Enchanted Hills Creations

Twilight

2009-06-01T14:54:00.003-05:00

I don't know if I wish I had never heard of Twilight but, if I hadn't my house might be clean and I might have more money in the bank. I am totally obsessed with it. Me, a 56 year old, old lady can't get enough of it. It only took me three days to read a book and there are four books in the series. To top that off, they are not small books. When I finally finished reading the last one yesterday my eyes were as red as a vampire. I'm also obsessed with the movie. It is constantly playing. I have given up watching my soap operas and I don't know what I would be doing if Lost was still on. I guess I could bite the bullet for one hour.... I'm so looking forward to the new movie coming out in November but it is such a long wait and how will I ever wait until it comes out on DVD?

Adventure

2009-05-18T09:46:00.004-05:00

This is what my road looked like last Sept. I couldn't go to work that day so I went around and took a lot of pictures.
The reason I posted this picture is to show you how it must have looked Friday while I was at work. When I come home from work I come in on the other side and at 1am I came home and found two big "Road Closed" signs covering the road. I knew that the road was clear by then because the rain had stopped hours before this but I couldn't get around the signs. I parked my car facing the road and walked around the signs to make sure the road wasn't flooded but I was on a hill and it was pitch black once I got out of my cars head lights so I chickened out, turned around and went back to the car. Since I had forgotten to fill my gas tank before leaving town I only had a quarter of a tank and we don't have many gas stations near that are open in the middle of the night. I decided I would sleep in my car and when daylight woke me up I would be able to get through. It wasn't cold and I had a jacket so everything should be good. Trying to sleep in the front seat wasn't good so I decided to try the back seat. I remembered I had a blanket in the trunk so I got that to use as a pillow. Turned out it smelled slightly of gasoline from when I got gas for the lawnmower. I still used it. It wasn't strong enough to give me a headache and I was so darn tired. Still it was very hard to get to sleep and then the wind kicked up and that didn't help me sleep at all. Finally I think I did sleep for about an hour. I woke up at around 3am and I was cold and I had to pee. I went back to the front seat and turned the car on and the heater. Now, what am I going to do? I am not going to pee at the side of the road. For one thing it was cold now and another thing I would probably end up rolling down the hill backwards, knocking myself out or something and being there with my pants down when people started driving around. I'd be the laughing stock of the county. Nope not going to do that.

So, I had to figure out where I could get gas and what direction I could go after that to get home. I had two options. North or South. Either way will take me at least 2 hours to get home. Mind you, I'm only 5 minutes from home where I am parked right now but I'm afraid to try to move the road signs. They look heavy and there are big sand bags on them to hold them down.

I decide to go South back to the town I work in to get gas at the 24 hour station. I drive about 20 miles and find that the road is closed because of something to do with a couple of BIG trucks. The cop tells me I have to go North. He also said he didn't have a problem with me making a U turn in the middle of the highway. Thank you very much. So I make the U and drive about 15 miles to the only 24 hour gas station on the way home in that direction. The price of gas was 10 cents a gallon more than at the town I wanted to get gas at!! That is a BIG difference! Before I got gas I went running in to the station to use the restroom. The women's door was shut so I knocked on it and a lady said she'd be out in a minute. Then I heard a lot of toilet paper rolling. And then a lot more. I realized that I really didn't want to follow her. I asked the guy working there if I could use the men's room and he said sure but there shouldn't be anyone in the women's and I told him there was and he looked at me really funny. I used the men's room and when I got done I saw she was still in there. I never did see her come out but I wasn't waiting around. I'm just glad that I didn't wait for her.

I got gas and drove off and made it home at around 5am. My best friend told me she passed me on the road and thought it was me. She thought I must have spent the night at a friends house. Nope. Stupid me just drove all night long. I got into bed at around 5:30 and got up at 9am to go back to work. I was surprised at how well I did at work with so little sleep. When people at work asked me how I got home I just told them I went the long way. I didn't tell them the whole story.

So, next time what will I do? Will I just go ahead and drive the long way or will I try to move the signs? I don't know. I really am a big chicken.

Missouri Tornadoes

2009-05-14T13:50:00.007-05:00

I'm going to apologise right away for the bad pictures but I had to take them from my car. Lucky for me the traffic was very congested so we were moving slowly. I was only able to point and shoot though as we were crawling along and I was driving and alone. These are new very expensive homes across from the Jim Robertson's new car dealership.

I don't know how many houses were destroyed or damaged but it is very bad. The utility company was putting up new posts and lines but I was too close to be able to get a good picture. I guess I could have tried to take pictures out of my windshield but it is so dirty I didn't think anything would have showed but the dirt.

These are cars from the dealership. Their windows are broken out. They had been blown all out into the road but when I got there they had be moved back to the lot.

Their sign is gone and one of their lights is leaning.

A lot of Maytag's windows were blown out and the power lines are laying down in their parking lot.

They are saying that we lost 3 people in this storm and when I went to Wal-Mart I saw quite a few tears. I am just so very thankful that it missed me and my friends and family and my thoughts and prayers go out to all that have been involved in this tragedy.

I drove by my work and everything looks normal there and the parking lot is full so I still have a job!

Pictures of the Graduation

2009-05-14T10:09:00.008-05:00

Daughter-in-law receiving her diploma.

Son receiving his diploma.

Son, his girlfriend and two of his three sons from his first marriage. The youngest boy ran to the car so he could play his video game. The wind was blowing really hard and big rain drops were falling.

Daughter-in-law trying hard to keep her hat on for the picture.

We gave up after this picture. We had just found out that there might have been a tornado in the town I work in and the storm might be coming towards us. It didn't and I was able to drive the boys home safely.

Congratulations Graduates!

2009-05-13T14:04:00.002-05:00

My son and DIL are both Graduating tonight from the same college and I am so excited for them. Just to be a little confusing this is not a married couple. This is my oldest son who is engaged to be married on June 6 and my DIL that is married to my youngest son. I don't know how it worked out but both of them decided to take classes at the same time. These are not young kids so I was very surprised when they told me what they were up to two years ago. I'm also embarrassed to admit that I really wondered if they would be able to keep up with the homework and their families but they did it and tonight we celebrate!

I'll be picking up my son's 3 sons and taking them up there as a surprise. He was told that the boys' mother said they couldn't come. I hope he isn't too worked up about it. I can just imagine what he is saying and thinking about her. All I can say is that it wasn't my idea to tell him that. I am just the delivery person.

I'm taking presents and after I drop the boys off I will be picking up a cake and I suppose I should get ice cream too. I know it isn't a birthday but you can't have cake without ice cream. Can you? It just doesn't seem right.

Ok, I'll post this now because I need to get showered and dressed. I'll be taking my camera and hope to get some good pictures.

Bye

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T01:36:00.003-05:00

I hope you all have a very nice Mother's Day!

I'll be working so let me know what I missed. OK?

Love to you all!

Flower day trip

2009-05-06T11:33:00.008-05:00

These flowers were planted into a brick wall that had spaces for dirt. I had this plant in my yard but when I had my hysterectomy last year a friend that helped me out with my mowing did it in. It really isn't her fault. The grass was so overgrown that she didn't see it until it was too late. I'm not a very good gardener.

I don't know what kind of flowers these are but they are really pretty. Does anyone know?

These were really beautiful.

Can you see the little blue flowers? I love blue flowers.

My friends and I went on a day trip on a bus and I got to take pictures of some very pretty flowers. It was really nice to be able to spend the day with my friends.

