Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2009

Hello 2010!

Hope you all have a good evening. Be safe and I'll see ya'll here in 2010!

Love to you all!

Joan

It's still snowing and other grand news!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year. Are ya'll looking forward to the new year?

Does anyone else feel as if 2009 just sped by? It's been a whirlwind of a year for me. I think this past year has been a year of busy-ness. Don't get me wrong! It's been a fabulously good year! And the new year is looking to be a great year too! But when I think back on the past year it's been one thing after another and I begin to feel so wonderfully blessed and happily exhausted. ;-)

This week we'll be having a New Years Eve get together with a few of our friends. It's not a great party or anything like that. Just a group of our friends getting together here, playing games, eating food and helping us to stay awake! We've had a few gatherings in this new house and it's been wonderful! To have friends and family to share with is such a blessing!

2009 has been a year filled with new things,

new people and new life! So here is a photo of a new life in our family. Baby Parsons (no news yet as to what the sex is) Our son and his wife are expecting their first child! Yup, we are going to be grandparents! Yay! Fav-daughter-in-law is due in August of 2010! They are so excited. Our first born is very happy and is hopeful that he'll be back from Afghanistan before the baby is born.

I've already begun looking for baby patterns to crochet and knit. I'm so excited I'm even considering giving sewing another chance! ;-)

And then there is the new soon to be addition to our family in the way of an engagement! Baby girl finally decided that there is indeed a good man to be had. We've gotten to know him and have decided that once again, Baby Girl has exhibited good judgment and sense in accepting this young mans proposal. And of course, we believe him to be exceptionally intelligent since he had the sense to realize how lucky he was that our baby girl loved him so. We are very happy to have him become a part of our family! They look great together and together they are great! ;-)

The best thing about being a parent is when you get to see your kids healthy and happy! And because they are... We are truly blessed.

And it's still snowing! It looks as if we'll get another inch or two of snow today. I'm going to go out there and do some shoveling.

To all of you who read my silly little posts... I thank you for being so understanding of my ramblings. I appreciate you taking the time to spend a little time with me. I hope you all have a wonderful ending of 2009 and look forward to more of what life will bring you in 2010,

P.S. Doesn't writing "2010" seem so..... Scifi-ish? ;0

Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that your day was as wonderful as ours!

This morning we woke up to snow, snow and more snow. As a matter of fact it is still snowing. I believe we have gotten about 8 inches of snow and we are supposed to get another 6 by tomorrow!

In the photo is my husband shoveling our sidewalk and steps. He used the snow blower for our neighbors drive, walkway and our sidewalk and our friends sidewalk as well. But this bit you see him shoveling is the spot by the street that has 4 steps leading down to the drive area, so, no snow blower for those!

This is him close up. Can you see his ice-crusted eye lashes and mustasch? (Hmmm, not sure I spelt that word right.) oh well.

Today we begin our annual puzzle. Every year we start a puzzle on Christmas day and the rule is that it has to be completed by New Years Day!

So off I go to begin this stressful yet enjoyable project. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day!

Merry Christmas!

Yay!

Hello, hello!

Yesterday I got my new, old kitchen table! We have an antique shop here in our town and although for the most part I don't purchase from it, (tad expensive), every now and then the guy will give me a good deal on an item I inquire about.

I went in a few weeks ago and asked him... "Corky, I need a round, oak table for my kitchen. It has to be sturdy enough to be able to kneed dough on it, do you have one?" Then we proceeded to haggle away at a price. We finally came to an agreement and he showed me what he had. Then they cleaned it up (you should see his shop! LOADS of stuff EVERYWHERE! Some in great condition and others in need of some serious love. The one he showed me needed some lovin'. And boy did they give it that cuz it looks wonderful now! Anyhow, it is now in my kitchen looking totally smashing!

So now.... I'm in the market for some new chairs. But for now, I'll just recover the two that I have and hopefully I'll find two more somewhere soon. Hmmmm, I think I may stain the chairs a little darker as well.

Fun, fun, fun! I just love my new old table! ;-)

Funny shoes and other stuff.

Good morning all!

