CAMPERS GONE HOME...Next stop VIRGINIA / New Journal Book!

So, Camp is over and everyone's gone home! Adam Luther is left with no one to play with now! HAH!!! He really has a whole room full of 'Kids to play with but he doesn't want to go down to the Nursery ( but he may have to!)

Camp was great this year! We had lots of campers who brought things to share with the others and even one 'Kid who sent stickers from New Zealand even though she didn't attend. So sweet of her. They had a great time building and painting the pirate ship!! We didn't get to use our little inflatable swimming pool but they were just so into the pirate ship I didn't have the heart to tear them away from it. Our field trip, this year, was to the mall and the playground. Time restraints prevented us from doing more at the playground but I think they had a good time nonetheless.

Adam Luther is already thinking ahead to next year...he's thinking Safari Camp with a field trip to our great zoo. Give me some time here, Adam... we just finished!

Now I get to think about my next adventure. We're going to Virginia! YAY! And, of course, Adam Luther is coming along. We'll be off to Colonial Williamsburg and then to Virginia Beach. I'm creating a new and interesting journal book just for the occasion. Can't wait to fill it up and share it with you. I go the idea from JSaulsberry at SIStv.com. She and her son made this fantastic book for her husband so I copied the technique for the book.

I have a book cover left over from Gigi's class from SISiversary and I thought this was the perfect way to use it!! Thanks Gigi!! Oh, I'll have to get some "before" pics of the book - before I fill it up with neat stuff.

Thanks for looking!
Peggy

Buried Treasure!

Great, productive day today! Day 5 of Pirate Camp started out bright and early at the mall where they have this great boat for kids (the human kind) to play and climb on. But my helpers and I and the 'Kids took it over before the stores opened. It's more like a paddle wheel than a pirate ship but we pretended. The 'Kids didn't mind...they just climbed all over the thing.

Then, off to dig for buried treasure! I knew of this great playground that has these sandboxes where I knew we could "bury" our treasure chest and then dig them up. Even though it rained pretty hard last night, the sand wasn't too wet and the Kidd0s enjoyed the sand box.


When we got home the 'Kids went right to work to finish their pirate ship - had to paint it. Then, they played on it. We had a full day but they still want to have their photo shoot sleep over in their sleeping bags and their popcorn party. Camp is supposed to finish up this weekend. I hope I have time to get all the photos in. I've already taken 185 pictures!! Each parent will get a CD with all the photos on it so they can pick and choose what they want for themselves.

Thanks for looking!
:0)

SHIPS AHOY!!

Wednesday, the 'Kids began construction on their very own Pirate Ship. This is very much a cooperative effort and they are learning to work together and to share building materials. The base is made out of a white styrofoam cooler and then they wrapped an opened cardboard box around it. They also used a wrapping paper tube, bathroom tissue tubes, empty ribbon spools, paper towel tubes and extra cardboard to make all the extras that a good pirate ship needs. And, good old, Mini (remember her?) made a great figurehead on the front of the ship! While the ship is not really seaworthy, it is good for the imagination!

I don't think they've finished with it. They say that they'll be back to work on it later today. I know they asked me for paint and lots of brushes!! So, check back to see what else they do to their ship!. Hope no one has to walk the plank!
We did have a little bit of drama here. One little guy was late in arriving for camp...Elvis Lloyd was coming all the way from Florida and was taking his sweet time of it, too. He had been in the postal system for nearly a week and his parent and I, and the rest of the kids were getting more than a bit worried. Well, he was finally delivered today (YAY!) and we were all quite relieved!! You just never know with the mail system. And, we have several that have come from Canada, so that makes us even more nervous.

We have a couple more big activities planned for the last few days of Pirate Camp. We just hope the weather holds out for us.

Thanks for checking in!

Celebrity Autographs!

Camp took a back seat today. Had to get some household things done. But, Ben Winkler did consent to an autograph signing today. He was wonderful and hand signed some glossies for each of the campers.

PIRATE CAMP

Long Time...No Post. I still haven't got the hang of regularly posting but things have been busy.

Been to Sisiversary - What a great time, but that's another post. This post is about Pirate Camp for Cabbage Patch Kids...that's right... you read right. I host a week long summer camp for Cabbage Patch Kids. For those of you who know me, know that I collect CPKs and have my own very special Kid, Adam Luther. Well, I've been doing this since 2000 (not every year) and have had a blast doing this. Each time we have camp we have a different theme. This year is Pirate Camp! (Last year's was Survivor Camp). The generic name of my camp is Cabbage Kids Adventure Camp.

Of course, Adam Luther is the host. This year we have 14 campers. "Parents" pack their Kids up with their supplies, like p.j.s, change of clothes, toy to sleep with, etc... and mail them off to me for a week of great fun. I take them and do lots of fun photo shoots with them. Yes, I even take them on field trips outside of the house...In Public! I get lots of attention...and looks, and they even help to strike up conversation and people start telling me about their first CPKs and stuff like that.

One of the highlights of this summer's camp is that we have a celebrity camper! Remember Geico Insurance t.v. commercial that featured the Cabbage Patch Kid, Ben Winkler??? Well, He's here with me at camp and he's signing autographs! He's just a regular kid who did a commercial - no big head here. Really cute. I'll try to attach a picture of him.

So, today was day 1 of camp. Craft day. We made popsicle treasure chests, decorated picture frames and stamp painted t-shirts. Not a drop of paint on anybody! :0) Not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow. I think Ben Winkler will be signing his glossies for his new friends!

Stay tuned!
Peggy
Ben Winkler

Miss You, Mom

My mother wasn’t the warmest, cuddliest woman. There were no milk and cookies when I came home from school...I had my own key from a very early age. Cooking wasn’t her strongest suit either. She had a limited cookbook and definitely no baking. She worked hard every day while I was growing up. She worked side by side with my dad in the factory and later on in the shop. She kept the books and did the ordering. She balanced the books every night sitting in her bed and I used to "help" her count the cash. I watched her add the columns without a calculator. I usually fell asleep in her bed and then my dad would carry me to my own bed later on. She kept inventory and dressed the window. She stretched the dollars and paid the bills. She saved the coins so we could have the little extras even with the bankruptcy. She sent us to camp so we wouldn’t be bored over the summer in the city. No, she was no storybook mom but she was there when it counted. Yes, she had her faults, but who doesn’t.

She took me to my first movie; just the two of us. We even played jacks, once, on the floor of our apartment. I really don't remember her actually playing with me. She made my 16th birthday the best she could even though we just moved to another state and I hardly knew a soul. She listened to me when I was entering college and I was scared; she gave me the best advice she could...and it worked. She did the best she could considering her physical limitations in later years.

No, she was not perfect...far from it. We had many disagreements. Many arguments. But I do miss her; more than I thought I did. Especially today, Mother’s Day.

I'm Back!

Just got back from being away for 6 days. Went to Philly to see my younger daughter Stephanie. She's in Grad school there. Then hubby and I saw my sister in NJ just across the river. After that drove down the highway to the D.C. area to visit a friend that I haven't seen in 10 years!! Couldn't believe it had been that long. We saw her and roamed around down on the Mall in D.C. to see the Korean War Memorial and the World War II Memorial - we hadn't seen those 2 before. Then, on to Luray Caverns. I was there when I was a child with my family. They are so magnificent!

And, would you believe that seeing all of these people I actually forgot to take pictures of them?! I really wanted a picture of my friend and me together and even mentioned it and totally forgot! One time I even left my camera in the car. Now, what kind of scrapper am I anyway?

Along the drive I got to stop at 3 different local scrapbook stores in 3 different states. Before I left on this trip I googled scrapbook stores and then called them to find out their hours and to see if they were actually still there. Most of them had closed up or were on vacation! So, I only got to go to 3 but I got some papers and things that I can't find in the stores at home so I'm a happy camper.

Now, back to the real world and home to rain, rain and even more rain and back to cooking.
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Emergency Room

So, yesterday was a pretty typical sick day here with the 2 sick big kids. John did lots of sleeping a little eating and some drinking too. He seemed to have a little energy to look on the computer for a little bit, but he felt pretty crappy all day.

