Sunday at the Park, part 1

This Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day! The sun was shining, the leaves on the trees were changing, and the temp was in the high 50s, low 60s. One of my BFFs and her dear hubby wanted my son and I to take some pics of them for their Christmas cards. They decided to have pictures taken at a local state park, the Independence Dam State Park.



Here is a beautiful scene near the front of the park.

I thought this tree was so pretty against the blue sky!
Let's wander on into the park!

We noticed an interesting tree that had fallen. It looked like we might be able to take some interesting pictures here! My son Jared was first on the scene. Awww, see how cute this picture of Jon and Monica and sweet furchild Winston turned out?
Monica wanted to get some pictures of Jon too. So I took a pic of her taking pics of her hubby and Winnie!
They turned the tables on us and took a pic of Jared and I next to the tree.
Jon told me that I needed a new pic to show online suitors, lol. Notice that I am letting the hair down a little. It's not poodle poofy any more, but I still haven't had the guts to go straight.
I spotted an interesting mushroom on the tree trunk.

My son hopped up on the trunk to get a close up picture.

Then Jon headed down the hill to get a closer pic of these interesing spores. They all make me think of fairies! Couldn't you imagine fairies sitting on top of these mushrooms or using them like a giant umbrella for shelter? These were about 12" or more across.

I was also fascinated by this hollow tree! I could just imagine some woodland creature hiding deep inside. Perhaps elves lived in there!
Here is a vine on another tree. It's going to be all red eventually. I think it's poison ivy! So pretty to look at in the fall, but so itchy!
There is a canal on one side of the park. I thought it was so pretty behind these beautifu leaves.

My son was full of energy and was literally running through the park and also jumping and leaping. He decided to run...
...then jump on and balance on this post. What do you suppose he saw as he was upside down like this?
Aha, a daddy long legs! These are harmless spiders. I never have the heart to kill them unless they are in my shower.
I just heart my son!
There are even more pictures to come. This park is laid out between the canal and the beautiful Maumee River, which is a pretty substantial river. Can't wait to show you what it looked like!

I'll be back tomorrow!

Blue Monday/ No Blue Moods!

Can't believe it's Monday already! I had such a great weekend. I really don't want to go back to work tomorrow.

Anyhow, I really don't have anything to be blue about. When I found out I was diabetic, there were some blue things that I decided to use to stay healthy!

First of all are these test strips in a blue box. Every morning when I wake up, I use these to test my blood sugar. I prick my finger and put a drop of blood on one end, and with the other end in the glucose monitor, my blood sugar level gets measured.
Then I use this blue cup to take my medicines to keep me healthy.
At least 3-4 times per week, I go walking. I'm supposed to do this 6 times per week, but it's hard when I work so late! I don't like to walk after dark. Here are the bottoms of my shoes which have turned blue...
...from walking on this blue track! Look at that blue sky too!
Well it must all be working, because here are my skinny blue jeans! I bought these about 4 years ago after I lost weight following a gall bladder attack. I put 10 of those pounds back on, and put these jeans back in the closet. Guess what, I'm wearing them again! Woohoo! When I wore them a few years ago, they were kind of tight. They gave my girl parts a wedgie.
No more wedgie though! I weigh even less than I did back then! When I went to visit the diabetes educator last week, I was so pleased to see that in 3 weeks, I had lost over 7 pounds! I had lost a few pounds even before that when I found out that my sugar was too high, so this makes a total of about 10-12 pounds all together! My weight hasn't been this low in probaby 15 years! My numbers were great too! My diabetes educator was so pleased!


My highest weight ever was 31 pounds more than I am now. That translates to two sizes bigger than these jeans are. I've been a big woman for most of my adult life and I have been comfortable in my size, and I never really tried to lose weight as long as I was healthy. Well, this diagnosis changed all that. I am on a mission to put this disease into remission!

I'm not feeling blue here!

To visit more Blue Monday posts, visit Sally at Smiling Sally.

Autumn has arrived at my front porch!

I have officially jumped on the autumn bandwagon! I have let go of summer and immersed myself in the joys of fall, and my posts this week will reflect that!

Not long ago, I posted some pics of my porch decorations from last year. I promised I would post when I added to it.

Here is my long, skinny porch. It's hard to know what to do with it. I can't put too much out, or we can't walk through here! This view is from the driveway.
Here is a straight on view of my red bench. I moved the star from next to the door to the window. It is almost a perfect match for the red bench!
Here is the bench up close. This was a great summer find! It cost me about $40-45. I had geraniums in a white basket and a birdhouse on it for summer. The birdhouse is sitting under the bench for now.
I still love this angel that I found at Joanne Fabrics for $17. She and the bench were featured in an earlier summer post.

I just love these white pumpkins! It coordinates really well with the angel. I love the contrast between the pumpkin and the deep red bench.
Here is a fall arrangment I made last weekend. I found the basket, the gourd, and the little pumpkin, and also the styrofoam for inside the basket and the moss at Dollar Tree for $1.00 each. I found three bundles of the flowers for a buck each at Meijer! Now I have a brand new arrangement for only $8 total!
The scarecrow is a repeat of last year, but with a new pumpkin and no mums this year. The trees are different as I bought them around Christmas last year.
And last but not least is my old chair with fall flowers. I still love it as much as I did last fall!

My son and I joined friends at a state park this weekend. I took bunches of pictures! I swear, I live in a most beautiful area and I can't wait to show it to you this week! Blue Monday comes first, then you'll see all the fall glory.

Stay tuned, same bat blog, same bat channel!

Pink Saturday/ Pink from Pink Magazines

Geez, wasn't it Saturday just a few days ago? Time again for some more pink posts! This week I got too lazy to look for pink things in my house, though rest assured, there is much more pink stuff in my possession. It's been a crazy week so I took the easy way out, but I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Country Living is one of my favorite magazines. Sometimes they have the most amazing pink stuff within their pages. Recently, I was going through some boxes (I am still unpacking after 18 months in my house) and I came across this old edition from June 2002. I threw a lot of magazines out when I moved. I know...ouch! I wondered why I had kept this particular edition.

Oh, this is why! Pretty pink stuff! I particularly love plates on the wall, especially pink plates! And look at this sweet white chair with a pink gingham cushion! I would love to have this in my living room.
I also love teacups and saucers. Isn't this pretty in just plain pink? Love the roses behind it. I could see this with a contrasting pattern.
Oooo, Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet...drinking a cup of tea out of this pretty rosey cup! I want one!

I need to have someone serve me breakfast in bed off of this pretty tray. You could fill a couple of these cups with my raspberry whipped Yoplait yogurt. Did you know roses are edible? Would be a shame to chow down on these gorgeous roses though. Hmmm, if you eat these flowers, would your farts smell like roses?
Ah, more pretty plates and place settings! You know I am loving this!
I would love to see a pretty napkin like this decorated with such a pretty piece of jewelry! That's my idea of living well, the breakfast in bed thing with a gift of jewelry. That would work for me! Ha, don't quite think that's going to happen though, even if my poofs do smell like roses!
I adore these pitchers! Such pretty flowers too! I love it with those glasses and the tablecloth. Is it linen or lace? Either look gorgeous, and so feminine!
Here is another place setting with a more whimsical pattern. Just adorable!

I found another Country Living magazine. This one is more recent from June 2007. I remember why I saved this one! Just look at this patio!
I would really love an arbor for my yard. I love that the deck is hidden a bit behind the bushes. Just walk through the arbor and you reach paradise!
Oh my, I know I am cutting way back on carbs and sweets, but I'm not sure I could resist this! Love that pitcher that holds the flowers. The pink lemonade looks yummy too!
This whole area with the white picket fence, wicker chairs with floral and checked cushions, the lovely vases and linens...oh my! Utter perfection! This is my idea of the ideal outdoor area! I wouldn't change a thing!
Hope you enjoyed my little fantasy!

