I know it’s been awhile again since I have been here..for those who come often I am sorry..I keep promising that I will do better but not keeping them at all…All I can say is I am working in it.

This trying to buy a house is till stressing me out and I don’t seem to get anything productive done. It’s one thing waiting but not knowing why your waiting just about puts you over the top. But, after a not so e-mail to the sellers realtor a couple of weeks ago we have a few more answers but still really doesn’t get us any closer to a closing date. But, we did get another name to contact and can annoy her till maybe something will be done. Our realtor is also doing the same..Sooo..guess we’ll be signing another extension this week..uh..that makes 5??? Please tell me this isn’t the norm these days….

I love dogwood trees although we don’t have any here at the house..tried trans-planting some but they didn’t live. So, it will be a tree we will add when we move..they are just gorgeous this year both in yards and especially growing wild in the woods. Earlier this month we took a drive so I could find some to photograph. There was no problem finding them but the problem was finding them were we could park and take pictures. Finally found one in a state park and oh was it a gorgeous tree…so here are a couple of photo graphs





Our apple tree was loaded with blossoms this year too although we did have a freeze while they were blooming so I don’t know how many apples it will produce. But, it was beautiful while it was blooming and the bees were happy!



So I will now share a few cards I have made recently..They are Easter ones so they are late but since I didn’t share earlier thought I would now..






I love this ladies blog..she makes some of the most adorable cards! And right now she is celebrating her blog anniversary with somee “blog candy” that I would love to have..it would be like Christmas if that would arrive at my house. This lady is also very talented with her cards and even if you don't win her give away you will be going back to see her lovely cards. If you are interested please visit her blog and see how you can have a chance to win.. Here is the link. http://passionforcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/04/blogoversary-candy.html Hurry because it ends tomorrow.

Well, the washer is calling so I better get back to the laundry…I hope everyone is enjoying a sunny, blue skies, birds singing, flowers blooming Spring kind of day!

Hugs
T

Taco Thursday

Yep, I think it’s gonna be a tacos for this Thursday night…not sure what else but that’s a good start. I love, love tacos..pretty much any Mexican food. Wish I could find some good tamales or maybe I need to learn how to make them myself. Because they are hard to find they always seems too dry and just crumble when you hit em with a fork. We have bought some frozen ones and the good ones we never see, to be able to find again. Or they are just a little pricy in my book…So, maybe one day I will take the plunge and figure out how to make them myself.

We received sad news from several friends this week..some say things come in 3’s. Well, they did this week from a friend of mine having her first grandchild be born with problems, another friend loosing yet another family member to cancer. I never met this cousin of hers but he was a fighter to the end and if he’s anything like my friend then he was one terrific person. My DH’s co-worker f-n-l was found dead by another family member. He was 80 something still lived alone and he lived a full life but it was still unexpected. My prayers go out to all these families.

I have an internet friend that another friend and me have been “arguing” with about winter and spring. She is a winter lover..we both are SPRINGY kind of gals..So, on our little forum (Nana’s at the right) we have been telling her about Spring coming for about a month. Now, that it is just a little over a week away I think it’s time to really pour it on..So, yesterday I posted another picture of my dafs..can you believe she had nerve to tell me that the one I posted earlier this week were from last year??? It’s all in good fun of course and she can give it as easy as she takes it. That is what makes it so much fun. So, I am going to show a few more pictures I took this week. And dedicate them to her..she knows who she is…









A few cards to share..

I have been “peeking” in at this wonderful card site .. http://icsketches.blogspot.com/
for a few weeks now but didn’t take the plunge to try one of the challenges..but I thought this one was a perfect one to start with…I liked how it came out..

Using sketch #7 here is my card..




Yellow cardstock is BoBunny
White is- Paper Studio
Ribbon-unknown
Cupcake is – Cricut –Cart- Doodlecharms
Scallops is- Nestabilties
Stamp- Inkadoos
Glitter glue is unknown

And here here my latest DT card for: http://letsscrapdesignteam.blogspot.com/

Go there to see what supplies I used...



