Monday, September 29, 2014

What Have I Been UP To?--and Prayer Update For Ken's Family

What have I been
UP to?
I risked life and limb to take
that picture for you!

So WHAT have I been up to?
I have been UPto the UP.
Don't know what that is?
UP is short for the
UPPER PENINSULA 
of Michigan.

I am just popping in to tell you
I will be back Wednesday sometime
with a regular blog post.

Tomorrow morning  my son and I are
leaving at 4am driving
to Illinois to pay our
respects to Ken's family as everyone
says their final Earthly goodbyes to Ken.
.Thank you so much- all of you
for your prayers and support
here for Lisa and her children.

Here is what Lisa wrote
after reading the comments you left:
Lisa Mangold has left a new comment on your post 
"Prayers Of A Different Kind Desperately Needed": 

The past two days have been very difficult but God put many people in our lives today to help us through. I see now that God put it on the hearts of many to pray for us as well. As the day continued I felt more peace and now I know why. Thank you to all who left comments here. And thank you Diana for thinking of us today. It really made a difference!

Blessings,
Lisa 

I am going to try to pop around 
and catch up a bit tonight.
Have a wonderful evening

your photo name

Friday, September 26, 2014

Our Friend, Ken, Has Gone To Heaven

I had another post up this morning
but took it down
to post this one instead.
Please pray for Ken's family today.
He is beyond the need of prayer
because I believe he is
fully and wholly healed
now that he is in Heaven.
This is going to be tough time
for his wife, children and
all of his family.
Any and all prayers 
are appreciated.

I will be gone for a few days
but back the first of the week.

Thank you all for your prayers
and support.

your photo name

Thursday, September 25, 2014

There is JOY In AUTUMN-My Favorite Season



 Just off the foyer we have a small
little "sitting room" with enough
room for a small love seat and 
the kids toys and books are
stored here.

As you walk into the room there is
an odd little "corner".
Give me a corner and I see 
storage and surfaces to decorate. 
Thus, the little built in. 

This is just at the end of our foyer
before you head into he main part
of the house.
Yeah- Yeah-
The one wonky cattail sticking out of the
FLORAL ARRANGEMENT 
has to go!
I just plunked it in there and now I
SEE it!

But -to the right is what I
want to show you today.
This is what is in that little niche.
The painting on top is one
MyHero bought in 1979 
when our youngest son was born.
It is by a WI artist, Robert Lardinois (Bob).
It has seen at least a dozen different homes
that we have lived in
and the frame has lots of nicks.
I could paint it but, like me,
it is showing its age-
and that's okay.
The slate on the bottom is one I painted
back in the early 80's..
That was during my "folk art" period.

But what I really want you to see is
JOY!
Isn't she just precious?
Can you see the name JOY printed on the base?
In front of her stands a 
German paper mache turkey.
He belonged to hubby's grandmother Clara.
This is another one of her turkeys.
He is VERY HEAVY clay.
He is PERFECTLY imperfect.
His legs won't support him anymore so he has
a paper base.  I suppose I should 
cover it with leaves.

Speaking of turkeys....
No - I am NOT posting a picture of 
MyHero dressed up as a gobbler-
although that WOULD BE funny!
Hmmm...Now there's a thought for a
Halloween costume for him!

No- SweetCheeks asks me every year
where HER turkey is.
He's right there on the window ledge that
separates the little sitting area from the
staircase.
Now THIS Ladies & Gennelmun
yes I know how to spell gentlemen
is THE most 
PERFECT TURKEY
I have EVER seen!
Now if you are easily offended
you might want to sign off right here.
Why?
Well....I am going to show you a butt!
And because we all KNOW that 
SweetCheeks loves saying BUTT
I am going to show you 
THIS!
And THAT, my friends
is the BUTT of the turkey featured above.
He moons me every time I go up the stairs.

I have SO MUCH MORE
Fall Decorating to show you.
I could do more pictures but
you know how I like to talk!
Yep- You'll just have to come back 
to see more!

Ummmm--dare I say it?
3 months till Christmas.
You're welcome!

your photo name

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Prayers Of A Different Kind Desperately Needed

It is with a heavy heart
that I am putting out this prayer request.

Usually, we want to pray for recovery
and a healing for the person that is ill.
I put out the first prayer request for 
them here.

Today,
I am asking that you pray for 
comfort and strength
for our friend, Ken,
and his family
as he prepares for his final journey home- 
barring a miracle.
Ken has fought a long, hard battle
seeking health.
He so wants to be healthy for his wife and family
and to be able to serve God as a pastor.
But in spite of his earnest desire for
a full recovery, 
his poor, Earthly body is just too tired.

He needs a second liver transplant
and he is not physically strong enough
to endure the surgery.

