Save My Skin!!!!! Please!!!

I used to doodle on scraps of paper when I was on hold with tech support or a teleconference.....now I "surf" blogs! I've seen some gorgeous blogs and really think that mind is boring, so I started "surfing" skins (which I originally called "templates"....taboo!) I've found one I love, but I can't figure out how to make it work right!

I've read about issues with widgets and when I tried to download the one I love, I had a widget issue, even though I have no clue what a widget even is!

Here's the skin I'm in love with.....can someone help me figure out how to make it my own? It's sooooo me.......it looks just like my daytimer!

Don't you just love it!!!! It's called "Notepad Chaos"....how appropriate is that???

It's Twins!!!

Well, it's that time of year.....and although it's been a while since I've sat on that porch, I'm sooo dreaming of the smell of Graves Mountain and hoping that this year I'll be able to go to the cabin...it's been toooo long! Business is crazy right now, so Dennis and I both have to get it when it's there....makes for last minute planning to go out of town, but I've got my fingers crossed!

I just went to their website....just had to see a picture of it again! I'm telling you Melinda's "babies" look so much alike they're almost twins. The only difference is their age:

Well, that and the porch railings........but they will be finished the next time we're up! Isn't that amazing.....that for all of these years she's waited to find it....and it found her! Melinda's Baby Graves!!!

Hellooooo.....is anybody there!?

Wow......I put a counter on the blog on Thursday night and I already have over 125 hits! Now, I don't know who you are (well, I know who some of you are!), or how you got to my blog, but I'd love to hear from you! Heck, if no one looks at your blog and talks back to you, it's just a diary....been there, done that....it's more fun to share!

By accident a found a couple of great blogs....I hit that "Next Blog" button at the top of my blog yesterday when I was making a post on Aprons Required...I thought it would take me to my other blog, but I saw this blog called Homesick Texan. At first I thought that Shelby had changed the name of her blog......but it's not Shelby! This is a great website for recipes....and her photography is awesome. I'm inspired....and check out how many comments she gets to her posts! Unreal! I don't think I want to go that far!

Anyway, I'm happy to know that someone is visiting my blog....I love company! But it would be alot nicer if I knew you were there! Let me know who you are...and how I can check out your blog! Hey, if you can find a mate on the computer, you can find new friends, too! See ya around!

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens......

A few years ago Shelby gave me Oprah's 20th Anniversary Collection for Christmas....I think we watched the entire set of DVDs on Christmas Day! Almost every time she came over, that's what we did.....watched Oprah! I especially love her "Favorite Things" show, but it inspired me to do the same thing for my friends. The first year I gave them baskets filled with some of my favorite things: A Wusthof Santoku knife, Aromatique Cinnamon Cider scented oil, samples of Clinque moisturizer (courtesy of Clinique), Lindor truffles, among other things. Last year I drove myself nuts trying to design a cookbook with my "favorite recipes" for my Christmas Favorite Things gift. I knew the kids would love it since they no longer lived at home. But designing a cookbook and figuring out how to print and bind it to look nice was getting quite difficult. I was watching the Today Show one morning and they were giving some great ideas for Christmas gifts......one of them was a cookbook! You just go to Tastebook.com and type in your recipes, add your pictures and they send a beautiful cookbook with the tabs for each section and the recipes.....they look gorgeous! You can add up to 100 recipes.....it was close to Christmas, so I only added 50 at the time, but you can go back in and complete the rest of them and they will send them to you to hand out to everyone. You even get to pick out your own cover! Here's what mine looks like:

I think this is such a great idea.........you could ask everyone in your family for their favorite recipes and put them all into one book! You don't have to buy the book to enjoy the recipes....you can "share" them with others.

I will be posting some of my favorite recipes from the book at my newest blog, Aprons Required. In fact, cooking on the stove right now is the next entry, Pasta e Fagioli!!!

Have a great day!

Courtney.....this is for you!

I was at Harris Teeter the other day and bought a stem of white hydrangea....it's been in the sunroom, so I forgot I had it! When I walked past it a bit ago I thought of you. This is one stem of hydrangea.....it cost me $5. I have bought them at different times of the year and they aren't always this full, but I would think they would be in July!

Just an FYI for you.........

Hanging Out......

I was out on the deck just relaxing and saying, "so long" to the work week and I realized that it won't be long before the deck will be sparse again. I have enjoyed the spring, summer and, so far, the fall watching my flowers bloom and fill the deck with color.

Over the years I've tried every kind of flowering plant known to mankind to put in my pots and hanging baskets. It was a winter pastime to look through magazines and come up with a new and exciting combo for the planters, but for the last three years I've stuck with a winner......angel wing begonias.

The first year I bought red because Dennis is just not fond of pink flowers, but the second year I just couldn't take my hands away from the flat of pink ones! That is one plant in the basket. If it were a larger basket, the plant would have gotten even bigger! Here's one in the pot on the deck.....yep, that's ONE plant, too!

Yep....they are tried and true and I'm confident that my search is over for the perfect plants for our deck. They love the sun (and we get quite a bit of it), unlike impatiens, which I also love. I don't have to "dead head" then like the petunias, which I also love. We tried all greenery one year, but that didn't quite get it for me!

These are just too easy to take care of and so beautiful to look at.........they fill up the deck! They require little care....just a little water and fertilizer now and then. And they don't get angry if you get busy and forget to water them......they are quite drought tolerant!

In previous years I've promised myself that I'm going to cut them back and put them in the garage and I'm making the same promise to myself this year. Then in the spring I won't have to by new ones! They can make it through the winter if they are kept in the garage!

So, it won't be long before the deck will be sparse again, so I'm heading to kitchen for a glass a wine and then to the deck to enjoy it while I can. Have a great weekend!

New Blog On The Block!!!

I started it quite some time ago.....one post and then no more. My intentions were good, but I actually forgot about it until recently. The "girls" are cooking....and sharing their experiences and I thought I'd share mine. Maybe my recipes will bore you, but maybe they will inspire you. Actually, I never really use a recipe....I don't measure anything, unless I'm baking...gotta measure then! Anyway, I just figured that it would easier for you to find the recipes down the road if they are all in the same place. Go look.........!

Aprons Required....let's tie one on!