The Waltons (sniff! sniff!)

The Walton's TV show originally aired from 1972 - 1981.  I graduated from high school in May of 1971 and went away to college that fall (in the days when we didn't have TV's in our dorm rooms), so I don't know when I would have watched it.  Anyway, it seems like I must have watched the Waltons - didn't everyone?  

"Good Night, John-Boy".

A few months ago, the Hallmark channel began showing reruns of the old Walton's show.  I was looking forward to seeing the series in it's entirety.  I vaguely remembered from the late 70's that Mary Ellen married a doctor and he was later killed at Pearl Harbor.  Yesterday, I watched the show and found out that after 4 years of being a widow, Mary Ellen found out that her husband was still alive & living in Florida.  He had been injured at Pearl Harbor and was very bitter and didn't want to continue a relationship with Mary Ellen & their son.  

I'm really sad!!  Somehow I could deal with Mary Ellen being a widow and going on with her life, but it is so disappointing that her husband (I know these are fictional people) was out there somewhere & didn't love her anymore.  She did go ahead and remarry.  But now I wish I had never begun to watch the Walton's show again!!

Here is a link to a clip of where the Walton's actors are now.

A Work in Progress...

 We've lived in our house for 25 years, but it seems like there is always some work to do in the yard.

 I've always wanted stairs in our backyard since we have such a slope...

 So today I started working on the stairs....

Seriously!?!

This is a picture of my beautiful red lily last year after a rain shower.  I bought it at Kroger in Louisville, Ky in 2005 when we moved my daughter out there.

This is my beautiful red lily this year.  Either someone was over-zealous mowing the lawn or those little bunnies in our yard are getting awfully big!

Seriously!?!

In Everything, Give Thanks!

Happy moments, Praise God!

Difficult moments, Seek God!

Quiet moments, Worship God!

Painful moments, Trust God!

Every moment, Thank God!

Pina Colada Refresher

Here's a link to a fabulous recipe for summer.  This Pina Colada Refresher is sure to please & refresh!!

Oh Happy Day!!

Do you remember Y2K and all the trepidation we felt as a new century approached?  Some people thought our electricity would fail, others thought there would be widespread computer glitches which would create havoc.  As far as I know, none of that happened.  But as the new century dawned, I had no idea what the next year as well as the next decade would have in store for me.  On one of the last days of the year 1999, my husband,  my daughter and I went skiing at one of my least favorite ski areas.  As I was getting off a ski lift, one of my skis went in a rut left by a snow-boarder.  I fell backwards and landed on my tailbone.  Since then, I have had a lot of pain when sitting for long periods - especially on hard chairs.  In the last year (probably because of my increasing age and subsequent loss of muscle) I have been in more pain.  I recently began sitting on one of those neck pillows

to ease the pain.  The odd thing about the pain was that I didn't notice it while sitting, but upon standing, the pain was excruciating.  Sometimes, after sitting on a wooden chair or other hard surface, I would have to sit on a heating pad for several hours to relieve the pain.

The good news is...I have a new chair!!!  We picked it up on Wednesday.  It is a rocker/recliner and it was on sale at American Furniture Warehouse for $209!!!  In our family room, I have a wonderful, cushy, marshmallow of a recliner (that matches my husband's), but this chair is for my sewing/craft room where I spend a good deal of time.  The great thing about this chair is that there are 3 positions to sit in (and a very soft seat) so it takes the pressure off my tail bone.  In fact, I already feel better!!!

My chair is just like this one, but tan in color.

Sand Dollar Cookies

Are these the cutest cookies ever or what?  Here's the link...

My Father

I meant to post this on Father's Day.  It's a picture of my brothers, my father and me at Yellowstone when I was 3 years old (my mother took the picture).  

My father is no longer with us, but memories of him (especially moments like this) will last a long time...

Giveaway

Here is a link to a giveaway you might be interested in!!  Good luck!!!

Paper Towel Butterflies

Another installment from summer craft camp via Skip to my Lou.  Enjoy!

Random Thoughts

1. For some unknown reason, I went to Best Buy today to look at computers.  A sales girl came up to me and asked me if I needed help.  I told her I was just looking. She replied, "Well, we have experts here..."  Apparently, I look like a little old lady who has never been around a computer!!

2. A few years ago there was a house in my town that had a fake tombstone in their front yard and on it was the following inscription, "Here lies the last dog that pooped in our yard".  I want a one for my yard.  ;)

3  Copied from a friend's Facebook post yesterday, "SO throughout my life I have hated the word "wiener" , because of it's related connotation, I have reached my limit, my ears cannot take any more....!!!!   sigh.

Have a great weekend!!

Crock Pot Apple Butter

For years I've occasionally made homemade applesauce.  Here is a recipe for homemade Apple Butter made easier by using a crock pot.

A Great Weekend

We just got home from a trip to our little "home away from home" in the mountains.  The weather was beautiful - sunny and warm, yet not too warm.  We hiked to our favorite spot to view the lake and Pike's peak.

Who can look at the wonders of creation and doubt the existence of God?

Summer Craft Ideas

If you Moms out there are looking for crafts to fill your children's idle hours this summer, here is a link to Summer Craft Camp.

Pizza Hut Style Breadsticks

I love Italian Bread Sticks the likes of which Little Caesar's & Pizza Hut make, but whenever I try them at home, my results are less than satisfactory.  Here is a link for breadsticks similar to the ones at Pizza Hut.

A Trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop

It's been a tradition to treat each of our grandchildren to a chance to build a stuffed animal at Build-a-Bear Workshop.  We realized our two littlest ones hadn't had a chance to get their stuffed animals, so a trip to the store was in order...

Our little guy doesn't know quite what to think... 

 so big sister is close at hand to help out...

and gives the doggie a bath...

 Meanwhile, little miss knows exactly what to do...

gives her bear a bath... 

 so cute!!!

My Favorite Things - Our Favorite Park

I love this Park.  It is especially beautiful in the spring when the apple trees are blooming.  This year we didn't make it there until May - a few apple trees were still blooming.  It's so much fun to capture pictures of the kiddos...

Slip-N-Slide

I was so fortunate this year to be with ALL of my grand-children on Mother's Day eventhough I couldn't be with all my children.  My daughter from Kentucky & her 2 kiddos were visiting and we had a BBQ at my local daughter's house.  The kiddos had a chance to enjoy the warm weather & play on the new Slip-n-Slide.

Our little sweetie tests the water... 

All the kiddos have a go at it... 

Oh, what fun!!

How to Clean Oven Door Glass

Here is a great tutorial for cleaning the glass on your oven door.  I haven't tried it, but is sure appears to work and who knew you could clean between the layers of glass...

It's a Picnic!

I recently found the coolest website for photo editing.  It's a Picnik.  Here are the pictures of my lilacs I posted last week and the changes I made...

 Original Photo

 Heat Map

60's 

Neon

Original Photo 

 Heat Map

 60's

Neon

My, Oh My, I Love Shutterfly

In January, my husband bought a new camera for work.  He bought it at Best Buy and the really cool thing is that when he bought the camera, he got a coupon for a FREE 8x8 digital photo album from Shutterfly.  I have always been a proponent of traditional scrapbooking, but this weekend I absolutely fell in love with Shutterfly.  First of all, it is way faster to upload photos to Shutterfly than Kodak Gallery.  Secondly, it is fun!! You can take the "simple path" and upload your pictures and let it do the work for you, but I found that I didn't like the layouts.  So, I took the "custom path" where you can put from 1 - 25 pictures on a page. Shutterfly has different templates for 1, 2. 3, 4 and 5+ photos per page. You can pick your backgrounds and embellish your pages any way you want.  It can be very simple or you can customize to your heart's content!!

Above is the cover of my photo album.  I don't know why the picture is so blurry, but you get the idea.  With my coupon I am getting an 8x8 hard cover photo album with 20 pages - a $29.99 value (of course, I had to pay $8.50 shipping and handling).  The photo album will arrive in about 2 weeks.  After a lot of consternation, I decided to do an album of my recent trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my youngest daughter. You might ask why I didn't do an album filled with pages of my 8 beautiful grandchildren...well, my ninth grandchild is due in August and I've decided to make an album of ALL my grandchildren after she is born!!

Score!

When I was in North Carolina visiting my daughter in April, she took me to Trader's Joe's.  (I can hardly wait to go back to NC this summer when my husband & I will have our car so I can stock up at Trader Joe's).  But back to the point, my daughter found a beautiful orchid for $8 or $9.  I've been wanting another orchid, but I've been waiting until the price was right.  Yesterday, I was at King Soopers (Kroger's) and orchids were only $9.  They also had myriads of beautiful African violets for $1.25.

Lilacs

I planted my lilac bushes in 2002, but they have hardly ever bloomed.  Needless to say, I was thrilled this year when they bloomed vibrantly.  Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures.  

Common Lilac

French Lilac

My Favorite Things - Crescent Hill Reservoir, Louisville, KY