I is for ...

H is for ...

G is for ...

F is for ...

E is for ...

D is for ...

The other shot pixabay.com accepted.

The mayor of Vineland, NJ, (many, many, many years ago) started a Dandelion festival and he would cook up many of the dishes served at the fair / event.  Looking at google to see if the event is still held, it looks like they have switched over to a Dandelion Dinner.  Too bad.  Not as much cooking to do but not reaching as many people, either.

As a child, I was sort of indoctrinated that dandelions in the lawn are evil evil eveil!  But after seeing M C Escher's woodcut of a dandelion, I saw how beautiful they are.

So one afternoon a few years ago, I spent time shooting digital photo after photo of a robin, a sparrow and dandelions.  An afternoon well spent!

C is for ...

Of course, C has to be for CAT!

I'm not even sure which cat this is.  I am pretty sure it is one of three that when they were just a couple of days old, the mom brought them and left them under my office chair, knowing I would watch out for them.  They were wonderful kitties.  One, unfortunately, died from an injury, cause unknown.  And the other two eventually disappeared -- I think their mom did what I asked her to do, took them to one of the nearby farms to live and spread joy to others.  I hope they did and are still  happily doing that job.

Recently, I saw through an article link at facebook that 80% of orange cats are male and female orange cats are considered rare.  Those three had a rare mom!

For lots of orange cat fun, check out Cole and Marmalade on YouTube!!!

You can find this photo at pixabay.com.  Of the 20 or so photos I submitted, only two were acceptable -- this one and one of my dandelions.  I disagreed with their reasons for not adding them to my gallery but, hey, what can you do when someone else makes the final decision?  I was surprised to find that more than 45 people have like this kitty enough to download the photo from pixabay!  **grin**

B is for ...

Remember that song from school, "B I N G O B I N G O B I N G O and Bingo was his name-o"?

There are a couple of places around where we live now where I could go play Bingo but I have never gone.  Where we lived before, there places to go play 500, Euchre and occasionally, pinochle but not bingo.

If you like to do digi scrapping or other digital art, there is on an online digi-scrap store that plays bingo in the forum, once a month.  You are provided a form, a list of words and then you create your card, post it in the gallery and then on the night, join the fun int he chatroom.  Lots of fun with lots of very funa nd interesting ladies.  I far too often lose track of the date and miss it ...  maybe someone else will join in and remind me?  I hope to do a screen capture of making my card and posting to youtube and to the blog ...

Hop on over to http://www.godigitalscrapbooking.com/ and check out the free daily downloads and then head over to the forum and sign up there and under monthly challenges someone eventually posts the date and word list for the month's bingo.  Tons of fun -- trust me on this!

(As far as I can tell, the April date has not yet been posted ...)

Argh Plus!

I did eventually get a keyboard to plug in to the laptop so I could actually type again ... YAY!  But now the laptop itself is acting up.  This Christmas, I need a new Win 7 laptop -- hubby has found some fabulous deals for desktop Win 7 computers over at eBay but I want to stick to the laptop version ... almost as bad as a friend who abandoned her desktop computer once she got her iPad.  Personally, I have no intention of moving from a "computer" to some kind of device like an iPad or android thing, nor do I ever intend to use a Win 10 computer -- if it ever gets to the point where that is my only computer option -- I will be off the internet faster than you can say "Whoops!" and probably off the computer too -- so, for Christmas this year, I want a piggy bank (hopefully with some kind of donation(s) already in it, to start saving up for the things I want -- a typewriter for when I give up computers and a Silhouette Cameo with pixscan mat or a Brother Scan N Cut;  both digital die cut machines require connection to a computer to use ... **sigh**


Oh, yeh, I also want to figure out where all my camera equipment is hiding so I can figure out a set up that works so I can start making videos for YouTube.  I've finally gotten over my fear of creating junk and decided that even if it is junk, you gotta start somewhere, right?  If you start out perfect, everyone is going to expect that going forward ... start with the junk and get better, right?  Just don't deliberately make junk!


PiBoIdMo -- have you heard of it?


November was NaNWriMo -- you, know, National Novel Writing Month -- where the goal is to get 50,000 words of a crummy rough first draft of your Great American Novel written.  It came.  It went.  My word count?  Zilch, nada, nuthin'.
PiBoIdMo is Picture Book Idea Month -- I thought it was to create 12 picture book ideas (one a month for the coming year) but when I looked for the link to it for a Facebook comment, I found out it is a new idea everyday for the month.  That too used to be November but for the next one, it has been moved to January 2017 -- still time to plan to participate.  I think I will try it.
I was mentally working on a story (but did not get any of it typed out for an addition to a word count for NaNoWriMo ...) -- and three of the characters got "involved" -- three little girls.  Hannah, Emma and Grace.  In the course of the story, the character who is sort of me, tried to draw Hannah back into childhood and out of the role of "little mother" for her younger sisters.  Told her I wanted to write a silly story about three characters, a puppy named Paul, a kitten named Paprika and a doll about the size and shape of a Barbie but named Armadillo, who likes to wear really funky clothes.
     In the course of the story, Hannah did not get involved in making up a story about these three characters, well, not at first.  Instead, she sat down, drew a stick figure of Armadillo and then began to use her talents to design and draw clothing for the stick figure.  She made up a bunch of outfits and then when asked for more information about the clothes, Hannah began to explain situations where Armadillo might wear them.  The two younger sisters had designed rooms with furniture and places like gardens and more -- collecting or drawing pictures of furniture and flowers and all kinds of things.  plu the youngest began to think up silly situations for Armadillo to get caught up in ... I think those three could come up with about a dozen or more story ideas for starters ... LOL!  Yes, it is true, characters often come up with ideas that are their own and not something I would think f on my own -- even though, ultimately, those ideas come out of my own mind somewhere.  Which reminds me -- every blog post should involve some kind o graphic, shouldn't it?  Well ... I'm heading over to pixabay for an image to share today ... be back as soon as I find something ...

