Ann's Snap Edit & Scrap

jumping back in

2012-01-27T00:01:00.002-05:00

It's been such a long time since I've done anything crafty. I've collected plenty of ideas and I've wanted to do something but I just haven't been able to get myself to start anything.
The other day I finally decided I would pick something and go for it. I bought yarn years ago to make an afghan but had sort of burned myself out on them before I ever got to it. I've been wanting to do a rectangular granny square afghan so I started that.

I'm not very fast making these so with any luck this should be finished by maybe April. My only problem is that I don't think I bought enough yarn and who knows if I'll be able to find the same colors.

You have to sneak up on it

2012-01-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

Duke knows how to make me laugh. I've always found him amusing when he sneaks up on a toy you are holding.
He'll look at you, look at the toy and slowly creep towards his target

When he thinks he's close enough he pours on the steam and races in for the kill

Of course there is a little tugging involved before he actually wins his prize

He sure enjoys his toys

gotta have em

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

I should know better than to wear white. White sneakers to work that is. After a couple months of getting donut grease dripped on them they look disgusting. Wade already thinks I buy new shoes too often so imagine my delight when the white (in a previous life) sneakers sprung a leak in them and I had to get new ones.
This time they're black

No laces to tie and no more wet socks when I step in a puddle or slushy snow.

Who's that knocking at my door?

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

I was down in the basement and I thought I heard a knock on the door. I headed for the steps.
Hey Duke, is someone at the door?

No mom, it's just me playing

Perfect start

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday when the sun was rising and I looked out the window I saw this

The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there. ~Monica Baldwin

The sun is but a morning star. ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Not the beautiful unobstructed view of the sunrise that I've seen on some of your blogs but beautiful none the less. It put a smile on my face early in the day and that was good enough for me.

Morning is when the wick is lit. A flame ignited, the day delighted with heat and light, we start the fight for something more than before. ~Jeb Dickerson,

Light + Camera = Play Time

2012-01-22T00:01:00.003-05:00

There was only one thing I obligated myself to do yesterday. It was the dreaded cleaning of the bathroom. I procrastinated as long as I could but eventually tackled the job. Other than that I filled my day with fun and all from the comfort and warmth of home.

One of my play time activities involved my camera. I have a table in the corner of my dining room with a lantern made of wood and a mason jar. It was getting dark out and I turned the light on and set different things next to it and snapped away.

I've added textures to the first two pictures because I can and because I like them. The first one is with a vase of silk roses.

Antique tea cup

cheap dollar store birds

and my trustee assistant. I was under his watchful eye the entire day.

Here we go again

2012-01-21T00:30:00.001-05:00

Looks like we are in for another one of those weekends. We are under another winter weather advisory although this one is (as of the time I'm preparing this) only supposed to last until 9am today.
In preparation for the weekend, after I got home from work on Friday I dressed for the occasion. No, I didn't put on my snow suit and mittens and head to the back yard to build a snowman. It was warm cozy lounge pants, slippers and my robe.
After I was appropriately attired I set the scene.
Turn on fake fire place, check

TV, turned on
Kindle close by for my reading pleasure
Laptop also close at hand
Coffee, mug filled and fresh pot brewing
Camera just in case I feel like taking random shots out the window

I've also made a mental note of a couple dozen entertainment options I have to keep me occupied. Now all I need to do is figure out how to stop Monday from coming around so soon

donut beat all

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yes you have seen these yummy little morsels on my blog before. I'm not here to discuss my somewhat compulsive overindulgent behavior.
Yesterday morning at work I noticed a man (frequent customer) standing in front of the (self serve) donut case. No one else was around and I couldn't figure out what he was doing so I watched. I noticed he was eating a donut. When he finished he grabbed a bag and I saw him put two donuts in it. I ran up to the front of the store and told the cashier what he looked like and what I saw and asked her to let me know how many donuts he said he had. Sure enough, He told her two. Apparently he had forgotten the one he had already eaten. Can you believe the nerve of some people?
I frequently see customers walking through the store eating donuts and I often wonder how many of them actually pay for them. Do they really think that we serve coffee and donuts for their shopping pleasure?

Seasons in the sun

2012-01-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

Too much wine too much song wonder how I got along

I was trying to come up with something to do with the weather. We went from 54 degrees on Tuesday back to snow on Wednesday. While scouting through the archives I found this picture. Thinking of seasons such as the never ending winter and seeing the wine made me think of the song Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks. I always loved that song.

Would you please....

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hey Duke.
Duke?

Duke, are you ignoring me?

What? I'm not doing anything.

I know you aren't doing anything Duke. So would you please go pick your toys up off the living room floor.

Well at least they aren't on the steps this time. It's a wonder I haven't broken my neck tripping on all the toys he leaves laying around. And always in the most inconvenient places.

Hibernation part 2

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

I forgot to finish my weekend of hibernation so I'm going to give you part 2 today.
Sunday morning the snow finally stopped falling. When daylight hit it was a bright and beautiful day.

It was the bluest sky I have seen in a long time. The sun was shining and the snow in my back yard was sparkling like a diamond.

So why exactly is it that something so pretty has to be so cold?

All Around Wonderful Blog

2012-01-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

Imagine my surprise when not one but two of my favorite bloggers chose me to give an All Around Wonderful Blog Award.
First the honor came from Marie at Women talk about life then from Ginny at Let your light shine

The rules of this award are as follows

1. Be a follower of this blog Yes, I am a follower of both of these wonderful blogs.

2. Pass it on to three other people Now here is where I may not be so wonderful because I gave up on passing these along some time ago.

3. Link back to me. This one I am happy to do.

So why don't I pass them along? Well my dear friends it's quite simple. First of all there are many of you who don't do awards. Second of all I can't pick just a handful because I think each and every one of you are deserving. If I didn't I wouldn't be reading your blogs.

I actually don't even post most of these when I get them. I couldn't keep track of them, I would forget about them and then when I did remember the award, I forgot who gave it to me.

I do thank both Marie and Ginny from the bottom of my bloggy heart and I do hope you forgive me for breaking rule #2

Hibernation Day 1

2012-01-15T00:01:00.003-05:00

Friday we may not have gotten as much snow as the were calling for but it sure made up for it on Saturday. It's a regular winter wonderland out there.

My plan for a weekend of hibernation was definitely a good one. I woke early, thanks to Duke's insistence. Why he felt it necessary to get me up so early I really don't know. He started nudging me at 3:30 but I managed to hold him off until 5:30.
Just as soon as he was let out it was time to grab some coffee and take care of some emails and read a few blogs. From there I moved to a nice comfy chair with my kindle and spent a few hours reading.
Letting Duke out the back door was becoming a little difficult due to the snow accumulation so I bundled up and headed outside to shovel out a spot for him.
Back inside and it was time to get cooking. What better to make for dinner today than a big pot of beef stew.

I haven't made this in years and I don't follow any recipe other than the meat, carrots and potatoes. I let this cook for about 3 hours adding different ingredients at different stages. I don't know what Wade thought but it sure hit the spot for me.
While the stew was cooking I even got some work done in my computer/craft room. It's been needing a good cleaning out and I put a sizable dent in that little project.

Join me by the fire

2012-01-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

The weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful

Ok so it's not a real fireplace but I don't have one so this will have to do.

Remember the crafts show I did? My friend Debbie took these lamps with her. Her husband Bernie makes them. When we did the show I had decided that I wanted to buy one of these for Wade for Christmas. I thought it would look perfect in his yet to be finished man cave.
He loved the lamp and I loved the fact that even though Bernie works with Wade every day he didn't say a word to him.

Vulgarity

2012-01-13T00:01:00.002-05:00

What is the most vulgar 4 letter word, beginning with the letter s that you can think of?
Are you afraid to say it out loud? Yeah, me too.
Here let me show you a picture and you can tell me if this is the same thing you were thinking of.

That's right, that's the s word and we're about to have it all over the place. This was last year in the parking lot at work and I think this might have been mild compared to what we are supposed to be getting. I've heard a foot. I suppose I shouldn't complain. At least it's not the 18 feet that Alaska got but still, I don't want this stuff.
I think it's going to be a hibernation kind of weekend.

Tall Tale

2012-01-12T00:00:00.005-05:00

Mom and I were talking last night and she was telling me a story.

She said that back in the old days she used to be a neat freak and super organized. She continued on to tell me about all the energy and ambition she used to have too.

My mom is one funny gal. I hope she didn't think I was going to buy that tall tale of hers. Organized? Does she think I was born yesterday or something. She cracks me up.
Heck, she couldn't even get a blog post ready for you. I had to do it myself. She keeps trying to tell me that blogger keeps changing her scheduled posts to drafts and that's why they have been posting late. Don't tell her I said this, because I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings, but I think she's losing it.

Back to the grind

2012-01-11T00:00:00.002-05:00

Oh how hard it is to get up this morning and get dressed for work. Especially since I had the day off yesterday.
I had an early morning appointment and then the rest of the day was mine.
I made myself breakfast.
I read all of your blogs and caught up on email.
I laid on the couch watching TV.
I read and played some games on my kindle.

Of course I had the excellent company of a certain little white Westie. However he was not in the mood for pictures. He said he had just washed his hair and couldn't do a thing with it.

A time for renewal

2012-01-10T00:00:00.001-05:00

I bet you were expecting some sappy inspirational post here weren't you? Well if you weren't then please just humor me.
The renewal that it's time for is my drivers license

Yikes, that means another horrid picture that I have to carry around in my wallet for 4 years. In all the years I have been driving I don't think I have ever once had a good picture on my license.

and now for a little humor

You know you're from Pennsylvania when:

You think the roads in any other state are smooth.
Hearing horses clopping down a paved street doesn't bring you to the window to see what's going on outside.
You can stop along the road to buy fruits, vegetables, or crafts on the "honor system."
You consider Pittsburgh to be "out west," and you know the fastest way to Philly is the Turnpike.
When it snows they put cinders on the roads instead of sand.
You can give directions to Intercourse with a straight face.
Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
You know the four seasons: Winter, Still Winter, Almost Winter, and Construction.
Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
You measure distance in minutes.

The rise and fall

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

We had a bit of a reprieve from the chilling temperatures. The other day it got all the way up to 53 degrees. Just seeing the sunshine was a little slice of heaven in itself.
Alas, what goes up, must come down. We have a couple days this week that are supposed to be in the 40's and then the rest is 30's and below.
Oh and the thermometer in the picture, it's totally useless. A cheap dollar store magnet that I just liked the looks of so it hangs out on my fridge.
I'm sending you all warm wishes and sunshiney days.

Busy busy

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

We started the day off yesterday with a hearty breakfast

Dad left early to go to Pittsburgh with a friend of his. That left me and mom home alone to do whatever we wanted.
Mom of course wanted to catch up on emails and blogs after having so much trouble on Friday night. Next thing we knew a few hours had gone by and we hadn't done anything.
OH NO!!!! We've got to get busy.

Lets move it mom, we told dad we were going to get this Christmas stuff put away today.
We lucked out big time. We had 99.9% of the decorations packed up and put away and we had just finished putting the tree back in the box when dad got home.
As nice as it is to look at, it's a relief to have it finally put away. It always looks so uncluttered once it all comes down. Now to unclutter the rest of the house.

connection

2012-01-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

I'm currently experiencing connection problems. It took me forever just to get this posted. I haven't been able to access my email and trying to get blogs to load was impossible. Hopefully by tomorrow things will be back to normal

I'm being lazy

2012-01-06T00:00:00.002-05:00

So I'm posting an email that I got today. This has been around before but I think it's pretty cool how easy this can be to read.

Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this you have a strong mind:

7H15 M3554G3

53RV35 7O PR0V3

H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N

D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!

1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!

1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG

17 WA5 H4RD BU7

N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3

Y0UR M1ND 1S

R34D1NG 17

4U70M471C4LLY

W17H 0U7 3V3N

7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,

B3 PROUD! 0NLY

C3R741N P30PL3 C4N

R3AD 7H15.
PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F

U C4N R34D 7H15.

So were you able to read it?

Itchin'

2012-01-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

It's been such a long time since I've made anything I've been itchin' to do something crafty. The other day I saw a tutorial for a ripple stitch afghan. I've tried these before and just could not get the patterns right. This one was perfect. It explained everything in detail and had pictures to show just exactly what she was talking about.
Great!
I've got my hooks

I've got yarn

But OH NO!!!!!!!! I didn't bookmark the website. I can't find it anywhere. I've been through my reader trying to figure out who's blog I found the link on and I'm having no luck. I went through my recently closed tabs, nothing. I went through my bookmarks, nothing. Why or why do I do that?

Fire

2012-01-04T00:00:00.003-05:00

This was supposed to post at midnight. Darn Blogger changed it to a draft twice on me.

Wade is not one for doing a lot of shopping for Christmas. He tends to buy me the one thing that he's heard me talk about the most over the year.
After Christmas I went out and purchased this for the gift he bought me

My gift was the kindle fire. I've been talking about one of these for quite some time now. I've already downloaded one free book that I'm reading now.

And of course I had to check out all the apps and download a few of those.

Yes, you did see a fart button right in the middle of that picture of the apps. I couldn't resist, it made me laugh. The other night I was sitting on the couch pretending to read while my daughter was sitting at the dining room table. I kept pushing the fart button and she finally looked up at me and asked if that was me.

I also bought myself a pink stylus pen to use when I go online. I discovered that my fingers are just a bit too big and I kept touching the wrong spot. The stylus works great.
So the verdict is that Wade did good this year.

who ordered that?

2012-01-03T00:00:00.002-05:00

It certainly wasn't me. I want to know how I return it.

I got up for work yesterday morning and got a bit of a shock when I let Duke outside. I was not expecting all that snow and it was still coming down. It snowed ALL day long.
I got home from work, put my stuff in the house and then went back outside to shovel. While I was out there a kid came by on a 4 wheeler that had a plow on the front of it. He stopped at the end of the driveway and asked me if I wanted some help. He said his plow didn't have a lot of weight on it but he would punch out the end of the driveway and then be on his way. When he was done he said it was on the house. Let me tell you, that kid made my day.
I certainly didn't get any help from a certain little white guy who lives here.

Nope, he was inside, wrapped in his nice warm sweater hanging by the register.

Today I have the day off since I worked yesterday. I have no plans for the day. I'm just going to do whatever feels right at the moment.

A fishy story

2012-01-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

Imagine if you will, a 10 gallon aquarium sitting in your house. Four little fish swimming around happily until suddenly without warning their world is turned upside down.
In the time it takes for a person to fall backwards into an aquarium, their home was floating around on my living room and dining room floor.

Actually the fish weren't exactly floating. They were more or less doing a flip flop, help I can't breathe kind of thing.
Are you aware that the reaction time from an event such as this until one can respond and start grabbing towels in quite remarkably slow?
So let me explain what happened. I bought a new desk and Wade and a friend were carrying it in from the car. (This was an unassembled desk in a box) They get just about even with the fish tank when Wade's friend loses his grip on the box. The box crashes to the floor and his friend falls backwards against the fish tank. All three of us stood there with a look of shock and Duke was thinking "COOL, we have an indoor swimming pool"

The next day, Wade's friend came back over with a replacement aquarium and the three surviving fish were released from their prison back into their new home. When we were cleaning everything up, we only found 3 of the fish, which were put in a bowl for hopefully safe keeping. I was convinced that Duke must have had a fish dinner that night but while sifting through the gravel from the old aquarium we found the fourth, now deceased, fish. May he rest in peace in that great fish tank in the sky.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Pardon my sparseness today. I'll explain the events of the weekend in another post. I just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.
As this New Year begins may it bring you peace and

No title, no photo

2011-12-31T06:03:00.000-05:00

Not the way I had planned to say goodbye to 2011 but then again I didn't have a plan to begin with. Even now as I sit here attempting to be clever in bidding our year adieu nothing is falling in to place. I'll blame it on the fog that is still lingering in my head.
The past 12 months have given us laughter and tears, good times and bad and yet we moved on. Not dwelling on the bad or lingering to long with the good. And so it is that I shall say goodbye once again

Farewell - English (formal)
Bye - English (casual)
totsiens / tot siens - Afrikaans (standard)
tot weersiens - Afrikaans (informal)
tot wederom - Afrikaans (informal)
wederdom - Afrikaans (informal)
koebaai - Afrikaans (informal; derived from English "Good-Bye")
ghoebaai - Afrikaans (informal; derived from English "Good-Bye")
baai - Afrikaans (informal; derived from English "Bye")
arriewarie - Afrikaans (informal; folk etymology from "Au revoir")
tatta / tata - Afrikaans (children's language)
vaarwel - Afrikaans (formal)
elalleqa - Arabic
khodaa haafez _ persian
aabar dekha hobey - Bengali
Donadagohvi - Cherokee
Hagoonea' - Navajo
Ahoj - Czech
Ja ne / じゃね (informal) - Japanese
Ja mata ne / じゃまたね (formal) - Japanese
Sayonara / さよなら (if you will not see them for a long time) - Japanese
Auf Wiedersehen - German
Bis dann - German
Tschüss - German
Ade - German
Tschau - German
Bis Spater (Bis Schpaater)- German
Viszlát! - Hungarian
Arrivederci - Italian
Addio - Italian
Ciao - Italian
Buona sera - Italian
Adieu - French [add-ee-uh] (farewell) very formal
Au Revoir - French (aw reh-VWAH)
À bientôt - French (see you later)(ah bee-EN-toe)
À demain - French (see you tomorrow)(ah deh-MAN)
Hejdå - Swedish
Aloha - Hawaiian
Le'hitraot - Hebrew
Shalom - Hebrew
Aavajo - Gujarati

Punha Bhetu - Marathi

Sampai Jumpa - Indonesian
Adios - Spanish
Paalam - Filipino
Zai Jian - Chinese, Mandarin
Zoi Geen (the "g" is pronounced like geek) - Chinese, Cantonese
Farvel - Danish
Namaste (same as hello) - Hindi ( this video shows you how to pronounce namaste: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXlcpjgyrOg )
Fir Milenge (see you) - Hindi
Alvida (Goodbye, bit formal) - Hindi
Ayo - Papiamentu
Rub Rakha - Punjabi
Feri bhetaula (lit. we'll meet again) - Nepali
Do zobaczenia (see you) - Polish
Żegnaj - Polish
Adeus - Portuguese
Tchau - Portuguese
Do svidan’ya/До Свидания (until we meet again, formal)- Russian
Poka/Пока (pronounced pa-ka, informal) - Russian
Do vstrechi/До Встречи (until we meet again) - Russian
Selamat jalan - Malay
Selamat tinggal - Malay
Tot ziens - Dutch
Dag - Dutch
Doei - Dutch
再见 - Chinese
Yasou (YAH-soo) - Greek
Hwyl fawr - Welsh
Annyeonghi Kyeseyo(if the person you're talking to isn't leaving) - Korean
Anyeonghi Gasyeo(if the person you're talking to is leaving) - Korean
Näkemiin (See you) - Finnish
Hyvästi (Farewell) - Finnish
Hasta La Vista (see you later) - Spanish
Adios - Spanish
Te veo despues - Spanish
Vale- Latin (to one person)
Valete- Latin (to more than one person)
La revedere - Romanian
Veloma - Malagasy
Sige la - Pangasinan
Khuda Hafiz - Urdu
zai jian - Chinese
Ha det bra - Norwegian
Ha det - Norwegian
Sees - Norwegian
Snakkes - Norwegian
Vida parayunnu - Malayalam
Vidaiperukiren - Tamil (very formal, in fact no one uses this)
Ok maams - Tamil (very informal, use with mates only)
Poitu Vaarein (Taking leave but will visit again)- Tamil (standard fare)
Vaarein (Will come again) - Tamil short for Poitu Vaarein
Slan - Irish
Aavajo - Gujarati
Чао - Macedonian
Doviđenja - Croatian (litteraly means "Until we see again")
Bog - Croatian ( litteraly means "God", but can be pronounced Bok! so it is differencianised from the word "God")
Ćao - Croatian ( Primarily used in Coastal Croatia, because of it location very close to Italy, where you would say "Ciao" and the prounanciation of Ciao and Ćao are similar, if not the same)
Mattae Sigona - Kannada (Used for meet you again sometime)
Chao - Serbian/Bulgarian
Nawatha hamu wemu - Sinhalese (This means "Catch you later")
Subha dawasak - Sinhalese (This means "Have a nice day")
Nasvidenje - Slovene (Formal)
Adijo - Slovene (Bye)
Čav - Slovene (Also čao and is pronounced as italian ciao)

list copied from http://www.wikihow.com/Say-Goodbye-in-Several-Different-Languages

2011-12-30T05:11:00.000-05:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances, there will be no blogging today. I came home from work yesterday with a cold that has gotten the better of me. I had no energy for reading blogs or emails or writing posts. Comments have been turned off so I don't get buried alive in unanswered emails.
See you tomorrow

Mom and me

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

What? What do you mean you don't see mom? She's the one in the purple robe.
We had a green Christmas but it's white outside now. We got snow yesterday and it sure is cold. Just perfect weather for mom to put on her robe and me to cuddle on her lap.

working on it

2011-12-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

It's not easy getting back into the swing of things after a holiday. All that relaxing and taking it easy sure can wear a person out. I'm lucky though because I have extra time to catch up on my sleep while mom is at work. Dad has the week off too so him and I are hanging out while mom goes to work. Me and dad are also reminding mom a lot that she has to go to work, just in case she forgets.
I know you are probably tired of Christmas pictures but I wanted to show you one of me.

Mom thinks I look like one of Santa's elves but dad says I look like Dorky Duke.

Hey and guess what? Today is our 1000th post. Can you believe my mom has had that much to write about?

Life is a deck of cards.

2011-12-27T00:00:00.001-05:00

Life really can be summed up with a deck of cards sometimes.
You see you think all you have is a pair

But one day there you are with a full house again.

If you aren't careful you might end up getting a little flush(ed)

But if you hold your head some day maybe the castle will be back to being just one king and one queen

and maybe just a little (white) jack.

Maybe I should ask for a redeal. Care to cut the deck?

I love Monday

2011-12-26T00:00:00.000-05:00

I do love Monday, this week. I have the day off thanks to Christmas falling on my regular day off.
All in all, it was an enjoyable weekend. Saturday morning we went to Wade's dad's house. His kids and his granddaughter were there also. Saturday evening we celebrated with my kids. We opened gifts, ate food and just had fun.
Duke must have been a very good boy and he was quite excited about opening his gifts.

Santa brought him a fleece elf ball and an unstuffed stuffie. No sense bringing the kind with stuffing in them because they don't stay stuffed for long. He also got 2 bags of treats and thanks to his pal Donna he got the jumbo economy size bag of his favorite treat. Duke sends you tons of puppy licks for that Donna.
Christmas day was very quiet. It was just me, Wade and Duke. We started it with yummy breakfast that included cheap, pillsbury cinnamon rolls (the kind that come in the tube sold in the refrigerator section) Yeah, ok so they are a bit lame but this baker thought they were good enough. Anything more would have been too much like work.
They may not have been the best I've ever had but they looked nice in the pan. Kind of.

And last but not least, we had a green Christmas. It doesn't happen often but I'm not complaining.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:00:00.008-05:00

A little video Duke and I made last year and never used.
We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and much happiness in the coming New Year.

Happy Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T05:52:00.000-05:00

Duke is in position ready and waiting for Santa to arrive. He says that he is not letting him out of here without leaving something good.

Hurry up Christmas

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Just one more day to get through.

I think that the above photo depicts the day I had yesterday quite nicely.
How about you just sit back and enjoy the sounds of the season while I try to rush through today.

First Christmas

2011-12-22T04:47:00.000-05:00

Not THE first Christmas but my first Christmas

I had a crazy busy day yesterday and didn't have much time to throw together a post for today. So you get a really old picture of me and my cousin Rich. The date on the side of the picture is March 63 which I'm assuming is when the film was developed. Since I was born in March of 62 I was about 9 months old here.

All I have to do is make it through these next couple of days and the weekend should be a pretty calm one for me. Our Christmas will be a low key, hang out at home and relax kind of holiday. We'll be taking a short trip (hour and a half drive) to see Wade's dad on Saturday morning and then it's back home and chillin out time.

A Holiday tale

2011-12-21T00:00:00.001-05:00

Our tale begins on a cold December morning. Mr. Banana Bread awoke to a new day with little hope for a bright future. It was almost Christmas and he was desperate.

He had recently been burned by a weekend bakery girl and things didn't look good for him. He was out of work and didn't know what to do. He was, however, if nothing else determined. He vowed he would not loaf around. He had several promising leads and he was hoping one of them would pan out.

As luck would have it, he did land a position as a deli clerk. Although the pay wasn't so good he was ecstatic. He knew that even with a little dough in his pocket he could buy a few gifts and make it a Merry Christmas for his wife and their 3 little muffins.

Had he not gotten canned the next day for doing a really crummy job it might have worked out.

Sorry but not all Christmas stories have a happy ending but I bet you did get a good laugh out of it. Don't worry I won't tell Mr Banana Bread that you laughed at his misfortune. I hear he's buried pretty deep in a dumpster right now anyway.

Countdown

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

Only 5 more sleeps until Christmas day. Are you ready? Well, makes no difference because ready or not it's coming.

Just a few of the ornaments that are hanging on my tree.

How to stay warm on a cold day

2011-12-19T00:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we had snow. It was the perfect day to stay inside and snuggle under a blanket. Well maybe for some of us anyway. I was busy cleaning the house but not because I felt like I had to. I actually wanted to. Ok, so I admit, it started with the bathroom which I didn't want to do but after that I was on a roll and just kept going.
Duke on the other hand took full advantage of a little gift he received from his pal Oreo and his small town Mommy
Just look at what they sent him.

He is now sporting his very own snuggie and it's pink just like Oreo's parka. Duke says him and Oreo are both manly men and it's perfectly acceptable to wear pink.

So the questions here are, 1. Did Duke like his Snuggie and 2. Was it comfortable. Well lets ask him.
Duke, would you care to answer?
Duke?
Duke?

I think I can answer for him, he says yes to both.
Thank you again Anne and Oreo.

This and that

2011-12-18T00:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday several of you noticed the cat in the picture behind Duke. His name was Pringle and he owned us before Duke did. Maybe some day I'll tell the story of Pringle. It was right after Duke's first Christmas, I believe it was either New Years eve or day, that Pringle got outside and never returned. I wasn't real concerned at first because he had disappeared for a few days at a time before. After a week passed and the temperatures had plummeted I knew we wouldn't be seeing Pringle again.

There was also a question yesterday about how old Duke is. He turned 4 in July. I hate to admit it but I totally missed his birthday blog post this year. He forgave me though because I made up for it in treats.

Well it seems that a couple of you suggested yesterday that I only do what's fun and skip the rest. For the first half of the weekend, I pretty much accomplished that. I can't say that there was one single thing I did yesterday that I didn't want to do. Today I have to bite the bullet though and clean the bathroom (YUCK) but, after that, I'm going to only do stuff I want to do.

Finally, and I saved the best for last, Duke got himself all spiffed up yesterday. He thought it best that he looked presentable when Santa comes

He even put on his happy face for the camera. He's just so handsome.

More from the past

2011-12-17T00:00:00.001-05:00

How about a picture from Duke's first Christmas

Last night didn't go quite as planned so maybe some time today I'll get around to my visits. I just seem to be getting more and more disorganized lately.
Maybe I should ask Santa to bring me a new brain. Perhaps one that can preform multiple functions simultaneously. Or, he could just bring me a little elf who would take care of all the little things that I seem to be getting bogged down with lately. That would free me up to do fun stuff instead.

Vintage Christmas

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Vintage may be over exaggerating just a little since this only goes back as far as 2006 but sometimes that feels like a lifetime ago.
I present to you Mr and Mrs Claus

Don't ask me to explain those expressions because I have no idea. Either we were both trying to avoid the camera or it was too much wine.
I was a little short on time last night so I didn't get to my email or all my visits. I plan on sitting back and chilling out tonight and doing a little catching up

2011-12-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

I grew up loving all Christmas songs. Of course as a child I loved the ones about Santa and I recall my dad singing them to me. I also remember learning all of the traditional carols. We had a little song book that each year I would pull out and I would sing each and every carol over and over. I would sing them anywhere and everywhere. These days my Christmas choral concerts are usually limited to the shower but I still love a good carol.

I'm dreaming of.....

2011-12-14T00:00:00.002-05:00

NO, it is not a white Christmas that I'm dreaming of, with every Christmas card I write.

It's the extra day off from work that I'm going to get.

my achy breaky arm

2011-12-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

I went to work yesterday and I was ~~whining~~ commenting to one of the girls about my arm hurting and I couldn't understand why. I said that I hadn't done anything strenuous, just baking all day. She asked if I had mixed all my cookie dough by hand and then I realized that must have been it. Now I know I"m getting old when I can't even handle a day of mixing cookie dough without over taxing muscles. Geesh.

So if I appear to be leaning to one side for the next couple of days like my picture here, don't mind me. Help yourself to the cookies and pass me the Ben-Gay please

I can't believe I'm going to say this...

2011-12-12T00:00:00.001-05:00

...but I think I'm glad I'm going back to work today. The weekend flew by and although I didn't get it all done I did more than I thought I would.
Well I already told you yesterday that I got the tree decorated. Maybe I should rephrase that and say I put the ornaments on the tree in a haphazard fashion. Either way, it's adorned with ornaments.
I sat down last night to start addressing Christmas cards. I no sooner got started than a friend of ours called and asked where we were. He was having an after hunting party in his garage and we had been invited. We were planning on skipping it because it was so cold out. We figured we wouldn't be missed. We figured wrong. We bundled up and headed out.
Sunday morning I decided I was going to tackle the baking. I pulled out all my ingredients, got out a bowl and was just measuring out some sugar when my phone rang. My son wanted me to give him a ride to the shop he works at to go pick up his truck. Seems it's been sitting there since Friday when he fell at work and got a concussion. Oh really? And your just telling me now? This is when I heave a big sigh and say "OK, I'll be there in a minute".
Finally back home around 11:00am I got back to the cookies. I didn't quit until almost 6:00. Believe it or not I don't have them all done. I may be a little scarce around here this week trying to finish them up. It seems that the women Wade works with look forward to my cookie trays every year.
And now I end with a few ornaments from my tree.

See the little Westie ornament in the top right corner? Silly question, of course you do. Anyway, I bought that one Saturday when we were out running our errands. I saw it and couldn't resist it.

Only 2 weeks to go

2011-12-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

The first half of my weekend almost ended without me getting much of anything crossed off my list. We went out in the morning and by the time we got back home I had lost all interest in doing anything.
I think Wade was getting tired of listening to heavy sighs because he suggested several times that I go do some shopping. I took his suggestion and although I did pick up some gifts and cookie ingredients, I found the whole shopping experience to be rather annoying. I don't like going out and trying to figure out what to buy for someone else. It's not much fun.
Back home, with the help of Duke we got the tree decorated. Kind of, sort of. You won't see this tree in the pages of Better Homes and Gardens but it's decorated.

Wade's bear clock wasn't fitting in with the whole Christmas theme on the mantel so I found a Santa hat for papa bear.

I have a grouping of snowmen on both sides of the clock.
Here's the left

and these are on the right

I also managed to address a few cards and believe it or not Wade and I watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
Now if I can get myself into the kitchen I'll do some baking.

Oh brother

2011-12-10T00:00:00.002-05:00

I'm not quite sure what the conversation was about but when Duke got a visit from his human brother last weekend he seemed to be enjoying it.

So many things to try and get to this weekend. We have errands to run, decorating to do, cards to address, cookies to bake and the list goes on and on. I know without a doubt that the errands will be crossed off the list. As for the rest of the stuff, we shall see.

snow business

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Brrrr. Button up your coat. Grab your hat and gloves. It's going to get cold out there. We're under a winter weather advisory from 6 AM this morning until 4 AM tomorrow. They are calling for 1-3 inches today and an additional 2-4 tonight.

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.

And even though after work I have no place to go, I don't want snow, don't want snow, don't want snow.

I hope you are heading into your weekend with a song in your heart and a smile on your face.

Blame it on the rain

2011-12-08T00:00:00.001-05:00

We've had rain. It's been wet, cold and dark. I have been achy and tired so I'm blaming it on the rain. Tuesday I came home from work, answered most of my emails and then headed for bed. I thought that maybe I could pull off a wordless Wednesday post but it just didn't happen. That bed was calling my name and I answered.
So here it is Thursday and we're darn close to the weekend which is making me mighty happy.

I've got my wreath hanging on my front door so everyone passing by will at least think that I'm ready for Christmas.

Special note to Marg. I've tried to email you at the address you left in the comment section and it said it wasn't a valid email address. If you could email me at iannieam@windstream.net with your mailing address so I can get your t-shirt in the mail to you

It's a start

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Years ago I used to take a week's vacation the week following Thanksgiving. That was when I would get my decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping and everything Christmas related done.
Well now that the kids are grown, and I'm getting old and lazy it takes me a little bit longer to get going on things.
Sunday I did it though. I went and cut my tree down (from it's perch in the basement) and dragged it up a big hill (the basement steps) to it's place of honor in the living room.

There are no ornaments on it yet but at least it's up.

Who won?

2011-12-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

Are you ready to hear who won the drawing for the Duke shirt? I'm ready to tell you but you will have to excuse the blurry pictures of Duke because he was just so excited about drawing.
I wrote everyone's name on a piece of paper and put them on a plate.

With the help of his lovely assistant Duke got right to the task of picking

His assistant held up the entry and verified with Duke that it was the correct one.

His assistant reveals the lucky winner.

I know, a little blurry. We did this at night so the light wasn't so good. Here's a better look at the lucky winner.

Congratulations Marg. Send me your email address so I can get this in the mail to you.

To snoop or not to snoop

2011-12-04T00:00:00.005-05:00

When I was a kid I was always so curious about what I was getting for Christmas. I could never wait. I had to snoop. I was, more often than not, disappointed.
I did eventually outgrow my curiosity and gave up on snooping. However, when you live in a house that is big on shopping online and you are the first one home to get the mail, you sometimes find things out without even trying. Especially if the box is clearly marked with what's inside.
The bad part about that is that the next 21 days are going to be pure torture.

In case you are wondering, a certain little white Westie has no problem with snooping. I don't dare leave any bags containing his gifts anywhere within his reach.

If you missed yesterdays post be sure to go check it out and get in on my giveaway. Winner will be posted tomorrow.

OOShirts

2011-12-03T00:00:00.007-05:00

About a month ago I received an email from Sam Hunt asking if I would be interested in doing a review for their site Ooshirts. After checking out the website I gladly accepted the offer. In exchange for a review I would receive 2 free t-shirts with the design of my choice.
After coming up with my own design for the shirt I went back to the website to get started. Navigating through the site is quite easy. I uploaded my picture and in no time I was ready to finalize my order. Using their design lab could not possibly have been any easier. The hardest part of the whole thing was trying to decide which font to use for the text I added. When I was going through the design process, I noticed you could have one of their graphic design artists check your work so I went ahead and checked that box. I got a quick response letting me know that the design looked great and didn't need to change a thing.
Now even though I was getting the shirts free I was still curious about the prices. I was sure that for this frugal gal they would be way too high. I was pleasantly surprised that their prices are really quite reasonable.
I went ahead and finalized the order and the confirmation email stated that my order was due to arrive on December 2nd and that is exactly what day I got them on.
I couldn't wait to open the package to check them out and let me tell you I was thrilled.
Duke says that I've rambled on enough and I need to show you or should I say he wants to show you his shirt.

I don't know what he's talking about there with the "his" shirt. Just because it's got his picture on it. It's MY shirt Duke.

To sum it all up, I was very satisfied with the service at ooshirts as well as with the quality of the shirts I got. Not only do I recommend them but I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from them in the future.

Oh no, Duke just reminded me that I forgot the best part. Because I got 2 shirts we decided to do a giveaway. One lucky winner will receive their very own Duke shirt.
All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment. The shirt I have is a ladies size large. Now guys if you think you might be too manly to wear a ladies shirt you could always give this to a lady you know (preferably your wife if you are married)
I'll announce the winner on Monday since I want to get this in the mail as soon as possible so that you can get it before Christmas.

finally, just as a formality let me say that yes I did receive 2 free shirts in exchange for this review but all opinions are 100% my own.

Playing

2011-12-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

Playing hooky today. Too tired to write a blog post. Catch you all Saturday.

When it rains it snows

2011-12-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

That's right, we had it all yesterday. It started off by raining and then it turned to snow. At least it didn't stick around but it sure was cold out there.

(not today's snow, picture just inserted for effect)

Started my day off yesterday getting to work and finding an order on my table with a note. The customer ordered a rye bread. The girl who wrote the note said "We didn't know which one was rye so I got out two different one". Well what they got me out was one wheat bread and one natural grain bread. If this all sounds odd, all the breads and rolls that I bake are from frozen dough. If a customer calls at night to order for the next day they have to pull it from the freezer for me. Well since they didn't get out the right bread I had to pull out my mammoth cart and begin searching for the rye. I couldn't believe my luck when it was in the first box I looked in.

The next bit of fun I had was with one of my ovens. I have two ovens and one of them has been having issues. It works when it wants. Parts had been ordered and the guy who does the work had finally installed them and put everything back together. So I turn the oven on in the morning to preheat it. About an hour and a half later my bread is ready to go in. I open the door, load the oven, close the door and....nothing. The oven won't work and the other one is already full.

I can hardly wait to see what fun awaits me today.

The plan

2011-11-30T00:00:00.002-05:00

In my travels through blog land I've noticed that some of you are way ahead in the Christmas decorating while some, like me, are way behind. I'm having a little trouble getting around to pulling those boxes of 20 some years worth of decorations out of their comfy little storage spot. It's not that I'm suffering from that bah humbug feeling, I'm just not looking forward to the mess that will result from all those boxes.
Then it hit me. The plan is perfect I tell you.
Instead of getting out all my decorations I'll just post all the wonderful pictures of decorations I've collected from one place or another and adopt them as my own.
No mess, no fuss, no clean up.
So just look at what I've accomplished.

I've got the tree up and it gave my living room a whole log cabin kind of feel. Isn't it amazing?

No? You're not buying it? (pause for big sigh here)
Oh well, I don't think my kids will let me get away with it either. It's just not right, they are adults you know, I shouldn't have to keep doing this every year. I suppose they would probably have a problem with their gifts being wrapped in grocery bags too huh?

More thoughts

2011-11-29T00:00:00.001-05:00

I know I may be getting carried away with the "think happy" thing but I'm pretty sure that all of us can use the little extra reminders this time of year.

I'm really only thinking of your well being here.
If the holidays start to get you down and you're feeling a little squirly

I want you to stop what you are doing and repeat the following as many times as necessary.

There, don't you feel better already?

Indulge yourself

2011-11-28T00:00:00.001-05:00

That's what I've been doing and that is why today's post has no pictures. I spent the whole weekend indulging myself.
I slept in late.
I enjoyed a good book.
I enjoyed a few good Christmas movies on television.
I bought myself a new mug just because I could.
I ate potato chips and chocolate without guilt.
I read blog without commenting.
I enjoyed the company of a little white dog who just so happened to be indulging himself in a few of my snacks.

So go ahead. Indulge yourself. What nice thing are you going to do for yourself today?

After some serious consideration and a little coaxing from Duke I'm indulging you with an old picture.

Thought for the day

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Now that the holiday season has begun I think this is a good time to share a little thought with you.

I found this little gem in a shop in Volant. I didn't bring the actual ornament home with me but I loved the thought and I knew I would need reminded of this at least once or twice.

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. ~Harlan Miller

fallen angel

2011-11-26T00:00:00.000-05:00

I have a cheap dollar store angel that I put on my bathroom shelf at Christmas time a couple years ago and it never got put away. It didn't look real Christmassy and when I packed everything up I kept forgetting it was there. She was guardian angel of the bathroom, protecting all that shower from slips and falls.
That is until I came home from work the other day and found ...

Amanda is temporarily staying with us and she left me this note on my desk. Now I obviously went wrong somewhere with her. Why the heck didn't she glue her back together and put her on the shelf like nothing ever happened. I'm having visions of falling and breaking a hip in the shower now that my bathroom guardian angel is gone.

Black Friday

2011-11-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone. Mom said that today is something called black Friday.

Now I'm not sure what exactly that is but I don't think it includes little white dogs like me. I don't like being left out of anything. I think that I should be the center of attention. Don't you?
Well I'm not going to let this black Friday thing pass me over just because I don't fit the bill. I'm going to do something about it right now.

OK Mom, I'm ready for black Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

More Than A DayAs Thanksgiving Day rolls around,
It brings up some facts, quite profound.
We may think that we're poor,
Feel like bums, insecure,
But in truth, our riches astound.We have friends and family we love;
We have guidance from heaven above.
We have so much more
Than they sell in a store,
We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.So add up your blessings, I say;
Make Thanksgiving last more than a day.
Enjoy what you've got;
Realize it's a lot,
And you'll make all your cares go away.By Karl Fuchs

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. To those of you who are outside of the U.S. and not celebrating today enjoy your day no matter how you may be spending it. Duke and I are thankful for each and every one of you

knee deep

2011-11-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Only one more day before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Can you guess what I'll be doing all day today?

I'll be knee deep in breads, rolls, and pies. I think I have a cookie tray that I have to do today too.
Oh how I hope that 2:30 rolls around quick so I can go home.

Getting it back together

2011-11-22T00:00:00.002-05:00

Looks like I did it again. I had not intended to be missing in action from the blog world but I was having a I don't want to kind of day on Sunday. I already told you how my Saturday went but come Sunday it got even worse. I didn't want to do anything and I drove myself nuts with complete boredom. There were lots of things I could have done to entertain myself but I just did not want to do any of them.

There were three different projects that I picked up to work on and then set them back down. Didn't feel like it.

I picked up my book to read and after a couple pages put it back down. Just didn't feel like it.

Email, didn't feel like it.
Blog, didn't feel like it.
Shopping, didn't feel like it.

Monday morning, alarm goes off, time to get ready for work, didn't feel like it.

TOO BAD, SUCK IT UP AND DO IT!!!!!

SIGH

OK fine.
I think I'm all better now

No Point

2011-11-20T00:00:00.002-05:00

There is no point in even trying to deny it. The plain and simple truth is that I was lazy yesterday. I had plans. I was going to catch up on crafting, cleaning and go grocery shopping.
What actually happened was that I got up early, drank some coffee, read some blogs, drank some more coffee then laid in front of the TV and took a nap.
No grocery shopping was done, I didn't even leave the house.
Craft projects are still sitting unfinished. I believe the total number started is now up to 6.
My house isn't cleaned, although it's not a total pig sty yet.
The only thing I did manage to finish was a bag of potato chips, some hershey kisses and a digital doodle.

I don't think I'll make any plans for today. Maybe I'll get more done. I doubt it, but stranger things have happened.

Sending an Angel

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

I FINALLY got around to picking the winner for the book giveaway that I posted a week ago. Let me tell you this has been one crazy week around here. I'm hoping this weekend I can catch up on a few things before Monday rolls around again.
Anyway, on with the big news. There were 12 people who were entered in to the drawing for the book. Once again I used random org to make the choice for me.

Counting down in order as they appeared and counting only those who did not specify they did not want to be included #4 and the lucky winner is
Donna from Cottage Days and Journeys

For those of you who didn't win, don't despair. I hopefully have another giveaway coming up after the first of December.

As for me I think I'm going to spend the next two days catching up on some crafting, cleaning, and getting some grocery shopping done before all the good turkeys are picked over. I think I need a vacation.

This and that

2011-11-18T00:00:00.003-05:00

First of all let me just say OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're getting snow

I took the above picture through the window at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday. About a half hour later the grass was almost completely covered.
Pause here to shiver

I recently won a giveaway. I was thrilled when Ginny from Let your light shine announced that I had won the Scotty dog purse she was giving away.

Duke would like to clarify something here.

According to Duke, that is not a Scotty dog. It is a West Highland White Terrier silhouette. So thank you again Ginny for the Westie silhouette purse :)

Finally I wanted to tell you that I haven't forgotten about the book giveaway. I'll be doing that either tomorrow or the day after.
I'm very far behind on email, blog reading and everything else. It's amazing how much can pile up around you when you take a couple days off from everything.

I made a decision

2011-11-16T15:00:00.000-05:00

I finally picked my Christmas card from Shutterfly and placed my order.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Doesn't he make a great card? Now wasn't that a silly question. Of course he does.

I'm still trying to catch up on things around here and it may be a few days. I went back to work today and I'm a bit wiped out.

Please excuse my mom

2011-11-15T07:00:00.001-05:00

You'll have to excuse my mom for being absent from blogging yesterday and today. Yesterday morning she took a trip to the emergency room because she was having some really bad back pains. Don't worry, it's nothing serious unless you consider the fact that she doesn't feel like playing much. The doctor thought that she had kidney stones but all her tests came back negative and he said that it was just back pain and told her to take a couple days off work. He gave her two bottles of treats and she's been sleeping a lot.

Isn't it funny

2011-11-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

It seems that no matter where I go I always see something that reminds me of my wonderful blog pals.
When we were walking through one of the shops in Volant I spotted a sign that made me think of Jen from Equine Epiphanies

where there's smoke there's fire

2011-11-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterdays trip to Volant did not yield a whole lot of pictures. It was fun but several of the shops that used to be there had closed. I guess the rotten economy is hitting everywhere.
After we got done with the shopping we stopped at Wendy's to grab some lunch. While we were sitting there eating we noticed that there was something going on across the street.

The ambulance and police had already arrived and they were waiting for the fire trucks. It didn't take long for the sky to fill with smoke and before long we could see the flames shooting up. While I was taking the pictures through the window I heard a loud boom. No idea what exactly was on fire, we assumed it was a vehicle.
Somebody was not having a good day.

Logical Conclusion

2011-11-12T00:00:00.006-05:00

Yesterday morning we awoke to snow on the ground. I was expecting it but it was still a bit of a shock. The first snowfall always is. All that snow made me think of angels. Snow angels to be exact. (sorry but I couldn't resist a little shameless self promotion)
The natural progression of my thought process took me to the latest book that I finished reading.

All I'm going to say about this book is that I did enjoy it. I don't want to spoil the surprise for the person who

Wins this book

in my latest

GIVEAWAY!!!

This isn't going to be your typical giveaway though. This is going to be the giveaway that keeps on giving. Or at least that's the plan any way.

In order to win this book you must be a blogger and you must agree to pass this on in a giveaway of your own once you've read it.

It only seems logical that a book about angels (who just so happen to be prayer ambassadors) should travel.

So there you have it. Leave me a comment. Unless you specify that you "DO NOT" want to be included I'll assume that you're in. Some time next week I'll post the winner. I would be more specific about when I'll do the drawing but as of late I don't seem to be keeping a schedule too well.

