Auction Site Up and Running!

Yesterday was an overwhelming day for me as I wanted to do all I could as quickly as possible to get the Auction site for the Stratos family up and running! Gleaning pictures of my personal scrapjammies kits, then posting each item with a number for auction. Other's are slowly finding out about this site! Offers of donations for auction are coming in. Suzanne, and Jodi were not affected too badly, though they are busy clearing debris and clearing tree limbs all without air conditioning! They're running generators to keep their freezers going. Jodi said due to the lack of gasoline they're only running their generator two hours at a time. I know, having been through 3 hurricanes in 2004 Charlie, Frances, and Jeannne, one every two weeks, that living without air conditioning, waiting in ice lines, and trying to sleep while fighting mosquitos isn't a fun camping trip at home. Not my idea of a Staycation!

I've put my efforts for the design team at Reminisce on the back burner but still hope to complete some more projects to show before the call ends September 30.

As of now, the tropics are quiet! Let's pray they stay that way as hurricane season doesn't end until November 1st!

Many people across this nation have experienced flooding, power outage, and tornado's. I wish I could help them all.

Kris and Nick, along with their son Trey are near and dear to my heart! Kris and our little group try to get together at least once a year. This year we chose Manitou Springs, CO! It was a wonderful happy time. I'm sure that we will have more in the future!

Kris and Nick's home is condemned!

Last evening I was able to talk to Kris on the cell phone. She and I broke into tears as she told me of the devistation that had gone on at their home. Along with Kris I cried too feeling at a loss of how can I help her? What do they need now? What will they need in the long run? Here is a snapshot of the water in her townhouse. And another of the devistation to her downstairs living room.
Even a picture of the drawer full of water under their oven!



They'd moved most of their electronics and all of Kris's scrapbook supplies and albums up there! Thank God the roof did not blow off! Here's a shot of Trey's bike and his room piled full of possessions Nick and Kris put upstairs.


Here are some shots of Nick boarding up their home and the innocence of a child, Trey oblivious to the upcoming events that would be soon to come!



Kris said they finally allowed Trey to go back to their home to see the damage. She found Trey crying in his room.

Following are various pictures of the devistation around their townhome complex. The complex is on the water. Although many of the boat's owners do not live in the complex, there were many in the parking lot! You know, the one for cars!



Look carefully at this picture, can you see the man taking pictures in water higher than his waist?






































There was even a little bit of humor to lighten the heavy load on the shoulders of the residents of Clearlake!



There were even news crews setting up to tell the story.


Not wanting to delay the website that I am setting up with auctions on it I'll sign off for now! Look for a link to this auction website coming soon! Place a bid and let's help raise some money for this family whose home has now been condemned!

Kris is OK!

Kris wrote" We r alive but its bad bad bad got water in bottom floor 18 inches b4 Nick had to get out. Just pray it stopped there no power Just pray will b in touchc, Kris! via text message.

Last night I got a phone call from Kris, we lost signal but she said that her downstairs is flooded 18". She hopes her new stove is okay as she thinks that the working parts were not affected! She sounded calm, stating that Trey had slept through most of the night in his "safe place"! I think that Kris is still in shock or denial on the damage clean up that she faces! She's thankful that she and hers are safe! Stated that Nick was awakened by their dog Merry about 3:00 AM as he had fallen asleep on the sofa! When he stood up the water was "knee deep". Nick took Merry and stayed on the phone with Kris while driving to Kris's parents home where they are staying! Kris said that she had to help him know where to turn as the wind and water were so bad! Nick got to the parent's home safely! I guess Kris and Nick went back to their home! She doesn't know yet but thinks their town home will be condemned! Her upstairs where her albums and scrapbook supplies along with the electronics were stored are okay! I told her I just want to know what she needs NOW and in the future! She just didn't have any answers! I'm still praying for all of our Houston friends as they finish riding out the wind and rain! It looks like Suzanne near the AK boarder in LA is getting hammered now! Jodi's phone just didn't go through, no message to leave, just a busy signal after about 20 rings! Will update as I find more about what's going on with the Texas Trio! No word about Chrissie or Wendy! I expect they are evacuated and out of touch. I do not know their phone numbers! It will be a long haul to restore Houston to normalcy!

Free Personal signatures - cool!

TEXTAREA_ID

Josh Sings with the Smokey Mountains

Again, you are going to have to turn off my music to appreciate this youtube clip. It's one of my favorite songs and places, it reminds me of my father and mother who took my sister and I as kids to camp with the bears! We go back as often as possible!

