April is Flying By

 That is for sure!!!! Hi there, everyone, how you all doing? Been awhile since I have been here, quite a few things have been happening and blogging never entered the mind of Louise!!!

This cool card was made at the Thompson Center. The technique is called "Sunburst" it is all in how you cut the strips of paper using a 6x6 pad of patterned paper. So fun.

Well, I have to go and get ready for card making at the Thompson Center today, I shall come back later to finish this blog.

Back again, 2 days later and a few more cards to show. This next card, the horse, was a stamp donated to Thompson Center. Sure glad I found it when I did and stamped a bunch of horses, cause now the stamp has disappeared...oh well, guess that happens.

Anyways, my great-niece likes horses and jumps them. So, for her birthdays I like to give her "horse birthday cards". Her brother is into guitars and drums, so that is what I look for, for him. My other great-nephew and niece, he is into hockey and fishing and the niece likes gymnastics and cheerleading. So, the hunt is to find stamps that represent what their likes are. I do love this horse though, so pretty.

This was a fun card to make, it is just strips of paper encircling a square, simple and easy. Made this card a couple of weeks ago.

The next two cards were made at Thompson Center on Tuesday. A "sunburst card" Fun way to make thank you cards, need to make a few more of these for a couple of people that have helped me with  projects around the house.

I love this card, probably it's the paper I like, again it's the sunburst card.

Well, my Chicago Blackhawks did not make the play-offs, nope, not this year or even next year probably. They are in a rebuild with lots of young players coming up the pipe-line and the older players getting treaded off to other teams. Will be sad to see them go, but at least they will have a chance to join a team that is chasing the Stanley Cup. Now we have to wait till August/September before the games start up again.

A neighbor has been helping me get the front yard cleaned up, had weeds growing all over the place, he cut them down, laid plastic down and then mulch. Planted a rose bush at one end and moved a big pot with dirt in the middle of the planter and put flowers in it. What a difference it made. He is going to work up the other side of the yard this weekend maybe. I bought a new peonie stand to keep from letting the peonies lean on the ground. Have to get out there today to set the stand up before the peonies get too big.

Since Jay's passing, exactly 2 years and 9 months today, there is just some stuff, I can't do alone anymore. John on the other side of the house, cuts my grass and shovels the snow. It was a mild winter this winter, but who knows what next winter will be like. Guess I will have to do what I can and hope for the best.

Well, I guess it is time to close this blog for today. You all have a great rest of April and keep looking up, better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

Where Did September Go????

Yikes! Time is flying by!!! As someone said to me, "I shut my eyes Monday night and wake up, it is Friday morning already" Yep, it's true. Why did time go so slowly when I was younger and speed up so fast as I grow older???? Never will understand this concept of old age!!!!!

Well, can't believe 5 weeks have passed since my last blog, either I am lazy or just running out of mojo to blog, either or, just not much happening in my life (for now), which is fine with me at this time in my life. My Chicago Blackhawks have started their pre-season games and October 10th is the first of the regular season. So, this is good! I like hockey, then NASCAR, then Football. Hopefully the Packers do well without Arron Rogers. Oh, and the Blackhawks do well without Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. Time will tell, I guess.

Hospice meeting was yesterday, always fun to meet together and see what the others have brought to the table as donations to the "card ministry" to Hospice.

So, these were some of my offerings. The cards above were fun to make, an idea I saw on Facebook. I really should make a template next time, so the pieces will be uniform and fit. I sort of pieced together the segments, so no, they were not uniform, each one was a bit different, but maybe that was part of the fun. I shall have to make some more like this, maybe some Christmas cards and Valentine cards too.

The bottom card, another pieced together card in a different design. Liked the new "blessed" word for this card, just bought it recently, filled up the space that did not have a blocked design.

