THURSDAY APRIL 23RD 1998
Work was easy on Thursday and just seemed to fly by. I got out early and
headed off right away.. as the car was already packed... and by 1:45pm I
was pulling into Maggie Boopsters driveway. She was ready to go, and
after a few phone calls were place to make sure deliveries had been made..
we ICQ'ed Karen Underwood and off we went.

There was a bit of construction... but true to my word... 3 hours later..
we pulled up in front of the Quality Inn, in Coldwater Michigan. As we
were walking to the doors we heard a shout.. and there was Karen and her
son DJ waving to us from across the parking lot. They were already in our
room unpacking packages that had been arriveing for the past 2 or more
weeks. Door prices and hand outs for our MMM from Vendors and PALs.
A quick checkin.. and we were headed to our room.

What a room, Suite actually... Kitchenette had double sink, stove fridge, counter and
cupboard... More than at karens house :) , living room had a recliner
chair (my bed) couch (pull out double bed for Karen and DJ), end tables and
lamps, TV (which was only one twice.. for DJ) and a Table and 2 chairs.
We had an extra table brought in. and the 2 computers one with printer and
one with scanner were set up.. first and fast... :)

A quick supper of Pizza was brought in.. and quickly devovoured...
We put all our stuff away.. unpacked the boxes of goodies that we had
brought.. ordered a pizza and went through everything one last time.. to
make sure nothing was missing. Karen, Boopster and I did a Show and tell
and at 11pm Karen and DJ headed on home. Boopster and I yaked till 2 am,
and then it was off to bed.. where I read till 3:30 am .. just too excited
to work.
 

FRIDAY APRIL 24TH 1998
6 am found me wide awake.. and reading.. but by 6:30 I could not stand it
and got up washed and dressed.. and went on line.. to meet in #Capers on
the Undernet on IRC to be with my regular Good Morning Breakfast Club.
and everyone was there.

9am found Karen and DJ back with us, Boopster up and once again unpacking
MORE stuff Karen had brought over. After a Quick Lunch ( a pretasteing of
the good stuff we had for everyon) We made out a shopping list of the last
minute things to buy for the lunch on Saturday.. and off Karen, DJ and I
went. We picked up the two Grandkids and headed back to the Inn.

Pulling into the parking lot I saw a lady getting things from her trunk and on top
of everything was a long flat box and I said to Karen and DJ ... "hey thats
a PAL... shes got a Creat-a-Box" and sure enough it was Debbie Smith
(hint: I also knew Debbie was due at that time AND that she was bringing
here Create-a-box). Boopster woke from her nap and came and helped us put
away our foods.

The grandkids and DJ went home and Karen came back.. again with MORE stuff :)

After a supper of Chinese food ( I was good.. I ate what we had brought to
eat for dinner ... the others gave in and ordered Chinese) we got on the
computers... WE NOW HAD 4 PALS AND 3 COMPUTERS.... not bad ... eh :)
Debbie brought a LAP TOP

DJ wanted to come back... but since Karen was in the middle of something (
ohh yea.. eating).. I took Debbie for a tour of the small town.. feverently
talking myself out of a stop at the DQ but it was tough.. almost didn't
make it.. :) but I was strong.. I was good.. I drove around it.

Back at the Inn we were still waiting for Larua lou to get in.. and we were
getting quite worried. Debbie and DJ got along great, as he was doing
some cross stich and she helped him by showing him some pointers... she
said he does good work. (she should know... she does this for a living)..
(see Stoney Creek books... the finished peices are her's)

Once again.. it was unpack the goodies.. and what a lot Debbie brought with
her for us to look at, use, learn from, We even had another Show and Tell :)

Time for DJ to go home... his dad would be home from work soon.. and he had
to get up and go to a Wrestleing tournament in the morning.

MIDNIGHT... and lo and behold on the computer .. came a birthday greetings
from my PALS.... and then the gang broke out in song... cover your
ears...... :)

The four of us were up till 2 am again... yaking and yaking... show and
tell... and yaking and yaking..
 

SATURDAY APRIL 25TH 1998
Once again 6am found me awake, washed and dressed.. by 7am so was Karen ,
and Debbie was knocking on our door, shortly afterwards... Boopster came
out dressed and ready to go...

Then we ate breakfast... and then we waited.. for the group to show up...
and that they did..

After a phone call telling us that Sandy was in the Lobby and would be
right over, Boobster who was outside having a cigarette... called her over
to our room, and the two of them were out there talking for about 10
minutes when there was a knock on the door, and I answered it. "ohh hi" I
said "which PAL are you?" "Sandy" came the answer I looked at her.. then
out side to Boopster.. and yelled... "hey Boopster... who you talking to
out there... Sandy just came in the front door!" Here Boopster had called
over a complete NON PAL and had starting to talk to her.. the lady had
accomadated her very well. Well they said goodby and we all had a great
laugh over it.