Tracy woke at 5 a.m. and, pretty much, coughed ALL day! Sure, there were short reprieved throughout the day but she couldn't sleep at all because whenever she tried to lay down the coughing would get worse and the cycle would start all over again. She was asleep on her feet. She was looking forward to "bed time" because then she could take the Nyquil and we thought for sure that would knock her out and then she'd really sleep.

Nope! She took it about 11 PM and by Midnight she still couldn't sleep. It was such an emotional night and she was just at her wit's end we decided to hit the ER.

I think only Tracy's wit can truly give the ER justice but in the end we came out of it with an Rx for a much stronger cough suppressant that would knock her out (and it did) and an inhaler for the Bronchitis. I need to get those filled this AM.

Would you believe that after we got into an ER exam room and waited for over an hour the coughing finally stopped?! Then when they gave her the medicine before we left, it started up again!

We got home at 4 AM. It's now 8:30 on Wed and she's still sleeping. They say, "never wake a sleeping baby." So, I'm not waking her. She's hasn't slept in so long. I feel so bad for her. Hopefully she'll feel rested when she does get up and she'll tackle the 2 page paper that's due today. At least she'll be able to email it to her teacher.

She's so worried about school! Well, that's another post.

Sick Day

What a day yesterday! First I take Tracy (octopusouphut) into the Immediate Care Center type of place because her doctor doesn't have time to even fit her in. I guess everyone is sick on Monday morning! We sit there for just over an hour before we're even called back and then she's seen by the doc for about 3 minutes and we walk out with a diagnosis of Bronchitis and an Rx for an antibiotic and a sheet of paper explaining that bronchitis is most likely a viral infection and that antibiotics will likely do nothing! So, why do they give them out like that??

Ok, so while we're waiting in the waiting room, Tracy gets a call from her boyfriend telling her that he's going home from work because he's got what she's got! Big surprise because he was nursing her all day on Sunday. So, instead of him taking the bus home and staying there by himself, I go and get him and take him to the same care center, get the same diagnosis and bring him to our house so I can look after both of them in the same location.

By the time all of this is done (oh yeah, I've also gone to the market for some immediate supplies) it's about 4:00 and we started about 9:30! What a day yesterday! The evening was a bit better but I was doing laundry most of the afternoon. But, that was my own doing. Since Tracy was sick over the weekend she couldn't get her laundry done, so I started doing it and a bunch more. I'm tired.

She woke up this a.m. coughing and the Robitussin just isn't cutting it. I will call the doc a little later. I guess no scrapping or errands today. At least John isn't coughing his head off like Tracy is.

Hopefully there will be a better post later. Thankfully this is not a serious illness and her diabetes hasn't played a critical role. :0)

So Much To Say!

First of all: No more March 12th Deadline for finishing Steph's college album. That's just not enough time to do it all in. I found even more pictures on the computer!! But, there are a lot of duds in there so I'm going to be pretty picky with those. She's coming home at the end of April, for a few days, so I think I can have it all finished by then. That will give me time to do some other scrapping and get caught up on other projects and other challenges. That should cure me of some of the color boredom.

And, YAY, I get to go to the SIS even in Tennessee in June! That is if I can get in when registration happens on Thursday. Hubby will drive down with me and then go off on his own. Not sure what he'll do but he can go exploring on his own. I wonder if Adam will go along and then they can have some "male bonding" time together like they did that one time in GA. :0)

I finally got the Doodling Formula book and it's really very helpful. I've started some practice stuff but only in my little journaling book, not on loose paper. I need to do a full sheet like she suggests, so I can run it through the copier.

I should probably get some things listed on Ebay soon. I know their policies have changed but I have all this stuff here to sell and they are my only outlet for my non-CPK things. So, the strike is officially over and I wonder what impact, if any , it has had. Probably not much and things will go on for them as usual. Too bad. They really do seem to have a hold on the on-line auction market.

Well, it's Sunday morning and I'm off to bake some banana muffins.
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