It was a hard day

Today was my dad's funeral. He passed away on Saturday night. I feel blessed that our family was all there when he took his last breath. I am so happy that he was peaceful when he left this world. Our family has been so blessed to have so many friends and family to support us thru this tough time. He had gone down hill so quickly with his battle against cancer. He had lost so much weight and was so frail. This is how I want to remember him. I will sure miss you dad, eventhough I know you are in a much better place. I will see you again! Love always.

Some random pics of christmas decorations

Here is the tree that is in the living room. It is just like last year except for the bows. I got different ribbon this year.
I also added a few more baskets and put one at the base. I need to get a bulb for the little house, so it will show up better.

I just love the tall snowman. His little face makes me smile everytime I look at it.

This is a shot of the dog treat cabinet in the kitchen.

This is in the living room. I also need a bulb for the snowman. He looks really cute when he is lit up.

This is by the television in the living room. I think this santa is cute.

This is a shot of the sewing machine in the dining room. I just picked up this fruit tree at the thrift store last week for 3 dollars. I had to put it in the crock cuz the base was chiped. Still looks pretty good.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour. Hope you are having a good night. Thanks for stopping by. Lisa

Yippee

It still amazes me how quickly I can get things done when I just get off my butt and do it. Hehe. I tend to think things to death. If I would just think long enough to make a plan then do it, wow, there is no telling how much I could get done. I had this quilt machine quilted in 35 minutes.
I just love how it turned out. These colors are alittle bit out of my comfort zone. I made this quilt to go in the half bath that we just finished. Now I just need a shelf to hang it under. Oh Larrrrrrrryyyyy!

I hope you are having a good evening. Thanks for stopping by. Lisa

The old girl is home

I dropped off my sewing machine last wed. Larry was able to pick it up Sat. They replaced the bobbin case and tuned it up. The needle threader is working again. I am happy to have it home.
I was soooo close to picking out a new one while I was at the store. She was a really good saleswoman. However, clearer minds prevailed.

I did finish the quilting on Paula's quilt. I am happy with how it turned out. I will be glad to take it to her when I go to work on thursday. I hope you are all having a good evening. Stop again soon. Lisa

A Little finish

This is a little bear that I started for my dad some years ago. For some reason, I didn't get it finished. It was sooo close just one arm to do and some finishing touches. But like so many of my projects it comes to a stand still. I ran across it tonight and finished it up.
The stiching on the heart is pretty rough but it will work. My dad loves teddy bears. I think he will like it. I am sure their cats will also. hehe. Thanks for stopping by. Lisa

found a neat giveaway

I was hoppin' around blogland. I ran across a new site for me. It is the old cupboard door. There is a really cute snowman giveaway going on. You might want to stop by and check it out. http://www.theoldcupboarddoorblog.com/ sorry no pictures. Thanks for stoppin by.

Larry's latest project

Sunday, I went outside to see what my dear husband was up to. He is always working on something. He kept asking me if I brought out the trash....After the second time...I gave him the look....you know the look....Like....What!.... He said. You didn't even notice did you. So then I knew, I needed to look around. Then I realized. He had made a new trash bin. The old one he had made was getting pretty weak. He found this crate in the trash, it started out alot deeper than in this picture. He cut it down to size, angled the top, made the lid and voila...our new rubbish holder.

He moved it from the driveway to it's new home.

I love how it turned out. I can't wait for it to weather like the old one. Hope you are having a good evening. Lisa

Is that a bare chest or what?

Ha Ha. Made you look! Just thought this might make you smile....I did while I was thinking of it. Say hello to Trixie. She was really having a bad couple of weeks, a few weeks back and was biting us and really being mean. Now she has stopped all that but she has pulled out all her chest feathers. I hope she let her new feathers come out. I just might have to put one of those neck guards on her. Hope you have a good weekend. Thanks for stopping by. Lisa

A change in plans...

Well....the plan was this. Load a quilt in the machine and get it quilted tonight. Paula made this quilt and asked if I would quilt it for her. Sure I said.
All was going well, it loaded pretty easily and was pretty square. Looked like it was going to be easy....then my machine starts to act up. It keeps locking up and the monitor reads "stop for safety" I hate when that happens. I have tried a new needle and after trying many other things to no avail.... Looks like Larry will have to work on it tomorrow. So I guess it is off to bed. Hope you are having a good night. Lisa

sold

That is what happened today. I have had my dad's riding mower on craigslist for about a month, at his request. I have been really worried cuz this isn't exactly the best time to sell one .Unfortunatly, not sure if he will be around in the spring. I still can't comprehend that. But today....I got a call, we drove to my parents place and showed it to him and he paid top dollar. I feel so releaved. He was worried about a few bills that were coming in and now he can pay them...or whatever he chooses to do. I just feel happy that we could help. So just thought I would share something happy. Hope you are enjoying your evening. Lisa

Happy Halloween

Hope you all had a great weekend and a safe Halloween. Monday is my night off so Larry and I went to eat and stopped at the Flower factory for ideas for a toy for our bird Trixie. She was really having a rough couple a weeks. She was biting us and being a real brat. She has been alot better the last week or so....but she has been pulling out her chest feathers. Soooo.....hopefully the toys will help relieve her stress. Cross your fingers for her cuz winter is a comin. Have a good night. Lisa

A new rug finished

Well, I finally got some hookin done. I love how it turned out.

I have no idea where it will go. I think I might try to sell it on etsy. Have no idea what to list it for. It was really fun to be hooking though. I have my quilt to machine quilt....so no new rugs til then. Hope you had a good weekend. Lisa

Time is going too fast.

I don't know about you but it seems like time just won't slow down...I never seemed to worry about it before....maybe I would dread winter but look forward to spring. Just never seemed to be a big deal if time went quickly. However, it all seems to be different now. The doctors have said that the cancer is all thru my dad. They figure that it is at stage 4 and they have said that he probably has 6 months left. Who knows how long any of us have but this is heavy....He was only on vicadin for about two weeks. They have already moved him onto morphine.

One good thing is that since all of this has started(1 month already) he has accepted the Lord. So I do have that wonderful knowledge that I will see him again after he leaves this world.

I just didn't know my heart could hurt this much. Sorry that my first post in such a long time is such a downer. I am trying not to think too much. I am finding out that all that does is give you a head ache and stomach pain..... I am learning to enjoy everyday...cuz who knows what tomorrow may bring....good or bad....I hope you are enjoying good days where you are. If you have a moment and feel inclined to say a prayer for strength for my mom and dad...and me...I would greatly appreciate it. Hope you have a blessed weekend. Love, Lisa

There has been some decoratin' goin' on.

Well, I have been trying to keep my mind occupied so that I don't think about the possible things that lie ahead for my dad. Still doing tests....I think the cat scan is tomorrow. Please keep up the prayers...Here is the quilt that I have been working on. It will hang in the new bathroom. I like the colors. They are alittle different than the ones I have always used in our home.. I just love the blue. Hopefully tomorrow night I can stop at joanne fabrics and get batting and get some quilting done. The quilt will hang on the wall on the right. I will have it hanging under a shelf. The wall to the left is where the toilet is.

Here is a shot of the cabinet. Larry got the pump to work and the sink drain is in. Just a few little minor things left. One being...the middle door on the top will hold a mirror, when we get it cut.

This is a shot of the top. I just love how it turned out. The best part was when I totaled up the cost for the stuff on the top of the cabinet. I got all those things at thrift stores and yard sales and I have under $20 for all of it. yippee.

I can't decide if I will keep the doors open or keep them shut. The house has a welcome lite inside. I just have to get it plugged in. NOT so easy. But that is another story. hehe.

I just love little cream pitchers. I just found that little one for a dollar.

I just have to figure out a towel holder and a soap dispenser and of course something for the left side. Stay tuned....

How do ya like the toilet paper holder? I found this old scale for two dollars. Love it...but since it was a little too rusty I put a doiley on top. No one likes discolored tp.. hehe. Don't mind the wall. We still have to put in the baseboards. We are getting there. I hope you are all having a good week. Thanks for stopping by. See ya next time. Lisa

Thanks

Thanks for the prayers. Don't know anything about my dad yet. They have been doing tests again today. Tues. he gets a heart monitor, off on thurs. More tests thurs and friday. His regular doctor said he is testing everything. If he has it they will find it. He was upset that the other doctor told him he thinks he has cancer without any evidence from a test. every test that he gave him came back negetive. He goes in for a cat scan next friday. Please keep up the prayers. They are greatly appreciated. Hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend. Lisa

I could use your prayers

Hello, I am pretty worried about my dad. He has some vision problems in one eye and the doctor sent him right over to the retina center. The doctor there thinks the mass that is behind his eye is cancer. He also thinks that it is not the point of origin. However, all the tests that they did that day, which was alot, showed no cancer anywhere. He has to go for more tests tomorrow. If all those tests show no cancer than they will treat with anti-inflamatorys and antibiotics.(if I understand everything). I know we will handle whatever comes our way. God is good. I just hope he doesn't have to go thru all that. If anyone is willing...I would sure appreciate your prayers. Thanks for listening. Lisa

Selling on Ebay

Well, I have been planning to sell my old barbie stuff on ebay. Some of the things that I have from the early 70's are selling for a nice price. I just am so intimidated by the whole thing though. I just hate that.....being a sissy and all. (don't tell anyone...I have been hiding it very well.) I think the part that worries me the most is figuring out what to charge for shipping. I was looking at what others were charging and it ranged from 9.99 to 70 something. that is a big difference for the same item.

I have everything and it is in pretty good shape. I would like to get as much as I can(of course). however, I truely enjoyed all of these toys. I got more than my moneys worth on all of them already....Anything would be better than having them sitting in the basement. right?

I just needed to vent alittle. Maybe if anyone has any advice I would be thrilled. I have taken pictures and all but it is all sitting on my quilting tables and I am started to feel the walls coming in on me. I need to get this moving.

I have been working on my quilt and just need to put the borders on. I hope to have something to show you soon.

Good news. Trixie(my new bird) hasn't bit me in two days now. Yippee. She was on a biting streak for 4 days in a row. Bummer. Hope to have some pics soon. Have a good weekend. I can't believe it is here again. Lisa

Meet Trixie

Trixie is a sun conure and is our newest family member. She had belonged to my cousin Annette and she was looking for someone to take her. We gladly volunteered. Annette is away from home all day and her daughter is going to college soon and she didn't want her to be alone. She will seldom be alone with the 3 dogs and the 16 other finches. Yes, I did say 16. I am not sure how I got to this point but here we are. I did just talk with someone who is going to get two of the finches in the morning. I think she is pretty excited about it. I feel funny using the same pic for the post and the sidebar...but time is limited tonight. Hope to have more pics soon. Hope you are having a good night. Lisa

one step forward...am I going forward?

Today is my day off and the plan is.....not to leave the house until it is clean and in order....I know. I might never leave again....hehe. Anyway. I remembered that I didn't drop the mail off at the post office last night. So I got dressed and loaded the three dogs in the car and off we went. I looked at the wrong day on the outside box. I thought they would pick it up at noon. It was 11:45 at that time. Sounds good....let the letters fall...then realize that it is on sat. that it is picked up at noon....today not til 5:00. Bummer. So decided oh well, nothing I can do now. Just go home and make the best of the rest of the day....How positive is that.....Just as I turn the corner to pull in the driveway what do I see pull up in front of my house.....You guessed it....The mail truck. So thus my post title.. I am not sure if what I am doing is techniqely going forward or if I am making holding circles. I will keep you posted. lol.

a few shots from today

Larry and I went on the annual pond tour today. The proceeds benefit a local hospital. I thought I would share a few pics. I just loved the first pond. They had a wonderful yard.
I thought the colors here were wonderful

This is one of the tiers to his pond. It was breathtaking. My photography not so much. But it gives you an idea of what we were experiencing.

This beauty was along his driveway.

This was another pond. The water was soooo clear. This one was designed by a 13 yr old. I think they did a wonderful job. They had some big fish.

As far as any work getting accomplished. Not so much. I thought that going and seeing all these pretty ponds might give me some ambition to weed around our ponds......I did pull a few. It is just so dry here they were all breaking off. I did however see that we have a chance of rain everyday next week. Keep your fingers crossed. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. On to another week. Have fun. Lisa

It's a Twister....

That is the name of the template I used on the new quilt anyway. hehe. Well it was midnight and I decided to start a new quilt. It might not seem like such a good idea tomorrow(or today) when I have to be on my feet for 10 hours at work. But anyway..... Here are the blocks. I just used a charm pack(which is squares already cut 5") I then cut 5" alternate blocks and started sewing.
Added a border and then started cutting using the template.

So after three hours from start I have all these pinwheels ready to sew together. Then on to the borders. Just thought I would show you what I was up to tonight(this morning) Wish me luck tomorrow. Have a good weekend. Lisa

This is for the birds.....

Literally, This post is about my birdies. Check out their nest. This pair makes the craziest nests I have ever seen. Unfortunately, It has fallen down quite a bit tonight since we were moving the cage so much. It had been over the basket alot more. There is just a small hole in the paper that they enter in. They have three eggs in the nest now.
Anyway....I have been looking for a cabinet to keep all my bird supplies in. They have been in the dog treat cabinet and it was getting way to congested. So the other day at the thrift store. I ran across the perfect thing. It has a drawer in the bottom to hold newspaper.....

Then a spot in the middle for the food etc.......