We got to ride a bus for 4 hours one way and that was ....well.... interesting might be the word. Or maybe .... adventurous. Well, how about kind of scary?

On the way down there we stopped half way and got something to eat. When we got back on the bus my friend I was sitting next to and I somehow lost our seat. We couldn't figure out what happened. We knew who we were sitting in front of but there were a couple of women sitting where we should have been sitting. We stopped for a couple seconds trying to figure out what happened. Looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and went to sit in the back of the bus where the only open seats were. We had been sitting on the left side with me against the window. This time we sat on the right side of the bus with my friend against the window. Other people were watching us and wondering why we went back there to sit. They didn't realize our seats were taken. We weren't mad, just confused. I thought maybe the woman in the back sat one seat up and so that had everyone else going up a seat. No problem.

So, now we are on the right side of the bus, my friend against the window. We are looking out the window and there is a big truck with a load of blue pipes on the back and the back of the bus is weaving back and forth. It looks like we are getting really, really close to the truck and my friend tells me that we have to move to the other side of the bus. RIGHT NOW! I jumped up and sat in the seat across the isle and this time I am against the window. I liked it a lot better. She had gotten so scared she was almost in a panic. When we arrived at our destination the others told us that they saw the bus was moving a lot and they were sure it was worse in the back where we were but they were shocked when they looked back and we had been bounced across the isle.

I watched others come down the isle to use the restroom and was so grateful that I didn't need to. I don't ever remember using a restroom on a bus and with the way this one was swaying all over the place I didn't think this trip would be the time to test it out. My luck didn't hold out though on the trip back home.

As soon as we got done eating our sack lunch the bus pulled up and I didn't have time to go to the rest room before getting on the bus. I knew we were going to be driving at least 4 hours and I was doomed. My friend and I sat in separate seats but still in the back. For some reason our original seats didn't open up.

I tried to sleep as much as I could to try to keep out of the rocking restroom. It didn't work. I kept waking up and thinking about getting up but I would talk myself out of it. Finally I couldn't wait any longer. I stood up and almost fell back into my seat but I caught myself and reached the door. I couldn't find the light but there was some light coming in from somewhere. I saw the water and whatever in the pot and started worrying about it sloshing up on me. YUCK! I really, really had to go so I had to be brave. When I finally get my self situated I see that I didn't get the door latched! I tried to pull it but it wouldn't shut. I was bouncing around so much I was afraid that if I held on to the door I would just end up opening it so I left it alone. I couldn't even relax to pee from bouncing around and watching the door. Finally I was done and then had the worry of if I was going to be fully clothed when the door opened. I was being thrown around so much I had an awful time trying to keep from bouncing onto the door as I pulled my pants up and tried to zip them. That is not easy to do when bouncing off the walls. As I came out and was sitting down I told my friend "I never did find the light". She giggled. A few minutes later a lady from the front of the bus came down and when she came out of the restroom she said, word for word I shit you not...."I never did find the light"... if I hadn't just peed I would have peed my pants right then.

About 20 minutes later we pulled over where we had eaten in the morning. I couldn't believe that I all I had to do was wait for a few minutes and I could have used a stationary restroom! Then two ladies got up (the ones in our seats) and left the bus! It turns out that they gotten on the bus when we were there eating and that was why they were in our seats. They didn't know the seats were taken. Oh, by the way, the driver never turned the bus off and as soon as the ladies were gone we were driving again so it was a good thing I didn't wait.

I'm not planning on taking another long bus trip but to be honest I thought we were only going two hours away not four.

It's a Girl!

2009-04-29T08:50:00.003-05:00

Here she is, just hours old! When I gave these pictures to Grandma I told her she wouldn't look like this anymore. Grandma said I was right and that her hair is darker now and her face isn't so chubby. Isn't she just the sweetest thing?

Carly Sue was born at 2:20 this morning! She weighed 7 pounds 15.8 0z and is 22 inches long. I won't go in to see her until later today. I want to give them time to rest.
Pictures later!

Expecting

2009-04-29T00:03:00.002-05:00

I am waiting for a call from my best friend about the arrival of her first grand baby! I would love to be there with them but there would be way too many people so I am waiting at home. She is a week late and saw the doctor today and he put her in the hospital. I think it was around noon when she went in and it is midnight now. I am usually up until 2 or 3 am and they know that so I should get a call when it happens. I hope it doesn't take her much longer. She has got to be worn out by now.

I'll post pictures when I get them.

Ding Dong

2009-04-27T14:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday as I was walking out the door to go to work I checked my pocket for my car keys. They weren't there. I checked the pocket of the coat I wore the night before. No keys. It's getting late and I don't have time to search the house so I get the second set out of my purse, grab my stuff and head for the car. I get in the car, put my stuff in the passenger seat and then when I go to put the key in the ignition I look down and.......

get this.........

it isn't what you're thinking..............

I have a set of keys in each hand! What a ding dong!

Mrs. Shrek anyone?

2009-04-24T09:43:00.002-05:00

I had my hair dyed at the shop on Tuesday and I hate it. To me it looks like a bad wig but everyone else tells me they love it. It is a light brown but to me it looks like it has a green tint to it but others act like they don't see it. My BFF is all excited about it because she says it matches my eyebrows and so it looks natural. I figured she would know by now that I don't really care for the natural look. With any luck it will fade out soon and I'll see what it looks like then. It shows golden highlights in the sun but I prefer a red tint. It might be the lack of red that makes it look green to me. Another friend from work says it makes my eyes pop. I told her my eyes hurt from all the popping.
I just realized that Mrs. Shrek is green but her hair isn't but that is as close as I could come to someone with green hair. Or might have green hair. Or who might even wish they had green hair.
I've known my BFF for 12 years and I have always had some shade of blond on my hair except the last 2 years I let it grow out and was grey and white. My BFF for all these years has been telling me that I need to color my hair brown because the blond didn't match my eyebrows and it didn't look natural. I really don't understand her fascination with looking natural but, she is from Missouri and I am from California. Nothing looks natural in California and I like it that way.

Good bye old neighbor

2009-04-22T18:42:00.005-05:00

This old house has stood there for many, many years. People have lived in it until a few years ago when the elderly lady pass away. I only knew her for a short time but I liked her. I bought the little old house across the street from this one. Mine was only empty for about a year but that year took a tole on mine. With being of the "poor persuasion" it is taking me a long time to get my home in good repair but slowly I am getting things done. One day when I was visiting my late Dad he told me (in reference to himself and his house) that they should never let poor people own a house and sometimes I know what he means.

Some people bought the blue house across the road from me and tore it down and I took pictures of it going down. To me it was sad and fascinating at the same time. I had never seen a house being torn down so right away I ran over there with my camera and started snapping pictures. The owner teased me about working for the local TV station. I've known him long enough for him to know that I am a nobody and that I just like to take pictures.

Here it is as they are crashing in the top floor to the bottom floor. I took a whole lot of pictures of them smashing it to pieces. My best friend drove by as I was taking pictures and I'm not sure but I think I heard some loud cackling as she went by.

I love fire pictures and this is my favorite of the batch. Isn't it fantastic how a small fire can be made to look huge.

This is what it looks like now. There is still a hump and it is still smoking. I'm pretty sure they will level it off when it gets done smoking but I don't know how long that will be. There is a riding arena to the right and now that the weather is getting better I'm pretty sure the kids will be riding their horses in there. I am hoping that they might leave their horses there when they get the fences and everything else done. I love to watch horse run and play but there isn't a barn here so that might not happen. I'll be able to watch the horses when they bring them to ride and I'll just have to be content with that.

Paul Revere.....where are you???

2009-04-10T01:58:00.004-05:00

While driving home from work this morning (I get off work at midnight) I heard on the radio that someone in these United States is trying to get a 10 % tax added to soda pop in order to slow peoples intake of soda and all the sugar in it. They seem to think that the drinking of soda pop is what is making our children and adults fat and that by taxing it I guess they think we will lose weight. It started with tobacco and now there are a lot less smokers. So it shows that putting a large tax on something will get people to stop buying it. Of course, there was also the new laws banning smoking anywhere on the planet but we'll let them think it all had to do with taxes. So, now in order to make us healthier they want to take away our soda pop (Ha! We'll show them, we'll drink sweet tea! No huge tax on tea! Paul Revere and his group put a stop to that a long time ago)(Yes, I am a big fan of Paul Revere and the Raiders but this isn't the group I am talking about right now. OK?). Now, back to my rambling.
We are still getting fat so next they will want to tax our Little Debbie's snack cakes. Well, ok, we all learn how to make cake at home and we don't have to buy snack cakes. So now we are happy at home smoking our cigarettes, drinking sweet tea, eating home made cake and still getting fat. They see that their high tax plan isn't working so they decide that since we are still eating and drinking stuff that makes us fat they will tax our sugar, flour and eggs. When all of the huge taxes on our food doesn't stop us from gaining weight where will it end?
Any bets that they weigh us and make us pay a "Fat Tax" every year?

Day trip postponed

2009-04-01T17:35:00.002-05:00

Remember, I told you my friends and I had a day trip planned and how much fun we were going to have? Well, the weather on Friday was beautiful, the weather on Sunday was beautiful but this was the weather on Saturday. The flakes that were coming down when I took this picture were really big and you might be able to see them against the tree. The wind was blowing so hard it was really difficult for me to get a picture without snow getting all over my lens and my fingers were freezing off. Oso (my little doggie) snuck out the door with me and he soon decided I was crazy for wanting to be out there taking pictures. I didn't stay out there too long and he was happy to run inside as soon as I opened the door. If it had been a beautiful day I would have had a very difficult time getting him to come inside.

Today they tore down the old house across the road from me and I stood out there taking pictures of it. They then started it on fire and I got lovely fire pictures. Right now it is evening and they are stirring the fire to make sure everything burns. When it has burned as much as possible they then will bury it and level the ground as much as possible and I will have a much nicer view. Oh, lucky for me, the wind is blowing away from my house.

I'll post pictures later.

Am I supposed to?

2009-03-17T23:09:00.002-05:00

My job was on lay off for a week and I was having a ball while I was off. I did some cleaning but mostly I had fun visiting friends and family.
I work weekends and was excited to have two weekends off. When ever we have a shut down we don't go back to work until Thursday. No matter how many weeks we are off it is always Thursday when we go back. Period. Never before that.
On Friday I went with my bff on her delivery route. We spent the day driving all around NE Missouri and SE Iowa and a little bit of Illinois. While in Illinois we stopped in Nauvoo and made plans to go back with some other friends in a couple weeks! Nauvoo is the town that the Mormons were kicked out of in 1846 during the winter and they had to cross the frozen Mississippi river on their way to Utah. I am really looking forward to learning more about what happened back then. My bff and I decided to go to the movies and see "He's Just Not That Into You" sometime this weekend.
Then on Saturday I went to breakfast at the historic school house in my little town. Afterwards I went to the "dog sale" which now is mostly a flea market. I was looking for baby Muskogee ducks for my DIL. She likes them for pets and only wants two or three but to order them you have to buy twenty. That can be very costly besides she doesn't want that many of them. I was out of luck. It is too early to have ducks and chicks there yet. Too cold. On the way home there was almost an accident between a truck and a train but I will post about that later. On the way home I was thinking so hard about the truck/train thing that I ended up turning right instead of left and ended up in a whole different town ten miles in the wrong direction. The reason I didn't realize sooner that I was going in the wrong direction is because I was in an area I don't usually drive in and it is all country side with maybe five homes along the road. After I finally got home I did a lot of cleaning. When it was too late to go to the movie I remembered that we were going to go. I called my bff and she had forgotten too so we decided to go on Sunday.
Sunday, I got up early and started doing more cleaning. Did some stuff outside and came back in. Then I got a phone call. It was my boss. I was feeling really good and was very bubbly and he was too. I was wondering, why is my boss calling me on my day off? Then he asked me if I was going to come in to work today? He said he looked but I hadn't asked for a vacation day for Sunday. While he's saying that I'm saying "Oh, my God! Am I supposed to?" He laughed and said that we are scheduled to come back on Sunday. He said some of the girls told him that I must have forgotten! He was very nice about it and told me not to hurry so much that I get into an accident. He was having a rough start up and the reason he didn't know that I wasn't there for an hour and a half was because only one of three lines were running so no one was complaining to him. I got there and everyone was teasing me but all was fine. It was silly because we only worked that day and now our shift is off until Thursday but the other shift is working.

ETSY

2009-03-17T18:40:00.001-05:00

I just added sachets to my ETSY store. Check it out!

www.enchantedhills.etsy.com

New Hair!

2009-03-10T20:21:00.003-05:00

I am so excited! I am a new woman. Really! Today I got my hair cut and.........get this..........COLORED! It has been white for a couple years and I finally got tired of looking so old and besides it is time to shock people and make them wonder if I have found a man.
Humm, what is she up to? She cut and colored her hair, Myrtle. Have you seen any different cars at her place lately?
Women, hold on to your men! Enchanted is Enchanting again! Whoooo Hooo!

Adobe Photoshop Elements

2009-03-09T17:48:00.003-05:00

I scored big time with my oldest son! He was signed up to take a digital camera class at his college but he couldn't get the program the instructor wanted him to get so he dropped out. Lucky me because he gave me his Elements 6 book and all I had to do is buy the program and now I have an awesome book to teach me how to use it. Wish me luck.

Wal~Mart

2009-03-09T09:37:00.002-05:00

I shop at Wal~Mart when I get off work at midnight and I always thought that was the best time to shop because there aren't very many people there. Then I started to notice just how much of a pain in the ass it is. That is when they are stocking the shelves and you have to shop around boxes all over the place but, I can live with that. I know that people have a job to do and that is when they do it. So, I can live with it. (Big of me, huh?) Another bad thing about shopping at that time is that is also when they are cleaning the floors. They have large blocks of isles marked off that you can't go into so you have to come back at a later time to get them. Ok, I prefer the floors to be clean so I adjust my shopping days so that I can shop a couple days and have the last day of work my final shopping day of the week. The one major problem I have with the night crew is one man. He runs one of those large floor cleaning machines. He's a menace and he needs to have his floor cleaning machine drivers license revoked! He's awful. I have learned to dodge down a different isle when he's coming because he will not slow down and will push you out of the way. I have not had any problems with the other people that use those machines. They will stop and wait for me to realize they are there and then I will get out of their way. They will also smile at me but not him. No smiles at all. Well, I got back at him the other night. I had a cart full and he was waiting behind me to buy his drink and something to eat on his break. Normally I would have let the person behind me go ahead if they only have a couple things and I have a full cart. I am afraid that I may have even snickered to myself when I realized I was able to get back at him and make him wait for me. I know, it was petty and I'm quite sure that he didn't even know that I was paying him back for being so rude but, it made me feel better. How grown up is that?