Be Still My Soul

You're going to have to turn off my music player by hitting the pause button to enjoy this peaceful music! I'm thinking and praying for all those affected by Ike, especially 3/5 of my Chi 5 Sisters, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Scissors!
God Bless You!

Tiffany! She's got a rockin' PIF!

Tiffany has a portable Epson Printer that she's giving away! WOW! Do I ever ever cross my fingers that I will win! Won't it be awesome to have that to take on my cropping trips! I have wanted a portable printer for ssssooooooooooooooooooo long! This Epson really rocks!

Friday Fill In!

1. I enjoy scrapbooking.
2. How my mother ticks is something I wonder about often lately.
3. In your heart, you knew I should have never married my ex, even at the time.
4. Take bleach, add a little ammonia and you end up with a chemical cloud of deadly fumes in your bathroom.
5. Life has gifted me with a comfortable lifestyle.
6. A weekend alone with my husband and no house work to do is an instant vacation.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to my husband coming home after a week away, tomorrow my plans include slipping in sideways a little scrapbook time and Sunday, I want to wear my KC Chiefs football shirt and go watch the game at The Blue Lagoon!

Long time no blog!

While watching Ike I've been hard at work on a design team submits. I'm waiting for my product to arrive from the company as I've had difficulty obtaining the needed product locally! I thought the deadline was Monday the 15th of September! Today an email arrived reminding me that the deadline is September 30! Can you here me sigh that big sigh of relief? I expect the product that I ordered to arrive today, meanwhile, I've rummaged through my kits from SJ's and absolutely tore them up remaking them into my own designs! Cross your fingers for me! This is a good one! They pay in good old American dollars! Check back as I am going to post my entries here on Cracker Scraps!

The SITS Recipe Site

Now listed on my side bar is the link to the SITS recipe site! I did not make an entry for the Cricut but have added it to my side bar so you can go straight on over and see if you can win yourself a brand new Cricut!

Sara Evan's Fans?

Click on the title of this entry and enter to win dinner with Sara Evans!

I Love my ipod/MP3 Player

Sanyo Katana DLX

I've got a lot of "stuff" on my MP3 player on my cell phone! I listen to it every night while winding down to sleep!

Do you have an MP3 player? Do you like it?

SITS Recipe!

E. Taste test by wrapping 1-3 pieces first.1. Cut the lumpia into 3 pieces.2. Fry and taste. (You can deep fry but I usually just shallow fry.)3. Adjust mixture, if necessary.4. Proceed to wrap the rest of the meat mixture.F. Fry the lumpia. Remember, for every 1 lumpia, you can cut them into 3 pieces. Typically, if eaten with rice and the sweet and sour sauce, I can eat 10 pieces.G. Freeze the raw lumpia. You can then just thaw, cut and fry later.1. Store the lumpia in separate freezer bags so that you can use just what you need at a time.2. You can thaw the raw lumpia before frying. Or you can dunk it in straight (but be careful of oil splatters!)3. Cut the raw lumpia into 3 or your desired size.That's it! Have fun making the lumpia.For me, I usually eat the lumpia with rice, cucumber and the sweet and sour sauce. Yummy!!!I would love to know how yours went, so let me know!

Grits!

What Is Grits? Nobody knows. Some folks believe grits are grown on bushes and are harvested by midgets by shaking the bushes after spreading sheets around them.

Many people feel that grits are made from ground up bits of white corn. These are obviously lies spread by Communists and terrorists. Nothing as good as a Grits can be made from corn.

The most recent research suggests that the mysterious Manna that God rained down upon the Israelites during their time in the Sinai Desert was most likely Grits. Critics disagree, stating that there is no record of biscuits, butter, salt, and red eye gravy raining down from the sky, and that God would not punish his people by forcing them to eat Grits without these key ingredients.

How Grits are Formed. Grits are formed deep underground under intense heat and pressure. It takes over 1000 years to form a single Grit. Most of the world's grit mines are in South Carolina, and are guarded day and night by armed guards and pit bull dogs. Harvesting the Grit is a dangerous occupation, and many Grit miners lose their lives each year so that Grits can continue to be served morning after morning forbreakfast (not that having Grits for lunch and dinner is out of the question).

Yankees have attempted to create a synthetic Grits. They call them Cream of Wheat. As far as we can tell the key ingredients of Cream of Wheat are Elmer's Glue and shredded styrofoam. These synthetic grits have also been shown to cause nausea, and may leave you unable to have children.

