Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. - Les Brown

This is the first time I've been home at a decent hour this week!
I went to a par-tay Monday night....it was a blast!
Last night was Stamp Club.

Bonnie, you'll be happy to hear that our Stamp lady doesn't do Halloween either!
So I scored a Halloween Stamp Set for a decent price (she won it)!

We made the following.

We also made another Christmas card, but I haven't finished putting it together.

I wanted a saying on mine and it wasn't an option!

Hahahaha.

It was getting late!

Ray's going to a funeral Friday, so I'll let him have the Sympathy card.

Gawd, I must be tired!

I've got the heat on!

I need to sleep for a week!

Kalens renters move out Friday, and Beth(the cleaning lady I found) & I will be at the house Saturday at 9:00am!

Got new (hopefully improved!) renters moving in on the 7th of October!

One of my SIL's is a realtor, so we were a rental tag team!

Now we gotta get the place spruced up, and ready!

Vanessa & Shawn will be here for Thanksgiving!

We're in CANADA people, so it's next month!

I got the bird today!

I'm wondering when I'll have time for everything, cause we'll be eating on the Saturday.

I won't be fretting about it!

It will be what it will be!

Lastly, for those of you that just see a black box in this post;

I sweet talked my friend Darlene into sharing her photos from last night.

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=154026914689804&id=663700637&ref=notif&notif_t=share_wall_create#!/dd.photo63

Hopefully when you click on that there will be 5-6 pictures!

When I e-mailed her to ask permission to share them with you, she said they're out again tonight;  nothing spectacular yet....but she'd be watching!

These are not color enhanced or anything!

They truly are that AWESOME!

ENJOY!

Gotta run!

Gotta get the AVON ordered!

Ta ta for now!

You can't think your way into acting positively, but you can act your way into thinking positively.-Nido

I'd love a weekend off!
Seriously!

I watched the sun come up yesterday.....nothing spectacular, except for the sun on the trees!

Then it got cloudy; so I started washing windows.
Got 6 done inside & out, and 3 more outsides. Just 3 more to go, and they're the biggest!
Here are the helpers on the deck.

Hahahaha!

This is my kitchen window.....

right after the public area windows were washed this spring, some over zealous bird crapped on it!

I've looked at that all summer!

Never mind....I'm a hurtin unit from hauling the ladder around....don't wanna do THAT more than I have to!

It's an awesome ladder though, you can go up either side...sturdy, only too big (8 ft.) & unwieldly!

Need about a 6 foot ladder!

Here's the after picture!

Which then led to the make work stuff!
I washed the drapes in the M bedroom.
Then did the valance, rug & shower curtain in the M bath!
Between yesterday & today, I've done about 6 loads of laundry; and had to have a redo of the towels cause the washer was still on delicate! YOI!

I tried out the rice cooker Vanessa & Shawn gave me last weekend.
I had cinnamon tinged Basmati Rice, and was going to cook a smokie over the fire, but was too tired!
How does that rice cooker know when the rice is cooked? hmmmmmm? It wasn't sticky or anything!
I was outside last night drinking beer by the fire pit, when a flock of cranes flew over.

Usually you can hear them and they're so high up you can't see them, and yes; they are headed south!

I was up at 5 am this morning....Gawd, I don't know why!

I did finish this little photo album though.

As Bonnie said, "Just do it girl!"

Here goes.

Originally; I wanted it to fit in this film canister I scored!

This last picture is in acrylic, cause it's on the back!

I don't want it to scratch.

Here's the finished product!

And of course it doesn't fit in the canister!

I'd have to use about 4 CD's and have no embellishments!

Hope I did ya proud Bonnie!

I'm going to take it to my mom, so she can brag....don't worry,

I'm trading mom for her pictures that are the same!

Now hopefully Bonnie forgives me for this next picture!

A Halloween card I made this week!

I'm really hating not liking that Glimmer Mist in red!

Looks like I killed somebody, and I was going for a fine mist!?

I got the card inspiration here!

The haunted house was a $1.50 in the bin at Michaels.

Got muffins in the oven for lunch for work, gonna throw the last load of laundry in the dryer...hey, I hung the other stuff out, and go have a nap!

