Time is Flying By Quickly

Hi there everyone, hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July with family and friends!! Mine is quiet, very quiet. It will be a year tomorrow (July 5th) that I took JP to the Assisted Living. 20 days later he died.... lots of memories this month, hope I can make it through without crashing

So, the last couple of weeks, I have been busy with a Rummage/garage sale. Sales were slow on Thursdays, so I cut that day out. Friday seems to be a busy day and Saturday not so much. Course maybe July 4th had something to do with it. But in the 5 days $172.85 was sold.... not bad. I am going to do 4 more days this month, a Friday, Saturday weekend and then the following week. I have an extra bill this month so hopefully enough stuff will be sold to pay that bill.

In the top picture I wanted to mention my little garden...just noticed today that the bean plants are starting to make little beans...gosh I can hardly wait. I will have beans, tomatoes, onions, radish, basil, dill and cucumbers. I meant to plant some flower seeds, but time got away from me. I did plant some marigold seeds and have transplanted them to other places. Going to put some in planters on the front porch.

So here are some pictures of some of the stuff in the sale. I hope this manger scene sells, because I sure don't want to pack it up again. I brought a lot of stuff out from the house, plus I still had stuff in the garage to sell boxed up from several rummage sales before. I need to really sift through all this stuff and down-size a whole lot. As I may have to move in the next year or so. Will be hard to leave because we've been here 31 years this month.

I still have lots of stuff in the basement to go through. I think some of this stuff, I will just go through and take to the thrift store or just throw out. Will see how radical I get.

In the picture below is a card I made for the nephew, he is a golfer and fisherman and only 10 years old. Did you see the saying...."Always golf with extra socks in case you get a Hole-in-one!!! I thought that was pretty funny!!

So here is my first rose of Summer.....so pretty. 

And, my peonies were in full bloom this spring, wish they lasted longer than they do. I did cut a lot of flowers and put them in vases and brought them in the house or left them on the front porch.

More peoni pictures. I actually inherited these flowers from a neighbor. They no longer wanted them in their backyard, and I said, I will take them and so they landed in my yard!!!

I did another radical thing this past month. June 9th, I called Spectrum and asked to cut the cable because I could no longer afford their prices for TV. So now I just have internet and landline. I bought a Roku and installed that on my TV. I am really liking it, lots and lots of movies. I don't get ABC, CBS, NBC, or FOX or my NASCAR....to get that all I would have to spend $70 a month. now that would completely defeat the purpose of saving some money. For now, I will settle with Roku and when I have extra $$$ to spend maybe I will get my channels back (which are supposed to be free, but aren't)

Well, time to close, I need to get some bills paid and dishes done today. It's only 1:30pm so I guess I have time yet. But time does fly by quickly, don't keep your eyes closed to long, you might miss something spectacular!!! Cheers ~ Louise
 

Hello?? Anyone There????

Hi there everyone. I know, I know, it has been awhile...like January 7th that I last blogged??? I have no excuses, just trying to live life without Jay and wonder what my next step is and still try to keep sane in an insane world!!!

In the above picture, those are my Lilly of the Valleys, always pick and bring them in for a touch of spring in the kitchen to look at whilst I do the dishes. And even though JP is not here, for some reason I "still" have many dishes to do???? But eventually they do get done, in phases.

I have been doing some cards here and there. Still make cards for Heartland Hospice along with a few other ladies. The last couple of months we have been able to meet together, otherwise we were following "Covid 19 Protocol" and not meeting or just dropping cards off at a place and they were picked up by the Card Coordinator.

The cards above were from a "Stamping Up" kit from 2017. It was a fun kit, apples, strawberries and blueberry cards. I still have some checked background left over so I can make more cards like this. 

The card below is a die I have had for years....makes for a very pretty card. I can't remember how I made the colored background. Experimental ideas using different techniques that get stuffed in a box and forgotten about. This is going to be my challenge this summer...take old dies and stamped images and turn them into cards. I really have a lot of stuff. AND, 3 months to make cards for Hospice meeting September 2nd. I have a feeling that time will go FAST!!!! 

Below are my Irises that grow in the front yard. It was so windy the last couple of days that the poor flowers blew over. So, I cut them down and brought them in to enjoy for a few days. I have so much to do around this house. The neighbor next store cuts the grass in the front of the house. During the winter he was shoveling the snow. I will tend to the backyard with my manual push mower....I can handle that. If I do a little bit each day, I may catch up, by that time it will be fall.

I am going to make a few more of these cards, so pretty and they can be any kind of card I want them to be. The one below is a sympathy card. I am going to use a Thank you card like this for the main post picture. You should see it in the next day or so.

So my life has been up in the air for the last 10 months since Jay's death. I have not been able to handle being a "widow" that still sounds foreign to me. I have been told not to make any big decisions for at least 1 year. After that, not sure where I am going. What with the way this world is going, do any of us know where we are headed?? I only know, through this all, my faith in Jesus Christ and Him Crucified is the only way to go...there is much comfort in knowing him as Lord and Savior of my Life. I think I am learning how to depend on Him and Him alone...which is where He wants us all to be. 

That being said, I shall close here. Hopefully I can keep up with this blog and add new cards maybe once a week. I have moved my stamping space from the basement to Jay's old room. So it is handy just to walk in, sit down and make a few cards. Works for me and I don't have to climb stairs.

You all take care and take JESUS!!! ~ Louise
 

Some Cards Made for Secret Stamper

Hi there everyone, hope you are doing well....guess the virus is still going strong in some other places in our country....be glad when life can go back to normal, when ever that will be. Our Governor has allowed some places to be opened and still others are still closed. Such a shame. Some people have lost everything or are about to lose everything. The world has turned up-side down for many.

April 18th, I started my sourdough starter. 6 days later, I started making bread, pizza crust, doughnuts, waffles, cookies (yes, sourdough cookies) fried bread, muffins, corn bread, scones, cinnamon raisin bread, short bread, biscuits and more bread. (Not all in one day...lol over the course of 5 weeks) I finally put my starter to rest yesterday, just for awhile. 

Actually I have 4 cups of sourdough starter in the freezer. So when I want to start another month of baking, I will pull out one cup of frozen starter, defrost and add 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup of flour. Starting all over. Some of my favorites were the pizza crust, cookies, scones and short bread and of course bread.

I have gone shopping 3 times this month and possibly tomorrow. That will be 4 times this month. Saving some money and YES, I will wear my mask, but I will need to lift it up to get some oxygen in my lungs. We are running low on TOILET PAPER!!!! Least now there will be some on the shelves this time around.

So I made some cards, finally got myself downstairs to finish up the cards I needed to make for the secret stamper group. This butterfly card was easy, I die cut the butterfly. My secret stamper lady gave me the "On your Special day" background.

I sent the flower to my secret stamper....this is my rendition of the flower, done in yellow. Her rendition was in pretty pinks. If I receive the cards from Staci, I'll show you both cards together.

In this card, I sent the die cut of a Heart, being it was for February, it made a good Valentine Card.

Here's my vintage man by a bike....always a good one for Father's Day. Traci's card turned out cute too.

I will show you more cards next month, maybe by then I will have received the cards from Traci and Carrie (my secret stampers). You can compare the cards I made, to the cards Traci and Carri made. Always fun to see how each person comes up with one idea and the other, another idea using the same images.

I planted some seeds in my planter on Saturday. (last years planter). This year so far, Roma Beans, Cucumber seeds, Morning glory seeds, scallions and oregano seeds. Covered the bean seeds with wire fencing so the squirrels and chipmunks would stay OUT!!!

So I went outside today to see how things were growing...…..holes all over the place. The planter with scallions and oregano seeds  planted, the divider was knocked down and there were holes all over.....that upset me very much. How do you grow things when the critters destroy everything????? I would like to know!!!! 

Well, I asked "Cortina" what keeps chipmunks and squirrels away from the garden....."add SPICE to the garden"!!! Cayenne pepper!!! I found some in the cabinet and marched out to the planter and peppered it down. So much so, I started sneezing....that should keep those critters away!!!! We will see how that works. I still have a larger jar...just have to find it. Do you think my Roma Beans will be spicy???

Gonna close here now you all take care and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

A Big Hole in the Front Yard

Hi there everyone, hope you are having a good Spring so far. As you can see, so far our Spring is a MESS right now. Actually this was happening a couple of weeks ago. The hole is filled in and covered up with black top.

The city had work done on sanitary sewers and water main is being replaced due to its age, condition, and under sizing....they should be done by June 10th. Every front yard was dug up....but it seems our hole was the largest.....as they could not find the water main or what ever it was they were hunting for.  

It was interesting, watching these guys work, they sure knew what they were doing. The backhoe driver was amazing how he could move that bucket around and move the dirt. I was pooped just watching them.

They had to tear up 7 slabs of sidewalk. They stepped all over my peonies.....they are growing now, some of them got dug up.....oh well that's life.

Here they are....still looking for the drain, I was getting kind of worried, all I could see was $$$$ signs. One of the workers said, don't worry, you won't have to pay extra. Whew!!!!

It looked like the hole was about 15 feet deep. Then down in the corner of this bottom picture you can see this big metal box they put in the hole so the dirt did not cave in while the worker was working on connecting the green pipes.

They must have worked on our drain most of the afternoon. I was kind of nervous most of the afternoon, pacing the floor and watching. I felt like something was going to happen.....sure enough, they could not find the drain to this house and had to come in the basement a couple of times to find where the pipes were. 

The hole is covered up now....will be glad when this is over, it has raised a lot of dust which has caused my eyes to itch constantly along with the pollen in the air. Using lots of eye drops and rinsing with hot water, which was very soothing.

I will take pictures of our front yard after everything is all cleaned up. I did a little bit of planting, radishes, lettuce, beans, zucchini, cucumber and chives. Hopefully the weather will be nice over the Memorial weekend and I can plant some flowers and seeds.

Time to close, Salvage Dawgs is on....love watching them and see what they make with all the recycled stuff they get from old houses and old businesses. You have a great weekend and keep looking up, better days are a coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Secret Stamper Images Pt. 1

Hi there everyone. How has your week been? I am a little bit slow at getting these cards posted on my blog. These cards were from the Secret Stamper Image Reveal Party from April 22nd....oh well, guess spring has been a bit busy or, not so busy. No excuses. 

Have really been enjoying May and June. Not so much April though, when we had that bad snow storm....gosh that was a mess. It took my husband 3 days to get the snow shoveled and the car going down the driveway. He missed one day of work and then his supervisor picked him up the 2nd day. Third day he got out. I think by the end of the week you would never have known we had a snow storm of about 22-23 inches.

I had a really neat Secret Stamper. With each image, she sent a letter and where she got  the different stamps and dies. So the above cards were for December. She sent the deer, her card is on the left, my version of her deer image is on the right.

February being Valentine Day, she sent a Valentine kit, the white back ground with a cut out heart, the silver heart, pattern paper for the heart and the little strip of hearts. Her card on the left, my card on the right. I embossed the white back ground with hearts, running it through the cuttlebug. Adding the Love die also.

March, being St. Patrick's Day. She sent the leprechaun, again, her card is on the left and my colored in leprechaun is on the right.

Well, I guess I did not get October in the right order. She sent the small leaves. Her card is on the left, and my card is on the right.

January....She sent the "hello" her card is on the left and mine is on the right......I love that giraffe. I saw the idea at Hobby Lobby and made quite a few of these cards. When my secret stamper sent the "hello" I thought that would fit perfectly for the giraffe.

April's card was the flower. I have this stamp, but she also had the die cut to go along with the flower. Her card is on the left and my card is on the right.

I know I did not get the months straight, should have put them in order when I was taking these pictures. Well, next group of cards will be better....I hope!!

So there you have it. there is another Part 2 to these cards. The images that I sent to my secret stamper. That will be my next post....maybe in 3-4 days or so.

I am still working and planting my gardens....planting flowers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, beans, lettuce, zucchini and what ever else I can get in my planters. When I am finished, I will take pictures of the things I have been working on.

Time to close, church tomorrow and I need to get some sleep, that's if I can sleep, drank too much iced tea. Talk to you 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

Pretty Valentine Flowers

Hi there everyone. I hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day. JP gave me $5.00 to spend on some flowers for myself. Whew, I thought, where in the world am I going to find some flowers for $5.00???? Everything I saw was $10, 20, 30 dollars. BUT!!! the day after Valentines I found these flowers at Pic n Save.

The check-out girl said, "they were $28.00 yesterday and today they are $5.00!!!" Yay....I got a good deal!!

I have put them in fresh water with an asprin and cut their stems down.

Hopefully they will last until the week-end...they sure are pretty.

I love the salmon colored roses and the hydrangea's were so pretty. I wish I had a bush....maybe this year.

The yellow roses are starting to weep a bit. I still think I got a good deal though. Maybe before they completely die, I will dry them by turning them upside down.

It's always nice to have some flowers in the house.....feels springy and summery in the middle of winter.

