Beautiful Fall Day!!

Today was such a beautiful , warm fall day. I wish we could have a month full of days like today!! I know that's not likely  to happen though. We'll wake up one of these mornings and will see snow on the ground!  .......hopefully not for a long time yet!!!

I gave away a bunch of things on Free Cycle today. It's nice to be able to give away things you no longer need to someone who can use them but not afford to buy them. I think it a great alternative to just throwing things in the trash to fill up some landfill. I try to recycle, re-use or re-purpose as many things as I can. It's amazing how many things we have that we bought for one purpose and can be used for several other projects.

I fixed up an area on the wall behind my work table so I can take pictures of things I've got to sell. I just have to move my sewing machines to one side. My swing arm lamp that  I use to see to sew/craft with makes a good spotlight too.  I never did find my other camera.  I gave up worrying about it, I'll find it someday as I sort through things, I'm
downsizing. I'm getting rid of everything we don't absolutely need or use. I have enough dishes and cookware for 5 families it seems. I figure if I haven't used something in the last 6 months it can go out of here. 

I hope to go to the Farmers Market in the morning. There is only this Saturday and next, then it will be over until next spring. I really enjoy all the fresh veggies and fruits, especially since we aren't allowed to grow anything here at the apartment except flowers. You can't eat many flowers!!

Well friends it's time for me to call it a day. I hope you all have a Blessed  night and a good weekend.

Until later ....
Hugs and Blessings to you all !

Good Night!

Have you ever.......

......put something just where you were sure you would find it  and then it's no where to be found????  I did just that with my Olympus Camera. I've had it about 15 years and it's had a lot of use but still took good pictures. I use it for back up now  because it is a little on the heavy side and my hands shake when I'm trying to focus on a picture. It also  needs a new memory card. I have been using Kevin's Fugi film camera but I miss some of the features mine has. It has been less than a month  since I saw it last but I can't find it anywhere now. Maybe Missy (my cat) took it!! LOL  When something goes wrong or we can't find something it's always "Missy did it".  She is such a sweetheart of a cat , and would never do anything  wrong, haha., besides she is 18 years old!

It sure got cool today I don't think it ever made it out of the 40's here and the wind chill was in the very low 40's. I guess we can say that fall is really here now.  Fall is my favorite time of the year with all of its beautiful colors and the crispness in the air. I like spring too because of all the new beginnings for everything, but there is just something about fall. I guess it could have something to do with the fact it arrives only a day or 2 after my birthday!!

Kevin and I both have  very early Drs. appt. in the morning...it's blood work time. It's an every 3 month thing for me to keep a check on my A1C levels and blood count  since I'm diabetic and I tend to get low very low on iron, anemia. It got so low once they  were talking bone marrow tests. I ate everything made that would bring my iron back up and it worked. I make sure I eat plenty of iron rich foods now. I get a B-12 shot every month too to give me extra energy.


You will find me at my sewing machine every day from 12-4 now. I've tried to set up a regular work schedule for myself so I make sure I get my time to sew. It tends to get lost in the shuffle of everyday life if I don't set aside a regular time. It seems to be working out pretty good too. I've got the mending all caught up, made 4 tops for myself and have about a dozen different piles made up some for craft things to sell, some for Christmas gifts, some for clothes for Kevin and I....a little bit of everything. I'm seriously considering going back into the craft show/ Farmers Market business and having a selling blog after all. I just need to get things made and gathered up and listed on the blog before I go public with it. I got ahead of myself earlier.


I better get myself headed towards bed , Morning will be here before I'm ready for it to be.
 Have a great Monday, talk to you tomorrow night!!
Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

Butterflies and Blooms !!!

 

Good Evening Friends,

I hope you are all well and happy!!!
 
My Live Forever/Sedum plant was covered with butterflies a week or so ago. I just thought I would share a few pictures with you.  The plant was huge this year. I'm planning on separating it when it dies down some in the next couple of weeks. This is the first year it has had butterflies like this on it. The butterflies were landing on me as I was taking the pictures.That was an experience I won't soon forget.

I just gave my blog an updated look. It isn't what I had planned for a background but Blogger wasn't being very nice last night and I was tired.......Well you see what I ended up with today  when I got it straightened out. I would still like to have a different background, but I do like the 3 column layout. I will have to try to figure out why it won't let me use a background from ShabbyBlogs or some where else. It will only let me use one of Bloggers backgrounds for some silly reason. Let me know if you have any suggestions, I'm always open for new ideas. I plan on spending a lot more time here instead of on Face Book.

I have  gotten 4 tops for me finished up now. It's nice to have something new to wear. I have also altered 4 shirts for Kevin.  I will start making Christmas gifts next week and also start working on some craft projects.  I was finally able to get all of the things I was behind on caught up.  I can do the things I want to do now!! It is such a good feeling to not be so far behind on things that needed to be done. The pain level just gets to be too much sometimes and I fall behind. I'm hoping if I pace myself, not try to do everything at once, get more sleep and start eating right I will be able to keep my sugar and the arthritis under control.  Wish me luck!!!!, I'm going to need a lot of it!!!!