Historical Grits As we mentioned earlier, the first known mention of the Grits was by the Ancient Israelites in the Sinai Desert. After that, the Grits was not heard from for another 1000 years. Experts feel that the Grits was used during this time only during secret religious ceremonies, and was kept from the public due to it's rarity. The next mention of the Grits was found amidst the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii in a woman's personal diary. The woman's name was Herculaneum Jemimaneus (Aunt Jemima to her friends.) The 10 Commandments of Grits

I. Thou shalt not put syrup on thy Grits

II. Thou shalt not eat thy Grits with a spoon or knife

III. Thou shalt not eat Cream of Wheat and call it Grits, for this is blasphemy

IV. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors Grits

V. Thou shalt use only Salt, Butter, and red eye gravy as toppings for thy Grits

VI. Thou shalt not eat Instant Grits

VII. Thou shalt not put ketchup on thy Grits

VIII. Thou shalt not put margarine on thy Grits.

IX. Thou shalt not eat toast with thy Grits, only biscuits made from scratch .

X. Thou shalt eat grits on the Sabbath for this is manna from heaven.

How to Cook Grits For one serving of Grits: Boil 1.5 cups of water with salt and a little butter. Add 5 TBsp of Grits. Reduce to a simmer and allow the Grits to soak up all the water. When a pencil stuck into the grits stands alone, it is done. That's all there is to cooking grits.

How to make red eye gravy Fry salt cured country ham in cast iron pan. Remove the ham when done and add coffee to the gravy and simmer for several minutes. Great on grits and biscuits.

How to Eat Grits Immediately after removing your grits from the stove top, add a generous portion of butter or red eye gravy. (WARNING: Do NOT use low-fat butter.) The butter should cause the Grits to turn a wondrous shade of yellow. (Hold a banana or a yellow rain slicker next to your Grits; if the colors match, you have the correct amount of butter.) In lieu of butter, pour a generous helping of red eye gravy on your grits. Be sure to pour enough to have some left for sopping up with your biscuits. Never, ever substitute canned or store bought biscuits for the real thing because they caused cancer, rotten teeth and impotence.

Next, add salt. (NOTICE: The correct ration of Grit to Salt is 10:1 Therefore for every 10 grits, you should have 1 grain of salt.) Now begin eating your grits. Always use a fork, never a spoon, to eat Grits. Your grits should be thick enough so they do not run through the tines of the fork.

The correct beverage to serve with Grits is black coffee. DO NOT use cream or, heaven forbid, Skim Milk.) Your grits should never be eaten in a bowl because Yankees will think its Cream of Wheat.

Ways to Eat Leftover Grits: (Leftover grits are extremely rare) Spread them in the bottom of a casserole dish, Cover and place them in the refrigerator overnight. The Grits will congeal into a gelatinous mass.

Next morning, slice the Grits into squares and fry them in 1/2' of cooking oil and butter until they turn a golden brown. Many people are tempted to pour syrup onto Grits served this way. This is, of course, unacceptable.

IRISH BLESSING BEFORE EATING GRITS" May the lord bless these grits, May no Yankee ever get the recipe, May the lord bless these grits, May no Yankee ever get the recipe, May I eat grits every day while living, And may I die while eating grits. AMEN

Check this out!

Friday's Fill In's

Those of you with multiple blogs or private blogs...if you could add a link to your blog when you comment, that would be GREAT!

This week I'm going to use rather obscure song lyrics; you can fill them in with the correct words if you know 'em...but wouldn't it be more fun to do it a bit differently?

And...here we go!

1. If I was to walk into your life, today?

2. Catch a bright star and place it where you lay.

3. And you can send me anywhere.

4. Yet you cheated without a care, but I'm dealing with a memory that never forgets.

5. I'm the innocent bystander / Somehow I got stuck with another man who never asks to be forgiven.

6. What's keeping us apart isn't selfishness, it's the broken trust.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to once again being with you, tomorrow my plans include a cleaning spree, along with a load of laundry or two and Sunday, I want to just be with you.

Yikes! Look out for Ike!

Hanna is bring to us breezy weather with light rain. The air is much cooler and skys cloudy. She's headed up to the Southern Coast of North Carolina where some of my roots began.

My paternal grandmother lived right on the sound on a peanut plantation. Her mother died at an early age so Daisy was left to raise the young 'uns! She worked hard all of her life and died of Alzheimer's many years ago. She could make biscuits without a recipe. She made them every meal! She taught us how to eat lots of vegetables and to respect black people, even before the civil rights movement. Each summer my sister and I would be escorted to Raleigh by my great aunt Diana and then we would spend a couple of weeks being doted on by grandmother. She had an ice crusher and always had ginger ale for us to drink! She worked for Trailways, which was a bus company like Greyhound, so often our trip with Aunt Diana would be on the bus.

Once we took the train and ate Rice Krispies with sugar and real cream! Wow was that ever good.