That's the plan anyhoo!

Have a great week people!

Ta ta for now!

If you are lucky enough to have done well, then it is your responsibility to send the elevator back down.-Kevin Spacey

Alrighty!
Life's sure got in the way this past week!
I went to GP on Friday, and when I got to Vanessa's, I said, "You have a plant!"
She said, "It's for you."
Isn't it great!

Vanessa cooked supper!

We had a wonderful lasagne......

Followed by awesome apple pie!

I did buy her a trivet before I left on Saturday!

We watched movies with her friends!

We watched RIO, and Something Borrowed.

I've found out that Vanessa is a lurker...Hi Honey!

Just so ya know, the next 2 pictures, are spiders!

She has a phobia!

I made a card last week before I left.

Then I bought a few treasures, & changed it up!

Much better I think!
It was inspired by Curt's card; here. Which in turn inspired this card, I tell ya, it's a vicious circle!
But it's all good!

Saw a deer on the way to work one day.

I knocked down another tree....no troubles this time!
Had to drop it before Ray turned it into a production!
I'm going to see how long it takes for him to notice it's gone!
It was a leaner, and I said, "Why don't you knock that tree down, before it's big enough to fall on the house when it blows down?"
Ray, "It'll hit the gardens."
Well......it didn't!

There's the gardens on the left, and I dropped the tree on the right! About 30 feet away I say!

Here's the after I cleaned it up picture.

You can just see the stump in the middle of the picture!

Here's my audience while I put the cut up tree in the woodshed!

Such a big help!

I'll tackle the other trees on the weekend.

It's supposed to be really nice out starting tomorrow!

Here's the tomato crop!

There's only about 1/2 of what we usually get! Good thing I have salsa left from last year!

Here's the other 2 babies that are hanging out!
I haven't seen their mom for quite a while!

One orange one, and one grey one!

I got Shadow a heated dog bed....not what I thought; it was pretty expensive, and I think I'll have to crawl in the dog house & sit on it when it's 40 below to see if it works!
I also put a door on her house, and so far she's left it up!

I really hate intensly dislike September!
All my meetings start up, I've had one every week for the last 3, and have 2 next week.
One is stamp club, so that'll be fun!

The O/S is on a cruise right now.
He asked when I wanted to come visit, and then asked if we could meet at G-ma's!
Someone misses his grandma!
So instead of going to beautiful Victoria, B.C., I might be making another trip to my mommy's!
I told him to think about the weather, cause I'd be driving, so he said he'd call with a plan this weekend!

Better go, hope you're all having a great week!

Ta ta for now!

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted”-David Bly

Where to start!
Oh bother!
Sunday I had my day planned. hahahaha I should know better!
I threw some hamburger soup in the slow cooker; I really gotta order some new bread pans for the bread machine; I'm missin the fresh bread every weekend!
Ray's done driving truck & is farming for the neighbors.
I tied Shadow up, and took the power saw down the driveway to do my Paula Bunyan impression on 2 dead trees.
They were pretty close to the road, and sometimes Shadow has A.D.D.!
I'm just helping the trees along, so Mother Nature doesn't blow them over on the driveway in the winter!
I cut my wedge like I do, and nothing!
There was a knot in the wedge! The tree leaned, and the saw was stuck!
OIY!
I quad back to the house and get a maul, a hand saw, some wedgy type things and back down the drive way I go.
I hammer at the knot, pound wedges into the tree; the whole time the tree is cracking....and nothing!


Here's the leaner!

And here's the saw stuck in it!

See the orange thing!?

Husqvarna Chain Saw I got for Mother's Day one year cause I wanted a girl saw!

The Jonsered is pretty heavy!

2 hours later I had worked up a sweat, cussed the tree out, left the saw in it, and came home!
No wonder I have high blood pressure!
I then went to plan B!
Made cinnamon buns; little secret...Frozen Bread Dough people!

I had a meeting last night; Friends of the Library, so couldn't do anything about the leaner!
I wasn't losing any sleep over it, just didn't want Ray to see the saw stuck in the tree, I'd never hear the end of it!
Had a frost warning so covered the tomatoes & peppers, I'll deal with them on the weekend!

Today I came home, and saw this.....

So I was on a mission!

But first, I unlock the door, and see the rug in the entry all scrunched up,

the garbage is tipped over.... I say "hello?"

On top of the fridge in the entry I hear "meow"!

OMG! One of the kittens must have snuck in when Ray was on his way out,

and it was in the whole day!

OMG! I keep looking for cat pee!

Tossed the cat out, changed clothes, got the quad, axe,

and Shadow on a leash, and headed down the driveway.

Shadow sat in the grass in the ditch pouting cause she was tied up.

I only took her cause I saw the bear at the end of the driveway as I left for work this morning!

Like she's gonna do anything tied up! hahahaha

I worked up another sweat hacking away at that evil knot in the tree; the tree kept cracking, and just like on TV, only better, I grabbed the saw so it wouldn't hit the ground, and down went the tree!

Gail 1...Tree ZIP!

We've got some to come down in the yard, and Ray will turn them into a big production that will take days (I should talk); but I'm just going to drop them!

It's friend behind it is coming down too; just not today!

Cleaned up the driveway, came in to talk to you; read the mail,

gonna go feed the cats, then I'll be playing!

I'm going to GP this weekend.

Got errands to run for work!

I. KNOW!

Also Julian Austin is playing at the casino!

Might be another Rock City slash Tracy Lawrence thingy, and we all know I'm too old for that!

We'll see!

Made some cards.

Need one more Thanksgiving card...shoulda made 3!

I'm kinda on a roll with the Halloween cards!

I'm loving the paper....you know it's so last year, or retired....oh spare me!

Better go, hope you guys are all having a great week!

Ta ta for now!

Never fail to define a goal, or someone else will do it for you.-Michael Levine

I slept in until 8:37 am!
I. KNOW!
Musta needed it!

Alrighty, I told Ray not to buy any more cucumbers!
My attempts this week, almost made me quit while I was ahead!

These are Bread & Butter pickles!

But not before this happened!

Arrrghhhhh!

One of my jars exploded in the canner!

In fact it was an old Jewel jar that I inherited from somewhere.

When I told my mom, she said it's probably been used a million times!

I had no mishaps with these Netherland Pickles!

Except I opted NOT to peel & seed the cucumbers, cause the pickles would have been white & bland looking!

Think about it!

Cucumbers peeled & seeded; chopped onions & cauliflower!?

There ya go!

On my way to bed last night I had to grab a coat, and go out & watch the show!

The Northern Lights were AMAZING!

Those pictures were all my little camera could capture! Sorry!

I'm sure there's a setting, but I didn't have a minute!

I haven't seen them that phenomenal for quite a while!

I almost expected them to be crackling!

Today; I did some laundry, cleaned the woodshed,

and when my craft room window was in shade, I came in.

Gonna play in a while!

It was nice of summer to make an appearence when everyone's canning & the house is already 600 degrees!

And those tiny little black flies, are just annoying!

The bear down the drive way.

Lives here!

That's the entrance to the culvert!

Hahaha, don't worry, I didn't get out of my vehicle, just drove to the side of the road!

Then Tuesday, coming home from my meeting I saw this!

I'm turning into our drive way!

OMG!

I mentioned him to Ray this morning before he went to work, and he thinks he's gone.

Moved out.....too many people, gawking & what have you!

I'll keep you posted!

Because the winds have been mach 300 in the evening, I've been playing.

Here's my first Halloween card of the year!

 I LIKE it!

OK, so the lighting's crappy, but IRL it's awesome!

I LOVE the acid green in the 'wallpaper'!

The O/S called me last night!

Left Tuesday for his sail & last night he called me from Vancouver!

Hahahaha, they musta took the long way!

I asked him if he had a Tsumani, before I knew where he was.

Told him that there was a 6.4 earthquake Friday.

He's says "are you sure?"

I know he's not reading this right now, so here's the ship he's on.

And in perusing the site I found this!

That's what the kid does!

Better go, got stuff to do,

or maybe I'll go make myself a smokie over the fire before I start!

I'm just taking it easy today.

I know!

I say that, then think of something that needs done!

Like my van needs cleaned.......

Here's some blog candy for you if you're interested!

