Unfortunately, Carol

I was nudged on my sister Peggy's blog to google, "Unfortunately, Carol" and check out the results. She originally saw this idea on Carla Sonheim's blog.
Here is just a sampling of the results:
Unfortunately, Carol has been crabby for quite a while now.
Unfortunately, Carol's career was cut short when she died under mysterious causes.
Unfortunately, Carol and Mike are in the cave again, trying to find that bracelet that Carol dropped in the previous arachnid encounter.
Unfortunately, Carol's plan backfired, because most men don't respond well to being "wooed."
Unfortunately, Carol's daytrip to Paradise is spoiled by Multiple Man--no, not that Multiple Man, the DC one.
Unfortunately, Carol's words result more in perspiration than inspiration.
Unfortunately, Carol has never been able to catch on from Grandma's teachings.
Unfortunately Carol had used the jar containing his DNA as a candy jar.
Unfortunately, Carol violated her parole by mashing the potatoes for dinner. They were lumpy.
Unfortunately, Carol lacked the quick wit to get back at the mean girls.
Unfortunately, Carol was in recuperation during our second visit after impaling her arm on a knife that Dave had bought to replace a damaged one.
Unfortunately, Carol got into the vodka pretty fast.
Unfortunately, Carol was allergic to monkeys.
Unfortunately, Carol is in Spain and cannot buy the nicely packaged lard this year.

Unfortunately, all true.

Did We Have Fun?

I haven't posted for a long time, but I finally uploaded my pictures from the Banders August "Staycation" at Patti's, and I had to share these photos on behalf of all of us.


The Midnight Stampers retreat in October was fun too, but we had to focus now and then.

Heart Art

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day and did something that makes your heart happy. On that subject, I know that making art and doing something creative makes me happy, but sometimes I need a push (like doing a swap) to make me spend more time in my favorite room in the house--the room that is overflowing with all my arts and crafts supplies. The majority of them are collecting dust, drying out, or otherwise waiting for me to DO SOMETHING with them! I mentioned the idea of making a heart of some form, any media, each week for the next year to a friend of mine (you know who you are, April) as a nudge to creating on a regular basis, and now the two of us have made a commitment of sorts to do this. Even though I don't feel I should need a push to make art, at the moment I seem to, especially with going back to work. I'm hoping that having a buddy in this endeavor will add the slightest amount of pressure to the nudge, and that it will soon turn into a habit.

Want to join us? We are starting this week--yes, right away! By next Valentine's Day we should have 52 hearts. Of course we don't want to wait till then to admire our work. Bring your hearts to our meetings, post them on your blog, or send us photos. There are no rules except to complete one item each week--a heart or something with a heart on it. If a particular week is impossible, you can always make two the next, etc. And since I'm a person who needs a deadline, let's make it Sunday of each week. Are you in??

It was a Dark Chocolatey Night

Answer: Milk chocolate, white chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate fondue, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate mousse, brownies, chocolate molten cake.

Question: What are the perks of attending a chocolate cooking techniques demo at Williams-Sonoma? The result of the evening was that April and I each left toting a 10 lb. chocolate bar because when all is said and done, the chocolate itself is really the best part. We briefly considered splitting one, but who were we kidding?

Christmas Past

December 25th seems like so long ago now! Especially since I've gone from cold and snowy Montana to warm and sunny Dallas. I had a wonderful time with my sister's family, as always. These were my daily views. And on a trip downtown to see some of Michael deMeng's new items at a hip toy/artsy store called Tsunami, we encountered more evidence of the cold.



Welcome to Daisy, the newest member of the family.

Niece #1 and niece #2--I'm a lucky aunt!