These two cards were made at the Thompsom Center. There is a room set aside for Scrapbook and card makers. All the supplies have been donated, so the classes given are free. They usually have two teachers that give of their time showing us how to make cards. Then on the days they are not there, it is free time, and we can do what we want using the supplies that are there. So, this is what I came up with, the medallion was there to use, and the leaves die I brought from home to use there.

In this picture is another leaf card I made at the Thompson Center. The card on the left was made at home with my laminator and foil and ran a strip of green cardstock down the center and then placed the "blessed" word on it.

The cards below were an idea I found on the internet, not sure where. But I found the marbled cards from Hobby Lobby and thought they would make a nice card, I added the flowers and "just a little note" and left the inside blank.

So, this month of October will be "yard clean-up month"? The big tree in the back yard will dump millions of leaves, last year I never finished the whole yard, maybe this year will be different. The front yard, I have to cut down the peonies bush, daisies, my large porch vine and whatever else I can get too. Yeah, a lot of work for this old lady at this time. We'll see how it goes.

I have been going through some more of JP's old files from the 80's and 90's, gosh he had a lot of stuff. There were a few tracts intermingled, so I will be able to send them to Bob, who has been passing out all of JP's tracts that he had in his office. I moved all of JP's prayer journals to where the files were kept and put JP's ashes with his prayer journals, kinda keep it all together. Then there will be room in the file/safe to put a few other of JP's keepsakes. Along with a folder I am putting together that is titled "In Case of Emergency and/or Death for Louise E. Gatti" Everything that I can think of that has to do with JP, Louise, this house, Insurance, Wills, etc. so whoever the Executor is will know all there is to know and where to find it. Is that all possible???? I don't know, but I have been told to do this by a couple of people, it is a gift to those left behind that will have to take care of everything after I am gone. A morbid thought!!!!!

Can't think of much more, the time is 4:30 and I have yet to accomplish anything around this house. I am going to make a chicken dish tonight that I saw on Facebook that looked really good. My tomatoes are starting to ripen so one tomato will be used in the dish. I will take a picture of it, if I remember and don't eat it first.

Talk to you later, keep looking up better days are coming!!! 

Cheers ~ Louise

The Last Week of February

 Hi there everyone....hope you are having a great February. I am still living in 2020 I guess. No new changes and we are just plodding along going from day to day.

Here is a "little funny" I found today on another blog. Made me laugh a little bit....yeah, that's me alright. Might be good enough to put on Facebook too.

Things have not progressed a fast as I would like, JP is still a very needy person and just about all my waking hours are about him. As I sit here looking at my desk calendar, we have been very busy with nurse visits, Doctor visits, Hospital procedures, and Catherization's. I cringe at the thought of what the Dr. and Hospital bills will look like when they start filing into my home. 

I think the nurse visits will end this Thursday and two Doctor appointments so far in March, after that I am not sure what will happen. I know we are going from short term care to long term care. We will have nurses coming again, BUT they will be helping me with taking care of JP. and giving me, the caregiver, time off to take care of things that need to be done for Louise. Not sure yet what that is but I will take it.

JP will now go on Medicade, not sure what that all entails, but I will pay $29 a month home care and if there is reason to put him in assisted living that will be taken care of (I think) I might have to also pay room and board, but at this point, not sure how much. I Do have a few people walking me through this, thank God for the ADRC. Time will tell how this all pans out. Will keep you updated.

In the mean time.....who are these people????? They all live in France. Stephanie (2nd from right) owns a beautiful Chateau de LaLande. She started a YouTube Channel just before this pandemic started. Stephanie has been a blessing to many, many people around the world. All these other people in this picture are people that help Stephanie and live with her at the Chateau. From Right to left, Selmar (jack of all trades), Stephanie, Phillip (another jack of all trades), Marie (in the back, married to a 2nd co-owner of the Chateau, in the forefront her son, Antone) Behind Antone, Mari (Florest and cook), Nati (assistant for Stephanie). Behind Nati is Michael (#1 co-owner of the Chateau) and then David who visits and helps with designing of the garden and lake.

