i make things

December Daily | Day 18 | Card Night

December Daily - Day 18

CARD NIGHT! Pinochle night! A family tradition for YEARS! I was taught by my Aunt when I was 10 and I played with my Grandparents until they passed away and they played since they were young too.

So...card night has gone on for awhile and it's so much fun carrying on that tradition.

All 6 of us look forward to getting together and my mom and aunt ALWAYS watch the kiddos so my cousin, sister and brother can play. They never tell us no. They know how much it means to us.

I wanted this layout to look like a giant playing card...because quite frankly I couldn't think of anything else to do.

I happened to be perusing through my December Daily kit papers (Ali Edwards) looking for something I could use that would work for my pictures and I kept coming back to the "north pole" paper. It was loud and obnoxious but the colors were so pretty and I thought, "hey, I could use this. I just need to cover up the crazy parts. It kinda, sorta, looks like it could be the middle part of a playing card."

So I went with it. I added the pink border just to bring out some of the other colors in the patterned paper and try to not be so "one note".

Since the background was so wild I decided to put the three pictures all in a row (so they would fit) and turn them into black and white. Being color was way too much for the eye to see.

I also add the tradition plastic word because that was the whole point I wanted to get across on the layout and I thought it would be a nice focal point.

Tradition is attached with Tim Holz's tiny attacher. Which lately is one of my favorite tools. I've finally gotten over the idea that I don't want to put metal in my layouts. (because eventually when paper is squished together with metal it will warp the paper) by making sure I don't squish pages together and I keep my layouts upright.

I added the journalling on the bottom using some of the kit paper in the same color as the background using Remington noiseless font.

I added the 18 for the date in each corner making sure to flip the bottom upside down just like a real playing card. The puffy hearts are from Ali's kit as well.

I really had fun with this one. It isn't a traditional layout for me but I think it turned out so neat and I'm glad I finally used that north pole paper.

Thank you for reading my blog post. If you have any questions or comments please leave them below. Have a great day!

Playing Pinochle with Jacob, Kimmie, Thomas and Jamie

Here are some pictures Kimmie took while we were playing pinochle a couple weeks ago. So here's the story (I probably got it the order wrong but the idea is there):

Kimmie made Mango Salsa with Tilapia for me and her, Thomas doesn't like it, and when I get to her house (I was running late because I had to do laundry) she started eating it....and right away it made her mouth burn then her hands were burning. Apparently there was something about the jalapeno that didn't agree with her. So I didn't eat it. Earlier she tried to hold Jacob and he wasn't having any of it. He must have felt something from the jalapeno because she couldn't touch him. He would just wail like he was dying.

So we start to play cards and I sit him in my lap and play for a little while. He liked it. He just sat there and watched. Then he had to eat so I put the spare tire (bobby pillow) on my lap laid him on it and propped the bottle in his mouth and held it there with my chin while playing cards. It was quite the site. One hand full of 19 cards, the other grabbing and flicking cards toward the pile in the middle all the while bent over with my chin holding up the bottle for Jacob (he's 3 months old and can't hold the bottle on his own).

Me and Jacob playing cards. He's so cute.

Kim's lousy hand. Seriously, look at that. It was bad. Good thing Jamie was my partner and Kimmie wasn't. LOL Jamie and I got set in the first round but ended up beating them in the last round by 100 points. It was seriously awesome! LOL 
 

Galena with the Girls!

All I can say is I haven't laughed that loud, that long or that hard in a really really really long time. And having to say that is shameful. Those girls crack me up. OMG! I miss them so much. We had such a good time in Galena. A little alcohol was involved but not like when we drank at our parties in the Res. LOL We just went right back into how it used to be in college. We talked about life, love, divorce, sex, butt sex, men, long schlongs, Erika's mom (LOL), babies, pregnancy...you name it. I love those girls! I truly do. I wish we weren't so far a part. :(

I walked in the door at 10 p.m. on Friday night (I had to work all day on Friday, lovely) and the first thing I did was laugh at something someone shouted at me and then I heard the girls laugh back. Isn't that the best? Then I got into the living room and one of the first things they said to me was, "Jen, we decided you get the award for the biggest boobs." OMG I laughed so hard. This coming from the suite of girls who, on average, had a size D chest size. We were the DD suite. LOL

So here are some pictures.