He has decided not to try 
any more experimental surgeries or procedures.
He has opted to live in comfort,
as best he can, for now.
Ken is out of the hospital and
at his home in Illinois.

He knows that his 
HEAVENLY BODY 
will be a divine one-
free of imperfections and illnesses.
He has accepted that Heaven will be his healing.

Please pray for him and his precious family
in the upcoming days and moments.
They need to be wrapped with all the
warmth and love we can give them.

A mere Thank you is not enough-
but know that I 
DO THANK YOU  
and truly appreciate each
and every one of you
that take a moment out of your day
to say a prayer and/or leave a message.

If you would like to leave them a comment here
Lisa will pop in to read them when she can.

Hope you have a blessed day~
your photo name

Monday, September 22, 2014

The Rest Of The Story- Craft Room & A Lie I Told

Well, 
The CRAFT SEWING ROOM
is 
ALMOST DONE.
Done enough that I can show it anyway.
There will be things to 
"tighten up"as I go along
but it is to the point where I can
SEW & CRAFT.

Grab your coffee.
This is a LONG POST for me.

Here is a link to the first post I did 
about it.

This room is only 8-1/2' x 11-1/2'.
However, the ceiling is 14 FEET high!
The sink takes up most of one 8-1/2 foot wall.
I can't put anything next to it because the door
opens and almost touches it.
I mirrored the wall behind the sink.
AND I mirrored the wall behind the door.
These are both old mirrors and as
you can see the one has to hang over
the side of the sink because of electrical
outlets to the far right of the sink.
The tall one will be perfect for checking
out the fit of things AND I can see
anyone coming up the cul-de-sac behind me
when I am sitting sewing.
The tops of mirrors are just 
over 6' tall.
I did not buy one new thing for this room.
The light fixture above the sink is fluorescent
and has "daylight" bulbs in it.  
It is one I had and is turned sideways instead
of hanging from the ceiling.
It lights the place beautifully.

I have cable TV and a telephone here.
Coffee & water.
The only thing missing is a port-a-potty.
....hmmm...now THERE'S a thought....

The greenery in the corner is attached
to a metal "open weave" shutter.
It covers the mess of cords running to 
the TV and telephone.
Telephone is mounted to the right of the 
coffee cups on the wall.
The old piece you see is reflected 
from across the room.
It is so bright in here that it is hard to get pictures. 
The chair will be slipcovered this next week.
It is ugly but comfortable for sewing.

The material for the window treatments are 
from another house. 
I think I bought that material in 1996...lol..
I still like it and it is perfect for 
Fall & Winter.
I shirred some on a rod to cover up the
opening left where a door is missing.
The old cabinet below is actually two pieces.
The bottom one rolls out if I need a 
larger work surface.
It came out of an old warehouse that 
MyHero's granddad owned and was
probably used in the old lumber yard.
It is a rough tough old piece and I am 
loath to take a paintbrush to it.
The mullioned "windowed cabinet" above
are windows from an old rectory
that we junk picked.  
We just built a basic open backed "box" that is 8" deep
and put shelves in it.
There is matching one in the garage that holds
gardening supplies.

I also shirred the same material on to cover the
open shelving in the cabinet.

I attached a yardstick to the front so as I am
sitting sewing or crafting I can quickly measure lengths.

Like I said- the room is small so it is tough
to get full pictures of anything.
Some of my materials are folded and 
in the cabinet.
There are more materials stored underneath.

Speaking of storage-
It sits just outside the door to my room
where it is handy.
It is full of things I don't need everyday.
Pulling back the curtain you can see what
is stored in the cabinet.
The sink has room for my serger when 
it is not in use.
There are a couple of changes I made
since I took my first pictures.
I hung my two favorite cups on the 
pegs above the coffee maker
AND
I hung my sweet crafting apron on 
the back of the door.
I would like to say that the blurry apron picture
is my attempt at "arty" photography-
but that would be a lie.
It is just a crappy picture.

Okay-
That brings me to the 
LIE I TOLD.
I didn't do it intentionally.
No indeedy!
I had taken a bunch of pictures from 
the back of our house and I posted this one
as being the view from my sewing/craft room.
Well, I lied.
That is from our master bedroom 
which backs up to the garage but
sticks out about 15' closer to the water.

Here is the REAL view from my craft room.
Still not bad.
As you can see it is so gray today that 
the water blends into the sky on
picture #1.
Do you see the little wooden boat on shore?
Picture #2 is take about 20 steps closer
so you can see the water behind that 
same boat.
So- sorry I lied.
Whaddaya gonna do?
Have me arrested?
Whoo Hooo-maybe I'll have 
Paris Hilton for a cellmate.
IF that happens
maybe I can ask her for a loan to 
EXPAND my craft room.
Just a thought.....


your photo name

Sunday, September 21, 2014

GO PACK GO

No time to post much!
BUT-
It IS 
PACKER SEASON
and
there IS a game today!