Flooded, again

2009-03-08T22:02:00.003-05:00

It's a good thing I am off work today because we were flooded in again. I've lived here since '96 and the first time we flooded was this past Sept. and now we go again. I hope this isn't a trend.

Time change, new clock

2009-03-08T10:14:00.002-05:00

Last night I was reading before going to bed. I looked at the clock and it was around 2 am. I did all the necessaries before going to bed and when I got there my new alarm clock said 3 am. I was surprised because I really thought it was 2 and how did it take me so long to get to bed? Oh, well, must have looked at the clock wrong. No big deal. Then this morning I realized it was the day for the time change and that my new alarm clock changes the time on its own! I need more clocks like that!

Cakes!

2009-03-06T11:23:00.002-06:00

Today I will be baking two cakes. It is my oldest son's birthday on Sunday and he wants the German Chocolate cake that Nana used to make for everyone's birthday. Most of our family didn't like coconut (Nana included) so Nana would make the frosting from scratch and leave out the coconut. It is so good! I thought that everyone loved that cake so I picked up the tradition but last year I found out that my youngest son is just being polite when he eats it. He likes the white cake with frosting and decorated with roses and all that stuff so I am making both cakes. His birthday is in two weeks and I don't know if I will be able to see him then. I work weekends and those are his only days home. My job is shut down for this week and that is the only reason why I'll be able to do this. I'm really excited. If they turn out good I'll post pictures.

Also, my youngest son wants to learn to decorate cakes so I told him that I will mix up the frosting and take it to his house and we can both work on decorating together. It has been a few years since I have taken the time to decorate cakes so this whole experience could be very funny.

Wish us luck!

Time saving

2009-02-27T10:24:00.003-06:00

I have been trying to diet by eating less carbs and I found that if I eat a beef patty in the morning I am not starving for hours! It really helps me cut out any snacking and I am slowly losing weight. My whole problem with pan frying the patty was the mess afterward and then I realized that I can cook it in my toaster oven on a piece of foil with the sided crumpled up to make a little "pan" of it's own and then when it is done all I have to do is throw the foil in the trash and everything is clean! I love it!!

Etsy shop

2009-02-24T18:13:00.002-06:00

I have finally gotten around to opening an Etsy shop. I do have a problem though. I don't have a beautiful banner to use.
Well, come on over and take a look at it when you have time.

www.enchantedhills.etsy.com

I've been busy

2009-02-24T11:55:00.011-06:00

I have been very busy making soap lately for a large order I received from a gift shop. I think I have enough made with a large enough selection that people will be inclined to buy more than one. The bars are small and so the price is low enough that people are able to many fragrances without killing their wallet.

Here are the pictures:

Apple

Black Raspberry

Island Delight

Lavender

Oatmeal, Goat's Milk and Honey

Patchouli/ Lemongrass

Plumeria

Sandalwood Rose
Spearmint Eucalyptus Salt Bar

Sunday Dinner (Pioneer Style)

2009-02-11T08:56:00.001-06:00

I was just reading Robynn's Ravings where she was telling about how easy it was for her mom to kill farm animals. It made me think of a story my Mom told me about when she was a young or pre-teen living in rural South Dakota.

She told me that every Sunday her Mom would kill a couple chickens and fix a big Sunday dinner after Church. She said that there was a space in the back porch steps that her Mom would slip the head of the chicken in and then hold onto the legs so that the chicken was upside down. She would then give a good yank on it and that would kill the chicken. Easy peasy.

One Sunday my Mom decided that she didn’t want to go to Church and Grandma tried to make her go but she refused. When Grandma decided she couldn’t force her to come without dragging her she told Mom “Ok, you can stay home but you will have to kill the chickens and fix the dinner. Have it fixed by the time we get home” and then the rest of the family left for Church. I am sure that Grandma and Grandpa got quite a chuckle thinking about what was going on at home.

Mom said that she chased and chased the first darn chicken all over the yard. She slipped and fell and was all skinned up but she wouldn’t give up. She got it in a corner and thought she had it but it let out a squawk and flew out over her head and the chase was on again. She was running bent over at the waist with her arms spread out trying to catch the darn thing and she ran head first into the wooden fence of the cow pen and fell backwards onto her rear. The cows were watching her with what looked like to her…with amusement. Her dog was following her and barking and adding to the chaos and not being much of a help. She got herself up and dusted off, rubbed her forehead, wiped her tears and got more determined. Finally the dog scared the chicken and it flew into the air and Mom was able to catch it by a leg as it flew past.

She then had to fight with the chicken to keep it from pecking her as she put the head in the space in the porch steps and yanked. Nothing happened. The chicken lived. She kept trying and it just wouldn’t die. She really wasn’t someone that could just kill an animal and this was very hard on her to keep trying to kill this poor chicken. After several attempts Mom gave up and put the chicken in a cage for Grandma to deal with and went inside. There was no thought of going after a second chicken.

She cleaned herself up and fixed the big dinner minus the chicken.

She was the first one out the door to go to Church the next Sunday.

Jail Break!

2009-02-10T12:24:00.004-06:00

This morning I got a knock on the door and since I am expecting a package I thought it was the mail lady. Instead it was a man that lives a couple miles from me telling me that there are three horses loose on the highway, and did I know who they belonged to. I told him that the horses that live at the next corner always get out. He didn't seem to think these were the same ones but he left. Another neighbor has horses across and over from me so I called her and told her that two sorrels and a bay were out, were they hers? She said she didn't think so but she would come up and take a look. I met her out there and she said they weren't hers and the horses that always get out were still in so we decided to move them to the corral across the road from me. This is right on the highway and this way when the owner drives by they will see them.
The plan was for me to walk behind them and heard them into the lot. They were so tame that me walking behind, yelling (not really yelling but talking out loud) and waving my arms didn't move them at all. Then I tried walking ahead of them gently talking to them and making clicking noises. One of them started following me and that got the others to follow. Then they stopped so I went to the side of the road and pulled some dry grass and held it out to them. They looked at it and went over to where I pulled it and started grazing. Hum. Not what I was trying for. Then the mail lady came driving up and they still didn't move. I thought that she might be able to heard them to the gate but they made her stop. She told us what road they had come from which was an entirely different place I thought they would have come from.
The girl that was helping me drove up to me and I got an empty feed bag out of the back of her 4 wheeler and shook it. That got their attention and they followed me right on in and she shut the gate behind us.
We then went driving around to see if we could decide who's horses they were. We decided they belong to some friends of mine that have moved to another state and have someone else watching them.
Now phone calls are being made to the guy that is taking care of them and to the man who's corral we put them into but they are safe and no one will hit them on the road. They are in very good shape and I am loving watching them run and play across the road.

Big soap order!

2009-02-09T12:05:00.002-06:00

Ok, the order isn't for "BIG" soap but for a large number of small soaps and I am so excited. I have been in a slump. Not really feeling like making soap. Now I have to make lots of soap. I need to make ten batches but since I only have one mold it is all coming along slowly. I now have five batches done but one of them is giving me trouble. When I first made it there was a problem with separation so I poured it into the stainless steel bowl and cooked it double boiler method. It looked good so I put it in the mold. The next day it separated again. Just a little bit but I wasn't comfortable with it so it is now in the double boiler again. The good thing about cooking soap is that when it is used it gives awesome bubbles!

Gotta get back to stirring.