The girls on the streets of Main Street Galena. (l to r: me, Nette, Krisit, Heidi and Anne)

More girls right outside the Italian Restaurant we ate at. l to r: Kristi, me, Erika (aint' she so adorably cute?) and Anne

The cast of characters!

Kristi (preggers with 3rd child) - She is laughign her ass off while we were playing this game called "Things"

Anne laughing her ass off while reading some lines from the game.

Basically in this game we played you have these cards that have sayings like, "things you don't do at your wedding" to which all of us each write a response to the saying. Some of ours were, "Don't kiss the best man", "Don't blow the best man.", "Don't fuck the best man." and "Don't wear a red dress." Damn it was hilarious. We were all the same wavelength...thinking dirty. So then one player gets to read them and the other players have to guess who said which one.

Another saying we had was, "things you shouldn't title a children's book." We said, "don't disturb the one-eyed monster.", "why are mommy and daddy wrestling.", "i have two daddy's" and I can't remember the other one but it was hilarious.

Erika giving me the evil eye...not sure why? Probably because I kept taking her picture and I wrote a comment about her mom. LOL It was funny though.

Kristi laughing so hard she cried. :)

This is the game we played. It's a good game either drunk or sober. :)

This is Annette who we call Nette. She was laughing at me...probably because I'm funny...or just because she was tanked and everything is funny when you are drunk. I'm still going with it's because I'm funny. I'm a narcissist that way. LOL

this is Heidi she is prego with her third child. She is looking at me because I took her by surprise and took her picture...I'm sure she didn't like it that much being that she's uber pregnant. Sorry Heidi! but I needed a picture of you.

Downtown Galena where we tromped around out in the cold weather.

This is me by the restaurant we ate lunch at on Saturday. Damn my legs look skinny. I didn't notice before.

The girls kept telling me how skinny I looked and how I should work at Hooters as a side job.

I'm like, "um...I don't think so."

They said, "You have a big rack and hot skinny legs. you should work there."

To which I responded with, "Um...I don't think so. I have a gut. I'd have to wear a girdle and I don't need men staring at my rack more than I already do."

To which the immediate comeback was, "Jen, you don't have a gut and Erika says I work in the ladies dept. at a dept. store I can find you something to suck it in."

To which I say, "Um...have you seen me naked? No? I don't think so. I have a gut. I just have you fooled."

LOL Conversations like that crack me up.

The window display of a toy store we stopped at. It had the most fun toys to play with. Old school toys to like that rubber band shooter, rubber chickens, bozo the clown...stuff like that.

Kristi wearing a hat at this lovely hat store we stopped at. I bought a hat, Kristi bought a couple hats and I think Erika bought a hair clip. I'll have to take a picture of the hat I bought. btw Kristi didn't buy this hat. LOL

Erika in a brown hat. She kept trying on all these brown hats but couldn't find the exact one that she really wanted. Oh well, I think she still looked cute in this hat.

Overlooking Galena from the top of the valley.

A lovely waterfall near where we stayed.

the Big Bad Weekend

So...what did I actually DO this weekend? Good question. I had a set of plans but I don't always follow them. Plans change. Shit happens...stuff like that.

Friday night: No dinner at the cheesecake factory. How sad. :( (that's me pouting) I love eating there. What did I do instead? Stayed at home and watched the Ugly Truth and messed around on the internet. Fun night but hey I needed a lo-key night.

So on Saturday morning I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I hear a car on the gravel so my natural curiosity had me looking out the window and what do I see? Well let me tell you, it was Michelle's little blue cobalt. I was going to have visitors. I figured unless I wanted the midgets to charge in my bedroom and pounce on me I better get up. So I did and got to play with them...well more like keep them from trashing the place. LOL They are very busy children.

That's Gracie...those piggy tails were super cute and she wanted to read a book but paused long enough to say, "cheese!" for me. What a ham.

So I left and went to a Mary Kay party with Amanda, a friend of mine. I bought a couple things for super cheap...yep. Want to see? Really? You do? Okay, you pulled my leg. Here is a couple pics.

Time-wise...figured I should try something new for my ugly mug. It is horrible.

This is sweet. It's a compact case that has a nice floral fruity fragrance in powder form...so you can put it on easier than regular perfume. Sweet huh? I thought so. I loved the smell too, it was very girly...and considering most of the time I'm such a tom boy and don't feel very girly at all I thought that might be a nice scent to have. Maybe I'll feel less man-like when wearing it...well, maybe...it's worth a shot.

K, so after that I went to Michelle's house for lunch. We had Tomato Basil Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches...damn they were tasty too. 

So then we played for a bit but Gracie and Auntie Jen needed to go down for a nap so we did. Passed right out on the recliner in her bedroom. It was nice...except Gracie moves around a lot so she kept waking me up. LOL

After that I had to go to work. Yep, work....yep, on a Saturday. Yeah that was lots of fun but you know what...I get so much more done when nobody is around. Seriously I think I work twice as fast and get it done in half the time (yes I realize that is essentially the same thing). So I don't mind that much.

After that was game night at little Kimmie and Poor Thomas's house. Some of our friends came over too (me, Kimmie, Gwinnie, Christles, Krysta, Jed and Busker) We played a ton of games: Apples to Apples, Scategories, Catch Phrase, Cranium and Disney Scene-It. I was there until 1 a.m. but then went home because I was tired.

I decided to take a shower...which was a colossal mistake. It woke me up so then I was up for a long time...dinking around on the internet, playing games and talking to a couple of friends. LOL I'm such a dork.

Sunday...woke up really late...went to Kimmie's for the Vikings game...took a cat nap during the game. I'm so bad. 

Our football group. Kimmie made manicotti today. It was tasty. Oh and Thomas made rice krispie bars with M&M's in it. Those were tasty too.

Then went home and made my cake and was going to make dinner but crapped out because I didn't have the right stuff and the cake took forever. Ah well.

Here's some pics.

Here's the whole thing...It's a three layer cake. It's called a Hot chocolate Layer cake with homemade marshmallows. That's right. I made those marshmallows from scratch...they were really good too! Seriously, so much better than the ones at the store.

Look at all those marshmallows with all that chocolate....OMG...so tasty! (you know, that's my problem...I love food too much...if I didn't love food I'd be so super skinny...but I love food so I'll never be a twig.)

OMG...I don't even need to say anything. Your mouth should be watering...salivating...whatever...

Okay, one more picture to tempt you.

Playing Pinochle

Played pinochle at Kimmie's tonight....me and Auntie Sheila played against Kimmie and Thomas.

This is the first game...we won by a lot...poor Kimmie and Thomas. They couldn't get any good cards at all...I felt bad.

This is the second game...it was very close. Insanely close. Like within 200 points close. Tom got double trump in his hand on the first hand of this game. It was crazy but then they didn't get much after that and Kimmie set them once so we ended up winning.

Auntie Sheila...she was my partner. She didn't bid much but it didn't matter because I had some good hands to bid on.

Thomas's Homer Simpson slippers...my tootsies were getting cold.

Thomas Gwin looking...pensieve...crazy...???

Kimmie and Me...kimmie looking happy...me looking tired and haggard. It was a rough day today. ughh....

Bar Bingo and Amanda's Birthday

Some pics from today. Me, Kimmie, Thomas, Mom and Auntie Sheila went to the bowling alley for bar bingo today. I won twice! Once for regular bingo and once at the end for blackout. So I won about $50. Sweet huh? Yeah, I thought so...what should I use that money for? Something fun I think. I'll have to think about it though.

Kimmie and Thomas. Thomas won once. :)

This is my bingo troll...a flamingo on top of a hamster...interesting I know. It was Kimmie's idea but it worked because I won twice!

Thomas winning bingo...he didn't seem too excited though. What a brat. LOL He had more fun tickling Kimmie and taunting her.

Kimmie's bingo daubers...in rainbow color order. Lovely. She is a little bit crazy for bingo. She actually has more than what she put out there...imagine that. She uses all those colors too. She switches colors for each number called. LOL

This is me and my winnings for the day...and my lucky bingo dauber...it's not really my lucky dauber because I just used it this one time so...whatever. LOL

Me and Amanda at her house partying it up for her Birthday! She's a little drunk here whereas I am not. :)

Lego Batman

 

One of my new favorite games lately is Lego Batman. You can play this game on any of the popular systems out there my poison is Playstation 3. It's basically a little kids game but I don't care. It is funny. You can play as the hero or the villan. Poison Ivy is cool. You can kiss people and then they keel over. LOL You can use your mind powers if you are the riddler. Mr. Freeze freezes people. Pretty wicked I know. :)

So this isn't the reason for my lack of posting though...just in case you were wondering.

Last week and this weekend

 Some pics from last week and this weekend.

 

Me and Gracie at the playground at the Diamonds in Owatonna. It was a very warm day and sunny so perfect for a little playground time.

 

A nice moment with those two. Usually they are fighting like cats and dogs. I'm trying to teach Gracie to fight back because Jack is pretty mean usually. He pushes her down a lot. She likes to just whine and get Jack yelled at which I don't like so much.

 

Gracie loved the wheel...as you can see by how happy she looks here. It was cute. She didn't do much at the playground but climb up and down the stairs and play with this wheel.

 

I had to put this shot in because she looks like Cruella DeVil or something with that hair. LOL

 

I love the look on his face...it says it all doesn't it? Complete joy. :)

 

I love this one too. "ooohhhh!"

 

Princess PITA didn't like the swings like Jack did but she does look a little bit happy here.

 

Gracie after demolishing a cupcake at the DUV meeting Saturday morning. She is such a little piglet. The best part is that when she is done she wants you to hold her hand so then she gums you all up with the crap on her hands. LOL

 

Texas Hold 'Em at Kimmie and Gwinnie's. Jimmy, Christles, Dad, Kimmie and Thomas.

 

I call this one "Thinking"

Playing risk with Christles, Kimmie and Thomas. These two plotted against me and Thomas, jerks. Then Chris talks or more like blathering on all the f'in time. It's so annoying. I'm never playing that game again. It takes too long and Chris talks too much.

playing the wii

Playing the wii at kimmie's. It was a night of games. First me and kimmie played Singstar then we did a little Rockband with Chris and Nick...I sang some (oh holy jesus.) LOL I didn't do that horrible. I didn't die or anything. Then we played some wii

 

Keep workign on 'em Christles. Still kind of puny. LOL

  

Kimmie crapped out after a while. Too much booze the hound.

Pinochle Night

Just some pics from Pinochle night with me, Jimmy, Kimmie and Thomas.

Thomas deep in thought...deciding what he's going to bid no doubt.

Jimmy pondering how much he's going to meld. Likely not much.

Ah...little Kimmie. Likely in a discussion about something...probably "who dealt this crap?"

This is me and my mannish looking hands shuffling. Seriously, I thought these were Thomas's hands when I first saw this picture. That's pretty bad. Sometimes I feel like the only way people could tell I'm a female is because of my big boobs. That's sad. (Right now if Kimmie is reading this blog she's probably saying, 'Jen, you are too hard on yourself.') LOL

This is me...looking very squinty-eyed.

One of our hands of meld and my hands on the upper left.

That's all folks.