What? That's just plain wrong!

Today is one of those days that leaves me saying "What? That's just plain wrong!" Little did I know that it would soon become the catch phrase of my day.

Okay, the finger has a fracture but no splint because it's the middle finger and they wanted to bind my entire hand- no thanks! I wouldn't even be able to wash my hair let alone brush my teeth, type or hold a fork. So there's my first "What?..."

Then there's my diamond inspection...oh I'm ill. My lovely engagement ring diamond is chipped and the prongs need to be replaced. Not a problem, I've been keeping up on my ring inspections all these years. The sales manager shows me where the damage is, now it's up to me- so, do I let them have it and send it in for replacement? It'll be gone for up to 6 weeks. Yes, I let them take it but it was hard for me to let it go. Lucien upgraded my engagement ring to a full carat 13 years ago for our 5 year wedding anniversary and now I find myself hoping to have it back in time for our 18th anniversary. So then I'm told that I'll have to pay for the new prongs as they aren't covered, how strange is that? Second and third "What?...", at least I got to come home with my anniversary band. My hand feels naked.

I'm off to the Sewing Center to use my $40 store credit. I needed to feel good about something today and I thought that this would be the thing/place to make me smile. I love shopping in the store, they've got all kinds of nice little things there- pattern books, every kind of sewing deedle-bob you could imagine, every kind of cool thread ever made and more! I came to get some thread in a particular color and while there I thought that I'd get some more bobbins and I wanted to look at getting a special kind of darning foot for my sewing machine. While there I see something from the corner of my eye- it's my old sewing machine (the one that died on me the day before Thanks Giving), it's for sale the price tag on it says $70. I felt this strange feeling wash over me, I suddenly felt conned and out and out lied to by the store owner as what he said came rushing back to me "oh I won't be able to use it for anything, maybe the screws will be of some use but the machine is unrepairable" and after I asked several times what will he give me for the machine and all of the sewing feet (because I knew that he could sell them and get some $$ for them), he reluctantly gave me a $5 store credit. I gave him ALL of the sewing feet, even the fancy ones that I bought because I thought that he would give me a store credit for more than $5 because he said that he could sell those. And now he has my old machine repaired and is selling it for $70,selling the fancy sewing feet as extras making money off of them too. It's nothing but gravy for him! Yes that was my fourth "What?..." of the day. I'm fine with him making a few dollars but lets not lie to your customers and try to get something that was obviously of some value to you and act as if your were taking it off of their hands and put on such an act as if you're taking out stinky trash- that's just plain wrong! Will I still shop there? Yes, but I can tell you that I'd most likely NOT ever buy a sewing machine from them.

So at the end of the day I find myself feeling a bit lost. I know that I'll feel better by tomorrow but now for the moment, I'm feeling a little heavy hearted.

Dog the Bounty Hunter

I'm excited! I'm watching some afternoon TV and I see an announcement that makes me smile... that one of my FAVORITE programs on A & E is coming back- Dog the Bounty Hunter! Oh this excites me to no end! I feel that this man and his brother have been given a bad rap and now I'm happy to say that A& E has done the right thing and Dog (Duane Chapman and his crew) is/are going to be back on the air!

We actually got to see one of his offices on our Hawaiian vacation in August of 2005. I have pictures of it somewhere on this computer, I"ll have to go through and figure out where they are :-) This makes me happy after having a bit of a depressing day.

Waiting....

I'm waiting for 7 am to roll around so I can call my health care professional to set up and appointment. I know that I'm going to be asked "why didn't you do to the ER?" Go the the ER? Like I want to wait hours on end, not me- no thanks!

I ended up NOT working on any of my own projects yesterday but instead went with my husband to Menard's (a home improvement chain here in the mid-west) to pick out stain for the fence. After we came back I had to take a nap- getting up at O'dark thirty does that to me. A couple of hours later I'm feeling refreshed and ready to go! So I'm looking for my husband, he's not reading the paper, he's not n the computer, he's out staining the fence and is almost done! Wow! The fence looks great! He's put a lot of time, effort (and money) into the curb appeal of our home. It looks fantastic! Now all I need is a bistro set and a bench to make my down stairs patio area complete! And I've got my eye on some of that stuff over at Jolly Lane Nursery :-)

Is it 7 am yet? I'm impatient when it comes to waiting, LOL! Maybe having some more coffee will help me. Okay I've got another yummy mug of my favorite beverage, gave some attention to my cat, fed our fish, watered the house plants- is it 7 yet? Is it ok to call for an appointment yet? I told you that I was bad at waiting.

Quote of the day

Sometimes when I am driving I get so angry at inconsiderate drivers that I want to scream at them. But then I remember how insignificant that is, and I thank God that I have a car and my health and gas. That was phrased wrong - normally you wouldn't say, thank God I have gas.
Ellen DeGeneres, My Point and I Do Have One

but these days with the soaring gasoline prices, I think that maybe we are saying thank God we have gas, LOL!

Oh what next, LOL!

You're never going to believe what happened to me...I got my right hand smashed in a door and I think that I may have broken at least one of my fingers. I'm going to get an appointment tomorrow morning to get an x-ray of my hand. It's red, swollen, one finger has a noticeable lump and it hurts just to look at it. Looks like the kids and hubby will be digging in the garden and putting in the remainder of the plants. I can't even hold a fork with my right hand. Now for me to figure out how to finish up a sewing project without causing myself pain-ugh!

I've been busy being "creative"

My ankle has decided to cause me some " technical difficulties" (basically it really hurts) which in turn makes it rather painful for me to walk (no matter what kind of shoe I put on my feet) so I decided to sit down and make something...6 somethings later here I am. I've been making cute stuff but am not ready to share what it is or pictures of the items yet. But I can say that I've been having a blast!



I'm assessing Hannah's quilt fabric and now she says she needs a new bed skirt- but wait....she wants me to make her one using some fabric from her quilt. Well I better hurry up and figure out how much I need because the quilt store only gets in 1 bolt of any fabric and that's it! The shop owner doesn't order any more because there's always something else coming out on the market. Quilters are much like scrapbookers- as they always want the latest items, just that it's patterned fabrics and not patterned paper. I've also got to measure the window and make my window treatment plans and figure out which fabrics to use for that- ugh! I saw that Hobby Lobby is having a sale on 54 inch decorator fabric, I wonder if they have a green and cream toile, I think that it's worth checking out. Time to grab a tape measure and my note book...I've got numbers to crunch and I need to design a window treatment. I've got an idea in mind and I can't wait to get the numbers (measurements) done up. I've been asked if I would consider doing this for others for money, I thought about it but am not sure that they would want to pay me what I'm worth. So for now this is something that I do just for me...for my family home. I've decided that when I finish Hannah's quilt top that I'm sending it out to be professionally done, I want to get a large Fleur De Lis put into the center of each of the blocks and some swirly vines in the other areas.
The design I want is like this one you see here. It would be an outline stitch design. Hannah likes the idea as it goes with her French Country theme, our French last name not to mention her French heritage. Her Great Grammy Dorrie (on her Dad's side) was from New Orleans and her Grandpa Lucien from Quebec and was French Canadian.

