t post about them until then. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends and here’s to a prosperous New Year for us all.ā€‚Appreciate you for stopping by!

Posted in Uncategorized | 14 Comments

October Offerings

Posted on October 18, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

What’s happening to this year?? I swear I just turned the page on September and now over half of October is gone too! Let’s see what I’ve been up to…

We started the month with our last concert of the year at the Mountain Winery, John Waite and Pat Benatar. Fun night for these old folks.

Then the whole family got dressed up fancy and went to a wedding. Our son was one of the groomsmen. I danced.

I made a baby album for a customer and then I added some holiday items to my Etsy shop, including some glow in the dark Halloween cards.

And we had one last planning meeting before our 50th! high school reunion coming up this weekend. Sheesh!

Sometimes I think we’ve had more fun planning the reunion than we will have at the actual event – LOL. We are doing a three day weekend with a Friday night mixer at a local bar, Saturday dinner and then picnic on Sunday. It worked really well for our 40th so we just repeated it. Definitely going to need to rest next week! What have you been up to?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

September Scenes

Posted on September 26, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Okay can this year go any faster? Last year at this time we were moving my mother-in-law from her home in Oregon to an assisted living facility also in Oregon. It was the start of the big relocation project but we didn’t know that then.

This year the September Scenes have been quite different.

I did a pop-up show at our local mall. Did not do well at all but there were some mitigating factors – it was Labor Day weekend so folks sometimes go away and the next town over has their big art and wine festival that weekend so I’m sure many people went there instead. I did use my new sign though and I am happy with it.

My daughter and I went to our last Giants game of the year. We won, but sadly they have not been playing well and probably will not make the playoffs. I’m a fan no matter what! And, we got new beanies as the 415 giveaway!

The next night was Rick Springfield, the Hooters and Tommy Tutone at the Mountain Winery. We had not seen the Hooters before so that was nice. Rick Springfield continues to make the girls swoon at 74, especially when he came out without his shirt! He did go through the crowd again and I got another handshake! Isn’t the venue behind us cool?

And in between all that I helped our daughter move out! She got the keys to her apartment on September 1 and last night we moved the last of her stuff out of the storage area she was renting and her room is empty (well not quite, we have a friend moving in – LOL). It is crazy the rent they charge around here. She is in a studio and it is $1995 a month. My house payment is only $1500 and we have three bedrooms. No wonder there are homeless people. She is happy though and actually has more room now than she did when she was here as her room is 100 square feet and her apartment is 450 square feet. I will definitely miss her as the balance of power has now shifted. I am the only female in the house with three men. Still, I think I’ll get my way most of the time.

And some other scenes from September – I’ve been adding things to the Etsy shop getting ready for another pop-up this coming Saturday. Hopefully I’ll do better at sales. It is in a different location so that may help.

I’ve also seen some interesting bits and pieces of nature’s beauty. Dew drops on leaves, the lights on the trees at the Winery, sunsets and sunrises and a really cool almost full moon.

So those are my scenes of September. What have you been looking at?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

And Now August is Almost All Gone

Posted on August 26, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Wow, I’m on a roll here. More than one post in August. It was actually because Linda’s SoCS happens to be a word I can write about…tune. (Side note, can I tell you how bothersome it is to use links here lately because I want them to open in a new window and you have to go through hoops to get them to do that. Why WP, why?)

Anyway, back to TUNE – yep it is concert time again. We went to see “Tina” the play about Tina Turner. It was very nicely done. Lots of tunes left out of course because she has so many hits but I thought they did a great job of using many intertwined with the story line.

I love going to the old theaters in San Francisco. We had decent seats in the front row of the balcony. It is a little harder for my hubby since his legs are long but if I can get the front row and an aisle seat, it gives him a little more room. Naturally you are not supposed to take pictures during the show, which I didn’t until it was the very end. I figure they’re not going to kick me out at that point. I don’t think I learned anything about Tina Turner that I didn’t know and I read that Tina had been pleased with the way the play was done. Sad that she is no longer here.

And then there was Foreigner and Loverboy. Foreigner is on their “Last” tour. The only original founding member, Mick Jones, has health issues and doesn’t make every performance and even when he does, he only comes out for a few tunes. He did not make our show. The bass guitarist, Jeff Pilson, has a back injury and had to sit the whole time, which I’m sure is not fun for him because he was a pretty active musician. Anyway, the band has said that they are done after this tour. While that has been said before by other bands, this one really might be the end. In any case, they are one of our favorite groups so we had to see them. Add Loverboy as the opening act and it was a no-brainer since they were the groups we saw at our first concert together at Day on The Green in 1982!

