News and Notes from the Happy Shack

Sketchbook Project Fun Journal: Day 20 ~ The End!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Well, here it is....my final page in the long-suffering Sketchbook Project Fun Journal. As a reminder, I started working in this journal waaaaaaaaaaay back in December of 2010, with the goal of doing a page a day in time to finish and actually submit it to the Sketchbook Project by the January 2011 deadline. Oh well. Such is life. I realized now that it's done, I'd have a hard time setting it free anyway! I have a few empty pages at the end where I'm going to write some notes on what I learned over the 20 pages.

On this page, the bottom half is actually a painted and inked up scrap of deli paper. I used deli paper as my palette paper or just the paper below whatever I'm working on to protect my table. I save most of them because they end up with such juicy color on them. Below is a slide show of the whole book. You can definitely see a difference between my early pages and my later pages!

Art Journal Play

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:02:00 +0000

I've been making some long-stitch sewn books using Arches Text Wove 100% cotton rag paper for the signatures and decided that before I made too many using this paper, I better see how well the paper holds up to wet media. I'd say rather well!

This was a scrap piece of the paper left over from making my signatures. I used Adirondack color wash spray inks, acrylic paint, pigment stamp ink, and Dr. Martin's acrylic ink (the yellow), and the paper seemed to hold up rather well. I don't think it's heavy enough to use for a book cover--I'm using inked and painted watercolor paper for those--but it looks like it'll work great for the signatures. I'll share some photos of the books with you as soon as I get around to photographing them! Lately, I've just been sewing them, taking out the sewing, and then sewing them again just to get the stitch pattern ingrained in my brain. As I was cutting one set of stitches out last night, Sarah came running over and yelled, "Mama! What are you doing!? Why are you ruining you book!?" All in the learning process, my dear!

Project 365: January 18-24

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:36:00 +0000

January 18: Sunrise over Heckscher Drive at Brown's Creek, taken from the parking lot of Chowder Ted's (in my pajamas...)

January 19: Power lines on Heckscher Drive at Blount Island entrance. I am very often stopped at this spot due to train crossings...which are an ongoing joke on my Facebook page.

January 20: We had a lovely day playing in the backyard...Olivia...

January 20 bonus shot: ...and Sarah

January 21: I had a book arts group meeting at the Island Art Association in Fernandina Saturday. This is a piece of the mosaic wall on the side of the gallery. The Island Art Association gallery is a must visit!

January 22: This is my "Mama needs a break to go sit and think and breathe" spot, right where Fort George Inlet reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It's thankfully only eight minutes from my house!

January 23: The tree from which last week's red heart leaf fell from. Even in the midst of changing colors and shedding its leaves, it's already shooting out new buds.

January 24: Did a little scouting with a friend during lunch today. I knew I needed a "big guy" to go with me, since this building, Public School No. 4, also known as the Annie Lytle School, can be a bit spooky and inhabited by things you might not want to come across, so I asked my friend and student Chris Lamm to go with me and give me a guided tour (knowing Chris as well as I do, I knew he'd probably been in many times...probably at night...). We couldn't get in since it was just freshly boarded up after the fire last week, and I was not appropriately dressed to do some climbing, but we're making a second attempt soon... Because as my photo below captures so well...

And no, Chris, I'm still not going in the basement... :-) Here's a little history on P.S. 4. I've been wanting to investigate for years (so yes, you are correct, I am not above trespassing in a creepy, haunted, old abandoned building in the name of a good photograph).

Thanks for checking out this week's shots! Click here for other Project 365 photos.

Sketchbook Project Fun Journal: Day 19

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Happy Monday! One more page in my Sketchbook Project Fun Journal. The center rectangle of this is actually a baby wipe. I use baby wipes to wipe my hands and stencils and such when I'm playing with other projects and straighten them out and save them if they have some pretty color in them. Funny that you can see the little bear face imprint just a little right of center! I learned with this page though that the baby wipes are difficult to write on, so I kept it short and sweet, using a Sharpie paint pen. Before adding the baby wipe, I just smeared some paint around on the spread and then after gluing down the baby wipe, added some stenciling and some flower punches and some outlining.

