Thread: Everyday Chatting & Waffling {2021} Let's get to know each other!

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Ane - Thank you! I am just itching to have time to sit and scrap, but it hasn't happened yet. Today's the once-quarterly dump day, and I have things to haul, and errands to run. Which means I need to make a shopping list before I forget something critical (again).

Karen - I am cautiously optimistic that hell or high water, we'll get her taken care of. Especially now that the "Venue" is definitively set at my mum's place, where I have all of her "materials" to work with in case something comes up, two, possibly three ovens (I don't remember if the kitchen downstairs also has an oven, or if it's just a fridge), four refrigerators, a sewing machine, and of course my mum's help. She and I really didn't get along when I was in high school, but she and I are both excellent event coordinators, me because I studied it at uni for a professional level and her because she used to run a gymnastic studio and was in charge of absolutely everything, so it couldn't be in better hands, and I love being able to do something to help my best friend. Or in this case, many, many somethings.

Rae - in the end, I went with Up in the Air because it's something I have fewer colours out of, but can definitely see coordinating with stuff already in my stash, but it was a long, hard deliberation!


And then I am going to try and make a blood orange-chocolate birthday cake with macarons for myself this year. Birthdays are the one time in a year that I can bust out all of the fancy-fancy-fancy cake toys without being scolded for decadence and excess like I'm Marie Antoinette and he's the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason. I've never made a macaron before, that's the only curve ball in the equation, aside Ermine frosting. I've done it before, I know it turns out okay, I just have a hate/loathe/defiance relationship with homemade frosting. But I am more sure about the frosting being fine if I pace myself than the macarons. And then the cleaning. Oh so much cleaning.

Due to some legal issues, I have to redo everything and re-request a driver's license from the Swiss government because they won't acknowledge the US one as I'm binational and have no justification for not learning in Switzerland. I bought a 30 dollar training course last night because my partner's been bugging me about maybe not knowing the correct answers in Italian even if I know how to drive. I went through 6/14 "class sessions" in a two hour block last night with no issues, so it feels a little like a waste, but peace of mind that my Italian's fully functioning I guess!! Even he admits that I am a "better" more conscientious driver than he is, so I am hoping this is just an expensive confirmation.
 
Hi Wafflers :) Sorry I have not been active this week - well, I have been active, just not here. We had new windows put in this week and it was crazy - I felt like I was living in CHAOS. I don't know how you are managing, LilyAnn, I would be going crazy for that long. Four days and I was climbing the walls.

In addition, my grandson's sentencing hearing was yesterday. He will be back home December at the latest, so I am very grateful for all your prayers. He will be in prison rather than jail until he comes home, but thank heavens the sentencing was not worse. I think we got the best we could and he learned a lesson. Now I have to sort out housing for him, and transportation home to California from Illinois.

I am also babysitting my grandson much more often and I am grateful for that. I am heading there early in the morning.

I will come on for a while on Sunday and see if I can get some proper chatting done :)

Lynnie
 
Hi y'all, how did your weekends go?

On Saturday we did our last cleaning of the church for the month then went shopping. Hubby was busy all day with various tasks but I didn't have anything in particular to do. Sunday was the usual church and nap, followed by plenty of watching the Olympics. It's hard when they are so far ahead of us over there so you read spoilers before you can watch them. Kinda takes the fun out of it, but we still watch.
 
FINALLY got the permits! Work can start again! Whoot! Whoot! We were told 2 weeks to finish upstairs. Our "new" tenants are anxiously awaiting move in date.
Than they come down where we are living now. Have to box up stuff we have out in kitchen and bathroom first, than everything has to be moved so they can sand and stain wood floors! September can't come soon enough.
On the bright side, I finally put the air conditioner in my bedroom!
 
Hi everyone, I am working hard to get my Arizona book completed and ordered while I am on vacation.

I just posted a Question in the forum, if you can help me with a suggestion, please go to the forum page and add it.

What do you do for the front and back cover?

In the past I used photos of the trip on the front and a good bye (in the language of the country).
ie: Mexico - Adios, Mexico Cuba - Hasta Pronto

I am looking for some new ideas to use for trips within Canada and the US.

Thanks for your help and have a wonderful day!
 
