Fall and Halloween Beginnings

Last year during Fall I saw these pumpkins on many of your blogs and fell in love with them. This year i decided I was going to grace my home with them. I placed them in my Swan dish and they are on the coffee table in the living room. I love em!
Being Sunday and just grazing at home, I am beginning to go threw all my Halloween Decorations. Its simple, I have to much. Much of it will go this year. I'm still on my quest of de-cluttering and that includes all my decorations. I will sacle it down to my favorites and thats it. My kids can pick thru it--the rest is going to be donated. AND.. I have alot. This year my plan is to have several big things--a few small things and thats enough. I dont know if there is such as thing as "classy scary decorating" but that is where I'm at...like Martha Stewart. I cant wait to put her witch up. I pulled out a couple of things to start placing around the house. I cant officially go nuts until after Labor Day and even then--I'm kinda pushing it. But hey, I'm one of those that feels the holidays (all of them) are way to short so I like to enjoy the decorations long before the "official" day.

Perfect Sunflower

I love having sunflowers towards the end of summer. I looked this weekend at the couple of stores I was at and they werent in the prettiest shape. When I came home from work yesterday I saw this on my coffee table. Isnt she pretty?

Baldyman went out to the flower shop and picked one up. I love how they have a matching vase. Sometimes, the perfect flower is just one pretty one. I missed planting sunflowers this season, totally forgot, so going to the shop to get one is something we just have to do this year.
Do any of you have sunflowers that you can just walk outside and pick and enjoy for a few days?

A storm and a Duck Rain Coat!

Here's Ms Ellie outside playing in the rain. She's wearing a little duck rain coat I found for her. Isnt she adorable? She wouldnt talk to me or look at me so I could get the front of the coat. It has a duck face. She's been a real little monster lately. This was a weird storm we had last week, you could literally see the rain coming like curtains and you had time to get inside. We have a small set of woods behind the houses where we live and you could also hear the rain in the woods before it hit us.
I tried to capture the rainbow, maybe if you click on the picture and enlarge it, you will be able to see the rainbow. These are the summer rainstorms I enjoy, they dont last all day and they still allow you to be outside. There wasnt much lightning with this one either so as bad as the sky looks, Ellie was able to play outside.

Boo--well almost Boo!

More Halloween goodies I found this weekend! I found this witch at Marshalls. It sits on a stand and is made of out of like plywood. I think she's adorable. I'm thinking I'll place her on the front porch.
Its possible these are her feet. Sadly, she may have been pulled apart, well thats the vision I have since its Halloween and I like to think scary thoughts. These will grace my front door as a greeting.
AND....I already started using this glass. Ghouls just want to have fun. What woman dosnt love a good hearty laugh and a good glass to drink something from. This was purchased from Kirklands. They have some really cute Halloween stuff this season. I found a ton of goodies there, but this was my only purchase. Hope your weekend was great!

Middle of the night monster!

Every morning I kid you not, I wake up to this! Every rug in my house is messed up. Doesnt miss a room.
These are my new ones, and last night she must have really been mad because she really messed this one up.
and here she is, the middle of the night monster of the house....Ms. Genie. She's on guard right now watching the UPS man. Whenever the UPS man comes she runs thru the house like a nutcase, barking and howling. When I get a package she's really insane. I dont know why she does this at night--but when we go to bed I can hear her start scratching at the rugs and pulling on them. By morning, she's hit every room.

Do any of your pets do weird things around your home while your sleeping?

Homemade Bread Pudding-Biltmore Recipe!

Does this NOT look so good you could eat the entire pan? I LOVE LOVE LOVE bread pudding. I've tried many recipes and this one will be the one I keep and use. The Biltmore Estate Asheville North Carolina makes this bread pudding. I've been wanting to try this for along time and finally yesterday since it was a rainy day here I did some cooking. This is so good alone, I dont mind forgoing the Caramel Sauce...hey you probably need to save some calories anyhow. My guess is this is about 2000 per look!

8 Cups Cubed day old bread 1-3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
9 eggs 1 Cup Sugar
2-1/4 Cups milk 3/4 butter melted
3 tsps vanilla extract 1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place bread cubes in a greased 9x13x2 pan. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk cream, sugar, butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour evenly over bread. Bake uncovered 350 for 40-45 minutes until a knife in center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

Caramel Sauce:

1 Cup Sugar 1/2 Cup water
1 TB Lemon Juice 2 TB butter
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Bring sugar and water and lemon juice to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook until sugar
is dissolved and mixture turns amber color ( this takes awhile) Stir in butter until melted. Add Cream, remove from heat. Serve over pudding.

*And yes I added raisins to the recipe,,,I cannot eat bread pudding without a raisin in every bite.

Cards, What do you do with them?

For all of the special days in our lives thruout the year, so many of us get blessed to get so many beautiful cards from our loved ones. I dont know about you, but i HATE to toss them out. Cards are expensive, cards have alot of sentiment, and you know when someone has taken time to pick out a card with thoughts of you in mind.

I have cards all over the house in piles because I cant toss them out. At Christmas I pull out favorites from years gone by and some that came from special people. Those are easy to deal with because they are packed away for most of our year.

What about the cards we get for Mothers and Fathers Day, our birthdays, sweetest day...etc. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on what to do with them or Just exactly what do some of you do?

Welcome Baby Eli to the World!

Elijah Gregory was born today! I was there and cant even remember the time..but it was around noon. I was privilged once again to see another grandchild enter our world. He's a beautiful baby boy and one of the calmest babies I've seen ever. Whats funny is his Daddy (my oldest son) did just as he did when he entered the world, he just looked around and kept looking and checking things out. I still remember laughing at how he just laid there and looked around.
Above photo is of Baldyman and Eli, and here is me and Baby Eli.
Here he is just minutes after birth--not even cleaned up and already looking really good.
AND....proud Mom and Dad, Toshina and Jason. She had a very early trip to the hospital so I know she's pretty wore out. Hopefully Eli will be as calm at home and she can get back on her feet real quick.

All the babies are born now--safe and sound. This makes #5 of grandchildren for me and Baldyman. We were talking today at how we had 5 children and now we stand at 5 grandkids.

Farmers Market, Day at the Lakefront

On Saturday, (sniff-sniff) I had to return my car. My lease has come to an end. I was going to take before and after pictures of it, but decided to just let it go. I'm now joining the ranks of driving around in a clunker BUT no payments! Which means more money for things like Farmers Market...so my sadness ended real quick! This is Rose and Jim by the fountain where the Farmers Market is held in Kenosha. She is holding my flowers because she was to cheap to buy her own.
This is a photo from a little park where all the boats are docked. Its very pretty here.
This is the farmers market. In the background are all these condos, which I think would be a great place to live right now. Baldyman dosnt agree and so I wont get to live on the lake by the Farmers Market with a huge fountain view. He is mean.
This photo is of me laying in the little water sprayers. What? You dont see me? Well look real close, I dont have any makeup on to cover my green color and i'm laying on my back....ohhh you didnt know I was a turtle in my real life--Well I am!
And this is me of course. I'm holding the flowers that I paid for--not Rose. Again, she was to cheap to buy her own. I bought another Halloween item-which I'll post later. I dont want to depress you that its actually coming. We also bought some fresh veggies which we will eat today and of course these flowers! It was a very nice day.

A Life Changing Book--A must Read

I'll be honest, while I love to read, these days I mainly read decorating magazines so that I can drift away in dreamland and not use my brain. I have been watching this book for awhile on the shelves and picked it up a couple of times to buy--but finally did purchase it a couple of weeks ago. I dont like reading anything to "heavy" because after my daily job--I'm just not worth much. I began reading this book a couple of days ago and the beginning of it was so so--didnt really catch my attention. Yesterday I continued on and it began to grip me as I saw how the Author was leading us into a "new" relationship with our God. I became so amazed and drawn into it I couldnt put it down. I had the day off of work today and i laid around all day and finished this book.

I took several breaks--to sob...literally sob. I was bawling by myself in my room..but it was a good cry, a soul cleansing cry. I'm so amazed that this author took such a difficult topic we all struggle with and made it so clear! The story begins with a man who's little girl is abducted and murdered. That is gut wrenching to any of us..losing our child in such a horrific manner. This Author was able to take our minds off of that horrendous incident and get us focused on our relationship with our Creator in a way I've never seen done before. It was done with humor, wit, grace and even sadness and anger. He was able to help me distinquish my questions about the Trinity and even God as our Master. I simply could not put this book down. I pray they make a movie from this book because I truly believe it will change many lives. So many of struggle with things such as "Why do bad things happen to good people", Or why Dosnt God prevent some things from happening since he can?, and how does God feel about us...and even better, what could heaven be like? All these things were presented in a way that I felt my questions were answered, my hopes have changed and I'm grasping why Bad things do happen. I'm also feeling like this presentation of eternity is much more believeable and real to me. I truly beleive this is how Heaven could be like..and How God wanted us to live here.

I know many of you have a faith,,,if you havent read this book--RUN to get it. You wont be sorry. I think my heart is different and I do think I will read this book again and again to bring me back to this place, to remind me to NEVER judge again, to never have doubt, and to always remember how God loves each and every one of us--even the worst of the worst--and I now know why. I have to say--I got it!

I cannot stress enough to get this...you will be amazed. I passed it on to my daughter in law tonight and I intend on continuing to pass it around. Thats my tip for the weekend!

Something wrong with this picture!

Well two things VERY wrong with this picture. First off, its my new chair and I barely have gotten to sit in it...AND.....we dont have a cat! Soo how did this sneaky little fellow get in here you wonder...well our son moved directly next door to us and before he moved in we were watching his cat for him. For some odd reason this cat likes being with us more than his own master. After our son moved in--I notice Peschy just wont go home. Every time we come and go, he will either run in or run out but he's always here. I think he approves of the new comfy chair.
Both of these photos I snapped this morning before going to work. It just occured to me--I have Genie on the sofa, Peschy who isnt mine on the new chair and I'm running off to work. These two clowns are enjoying my furniture and soft jazz music while I"m out pounding the pavement. Do they have a clue as to what we do for them?

Do you ever look at your animals as your on the way out the door, it really is funny watching them all spread out and snoozin away and we can barely find our keys. I'd say they have a pretty good life.

New Comfy Chair!

Look what came in today! Got a call when I got home from work that my chair had arrived. Me and Baldyman went to Madison to pick it up. Its VERYYY comfy...we spent the night kicking each other out so we could snuggle up. The living room is just about done now, just gotta make some TV switches in the Fall and maybe new curtains, not sure yet.

We are having a ton of rain the last few days, flowers are doing great and the grass is green again. Looks like we are in for some humid and hot temps soon. Maybe it will fill like summer again and I can stop checking out Halloween Decorations!

Updating my Living Room and Prelude to Fall!

Finally after only about 15 years, I have purchased a coffee table, an actual table! I've used a black trunk for all these years, that Baldyman never liked. I decided it was time to "class up" my living room and have it more user friendly and nice to look at for Fall and Winter. Being couped up in the house so much in Wisconsin, I made the decision to make the splurge! This little table is different and me and Baldyman always seem to be attracted to different. If you look closely-you can see underneath slides a little piece that you can use for your feet, or a bowl of popcorn, magazines etc.
Here's the piece that slides in and out from the table. I love the way it changed the whole feeling in the living room. I also bought new rugs. Since we've been in this house we have not had a rug in front of the sofa. I'm loving how it looks.
AND......can you hear the drumroll???? I know some of you will want to slap me, but I started my gathering of new Halloween decorations. This little guy will grace our mailbox. He's adorable. I have more coming and when it arrives I'll post it. Martha Stewart will grace my home this Halloween!

I also made a change in a chair which is on order. I've wanted a chair and half for years and finally went out and got that also. I cant wait to snuggle up in it with a good book and a fire and snuggle in for the cold weather. After seeing so many beautiful homes by you friendly bloggers its been giving me inspiration to get my home in a better condition. Do you ever just feel like your home just isnt "you"? Well thats how I've been feeling for a long long time. I've gotten some great ideas from all your homes and so I will be making some changes. In Wisconsin we are inside so much of the year so to me its really important that you have a home that you really enjoy being in as well as entertaining in.

I will be out visiting all your blogs and hoping everyone is enjoying the summer weather. Fall is really close isnt it?

Sorry, but I cant keep quiet

In the last 2 days I've read about parents severely abusing and neglecting their children. This latest article just put me over the top. Forgive me, I know blogging for many of us needs to be upbeat, something to keep our minds off our own daily trials and those in our world. BUT....for the life of me, I just cant keep quiet on this topic. I'm beyond our country, legal system, always making excuses for people and trying to justify that there was a good reason, this severe neglect, abuse went on. It has to stop. Its destroying our country, killing our weak and young, and creating more and more monsters that eventually will get out of the system and once again prey on our vulnerable. Its in a Mothers instinct to protect and nurture her young. In my mind if your smart enough to go to work, figure out how to hide from the legal system, AND even worse in this case,,this woman actually was away from this piece of crap hours each day as she went to work!!!! ARE you telling me she could not have gone for help???? She surely could have. And yet she chose NOT to--AND she chose to have another child...as if the 3 who were getting slowly murdered werent enough! She is only being charged with injury to a child...how about doing it right and charging with attempted murder on 3 counts--Do it right! I'm beyond tired of our system making excuses for these Mothers, they were controlled, they were abused....STOP! Many of these women have plenty of opportunity to get help and choose not to. Now if you want to spend your life getting the pulp beat out of you day after day--thats your right and choice but its your job to protect your children. She chose not only to allow this nutcase to assault, starve, beat and neglect her 3 children but she chose to go further and bring another human being into what was already a nightmare. I'm sorry again folks, but I've had enough. Enough of our country playing the victim card and not assuming responbility for what THEY choose to do. Many of us have been victims in our lifetimes and we chose to change the course of our lives and make it better. We chose to NOT inflict onto our young what was done to us. We need lawyers and judges that will no longer tolerate this "poor me" crap and make anyone accountable that is involved in a horrendous crime such as this--both parents need to be charged with 3 counts of attempted murder plain and simple. She should also be forced to undergo some sort of sterilization so that she never brings another child into her screwed up mentality, as well as the father. People like this dont change, so we need to change their ability to harm our young.

