The Theme is Baby Shoes

This is one of the reason I haven't blogged this week. I've been busy buying, creating, printing, cutting, gluing, addressing, stuffing & stamping. Here's the end result and today they go in the mail.



Work? Yes. Fun? YES! And I'm happy to do it for my daughter who is expecting her first baby. I'm even more excited about the diaper cake I'm going to create.

But wait! The baby shoe theme.... I have to make around 40 baby shoes in the next couple weeks to hold the mints for the guests at the shower. My neighbor was gracious enough to share the pattern and some supplies to get me started on them. Yes, I'll post pictures. They are toooo cute!

Good Advise

I must give credit where credit is due. After several very crazy days in the office a coworker shared this piece of advise with me.

In the Land of the Loonies, 'Tis Folly to be Wise!




If you have some advise to share, please leave it in the comments.



How do you deal with life, when you feel like you've landed in the Land of the Loonies?



In case you're wondering.... Yes, that's me, there at the bottom of the last photo.

I have a Canon Rebel!

I took the plunge and purchased an expensive camera. After much research I decided on a Canon and waited and watched for sales. To tell the truth I'm a bit intimidated with all there is to learning how to use it. I desperately need to take a class. I've taken some photos with it, but haven't downloaded any of them.



Yesterday another book arrived in the mail. Professional Secrets for Photographing Children. I don't know if I'll ever be in the league of professionals, but I can certainly improve my skills.

Lobster Twice is Oh so Nice!

We found the greatest little place to eat in Bangor. It's called M & A's Cafe & Desert House and they are very well known for their authentic sponge cake!

They have the greatest gourmet pizza! It came piping hot from the oven.



The lobster is fresh and delicious! It was sooo good I could have eaten several.



They have the cutest little waitresses. But this particular one was our favorite.



"More coffee Miss?" On the double.



Keeping customers happy is paramount.



Here's a small selection of our deserts.



Oh! Wait, here's the picture of the famous sponge cake (in the left hand).



"Please come back and see us again SOON!" We LOVE your money... I mean business.

A Near Fiasco!

This weekend was my niece's wedding in Ohio. When the whole family is going to a function, it is hard to find someone to care for the dog. Now that we are empty nesters I decided to forge new territory and look for a dog sitter months in advance. We were all set up until 48 hours before we had to leave. Our pre-arranged sitter took ill and had to cancel on us. So I had to develop a new plan A & plan B. Plan A didn't work either, as they called us first and asked us to watch their cats as they were going up north this weekend to their cabin. I left a message for Plan B and hoped for the best, while trying to establish a plan C, D, & E. Can you spell d-e-s-p-a-r-a-t-i-o-n?

While the dog situation and my work situation (still trying to catch up from my trip to Maine) had me stressed out, I neglected to try on the outfit I planned to wear to the wedding. It was the green linen suit, I'd bought and only worn once (2 years ago) for Audra's bridal shower. Well at 8:00 pm the night before we left I tried it on and surprise! It didn't fit, not even with the wonder-girdle....not even close. Linen does not stretch, even a teensy bit. I guess that's what an inactive winter, struggling with health issues will do to you.

Panic set in. No time to waste, I'll have to make a emergency trip to Elder Beerman. I ran for my purse and car keys, and guess what? No car keys! I look for my hubby. No hubby. However, I do find my phone, so I call my husband on his cell phone. His cell phone rings in the kitchen. Can you spell f-r-u-s-t-r-a-t-i-o-n?

I dump my purse out on the table. No car keys. I search quickly through the house. No car keys. I go out to the car to look in the ignition. I slam the door to try to keep the dog from getting out with me. I slam my own elbow in the door - and the dog gets out. Ouch, great now I have a bruised and scraped up elbow, a dog that is standing guard by the car and NO KEYS! Can you spell e-x-a-s-p-e-r-a-t-i-o-n?

Soooo....I drag the dog in and find hubby's key, jump in his car and back up in the driveway and stop. Is this insane? Should I just wear something causal I have, instead of something dressy? Then it dawned on me....my house keys and car keys are on the same key ring and I've just locked myself out of my house. Can you spell _______?

At eight-thirty I pull into the lot at Elder Beerman and they close at nine o'clock. Okay, this will be a speed shopping excursion. I race to the back of the store, scanning left and right as I go for possibilities in case the petites section fails me. No dressy petites to speak of. Only one dress I like in the dress section and it's a size 6. If I could wear a size 6, I wouldn't be here now.

It's 8:15 and no possibilities, I grab some dressy tops by Laura Ashley and duck into the dressing room; to small, unflattering and to plain. Dash out again and head to the front of the store. Grab several more tops and swoop into a different dressing room as they announce you should take your purchases to the counter. This time to big, to flashy!! Back out and grab a few more tops and into the dressing room as they threaten to close the store and lock me inside. I settle on a Laura Ashley top that's not on sale...$85.00. Sooo much for being frugal. Admit defeat? Go home empty handed? On the verge of tears I stand in line and pay the outrageous price. At least I'll have something new to wear.

I pull into the yard to greet hubby. He looks sheepish. He had my keys in his pocket, because he originally went out to put my car in the garage, but went and visited some neighbors instead. I share my story with him..... He pours himself a drink and when I tell him to pour me a double...he is a wise husband and does so even though he knows I very, very rarely drink and have never had a double anything in my life.

