Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Hi there everyone, how are you doing this month??? Oh, my how the days are flying by. Yesterday I wrote a check for February 22.....how did this month fly by so fast????

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all. Here are a few cards from the last couple of years. The one above is an old card I made at a card making class.....not sure I have this card anymore, but at least I have a picture of it.

Now this card I still have or at least a copy of the card that I can run off on the printer and color them in. Cute frog hiding in the britches. 

More old cards that I don't have any more but still have the pictures. 

I could make more of these cards because I have a copy of him that I can run off on the printer.

I always liked this die and can make more of these cards anytime, they turned out nice for St Patrick's Day!!!! I have a few more cards in the making but have not taken pictures of them so I can post them on this blog.

Hospice meeting is on March 1st. So, I have 7 days to get some cards put together, guess I am running behind at this point. Think I will have a few more St. Patrick cards, some Easter cards, Birthday cards and Thinking of you.

I feel so behind in everything right now, things I should get done, just sit and don't get done. The dishes can sit in the sink for days and I just keep adding to the heap, then finally I get tired of looking at them and finally do them in phases. After I get done with these dishes and cards, need to sit down and do the taxes for 2023....not one of my favorite jobs. 

Well, that is about it for this blog, not much going on here, just trying to live life and get through each day and the only thing that keeps me going is my faith in Jesus Christ. Been reading Acts a little at a time. Have you ever heard the saying, "Read the book of Acts and get ready?" Yeah, get ready for the second return of Jesus, he is coming again and soon and I can hardly wait!!!! We will be reunited with Jesus and our loved ones...gonna be a great day!!!!

Talk to you all later, maybe something exciting will happen like Spring is just around the corner. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

How Ya Doing??

Hi there everyone, how ya all doing??? This Coronavirus has sure taken over our lives.....unbelieveable isn't it?? Hope you are all taking care of yourselves. 

JP has gone back to work, his back is much better, but now I think his company will be shutting down next week. Bills are getting very hard to pay....guess I can only pay what I can pay.

So glad to hear that the IRS will allow us to pay our taxes by July 15th. Just did not know how I was going to pay Uncle Sam by April 15th??? I have been told if I call the IRS, I might be able to get an extention for 120 days if I am still having a problem paying. Was hoping for a refund, but that did not happen this year. Did you know your Social Security checks are taxed. Hard to believe, aren't we taxed once already, then taxed a second time?.......my goodness, that makes no sense to me.

Following are some cards I made for Hospice last month. Pretty simple, but fun to make. The background is an embossed folder and the 'hello' is a die cut. Just added a few gems.

Here again, the background embossed with a cross with the different names of Jesus. Then I added some flowers and gems.....a good one for Easter which is coming up April 12th....gosh time flies.

Did you know....tomorrow is the first day of SPRING???? Surprise!!!!! My crocuses are popping up now. They sure are  pretty and there seems to be more popping up each year.

If the weather stays nice, maybe I will get outside and rake some leaves that I never got raked last fall. Will have to see how the weather goes, if not, I have plenty of things to do in the house. 

Can you believe.....I still have my Christmas village up, thought I would take it down on the 7th, but that did not happen, now it is starting to get old and I did not even turn the village lights on tonight. Oh well, see what happens time wise.

My Chicago Blackhawks have not played since March 11th (I know that is just last week....but it seems like a month ago) because of the virus. All the teams were shut down, that has to be hard on all the players. Especially if the teams were in the top 3 and in the  wild card position. But supposedly Hockey will start up again in July/August. Probably then the Ice will not cooperate....who knows what will happen, every day is a guessing game.

Well time to close here, hope in the next few weeks this coronavirus will be but a bad dream and life is back to normal. So far 2020 has been a TUFF year for many people. Going to have to go out to the store and see if I can find some toilet paper.....just using Kleenex right now (I have maybe 4 boxes, that should last for awhile)

Take care and keep looking up....better days are right around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise  

The Cross and The Rose

Hi there everyone...this is going to be short and sweet. I saw this poster on another blog and just had to have it. The Cross, says it all.

Followed by beautiful roses. This rose was Kylies, the day she died. The Vet gave it to us. I buried it with her. Still as beautiful and I still miss her bunches.

I don't think these are roses....possibly pink tulips. I think they died out, cause I have not seen them since the date marked on the picture 5/11/17.

These were my beautiful long stemmed white roses that grew in the back yard. The plant died, although there were signs of life this past Fall when sprouts of life began to grow. But the rabbits found the new shoots and ate then down to the ground. We will see what happens this Spring...if the plant made it through the Winter. I covered what was left of the plant with leaves and Styrofoam cone, hopefully it made it.

So these beautiful flowers are a bouquet of flowers I bought for myself 2/15/17....they were a late Valentines gift to me, from me....lol! Probably paid $5...on sale today!!!

This is my pretty pink rose bush in the front of the house.....it has been with us for over 20 years and still blooms every year.

Here is another bouquet of carnations that Louise bought for herself....looks like another Valentine's gift to me again 2/19/18.

So there you have it, some beautiful roses created by GOD!!! Thanks for stopping by, hope the roses gave you inspiration that Spring is not too far off. Take care and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

A Big Hole in the Front Yard

Hi there everyone, hope you are having a good Spring so far. As you can see, so far our Spring is a MESS right now. Actually this was happening a couple of weeks ago. The hole is filled in and covered up with black top.

The city had work done on sanitary sewers and water main is being replaced due to its age, condition, and under sizing....they should be done by June 10th. Every front yard was dug up....but it seems our hole was the largest.....as they could not find the water main or what ever it was they were hunting for.  

It was interesting, watching these guys work, they sure knew what they were doing. The backhoe driver was amazing how he could move that bucket around and move the dirt. I was pooped just watching them.

They had to tear up 7 slabs of sidewalk. They stepped all over my peonies.....they are growing now, some of them got dug up.....oh well that's life.

Here they are....still looking for the drain, I was getting kind of worried, all I could see was $$$$ signs. One of the workers said, don't worry, you won't have to pay extra. Whew!!!!

It looked like the hole was about 15 feet deep. Then down in the corner of this bottom picture you can see this big metal box they put in the hole so the dirt did not cave in while the worker was working on connecting the green pipes.

They must have worked on our drain most of the afternoon. I was kind of nervous most of the afternoon, pacing the floor and watching. I felt like something was going to happen.....sure enough, they could not find the drain to this house and had to come in the basement a couple of times to find where the pipes were. 

The hole is covered up now....will be glad when this is over, it has raised a lot of dust which has caused my eyes to itch constantly along with the pollen in the air. Using lots of eye drops and rinsing with hot water, which was very soothing.

I will take pictures of our front yard after everything is all cleaned up. I did a little bit of planting, radishes, lettuce, beans, zucchini, cucumber and chives. Hopefully the weather will be nice over the Memorial weekend and I can plant some flowers and seeds.

Time to close, Salvage Dawgs is on....love watching them and see what they make with all the recycled stuff they get from old houses and old businesses. You have a great weekend and keep looking up, better days are a coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Cards I Made the Other Night

Hi there everyone. Thought it was time to change the winter scenes....to something Spring-like!!! The weather is beautiful outside...sunny and in the 60's. It actually feels WARM and I turned down the heat in the house. Maybe I should bring the fan up from downstairs. Was looking at air-conditioners today at Walmart....guess I must save my pennies for a new one this summer. Our old air conditioner conked out, it never really cooled down the room and then it started spitting at me. So, I think it is time for a new one.

I made these Spring like cards last week. Need to make more....they were a very easy process and fun to make.

First I stamped the "Thinking of You" and "Happy Birthday" then taped the verses with painters tape.

Next step was to ink the top and bottom of the card with Distress ink....any colors you might have, after I got the desired look, I then sprinkled the cards with water to get the water spots. Dabbed with a paper towel to pick up the water. Let them dry for awhile.

I had these flowers already colored. The flower is from Stampin'up, I fussy cut out each flower. Each petal, I drew lines and colored in the tips of each petal with an ink pen. Then took copic markers and finished the petals off with different colors that would coordinate with the colored card.

WA-LA....a very lovely card. Think I will make some more like these for Hospice. I have two weeks to get about 60 cards done and 20 favors for Fathers day. There's still time.

Yesterday I went to a Revealing Party. For 6 months I took part in a secret stamping group. You send 12 images, could be a stamped, die cut or back ground to the name you received. Then make 2 cards with that image, one for your self and one for the person you sent the images to. Someone has your name and has done the same. So I came home with 6 cards from the lady I sent images to and 6 cards from the lady that had my name. Making sense much???

When I get the pictures taken of the cards, I will put them on my blog. My card and the other ladies take on the image sent and vise versa. I should add, that the reveal party was at a new stamping store in Neenah, and we could buy anything we wanted and get 10% off....dangerous place for me to go. Yes, I bought something, musical notes for another card I am making.

Well time to close here, JP just left for his job. I got our dinner planed out.....spare ribs in the pressure cooker....they turn out soooo good. Talk to you later...have a great night and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Some New Cards

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was interesting. JP had his tooth pulled on Friday at the oral surgeon. We also picked up our income tax papers. We will be getting a refund....Yay for that!!!

Also on Friday, I went shopping for a dryer. As long as JP was home convalescing with his pulled tooth and did not go to work. I. Got. The. Car. for the afternoon. Checked out 3 different stores. I almost bought a New Frigidaire for $400 + delivery, set up and take the old machine. ($490)

A New Speed Queen washer and dryer was priced at $2000.00......out of my budget (but it sure would be nice to have!!!) Off to the second store, a new Amana $420. A new Maytag $422. Off to the third store which was a used appliance store. A Kenmore, $250 including everything. Then there was the Maytag for $220 + delivery and pick up = $300 and from the looks of the condition it was brand new. I like Maytags....they last longer.

So I am excited about getting the dryer, but, have to wait till our refund comes, which might be in a week or so. Then it just might be another week till the dryer is delivered. In the mean time, it's hanging the clothes in the basement. What a chore!! So much easier to put the clothes in a dryer.....spoiled much????

Saturday was spent watching the Chicago Blackhawks lose 5-3 and tonight....they lost again 5-4 oh well....now I understand why my step father got so disgusted with them. Hopefully the 2018-19 season will be better.

In these next couple of pictures are some cards I put together Saturday night. I got the idea at Hobby Lobby. They give card making classes there and always put the sample cards they will be making on the bulletin board. I always check out the bulletin board every time I go in there. I bought my Giraffe stamp a year ago, and finally used it with this idea.

My secret stamper friend sent me the "Hello" image.....it took me awhile to put this idea together, cause when I saw the giraffe sample at Hobby Lobby, the first thing I thought of was using the "Hello" with this giraffe on this card.

I used different colored card stock, which was fun. Some of the "Hello's" were colored in with copic markers depending on if there was contrasting colors. Some I just left plain. I rounded some corners and ruffed up edges on some of the cards.

I made about 20 of these cards, some will be for Hospice and some to just keep, maybe make them into birthday cards or thinking of you cards.

Two cards have been set aside for my secret stamper friend that sent me the "hello" die cut. I still have 12 flower images my stamper friend sent to make cards with, plus the two images I sent to my other secret stamper. I should get all these cards done by this week, as soon as I do, I will post them for you to see the finished products.

So this next week looks pretty quiet NOW....but who knows what will transpire in the next couple of days. Wednesday is "Betty Day" when I go to her house to make cards, I always look forward to that. JP gets his SS check....so I can pay a few bills.....bills, bills bills, never ending!!!

Hey....Spring Begins on the 20th.....it sure has been nice these last couple of days. My crocuses are up and I noticed today the tulips are pushing up. I better cover them so the rabbits don't get to them first. I noticed the crocuses are being eaten up!! Must be the rabbits!!

Well, time to close here, you have a great week and keep looking up ~ better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

A Good Deal Today

Hi there everyone. The first 7 days of March have been busy and snowy....but, it's still winter. Spring starts March 20th....so we have 13 days to go...yep and when Daylight savings starts, the days will be longer and we are on our way to SPRING!!!!

Today I got a good deal!!! All these stamps for $6.00!!! Some of the stamps still had their original price on the side. I estimated there are $125.00 worth of stamps...give or take a few dollars. I estimated on the low end. House Mouse stamps alone are $8-10. The "deep sea" stamps (in the left)were $10.00 originally, I paid $1.00.

I like the kid stamps. Will be perfect for making cards for the nieces and nephews. 

Will be fun to see what kind of cards I come up with.

We got our income tax done and taken to the accountant....so now we wait to see if we are getting anything back. We usually do get a refund from both Wisconsin and the Federal. Last year I had to buy a stove. This year....we will have to invest in a dryer. I think the bearing is going out on this one. The dryer came with the house when we bought it almost 27 years ago. It's the last appliance to be replaced in the house.

I was hoping to be able to spend $50....guess that is out of the question. $50 is doable if we have to invest now.

I checked out the pre-owned appliance store....dryers were going for $250-$300, not including delivery. UGE....I wonder, might as well invest in a new dryer. Will have to check out VanVerde's for a new one. To have the old dryer fixed might cost around $200, if not more. Well, I have another place I want to check out, it's where we got our used washing machine. 

Hopefully we can limp along with this dryer until we get the money to get another dryer. It's all in the timing I guess. God knows our needs. Maybe I will invest in a little rack to air dry clothes for the time being. There is always something to occupy our time.

Well, time to close, JP will be home in about an hour and half. Still have to figure out what to make for dinner. You all have a good evening and keep looking up....better days are coming, sooner then we think. Cheers ~ Louise

WOW ~ Last Day of February!!

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying the last day of February. Where did that time go. Was keeping busy with card making, organizing income taxes, losing weight on the Atkins/Keto diet and keeping my blood sugars down. Yeah, it's been an okay month. Looks like March will come in like a lion with cold....hopefully go out like a lamb.

The above card is a sample of a birthday card I made for the oldest nephew...he'll be 9 years old. I will take a picture of the card in a few days. I decided to make 4 of these cards for the 2 nephews and 2 nieces. That will make things easy, won't have to think of 3 more ideas.....keep it simple, sam!!!

So our back yard is in very bad shape. It flooded out.....what a mess!! This is the worse, it has ever been in the 26 years we have lived here.  We live in the lowest part of the block. So all the rain water drains into our yard. Last year was bad, but not as bad as this. 

It rained all night last week and the water spread into the pond area. The yard was under water completely. Thank God it did not spread into our basement. I can't imagine what people are going through when there houses are under water.

Looks like an ice skating rink....now if I had some ice skates, I could have tried it out!! This would have been great when I was younger....I loved ice skating, but I fell in a hole and sprained my ankle and never skated again.

The flooding spread back into my fire pit area. There's no grass growing back there, now I think the whole back yard will be like the fire pit area. I put some grass seed down last summer....but nothing grew. Guess I will try again.

As of the last couple of days, the weather has been in the 40's so the ice melted quite a bit. Our yard is starting to look normal again. I will be glad when Spring arrives and things start turning green again.

I have some good news about my Atkins/Keto diet. This morning, when I checked my blood sugars, I write everything down on a sheet. Also figured is my weight. So, I lost 1 pound in February....that's not much. BUT when I started this diet on 7/5/17....the grand loss is now 22 lbs. Not bad for this old girl. My Doctor will be happy. Hopefully my A1C will be in the low numbers too.

Well, time to close here. Have to go finish working on my taxes. You have a great day March 1st...hope the Lion does not roar too loudly in your area of the country. Keep looking up ~ better days are coming, soon!! Cheers ~ Louise

Fences - Old and New

Hi there everyone....Hope you are having a good week. It's been a little rough here. JP had to have a tooth pulled last Thursday and was off work both Thursday and Friday. Yesterday, Monday, he had a biopsy on his prostrate and was off work. Today he went to work...guess I will find out how he did when he gets home. The results of his biopsy will be next Monday. We are praying that the results will show no cancer. 

On Monday the 11th we had a new fence put up.....I am really loving it. The above picture is the Old fencing we put about 5-6 years ago.

In this picture we got the green fence all taken down and the ground raked and brush cut down. See that clothes line pole???? It got taken down too....I always thought it was on our property, but it actually was on the neighbors property. Guess I will have to think of another way to hang clothes.

Here are some of the men that worked on putting my fence up. Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.

Wa la.....here is the finished product.....next year we will either paint it or stain it. I bought some mulch, so I want to lay some down along the fence, hopefully keeping most of the weeds down.

I put my old grill in front of the fence....a couple of benches that were left curb side by the neighbor across the street. He helped us carry them over to our place. We didn't have the fence up....so glad I got them.....they sure did add to the décor.

A little bit of a closer look.

It has been fun decorating my back yard.....already looking forward to Spring....is it here yet???? Oh, that's right it is still fall.

I invested in this pretty mum plant, will have to dig a hole and hopefully save it for next year. That's my ceramic squirrel I made when I still worked at The Salvation Army. We had a kiln in the basement and lots of things to paint. I made this squirrel, a frog, two turtles and a rabbit and they all come out in the spring and back in the shed for the winter. That was almost 30 years ago....time flies!!!

I did some canning of tomatoes tonight....haven't canned in eons. My two tomato plants out front of the house have produced an abundance of tomatoes. I have frozen some, dehydrated some, made spaghetti sauce and tomato soup, a few BLT's, stuffed tomatoes and fried tomatoes and lots of salad's. It's been a good tomato year here.

Well, time to close here. JP will be home in about 10 minutes so I better heat up his tomato soup and dinner I made for him. You all take care and keep looking up....better days are coming. 

Cheers ~ Louise

Days Flying and Still Much To Do

Hi there everyone. Yeah.....I know.....right????? These days are passing by so fast. Getting away from me. I am still working on my gardens. Finally tackled the weedy garden in the front yard. I should have taken a picture....will do that tomorrow. 

Saturday, I did manage to clear the weeds away from my two rose bushes and lay some mulch. It does look nice. Now if I can just get the rest of the front yard to look nice. I have lots of mint growing that literally took over the front yard along with strawberries and violets. It's really hard to tell what's what. But, I do have till September to get things organized. 

JP's family is coming for a visit sometime this summer, would be nice to get things done by then. But I don't know if that will happen. Last Tuesday the neighbor next store, asked me to take down my little bamboo fencing that kinda covers their mess in their backyard. When I look out my kitchen window I see JUNK.....so my little fencing covered that. 

So I took down my fencing because they were having a man come and take their green fence down, then they will be able to put up a privacy fence. Well, the guy came, paid for it, pulled off the wires that held the fence together and left and has not been back to take the rest of the fence down. This could take all summer to get done. As I know how slow the neighbors work. They also have another place up north they are working on. 

So I waited and waited for the guy to return, got tired of waiting and put my little fencing back up, 5 inches on to my property so it is NOT leaning on their fence. They should be able to work around it....I just needed to see some semblance of organization. It is very depressing looking out my kitchen window and see junk piled up....it's almost like hoarders live next store to me!!!! 

Hopefully by her birthday, 7/11, the green fence will be down and her privacy fence up. What a mess in the mean time.

I got a few more tomato plants yesterday along with a pepper plant, a zuchinni plant and another cucumber plant....now I just have to find good places to plant them. Also bought 3 more bags of mulch. Yep, I went through 2 yards of red mulch this spring and could still use more. 

I am looking for a lavender/blue rose bush. I found one at Menards the beginning of Spring, but did not buy it. I should have, but procrastinated, as usual. But then, I did not know where I would plant it. But know I do.....now I have to look again for the rose bush. Maybe Shopko will still have some roses. It is hard to believe that the stores are closing out......where did this season go to????

Hey, I have already seen Christmas stuff up at Hobby Lobby....now that is really pushing it!!!!!

In September we are getting this tree cut down. It actually sits on ours and the neighbor on the other side of us. See, they already have their privacy fence. We tried to get this tree cut down 5 years ago, but the estimate to cut it down was $2600. We did not have that kind of $$$$

So Habitat for Humanity will do it for us. In September they are doing a " Rock the Block" where many houses will get fixed, yards cleaned, trees cut etc. I am afraid this tree will fall on our shed and garage. The neighbor is also worried that the tree will fall on his garage and fence. He also thinks it will fall on the neighbor behind us......whatever.....lets get this tree cut down. It's just a weed anyways "box elder" that has a bunch of bugs in the spring and fall.

This is a very big tree, all we need is a good gust of wind and down it will come. As you can see, this summer is going to be a summer packed with lots of activity and changes. One nice thing will be, there will be lots more sun back there and I can have my garden back that got lost to too much shade by this tree. 

A Note: Today Habitat for Humanity called and the tree is un-assessable for cutting. I guess the other tree will not get trimmed either. I am kinda disappointed in that decision. I have to find out if the City of Appleton will take it down or We Energies. There are wires running through the tree and I don't know if it is telephone or electric wires.  

Well time to close here, it's getting late. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

SPRING Where Art Thou???

Hi there everyone! How has your week been? It's been nice here, a few days of cold and a few flurries. Next week it will be in the 30's and low 40's.......Spring, I am looking for you......perhaps it is right around the corner???? 

I have been thinking about what I want to plant when Spring comes....not sure I will go hog wild this year. Maybe just some tomato plants and flowers will do. I can't seem to get onions and zucchini growing, guess there is too much shade in my back yard and the dirt is too hard. Maybe I should try growing things in the front yard in full sun. Course the dirt is no better there either. Well, I still have a few months to ponder this situation.

I do so look forward to Spring and Summer and the beautiful flowers. Not sure where I got this picture, but this rose sure is pretty.

I know where these tulips come from....my front yard, it's a sure sign of spring when the tulips bloom.

Here's a colorful little Spring poem for you to read......

One of my pretty yellow roses in the front yard.

So tomorrow I shall be working on our taxes....I have been putting them off for a week now, for some reason I cannot get myself to tackle that job. But I know once I get to it, I will really get into it. I enjoy organizing, shuffling and filing papers, (must be a throw back from being a secretary or something.)

I went out today, to the Salvation Army to get some bread, mail the mortgage at the Post Office. Get some gas and coffee. Cookies and chocolate donut for JP's lunch. Oh and a corn dog. We shared that. That was the extent of my outing and I almost had enough. Gosh people are crazy drivers on Friday....they have gone wild!!! Payday and they want to get the weekend started......"get out of my way, you move too slow old lady." Gosh, if I didn't have to go to the store and run a few errands, I would be content to stay at home, I have become a home-body for sure!!!!

Well, time to close here before I bore you to death!!! You all take care and keep looking up cause better days are here again....if only the "left" would let it happen!!!! Cheers ~ Louise