No two are alike...

My friends and I make these collages for fun and one lady already did a snow one. I decided to take it a step further and do a snowflake one. There are a few repeats here, but I think it's a cool look at something that not many people realize-how unique each and every snowflake is....

Bug connection

Yesterday, I happen to notice this interesting mud 'adobe' on the hinge part our glass door out front. I tapped on it and swore I saw spider legs! I came in and looked it up and it's a wasp nest-an organpipe mud dauber to be exact. Why 'she' picked this location is interesting as we are in and out of this door several times a day. Brian knocked it off and we saw the larva like this shows. The female builds these long 'pipe-like' mud nests and finds and paralyzes a few spiders for food for her offspring. When the larvae comes out, they munch on the spiders! Interesting!
Then today I was picking some basil and this little monarch came crawling up through the basil. I think it just hatched as it wasn't afraid of me and let me hold it several times. I was getting attached to it and worried for it's well being as it's a damp, chilly day. I think it liked the warmth of my hand. I put her on some zinnias in the side yard, hoping she would get a snack, but when I went back out, she was just sitting there. I brought her in the house to show Sean and she started to crawl up my arm. I stepped out on the front step and she started to really vibrate her wings like she was 'warming up' and she was! She took off soon after. I think she's in the evergreen out front. Not sure, but I'm glad to have helped her. It's rather late in the season for butterflies and I don't want to think about how long this little one has. But if she hangs around here, she'll have plenty of food for a while. : )

Some golden mums just starting to bloom

Stitching blogger questions

I haven't been answering these every week as I didn't have such good answers. Here are a few that I think I can handle. I sure hope Blogger isn't acting all wacky like it did last night.


When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take? This question comes from Sharon.
This is when I would most definitely take a break from the project if it was for me. If it was for a RR or charity square, I'd muddle along, but maybe take a break from it with an easier project. I would probably take a break from it if it was my own for a little while to indefinitely. If it was for someone else, a few days to a week.


How many pieces have you stitched? Out of these, how many have been for you? How many have had specialty stitches or other techniques besides cross stitch?
I know for charity-at least 40+. All together-add another 40 or so. It may be more, it may be less. I don't keep a record. One of my first pieces was finished in 1980. I will try any specialty stitch and am good at French knots and Algerian eye stitches.

Do spiders build their webs the same place twice?

Just wondering...

Humpback whale beached

Today on the news they showed this magnificient creature laying still on the beach in Wildwood Crest, a popular vacation spot in NJ. There may be a connection between the men whose boat was hit and they all had to be rescued at sea by the coast guard (see my post a few days ago). I wonder why it got so close to the boat or maybe the men were too far out? What a sad thing.
Click here<---to see the whale.
We had some wild weather today, lots of rain and some lightning. I was wondering how the cross stitchers at CATS in Hershey were getting by in the bad weather? I wish I could have attended, but since I've been to shows in the past, I know that I spend money I shouldn't spend. Like tonight on eBay! Actually I got sniped when the auction was about to close-5 minutes. I wanted The Prairie Schooler Christmas tree charts I and II and refused to spend over $21.00 on pieces of cardstock. I do have a bid on the II with another bidder and I like these patterns better than the first anyway. The poor woman in Alaska who sniped me now has to blow $36 on the charts. I was winning them for a few days too. I am bidding on other PS charts that I don't have and are more reasonablyt priced. I also bid on some figurines-like I need them too.
I have been working all week on a round robin. Boy it's a tiny count and it's hard on my eyes because it's linen too(the threads aren't all uniform). I think it will be sweet when I am finished. I chose a Prairie Schooler house with a formal garden in the front. I changed the color of the house from brown to gold. My own RR is in New Hampshire or maybe Hershey. ; )

I've been watching some of the new shows. I like the new one Six Degrees that was on tonight-I like Campbell Scott a lot. I am fascinated with the whole 6 degree phenomena. You know the Kevin Bacon 6 degrees of separation game-well I am in the game with him as he's from the Philly area!

