Remarkable Life?

Week 2 of the Scrapshare Blogging Challenge:

Write about your less than remarkable life. Write about your routines,
your habits, your schedule. Find the unremarkable things about your
life and CELEBRATE them.

I live a very ordinary life. Small town America. I've never lived outside the state of Ohio and 40 of my 50 years have been in this small town. But, it is my life and I love it!

I love the simple things in life and will leave the glitz and glamour to others. I love my home and prefer to spend my time there. I absolutely love my furkids and hate to leave them. I don't mind being alone, actually prefer it many times. I have my friends but if we don't talk every day that is not a problem. I am a creature of habit. Go to work and come home 5 days a week. I grew up as an only child so have always had to entertain myself. Because of that I am not afraid to be alone.

I have/had wonderful parents. They taught me that I can be happy no matter what and that my happiness is not based on other people being/not being in my life. I'm so thankful that they were my parents.

My life. Not so remarkable compared to others.

But to me, ABSOLUTELY REMARKABLE!

Color Me Beautiful....

Many, many years ago I found out about a service called Color Me Beautiful. A "color consultant" worked with you to determine the colors best for you. I figured what the heck, might as well find out.

I must say it was a very enlightening experience. I learned that I was wearing colors that were all wrong for my skin tone and hair color. The whole concept of Color Me Beautiful is based on a book written by Carole Jackson and she uses the categories of spring, summer, fall (autumn) and winter to describe the colors.

I learned by reading the book before my appointment that your skin tone, hair & eye colors help to determine what colors look best on you. And, that these either have a blue or golden tone. The color palettes used are divided by "cool" or "warm" with the cool being the blue undertones and the warm based on the yellow. Cool are summer & winter. Warm are spring & autumn. I figured I had blue undertones and by looking at the colors I figured I was a summer.

I go for my appointment and being the smart-aleck 20-something I was at that time I figured I knew it all. With the consultant's first comment, I woke up and shut up!

First she determined that I had blue undertones (at least I was right on that!) and then draped me in swatches from all the groups. Right away I could tell that the spring and autumn colors were completely wrong. Then she did the summer swatches. I thought that I looked pretty good in some of those colors and she agreed but she wasn't done yet. She pulled out the winter swatches and started going thru them individually. WOW! Was I amazed at what some of those colors did for me! Some looked OK, others were pretty good and some were absolutely gorgeous.

In the 4 seasonal palettes, only 1 season has the colors of black & white. The other 3 palettes have less harsh versions of these colors such as ivory, soft white or oyster white and shades of gray. Winter has the black & white and amazingly, black is one of my best colors with white being pretty close. She told me that some winters cannot wear these as their main colors but only as accent colors but I could wear them both as a main color. Of course, she suggested to always have a "little black dress" in my closet because it would look terrific on me. They also pick one color out of the palette that would be the perfect color for a bathrobe. Amazingly, for me that was "icy aqua". They also tell you whether silver or gold jewelry looks better on you. Silver is my color! But when I asked her about all the gold jewelry I had, she said I could wear it but consider mixing gold and silver possibly by wearing a silver watch. To this day, I always buy silver watches or silver/gold watches. Even the ring I had made of my mother and grandmother's engagement rings is gold with silver and it looks very nice on my hand. I haven't entirely given up the gold jewelry because a lot of it was inherited but I always wear silver earrings and my silver watch.

Now there are some colors in the winter palette that don't look good on me and those are very good for accent pieces. That lemon yellow.... put it with navy blue or black or charcoal gray. Then I asked her about colors not in my palette, especially since I wore suits to work and I had several that weren't in the palette... namely that chocolate brown one. She said to go ahead and wear it but put one of my best colors with it... brown suit, blue-red blouse. Amazing look! Much better than the orange print blouse I usually wore. Know what I did with the orange blouse... I wore it with a black sweater every Halloween (and my black cat earrings).

They gave you a nice little color swatch book with notes as to which colors looked best as main or accessory colors and I carried that with me for years whenever I went shopping. She also went into what color shoes, handbags, hosiery, makeup, and hair color (if coloring) are best for a winter. To this day, I try to stick with those main colors in my wardrobe. Don't get me wrong, I will wear a color that isn't good for me, but it is usually a casual outfit that I only wear around the house. For work and dress-up occasions, I always wear a good color. That's one reason you see me in a lot of black :)

The colors of the winter palette rated 2-check excellent for me:

Light true gray, black, navy blue, emerald green, magenta, fuchsia, blue-red, icy aqua and icy pink.

My 1-check excellents are:

Pure white, medium true gray, charoal gray, true blue, royal blue, chinese blue, shocking pink, royal purple, true red and icy violet.

Good colors for me: True green, deep hot pink, bright burgundy, icy yellow and icy blue.

Colors that should only be used as accents or mixed with excellents or away from my face: Taupe, hot turquoise, lemon yellow, light true green, pine green and icy green.

Anyways, if you ever meet me, I'll be the one in black :)

Big Brother 6 - Which housemate are you?

You scored as Rachel. You're Rachel. You're very strong and love your life and you never let people take advantage of you. You're smart and cunning.

Which Big Brother 6 Character are you?
created with QuizFarm.


Big Brother All-Stars coming soon! Are YOU ready?

What Color?

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

October 4

Ok... I stole this from Heidi who stole this from Melissa who stole this from Pamela who stole it from some other people....

Go to Wikipedia and do a search for your birthday (day and month only, exclude the year). Post three facts, two births and one death on your blog including the years.

Events:

1537 - The first complete English-language Bible (the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale.
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain October 4 of this year is followed directly by October 15.
1927 - Gutzon Borglum begins sculpting Mt. Rushmore.
1957 - Launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and first Avro Arrow rolled out of main plant.

Ok, so I put 4 events. I could have had a lot more!! A lot happened on 10/4. Other events to note -- 1824 Mexico became a federal republic, 1830 creation of state of Belgium after separating from The Netherlands, 1958 Fifth Republic of France created, 1966 Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho. Notice a trend??? And a couple of fun ones -- 1931 debut of Dick Tracy comic strip, 1957 debut of Leave It To Beaver, 1983 1st Hooters restaurant opened in Clearwater, Florida.

Births:

1949 - Armand Assante, American actor
1950 - Peppermint Patty, fictional, charactor in Peanuts cartoon strip by Charles Schultz (boy she looks good for her age!)

Also born on this date, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1822. I'm feeling very presidential ;) I'm more impressed by sharing my birthday with "Moses" and "Ben-Hur", Charleton Heston (1924), one of my favorite actors way back when!

Deaths:

1970 - Janis Joplin, American singer (b. 1943) I remember this. I lived in a small town where drugs weren't out in the open so this opened my eyes to the world!

And, since this is Derby Weekend where the favorite horse got hurt and may have to be euthanized, I'll add this death: in 1989 - Secretariat, the Triple Crown winner in 1973.

October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 88 days remaining.

The Things People Do......

Our local Relay for Life is this coming weekend. I volunteered to walk for our company team. The local Relay does theme laps during the overnight hours to keep it fun and interesting.

One of the lap themes is Ohio State-Michigan. Living where I do, it is mainly OSU fans. After all we are only 90 minutes from Columbus. But, you will find a few UM fans in town. So most of the people walking during this time wear OSU clothing although last year a few people wore both!

I volunteered to walk this hour -- from 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. There is no way you will get me into any Michigan clothing. Cold.Day.in.Hell..... But I wanted to do something a little different than just wear my OSU clothes. I knit and I happened to have the yarn colors needed for a UM scarf -- yellow and blue. (Hey these are U of Toledo's colors too and I do like that school!!!!). So I started knitting me a scarf. Instead of the whole thing being yellow and blue, I made it 1/2 yellow/blue and 1/2 red/gray.