Quote of the day

"Do what you can with what you have where you are."
~ Theodore Roosevelt

People Watching

I've written about my keeping up appearances neighbors before. It seems now that they are getting divorced. It's no wonder, they were always trying to have the "things" that everyone else had with the exception of their happiness. So now the battle for the "property" is taking place, and those two are making their kids miserable. It's a sad thing to watch a family disintegrate, to see it completely fall apart. No one wins, everyone walks away with a sense of loss and a broken heart. And this divorce that's going on with my neighbors is guaranteed to get UGLY! I've already witnessed some things that left me shaking my head in disbelief.

Quote of the day

Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

Rain- enough is enough!

Yet another rain storm pounds through this part of the country moving on to making other parts of the country even more water logged and miserable. Granted I'm thankful for the "free water" but other communities across the USA are being washed away by the ever rising flood waters.

We have a very green subdivision. Talk about the perfect time for putting in sod- you'd never have to worry about getting a big water bill this year! One thing for sure is that lawn mowers are getting quite the work out around here! Weeds- they're getting a lot of water and if you don't nip them early on, they can get out of control pretty darn quick! Just in the rock and flower bed areas around our home this past week and a half, my family and I have plucked out and filled to the top 3 brown paper bags full of weeds. They grown rather quickly with abundant sunshine and water. I didn't want to become a slave to my garden but these weeds are forcing me to be out there every day plucking them out. If you don't stay on top of them, weeds can take over a garden rather quickly.

Diamond Trivia

A diamond is the hardest natural substance on earth, but
if it is placed in an oven and the temperature is raised
to about 1405 degrees Fahrenheit, it will simply vanish,
without even ash remaining. Only a little carbon dioxide
will have been released.
***
Diamonds are formed over a period of a billion or more
years deep within earth's crust - about 90 miles deep -
and is pushed to the surface by volcanoes. Most diamonds
are found in volcanic rock, called Kimberlite, or in the
sea after having been carried away by rivers when they
were pushed to the surface.
***
A diamond is 58 times harder than the next hardest mineral
on earth, corundum, from which rubies and sapphires are
formed. It was only during the 15th century that it was
discovered that the only way to cut diamonds was with other
diamonds. Yet, diamonds are brittle. If you hit one hard
with a hammer, it will shatter.
***
The world's largest diamond was the Cullinan, found in
South Africa in 1905. It weighed 3,106.75 carats uncut. It
was cut into the Great Star of Africa, weighing 530.2
carats, the Lesser Star of Africa, which weighs 317.40
carats, and 104 other diamonds of nearly flawless color
and clarity. They now form part of the British crown jewels.
***
Not all diamonds are white. Impurities lend diamonds a
shade of blue, red, orange, yellow, green and even black.
A green diamond is the rarest. It is not the rarest
gemstone, however. That title goes to a pure red ruby.
Diamonds actually are found in fair abundance; thousands
are mined every year. 80% of them are not suitable for
jewelry - they are used in industry. Only diamonds of
higher clarity are sourced to the jewelry stores.
***
A diamond carat differs from a gold carat. The gold carat
indicates purity - pure gold being 24 carats. One diamond
carat is 0.007055 oz. The word carat derives from the carob
bean. Gem dealers used to balance their scales with carob
beans because these beans all have same weight.

Quote of the day

“Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.”
~ Mark Twain

Sewing and Quilting

Crafty Goodness abounds in my house! It's everywhere you look, even in the nooks and crannies! I'm excited that Hannah has changed her mind on wanting a "Beach" themed room. She had what I call a "revelation" of sorts, it happened when she saw what she considers to be the neatest table lamp on the planet. It's wrought iron design lamp that's been painted a pretty shade of yellow, it's got that shabby chic look to it that Hannah just adores! So now...Hannah's room will be done up in a shabby chic French Country look with blues, greens, yellows and off white. My girl even likes Toile fabric, how cool is that? Yes it's safe to say that I'm rather excited about it! I'd much rather do her bedroom up in a French Country theme than a Beach theme any day, especially since we live thousands of miles from the nearest ocean, LOL! This fabric is going to make an excellent French Country design quilt for her bed! Now I also need to design a window treatment as well as a couple of table runners for the dressers currently in her room (one stores crafting supplies as well as our winter hats, gloves and scarves). I have a summer that's simply full of sewing and other around the house projects!

This is what I did with the left over pieces from my quick and simple table runner projects- Place Mats! I've got 6 of these in the works. I managed to complete the hand sewing of the binding last night and am getting ready to work on the 2nd one. The other 4 are at various stages of being pieced together.
Here's the table runner that started it all. It's got the 3 layers pinned together is awaiting being quilted. I adore roses and this pattern just makes it all that more obvious.
I've been waiting for over a month for this- my clear acrylic insert that makes my sewing machine level with the sewing cabinet. The next picture is a close up picture. These are made specially for your brand and model of sewing machine and the brand and style of your sewing table. It's even got a serial number- hows that for snazzy? That there is some pretty cool stuff!

Craft Group Fun!

Do you enjoying crafting of any type? If you do, I can highly recommend getting involved in a crafting group. Some groups have a "cost" associated with them- mine is run through my dear friend Peggy who is a Stampin Up consultant (who happens to have more "free time" to have classes since she retired from the school system). She searches the internet to bring us fun things to do with Stampin Up brand stamps and products. We all get excited about craft group and can hardly wait to see what she brings with her to show us at the next get together, Peggy makes crafting fun. Then again the women I craft with make it a total BLAST! Peggy, Ellen, Donna and Sarah are wonderfully talented ladies that have me laughing and continuously smiling for the 2 hours we are together each month- and with all that going on we actually get work done!

