Brain Dump Post (Warning...sorta long)

Happy Friday to you! I don't have any artwork to show you, I've got lots of random thoughts running around in my head and I feel the urge to just get them out so I can move on with my day. LOL Read if you want, or simply skip along to your next blog. I don't mind. *Ü*

Are you happy that I don't have a spider web picture or two or three? Well, the reason for that, is Mr. (Mrs.?) Spider has moved the web yet again. I'm not sure why, except maybe he/she really didn't like me nosing around so much and misting it. LOL I noticed the web was still there in the morning and a bit later as I was watering plants, I saw that he/she caught a bee. Success! It was all wrapped up in whatever they create to make their web (silk?). The girls and I went out for a playdate and when we got home just a couple of hours later, the web was gone! No, not torn down, the links to the web were still there, but no web and no bee. And I haven't been able to see where it's been moved to. So, I guess my little foray into taking photos of spiderwebs is over. I thought to myself, I probably should have taken a photo of the success the spider had, but oh well. Thanks for indulging me a bit, but you can rest easy that I will not be posting any more spider web photos. Honest, and for true.

We went to the "big park" for our playdate with my friend, Becky and her kids yesterday. The kids had a great time running around and playing together. The park has a small water "fountain" feature where water streams shoot up at random from the ground. It was very entertaining watching the little kids (not ours) play in it. Although Amy got herself soaked and then ran off to play, knowing she'd not melt and her clothes would dry. Becky had a Sudoku puzzle book with her and I told her I knew it was super popular but I never could get into it because I didn't understand how to do it. So she showed me and I was really intrigued. So much so, I went to the Dollar Tree after dinner and picked up a book of puzzles after dinner. $1 for some fun. Can't beat that. Thanks, Becky for showing me how to solve the puzzles. I have done 4 of them already! Of course, these may be "easy" ones, but I am enjoying the challenge of figuring them out. Gotta keep the brain active, right?

After lunch yesterday the girls and I then went to the local pool. We had talked about it earlier in the week and I said I might even swim this time. I lived up to that thought and got myself into the pool. The weather was warm, but pretty cloudy, a storm was blowing in. Anyway, I impressed myself because I tried diving for the first time since I was a young adult (most likely). I was trying to remember how long it had been. I''ve been in CO for 15 years now, for 5 years before that I lived in Palmdale, and while I had access to a pool at my apartment, I don't remember diving then. I grew up with an in-ground pool in our backyard. So throughout my childhood and before I moved to Palmdale I had daily access to that pool. I'm thinking the last time I actually did a dive was in my early 20s or late teens (and I'm gonna be 44 at the end of the month). Although I used the pool, a lot of times (in my late teens and early 20s) it was to lounge on a raft/floating chair of some sort with a drink and a book to read so I could catch some rays and keep cool. LOL I was initially surprised at how nervous I felt at first when I decided I would actually dive. So I ended up starting from the side of the pool and not from the diving board. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't do a belly flop! The lifeguard told me it looked pretty good, too. So I tried the diving board next. Dang, I didn't remember being SO high above the water! It sure is a leap of faith to do a dive. But I did it and didn't embarrass myself too badly (and I got water up my nose). I was proud of myself for not worrying too much about how it looked and enjoying some fun play time with the girls. We got a couple of hours in of playing and swimming before lightning was spotted and we had to get out. Then it started to get windy and knowing how cold Jessica gets anyway, the wind would just make it more uncomfortable for her, so we left. And joked that the storm blew in just because I wanted to swim this time. LOL

After dinner, I mentioned I went out to find a Sudoku puzzle book. After I found that, I had an urge to head to the Goodwill and just look around to see if there was anything interesting-maybe I could find an item or two of clothing for the girls. When Sandy was here she was full of stories of the neat things she picked up there for low, low prices. I am happy to donate to Goodwill, but havne't ever felt too successful at finding things to buy there. This time I just browsed every where not expecting anything. I found a couple of books, a dress for Jess (for $1.50 because white tags were 50% off) and a swim suit for Amy. Now I know I just got them suits, but this suit held a bit of sentimental significance (at least I knew it would for Amy). She had one that she LOVED for over a year. She called it her purple suit. Well, this suit was faded to pink and the elastic in it was all stretched out, but she'd still wear it. Until I finally had to hide it when I discovered it now had a hole in it as well. She was so disappointed that she couldn't wear it anymore. She really loved that suit. And guess what I found at the Goodwill? THE same swimsuit only newish. It was in super shape and I had to snatch it up for her. She was so excited when she saw it! My other fun find was a denim jacket for me. A Levi Strauss denim jacket and it had a white ticket (meaning it was 50% off). It fit and I got it for $7.00! Whoa Nelly! I know have my own "Sandy Story" from the Goodwill. *Ü*

Okay, I think I've cleared my brain of the random stuff pinging around in there, so I will close for now. Thanks for indulging me if you read this. Have a great Friday and super start to your weekend!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Try, try again. Or maybe the title of this post could be...Location, Location, Location!

I'm so sorry. I know I said just yesterday that I wouldn't post any more spider web photos, but I had to break that promise. Because this morning, this is what I saw when I looked for the web.

This shot shows what it looks like now in the exact same spot as yesterday's photo. No one in this household has touched the web. I saw it last evening when I got home from doing some window shopping. But this is what it looks like this morning. It took me a bit to figure out where the web was...and some water misting.

I've not seen any bugs IN the web, so I guess it wasn't very successful for this spider. He/she must have decided to try a new spot. Do spiders eat their webs? I guess I could look it up. Kathi? Resident expert on spiders and bugs...you probably know! (thanks for the spider facts)
This is a shot of the spider, towards the top leaves on the underside. I supposed I could have photoshopped this and put a circle in. As it is, you are seeing these photos straight out of the camera.

And for those of you who were interested in the name of the plant I posted a couple of days ago, I finally remembered to ask Steve for the name. It's called Jimson Weed or Datura stramonium. The first link is to photos of the plant and the second to some information I found doing a search. I'm not sure just how accurate it is. Since I posted on Sunday, we've had 3 more blooms. They don't last but a day or so. Currently two blooms are open. Steve won't be behaving wonky, I promise. He likes the look of the flower and is proud of the fact that he found his own plant. The fact that it has those properties I think makes it a more "manly" flower for him. LOL Cuz, you know, real guys don't usually get all happy over flowers. Although he also really likes the morning glory, too. Ours re-seeded itself and so our arbor looks much more lush than it ever has-refer back to the linked post above...it's the last picture I posted of my "wild" garden. Of course, the tons of rain might have helped it get so lush, too. LOL Oh wait, it's the MOON Flower that he likes more than the morning glory, but it's a variation of the morning glory that blooms in the evening. We haven't been able to get one to really grow well, yet.

Okay, that's enough babble from me today. One of these days I promise I will have a crafty post again. The girls start school next week (in my best sing-song voice)...*Ü*

This Spider's a Perfectionist!

As I was starting my Tuesday morning routine of getting all the trash out to the curb, I couldn't help but notice that the spider has been busy fixing up his (her?) web. There were some big gaps developing in it since my last post. Not so anymore.

One of the most fascinating things to me about this web is the location. Usually one sees a web in a corner of something and I guess this technically is sort of attached to the corner of our carport. But to me, this one looks almost as if it's just floating in air don't you think? I tried misting it per someone's comment to hopefully be able to capture it more clearly-Mr. (Mrs?) Spider didn't like the misting too much, but stayed on the web the while photo shoot. (Please disregard dirty carports and windows if you enlarge any pictures).
This is where the web is attached on the one side. That's a holly bush that I'm not particularly fond of, but Steve really likes it and it's going crazy this year.

And you can see the connection from the web to the strand going down to the holly bush here.
This one may be harder to see, but this is where it's attached to the carport.

The sun was hitting just right and I HAD to take more pictures. It's so fascinating to me.

I'll try to refrain from any more spiderweb posts in the future. Back to your regularly scheduled day, now. LOL Thanks for indulging me if you read this post.

A Couple of More Pool Layouts...

Hey there! Breakfast was yummy. After I did my grocery shopping, guess where the girls and I went today...the pool! Big surprise, huh? LOLWe picked up a couple of new tubes on clearance yesterday after the girls played with the ones some kids were willing to share. The mom told me where to find them. She was super appreciative of the hand pump I had in my bag, because she was trying to blow a couple of them up herself. Steve had thrown it into my bag before we leftjust in case our dollar store ones sprung a leak. Anyway, the girls wanted to try out their new bright pink "floaties" today. I didn't bring my camera this time, but after we got home, I finished up the layouts I had started yesterday.

I used the same kit as yesterday's to keep the flow going. The templates are also from Kay Miller Designs. I did recolor a couple of things though. The blue paper was originally pink and the button was originally orange. Love that I can change the color to better work with the layout.

Not a lot of journaling because I think they pretty much speak for themselves. You can see Jessica on the borrowed floatie. Picture the same thing, only in pink. LOL

Now it's time to start supper. We are having tacos tonight. Yum! I am so appreciative that Amy helps me by chopping up the tomatoes and puts the taco shells on a baking sheet to warm up. Makes quick work of getting tacos ready to eat.

Hope you have a great start to your week~thanks so much for taking a few minutes to see what we've been up to.

Around the House...

Hello there! While I am hoping to get some crafty time today, I thought I'd show you a couple of this *growing* around the house these days.

While I guess I don't like spiders, I'm not freaked out by them. I can smoosh them with no problem. I'm always fascinated by the webs they create and we've been privvy to one rather large one being built by a persistent spider on our carport. He (she?) first built one in a different corner earlier in the week, but we had a gully washer of a thunderstorm and Steve was trying to clear out the gutters so the water would flow out better. In doing so, he managed to destroy the first web. This guy (gal?) wasn't to be deterred from building a web in the same general vicinity and got to work right away spinning another, even larger one. These are my attempts to capture what it looks like. You may have to click on the photos to make them larger to "see" it.