What's everyone got planned for this weekend? My FIL is in town and we're going up north to see my BIL and his family who are visiting another in-law up there. Should be pretty fun! :)
 
Popping in to let you all know that you may not see much of me here at Ginger Scraps. I have decided to cut back on the amount of sites I try to keep up with. I have been invited to be on a designer of templates creative team at another site ( I am not about to share my pages in the gallery here as I do not like doing fly by dropping in the gallery). And I will stay move active at another site that was one of my first digi forums I ever joined.

You may still see me pop in and out at times but not on a regular basis.

Hope you all stay safe and happy in these strange times we are living in.
 
OMGosh Anne-Marie!!! That's awesome, but sad for us. Congrats. I'm thrilled for you and wish you well.

We're off to watch the granddaughter's softball tournament. Not a big thing really, as she's nine-year-old, but she's excited because she's playing "on John's field". That's mommy's new "friend" and he's a major-league softball player, so she's thrilled to be playing on the field that he just played on. hehehe.... AND we finally get to meet him too. hmmmmmm.....
 
It is a long weekend here, Civic Holiday in my province but I am on vacation anyways. Yesterday was Mom's 78th birthday, we are celebrating today with a small immediate family get together. First time all of us will be together since Xmas 2019...it is long overdue! Mom was so excited that her siblings surprised her when they dropped in for a visit yesterday, they have not reached out much during the pandemic and now that restrictions are lifting here, we are still cautious but allowing visits.

The smoke from fires in the northeast part of the province are still producing tons of smoke here and the air quality is not good enough to allow me to be outdoors for long periods which includes my cycling routine...so FRUSTRATED! My son went camping overnight to test his new gear and it was so bad that he had to come home early and he may have to cancel his Banff trip this year. :( I pray for all the communities that are affected and hope things will improve soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!
 
HOpe all are doing well. I spent the last few days at my son's working on Bruce's 2nd birthday party. It was a farm theme and it turned out wonderfully. We had such a great time. I will be posting some layouts in the gallery soon!
 
I finished my Angel Scrapbook today. It clocked out at 283 pages total. Invoicing starts tomorrow, and I am trying to be zen about it. It is always such a mess. I helped my mother put together a lease agreement for their house, and it's turning into a lot of drama. My sister thinks as she's living there, she has the right automatically to see the lease her friend will sign, but it hasn't been finalised yet, so it's not needed, and will only complicate things. And I spent all evening looking at city ordinances to cite, because that's the kind of person I am.
 
It is hot and Smokey here again. Hard to breathe on my walks.

Busy posting layouts. I’d love to just create and not post.

I think i now have enough pages for a book for cinder & frosts first year with us. I want to get it printed for alexis.
 
Firstoscartgrouch said:
It is hot and Smokey here again. Hard to breathe on my walks.

Busy posting layouts. I’d love to just create and not post.

I think i now have enough pages for a book for cinder & frosts first year with us. I want to get it printed for alexis.
Click to expand...

You are allowed to create a few for fun :)
 
Had a good weekend with my fam. :) Now I am catching up on sleep that I missed- I just don't sleep well in hotels. Now to readjust to regular life again and get Eren ready for school starting next week.

Speaking of scrapping, I've got to kick myself in the bum and get going again. Maybe after the Olympics are over, hee hee hee.
 
I have lost my beat on scrapping, I have a bunch of "backlog" I could work on, but I have no motivation to do it. I keep flipping through pictures hoping something will 'catch' my attention. Maybe the Venice Daytrip would be a quickie.

Invoicing has been as messy and awful as expected, I've been yelled at a bunch and now that I have finished getting invoices out, I get to deal with "WHY ARE YOU CHARGING ME MONEY FOR SERVICES???". One of my coworkers went off on me because I "Simply don't understand what it means to have to work in multiple departments." And be proud of me, because I didn't throw it in her face that I had already addressed emergencies in four departments that day. :be8:

Added value, I get to do a deep analysis of platformed app statistics without confirmation of necessity, because I've seen this one before. I asked Sales if they wanted it, and no one replied at all. If I DON'T prep it, in two weeks when I have a week of vacation, sales will come back and blow up about how irresponsible I am for not furnishing the report she didn't confirm she wanted.

My sister blew up at my mother about the lease we drew up because it didn't match what she wanted it to be (she has no skin in the game, aside from being a co-renter and coworker of the person renting), and being the techwizard I am, I found the girl's facebook and set up a direct meet between the rent-ee and my mother. They had a nice talk and walk through, and I then tailored the contract to meet those expectations that they had mutually agreed to, and they'll be signing it tomorrow.

