Scrapbook Saturday

I've been making a few things: 

I decided to stitch this title for my August layout. I'm excited about this color combination.

I created these titles with my Cricut electronic cutting machine.

They were really fun. The top one--America the Beautiful was a free cut file. It took about 5 minutes to cut due to all of the little stars. The pool title was a cut file that I paid 99 cents for. Someone did all the work, all I had to do was cut the parts and assemble. I designed the "our Christmas tree" one based on and idea I saw. Same goes for "Haunted house." They were available for purchase, but since all the parts are separate, it was easy to just make it myself. I feel like I've already used this Cricut more than I used the original one that I had for nearly 20 years. The other thing I love about this Cricut is that I can use all of my computer fonts with it. But, all of the cartridges I bought years ago, have been "loaded" into my account, so I have those available to use too. 

On this layout, I used the negative space from the "America the Beautiful" title from above for the title on this page. 

It's all fun!

Friday Funnies

It's That Time of Year

First day of school pictures! Kids are starting earlier and earlier every year. When I was a kid, school started after Labor Day. Actually, that was because the schools didn't have air conditioners back then. Somewhere along the line, school started earlier and earlier in August. Now it's the beginning of August for most kids. Sure makes the summer go fast.

I always love the first day of school pictures.

Nathan--4th grade.

Travis--7th grade.

Evie--7th grade--Josie--3rd.

They are growing up too fast!! I hope they all have a great school year.

And then there's this:

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

I'm a smart person, but not only wise.

Exactly why I'm not wise!

Travel Tuesday

So, last week, we went to Atlanta and picked up Sandy for her turn to be pampered at the beach. 

We started with a "selfie" in the car. Since this whole trip is about Sandy, I let her ride in the front.

Our first stop was the "little white house" in Warm Springs, GA--summer home of FDR.

This was the portrait that was being painted when he died.

This is the chair he was sitting in when he passed out. He died a little later.

It was a great tour--well, except one of the docents was a little long-winded. I kinda' understand it, because we were the only ones there. Another group showed up, so I sort of told the docent that we were going to go and let her help the new people. We then made our escape!

After touring the little white house, we had lunch at an old hotel turned restaurant. It was a buffet with good 'ol country cooking--lots of veggies.

After lunch, we browsed a shop. Turns out it was going out of business. Everything in the store was half-price! Let's just say we did some damage!

Once we got to the beach, we didn't take any more pictures. We went to our favorite restaurants--Stinky's Fish Camp--just Sandy and me as Butch was working; Papa Surf's for burgers--Butch's first time too; we ordered Pizza by the Sea (always); and then we went to her favorite---The Perfect Pig. 

We got pedicures, we got in the pool, we played games, we got ice cream, we had happy hour on the porch and we watched a couple shows. Oh, and then Sandy and I did some more shopping at the outlet mall. Again, we hit some super sales, so I (we) treated her to some fun new things. 

All in all, it was a lot of fun just having her to ourselves. That never happens! it's about time!

Me on Monday

So, at the beach, Sandy, Butch and I started watching a documentary on Prime called The Great World Fair about the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. 

It was super interesting, and a little boring in a few places. Just keepng it real!

But, I learned a bunch of new fun facts:

1904 St. Louis World's Fair--7 months long. Originally, it was going to be 600 acres, but then they doubled it to 1200 because they wanted it to be bigger than the Chicago's World Fair. 1200 acres is 13 times larger than Disney World's Magic Kingdom!

There were many foods invented at the fair:

Ice cream cone--turns out, it wasn't invented, but popularized.

peanut butter

hamburgers

hotdogs

sliced bread

pickles

iced tea

puffed rice

Considering we take all of those foods for granted, it's interesting to know that they were invented in my hometown!

There were only two beers available--Budweiser and Falstaff. This interested me because Falstaff no longer exists, but it was my dad's favorite.

Then this:

St. Louis had the world's largest pipe organ---it contained 60,000 pipes, 1600 keys, and 5 keyboards. It was bought by Wannamaker in Philadelphia after the fair. Wannamaker is now Lord & Taylor and you can still hear the organ  twice a day.

Okay, that's enough! If you get a chance, it's worth a watch.