We had a nice weekend around here. I had Friday off with the girls, so we played most of the day. Saturday morning, I headed up to Fernandina to meet with my book arts group. We practiced more long stitch patterns and worked on coptic a little more. I'm definitely hooked! Sunday, we loaded the bikes on the back of the Trooper and headed over to the park to ride. The girls took their first spin around the skate park and did very well! I can't believe I didn't have my camera with me! Next weekend...

I Have a Songwriter on my Hands...

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I have a knack for song lyrics. I can hear a song once, and then the next time I hear it, I can pretty much sing along with the whole song. Being the family chauffeur, I've noticed that Sarah has this same gift. I hear her singing in the back seat behind me all the time. Now the funny thing about this is that not only can she sing the kind of music I primarily listen to (country and lite rock), but she can also sing the current bubble-gum pop she hears at school and her father's hard and classic rock. (Picture a cute little red-headed eight-year-old singing AC/DC's Hell's Bells!)

I've recently discovered that as she's been assimilating all these lyrics, she's also been absorbing the flow of song lyrics and how to put a song together. And, TA DA!, she's written her first song! She sprung it on me recently. It's not completely finished yet (I'm still teaching her the benefit of a "bridge"), but she's well on her way. Here's her first verse of "Walkin' Across." (Warning: If this Mama sees these words stolen by anyone, she will hunt you down and shoot you BEFORE she hires a lawyer to sue you. And then she will feed your dead body to Bigfoot. I hear he's been spotted quite a bit recently in NY. :-)

I'm walkin' across the bridge

I'm walkin' across the sky

I'm walkin' across your heart

Now can't you see me fly.

I'm walkin' across your soul

I'm walkin' across the seasons

I'm walkin' across everything

Can't you feel me breathing.

Taylor Swift may soon be seeing Sarah in her rear-view mirror.

Project 365: January 12-17

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:06:00 +0000

January 12: In January, in Florida, some leaves are just now turning. This was in the parking lot at school.

January 13: Ever wonder just how close those planes come to each other in the sky? Kinda freaky sometimes, isn't it?

January 13 bonus: A Daily Dose of Awesomeness shot.

January 14: Sunset from our back deck. I wanted to capture that one lone star top center along with the colors in the sky.

January 15: Baking cookies with Olivia, the Cookie Monster

January 16: Yummy navel oranges, irresistible.

January 17: Morning pinecones, caught just before we hopped in the car headed for school.

Click here to see all my Project 365 2012 posts.

Sketchbook Project Fun Journal: Day 18

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:29:00 +0000

Happy Tuesday! Oh, how the days they pass! At long last, I finally got around to a few more pages in my long forgotten Sketchbook Project Fun Journal. This is spread 18, a hot mess. A while back the girls and I played around with some coffee filters, and when we were working on this page, I put one in. Pretty cool how it just melts into the page. It's actually the largest circle. This page seems a bit dark and space-agey to me, but for some reason, I really love my little tree at the bottom. Subconsciously, I must have added it in there to bring the page a little more life. I have a couple more spreads of this book to share over the next two weeks, and then I do believe I'll call this one done.

One of my goals for this year has been to work through all the online classes I've signed up for over the past two years! Thankfully, I know thyself well, so I only sign up for classes that are open ended; otherwise I'll just be wasting my dollars. There are just so many wonderful classes out there that I see them and squeal "Oh! I want to do that!" and immediately sign up. And then the reality of my day-to-day schedule kicks in, and I think "Now, when am I going to find the time to do this?" :-) I just signed up for Donna Downey's Canvas Create this weekend. I really enjoy watching her Inspiration Wednesday videos, so I figured I'd enjoy a longer version. Thankfully it's also open ended!

And yesterday, Kim Klassen's Beyond Layer's began. This one I think I'll be able to keep up with since I think it aligns well with my Project 365. There is a bit of logic to my craziness, anyway. Of course, these two classes are only the tip of the iceberg...

Sweet Gifts from Kristin Dudish

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:25:00 +0000

Last year, I took Kelly Rae Robert's Flying Lessons course, and through the course, we formed a group. And though that lovely group I met the lovely Kristin Dudish! We were paired for a Flying Lessons swap over the holidays and had a great time getting to know each other through Etsy convos. Kristin sent me a whole list of great questions and then answered the same for me. So when she learned I've grown up around the beach and my favorite animal was a giraffe, she sent me these "just perfect for me" gifts she created. The hands in heart is just perfect for our beachy house, and the giraffe cards are the cutest! There are four in the set, all hand-colored.