Oh, this was supposed to be about Ike! Since we're still dealing with Hanna, I'll write about Ike when I know more.

Daisy Belle Atkinson

Tropical Triraid!

It's that time of year when we watch the tropics! We got TS Fay straight on and dodged the Hanna bullet (hope posting this before she passes us won't jix us)!

Hanna expected to skirt the state and make landfall in NC
Ike now a Cat. 4 145 mph winds moving at 17 mph
Josephine too, soon to tell!

Where are the comments?

I suppose that it's just me writing and reading my own blog but that's okay! I can look back and remember things in my life that have gone on and get a sense of timing! It also helps me when I try to remember what to journal when making my scrapbook pages!

Today I finally went back to water aerobics only to find that the class is suspended for the week beginning Monday! So, it's lap swim for me!

When I come home from the "Y" having finished my workout I feel so relaxed and rejuvinated. Right now I'm waiting for the extra energy to kick in that is supposed to come with exercise!

Gotta go see the big "O", kindly I refer to this MD as Big "O"'s bar like in Gretchenn Wilson's song, Pocohontas Proud! He keeps me out of depression with his magic pills and I keep showing up to let him know it's workin'!

We're on the map!

Another Questioner

Christie sent this to me via email! Rather than post and forward I thought I'd just put it right here on my blog!

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9:00AM

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Failure to Launch! Don't get out much do I?

4. What is your favorite TV show? Gray's Anatomy

6. What is your middle name? Lee

7. What foods do you dislike? Pork roast, my MIL's potato salad!

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?

9. What kind of car do you drive? 1998 Ford ZX2 around town because gas is so high, out of town I take my 2002 Lincoln SL V8

10. Favorite sandwich? Tuna on toast with lettuce, tomato and onion.

11. What characteristic do you despise? Fraud, girlfriends who tell things they're not supposed to tell other girlfriends, liars! People who get in the 20 items of less land at Wal-Mart with 60 items and pay with cash, food, stamps and a check on one order!

12. Favorite item of clothing? Pajamas

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Cruise of Greece and Italy with side trips into Spain, England, and France. I think they call that Europe!
14. Are you an organized person?

15. Where would you retire to? Mountains in the summer, FL in the winter.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? When I turned 50! My husband bought me an opal ring and a new car.

17. What are you going to do when you finish this? Check the Scrap Jammies Message Board

18. Furthest place you are sending this? Around the world, it's on my blog, look at the map!

19. Person you expect to send it back first? Maybe Kris will put it on her blog!

20. When is your birthday? Soon

21. Morning person or a night person? Afternoon and evening!

22. What is your shoe size? 8 1/2

23 Pets? Two sister daschunds, bred, born and raised in my old kitchen.

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? We're expecting a hurricane

25. What did you want to be when you were little? A doctor.

26. How are you today? A little tired from all the work this past weekend!

27. What is your favorite flower? Roses but secretly love the smell of carnations!

28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to see? January 15, 2009!

29. what was the last thing you ate? An oatmeal cookie.

30. (missing) I guess that means a person, my late father!

31. Do you wish on stars? Nope, but I pray to the maker of them!

32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Burnt Umber because I like the name and It was saved from the delete list of Crayola in 1998!

33. How is the weather right now? Hot, Humid, Sticky, chance of thunder storms this afternoon!

34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My son.

35. Favorite soft drink? Diet coke with ice, always ice in any coke!

36. Favorite restaurant? Season's 52

37. Hair color? They make me dye it blond!

38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie

39. Summer or Winter? Winter

41. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla

42.When was the last time you cried? Can't remember!

43. What is under your bed? Nothing because we just painted our bedroom this weekend!

44. What did you do last night? Watched my granddaughter swim and heard all about the Kenny Chesney concert from my son and his wife!

45. What are you afraid of? Alligators

46. Salty or sweet? Yes

47. How many keys on your key ring? One! (Don't know about the other one that's in my purse!)

48. How many years at your current job? I have been a stay at home wife for four years now.

49. Favorite day of the week? Sunday

50. Do you make friends easily? Yes

51. How many people will you send this to? I'm not sending, I'm posting!

52. How many will respond? I have no idea!

53. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends? Yes!

54. Are you going to put this on your blog? Reply with a link!

Free Association

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self.
That's an admirable goal, but for the purposes of this excercise, we're just hoping to have a little fun with the technique. Each week I'll post ten words to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind.
"Rules are, there are no rules." There are no right or wrong answers. Don't limit yourself to one word responses; just say everything that pops into your head.