These are the latest fun things she's brought to us... This is what I call a "Pocket Book"- it's made from 1 sheet of double sided cardstock and you score, fold and cut at certain intervals. What a darling mini album this would make for your kids (okay, so it's a girl thing) to hold pictures of their friends- you know...those little school photo's that are always floating around the house. Or use as a graduation gift holder and put money and thoughtful words of encouragement for the future on every page. The ideas are endless!





The 4th of July card is too sweet! These are Pixie Stix (good luck finding them- Peggy bought them while on vacation). Using Blue and Red ink and a cute star set (which is about to be retired) we made this super cute card!


This is one of the monthly specials, LOVE this set and the note cards! Of course I bought it! Peggy had samples done up in several different colors, all of them were beautiful! I made mine a thank you card as I can never have enough of them!

Quote of the day

You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.
Will Rogers, New York Times Aug. 31 1924

Garden Work

This morning I've been working in the garden and I can say that I've enjoyed it! I've got flowers in the backyard flower garden tied to bamboo stakes so they won't fall over, 2 more flower bed areas dug with flowers put in them in the front yard, dead flowers pruned and cleared off. I'm going to take some pictures of my flower gardens so I can get some scrapbook layouts done. This isn't our forever house, so I want to document all of the things I've done to it to make it my home- the addition of flowers and landscaping are just some of those things.

1001 Ideas

At this very moment, I've got 1001 ideas bubbling through my brain about quilting, card making, scrapbooking, counted cross stitching and even cooking, LOL! Even I wonder where all of the ideas stem from. I know that I wasn't "this" creative when I was younger.

Now to get on with my day- I've got three more areas in the front yard that need flowers and 2 of those areas have been prepped for me by my husband and daughter last night.

Quote of the day

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it".
~Dee Hock

I'm tired and I cant get back to sleep

It's 3 am and I'm awake- that's just not fair! Stupid thunderstorms! This is bugging the crap out of me! I'm so darn tired, yet I'm unable to get back to sleep, grrr!

I've read 3 entire magazine articles, figured out how to make Hannah's quilt pattern larger to accommodate her bed and am thinking about hand sewing on some binding to my latest little quilting project. I've even had a large glass of milk. When will it kick in and when will I start to feel sleepy????

I'll read some news, hopefully it'll bore me to sleep.

Having strength to go on...

Do you wonder what my quote of that day is referring to? This one is is for a friend who is going through some issues with the Air Force health care system for her son who has autism. We all have our cross to bear when it comes to dealing with health care companies. I have to say that we all get to a point where we want to just throw our hands up in the air and say that we give up. I'm here to let my girlfriend know - "You can do this!" You can fight this fight and come out with your dignity still intact! It's hard , I'm not going to dress it up and say that it's not. But just don't let yourself get to the point where you spout off and give them some verbal abuse- this just lets them know that they've got you by the short hairs. This is a link that my friend sent to me, please take a moment of your time to go there.

I just took action on an issue that I consider very important. I urge you to take action yourself and spread the word!
To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
Autism Society of America

Nacho Cheese Waterfall

Waking up to what sounds to be a waterfall of rain falling upon the roof of our house at 1 am was a bit unnerving. You see, I was blissfully asleep and I was having a Willie Wonka type of dream where everything was edible :-) The flowers, the grass, the tree leaves etc. My husband and I were in a little canoe paddling along on in a stream made out of liquid cheese, the stream came to a nacho cheese waterfall and the hard cheese rocks were churning the delicious concoction, we were about to dip our tortilla chips (that we picked off of a tortilla chip bush) in for a little taste- then I woke up from the rain storm, great (not really as I'm being sarcastic). My DH went and checked out the rain gauge in the garden and it shows that we got about an inch of rain- that's a lot of rain to get from one little storm. Now I really would have like to have tasted the nacho cheese in my dream, LOL!

Quote of the day

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 - 1973)

It's Monday...

So here I am feeling bummed about the passing of George Carlin. Is he a relative of mine? No but I wish that he was, LOL! We shared a similar sense of humor not to mention that I would laugh my socks off every time I saw one of his specials on cable.

My quote for today is ever so true and only in a way that George Carlin could say it. I've read oodles of his quotes this morning and I have to say that I either smirked or out right laughed at every single one! Here's one of my favorites

"Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster is a maniac?"
George Carlin (1937 - 2008)

Now to get ready...I've got friends coming over in a few hours for paper crafting fun!

The passing of an Icon

With the passing of Tim Russert and now George Carlin I feel a little lost for words. Politics and humor, they go hand in hand. Both guys told it like it was- you've got to appreciate that about them. I'll miss their satire and frankness.

Quote of the day

I don't have hobbies; hobbies cost money. Interests are quite free.
George Carlin, US comedian and actor (1937 - 2008)

Discovering buried treasures

I like to think that little treasures are hidden throughout my house, you just have to open your eyes to see them. You too can use/apply this same philosophy to your own home.

Here's an example of finding a buried treasure...recently (like this past week) I was cleaning/weeding/pruning my closet of unwanted clothing for our community garage sale when I came across a bag FULL of scrapbooking goodies! I have no idea how on earth it ended up in my closet but there it was. So I hung it on closet door knob so I wouldn't forget it. Okay, I forgot about it...now it's a few days later and I'm wondering why the door keeps bouncing off the wall and won't stay open- OH! There's that bag of scrapping goodies I came across earlier in the week. Now I take it down stairs and walk into my Scrapbook Nook and discover 2 more bags of paper crafting goodies- my last 2 purchases from my Stampin Up consultant (are you reading this Peg?). So this is getting me excited about the ladies coming to my house tomorrow...I love this group and they get me motivated to work on paper crafting stuff!

I'm going through things in our home office/guest room and I came across a ball of yarn and a crochet hook- more treasure! This was Hannah's work, the little project that she started when I was teaching her to crochet.

Third and final treasure...I have a basket next to my sewing table that has been filling up with fabric scraps. I weed though it to cut them into strips or squares for charm packs and what's underneath of it all? A huge stack of cotton sheeting dishtowels waiting to be embroidered. This reminds me that me that I need to start teaching Hannah the art of embroidery and we can start right here with these dishtowels!

What treasures await discovery in your home???

Quote of the day

It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of.
Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 08-16-05

I've been a little busy today

The wee hours of the morning was spent getting set up for the community garage sale and pulling up the garage door and sell our "stuff". It was a HUGE success and I've heard from many of the neighbors that they look forward to doing it again next year :-) I'd be more than happy to get it all set up and organized. We had a lot of traffic and everyone did well in cleaning out their garages and closets of unneeded/unwanted items.