Pretty cool, huh? Well, I'm glad I got these anyway...

Here's a plant or two or three or four that Steve has grown. I might have mentioned a while ago there was this plant growing in a neighbor's front yard that Steve was very enamored with. He would try to get the seeds from the plant and grow them, no luck. He'd try to see if he could get a runner and start it that way. No luck. He put his computer searching skills to work and found the plant name online (I don't know what it is, sorry). To his delight, he actually found the plant last year. He planted it in a pot and nurtured it in the house over the winter. (which actually means, I watered it along with the other houseplants, but doesn't the description sound better?) When the weather warmed up this spring, he put the pot on our deck and waited to see what would happen. It apparently was pretty happy with the loving care (ie watering) it got over the winter and enjoyed the sunlight it received on the deck. We are starting to get blooms now and I thought I'd better capture one while I could. LOL It is rather pretty, don't you think. I think Steve gets a bigger kick out of the fact that the bloom is some sort of opiate or hallucenogenic I believe. LOL He has planted portions of this beauty all around, but the one in the pot has taken off the most.

Lots more blooms in the wings!
And this is a quick shot of my erm...garden. LOL I haven't spent much time out here keeping it in check, but I rather like the sort of wild look, too.

Thanks for stopping by. Breakfast is ready and I must go eat. LOL

Amy on Her Floatie~Digi Layout

Happy Saturday to you! I did something creative today...yay! Of course, this was after I took the girls to the pool. LOL I actually had my camera in my purse this time and managed to capture some fun moments.

(Credits: Kay Miller Template Collection 12, Summer Splash Kit and Add Ons from NitwitCollections and Pea Tracy font).

This was the first time I had my camera with me, and also the first time the girls remembered to bring floaties. Amy had so much fun trying to keep afloat on her little Strawberry Shortcake Dollar Store ring. I took one of Jess on her frog, but it's way too blurry to use, darn. I have some other pictures and a couple of more layouts in the works already and will post them when I can get them finished.

Sandy and Jeff had to leave really early on Thursday morning as Jeff's mom had some complications from her illness (pre-leukemia something or other I believe Sandy said) and they needed to get back. It was fun spending the few days we had with them. I took the girls to the city pool (the one with the slides) in the afternoon (no pictures though). Yesterday, Steve finished off his week long vacation and we decided to go to Heritage Square, which now has an amusement park. The girls had fun riding some of the rides they offered. We didn't do all the offerings, but it was fun for the girls none the less. Heritage Square's chapel is where Steve and I got married 13 years ago (as of July 20th). Although I saw the last time we were there that the chapel had been turned into a store. Not sure if that's changed again as we didn't check it out, we spent our time in the amusement park area.

So, the summer fun continues. Yay! *Ü*

The girls go back to school on the 19th. I just got the community newsletter and already have a list of days that they don't go to school! Goodness, they have something like 5 days off by September 18th, I think. Two days are set aside for Assessment (meaning the girls go only during their appointed time one day for like an hour to an hour and a half max). One day off is for Labor Day, they have the Tuesday after Labor Day off (don't know why) and September 18th is a District Wide inservice day. Oh my! LOL

Hope you are having a great Saturday and that the rest of your weekend is full of summer fun!

Screeeeeeech.....

Stopping by real quick to let you know I haven't completely fallen off the face of the blogosphere!

Summer weather has decided to make a comeback after a week or so of very cool temps and rain, so I've been taking the girls to the local pool for swim time almost every day. Hey, they cool off and it's cheap entertainment. I sit under the umbrella and work on whatever handwork I've got going, so I think it's a win-win. *Ü* (even though I've not made it out to my craft room at all recently)

Then yesterday afternoon, Steve's sister, Sandy and her hubby, Jeff rolled into town on their motorcycle. They live in Sioux Falls and went to Sturgis (a big motorcycle rally) for a couple of days and took a huge detour to come visit us for a few days. If all goes well, they will head back to the rally for a few more days after they leave here and then they'll head home. It was really iffy that they would even come our way as Jeff's mom is ill, but she told them they should follow their vacation plans.

So, after a yummy breakfast at Gunther Toody's this morning, we took them to...can you guess? No...not miniature golfing...but to Bass Pro Shop (to see the huge kittycat fish) and then the Museum of Nature and Science. We didn't get tickets for Expedition Health as open times were too late in the afternoon, but we managed to have a good time showing them around the museum anyway. LOL

Before all that happened, you would not believe who was willing to take a quick spin on Jeff's motorcycle this morning. You might be surprised....take a peek...

Amy apparently said, No way! But Jess was game. She said it was a little bit scary, but a lot of fun, too.

So, that's the in a nutshell update to let you know all is well and good, just a tad busy. Hope to see you again soon, but in the meantime, thanks for your patience as this thing called Life keeps me hopping.