Kristin is one of the wonderful artists behind Paint Party Friday! Go check out her blog and be sure to read her Oprah story! What a great experience! Thanks again Kristin!

January Free Bling Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:14:00 +0000

Time for my monthly Free Bling Friday giveaway! Random.org picked comment number 13 as the winner of my December Free Bling, so congratulations to Janet from Fort Lee, New Jersey!

For January, how about a little something to brighten up a cold winter day? Here is my Happy Azaleas photo sized down to a 1" glass tile pendant. To be eligible to win, simply visit either of my Etsy shops (here for jewelry and here for photography) and leave a comment in the comment box below with the link to your favorite piece along with a way to reach you and where you’re from by midnight February 2, 2012. Want more entries? Tweet, blog or Facebook this giveaway and leave another comment with the link. The next winner will be drawn via random.org Friday, February 3.

Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email updates or subscribe in the reader of your choice over there in the right column. And be sure to join my Facebook Fan page for specials. Thanks for stopping in! Giveaway open to US and Canadian residents only.

Project 365: January 6-11

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:19:00 +0000

Friday, January 6: Daily Dose of Awesomeness. For those of you connected to me on Facebook, you know that we take a picture like this almost every morning before we head to school. Thought I'd share one here!

Saturday, January 7: I found this spider web stretched between the back and arm of my green chair on our back deck, glistening with water from the morning fog.

Sunday, January 8: The Remains...little petals that fell on the front porch steps as I was dead-heading my geraniums. Yes, it is January, and yes, I still have four pots full of blooming geraniums on my front steps. I had to bring them in when we got our first freeze last week, but they are still hanging in there very well!

Monday, January 9: A little peek at our first day of class at the college.

Tuesday, January 10: A very special journal I'll tell you more about next week!

Wednesday, January 11: This morning, the view from Chowder Ted's was these gray skies over the marsh. Chowder Ted's is our great little neighborhood seafood restaurant, which is literally about 100 yards from our house!

So what's your favorite for the week? Click here for other Project 365 photos.

New Book Class!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:56:00 +0000

Long stitch book (bottom) and coptic stitch book (top)

The Island Art Association in Fernandina Beach (about 20 minutes from me) offers great classes, but most of them I can't attend because they're offered on weekdays. As luck would finally have it, I got to take an artist books class up there this past Saturday with the lovely Eliza Holliday.

Pamphlet stitch practice (top) and ink and gesso cover for long stitch book (bottom)

The main thing I wanted to learn from Eliza was coptic stitching (which I must now practice daily to remember!), but I also learned another new fun technique for paper decoration using inks and gesso. The group was very interested in doing more classes together, so I'm hoping I've finally found a book arts group!

Eliza Holliday and me

Ink and gesso covered long stitch books made by the class

Joyfulness, Hope and Excitement

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:05:00 +0000

This shot just screams pure joy to me! This is my sister Kim and my nine-month-old niece Maxine during Maxine's first trip to the beach while they were visiting here over the holidays. It speaks of the joyfulness that can be felt during the holiday season as well as the hope and excitement of starting a new year. My sister hasn't seen this shot yet, and if she manages to not see this blog before her birthday, I plan to send her this for her birthday. (So Kim, if you are reading this, act surprised!)

As I've worked through this first week of Project 365 postings for 2012, I think I've figured out a good plan that will work for me and allow me to still post other things on my blog! I think my plan will be to do a Project 365 post every Wednesday, including pictures from the previous Wednesday-Tuesday in one post...kind of a weekly thing instead of posting daily. Notice I keep saying "I think." :-) Gives me a little wiggle room, right!? We'll give that a shot! I hope you stick with me! Click here for Project 365 photos.

Christmas Morning Sprinklers

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:50:00 +0000

After opening gifts on Christmas morning (and then waiting for the sun to come up...) our tradition is to eat a quick breakfast and then take the dogs to the beach. Usually we go to Big Talbot Island, but the weather and tides did not cooperate with that this year. We had a bit of rain and were at a high tide when we needed to get out there (so that I could get on the road for my surprise visit to Aunt Livy!), so that beach was underwater. Not to be defeated in our goal, we snuck in the north end of Little Talbot and took our chances battling a few raindrops. I kept my camera put away for most of the visit, but I did catch a few shots of the fam playing on the rocks. In this particular image, they are the "doing the sprinkler." How my eight year olds know about "the sprinkler" I've yet to figure out. They blame Just Dance!

