Our 'sign' worked! :->

   In THIS posting, I had mentioned how our neighbors had workmen working at their house. Very early Monday morning of last week, the neighbors had left. Very shortly thereafter, workmen started arriving. I'm talking arriving before 7 a.m. And they started right in pounding and talking loudly. Grumble, grumble, but tolerable.
    The neighbors were gone all week, and the workmen were there every single day. From 6:30 a.m. till usually 10p.m. or later. One day they installed all new windows. They kept working on the inside of the house by their driveway side door. And on their garage. Not sure what all they were doing.
   They had roped off the front yard and put hand made signs up, warning about lead. Yet we never saw any workers wearing masks, let alone the white suits and all which usually accompany lead pain removal. So we're curious about all of that. Especially since everything came down Saturday evening and the neighbors came home on Sunday. But then after they (the neighbors) left Monday morning, the workers again arrived, put the ribbons, etc.up, and went back to work. Before they left that afternoon, everything came down. And then went back up when they returned the next morning. In the in between time, the neighbors had been home for the evening and night. And thus it has continued on this week. I tell you, it's quite perplexing!
     During all of the work over there, the workers put new siding on the garage. We think that might be where all of our mice came from. A couple of weeks ago they had had the garage roofed. Now it's sided. In the mean time, we think it's occupants (mice) left there and moved in here. I'll be telling you more about all of that soon. (I showed our trapping technique HERE)
    But back to all of the work men.
    The first two days they were there, the temp's were in HIGH numbers, and so were the humidity levels. (So glad that both dropped!). We had windows open, appreciating any cross ventilation we could get. The problem became, that either a lot of the workers smoked, or a couple of them chain smoked. There was constantly cigarette smoke wafting into our home. :-{
     As many of you know, I have allergy induced asthma. And cigarette smoke is a definite inducer for me! :-/.  Benson has a different type of challenges with his lungs. And cigarette smoke sets his off too :-/. I did NOT want to be rude, nor aggravate the workers.... but there had to be some way to get the situation changed ....
      I thought and thought about it, and then came up with a 'plan'. Don't moan! IT worked!!! :-)
      I picked a bright yellow/goldish colored piece of paper and wrote my note on it. I stuck the note inside a page protector sheet. Then using twistie ties (like come on bags of bread) I hung the note from the railing at their the end of our porch, only two feet (if that) from their driveway.
    Here's a picture:

    Like I said, it worked!! :-D !!! :->
    Even though the temps dropped and it wouldn't have been as miserable to close our windows, we didn't have to. We never smelled cigarette smoke inside the house again.
     And we must not have ticked anybody off, because the guys were very friendly when they came and asked for access to our back yard so they could do this side of the neighbors garage. And even when we would call out that we needed to let Boo out. They'd chuckle, thank us, and request that we let them know when we take him back in.
    Once the workers stop showing up every day, I'll take the sign down. But in the mean time, I'm ever so thankful that it worked!!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Next week, I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:
~ "the simple things", are hosted by Rebecca, at 'simple as that' (http://rebeccacooper.blogspot.com/). 
~ "True Story Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Rachel, at 'Once Upon A Miracle'  (http://tris-adventures.blogspot.com/).
  ~  "Wordful Wednesday('s)" (the picture variety), are hosted by Angie, at 'Seven Clown Circus'  (http://sevenclowncircus.com)
  ~ "What I Whipped Up Wednesday('s)", are hosted by Kimmie, at 'Sugar and Dots' (http://www.sugaranddots.com). 

Smiles, even at midnight

    In THIS recent posting, I had commented, "Oh the smiles they have given me, seeing them sitting there like that. Even at midnight. But that is in an upcoming posting ....
   This then is that promised posting.
   One night, due to prompting from my bladder, I got up right at midnight.
   This is the smile that greeted me as I passed through the kitchen. I had to stop and capture it!

                                          (click on picture to see it clearer)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to: 
~  "Window Views", are hosted by MaryT/TheTeach, at 'Window Views...and doors too!'  (http://windowviews2.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Wordless (or Wordful) Wednesday('s)", are hosted by Lolli, at 'Better in Bulk' (http://betterinbulk.net).
~ "Wordless (or not so wordless) Wednesday('s)", are hosted by kewkew, at 'Tots and Me' (http://totsandme.blogspot.com/).
  ~  "Wordful Wednesday('s)" (the picture variety), are hosted by Angie, at 'Seven Clown Circus'  (http://sevenclowncircus.com),

Whit and Wisdoms from Brian

copied and pasted here from his Face-book page -

""Oh, no!" Never in his life had he seen anything like it. How anyone could have survived he did not know. He could only hope that somewhere amid the overwhelming destruction he would find his 16-year-old son. Only the slim hope of finding Billy kept him from turning and fleeing the scene. Walking was virtually impossible with so many things strewn across his path. He moved ahead slowly. "Billy! Billy!" he whispered to himself. He tripped and almost fell several times. He heard someone, or something, move. Perhaps, he was just hoping he did. He shook his head and felt his gut tighten. There was some light but not enough to see very much. Something cold and wet brushed against his hand. He jerked it away. In desperation, cried out, "Billy!" From a nearby pile of unidentified material. "Yes, Dad," he said, in a voice so weak it could hardly be heard."It's time to get up and get ready for school," the man sighed, "and, for heaven's sake, clean up this room!"

