Bonnie's Blog

Browsing Antiques, or maybe just old stuff

2012-02-11T21:51:00.001-06:00

Darling Daughter and I went to town today. She had to return a curtain rod to BB&B, apparently she can't measure. Then we went over to the antiques show at Sycamore Mall.

Lots of stuff to see, I always look for stuff like I already have and then see what they think they can get for it.

I didn't see anything like what I have..imagine that!

See DD? Do you know what she's doing? Yup, she's telling the guy who was selling stuff that his pearls are fake. Well they WERE!!! She may not be able to run a tape measure, but she knows her pearls! He asked if she wanted to run the business.

Eating Out

2012-02-10T21:17:00.000-06:00

SO Spousal Unit & I went to Augusta Restaurant this evening.

He had this giant steak, it was cooked perfectly. And I had chicken cordon bleu

All in all not bad. Augusta is kind of a funny place

I like their mismatched decor-tables and chairs are a mish mash. And I really like the salt & pepper shakers-it's like someones great Aunt Phyllis left her salt & pepper shaker collection with you...heck maybe she did!
Funny thing too, is they had like 3 server/hostess people, and when you walk in, they ask if you have a reservation-we did- and then they act like it's a HUGE DECISION where to seat you. HELLO? You knew we were coming....and as you can see we went early (5:30) and it's not like there were no tables available. So the hostess person says, oh let me see where I should put you...really? gee that's a tough one, hon. Anyways, I like to keep the little businesses IN business so it was a good thing to go there, just kinda funny.

Valentines from the Dump

2012-02-08T17:25:00.001-06:00

Quite a few years ago, our Great Aunt Grace passed away. Members of my family-and me too- went to her home in Pawnee City Nebraska. Her house had been cleaned out in preparation for the upcoming auction. My sister and me, had the brilliant idea to go to Pawnee City's open pit garbage dump to see if we could recover some items that we felt sure had been thrown away as trash. Now I don't remember what made us do this, but we asked for directions to the dump and sure enough uncovered a treasure trove of Great Aunt Grace memorabilia. Thinking back, I can't believe we went digging in the dump, but thankfully the folks of Pawnee City were pretty clean dumpers. Anyways there was this little box that had once held stationary, and inside were a few letters and a few cards and these wonderful valentines.

If of me you sometimes think, send me back this heart of pink. What a sweet boy must have written this one.

I just love this one-it's obviously hand made and I guess she didn't return it. Poor guy.

This is just gorgeous-it's embossed and has Grace's name on the back. Can't you just imagine someone spending their hard earned money on this fancy valentine?

awww, faithful valentine...you don't hear that much these days do you?

I think Mattie might be Grace's sister Martha, but I can't quite make out who it's from.

This one kind of creeps me out a little..it's almost like they wanted to combine St. Patrick's' Day and Valentines day since the little fairy guy looks pretty darn irish in his green coat and top hat.

And of course let's have some affections offering and good wishes. No name on this one, I'm guessing it was in an envelope maybe.
So that's what you get when you do digging around in the dump. These days they'd probably arrest us!

I'm like Alec Baldwin.....

2012-02-05T16:42:00.000-06:00

I love words with friends. I can take or leave facebook in general, it's not all that to me, but words with friends is awesome. I have I think 4 games going there and one on my Incredible phone too.

I wish I could figure out how to show a photo of the board I have with my sister-she just played beguiles for about a zillion points! I don't think I would risk getting evicted from a plane like ol' Alec, but I can sure see getting in a word before hand!

Butterflies Are Free

2012-02-04T16:20:00.000-06:00

Remember when I blogged about these horrifying jars with moving butterflies inside of them here...
It sounded like a good idea on paper...
Well I was in Kmart again today and these look MUCH better!

See butterflies are free instead of banging themselves to death against a jar! Much Better Idea!!!!

48 boxes

2012-02-01T23:39:00.000-06:00

Sing along now, 48 boxes of laminte flooring at home, 48 boxes of laminte, take one down and lay it out, 47 boxes of laminate flooring...

It's just hanging around waiting for the agreed upon date for installation, when that agreed upon date is, however, yet to be agreed upon.

3 Valentines

2012-01-29T15:21:00.002-06:00

So I joined another swap. This one is over st Aunt Peaches....here.
All I have to do is make 3 cards, and mail them to random strangers-who also signed up to swap (hush, Dannie!) and some random strangers will mail me 3 valentines. (Hush Dannie!) See DD says I'm liable to have a serial killer mail me a bomb or something. Somehow I doubt there are a lot of serial bombers reading Aunt Peaches blog.
So don't you like superman flying a valentine across the map?! Yes! Nothing fancy coming from this stranger, that's for sure!

Dual Flush, yup I said Flush

2012-01-27T22:08:00.000-06:00

So awhile back I saw this cool thing on Ask This Old House-YAY for PBS-, a dual flush toilet. Now I don't spend a lot of time thinking about flushing, but it did seem like a cool idea. Especially if you live in an area where water is expensive and in short supply.

Ask THis Old House
So then I was at the dentist at the Iowa College of Dentistry, and checked out the new bathroom in the new building they added on, and look.... (and don't think pervie thoughts about taking pictures in the bathroom!)

They have dual flush toilets! I bet a lot of folks have no idea what the deal is, but I knew! Sometimes I'm so darn smart I can't hardly stand it.

Mending....

2012-01-26T10:20:00.000-06:00

I haven't been doing much in the way of interesting things, but I have been doing quite a bit of mending for other folks.

Beltloops back on and the hole fixed,

Darn pockets always are a problem,

There that's better!

and the inside is not too bad either! A few more pairs to go now. Oh I almost forgot a pair of John's!

Target Targets

2012-01-22T13:02:00.000-06:00

If you're not familiar with Rube Goldberg contraptions, here's the deal... ANd here's the article about St. Olaf's project!

When Target needed a big Rube-Goldberg-like contraption, it called St. Olaf College.
The Northfield school has a team dedicated to building such machines, which perform simple tasks through complex chain reactions. (Think of the game Mouse Trap.)
Prof. Jason Engbrecht got the call. As an associate professor of physics, Engbrecht teaches the course in which students study engineering design while fashioning one of the elaborate machines. He gathered current and former team members.
"All Target told us was that it needs to be spectacular and it needs to incorporate Target products," Engbrecht said. "They preferred that we not destroy their products... But by and large, we had pretty free reign."
The video begins by following a runaway red shopping cart. Rolling soup cans, tinkling silverware and flying clothing star, as well. The video was originally shown at an employee event last fall. But Target publicly released it for the New Year:
The St. Olaf team constructed the machine in a Maple Grove warehouse. The space was exhilarating. During their competitions, the students build within a 6-by-6 foot space. This time, they had 40-by-90 feet.
But the filming process added its own complexities. The lights heated up the set, messing up the carefully-calibrated tension of the catapults' ropes. "That became very hectic," Engbrecht said.
It took 40 takes to even get to the catapults. During take 41, as the machinery moved toward the finish, Engbrecht yelled "Go catapults!" As they flew, the group cheered.

YES! It's BAAAAck!

2012-01-20T23:19:00.000-06:00

I'm so happy to have the new season of American Idol back in my life again!

Randy, I've missed you, Jennifer, you are as lovely as ever, and Steven, well I read your book.......

All Done-To the mail It goes

2012-01-19T18:29:00.000-06:00

So I finished my recipe card swaps cards, and wanted to include a little thank you card for our swap hostess Lori Jean-she blogs over at

happy birds crafting haven
So here's the card I glued up for her. Oops y-ignore that bit of purple glue that isn't dry yet! I used all paper that I got in a swap on craftster a looong time ago, but it's sweet sparkly paper, and was perfect for this card.

Drive Time

2012-01-17T14:55:00.001-06:00

So when it snows I always debate with myself about which way is the best way to go home from work. I could take the Interstate-there should be lots of sand and snowplows there, right? OR I could take state hwys -they should be good and clear for the school buses, Right? This morning I chose I80.

Ordinarily I don't recommend taking photos while driving, but when one is driving 25mph on I80...the risk is pretty insignificant. This unfortunate person four wheel drove right into the ditch.

Mostly pick ups today in the ditches and whipped around in interstate donuts, pointing the wrong way to make the driver wish they had extra pants along for the ride.

Oh never a good thing to be on the side for the ride...

Yes, you are seeing another person who 4 wheeled it in a big doughnut and WOW-I bet he's glad those cable barriers have been installed-"Phew", I bet he's thinking-"I could have slid into the ditch with no serious damage, but lucky for me these cables have messed me up instead. THANKS Iowa DOT!"

As I got closer to my exit I saw more trucks in trouble...

and it looked like my exit was a parking lot.

But no troubles for me, just call me "Mrs. 25mph on the interstate" and I got home with no problems-well yes, it took almost an hour but hey, I can sleep when I get there! I wish I'd have thought of taking pictures sooner, this was only the 6 miles from the Tiffin Exit on I80 to the Oxford exit on I80. There were at least 6 others on 218.

Recipe Swap Cards

2012-01-14T20:56:00.000-06:00

Occasionally, I join in a swap of recipes on one of my favorite crafty places. Craft sayings
They announce the theme-this time it's cakes. And then you decorate pretty cards with your cake recipe to share. After they're all done you send off the required number of cards to your hostess and when she gets them from everyone, you get a package in the mail of a bunch of recipes on pretty cards!

I'm sharing a cake recipe that I made awhile back for something or other at the church. It came out good and was very tasty too.

I used some more of my old atlas pages for the base, and printed the recipe on card stock. Then added some foo-foo pretties, and now I'm ready to laminate them. I just use the sticky laminating sheets-No machine:-(
I'll have to remember to share the package of cards I get back when they come.

P&G Thanks Mom Campaign

2012-01-12T18:07:00.000-06:00

So, If you watch this video and don't at least smile with a tear in your eye...well I dunno, but it's a winner!

Visiting Aunt Sally

2012-01-10T23:49:00.000-06:00

At Christmas Eve we wnt to visit my Aunt Sally at the Veterans Home. She doesn't get around on her own these days so a short visit was in order. My OLDER sister works at the home and so she gave us the 25 cent tour of the latest upgrade to the building. They added this day room to each floor of the building. It's beautiful, see there's a computer area with comfortable seating.

There's a full size kitchen, and a TV area shown here.

This was new to me! Look, these are the dining tables. They are suspended from the ceiling. So that wheelchairs and walkers don't have to tangle with table legs. Plus it's a wonderful wide open space when the tables are up. The whole area has wonderful huge windows all around with a nice view of the grounds and other building.

Random what?

2012-01-08T17:28:00.000-06:00

Random Tutorial

So when you have time to kill...well do it anyways, I say! go to Random Tutorial! Click the link above. Who thinks of these things? It is fun randomness!

Well Maybe...

2012-01-07T15:26:00.000-06:00

So I was browsing the shoes at Kohl's today, Do you think they pay much attention to their signage?

No, it IS creepy...

2012-01-06T21:14:00.001-06:00

So, it's not just me is it? This is really creepy isn't it.

Yes, yes it is. for twenty bucks you're supposed to hang your jewelry on IT. Yeah I want a headless, armless THING to hold my jewelry......Bet a Target buyer got fired for this one.

I Won!

2012-01-06T21:09:00.000-06:00

SO at my work they like to think we are a safe place. Yeah, whatever, anyways to prove to us how much they care about our safety the company trained all of the employees on the Safe Start program. In a nutshell, 4 things-rushing, fatigue, frustration and complacency cause 4 unsafe situations-eyes not on task, mind not on task, Line-of-fire, and balance/traction/grip. Got all that? So anyways when were were done with the traiing-5 2 hour sessions! we got the chance to call the Safe Start company and answer some questions on the phone and randomly have a chance at winning a "prize". OH BOY! A PRIZE!

They have prizes at different levels for you to choose from if you "win", A prizes are pretty cheapola, the Z prizes look pretty awesome..there's a Segway! Anyway I didn't get a Z prize but I did get a J prize! I looked at the stuff you can choose from and I got this...

Pretty nice huh?
Ben took it for a trial run...

Yum! What a good prize! And the price was right...free ninety nine!!
Now if my family watches these...

The Safe Start home DVD's then they can call in and win a prize too maybe.

WOW!

2012-01-03T18:27:00.001-06:00

Have you noticed as your kids get older they don't get as excited about their Christmas presents as they did when they were little? Wonder why that is? Maybe because they always know what they are getting.

SO As they opened their gifts I told them "ok holler WOW!" and they looked at me and smiled and said,Mom, you're a dork..or something like that.

WOW!!

WOW!!!

WOW!

WOW! I love Christmas!

Well here's a Thinking kind of thing...

2012-01-02T09:49:00.000-06:00

10 sec reading: My wife and the burnt light

by Paulo Coelho on December 30, 2011

On Christmas Eve, my wife and I were reflecting on the year that was nearly ending, whilst dining at a restaurant.

I started to complain about something that hadn’t happened the way I wanted it to.

My wife focused her attention on a Christmas tree that embellished the place.
I thought that she wasn’t interested in the conversation, so I changed the subject:
“This tree has a beautiful illumination”, I said.

“Yes, but if you look carefully you can see one burnt light among dozens.
” It seems to me that instead of thinking of this year as dozens of enlightened blessings, you chose to look at the one light that did not glow

New Years Eve Shopping we will go...

2012-01-01T19:35:00.001-06:00

We popped over to the Amana Smokehouse meats store so DD could pick up her tupperware order from the very nice tupperware person who happens to work there.

Yum look at all that meaty goodness!

They have pretty unique things at the meat shop, candy, kitchen gadgets, mixes for sauces and cakes, and of course meat & lots of cheese too.

We had lunch at Applebee's and DD showed off her Christmas ipad while we waited for our food.

Pretty amazing little thing it is.

2012-01-01T13:15:00.000-06:00

Well How About This...I'm moving up in 2012, Pinterest seems to be all the rage, I'll let you know.

pinterest.

Merry New Year

2011-12-31T22:33:00.000-06:00

What a year!

New Azule...

Farmers market all summer long...

15 years..WOW!!

Vacation...WONDERFUL

Ben's 21st...I still don't believe it..

Planting stuff, and Ragbrai

Thanksgiving, with so much to be thankful for

Birthdaversary party...

Shopping, Christmas

Joy, Hope, Peace & Love for 2012
And some prosperity would be good. Amen!

Gotta Start Sometime

2011-12-30T20:53:00.000-06:00

So DD and her Godson were here "helping" a while before Christmas.

Gee look how crafty he is...LOL!

oops, you're on your on now DD.

Yeah, using pencils for drumsticks is more fun!

What the Heck?

2011-12-29T14:46:00.000-06:00

Ok it really is December in Iowa right?

Now I have Time for this Wreath

2011-12-28T11:48:00.000-06:00

Photo from Sandy's Space

I saw this cute wreath, here Sandy's Space, and wanted to try it out, I can do origami, bet ya didn't know that! So to the book I went! Yes, good old book! Cut out the 6" squares and went to town.

Looks pretty good. Now that I know how I can make some next Christmas...maybe even out of regular paper!LOL!

It's a nice 3D effect I think. I also think if you folded it without the valley, it would lay flat for mailing!

Product Review

2011-12-27T20:34:00.000-06:00

I ran out of my usual tape runner and was feeling kind of poor, so I picked up this Ad Tech glue rumnner. It sells for only 2.99 at Hobby Lobby, and the 2 pk of refills is also only 2.99.

It seems to work well, I like that the excess glue (tape to me) rubs off cleanly and easily. It is also a pretty thick layer of tape to me (glue to them), so it holds really well. This says it's permanent and it pretty much is. I kind of made a little boo boo and was going to peal it off, and that was not a happening thing at all. I also like the blue tape/glue holder is hinged on the bottom so when you put in the refill it snaps closed much easier than my other type of two piece, non-hinged holder. The roll is only about 311" so it's a little less than the other one I was using but the adhesion is really better with this Ad Tech brand. So I'd buy it again, I just wish it was made in the U.S.A. deep sigh!

Thank Yous!

2011-12-26T13:26:00.000-06:00

What a bunch of cuties, huh! Dannie needs Thank yous for her work folks, so since I'm on vacation, I scraped these together from a lot of scraps! The Thank You that I used on all of them is from here
how does she.com
You need to sign up for their newsletter, they send free things to print pretty often and have tons of clever, fashionable, homey ideas.
Speaking of thanks, lookie at these pretty vintage dishes my darling daughter got for me.

Aren't they pretty? YES they are!

Finished!

2011-12-25T21:15:00.000-06:00

I almost forgot to post my finished Christmas presents.
So here's the QUILT I finished for the Family gift exchange. It's just lap sized but I never have to see that Santa fabric again. I mean it's cute and ll but I've had that scrap faaarrr toooo lonnng!

Then the inside of my Gramma's house gift exchange

Handmade apple baker and apples! It was a really good gift I thought. When we went to the thieves market a few weeks ago I got the apple baker and it turned out to be a great gift.
Oh and see what was in that package from Dannie? A Pineapple-OK that's a really tasty gift, but guess what Gramma thought it was a great tasty gift too! SO we came home with Pineapples too! YUM!!

As always it was a wonderful Christmas!

My Favorite Parts Of Christmas

2011-12-25T21:06:00.000-06:00

My very favorite thing without a doubt, is reading the Christmas story and singing Christmas Hymns and songs. See those fancy red covered book? My wonderful cousin, got them a couple of years ago, and so now we have a ready made Christmas Program! It's awesome! We were a pretty Small group this year, but still you can't go wrong with angels "sore afraid" and going "to be taxed with his espoused Mary". And that lyin' evil ol' Herod!

The other thing I will always love is the Happy Birthday to Jesus moment. We usually have angel food cake, and it's always fun to see if SOMEONE remember THE candle..yes capital THE candle. This year we had Kringle. It was delicious!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T09:20:00.000-06:00

Isn't this a cute gift card holder I made? Yes it is!

I adapted an idea from
Dawn's Stampin Studio

I added the ribbon closure and it's just so much nicer than a plain old gift card!

Bet ya can't guess what's in this bag.

Yes, something from Dannie, nope, nope, nope...just wait!

And my own box...I'm kinda dumb, I forgot to take a picture of what's inside, but I'' try to remember to take a picture today to show! We're off the Gramma & Grampa's now! Merry Christmas!

Cookies the remix...sequels are never any good

2011-12-23T14:04:00.001-06:00

So remeber when I made thses cookies? They tasted good, they just looked bad. SO I crunched them up

Thinking it would be just about like squashing up oreos and mixing with cream cheese, and dunking them in chocolate. Like this recipe, here's the linkkraft recipes

What You Need

6 oz. (3/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 pkg. (15.25 oz.) OREO Cool Mint Creme Cookies, finely crushed (about 4 cups)

2 pkg. (6 squares each) BAKER'S White Chocolate, melted

6 drops green food coloring

3 Tbsp. green and/or white decorating icings

40 cinnamon red hot candies

Make It

MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until well blended.
SHAPE into 40 (1-inch) balls; place in single layer in shallow pan. Freeze 10 min. Mix melted chocolate and food coloring until well blended. Dip balls in chocolate; place in single layer in shallow waxed paper-lined pan. Insert lollipop stick into each ball. Decorate with decorating icing and candies as shown in photo.
REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Keep refrigerated.

So as you can see, it is pretty similar..... but still tasty! Mine sure look as cute as the ones from Kraft don't they?
Let's just say it's not a good time for cookies.

Badly Lit Photos,...

2011-12-22T23:19:00.000-06:00

All trimmed up on Wednesday. YAY!!

A couple of miles of 2 1/2" strips on Thursday...ooops time to go to work!

Mmmmmm, Christmas goodies

2011-12-20T10:09:00.001-06:00

So I made this recipe for White Trash, Ben told me that was a rude name for the stuff, so I switched it up a bit...

White Trash

2 bags of vanilla chocolate candy melts
(or white chocolate almond block)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 cups of Cheerios
3 cups of Rice Chex
3 cups of Pretzels (pretzel stixs
seem to work the best)
1-2 cups of Peanuts (you may use any
type of nuts that you prefer)
1-2 cups of Raisins and/or M&M’’s
Directions
Using a double boiler or two pots, melt the candy melts and use the vegetable oil for consistency. In another bowl (I personally use a large stainless steel bowl), mix the remaining (dry) ingredients. Once the vanilla chocolate wafers are melted, pour over the dry ingredients and be sure to mix in the chocolate so that every piece is coated with the chocolate. Then place in a ‘‘cool’’ spot for the chocolate to harden. Once hardened, use a knife to break into small pieces. Enjoy and be creative with the dry ingredients.

And now it's Santa's Sleigh Wreck! Cute, huh? YES it IS!!!! Yes, I know I don't make the best rhymes, but it's just going to be gobbled up, so no worries!

The ladies on the crafty board have been raving over this treat, they call it Christmas Crack, because it's so good. I think it's probably more likely because it starts with saltine crackers. It is good!

Recipe
1 1/2 sleeves saltine crackers
1 - cup butter, not margarine
1 - cup light brown sugar
1 - 12 oz package chocolate chips
1 - cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Lay crackers out on sheet in one layer. In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter and the brown sugar. Stir often and bring to a full rolling boil and boil for exactly 3 minutes.

Pour over the saltines and bake for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and wait until they are almost melted then spread evenly all over all the saltines. Sprinkle on the nuts all over the top as evenly as possible. Refrigerate for two hours and then break up into pieces and store in a air tight container

Then I packed them all up with some cookies from yesterday, into these cute brown bags I got on clearance last year, they are really heavy paper bags and when I added the cute punch out from corrugated paper, and added the glittery snowflake and used Slice to cut a tag, well, HOW CUTE IS THAT?!!!

Love that glittery snowflake! It's a Martha punch and the paper is some really thick glittery paper that my Slice machine won't cut...it's really thick paper! I just punched a hole in the bag and used a paper fastener to close it up! DONE!

Santa Came to Town with Mrs. Claus!

2011-12-18T21:19:00.000-06:00

The American Legion Auxiliary sponsored Santa again this year. They arrived on the fire truck amid many happy faces. We had bags with an apple, an orange and candy in them and the children could also choose a small toy and a coloring book with crayons. We had a pretty nice turn out. I was amazed at little ones that wouldn't want any thing to do with Santa would run right in to Mrs. Claus lap! Cute kids all around!

Oh I'll make it in plenty of time...I think....

2011-12-18T15:40:00.000-06:00

So I think I shouldn't tell what the finished project is because it's for the gift exchange at Aunt Francie's. And if you have inside information it might lead to some unscrupulous dealings.

OK Just one More

2011-12-18T15:34:00.002-06:00

This is my fav of all of em...so far. I just love how the camels look with the kings aboard them.

See that camel is acting like a camel! Love it!

BTW.. Hey. Diane see, there's hay. I think you got cheated with your cow that looks like a hippo and no hay. Just sayin'.

My cow looks ready to moo. I do wonder who thought it was a good idea for Joseph to have a big stick though....guess he's gonna keep those camels in line yessirreee.

2011 Tree

2011-12-17T11:44:00.000-06:00

So I have have a few nativity sets. I broke this one out this year-Mary's been in the closet for quite awhile...wait I mean in storage for awhile.

And they fit just right under the big ceramic tree. aka as the b.c.t. The b.c.t. has been around a looong time. It needs a few lights replaced but it's so festive!

Yes, I went with white once again. Green next year I'm positive!

I Think I Can, I Think I Can

2011-12-14T22:34:00.000-06:00

If I keep at it, I should be able to finish this project in time for Christmas!

Keep it simple!

I'll let you know how I come out! LOL

Cards are DONE!

2011-12-11T14:13:00.000-06:00

So BIG THANKS to the talented folks over at

Eighteen 25

The cute Merry Christmas design is a free printable from them! Free, just right what I needed!

Now DDaughter can take a whole pile of these to her work pals! Merry Christmas!

Merry Anniversary to Us

2011-12-10T22:50:00.001-06:00

Boy we were younger, and thinner.

23 years!

Gosh it seems like just the other day, It just doesn't seem possible! Congratulations to us!

Cookies, cookies everywhere!

2011-12-10T16:19:00.000-06:00

What a great assortment of cookies! The church 2nd annual cookie sale had a pretty good turn out.

Something along the lines of 19 or 20 boxes were sold.

I bought one for D Daughter, she brought Wyatt with her....how's that cookie Wyatt?

It Sounded like a Good Idea on Paper

2011-12-09T22:03:00.001-06:00

SO I saw these jars at KMart today. They say butterfly on them. Oh how cute I thought. I have a girl who loves her some butterflies.

So since the package was pretty much screaming at me to TRY ME!, I had a go at it. OH MY GOSH!! I wanted to cry!!!!! Who thought this was a good idea?! NOOOOO! It was horrible. The pretty butterfly is attached to an almost invisible wire and when it is activated it starts to flap around. Trouble is it beats on the sides of the jar and it sounds like it's dying to escape. It was HORRIFYING! I am traumatized! They had lightening bugs too, but I didn't want to hear the desperate tapping of lightening bugs beating themselves to death on the jar......

I LOVE these cards

2011-12-09T21:35:00.000-06:00

So, this idea from Dawn's Stampin' Up was so cute I had to try it when Daughter said she needed some Christmas cards for her work people.
I printed this cute design from Eighteen 25 (I love all the cool things they do over there) and then I started digging through my scraps of paper.

Aren't these the absolute cutest things ever?! After the EPIC cookie fail, I'm glad something is coming out OK.

I just love the un-Christmas colors, just right!

Things I Know about Cookies

2011-12-08T19:22:00.001-06:00

The manufacturers and business people have better recipes than people who have the one their great great great Aunt Frieda always used.

So there's this cookbook...and I thought since the cookie sale is coming up on Saturday, I'd give one a try. The cookbook is a bunch of recipies from folks who sent them in to a contest and the people who "know" selected them as "winners". huh.

Really? These don't look good at all. They taste OK but really are not pretty at all!

This isn't much better, deep sigh.....darn it. They would be better with no caramel, and smashed with sugar.
Oh look the back of the coconut package has a recipe......

Mmm Yum, look at these!MMMmm

These are much better looking cookies-and good tasting too!
So I better stick with manufacturers recipes.

Start of Christmas...

2011-12-05T17:16:00.000-06:00

Oh Goodie, goodie...what'd we get this year??

I guess it's lucky that P&G continues the tradition of the holiday gift. with over 127,000 employees worldwide it's a huge and I'm sure costly undertaking.

So if you haven't got your box my fellow P&Gers...stop now! Close the blog and wait for your box. Let me also point out to you the excellent, expansive, perfectly fitting packaging that is a tradition of the P&G holiday box. THere's enough cardboard in here to keep a daycare full of toddlers busy for hours!

OOO pretty...oh my SURPRISE! Product...no not really.
We always get some products. When I started 15 years ago the box had a lot more food & Christmas-e type of things including a little canned ham! Alas! Those outspoken vegetarian folks won out and now the only food item we can count on every year is the chocolate covered almonds...YUM!

OH Good! I'm so glad it's not an ice bucket!

And look a kitty toy box too!

Bob likes the box..thanks P&G!

Thieves Market

2011-12-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

Today DD and I went to the Thieves Market at the Iowa memorial Union. Lots of ART(see capital letters art) and not so much craft. I really was overwhelmed with all the jewelry & pottery.Here's a link to their video. U of I fine arts council

The pottery was all so beautiful. I am amazed at all the wonderful colors and techniques.

Tons of jewelry was for sale. Everything from little plastic beads, to crocheted wire, sterling silver, pounded copper, gold, brass, leather, all natural, man-made, if you can name a medium, I bet there was some kind of jewelry made of it. Personally I can only look at jewelry for just so long but DD...she's wild for the stuff. I also noticed that I can't take pictures of jewelry-it comes out looking like boxes of foreign stuff.

There was also a lot of really wonderful artwork too. This artist used almost all paper and bits of wood for her work

These mosaics were BEAUTIFUL! They were clay tiles of all shapes, with sayings and profound poetry on some. Then put together with really gorgeous textured tiles. Very expensive, but very nice to look at!

I loved this name, Jubilant acrylics. It was true too-her art was very jubilant!

Isn't this pretty art too? Original oil paintings. Big bucks, I suppose you already knew that?

This was really different pottery. They had these wonderful fanciful dragons, and other critters coming out of the containers-mugs, eggs, piggy banks-very unique and well crafted.

I wasn't really a fan of this artist, I was just surprised at the price tag.

There was so much to see! Makes me feel all cultured now!

Oh MAN!!!????!!!

2011-11-30T19:18:00.000-06:00

SO you may remember it was my birthday awhile back? Well there are many things that make ones birthday special. Not the least of which is ones drivers license expires!! YIKES! So I zipped over to Marengo, I love their courthouse, it's old and has cool wood and the tiles on the floor are very unique, and one doesn't have to wait in line usually, because, well because there just aren't that many people in Iowa County I guess.

See? Isn't this tile cool?

And pretty wood. And when you go up and down the stairs the wood creaks and moans....HEY! It creaks and moans when ANYONE walks up and down the stairs..so there!
But this was the best part....
when you get in the Drivers License office......

Yeah, so if you aren't here for doing business for yourself, well then get out! Too funny...OK maybe it's just me. Yes I am easily amused. Also I didn't get a pic, but the take a numbers are little cardboard pieces, with handwritten numbers on them. So that's quaint-right, but there was one person in front of me and there was no one around and the lady says.."take a number, I'll be with you after her"...Really? ya think? Yes I took the number 2, and sat down in the hall. Gotta love the small town! Amen!!

What next!

2011-11-28T18:35:00.000-06:00

So my car went to Sears for a new battery today. DEEP SIGH! Another one of those expenses.... Lucky for me Sears is right across the parking lot from Barnes & Noble. OH GOODY!

I love the smell of books.
I love how they feel, how they line up in pretty colors and all sizes.

Really? Just for Kids huh? Perhaps for SOME kids, but not the paint your own piggy bank and my 1st book of fairy tales set I'm thinking!

Is it funny that Joesph Kennedy is next to the most evil mobsters? Kinda theologically humorous that the US Army survival guide is next to the story of Jesus though, you gotta admit!

Merry Birthdversary

2011-11-27T17:52:00.000-06:00

So I had my dear wonderful friend kathy make the cupcakes...sooo good!

Red & green chli, almost ready to go. We also had really good hot dogs, the kind that crunch when you bite em, and walking tacos and fruit salad, and of course cupcakes!

The head chef, busy all day making chili,

So it took a lot of work to haul all the food in,

Set the cupcakes in place,

Decorate the tables,

And get the band set up.

But we got it done!

Here are Dannie's helpers..they're pretty good with scissors... and they can appreciate chairs that match. It does make such a big difference. Really, just ask us!

But the best part was all our friends coming in and THE BAND! We love the band!

The Band, Mark and the guys he picked up to play, were kind enough to let some of the young guys stand in and jam a bit with them. These guys were all awesome. Little Aaron-who we've known forever, is soo talented and his friend Zack, and Ben's friend John made us all proud with there excellent playing!
So we had an awesome night, and I think the guys in the band had fun too!

All Done! YAY!

2011-11-25T23:07:00.000-06:00

So here's the after picture-sooo much nicer doncha think? The little plaid underskirt looks so much better!

I prettified up the advent wreath, a little plaid just makes it sooo much better!

See and the star on top? I almost forgot it! LOVE that tree skirt and I can't get over how awesome the paper garland is. Hope the church ladies like it too!

The wreaths are great.

Got the table runner done, I'm not too happy with the way it lays, but it is what it is. Reminder to self...DO NOT EVER TRY TO SEW COTTON VELVETEEN. But thanks to Mom for the nice stash fabric!

And at last the garland over the back door. Phew! It was horrible getting it up there, so yeah I know it's just a bit wonky, but I can't reach it to fix it, and it's a lot better than before, just ask my helper, Ellen!!

Thanksgiving DInner

2011-11-24T22:48:00.000-06:00

YUM, Yum, Yum SO we all gathered at my OLDER sister's for dinner. Hubs made a lovely turkey the night before to go.

And Mom made the Ham, she had a huge one! And we all had a great dinner.

Well that's not a very "nice picture" is it? I should remember to take a picture before we start to eat!!!

Dannie is cheating on her dogs with Chloe! Wait till poodle sees this!

It was such a nice day- too windy to burn the burn pile...awww too bad...NOT! Dad still sawed up some wood for his garage wood stove though. There's a lot to be thankful for isn't there!

Almost Done

2011-11-24T22:29:00.000-06:00

I still gotta add the fabric in the middle of the wreath, but look how cool is the tree skirt!!

I am just in love with this tree! And wait until you see the Bible table! WOW!

SO here's the Before, I'll post the after tomorrow...I hope!

Progress

2011-11-22T12:32:00.000-06:00

So I got the green bows all made and thought they were a little boring. SO I made these little foo-foo dealios that I've seen around the blog world with a star.

I do like the plaid ribbon holding the letters though!

Ready, Set, GO

2011-11-20T22:02:00.000-06:00

I'm getting ready to start decorating the church for Advent. Next Sunday All READY! YIKES!

I'm going to update the wreaths from last year..remember purple & Gold? With old paper and shiny letters. I'll also add some green & plaid bows I think.

Phew! That's a lot of letters and pages from an old book I got for FREE at the library book sale! Yes, I googled it to make sure it wasn't valuable before I started!

I'll try to get the wreaths started tomorrow, I can't decide if I should stuff the letters among the greens or make it banner style across the middle. I guess I test it out both ways then decide.

Candy in the skinny bags

2011-11-19T21:53:00.001-06:00

SO for the church bazaar, I made a bunch of these little candy treats. I used the 1"X8" zipper bags I got from KrafteeKaren.

I made some for Thanksgiving and some for Christmas.
They weren't great sellers. I mean they all sold, but only fifty cents each. And the last handful I think were a pity purchase from a very nice lady at the church.

Oh well I got that project out of my system!
The thankful for you tags I printed out from here... Shindig Parties To Go.
And the Christmas ones from here...i share printables

Deep Sigh....

2011-11-19T21:48:00.000-06:00

So Wednesday morning when I got off work I had a really low tire on my car. I hurried over to the nearest gas staion and put air in it and came home OK. SO I checked the tire again when I got up and sure enough it was low. SO I called around to try to get my tire fixed and NO ONE could get me in to fix it until Thursday! Grrrrr. SO I air that tire up again and go off to work and go out at break time and air it up again and then go and wait at the tire place until 7am when they open. THursday wasn't shaping up to be the greatest day-a late go-to-bed time and had to be up at noon to go to the dentist. Deep Sigh..... Anyways Look at this...just look. OH MAN!! Deep Sigh!!!!

So I had to dust off the ol' plastic-I thank God I was able to drive without dying.

Iowa Ornamanet-Upcycled Atlas

2011-11-14T20:14:00.000-06:00

SO I was wanting to use my new Slice card that makes all the states. I thought about a pin or stationary, then thought of an ornament.

I used the pages from our old atlas-I know who keeps old atlases? Yeah well I do.

I cut a tiny little piece of overhead projector plastic long enough to hold the state suspended.

Rolled it all up and used tweezers to unroll it and smooth it out inside the ornament. I punched out some snow for the bottom-maybe there should be a little bit more....hmmm.

Pretty darn cute I say! Let's see if they sell at the church bazaar.

My Veteran

2011-11-12T11:22:00.000-06:00

This baby faced maybe 18 year old is my Hubs. From 1969-1972 he served in Viet Nam. This Veterans Day it is so gratifying to see America supporting our troops. Perhaps We have learned a few things about appreciation, service and gratitude.

Letters, never ending letters...

2011-11-07T16:24:00.000-06:00

So my church has this big rolling sign that gets totted out to the hiway every time we have an event.

To share information you have to spell each word...letter, by letter, by letter...

