Happy Birthday...

...to my father-in-law, J.P.Williams! Jay will be 91-years old on the 17th of this month. He fought in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps. They didn't have an "Air Force" branch back then. It was before those days. He was born and raised in West Virginia, and other than his military service which sent him to Guam, and his several month stay with us last year, he has lived there all of his life.

He spent his life working hard, raising his one son, and just being a good man with a huge heart. He has always treated me like his own daughter, and don't get me started about how much he loves Little Miss, because I will be talking for days. I can say that I am a better person for having him in my life, and I can't think of anyone that I would rather send a card to.

So, since I know he doesn't visit the intergoogles and won't see this until it hits his mailbox, here is his birthday card:

I have loved the "Countryside" set ever since I first saw it, and knew that dad would appreciate the beauty of an older model truck sitting by a still, blue pond. I hope that he knows how much we love and miss him here everyday, and I can't wait until we can see him again.

In case you are wanting to know the rest of the details about the card, here they are:

Stamp sets: Countryside, Occasional Quotes

Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Marina Mist

Ink: Timber Brown Staz-On, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Sahara Sand, Real Red

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Now, go stamp something for someone special in your life!

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Does this sound familiar...

...to any of you ladies out there? Here is the situation:

Your husband gets sick. You, being the concerned wife, make an appointment for him to go see his doctor, take him there, take him home, go back out to the pharmacy to fill his prescription, come home and give him said medications, tuck him into bed, take care of the kid, the laundry, the cooking, the yard, etc., all while making sure to check on your husband in a regular fashion and make sure he is indeed still breathing and trying to recover. You do this for as long as it takes until he makes a decent recovery, at which time you still "pick up the slack" so that he doesn't get himself sick again.

Now, let us look at the next scenario.

You get sick. Your husband, whom you know loves you dearly, allows you to lay on the couch for about 20 minutes. Then he comes over and asks, "Hey, sweetie? The kiddo is hungry...what do I feed her?"

"She's almost 5, just ask her what she wants. Open the refrigerator. Throw a pop-tart to her. You have a degree from a decent university and spend your days making sure that a zillion people get the correct medications, you can figure this out."

"Oh. OK. So, what do I feed her?"

You get up off of the couch, look your sweet off-spring in the eye and say, "Honey, what do you want to eat?" You then give the child the item and lay back down on the couch so your body can continue trying to fight off the 101 fever you are now running.

Twenty more minutes pass.

"Mom? MOM? MOMMMMMYYYY!"

Husband: "Honey, be quiet. Mommy is sick. We need to let her rest as much as possible."

Child: "But I need mommy to help me find the glass slippers for my Cinderella."

Husband: "Honey? Can you tell me where the glass slippers for Cinderella are?"

At this point, I am glad that I have a half-way decent brain-to-mouth filter, because the first answer that pops to mind involves where I would like the glass slippers to go, and it is nowhere near sweet Cinderella's feet.

This scenario continues to play out until you decide it is easier to continue performing all of your normal day-to-day duties than try to get any kind of rest because your family thinks that mommy/wife has some kind of switch where we can put our fever and body aches on hold until everything else in their world is good. AARRGGHH!!!

I should not complain, I truly should not. I mean, I did get the hubby to fetch me a couple ibuprofen and a glass of tea to choke them down with. I'm just wishing that there was a time-clock installed in my living room so I could clock out for just a couple hours to get some really good rest. Then, to add insult to injury, my body decides to follow its weird Circadian rhythms and start waking up around 11 p.m., insuring that I will not get any appreciable sleep this evening.

Oh well. One thing is certain. Everytime a wife/mother/woman gets sick it reaffirms to her family that without her they are but a pizza delivery service away from reverting into a wandering tribe of nomads, scrounging around the land trying to figure out how to put the toilet paper on the roller or get food to magically go from the big cold box to the big hot box and then to the table on clean plates. This is a good thing for them to remember every now and then, even at the expense of a fever...LOL!

I hope everyone out there has a great weekend. I promise for those of you who are coming to the World Card Making Day event tomorrow that I am going to have my lysol hand cleaner out on the table and I will be sufficiently medicated to make it through our day. In fact, I am pretty sure that a couple hours of stamp therapy is just what the doctor ordered for me.