More Smiles and a baiting tip -

     What I posted yesterday, was titled 'Smile producers this morning'. Sometimes, it's the simplest, most basic things which can produce smiles. Yesterday afternoon and this morning held a couple more.
     One afternoon about two weeks ago, Benson and I were sitting in the living room watching something, when we spotted something shoot past under one living room window, and disappear behind the old radio. All my vertigo eyes saw, was a gray blur. Benson's eyes saw that it was a mouse. "Oh Great!" Been there, had those before. Thankfully, not very often in this house, but extremely frequently in one of our previous homes.
     I had told Brian about it, so last week Friday night, we had stopped in at Menard's(R) hoping to pick up mouse traps, amongst a couple of other items. Mouse traps are a basic kind of thing that you should be able to pick up at any 'ole hardware type of store, right? That's what we had thought. Man were we surprised to learn that they don't currently carry the good 'ole wood based, metal spring type of mouse traps, pictured below.

       Don't get me wrong, they did carry mouse killing products. They had a couple of different type of non-reusable enclosed traps, at $3 something each. And they carried a variety of what some deem the 'more humane' glue strips. As well as a large variety of mouse poison pellets. But they had not a single old wood based, metal spring style mouse trap. Nor did they have a space for them on the large end cap, where the rest of the products were available. Weird!
    My 'two cents worth' is, that I don't want to spend over $3 dollars just to kill a mouse. That if a mouse is dumb enough to enter my home, I want it killed, not making a racket due to being stuck to a glue strip. And I would rather find the mouse dead, connected to the wooden base, than randomly laying keeled over someplace, once the poison pellets it ate took effect.
     By the way, what is 'humane' about trapping a live mouse on a glue strip?!? Are you really suppose to somehow pick the live mouse with the attached glue strip up, take it out side, peel it free from the strip, wash it's feet off, and then let it go free? Really?!?!?!!! With out getting bit? And once free, can you also get the mouse to sign a contract to not again enter your home (or your neighbors), once it again starts the cold rains? I mean come on. It had the audacity to enter my home, thereby signing away it's right to life in my book. Mice are only cute in Disney type movies people!
     And a quick story (HONEST! o;-p) about the poison pellets. This story took place one of the times that we were doing food at our church's lodge over the course of a weekend, for some retreat. We had been in the lodge the night before, cooking and serving food. When I got there the next morning, there was the mouse we had had glimpses of a couple of times, laying dead on the floor, a few inches in front of the stove. It looked like it had been sniffing along and then just keeled over. Oh my goodness! "Ummm Brian... did you hear any complaints about what we served yesterday?"  "No-o, why?" "Come take a look at this...." He got rid of the carcass, and we silently kept our ears peeled to see if any one talked about having gotten sick. . . . .
     At church the NEXT weekend, the guy who is overseer for the lodge came up to Brian, questioning if we had seen many mice. He had gone in the week before and put out some poison.... He found Brian's tale HILARIOUS!!!! But then apologized profusely to me....  I did find the coinsidence yet another sign of God's sense of humorus timing.

    Any-ways, back to the mouse currently in our house.
    I think it was very early Thursday morning, I had gotten up to use the bathroom. As I started back through the dining room, I glanced over at Boo's water and food bowls. This is a normal thing for me to do. He often empties his bowl late at night, and I have found it best to just check it periodically. There, sitting behind the bowls, was a mouse. I had startled it as much as it startled me. Just wasn't planning on seeing a mouse sitting there. I didn't scream. Don't know that I ever have over mice. Not even the time that one ran up the length of my sleeping bag with me inside of it, at camp that one year... didn't want to wake my campers!!!
    The mouse behind Boo's bowl, took off behind the hutch and I made a mental note that we HAD to get traps, and to set them behind the radio and the hutch.
     Yesterday afternoon we went to Meijer's(R). Sure enough, they had the right kind of traps. :-) (Thank-you Benson for finding them!)
      After my nap, I set them. Not two hours later, I heard the one in the dining room go off. Boo's head snapped up! Daisy headed in to investigate. Sure enough. We had caught one. :-D (Brent, thank-you for emptying it for me. ;->)
      Later, I reset it. Immediately after getting up this morning, I checked both. Both are full :-D. Our arrangement is, that I set them and Brian empties them. So tonight we shall both due our respective duties and try again. I sent out the party invite to all spiders and bugs - guess I should have listed mice as well. ;-p

      Thought some of you might be interested in my highly efficient, even if left sitting for months, trap baiting tip.
      Good 'ole Nestle(R) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Honest!

                          (click on the picture if you need to, to see it clearer)

     Just wedge a chip in under the teeth part of the trap. The mouse gets confident nibbling on the top, wants more, then BANG! S-e-l-d-o-m are they able to eat the whole thing with out the trap nailing them. ;->  And unlike cheese, the chocolate chip is still enticing a couple of months down the road, should it turn out you've caught all the ones currently in your home and you leave it set 'just in case'.  And unlike peanut butter, the chips don't leave a mess on the board, so unless the mouse does, you can keep reusing the traps. :->

    Yup, you NEVER know what I'll come up with to post about, huh?  o;-p
 

Smile producers this morning -

     Those of you whom personally know me, know that I am more of a 'country girl' at heart. True, except for one year of my adult life, I have always lived in the city. That is due to where the Lord has placed us. The true inner me, is not a 'city girl'!
     Just to make sure you understand, I would like to expound on something for a minute here. When I say I'm a 'country girl', I do NOT mean the cutesie country decorating style that was oh so popular for awhile. (Actually it still is to some people. Why not? If you like something, stick with it. Your home is suppose to be YOUR comfort zone.) What I am referring to, means the area where there isn't a MickyD's with in a five minute drive. And if you find that your out of something, you have two choices - borrow it from a neighbor, or come up with plan 'B', cause there's no such thing as a quick run to the store.
      I clearly remember one time in particular, when Robin P. and I were out on one of our "therapy days". She was driving, and had chosen the back roads option to get us to where we were headed. The girl knows me! ;->  After we had been riding along for a bit, she looked over and commented about how relaxed I always get just riding through the country side. She then went on and questioned why I hadn't married a farmer. I had out right laughed, and then answered that I'd done the silly thing and married for love. ;-p
     I do find it amusing, that while the Lord currently has us living in the city, this round He did put us in an old farm house. It was the original farm house for this area, and a couple of miles out from the actual city in it's day. Our indoor bathroom and the kitchen were added on in the 20's, when most of the big houses around us were built. And our big 'ole two story garage, really had been the carriage barn.

     Now that you know all of that about me, you'll understand why, while doing some more of my 'detective work' this morning, for blogs whom host link-up parties, I was ever so thrilled (literally!) when I found one titled 'Barn Charm'. :-D!!!
     'Barn Charm' is a party held on Monday's. It's hostess is Tricia, from 'Bluff Area Daily'   (http://bluffareadaily.blogspot.com/). Tricia states, "Can't wait to see your barns this week.". Oh my goodness. How cool is that?!!
     I scrolled down through the pictures linked up last week, smiling ear to ear while doing so. Sigh. Now anytime I just need a smile, I can go to 'Amy's Creative Side' (http://amyscreativeside.com/) and look at the pictures of all of the quilts linked up to her twice yearly parties. Or I can go to Tricia's 'Bluff Area Daily' and look at barns. Nice!
      Yes, there's other things available out there too.... these two are just what's warming my heart and smile this morning. Them and the sunshine coming through my window. ;->

     A few years ago, I had found this picture on line and used it as a back ground for our previous blog. I thought I'd include it here, seeings how I'm posting about barns and it's this close to the 4th of July. ;->

                                   (I had found it on line HERE)


  So,  what's bringing smiles to your face this morning?

STRAWBERRY Muffins :->

    Last week Monday, Kate came over and we did some baking. This time*, one of the things we chose to try, was these Strawberry Cupcakes I had stumbled across the recipe to on-line. As I just went back to the site that I found them on, so as I could give proper credit where credit is due, I also discovered that this recipe has been hopping around the internet via quite a trail of people whom have posted it. Each one tweaking it to their own style in some manner.
    Annie, of 'Annie's Home' had posted it HERE on June 13th. Annie's is where I had found it. She had found the recipe at Mags, 'The Other Side of Fifty', when she had posted it HERE.  Mags had stated, that she had found the recipe at Cathy's 'Noble Pig' blog, when Cathy had posted it HERE. Cathy shared that she had found the recipe on the blog 'Culinary Wannabe', when it's owner had posted it HERE. 'Culinary Wannabe' shared that she had found the recipe on the side of her yogurt container. She had also shared that she had skeptically tried them, thinking they would be very healthy due to being made with both whole wheat and yogurt.
    By the time I found the recipe, it no longer contained yogurt. And by the time we finished with them, they no longer contained whole wheat. Nor were the ingredients used in them, the 'low fat' variety that most of the earlier blogs had stated they used. But you know what, whether we should have been or not, we were okay with that. o;-p The only other thing that I'm going to say is, they were/are such moist yumminess!!!!

    About the "*" by the "this time" in the first paragraph. Kate is leaving this area near the end of July. She is headed to a medical college east of here, to become a doctor.  In the mean time, we are going to do some fun cooking/baking times together. :-D
    I have so GOT to get over this 'Ms. Vertigo' period of my life. First Amanda had headed off to and then stayed in part of Indiana. Then Byron had headed off to and ended up staying in part of Illinois. And now Kate is headed off, yet another direction. ALL of them at least 3 1/2 hours from here!! Mercy! I need to stop being 'Ms. Vertigo' and get o/~ "On the road again ... "baking goodies with my friends" (o;-p)" o/~

    Per Reva's request, it's pictures first and then the recipe. :->  And for what it's worth Reva, Kate says she is VERY glad that you have requested I do it this style. ;->

    Measure the amount of sugar you are using (as in, if you are making a single recipe, or tripling it like we did) into your mixing bowl, set the required amount of butter on top, and microwave it to melt the butter.

    Blend the sugar and butter together thourally. Add the vanilla, eggs (remembering to break the yolks with the side of the shell, so they are ever so much easier to blend in), and then the sour cream. Mix/blend everything thourally.

     Dump half of your required amount of flour onto the mixture in the bowl. Add ALL of the baking soda, placing it on top of the not yet mixed in flour, in approximately the middle of the flour. Gently sort of blend the flour and baking soda together first, before then blending them in with the rest of the already mixed together ingredients.

    Add the rest of the flour and blend well.
    It's time to cut up your fresh strawberries (although this winter I will most likely be trying this recipe using frozen strawberries).  First thing you do is cut off the stems.
     Secondly, you thinly slice them one direction.

      Then, as though your starting all over, thinly slice them the other direction, thus creating nice little chunks.

       Dump the chopped up strawberries on top of the mixture in the mixing bowl.

       Have Kate start blending it all together ;->

       She did a good job - doesn't this look yummy?  It was, we h-a-d to try a spoon (or two o;-p) full.

       Lots of people use papers to bake their muffins in. I use them for cupcakes, but not for muffins.  Instead, I just spray the muffin pans extra heavily... Look closely (you might need to click on the picture to see it better), see how the six cups on the right have a white coating on them, but the ones on the left don't? Just trying to show you what I mean by 'spray your muffin cups heavily'. ( <-- Bonus tip there ;->)

       Yes, I did spray the rest of the cups before we put batter in them.

       After they have been out of the oven for about five minutes, ever - so -gently - with either your finger tips of a super thin knife, pop the muffins up out of the pans, then put them back in on their sides, to cool completely. Or, you could set them on wire racks.

        We 'sacrificed' and tried them rather fresh from the oven, topped with butter, that melted right down into them. Our vote? Yummy!   We tried them a couple hours later, after they had cooled. Still Yummy!!  And I have just tried some, straight out of Tupperware(R), which had been in the refrigerator.... Still Yummy!!! :-D

     And now, with out further ado, our version of the
             Strawberry Muffins
                     recipe adapted by Cheryl B. and Kate F.
        This is a tripe batch recipe - it made 1 shy of 3 and 1/2 dozen muffins.

    1 1/2 cups White Sugar
     2 cups Butter*
     3 teaspoons Vanilla
     6 Large Eggs
     3 cups Sour Cream
     6 cups Regular White Flour
     4 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
     3 to 5 cups small chunks of Fresh Strawberries
               (depending on whether you like LOTS of fruit in your muffins or not. We do!)

    *Butter = turned out there was a slight miscalculation in figuring out how much butter to add - a stick equals HOW much?  For the record, one stick of margarine or butter equals 1/2 cup. So one solid block of butter from GFS = 2 cups.  Tripling the recipe should have meant we would add 3/4 cups, or one and one half sticks. Two whole sticks were added. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing though, because the batter itself was very thick and sticky... and would have been all the more so with less butter.

       Mix your ingredients together in this order - sugar and butter; then add your vanilla; then your eggs and sour cream; then half of your flour and the baking soda; then the rest of the flour; then add the strawberries; making sure you mix/blend in every addition thourally.

     HEAVILY spray your muffin cups with pan coating spray, before filling them 3/4ths of the way full.
      Bake in a preheated 375 degrees oven for 18 to 20 minutes -
                   until tops are golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.

      Five minutes after removing them from the oven, pop them out of their cups.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
  I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to: 
~ "Recipe Swap Sunday('s)" are hosted by Cassity, at 'Remodelacholic' (http://www.remodelaholic.com)
~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven' (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
  ~  "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes'  (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/).
~ "Tuesday's Tasty Tidbits", hosted by Susan, at 'Permanent Posies - Creative Chaos' (http://permanentposies.com/) 
~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace' (http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com).
~ "Recipe Swap Thursday('s)", hosted by Alison, at 'Prairie Story' (http://prairiestory.blogspot.com/) 
~ "Full Plate Thursday('s)", hosted by Miz Helen, at 'Miz Helen's Country Cottage' (http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/)
 ~  "Foodie Friday('s)" (# 1),  hosted by "Gollum" (aka: Michael), at 'Designs by Gollum'  (http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/)
~ "Foodie Friday('s)" (#2), are hosted by Bianca, at 'Little Brick Ranch' (http://www.littlebrickranch.com/)

