Thursday Thirteen #8

Thirteen Reason's I know I'm addicted to Coffee

1). It's the first thing I think about when I
wake up, okay sometimes second!!!
2). I love to have the pot set the night before,
so it's done when I wake up (it's also my
alarm)!!! It brings back a childhood memory of
my mom making coffee, and as I layed in
bed, I could smell the familiar aroma!!!
3). Okay, then there's chocolate & coffee,
the #1 being, chocolate covered coffee beans,
and believe me I've eaten my fair share!!!
4). I love my first sip of a good hot cup of
coffee, I sit and enjoy it in the summer!
But, when I'm working, I usually have a
couple of sips before my shower and finish
it while getting ready for work! Pour a second
in a travel mug to take with me!
5). When I started drinking coffee as a young
adult, I drank it with cream.
6). Later, I switched to black coffee. I'd moved
into a neighborhood, where a few of us got
together and always had a cup of coffee in
our hand, (we all drank it black.) It was a great
time, all our kids played together as we visited,
and we 'ALWAYS' had coffee. Sometimes we
played cards, other times, worked on crafts,
but 'ALWAYS' over coffee!!!
7). This was the about the time I started working
for one of my neighbors, we drank coffee there
too! Later on, I discovered Coffee Mate flavored
creamers...I soon become hooked on hazlenut!
8). Years later, I gave up regular hazlenut (to help lose
weight), I went to fat free and used that
for a couple of years. At first it was terrible, but I
quickly adapted to it and was hooked on it!!!
9). Later I decided to give that up too,
and use plain powdered creamer! I'd still
love to use the flavored creamers, (now they
even have chocolate raspberry)!!!
10). This should have been put near #1 , I
hate hate hate old coffee!!! Or, burnt coffee...
I really like to drink it fresh!!!
11). I also hate the smell of old/burnt coffee. I can
smell it right away!!! But it happens... sometimes I'm
given a cup of old brew...I really try not to drink it.
12). I also love coffee in blended drinks, my #1 fave
espresso is raspberry mocha and same with a blended
or iced coffee...totally a dessert to me...YUMMM!
13). Please look at my Wordless Wednesday under this
post!!! It's the cutest espresso shop I've ever seen.
It's called 'Hot Spot' as good as it is cute!!! I'm
lucky it's not far from my house!!!

I'd love a cup of coffee right now, but it's too
late...:(

Wordless Wednesday!

My vote for cutest 'espresso stand'...and they serve a
yummy blended drink too!!! Happy WW!

After dinner fun!

Tenisha made the biggest bubbles of the evening!!! We all
had so much fun making bubbles, watching them, or
watching Lulu chase them!!!

Not What YOU Think!

It looks as if she's totally elated with the thought of playing with bubbles, right?!
Wrong...she's slathering her face with the bubble mixture! (Lacey, does this remind
you of a certian someone, and yogart???!?!)

Dog Days of Summer...Blue Stilly~

Down River~

Up river~

Sportz at the Blue Stilly~

Doing what he loves!

My Granddaughters~

Lulu calls Mercedes 'Sissy'!

Friday eve. & Sat. morn.

I had a wonderful dinner at Devon & Tenisha's last night,

Devon loves to bar-b-q and makes everything taste so darn

good. It was nice to see Mercedes too, she came to spend the

night with them.

This morning Devon brought the girls over to visit and play,

I got this cute picture of them lounging on the hammock!!!

The morning went so fast, before we knew it, it was time for

them to go!!!

