Finally, Photos!

I think I have figured out how to use my fabulous HP Photosmart C7283 All-in-one! I mean, I've used it for printing (but only a little), and for scanning. But today I tried uploading photos from my camera's memory card into the computer. And I think it worked! Let's see if I can figure out where on my hard drive the photos are stored...

First off, here is the gorgeous piece of art my friend Sandy sent me. I think it is stunning, and I am enjoying it while I work in my stamping/art room.


Here is one of the gifts I made for Liat's birthday. May I present Puss in Boots? Liat thinks he needs a sword, but I say he is into non-violent solutions to his problems. Of course he is a Jean Greenhowe design, from the book Knitted Animals.


Hmmm, what else can I show you? Ah, here is the collage I made for Liat's friend's birthday right before I went to California. Liat brings me the images of the people and things her friends like, then I put them together into a collage. It's fun trying to find ways to incorporate a photo of the girl with one of her favorite pieces of beefcake. Here, I've got Leonardo di Caprio (spelling?) dreaming of Liat's friend.


And this is a card I just finished yesterday. I used my new Adirondack Color Wash sprays on the background (Butterscotch and Cranberry). The image of the woman is from Collage Stuff, the clock (or whatever it is) came from a magazine. The stamp is from the Netherlands. The outline leaf image is by Posh Impressions, as is the solid leaf on the border. Swirls and spatters are by Close to My Heart.

And that's about all I have to show you for now. Avi and the girls are off in Jerusalem, while I am home trying to do about 17,962 things before they get back. Here's a sample:

Laundry - check
Bake chocolate sticks (chocolate chip pan cookies) - check
Learn how to upload photos - check!
Update blog - check!
Work on Liat's light blue V neck top - check
Work on Meital's puppy
Make another card
Sweep
Iron
Read
Genealogy research

Still a lot left to do, and not much more time, so I will say bye for now. Thanks for not giving up on me.

Perfume, Stumbles and Yawns

Avi and I have been hard at work translating; just now we're working on translating into Hebrew the website of a perfume company that is based in Italy. It was interesting at first, but a great deal of the material is repeated. Over. And Over. And Over Again.

In other news, yesterday morning I stumbled and fell (going up) on our recently de-carpeted stairs. Ouch. My left knee still hurts, but I don't think it's anything serious.

As for my "free time," I've spent it doing laundry and reading , with a tiny bit of knitting and card-making thrown in. Tomorrow I'll have the day off from work, so I hope to see if I can manage to upload some photos (finally) and do something more interesting than what I've done for the past several days. One of those things will be to bake some chocolate chip cookies in a pan (we call them Chocolate Sticks in my family), because I promised Meital I would before school started again.

School is scheduled to start up again on Monday.

I also have some gorgeous art from my friend Auntie Sandy to show you. She sent it while I was away in California, and I have not yet had a chance to share it with you. She is one generous and talented lady!

So, please don't give up on me. I really want to get back to posting and sharing photos with you. Of course, that means I have to actually do something worth photographing!

Liat's Birthday

I am a day behind and a photo short, but at least I'm posting!

Liat's birthday celebration yesterday was very nice. I even managed to forget that I was up until 2 a.m. the night before, tending to such matters as finishing up her knitted top (the Shetland Shorty at Knitty.com) and a knitted toy (Jean Greenhowe's Puss in Boots), decorating her room while she (supposedly) slept, and setting up the treasure hunt for her cards and gifts.

I ended up making the clues (there are always 6 clues) out of lines or trivia from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It was easy to think of fun quotations, but harder to make them apply to clues that would lead Liat to the next clue. In the end, I wrote things like, "Clearly, you've never been to Singapore" and Liat realized that the only place in our house she would find Singapore was in (behind) the atlas... I also used, 'What's the last thing Jack says to Will in the first movie?' then I hid the clue inside my baseball cap, where it hung on the hatrack by the back door.

I even made her card in the Pirates theme: a simple collage with a large picture of Jack and the saying, "You look familiar...Have I wished you Happy Birthday before?"

This year, Liat didn't have her traditional pool party because there were too many people she wanted to invite (our pool is rather small). It felt strange for her not to have her friends over, but she is having a party at a local dessert restaurant on Tuesday, so she will be able to enjoy hanging out with her friends then. We ate freshly-made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a delicious steak dinner, and the requested birthday cake (chosen from one of my cookbooks) which ended up not being as yummy as we'd hoped. Later on, Liat and I had fun watching TV and looking through the "Cosmo Girl" magazine I bought for her while I was in California, talking about nail polish and makeup.

I hope to have photos for you soon of the completed Puss in Boots and Shetland Shorty. Meital's laptop seems to have crashed, and is still in intensive care. I haven't yet figured out how to upload photos from the camera using my super-duper new multi-use printer, but I hope to figure it out soon.

Meanwhile, Avi and I have a couple of translation jobs to work on, and of course there's no way I want to miss the final in men's basketball tomorrow!

I'm Baaaack!

Hi everyone! I have been back for a few days now, recuperating from the trip and catching up on laundry - you know the drill.

My dad's heart valve surgery went well and he was recovering nicely at home when I left. We spent many wonderful hours looking over old family photos like the one above (of my dad, his parents and his big brother, taken in 1939). I heard new-to-me details and family stories, and even looked at some letters my dad wrote to his parents from his trip to Europe in 1954. Found my maternal grandparents' marriage license and all kinds of other fabulous goodies.

I also enjoyed spending time with my mom, sister and nieces. I slept well and ate even better (nothing like Mom's cooking!). I am so glad I went, even though I arrived after the surgery was over.

I am also glad to be home. I missed my sweeties! Now that the laundry is nearly caught up (and that's with Liat doing 4 loads while I was away), I am hoping to catch up on preparations for Liat's 16th birthday, coming right up this Friday. She really wants two specific things that have not been released yet: the DVD set of Season 5 of NCIS, and a new rap CD. One will not be available for purchase until the 25th, the other not until next month, so Liat will be getting some IOUs for her birthday! I do have a trick or two up my sleeve, but I may need to borrow Hermione Granger's Time Turner in order to get everything done.

Sigh... I guess some things never change!

Bye for Now

Thank you so much to all who wrote with words of prayer, support and encouragement. By this time tomorrow, I will be waiting at Ben Gurion Airport to board my flight to New York. I will be worried, nervous, sad and irritated. I really hate not being allowed to knit when I want to! I need to find a tee shirt that says, "I'd rather be knitting" to wear on flights. I don't know what airline Stephanie flies, but as far as I know, I am not allowed to bring my knitting on the airlines I use (see her entry for August 4th; there's no permalink to the post).

If I let myself, I get very twitchy and anxious, what with all this worry and waiting. It will be a relief to actually be on my way, but for now I am trying to keep busy. Avi and I got the carpet out of most of the master bedroom yesterday and the day before. There's just a tiny walk-in closet left to do.

Today, I took things easy, doing laundry and packing. I spent a lot of time browsing blogs, and had quite a pleasant visit at Ivory Blush Roses.

Tomorrow, I'll finish up the packing and do more (a lot more) laundry, some ironing, change the sheets and do anything else I can think of (and have time for) that will help the coming week pass by smoothly for my dear ones while I am away.

And may the coming week be a smooth one - and a good one - for all of you.

In Haste

Here I've barely been updating my blog, and what do I need to do but tell you I will not be posting again for the forseeable future. My father needs heart surgery and I will be flying out to California later this week to be with him, my mother, my sister and my nieces. I will be taking along some knitting, but if my mood today is any indication (absolutely no knitting done on the way home from Jerusalem) I have no clue how much progress I may make. But I must bring it, if only for the security blanket factor.

Please don't give up on me! I will be back mid-month and I truly hope to begin posting more regularly then.

Meanwhile, take care, everyone.