I have a couple of more cards to post but I have to wait till next week to do so..

I want to thank everyone that has commented on my blog recently. I have a couple of new followers..which I think might just help me want to blog more..when I know someone is taking the time to log on here then they should be able to read something from me more than what I have been doing . Maybe…just maybe I am finally getting this blog thing..

Not sure if I will be till after the weekend so if not then I hope you have a great one.

Hugs to all!
T

Monday Rambling...

So, did you find a time to get that extra hour of sleep that we were to loose because we had to turn our clocks ahead over the weekend. We may have lost a hour of the weekend but I don’t think we lost a hour of sleep at our house..we actually went to bed earlier than normal last night. I love the fact that we have an extra hour of day light now in the evenings…

Are there signs of Spring where you are??? With our warm weather last week we have flowers blooming all over, the pear trees are loaded with flowers, and I swear some of the trees are turning green..sad part is that it’s going to turn cold again this week. Just hope that it doesn’t freeze enough to kill things.

Here’s a photo of some Spring in my yard with my cat Slim walking into the picture…followed by one of him in a box…silly kitty..




Okay, I was at Wal-Mart last weekend when I saw this awesome turtle for the yard. It was love at first site. But, I held back..didn’t buy it..but then later in the week I came to face to face with it again..okay, not the same turtle because I was in a different Wal-Mart but the love was still there…still held off..and then this weekend I couldn’t stand it any longer and in my cart it went.. It is huge! So, the 2nd picture shows just how big it is…




We were out and about this weekend..driving down the highway when all of a sudden this wonderful aroma came flooding through the car…It was just wonderful and sure sign of Spring being in the air. No it wasn’t all the beautiful daffodils blooming along the roadside but the smell of freshly and I do mean freshly plowed soil! So, fresh the farmer was plowing the ground as we drove by. I love the smell..it reminds me of planting the veggie garden in my bare feet..my Mom was a believer in if the ground was warm enough for you to be barefoot in the garden then it was time to plant..if not then hold off…I’m sure it came from one of grandparetns and probably theirs before that.

Seeing a farmer plow, disk , plant and harvesting always makes me wonder what they are thinking while doing so. I can’t imagine going to a great big field and seeing all that ground that you need to cover in the days or weeks ahead. It must be a great feel of accomplishment when one of the task are done. They must love what they do so to come back year after year. I’m sure most wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

Oh, I need to show you some cards that I have made recently for http://letsscrapdesignteam.blogspot.com/

Also please check out our online crop tomorrow…
http://letsscrapdivas.ning.com/

A couple are from last month..I never made it here to post them..but wanted to share them anyway..and here is the latest which should be posted on Lets Scrap DesignTeam Blog…







If you would like a chance to win some cool things please visit the blogs at the upper right here on my blog (if I figured out how to post them there anyway)...tell them I sent you too..

Well, I think that is enough of my ramblings for one time..thanks for stopping by and come back soon..
Hugs
T

Finding the good and goals...

I can’t believe it’s the middle of February! I don’t mind one bit when the time flies this time of the year…just means Spring is that much closer. I could be a bear and be happy to sleep right through winter…but, I’m not so I have to try and find the good parts of winter…some days it’s not easy when there is freezing rain and sleet outside. But, even then there is the nice surprise to find like the photos I took below last month of what I call freezing fog…but my good friend Nana told me there was an actual name for it… hoar frost, or pogonip. Thanks Nana! We don’t have this very often but it’s always something to see when we do.





