Category Archives: Just Saying…

Rock-N-Country, America’s Bandstand

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07-DSCN6245Sometimes you just have to let your hair down. Tonight I did just that.

My husband and I don’t often go out just for us. Many of you know that when you have kids your outings usually revolve around their lives and activities, but our town has the best musical festivals. Winfield, Kansas is known for the Walnut Valley Festival, a large bluegrass festival held every September that doubles the population of our town. This week is Prairiefest. Rock-n-Country is a new event associated with it. Tonight was the America’s Bandstand concert. Hubby and I have been talking about it for a few days. Rain, wind, lightening, thunder storms and weather warnings had us convinced we wouldn’t be going. Today, as late as lunchtime, it was still icky outside. By the time my husband got off work it was sunny with blue skies. We decided to go. We are so glad we did.

Each performer acted and sang in character. Most were so “spot-on” it sent chills down our spines. Visually and musically we were transported to another time. Oh, to be young again.

“Date Nights” are so far and few between that I had to document it. Please excuse my grainy pics. We were a bit of a distance away and the interior of the building was dim.

01-DSCN6226Donna Summer (Mariah Warren) We’ve enjoyed Mariah’s voice before as she is a former graduate of our local high school. She has a powerful voice.

02-DSCN6233Elton John (Tim Durham)

03-DSCN6236Stevie Nicks (Kelly Dillner) Oh my! I closed my eyes and enjoyed Landslide. It could have been an original recording.

04-DSCN6241Abba

07-DSCN6245Eagles (Jan Hatfield and the stage band) They were fantastic!

09-DSCN6258Linda Ronstadt (Char Myrick) Char’s bio stated she has opened for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and performed in shows with Keith Whitley, Jimmy Buffet, Travis Tritt and Hank Thompson.

10-DSCN6267Janis Joplin (Piper Leigh) OMG!!! Hubby and I are in total agreement that Piper is a reincarnated Janis. We had a conversation with her following the concert and even her normal voice was totally Janis. I really wish this photo had turned out better.

13-DSCN6275Aretha Franklin (Tansy Mignon)

12-DSCN6270This is a pic at the end of the concert with all of the singers.

11-DSCN6268Our neighbor Rod Knepper played in the stage band. I didn’t realize until I read the bio in the program, but when he was younger he formed a band that is now in the Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame. The band also recorded and was a front band for Dionne Warwick, Lou Christy, Pixices Three and the Beach Boys. How cool is that?!!

05-DSCN6242Now this pic is for our friend Brad. Turn your head if you must. (hehe) :) Brad was here this past weekend and asked me if I had a pair of fishnet stockings. Hmm…apparently he needed them as texture for a painting project. ;) Well, as a crafter who uses just about anything to form a creation, who am I to judge…Here you go Brad.

Sandy’s Voice

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I love sharing my crafts and latest restyling projects on my little blog. I also enjoy sharing happenings in my life and I enjoy reading little life moments on the many blogs that I follow.

Other than my DIY posts, the things I write are usually happy, funny or relatable stories. This one is different. This one is sad and personal.

If you have a Facebook account you have probably come across many stories like the one I’m going to share. You see them in the paper. You read them and move on. You watch them on television. You turn the channel. These stories don’t happen to people you know…Well, unfortunately they do.

The following is NOT the story of my cousin’s life. It is a summary of the horrific ending to it in October of 2000, and what is happening now.

Sandy's Voice

If you feel you can help it will be greatly appreciated. Prayers will also be gratefully accepted.

Thank You

The Spinning Wheel

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2-DSCN4196Years ago I purchased a brand new spinning wheel to spin my own yarn. At the time we owned sheep, so creating beautiful skeins of yarn with this resource seemed like a natural next step.

Well, I was naive. The spinning wheel beat me. I’m not proud of admitting that. I have mastered many DIY techniques, but this one eluded me. I just could not get the hang of it.

We eventually sold the sheep and the spinning wheel became a fixture to dust. Visible, but not seen.

