Belle, your pond is beautiful and I love the natural look you have around it. Are your water lillies easy to keep alive? I use clorox in our water works to keep them clean looking so can't have anything alive. I put some duck decoys in one this year to add some color.LOL

Luvs signs are so darn cute and I think I need a circut to add to some of my stemware. I started painting some with blue roses for a TS tablescape and will bake them so I will be able to wash them.

Anj, are you feeling better yet?

KM, hope you are getting your room finished w/o to much tiring work. I haven't redone a room for quite awhile but need to get going and keep things modernized.

We are starting to get ready for the fair we set up at every year. Will be spending any free time I find on packing freight up. This year will end up with all our sales for Sept. so hope we end up with good sales for this month. We are still trying to buy land and build but it's so expensive that it kinda scares me.

We had a wonderful Prime Rib dinner with friends this evening. I have never cooked one and probably never will if she keeps inviting us over to eat with them every time she cooks one. She had fixed a pineapple dessert that was light and so good. I'll have to ask for the recipe.

I set a new table so will close and try to get it posted over on the Holiday forum.

Punk

Belle,what a lovely pond, I really love how you have the little wooden dock and all the pretty plants. I can certainly see how you would get allot of enjoyment sitting out there enjoying it.

Punk, so good to hear from you. Prime rib really does sound good, haven't had any for quite awhile. I've only cooked it once, did a thing a friend gave me about heating up the oven, putting the prime rib in and then turning off the oven and not opening the door until x amount of time had passed. It wasn't as well done as I like it, but DH and DS and DIL loved it! I'd just as soon go buy the whole meal! LOL

What are you thinking about buying land for? Did you get your parents place sold or are you still renting it out? Are you opening more business locations? Hope you do great at the fair.

Luvs

Beautiful pond area Belle. I know they are lots of work since my brother has one. It's always a work in progress. ha

Sounds like ya'll are having fun with family and friends. We went on a little fishing trip last weekend and we are planning a camping trip for this last weekend before school starts. Getting ready for that. I'm not big on camping but my kids love it so....the things we do.

I have started a new project. It's a Halloween project that I'm doing for a thank you for my SIL for letting us stay with them. She LOVES Halloween. I found a 3 pack of canvases for $3 at the TS a while back so painting it on one of those and will get her a little easel to prop it on. Hope she'll like it. I'm also doing a couple of other little projects to go in the thank you package. ha I'll show pics before I mail them off. So I'm busy busy as usual.
Luvs....We finally got new mattresses! ha You know how long I've been talking about needing new ones! ha Slept for the first nite on it last night and ahhhhh! Too bad my dog woke me up 7 times to go out last night. Tonight she is sleeping in her kennel!
I don't have much to say just wanted to check in with ya'll. I just had a minute while I was eating my brunch. I will talk to ya'll soon! ~Anj

Hi, tried to post earlier and couldn't get through on here. Guess it's working now.

Luvs, we still own the parents place but still rent our businesses so are hoping to move up and own them someday. I had a real estate gal drop by today and she hasn't had her office open for months so may be willing to rent it. It is so expensive to try to buy land and build. We may have to do one thing at a time.

Anj, good to hear from you. Sounds like you are making the kids lives as fun as possible before school starts. I love camping but know it isn't everyones bag.

Hope that new matress continues to help you sleep better. DD just returned her new Simmons and went back to her old one. It was a king and just wasn't holding up like it should. She thinks most of the king size will be like that. They paid $1800 for her old one one sale and love it but its a queen. I would never pay that much for one.

Good idea to put the dog in the kennel and get a good nights sleep before you head camping. Do you have a camper or use a tent when camping? I'm a little spoiled with having a cabin and toy hauler to sleep in. The last time I slept in a tent it rained all night and I woke up cold and wet while the others in the cabin had a good nights sleep.

Glad to hear you will be posting some pictures of your new projects.

I'll try to get something finished to share soon. Punk

Oh Boy if this isn't a first in a while (me coming here and being the last one who posted). Am I on top of things or what? Hope you are busy painting and taking pictures to share!

I made homemade spaghetti sauce in the crockpot today so dinner was easy and gave me more time to be on here. I took out burger for tomorrow night so we can BBQ before it gets to cold. It's getting down to low 50's at night so fall is coming fast.

I'm behind again on my on line training so maybe this is your way of helping me stay focused and caught up. Will start some training and check back later.

Punk

Hi All, everyone must be really busy. I spent Sat. yard saling and shopping. Today I packed the truck full to take to the TS.LOL I have grown from size 1 to 8-10 so have alot of clothes to share with others. I still have alot of baby items and toys from DGD and want to get them to a new home also. It's funny how we think the kids need all these neat toys and then we give them away.

I also got some house cleaning and laundry caught up. I am going to have a new sattelite system installed this week so have to have things sparklin' clean. Maybe I should do this every week.haha

We are still getting things ready for the fair so got a few things packed to the toy hauler today also. Need to go get the water shut off so will close and check back soon. I didn't get any training done so best work harder on that this coming week.

Punk

Hi All,
Punk, I don't mean to leave you here chatting all alone. I've forgotten to click over here to see what's going on.
I've got a few wood pieces ready for a design, but haven't gotten started on one yet. I've also played around with the Cricut some more--made some cute little Halloween cutouts.
Hope you get the training all out of the way soon--don't you hate it when things like that are on your mind needing to be done.
That's how my vines or my block wall are for me--always needing to be worked on, and I can only do them a section at a time because I fill up all the trash cans and get too tired.
Hope Anj and Belle are doing okay and having some summer fun. Hard to believe our summer will soon be over already!
My son and his family get home tomorrow night from Costa Rica, I will be relieved to have them home safe and sound again.
Have fun all,
Luvs

I see that not only have I been gone far to long but my last post didn't post......small temper tantrum :)

Thank you all for the nice review of my pond. It may be some..well more than some work, but it is well worth the effort.

Punk...the water lilies are so simple to grow. Your pond or water area just need to be at least 24" deep....the freezing thing, although mine froze solid one year while outside of the pond and they still survived. You might try algae fix instead of bleach to keep your water works clear and clean. Then you can have flowers or plants.

If you love Prime Rib (and who doesn't)you need to try it baked in rock salt. You loose no juices at all and it is so tender.....OK I'm hungry!

I also thought I wouldn't every spend big bucks on a mattress, then we got a temporpedic, and forget the bucks, now DH leg movements don't keep me awake all night....AH! I also have less legs and knee pain which helps me forget the cost. I hope Anj mattress help her as well.

We have very strange weather here. It can be in the 90's by day and down to 55 at night. Rarely does it stay hot at night, which is really nice. Today is supposed to be our last day of 90's plus, I sure hope so!!!!! Yesterday it was 97 and when I went outside at about 7 PM it was like someone put bricks on my chest.

Anj....you have your dog, we have Simba, our male cat. He has started yowling at night and unless you talk to him he will keep it up. He has been banished to the mud room several time.

Luvs....like you I have been over on the side catching up, my you all have been busy.

I have had a whirl wind couple of weeks. My SIL's father had a stroke and I have been taking care of the kids she day cares, 4 year old twin girls, a boy 10 and a 13 yr old girl, and then her Mom had a heart attack and she had to fly to CA., so I also cared for her DF when he came home. Thank goodness the kids are very well behaved! But, I am worn out! Now I need to catch up on everything here at home and the weeds have taken over my flower beds. So...when is vacation----OH! I'm retired!

Gotta run...well walk, the dryer just dinged....who ever was silly enough to put a bell on a washer or dryer.....I don't want to know they are done, it just means I have to get moving!

Take Care and stay cool!

Belle