Something for Sunday

So. You might recall my battle with the wildlife in our yard. This is what the rabbits are still doing.

They are picking off all of the leaves of the houseplants I brought outside. I keep moving them around and trying to hide them in the landscaping, but the rabbits keep finding them. 

This was one that was destroyed earlier, but you can see how it is coming back.

You can tell that the rabbit was scared off before finishing. 

Butch caught him in the act! He watched and saw that they only ate the stems and left the leaves. I don't get it. When I have a salad, I prefer the leaves and sometimes leave the stems. This rabbit and I could be lunch partners!

I have really hidden the plants within the bushes this time. I'm anxious to see if the rabbits found them--when I get home. 

Now we have another problem.

This leaf is from a really old tree---about 50 or 60 feet tall. Some of the branches actually hang over the sunroom. In fact, when we changed insurance companies many years ago, they are charging us more because of the tree--even though we got a statement from our arborist saying that the tree was strong and not in danger of falling on the house. 

You might recall that this magnolia came down several years ago. Well, this is the only picture I have of the huge tree that I'm talking about now. It's there at the top of this photo in all its glory. You can see how big and wide it is.

Anyway, this leaf creeps me out. I don't know if it's something that can spread to our other trees (or if it already has). I had the arborist out but thought he would let me know when he was coming so I could talk to him. Instead, he came and did an inspection while we were at the beach. He gave me an estimate on cleaning up and trimming out all of our trees. I used to have him do it every year. It's very costly. And now, since I quit having it done every year, you can imagine how much it will be. I sent him an email saying that I want to just address the immediate needs--which includes this tree. If it needs to be removed I can't imagine what it will cost. Plus, it's a beautiful old tree and will leave quite a hole in our landscaping! I hope it doesn't come to that. I want him to tell me that this is just some sort of sign of age and is not detrimental. Somehow, I know that's wishful thinking. 

We have been battling wildlife for nearly 30 years of living here--29 to be exact. Here are all the animals that have done damage or caused me stress over the years:

1. Groundhog--right after we finished landscaping the sideyard, a groundhog went through and raised up most of the stepping stones. I learned that you just can't step on the mounds to make them go back down. I actually saw it once and it freaked me out.

2. Mice--under and in the house. I had filled up the space around the pond that sits on the patio with styrofoam peanuts. When we changed the landscaping bricks to the limestone we have now, the styrofoam was all gone---every last peanut. The mice relocated them under the house. We had a repairman tell us that we had styrofoam peanuts under the house, so that's how we knew they went there. We're told they last in landfills for thousands of years.

3. Skunks--I knew we had them under the house because I could smell them. We had the "Critter-Ridder" out to relocate them. We found out that we also had.. 

4. Opossums--under the house because they cohabitate with skunks.

5. Deer--who ate ground cover down to the ground in the sideyard.

6. Bats--in the belfry.

7. Snakes--well, I guess they are good for the garden, but they still bother me--a lot.

8. Moles--more times than we can count. This time they have destroyed the entire yard and beds. The last time we had the mole-in-nator out, he charged $25.00 per mole. I'll probably need to call him soon.

9. Grubs--because that's what the moles are feeding on.

10. Squirrels--who ate through the lead pipes on the roof causing leaks inside the house, destroyed the bird feeders, and pulled tile off the side of the pool. 

11. Chipmunks--tearing up the flower planters.

12. Rabbits--well you know about them. 

It's always somethin'!

Scrapbook Saturday

I've been wanting to do this layout for a long time--all of Sandy and family homes. Their first two apartments are missing because I didn't have any photos of them.

I cut this very intricate title from the Cricut. I'm really using it a lot--so easy to operate with all of my own fonts.

This one is about Mindy's cup addiction.

I cut that "America the Beautiful" from the Cricut too. It took a long time since there was so much detail with all of those tiny hearts.

This was Sandy and Greg's apartment before they were able to move on the base. 

Friday Funnies

Ten Things Thursday

Butch and I celebrated 53 years yesterday. So I thought it was only fitting that I share some old houses and then the "after." I wish we could get a refresh like this!

 I never get tired of looking at these and am always amazed!