Unique isn't it :)

And, since it is supposed to be in the 40's I just may need a scarf in May!

My Ideal Career

Your Career Type: Conventional

You are orderly and good at following a set plan. Your talents lie in working with written records and numbers in a systematic, orderly way. You would make an excellent: Bank Teller - Bookkeeper - Court Clerk Mail Carrier - Post Office Clerk - Secretary Timekeeper - Title Examiner - Typist The worst career options for your are artistic careers, like comedian or dancer.

What's Your Ideal Career?

Hmmm...... In my life I've been a secretary and am now an accounting clerk. Fits.Me.To.A.Tee!

Spring has Sprung!

I.hate.winter.

Sure, I like looking at snow once in awhile, but I prefer warmer weather. My ideal world would be snow for about 2 weeks -- over Christmas and New Year's and then we'd be back to spring. Summer could start about March and last until October. Fall would be November and early December. But, living in Ohio that sure isn't going to happen (and, no I won't be moving anytime soon.....)

The last couple of weeks have been pretty nice. We've had some rain, but it hasn't really affected getting out and working in the yard. It really is nice seeing the neighborhood active with people working in the yards and the kids playing. I let the dogs out at 8:45 last night and ended up talking to the neighbors!

I've already gone on one walk today with the dogs, and if it stays nice, we just might take another later on. After all I've got to get ready for the Relay for Life walking!

The lilac bushes and trees at some homes along my walk are just gorgeous. I love purple ones especially. One neighbor has a tree that is absolutely gorgeous, not sure what it is but it is a gorgeous red color. All the lawns are so green. I really should take my camera and get some pics, isn't that what scrapbookers do? :)

And, most importantly....

The sun is out!!!

What Type of Weather Am I?

You Are a Rainbow

Breathtaking and rare You are totally enchanting and intriguing But you usually don't stick around long! You are best known for: your beauty Your dominant state: seducing

What Type of Weather Are You?

A Visit With Dad

Well, it has been a busy 2 weeks.

Dad came in from NC and stayed for almost 2 weeks. It was nice to have him around. We actually got to spend some time together talking about anything and everything. I love Martha but when she is here, they are always on the go.

Dad decided that the lawn and flower beds needed some work done. Can't argue with him since I don't do that kind of work. I have done some weeding this spring and did clean up quite a few of the leaves left from last fall. The outside looks completely different! All the shrubs out front are gone. There is a nice new brick border around all the flower beds (even though nothing is in them) and even the tree stump is gone. The mulch is now in the front bed beneath the picture window.

One more tree to come down when the ground has dried out some more. Dad and his brother, Larry, did get some of the lower branches off of it. Now, Larry just needs to get it down. After that, the stump will be ground out and there will be more mulch. Dad is going to fix the flower bed in that area also but wants the tree gone first. He wants to work on the flower beds the next time he comes home and put in some shrubs that don't get too tall. That's what we supposedly had, but some were 3 feet tall and others were 8 inches tall.

The lawn mower died also. He was going to buy a new one then thought better of it. Instead he arranged for someone to cut the grass and take care of the leaves for me in the fall. The price is only $5 more per time than what I paid my friend's son last summer. One less worry for me. I was seriously thinking about doing it myself but with my allergies, that would have been suicide...

We also got to enjoy Easter together and with his brother Mike's family. More on that in another post. It was a nice time and something we hadn't done for a long time. I sure do love my Dad :)

Which Extension Am I?

Which File Extension are You?

What Font Are You?

Arial - You're pretty normal. That's certainly not a bad thing, as a lot of people like you. Take this quiz!

Quizilla

Thanks V!

How Lucky Are You? Well, it is St. Patrick's Day!

Your Luck Quotient: 68%

You have a high luck quotient. More often than not, you've felt very lucky in your life. You may be randomly lucky, but it's probably more than that. Optimistic and open minded, you take advantage of all the luck that comes your way.

How Lucky Are You?

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all my Irish friends!

