That's entertainment

Some find entertainment in a movie theater while others prefer the great outdoors or sporting events. If you are cheap thrifty like me and have a immature childish fun loving spirit a trip to the dollar store can provide entertainment.

What walks downstairs
Alone or in pairs
And makes a slinkety sound
A spring, a spring
A marvelous thing

Everyone knows it's Slinky 

A slinky a slinky
For fun it's a wonderful toy
A slinky a slinky
It's fun for a girl and a boy.
Not to mention middle aged bloggers.

You're singing it right now aren't you?

Did you miss me?

I'm back

It's been a little crazy around here and it hasn't quite gotten back to normal yet but I'm back. As for mom who knows. But it doesn't matter what she does any way since I'm the real star around here.
Dad stayed home with me a whole bunch last week so I'm a little behind on my napping but starting today I can get caught up on that.
I had to go to the vet on Thursday for a little problem with my dew claw. Silly mom thought it was something much worse but I'm just fine.
Friday and Saturday mom and dad did lots of driving. They had to go to a funeral for dad's sister. They're very sad but I gave them extra love to make it better.
Mom and I both missed you all and she did read your blogs but was just too tired to do any commenting.

Time for a break

Just a quick post today to let you all know that I'm going to take a little blogging break. There are too many things going on right now that demand the extra time that blogging takes up. I'll be back as soon as I can.
TTFN

Daucus carota

Or you may know it as Queen Anne's lace.

According to one website it's also known as wild carrot and the carrots we eat today were once cultivated from this plant.
 Another website claims:
 Queen Anne’s Lace: This delicate flower got its name from Queen Anne, the wife of King James I. Her friends challenged her to create lace as beautiful as the flower, which she did. Queen Anne’s Lace represents sanctuary. Decorate with bouquets of Queen Anne’s Lace to make a house to generate memorable feeling of being like a home.

I just like the way they look and I like their name

Sing a rainbow

Red

and yellow

and pink

and green

purple

and orange

and blue

 you can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.

 

Barn Charm

How about another barn charm post.
The first one straight off the camera.

A few adjustments

playing a little with the impressionist brush and adding some color to the sky.

And then I had to add some texture. 

So if less is more then why is it I have to keep on going with the playing?

How I did it

Because Lorraine from With a grateful prayer and a thankful heart asked me to share how I did my painting of Duke in photoshop elements I thought I would throw together a semi coherent tutorial.

I'll attempt to show you how I created this picture

I'm using photoshop elements 7 and working with the impressionist brush. I don't know which other versions this is available in. Sorry about that.

Any way, to begin open up the picture you want to use. This will work on any picture you want. Duplicate your layer. The duplicate is the one you will be doing all the work on.

In the tool bar go to your brush tool, right click to bring up the menu and choose the impressionist brush

At the top of your screen choose your brush. All of them will give  you different looks and you can play around to see which one you like the best. I found though that a smaller size brush works the best. Here I chose one of the wet media brushes.

On the duplicate layer just start dabbing around your picture. It's not going to look like much at first but have fun with it. Remember if you don't like what you did control z is your friend :)
When you think you're done go over to the layers pallette and change the blending mode on the duplicate layer to darker color (you can chose a different blending mode if you prefer). 

Now you're done. If you want a stronger effect, just go back over the duplicate layer with the brush and dab around some more until it looks the way you want it.

Not much of a tutorial but I hope someone finds it useful.

I did one

I admit it, I'm addicted to Pinterest and pinning. I've always had this habit of collecting ideas, patterns, recipes and other stuff. When my first computer came along I thought how much easier it was that I could save all those things on the computer instead of in folders and boxes and drawers. I bookmarked everything but when I really wanted to go back to something I could never seem to find it. Then Pinterest came along and with the boards and the sorting and the picture I went back in to my collecting ways.
Now when I pin these things I do have intentions of going back some day and doing them. Really I do. The other day I surprised myself and actually made a card that I had seen on Pinterest. It's only one but you have to start somewhere.

The light wasn't so good when I took this picture so the colors are a little off. Maybe this weekend I'll find time to go do a few more of my pins.

decisions, decisions.

I can't decide what I want to post about today. I just barely made it over the hump yesterday so the downward slide towards the weekend has me a wee bit indecisive.
I could just scribble all that out and......
Oh wait, scribble. THAT'S IT!!!!!
I have another new website to tell you about. It's called ScribblerToo. I found this one kind of fun in a mindless scribbling sort of way. Whether you're artistic or not you can create something that looks pretty cool.

Now the only problem is I have no idea how I was able to save this image. After getting this far with my post I thought I would go back and make another scribble, and I did. But, I couldn't save it as a jpeg like I did before. It's still fun though.

Now wait. It appears I spoke too soon. Or wait again, I didn't speak at all however I did type and my lips may have been moving at the time. Either way I tried it again and this time it saved. Of course this one I opened up in my trusty PSE and did a tad bit of embellishing.

