Saint Paws

A friend of mine is trying to help those sweet creatures we call pets. They've opened a thrift store to help care for these animals and their Grand Opening/Benefit Drive starts today...

New Kitchen

We are finally researching cabinet options and have found a Company that sells Surplus cabinets considerably cheaper than the local Big Box/Chain stores. So we brought home a pricing sheet that lists the cabinet sizes and prices and we have been "planning". For about $2500/$3000 we could finish the cabinet portion of our remodel. We all ready have the flooring waiting to be installed once the cabinets have been put in place. Scott got out a couple pieces of paper and this is what we have figured out we would like to have in the "new" kitchen...

LOWER CABINETS ONLY

 I see he has noted where he left out 9"inches by the sink and there is a 9"wide cabinet that would fit there if I remember our conversation correctly.

UPPER CABINETS ONLY

The cabinet next to the fridge is an 18" wide utility cabinet that we would use as a Pantry cabinet. I would really like a 24" cabinet there but there just isn't room for one but thats OK... I can "make it work". We will need this pantry cabinet as we are doing away with the cabinets above the stove and counter top on the left side of the kitchen so that it will be open to the Den area. Which I am now toying with the idea of turning into my Craft Room so that we can have the spare bedroom I'm currently using as a Craft Room as a Guest bedroom for when ALL the family comes to town and needs a place to sleep or if traveling friends need a place to stop for a night. We are Dreaming once more and making plans and that makes me VERY happy.

Dreary Saturday

Good Morning! It is quite dreary here this morning and looking like it is going to be a very rainy day today so all my plans for yard work will be put off. Thats ok... we have plenty of things to catch up on indoors as well.

Greg has gone to the coast for the weekend and I hope that he is having a  good time. Hopefully the rain will hold off down that way so that they can enjoy the beach.

I did a VERY silly light hearted page in my Art Journal... just a reminder to myself to have some fun. Not a very good monkey but I tried; I love the background I did on these two pages.

I also received a beautiful altered book box from my swap partner on 2 Shabby Sister's Studio site. I absolutely LOVE it...

I think she did an AMAZING job on this box! I need to start looking for a small glass cabinet to display all these beautiful creations!

Garlic and Sad Kitty

Garlic - nearing harvesting point.

Somebody else loves Art Journaling as much as I do.

I think he was sad as I had not worked in any of my Art Journals in several days.

SO CUTE!

Another set of pages...

Cool technique but I think I need to wait on the next prompt before I fill this little book up.

I've had a wicked sore throat since last night and went to work this morning even though I would have much rather stayed at home. Survived the 4 hour shift and got what was supposed to be 7 hours of work done in 4 hours. Came home and crashed since I had not slept much last night. I'm hoping this is just allergies and OTC drugs will kick it out of me. I haven't been REALLY sick in a long time and am not eager to be right now. And as you can see I'm rambling about nothing... I feel that CRAP-O-LA! Thanks for "listening".

Updates! Art Journal and Avocado

Well that Avocado that I put in a cup or water set up on toothpicks has finally sprung a root out the bottom. I have another avocado pit that I just started the same way but it will probably be a month or two before it gets a root. I'm not even sure if they will grow and produce here. I better get to researching more about them.

I also finished the "blue art page" from the previous post...

Weekend flying by.....

Here it is Sunday all ready! I still have a lot on my to do list here in the house and we've GOT to get the yard mowed before the N.N. turns us in for it being too long. And I agree with everyone that left comments the last time I mentioned her... I to have little time to worry about how tall any of my neighbors grass grows but apparently she is invested in it heavily.

Yesterday I did a deep clean on the bathroom in the hall and it looks wonderful. Greg says he cleans the toilet and I told him you have to clean EVERYTHING in there. I had been leaving it for him to clean as he is the main person to use that bathroom but it was getting totally out of hand. So I stepped in and took care of it as I usually do as I can't stand it when it gets THAT bad. Now it's all sparkling clean. Today I will do our Master Bath but it won't be nearly as much work.

I also tackled most of the laundry yesterday and will finish it today. Scott and I checked out a store called "Ollies" for a little break in the day after I had done all that work. Ollies is full of such a random mix of stuff to buy and it's always changing as they buy and resell closeouts. We bought a few items but not as much as the other shoppers. Mostly food stuffs for us - we are getting to where we only buy truly consumable items - food mostly. We are checking more thrift stores and such for clothing as I hate the clothes being offered in the stores now at such ridiculous prices. The fabrics are getting thinner and thinner as the price go up and up.

 

My next altering project

Speaking of Thrift stores - we also stopped at the Goodwill out that way as well. They sell items by set prices not the good Clearance house pricing like I got the other day. BUT I found exactly what I was looking for in there for $3.50. It's a shadow box that I needed for a Challenge offered up on 2 Shabby Sisters. We are to alter a shadow box (minimum openings of 6) anyway we want and so I am toying with the idea of turning this into a crazy cat lady shop - what do you think?

Lets see... what else have I been up to with so much extra time on my hands. Well I've made a few flowers..

The little round ones on the right will be layered with lace and such  and I will share what they look like later. The roses are so much fun to make and they make me think of Flowerlady Lorraine and I smile every time I finish one and think of her beautiful roses.

Then I've been "playing" in my recycled Art Journal that I made with cereal boxes following Jennibellie's tutorial on You Tube. There is a link to her You Tube Channel on her blog if anyone is interested in looking her up. She has some fabulous tutorials on Art Journals and Art Supplies. Here are the pages that I did this week.

Completed pages with Charcoal pencil added.

The actual pages were done following another ladies tutorial and I had to substitute items with what I had on  hand here at the house. This journal is also part of a project on 2 Shabby Sisters Studio. Here is a link to the actual tutorial we were to follow to create these pages... lindysgang

Once we followed the actual tutorial we were to step it up and do another 2 page spread using this method with our own spin added to it and here is what I've come up with so far; these pages are not finished yet.

Pages in process.

I will be adding the charcoal pencil around some of the paper and may also use some markers on it as well. And I want to create a word or phrase for these pages like I did on the first set. I love how the embossed paper looks on these two pages. When I'm finished I will post another picture.

I guess that catches you all up for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and to those all ready on Monday - I hope you are having a GREAT start to a new week.

4 AM on a Saturday

I can't believe that I am up this early on a Saturday.  I had trouble sleeping last night as I went to bed a little after 5 and then was back up at 9 and stayed up until about 11. I've been up since about 3... not sure whats going on with my sleep patterns. But when the freakishly bizarre dreams started I decided I'd just get up. So here I am writing a bizarre early morning blog post.

Yesterday I paid bills and then went to the Goodwill Clearance Center. I was there for several hours looking through the bins. Things are sold by the pound there ($1.29/lb). With glass, books and DVDs and VHS tapes selling at 25 cents per pound. I made a You Tube video of the "haul" so you can see what all I got.

I will be painting the wooden pieces so you will most likely see them again as a future project share.

After leaving Goodwill I went to Cafe Strudel with my friend and we had a nice leisurely lunch. Very nice way to spend part of a day.

We don't really have anything planned for today or this weekend for that matter. I'm sure laundry will be part of it. If we get up to anything exciting or intriguing I will write about it.

Barn's

I was reading a fellow Bloggers post and I got o thinking about these two barns from my childhood. The first is the barn I grew up with; where I fed calves, mucked stalls, scrapped the barn floor and fluffed straw. I doled out hay to the cows and cleared water dishes. I also curried a horse and a pony and carried them water and cleaned their stalls.

Taken in 2002 when we went up so I could attend my 20th High School Reunion

I remember when the BIG silo was put in and how my Grandma fed the "workers" each day they were on our farm.

This next barn is my Uncle Ray's barn just "over the hill" and I would walk through the back fields to go over to his place to swim in their pond; which was up from the barn.

2002 - Uncle Ray's barn

Thanks Buttons for bringing these memories back to me.

Our Monday Evening Walk

I always think about sitting here reading or crocheting.

This vine is blooming every where along  the Riverwalk!

Everything is getting so green and lush!

A GORGEOUS place to get out in Nature.

These ducks were so much fun to watch!

I love these train trestles!

When I was little I thought these were Robots that would catch me and hurt me.... thanks to those people I call... COUSINS!

I hope he made it across before a cyclist or runner flattened him.

Am I coming or going...???

One week my hours are cut WAY back and now this week I'm working 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hour CRAZY shifts. I had to be to work at 3 AM today to get the rest of a MAJOR shift done of all the Wilton products and gifts and shipping packaging. WOW! Does it all look so much better. I so wish I could share photos but it's a BIG no no and I need to keep my job. But the new layout is so much better and shopper friendly.

I did a deep clean on our front entry and it looks very nice with just the table and radio as it should be instead of the catch all stuff that seems to get dropped there. I'm picking an area to work on each day and going through closets and drawers and plan to donate or sell stuff that is just in our way and taking up space.Or quite frankly pitching stuff that should have gone to the dump long ago.

The fan is kept there for when the temperatures start to soar and we need to move air about to feel cool.

After I did that cleaning up I took a nap as quite frankly I was exhausted at that point. Now it's time to get a meal prepared for the fellas when they get home. I hope everyone's week has started off well and continues to be wonderful.

Not my typical Sunday

I worked this morning 5 AM until 10:30Am.When I got home I decided to add some trims to some up-cycled containers I started a couple weeks ago. I had taken two containers that were left after using the oxygenator up that was inside them; I use the oxygenator to keep my front loading washing machine from getting smelly. One little scoop in each load keeps me from getting funky smelling clothes and it only cost a dollar at Dollar Tree.

ANYHOW... back to the containers. The containers have a nice screw on lid and I thought they'd make the perfect little gift containers. So I Modge Podged some paper napkins on the outside and added the trims to fancy them up a bit. SUPER easy project with awesome results. This would make an awesome project for kids. Mother's Day IS coming up! Perhaps do a container similar with flower napkins and put packs of flower seeds inside?

I'm mailing these two to some On-line friends I met through You Tube. I've filled them with some of my handmade flowers.

After I did that I took an hour long nap... greatly needed as I didn't sleep well last night worrying I'd be late to work this morning. When I got up from my nap 4 HUGE bowls... beyond full of collard greens that needed to be processed were sitting on the kitchen counter top. So with Scott's help we stripped the tough main vein on every leaf. Rinsed them well and put them in this HUGE pot to wilt them to prepare them for the freezer.

Yesterday I had done this to two huge bowls full and had them in the refrigerator as I didn't realize we were out of freezer bags. So while the ones cooled down some from today we went down to the Grocery store and got some quart sized freezer bags... I know HO HUM BORING! But that is what we did!

Then when we came back I started bagging them up....

SEVEN quarts! Ready for the freezer.

I believe Tesla thought I pulled my scrap tub out just for him. I want to make some more flowers tomorrow after work.

Well I better head on to bed as it is nearly 9PM and I have to be up by 1:30 AM. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Afternoon in Pictures

Black Berry Cobbler fresh from the oven...

Just missing the Vanilla Bean ice cream.

Dogwood tree in our front yard

Wild Rose I liberated from a drainage ditch a couple years ago - gotta find something unique to train it up. For now I've tied it up with Bakers twine.

Flowering Almond

After last night you'd think I'd stay away from anything capable of stinging...

NOT! I just HAD to try to capture this fellow working his heart out.

Scott mowing - trying to keep us off the hot list with the NN that turns everyone in for grass height. And yes... NN= Noisy Neighbor.

We don't have to wait for Christmas to kiss under Mistletoe.

I just love these two scrangly oak trees in our front yard.

And the Tulip Poplar by the drive way is so tall and majestic!

Two Simple Boxes

This is how they came into my house....

This smaller box came from the Dollar Tree for a dollar and the little wooden peg legs came from Michaels and I used a coupon to buy these so they were just a little over a dollar. This little box will be altered for a swap that I am doing on a site called 2 Shabby Sister's Studio. We are to alter the box and hide some "goodies" inside.

This box is slightly bigger and I got it at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 less 40% coupon. The pegs for it's legs were about  two dollars. This box I am thinking of giving away to a follower either on here or on my You Tube Channel.

Here they are with their "legs" in the air. I've attached the legs with E6000 glue - boy is that stuff stinky! Once the glue is dried I will prime them with some Gesso and then start painting and papering them and then decorating them. More to come!