on February and Black History Month

Since the 1970s we've celebrated Black History Month in February, but had you ever wondered why February was selected as the month to celebrate it? American historian Carter Woodson is credited with launching Negro History Week in February 1926 as both U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist, author, and orator Frederick Douglass were born in February. Fifty years later the association Woodson founded promoted February as Black History Month and U.S. President Gerald Ford urged Americans to participate in its observance, as would future presidents.
~ w thanx to Encyclopedia Britannica for the info

so... how many times have YOU moved in your lifetime?

Have you seen the Allstate Insurance commercial that leads off with actor Dennis Haysbert making the claim that the average American will move 11 times in their lifetime? I drift at that point... thinking about how much I loved him in the TV series 24 and the movie Absolute Power, how many moves I've endured so far during MY lifetime (12, in case you were wondering). It's surprising how much more mobile Americans are than, say, Europeans, who are reported to average living in 4 homes thruout their lifetimes!

I think most folkes would count ALL the places they've lived, including with their parents... and I'm thinking most first homes are "starter" homes, followed by homes selected for their proximity to school districts when starting a family, and then retirement into a smaller home. PB and I took all 3 into account at 1 time with our first home purchase after marrying; ours is a relatively small house with 3 bedrooms, a 1,450 sq ft ranch tho' methinks it feels much larger. We ALMOST purchased a 2-story but had been trying to find a 4-bedroom ranch and grew tired of the search. It was meant to be; we'd also been talking with a builder and the house we were going to have built was our home with one exception - where the kitchen/dining area was flip flopped along with the entry into the eat-in area (with the new build the dining area would have been right off the entry and the kitchen next to the garage; in our home the entry hallway is solid wall and the entry to the dining area is off the great room). Neither of us were interested in a formal dining room and against diet professionals' guidance, usually take our meals into the great room to eat in front of the TV, tho' we do have an eat-in kitchen. The kitchen table is a collection space for dog supplies right now, and moved aside to allow for a large crate that our dog still sleeps in.

So... my 12 moves? During the course of my lifetime I've lived in my folkes' "starter" home, then moved to their first home in the suburbs, then to 2 different states due to my Dad's career moves, then I moved to my first apartment, later to a nicer lakeside apartment, then a 3rd floor golf course-side apartment in the same complex after my nice 1st floor apartment was broken into, then to a duplex "starter" home, back in w my folkes after a fire, then moved to a 1-bedroom apartment due to my career transfer (my first time on my own with no roommates), then to a 2-bedroom townhouse within that complex after PB and I wed where we started our own family, and landing here, where we moved shortly after my youngest son's 1st birthday.

So... I'm above average, LOL! How about you??

Pantone Color of the Year - 16-1546 Living Coral

One of my fav end-of-year wraps is in December when Pantone selects their color of the upcoming year. This year the kind folkes at at Pantone have selected Living Coral ... which just so happens seems to be the color of the "publish" and "send feedback" buttons of the Blogger app!

In the press release they note it's "an animating and life-affirming shade of orange with a golden undertone. We get energy from nature. Just as coral reefs are a source of sustenance and shelter to sea life, vibrant yet mellow PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment." Want to see some of their past selections? They list them going back to 2000.

A quick Google search on samples of coral in fashion and I see it's pretty much everywhere, from clothing to nail polish to sheets and comforters to drapes and pillows! I just returned from a quick review of my closet to see whether any of my latest purchases include any coral but I seem to have been picking a mustard yellow lately in new clothes.

it's National Squirrel Appreciation Day!

anyone who knows my DH well knows of his love/hate relationship w these furry critters so I just HAD to share that it’s here ... the long-awaited National Squirrel Appreciation Day!

maybe a bit of background is necessary. we've long had bird feeders around the yard, and he's been known to use the kitchen sink's spray nozzle to squirt at them thru the screen, try noise makers, or air pumps to detract them from the cardinal's sunflower bird feeder just outside our kitchen window. our prior next door neighbor buddies even found an approximately 2x18" sign that reads "BEWARE OF ATTACK SQUIRREL" and mounted it nearby the feeder to gently harass him.

