in other news... the random edition

• I am finally starting to feel like myself again after being sick with a cold. I had a cough that started in the middle of July when we took a 3-day road trip to Denver (to see the band Rush in concert-- it was great!!)... the cough didn't subside, and turned into a full-blown cold when we were back in Illinois and Wisconsin.  The cold symptoms were starting to go away a little more than a week ago, but the cough was still lingering... and a week ago, I either broke or dislocated my rib from coughing so hard! The doctor says the cough is getting better, and he gave me some medications to help quiet the cough so that my rib can heal.
  (only I could do something weird like that...)
  
• At my work, we recently had a visit from inspectors representing the Health Ministry of the African country of Sierra Leone, because some of our products are sold there. It's amazing to think that this job allows me to meet people from places like that-- it was fascinating to talk with them.
  
• We recently made a bulk purchase of 40 lbs of super-lean ground beef, so I've done a couple bulk cooking sessions- meatloaf, sloppy joes, that sort of thing. It's nice to know the freezer is stocked with menu options that I can choose from without having to cook a meal from scratch. Now, to work on menu-planning for the entire week! (that will allow me more free time for the next bullet point... plus, we're out of room in the freezer, lol.)
  
• I've started scrapping again.  It's my seasonal shift in crafting, I think... the scrapbook store in Gilbert has 12-hour crops once a month, which I attended a couple weeks ago, and I just attended a Saturday night session from 5:30 to 11:30 pm. Now that I have my scrapping mojo back, I want to keep it! (gotta make some SB layouts of the Honey Museum we went to, before I forget even more of the information!! I also have some ideas in mind for Christmas presents, and it's never too early to start working on them... it is, however, too early to see Christmas decorations out for sale in the stores- ick!)
  
• this is about the time of the year I get truly SICK OF the endless hot weather, and just wait for the temperatures to cool down. Fall doesn't come to the desert until about the end of October, though-- unfortunately, the 100+ F temperatures are not coming to an end anytime soon. (more time to spend indoors scrapbooking and crafting, I guess... lol!)

hey, I'm still here!! (random pics)

Mom: I do have pics of the great horned owls that we've seen- they're still on my camera; I'll get to them in a day or so!!

sb page (for posting online; I've posted this one on the blog before)

our Christmas ornament tradition continues:
the hand-painted ornament we bought in Hawaii

Prescott and Bisbee opening one of their presents

a small Christmas vignette from my collection: this year
Mom sent me the medium tree and the smaller snowman

journaling with random words and type

one thing I've always loved is reading, and words themselves (can you tell? lol!)... when I was little I would read part of a volume of the encyclopedia, or the dictionary, for fun. (yes, I was a bit geeky, I suppose, lol!) Words and phrases fascinate me; they can be so essential in setting the mood in a novel or story. (an aside: if you want to read wonderful narrative descriptions about the American prairie, I highly recommend reading the novel Oh, Pioneers! by Willa Cather... her wonderfully vivid descriptions of the prairie grasslands make me swoon every time I read them.) 

Anyhow, back to the journal pages... I recently went on a cutting-and-pasting spree through a fashion magazine (including images, words, and phrases) and jumbled it all onto a journal page- here's the result:  

I really like how it turned out! It was done on a previously painted background (painted with bubblewrap, one of my favorite stamps), so all I did was add in the images, a bit of deco tape, the text, and a bit of coloring with gel pens.

So, I couldn't just stop there, now, could I? In addition to using magazines for collage, I also have a small stash of "vintage" hardcover books (nothing valuable, or I wouldn't cut them up) that I use for backgrounds, or if I want a particular word or phrase. For example, I have a vintage Gregg's shorthand instruction manual from the 1930s, a vintage outdated world atlas, and a couple Reader's Digest Condensed books. Although the type is a bit small, these are good for finding words and phrases in, which I did for the page below: 

The background was simply torn pieces of paper that were glued randomly to the page, then I colored the spaces in between with my Stabilo watercolor crayons. There's also a bit of doodling on the different papers. I looked for words or phrases (2 or 3 words in a row) that sounded interesting in my Reader's Digest novel, cut them out, then I piled them together. After finding a few, I started shuffling them around till I made an interesting combination, like this bit of 'found poetry' made from random words and phrases:

And no, it doesn't really mean anything; it sounds kinda cool though, doesn't it? 

In other journaling news, I'd really like to show you a picture of this journal; it's getting pretty full, which is really exciting! But, alas, I accidentally deleted it out of this post... (drat!!)  So, I'll save that one for another post.