Although, it is starting to feel very much like Spring outside...tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 50's. It's time to sit on the front porch, maybe tomorrow...Kylie is looking for sunny places to sunbath. Next week, the temps will be in the 40's.....I like this kind of weather. Felt like I wanted to start raking the yard and bring out the lawn furniture.

Today I went shopping and actually wore my spring jacket. My winter coat seemed too warm. I saw a man wearing shorts already today....yep, spring is in the air.

I went to Betty's house Wednesday to make some cards....I will take pictures of them and put them up in my next post. We won't be meeting for the next few months....as she had knee surgery on her right knee and on March 6th will have surgery on her left knee. So she will be taking time off to heal.

Had my blood drawn today for the AC1....or is it A1C, I can never get that straight. Here's hoping I get some good numbers. Will find out in the next few days. Probably after I get the results, the Doctor will want to see me for my annual exam....ish!

Well, tomorrow I shall be working on my taxes...I have 2 weeks to get it all together and then take them in for the accountant to finish it off. Also in the next 2 weeks I have to get cards ready for our Hospice meeting March 3rd....I better get cracking. Who said Retirement was boring....I am not bored, have much too much to get done.

Time to close here, have to get a few miles in on my bike, don't know if it is doing any good....but I feel better after it. You all have a great weekend and keep looking up....better days are here again!!!

Cheers ~ Louise

Some Adult Coloring

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good day. We have been dealing with Doctor appointments these last couple of days. Today, JP had an appointment with Urology....we were at the hospital from 9:30am, finally leaving @ 2:30pm.....long, long day. He has to have a prostate biopsy. It does not sound easy or comfortable. He'll have to take 2 days off from work, because there's no heavy lifting for two days after the procedure. I am hoping for a good report, but the Doctor said this could be cancer. Please keep JP in your prayers.

My appointment was on Tuesday. Diabetes is a very distressing desease. Along with weight (I have gained back 24 lbs of the 40 I lost last year, dealing with the hernia). Needless to say my blood pressure and blood sugars have gone up and my A1C is still a tad too high. I have to have a mammogram in September, my last one was in '05....gosh time flies. Oh and I have been dealing with itchy skin, so the Doctor wants me to stop taking each medication (one at a time) for a couple of days to see if I am allergic to any one of them. If the itching stops, then that med needs to be changed, because I am apparently allergic to it. If itching does not stop then it might be a food I am eating or the laundry detergent. Right now, I am itching...metformin has been excluded for a couple of days. Will have to wait to see what happens.....the itching could be  nerves.

Well...on to some fun stuff.....this is what keeps my head together....is my art work, card making, gardening and cooking.

I bought a couple of Adult coloring books and have been doing some coloring.

What is nice about spending time on coloring these flowers and stuff is that they can be turned into a nice card......we'll see what I come up with. 

Right now I am thinking that I might want to frame a few of these pages. I really liked the above color page...I was almost finished with it and used a pen to outline and there was tooooo much ink in it and it leaked on my colored page. I tried to cover it but to no avail. I just showed you the pretty part. Down in the right corner you can see a dark sploge. Oh, and maybe over on the left in the middle.

This color page was done with colored pencils....oh and ink and stamps (those little dots). It was okay....but I prefer to use Copic markers. Colors are more vibrant.

Well, I think I will close here as I have to do some dishes and think about what I want to make for JP's late supper. You have a great night and keep looking up....better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

Some Cards I Made At........

Hi there everyone....hope you are keeping cool. My cool times come when I am someplace that is air conditioned...otherwise I am a pretty hot bundle of nerves.....and hard to get along with....lol!!! Poor JP!!!

So today I will show you some of the cards we made at Betty's on Wednesday.

I like this old fisherman....he is colored in with copic markers....I shall save him for a friend whose birthday is next August.....he is a fisherman.

This was a neat card to make. We colored the butterfly, flowers and frame with copic markers on vellum, but on the back side of the vellum. Then placed colored vellum on the same image that we just colored the butterfly. That was a nice technique....see how the butterfly seems to pop out???

This was a die cut and we just added the background to the flowers and a few gems.....made for a nice card.

This was a crayon resist technique. Where you see the white is the crayon....then we smudged brown and blue and colored in the tongue and brown spots. Cute card....oh and the little doggies along the card is washi tape.

Well, it is getting late and I am getting tired. So keep looking up.....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise