A halloween freebie ... and I HATE migraines!

Home from work today and piled into bed in warm jammies after a warm shower, feeling like a dishrag after a night of migraine, medication (which makes the after-migraine suck that much more, but what can you do?), and is it allergies or a cold?  My migraines always sneak up in the middle of the night.  What's up with that sh*t?

I  ...  FEEL  ...  LIKE  ...  CRAP!!!

But BEFORE I felt like crap, I designed a lil Halloween freebie for you all ... please send some pics if you decide to do something with it.

Til next time ...

Long time no see ... and hopefully a freebie ...

Oh my goodness!  Did you all think I'd disappeared ... dropped right off the face of the earth??  To be honest, I've been keeping up with all of you behind the scenes.  It's been a busy summer filled with gardening, time in the greenhouse (an absolute JOY), canning, and a few new yard projects ... 

And now it's FALL already!  Yikes!!!

I've been playing a bit with a cross stitch program the last few evenings and would like to share a little freebie with you ... hope you enjoy ...

(Edited to say IT WORKED!  I wasn't quite sure it would ...)

Til next time ...

The day the world changed ...



Downtime in Thailand ...

We were relieved to receive a middle of the night phone call from Quinn.  It's so hard having your child on the other side of the world, especially in these uncertain times.  He's working hard at his training in Thailand and making time for a little fun too ...

Quinn is in the white tee shirt.  While on their "ride", they saw a cobra and a crocodile ... pretty fun stuff for a kid from the cornfields ...



A very special thank you ...

to all my friends and loved ones that have e-mailed about my son, Quinn, who is stationed in Okinawa, Japan.  First let me say that he is fine and on a temp duty assignment in Thailand.  The island of Okinawa wasn't affected by the tsunami that has so devastated the mainland.  Our hearts and prayers go out to the Japanese people.

Wishing you all ...

peace filled holidays ... the joys of family ... and quiet moments of reflection ...



A great BIG thank you ...

to my two boys ... my heroes ... from a grateful mom

It still sometimes takes my breath away when I think that my two handsome sons felt this calling ... they truly are my heroes ...

An arrest has been made ...

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2010/10/29/dekalb-man-gets-murder-charges-in-case-of-missing-niu-student-antinette-toni-keller/a6w5f2u/

I'm stunned ... my community is stunned.

There is really little to be said.  It can happen anytime, anyplace ...

My heart and prayers go out to Toni's family and I ask that yours do too ...

Horrible news on our missing student ...

http://www.daily-chronicle.com/articles/2010/10/23/54156888/index.xml

Our hearts are broken ...

Something you think only happens in the "big cities" ... not in the middle of a cornfield in the middle of nowhere, USA.  Five Three (correction:  I think I wanted it to be longer ago than it actually was) years ago Valentine's Day, we lost five students to a gunman in a crowded lecture hall.  Something you think only happens somewhere else ... not in the middle of a cornfield in the middle of nowhere, USA. 

Not a good week for my community ...

As many of you know, I work at Northern Illinois University.  This has really been a long, tough week.  One of our students went missing eight days ago and there has been no sign of what happened to her.  We hope, we search, we pray, and try to hold each other up.  I cannot for the life of me imagine what her parents are going through.  Such a beautiful young woman ... gone without a trace ...



Sand casting is dry ...

Please excuse my toes ... I'm a TERRIBLE photographer!

I'll let it dry a few days and then brush it good around the edges and in the veins and seal it with Thompson's and it's done!  I love it!  I can't wait to try some other things.





A terrific Saturday morning ...

What a GREAT morning!  I was up and out early this morning for a sand casting bird bath class through my local junior college.  It was held at a private residence about 10 miles from me in a small town.  The instructor's yard was incredible!  I wish I had remembered my camera!  She had a fire going in the back yard for us and she had us all set up to start right in. 

Here's my rhubarb leaf bird bath ... tomorrow I can take the plastic off (I peeled it back for a picture) and Monday I can turn it over and let the leaf dry up.  In a week's time, I can fill it with water for the birdies.  I am toooooooooooo excited!!!

