Hippos

Hutto is a small town about 10 miles from us and yesterday Marie, Jimmie Sue and I had a meeting at the Everything Hippo Store. The town mascot is the Hippo. There are cement hippos of every size and color throughout the town. Folklore says that in 1915 a traveling circus came through town and a hippo escaped, thus, the mascot was born. I don't think I have ever seen a hippo at a circus but it is a good story! A little know fact is that more people are killed every year by hippos than any other wild animal...so watch where you swim!

Klick and Kut

I am now the proud owner of the KNK! Karen came over yesterday and gave me super hands on support and Sandy did the same via phone. I can't wait to really get busy using this super machine!

Home/Family Altered Container

I bought this cute kit at Crop,Paper,Scissors, in Waco a few months ago, it was designed by Angelia Wigginton. I love the colors and of course I had to make a few changes but love the way it turned out!

Fish Tacos

My friends from California had raved about fish tacos for a long time, but being a Texan,tacos should be beef or chicken, period! They kept talking about how yummy fish tacos are but I didn't believe them. I found this recipe and decided I would try it. T was curling her nose at "fish tacos" and she was totally prepared not to eat. I served the first fish taco and it was delicious!! We ate every one and have had fish tacos several times since. I do like my fish shredded not in a filet for tacos but now I am a believer.
Here is the recipe for you Jean:
2 limes
4 C. shredded cabbage mix for coleslaw (1/2-16oz bag)
1/2 c. reduced-fat sour cream
1 1/4 lbs. tilapia fillets
1/4 t. ground chipolte chili pepper
8 corn tortillas
1 c. salsa
From limes,grate 2 t. peel and squeeze 1/4 c. juice
In large bowl, combine coleslaw mix and lime juice, set aside. In small bowl, stir lime peel into sour cream: set aside.
In 12 inch skillet, heat oil on medium-high until hot. On sheet of waxed paper, sprinkle tilapia fillets with chipolte chili pepper and 1/4 t. salt to season both sides. Add fish to skillet and cook 5-6 minutes or until it torn opaque throughout, turning over once. ( I stir mine into little pieces) Meanwhile warm tortillas.
To serve,cut fillets into 8 pieces, ( I use my little shredded pieces). Place tilapia in each tortilla, top with slaw, lime sour cream and salsa.
Delish!!

A layout

I actually did a layout 12x12! I think this is my first one in months, and even then I didn't use any brain power, just scraplifted it from Sherri!! Thanks Sherri! It is fun to do some layouts again. I only have one more layout then I am done with soccer 2008!

Play Dates

My little bug has had some fun play dates this week. Bekas blue bug was a little shy about getting in the sandbox with my bug but I think they enjoyed some fun hours in the sun! The little green friend visited with my bug while we were shopping in Waxahachie and they seemed to enjoy each others company!

Corsicana Road Trip

Janet, Marie, and I took a day road trip to Waxahachie to.Crafty Scrapper, did a little shopping (of course), and had lunch at the Dove's Nest. My dil met us there for a great lunch and short visit. We drove to Corsicana to Scrappin Good Timefor a little more shopping but made a stop at the Collin Street Bakery. I know that I am among the few that love fruitcake and theirs is the best in the world! I didn't buy a fruitcake but came home with some yummy cookies. I really enjoyed reading the history of this landmark bakery.

2008 favorite pictures May

A little slow in getting this done but I went to a crop at Kathy's house Saturday night and did finish a few projects. Kathy shared some fun Martha Stewart punches,that I used on these 2 pages. I also used some metal, ran it through the Cuttlebug embossing and it worked wonderfully!!Favorite Photos 2008
It was a great scrapping day, I got to visit with Kathy,Liz, Linda, Janet, Kathy, Sherry, Holly, and others. We had a ton of food, including delicious BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, beans, and other trimmings, dessert was either a Root Beer float or glib glob!! Thanks Kathy!!

VW future relative

You never know when love will strike. Friday I had my little bug parked between 2 "grown up" cars but when I came back this slick yellow dude had moved in! I watched for a few minutes to see how things were developing, saw them exchange license plate #'s and decided it was time to go. You can tell by the grin on both of their faces, there could be a future relationship developing!

Schools out!

and the living is easy. Well that is what my dear sweet 16 year old thinks! Nothing to do but go to the lake, swim, movies, sleep late, hang out with her buds... right? Nope! She had some added duties around the house and this week included cleaning out and washing her car. Some nice person threw some chemical on one side of her car and it ate through some of the wheel covering, so she had to spend a morning washing her car. This was not exactly how she wanted to spend her summer but hey thats life!

My V W Relatives

As some of you know, I have a silver VW bug Convertible. Love that little bug, but discovered I knew nothing about the VW relatives. I thought I would do a mini album on some of my bug's realatives, some good, some bad, some old, some new!
Linda found my "Jailbird" cousin, I think he was on a work-release program!
My next relative is from across the border.I met this Great Uncle on I20 going about 70mph. I rolled down my window, took the picture and we exchanged the peace sign.This Great Uncle had been taking good care of himself, tires and paint job in excellent condition, even had a tattoo on his back window!

GASC final day

The last day of the GASC didn't seem to be as crowded but it was still packed with long lines at booths, shopping and checking out. I didn't see anything mind blowing new but the Zutter corner rounder was in stock there for a few days, Karen directed me to some new Prima Dude paper that is adorable. It was a fun, fast paced 3 days and we did learn a lot about scrapbook conventions! I saw this booth and for some reason is just cracked me up...guess you can buy anything at this convention!
We ate dinner at the Trail Dust. This restaurant has been around a long time and still fun to visit. It has a 2 story slide that kids of all ages were loving and a band plays every night. The food was just ok, but overall a nice step back in time!

GASC, doors open

At 9 am sharp the doors opened. We happened to be standing in an isle by the front doors when they opened and I could not believe my eyes. Women came running at full speed, spreading out in all directions, I was stunned, you would think there was only one item in the entire convention and they were going to get it! It was crowded all day but we managed to see Linda, Dot, Patsy, Lisa and Kathy among all the 1,000's of women there! We decided not to eat "convention" food so walked across the street the Sheraton for lunch. I think today I will do some make and takes and just enjoy the show! It is much easier to navigate without all the strollers and carts,so that is a big plus.

GASC, set up day

Today was set up day for all the vendors plus an all day crop.We were there by 7:30 am and the trucks and U-hauls were arriving and waiting in line to unload. The pictures show all the many, many boxes waiting at each vendors booth to be unpacked and set up. We saw a lot of different ways people packed, and transported their merchandise to the shows. I really liked seeing the behind the scenes and how much work goes into getting a booth ready. The doors opened at 10 am for the 10-10 crop and there were about 600 ladies waiting in line to get in by 9am. There were several shops set up in the crop room and the buying frenzie began once they got to their tables. They could only buy in the crop room, the offical shopping begins tomorrow at 9am.

New Word Bloom release

Here are some of the new releases that are exclusive at GASC this week, but will be ready to ship out next week!
The adorable 6 Flags was done by Susan D, just make me want to run over to 6Flags today.
I did the Cowboy and Pirate and love the way they turned out. We laser cut a treasure chest and I filled it with jewels!
Will try to get pictures of the rest of the new WB this week!

GASC, the day before

We decided to check out the convention center last night after dinner at Texas Land and Cattle Co. The Ranger ball park, Cowboys new stadium,6 Flags and Convention center are grouped pretty close to each other. This is a picture of the new Cowboy stadium that will open this fall, it is massive!
There were only SEI 18 wheelers parked there last night! We decided to see if we could get inside and surprise we could! There was no one in there and boxes stacked everywhere, as you can tell. I was so surprised there were no security guards and the convention center was unattended. Today was a totally different story!

Long and short

of the hair. T has had long hair worn the same way for years. It is hair that those of us with stick straight, thin hair would die for. Her hair curls in nice loose curls, but she uses the iron to straighten it all the time. Last week when we went to get hair cuts, she decides it is time for the long hair to go. This is the result! Of course it is only curly when she is home, public hair must be straight! She looks a little older with this hair cut!

GASC

Here we are in Arlington waiting for the GASC! We deliver our Word Blooms tomorrow very early. I can't wait to see all the goodies that will be inside the convention center! Hopefully I can get some fun pictures of events going on!