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! ;-)