I was looking through some of my photo's that I had taken a while back and found this pic of my friends daughter. Actually, it's her feet. She got these "shoes" from her dad. Anyhow, they look hilarious but evidently they are supposed to be good for your feet! They are supposed to help her with her running! (She's a runner, cross country to be exact). I don't see that, myself, (the good for you part). All I see are funny looking shoes. Can you see that each toe is housed in it's own little spot? That just cracks me up! It's kinda like those socks that were big when I was growing up! Ya'll know what I'm talking about! ;)

It's been a while since I last talked to her about her shoes or her running for that matter. I must ask her how well her shoes have helped her with her running and or time. ;-)

So next is the aerogarden. It is doing very well. I was a tad skeptical for the longest time. The plants were growing but... I don't know, they just seemed skimpy. But they are beginning to look like real plants. Plants that I might actually be able to use after all!

The sage is getting a bit tall. But that will be rectified next week when I use the sage in my Thanksgiving meal! I'm sure once I cut it it will become fuller.

As for Thanksgiving, still no word about Baby Girl. Still hoping that she'll be able to make it here. And I'm sure we'll be going down to Kansas to visit family while First Born and Cutie Pie are here.

Oh! Here are a few of the coasters that I made. These are the ones I kept behind because they really weren't so good. But the other's I took to the craft fair. And they all sold so.... ;-)

And I am still working on my crochet table cloth. I am over half way done, but it is slow going lately. I can't seem to find the time to sit down long enough to make a square! But I'm still shooting for December as the finish date. I think I can make that.

Well, that's about it from good ol' Nebraska. I've got errands to run and lunch to deliver to a friend who broke her ankle! Hope you all are doing well and not stressing too much over Thanksgiving. Have a great day!

;-)

Baby girl!

Hello everyone! I have some news about our baby girl! She's engaged!

He asked her this month! And she said "Yes"! We are so happy for her and we so love him already! He's the wonderful young man who chased out the bat from our house! Brave soul! We are so happy that our baby girl found someone to love and who love her so very much! He will be a very welcome addition to our family! And here's the ring! Isn't it just stunning?! Baby girl has such good taste. Of course we all know where she gets that from. ;-)

The center stone is an emerald shaped, radiant cut yellow sapphire. It's gorgeous! I haven't seen it in person yet. Hope to be able to next week. My first born and his wife, "cutie pie", will be flying in on Saturday and will be spending Thanksgiving here with us. If all works out well, we hope to have our whole family together for the first time in... three years! But, we'll have to see. Baby girl is very busy she may not be able to get away. I'm just going to think positive thoughts and maybe..........

Fall back

Hello everyone! How are ya'll doing? How are ya'll adjusting to the time change? Is anyone out there struggling like me?

I must admit though, that I have managed to get quite a lot done these last three days! I get up earlier and I have gotten my devotions done and then gone swimming at the base in-door pool and then run errands and then come home and get my house cleaned and laundry done (and actually put away!!!) I even got a few quilted coasters made for the church Fall Bazaar! AND... I stayed awake for Bible study on Monday night. And today, after my swim and my quick run to the commissary, was UMW in the afternoon then tonight I have chime choir. And if I'm really good I'll try to get some more coasters made. I've got two complete sets of 4 so far and I'm shooting for 6 sets. I also need to make a small grab bag for my honey. He's trying to get the kids motivated to learn scripture and to bring their bibles to class. I thought maybe a little "motivational" something would do the trick. I got small items from our local Christian book store and now need to make a bag to hold them in. Anyhow, lot's of sewing in store for me this week. The Fall Bazaar is on the 14th of this month! NEXT WEEKEND!

This past weekend my honey and I worked on clearing out the garden and getting it ready for the winter AND raking leaves in our yard! My honey had some fun with our boys. He got a huge pile of leaves raked up and then threw them into the pile! He threw Ethan in first. And I'm sure he "threw" him in. Then while laughing, my honey came and got me and told me to bring the camera as well. And then he threw Ricky in.

Ricky was none too thrilled as you can see.

And here's Ethan looking disgusted at my honey.

I should have taken a picture of my honey laughing at the boys... but I didn't.