Late addition('s):
~ "These Chicks Cooked", hosted by Katie, at 'This Chick Cooks' (http://thischickcooks.blogspot.com/)
~ "Fresh Food Friday and Seasonal Saturday('s)", are hosted by Roz, at 'la bella vita' ( http://bellavita-bellasblog.blogspot.com/)

Something's not right here... ;-p

   You know how sometimes you look at something and your brain registers that something's just not right about what your seeing? Well, that's been going on for awhile now, with something we see on the corner of our neighbor's house. At first, it truly was a 'am I seeing what I think I'm seeing' situation. And we found it kind of amusing.
    Now however, as you can see by the picture, there's no denying what your seeing, and we find it considerably amusing.
    Here's what we're seeing -

                        (click on the picture to get an ever better view)
      The vine seems to have grown UP their drains down spout.
      They have workmen working on their house this week. They had been working on the interior. But I just heard what sounded like a chain saw start up, and overheard a conversation about how he had picked up a weed whip, etc..  Shall be interesting to see if it's still hanging there when they leave.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Next week, I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:
~ "the simple things", are hosted by Rebecca, at 'simple as that' (http://rebeccacooper.blogspot.com/).
~ "Show and Tell Challenge('s)", are hosted by Chelsey, at 'Paper Heart Cameras' (http://paperheartcamera.blogspot.com).
  ~  "True Story Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Rachel, at 'Once Upon A Miracle'  (http://tris-adventures.blogspot.com/).
~  "Outdoor Wednesday('s)", are hosted by Susan, at 'A Southern Daydreamer'  (http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ )

Yo Gabba Gabba!(R) Live Tour

     Oh the things I find, while doing my 'detective' work looking for more 'blog theme day's', to include in our next 'round-up' of them.
      This 'find' caught my eye, due to my status as a grandma. (I LOVE that status!!) I had followed a lead to the blog 'Carrie With Children' (http://www.carriewithchildren.com/). Back on May 23rd, Carrie had done a posting, notifying everyone that this years 'Yo Gabba Gabba!(R)' tour schedule was due to be revealed the next day. Carrie had also provided a link to the site. I had to go see ....
      As most of you know, our 2 year old grand daughter is totally hooked on 'Elmo(R)'. That does not however mean that she has dropped her first such 'hooking', which was to 'Yo Gabba Gabba!'. If she can't get you to turn on Elmo, then she tries for Yo Gabba Gabba!!! ;-p
      I was curious, was the tour going to be in ours or their corners of the world? My second question was, when?!  And then there was of course the third question, how much were tickets?

      The answer to my first question was, not exactly, but not far, from them at least.
      The answer to my second question, was that the tour doesn't even start till mid September. It then runs through mid December. Hitting a lot of different cities along the way.
       The answer to my third question, was found by following a link on the sites posted schedule.
                                  (I found the picture HERE on line)

                                      'Yo Gabba Gabba! Live Tour' 
                                       (http://www.yogabbagabbalive.com/)

    o/~ "All-rig-ht, Let's re-view now..." o/~
       If you have young children whom like 'Yo Gabba Gabba!', or, if you too currently have young grand children, then you might want to check this information out for yourself. ;->

A Wedding Reception

    Two Sunday's ago, we had the privilege of attending our friends sons (actually, the son is our friend too...) wedding reception.  The couple had actually gotten married on New Years. A couple of things about that -
     First, they were both college students. And due to various circumstances, it was going to work out best, if they shared an apartment for second semester. But due to their strong beliefs, the only way they would do that, was if they were married. They had been dating for quite a while ... they both had in mind that they eventually would get married... so they did a super short engagement prior to their wedding.
     The second thing is, that while the engagement period was super short, and only immediate family was invited to the ceremony, they did dress it up a bit. The pictures that they had shared on facebook were really cute! The bride had a cute white dress, with a white fur stole(?), and carried blue flowers. The guys didn't wear suits, but their blue ties did match the brides and her bridesmaids flowers.  And the flower girl looked adorable. Yeah, I know, I should have gotten pictures from them to include on here. Sorry!

     Since the ceremony itself had only been for the immediate family, they had a delayed reception two weeks ago, which friends were invited to. It was a low key affair. Grilled burgers and dogs, with picnic style side dishes, set up graduation open house style, in the grooms dad's garage and accompanying canopys.
       While the bride did wear a really nice dress, I told her that I was disappointed she hadn't wore her wedding dress. She said that she had debated it...   The groom did wear his white shirt and blue tie.  They were so cute to watch. They both get rather embarrassed easily... The grooms dad had prepared a kind of short little talk about Biblical principles to keep in mind in a marriage. But he had the couple standing up front while he gave it, and it was obvious they weren't comfortable being watched like that. It was cute!

       While the menu was picnic theme, they did have blue and white decorations about, and they did have a real wedding cake. :-)  Man were they nervous and cute feeding that to one another! ;-p

      The grooms dad is a master gardener. Seriously so. In-fact, this now past Saturday, he was hosting Michigan Hosta Gardeners Show, on their well planted, fully labeled, weaving paths gardens.
      So it seemed fitting that the 'favors' the couple handed out to their guests were decorated little flower pots. No, they didn't contain hostas, they contained adorable little flowers. The sides of the pots had fabric style white daisy's glued on them (tiny silk ones had been scattered down the tables).
     The flower pots were just so-o cute!  I of course wanted a pink flowered one. As did Brian and Benson, or so they were told. o;-p.
     Seeings how the little clay pots the flowers were in had small holes in the bottom, I sat the three of them in a container in my kitchen window and added a small amount of water to it.

     Aren't they cute?!?!!!!!!

     Oh the smiles they have given me, seeing them sitting there like that. Even at midnight. But that is in an upcoming posting ....
     They probably should be replanted outside .... but I'm not willing yet to move them from such easy and continual viewing ...

     Jason and Lyndsey, Thanks for letting us make your list! We enjoyed ourselves. And we were thrilled to see the obvious love shining out of your eyes for one another. Work at keeping it there!

     Don and Pam, we like your new daughter-in-love. And it was GREAT seeing you two that day too!

Another edition of 'Whit and Wisdom's from Brian'

copied and pasted here from his face-book page -

             "If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?"

                 (is he speaking words of whit or wisdom to her here?  ;->)

Good for you AND good tasting?

   Ann Marie and Alisha from 'Get Buttoned Up', had inquired if I would be interested in doing another product review for one of their patrons. My reply had been, "Sure. Why not."  The package had arrived the day that we were leaving for our grand daughter's 2nd birthday party, so I had nicely tucked it away.
    You guessed it, out of sight is out of mind. But as we know, the Lord does work in mysterious ways. The other evening, Brian was out at church seeing to some of his janitorial duties, we planned on eating whenever it was he got done and got home. But in the mean time, I got hungry. I never know just how long things are going to take him. I didn't want to fix too much to eat, but not eating is not a good option for me either. So I went browsing. There wasn't many options... or at least not that sound appealing. Hum mmm. "But I really need to eat something!" As I was walking back out of the kitchen, planning to think on it for a bit, the Lord directed my eyes to that nicely tucked away box. "Okay then, I guess I'll try those."
                  
     I hadn't even opened the box the day it arrived, so I really had no idea what type of nutrition bars they were going to be. In my heart, I was hoping they weren't almond flavored, or mixed berries, or some other such flavor that I don't care for. Therefore, I opened the box with a bit of skepticism.  See, way to often, the above mentioned ARE what 'good for you' bars are made out of. That, combined with the fact that my experience has been, that the better they are for you, the drier, or blander, or just plain blahzay they are. But I did needed to eat something. And I had agreed to doing the review. And the Lord had brought the box to my attention. So open it I did. this is what I found.

     And then I smiled. 'yup Lord, yet again you have looked out for me'. They had sent me six bars. Three of one flavor, and three of another. And the flavors? 

                         (you can click on picture to see it clearer/better)
     Chocolate Fudge  and Peanut Butter Chocolate  - both things I like!  :->

     So I ate one that night. And another one a couple of days later, when a similar situation occurred. And thus far, I've eaten half of them. Two of one type, one of the other.
     My opinion?
     Surprisingly, pretty good! To the point that when the situation had happened the second time, my stomach gladly brought the bars to mind. ;-p.
     Both are chocolate coated. Personally, I think it's a bit flat tasting as chocolate goes, then again, I'm such a fan of the chocolate chips that come in those yellow bags.... yeah. o;-p  The peanut butter too was a bit flater tasting than my favorite brand (with the red label) is. But that having been said, while the flavors were a bit flat tasting, they honestly were not bad. I was not tempted to try salting them or anything. o;-p. And they aren't all dry like! A wonderful surprise!
      And to be completely honest, last night when Brian questioned if I would continue to eat them if he was to buy them at a store for me, my answer was yes. To continue with the honest part - he was considerably surprised.
     See, unlike him, I do like oats in things. And I do like peanut butter. And peanuts. And lots of other things, which they sometimes blend into what they dub as nutrition bars. And yet the majority of the time, I just do not care for the texture or the taste of the bars themselves. And I have yet to conquer eating something based solely on the fact that it's good for me, when I do NOT like the taste nor the texture of it. I could site examples, but this posting is about the Promax (TM) Bars.  o;-p!

     So, would I recommend that you too try them?  YES!
     More honesty here - I had originally figured I'd try a bite of whatever kinds they sent me, and then let Brian eat them. He's been being a good boy about eating such things, and he's been losing weight. Quite a bit actually! ( :-D) But after trying these, I'll let him buy some more of them for me. o;-b

    Let's see - my posting was suppose to cover a couple of different things.
       -  My opinion / review of the product. check.
       -  I am suppose to encourage people to enter the DOer Promax Contest. All-righty then.

       The name of their current contest is:
'I AM THE NEXT DOER: THE PROMAX BUILD YOUR OWN AD CONTEST'
  
       The contest is currently up and running and you only have until June 30th to enter. Now, don't think, 'that's not very long' and shrug it off!!!  Why not?  First of all, wouldn't it be fun to create an ad that would be used in a companies promo?  Secondly, it's quite the prize package they have lined up for the winner! And if you personally aren't interest in it, I have a son (or two...) that would be thrilled to go on the adventure on your behalf! ;-b! (IF the prize is transferable that is.)

     So how do you enter?  Glad ya asked!
   Here's a link to the contest page - www.facebook.com/promaxnutrition
   You then use the 'Next DOer tab' to go build your own ad.
   To submit an ad, you must upload an action photo of yourself and fill in the blanks (in a mad-lib format) for your own "run-on" sentence to be populated into an ad.
    The entry will then post on Pormax's web site, where views can leave comments and share links with friends via Facebook and Twitter.
   The links are available for public viewing here --> www.promaxnutrition.com/iamthenextdoer.

     AFTER June 30th, Promax will have an expert panel of judges select the top 20 entries. Voting will take place July 11 - 25th, 2011.

      And what is the prize package?
      "The winner will be featured in the 2012 "DOer" campaign and will win a 6-day action pack adventure weekend for two to Kauai, Hawaii. The winner will also receive a year's supply of Promax bars."
       The winner will be announced in August 2011.

     And now for some of the nutritional information about the bars -
     They are low sugar protein bars. They contain 18 grams of replenishing protein, 14 grams of fiber, only 9 grams of sugar, and is naturally sweetened with stevia (a plant that contains zero calories).
     They do NOT contain preservatives, any artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, gelatin or maltitol.
     They ARE gluten free, Kosher and vegetarian.
      For more on this part, visit the PromaxLS section of the Promax Nutrition website: http://www.promaxnutrition.com/products/ls-flavors.


(I am very confused as to why no matter what i do, the text herein is showing up in various sizes. SORRY!) 
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"For the Record"  Disclosure :
    Yes, We are being paid / compensated for doing this particular posting.
    First off, the nutrition bars were shipped to us completely free of charge. :-)
    Secondly, once this is posted, and they verify that it is, they will send our payment to us right away.
   Nice, huh?  ;-) 

Wonderful 'Pick It Here' directory!

   During the course of my continued blog 'theme day's' detective work, I came across something which I immediately knew I would be sharing with all of you. See, sometimes I stumble upon something that I share with this or that person, or this group of friends, for particular reasons. But this find was the type that could benefit lots of people. In-fact, it was something that I had often wished (in years past) I had access to. I knew there had to be this type of a thing!

    What am I talking about you ask?  (As though the title I put on this posting didn't give you a clue o;-p)
    When I stopped by Michelle, from 'Heartfelt Balance, Homemade Life' (http://heartfeltbalancehandmadelife.blogspot.com/) blog, I found a posting she had done about this web link, which contains all types of information about fresh produce.
    Things such as:
        - where what is ready for you to go pick in your area*
              (you can click HERE to go directly to that page)
        - picking tips
        - canning, freezing and making jam tips
        - finding canning equipment and supplies
        - to pumpkin patches, corn mazes and Christmas tree farms and lots. 

     The name of the site is 'Pick Your Own  . org' (http://www.pickyourown.org/).
  
      About the "*" by "area" - It lists local farms for the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Japan, Ireland, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Switzerland and Italy.

                            (I found this picture on line HERE)

     Ya know, one of these days I'm going to abandon my 'Ms. Vertigo' title and take full advantage of this site. Strawberries - to freeze and to make into jam. Blackberries - although the best ones really do grow wild in the woods and are always ripe around here around the 4th of July. Blueberries - freeze for adding to pancakes, and muffins, and pies. A-n-d .... Yumminess! (no, I don't care that spell check doesn't think that's really a word! crosses arms, making it challenging to type ... o;-p)

     Another ya know - this lead is right up there with the one about the mission type stores directory... that one was so good, we ended up adding a link to it, in a box down our side bar. I think I might just do the same with this one! ;->

Analyse's 2nd birthday - Part 4 - fun pictures from the party

     As you know, I'm just a 'bit' fond of our grand daughter. ;-p. As is her grandpa. And her uncles. And her "auntie"-to-be. And her other grandma. And her other 'aunties'. And .... 
     All of us just think that she is, adorable, impy, and loads of fun! So do her parents. Well, most of the time any ways. ;-b. But they definitely think she is a blessing!
     So we of course encourage who ever has the camera, to take lots of pictures of her. Aw the smiles they produce. Aw the wonderful memories connected to them!
     In this posting, I am going to be sharing a bunch of the pictures of her, from the weekend we were there for her 2nd birthday party. Don't worry. I haven't forgotten that other people were there as well. o;-p  And yes, I've included some fun pictures of some of them as well.
    I hope that you too get smiles from viewing these.

