Labor Day Weekend

Hi there everyone....hope you are having a nice and relaxing Labor Day Weekend. Well, as of 1/2 hour ago, our relaxing Labor day weekend ended. I saw a few bees buzzing around in the basement as I watched TV. OH NO!!! We have had a problem with bees the last couple of weeks outside, along side the house. JP sprayed them a couple of times....but I guess the can of spray was kind of old.

So, I bought a new can at Walmart. I told JP tonight....don't forget to spray the bees....he did and guess what, they found a way to get into the house. Now they are buzzing around my stamping stuff. JP sprayed the lights where they were buzzing around and naturally the spray went all over my papers, stamps and ink and stuff....erg!!! He swatted a few bees and the lights above my stamping desk went out. Geez........

So we shut things down and came upstairs. I went to the computer to see if there was some home remedy we could use.....yep, mountain dew and dish detergent, mixed together. The sweetness of the dew draws them and the soap coats their wings and they drown cause they can't fly. So we put 6 bowls of the potion out in different spots to see if that will solve part of the problem. I don't carry much soda in the house and only had a few cans of 7-up....so that is what I used.

We had this problem maybe 10 years ago and we called the exterminator, he set a smoke bomb out in the basement. I just don't want to call the guy over the weekend....could cost and arm and leg to have him do what we might be able to do....oh well, we'll see.

I told JP he is going downstairs tomorrow morning to see what the damage is.....Hopefully they are gone.

So we celebrated 44 years of marriage on the 27th of August. This is the card I made for JP. Was kind of fun to make. I used the left over stuff from my Stampin'up kit for August.  Not sure if I talked much about our anniversary. I did on Facebook and got lots of "likes" and comments. We didn't do much, it was raining that day and kind of dreary. I cooked a steak, fries and salad later on in the day.....nope, not much of a special day.

Today would be my Father's Birthday. He would have been 99 years old. He has been dead for 56 of those years....my how time does fly. He was the love of my life when I was a little girl....the sun rose and set on my father. No one could take his place. My stepfather tried, but to no avail. My stepfather wanted me to call him Dad....but I couldn't. He was pops and that's all he was to me. Pops died in May....he will always be Pops. Least I didn't call him Pete.

This week JP and I have to get the porch cleaned off and furniture moved and get the backyard fence and shrub down. Because Habitat for Humanity is painting the porch floor and putting up a privacy fence in our backyard. I can hardly wait. So, I will have some new pictures for you. Stay tuned. Here is what our fence looks like now. JP is going to mow all the greenery down and we will take down as much of the green plastic fencing that we can. I will be sure to take before and after pictures of everything.

Well time to close....it's almost 11:30pm....maybe time to close shop....I wish I could be downstairs making some cards.....but the bees have invaded our home. So I guess I shall say good-night.

Cheers ~ Louise

I'm Waiting for Spring.......

Hi everyone......well, it is February 1st....not much longer and it will be spring!!! And just think, we will see flowers and sunshine, there will be bugs and spiders, mosquitos, bees buzzing, lots of rain, tornados and who knows what else. But it will be spring and lots of work outside. I am looking forward to it.

In the mean time I will keep dreaming and looking forward to the next season coming up. Which is just 48 days away, that being the 1st day of spring March 20th. Daylight Savings is just 37 days away on March 9th. So you see, we have much to look forward to. Easter is April 20th and "NEW LIFE" begins!!!!!! I love Easter and the true meaning of what Easter is all about, not about rabbits, chickens and chocolate but that Jesus was Resurrected, what an exciting day that must have been.

This will be a short blog....was just going through my emails and ran across this House Mouse picture and he immediately reminded me of Spring. So you all have a great weekend and keep looking up, better days are a coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Picked a Bouquet of Flowers 4 U

Hi everyone...hope your day was beautiful and full of little surprises along the way. I picked a bouquet of flowers for you all..........

Here it is, zennias, daisies and some small sunflowers oh and some lavendar to add a little splash of purple....so pretty isn't it??? For some reason I was not bringing the flowers in the house that much. Just enjoying them outside I guess. As you can see, the sun is shining....it was positively a beautiful day.

In this picture is a close up of the flowers.

Here is a picture of my hibiscus. The plant is about 4 years old now. I paid $1.50 for it at Walmart....it sure is a survivor. It seems to really like where it is growing. I my prune it down this year, which is something I have never done before, I think it might need it now.

In these next two pictures is a funny little monarch that fluttered around on my zennias, all day Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I thought that was quite an exciting thing...it must of loved those zennias. So, I decided to snap a few pictures of him or her.

Another picture on a different flower....I think he or she was just enjoying the sun and the smell of the flowers. I was just enjoying snapping pictures. I think when I can get more pictures made up free at Archivers, I will have these made and then frame them. I am also thinking of selling a few pictures in my Etsy store. Maybe a 5X7 for $5.00. Still thinking on that one, we'll see.

And........here again is my volunteer sunflowers. It has been fun watching them grow and watching the bees do their thing. I just could not get enough of these flowers...probably I will not see them grow like this again. I think they did very well volunteering themselves to grow in my garden. God is so good and He knows just what we need to make us smile. I hope the neighbors and passer-byers enjoyed them also.

Another shot of my fountain. I have planted some white, yellow and burgandy mums in urns and set them out in different places. The white mum is in front of the fountain....pretty isn't it?

Well, I guess this is the final white rose of the season....(sad face) I shall miss my roses....they were pretty this year, but I don't think it was a very good year for them. I have seen years when they went crazy with blooms, this year not so much.

And last but not least....my wonderful apple tree made some wonderful apples and here is one of those pies. I found a really neat recipe this weekend for apple pie. The base of the pie is a pancake. Heat the pan up in the oven, make a pancake batter and pour it into the pan, roll it around to cover the sides and stick back in the oven to bake a bit. Then add your apples and then I topped the apples with a crumble of butter, sugar and flour and spread it around. Stick it in the oven till browned on top. OH MY GOODNESS....then topped with whipped cream....that was goodness on a spoon, my taste buds were a dancing!!! (Happy, happy face)

Well, time to close as it is getting late and I need to get some sleep....this next week will be busy as we are having company from Chicago for the weekend. The flyer in the newspaper from Festival food says the Burgandy Spoon Roasts are on sale this week. Sooooo I think I shall make Roast Beef Sandwiches, chips, potatoe salad, coleslaw, relish tray and APPLE PE of course.

You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!! Cheers ~ Louise

PS....an update on my garage sale...this past weekend, I made $8 for the three days. Weather was too nice, plus someone stole my "garage sale" sign and I had competition with Octoberfest. So not such a good sale. Depending on the weather I shall do another one as long as the stuff is set up....you just never know, the next one could be a bountiful day and I could unload some more stuff!!!!

Flowers from my Garden in this HOT Weather!!

My perennial daisies are still doing well. Took this picture yesterday and was surprised to see they did pretty well during those hot days last week. I watered once or twice, giving them a little drink during those hot days. Their roots must go deep, they are planted in a low spot in the garden, so maybe the ground is still damp from the spring rains. Whoooooo knows, they are still looking good!!!

My Easter Lilly, sweet isn't she?? Planted her a couple of years ago and she has been faithful every year since to show herself off in my garden. I do have another Easter lilly that needs to be planted, probably will plant it in the fall or maybe in August, that will give it a good start. We will be sure to see the lillies next year around this time.

Below are my "maranda's" Looks like a choir of flowers, doesn't it? We sure did not plan it this way. They sure are amazing all at different levels so they all get the sun.

I got these flowers a couple of years ago from a lady here in Appleton. She has a beautiful flower garden with so many flowers.....she happened to be digging up these "Marandas" their other name is "Bee Balm" as they attract alot of bees, butterflies and humming birds. Both of which I have not seen much of.  They are starting to spread now and probably is time to thin them down....hope they take over the weeds so the weeds don't grow as much. 

Well, I am going to close this blog for today, I have some cards in the making, so I shall probably post those in the next few days. You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh.
Cheers to you this night ~ Louise

A Doggie Doodle Day

A Doggie Doodle Day?????? What's that??? I don't know, just the first thing that popped into my mind for a title....probably not a very catchy theme but works pretty good with this picture though. Cute puppy huh?

Well, it is going to be in the 80-90's the next few days, uge, kind'a warm for me, my ankles swell up in this heat and are very uncomfortable. That's why I like it in the 60's and 70's there is not so much humidity. Guess I could not live in the southern states.......tooooooo warm!!

JP had a filling fall out this week. We have no Dental Insurance so JP was able to go to Tri-County Community Dental and got two fillings filled, x-rays taken and a sharp tooth filled down all for $20 co-pay. Now that was a blessing in disguise!!!

This is going to be a short blog today.........JP wants to go guitar shopping, so I have to get ready to go. Did alot of work outside yesterday, so now I am recuperating from all that work. Moved my front porch furniture around and dusted and sweep the floor. Cut my peonies and roses down and fertilized. Planted my zucchini plants........not sure I will have zucchinis this year, but I will try. We need lots of bees to pollinate and the bees have been sparse the last couple of years cause I have had NO large harvest of zucchinis.

Well I need to go get ready for our little excursion today, so you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draweth nigh.
Cheers to all - Louise