Images from Canaan Valley

Seneca Rocks - This image doesn't show just how really amazing these are, they truly are quit a sight. Should have tried to get one from the side to show how narrow they are.
I can't believe people really climb them...Wish I could still do something like that.

This is an Early Settlers Home on display in the Seneca Rock park . I doubt they were really this nice,but maybe. Wish you could see the rain barrel better beside the front porch. Wouldn't that be nice to wash your hair in. Would make it nice and soft.

An Herb garden in front of the house.

I have never grown beans this way. Guess they need to be pole beans to grow up a pole....LOL We always plant bush beans and I can't wait to pick, cook and eat some. I'm so looking forward to all the good things from the garden.

I'll bet this has seen plenty of work.

Finally found time today to get the laptop out to transfer these pictures to this computer so I could work on them and get them ready to post.

We've had so much rain in the last week that I don't think we will need any more this summer.

I know that's not true..... We'll probably need some next week but I'm ready for some sun.

New Decorations

I finally found something for my fireplace opening. Had seen this little stool in a window on my way to work and had plans to check it out on the weekend. On Friday night, I noticed it was gone and figured it had been bought. I decided to go see if they had anything else I couldn't live without and lo and behold, the stool had just been moved to a different spot in the store. I ended up having to cut about 4 inches off the bottom to make it work with my other stuff but love how it turned out. Gives my fireplace a more primitive look that blends with the mantel decor better than before.

Mother's Day 2010

I had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Opened the bottle and noticed this for the first time. How long has it been there? I have no idea, but it caught my attention this time. Have a Wonderful Mother's Day!

Fiesta!!

Don't these remind you of fiesta-ware dishes? I fell in love with this color combination and think I'll do a few pots up like them and add them to my privacy fence along with some colorful wall hangings. I've seen some colorful suns, flowers, bugs, etc. in magazines and like the look. Give my back yard some fun, colorful appeal.

Twisties....Whirligigs.....Helicopters

Or whatever you want to call them we have millions this year and they are everywhere.

If only I had a Penny...........I would be.......LOL

Rainy Sunday

What else is there to do on a rainy day? Cleaned house and did laundry and then baked up a batch of good old fashion oatmeal raisin cookies. Yummm! I haven't mowed lawn since last Sunday and I can't get home in time during the week to get it done. It will have to be baled by the time I do get to do it. Plus, we leave next Friday night to go down to my brother in laws for the weekend. Ugh....I might have to hire someone to mow this week!

Spring Tulips 2010

Captured these one morning, heading for work. We have a garden in the middle of an intersection that the master gardeners maintain and I just happened to drive down this road while cutting around some traffic congestion. I'm always forgetting about it cause it's on a road I don't travel on much. Anyway, took these and a few more and will post as I work them up. I thought I'd get back over there the next morning, earlier, but forgot. They would look better if the sun was not as high as it was on this day.

Crabapple

This is my favorite color of crabapple. I'll try and get a shot tonight of it in fuller bloom. I took this one on Sat. morning and it wasn't quite completely bloomed out yet. Had a super busy weekend....mainly cleaning and fertilizing flower beds. I'm beginning to realize that I've got way too much to take care of for the shape I'm in. But...I was able to get down on my knees on Sunday evening....I hadn't been able to do that since I had surgery. Maybe the knee is finally coming around! Yippee.

Waking Up.

Hummmm....when I click on new post, I have to delete your signature...what's up with that? Anyway, took this quickly this am cause I wanted to catch it as it was emerging. I got home last night and noticed that it was covered with buds and it was waking up this morning. Love this tree! It's not real sharp but was pretty windy and I didn't want to wait.

New Spring...

I'm not sure what I did but I posted this last night and it disappeared. Maybe I just dreamed that I posted it...LOL....
We are finally in full Spring now. I can't believe how much opened up this weekend. It's like everything that had been asleep all winter, decided to wake up at the same time. The world is once again, beautiful!

Spring Time Mosaic

Went back through my pictures and pulled out a few that says Spring Is Here. I normally like the nice bright colors of Spring but I decided to tone them down some by giving this a vintage look by adding an overlay from Florabella.

Easter with the Grands

Had a wonderful time with the Grands over Easter. They went home yesterday and I'm wiped out today. Plus it's raining and that always makes me sleepy. I'm so glad the weather was so nice for the kids. We even had to turn the AC on it got so hot.

Background from DDE. Photo frame from Joanne Brisebois. Word art from DD. The rest mine.

Used an action called try out pak and I can't remember where I got it.

Spring Thunderhead

I love taking photos of these clouds. There is just something about a huge white thunderhead against a blue sky that is mesmerizing to me. Took this yesterday and will probably see them again today as we have severe weather in the forecast for this afternoon. We worked most all weekend in the yard. After our 15 minutes of hurricane winds on Good Friday, the rest of the weekend turned out real nice. We got the lawn all mowed and fertilized and I got some of the mums and pampas grass cut back. I've still got lots of cleaning to do. Christmas is officially over here in Missouri now...got the last of the Christmas decorations taken down and put away on Sunday morning. LOL....this was a first for us...we NEVER have lights up after the end of January, let alone the end of March...a sign of how severe our winter was here. We got the front yard tilled up and seeded down but the storm interfered with the side yard work. If we had had one more hour before the storm, we would have got that side done too. It's suppose to be nice next weekend, so hope to get it done before we have to leave for Gavin's birthday party.

More Pink Tulips

More Tulips.....It got up to 85° today and I have been at it all day.
I'm beat....going to go put my feet up.

Pink Tulips

Every time I see these I have to bring them home. Love them.
Isn't this shade of pink just perfect?
Mine outside aren't blooming yet.,but soon.

More Daisies

These don't even make me feel better today.

Fastener from SP. Used Soft & Faded action from Pioneer Woman and overlay from Florabella.

Spring Robins

These little gals are sooooo fat! I needed to use the tripod cause the lighting was terrible but it was in the truck and I was in the house and I didn't want to scare them off. It's till snowing right now but not real heavy. Kansas City is getting hit really hard...last time I saw the weather they had over 8 inches and still coming down. I hope it slides past us! We have had more than our share for one season.
I started feeding the birds last fall and we are just now beginning to see a variety of them. We had tons of robins, one cardinal and one woodpecker this morning and tons of little chickadees. I love watching them! I need to get a book on Missouri birds and learn how and what to feed them so I can get some different ones. My sister in law has Orioles and they are so beautiful!
This is a kit called Spring Breeze by Michelle Shefveland and I got it from Scrappers Guide.

First Day of Spring.....&**%$#$%^&

Look what we woke up to......I'm about to pack it up and move somewhere tropical! We were just getting the rock roads settled down so we could travel on them. This is disgusting!

Daisy.....Daisy

I found this vase on my last trip to the Amish Country and had to have it just to use as a photo prop. Love the color. Got the Daisy at the florist yesterday.
I think this will get printed and framed to hang in my bathroom when I get it redone.

Mom's Birthday Card

I will not take credit for this card and I hope its ok with the artist that I 'borrowed' it. It was fun to recreate it without the stamps or punches. I can't thank you enough for helping me with the leaves. I think I could have made them but it would have taken me a whole lot longer! I'm so slow. The punched edge took me most all day yesterday to figure out but I'm glad I persevered cause it taught me a bit more about the Sure Cuts a Lot program and using my Cricut. I can browse these card sites forever....love to see their work and hopefully, someday, when I have more time, I can design my own too. This was the first time I've added stitching to my cards and it won't be the last time. It was so funny to be sewing on paper instead of material and I really like the look it gives the card. I ended up using a grunge overlay cause I was too tired to go to town to buy any ink. I've got an ordered placed for some right now, along with some more card stock and some ribbon.
The card is designed by Besty Weldman and her website is Paper, Scissors and Superheros.

More Spring

Brent had to take the first shot for me. I've been down in the back for several days, don't think I could get down for this angle on a good day. No way on a bad day. If I did I would still be laying there tomorrow.

These are so pretty. Wish they would stay forever.

LOOK...... what I found today

I hope this makes you smile like it did me.

Vick, Jessi & Jason

This is a quick and not very good snap of the kids. That Jason is so ornery that if I do more than point and shoot he is making silly faces at me. Can't get a good picture of him at all.

Background paper Taylormade. Dot paper from Sp with a color change. Word art from DD and the flowers and grid brush is FeiFei's stuff.

I almost forgot how to do a page.

Retouched

Let me know if this one looks better.

Snowy Lane 2010

This was my post from yesterday....I like the frosty tree in the foreground along with the fence post. But....I'm ready to see green grass and green leaves now..

Such Beauty

I'd like to think I had a small hand in her beauty and charm but not sure any of it came from me except for those exception green eyes. She has her dad's smile and nose and his gift for gab. She doesn't know a stranger and would give you the shirt off her back even through she didn't have one to replace it with. She is 100% devoted to her son and I hope he realizes how lucky he is to have her. I am blessed to have been given the job of being her mom, even through I failed to fulfill that position properly. I hope she knows she is the love of my life!

This was taken on Christmas morning at her house. Her sweater kind of clashed with the lights so I toned it down to a bit of sepia. I need your honest opinion here.....I softened her skin and sharpened her eyes and hair but want to know if I over did it....I hate seeing photos where the skin looks fake. Is it too much?

This was not the post I was going to do....the one I did yesterday was of snow so I posted it to PP instead. LOL...

Tulip

Had to buy these when I saw them at the grocery yesterday. They can make me smile even when I'm looking out at the snow.
Is it ever going to quit????
Used several textures and overlays from FloraBella.
Staple from Shabby Princess.

Clementine

Shot of the Clementine that I took a couple of weeks ago.

Love these little things.

Played around with a few textures.

Cupcake

Made these for all to eat on Sunday. So good, but I can't keep eating things like this. I guess the next ones I make will have to be Chocolate for Brent.

