Hodgepodge

Not only is the last day of the work week but it's the last day of the month. Tomorrow we move into December already. Time sure is flying by.

I have no particular subject to blog about so yesterday when I got home from work I took random pictures around the house to use for my post.

I drank lots of coffee yesterday but the best cup of the day was the one I had when I first got home from work. I drank it in one my Christmas mugs that match the dishes I have. I bought the set years ago at Dollar General I think. It has a matching salt & pepper, spoon rest, sugar bowl and napkin holder.

I started painting the other 2 shutters I have. Aside from this one I painted the other one blue.

The other day I pulled all the Christmas decorations out of the crawl space. I started going through them but then decided I just wasn't ready to do it yet. So they are all sitting on the couch in the cave waiting for me to get around to that.

As for my jury duty. I responded to the card and requested to be excused because of my hearing issues. I got a card in the mail from them saying I needed a doctors excuse. I called the ENT and asked for one. The people I talked to acted like I was nuts trying to get dismissed but said they would submit it to the doctor for review and get back to me. They did call back and say that they have the excuse now I just need to have them fax it .

I got nothing

So I went to Facebook for a little help with todays post.

Joke for the day.

So do any of my Florida friends do this?

Snow much fun

I woke up yesterday morning, opened the back door to let Gibbs out and everything was covered in snow. I looked out the front window and SURPRISE! Someone cleaned my driveway out while I was still sleeping. I suspect it was my neighbor because it was done with a snow blower and last year when she saw me out shoveling she told me to stop and she was sending her husband over to snow blow for me. I was so very grateful.

A trio of snowmen sitting on my kitchen window sill.

The forecast was saying that we were to get 6-10 inches of snow by Thursday. Apparently that has changed and it's moving past us. YEAH!!!!! Now if it can just keep that up all winter long, I'll be a happy camper.

Feel the joy

I imagine that not too many hunters were feeling the joy yesterday morning as they hit the woods. Although it wasn't too cold (40's) it rained for most of the morning.

I started my morning off slow yesterday. I sat and drank coffee, read blog and emails. I was having an email conversation with Sandra and she mentioned the life insurance issue. It occured to me that I never mentioned on here that I finally got everything finished and the check has come. It wasn't a huge amount but any extra is helpful right now. I owe Grace a huge thanks for all her help in getting that squared away.

I finished that project I mentioned the other day. I had intended to use a snowflake for the O in joy but couldn't find the ones I thought I had so a star was used instead.

It now sits here.

I painted the outside edge red and then used an antique wax that I had in my stash to do the center. It was a little darker than I liked so I sanded it up a bit before adding the letters, star and bow. Thanks Pam for the the inspiration

I can dish it out but I don't know if I can take it.

When I showed the Christmas decorations yesterday I forgot about putting up my snowmen plates.

I have this plate rack hanging on my wall and it normally holds plates that have chickadees on them. When I put out the Christmas decorations I change over to the snowmen plates.

And speaking of snow, I saw this forecast on Facebook.

Along with the above, it said:
FIRST WARNING WEATHER: The snow machine is going to be running Monday night through Wednesday. Significant accumulations are possible, especially in the snowbelt.

The temperatures I can handle although I won't like it. The significant accumulation is what worries me. I don't know if I can handle doing all that shoveling. I suppose if my driveway gets too bad I can always say the heck with it, leave the vehicle in the driveway and just walk to work.

A tiny bit festive

Yesterday I meant to be totally lazy and lay around doing nothing. It started out that way but then I must have got bored. I gathered up all the fall decorations and put them away then I pulled the Christmas tree out of the crawl space and set it up

I didn't put any ornaments on it yet. Amanda will come over today and do that. This one is pre-lit with all white lights but I like the color too so I added a couple strings of colored lights.

Then I pulled out a couple table runners and some Christmasy pillows.

I also have a beautiful new quilt laying over the back of my couch that was sent by my sweet blog friend Katie. She makes the nicest quilts along with pillow cases, stuffed toys and she has clothed many American girl dolls over the years. Thanks you so much Katie, I really love it. It will keep me warm on those cold winter nights.

I also started on a project that I saw on Pam's blog but I don't have it finished yet. I'm actually not sure if I'm going to do mine just like the one she had or if I'm going to do something a little different. Look for that coming soon.

Lucky me

For something that is supposed to be a totally random selection, I don't know why I have gotten so many of these things.

I have to wonder what source they pulled my name from too since this was my last name when I was married to my first husband.

I don't get it though. Over the years I've gotten at least a dozen of these things. I know some people older than me that have never gotten one. I would never be selected this many times in a random drawing that offered a prize so why these.

It's actually been several years because I did serve on a jury once quite a few years back.

Have you ever gotten a jury summons and if so have you ever been chosen ?

The problem with plans.

They often fall through and leave one feeling very disappointed.  Yesterday the plan was that I go to work in the morning for about 4 hours. My daughter Amanda was going to cook the Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Dinner was supposed to be me, Amanda and her boyfriend Rob, My son Brad and his girlfriend Brit and of course Presley.

Amanda had a huge meal going. She went home to go get Rob (they only have one car) She came back alone because he decided he wasn't going to come. Next comes the text message from my son saying they won't be coming. They say their washer broke, the basement has water all over it and his drains are plugged. That left me, Amanda and a ton of food.

My day started off really well, my spirits were high, and I felt like I could make it through the day and be OK. After my son said he wasn't coming over I just lost it.

I was very thankful for Amanda doing all that cooking and then staying to sit and eat with me. This post was supposed to have a nice family portrait but there were no pictures at all. I had the camera set up on the tripod all ready and waiting.

I think Amanda and I might agree that this could possibly be the worst Thanksgiving ever.

Happy Thanksgiving

Those of us in the U.S. will be celebrating Thanksgiving today. As I look back on this year, I realize that even though there have been some tough times, I have so much to be thankful for. I'm truly blessed to have so many amazing people in my life, some of which I have never even met in person but consider valued friends.

well I don't want to be a turkey and keep rambling on when some of you have better things to do with your time today. I'll just wish you a Happy Thanksgiving or if your aren't celebrating a happy Thursday.

Because of a comment

Sometimes reader comments inspire a new blog post. Yesterday I talked about the day off that wasn't and Lin said
It's nice, I guess, that they call you with offers of extra work. They know you are a good worker and they can count on you. 5 hours isn't too bad--I would have went in too. Maybe they can make you a manager or something and give you more money!

Well the truth is at one time I was a salaried manager. For the most part, I hated the job. I worked mostly nights and I was always stressed out. When Wade and I got married I finally told the boss that I wanted to go back to the bakery, which is where I had been for quite some time before I went out on the floor as a manager there. My current position is bakery manager. 

Well during a conversation with the boss last week, he made the comment that he should put so and so in the bakery and put me back out on the floor. I told him so and so hates baking and if you recall I hated that job. I am however more than willing to do extra work and help out in other parts of the store as needed. It's nice to have a little break from the usual daily routine and of course extra money in the paycheck is always welcome. 

So the boss continues to come to me and ask me to do this extra job or that extra job and being the good little worker bee that I am I say OK. 

The day off that wasn't

Yesterday morning as I was leisurely drinking my second cup of coffee and reading blogs and email, my phone rang. Caller ID said it was work calling. Hmmm, do I answer or not?  Well I figured it would be the girl who works bakery on my days off with a question so I answered. It was the boss asking if I wanted some extra hours. He said there was plenty of work to do and if I wanted to pick up some extra hours I could come in. Since I had no plans I said sure why not.

When I get to work and I'm talking to the boss he asked if I was already up when he called. I told him I had been up since 4:45. He called just shortly after 7 so he asked why I didn't answer the first time he called. Oops, must have been letting Gibbs out then.

So I ended up picking up an extra 5 hours for the week and I got to play stock boy and produce person for the day.

Now I just need another random Gibbs picture to finish out this post.

This is what I got from Gibbs when I told him he had to go to his room so I could go to work.

The "what are you talking about" look

Busy Busy

Yesterday was a busy busy day at work. I meant to take pictures of the extra work I had to do but I totally forgot. Now I have no pictures.
Any way, on Sunday I make between 15 and 16 dozen donuts if there are no orders. Yesterday I had an order for 10 dozen donuts. By the time I was done I was very sick of looking at donuts. I also had a cake order to do for a little 2 year old boy who likes Spider Man. Naturally there was a spider web on it.
Not sure what I'll do with my day off today but I can tell you it will be started with coffee.

