Well, Hello June!!!

Hi there everyone!! Yes, I know, been awhile since I last communicated on this blog. Just been a lot of this and that going on. Doctor appointments, changing meds and checking blood pressure. Don't know what is worse, changing meds and stopping a few others which changes and discombobulates my whole body....now I am dealing with swollen ankles because the diuretic was discontinued, uncomfortable to say the least!!! Oh well, not a happy camper right now. Next Doctor appointment is the 18th.

Yeah, signs of old age, I guess. Would rather stay at home then go out and mingle with people and drive around with maniacs on the road who speed around me, because I am going the speed limit!!!!

Next Hospice meeting we will meet in September. So, we have the summer off, no rush making cards and I can work outside. I have lots to do and have had a bit of help with the neighbors. Will have to take some before/after pictures of their work and mine.

Here are the cards I created for Hospice. The meeting took place yesterday, and now I'm taking a break from everything, essentially doing NOTHING!!! The cards showcased are foiling cards. I purchased some new red foil and lace toner cards. The flower design was crafted using two different punches at the Thompson Center.

Once again, we see foiled cards, two birthday cakes, and birthday wishes set against various backgrounds.

Creating these cards was enjoyable with the use of 3D embossing folders and vellum, followed by processing them through the Cuttlebug. You apply color to the bottom side (the indented side), for which I used Copic markers. Once fully colored to your liking, you then sweep black ink over the colored bottom side, from top to bottom, achieving the coverage you desire. Afterwards, you can adhere it to the card and affix your chosen verses.

It's fascinating to see the evolution of this blog. The initial two paragraphs remain untouched, penned by my own hand. The subsequent three paragraphs, along with this one, were crafted by "copilot." While the words were altered, the essence remained intact, and arguably enhanced. It's curious to observe the outcome of this paragraph. AI is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Initially, its presence on this blog eluded me, but upon engaging with it, I found the articulation to be superior to my own... hence, I'm inclined to let AI articulate on my behalf...haha!

What fun, the above paragraph cracks me up, makes me sound very intelligent to say the least!!! This is me speaking....lol!!!

Question: Shall we let AI speak for us now!!!!

Well, I think I shall leave you now with this question to ponder. Talk to you later, maybe I will try for another blog this month just for the fact of having another round with AI and letting it rewrite my paragraphs. Hope you have a great June, don't let the bugs bite you too badly. Cheers ~ Louise

O.M.G. Where Did June Go????

Hi there everyone....hope you had a great JUNE! But, but, but, this is the last day of JUNE ~ where oh where did JUNE go?????? 

I did manage to get a few plantings done though, have already had some lettuce and a few radishes. In this planter above and below, I planted Italian green beans (they are flat instead of round), radishes, lettuce, and a cucumber plant. I tried some chive seeds, but the seeds must have been old. They did not grow. I have another planter like this on the other side of the yard, that has some new seeds for chives planted, so we shall see.

Here is another view of the beans....hoping to have lots this year. Last years crop was a handful a day...never enough to can or freeze. Maybe this year will be different.

Got my little ponds working, there has been plenty of rain lately, enough to fill the pond up. I still have to get my ceramic animals out.....just a little slow in that area. Maybe this week. As you can see in this picture, there is a few weeds and the leaves still have to be raked up. Maybe I will just leave them and cover with some new mulch....I don't know, still have to decide.

This little fountain is over by my other planter, it's a solar fountain, so it needs LOTS of SUN. I can see it from my kitchen window....fun to watch. Still have lots of work to do here though. A little bit each day may get all the summer work done...I hope.

I do have another fountain on the front porch...that one runs constantly, although I do not have it on today....listening to the rain fall was fine by me. Wish I lived by a water fall....I do love the sound of water splashing or falling.

So in the next 3 pictures are some plantings from seeds. Below are Zinnias...one of my favorite summer flowers.

Another batch of flower seeds.....marigolds. Guess I will have to start transplanting some of these seedlings soon.

Another favorite are these Morning Glories, they will get the morning sun. Will be nice to see early in the morning. Around the planter are purple violets, weeds and a few volunteers tomato plants. 3 of them, they were in this pot last summer, a few seeds must have planted themselves....that's okay.

So there you have it a little tour of my gardens....still much to do, with many, many weeds to pull, THEY never stop growing, do they?!?!

Time to close here, have to go make dinner for JP....I made chicken stew in the crock pot yesterday....so he shall have left overs. I am dieting again, hopefully to lose 10-15 lbs. this next month. I am doing the Keto diet which really works for me. Total loss of lbs. since July 2017, about 35 lbs. I have not been strict on the Keto so naturally the weight loss is very slow. This month, I will really work hard at it and see what comes from it.

You all have a great 4th of July weekend and enjoy the fireworks and family fun. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Nothing Special....Just Occupying and Living Life

Hi there everyone...hope you are having a wonderful day. Can you believe it? June is almost over....how fast life goes! Wasn't it just May a few days ago???? I guess that is why we must live each day to the fullest and get the most we can out of a 24 hour day. I don't do very good at that though, because there are days when I just don't feel like doing anything!! But then there are those days that I get lots done and amaze myself with all the energy accumulated. Who can figure???

So last night I worked on this card for my grand-nephew. He likes trucks....I think it turned out neat, it is a "one-of-a-kind" kind of card....I am sure he will like it. He likes to fish too....so maybe next years card will have fish on it....I shall have to hunt and shop for "fish stamps" for the next year. His Birthday is this Friday, so hopefully it will get to its destination on time.

Blue Apron meals.....I really love these meals and so enjoy the "taste sensation" of each meal. I guess I will continue to do this, but only once a month....so you won't see these meals as often. I am getting quite the library of recipes and there are some that I have repeated, just because I enjoyed the meal so much.

The above recipe is called, "Black Garlic-Shoyu Ramen with Green Beans and Shiitake Mushrooms" This was so good and I actually have some left overs in the frige for JP's dinner tonight. The broth was rich and flavorful, using black garlic along with Ponzu Sauce and Soy Glaze, Furikake and ginger made this very tasty. Not sure if I want to make this again, as it will be hard to find all the ingredients. Maybe the Oriental store. The Ramen noodles were fresh along with the beans, mushrooms and egg.....yep, if I would make this again, guess I will have to experiment. I gave this recipe 5 stars!!!

We really enjoyed the above recipe, "Seared Steak & Spiced Potato with Sauteed Sugar Snap Peas & Tarragon-Labneh Sauce". I did add some steak to this meal and if I had, had extra potatoes in the house, I would have made extra of those too. The steak was left at room temperature, salted and peppered and seared in the fry pan. The potatoes were roasting in the oven with oil, salt, pepper and the Baharat Spice blend. (man that was a good spice). The beans were fried in the fond from the steak and seasoned with salt and pepper. The white sauce was made with labneh, garlic paste, vinegar and half the tarragon leaves. It had sort of a  horseradish taste and was very good with the steak. This was another 5 star recipe.

This is my basil growing in the front....guess it is time to do something with it....soon!!!

This is my little water fountain on the front porch.....the Flamingos are new to this space.....I am most definitely a Flamingo fan.....just bought another stamp with a flamingo....(lol)

Here are a few more pictures from the garden walk I went on last Saturday. These two pictures were at the same house. The top picture is the front of the house. Wish I could get the front of my house to look like this.

This was the side of the house. There was a big tree here and had to be cut down....the stump was left, so the owners turned it into a dwarf house....pretty cute huh???

In these two pictures are cards I made at Betty's house 2 weeks ago, thought I would add these to the mix today. I have been working on cards and making some gold frames (like the card below) to add flowers to. Maybe in the next few days I will finally put some cards together using my gold frames. I saw a card made with the frames and fell in love with the technique. This card is kinda like the card I saw on the Internet.

So there you have it....I think I shall bring this post to a close. I have some things to do out in the yard and also walk Kylie around the block. Tonight is the Bachelorette....I missed last week, so for sure I want to watch tonight.

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

"These Boots Were Made 4 Walking"

 Hi Everyone........how is your day going. Well, Saturday is over and done and tomorrow is the last day of June!!!! My goodness this month went by fast. I should be all done planting things, BUT........could not resist a few sales today. A Big Boy tomato plant for 75 cents, zennia, and petunia plants for 75 cents. We also bought a pretty hanging plant for $5 at Northside.

Then we went to Menards and bought a new lawn mower (our old/used mower bit the dust), bought some bricks for landscaping, buy one brick, the second one is free....deal!! 6 bricks for $5.28 and 6 bricks for FREE!!! We also found a new plant........forgetting the name, it is going to bloom pretty blue flowers, probably will plant it in the front yard. I will be looking for a red rose also........I still have time yet, don't I??

Here is another angle of the boots, see the geraniums in those boots that were made for walking??? In back of the boots is the new plant. Slowly but surely things are starting to gel together. Didn't do much outside as we were doing alot of shopping. I did manage to put some new batteries in some of my decorative lights that were dimming. I like the little twinkling lights at night......soooo pretty!!!

Well, time to close this blog for the night and for the month of June. So, see you in July with new cards, recipes and gardening ideas. Take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise