It's A New Day

Pigs, Polkas and Photographs

It's the last Saturday in October and that can mean only one thing: The Sausage Festival in Elberta. About an hour's drive from home, this quaint little town in Alabama is filled with people from all over helping them celebrate their German ancestry. The event is organized by the Volunteer Fire Department but the funds raised also support other community events. Like any good festival, there's entertainment, booths filled with things you can buy and food. The last one is what we came for but we enjoyed the other parts too.

The camera came along for the trip and I wanted some photos of the firemen cooking the sausage. They do it on a covered patio and have the area roped off so spectators don't get too close to the hot pit. As I got close to the ropes, it was obvious I wasn't going to get the picture I wanted. The sun was at the wrong angle and all the smoke from the fire was blowing right at me. We worked our way around to the other side of the building but that's where all the firemen were congregating. Unsure if it was restricted, I asked one of them if I could enter to take a few pictures as long as I didn't get in their way. Sure, he said...come with me. And right up to the pit we went.

So I took the first photo, hoping to capture how hard the firemen were working and how much smoke was rolling off the pit. Too bad photos don't capture the smell too...it was awesome! I would have been content at this point; I didn't want to be a nuisance. But by now, I had a director. Look...they're taking some off the grill. Don't you want a picture of that? And I did.

 

The sausages go into that black tub then inside the building next to the pit where they pair them up with a bun and sell them faster than they can cook them. I'd barely finished my shot when my new-found friend said They're starting to flip the racks. You'd better get a picture of that. So I did.

They must fill a dozen or so of these racks and when they take one off the end, they move all the others down the line, flipping them over so the sausages cook on the other side. The firemen who work the pit have done it so much it's like a well-choreographed dance.

I turned to walk away but my photography assistant grabbed my arm. They're loading up a new rack. You can't leave without getting a picture of that. So down to the other end of the pit we went to take that photo.

They dump a bunch of the raw links into the middle of the rack then start laying them nice and neat into the frame.

They used to make 7,000 pounds of sausage for this one-day event but one of the men there said they had 28,000 pounds this year because they always run out. That's a lot of pig!

I think my friend was out of photo ideas by this time so he let me escape but I was grateful that he helped me get behind the scenes for a up-close look at the process.

 

And, of course, we ate some too. I had sauerkraut on mine and while I usually have some German potato salad too, the sandwich filled me up. We were supposed to meet up with a family from El Dorado visiting in the area but somehow we missed each other. I think we were both there at the same time but never found one another.

There was country music and cloggers in one tent and the polka band in the gazebo. Maybe I should have asked this guy for a few pointers on the accordion.

Pigs, polkas and photographs...and a perfectly fine afternoon to enjoy it all.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll take some photos to post on the blog. The poor thing is sorely in need of something besides text so I'll remedy that tomorrow. Don't look for a new banner though; I just don't see that happening yet.

Tomorrow I'll iron. The clothes all got washed on Monday but I still haven't found the time to iron. Tomorrow's the day; I don't want to have two week's worth come next Monday.

Tomorrow I'll figure out how to get the text to fit on the layout on the table. It's frustrating me as I keep trying different things and none of them are working. I'm determined to solve that problem tomorrow. Really, I will.

Tomorrow I'll let last Tuesday's episode of Gleeplay again on the DVR. I don't usually watch anything a second time through, and technically I don't plan to watch this one. I just want to hear the songs from Rocky Horror Picture Show again.

Tomorrow I'll fall off the healthy-eating wagon...but just for one meal. Fall is festival time and I plan to indulge in some tasty but not-so-good-for-you food. And I'm not going to feel guilty about it either since it's not an everyday occurrence.

Tomorrow I'll finish off the day with a crossword puzzle, even though it's Saturday. Our USA Today comes by mail and that means from time to time the mailman delivers it a day late like he did on Tuesday of this week. While I miss having my puzzle that night, it's a happy extra to have one on Saturday.

Tomorrow's going to be busy...I'd better hit the hay.

Busy Days

It's been a busy week. I should know better than to think staying home would mean life would ease to a leisurely pace. I've just filled it with different things, like more evening and weekend obligations than usual and deadlines of my own making. Put one thing behind me and it seems there are three more in front. It's not a new sensation; it just seems more acute at some times than others...and right now is one of them as the next ten days are going to be more of the same.

I could see this as a burden, and believe me it often feels that way. My way to cope, however, is to turn the negative into a positive. I'm counting these busy days as a blessing.

Busy days mean there's no time to be bored. Okay, so that probably wasn't going to happen anyway but the clock clearly moves faster when the days are full. I'm forced to be organized and focused rather than wander from here to there, wasting time along the way. That's a good thing. And as I finish one project and move to the next, there's a real sense of accomplishment. I feel productive, and that's a good thing too.

Someday when I'm old and gray...well, older and grayer, I'll be grateful for long, lazy days in the rocking chair with nothing to do but that's not today. These days are busy and I'm feeling blessed because of it. Here's my page:

 

Supplies:
Digital template: Weekly Gratitude, Karen Grünberg
Digital paper: Jessica Sprague
Fonts: Arial, Lucinda Sans and Verdana, Microsoft; Avenir, Internet

***Each Friday's post is part of my 2010 gratitude project, an effort to be more aware of and grateful for the blessings in my life. I found last year to be so rewarding I wanted to continue.

Free Scrappy Goodness, Try #2

Let’s try this again. I can outfox Typepad in case it decides to repeat last night’s crash by composing in Word first. At least then I have a back-up. Of course, Word frustrates me too so I’m only slightly ahead of the game but still… One way or another, the blog will get a post.

I haven’t spent much time online this past week but it seems like everywhere I turned there was free scrappy stuff so I thought I’d share in case it didn’t make its way to your attention. Like this free digital edition of Scrapbook Trends 2009 Holiday Idea Book.Yes, it was published last year but it’s still filled with clever ideas and pretty pages and well, it’s free. Besides, it’s just fun to touch the corner of the virtual page and see it flip to the next. Maybe I’d like an e-reader after all.

If you’re looking for ideas of gifts you could make for Christmas (often with pretty scrapbook paper you already own), you might want to check out this free idea book from the folks at Plaid.It’s a downloadable PDF with general instructions for using Mod Podge and specific instructions for a variety of project. Even if one of the projects doesn’t exactly “speak” to you, I bet it will start your wheels turning on something else you could make. Personally, I love the bookcase but it might be the turquoise color that is catching my eye.

There are lots of things that catch my eye at Just Something I Made.One of my recent favorites was an assortment of free printable envelopes made like seed packets.Not only are they bright and fun, I could imagine plenty of uses for them. Like to hold homemade cards. Or hidden journaling on a layout. Or bound together as a mini album. Or as a pattern to make my own envelopes from scrapbook paper. You get the idea…lots of options. And there are step-by-step directions for putting them together.

Ali had free Halloween word art to download on her blog and there were cute (and free) bag toppers and cupcake toppers both yesterday and today on WriteClickScrapbook.

Lots of free scrappy goodness there for the taking. Enjoy!

Well, Phooey!

I wrote a long post. Lots of links. Hit Publish and it disappeared. Phooey, phooey, phooey! It doesn't happen often but when it does it's very disgusting. I'm taking my frustrated self to bed. 

Straight Into The Recycle Bag

The conversation on the way to the grocery store is always the same: What do you want for dinner this week? One or the other of us asks it; both of us chime in with the answers. This week Wayne said chili sounded good to him. I had to laugh...I'd seriously thought about going to Wendy's while he was gone to get chili myself. Clearly, we've been married so long we think alike. With rain in the forecast, chili was penciled into the week's menu plan.

I'm not sure why, but I decided I didn't want to make my usual chili so I hit the Internet looking for a new recipe. And I found one on one of my favorite cooking blogs, Our Best Bites. I've had really good luck with recipes from there; in fact, some have become instant hits and found a regular place in our meal rotation. And the chili recipe was getting rave reviews in the comments...another plus.

The chili was...interesting. It was nicely spiced but just, well different. It had a little unsweetened chocolate in it, not an unusual ingredient in Mexican cooking. Like in mole. When I asked Wayne if he was up for an experiment, I said I thought given the chocolate we'd either love it or hate it but as it turns out, the reaction was just so-so. Oh, we ate it, and we'll make a second meal out of the left-overs too. And the results weren't so disastrous that I'll swear off recipe-experimentation...but this one is going straight into the recycle bag.

Weekend Recap

My buddy is back home after a weekend caching trip to Louisiana. It was just what he needed to process the loss of his brother...the right combination of alone time while driving and good company to talk to and laugh with and gain strength from. We'll go to Texas for the memorial service when the date is set.

There were four of them trekking the back roads of Louisiana, and in a little less than two days they found over 200 caches. Many of those were on kind of caching super trail. There's probably a formal name for it but basically someone went out on a stretch of rural highway and hid a cache every tenth of a mile. Cachers love a good challenge; sometimes that's a hard hide but sometimes it's just to see how many they can discover in a short period of time.

They cached by flashlight in the dark. They stirred up a baby alligator. (Wayne was just hoping his mother wasn't nearby!) They got up early and stayed up late. But most importantly, they had a good time. They planned well...it's raining for the first time in more than a month.

And me? I spent the time right here at my computer, or the biggest part of it anyway. Most of the design work on next year's planner is complete. There's still plenty of cleaning up and formatting to do but it's coming along.

The weekend is winding down and the week ahead is looking a little busy. I'm going to drift off to sleep to the pitter-patter of raindrops so I'll be ready for it.

18 Million People Can't Be Wrong

As I was working my way through the paper this morning, a little article caught my eye. It was about one of the hottest videos on YouTube right now, and I wouldn't have paid any attention to it except it mentioned that the musical group behind the video was the same group that had recorded one not long ago all choreographed on treadmills. It was amusing, mostly because it makes me wonder how people think of these things, so I was off to check it out.

The video mentioned in the paper was cute as they had an assortment of dogs join in their synchronized movement. If you're interested, you can find it here.

But I was more intrigued by the one with Rube Goldberg Machine in the title. After watching it, I can see why they used that name. It was fascinating if only to see what would happen next. I'm still left wondering how they think up all these things but I (and the other 18 million people who watched it) was entertained, not necessarily by the music but the ingenuity. Just something fun for the weekend.

 

There doesn't seem to be a way to eliminate the ad or embed the full screen. You might want to watch it on YouTube...just click here.

Homecomings

I knew Sunday night what the blessing for this week would be. After the call we received late Thursday afternoon, it seems all the more poignant.

Last Sunday was Thanksgiving...not at our house but in a Hospice room in Texas. Wayne's brother Dean had been transferred there earlier in the week when it became clear his body was failing despite all medical science could do for him. He's spent the last six months in one medical facility or another; this would be his last.

All the kids were coming home, including the oldest son on active duty in the military. All the grandkids would be there too...a bittersweet family reunion but never one more important. And when the rest of us learned of the plan, we sent up a collective prayer...that Dean would be alert and able to participate in the family gathering, that there would be laughter among the tears, and that the chance to say goodbye on their terms would help heal the hole in their hearts.

It says something to me that they chose to have an early Thanksgiving. It's more than the traditional foods we all enjoy and associate with the holiday or even the fact that Thanksgiving really isn't that far away. It's the message of acknowledging the blessings in your life. And although the loss of a loved one was imminent, they were celebrating the life of a husband, father and grandfather as well as the love and strength of family. By all accounts, the family homecoming exceeded expectations.

The call came late Thursday afternoon...Dean was gone. And while there is great sadness, we all know he's in a better place. It's a homecoming of a different kind. We mourn the loss but are grateful that he is a peace.

And I'm grateful there are only a few months left in 2010; it's been a heck of a year.

Here's my page:

 

Supplies:
Digital template: Weekly Gratitude, Karen Grünberg
Digital paper: Jessica Sprague
Fonts: Arial, Lucinda Sans and Verdana, Microsoft; Avenir, Internet

***Each Friday's post is part of my 2010 gratitude project, an effort to be more aware of and grateful for the blessings in my life. I found last year to be so rewarding I wanted to continue.

Randomness

Here's a few of the random thoughts rolling around in my brain tonight:

· The computer is definitely healthier today. It wasn't a virus but we cleaned up some malware and dumped a lot of temporary Internet files. I haven't been on the Internet enough to know if we've cured it all but it's clearly better.
· You can download free software from Microsoft to scan your computer to identify and remove malicious software here. There are versions for Windows 7, Vista and XP in the Security Tools, Scans, Updates box on the right. Wayne used it on his dad's computer to find and remove a nasty virus. Be prepared though; mine ran all night.
· We voted today. As we waited through the short line for our turn, the poll worker said business had been steady since early voting started Monday morning.
· In the last few days, I've hung up on a former governor, a national political strategist and even Pat Boone and I didn't feel bad at all about doing so. They were only recordings, often at inconvenient times. Unfortunately, voting early doesn't make them stop or the ads on TV go away either.
· Not to wish my life away but I'll be glad when Halloween is over. It's not one of my favorite holidays even if it does provide an excuse to eat extra chocolate.
· But if Halloween is your thing or you just want to make some fun treats for your family or a party, check out these clever food ideas. I love the Nutty Ghosts and, although a little creepy, the Cheesy Fingers but the Slimy Worms on a Bun are just gross!
· Ty and his buddies will soon be shouting "Move that bus!" as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is building in Pensacola this week. The episode will air over the holidays so there are plenty of Santa hats on the scene, a strange but understandable sight. You can see the progress here and here...assuming these media outlets keep them up for more than a day.
· A flu shot is on tomorrow's agenda. Oh, joy.

And that's about all I've got.

Not What I Had In Mind

Sooo...I fell asleep on the couch last night, hence no blog post. And this hardly counts as one tonight.

My computer has been acting weirder by the day. We let the anti-virus software do its thing and it didn't find anything but a second scan by a free Windows program is turning up some issues. Unfortunately it's only 12% done and it's been running for three hours. I think it's going to be an all-nighter...well, for the computer anyway.

Hopefully by tomorrow morning we can clean out the offending bugs and get things back to normal.

Op Ed

Ahhh, Sunday. Even though we no longer have a work week, the weekend still seems special. More relaxed. We sleep a little later, read the paper a little longer and just take life in general a little slower.

With elections just two weeks away, the Sunday paper was filled with all things political...political polls, political ads and the recommendations of the editorial staff on the political races. As bad as it is now, it's only going to get worse. I plan to vote early so I can ignore it all with a clear conscience.

As I read through the newspaper editor's picks in the various contests, I found my level of disgust rising. It was more than the poor choices we have in some races or even just politics in general; it was the idea that someone whose job is running a newspaper should be telling me how to vote. Oh, I know...they've been doing it for years. And I suppose there was a time and place where it was worthwhile. After all, we didn't always have instant access to what the candidates were doing and saying and where they stand on the issues. Now we can't avoid it. Even though these endorsements happen every election, they just struck me as arrogant today.

The sample ballot arrived in the mail last week and I've already read through it. The newspaper editors will be disappointed to know that I didn't need their advice to decide how I would be voting.

 

In The Garden

The lemons are starting to ripen. I can see the tree through the sliding glass doors, and there's more yellow every day. I haven't counted but there are probably more than a dozen of them this year, the most ever. Two are small...well, small for this variety; they're about the size of lemons I buy in the grocery store. The rest are big...not quite softball-size but almost. And they make the best lemonade!

The Mexican oregano is in full bloom, and the purple spires are spilling over all its neighbors. It looks a little unruly now but I love it anyway. It's hip-high...even taller if it was standing up straight. I grow it for the flowers that don't come until fall but the plant thinks its about done and is sending new shoots up from the ground.

 

Here's a close-up of one of the stems. The little individual flowers are fuzzy, almost like fur.

 

The lemon pepper plant is producing a few peppers and is still blooming. This is the first year we've had one of these, started from seed by Dr. Dale. He'll have to tell me when they're ripe and ready to pick.

I did pick some of the Wild Dynamo peppers. Dr. Dale gave us one of these last year and Wayne has really enjoyed adding them to pizza, chili and other food he wants to kick up a notch. Apparently we didn't get all the peppers picked as we had a number of volunteers come up this year, and these peppers are from those plants. The peppers themselves are small, not much bigger than a pea. When they are dried and shriveled up, they go in a grinder to make the flakes to sprinkle on food.

I guess you could say these are the colors of autumn at our house.

Around the World in Just a Few Hours

We made a trip around the world today...at least it seemed that way. And it only took us a few hours to do it.

First stop: Apple Market in Pensacola. Yes, I know...Pensacola is barely a hop, skip and a jump away from home; but every journey has to start somewhere. It's a quaint little neighborhood grocery that's morphed into something much more thanks to a very diverse inventory. If you've got a hard-to-find food item, chances are Apple Market has it.

And they did...at least for one of the items were were looking for. I've been on the hunt for a whipping cream stabilizer, the magic potion that going to let the icing on the root beer float cupcakes I want to make hold together. We looked in plenty of places in Ohio without success, and I was beginning to believe I'd have to order it online. Not any more...it's hanging out in my pantry now. It's made by a company with a German name but manufactured in Canada.

Next stop: The Greek Festival. Nothing tastes quite like gyros, calamari, dolmathes and spanakopita eaten under a big outdoor tent with the strains of Greek folk music playing in the background. The weather was perfect and will be all weekend so we decided to hit the festival today when the crowds would be smaller. It was delightful...and delicious too.

Final stop: Bien Bong Oriental Market. I've got to admit...it might have been the most interesting of all our stops. We were looking for the little dried chili peppers used in Asian cooking for our Orange Beef. Walmart used to stock them but they were a casualty of the remodel and Apple Market was out of them. So off we went to the west side of Pensacola.

The market was filled with so much stuff I've never seen and wouldn't know what to do with. It was fascinating! I wish I had someone with us who could explain what we were seeing on the shelves, including the produce. There were some really strange looking fruits and vegetables there. Believe it or not there are three Asian markets in Pensacola, all within a stretch of about five blocks on the same street. Having never been in any of them, we took pot luck and chose the biggest one and walked out with our little bag of dried chilis.

Germany. Canada. Greece. Asia. Sounds like a world tour to me...and a perfect escape on a Friday afternoon.

Not A Brush But Still A Share

My new-found knowledge on Photoshop brushes has its limits. The brush is there and I can save it but the file size is ginormous. The instructions said it would make a high resolution brush and boy were they right! I can't find a way to cut the file size down short of recreating it.

But...

I can figure out how to turn it into a .png file that can be downloaded. Here's what it looks like:

 

Download Houndstooth3

Working with .pngfiles is really easy. You can resize them, change the color, and use them as a clipping mask just like you would with a brush. And they even work in Word. Ali Edwards has a great explanation here (just scroll down past the .pdf instructions to find the ones for .png files) or watch a video of the procedure here. Easy Peasy.

Enjoy!

Online Sharing

I'm finding a few hours here and there to start on the next year's edition of the planner. There's a vision in my head, although parts of it are still fuzzy. That's how projects go...they come together in pieces.

