Patty Porter's Heritage Class at Mystic Paper

Dear Diary,

I went to a fabulous class taught by my wonderful friend Patty Porter!
She is one of the designer's for Mystic Paper. I have been dying to take one of her classes. That was one of the nicest classes I have ever attended there. She made us the most beautiful books that were filled with great information and cool illustrations. She had chocolate, chips, and bottled water for us, and she gave us these cool mechanical pencils. One of my favorite parts of the class was looking through the books she has put together. They were just beautiful. I am having trouble describing them. I was overwhelmed by the love and time that went into her Heritage Projects.

I am so excited because she is going to have follow up classes and coach us with our projects! A couple of years ago, I got the idea to make a family cookbook. The pages up top are 2 out of 5 pages I have completed and only one of the five has a recipe. Boy do I need help. All afternoon I have been going through boxes and tubs and my craft closet trying to get it all together. Two more weeks till our next class! I'll keep you posted on my progress!

Good Advise

Dear Diary,

After seeing this picture of sista Janice with her daughter, I recalled a piece of advice I received as a teen ager and was inspired to make her this card.


While I was pondering earlier about advise - taking and giving, I was reminded of some wonderful advice my dear Uncle Pud gave me when I was a teenager.

I was telling him that I wanted a monkey for a pet. Not a spider monkey but actually a chimpanzee so that I could take it on walks and hold his little hand and I could dress him up in cute clothes and teach it to ride a red tricycle with a bell on it. After hearing this, I got the only advice Uncle Pud ever gave me. He said, "You don't want a monkey, they'll shit in their hand and throw it at you!" I never did get a monkey but I have repeated his fabulous advise often. Some listen and some don't.

Psychology sucks too!

Dear Diary,

I don't know much about Psychology except that I like the idea of it I just don't want to study it. I don't mind being analyzed as long as the analyzer says something about me that is flattering. One of my special talents is giving advise and analyzing others. My children have heard and heeded my advise for years. Some of my regular good advise is Brush your teeth! Wash your face! Make sure your battery is charged on your phone! Drink plenty of water! Other favorites are "Well, I wouldn't want to be their friend anyway!" "Hickeys are trashy!" "Girls don't like boys with B.O."

It's the book learning part of Psychology that sucks. I had my mid term exam in Educational Psychology today. There was so much material I had to know for this exam. Too much about cognition and morality. Hey, I'm inspired. Think I'll go create something immoral!

Fabulous Vacation

Dear Diary,

We are back from our fabulous vacation. I am still sweating grease. You would not believe all the "All you can Eat" fried food I ate on my 2009 summer vacation! We flew in to New Orleans, spent the night and drove to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The beach and water were beautiful! But, there were no shells to be found. But thats all right. We stayed at the Waterscape. It was huge and tall and had a lazy river. There were alot of families there with crying babies and young overtired children.

Next, we drove up to Aberdeen, Mississippi. We stayed a few days with my parents. One of Ian's friends came with us. We stopped and bought fireworks before we got there so the boys bought 100's of bottle rockets. I was afraid someone was going to return home with a hook arm. Boom, Boom, Boom, was all we heard for two days. They were modifying them and getting more dangerously creative with each explosion and that was under adult supervision!

We went to New Orleans again after we left Mississippi. Frank and I managed to get to go alone to our favorite restaurant. I didn't actually go hunting for Orbs but I did photograph one there at the restaurant. I took John and Elizabeth to the Garden District. We had a good time walking around and looking. It was just beautiful.

For the first time, we stayed in the Warehouse District. The kids and I stumbled into a bar/restaurant for lunch there that had frighteningly large amounts of local color. On a positive note, their mac and cheese was better than Paula Deen's. Frank took Ian and Toan to the WWII museum. It is new and air conditioned. They enjoyed it.

In the past we have spent most of our time in the French Quarter. My husband loves Bourbon Street. He doesn't mind the stench of stale beer and vomit. It just adds to the charm.

It is good to be home.

Trick Flip Book

Dear Diary,

I have been wanting to make an art journal or some sort of small collage book for awhile. I don't have time to make really big projects since I am enrolled in online college! But oh how I have missed getting glue on my fingers. I am planning on punching holes in the tops of these (They are actually 2 pieces front and back) and making a 3 ring book full. I bought a seven gypsies 3 ring thingy at Mystic Paper.

I screwed these up because I didn't think about flipping them when I made them. The one on the back will be upside down. I told my little sista about it. She gave me some great advice. "It can be a trick book".

The second flip picture is politically uncorrect. I now know that a rug is oriental not a person but as a child I didn't get out much. Please note that the freak in the tree is not a real freak but an actress playing a freak. When my sistas and I were about this age we were scarred for life. Daddy took us to a few freak shows at the Lowndes County Fair and frankly we have never gotten over it. I love the picture of the lady and her dog. She and I have so much in common. We do love our dogs. My Buddy will be staying at the Islands Pet Resort while we are on vacation. I miss him already!

Jennie tracked me down!

Dear Diary,

Jennie got a holt of me last Friday. She tracked me down. I answered the phone with no caller ID in the kitchen. I know better than that! She said it has been two months since I have been in for a consultation. I didn't realize I had been screaming at the kids, "Don't answer the phone, it's Jennie!" for 8 weeks now. I told her I had been real busy and that I was going on vacation Monday for 10 days. She made me an appointment for when I get back. She is persistent.

Momma resembles Elvis

Dear Diary,

Maybe it is the hair but they do resemble. We may need to get CSI of Memphis, Tennessee on it! Get a quick DNA test to confirm our suspicions. What if Momma is really Elvis's big sister? What if we have a rightful claim on Graceland! I think the Sistas can take on Priscilla but Lisa Marie might be tougher. I claim the jungle room!