What seperates the men from the boys

We all know what seperates the men from the boys right?

Yes, it's the size of their toys.

No offfense to the big guy but the first little tractor driver is a real cutie.

Another finished project

I've been bitten by the stitching bug in a big way. I've found so many adorable patterns on line that I probably have enough to keep me stitching all winter long.
My most recent find was a free pattern on a new blog I stumbled onto. In my quest for primitive ideas I found a blog called The Krazy Kraft Lady and let me tell you she is one talented lady. Not only talented but generous in offering freebies. I took advantage of her generosity and snagged the pattern for a candlemat.
I'm pretty happy with the way this one came out.

To satisy my addiction to photo editing I did this.

Well I guess I better get back to my other projects now. Hope you're all enjoying your weekend.

So why do I keep doing it

Why do I keep doing something that I never like the outcome of? Am I just a glutton for punishment or what?
Even though I never seem to like how my cards come out I keep trying to make them.
Here's the latest.

These were done last week while I was on vacation. I suppose they're ok but they just seem to be lacking something. I keep saying I'm just not going to make any more but I know I'll try again.
The good news is it's Friday and my weekend will be underway just as soon as 2:30 rolls around.

May be out of my league

I recently bought a quilting magazine because I fell in love with something I saw on the front cover. I think that table topper is fabulous.

The thing is, I've done some sewing in the past. I'm no pro but I can manage to get by. I've never done any type of quilting before although I've really wanted to learn. I'm not sure if you would even consider this quilting to be perfectly honest. All I know is I want it and I have to at least give it a try.
So far, this is as far as I've gotten.

Well I do have some other pieces cut out and ready to start on making the individual hexagons. I'm thinking this might have to be a weekend project though. Trying to figure something new out during the week after work probably isn't such a good idea.
Wish me luck

Laughter is the best medicine

I know everyone hates spam comments but I have to admit that some of them I find really amusing. For example, the other day I posted this sign.

The comment from anonymous was:
Yοu aгe ѕο coоl!
I do nοt believe Ι've read something like this before. So wonderful to discover somebody with original thoughts on this subject matter. Really.. thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is needed on the web, someone with a bit of originality!

Really? I write about horse crap and I'm cool and original? I'm thrilled to know that my original thought on the subject are appreciated. I tend to disagree about the web needing more horse crap though.

Mums the word

I've always liked mums and they make me think of one of my aunts. She had them planted all the way around her house. I've tried more than once to grow them but my brown thumb has no success with much of anything.
These were at the local park.

Meet my other friends Monday

This will (I hope) become a regular Monday thing. I'll be sending out a few questions to my blog pals and if you respond they will be featured as my meet my friends Monday post. You could be next.

Today's friend is Diane from Dish or you may know her as The Blue Ridge Gal

Before I turn it over to Diane I decided that I should be telling you why I like the bloggers I'm featuring. So that's what I'm a gonna do. I've enjoyed Diane's blog from the first time I visited. Not only do I love her sense of humor but she tells it like it is. One can not help falling in love with her two adorable furry side kicks either. Rowdy and Izzy add to the reading pleasure when you visit.

So take it away Diane.

1) How long have you been blogging and what made you start? 
September, 24th. What a fabulous day, and it's the 4th anniversary of my blog which I did my first post in 2008. Time flies when you're blogging and making friends. It's been through a few 'blog name' changes, but as for the fodder, well... it's stayed quite the same. I started blogging to get rich and still wondering when that will happen. Oh, you too? Let's not hold our breath okay?

2)What is the one piece of advice you would give to a new blogger?  I'm great at giving advice to new bloggers. Here's a few tidbits of what I've learned. Don't put music on your blog. No one listens to it but you and many find it to be, well, not annoying, but distracting while reading your words, so just get rid of it. Also, don't have a header that takes up the entire page and takes forever to load on someone else's computer, and also make your print large enough so we older folks don't always have to hit our 'view and enlarge' button. Once again. Keeping the print small is only about you and your blog needs to be about what makes things easy for your readers... Oh, I could go on, but enough blather.

3)Do you have any hobbies or special talents? 

 My hobby is blogging and also photography. I'm probably not an A+ student at either one, but most bloggers aren't. We're just here to meet one another and accompany one another on life's journey.

