I'm a KU fan!

Nope, I have not changed college allegiances...but I do like Keith Urban! We attended his concert on Friday, and someone in the crowd had a sign that said something about how he was the only KU they liked, and I found it quite amusing. He does put on quite a show though...really shows his appreciation for the fans. So here's a couple of photos from the night...
On Thursday, the women from my department went out to lunch at Umi to celebrate the August birthdays. It was a total blast. I had never been to a Japanese steakhouse where they prepare your food in front of you before...too fun! And super yummy too! The two of us present who had August birthdays even got serenaded twice...once by our chef with a little flaming onion 'cake', and then again by our waitress with fried bananas and ice cream with a candle on top.

Today while I was out doing laundry I heard a plane flying low. Couldn't see it at first through the trees, but finally caught a glimpse of it and realized it was a crop duster. Haven't seen one of those since I was growing up in Goodland. Cool. We stood out and watched it make several passes, and of course got a few pictures as well.

Rain, rain!

We had a much cooler week this past week. Cool and rainy...just like I like 'em! I was pretty busy with work, so didn't have much energy for creative endeavors when I got home at night, in fact I think the same stuff is sitting in the same place on my work table as it was when I went to bed last Sunday.

Did get pictures of several pretty sunrises and cloudy afternoons, including this one from Friday morning.
On Friday I took mom & dad to the Midwest Genealogy Center. They were wanting to do some family history searches, but don't really like driving in Kansas City much, so I volunteered to take them when we weren't able to find a farm-sitter so we could attend my HS reunion. I figured I'd be a good sport and play along and see if I could find anything about K's family there. Boy was I mistaken...I'm pretty sure I printed and copied more than they did, and I can't wait to go back to see what else I can find! And, as a bonus, we got to see Bettina from Glass Dragon Bears, whom I haven't seen in well over a year (and I added a super adorable elephant made my B to my collection). Anyway, the Genealogy Center is amazing, the staff are super helpful, the building is chock full of resources, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the Midwest looking to do some family history research.
It rained Friday night, so we had all kinds of drippiness yesterday morning. The dew was so pretty on the cobwebs all around the farm.
And the one big craft project that Mom & I worked on...a king size rag quilt. I have had this project in the works for at least 5 years if not longer, but was never able to decide how big I wanted to make it, which fabrics to use...etc. Sometimes having two brains on the job helps...we pretty quickly were able to measure the bed, determine a suitable size, and pick the best coordinating fabrics for the job. We spent a long day yesterday cutting most of the 1152 blocks we needed, finished the last few this morning and I have them all stacked up how I want and ready to start sewing. Mom loves to quilt, but I'm not sure I can ever be more than a rag quilter! This will be my 4th and biggest so far, but it was fun to get started on it, and leaves me with all kinds of ideas swirling in my head for more in the future. We'll see how long it takes to actually get it assembled before I make too serious of plans for more!
Meanwhile, K and Dad trimmed everyone's hooves...the dogs were overjoyed will all of the selection of horse hoof to eat. It was a long, but productive day, to end a long and productive week, and everyone was dog-tired by last night...including Ardee.

Yeah-ish for Rain!

Yep, yeah-ish. The rain (2.5") was much needed, but along with it came a huge increase in humidity. Yesterday morning it was 91%, so it makes doing anything outside quite miserable. My clothes on the line took forever to dry, and I actually had to run the dryer for the first time in 4 weeks to finish getting the last few things dry.
Yesterday we had this monstrous frog hop into the garage, followed closely by Chuckie the cat. Let the cat inside and put the frog out in the flower bed...hope he made it home safely.
As I went outside to take pictures this afternoon of the lo's I completed this week...it was thundering and looking like it could rain again. It is supposed to be quite a bit cooler this week, so bring on the rain I say (if nothing else, it means we don't have to water the garden and the flowers as much...our water bill is almost as extreme as our electric bill).
I didn't get a whole lot of crafty things done this weekend...spent more time cleaning and gathering stuff for layouts. But I did get a few layouts completed that have been sitting around waiting for me for a while.

First up, our youngest pup who insists on sitting on my lap as we drive to work because the views of the deer are better from the front seat.
Then a layout about doing laundry on the line...one of my most loved parts of summer.
Then a couple of simple layouts I did on some canvas that I painted Christmas Eve last year.

Another hot & productive week

Despite actually getting some rain this week, the hot weather has continued...now it's just a whole lot more humid. Ugh. So ready for fall to arrive!But I did have a pretty productive weekend again. Well, until I burned my leg with the iron and got this pretty little blister.
Yes, I know, how did I iron my leg?? Well, its simple...my full size ironing board is in the storage building since I so rarely iron clothes. So when I need to iron iron-ons for scrap projects, I just use a mini ironing board and sit in the floor...so that poses a hazard of ironing that I had never before thought of.

But, I did get several projects and layouts done before the tragic iron incident...including this necklace and pin set from a Prima live video.And these very cool hangings from another Prima live video. See...told ya I'd use some of those flowers!
More sunny days ahead!

Hot Hot Hot

It's been miserably hot here the last several weeks...most days at least 100F, and several with a heat index above 110F. Will it ever end? Everyone is miserable. I look at the 10 day forecast and get excited about the cool 90's ahead, but they never appear. I don't even want to see the electric bill this month. Even Charlie is exasperated with the heat (or maybe its just the sunlight streaming through the window)

But on the plus side, I am getting lots of crafty things done since it's too hot to leave the house! My one serious weakness is all things Prima...I probably have more flowers than I will ever use, but I can't keep from buying more with each new season. Recently I found the Prima Live classes and I'm in heaven. I bought a few of the kits, including these 2 projects that I created last weekend and yesterday:

I skimmed through the other videos and found several projects that I could create with the supplies I already have...maybe I can use up some of those flowers after all!

I have a huge pile of other projects and layouts I was hoping to get done this weekend, but Monday is quickly approaching.

Beginning Again

Ok, so let's see how long I can be good this year...I'm stating here and now that I'm going to try and post at least once/week...anyone want to place bets?

So anywho, getting back into the swing of things, I'm working on a post that is a composite of K's facebook posts of highlights from our Canada trip soon after we returned, along with corresponding pictures where I have them. Stay tuned....

WOW...it's been a while

So much for last years New Year's resolution to be a better blogger...and then I didn't post again all year. Well, maybe 2011 will be better!

New year, same lack of blogging

Aarrgghh. Why does life always get in the way! I so wanted to do better last year, and while it wasn't great, it was better. So this year I thought I would do even better...but here it is the end of January and I'm finally blogging. Hmmm...I could blame it on a 12-week online scrapbook class, or the big shake up at work, but it probably is just me being so overwhelmed with all that I want to do that I don't know where to start. Maybe if I just keep making my new goal to do better than the last year, I will eventually be a blogging regular!

KC weekend

For K's bday we spent a day in Kansas City. Met Bettina for brunch and then went to Archivers...were lucky K got to participate in the make-&-take. He did pretty good for his first time scrappin'! And note, this is why I always carry my camera everywhere I go...you never know when you may need to take blackmail pictures...'See honey, you enjoy scrapping too, so that's why I need to buy X new scrapbook tool/supply/product'. Anyway, we had a great time...saw the plaza lights, ate some good food (can anyone say Cheesecake Factory?!), saw a great movie (The Blind Side) and attempted to ice skate at Crown Center. All in all a good weekend!

A wee bit of snow

This was our 'small' snowstorm in December. There was actually 12" around midnight, but the winds picked up overnight so that all that was left my morning was a puny 9"...plus a few really deep drifts. We didn't even attempt to go to work...which was a good thing as the drifts along one of our county roads were as tall as the round bales...over 5'!

Speaking of cruise...

We had a great time on our cruise. Even though it was only 3 days, and the time seemed to fly by, it was definitely a much needed vacation.
This was our ship...Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. Our previous cruise experience was with a different company, and we'll just say that we won't be going back to them. The RC staff was so nice and friendly, the food was super yummy, and it was just hands down a better cruise company. We can't wait to take another!

Our first day was spent at here at RC's island...Coco Cay (aka Little Stirrup Cay, part of the Berry Islands which are part of the Bahamas). We had a great time just relaxing at sea in the morning, and then did a midday sea kayaking tour. Once we got the hang of paddling (so that we didn't go in circles), the kayaking was lots of fun, but definitely an upper body workout. The next day was spent at Nassau where we did the snorkeling tour and then a little bit of shopping. Three days is much too short of trip really, but it was priced right (aka cheap!)


This is Raymond, our awesome waiter. He was soooo nice and fun....making sure we had exactly what we wanted to eat and offering advice whenever he saw us of what activities he would recommend we do...some of which were much more reasonably priced than the scheduled tours. We also had wonderful table mates. K suggested we request a large table so we could meet lots of people, but only 1 other couple showed up. They were awesome...we always found ourselves talking instead of eating, and we ended up spending several evenings socializing with them after dinner. We even have plans to visit them when we are in DC next fall. All in all it was just a great vacation, and we would highly recommend RC to anyone thinking about taking a cruise.

