DeeDee's Just Chillin'

Good evening Sweet Bloggers, and thanks for surfing in for a little visit on a cold winter's night. The title for the DeeDee's Digi card that is shared tonight is so very appropriate. As this is being typed, our outside temperature at 9:30PM EST is 23F. Brrrr. This morning at 4am, it was 15F, and I heard that it got as low as 8F. Pretty cold for this area just now. I am well aware that many of our USA states are much colder, and the wind chill factor makes it dreadful. Haven't seen any Euro news but expect my UK pals are seeing it frostier than we are. I'm so thankful that we have a warm house to shelter in, because when we get so cold as now, my thoughts always go out to those homeless who have to hunt shelter from the freezing temps and pray they will find a safe place out of the cold.

The first part of this post is an insurance rant, so if you don't want to listen :-)  - skip down to the card! Since we got back, I've been tied up with trying to get started with our new medicine company's plan (and I guess I best not name the company! As of right now, I'm so frustrated I could just spit! Folks I'm being polite here!). Monday I spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with 5 different reps, who kept referring me to another representative. For simple questions at that. Each new call required at least a 20 minute hold, and most of it was 30 minutes. The last person said "I can't answer your questions, but I'll have someone return your call within 24 hrs". (12:30PM 1-5-2015). At 10am this morning - 1-8-2015, the phone rang, and woke me from a sound sleep. (yes I stayed up late watching Netflix and hunting for some craft bits). Another 2 hours spent with a nice representative. We may have made a tiny bit of progress, but the bottom line was: I wanted the forms to send in new prescriptions for the year. Each company we've ever had, sent blank forms, we sent in the  new physical prescriptions from our doctor, and got our medicines. This company is insisting that we give them our doctor's fax numbers, the insurance company will send out the form, which the doctor must complete and refax. DUH???A busy doctor's office is going to be eager to do this? I don't THINK so!
 
After today's 2 hour marathon, our doctor's office was closed for lunch, so as soon as I could get through to someone, called, explained my dilemma. Of course our nurse has to return the call. Well, she did (and she's a very sweet lady too!) and I went through my spiel, her first comment was "Horse -"  and I won't type the rest of it, but bet you can guess. Which is my exact thought as well. She said they have other patients with this company, and the company can just send me the stupid form, let me send in the prescriptions. We need to get this resolved, get our new supply. The reason we changed companies: our old company discontinued 2 of our tier 3 (translation: expensive meds!) medicines. We were concerned if we had to switch to another medicine, it would not be as effective (been there, done there, & our health suffered). After Monday, I told DH that I think I've made a very bad decision - which we can't change until next year's enrollment. So thanks for letting me vent!! Now onto the card - as I really DO need to chill mentally!

 

 

DeeDee's Just Chillin which is available at a FANTASTIC SALE price just now! If you like this little winter bear, don't wait too long. DeeDee found a way to keep her shop open - and still be in compliance with the new VAT rules. You can read about it here,  But I urge you, if you like these images, please do try to take advantage of some really excellent prices.

 

- Just Chillin was precolored, printed out, die cut with a Sizzix die set purchased with a coupon from the local Hobby Lobby. The tiny sentiment - part of the digi set - was cut with the smallest tag die in the set.

 

Copic shading was done on the image, some flocking added to the white bits, but doesn't show well in the photo, and Diamond stickles dropped on the snowflakes. Of course I had to find a place to add some WoS. (his boots and hat & scarf non-white trim)

 

Had seen a Joy fold card done recently by my pal, Carol L. so when this little guy was ready to card up, thought I'd give that fold a whirl. Thanks Carol and Brenda for the inspiration. (Brenda inspired Carol...see?)

 

- Front DP was from a 6x6 pack found on my travels, and is almost - not quite - tissue weight. Glued it on both sides of the white card base fold. The inner dot paper is from a DeeDee digi set Mix It Up. Had just a snippet of that left from an earlier project, thought it looked good with the snowflake DP, so printed out another sheet of it. Just love having digi paper available!!

