What's new blueberry?

We went Blueberry picking last week!
It was great fun for the whole family,
or my family and my friends and their families--I don't discriminate!
And we only got lost like 4 times on the way and got to see an old man who drove his car into the shrubs on the side of the road... that made for some interesting conversation--
FYI no we did not actually see him drive into the shrubs, we just saw the cops and wreckers trying to get the car out and were coming up with some crazy theories as to what made someone just drive into a shrub....

Blueberry picking in white shorts?
Yep that's Elizabeth...she said she hates those shorts,
um and they aren't so white and clean now!

Alyssa gave up first--stating that Blueberry picking was hurting her wrist--then she proceeded to eat the berries from her bucket! No!!! Eat the berries on the shrubs--those berries are free!

Yep, even my mom got in on the action...although mostly she ate the berries and pulled weeds. I think she was trying to get a discount on berries by pulling weeds for them... but it didn't work!

Best Wishes!
Michelle

Puppy Love

So my parents ended up getting a puppy this past weekend. It's soooooooooo cute! It's an Irish Setter and seems to be healthy and fun. It goes to the vet on Thursday for it's checkup and first set of shots. Hopefully it's got a clean bill of health! Here are some photos though of the cutie--his name is Sammy and we got him from a guy who was going to give him and his siblings to the rescue organization, so he was a free puppy. He's soooooo stinking cute--did I mention that already!?!



Best wishes!
Michelle

What do you want for Christmas?

So it's time for me to think about getting people Christmas gifts--or better yet making people Christmas gifts. Does anyone have anything special they want to throw out there as a potential Christmas gift that I can make for them? If so feel free to post it on here--I might be willing to oblige!

Merry Christmas in July Everyone!
Michelle

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24425305

Check out this website and you will see the adorable dog that is on the postcard I received in the mail today! It's so cute! Apparently his name is Bean and he is a cute little Boston Terrier with a fun little hat on his head! I love the pictures of him in the "beanzilla dog hat"

I so want to make one of those little town backgrounds and take some photos of Gussy playing in it!!! Fantastic!

Michelle

Louisville Art O Mat

So I recently went to another Art O Mat--this time in Louisville KY. It was great, except the piece of art that I got from the machine was terrible!!! I still love the machines though and I'm totally enamored with finding them and visiting them and hoping for the best when I put my money in! Check out the great machine itself:

FYI the piece that I purchased was a weird distortion of a picture of a woman smiling. The piece was made by art students at a college somewhere as a fund raiser. It was interesting... and frightening at the same time! I'm glad to have supported the arts, but I don't know about hanging that one up on my wall! :o)

What does Gussy think?

So everyone asks me all the time, what does Gussy think of the new house? Well let's ask and see, shall we:
"This carpet smells funny and my toys are all over the place, where do you keep the kibble? I don't know where I am anymore? What about those walks and the neighborhood kids? I swear why do you have to put me in this crazy place?"-- Gussy in March

"Okay, nevermind! I found the couch and the bed and this carpet actually feels pretty good when I rub my ears all over it. I mean I guess I can get used to it. There are those two neighbor dogs and I think that there might be kids around here... and people come visit a lot right now which is sweet! Although I wish they would bring me some treats... treats would be good... or leftovers... maybe a steak or a steak bone... I mean I'll take what I can get... you know it wouldn't be so bad here if Michelle would just go to the grocery store every once in awhile! And maybe she could buy me a steak when she goes next time!" --Gussy in April

All in all I think we are adjusting well! :o)

Friends help Friends... destroy!

Did I mention that my friends are the best?

Did I mention that when I bought my new house--alone--as in a single woman making the best of her own life--that my friends kind of unwillingly joined me in that task...
And that they are now helping me to destroy the things in the house that I need to get rid of?

For example:

Steph rips that dang wallpaper border right off!
Who likes that border anyway?
Not me!

Stef pulls that carpet up with her super strong, gloved hands
And makes me laugh so hard I think I might pee my pants in the process!
People say tearing your carpet out is hard, apparently they don't have Stef around to vent her frustrations on their old carpets because it made removing mine a snap!

And Lydia jumps right in to the messy jobs!
She got right to work on making that hole in the wall into a lovely flat wall without a hole--
by putting on a protective mask and sanding the crap out of it!
She's a trooper for sure! Although she probably isn't glad about me putting this picture online.
Just remember Lydia--I'm doing it to tell everyone how wonderful you are
at dealing with dirty situations!

You are all so great and wonderful! Thanks for helping me to: Paint, clean, wash, remove old fixtures, put in new ones, plumb the sink, fix the electrical problems, you know all the stuff you did, and so do I! Thanks so much for all of you! Even the ones not pictured here!

Best Wishes and let me know if anyone wants to join me
in my giant craft project, AKA: the house!

Broken Heart

The same day that I found out my bid on the house went through was the day that I ended up with a stray dog jumping into my car. These pictures break my heart. They were the pictures I took of her before I took her to animal care and control which I will NEVER ever do again! She was lovely and would have been a perfect pet for someone but unfortunately they have a policy at Animal Care and Control about not adopting out any kind of pit bulls. Also they only have to keep them for about 5 days before they euthanize them so she was put to sleep instead of having a home found for her. I'm really upset about it because I even put wrote on the paperwork that I would have been more than happy to pay to adopt her if her owners were not found. They however did nothing to contact me and when I called back about her was when I found out she was already gone. Please, just read this post and realize how important it is to take care of your pets--spay and neuter them! Keep their tags and collars on them--she didn't have anything! Microchip if you have a dog that wanders! And if you are interested in getting a new pet please consider doing something good for yourself and the world by taking in a stray--from the newspaper, from Animal Care and Control, from the Humane Shelter, from a neighbor who can't keep their pet, from whoever--but realize that dogs who are free are often just as great if not better than pure breeds that you pay a ton for!

I called her Zara--I loved her for the short time she was in my life!
I wish I could have saved her and if I had known what was in store
for her I would have tried harder!

Here are some pictures of my dog--
he was a free dog and he is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time!
I love him and would definitely recommend strays to anyone!

He's a great, fuzzy, little snuggler!

Please take care of your pets!

Or Gussy will bark at you!

Random Art Bits

These are some random bits of arts and crafts that I've done over the last couple of months. I just like sharing them, hopefully someone enjoys looking at them. :o)

This was for an encouragement swap on swap-bot.com.

These were some fun postcards that I recently made from
discarded books, paint chips, and stickers!
Cheap, easy, and fun to do!

This was one of the ATCs that I did recently. I love it!!!
I want to make some more with buttons for myself!
This one really cracks me up though!

Art Journal Pages

I signed up to take an online art journal class. It was pretty fun, but honestly I wasn't able to keep up with everyone because things have been kind of weird the last couple of months, but I was going to share a few of my pages. I would like to say though that I was definitely trying to follow the instructor too much and not following myself enough, so honestly out of the pages that I did, these are the ones that I felt were the most "me."

Big News!

So it finally is happening! I bought a house!
It's in an addition, but the back yard faces a field, so that makes it feel a bit more secluded.

This is the first of two full bathrooms!!!
(That yellow spot on the floor isn't there in real life--only in the pictures!)

This is the kitchen with the Jenn-air stove which needs repairs.
The kitchen feels really small to me, but I'm going to live with it for awhile and then maybe do some remodeling in the future. When I save up some money!
Oh, and that's Cliff the inspector--he told me the house needs some maintenance, but overall it's not that bad! Woohoo!

Um, that's my dog Gussy checking out the carpet by the back door. He's just making sure the house is dog approved--apparently it was since before we left he was rubbing on the carpet!
(Of course he is a dog and he rubs in bird poo in the yard too!)

This is our newest family portrait!
That's my mom, my dog, and myself in front of the fireplace!
The walls in the living area are currently cranberry--that will be changed soon enough!

Only a couple more weeks until we get the keys and start working on the place and moving things in. Thank goodness for family and friends because without them I would be in so much trouble! Now keep your eyes open for a washer and dryer combo and a new dinning room table!

Funniest thing that happened today!

Today at work a routine customer came to the desk and told me he doesn't get to see me very often but he was glad to see me today. Then he smiled and showed me his few teeth that still are intact and told me "When I see you, I think of a stuffed cabbage." This made me laugh and I said I'm not sure if that's good or bad, he said it was good and told me, "Have a good day beautiful, I mean that!" It was so funny! I guess this is what I look like to him:

I've been feeling really bad about myself lately, very unwanted, unsupported, and unloved... but now I just feel like a big stuffed cabbage!!! Gotta go somewhere and try this dish, maybe it will turn my life around! (Although the kind gentlemen is not my type--because of the age and bad oral health--I do appreciate that he said something nice although slightly unwarranted, but still not too sleazy... I don't think unless of course "stuffed cabbage" is a metaphor for something I don't know about....)

Last year...

Last year I decided to try to challenge myself to cook 52 new recipes during the year--they could be things I had eaten before, but the recipe had to be something that I hadn't tried yet. I'm a recipe addict by the way--I work at the library so I'm constantly looking at cookbooks and other things trying to find something tastey and fun to try for dinner or dessert. So basically the idea was to try some of those recipes that I copy and hoard in my house. And I did it! Over the last weekend I ended up making the last of my 52 recipes, and here they are in no particular order:
Focaccia and Dipping Oil, Oat Bread, Black Bean Tortilla Bake, Pina Colada Cheesecake, Crepes, Random Casserole--not good!, Peanut Butter Valentines Day Chex Mix (which is super yummy and I think I need to make some really really soon!), Sugar Cookies from a jar--and the icing to go with it, Beer Bread, Fried Rice, Coleslaw, Margarita Frozen Dessert (definitely a good one too), Taco Casserole, Peach and Raspberry Pie, Tex Mex Lasagna, Papa Johns Pizza Crust (Cheryl loves this), Lasagna rolls, Crispy Orechiette with Broccoli Pine nuts and Garlic, Zucchini "crab" cakes, Sweet Potato fries, Crab cakes with stovetop stuffing, Sesame Noodles, Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo, Couscous with yogurt dressing, Peach Cupcakes, Raspberry Buttercream Icing (my first attempt at buttercream, it wasn't very good either), Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings, Penne pasta with Spinach and Ham, Sue Schoppman's Pie Crust, Homemade Apple Pie filling, Cheesy Chicken and Biscuits, Apple Dumplings, Layered Enchilada Bake, Cheesy Turkey and Rice Burrito, Pumpkin Pie, Crockpot Thanksgiving Turkey, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mom's Chicken and Noodles from Scratch, Mini Spice Cake Tarts (super yummy!), Apple Pear Crumble Pie (also a favorite now!), Bruschetta Chicken Bake, Creamy Pasta with Peas, Oatmeal Scottchie Pan Cookies, Apple Swirl Bundt Cake, Cream Cheese Cookies, Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake, Lasagna, Spice Cookies, Chicken Crockpot Curry, Velvetta Taco Pie, Pineapple Upside Down Cake (which has been the best thing ever in my mind! I love coming home to it at the end of the day!).

I'm actually pretty proud of myself for just setting a goal and sticking to it! It was a lot of fun!
What to challenge myself to in 2009? Well I didn't decide to do this until the end of January, so I figure I'll give myself about a month before I start the challenge, whatever that may be....

Best Wishes!