I Love This Last Post of July......Yayyyyy

Hi there everyone. I don't know about you, but this month of July was a really tough one. Financially, spiritually and emotionally oh and physically!!!. I love this post because it's the last one of July and hopefully August will be a little bit more forgiving.

So where does one start???? Well here's a good place.....July 5th I got on the scale and decided to start another DIET!!! This time with Dr. Atkins. It's a high protein, low carbs, low sugars and sodium. And the weight lost??? 10 lbs!!! Dr. Atkins was very popular back in the 70's and 80's. Some where's in between there, I tried the Atkin's diet for a while...but did not stick to it. 

There is another diet out there, called the Keto diet. They say it is Dr. Atkins on steroids....not sure why. Guess I will have to compare the two and see what the difference is.

Going into August I want to try for another 10lbs. I will let you know how things go. Also, on August 22nd I have another A1C blood check. So I would like to see those numbers down and controlled. My eventual goal is to have lost 50-75 lbs and controlled blood sugars and blood pressure. So I don't have to be on medication anymore. Plus I have lots of clothes I could finally wear again. 

Financially.....Our Mortgage Co. decided to sell us to another Co. after 15 years.....I was bummed. We had to jump through a few hoops. My previous Co. did not even inform us, when suddenly I get a letter from the new company. Almost threw it out, cause I thought it was junk mail. We were given 3 days to make the change. If mailed before the 12th then send mortgage to the previous Co. if mailed after the 13th mail to the new company. Geez, talk about confusion. So I made the check out to the previous Company but then thought I should send it to the new company.....no, bad move. I called the new company 2 times...then it was decided I should stop payment and mail a new check to the new company, registered mail. Needless to say our mortgage payment was very, very late.

We are going to get a privacy fence put up in our yard by habitat for humanity. We had to come up with 10% of the fencing. The other 90% will be paid back when and if we sell our house. Which we are not planning to do at this point in time. 

The last payment for our house taxes was due this month to the tune of $420 which was hard to come up with, but we managed. In the midst of that.....to drum up some extra money, I finally wrote some claims out to our Ins. Co. AFLAC came through with $400.....that sure helps a lot. I still have a few more claims to fill out for 2017. They might even pay for my surgery in January for my eye lids.

Needless to say all these problems caused much stress and high emotions. I took a few pills I got from my Doctor that calms the nerves.

Spiritually speaking, In all this, I wondered where God was......sometimes it is hard to see the hand of God in my personal life. I guess that is why hind site is better then fore site. Looking back I will be able to see God's hand in all that took place in July. But right now...it's kinda hard.

Well, time to close here. JP will be home in 20 minutes, so I better get his dinner cooked. Which I already made. Stuffed chicken breast with asparagus and cheese....gosh the chicken was tender. Oh suppose there will be fruit and fries and toast. Sounds good, huh??

Have a great day, keep looking up, better days are coming. 

Cheers ~ Louise

Almost Another 10 Days Have Passed

Hi there everyone. Thought I better do a post...it's almost another 10 days since the last one. Not exactly sure where these days are going, but they sure are flying by. I could understand if we were on a great vacation to someplace exotic, but no, we are not. Just home-bound with no place to go. Many issues stand in our way. Money is the #1 issue for sure, need I say more???

So we make the best with what we have and go on from there. My little world revolves around my home anyways, so here is where my vacation time is. Going out in the back yard, sitting on the front porch, or down in the basement making cards, playing with my flowers and plants, listening to my water fountains and trying to avoid mosquitoes. Ish I hate them. Did you know it is the female that bites, first she numbs the spot with her saliva then pokes you till she finds the vein...and sucks out the blood. I found a post about mosquitoes and will post it here in the next few days. 

I am  now going to show you some before and after pictures of the neighbors fence.....it took over a year for the finished look, but I guess it was worth the wait. I guess, I guess. I disliked having to look out my kitchen window and seeing all their junk....but now, I just see my junk and to tell you the truth, it is more pleasant looking out my kitchen window.