Tears for Terri

I really wanted to see Barbara Walter's interview with Terri Irwin, Steve's wife. I think it may have been a little too soon. She seems so geniune and sweet and when she held back tears, I felt my own leaking out. She said she would relive the last 14 yrs of her life in a minute, even if she knew what would happen. She said Steve was fun and 'her prince'. Terri remembers everything that they did together. She is very articulate too. Thank goodness she has so much film footage to share with Bindi and Bob. I didn't know Steve had lost his mum in a car accident in 2000. Terri said that broke his heart. I thought Terri was from Ohio, but she's from Oregon. I have family out there too. I hope time at least heals some of her pain.

New table is here!

Tell me that wasn't fast shipping! And it looks just like the photo. It actually arrived yesterday, but Bri had gone to his dad's for a visit. I asked if we could get it up tonight. It took him about an hour and I like how sturdy it is. It almost matches the kitchen as I stated a few posts ago. I did cover it with a tablecloth and Bri wanted to know why...to protect it! The old one is next to the drive-I bet someone will get the hint and come along and take it. It's served about 4-5 families, so adios!

Just a coincidence?

So I mentioned yesterday that I got the pinecones in my autumn display at the Life saving station in Delaware-the Indian River LS station-see the photo below. Didn't a bunch of guys out on a fishing trip get rescued near this same place! The guys were out over the weekend, about 70 miles out. Something hit the bottom of their chartered boat (a good size one-maybe 50 ft) and the water starting pouring in. The seven of them got in a raft designed for 4, with a few jugs of water and watched the boat sink within a few minutes. So all is good, they were rescued yesterday by the coast guard (yeah coast guard!!!) after living through a storm with 15 foot swells. I always get warm fuzzies when they show people unite with their families who have been worried to death about them. But I thought it was interesting, of all the places, it had to be right there at the Indian River inlet.
Click here to see the rescue!
We met the second reporter, John Blunt at a tech show a few years ago.

Photo by Sean's cellphone camera. : )

Autumnal displays

Thank goodness for stores like Joann's and Value City. I hardly ever leave either place without a good buy. The pretty mosaic pots are from Value City. They originally sold for $12.99 each (there are 3 of them) and I got them for 75% off. At Joann's I got the pretty artificial foliage and seashell balls and the glass acorns. The pinecones are from the Life Saving Station parking lot in Delaware (we stopped there on our way home from the beach), so they were free. The pumpkin candle was from the Home Goods store.

30s Glam for a 1930s baby

Made this with my mom in mind. The celebs are Ruby Keeler, Rita Hayworth, Lillian Roth, Mae West and Loretta Young. I was playing with a street scene and adding the ladies and the textures over that. I think it looks unusual.

Nice birthday for mom

My mom came out here for the first time in nine months yesterday! Sean goes to college a few miles away from her house, so I asked her to come out to let us treat her like a queen on her birthday and she agreed. Sean and mom stopped at Ruby's Diner and brought lunch-hamburgers for them and turkey for me (not sure why I didn't get a burger, but the turkey was good!) Mom totally flipped when she saw the kitchen. She said the photos of it didn't do it justice. After we ate, we made the above cake for her birthday cake. She had a mix, but we followed the recipe for the pineapple upside down cake on the box. We used the Kitchen Aid mixer and it made the batter very light. The dark you see on the top is what was left in the pan after I turned it onto the cookie sheet. I couldn't rinse away butter and brown sugar! We had it last night for dessert (I had made minestrone soup) and it was scrumptious!
This morning Brian went out and got us McDonald's breakfasts (I know-I am lazy). Mom opened her gifts from us and my brother (while he was on the phone) and received a few phone calls for good wishes. This really tired her out as she didn't sleep well. She asked to lay on our bed and she loved it and didn't want to get up. We didn't get on the road until 3:00. We had talked about going somewhere special like Lancaster or Winterthur Gardens, but she wasn't up to it. We ended up at a farmer's market and mostly in one store where I saw mom's adrenaline suddenly raise as she filled her cart with Halloween and assorted goodies. We left there and headed to 'The Olive Garden' and I sneaked to the front and asked the maitre'de to bring us a cake at the end of our meal. Mom was really surprised. She had said it didn't feel much like her birthday earlier in the day. I think that helped. And we went to Boscov's and she saw racks of clothing for $3.99 each (end of summer) and her eyes bugged out again! She had just told me she wasn't going to buy anymore. Ha! It's nice to be thin and get into a size 8 or 10. She did well there.
So all in all it turned out to be a nice birthday for her. We drove her home and I think tomorrow my brother and his family are treating her to dinner.