I'm off to Volant Mills (another shameless promotion, with scenes from last years trip) with my friend Debbie today so I won't be around to visit till later tonight or tomorrow.

Furriends

2011-11-11T00:00:00.001-05:00

Are you Furriends of the Cat Blogosphere? Do you know what that is? I'm sure that many of you know Marg of Marg's Pets and if you do you know that she takes care of lots of kitties as well as a couple of cute little donkeys. Furriends of the CB is an auction to help raise funds for vet bills. If you have an item you would like to donate to the auction I know that it would be greatly appreciated. If you don't have anything to donate you might want to take a look at what's being auctioned off. There are some great items up for bidding over there.
You'll even see a couple things that I donated.

Who's sleeping?

2011-11-10T00:00:00.001-05:00

I wonder if perhaps shorter sermons would help.

I'm finished

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Yes I am. I'm finished, done, completed.
I've read another book and I reached the end. I actually finished two but I'm only going to talk about one today. I discovered a renewed love of reading. I haven't read in quite some time because whenever I opened a book I would fall asleep. I started taking books to work with me and I read on my breaks and lunches. It may take me a while to finish but it gives me something to do.
Quite some time ago, my cousin sent me a book. I had started it when I first got it but maybe because of my situation at the time I wasn't able to get very far with it. I finally picked it up and I'm glad I did.

Beautiful Boy is a father's journey through his sons addiction to methamphetamine. I know that this isn't the most uplifting kind of story to read but I have to say that anyone who has ever watched a family member or friend struggle with addiction will relate to much of what is said in this book. I think one of the hardest parts for family and friends of addicts of any kind is the feeling of helplessness. Talking with others who are in the same situation can be a great relief and lets you know that you aren't alone. The book includes links to helpful websites as well as a list of other resources for anyone seeking help. I think that Beautiful Boy provides some understanding as to what it's like to deal with addiction.

Tomorrow, I'll go back to something more lighthearted :)

Day Care

2011-11-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

One of my neighbors has a sign in her front yard advertising for day care.

I'm assuming that potty training is included.

Strolling

2011-11-07T00:00:00.002-05:00

Oh what a beautiful weekend it was. It was a dog walking, bike riding, lawn mowing kind of weather.
Blue skies, sunshine and 63 degree weather called for a little strolling.

Duke and I headed down the street. I was amazed at how there were no leaves on the sidewalk here.

Our destination was the park.

We saw lots of town folk along the way. They smiled at us and we did the same.

Time to head home. I wonder if we should maybe rake our leaves?

No, I like the sound when you walk through them and Duke thinks they are full of wonderful scents.

The frost is on the pumpkin

2011-11-06T00:00:00.002-04:00

I don't recall ever having read this whole poem, so I went in search of it.

When the Frost is on the Punkin

By James Whitcomb Riley 1849–1916

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,

And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,

And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,

And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;

O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,

With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,

As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere

When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here—

Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,

And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;

But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze

Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days

Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,

And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;

The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still

A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;

The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;

The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover over-head!—

O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock,

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps

Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;

And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through

With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...

I don’t know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be

As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me—

I’d want to ’commodate ’em—all the whole-indurin’ flock—

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Boy did my spell check have a field day with this one. The screen was splashed with so many squiggly red lines it wasn't even funny.

So what do some of those words mean? I went and looked

Fodder-coarse food (especially for cattle and horses) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop
Shock- a pile of sheaves of grain set on end in a field to dry
Hallylooyer= Hallelujah
Stock= Livestock (animals on the farm)
Airly= Early
Tossels= Tassels
Furries= Furrows (rows of crops, I think)
Medder= Meadow
Hosses= Horses

Hooray for the weekend

2011-11-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

Oh how I love the weekends. I can get up early or sleep in late. I can clean my house or not. I can shop, blog, craft, lounge. I can do all of those things or none of those things.
I have so many options for today and tomorrow.
The weekend promises to be a beautiful one and since there won't be many of those left I should take advantage of it.

Whatever you choose to do today, Duke and I hope that you enjoy it.

Oh Please

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

I think somebody better have a look inside my moms head because she's being a little crazy. She said that yesterday was Friday the 13th and the calendar clearly said Thursday the 3rd.

First of all just look at my picture. She used on of those masks from Shadowhouse Creations and saved it before checking to make sure she did things right. OH BROTHER.
Then she was talking about work. Remember that donut fryer she got burned on? Well yesterday she decided it was time to clean it. She drained the oil out hooked up the pump, turned it on and NOTHING. Plan B was to forget pumping the oil back through the filter and just add all new. OOPS! Then she got lots of smoke and flames.
Time to call Mr. Store Manager again who in turn called Mr Owner.
She said it wasn't all bad though because Mr Owner got everything working ok and finished the stinky job of filtering the fryer. Too bad he didn't take over before mom started feeling like a grease ball. First thing she did when she came home was go right to the shower.
I sure hope her Friday is better than her Thursday.
I also hope she gets this post right today. She scheduled yesterdays and when she came home from work it was listed as a draft. That's why her post was later yesterday than it has been.

Deep fried

2011-11-03T00:00:00.002-04:00

You would think as long as I have been doing my job, I would be more careful. Well yesterday morning I got my hand just a little too close to the grease in the donut fryer and caught the knuckles on my first two fingers. OUCH!! (those were not my exact words but I'll refrain from repeating them here)

So the store manager filled out and accident report. The owner walks in and the two of them are talking. Manager asks if I showed owner my hand. I show him my hand and the two of them talk about whether they think I need to have it looked at. (It's just a burn, I've had a ton of them over the years) Owner then proceeds to tease me about it. (he's like that and that's why we love him so much) I told him I was blaming it on the customer who wanted to know if we ever made deep fried lady fingers. He laughed, shook his head and walked out.

November

2011-11-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

Not wanting to leave this space empty for today, I sat and contemplated what to blog about.
Obviously I am at a loss.
Vaguely I remember a time when I had more ideas than I knew what to do with.
Everyone goes through dry spells. I know that.
Maybe if I picked up my camera more and took more pictures it would spark my imagination.
Basically what I'm saying here is I've got nothing.
Either I wing it or I skip it and I am not going to skip it. When I skip it my brain starts to shut down.
Rats, I can't think of anything else.

The end

I disagree

2011-11-01T00:00:00.002-04:00

I don't know. Maybe it's just me but in no way, shape or form....

...Do I consider this size to be fun.
Seriously here. You get two bites if you're lucky. This is barely enough to satisfy even the slightest chocolate craving.
Just who is the idiot that decided this was the size of fun?
Now this is my idea of a fun size candy bar

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

What do you call a fat Jack-o-lantern?

A Plumpkin

What's the first thing ghosts do when they get in a car?

They boo-kle their seat belts.

Where do baby ghosts go during the day?

Day"scare" centers

Are we there yet?

2011-10-30T00:00:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was spent taking a road trip. We drove to St. Mary's Pennsylvania to visit Wade's daughter. Our hours to hers is a three hour drive. Today, I don't even want to look at the car.
About 10 minutes after we left yesterday morning we started seeing rain mixed with snow. Yes, I said snow. The further we got the more snow we saw. In St. Mary's they actually had accumulation on the ground. Luckily the roads were still ok.
I took a picture at the rest area we stopped at to prove we saw snow.

I should have taken pictures at his daughters house so you could see how much they got. It was totally disgusting. I don't want this stuff.
On the way back home we started seeing a little bit of sunshine and there was a beautiful rainbow ahead of us. I would have gotten a picture but I was driving at the time. I did get a couple more pictures at another rest area though.

No snow, I like these better.

Shutterfly

2011-10-29T06:06:00.000-04:00

I'm not one to rush the holidays. I'm a firm believer that you should never start celebrating a holiday before the preceding one has been duly recognized. That is why you will never see a single Christmas ornament come out in my house until after Thanksgiving dinner has been eaten. There is, however, one exception to this rule of mine. It is acceptable to purchase gifts for holidays any time of the year. After all, if you come across the perfect gift at the perfect price why pass it up. It's also never too early to make or buy your Christmas cards.
When I recently read a post on another blog about Shutterfly I decided to check them out.
First I looked at their gift selection and I found a nice selection at very reasonable prices.
I think this Personalized Desk Organizer would be great for Wade's desk with a picture of his granddaughter on it.

I think I should buy myself a gift too and I thought a new travel mug with Duke's picture on it would be a great idea

Who couldn't use a new wall calendar? Even better who wouldn't LOVE a calendar filled with pictures of Duke?

After checking out all the fabulous gift possibilities I went in search of my perfect Christmas card to send out this year. I have a hard time deciding when I only have a couple of choices so I found the huge selection of designs to be a little overwhelming. It took me a while to narrow it down to just a few choices.
I liked Twirling Ribbons and I'm sure Duke would look cute on this one

But then Duke would also look fabulous on Glad Tidings

This one was Duke's choice

Now if I can just make up my mind I'll be ordering my cards. I did receive 25 free cards for doing this post. Best of all if you are a blogger you too can get in on this offer.
If you are a blogger and interested in a chance to receive 25 free cards you can go HERE but hurry because you only have until November 11 to register.

Just decided

2011-10-28T00:00:00.000-04:00

I'm taking the day off from blogging. I've turned off comments for this post. See you all tomorrow

Don't look now.

2011-10-27T00:00:00.001-04:00

Hey Duke, don't look but I think someone is watching you.

AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mommy, make him go away.

I told you not to look Duke.

Witchy Wednesday

2011-10-26T00:00:00.001-04:00

With Halloween fast approaching I thought today would be a good day to pull out the witch.

OK, who's the wise guy in the back that asked where I was pulling myself out of?

Fraud

2011-10-25T00:00:00.001-04:00

Today's picture has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of my post. It's here merely because Duke wanted it to be.

Today I want to talk about fraud. A few weeks ago, on a Saturday, I was making a purchase at the store I work at. My card was declined. Knowing that there was plenty in my account to cover my purchase I walked up the street to my bank and ran my card through the ATM. Sure enough, the balance was exactly what I expected and I made a withdrawal. I assumed that the store was just having a problem with their machine, which happens on occasion. Thinking nothing more of it the following Monday I stopped to get gas, once again using my card and it was again declined. I drove right to the bank to find out what was going on. They told me that they had suspected visa fraud and so shut down the credit side of all their debit cards.
Fast forward to this past Saturday.The card was again working so I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. Once again, my card was declined. Knowing what happened before I asked her to run it as a debit. Same result, card declined. I drove to the nearest branch and attempted to do a balance inquiry on their mac machine. "transaction failed, please contact your financial institution" was the message I received.
PANIC
I went home and checked my bank statement on the computer and everything looked fine. I wasn't able to get to the bank until lunch time today to see what was going on. Apparently there were some fraudulent charges made on my card but they were flagged and dropped so nothing came out of my account. I consider myself lucky. The number of people who live in my town that have become the victim of this type of theft is unbelievable. The sad part is that no matter how safe you think you are being with your card and your numbers there is still the possibility that this can happen.
So what is a person to do? Do we stop enjoying the convenience of having the bank card? Do we go back to writing checks? Do we close our accounts and put our money in our mattress?
In conclusion to lighten things up a bit, I would like to say that if Duke ever gets his paws on the guy/girl who tried to take his treat money, he's going show them just how tough a Westie can be.

Bullseye

2011-10-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

Wade recently joined a dart league. He'll be spending his Monday evenings in a pink shirt throwing little darts at a board. He wanted to practice during the week so I bought him the only dartboard I could find when I was out shopping the other day.

Thinking back to days long ago when I was a kid trying to win one of those cheapo prizes at carnivals by breaking balloons with a dart, I always assumed that I just couldn't throw the darn things. Wade hung his board and asked if I wanted to play. Just look what I can do.

I admit this one was staged but I did actually hit the bullseye a couple of times and I even managed to beat Wade.

Random Rambling

2011-10-23T00:00:00.000-04:00

Today you get random ramblings from me, Duke. Mom is being lazy and that's why she didn't do a post yesterday. It didn't look like she was going to get to it today either so I thought I would step in and take over.
My only problem is that I don't know what to randomly ramble about. Looks like I'm not doing much better than mom. Well, we're both just going to blame it on all the rain and cold weather we've had around here lately. Maybe we can do better tomorrow

You gotta have friends

2011-10-21T00:00:00.002-04:00

So lets talk about friends today.
The two girls I work with the most are Kelly and Katrina. They had been talking about this shopping trip they had planned for Wednesday. Wednesday, when they both had off and I had to work. I listened to them talk about what stores they were going to and where they were going to have lunch and what they wanted to look for while they were out. I listened, and I whined. I tried to lay guilt trips on them about me having to work while they were going out to have fun, WITHOUT ME! It didn't work, they went any way.
So here is Katrina on the left and Kelly on the right

Yeah, I took their pictures while they weren't looking. I did tell them I took them though and that they were going to be the topic for my next blog post.

So this morning Kelly is telling me about where they went and what they did. They had a good time. A good time without me. (yes, I'm still whining about it)
I guess it's ok though because while they were having a good time they thought of me and I got this.

See that? It's even personalized. I am Annie, Bakery Chief and fearless leader.
And Duke is a happy puppy tonight because he got something too.

Then Kelly said that I had to take a picture of me wearing my bakery chief headdress.

You think this picture is bad you should see a few of the other ones that I took before I got this one.

New Header

2011-10-20T00:00:00.001-04:00

I'm sure you've all noticed the more seasonal look around here. It was time to take Duke's summer look down and give the old header an autumnal appearance.
I started out with a picture of a leaf and played around with it in myDazzling Reflections program. The original kaleidoscope that I made looked like this.

Then I opened it up in Photoshop elements and did some more playing. I ended up with a block that looked like this.

I pulled one of the colors from the block to use for the background of the header, added some texture and then placed the picture of Duke and the block. Then I erased the edges of both the block and Duke to make them blend in to the background of the header. I finished it up by slapping on the old snap edit scrap and I had a brand new header.

I've been wanting to do a little more with my blog in the way of cleaning it up but I just haven't had the time to sit down and play. I wonder if the boss would mind me taking the day off to play with my blog? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go over too well.

The many faces of Duke

2011-10-19T00:00:00.001-04:00

Duke is very good at getting his point across both vocally and through facial expressions. Let me show you what I mean.
This first one means
"I am a fierce and ferocious puppy, hand over the treats and no one gets hurt"

This one means "I'm feeling weak and dizzy, quick give me a treat before I pass out"

This one means "I'm a good dog, I'm a good dog, May I please have a treat?"

Here we have one that means "I'm so cute you can't possibly refuse my sweet request for a treat"

and last but not least we have

"What do you mean we're out of treats?"

Right here in black and white

2011-10-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

I haven't been doing many craft projects lately. I may possibly have short circuited my creativity. The things that I have shown you recently were made a couple weeks ago and I have one more left.
I went for a different look on the quilled necklaces and decided to go with black and white.

The center doesn't show up real well but there are black loops there. I tried taking the picture several different ways and just could not get it to show up any better. This one also has a crocheted chain but rather than using the nylon I used a cotton thread.

Lazy rainy days

2011-10-17T00:00:00.001-04:00

What a lazy, boring and wet weekend we had.
We spent a lot of time doing things like this

Well, actually, Duke was the only one who was laying on the back of the couch but you get the idea.

Gold Leafing

2011-10-16T00:00:00.002-04:00

This may not actually be gold but it is a leaf and they are colorful.

Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered in to extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. ~Carol Bishop Hipps

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came -
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
~George Cooper, "October's Party"

Last weekend we had beautiful weather. The sun was shining the temperature was comfortable. This weekend has given us a very sharp contrast. All day yesterday it was cold, rainy and windy. I sure would appreciate a little bit of sunshine today.