No Water Required

I'm feeling a bit 'fallish' and decided to bring out some of my fall decorations. I put the wreath on my door and added my scarecrow flag. I wanted to put some fall colored flowers in the yard, but with no signs of the drought ending, I'd really have to be careful and water them often. Instead of putting some poor, unsuspecting flowers through a long miserable, wilting death, I decided to do the next best thing...faux flowers! So off to Michael's I went. I think I spent less on them than I would for real flowers. And if I don't have to water them..well, that is all the better! Here is my old wheelbarrow. I had some really pretty summer flowers in it, but they didn't survive the heat and lack of water (see flowers on the ground). I split up my lilies this spring which are the green sprigs that you see. I am hoping that within a couple years time, they will start to multiply and be really pretty ground cover around the bird feeders and pine trees.



I hope to get into my other fall decorations and put them out tomorrow. Happy Fall, Y'all!

Creepy Crawlies

Something has been very busy in our neighborhood...actually from the looks of it, a lot of somethings have been very busy. This morning the dew is clinging to all these spider webs in the yard. After looking around, I've noticed it's not just my yard, but my neighbors' yard too.

Click on the photo for a better view.



These webs are so intricately done. Very interesting to look at. They remind me of the book/movie "Charlotte's Web". Just another sign that fall is here.

More later...but for now, I have to get back to work.

Welcome to Moe's!

I had the most fabulous day today. A bunch of local scrappers met at Archiver's in Raleigh for some shopping and lunch. As if that wasn't enough...one of the scrappers is a friend from England. She and her husband flew in to Raleigh/Durham for a week's vacation on the coast of NC. I was so thrilled to meet her. Such a wonderful couple. It was awesome to finally meet her IRL since we've been online friends a few years. The accent is absolutely delightful...I could listen for hours! I got to see other scrappy friends that I haven't seen for a while...just a marvelous time.

Here's our group at Archiver's...I'm sure Archiver's racked up this morning!



Jennifer (sacjlc), Janet (scrappychic), me, Jenn (jru10474), Rosemary, Carla (NCKelly) and Nicole is the one sitting.

For lunch, we went to Moe's Southwest Grill. Yummy!! I'd never been there before but I have heard their commercials on the radio. I got the John Coctostan plate...well, I'll let you figure out why this one had me cracking up. It was yummy & I'd get it again. Maybe I can talk K into a trip there. Here's the group eating at Moe's. Janet had to leave early but added to our group is Rosemary's hubby, Chris.



In other news...my dishwasher has gone kerplunk...er, is that kersplash? It's not washing dishes. It acts like it wants to but it just isn't getting any water. So, it is back to basics. It's been so long since I've washed dishes in the sink. And in honor of that momentous occasion...a picture of my sink...tada!



The first load of dishes was fun...a little reminiscent. I can remember washing dishes with my Grandma. She would wash and I would rinse...lots of good memories there. Well, the third sink full of dishes (remember my dishwasher was FULL of dirty dishes when it broke), well, to put it lightly, was not so fun. I have to call the Maytag man to come fix it and hopefully soon. Another you don't know what you got until it's gone story **sigh**

I'm hoping to have a little R&R this weekend. Hope everyone has a great weekend too!

50 is Fabulous

Happy Birthday to me...

Wow! What a great birthday! I had such a happy day...thanks to everyone who sent cards, called, posted messages, sent emails...it all just made for a wonderful birthday. I feel really special and really loved! Thirty five is going to be a great year - I can just feel it!

We all had a great laugh today when Alyssa gave me her present. She failed to read the whole bag; she only read the 'fabulous' part. I saw the bag, gasped, and then busted out laughing. Even though her mom is fabulous, she is very far from 50 ;) I told her she could save that and in 15 more years she could use the bag again. Too funny!




And a little present from Mother Nature...

K had tossed out an old piece of watermelon thinking that the birds would enjoy it. I went out this morning and there were two beautiful butterflies drinking up the sugar water. Unfortunately I got too close and one flew away. But I did get this pic of the one that stayed.



Thanks everyone for a great day!

Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble

Today I spent a half of a day geocaching. Some of my favorite geocaches involve 'WOLVES'. A couple of years ago, the City of Raleigh Arts Commission sponsored the most successful temporary public art festival Raleigh has ever seen, the Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble! The exhibit closed in April 2002 but some of the wolves are still around the city. There is a geocacher who has put out at least 25 caches that lead you to these spectacular wolves. Today, we went to find "El Lobo Latino". What a really neat wolf. The pic is not that good of me, but I wanted to share it because of the wolf.



The wolf is located at WRAL's TV station. Outside is this really neat piece of art.