Of course my husband's fondest Christmas morning beach visit was the Year of the Drive By (said with much sarcasm) a few years before the girls were born. You see the "drive by" was carried out by Toby, one of our many dogs. We'd just had a nice run down on the beach and came back up to the parking area about the same time some poor unsuspecting man dare come out of the pot-a-let. Toby darted that way and took a nip at his jeans without slowing down or missing a step. He never bit the guy, just scared the heck out of him in that one drive by moment. Then Toby headed off down the road with his typical "come on, guys, I was just funnin'" look. Oh, and I guess I should confess I stole Toby from a family that was abusing him (and that's a whole other story). So call me a thief who stole a dog who did a drive by. Classic. Click here for all my Project 365 photos!

Cute Little Owls and Project 365 Cute Little Legs

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:49:00 +0000

Late last week, Benny came home early so I could get an afternoon of shopping by myself. He and the girls made a trip to the 100 Acre Wood and these were Sarah's shoes and socks of choice for the trip. I couldn't resist them! The girl's got style! Click here for the rest of my Project 365 photos.

And as for these cute little owls, we painted these on Monday at Yes You Canvas, one of my favorite places to play here in town. That's my friend Dana with us. We love our little owls!

Project 365 - Reading with Papa

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:02:00 +0000

Christmas Eve, Benny's dad, Papa to the girls, came over and spent some time with us. Papa's health has been failing pretty rapidly over the past year and he's now living with Benny's brother, no longer able to live alone. While he was over Christmas Eve, he was sitting out on the back porch when I encouraged the girls to go outside and read to him. Sarah sat with him the longest, and I don't think either one of them ever knew I took this picture they were so engrossed in the book. I thought it was such a sweet shot of a tender everyday moment. Click here for the rest of my Project 365 shots.

Happy New Year and Project 365, 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:19:00 +0000

Happy New Year! I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a happy, healthy new year ahead of you. This year, my main goal for my blog is to participate in the Project 365, 2012, sharing 365 new photos in 2012, though given 2012 is a leap year, that mean 366 photos! Now, I know my track record for daily projects is not very strong (stinks actually...), so I'm not going to guarantee a photo a day, but my goal is to share 366 new photos none-the-less. (I realize this may mean 10 photos in one day with my natural tendency to procrastinate epically, but what the hey, I'll give it a shot anyway...) I'll still be sharing snippets of daily craziness as well as various art, jewelry and artist book projects I'm working on, so, whew!, that means I may be posting more than once a day at times.

I'm starting the year with my five favorite shots of the holidays, and what better way to kick it off than Olivia running into the new year while chasing a flock of birds. I took this shot while my family was visiting for the holidays, and we took my nine-month-old niece Maxine on her very first trip to the beach. I'll have a very sweet shot of her and my sister later this week. So please keep me on track and shooting daily!

Wishing you the best in 2012!

A Special Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:14:00 +0000

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! My girls were up at 5:15am, so we had a LONG morning! After opening gifts (and once the sun finally came up), we loaded up for our annual Christmas morning visit to take the dogs to the beach. I'll share a few pictures of that later in the week, but today, I wanted to tell you about a special visit.

I've talked here about my Great Aunt Livy quite a bit. My last visit to her was in August for her 90th birthday. Since the annual birthday visit has grown from just being me, to being me and the girls and Benny, to now being me, the girls, Benny, and my sister, her husband and daughter AND my father, the August trip has gotten a bit hectic. As we were leaving in August, Aunt Livy quietly told me she missed spending time with me. We've always been each other's favorite! My birthday was earlier this month, and for the first time that I can ever remember, I did not receive a birthday card from Aunt Livy. I called her a few days after my birthday just to check on her, and as soon as she answered the phone, she said, "Oh! I'm so sorry I forgot your birthday!" I told her that was fine! I was just calling because I was worried about her! After that conversation, I started thinking about driving back to up to visit her for Christmas.

