Last Post for October and Challenge

Isn't this just the sweetest picture???? I love the look on the little monkey's face......"So in love are we two that we don't know what to do......so in love, so much in love."

As this is my last post for October, really didn't want to post anything about Halloween. Just not really much into Halloween and don't like what it stands for. It's a pagan holiday and a lot of pagan worship to the evil one. Something I just can't get excited about like other people do. It's a wonder to me how people, even Christians still play around with it and dress their kids up in innocent characters.....but yet....they are still playing along with Satan and eating right out of his hand of deception. Oh well, to each his own.

Two more days and the 170 mile challenge is over with. I still have 29 miles to put in between tonight, Thursday and Friday. I am not sure if I will make it or not, but at least I tried.

So sad for the people on the east coast and in NY and New Jersey, Staton Island and other cities along the way........gosh, now they are looking at the fear of gas leaks and possible explosions. The pictures are so horrendous. So many people lost EVERYTHING. The thought of having to start over is so traumatic, I just don't know what I would do. But then if one is a believer in Jesus Christ and Him Crucified, He will give you the grace to go through times of trouble. Tribulation in ones life causes patience. I think we as a country have become VERY impatient....maybe this was a blessing in disguise for many people on the east coast.....I don't know, just thinking out loud while typing this blog.

Well, time to go and put in a few miles on my bike. I will let you all know, to whoever reads this blog. How I did on Saturday morning. You all take care and please keep looking up for you never know when your redemption will draw nigh, and you lose everything, but your life!!! 

Cheers ~ Louise

Cards, Life and Computers

These are some Christmas cards in my Etsy Shop. I deleted them from my store as they were selling separately. I then put them back into my store as a set of 11 cards for $23 + postage and shipping. That's about $2.10 a card. A nice deal for an array of pretty cards. If they do not sell after this season they will not go back into my store and I probably will use them next year to send out to friends and family. You can only try to sell for so long and then comes a point that you just have to give them away to whom ever. Oh well, that is life, I was never a good seller of my crafts.

When I was still young and looking for direction in my life and what I wanted to do when I grew up. My dream was to become a graphic artist. I loved drawing and painting and majored in art all four years in High School. BUT my stepfather said, "you will starve before you make it as a graphic artist" So, I went into Hair Design.........he didn't like that either. I never could please the man and still can't. I am not sure what he wanted me to do. I know my mother wanted me to go into the Airlines, or work for the telephone company. But these things were not what I wanted to do. It wasn't till after the fact, that my mother said if I had kept up with my art work.....Pops would have sent me to the Art Institute in Chicago.
"Why, did they not tell me that earlier??" Things might have been different for me.
Oh well, such is life in the big city and the little hamlet.

So, I put myself through beauty school and went on to become a hairdresser that lasted for 18 years. I loved doing haircuts and sets, designing hair, coloring and perming. Worked in some really good shops working with some fun people. The ladies that followed me from shop to shop were really nice and tipped very well. Those were some good years from 1966-1984, working in 9 different shops for 9 different bosses. I learned a lot of different techniques and styles. Some shops were fun and laid back and some were tuff and strict, but learn I did and enjoyed what I did.

Hairdressing is a form of Art and that is probably why I enjoyed it.....but then I left that profession becoming a Secretary and jack of all trades, wearing many hats to satisfy those around me. JP and I got involved with the Salvation Army, I for 14 years and JP for 12 years. Those were some fun and chaotic years, again I learned a lot.

So here I am today, retired and still looking for my nitch in life and back to graphic arts and making cards. ART has always been a part of my life and maybe it has been my life-saver, keeping me sane all these years. My goodness how in the world did I get off on all the above info????

Computer: FINALLY got my computer fixed. the cost??? $63.12 for more memory and $41.99 for instilation. $105.11 to get it running properly with less stress. Guess that is okay as I will get another couple of years out of this machine. It is working really well right now. Joe said for the age of my machine is was pretty clean but ran slow because it needed more memory. I did alot of preventative maintenance, cleaning cookies, defragging, PC registry cleaning and Mr. Norton doing his thing every day.

My next step towards a new lap-top will be to 1) get a wireless router.....2) a new printer for the lap-top....3) the lap-top. These 3 steps will not drain me financially. Joe said to buy everything right away will cost close to $1000, this way doing it step by step will alleviate financial stress. While still doing all this I still have a computer THAT WORKS!!! Windows XP will be obsolete by the end of this year and I will not be able to get it fixed at Office Depot. So I guess I got in at the wire. Joe also said that my computer is 10 years old and is going on 5th generation now. XP, Vista, Windows 7 and now Windows 8 - did I miss a generation????? (will have to google this and find out for sure).

