Saturday Night Already??

Yeup! It's Saturday night, the meat has been precooked,
the salad fixins are all cut up, the trailer has been power
washed, and everyone's in bed.... except me! lol

Jaylan finally gave it up around 9:30, she just couldn't
keep her little eyes open any longer. She's had such
a big day. Mike went up town this morning and
returned with her in tow. He ran into LaDonna and
Teri at the gas station and Jaylan started having
a hissy fit, wanting to go with her Papaw. Sooo...
when he came home, she was with him. She's been
his shadow all day, taking almost every step he has
taken.

Mike decided to power wash the trailer today, it
most certainly needed it! It looks sooooo nice
now, all white and shiny. He did such a good job.
Bless his heart, he was absolutely soaking wet
with sweat and so hot, but after about four and
a half hours, he was finished.

I guess our company will start arriving in the
morning some time. We'll be eating between
one and two o'clock, Mike's doing all the
BBQing. We'll set up our canopy in the morning
and drag out lawn chairs, tables, and get the
inflatable pools set and filled up for the kids.
We're expecting between 40 to 50 people. It
will be nice to see everyone again.

Guess I'll hit the sack and catch a little shut
eye before the sun peeks out and I have to
start all over. Take care and have a great
weekend!

Is He Here Yet??

Today has been a little hectic, in fact this whole week has
been hectic. I'm preparing for Mike's holiday homecoming
and his birthday. Mike will be home sometime Friday
evening for a three day visit. He will fly back to
Colorado on Tuesday.

We've invited all his sisters, their children, and their
grandchildren to our house for a BBQ on Sunday to
celebrate Mike's birthday. He's pretty homesick to
see his family and we decided this would be a good
way to catch up with everyone. He seems to be
excited to come home and visit with everyone.... as
much as Mike can get excited. He's so laid back
and mellow sometimes it's hard to know what he's
thinking.

The Grandmonsters are VERY excited for Papaw's
arrival! Jaylan is just beside herself! She has his
whole visit planned out I think. And yes... it does
involve some fishing! lol

I can hardly wait for his arrival also. You know,
two months without seeing your Hubby Man is
a long time. We talk on the phone every night and
sometimes through the day and I get to see him
with the webcam, but it's just not the same as
getting to touch him and actually look him in
the eye.

Oh!! I almost forgot some amazing news! I read
Frank's blog a couple days ago, he's undergoing more
chemo, but was pronounced "CANCER FREE"!
Isn't that wonderful news!!?? The chemo will
help prevent any reoccurance of the disease, so
it has to be completed. I was absolutely thrilled
when I read this tidbit of info. God Is Good!!

Hope you have a great Labor Day Weekend!!

I'm Back Online!!

Greetings and Salutations! I've been without a computer
for two weeks. That's two weeks of boredom, withdrawals,
and craziness! lol I had been having some little problems
with my 'puter for a while, but they kept getting worse
and worse. I finally took it to my "computer guy" and
every time I'd call to get an update on the progress of
my wonderful machine, the diagnosis was so hard for
me to hear. Finally we decided it was terminal! It was
like loosing a friend, the thoughts of my computer not
coming home was almost more than I could handle.
I would no longer hear that loud whirling noise when
I started it up, yes, a bit annoying but a noise that was
music to my ears at times.

My "computer guy" thought he'd saved all my
favorite sites I had bookmarked..... not! lol Somehow
he didn't get everything saved, so now I have to go
back and try to find all my stuff I had bookmarked
and save it again. I'll never find it all again, I had
hundreds of sites saved, all neatly tucked away in
files. Gobs of soap making sites and recipes, tons
of sewing sites, free patterns, and tutorials, plus
all the other little odds and ends goodies I had
marked. Oh well, nothing can be done about it,
it's just one of those things, it couldn't be helped.