The Finished Raised Bed

** Update! I'm oh so very good at posting on certain topics and then not following up. Not so this time! Here's the finished product and the details I promised.



My husband Corky, made the raised bed 4 foot by 16 foot long and 18 inches deep. I have a great book called "The Vegetable Garden's Bible", and I read up on what they had to say about raised beds. Width depends on how far you want to reach to weed and pick produce; some gardeners like it 3 feet, 4 foot or some even 5 foot. We decided to stay in the middle range. We opted to use untreated wood, because of the controversy concerning the safety of using pressure-treated wood.



This last picture, will confirm that yes, we still have too much water. We now believe that there are damaged drainage tiles in the area causing our yard and some of our neighbor's property not to drain properly. Whatever the reason may be, you can't grow vegetables in a swamp. It does give me good excuse for not weeding the main part of the garden. I'd sink to my ankles if I tried at this point!



I have had a few suggestions to try a cranberry bog or a rice patty. I'll look into that! This year I hope to at least get tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers & zuchini.

A REAL Nightmare!

A definition of a nightmare is a frightening dream that usually wakes the sleeper. Not only did it wake me, but apparently prompted me to action as well.

Let me start at the beginning. The dream was about me and an old childhood friend of mine Isabelle ( or Liz as she goes by now ). We had stopped at a gas station so she could gas up her construction vehicle. This was not far-fetched because Liz had worked for a construction co., driving trucks and flagging. True to real life I had to use the restroom and when I returned, Liz was trying to park the very long rig closer to the pump. There was another individual trying to help her by using hand signals, etc. The vehicle had come into contact with the pump and in all the maneuvering it was entangled and had slowing bent the pump over sideways.

I stared at the pump with disbelieving eyes. It was going to blow! I was rooted to the spot and couldn't move. The pipe under the gas pump began to bulge. As loud as I could I was yelling "STOP, STOP!" and waving my arms around madly, but to no avail.

The next thing I knew I was lying face down on a hard surface. My head and face hurt on the left side and my knees too were in pain. I was dazed and foggy --- what had happened? Did the pump blow? Did I jump out of the way and fall?

"Dorsey!" "DORSEY!" I could hear someone yelling.

Where was I? What had happened? Was I okay? Although I felt pain in my face & knees otherwise I seemed to be okay. "I'm okay", I called out, quietly; not sounding to convincing even to myself.

"No you're not!" yelled my hubby. Great was I missing limbs or bleeding to death? I slowing turned over and opened my eyes and glanced up to see my husband on his hands and knees looking over the edge of the bed. The bed... I'm in my own bedroom, my husband is here. Where's Liz? What's going on? I wish I could think straight. I slowly wobbled to a standing position and checked out my knees, which were scraped raw. I became aware of my apnea machine making noise and blowing air on my face and as I removed the apparatus from my head I realized parts were missing from it. The mask had busted in half when I'd fallen.

Did the gas tank blow? No, it was a dream, but my head hurt and my face. Finally it came to me - I'd jumped, fallen, or was blown out of bed and hit the night stand all the way down the left side of my face - staring with my eyebrow, then the eye and cheekbone and then the left side of my chest was scuffed up and my poor knees were throbbing.

For a minute or two my husband had thought he was going to have to call 911, he thought I was knocked unconscious. What a nightmare! I put an icepack on my face right away and thankfully there was very little bruising.

Good Grief Dorsey. What next!

Hanging out at the Children's Museum

I've always wanted to try out a hammock, just to lay in the shade and doze. Michael tried it for me. I could just see the sign hanging on it the next day if I tried...
Closed for repairs! Kids only - Adults stay OFF! If I had time to be witty I'm sure I could come up with a few others.



Ava lasted about 8.2 seconds. It counts in bull riding, doesn't it?

His Funeral Was Yesterday

Last week a coworker told me a boy that was in Audra's class in school was shot and killed in Detroit for his fancy car. I remember Sean from grade school, he was big for his age and a good natured and easy going child. I was shocked and saddened for a life cut short, but didn't post as I was waiting to confirm facts. All I ever found was his obituary in the local news and his name on the funeral home sign. I wonder why it's being kept so hush, hush.

My friend told me that her son had plans to hang out with Sean later that day and kept text messaging him to find out when he'd be back, so they could do so. After repeated texts without a reply, her son's last messge was, "Hey, Sean R U Dead?" He was.

I am determined to have a vegetable garden!

I posted earlier about the super-soggy condition of my back yard this year. You can read about it here and see a before picture of how wet it was. Well it's now June and there hasn't been much of an improvement. My husband, Corky and I decided if we were to have a garden this year we'd have to make a raised bed. Today he bought the lumber and assembled the sides to retain the soil. He then added a base layer of sand. I helped with the shoveling from the trailer to the bucket, so we had a sort of relay going.

Tomorrow he will go back to the nursery for compost. I have a double compost bin, but it's not near enough. I hope we can plant tomorrow as well. I would post the dimensions of the raised bed, but I forgot to ask before he started push-mowing the lawn. That husband of mine has two speeds, full-throttle and laid back, there's nothing in between.

I did finally plant my Amaryllis bulbs outside over the weekend. I now have a total of seven in a variety of colors. I love that they bloom in the winter, when everything is dormant outside. I hope it's not so wet that they rot. I left the dried out soil from the pots around them, so they weren't to shocked with all the changes at once.

I'll post a picture of the new veggie bed when it's complete.