On Street Sweepers

Robert is at City Council tonight.  It is 10:55pm.  I texted him at 10:15 or so to see if he was coming home tonight.  --  Council meetings start at 7:00pm and are held every other Monday, with the other two being taken up by Planning Commission. --  I hate Mondays! 

Robert texted me back around 10:30 saying that they are discussing the potential purchase of a street sweeper.

This is our current sweeper.  We got it a few years ago.  It does a good job as far as I can see.  It certainly makes its rounds often enough and helps keep the dust down on the streets. 

Yeah, I think it does a good job.   

So when Robert texted me back with the new street sweeper story I was taken back.  Back to Brazil.  

For those of you who don't know, I served 14 of my 18 month LDS Mission in the interior of Brazil.  I loved it there!  Robert and I met in Brazil.  Life is so much simpler there --  I did not live in any of the large cities such as Rio or Sao Paulo.   So, when I say "simpler",  think Wyoming on steroids! 

This is what pops into my head every time I hear the words street sweeper:

and for the bigger cities, Renato Sorriso, the dancing Street Sweeper from Rio.  Ok, I just found this in Google images... details!

It is 11:15 and Robert is finally home. 

While I was living in Brazil, completely submerged in their culture and seeing these people actually sweeping streets, I couldn't help to wonder how we cleaned streets in the good ol' USA.  I couldn't remember ever seeing anyone pushing a broom on our streets.  I'm sure I would have remembered had I seen it.  Then, some other American missionary would tell me that we actually used machines that sucked up the garbage and dirt.  It was just amazing!!   I couldn't imagine it!

Just like I couldn't figure out how the church has a stake center by the Sao Paulo temple that has a basketball court inside with classrooms surrounding it.  It was amazing to think about it.  Here I was in the middle of Brazil, all the ward buildings had an outside volleyball/soccer court.  Trying to draw a picture in my mind of a normal US LDS ward building was difficult. 

Growing up 21 years in the United States as an active member of the church--every Sunday, every weekday in High School attending Seminary with near perfect attendance--and within 8 months of being submerged in Brazil, I could not remotely think American.  After almost 11 years of being home, I still have issues thinking American- remembering words or phrases, thinking and speaking in the proper English structure. 

I hope the City decides what it wants to do about the potential new Street Sweeper.  Imagine how many more people could have jobs if, like Brazil, we had street sweepers! 

I suppose it wouldn't work too well in the winter, but isn't that what the snow removal department is for?  

New Table

We got a new table set on Saturday.  It has been mostly clean the whole weekend!  It looks so nice I had to snap a photo at dinner tonight. 

Oh shoot!!! don't look at the kitchen sink!!  Gabe didn't finish the dishes!!!

Chelsey is here for dinner tonight.  We love it when she is here. 

Please don't look at my bulletin board!!  It hasn't been touched by the organization fairy, yet!

 

Look What a Little Organization Can Do!

So, lately I've been on this little organization kick.  I have my scrap stuff in 3 different places in my house.   I am trying to get some semblance of order to the chaos!

I got this new cabinet to put stuff in from Home Depot.  I love it cause I can put lots of stuff in it and still find everything. 

  

It still looks a little messy, but it is much better than it used to be!  I even found this old trunk that I put all the stuff on top of the cabinet into it.  Looks so much nicer! 

Across the room is my work area.

 

I know it still looks a MESS, but it isn't as bad as it looks.  REALLY!  I told you I have too much stuff!   I have one other 7 drawer plastic thing upstairs in my bedroom closet.  I'm eventually going to move that stuff down to the living room when I find some space for it!

I got myself all sort of  organized.  I bought the March edition of Creating Keepsake - the organization edition.  I've made a goal to use up my over abundant stash! 

I took Becky Higgins' March sketch and decided to be inspired and work on getting a few of those pictures out of the box and put on paper and in page protectors.  Now I just gotta get some more albums!

Here is my handy work.  Thank you Becky and everyone at Creating Keepsakes for the organization issue!!!

"darling kate" :  CTMH More To Adore Level 2 kit, CTMH Rub-ons, Heidi Swap Flowers, and some really cool 'ghost' letters

 

"When Nature Calls":  CTMH Rustic Trail Level 2 Kit, American Crafts Chipboard Letters,  Me and My Big Ideas stickers, random chipboard arrow - Love it!

...to be continued!

StuffStak Blog Candy Winners Announced!

Turtlelady Sandy!!!!

Sandy, and everyone else, THANX! for playing!!!  This was a really fun challenge. 

Congratulations!  You’ve just won a Level 2 Deck the Halls paper pack and Cocoa Cafe' kit from Close To My Heart.  Both packs are no longer available.  I guess you could call these collectors items!!!

I really love these paper packs and am having a hard time parting with them! 

and

I will email you the 'live' gift certificate with the Code on it so you can actually use it!

I wonder if I could talk E into giving me a GC...I need more stuff!!LOL!!!

Thanx all for playing!!!!

Before I Forget!!

This month is zippin' by!  I wish things would slow down just a bit.  I would like to get a nap in every once in a while! 

Jonathan called me at work today, right after he got out of school. 

