Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Too much cute

Today I have more of Presley. They are not very good pictures but they are all about being cute. Presley LOVES to see herself. Give her a mirror and she smiles up a storm. Same thing if you let her see herself in your phones camera.



I guess the girl just knows cute when she sees it.

I know today is Halloween and I should have posted something to do with that but instead I decided there would be no tricks I would just treat you to some Presley sweetness.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Fall in my back yard

Monday started off cold and rainy. As the day went on it stayed cold but the sun did come out a few times. I chose to stayinside and do very little. I did manage to do a little bit of cleaning that I've been putting off.

My back yard is littered with falling leaves.

The odd thing is that there are some trees that are already completely bare and some that are still all green. I haven't seen a ton of color. I had heard that this was supposed to be a spectacular fall but so far I haven't seen it.

Also in my back yard is the shed that is still standing. I've gotten everything out of it so now it's just up to the neighbor to tear it down when he has the time



Here's a closer look at the roof and the reason for why it has to come down.


Monday, October 29, 2018

Hey cupcake

Yesterday was our monthly family dinner. This time we all met at my sons house and him and Britney did the dinner. It was my turn to bring desert. I made cupcakes at work to take. Chocolate cupcakes. Half had peanut butter frosting and the other half had raspberry filling with white frosting.

Presley had her own cupcake.



She thought that was pretty darn good.


Sunday, October 28, 2018

a whole lot of nothing

Saturday was cold, wet and dreary and my energy has taken a hike.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

I can't explain it.

To start with, this is a a bad picture but it's not here to be a work of art, it's here to tell a story.


I've got this aquarium. It has just that one fish in it and a huge ugly algae eater. It was Wade's aquarium. He fed the fish, he cleaned the tank, I did nothing with it. Probably 2 or 3 times a year, he would empty it and totally clean it because it would get that disgusting looking. I can't say for certain but I'm thinking that it was a month or two before he died that he last cleaned this. By now the water should be looking nasty. I haven't done a thing to this. I haven't cleaned it, changed a filter or anything. All I do is throw in some fish food every day and add a little more water when it gets low. The tank is spotless. Like it was just cleaned yesterday, spotless. There isn't even a bit of a algae growing on the fake plants.  I am totally baffled. The only explanation I can come up with is that Wade is continuing to take care of it.

Friday, October 26, 2018

Decisions decisions

It's hard to decide on what to post about when there is absolutely nothing exciting going on. Work was just a typical day with nothing out of the ordinary. I came home and did a few chores. I suppose I could have posted the cob webs that I had to brush out of the way in order to get into the crawl space to put some stuff away. Not real attractive though. I could have posted a partially finished project but I would rather wait until it's all done. Final decision was made to grab some pictures of Gibbs. He's always a winner.

Not quite sure why but he hightailed it down to the basement and went to his bed. Normally he'll do that if he's done something bad. When I went down he even looked a bit guilty about something. If he did do something, I haven't discovered it yet.

Thursday, October 25, 2018

It's like night and day

Todays post is something simple and uncomplicated.

On my way out to work I admired the big beautiful moon. Of course my phone can't capture what my eye saw but I took a quick picture over the top of my vehicle.  It almost looks like I was standing in front of water but it's just the water that was on the roof of my car.


Leaving work the sun was shining and the color in that tree across the street was amazing. I was sitting at a stop sign and by the time I pulled my phone out to take the picture, the sun went behind a cloud. The sky was a pretty shade of blue though

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

A story I wasn't going to tell

I was going to keep this off the blog but since I hinted at it yesterday and some of you asked questions I decided what the heck, why not. This could get long so if you aren't in the mood for long you might want to stop here. Otherwise grab a cup of coffee and I'll begin my tale.

Yes, my mother recently passed away. As a matter of fact it was 5 days before Wade passed away. My mother and I were not close. I respected the fact that she was my mother but that was about it. She divorced my father when I was about 10. From there she went on to marry 2 other men. I lived with her for a couple of years until she moved out of the school district and then I moved back with my father where I stayed until I got married. My mother had other more important things to worry about. I was simply the spoiled rotten brat.

When I was 13 she had another child with her second husband. I will refer to her as my mothers daughter from her second marriage. (MDFSM) Since my mother rarely lived close to me I really didn't get to know MDFSM. Once she was an adult wherever she lived, my mother lived. I can't recall how long ago it was that my mother moved back here saying that MDFSM had kicked her out and said she couldn't live with her any more. For my sanity I maintained the "respect because she was my mother" thing. If she called me I would be courteous and civil but I did not go out of my way to make contact with her. I couldn't take the conversations that revolved around every ache and pain, how she wasn't going to be on this earth for much long and then the breakdown on MDFSM and her children. Every Christmas card, birthday card and every other card she ever sent was a complaint about her diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis and all the other ailments. Just once it would have been nice to get a card that just said Merry Christmas plain and simple.

