Hi there everyone. Can you believe it? The last day of July, I think it was just a few days ago that it was July 4th.....right?!?! The summer is flying by way too fast. I am still working on my yard, planting, painting, pulling weeds and what ever tickles my fancy. Sometimes I just prefer to be lazy and do NOTHING!!! I read someplace, that in retirement, everyday is Saturday.....I am still waiting for that, guess I have not been retired long enough....lol!
So, Sunday I cooked on the grill. I am surprising myself, I've grilled more this year then I have in previous years....not sure why, one reason might be that I moved the grill to the patio area rather then in front of the garage.....seems more cozy here and I can sit on the chair and watch the fire. The walk into the house is shorter...…(ha, by a few steps).
I have chicken (from Sam's Club) was marinated and sprinkled with my homemade seasoning....soooo good! The red potatoes were halved, sprayed with avocado spray, seasoned with my homemade seasoning. I then put them in the microwave for about 15 minutes then put on the grill. I should have taken a picture when the food was done....potatoes and chicken browned perfectly! I just finished up the last of chicken about 30 minutes ago. Good meal with plenty of left overs for JP's dinners. This definitely will be a regular for the grill the rest of this summer.
So now I will take you on a tour of my back yard.....mind you, there is so much to do yet, probably by the time I get everything done....it will be late Fall and time to put everything in the garage and shed. In the above picture, I have one cherry tomato plant growing....gives me a handful of tomatoes almost every day. My white rose bush died....we will have to dig it up one of these days.....no rush.
In the above picture, I have 3-4 bean plants growing...yep have gotten some beans off the plants. In the black container above the beans, I have a basil plant growing. I took a bunch of leaves off, rinsed them, and placed them on the chicken, cooked a little bit longer, then put mozzarella on top of the basil and chicken...oh yes!! A little marinara sauce helped also.
See those purple and red drawers and broken brown chair? Eventually I will fix the chair and spray paint it and the drawers will eventually have shade flowers growing in them....any ideas?
Here we are at my pond area....love this part of my yard. I need another layer of mulch to brighten things up. See the ceramic cow down in the right corner??? I will be spraying her white with black spots, she will be a Holstein cow. I think she was originally all brown and the paint wore off....time to repaint.
A few hosta's and inpatient's growing in my pond area. Not a lot of sun shines in this area....it's mostly shade. See my Flamingo's....love Flamingos.
Here is my little sitting area....although I have not had time to sit, cause every time I sit down on my red bench....I see something that needs to change or moved some place else. See my tires? Been spray painting them and growing things in them....still not done. I have a tire that I will paint bright pink. That will be a colorful addition. Bought a "popcorn hosta" and it will go in the pink tire.
This is my second planter that I received free from Habitat for Humanity. This one has beans, pepper plant and a tomato plant. I am planning on planting some chives, and lettuce and maybe some spinach.
If you have made it to this point, I congratulate you and hopefully I didn't bore you.
In this planter are onions, carrots, a new planting of radishes, beans, pepper plant and cucumber plant that is really producing an abundance of cucumbers. As I mentioned in a previous post....these plants get the morning and early noon sun.
So there you have it. A walk in my garden. I have a few more pictures to share, but that will come in the next post, hopefully within the week.
Talk to you all later, have a great week and coming weekend. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone. Well, as my title says, okay, here are the cards we made at Betty's 13 days ago. Guess I am kinda slow at posting them. It's always a joy to go to Betty's and learn something new.
The top card was stamped with the flowers and the die cut lady bug is from a set Betty got from www.wish.com for just $1...I think she got a few other things along with this little guy. Cute as a bug, isn't it.
I Love Flamingos. This was fun to make. The card was sponged with blue ink for the sky and water. The Flamingos came in five pieces, so you had to match each piece in different colors, oh and get the beek right too.....I must have tried 3 times....this was one of those times, we needed a "Misti". The Flamingo turned out pretty good after a couple of tries.
This was a pretty fishy card....lol! We colored the fish with copic markers. The netting was stamped and a few gems to pop. The waves were from a patterned paper....looks almost real!!
This was an easy card....I really need to find me one of these die cut deer's, hopefully by Christmas so I can make a few of these cards. I have the trees and snowflakes and a die cut something like this one....just need the deer!!! I shall be on the hunt!!!
I've taken a week off from making cards....not sure why, for it is something I really enjoy. My yard keeps calling my name....there still is so much to do. I have been painting tires and planting things in them. Also, I transplanted a tomato plant for the 4th time....I am wondering if it will ever take root. We'll see, it's a Rutger, still has 2 months yet to grow. I still have not gotten all my garden animals out yet......
Can't believe there is only 3 days left in this month....where is this summer going to so fast!!! Well, I think I will close here, as there really is not much to talk about. Do you have times like that? Where there is not much going on to even do a blog??? I used to do a post every other day or so....now it's every week or so or more....
Oh well....keep looking up, better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone...yes that is right, these are the cards we made at Betty's last month....I guess I am a little behind, as this Wednesday is another session of card making....my how time flies. I have not figured out where this year is going? Going so, so fast. Haven't even finished my outside work yet. Tomorrow, it's suppose to be a little bit cooler, so I might do some stuff outside, like paint another tire and plant my Popcorn Hosta in it....yes, I am still planting things.
Need to start another row of lettuce soon, gosh the lettuce I planted in the spring was good, a little sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, stevia...makes a good dressing along with cherry tomatoes and radishes from the garden....heaven!!!!!
So these are some of the cards we made last month...I even took pictures of them right after I made them. To make sure I would post them right away....nope, that did not happen. I like the verse, "I hope thistle cheer you up." with purple thistles in the jar colored with copic markers. Cute, cute.
Cute little possum laying on a hammock, colored with copic markers.
This ladybug was fun to make. Betty said she saw a sample of it on Pinterest and duplicated it....I do that a lot....I see a card I like and duplicate it with the stamps I have on hand...never quite looks the same....but close.
When I used to be a hairdresser, I could duplicate hairdo's. The lady would come in with a picture of what she wanted to look like and I almost always would come close. Of course it always depended on the head of hair I was working on. If the picture of the lady had real thick hair, the lady wanting that hairdo had thin, fine hair.....would be kinda hard to make it look like the picture....but I tried to please.
You probably recognize this card, as it is my header card...I thought this was a very pretty card. In order to duplicate this card I would need the die cut of the tree....the trees in the back ground were stamped and embossed then the tree was dabbed with brown and black to make it look like a birch tree. All was done on iridescent paper to give it that shine.
I just got done cutting JP's hair, he was getting pretty shaggy. Gave him a pretty short hair cut, using the clippers and trimmed his beard too...this cut should last till about September or October....he has had free haircuts since 1971, when we first met and he has never tipped me....HA....cheap, cheap!!!!!
UPDATE: Sitting at my computer and noticed $2 by the lamp...I said, "what is this for?" JP says, "it's your tip!" Oh my goodness, my first tip from him in 47 years!!!
Oh, I need to tell you....I have been dieting for over a year, watching and writing the things I put in my mouth....yeah, it's been tuff, but I am glad to say as of today....I have lost 26 lbs....it's been a very slow process. But, hey, I did not put it on fast.....it was a slow process of gaining a pound here and there. I am hoping to eventually eliminate all these pills I am taking for diabetes and high blood pressure. The Doctor says he wants to see "less of me" at my next visit. Meaning he wants to see me weighing less then what I have....I think I might be able to accomplish that....at this point.
Lately I have been making Dr. Atkin's shakes in the morning and it seems to hold me over till the evening....I will take it. The shakes are so delicious, I put a half frozen banana and handful of frozen strawberries, a few ice cubes and the shake....mix it up in my blender and "wa-la" a delicious, thick shake that I have to use a spoon with....soooooo good.
Well, it is time to make JP's lunch as he will be leaving for work in about an hour and half. Talk to you all later, keep looking up as better days are coming....you just watch!!!! Cheers ~ Louise
Hi there everyone....did you miss me?? Yeah, been busy I guess. Working on cards, growing my gardens, enjoying my flowers to the trickling sound of my little pond. Such is retirement, not a whole lot goes on in my life.
So in these two pictures are some cards I put together. My secret stamper sent me the ladybug image, of course in black and white and I colored it in with alcohol inks. I really liked the way it turned out. When I first got the images (12 of them), my first thought was that it was a turtle, so I colored it in greens....but wait a moment....turtles don't have antena's do they???? Nope, it was then I realized this image was a LADYBUG!!! Big difference!!!
The image of the giraffes is what I sent to my secret stamper. I used pearl-x to color in the giraffes, so they have a little bit of shimmer. This is what I came up with, using the giraffes. Now on to August and a new image. Maybe next post I will take pictures of the cards I made using my image and the image sent to me by my secret stamper. Kind of a preview of what I have been doing of late.
In the pictures following, is one of my little gardens. From this end, is my cucumber plant, pepper plant and two bean plants. I already got a pepper off the plant, I cheated, it was already growing when I bought the plant. So I waited till it got bigger then we ate it!!! These plants get the morning sun.
In this picture, onions, lettuce, carrots and radishes. I think I may cut some lettuce tonight...getting pretty big. We've had a few radishes....very small but good. I do have another planter with beans, a pepper plant and tomato plant growing. These plants get the afternoon sun.
Here is my garden pond....always fun to listen to the trickle of the pond. Hostas and white Impatient's grow in this garden as they like shade. I do have another Hosta to plant....a Popcorn Hosta.....not sure if I will plant it here or by the other planter along side the fence. I still have time before Fall. Don't want to rush things, you know?
It sure has been warm, some days going in the 90's and humid. We have all the fans going 24/7 just to keep a breeze flowing in the house. The basement has been tolerable. There is a fan going down there too, along with my "artic blast" a wee little air-conditioner that you have to sit by, in order to keep cool. I do have a window air conditioner in the kitchen. BUT, it only works for a short time and begins to spit. So I have to turn on the fan till it stops spitting, then I can turn it back up to #1 till it starts to spit again, then I turn it back down to the fan. The intervals are about 1/2 hour, it does get cool for a short time. I guess I really need to look into finding a new air conditioner. To tell you the truth....I prefer this kind of weather, struggling with the heat rather then struggle with the snow....the picture below is from this past snow storm in April....I guess I like my gardens.
Time to close here....you all have a great weekend, don't we all love Saturday and Sunday....yay!! Have a good one, keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise
