NEXT!!!!

Well it was not long ago that you all were reading about the replacement of our hot water heater. Well now the furnace has decided to crap out! Yep... we are getting our furnace replaced... $8300. OUCH! AND the unit we want is not something they have on hand so we won't have it installed until February 3rd. Very thankful for the space heaters that we have on hand.I'm also glad that we are having a bit warmer weather. At night we just pile on the blankets as listening to the space heater cycle through keeps me awake. I worry about a fire too. Slept wonderfully last night.

When things decide to start falling apart no single thing can go on it's own. Scott's car is also in the shop; it needs a new water pump and some hoses. UGH!

Let's see whats on my camera to share since my last post.

 We took a walk by the river and I made homemade English Muffins... from scratch!

DELICIOUS with some scrambled eggs!

Checked on the Beaver pond... looks like we may have some new ones as the water is coming up again in the pond and there seems to be a new damn under construction.

I've been coloring some Digital stamps that I will be turning into Valentine cards. These are My Bestie's by Sherry Baldy. She has an Etsy shop where she sells her images for $3 to $4 each.

And we have been enjoying watching the birds out our front windows.

Yesterday we mailed the workings to a Grand Father Clock off for repair. And we've worked, ate and slept. I hope everyone has been well!

One Large Salad

We had this wonderful salad for dinner last night. Two types of lettuce; celery, onion, bell pepper, cucumber, grated cheddar cheese, baked chicken and Craisins. We each chose our own salad dressing. I wish we had had a tomato but it was still delicious.

Saturday cards

I was given a challenge on Facebook to make a card following a sketch that was put up. This was the sketch...

I decided to just use the scraps laying on my work table as it is nearly cleaned off and this would help me reach that goal AND make some cards. So on the first one I tried to follow the sketch exactly and here is what I came up with.

I really felt like this was too mono toned so made another and mixed things up a bit more and really like how the second one turned out.

So much more colorful and fun. But I didn't stop there; I made one more before I went to bed last night. This one I changed even a little more and LOVE how it turned out.

I need to create a binder that will hold the sketch and the photos of these cards; sort of a projects completed in 2015 album.

I made another card on Friday but I can't share it until after the recipient receives it as it is part of a swap. But I really can't wait to share that one here as well. It turned out quite lovely. 

I'm working this morning for a few hours. I was really hoping the Sundays would stop once the Holidays were over but NOPE... at least not yet. Have a wonderful Sunday!

AWESOME HUSBAND

Last weekend Scott did something wonderful for me. The table that I had rescued from the curb several years ago to set my sewing machine on was really too big for the job but I got to thinking "half" of the table would be perfect! SO>>> Here's where the Awesome Husband comes in; he made the table half it's size. I helped him remove all the hardware and he did the rest.

He had to cut the section between the legs on one side so that I would be able to slide my chair under the table. He covered the area's where he ground off the old welds with silver spray paint and I can barely tell where it was removed. And he made some wooden inserts for the legs as they were quite sharp and we were afraid they would damage the floor. I still put the rubber disks under each leg to protect the floor even more and I LOVE IT!

Of course UPPER Management HAD TO check in on the whole progress - just to be sure it was done to his standards.

 And it looks like he approves whole heartedly!

Our Second Walk by the River in this New Year

Scott and I ate breakfast yesterday, checked the radar map and decided we had time to fit a walk in before the weather turned ugly. We decided to start at the lower end of the walkway and boy was there some changes we had not expected. The City had come in and did some "trimming" and oh boy was the entrance completely different.SO much more open and LESS inviting. We liked how the path used to just disappear into the woods... oh well! Change happens and it is a new year.

We thoroughly enjoyed the walk together and it was a lot less crowded than our first walk of the year at the opposite end of the walk a few days back. We spotted the injured Canadian Goose again and got some pictures of him/her. I wish there was a way we could help this poor creature. It can't fly and can barely swim with that injured wing and there is no way it can keep up with it's flock either.

Of course we also spotted some amazing fungi and we have started calling these two "chips" and "Pancakes"...

Fungi is just so fun to discover!
We also spotted the goose's companions swimming down stream from where he was...

The river was way up so the damn was almost not visible and the water was moving so fast. And with the trimming the City and the Seasonal change has done we could see way up the creek that feeds into the river.

All in all it was just a wonderful time spent together!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year! The three of us went over to Scott's Moms' for the traditional New Years Day dinner yesterday - pork, black eyed peas, collards and corn bread. She had also made some macaroni and cheese and sweet potato casserole. There was also some eggnog and fruit cake to eat as well. Needless to say we over ate BIG TIME!!! Today I will be going through my cookbooks and doing a purge to get us down to Diabetic friendly and Vegetarian Cookbooks... we have got to change our diet this year as we are both having trouble with our sugar levels.

OH... I almost forgot to tell you about the wonderful gift we were given as we walked up to my Mother-in-law's door. A squirrel was fussing up a storm and we startled it out of a tree and it took off running like it's life depended upon it and IT DID! A sudden shadow went over us and Scott was saying... LOOK>>LOOK>>>LOOK... a hawk was AFTER said squirrel and they both ended up in the neighbors yard. I was able to take some amazing photos and a short video of the hawk.

After that ENORMOUS meal Scott and I decided to go for a walk by the river to burn some of it off. The river was moving VERY fast yesterday because of all the rain that we have been getting and there were so many seagulls roosting on the rocks and playing in the water. They would fly up stream and then ride down the center of the river and when they'd reach rough water they would fly back up to the "beginning spot" and ride down again. We sat and watched them for some time. There were a LOT of people there yesterday... I guess everyone had the same idea or were starting their New Year's resolution to loose weight and exercise - PACKED walk way.

 OH... and this crazy fellow kept wanting to get in my shots. lol