Well, I need to get some things done before I head out for Chime practice. It's been a loooong day so far, but tomorrow I think I'll be able to stay close to home and not run around so much. Maybe even get more sewing done!

Hopefully, everyone else isn't feeling all messed up with this time change. Enjoy your fall colors cuz I don't think it'll last too much longer. I have a feeling winter is going to be here soon!

Fun, fun, fun! ;-)

Yesterday in Springfield...

Happy Halloween! Is everyone ready for the trick or treaters? Here in Springfield we started things rolling with a Halloween Parade for the elementary kids. The kids walk down Main street all the way into downtown. Along the way the various business's and organizations hand out treats to them. And then they walk back up again back to the school. So our church was the first to see the kids. There were ALL kinds of get-ups. Some of the teachers dressed up as well and its so funny to see some of the costumes the kids come up with! It was a bit chilly yesterday so a few were wearing coats and jackets, but for the most part, the kids were parading around in just the costumes. There was a pink pig....

Not exactly sure what these two were.....

A fireman.....

Joan Jett, tourist and bat girl?

A whole long line of costumes here.....

And this occurs every year! Don't you just love little towns?! There were kids and teachers that I've come to know since moving into town and it is such fun to hear them calling out or just saying "hi"! We had drizzle in the morning and some of it was mixed with little ice balls. But the drizzle let up and we had a little bit of sunshine. Although, it was difficult to capture on film. It was also a little windy which is typical for this area. But, all in all it was a good Halloween kind of day for the parade.

While I was helping to pass out treats at the church. My honey was hard at work finishing up the hall tree installation. As well as installing the new timer switch for the front porch. (he had some comp time. He's been working really hard this week!) The hall tree looks great in this house and the new wallpaper that I got for it looks marvelous! I was able to purchase only the amount of wall paper needed to replace the old wallpaper that was coming off. I didn't know you could do that. I thought you had to buy the whole roll! So this is the bottom half of the hall tree showing the trim work and new wall paper.

And here is the hall tree put in place.

You can see how the trim is on the wall. My honey took it off and then cut it down to fit on either side of the hall tree. I'll have to repaint the areas where the wall shows through on the bottom. But, other than that it's all done and in place and in use! What is amazing to us both is that the long piece of shoe trim that we removed from the space, we were able to re-use to cut what we needed to replace it on both sides of the hall tree and then the left over piece we used to replace a missing area on another wall of the living room. It was nearly exactly the amount we needed to do the replacement repairs. It's like... the hall tree was meant to go into this exact space! Amazing! I'm telling you! I'll be talking about how we were meant to be in this house for years to come, I'm sure! ;-) (just thought I should forewarn you. In case you hadn't noticed how often I say this!)

So, the last thing we did yesterday was go to our friends house for a Boomer night. It's an evening spent with other people from our chuch. Called boomers because it was meant to be a get together for people of the "boomer" age group. But it's sort of just turned out to be a bunch of people who want to get together and socialize outside of the church walls. And we never know just who all will turn up. Anyhow... the theme this time was "Mexican Night" and there was tacos, and enchiladas and chips and dips and rice and salads.... AND.... The Mexican

Chicken! There is a story around this chicken and the boomers night. But I won't go into it now because this post is already terribly long!

As you can see there was alot of food and that is only the part the you can see! There was even more food farther on down the counter and the stove! In total keeping with our get togethers... there's ALWAYS tons of food! We also played Apples to Apples which is a fabulously hilarious game when you have a large gathering of friends. I think we had 14 people there last night!

Once again my honey and I had a jam packed day! And it was a good day. I even got some sewing done! YAY! I'll have to show that to ya'll next time.

I hope ya'll have a fun weekend and I'll catch you again next time!

Pay it Forward & one project completed!

Hey Ya'll!

So, let me just say, I want so much to be a crafty sewer. Actually, I desperately want to be able to sew clothing and craft type items. So, I try by doing little things. And then more often than not, I end up with lot's of little things that are never completed. The reason being... I get too frustrated to complete them. I know, it's a flaw in my character. One I am REALLY trying to overcome. And so... having said that. Here is a completed project that only took me two weeks to complete! Okay, maybe three weeks. In case you can't tell, it's a sewing machine cover. It's a Simplicity pattern #3776 and it's too large for my little sewing machine. So now I'm going to try to adjust the size by cutting it down about three inches. That may or may not actually happen. I may just leave it as is since no-one will ever be around it except me.

The other thing I want to add is this. This is something I didn't think I'd end up being involved in. Although it sounded like fun when I read about it on Corinnea's blog, and I expressed sadness over the fact that I didn't make it in time to be able to play (first three who commented on her blog) I felt safe to do that because I hadn't made the three. AND THEN, she told me that I had in fact made it because one of the three didn't have a blog and that was a criteria. Imagine my chin hitting the floor when I read that, I had indeed made the cut and I was now involved in the "Pay it Forward" game. Initially I panicked. I even felt a little sick to my stomach. How on earth can I make something that is going to appeal to people. I mean seriously, ya'll have seen my sad things that I've made. But then, I began thinking about how I don't have many people who read my blog so I probably will have to forfeit from lack of participation! (sorry Corinnea) So, as much as I fantasize about being "crafty" I'm feeling like I wont have to worry about being put to the test. Phew! But just in case... for the first three people who comment on this post and who themselves have a blog. I will make something and send it to them. I have 365 days to make it and send it, and you must post your Pay it Forward on your blog to keep the fun going. This should be interesting!

The very fact that I have shown you a few of my "completed" projects should reassure ya'll that I am capable of doing this. And having a whole year to do it in. It will certainly give me plenty of time to come up with an idea and complete it! This will be fun! (If I say this often enough, perhaps the knot in my stomach will loosen a bit.) The really great thing is that I'll actually get something from Corinnea. She does such wonderful work! I'm excited about that part for sure!

I don't have many people who read my blog so basically the few that I do have... this is for ya'll!

So that's it for today. I hope that ya'll have a great and productive day!

Family history...

Hello everyone!

Hope ya'll are enjoying your Fall weather. It's been a rather wet one for us but this week we've had fairly sunny weather.

I wanted to tell you about a painting that my honey brought back from his visit to Kansas a few weeks ago. He actually went to watch the K-State/Texas A&M game with our daughter and her boyfriend and her boyfriends dad and my honey's dad. They had a great time! At one point my honey called me during the game and all I could hear was wild cheering going on. Yup, uh-huh, K-State was winning! Everyone had a good time together even if A&M lost. (sorry baby girl).

So anyhow..... My honey visited with his folks, went to church with them the following day and during his visit with them, his mother brought out a painting that was done by a family relative of the home of his great-great (?) grandfathers. It was the grandfather that my honey's named after. The painting came with a photograph that was taken of the house as well. REALLY cool to have both. But the really neat thing was that the colors in the painting actually matched the colors that we have painted our walls with. My honey said "It's like we were meant to live in this house." And it's true. It seems as if all the things that we've accumulated over the years all seem to fit into this house pretty darn well! 'Course... that doesn't mean I don't want some new stuff. ;-)

Well, I just thought I'd share that with ya'll. We are so loving this house and little by little it's coming together.

Oh! Here's another set of pic's for ya. This is the group shot of the herbs I'm growing. (Honestly, I thought for sure they were in focus!)

This is the sage.

This, marjoram,

And this is the savory.

So far so good. I put in another one of those feeding tablets today. The light indicator actually turned on to let me know that it was time (every two weeks) to feed the plants. It's super easy. You don't have remember it on your own.

I'll keep ya'll posted on how this thing works. But so far, I'm loving it!

Just read...

Hi Ya'll! I was sitting here, yes, instead of getting something productive done, I was just sitting here reading some of my favorite fellow bloggers blogs. I happened to realize that I had actually missed an entry of the Pioneer Woman's entry about her lip getting stuck to the ice cream scoop. So I started reading it and something caught my attention. No, not the part about her lip getting stuck to the ice cream scoop, although that was sadly funny. But within that story she mentions her dog's paw smelling like Fritos. I couldn't believe it! I thought it was just my Ricky who's paws smell like Frito Lay cornchips! I've had two other dogs in my married life and neither of the other two dogs ever had feet that smelled like corn chips! So now I'm wondering. Is it just certain dogs who have corn chip smelling feet? Or does the size of the dogs make a difference? Is it a breed thing? I don't remember my Bernese Mountain Dogs feet smelling like corn chips. Or even my sheltie mix dog. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I go around intentionally smelling my dogs feet! No sir. But, there had been occasions when I was laying down beside my HUGE Berner and my face was near his front paws, and I don't recall ever smelling that corn chip smell around him. Those of you who have dogs...does your dog have corn chip smelling paws?

P.S. Yes, that is my Ricky in his rain coat. It's raining here, don't ya know!

New toy

Good day to all! Hope everyone is doing well and keeping busy. I just finished reading all the blogs that I watch over and everyone is so busy being productive and having things to show for it. I'm not sure why it takes me so long to accomplish the tasks I set myself to do...but, it takes me forever! As ya'll well know.

The felting is coming along. The table cloth is coming along. The sewing project is coming along. The felting and the table cloth are sort of long term projects. But the sewing project should only have taken me a few hours and yet... here I am, after 4 days, STILL working on it! But, I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, finally! Although, I have no intentions of showing you all the progress thus far on any of the afore mentioned projects. I will share with you a new toy of mine. Ta-daaaaaaaaaaah!

This is one of those Aero-grow planters. We got the one with three growing slots in it. Right now we have Sage, (the one that still has the dome on it.), Savory and Marjoram growing in it. It was part of the "Mediterranean" plant mix that came with the light. Anyhow, this is my practice one. I'm going to order the seed pack for Parsley, Thyme and Oregano. Those are probably my most often used herbs. Plus Basil. Which you see here.

Once those teeny-tiny plants get larger, I'll move the light source up more and the Basil plant will get more light. But for now, it's doing pretty darn well with the set up the way it is! So, this winter I'll have fresh herbs to enjoy while cooking! My honey has been wanting to get this for me for a few years now. He found a REALLY good price on them so... now we're going to see how well these things work. I am very excited and optimistic! Hmmmm what to make for dinner..... ;-)

Carving some pumpkins

Hi all! What a nice weekend my honey and I had. It was busy, but nice.

First off, my honey had Monday off. We decided to get some more projects finished so one of the things to do was build some shelves for the basement. We actually bought four shelves from a Lowes type store which we have to put together. He got them put together and then my job was to fill them with our stuff. I'm still working on organizing all of it. He also laid some insulation in and caulked some of the window wells and weather stripped the windows! He was REALLY busy! ;-)

The other thing was getting together with my artist friend and her husband the Pastor. They are such a hoot. We had an evening of pumpkin carving and dinner. The pumpkin carving was fun but it was especially fun watching artist friend and my honey Pastor husband didn't carve any pumpkins but he did take the photographs. They did cool pumpkins. Mine wasn't so cool. But it sure was fun. I even saved the seeds and roasted them! And it's always nice to spend some time with these two friends.

Oh! Did I tell you about my afternoon UMW meeting that was held at my house? It was last week and it worked out just fine. Thirteen women showed up and nearly all of them managed to take a tour of the entire house. (Some of the ladies couldn't tackle the stairs though). Many of the ladies had visited this house years ago to spend time with friends. But that was back in the 40's and 50's and 60's evidently. This house got a bit of a renovation in the early 90's by way of a new laundry room and bathroom upstairs. Anyhow... Our United Methodist Women's group met here for our mini retreat. I was able to squeeze 14 people into my dining room for the presentation on American Indian culture. The dinning room table was pushed up to the window on one end of the room and the chairs were arranged on the other end of the dinning room. Then for the luncheon we moved the table into the center of the room and extended the table so it went partly into the living room and then set up another table. In that way we were able to accommodate everyone ( gosh I luuuuv my house!) I would NOT have been able to do that in my last house! Then after lunch we made Corn Husk Dolls. There was one set of instructions and many types of dolls out of it. It's really interesting how each of the dolls turned out totally different from person to person. The whole day worked out really well. And I think the ladies all had a good time going through the house, eating stuffed baked potatoes with any trimming you wanted on it and then making the dolls. All in all, a good day!

