Getting ready for the State Fair

I love going to the State Fair and looking at all of the beautiful items that people have entered in the different divisions. When my friend Peg told me about entering the Fair I said sure what the heck. Oh my gosh what FUN it is! The best part of it is seeing all of the wonderful things that other folks have made. My kids love to look at the rabbits and other animals. The horticulture exhibits are fantastic as are the photographic exhibits but my favorite of all is to look at the quilts. They inspire me to create paper crafts be it layouts or note cards. I love it all!

So now I'm going to pull some layouts together that I want to enter in the Fair this year. I'll make some note cards as well plus enter some photo's (need to get them printed in 8x10 glossy format).

So even if you don't enter anything in the Fair please go an check it out! It's fun for the entire family!

It's Tuesday Gromit

Ahhhh, Tuesday sweet Tuesday to some just another day of the week but for me it's the kick off of a busy day.

I'm one of those people that naturally and on their own wake up around 5 am and am wide awake. But today I got up at around 6 and was still feeling rather sleepy. Weird is all I can say about that. So I drag myself out of bed so I can see our son off as he leaves for a leadership event on the other side of the state. I'm going to miss him while he's away.

So here we are...just Hannah, the cat and me...3 chicks on our own today. I think that this calls for total chick food! Yup that's it, it's a chick food chick drinks total chick day!

I want to mention that a dear friend of mine is having a birthday today...Happy Birthday Cindy! If you can, please drop by www.3scrappyboys.com and wish Cindy a Happy Birthday!

Other things on my agenda it to get more information together for a news letter for our HOA. Get more information from the 3 sanitation companies that service our local area and give some scoop on our ever rising water bills.

I've got to crank out a board report for OSC, get a menu list done and get invitations out to various nonprofit charities that depend upon volunteers. I've also got to shop for the Bingo Prizes for the September function- eek!

I've got to work some more on the garage. It got too hot in there to continue working on sorting through things yesterday. I've really got to make a big push to get it done though.

I did manage to get some more boxes cleared out of the guest room/home office. I even went though a big box, sorted the items and out those items where they need to go... you know- the donate, keep and toss piles and then sort it further from there.

What I did today...

I’ve been keeping myself fairly busy today…

*Got up at 5 am, drank enough coffee to keep a small village of elves awake for a week

*Took my son to the High School for yet another round of leadership school, this one being sponsored through the Douglas High School JROTC program

* Made a double batch of Manicotti today (with meat- ground chicken to be exact)

*Washed about a zillion loads of dirty clothes

*Talked to my youngest brother in law, he’s having surgery tomorrow and he had some anesthesia and recovery time questions for me. I’ll call him in a couple of days to see how he is doing. I won’t call tomorrow…he’s going to be rather out of it with the drugs, LOL!

*Did some HOA stuff, getting information together for a news letter

*spoke with the VP from OSC and she put together a smashing letter to send to the different volunteer organizations in our area.

*Cleared 2 boxes of crap from the garage- was it ever hot out there too!

*And now for me to watch some more awesome programming on The Discovery Channel- it’s Shark Week!

 

 

blog challenge- Top 10 things on my mind right now...uncensored

1- I need to thank the ladies who stepped up to be board members for our HOA. This is a wonderful thing that they do and I'm proud that I have such wonderful friends and neighbors who want to help me to get our neighbors to join together and make our community be the best that it can be!

2- Need to call the 3 different Sanitation companies on Monday and get more detailed outline of what they can offer our HOA as to recycling and trash pick up.

3- OSC programs- meeting tomorrow with OSC president need to cover what programs I've got planned for the year.

4- Our water bill is pretty high this month and next month it's going to be at least 3 times this amount...I want to vomit just thinking about it.

5-I wonder what my husband and children are going to come back with...they went to Lowes so it can be just about anything.

6-I just love those new nightstands that I bought yesterday. It's an early anniversary present to my husband and myself! The unfinished furniture store is the place for me!

7-I need to go to the nursery and pick up some plants and plug them in my flower beds.

8- I wonder how my friend René is feeling today. She was feeling rather overwhelmed with things the other day. René if you're reading this...don't stress about the glue on the wood flooring, if you wait long enough it'll wear off, LOL! Now you know that I'm just joking, take your time, take Robins attitude...don't stress out on those things that really don't matter.

9-who will be the next HGTV Design Star? I'm watching this and I love it!

10- I hope that my Dad is having a "good" day/week. My heart goes out to anyone who is also having to deal with a parent that has Alzheimer's. My Dad now has days where he doesn't recognize people- people being his immediate family. I try to keep myself alive in his heart and memories by sending him a different hand made card each week just talking about what has been going on with my children and husband.

Be all you can be!

