27 Years

Just a shot of my gifts from 27 years at big Brown.  I also got a set of glasses, a stadium chair and a black vest. The package car is a replica of the car I drove for 13 years on the Chillicothe metro route.
All this came from my center manager except for the plaque and it came from UPS.  Today, I got a letter giving me a code to order a retirement gift from the company.  I can't decide what I want...too many gifts to select from. I'm shooting for maybe the Kindle...I've been wanting one but I also love their jewelry too. Most all of my safe driving rewards were jewelry. My center manager fixed hotdogs on the grill with chips and a huge cake and then he had this one made up so I would have one to bring home.  I have to admit, I was impressed with how much he did for me...the last few drivers haven't received hardly more than a hand shake. Maybe if he had came along a year ago, I'd still be working...I was starting to like him but I couldn't stand the guy before him and I had filed the application when he was there. I'm still on the fence about this retirement stuff....I don't miss the rough ride or roads but I do miss getting out and seeing all my customers. Maybe when the weather straightens up I'll be happier. Right now, I'm just kind of bored stiff!

Scroll down...I've posted twice today!

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Window Top shelf

After spending the week down to mom's, I completely forgot about posting this.  This is the shelf I made for the woman's gift at our Christmas party.  My older sister got it first but it got stolen by my niece-in-law pretty fast.  She is expecting twin girls in April and stated that it would match perfect with the deco she was doing for their rooms.  Now to get some made for Jerri Ann and I. I have a couple more window tops.  I'm not sure where I would put mine or if I would do it in the white or black...I'm thinking black to go with my four black frames that Randy made for me almost 2 years ago...still don't have them up on the walls yet.  I hope to get them up this winter.  Just need to locate some good photos of the grands to put in them.  I'm thinking more of a warmer color for Jerri Ann's as her house is in warm fallish colors.

Anyway, this started out as the top of a window from my brother-in-laws old 2-story house.  I did nothing more to it except cut it down in length...about 4 inches off each end and then added some brads to hold the trim on the top a little more sturdy.  Striped off the varnish and sanded it good all over.  Painted it with some white paint I had on hand and then sanded the edges and a few other places to give it a worn look.  Then added some antiquing glaze on top.  We drilled holes and added the door knobs from my house.  My house has the original glass knobs in the bedrooms but the two doors off the old kitchen were junked out when we added the bathroom.  I saved the knobs and 15 years later, I found a use for them...LOL...the black hook was bought from Lowes and I sanded it a bit to tone down some of the newness.  Added the bottle that I decorated with chain, an old skeleton key and a charm and some ribbon.  My first thoughts were to add a bottle that you could add water and flowers in but decided I liked this idea better.  The hardest part was figuring out how to hang it and I ended up taking it down to my BIL's and he used his router to made keyholes on the back. I hope it hangs straight...haven't heard from John or Leslie.

Won't this look cute with some pretty little pink girl clothes hanging off those knobs?

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Ice Storm

We got hit by an Ice Storm last night. Got up this morning to see a layer of ice on everything. I finallygot up enough nerve to go out to snap these shots  around 2:00pm. I had to walk very carefully. Didn'twant to fall and bust my.............Think I'm going to stay inside now in front of the fire. 

Wonderful Pumpkin Bread

It has been so rainy and gloomy around here that we almost ate all of this Pumpkin Bread before I could take a snap. I made 2 loafs on Monday and took one to a friend that just had knee replacement surgery last week.
Made Back Porch Soup today and Brent brought his Dad up for lunch before taking him for his eye appointment.
Now that Christmas is over I'm ready for Spring.

Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 2/3 cups white sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup water
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup butter, melted
15 ounces pumpkin

Directions:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together in large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl combine eggs, water, applesauce, butter and pumpkin and mix well.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquids, then mix until moistened.
4. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Got the recipe for the Pumpkin Bread here

 

Happy Birthday,Mary!

Forcing Bulbs

I couldn't resist picking one of these up at Wally World the other day...they had them for 3.33.  Just wish I'd got them a bit earlier...would have loved to seen them come to life.  I expect mine will be blooming in the next day or two...just on the verge of opening up.  I'll have to share a shot of the roots....so pretty.  I thought it was a neat contrast between the January subway art and the new growth...I need to take another shot and make the wording of the art plainer but I loved this shot of the bulb.