Friday Fill-Ins #9

1. I Believe whatever doesn't kill you, hopefully was a
good life's lesson.
2. If you're good at something, follow your heart with
it, develop it and run with it!!!
3. So why has our country ended up in this mess,
think about it!
4. Something is out there, it's just waiting for all of us
(to finally get it)...to unite as a country and not
allow our government/car manufactors/big
business to string us along to believe there
isn't something we can all do 'RIGHT NOW',
to stop this insane belief that we have to have
oil to live, oil to kill for, and oil to lose our
sons/daughters over, oil to spend billions on....
We watched as the industrial revolution took
over and thought we were on top of the world,
but now we're slipping off...What took us to
the top. Brilliant minds, (Dreamers) the
want of something big, bigger, biggest...
Somehow we missed something, it was
an unforseen piece of the puzzle...What would
we do when we got there? Would we be happy?
Would all the people in 'OUR' country fit into
this puzzle? What about other countries? How
about our natural resources? Over crowding?
Pollution? Food? Trees? Air? Did we forget about
this along the way?
We have one life and one earth~
Now we've got to rethink this. Look where our
jobs have gone, where our countries headed,
what the smoke stacks , oil/gas, acres upon
acres of leaching landfills have gotten us.
Ask 'ourselves' what we can do to help our
plight, and UNITE together as ONE...
starting small in neighborhoods, and
communities. Our country needs to have
a plan, and we need to act now~ I won't be
here for the end result but my grandbabies
and their children and so on, will be...I will
only see the sadness of this great beautiful
and wonderful planet gasping harder
and harder... if we don't come together~
Okay, I'm done...take it or leave it, but
in the end, I hope we can all feel proud
of what we did, to reduce our own carbon
footprint!
5. If my life were a sitcom, it would be titled
"If I had it to do over again"!
6. Sitting on my back porch, I see my beautiful
cedar and maple trees , (enjoy their shade),
and incredible habitat, with their
own eco-system changing with the seasons...
If it weren't for the I-5 rushing river, it
could be a little piece of heaven~
6. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking
forward to a bar-b-q at the kids house, tomorrow
my plans include house/yard work and Sunday,
I think Jerry will be home from the island(he's
been painting at his sisters), I'd like to take
Sportz to the river for a run and good swim!

Thursday Thirteen #7

Things I bought at the thrift store (yesterday)!

1. A red kool-aid pitcher. I had a white one, but
as most of you know, I love red in my kitchen!
(I had already given my other one away)!
2. A pair of fairy slippers for Lulu!
3. A pillow for Mercedes! She'll love it,
because it's one of her fave patterns!
4. A huge assortment package of stamps
and scrapbook goodies for Mercedes.
(mums the word, this will be a gift for
Christmas) As most of you know I love, love
love, reusing when I can and this to me,
is one of the best possible ways, by using an
item already purchased and recycled
instead of thrown into our hugely overcrowded
landfills!
5. A pair of shoes for Lulu that have an adorable
princess type motif and will light up when she
takes a step!!! (She'll love them)!
6. A pillow for Lulu's room, that will go
with her ensemble when she gets her
big girl bed!
7. A pair of pink warm & cozy winter pajama's.
8. A (new) red spatula!
9. A variety of new cute little socks.
10. Darling Levi jeans jumper!
11. Klutz book on how to do nail art!
I hope everyone knows what a Klutz
book is...They're awesome, I have
several for the kids in my life~ How
to do hair wraps, juggle, friendship
bracelets to name a few! They're
fantastic little 'how to' books that
I've found, and the kids at school
love them as much as my oldest
granddaughter!
12. Pink dress!
13. A Christmas candle holder, that
I just couldn't pass up...

No other Title but, Reuse! Reduce! Recycle!

Held prisoner by the street crew!

Yesterday the city paved our street! In 30 some years,
it had been a pot holed mess! A couple of years ago
when all the stores jumped into our neighborhood,
they half _ _ _ed, skim coated it and called it done.
Holes started showing up and it was a mess in no
time. I'm not sure who was to blame for that, if the
stores were suppose to do it or the city, but it was such
a dissapointment. This however, looks like a real road!
Jerry talked to them when they first started looking
at it and he said it sounded like they were going to do
it right! It's great!!! No sidewalks, but they sort of
hinted to Jerry that this area, may not stay this way
for long!!!! WOOHOO! KEEP ON COMING!!!

I finished the project for my bro Pat yesterday,
AND HE LIKED IT!!! Allison liked it and so
did the t-shirt man!!! Yippie!!!! I'll link to his
website when he gets this all going, so you can
see!!!

Jerry's at Friday harbor working for Pat & David
for a few days, (thats a toughy being there on the
island in this weather)!!! He called last night
standing at Cattle Point(the interpretive center)
overlooking the sound, with a seal or something
wrestling a big fish. At first he thought it was a
whale, but nada...He said, the mama racoons
had their babies out on display (two families)
and saw the smallest racoons , he'd ever
seen. So cute! Pat & David feed the critters, they
have deer, fox, racoon and trillions of birds come
visit them everyday!!!

