Learning something new!

We're just about all cleaned up from Irene's visit. All the branches and garbage that blew into our back yard have been picked up and set out for the garbage man. The final debris from the apple tree was hauled away tonight. The guy who cut it up and hauled it away was terrific. He even raked up all the fallen apples and took them too.


I have big plans for The Old Parsonage this weekend. She's going to get some major fall cleaning and then I'm going to bring out some fall decor. I've already started to get out a few things. I love the planter in the photo above - I got it at a yard sale a few years back. I'm thinking of painting it white, but I'm not sure. I still haven't got the knack of editing photos in picnik on this new mouse-less laptop. Thus the different size photos - they all started out at the same size. How the heck do you grab things and drag them without a mouse? Sometimes I do it without knowing how!


Our Fireman was in the newspaper. He's the one in the ambulance on the left - it's a little hard to see. I have really been missing our Texans lately and I'm counting the days till December 27th!

Hey I learned something new. How to make a photo link to your e-mail.

• Choose a photo.
  
• Open up you dashboard.
• Add a gadget.
• Choose Picture
• Upload the photo
• Where it says link type "mailto:your email address" (type it all together with no spaces)

example mailto:blogger@comcast.com

How easy is that?

Shabby Goodness

I've been looking for some kind of fabric or curtain panel to hang across the back of my craft table. I found this Shabby Chic shower curtain at our local thrift store for just $3. It just had to come home with me. It's in perfect condition and I didn't want to put any holes in it. So I rigged some string from end to end and draped it over. I am so lovin it! It hides the clutter under the table and is soo me!


I want to paint the table white and find some fabric for the ends of the table too, since you can still see under it from the ends. The table faces the hallway and is the first thing you see as you come upstairs, so I want it to look pleasing.

I'm thinking ahead to our family reunion, but there are many other things that are happening between now and then: Labor Day, my Birthday (well I like to drag this out to a week or more of celebrating), shopping at Flea Markets, catching up with an old friend, etc.

Anyone have plans for Labor Day that they'd like to share?

The Quiet

It's 9:3opm and the winds have finally calmed down. Irene left one good thing behind in my opinion, the cool weather - this I can get used to real quick. Bring on the fall weather baby...cool crisp mornings and nights, bright shiny apples and apple cider, plump orange pumpkins dotting the fields, football games and comfort foods.

Ahhh...hearty soups and chili, cookies and cakes baked to take the chill off the house as well as a tasty treat. September also brings Applesauce Sunday to The Old Parsonage. My nieces and I have gotten together for years and go to our local orchard for apples, we buy Macintosh and Cortlands and make applesauce to our hearts content, with a few Jewish Apple Cakes thrown in for good measure.


This box was originally full of the sweetest peaches this side of the county. The owners of the orchard had boxes of them on a trailer sitting out by the road. When you pulled up and got out of the car, the smell was intoxicating. They still use the "honor system box" for payment - makes you have faith in your fellow man.

I've been accumulating quite a collection of clear stamps and needed a place to store them, and this box was the perfect size. It just needed a few sheets of paper and now it fits right in.

Thanks again for all your prayers and concerns for us at The Old Parsonage during the hurricane. We continue to keep those effected in our thoughts and prayers.

A-OK

Hi

Just a quick post to let you know that everyone at The Old Parsonage is A-OK. We lost our apple tree - thank goodness it didn't hit the house. It just came up from the roots and laid right down beside the house. We got a few inches of water in our cellar, but that's not too bad, some people had a few feet. We lost power and water from 7:30 this morning till 4:15 tonight. But we are all present and accounted for. Prayers have been answered.

Company's Coming

Saturday AM


Well she's hit land folks. Irene is battling the coast of NC and is supposed to be here tonight into tomorrow morning. I've got my chocolate chip cookies in the oven and have boiled my potatoes and eggs for the potato salad and deviled eggs. I've also brought all of my "decorations" in off both the porches.


Debbie from Pink Roses and Tea Cups saw my post on how to make your own laundry soap. Knowing that I couldn't find any Zote soap, she sent me some. How sweet is that? I'm telling you gals, the kindness and friendships that we form here in blogland are true friendships!!

Battening down the Hatches

Well, if things are going to get as bad as they say Irene is going to get then I'm about as ready as I am going to get. We have cash, the cars are filled with gas, I went grocery shopping, we have plenty of water (I'll fill the tub tomorrow night in case we lose power so that we can flush the toilet), everything is up off the cellar floor except the furnace, the extra fridge, washer and dryer. The only other thing left to do is get everything off the porches tomorrow am.

I'm going to make a few things tomorrow that we'd be able to eat cold in case we lose power - meatloaf, potato salad, fried chicken, veggies and dip, deviled eggs and something sweet (chocolate chip cookies or brownies). It's almost like getting ready for a snow storm.

On a side note, does anyone know what this statue is? I bought it last Saturday at a flea Market on a whim. We're not Catholic (I'm assuming that it's part of the Catholic religion) but something really made me want to buy it. I told MR Op that it was a large knick knack when he gave me "the look."

Stay safe!

edit: Susan and Debbie have both told me that the statue is the Infant of Prague. Thanks girls!

December must be a month for romance...

'Cause our family sure has a lot of September birthdays! I've been busy making a bunch of cards and still have a lot more to do.


I think with Irene coming this weekend, I'll get plenty of studio time. I got a few new craft supplies in the clearance section of AC Moore this past weekend. They had some great Tim Holtz things that I just couldn't pass up. I can't wait to play with them!


I want to also create an autograph album for our family reunion next month. I thought it might be neat to see who comes each year and how handwriting's change (based on age, etc.).


Tomorrow is Rudolph Day (the 25th of every month), I plan on watching The Walton's Christmas - it's one of my favorites! There's only 123 days left until Christmas and only (3) Rudolph Days left after tomorrow. Why not start planning for an Organized Christmas today?! The official Christmas Countdown starts October 23 - it's a six-week countdown - and it will help you to have a more Organized Christmas.

Meet Audrey Rose

Meet Little Miss Audrey Rose. I can't believe that she's a month old already. Her Mimi and I went for a walk tonight and she came along for some fresh air.


We couldn't figure out how to work the stroller - so we took turns carrying her for the mile and a half. How dumb are we? We just couldn't do it. It was nice to have her snuggle in on my neck while we walked.


I get to watch her on the 10th, her Mummy has to work and her Mimi is getting her hair cut so she's all mine for a few hours. Flyboy and LBB came home today to talk about wedding plans. They're thinking May 2013 and possibly making it a destination wedding on an island like Jamaica. Sounds wonderful!


Just thought I'd slip in a photo of this yummy goodness. Mimi and I went out for breakfast before heading to Kutztown on Saturday and ordered a grilled sticky bun to split. It came with homemade cinnamon butter that just melted down into the nooks and crannies. Divine!

I'm in the mood to bake something now that it's getting cooler at night and my oven is fixed. It was the bottom heating element.

• $89 service call
• $10 labor
• $50 new element

How sad is it that the most expensive thing was the service call? He was only here 10minutes. Oh well it's fixed and that's what we needed.

Karla's Bird Song Tag Swap

I finally had the time to take photos of the wonderful tags that I received in Karla's Bird Song Tag Swap. These women are some serious artists. I loved creating my tags and but it was even more fun to see how others created their tags.


This Tag is so great, Jeanie used so many 3-D elements (raffia, a gem, some soft tissue paper)


A Christmas theme - well Sylvia must have known that I would get one of her tags. You know me and anything Christmas!! Love it!!


This cool tag was created by an anonymous artist. Such detail and techniques, but no one to thank - they didn't sign the tag:(


This tag was a little hard to photograph. It's covered in acetate and sewn on to the tag. It's so unique, both front and back. On the back Donnalee even typed a poem about an owl. Perfect!


Christa seems to be the Queen of Glitter - my kinda gal! She used chunky glitter to frame her image then a smaller glitter to highlight parts of the image - gorgeous!

Pam's tag has so much vintage-y style is beautiful! She used sheet music to create a skirt on the bottom and what I think is old flocked wall paper. She doesn't have a blog, but she did give an e-mail address.

Thanks so much Karla for all your hard work in organizing such a great event!

Vintage Rose Giveaway

Jo's having a wonderful giveaway - a free issue of "The Feminine Home, Where the Heart is!" If you click on the photo it will take you to her lovely blog. Good Luck!

Candy Cravings

Last week I stocked up on tons of chocolates. I knew that I'd be craving them this week. Chocolates and salty things together - yeah baby! I had a hyster 5 years ago but kept the good stuff so that I wouldn't go into menopause. So I still get moody and crave chocolate.



