MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hi there everyone. Hope you are finished with all your Christmas shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning etc. All that goes along with Christmas. It sure can get hectic, can't it?

I cut down on my Christmas card giving this year and decided to send out my cards via Facebook and "blogger." So if you did not receive a card from me this year....here 'tis....Have a Very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy, happy 2019 New Year with many, many blessings!!!

PS. These cards actually went out to relatives and two Pastors. Wish I could have made more like these....they were stunning in real life. Some day I will find the die and make more!!!

Another thing I cut down on this Christmas is my decorating, I still have about 5 boxes to put up, my village, the manger and lots of figurines. I did manage to put my little tree up with lights, decorations etc, the presents were wrapped the other night and put under the tree. I put 3 window lights up (tree, wreath and snowflake) with still one box to unload. It's Christmas Eve....I may not finish, not unless when I finish this post and unload that box, then I am done with my decorating. LOL!!! 

Made some cut-out cookies and a pumpkin pie. The cut-cookies still have to get decorated....do I really care? Not sure, they are pretty good just as they are.

Had a few financial things going on this month. Had to sell a few things just to keep our nose above water. Next month won't be any better because I have to come up with $288 for taxes on the house. Not sure where that will come from....oh but God does, we will just have to wait and see.

JP has this week off, which means a smaller pay check in a couple of weeks. It has been rough going since August when he decided to work just part-time. Maybe in the spring I will get a job with Rover.com and dog-sit, my home or the dogs home.

Well, I am going to close here, time for dinner. You all have a GREAT Christmas. Keep looking up......better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Making Christmas Cards

Hi there everyone. How is the Christmas season treating you?? I am not sure as yet. It seems JP and I are seeing the Doctors way too much within the last couple of weeks. By the end of this month JP will have had 3 appointments and I with 3 appointments. Yuk!! Mine was a follow-up and change of meds, blood test and urine test and end of this month the eyes need to be checked by a specialist. JP's appointments revolve around the urologist and today they put him in a tube (he said). Is that an MRI??? Geez, I don't know. Well, in the midst of all this....I must find time to make cards (it's my therapy.)

So in this picture is a fun card. It is called "Iris Fold" strips of paper arranged to make a square. The background went through the cuttlebug and was embossed with snowflakes. Very hard to see the embossing. I think next time I will ink the snowflakes so they show up better.

Here is another picture of my snowman using the Stampin'up "Work of Art" stamps. I really like this set of stamps. And this cute snowman got stamped and made into 16 more cards last night. I think I will use this card for Happy New Year cards and possibly make some more, turning them into "thinking of you" cards for Hospice. With this same stamp set, I can make the American Flag, a butterfly and 2 different sale boats. That will be for another blog, when I get them done.

This is another "Iris Fold" card. The card stock was already cut out to form an ornament. I followed a pattern using strips of paper to make the ornament. Then glued the card stock on a card and layered washi tape on top.

Both the tree above and the second ornament below are done the same ways as the ornament. You can see that both ornaments are done just a little bit different.

Here is another tree in different washi tape colors and the iris fold is in different colors. I sent these cards to the in-laws and nieces. So I hope they like them. I should be getting these cards in the mail tomorrow. Then I just have to decorate a bit more and make some cookies and make my step-father's package and send it off to LasVegas.

Well time to close and go walk Kylie around the block. It's suppose to warm up the rest of this week, so the sidewalks should be clear.

Tomorrow is card making at a friends house....yeah, I always look forward to that and getting new ideas. Next Sunday is another Stampin'up Camp and some more ideas. It's no wonder these days fly by...I seem to plan so much and look forward to each and every event....then it comes and goes so quickly!!! POOF!!!!

Talk to you later and keep looking up!!! Cheers ~ Louise

OOOOO.......Apple Blossoms!!!

Hi there everyone. Wow, can't believe how fast this month has gone by. We look so forward to Spring and it flashes before our eyes in seconds. Time races by so fast!!

Took some pictures of my apple trees.....both are blooming, I am so excited for the apples, both trees will produce. The tree on the left will be the red apples. The tree on the right will be the green ones. Hopefully we will be busy harvesting apples in September.

So pretty, so many apples. I am not sure when I should spray..better go to a nursery and find out.

I noticed today the flowers are starting to fall off....looks like snow on the ground.

Here's a close up of the pretty little flowers. In the background is the fire pit. I still have a lot to do there...it will take a little time getting the things done that need to get done.

I bought two tomato plants, two cucumber plants. Planted those the other day, still have some white waverly petunias and red geraniums to plant in the front of the house. Oh and there are naturally all those weeds that need pulling...which never ends.

So tomorrow JP has an appointment with the urologist, he has been having a few problems. Hopefully the Doctor will find out what is wrong. Well, time to close here, have to get the dishes done, a load of clothes and figure out what I will make for JP when he comes home at 1am.
Cheers ~ Louise

Cherries and Apples

 Hi Everyone, how are your days going? Keeping cool has been a priority lately. Gets pretty warm in the house, like almost 90 degrees, but we keep the air conditioner going in the kitchen and fans going in the other rooms. So it is bearable. I like when it is cool enough and I can put a blanket on to keep warm. Looks like there is a big cool-down for the next week so we all will be comfortable till the next heat-wave.

 The other day a friend called and asked if I would like some cherries......I said yes. So I went to pick them up and spent the evening cleaning, sorting, pitting and cooking them. After they cooled I put them in containers and froze them. I pulled a few recipes from the internet, Freezer Jam, Cherry Dump Cobbler and Sara's Famous Cherry Crisp are on the agenda for these cherries along with a couple of smoothies and maybe some cherry frozen pops.

 The cherries that did not make the pick landed on the ground for the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and flies to eat. Nobody touched them, so they landed in the compost pile. The little chipmunk in this picture was checking them out....maybe he thought they were too sour though.

 I am really excited, cause I finally have apples growing in my apple tree. I sure do hope they make it, the limbs are bending over cause there are so many apples in the tree. I think these apples will remain green. I have another tree that is supposed to have red apples........but that one has not produced yet. These trees are over 10 years old. So hopefully this is the year for apple pies and sauce!!!!

Another shot of the apples from a different angle. So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.

One of these days I will get some cards up. I have not been working on cards for awhile as my studio is still all torn up and I am still re-organizing. And I have been so busy with my gardens......time just gets away. Cheers ~ Louise

Dismantling a Water Fountain & Another Tree

A beautiful SPRING DAY on the Fox River!!!! Yay......it feels so good to experience a day like this!!!    It's been a long, long hard winter!!



This is on the Fox River, taken from Sandi's backyard.........beautiful day on April 27th, 2013!



When Sandi and Doug moved into this house, they asked if we would like this fountain. Yes! I said, I love the sound of water falling...probably I would like living near Niagara Falls too!! So on this beautiful day, we began to dismantle the water fountain along with the help of Sandi's grandson and his 3 friends. We got 2 loads of rocks, many of them were cemented together and had to be sledge hammered apart, but the boys enjoyed showing off their manliness and the walls came tumbling down!!!

Here you see JP and Doug relaxing while the 3 boys took another load of flagstone to our house. I think retirement is agreeing with both men!!!

In this picture you see all the flagstone dumped in our back yard. Now the fun begins. I think I will put the fountain in this area by the garage as the fountain will be nearest the electrical outlet. I am going to build the stone around the lining (some how). It may take me all spring and summer to finish it, but it should be good exercise moving the flagstone around. I may check some of the stores in town to see their displays before I start though and then check out prices for water pumps....not sure what I want yet, but I know I want a pump that SOUNDS like a fountain.......some fountains can sound so wimpy. So I will be listening to a few fountains, they are so relaxing!!!

I will need to get a picnic table to sit by the fountain, as we already had someone saying they would like to come over and picnic with us when the fountain is finished! Deal.....sounds like fun!!! Hot dogs and hamburgers coming up!!

Today, April 29th. We woke up to the sounds of chain saws and men cutting the tree down across the street!!! Ha....the demise of another tree!!! These trees get so big, then they become a problem....sorry to say, we have two trees needing to come down or be trimmed.
Do I hear a bid to donate the work or $$$$???
I guess the cost of this tree was $1200. The tree in back of this one, to take down was $3000-yikes!!!
I am afraid to ask what our trees might cost!! 

LOOK OUT!! Here comes a limb!!!

One of the limbs came down and hit the side walk of the neighbors house, made a big dent on their walk-way.

Well, the big, bad tree is down...not sure what they are going to do with all the chunks of wood.
 The  neighbor on the right likes to burn wood in his out-door fire place, perhaps they will keep it.
Maybe we will see lots more sun and flowers cause the neighbor on the left likes to landscape!!!

Time to close this blog, you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!
Recipe tomorrow, if it turns out good. Lental soup, "Jacobs Way"
Cheers ~ Louise

PS...I am not sure what is going on with the above paragraph, looks fine from here, but when I update and view blog this is what it looks like........sooooo.....I guess I will leave it. Have played and played and can't seem to fix it so, I will leave it........se' le' vee!!! That's life!!!

In Answer To My Prayers...and The Tree Finally Came Down!

Yep..........hip-hip-hooray!!! I have hated this tree for 22 years and FINALLY it came down yesterday with the help of the City of Appleton. I am soooooo thankful that this tree met it's demise. It was a messy tree that caused many problems.

It's name is "Siberian Ash"......it should have stayed in Siberia. I never cared for it's spreading of little seeds, on a windy day it would look like snow....but those little seeds would start to grow into little trees with roots going so deep, it was sometimes hard to pull out those roots and they had to be snipped off. I was always pulling those little trees, like weeds, before they got started, all summer long. Fall would come and this Siberian Ash was always the last to drop it's leaves and there were little spots on the leaves.....diseased???? There I was, after raking leaves from my "Soft Maple".......finally this dreaded tree would drop it's leaves. They weren't big leaves, no, little leaves that were hard to rake!!! 

Another thing it did was drop limbs and twiggy branches all over our yard after a storm and there I was, picking up after it. My biggest fear was that we would have a bad storm and it would fall and land on our house while knocking out the electric. The above picture was taken from my back yard.....I think now we will get more sun in our backyard. This tree was done growing and was matured, so the workers said. When I pass by walking Kylie, I shall count the circles to see just how old this tree is.

In this picture, the storm of April 10th caused a lot of problems for the neighbors. You can see all the limbs this tree dropped plus one of the branches sheared the neighbors electric meter and shut down electric for us and the rest of the neighbors on this block.

Many times I would pray....God, get rid of that tree. I often thought I would drive some copper nails into the base of that tree....trees don't like copper and it kills them, so I have been told. So, God took care of it........I was not looking forward to the stuff this tree drops, the seeds, leaves, branches, twigs. This kind of tree needs to be in a forest, not in the "city limits" Amen and Good-bye you miserable tree.......Good-bye!!!! I was not a fan and will not miss you!!!

We are celebrating today, so you all have a great day and enjoy the season of Spring and
 keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers and more Cheers ~ Louise