I hope this finds you feeling a lot better...I'm starting to worry since I've not heard a peep all week.  I'm almost finished with my woman gift for Christmas this weekend.  Just need to let the last coat of varnish dry and then add the hook and knobs.  I think it turned out great and makes me want to pick my own gift...Jerri Ann says I can't...boo hoo!  Guess I'll just have to make one for myself someday.  I'll post an image of it when its done.

They are giving me a retirement party at work tonight....I don't really want to go but guess since its for me, I"d better.  So far...I'm enjoying retirement immensely!

Sat. morning we leave for my folks for Christmas and then I'm staying down for a few more days to get in some quality time with my mom.  Should be home either Thurs. or Friday.  I'm taking the laptop with me but they don't have internet service so won't be on any.  Just thought I might get some organizing done while mom naps. Plus, I want to print off some of her recipes.  I'd love to make a recipe book of her recipes to give to the family.

Need to get off my butt and get out for my walk...60 degrees outside!  Yippee.

Ok...had to share the roots....I love them....

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Remember All the Alphabet Photo's?

I came across this site and love how she made her picture frames.  Would look cool on a mantle or long table.

Just thought you would like to see.
Photo Letter Frames

January Subway Art

January subway art. It's getting harder to come up with words. February shouldn't be to bad but, March I don't know.

Enjoy!

Oreo Balls for Christmas

Made a couple batches of Oreo Balls for Christmas. link
Since I don't like Chocolate Oreo cookies I made a batch of the Golden Oreo cookies too.
Dipped the chocolate ones in milk chocolate and the golden in white. They really are pretty good.

From Our House to Yours

Just another shot of the house....I think this is the first craft project Brenda and I made.  We had went to Arkansas for this super huge Craft fair...never been to such a huge fair!  Anyway, everyone was walking around with these Christmas signs and Brenda and I decided we could make them.  She cut the wood and added them to the pole and I did the painting of the wording.  Not great but not bad...now I know an easy way to paint them so I might paint over these and paint them again. That's all the post for today...off to lunch with Jerri Ann and Gavin.


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Christmas Lights 2011

Here it is....my home in lights.  This is all the lights, I'm lit down by the road too but I didn't like the way the picture came out with it.  Plus, I have 3 lighted deers in the side yard that you can't see. I had an acquaintance tell me that she was afraid Aliens might land on my yard...I did NOT say she was a friend...LOL..I don't care what she thinks, I liked it and I did get a few compliments on it.  My brother-in-law made the bears for me this year but I haven't figured out yet how to take light shots without blowing the light...so they are that blob of white light that you see on the left side of the photo.  Anyway, you get the idea.


Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Lighted Christmas Presents

While shopping one day, before the Christmas rush, Bill and I came across these lighted Christmas gifts for outside decoration.  They wanted 69.00 for them and I could not bring myself to buy them.  So...we went across the street to Lowe's and purchased some chicken type wire and then went to Wally World for the material.  They didn't have a huge selection of material so I couldn't be too particular.  Plus, they wanted 5.95 for the gold bow, so I couldn't bring myself to buy more then one.  The other two bows were in my stash but I plan on replacing them next year with ones I make myself. Just need to remember to buy some good ribbon.  We just used some scrap 1 x 4's that we had and made us a 'box' by making a top frame and a bottom frame out of the 1 x 4's that we cut down to 1 x 1's.  The wire was stiff enough that we didn't have to add side rails...just stapled the wire to the top frame, forming the wire into a box shape as we stapled. Then added the bottom frame and stapled the bottom. I really liked how the red and gold looked after I stapled the material on to the box but after dark, you can really see the wire cage when the lights are lit on the inside.  Oh, the lights are just a white Christmas strand that I had and I ran it from one box to the other and basically, just bunched up inside.  I could have attached them to the wire but thought I'd pick up some smaller strands after Christmas and then I'll add them permanently. This worked for now. The silver box was made later and I decided to add a muslin piece to it first....then covered it with the silver...didn't like that look after dark at all...LOL....will be redoing it before next year.  I'm thinking I just need to double my pretty material instead...another project for another day.  All together we probably only have about 15.00 in the set....

Daylight shot

Night Shot

SnowFlake Tags and a gift

Ok...here are the tags made with the snowflakes that were cut out of the front panel for the Christmas card.  I then cut a page full of white ones and sprayed them with an adhesive and spinkled them with glitter. This is the same tag I used last year, just cut me some more out of red cardstock and then I actually 'stamped' the Merry Christmas on them.  I had got this stamp with a card magazine that I get that always has a free gift on the front of it.  The Dec. magazine has these really neat stamps.  Added twine to the buttons and put it all together with pop dots.  Added some silver cord and there you have it...quick and easy.  Just put the to/from on the back and added to the packages.

This little gal was given to me a few years back from a long time friend of mine.  She has craft night with all her grandchildren and they make Christmas ornaments.  I love this one!  It's just a white transparent ornament that she has drawn the face on and added a small wooden bead for a nose.  Comes with a pretty gold metallic bow in her hair...LOL....she is really pretty when the lights from the tree are shining through her but I didn't capture that very well.


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Christmas card 2011

This is my take on this card  darleenstamps.  I used the Cricut to cut the snowflake and top panel for my card...love this cause then all my panels were cut exactly alike and fit my base card perfectly. Downloaded some Silent Night sheet music and printed off on some parchment paper that I've had forever and then made scallops in Sure Cuts A Lot and with trial and error, got the scallops to cut on the Cricut over the placement of the wording of the song and still leave a bit of musical notes.  That was the hardest part of the card...For the Merry Christmas, I printed it out on the full 8 1/2 x 11 inch Kraft paper in two places.  I printed it on plain paper first, then lined it up the Kraft paper that I would be cutting later until it was in the right position.  This was easier than I'm typing ...LOL...Once all my wording was printed on the front panel, I then cut the panel and the snowflake.  I have lots of snowflakes to use on projects now...will be posting one of them later.  Not sure what I'll do with the rest of them but have stored them for future use. On this image, the ribbon was solid red...I ran out of polka-dot ribbon and did not want to run back to Wal-mart...my time was getting too scarce by this point.  So...I just used some solid red and added some liquid pearl dots.  Added a rhinestone and then mounted this panel on the red stock and then \mounted to the white stock. I like how it turned out!  Now, to get an idea for next year and at least have the supplies on hand.

And this is just a shot of my old gingerbread ornaments I've had since forever and a day.  Tell me why I can't seem to get my oranges to be orange?  Oranges should be orange...not yellow!!

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Blast from the Past

Just thought you'd like to see this ensemble again.  I was talking about the crafts I've made over the years to the gal that works at the station in Gilman where I begin my work day and it crossed my mind that the work force had changed there over the years.  I made this same ensemble a few years back for the gals that worked at the station at the time.  This is the same year, Bren and I sent the ensemble to you.  So...I decided to make it all up again.  Like to never found the file but finally did.  Made up 4 of these gifts and it reminded me of how much I miss all the crafting we use to do.  I contacted Brenda to make the cups but her inks had dried up so she had to email a gal that does the dye sub products.  She printed off the cup file and then sent it to Brenda and Brenda put it on the cups for me.  The gal must of had a different profile on her printer or different ink cause the new cups were a brighter blue than the original ones were.  I like the blue of the original better but the girls loved them all and could not believe they were all handmade.  This was one of my favorite ensembles that I printed up and I was super glad you shared the file with me.  Notice your snowfriend  notepad too! 

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Birthday cupcake

Jessi & Jason stopped by on Saturday for a quick birthday get together. They will be 13  on the 22nd.
Made them a batch of cupcakes to celebrate.
I didn't have a fancy cupcake holder so I turned a dessert dish over and sat a cupcake on it to snap this shot.

Class Treats

Finished the treats just in time....party is tomorrow. These pictures are horrible but its cloudy this morning and I've ran out of time to take good shots.  But, you get the idea.  The bag is Reindeer poop...thought the kids would get a kick out of it...Santa with his reindeer and a little something the reindeer left...LOL...off to work...

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Christmas tree at the Greenbrier

This the Christmas tree in front of the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
Had a wonderful trip and it's an amazing beautiful place to see.