They all have a place and do what needs to be done to renovate this beautiful Chateau. Just type in: "Stephanie at The Chateau Diaries" and this will take you to all her Vlog videos. Once you go to her channel, you may be hooked and go to all of her other videos. A very lovely, gracious woman who knows how to bring the best out of everyone she meets.

Here are some cute little squirrls.....they need a caption: this one...."Shoot da puck!!!" What is your caption????

This one is: Yeahhhhhhh the Hawks Winnnnnnnnnnn!!!!! What's your caption????

Yep....Hockey game tonight. Hawks are playing the Columbus Blue Jackets. (note: you know how the Columbus Blue Jackets got their name??? That's where the Civil war uniforms were made for the North...Columbus, Ohio.....interesting fact....eh???)

So anyways the Hawks play tonight, I shall have to watch hockey on the internet at Volokit.com, the game is streamed with lots of buffering at times, once the buffering stops then I can watch the game in enjoyment.

If you haven't noticed, my You Tube visits and Hockey are my "get-a-way" places where I can forget the problems of the day. Well you all have a great rest of the day and also a great rest of the month of February. Take care and keep looking up, better days are just around the corner!!!!! Cheers ~ Louise

HA! Made a List of "TO DO" Things this Morning

Hi there everyone....hope your quarantine time is going well. Life has surely changed, not sure if it is for the good. I guess we all will find out eventually. 

Going shopping sure has been a challenge, especially this past Tuesday. Went into the store to get my diabetes strips and a few groceries....still no toilet paper, so I got paper towels (we are limited to ONE paper product). We personally are out of toilet paper so we have been using Kleenex….works well. So many of the shelves were bare....sure is scary to see this. The store does seem to keep the junk food and soda aisle well stocked though.  

Anyways, I left the store to go to my car, started it up and noticed the brake peddle went down to the floor.....oh my, how am I going to get home. Well, I figured I would go slow and pump the brakes 3-4 times till the car came to the stop lights. I did pray to God to get me home safe and give me green lights all the way home. Thank God only one light was red and by the time I got to it, it turned green....Thank you Jesus!!!! I got home safe. The car is parked right now, can't go anyplace anyways....hopefully the car will get fixed sometime this month.

JP was laid off his job last week, so he has no place to go either. We will get by with God's help!!! I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to Biz right here. May God Bless you abundantly today and always. 

So I made a list early this morning of "to do" things to accomplish TODAY. 14 things to accomplish and 2 things done so far. (doing this blog....was NOT on the list.) Here are some of the projects, make an apple pie, make a seasoning (perhaps I will give you the recipe in this blog at the end), make thank you and thinking of you cards, wipe floor, do dishes, straighten my stamp area, make Hospice cards, clean the garage and basement, change the sheets to name just a few......uuummmmm not sure I will get to all those things. Why do I have so much to do???? No time for me to be board, that is for sure.

One of the other things was "walk the grounds and see what is growing" It seems we are going to have an early spring and there is a lot of work to be done outside. I shall have to take some pictures, but I am sure they will look really dreary.




See the poor little baby on the right....that's me. The hard part about this coronavirus is NO HOCKEY.....actually all sports have been cancelled. The Olympics have been cancelled till next year. I don't know, I can't help but think that there something more to this whole thing that we are not being told....something very, very political and corrupt!! But that probably is just me, but something just doesn't seem right.

The Easter card below is one I am going to try to make today....looks simple enough. I have the die for the cross, I don't know, looks like that circle is felt or something and I am sure I have a dove die, will have to look for one. Should be easy and fun. I really need to get back to card making, sloughing off. Too many other things taking up my time. OOOO can you imagine...I FINALLY took my Christmas village down!!! I really enjoyed turning the lights on every night....but when I looked at the calendar it was going on APRIL....LOUISE it is time to take Christmas down.....I said. My gosh, talk about procrastination!!!!

Well, I guess I will close here and get going on one of these other things "to do". Oh wait, I said I would give you the recipe for the seasoning I made today. Here it is "Best Burger and Fry Seasoning" this seasoning is so good on burgers, fries, chicken, fish, pork and sheet pan vegies. This is a double batch and you can half it down if you like. (I doubled it today cause I use it so much)
1 Tbsp. Basil, 2 Tbsp. Garlic powder, 1 Tbsp. Parsley, 1 tsp. Celery salt, 2 tsp. Chili powder, 2 Tbsp. Garlic salt, 4 Tbsp. Paprika, 1 Tbsp. Cumin, 1 Tbsp. Pepper, 1/2 cup Salt. Mix all together in a mason jar and shake to mix well. To use, sprinkle with your fingers or a spoon. I love this stuff.

Well you all take care of yourselves and keep looking up, better days are coming. It's SPRING, be HAPPY!!!! Cheers ~ Louise

How Ya Doing??

Hi there everyone, how ya all doing??? This Coronavirus has sure taken over our lives.....unbelieveable isn't it?? Hope you are all taking care of yourselves. 

JP has gone back to work, his back is much better, but now I think his company will be shutting down next week. Bills are getting very hard to pay....guess I can only pay what I can pay.

So glad to hear that the IRS will allow us to pay our taxes by July 15th. Just did not know how I was going to pay Uncle Sam by April 15th??? I have been told if I call the IRS, I might be able to get an extention for 120 days if I am still having a problem paying. Was hoping for a refund, but that did not happen this year. Did you know your Social Security checks are taxed. Hard to believe, aren't we taxed once already, then taxed a second time?.......my goodness, that makes no sense to me.

Following are some cards I made for Hospice last month. Pretty simple, but fun to make. The background is an embossed folder and the 'hello' is a die cut. Just added a few gems.

Here again, the background embossed with a cross with the different names of Jesus. Then I added some flowers and gems.....a good one for Easter which is coming up April 12th....gosh time flies.

Did you know....tomorrow is the first day of SPRING???? Surprise!!!!! My crocuses are popping up now. They sure are  pretty and there seems to be more popping up each year.

If the weather stays nice, maybe I will get outside and rake some leaves that I never got raked last fall. Will have to see how the weather goes, if not, I have plenty of things to do in the house. 

Can you believe.....I still have my Christmas village up, thought I would take it down on the 7th, but that did not happen, now it is starting to get old and I did not even turn the village lights on tonight. Oh well, see what happens time wise.

My Chicago Blackhawks have not played since March 11th (I know that is just last week....but it seems like a month ago) because of the virus. All the teams were shut down, that has to be hard on all the players. Especially if the teams were in the top 3 and in the  wild card position. But supposedly Hockey will start up again in July/August. Probably then the Ice will not cooperate....who knows what will happen, every day is a guessing game.

Well time to close here, hope in the next few weeks this coronavirus will be but a bad dream and life is back to normal. So far 2020 has been a TUFF year for many people. Going to have to go out to the store and see if I can find some toilet paper.....just using Kleenex right now (I have maybe 4 boxes, that should last for awhile)

Take care and keep looking up....better days are right around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise  

Life in 2020 and Cream Puffs

Hi there everyone.....I know, I know, it's been a while, like 2 weeks since the last post?!?! I used to be so diligent writing my posts, 3,4,5 a month. Now it's just 1 or 2 posts. Guess not too much is happening in my life. I can post just so many cards, so many recipes, so many Hawk games, till people get tired of reading my posts, guess that is better then no posts at all.....right?!?!

Have not been doing any cards lately. But I need to make some for Valentine's Day. Hospice meeting is coming up on the 31st. and I have very few cards for that day. Maybe it's a good thing I have a Hospice meeting, cause it makes me make cards, even if I don't feel like it. Need some inspiration I guess.

The cookbook has taken up a lot of my time....we are nearing the end though. I have typed in 275 recipes (there are a few more coming....so maybe it will be about 280). We will be sending the book in with dividers, pictures and info to have Fundcraft put the book together. Maybe the end of this month or the beginning of February is our ending date.

Speaking of recipes (no, this one is not in the cookbook) I made these cream puffs the beginning of this year. Don't they look delicious?? Always wanted to make these, found a recipe that sounded pretty easy. So many times, these fancy recipes sound so complicated....thought I could handle this one. Following is the recipe.
Eclairs - Preheat oven 400 degrees.
1 c. water
1 stick butter
1 c. sifted flour
4 eggs
Heat water and butter to boiling point. Add flour, stir constantly till the mixture is smooth and forms a ball. Remove from heat and let cool. Beat in 4 eggs one at a time. Till all mixed together. Drop dough on greased cooking sheet (or use parchment paper to line the cooking sheet.) Bake 30 minutes until light brown. Set aside and cool. Prepare your filling. Cut puffs lengthwise, but not through. Pipe custard into center. Melt chocolate and frost puffs.

I tried making the filling, but it burned the pan. So I filled the puffs with sliced banana and spooned Cool Whip into the puffs. Covered the puffs with Chocolate syrup. 

I do have a package of vanilla instant pudding. I will try that next time I make these puffs. A fun dessert to have on hand. The ideas are endless. How does strawberries sound...oh yum!!!

 I believe in my Christmas post I mentioned I would post "My 3 Kings" I made these guys 52 years ago. Using paper Mache and material. They have their own container, an "All" soap detergent container that is probably 53+ years old.....everything is antique. It would not be Christmas without "My 3 Kings".

Isn't this a great picture of a Blackhawk, so powerful and strong. Speaking of the Chicago Blackhawks. Patrick Kane got his 1000 point last night. It was so cool to watch. All the guys came off the bench and surrounded him, congratulating him on his 1000 point. The announcer said he scored 500+ goals and 400+ assists (meeting somewhere in between.) I will find the exact stats and insert them in this post at a later date.

So I have been watching lots of Hockey....my entertainment. Would be wonderful to go to a game....but a little expensive and too far to travel. So it is cheaper to watch at home on TV.

Patrick is only 31 years old....so he has lots of years left to score more goals and assists. Patrick is the 4th Hawk in Franchise history to score over 1000 points. I heard also, he is the 90th player in the League to score 1000 points...so many mile stones he has reached and he is not done yet. His mother and father must be VERY proud of him. All his team mates love him and look up to him....he has become quite the icon for young kids that want to be just like him. Even some of his team mates are young enough to remember watching him and wanted to be like him. So awesome. I tear up thinking about this man!!!

So I guess I will close here for now. Who knows when I will come back. Maybe when something exciting happens, not sure when that will be. Just know I will be watching Hockey, making cards and cooking till the snow subsides and the days start getting longer. I am ready and it is just January.

Talk to you later, keep looking up better days are coming. 
Cheers ~ Louise

Cookbooks and Hospice Cards

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good week. October is kind of exciting for me....I need some excitement in my life!!! The Hockey season has started. Tomorrow the Chicago Blackhawks have their first home game of the season, with 7 games being played at the United Center. Hopefully the Hawks will win all of those games....starting the season off with a bang!!!

The Pastor's wife and I are putting together a cookbook to raise funds for her son's scholarship in support of the Hilbert High School Football and Chilton Hilbert Wrestling. Josh was killed in a car accident 3 years ago. Mary has been working diligently on raising funds for his scholarships. So far, one young man has been helped through the scholarship fund set up for Josh.

At this point we are just collecting recipes, hoping for 200 at the end of this adventure. That hopefully will bring a $2,500 profit. As the recipes come in, I will be typing them into the program Fundcraft has set up. Things sure have changed since I last did these two cookbooks above....my goodness. The Abundant Life Assembly of God cookbook was put together in 1984 and The Salvation Army cookbook was put together in 1995. I still use both cookbooks to this day. It's always fun to look at the different recipes and remember the person who submitted that recipe.