not that I torture the man unmercilessly, but one year I went to great lengths at Christmas and gave him a large gift bag of squirrel-related items - a book, mug, hat, shirt, stuffed toy, Squirrel Wars DVD (it'd been a 2004 40-minute show that aired on PBS and is both enlightening and very funny), AND very nice squirrel-proof bird feeder that has an outer cage that drops down to cover the access to seed openings if something heavier than the usual and customary bird lands on it. the silly squirrels STILL attempt to land on it now and then. we've since added 5 more feeders to the back yard and are regulars at our local J J Cardinal's Wild Bird & Nature Store. If you're local to Grand Blanc MI you should really scope them out... and tell 'em Sue sent you!

The list maker in me LOVES year end!

yep... it's all about lists, and the obsessive list maker in me LOVES year end! EVERYBODY gets into the act any my subscription emails are full of year-end lists! when I went hunting Google images for pictures to use in today's post, I even found pictures depicting lists of things to write lists about!

today's topic: on FAV MOVIES
I didn't hit the movies as often as I would've liked this past year. one of my movie buddies has moved south and it just didn't happen all that often, but I did manage to see the following flix in order of appearance:

• Forever My Girl - even tho' it was formulaic it was still a great one
• Black Panther - the Marvel superheroes never disappoint
• I Can Only Imagine - the story behind the song, and both are favorites
• Avengers: Infinity War - the Marvel Avengers just kept on coming; I sat there thinking, "who ELSE will be in this?!" as I purposely avoided checking previews
• Book Club - nice, but I expected so much more from the stellar cast
• Solo: A Star Wars Story - I'm of the camp that you can love BOTH the Star Trek AND Star Wars series
• Oceans Eight -  sigh... another stellar cast but this one was disappointing
• Yellow Submarine - awesome after all these years; nice to see the audience was mostly a 45/45/10 split between 50-65 year olds, 20-somethings, and those who brought their grandkids/kids. my 30YO son and I attended, and it's been a blast sharing the Beatles experience w him over the years (and kudos to SIRIUS for the Beatles channel)!
• Nutcracker and the Four Realms - definitely on my "to purchase" list, this one was GREAT!
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - I for one have been SO geeked that JKR decided to create prequels to the HP saga tho' I've gotta admit that, while I read each of the novels in rapid succession, I've yet to read the class books, one of which the Fantastic Beasts movies were based on. I LOVE the casting picks and anxiously await future releases. 
• Ralph Breaks the Internet - I've a computer background and thought the ways they depicted technology in the film were t'riffic
• Mary Poppins Returns - sigh ... still swooning here
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse - Sony, you folkes did Marvel-ous and I'm sure Stan Lee is smiling!

happy new year!

I could get used to this!

hey, I could get used to this life of leisure!

we just celebrated Christmas at our house. my brother and niece came up and my brother-in-law came over. we supped on Italian-seasoned turkey breast tenderloin with red potatoes and broccoli, and my brother brought up some yummy cupcakes for dessert. nice day was had by all. our 2 pups played together well in the back yard.

I worked my last day this past Friday, December 21, 2018 and I'm now on holiday 'til the 31st, my official retirement date!

we have no special travel plans but do have some joint honey-do lists to prep the house for some planned updates. we recently did update phase I where we replaced our 8' sliding glass door leading to our back yard, and the front entry / storm doors. the slider door replacement was born of necessity as it opened fine but was becoming increasingly harder to shut. we knew we had some water damage and had a builder recommended to me by my coworker Joe check it out. he ended up saying he could replace the front door at the same time if I liked (as I'd mentioned it was a future project waiting to happen), so we got both done at the same time. and THEN, he included 2 color painting and had to replace some trim, and I mentioned that I'd been planning to beef up the trim to more Craftsman style, and AGAIN he said we might as well do it while he had to replace some ... so the project just kept growing. he ended up painting the great room and entry hall and replaced the door trim on 3 doors (front, slider, and our bedroom entry). we'd had all vanilla white walls but splurged on color on the walls - using Sherwin-Williams' zero voc egg shell in 7527 Nantucket Dune and Benjamin Moore's semi gloss in SW7012 creamy white. it looks t'riffic! next mini project - install garage outdoor lighting and replace the rest ... but that's a story for another day!

happy new baby!

Hi there! It's been ages since I posted a card here ... I've lately only been making them for occasions and then generally forget to post (shame on me) but I'm back! This one's to a baby shower a few friends and I are heading to on Saturday so to be on the safe side I'm scheduling this to post then!

Brit's the daughter of a friend of mine at work. She worked in our Payroll department while going to Kettering University and her "Payroll Moms" (kim1 and kim2) adopted her too! Anywho, she's expecting her first born. A couple friends and I went in on a group gift and the inspiration piece for today's card is the super cute bag my buddy Pat picked up to stuff our smaller items into. I couldn't find my stamp set with the cute giraffe so I ended up using the bag and the only stamps used were the sentiments I used on the inside/front/back of the card. I PhotoShop'd the sentiment off that was on the bag, cleaned up some of the extraneous stuff (ribbons and wrinkles), then picked out the new sentiments, and voilà! Easy peasy concept, but it still took me a few hours... sigh... guess it's been longer than I thought since I'd stamped!

The inspiration piece:

stamps: SU's Made with Love, Stampendous' Hand-Stamped Arc (LOVE this stamp and like to use it on the back bottom of my cards... it's a rainbow-shaped arc that reads, "(heart)(heart) Hand stamped for you from my (heart)(heart)"; paper: Neenah solar white, CTMH's pewter ink

SCT's winter 2017-18 issue is LIVE!

Tho' I LOVE that the kind folkes at Scrapbook and Cards Today offer a free to view and download version of my fav mag, I also love to have the physical card in my hands and after having purchased the subscription for friends in years past I finally succumbed last year and ordered a hard copy subscription. The magazine cover links to a page where you're offered the option to either view online or download the current subscription! Enjoy!

Stampin' Up! Announces Stampin' Blends Available Nov 1st!

YAY! Color me happy! I'd only picked up a few color families before their prior offering was withdrawn from the market, and I've seen how other less expensive options have dried up without ever having been used... so I can share that this announcement makes me one happy girl!

STAMPIN’ BLENDS – Available Nov. 1

Bermuda Bay:  Light 144580, $4.50 | Dark 144579, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144600, $9.00

Calypso Coral:  Light 144042, $4.50 | Dark 144044, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144045, $9.00

Cherry Cobbler:  Light 144576, $4.50 | Dark 144575, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144598, $9.00

Crumb Cake:  Light 144582, $4.50 | Dark 144581, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144601, $9.00

Daffodil Delight:  Light 144586, $4.50 | Dark 144585, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144603, $9.00

Night of Navy:  Light 144036 $4.50 | Dark 144039, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144040, $9.00

Old Olive:  Light 144574, $4.50 | Dark 144573, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144597, $9.00

Pink Pirouette:  Light 144593, $4.50 | Dark 144592, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144604, $9.00

Pool Party:  Light 144595, $4.50 | Dark 144594, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144605, $9.00

Pumpkin Pie:  Light 144578, $4.50 | Dark 144577, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144599, $9.00

Rich Razzleberry:  Light 144584, $4.50 | Dark 144583, $4.50 | Combo Pack 144602, $9.00

Smoky Slate:  Light 145054, $4.50 | Dark 145055, $4.50 | Combo Pack 145058, $9.00

Ivory:  144606, $4.50

Bronze:  144607, $4.50

Color Lifter:  144608, $4.50

Stampin’ Blends Marker Color Collection (all 26 colors + the Color Lifter):  147475, $121.50

happy Mothers Day, all!

https://www.facebook.com/mysimplereminders/videos/1675201032513812/

National Scrapbook Day

Happy National Scrapbook Day, all! I hope to get either some card-making or scrapping time in today and I'll be sure to share the outcome later!