Boy do these raspberry dark chocolates by Dove fit the bill. I'm addicted! Two after dinner = heaven in your mouth! We're getting some really bad thunderstorms tonight. Wish we could some of this rain to TX. Our Fireman said that their ground is cracking from lack of rain.


I just got a new book - The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. Hopefully it's good one. Has anyone ever read it? Well my friends since this is a Pink Saturday Post I'll leave you with the link to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for more Pink Saturday Fun!

The new Notebook

Our new Notebook got here on Friday. I was impressed with the whole process. Citibank Thank You Rewards are wonderful. Friday nights usually start with a quick bite to eat followed by a movie (on demand).


While watching our movie - I can't remember which one it was - I started setting up the new Notebook. Everything went really smoothly until it was time to get on our wireless network. I decided to call HP support and got a rep in India. He was terrific!


But, when the clock struck midnight and we were still tying to figure it out I had to go to bed. Saturday I spent a few hours with my Internet provider on the phone and we still couldn't get it.


Sunday morning I had an Eureka - it had to be the router. I plugged the router directly into the computer and a website to configure the router came up. So I called the Internet provider again because I couldn't find all the code it required. They gave me a website that allowed them to take control of the computer and they had it on our wireless network within 10 minutes.

So here I sit in the living room on the comfy couch blogging. No more sitting in the dining room all by myself. I've been organizing our family reunion (next month) and just sent out the invitation last night. The e-mails came zinging right back with rsvps. Everyone loves this annual event, but it really takes a lot of energy to make it all come together. I love it too, so it's really a labor of love.

Do you have family reunions?

To do List

This past weekend I decided to make a quick batch of brownies. I whipped them up and after waiting for the oven to heat up, threw them in, set the timer and went to do something on the new computer (that's another post in the making). When the timer went off, I was surprised because I didn't smell them. When I opened the oven door, it was apparent why I didn't smell that rich chocolatey goodness. The oven wasn't working. Come on! Is this the year of the household nuisances?


Mr OP: "How can that be. we just got the oven."

Me: "It's at least 5 years old."

Mr OP: "Are you sure?"

So I pulled out my handy dandy household notebook (it's where I keep important papers, telephone numbers, etc.).Went to the warranty page and realized that we bought the range in 2002. I haven't had time to call the repairman yet, but it's on my never-ending to-do list for tomorrow.

Thanks for all your well wishes for my shoulder pain. The shot seems to have worked somewhat, but I'm still having pain. I hope to visit you all sometime this week. Enjoy!

G-50

Tom's brother-in-law Dave, turned 50 on Monday, and he asked if I would make him a card. Now you know how I love to create. But, when someone asks for something specific (Tom wanted a "50" incorporated) I get a mental block. Last night, for 1 hour I played around with 1 card in my studio. After finishing it, I looked to my left and saw the old BINGO set that I bought back in June - a light bulb went off.


Duh, how simple was this? It took me all of about 10 minutes to choose the black and cream polka dot paper, find the red parenthesis rub-on, then cut and glue the whole thing together. I loved it immediately and so did everyone here at the office. Sometimes things come together easily and sometimes it may be more difficult, but getting there is half the fun - or so they say:)



I've been having some pretty bad pain in my left shoulder that's been radiating down my arm through my elbow into my wrist, and taking several Motrin a day hasn't even been touching the pain. So after about 3 months (I know, I know) and getting to the point that it wakes me up at night when I move, I decided to go to the doctor. He thinks that I have a muscle trigger - the muscle is pinching a nerve. He gave me a cortisone shot and a prescription for Flexeril. I'm not sure I'll take the muscle relaxer, but am having the prescription filled just in case. So fingers crossed that he diagnosed the problem first time around. I was worried that he would send me for an x-ray and then say I needed an MRI, etc.

Anyone else ever had any symptoms like this?

Waiting

It seems that we do a lot of waiting doesn't it? This morning I've spent time waiting for the dryer to stop, the coffee maker to finish brewing and my computer to upload photos.

I don't sit idly by while waiting, but sometimes wish that I didn't feel the need to multi-task as much as I do. If my computer is slow doing something, I get up and do something else while I'm waiting.

