Dog Sitting

We are dog sitting Big Girl's pup this week while she and her sweet family are on a well deserved vacation.  Susie came to spend time with us Saturday.  That was 5 days ago and the cats are still not over it.  Susie stays outside so she really can't bother the cats.  But those of us who live with cats know how their minds work.  Indi has stood guard at the back door and attacked at every opportunity. She is very brave behind a pane of glass. Our door will be worn out by the end of the week. 

Scruffy  is totally disgusted that we have even allowed a dog on the property.  She spends most of her day upstairs and ventures downstairs only to eat.  She did go outside the other day.  She went out the front door and decided she would go around back to lounge on the deck.  She forgot the dog was there.  It took her close to 10 minutes to cross the deck in extreme slow motion-stealth mode.   

Susie is very busy and excited about everything.  She has the sweetest personality and can be goofy.  Here she is giving me a hug and getting a scratch behind the ear.  It started raining here Sunday and hasn't let up.  So far I think we have gotten 6 inches and they are predicting 3 to 6 more before it ends.  Poor Susie has had a very wet week.  We have tried hard to keep her dry and have made her a camp with tarps on the back deck.  We keep finding her dry blankets to sleep on.  No matter how hard we try she still gets soaked.  We've been letting her spend lots of time in the garage just to get a break from the rain.  I know she will be glad when her family gets home.  

P.S.  Giveaway goodies were put in the mail today. 

100th Post Giveaway

and the winner is.....

...EVERYBODY!!!!!

SURPRISE!!  Yep that's right - everybody who posted a comment on my 99th post is a winner! Thank you for being such loyal followers.  It is nice to have good friends and folks you love supporting you.  I really appreciate it.  I will be sending your goodies out early this week.  I hope you like your surprises.  I will post pictures of your goodies once you let me know you've gotten them.   I will wait til then so I don't ruin the surprise.

Thank you for following my little blog and letting me share my crazy life.  I hope you have had a great weekend. 

Talk to you soon!

Surprise Giveaway!!!

SURPRISE!!

This is my 99th blog post.  This weekend I will hit 100!  Can you believe it?   I think that's a good reason to celebrate.  As a way of thanking you for checking in on me from time to time I am having a surprise giveaway.

I know there are some of you who check in on a fairly regular basis but never comment.  Comments are the life blood of any blog and is what keeps the blogger going.  I need comments!   I love comments!!  Take a few minutes this time to leave a comment even if  it is just a hello.  Let me know you are out there. 

The giveaway drawing will be held Sunday afternoon so get your comment posted by noon Sunday.  I will let you know the winner Sunday on my 100th post. 

Talk to you soon!  Good Luck!!

Last day of summer...

Today is sadly the last official day of summer.  I will miss it.  I won't miss the hot and drought we have been having though.  Fall is exciting and beautiful.  We see the seasons change and begin to anticipate the holidays.  Cooler weather will be welcomed around here.  We have had record heat and no rain for a long, long time now.  In fact, it was kind of strange going to the pre-season opener last night for the Carolina Hurricanes NHL hockey team with the temperatures in the 90's.  Believe it or not,  ice hockey is very popular down here in the south.  We love it!  But thats a story for another time.  Make the most of this last day of summer.  

I will have a big announcement soon - so stay tuned. 

Writing Spiders

We have had a couple of writing spiders on the back deck this summer.  They are very pretty, brightly colored yellow and black.  The one pictured above actually moved to this new location a couple of weeks back.  The original web became cluttered with grass and it must have been to much to manage.  This new location unfortunately stretches from the bench on the deck to the lattice work. I noticed last week that she has prepared her egg sack - you can see it hanging there in the top left corner of the lattice work next to the string of lights.

As you can see the move was beneficial.  I caught her finishing up a huge Cicada one morning.  I thought that was a big catch for spider, but she held her own. 

This is the spider that lives in the window on the back deck.   I noticed this morning that she has prepared her egg sack also and it hangs in the top corner of the window.  I am sure they must be getting close to the end of their lives. It has been fun watching them  grow over the summer.  They are HUGE compared to what they were when I first noticed them.  They don't really bother anything so we let them stay.   Hubby has suggested a couple of times that we should clean it all up and be rid of them.  I keep defending them and reminding him of Charlotte's Web.  It would be interesting if the eggs survived the winter and we could see what happens next spring.  Wouldn't that be something.

Flea Market

Little Girl's school hosted a flea market today.  Look at these great trees I found for $1. I thought I could use them at craft shows to clip hair bows to or other little trinkets.  You never know what they may be used for.  I couldn't pass them up.  Indi likes them too. 

There was a pretty good crowd there. I didn't have time to gather things up this week to take so I had just a few items to sell.   I think I cleared about $60 bucks.  That is more than I would have made sitting at home this morning so I really can't complain.  Besides, it was a nice morning to sit outside and we did get rid of a few items that were just taking up space in the garage. 

I hope you've had a happy Saturday.

Fall Hoodie

I started this a few weeks back and finished it a couple of weeks ago.  The picture isnt' the best and it doesn't let you see the true colors.  It is brightly colored with shades of purples, oranges and reds.  I was inspired to make this for Grandbaby by my friend GibKnitty.  It was quick and fun to make.  I did make a few adjustments to the original pattern.  I ribbed the ends of the sleeves because it makes it easier to roll the sleeves up and keep them up.  Sometimes sleeves are a little long for Grandbaby.  I also didn't garter stitch the hood as the pattern called for.  I like the way the hood looks with the garter stitch border, it flows with the sweater.  Any way, I like it and will definitely knit this again. 

I think I need to start another one for a gift soon.  That means I get to go pick out yarn - yippee!!

"It be that way sometimes."

"It be that way sometimes" is the statement  an old friend would make when he was going through a rough patch or things were out of sorts.  "It be that way sometimes", is what I've said alot over the past couple of weeks.  I don't know if I could really say what all I've been up to and where I've been lately - its just too much to try to explain.  Its not anything terribly bad - just a lot of "life" -  all at once. 

Hubby's dad has been in the hospital for over 2 weeks now and has had a lot of ups and downs.  He seems to be on the up side of things right now.  I've stayed busy with work and home and getting ready for our craft sale at church.   Hubby had to go to the ER with gall stones which made for a long night and not much fun.  He is fine now.  Little Girl had to go to the Dr. last week with pink eye and again today with an ear infection.  Yuck!  Grandbaby has been sick too.  We had a crazy busy weekend with the church stuff and family.  Work is making me insane (er) and things are just crazy busy in general.  The past couple of weeks have really been a blurr and I missed you.  Thank you for not giving up on me.

There have been some sweet moments in all of this.  Drinking a cup of coffee on the porch and finding peace.  My sweet Grandbaby making me laughing.  Having great conversations in the car on the way to doctor appointments. Stealing a few minutes just to sit around the table with family. Being able to make jokes out of things that may not be have been so funny when they happened.  Seeing my children be good and generous people.  Just being with the ones I love so much makes everything okay.

Life - it be that way sometimes.