J:  "Mom , can Ammon ride the bus home with me?" 

Me:  "Umm... OK."

J:  "Can Ammon spend the night?  It's friday and not a school night."

Me:  "Ummm...Ok.  Does his mom know?"

J:  "Yes!"

Me:  "Ok."

Ten minutes later, from home, Gabe calls...

G:  "Can we play games?"

Me:  "Are your chores done?"

G:  "uh huh"

Me:  "Is Ammon there?"

G:  "Yeah."

Me:  "Ok.  How come this is the first time I've heard about this sleep over?"

G: "I just found about it, too"

J interrupting G:  "I wanna talk to mom!"

Me:  " How come this is the first time I've heard about this sleep over?"

J:  "Mom, don't you remember, I told you about it before!"

Me: "Umm..No you didn't."

J:  "Yes, I did!  Don't you remember?  I called you after school today!"

Me: "Oh yeah, right.  I forgot.   Next time I need more notice!"

J:  "Ok.  Love you mom!"

Me:  "Love you, too!"

J with his lil' sis.

Good times!  Good times!

...cause the darn email link isn't working...

Sorry for all the confusion!!  I didn't realise the email link wasn't working.  Here is my email...  amaryllisb2@gmail.com...

Can't wait to see your answers!  don't forget to comment in the previous post so I know to look for your email!!!!

Have a Scrap Happy day!!

Amaryllis

Coming soon... sketch challenge !

 

Valentine's Day StuffStak Blog Candy Contest

Happy Valentine's Day Ya'LL!!

Sweet Robert got me exactly what I wanted! An iPod!! Not just any iPod, the ORANGE iPod nano!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

How Cool is that!?! So I took it to work yesterday and listened to The Princess Bride- S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. I am a Princess Bride NUT!! I have 3 copies of the movie on DVD and 3 different copies of the book!

I forget how short that book is... or how tedious my job is at the moment... I love my job, it just gets boring sometimes. So while I was weighing out beakers and pipetting sample into said beakers, I heard the entire story in less than 4 hours! I'm so glad I downloaded Twilight, too!!

Kate thinks she needs a Pink nano now...

****************************************************

Now for the Valentine's Day FUN stuff!!!

My friend Erin , over at Inky Smiles and Stamper Storage have been helping each other with major dejunking of our creative spaces over the past few weeks. Her closet and my alcove area have been giving each other a run for their money for the mess…. We’ve been sharing photos of the progress and one day I showed her the pic of my InkStak. She was peering at the pic and noticed that I had some rather interesting “non ink” type items hidden away in my InkStak. “Interesting,” she thought, “more than just ink… hrmmmm.”

So, Erin at Inky Smiles, and I came up with a brilliant idea!! We are going to have a combined contest where TWO winner(s) will EACH receive TWO Close To My Heart- never been opened - paper packs from MY personal stash and SUPER AWESOME ERIN is including 2 gift certificates for $15.00 off the purchase of an InkStak (one for each winner) to help you “store more stuff”!

I have been doing a lot of cleaning and realized that I have way too much stuff!!!!! Yes, you can tell your significant other that Amaryllis has too much...No, that doesn't mean she is stopping the shopping!!

So, I love my InkStak!! It makes me smile! It is so handy to have my inks that close to my workspace-- now that my work space is cleaned off and can actually be used. Next stop, the kitchen table!

I must admit that my InkStak does a little more than just hold my ink pads... It also holds a box of tooth picks, important in every crafter's tool box, or InkStak, whatever! I have glitter, and perfume, and sunblock, and 3x5 photos from my husband's mission to Brazil 13 years ago--yes, I know I am way behind! Markers, lip gloss, some embellishment tape from 7Gypsies on a colored pencil. AAA batteries are a must, right?! I have a bag of white Bigger Brads (CTMH), some pens, my spare car key that I need to have re-programmed so I can actually use it! I also have some coasters from Outback Steakhouse, pliers, a ruler, blank coasters, a AA battery and wire cutters. There is also a pair of scissors & a deck of cards. The deck of cards is important. One day they will be a deck of memories... One down, fifty-one to go! And we're almost there... I also have a sponge, a pen size hand sanitizer, and some dangle accessories- for ribbon maybe?.. Lotion and a hammer. Oh, there are also 61 stamp pads in my InkStak!

Can you find them all?

This is what you must do to enter the contest:

1.) Email (click on email to pull up the address) your answers to each person for a chance on each blog. Email your list of answers like so:

ITEM NAME -----------------ROW --------------COLUMN

2.) Then, please leave a comment on the blogs so we know to check for your email.

You have until Saturday, February 21st @ noon to submit your answers! We will only draw from those who play the game and send in answers.
We will randomly select 2 entries from the persons who find the most items and posts here or on Erin's site will win 2 CTMH paper packs, never been used, that I have hiding in my stash and a $15.00 gift certificate towards the purchase of an InkStak! So, two winners, one from Inky Smiles and one from Meaux Scraps!

Happy Scraps & Inky Smiles to you! See you in a week!!!

For some reason my email isn't coming through, sooo.. here it is: amaryllisb2@gmail.com. Sorry about that. this should work!