The pieces I do know need some specific shapes and brushes are the easiest way to get them on a page in Photoshop. Brushes are a lot like a rubber stamp but better. You can make them any size and fill them with pretty patterns, and there are lots and lots of them available free on the Internet. Thanks to my friend Google (which could be a gratitude in and of itself), I was able to find most of them.

I suppose it was asking too much to have a brush for a houndstooth pattern but I found the next best thing...how to create my own brush. I downloaded a sample, created the brush and voila...I can have houndstooth whenever and wherever I want. Even better, I now have the knowledge to create a brush for any shape.

The method I used loaded the new brush directly into my brush palette. If I can figure out how to find that file, I'll share it with anyone who wants it. After all, that's just how I got to this point...from the knowledge and talents of others who willingly shared their work. I love the Internet for that. Despite all the bad things that come from it, the world wide web is an amazing resource and a means to connect those of us seeking information with those who are willing to provide it for free. They may be faceless and often known only by an online name, but I'm grateful for them. Here's my page:

 

Supplies:
Digital template: Weekly Gratitude, Karen Grünberg
Digital paper: Jessica Sprague
Fonts: Arial, Lucinda Sans and Verdana, Microsoft; Avenir, Internet

***Each Friday's post is part of my 2010 gratitude project, an effort to be more aware of and grateful for the blessings in my life. I found last year to be so rewarding I wanted to continue.

Observations

I walk for an hour in the afternoon and in that time I can cover about four miles. It's usually along one of four or five routes and because we live basically in one corner of the subdivision, parts of those routes overlap. I frequently find myself going down one hill and up the next one...just about the only hills in the neighborhood.

I don't mind the hills; it's the water that collects at the bottom of them that adds an element of danger to the walk. There's a creek in that little valley but it's not the source of the water. It comes from the sprinkler systems in the yards on up the hills. After running down the gutter, it tends to collect in the lowest point between the hills. And since we're having a bit of a dry spell, the sprinklers are running a lot...and there's always water in that spot. It's not deep so crossing it isn't a problem; crossing it without getting splashed by passing cars is. And in the process, I've observed a few things.

Women drivers are the most considerate. They give the poor walker tip-toeing through the puddles the widest berth possible and they slow way down as they drive through the water, being careful to make as little splash as possible. I think it's empathy...they know they wouldn't want to have dirty water thrown their way if they were in my shoes.

Men aren't bad...not as good as women, but not bad. For the most part, they'll move to the center of the road but they really don't slow down a whole lot. It doesn't matter whether they're in a truck, a golf cart or a bike, the driving is pretty much the same.

But you gotta keep your eyes open for the teens...they're the worst. They don't give you any extra room and I swear they accelerate as they approach the water. If that rear view mirror were bigger, I'll bet I could see them in it laughing about sending water my way. The reality is they're probably intent on the music pulsating from the big bass, hurrying to get home to check their text messages or whatever else is high on the teen priority list for the day. They're oblivious to me.

Navigating the water and dodging the splashes keeps me on my toes but hey...exercise is why I'm out there, isn't it.

Patio Pals

The patio and all the furniture on it is now delightfully clean. I confess...my little heart was happy as I looked at the late afternoon sun rays spreading across all those clean surfaces. Never mind that it's a bit chaotic; I'll put everything back together tomorrow after the cushions all dry.

I wasn't alone as I scrubbed cushions and sprayed down chairs. Yes, Wayne came out to get the power washer all hooked up and stayed to help shuffle chairs around. But that's not the company I'm talking about. It's this guy:

 

Well, him and his friends. He's a green anole lizard although he isn't very green here. He was pretty brown when I took his picture. Like a chameleon they can change colors and he was bright green a few minutes later.

I see them all the time on the back patio but it's usually on the screens ready to snap up a passing bug. And that's precisely the reason I'm happy to have them scurrying around back there. What I didn't know was that apparently they snuggle down between the cushions and the chairs to stay warm on these cooler nights.

The first one I saw was in full view. Perched atop one of the cushion backs he seemed to be like the King of the Mountain...surveying his domain. He scurried down behind the cushion and that should have been my first clue there might be others.

I found another when I aimed the hose in the tube-like opening where the seat material wraps around the frame. That was probably a rude awakening for a scared anole. And I shook the one I photographed out of another chair when I dropped it when turning on its side. The lizard jumped out, ran across my foot and hustled up another chair nearby. That's when I went to get the camera and found him peeking out between the cushion and chair. In all, I probably disturbed the daily routine of five or six of them. Maybe all the newly cleaned digs they can now enjoy will make up for that. At least it added an element of surprise to my day's chore.

Next Week

Unlike my friend Torm, I'm not much of a list maker. She regularly outlines the list of chores she wants to accomplish during the week, and sometimes she even does updates the list to show what she's accomplished. I suppose there's something tangible in crossing items off that list when they're done but I'd just be overwhelmed at the length of the list.

That doesn't mean I'm without a plan; there's a loose list of sorts in my head. Take this week, for example. Monday's going to be busy. With plans for both Saturday and Sunday nights, we skipped our weekend trip to the store but we're going to have to go on Monday...the cupboard is looking pretty bare. And then there's laundry and a house to clean. No time for Fall Fever on Monday.

Tuesday I'm thinking I'll wash the patio furniture. With cooler days returning, we'll be wanting to be enjoying the back patio again and that means summer's accumulation of dust and cobwebs need to be washed away. The weather is perfect for it too...warm enough the spray from the power washer will feel good and low humidity so the cushions will dry without delay.

There might be cookies in the works on Wednesday. I don't do much baking but there's a good chance we'll have a visitor and I just happen to know his favorite kind of cookies...Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip. That's because I'm his mom. A sweet treat will be just another way of saying we're glad he's stopping in for a short stay and he can take the rest of them home with him.

By Thursday the plan gets more nebulous as I'm not sure when Brad's arriving or how long he's staying. It's not like I'll have to work to find something to do, however. I did manage to finish those bushes today but there are plenty of other chores left to tackle in the yard. And I've been trying to put in some time here and there on designing the 2011 planner.

List or no list, it's looking like a busy week.

Fall Fever

You know about Spring Fever...that listless, lazy feeling that comes with the first warm days? I think I have the Fall strain of this illness as I'm definitely suffering from listlessness and laziness.

Two of the three runs of bushes are trimmed but I can't seem to summon the energy to do the last one. The breezes from early in the week have subsided so I could spray Round-Up on the weeds in the flower beds but that hasn't happened yet. And last night's blog entry? It too was the victim of a lack of creative inspiration. I haven't exactly vegetated these past few days but I certainly haven't accomplished a lot either.

I don't think the condition is terminal; my ambition is bound to return sooner or later. Maybe a day of perfect tens (10-10-2010) will do the trick...or maybe I'll just nurse my fall fever for one more day and start the week off with new ambition.

Open Doors

I wish I could say that this week's blessing was that the trimming I'm administering to all the shrubs was the last one of the year. But I know it's not. It's early October and while the rate of growth will slow down with the cooler nights, there's plenty of time for more little green shoots to appear. I see one more round of bush whacking in my future before I can put the trimmers up for the winter.

But I am grateful that the awesome weather we're having makes the task almost pleasant. The temperatures are mild and the humidity is low...an amazing combination that seems to happen only in October in our corner of the world. The AC is off and the doors and windows are open, filling the house with the sweet scent of fresh air. And the house cools down even more at night, making snuggling under the covers delightful. I love it.

Maybe it's the welcome change after summer's heat and humidity that makes me appreciate days like these. I've often said October is Mother Nature's reward to enduring Southern summers. Or maybe it's knowing that the season is fleeting...the humidity will return even if the temperatures continue to decline. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful for days like these that let me throw open the doors and let the outside in. Here's the page:

 

Supplies:
Digital template: Weekly Gratitude, Karen Grünberg
Digital paper: Jessica Sprague
Fonts: Arial, Lucinda Sans and Verdana, Microsoft; Avenir, Internet

***Each Friday's post is part of my 2010 gratitude project, an effort to be more aware of and grateful for the blessings in my life. I found last year to be so rewarding I wanted to continue.

TV Time

Feet up, I indulged in my nightly ritual of reading the USA Today when my eyes landed on a little article about the new television shows that debuted this fall. Twenty-one of them...and I haven't seen a one. Apparently I won't even have a chance to check out one of them; it's already been canceled.

What wasn't on the list is the one new show I have seen...Sister Wives. I didn't make a point of watching this reality show about a polygamist and three (soon to be four) wives; it just sort of popped up on the channel changer and I stayed to watch it. But once there, it was kind of like a bad wreck where you just have to keep looking. And I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it.

I guess I'm just too much of a traditionalist as I can't imagine living in a relationship like that. I feel sure that no matter where I fell in the order, my feelings would be hurt when hubby decided he needed another wife. Wasn't I good enough? Weren't three wives enough? Seems pretty self-absorbed on the man's part, don't you think. But these women, all of whom are clearly old enough to make decisions for themselves and entered this relationship willingly, seem quite happy. And given what goes on in plenty of homes these days, who's to argue with happy.

There have been plenty of times I've wished for a wife. You know...someone who takes great delight in scrubbing the soap scum from the shower, attacking the greasy grime in the corners of the range and washing baseboards. All those jobs I don't like to do. I'd be in heaven with a wife who'd say You cooked dinner; I'll clean up. But what I really want is someone who'd go home at night instead of off to a bedroom that would, from time to time, be shared with my husband.

Kinda makes you wonder what will be on TV next, doesn't it?

October's Five on the Fifth

Here at the homestead we’re settling back into ordinary life, and while the to-do list seems longer than usual, there’s comfort in that routine. It may seem boring at times, but there’s something to be celebrated about ordinary life…and that’s why I’ve chosen it as the theme for October’s Five on the Fifth.

There’s always music in my ordinary life. These days it’s some smooth jazz, and the station I regularly listen to uses the tag line the soundtrack of your life. It got me thinking the other day as I was on my afternoon walk: What is the soundtrack of my life? It’s more than the smooth jazz I listen to today. It’s the rock and roll I grew up…I still know all the words and the dance steps that went with them. And it’s the more mellow sounds that appealed as I grew older when vocals became more important than the beat. It’s “our song” and songs written by my mother that I didn’t know existed until after she was gone.

And it’s even a record without many songs at all. My mother played in a small dance band, and from time to time they would rent a recorder and cut their own records. They made one of my third birthday party, complete with me singing Buttons and Bows. It’s a treasure…not for the memories of the party itself as I have none, but because the voices of so many family members are captured on that record. Hearing them evokes a flood of other memories associated with those special people.

Music has that ability to take you to another time and place and fill your mind with memories long forgotten. Many times they are memories for which there are no photographs but they’re still worth remembering. And I’ve created a layout that does just that…here it is:

 

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper
Patterned Paper: Autumn Leaves, BasicGrey, Dream Street Papers
Acrylic accent: KI Memories
Chipboard Letters: Maya Road Paint/finishes: Making Memories, Glossy Accents by Ranger Industries
Font: Zurich EX, Bitstream

Journaling: It’s the soundtrack of my life...music that reminds me of special people, places and times. Like the song Buttons and Bows. It’s not just me singing that song on the record made in our living room at my third birthday party. It’s the voices of my grandmothers and aunts that are preserved there...a moment frozen in time that calls to mind so many others that revolve around them. And hearing the early songs of the Beatles transports me back to an evening long ago when I was glued to The Ed Sullivan Show for the group’s first televised appearance and to countless Friday nights dancing to their music at The Cage. The harmonies of The Association are just as sweet in my memory as they were in real life. I still think of Cherish as our song. While I’ve always liked most kinds of music, I found the genre closest to my heart in a big box electronic store. They had David Sanborn’s Benny playing on one of the stereo systems. Not only did we buy all the components, we went right out to find the CD too, and my love for smooth jazz was born. Under the right circumstances, even music you never heard can trigger memories. Cleaning out my parents’ house we found songs Mother had written and composed. While I never heard her play them, sitting at the piano and coaxing those melodies out of the keys makes me feel closer to her and reminds me of the many hours she spent in front of that same keyboard. So many more good songs...so many more good memories.

Thanks to the help of Google, it was really quite easy. I just put the name of the artist and “album” in the search box then clicked on Images from the list on the left. All kinds of album covers popped up on the screen and I simply copied the image I wanted into Photoshop to use like photos in the layout. I kept the size fairly small since the resolution of most online images isn’t high. I also scanned the liner notes from a few CDs as well as a piece of sheet music and printed them all out on photo paper.

The photos that support the journaling are the largest with four being 2.5” squares and one 2x3 for the sheet music. You could easily substitute a photo of yourself in the 2x3 spot. And because five albums don’t really tell the whole story of the soundtrack of my life, there are four 1.25” squares and eight 1” squares. You could fill these spaces with pieces of patterned paper or other embellishments to achieve the same balance. Here’s a layered template for the photos:

 

Download OctLayeredTemplate

It wouldn’t be Five on the Fifth without some extras. There are five journaling spots, each with large numbers ghosted behind the lines. They don’t show up very well in this image. The quotes in circle make the cutest little accents when cut with a 2” scalloped circle punch. Just a little something fun to play with.

 

Download OctoberExtras

I love this layout because it tells the story of a side of me that isn’t otherwise recorded in my albums. Here are some other ideas for documenting parts of your ordinary life:

1. Life Right Now: No time to do A Week in the Life? Try recording the events of your regular day to show what you and/or your family are into right now.
2. A Life Less Ordinary: If you aren’t doing an on-going gratitude project, consider creating a single layout to remind you that there are plenty of small things in life that take your life from ordinary to extraordinary.
3. The If in Life: If you hadn’t made the choices you did, you might be on a completely different path in life. Document five of those choices that led you to become who you are today.
4. Life Through the Windshield: Carry your camera long on your commute to work, the carpool to kid’s school and activities, or just your normal running around and record what you see. The page will freeze life today and be fun to look back on as these sights and activities transform over the years.
5. The Beauty of Life: The changing season offers some of nature’s most amazing beauty. Grab your camera and go capture it before it’s gone for another year.

Ordinary Life…that’s a broad category but an easy one. Take my suggestions or go off on a creative trail of your own. The important thing is that you create a layout that records something about yourself and base the journaling on a list of five components. Life might be ordinary but that doesn’t make it any less special.  

Words With Friends

I'm having words with friends. All kinds of words as a matter of fact, and I suppose you could say they are cross words of a sort...just not ones with anger behind them. I'm playing Words With Friends.

My niece Amanda gets the credit for getting me started on this Scrabble-like game for the iPhone. I'd read about the game and was intrigued by it but I needed that little push to download the app. And once I started playing, I knew Charlotte would like the game so I invited her to play. And then Wayne. I guess you could say I'm hooked now but it doesn't really take any time. I look at the phone a couple of times a day and play if it's my turn but sometimes an entire day or more goes by between moves. It's kind of like having a Scrabble game out on the table and you play now and then as you have time. Sometimes Wayne and I play while we eat lunch.

You'd think my daily crossword experience would be of great benefit in playing...and it probably is, but my opponents are pretty sharp. Amanda is beating me like a drum, and I'll be right in the game with Charlotte only to be outplayed by her at the end. Wayne and I are a more even match...I think we've each won about the same number of games.

I'm rationalizing the few minutes I spend on the game as exercises for my brain cells. You know, mental gymnastics to stave off the effects of aging. I'm learning important things, too...like words you can make with the letter q that don't require a u. Besides, it's just fun. When you stop to think about it, anything you can do with friends is fun.

Psst....Hey, Lady!

The corners of his mouth turned up in a knowing smile as he said it, and his eyes literally danced with excitement. Wanna come in my garage and see my walnut cr0tch? [Yes, I know I've put a zero in place of an "o" but I'd don't want my G-rated blog popping up on some X-rated searches.] And while my momma taught me to be wary of dirty old men issuing invitations like this, I went anyway.

That's because the dirty old man in this case was Dr. Dale and what he wanted to show me was a piece of wood he was about to turn into the top for a table he was making. It was cut from the cr0tch of a walnut tree...you know, where a main limb forks away from the trunk so it had this amazing grain of long ovals. But trees being what they are, the piece had some imperfections and the sides were uneven. The challenge was to figure out where to make the cuts to yield the largest piece with the prettiest grain possible. I have awful spacial skills so I would have to make a paper pattern the size I wanted to visualize the end result but Dr. Dale was all about turning the table base upside down on the slab of wood and go from there.

I'm always fascinated by people who have talents that seem diametrically opposed. The skills it takes to be a good medical doctor don't seem to me to be the same as the ones needed to build furniture from scratch. My grandfather was like that. He earned his living as a blacksmith and in his free time he made violins. Brute force versus fine details.

The table Dr. Dale is building will be traveling back to Pace with them when they come in a little over a month. I'm looking forward to seeing how the finished table turns out, especially after taking Dr. Dale up on his offer to see his walnut cr0tch. Ornery thing that he is, after we finished inspecting it he suggested we go back inside so he could show me his weasel.

Saturday Plans

I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Well, more importantly, what I'm not doing...leaving the house. That's because tomorrow is the annual neighborhood garage sale. Yep, 600+ homes in our subdivision are allowed only one garage sale a year and tomorrow's the day. And if that's not crazy enough, there's essentially only one road in and out. Technically there's a second entrance, but you have to get within a block of the main one before you can turn on the road leading to the other one and that's impossible on garage sale day.

It starts at 7am and they won't let any non-residents in before then. As the homeowners who have Saturday morning business elsewhere flee the neighborhood, they pass the lines of cars waiting for the appointed hour. And when it comes, it's chaos. Cars parked everywhere, people literally running down the street. There is some organization; the Homeowner's Association passes out maps and a print-out of the homes that are participating and a short list of what each has for sale.

Well...it's what they had for sale when they filled out the form. Chances are some of it's gone already. As I walked late this afternoon, I saw plenty of familiar faces cruising the neighborhood, looking to see what their neighbors had for sale. I suspect a number of bargains simply changed addresses without leaving the subdivision. But that's okay; chances are both sides are happy about the exchange.

It should be a great day for it. Not only are we enjoying some beautiful weather but two churches out on the main road are also hosting garages so there should be plenty of traffic. Me? I'll be hanging out in my quiet little house.

Home

Sigh. I'm feeling so far behind. If I stop to think about it, I realize that I've accomplished a lot. The car is clean, the ironing is all done (finally!) and various and sundry other odd jobs have been done but my mind keeps going to the list of other things I feel should be done. Thank goodness I'm home.

It's a recurring thought these days after months of regular travel. Don't get me wrong...I love to go. Give me a destination and I can be ready to go in twenty minutes. I don't regret the trips; we're fortunate we could be there to help out family and our time in San Antonio and Ohio were filled with fun, relaxation and warm memories with special people. But I'm ready to be home for a while. To settle back into the routine of everyday life, even if it's not as exciting as exotic locales. To tackle some of those things on my to-do list so I don't feel so far behind. And to sleep in my own bed where the night noises are all familiar.

So this week I'm grateful simply to be home. And hopefully by next week I'll feel more caught up and have time to create the page to accompany this blessing.