 
After going back and rereading my post I've come to the conclusion that either a) I need a vacation or b) I've been reading far too many of John's posts. Duke and I both enjoy his blog though. It's quite entertaining and Duke thinks Sadie the German Shepherd is quite a looker.

In reply to a comment

OK so this is going to be a little long winded here today because I felt the need to respond to a comment that was left on my post the other day regarding my trip to Walmart. 

First a little eye candy for those expecting it and then you can either read the comment (in black) and my response (in red) or you can move on with your day. 

 

Ramona said...

I don't blame Wade for not being happy with you.

I sure hope when you have a bad day I'm around to see it, 'cause quite frankly I wouldn't give a damn! And I wouldn't expect you to. Especially if I am the person waiting on you.

I'd expect that you would smile at me, even if your hair was on fire.I would smile at you because that is part of my job but I do hope that you would extend me the courtesy of attempting to put out the flames

You have no clue about the girl, what's going on in her life, her family, her friends, her living arrangements, her health... for all you know perhaps she's hearing impaired.
You are correct I know nothing about the girl. I'm not there to become acquainted with the stores employees. I'm there to spend my hard earned money in their establishment be it a store, restaurant or any other type of business. Maybe the girl was hearing impaired. I don't know. I AM hearing impaired but because I make eye contact with my customers I CAN see their mouth moving and know that they are speaking to me. If I don't hear them I politely ask them to repeat what they said.
But all YOU care about is getting a smile while Wade is making small talk with a young girl.

Get a grip, as I said, you know nothing about her, not one iota! and you have the audacity to mumble and sneer as you walk away. You didn't even have the guts to say it to her face. You stand there, listen to Wade joke away, and the poor girl has to put up with drooling older man making pathetic jokes, advances, flirtation, while YOU the wife expect the girl to SMILE at you.I do have the guts to tell the girl to her face, however I felt that it would cause her further embarrassment since there were customers in line behind me. I felt that it could be better handled in private through her supervisor. You are making an unfair assumption regarding my husband and his remarks. Without knowing the FACTS you assume he is making sexually explicit and inappropriate comments to a young girl. Let me set you straight. He was joking to her that the store should provide reading glasses to older men that can't see to read the credit card machine. Let me also say that in the past I have had male customers make pathetic jokes, advances, flirtation to me and I politely smiled and walked away. If a situation arises that can't be handled courteously and politely a manager should be called to intervene

Before you arrived at Wal-Mart, how many other men had joked with the girl? I presume since you felt the need to complain and perhaps get her into strife you do have all the FACTS and STATISTICS of the entire situation.I don't know but again I'm not entering the store to become acquainted with the employees. I'm there to do my business and I expect good, friendly and polite customer service.

Are you a know it all? Are you smiling while you're reading this? Oh, well, if not too bad!No I'm afraid I don't know it all but yes I am smiling while I'm reading this because it's great that people can share their opinions freely. I would have responded to you directly however your comment came through as no reply and there was no where to contact you

You're mean. You're horrible. You're gutless. People like you who carry on like you did all because you didn't get the recognition you wanted... Pathetic!I have been accused of being mean but never horrible or gutless. In my job as a manager in a retail establishment, sometimes it's necessary to be tough to get your point across. I always emphasize to anyone working under me that the CUSTOMER comes first. They are the reason we are there. As I said I wasn't carrying on or ranting when I went to customer service. I stated the facts politely and left

I hope you have learnt something from this experience, and will try to be nice without EXPECTING SOMETHING IN RETURN.
I frequently do nice things for people and I never expect anything in return.
Seriously, it's people like you that tip others over the edge. Your snide remark if heard can do a lot of damage!!!

If you speak about a stranger behind her back, then complain, it makes me wonder how you treat the people you do know.
I treat people as kindly and as fairly as I can. I don't treat anyone any differently than I would expect to be treated by them. And YES, if I acted the way that girl did and a customer was not happy about it I would expect her to let someone in authority know. It's only fair
Perhaps, it was really you who was having the bad day, and not her.No, I was having a very good day.

BE NICE, BECAUSE EVERYBODY IS FIGHTING SOME KIND OF BATTLE.

and you don't have all the FACTS.You are correct, we all have our own battles and struggles in life and I am NOT the only one here who doesn't have all the FACTS!


I do hope in the future should you strongly agree or disagree with anything I have to say here you will continue to share your opinions and I do thank you for stopping by.

collage

I did the above collage at a website called Photovisi. It was really easy to put together and only took a few minutes to do. While I was there I noticed that there is a place to register/log in but I was able to make this without registering on the site.

 I can't recall how I came across this site, most likely it was through one of  you. Sorry for my poor memory. There's another site I found rather fun that I'll share with  you later in the week.

What would you do?

It seems that someone thinks I acted inappropriately the other day so I'm bringing the situation to you and asking what you would do, or if you were with me when I did it would you be embarrassed by it.

