June....How Fast Will It Go????

Hi there everyone. How you all doing?? My goodness it was warm today...in the 90's for the next couple of days. I don't do very well with 90 degree weather. If the weather could just stay in the 70's, I would be a happy camper. Guess there is no perfect place to live....except for Heaven, then it won't matter what the weather will be like, because we will be so concentrated on Jesus!!!!

Some flowers from my garden, above are my Allium's. I should get some more of these guys. I sure do like them. Below are my pretty pink/white tulips. As they begin to open, they almost look like roses. So pretty!!!

Below is a picture of a picnic bench at Erb Park. I have found my quiet place. I get 11 hours a week now to get away for "respite time". A caregiver comes to the house, giving me time away from taking care of JP. They will wash my dishes, floor, vacuum, give JP a shower and wash his hair. Fold towels, which there are many, cause I seem to be washing towels constantly. The towels end up on the bathroom floor a lot, because of JP's incontinence. They also will take him on the front porch for fresh air, just kind of filling in for me. 

I had a different lady yesterday. I was told she was a "powerhouse" and that she was, she did things I didn't even ask her to do, I was amazed. Probably out of the 3 caregivers.....she is the best. We are getting a new one this Monday. So that will be 4 ladies.

So, when I go to the park, I take a note book and pen, Bible, a Billy Graham devotional, and write away. I have stopped at Jacobs Meat Market for a hot lunch or Kwik Trip for 2 pieces of chicken/chips and and cold drink. Even though there are lots of people there, it is still very peaceful. God knows I need some peace.

I can only spend 1 hour there or less, cause then I need to rush to the store and get back by 4pm, so the caregiver could leave on her shift. This Monday and Wednesday I will get 8 hours and 3 hours on Thursday. I guess I got a raise in hours....lol! From 9 hours to 11 hours free time.....YAY!!!!!!

This is such a pretty park....we are going on 30 years in this town and we very seldom used the park....always too busy  guess. Now they let people walk their dogs through the park. When we had Hyko and Kylie...doggies were not allowed. We could only walk around the park on the street!!!!

See the cute card to the right? "If you're feeling blue....try painting yourself a different color". I did not make it....but, think I will try, I have the birdie, just would have to color it and write in the saying. Guess, when I get "a round tuit" I will try making it....lol!

Well JP had a Pet Scan and liver panel today, to see if he has cancer and if the cancer in his eye did or did not spread through his body. If that is the case, no cancer in his body, then our next appointment will be in Green Bay at St. Vincent's and he will have the surgery on his eye. 

JP is not doing all that good, all his health issues are getting him down, many times he say's he want's to quit. He is at a place where he may be put in an assisted living or nursing home and he will get 24/7 help. It is getting harder to care for him now. He does not get a lot of sleep and neither do I as I am up with him till sometimes 4 am. Sometimes his sleeping pill does not kick in cause he seems to fight it and gets a lot of arm pains that last 15-20 minutes. Yeah, it is tough to watch at times cause he will hit his arm 4-5 times and moan and groan, scream and shout!!!!

Well, I think I will close here for now, I want to go to YouTube and watch a few of my favorite YouTuber people with Chateaus in France, my get away places. So you all take care and keep looking up....I do believe....better days are coming!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Cards and a Busy Week

Hi there everyone of you.....guess I have been a bite busy lately. It's been 11 days since I last posted. Last Wednesday was my card making day at Betty's. That is always fun. I like getting new ideas.

Betty does most of the work designing, cutting and measuring. She puts everything in an envelope, card stock, paper, ribbon, tags, etc.  We just put the card together, using her copic markers, stamps and ink and gems.

This was a neat card to make. Betty had the flowers embossed with black. We painted in the colors with Pearlex which makes the colors iridescent...so pretty. I am giving this card to someone...I know she will love it.

This was a putsey card.....nothing colored in, except for all the peddles of the flowers. Betty stamped in the tree. So the flowers were colored then rolled on a rubber mat, glued then the gems were added. 

I really liked this card...will make for a nice birthday card, maybe I will give it to JP for his birthday. We used to have a truck like that....but I think it was green. JP tried to teach me to drive shift...but I never got the hang of it. Standard for me all the way. The background was sponged in with ink, then the windmill, foreground stamped in black. The truck was colored in with copic markers then putsey cut the truck.

We got our refund from Uncle Sam this week.....it will help for awhile. We will be getting our new (to us) dryer from Howie Voight Used Appliances next Wednesday. JP is getting tired of hanging clothes and towels. He hung towels outside on the line, they were out there for 4 days...till I finally brought them in.

The next day, Thursday, I will be taking the car to Muntz to get our radio/CD player installed. Gosh, I have been without a radio in the car for at least a year....it will be nice to have music and talk shows to listen to.

JP has a Doctors appointment on Monday. Keep him in your prayers. He is going for his 6 month check up for "active surveillance" to see if the cancer is still there. I heard the other day that a man had stage 4 prostrate cancer and is having the prostrate removed this next week. I am not even sure what stage JP is?? Will have to ask the Doctor....if I don't forget.

Friday, is Hospice meeting.....almost have my cards finished. Just a few more cards to add to the collection. I made some neat Mother's day cards and Birthday cards. I will have to take some pictures after I am done.

Well, it looks like a busy week....only day open is Tuesday. I need to stay home and wait for the call from Howie Voight to set up a time for them to deliver the dryer. That will be a great day, I am sure JP will have all his wash done, so he can put it in the dryer when it is delivered. No more hanging of clothes.

Well, time to close, I need to go make dinner for JP when he gets home at 1:30am....yeah, it's a long day, no wonder I take a nap at 4:00pm gets me through the rest of the day.

You all have a great week and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Pork Spear Ribs....Yummy Good!!!

Hi there everyone.....how is your Wednesday going so far??? I guess I am caught in a "time warp." My mind is still in May. Look at that calendar......it says June 7th already!!! So far this week, we have been whacking at weeds....where did they all come from? I have also run out of mulch and we need to get some more in the next few weeks, guess that depends on finances too.

Our car needs to go in for some work. I decided that I am not going through another summer without air-conditioning. So we will have that fixed and also have the exhaust fixed.....it sounds like a race car. When JP comes home from work at 1:30am you can hear him from 2 blocks down.....geez the exhaust is loud!!!! So that will be next Tuesday that the car is going in for work.

Kylie has not been feeling well lately. The Vet wants to do a liver panel on her. That will be $55, so I guess that will be sometime this week or next. And JP....well, he has another appointment with the prostrate Doctor next Friday...they are calling it "active surveillance" as JP does have cancer, but does not want an operation. So the Doctor is watching it to make sure it does not grow or spread. Lovely.....

The only way to calm my spirit is by EATING!!!! I found a great way to make ribs in my Power Pressure XL....man these are good!!!

As you can see, I used cayenne red pepper, Hungarian Paprika, salt, brown sugar and oregano for the seasoning.

Rubbed the seasoning all over the ribs. Then put the ribs in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Let the steam build up, cook and let the steam out. Oh...I did pour a little bit of BBQ sauce on the ribs before cooking and after cooking too.

So here is the finished product.....looks pretty good...yes??? Good enough to eat!!!! I did stick the ribs under the broiler for about 5 minutes. This will most likely be on the menu more often, especially when I see ribs on sale. I will do the ribs on the grill to see how that works...probably delicious!!

I got a new addition to my stamping stuff a couple of weeks ago. A Personal Cricut for $30. It came with a carrying case, 4 cartridges, pens and needle for cutting and a new cutting mat. Such a deal, I could not pass it up. Since then, I have bought two new cartridges, banners and envelopes. I must remember to take some pictures of the Cricut.  Sooooo, I think that is what I will be working on this summer as it is cool in the basement and may be too hot for this old lady to be outside this summer. Ah....who knows what I will be doing......as the weeds never stop growing. I just know if the spring when this fast how much faster will summer go????

Well, time to close here, must got get breakfast...I think 2 soft boiled eggs with toast and strawberries is on the menu. Had that yesterday and it kept me full for most of the day.

You all have a great day and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

7th Game - They WON and a Few Cards for Hospice

Hi there everyone....how are the first few days of November treating you??? Ours not so good....we got the results of my husband's prostrate biopsy. It's not a good report. He has cancer, but it is a "slow growing cancer" maybe that is a good report. At this point we are not sure what will happen. The Doctor says this could go two ways. We can watch it and see how fast or slow it is growing by doing more biopsies. Operation, and take the prostrate out. Or radiation, but he did not think that would be a good option.

Next week we have another meeting with the Doctor and if we have questions that is when we will talk things out. JP wants to talk to his brother first. John called tonight, so I was able to fill him in on a few things and he will call JP tomorrow.