Have you thought about being involved in your community? I've never been politically motivated but more civic minded. I'm always one looking to do or make things better in my little neck of the woods. With that very thing in mind, today I became the president of our Home Owners Association. I have good ideas that I hope to get our community involved in. To be just that...a community that wants to get together with others that live here in our little subdivision. To get to know who we live next to, to watch out for one another and to know when there are strangers in our neighborhood. One of the things I plan on getting our neighborhood together on is a neighborhood watch program.

So the first thing that I'm doing is to get us a contract with a sanitation company that wants our business and is willing to meet the needs of a growing community. Monday I will be calling the representatives from the 3 sanitation companies and go over some things with them and have them send me a new proposal. I will then include that information in a letter and send it to each and every home owner in our subdivision. Well vote on it and get it into play. The sooner we get it done the sooner we can get on to other topics at hand. I've also got a couple of great people to take on the positions of VP and secretary/treasurer. We're going to be starting up a welcoming committee and I'm going to make a huge effort to great all of the new neighbors just moving into in our subdivision and I'd love to be able to meet the ones that have been here a while too!

Yup, I'm going to be plenty busy this coming year that's for sure!

Look what I made!

I made this using the July kit from www.3scrappyboys.com want to see the other sides and the top? You can check it out in the 3SB gallery Ü I had the most fun making this too!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

My baby girl is 12 years old today- WOW where does the time go? Hannah has grown into a charming and thoughtful young lady. She's always thinking how she can do things to improve quality of life for pets, people and even plants.

For her birthday we went to lunch at her favorite place...Mongolian Grill. I think it's because she can get a bowl full of noodles with her choice of veggies and meats. We're building a birthday cake but it's not an ordinary one, it's a train. I got the cake pan at http://www.williams-sonoma.com it's called the railway cake pan. Our daughter loves trains and this is just the most perfect thing for her. I made the little cakes last night and today we're adding on the candy decorations with royal icing.

I'll add in pictures later on of the cake and our birthday girl.

dumb laws in South Dakota...

Lets face it there are some laws on the books that make no sense what so ever...here are a few...

*No horses are allowed into Fountain Inn unless they are wearing pants.

*It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep in a cheese factory.

*Movies that show police officers being struck, beaten, or treated in an offensive manner are forbidden.

*If there are more than 5 Native Americans on your property you may shoot them.

*in the City of Spearfish-If three or more Indians are walking down the street together, they can be considered a war party and fired upon.

After the rain...

Last nights rain storm was more like a torrential down pour rather than a gentle summer rain. Just 4 houses up from us the street is covered in dirt/top soil that has washed away from someones yard. The flower garden area in our backyard has deep ruts running though it from the down pour we experienced in the middle of the night. It was a scary storm, howling wind and the rain was just pounding against the house.
The storm has left us with cooler temperatures and a great deal of humidity. So much humidity that I feel as if I'm back in Virginia. It's just nasty sticky, it's not comfortable to go outside. I popped outside once and I went back inside immedieatly. I just checked the humidity level...it's at 78%, yuck! What a great day to get some stuff done around the house where it's cool and free of humidity levels that make it hard to breathe.

Altered Art

I've decided that today is altered art day. I'm working on a little project using some fantastic papers from www.3scrappyboys.com. The colors of the patterned paper and the cardstock are what inspired me to do this this little project. I'll have to post a picture after I'm done with the project. You'll also see a picture of it in the 3 Scrappy Boys gallery.

My Mother is in my head...

Going through all of the boxes of "stuff" that has been in permanent storage for almost 4 years is bringing back a flood of memories. And on top of that add in the fact that I recently went to CA for a visit to see my parents. My Mom of whom is the Queen of all pack-rats. It's not that she's really a bad pack-rat or that she has a boat load of items hanging around the house...it's just that she keeps the oddest things...old Avon perfume bottles she waves one at me "ooh Sandie these are collectibles and they're worth some money" my reply "yeah Mom...only to those that collect them..." Insert an eye roll with that comment. Or old Barbie dolls(some of which I had scalped or gave horrible hair cuts to when I was about 8 years old) and my Mom dares to tell me that those things are worth something...get real! So here I am going through a box of old freaky hair Barbie Dolls and I'm laughing at myself because I actually contemplated keeping some of them...why on earth would I do that? Because I can hear my Mother speaking to me in my head that's why! Ooh Sandie keep those Barbies, your Grand Daughters will want to play with them. Um Mom...I hate to inform you but Hannah is only 12 and Andrew 15, there aren't going to be any Grand Children for at least another 20 or so years. By then those Barbies will be dust! So with that very thought in mind all of those weird looking dolls with bad hair cuts are outta here! I think that I will take some pictures of them before I take them to the doll grave yard. I want to take a picture of these ugly things are journal about what I wrote here...how my Mom was telling me that they are worth some money, it makes me laugh just thinking about it.

So what memories are you scrapbooking today?