Well, I guess it is time to close this blog, sort of rambled on a bit today, maybe because this computer is working and I am not having to wait for it to do it's thingie, it has been a pleasure to do this blog today. So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Cards, Flowers and Garage Sale Stuff

My newest card is in my Etsy store. "The Flying Duck 2". I love this technique, really a lot of fun to do. Using the duck template, I stamped a scenery stamp on card stock, then dabbing around the edges of the duck to finish it off. Embellish any way you would like.



A cluster of beautiful mums in my front yard.



The last of my brown-eyed susans. Hopefully next spring there will be an abundance of daisy's growing.

Still have some garage sale stuff for sale. A lady emailed me who saw my ad on Craigslist and wanted to know if I still had some plants and plant stands, pots and stuff. Took some pictures and emailed them to her....take it all for $20....haven't heard from her yet. Guess I was supposed to mark it all for "FREE"

Taking my computer in on Friday to get cleaned and more ram put into it. Gosh, sure do hope this all will help. Been fiddling with this computer, typing a few words at a time into this blog......good thing "Nashville" was on so it didn't matter how long it took for this machine to do it's thingie.

Well, time to close, need to get the husband's dinner going, ride my bike and do some dishes so you all take card and take Jesus and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Sweet Baby......and a "Star" Clementis

Sweet little baby from the past...............not really sure where I got this picture, must have been on the Internet someplace. I tried saving her along with some other old pictures to a CD, but it would not work. So, just moved the sweet baby to my pictures and then I thought the baby needed to go on my blog.....so here she is.

My computer is still not working the best, but it is workable. Deleted a few things, removed a program and defraged. Moved some files and cleaned some files. Well, hopefully the memory sticks will show up on Monday so I can take this computer in for a thorough cleaning and the memory added.

JP and I cut down my Star Clementis today......gosh was that ever a mess. Never cut down the old growth last Fall, so the new growth grew over the old and the vine was humongous this year. As you can see in the above picture. "Star" in all it's glory. During my garage sales, people would ask me what kind of flower the vine was and I didn't know. Then one lady showed up and said, "Oh your star clementis is beautiful, I have one just like it, what are you doing to care for it?" Wasn't really doing anything except watering and a little bit of fertilizer was all.

So today, we chopped it all down. Hopefully it will grow back in all it's glory. Next spring I want to dig up a few roots and bury them in the backyard and get these beauties growing on a fence that needs some flowers. I have a purple clementis growing in the back yard, maybe I can get a few cuttings and start them along side my star clementis...........we'll see. Really need to think about rearranging my backyard. I might be getting a fountain with alot of flagstones, so I need to decide where to put the fountain.

Well, it's time to close for the night so you all keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh.

Cheers ~ Louise

Computers ~ Computers ~ Computers!!!!!

Can't live with them and can't live without them. Well, at least I can say my computer was not peed on like this one...hahahaha!!!! Thought I would be off-line for a couple of days but that did not happen. Thank God.

Took the computer to Office Depot and "Joe" figured out that I needed more memory. What with all the things I listed that were wrong with this machine. So, he had me go to www.newegg.com to order 2 Add-On - Memory Upgrades which will come to my house. (my computer is 8 years old, so Office Depot does not carry the memory sticks for my machine anymore). Once the memory sticks show up, I will have to unplug everything and take it back to Office Depot. Then they will clean my PC and remove a few programs that I tried removing that would not budge.....Joe said he would rip them out with a program he has.....that would be fine with me as a couple of these programs are causing problems.

Joe works Monday, Tuesday and Friday's so these two memory gadgets must show up tomorrow or Monday the latest. Tuesday will mean no computer till Friday, then I really will be off-line for a couple of days, like maybe 3 days! Yikes, will I survive????? Thinking I will bring the computer up from down stairs and plug that in and see if it works.......maybe this transition will not be as hard as I am thinking.

So, what did you think of the great debate on Thursday??? I am getting a great feeling about these elections. I love the way Obama is crying foul and calling Romney a liar. Romney on the other hand is standing firm and pointing out all the things Obama has NOT done in his 4 years as President. "Do we really want another 4 years like these last 4 years?" No, I sure don't. The liberals sure have been grasping at straws lately, will be interesting to watch. We are in BIG trouble if Obama gets back in the White House.......Mrs Obama says "If my husband wins, we are going to party hard that night." So my question is, "Isn't that what you have been doing these past 4 years??????"