Have any of you started your Christmas shopping yet?  Ours will be a strictly "homemade" Christmas.  I think that is the best kind anyway. Christmas has gotten to commercial and I think the real meaning of Christmas has been lost for way too long!! I think it's time we put "Christ" back in "CHRISTmas"!!

We cleaned out the garage this past week, that was a job and a half!  I have a large pile of things to go on FreeCycle. I threw out a lot of "stuff" too. It looks pretty good in there now   ;<)  !!!!   I just hope it stays that way!!!!

I'm off to the Farmers Market in the morning. It's time to stock up on apple and pumpkin butter for Kevin.  He loves the stuff. I bought a bunch of honey last year toward the end of the season only to find out a couple of months later I was diabetic. I still have a little now and then though, I love that fresh raw honey!!! I sure won't need to buy any this year!!

I'm getting sleepy so I'm going to bring this to an end.  I've had 9 hours sleep in the last 2 days so I'm a little worn out.

See you all tomorrow,
Hugs and blessings my friends,
Brenda

I would love to hear any comments or suggestions you might have for my blog. I'm always open for new ideas!!

good night friends!

Been a long Time....

since I was here last. I can't believe how fast time goes by. The older I get the faster it goes...and the slower I get LOL!!!!

I have been keeping busy though, re-arranged the apartment, doing spring cleaning, finding lots of things to get rid of, either to sell or donate depending what it is. I've decided if I haven't used it in the last 6 months it's going out of here, with the exception of a few things.

I've scanned well over 300-400 pictures from family albums into my computer so I can store them on a disc and give the originals to my cousin to pass on to her kids. I don't have anyone to pass anything onto so I'm getting rid of stuff I don't want or need. I'm not planning on leaving this world for a long time yet, but that's not up to me.

I've got my sewing area set back up again and I'm going to start back into making things to hopefully sell. I'm thinking about setting up at the local Farmers Market this summer. I need to make some new clothes too, I've lost 30#'s since November...only another hundred to lose and I will be happy. I'm stuck on a plateau now so I would be happy to lose 5#!!

I'm thinking about changing my background on here and updating some things. I've definitely got to get back to working on adding recipes to the cookbook, the pictures got in the way of that among other things. So many things to do and not enough hours in the day to do them all.

I need to stay off FaceBook and spend more time here. It is so easy to waste time on FaceBook....the devil's playground!

I'm going to say goodnight while my eye lids are still partially open, I don't get much sleep at night due to having to help Kevin. I have to go to the grocery in the morning and don't want to be sleep walking. I need to be awake enough to stretch my money are far as I can.

Have a good night,

Hugs and blessing,
Brenda

Sunshine and Feeling Better......

Sunshine, this morning, what a welcome sight to see, even if it only lasted a few hours!! I hope all of you got to enjoy some sunshine also! The sun really brightened my day!!

I saw the Dr. yesterday, she said all of my vital signs were good and gave a new prescription for the Extended Release Metformin to see if I could tolerate it any better. I told her I hadn't taken any Metformin for 5 days and felt better than I had in a long while. She told me I could try going without it for a couple of weeks as long as my sugar readings stayed good, if not, back on the meds.. I will try and hope for the best!!

I started back on my project of scanning all of the family photos onto my computer.I've done about 200 so far, had to take a break but now I'm back at it. I've got pictures of one of my great-grandmothers, 6 generations back, it was taken in the 1850's. I have quite a few from the 1800's. A lot of memories go with all of these pictures. I plan on putting them on DVD's then passing the pictures onto my cousin. I am the only one left of my immediate family, she can pass them onto to her kids.

I have a lot of ideas for sewing and craft projects, I just need to get busy and get them started. I hope to try and set up at the Farmers Market this year. I bought some batteries for my camera the other day. I'm not sure what is wrong with it but it will only let me take a few pictures and then quits until I replace the batteries. I can't afford another camera so I guess I will have to keep a supply of batteries on hand. I will take some pictures as I get things done. I do have one I can post now, it is a teddy bear I made for Kevin for Valentine's Day:



I better get back to scanning, I'd like to finish a few more tonight and I owe a dear friend an email.

Take care,

Hugs and Blessings, my friends

Diabetic Roller Coaster

I know now why I've been so tired and thirsty for the last couple of months....my sugar is on the high side. I've had trouble since the 1970's when I had low blood sugar. I had to keep candy or O.J. close at hand. I had readings as low as 60, at 50 you can go into a diabetic coma. I got that straightened out after a few years.