Awesome birthday gift

I got the bestest birthday gift ever (yes, my birthday was several months ago...but, well, I'm slow, ok). DH gave me a Canon D10 and it is awesome! My wonderful Canon 700 that I carry everywhere is a great little camera, but it is starting to wear out....the on-off button only works when it wants to. So I was thinking it was time for an upgrade, and since I have been taking so many pictures (stimulated by Becky Higgins Project 365, renamed Project Life for next year) I even had K in agreement. But there are oooohhh so many cameras out there...what's a girl to do?? Well, around this time we also decided to take a short cruise during our vacation at the end of September, and in looking at the activity choices, there was a lot of snorkeling to be had. On our first cruise in '96 we had done the swimming with the stingrays thing, and quickly discovered that the only way to get good pictures was an underwater camera...and boy are those things pricey when purchased on the tour boat! Then when we went with the in-laws to Mexico a few years later, I brought along my own disposable underwater cameras, but quickly went through both of them at Xel-Ha and then couldn't take any more underwater pictures the remainder of the trip. So I started looking around at digital underwater cameras. There are a few out there, but most seem to have really mixed reviews. And while they don't cost that much, it still seemed like a waste to buy one and potentially have it be ruined the first time underwater. But then, lucky me, Canon releases their first underwater camera. Yes, its a bit pricey, and yes, its a bit bulky and silly looking, but I love it. And it is a really nice general camera as well, so when my old Canon finally bites the dust, I'll already have a replacement. And as an added bonus...the D10 is cold tolerant as well...we had 12" of snow yesterday and I had it out quite a while last night in the snow and today in our -15 wind chill taking pictures, and it never froze up or gave me the low battery warning the whole time.

Soooo, on to the picture. This is one of my favorites of the 300 or so taken snorkeling in Nassau. These striped fish were so much fun...I was shooting away at the coral and fish along the bottom, and often when I looked up I would find myself in the middle of a large school of them. They would just swim past me like I was a normal part of their environment, and if you weren't paying attention you would even on occasion bump into one. We had a great time...now to buy our own snorkeling equipment!

Not Fair

It's not fair! If I'm lucky, I can occasionally be found to have one critter or another cuddled up with me (Henry).

But every time K sits down he has at least 1, and often a whole swarm of critters (Serine, Meow, Pia, Fasciae, Maggie & Henry). Do you think it might be because mommy has been seen with needles around here?? I guess it is probably better for my allergies...but it's still not fair.

Crazy week

We had one crazy week this summer...first Chelse (the horse) injured herself..not unusual for her, but she must have really been in pain as she chose to just lay down in the pasture...it was hot and she became dehydrated and subsequently colicked. So frustrating when I have to call a working Vet in to fix something. Then the next night Elle (the duck) was not feeling well...I suspected she was egg bound, so she got to soak in a hot bath in the laundry room sink. Then, since things always happen in 3's, the next night we got home to find the neighbors cows up at the fence visiting with the ducks...now, these cows weren't concerned about the strange ducks they were encountering, but as soon as I walked out to take pictures they turned and ran...and were all back home by the time we got the neighbor called and he and his cattle dogs arrived. Ahhh...the excitement we experience out here!

SIlly girls

Buffy and Elle standing on the foundation wall...contemplating whether they should get into my flowers or not I'm guessing.

Puppy in the Window

Isn't he so cute? Ardee was quite jealous that I was out talking to the neighbor without him. I did finally let him out, and he was a good boy and didn't lick their little girl too much!

Babies

Momma Kingbird had a nest on our porch again this year. Aren't they adorable??

Duck Go-Round

All 6 of the girls in the kiddy pool...makes it a bit full!

Harvest 2009

Just a few pictures from our wheat harvest this summer. We were lucky enough to get home from work just as they were starting, so we got to ride along for a while the first night. Then the second night they got started a bit later, so watched them cut as the sun set and then into the night. Farmers for a day!

Wheaty sunrise

So this is rather old (I'm trying to get caught up) and the wheat pictured here is just starting to change colors (it has now been harvested and is on its way to feed the world), but I thought it was a gorgeous picture of the sun rising over our big field.

Gobble Gobble

One afternoon we were surprised to look out and see this turkey hen walking along the north side of our house. She hung out in the yard for quite some time until the ducks spotted her and ran over to the fence to 'chat' with her. This is what I 'LOVE' about living in the country...you never know what you will see.

Silly Horsey

It's a bit hard to see, but the horse standing in the drive is supposed to be in the pasture with the others...being mostly blind gets poor Chelse into lots of trouble. Luckily this time after she went over the fence it stood back up so the others couldn't follow along. One winter day in early 2008 we weren't so lucky and spent several hours hunting all over the area trying to find them.

a real garden

We are hoping to have one anyway...if successful it will be our first beyond a few tomato and pepper plants. Got everything planted a few weeks ago, and then one night a couple weeks ago I go out to check on it to find cucumber beetles have devoured the cucumbers, watermelon and beans. A bit of replanting later plus nightly check for more beetles and it is looking better. We are hoping that we'll have enough veggies to can/freeze.