Category Archives: Cards; Birthday

I Still Worry

I still worry even though he is 28.

Colorado Springs got a lot of snow this week. We had a severe winter storm move in on Sunday, and it didn’t stop snowing until sometime on Tuesday. Fourteen inches of snow fell in my neighborhood. Some areas got more some less.

My son, Chris, who is now 28, just recently started working for a mobile medical company in town. He is a licensed EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). He is transporting non-emergency patients to and from appointments, etc. In a few months after his probation is complete, he hopes to begin working in an ambulance with the other EMT’s.

With this new job, Chris is making up for the five years between 21 and 26 when he couldn’t drive because of uncontrolled seizures due to epilepsy.   Now he drives EVERYWHERE! And that is a good thing.

This is what I don’t like…

First, regardless of the weather, if there is a patient that needs to be driven, he drives. Second, the hours seem to be brutally long.

This past Saturday he worked his normal 12-hour shift…longer actually, because he got to work by 7:00 a.m. and didn’t get back to my place until 10:20 p.m. He opted to spend the night here in town because he was “on-call” that night after his shift. When he arrived, he told me he would be driving to Durango, Colorado the next day to transport a patient. Durango is a 6-hour drive from here. It began snowing, and local meteorologists were saying it wasn’t going to stop until sometime Tuesday. Ask me if I slept at all Saturday night. I am sure you know the answer.

I got up the next morning to make his lunch; something I’ve never done for his sister or my husband. He is my son!  He told me he was wrong. He wasn’t going to Durango; it was Coaldale. It is a little town only 2 hours southwest of us.  “That’s better than Durango in this whether,” I thought.

I worried all day!

No I wouldn’t say worried, let’s say I AGONIZED all day. “Are the roads okay? Is he safe? Why do they have to release people from the hospital on Sunday?” I fretted. “They shouldn’t send people out in this kind of weather if it isn’t an emergency,” I contemplated.

My husband said I am worrywart. I know he is 28 years old. He is a man. But, I am his mother and mothers always worry about their children no matter their age.

The kid arrived home safely around 5:00 p.m. That night I slept like a baby!

Chris stayed here for all of Monday and Tuesday. The snow just kept coming. It didn’t look like it would ever stop! City offices closed early on Monday and didn’t re-open until Wednesday. All school districts in the area shut down until Thursday even though it stopped snowing on Tuesday. Some of the doorways on some of the school buildings were buried by the drifting snow. Snow removal has been a major hassle for the past few days. I was relieved Chris didn’t have to work those days.

But, he did on Wednesday. He arrived at work by 7:00 a.m. I didn’t see him again until he arrived home at 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning. It seems at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, after already working 10 hours, Chris and another person were dispatched on another long distance run.

I’ve never taught my children they are entitled to anything. I’ve always taught them they have to work and earn anything they get, but GEEEEES! That’s crazy! My son’s father phoned me at 9:30 to let me know Chris would be spending the night here again, because he was too tired to make the 23 mile drive to his dad’s home where he lives. At 11:00 p.m., I texted my son to find out when he was getting home. That was when I learned where he was and I calculated…he wouldn’t be home until 1:30 a.m.!

At 1:30 a.m., he arrived wanting food. So, I heated up some leftovers from our dinner, sat, and watched him eat.

He had to be at work by 7:00 a.m. the next morning. I again got up and made his lunch. I was fortunate in that I was able to go back to bed when he left.

Like I said, brutally long hours…but he seems cheerful and that is really ALL that matters.

So, on to my card.

I just LOVE this stamp set and these framelits!  A very dear friend of mine gave me a birthday card that is similar to this one.  The black and white colors, thread and embossed background and sentiment are different on the one I’ve made.

