No...Haven't Been On Vacation....But

Hi there everyone. As my title says....No, Haven't been on vacation....But.........

I sure wish I could take off to someplace nice and sunny, with lots of water around me.....these two pictures look mighty fine to me.

So what have I been doing since my last post on June 11th???

Visiting my neighbors garden to see  how her garden is growing....these are some of her lovely Clementius

Making cards at Betty's. Plus making cards in my basement.....keeping very busy there.

Cooking.....ah yes......cooking with Blue Apron and whatever I may come up with on the days without Blue Apron.

Celebrating Father's Day with this cute and yummy little Chocolate cake from Festival Foods.....when in doubt....buy a cake!!!

Going through storms that eventually pass. This limb came crashing down on my pond garden and hit the cloths line....no damage though.

This past weekend I went on a Garden Walk, put on by the Master Gardeners. This garden was in Neenah....every plant is grown in water and some never touch soil till it is planted outside. Those blue tanks hold Tipila fish....their waste is converted to fertilizer for plants and the plants filter water that returns to the fish....Now that is what I call the circle of life!!!

I bought some Heirloom tomatoes from them and were they ever delicious. I have plans of going back there a couple more times this summer, as they have duck and chicken eggs for sale. JP has been wanting duck eggs. When we had our 20 acres, I raised chickens and ducks and we got quite a few eggs. Two chicken eggs = 1 duck egg and JP always got a duck egg and bacon for breakfast. He misses those eggs. So now we found them in Neenah and he is a happy man!!!

This was a cute little wheel barrel on a walk.....the gardener is just now working up this section of his yard and for added eye appeal, he added this wheel barrel. I have an old wheel barrel in my yard too....it's growing cucumbers and a drawer of radishes, onions and swiss chard. I shall have to take a picture soon. I have been re purposing my drawers, repainting, putting knobs on, filling with dirt and planting stuff. (pictures to follow)

This same man's garden, square foot and rotating garden. I really like this concept as there is no deep bending and everything is up off the ground. I will show you more pictures at a later date. I took over 30 pictures on the 4 places I walked through and then I missed 2 of the places.

At this garden the lady had over 1000+ hostas' in her back yard....it's her hobby for sure.....it sure was a lovely garden though and each hostas was marked as to what it's name was. This is her wheel barrel.

Another view of her yard. More pictures to follow in future posts.

This stepping stone was in her garden.....I just had to take a picture. One of my plans this summer is to make my own stepping stones.....I have the cement, forms and some broken pottery and cracked marbles and such. So I am ready for the great experiment. If I make an abundance of stepping stones, I might try selling them.....who knows?

A few signs in the gardens....."Happiness is a butterfly in my garden"

"There is no set Path....follow your heart.

I have a few other things up my sleeve that I want to make....but that may be down the road a bit. I think by the time I do everything I want.....Fall will be here and I still have not gotten all my ceramic figures out yet.....yikes, times a wasting!!!!

I am so glad I am feeling better this summer and not sick, like I was last summer with my hernia problems....2015 was a tuff year for me with dental, eye surgery and the hernia surgery plus being sick and throwing up so much. Yeah, this is definitely a better year.

Well, time to close here before I bore you to death. Have a great day and keep looking up.....better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise

A Busy Saturday...

Hi there everyone. Well, it WAS a very busy Saturday....whew and I even took a nap!!!

Up at 8:00am to take Kylie to the Groomer by 8:30. Then over to Festival Foods to buy a chicken for today's dinner. Home and put the chicken in the crock pot. My only seasoning was BBQ sauce.

Had breakfast, then off to the Library for a workshop put on by the Master Gardeners "gardening in pots and other types of containers." I really learned lots of new things. (now I have to put my learning into action.) There was a demo, also with the chance to win the potted plant. The lady put succulent plants in an old lunch box....it was cute when finished. I am not into succulent plants so I really did not desire to win.....and....I didn't which was fine with me.

After the workshop, I went to visit Misty the cat, I am watching. Doloris told me to make a cup of tea while visiting.....so I did. Cleaned Misty's litter, gave her fresh water and cat food, then sat and talked to her. I think she misses Doloris cause she was not too interested in what I had to say.

Home again and waiting for the groomer to call and the mailman to bring my new Mini Misti to me. Neither happened, so I took a nap!!! Then about 1:30 the groomer called to come pick Kylie up.

