Several months ago, I stumbled upon the video that I’m sharing below. Guess what? Yesterday, I could not locate the video. A friend posted “bad singing videos on my FB page,” and it started a compilation of all these bad singers. I mentioned the video below and also mentioned I was unable to locate the video. Well guess what? Facebook friend was able to find that video and he shared it on my Facebook page.
If you actually make it to the end, you will see he actually does have a great voice. Shortly after the 3:00 minute mark he sings “normal” aka just like Elvis” for a few seconds before lapsing back into the screaming.
Not too long ago, I started knitting the hat that you see below for my daughter.
Malabrigo yarn – Knit Hat
She wanted a knitted hat for the fall and she also seems to have misplaced her favorite owl knit hat that I’d made.
Recycled photo – Knitted owl cable ribbed beanie hat
I consoled her and told her it would be no problem knitting her a hat.
This hat was made quite easily. In fact, I started on it the weekend we went to my BF’s parents house. I used a moss stitch for the brim of the hat, and the remaining stitches are good ole stockinette stitch. It’s simple mindless knitting that I don’t have to pay attention to at all. Which is perfect for when I want to pay attention to other things.
Guess what? I completed most of this hat while watching my BF in his Taekwondo class. I’m unsure if I’ll be able to finish this hat before Friday. I hope I do; however, if that’s not the case I’ll be sure to finish knitting it on Friday. My daughter will be joining me to watch the BF in his Taekwondo class.
Last evening, I pulled out my cards and worked on them a tiny bit. Mainly I was just looking at them and talking to my daughter. This is her first day back at school.
The card you see at the top (white background) was started about a week ago. They are four separate stamps. I used the masking technique. The one on the lower left hand side was started this past Friday and the stamp to the right was started yesterday. I have not even placed that on a card yet. I colored most of the couple with my Copics markers; however, I’ve decided to color the bouquet of flowers with my Faber Castell sketch colored pencils.
As I already mentioned, with the card with the white border, I used a technique called “Masking.”
I first learned about it watching one of Sandy Allnock’s informative videos. The video I’ve shown above is my first introduction to masking. I was fascinated with it; however, I did not have any use for it at the time.
It was set aside when I took a break to start knitting a fall hat for my lovely twelve year old daughter. I used Malabrigo wool yarn. It’s super soft and squishy. I’m thrilled to say that the hat is almost finished. Oh… and I’ve gotten back into sewing again too! Whee, I believe towards the end of September (or early October) I’ll add weaving back to the mix. I am having so much fun with my hand crafts!
Here’s a few pictures from the first Triple Negative Breast Cancer Benefit ride. This past Saturday, August 29, was the event date, and I rode with my BF.
I must say that God truly blessed us with a wonderful day! We could not have asked for better weather.
I must say, that’s the longest I’ve been on a bike (about 3.5 hours) and I really enjoyed the experience.
Before we left Pete’s house we prayed for safety during the trip and a Pastor was at the Carroll Hospital Center to pray also. How awesome is that?
We left at 10:30 sharp, just like it was announced. You got to love when folks stick to a schedule, right?
We could not have asked for a better day to have a bike ride. Saturday was perfect bike riding weather.
Many thanks to all that were instrumental in organizing the event. The official coordinators are the two I’ve shown above, but there were many others that helped to make this event a success.
A lot of time went into making this run smoothly, and while I was not behind the scenes assisting the hard work put into turning this into a reality was recognized and appreciated.
Since we mainly took back roads, it gave us all an opportunity to truly appreciate Gods beauty that was on display.
I believe the ride was about 100 miles? During that time, we made three stops, the last being where the ride ended, at a local restaurant.
There was even an Elvis impersonator. Part of the proceeds of that meal was donated to the cause also.
For those who weren’t able to attend, you can still donate by going to the site located at the Rack Savers. The slogan is, Save the Racks!
And here is an explanation of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which I copied I pasted below.
“A diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer means that the three most common types of receptors known to fuel most breast cancer growth–estrogen, progesterone, and the HER-2/neu gene– are not present in the cancer tumor. This means that the breast cancer cells have tested negative for hormone epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2), estrogen receptors (ER), and progesterone receptors (PR). Since the tumor cells lack the necessary receptors, common treatments like hormone therapy and drugs that target estrogen, progesterone, and HER-2 are ineffective. Using chemotherapy to treat triple negative breast cancer is still an effective option. In fact, triple negative breast cancer may respond even better to chemotherapy in the earlier stages than many other forms of cancer.”
His friends girlfriend is a breast cancer survivor. From what the BF said, the trip should take about 1.5 hours. We’ll end the time at a restaurant. We’ll mainly be traveling back roads. I’m really looking forward to this occasion since it’ll give me a chance to meet some of his friends, and more importantly the lady behind the benefit. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take plenty of pictures.
I’m praying that the weather is nice since this event is happening rain or shine. I have no desire to ride, on a motorcycle, in the rain! No thanks… I think I’ll pass on that. People drive crazy enough when the conditions are nice, why add rain to the mix? 😉
Sunday, I was greeted with quite a few card making goodies that had arrived in the mail from Amazon.
Card Making: Penny Black; The Artist
A few hours after my daughter and I settled in, I pulled out my card making supplies and started working on this card. It’s not finished, since I still need to add skin tones and since I don’t have the appropriate pencils, or markers, I decided that this should be placed aside until it can be completed. Since my Copics skin tone markers should be arriving some time today, it looks like I might be able to complete it some time this evening.
Card Making: Tim Holtz; Bird Crazy card and envelope
Yesterday, I used the Tim Holtz’s Bird Crazy stamps to create this card. Initially, I was going to make it for my BF; however, a church lady (and her husband) have been on my mind and I believe this card will go to her. These days, when someone pops into my mind… I think it’s Gods way of telling me to check up on them, and I do.
Handcrafting: More than just card making…
While it might seem like the only thing I’m doing is making cards… I’m not. I’m also knitting and sewing. This past weekend, I started knitting a fall themed hat for my daughter. Admittedly… not too much of that was accomplished since our days were packed while visiting the BF. However, I’m hoping that I can complete it some time this week. With sewing, I’m mending one of my mothers nursing uniforms.
I am blessed that I am able to do things I enjoy when I have down time. These days finding that down time can be a challenge; however, I manage to squeeze in some time even if it is only for a few minutes. I find crafting to be a wonderful form of meditation and so I try to actively engage in it daily.
My goodness did the time fly by! This past weekend, we visited my BF’s parents in Deleware. If you remember, we had visited them once before, on that trip, we took my daughter to Ocean City, Maryland. Ocean City was a first for both my daughter and me and seems to be quite the “local vacation spot,” for Marylanders… and while it was nice, it’s not something I’d be falling over myself to visit anytime soon. No thank you… there are plenty of other places that are a bit more to my liking, minus the crowd.
But let me get back to our current visit. As my mom would say, we did not let the dust settle under our feet. We arrived around 8:30 on Friday evening and visited for about two hours before we all went to bed. We were exhausted. However, Saturday morning (while the BF slept) the BF’s parents, my daughter and I went for a walk. My daughter said it was about an hour. Really? It didn’t seem that long since the time flew by so quickly… and that’s wonderful since it shows we enjoyed our time together.
Playing Bocce ball with my daughter and my BF’s mom.
Later that day, we went to the pool and afterwards his father grilled. There were burgers, bratwurst, beans, salad and a few other “picnic type items,” that I can’t remember. I do know that it all tasted amazing! A bit later his mom, my daughter and I played Bocce ball. It was the first time playing (for me). My daughter said she’d played virtual Bocce ball on the Wii. My daughter led for quite some time until the end when his mom narrowly beat her by two points. The final score was
BF’s mom 12
Daughter 10
Me 7
The BF’s mom is on a Bocce ball team!
My BFs dad with steamed crabs.
As if we didn’t have enough food, that evening we had steamed crabs. Here’s a picture of his dad eating some of them.
My daughter and me puzzling over a puzzle.
Do you remember that puzzle I said we were working on during our last visit? My daughter and I were able to finish it on Saturday!
We ended our time together by going to Sunday mass at 10:00 a.m., afterwards we went to brunch at a local restaurant. They had an all day breakfast buffet, and that’s what everyone wanted. Over our meal we talked. It was nice hearing his father’s testimony about what led him to Christ. My BF had just shared an experience and after his father talked, I shared an experience I had about eight years ago. So not only were we being fed physically, we fed one another spiritually too. How awesome is that?
All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes, hugs were swapped, thank yous tossed about, bags packed and the BF, my daughter and I headed back to Maryland. We have plenty of wonderful memories to share and think about fondly until the next time we meet again…