Hopefully we will get the cookbook done by Christmas, so they can go out as Christmas gifts. Mary has a couple of other fund raisers in the planning stages. A Fishing Banquet, Josh loved to fish. And a "Family Feud" fund raiser at the Bowling Alley. Also included is the Annual Fund Raiser in September....that's the big one. Hopefully there will be cookbooks at all these events.  

In these next few pictures are a few cards I made last month for the September 6th Hospice meeting. The next meeting will be November 1st (where has this year gone to???)  I am still working on November's cards....have lots of Christmas cards made and will probably add the cards that I will get from the Secret Stamper Revealing Party on the 20th of this month.

Can you tell....I like this 3D Rose and Flowers embossing folder. The ideas are endless. The top card is embossed on black card stock and I smeared a gold substance on it, till I got the effect I wanted. The bottom card is embossed on plain gold card stock. The above card is a Thank You, below a Birthday. Two different cards, two different looks.

Below are some Veteran Cards I made. Always fun to make. We also made little favors that hold a piece of Hersey Chocolate. I thought I took a picture, but guess not.

The next two cards are my Butterfly cards. Pretty easy to make, as you can see. Just 2 die-cuts, a Thank You and some pearls to embellish the card.

This last card is a embossing folder with little butterflies enhancing the card along with a few gems.

Well, that's enough excitement for one post. The Hawks have 10 games yet this month...hope all goes well with them. The cookbook will be a success and I have lots of inspiration making some new cards for Hospice. Before you know it the snow will be falling.....not looking forward to that white stuff.

You all have a great week. See ya later. Keep looking up, better days are coming!!
Cheers ~ Louise

My Favorite Sport 2 Watch

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good August. Well, it's been 2 weeks since I last posted. Thought it was about time to do something. No new pictures of cards or the gardens...been a little laxed in taking pictures. Guess I will have to get on the wagon again pretty soon.

I know this may not be an interesting post for you....but it is for me. I love hockey....maybe if more people would watch hockey there would be less problems in this world, it's an exciting game to watch and easy to follow. Just follow that puck and you get the idea of what the game is about. Baseball is so slow moving, football is pretty slow too....but hockey, man, down the ice and back, score a goal and hit a player so much action going on!!! Yeah, I like hockey best of all. 

I have been a fan 57 years. My first taste of Hockey was through my stepfather, he had season tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1962.....back then there was Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Chico Maki, Moose Vasko, Reggie Fleming to name a few favorites. We went to every game for almost 6 years. Loved, loved loved the game.

My life changed a bit after I started Beauty School and then left home, getting my first job and an apartment. No more hockey games. Not even sure the games were on TV at that time....I kept track of the Hawks via the newspapers and such. I met JP in '71 and he was into stock car racing. I guess my interests changed and was into stock car racing till 1973 when JP and I got married and he retired from racing. Did I do that???

1976 we moved up to Ladysmith on our 20 acres and raised cows, chickens, ducks, rabbits, cats and dogs. I lost track of the Hawks. We had NO TV for 10 years.....how in the world I did that, I do not know. 1987 we moved to Appleton, but still no TV for awhile. Finally in '92 I got a TV with rabbit ears......nope, no Hockey yet. I missed being able to watch the Stanley Cup Finals 2010, 2013, 2015. FINALLY 2016 brought Hockey into my house!!!! FINALLY I could watch the Blackhawks again!!!!

      The above picture was taken off the TV, March 25, 2019. 

Yep....Fear the Feathers....I think this year will be the year that brings another Stanley Cup....I am hoping, that would be great. 4 Stanley Cups in 10 years. Would that make history for the Chicago Blackhawks!!!!???

