Twilight

I read the Twilight series of books, and enjoyed them. I can understand the hype about the movie,

but grew increasingly irritated with the hype about **EDWARD**

Is there such a thing as 'too handsome'?

I think the hair, the lips (the guy is wearing some goofy shade of lipstick!),

plus the white skin/fakey face powder look, were just too much.

As if the director is saying 'see, he is SOOO handsome, don'cha know?'

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Although I saw the movie on Friday, and both my 13 yr old and I agree, we thought he was a lot cooler by the end of the movie! (thanks for the tickets, DH!!!)

Sorry these pics are so stinkin' small, my technical abilities are small, too.

One of the fun parts of the movie is that Bella, the heroine, looks

strikingly like a friend of ours!!!! I won't post her pic, but the resemblance is amazing. And she wore a boot on her leg on her wedding day, just like Bella at the prom. Coincidence??? hmmm....

Anyway, two thumbs up for the Twilight movie from our household!

Kreativ Blogger Award....... thanks to the Sass!

So, I've won an award! Those daughters of mine are so good to me!
(you don't s'pose this is a pity award, do you?)

As a winner, I will name 6 things I am grateful for:

1. my health

2. my thoughtful husband

3. my kids, g'kids, and kids in laws

4. friends

5. flowers and gardening

6. chocolate!

This is our thankful tree----

Each leaf is something we are thankful for. We add our leaves at dinner time.

So, now I'll name six other blogs that I enjoy reading to pass this award on to :

Lynne at Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life,

Kylee at Our Little Acre,

Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago,

Carol at May Dreams Gardens,

TAMN at Seriously, so Blessed!,

and Barbara at Motherof 8.

Vote!

Here's a meme: vote, and then let us all know what your experience was - wait time, etc. Political ranting optional.

I voted at 8:30 a.m., no wait at

my polling station, although they said there had been a line earlier.

I was planning to go about 9, 9:30 a.m., because I calculated that voters on the way to work, and parents dropping kids off at school would be done by then, and it would be slow. (I have been hearing about hour long waits at early voting.)

Then I saw that the snow that wasn't supposed to come until tonight or this afternoon, was coming down, and I would rather not get stuck somewhere, so I ran out the door and voted.

So, come on, let me know what your experience was!

tagged by the Sass

My daughter tagged me---

So here is the meme:

Post your 4th picture from your 4th file. Say a little about it, then tag 4 other people.

Here is my pic......

It is one of about a million I took last winter when we had so much snow and winter seemed endless (winter seems endless to me every year, though).

This pic features my hill billy homemade bird feeder (yeah, it IS an old shoe box w/ aluminum foil on it, Holy Homemade Craziness, Batman!)

Don't you love the aesthetically pleasing evergreen branches on the side?

OK, it will be easy to top this dorky pic, so I am tagging:

PJ at Sleeping Late on Saturday

Barbara at Motherof8

Lynne at her Somewhat Invented Life

and anybody else who wants to do something random.

Aloha!

I don't want to make anybody jealous, but I get to go to HAWAII the end of January w/ my DH! lucky me. We went several years (and pounds!) ago, and had such a great time. I remember how lovely it was, and the beautiful fragrances in the air. The sunsets. the giant fish..

anyway, my sassy daughter put my count down counter on my sidebar (training wheels on this blogger's bike!) for me, and I have something wonderful to look forward to during the cold days of winter!

Which TWILIGHT character are you?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

ok, so this was cheesy. And who would've thought I'd be 'the mom'???

May be?

If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.
Quentin Crisp

there is a funny post over at Mother of 8

about her frustrations with a handmade gift she is working on.

I can relate, because I have messed up enough cross-stitches, and failed at crocheting ... have you seen scalloped crocheted leper bandages?

I won't even talk about the time I 'learned to knit' - I was trying to make a simple scarf, and had to tear it apart (ok, my daughter did that for me)and start over. 'Now concentrate on what you are doing' advised my lightning fast knitting teacher. hmmph.

EWWwww......

Found this grisly thing yesterday while I was clearing the veggie garden and getting the yard ready for winter:

It is a 'blow' snake, not a rattle snake, thank goodness, and not a very big one at that. Don't know who or what got it's head, maybe one of those big ol' magpies that bully around the neighborhood.