A is for ...

Oh no!
April 1 came and went and this did not post -- it was considered a "draft" by blogger ... so when I checked today (4/2) , it had not yet appeared ...
Then I found out that other than the aardvark busy shopping, there was nothing in the post **sigh**.  I had planned to do something right after midnight on the 1st to add to the post but forgot and headed off to bed instead and all day yesterday, I just could not get my brain in gear to check it out ... right now, we are off to see some things being sold as part of a craig's list estate sale -- cheap used furniture that i can add to my workspace and hopefully get it organized and usable ...  When we get back, I hope to get this post to what it should be ... or what I hoped it would be.  And since Sunday is not considered a posting day for the challenge, I can get a few of the next ones done to post on schedule.


Well, we got the cabinet, got it home sort of okay -- had to tie the hatch shut over it so cold air and exhaust whipped through -- ick.  Got home, got it in the house eventually, after hubby took a nap and spent a lot of time helping me make a space for it.  Got it in place.  Got the storage cart from Aldi put together finally, too.  Still lots more to do but ... on the way -- WOO HOO!  So happy!


😁


So, finally, I can get the "A" post finished ... I hope.


For "A is for ..." I want to share a set of rubber stamps and matching dies from Fun Stampers Journey -- on my "wish  list" for sure!


Here are the stamps and then a pic of samples from the brand new mini catalog:

You can easily get this set or stamps and matching dies by visiting:  www.funstampersjourney.com/WILMAPAYNE

And you can get a downloadable pdf of the new mini catalog at:  http://www.funstampersjourney.com/catalog   Be sure to use the arrow pointing down at the top left corner of the catalog to start the download.  Lots of fun new stuff in there!

Enjoy!

*Wilma is a wonderful, supportive lady and I would love for you to support her and her business.  THANK YOU!

2017 A-to-Z Blogging Challenge

I can't believe an entire year has gone by but then again --
lots has happened in that time ...

--> The day after the challenge finished last year, I started having major problems with the laptop -- a refurbished desktop was purchased to replace it, it arrived but is not set up yet ... **sigh**
Hubby did not want to set it up until he had a cabinet to store it in to keep the cats from "having fun" with it.  Got the cabinet at Goodwill a few days ago but we have not had an opportunity to clean out the area where it will go, disconnect all the peripherals and re-set up everything ... including finding and recording license numbers for software, saving bookmarks and favorites for the web browsers ... it is going to be "fun" getting up and running again ... probably have to purchase new of a couple of my constant go-to software programs **sigh again**  BTW, the link to Panstoria digi-scrap software is no longer valid;  they sold out to a cloud storage company -- this is one of the software programs I will need to replace -- and when I do, I will become one of their "Ambassadors" to be able to make a commission on it when someone else wants to use this awesome program -- plus, by becoming an Ambassodor (for slightly more than just buying the program), I get some "free" 'art kits' as well, making it a good financial deal for me.)
[I know Goodwill is seen to be controversial -- here in Wisconsin, the prices are outrageous and almost cheaper to go to Walmart and buy new.   But in Minnesota, where hubby works, they are associated with Easter Seals and prices are more in line with being a thrift / re-use-it shop; and actually do some good.]

-->  I have had some medical issues, which to some people might be considered minor but have kept me from signing up for the challenge or even planning ahead for this year's -- last year, I was able to set up each post and schedule it to pop into place on the right day and keep working on it as I had a chance up until it "went live," as they say.  Just got started yesterday, (March 31)
Hubby has had some medical issues too, including a bad back that hurts him a lot because two vertebrae have decided to entangle themselves -- Physical Therapy helps but, I think we missed his appointment yesterday afternoon due to my visit to eye doctor and then to Urgent Care to have some blisters on my back diagnosed -- shingles, as I feared.  :(

-->  Continuing medical issues may hinder or hamper my efforts along with switching over to a new computer during this month, but we will see what happens.

-->  Just a warning, I have no idea for a theme for this year -- every day will be a surprise for us all.  **grin**

-->  I joined and left Fun Stampers Journey rubber stamping direct sales company since i last posted here (I did post at one of my other blogs -  a few projects using their products).  And three months ago, I joined Close To my Heart, another rubber stamping and scrapbooking direct sales company.  I may occasionally highlight a project or item from the catalog but, I may also share some projects or products from other companies.  We'll see.

-->  I have been watching YouTube a lot lately and for a long time have had no inspiration or oomph to actually do anything.  Partly because of the planned computer switch and things got moved out of the workspace to make room for the computer and cabinet -- I have no idea where some of the supplies are and being unwilling to buy new ... well, I am so inspired, I will be buying some new stuff soon (like inexpensive deli paper) and then will go absolutely hog wild to the point where the computer may get completely ignored (except to turn on and off what ever audiobook I happen to be listening to that day).

-->  Having mentioned YouTube, I must admit I find one channel most inspiring and will probably share her videos with you if I find one that fits the day.  And if my brain kicks into gear again, I may try to make and share "word search puzzles" instead of just a list of fun words like I did last year.

I hope you will visit often and leave comments, so I know what I should change on these challenge posts.  THANKS! 

Oh, I better warn you -- if you go to the Blogging Challenge webpage, there is no list of this year's participants -- last year's list is still there and may be a place to try to find this year's players.  I don't know of other participants yet but if I find out anyone I know is participating, I will let you know in one of the future posts.