Meet and greet tour

2009-02-04T09:53:00.003-06:00

We have a small town nearby and they have a new police officer that has come up with a great way to meet as many of the folks as possible. He has 3 places in town that everyone knows about (now that he's been doing it for a few days) where he sits with his radar and pulls people over for speeding. What a fantastic way to get to know the towns people! I was warned about him so I haven't met him yet but my best friend received a warning for going 5 miles over the speed limit. We can now rest assured that the streets will be safe with this officer on duty!

Blog Award!

2009-02-02T09:26:00.005-06:00

I was tagged by Teresa of Elegance by Mode so I'm spreading the love!!!
Honorees please follow these instructions and share the LUV!
1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (You can highlight the photo and text of this post and copy/paste wherever you need to...start your highlight from the bottom up to get the photo).
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

These are some of the blogs I try to keep up with. Check them out when you have the time. I'm sure you will enjoy them too.

Lomond Soap

My Adventure With Soap

Free Printable Fun for Everyone

My Doggie Family

2009-02-02T01:19:00.003-06:00

I talk about my doggies now and then and I thought I should show you a picture of them. The chair they are on is a love seat sized recliner so they aren't as tiny as they would seem if that was a regular sized chair. They weigh between 6 and 9 pounds. Oso is the "Poppa" and he is the only long hair. I was hoping to get a mixture of long and short hair pups but it didn't happen. Suki is the "Momma" and she was my first. She doesn't like anyone but me. Or at least that is how it was in the beginning. Then we learned that if you feed her cheese she will fall in love with you. Forever. The trick is to hold it and make her eat it from your fingers. If you just drop it on the floor she will love the cheese and not you. My family feels it is well worth the effort to have Suki love you. Oprah was the first puppy. I gave her to my youngest son and his wife but after awhile they brought her back. Then came ChaChee and Cisco. Cisco went to my other son and his girlfriend but they brought him back too. ChaChee was always mine. Now, when I wasn't looking ChaChee and Cisco bred their sister, Oprah and I was so upset. There were three puppies but only one survived. I didn't expect the pup to live so I didn't give her a name for a long time. Then when it looked like she was normal and just might live to a ripe old age I tried to come up with a name for her. She didn't seem to like any of them. And then one of the older dogs started messing with her and I said, "Leave the baby alone" and she turned and came running to me. It was then that I realized that whenever I spoke about her to the other dogs I called her "The baby" and so now she answered only to "Baby". That was when I really understood just how smart she really was. I didn't even have to try to get her to learn her name. I am so glad I wasn't calling her "The little shit head"!!

I'm pulling my hair out!

2009-01-27T13:07:00.002-06:00

Last night I weighed up most of the oils to make a batch of soap and then I started watching TV and didn't finish the soap. This morning I got up and weighed out the rest of the oils and then when I went to weigh the water to mix the lye in (lye has not been measured yet) my scale starts running all kinds of numbers with nothing on it! I am so pissed! Now I have to order another scale and wait until it shows up before I can finish. I can't even make lotions because they have to be weighed out too. Drat, drat and double drat!

So, how is your day going?

PS - I am also going to the dentist for fillings. I love my dentist but with a bad day going on already it does make me worry. Also, I am wondering if the roads are good. They look a bit snow covered....

Crafty-ness?

2009-01-27T00:22:00.002-06:00

I have found that I seem to want to know how to do everything when it comes to crafts. The bad thing is that I have a hard time sticking with them for very long.

My Aunt Helen started me out when I was very young. She taught my little sister and I how to do counted cross stitch on gingham cloth. We made little red and white checkered aprons. My Aunt sewed the aprons together and we did the cross stitch, only I didn't finish mine. I was supposed to have three poodles on mine but lucky for me I started with the one in the middle because that was the only one I put on. My sister that always finishes what she starts finished hers. I have a hard time finishing things. I love to start 'em, hate to finish 'em. I went back to doing counted cross stitch and I did finish some but I also have quite a few that remain unfinished.

Mom taught me to crochet but my afghans are not square but in my defense they are warm. Well, they were. They seem to be gone now. I also have a box full of snowflakes I crocheted. They, of course, are in the box. Not flat and starched and ready to hang on a tree. No way. That would mean that they are finished and I need to make more. Lots more. I mean, I have to make enough for both of my boys and now I have so many grandchildren that will need them, I have to keep them in the box until I decide to sit down and make lots and lots more of them. When will that be?

My Aunt learned how to knit so she could teach me. She went on to make sweaters. Beautiful, long, coat like sweaters with double threads of black and white or other colors as wanted but, I never got past making scarves.

I painted on ceramics (I think I have one left) and tied macrame planters. Didn't do this for very long.

I sew "Easy Quilts" but haven't done that for at least four years. I have a list of 'em that need to be made. They never turn out perfect but I am proud of 'em when I do get 'em finished. The hard part about making them is that I have so many dogs and can't lay the fabric on the floor to spread it out. I haven't quite figured out how I'd get them pieced together. The last ones I made were for three of my grandsons and with the quilts I also gave them a new pillow and pillow case. I have really let my other grandsons and granddaughters down. I don't mean to play favorites. I just have such a hard time finishing things. I wonder if there is something in my past that is stopping me from finishing things?

I tried to teach myself how to paint the Donna Dewberry way but I just can't seem to do it without a teacher. I signed up for a class at the local collage but I was the only one to sign up so it was canceled. Same thing happened with the Yoga class I signed up for. That might have been a good thing. They say there is a lot of farting going on when you do yoga and I seem to be full of gas nowadays. Phew! Getting old is a bitch! I laugh. I fart. I cough. I fart. I just can't catch a break! Or, maybe, it's the people behind me that can't catch a break. Or, oops, maybe they do (break wind) but don't want to.. OMG!

I also work on my family history and I have quite a bit of it done and really should be thinking about putting it together but, I doubt that will ever happen.

Now what I make is soap and lotion. I love it. My soap leaves my skin soft instead of dried out and it smells so good. And the lotion! Let me tell you about the lotion. I always have dry arms and I kept trying new, improved lotions to moisturise them and I really thought I had found some good ones. That was until I was in a "soap swap" with some other women that make soap and one of them sent us lotion. I even bought some from her it was so good. Then I broke down and bought the stuff to make it myself and haven't been happier. I put my lotion on and my arms are good for the whole day. And, like the soap, I can use any fragrance I want. I thought that if I wanted my arms to be nice and moisturised I needed to keep reapplying the lotion all day. I was so shocked when I noticed that with the homemade it actually absorbed into my skin. I think I have found something I'll stick with for awhile.

So, what crafts do you do? Or, are you wiser than me and leave it up to other people? I am convinced that my house would be less cluttered if I didn't have so much craft stuff around. You know, I might get back to making some of that stuff. Can't get rid of it. NO way!

You're looking for WHO?

2009-01-21T22:42:00.002-06:00

I got a phone call today that really blew me away. When I answered the phone I could tell that it was one of the computer generated calls because at first there wasn’t anyone there. I considered hanging up but then I thought well, why not find out what they want. I figured it was a survey or something. Imagine my surprise when they asked for my second ex-husband (I have been married and divorced 3 times). The man on the phone was just as confused as I was when I explained to him that I have not seen the man since our divorce in ’85. He asked if I knew if he was still in New Mexico and I told him that the last time I saw him was in California and I don’t know if he had moved back to New Mexico (where he was from) or not. He told me he will take my phone number off of the list and I told him thank you. Of course, the “thank you” wasn’t just for taking my name off of the list but also for letting me know that he has someone looking so hard for him that they would call me. Just makes me want to dance.