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

Something old, something new....

...something molten that someone blew.

I have not gone crazy and decided to rewrite the old poem about what a young lady needs for her wedding, although I think any young woman getting married would love to get some gifts from where I was today.

I am not much of a collector, except for stamps (don't judge me. I know y'all have stamps stowed away at your collective residences!), but I have always loved pretty glass. Having lived in West Virginia myself for the better part of 9 years, I learned about and loved Fenton glass. I have a few small pieces myself that I treasure. I had, however not heard of Blenko glass until this past year.

Blenko Glass Company is located in Milton, WV. You have to go a little off the beaten path to find the place, but it is worth it. When you get there, you see the visitor center settled right next to a pristine pond that is surrounded by beautiful maple and oak trees. The company was founded in 1893 by a young glassmaker who immigrated to the United States from London, where he began learning the art of glassblowing at the age of 13.

He tried starting his company in Point Marion, PA, which is incidentally the city that my DH and I lived in until we moved to Austin, and it failed. He finally settled in Milton, WV and the company became a success. They create not only amazing blown pieces, but also the most intricate stained glass windows you will ever see. When you first arrive, this is the view of the visitor's center, also known as the place where Kim spent some stamping money today.

As you walk up to the front of the store you cannot help but notice the flower beds. They are outlined in glass bricks, and feature some of the glass art that is produced inside, half buried in the dirt! I could not believe that they would put them outside like this, but I guess I can understand. The glass bricks were amazing, in every color imaginable. If I thought I could lug them through the airport I would have brought home a ton of them.

Then, you walk inside and are greeted by the sight you see above. Hundreds of pieces of handblown, original glass everywhere. I think my heart skipped a couple of beats when I got hit with the color cornucopia that is the Blenko Glass Store. I don't think I need to tell y'all that before the door was ever opened I gave Little Miss a set of instructions that puts the flight attendant pre-flight check list to shame.

"Welcome to Blenko glass. My name is Mommy and I will be watching you like a hungry hawk eyes up a mouse for the duration of your visit today. There are emergency exits here, here, and here, and if I have to take you outside it will not end well for you. In the event of any overwhelming desire to touch anything, two hands will appear out of nowhere, even if I am 10 feet away, and remove you from the situation immediately. Let me remind you, Mommy has eyes in the back of her head and the penalty for not following my instructions involves you never seeing another Littlest Pet Shop until you are old enough to buy them for your own children. Now, welcome to this lovely store and have a wonderful visit."

Every other sentence ended in the phrase, "and everything is a NO TOUCH". She is very good about keeping her hands in and by her side in situations like this, but she is also 4, so I figured a little extra insurance was worth it.

After pausing for a few minutes we decided we would do the tour first before I started my favorite sport, competitive shopping. If they would only have that one at the Olympics I would be right up there with Michael Phelps for number of gold medals. I have a special gland just for shopping hormone. It is a curse, but it is one that I have learned to live with. Sort of.

We go upstairs and follow a little walkway to part of the production plant. Now, let me tell you something about glass production. It is HOT!!! I mean, these guys are working in a room that had no fewer than 10 kilns burning like the sun on steroids in it. We find this guy, who I am going to call "Bob the Brave", working a fresh piece of glass. See how pretty and red it is? That isn't the color of the glass. That is the color of fire. The glass is so hot that when he starts working with it it is actually glowing. Now, take a moment to look at the proximity of said molten piece of lava-hot glass to Bob's leg. You think that the material between him and the glass would be Nomex or asbestos or something, but I don't think it was. So Bob starts doing what any normal, rational human would do when handed a stick with a piece of 2000 degree melted sand on it.

He puts his MOUTH ON THE OTHER END OF THE METAL TUBE AND BLOWS INTO IT. "Hi! I'll take 'Jobs I'll never do' for $1000, Alex!" I mean, what if you forget your chapstick? What if you are sick to your tummy? What if, God forbid, right at the very moment you lock lips with this tube you get the hiccups? Oh, the humanity!