Not a happy blog post by any means,,,,but I needed to vent! Here's the article if you havent read it....DALLAS - Three children were kept in a hotel bathroom for about a year and were "horribly emaciated" when police found them earlier this month, authorities said. One claimed to have been repeatedly sexually assaulted.

The children's mother, 30-year-old Abneris Santiago, is charged with injury to a child. Her 37-year-old live-in boyfriend, Alfred Santiago, is charged with aggravated sexual assault and continual sexual abuse.

The extended stay hotel where the Santiagos lived sits alongside one of Dallas' busiest freeways. It has daily and weekly rates and offers maid service for an extra cost, though it wasn't clear if hotel employees had entered the unit where the children were found.

An attorney for the hotel chain said there were no complaints from other guests and employees about the unit.

"When law enforcement and management arrived ... the unit was very, very clean," said Steven Stefani, senior counsel for a Budget Suites of America. "What became apparent is these people worked very hard in concealing these children in the back bathroom."

Couple remains in jail
The Santiagos remained jailed Wednesday. Abneris Santiago was being held on $50,000 bail, while Alfred Santiago was being held on $125,000 bail. Her initial court appearance is not expected until Aug. 3, said her attorney, James Jamison.

His attorney, Richard Carrizales, declined to comment.

According to an arrest affidavit, Abneris Santiago called police on July 2 and asked for help getting her children and belongings from the hotel. Officers found a healthy 1-year-old girl — the child of the Santiagos, Jamison said — in a crib.

Inside the bathroom, they found an 11-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy and a 5-year-old boy — Abneris Santiago's children from other relationships, Jamison said. It was apparent the children suffered from "serious physical, emotional and mental neglect," according to the affidavit.

The 10-year-old was covered in bruises and all three were "horribly emaciated, underweight and malnourished," the affidavit said.

The 11-year-old told authorities that their mother left them with her boyfriend while she worked. She said they were allowed to leave the bathroom only when he took a shower and that they were regularly beaten and rarely fed.

The girl told police she had been sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend for at least three years. She described numerous rapes and said she was forced to perform oral sex on him. She also said the boyfriend threatened to kill her if she told her mother about the assaults.

Children in temporary foster care
The children were initially hospitalized for 10 days. The 10-year-old was hospitalized again recently, said Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales. All four children are now in temporary foster care.

Abneris Santiago told police that Alfred Santiago did not care for her children because, according to him, "they were not his responsibility," the affidavit said.

"She just had a history of making poor judgments about her male companions," Jamison said. "I think ultimately the evidence will show that this man was controlling her and controlling the children."

Sunday Evening Boat Ride

Last night I got brave and went along for an evening boat ride. Anyone that knows me, knows i dont like boats, at least when they go fast. Well my son wanted to go to Madison and take a slow evening ride to check out our state Capitol plus the views...sooo I tagged along. This photo here is underneath a bridge, and it was full of bats. I was hoping to get the bats,,not sure if I did. I tell you, it was eerie. I put a washcloth over my hair. I'm the only one who had hair--Baldy isnt Baldyman for nothing and Joel has no hair either!
When we first arrived in Madison I got this photo of a Hot Air Balloon, probably out doing what we were--enjoying the scenery.
AND......I'm so excited but I was playing with my camera and got this black and white of Bugsy....now tell me-does this NOT look professional or what?
Here is our Captiol at night...this picture dosnt do it justice. I tried and tried but couldnt get a clear, larger photo.
And here is Joel, the my 3rd son and driver of the boat. He dosnt know it but I took this photo and 3 of Bugsy that are in black and white and I'm making him a collage tonight. I enjoyed the ride of the lake, it was a nice slow ride the way I like them!