 

Die cut the inside sentiment with a S/B Fleur de Elegance. Added a few stick on snowflakes, and Voila, finally finished a card!

 

I have to give some shout outs to some lovely new followers, but will do that in my next post. That Blog Candy give away is getting close, people! Also added some lovely cards that were in our collected mail, and have quite a few more to share, but not tonight. Hope you have time to check out the Friends Card tab at the top.

 

Do  check out the DeeDee's Digi sale, enjoy some wonderful inspiration by the talented Design Team. Stay warm tonight, wherever you may be, and God Bless, Big Hugs.

 

PS...I will do my best to catch up on blog visits to all you sweet folks who have been so kind to visit this past week.

CAS - Red, Green and White - Christmas Card Club

Good afternoon on the first Sunday of 2015. At our house it's still rainy, gloomy & gray for the 3rd day in a row. I saw that our weather is predicted to be much colder this coming week. It's time for this kind of weather, of course, but I do miss the sunshine.

Today is also the first Sunday for the Christmas Card Club where every 2 weeks we share a card themed to one of our members' challenge criteria. This time the choice was CAS, Red, Green and White, selected by our Miss Carol.  I started off with one design in my mind, had it nearly put together, and whoa, saw that perhaps it might not be as CAS as possible. So off I go with another idea, and that's why this is a later post than it should be.

- C/Bug Holly Ribbons EF, stitched oval (either My Favorite Things or Lil Inker die - not sure) and this was a snippet.

- MBox sentiment on a snippet of glitter c/s from this card and just large enough to use this die.

- Elizabeth Craft Design holly on another snippet and the berries were from another glitter bit from  the same card as above. I like the way this CAS turned out. Will share my first idea in a later post. A warning: It has cardinals!

I do hope you'll have time to take a look at the other Christmas Card Club members' interpretation of Carol's Red, Green, White CAS Challenge. Their blogs are listed on the right sidebar. It's a lovely way to pass a Sunday afternoon for sure.

Just checked that the Snippets Playground is open for Week 158 is open, and there definitely are some snippets on this card. I expect everyone is real tired of seeing Christmas cards, but what the hey....I miss my little buddy Parsnip, so I'm going to try to sneak in the gates with this one. Why don't you com'on along and meet this little sweet white bear who guards the gates of the Playground?

Hope the day is bright where you are, even if the weather is dismal. We're still mucking out from our trip. At least the laundry is done. Still got things to put away (Heck, we still have things to Find!) and bills to pay. I'm waiting for the first episode of Downton Abby which is scheduled for 9pm tonight on our PBS stations. I've been told by some of my Brit friends that it was good!

Thanks for visiting, and big hugs. Happy Day.

Sharing Lovely Christmas Cards

Hey, and thanks for stopping to visit. We arrived home after a safe & fairly uneventful drive up the road on New Year's day. Mr. made a good call on departure day as traffic was not terrible. It was heavy coming through Atlanta, but then it always is. We both said a heartfelt Thank You when we saw the entrance sign to our subdivision. It was hard to leave DD, but I did fairly well (at least for me!). Very nice to get back into our own bed last night.

Friday was spent just unpacking suitcase and some laundry. It was gray, rainy & very gloomy outside, and fit both our moods perfectly. I stayed in my flannel jammies all day, and read my kindle in between laundry-dryer loads & taking a couple of naps. With 5 dogs in the house, everything was subject to dog hair, so in the interest of not having any allergy attacks, I always re-launder all the clothes, then clean out the washer. Still have to get stuff out of the pickup - it takes time and motivation.

Just wanted to make a quick post to invite you to share some of the lovely handmade cards we've received from some extremely talented people. These are posted on the Cards by Friends Tab (at the top of the page). These were the ones of which I had taken photos; thought I had transferred to a flash drive to take along and share while in Florida. Couldn't find them on anything I had with me, but they were on the home computer. We've not collected our mail as yet, so I expect there will be a few more Christmas cards and if so, I'll share them later.