Soooo... the new computer arrived last night in it's nice,
sturdy box all wrapped up in clear packing tape. We
unwrapped it and slid it in the desk, hooked up all those
wires, cables, and phone lines, turned it on, and to my
surprise.... there was a tiny little whirling noise coming
from the inside of my desk! Ahhh... such sweet music
to my ears!! My pacing stopped, my tremors subsided,
and all was right with the world again!! :) And here I am,
ONLINE AGAIN!!!!!!!! YOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

My computer dilemma is just the last in a long streak
of mishaps! It's unreal what all has went berserk
around here the last little while. The lawn mower
doesn't want to start most of the time, the truck
battery took a spell of going dead every night,
the mower decided when it was running it would
just go whenever and where ever it desired... it's
run over my wrought iron table, a chair leg, the
Grandmonster's sprinkler, hit the flower garden,
and tried to climb the side of the shed! While
mowing I ripped out a rubber drain hose that
connects to the furnace, it came crashing through
the under penning of the trailer and wrapped
around the blades of the mower before stopping.
I've been battling ants all summer, the
exterminator believes he's finally poisoned them
enough that they won't come back this time. I
stepped on a snake, tangled the weed eater up in
some wires to the central air unit, the central
air quit on me the other day and was shooting
warm air into the house... had to get that fixed,
Cassie sat down in my favorite glider/rocker and
one side of it fell to the floor, the dryer has been
acting weird, and now my puppy is sick! Not
enough though... it spread to my Mike!! His
new lap top computer, after 30 days of
ownership got the dreaded "blue screen of
death" which means it was basically trash!
He took it back and they had to give him a
whole new lap top. Then last night I'm talking
to him on his cell phone and all of a sudden he
couldn't hear me! We thought it was fixed this
morning and low and behold it finally shot
craps too..... off he went to the store to buy a
new cell phone! When does it end???!!!
Hopefully our little crappy streak of luck is
coming to an end.... we can't afford much more
bad luck!! lol :) Oh! I forgot one! My digital
camera shot craps too... had to go spend
almost $300 on a new camera. Like I said,
I hope it ends soon.

Ok... on to better things. I made a bunch of
glycerine soaps last week. I had so much
fun doing these crazy little things. I made
most of them from the clear glycerine soap
base and added a light color so that you can
still basically see through them. They are
made in a popsicle mold. They are so neat
looking and so realistic. Honey Wayne kept
wanting to taste them and Jaylan kept
grabbing them sniffing. I'll try to post some
pics tomorrow. They are getting pretty
popular on the net, but haven't hit my area
yet, so I'm the first around here to have
them available. I took a few with me the
other evening to show a friend at the local
restaurant, ended up selling 6 of them
right there. I think they'll be a big seller
for the Octoberfest this year.

I finally got my new bedspread, shams, and
curtains put on. My bedroom looks
completely different! I washed all my walls,
every piece of furniture was washed and
lemon oiled, everything glass was washed,
and I de-junked the whole place. I keep
thinking I'm in the wrong house! lol Now
the sad part of all this, I've had this new
bedspread for a year and a half, but didn't
want to put it on until I gave my bedroom
the once over, can you believe it took me
so long to do? I should be thoroughly
whipped with wet noodles!!

Jaylan spent the night with me last night
and went home this evening. She didn't
want to go, but my nerves couldn't take her
spending another night. I love her to pieces,
but she requires so much of my attention that
I can't get anything done when she's here. If
I turn my head for a second she's found some-
thing new to investigate. But she is a lot of
fun and actually pretty good company. We
went on a 4-wheeler ride yesterday and came
up on an apple tree. She thought it was so neat
that we could pick her an apple off that tree.
She ate her apple as we went down the road.

Ok... gonna hit the sack for a few hours! My
eye lids are starting to get pretty heavy.
Hope your week is filled with
Sunshine and Rainbows!!

Thinking of Frank....

