Changes are Coming....

I will be starting to make a lot of changes on my blog in the near future.

Kevin has been very ill and almost died last April..  It has been a long recuperation period with a lot of set backs. We've made more trips to the ER and Dr. than I can keep track of.   I will post more on what has been happening over the next few days.

I hope to have things changed and be back to blogging daily by the 1st of February.

I've missed keeping up with all of you..

Hugs,
Brenda

Happy Easter Friends

    I hope you all had a wonderful and Blessed Easter. I just got my computer running again. I was working on this post earlier and my computer died...nothing worked. I disconnected everything , even took the battery out and after all of that I tried it again and I'M BACK..... I was getting frantic because I have so much info stored on here. I think I will start backing things up on DVD's tomorrow if the storms don't get too bad.


    I'm going to be making a lot of changes on my blog, new background, layout, a section for selling my crafts, vintage items, etc.. I will still have the recipe blog too, which I'm going to be adding recipes to in the near future. I have been sorting through stacks of recipes and have been sorting out the good ones. It amazes me how fast things like that accumulate. I'm always cutting out recipes "to try" and never get around to trying them . Well the time has come to start trying the ones that really sound good and nutritional.


    I hope you all are staying safe in these storms we've been having. It seems like there is no end in sight! I just keep praying the Lord will keep us all safe!


Well  I believe I hear my bed calling me, I have a lot I want to get done tomorrow depending on the weather.


Talk to you all soon,

New Year, New Beginnings !

I hope all of your dreams and wishes for the New Year come to be!!

I know I'm late in saying this but we were moving over the holidays. I'm so glad the move is over and will be even happier when everything is in its place. The main rooms are pretty well done, the office/sewing/craft room still needs some work. I do have my sewing machines set up now, still have to do  some work on my office area. Kevin and I are sharing the small bedroom for our office etc,, we each have a 6'x 8' half of the room. My  6'x8' space does dual duty for , crafting/sewing and office work. The rest of the apt. just really needs to have pictures, nic nacs, etc placed around.

I have a lot of ideas and plans for the new year, including spending a LOT more time here blogging. I am hoping to get my craft business back up and running. I'm working on a selling blog and would like to do craft shows again. I used to do them all the time when mom was still able to go along. She really enjoyed watching all the people and talking to old friends. I miss my mom so much and my daddy too, He passed away in 1971, 3 weeks before I graduated from high school. Mom was gone 3 years Dec. 8.. Time goes by so fast...

I just wanted to stop by and let you all know I'm still around and will be a lot more in this new year. I 'm planning on making a lot of changes in my life, most importantly  becoming closer to God than I am. I drifted away just a little, never lost my faith or belief in God, just wasn't as involved as I should have been. I'm trying to change all of that now.

It's been a long day and I have an early appt. so I better get some sleep. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Goodnight, dear friends,
Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

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!

Today was Beautiful........

The sun was shining bright and the temps were in the 70's, a little breeze blowin'! I just love days like today!! Don't you?? The best part was I got to go out...even if it was only to get some groceries, put gas in the van,(I only had 1/8 of a tank left), and get the new sticker for my license tags. My tags expire this month on my birthday UGH!!

This has been a very busy week, but then the first week or so of the month usually is. We get our checks, the bills get paid, some food gets bought and then we are broke again until the next month! I just feel happy and blessed that we are able to have our checks to pay the bills, etc. I can make do with whatever we get. We may not eat fancy, but we don't go hungry either. It's the way I was raised!!

Kevin has an appt. for a consult with Physical Therapy tomorrow morning. He broke the femur in his left leg 4 years ago and is losing more of the limited mobility he had, which was not much to begin with. He has trouble raising his foot to even get it in the van, our van is one of the lower one's. He uses a step but even with that it's a battle. Please, if you can, say a little prayer that maybe they can help him.

Tomorrow afternoon I am going to be posting things for sale on the store blog... http://countrydreamsandcreationsstore.blogspot.com/. I have the pictures taken and the info ready to go. I have so many ideas and plans for the store, I can't wait to get it up and running. I hope you will like what you see!!!

I just have to hope and pray my computer doesn't crash completely before Kevin works on it Friday. I've already saved all of my files to a folder on his computer. We have our computers networked together.

Well blogging friends it's getting late, I'm getting tired and I just know morning will be here sooner than I want it to be. I will say Good Night to all of you until tomorrow. I hope you have sweet dreams and a great day tomorrow!

Hugs and Blessings, my friends,

Brenda

It's been a long day...

It has been a very long day following a very short 4 hours sleep last night. I'm getting to old for this. Kevin has an 8:15 appt. for physical therapy in the morning. He is losing what little mobility he has in the leg that he broke the femur in 4 years ago. I don't think there is anything that can be done at this point, but we will see and hope for the best. I hope I am wrong and they can help him.

My computer has been doing weird things the last couple of days so Kevin is going to work on it for me in a few days and see if he can get things right. I have a lot I need to do on here right now so it isn't a good time for it to have a "Hissy fit" LOL

I did some cleaning in the apt. today and will do more later. I do believe that is a never ending job. I need to get the rest of the shopping done for the month too. I want to free up as much time as I can the next few months to be able to post more on here. I'm going to need all the time I can get to make things for Christmas gifts and for the store also.I have a lot of projects in the making for the store! I will be posting some things on it the end of this week. I have been digging into my recipes also, so keep an eye on the Kitchen blog.

I would love to stay and visit longer with you tonight but I'm beat. I'm also creating all kinds of new words by hitting the wrong keys....OOPPSS. Good thing I proof read every line or 2 LOL.

See you tomorrow friends, Sweet Dreams,

Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

110 Days Until Christmas !!!!

I know it's too soon to be thinking about Christmas on Labor Day Weekend! The time goes by fast though when you are making all of the gifts by hand, computer or sewing machine! I am making all of Kevin's gifts which really won't be all that many...10-15 maybe, if I get busy and get started. We make each others gifts each year, it means more because of the thought and work that goes into the projects. They are usually just little things but they mean a lot!

I'm also trying to work on my store blog. I have some information I need to add about shipping and purchasing, and I have some items finished that I will be posting later this week for sale. I have a huge amount of stuff to make yet, but it will all get done in time so I can add several new things each week. I could get a lot more work done if I could train Missy, my cat, how to cook and clean LOL!!!! Kevin is really good about helping out with doing things around the apt. He runs the sweeper, does his own laundry, empties the dishwasher, I fill it. He even cooks sometimes too. We both have some mobility problems so we balance out what each other is able to do. It works for both of us that way. I do more of the things that require lifting or moving, plus fixing supper, food preservation, shopping, laundry, mending/sewing, cleaning etc. and trying to get a business going.

I really enjoyed the cool weather we had this week, it made me feel like getting some work done. I see now that the heat is going to return this week. I guess we had better enjoy the warm weather while we still have it soon enough we will be complaining "it's to cold". I know, it's a vicious circle LOL!!!!

It's getting late and I'm getting tired. We went to Krogers today for a "few" groceries. I don't think it's possible to go to the store for just a "few" things, the cart was almost full!!

I hope you all have a good night,, what's left of it anyway. I will be around daily from now on. I have given up Face Book for the most part. I might use it to help advertise the store blog after I get it going, but other than that it's just a darn good way to waste time! I've got too many other things to do!!!

See you all tomorrow,

Hugs and Blessings,
Brenda

Beautiful Day........

It was such a beautiful day today. The sun was shining bright, not to hot, I could enjoy days like today year round! Makes it kind of hard to stay inside and work though. I did finish a blouse I started yesterday. I will post pictures if I can get my camera to work again. It takes 1 or 2 pictures and then quits until I put in new batteries, they cost too much to keep doing that.

Kevin drove for the 1st time today since his fall 4 years ago. He did great, just like he had been driving all along. We went to the cemetery for him to practice, figured he couldn't hurt anyone there LOL!! He has a Dr. appt. tomorrow and I have 2 next week. I'm getting tired of Doctors!

I've been working on another blog. It's not published yet because I still have a lot to do before it's ready. It's called "Country Dreams and Creations Store". It will have a little something for everyone ...Crafts of all kinds, Teddy Bears made from old cutter quilts, Handmade kitchen items...aprons, towel sets, herb scented trivets and a lot more things. Too many to mention now. Homemade baked goods...Breads. zucchini, lemon, etc. ..cookies and all other kinds of goodies , depending on the season and availability of ingredients. I hope to have it up and running by the end of September, hopefully sooner.

I'm going to call it a day and get some sleep. I have a LOT to do tomorrow and want to get an early start.

Have a goodnight,
Hugs and Blessings my Friends,
Brenda