Ta ta for now!

CCAYR-September Challenge

Warning: This post may contain Christmas Cards!

Wow, I can't believe it's September already! I hope everyone is well on their to having a great stash of Christmas cards.
This month we are having a stash challenge and the only "rule" is that anything you use on your cards needs to be at least a year old - stamps, papers, embellishments: everything!

These are my cards for CCAYR!

Everything here is 'ancient'!

I've been 'saving' the papers, and ribbon & little Happy Holidays stickers!

Getting quite a stash!

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.- Janis Joplin

Happy Labour Day!

Friday night Ray came home with 2 dozen corn & 23 lbs of cucumbers!
Saturday I putzed around, cleaned a shed, picked some rocks out of the field; we actually have a rock picker that hooks up to the tractor, and it's name's not Gail!

I took the power saw and cut some dead trees that had fallen over and keep trying to take my head off when I mow by the bush! I started the saw BEFORE I went into the bush, cause Curt, this next bit is for you......
OMG, WE HAVE A BEAR!
LIVING IN THE CULVERT AT THE END OF THE DRIVEWAY!
RAY'S BEEN GOING OUT EVERY MORNING & EVENING, CAUSE IT CAN'T HIBERNATE ANYWHERE NEAR THE YARD, CAUSE IN THE SPRING IT WILL WAKE UP H U N G A R Y!
Anyhoo, the guys can't shoot it because too many people keep driving by to see it!
Too many tourists I told my BIL!
I haven't seen it, and according to the stories it gets bigger all the time....I figure it'll be a grizzly by tomorrow!

I cut up cucumbers for my pickles I was gonna make on Sunday.

Saturday night, Ray's boss calls.
Said Ray had invited him & his wife for supper, but that he didn't care for Lasagna.
Hahahaha, I didn't mind, at least he's honest!

Yesterday there was an unscheduled cleaning of the house!
I sent Ray out to mow grass; and by 1:00 pm I had everthing under control!
Counters cleaned off, floors vacumed & washed, laundry done, bathrooms cleaned, dusting done, rhubarb cream pie made, salad made, steaks marinating, garlic bread all cheesed up, & fresh corn & potatoes ready for the BBQ.

I also had to finish my pickles I had started the night before!
They're called Million Dollar Pickles!
Not sure why; and the little red flecks....supposed to be pimento, can't buy that here, so I scrunched up a red Jalepeno!
Ha, you can't taste it! Pretty sure it's just for color!

This morning I had to get busy, because last week I got an e-mail asking if I'd make dessert for our meeting tomorrow night.

I know, I know, JUST SAY NO!

I made the famous Rhubarb Crisp, then I made a pan of Farmers Brownies, and some Butter Tarts, just in case!

I also dug the Strawberries out I've had in the freezer (froze whole) since last year.
And if you tell anybody, I'll vehemently deny it!
Anyhoo, they turned into 17 jars of jam!

I have also made a grocery list for tomorrow, so I can get the rest of the cucumbers done!

My knees been giving me grief since Friday, and I'm out of the 'good' drugs!

Those are on tomorrows list too!

The O/S sails tomorrow.

I'm not allowed to say where.

I'm especially not allowed to tell the Taliban where the ship is going!

Kalens' renters are moving out.

They told Kalen not me.

I'm not sure if Kalen told them he'd call off his mother, or how that happened, but that will be one less headache!

I'm sure a good cleaning will be in order, they've lived there almost 2 years, but I can handle that!

Ray started swathing the back 40.

Alrighty, he started with the front 10 acres, but really, he's in the back 40 now!

Here are my birdhouses mounted on their rake & pitch fork!

And here's a picture of a renegade tree trying to hurry fall along!

Only one in the yard that's changing color!?

Speaking of 'FALL', I did this blog hop!

You should too!

There's a lot of talent out there!

Better go, I'm sure I should be doing something!

Started reading Kathy Reichs latest novel!

I just finished the 2nd book in The Mortal Instruments series.

Also read the first book in The Hunger Games, and finished Jaycee Dugard's book.

I read. A. L O T!

I know!

When do I have the time!?

Talk to ya later!

Ta ta for now!