I've definitely been out of the stamping loop for the last week or so. This afternoon I went up to my stamp room and found the beginnings of this card. It's my entry into my upline's (Gail Murray) November contest. Of course, the rules said it had to be mailed or hand delivered by November 30th and mine's not going to make it on time...unless, of course, she's gracious enough to allow my emailed copy hold my spot until the mailman can get my original up to Merchantville. In the words of my youngest son, it never hurts to try!
Here's the template we had to work with. It looks simple enough, but I had a tough time coming up with something that suited me. That could be why it took so long to finally finish it up.
And now...the saga of the dead dishwasher continues. If you were reading along last week, you know that my dishwasher died the same week as my oldest son's. We replaced Don and Michelle's as an early Christmas gift and made sure it was installed in time for Thanksgiving dinner since they were doing the cooking this year. Unfortunately, my husband puts a limit on installing only one major appliance a week, so needless to say, my dishwasher is still on the disabled list. With luck, though, it won't stay there much longer. We did a bit of Black Friday shopping yesterday and picked out a new stove, refrigerator and dishwasher which are being delivered Wednesday! How's that for helping the economy? And what was the hardest part about shopping for appliances? EVERYTHING! They've changed dramatically since I bought anything 18 years ago. Dishwashers now have something called Tall Tubs. The refrigerators all came equipped with a full set of shelves, making them look more crowded that mine (we broke a couple shelves a couple years ago and haven't been able to order new ones since my model has long since been discontinued). And my new range is both a regular range and a convection range, and it has an extra oven down where the pots and pans drawer is supposed to be. I'm not sure what I'll use that for, but by Christmas I'm sure I'll have it figured out:)
So the first part of my buying spree is now complete. I'm giving the sticker shock a bit of time to wear off and then I'm heading out to look for cabinets. Putting brand new appliances in with my very dated cabinets just won't do. I have a feeling this kitchen is going to be a work-in-process for a while, but I hope by the time the new baby comes in spring, it's finished!! At least that's the plan for now.