Even with the hectic pace that the holidays always bring, I still couldn't get that thought out of my head. So! Christmas afternoon about 2pm, I got in the car and drove up to North Georiga. She's in Rock Springs, about 20 minutes south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. I got up there about 9:30pm, and in dense fog, found a hotel. Yesterday morning, I called the nurses at her home (she's in an extended living facility), and told them that I was coming but wanted it to be a surprise. They said, "No problem! We'll make sure she's up and dressed!"

I told them I'd be there around 11am, and when I arrived one of the nurses greeted me at the door and said, "We have her all ready for you! We told her she had a surprise coming, but she thinks we were just trying to get her out of bed!" When I walked in, she was sitting next to the Christmas tree reading some mail, and I snuck up to her and said, "Merry Christmas!" I think if she hadn't had already been sitting down, she would have fallen down!

We spent about three hours together, talking and telling stories, and having a nice lunch in town, just the two of us. One of the things we talked about was my mom, both knowing the time of the year. Today is the 12th anniversary of her death. I know that the reason I am so close to my Aunt Livy is because my mom was so close to my Aunt Livy. I remember so many times with her growing up, and it was so special for the two of us to have this time together alone to share stories and, yes, share some tears.

It was a wonderful three hours, and worth every bit of the nearly-18-hour round-trip drive. I promised Benny I'd get back on the road by 2pm, so that I did. The drive back home took more than nine hours with all the day-after-Christmas traffic, but I'd get in the car and go back tomorrow if she needed me to. Every one needs an "Aunt Livy." I hope you have someone like that in your life.

Notes to Santa...

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:29:00 +0000

The girls wrote their notes to Santa earlier this week, and they've been taped to the door ever since. I couldn't get a good picture of them on the door because of the glass, so I gently took them down and laid them on the porch for these shots. Aw, the innocence of childhood. I so hope they still believe for years to come. And I can say that I've had a little talk with Santa, and his elves have created two little Sarah and Olivia look alike American Girl dolls. :-)

Here in our home, we celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ, so Merry Christmas to you, in whatever way you and your family celebrate the day.

Eight-Year-Old Computer Graffiti Art

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 01:12:00 +0000

Sarah has discovered the Paint program on my new computer! Here's her first shot at her graffiti art. In case you can't quite read it, it says "Sarah and Mommy Warren." My last day in the office and the girls' last day at school before the break was last Friday so we've been enjoying our time at home. My dad, his wife Kathy, and my sister Kim, brother-in-law and baby niece were here this last weekend, so Kim and I spent a good bit of time in the kitchen baking. The girls are I seem to be subsisting very well on Snickerdoodles, Molasses Sugar Cookies and Buckeyes this week! Hope you are enjoying the holidays!

A Day at the Office

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:07:00 +0000

Days at the office have been rather stressful lately (I'll just keep it at that...), so times like the one captured in this picture are precious. Yesterday, we had our office Christmas Party and Secret Santa exchange. Really this is all about my students. My "staff" consists of a whopping four people, and that includes me! Only three of us are in this picture; the fourth was taking the picture (my assistant Angie has been my assistant for 17.5 years, and she becomes a ghost when the camera comes out). The rest are my students...Student Government officers, Student Ambassadors, and office Student Assistants. They are the reason that I attempt to maintain my sanity when other things happening around the College really make me want to pull my hair out. They are a great group! (Did I mention things have been rather stressful lately? My Christmas vacation leave is thankfully only two more days away...deep breaths...deep breaths...). In this picture, I'm even wearing the owl necklace I shared with you Monday!

Mix It Up Monday: Steampunk Owl

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:15:00 +0000

Happy Monday! Ours here in North Florida is very rainy and windy, so I hope you are fairing a little better. I actually created this little guy over a month ago and have worn him quite a few times. He gets tons of compliments! I got the idea from Dime Store Emporium, a great little shop that sells lots of fun, inexpensive steampunk and brass findings. I'm not planning on getting into creating steampunk-style jewelry on a regular basis, but I have a few steampunk pieces that I've purchased from other designers that I really enjoy wearing. I wish I had finished this little guy in time for my Chi Omega reunion back in October. We did a great little owl exchange! I hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you.

December Free Bling

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 04:58:00 +0000

Time for my monthly Free Bling Friday giveaway! Random.org picked comment number 11 as the winner of my November Free Bling, so congratulations to Catalina from Pomona, California!

