Positive Affirmations - Uniquely Me

I want to be unique,

I am unique.

I want to be original,

I am original.

I want to be articulate,

I am articulate.

I want to be creative,

I am creative.

I want to be artistic,

I am artistic.

I want to be poetic,

I am poetic.

I want to be me,

I am me.

By Teresa Mahieu
April 20th, 2009
*Submitted for AC poetry challenge

A surprise in the mail.....

This cute little card came my way from Anne Gaal of Gaal Creative. Isn't it ever so cute? What a lovely surprise to come home to after a vacation. I love Anne's blog and her cards and such. She gives very detailed instructions too. I wish you could feel the texture of the background on this card. It's raised and feels so delightful. Anne wrote such a nice note inside. Now I am thinking on a card to make for her. Oh but how will I ever make a card as lovely and professional looking as hers is and are? I'm sure though that she would love whatever I would make to send her.

Maybe an ATC instead of a card?!

Do stop by her blog and say hi.

Oh and I have to share this tidbit. When I entered her name into my search engine today to bring up her blog I did something wrong and found a wonderful surprise. Anne makes fabulous cards and she is a wonderful photographer.

You must! go by and see her photography site. That was the surprise.

I had never seen her photography site before. I so enjoy her blog I guess I just never ventured further. She photographs awesome views of nature and wildlife, with such vivid and true to life colors. I wish I could buy a print of all of them. My walls would be completely covered. LOL!

We've been having a bit of thunder and a light rain here after a scorching hot day with a 100+ heat index. The outside temp is down to 77 and tonight's low is suppose to be 74. Not much relief but much better than 90's and above. We had a booming power outage for a few seconds earlier so I guess I had better get off of here before it happens again as I am hearing yet another round of thunder.

Hug the ones you Love,

Tess

I'm back home and it's hot outside...

We're back....

and yet another year of summer camp is behind us. This was our 7th year at Camp Hansen. A week that started out with a heavy rain storm on Sunday night. The rain was so bad that the cooks had trouble getting to work because the road leading into camp was under water. But being scouts we are always prepared and not only did they get them into camp but breakfast had already been started and was on time.

This is the gate leading into camp.

There is a lake nearby and many are able to take fishing, motor boating, canoeing and kayaking merit badges. No swimming is allowed in the lake. The camp provides a swimming pool. It's cleaner and affords easier access for aquatic merit badges.
This is Richard, he is from Chapman, Kansas. The black head band signifies he is on silence as he was tapped for Golden Eagle. One leader and 4 boys made it to camp from Chapman this year. A first for all of them.

This is Cody, he is from Chapman also. Cody was registered to attend camp his first time last year and a few days before he was to leave the tornado hit. Of course mom and dad needed him at home and he understood. This year he finally made it to Camp Hansen and said he had a wonderful time. I've known and followed this young man since he first joined scouting as a Tiger. I hope to one day see him earn his Eagle rank.
Nature at it's best. I love the rolling hills and the native prairie grasses.

The native flowers are pretty too, even if many are considered noxious weeds. We have to teach the boys to stay away from this thistle. I couldn't resist taking the picture though.

The drums were sitting near the staff quarters garage so I lined them up in the
grass for a picture.

These two are brothers and Ranger Rex's sons. Rex was the camp director this year and his oldest son worked as the camp ranger. They were preparing a surprise for the campers and their parents.

I'm not sure what mom and dad thought but the campers loved it. I think they looked great and love that they are following in dad's footsteps. ("No, dad doesn't have a mohawk".)This was done on Friday and there is a big camp fire with skits and such to signify the end of the week and celebrate the weeks events.

This is the climbing tower. I never did make it over their to take pictures so I snapped this one from afar.

The heat here since returning home has been awful. We've topped 100 degrees with a 70% humidity. I just want to sleep when the weather is like this, but alas,

back to work tomorrow for me. For those of you experiencing high heat please, please remember to drink plenty of water. Remember sodas, teas and coffee don't count to prevent dehydration.

Hope you all had a fabulous week last week, I know I did!!

More later,

Tess

We've been seeing lots of these lately.

Sometimes I see things in the clouds.

Do you see HIS hand? I do!
We're leaving for our working vacation tomorrow. We'll be in the woods at a Boy Scout camp for one week. I enjoy the other staff members, the boys, the activities and the communing with nature that takes place. It's fun teaching them and learning from them.

My daughters will be "camping" at our house to watch the place and our cats.

In 2005 I made a book after camp to remember the fun had that year. I wanted it to look old and have lost of colors from nature. I chose to use scraps of leather. I did a lot of hand sewing and added lots of beads.
I used a lot of paint to muddy and dirty-up the pages. I then painted on photo paper before printing to it.
I added tags and stickers and other such things along the way.

These are photos of the tribe of the Golden Eagle and just a few of the pages in the book. It's a camping organization withing Boy Scouting at Camp Hansen. To respect the true Native Americans we do not apply paint to our faces. We design our costumes as we like. Some chose a specific tribe to emulate and some just dream up a design of their own. Many do all of the work on their costumes by hand. i made my dress and leggings as well as my head band. The boys (and adults as I did too) have to go through a day of silence and a day of service. It's a lot of fun and teaches so much such as respect for self, others and nature. I hope we don't see any or many rain clouds this next week. If so, we will be fine. Remember our motto is:

Be Prepared!

Have a great week,

Tess

A sewing experiment in toy making...

Bobbie wanted a soft toy for a 2 month old grandchild of a friend. I had some cute baby fabric scraps from a yard sale and thought why not?! I freehand drew a shape on the back of the fabric and cut it out and then sewed around it with my machine. (Hint never sew when you have a foot cramp.)Is it a bear?

Or is it a bunny?

I think it's a bunnybear!

I have no idea why the second picture is larger that the rest. Anyway this was a fun experiment. One ear, or is it foot, had to be stitched by hand a bit as I pushed the stuffing too hard and found the seam was too close to the edge. I think it gave the bunny bear more charm. I also think I need more practice and another experiment is taking shape.

Thursday is almost over and then it's

TGIF!

Smiles,

Tess