We had in our room.. Karen, Maggie (Boopster), Debbie, Laura Lou , Vickey,
Sandy, Janeen and her friend Laura Jean. And after intros were done.. and
we all got our PAL HUGS.. we settled in for Demos and Teachings...

HOW TO USE THE RULERS IN PA...... this was our first Demo.. given by Maggie Vail...
she showed how to bring the rulers forward so that you can see them...
View, check Rulers.
she showed how they can be brought down... left click and hold on a
ruler... drag to where you want it.
she showed how to use them to make a template.. useing the lines to make
all the sides you need and then to put the shapes and sizes in .. till you
get your template done... then removing the rulers.

HOW TO FINE TUNE IN PA.... this was given my Maggie Vail...
she showed how to use the Center Horizontally and Vertically the align
Horizontally and Vertically
she showed how to use the zoom in on Selection..
she showed how to move and resize... with and with out the snap to grid on
and size around centre
she showed how to move and resize multiple graphics.
With all of this... we made a template for a corner bookmarker .... I had
brought one in on my book.. and everyone had liked it.. got it in the Not
a Card Swap. We were able to get 4 to a page.

HOW TO USE A CRIMPER... demonstrated by Maggie Vail...
she showed first of all.. .what NOT TO THROW AWAY... and that was any good
size or not so good size peices of paper you cut of cards and pics when you
are trimming things.. there was long pencil thin peices, short fat
peices.. angular peices... rectangles, squares, circles, coloured paper,
gloss paper, laminated papers strips... the backing off your peel and stick
magnets...
she showed how to put the paper in and turn the crank.. easy.. everyone had
a turn.. then we crimped.. everything in site.. even mullberry paper... the
gold foil of Boopsters Cigs... and we even came up with a NEW crimper...
ohh wait.. have to go try it .. and report on it.......... and another
Kitchen Gaget comes to the rescue of the PALs..... for those of you who do
not have a CRIMPER.. but have a Wafle Iron.. (BIG GRIN).... ohhh dear.. I don't have one.. cant tell you how it works or not.. maybe someone else will report for us...

HOW TO LAYER A CARD... demonstrated by Maggie Vail...
well with all the crimped papers... and with the package of different
papers.. specialty paper, coverstock, foil, hologram, tissue, mullberry,
vellum, coloured papers, wallpaper and whatever else she could get her
hands on... she put three or four layers together.. matching colours by
shades, by contrast, by texture, used different shapes... layers getting
smaller as you went up, layers just overlaping on parts.. some not
touching.. except by a third peice in the center of the two... etc... etc...

LUNCH TIME - SHOW AND TELL - TIME TO GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER

A nice luncheon was put out... Lunch meats.. shaved roast beef, turkey,
ham, rolls (plain, wheat, onion, and some kind of seed.. not a poppy or
sesame though, bagels) butter, mayo, mustard, ketchup, carrots, celery and
tomatoes plus salad (premade), cheese and crackers, potato salad, itlalian
pasta salad, fruit salad, apples, and all kinds of munchies too.....
and then the Birthday cake (snowballs) brought by the Boopster and
icecream. and the singing of the wonderful hymn... Happy Birthday... :)
thanks all it was great...

On line we went.. and an email was sent out to the list... with a small
note from each of us. All TRUTHFULL too :)

Swaping Items that everyone brought were handed out... First of all...
Karen and I had designed a MMM logo.. which Karen had printed out on cloth
and so out came the Xyron machine.. and the Laminate/sticker cartridge was
put in... everyone cut out the logo into a circle and each ran it through
the machine to see how it worked.. and then Karen gave out white canvas
bags.. and we put the sticker on there... Now we all had a MMM Bag to put
our other goodies in... there was pins, and magnets, paper samples, car
fresheners, disk of Betty Boop pic (wonder who THAT was from... huh), a
themometer magnet, a layered card, rubber stamp booklet on tips of rubber
stamping, packet of papers from P. Wyatt,

now back to crafting.... ohh yes a Visitor came in... Karens Mother in
law.. Marilyn

Door Prizes were drawn... there was enough prizes for 3 each and even
Marilyn and DJ were able to get some.
PERAGAMO... by the Boopster
she took out all her items.. and showed us how to trace on to the parchment.
she showed us how to dry emboss it
she showed us how to puch and cut
she showed us how to colour it.. chaulk, paint, and what ever else she had
on hand.

HANDS ON..... by everyone
now we took all we had learned.. and did cards....
there was crimping, cuting, glueing, layering, heat foiling...
there was paper, foil, wallpaper, all over the place...
and boy did we turn our some great CARDS....
a few cards were kept by the creators.. but most were signed by us all...
and we are going to use them to thank the vendors and PALs that sent us
Items... so please be patient.. and I will get the thanks you's out.... ohh
ohhh... may be i will scan them.. and put them up for you all to see.. on a
web page.. with this email letter too .. :) (more work for me next week)

Sandy had a game for us to play.. she passed out to each of us a green
sheet of paper with a picture in the center of it.. and a frame around it..
She told us a story about the picture and as she did.. she had us fold the
paper in different ways... for example.. the pic was of a boy and girl whe
were engaged... so since the boy was tall and thin.. we folded the paper
from side to side.. and then since the girl was shorter.. we folded the
paper.. from top to bottom... then we folded it so there was a door over
the picture...and then in the end.. after all the folding and pulling....
we ended up with a box with the picture on the bottom inside of the box...
it was really cute.. you will have to ask her to post the instructions..
and the story ... you had to be there, and done it.. to really know what
was done... and how... good Idea and adaptable to any shower too..
6pm... and some have to leave now... :( boo hooo..... the party is almost
over.. but not quite...  the rest of us .. still had Sunday!!

Goodies were gathered.... hugs were given.... good byes were said.. .hugs
were given... tears were shed... more hugs... cars packed... more hugs...
and then Vickey, Sandy, Janeen and Laura Jean were on there way home..
with a promise of an email to let us know that they arrived home safe and
sound.

Marilyn, Laura Lou, Debbie, Karen, DJ (he was back by this time) and I
continured to do cards.. computer work... emails... and more and more Happy
Birthdays were coming in for me from the PALs.

Marilyn left... and then it was late.. so se decided to have supper...
again.. we ordered Chinese food... mmm mmmm good.

After dinner.. we cleaned up a bit.. not much mind you.. as we were still
doing cards.. and yaking.. and cutting.. and painting.. and punching... and
what ever... more stickers were made... Large Wallpaper Bags were shown how
to be made with out a bag maker.... and small ones where shown using the
bag maker... hmmmmmmmmm we never did get to the Create a box.. hmmmmm
wonder why...

Ohhh Noooo.. WHAT HAPPENED... MAGGIE (the quiet one in the corner) LOST HER
VOICE about 8:30pm.... at about 10... Laura said she had to go.. but I
wrote her and told her she had to get back here before midnight.. as there
was going to be a special happening... and she did make it back... then at
midnight... April 26th.... Maggie got her voice back enough to break into
song.. singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAREN UNDERWOOD... it had been a long long
time since Maggie and Karen had spent their birthdays together... we
waited and waited... but no messages from the list.. came... for Karen....
Again... about 1 pm we all headed to bed... me to read.. the others to sleep.
 

SUNDAY APRIL 26TH 1998
Once again... (this time we slept in) by 9am we were all together in our
room.. after a breakfast of what ever we could find in the kitche... and
there was lots... we yaked and sorted out our stuff.. and we also went
through a box of Wallpaper ROLLS that Debbie had brought each taking long
long sheets of it... there was border rolls too.. great for making note
cards...

Karens mom, Julie came over and spent the day with us.

At 11am Natasha arrived with her mother, friend and son.... DJ took over
the son and they played quietly on the computer while natasha showed us her
wares.... and books... rubberstamps galore.. did we have a ball... most of
her goodies... went home with PALs and orders where put in... and paid
for.. by 1 she was gone and we quickly cleaned up the room again...

Lunch and another Birthday cake (this one brought by Debbie) and Ice Cream... ohhh what fun we are having!!!

By 2pm Karen, Laura Lou, Debbie, Julie and DJ were on their way to Fort
Wayne Indianna to Micheals and Hobby Lobby.... Boopster and I elected to
stay home due to heath reasons.... Boopster took a nap and I cleaned up a
bit, played on the computer.. finished cards and read. When the others got
back aroudn 7:30pm... Laura was not with them, she had taken her car and
headed right on home from there. Debbie came in got her stuff packed up
and soon she was on here way too... Once again it was only Karen, Boopster
and I... we had our supper, Turkey pot pies and salad, and we just relaxed
and talked about the day...

The only disappointment was NOT ONE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAREN.. FROM THE
PALs... :( but we know you were all busy on sunday... and just did not see it...

Karen took off for home and her family and Boopster and I made an early
night of it.. by midnight she was in bed.. and I was laying back reading..
 

MONDAY APRIL 27TH 1998
Morning found us up and Karen there by 9:30 am and we started to tear down
everything... the papers were packed.. the Xyron maching put back in its
boxes... the computers taken down and packed... luggage.. gifts.. ohh it
went on and one.... at 12:20 Karen had to leave.. to meet the school
bus... the grandkids were back home.. and by 1pm Boopster and I were signed
out and on the road.

4pm found us pulling into Boopsters driveway... and then I headed out for
the last leg of my Journey.. and pulled into my driveway at 5:30pm with my
hubby pulling in behind me from work... Great timing.. HE GOT TO UNLOAD THE
CAR FOR ME!!! :)

WHAT A TIME... WHAT PALS.... LAUGHTER, HUGS, SMILES, TEACHING, SHARING,
IDEAS, ALL OF IT WAS GREAT... CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE.

Cards Made SET ONE            Cards Made SET TWO     Cards Made SET THREE

Template for Corner Bookmarker  click oncorner Bookmarker then click on MMM.zip to download

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