As we hit the end of the year, I thought I little piece of Father Time might be appropriate for December's giveaway. Here is my Watching Melrose photo sized down to a 1" glass tile pendant. To be eligible to win, simply visit either of my Etsy shops (here for jewelry and here for photography) and leave a comment in the comment box below with the link to your favorite piece along with a way to reach you and where you’re from by midnight January 5, 2012. Want more entries? Tweet, blog or Facebook this giveaway and leave another comment with the link. The next winner will be drawn via random.org Friday, January 6.

Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email updates or subscribe in the reader of your choice over there in the right column. And be sure to join my Facebook Fan page for specials. Thanks for stopping in! Giveaway open to US and Canadian residents only.

Tuesday Treasury Shout Out: Mama Stowe and FEST

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Thanks to Mama Stowe for including my work in this festive treasury featuring the members of the Florida Etsy Street Team. My tulip photo earrings are second row, first spot, and my red daisy photo is third row, first spot. Thanks Mama Stowe! Visit this treasury is all its clickable wonderfulness here, visit the FEST blog here, and visit Mama Stowe's shop here!

An Angel Has Gone Home

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:18:00 +0000

Those of you who’ve been reading this blog from early on may remember the angel I met on the Washington DC Metro. I learned today that Franklin Fung Chow recently passed away. I had been receiving his newsletter since we met three years ago and stopped receiving it about six months ago, so I guess that’s when his battle with leukemia really started taking its toll on him. The world has lost an angel. I still keep those two little red envelopes he gave my girls in a little pouch in my purse that goes with me everywhere. Below, I’ve reposted the original story I wrote about him. As I reread it just now, I had tears running down my face. You are with God now, Franklin, an angel gone back to Heaven. Thanking you for blessing my life.

Dear Mr. Fung Chow,

My family and I came upon you in a Washington, D.C. Metro stop on Sunday afternoon, October 12. We were a bedraggled family of four—a dad grumpy from having to lug a double stroller up and down the Metro’s escalator stairs, two little redheads cranky from no naps and lots of activities in the big city, and a mom tired and run down from trying to keep everyone together, sane, fed and happy near the end of a long day of sight-seeing.

We were changing train lines and had to maneuver through three different sets of escalators when we met you. My husband had just tossed the stroller up against the wall near where you were standing, and I looked at you with apologetic eyes as I picked the stroller up and leaned it against the wall. You smiled sweetly at me. You asked me what brought us to the city, and when I told you about my sister’s wedding the previous day, you said, “Oh, I bet she looked so beautiful. And how did you two meet?”

As I started telling you how my husband and I met, my daughters came over to my side. It was then that you pulled two little envelopes out of your jacket pocket and gave one to each of my girls. I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant at first, a complete stranger in the Metro giving something to my children, but after a moment’s hesitation, I saw the little light shining in your eyes. My girls looked at the beautiful little red envelopes with Asian characters on them, and not knowing what they were, looked at me in confusion. When you suggested they open them, they looked at me for guidance, and I told them it was okay. Of course, all they paid attention to was the dollar bill you had slipped inside each one, but I saw the other card in there as well and briefly read the side that included your name, address, email and position: “Retired Federal Civil Servant.”

Our train was approaching the station, so we didn’t really have time to say much more than “Thank You” as we gathered up our stroller and children and boarded the train. I watched you for a moment as you entered the train at the rear of our car. As soon as you boarded, you started cheerfully talking to the people around you. I tried to catch snippets of your conversation but couldn’t hear over the noise of the train. But I could see you, a big smile on your face as you brought smiles to the faces of everyone around you. Best I could tell, you got off at the next stop, disappearing like an angel, and it was then that I took the time to read what you had given us. It was a chart of all the Chinese New Years complete with the year, date of the New Year, the animal representing it, and the characteristics of those born in that year. Through it, I learned that I was born in the year of the Snake and am “wise, passionate, determined and attractive”; that my husband was born in the year of the Dog and is “dependable, protective, tender, private and eccentric”; and lastly, that my daughters were born in the year of the Sheep and will grow up to be “sensitive, have success in the arts, aesthetic, and charitable”. I marveled at the similarities to our personalities.

