The End is Near

The end of the year, that is! Has been a really good year for us! Here's to hoping 2011 is a good one too! We welcomed our first grandchild this year, and what a joy he is! We have so many things to be thankful for!

Enjoyed the Christmas Holiday also.....the kids and their families bought us a really nice digital camera, so hopefully soon I will learn how to post pictures on here!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

Chocolate supply

Hmmm.....I think someone might be making fun of my chocolate stash...........My daughter helped me clean out some of my kitchen cabinets and then took some pictures to put on here.......gee, my secret is out...stashes of chocolate bars.....in all fairness these did come from the cabin when we closed it up for the winter. Didn't use them all for s'mores.....Well.....I guess that doesn't explain the THREE kinds of chocolate syrup in the pictures....AND the package(s) of chocolate chips......oops.............I did realize I have plenty of spaghetti. and three jars of hot sauce...and microwave popcorn that expired in 2005......oh yes, the pictures only show part of the "collection" I will have to do this more often....

Weekend

This weekend just flew by! Did a little Christmas shopping Saturday morning....A visit from our daughter and the grandson in the afternoon.. She helped clean out some of our kitchen cabinets...that was quite a project! That night I wrapped some gifts.

Went to church this morning and then spent the afternoon doing paperwork and other chores around the house. We also harvested seeds for next year's garden from the heirloom pumpkins and the gourds from the fall display. This evening we went out to our daughter and son-in-laws house for a really nice dinner...lasagne and hot bread. I brought a salad and our other daughter brought gooey butter. We all had a nice time visiting. We even got to see the cat...Mose....he was visiting inside as well. Was sure nice to relax and visit with everyone for a little while.

Goodbye, Old Friend

Had to say goodbye to an old friend the other day.......our old cat, which we had had since I think 1995..She had really been doing ok until a couple days before she passed....Her decline from there was rather rapid.. On Thanksgiving night we decided to take her to the local vet the next day, but she was gone in the morning. She was a pretty awesome cat. Sure not the prettiest cat, and not the friendliest, but she sure had a personality. She used to follow me around the yard as I did things. After all those years she was for sure a fixture in our family. I still catch myself checking the doors to see if she wants in. I will miss her alot.

The return of Mr. Clippy

Yes Folks, that is right...Mr. Clippy was back at it today in church! Just like always, about every two or three weeks! It didn't seem to take him near as long this time though.....maybe because he saw some of us that blog laughing hysterically....LOL Good thing we sit in the back of church! It was TOO funny!

Had a good day...after church we went out to check on our cabin on the river...then did a craft project with our daughters...we sure enjoy our time together..........

Goodbye Thanksgiving

This is our little fall display we had near our front door....the pumpkins are thank to our daughter, who brought hers to our house since we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I especially like the heirloom pumpkins. I am going to save seeds from some of them and hopefully try to grow our own next year! I took down the display today, since it's time to put up the reindeer and snowman.....which I also did today. Now if I only had my tree up......and shopping done........

Latest creation

I made this clothes pin bag a few weeks ago....I hang alot of laundry outside and this is the third bag I have had on the same metal "frame"...anyway, I think I got it a little too big this time, but it'll work!

Being Thankful

I meant to write a post about being thankful earlier, but didn't...........so here goes....
I have many reasons to be thankful...too many to list, but here is a few:

1. My amazing husband....marrying him is probably the best decision I have ever made.

2. Our wonderful daughters. I am so proud of both of them-They are both such wonderful
people.

3. The most wonderful grandson...he has brought so much joy into our lives.

4. Two great son-in-laws.....We got really lucky with these two young men-couldn't have picked
nicer guys.

5. Our church family....wonderful support......our amazing pastor-She is simply amazing and a
good friend too.

6. My Mother and other family

7. Our grandson's babysitter-She is truly the "best" and gives such good care to her little ones.

8. Have been able to have a career for the last 31 years that for the most part I have enjoyed
alot.

9. This beautiful world God has created for us to enjoy.

10. And many, many other things.....

Hope everyone had a really nice Thanksgiving!

new finds!

My daughters and I made another trip to the country to one of our favoite little shops....I bought the lovely little black-eyed susan wreath (only five dollars)......I think it will look great in my kitchen. I also bought three deals made out of the tiniest roses...the larger one had a tag on it that called it a victorian kissing ball...and the two smaller ones were called victorian pomanders....just so precious. An added bonus was when I got them home I realized how good they smelled! The shop is closed for the winter now, so will be looking forward to their re-opening..

Mr. Clippy

Mr. Clippy was at church again this week. A gentlemen? sits near us in church and about every other week he decides it's a perfect time to trim his fingernails......it is sooooo annoying! And he must clip every nail like five times.....takes forever. He does it during the prayers and anything else that happens to be going on. Wonder if he thinks we can't hear that???

Anyway, Halloween was fun this year. I didn't get my decorations out, which I do regret, but I will make up for it next year! The grandson was alot of fun and I went to our daughter's house during trick or treating and it was fun.

November is just flying by it seems.......will be Thanksgiving before we know it....Sure have alot to be thankful for too...guess that will be another post....

Waiting for Spring

Picture of my "drying rack"....I saved several zinnnia heads this summer to use as seeds next Spring...That way I got to pick the colors I wanted, although all the colors were pretty. They are good and dry now so I need to store them away until Spring. Hopefully I will remember where I put them!

Cool Caterpillar

I saw this cool caterpillar on a vine in our yard.....At first it had these little white things all over it, which apparently is some sort of wasp larva.....The next day the larva was gone. It's pretty neat what nature provides for us to see when we take the time to stop and actually look.

Auction Finds

We went to an auction in a neighboring town last weekend..Had a great time! We bought this big cast iron pot.........My husband likes these alot...

Bought some chairs for the cabin at the river...

Love, love, love this table! Has decorative carving along the sides of the top...and the claw feet....wonderful! Haven't decided where to put it in the house yet, but I will find a spot....

Colorful quilt.....lots of red and yellow...it is trimmed in red also. Tried to look up the pattern, but haven't found out what it's called yet. some of the pieces are sooo small.....I think it's great! Quilting is such an art!

A random assortment of things in a box we had to buy to get the tin....mostly worthless, I suppose. I do like the item on the right side with the cats on each end...maybe it's for crackers?

Very scary squirrel! There were also two skunks made like this in the box too....

The tin. It just happened to be completely full of old hair curlers..lots of hair curlers!

Cool wire egg basket...it was also full of misc. items...we had already emptied most of them out.

Had a really good time at the auction. Enjoyed visiting with the kids alot and the weather was wonderful.

Dirty car

I drew the happy face on the back glass of our car. My husband caught me drawing a second one and asked me what I was doing...so I drew a crazy mad face on the second one. Maybe I should just wash the car?

Where to put it??

Bought this cute little ladder-like deal a week or two ago. I thought I may be able to display some linens or something on it....Only I really don't have any place to put it in my house....Will have to figure something out!

Special Kitty

The current stockpile of special kitty for our old cat, Tippy. She uses two cans a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. The dry food was getting difficult for her, so cans it is. Sure makes an attractive addition to our kitchen counter! The tupperware container is my container I put my lunch in for work everyday. I have about worn it out! Must be time to retire!

Long Lasting Petunias

This hanging basket of Petunias still looks pretty good. Actually this summer it was about done for and I nursed it back to health. Late October....not too bad.

The great escape

I found this in some small brushy trees in our yard....it is some sort of cocoon with leaves wrapped around it. Whatever was in it had already gotten out. Neat little deal with a perfect hole in the top of it. Wonder what type of creature was in it?

putka pods

Bought these cute little fellows at a local antique/craft store....sooo cute. Looked online and apparently they come from India. I had never seen them before. They look like little pumpkins! Festive!

Sunday in the Ozarks

It was another beautiful October day here in the Ozarks. The weather was perfect and the timber is showing some fall color. We were able to spend some time on the Gasconade River today and it was really pretty there. Went to church this morning and was fortunate enough to see most of the family. Have been wrapping up some lose ends here at home before another work week...

Paint Project Ends

Finally! I put the last three gallons of paint I took out of the dungeon in July in the trash tonight. I think they have been totally dried out for a couple of weeks. I never thought it would take that long to get them to dry out.