The sun came out in full force and it was HOT! I was mostly inside of the garage and didn't think to put sunscreen on myself. Like um, who does at 5am? I was more interested in my coffee at 5 am than anything else. My 2 pm we were wiped out and we called it a day! We came inside to escape the heat. My poor little plants need a drink every hour on the hour. My die hard husband is outside staining the deck - he just finished the front porch. Oh my word, does our front porch ever look fantastic! I hope that I can put my potted plants on the porch soon :-) And it's going to be finished in time for my friends in the stamping/crafting group to see it too! Which reminds me, time to get out the cream cheese and make some more of my yummy mini New York Cheesecakes! I promised them all a treat for meeting at my house this month instead of our usual meeting place :-)

Quote of the day

There isn’t much better in this life than finding a way to spend a few hours in conversation with people you respect and love. You have to carve this time out of your life because you aren’t really living without it.
Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, August 27, 2003

My Cookbook Nook: Heirlooms- have you tried them?

My Cookbook Nook: Heirlooms- have you tried them?

Come and see what I'm growing in my terracotta pots on my back porch!

I've got quite a bit on my plate today!

After the Monsoon like rain stopped, it ended up being rather nice yesterday. I put the kids and myself to work out of doors. The front porch has been sprayed and cleaned and is ready for the stain/sealant product. Washed 2 cars and a minivan, was able to get my herbs and quite a few of my porch plants into terracotta pots. The ground cover in the rose bush area is nearly 2/3's done- now to get the kids to finish it off for me today. By 7pm I was showered, in my jammies and ready for bed- I was beat! Working in the sun for 8 hours sure does take a lot out of a person! I even managed to wear out the kids.

Already at the crack of dawn I'm working... I've got a load in the washing machine, I'm getting our "stuff" ready for the garage sale tomorrow (priced and arranged) and have plans for getting the rest of my flowering plants in the flower garden in the back yard. Besides that, I'm working on 6 quilting projects, all of them are at various stages have plans to make a half dozen New York Cheesecakes (the small 4 inch ones) in the next couple of days, I've got to clear the clutter the guest room and get that stuff packed up and put away.

I keep thinking about the garage sale tomorrow and it reminds me that I need to have the men in my family drag some furniture out to the garage for the "sale" I'm tired just thinking about all of the work that needs to be done. Now off to Menard's to get some more deck wash- apparently our teenage son used both bottles for cleaning the front porch-oops!

Quote of the day

"Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given".
~Deepak Chopra

Is it Monsoon Season and someone just forgot to tell me?

Rain- we're been getting a lot of it! It's pouring rain, it's rain like this that makes me think it's a monsoon and I'm hoping that my plants don't get washed away!

Besides hearing the pounding rain beating hard against our bedroom window- I awoke to the strangest sound that come from outside of our bedroom window. When I hear strange sounds there is no way I can go back to sleep, I HAVE to get up and check it out. Saw nothing out of the ordinary, until I looked at the neighbors side yard. Nothing to account for the noise I heard but saw something to make chuckle. I'll have to give that story at another time- with pictures.

So I go around the house looking everywhere, still find nothing to account for the odd noises. Then I realized, I had left some plants outside, ones that I had not put into the ground yet-AUGH! Keep in mind it's 4:30 am and I'm outside in the pouring rain in my jammies gathering my plants that have been scattered by the wind and rain like a mother hen gathering her chicks in bad weather- good thing the majority of my neighbors are all asleep at that time. Where's my husband? Snoozing away, ever so peacefully in our bed, LOL! He and the children can sleep like no one knows. I have to be sick, recovering from a surgery or on a lot of pain medication to be able to sleep in, and even that's questionable. I never did figure out what the strange/odd sound was.

Here I am, coffee in hand writing about my morning adventures while most folks haven't even stepped out of bed. I'm checking out the weather on line and it looks as if there won't be any more working in my flower beds today. I planted 5 more rose bushes yesterday (I adore roses) all in different colors, they are all located in my front flower bed (the one w/o trees). I've got plans for that area, and I want it to be a delight to the senses both visual and on the olfactory (sense of smell) and full of roses!

Since it's supposed to be raining off and all all day long I'm going to work on another type of rose garden- a new little project I thought up the other day and I reworked my numbers and have adjusted the size of the squares and borders to accommodate the width and length of our dressers in our bedroom. A couple of rose garden table runners for our dressers for our rose garden themed bedroom. I can almost smell the roses just by thinking about them!

Quote of the day

All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney (1901 - 1966)

As if...

I make myself laugh when I use the term "As If". I just completed an Air Force quality of life survey- oh was it an eye opener. Some of the questions were so off the wall. So my "As If" would be...As if I would ever be in a relationship like that, sheesh! There were a lot of questions pertaining to "is your husband beating you?" If so with what? I was not prepared for those kinds of questions what so ever!

Now to get on with some other "As If" stuff, which all makes me laugh to one degree or another...

Today's "as if" topic-Mowing the grass. As if I'm going to mow the lawn. Why do I have teenage son? I feed him and he repays me in manual labor, it's a symbiotic relationship- I feed and clothe him and he mows the lawn and washes cars.

Quote of the day

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.
Confucius

I love flowers!

The people at Jolly Lane Nursery love me. Why do they love me? Because I have been making them rich! I'm done, or at least I hope that I'm done buying plants for my garden areas. I was able to get a lot done today, weeding all of the flower beds in the front yard (that 6 flower bed areas), re-potted some plants for the front porch, bought more plants PLUS bought the cute little ground cover plants that we admired so much- that will go in tomorrow morning while it's still cool outside.

So I've got about a gazillion flowers planted in the front and back flowers bed areas, some are blooming right now and others have buds that are about to open. I've got all kinds of different flowers and for the most part they all smell good, well with the exception of the Geraniums- those never smell good, they look good but smell rather funky.

Have you ever priced a sun dial? Holy Catfish those babies are not cheap! I looked into it today and was floored at how expensive they are. Now for me to rethink what else I'd like to have go into my garden.

I'm starting to feel better about having another round of my girlfriends moving away and leaving me here.:-( Last year was bad and this year is the same. I'm keeping myself very busy with quilting, scrapbooking, card making and gardening projects and am looking forward to reaping the fruits of my labors. I refuse to let myself feel lost so I keep busy all of the time. I do have to say that I miss my girlfriend Kim the most, I hope that she's not getting too stressed out with the big move to Hawaii. I've not heard from her yet so I'm hoping that no news is good news. Kim if you're reading this please know that you are loved and thought of every day. I even made one of your favorite goodies the other day- fudge filled cheesecake!