I didn't give a thought to the chance it could be my sugar causing me trouble this time. I checked it every morning and it was pretty well normal for a long time. Lately it has been getting a little higher than it had been, but I just thought it was because I was only sleeping 2 hours at a time and up for about an hour in between. It was 250 one day last week when I checked it. I took the meds the Dr. gave me (6 months ago :<( ) for a couple of days, but it didn't help so I called the Dr., told them what was going on and had an appt. 2 hours later. I now take 2 pills a day and write down every bite that passes my lips. My sugar is down now, closer to where it should be. I go back to the Dr. the day before Thanksgiving, if it's not staying where it should be she is going to add Junuvia, to the Glucophage I'm taking now. I had a real wake up call with this. My dads sister and his uncle both lost both of their legs to diabetes. I don't want that to happen so I will be keeping an eye on things now. I have lost 7#'s over the last few days too..WooHoo!!

I wanted to share this with you just in case anyone of you is getting bad about keeping a check on their sugar like I did. I hope you are smarter than I was ;<).

I have been getting the last of the mending caught up so I can make some clothes and a Christmas present or two. I may have to hold off on the clothes though if I keep losing weight. I'm glad I kept some of the smaller sized clothes I used to wear!

I've got a lot of ideas for projects to make up after the first of the year. I'm thinking seriously about setting up at the local Farmers Market again. We tried it the first year they had one here and no one did very good. It sets up at a new location now and is managed a lot better than that first year. I'm planning on setting up depending on how things go here.

I better end this post before it becomes a book. I hope to be able to get back to posting more here and also more recipes on the cookbook blog too since I'm feeling better.

Hugs and Blessings my friends,

New Recipes on my Kitchen Blog!!

I thought I would post a couple of recipes on the kitchen blog before I go to bed. I hope you enjoy them!

Today was another long day. Kevin went with me to Walmart and Dollar Tree. He did good though. It is so hard for him to get into the van but he made it and even walked from Walmart to Dollar Tree while I was checking out. It was a mad house in both stores. I only got a few things at each store and said the heck with it, too many people. I do have to go to Krogers in the morning for a couple of things they have on special then I will wait until the 1st of the month crowd slows down so I can shop in peace LOL!!!

I finished up a centerpiece I was working on today. I will take a picture of it and some of the other fall decorations I've put up in here tomorrow. Now if we just had a table to put the centerpiece on that would be great!! LOL We eat or meals & watch TV on the computers etc. at our computer desks. We only have 2 other office chairs in our living room for company, the couple times a year my aunt & uncle visit. I would love to have a nice comfortable couch or chair to sit in. Oh well that's life!! LOL

I stopped at the farmers market or whats left of it, 2 vendors ;). I bought another jar of the best honey I've ever had today. I have about 2 1/2# of honey now. Might get another one next Saturday if I have any money left. Things are going to be very tight this month. I wish I could sell some of the things I've gathered up that I would like to get rid of. The economy is really bad here since DHL pulled out of Wilmington. A lot of the people from here worked there. Times are bad everywhere.

It's getting late and I'm winding down so I think I will say "Good Night" to all of you. I hope you have sweet dreams , see you tomorrow.

Hugs and Blessings,
B

Pictures !!! finally !

Well, I finally got the camera program working on this computer!! I know, I know it's about time, since I've never posted any pictures on the blog. I hope that will all change now if I can find enough things to take pictures of LOL.

These are miniature Sunflowers. I bought them at the Farmers Market about a month ago and they are doing good. They only get about 18"-24" tall. Cute little things!

This is a picture of my Live Forever(Sedum). It got huge this year. I will take another picture as soon as it is in full bloom.

Last but not least is a picture of our porch and the Petunia's I got from Walmart for $5 each. I wish they still looked this good!

Well that's a little peak into my world. Look out know that I know how to do this!!

I better go back and check the weather we have storms all around us!
Take care, see you tomorrow!

Hugs and Blessings,

I'm back, with a new computer :) .........

my other computer bit the dust or so we thought. I now have a 10" Acer Aspire One Netbook. It sure is a big change from a full size computer with a 15 1/2" monitor! The small keyboard is taking some getting used too also. I can at least visit with you all again. We scrounged up every extra?? penny we had between us to get it. We had the money in mind for a new chair for Kevin so he wouldn't have to sit in his wheel chair all the time. We are now saving toward the chair again.

I hope you are all doing ok. I need to visit all of your blogs and get caught up. It seems like there is always so much to do in the summer. I have 6 tomato plants in pots with 8 little tomatoes between them. I got them started late. I also have 3 zucchini plants and the 1st zucchini will be ready to eat tomorrow. I think there are 4 or 5 more on the plants but it will be a few days before they will be ready.

We have a small Farmers Market here in town and I have bought enough zucchini to shred and fill 24 bags with 2 cups per bag, they are in the freezer for future use. I bought 3 miniature Sunflower plants , they only get about 18" tall and all 3 have buds. I will post pictures as soon as they are in full bloom...I can't wait!!

I was able to get a few fresh green beans and new potatoes...they tasted so good. I still have a few potatoes left they may become potato salad, mmmm sounds good to me!

I also tried a couple of new breads....Pineapple-Banana Nut Bread and Lemon Tea Bread, both were delicious. I found a couple of recipes for them on the internet, as soon as I try them and see if they are like the ones I bought I will share them with you.

I hope you all have a great day and I will visit with you again soon.

Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda