Remember

Remember those who gave their all for us on this Veterans Day.

Tree trimming

This spring I noticed that these

Were marching in a nice straight line from here

To here

I put some carpenter ant poison on the tree and the foundation and called the city to see what to do. Luckily, if a tree is between the sidewalk and road it belongs to the city and they will take care of it. They sent an arborist to look at the tree. He said that this branch was diseased.
Finally this week they came to take care of it. As I've said before, I do love the trees in front of my house and don't want to loose them. The city feels the same way so they just cut off the bad limb, which you can see extends to my house.

Can you see the guy way up in the tree?

You can see in this pic how large the limb was. I was nervous when the wind blew all summer so I'm very happy to have it done. Everything is cleaned up and you'd never know they were here except for the holes in the lawn from the pieces of limb falling. That's a small price to pay!

Awesome gift

My daughter made this for me as a Christmas gift a few years ago. The window is out of their garage that they tore down. I kept reminding her that I wanted one of the windows and she just kept "forgetting " about it!
I have this hanging on a wall in my kitchen and I just LOVE it!

I have always liked the primitive embroidery so that is what she did. Below are the individual panes so you can see what each one looks like.

Aren't I luck to have such a wonderful talented daughter?

Yeah!!!!!

I went out this am and worked on my leaves. I had no idea what time it was but was determined to get them done. It was just starting to rain when I finished. It took a little over 4 hours. I won't bore you with the details since I have already done that in previous posts. ( To any of you that read my mystery post I want you to know that no orange cords were harmed in the completion of this job) I guess I'll have to find something else to obsess about now!

Yellowgreen

Year of Color/yellowgreen

This is an older pic of Jerzie but I had to use it because of the color this week.

This is her in a hat I bought her at the craftshow yesterday. It sure matches her personality!

Shop,shop,shop....

My daughter and I headed for the Buffalo area for a craft show this am. It's a huge show and we go every year.I bought a few small Christmas gifts but usually end up buying myself more stuff than I get for others. I bought this snowman pic from our all time favorite crafter. We both have several things of hers and always have a hard time deciding which one to buy. I just love this!

I got this pic from another vender. I really like hydrangea but add the tin tile type mat and the rustic frame and it had to come home with me!

We also went to a couple stores,of course. No use wasting a trip by not going to TJ Maxx, Kohls and Target! I got a few clearance clothes for J.Shea at Target but I had to have this lamp at TJM. Don't you just love it! I wasn't sure about the feather affect on the shade but decided to leave it there for a few days and see how I feel. I really already think I like it. I can always take it off or get a new shade. What do you think? Another shade in my living room has beads on the shade and I really like that.

It was good to spend a day with my daughter. We always have a great time together. We used to spend my day off together often but she works every weekday now.It's good to have a whole day to catch up and we both love to shop for the bargins.

A mystery

I had to go out the other day and buy a couple new outdoor cords for the leaf blower. Actually, I bought 2 because they were on sale and 2 fifty footers were cheaper than 1 hundred footer. It seems that something is attacking my cord!

Every time I trim the hedge at the back of my lot, something cuts the cord! I don't know where they hide or what they cut with but I'll be trimming along, minding my own business and all the sudden the trimmer stops! I check, and sure enough the cord is cut. It is getting pretty scary!

I also had a problem with a burning bush I had planted back there. One spring someone had chopped it right down. I was ready to ask the neighbors what was going on when I noticed a large pile of rabbit "pellets". I assumed that the rabbits had eaten the bush when the snow was too deep to get anything else to eat. Do you think my mystery "something" could be a large rabbit with really sharp teeth?

I really have to figure this out. My kids have already taken away my bb gun (for shooting a hole in my kitchen window) and threatened to take away my ladder (for obvious reasons) and my grass trimmer (for cutting my finger-twice). I just know, if I don"t solve this mystery,my hedge trimmers will be next. Although trimming that hedge has always been my least favorite outdoor job.

Under the weather

I've been out of commission for a couple days. I started feeling bad at my night job Tues. Came home early and had stomach flu ALL night. Got up early and called all my customers to reschedule and called in at the store. I was back in the shop all day yesterday but was beat after a days work. Read a couple blogs but that was it. Doing better today, which is good because I have both jobs today and tomorrow.

I did take a couple pics on Thurs. This is what my back yard looked like .

This is what it looks like today! What a change. At least the leaves are coming down.

I think I shoveled more leaves than snow this morning. It was only 23 when I got up.

This is the snow on the railing to my shop. Some places a few miles away got 12 inches. We're getting more today but not much so far. We'll see what happens tonight.

It's supposed to be in the 60's next week. I just hope that it dries out so I can get my leaves up front. I have about a week before they come collecting.

Apple Pie

I was hungry for meatloaf and apple pie so I invited my son and daughter-in-law to stay for dinner when they came to get J.Shea Can't make a meatloaf or a pie for just one person. Well, I could, but it sure wouldn't be good for me! Anyway, I thought you might be interested in my apple pie. I got this recipe out of the newspaper many years ago and it is the only apple pie I have made since.