We sure have been having nice fall weather here the last couple of weeks. The only problem is it's hard to get out and really enjoy it when you are at work.

The flooring project is nearly done.....just one closet left to tile. I think it turned out pretty good. I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

Hill Latin

I bought this book at the local Friends of the Library book sale over Labor Day weekend...Paid a whole dime for it...it's a real funny little book.....talks about Mizurey (Missouri) and has all sorts of little tidbits in it.....like the way "Hill People" say words...like Fridy for Friday....Canny for Candy..........Plars for Pliers, etc etc. It is pretty funny...and amazingly since I live in what I guess could be called the Ozarks I have heard people use many of these pronunciations...

These are pictures of two spider egg sacks on the front of our house. I suppose most people would tear them down, but I think they are pretty neat. I don't mind spiders, as long as they are outside! I enjoy watching the big yellow garden spiders. It seems I notice spiders more in the late summer/early fall. Speaking of fall, we have been having some wonderful weather here. The trees are starting to turn and everyday looks different. Today was an overcast day of just the right temperature.

flooring project

This is scary. Wow....this is the area under the refrigerator when we moved it out the other day...You would think I could have moved it out and cleaned under it once in a while....how embarrassing! lol

The other two pictures are just of the kitchen in progress.....We are in the process of replacing all the flooring except the bathrooms and bedrooms...Sooo everything is pretty much jumbled and stacked...it was sort of like moving without any organization! We are replacing the carpet and vinyl with laminate and ceramic tile...........it's almost done except some finishing up...Then we will start moving things back. I figure at the rate I move this will take months..........oh heck, maybe years! LOL

Fall Wildflowers

We are having some awesome fall weather here. We took advantage of it today by taking an atv ride over our property. My husband was looking for dead timber to use as firewood. I was looking at all the wonderful wildflowers. Some I saw in abundance were Goldenrod, Jewelweed, Blue lobelia and what I think was White Snakeroot.....There were others as well. It was a pleasant outing. Had a good day at work...then after work had a nice walk with one of our daughters and the grandson. He is always such a joy to be around..rarely fusses and is just a pretty relaxed little guy.

Last Day of Summer Tradition

I thought of this last night when I was trying to go to sleep...how when our kids were growing up I always saved a couple boxes of sparklers from the Fourth of July for the last evening of Summer...We would wait until it was almost dark and go out in the yard and use the sparklers to say good-bye to Summer. It was a fun thing to do. Hope someday they will have their own fun traditions with their families!

Last Day of Summer

Today marks the last few hours for Summer 2010. It was a good Summer.....our Grandson's first! We were able to spend some time at the river, not as much as we would have liked.....and no one got sick or hurt so that's a good thing. Have been having some late summer weather and will tomorrow too, but after that is supposed to be more fall-like. I like autumn alot. The cooler weather, the fall decorations, pretty leaves....if you look close enough even the weeds turn pretty. I also like the dew on everything in the mornings...every little spider web is even pretty. So.....I am ready.....bring on Fall!

Mr. Ed

Meet Mr. Ed. Another find from the dungeon.. Mr. Ed was a toy that I had as a child and apparently was crazy about it....He has a pull string/voice box that said different things. Too bad I wore it out. I do remember it saying....My name is Mr. Ed................I'm a horse, of course.........neighhhhhh.........I will have to think of the rest......Mr. Ed was a TV show back in the day that featured a "talking" horse. No doubt I probably drove the family crazy playing it over and over..... I found Mr. Ed in the dungeon, his poor vinyl head covered with mold. I think he cleaned up ok. Problem is, now what do I do with it?

feathered friends

This is a little feather I found on our sidewalk after work one day.....Just wondering what kind of bird it came from....should go look that up...or work in the dungeon.....or clean the bathroom.......or......etc.

This is twisted

Yet another find from the dungeon.....a little notepad made by the fine people from Lisa Frank. Well.....this is just wrong on sooo many levels! A cat and a dog.....dressed (badly) as humans...and they appear to be a couple...Check out the dog's bowtie, buttons on his sleeve....and yes, purple coat.......what on earth?? It's a wonder we aren't all warped with stuff like this around! Hmmm I am thinking about tearing off the cover and using the paper to make shopping lists on....

Outlawed glasses

I just love those Shrek movies! When the last one came out my husband bought me not one, but two entire sets of the glasses from McDonald's. Then word came out they had bad stuff in the paint...I took the rest back, but just couldn't part with little Puss n Boots.......Hope the bad paint police don't come looking for me!

unidentified plant

Here is an item that has been around the house since July 2. We went to a nearby town to watch the fireworks display and parked along a county road.....there was a bunch of this weed growing there...have tried with no luck to identify it..I would say it's not a plant a person would want around.....it seemed to be taking over the area I found it in....

lamb

Here is another find from the dungeon!! Was covered with mildew...this is the after picture....I washed it up and got curious about it...looked on the bottom and it has a date of 1955 on it....well...I am not really sure where it even came from! My kids tell me it's pretty freaky! Just another crazy item from a crazy place!

Paint Update

Checked the paint I have drying out from the dungeon again today........decided three of them were ready for the trash man! Yay! Only three left to go! A friend told me it would take a long time for them to dry out and she was sure right......

Sure was a nice weekend. busy, but nice. Weather was wonderful! Now it's back to work tomorrow! It will be ok......will get back into the routine of things! Looking forward to fall....love that season!

Dusty Day

Just finished unloading two big pieces of furniture in the living room.....They were full of knick-knacks, photos, keepsakes, office supplies, etc etc.... Of course I stuck with my plan of just piling everything packed and stacked in boxes without cleaning anything up first........good plan, right?? I will be paying for this later! lol very dusty!

Sure enjoying this fall-like weather! I had enough of the heat and humidity!

Yet another mess

I took some time today to move some small items out of the areas where the new floor will be. Wow...everything was so dusty! Should clean things as I move them and put them somewhere else for the time being....but no.......that would make too much sense! so now things are crammed and put places they don't belong and are covered with dust too! Sometimes I wonder why I don't take the time to do it right! I cleaned out one basket in the living room that is a catch-all.....let's see...in there were medical and other papers from 2008......travel brochures from 2009.....other assorted papers....a couple pieces of unopened mail...some papers from work from six months ago....several magazines....several recipes...well, you get the picture! At least the basket is empty for the time being! Bet it doesn't stay that way long!

After work today I went to a neighboring town to a lumber yard to pick out new baseboard since ours will have to be removed. Some of it is pretty scraped up and messed up so we are replacing it. They gave me a couple choices.....one that was nearly three times more expensive than the other one...I picked the cheaper one and amazingly I think it is exactly the same as the baseboard we put in the house when we built it 22 years ago.... the more things change the more they stay the same! lol

Floor planning

We got some measuring and planning done tonight in preparation of getting the new floor laid.....Hate making decisions that I will have to live with for a long time...

Enjoyed going to the local Friends of the Library book sale today......

Prettty evening out tonight.....sat outside in the dark for a little while and just enjoyed the warm breeze and looking at the stars.

Saw a little blue tail that came off a lizard on our sidewalk today....was going to take a picture of it to post, but before I could do that the dog had stepped on it and messed it up.........I was always fascinated to see the lizards lose their tails when startled or messed with....I imagine it's a pretty effective way for lizards to get away from predators.............or annoying kids that are messing with them like I probably did when I was a kid! lol Another one of nature's miracles!

Redneck Fridge

Oh my.....a view of one of the crispers of my refrigerator....let's see....a pound of carrots...a package of tortillas...and yep, two packages of worms. Doesn't everyone have worms stored next to their carrots? lol I am pretty sure my old home ec teacher wouldn't approve of that! Maybe I should just go fishing instead of going to work tomorrow?

Critters

Love the pretty butterflies!

Dragonfly I found in my husband's parking lot at work......far left is this awesome spider that built a big web in our garage....it goes down in it's "funnel" whenever I get too close..........hmmm guess I should eliminate it since it is in the garage??

We put both the Hercules Beetles on a zinnia.....

Love the yellow garden spider! Every year about this time I locate at least one of them and always enjoy watching them as their life cycle progresses.........just like Charlotte's Web!

The female Hercules Beetle sitting on a deer antler!

I just love things in nature! All so wonderful and different....amazing!

Late Summer Weekend

Had a real nice weekend......lots of good quality time with our kids...sure proud of both of them. They have grown up to be good people, and it's fun to spend time with them! And of course the grandson is wonderful too! And the spouses of our children are top-notch..........feel so blessed and life is good!

The husband and I went to a neighboring town Saturday and picked up new flooring for a large portion of our house.....I still liked the old flooring, but like most everything else in here was 22 years old and had seen better days. We decided to put down laminate/ceramic tile.....I think we will like it alot and will post pics whenever we get it installed.

Enjoyed going to church today, working on some projects here at home, made a visit to the river, had a nice visit with our children/grandson, and now am winding down for a real nice weekend....You can tell fall is coming, there is a different slant to the sun and the days are getting shorter. Will soak up all the goodness these late summer days have to offer.

Granny Time

Well, today is my last day of keeping the grandson while the sitter is off......and I go back to work.

Will be kind of sad to pack up his little toys his mommy brought for him to play with while I was keeping him...and next week when I am back at work I will be remembering what fun it was to take care of him. I am so grateful that I was able to spend so much extra time with him...I get to see him nearly everyday anyway (and I know how lucky I am for that) but this was extra special because of the extended time. He is a special little guy and his parents are doing a super job with him!

Granny Time

I am sure enjoying my Granny Time today! Little one is such a sweetie! Have been thinking also about next week when he will be back at his sitter's house and I will be back at work! Yikes!

bird

Gold finch...that's what it is called. I knew yellow finch wasn't right...guess the heat is cooking my brain!

River Time

Enjoyed a real nice evening at the river last night with family....good food and a good visit......was a little warm though.

Have been enjoying my zinnias alot. I haven't planted zinnias in several years, but this year decided to go with them instead of marigolds for my beds....am glad I did. The butterflies just love them.....and the other day I spotted a yellow finch on them. Such a pretty bird. It was picking off the petals of a flower one by one. Suppose it was eating the seeds?

Ready for some cooler weather, that's for sure!

Have been enjoying more extra time with the grandson today. He has been real good today.

The great fall, second edition

Having another fun day with the grandson!

We went to the river last night to finish getting things ready for company...then decided to go swimming....which was fine except when we went to climb back up the river bank.. which is quite steep.....My husband was trying to help me, but I didn't have one the right kind of shoes and I feel down.....I am sure it was quite a sight....I ended up crawling the rest of the way up the bank..lol.......Just a little sore today....after all, the bigger they are, the harder they fall!! lol
Will be more careful in the future!

Looking forward to some more time with our grandson this weekend, getting some things ready for going back to work, church, and visiting with some family that will be here for the weekend..should be a good weekend!

Granny

I am spending some extra time this week and next being Granny.....My grandson's sitter is off till the 16th and I am going to help watch him. It has been a fun day! Looking forward to the extra time I will have with him....The little guy is such a good-natured baby..

Can't believe I have to go back to work in a little over a week!! The summer has gone by soo fast...but they all do..

Still stirring the paint every now and then...it's a long process!

I have been enjoying some river time also......soo hot here that the river is the place to be...

Paint Update

Went down and checked on my paint cooking project last night...wow...pretty slow progress...took a stick and stirred them....realized this is going to take some time...I sure hope they are dried out by the time the snow flies!

Paint From The Past

Another product of the dungeon.....paint leftover from when we built the house......in 1988!! It was a little easier to decide what to do with these...and this was only part of them......as you can see from the lids the custom colors are dated 7-21-88. Twenty two years old paint...yeah, bet that stuff was real good.......two of them had dried out on their own.....a few others were almost dried and then there were six that needed further "treatment".....I needed to dry them out so I could throw them away. This involved prying the lids off and letting them dry in the summer sun. Only problem was everytime it rained they would get "reconstituted"......so I took two big lids off of old weber charcoal grills and covered them up. Now they are outside "cooking"..Hopefully they will be dried out one of these days! I was glad to clean out a (very) small area of the dungeon!