10 inches plus

This has got to be the worst winter I can remember....I'm so sick of this white stuff. Bill is still outside (its almost 7 pm) trying to get as much cleared off as he can so we can get out in the morning to go to work. It's still coming down and the wind is blowing, so it will start drifting back. He looks so cold out there. The poor old Toro is probably about to lay down on us. It's 17 years old. We only use it to blow snow and mow the corner across the road. We want to buy a snow blower for the JD but its almost 4000.00 and we haven't got it saved up yet. Maybe by next winter. It's going to be a miserable day tomorrow....hopefully, they have the highways cleared at least. I just won't be traveling on the gravels or secondary blacktops. At least the sun is suppose to shine by Tues. or Wed.

Cherry Crisp

Just finished making these...I'm sure they wouldn't be on Weight Watchers menu! I haven't tried them yet. Bill says they are good but the crust is kind of rubbery. You use Grands flaking biscuits and cut each biscuit in half. Then you press them out in a circle and put them in a muffin pan. I was having trouble get them pressed into the cups, so I used my Pampered Chef roller and rolled them out. That might be why they came out a bit rubbery or I didn't bake them quite long enough. I don't know. I'll try them again someday.

Winter 2010

I pass this every morning and for once, I took my camera with me to get a shot. I wish I'd thought to put it in the car yesterday morning because the sun was shining bright but I didn't. By the time we got done loading and on the road, the sun was gone and the wind was howling. It made for one miserable day.

Valentine 2010

Here they are....nothing real special as I didn't have much time. Gavin was here helping me and he was a big help and we had fun. He let me know that the girls were a lot more special than the boys were...lol....I just couldn't come up with much for the boys that wasn't too girly for them. The bags are from Shabby Shoppe from the Valentine collection. Gavin and I made the basketball on the Cricut. It took us quite a bit of cutting before we figured out how to get the ball and swoosh lined up right. Gavin glued the balls together and then stapled and filled the bags.

Walk in the Snow

We have about 5 or 6 inches of snow on the ground from yesterday and it's snowing again but it's not accumulating much today.

It is so pretty out that we went for a walk in the park. It was so cold that by the time I finished snapping these I couldn't feel the shutter button. I guess I need new gloves and I know I need some boots.

Brent took the third one down.

Playing around again

Just messing around. One of the cute Valentine bowl I got.

It looks funny on the left side but that just the way the light was hitting it.

Baked Potato Soup

I'm running late for work but wanted to post this before I left. My daughter bought this cookbook for me for Christmas...its from her church and this recipe was in it. This is absolutely the best potato soup I have ever eaten. Bill and I could eat it every day but then we would have to take up running to work it off. It's pretty fattening.....LOL...but soooo good.
Recipe card from Shabby Princess from her Holiday Recipe collection.

Last of the sunroom images

The last of the images for now any way.
I still need to make a couple of toss pillows to match the chair seats and maybe a table runner.
I will probably pickup a few more of the yellow dishes to set around.

It's that little lamp and the table mat the cutest? Got the lamp at a local shop and picked the candle mat up on my trip last week-end in Washington Court House, Ohio.

More new look

More of the sunroom. Love the bookshelf...well heck I love it all. Notice the digital frame on the self...Christmas gift from Vickie....I have some images on it but I want to put all of the ones from the blog if I can. One thing about the new furniture is that I don't have to dust as often without all the glass tables. Not that the dust isn't there but you don't notice it as much.
Forgot to say the frames are by Nancy Comelab.

New Look

This is a few shots. A total turn around...went from white to black. It's still a work in progress.
I'll post more later.
The frames by Nancy Comelab and the rest from Shabby Princess.
Hope your MIL is doing better.

Recovered chair seats

Got the chair seats all finished. Will post some more images of the room tomorrow.

Frosty Morning 2010

Just another image that I took that beautiful frosty morning. Those skates you can see at the bottom were Bill's as a young boy. They've only seen ornamental use for the past 30 years...LOL.
I wish I hadn't cut the top of the tree off. I think the image would have been better proportioned. The jar with the snowman in it was a gift from Bill a few years ago. It lights up but this was taken after the extremely wet weather blew the safety button in the outdoor plugs. I'll have to see if I can get one with it lit...sometime.
BTW...I'm thinking its getting time for a new blog design...its your turn!

The best chocolate sheet cake. Ever!

I finally got around to making this and boy was it ever good! I had every pan in the house dirty and had to run to the grocery store in the middle of it. Teach me to check for supplies BEFORE I start. LOL...here is the link to the recipe...the best chocolate sheet cake.....I will be making it again.

The recipe is from the Pioneer Women. The frame is by Cheri Shields from Gotta Pixel and the bow clip is by Mad Scrapper Designs. I got this kit free during one of the blog trains. I need to use it more...its got some super cute stuff in it.

Winter Wonderland

I wish I'd taken my camera to work on this day, January 12th 2010....the world was simply BEAUTIFUL! I can't capture the awe of it but I tried. There was nothing anywhere outside that wasn't covered in thick, white frost. When it started falling, it was like a heavy snow. Around 10 am, the sun started breaking through the clouds and the world was transformed into this lovely, bright, shiny white. Breathtaking, to say the least.

Banana Bread Loaves

Made these mini loaves today....I was in a cooking mood...fixed beans and cornbread and then fried Chicken for dinner. The beans and cornbread are to eat this week. I try and make up something we can heat up since I get home so late.