UMMMM.... OK... can you see whats wrong?

This is one of the houses that has all ready sold in the neighborhood going in behind ours; perhaps something was lost in translation... can you see the problem?

On My Mind... Fall's arrival

Hawthorne Tree in the front yard.

Lantana that has been attracting butterflies by our front lamp post.

Cooler temps have meant Scott could work a bit on the house.

My days start at 3 AM... soon may be earlier.

On my mind ...

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. To take part, post a photo on your own blog, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here from your blog by saying you're part of "On my mind". Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When you've done that, come back here and add a comment below, with a link to your blog.

Mushroom/Fairy Circles

Everywhere we look there are Fairy circles; I saw a LOT on my way home from work today and was telling Scott about them and he said, "You should see the ones by the start of the Riverwalk". So we decided to take the old truck out for a drive and he drove down so I could see them and take a few pictures. Just look at how many there are in this first picture...WOW! I wish I could be home all this week so that I could go around and photograph all the ones I've seen today.

FUN STUFF!

It's been a very exhausting week so far at work... I can feel the tension in the air and will be SO GLAD to have the Corporate Visitor back in his office so the Mangers will take a deep breath and just enjoy the days. Everything will get done and everything will be all right. I'm SO not into the stress level and am very happy that I am not a Manager anymore.

This weekend is the Congaree Bluegrass Festival here in Cayce and we are looking forward to attending. I need to get some handwork pulled together to work on while we sit and enjoy the music.

I have two Round Robin's here now that I need to add my 2 borders to and then send on to the next person. One is a pastel and the other is a Fall theme. Both will be fun to work on; I just need to settle on an idea as I have several in mind for each of them.

Diane's Pastel Round Robin

Kathy's Fall Round Robin

And I have the PJ's to finish now that I have the basket safely off to New York. I hope that with all the donations that they will be able to help many of the families that were affected by the flood.

Pictorial Review of Tonights Sky

The clouds were just so amazingly unique.

Basket Ready to go....

I was going to make some make-up bags to add to the basket but changed my mind and opted to knit up a pair of gnome booties instead...

Then I put everything in the basket...

Basket Contains:

1 Heavy Canvas Tote/ fully lined

1 Christmas Table Runner

2 pot holders

1 stuffed elephant

1 knitted neck warmer

1 pair knitted gnome booties

3 knitted dish clothes

6 pair hand crafted earrings

and 

1 earring travel case (earrings are inside case)

 

All wrapped up and ready to go by Fed Ex tomorrow lunch time.

Earrings Needed something more....

Now they can travel safely in their very own travel bag....

Additions to Basket

Six Pair of Handcrafted earrings

Locks of Love

I woke up this morning and decided that today was the day to have my hair cut and donated to Locks of Love. Of course I neglected to get a before picture but they cut 2 10-inch long pony tails that will be sent in to Locks of Love. With it being gray they will sell it to off set the cost of making wigs from hair that still retains a natural blonde, brown, black or red. Here is my new doo...

On My Mind - Helping my Home Town in New York

Knitted pull over neck warmer

 I finished a knitted neck warmer and have started making some earrings for the basket I'm putting together to ship to NY that will be raffled off to raise money to help those that lost everything.

Jewelry makings waiting for creativity to strike

This is a weekly feature at Down To Earth

Two More Days.... REALLY?

I have two more days of work before I can just stay home and relax. I'm so ready for the weekend!

The freezer we've had since we first married croaked and Scott and Greg drug it to the street. Scott was hoping it was just a switch that he could change out but it was flat out done. The man from down the street took it to the scrap yard so we were happy someone got some use out of it. Scott scrambled to get everything moved to the freezer on the bottom of our fridge in the kitchen and still ended up having to call his Mom to see about using some space in her freezer for all the green beans that I did up a few months back. I guess I will be canning more now. This weekend I will make up some blackberry jam with the berries in the freezer to open up space for other things that need to be frozen. LOTS to do this weekend. Saturday I will be finishing up the gift basket so I can ship it out Monday. I'll post pictures before I package it up. I sure hope it helps them raise some money to help  those that lost everything in their basements and some even the first floor as well.If you are on Facebook they have a Donation Page as well "Floodfest Greene"

The Corner "5 and Dime"

Where I attended 7th to 12th grade - GCS

The Sherwood Motel

These photo's were taken in Greene in 2008 when I drove to NY for my 25th High School Reunion.