So, where have YOU lived and visited?

I was surprised to find how many places I've been.


visited 26 states (52%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

Back to School

Tuesday my grandson (and my daughter's youngest!) heads to kindergarten - so this poem is for his Mom.

Back to School

Somehow the sunlit world is gray
A small boy went to school today.
So often in these last few years
Of healing hurts
And drying tears…
Of picking playthings off the floor…
Of running often to the door,
One thought has been a placid pool.. .
He’ll soon be old enough for school.

He was old enough today,
Yet all the sunlit world is gray.
So soon my rooms grow orderly,
With no small boy to bother me.
But quiet rooms are lonely things
When in their walls no small boy sings.
A quiet yard’s a lonely place,
When it has known a small boy’s face.

Today he joined the world of men.. .
He’ll not be wholly mine again.
Today he braved life’s rise and fall..
Dear Lord, he seems so very small!

Somehow the sunlit world is gray…
My baby went to school today.
-author unknown

My 'baby boy' left for his first day of school almost twenty years ago. This month was another big milestone for him, because he married a lovely young lady on August 22nd! I'll add a picture here, later, if I get a minute.

too busy to post

Wedding madness has descended around here, and I'll have to catch up with posting later!

It's Wednesday --You found WHAT? at W-mart??

I always like to check out the gardening section in the summer - you never know what you will find.

Today, I found a deal - play sand for $2.23, how much? I don't know, but very heavy, 30 lbs or so? That is not a bad deal, but they had seriously marked down a novelty item that I had seen earlier, priced at $13 per bag -

hold onto your hats........

COLORed SAND!!!

Put out by Crayola, it is just the kind of fun you want your grandkids to have, right?

(or maybe you would be tempted, yourself, to play with blue or pink or green or yellow sand)

The first time I saw this stuff, I wanted it. Now, it is less than half price. Tempting..
Have you found any deals, lately? I love a good deal. Let me know in comments if you are playing along this week.. what have you seen when you have been out and about, using your $4 gasoline to pick up your milk?

Munumanu, another meme. . .

This is for my dear G gal ...

3 Joys - children, grandchildren, the gospel of Jesus Christ!

3 Goals- exercise regularly, improve health, think before I speak

3 Current Obsessions- yard work, weddings, yard work

3 Random Surprising Facts- if I know, I'm not really surprised, am I? (unless I forget and then remember, that really would be random, wouldn't it?)

it is a hot summer day, I tag you if you want to play, too. Let me know in comments.

Two-fer - Show and Tell Friday and Garden Bloggers Muse Day

Well, I am trying to put everything together into one blog entry.

I am showing a poem I wrote about a favorite childhood memory - going to the county fair.

Some years I spent most of the week there, with my brother and sis and grandmother.

Head to Kelli's blog for show and tell Friday,

and don't miss Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, home of Garden Bloggers Muse Day !

Did I mention it is the best and largest county fair in the U.S.A.?? Or so I was told...

The Great Darke County Fair by Joyce V.

I learned in school that our school was the best.

Our town the best. Our county, without question, was the best.

Here was The Best farmland, glacier-scrubbed and rich for the plow.

Our fair was not just any fair, it was GREAT.

And as a child, I agreed.

I loved the fair food,

the fried scones dripping with butter and honey,

cotton candy, fudge of every color and flavor.

I loved the parade (always held on Thursday),

with 4-H floats and horses and

bands trooping around the track.

I loved the rides, the noise, the games,

the mysterious mustachioed fat lady.

When my money was spent,

I toured the free exhibits in the Coliseum.

I visited my uncle’s cows,

and my cousin’s pigs in the fair barns.

I studied the quilts, the needlework,

the jars of jam with blue ribbons.

Yes, it’s true; our fair is the Best fair of all.
The biggest, the most fun of all
In my memory, the GREAT Darke County Fair
Lives on forever, superlatives intact.

It's Wednesday --You found WHAT? at W---mart

It's Wednesday, and time to share the odd, the bizarre, quirky, or just plain weird things you may have seen when you were at the store. Whether it is that (in-)famous big box or your local Mom-'n-Pop store, share with us what tickled your funny bone this week!

Inspired by Karla at Ramblin' Roads (who showed us a crazy bus), I want to show you a vehicle I saw at good ol' W -- mart some time ago when it came to my town.