I was a little disappointed that one of my favorite Foreigner tunes, Urgent, was played without the sax. The long-time member who used to play that instrument, Thom Gimbel, left the band around the time of the pandemic and the synthesizer they used just didn’t quite do it for me. Glad I got a video of that song at one of their other shows. This tune, “Feels Like The First Time,” is another great one.

Thanks again, Linda, for the “tune” prompt. We have another show next week, Chicago, at the Mountain Winery. Maybe I’ll actually get one more post in this month! Have you seen “Tina?” What’s your favorite Foreigner or Loverboy tune?

Posted in concerts, Foreigner, Loverboy, Tina Turner | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

And Now It’s August!

Posted on August 17, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

We went to see Peter Frampton the other night. He has IBM (Inclusion Body Myositis) and needed a cane to get around the stage, where he sat through the whole performance. Do not let that fool you. He definitely could get those fingers moving on the guitar strings.

As he tells it he had started a “Final” Tour shortly before Covid hit and he wasn’t able to do the European leg of the tour because of lockdowns. He wanted to finish so he decided to try going out again and when he discovered that his fingers would still cooperate with him, he talked to his promoters and set up this “Never Say Never” tour. I know how much my husband likes him and I was able to get us pretty good tickets for one of the last few shows on the schedule.

It was at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, which is a smaller venue. He did a slide presentation of his early years as he was coming out on stage, maybe so that we wouldn’t notice too much the fact that he couldn’t walk unassisted. He still has his wit and while he performed 17 songs over a 2-1/2 hour show, there was quite a bit of chatter in between songs, which was fine.

My camera broke so these are all from my cell, which is going to have to do until I can get another camera. I got a couple of pictures of some things I considered interesting along the way, like the reflection of the lights on the ceiling, the purple tip of Grace Cathedral across the street as we were leaving and the City Hall. Oh yeah, hubby and me. Kinda cute huh?

He did a really good rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” for the finale. I did get a video of that but it’s 7 minutes long so here’s a bit of “Show Me The Way” and you can get a little idea.

We have 3 more shows coming up this month. We’re seeing the play, “Tina” and Foreigner next week. We got the tickets to Tina before she passed away and I’m glad we did. Foreigner is billing this as their farewell tour since they are pretty much over it all. I know Mick Jones has had health issues for years and he is the only original member so…Then we have Chicago at the Mountain Winery.

What are your plans for the rest of August? Share!

Posted in Peter Frampton | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Jubilant July – 2023

Posted on July 29, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

One more post is probably all I’m going to be able to get out this month unless something spectacular happens that I just have to share (like if I won the lottery or something).

But I happened to be reading a post from “the other Janet” about her Lens-Artists Challenge so I decided to play along because I think I’ve taken a few unusual shots. The theme is “Overlooked” and it is to show some photos that may look different than what you would expect to see. Here’s my take:

This is a reflection of the tail light of my husband’s truck in a puddle by the curb.

There is a window on the side of our house overlooking the driveway. It is close to the roof of the garage. It has a screen on it but we have numerous stray cats and a few raccoons that like to rummage around and I think they use the screen to get a hold up.

Was walking our dog, Benny, the other day and saw this on the sidewalk. I’m not sure what it really is, maybe some paper that got wet, but to me it was a friendly ghost.

I’m always looking at the sky and I see cotton candy here.

This building has an unusual shape. Because of our earthquakes, it looks like it is in the middle of one.

Finally, again while out on my walks I have to keep an eye out for these critters so Benny doesn’t get his nose bit!

I hope I’ve followed the rules of the Lens-Artists Challenge. Make sure to go see Janet’s pictures too. They are cool.

And I’ve also managed to get into Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday with one/won! Have a great rest of your weekend!

Posted in #SoCS | Tagged , | 25 Comments

Jubilant July 2023

Posted on July 8, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

So I guess one post a month is about all I can manage. Since I am still working and have become the primary caregiver for my MIL and want to work in the studio, my “spare” time is spent on other stuff. I did take a minute to go through my vision cards for this year to see where/if I’ve made any progress on my goals.

To refresh, these are the cards I made for this year – Travel/adventure; finances; the studio life; keeping connected; healthy me and home sweet home. I use vision cards instead of making “resolutions” at the new year. That way I don’t get upset with myself because if I even do one thing in each category I consider it a win.

The only one I haven’t done anything about so far is our home. I mean, basic cleaning and stuff of course but I have so much I want to do with the backyard. I did get a new office desk (my office is in the kitchen) and a new cabinet to help organize but other than that it’s pretty much as usual.

I went in the wrong direction as far as my healthy habits go and put on about 20 pounds. I did just complete a 28 day exercise challenge and will be starting another one but I have to stop thinking I can eat anything I want with no consequences. We have our 50th high school reunion coming in October so I have a goal.

Connections has been getting a boost because I am on the committee for planning the reunion so I’ve been communicating with lots of folks I haven’t talked to in a while. That on top of going to a scrapbook event in May and visiting my sister has pretty much filled this category.

In the studio, I’ve tried some new projects and am trying to get a new website started. I have also done a pop-up and have another one coming this month. I have made a few Etsy sales and have some ideas for new offerings there.

Financially speaking it’s been pretty hard because my typing business has been so slow. Fortunately we are getting a little help from my MIL but I’m hoping to get more business as the year goes on.

Lastly, there is travel and adventure. I’m counting the trips to San Francisco for my A to Z post as an adventure! Also, we went to Las Vegas and have been going to baseball games. Concert season is really heating up. We have 7 more shows coming up!

There you have it. I think I’ve done actually pretty well on most of the areas of life I wanted to focus on this year. How about you? Did you make vision cards or set some goals for yourself for 2023? Have you done a half-year check-in to see where you are? Share!

Oh yeah, Happy 4th!

15 Comments

Just Jammin’ June

Posted on June 26, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

Well another month is almost gone. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun. That’s what’s been happening for the most part around here.

Starting with a couple trips to the beach with my daughter to catch the sunset. Unfortunately there was a cloud cover close to the ground so we didn’t really catch a full sunset but it was pretty nice anyway.

I love the smell of the sea air and hearing the crash of the waves on the beach. We went down to the edge and let the water come and tickle our toes.

Then hubby and I went to see Ms. Diana Ross at the Mountain Winery. He wasn’t enthused at first but I think he had a good time anyway.

She changed outfits about four times and sang most of her hits.

And then my daughter and I went to a couple Giants games. We won one, lost one and got a free Hawaiian shirt and Kruk and Kuip tiki mugs.

But the most exciting thing is that I WAS ON TV for about 30 seconds! Unfortunately my daughter wasn’t up and dancing with me at the time so she didn’t get on camera.

I started getting texts from my son and friends letting me know they saw me. It was quite fun.

And in between all that I made some things for my Etsy shop and did a pop-up show at the local mall. I didn’t do very well but it was good exposure anyway.

We still have a few more days left this month but I think this is about as much excitement as I can take for now. Let’s see what July will bring. How’s your June been?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

My Goodness It’s May 28, 2023

Posted on May 28, 2023 by scr4pl80 (Scrap Lady)

I haven’t posted much this month, as is my usual after the busy April A to Z, but it’s not because I’ve sunk my teeth into anything new, just because I sank into the “I don’t have anything exciting to say,” mood. However, I do have something fun to talk about now so here goes.

May 20th was our 39th anniversary. I’ve written before about some of the anniversary adventures we’ve been on and we went on another one this year.

We have a really good friend who had timeshare points to use or lose so he gave them to us. We went to Las Vegas for a few days and it was so relaxing. We stayed in a place called Tahiti Village and it was just as if we had gone to a tropical island. My favorite part was sitting by the “river” reading. I finished that book in two days.

Here’s my hubby floating along. I did it too but I didn’t take my camera with me because I was afraid I’d drop it.

We did drive up and down the strip a few times and went to the Gold and Silver Pawn shop but we didn’t sink a fortune into the slot machines. In fact, we only gambled for an hour and a half. That’s pretty good I think for being in Las Vegas. We also didn’t go see any shows. We were trying not to spend a ton of money.

I did notice one thing as we were walking through the SF airport that would have fit perfectly into my A to Z light show from last month:

I’d have taken a longer video but we were on our way to get our bags and had a friend coming to pick us up from the airport. I did some research and it is called Spirogyrate, designed by Eric Staller and installed in 2014. There are 12, 66-1/4 inch circles that spin and light up. Per the website, “Stallerā€™s artwork utilizes light, space and motion to delight and surprise the public.Ā SpirogyrateĀ is an immersive and interactive installation composed of graphic spiral patterns and light that change and respond to peopleā€™s movement through the space. The result is a whimsical environment to be enjoyed by travelers of all ages.”Ā 

See, I’m always on the lookout for things to astound and amuse you with! It will probably be a while before I have anything else to say as we are back to the same old routine. Happy Sunday!

Linda’s words for yesterday’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday were sink/sank/sunk. I’m a day late but thought I’d play anyway.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 10 Comments