Flashback

How about a little time travel today. Lets go back 10 years shall we.

Looks like I still had a pool in my back yard then and look who was enjoying it. Gibbs found the perfect way to beat the heat

I was also still doing craft shows with my friend Debbie too. She had a sign made for our booth and we were called Crow Cabin Creations. This picture shows part of my stuff. This picture was August 2, 2015

And finally a much younger Gibbs in a rare moment where he sat still long enough for me to get a picture. Also rare that he was looking at the camera.

That concludes this flashback to 2015. Hope you enjoyed it.

Year 2 week 7

 Here we go with another week of drawing. I was a bit concerned that I wouldn't have time to do these now that I'm working again but so far I've been keeping up with them.

I have 3 favorites from this group. I like the girl in the tea cup, the hot air balloons and the walrus. 

Lunch with Friends

 The week before I started my new job I had 2 days scheduled to have lunch with friends. I cancelled the one day because it was with the girl I used to work with who was the deli manager. I had told her about the new job but said that I didn't want to let them know yet until everything had gone through. Fast forward to the day I ran into an old co-worker to find out that they had contacted all the old employees to ask if they were going back. I never got a text. I texted the deli manager and she said she was so excited that I found something that she had told them. I was furious. I cancelled lunch because I knew I wouldn't have been able to be nice. Funny thing was she didn't even question it although my text was brief and to the point. Then I never responded to the text she sent saying she hoped I had a good first day.

The other lunch was with 2 girls I grew up with. We get together a couple times a year. We met at a place at the gateway to Presque Isle State Park. They serve burgers and hot dogs plus I got chicken tenders. From what I hear they have great milkshakes but I didn't get one. I only got one picture

Here is a link if you want to read their story Sara's Restaurant

And this is a picture that I took from their website

When we left we talked about getting together again and how it would have to be on a weekend or a bank holiday for me.  Both said that the husband/boyfriend would probably want to come along if it was a weekend. Then they joked that they would have to find a guy for me to even things out.

Saturday 7/19

 I hadn't heard from Amanda in quite some time so I sent her the following text:

I've resisted the urge to hire a carrier pigeon, send smoke signal, or skywrite "CALL YOUR MOM" but honestly, it's getting tempting. I'm not asking for a full-blown family reunion (unless there's casserole involved), just a little sign you still know I exist. No pressure...but the pigeons are on standby. 

I got a message back saying that she was going to message me to see if I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby. Of course I was in. 

We went to Hobby Lobby and I didn't take a pic outside but I do have one of our cart going down the aisle. Only thing I got there was a pillow form that I need for a Christmas present and I found some earrings that I thought Presley would like. 

We also went to Michaels, Romolo Chocolates, At Home and Eat n Park

I didn't get anything at At Home but Amanda found some cute Halloween decorations which she was on the lookout for

Can't remember what my lunch was but it was yummy

Neither of us got anything at Michaels

I resisted the urge at Romolo too but Amanda got some stuff there.

We also made a stop at Giant Eagle so I could get some meat and then a stop at the Wine and Spirit store because Amanda wanted some slushies. They are a single serve and come in a pouch that you throw in the freezer. I got a couple to try but keep forgetting about them.

Thankfully Amanda was there to remind me to take pictures. It seems I forget any time I'm out anymore which is why I don't have much material for blog posts.

New Job

 The moment you've all been waiting for. I'm finally going to tell you about my new job. Warning! This is probably going to get long and I don't have pictures to break it up.

So I'm now a CSR (customer service rep) for Holiday Financial Services. They are owned by CNB Financial. My hours are Monday through Friday 8:30-5 except for Thursday we are there till 7:00. It's a half hour drive one way. They have amazing benefits and there are some that I need to find out more about so I can take advantage of them.

So to break it down. Here is a picture of where I work. The view is from where my car was parked

Monday- First day was filled with lots of team meetings on the computer and watching training videos and presentations. It was a long day for sure but all in all not too bad. There is one other girl in the office and there are managers that take turns coming from out of town. I believe they're only there M-T and on Friday I think it's just the two of us. Got lunch paid for by CNB

Tuesday- I discoved on Tuesday that lunch is supposed to be an hour and on Monday when they sent me I only took a half hour. They laughed and said no wonder you were back so early. I was shown a few more things but felt totally lost and clueless. 

Wednesday- Let me just say here that an hour for lunch is a REALLY long time especially when you don't have anything to do other than scroll through your phone. Any way, more showing me things that just got me more confused and lost. The President of Holiday who was the one who interviewed me showed up because he thought the manager wasn't going to be there that day. He stayed part of the day and took me out to lunch along with the manager.

Thursday- The manager that had been there the first three days was done there for the week and another one was there. I was trying to do things I had been shown. I answered the phone several times but couldn't understand the people who were calling and had no clue how to answer the questions they were asking. I just about broke down into tears. The girl who was there that day sat and talked to me for a while and reassured me that it was a lot to learn and not to worry. We take turns doing the night drops at the bank and lucky me got to do it that night. NONE of the branches are on my way home. Cried my eyes out all the way home and then a little more once I got there. Felt like quitting. One bright spot of the day, we got ice cream paid for by CNB. 

Friday-Set my desk up and logged in to my computer. Got several emails from different people in the company asking how I was doing. All told me not to worry about getting it all right away and that they had heard I was doing well. Whoever thinks I'm doing well must have low standards. I spent the day mostly just scrolling through my phone because the phone hardly rand at all and when it did the other two would grab it, thankfully. I took a couple walk in payments and the only other people who came in were there to close loans which I can't do. Near the end I did answer the phone a few times and if I couldn't understand them or answer their question I just transferred them to the other girl. 

I suppose it ended off ok or at least on a better note than where I was on Friday. We shall see how things work out but I'll keep on trying for now.

short but sweet

I found myself suddenly out of scheduled posts and no energy to write any. I'll be back tomorrow with something better. I'll also give you a summary of week one on the new job.

My ride home yesterday all I could think was TGIF

Sorry the picture is sideways but I'm doing this on my phone and it won't upload photos in portrait. I could have fixed it on the computer but that would require getting back up off the couch.

Something I made for myself.

 There was a craft that I made a while back. I did three of them and they all were sold. I decided I would make one for myself and hang it near my desk in the cave.

This is made from 2 wood Dollar Tree pieces. I painted both white. Then I covered the back piece with some burlap. The mini pallet on the front I decided to add some antique wax to rather than leave it plain white. I glued the two together then added some Dollar Tree flowers.

Christmas in July

I did a search on my blog and discovered that I purchased some diamond painting Santa ornaments back in 2022. I only finished 2 of them and the kit I bought had 20. Fast forward to this year. I had been sitting around doing nothing and watching tv far too much. I decided to pull out those ornaments and do those.

Old eyes sometimes have a hard time seeing things clearly. I clipped my mega magnifying glass with light to a tray table and it made it so much easier.

We won't even discuss how many times I tipped this tray over and sent all those little pieces all over the place.

As I type this, I now have 10 done and another one about half done. Looks like I'll finally be able to use these this Christmas.

The hydrangeas

 The hydrangea are not nearly as nice as they were last year but they're finally looking pretty good. It always amazes me how they have multiple colors on one bush.

I keep forgetting to take that cement block back to the backyard. I had put it there the day I had the yard sale so that I had something to hook the tie out for Gibbs to. He didn't stay out during the sale but I had him out there while I was setting things up.

Year 2 week 6 drawings.

 I'm sure there's another subject some of you are waiting to hear about and I promise I will post about it soon. Right now I'm still scheduling ahead so everything I'm posting happened a week or more ago.

Today it's more drawings.

The one day that Presley was over she opened up my sketch book. She laughed and said "you drew a minion?". Yep, I sure did.

Talking with AI

 Recently Jean from Cheerfulmonk has been testing AI to see what kind of answers she would get. It made me curious about what Bing's copilot would say so I did my own test. I think it was a fair assessment. Granted, I have not started a new chat so it still had past questions asked to work with.

Here is my question and copilots response

what sets my fire and gets me motivated

🔥 From what I know about you, Ann, your fire flickers brightest when creativity meets heart. You’re at your most motivated when you're:

• 🎨 Transforming emotion into art — Whether it's giving family photos a dreamy watercolor touch or finding just the right phrase for a Mason jar tissue holder, you light up when you’re creating something that feels personal and full of spirit.

• 😄 Spreading joy through humor and kindness — You’ve got a gift for crafting things that make people smile, like cheeky DIYs and uplifting social posts. That blend of wit and warmth is a spark that fuels your momentum.

• 🧠 Tackling challenges with grit and grace — Even when your artistic experiments don’t go as planned, you keep pushing. That balance of perfectionism and persistence—trying, tweaking, laughing at the hiccups—is part of what drives you.

• 🛠️ Solving creative puzzles — Hunting for free SVGs, just-right fonts, or ways to enhance realism in an image gets your gears turning. You shine when your resourcefulness and eye for detail are in play.

And you’ve got a knack for making even the most practical project feel like a labor of love. I’d bet that when you're working on something that touches both your humor and heart, that’s when you're unstoppable.

Want to channel some of that spark into a project right now? I’d love to help.

Getting old is no fun

 The aches and pains seem to be adding up all the time. Since I've been off work I've not kept up with exercising and my knees seem to have been getting worse. On days when they get really bad I'll use an ice pack which seems to help. Usually it's only one knee or the other but sometimes it's double trouble.

Around the yard

 The weather here has been absolutely beautiful. Maybe a little too hot but I don't complain because at least I'm not cold and shoveling snow. I'll take too hot over winter any time.

Early in the day it's pleasant to sit out back under the umbrella on the table. Gibbs doesn't mind being out there if I'm out with him and he's got shade.

The hostas were blooming so I had a little fun taking pictures of the blooms

Eye appointment

 For the past several years I've been going once a month for an eye exam. It started the year I had an issue where the pressure in my one eye was extremely high and sent me to the ER.

Wednesday July 9 was my appointment at 7:45 in the morning. I took it only because this was the third time they had scheduled it. The first two were cancelled because the doctor was going to be in surgery. Normally I don't go so early.

It was a quick appointment and he said everything looked good. Told me that if I can get away with cheater glasses to just keep doing that and he would see me next year. They always dilate my eyes though which I hate. I posted this picture on Facebook

I came home from the appointment and was exhausted for some reason so slept a good part of the day. While I was awake I had my sunglasses on though. It seems like it takes forever for them to get back to normal.

More fun with Presley

 I watched Presley again two days the week of July 6. 

Tuesday we took walks. I lost count of how many times we walked. I had to talk her out of a few of them because the old knees just can't take it anymore. I told her would ask her mom to leave the car seat for Thursday so we could go to the places she wanted to go to.

We played store. She built a Dollar General right in the basement. The inventory kept growing in the store as she made multiple trips to the kitchen to bring down canned goods and anything else that looked like it would be a good item to sell.

She made a sign so that I would know what store I was shopping at.

Thursday started off with walking Gibbs. Then we headed to the playground at the park. I sat while she played. She found a couple girls there to play with.

After that we went to McDonalds for lunch then back to my house where we built a fort in the front yard.

Oh and she did my hair and took a picture of it

That evening Gibbs was out for the count.