LOLcat

Have you ever heard of LOLcats? If you have the same sense of humor as me, you will find them hilarious! They are funny pictures of cats that have captions, often in broken English or baby talk, as if the cat was talking. You can find out more about the phenomenon of LOLcats in Wikipedia. Thanks to Flickr Toys, you can make your own LOLcats captions to your own photos which I had WAY too much fun with, but first, I thought you'd like to see some examples from the websites themselves. The first two are from the LOLcats site.






The next few are from the I can has cheezburger site. Feeling the funny yet? If not, these will get you there.










When I came across the LOLcat generator on Flickr toys, I knew I was going to have too much fun. I spent the rest of the evening playing with it and adding captions to my pictures. Sorry, no fun places to blog about, no cool projects or pretty things from my house to show today. I wasted my time on juvenile humor and laughing my silly head off. And darn, does it feel good! Ok, be forewarned, a couple of these are a tiny bit rated PG.



First I lolcatted the dog. There is some sense of irony in that.

Then Dino the dinosaur got targeted.

Not even my poor children were safe.

I hope you had as much fun as I did. I laughed and laughed, but then again, I am a card carrying member of The Much Too Easily Amused Club.

You can make badges on Flickr toys too. Again, too much fun.

Hope you had a laugh! It's the best therapy around!

Awards and an angel

I've been given two awards! The first is from Rue at Rue's Peanut Butter and Jelly Life. She gave this to everyone on her list of favorite blogs, and I am doing the same. Everyone on my list is more than welcome to take it, and so are visitors that I don't have listed. If you haven't ever been to Rue's blog, you should most definitely visit. Her love for her family is so evident, and she has a beautiful home and there is another beautiful home that is the object of her desire. Hers is one of the first blogs I click on every day!

Glenda at Tootsie Time presented me with this second beautiful award. Thank you, Glenda! You should most definitely visit her blog too. She is a gardener extraordinaire with her own greenhouse and better gardening tips than even professionals give! She has the best stories about her three darling children, and their antics make me laugh so hard that sometimes I think I'm going to need Depends! She is so down to earth and funny.
Here are the rules attached to passing on this award.

1.Display logo and link to who gave it.
2.Nominate at least 7 blogs.
3.Add links to those 7 blogs
4.Leave the nominees a message that they received the award

It was hard to decide who to pass this award on to because there are so many terrific blogs. Some are people that I have already given award to, but they keep on deserving them, and some are to new recipients. I tried to give this to people who didn't already have the award.

Donna at An Enchanted Cottage has a lovely blog and I am always enchanted by her beautiful home and projects and beautiful garden. She had one of my favorite sites on Rate My Space and I was so excited to find her in blogland.

Kat at Katerpillars No More has a wonderful blog where she shows off her beautiful primitive dolls. Her creativity astounds me. What I love about her best though is her honesty and her willingness to talk about her life which has had many a bump in the road. I think she is awesome and she thinks the same of me. I found her blog when entering a contest. I didn't win the prize, but got something even better...a new blog friend.

Rhondi at Rose Colored Glasses has a beautiful home and loves to decorate it with beautiful things, especially in my favorites, blue and white. She hosted a porch party last month that was so much fun! She was a fabulous host. She also has some adorable grandchildren that she has graciously shared online.

Deb at Deb's Country Kisses was one of my first blog friends and gave me my first two awards. She is a sweetheart of a soul and loves the Lord and her family. She lost her dear sweet father this week, so please stop by and offer up prayers, support, and good thoughts.

Cindy at My Romantic Home is also known as singlemomonabudget on Rate My Space. Her home is absolutely lovely and almost all of her special things are found at thrift stores, garage sales, or are free finds. She transforms them with some paint and creativity and it makes her home look like a million bucks! The new Rate My Space show came by and she will be seen on TV in October! How exciting!

Mary Jane at The Beehive Cottage is one of the Sisters on the Fly cowgirls! She and her friends have quaint trailers that they decorate in the most fabulous way, and they travel all over the country having fun fly fishing, riding horses, and camping together. Her home is also beautiful and her blog is a visual joy to visit.

And last but not least, Donna at Blushing Rose Antiques was one of my first blog finds. She has her own antique store and even had her home featured in a magazine! She crafts some of her own furniture while raising 4 handsome boys and taking care of her sweet hubby. I loved reading her tag where she had to share several things about herself and after reading that, was even more impressed! She seems fearless!