4)Of course you love all the blogs you visit but share a link to one of those and tell us why we should check it out 

OH MY! I have a lot of secret blogs I visit every day! Do you suppose I should reveal a favorite? Nope.... but you can visit the sidebar of my blog to find some great reads by wonderful bloggers.

5)What is one thing that totally makes you crazy?

  One thing that makes me crazy? When the dogs come in the house wet from the rain and let go with a HUGE shake and ooops, there goes the walls, the floors, my clothing. Can't they wait a second til I dry them off?

6)Give us one random thought. 

 Random thought. Umm, that's rather scary to reveal since then you really WILL know how weird I am.

The sign says

While walking through the park I snapped a picture of this sign

I looked down and realized that where we were walking was the site of a whole lot of equine activity.

Dr. Duke says

Shhh. Mom isn't feeling so good. The last couple of days she's been extra sluggish and just feeling run down. Thursday morning a couple hours after she got up she went back to bed which she never ever does.
Yesterday I prescribed a walk in the fresh air and it seemed to help her but then she crashed and burned right there on the living room couch.

I'm afraid I can't allow her to do any visiting. I must consider the welfare of my patient as well as all of you. I wouldn't want her to start spreading whatever she's got.

What's inside your pumpkin

Have you noticed that pumpkins are popping up everywhere? Have you gotten one yet? It's actually been a few years since I've bothered with buying any pumpkins.
Well any way, the question was what's inside your pumpkin. I suppose the inside of yours if full of seeds and pumpkin goop. Mine has something a little different inside.

Yes, that toilet paper is the inside of my pumpkin. What? You have doubts? Oh ye of little faith. I saw this on Pinterest and had to give it a try.
Here's how it turned out.

The tutorial for the pumpkin can be found at Sarah Dawn Designs. I added a few little embellishments to mine with the leaves, berries and spanish moss. I probably should have wrapped it a little bit more because you can still see through to the toilet paper in spots but it's not that noticeable unless you're looking for it. Let me tell you this involves A LOT of wrapping but I think it's well worth it.

Since I haven't turned anything into a painting recently I did some playing around with the picture.

So there you have it. Now you know what I was doing with the toilet paper.

Measure twice cut once

Have you heard that simple rule before? Well I could have had a certain project done on Monday night had I followed it. Apparently I have a penchant for doing things the hard way.
After backtracking, more than once I might add, I did finally finish one of the projects I had started. Sorry it's not the toilet paper one.
I made this for a friend at work. I'll be giving this to her as part of her Christmas gift. I guess that means I have officially started my Christmas shopping.
She loves cats and her favorite color is black. I'm not even going to mention all the flaws I see in it. I'm just going to be happy with the way it turned out.

This is supposed to be a candle mat but I suppose she could use it as a hot pad too if she wanted to.

Tuesday I went out and did some shopping and stopped at the Salvation Army store. I found this little cutie for just 49 cents.

Yesterday I finished another project and have started on a couple more. I didn't have a whole lot of ambition and spent a big part of the day reading. Hopefully I have some energy today

Animals on parade

While I work on some of those craft projects I showed you yesterday you can have a look at some of the various animals that marched in the parade here last Saturday.

It started off with this wild guy.

There were goats

There was a cow leading a goat.

There was a very little boy scout who didn't seem too thrilled with the whole thing

and there were lots and lots of horses.

The horses were followed by the poop patrol. Very much appreciated because usually no one picks it up.

Sneak peek

Well the first two days of my vacation were spent being totally lazy and I loved every single second of it. Yesterday I did a lot of different little things and the only ones I managed to finish were cleaning related. Don't worry though I did NOT spend too much time cleaning.
I have several craft projects started so I'll give you a sneak peek at what I'm working on.

This one will end up being a Christmas present for a friend at work.

A dead branch off the pear tree in my back yard will be transformed into something. Sunday Wade cut part of it for me. I don't think he trusted me with his saw. I told him I hadn't decided how long I wanted the pieces yet so I pulled out his saw while he was at work and didn't cut anything I wasn't supposed to.

Paper projects.

OK, for this last one some of you are laughing, some are saying what the?????? and some are shaking their heads wondering if I've lost it. And yes, that is toilet paper.

Meet my other friends Monday

This will (I hope) become a regular Monday thing. I'll be sending out a few questions to my blog pals and if you respond they will be featured as my meet my friends Monday post. You could be next.


Today's friend is Sharla of Beaded Tail fame.

Take it away Sharla

1) How long have you been blogging and what made you start?

My first post was on 1/5/08 but I didn't blog on a regular basis until April 2008. I started my blog with the intention of using it to promote my Etsy shop but it didn't take long before my furbabies took over. Now I get at least one day a week to promote new items on Friday Features but the blog is pretty much all about them!

 

2) What is one piece of advice you would give to a new blogger?

Be true to yourself and blog about what you enjoy and care about. If you're not authentic your readers can tell and it won't be any fun for you either.

3) Do you have any hobbies or special talents?

For hobbies I like to read, do photography, hike in the forest or on the coast with my hubby and spend time with my kitties, Angel and Isabella. Special talents? I work really hard at being creative and I enjoy making jewelry and other crafty things. I also took a cake decorating class last summer and took to it pretty quickly which surprised me!

 

4) Of course you love all the blogs you visit but share a link to one of those and tell us why we should check it out.

This is tough since everyone on the blog roll listed on my blog is special in their own way. I guess I'll say one of my Canadian blog friends Catherine from Corner of Cat's Mind (http://cornerofcatsmind.blogspot.com/ ) She's a lot like Ann in that she has an adorable furbaby, a Mancat named Banjo, she's crafty, she takes gorgeous photos and she's funny!

5) What is the one thing that totally makes you crazy?

Hmmm, just one? Okay, I can't stand to have money going the wrong direction in my billfold. Maybe it's the CPA in me but if a cashier gives me change with the bills going all wonky I stand there and fix them before putting it in my billfold or else it drives me bonkers knowing someone is upside down or backwards! (I asked my husband what he thinks makes me crazy and he wondered how much space I had so I guess lots of other things make me crazy too!)

6) Give one random thought.

Oh to have the easy, carefree life of a cat!

Clowning around.

Yesterday was the last day of the fair and I didn't go once. It really didn't matter to me if I made it there or not. I guess the thrill has worn off after all these years. One thing I won't miss out on though is the fair parade. It's always on the last day and it goes right by my house. I drag a chair out to the curb along with my camera and my cup of coffee and I sit through the whole thing.
I was a little disappointed this year that there were only two school marching bands. There are usually at least four. Not sure why there weren't this year.
Near the end of the parade there were clowns and one guy was very accomodating. He saw me with my camera and made some comment about always pay attention to the people with cameras. He walked right over to me and struck a pose.

Then he called one of his buddies over and said "Here's a good one for you"

I love clowns.

On another note, Sandee from Comedy Plus sent me a message last night saying that there was a problem with pop up comments and she couldn't comment on my blog. She said that embedded was working however, so I switched it over. I'm not crazy about embedded comments but I don't like no comments either. Hopefully they can fix whatever is wrong and I can switch back over to pop up.

Nine in a row

Today is day one of nine in a row that I DO NOT have to punch a time clock. I am seriously doing a happy dance even if it is just in my head. This past week was a hectic one and my reward for surviving it is a weeks vacation to do whatever I want. I don't know exactly what I want to do yet but it's ok, it'll come to me. So many possibilities.
Maybe some fall decorating. I found this little cutie at the dollar store.

With the help of some great textures from Shadowhouse Creations, I did this to the picture.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Pass

I passed on visits last night and I'm passing on a post today. See ya tomorrow. And one final thought...

HOORAY IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it time to play now?

Hey Mom, so glad you're home. I napped all day so that we could play.

Mom, why are you just sitting there with your eyes closed?

MOM??

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

This little light

Today you get to see what I was up to with that embroidery floss over the weekend.
Back in the day, I dabbled in cross stitch so I had a whole box full of embroidery floss. When I spotted some candle matts online I got the idea to make one for myself. I also happen to have lots of material in my stash.
I could have gotten a pattern or iron on transfer but thought I would just draw it out myself since I was going real simple.
I didn't want the writing to look perfect and aside from that I just wanted a rough star and a simple border.