We were doing our weekly Wal-Mart trip and went through the register to pay. The cashier didn't smile, say hello, thank you or even crack a smile when Wade attempted to joke with her. As a matter of fact while he was trying to be funny she stared straight ahead and didn't say a word. We started to walk away and I commented to him that apparently she was a bit short in the personality department that day to which he agreed. Then, I turned around and walked to the customer service department. Wade was not happy with me. He tried to pull me away but the way I see it, my purchase helps to pay her wages and I expect GOOD customer service no matter where I'm at. Nicely, I told the girl in customer service about the cashier. She apologized, said she would talk to her and I was on my way. In no way was I rude about it at all.
When said that the poor girl probably had a bad day, maybe she broke up with her boyfriend and I should give her a break. I said I don't care what kind of day she had, if she goes in to work and is working with the public she is paid to be friendly.

So tell me, what is your opinion about this? 

a silent Sunday

Barn charm

I've seen quite a few of you doing the barn charm posts and I thought I would do one of my own. I do love barns no matter what they look like and we have plenty of them in the area. One of these days I should head out with the intentions of doing nothing other than capturing barns
Now this isn't the whole barn since that would be impossible considering that part of it is missing any way. I liked the scene though.

A little texture to grunge it up a bit.

And maybe a bit of a painterly look to finish it off

In my travels yesterday I had the good fortune to not have anyone driving behind me. I stopped a couple times right in the middle of the road and a couple more times I pulled off to the side. I'll have more barns coming up.

Jousting

A couple weeks ago when we went to that wedding there was also a medieval reenactment going on. I kept my eye on things but there really wasn't all that much action. I did sneak a few shots though

Yesterday I spent part of my day off doing some much needed cleaning and the rest of the time I did a whole lot of nothing. Today I believe some shopping is in order. There are a couple thrift shops I've been wanting to check out and today is the perfect day to do that

Not a total loss

The little town that I live in did an awesome fireworks display this  year. I had no idea they were doing them until I heard the first boom that nearly scared the life out of me. When I looked out the window and saw them I grabbed the camera and Duke and I raced to the back yard. I should have taken the tripod with me.
I did snap away though and took a bazillion horrible shots. Some weren't too terrible and I did have fun playing with them for a little while.
This is a combination of some of the not totally terrible ones.

This was made from 5 different pictures. The two on the right you can see the darn telephone pole that was in the way.

Ok so if anyone needs me I'll be out on the deck today. I'm not going to work. YEAH!!!!!

Duck games

Yes, it's more ducks.
Gather round it's time for synchronized swimming practice.

We all know how to fly in formation but we need to brush up on our swimming in formation.

And one to amuse the photographer with a little creative editing.

Set another place for dinner

We weren't expecting anyone for dinner but it looks like we need to set another place.


Hey dad, what are we having?

MOM, HEY MOM, Where's mine?

Note to self: make sure all unoccupied chairs are pushed in before sitting down to eat.

Walkabout

A little walkabout at the spillway. It was early enough in the morning that I was almost the only one there.
Check out the pose of the guy on the right. Meanwhile the one in the middle is not ready to get up yet.

The ducks hanging out waiting for the crowds to show up with breakfast. Visitors to the area always come prepared with bags of bread to feed the fish and ducks.

These guys must have known that I did not come bearing breakfast and they did not seem to welcome my presence.

Fine, be that way. Just see if I bring bread the next time I stop.

OOPS, I'm late

I'm late. I'm late.
For a very important date.
No time to say hello, goodbye.
I'm late, I'm late I'm late.
That little bit from Alice in Wonderland always comes to mind when I say I'm late. The important date I'm late for may not be top priority but I have made it a point to schedule my posts for the same time every day.
Yesterday I think I was in a fog for most of the day. The higher the temperature rose the lower my energy level was.
The theme for the day 

The last temperature I saw was 91 (32c) and with everything factored in it was supposed to have felt like 102 (38c).  We have no air conditioning because I have never liked it. Yesterday however I would have welcomed it. I was hot, I was tired and I slept most of the day. I'm not complaining. I would rather be hot than cold. Today is supposed to be about 10 degrees cooler and I got plenty of rest yesterday so I just might get something accomplished today.
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing today, take some time out to refresh  yourself.

Wooden it be nice

Last weekend while I was searching through my craft supplies for a totally unrelated item, I came across a few wood pieces and the wheels in my head started turning.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a cute little place to leave a note? Well I'm going to show you my version.
First off this is what I found,
A wood heart
A candle cup
and a clothespin

Then I dug in to the box of paints and mixed a couple colors together and then thinned it down with water to make a stain

I was thinking for a change and put some cardboard underneath where I was working.

When they were dry I glued the candle cup to the heart, set the clothespin in the cup and wrote the p.s. I love you on the heart.

Use the clothespin to hold your note and there you have it. A cute place to leave a note. After I finished this I got to wondering. Withe just about everyone on the face of the earth having a cell phone, do people ever leave notes any more?