It Takes a Village

I am big on stealing titles -- I believe I stole this one from Hillary Clinton.

Today, I have been spending the morning procrastinating and feeling sorry for myself. And, then I hopped over to The Vintage Peal Blog, and I got a good slap in the face.

Fabulous Erin, owner of The Vintage Pearl is raising money for clean water.

Here are the sad facts:

Right now, 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water.

That's one in six of us.

Can you imagine not being able to give your children clean water to drink? Can you imagine watching them die because they got sick from contaminated water?

You can't, can you? I can't either. Here's what we can do to help:

Go to Erin's blog and donate $10 towards her well. You'll learn about MyCharity:Water as well.

Trust me here -- Go to Erin's blog, and make a donation. It will make your day. She's asking for each person to donate just $10. It's not much and it can make a tremendous difference. After you make your donation, contact everyone you know, and ask them to donate too. Together we can build a well, or two, or more.

If you have a blog or website, please write a post and link to Erin's blog. It takes a village, and we are one!

What's the Harm in being Nice?

When did people stop being nice? Being nice has somehow become a novelty instead of the norm. Maybe we all need to take a step back and consider this.

Today, I had a doctor's appt. before work at a new office. My doctor, who I had seen for many years, joined a new practice and moved about 15 miles away from her old office, and about 35 miles away from where I live. I like my doctor, so I decided that I would take the extra time to go to her new office.

I got to my 8:30 a.m. appointment about fifteen minutes early. Since it was the first time I was visiting this practice, there was a lot of paperwork to do. After I filled out the paperwork, and provided my insurance card and ID, I thanked the administrator for helping me, and she looked at me with wonder. She said "Are you always this nice? No one ever thanks me for helping them." I just smiled, and then I felt really sorry for her. I know working with the public is never easy. As I sat in the lobby waiting for my appointment, I noticed that the majority of patients in that office did not say "thank you" or even smile.

When they called me into the examining room, I had to answer a long list of questions -- again since it was my first visit to the office. I was happy that they took an interest in my health and wanted to make sure they had my correct medical history. I politely answered the questions, and at the end, the nurse said: "I wish all of my patients were nice like you."

Twice, in about thirty minutes, someone commented on the fact that I was pleasant and polite. Is being nice such a novelty?

Let's all try to be nice. I am sure the world will be a better place.

Funny Blog of the Week

I just found this blog, thanks to nice Laura at A Dozen Eggs (buy their cookies, they are beautiful and extraordinarily delicious!).

Enjoy the laughs. I stopped reading the blog 20 minutes ago, and I am still laughing!

C is for Cat!

For the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #40.
I really like the way this came out!





All products Stampin' Up!

Ink- basic black
stamp set: C is for Cat
5/8" black grosgrain ribbon
3/4" and 1" circle punch

p.s. - You can purchase all of the great Stampin' Up! products from Jacki, here!

Five Minute Halloween Card

You can make this card in five minutes!




Here's the recipe:

basic black card stock
House of Haunts Stamp Set
Only Orange Card Stock

I stamped the house and sentiment on only orange. I layered the house on the "bats" paper from the DSP "Cast a Spell." I punched out the sentiment, and adhered both the sentiment and house to the card with dimensionals. I tied only orange grosgrain ribbon across the top of the card. That's it! Ta da!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

I live in Connecticut -- worst weather state in the country as far as I am concerned. We used to have four seasons in Connecticut, but now we have two - rain and winter. This has been a particularly bad weather year. Summer arrived two months late and only lasted a week, or so it seemed. After that week, the season of rain arrived, and now we flip back and forth between rain and winter. It's almost never a nice day here. Really, what's up? I am not happy about the weather!

Where do you live and how's the weather? I hope it's much nicer where you are!

Christmas Card and Gift Card Holder!

We had a little card making party at my house last night! Here's what we made:




Aren't they beautiful? And they are both so easy to make! I wish I could say that I had the original ideas for these beauties, but the "Dasher" stamped card is a case of this:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1504217

And the gift card holder was inspired by this tutorial:

http://destampincorner.blogspot.com/2009/09/top-note-gift-card-holder-tutorial.html

Here is the card recipe:

Base - kraft, layered in real red and whisper white
stamp sets: Dasher and Four the Holidays
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories - real red 1/4" ribbon, big shot, petals a plenty embossing folder


Here is the gift card recipe:

base -real red, accents are handsome hunter
stamp set:Christmas Punch (hostess level2)
Ink: handsome hunter
punches: wide oval, scallop oval, modern label
Big Shot: top note die
Ribbon - 1/4 whisper white
sponging technique

If you want to make great cards and fun products like these yourself, then hop on over to Jacki's blog, and you can shop her official Stampin' Up! website!

The Dooce Hate Blog

I try not to complain too much on this blog -- what's the point? I have 15 followers. Who would hear me? And, why would I want to turn-off the few readers I have by complaining all of the time? :o)

However, today, I MUST COMPLAIN. A while back I posted about the Dooce hate blog. Now I must post again. Frankly, I am appalled. Have you read the HATE pages on the Dooce Blog? What's up with all of the hate? I cannot believe people send truly mean-spirited and hateful emails to a woman they have never met. They also say horribly mean things about her innocent children. It's just horrible. Please stop it!

I had never heard about the Dooce blog until another blogger mentioned it. I now realize that it's a blog with a huge following, and that Heather (aka Dooce Blog Owner) has a sort of celebrity status as a mommy blogger. BUT, how on earth does that give people the right to send hateful email to her? I just don't get it. I don't like it. Not one bit!

I think I should start a campaign to wipe out hate. Think about it. A world without hate would be one awesome place.

To all of you haters out there -- go read nienie. She'll teach you a lesson about love, acceptance and kindness. It's a lesson that you obviously need to learn.