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Another Day

Another failure to gather any Diet Rite. At this point I have passed withdrawal and have moved on to having given it up, Cold Turkey. Unwillingly. But that is what has happened. Oh well. I am enjoying Fresca from two liter bottles. seth and I share them, and man, he drinks too much pop. I gotta stay awake and watch that boy. To distract you from my problems, I post a cute Christmas Eve photo of the boys sitting cookies out for Santa. Seth made a card and we talked him into not leaving cash for the big man. He was sure Santa would like to shop at the North Pole at stores where the elves make their stuff.

And look, no Hanna today, but I almost have a complete pair of socks. I had painting class today and then a hair appointment, so maybe I'll work on the socks this week and get them finished. At least it gave me something to do during down time on vacation.
On a cute note, I got an invitation to a neighbor girls' 10th birthday party. Seth and Scott both looked ascance at me when they saw it, but it really is because I am using my van to help transport the kids back and forth to the movie theater and help the mom chaperone. It was a sweet invitation and it made my day.

The Agony of Defeat


I went out today, sure to find myself some Diet Rite. Wrong! There was none available to me. Well, none at the right price at any rate. Wal Mart had no bottles. I decided I could drink from a can. But there were no cans. I searched for a two liter. They were out! What?! A run on Diet Rite? I swear to you, if I saw a Diet Rite truck on the road, I would run it over! Well, chase it down and give the driver a good talking to about his poor distribution patterns.
I had a coupon for a free large Sweet Tea at McDonalds and I broke down and used it. All the way home from my trip I saw signs that advertised Sweet Tea for $1.00 at McDonald's. Yep. 32 ounces of the lovely goodness. So, I only saved a dollar, but it salvaged my need for a cool drink in the worst way. I do love some Sweet Tea. See how important it is to me? I refer to it in capital letters! The reason I don't ever drink it or buy it? It's sweet. Yep. Chock full of bad sugar calories which quickly turn to fat and sit on my hips. And no one needs to that. But I am currently full of the yummy goodness that Sweet Tea has offered to me for the day. And I trying to be thankful for it and not bitter about the lack of Diet Rite around here.
To distract you momentarily I posted a Hanna picture. See Hanna? She's so lovely. Made with some punches and colored with copics and she is ready for a hot date. No Sweet Tea on those hips.

Defeat

After much searching, I found only a two liter of Diet Rite. I claimed it as mine, brought it home, and am carefully allowing myself some, not drinking it straight from the botle or all at once, as I would really like.

First up today is a couple of little boxes I re purposed. I found ribbon in these little boxes in the Target Dollar Aisle. When I put the ribbon away, I realized I could do something with the cute little boxes. I put in some Nuggets, tied on ribbon, and used my new Hanna Stamps set, Sweet Celebrations to make the cute lid toppers! Voila! The perfect gift for a couple of girlfriends!

This is a photo of my poor boys. the second day we were at Williamsburg we rented costumes. You see, you rent costumes for the kids and they get jobs to do and a souvenier at the end. They have colonial style shirts on underneath their winter jackets, they have a hat, a wooden, gun, and a sack/bag they wear. they get a letter of introduction and they take it to four specific places to do their jobs.
First up was to join the militia. Only, at the artillery shed, they thought this program ended as it was, to them, a seasonal program that was over in Dec and would start again in March . Wrong! There was no militia to join, but there were new staff members going around learning about the buildings and history and such, and they were forcibly recruited to join the militia with my boys. Everyone had to learn miltary moves out in the cold and snow. As they were new employees, they grumbled not one bit, and seemed perfectly pleasant. I do think they cursed us under their breath, though.
Next up was to plant seeds in the garden. However, the garden was closed and the ground was frozen. The kids were assigned the task of getting water from the well and putting it in a bucket. Seth spilled water all over himself. Brrr.
We went to the post office next. It was closed. We moved on to the print shop, only to be told by the man working there that he had no idea what we were talking about. We went back to the visitor center to complain, but no one cared and no one in charge was there to complain to. Noah was near tears that he did not get his souveneir, whatever it was supposed to be. So, I bought a couple gift shop trinkets to pass off as souveneirs and you can bet your bippy Williamsburg will here about this one. Why? Costume rental was thirty bucks! If my tight ass comes up with thirty bucks per kid, there darn well better be a program, some souveineir, and some serious jobs for my kids to do! Can you see the snow whipping sideways while my kids toughed it out? They were troopers, I tell ya!