    First up - just a picture of her.  Don't you agree she's adorable? 

     Secondly - Like I made mention of in earlier postings, before the party started, she spent some time in grandpa's van, pretending that she was driving Uncle Benson someplace. She also found grandpa's stashed away bag of chips and nutrition bar. ;-p.  This is a picture of her attempting to program the 'Tom-Tom' which had captured her interest. Grandpa predicts that she'll get the hang of all of it's functions quicker than he does.

      Third up - a group shot of the Sesame Street Character Boards that I had made to be parts of her banners.

      Fourthly - I had also mentioned that we had been hit by a sudden down pour. Literally! Just after the official party starting time. It didn't start as sprinkles and then slowly build. It was sprinkle, sprinkle, POURING RAIN!!!
       The guys had already started cooking the burgers and hot dogs. On a charcoal grill. Yup.
       Here is the quick improvising cover Byron and Brent created.

        My guys gathered around a grill - who would have thought?  o;-p

        In an earlier posting, I had showed you a picture of Analyse (pronounced Auna-lease) happily playing in the rain. This however, is her reaction to the wind suddenly shifting the canopy/tent a bunch of us were under, and sending all of the rain off of it's roof down on her, in one big COLD splash.

      The one side of the tent can be down as a wall, or out as a canopy. We had it out, extending the dry space area out to the other canopy we had brought (and set up ever so quickly! The first one had already been set up for the food table.). We learned (it was our first time using this tent, which I told you about us getting back in THIS posting) that while the wall out as a canopy is very handy in certain situations, it does collect rain. Especially when it's POURING. So the guys kept an eye on it and tried to move the water off the side of it without any problems.
        As you've probably guessed, that process didn't always work out quite right. At one point Benson was slowly and carefully moving the collected pool to the side, when instantaneously, of it's own accord, the water chose to change direction and in one ever so fast swoosh, dumped itself a different direction over an end. The end that Byron and Cyndi's friend Joe was sitting directly underneath. Oh my gosh! It was hysterical!! At least for those of us who say the whole thing play out. We could not decide who's face wore the more shocked expression - Joe's for suddenly having extremely cold water dumped on him (he was sitting in a chair), or Benson's, because he could not believe what had just happened!

        We thought Joe's shirt was WONDERFUL! and were ready to rush out and buy one for Brian, only to learn that Joe had gotten it at such and such mission store for 50 cents. What a find!

       Fifthly - Another of Byron and Cyndi's friend is Morgan. Morgan currently lives with her grandmother, who was also there. What really struck me, was how much Morgan's mother looked, sounded, and sometimes even acted, like the grandma on the TV sit-com - 'George Lopez'.
       Benson captured a wonderful picture of Morgan and her grandma -

       Sixthly - (hey, spell check says that is a word. ;-p) What's a Birthday party with out presents?

         

         And then there was the gift that Uncle "Bubba" (aka: Brandon. She calls him "Bubba", probably due to him calling Boo that) sent (he had to work that weekend - both jobs, plus still helping at the state track meet.)
         He picked it up barely used. I wish I could show you the beam that lit her face when they carried it out. PRICELESS!!!!!
         The next day, she drug it over and demanded that somebody help her start it. Her little thumb still had problems holding the button down. Bet that changes and soon!

  

          Grandpa and I haven't given her this years gifts yet. We plan on taking them when we go after her sibling is born in a few weeks. You'll understand why, when I finally do post about them. ;->

     Number seven - we had stayed for an additional couple of days. :-D
             We got to watch her play in her pool -

              and play with grandpa -

             (at the party grandpa had shared his hot dog with her)

             and play with her 'dollies' -

    
        This concludes part 4 - Analyse's 2nd Birthday - fun pictures from the party.
         Part 1 had been - the banner.
         Part 2 was the Cookie Monster(R) cupcakes
         and Part 3 was the food we took
          I'm hoping that Byron and Cyndi are going to post Parts 5 + 6 on their blog.
                 Part 5 - the Character's that Cyndi hand drew
                 Part 6 - the cake they made
          If and when they do, we'll link you up to them!
                (There is a link to their site down our blogs side bar.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
  I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to: 
  ~  "Wordful Wednesday('s)" (the picture variety), are hosted by Angie, at 'Seven Clown Circus'  (http://sevenclowncircus.com),
  ~ "Tickled Pink Friday('s)", are hosted by Holly, at '504 Main' (http://www.504main.com). 
  ~ "I'm Lovin' It" (every Friday), are hosted by (a different) Cheryl, at 'Tidy Mom' (http://tidymom.net/2011/).