OK so one little problem... It's a Supper BAZAAR & Auction.

There that's better.

Across the street is the falling down corn crib-it's like a land mark on the corner.

Craft Show with DDaughter...

2011-11-06T18:46:00.003-06:00

SO I love the iron stuff that is always at the craft shows. Lookie at this cute old sewing machine-It would go out in my prairie for sure!

And these rebar trees..Oh MY!

These glass pendants were just lovely!

So I'm a HUGE fan of the painted barn boards and such from these folks. I LOVE the Santa board.

This was a new twist on the hanging kitchen towel

Aren't these melted snowpeople cute-It's just some batting with a little head tied off with a scarf and face, cute cute cute!!

I had to note that the bag holders were everywhere-I made a few for the church bazaar coming up-we'll see if they sell.

These bracelets are made from scrabble tiles and the folks who were selling them are Square Wear

here's their Etsy link SquareWear

This art work was all kinds of vintage scrap hardware and paper. Or anyway made to look vintage!!

Look at the crowd-it was BUSY!

And last i had to show these cute snowman wrappers for candy bars, Here's the link to make your own..laurie furnell
The most unique booth goes to this one...starfield bay

You can get fingerprints or NOSE prints cast and turned into jewelry.

And these cute coloring bags. Sweet!

I Can See I'll Be Making Some of This...

2011-11-06T00:29:00.000-05:00

Bridget over at
Bake at 350
(Photo from Bake at 350)

Has this recipe today for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough FUDGE. Yes you read that right FUDGE. So I think I'll give this a test drive for the next bake sale. Bet it's a top seller.

WOW-Look at this!

2011-11-05T00:13:00.001-05:00

Wow Look at this ottoman/table/I don't know what to call it. It looks crocheted. Now click on the link here....

Desire to InspireWOW look at those knitting needles! WOW!

Cha-Ching!

2011-10-31T09:06:00.000-05:00

So all of us October birthday folks went to the casino and collected our free slot play and buffet supper.

OOpsy-wow what happened to this picture-I dunno but here's the winner! I think it was around $7!!!
Then we had the buffet it's fun to go once a year and since my baby turned 21 I had to expose him to the dnagers of the casino.

Crafti-ness Going On Here!

2011-10-30T11:26:00.000-05:00

So DD needed another card. This one came out cute I think!

Then I got a coupon for an 8X10 collage print and set it up to mail to SIL.

Dollie Diapers

2011-10-30T11:23:00.001-05:00

Aren't these cute?

I got the pattern I started with here
skip to my lou
then I enlarged the pattern a bit so the diaper will fit my build-a-bear and DD's old baby doll. I made these with one layer of felt and then the regular scraps of cotton print fabric.

Dollie Diapers for the bazaar. I hope they sell well!

Pastor Appreciation...

2011-10-23T15:23:00.000-05:00

When Mom & me were on the shop-a-thon the other day I picked up this cute ceramic dish. She did too, she has some friends who will enjoy these when their birthdays come rolling along.Shhh don't tell them!!LOL This week is Pastor Appreciation week and our church generally lavishes our pastor with chocolate & coffee, 2 of her favorite indulgences.

So I used the matchbook method to package some bits of Dove Chocolate.

I used my Slice to make the monograms & little birdies. Aren't they cute!

Slapped some cellophane wrap around that thing and TA DA! Cute gift.

OK I'm being a little mean here.....

2011-10-22T20:21:00.000-05:00

So we went to a friends party this afternoon. And I just couldn't stop looking at this girl's outfit. Call the What not to wear folks now!! As my Gramma used to say Meow, Meow!!!!LOL

OK I'm Being Oprah

2011-10-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

So you know how Oprah shares stuff she likes a lot? Well I like this a lot.

I have discovered Books On CD from the library. Yes, I have not been under a rock....No really I haven't, but I just never checked one out. So I checked out A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. She's the girl who was kidnapped and held in captivity for 18 years. Anyways it was on 6 CDs...I don't know why it takes so many CDs but it was good. I listened on the way to work and home again. This particular story was painful to listen to at times, but a good story anyways. The point though is now I'm starting a new book. Thank goodness I have a 6 CD changer in my car!! ( I don't think you can get cars that way now)

ANother Doll QUilt Done

2011-10-16T11:27:00.000-05:00

I saw this idea over at Moda Bakeshop-there's a link right over there>>>>>>>>>It's the Princess & the Pea Quilt. See how all the "matreses" are stacked up with a pillow on top ans a crown on the bed post. A button at the bottom is the "pea" What a great story.

SO I made it doll size thinking I'd use up some of my scrap strips.

Pretty cute huh? Use up my scraps? Well not nearly enough.

Very Scary Thing to See

2011-10-15T21:42:00.000-05:00

Coming home from Iowa City we could see smoke ahead of us. We slowed down as did all the other traffic.

The fire was right on the shoulder of the road. It looked pretty bad.

Turns out it was a motor home that had caught fire. News reports later in the day said that all the people inside had been headed to the Iowa football game and had escaped unharmed.

My gosh! There was nothing left of the motor home. Pretty scary thing to see!

And turned the usual gameday traffic hassles into a gameday parking lot!

Magic Dog Cookies

2011-10-15T10:55:00.000-05:00

Whatcha lookin' at Sandy?

What are you two lookin' at?

Dang Mich, you're lookin' intense!!

Here's why

True Chews Chicken Filets. Yup-magic dog cookies. Makes then do anything you want. They LOVE these things. I LOVE that they're made right up the road..yup MADE IN THE USA!! Here's the link to their siteTrue Chews

Made right up the road in Independence Iowa. Love the True Chews.

And know what else they like a lot?

These

Bogey Tails. I can only get these at Theisens and they are also made fairly locally-in Dubuque, Iowa. Here's a link to their site. Hills & Dales

They are an orginzation for the developmentaly disabled and they make these dog cookies. What an awesome idea!
I like to support local businesses and when the local business is also an awesome idea, and the dogs love the cookies-well that's a definite done deal!

Happy Birthday to me... a bit late!

2011-10-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

Ahh it was a great year.

Yup 1959, happy birthday to me!!

Dolly Quilt Done

2011-10-09T20:40:00.000-05:00

So after a quick wash, all puffy and soft.
I wasn't sure how it would finish up since it was pretty vintage fabric and some may have been washed before... or not.

I like the way the binding came out-I barely had enough scraps left! It's off to the bazaar for this little dolly quilt.

Sew & Shop

2011-10-08T22:43:00.000-05:00

I gotta say this 2nd shift business is a real time sapper. But I did get a dolly quilt going for the bazaar in November.

There is this box of scrap fabric that someone left at the church in the copy room. Every week when I go to print bulletins, I think to myself that I ought to do something with that lonely old fabric. So this dolly quilt is from that old box of fabric. It looks very vintage 70's to me..
Anyways I also went on a little shopping expedition with Mom-it's my birthday soon so she took me to lunch and we went to Hancock's and look patterns were on sale for $1!! YIKES-You know I have a little problem with patterns, like I get them and hoard them...

But look how cute are these bags!!?!!! I held myself off to only 3 too! Pretty good!!! YES!

Val's Bridal Shower

2011-10-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

Well things went pretty well. I was THRILLED with how well the flower centerpeices came out...with our limited budget. That jar with burlap and lace was just perfect! Hick Chic!

I had doubts about the location-our local American Legion Hall, but it cleaned up pretty well.

You can see here our Friend Lindsey AKA the Scentsy Lady, setting up her goodies. Lindsey's Scentsy Link
If you want some scentsy, you can click this link. I thought I didn't like the fall small-Autumn Stroll- but I brought home the sample and I'm smitten! The Shower/Scentsy party concept was another thing I kind of wondered about, but ti turned out great and a lot of the guests bought stuff for Val! YAY!
Val's Aunts all brought the food-they brought a choclate fountain! It was awesome! I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it!

Lookie at those cute fruit skewers! We made the punch-a variation of Gramma punch using Hawaiian Punch, Lemonade, and SunDrop soda. It was really good!

Books, Yes I Love Books

2011-10-01T20:49:00.000-05:00

So I am getting ready for Our Gal Val's Wedding Shower, and I went to Barnes & Noble to get some trinkets for prizes.
As much as I would like to GET a book, I figured most folks would not so I chose something else.

Dude Craft

2011-09-28T19:44:00.000-05:00

Dude Craft
I'm taking a little break from making those cute I spy books and wanted to share this blog. Dude Craft-it's such a cool blog. Just look...

Look this self portrait is made of bottle caps...maryellen croteau

Tire Carvings

and I would never see any of this awesome stuff were it not for Dude craft. Thanks, Dude!

Toilet Paper Rolls..Really? Do You HAVE to?

2011-09-25T12:08:00.000-05:00

OK maybe it's just me, but have you noticed the influx of folks being crafty with toilet paper tubes? Jeeez! Must be folks get to thinkin' while they are sitting..... I think you should just toss the things in the recycle bin and call it a day.

Dawn's Stampin Up

Chica Artist
Yes some of these are pretty cool art work really, but toilet paper tubes,,,ICK!

Azura
Really? You want to wrap your napkin in a toilet paper tube? I think not!

Oh yes let's celebrate Christmas in style with toilet paper tubes. Or NOT!! And don't even get me started on candy in a toilet paper tube..YUCK! And why does every single Sunday school craft page include at least one craft with a toilet paper tube? WHY??!!

Let's stop this people. No more bathroom craft supplies! Just say no to toilet paper tube crafts!! Recycle the tubes, don't use as a craft supply!!

I Spy Book from Skip to My Lou

2011-09-24T22:34:00.000-05:00

Look at this link!Skip to my Lou

I love this idea so I thought it would be a good idea to make a couple for church.

This ended up very boy-ish. And I learned a lot about fussy cutting.

I learned I'm not very good at it!

Fish Sticks Designs
is the crafty person who thought this up , Oh and doesn't it figure?, her name is Bonnie too!!! There are a lot of cute small children patterns available over there, take a look, they are sooo cute!

Anvil Auction

2011-09-24T11:15:00.000-05:00

So I like a nice auction now and again, and while I was up at Mom & Dad's they went to an auction pre-view becsue there was an anvil there that Dad wanted to see.

When an anvil is advertised you never know what you'll get. This time it's a "good one" . Dad says this one is a Mouse Hole Forge anvil and would be worth maybe $500 if it was for sale. Since it's going to be at the auction on Sunday we'll see what it goes for.

Etsy-the things of dreams,....and nightmares!

2011-09-18T13:07:00.001-05:00

Today on Mrs. Priss
She mentioned just a couple of things on etsy that keep her from sleeping-Man I'm glad she didn't spend more time on etsy, because there are some WONDERFUL things there and there are some....not so much.

Only $32 plus shipping will get you this beauty...I'm not sure what to call it.

I've been WISHING for clay skulls on a ring to WEAR!!!!!!!NOT

OOhhh! YESSS, just right for DD for Christmas!! Haha.
Seriously, there are some lovely items on etsy...

mmmm. so pretty,

Love these earrings

Well, who would have thought! Clever indeed!

mmmm, purses...Oh my I must stop! The drool is getting deep now!

Food TV & P Dub

2011-09-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

So you might have seen the latest from Pioneer Woman. Besides this cookbook(I have it btw) and her book about Charlie, and her blog...

She's got her own show on Food TV! I liked the show...here's a promo PW
The show seems a little too staged but it seems to be better each week-so that's good. I like hearing from the rest of the family, it feels like you know them anyways if you've followed her blog as long as I have-she only had a couple hundred followers when I found her, now she has thousands.

At any rate, I do like the show-I'm hoping she gets less scripted and more normal as it moves on.

99 days

2011-09-16T21:31:00.000-05:00

Until Christmas!

Favorite Things Shower

2011-09-10T15:52:00.000-05:00

Our Pal Val is getting married on Oct 29. So DD has the task of hosting a shower for her.
She has lucked out HUGE.
Val's Aunts & Mom have been waiting to provide the food! YAY!! We'll have super good food!

So we knocked out the invites today. DD went to Copyworks and they made the invite fit on the nice card stock. So we can mail them for the postcard rate only 29 cents! Val's got around 60 folks on her list! The postage will be much more reasonable for postcards!.
Now it will just be interesting to see what turns up for favorite things!

Accidental Videos

2011-09-06T13:02:00.012-05:00

So I had it happen a bunch of times-where I had the digital camera set to take movies instead to take a picture...pretty funny stuff!!

THis one of the Yellowtail dam came out pretty good.

And this last one form the coast of Northern California, the sun was just setting as we turned inland and left the Pacific behind. Deep Sigh...I love the ocean...

Grand Canyon-I knew there was more!

2011-09-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

Grand Canyon has a program with re-usable water bottles-you can refill them for free with Grand Canyon spring water.

Ben got one and we refilled at Hermits Rest at the top of the Canyon.

These pictures are at sunset, when we first arrived,

See, that's all the closer Dan wanted to get to the edge.

These are some of the cabins that they rent out. Next time-yup!!

They have these markers all along the rim og the canyon. They help you to visualize the amount of time that formed the Grand Canyon.

Ben on the other hand wasn't worried about falling in at all!

See the river waaay down there?

See Ben over there? I think you can click the picture to see it bigger.

We parked the car and rode the bus to all the best sites. It was definitely the best (and only) way to see the Grand Canyon, Ben was standing in the front of the bus, and I told him it was like a where's Waldo picture-Oh there's Ben!

There's Ben dangling his feet over the side......

Look WILDflowers...they're in a cage...hahahaha..actually they are trying to protect some plants from being eaten by animals and picked by humans.

79th Family Reunion-Bingo!!

2011-09-05T18:43:00.000-05:00

So the Labor Day weekend always brings the Forbes Family reunion. When my sibs and me were young it was a pretty big gathering. Nowadays it's a bit on the small side, but still an event to behold.It's always a good thing to keep in touch.
I was negligent and didn't take many pictures this year. BUT My favorite cousin, Robin, and her Aunt, and DD and her Hubs and Val and Barry went and played Bingo at the casino.

I happened to win one game $50 buckeroos! YAY!!!!

New to Me

2011-09-02T22:40:00.000-05:00

Ok did I really see this? Yup it was in Montana, I'm pretty sure. We stopped in to get gass and I stepped into the local IGA fro some junk food. and when I came out this was parked next to us.