Well, guess I shall call this a day. Need to go ride my bike tonight, work on shaving some more miles off the 170 mile challenge. I have 85 miles to go by November 2nd. We'll see how far I get.

So you all have a great evening and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

Off Line for a Few Days

Yep..........that's what I look like when this computer is not working properly, it is driving me
NUT-SO!!!!

I am taking this computer to Office Depot today, I have literly had it!!!! Not sure what I will be doing without not having a computer in the house, shucks, maybe I will get some stuff done around the house. This is going to be quite the sacrifice, but I guess it has to be done for my sanity. Don't want to be looking like that poor puppy dog above.

If I take the computer in today, might get it back tomorrow so that won't be too bad of wait. Well, I do have some money to put towards whatever it might need and if they try to talk me into another computer.......we will see.

Well, I guess I shall close here, time to get ready to face the music.
Talk to you later and you'se all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!!!
Cheers, cheers, cheers, ~ Louise

A Saturday Haul of Money and Stamping Supplies

Today is Saturday and it became our "Date Day", which can always be a fun day. So, once I got myself going, after waking up with a headache, worked out the kinks in my neck and took a Tylenol, I was fine after we got going.

We first went to Neenah for a "Stamping Rummage Sale". There must have been about 25 vendors there, tables were set up the length of the room so there were A LOT of stamping supplies. I spent $21.50 for a stamp, little red bows, 3 reinkers and a Copic reinker, 10 acrylic blocks for clear stamps, tape, embossing folder and 6 sheets of silver cardstock...........a great haul. Following are some pictures.

Sorry for this first photo, could not figure out how to turn it right-side up once it got on my blog. It was right when it downloaded into the computer, but somewheres between the download and upload into blogspot, it turned around. I am sure you got the idea of what I bought.

This picture turned out okay, you can see the embossing folder and silver cardstock a little bit better in this picture. After the rummage sale, we went back to Appleton and ate at "The Windy City" restaurant, where everything is Chicago style. After eating it was off to Kriegers Jewelery where I sold some old jewelry to them, making $175!!! (So with the garage sale and this $$$$ the total is $400....just $400 away from a new computer and boy do I need one SOON!!!!

Next on the agenda to sell is more jewelry and then the foreign and US coins and money!!! I have a business card of a coin dealer that will come to the house to check out my stuff. He showed up at my garage sale last Friday........so I just may call him.

After the jewelry store, we headed to the Antique Store where I bought these old fashioned cards. Thought I could re-print them and up-date them into the 21st century. Their price, 50 cents a card. Also found a cookbook marked down 50% to $2.50....there were a few recipes that looked pretty good.

Well, I think I shall close for now as this computer is driving me NUT-SO because it is taking so long to type even a few words....it has been  auto-saving every couple of seconds....So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

Sunny and 50 Degrees....One More Sale!!!

So, I have decided to have another Garage Sale tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be nice, 50 degrees and sunny, good day for a sale and I have a LOOOOONNNGGGG way to go to get a new computer. So another garage sale is needed. The stuff left is dwindling, not sure I will lower the prices, as most of the stuff is already marked down at 25 cents and 50 cents to a $1.

I need to put an ad on Craigslist tonight. I was surprised last week that a few people showed up and they said they came because they saw my ad on Craigslist.com. So I think that is the way to go. The signs work too, but a lot of people come and go, cause they found they were here already. Sooooo, if this is my last sale, I surely will miss doing this....BUT....if the weather is good next week, I just may do it again, stay tuned for next week.

The Vice-Presidential Debate is on right now, Biden sure is laughing a lot....is that a nervous laugh (?) or is he laughing because he thinks Ryan is lying a lot.........Not really sure, gosh they sure are arguing a lot. Body language says a lot, will most definitely have to listen to Rush, Sean and Mark tomorrow and see what they have to say.

Will be glad when this Presidential race is over and the results are made known November 7th!!! Sort of tired of all this lying by all these politicians.....wish they could get their act together and stop playing like kindergartners and 1st graders!!!

"Build a bridge and get over it"!!!