It has been raining here non-stop for almost two weeks, and someone took the protection off the chimney flue, so the water heater tried to blow up again yesterday, I had to unplug it and the landlord had to come at 8pm to try and get it back online (he was successful, but the Yorkshire riot was in full force).

Wedding planning has changed another three times, and I admit that I am really frustrated- not with my friend, but with her mother, and her mother's inability to NOT make this all about her. Won't agree to Venue A, won't agree to Venue B, won't agree to my mother's house as a venue in spite of there being ample property because then it's somehow my mother hosting vs. just being the venue like any other. She suggested getting married at one of the local city parks, I found the planning permissions and sent the paperwork, but the 'price is too high (50 dollars for half a day)' for renting a shelter, so she wants to do it right on the lake shore and then have a reception in her driveway after lunch at a local Chinese restaurant, but she also said she'd take care of catering. I told Emily that I'm going to handle the dessert bar with a cake and some on-theme sweeties either way. If all else fails, there will be cake. The date was force-changed because her mother decided the weekend she wanted to get married, she was going to be out of town. She still doesn't have her dress because her mother won't drive down for an appointment, and each time she makes one, "something comes up". I am praying for patience, understanding, and some kind of divine intervention in January when I go home so that I am able to have a positive influence on the situation and help Emily be strong.

Thanks for letting me decompress ladies. <3
 
Sylvan, so sorry the wedding is not going well. It seems to me that the mother-of-the-bride should be helping with the wedding and be willing to attend any day her daughter chooses?? Anyways, I hope things get set and your friend has a wonderful day.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Mom's birthday was a surprise for her and she was so happy to have her 4 kids and families together for the first time since Xmas 2019. My son took so many group and individual photos, it was so nice to visit in person!

Still hot and muggy here, I spent the better of 2 days digging up plants in my garden. My peony bush was overtaking my veggie space and had to be split. I did keep a large portion for myself but WOW, I had over 40 people answer my ad with 8 people picking up the ones I had for sale and I made $80 to buy new garden goodies. I will also need to split my day-lilies this year, hope to get the same response. I chopped my rhubarb and made 2 batches of rhubarb-strawberry jam, so yummy!

Looks like we may have some rain today which we really need but, of course it is the day we planned to take my grand-daughter to the zoo, guess we will think of something else to do with her today.

On the Covid front, our city is changing from restrictions to recommendations this Saturday. What that means is mostly everything will be open between 60-100% with wearing a mask only required for the non-vaxed for indoors and no limits on groups indoors or outdoors. I am so NOT comfortable with this and will still be wearing a mask and limiting where I go and who I see. Anyone else have things opening and not feel comfortable or is just me??
 
Oh Syl... I'm sorry this is turning inside-out! Poor Emily. Her mom really needs to be ........... pushed down a flight of stairs. OOOPS, did I say that out loud?!? Sorry... not 100%. Oh well, at least we found her an officiant or three, sorta no matter when or where it is.

I'm at a scrappin' retreat this LONG-weekend (yeah, started yesterday!!!) and what happens? The internet goes out! WTH??? Well, they were doing some kind of upgrade and it was horribly intermittent yesterday, but it looks like today it's working okay. Praying it stays good for the rest of the time we're here. You just don't know how much you depend on wifi until you can't get online! YIKES!

Have a GOOD ONE!
 
Sylfie, it puts you off weddings altogether, doesn't it. I think having a cake bar, no matter what is a good way of covering the food. Good luck with the venue! I remember working on my son's wedding, it was stressful, even though all the folks were getting along well and there were no disagreements on anything. I can't imagine how it would have been if there had been conflict. The mum sounds like a right one.

It sounds like a great way to treat yourself on your birthday :) GS collabs and macaroons! Fun.

Have you taken your driving test yet?

Breoni, even when I think I have packed minimally, I still manage to overpack. I hope the traveling is going well.

Ane, is the pain any better? I am glad you are getting pages done. Are the in-laws still there?

LilyAnn, I am so glad the work at the house is finally going well. We are looking forward to final pictures.

Still enjoying the swimming?

Sherri, The bread and paint thing sounds so interesting. Is there a link to pictures.

Karen, I had planning on holding off retirement until I was 70. I made it to 65 1/2. There comes a point when the extra money is just not worth it. It's like being on vacation forever.