When we got back to my sister’s apartment, my girls drew pictures for you to thank you for your kindness. I'm mailing those to you today along with this letter. I’ve kept the cards you gave us, along with these pictures, in a little zippered pouch in my purse ever since you gave them to us. I even convinced my girls to let me keep the dollar bills in there so we could save everything as a reminder of the blessing we received from you that day. I’m not sure why you chose us. Maybe it was the frustration and tiredness you saw on our faces; maybe you were just waiting for a family with two small children to come by; or maybe you truly were an angel, sent to remind us that no matter the troubles that may come our way, someone is always watching over us, and that a simple gift of friendly kindness can make a huge impression on someone else’s life, as you have on mine.

I think of you often, dear sir, and whenever I’m having a bad day, I pull those beautiful little red envelopes out of their pouch in my purse and read them again. I’ll save them to give to my children when they are old enough to truly appreciate the gesture. And I’ll tell them this story about the angel we met on the Metro in Washington, D.C. when they were five years old. Thank you, Mr. Franklin Fung Chow, for you truly are a blessing, and I’m quite certain there were gossamer wings underneath your jacket. I wish you the merriest of Christmas holidays and many blessings for the New Year to come.

The Great Computer Saga of Thanksgiving 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kelly Warren) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:56:00 +0000

For those of you in the States, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. For me, I’m thankful for a lot of things, like my family, health and roof over my head, but this year, as crazy as it sounds, I’m most thankful for the two pictures in this post. Why you ask? Well let me tell you a little story called the Great Computer Saga of Thanksgiving 2011.

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, my computer crashed. Again. This was the third time in about five months. The first time, I took it into one of our IT techs on campus, and once I got it there, of course, it worked fine. Daunie ran some diagnostics and copied some files for me. He said the next time it does that to just unplug it and let it sit for a day or two. So the second time it crashed in the same fashion (doing nothing but going “beep beep” when I tried to power it up), I unplugged and let it sit for a day. Magically fixed. Fired right up a day later. Well, the third time I wasn’t so lucky. Given that it was the third time, Benny said, “It’s Black Friday. Just go buy yourself a new computer.”

So after pursuing the sale ads, I first headed to Sam’s, but when I got there I did not see the system I saw in the paper. I came back home and did some research, talked to a computer geek friend about recommended systems, and then headed to Best Buy. I purchased an HP with 8GB of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive. Mack Daddy compared to the seven-year-old system I had! I also went ahead and got a new monitor to go along with it.

So fast forward to two hours later and me trying to set up this computer. Now mind you, I’m no super tech, but I know how to set up a computer. So when my new monitor would not talk to my new hard drive, I tried everything I knew to do, to no avail, and then called the HP tech support line. I proceeded the tell the HP tech what my issue was, and after she took all my personal information she could possibly ask for short of my social security number and name of my first born child, she proceeded to walk me through a series of steps to diagnose the problem. This included (hold on, this is a long list): hooking the blue VGA cable and the white DVI cable from my new monitor to various points on my new tower; hooking the new VGA cable from my old monitor to my new tower; and hooking the VGA cable from my new monitor to my laptop (this was after she suggested hooking the new monitor to my old computer…which had, um, crashed…which is why I was having this conversation to begin with).

When none of that worked, she said, “Well, now I’m going to need you to get a screw driver and take the back cover off of your tower.” Me: “Um, doesn’t that void the warranty?” Her: “Oh, no! Not since I’m telling you to do it!” Me: “Um, since I just bought this thing three hours ago (by this time we had been on the phone for an hour), wouldn’t it make more sense for me to just take it back to Best Buy?” Her: “Um, hold on, let me ask about that……..[tick tock, tick tock]….okay, yes, if you’d prefer to do that and have the receipt, you can do that.” Me: “Well, since I’ve just spent an hour on the phone with you, can you email me stating that we’ve just gone through this so that I can take that to Best Buy as well?” Her: “Well, why don’t we just keep trying?” Me: “Can I please speak to a manager?” Her: “Now why would you want to do that?” Me: “Why can you not email me documentation of this conversation?” Her: “Can you give me the number to Best Buy and I’ll call them?” Me: “I would need a working computer to do that.” Her: “The number should be on your receipt.”