Can you imagine having a bill collector call your ex looking for you? How fucking embarrassing! I wish I did have his phone number so I could call him and rub it in! “Hey, dirt bag, I bet you can’t guess who called me today!” When we split up I told him to come with me to the bank and I’ll give him half of what was in the account. He came and got the money and I was proud of myself for not grabbing it all for myself. It wasn’t until I got the bank statement that I found out that he had already raided the account and I had given him half of the measly amount that he had left me. I am so stupid! It took 24 years but now I feel he has gotten some of what he deserves.

Get your gigantic hands out of my mouth you brute!

2009-01-08T18:20:00.005-06:00

If you have never gone to a female dentist you don't know what you are missing.

All my life I have only had male dentists with big hands in my mouth gaging me. One male dentist had hands so big that he had to but a rubber block between my teeth to get me to stop biting him. Such a baby, if he was afraid of being bitten he should have into a profession that doesn't involve putting ones hands into a place that will bite if he stays there too long. Idiot!

I have to sing praises to my new female dentist with tiny hands! She never complained that I was getting close to biting her and she smelled nice. No onions, no alcohol, no garlic. Her assistant carried on an interesting conversation that kept my mind off of what was going on in my mouth. She even kept me from gagging on my own spit. I told them that when I was very young my dentist told me that I had the most saliva he had ever seen in a kid. He countered that by telling me what beautiful eyes I had. I guess he was afraid he had scared me for life and wanted to give me something nice to remember him by. Then my female dentist said that I was very moist. That made me think of Amy at "My Foil Hat" and that she hates the word "moist"(her blog is listed on the left). I tried hard not to giggle when she said this because there was no way that I could explain why I was giggling and even if I tried I wouldn't be able to make them see just how funny it really was.

I was amazed that she never pinched my lips on my teeth and she didn't even slip, cut me and then try to tell me that she meant to do that and that the stitches will come out next week. No, she didn't do any of that. She worked really hard taking out an old filling that ended up having a cavity under it and putting in a new filling without ever, not once, causing me any pain at all. I usually am "white knuckling" it whenever I am in that chair but with her I was cool and calm.

I go back next Wed. for another filling and I am actually looking forward to it. I liked them so much from my first visit that I took them all some of my home made soap. They said that it smelled so good they wanted to eat it. It was scented with pumpkin pie spice. Yum yum.

This is a picture of the soap. It really isn't fair to give something that looks like candy to office people. Hell, it makes me hungry looking at it.

I voted!

2009-01-07T09:05:00.003-06:00

I voted for The Bloggess and she gave me this button for it!

It is so nice to be appreciated! Thank you Jenny!

Actually, I have voted for other blogs too but Jenny is the only one that gave me anything for it..... hum....she didn't buy my vote. I really did vote for her before she gave out the button as a thank you for voting for her. I swear, I wasn't bought. Honest.

Happy New Years!!

2008-12-31T21:01:00.004-06:00

I hope that all of you have the best year ever!

Today is a nice sunny but very cold day here in Missouri but I am so happy that there isn't any snow on the ground!

Last night I tried to watch "Red Dawn" from NETFLIX but the disc was so scratched that it wouldn't play. I went online and told them about it and they are sending me a fresh copy as soon as they can. I really like NETFLIX and I'm so glad that my oldest son talked me into it. I only get one channel out here in the country and it can get a bit boring. Sometimes there are two other channels I can get in but they are pretty fuzzy at best when they do. Renting movies from town is a mess because it is 50 miles round trip and I really don't like the late return fees at all. This isn't a paid advertisement at all. Just wanting to share a good thing with you.

Another good thing I would like to share with you is my love for Sees Candies!!! I grew up in Southern California and Sees Candies was the only boxed candy that we had in our house. We were poor so we didn't have it often but we always had it at Christmas. Friends and Family all knew and shared our love for Sees and if they would buy it for us. Then when I got older I found that I could go to the store and just buy a few pieces and it didn't cost so much (at one time) plus they gave you a FREE piece! Now, that's how to do business! The free one would be what they had on special and if you hadn't tried it before, what a great way of finding out if you like it or not! I grew up on "Nuts and Chews" and thought that the "Cream Centers" were yucky (because that is what Mom thought) but, when I was able to pick them out myself I found that my favorite was the "Cream Centers" and although I have always liked the milk chocolate the best the dark chocolate was perfect on certain flavors. I love, love, love, Sees Candies!!!!

Winter Fog

2008-12-28T13:22:00.008-06:00

The day after Christmas I looked out and saw fog coming up off of the snow! It was beautiful and I don't think I have ever seen this before. I ran outside with my camera and started taking pictures hoping to be able to get the whiffs of fog floating around but so far I don't have the camera experience for it. I just got a new Nikon 40 and I am fully in love with it but it, not so much with me. It insists that I read the book or it won't do what I want it to do. Years ago I was able to take awesome pictures with my SLR film camera but I have long forgotten all of that. Getting old really sucks the memory right out of me. Damn it! I really think that everything is filed away somewhere in my brain but because I don't focus on any one thing I can't find the file. I just have way too many hobbies and I have let some of them go by the way side, like stained glass, cross stitch, candy making, plaster painting, candle making, crocheting, knitting and I am sure there are others that I have forgotten all about. The bad thing is I still make soap and body products, work on family history, sew (not very often), and take pictures and with doing so many things it is very hard to be a "master of one". I think I just want to know how to do everything. Hum, is it pride or boredom that causes one to want to know everything? I also look up history a lot on the net.

How did I get into all of that just by wanting to post some pictures of fog?

Here are the pictures:

This is my back yard. Can you see the fog floating around?

That is the area of my once frozen sewer. It is running nicely now. Thank you very much.

This is across the road from me. The road was too ice for me to cross it without falling on my butt so, being the chicken I am I stayed safely in my yard and snapped way. Neighbors were driving past me giving me a little wave kind of like they didn't know if they should acknowledge me standing there taking pictures of nothing. lol

Hey, can you see the cow standing in the fog next to the tree? I think it was getting ready to start charging me for being a model so I moved on

to the corn fields behind me. Can you see the mouse? Just kidding. I'm sure there's one there somewhere but I bet he's snug in his little home with the wife and kids around a little fire place eating lots and lots of corn.

Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T08:03:00.003-06:00

Oh, Man, have I been sick! It is just a cold but even with all the medicine my doctor loaded me up on I still had four very bad days.

Let me start with Wednesday. My work week starts on Thursday and I work every other Sunday. On my weeks that I have Sunday off I try to sign up to work on Wednesday if they need help. I was lucky and they needed me to work. I was starting to feel ill at that time. Once I got to work it turned out that they didn't need any extra people but they weren't ready to send anyone home yet. I asked the boss when he planned on letting someone go home because I was getting sick and wanted to try to see the doctor. He was very understanding and told me he would have someone there to take my place right away and he did and I got an appointment and a shot, 2 pills and nose spray! With as sick as I ended up being I am so grateful to have been able to see the doctor and get started on the meds so soon.