Hope all of you had a wonderful and SAFE New Year's Day. Will try to get back to posting in a bit. Got a few irons in the fire, so to speak and still regrouping after being away from home for 2 wks. And getting my mood back where it needs to be!!! God Bless and big hugs too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - WELCOME 2015!

Gosh, I can remember when I was a youngster and we'd talk about the Year 2000 and it was like....some Sci-Fi happening that would never be here. Now imagine, we are 15 years into the Millenium!

Another thing I used to hear when I was a kid was when you get older time goes faster...now how crazy did that sound? We all had the same 24 hour day, 7 day week...etc. Well, I'm here to tell you, it really does seem to speed by a lot quicker now that I'm not 13 any longer. Felt like forever when I was 13 waiting to be 16; then from 16 to 18 was another long span of time. Once I passed 21, I think time started to go by a lot faster. I would hear my elders talk about feeling 'tired'. I wondered how on earth could they be tired, as I'd see them just sitting around, doing what was usual...nothing that seemed very strenuous to me. I never got tired. Well, boys howdy. Do I ever understand all that ole stuff now!!!

Ok...I've looked back, so now it's time to look forward to a new year. I will wish for World Peace - being an optimistic sort of person. I sure would be happy to read some good headlines, instead of all the anger, meanness & tragedy that is in the news today. Makes me wonder what happens to these people who just go shoot or hurt somebody for no reason, other than pure evilness. I do not understand that kind of action and it seems to be a daily occurrence all over the globe.

Next, I'd like to wish all of my sweet readers:

Love. We all need more of that.

Peace & contentment...yep, we all need a lot of that. Some of us more than others.

Health & Happiness are right up at the top of the list of wishes I send along to you.

Kindness  to yourselves and others whom we come in contact.

Tolerance to those who think, worship or look differently than we do. Each person is unique and has his/her own special gifts to offer. You never know when something you say or do may have an effect on other individual...for good or bad.

 

I thought about the order that I listed these wishes, and you may not agree with my priority. That's ok. I wish it for all of you just the same.

 

I'm looking forward to enjoying all the wonderful work that each of you brings to Blogland to share with the rest of us. This hobby has been such a blessing in my life - one that was a total & wonderful surprise; and one that keeps me well entertained on the days I have the leisure to sit and do blog surfing & visiting. I expect most of you feel the same about that. Seems like we just can't keep up with it all at times.

 

This is going to be a scheduled post to go Live at 00:00 January 1, 2015, Eastern Standard Time.

I have lots of comments that will be needing a return blog visit from me. Will try to catch up as soon as we arrive back home, (safely, God Willing) and I get my Goodby Blues under control. I have a real hard time saying goodbye to DD. We've enjoyed our visit & it's hard to leave, but will be good to get back to our own space and toys too.

 

I do have to clarify my comments about DH's driving. He is a very competent driver (he took 2 different courses in driving 18 wheelers years ago, and is a very conscientious driver). He puts up with a lot of 'OOOHs' and passenger brake applications from me without saying much - for a while. I'm just a very nervous passenger - with ANYBODY driving. But at least with Mr. I can vocalize it! It's just a more relaxed drive for both of us - if I tilt the seat back and doze off. (I get sleepy when I ride anyway, unless I'm the driver). Our pickup is very comfortable, and is a good size that we feel much safer traveling in it, than we do in the Ford Explorer that I usually drive. There's lots of crazies on the interstates it seems...my opinion is too much telephone texting. In a pickup that sits higher than cars, you can see a lot of things that aren't safe on the highways. I'm a firm believer that if you are behind the wheel, your entire focus needs to be on the road and traffic, not distracted by a cell phone. Even using Blu-Tooth technology. It still distracts your attention from the split second when you most need it.

 

So will be talking to you next from Homebase in South Carolina. In the meantime, have a wonderful New Year, be safe, God Bless and thanks for checking in. Hugs