I had to cut the day short so I could get home in time for the kids getting out of school. I love it when I get to see neat stuff like that. I wouldn't have seen it without my GPS.

Off to put Jenna to bed and then to do some work.

Hey There Delilah

Another song that just speaks to me...so very soulful, and sadly romantic. I never heard of this song until my friend Tracy pointed it out, and now I can't get it out of my head! Thanks Tracy! **wink, wink**



I had PTA training on Saturday. Wow...learned lots. I would have never thought that there was so much to learn. I am treasurer this year. We have plans to buy playground equipment for the school. We've got about half of the money raised and hope to raise the other half before Christmas. I **wish** the school district would fund playground equipment, but I think their budgets are strained also.

My birthday is coming up soon. Not only do I get to get a new driver's license, I have to add another number on to the year. I thank God that I made it this far, but how come I had to get here so quickly?

It's 9am...better get to work! HAGD!

Blessings in Disguise

I've been having a bit of trouble with my driver's side front tire. It has had a slow leak for a couple months. About every third day, I (and when I say I, I really mean K) would have to add some air to it. Sometimes I would add it, and it was a pain. The only up is that we have a small air compressor in the garage so at least it was convenient. When I went to get the oil changed, I told the Toyota service people about the leak and asked them to fix it. I assumed it was a nail or something. They could not find the leak, and I have to admit that I was a bit irritated. Aren't they trained to do things like this? This only meant more days of adding air to the tire.

Fast forward to today...I had enough of it and since I have a couple long trips planned, I wanted to make sure my tire was fixed. I took it to Firestone (where I bought the tires)and asked them to look at it. I told them of my problem and my run around with the Toyota people. The guy pulled up my account, and asked why I would take it to Toyota because they would fix it for FREE, and I like **free**. Apparently I had paid a nominal fee for some sort of Road Hazard insurance on the tires that covers if they have a leak. Yahoo! After inspecting the tire, they see that I have a small hole in the sidewall. I don't know what that means, but I guess it isn't good. They gave me a whole new tire for **free**! All I had to pay was the small fee for the hazard insurance again. After getting the tire for free, the fee was well worth it.

I didn't get what I wanted from the Toyota place, but in the long run, I got something much better from Firestone. I guess that can be applied to many things in life. Just my little blessing in disguise for the day.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I should be working...

I played a little hooky today. The adult in me should have stayed home and worked. The kid in me just wanted the day off. So today I went caching. My cache buddy had a doctor's appointment, so I took Angel with me. She gets so excited when she gets to go. She found her first cache all by herself today. We were in a wooded area. I was poking around in one area and when I turned to see what she was doing, she was sniffing at the cache. Way to go, Angel!! When I told K about this, he said that someone must have just eaten a cheeseburger before finding the cache so a cheeseburger smell would be on it LOL! You know, I wouldn't be surprised! I treated Angel with a cheeseburger for lunch for all her hard work. We found twenty all together...a really fun day.

After supper tonight, I should have done some work but I just didn't have it in me then either. I decided that I would straighten up my scrapbook table. Next thing you know, I'm putting together a layout! I've had this idea in mind for a bit, just needed to put it into action. Gotta love my goofy family :D



I won't be able to play hooky tomorrow. I guess I should do some work. **wink, wink**

The last hoorah...or almost the last

We headed down to the beach today for some fun. School started last Monday so it will probably be one of the last times we get to enjoy the water and sand. My parents, my sister and Zach, plus Jenna and I went for the afternoon. Jenna loves playing with Zach...or maybe I should say Jenna loves looking after Zach. Sometimes I see her with Zach and I think she really needs a little brother. That feeling only lasts until the next 'meltdown' and usually that isn't long. Then I realize that two is plenty. But you can't deny how cute they are together.


We had a fun time at the beach. We had brought some fried chicken for a picnic lunch. Afterwards, we did some swimming and the kids played in the sand. I was surprised how brave Jenna got towards the end of the day. She has been skittish with the waves but at the end, she went in right by herself. I was close by..camera in hand!



Back to the grind tomorrow...don't get to say that often! Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

My Wish For You

I heard this song today and just love it. I don't think it is a new song, but it's just the first time I've heard it.



Most of the time, I'm an 80's & 90's kind of gal, but today I was feeling a little bit country. I'm so glad that I did because I heard this song. Can you see a scrapbook page coming from the lyrics of this song?

Tomorrow we are headed to the beach for the day. I'm looking for a little relaxation. We'd better enjoy it while we can. I can tell that fall is approaching. The mornings and evenings seem a little cooler, which is very refreshing with all the heat we've had. Some of the leaves are starting to fall of of my corkscrew willow. It won't be long...fall is just around the corner. I have to admit that I'm a little bit anxious for some fall weather.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Labor Day weekend!