Then on Thursday we had snow on the ground and then got lots of ice on top of it. Snow under ice is so much better than snow on top of ice because you can break the ice and get to the snow and be able to walk, but still, ice is not good. Five miles of the road that I drive home on is called a "roller coaster" road and there is no way around it for me. I live on that road. Everyone, including me, was worried about me driving on that road and if I would make it home or not. I was thinking I might need to get a room at the motel but I really couldn't afford it so I was going to try to go home. When I got to my car my son's best friend was sitting in his truck parked length wise in front of my car waiting for me to tell me to spend the night at his house. I gladly followed him home. He even scraped the half inch of ice off of my windows! When we got to his house his poor wife was laying on the couch, sick. I have stayed at their house before and I know I am welcome but it has been a few years since I have needed to. He and I used to work together but I went to a different department and I now work different days and hours than he does but he worked that night and decided to leave three hours early in order to catch me. They gave me their son's room to sleep in and they woke him up and had him sleep on the couch. The only thing he asked was if school was called off and it was and he was happy. His room is decorated in Red and blue for the Cardinals and his collection is displayed in a case that his dad built for him and it was awesome. In fact their whole house is awesome. They also have a little girl that is so cute she is going to be a heart breaker. I worry about my grandsons..... lol. They have 2 very well behaved dogs that my very unbehaved dogs need to take lessons from. When I got up they made coffee for me and we had breakfast and visited and I didn't want to leave to go to work! They told me to come when ever I wanted and that I am welcome to wake them up and spend the night any time I don't think I can make it home. I really love them!

Friday I started to feel sick but I worked the whole night. It wasn't good because one of my friends got on my nerves and she got abused by me most of the night. It was awful. When I am sick I seem to want to fight. When I'm not sick I see things a lot differently. I will apologize to her when we go back to work. She knows that I am not like this usually so I am sure she has already forgiven me. People were telling me not to go home that night but I hate to be away from home so I tried it anyway. The roads were covered but had been treated so I made it home. I couldn't get into my driveway though. I thought that since I couldn't get into my driveway I would just go to my other driveway and drive across my yard and park in front of my house on the yard. No problem. I couldn't believe it! I couldn't even drive on my yard the snow and ice were so thick. So, I backed out of there and just parked in the road in front of my driveway. Getting to the house was hard to do too because I have to go up a hill and I had to step very hard to break through the ice for each step and make sure that I wasn't still standing on a sheet of ice. I made it in the house and my doggies were very excited to see me. I always leave them with lots of food and water just in case I can't make it home.

On Saturday we had to do "clean up" and I was very, very sick by then. I thought about calling in but I thought we would be able to get it done quickly and get out. The roads were covered again but had been treated so I didn't have any trouble. It turned out that we had to do a lot of extra cleaning and I wasn't doing well being around all of the fumes so the boss let me go home. When I got home I wasn't able to do anything but sleep.

Sunday, sleep and eat anything in sight. When I am sick I never feel full and I just want to eat and eat and eat (that is when I am not sleeping). I had made some of my chicken hominy soup and it was good.

Monday, still sick. Waiting for my new Nikon D40 camera to be delivered by UPS but I was afraid that the roads were too bad for him to get here. He didn't show up.

Tuesday, feeling much better. Yeah! I realize that I need to go to the grocery store for a few things and worry about the UPS man arriving before I get back. Ran into a neighbor and we visited for awhile and when I got home there was a note on my door! It had a phone number on it and I called and asked if I could meet the driver someplace and get my package. The lady in the office called him and he called me back and we made arrangements for me to pick my package up at a store about 10 miles away. He laughed and told me if I wanted he could bring it to me on Wednesday and I told him "No way!" I wanted that package. He told me that the reason I didn't get it on Monday was because it had been on the wrong truck. I trust UPS to deliver to me but I can't get FedEx to come out here without lots of calls and actually filing a complaint or two. I guess I am at the end of his route and he doesn't want to come out here. When I was talking to my neighbor he was telling me that another neighbor was waiting for a package from FedEx and they asked him to come an pick it up, the drive is over an hour away! Crazy FedEx people. Well, back to my camera. I love it and I recommend it to anyone that is looking for one.

Today, I am making lots of candy for my family and friends. Anyway, that is what I have planned.... If I hadn't been sick all of this candy would have been made already. Tonight I will be visiting with some of my neighbors and for Christmas I will be going up to visit my sons.

Lip Balm

2008-12-16T20:42:00.002-06:00

You remember I told you that I won Bees Wax from here: http://bodynaturalsoap.blogspot.com/

Well, I just finished making lip balm with it and it is so yellow and beautiful! I can't wait for you to see it!

I won!

2008-12-16T18:38:00.002-06:00

I won a wonderful gift basket of goodies for my feet from Heather at "One Bubble at a Time".

Check out her blog here:
http://twinbirch.blogspot.com/

I have been pretty lucky lately. I won bees wax, a gift basket of foot goodies and the Power Ball. Yep, I won $4 on the Power Ball lottery, my prayers have been answered. I guess just praying to win the lottery might not work out the way we want. Details! You have to give details! So when you pray to win the lottery don't just ask to win it. You have to say something like "Please, let me win the BIG lottery prize" or something like that. I already know that I don't know how to pray for the big win so if you have any suggestions on what to ask for please let me know.

Exercise - it's good for you

2008-12-15T21:06:00.004-06:00

Our local fitness center had a special of 10% off for one day only and my best friend pressured me into joining. She goes there all the time and she wants me to go with her (not that I in any way need to get in shape. ha!). She took me around and showed me how to use the equipment and it felt good to do something that is good for me. I am kind of short and the machines there are made for taller people and I found one that the seat couldn't be adjusted and I could tell by looking at it that if I squeezed myself down into the seat that I would never be able to pull myself up to get out of it. I also could see that if I sat in the seat (as apposed to on the back of the seat as I was doing) I would not be able to reach to do the exercise that machine provided. I was very content siting on the back of the seat doing "curls" with the lightest weight they had. My friend though wasn't having any of it. She kept telling me to sit down. It went a little like this:

Her: sit down

Me: I can't

Her: sit down

Me: I can't

Her: sit down

Me: Ok, shit. I'll try.

Me: Uh, I can't reach.

Her: Get up

Me: I can't

Her: Get up

Me: I can't! Give me your hand. Help me out of here.

She is messing with something and not paying any attention to me.

Me: Give me your hand and help me out of here.

Still nothing.

Me: Damn. I'm going to have to fall to the side onto the floor to get out if you don't help me out of here.

Silence and no hand, she just stands there looking at me.

I said, Bitch! (with a huge grin, she is tall and in fantastic shape. Don't want to piss her off)

And then I rolled out of the seat and my head and shoulders are on the floor and my ass and legs are in the air and slowly sliding down to the floor. It's a good thing I have a good sense of humor or I would have never gone back again. Plus, I doubt that anyone was watching. I'm sure they are all so busy with their workout that they aren't paying any attention to the grey haired old lady stuck in the curling machine. I was so wrong. When I got on my feet and looked around I saw that everyone in the gym are laughing. Most are trying to be quiet about it but one very athletic woman is not shy about letting me know that this was the funniest thing she has seen in a long time. You are welcome. I do what I can to please. Sheesh.

I will pay her back. I don't know where I don't know when but I will pay her back!

Keen Giveaway on Absolutely Bananas

2008-12-10T01:11:00.003-06:00

Absolutely Bananas is having an absolutely fabulous giveaway on Keen shoes and bags! Just go to her blog and she will tell you all about it.

http://www.absolutelybananas.com/2008/12/giveaway-have-your-way-with-keen.html

I won Bee's Wax!

2008-12-08T22:19:00.003-06:00

I got lucky today and because of that some of you are lucky too. I just won 2 oz of fresh organic Bee's Wax from Sha-Marie at "My Adventure With Soap" http://bodynaturalsoap.blogspot.com/
She was very generous and gave away 2 prizes because her son pulled 2 names out of the hat. What a nice woman!
The reason some of you got lucky too is because I will now be able to make a lot of lip balm!