So completely worn out, I go downstairs to find my receipt to give this totally unhelpful chick the number. She calls and gets the Best Buy Geek Squad on the line. They proceed to have a conversation I am not privy to, and then finally connect me in. She just wanted to make sure I knew Best Buy’s return policy. Best Buy dude: “If this was a Black Friday sale item, we may not have a replacement system in the store.” Me: “This was not a sale item.” Best Buy dude, stalling: “Well you can bring it back in.” Me: “Will you be there? What is your name?” Best Buy dude: “Alfred, and yes, I’ll be here until close.” The totally unhelpful HP online tech: “Will you please stay on the line so that we can finish processing this call?” Me: “Oh sure, I will.” HP tech: “Hold please.” Me: Click.

And so…then I packed up the entire system and went back to Best Buy. I found Alfred, and he said he just wanted to confirm that the HP tech had been giving me the correct information. He proceeded to show me how to correctly hook the monitor to the tower. Do you think it resembled any of the things the HP tech had me do? Nope. Not a one. Alfred: “Did the HP tech ever ask you what type of monitor you had?” Me: “No, she just asked me the serial number on the tower.” He just kind of shook his head and asked me if I still wanted to return it now that he had told me how to do it correctly. I was so incredibly frustrated by that point that I said no; I just wanted to return the whole freakin’ shebang. He continued to shake his head and said he didn’t blame me. I felt like I had just been the subject of an episode of Candid Camera.

But oh, dear friends, the story does not end there! So on Saturday, I went back to Sam’s. After looking around a bit more, I got a Dell with the same power configuration, plus a wireless keyboard and mouse, plus a 24” monitor…all for the same price of the tower and wired keyboard and mouse without the monitor at Best Buy. I got home and hooked that one up. Monitor was beautiful. But….the wireless internet would not connect to my Wi-Fi. I tried everything I could think of. I reset my modem. I reset my router. I unplugged it all and plugged it back in…three times. I moved it to another room, much closer to the computer. Nothing. This was Saturday night and again Sunday morning. With tears of frustration running down my face, I gave up Sunday morning and went for a run. As I was walking out the door, Benny said he was headed up to give it a shot.

When I got back, he hadn’t gotten it working, but he decided it was the router and had gone online to find recommended compatible routers for my new system. So off I headed back to Best Buy with my list of recommended routers. First I went to the Geek Squad counter. Totally unhelpful. See, here was the thing that was unexplainable: my five year old laptop downstairs on the ground floor of my house in my studio picked up my wireless router signal on the third floor of my house just fine, four bars out of five. Yet my Mack Daddy new desktop, sitting 20 feet from the router on the same floor, only registered one measly little bar, not enough to get online. This made no sense to me and pointed to a problem with the tower, not my router. But no, the Geek Squad guy just said to move computer to another location in my house. Gee thanks. I wandered over to look at routers just for the heck of it and had a conversation with Richard in the blue Best Buy shirt. I proceeded to tell Richard the Great Computer Saga of Thanksgiving 2011.

Richard listened patiently. Richard said it might be your router, but it might not. Richard: “Is it a laptop or a desktop?” Desktop, I told him…again. Apparently he tuned out somewhere in the middle of the saga (as you may well have). Richard: “Oh, a desktop, eh? Does it have an antenna?” Me: “An antenna? What would that look like and where would it go?” We walked over to the desktops and he showed me what an antenna looked like and where it would go. “Hallelujah!” I heard the angels sing. Me: “I saw two little funky black things like that in the box, but they were not mentioned anywhere in the set up instructions!” Richard: “Hook them up and that should solve your problem.” Me: “Richard, I love you! You have been the most helpful person I’ve talked to in three days! You deserve a big smackin’ raise!” Richard: “Glad I could help, ma’am. You have a nice day now.”

So back to these two pictures. And a big thanks to my wonderful IT friend on campus. Remember waaaaaay back in this story when I told you my computer first crashed and that IT friend copied a few files for me? Well, I remembered those CDs. And when I looked at them, I saw that he hadn’t just copied a few files; he had copied my entire desktop and all my picture and document files. And that’s where I found these two wonderful pictures. Daunie, I love you! What I’d done since Daunie copied those files, I found either on my external drive or still in my camera. All I’ve lost are my jewelry pics I uploaded last Wednesday. And that, my friends, is the Great Computer Saga of Thanksgiving 2011. If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me, and I hope I at least made you laugh. And, oh, remember to ask for Richard at Best Buy.