Here I am with our 12 year old. The Oscar Mayer mobile actually is driven from place to place.
Here are the drivers, with a handy sandwich board of facts about their hot-doggin' vehicle.

Pretty cool, wouldn't you say?

So, join in the fun, and show us what you've seen. Let me know in comments, and I'll be sure to come over and take a look!

Green Thumb Sunday

GTS - Let me walk you around and hit the high points!

Yellow Pixie Lily

I love this new plant, but feel a bit like I am cheating by showing it as mine, the buds were on the plant when I plunked it in my spring bed two weeks ago!

Buzzin' away on the veronica

D' oh! My coneflower has it's second bloom, which is just like the first, before the petals unfurled. I posted last week with a bit of worry that I had some problem with this plant. We can all see that the problem is not with the plant, but with the gardener. sigh.

Happy GTS! Happy Sabbath!

Show and Tell Friday more flower pots in the making

Show 'n Tell time again - I am still potting up plants here.
Be sure to head over to Kelli's blog to see what everyone else has to show today.

This is another 'yellow' pot, w/ yellow dahlia in the back, yellow celosia and
some white zinnias, and some variegated sweet potato vine in the front. Lowe's is clearing out a lot of their plants, and so I got most of these plants for pennies on the dollar.

This is lLimelights rtemesia, if I have the name right. It is invasive and quite a pest, from what I read on the internet, but I did manage to kill some last year in my garden. I found another plant of it this spring, and it is working well in another of my pots.

I still have some profusion zinnias, some geraniums, and a few other odds and ends to arrange in pots. Then water and fertilize and hope the fill out and look good!

Happy Friday!

Pioneer Day

This is spoken from the point of view of a convert, so don't be hatin' on me here-

I am just thinking Pioneer Day would be a lot more fun if there was more 'pie' involved.
Just sayin' ---

oh, really, it is great to honor the Pioneers.

For those of us who are LDS, there was a great poem in the July Ensign,

Lynne over at Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life has a copy of the poem, and some great comments about it. I loved this poem when I read it, too. Remembers the hardships the pioneers faced and overcame, and reminds us that we, today, need to overcome, too.

It's Wednesday --You found WHAT? at W---mart

I was not feeling very inspired about my new Wednesday topic, until,of course, I made my weekly trip to 'that big box store that shall remain nameless.'
At any rate, here's what I found as I passed the tacky souvenir section (y'know, I could do them a favor and make a sign : Tacky Souvenirs):

I mean, how old is that Jackalope joke? This jackalope at least knows that he is an embarrassment to his ilk, look at that eye rolling expression on his little acrylic face!

Overall, things were pretty quiet at Wal.... oh, you know.. today -
as I was leaving, I saw this bit of nonsense in the parking lot. Yosemite Sam, you are a true day brightener in the quest for kitchsy krapola. (I can only hope he doesn't get bugs stuck in his teeth).

Let me know if you've seen anything fun, odd, weird, or otherwise note-worthy on your trips to the store, or on vacation, or ? you tell me! I'd love to hear/see all about it.

Finish These 5 meme

Finish These Five

Rules:
Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers.

The Five-
Ten years ago… I was a lot busier! I had a daughter in college, 3 school aged kids, and a three year old (for a total of 5 kids, y'know).

Five things on today’s “to do” list… plant some of my bargains! (I got a 'Little Kim' lilac in a 5 gallon container for ... you guessed it... $5!!!! yahoo!!! oh,, make dinner (popeye noodles and mashed potatoes, total comfort food), help the 12 year old paint her walls, fold laundry, and... did I mention I have plants to plant???

Five Snacks I enjoy… dark chocolate, pie, turtle ice cream, umm... did I say Dove dark chocolate?? those are so good, they are worth 3, I think.
Five Things I would do if I was a millionaire…build a new house, get a maid and a gardener, pay tithing, give some to my kids and set up college funds for g'kids, get a spa!

Five Places I have lived… Ohio (Arcanum!, Columbus, Bryan), Kentucky (Morehead), Florida (Orlando), Utah (Provo, Orem, Ogden), Washington state (Bremerton).

