Scrapbook Borders & Pet Boarders

Hi, Everyone!
   I thought I'd share some crafting things today.  I did start this as a crafter's blog, although things have gone far afield of that goal!  Anyway, maybe those of you who aren't crafters will still enjoy looking at some things that are--and aren't.

Pet Borders

Dear Friend Border

College Student Border

"Princess" Border

Boy Border



Smokey asleep in my caftan; ferret boarder



    Oops!  No, this isn't a border; he was our first ferret, Smokey, who is living in ferret heaven now.  I'd love to have him as a boarder again!  We had him for almost 4 years, and like most of our pets, he started out as the pet of one of our grandchildren.  Children always want pets, but most of them lose interest fast when there is food and water to change and litter boxes to swamp out!  We fell in love with Smokey and acquired several more ferrets as time went by through purchase and rescue.  We're down to 2 now, and we love the little dickenses dearly.  We did find them asleep tonight in the underlining of our new couch, so we'll have to add some thin wood underneath to keep them out.  They think of it as a hammock, like the one hanging in their cage.  Our skunk used to like to sleep in furniture linings, too, but then skunks and ferrets are both in the weasel family.  Ah, well.  I told you this was the Ark!

Love'n stuff,

Sandy :)



Off the Beaten Path

Hi, Everyone,
   As we've worked our way through some major repair projects in the last week, it's made me think about the way life seems to ebb and flow.  It seems there's always something that needs to be done on the upkeep of a house.   Broken windows need replacing; dirty windows need washing; exterior doors need waxing; bedroom walls need repainting (for the third time because you still don't like the color) and so on.  I'm not complaining, mind you.  I'm counting my blessings that I have these "burdens."  I've been reading The Shack by Wm. Paul Young, and excerpts from another book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp.  The woman who wrote the book finds out she is dying, and only then does she contemplate how she is living.  Don't we all find ourselves guilty of "living for the weekend," or "surviving the day?"  It also reminds me of myself as a little girl spending so much time getting ready to play, that I never actually got around to playing. 
  When I hear the cold wind howling outside my windows, and a myriad list of chores rises up to annoy me when I just want to relax, I am reminded today to count my blessings.  We've all heard the idea of "everyday" miracles before, but trying to internalize the concept is another story.  I hope that we all focus more on the joy of the journey instead of just trying to reach a destination.  So today I will savor the blessings of cleaning and cooking, doing laundry and keeping my household running.  All the little things that can add up to suck the joy right out of us if we let them.  The aggravations of flat tires (a nail left over from last week's flooring job), to a missed appointment can leave us feeling ill-used and angry.
   My prayer is that you find joy in the little things in life, and you don't wait to be happy for only the big things.  I pray for people  in your life to love you and things for you to do to feel fulfilled.  May you be blessed, and may you be a blessing in return.
With love,
Sandy :)

Adventures in Shopping

Hi, Gang,

   It's been a few days since I last posted; no news is good news, hm?  I mentioned the Black Bean Salsa I was making in the last post, which brings me to the reason I stopped by the grocery store last Friday.  I was in desperate need of Tostitos Scoops.  Since I just needed a bag of chips, Eddie stayed in the car while I dashed in to make a quick purchase.

   I grabbed my selection and looked for the shortest line.  Even when I find the shortest line, it usually turns out to take the longest amount of time.  You know.  Someone ahead of me has a cigar box full of pennies, or the item doesn't have a bar code and won't scan, and they have to send to the back forty for a price check.  Or the register runs out of tape, or they have six different orders that are all paid in coupons.  That sort of thing.  This time, it looked like I was in luck.  I glanced at the register, and a woman with a long, curly, black pony tail and earrings was nearly through checking out.  As a man in a work uniform approached me from behind, it seemed to me that I had noticed him leaving from the register to grab one more item and then returning to the line.  I assumed he might have been with the woman ahead of me, so I politely asked, "Are you with that woman?"  I try to be a good Samaritan; I didn't want to keep the two from being able to finish their shopping together.
   "What?"  he asked.
   I repeated, "Are you with that woman?" and I inclined my head toward the lady ahead of me.
   He said something unintelligible, so I asked him what he said.  He leaned closer to me and whispered, "That's a man."  I jerked my head around, and sure enough.  The "lady" ahead of me had a nice growth of beard and the distinct features from the front view of the face of a rugged cowboy.  The cashier tried to stifle her reaction, my eyes got wide, and the man behind me tried to not to choke to death with suppressed laughter.  When the pony-tailed customer finally left the store, we all dissolved into relieved laughter, and I elbowed the man behind me and told him I needed to put my glasses on! 
   So how was your weekend?

Hey, Baby It's Cold Outside!

Hi, Everyone!
   I guess most of us are freezing tonight--from up North to way down South here by the Florida border.  Everyone, that is, but my cousin Randy in Maui, Hawaii.  My guess is it's nice and warm as usual at his house.  As for the rest of the country, most of us feel like we're in the deep freeze.  So much for that pesky global warming.
   We were down to a mere 7 for supper tonight, so it only looked like Ma and Pa Kettle's on the farm around the table.  I baked pork chops in cream sauce (that New Year's diet is already yesterday's news), rice, Italian green beans and Crescent rolls.  We have plenty of leftovers, so come on over if you're hungry.  I also made Black Bean Salsa after supper, and I'm eagerly looking forward to it's magic transformation overnight as it sits in its spices and the flavors meld.  I embarrassed myself eating it at a friend's house last week.  I hope she took that as a compliment! 
   As for tomorrow, I'm hoping we have time to quickly check for counter top material after Eddie's eye checkup.  Hopefully his eye pressures will be just fine, and we can zip through a home improvement store for a few minutes.  The bare counter top is looking pretty sad upstairs.   We're trying to decide between tile and laminate (not the same kind we used on the floor, of course).  Granite would be overkill, I think, and I had marble once, and it stained easily.  My biggest concern with tile is the grout.  It would definitely have to be dirt-colored.  That's my color palette--dirt, mud, sawdust--nice earthy colors.  I'll be sure and let you know what we choose.
   Here's a nice spring picture to keep you warm during this freezing weather.  Only a month or so and the Japanese magnolia in our backyard will look like this again (I hope).  Stay warm!