Oscar Mayer Weinermobile

I'm sorry folks but this is hilarious. No one was hurt so we can laugh our little butts off. Here In Wisconsin I dont think there is a soul alive that hasnt seen this weinermobile driving down the interstate. Its sooooo cute! Well yesterday the weiner crashed into someone's home. I think the driver was a female. She will NEVER EVER live this one down..this will haunt her for the remaining days of her life. LOLLLLLLL. Here's the article:

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. – One southern Wisconsin homeowner is probably not in love with the Oscar Mayer wiener. The famed hot dog's Wienermobile crashed Friday into the deck and garage of a home in Mount Pleasant, about 35 miles south of Milwaukee.

Police said the driver was trying to turn the Wienermobile around in the driveway and thought she was moving in reverse. But she instead went forward and hit the home. It sat in the driveway as if it were stuck in the garage Friday afternoon.

No one was home and no one was injured. No citations were immediately issued.

Both the home and vehicle suffered moderate damage, which Oscar Mayer spokeswoman Sydney Lindner says insurance will cover.

Police hadn't been able to speak to the homeowner as of early Friday evening.

Welcome Karson Jon--

Welcome Karson Jon to the World! He arrived at 5:05 today. This is my 2nd son, Baldyman and little Karson.
Of course there is me. I was able to see him born which is one of life's greatest gifts.
Here is my daughterinlaw at the beginning of her labor. We had just gotten there and checked in. They broke her water at 2 and by 5:05 she was done.
Awwww, here is is! I have to tell you--he had alot to say. He cried alot. Once Janell got him breastfeeding,,he was a much happier little baby. When we left the hospital, he was up and looking around and checking out the world.
Here is our son, Janell and the baby. This is our first grandson. We have another grandson due anytime also. Its so exciting to see the boys coming.

Whose up for Boating?

I know,,,enough of Bugsy already...but hey I cannot resist him! This is Bugsy getting ready to go boating with our son, his daddy. This little guy goes everywhere his Daddy does.
I'm not a fan of boating unless they agree to go real slow and let me enjoy the beautiful home along the Wisconsin River. The Wisconsin River is so big and spacious that you think your on a huge lake. All along the River you will find beautiful homes, people swimming and enjoying the water. Its very easy to spend the entire day and into evening on the river. You can stop at bars on the water, enjoy an afternoon meal and drink. There are also many sandy beaches where you can dock your boat and then spend a few hours exploring or swimming. You'll find dogs enjoying the sand and water to. Bugsy runs from one end of the beach to the other until he's exhausted and then goes for a swim. When Joel brought him back from boating Bugsy wasnt his normal self, Joel said he was wore out, I rarely see that in Bugsy!

I hope for those of you who do enjoy the water whether swimming or boating--your having fun doing so this summer. For me, I would be in heaven if someone had a Pontoon boat and could take me slowly along the River and let me enjoy the scenery and a cool drink.

Linen Addiction

I guess I do have another addiction. That would be linen cloths. I think it came from my childhood. There was an elderly couple that we lived next as little kids. The woman always asked us kids for help. She would have me iron her cloths for her and pay me $5.00. At that time, $5.00 was a million, plus I learned how much those linen's meant to her and how she took care of them. I inherited the taste for various linens, but I didnt inherit taking care of them. I do iron them, but I dont watch out for stains or anything else.

I found this sea shell cloth this weekend. If you look closely you can see how they beaded and attached various little sea shells. You can tell it took them alot of work and was very tedious.
This is how the cloth looks, various shells on it. I fell in love with it. I surely will try to take care of this one. I know enough to not wash it in the machine and since I love the shells so much I will try to make sure nothing to bad happens to it.

Its the dog days of summer here in Wisconsin. It felt summery to put this out. I hope your summers are coming along well and your all enjoying being outdoors.

My Grandma wishes she was doing this!

Hello there! This is Bugsy,,,and I'm relaxing at my Grandma's house. She's out working hard so that I can do this..pretty cool huh?

Its awful darn nice that you humans do this for us. I wonder if she gets mad when she comes home from work and finds me enjoying one of her favorite chaises...what do you think?

I think she outta be happy that I havent eaten it..I mean I could do that, this chaise is awfully chewable looking. I really hope she knows how much I appreciate all the neat places she has that I get to lay on.

Hmmmm, I think I hear someone coming home...I better greet them, jeezzz I gotta act like I'm doing something. I know she cant get enough of me and thinks I'm the cutest thing since candy. Actually, I think she's pretty cool to!

(Isnt this just the cutest dam photo of my grandson Bugs....) He's right I cant get enough of him. Can you believe he moved right next door to me? Yep last week 2 of our sons moved into our little cul de sac. I know have all my 3 sons on my block. I havent decided yet if that is good or not...I'll keep you posted!