I am making a "hash browns pizza" with sausage and cheese, onions and peppers. Made it a couple of weeks ago and JP really liked it......guess it is a keeper. Will have to take a picture and download to the computer and place it on my blog next time around. Well, it is time to close for now, so you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

My 170 Mile Challenge and Garage Sale

So, I am on another Challenge for this month..........riding my stationary bike 170 miles. The challenge started September 24th and ends November 2nd. Not sure how well I will do with this challenge, so far I have traveled 41 miles. If I put on 30 miles this week and discipline myself to go 5 miles a day, the mileage will be 99 miles left to go till November 2nd, this might be doable. But I have been VERY lazy the last couple of weeks for some reason. Need to really snap out of this. Don't know if it has something to do with my blood sugars or blood pressure. Blood sugars were normal today (for me) 130 and my weight was down 1 lb. BUT my blood pressure was up pretty high. No, don't really want to say, as I may not have the hang of taking my BP properly, still practicing. 

Doctor had taken me off ALL medications this past May because my liver was stressing. So, Blood pressure and diuretics, vitamins, cholesterol and diabetic meds eliminated to get the liver back into it's normal state. Which must have happened because I haven't had any problems and have actually felt better. The body begins to heal it's self, which I think is the plan of God.............why oh why do we fool around with something God created perfectly????? I will never know.

Probably going to have my last garage sale this Friday. The weather will be cool, like 52 degrees and sunny, at least that is what the weather man predicted on Sunday. Soooooo, we shall see. It has actually been fun to do, as the garage is still set up, but really needs to come down as JP wants to get the snow blower out and get it fixed.

Still have alot of nice things out to sell, but did sell half the stuff and put alot of stuff out for FREE!!! People like free and would rather see ALL your stuff FREE..........geez, got to make some change for the pocket......still trying to get enough $$$$ for a new CPU as this computer is slowing down quite a bit!!!! So far I have made $222 (not bad) but I still have a LONG way to go to get a new computer.

Well, need to close here, as I need to work on balancing the check book and pay some bills this week. JP has another Doctors appointment for his arm and the dogs need to get groomed. We need to prepare the front and back yards for winter too. So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

A Few New Cards Added to Etsy

Hi everyone........not sure how many that is, but hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday.....so much to do, so little time. Been watching some cooking shows on TV this morning and now I am ready to cook. My direction is towards tomatoes and peppers. Received a great surprise early this morning, JP came home with a big box of tomatoes and peppers from work. On one of the cooking shows, Lydia from Italy made "stuffed tomatoes" gonna try this one today for dinner, I have some big peppers in the frig, so I need to stuff them too. Made a big pot of rice and added some little sausages to that rice. Deydrated some peppers and tomatoes and will make some salsa also.

Was reading on another blog that today is "World Make a Card Day". Well for sure I will be making my Christmas cards tonight, but thought I would add come cards already made to this blog. Hope you like them.

The above card "Happy Anniversary with the two doves" was made a couple of weeks ago and just added it to my Etsy store a couple of days ago. (the card is $3.00 + shipping and postage) It was basically easy to put together. Using Wabashi taped on the card and the 3 silver hearts were punched out and glued on top of the tape. A border punch at the top for added pzazz. The doves were from  an Amuse die set, using the frame from the die cut and dabbing with pink ink to get the affect I wanted. The inside of the card says "Thinking of you on this Special Day"

This is my "The Flying Duck 1" card which I just added to my Etsy store last night the card  is priced  for  $3.00 + shipping and postage. A very fun card to make using a flying duck templates and stamping a scenery stamp on top then dabbing ink around the duck to fill in. A scripture verse added and the lines drawn in and studs added to embellish. 

I added this Christmas decoration along with a few other decorations to Etsy this past week. Little round disks punched out and folded to form the horn like sections then dabbed with gold speckles. Each section is glued together to form the wreath, Peace is calligraphied and speckled and the tree added for embellishment. This ornament can be added to your tree, on a present, on the door where ever you want to display this lovely ornament. The price is $7.00 + shipping and postage.

I have not added this card to Etsy as yet........it's a very fall looking card and looks like the duck is flying into fire or a sunset or sunrise. You can see the scenery stamp pretty clear here. Done pretty much the same way as the above duck card only adding squiggly lines. This card will also be $3.00 + shipping and postage.

As this post has gotten pretty long, I think I will close here for the day. You all take care and enjoy your Saturday and Sunday and keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Wordless Wednesday

Oh the life of a dog (if he is in a good home)!!!

Have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh!

Cheers ~ Louise