Well, That's it for today. Have a great week. And thanks for visiting.

How lovely...!

Oh my! What a way to start the day! Here it is October 10th and I got to wake up to this sight! It was snowing with big fluffy flakes. Everything was getting a lovely white coating of snow. And it's the kind of snow that my honey likes because it melted away to practically nothing by the next day. No shoveling to be done. I believe it snowed about 4 inches on Saturday. And right now, as I write (because I didn't have a chance to post until now), there is snow falling again! But it's far too warm out to collect up on anything. It's melting on contact, but it's lovely to watch. I was sitting in my studio with a cup of coffee and enjoying the sight. And wouldn't you know... a friend of mine called to make sure that I was enjoying the sight. I love the snow!

This is my deck all covered in snow. As you can see, we didn't get a chance to put our chairs and tables away before the snow. We normally don't get snow until MUCH later in the year! This year is going to be interesting I think. I am really hoping that we get more snow than ice. I don't like the ICE!

I absolutely love seeing all that snow. And it is so nice to look out my studio and see this.

We spent a good part of yesterday working on adjusting the vents in the house. We both tend to like the cold upstairs in our bedroom and the warmth down on the main floor. We have those huge black vents that is in the wall and they have flappers so we have closed nearly all the flappers down in the living room and dinning room which actually pushed more air into the kitchen and studio. (Yay!) The studio, with all those old glass windows was getting a bit chilly. But now it's just right!

So this morning, I was sitting in my studio, sipping my coffee, as usual, and I saw fluffy, flakes falling down again! I just love this house and I think we may have a wonderfully snowy winter this year! What a wonderful way to begin our first winter in our new house!

To all those who love snow... enjoy. To those who do not...try to get through it. ;-)

Fall is finally here!

It's fall and it's lovely. Today is windy, cold and slightly cloudy. I LOVE it! I love hearing the wind rustle through the corn stalks that I've got displayed in front. As I'm sitting in my "computer" room, I can hear the stalks talking to me.

I think this is the best time of year. I enjoy the spring too but the fall is the best. The oppressive heat is gone. As are the mosquitoes and the chiggers. There is a wonderful crispness in the air and here in the midwest there is the wind. It swirls around you almost as if it's encouraging you to play! To romp around in the falling leaves. I love sitting in my house and hearing the wind blowing outside and feel all comfy-cosy in my living room.

So, every year, my honey and I have this silly little game we play. We play it twice a year. The game is... who will turn the A/C or heat on first. I generally win the game. But this year I actually broke down and turned the A/C on first. Of course, I did it for my honey's benefit, (mostly). ;-) Well, so now it's the heat. I closed the windows in the house yesterday. I still have a few open upstairs and this morning it was quite the chilly morning. I was under my feather comforter and feeling all nice and toasty warm under it. And the air was quite chilly around my head. Just the way I like it. I hope to be able to keep the heater off for a few more weeks. But last night my honey made me feel his nose. It was cold and wet. I on the other hand was feeling just fine. Of course I did have my boys (Ethan and Ricky) laying on me and I was under the lap quilt as well. I actually told him to go and get his lap quilt and it would keep him warm. He didn't. But he also didn't say anything either. No whining. No complaining. Just sitting there sniffling. I have a feeling that this weekend we may end up putting on the heat. The cold weather has come in rather quickly. I wonder... will we have a snowy winter or an icy winter? I vote for a snowy winter! ;-)

Lights. Action. Ahhhhhh

Well, I've got it put together. Glass shelves, lights, crystal and china. I like it!

And yet, once again the photography is awful.

If only you could see it in real life. It looks lovely.

And here is my garden looking all wild and crazy. The blackberries are done for the season. I should have taken a picture of the berries because they were HUGE! Seriously, I'd never seen berries quite that large. And they were yummy to boot! We ended up getting more than we thought we would. There were a few times when my honey was able to have 5-8 berries with his cereal! Honestly, as neglected as they have been for the past couple of years we thought for sure that we'd get maybe a couple. So next year..... I may be able to harvest enough to make a pie! That would be lovely!

And so....

I leave you with a picture of my front porch with the newly planted mums. This weekend I'll be getting stalks of corn from a friend of mine who has acres and acres of planted corn and soybeans. I'll get two bunches of stalks to put in my yard to help with the harvest theme I'm going for.

I hope that those of you who are wanting to have that fall feel, are getting it. And those who do not... well, good luck with that. ;-)

Mortification anyone?

Hello everyone! Boy, it's been interesting around here. Actually, just being busy and having some fun and now I am feeling like I need a bit of a break.

First thing first. The weather is becoming more and more like Fall! I LOVE IT! It was downright chilly this morning. I recently bought a featherbed and last night we slept on it for the first time and let me tell you.... I didn't want to get up and out of our bed this morning. We still have the windows open upstairs (I closed them down stairs this morning 'cuz it was just too cold!) I love sleeping all snug and cozy under the covers with the air around me all chilly and nippy. So feather mattress and feather comforter makes for a wonderful sleep!

I've also FINALLY gotten my glass shelves for my china hutch! Did I tell ya'll how the shelves got "lost" during the move from Locust to Main Street? Well, they just disappeared. Which then made unpacking my china and crystal difficult since I had no shelves. We looked everywhere! Seriously, my honey helped me and we just couldn't find them. I called the trucking company that helped move all the furniture and they didn't have it in their van. We asked the friends who helped us move if they found it in their cars and flatbeds. And... nothing. So I decided that I was going to replace the shelves (wooden ones) with glass ones. But, I kept holding back from actually doing anything about getting them cut. I kept thinking in the back of my mind that they'd turn up. So finally last week I bit the bullet and had the glass company, Rainbow Glass, come out to my house to measure the space and help me figure out how I could have glass shelves put into my old European china hutch. (yes corinnea, it's the one you helped me get at the dead mens store!) The glass shelves came in yesterday and I picked them up and installed them and they are lovely! My china and crystal look fabulous and I'm going to go and pick up some lights to install inside so everything sparkles and shines! Anyhow, to "finish" this story... I began un-packing the last 8 boxes of crystal and china and in the 7th box what do you think I found? YUP! THE SHELVES!!! I couldn't believe it! There they were all nicely stacked and waiting to be put into the hutch! Honestly, I do not recall EVER packing them in the box! I have waited 5 months to replace those shelves in the hopes that the wood ones would turn up somehow! I couldn't un-pack the those last 8 boxes without shelves, could I? There was no where I could put all those things without the use of my hutch!!!!!!!!! Oh my! I felt like a total idiot! And the worst of it was that I had to show it to my honey. Admit that I packed them! UGH! Mortification on the biggest scale! He must have asked me a million times if I was sure I hadn't packed them. So. There you go. I packed them. I ordered new glass shelves. And voila, old shelves appear.

I will show ya'll what the hutch looks like once I fit it with the lights. In all honesty, the hutch does look great with the glass shelves. But I truly did not "forget" that I packed the wooden ones. I really don't remember having done so. It was THAT crazy on the day of the move!

Anyhow... While I was waiting to actually do something about those shelves I've been busy with other things. Such as painting the rooms. Okay, only two so far but still! I've also been working on my Pineapple table cloth. It's not quite half-

way yet, but it's getting there. There are ton's of mistakes on it, but for the most part, you can't really see them too badly. I'm really happy with the way it's turning out so far. And, at this rate, I may actually get it done in the time that I said I would! And as I suspected, it's not as tedious to do it this way, adding the motif's on as you go is the best way to do it!

The other thing that I've been working on is some more felting. I went to the Salvation Army store and picked up a few wool coats for next to nothing. I then proceeded to wash them in hot water and then took them apart. Then I cut them into the shapes I wanted and then I used the wool roving to put designs onto the wool shapes. And I'm liking what I've done so far.

Unfortunately, the picture isn't quite what I wish it was. The colors are much brighter in reality. But it's overcast today, as well as chilly, as I mentioned earlier. ;-) I haven't quite decided how I'm going to put them all together yet. I'm thinking about it as I continue to work on the shapes. Maybe blanket stitch them? That would probably look too busy what with the designs already on them. Hand stitch a straight stitch along the somewhat octagonal shapes? Any suggestions? I will adhere all the octagonal shapes onto another larger piece of felt and it will be a wall hanging. So?

