Happy New Year 2019

Happy New Year!

I hope that this finds you doing well. I am better. We had some kind of a respiratory bug that hit us all pretty hard. Karyn is still really sick. I think that her illness has turned into bronchitis. She is not running fever anymore but she sounds as bad as I do. 
 Nathan went to the store just a little while ago and bought me some mints to suck on for my throat. I have some sugar free cough drops but they have something in them that makes me sick to my stomach so he got me a small package of mints so they seem to help.

 People are blasting their fire crackers and fireworks tonight. It is after midnight and they have been doing the fire crackers since before dark. It is time for them to put them away and go to bed lol.

 So I decided that I am going to do things differently with my blog. I am going to post photos of things of interest instead of a scrap page every day. I don't know what will come to mind but I thought that it would be fun to try things a little different. 

 I am on a mission to find old and interesting bottles so that I can use for things that I make. I have some great blends of teas that I like to make and I also would like small bottles for my moon water and so forth.

 I have a lot of privacy here at this house that I didn't have elsewhere that I have lived in the last several years so I can practice some new things, grow my herbs and charge my crystals and hold my rituals. Unless your looking over my 7 foot wooden fence your not going to see anything and if you are looking, your still not going to see much lol.

 I found a few photos of the types of bottles I am going to look for. I think when Karyn gets well we will go over to some of the thrift shops. They always have so much interesting things.

I know that I can probably find these kind of bottles at Hobby Lobby or Michaels, even JoAnn's. 
 When I was a kid we had all sorts of old bottles that things came in. I sure wish I had access to them now. But these with stoppers are pretty easy to find. I also have a few interesting canning jars but I don't want anything too big. I would rather have the smaller ones.

These are perfect for all sorts of uses. Here are a couple more....

I just love the fat round ones. I think that they are fun! And Fun makes me Happy....

I wanted to put this in... I was thinking that this would be a great way to gift my flower seeds to friends. I could write down the care instructions, manipulate the paper by adding tea or coffee water, wad it up a bit here and there and straighten it back out, include my seeds inside and fold in sections and then tie a dried flower like they have here. Or even a fresh flower or herbs. Anyway it looks like a neat little do it yourself project. 

 I am sorry this is rather short tonight but I am still trying to get over this bug and I have been up for several hours so I am going to close for now and try to sleep.

 Have a wonderful start for our New Year... Out with the old and in with the New... or so they say. I found something else to share... it is a new year so why not lol.....

I think that this sums it up pretty well.... I especially laughed at number 7.... That is me... Have a wonderful Tuesday. In our part of the world we eat Black Eyed Peas for New Year's day meal... For luck, health and prosperity. I had mine for our meal tonight. I will have more tomorrow.... BB

I LOVE Pintrest

If I could have a wish come true regarding my bedroom I would love something like this.. not so much the furnishings but the windows. Looking out over the ocean would be a gem or even the mountains. Those high ceilings and crown molding is so pretty too and even the color paint samples are right on. Ahh but I can enjoy anyway. I came across this on Pintrest.

Hi,
 I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was very nice. It was a laid back day. 
 I received some really nice presents from Miss Edna. I love my toilet tissue Doll. I am still trying to find a name for her. 

 I received a notice in the mail today concerning a gift I had ordered Miss Edna that she has still not gotten, but not to worry you will be receiving it in a couple of weeks. It is only almost 2 months over due, but better late than never I suppose. You should also be receiving another package as well. I will let you know the delivery date. 

 Nathan came home from work tonight and shared his dinner with me. I was really happy as I was hungry for some reason and this burger and fries he brought home is enough for 4 people lol... well 4 small bird eating people lol. But I just had a small piece and some fries. I had a bowl of cereal for dinner tonight. I wasn't very hungry and I didn't want much. I feel like I am catching a cold so I had a glass of the Airborne Miss Edna sent to me and then a little later on I had the cereal and it held me over until Nathan came home and the scent of his burger hit me. 

 So I was going to ask earlier who all uses Pintrest or just go over and have a look around? If you don't know what Pintrest is, it is just boards with things you like. You can name your board what ever you like and topics or ideas will come up and if you like them and want to Pin them to your board you just hit save and select your board. Right now I am searching for some ideas to decorate my house. My bedroom first.
 I have been on Pintrest I guess 5 years now. I  have a lot of boards and pins. I can get on easily with my cell phone but for some reason I haven't been able to connect with my original account and I think it is because I used a different email and it was a yahoo email so I will contact them and see if they can help me to get onto it with my computer. Until then I made a new account. I don't have as much in it so far but I will share some things.

I have a small corner in my room and I would like to decorate the wall something like this. I have lots of framed photos I would like to put up of when the kids were younger and on the other side a wall with the grandkids.

I really like this. I have a small reading lamp that would look really nice right there and a small night stand. My room is small so I cannot put much there but I saved this image for the black wall. 

 Home Depot has some really pretty mirrors but I am going to look at thrift stores first but anyway I really like this image. It is so soothing although Pink is not really my color. I wish the space was big enough for a chair or a lounger but it isn't.

My blog is short tonight. I am tired and ready for bed. I have to be up early in the morning because someone is coming to look at my dishwasher. I talked with the landlady tonight and it is possible that she is just going to get me a new one. If she does I really hope that she gets me one as nice as the one that I have. It is really spacious and can accommodate the large pans that I have. It has a lot of nice cycles on it too but beggar's can't be choosers so I will be grateful for one that works and cleans my dishes.

 I actually use it more for the sanitation because the hot hot water will kill off a bunch of virus's and germs.

 One more thing before I go. I almost went out on the truck over the road with my son yesterday. There was a problem getting my safety pass. Today I realized what was wrong with the paper work I submitted. On my new address I forgot to put the street name. I was focusing on getting the numbers right and totally forgot to put what street I live on. No wonder the address would not come up and be validated!

 But I sent Matthew the correct address tonight and he text me... That figures... oh well... don't worry everyone makes mistakes!

 Uhhh It seems that I have been doing things like this for a few months now. My memory is just not what it use to be. 

 I at one time had a memory like an elephant but lately I cannot remember anything... like the street where I live... duh.

 Anyway this is all from me tonight... Have a wonderful day and take care of you... BB

One Day Closer

Kit from Bellisima Designs called Christmas Delights

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Hello,
 Are you being good? Are you on Santa's Naughty or Nice list? I am on the naughty list this year according to Santa but I will try to be better this coming year lol. 

 This new kit is from my friend Patsy. The image is a free one  from Caroline Blue. The rest of the embellishments are from Christmas Delights.

  I was sitting outside just a bit ago listening to the sounds of the neighbors behind us barbequing and playing music. I was also looking to see if I could see my bats and sure enough they made their nightly exodus. It is so amazing to watch them.
 People say how can you tell them from black birds? Well bats sort of flutter and they have a small point on their backside... like a small pointed tail. You can see birds wings as they fly in an up and down motion. Bat wings sort of flutter like an over grown butterfly. But they are fast!

 Jonathan has just left to take Nathan to work. By the time he gets home it will be almost time to go and pick him up. He just works from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm on Saturdays. Then tomorrow he will work an entire 12 hour shift. His work week will start all over again. So I get to have Nathan home most of Saturday.

 I promised you guys Christmas Tree photos. I am sorry that they are not very good. We were in the car and traffic was a nightmare and coming and going so I didn't get a chance to really get any good pictures.

 The story or I have been told is that this was started by one person. He wanted to decorate a tree so he found one on the loop here in Austin and he decorated it. He took a ladder and 3 large boxes of ornaments and made almost a hundred trips up and down the ladder. 
 Before he was even done there were people stopping and offering to help him and he said.... Go find a tree and decorate it. Come back after Christmas and clean up and take your decorations home so you have them for next year. 
 So that is how the tradition started back in the late 60's. 
 Since then people go out and they decorate a tree. Hospitals, schools, individuals, school groups such as FFA FHA and Bands, football teams, cheerleaders and others. 
 Some are simple and decorated with artwork from pre-schools and elementary and others from even Texas A&M. 

 My camera for some reason had a delay which caused some of my pictures to be delayed by a few seconds and that made me miss a whole lot of them. But Jonathan and I are going back one day this week and park along 360 so I can get some good photos. I will make sure my camera is in top working condition before I go tho... lol.

They have a tree that just cracks me up... It has big huge smiley faces with Google Eyes... then they have one with the M&M little men with arms and legs. 
 They also have one with stuffed animals, Santa hats, Rudolph horns, wreaths, candy canes, and some with lights. Others have the reflective tape made into ornaments so when your headlights hits the tree it lights up in orange, green and yellow. Awesome idea.  I am going online now and see if anyone has an update on it this year. Who knows, I might find a different story than the one that I was told.

Oh wow, I found a bunch of photos.... These trees are really a lot larger and taller than they look. I hope that you enjoy them. Mine are horrible in comparison, but again I was in a car going down the highway lol.

 Isn't this a cute idea? As long as people clean up it will be a great thing to continue and it must be working as this tradition started in the 60's so.... 
 I think that next year I would like to do this. I think that I will make mine with things that the birds and animals can eat so there will not be a lot of clean up to do. 
 I could make some peanut butter pinecones, and figure out some other things to go along with it. Peanuts for one. I will have to search this out and start putting a few things together. 

 News is running short here. The boys did help me today with the back yard. We loaded some more bags and I found 5 more so that will make 15 bags of leaves. Still have a pile in the back yard and the front and side yard hasn't been raked yet. 

 I believe that as soon as Jonathan gets home I am going to shower and call it a night and watch a movie. 

 Take care of yourself and have a wonderful Sunday! Before I go I thought that I would share a few funnies I found online... :)… BB

I really enjoyed this one....

I love beagles. They can just flop down anywhere and be happy. My Cisco was half beagle and he was such a wonderful laid back little man....

Have a good one!!!!

Merry Christmas!

This page is made with the latest free kit from Rosie H... (Private Group). It is called "Christmas Is For The Birds"

Hello,
 Well Christmas is almost here. I can't believe that it is so close already. The days are getting closer!
 I have some photos to share. So I hope that you enjoy them.

A work in progress. Karyn started decorating the tree. When we opened the box we found that there was no tree stand. Well the tree was just a dollar so she didn't really lose anything. It is a 6 foot tree and see the green ceramic vase in the bottom? She improvised with some cardboard and made a tree stand.
 We had to put it up against the wall to stand but it is still close enough to see it from the outside window. She just got the lights on. What a mess. I picked up the lights and when we got home discovered that they were not a string of lights. They were a net. I wanted to take them back but Karyn was not wanting to make another trip back and said she would get them to work and she did. 
 We took the top of the tree off and draped them down the bottom, put the top back on and pulled them up and worked them inside of the branches.
 The good thing about this is when we store it next year we can leave the lights  on and just fold up the branches to go back into the box. We don't have to take all of the branches off. They just fold upright!

Ok so this is the finished product... Now the boys and I agreed not to buy presents for each other before we even moved into the house. We decided that we would buy something we needed for the house and so Hello Washer and Dryer... But I do have presents under the tree.. They just are not visible in this photo... But remember the little green vase the tree is standing in? Yeah... Karyn put this pack of little wrapped gift packages (they were ornaments for the tree) inside the little green vase... snickering she said.. Mama no one can say you don't have any presents under the tree... hahaha... lol.

Karyn put out a few other things in the living room. I had told her to go for it. I was going to do something else but I changed my mind since I really had and still have to finish unpacking things we need that are still packed away. I am working on a box a day. Or was until I sort of twisted my ankle yesterday. Not bad but enough that it hurts if I stand on it for longer than 5 to 10 minutes at a time. So I just left the decorating to Karyn.

 I also have some other photos to share of the house. These are of the day we were moving in.

They are pretty bare. We still didn't have all of the apartment packed up so I was just basically emptying out boxes so the boys could take them back and pack up some other things.
 I had to be here to await for the gas man to come and turn on the gas for us. I know by the end of the first day/night we were all 3 awaiting for hot water so we could shower. 

Our bathroom is not really big but it is big enough. to the left of the vanity we have 2 closet shelves at the very top is great to store things we don't need at the very moment. They are large and deep.
 Under that cabinet is another one that has 3 shelves that are great for our personal items. Nathan has the top shelf because he is the tallest of the three of us and Jonathan the middle and since I am the shortest I have the bottom. They are the same size as the upper cabinet so they have a lot of room.
 Under that cabinet is a clothes hamper.
 I am not sure if you can tell but the walls are painted a really pretty medium gray with white crown molding. We have new vanity, hardware, tub (With my handheld shower) and new water saving toilet. She also sent her handyman over to install a new towel rack just for me.
 The shower curtain she had here I took down and refolded and gave it back to her since Jonathan had just bought a brand new one for us. I wanted to keep it as she gave it to me, but I knew that Jonathan wanted to use the one he bought because it went well with the new towels he got for us. And I knew she would need hers back for another property, so I told her I had it for her. 

This is all of the yard and the front and side of the house in the next photos. 

Well you can see all of the leaves, the front part of our patio where all of the leaves are bagged up and ready to go out next Thursday. We didn't put them out Thursday before last because it was raining and the paper sacks would not have held up so they are sitting in the garage waiting for next week as long as it is not raining. So many leaves. The front yard gets raked this weekend...

You can see the areas before the racking and after. I think every tree was giving us their leaves in welcoming... lol.

Then there are some photos of the front and side yard. I had to fix Jonathans blinds for him. He had no idea how they worked and the photo from the outside makes his window stand out oddly lol. 
The bushes are blooming. One is small red roses. I am not sure if they are tea roses, mini rose bush or a wild rose but it is so pretty and they are still blooming here in December. I will be scattering wildflowers in the side yard and plant something around the tree stump.

 The fence really needs painting but we may not paint it because it is weathered wood so we may just leave it. She doesn't own the other property on the other side of the long fence that separates
us so the paint might leak onto the other side of the fence and then that side would need painting. It isn't bothering us right now. We have a lot of other things to do first.

 The photo of the bags, right behind them is a small area I will use for my herb garden. I have been giving this area a lot of thought and I have pretty much decided to grow my herbs in pots so I can move them in out of bad weather or when it gets cold. Herbs will grow in a window sill so I have places for them.

 Here are some pictures of my bedroom. I have 2 very large windows in my room that gets a nice bit of sunlight.

So this is my room... My bed is just under the window of the bottom photo. All bedrooms and the living room has ceiling fans and Jonathan's room and mine have 2 windows and Nathan's room has 1 large one facing the outside of the front. Jonathans faces the side and front and mine faces the side and the back yard. The living room has 2 large windows in the front and in the kitchen is a glass sliding door going out to the patio. 
 The garage also has a back door going to the back. And... No carpet. We have weathered wooden floor slats. 
 Oh and the blinds... I just put my had under the center of the blinds and lift up. Pull down from the center and to open and close just takes a flick of the hand.

 Can you tell I love it here??? Oh I really do! I have lots of birds, I have my bats here. I have very nice views of the moon and that is just outside.
 The inside is nice too. It looked so tiny when we came to see it and I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough room but we have more than plenty of room. We have the garage for storage and a front closet so all is good. The kitchen does need a bit more cabinet's but we are going to get a metal utility shelf  for the garage and my pots and pans  dishes I don't use all of the time can go out there. 

 So that is all that I have to share tonight. Tomorrow I will share about the Christmas trees out on the loop of 360 and the stories of what I know about them.

 Until then.... BB