Last fall I went through the house on a de-cluttering mission and to gather things for a yard sale. I decided to sell the spinning wheel. It didn’t sell at the sale, so I decided to post it on a local buy/sell/trade Facebook page. Since the page is only open to people living in my area, a local reader contacted a friend in another town who was looking for a wheel. Thanks to the reader for connecting us together, my old “new” spinning wheel received a new home where it could be appreciated.

1-Spinning Wheel Yarn 1The update to this story came a few weeks ago. The new owner is very happy with the wheel and she sent me a picture of her handiwork.

I am thrilled!

Now, if I could just get my hands on some of that scrumptious yarn.

Royalty In The Family!

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While this post isn’t about a DIY or craft project, I think you all will understand if I take a moment to brag on my last born.

Friday night my youngest son was crowned king of the 2013 Winter Homecoming for Winfield High School. God didn’t give me the recipe for making girls, so I try to grab the “dress-up” photo ops where I can. Speaking of girls…I am sure all of the queen candidates had their outfits all planned and laid out last week. My son waited until 9:30 the night before to get it together. Oh the drama! The tie and pants he wanted to wear were missing in action. He does have a lot of activities that he’s involved in, but when he’s not at home, how hard could it be to put clothes he‘s changed out of in his car? Sheesh!

Before I get going I need to explain why some of the photos look pretty bad. Friday afternoon was an assembly where the candidates were basically put on display before final judging. This was done in an auditorium. I managed to get a few photos of the event before my camera went bonkers. The flash actually popped. It was startling loud. Have any of you had this happen? It couldn’t have come at a worse time.Thankfully my peeps have been helping me out with photos they took. Some of these photos are my make-do photos, some were generously shared and some I scraped. (Shh)

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King and Queen-Congratulations Colby Kromminga and Celina Banks

The king and queen were crowned Friday evening during a break in the boys varsity basketball game.

13-Savannah and Colby-Homecoming

Thanks to his date, I scraped a pic of them off Facebook from before the dance. Savannah Dennett was Colby’s dance date. Wow, he sure had a lot of girls on his arm that day.

The “Big City, Bright Lights” homecoming dance followed the basketball game until midnight.

12-2012 Winter Homecoming Candidates

The royal court of candidates. This photo was taken last week.

The candidates were, from left, Alessandra Bevilacqua, Ryan Minton, Celina Banks, Miguel Mercado Terres, Lauren Kohpay, Joe Mackey, Stevie Guffey, Colby Kromminga, Jessica Butler and Travis Allender.

He looks like he has a secret.

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Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to do my work without a flash. :( Pray for sunny weather.


Have a great week!

I Made My Own Buttons-Oh Yes I Did!

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Oh yes I did! I made my own “Grab My Button” for my blog and a clickable button for my Etsy shop.

I have been wanting to figure out how to make buttons for quite some time. It seems that every blog I follow has one, so I wanted one too. There’s a very special lady that helps me with all my techie questions, and quite honestly I wouldn’t have a blog without her, but I also know she has a lot on her plate. I decided to try to do this myself. I figured if I really screwed it up she would take pity on me. ;) (Smooches to you, Michy.)

The thing that really pushed me forward was a link party at Homemaker on a Dime called Market Your Biz and Giveaways. Last week I came across it and decided I would have a button for my Etsy shop by this week. Guess what? She posted this weeks linky and I hadn’t done a thing about it all week. Go figure…

Now (ahem) with most things Google is my friend. Not so with button-making tutorials. I was sooo confused. I finally decided to chuck the tutorials and use what I had…and a little common sense. Two and a half hours later….again, TWO AND A HALF HOURS later I have successfully created a button image, a “Grab My Button” blog button and a button for my Etsy shop.

They are both in my sidebar, but a post with no images just won’t do, so here they are.

01-blog buttons

My beautiful blog button…

43-restyled junk etsy banner

…And my beautiful Etsy button.

They even work! Go ahead and click on them. You know you want to. ;)

ttfn

For 2013 I am embracing the phrase “You never know if you don’t ask.”…So, if you enjoyed this post and this blog, would you consider following this blog?

Thank you!