Today makes me smile

I love listening to the birds singing in the morning. Having mug of coffee out on the deck would be better if it had not just been raining, as everything is quite wet at the moment.

Well I stumbled upon a little treasure at an adorable on line store called Lizzie B, cute stuff abounds there! Let there be Chocolate and Chick Chatter are my favorites as they make me smile from ear to ear!

My mind is flooded with quilt pattern ideas for making table runners. I was drawing some out last night and want to get started on them this morning.

The funny things that happen to your kids...our son went to the mall with his friends yesterday and while there his muffler fell off of his car. Apparently that's something that teenage boys find a little embarrassing. No wonder why this child of ours wants to trade in his car, it's a bit of a money pit to say the least. Since we bought it for him we've bought it new tires, replaced the a/c unit, fixed the drivers and front passengers seats, put in seat heaters for the same two seats, new door panel on drivers side, new shocks, new brakes- but this is stuff that's required on just about any used car purchase. Poor kid, he really wants to trade it in now.

Having had 2 mugs of coffee already, I have no more excuses not to start on my list of things to do today. I better make it 3 mugs of coffee to stay on the safe side of things, I have herbs and a tomato plant to put into pots :-)

Quote of the day

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.
Margaret Thatcher (1925 - ), in Observer April 4, 1989

2 Peas blog challenge

Do you work better under pressure?

are you kidding? No way!

I love visitors!

Good friends are ones to cherish! I love it when friends come to visit! Especially on rainy dreary days! What a way to catch up on what's been going on in our lives this past year. Our daughters started up right where they left off a year ago and within an hour had made up a skit up and play acted it out for us- what a laugh riot! Tomorrow the 4 of us and our daughters are going out to lunch together. I didn't realize how much I missed the companionship of this family until I saw them today. How much we all change in a year, how much taller our childen have grown too! I'm looking forward to spending more hours in their company :-)

Besides Scrapbooking....

(I've posted one of these before now lets see who reads my blog)

Do you have other hobbies (besides the obvious) that you enjoy doing? I challenge those that read my blog and keep a blog to write about in their blogs. Here's a list of things that I enjoy...
counted cross stitching
archeology studies/forensic science
gourmet cooking- some call this a hobby I call it a passion
baking sweet desserts
container gardening
quilting/sewing
reading
photography
stamping/ making greeting cards
yup those are my main ones, now lets hear about yours. I'd love to hear from you, so please tell me about your hobbies in the comments section!

The Vendors :-)

There were vendors from all over the Dakotas....selling fabrics galore and unique patterns, scissors, rotary cutters, sewing machines, jewelry, big quilting machines, wooden quilt racks and more!



About the quilt racks, granted they were lovely but they were a bit too large in design for my personal taste. I want to have something in an Amish or Mission style but that's just me, these would be nice in just about any home. They were lovely pieces and appropriately priced for the quality of work and the quality of work was very good!



Fabrics- oh my word was there a lot of fabric available at the quilt show! I got VERY excited when I saw that one of the vendors had the batik fabric with the sea turtle design that I've been looking for :-) Oh you can be certain that I made sure to buy 3 yards of it! Who knows when I'll see Sea Turtle Batik fabric here in South Dakota ever again, LOL!




Accessories- Many vendors had unique accessories, fancy schmancy scissors, rotary tools, cutting mats, quilting templates, stationary with quilting themes and more! I bought some Gingher dress makers shears that I had been admiring at my local quilt shop but the vendor had them for $18 less than the local store- go figure! I'm not stupid, I can spot a steal when I see it! You bet I bought them from the vendor! Here's a picture of them :-) Aren't they cute?


I have more scoop on the quilt show to tell you about but some military friends that moved last summer (ones we haven't seen in a year) are coming over to visit...so I'll have to get back to this later!

The amazing things I saw at the quilt show

There were some truly amazing wall hangings on display at the 2008 Black Hills Quilters Guild Quilt Show. Some were obviously made to be wall hangings, others to be displayed on a bed and others to be table runners or lap quilts, all (in my opinion) were beautiful. Some just had me amazed at the attention to detail, where others were there to wow you with the great use of color. Click on any of the pictures to see them in a larger format. You'll be able to see the details that I saw while standing in front of them.

This basket of flowers and veggies is fantastic! I could easily hang this on display in my home!
Sails boats, it's just too sweet! Makes me miss New England in a major way!
This is art! I love to look at this wall hanging! Makes me feel like I'm one with nature!
And this is one cool quilt! The attention to detail is amazing! This pattern is or was offered by a local company Pearl Louise designs from The Thimble Cottage here in Rapid City. I'm going to check into this and see if the pattern is still available.
I LOVE this design, look closely at the attention to detail. There's a girl holding a mug and a black kitty on the chair it reminds me greatly of my Hannah and our kitty. This wall hanging is amazing!

A quilt that's called Chocolate Every Day, this pattern was offered by a local quilt- the Quilt Connection to be exact. I've got to see about getting this quilt pattern, it makes me think about my Hannah (the girl is ALL about CHOCOLATE).
This piece is simply stunning! It's done on one piece of fabric and all of the color you see is done with thread! This is just awe inspiring, don't you think so? Done with thread- Wow!


These next three are 3 variations of the same pattern "Mexican Star". I actually bought this pattern on clearance for $2.00 earlier this year. And now it's a HOT item once again and is being sold at every quilt shop in town for $8.95 plus every vendor at the quilt show had this pattern for sale- again for $8.95, this pattern is HOT STUFF! I love the Christmas colors! It's fantastic!
This one is done in desert colors and It too caught my eye- love those color combinations!
And here it is done up as a quilt. It's for of the Mexican Star design put together then made into a centerpiece for a bed quilt. What a great idea!
This kitty quilt is too cute for words! I think my kitty needs one of these, LOL!This is art, no doubt about it! The watercolor effect is outstanding!
This quilt took 3 years to make. The woman who made it hand sewed everything! It took 2 years to sew the colored pieces on to the white background fabric and another year to hand quilt it. It reminds me greatly of a Spirograph that I used to play with when I was a kid. This is what I would call a labor of love. The time and patience it takes to make a quilt like this is mind boggling. I admit it here in front of God and everyone, I do not have the kind of patience it takes to make a beautiful piece of art like this and I will stand up and applaud anyone and everyone who does!
And this quilt- my favorite one in the entire show. Trust me it was hard to pick one that would be my favorite but this was it for me! The attention to detail, the colors and the design- yup it has ME written all over it! I wonder how much something like this would cost? How many thousands of dollars do you think I'd have to fork over for something like this?