This is the final look. Don't look at the mess on the floor. It was alittle too late to run the sweeper tonight. I will work on that in the morning before work. We built this cage a while back and had been hanging it on the wall about a foot and a half higher. Larry cut the legs of the cage off for me and drilled some holes in the cabinet so that my very innocent dogs can't knock the cage off. I am so happy with the results. I feel very blessed. Oh by the way the cabinet was only 8 dollars. Yippee.

The New half Bath begins

Here is the before shot of our half bath. We weren't planning on working on this project for a while. The plan was to get the yard in order......Well. I was out shopping and found a great cupboard.....soooo. We were off and running.


Larry had a four day weekend over the fourth and let me tell you he has wasted no time. He removed the old floor, took out the little corner wall and moved the plumbing and vent pipe back. This added about a foot on to the room. The old toilet has been removed.

He cut the boards for the new floor and glued them down. He used left over rocks from the yard to hold them done while they dried. He patched the old drywall and studded the new wall and drywalled it.

Here is a shot of the cupboard I found. It was originally 493.00 and it was on sale for 100.00. Yippee. I painted it a flat black. The middle top cupboard front will hold a mirror. The other two doors on top will be glass or fabric. Haven't decided yet.

We were afraid that the cabinet wouldn't fit in the room so today before our dinner guests showed up we moved it just to see. Thank goodness it went right in.




This will be our sink and faucet. We found the pump on craigs list. It was 20.00. Larry had to cut some of the inside out with a torch so that the plumbing will fit. He still has to put in new bolts etc. These are just temp. Then it will be painted.

I just love the bowl. It will have a hole cut and drain installed soon. The handle will turn the water on and off. The temp. controls will be under the counter in the "drawer". It will look like a drawer but it will only be a front on hinges.



This is a fuzzy shot of the light I got for 4 dollars. This will be our light in the bathroom. Larry painted it for me today. Hopefully tomorrow. We will get the walls painted and more plumbing run. I hope you enjoyed my little tour. Have a good nite. Lisa

Alittle progress.

The last two days have been pretty productive. On Sunday afternoon, we painted the shutters on the house. We are both happy with the brown.

What do you think of my little can? I got it the other day at the flea market for a dollar.

Here is another shot. I changed some of the stuff out on the porch. Now I need to decide what color the paint the front door.

This is a close up of the shelf. I got the little box the other day. It is some kind of game, I just liked the box. The crow was also a thrift store buy. It was 35 cents. I tweeked it alittle. It originally perched straight on the stand. I made it stay at an angle. I changed the button eyes that were white to black. I also put some dried flowers around it's neck. I really like it. The only thing that I didn't get done was to cut some more yarrow to hang under the shelf. Maybe tomorrow. We also got the house and deck power washed. CHECK! I just love to check things off the to do list. I hope you enjoyed your day today. Thanks for stopping by. Lisa

I ran across a before picture of the front of our home. These are the shrubs we took out. I am hoping that we will get the shutters painted this weekend. I have a nice brown that I picked out. I love the green on the shutters but I never find green fabric at the thrift stores. I do however find lots and lots of lovely blues....So.... I thought that if I changed it to brown the blues would go nicely. Now I just have to figure out what color to paint the front door. I am pretty sure I will never get Larry to agree on any form of blue for the front door.

Here is a shot of the middle. I will have to get alot more done before the "after" picture comes along. I have a couple of chairs that I usually put out on the front porch next to the swing. I just got a couple wood chairs from my mom. Now I have to decide which ones to use. The wood ones might not last too long in the weather. All these decisions tired me right out. hehe. Nite!

One unwanted visitor and a finish

Can you see anything in this picture. This is the site out my back door yesterday morning at about 6:40 am. I had just seen Larry off to work and stayed at the door to see what was happening outside at this early hour. (hehe I usually get up at 8:00). I was startled by a huge winged creature. Yep...you might have guessed. It was a heron. It was casing my pond and my lovely fish.

Sorry for the blurr and the bad lighting. I wish I had time to go to another window for a better shot. He wasn't there long. He saw me and left. I keep looking now all the time. I don't worry about the fish too much since the water is 4 ft and them definately can get away. I just would like to get a closer look. I worry about my dogs if they got close.

Anyway, her she is. I have finished my sheep rug. All I need to do is bind it. I think I have a new project in mind.


I got this basket at a yard sale a couple weeks ago. It was only two dollars. I thought it would look cool with a hooked cover of some kind. I thought I could use it to carry my hooking stuff if I ever go to a hook- in again. Now just to decide what to put on the top. Something with wool in the title. Hummmmm.

Hope you are having fun tonight. Lisa