Life gets crazier!

We just got home after a very interesting weekend! I am so tired, I am only going to tell you about one part of it right now.
Charles was due to fly in on Friday evening. Kayla and I went to a Jazz concert at the Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. Pete and afterwards we were supposed to pick up Charles at the airport. He called and told us that his flight was cancelled. They were going to put him on a second flight the next morning. The next morning arrived and we found out that the second flight was cancelled. Needless to say K and I were very sad/upset and had to delay our Busch Gardens plans for a few hours. He finally got on the plane, and then his connection. We were so happy and were waiting for his call around 4pm to say he was on his way via cab to BG. NOPE! He called and said, "I'm fine, but we had a little problem with our landing." I will not tell you all the details, you can follow the link or you may have possibly seen all about it on the news tonight!
Below is a TBO photo, but tomorrow when I am more awake, I'll pull the photos from Charles' camera. Did I tell you that he has become a very good scrubby-taking photos all the time!
Thank goodness my honey is fine and home! Now we need lots of prayers and good wishes for our trip up north!



http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/jun/27/272307/jet-blows-front-tires-while-landing-tia/news-breaking/

Last days at The Doodle

I have been spending my last three days at The Doodle packing up the product that I'll be taking up to PA with us. I am officially working at The Doodle's north satellite location! LOL Actually, I am continuing some of my work from up there and designing class and make-n-takes are one of the jobs moving with me! So, I've been packing them up in pizza boxes, putting labels on them and adding them to the piles of boxes at the house! I'm happy and excited to continue being part of the Doodle family, hopefully for a good long time!

A rare treat...

Today we signed the next-to-the-last set of papers to finalize the adoption and our adorably cute case worker came by with not only the papers but a rare treat! A few photos of young Kayla! Of course, K says that they are ugly and hates that I'm showing ya'll, but I mean, really, how cute is that face?! K is stomping mad saying, "But ma, people in Germany are seeing my picture." If you ask me, "Methinks the lady doth protest too much"!!

Sometimes you feel like a girl...

...sometimes you don't!!



This morning I went to start the car and the car wouldn't start. I guessed it was the battery and my mechanic thought the same. We had to be out of the house for a showing, so we sat on a bench and figured out what to do. Jackie kindly came to our rescue and took Kayla and I out to Walmart to pick up a battery. I had seen Charles change one before and it didn't look too hard, so I thought I'd give it a try. We went to lunch and for a Boba smoothie and brought the battery home. After gathering tools, checking the car manual and wiping my glistening forehead (since women don't sweat!) I got the first few things loosened, but one bolt was really giving me a hard time, so we had to call in reinforcements with better tools. A neighbor helped us with the bolts and we got the battery in and after lots of gunk got on our hands, we were able to turn it over and...it worked!! Jackie and I were able to change a car battery! This is one crazy proud moment for me who is not mechanical in any way!! Whoohooo!

Can you feel the love...?

Wanna know why I love working at Whim So Doodle so much? Wanna know why I'm gonna miss daily life at The Doodle?



This is why. I've been taking boxes home from the store for packing up the stuff at the house. When I opened this box to pack stuff up in, I found a little message written by Jo for me to "find" while packing. How sweet is that?! I'm sure gonna miss them all!
(Thanks Jo!)

Martha's at my favorite store!!

Guess what? I just saw an ad on TV that said that Martha Stewart crafts were now available at Big Lots! Now, I do love me some Big Lot shopping, but Martha? At the super-duper closeout store? Martha on closeout? Wow! I remember when Martha partnered with EK and tried to make a big splash in the paper crafting market. I was there at the launch party at CHA in the room for EK Elite stores. I saw her stumble up the steps and heard her call rub-ons, "rub-downs". I saw her when she almost had a stoke on stage when someone suggested adding glitter to her daisy stickers. I ate the houres de ourves and rubbed elbows. Saw her go off script and choose not to spell out "Martha" with her punches but the word "BAR" instead! (Did I mention she stumbled up the steps...hummm) I listened to her speeches when she suggested that she and she alone was going to revitalize the scrapbooking industry with her re-branded merchandise. I remember her "exclusive" deals with Michales and all the shelf space they devoted to her products. I remember the way the mom-n-pop stores were cut out of the option to order at the same time as the box stores. I also know that her stuff soon ended up on the WalMart plan-o-gram. But now on closeout at BL!? I love it!! I said from the beginning that her stuff was yucky. Didn't like it at all and we never ordered it for the store. The lesson she should learn from this is that you cannot make a go of "revitalizing the scrapbooking industry" by cutting the mom-n-pops out of it at the beginning. Unless, of course, her master plan was to move along sales by devaluing her brand by getting that beautiful $2 orange price sticker on her merchandise.

Sorry...stepping down from my retail soap box now!

Gonna miss Bombay Masala...

Tonight Stacey, Kayla and I headed to Bombay Masala for one last Indian supper in Tampa before we leave. I adore Indian food and luckily have a BFF that does too. Kayla had never tried it before, but she really is a food "trooper" and tries everything. I think given a broader culinary exposure, she could have a nice palette. She enjoyed her Onion Bhaji and Chicken Tikki Masala. She even ate the onion relish and tried (but hated!) the hot pickles. Not many people enjoy the hot pickles like I do! Anyway, my P365 for today...look at how cute Stacey looks! And look at all that yummy food!