Plus, some gorgeous sunsets…





I don’t make resolutions..maybe I should but then I would probably break them faster than I made them. But, I would like to be able to accomplish some goals this year. Other than the normal loose weight or find a job I would like to be more organized, and have lunch out with friends at least a couple of times a month. Oh, nothing expensive mind ya..just be able to get together and catch up. I thought at the beginning I was going to be able to do it once a week. Wasn’t anything I planned mind you. Just sort of just happened…started at the end of the year when I got together with my friend D for our Christmas together although it was almost a week later. Then, my friend B and I had lunch the next week, my sis (who is also my friend) the next, my sis and 2 nieces the next..I was beginning to enjoy it and look forward to it..then the weather got in the way…so it had been a couple of weeks then I was able to work one day last week and my boss asked me to lunch along with my friend B (also a former co-work) again the next day…now this week I am having lunch with R (aka squirrely) . I would love for this to become a habit or whatever you call it..It would be nice to do it once a week but I know that’s not going to happen so if I can do it once or twice a month then I would be soo very happy.

So, that is one of my goals, another is to be a better friend to those I can’t get together with in person, those long distant friends. Those that I met in letters so many years ago, those that I maybe knew here at one time or another and they moved away, and those that I met on the internet a few years ago or just recently. Write more letters, e-mail more than just forwards, answer more than just questions on a forum, pick up the phone once in awhile and if nothing else keeping up with my blog better than I have been.

Now, to accomplish that organized thing…I’ll play Scarlet O’Hara here…” I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.”

Bye for now and I promise it won't be almostt 2 months before I post again...

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Can you believe that it’s here? Are you all ready for the big day tomorrow? Are you still wrapping gifts? Or have you already started unwrapping them? We are doing both…still need to wrap some. I use to love wrapping everything but not so much anymore. Actually, I don’t mind it once I get started..it’s just sitting down and starting it. Digging everything out..like the tape that has been in the drawer so I would be able to find it. Then when I go to get it, it’s not there! And I only I have myself to blame..so I look through all my craft drawers for another roll…there is always another roll or two in there. No, nothing there so I’m bring a box out of my craft room to use to put a gift into. Sit the box down on the coffee table and spot my tape..didn’t I just look there? Guess not! So, I sit down on the floor to wrap..I loose the tape..didn’t move anything but my arms and hands…and leave it to me to loose something. I do the same thing with ink pens..Oh, I also have help..no not my dh but our little dog..only she really doesn’t want to help but she wants to play ball…keeps picking the ball up and putting it in the middle of my wrapping..sometimes I think she’s jealous..LOL oh, well…she’s so cute.

Here are the Christmas cards that I made this year..of course I also wait till last week to get those done…mailed at the end of the week, this week and some not mailed. Where did the time fly to??? Dunno…it sure got away from me this year though.



Thought I would show a few pictures of our tree..well, not the tree but some of the ornaments. I don’t do a theme..Oh, don’t get me wrong I think “themed” trees are beautiful. I have always wanted to do one…but just don’t have room but for the one tree and I have too many ornaments that we have collected over the years. We also always add one each year. From the first two that Dh’s aunt bought us for our 1st Christmas together 24 years ago (he was still in the Navy for the actual first one floating around in the Indian Ocean somewhere). One ws a Krackle bar and the other is a Mr Goodbar. Aren’t they cute? Some my Granny made me probably when she was in her 80’s and those I had before we were married. Some my Mom bought me others she also made. One year she bought me a set of ornaments tof snowmen…one for each month of the year. So there is a snowman with bunny ears, one with swimming gear on, another for Halloween. One for mothers day wearing pearls which reminds of my Mom since her name was Pearl. I have a collection of Campbells soup ornaments . Others friends gave or sent to me..from all parts of the world. And then there is probably one of my favorites..I found it years ago when “sock monkeys” weren’t in. My Granny made me a sock monkey when I was a baby ..I think Mom said I wore more than one out. He’s just the cutest..


















I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!!! Thanks for coming and see ya again soon!

A Year Ago

This time last year we were into our 3rd day of the ice storm, 3rd day of no power, 3rd day of keeping warm in the day time with a kerosene heater and each other at night…brrr….but we survived better than some. At least we had water, the heaters and our camping stove etc to use. Yea, we “ruffed” it for a few days but it could have been worse. We did get our power back after the 5th day where some were without for weeks. And it also made us appreciate it more when it did come back on. When I came home from work that 5th day and heard the heat on before I got the front door open it was the best sound in the world! And oh, did that warm shower feel good later that evening! I also didn’t even mind doing the wash that night. I guess the worse part of the storm for us was the damage to all of our beautiful trees

.