This is a shot from the TV. It's an old picture. 2 of the players in this shot are on different teams. Panarin, a winger is with the NY Rangers now. and Hjalarson is with the Coyote's...he was a good Defense player. Hopefully with all the trades this season we will have a good defense again.

This is the Blackhawks hat I want to buy before the season starts....hopefully. Or if another hat catches my eye, I will buy that one.

So now I have had Directv and now Spectrum and I can now get Hockey on TV and if I can't get it on TV, I can get the games on the computer. There is a site that shows all the home and away games of the Blackhawks and those of the other teams. I have no excuses now. Of course I can spend $40+ to get hockey on TV and that would include home and away....not affordable at this time.

So there you have it....if you do not see many posts from me starting in September you will know I am somewhere out there in Hockey land. You all take care and keep looking up.....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Wowser.....October 1st Already!!

Hi there everyone. How are you all doing?!?! October 1st....my, how time flies. Sure glad August and September are gone, gone, gone!! Those were tuff months for me. JP was getting less hours at work, now we are reaping what has been sewn. 

Kylie was sick and we (or I) thought we would lose her. But she bounced back, she always bounces back. Vet did blood tests, and x-rays. ($400) They say, she may have cancer because they found a mass. She is not in pain the Vet says, so, we will just try and make her happy, with all her favorite things. She had a couple of seizures, but no more since the last one. I have been giving her hamburger and rice and she gobbles that up. Snubs her nose at Freshpet and Beniful….oh but hamburger and eggs..."two please" she says!! We will just go day to day with her. She gets around pretty good, is going blind and hard of hearing, but her sniffer still works good. So hard to watch a doggie go down-hill, but this little dog is a fighter and just happens to want to hang around a little bit longer. I have a picture of her at the end of this blog.

So following are some cards I made at Betty's. This seems to be my only outlet for now. The month of September I did not even touch making cards except for at Betty's.....not sure what is wrong. I need to get into the swing of things again. Hopefully, October will be a bit better for me. Card wise. Plus, I have a month to make cards for Hospice with the next meeting being November 2nd.

The end of this month I will be going to a Stamp Reveal party that I am involved with....someone sends me 6 images in 6 months and I do the same and we make cards from that image sent and cards from the image received...it's fun, but I am behind on that also. One more image to send, which I will do tonight.

I love the saying of the first card, "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a Butterfly" Betty had the saying and butterflies stamped and embossed already. We colored them in, sponged and stamped the dots. Cut out the butterflies so you could see the black background and added sequins and speckles.

Let's see....if I can remember  how this card was made above. We used copic markers to color in the can, flowers and pots. The background was those stamped dots and sponged ink, the beige was copic marker, then we layered the papers and added the bow.

This next card was pretty and very simple. A circle cut out then sponged in the blue, from dark to light. Stamped the flowers and saying and embossed. The dragon fly is a die-cut. Guess you could use a butterfly if there are no dragonflies in your stash.

This last card is a tree with the leaves and 'Thinking of you" around the border of the tree and truck. The truck colored with copic markers and cut out. Easy-Peasy if you have the car and tree. So many times we make cards and I would like to make more.....but alas, I don't have the stamps to make the card at home. Bummers!

So here is a picture of Kylie going to the vet for her x-rays...we were just leaving the driveway and I thought I better take a few pictures, before I forgot. She looks pretty perky here. I had to take her in at 8:30am and leave her there till we came to pick her up at 2:00pm for the consultation. So yeah, I was kind of nervous to hear what they would say. It was soooo quiet in the house, I do believe it's the dogs and cats that make a house a home. Don't you think?!?!?!?

Well time to close here, I hope I am more diligent in blogging this month....guess I experienced a few days of depression where I did nothing cause things around me seemed to be caving in. I got tired of seeing Kylie sick and JP dealing with his arm pains and sore feet. God knows I need a vacation, but there was no place to run to.