The 7th game of the World Series is playing right now. So I thought I would blog a bit. I guess I could have gotten fancy and put the Cubs decal up or something. Maybe next post....(darn the Indians just scored 1-1, okay, that's enough Indians!!). Yeah...score is 5-1 Cubbies just scored again and while I was on the phone with John.

Our Heartland Hospice meeting is this Friday. I've got 75 cards put together, Christmas, Birthday, Thank You, Thinking of You and Thanksgiving. Following are some of the cards that are included in the box...these are not all of them. I simply would bore you with all the pictures.

In the picture below a card made with a Christmas napkin. The napkin is peeled down to the first layer then glued on card stock and smoothed out and left to dry. Then I glue the card stock on a card and embellish the card with speckles...see the glittery look? I made quite a few cards using this technique. Christmas trees, a few different snowmen and Santa too.

Here is my Great Blue Heron....I sure do like this stamp....will probably make lots more of these cards. The Heron is stamped and colored in with copic markers. The layered on card stock and lacy material paper (the name of this paper escapes me at this moment), then I ran some washi tape down the side and added a greeting.

The card below is a recycled card....layered it on sparkling wrapping paper and card stock. The card might have been a post card then I embellished the card with speckles for that glittered look.

The card below was a card I made at Betty's house. The flowers were stamped with different colored  inks, it was not necessary to huff on the inks to make them stamp, as they were special inks allowing you to ink and stamp. I think the flowers were then die cut and raised on the card.

Now this card is my favorite Christmas card....die cut sleigh and houses. "Silent night" is stamped and a pretty trinket added. The background is snowflakes run through the cuttlebug and silver speckles embellish the snowflakes and the edge of the card where the sleigh rides.

Last but not least are these Christmas cards.....I made a whole bunch of these cards a couple of years ago. The scene is embossed with gold then the card was run through a cuttlebug, cutting out the Christmas tree. I layed some sparkly wrapping paper under the scene to pop out the tree. Pretty simple, but very pretty.

Well, the Cubs and Indians are still playing....the score is 6-3, Cubs winning and we are in the 7th.

I think I need to turn the heat on...getting a little bit chilly in this house. Love the weather for November......maybe it will stay nice like this till my Birthday....but then, there is always snow falling around my birthday.......we shall see, as the 21st will draw near pretty fast.

Oh-OHHHHHH Not good, the Indians just scored, it's 6-6!!!!!! Will the Cubs win????? Now we are in the 9th and Cubs are up. It's starting to rain now in Cleveland.....what next!!!

YAY!!!! The Cubs won the World Series....how exciting!!! 8-7....what a game. 1908 was the last time they won the series....that is a very long draught!!!! You have a great day and keep looking up cause better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

The Autumn Leaves ~ they are a fallin"

Just don't know where this fall is going...........way too fast! We got our summer ornaments in the shed and pulled up the tomatoe and squash plants. Squirls got my onions....good grief, never knew squirls liked onions!! Brought in my geranium plants, have them down stairs. This year I want to try and keep them over the winter, so I shall water them more then what I did last year. The geranium plants did not survive last year.........maybe 2010 will be the year of the geranium!

Well, I have a little bad news..........a friend of mine, have known her since the early 90's has just been diagnosed with 2 different cancers, she is getting Chemo now. Saw her yesterday for the first time in a long while. She has ovarian and limph-node cancers - 4th stage. What more can one say.........I will leave it at that. So far the cost is running into the hundreds of thousands, and she has no insurance...............BUT GOD.......has taken care of all that, so far they have only had to pay 5K and the rest is being forgiven........talk about Jubilee..........BUT GOD owns all the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10)............He is True to His Word!!!!

Been working on making some Christmas cards, I have an order coming up and want to get as many cards made as possible as I do not know how many cards will be needed for this order. Plus I need to make cards for my christmas giving. I love my cuttlebug, and have been able to turn cards I had sitting around for a couple of years into new and revived looking cards. Amazing how just the turn of the handle and a Christmas folder of snowflakes can take on new demensions.

Nothing much more going on.......still trying to lose a few pounds that don't seem to want to come off. Still going to inches a weigh 3-4 times a week, which does take a big chunk out of my afternoons but I do feel better after doing it. I am still at 12 lbs and 26.75 inches...........I guess that is good, considering I did not put the weight on fast and it will not come off fast either. But I will still work at it, eventually it will come off when I least expect it.

Well I think I better close this blog for now as it is getting late and I need to get ready to go to Inches A Weigh to get some more exercise in and get weighed too.
BYE-BYE-Louise