Fears, Got A Million Of Them

So today the assignment from the May month long challenge is to write about things that you are most afraid of.  The rules are to write under 250 words. Well for me I could write a book on this subject so I will just stick with my top three.

Fear 1 -  This is a big one for me.  I am totally and completely afraid of the dark.  I have been afraid for as long as I can remember.  I know its irrational and there is nothing that can hurt me in the dark but when I am in a dark room or space I feel myself having an all out melt down.  According to what I read online by some well known afraid of the dark expert (if there is such a thing) when your fear of the dark carries through to adulthood its becomes a phobia.  So I guess I am a Myctophobia or Achluophobia fear of the dark.

Fear 2 - Afraid of fire.  I hate anything related to fire, even nice fire things, like a nice smelling lit candle.  A roaring fire in a fireplace or a fire pit fire.   These kinds of fire are supposed invoke calm and relaxation.  My reaction is just the opposite.  It make me nervous thinking that the flame will jump off of a candle and set my house on fire.  So for this one I guess I am a Pyrophobic or Arsonphobia , fear of fire.

Fear 3 - Fear of mice.  I hate those little creatures.  They just come in from nowhere and scurry around the house leaving there dirty leftovers along the way.  I have cats and I have not had a mouse in my house for years but whenever one of my cats stares at a wall or under a chair I wait for one of those litter critters to come running out.  My toes curl just thinking about it.  So I am a Suriphobia  the fear of mice and proud of it.

Well I could go on and on and then on some more on this subject.   I could be Dr Phil's biggest challenge.

I SEE A MOUSE IN THE DARK TRYING TO START A FIRE.

Mary Ann

Combining Blog Challenges Is Challenging

Doing some blogging juggling today.  Trying to combine the May bog everyday challenge on Story of My Life with the Mothers Day challenge on Exploring Cricut.

So here goes.

For the Story of my Life May challenge the question of the day is
If you couldn't answer with your job, How would you answer the question, 'what do you do?

When I am not cleaning up after my elderly sick cats, I love love love to just make stuff.  A few years ago my son and his wife gave me a Cricut die cut machine for Christmas which I had been lusting over for months. That began my addiction to scrapbook paper.  Since I am not a scrapbooker or card maker I decided to forge my own use for my beautiful shiny new Cricut machine.  So I just started making stuff.  OK so here is where the Exploring Cricut challenge come in.

Create a card, layout, or papercraft for Mothers Day.

Since cards and layouts is not in my wheelhouse I am showing some necklaces that I make out of paper using my Cricut.

Screams MOM

I used the Paper Lace and Plantin Schoolhouse cartridges to create the back ground and the letters.  I cut a number of the same image and Mod Podge them together for strength.  I glued an acrylic shape to each, first lining them with a coordinating card stock. I added Mom and embellished them with some Swarovski crystal bling, finishing them with silver bails and chains.

Just a little bling for Mom

On this one I used the same process as above but layered different images and added some bling and beads.

Moms are in our hearts

This one is done with the same process.  This time I cut my heart images from the Plantin Schoolhouse cartridge in half layering them to create some depth for my patchwork hearts. Added some Swarovski crystals, a bail and a chain.

So I think I accomplished my goal on this one.  Two blogs for the price on one.

Mary Ann

My Favorite Blogger

Day 5 on the May challenge is to profess your love for a blogger friend.  Which could be a bit weird but in my case really easy.  My favorite blogger is my daughter Lisa.  Her blog name is Pigeon House Handmade.  She is funny, talented and pretty.  Amazing how much she takes after me :).  We have had tons of fun blogging and crafting.  We make a great team because my thing is paper and hers is fabric and knitting. We both have shops on Etsy and we have been doing a few craft fairs.

She made the owls and the quilt.

Her whales that she made are swimming in a sea of her handmade crochet blanket.

As you can see she is very talented.

Not my daughter

She is way prettier then Gwyneth Paltrow who was just named worlds most beautiful women.  Gwyneth is OK but does not hold a candle to my daughter.

And of course very funny.  Stop by Pigeon House Handmade to read this funny blog.  It was her homage to all the  home decorating blogs out there that have perfect homes which are beautiful but not real life to most of us.

Things are always more fun when you have someone to do them with.

Mary Ann

Favorite Quote And Why I Love It

Quotes that come to mind:

May the force be with you -  Its from the ever popular Star War series  which I have to say are some of my favorite movies.

The tribe has spoken - I am a huge Survivor fan.  I have been watching it now for the 25 seasons that its been on.  How sick and sad is that?  Its the same darn thing every time but I love it. When Jeff Propst says these final words its always at the end of a very enjoyable hour.

Take this job and shove it -  I think this is more of a song then a quote.  How many times over the years did I want to scream this one out loud.

Nobody puts baby in the corner -  Well you can tell how shallow I am from my favorite quotes.  I hate to admit it but I must have seen Dirty Dancing at least 20 times. YIKES,  really freaky to say that out loud.

Hmmm not sure how long I am going to hold on to this month long May challenge. I am really not feeling it, so I am going to take one day at a time.

I may be back tomorrow.

Mary Ann

Ta Ta's And Tupperware, An Uncomfortable Situation

A few months ago a friend asked me to come to a Pamper Chef's party.  For those who have never heard of one.  Its a home party similar to a Tupperware party but the difference is that the person who sells Pamper Chef' prepares food using Pampered Chef recipes and equipment.  You stand or sit around usually with a drink and watch her do her thing. You then eat the food and buy the products.

Last minute my friend called and ask if I could pick up her sister-in-law, Carrie who lived not far from me.  I was totally fine with that.  I had met her sister-in-law before and she always seemed sweet and extremely quiet and shy. On the 30 minute drive to the party we had a conversation  about our aging parents.  The time went  by quickly, we got to the party and we were offered drinks by the hostess. I took my usual diet soda,  Carrie went for the wine, which she immediately sucked down and went for another. Within a short period of time she was totally and completely drunk.  During the cooking demo she was heckling the cook, telling extremely inappropriate stories and laughing at things that were not even funny.  Some people at the party  were trying to ignore her but others thought she was a riot.  I of course knew I had to drive her home and was not that amused.

The party finally ended, many of us buying things that we never wanted or needed.  I helped Carrie to my car hoping upon hope that she would not get sick on the way. Our ride home started out like a bad scene from the movie Groundhog Day.

Carrie - So is your dad still alive
Me - Yes (we had discussed this on the way to the party)
Carrie - How old is he
Me - 96
Carrie- That's really great
then silence

Carrie - So is your dad still living.
Me - Yes (are you kidding me)
Carrie - and how old is he
Me - still 96
Carrie-  That's great


Carrie - So are your parent still living
Me - Only my dad  (not again)
Carrie - and how old is he
Me - 96 (calgon take me away)
Carrie-  Wow that's great.

This conversation was repeated about 4 more times until Carrie decided she was hot and wouldn't it be fun to flash her rather large ta ta's at other cars and people walking on the street.

OMG, talk about feeling uncomfortable.  I found myself driving faster hoping that I would  not meet up with the police.  Happily we arrived at her home and her husband rushed out to escort her inside and I was on my way.  

So the morale of my story is, never drive shy, quiet, large breasted women to cooking demo's EVER.
Words to live by, that's for sure.

Mary Ann

OK I Must Be Nuts

So after being relieved for a full 24 hours that the A to Z blog was over, I decided to do another month long blog.  This one seemed more casual  and specifies what to write about each day so I thought what the heck.
It started yesterday but I thought I could just catch up.

OK so here goes.
Day 1

The story of your life in 250 words or less

Hmmm where to start.  I was brought up in Middle Village, Queens, NY thousands of years ago.  Sounds like I may be a vampire, of course I have exaggerated my age a bit.  I have an older sister who did not not like me much when we were young.  A bit jealous of my flowing blond locks.(She had mousy brown hair) so of course she would be jealous HA HA.   I think she likes me more now.  

I married really young at 18, what an idiot, since I am still married to the same person.  Yikes what was I thinking?  I have two children, a daughter and son who are both married and have two children each.  

We moved from Queens to upstate New York over 25 years ago where I have worked in the health care field
as a computer analyst/trainer/writer/and manager.  My husband retired a few years ago and not long after was  diagnosed with Parkinson disease.  I thought it was time for me to stay home with him (again what was I thinking) and quit my stressful job.  So now I spend my days blogging, designing and creating crafty things, visiting as much time as I can with my grandchildren and hanging with my husband. 

House  where I grew up in Queens, NY

This is the street where I lived in Queens. Seemed much bigger when I was little

Day 2

Educate us on something you know alot about or are good at.

Honestly I am not sure I know alot about anything.  I think for me I know a little about alot. Well maybe I don't even know a little about alot, its probably more like I  don't know much about anything but I have been successful at it for a long time so I guess its working for me.

I would hope I am a good mother at least I have tried to be.  I hope I am a good and caring friend to people.   As I have stated in early blogs I am really good at watching TV and eating. 
I am also really good at yelling. 


Well I guess that enough to start.  Hopefully I can keep this up.  We will see how it goes.

Until tomorrow maybe,

Mary Ann

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Chevron Flower Key Chain

In my craft room I have a bin of a random stuff  that I keep because I know that someday I will use it.  The other day I was looking through it and came across a bunch of laminate that I had from a few years ago.  After much thought I decided to try my hand at turning them into key chains.

I covered the laminate with chevron card stock using Mod Podge.  
Antiqued the edges in black.
I added a felt flower.
Layered  it with a daisy that I cut out from the Serenade Cricut Cartridge.
Topped it with a button and a swarovski pink crystal.
Embellished the top with a ring of beads
Attached the key ring.

These are a few others that I have also done.

I am visiting The Fabulous Cricut Challenge Blog today.

Mary Ann