This makes me think of Andy Warhol and his designs. I see my daughter Hannah having something like this on her bed or draped on a quilt rack.

Quote of the day

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978)

community wide garage sale

Creekside Estates
Community Garage Sale
Saturday June 21st
7am until ?

I've been working on getting our subdivision to do a community wide garage sale for a while and now it's going to happen this weekend! Neighbors are finally e-mailing me asking questions, one even gave me a detailed list of items that they have for sale. Another neighbor asked about garage sale signs put up strategically throughout the neighborhood, I never thought about that but was sure to ask the neighbor is she could do that for me and bring me the receipts so I can make sure that she is reimbursed for the money spent on the signs. I love how the neighborhood is coming together on this plan. I hope that it's a great success! If it is, we will have one of these community wide garage sales every summer!

Happy Father's Day!

Our Hannah is singing in the church choir today- what a treat! It's been a very busy weekend! Between going to the Quilt Show (twice) and planting more flowers in the garden, I've been very busy! But I've also been taking a ton of photo's so I'll be able to show you what I/we have been up to. I might even have Hannah make a video of the flower garden, won't that be fun to see!

Quote of the day

"Your idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be yours alone. The more the idea is yours alone, the more freedom you have to do something really amazing. The more amazing, the more people will click with your idea."
~Hugh Macleod

Quote of the day

"One of the things that keeps you from dropping them in the nearest volcano is that you had to work too hard to get them. You had to cry, you had to scream, you had to sweat, you had to cuss out health care officials, and when that's all over with, you'll be willing to put up with a lot more from your kids".
~Barbara Hall

Oh happy day!

I've got ever so many things to accomplish today- first off is yet another podiatry appointment. My Doctor is going to try having me walk in a "real shoe". I've tried putting a little pressure on my foot and it feels as if a bean bag has been stuffed into my heal- yes it's feels pretty strange.

Quilt Show- I want to pop my head in there today too! But I may not get to do that as I have quite a long list of things to do.

Well I better get started in getting ready- need to go to the nursery and buy some more plants as I need to fill up my flower garden, order some more bark mulch and see if I can have it delivered today or tomorrow. Call made, deliverly of mulch possibly this afternoon but delivered no later than tomorrow- woohoo! One thing down, only a dozen more to go, LOL!

Quote of the day

"A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one's husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it".
~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Rotary Cutters- don't quilt without one!

After cutting two hundred 5x5 squares (yes I really cut 200 squares) I can say that if I didn't have a rotary cutter that I would not be quilting-period! I can not imagine cutting out so many squares without a rotary cutter. No wonder why I didn't get into quilting until now, I was terrified of all of the labor intensive work involved in cutting out the pieces. And yes I've even started sewing some of my squares together. I'm starting my Red, White, Beige and Blue aka "Americana' themed quilt for the day bed in our guest room/home office. This will be my largest quilting project to date, it's a twin size bed quilt. I hope that this one goes together quickly, I think that it will since I don't have to worry about nothing more than making sure that the points all meet up. Plus the "left over" pieces of fabric are going to make me a table runner, the pattern being Court House steps. I did pretty good on purchasing fabric, I bought a little here and a little there (the fabric came from 5 different stores) and I maybe spent $45 on everything- and I'm getting a twin size quilt AND a table runner too! Okay so it doesn't include the quilt batting or the backing for the table runner or the quilt regardless of all that, I think that I did pretty good when you consider that the cost of a kit to make just the table runner is $45 before shipping costs. I was able to pick and choose my own fabrics and I will have an original piece, not one that looks like it came from a mail order catalog.

I'm off to study the pattern directions for the table runner...you know me, I've always got to have more than one project going on at one time.

You passed 8th grade Geography

Another little gem snagged from Susan's blog...what a crack up! I better be good at this, as our son Andrew won first place in the National Geographic Bee at his middle school while in the 8th grade and went on to the States Finals....all without studying! And our Hannah was in the top 3 finalists for the 7th grade - again without studying. Can you imagine what my kids could have done IF they had actually studied for this competition? LOL!

You Passed 8th Grade Geography

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Geography?

What European city do you belong in?

I picked this little gem up from Susan's blog- I belong where? Dublin? Who would have thought? LOL!

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Thursday already?

Can you believe that it's already Thursday? Where does the time go? I've got a big load of projects on my plate but it's what I consider to be veggies and greens and I'm ready to gobble them up!

I've got all of my Americana projects planned out...now to put them into full view and get working on them. I'm throwing myself into this project an am not going to think about anything else (I hope not anyway).

There was a mix up at the Quilt Show and as it stands- the paperwork for my Chocolate Dreams quilt was not submitted by the quilt shop. Am I bummed my 2nd quilt not being in the big show? Only a little, not enough to let it ruin my thoughts about the quilt show or those that organize it. My husband was more bummed about it that I was (he's such a loving soul). He knew how hard I had been working on it to get it finished in time only to not have it be in the show. I do have my very first quilt in the show "Cheese and Crackers" will be there for everyone to see :-) Tomorrow is the big day and I can hardly wait to walk through the doors of the convention center to see all of the lovely quilts:-) I'm bringing my camera and will be taking oodles of pictures of everything that catches my eye :-) I hope to make a multi page scrapbook layout on the event!

Quote of the day

The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.
Elain Heffner

Quilting on the brain

So as it is, I went to sleep thinking about my latest ideas for making items for our home office/guest room. Its a red, white and blue theme but what to put in there. What kind of things do I need to have in that room? Some throw pillows, a table runner for the chest of drawers, a quilt for the bed, a wall hanging and a table topper for the side accent table next to the day bed. I want to stay away from the obvious stars and stripes fabrics and just use various red, blue and off white prints. I'm now seeing why quilters amass the "quilting stash"- it's so they can just make anything at a moments notice. I really could have gotten into making that Americana themed Court House Step (that's what the pattern block is called) table runner last night. But alas I don't have enough variety of the kinds of fabrics I need to make that project on hand...I realized that I need to beef up my stash, that I have a very limited selection of the kinds of fabrics I need to be able to just "whip this little project up". I need to purchase more white and cream background prints, red prints and even blue printed fabrics, if I'm ever to get my Americana themed room off the ground!

Now I did see in the magazine where I could buy a kit for this pattern on line , the cost was $45 (before shipping)...the price is a fair one when you consider the amount of fabric used to make the project but I'd much rather pick out my own fabric.

Now to see if my daughter is up and about and get her ready to go out :-) Today is the day to drop off our quilts for the Quilt Show! And I need to pick up a few supplies to create something today- be it a pillow top or a table runner!

The last picture of Sandie and Kim...for at least a year!

I spent my afternoon feeling a little sorry for myself. One of my dearest friends left and I won't be able to see her for at least a year. I'm saying it now we WILL be going to Hawaii next year to visit the Greenlee Family and to have a family vacation! There's so much more I want to see of Oahu, places that I want my family to see things to experience.

So here it is, the last picture of me and my best bud Kim. It's a terrible picture of the two of us together- but then again that's what happens when you let others use your camera, need I say more? It also doesn't help that we've both been crying, have red eyes, we both have that blotchy German skin and wigged out hair from the South Dakotawind, LOL!

I started crying (again) half way through the change of command ceremony and couldn't stop myself. I was feeling so heart broken with the thought of not being able to call Kim up and invite her over for a craft session or to do scrapbooking with or to have lunch with. I'm sad at the thought that I won't be able to welcome her and baby Rachel home from the hospital next month.

I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and get myself busy with creating things for my home. I need to get involved in keeping my brain active and not to dwell on things that I have no control over...besides we can still talk on the phone and e-mail one another!

Quote of the day

"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself."
~Robert Collier

Change of Command

I go today to witness the change of command for one of the Medical Group commanders, Lt. Col. Tom Greenlee. His wife Kim has been a dear friend to me for these past 2 years. Their next assignment takes them to Hawaii (like they won't have any visitors- yeah right!). I'll miss her terribly but at the same time I'm happy inside- happy that I got to meet and become friends with such a fantastic person.

My quotes of the day reflect this "change of command", there's nothing good or bad, it's just the way things are.

Now for me to get ready for this event...where's my coffee? I need coffee!

Quote of the day

This isn't good or bad. It's just the way of things. Nothing stays the same.
Real Live Preacher, RealLivePreacher.com Weblog, January 03, 2004


Nothing endures but change.
Heraclitus (540 BC - 480 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

It's a Monday, time to go go go!

Some days my mind works all of the time and others I'm pleasantly tucked into a good book and can think of nothing else but the characters on that page in front of me. Alas, this morning was not one of those times.

I've got 1001 things on my mind, tons of great new ideas for what I want to do with our guest room/home office. We've decided to sell the bed but not the trundle unit. Andrew will be getting a larger bed, since he's a whopping 6' 2" tall, he kind of needs something a wee bit larger. And that in turn tells me that I'll also need to buy him bedding- sheets, comforter etc. I hope that I can still get the same Dockers bedding package at Kohl's or else I'll have to get him new window treatments as well.

I've got oodles of ideas running though my head about "stuff" in general...bedding for Andrew, new bed for Andrew, new bedding for Hannah, new sheets for our bed, making a quilt for the guest bed in my new Americana theme. Hannah wants an ocean theme but doesn't quite know what she wants- ugh! I've got projects that I want to get working on right now but am being torn to work in different directions than I want to at this moment. I've got my list of places I need to go and what I need to get while I'm there...see you after a while.

Volunteer Opportunities in your local community

Have you given any thought to the rising cost of gasoline in your local area and how it may be effecting other less fortunate that yourself?

I have been reading some stories on line how food banks across the country are seeing an increase as much as 20 to 30% with new families needing help coming in daily. Then I came across another article about gardening and if you are planting a vegetable garden to plant an extra row and donate the items harvested to your local food bank-which made me think about my father-in-law David. My father-in-law loves gardening it's his full time hobby and he plants a HUGE garden every year and donates a large portion of it to his town's food bank. He sees the need in his community growing, especially with the elderly. Prices on everything from gasoline to groceries to medication are going and with many of the elderly being on a fixed income things are as stretched as they can be.

I think about our young military families struggling to make ends meet. With deployments being anywhere from 6 to 18 months being separated and trying to make ends meet while living on one paycheck can be hard. I know that some will say "can't they live in "free housing"? Well yes most do live in military housing but it isn't "free", they do forfeit a portion of their pay to be able to live in a military community. A majority of our military families live in our off base housing community which is almost 15 miles away from the base. Soaring fuel prices are going to effect us all, especially those that do a daily commute to work. Every military base has it's own food bank program that is run entirely on volunteers. When I was the Ellsworth OSC Programs Chairperson I would host monthly drives for canned food, toiletries, household goods, diapers and baby food, pet food and pet care products in connection with our monthly OSC functions.

Which brings me to the South Dakota Food Banks and how they could use your help in these ways- donate food, donate money donate your time. If you're looking to do something this summer, why don't you consider volunteering at your local food bank.

Which Austen heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

My little patch of Heaven, my flower garden

After having such foul weather for what seems to be for forever, we finally got a long enough break from it to be able to work in the garden. I finally got to get almost off of the flowering plants I bought out of my family. Having it rain for so long and at such a furious pace has washed away some of the soil from my flower bed area. We needed to make some adjustments to the flower bed, we put a mixture of rocks and dirt around the base of the fence to help keep in the fertile soil, then we started putting the plants in the ground. I thought that I had bought plenty of plants to cover that area....yeah right! I bought enough to have about one quarter to one third of the area done. And those 10 bags of Cedar Bark Mulch, well they just barely covered the area that we planted, I need to buy at least 25 more bags of mulch to complete the job.

Now of course we're nearly half done getting the plants into the ground and those big dark gray almost black storm clouds come rolling in and then it starts- to HAIL! It was dime size, large enough to shred our newly planted foliage. I was happy that it didn't last long but it sure give us a good scare! I'll have to purchase some more plants up later on in the week. There's no use to get any before Thursday as neither of us will be able have any time to work in the garden until the weekend. The Forecast - It's busy week for both Lucien and myself!

Quote of the day

When I make art, I think about its ability to connect with others, to bring them into the process.
Jim Hodges

Saturday at home

I think it's funny when my cat decides that she's going to sleep in. Most mornings she's up when I'm up but every once in a while she decides that she's going to "sleep in". She must have worn herself out with all of her playing and running around chasing butterflies out of doors yesterday.