I'm glad your mum had a lovely birthday.

Rae, I am not crazy about tech upgrades of any kind. It takes forever to get yourself back to normal. I recently upgraded my password system to examine all the passwords I use and keep them in a super secure password vault. I am not sure I will ever recover.

Carla, Murphy's law! When you are relying on the internet THAT is is when it will go down!
 
I have not been very present the last few weeks. It was my grandson's second birthday and my DIL went overboard. The them was "On the Farm." We had a petting zoo and pony rides. There were around 80 people there (it was outside) and there were TONS of presents. Nessa has rather a large family, I think her dad is one of 13 and her mum is one of 12. There are a million cousins. I can't keep track. I had to make Steven a family handbook so he could keep track of them. It was loads and loads of fun.

Last Thursday, I baked the cake and worked on the fondant. The vegan fondant was not super successful. It tasted fine, but it would not roll out and I may have dyed it a little TOO green. I ended up going to Michael's and buying fondant for grandson Bruce's cake, then doing daughter Karen and boyfriend Jon's vegan cake in Vegan Butter frosting.

After I put the white fondant on the cake and added white sheep and a white and black cow, I realized that I should have dyed the fondant first. I ended up staying up half the night painting it because the little animals did not stand out. It looked great, but it was a little more work than I planned.

Steven saw the original fondant I made that would not roll out. It was dyed bright green. He said "I don't know what Fondant is, but it looks like the Incredible Hulk exploded next to your cake." I did not take it personally, haha.

I went up to Steven's around two on Friday to help with the house and prep for the party, then spend the night. I worked hard to clean the house before Nessa got home. I managed to get the kitchen & bathroom done and the floors mopped. Steven was so glad. When Nessa got home she said she felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. We stayed up, blew up balloons and watched Independence Day. I fell asleep before the end, I think I was over tired. It was fun to watch though. Nessa loved the cakes.

We got up early in the morning on Saturday and started decorating. I helped up until Bruce woke up, then I watched him while everyone else worked. The place looked awesome. They had a big canopy, the round tables set up with the red table cloths. The petting zoo arrived around noon. Everyone had such a great time. When the party was over, done I watched Bruce while folks cleaned up, then when he went to bed, I started helping. I was the last to leave, but everything was done, all the dishes were washed and the table cloths laundered. I got home pretty late, but it was worth it. Steven and Nessa are leaving in the morning for Yosemite. They know that they can leave a clean house behind.

I spent Sunday totally relaxing!

We are still recovering from having the new windows put in. We had to move all the furniture around and we rearranged a lot. Plus we downsized our possessions. I got rid of half the clothes in my closet, tons of books and there is finally room in the kitchen cupboard. There is a way to go before everything is back in place, though. We did a lot of rearranging to get more light in the place. Things don't seem to fit as well as we hoped for. Still, the new windows are lovely.

Anyway, I've been really busy and am still recovering from the two ribs out of place. I can't sit for long periods of time, or stand a lot. I just needs lots of massages. haha.
 
Wow, Lynnie, you are wearing yourself out again! :) I wish I lived closer to family like you do, so I could serve them like you do.

Karen, things are tightening back up where I live. When kids go back to school, they will all be masked up, regardless of vaccine status. We also have to mask up at some businesses and large indoor gatherings. I don't mind, but I am worried about my unvaccinated adult son. He has trust issues, sigh.

Sylfie, wow on your coworkers! I think I'd go crazy if I had to deal with people like that. And then to have your sister wanting to be involved where she shouldn't be is nuts too. I won't even do into the mother of the bride- I probably would have quit helping a while ago.

Carla, glad to see you doing your thing and not letting the lack of Wi-Fi stop you. :)

Me, I've got a fun church activity tonight, but first we have to get our car from one shop and take it to another shop. It's crazy and would take a while to explain, but hopefully the second shop will find nothing wrong. Lynnie, I am still having the abdominal pain intermittently; it usually hovers around a 3-5 on a scale of 0-10. They have now referred me to a psychologist for pain management. *sigh*
 
Hey Ane, I'm outta town! I'm thrilled. AND the internet is back up and running. Apparently they were doing some big upgrade to the system, but didn't tell anyone. It's all good now. I so enjoy being with these ladies that minor inconveniences are just more time to disconnect from the screen and chat!