New table ordered

This morning I bit the bullet and went online to look for a round pedestal table. We've been married 22.5 yrs and have always had a used table that wasn't quite right. So I just googled 'round table' and after a few minutes of looking, found this at Target:

It matches the kitchen cabinets pretty well and where it will be situated, will coordinate well with them. I got $30 off, but the shipping was high. I know, I should have gone to a Target store and looked to see if they had it, but to the best of my knowledge, I don't remember any elaborate furniture displays at the 3 stores I've shopped in. My old table is also round. It has the 4 legs that we have all managed to crack our knees on if you weren't sitting directly in the middle of two of them. I use to have a big rectangular table (also used), but it took up too much space. I'm looking for a new china cabinet-maybe Ikea. I guess I'd like more of a sideboard with maybe a coordinating hanging cabinet to utilize more of the wall space. The one I have now was my inlaws and it's a monster piece of furniture.

BTW, October is Breast cancer awareness month. I happen to be getting my mammogram near the end of the month-it will be about my 8th one. When I was in Joann's, they were selling the silicone pink bracelets, so I bought one.

Bad Spider!

I almost forgot to tell you about seeing a large and scary spider on the bathroom ceiling-the size of a dime. I had just stepped out of the shower and not being a fan of big spiders that resemble brown recluses, I was having a fit (you should have seen the cat looking at me when I exited the bathroom later). I sprayed 'her' with the shower spray and she dropped to the floor! Ahhhh!! I grabbed the container of cleaner behind the door and....WHAM... she curled up like a withered leaf! I was wondering where it came from-of course-the vent in the ceiling! I was reading that you have to watch 'piles of clothes and magazines' that haven't been touched for a while-holy smokes people. If it was indeed a brown recluse, they can leave you with some nasty bites-more like craters. If I work in my basement, I try to wear rubber gloves if I am reaching in corners, etc. Too many nightmare stories!

Try to watch this

...without tearing up....what a sweetie pie (<--click)!

I'm not crazy about the above photo because it looks funny with the croc in the background. She is really a special child to be so cheerful in front of 5k people. I loved how she followed the words with her finger.

Visiting mom

It's been a good 3 weeks since I've been down to see my mom. It's not that I don't think about her and want to help her, but I have stuff to do around here. Obviously she is doing stuff at her house as she has a mish mash of many piles of things all over the downstairs. To help her tidy would take several days. It's not like I don't have clippings and books of my own to go through. ; )
I wasn't really up to going because of my tummy and sinuses. I think the post-nasal upsets my tummy too. We went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch and mom treated me to my favorite there-chicken salad (club style)-I can always eat that. She had crab cakes. We headed to a few stores to do a bit of shopping (this is one reason I don't see her as much as I should-she makes me want to shop!) I did buy a new bed pillow. I think my head was sinking so far into my old one that I had a dream someone was holding my face in their hands-that was so weird! I got a pretty fabric covered box for my cooking magazine overflow. We then headed to Joann's so I could get some fall decorations. I won't tell you what I got, I'll show you as soon as it goes up. : ) I stopped at 'Borders' on the way home and got the Just Cross stitch Christmas ornament issue-there are some cute designs this year.
I got home to a greasy pizza-so I ate the 4th quarter of my sammie instead. Then watched 'The Biggest Loser'. I swear if I exercised more I'd lose weight. It's just really hard for me as I usually hurt myself when I get into a program. I'm still thinking about 'Curves'.
Tomorrow-back to the tidying up.
Did anyone catch the new 'Rachael Ray' show? I really like her better on her Food Network shows. I think she needs more guests to help her fill the hour.

Thousands of clippings

Bloggers! I need your help!! I am trying so hard to clean up the unruly corner in my dining area where I already have two overflowing bookcases of cookbooks. My problem is all the recipes I've collected over 22+ yrs. The magazine and newspaper clippings, the computer printed out ones-I have a two foot stack of them. Do I go through them, do I really want to is more the question. My goal is to do something so I can share a photo of my little cookbook reading corner. Cookbooks sorting is also scary. I definitely want to keep the ones from tv shows or movies. I like salad and muffins too (I have separate cookbooks for each to these categories!) I am going to bite the bullet and throw some up on Amazon or eBay.
When I was a newlywed I made nice little booklets of a lot of my saved recipes (gee I guess I've been at it for over 25 yrs). I still have them. Looking at the recipes, well, it was the 80s and some of them aren't that appealing to me anymore. I've lived with two males who both are good eaters, but picky about certain things. Don't give Sean peas. Brian isn't crazy about squash. Ahh.
So any suggestions as to what you have done with your recipes would be much appreciated. And if you are looking for anything, let me know!
In closing, my tea cart is cleaned off, the windows are sparkling. I pared down my 'displays' in both these areas.

MIA and WIP

Barbara over at Mainly Stitching was wondering where I've been this weekend. I thank her for her note. I was doing the windows, cleaning, walking the cat, having a few tummy issues (stain does that to me),making a big dinner last night and stitching. Also, since Sean is back in classes, he needs to do research on the computer. Does he know how lucky he is to have the internet? I think so. : )
While I am waiting on my new house to stitch for the Neighborhood Round Robin, I've been adding stitches to the below WIP(s):

The swan design is so old, I think about 15 yrs old (at least). It was more challenging than I thought. The little girl with the hat is a DMC kit (and they didn't give me all the correct floss!). The chair with the plant is also a kit. Boy were those legs hard to do. I may try them again if the other two chairs in the design come out better. And I am almost half finished 'Cape May' by Valentine Stitchery. The blue fabric and the swirly waves proved a little difficult for me. Even the kitty on the blue linen got 'frogged' (he is chasing a frog!).

Stinky stuff-part 2

Coat #2. One of my pull backs broke (don't buy plastic ones), so we will try to Super glue that or I have to get new ones. I may add another coat to the bottom where it will take a lot of wear and tear from Mr Cosmo. I have to clean up the stain that got on the window part-actually it's not that bad. I realized the edges against the wall need stain too-can't leave any bare wood showing!

I got ambitious and did the garden window in the kitchen (Bri did a wee bit on the left side-whoopie)! I barely reached the inside, but got some stain on it. I liked it before, I love it know. Not happy with the old sill in the front there. The water marks from plants turned black when I applied the new stain. I am thinking about getting some 3" tiles to line up there to match what's on the wall (my project from a few months ago). I see a light at the end of the tunnel now-down to one more coat up there and that wall of tin over my baking center counter. I can then concentrate on cleaning up my bedrooms!

Just crazy about House Invaders

I've been watching BBC America in the morning before I tackle my day. One of the shows I really like is called 'House Invaders', usually hosted by Gordon Whistance (don't you love that name) and Anna Ryder Richardson. The shows are about two years old. The premise is to go in a family's home and redo two rooms using what they have 'out in the shed' (don't they have cellars/basements in England?). They also do a 'quick fix' to an area or room. Today Anna repainted a fireplace mantel. Most of the people seem thrilled by their fixes. They did pick out the paint or fabric and never gotten around to using it. Now if they came here, my paint would most likely be dried up in the can and they would faint in my basement for the mess. I have a feeling they go and get more paint to match what they have found. It's an ambitious show, and the hosts and their crew are just fab.

Gordon

Sean and I are taking Cosmo to the vet for his rabies shot and check-up. I bet he'll have to go back for a teeth cleaning. I have the lid unscrewed from the carrier (the only way we can trap him) and off we'll go in a few hours.

A routine visit heh?

So I went for my 6 month dental check up and had to go out in the lousy rain. I didn't feel so great because of smelling the stain/poly. My brother can't stand the smell of paint. I wish I was finished the windows, but I didn't have time to sand it all and it was too damp to do more staining.
The hygienist talks me into getting bite wings and we had a good laugh about Cosmo-well about cats we know who need to get their teeth cleaned. I know he needs a cleaning. So I waited for doc cutie (the young, new guy) to come in and he looks and looks and taps and looks again. He says I have 'the beginnings' of two cavities. One is on the dead anchor tooth of a crown. And to get it fixed, I need a new crown (that's longer) and to have some of the bone next to it taken away! All to the tune of $1,700! Boy, did my mouth go dry. The insurance probably will only cover a wee bit of that. So I decided to wait until January to make sure the insurance pays up after the initial deductible. We've all been to the dentist, so there may not be much money left for me to get this work done. I want to know how a dead tooth can be sensitive? The sensitive one, in my opinion (it's my mouth) feels like it is way in the back. They blow the x-ray up to a 5" x 7" on the computer screen and see all 'the beginnings' of things. I sure don't want to dip into any moola before the holidays. If it starts to hurt or anything, then that's a different story. Can't they put 'pins' in and take out the old tooth? Any dentists out there?
Survivor premiered tonight-the controversial season- the 4 teams were divided by race. The first challenge had the Asians winning and the Afr-Americans coming in last. When they went to tribal council, the one Black guy thought it was funny they were divided up, much to Jeff Probst's covered up chagrin. I love these kinds of shows and can't wait for 'The Amazing Race' to premier again.

Blowing in the breeze

Milkweed about to disperse it's silky seeds-I grabbed them after I took this photo and Brian put them in the 'compost' pile.

We're going to see James!

I decided that I would love to see my favorite singer, James Taylor for an early birthday gift. I went online, and ordered two tickets-I just had to see him again-9 yrs is a long time. He's playing The Tower Theatre, in Upper Darby, PA, near where I grew up. Brian's been there many years ago, but not me. It's James 'One Man Band' leg of his tour-just him and his keyboard player. Though I love all his backup singers and musicians, this is a special treat. It will be like he's singing just for me. : ) This is happening on Oct 17th at 8:00 pm. The below photo was from the first One Man Band tour earlier this year. Thanks to JT MySpace for the photo.

Woman at work

It's a very stinky job and a difficult one too. The mixture of stain and poly is so hard to use-you get dark and light spots. After this coat dries, you sand it with fine sand paper and put on your second coat. I was using foam brushes so I could get in the corners, along the edge and in the two grooves that run along the trim. It's a pecan color-matches pretty good with the wood in the rest of the house. You can see my paint job too! I'm a little 'high' from the smell. I went to pour myself some more peach ice tea and added milk to my glass! It's in the very same kind of container. Sean had a good laugh at that. We are trying to keep the cat away-though if he tries to get up there he won't like it. Wish me luck, as sometimes stuff that smells like this gives me a tummyache. I am going to the dentist tomorrow and in the evening I was invited to attend a meeting for my 30th class reunion, though I don't think I will go. I may just email the guy my ideas.

Home Improvement-chapter 568

It sure feels like I will never get done. Yesterday I tried to keep busy, so I painted around the new bay window with paint that matched the old paint almost perfectly. I had to do this because the carpenters used smaller trim around the window. I decided to give the entire wall a fresh coat. I went as far as the front door on one side and my curio cabinet on the other. I will get to the rest of that wall some other time. I also painted the entire small wall where we removed the phone jack and Bri covered up the hole that was left. I must say that my stitching experience definitely helped me to match that paint up well. It's from a different paint company than the original nine year old paint.
I also sanded the wood on the front window and used the painter's tape so the stain won't get on the window part.
I got up today-no way could I stain wood-too achy from the painting yesterday! So I gathered up things that needed mailing and went to the post office. I also went to Big Lots and walked around there, but I was dragging my feet! The store is a bit messy-you can tell Sean doesn't work there anymore! ; )
I started yet another cross stitch project-a sequence of three of a kitty chasing a froggie! I have about 5 works in progress now! Off to do some stitching soon. : )

5 years

I made these little buttons 5 yrs ago in memory of the two pilots from PA who were in the UA Flight 175 plane that crashed into one of the World Trade Centers. Pilot Saracini was from Bucks County as were 17 other people who died that day. Pilot Herrocks was from Glen Mills, near where I went to high school and his kids went to the same school district as my niece and nephew do now. He also attended the same college (West Chester U) that Brian and I went to, but he was younger.
The plane that went down in Pennsylvania was about 3-4 hours away, in the same county as Brian's grandfather was born.
We live in a triad where the planes went down. Needless to say, we were looking to the sky a lot that day and doing a lot of praying. Sean was a freshman in high school and I felt he was in the safest place-to stay at school. To this day, when I see a plane go over, I say a little prayer that they will arrive safely to their destination.

I don't give a shitake

I guess it's a local joke! One booth at the Mushroom festival was selling t-shirts with that expression on them. Here are a few shots from today:

I asked Bri to please take a photo of me. I am wearing the pink Penn State cap Sean just gave me.

Bri near a race car. Bobby and Donnie Allison were there talking about their racing experiences and giving autographs to raise money.

One of my favorite buildings in Kennett Square-the borough hall. It was for sale a few years ago, and I believe I mentioned it in my blog.

The sign for the event in the middle of town

Craftiness

This is something I needed to make for a long time! There are 50 necklaces displayed on my new necklace board above. I have a collection of crucifixes, but they are only a quarter of my necklaces. It's made out of a Rose Art foam memo board-$4.00 at Big Lots. I used a layer of batting to make it a little poufy. Then I covered that with this pretty floral damask. I used white glue and tape to hold everything together. I edged it in burgundy ribbon (also used as the hanger). The necklaces are being held up with quilter's 'T' pins. I really love it!

Sean went up to the Mushroom Festival for a few hours and mainly walked around and didn't really see much. Brian and I might go up tomorrow, just to say we went. I want some more of the sheep soap that I bought last year. I hope the vendor will be there.

Home at last

Sly looks so good for 60 doesn't he?

Today and tomorrow is the 21st annual Mushroom Festival in the town of Kennett Square, nearby. I may or may not go. It's a little town and this event now attracts A LOT of people. One of their sponsors is a local tv station. I remember going to it when Sean was little and being able to sample the mushroom specialities at my leisure. If you've never had a portabella mushroom burger, you are missing out on some good eats. I read that the Travel Channel show -Taste of America will be filming up there this year. PBS is also suppose to be there too. I think crowds, I get antsy. When they broadcast these shows, I'll be interested to see how many people I recognize like I did in the HGTV Festival show that was there about 2 or 3 yrs ago.

This is me today...

Rocky come home...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In ''Rocky,'' Sylvester Stallone runs up the steps of the Philadelphia art museum and raises his arms in triumph. Now, the Rocky statue may find a home there.

The Philadelphia Art Commission votes on whether to place the statue at the foot of the steps...the vote was 'YES'!
YO Adrian!!!
~Update-Rocky isn't at the top of the steps as shown here, he's in a grassy area near the bottom. It's a 800 pound bronze statue. This is big news for Philly. : ) Sylvester Stallone will be back for a rededication tomorrow.

More photos

These are from the group of shots that I took the other day. This is of a Admiral Butterfly on the butterfly bush. I was really chasing him around on that bush!
Rose of Sharon. I have several of these along the bank in the back yard. They are a member of the hibiscus family-all the more reason to like them!
A bunch of acorns-not as nice as Sandy's (see sidebar), but she inspired me to take a shot of them.

Baby out for air

Ahh....she's really cute. I think she looks like both of them, but it's hard to tell as she was only 3.5 months here. Look at that hair!

Parrot Flower

I received this photo in my email from a friend. It's a Parrot Flower from Thailand. Isn't it gorgeous? The colors and shape are so unique.

Today was a rain event-the entire day. And I had something going on in my sinuses that went 'drip' drip' down my throat. I had to use a few allergy meds before I felt better. So between 10 and 2:30 I was a 'balloon head'. I missed my hair appt- so rescheduled for tomorrow.
I finally got a thank you note for a bridal shower gift I sent Brian's relative-from May. She said she'd like to meet me. We were in the same house in July and no one introduced us! Maybe the ice is broken, but I would have never waited over 4 months to thank someone.

