After preparing frantically for a workshop that started out for approximately 20-25 ladies, only four showed up, but it was the best workshop I've ever put on, so guess I did something right! It was for consultants for BeautiControl, a cosmetic company, and the workshop was geared towards items that the consultants could use. The first item was a sack that they can use to deliver their products to their clients. I purchased the sacks at Wal-Mart, 10 for a dollar something, then used the Big Note Bigz die and my Big Kick machine to make the tag. It was stamped with a frame from Frames with a Flourish and the thank-you is from Taking Care of Business. This particular one is stamped with the sentiment in black, the frame in real red and sponged with real red.

Another idea was a holder for a gift certificate. I had recently received a newsletter from Inky Antics which gave directions for a "Santa Baby Pocket Card". The more I looked at it, the more I thought it could be easily adapted as a holder for a computer-generator gift certificate for these ladies. My first sample was done on Green Galore using Pocket Silhouettes as a background stamp, Say It With Scallops on Whisper White on the front and organdy ribbon from Wal-Mart. The inside card was stamped with the gift stamp from Year-Round Sketches, a retired set.

The second gift certificate holder was made with real red cardstock. The front edge of it was punched with SU's new scallop punch, which makes it so much easier. The "Love you much" sentiment is from the new Valentine's set of the same name that is on special right now. I stamped it on Whisper White, then filled in the letters. The flower was colored with markers on the stamp before I stamped it.

DH and I have been down with bad colds - thanks, Jen and all you Woocies - LOL! It has been a running joke on the Lucy McGoo group that this cold/flu crud has been passed around on the internet as several of us have fallen victim. I started using Zicam right away and I think it has lessened my misery, but I could just as well done without any of it - LOL! We felt cruddy enough we didn't even try to make it to church Sun., and today was the first day we went to the Senior Center to eat lunch with our friends.

Yesterday, while I was waiting for an appointment that actually wasn't until today (ah, yes, those senior moments), I put together a quick valentine using the Cuttlebug heart folder, my Big Kick (lovin' it more and more all the time), the Love You Much stamp set and the Hearts punch, which is part of the SU Valentine special. I thought it turned out really cute and was so very simple.

On one of my first blogs, I introduced Buglet, who was our daughter's cat. He refused to move with her when she got her own house - it's only 1½ blocks from us, so he kept coming back here. The last time she tried to take him back to her house, he spit and growled so at her, she basically threw him in our door. This was much to the dismay of our other cat, Pete, who is the grand old man of the house.

Pete is a tuxedo Manx and is one of the most contrary, but loveable cats I think I have ever known. He's 20 years old, altho you would never know it, and while he's not real sociable, he does like attention - on his terms. When I first met DH, whose cat Pete was, you could pet Pete two, maybe three times and that was it. He had, however, a great big wad of tangled fur, about the size of my fist, right in front of what would normally be a tail, and I could tell it was bothering him as he frequently tried to reach it with his mouth. One night, finally, I picked him up, and when scissors were ineffective, used a craft knife to cut that wad off, then brushed him. DH says I spoiled him as he has been my cat ever since and likes, no, loves to be brushed! He comes in and sits down beside me when I'm at the computer - he has finally learned to come brush up against my leg first - whenever he wants something, be it food, drink or just to say hi! If I ignore him, he might meow, but if I ignore that, I'm just as apt to be on the receiving end of one very sharp claw! Gets my attention quickly, that's for sure! His favorite sleeping position is on his back, with all four legs curled up, as you can see.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve and on New Year's Day, we finally got to go snowmobiling up on Grand Mesa. The mesa is the largest table-top mountain in the world. It was originally a series of volcanoes, but during the Ice Age, glaciers literally cut the tops off of them and what had been lava flows became literally bottomless lakes in most cases. The water in most of them is so cold that a person swims with a very real risk of hypothermia setting in in just a matter of minutes. There is some awesome fishing, tho, and the snowfall during the winter sometimes reaches 10 feet or better. There is skiing on the north side, but on top, the sledding and snowmobiling is really grand! For one thing, the lakes are frozen over and there are enough snowmobilers out that there are some well-packed trails. I goofed, though, and forgot to take my camera. Probably just as well as I managed to pretty much bury my machine! One of those really OOPS! moments. It took two men and a teenage boy to get it out for me - DH and I are both glad there were several other people around to help because he and I could never have done it ourselves.