Lets fast forward to this past June. She passed away on the 8th. MDFSM sent my daughter a text message telling her. When my daughter asked if she was going to contact me MDFSM said no. She told my daughter that there was no funeral or service, they were having her cremated because supposedly that's what my mother wanted. She and her husband were cleaning out the apartment and if there was anything my daughter wanted she needed to be there by such and such a date. End of story.

I can't remember how long after Wade died I got a comment on my blog from MDFSM asking if I saw her other comment. I went back and found a comment (on the blog mind you) saying that my mother never changed the beneficiary on her life insurance policy and I was still listed as the beneficiary. If I wanted the paper work I needed to give her my address. I sent her my address through email as well as through facebook messenger but never heard another word from her.

Now fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I got a letter from the insurance company where my mother had her life insurance policy. They say they need additional information. They need a certified death certificate. I've tried to contact MDFSM but she will not answer my emails or facebook messages.  I have no idea where she lives so I have no physical address for her nor do I have a phone number. I have no idea what funeral home handled the cremation and I don't know my mother's social security number which is needed to apply for the death certificate. I called the insurance company and they suggested going to the social security administration. They said that since I'm a family member they would give me that information.

When I went to the SSA on Monday and told the lady what I wanted she said she couldn't give me that. I asked what she suggested, calling all the funeral homes in the area until I find the one who handled the cremation? I told her the entire story and gave her copies of my birth certificate, marriage certificate from marriage one and two to prove who I was. After talking with her she made copies of everything and said she would look into it and get back to me.

So that is where I'm at right now. This whole thing could be a whole lot easier if MDFSM would just provide the needed info. I'm also wondering if there was a will because at one time my mother had said that she had listed me as the executor of her will. Of course she could have had that changed but I have no idea. Honestly, one way or the other I don't really care, I'm just curious. As for the insurance money, when MDFSM first mentioned it I thought perfect, this could go a long way to making life easier right now. HA!!! fooled me. I know that MDFSM is most likely furious that I was listed as beneficiary because I'm sure she feels that she is more deserving. Not my problem. As I see it, my mother was never really there for me when I was growing up so this would sort of be a way of her finally helping me out. We'll see how it goes.

MDFSM knows about my blog and has read it in the past. I'm curious as to whether or not she ever reads it now and if she does how she'll feel about this post. It's really not meant to slam her it's just to tell my story and she's part of it.

And there you have it. It's just always something.

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

On my day off.

I made a trip to the social security office. I was the beneficiary on my mothers life insurance policy and I need to send them a death certificate. Attempting to get the information I need through the one person who could supply it is useless. That person refuses respond to any attempts to contact her. The life insurance company suggested the SS administration. The nice lady I talked to there is attempting to get the information I need.

After leaving there I strolled through Joann fabric. It's been a long time since I've been there. I can't buy anything but I can still look.

Came home and attempted to do something crafty. It's not the most beautiful card ever but I cut it using my cricut machine. It's one of the free files for the week..

Monday, October 22, 2018

Flower power

It's not much but I managed to do a little something crafty. I made some paper flowers.


I sure wish I could get past this crafting slump.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

oh hail no

Saturday was cold, rainy, dreary and we had hail.
7


I would have spent the entire day in the house but yesterday was food pantry day. Until I get my mortgage paid off, which my last payment will be May 1, 2019, I've been taking advantage of the local food pantry. I felt kind of weird at first but after going a couple times I'm getting used to it. I figure every little bit helps and as long as I qualify for it why not take advantage of it.

After I got home from there I worked on moving some furniture around in the bedroom and doing a little more cleaning than usual in that room. I got some laundry taken care of and that was about it.

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Food

Some of you yesterday wondered what a pepperoni ball is and whether I would share the recipe. There really isn't a recipe. They are made from italian bread dough. The loaf is cut into 10 pieces and each piece is wrapped around 8 slices of pepperoni and 1/3 of a slice of mozzarella cheese. They are placed in a proof box which is where they rise, then baked for 20 minutes till they are golden brown.

It's been cold here and I've been craving soup. I've seen some recipes for hamburger soup and have wanted to try it. I read several different recipes and none of them were the same. I ended up coming up with my own version and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.