GO PACK GO
They playing some kind of little
old KITTY CAT team
from Detroit today...
just can't  seem to remember
WHO THEY ARE!
Sure doesn't look like much of a threat
to me....

GO PACK GO
your photo name

Saturday, September 20, 2014

WELCOME TO THE little CRAFT/SEWING ROOM

Okay-
The truth is that I am not quite done
with the craft/sewing room
but I AM far enough along to 
give you a good peek.

I am going to break this up into
a couple of posts because
I have grandkids here for the weekend
and you can imagine how time 
flies and there's not much time to blog.

This door is INSIDE our garage.
It is the old front door that was
on this house when we bought it.
Too pretty to not re-use somewhere.
There is a car IN THE GARAGE 
to the immediate right.
The "blue" you see to the left
and is full of patterns, etc.
I will show you that another time.
Come-on in!
When you open the door this is 
what you see.
That is my sewing table to the right.
It belonged to hubby's grandmother
and is a true Art-Deco piece.
There was a desk that matched
that we gave to a friend (darn it).
It is the perfect height and size
for this room
You can see the use and age on
the polished black top.  
The top is some kind of "resin".

Immediately inside the door
is a sink.
I picked this old tin & porcelain sink up curbside
when we lived in another town.
It was rusty and back then I 
painted it green when I was using
it for "potting".
Here it is all spray painted and cleaned up.
I spray painted inside and outside.
The bottoms of the shelves
were in pretty bad shape.
So- I covered them with 
self-adhesive tiles.
I do this under all the sinks in my house, too.
I just buy a cheap shiny self-stick tile
and cut to size. 
It makes it so easy to keep clean.

My next post I will show you the rest
of the room.
I should have it completely finished by then.
At least now the basics are all in place.

Okay-Here is your laugh for the day-
At MY expense, of course.

Before I started painting the sink 
I checked my paint supply.
I had 2-1/2 cans of Rustoleum Gloss White Enamel.
Good to go.
I figured I would need 2+ cans.
I start with the 1/2 full can and 
I spray the whole inside
of all the sink cabinets
before I run out of paint.

I open Can #2-
THIS is what the paint does.
Cleaning the nozzle does NOT help.
image
Not to worry.
I have a THIRD can and by now
I am pretty sure one more can will do 
the whole job.
Whooo Hoooo!

Um...Hello!
Let me just say-there is something
DOWN INSIDE the
spray hole and it will
NOT TAKE another nozzle.

Okay- I want to finish this so 
I realize that 
I HAVE to run to Home Depot 
at this point.
I am in an old nightgown to paint.
Yes- It's true.
No pictures of THAT!

I HAVE TO change clothes to go to
Home Depot.

I throw on some clothes-
hop in the car and run to 
Home Depot.
NO ONE in Home Depot
will look me in the face.
I think---
That's ODD!

However, I get TWO NEW CANS
of white spray paint.
I get in the car and look at myself
in the mirror.

My NOSE is full of 
WHITE SPRAY PAINT.
It looks like BOOGERS!

I can't do it- 
I just can't do it!
I CAN'T show you a picture
of a nose full of 
WHITE SPRAY PAINT.

Next time I will wear THIS!
image
NOT to Home Depot, Silly...
Just to paint!
I will wear something like THIS
to Home Depot next time.
image
HA!  We'll see who has the 
LAST LAUGH 
after all!

I have kids here for the weekend
so I most likely won't be around
until Monday.
Have a GREAT weekend!
your photo name

Thursday, September 18, 2014

View From The New Craft/Sewing Room AND Booby Trapped

I FINALLY GOT
the cord I needed to load pictures
from my camera to my computer.

Here is the view looking from the patio doors
towards the bay.
See the storm coming in
over the water?
Awesome, isn't it?

Well, THE ROOM is NOT QUITE
ready yet.
I had a sick kiddo here and then I 
got "the bug".
While I had "the bug"
I managed to keep the kitchen clean
and do laundry.
MyHero has the bug, too.
He has managed to 
KEEP THE BED WARM
and that's all I'm gonna say about that.

I will give you a peek at what I 
have been up to out there.
This was an addition in the back
corner of the garage.
We used the windows that we 
took out of the main house when we
rehabbed it.
They are good windows-just not
what we were using in the house.
They are brown here-but the 
sliding glass door was already white.
Here they are with one coat of 
white primer on them.
1 coat of primer and  
2 coats of paint and they look like this.
The room looks bigger and brighter now.

I should finish the room up this Friday
and then I will show you the whole thing.

Meanwhile...
Here are the girls at the beach.
Two of them are waterside.
The 11 year old, 
wanted me to bury her in sand.
and I obliged.
THEN----
her little sister decided to
ADD TO
 the fun.
The moral of the story is...
Your little sister can always
MAKE A BOOB OUT OF YOU!
Hmmm...Little sister is going to need some
SERIOUS TRAINING
if she is going to be a plastic surgeon!

your photo name

Monday, September 15, 2014

SNIFFLES AND SNEEZES AND Oh- LOOK! It's SUPERMAN

We all had a busy weekend.
Family visiting.
A Packer Game.
A quick trip to Door County
and one little girl 
that spent the day on the couch.

AND because Mom has to work today
Nana gets to spend the day with her little
SWEET CHEEKS.
So, while SOMEONE is NAPPING
I hope to finish 
THE SEWING ROOM!

AND--IF I get that done I will
show you the pictures tomorrow.

IF I DON'T get it done I may have to 
show you some pictures of
SOMETHING SOMEONE ELSE.
Oh- Look!
It's my favorite Super Hero!
Nice Cape!!!!
Shhhh--- Don't tell him.
MyHero thinks he is 
SUPERMAN!
Somehow that cape just seems to be lacking
a certain something~
Ummmm..
Now THERE'S A CAPE FOR YOU!

Do you think if MyHero got a pair of 
BOOTS like that he would look
more like a 
REAL SUPER HERO?
Have a GREAT Monday!
your photo name

Sunday, September 14, 2014

A Special Prayer Request For Beth Marie~ Please leave her a message~

You know
you meet some people in blogland
and they are just the kindest souls-
wonderful people full of sweetness
and love.

Beth @
is one of those people
Over a year ago in July of 2013
Beth had surgery for cancer
that was followed by radiation
and chemo.
She bore it like a trooper
and was pronounced
cancer-free.

In November of last year her
house was hit by a tornado
and suffered quite a lot of damage.
She got through that, too, without
a complaint-
glad to be alive and feeling healthy.

Sadly,
Cancer has reared its ugly head again.
A few days ago Beth, once again,
had surgery.

She is meeting with the oncologist 
and is expected to have 
THIRTY - FIVE 
chemo treatments between now and 
THANKSGIVING!

That's a tall order for anyone 
at any age.

Beth has asked for prayers.
You know-
it's a hard thing to ask for prayers for yourself.
Especially when you are a strong, independent 
person- as she has had to be since her
husband passed away.
She has been a person that has always
prayed for others.
Now maybe we can repay her just a bit.

Please pray for her.
Pray that she has strength to see this 
unpleasant ordeal through.
Pray for healing of body, soul and spirit.
If you are not a pray-er then please
send her your best wishes,
love and support.

You can leave her a message here and 
she will check them as she can.

Thank you- All of you!
You are the best!

your photo name

Saturday, September 13, 2014

BigBoyE Heads Off To School & Changing Wisconsin's Motto

First I have to say that these
are NOT my best pictures.
hahahaha- I NEVER have
any best pictures!

I am waiting for a cord for my 
regular camera so that I can load
pictures into my computer.
Sometime over my 
BLOGGING BREAK
my cord went MIA.

Anyway -these are taken with my
back-up camera...such as it is.

Here is our little guy all 
set to go-shown here with 
Mom, Dad, Charles-In-Charge and
Baby Bright Eyes.
You will notice that 
CHARLES IN CHARGE
is looking pretty happy
to think he is now 
IN CHARGE!
You will notice that BigBoy E's smile
is slipping just a bit.

Daddy loves his BigBoyE
but BigBoyE
is getting just a tad nervous..
even though he has his ducks in a row.
He has decided he is going to be an
ACROBATIC ZOOKEEPER.

Guess that means he will swing through
to check on the monkeys?
There was a picture of me with Ethan, too.
However, I only had 3 hours of sleep before
my 2 hour drive down and I 
looked like crap I was really tired..

We walk across the street past the playground
and into the school yard.
Uh-Oh Apprehension strikes!
And we leave just before the tears start.
Ours AND his!
However, SOMEONE doesn't look like
HE is going to cry!
He now has Mom to himself
a few hours a day...
Well-except for 
THIS ONE! 
Baby Bright Eyes
and she is clueless.

She'll catch on in about 
four more years!

Sorting continues in the basement.
You know how Wisconsin is the 
DAIRY STATE?
They fondly embrace the
GOT MILK? campaign.
Well, thanks to ME they have decided to
CHANGE THEIR SLOGAN!
Yes, Indeedy!
Their NEW slogan is
GOT PAINT?
Sadly that is only one section of
THE PAINT ROOM....
Cleverly hidden behind 
Curtain #1!

Back later-
Guess who is visiting
this weekend?!
I'll tell ya all about on Monday!
Have a GREAT weekend!
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