Tuesday Thoughts on...

...wrapping up the gardening.

A few weeks ago, we brought in many plants. There were some that we just had no way of taking in:

This wandering jew was started with about 6 sprigs I just poked in the planter. So simple and not look at it! We already brought the main plant inside, so we can easily do this again next year. 

It seems to like its new location as it's blooming!

Oh, and those broken windows? The painters we had a few years ago did not put them back properly. We've had 3 fall out now. They are old and hard to get. We're still waiting on our "guy" to have them replaced.

Next, we brought in these plants:

I have hated this one for years. This year, I decided to fertilize it. I've determined that it's a banana plant. It has grown gangbusters. We'll see how it does through the winter. Our sunroom is a heated room, but, as you can imagine, with all these windows, this room is cold! Last year, we bought a space heater and that really helped. I'm kind of anxious now to see what happens next year when I fertilize it again.

This, tropical hibiscus has continued to bloom inside. 

Can you see all of the new buds? We'll see how long it continues. The only problem with hibiscus, is that the blooms only last one day. Actually, it's probably more like 12 hours! Luckily they are big flowers and put on a good show.

I don't really like having to care for these plants all winter long, but it's not that hard. I'm just kinda' lazy--and "over it" by this time of the year. It only takes about 30 minutes of maintenance a week--usually on Sunday. That's not too hard, but I still don't like doing it. If they hold up well, I'll probably be happy come spring!

Speaking of gardening chores, Butch undertook this big job a couple weeks ago. Our house is 40 years old--which means everything is 40 years old--including this planter bed which has rotted.

He thought it was going to be a breeze. But as with most projects, it's never easy. Something always goes awry.

After several hours over a couple days, he got it done!

I'm always amazed at what he can do. He can figure out anything! And usually does! One more thing updated. At some point, we're going to have to tackle the driveway and patios. They are all cracking and crumbling. We got a bid about 10 years ago and we wouldn't even consider it. It's got to be way more now. At some point, we're going to have to bite the bullet! But not this year!

When you have a 40 year old house, it's always something!

Me on Monday

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

On Saturday morning, I went over to Stephanie's to give her a hand with her new table scape. You might recall that we shopped earlier in the week. 

It took no time at all, but the results are amazing!! 

I love that she went with pastels--so bright and cheery.

I just love the how whimsical it all is--just so darn cute!

This was the very first thing she saw when she walked in the store. She carried it through the store while we shopped! It's about 4 ft. tall.

We felt like it needed to be elevated a little. She had these games sitting out and it was the perfect thing. Kind of goes along with the whole "Christmas is all about fun" theme she has going!!

It's always so much fun to change things up. She made some great choices!

When I was leaving, she said that they were going to do the fire pit with their neighbors if we wanted to come over. We did.

The weather was so nice 70-something at 5:30. 

Basically, it was happy hour around the fire.

Their neighbors, came over--I've already forgotten their names--even though we've met them before, but it's been over a year or more.

We stayed until after 8--it was so much fun. 

As we pulled on to our street, we were greeted by all the lights in our neighborhood. I love it! They do tend to get earlier and earlier each year.

As soon as we got home, I told Butch that I was going to sit on the front porch. At first he said "no" but then he joined me for about a half hour. I snapped this picture.

This is our next-door neighbor. It looks so good. And then this picture below is our neighbor across the street. The picture doesn't do it justice. I didn't realize that it wasn't so good, or I would have taken another.

Wait, let me go take another one right now.

Not much better. 

Anyway, I sat out for about another hour. I tried calling my sister, Jeanne and brother, Matt. Apparently they were partying together and unavailable to talk. (Jeanne called me on Sunday and verified that).

I ended up talking to my cousin, Chrissy for about 45 minutes. By the time I went inside, it was 10 p.m. It was such a peaceful, beautiful time to be able to sit outside at this time of year. 

I'm loving how this holiday season is starting out!

Friday Frustration on Scrapbook Saturday....because...

...you guessed it! It's Friday and I'm trying to use my sewing machine for scrapbooking. Here's the story:

You've heard it before. I just can't seem to get the knack of my sewing machine. But, I'm determined to master it. I'll give it another month or so. By then, I'll either have figured it out or not.

So, last week, I had a couple little "wins" with my sewing machine. First of all, thanks to my friend, Nancy E., I was able to change the thread. She told me that the easiest way to do it is to tie the new thread to what is already in the machine and then just pull it through. OMGosh! Game changer. I was feeling pretty good about that.

I made this and was excited!

Okay, so I only sewed about a 4" line. It was a start. 

Next, I decided to make a shaker box.

Okay, it's not perfect, but I did it. Also, I learned that I need to leave a little bigger opening to get all of the sequins and shaker stuff inside. Lesson learned.

My original plan was to sew across the whole thing to adhere the chipboard "joy" and "Christmas" at the same time. But then I realized if I did that, then the shaker stuff wouldn't be able to "shake." Lesson #2 learned. Still, I'm happy with the results.

Next, I made this--sewing across the word like I wanted to do above. I'm still not really good at keeping everything straight, but it will do. 

You can see where I went off the chipboard on the side. No where near perfect, but it's okay.

I made this so that it will lift up to show the journaling underneath. But, there was one problem with that.

I realized that the bottom thread color matters. It should have been white. It's so messy looking. Plus, you can see how something is not quite right. I don't think there's anything I can do about it now. Lesson #3 learned--bottom thread matters when it's going to be seen. 

Just these little things took me 3 hours!! This sewing is really time consuming! 

Several days have gone by. Yesterday was the day I was going to continue with my "self-taught" sewing skills. 

I started off okay. I stitched straight down the center of a large heart. It went perfectly and the line was straight too. Off to a good start. 

Next, I wanted to simply sew 3 letters together: D E C (for December). I realized that I needed to figure out a way to hold them together while I sewed them. I used washi tape. I quickly realized that since one side is sticky, it was sticking to the machine. Of course, it's tape after all! So, I had to put more tape on the backside. Then I realized that I cannot sew in mid-air. So, I put a thin strip of cardstock to sew on. 

Once I finished, I cut off the green strip and removed the tape. This is what it looked like:

The tape ripped off some of the cardstock--plus, I don't like how it turned out. So, I tried another way.

I tried taping the letters down. That didn't work. Oh, and amidst all of this trial an error, the needle came unthreaded! I was sewing without thread. Then, I turned the wrong "wheelie" thing--there are two of those on the side of my machine. Suddenly, I went from a straight stitch to a zig-zag. Okay, that was lesson #4--pay attention to the "wheels."

Amidst all of this, I had to stop and cut more letters on the Cricut. At least I have mastered that!

Next I tried this:

This worked okay. But when I cut it, it came out like this:

Okay, I still don't really like it. Then I tried this:

Thought I might as well try the zigzag. Maybe a little better, but can you see that black thing? Yeah, it's the black thread from the backside. So, I did this:

I tried to "color" the thread with a white pen. That didn't work!

When it was all said and done, I have this:

I don't like any of them. My head is spinning from looking at it. Now it just looks like I tried to spell DECK and forgot the "K"! It's going to be back to the drawing board today.

Sewing. All for the love of scrapbooking!!

Ten Things Thursday

How about some Fall foliage? 

This one looks more like a painting.

Just had lunch yesterday at Nancy's. She used napkins and plates very similar to this scene. Very pretty.

And then we are dealing with our own leaves here. Our pool was all brand new and looked so good. We have been fighting the leaves even while the renovations were still underway. The guys doing the work were out here ever day to keep them out of the pool. Now Butch is doing it. This mess is the day AFTER our lawn people were here and blew all the leaves. It's constant every day.

The reason we're--and when I say "we," I really mean Butch--are trying to stay on top of the leaves is because of this:

They are staining the brand new deck!! Our pool guy says there is cleaner that will clean it off. But, for crying out loud--we haven't even been able to enjoy it yet and now we have to spend money cleaning it with a special cleaner--and whatever it costs to have it done--which will be a lot! 

It's always somethin'!