Although when our new lap-top gets here, hopefully it will be much faster (we ordered a new one with our rewards points from our cc company). And so, now we wait for the UPS man:)

Around The Old Parsonage

As I was sitting in the living room I thought about how much I love our home. I'm thinking about doing some installments called "Around The Old Parsonage" kinda like a guided tour. I'm not sophisticated enough to know how to create a slide show or video yet, but they are on my "learning list." So a photo will have to do. This is what you see when you walk in the front door. I got the chair at our local thrift store, the desk was my Nan's, and the lamp was a wedding gift from Mr OP's Grand mom.

I switched my browser to Google Chrome and I'm not sure, but I think that there might be an issue with it and being able to move photos in blogger. Tonight, I test it in Firefox (which I just switched from). Is anyone else using Google Chrome? If so have you noticed any problems?

Three Cheers for the Red White and Blue

This weekend seemed to go by soo darn fast. Wasn't I just saying how fast the week went? We really didn't do much either, that mean old heat and humidity came back with a vengeance! Yesterday it was a quick breakfast out before heading to the market for this week's groceries.

Then I did some much needed cleaning around The Old Parsonage. I visited a site called The Fly Lady on Laura's recommendation. This site is basically an on-line site to help you organize your home. It's really nothing new, but there are some new approaches. I love the Organized Home too. I bought her book and re-read it all the time.

I can't seem to move my photos around after up-loading them today so you get what you get. This afternoon we went to a small antique shop, then stopped for lunch at The Hill Top (think old fashioned malt shop) it's been around since the 50's and nothing has changed much. The food is sinful and the milk shakes are hand spun! After a quick trip to a local book store we came home and turned on the air conditioner. After grilling up some steaks for supper I decided to make a quick batch of zucchini bread - the house smells wonderful! I'll cut you a slice after it cools a bit.

Enjoy your week my friends!

Faded Pink

First week back from vacation is gone already. Wow! I've had something going on every night so I guess that explains it. I'm basically caught up on all the laundry, but still have a suitcase full of clean clothes to unpack.


Would it be wrong for us to live out of the suitcase until all of those clothes are dirty? Believe me I'm tempted (wink). Last night I was up in my studio unpacking all of the supplies that I took to the shore as well as my new found treasures. It was actually fairly cool last night, so it wasn't so bad up there.


I love the worn patina of the frame around this darling baby print. The soft pink is gorgeous, and the added wear and tear just makes it even prettier. This print is hanging in my studio so that I can enjoy it when ever I'm up there.



It seems my Wandering Jew loves the warm days and cool nights that we've been having lately too. It's really taking off. The plant is actually 4 years old. I got a slip of it and started it in water then planted it in the front porch urn. Every winter I take a small slip of the plant again and let the rest die and start all over again in the spring. It saves on buying annuals and I love the look of it against the chippy white urn.

Do you buy a lot of annuals?
'
Happy Friday and Pink Saturday my friends!

Iced Tea Spoons not jut for Iced Tea

Well, I guess that it's true. You're a tried and true blogger if you can turn an ordinary chore, topic or anything mundane into a blog post. This idea happened to pop into my head the other day when I was home for lunch and trying to find something to eat other than an old dried out chicken breast leftover from the day we got home from the shore.




After a few bites of the chicken I searched the pantry, and spied the peanut butter. When I opened it, of course there was only about 2 tbl left in the very bottom. So out comes my handy - dandy iced tea spoon. It got me down to the very bottom, and I was able to get all that creamy Jiff out and into my mouth with out getting any on my fingers. If I had used a smaller spoon it would have been all over me and if I used a spatula it (probably) wouldn't have fit into my mouth - or so the story goes:)



When I looked behind me on the counter I saw my morning travel coffee mug and had an eureka! So I grabbed my camera. Sorry that the photos are soo dark, we're still drawing all the blinds during the day to keep out the sun and the heat. Anyway the spoons are great for tall travel mugs too. I use Splenda and French Vanilla Coffeemate in my coffee and again the spoons get all the way to the bottom.


I bought these spoons a few years ago at a yard sale and have used them for many other things along the way - perfect for parfaits, thick milk shakes and smoothies and sometimes I just use them to use them. I like the delicateness of them.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes on my final phase of the root canal. I'm happy to report that after a little over one hour in the endodontist's chair I'm 100% again! Yeah!!!

It's raining here today and only supposed to get to 85 - yeah! See I told you if I think fall it'll come (wink). Enjoy your day my friends!