Lynnie, I just don't know how you do all you do! I can't keep up with everything you post. I wanna be you when I grow up, LOL, except I don't know if I'll have the energy. (I KNOW I won't have the energy or creativity!)

Everyone else seems so busy. That's a good thing! Stay that way. Stay safe. Stay Blessed. Love ya.

Have a good weekend!
 
Gosh, I don't know anyone that has Lynnie's energy. You are one busy lady but I know from your posts that you LOVE IT ALL.

I am off tonight for my daughter-in-law's birthday dinner and I went for a massage today and am feeling a little sleepy now...sigh! I hope my son makes me a cocktail...tee hee!
 
The upstairs remodel is coming along. They should be done in a week and a half upstairs. We have to call the inspector again on Tuesday to show progress on things to meet code like the bathroom vent has to be seen from the outside of the house. Soon they will be demo-ing our area.... kitchen and bathroom. When those are done we can put stuff from living and dining room in kitchen while they sand and coat the floor. We may have to find a place to stay for a few days or sleep on the hard basement floor... but we were told the smell from the floor is horrid.
Got my father's car in my name on Friday. It took two trips to DMV but it is done! Molly passed her road test and she'll be using that car. We went to Coney Island Friday and walked the boardwalk and at night we went to a Cyclones game. The Cyclone are one step below the Mets. So the Mets call players up from this team. They played the Renegades which is the team below the Yankees. So I guess you could say I went to a minor league subway series. LOL! I took the day off from work. I needed the break but unfortunately I've been using a lot of days up with things for the house. I only have 5 days left before I get replenished... I hope that is on my year anniversary with them which is the end of this month. I can't believe I've been working there a year already!!! Time flies.
Gotta get some sleep! Stay safe everyone!
 
Hi everyone. I've been outdoors a lot with the dogs and having lots of family time. We are binging some shows at night (just watched season 1 of Code 404 last night). Hope everyone is enjoying the summer.

Lynnie - take it easy, let those ribs heal. You are always so busy! I baked an angel food cake and just put cool whip on it for my hubs. That was enough baking for me.

I'll check personals out more later this week but right now I'm doing desk work, CT work, household chores and lots of time with the dogs so not too much time to chit-chat right now.
 
I spent this week sorting and shredding paperwork and creating a video for a memorial. The video is done, thank heavens. I did two versions, one that was 10 minutes with no music. It will be shown while people are doing the eulogy. The second is for the reception after. It is 20 minutes with music. I made copies for folks, so I think we are in good shape. I had to have it in this week and my friend is picking it up on Monday and mailing it.

Now I am going to do some digital scrapping for my son's mother-in-law in England. She loves the ones I have of James' and Hannah's children. She was hoping I could do one for her daughter, Naomi's children. I have done a few in the past. There was one that just killed me it was so funny. G-yle's granddaughter says the funniest things. The conversation went like this:

Rita: Elizabeth has got gums. That's because she's a baby. I have got teeth because I'm a big girl. Elizabeth can't say words properly yet because she is only a baby.
G-yle: If Elizabeth is a baby and you are a big girls, what is mummy?
Rita: Mummy is a lady.
G-yle: What about Grandma, what am I?
Rita: You are a lady.
G-yle: What is Grandad?
Rita: Grandad is a big boy
Grandma: What about Daddy, what is he?
Rita: Daddy is a hooligan!

G-yle's comment: Sorry David, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings....

I love doing stuff for my sister-grandmother. I don't post it here, though, because I don't have permission from Naomi. I should ask if it is okay, but it seems intrusive. I don't have to post them, so why worry about it.

Edit: That is hilarious - apparently I can't say her name on here. Replace the - with an 'a.'
 
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Well, my baby started as a senior in high school today. I'm not sure how I feel about that, LOL. To celebrate, I went to the dentist, ha! Then the cat and I had nice naps with nothing playing on the TV. So nice, but I do miss having Eren around.

Lynnie, that is hilarious that you can't say her name here. I wonder why that is? I know certain words are blocked, but a name that happens to have a non-threatening word in it? Weird.

How is everyone else doing? Busy, I'm guessing since there haven't been posts in 2 days! I hope you're all doing well- I'm off to take care of the dishes for a bit. :) My favorite, LOL!
 
Popping in here to say hi! I'm Olivia, if we haven't met before. Today I've been scrapbooking and catching up on my expenses from the past couple months. I kind of want to do some cross-stitching this evening, we'll see if I get around to it!
 
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