However, Bob is very brave and continues to blow and shape this piece of glass until it forms a perfect little sphere. Then he rolls it back and forth and sprinkles some nice, cool water on that little "waistline" in the glass. At this point, another guy that I wasn't able to get a picture of comes over with another big

stick that has a tiny little piece of blazing hot glass on it, pushes it onto the end of Bob's piece of glass, and Bob taps his pipe and the glass snaps off onto the other stick. At this point they put it back into the kiln and fire it again, then it moves onto another guy who is equally as brave as Bob and he does more work to it. This glass actually ends up looking blue when they are done.

So, after watching these guys work for about 45 minutes, I went back into the store section and did some shopping. I don't have pictures of all the pieces I bought, but I did find this picture on Blenko's website. This is exactly like a bowl that the DH got for me from their "Strata" collection. I was amazed at how gorgeous it was, and cannot wait to get it home and find it the perfect place to live within my abode.

I have to give some serious kudos to the lady working the front of the store. She wrapped my pieces in so much bubble wrap I think I could throw them to the ground and they would still survive, although I am not risking them under the plane. I don't know how I am going to carry all of it on, but rest assured when my plane lifts from Columbus on Saturday until it lands in Austin, this and my other treasures will be safely within arms reach at all times. I can already feel about 10 different card designs coming out of this one...so I am ready to get it home.

One last picture before I go, a gratuitous shot of my baby, my hubby, and his daddy. What a great crew these 3 are! I hope everyone has a great night, and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Pictures from Kanawha...

...and my father-in-law's place! Yes, that is correct, I finally outsmarted my digital camera and the laptop all at the same time and am able to now take photos and post them for everyone! So, here are just a few shots of where I am and who I am with.


First of all, this is JP. He is a doll of a FIL, let me tell you! He always makes me feel like I was his very own daughter, and I feel extremely blessed to have him in my family tree. A little bit about him: he is 88 years old (closing rapidly in on 89) and is a veteran of World War II. Yep, you heard me right. I asked him one time about what he did, and in his typical humble manner he told me about being in the US Army Air Corps (which was the predecessor of the Air Force). He had never been out of West Virginia before he served, and the next thing you know he gets put on board an aircraft carrier and sent to Guam.



He goes on to talk about going through Pearl Harbor to get over to Guam (luckily he wasn't there during the attack, although the USS West Virginia was sunk there). And what did he do while in Guam? Well, remember Fat Man and Little Boy? Someone had to help move those puppies onto the planes and get them ready to deploy. Dad was one of those guys. When he does sit with me and talk about those days, he mostly talks about his friends there, the friends from home who didn't make it back, and the fact that all anyone wanted in the United States was for that terrible war to stop. I don't have a scanner here, but I can tell you, he was so handsome in his uniform! And he still is, even at 88!



After the war was over he came back home to West Virginia and with the exception of taking my DH and the rest of his family to Florida every summer, he has always been here. He worked for 40 years at DuPont before retiring. Now he mostly just feeds the fish in the river, pets the new cat, and watches football on TV. (Oh, and let me not forget that he spoils Little Miss with all of his attention, as evidenced in the next picture.)





This is JP with his grand-baby down at the river bank that his house sits on. She has to be at his side all day long. Of course, it doesn't hurt that all the fish in the river know when they see him that half a loaf of bread is about to fall from the heavens, and she loves to feed the fish. She doesn't let Paw-Paw get out of her sight!




















Next up is my DH with the Little Miss. Forgive his appearance, he has been truly sick for about 10 days now. So sick, in fact, that when I said, "You know baby, we should take you to the walk-in clinic down the road" he actually agreed. All of you wives know how severe that situation is. The doctor at the clinic is pretty sure that David has what amounts to "walking" pneumonia and put him on some heavy duty antibiotics and super-duper cough syrup. He is snoring in the bed as I type, but at least he isn't coughing right now. I think I will be bunking with the child tonight.





Next up, the view from Dad's back yard. This is also the view (or part of it) from the big windows in the kitchen, hence the reason I do not mind being in there all day long cooking! It is so incredibly beautiful, my only regret is that we didn't wait until late October to come visit. Why late October you ask? Well, all that green turns red, orange, and gold and is stunning for a couple of weeks before the trees give up their beauty to sleep through the long winter. I promise I will keep my camera at the ready tomorrow so hopefully I will get some pictures of the coal barges as they go up and down the river. It is amazing to see these huge loads of coal getting pushed by this seemingly small vessel.



