Showing posts with label geocaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geocaching. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Screech Owl Omen

You know how it's so easy to find omens when you are looking into the past?

I found an omen today.

First of all - what is the word for a giant herd of screech owls? Pack? Gaggle? Fluffernutter?

I'm going to go with a fluffernutter of owls. Mostly because our screech owls are teeny and fluffy and round and so insanely cute it just makes your face hurt to look at them.

This morning, at about 5:15, a large fluffernutter of owls descended on my backyard and started making their sweet little trilling sounds.

I was telling some friends today that "screech" is an entirely inappropriate word for them because their sound, while amplified in a fluffernutter, is so soft and cute.

When you have a fluffernutter of cooing owls, though, a lot of things happen at once. All cats immediately forcefully eject themselves from your surprised and sleeping stomach and vault to the windows, leaving you dramatically awakened and a wee bit sore and angry.

Then, all the dogs in the neighborhood start barking. (Because we all know dogs are slower than cats.)

The dog barking starts the coyotes howling and yipping at the edges of the neighborhood.

At this point, you just have to get up and start working. There's no going back to sleep now that all of creation is making some sort of a noise.

However, I had an early geocaching date with my friend Lee, so I headed out with her to a local park before the sun was too far up and it was beastly hot. This is where the omen of the fluffernutter became more apparent, specifically when I ran directly into a large prickly pear cactus hidden in some tall grass, and got about 20 large cactus spines embedded into my thigh.

That was fun.

I pulled one out that was at least an inch deep in my leg. No one should have to do that, because it's gross. But after I got all the big ones out, I was left with the teeny ones that are like fiberglass, many of which are still in my leg and under my fingernails. During this hideous process, my friend - a nurse - Lee, was talking to a birder we met on the trails. Both of them were fluffernutter free and had navigated our little path un-spined and were oblivious to my - heh - punctuation.

Cacti don't have brains. They don't have Iphones or the ability to make icecubes and knit granny squares.

But they are so, so, so much better designed than we are.

They just sit there and you kill yourself on them.

Boom.

Cactus winning.

I hope it wasn't some weird zombie cactus that is going to turn ME into a cactus in 24 hours. We will see.

This week it's my brother's wedding anniversary!

I won't tell you how many years because unfortunately, we have aged in tandem, so let's just say they are both still VERY young! :)

 I saw something that inspired this card on a convention swap. I was not organized enough to do a general swap, but one of my friends got one with these flowers on it and I filed it away in my brain. Turns out that was just perfect for Tammie Edgerton's Dare to Get Dirty challenge on Splitcoast.

Stamps - Backyard Basics, Express yourself
Dies - Backyard Basics

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Tomorrow morning, I am going to pay close attention to all obvious omens.

And I will also wear pants.

Loveyameanitbye.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Streaking. It's More Fun Than You Think!

This month kicks off a challenge on the Geocaching.com website - 31 Days of Geocaching.

They've challenged us to find one cache each day in August and it's very motivating.

Since I've found most of the caches within walking distance of my home, I have to really plan this out so that I have time each day to find a quickly accessible cache that I have a shot at finding.

I kicked off the streak with my sweet friend Lee Ann, who was here visiting from Missouri. And yes, one of the caches was in a HEAD! :)

What's cool is this will be a streak within a streak this month - because I'm quickly closing in on a 365 day caching streak that started the day I found my first cache last year :)

I'll have to find a really epic one to end my streak on!

Speaking of streaks, I've been streaking through the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoast also.

I saw a swap at convention that used the Backyard Basics stamps, Express Yourself,  and Backyard Basics dies to make a little bouquet and I had to copy it because it was just so pretty. This card is for Tammie's challenge.

And, it turned out that this month's Challenge Chicks challenge was flowers, so I had a twofer!

Streakin' baby! :)
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Do you have a streak you're working on?

I'm working on most days without folding laundry right this second.

Also, most consecutive days without dusting.


Loveyameanitbye.


Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Hide and Seek for Grownups

One of my Twitter peeps posted a shocking photo yesterday.

You can see that photo here.

I don't know if Costco sells calendars, but if they do, they need to crack one out and look at it.

It's AUGUST, for goodness' sake!

The ONLY people who are allowed to even PONDER the holiday season are stampers. Everyone else should stifle all Christmas-y urges accordingly.

Heh.

So I bring you a Christmas ditty, since I'm allowed.

A very simple Christmas ditty using the beautiful Noel Notes from the Holiday mini - they are precut and come with a pretty, vanilla scalloped insert. The envelopes have a cute green insert.

These would make fun Christmas cards with very little work. I also think that you could just slip a photo into the frame, add the insert and have a photo card that doesn't look like everyone else who got theirs done at the same online Christmas card photo printer.

Since the end of the year is rushing at us, quick is very appealing! :)

I didn't want to spoil the simplicity of the design, so after I attached the insert I just punched a few vanilla trees with the Merry Minis punch and popped some of them up with dimensionals to make a teeny forest. I used this week's inspiration challenge as my starting point. I don't know how Stephanie keeps coming up with these amazing websites, but each week is better than the last. This week she chose LEIF. I used this Pantone teapot for my inspiration. 

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Now I have to tell you about my new obsession - geocaching!

My friend Lee came for a visit, and she and her husband are avid geocachers and they got me HOOKED!

If this had been around when I was little I don't think I ever would have gone to school. It's just like being Nancy Drew, which was always my lifelong dream.

Since I walk for a few hours every day anyway, this just adds a whole new level of fun and mystery to my stomps. 

I'm curious if any of you do this also? If so, please find me on www.geocaching.com - I'm understandblue. 

Seriously - look how fun this is. I'm totally addicted. I've only found 15 so far but I have zillions mapped out to find. Wanna play? (if you don't see a video below, click here) It's like Hide & Seek for people who would otherwise be considered grownups if not for the treasure hunting and stamping and whatnot.



Have you played today? It's good for your soul. Do something fun.

Loveyameanitbye.

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