"Watch for Deer"

2008-12-08T01:02:00.003-06:00

"Watch for deer! They're moving"

That is something you hear a lot when you live in the country. I usually counter with "To your town I hope!" which in turn just ends up with me getting a "look". You know, the one where they really aren't so sure of your IQ and really wondering if you actually have one.

You see, I am relatively new to country living since I grew up in Southern California and just moved out here in the early 90’s but I have learned to always watch for deer. My drive to work is 25 miles and only about 10 are on a state highway. Most of my drive is on county roads and there are days when I only see one or two cars until I get to the highway. Even the highway isn’t very busy. I absolutely love it!
After leaving work at midnight I ran into a co-worker at Wal-Mart and he told me to “Watch the deer. The weather is changing and they’re moving.” I thought to myself that I never stop watching for deer.
After leaving Wal-Mart I was driving down the highway listening to oldies on the radio and singing along when a police car that was parked on the other side of the road turned on his flashing lights and sounded his siren enough to get my attention. I do what every normal Southern Californian girl would do in that situation, I panic and can’t figure out if I need to pull over to the side of the road or slow down or what? What do you do when a parked cop flashed his lights and sounds his siren but stays parked? I slowed down to 35, turned my blinker on, and started to pull over to the side of the road (you’re supposed to do that when the flashing lights and sirens are coming. Aren’t you?), then I decided that since he was just sitting at the side of the road I didn’t need to pull over so I pulled back onto the road. I couldn’t figure out what was going on and I franticly looked around and then I noticed he was spot lighting something along the side of the road (on my side) and when I got there I saw the rump of about the largest deer I have ever seen! Of course, I wouldn’t have even thought about pulling over if he hadn’t of done what he did. Thankfully when I started to pull over it was quite a ways from where the deer was laying. I decided he was waiting for someone to come and pick it up and was warning drivers of the problem (I drove past it the next day and it was still there, I wonder how long the officer sat there). About a half a mile up from there I saw a smaller doe that had been hit lying on the side of the road and it surprised me to see two dead deer so close together. (Where was her officer with the spotlight?) Once I got onto the county roads I saw seven deer and most of them were stopped at the side of the road just waiting for me to go by before they crossed. They are so polite.

Contest alert!!!

2008-12-02T23:22:00.002-06:00

I have been sending out e-mails telling my friends about awesome contests I come across on the blogs I read but, now that I have my own blog I am only going to post them here. That way, if you read my blog you will know about the contests. If not. Well, it's your loss, baby. (Is that from a movie? Or am I just being a smart ass?)

The two blogs that are linked to here are giving away Wii and or Wii Fit and all you have to do is leave a comment. Also, if any of you win you have to leave a comment here and let the rest of us know!

http://blogs.chron.com/goodmombadmom/2008/11/wii.html

http://www.happykatie.com/dailies/2008/12/wiis-make-people-happy----win-one-of-your-own.html?cid=141199772#comments

Now, get to posting and good luck!

Winter is here!

2008-11-30T12:47:00.008-06:00

This morning I woke up to our first snow of the Winter and I grabbed my coat and camera and took some pictures of it. I know that in a few months seeing snow won't be exciting but, this is the FIRST snow. It has to be kind of exciting. Doesn't it? One reason I am happy for it is because it fell on my day off and I get to enjoy it and only go outside if I want to, and I wanted to in order to take these pictures. I am pretty sure that my neighbors feel I am a bit "off" anyway but the ones that drove by while I was outside snapping pictures of the trees and such probably are pretty sure of it now. Last Sept. I took a bunch of pictures of the flood we had and one of the men asked me, "Were you afraid you wouldn't remember it?" So, I guess that kind of sums up what the others are thinking too but are too nice to say it to my face. I don't mind. I enjoy taking pictures and I hope that other people like to see them too. So all of that being said, here they are:

This one shows how much snow is on my porch rail. It is a heavy wet snow and I don't think it will last long but I was really cold when I came back in. Gloves would have been a good thing but it is hard to take pictures with gloves on. I also took pictures with my 35mm film camera. My uncle was a hobby photographer and won lots of awards for his slides. I am in the process of scanning some of his slides onto my computer and I am amazed at how awesome his work is. It is too bad he isn't still with us to see what technology will let us do now.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T23:44:00.005-06:00

I hope all of you had a good time visiting with your friends and family today.
I spent today with my best friend and her family and there were about 40 people there! You should have seen all of the little ones running around and really, such a well behaved group they were. It was awesome. Oh, yeah, the little ones were very good too. We even had a 4 week old baby there. A nursing baby which brings me to the funniest happening of the day. The momma and baby were in one of the bedrooms nursing and some of the smaller kids were running in and out and a 7 year old girl stops and asks "What are you doing?" and momma says, "I'm feeding the baby." The little girl looks all around for the bottle and then her eyes got really big and she said, "I thought only cats can do that!" Oh, my! The poppa was in the room when this happened and he just about broke his leg running to where the rest of us were to tell the story. I was laughing so hard I was wishing I had a "depends" on. This little girl will never hear the end of this one. It was priceless.

Fantastic giveaway on Gassner Custom Soaps

2008-11-26T19:32:00.001-06:00

Gassner Custom Soaps is having a fantastic giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment on her post about the contest and you are entered!
I have been looking at her products and she is very talented so do yourself a favor and go over there and take a look yourself.
Also, if any of you win you have to leave a comment on my blog so I know.
Good Luck!

http://gassnercustomsoaps.blogspot.com/
click here to go to her site for the contest. Leave her a comment in the blog area entitled "Drawing"

Delivered

2008-11-26T14:17:00.000-06:00

I delivered the soaps and she was very pleased with them. She really liked the new ones and bought some of the old ones too. I showed her the newest ones I have that haven't cured yet and she wants some of them too. I'm off work for a few more days so I hope to get a lot more done soon.

Now I am off to my friend's house to help her get ready for the big dinner tomorrow!! Yum yum!

Packaging soap

2008-11-25T20:49:00.001-06:00

Tonight I am busy watching Dancing with the Stars and packaging soap to go to the store. I really should have had all of this done a long time ago but I can always find an excuse not to. Hum... like right now, I am writting talking about doing it instead of taking care of it.

I will be taking in some of the regulars and some of the new soaps. I hope she likes them. She always likes what I bring her so why do I worry? I really, really need to fix her up with lotion too.

Tomorrow I will be helping my best friend get ready for Thanksgiving dinner at her house. She has a large wonderful family that I really enjoy being around. They are a bunch of silly people that really don't care what others might say about them.

Here are some pictures of the soaps I am working on tonight.

This one had a big surprise of a flower on two of the soaps. The others are pretty but they don't have a flower.

This one my DIL thought looked like cheese cake!

Welcome

2008-11-25T19:30:00.000-06:00

Hello,
Welcome to my new blog.
In this blog you will hear about my soap making and whatever else is going on in my life. It won't be easy on the easily bored. Only read if you don't mind mindless rambling and bad spelling and grammar. I do use spell check but, if I have used the wrong word and spelled it right poor little spell check won't catch it.
I am a grandma living in the middle of nowhere in Missouri so you might end up hearing about deer, skunks, possum, raccoons and of course dogs (mine) and the soap I am making or trying to make.
Come with me on my journey or don't. It's up to you. I won't try to make you feel guilty or anything. I mean, it's not like I'm related to you and you should support my tiny effort to entertain my tiny family of readers. No. It's ok. Really. Go on. Shoo.
Oh, are you still here? OHHH! You really were my favorite! ~~~ HUGS ~~~~