~ sunshine!!!

I think we deserve MUCH more of this!

~ night sky...

View from our front porch facing northeast...




Did anyone else have this view last night?

~ white christmas...

This snow is totally unexpected!  Now we're definitely ready for Santa to arrive on his sleigh!

~ all is calm...

...all is bright!

~ halloween postponed...

Our front porch is eerily silent this halloween due to hurricane sandy.  Governor Christie has rescheduled the trick or treating festivities for November 5.




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Our experiences earlier today...

~ no internet, phone, tv
~ no power
~ no cell phone
~ no sun
~ no fun...

I was using my laptop on battery power -- connected via wifi on battery power.

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Our electric, internet, tv and phone came back on around 3 p.m.  My cell phone is still a bit iffy (tracfone).

Hope you're all okay.  I haven't heard from anyone since this happened.

~ preparing for Sandy's arrival...

~ Prepare for the worst...



~ Hope for the best...  I paid "Mr. PSE&G" early -- hopefully he will keep our lights on!

~ Stay safe!

~ the colors of autumn...

Click on photo to enlarge :-)

~ sometimes...

...the path is longer than we had planned...



-- Click photo for larger view

~ take me with you...

Sometimes they fly so close to me I can almost hear their individual hearts beating...



-- Click photo for larger view

~ closed for the season...

...maybe I need to hang up a sign?



Hmmm... this guy has been using our swimming pool as his own private nighttime spa.  Rick spied him in there one morning before taking Nicholas to the bus stop.  By the time he got back, Mr. Froggy Toad was nowhere to be found.  Most of the frogs/toads need assistance to get out of the pool.  Rick said this guy is a "biggie".  Sorry, Mr. Froggy Toad -- time to find another pond. :-)

goodbye summer...

~ halloween costume progress...

~*~

If you have been following my blog, you'll notice that the previous post was gone for a bit.  My client and I had a bit of a tete-a-tete {disagreement} regarding costume construction.  I threw up my hands, removed the previous post from my blog and told my client she would have to pick out a "bagged" costume at the store.  During the week we took a trip to Party City, and tried on "the most horribly constructed halloween costume ever".  My client now realizes that the fittings I ask her to do -- mostly against her will because she is just s-o-o-o busy -- are definitely an essential part of costume construction.  Thank you Party City! 

Because of the *unexpected* delay, this is how far I am in the costume construction as of this writing.  Sofia wants to be the "Corpse Bride" -- but not exactly...  So, I need to get into the mind of an imaginative 11 year old and figure out what that means.  I spent a couple of hours yesterday, thinking... cutting... making mistakes... thinking... recutting...  I stopped because my brain was exhausted from trying to keep pace with an 11 year old.  Then, this morning, as I was eating breakfast, Sofia walked by the table where I have this laid out and commented...

I LOVE IT!

Thanks!  I needed that! :-)

~*~

~ halloween costume countdown...

In spite of the rainy weather today, I managed to dye the 7 yards of fabric for Sofia's halloween costume.  I ran between the raindrops while taking the fabric outside to rinse it, and, then hang it in the garage -- where it is at the moment.  The next step is to tea dye the fabric to give it an aged look.  Hopefully the weather cooperates a bit better tomorrow while I am doing that.

That little guy you see in the photo is "maggot".  Sofia crafted him from clay.  He is a clue, along with the fabric swatches, as to what her costume will be.

Stay tuned... :-)

~ ikea love...

We went here yesterday...

We purchased the table and drawer unit shown in the photo below.  We also purchased another small table that attaches to the left side of the table in the photo (it will be put together sometime later today).  That is all we could fit in the car yesterday.  There are a few more pieces that we need -- so -- we will be going back... probably a few more times! :-)

~*~

This is what "we" are doing today...

Sofia is moving all of her supplies, etc. from her "temporary" art table/area in the dining room/pc room to her new area in the basement.

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I know that I am way behind with photos of the basement project -- but if you keep following my blog  you'll catch glimpses of the finished product here and there. :-)

Click on these links to see this area as a work in progress.

  What we started with (2nd photo in this post) 

  Work in progress (3rd photo in this post)

Click on the "basement project" link under this post to view all "basement project" posts to date. 

~ off to a lovely day...

...hope the day takes you down a lovely path :-)

time to get organized...

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Hi, Ho! :-)

~ goodwill finds of the week...

Last Saturday's "nostalgic" mood prompted a visit to our local goodwill this week.  This was our first visit to goodwill -- so we are sharing our "fun" finds with you...



Anchor Hocking milk glass pedestal bowl (like new condition) $2.99
Cast iron candle sticks (these weigh a ton!) $1.99 for the pair
Star Wars trilogy on VHS $1.99
Predator, Terminator, RoboCop on VHS (.99 cents each)
Yarn on spool , yarn in bowl (7 skeins), plus 10 more skeins of yarn not in photo - total price for yarn $12

YaY! :-)

~ morning visitor...

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...hoping the sunshine and lovely find you today :-)

~ bee bop ginormous sunflower hop...

So, being in a bit of a nostalgic mood today, I felt it was a good time to look through some old photos and perhaps find one of the sunflowers in my father's garden.  I found a few -- but this one has the tallest sunflower.




If you click on the photo, it will take you over to my flickr gallery where I have written a description regarding the height of this ginormous sunflower.

I think this is taller than ours...posted here...

~ friday funny...

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~ Hope you're off to a great weekend! :-)

from my mailbox...

...sending you a lovely day!

~*~

   

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the dog days of summer continue...

~*~

land of ginormous plants...

My monster high bee girl and her little lps bee friend are in awe of the tallest marigold plant ever in our garden -- as of today, the height of this plant is 28".  I have placed my (antique) yardstick next to the plant as a size reference.  The view of the pink hydrangea plant behind it is completely obstructed by this phenomenon!  Rick has already mentioned that we will be saving the seeds of this plant (for next year :-) 

~*~

A view of the sunflowers at the back of the house.  The tallest plant currently measures 14 - 15 feet in height!  The trunk of the tallest plant has a slight curve to it -- otherwise the plant height would be at least a foot more!

Okay, so the question is...are these sunflowers taller than the 26 Hatfield Place* variety.  I am going to have to search through the photo archives and see if I can answer that question. 

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*Note:  26 Hatfield Place variety sunflowers were those grown in my father's garden while I was growing up.

the dog days of summer...

...just a few more "woofs" and it's back to (obedience) school! ;-)

along the lovely path...

Ozzy (and Rick) thought you might like to join them in a walk along the lovely path... :-) 

gardening vs. quilting...

...decisions...decisions... :-)

colorful baking lesson...

Beg your mother to take you to the craft store to buy a silicone baking tray.  Make sure you have a 50% off coupon, otherwise begging will not work.

Collect your broken crayons and place them in the silicone baking tray.  (Your mother will be happy that you are finally getting rid of the broken crayons :-)

~*~

Under your mother's watchful supervision, bake in the oven at 230 degrees.  We have a convection oven, so we baked for 10 minutes.  Adjust your baking time if you have a regular oven.

(Warning:  The unbroken crayons in the above photo were purchased for 25 cents a box under the guise of "school supplies".  They were broken and placed in the silicone baking tray without my knowledge or consent.  Do not be fooled by your own child when shopping for school supplies -- bring a list!)

~*~

Let your mother know that this was worth her time.  

~*~

Go collect more broken crayons and repeat!

lesson of the day...

Do not leave your kindle laying on the floor...

~*~

...not happy :-(

we brought in the experts...

The girls try to explain to the head garden gnome how they will fix the tree that has snapped at the trunk.  They have brought with them various glues, staples, thumbtacks, and, a wubbah chiken {huh? shakes head...}, to remedy the situation.  The domos are making alot of noise preparing to blow up the tree with TNT.  The garden gnome is totally mesmerized by the mischievous domos and is unaware of what the girls have said -- and -- that he should move to a safer location...

Sadly, the tree cannot be saved.

the view has changed...

WAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

This happened BEFORE the rains came during last night's thunderstorms.  The winds were horrific -- and I thought the pear tree (in the right upper corner of photo 2) was going to do the same thing.

Mother nature is a mean lady!

ginormous...

...sunflower leaves!

As a size reference, I perched my (monster high) bee girl on the leaf stem.  You can't see the bottom of her legs, so she is about 7" high in the photo.  The smaller leaves are part of a morning glory plant that decided to climb up the trunk of the sunflower plant.  At the bottom left of the photo is the actual sunflower on this particular plant.  It was standing straight up, but after we had thunderstorms, it drooped and never recovered.

You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

block #3 completed!...

yay! :-)

block #2 completed...

yay! :-)

rainy summer day...

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i survived...

...the month of self-inflicted mental torture (since my consultation)

...the clear liquid diet

...the (bowel) prep

...the colonoscopy procedure

My lovely doctor said that I have a "very clean colon" :-)

For those of you who know that I am the biggest chicken on earth when it comes to doctors and are asking if I would be hesitant about doing this again -- the answer is "no".  The worst part is the bowel prep.  But, my thoughtful husband hooked up his laptop in the bathroom for me so that I could watch "on demand" episodes of Seinfeld...and...My Blue Heaven (one of my favorite movies to watch when I need a bit of cheering up).  I watched 4 episodes of Seinfeld and My Blue Heaven -- twice -- and finished the prep at 1:30 this morning.  I had 4 hours of sleep, then had to be up by 5:30 to shower, etc.. and then off to the "colon spa".

I just ate my first solid food in 2 days and now I think it's time for me to take a nap. :-)

the great granny along...

I was looking for something to do in my "spare time" (ha...ha...) this summer.  This is perfect ~ The Great Granny Along -- hosted by Lori (bee in my bonnet) and Jodi (pleasant home).

You can click on the link (above) for the tutorial, or, the photo of my block for the flickr photo group.

thought for the day...