Shopping at my LSS

I want to support my LSS (local scrapbooking store) I really do but I wish that they would have more of a selection. Not that what they carry is bad it's just that I would like to see some more variety. I went in to buy some Bazzill Flowers, not Prima flowers but Bazzill...I need them for a particular project. Of course she doesn't carry them but she had the large Prima flowers. I get them home to discover 2 things...first off that they're really not going to work on this project and second- they stink as in smell like a dead fish (no joke). And I have another dilemma- I bought the milk crate of Prima flowers while there at my LSS only to discover this morning that my favorite on line site has them for $10 less- I want to return the milk crate to my LSS but what do I say to her? Hey I found them on line for $10 less? This really makes me look and feel bad especially since I was talking to her yesterday about how we should support of local scrapbooking stores and shop a little less on line. Or tell a little white lie and say that they really aren't what I'm looking for? Which in essence isn't really a lie at all. She (the store owner) knew that I was really looking for the Bazzill flower embellishments and I settled for these. I always end up regretting impulse purchases- feeling like this sucks, LOL! BUT wait...there are 2 other items that I want to get from her store...and they add up to being more than what I'm returning, that can't be too bad can it?

Now to see if I can find those Bazzill flowers here in town...I bought them at a little yarn shop I wonder if they are still in business...I'm going to check that out in another hour.

Cable TV- what are you watching?

I love Cable TV, there's so much diversity of programming these days. One thing I find is that there are little specials here and there that I will record to watch later with my family.

The Planet Earth Series is awesome! If you haven't seen it yet, tune into one of the episodes, you will be instantly hooked! The photography is amazing...you wouldn't expect anything less than phenomenal from National Geographic and they won't let you down with this mini series.

Shark Week- more family entertainment from the Discovery Channel. Who doesn't like Shark Week? It's so informative and fascinating at the same time. And there's new programs this season, woohoo! I have my DVR ready to record the new shows!

Animal Planet is bringing back Meerkat Manor on August 10th- it's an all new season and my entire family is giddy with excitement about it! So what has Flower and her troop been up to?

The History Channel with it's mini series Ice Road Truckers is topping the ratings charts this summer. We record and watch it later in the week. It's pretty interesting and that driving on a road made from ice gives it the thrill factor that keeps us on the edge of our seats.

Besides the Weather Channel and the News Channels...what's on your TV these days???
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Things that my children do that is driving me crazy this summer...

It's obvious that I've been around my children way too much because there are little things that are driving me nuts with them here 24/7.

*The fact that no one seems to care if they push their chair back in place after sitting at either dining table for any amount of time-augh! I hate seeing chairs pushed out into walking areas.

*Why is it that they seldom clean up after themselves? And when I do hound them like there's no tomorrow they bring those dishes up from their rooms but they don't get them into the dishwasher? They're soon to find out that they'll not be getting anything to drink or a plate for their food...why? Because we ran out of cups and plates because they're where? Down in your rooms that's where!

*Putting wet towels in the clothes hamper. Why after their entire lives of me telling them NO TOWELS in the clothes hampers are they and my husband suddenly putting wet/smelly towels in the clothes hampers? There is nothing worse than mold and/or mildew on clothing caused by stinky wet towels!

*The funniest thing is when the cable goes out...both kids suddenly appear out of thin air saying "Mom we're bored" my reply is "Oh my word...like there's nothing else in the entire world do to...go read a book, ride a bike and write a letter to a friend who has moved away- but what ever it is stop telling me that there's nothing to do!"

But if this is all that I have to complain about... I suppose that I do have it pretty good after all. But the towel thing really is starting to bug the crap out of me, LOL! I pulled out some pretty rank ones from a couple of clothes hampers this morning and I'm still stewing about it!

3 Scrappy Boys

My favorite message board is back up with a new look and it's running at full throttle! Please check out www.3scrappyboys.com and see what new and groovy things are happening in the world of scrapbooking. The pictures that are being posted from CHA are wonderful! Sure some things are kind of funky but there's always something for everyone at CHA! I look forward to the scoop that Cindy brings back from CHA- I want to hear all of the gritty details! Ü I know that it's a total Zoo but it's also got to be such an adrenaline rush just seeing all of those new items first hand.

It's Organizing day

Today is Saturday...the day I get the guest room/ home office organized and pull the table linens out of the armoiré and put them into the chest of drawers in the office. We all need space and my kitchen and dining room items need to go somewhere so they might as well go there.

The permanent storage items arrived on Thursday. I made sure to have a box to items that we are going to donate, I did this right from the start. It's much better than bringing it all into the house and going form there. So here I am with oodles of things to go through and you know what...it wasn't that bad. I made decisions right there on the spot as to what stayed and what was coming into the house. You have to keep in mind that these are items that I have not seen in almost 4 years, of course there are going to be quite a few things that I would have purged during that time. I think that I've done very well in the purging department! Now to finish my work and figure out what to do with all of these wine glasses, LOL!!!