Vanity as it is 'Today'

Jerry & I hung out yesterday, we went to a couple of thrift
stores and actually besides my usual( pink clothes for a
certian someone), we found.... drum rolllllllllllll!!!!
A sink.... not the proverbial kitchen sink, but a very old
bathroom sink. Some of you know we've been at a stand
still with our bathroom for sometime, we originally
wanted one of those bowl sinks, and actually have it!
Jerry's been against it from the get go, worried that he
may break it I guess. He wanted more of a rugged
heavy duty sink in there and wanted to put the glass
bowl in the powder room. Well, now with this find...
we can do just that! The new thrift find is really
a cool square style, almost Art Deco looking. It
has two separate faucets, and the stopper is an
old rubber style. (That may take a while to find)!
We found an old vanity to put our sink in last
year, and Jerry thinks the new sink will fit perfectly!
When we finally get this project done I'll post
pictures!!!

....And for dinner, Devon & Tenisha had us over for
a barbeque, YUMMY!!!!!, Devon fixed shish kabobs
(shrimp, chicken and lots of different veggies),
hamburgers, with rice-a-roni salad and corn on the
cob it was a yummy feast!!! After dinner the guys
worked on Devon's new (his boss' old one) grill and
us girls went in, Lulu went to bed and Tenisha and
I watched a dancing show~

Thursday Thirteen # 6

Thirteen Reasons why I believe
'YOU' should adopt a pet from
Rescue Organizations!!!

1. These pets have been rescued
and will not be euthanized. By
adopting one, it gives much
needed space for others.
2. There are thousands of pets
in different rescue centers all
breeds, colors, shapes & sizes to
chose from!
3. They're spayed or neutered!
News Flash!!! Over 17,000 spay/neuters
performed at N.O.A.H. since opening
in 2003!!!
4. They partner with overcrowded
local animal shelters, giving them
a second chance for a home!
5. We love N.O.A.H., because that's
where we found our cat Elfie! Who,
now...lets 'US' live with her! Tonasket
animal cruelty case is where Elfie came
from before N.O.A.H. rescued her and 11
other cats!!! Known at the shelter as the
Tonasket Twelve!!! They also rescued several
dogs from there too!
6. S.P.O.T. is rescue organization with an
all-volunteer group of like-minded
individuals who 'Foster' cats & dogs.
7. They provide necessary medical care
and educate and give a lot of
emotional support as possible!!!
8. We love S.P.O.T., because thats
where we got our boy, Sportz (Sporty),
he's our faithful companion, and
has enriched our lives 10 fold!!!
9. S.P.O.T. show cases their dogs
and cats online so you can see them,
and gives enough information that it may
be the beginning of a life long
relationship!
10. Rescue organizations try to match
you to your adopted animal, they don't
want the pet to be rejected!!! They want
the adoption to be a positive experience
for animal and family alike!
11. Each city has an animal shelter, that
houses cats & dogs that may not be as
lucky as 'OUR' beloved pets, because
not every pet gets chosen by a rescue
organization and over crowding means
a certian death to older or more unadoptable
pets...
12. Sooooo, please go to your local animal shelter,
Paws, or any rescue organization!!!
13. Your life will never be the same, and the
pet you adopt, will give 'YOU' unconditional
love...What could be better than that?!?!

Wordless Wednesday~

Dance as if there's no tomorrow~

I'm Featured in Sewphisticates blog TODAY!!!

Please go check Sewphisticates blog out, I'm featured
in it today!!!! (just click on the link above!!!) This is very
exciting, I read a thread about her Challenge and accepted
it and this is it!!! Check it out, I'm the first 'ONE' out of the
20 participants, so if you want to see what everyone else did
with Sew's Origami mini scrapbook , keep the link
and check it out for the next few weeks to see everyone's
mini! We'd love it, if you left a message (well I would for sure)!!!

Lulu Saturday~

My Day for Telephone Reunions!!!

We had Lulu, Pat & David overnight! I
enjoyed it so much, but poor Jerry had
to work until 10:30ish. David was in bed
and Lulu had been, but got a second wind
and got to visit with Grandpa a little, and
Pat was just about to go to bed when he
arrived home.

In the morning Devon & Tenisha brought
breakfast supplies. As I fixed breakfast,
trying to keep Pat from helping was almost
impossible...her back is still bad, healing
has been a long process, although she
is feeling better. Somehow we lost the
plug-in for the griddle and I was totally
bummed to say the least, I 've been so
spoiled with it, that any other way to make
eggs seems Greek to me...:( But, I slowly got
through it!

Everyone left and I got a phone call from
my friend Karen, we had not visited for
a long time, so that was nice!
Then Jerry's cousin Steve called, and
it had been ages since I had talked to
him too, Steve needs lots of "Good Wishes"
& "Prayers" his back is in terrible pain
and nothing is working to help him out,
let alone the loss of being able to work
his job or his beloved volunteering at
the fire station!!! (((((Hugs to both
Steve & Linda)))))!!!
Then Janie called, she's Jerry's cousin
too, but we've always called her Aunt
Janie & Uncle Steve...not sure
why. I had not talked to Janie
in a year and the last time we
talked she was very very ill in the
hospital(I heard from a reliable
source that Janie looks like a
million bucks!!!) Pat saw her
Saturday at the family reunion
pic-nic!!! Janie and I had tons
of catching up to do. I don't know
about her, but I always feel like
we can just pick up where we left
off last!!! Great talking to everyone,
Jerry's working such long hours
that this weekend was extra
special seeing Pat & David, the
kids and talking to so many
friends and family!!!

Friday Fill-Ins #8

1. Oh, I can't wait until I have a prius.
(positive thinking)!
2. Disorganization is the first thing you see when you open my refrigerator.
3. I never leave home without my purse.
4. If I were a condiment, I would be mustard because it's yummy, and the color of sunshine. All kidding aside, I do love the flavor, and there's no fat in it.
5. Talking to a customer service person I can't
understand, is really high up on my list of pet
peeves.
6. The last thing I thought before I went to bed
was, making a mental note to remember to water the
lawn early when I woke up, and I did!
7. As for this afternoon, I'm looking forward
to a short visit with Pat and David, tomorrow my
plans are that Lulu is coming to Nana's and
Grandpa's while Momma & Daddy work and she will
spend the night while Mommy & Daddy go play, also
Pat and David will be coming in late to stay the
night too, and Sunday, I plan on a fun morning
visiting with Pat and David and the kids coming
to fix us all breakfast!
This has been crunch time for Jerry, he's painted late
everyday and again all weekend! :(

Friday Fill Ins

Thursday Thirteen # 5 'Treasure Hunt'

(1.) My friend Patti & I (2.) went junquing today!!!
She called bright and early and said,
(3.)"Lets head north for the day!" So off
we went.

(4.)We had so much fun, we went to
(5.)antique malls and a few(6.) thrift stores!

Mid day we were starving, so we took
time out for (6.)lunch, it was yummy!!!

Then back to shopping, she took me
to an antique mall(7.) I'd never been
too before, (which is always a treat)!
It was out in the(8.) country, the mall
was actually in what use to be the(9.)
family's barn! There were(10.) chickens,
peacocks, pheasant, goats and a porch
loving black lab. We spent a lot of time
there and we both(11.) bought a few treasures!

We finished the day back at Patti's with
(12.)coffee, sitting on her porch, enjoying
her lake scenery. We went over our
day, sharing the fun we'd had, while looking
at some of our treasures!(13.) Thank YOU again
Patti for such a great day, and yummy lunch
too!!!

Wordless Wednesday~ :)

Check out my Slide Show!

Cousin Chris' Explosive Show

Can be viewed on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek1lTepD3Nw
Jerry Good job on this video, (no jerky movements)
while ducking & covering!!! :)

These are the Everett City Fireworks

Across the bay from Priest Point.

Nothing compared to Cousin Chris' Display! :)

Chris' Stage & explosives!!!

Chris is strategically setting up his explosives, I mean
Fireworks! :)

Rockets Red Glare~

Cousin Chris' Display!!! Amazing isn't it!!!

We survived the 4th.!!!

The party at Uncle Tom's & Aunt Mary's
was a "BLAST" in more ways than one!
As always, there was tons of great food.
It was so nice to see EVERYONE!!! There
were many who couldn't or didn't make
it this year and were GREATLY missed,
Uncle Larry, Aunt Sandy,their families,
Ryan & DeWayne, and Frank to name a few!

The babies were very entertaining. Vinnie
was working on his planned 4ish buzz!
Uncle Tom & Aunt Mary were the "STARS"
opening their beach home to such a huge
bunch of "PIRATES"!!! Thank YOU TWO!!!
Mary, of course didn't sit down all day
evening, night...(((((((((Hugs)))))))))

The Priest Pt. Parade was absolutely the
highlight to me, the kiddo's young and
old were fabulous. Our eclectic pirates were
the BEST, we all had a ball
throwing them candy and catching theirs
that they threw to us...More Food~Vinnie
was where he had planned to be :)!!!
Jerry went home to check on Sportz, if,
he was doing okay, then the plan was to
stay for Chris' Firework display!!!
All's well with Sporty, so we stayed.

The fireworks were spectacular, I picked
the evidence out of my hair, picked up my
chair and ran for the street! We ducked,
covered and ran for the back!!! We found
a lot of others had relocated there also!!!
I held Lulu, she and Bella had stayed awake
and Lulu was totally into watching the fire
works!!! We had to cover our eyes & hair
at times, dust off the debris!!! WOW!!!
Jerry took nonstop movies of the fireworks,
so we'll be able to enjoy them for sometime!
The place looked like a war zone and smelled
like stinky eggs, with a low lying bluish haze!!!
Chris was smiling ear to ear, the kiddo's, tweens,
teens and young adults & Boomers alike were
ecstatic, (it was over) some were shell shocked but
WE ALL had a BLAST!!! What a great time was had
by all!!! Love you guys!!!

Friday Fill-Ins #7

1.Holidays in the summer are
wonderful, it's nice to plan family picnics,
especially if the weather cooperates!!!
2. Rib steaks, chicken and all veggies
are my favorite things on the grill.
Only I don't do the grilling not now,
not ever! Jerry does it, and does a damn good
job! :) (Lots of praise helps)!
3. My thoughts are please, please
don't rain on the 4th. (We've had
thunder and lightening most of the
day today)!
4.The 4th. at my Aunt & Uncles tomorrow
is what I'm most looking forward to this
weekend, I haven't seen a lot of
my relatives for a year. Babies are
growing up and we're getting gray...:)
There will be a lot of Eating, Drinking
& being Merry!!!
5. My favorite book so far this summer is
still to be determined, I have a stack by
my chair that sadly have been missed, as
much as my chair...I'll get there eventually.
6. A great cup of coffee is a great way
to start the day, after a great nights sleep!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm
looking forward to working on a craft
project, a little tv., checking my etsy
shop, and this, blog, blog, blog,
tomorrow my plans are, refer to #4 and
Sunday, I want to work in the yard if
the weathers nicer!

Thursday Thirteen # 4 Independence Day!

Thirteen Memories of the 4th.

1.Loving Sparklers as a kid!

2. Watching the fireworks from
our balcony in Lk. Stevens!

3. Camping and sparklers!

4. Picnics with family or friends!

6. When I was young, not really liking
the loud booms! But, I did like the stinky
smell of fireworks!

7. This neighborhood when our kids were
young. How much fun it was in the
street with everyone young and old.
The kids with their sparklers, stinky
worms and assorted safe & sound Fireworks!

8. Realizing sparklers are dangerous!

9. The kids graduated from safe & sane
to not so safe, loud , beautiful displays.
I Hated bottle rockets, then and now...
I worry for my beautiful trees every 4th.

10. Uncle Toms, with all the Aunts &
Uncles and cousins, loving the fire
works over the water! Yummmy Food!!!

11. Cousin Chris' Piromania!!!

12. Thinking how Cousin Chris'
display has grown every year and
is better than the big display
across the bay!!! But Ohhhh, does
it stink, soooo bad and is soooo
loud! We've coverd our heads with
the fear of incoming, with assor.
pizza pans, lids, whatever we
can muster up!

13. Uncle Tom & Aunt Mary's at the beach,
is still the family "HOT" spot for the
4th. Good friends & family, food & fun!!!
We come home before dark every 4th. now,
because our dog is sooo afraid of the loud
noises and we don't want a repeat of what
happened in the past...Now he's on drugs &
we're NOT...

My sidebar dropped...

FYI, if your sidebar falls down, I'll bet
like me, you uploaded a picture too large.
Took me all day, but it's fixed now, I
only lost comments from my Wordless
Wednesday! That, I can live with!

Wordless Wednesday! My garden path~