Pirate Cat Socks!

It's Wednesday, aka HUMP day and I'm calling for a Pirate Cat Sock day! Of course I'm probably the only one that owns a pair of Pirate Cat socks. Which makes me think perhaps I should look for MORE cat socks to open up the options. Bad days always go better in a pair of cat socks.

I hate changes in my schedule but it had to be done today. I'll be trying to rework a whole 25 foot side counter during the lunch rush; which means I WON'T get done. They'll be calling me to the register and I will be doing a bunch of guest service. I hate when the Boss is out of town. The Holiday Season has just begun and I'm feeling  that... "I want out of Retail NOW feeling". OH well... I'll muddle on.

A Day Late - Basket item update

Yesterday I started 2 potholders and finished them up tonight...

AND I also made this elephant...

She took a bit of time to put together so I didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped.

I also started a knitted neck wrap....

MORE to come... I hope to mail this out next weekend so it can get there in time for the BIG Event. I'll most likely ship Fed Ex.

Basket Progress

Here is what I have completed so far for the "Handcrafted Basket" I am donating to my Home Town's Flood recovery efforts...

Three hand knitted dish clothes.

A Christmas Table Runner.

A HUGE canvas tote bag that I decided to fully line with a fun print.

 I was bad and went for a walk with Scott and then we went to lunch at Zesto's so I lost about 2 hours of sewing time but we "needed" a bit of time together.  Tomorrow I will make some more things for the basket and "report in" here tomorrow night.

Was Not So Bad Today

I got to work this morning and a burst of energy came upon me and even with training two new people I had my area done in just 2 hours. I wish I had 1 or 2 people with me all the time but generally it's me stocking six 25 foot isles on my own - scrap-booking adhesives, card crafting, scrapbook pads and paper; individual sheets of scrapbook paper, scrapbook albums, floral embellishments, scrapbook pens and markers, rubber stamps, stickers, tools and technology, cutters and trimmers, Cricut, Slice and Cuttlebug and regular glues and adhesives as well as clay. SO it was AWESOME to have the help and getting it all done in 2 hours instead of the full 5 1/2 hours it takes me on my own. My section also includes Jewelry but they have assigned that to a single person and she does it all which I'm very happy about as all those strands of beads take FOREVER! So in a nut shell that's my Tuesdays and Thursday from now until Christmas - "slinging" freight so the merchandise is on the sales floor for the customers when the doors open at 9 AM. WHEW! I took a nice nap once I got home and had a bit of lunch - I think I needed it.

Someone is waiting.....

I told him Saturday I will spend the entire day in there with him but he is wanting me in there this evening... perhaps a bit of sewing IS the best medicine. He will actually climb up on the table and watch the machines work. He knows to just look and not touch. Most days he is Scott's best buddy and stays on top of Scott's desk but the last few days he has stuck pretty close to me and "checks" on me if I make any negative sounds. I truly believe animals "feel" whats going on with their people long before we do ourselves.

So Tesla says I need sewing time... I think I will listen to him. Dr Tesla RULES!

A certain little boy in my life has asked for a Shark Quilt for Christmas. I am having a really hard time finding shark fabric locally and the postage and cost per yard are so high online. I'm going to do a search for fabric stores within close driving distance and check them out as time and money allows. I have 2 prints so far; both are blue. If I have to I will come up with another plan... perhaps some stitchery blocks using blue thread on a white background. I could print off some simple coloring pages for that and transfer them to the fabric. HHHHmmmm.... thinking going on here - watch for steam.

I think I'm going to make up a "kitchen" basket with potholders, dish clothes, some of our family favorite recipes... still thinking about what else I could add. Incidentally I LOVED the wild picnic basket idea!

I want to thank you all for putting up with my occasional rants and I appreciate your input immensely! Thank you for taking the time to read our little blog. I think I was having a rant day in this picture....

TGITH

Thank God it's THURSDAY! Only one more day until Friday. I have wanted to be a home body ALL week this week. I come home absolutely exhausted from the physical labor involved in my job but worse from all the negative energy in the air. I hate change but understand it's part of life but don't cope well with lots of Drama. Drama is running rampant at the moment and I want to just step away from it. I wonder what they would do if I requested an entire week off... I bet there WOULD be lots of Drama then. AH well... reality is we NEED my little paycheck so I'll trudge on.

I'm trying to come up with some ideas for a gift basket I could donate to the Flood Recovery Efforts in my hometown of Greene, New York. I don't have long to pull something together as they will need what I can come up with before October 2nd when they are doing the event where the baskets will be raffled off. Perhaps some "orphan" blocks will be pulled from my stash to make a quilt up real quick. THINK THINK THINK!

For those that believe in Prayer I have a couple requests... My sister-in-law is dealing with some nasty side affects of chemo that have come upon her unexpectedly and could use some added strength. And a friend has been dealing with blood clots in his lungs and could use a little support there. And several friends have recently lost beloved pets and they need comfort. Thank You.

On My Mind... Pulling out Reinforcements from my bookshelf

This afternoon I decided to pull a book from my bookshelf to re-read. I need to be reminded of more ways to be thrifty....

This is a weekly feature at Down to Earth

Life on Hold - RANT! You may want to skip reading

That's what it feels like to me... "life on hold". I'm finding it harder and harder to "dream" about the future and where we will be in 10, 20, 30 or more years. I don't get excited about much anymore as far as moving to the country. I just can't see it happening and I wonder why we are even trying to hold onto 10 acres we will probably never use. Just seems so pointless anymore. I don't want to plan anything as I just can't see it becoming a reality. I'm disenchanted with Consumerism, the Economy and just want to "get off" the Crazy train! Banks SUCK! It's nearly the "Retail Season" and I can't wait for it to just be over. I'm not even enthused about gift making. We should have lived on cash only from the beginning. ZERO debt... now that's REAL FREEDOM!I WANT MY HAPPY LIFE BACK!


I just had to vent before I blow up... I'm better now.

I just wrote a letter to the President.

Tonight's Dinner

Scott has requested Chicken Chow Mein and I will use his Mother's recipe to make it. This is SUPER easy to make and taste SO GOOD! Here is the recipe in case anyone wants to try it...

Chicken Chow Mein

Brown lightly in 2 Tablespoons hot butter:

4 Tablespoons minced onion
1 Cup sliced mushrooms

Add and simmer for 15 minutes:

1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup diced celery
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sugar

Blend and stir into meat mixture:

1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
Dissolved in:
3 Tablespoons cold water

Cook until slightly thickened and clear.
Serve over hot rice with chow mein noodles.

Progress on PJ's

 I just need to put elastic in the waist of the bottoms, buttons and button holes in the top and hem's all around and this pair will be finished. Next set has wolves all over them and once completed these will be sent to my youngest nephew; a belated birthday present just in time for cooler weather.

Flannel PJ's (Pajama's)

Once these are in the mail I will get to work on two more sets for my "little Romeo" Phoenix. His will have skulls and dragons; cool "Big Boy" stuff.

The Days are starting cooler

This morning we decided to go for a walk before it started to get too hot. We drove to the West Columbia Entrance and those lots were full; Joe Pinner ( A local personality) was speaking at a 9/11 Memorial so we turned around and went to the Cayce entrance where we could get parking more easily. The weather was absolutely beautiful!