Eleven days and counting

There are only eleven days before your intrepid crop-masters visit the CHA trade show in Chicago. The preparations are underway for bringing home lots of scrapping goodies!!! We are driving two (count 'em, two!) large, gas guzzling (okay, we're not proud about that!) vehicles down to Chicago in anticipation of bringing back a large load of donated items!!! Wish us luck! We are going into this with our eyes wide open from last year! We weren't prepared at all last year! We didn't even have a rolling bag!!! We were such CHA virgins. This year, we are doing it up in style. Julie and I asked the scrapbooking gods for a shopping cart, and our prayers were answered! It was a miracle! Seriously, we were driving in the car one day after just having talked about needing a shopping cart...and lo and behold...there was one... by a dumpster, no less! (Seriously: that's our story and we're sticking to it.) So, yes, you may have seen us hurriedly loading a shopping cart into the back of Alane's station wagon. "Why the shopping cart?" you ask. Because we have had a stroke of genius! (Although Kim suspects it might actually BE a stroke.) We are fixing up that shopping cart to use as our mode of transportation and show-stopping eye googling get-everyone excited fanfare! It is at an undisclosed location (in Julie's garage) being spray-painted PINK! Then the fun really starts...we are going to bling it up (or tart it up as my mother would call it!) Right now Julie and I are in the throes of some major decisions...do we go with crystals and tulle? Disco lights and feathers? The possibilities are endless!!! Stay tuned to see what we decide! Of course, I should mention that we are moving forward with this idea despite Kim's groans of apprehension. I admit that we still suffer from a lingering fear that we, along with our shopping cart, are going to be thrown into the CHA hoosegow for creating too much of a ruckus. (We'll look darn cute, though!) Kim is the classiest member of our little organization, if you haven't noticed. She is planning on not touching the shopping cart and keeping a respectful distance. This is probably wise since Julie and I will need someone to bail us out or at the very least bake us a cake with a file in it. Preferably a pink cake. With bling. Maybe a smoke machine.