I've never posted the pictures of the finished greenhouse.  It's finished except the wire shelving across the front windows ... but I'm not in a hurry til late winter anyway.  We're having COLD nights here in northern Illinois so a few herbs have made their way inside and they seem to love it with new growth everywhere.  It will be interesting to see how long they last through the fall.

If you look closely, you can see the stained glass window hubby surprised me with.  I LOVE it!  It will be fun in the spring to till up all around the greenhouse and put in my new flowerbeds.  But for now, it's fall and I'm about ready to pack in the gardens and get ready to tuck up for the cold snowy months ahead.

No special plans for the day ... a nice, quiet autumn day watching my bird bath dry ...



Many thanks ...

A special thank you to those of you who have e-mailed me.  Your sweet e-mails have touched my heart.  They truly have.  Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  It's so comforting to know that I have friends who know and understand.



Maybe it's time ...

I explain why I've been so quiet.  Life can sure throw you a curve ball when you least expect it.  And forces you to stop and re-evaluate ... everything.

We lost our unborn granddaughter, Coraline Bella, at 22 weeks gestation on August 26.  My heart is shattered. 

With the tears came lots and lots of stitching.  Hours spent quietly in my favorite chair pulling stitch after stitch.  It's been good therapy for me.  Big update to the website coming Monday night.  Lots of new goodies -- little framed samplers, pillows, pinkeeps, and what not ... and lots more to finish up this weekend ...

Hope to see you Monday night!!

Looks like he's having fun ...

Week-end fun in Okinawa ...

Sums it up perfectly ...

The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see ...
and knows what the mind cannot understand.

~ Robert Vallett

Out my bedroom window ...

Hubby snapped this picture from our upstairs bedroom window ... he wanted to get a picture of the sunflowers along the back of the garden ... see them back there peeking over the top of the greenhouse?  The tallest ones are about 11' tall now ...

A good chunk of today was spent in the heat and humidity under the Easy Up canopy painting rough side cedar for the trim ... I was soooooooooooo sure it would be barn red ... it's what I had envisioned from very early on in this little endeavor ... well, it's not going be barn red ... it's now Autumn Gray which is really a gray/green/sage-y color that you can see here:  http://www.ppgpittsburghpaints.com/menards/Documents/pdf/exterior.pdf

I LOVE it!!!!  The sign on the front will be a barn red color ... still working on the name ... hubby likes Aunt Polly's Greenhouse ... I love Grandma Tinkerbell's Greenhouse which is what my lil Piper calls it.

Second coat of paint tomorrow ...

Hanging my head ...

Has it REALLY been over a month???  I really don't know where the time went ... but it went.  I don't remember it being a particularly busy month ... working long days at my full-time job (but short weeks) has been difficult this year ... the university has made four day work weeks in the summer mandatory.  I LOVE the Fridays off but hated the long days ... it's TIRING!!  To make up for my absence, I have lots of pictures to share ... hope you enjoy ...

First up ... the greenhouse ... I promised to take pics and keep everyone updated on the progress ... we're ALMOST done!!!!  The cedar siding (which is being painted barn red) is finally getting delivered tomorrow.  I'm soooooooooo excited to finally start seeing an end in sight ... and I know hubby is too.

The walls starting going up while Quinn was home on leave the latter half of June.

Looking at the pictures of Quinn make my heart ache tonight ... I miss that kid ... ALOT!!!!

Look at Shelby Girl and her boy ... I SWEAR, that dog is smiling ... she was in seventh heaven having her boy home ...

The brick floor ... the gravel to the left is under where the wire plant shelves will hang ... I'll be able to water freely and not have to worry about flooding the inside of the greenhouse.

This is the entrance and will be sided and trimmed in the barn red cedar siding ...

This is the front view ... I can't WAIT to see it all sided and trimmed and painted with the sign hung.  The only things left to paint on the inside are the skylights (my job and NOT looking forward to it - I'm scared to death of heights) and tomorrow I'll finish painting the leading in the stained glass window so hubby can install it on the back wall.  Once the siding and trim are finished, it will be time to hang the wire shelves across the front windows and build/install the potting bench and pot shelves on the back wall.  And then more work on the outside digging out all around it and filling it with rock ... framing up and building the brick pad outside the entry.  Next spring should be a dream come true ... playing working in the dirt ... I can't wait.

