Me on Monday

My "travel Tuesday" post is going to be about my trip to New York with these girlies on their Spring Break last week. 

We had a great time--Josie, Me and Evie. But today's post is about this little gal!

Josie was my little buddy. On our last evening, we had a brief--what was supposed to be--rest in our hotel before going to dinner. We were staying on the 33rd floor. Josie wanted to look in the stairwell. I gave her my key and warned her to make sure she could get back inside. 

She came back pretty quick and said that I needed to see the stairs. I went out with her and looked down. It was that sensation of looking into infinity--you could not see the bottom. I said, "OMGosh, this looks amazing! It's so tempting! I think we HAVE to do it!" Her little face lit up! "Really?" Really!

We started down--she counted. Each time she reached 100, she started over. It took quite a while to get down--66 flights because there were 10 steps in each set--2 sets per floor. 

When we got to the bottom, the door was locked! Now, I'm a little worried. I didn't bring my phone. I was worried that we'd have to go all the way back up!! We went up to the next floor. There was an exit door. I made sure that the door wasn't alarmed and carefully opened it. The door opened to the street, but was blocked off. There was about an 6" gap. Teeny, tiny Josie said, "Aunt Barb, I can get through there!" 

I said, "And what? You're going to leave me here?" There was no way I was letting that little girl hit the streets of New York City unattended!!--Even if she had an air-tag on her shoe!

So, we went up another couple of flights and finally found a door unlocked. It opened in to the kitchen of our hotel. We quickly snuck through and made our way to the elevators in the lobby. 

On our way up, I said, "Josie, I want you to always remember this. Your Aunt Barb is 73 and you are 9 years old! We did this--689 steps!"

When we got in the room, Josie was babbling with excitement. She said, "Aunt Barb went really fast!" She was used to hearing Janet and I telling the girls to slow down all week!

Evie wasn't happy to have missed it. I admitted that my legs were quivering. I could not believe it when Josie said hers were too! It was a work out for sure--even if it was going down. Hard on the knees and I definitely felt it for two days!

I can't help it. I'm all about the memories! That little girl will never forget this, when she thinks about her first trip to New York. It was one of her favorite things. Actually, it was one of mine too!

Later, after dinner, we were in our room. I had downloaded some pictures we bought--to Janet's phone. I also set up an album for this trip for her. I was showing her a few other things about her phone. Josie got in on the act. She was showing Janet all kinds of things she could do. 

I was laughing so hard. That little girl doesn't even have a phone, yet she knows more than her "Gram!" So darn funny! 

More about our trip tomorrow!

Scrapbook Saturday

Last week, I scrapbooked some old pictures. This was my baby sister's wedding in 1994.

"1971 was an awesome year!" I got the idea for the mailbox from my friend, Nancy.

I did several layouts with older pictures. I'm just about finished with ALL of my old pictures.

Our first trip to Richmond, VA. We did some geo-caching while we were there.

This was my AYM layout for February--"for the love of scrapbooking!" We have been scrapbooking in February for over 20 years now.

What I Buy Wednesday!

Well, this week I should call this "What I Wasted Wednesday!" 

Currently, I am in NYC with my sister-in-law, Janet and her grands, my great nieces, Evie and Josie. 

Here's the story:

On Saturday, I got an email from SWA that my flight had been canceled! What?? Then I read further to find that not only had my entire flight been canceled because I--are you ready for this?---I DIDN'T SHOW UP! What? I had lost my ENTIRE round-trip airfare of $522 because I made reservations for the wrong day!! OMGosh! I cannot believe I put the wrong date on my flight. I can't believe I lost that money and had to re-book! I did argue about losing the return flight since it hadn't even occurred yet. It didn't do me any good--even when I used my favorite line: "This just isn't right!" (I always try to appeal to the "humanity" in someone I'm negotiating with. It didn't matter as the "gal" trumped me with: "It's policy that if you are a "no show" the whole reservation is canceled. Yeah, once the iron-clad policy card is played, it's all over! Actually, I was pretty lucky that I was able to get on another flight the next day--considering Monday was St. Patrick's Day. 

There's really nothing positive about this story---except the replacement ticket was a little cheaper--$456-- and I was able to get one. I guess that's two positive things, but still doesn't soften the blow of losing 500 bucks! After this, I had Butch make me a double martini! I needed it. I was sick about it.