Blue Monday/ Whole Lotta (Blue) Love

It's Monday again already. Ugh. The one good thing about Mondays though, is that in blogland, it's Blue Monday and time to share something blue! You can find more Blue Monday posts at Smiling Sally's blog.

This was just an incredibly beautiful weekend! You couldn't have asked for any better weather. Even though this is northern Ohio, it was sunny, the skies were clear, and the temp got up into the 80s! That's practically unheard of for mid-October!

This was the kind of weather that made me feel so happy and so blessed to live on this beautiful earth. I swear, its intoxicating! I sat on my deck and spent a good amount of time just gazing up at these incredible blue skies framed in the changing leaves of the trees in my yard. Just look at this!

This got me thinking about something else blue. No, not something to be blue about, but something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue!

My daughter and her boyfriend are now officially engaged!

They have fallen upon some very rough times lately. This area is rife with layoffs and job losses. Both my daughter and her fiance have lost their jobs, in part to illness (on Tara's part) and just plain bad luck(on Mike's part) and a little bit of irresponsibility (on both's part). Thus there were no funds for a ring. Or even a wedding for that matter! Tara really wanted a ring, but would still have been willing to get married without one.

Well, last week was the final day of sales before the closing of our local K-Mart. Jewelry was 90% off. I looked in the case and WOW! I saw a beautiful ring! I called Mike and asked him if he wanted me to go ahead and get it. He said he wasn't able to pay me for it now, but I told him no problem, that he can pay me when he has the funds or can work it off. Just look what I got for $27! Ok, it's not a diamond, but its a gorgeous cubic zirconia and it is real gold. You can see the tag (and a bit of blue!) with the orginal price. Looks like lots of other people looked at it first. Must have been meant for me to buy it! Mike gave her the ring today and she is thrilled!.

Tara knew she could no longer afford the wedding dress that she had picked out this summer. She figured that maybe she could find a nice prom dress on sale to use as a wedding dress, but was having no luck. She browsed eBay and found this dress in her size. It was listed for only $75, brand new with the tags still attached! No one bid on it, so it came up for auction again. It was listed again with a starting bid of $75, or Buy It Now for $200. Keep in mind that this was a $425 dress!
I called her the morning that the auction ended to tell her that it ended and someone bought the dress. She was so disappointed when I told her it sold...until I told her that it sold to me!
It arrived in the mail on Tuesday! She saw it for the first time on Friday, and loves it! It will need taken in at the bodice. It's so generous there that it was even too big for my big melons! The little flowers look gold here, but they are actually a silvery white!

Speaking of silver, my daughter has chosen silver and ice blue as her colors! She still hopes for a December wedding, though Mike says they both need to be working because otherwise they really don't have money to be spending on a wedding. Well, the plans thus far are to have the wedding here with just family. There will be a potluck with everyone bringing food. Oh. My. Goodness. Am I nuts to have offered this! I am not Suzy Homemaker. I'm just not. I have a very lived in (read messy) house that I struggle to keep up with. But we can do this.

I was browsing the Dollar Tree this weekend, and found some decorations that would be in keeping with the theme of a Christmas wedding! There were lots of ornaments in silver and blue, so I snatched some up! Not sure how we will use them yet, perhaps to decorate the formal living room, or maybe to use as table decorations!

I love this blue and silver ribbon! And I love all the ornaments too!



Wish me luck over the next two months, especially for the kids. Tara starts a job waitressing tomorrow. Mike hasn't found anything yet, but is looking. They have lost their trailer and are living with one of his relatives, and they might lose the car. They really need a lot of prayers right now. In the midst of all this, you are probably wondering why I am wanting them to go ahead and get married. Well, they are living together already, and I would really like to see the sanctity of marriage on their union. I figure that at least they will be husband and wife through all of this. They've been together for over a year and are really in love with each other.

Besides, isn't getting an engagement ring AND a wedding dress for the grand total of $102 some kind of sign? Just kidding there.

Hope you all have a great Blue Monday!