A Very Difficult 24 Hours

My father lives in NC. I live in OH. I do not get see him very often. Neither one of us are phone talkers either so we only talk about once a month. So when he called last night, I was glad to hear from him. I updated him on some stuff happening in town with people he's known forever. Then he said to me "Well, I've got some bad news". I'm not sure about this so replied with "OK, what is it?". His reply, "I've got prostate cancer". Well, you could have knocked me off my chair with a feather. I was not expecting that! He then proceeded to tell me about his doctor visits and the biopsy he had done last week. He will see the urologist again in 2 weeks and discuss his treatment options in more detail.

I was very optimistic during the phone call. The owner of the company I work for is a prostate cancer survivor so I know the survival rate is high when found early. It sounds like Dad's was found early so I'm very, very hopeful. I also talked with his companion and she told me some things he forgot. He is 76 years old so does tend to forget sometimes. They will keep me updated on how things are going and they hope to make a trip to OH sometime in April.

When we hung up, I lost it. He is my only parent. My mother died over 9 years ago of emphysema. I still have a hard time because she and I were so very close. Much closer than my dad and I. I am also an only child. I have no siblings, no spouse and no children. If something should happen to my father, I will be totally alone. That scares me.... Granted, I do have aunts/uncles/cousins but they are not the same as your parents.

He will survive. He is a fighter. After all, he has had open heart surgery including a valve replacement. It is quite possible that something other than the cancer will be the cause of his death when the time comes. But, the word "cancer" has such awful connotations to it. I have had extended family members die of cancer... My grandmother on my mother's side in 1971. And, one of Dad's sisters in 1995. So it does run in the family so to speak.

And, just last Saturday I had some blood work done. On the form, you had to note any cancer in the family. Now I'll have to add his name to the above 2 relatives.

On an ironic note, because of my employer's survival, his wife (also works in the office with me), is very, very gung ho on raising money for Relay For Life. Back in February, I told her I would raise money and walk this year for our company team. Never did I expect that I really would have such a personal reason for this.....

Please keep my father in your prayers. And, if interested, any donations to Relay for Life would be more than welcome.

What Kind of POP Are You?

You Are Dr. Pepper

You're very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you. People who like you think they have great taste... and they usually do. Your best soda match: Root Beer Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

This is hilarious.... My favorite POP is Dr Pepper. So much so that I named my first dog Circo Dr Pepper. But, I do prefer 7 Up over Root Beer....

4 Things....

Making the rounds on the net and SS :)

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Accounting Clerk at textile rental company
2. Accountant (and secretary before that) at a CPA firm
3. Secretary in a hospital radiology department
4. Secretary in a hospital accounting department

Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. Backdraft
2. Dirty Dancing
3. The Big Chill
4. Two Moon Junction


Four places I have lived

1. Wapakoneta, Ohio
2. Toledo, Ohio
3. Whitehouse, Ohio
4. Wapakoneta, Ohio

Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. Survivor
2. Amazing Race
3. CSI
4. Forensic Files

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. New York City
2. Florida
3. California
4. North Carolina

Four websites I visit daily:

1. Scrapshare.com
2. Jokersupdates.com
3. Myway.com
4. Weather.com

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Prime Rib/Baked Potato
2. Macaroni & Cheese
3. Spaghetti
4. Steak

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. Somewhere warm....
2. Australia/New Zealand
3. In Bed
4. Spending time with SS friends

Paige's Scarf

I did it!!! I finished Paige's "scarf". Isn't she cute? :) Got to love fun fur yarn, it hides a lot.... Now I've got to decide on what colors to use for Pepper's scarf. Got to have a matching set after all.

It wasn't that hard to do since I started with 26 stitches and did the k2tog to decrease on each end every other row. Then I did a cast on and bind off of 50 stitches for each of the ties. They are too long, but I like that I can tie them in a bow :)


I tried it on Pepper also to get an idea of size for him. It didn't quite show like it does on Paige, so I may have to start with 30 or 34 stitches instead of 26 so it is longer. He's got longer legs so it looked too small on him. I will probably cut down on the # stitches on the ties also since he has a much skinnier neck!


Got Paige's costume for the next Havanese Fun Day!!!

Learning to knit....

A year ago, a girl I worked with was knitting the "fun fun" scarves during our morning break and lunch break. Our boss was then selling them to raise money for our local Relay for Life.

4 of us were on break together every day. Myself and the other 2 envied Jane her ability to knit and crochet. Jane kept encouraging us by saying that we could do it too. Cheryl and Karen took her up on it and Jane held learning to knit sessions every break! I was too chicken so worked on counted cross stitch instead! But, as they learned, I kept thinking that I could learn too. So I set out to learn on my own by seeing what I could find on the internet.

Armed with some needles, yarn and my computer I found lots of websites. Several had some videos of how to cast on, knit, purl, and bind off. With those videos and my trusty learning to knit book (in the kit I had found at Wal-Mart), I taught myself to knit. I finally surprised the other girls and joined them in our daily knitting sessions!

Sadly, Jane's mother died in May and Jane took some family leave time. Her mother also left her a nice inheritance and since Jane herself wasn't that far from retirement, she quit her job. We miss her guidance and oohhhing and ahhing over the projects she did but she does stop in to see us every few months.

I have really only felt comfortable doing scarves. Mostly because I do most of my knitting at work and scarves are easy to do when you're talking to other people. Between April and November I had done approximately 10 scarves. I gave 8 away at our Christmas held on Turkey Day. The recipients thought it was "cool" that I had made them myself! I was amazed that several of the younger generation (late teen's-early 20's) were the most enthusiastic about them!

Here's a pic of a few of those scarves.


My mother always worked on an afghan every winter and when I finally learned how to knit, I decided I want to do that pattern someday. Only problem was I didn't know what the pattern was and I couldn't find a knit pattern for a ripple afghan that looked like hers. Imagine my surpise when cleaning out a cupboard, I found her little blue knitting bag. In it were her size 8 circular needles and the handwritten pattern for her ripple afghan! I started crying. I have already purchased the yarn but still need to practice the stitches needed before I attempt it. It uses yo's, p2tog, purl and knit stitches. Someday!

Another girl at work is also a knitter. She told us about an afghan she made which uses size 17 needles and 3 strands of yarn using the garter stitch. She has also made it using an alternating purl and knit and a different number of stitches. I'm going to make one of these when I feel a little more comfortable knitting. Right now, the fun fur hides a lot!

My current project is a bandana..... for the dogs! Most bandana patterns start small and go to large. I kept practicing the increase stitches and it looked awful! I finally found an adult pattern that starts large and decreases with the k2tog stitch. I did a small test bandana and it wasn't too bad. I had guessed on the right amount of stitches to cast on. So last night I started one for Paige using some leftover fun fur and yarn from my last scarf. Got 13 rows done between last night and today at work. Going to be a fast moving project!

A Dog's Life

I wish I could have the life my "babies" have.... sleeping all day, someone waiting on me all the time and lots and lots of lovin'

They always find the most comfortable spot in the room and settle in. I spend some of my spare time scrapbooking. My basement is semi-finished and has a couch, table and chairs and an old bedroom suit as the furniture. I use the table and have everything spread out all over the place. Pepper and Paige, well, they like the bed. They like it so much they would mess up the covers and I'd try to keep the bed made so it looked decent. I spent more time doing that than scrapbooking so I figured what the heck. I just let them do what they want.

Here's the proof!



Right now.... they are on the love seat in the office snoozing. Must.be.nice.

Oh well, better late than never

Found this on another blog (Hi Mel!) so tried it myself.

Your Candy Heart Says "Hug Me"

A total sweetheart, you always have a lot of love to give out. Your heart is open to where ever love takes you! Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a surprise romantic evening that you've planned out Your flirting style: lots of listening and talking What turns you off: fighting and conflict Why you're hot: you're fearless about falling in love

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

Hmmmmm.....