It was nice weather for most of the day, giving the ground time to dry out. The volume of water in the creek has started to decrease quite quickly, which is a good sign. While mowing the backyard yesterday my husband altered me to a sad discovery- a next of 6 wee baby bunnies all had drowned in the horrible rain storms. There was nothing to do but to say a prayer and to bury them in the field behind our house. I know that this is part of nature and that there will be more wee baby bunnies being born in the coming days weeks and months. But it tugs on your heart strings none the less.

Most children like to watch Cartoon Network, The Disney Channel or Nickelodeon on Saturdays-but not our daughter, it's all of those home make over shows for her on Saturdays! She's glued to HGTV and TLC! She made up a plan to rearrange her room, get rid of a couple of pieces of furniture and to replace with a couple of other pieces. Pretty cool plan but she loses out on her bookshelf and all of the storage space that it provided. But she was determined to get that (as she calls it) "that old thing" out of her room. It was something that we bought while we were stationed in either Maine or Texas- so either way, it's been something that we've had since before she was born, LOL! So Hannah convinces her Dad to take her out to do some shopping for some "new stuff" in her newly redesigned bedroom. They come back with a partition screen (which by the way IS seriously cool) and a new nightstand (she's been wanting a real nightstand for over a year now). They also came back with something that I wanted for my birthday- the RSVP Pink Onion Goggles, LOL! Since my darling husband bought the sewing cabinet for me I felt rather guilty asking for anything. This is something small and it didn't break the kids piggy banks, LOL!

I'm on the home stretch on my Chocolate Dreams quilt. The hand sewing takes a while and I like to do it while watching television. It should be finished by this evening then all I have to do it so make a a quilt label and sew it on. It's got to be done before Wednesday. Which reminds me, I need to get the label sewed onto my Cheese and Crackers quilt.

Now back to my design star Hannah- she's decided that she wants a new "theme" to her room- no more floral garden (which break my heart) but instead wants to go "Beach/Ocean" themed. I need to sit down with her today and discus what she wants her room to look like, what colors are we looking at doing and so forth. It's going to take quite a bit of design work to pull this off. I know that she wants me to make a special quilt for her room with a pillow sham, throw pillows, possibly a bed skirt and of course window treatments of some sort. Yesterday cracked me up, my darling husband was telling me what transpired on the father/daughter outing- the story about the throw pillows was priceless! Hannah spotted some throw pillows at Pier 1 Imports and even though they were on sale the cost for the 3 she has was $75 before the sales tax. Lucien tell Hannah that Mom (that's me) would kill him if he let her buy those pillows. So I get the story on what these pillows looked like and so forth and told them both that the pillow inserts for those throw pillows cost at the most about $4 each and fabric to cover them not more than maybe $4 plus the fact that I already have 4 or 6 of those pillow inserts here in the house. So it's time to bring my "Design Star" back into reality...that there's usually a sponsor for those makeover shows and someone also has to work their butt off making all of the stuff. Usually there's a team of people working on those kinds of projects but this will be just me on the sewing parts. I am curious to see what she comes up with. Oh well, it's not as if I'm working this summer - okay so it's more like the kind of work or working that includes getting a pay check, LOL!

Quote of the day

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.
W. C. Fields

Reading Books on line

I love to read, I do, I really do. I read all sorts of books from Archeology and Ancient Antiquity to classic novels to magazine articles on all sorts of topics. My thirst for knowledge is never ceasing. I found this little gem of a website The Literature Page click on the page and you're going to smile! I got sucked into reading some of my favorite novel from author Jane Austen.

So check it out and have some fun!

Quote of the day

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1811

Bummed Out on my Birthday

It's my birthday and I feel rather bummed out. Our terrible weather has left so many people leaving their homes and seeking shelter at the Douglas Middle School. My daughter was terrified to find out that one of the mobile home parks had 3 feet of rushing creek waters going through it, it happens to be where one of her close friends lives. Our son was worried about his best friend Drew as he is in another area where ALL of the roads were closed and travel was not allowed. Andrew called his friend but no one answered- I told Andrew that that was a good sign and that Drew and his family had already evacuated.

From the news reports on KOTA (go to this link to read about the water damage) and there's also a video showing some water damage- it's not just a little bit of water in the home featured, it's a lot of water! You can see where there was 8 feet of water in one area of our little town. I'm grateful that we bought this house and not the one we had at first made a bid upon. I feel that God had sent his Angels down from Heaven to watch over us when we decided that we'd buy a home here in Box Elder, South Dakota. You see, part of the back yard in that house has been ravaged by the rain and they are experiencing some serious soil erosion. As a matter of fact at least 2 homes on Rando Court are experiencing serious soil erosion from the recent rain storms.

I checking the weather channel constantly and the news channel is always on so I can catch the latest blurb about what's going on out here. I hope that our break in the weather hangs on until the evening like the weather channel is predicting- I'd really like to use the grill today to cook my birthday kabobs. Sounds selfish I know, but there it is.

Quote of the day

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are".
~Theodore Roosevelt

Video of flooded Box Elder Creek

Here's a video that Hannah took during a brief break in the rain yesterday. It's amazing how quickly the birds come out when there's such a brief break in the weather, listening to the birds singing gives me hope that this horrible nightmare will soon be over.

I ask this- Can it rain any more than it already has?

It hasn't let up raining what so ever today! It's just pounding on the windows of our house. Hannah and I went out right around 9am to get some "supplies" aka groceries. It was raining then but not as heavily as it is now. We took some pictures

Believe it or not but the water in the creek/river is even higher now that it was when I took the first pictures this morning at 5:30 am. I heard on the radio that the ground in the hills has become so saturated that people that live in the area up there are living with the very real threat of mud slides.

Can you say Flood?

So here's some scoop on Box Elder, the little town that is next to Ellsworth AFB- parts are flooded and some folks that live in the low lying areas had to be evacuated yesterday due to the quickly rising water. The Box Elder Creek is now a rushing river and it's washing over the road that goes into the Prairie View Estates subdivision (yet another reason not to buy in Prairie View) and the mobile home park that is off of Cotton Wood Drive. Another low lying area being flooded is the mobile home park off of Frontage Road in Box Elder- I heard a first hand report that the creek waters are very high and are much like a rushing river through that area. People should exert extreme caution when flood waters are rising. Driving on roads that are being washed over by water- just don't do it! You can never know how fast that water is moving and how quickly it can take a vehicle downstream-with ALL of it's occupants! This is no exception!