The above picture still shows their old green fencing with all their stuff...the jungle gym, brown house, purple dinosaur and a bunch of building stuff. The neighbor sold that fencing and the buyer took it down.

Here is a shot from another angle....all their stuff. Beyond their fence is my snow fence which will be replaced with a wooden fence by Habitat for Humanity this September....I can hardly wait.

I bought some bamboo last year and finally put the fencing up this year to camouflage all their stuff...but you can still see it. It did help for a little while.

Here you see behind my bamboo fencing is their 6 foot fencing....I actually love it and it gives much privacy. If the dumb mosquitoes would leave me alone I could sit out there and read my Bible.

So there you have it....instead of "As the World Turns" we have "As the Fence Turns" hahahahahaha!! Do you see my little solar fountains? Like when the sun shines and my fountains sprinkle water.

Well, time to close here. I mentioned in my last post, I had some exciting news to share with you....I think I will wait on that....maybe in August I will share the good news. Hold on.....it's coming. In the mean time keep looking up ~ better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

10 Days Already???

Hi there everyone. My goodness, has it been 10 days already since the last time I posted??? Really, I must think it is summer and I can take time off or something....lol! So anyways.....thought I would give you a few shots of my summer here in "Louise's La La Land"

I never get tired of taking pictures of my garden and it's lovely flowers. These two rose plants make the prettiest flowers. The white rose above is a long stemmed white rose, so it always looks great in a tall skinny vase. She has been around for at least 10 years. I want to get a new rose bush, have just the right place for it. Next to my yellow bush. I am think a violet/blue rose bush. I saw one this past spring, but did not buy it. I will be on the look out this fall, or next spring.

This rose bush has been with us for at least 20+ years and has always been loyal in it's production of beautiful roses. It sits in front of the house and gets full sun. The white rose gets half a day's worth of sun. Mostly the morning sun.

Here is my little herb garden. Basil and cilantro is about all I have planted. If I see something else, maybe I will plant it.....but not really looking.

Oh the glory of my Black Eyed Susan's.....I love these flowers and love that they come back every year and last 4-6 weeks. They too are in full sun. I can't seem to get them to grow in the back yard though....too much shade.

Miranda's Bee Balm....This is quite the choir of flowers. They were just starting to bloom here....I should really take a picture of them now, they have take over the back section of my yard which is over-grown now. I bought a new Miranda Bee Balm plant last week....a fuchsia colored one....just have to decide where I am going to plant it.

My little pond....never get tired of it. No, there are no fish in there. I want to buy a few more plastic lilly pads at Menards....hopefully they are still there when I do finally get back there to shop.

Well I think I will close here for now....I have some exciting news to tell you....but it shall have to wait till my next post. So be sure to come back for the up-date. 

Time to go walk Kylie, she is begging me to take her out. Then she wants to eat.....that is her evening schedule. 

You all keep looking up better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

How 'Bout Some Cards????

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying the day. I went shopping at Gordon's  today and got 2 1/2 dozen eggs for $2 along with bread, cheese, sliced turkey, fruit, salad, tomatoes and chocolate donuts. Total bill was $42...not bad. I like Gordon's, but it was a quick trip today. Had to be home by 3:30pm the latest to get JP off to work by 4:00pm. So his quick meal was 2 corn dogs from the gas station, mashed potatoes from last night and frozen fruit (thawed) from Gordon's. His lunch box was packed with the 2nd corn dog, chocolate donuts, fig bars, 3 Hersey nuggets, and 2 chocolate chip cookies. I know, I know, so much chocolate, he says it gives him energy?!?!?!?! It would give me a tummy ache....for sure.

I have not decided what JP's dinner will be when he gets home from work at 1:20am....probably some eggs and ham, fruit and chicken soup, I will make that tonight. Quick and easy.....heat water and put chicken bouillon soup in and boil, add noodles, then canned chicken and some curry for spice....makes for a nice soup.

So today I am showing you some cards I made recently. The Minion above was a card I saw on Pinterest.....cute card and simple to make. This card was for my grand-nephew, Dominik who turned 5 years old on July 1st.....hope he liked it, of course I put a new crisp $5 dollar bill in it....that, I am sure he liked. Who doesn't like $$$ on their birthday???

The next 3 cards were from my Stampin'up Paper Pumpkin Kit from April. I finally got all the cards made, most of them will go to Hospice. I will keep a couple for samples.

The kit came with watercolor pencils and brush. So what you see in pink, yellow and blue is the pencils colored in and then I brushed the cards with water.....I like this effect. The washi tape, stamps and ink are sent along with the embellishments and card stock.

Three different ideas using the products inside the box. These were fun cards to put together, must keep these cards in mind using the techniques here.

This last card was from the Stampin'up Paper Pumpkin Kit for June. Watermelon stamps and ink, cards, string, banner, stickers. I made a card and sold it already....better make some more.

Did you notice the American Flag/4th of July card in my banner?? That was made from a napkin. A very fun technique. Needless to say, I am always checking out napkins at the store to see what's new. So I found these napkins, cut them down to size, peeled the first layer off, glued white card stock and layed the napkin down and smoothed it out like wallpaper. Then it needed to dry before I played with it. All I added was the Happy 4th of July. I think I will make these cards for Veterans Day and add "Thank You" for Hospice.

Well, it looks like it is going to rain, so I better close here, and think about taking Kylie for a walk. Talk to you all later, keep looking up.....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Fences, X's and Solar Toys

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a lovely 4th of July week-end. Thought I would share with you how my little fencing looks....the neighbors are finally putting up their privacy fence, which will be nice for my side of the yard. So in the mean time I put up this bamboo fencing which camouflaged the junk in their backyard. It was hard to look at "their stuff" every day from my kitchen window. It did not bother my husband.....but it sure was depressing to me. 

I don't know about you, but when I have to do dishes and I look out my window and see "a royal mess" day in and day out....it is depressing. So I proceeded to try and make my side of the yard cute and pretty......something nice to look at. But, the neighbor said she thought my stuff was "old people stuff" and she would rather look at her stuff. NOT ME!!!! I tried to stay sweet and tolerant but I BOILED inside!!!!

Tomorrow their fence will be up....today they just put up the posts.

I will take pictures tomorrow of the fencing they put up.....it will be a world of difference, I am sure. NOPE! No finished fence today....maybe another couple of weeks, it might be finished. I won't hold my breath.

I still should get some sun, but not sure how much at this point. We will see what transpires. Gosh....maybe I should get a little kiddy pool to sit in when it gets really hot out.....will be nice to have some privacy!!!

This is a really weird picture......"X marks the spot" It was about 8:30am and I let Kylie out to do her business and I noticed this X with a circle around it in our driveway. I don't know where it was coming from....have never seen this before. It must be a reflection from something....but from where??? An unidentified object? As I said, I have never seen this before and we have lived in this house going on 26 years. Maybe it's a sign from heaven????

A few pictures of my solar animals......Jonah the Whale.....a Pink Flamingo and purple petunia's. Just planted these petunia's the other day.

"Bull Frogs and Butterflies and I've been born again".....so the song goes. So every time I get into the car that's the song that goes through my head. He just keeps moving to the light and makes me smile!!! Now a days, I need more smiles to keep me going.

I took lots of pictures today of flowers and fountains and fences.....maybe I should take a few pictures of some of the cards I have been making...really, I have been working on cards too. I have a couple of months to get some cards ready for Hospice....just taking my time.

You all have a great July 4th tomorrow. We have nothing special planned. We will probably work in the back yard....that's our vacation spot....wish the mosquitoes would leave me alone though. I might get the grill going and but some ribs on.

Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise