Thursday's Thoughts

I decided that I needed to set limits on my time spent blogging. I am getting ready for the craft fair as you all know and I am feeling a bit pushed as I want to us to have at least 100 totes for our booth. We are going back to Florida in October for a week so that week is out for sewing unless I want to carry my machines, fabric, thread, scissors etc on the plane and sit in the hotel room sewing while everyone else is having fun in the Dis*ney parks. NOT! So I have decided I cannot get on my computer first thing in the morning before I have done my household chores. Funsize and one of my other nieces, Stinky Sox are doing my morning barn chores. I decided this yesterday and was on my computer this morning at 8 am. That didn't last long now did it?! Actually I was having a trial run and now I REALLY am going to stick to it!

It's been just one of those perfect days here in Maine. Cool, sunny, breezy, big puffy clouds in the sky, just perfect. The horses are starting to hair out for the winter already. The nights are getting down in the 40's and in northern Maine in the high 30's. There is a frost watch for tonight in northern Maine. It doesn't seem like summer should be over but in reality it is and snow will be here before we know it. I for one am not sad about this. I love winter with the sparkling snow and the NON HUMID days. Of course having a snowmobile helps even though I am not one to go miles and miles. I love going out with my kids and grandkids on a couple hour ride ending up at Dunkin' Donuts for hot chocolate and a donut.

My friend Myrna over at Cherish the Word (cherishtw.blogspot.com) cracked me up today! I had mentioned I was getting the spam about TOE FUNGUS and she left me a comment about it saying that Toe Fungus Spam sounded yucky like it was a new flavor of Spam or something! lol! Just think about that! Spam in itself is bad enough but to add T F to it is even worse! GAG! I wrote back and said it sounded like the name of one of those awful rock groups!

I really do need to take an hour or so and sit here and block out some of this spam. Now I am getting it for a famous brand of coffee (I don't drink coffee), and some other unmentionable things. I got all the mortgages and casino stuff blocked so that took about 10 off each day plus the men's products so that was another 5 or 6 so I need to block the rest.

Buddy is doing well. He is out on the pasture 5 hours a day now with the rest of the boys. So far he seems to be doing okay with the hard ground and eating the grass or what's left of it. I watch him carefully to see if there are any changes in him. He is so excited about being out free with the other guys and at first it was hard to catch him to come in at night but now I guess he knows he's going to be able to go out and not just in the ring so he comes clomping in with his backwards shoes on. It's kind of cute and some one asked my farrier what he had been drinking before he put those shoes on backwards! Buddy is our Gentle Giant and he is cute whether his shoes are on backwards or not! :o)

My friend Ann's horse Bucky is having some problems right now. Most of the horses at the stable are getting rather old or 'long in the tooth' as they say so it's not unusual to have some problems. The oldest one's are 33, 18, 20, 26, 27, 17, and 19. The rest of them are younger. Lil' Bud is 18, he is Funsize's Morgan and he has been in really good health so far so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

I hopped on over to Heather's (www.especiallyheather.com) to check in on her and how she is coming along with her chemo for brain cancer. This is one remarkable chick and if you are feeling sorry for yourself just go on over and read a few of her blog days and you will find that your life 'ain't so bad' after all. This young lady has been coping with cancer and she also has an autistic daughter that needs a tremendous amount of care. Some of you have the Pray For Heather buttons on your sidebars and I would if I knew how to put it there! :o(

If you want a good giggle go over to my niece dcrmom's site at Musings of a Housewife. Now I know she is my niece so I am probably a bit prejudiced but she is just a hoot! She talks about her life with three kiddos, her struggles with shopping (right now she is on a no frivolous spending until the first of the year), clothes, her obsession with nice bags, and then she gets into some really thought provoking subjects and says it like it is!

Another family site (seeings as I am plugging family sites!) is my sister and her hubby that sing bluegrass and gospel music. Their site is thelaclaires.com and you can listen to some of their music and read a bit of their background. They have been singing for many years and have travelled all over New England, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida and other places. They are the celebrities of the family, our one claim to fame! :o)

Guess that's it for tonight. I hope you all are having a great week. I will still be getting around to see you all and will try to comment but I am going to limit my blogging time just until I get things done for the craft show. Why do I take on these projects????!!! Why?????

Tuesday Talk

Just got back from my swim at the pool. It is the first time since last spring as I always take the summer off as I swim at the lake. It was good to see everyone and get back into the routine. I was late getting on the road so was hurrying and it seemed like everyone else was in no hurry at all. The man in the little car in front of me was waving at all of the crossing guards and having a great time at about 25 MPH while I am gritting my teeth wanting to get moving. That will teach me to try to get just 'one more thing done' before I leave to go somewhere!

I haven't been on my computer much this week as I am been on my sewing frenzy getting more totes done for the craft fair. My DIL has been sewing up a storm too as has her Mom. We should have plenty to chose from in our booth. We want to get everything done before we go to Florida the middle of October as when we get back we'll only have a little over a week to get our booth designed.

T had a good first week at school. She just loves it all except the bus ride. It's rather long and boring she told me. We're only about two and half miles from the school but with all the stops it makes for a long ride.

Awana started this week at church. D is a Cubbie, T is a Sparkie and cousin K is in Truth and Training. They had a kick off barbecue which was held despite the rain! Awana is a wonderful program, Husband and I worked in it for over 20 years. The kids learn soooooo much and have a fun time doing it.

There sure isn't much for bloggy excitement around here today. You know how sometimes there just doesn't seem to be anything to write about and some times you can go on forever. Oh I do have some more new spam. Toe Fungus. Yes, now I am getting spam for that. Now I suppose there are people in the world that need this product but I am not one of them so really don't want to get their ads. I've got to look into the pop up blocker thing.

Good to have Susie at Susie's Space back from her trip! Welcome back Susie!!

Guess that's it for today, my sewing machine is calling my name. I just finished a lady bug tote that I think is so cute, hopefully someone else will too! ha! Also another doggie one with dog bones and different kinds of dogs on it. Let's just say that if they all don't sell I know what all my sister's, mother, SIL, friends and relatives will be getting for Christmas this year! heehee!

Thursday's Thoughts

I am being serenaded by the sound of two pressure washers as I type. We're getting ready to have the house painted and it has to be washed first so that is the project at hand today. They have moved all of my hanging plants, deck furniture, porch furniture and anything else that isn't nailed down. I hope they put it all back when they are done so that I don't have to lift on the stuff. Not that I am getting wimpy in my old age just that it bothers the old bum knee.

Speaking of, I got a patient advocate and she got me an appointment in Portland for October 1st instead of the one I have been waiting for the end of November here in town. Yippee! I'm getting tired of being called Forrest Gimp. I had never heard of a patient advocate but Hubby found out about it for me and after a few phone conversations things were rolling.

I'm sure you all get spam on your computer like I do. I am really getting tired of it and need to take the time and sit down here and block out certain words that I don't want. I have gotten about 25 ads for cleaning 20 pounds out of my colon! Now, I would like to lose 20 pounds but doesn't that sound painful? I have managed to block all men's products....ahem....that I certainly don't need but they come up with new and creative ways of getting around these blocks. In keeping with my G rated image I won't go into further details on this one but let me tell ya they can get pretty colorful !

Now I'm getting casino ads. I don't gamble, would rather spend my money on horse stuff, clothes, things for my grand kids etc.... but these ads are coming every day and sometimes multiple times a day. Grrrrrrrr........ well I suppose it's better then the colon cleansing and men's products!

Yesterday was T's first day of school. I walked over through the woods about 7:15 to be there when the bus arrived at 7:34. To say that she was excited would be an understatement! She was bouncing off the walls as were all of the other Kindergartners in the neighborhood. It's nice that she has about 5 other little ones to ride the bus with that she knows and big cousin K was there to help her the first day. I can't post much for pictures as all the kids had big name tags on for the first day and with the weirdos out there in Bloggsville you can't be too careful but I may have one or two. Notice the backpacks are bigger then the kids!

Daddy took a closeup on the front steps, the next one is me and T & K and the last one is her other grandmother Mimi.

D looked a little woebegone so we decided to go shopping for some preschool clothes for him.


Now this kid LOVES to shop! I think he inherited the shopping gene from me. He knows what he wants and what he DOESN'T want. He likes Old Na*vy and Tar*get the best so we hit Old Na*vy first.


He found all kinds of things he liked and very soon we had the shopping cart full so we decided we didn't need to go to Tar*get.

Instead we headed to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch as we had worked up a pretty good appetite.

It is a zoo here today. Like I said the pressure washer men are here washing the house which has the cats right in a dither. The dirt contractor man is here working on the carriage trails out back and now I just noticed the lawn toxic waste guy is here spraying the lawn. It's a full time job keeping this place going!

One last thing and then it's down to the sewing room to get some work done. Before school started T needed a little trim and being a retired hairdresser I get to cut her hair. We were in my sewing room (which I hope Laura the Organizing Junkie doesn't see as I have been on my sewing frenzy so things are a bit UNorganized) and T wanted our picture taken with some fake teeth. Didn't want you all thinking we hadn't seen a dentist in awhile!

That's it for today! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! It's supposed to be back up in the 90's here with high humidity. Sigh.....

Tuesdays Tidbits

Labor Day weekend is over and school is starting tomorrow for T. I will be there with camera in hand with a freshly charged battery. Don't want to lose power on this one as there will never be another 'first day' of school for her. There will be many more firsts in her life but not school.

The vet wanted Buddy to have shoes put on immediately so the farrier was contacted and he went down to see the x-rays. The shoeing was going to be rather unorthodox due to the founder situation as you will see. The farrier arrived and had to remake the shoes as they had to go on backwards. Yes, backwards!

The shoe is on backwards to take the pressure off the toe and support the heel. It will make him much more comfortable until his hoof grows out almost completely. The next picture you can see that the shoe is on backwards as the front part is sticking out the back.

Buddy loves his farrier! heehee!

These next pictures are kind of gross but seeings as I am documenting this whole thing through blogging I have to put them in. Just close your eyes if you want but really it did not hurt him at all and the hoof had to be opened up to get out the stuff that had abscessed.

The purple stuff is medicine, it doesn't really look that way on the inside of a hoof. If you look at the top of the hoof you will see the lighter color and that is the new growth which is Super! We are on our way to recovery but AS I ALWAYS SAY we aren't out of the woods yet. The farrier told Husband that this is called a 'sucker' disease. It suckers you in thinking all is well but it can take a turn for the worse very unexpectedly unfortunately. I will continue to think positively and not let that be an option!

This is Kipper. He was watching the whole thing glad that it wasn't him getting the backwards shoes put on. If you look closely you will see my lipstick on his nose. Do I need to get a life or what????

Monday we went to the lake to close things up for the summer. The water was a bit cool from our 40* nights but D went right in without missing a step. Nice to be young!

T got into the act too not minding the cold water at all.

This is a sign that hangs in our camp. We keep it 'cause we think it is funny. Son had put it on the door one weekend when the kids were out of sorts.

T and her cousin Ashley were out in the kayak.

It was a great weekend. We have so much to be thankful for. Time spent with our family is a true blessing. :o) Until next time!!

Saturday Ramblings

I took this picture last week at dusk. I love the colors and it was a beautiful day the following day. I guess the old saying 'red at night sailors delight, red in the morning sailors take warning' is true.

It's just a gorgeous Saturday here. I have been to the stable where I keep Funsize's Morgan to do chores as the owner is out of town. There are only six horses there this summer so that is EASY. Some of them like mine go home for the summer and back in late fall. We usually have 12 there in the winter.

My best friend Ann and I did all the chores and put everyone out after applying bug spray, Swat on any booboos, face wipe to keep the face flies at bay. There's always something to annoy the poor horses when they are outside. I feel badly when I see some out swishing away with no spray on. My mother says I can't save them all but you sure wish you could. I did stop yesterday at a place that has had complaints in the past for poor care of their horses. This time they only had one there and he looked good, had hay and water and a fly mask on. Whewwww! I gave a big sigh of relief!

Was reading the local paper yesterday and on the front page was an article about potty training. Does this sound like a slow news day to you? It did me too but I guess maybe that's a good thing no catastrophes or anything. Anyway I digress...... The news was that you can potty train your babies from birth. From birth. Now I know I only had one child and he wasn't trained until he was two and a half but did I miss something here?????? No diapers??? They said the worst problem was finding undies that would fit those tiny little behinds. Now I know some of you have little ones and I want to know if you have heard of this?????? One of my nieces has a little girl that was trained at 7 months and I thought that was unbelievable. :0)

In my last post I put in a picture of the latest tote that I had finished with doggies on it. A gal named Theresa wanted it but I tried to click on your link but it wouldn't link back to you so if you are reading this you'll have to e-mail me or send me your blog address. I put my e-mail address on the comment section of that post. Yes, my bags are for sale at $35.00 plus $5.00 shipping in US and Canada. (HI PEA!) I don't put pictures in to try to sell to you all, I just like to share what I am doing, but if anyone wants one I am glad to ship it to you. I get so excited if I think one came out particularly cute so like to post them as I like to see what you all are doing. I do need to get a site set up but right now I'm getting ready for the November show so probably will do it after that. My bum knee has set me back on my supply but I'm taking the ole' ibupro*fen now and that helps.

My SIL and husband are here this weekend from Massachusetts with NINE teenagers staying at the lake! They have triplets and of course everyone wanted to bring friends with them so they have a house full. Can you imagine the grocery bill for this outing????!!! My niece L is the one that rides Nick when she is in town. Unfortunately it's about the only exercise he gets so he is rather frisky and naughty when she rides but she does a good job with him.

This is one of my favorite pics of Grampie and T. They are going down the road that we have behind the barn that goes out into the woods to the carriage trails that we are working on.

Well Hubby just got home so I guess I'd better get some lunch on the table or even better suggest going out to Captain Nick's for a crab meat roll. Hummmmm......not a hard choice!

Hope you are all having a great holiday weekend!!!