This is a little special post that I've felt for a while
I needed to share with whom ever is reading my
blog. While you're reading this post, you might
think I'm just rattling on. But I promise there is
a story here and if you read the entire post you
will see it all falling into place and understand
what I'm saying. Soooo... here goes.

During my life, I've met people that have touched
my soul with such impact that I know I'll never
forget them. Whether it's been with bravery,
thoughtfulness for others, courage within
themselves, or any other reason that is not
coming to mind at this moment. But, I'm sure
you know what I'm talking about, you've
probably met people like this yourself.

These people that have touched my soul have been
added to my personal list of Heroes. My list isn't
real long or of any significance to anyone but myself.
But to me, this list is very important. It gives me
hope in times of despair, along with strength and
courage when I need it. These are the people that
I strive to model different parts of my life after.
And of course the first Hero that any daughter
has is her Precious Daddy! :) Yes, Daddy is my
NUMBER ONE Hero.

Nowdays with the spectacular device called the
Internet, we can come in contact with people that
are so different from ourselves. They might be
from a totally opposite side of the globe, have a
different lifestyle than our own, or whatever, the
possibilities are endless.

I've come in contact with just such a person. I
belong to a wonderful sewing group, that is basically
all women, but we have a guy there also,
his name is Frank. These women (and Frank) are
some awesome people. Their main concern is their
family. We're from all over the world, all different
religions, all different shapes, sizes, and ages,
but we all have a common bond... sewing.

Well anyway, now that you have a bit of back-
ground info I can go on with my story. :)

Frank... he and his partner have adopted a
darling little boy, have a happy life and then
what most people would call a "disaster" hits.
Frank was diagnosed with Burkitt's Lymphoma.
It hit him quick and it hit hard! This was
concerning to me, so I started to pray for Frank
and reading his blog on a daily basis. Or I
should say, checking his blog daily, some days
he doesn't feel like posting.

He is very open and honest about his disease
and the treatments he's going through. He
has the attitude that he will kick this
"Squatter's" ass!! Squatter is what he calls
his cancer. He is very brave about this part
of his journey through life. He is almost
always upbeat, joking, and courageous.
I can't help but admire this man for
his determination!!! He's an awesome person
in my opinion!!

Frank is the latest on my list of Heroes!!

I've never met Frank in person, but certainly
would like to some day. I continue to pray for
him on a daily basis. And yes... I do believe
he will beat his "Squatter"!!! If anyone can,
I think it will be him.

I'm sending an email to Frank, asking permission
to post a link to his blog. If he okays it, I'd
like for you to "meet" this amazing man and read
about his war on his "Squatter. And when
you're finished, you too will see the Hero
in Frank!!

Thanks Frank!! Woo Hoo!! I got the okay to post
a link. I know it's a public blog, but I felt like
asking first was the right thing to do. Here
ya go, meet Frank!!

http://franknotes.wordpress.com/

A New Month

Yeup, another month has come and gone! Where did July go?
Is it really August? Does school start in two weeks? Wow!!
Next thing you know we'll be doing our Christmas
shopping, hustling and bustling around like a bunch of
mad hatters.

There hasn't been much going on around here, nothing that
was blog-worthy anyway. The heat has kinda put a stop
to me being outside very much. The heat has been bad,
the humidity has been worse. A few evenings ago as I
was driving home, the humidity was so thick it actually
looked like smoke in the air. I kept looking around for
a house or brush fire... and fully expected to see one.

Baby, my little pup is growing by leaps and bounds.
Unfortunately I've had to start keeping him in the dog
pen so he doesn't run off. He's just too lonely around
here with no other animals to play with. I kept having
to go round him up from my neighbors' houses. He
doesn't paticularly like the pen, but is very good about
going back in at night. I try to let him in the house
for a little while every day, feed him good so his belly
is huge, and the little guy will lay down on the kitchen
rug in front of the sink and take a 2 or 3 hour nap.
He certainly enjoys the air conditioning. Barkley
still isn't crazy about him, but tolerates his presence.

I had to go outside and dig through the shop for a
mold a little while ago. If all goes well, I'm going to
try a new "just for fun" project in a bit. It is
chocolate covered oreo cookies. They look delish and
I know the Grandmonsters will like them. Here's a
link to the instructions I found.

http://www.teachsoap.com/oreos.html

Yes, Yes!! I'm stalking the soap making sites! lol
I've taken a hiatus from making any new soaps for
a couple years. We had soaps piled up and I had
plenty for the few craft shows I do, so it was
sensless to continue making it. So I focused my
time on sewing. But, lately the soaping bug has
been nibbling on me. I keep looking at all those
cute soaps on Etsy and keep thinking to myself,
"Old gal, you can do that. Why are you stalking
everyone else's products?". One of the newest
things to make is the Soapsicle Soaps. They are
just adorable, but expensive in my opinion. I
know my Grandmonsters would LOVE them! As
would my cousin's children, kids in our community
and the numerous kids that call me Mamaw,
Grandma Carmen, and Jaylan's Mimi. lol

The Soapsicles are made from the glycerine melt
and pour soap bases. I have a few pounds of it
in the shop from my earlier soap making runs,
but I didn't have enough and I could not, for the
life of me, find a popsicle mold. Oh yeah, I found
one on ebay that would work, but it's like the
bomb pops we used to eat as kids. Remember the
red, white, and blue popsicles? The regular
popsicle molds I found weren't really what I
wanted. So... I ended up ordering one from a
soap supply company. But I couldn't just stop at
the mold, I ended up ordering a few more pounds
of glycerine soap base, both the clear and the
opaque. So hopefully, this time next week I'll
be up to my elbows in Soapsicle Soap!! :)

While out in the shop I also dug out all my soap
recipes.... the pile of soap books and all my notes! lol
Quite a pile when I got done. But, you know me,
I do nothing in a small way, I think I need to
over-do everything! Yes, one of my faults, I'm
completely aware of it, Thank You. :) So cold
process soap making is also in my future. I've
been collecting supplies for a couple months now.
Buying up olive oil, vegetable shortening, lye,
and all the fixins.

And while stalking all these soaping sites, I've
learned several new techniques. The techniques
for soaping change all the time. Things that I
did a couple years ago are becoming outdated.
I guess I'm going to have to go with the flow
and update myself. Soap Cupcakes.... can I
really make those and have them come out
looking like cupcakes?? According to the
tutorial I found I can. lol I'm gonna try them,
if they flop, I'll just melt down my base and
try them again. They'll eventually turn
out right, I suppose. :)

Ok... 'nuther subject. My precious Hubby is
getting homesick I do believe. He went
through a spell where he was calling me in the
middle of the night, he couldn't sleep. Well,
when he does that, it throws my sleep
pattern off and I start to become a night owl
all over again. It's been several nights since
he's called so I'm starting to rise earlier now.

A few weeks ago Mike called me and was soooo
excited. He and some of the guys he works
with had been to a bar. Someone came around
and asked them to put their names in the pot
for a prize. Well, low and behold, my Mike
won the prize. It is a two day white water
rafting trip for 4 people. He was ready for me to
pack my bags and fly out the next day. Oh no!!
That's not my cup of tea, but right up Mike's
alley. He's still holding onto the certificate,
trying to decide what he's going to do with it.
I keep encouraging him to go on this trip, he'd
absolutely love it. Besides... how many people
get a free offer like this? I'm keeping my
fingers crossed that he will do it. I'm sure
some of his friends from work would go
with him.

I'm working on a care package for him again.
Hopefully the shipping part of this project
will go smoother than the last time! :) I
found him a couple western shirts to put in
our box and of course I'll be baking some
stuff for him. And of course Jaylan will
have to "write" him a letter and draw several
pictures for him.

Ok... I'm off to drag out the double boiler
and get started on this oreo cookie project.
Wish me luck!! :)