And there you have it.

Since I wasn't sure if I would really like doing this I didn't get real elaborate but I'm sure I"m going to be doing more of these. You can't see it but the back is a green small checked fabric. It's the same fabric I used on the top of my grubby jar in yesterday's post.

So far this week has been a rough one and it's not going to be getting any easier. At least only 2 more days after today before the weekend. I hope I survive it. I may go in to hibernation on Saturday :)

a makeover

Sunday I managed to finish that little stitching project I was working on but I've got something else to show you first.
Remember the grubby jar that I did not too long ago? Well I found out what I wanted to use it for.
On one of my thrift store trips I picked up this.

Then I beat the heck out of it and it ended up looking like this.

Mom, what did you do to it?

Now it looks like this.

I wasn't completely satisfied with my distressing but all in all I liked the way it came out. I think I need some new salt and pepper shakers though :)

Meet my other friends Monday

This will (I hope) become a regular Monday thing. I'll be sending out a few questions to my blog pals and if you respond they will be featured as my meet my friends Monday post. You could be next.

To start this off my friend Sandra from Mad Snapper graciously answered my little questionnaire.

1) How long have you been blogging and what made you start?

I created my first blog on 8/28/08 because my friend Bev had started a blog and sent me the link. I thought what is a blog? I created that post and did not touch the blog until 9 months later on 5/29/09. for the rest of the year I created just a few. Then on 9/29/09 Ginny from Let Your Light Shine wrote on my post, and after that we became friends and one thing led to another and now I post almost every day. I am addicted to blogging.

 

2) What is one piece of advice you would give to a new blogger?

 

think carefully before you click follow, don’t get caught up in following every blog that comments on yours, because blogging can become a job, when you try to keep up with to many blogs. Follow the ones you love the most. The best thing about blogging is the relationships we build, or it is to me.

 

3) Do you have any hobbies or special talents?

is Talking to much a talent? if so I have one. LOL... my number one hobby is reading. I love to read, fiction only and average 5 books every two weeks.  if loving 4 legged animals is a talent or hobby, then I count that. Photography I love.

4) Of course you love all the blogs you visit but share a link to one of those and tell us why we should check it out.

If you look at my sidebar you will see all my favorites and I hate to pick a blog because there are so many that I love love love.... but since you say so.... I recently found a blog that makes me smile and laugh and feel good every time I go there.

the name is The 7MSN Ranch and if you love 4 legged critters, this is a must follow, http://www.the7msnranch.com/  

 

5) What is the one things that totally makes you crazy?

My husband..... JUST KIDDING, well maybe not..... I do have many pet peeves, but the on that comes to mind is People who point out others faults and constantly make fun of others. makes me crazy

6) Give one random though.

 

since I just thought of one other thing that makes me crazy, I will put it here since all my thoughts are random.

POLITICS are making me CRAZY

Rainy day fun

Yesterday sure did feel like fall was knocking on the door. It was cool and rainy and the perfect day to lounge around and do whatever I felt like.
I parked myself on the couch in front of the TV and  had a little itching to try some stitching. I didn't finish it yet so I won't show you what it is just yet.

Duke not only kept me company and watched over me so that I didn't hurt myself with my needle, he also kept watch out the window to make sure all was right in his world.

Wade and I did venture out to the grocery store and had dinner at Red Lobster. We thought we were being smart by going early but I suppose because of the rain everyone else had the same idea.

Take 5

I'm taking a little blog break. It may be just until Monday or it may be for all next week. Next week is fair week here in our little town and for those of you who have been with me for a while know that it's a very busy week for me at work.
I'll try to post but as for commenting I'm going to be very scarce. I plan on spending the weekend staying unplugged from the computer as much as possible. I may work on a few craft projects or I may sit on the couch with my feet up all weekend.
Well I had a picture for you but blogger doesn't want to let me upload anything.
Hope you're all getting your weekend off to a great start.

Time capsule

Going back into the photo archives and opening up folders from a couple years ago was like opening a time capsule.
What treasured did I find?
There was a pretty pink weed

The wilted remains of a yellow rose.

And best of all was a shaggy little water loving pup.