YaRd WoRk PaRt 2 and BruSSeL SprOuTs...

Good tuesday morning to you all!!! well yesterday after it stopped raining I decided to hit the yard work again..I just want it done once and for all..especially since the rains are coming etc..and the leaves are falling..will make it so much easier to rid the leaves when everything else is tidyed up..;) okay the above picture was taken on saturday..thought I was done with this area..

again another before shot..see the red bush in the rt front corner..as much as I think this was a pretty bush..it is putting out babies all underneath it..so I asked hubby to take it out..I also took out a heather bush that had gotten too big right behind it..and I cleaned up under the holly bush as there was still alot of the bulbs from the crocosmia(?) plants...

here is the AFTER taken from my craft room window..it hasn't looked this clean in 16 years..boy howdy did I get a work out with this area.

sorry for the dark shots...it was getting dark when I took these and the flash doesn't work..just need to bark it in now.;) next weeks list of things to do..

I started in the left front portion yesterday as well..this is the area that Jordan and I did NOT get too..there is this little plant that has 2 leaves and it gets little butter cup round white flowers..I can't remember the name..but oh the root system on this thing is he**...and there is so much of it..so trying my best to get it out of there too..but you need a shovel to dig out the dirt to get it started..and it was hard work...took out some more oregon grape and some columbine plants..I love them..but too much of a good thing..so I have about 4-5 more hours..hoping its less to do in the front portion..and the I will wait for the leave to fall get them out of the yard and then bark and we are done for the winter..and I will stay on top of this..If I see anything coming back ..its outta here...I am going to decorate later this week with my Halloween decor..its time already..I can't believe friday is October 1st...

I still need to work on this area...

and a bit more here in front..the real work is behind what you see..

Okay for dinner last night I made steak, brussel sprouts and left over mashed tators..I wanted to share this brussel sprout recipe..cause it is so good and your family will love it..this is how it starts out...I cut up one onion and get it cooking in olive oil..enough to coat the pan..then I cut up the brussels in nice sized chunks..they will all shrink down..so they don't need to be tiny..I add salt and pepper and a nice handful of cherry tomatoes..if you don't like tomatoes..don't add them..I turn it down to medium and put a lid on the pan..keeps moisture in there to help them wilt faster..I will add more olive oil if it is sticking to the pan..so about 1/4 cup total..depends on how much you are making..I also add about 4 tablespoons of water to help with the cooking process..

this is how they look when they are done..about 20 minutes or so..and you can see all that yummy caramelizing on the bottom...

and here is dinner..:) it was tasty too.:) well I am off to get some breakfast.. my friend Heather is coming over for lunch today and to visit..I also sold 5 of my pillows on etsy..one on sunday to My good pal shirley Of wolf spirits blog and a gal purchased 4 of them this morning..so my day started off right.:) gotta make more I suppose..I worked on my hat last night till I ran out of yarn..so another trip to Joanns so I can finish it up..I do hope it turns out...I hope you all have a great day today..Thanks for stopping by and saying hi..I love hearing from you..;)

p.s. Michelle I didn't make that halloween sign in my kitchen..goldieloo woodworks did.;)..she does awesome work..:) I have a few stencils that I really need to do as well..so many things to make and so little time.:) have a great day.;)

WoRkiNg in ThE YarD On SaTuRday..

Hello there..hope your day is starting off right..On saturday I had a young man named Jordan that my best friend recommended..(he helped her with her yard)..so I gave him a call and we set out to work..the above photo(front left portion of the yard) is still what I need to work on..we both ran out of steam after 7 hours..but the above just needs some pruning and some plants taken out..not much..Jordan helped me tackle the really hard stuff like digging out plants etc..

this big hole had an orange day lily that was huge..like the size of my kitchen table huge..it needed to be divided for years..but I am going simple..so we ripped it out..and it filled the wheelbarrow...

the other empty spot here under the holly tree has crosomia(?) here and we ripped them out too..the holly tree is going next year..we want to make this more of a garden type area for veggies..and that holly tree is prickly..so it is gone..along with some other little plants there..

okay imagine this area with about 50 or more ferns etc..you couldn't see the ground here..it has been an eyesore for 16 years...and their were wild raspberry plants..and the morning glory was in hog heaven here..been trying to get rid of that plant for 16 years..and now is my chance..we left maybe 12 ferns in various places here to give it more of a "park like appearance"..and we have 3 huge maples and they drop every year and make a huge mess..so we will rack it all up and put it here and take our old lawn mower and mulch it up and that will help keep the weeds down etc..might add some shade loving plants here..but nothing huge..simple is what we are working on here..now the babys can wander and we don't lose them in the bush and wonder if they hopped the fence..

it opened up the yard so much and looks bigger and this will keep down the work load too.;)

this photo above is the other side of the front right portion of the yard BEFORE photo..

here it is after Jordan and I tackled it...we ripped out alot of the oregon grape plant native to here...too much of a good thing..:)

still a bit to work on here..but Jordan got the big stuff..we went for the roots here..He truly earned his money that day..he got a bonus for a job well done..and we had so much fun just chatting the whole time..made doing yard work a bit more fun...what a nice young man..:)

Saturday night..I had the itch to crochet..so I made a dish cloth..

and last night I started this little hat..will see if it turns out..there is another hat pattern I will tackle after this one..got a lot of yarn and it gives me something to do when watching TV or hubby is watching football.;) oh yeah that season has started up..lol..well I am off to go and do some more yard work..tackle it while the weather is decent..have a great day and a great week.;)

More FaLL PhOTos. VeGGiEs, SuNfLoWeRS oh MY.;)

Good Morning or afternoon depending on where you are and reading this..I added a few more goodies to my "Fall" decor..

I added the pumpkin in the back that I made years ago and I added thos accorns and pinecones that I got from Joanns and also some clay candy corns..I love the splash of color they added.;)

I added my dyed and embroidered fall curtains to the downstairs bathroom..;)

I moved the harvest basket into the laundry room from the entry way vanity.;)

I cut some fever few (daisys) and added them to the vase...I love these little flowers and they are blooming right now.;) and the dahilias are not.;)

my two signs to the dining room wall...I love the simplicity of these with the bonnets and apron.;)

I put a pumpkin on the scale..

I added the candlelabra over on the shelf..

I love that corner..;)

My smiling kitty scarecrow..he lights up..:) his crow fell backwards..must fix that..he sits perched on his shoulder.;)

I added a few more signs and wrote on my chalkboard.;)

I added one of my paper mache pumpkins with crow and a doily/candle mat here too..

a view of the garden from my kitchen window...we will be harvesting the hops soon..

can you believe it..my sunflowers finally bloomed!!! I am so excited and I didn't want them to get ruined in the rain we've been having..so I cut them and brought them in...I still have 2 more that need to bloom..keeping my fingers crossed that they do.;) don't sunflowers make you smile..they do me.;)

and yes finally its only been like 4 months since we planted these and we are just now getting tomatoes..and they taste so good..nothing like a homegrown tomatoe.;)

Pillows are stuffed and stitched..will be posting these on etsy later today.;)

This is what I found yesterday in our blustery cold weather..sunny bunny snoozing in the guest room..her favorite spot now.;)

this is where I found the other 3..Pody is on the bed..her favorite spot..she has a little dirt spot there..:) and Millie is in the foreground her fav and Gracie is inbetween the pillows..her fav..;)

and this was taken this morning..:) does Tucker lead the good life or what..that is his towel that we have on the couch so he doesn't dirty up or smelly up the couch.;) of course we have to stage the couch with the pillows so he lays there when we aren't looking..;)

well yesterday was quite the day..at 6:30pm I went downstairs to cook our clam chowder and the power just went out..so we had leftover chicken cabbage salad..glad it was there..cause the power didn't come back on till 10:10pm last night..a tree on the power lines..story of our lives.so we got out the generator and fired her up and watched t.v. till it came back on..went to start a fire in the stove last night and we replaced the old blanket and bricks and for some reason it wouldn't draw the air out..so we had a house full of smoke last night..and no ceiling fans to put it out..had to smother it out and open all the windows..when the power came back on..we have window fans pulling it out and I febrezed everything this morning and the fan is still on drawing it all out..so gotta take apart the stove and take out some of the blanket that is there and that should do the trick.;) Thank you all for the wonderful complements on my hair..I think that is the most comments I have had on any one entry.,:) you sure know how to make a girl feel pretty;) have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by and making my day a brighter one.;)

The NeW and ImProVed Me? and ShoPPInG.;)

okay folks here is the big reveal...have I kept anyone of you on pins and needles? lol..above is my old do..trying for the long in the front short in the bob back..but my fine hair just goes limp..I need more texture to my hair..hate having to back comb it to get the lift..done it for too many years..want easy cute bead head hair.;)old glasses by the way.

old glasses old hair do...

new hair do..old glasses..

new hair do..new glasses!!! I love them..they even make me look thinner..so that right there is a huge plus.;)

a blurry photo of new do and glasses..;)

new do old glasses..I also got a pair of sunglasses too..(not shown)..I am now wearing the progressive bifocals..they are so subtle..I like them..and I got the transition lenses too..:)anti-glare, anti scratch etc..I got it all..:)

a different look of new do..old glasses..I can flip it on the sides and back..and go for a more textured bang...I don't like even..like lots of texture..;) you know like Rod Stewart..oh I loved his hair back in the day.;)

betcha can't guess what I will be making for my Scentsy party?..man with all the talk of apples, faux or real..I am in an apple mood..in fact for brunch today we had apple pecan waffles..;) they were yummy.;)

great little $1 candles..great for swaps etc.:) this is all they had left as far as scents..so I picked up 5 of them.(got them at rite aid)..

after my eye appt..I went to joanns..they had the halloween stuff on sale..and I am a huge sucker for stuff on sale..and my neighbor gave me her coupons to use..and I got 20% off my total purchase and was able to use my 40% off of my modge podge..This above is called halloween hay..will use it for the bottoms of my displays to add depth etc..;)

a window cling and 2 webs with spiders for the front porch..although with all the spiders on the front porch right now..I might not need to use it.;) ewwwhhh..;) they are big and fat cat eye spiders..

the window cling...

a little black halloween tree..I have little halloween itty bitty ornaments that I will put on this..;)

great fall colored paper stock along with white..so I can make my halloween tags etc..;)

modge podge and halloween bags for the little nose goblins that come a calling this halloween.:)

and last but not least..I listed this on my etsy site if any one is interested..I took more photos of my fall decor..will share that tomorrow..it is cold and rainy..only about 59 degrees today..definitely sock and sweater weather...Tonights menu is Clam chowder...its becoming soup season again..I love crock pot ones..easy and smell up the house so nicely..

I am also burning a tart that if banana nut bread.. I got it from Dusty Attic when I ordered some stuff...they are amazing..they smell just like the real deal...my other favorite is blueberry cobbler..those are what she sent me..and I was in heaven.;) I hope you all have a great day today..I am going to plug away at the things I need to get done.;) thanks for stopping by and saying hi..I always love to hear from you...and alot of you I haven't heard from lately..;) I miss you all.;)