Look out August...here we come

Next week is August! But you probably already knew that didn't you. I, on the other hand, didn't but the end of July together with August following closely on it's heals. I'm smart that way.

At any rate, the summer will be over before we know it and I've got nothing to show for it. Nothing!

Well, there have been a few things.

The MomUnit was here for a week. Short time for her to get caught up with all the friends she wants to get caught up with and then be on her way. We had a good visit, and as always, I like having her around. Though she may think otherwise.

While she was here we had our monthly dinner club. This month was Mrs. Landlord's pick and she selected the Big Fish Grill. Not my favorite restaurant by any stretch. But it does go to show what you order does impact how good you feel the restaurant is. Others at the table thought it was great. Me? Not so much.

We also had a Sunday dinner that was hosted by The Yank and PhotoGirl. They've moved into a new house and it's just gorgeous. It was one of the hottest days in all of creation and I melted. But I had good, chilled wine, great friends, fantastic food and sunshine. What more could a girl want?

The demons have been ... well demonic. The hot weather we've been having has put them, and me, in a funk. They don't much like the heat either. I did, however, get a chance to do ONE scrapbook page this month involving the demons.

This page I saw online several months ago and have been searching nonstop for that paper. There was something about this layout that spoke to me.

 Its just so darn cute to me and I knew I had to scraplift it...Yes scraplift is a word.

Anyhow after what seemed like eons searching for this paper I found it ... the one in a set. I had to, of course, purchase the entire set of paper - and thankfully I like all of it - to get this one paper.

It doesn't look quite the same. I had a little issue with some ink being on my hand and causing some issues on the page (see black spots in the middle). I tried to make it work and if I had a second piece of this paper I'd trash this and start over.

I LOVE scraplifting pages. I have over 500 images on my hard drive of pages I want to some day replicate. They never turn out exact, and that's what I love about it. You can see each scrapbookers flair in their own page.

Let's see...what else? Oh we had a book club too. We read the Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin and I've gotta say...it was a surprisingly good book. It took quite a bit to get into it in that I wasn't sure where it was going...but I was ok with that.

So that's about all I have for right now. Work has been crazy busy - which is one reason the blog suffers...I used to write at work. .

The 80's

I am a child of the 80's. Everything about the 80's I embraced. I wanted to look, act, sing and dance like Madonna. I fell for Duran Duran. I loved the Brat Pack. And the list goes on and on.


I've been watching this series the National Geographic channel has showing called "The 80's - the decade that made us." I'm shocked at how much I'm learning, or didn't know, about the 80's.


It's interesting to witness that decade as an adult.  Things that happened you didn't see the same way as you now see them as an adult. It really was the decade of excess and really did start pop culture and planted it firmly in our society.


One example is Tetris. It tore down walls. It was one of the games made by Russians, marketed by Japanese and sold in the US. It really hit our culture with a bang and everyone who was anyone played Tetris.


Except me.


I am probably the only 80's child who didn't play Tetris or own a Game Boy.


The other thing I learned is what the Cold War really means. I, at a theoretical level, understand what the Cold War was about. And I understood that Russia was bad. What I didn't know, or missed in history class at some point, is that it was called the Cold War because all communications between Russia and the US stopped. Effectively we gave Russia the Cold Shoulder.


I learned more about the Iran Contra scandal. I wrote a paper on it in school and clearly missed the entire reason for the scandal. I knew who Oliver North was - but somehow I didn't understand what Iran had to do with Nicaragua.


Fascinating. It makes me wonder what I not understanding about today's world.


And Knight Rider. Oh goodness I loved that show. It wasn't about The Hoff...no it was about the car. I wanted a KITT car. And who can understand the inexplicable reason why the Germans love David Hasselhoff.


And who can forget Jessica McClure that got trapped in a well? I mean, the entire world came together to pray for this child to be saved. Where was lassie when you need him? Turns out that this particular story is what cemented CNN to be a 24 hour news broadcasting station AND opened the door to the crazy media that we know today.


And who can forget..."Mr. Gorbachev...Tear...This...Wall... Down." I understood at a very thin level what the Berlin Wall was. I didn't fully understand it was a prison for East Germans. I didn't understand that it was grim and isolated. I did understand the glory when the wall came down.


The 80's were truly a decade fully of history and crazy. But boy am I glad I'm having an opportunity to see it now through the eyes of National Geographic.