Hotels, Motels & Rants

2011-09-02T22:36:00.001-05:00

So we stayed in a lot of different places over this long vacation. One thing that drove me nuts-Towels. What's the deal? In a room with 2 beds, there could be 4 people in the room-right? So why can't anyone put four towels in the room? What's the deal?

From Motel 6 to the Marriott there never was 4 towels in the room. Only 1 Marriott-the one at LAX had 4 towels and the Hilton at LAX also had towel galore.

I tell ya, I just stopped taking pictures of motel rooms. It was getting too depressing. I didn't ever have a perfect room. The Hilton came the closest, but I had to do laundry there and one of the 2 washers there was broken so I had to do one load at a time...deep sigh and they were $2!!. The Marriott in LA was the 2nd best. They actually had a handicap accessible room with 2 beds, but then they couldn't give us a room for a second night so we moved next door to the Hilton. We also slummed a little and stayed at motel 6. I can't complain because the rooms were clean-the main thing for me anyways. But what's the deal with flat pillows? Must be a Motel 6 trademark or something. We;ll leave the light on for you and give you a guaranteed flat pillow.
The best bed I ever slept in was at the Hilton. What a dreamy bed! The bed at the Red Lion Hotel in Idaho was also very good.

We also stayed at a Rodeway Inn-a first for me I think. Pretty nice room really, fridge & microwave and neat and clean. Not nearly enough electrical outlets though. That's another issue we ran into everywhere. Not enough electrical outlets. When you plug in a couple of cell phones and a laptop or GPS unit that about takes them all up.
Don't even get me started on WI Fi. I kid you not the One Motel 6 had free internet another charged $2 for 24 hrs, and the Hilton was $2 per hour!!! and the Marriott was also $2 an hr but if you wanted to sit in the lobby you can have free internet because there's a starbucks in the lobby and you can connect there! Where have these folks been? EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE FREE INTERNET!!!!! Nuff said!!!!!!!!!!!

Yellowtail Dam & Hardin MT

2011-09-02T21:47:00.001-05:00

Our last major stop was the Yellowtail Dam located near Hardin MT. Gramps Bill Knuckey worked on this dam project & Hubs grew up in this area-one of the dam dam kids.

The visitor center is like a step back in time.

The ranger here helped Hubs look for some information about Morrison-Knudson, the contractor for the construction of the dam.

The lake created by the dam is a really popular recreation area -Big Horn Canyon and Big Horn Lake and the river is popular for fishing,since it no longer floods the communities nearby.

Here's the school Hubs went to in Fort Smith-it's still a school, but a small one.

So about Hardin. It's small town kind of like Marengo size I'd say-it's the county seat too. We ate supper here at the Lariat Diner. Delicious! They had homemade Pie! YUM! I had coconut cream. It was good-not as good as Janelle Curry's but still good. So anyways Hardin is right at the Crow Indian reservation and I was struck by the poverty in some areas. Although tourists are pretty big business closer to the Dam, Hardin also caters to visitors too.

More Yosemite

2011-09-02T21:01:00.001-05:00

So I found a few more photos from Yosemite. It seems like I traded back and forth between my cell phone camera and the regular digital camera and some of the pictures aren't in order. How does THAT happen?

I saw a bit of humor in the Speeding Kills Bears signs, but it's a serious matter. The park service reports that over 20 bears are hit by cars every year! YIKES! The date written on this sign indicates the date a bear was hit in the area that this sign is posted in.

As we were heading towards the park exit route we were stopped at the gate and turned around because there was a fire nearby. Those pictures that look like clouds behind the hillsides are actually smoke.

So it took about an extra hour to circumvent the fire area and head into Stockton.

In Oregon

2011-09-02T15:51:00.000-05:00

Did you nkow that in Oregon you can't pump your own gas? We stopped at a Safeway Store to get supplies-and got gas there too.

It was a pretty store-look wood floors!

And they guys pumped gas and washed windows for you. It was very strange!

The Price Wasn't Right....:-(

2011-09-02T11:18:00.000-05:00

Well Drew didn't welcome any of us up on stage...boo hooo!
We did get a little bonus background look at the backstage area, because the wheelchair folks us the elevator. But of course-no pictures allowed.
The show was fun to do though. We waited a LONG time outside. We thought we were going for the noon taping, but instead were the 4:30 taping. So we arrived about 10:30 thinking to be early...oh we were early all right! Handicapped folks wait at the gate on benches and the rest of the group waits outside the fence on the street. When the line moves in you are given a number then you stay in number order and wait on benches in the pre-staging area outside the studio. Thank goodness they had a snack bar and restrooms there!
The producer of the show comes outside and has a few moments to chat with every contestant individually. There's a guy following him around taking notes and that's how they select the folks to be called to come on down. Deep Sigh!!!! I guess we were not what they wanted. Darn it! Anyways we were then herded into another area to wait to be led to the elevators.
While we were waiting the Fire Department came! I guess they had some kind of Haz Mat situation, so we were at least a bit entertained by the business of fire fighting.At last to the elevators we go! It was about 3:30 by this time and we were getting pretty tired of waiting. The studio was so much smaller than we expected. It seems so big on TV. They played loud music to get everyone pumped up and excited and then stage folks ran around behind the cameras to make us all clap and yell at the appropriate times. The taping went right in order as you would see it on TV. During the commercial breaks Drew Carey would chat with the audience and make little jokes with the announcer guy. He was very personable-and I think looks better in person. So anyways the air date is September 22 so tune in to see us in the audience. We're in the back row and when the model stands in fornt of the big screen to show a trip to somewhere you'll see Ben just to her left.

Santa Monica Pier

2011-09-02T10:50:00.001-05:00

So I kind of made my passengers stop here. Isn't it cool? There were folks singing, or dancing, or maybe just wearing a gorilla suit and dancing out on the pier to collect tips.I didn't take a picture because I have found that to take a picture means you should give a tip. Anyways they have vendors along the pier and an amusement park!

I'm So Out of Order...Sequoia National Park & Yosemite National Park

2011-09-01T22:00:00.001-05:00

Yosemite national Park is awesome. It seemed like all the calendar pictures you've ever seen were taken here.

At the General Sherman Tree, they have this big cross section of tree, just look how big that is!!

The Sequoias are so big it's just amazing.

Can you see the people at the base of the General Sherman Tree?

This is Bridalveil Falls-it is magnificent! A few days before we were here some hikers died trying to hike to the top. As you can see it's a real crowd pleaser. There were a ton of people there.

This is the steam the the falls ends up flowing into.

This is Yosemite Falls. It's Beautiful!

The Sisters

2011-08-30T21:08:00.000-05:00

Here's Ben with Aunt Betty Ann.

Here's Hubs with his sister Debbie.

Here he is with His Sister Tamea. We stayed at their home in Stockton.

here's Ben in the hot tub with Bear-his cousin!

Here's Tamea with Hubs on their back patio. Isn't it pretty there!

I LOVE LA

2011-08-29T10:15:00.005-05:00

Rodeo Drive was fun for me-too bad I was driving and my passengers don't understand that you NEED to take a picture of Dolce & Gabbana because you'll never walk in there!

This is the Regent Beverly Wilshire-you know in Pretty Woman?

nobody else did, but I loved LA. I could do without the freeway, but the streets and such were not bad at all.

I loved the Chinese Theater, when you go upstairs in the mall next door-it has stores like anywhere else has, but you can look out and see the Hollywood sign.

See it's there!!