Hockey is starting, so if you don't see me around, I will be watching Hockey or football....Go Blackhawks and Go Packers!!! Hockey my number one passion then football. I understand Hockey better then I do football....and hockey is so much faster and when there is a check....it can be crushing. One guy got hit so bad last night they are not sure the guy hitting the other will even be playing or will be suspended. Have not heard on the guy that got hurt yet.

Well time to close here, JP will be leaving for work at 3:45pm and work 4 hours, if he takes his full 4 hours....time will tell!

I have to keep looking up, as I always tell my readers, better days are coming and I am still waiting for that too!!! Cheers ~ Louise

WOW ~ First Day of March - Keto Bread - Blackhawks

Hi there everyone. Here we gooooooooo!!! The first day of March....seems like every month has it's own celebration of some sort. This month it's the wearing of the green, even if you are not Irish...green is the color. I love corned beef and cabbage, so most definitely there will be some corned beef cooking in the crock pot this month.

The Chicago Blackhawks are playing San Jose tonight.....the Hawks are losing so far 2-1. Well, it is only the first period, so we'll see what the score is in the 2nd and 3rd periods. This is the first time in 10 years the Hawks will not be in the Playoffs, not unless there is a major miracle and the Hawks pull it off....we'll see. 

I forgot to show you the cards we made at Betty's last Wednesday. Guess it did not cross my mind for some reason. Maybe too many other things on my mind. So the above card is a St. Patrick's Day card. A beer stein of green beer, I guess. It could be a "green river" Remember that drink....yep that was my favorite, Green River soda with French fries at the corner drug store!!! Gotta love those memories and carbs!!!!

This sure is a cute card. Betty said, "Because everyone has been sick" she wanted to make a card for them. I like that chicken. I will have to borrow that stamp sometime and make a few more cards like this one.

Pretty Spring, flowered card, using the copic markers. Makes for a nice card.

Another Spring card, using the copic markers. Betty designs all these cards, sometimes getting inspiration from magazines, card clubs that she belongs to and Pinterest. That's where I get a lot of my ideas too. Always fun to go there and see what's new.

So tonight I made some "Savory Keto Bread" looking forward to have some with an over easy egg in the morning. Here's the recipe.

2.5 cups almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup Kerrygold butter

8 oz cream cheese

8 whole eggs (set out at room temperature)

1 tsp Rosemary seasoning and 1 tsp. Sage seasoning

2 Tbs Parsley seasoning and 1.5 tsp baking powder

Cream together, butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add Rosemary, Sage and Parsley and whip until fully combined. Add the eggs and continue mixing till smooth. Finally add the flours and baking powder. The batter will be thick. Grease a loaf pan or 3 small loaf pans, or cup cake pans. Fill pans 1/2 way with the batter.

Bake 350 degrees.

35 minutes for small loaf pans.

55 minutes for large loaf pans.

15 minutes for cup cakes

Maybe one cup cake per meal or one slice per meal. Put a little butter on it too.....yummy!

Well the score is 5-1.....no need to get excited about this game. I will keep it on though...just to listen. My step father (who is dead now) would have given up on them along time ago. He probably would be Rooting for the Las Vegas Golden Knights who are 1st in their division in the NHL. This is their first year playing, a new franchise, of castoff players that nobody wanted. Wouldn't you know it, they are out to prove they are the best!!!! I kinda knew that was going to happen.

The Hawks are one of the Original 6 teams that started back in the 20's and 30's....now there are 31 teams to keep track of, that's a lot of hockey players. Pops had season tickets back in the 60's when he married my mother. So we went to lots of Hockey games. Yep, Pops would have been disgusted with the Hawks about now and would most definitely be rooting for the Golden Knights!!

Hawks lost 7-2....bummers!!

Well, time to close here, have a great night and keep looking up ~ better days are coming. (when we see Jesus....those will be the better days, in heaven.) Cheers ~ Louise