Finally, no trip to Kanawha County, WV would be complete without a picture or two of the Capitol. As you can see, this one, like ours in Austin, is modeled after the Capitol building in Washington, DC. Unlike either, however, the dome of the State Capitol in WV is completely covered in gold. You heard me correctly, real gold leaf covers the dome and spire in its entirity. There was quite a bit of controversy a few years ago when the dome needed recovered. You see, unemployment in this state is epic, people here are poorer than just about any state in the Union (although I think Mississippi and Arkansas try their best to take that title every year), and the state passed the motion to spend an incredibly large amount of money to cover a dome in gold. You will find that while this decision was not the most popular at the time, just about every citizen of the state is darn proud of their building, and they should be.

A little side note about security at this building: unlike our Capitol in Austin, there are no barriers between the West Virginia Capitol and the roadway. In fact, we are pulled over into a parking spot directly in front of the building as I was snapping this shot.

So there is my little photo tour of the first few days of our visit here. Now that my electronics know who the real boss is around this joint (please, oh please don't crash computer!!) I will be putting more candid shots up the next few days. I hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for sticking with me during this non-card time.

I will admit that I went to the big craft store today and bought some new paper because I am having a card making fit right now, so stay tuned, you never know what I might try here with limited supplies! Have a great night everyone, and until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim

What I did on my WV vacation...

...aka, A Very Short Essay by Me.

First of all, Hi to everyone back home in Texas and everywhere else in the world.

Just a quick update about what is going on up here in the Appalachian mountains. I am well on my way to world domination through marathon cookery, otherwise known as filling up JP's freezer with more precooked meals than Jenny Craig. The best part is he loves (or at least does a good job of faking love) everything I make for him. And I cannot forget the fact that his kitchen has a great view of the big river that goes through his town, so I get to watch the ducks and coal barges move up and down all day long. Always a plus!

Now, let me tell you about my anniversary yesterday. You know how some girls get to go to fancy restaurants or fun shows for their anniversary? Well, that is now how I spent my day. Not that I wouldn't have liked that, I really, really would. (Are you reading this, DH?) This year, however, I spent my 14th anniversary scrubbing shower walls and making a homemade Red Velvet Cake with real buttercream icing. I know what some of you are thinking, "What kind of pod took over Kim and left Betty Crocker in her place?!?", but I can assure you that this cake is worth the trouble.

I would share the recipe, but I think I signed a contract sometime when I married my hubby that stated I could not ever share the recipe outside of the realms of the Williams' family lest I suffer dire consequences. My mother-in-law refused to give me the recipe until after my first anniversary. I guess she wanted to make sure I didn't just marry her boy to get my mitts on her secret recipe stash and a year with him was proof enough. But, I will tell you one thing: this recipe rests somewhere between culinary genius and chemistry experiment. You can't make it if it is too hot. You can't make it if it is too cold. You must (and I am quoting straight off of her old cards here, folks) NEVER, EVER try to make this if it is humid. That kind of limits your options here in WV, and requires serious air conditioner usage in Central Texas.

I will also share this little tidbit. The icing. Oh, goodness, the humanity of it!! I try to convince myself that the amount of butter in it isn't really 3/4 of a pound. I fail miserably every single time, though. I can tell you one thing. If angels made icing it would taste like what is on this cake. I think that the next time I have any type of stamping event I am going to make red velvet cupcakes and put this icing on it to see what that does for my attendance levels. (I bet Lydia will come if I do...rofl!)

So, after a day of cooking and cleaning and feeding sunfish at the river and petting the cat, I go to bed just to listen to my DH's hacking cough all night long.

Happy Anniversay, sunshine!

But in all seriousness, it was a great day and we are having a wonderful time. Plus my DH got my two cute cards (I'll write more on that one another time). Right now we are going out to take my hubby to a clinic so that they can diagnose whatever creepy crud he has brewing in his lungs and to get my FIL a new rocker recliner for his living room.

I hope everyone is having a great day, and I can't wait to see y'all again soon!

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Kim