Well that is seven, but I could have listed so much more. Please do visit these blogs as they are well worth your time.

I have also received the Arte Y Pico award again, this time from Donna at the Enchanted Cottage. Her blog is listed below. I have already passed that on to five others in an earlier post, but just because I already have the award does not diminish how the joy of receiving it again from yet another friend!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I found an awesome angel statue!

A store in the area is closing, and I decided to see what I could find at their half price sale. This is my latest find at only $20! I love her! Haven't decided where I'm going to place my angel, but she will end up staying on my deck or making her home in one of my gardens.

I love the scripture.

Happy blogging all! I hope I've introduced you to some new blog friends today!

Groundhog Day

Remember that cute little groundhog from my earlier post Critters on Bonnie Lane? http://bonnielane.blogspot.com/2008/06/critters-on-bonnie-lane.html Well he is back, and this time he came a little closer.

Look where I found him! On my deck under a chair!

He came onto the deck to feast on the leaves of the one tiny plant that is growing up through the boards of the deck.
I don't mind him from afar, but wasn't too pleased to see him this close to my house!

Jakey wasn't too pleased either. He is looking at the groundhog and wondering, what is that?
Run and hide from the beast, Jakey!

It's okay. Warrior poet Sean will go all evil on that critter!
Ah, at last he is gone...taking with him the leaves of the plant. The deck is safe once more.
It's okay to come out now, Jake. "Are you sure, Mommy?"
Whew, after all that excitement, a puppy boy needs his sleep!
I was hoping the groundhog wouldn't get so brave as to come back to my deck, but I just noticed that the new leaves on the plant are gone again. Looks like I need to get out there with the snippers and take care of it.

Just a note: No woodchucks were harmed in the commission of this post. Also Jakey has taken me to task and wants you all to know that he really wasn't scared, but that he barked like the King of his yard that he is and scared off the little furry beast.

Have a great evening all!

Look what I found!

There is a bush that creeps over onto my deck. I really didn't think anything of it, but the other day I noticed some color in that bush. It's hard to see in this pic unless you click to enlarge it, but there it is, on the left side of the picture.
I watched closely, and look what bloomed! I think these are such pretty flowers! I didn't know that this is what grew on that bush. They didn't sprout at all last summer, but we were in a drought then.
Here is another view, but a bit blurry. I think this is called a trumpet flower. I have a picture of the same flower on my sidebar, but it was taken in central Ohio at Ravenwood Castle. I thought they were cool then, so imagine my surpise when I found I have them right here in my own yard!
What a great find!

I hope all of you find something special in your lives today too!

Family and friends BBQ, Fireworks, and s'mores making party!

I invited my daughter and her boyfriend, and my friend Stacy, her daughters, and her boyfriend to come over for a barbeque before going to the park to watch fireworks. It was a lot of fun! Stacy has been one of my best buddies for several years now. We worked in the same factory and sometimes spent more time laughing than working. Her boyfriend also worked there, but he didn't come into the picture until about a year and a half ago.

My daughter is usually a camera hog, but today, the only picture I was able to get of her is in the group photo above where she is standing in the center.

Here is the cast of characters:

Here is Stacy and her sweetie Brian. Aren't they cute together?



Here is Stacy's oldest daughter Sydney. The grill I was given is right behind her.

Here is her middle daughter Shaelyn, or Shae-baby as I have always called her. Love the face

And here is her youngest sweetie pie Symantha, or Sam for short, also making a face.

Here is Brian, sans sunglasses, eating my very awful hamburgers. I had never operated a gas grill before...seriously! And I did not do a very good job on the hot dogs and hamburgers, but they were eaten anyway. We also had potato salad, baked beans, chips and dip, and cookies.

And here I am in my newly painted chair. This was right before I got all hot and sweaty from grilling burgers and hot dogs. Just a moment before this, Brian was giving me bunny ears.

After dinner, we all went to the park to watch fireworks. We staked out a spot, which turned out to be partially blocked by a tree, ugh, but we all had fun anyhow. Here are the girls with their glow necklaces on. I think they had more fun with those than they did with the fireworks! I took some pics of the fireworks, but they didn't turn out.

Afterwards, we came back to start up the fire and roast marshmallows for s'mores. I got the fire stoking!

Here we all are roasting our marshmallows. Some fell in the fire. Some got flung into the yard. Thankfully, none were blazing when they went flying off the skewers. Some actually got eaten!

Tried to take a pic of my son, but he covered his face, the little stinker! I heard from my youngest son on the 4th, and he said he had a fun day in Texas where they spent it with his step-mother's youngest son and his family. I have met them and they are the sweetest, and I was glad he got to spend the holiday with them.

Here is Mike, my daughter's boyfriend. Not sure where she is. Maybe in the bathroom. Ha!

Stacy is really enjoying her s'more. Not sure what was said that got her so tickled. Maybe Brian goosed her.

Here is Brian mesmerized by the flames, and Shae toasting her marshmallow.

Here is Sam below, contemplating the zen of S'mores.

All in all, it was a great night, and we stayed up until after midnight around the fire, listening to neighborhood fireworks still popping and banging. The girls had great fun poking around in the fire.
Eventually the evening died down, just as the fire had. The glowing embers looked almost alive! The girls thought it was very cool.

We ended the evening with the warm glow of friendship and time spent together! Hope you were all able to spend time with family and friends this holiday too!

My 4th of July Project

This could not have been a prettier, nicer day! It was the perfect day to work on a project that I had put aside for a day when I had more time. I had today completely free because family isn't coming until tomorrow.

Anyhow, in May, there was a posting on Freecycle about a rattan chair and footstool. Well actually they said "wicker?" but when I got there it was rattan. I debated on whether or not to even take the chair. It was ugly, but I figured that I could do something with it.

Oops, I had the chair half painted before I remembered to take a "before" pic, but you get a good idea of what it was like. It had sat in someone's basement for years and their cats liked to sleep on it. If someone didn't take it, it was going in the trash. I cleaned it up, then I got out spray cans of Kilz to prime it. Just a handy hint here: before putting on that little mask so you don't breathe in fumes, brush your teeth first or chew some mints. Trust me on this.

Then I painted it Rustoleum Heirloom White. I love the color, and think it turned out great!

Now for some fabric. I got a cushion on sale at Joanne Fabrics for only $6! The salesperson gave me the coupon. I got 4 yards of the pretty toile on sale at Walmart for a total of $21.

Here it is wrapped around the cushion. I still need to sew it, but you can see how it's going to look.
Here it is with the footstool. I am so happy how this turned out! If it hadn't been for seeing what everyone does here in blogland, I would probably not have put forth the effort, but people here inspire me.
Now I'm so excited that I can't wait to start some other projects!

Well tomorrow my daughter and her boyfriend, perhaps my brother, and some friends from my hometown are all coming down for a barbecue and then off to watch fireworks in the park. Oh, forgot to say that someone at work gave me a grill! Someone was giving them a nice grill and they thought of me because I was sad about not being able to buy one Memorial Day since I had to pay for van repairs instead. God is so good!

Have a great weekend!

Sneaky Snake goes a dancin'

I was looking through the classified ads in the newspaper last Friday when I noticed an ad about a lost pet.
It read "Lost, 3 foot long snake in the vicinity of Seneca Street. If found call Larry at 419-xxx-xxxx." I found the ad pretty amusing, but then again I am pretty easily amused. I started wondering what it would be like if I lived on Seneca Street and read this in the paper. Not too happy, I don't imagine. I showed it to co-workers and said I was surprised that it wasn't a feature in the paper.

Well lo and behold, I open today's paper and there was a whole article about Larry and his missing snake. He had gone on vacation and upon returning, found that his 3 foot long labyrinth Burmese python named Floyd had escaped. He was careful to note the the snake is still a baby and "too small to be a danger to anyone." He went even further to note that anyone who finds Floyd should be "able to pick him up." Oh I think not.


WARNING WARNING, SNAKE PICTURE TO FOLLOW!!!

Okay, this is what Floyd looks like.
Larry went on even further to say that "if somebody does find it, they can call me and I will come get it. Just don't let it go." I am wondering how Larry figures I am supposed to keep a 3-foot long python from getting away. Am I supposed to grab him by his scaly tail and hang on for dear life? I think this would be more my reaction! Now don't get me wrong. I actually don't hate snakes. I used to have friends that had snakes and I would hold them and not be afraid, but encountering a snake in the wild is an entirely different story, and baby, I am outta there!!!

Whew, just the thought of encountering Floyd the python has me stressed out. I suppose that I could fly to Israel and pay $70 for a massage...a snake massage.

No, I am not kidding. This is for real. Ewww!

Hope you can manage to have a happy day after all this! I will, because I don't live in the same part of town as Larry who lost his python. ;)