Upon hearing about it, Stephanie said, "Mom! You have to double-check things from now on!" Gee, thanks Steph, that was helpful. Do you even know me? I double and triple check! I have no idea how this got past me. Now I don't trust myself. I'm going to have someone (Butch) check things from now on before I book. I've already turned over concert tickets to Mindy. Now that I think about it, I don't want to be responsible for booking anything with non-refundable money on the line.

I still cannot believe it! What a waste!

Monday Mystery

Now I've heard it ALL. 

You probably know that we Catholics have a patron saint for everything. Really, a saint for everything! 

Considering it's St. Patrick's Day, did you know that he is the patron saint of Ireland? Of course you did. But he also is the patron saint of migrants. It seems like all the saints have more than one job!

My patron saint--St. Barbara, is known as the patron saint of many groups and causes, including miners, artillerymen, and those who work with explosives. She is also associated with protection from lightning, fire, and explosions. 

There's even a patron saint of television and computer screens--St. Clare of Assisi--I only knew of her brother--St. Francis, patron saint of animals. Okay, only kidding, I don't think they are related. Anyway, it seems quite a mystery as to how a saint from hundreds of years ago before we ever had tv's or computers can be a patron saint of those things. 

Here's the story:

Clare of Assisi is the patron saint of televisions and computer screens, believe it or not. An early follower of St. Francis, Clare founded The Order of Poor Ladies, which eventually became known as the Poor Clares. Late in her life, she fell too ill to attend church, and one day the images and sounds of the entire Mass appeared in full on the wall of her room. This story would have been well-known to Italian native Pope Pius XII, who in 1957 named her the patroness of this new invention—television—that, in his words, “is a wonderful instrument… which can be the source of very great wealth, but also of deep troubles.” St. Clare is also the patron saint of sore eyes and embroidery, so let us invoke her prayers on our behalf as we learn to teach and work online and perhaps cultivate new hobbies. St. Clare of Assisi, pray for us!

Well I guess that solves that mystery. But St. Clare is not really the purpose of this post. It doesn't even involve a saint. Rather it's about Mary--the Blessed Mother and a hundred other names She's known by. But, I just heard of a new one. 

A local priest has requested that we pray a novena to--are you ready for this?: Our Lady--Undoer of Knots--not to be confused with Mary Untier of Knots. They are both the same. 

The story goes that in the 18^th century, a German couple on the verge of divorce prayed for Mary's intercession to untie and smooth all the knots that were causing turmoil in their marriage; when, after 28 days of prayer, their marriage was healed, the Baroque painter Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner was commissioned. He painted this in honor of Her.

Like I said, now I've heard it all.

Something for Sunday

So, yesterday, I had a craft day with Stephanie, Mindy, their friend Bonnie, and my friend, Jenny (Nicky's mom). I do not particularly like crafts. I am a storyteller and scrapbooker. That's my "jam"!

I took a class in January called "Loaded Envelopes" by Jamie Pate. This was my first class with her and I really enjoyed it.

There were lots of fun techniques included, like covering a slide mount, and making a shaker pocket. The whole thing took about 2 hours. Then we had lunch. I think I said it was "over" at about 12:30. 

 

We all had fun. I'm planning on using mine for my April AYM layout. Can't wait!

Scrapbook Saturday

I did most of these layouts a few weeks ago on our scrapbook retreat. 

I decided to let the picture of Butch and his buddy, Jack in front of the Panama sign be the title for the layout. I printed the picture in 8x10, then cut the bottom off, trimmed and matted it--then mounted it on top of the remaining photo--the sky. I like how it turned out. There are 12 pictures on the left side--stacked on top of each other. The right side had a large pocket for all the miscellaneous and Butch's trip journal--always at least 5 pages!

These are old pictures from the 1990's. I cut out the canoe by hand and ran it through the printer for the title.

It's kind of hard to tell, but I popped up the canoe and then put the clear, dimensional product to make ti look like water. 

This was my AYM layout for January. 

I made the layout about my birthday--January 11th. I used pictures through the years. I did some hand-stitching around a few of the balloons.

This is our Mother/Daughter trip to Charleston.

I noticed that I hardly ever bother with pictures of the "sights" anymore. It's all about the people and stories to me anyway.

This layout is another using old pictures. 

This one will go in Mindy's album. 

I've just about scrapbooked ALL of my old pictures now. It's only taken me 26 years!

Friday Funnies