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Tuesday, June 24, 2014

"Be Prepared"

I have had a very busy but fun several days. Thought I would share them and another room or two of the house before I get into my "heavy-duty" preparations for this coming weekend.

As usual this time of year, the weeds and "weed trees" (yes, these things shoot up to 20-30' in no time with trunks 8-12" around or bigger) begin encroaching into our yard by way of our 8' privacy fence. I will fight them from my side as long as I can, but several times a year, I just have to "face the monster"...and this was the weekend.

I truly wish I had taken "before" pictures because you could not take one step behind my fence without chopping, pulling or cutting something. As old as I am getting and as much as I know I will not be able to do this myself forever, I truly love the satisfaction I get when I am done. We have 308' along the back fence and I got almost all of it vine, weed and weed tree free for about 6-8' back. Since I do this one to two times a year, I am establishing quite a pile of "stuff" back there and let's just say that I have encountered a "critter" or two, but yet I persist. I just make lots of noise and warn them that I am coming.

Let me also say that we do have permission from the owners of this property. They are really supposed to do this themselves but they stopped a number of years ago and told us to do as we wished. We don't rock boats so as long as we can keep our yard relatively clear, I am O.K. doing so. The 17 acres behind us has been for sale for years and will probably not sell as such and, that is how we like it, so we don't rock any boats!


This picture is deceiving because a lot of the stuff you see that is still green has been pulled and cut. It was probably dead by sundown. Suffice it to say that this old body needed a rest the remainder of the day!

Then on Monday, I got to go see Harrison off for his first ever sleep away camp. He has been away from home and mom and dad many times but always with family or friends. He was very very excited but looked a little tentative until he got there and saw the set-up and kids that he knew. This camp has been around for years and fills up so fast that he is very lucky to have gotten in. I can't wait to hear the tales he will tell. And bonus - I got to stay with the little ones for a few hours while mom took him out and got him settled.





Then, it was straight up to Gainesville where hubby had to take a Continuing Ed class while I got to pick up grand daughter #3 and head downtown where we met up with grand daughter #1 and had a lovely lunch at a restaurant I had never been to. It was yummy!

And then, Morgan was off to get her driver's permit. Yikes - that means 3 of our grand children are now driving!!!

Today I am making lots of lists to begin preparations tomorrow so let's hit a few more rooms before I am off and running again!


Just a simple centerpiece in the sun room along with Uncle Sam and a few other red, white and blue things scattered about.



This has really become my go-to spot these days. I love sitting here for a cup of coffee, magazine perusing or writing a note. Only trouble is that I often get distracted with the goings-on right outside the windows - lots of birds and squirrels and an occasional visiting cat or two.
 








I still love this plate that the girls and I made years ago. Just vintage images cut out and decoupaged on the back of a clear glass plate and then a layer of ripped red tissue decoupaged over top. I put gold around the edges and we filled them with cookies as gifts that year.



There are those pesky jars. As you can see, I haven't done anything brilliant to them yet!





I am really getting used to having this baker's rack in the kitchen. It allows me to stack so many of my holiday serving pieces which in turn allows me to have a lot less clutter on my counters. Didn't like this here at first. Guess it just goes to show that change is NOT always bad! A bit more to go plus, I am going to attempt a "piecake" recipe that I saw on Home & Family. I will let you know how it works. Stay tuned.




Yep, those are pies baked inside of cake and then frosted and layered. The recipe calls for home made pies if you want, but I am going for store bought. I don't like packaged cake mix cakes either but I think I will go that route as well as I have LOTS of other things to make. But, I am going with the home made butter cream as canned frosting tastes like metal to me. The icing alone calls for 3 cups of butter and tons of sugar so we shall see!


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