When I got home with Kylie.....I checked the mail and "WAH-LA" there was my Mini Misti....yay!!!! Can hardly wait to play with it.

Pulled a few weeds and the neighbor brought over some dirt that they needed to get rid of and I said I could use to fill some places that were low....so that is a good thing.

About 5:00 the crock pot signaled that it was done cooking my chicken. So I cooked up some French fries, beans and corn on the cob. We sat down to eat a yummy dinner.

At 7:00pm the hockey game started between the Sharks and Penguins in San Jose.....they are still playing, the game is in overtime and score is 2-2!

So this is a yummy meal I made Friday night with Blue Apron. "Spinach Pesto Gnocchi with sautéed Asparagus & Brown Butter" Yep, I would make it again. If you are interested in this recipe, leave a comment I can direct you to the recipe. In the below picture I added steak to this meal....oh my goodness, a perfect combination.

I found this card on the Internet....and in the process of making some cards like it for Hospice....will show you what I came up with in the next few days. But for now, I need to play with my Mini Misty.

As soon as this hockey game is over, we are taking a ride to visit Misty the cat and see how her litter, food and water is.. She seems to be pretty thirsty and her bowl was empty at this mornings visit. We will make one more visit tomorrow  after church. Doloris will be home about 3 or 4, hopefully she will come home to a clean litter and a happy cat.

Well, time to close here....hockey game is still in progress...OH A GOAL!!! YAY....THE SHARKS WON!!! 3-2 (I still wish the Blackhawks were the ones playing!)

Have a great day and keep looking up....better days are coming!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

The Last Day of May and....

Hi there everyone....how was you Memorial Day Weekend.....my goodness, we plan ahead for the big day and then....POOH....it's gone.

I had a nice day...worked outside, pulling weeds and planting some tomato, pepper and cabbage plants and a few old seeds...if I don't see growth, I will replant.

We grilled out, (shucks no pictures) yummy prime rib hamburgers and red potatoes with a Caesar salad on the side. Then we ate on the front porch. Something we have not done in a long time for some reason. Yeah, I think I know the reason, I was sick all last summer and did not feel like grilling and eating on the porch. That could have been the reason.

Well, being this is the last day of May....I have 9 days till Hospice meeting. I have not even started to make cards yet.....but I think the following cards will be samples of what I will be making.

I found this card yesterday on the internet and thought it would make a great 4th of July card and even a Veterans Day card in October.

The butterfly card below looks like a fun card to make. Just punch a bunch of circles and 2 hearts for wings.

I made this card for Father's day, some birthday cards for men would be good with this design. It's kinda fun to do and very relaxing as it sort of reminds me of adult coloring.

As soon as I receive my Mini Misti in the mail....I am going to make this card. The flower comes in 4 different stamps...so using the misti will help with stamping this stamp.

Today JP and I had our teeth cleaned. We are good till September and another visit. Tomorrow the car gets an oil change. Friday through Sunday I will be sitting for Misty the cat.

I will go to her house, feed her, talk to her, pet her and clean her litter. She seems to enjoy my visits plus I even get paid to watch her. A Bonus!!!!

Saturday, Kylie goes to the groomer at 8:30am and then there is a demo at the Library put on by the Master Gardeners at 10am to 11:30 in how to do container gardening. They will put a planter together and then there will be a drawing for the planter. I feel "lucky" since I just won a Mini Misti.....lol!

Well time to close this post....hope you have a great evening and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

My Memorial Weekend Project.....And a Blessing to Those That Served

This being Memorial Day, I would like to THANK YOU to you all that served this country that we might still be FREE. You gave your life, just as Jesus gave his, that we might be saved from our sins and live in freedom. Thank You, Thank You! For all you have done!! As this song goes, "Thank you Lord for saving my soul, thank you Lord for making me whole, thank you Lord for giving to me, thy great salvation, a gift to me."

Hi there everyone. How is your Memorial Day Weekend going??? As you can see, I am posting this on Sunday (late) evening. We were quite busy Saturday, my project was my neighbors side of their house. Her weeds were growing very well and as they have been up north, I asked her if I could pull her weeds and plant some extra tomato and pepper plants we received from the Appleton Master Gardeners. Her answer was yes.

So in these two pictures you can see all those weeds...pretty easy to pull, there was a fern and a small hostas planted along this side of her house. On the other side of the door are a few more hostas....I will work around them.

In the picture below is the finished project on this side of the door. I threw in some zucchini seeds, 2 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants and 4 cabbage plants. Along with some radish seeds. I will also throw some Swiss Chard seeds and onions too.

The ground was really pliable and easy to work with. I sure do hope these plants grow. They will get lots of hot afternoon sun during the day, so that will help in growth. Another plus will be when I walk out my back door I will see these plants growing rather then weeds. My side of the driveway will be flowers but they only get the morning sun.

Here's another shot of the side of her house.

Tomorrow I will have this part to work on.....maybe just pull the weeds and get some more tomato plants.....I have fallen in love with sliced tomato sandwiches.....and I want to can some this year too. So we can't have too many tomatoes!!!

Today I suffered from being outside all day yesterday and I got bit up pretty bad by the mosquitos or whatever they were. I did not feel a thing till last night when they started itching. I tried sprays, Absorbine Jr. (which felt cooling) everything. Finally a friend at church said try some Benadryl, so when we got home, I took a pill....and in half an hour I was out like a light...tonight I ran HOT water on my arms and legs. Helps for a little while then the itch starts up again.

So, as much as I would like to do some more weeding I am so fearful of the mosquitos getting me, I shall have to carry a bug candle around with me or something to repel them. OR not work so late into the evening.

I am looking forward to receiving my Mini Misti this week sometime....so I really need to get some more things planted before the Misti comes because I shall lock myself in the basement and will be playing with making cards with my Misti!!!! It's the little things that make me happy!!!

Well, time to close, you all have a great day and keep on looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Exercise, I Won a Misti and a Garden Walk

Hi there everyone, how have you all been doing. I guess I have been MIA again for a week, again.

Had Internet and U-Verse problems these last 5 days. Finally broke down and called At&t and talked to some foreign person that is so very hard to understand. (Gosh.....I hate having to do that). But the problem is fixed and you know "what I have to do??" Each day I have to pull the plug on the modem....can you believe that??? I struggled for 5 days. I would be on the Internet and the TV would freeze up then give me a message that U-Verse signal has been lost and I had to jump through 5 hoops to get things working again.....nope, not gonna do that. But then to top that off, every time I would try to do something on the Internet I would get the message "oops we can't find that page". Boy I was getting VERY frustrated.

First I thought it was my computer and I had to take it in to get cleaned and that there was some kind of virus. But then, when the TV would freeze up, I decided it was an At&t problem. So I finally called tonight and explained the situation to the first guy....we got cut off. Then I called back and got a second guy and had to explain everything a 2nd time (geez, getting a little upset by now) and I was not sure he could really figure it out.

Suddenly he said...."I know what  the problem is and he said I had to unplug the modem for 2 seconds every day" "yeah, sure, I said, we'll see" Okay....everything is working so far..................

So I really didn't start a new exercise routine....I have been thinking about it though....hahhahaha!!

I am soooooo excited!!! I won a mini misti from here. A misti was being given away everyday for the Month of May. All I had to do was leave a comment on the blog that was giving away the misti for that day here's that blog. Today I found out I won one......don't usually win things...but today was my "lucky day"!!! When my misti comes in the mail I will show you how it works....it's a great tool for a stamper/scrapbooker.

I took a picture of my Purple balls (their names fail me).....the first year I had one ball. The second year 3 balls. This year....6 balls! They are multiplying. (there was another one, but it fell on the ground....so it happily made it's way into the house as a bouquet. (maybe I should take a picture of it)

This is the Garden Walk....my neighbor Kathy...which I just met a few weeks ago has a wonderful back yard that I was just biting at the bit to see. Finally one day I gathered the nerve to ask her about a plant I had in my front yard....I did not know if it was a weed or a flower. She did not know what it was.....today she said it was "Phlox" I guess I will let it keep growing.

This is her Lupine.....pretty purple....love, love.

A beautiful Clementius.

Some pretty pink Lupine.

Ummmmm....I forgot what she called these pretty flowers. Kathy said she would let me know when more flowers were blooming in June...that will be fun. June is also the Master Gardeners Garden walk....I might go to that too. Never know what kind of ideas one can come up with. Course I have so many ideas going....I may not be able to keep up with myself.

Well, time to close here, I have to get another Father's day card up on Etsy tonight. Now, as long as things are working right....PTL!!

Have a great night and a good Saturday and keep looking up, things do get better....just ask me!!!

Cheers ~ Louise