Make a crust for a single crust pie. Peel and slice 7 to 9 apples (I make a deep dish)

Add 1/2 cups sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

dash of salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix and pour into crust

Topping

Mix together until crumbly

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 stick margarine

Sprinkle over pie.

Put pie in a brown paper grocery bag and seal the bag ( I just fold it over a couple times.)

Bake at 400 for 1 hour.

The top gets crispy which I love but the next best thing is that if the pie runs over, as most apple pies do, the mess stays in the bag. This pie is best the day it is made. The topping tends to get soggy the next day.
Give it a try, I'll bet you'll love it!

Dandelion

Week 16/ A Year of Color

Dandelion

I bought this outfit a few weeks ago. Couldn't resist. The pants are black velvet and there is a pocket on the side with candy corn spilling out.

We had a real good day today. The weather was gorgeous! Sunny and in the 60's. Jerzie sat in her stroller and watched me work in the garden. She didn't last long but she got a short nap before Aunt L came to see her and brought her inside.

Jerzie was 3 months on the 20th (to answer Sue) and this week her new thing is to scream and then laugh. It is so funny! Sometimes you think she's upset but she's just having fun.Can't wait to see what she does next week!

Hands

Don't you love babies hands?

I must have taken 25 pics to get these 3! Her hands and feet are moving constantly.She's going to be a busy one, I think.

J. Shea's Mommy and Daddy had a Halloween party last night so she spent the night with Grandma. She was a little cranky last evening, but slept all night and we had a great time this am. A couple weeks ago she would just stare at her fist. She has her hands in fists a lot, like she's ready for a fight! Last week she kept grabbing her ear. We were afraid she was getting sick but she never did . Must be she just discovered her left ear. Now she keeps touching hand to hand. It is so much fun to watch the discovery process. I don't remember being so fascinated with my own kids progress. I guess I was just too busy trying to survive life.
My son came and took her to see her Grandpa but she'll be back tomorrow for her Monday with Grandma.

Halloween decor

I don't do Halloween decorating in the house anymore but I do put a small amount in the shop. There isn't room for much. These are all things I've made over the years.

(click on Picture to enlarge)
The top three items are always up. I had the heart made after I saw a similar one in a craft magazine. I have different bows and figures for the holidays. The girl has different outfits for each season.Her headband, shoes,outfit and item in her hand all change. Everything is made of wood and attached with velcro. The last one is a sign board with a different heart for most seasons and holidays. I'm not into the cutesy country stuff anymore but it's ok for the shop. The little ones enjoy them every year.

Enjoy the day!

I just had to post these pics from our picnic on Colombus Day. I needed to see the beautiful blue sky and sunshine. I get very stressed this time of year because of all there is to get done before winter ( I do it in spring too). I am a planner and there is no time in MY schedule for nasty weather! The trouble is I get so caught up with my schedule being messed up that I forget to just enjoy!

I realized a couple years ago that I was spending so much time looking for weeds in my gardens that I wasn't even seeing the flowers! Everyone was enjoying my gardens but me. I vowed that I would change my ways and start seeing what others saw. Well.....I need to do that now too. I need to think in a new way. If I can't go out and get things done, I need to grab a book (or check out some new blogs) like I do in the winter when we have a storm and all my customers cancel. From now on I will try harder to enjoy the day and not get stressed over the schedule.

Frig Meme

I got this meme from Dawn at 4:53am (see links) to take a pic of your frig as it is right now, no arranging. Mine is pretty boring.

There is some stuff on the side tho.
When I took the pic I realized there were 2 magnets that fit the season so I changed the front. Exciting right?
We had a dry sunny day today! It felt good even if I had to spend most of the day working inside. Even looking a sunshine through the window was good!
I got my last 3 storm windows washed and up and took the cushions and rug off the deck . It's going to rain or snow again so thought I'd better get it done while it is dry. Took in a few more garden ornaments,too. I guess I'm pretty well set except for the leaves.

Here's the problem...

I live in a small city which has earned acclaim as being a "tree city". We have lots of trees and a great system in the fall to take care of leaves. All we, the homeowners, have to do is get the leaves to the curb and the city will pick them up. Sounds great right? Leaf collection usually starts the last week of Oct. or the first week of Nov. According to my calendar these both occur NEXT week. Well...these two trees are over my front lawn,

this one is in the far corner of my back lawn, and this one is on the property line on the side !

Do any of these leaves appear ready to "leaf" the branches of the trees? I think not! Not only do they need to "leaf", I need to blow the front ones onto the curb, and blow the back and side ones on to a tarp which I will then drag to the street. It would also be nice if they would dry out because even dry leaves get heavy when being dragged 125 feet uphill! The good news is it isn't supposed to rain, snow, sleet or hail (all of which it has done this and last week) tomorrow. Any or all of the afore mentioned will start again on Friday and continue for as long as they are giving the forecast. What do you think the probability is of all these green leaves falling to the ground tonight (or at least by 6 tomorrow night when I get out of work), drying out and blowing themselves to the curb? Slim to none, right. That's what I was afraid of!