Happy Birthday Andrew...one day late

Our son Andrew celebrated a milestone birthday yesterday...he turned 15. Andrew really never liked having a birthday party per say but rather just our immediate family and sometimes a friend or two. Yesterday was no exception to that rule. We went out to lunch at his favorite restaurant (Olive Garden), went to see a movie last night

(the 5th installment of the Harry Potter books made into movies).At the end of the evening we ask him how was his birthday and we got this...the thumbs up. What a happy boy excuse me...what a happy teenager we have!

I wonder about people...

There's so much going on around me that I wonder about. Take the recent deaths of a couple who were duel military. They have been stationed here only 3 weeks. Their deaths are still under investigation and there is a lot of speculation going on to it being a double murder or a murder suicide. It troubles me to no end that someone can be so unhappy to kill themselves but worse yet to kill their spouse or children? I'm one of those very curious people...having to know all of the details into the human psyche as to why people do things. I suppose we'll never really know why anyone does anything so horrible but I can't help but wonder.

Then there's this neighbor of ours...let me just say that I've never seen a worse case of "keeping up with the Jones' in my life! I have to roll my eyes when I think of this couple. A good friend and neighbor told me when we first moved into our new home to observe this couple. I laugh at the antics of this woman and her husband. It's all about keeping up appearances with those two. If they see you having something that makes them not to have the latest and greatest, well then they are off to go out and buy one for themselves.

The first thing this woman did was to buy a new stainless steel grill like ours. I didn't think much of it at first as a grill is a grill and if you need a new one well you need a new one. But when I overheard her talking to her husband about it I had to laugh. She saw ours and suddenly her black grill was no longer any good. Now if you want to talk about needing a new grill here you go... our black grill was on it's last legs! First off it was 7 years old, the handle that you use to lift the grill top up was broken in half, we've had to replace the burner elements inside of it, replaced the grill racks twice and lets face it the side burner was rusted out and I wasn't going to sink any more money into it.

Good friends of ours who live in the neighborhood recently had their deck extended, a 2nd set of stairs was added (one set goes down to the grass area of their yard and another set goes down to the concrete patio) they've also changed the railings- WOW it looks very nice! Talk about adding greatly to the future resale value of their beautiful home. Now this other neighbor is badgering her husband about getting their deck added on to and how she wants one just like our friends' deck. I feel that it's just a matter of time until she calls the landscaper and has him add on to their yard with concrete curbing around their trees and the addition of flower beds. I see this couple digging themselves into a financial hole that they won't be able to get out off all because they crave attention, to cut it short they want to be the envy of the neighborhood. The man has already ruined his lawn by cutting it twice a week during the hottest time of the year in the desire of having the best manicured lawn in the neighborhood. When it's this hot (in the 90's to 100's) you need to let your grass grow longer, to the 3 to 4 inch range. And I heard from another friend in our neighborhood that the "keeping up appearances neighbor" was complaining to him about his water bill being so high and that he has altogether stopped watering his lawn...oh my gosh what an idiot! Well if the guy would stop scalping his lawn and let it grow he wouldn't have those huge brown spots in his yard! I shake my head and wonder about this couple.

The Landscaping is done...

Here it is, the landscaping is near completion. You see that the colored concrete curbing has been done, the rocks beds filled and the cedar mulch added to the planting areas. Here is dirt, lots and lots of it too.

Over here we have grass, lovely green soft grass! Same view but WOW what a difference grass makes! I do not for one single moment regret getting sod. I know I was having my doubts about the contractor but he pulled it out of the bag! And before you even ask...yes we have a sprinkler system! It's been hot humid and hazy all day long. You can see the haze in the picture.

And over here to the right is the view from our formal dining room window. No more dirt to look at, just lovely green grass! The sun came out for a bit then went away. It rained for a while this afternoon- which is fine by me!I look forward to picking out and planting our flowering bushes this weekend.

Blog Challenge - List 5 things you are thankful for today

My blog challenge to those who have read this today (and please put a link to your blog in the comments section so we can all read it )...

List 5 things that you are thankful for today..

*My husband - I give thanks to the Lord every single day for putting him in my life. He is my inspiration. If you think I'm creative...you should see my husband, he's the true creative one in this family!

*My Children- without them I don't think that I would laugh as much as I do. Trust me when I say that my kids are always doing something on a daily basis that makes me laugh!

*Our Home- after living 3½ years in base housing I still feel as if I'm dreaming that we're really here, living in this beautiful spacious home.

*The Air Force- without it, I would not of met my husband, would not have moved as much as I have in the past 17 years and would not have made the friendships that I have.

*My PINK Columbia sandals- oh my word are these things ever so comfortable! I can wear them all day long and my feet don't ache! Now that's a good pair of sandals!