Am I supposed to?

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

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

www.enchantedhills.etsy.com

New Hair!

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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)

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!

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!

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

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!

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

One Bubble at a Time

Robynn's Ravings

My Foil Hat

Moonstruckmagic

Fresholi Bites

Crazy Town, USA

The Copper Cauldron

My Doggie Family

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!

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?

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?

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.