One recipe I read called for beef broth and tomato sauce. I had neither but I did have bouillon cubes and jarred spaghetti sauce. I mixed about a half jar of sauce with 4 cups of water and 4 bouillon cubes. I added some carrots and diced tomatoes. Next I browned some burger with onion and garlic and tossed that in. I let it simmer until the carrots were starting to get tender then I cut up some potatoes and threw those in along with a can of cut green beans. I call it my use what you have hamburger soup.

Friday, October 19, 2018

340

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, my department at work makes pepperoni balls. We sell them for $2.99 for a bag of 6. I make 15 bags for a total of 90 pepperoni balls. These are baked pepperoni balls, not deep fried. Although I do occasionally make the deep fried ones as well.

Yesterday I get to work and find a note saying that a customer will be calling to order 250 pepperoni balls for Friday. The note said that they took out a case of italian bread dough in case I wanted to make them the day before. So the total pepperoni balls made at work yesterday was 340. I ended up being there an extra hour to get everything donel



I'm sick of looking at pepperoni balls.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

procrastination

I procrastinated all night long thinking something would come to me. Nothing ever did so I'm relying on an old picture to fill the space.


And that's what Gibbs has to say about my plan

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Haunted

There is a house down the street that just might be haunted.


There is even more all along the other side of the house

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Pumpkin walk part 2

Here are a few of my favorite pumpkins along the trail.

I think these were from the school office



These next two are as simple as can be and yet I found them totally adorable.



So if you were to carve a pumpkin would you go with the traditional triangle eyes and nose and crooked mouth or do you like the elaborate carvings?

Monday, October 15, 2018

Pumpkin walk part 1

I took too many pictures at the pumpkin walk on Saturday to do it all in one post so here is part one.


This is done at the high schools nature trail.
You can see the the pumpkins were lined up along the trail. They were grouped according to class and each group listed the teacher's name or the high school's group that carved the pumpkins.

It was still light out when we went but it wasn't the best lighting so I had trouble getting my camera to focus. I did manage to get some ok pictures though.



Tomorrow I'll show you some of my favorites. They did this on Friday and Saturday and sadly there were already quite a few pumpkins that had been smashed. A shame that someone had to do that.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

A taste of things to come

Yesterday was a cold one. A bit rainy in the morning. It was cold enough the the furnace was kicking on which I'm really not ready for. I was liking my $20 gas bills. Looks like those are gonna be going up. It was a long sleeve, coffee drinking kind of day.
In the morning I went to my daughter's house for breakfast. Back home for some reading and then at 5 we went to a pumpkin watch. Pictures of that coming.

So Octobrrr is winding down and it will soon be Novembrrr.  It's sweater weather

Saturday, October 13, 2018

One of two

After my rough night Thursday, I had an achy day at work on Friday. I didn't do exactly as Grace had suggested and come home and crash but I did take it very easy. I laid on the couch and did a little reading, I played with Gibbs for a bit and just sort of chilled. I do mean that in more ways than one too. The temperatures have really taken a dive. The high was only in the 50's but the real feel was somewhere in the 40's. I have my thermostat set at 68 and the furnace actually kicked on once that I heard after I got home from work. I'm not ready for that to be happening just yet.

So yesterday at work, I had a couple more cakes to do. I took a picture of the first one but forgot to get one of the second one. This one isn't anything out of the ordinary, just your average writing and flowers.


Not much planned for today. I may  do a little playing in the craft room. Later today I'm supposed to go to a pumpkin walk with my daughter. The school has a trail lined with pumpkins that have been carved by the elementary school kids and high school groups. I've wanted to go in past years but never did.

Friday, October 12, 2018

Yesterday...

...came home from work, mowed the lawn, made myself some dinner, took my shower and had just enough energy left to write a couple sentences. I don't think there is one inch of my body that doesn't hurt. Oh to be young and full of energy again.

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Mush

Don't worry, I'm not going to get all kissy kissy on you here. This isn't that kind of mush. This is about the loads of mushrooms I saw in my back yard the other day.

Some looked like this


And some looked like this.


I'm not sure if these are two different kinds of mushroom or the same thing but some are older. I'm sure one of you who stops by here will know the answer.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

unicorn update

Remember that unicorn cake I posted the other day? Well now I know exactly how the customer felt about it. This was posted on Facebook

My 3 year old niece wanted a unicorn party and last minute order of her unicorn cake was called upon the Albion surfine bakery and they did an great job everyone who attend the party thought it was super cute So from my family we want to say thank you so much Surfine Bakery The birthday girl loved it!!


This definitely made my day.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

This and that

We've had some wet rainy days lately. It's been a perfect excuse for why, even though my lawn is overgrown, it had not been mowed. Yesterday was warm. Too warm for me to use the push mower. To make it worse, my neighbor had to go out and mow his overgrown lawn so now mine looks even worse.

Since yesterday was a nice day Gibbs and I went out for a walk. I should be doing that every day but I just haven't had the ambition for it. I've gotten quite lazy. While we were out I snapped a picture of this front lawn. They always make their front yard look nice.

I ready on facebook that a house further down the street has quite an impressive Halloween display. One of these evening I'll have to take a walk or drive and get some pictures of it.

Right now I have a couple of very frustrating issues going on. If only I had a magic wand that I could wave and have them be resolved. Since I don't, I'll muddle through and hopefully I can get things straightened out.

Monday, October 8, 2018

More cake

Since I'm not doing anything creative at home I'll have to show you my creativeness at work. Not sure if creativeness is a word or not but my spell check doesn't seem to have a problem with it.

Any way, I had two cake orders to do at work yesterday. The first one asked for palm trees on either side in tan and mint green. They wanted a white border with pastel accents. I asked her what she meant by accents and she said like stringy color hanging over the border. This is what I made. The pink and green along the border are very light but there is actually color in there.



The second cake they wanted a light purple border with pink, purple and blue flowers. Also a unicorn if I could do one. At first I thought, no, I can't do a unicorn. Then I remembered all the cut files I've seen for cricut that are unicorns and I did the cake to look like that. This is what I ended up with.


It was a guy who picked this one up and I said I hoped it was ok. He's like it's for a 3 year old whatever is fine. Then when he looked at it he said oh that's beautiful. 

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Sunday silly selfies

I'm really going to have to start getting out more othan than work, or at the very least I need to do something interesting while I'm at home. This go to work, come home and lay around routine is making it very hard to come up with a blog post.

I'm turning to my silly selfies taken through the messenger app.

This one is a bit summery looking but I'm loving the no wrinkled face look.


How about one for fall. I do hope there are no bugs in those pinecones.



Saturday, October 6, 2018

Browsers

For the longest time I used chrome and then it started acting up and I was having a lot of trouble with it. Then I switched to firefox. It worked great for a long time and then it too gave me problems. I went back and forth between chrome and firefox. When one started acting up I would switch back to the other.
Recently I deleted firefox because it refused to work. That left me using chrome. Now chrome is again being a pain and I'm working with Microsoft edge.
Between the three of them I'm usually able to get at least one to cooperate but it's getting quite annoying.

The reason for todays topic is because I have nothing else.

Friday, October 5, 2018

With a little help from Pinterest

Found these on Pinterest to express how I feel about today



Thursday, October 4, 2018

Raspberry evil eye

Yesterday when I got home from work I decided that since it was such a beautiful day I would go outside and start working on putting things away before winter hits.

It looks like fall on my front door but the leaves on the trees are all very green

The gnome out in my back yard is wondering how long he had to sit there for that spider web to grow off of him.


While I was enjoying the wonderful weather someone was not only giving me a raspberry but the evil eye as well. How could he look so grumpy when it was so nice out there.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Just random thoughts.

I thought that I would sit down and just write a post about the random thoughts going through my head. As I sit here trying to think of something, I've come to the conclusion that there are no thoughts there right now.

While I think of something I'll throw in a random Gibbs picture.


I've been trying to think of things I can make for Christmas gifts this year since shopping isn't in the budget. I've come up with a few ideas but I haven't had the ambition to start working on anything yet.


Speaking of Christmas, (I know, it's way to early to talk about it) I've been hearing about other people's plans and what they want to do and how they expect things to go. All I'm thinking about is how I'm going to make it through each of them being alone for the first time ever.


This may be a repeat random thought so if it is sorry. Time really has gone by super fast. This year is just flying by. So I found it odd when I went to doctors and they were checking my info to make sure everything was correct. They asked if my husband's phone number was still... When I told her he had passed away in June it hit me that it has only been 3 months (getting closer to 4 now) and yet it feels like it's been forever.

One final random thought. I went to the bank on Monday to turn in a bunch of change that I had. It was mostly pennies but there was a little of everything else too. It was quite heavy and I had it in a shoe box. The box started to tear from all the weight and I had to go find something sturdier to put it in. I had to walk into the bank carrying a plastic ice cream bucket full of change. The  $65 I carried into the bank was a lot heavier than the $65 I carried out of the bank.
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