Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree

Good friends of mine were in charge of a Christmas Festival of Trees to support a Senior citizens aide program. They had a few companies back out at the last minute and I volunteered to decorate one of the trees for them. I used what I had on hand, so the whole tree only cost about $14 to decorate. My ornaments were made of paper bags and fabric. The garland was paper bag, fabric and raffia. I took some satin balls that, frankly, I scavanged from the garbage bin and covered them with fabric. I used ribbon candy made from polymer clay and wood bead garland. I also made some little signs out of paper bag and fabric with wire hangers and raffia bows. Each sign has a Christmas phrase such as Jingle Bells, or Deck the Halls etc. I was very excited to see that my tree sold during the preview dinner for $200 dollars! The owner of the building where the festival was held bought it. He is going to display it there through this holiday season. It was great to able to help out with the fundraiser and I think I will probably do it again next year. It is a worthy cause.

Miss Indian Alabama

Meagan on the Right My nephew's fiance was crowned Miss Indian Alabama this past weekend. I haven't spent much time with her yet but she seems to be a very sweet girl. She has a beautiful singing voice. Congratulations Megan!

My Heart walking around outside my body.

College graduation 2005 It has been a stressful 24 hours. My oldest daughter has been working on a cruise ship for the past few weeks, altering costumes for one of the production numbers. She called me from Puerto Rico yesterday telling me that there was no promised ticket home waiting for her at the San Juan airport. It was part of her contract that they would provide all transportation. All attempts we made to contact the company she was working for failed. It must have been a very stressful job, because she started crying because she just wanted to get home. Everyone at the Delta check in tried to comfort her and offered any help she needed. As anyone with children knows, letting them learn lessons like, having enough cash and an emergency credit card when you travel, is very difficult. She was expecting to have a ticket and didn't think she would need extra so didn't take it with her. A gentleman that worked for Delta took pity on her and helped her find a safe and inexpensive hotel, and even paid for it. He said he had a daughter about her age and she reminded him of her. He took the time to walk her around downtown San Juan and told her some history of the area. God Bless him. I will say an extra prayer for him tonight. There are still good people in the world. I have realized that no matter how much I talk, my kids don't always listen. They seem to learn everything the hard way. Why does it have to be so painful for me while they do? I thought learning my own life lessons was hard, this is a thousand times worse. Anyway, after finally reaching the company, she is on her way home and should be here tonight. Well, all is well that ends well.

It is indeed a small world.

Patty over at Morning Ramble gave me premission to share this story. I have been reading her blog for just a few months now. I think she is a beautiful writer and I wish I could express myself as well as she does. So here is my story of how the internet has really shrunk the size of our world. My husband and I run a small business out of our home. I sometimes go with him to deliver and call on customers. Yesterday I went with him to Gatlinburg, Tennessee to call on a new customer of ours and to try to get a few good photos of the remaining fall foliage and some mountain shots. The location of the store is off the main drag, so there usually isn't very much foot traffic this time of year. There were only a few stores in the strip even open. I was passing the time by experimenting with my camera. I still haven't figured out all of the settings and I am anxious to improve the quality of the pictures I take so I decided to snap a few pictures of the buildings around. That wasn't very interesting so I took some pictures of workers moving some display units and snapped a picture of a young couple walking out of a store. "Hmmm",I thought, "they look just like Patty's son and new daughter in law. But is couldn't possibly be." I asked my husband when he came out of the store if he had noticed them. He said yes, and I told him I thought I knew them, when I told him how, he looked at me like I was crazy! LOL. He didn't think it was likely that it was them. I decided to keep the picture and compare it to her pictures of their wedding and low and behold...It WAS them! Isn't that wild? Well, I have to tell you the odds of us being in the same place and me having my camera are pretty slim considering I was only there for about 10 minutes and I usually don't have my camera with me and they were the only actual customers I saw, everyone else was a worker. I consider this to be extraordinary that it all fell in place, so here is the "stalker" picture I took. So just remember...It IS a small, small, world.

Some "Dear" friends of mine

We see deer at my favorite place, Norris State Park, everytime we go. It is my favorite place to go animal watching and is especially lovely this time of year. Randy and I spent the morning there. These guys weren't sure if they like us or not.

The backyard of my life

This is my favorite place to sit with a cup of something hot. Makes my worries seem few and my troubles small...sometimes.

I love Autumn

Fall is my very favorite time of year. So the results of this quiz were no surprise. I'll be posting some pictures of our beautiful Tennessee fall asap.

You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times... You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

What Season Are You?

How to help

To send cards and letters to the Amish Families affected by the shootings: Bart Township Fire Company P.O. Box 7211 Furnace Road Bart, PA 17503 For information on how to help financially: http://www.coatesvillesavings.com/

Pray for these families.

In 2001, my sister, my daughters and I went on a 15 day camping trip through out New England. Toward the end of our trip we stayed in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We found the Amish there to be gentle spoken, and very kind toward a van load of lost, road weary women trying to buy eggs for their breakfast. There is a sense of peacefulness and order that permeates their farms, picturesque with their petunia edged gardens and bucolic surroundings. We drove by a one room school house, with it's teeter totter on the play ground and commented on how idyllic it looked. At Bird in the Hand farmer's market, the youngest children played at their mother's feet or were held in her arms while she waited on customers. The young boys and girls helped restock the pies, cakes, or other homemade items for sale. They captured my heart, those little girls in their aprons and little boys with their straw hats. When I heard the news about the shooting in Lancaster yesterday, it almost brought me to my knees. I can't stop crying when I think of it. Every school shooting is a heartbreaking, horrible tragedy, but the truth is, sadly, we have come to expect the news of them, and to expect copycat events to follow any major school shooting. This week has been rife with them. Somehow, I had hoped there was a place that was safe, a place where this couldn't happen. I am so sorry I was wrong.

The Great Frugal Fall Fix Up Part 1

The temperature dropped below 85 and the Fall Fix Up Bug bit us. We have been patching, painting, sewing, mulching and planting. The most satisfying project by far for me is my "This Old Couch" fix up. As you can tell in the before picture it was seriously in need of a make over. Our dearly departed dog, Toby, did a number on the cushions. It was dirty, torn and just all around objectionable. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/Scatrodee/before.jpg I knew I couldn't afford a new sofa, and if I messed it up really bad I would just have to invest in slipcovers. So, with nothing much to lose, my daughter Laura and I set out to make it over. We found the matching material for a total of $20. Laura used her imprssive sewing skills and made new covers for the cushions. I set about recovering the arms and washing and restuffing the back pillows. Now you don't sink into the back of the sofa, it actually supports you. The pictures don't do it justice. I am so happy how it turned out, especially considering the fact that neither of us had never tried to recover anything before. I remember now why I picked it in the first place. I love the colors. click to enlarge So I have a "new" sofa for around $35 total plus labor. I'm happy and Randy is VERY happy! LOL. Hopefully it will last at least another 10 or more years. Truly a frugal makeover.

I love my camera...

click to enlarge

because I can take great pictures of bugs and stuff. I took this while Tyler and I were at Ijams. We love to go there for field trips. I took some great pictures of frogs in the bog there.

I would really like to learn to take portraits. I really like black and white photography. The problem is lighting. I don't want to invest in lights right now. Amanda, Jesse's gf, is a photographer. I am going to have to pick her brain for info.

I have found the Grail.....

Tyler and I spent the day at our favorite nature park here in town, Ijams. We wanted to talk to the ranger there about a hawk we had seen perched on our porch railing. He told us it was probably a Cooper's hawk instead of a Red Tail and he was very impressed with the video my little camera took. On our way home through this little historic neighborhood I saw a sign for a yard sale. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am physcially unable to pass up a good yard sale. Unfortunately when we stopped it didn't look very promising. There were lots of cans of various cleaners and boxes of rusty tools. They had some overpriced, but nice, antique glass. I was about to tell Tyler it was time to go when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. When I turned, ( and I swear this part is true! :P ) the clouds parted, a beam of sunlight cut through the gloom, guiding, leading and directing me. I'm not positive, but I think there was an Angel, striking a very Vanna White like pose, right behind the most beautiful white, classic Kitchen Aid mixer I have every seen! Check it out for yourself...

I could hardly breath! I have been wanting a Kitchen Aide for at least 20 years. I could never bring myself to pay the price they wanted for a new one and had never been lucky enough to find one second hand. The price on this one was $25! I could hardly believe my luck. I casually walked over to the lady in charge and asked..."Everything on that mixer work?" Her answer was yes, that it had been sitting in her cabinet for years and she decided it was time to get rid of it. I couldn't have agreed with her more! LOL. Ever the bargain hunter, I can't believe I had the nerve, I asked her if she would take $20 and she said YES! I told Tyler to carry the bowl and beaters, I grabbed the mixer and loaded it in the truck. All the while expecting her to run after me waving my twenty screaming, "Wait! I've made a terrible mistake!" I'm afraid I would have had to clock her and run! LOL . So I have a Kitchen Aide mixer! Yipee! I can't wait to make something really yummy! Like 5 dozen chocolate chip cookies! Hmm....I'm gonna need more kids. Maybe this wasn't such a great deal after all!