Black White Gold Blooms-3

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

After publishing I realized I forgot to include the Large Polka Dot Embossing Folder to the list of supplies I used.  Item # 133739

Someone I admire & a Botanical Birthday

Occasionally we are fortunate enough to meet someone that we can truly say we admire or someone who affects our lives in a positive way. I have known one such person on a casual basis for about 10 years but it was not until just recently that I realized what a remarkable person she really is. She is my hair stylist/manicurist.

There she was, sitting right under my nose all this time. I didn’t realize until recently what a kindhearted person she really is. Think of it. We encounter people daily, conduct whatever business we need to conduct, but we really don’t KNOW all the people we associate with on a regular basis. We know of them, but we don’t really KNOW them?  Unless, of course, they are a family member or close friend. But, do we even really KNOW them?

I don’t think we get to know anyone until hard times hit.

Back to my manicurist. She is a single mother in her early forties and a successful business owner. I thought that was a remarkable thing when I first met her over 10 years ago; to be so young (in her late twenties) and to own a successful business built on her own.

At any rate, three years ago she told me of her former brother-in-law who was in rehab and of his very young daughter who was in foster care. The young child’s mother had been out of the picture for quite a while. Upon hearing of her former niece’s situation, she agreed with her ex-husband that the child would be better off with family. She agreed to share temporary custody of the young child with her ex-husband until the biological father was released from rehab and once again able to care for his offspring. Even though she wasn’t even related  through marriage anymore, she agreed! I thought it was incredible she would do this because she didn’t have to. She was no longer beholding to any member of her ex-husband’s family.

The child’s father got out of rehab and for the last three years,  he has been caring for his child.

On a recent morning the young girl, 9 years old now, had the unfortunate experience of finding her father passed away in his bed. She woke up and realized he had “over slept” and failed to get her up for school. I will not go into particulars about his death because it would all be conjecture on my part anyway. Nevertheless, my hairstylist has stepped up to the plate again and has agreed to share custody of her 9-year-old niece. She is sharing custody with her ex-husband. Her nest just emptied this past fall when her youngest went off to college. Now it is full again, and she takes on this responsibility with open arms. When I asked her why she wanted to do this, her response was unequivocal, “She is family. I would just like to think someone would have done it for my children if it was necessary.”

I admire you, lady. You have a big heart. It is bigger than mine. I don’t know if  I could do what you are doing.

On to more pleasant thoughts!  Here is a card I recently created for a shoe box swap with others in my Stampin’ Up! group.  I love, love, love this stamp set and framelit!  Hope you do to.

If you have any questions about this card, please feel free to ask.  I would be happy to help you.

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today!

Botanical Birthday

Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprinkles of Life

Hello All,

Just wanted to do a quick share before another month passes without you hearing from me.  I’ve been very busy in my little stamp room lately playing with a lot of new things.  But,  today I am sharing a card I recently made with a set that has been around for a while and sent to my brother-in-law for his birthday this month.   This stamp set is in the Annual Catalog, and you’ll recognize it as the Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp set.  That means with every purchase of  Sprinkles of Life stamp set, Stampin’ Up! will make a $3.00 donation to Ronald McDonald House Charities.  Now whether you get around to making something with it or not, it is worth the purchase because it is for a good cause.  It is an adorable set and coordinates perfectly with our Tree Builder punch.  Now who would have thought a cupcake and a tree would have anything in common?!  🙂  That’s one of the things I like about Stampin’ Up!  Most of their products are coordinated with each other; paper, ink, framelits, stamp sets.

If you have any questions about the card, please feel free to contact me.

Sprinkles of Life Birthday

Hope you enjoyed your visit here.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2

 

 

Four Things NOT to Do When You Own a Home Security System.

Are home security systems really worth the money we spend on them? The installation of our system was free a few years ago, as long as we committed to paying the monthly monitoring fee for two years. The two years have long since passed, and we still spend $46.00 every month for monitoring. My husband and I have often wondered, “Would the monitoring company really send the police to our home if the alarm sounded and they couldn’t get in touch with either one of us? Should we cancel and save the money?” Well, we recently learned the answer to these questions.  In the process, we learned four things NOT to do when you have a home security system.