Sweet Hanna

Wowza! Here I am, back on track with daily postings. Shame that I don't have a thing to say. Maybe I can find something fun to do and let you know about it. Unfortunately, today is going to be all about restocking groceries and cleaning the house, putting away the tree.

Hanna today is made with the new set, Celebration Hanna. The paper is K and Co. and Bazzill. There is some bling and ribbon, I used a corner rounder punch and some oblong hole punch from SU that I cannot rememeber the name of. Dang, I hate when that happens.

I have a severe lack of my favorite drink in my house, Diet Rite. Or as my kids call it, Diet Riot. It has no sodium and no caffeine and is possibly just flavored water with bad stuff added, like artificial sweeteners and artificial colorings. But, it's my drink of choice, and my choice could be a lot worse. I ran out some time before Christmas and being a miser, refused to pay a high grocery store price for it. I like the Wal Mart price so much better. And I like it in a bottles, not cans. Though cans will do in a pinch. They apparently do not sell Diet Rite in the parts of the south that I have recently been to as we found it neither at the groceries nor the gas stations. So, I am off on my search.....let's pray I return victorious.

Sexy Creature


Here is Hanna all decked out and wrapped up for Valentines Day with her bow on top. The bow is from the Hanna set "Perfect Package" and Hanna is from the just released today set "Celebrations." This is how I would like to look when my husband comes home, but the kids get in the way of my looking this good.
We survived going to the funeral and coming home again. Man, I really want to sleep in tonight. I can't tell you how good my own bed felt last night after several days of hotel and condo beds that were less than comfy. I ended up sleeping with a kid on the sofa bed. You know it's bad when you CHOOSE the sofa bed, since it sagged in all the right places for my body to fit into it.
I'll have more Hanna tomorrow to post!

Celebration Hanna


I really do love the new Hanna Stamps set, Celebraton Hanna. I have made so many cards with this set I can't believe this is the first I have been able to post one. The paper is DCWV, there is some bazzill paper, some bling, ribbon, and SU punches used. Please don't ask me to name all the punches, I am much too tired from traveling 14 hours home today. I am going to bed so we can rise before dawn and be on the road again, this time for Scott's grandmother's funeral.

Good Grief

We booked a quick trip to Williamsburg and after driving for two full days to get here we got the news that night that Scott's grandmother had passed away. We are going to stay here a few days regardless before driving back and heading north for the funeral, which is 10 AM Friday morning.

I brought all my Hanna cards to unveil this week as it is a sneak peek week, with the release of the new set on Friday. Well, we don't have the cord we need to upload photos from the camera to the computer. Pooey!

And I have spotty e mail access, too. The e mail news from a friend in Kenya, where I was in April is that riots have broken out over election results and there is probably some votes being destroyed and/or not counted. 200 were attacked in church and burnt/beaten/hacked to death near where I was. Americans at the compound where I was, mostly doctors and students were evacuated out of the area, but my friend remains behind with her husband to care for those at the hospital. The compound also has taken in native Kenyans, in hopes of keeping them safe. My friend reports a full gas tank in their cars, but no fresh food available. Markets are not open, everyone is hiding. I hope this passes soon. It sounds dreadfully like a scene in Hotel Rwanda.

We had a good new years. Scott and Noah went to see fireworks and Seth and I stayed at the condo in front of the TV and in bed. I will post again, hopefully Friday night with Hanna cards and items. It is frustrating to be ready to post and unable to do so.