Love'n stuff,

Sandy :)

A Day Later, and a Dollar Shorter

   It's Wednesday, and I've been blogging for a whole week now!  Isn't it amazing what can happen in such a short space of time?
   Our excellent work crew got back at it bright and early this morning, and I'm happy to say that there is a functional sink in the upstairs bathroom.  No more rain downstairs!  So far the counter is just a piece of exterior plywood, but there's always tomorrow.  As Eddie tells his loan customers at the bank when they're trying to figure out how much money to borrow for some kind of building project, "Figure high and double it."  His advice has certainly held true for us, too.  We had planned to just buy laminate flooring and underlay, and if you've been reading about our adventures for the past few days, you know it ended up being much more extensive than that. 
   Still, God provides and is so good.  A few months ago our son Michael called and asked Eddie if he'd like seven sheets of exterior plywood that he had left over from a project.  Eddie said yes, and Michael brought them to us on his trailer and stacked them neatly against the inside wall of the carport.  They were still there Monday when Marcus needed them for the sub floor.  Guess how many sheets it took for the first layer?  Yup.  Seven.  To quote another cliche, "Ain't God good?"  And though it was raining Monday and Tuesday, it was warm enough in the house, even with the door wide open, while they went in and out working on the floor.

   Today, it was freezing, and fortunately the door didn't have to stand open too long while they put the new weather-tight threshold down.  It would have been terrible if they had begun the work after this cold snap blew in! 
   As for the ferrets, they're snug as a bug in a rug in their favorite drawer of my craft cabinet.  I gave up trying to keep craft supplies in there and just gave them an old hoodie to snuggle in.  They also like the drawer closed while they're napping.  Privacy, don't you know?

Sugar Baby (aka "The Princess") in her favorite napping drawer.

   Nighty night, and don't let the bedbugs bite!  Stay warm, too!  It may sleet and ice tonight.

Love'n stuff,

Sandy :)

New Rug

Hi, Everyone!
   It's about 9:00 p.m., and I'm really tired.  I'll bet Marcus, Chris and Tyler could tell you a thing or two about being tired, though!  The floor turned out just beautifully, and they didn't stop until they got the carpet down, too.  I'm very happy with how it looks.  Ready to see it?  Ok.

   As you can see, the TV is finally out of the kitchen.  Just don't look too carefully in the background to the kitchen, either.  I've spent all my energy on the den, so the kitchen went lacking!  We only had 9 for supper tonight, and I made the 3 girls "pay" for theirs by having them carry all the books back into the den from the floor of my craft room so I could put them back in alphabetical order by authors and subjects.  Did I just hear you ask if I was OCD?  The ferrets were having a great time playing King of the Mountain on all the things piled up in there, and I even had to get Sugar Baby off the shelf of ribbons one time.

   Those of you who know us know that our lives are a comedy of errors.  Maybe yours is, too, but you just have more sense than to let everyone in on it.  I personally believe that laughter saves your sanity, so I tell you all about our insanity. 

   Tyler and I had been vacuuming and dusting and returning (read lugging) the furniture to its proper places while we waited for the guys to get back from returning some equipment they borrowed and picking up the girls from school.  They had one more cut to make in the laminate flooring for the last vent, so we knew we had to leave the vacuum out to clean up the sawdust after that. 

   Now, if you've never used a Rainbow vacuum cleaner, you probably don't know that the dirt collects in a water container that must be emptied after each use, or when it turns to mud, as the case may be.  If you're going to let it sit for more than 10 minutes, you're supposed to remove the motor housing from above the water container so no condensation gets into the motor (or something like that).  I disassembled the vacuum while we waited, and when it was time to finish the cleanup, Tyler asked me to put it back together so he could vacuum for me.  I reattached the motor housing, made sure it was plugged in, and told him it was ready.  I forgot to reattach the hose to the unit, and he accidentally plugged it into the blower port instead of the suction port.  That really gives new meaning to the term "dusting" your house.  

  Anyway...most of the things are put back in the den, although I'll be continuing to undust (or is it dedust?) for some time to come.  The Christmas gifts that still haven't been delivered are about 1/4" deep.  It tastes pretty good in meatloaf, too, by the way.  At least nobody complained about the sawdust flavor at supper.  They were probably used to it after the spaghetti last night.  It might make a pretty good meat extender, kind of like bread crumbs, you know.  Hm....

Love'n stuff,

Sandy :)

New Floor; Day Two

Don't you just love cliches?  They just seem to fit so often, so I guess that's why they've become cliches.  Anyway, here goes:  What a difference a day makes!  From yesterday's mayhem:

To today's amazing results:

The floor has been completed, and now they're working on baseboards and trim.  Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating, so it may take a while for all the stain and varnish to dry.  Anyway, you can see how much better this looks!

Here's another treat.  Tyler, our grandson, is holding Tyson, our great-grandson.  They are cousins.  Isn't that sweet?  Now Tyson has a nice, new floor to learn to crawl on.  Tyler learned to crawl right here on one several remodels ago!  More pictures and updates later today.

Love'n stuff,

Sandy :)

P.S.  See those green shutters in the background?  They were country blue before the last remodel.  Some things change while others stay the same.  Tyler is 19, and we put them in before he was born!

Tyson is in my lap, and he says to tell you that the TV is still in the kitchen.