1. Groceries ::Hate to shop for them!


2. Deodorant ::Keep two on hand at all times!


3. Psychic :: Satanism


4. Cherries :: Bing and in season right now!


5. Spooky ::Skaredy Cat


6. Yogurt ::Diet Staple


7. Kitchen ::Hate doing dishes!


8. Nothing personal :: Just a general statement!


9. Be nice :: What goes around comes around!


10. Delivery ::Good mail day!

Friday's Fill In's

And...here we go!
1. When I'm sick I'm _all about sleeping_________.
2. When I take a walk, I think about __my music________
.3. Money can't buy happiness but it can _a lot of mind relief!_________
.4. Cotton makes me __cozy________ and leather makes me _sweat_________
.5. The strangest person/character I've had lewd thoughts about was _ Not politically correct!_________.
6. My favorite color these days is _blue_________ because _it sooths me_________.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __sleeping___, tomorrow my plans include _cropping____ and Sunday, I want to _hang out with DH____!

Happy Birthday Kristy

For our new daughter-in-law who brought with her our first grandchild. Happy Birthday!

Friday's Fill In's

1. Dancing to the ___band_______ while _in the arms of my husband_________ makes me _feel like he really loves me_________.

2. The last time I ___went to the inlaws_______ I nearly ____went crazy______.

3. When I drive I ___speed and sing_______.

4. I saw ____3 Sandhill Cranes______ standing ____in my front yard______.


5. Give me ____strength______, give me ____hope______, give me ___energy_______.

6. Next week I am looking forward to ___finishing up scrapbook obligations and doing some of my own work_______.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __sleeping___, tomorrow my plans include tidying the house, Saturday my plans include _a crop with friends____ and Sunday, I want to __spend time with DH___. Monday is Labor Day! Woo Hoo! Bring on the sunshine!

All Over The World

I'm looking at my map thingy and people from all over the world have visited my site! I wonder how they got here, I wonder why they didn't say hello?

Wanna Play? Check this out from Luna Nina

1. Signature:: My long name, Jeannette


2. Olympics :: those kids are young


3. 100% :: Give my all!


4. Damn! :: Hurt my toe!


5. Gold :: White prefered


6. Fresh and natural :: Clean


7. Fraction :: % off sale!


8. Hurry :: Why?


9. Summer :: Hot!


10. 29th :: Leap Year!

Dry

Finally, all of the wet items used to mop up the water are clean and dry. I'm out of clothes and need to start washing clothes!

Second consecutive day keeping my Granddaughter. She has tested me every way she can think of! My home projects are on hold.

There's scrap room stuff all over the whole side of the house that I pulled out to save and clean up the water! I sure don't have the energy to tackle anything!

I'm signed up to go to a 12 hour crop tomorrow. Hoping that I can get some energy to pull some pictures to put with some kits and get out of here to scrap!

DH comes home today! Yeah!!! He gets to make the treck to Orlando tomorrow to take my niece and her new husband to MCO. Wears me out just to think of it!

Once my energy returns I know that my reorganized scrap room will be much better! I've got a little hutch to move into the room for my Stampin' Up Business ! The new catalog just came out August 11 chock full of goodies! (Right before my flood!)

Boring isn't all bad. Today I will be bored and rest my weary bones. Got parental concent to let my DGD watch TV today! Pool? Maybe later! Gonna milk this one for all the rest I can!

Water Damage!

A supersonic big wahhhhhhhhhhhh from the heart of Florida!~

I've been cleaning, I mean deep cleaning the house today and had almost called it quits!~ DH reminded me that he needs his black pants to wear Monday for the presentation, so I figured I'd better get his clothes washed, at least two loads!~

I went into the laundry room, which just happens to be adjacent to my scrap room, and flood...............flood into the scrap room too!~ My sewing machiene right there in a puddle of water under my die cut desk! At least the Cricut was on top and the sewing machiene is hopefully ok since it's got a big base and I found it right away!

I'm so tired I could cry and now this!

DH was eating lunch when his tooth began hurting really badly where he had some endodontic work a couple of months ago!~ I said, "that's not normal" so he's off to the dentist so that they can "fit him in" before he goes out of town tomorrow AM! I don't even want to call him b/c he's got so much on his mind right now!

I think I'll just go have a little pitty party! I had quilts and rugs to was from the dogs so I threw them all over the water. The water ran through the kitchen closet and into the dining room and onto the carpet! Also all the way across my scrap/computer room! Nothing important was damaged as most of my stash is in plastic bags or bins!
Calgon! Take me away!

Silly Billy Name!

Your Hillbilly Name Is...

Lil' Dixie Rambler

Hillbilly Name Generator

Cool Video!

Cool Video!

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