  1. DO NOT arm the alarm system, forget you have armed it; heck forget you even have it, and go out a different door. The alarm key pad is usually located next to the door you enter and exit most often. Ours is in our family room near the door that goes out to the garage. To get to the front door of the house you have to go up a flight of steps into the kitchen and living room. If it is armed and you open the front door, the alarm sounds. It is loud…loud enough to wake a dead person! We know this is a fact.
  2. DO NOT wake from a dead sleep first thing in the morning to let the cat out and forget to disarm the alarm before opening the back door. Our poor cat is afraid of everything, including the back door. He now waits at the top of the steps to see what happens when we open the door before he comes down to go out.
  3. DO NOT pop a helium balloon near the glass break when the alarm is armed. I did this the morning after my retirement party while I was cleaning up. Unless you want to get your blood rushing through your veins at terminal velocity and you are in the mood for a sprint down a flight of stairs, DO NOT DO IT. Who knew a popping balloon sounded like breaking glass?
  4. Finally, DO NOT go out the front door to water the lawn. What does that have to do with a home security system? Why, let me tell you.

The other evening, my husband did this very thing. When he went out a door we hardly ever use (the front door), he pulled it closed behind himself because the air conditioning was running. When he came back in, he came in through the garage.

Later that evening at bedtime, we armed the alarm and went upstairs to bed. At approximately 1:00 a.m., my cell phone rang waking me from a coma-like sleep. I answered it and there was no response from the caller. I hung up thinking kids took my number off the back of my car or from here, my blog, and they were making prank calls.

Twenty minutes later, it rang a second time again waking me from a cadaverous sleep.

“Huh-oh”, I mumbled.

“Hello. Is this the Cauler residence at (he said my address)?” the wide-awake voice at the other end asked.

“Oh crap! Now what?” I thought. You know no good news ever comes at 1:00 a.m. I immediately thought of my children. Were they okay?

“Yes, it is,” I replied a lot more coherent now.

“Is this Josie?” the voice asked.

Feeling a little suspicious and spooked, I hesitated a moment and thought of being a wise guy and saying, “Well, you know my cell phone number and you know my last name, why don’t you know my first name too?” but I thought better of it.   “Yes,” I answered.

“This is officer so and so from the Colorado Springs Police Department and we are holding down your house. Can you tell me; are you inside your home? We got an alarm call from ADT. Are you in the house, and are you alone?”

Now I really felt alarmed! (No pun intended.) I never heard the alarm! “What? I am hanging up now, and I am calling the police!”

I got out of bed and looked out the bedroom window and sure enough, there was a police car parked in front of our house. What the…! With a little difficulty, I woke my husband, pulled my revolver from its hiding place and went out into the hallway. My husband followed. The light from several flashlights was jumping through my front door! What was going on? This was crazy and disturbing!

“I have a gun!” I shouted, “And I better see some badges when I get there!”

Sure enough, it WAS two police officers from the Colorado Springs Police Department.   Apparently, we neglected to lock the front door when we went to bed. Forgetting my husband had gone outside through it earlier in the evening, we assumed it locked. Somehow, during the night, the front door drifted open. Perhaps one of the cats rubbed up against it causing it to open. When that happened, it triggered the alarm. The first phone call was from the alarm company checking to see if we were okay. Funny thing is we never heard the alarm. It wasn’t ringing when we came down to the front door. However, if you have a home security system and wonder if they really work…they do! It is money well spent!

With all of that said, here is my card for today.

Butterfly Basics Birthday

Just a brief word on how I stamped this card.  For the honeycomb background on the stamped image, I used the Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder and Soft Suede Ink.  To get the honeycomb image, I rubbed the ink pad right onto the inside of the folder, added the paper and then closed the folder.  I then used Stampin’ Write Markers to color the different portions of the stamp and stamped the image over the top of the background.

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today.  Until next time…

Happy Stamping!

Josie2