We had freezing rain the other day..a year to the day. It was suppose to be snow but no it was ice on my car windows, ice on the deck..but the roads were okay. Next week another winter system is coming our way..geez..and it's not even winter offically yet! SPRING......

Otherwise, I did get to work a couple of days this week. More lay offs there, cut in pay for others not good at all.

Now, I still need to do my Christmas cards..get them out by monday is my goal. Got my one swap mailed, ready to mail the other 2 and then I will be done with swaps till next month. Will being doing something different other than a card for January on

http://letsscrapdesignteam.blogspot.com/
Not sure what yet though! Will keep you posted.

If you have the time check our little group out on Ning too..there are is a forum, chat, challenges etc...

http://letsscrapdivas.ning.com/

Time for me to finish up those Christmas cards and get ready to go to the post office later. Until next time take care, stay warm and remember to take time for yourself a few minutes each day.

Hugs
T

Merry December!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did although we spent two days on the road it was worth it to see our families. The food was great at both houses and I brought home some leftovers from my sisters so I was able to enjoy it the next day. Yummy…her turkey was soooo good this year…

While in the one town where my Dh’s brother lives I stopped at the LSS and browses for a bit..Picked up some gorgeous deep blue paper..and this new knife…

http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_fingertip-craft-knife.aspx

as you can see you fit it over your forefinger..so far I love it! I used it today on several things and it worked great. I have to give credit to my Dh for finding it for me though. I had already looked over it…Okay…I’ll take back what I was thinking when he went in with me…LOL

Since I did allot of housework yesterday I got busy with some Christmas crafts today..I have a 12 days of Christmas swap do this week. We were given a partner to get to know through e-mails for 4 months and then buy 6 small things, some chocolate and some socks..I have everything bought almost except for the chocolate. I figured she has a better chance of getting it if I leave in the store for as long as I can. Then we need to make 6 things…of course I put it off. I had so many ideas of what to make just couldn’t make up my mind. I can’t show them here yet..cause she might be peaking..but I will take pictures and show them after we open..one each day the 12 days before Christmas. I hope she likes everything I send her. I always enjoying doing these swaps and buying for other people. I’m in a couple of other swaps too…and I’ll post more about them once we send out our gifts. They are also secrets…I am not good at keep secrets like this…so it’s been hard on me. If you tell me something and tell me not to tell anyone I will do it but when it’s for fun and gifts are involved then I want to sing like a canary…

It’s going to be a busy month and I hope I can get on here more than I did last month but if I don’t then please take some time to enjoy the season and don’t let it get you all stressed out. In the end as every year it will all work out. Sooo…have a Merry December! Thanks for coming!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I can’t believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. But, I am looking forward to sitting down with dinner with my family. We’ll be traveling the 70 miles or so to my sisters house. There will be 6 kids and 10 adults so 16 total. A nice little crowd. Then on Saturday we’ll be traveling again this time about 50 miles to my dh’s brothers house. Not sure how many will be there but if everyone comes there should be around the same amount. There we’re not having the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I think the meat is suppose to be smoked brisket (that may have changed) and not sure about anything else but the potato salad that I am taking. Doesn’t really matter, all that matters is being with those we love.

I only made one card this year for Thanksgiving. It got here before I knew it! And I hope to get in some time this weekend to start my Christmas crafts. Something I should have started already of course. I want to make a few small gifts for friends and I need to get those made so I can get them in the mail soon. But, anyway here is the card I made!



I got the stamped image in a swap last year so I don’t know what it is. The paper is from Hobby Lobby, cardstock is DCWV and Bazzill.

Lets not forget to give thanks and remember our TROOPS along with their family and friends that give up so much for us.

American Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the holiday,
to God we give our thanks.
Thanks for founding fathers;
gave us our right to speak.
Thanks for all the blessings;
free travel and assembly.
Thanks to God for America;
free religious liberty.
Thanks for all our families;
of friendship, blood or faith.
Thanks for food that’s plentiful;
we hunger not, nor thirst.
Then again to God our thanks;
Christ’s death washed our sin.

by Roger W Hancock

Again I want to wish everyone a Happy (and yummy) Thanksgiving!!!

Smell!!!

Can ya smell it??? Autumn that is! Normally when I talk about this season I refer to it as “fall” but somehow when you are talking about how beautiful it is or how wonderful it smells “Autumn” seems like a better name for it. Don’t you just love the smell of “Autumn”? Can’t describe it…maybe a bit sweet?…spicy?…not really sure. Just know that it’s one of those “smells” (like lilacs in the Spring) that no matter how they try they just can’t reproduce the real thing.

Still can’t believe its November, maybe oh, I don’t know August? September? But November??? We’re still having “Indian Summer” here and I am loving every moment of it…I think we’re suppose to even have a thunderstorm in the next day or two. The rain will be nice to settle all the dust on my country roads…

Halloween is over, the election (almost!), next will be Veteran’s Day next Tuesday so don’t forget to thank a Veteran and keep the men, women and their families that are serving in the military now in your thoughts and prayers..then next will be Thanksgiving! One of my favorite holidays..oh, I love turkey and dressing…yum, yum…My fil was not only a Veteran of 20 years in the Navy serving during the Korean and Vietnam wars he was also born on Thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving is on November 27th and his birthday. He’s passed away now but we can’t have either day in our house without thinking of him a little more. He was a wonderful man and I am thankful for having known him and also for having married one of his wonderful (the best) 5 sons.

Oh! Speaking of Halloween and my dh....well, I mentioned that he loves to scare the neighbor boy on Halloween??? But, had been so busy and not feeling good and didn’t know if he would be able to come with anything to scare him? Well, he just didn’t think of anything nor have the time. But! Since he had been warning him for over a month that he should be prepared to be scared so, when he came to the door with is little brother and parents he was sort held back…not knowing what to expect. His Mom said he was waiting for dh to jump out from behind or under something and that he didn’t eat very much supper because his stomach was in knots not knowing what to expect…it couldn’t of been better. Then when he was leaving we kept asking him if he was going straight home? What time was he going to be home then? Of course by now his Mom was warning us that we were going to have him for the night if he didn’t sleep…It couldn’t have worked out better.

Thanks for coming and I am going to leave you with some “Autumn” color.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

I just want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. Living in the country we don’t really get trick or treaters. Except for our neighbors 2 boys and sometimes another neighbors grandkids but I don’t think we’ll see them this year as they are probably getting too old for it. But, we will have our neighbors 2 little boys…My Dh enjoys scaring the oldest who is 8 now. I remind him that one day he will get even. This year I don’t know what he’ll do as he’s been busy with some home improvements and also fighting a terrible cold. He may just not have it him…but, he’s been telling him that he better watch out..so maybe that will be the “trick” part…nothing. But, I’m sure he will come with something before the day is over.

We’re having “Indian Summer” here and just some wonderful sunny days…that’s after it was down in the 20’s earlier this week though…It’s so colorful around here now and I need to get my camera out and capture some of that color on my camera before it’s too late. Not wanting to think about all the leaves gone from the trees and the drab days of winter sitting in. But, then it’s also that much closer to spring!!!

Since it’s Halloween I saved these photos to share of “spiders” I took a few weeks back.Call me crazy but spiders don’t scare me..well, as long as they are outside and not inside the house. Outside they fascinate me…their webs intrigue me, I stand in awe. I can’t imagine how they do it. Over and over again too. So, I leave you with some spiders in their webs…Hope they don't scare you away....

Monday Already???

It always seems like it’s Monday..and the start of a new week. The weekend seems to fly by and I am left with trying to catch up on things in the house on Monday. Since, I’m not working at the moment I can push things off to then. But, then on Monday I ask myself why did I do it???

We had a nice weekend here although it did seem shorter than normal. Dh had to work Friday night and didn’t get home till around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. And I stayed up till he got home..just got to watching TV and writing on here..catching up with other computer stuff. I was up early but J slept in (he also had been called out to work Thursday night or was it Friday morning? ) till about noon..of course he still didn’t get his 8 hrs of sleep. He never does…he normally gets about 5-6 a night. We did some shopping and then came home to his brother J waiting on us. He had let his son off at a cousins house while so they could deer hunt. It was youth hunting weekend or something…J had been out the day before and most of the day and needed a rest. So, he took refuge here for a couple of hours. DH grilled some fish and I made red beans and rice for supper..By then it was time to go pick his son up.

Sunday, it was my turn to sleep in…I think the last few days had finally caught up with me. After I got up I made breakfast (brunch?) and then we headed off to Lowe’s and Wal -Mart. Mostly just looked around at some house projects we are debating doing. Then we came home and made Cajun Etoufee…never had it before I don’t think..But, we had picked up a mix the weekend before and decided to make it. It was good and we will have it again..I went online this morning to find some recipes so maybe one day I will try making it from scratch.

The weather was just beautiful again all weekend..I’m getting very spoiled with all the wonderful weather and don’t look forward to the colder temps coming and staying. The Lowe’s and Wal Mart we went to is by a lake so we drove down close to it..aww…it was just beautiful. We need to make a picnic soon and spend some time there..or maybe pack up the trailer and go camping one more time before it’s too late.

Last week I did a swap on www.swap-bot.com and made this card to send along with it.The paper is DCWV and the cardstock is Paper Studio .I had the flip flips from a grab bag of ribbon I picked up at Wal Mart. I think it was meant to be an iron on but I have been saving it for a card although it was hard to let go of that cute little pair of flip flops. Made a matching envelope to match. Hope she liked it!





I think we’ll grill some pork chops on the grill tonight and scalloped potatoes sounds good to go with them and something else. So I guess I will go put them together and see what else that something else might be.

Again thanks for coming! Have a great week!

T

Another Party and Card

My last day at work last week was also that of my friend BT. She was leaving to go to another job. So, we had to have another party…cake, gifts, and a card…

Oh, my goodness was this cake ever beautiful and also yummy inside again. Another lady at work made this for her..she makes the most wonderful cakes. So, gorgeous and the colors she puts together are just too beautiful. This one had an Victorian look to it. The white was actually more of an antique white than it shows in the photo. Plus, underneath all of that were two layers of chocolate frosting…a light and dark..then she had white chocolate pieces thrown all over…oh, and the cake was also chocolate..a chocolate lovers dream...she really outdid herself…oh, was it ever so good…





Then I made a card to go with the gift that I was elected to shop for…she is also my scrapbook/cardmaking friend so I was happy to shop for her. I couldn’t find a gift bag that I liked (or wanted to give the price of) so I bought an 88 cent pink bag and decorated it to look like the card. I used my Walk in My Garden Cricut cartridge on both. Card stock was DCWV and the pearls were some I took off lace trim that I had in my stash.






Of course this week I had a cake withdrawal…and my clothes don’t fit so good either so maybe it’s a good thing there were no more parties and cakes this week. But, then some of that may be because this is October and Halloween is in two weeks and it's hard to resist the candy aisle...

Well, I thought I would get an early start of this today...It's still a little cool out for me this a.m. but the sun is shining about as bright as it can with the clear blue skies...Thank you God for sending us such a beautiful day.

Now, it's time to go get ready and do some grocery shopping. One of the stores is having it's 12 hour maga sale and there are some things on there I want this time. Otherwise, I try to stay away from grocery stores on the weekend. But, with these sales they always have extra help so it goes about as fast as a regular Saturday when they only have 1 or 2 cashiers..Thanks for coming!