Christmas subway art

Finally found the time to post my Christmas subway art. Download and print.

More of the Photo Shoot

Another shot of Darby...this one was taken in front of a white plastic fence and I liked the vintage look that I got.  The frame and vintage style are from CoffeeShop again.  This was really a cool frame.  You put the picture in the frame and it automatically gave it the vintage look.  I then followed a tutorial on her site about adding a duplicate layer of the texture and using soft light to lighten the image.  I like......


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Christmas word art

Worked up this Christmas word art today. I love what it has to say. Of course I like the song but these words pull on the heart strings.

Hope you enjoy.

Vintage Darby

Another shot of Darby using CoffeeShop Butterscotch Vintage plus her 2020 action.  Love these actions, just wish I knew what I was doing with them.  Hopefully, come January, I can learn to use them and PS. 

These shots were taken with my Sony G and the a700...I really miss this lens and can't wait till I can get it replaced.  The insurance check came yesterday but I'm looking for a good deal on it before I purchase.  It sales for 899.99 but I found it on Amazon the other day for 850. but didn't get it ordered in time.  They only had one in stock and it sold pretty fast.


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No Parking

Another shot that Darby and I took...I love the texture in this big old door.  I plan on going back to this spot with her in different clothes.  I can't seem to get her to wear clothes without writing on them...LOL.  I also wished I'd angled the shot but didn't think about that till I was shooting her in front of the turquoise door.  Next time, I'm thinking a yellow/orange/brown outfit and a slight tilt to the image. 

I used CoffeeShop Texture Pak1 and her Butterscotch Vintage Action.  I don't have a clue what I'm doing with these but kind of liked how the image turned out. I'll read and play some more on her blog.  Thanks for sending me the link.

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On this one, all I did was run the MCP facebook fix and then ran the Butterscotch Vintage Action. I do believe I like the last one best.  Its sharper and I like the action without the texture.

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More Flash shots

Just posting this one to show my Alphauser group the wall that my flash was sitting behind.  I do like the way this lit her hair but I needed to tone the power down on the flash more. I'm learning!  On the two previous shots, the flash was sitting on a bucket in the far corner behind that wall on her left.  The wall was solid boards and I'm guessing the flash was about 6 feet away from her and 5 feet away from me but not in view of my camera. 

In this shot the flash was on a bucket behind her body but still not in sight of the camera.  She is being lit on the front from the window on my camera left and the door directly behind me.

.IInn ...

Using wireless Flash

I have tried and tried to get my flash to work on my a700 but never could figure out how to get it to fire off camera.  It always worked great on the a100 but after purchasing the a700, I couldn't get it to work.  I knew there would be times when I wanted to use it when Darby and I were out.  Especially in these shots....I wanted to stir the dust up inside a barn and get a shot of Darby in the dust.  I put new batteries in my flash, put the camera flash mode on wireless and turned the flash on....nothing!  Then I got to looking at the camera more and saw this button that put the flash on either Channel 1 or Channel 2...hum....what if?  Yep, that was all it took!  Worked like a charm, even when I had the flash completely hidden from the camera.  Now, to figure out how to adjust the power.  Oh, the dust thing didn't work....couldn't keep the dust in the air long enough. 

 

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Hope you aren't getting tired of these.

Love this image.  I have about 100 more to go through and then I'll put them on a cd for her.  Which reminds me....I really should save the PS file,all I've been saving is the jpg file for the blog.  I'll regret this desision cause I always have trouble re-creating an image the same way twice. 

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Darby in Black & White

Just another shot of Darby.  This was shot in front of my red shed and her pink coat kind of clashed with the red.  So...made them both B/W.   I like these ok but they aren't my favorite shots of the day.  Believe it or not, that hair is ALL natural....she gets it from her mom.

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The Turquoise Door Revisited

We re-vistied my favorite door.  She was much braver this year....never even hesitated when I asked her to stand in front of it.  Last year, she complained about all the spider webs...LOL..

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A Vision of Beauty

Isn't she getting beautiful?  We spent the day shooting again and each time, I feel like I'm getting better at capturing her beauty.  It was a perfect high cloud day, so we didn't have to fight sunspots but did have to contend with the wind. She was happy, happy.....had to send a dozen to facebook right off the bat.

In your opinion, did I give this a slight green cast?  It had a red cast SOOC and I'm wondering if I took it too far on the green side.  I absolutely love taking pics, just hate to edit them.

We've decided that Darby is a bad luck charm....or maybe its me...or the two of us together....we had stopped right on the main drag of our small town and ran back behind a building to take a half dozen shots.  I had switched my G lens out  with my 90 mm so I wouldn't have to back up so far....in the less than 10 mins. that we were behind the building, someone opened my back door and stole the G....I was sick, mad and pissed...all at the same time.  Mainly because it was the one time all day that I forgot to lock the door and also because it was in broad daylight, on the busiest street in town and we weren't 25 yards from the vehicle.  I'll get it replaced because I have all my equipment insured but I hate to go through the whole process...reporting to police, filing the claim and then ordering....I just want to hit the person/persons who did it or better yet, run them over!  I'm so sick of the low life's in this world....

BTW....I think what you are doing on the practice blog looks great....I can't go back in there without another invitation and all I did was look and then backed out....now it says I have to have another invite.  But...I can't see much that I would change.  I just wish we could use the whole screen, instead of just down the middle.


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Betty Crocker muffins

These are the muffins I made this morning.  I've not figured out how to melt and drizzle chocolate chips and make it look good so these are not too pretty but they are heaven to eat.  Learned this recipe from a client on my route and have made them a couple times now.  I have way too much of a sweet tooth!  I'll eat desert first at a buffet so I have plenty of room to enjoy it...LOL.


Anyway, super easy to make and wonderful to eat...

Betty Crocker  Mini Chocolate Chip/Rollo Muffins


I pkg. Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie mix
24 Rollo candies
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips.

Prepare cookies per directions on package. Spoon into mini muffin pans.  Press a Rollo into each muffin. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes.  Remove and add 3 miniature marshmallows to top of muffins and place back in oven to 'melt' the marshmallows.  Takes around 3 minutes.
Meanwhile melt chocolate chips and then drizzle with a folk on top of the muffins.

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edited to add:  I do NOT put these in papers.  Just spray the mini muffin pans with Pam and the muffins slide right out. 

Just a few more Fall shots.

Just another shot of the red tree with an orton effect applied to it. 

And the last of the mums....all the other ones are faded down to tan.  I guess these were kind of sheltered from cold and frost.

I call these my yellow tears....not sure what the name of this plant is but its still hanging in there and as you can see, its still blooming.  This sets under the front porch roof, so its still living.  My begonia on the porch couldn't survive the cool nights but it hasn't seem to stunt this plant at all.

Just thought I'd add this shot too....since the very first post on this blog was of this shed and it was green, thought I would like to document the change in color.

All for now!

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Fall Fire...

I was so glad to get to see these trees transform into their beautiful Fall colors.  Most of our trees just dried up and dropped them but because I was literally pouring the water to this front yard to keep it green, the trees got to benefit from the moisture too.  They began their transformation one day last week and since we were 'finally' getting some much needed moisture, I decided it was time to get my shot.  Unfortunately, the breeze was just enough that they shot isn't sharp but at least I've captured their beautiful color.  Too bad the flowers underneath are a bit ragged...LOL...can't have it all! 

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Retirement Package!

I received this last week....the absolute, most wonderful, important, exciting package I have or ever will receive in my lifetime. In fact, it was so special, I thought it deserved to be framed and hung on this blog of our lives.  I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get home to open it up and examine it from front to back.  It's taken 39 years to see this day and there were times when I didn't think the day would ever get here.  But....on the other hand.....I can not believe how fast those years have flown by.  I had a lady postmaster tell me about 6 years ago, that the time would go by fast and would be here before I knew it but I was hesitant to believe her...it was easy for her to say...she was retiring the next week, I still had 6 years of work!  But, if I ran into her today, I'd let her know how right she was....the time has flown.  Now....with only 7 weeks left...I'm looking forward to this next chapter in my life.  What will it hold for me? Who knows but I hope to continue learning and living life to the fullest. I'm ready to continue this book of life.

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Subway Art......November

Subway art for November........ Enjoy!

Linked to WhipperBerry Friday Flair Link Party.