* * * * * * * * * *

Two weekends ago, my friend Terri and I drove out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and met our internet friend, Deb and her hubby and granddaughter.  Deb, Terri, and I had a day of antiquing and shopping together in Marion, Iowa.  Fun, fun!  Deb is so fun to be with ... except for the fact that it was incredibly HOT and HUMID, it was a GREAT getaway weekend.

Terri, moi, and Deb (thanks Bria for taking a picture for us!)

On the way to Cedar Rapids, Terri and I stopped off in the little Mississippi River town of Le Claire to visit the American Pickers (seen on the History Channel).  A fun little side trip ... barely even out of the way ...

It was drizzling just a bit that day ... and the shop was filled with people ...

Mike and Frank weren't there ... but Danielle was ... isn't she a cutie?  Even sweeter in person than she is on the show ... her smile just lights the place up ...

I love this guy!!!!  And his arm even waves up and down ...

I couldn't decide if these heads were cool ... or kinda creepy ...

And that ... that ... that's ALL folks!!!!!

Just for fun, I wanted to show you the volunteer gourd plant that came out of the compost bin (and has now totally swallowed said bin, you can't even see it anymore), it has swallowed three zuchnni plants, has grown up through two trees in two different directions and is on it's way up my neighbor's garage roof!!!!  lol  This girl knows how to rot some GOOD compost!  lol

I zoomed in on the gourds growing up in one of the trees (the one closest to the neighbor's garage) about ten feet in the air.  I've never seen a gourd plant with so many gourds!  There are so many hidden in the trees, on the neighbor's garage roof, and all over the back of the garden, I have no clue how many there are.

Piper in her "cooking skirt" helping Grandma Tinkerbell in the garden ... I didn't capture the surprised look on her face when no carrot came out with the stems ...

Got one!!!!  She absolutely loves to go out to the garden, pull a carrot, and stand on a chair at the kitchen sink scrubbing it nice and clean before she gobbles it up ... she LOVES carrots ...

Picking the cherry tomatoes ... I couldn't get her to try one though.  I'm thrilled that she loves being in the gardens as much as she does ... my very own little garden fairie!!!!

A sad good-bye ...

Seems like just a few days ago that we picked Quinn up at the airport ... seemed like we had just oh, so much time ... and just like that, it's over and he's off to Japan.  It makes it easier to know that he was excited and ready to go ... a LITTLE easier ... I'm beginning to realize that saying good-bye to your child is always going to be sad and hard.

While he was home, we had a nice picture taken (ie., NOT by me ... I'm a horrible photographer) of our boys ... Josh and Quinn ... my Airmen ...

Hubby and I couldn't be more proud ...

A wedding ... a homecoming ... a greenhouse ...

As of June 2, 2010, it's official -- I'm a mother-in-law!!!  I love my new daughter-in-law, Angela, who makes a wonderful wife for my son, Joshua.  I'm so happy for them both!

Piper and Brick now call me Grandma Tinkerbell!!!!!  lol  It cracks me up!!

Just LOOK what I found standing at the curb in O'Hare on Friday evening ...

Airman First Class ... my son, Quinn!!!!  He's home until June 29 when he'll leave for his permanent duty station in Okinawa.  Oh my gosh, I'm in HEAVEN having him home!!  He is sooooooooooo grown up!!!  I do believe that the service has been good for him.  He just LOOKS SO GOOD!  And seems happy that he made the decision to enlist.  We are so darned proud of him, I don't even know how to put it into words.

So yesterday was spent in the backyard in the company of several of his friends ... cooking out ... playing yard games ... and having a few "refreshments" ...

Quinn, proud Dad, and friend Matt ... a fun Saturday afternoon!!! 

My Quinn ... he knows me well ... gifted me with a new hardback book ... The Passage by Justin Cronin ... right up my alley ... he knows me well, my littlest chick ... and the handwritten message in the back ... well ... let's just say ... he knows my heart well ...