How about a random picture of Gibbs.

And here's a bonus Gibbs shot.

A flop

I attempted to do another paper project yesterday. It's supposed to be a silverware/napkin holder. I thought it would like nice on the table for Thanksgiving dinner. Clearly I need a new blade for my cricut or I could try sharpening it. I hear that punching it in and out of a aluminum foil ball is supposed to sharpen the blade.

You can see that it ripped some of the petals off the two lighter colored flowers and it ripped the word thankful as it was cutting it. Also, not shown, it totally failed at cutting out the second red flower.

After this failed attempt I gave up. Maybe I'll try again later today or tomorrow.

Mission accomplished

I got home from work yesterday and my intentions were to get going on those table runners. But first, I had to chill on the couch with the tablet. Then there were a few little things to do around the house. By the time I finished that it was time to make some dinner. Once I finished eating I decided it was a good time to get the dishes done and clean up the kitchen.

STOP! ENOUGH! No more procrastinating.

I pushed up my sleeves and dug in and got those runners done. She wanted these for a narrow table so they aren't very wide. Sorry about the crappy picture but I took a quick one with my cell phone and it was after 6:00 so there was no natural light from outside.

Now I need to catch up on the blog reading and emails.

Looking back

I haven't done anything of a crafty nature since Monday so I'm out of posts. I was thinking about doing another one about the lanterns showing how I make them but haven't had the ambition yet. That leaves me with nothing other than talking about how I go to work and come home and curl up on the couch until it's time to go to bed. Since that's a pretty short story I thought I would look back to last year and see what was going on then.

Even though it's been cold I don't think it's gotten as cold as it did on November 11 of last year. We have been in the 20's though. Yesterday when I left work it cold, half rain half snow but I think the temperature was 32.

It seems last year in November I was on my paper bead making kick. Apparently the novelty wore off on that because I haven't made any in quite some time.

Maybe today when I get home from work I'll try and work on something in the craft room. I do have some table runners that I'm supposed to be making for someone. She brought me the material a while ago and I still haven't done them. My excuse is that she brought Christmas fabric and since I don't do Christmas till after Thanksgiving I wasn't able to start them.

The green lantern part 2

I didn't do much to finish these lanterns off. Just painted them with some glitter paint which still keeps their color just adds a bit of shimmer. And then I glued on some bits and pieces that I had in my stash.

Here's a closer look and you can see some of the glittery paint. I painted one with a white glitter paint and this one with a green.

Now I need another crafty streak so I have something to post tomorrow.

The green lantern

Today I have another craft that was a free file from Simply Crafty SVGs

I made the first one exactly as the file came but thought that the tealight looked a little lost in it.

Then I thought I would see if I could resize it and I liked this size better. I added the bit of greenery around the tealight and it keeps it from moving around in the lantern

Here's a comparison of the two sizes side by side.

After I took these pictures I decided to decorate the two smaller ones a bit more. Come back tomorrow to see what they look like now.

I destroyed my craft room

I wish I was a tidy crafter but I'm not. All it takes is one itty bitty project to turn an otherwise messy and cluttered craft room into a complete disaster area.

Monday was a crafty day. I made another card. This one is a gate fold card and it was a free file from Simply crafty SVGs I embossed the front panels but afterwards wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

The inside. I took the leaves that were cut out of the front panels and inked them up a bit and then glued them on to the inside panel.

A closer look at some of the leaves

I did something else yesterday but saving that for tomorrow.

If I only had a brain

Last night before I went to bed I worked on a picture to use for todays blog post. Apparently after I got done doing that I got distracted and never wrote a post.

Other than the fact that my original plan was to simply post a picture of Gibbs, I had nothing important to share. If one picture of Gibbs is good then one picture of multiple Gibbs faces has to be excellent. Right?

It's not what I ordered.

And yet snow arrived on my doorstep any way. I woke up Saturday morning to find the ground covered with snow.
I had registered to attend a Grief Share event called Surviving the holidays and it was scheduled for 10:00 Saturday morning. When the sun came up even though there was snow out there it didn't look too bad. The roads were clear, the sun was shining and I went out early to clean the snow off my vehicle.

Gibbs created a little art while he was outside attending to business.

By the time I was ready to leave, the snow had started falling, the wind was blowing and the road was now covered and looked slippery. Even though I was really looking forward to going, I made the choice to stay home. It was about a 20 mile drive and I just didn't want to take the chance of some idiot on the roads plowing into me. The first snow fall tends to bring those out.

Thankful

There are a lot of things that I am thankful for. All of you are right there at the top of my list. I'm also thankful for a craft room full of supplies that I can use when I'm feeling motivated to make something. I decided to take advantage of the weekly free files that Cricut offers in design space. Most were print and cut files and I printed and cut several of them. I actually even used some. This card is what I made.

The word Thankful and the pumpkins were the free files. 

No shortage on rudeness

Goodwill has a dropoff container in our parking lot at work. Right on the container it says "clothes and shoes only" I think it also specifies that you are to put all items "INSIDE" the container.

What is wrong with people?

There is deifinitely more than clothes sitting there. I saw a baby walker, some other type of baby thing, a tv as well as all those bags. It's crazy.

So the boss tells someone to call Goodwill and tell them to come and pick this stuff up. Goodwill says they can't get a truck there until NEXT Thursday. So the boss says tell them to pick it up now or they can pick up the whole thing. I can't blame him one bit. It's sad though that one persons inconsiderate actions will ruin this for other people. This of course isn't the first time this has happened but this is the worst that I've ever seen it. The other thing I see is people who will stand out there and go through the stuff to see if there's anything they want. 

One down a few more to go

A couple weeks ago I finished what will likely be a Christmas gift. I'm hoping to get several more done since I have several people I would like to give gifts to.
This is another jar that is painted and then a napkin is decoupaged on. The truck with the tree is from a napkin and then the word Noel was cut using my cricut machine and glued on to the jar. I think this would work better on a larger jar since it's hard to see the whole truck and the whole word without turning the jar.

Maybe the next one I should use the word Joy.

While I was out

I wandered through a store called Gabes while I was out on Monday. They had a small section with tables and shelves and such. These are crappy pictures because I took them quick with my cell phone but I liked the looks of these. I'm sort of fond of rustic looking things.

I would say it was a productive day

I may not have accomplished a lot but I did get something big out of the way. I made a trip to the office of vital statistics and got a copy of that death certificate that I needed. I was a bit surprised when I handed the application to the woman at the desk and she asked me if I was going to wait. I said sure and she told me it would be about 20 minutes. I didn't time it but I'm sure I was there less than 10 minutes. I thought for sure I would have to come back another day. When I got home I got all the necessary paperwork (I hope) in the mail so it's on it's way to the insurance company.

As for yesterdays post. Those tracks aren't in my yard. They are just on the other side of the property line and they are in the property owned by the doctors office. I took a map from google maps to show where the tracks run. They drove quite a distance in before turning around

So backt o yesterdays trip to Erie. As long as I was there I figured I would visit some of my favorite stores. I was very impressed with my self control. Out of 3 craft stores that I visisted I did not purchase one single thing. Quite honestly I didn't really see anything I even wanted.

The amount of Christmas stuff in the stores is really quite disgusting. I really wish the didn't have to rush it so much.

How rude

I never heard or saw anything but Saturday afternoon I looked out the window and saw this.

Can you see those tracks in the grass? They run all the way across to the road. I don't know what someone ran through there, possibly a 4 wheeler but I find it incredibly rude that they could tear up someone elses property like that.

And so it was

A very lazy day. It started out cold, gray and rainy which required lots of coffee and a little blog reading. Folding a load of laundry was the most ambitious thing I did all day.

Nothing new so I'm giving you another cute Presley pic

Just because

Leaf it alone

I just couldn't. I saw it laying there in the front yard and had to take a picture of it.

Then I couldn't leaf well enough alone, I had to do a little selective color to the picture.

Fall in my front yard

There is a bit more color in my front yard than in my back yard.

I don't have a picture of the whole tree but it's strange. One side is almost completely bare while the other side if full of bright yellow leaves.

Monday was cold wet and gloomy. Tuesday it warmed up a bit, the sun was shining and the sky was a beautiful blue. Wednesday it was back to raining again.