I’m tagging…
Jean at Sleeping Late on Saturday

Barbara at Motherof8

Kathy at Mimi's Garden

Lynne at Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life

Needled Mom at Needled Mom

Green Thumb Sunday

Sunday again, and time for GTS.
Here is a coneflower. I must admit that coneflowers are not my fave flower, but they are growing on me! This one is an odd duck, I don't know if this is the way it is s'posed to look, or if mine is just not blooming right.

Here is one of my 'new' (planted last fall) daylilies. I have the name written down somewhere. Unfortunately this flower is not the best example of the beauty, color and form of this plant,but it is the only one blooming today. The colors are richer than my camera shows.

Happy GTS! Happy Sabbath!

Show and Tell Friday - potting up plants for September

Friday is here again, and I thought I'd show what I am spending most of
my summer on- plants !
Be sure to head to Kelli's to see who else is participating in Show 'n Tell today.

This is a new rose for our yard this year, I love the peachy color, couldn't find the name tag at the base of the plant. The fragrance is light and lovely.

This is one of my pots I am getting ready for our wedding reception in the yard in September. Yeah, I know, May would be a much better time for this than July, but I am slow!

This pot has yellow/white colors, with an over-large daisy in the back, yellow leaved tansy on the left, a calendula in front of that, with yellow celosia and some white profusion zinnias on the right. I may put some golden oregano in the front.
I guess it is not the best photo.

Next is my effort at some dramatic color -

this pot will look better after the plants (esp the purple ruffled basil) adjusts to the move and fills in the pot. I am so happy with this combo that I wanted to show it today, it is not really for the reception. In the front is Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea) 'Blackie', in the middle is an ivy geranium called 'Picasso', with intense dark red colored blooms, and the mess in the back is the wilted basil and annual Scabiosa 'Black Knight'.

Here's a closeup of the geranium flower -

- and of the scabiosa. I messed w/ the color a bit in Photo Shop to try and recapture

the maroony loveliness of this flower. Maybe I'll show my pots again when they are more filled in.

It's Wednesday - - You found WHAT !? ! at W .. -mart

It is Wednesday again,

and I am inviting y'all to join in and let me know what's caused you to do a double take when out shopping. Doesn't have to be a big box store, anyplace will do. Let me know in comments that you've posted it on your blog. I'd love to come and see!

So, in Utah, LDS (Mormon) folks like to be prepared (like the boy scouts) -

and one area of preparation is to store food and water for emergencies-

physical /weather related disasters, financial difficulties, etc.

So I wasn't too surprised to see large containers for water storage at my local 'big box' store. Next to the blue water containers (abt 50-55 gallon size),

there are smaller buckets to hold food, grains, what have you.

But... I was surprised to see
end caps of wheat bags! hmm, 25 lbs for 14.86, I've seen it for $11 at the Provo W.. -mart store..

a sign of the times, for sure!

Let me know if you have something that made you laugh (or cry) when you were out and about.

GARDEN BLOGGER'S BLOOM DAY - July 2008

Mid month already! Time for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day,
sponsored by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.
Be sure to head over and see what is blooming in gardens all over the world!

purple California poppy
This is the first bloom of seeds I planted in the spring. I found this color of poppy at Wal-mart, of all places, and had no idea this color existed. Success!

Irish Eyes

I lost this plant last year, I planted it in too dry of a spot. Apparently it self seeds well, I have these growing in three new spots in the garden.

Daylily
The daylilies are the stars in the garden now, the roses have hit their peak and are on the downswing, but the daylilies are glorious!
Love-in-a-mist
This is everywhere in our walking garden, one of the few blue ones, we have mostly white ones. They are almost scarily prolific.

Johnson's Blue Geranium

This is a new addition to my garden, most of my cranesbill is the purply- pink variety. I am lovin' this blue!

"Native plant"
I don't know the name of this plant. I took it to the Extension's troubleshooting clinic and they didn't know, either. It is something I see in the foothills, growing wild, though.

'nother daylily
This pale yellow/cream is a fave of mine.

roses
The roses have been extra beautiful this year.

Tamarisk tree
This is listed on the invasive plants list for Utah. It clogs up and hogs up the streams here. This one in our yard is well behaved, though, and we love the pink fluffy blooms, esp. for bouquets.

Also blooming:

shasta daisies,

salvia,

red valerian (always, always blooming!),

spiderwort,

yucca, and

drumstick allium.

Happy bloom day, all!