???????

The question mark.  Unmistakable in form. 

 

Odd when it's sprouting from your head.  My wild mess of dyed steel wool does what it wants.  During recent surgery, somehow they tried to tame my hair before the cap and I ended up with several chopped pieces. This one has defied all products and pops up at will.  For the first time, Mark tagged along to a few sales Thanksgiving afternoon.  He was in such shock from the crowd at Walmart and subsequent stores, that he failed to mention the question mark escaped from the hair comb.  I think it may have happened when I bent over to locate a certain size of jeans from boxes in the main aisle, and several thousand people rammed into my rear while my head hit the display over and over.  We found the sizes and left.  They advertised opening at 6pm, but the enormous parking lot had overflowed into the adjoining plaza and people had filled carts way before that, standing in lines waiting until 6 to check out.  Once home and changing into my standard uniform of sweats, I wrenched my neck removing my sweater.  When I was pulling it over my head, somehow the sleeve of the turtleneck underneath was pulled inside out and caught in the sweater.  Panic attack.  My head was stuck between the sweater and the turtle and as I fought to release my arms, claustrophobia took over.  In that struggle I felt something pull in my neck but I made it out!  The sweater is now large enough for my sister to wear. 

 

We didn't have Thanksgiving dinner because Carole came down with a terrible cold, and the next five days have other commitments, so maybe next weekend!  I paid a lot more for a fresh turkey and it ended up in the freezer anyway.  

 

The boxes will be listed Sunday morning but I haven't figured out how yet.  I may do it in two batches if I can get labels made for the other size.  I will post the time tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon and let you know for sure.  One more trip tomorrow to see if any boxes came in, but I doubt it.  Maybe future offers will be BYOB.  Buy Your Own Box.  I'll send the label.

 

Have a great weekend everyone.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

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Thankful for..

family, friends, health, and you.  For people that care for elderly and children with kindness and compassion.  For angels that help and rescue animals.  For medicines that prolong life and bring comfort.  For St. Jude's.  For Shriner's.  For judges who have the decency to punish those that inflict harm. For dedicated police that protect the public.  For our military that protects our country. 

 

And for a new printer even though ALL labels need readjusting for clarity and color.  And for chairs that are where they should be.  Or maybe it would be best to look before I park myself.

And chocolate.

 

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

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A Santa I forgot

Hello people.  How the heck are you?  We'll enjoy nice weather this week, and I think I will get the outside decorating done. 

I put a sprig on each door, no bows, and drop bunches of cut greens into galvanized tubs.  Boom.  Done.  I like the grapevine tree on the front deck as I did last year so that will be easy too.  As much as I would like a live tree there, it never materializes.  My house looks the same every year, the only difference may be which tubs are used.  Do you have a set theme and use the same every Christmas or do you try to do something different?

 

I did some research on printers and will pick it up tomorrow morning.  I hope it supports Windows 7 and there will be no issues with installation.  My current is out of warranty by only 9 months and they have already stopped making models that take that cartridge, and I won't be able to purchase it much longer either. I also stopped at the shop again and they informed me that they may NEVER get those boxes.  Their scanners are showing "not available".   

 

I found quite a few CD's from years ago and discovered many forgotten images on them.  One that I hope she doesn't mind my sharing, is the last Santa I painted, for Sampler Farmer Carol.  The online albums of her fabulous samplers inspired me to get back to stitching.  I studied them, made shopping lists, discovered new designers and old favorites, enjoyed her gracious tolerance of my questions, her help and advice.  I wanted to show my appreciation and was also itching to paint one more Santa (on gourd).  

She was involved at one time with Handwork and stitched models for Carriage House so I included those leaflets along with a roll of linen in a burlap sack.  When I saw the photo, I wanted to pick up the brushes, but I gave it all away several years ago when I stopped painting.  If I remember correctly he was about 7 inches tall, maybe 8.

 

Maybe one day in the future... but I seriously doubt it.  I am NOT an artist and without training, it was difficult and frustrating once the project became detailed.  I don't have that patience any longer.

 

We got our bird for dinner, a fresh one.  I was surprised to see on the labels that the frozen had 8-12% injected solutions.  The fresh had 3% and no antibiotics.  AND - I found dry cottage cheese!!  After years without a source, we will be making sweet cheese pierogis for Christmas Eve this year.  I tried with regular cottage cheese and it wasn't the same so we are thrilled that we can once again make them, first time since Mom passed.  Our Christmas Eve dinner was always cheese (and potato) pierogis, smelts, cole slaw, beet relish, and Christmas Day was the Italian dinner. 

 

I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving.

 

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I WAS working

until this happened.

 

My last HP printer failed right after warranty and like this time, I had just spent over $80 on ink cartridges.  After the recent wasted printing that ended up striped, I assumed the black ink cartridge was defective and purchased another today.  There is no black at all.  This model doesn't allow access to the printheads for cleaning and after following all instructions for remedy, nothing worked.  With nothing to lose and torque screwdriver in hand, we went at it.  The printheads were a mess so we soaked as recommended on DIY sites, twice, put back together, twice, failed to print the black.  It's necessary unless you're printing pastels.  So now what?  Do I buy another HP that uses the same cartridge so I'm not wasting $80 again or look elsewhere and pay double with new ink?  Either way, I have two sources, Walmart and Staples, both limited on inventory, and may have to order whichever one I choose.  Can't use a color copier (which isn't as sharp) for the labels because they are printed on heavy cardstock.  In order for Staples to print them, they need to be in a .doc file and I have no idea how the clarity and color would come out.  I need to think and eat chocolate.

 

I will post the few boxes I have this week, and also post the date and time of the sale beforehand.  Krissy, please email me using the link at the top right.  If anyone has questions please send directly to me since the majority of requests are from no-reply readers and I cannot answer you.  If you receive posts by email, you probably don't have that link so.... email address

samplersandsantas@gmail.com

 

Be back soon with details, news, or a painfully nasty rant.

 

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I am working!

But progress is slow. Today started off great with my favorite Gas House Eggs but went downhill from there.  Our version of the dish is with Worcestershire sauce in the buttter. Either brush it on the toast or melt it in the pan for toasting.  So stinkin' good.  They now say butter is good for you but I always preferred it to the fake stuff.

 

 

 

 After sizing and cropping and the hardest part - tint correction - I printed the labels.  Little did I know that the new ink cartridges were printing in streaks,  The samples were fine so I just set up the files and let them all print.  I lost all the good card stock and half the ink, nothing was usable.  Anyway, here's a few that are finished, and I have no idea how I will present these since the Paypal link failed for many of you last time.

 

Only four of these, 6" and 7" round. Dark green.

 

This little 4" round is very limited until their shipment comes in.  On dark green.  Some will have labels from prior offers since they were good sellers.

 

 

The 4" tall oval that I have the most of.  This is the box I will be doing the script on.  I have others labels ready but I'm not sure how many choices will be included.  Etsy would be much easier but between their fees and Paypal fees, I would have to raise $1 or so.

 

Nothing set up for sale yet, just wanted to show a sample.  Many of you requested Mary Antrim again so there will be several.

 

Hope your weekend went well, have a great Monday!

 

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No boxes but lots of bulbs

Greetings folks.  Stopped again at the craft shop for boxes, nothing.  They have been waiting for a shipment for two weeks and haven't received any as of yet.  They had a few round sets which I do not use but I was desperate so home with me they came. 

 

 

 

I took out some of the boys for decorating and happened to spot my Mary Beale wreath.  Perfect. 

Not a sampler box, but maybe I'll do a few Christmas themes.  These will be painted a very dark green.  I'll be working on them all this weekend and there won't be many.  I make the mistake of trying to compose too many labels instead of sticking with one or two.

 

Pat Catan's is having a three day sale with a 15% off coupon that was in today's newspaper.  The real deal - silicone bulb two pack for $1 each which is the type I use in the window candles. Cheaper than making your own for sure and no mess so I stocked up.  Also grabbed the very large rusty jingle bells for the trees.  I am a sale shopper especially for weekly grocery items, but when you load your cart and everything rings up at full price, pay attention to the sale flyer's date a little more closely.  To my disappointment, full price Pecan Sandies disappear just as quickly as the sale package.

 

 

We've decided on Thanksgiving meal, simpler for just five of us, and spaghetti lost out to the bird.  I'll be making our green bean casserole that is just so good.  You can find the recipe here along with the sweet potato casserole here.

 

I wanted to mention my recent first attempt at skinny jeans but I'm still in shock.  That name is a misnomer, they are TIGHT jeans.  Skinny doesn't enter the picture.

 

Have a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting and offering your opinion on the labels.

 

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