I said all I was going to do Monday was cook and that's all I did all day. I put dinner in the crock pot (so technically I didn't cook, the crock pot did) but I did make homemade banana pudding with meringue and it was delicious.  It was a recipe from Trisha Yearwood's cookbook.

Today they are coming to install the new storm door in the sunporch. I am so hoping it solves the problem of the freezing and rising of the patio. First I have to go shovel the snow out of the porch from the door being wide open for weeks!

Today's card is from a recent stamp class and is made with the new butterfly die from Stampin Up. It is really a pretty die and I have ordered it so you will probably see it again. Be kind to one another.

I'm glad to be back again. We have had a hard several days. DH fell late Wednesday night. He was in the other room and did not call out for me. I don't know how long he had been on the floor when I got him. This is the second time in eight days he has fallen. I can't get him up so I sit with him until he is calm, then try to explain he needs to roll over on his knees to get himself up. . Thursday he complained of pain and could not go to the bathroom. I explained I could take him to the ER and they may keep him. He has a horror of the ER since they kept him overnight several months ago. But he said it was bad enough to go, so off we went. He had a bowel obstruction and they did get him fixed up. Friday he had to drink the concoction they give you as a prep for a colonoscopy to make sure there was no other blockage. That is not a good thing to give someone who is confused about what is happening. I will spare you the details, only say we had nine cleanings and changes of clothes, nine cleanings of the bathroom and nine loads of laundry Friday, five of the same Saturday and four on Sunday. The washer and dryer are in shock! Today he seems to be back to normal.

We have had really cold weather and snow over the weekend and the cold is still with us. This picture is the snow piled in front of our house. It is five feet high and this is just plowed from our court! There is that much piled across the street as well.  I'll be back in the swing of things soon. Today, I am tired and only going to cook. That is all! Be kind to one another.

I needed a card for my neighbor who lost her husband quite suddenly. I had the hardest time with this card. I cut and blended the scallop, stamped the bird, colored with copics, cut the dark green oval and adhered it. Then I decided it needed the eye on the bird more defined so I got out my black enamel accents. I was so careful but it blobbed right out in a chunk on the birds eye. I used my fingernail to scrape some of it away and got it on the edge of the scallop. When I tried to get it off, the color came off with it. So I reblended and it didn't. Acck! So I started over. Blended, stamped the bird with gray ink this time thinking the color would look better. Colored with copics. It did not look better. Started over. Cut new scallop, blended, stamped, colored, turned over dark green oval and applied the glue to the oval, and promptly dropped the whole oval on the top of the card. I grabbed it and moved it to the bottom, but not where I wanted it. I had glue all over the card under the sentiment and the oval was stuck on too close to the bottom. I was afraid to try to move it, so there it is! How could something so simple go so wrong? I used a linen look background stamp that I didn't quite get the card up high enough so I had to cut a little off the top. The only thing that came out well was the sentiment that I embossed with clear embossing powder. I didn't mess that up hardly at all. So with a lot of nerve I am actually entering this card into two challenges. One in

 and one in 

Then I ask you, could this possibly be comfortable?

Be kind to one another.

Today's card is for my next door neighbor who is turning 85 next week.  I added the word print along the bottom so he could read it rather than covering it up. I think he will get a kick out of the definition of Playfellow. It says for children or young people and he is that at 85! He recently had a stroke and is an avid golfer so I'm hoping he will be able to get back out and play this spring. I am entering this card in the challenge at Colourq. Their colors are red and black and a neutral with newsprint.  Be kind to one another.

Our beautiful warm days are over for now. It didn't last long enough! I'd like you to meet my newest follower Traci of http://cricutjunkiecreations.blogspot.com/.  She is in southern California and as her blog says, she is a Cricut junkie and makes some really cute things.

First I want to thank all of you who answered about the Wink of Stella pen. I'm embarrassed to tell you that I don't think I was shaking it enough. I shook it up and tried again and it doesn't look so silver. The white one when shaken looks silver to start with, then goes to white. I need to be taken by the hand and walked through instructions! Then slapped for good measure.

Second, thank you all for telling me your plates have warped too. KathyK of http://purpliciousprincessdiaries.blogspot.com/ sent me a link to straighten out the plastic plates. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppSvvdZ_-L8 is the youtube video. Chrissie of http://simply-one-of-a-kind.blogspot.com/ said to flip the metal plate each time. I was truly stunned when it curled so bad the first time I used it. I say it all the time, stampers are the greatest. Thanks for sharing all these tips and ways to fix things.

My card today is for my grandson in college. I didn't want it to be girly and fancy so this is what I came up with. I saw a video that France Martin of http://www.frenchiestamps.com/ did about drywall tape. I colored a piece of tape aqua with a marker. I have had that tape at least five years and had never used it. I taped it over cardstock and ran it through the Cuttlebug with a heart die, on brown paper and on white.  I am so pleased with the result and it looks sorta of guy looking. I glued the patterned paper (which I hardly ever use even though my craft room is overrun with it) to card stock and stamped the sentiment from Lawn Fawn in brown ink. Drywall tape is self adhestive so no problem there. Be kind to one another. I am entering this card in

and http://trystampinontuesday.blogspot.com/

It's a beautiful warm day here today with sunshine. That makes me so happy. Not much going on so I made another Valentine! It is in pink and gray and that is the challenge at http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/ so I'm going to pop over there and enter this card.  The heart is a die cut and thanks to all of you who came to my aid about die cutting I was able to get a metal adapter plate and it finally cut this die out. I did have to turn it several times and it curled my metal plate right up. I mean it really curled the plate, just actually curled it up. I hope that is normal. The washi tape is silver gray and pink so I used it for a little shine. Be kind to one another.

I am also entering this card in http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/ and http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/ and http://cuttlebugmania.blogspot.co.uk/

1. 

I had an interesting week for sure. DH can't remember which button to use to make the DVD play. I've used several different ways to mark it, none of which worked. Now the remote has a happy face. It stands out and I actually Tombow Mono glued it on! I hope it stays. Even red permanet marker rubbed off and other stickers I just stuck on came off too.

My other issue is the storm door to the patio. Last summer we had our stoop dug up and a patio poured because the stoop kept rising up in the winter and we couldn't get the door open. I told our concrete guy that happens and there has to be water under there that freezes when it gets cold. He assured me this would not happen. He put extra gravel and sand down for drainage and said the weight of the concrete would keep it from rising up. He was wrong! It has done it several times this winter. He wants to dig up the patio and pour concrete under the footers. We are talking big bucks and I don't want the patio to look strange and patched. The solution I have come up with is a storm door with a doggie door. Then we won't have to open the door when it freezes. I've had to prop open the storm door and leave it open so Molly can go in and out. The wind caught it and if you look at the picture the spring on the bottom closure has come out and the top chain is completely torn off from the door. It snowed in the other night! So I'm off today to see about a new door.

One more thing. What is the number on your clear Wink of Stella pen? I have two. The first one said it was clear. It is called GL Clear 999 on one end and H13 999 on the other end and puts on a shimmer that is almost white. So I bought another one that the gal said was clear. It is GL white 000 and D14 000 on the other end. It is almost the same as the first one. It is a white glaze look. I thought it would be clear clear. I guess I thought it would be like glossy accents. So is the white look what it is suppose to be?

Thanks for hanging with me. It seems like the older I get the more things go wrong. And that's just with me! Then the other household things go wrong! Maybe because I have to take care of them now and I really don't know how. My brain only wants to know about stamping not all this other stuff. Be kind to one another.