Okay, that is it for me for today. I've got chime choir practice this evening and I'm taking some cupcakes with me because one of the ladies has a birthday today! Can't have a birthday without cake. Right?

Sometimes...

Sometimes when I go out on my front porch I hear a hissing noise. I used to hear it at the old house too. That hissing noise is the sound of a hot air balloon going by. I love seeing them up there. I think I might like to go up in one of those one day. I know that there are hot air balloon services that will take you up because I've spoken with those people before when they set up during the County Fair week.

Anyhow, it's especially nice to be able to sit out on my porch with my cup of coffee and hear that sound and peek out and see this beautifully colored balloon floating by. It's one of the best ways of starting the day...

Labor Day weekend

Hi everyone! I hope ya'll had a safe and memorable Labor Day weekend.

We started out the weekend with a get together of our friends. And as usual, I was having such a good time that I totally forgot to take photos. My honey made bar-b-que brisket and I made cucumber & watermelon salad and everyone brought something so that, as usual, there was more than enough food to enjoy!

We also (the ladies) made a few Corn Husk Dolls. The UMW is having their mini-retreat at my home next month. Many of the ladies have been in this house at one time or another over the years and are all curious to see what we have done in this house since we moved in. Anyhow, the retreat is on Native American Culture and I am doing the craft. So my friends and I decided to "test run" the craft to see how long it would take to complete a doll and exactly how to go about making them. Turns out that you can make a doll in about 20 minutes IF you don't chit-chat. If you DO chit/chat then it takes 45 minutes!

Didn't they turn out cute? My friend Mary made the best ones! She even has their arms bent so they don't stick out like scarecrows like mine! ;-)

So, we made those and then talked and snacked and then one of my friends (Mary's) granddaughter was getting ready for Homecoming and wanted to show her grandma how she looked all dressed up. Naturally, I wanted to tag along (I am always looking for "blog" photos) and she only lived practically down the street, so off we went to take a look and and take photos. And oh my, what a lovely young lady she is! I should probably tell you all. I'm not much into other people's children. For the most part, they annoy me. There are very few kids that I like being around. And I have to say, this young lady is one of the ones that I DO enjoy being around! She is very kind and considerate of others, smart and athletic and such a pretty girl! She very generously let me take several photo's of her and she waited patiently for me to snap, snap, snap away!

So, after many minutes of grandpa and I taking photo's of the dear girl, grandma, grandpa and I wished her a fun and safe evening and we went back to the house to enjoy the food and conversations! At the end of the evening it was just my honey and myself and our good friend "Old Neighbor"! We sat out on the front porch listening to the Cicada's and watched the bat fly around eating bugs. And sat & talked 'till bed time.

Sunday afternoon, my honey power washed the deck. That is an AWESOM tool! We had no idea just how icky that deck was until he took the power washer to it! And then "old neighbor" came over with a pot of chili and a pan of cornbread at dinner time and we all chowed down! She was busy working at her brothers farm helping him and his family get the corn maze worked out and setting all the other fun activities up for the upcoming opening of their corn maze and pumpkin patch! They operate a place in Blair called Skinny Bones. My honey and I are going to check it out next month!

And then today, he spent the day staining and sealing the deck. It looks really good! Poor guy, he worked hard all weekend! Getting the brisket cooked (he got up early to get it started) and then power washing and staining. I just did the normal Monday routine, change the sign at the church and housework. ugh!

And now he's standing at the kitchen window looking out at the bird feeder and having himself some almonds.

I'm just hoping he'll hurry up and get in the shower and then I can get dinner started. Hmmm I am thinking of making sweet & sour pork. Yeh, that sounds good.

So, that's what's been going on around here. All in all, a fun weekend with friends and good food and some work thrown in for good measure.

I hope ya'll had a good weekend. Got some relaxing done and are ready to head out into the working world again come Tuesday morning.

Take care and I'm pretty sure you'll be seeing more random bits of this and that going on in my life, here on this site. ;-)