The sad passing of the Crocodile Hunter

My mom just told me this morning about the death of Steve Irwin. He was filming a special in the Great Barrier Reef and a stingray stung him right under the rib-directly into his heart. Brian heard that only 17 people (or so) in the last 100 yrs have died this way. Freaky thing. Can't help but think-yeah, he handled crocs and snakes and has gotten injured and bit. He just had some much energy. I can't believe he is gone at age 44. His little daughter Bindi seems to like the same these dangerous beasts-but she was taught to like them.

Happy 20th anniversary

My foggy brain just realized we've lived in our house 20 yrs today! Unbelieveable indeed. I was almost 8 months pregnant and my family was helping us move in, clean and paint. We had a cozy little place by the time we laid our heads down that first night. I remember it being so quiet and dark out here! At our apartment we had a lamp post in the courtyard where we lived that illuminated our bedroom. I did actually paint in my condition-I helped out in the master bedroom. I also made curtains for Sean's room. I was looking at his rug tonight-also 20 yrs old (like Sean will be next month), and it doesn't look too bad for it's age. He still likes it too.
We've done a lot to this house-two major renovations-the attached garage became our much lived in family room. And then this year, the kitchen got a complete overhaul. I can't forget the yard and all the different flowerbeds we added, my favorite the little 50 gallon pond and waterfall area.
We're not sure if we can handle the big yard in the coming years. The chestnut trees are terrible-burrs and leaves that are so messy. And the grass cutting, it's ok if Brian gets help.
I'm glad we were able to do what we did to the place. I have other ideas-a craft area in the basement and an enclosed porch out back would be nice for exercise equipment. We can hope, can't we?

Photos for Sunday

Crackled glass glazing Ball and red salvia
Brian on his John Deere-lots of chestnut burrs and branches fell down from the storm. Bri had just raked up 5 wheel barrow fulls of debris. My morning glories and trumpet vine were both knocked down from the wind.
I moved this Lantana and it bloomed again!
Little Leopard frog popping up to say 'hi'.

A study in ugly and autumn

These are the ugliest pears. We grow them, but we don't spray them. I guess that's good in a way, but the little bumps are what I think are bee stings (at least some of them). Brian brought in a bunch and yesterday I cut a few up (minus the ugly skin). They were so sweet and the best tasting pears I had in a long time! If they weren't so funny looking...
They I decided to do a mini-collage with a fall theme. I had gotten a Dover Publications CD collection of vintage holiday clipart at the big book warehouse. I think it's cute and I want to do more!

Sean finished up working last night. It was super busy too. I guess people needed to get out of their houses after being cooped up from all the rain. Sean will be going back in November (or maybe sooner-he needs to see how he handles his classes) to work some more. I bet he'll miss that paycheck!

MySpace

I was watching My Name is Earl last night-I think it's pretty comical. At the end of the show they said if you wanted your chance to be the sombero wearing person on the closing credits, you have to go to MySpace and make Earl your friend. I never turn down a chance to be on tv-though I stand a bat's chance in heck to be chosen, but you never know. So I joined. Sean's an old pro and helped me set up my account and background, etc. I even have singer James Taylor (or whoever does his webstuff) as a friend. I feel a bit old there. I got an invite to an event which turned out to be the naked bottom of a lady-haha. I won't be opening any more emails from them. Another person asked me if I was 'bi'. Hey sister, read my blasted profile. Do I look bi to you? Anyway, I feel it's not as much fun as blogger and tribe, but since I like musicians, etc. you can check out their profiles for their latest info. I just found out that JT is coming to a Philly suburb next month-maybe we can go. If you are on MySpace already, I'll be your pal.
It's a wet, cool 1st of September. I made beef stew with garlic cheese biscuits-a good meal for today. I think the weekend is a wash-out so far. I can always find something to do! I'm not one to twiddle my thumbs. : ) Have a good one!