You Only Turn 48 ONCE

This afternoon I will pick up Greg’s presents. His birthday is tomorrow! The big 48. I never thought when we first got married that we would ever reach this age. Can't possibly have been 25 years ago. Seems just like yesterday. Cake, White long johns, Decorations, Traditional Hostess cupcake, Sears gift certificate, T-shirt, Balloon, Card. He already got a few of his own gifts at Harbor Freight the other day~an Air Drill and cut off wheels. I have to FORCE him to purchase tools. He just won’t spend the money to make it easier on himself. Maybe I should get a big banner that says “Today is Greg’s Birthday” and put it up at the shop! Isabelle and I picked up 9 wheelbarrows full of pinecones yesterday. And those are just the ones around the house and drive. The wheelbarrow is 8 cubic foot capacity. So we had quite a few pinecones.

COULDY Weather

One ~Day~ In~ My~ Life 7a-8a Up & out of bed/Make bed/Put away laundry/Put Away Dishes 8a-9a Review Emails/Drink Latte 9a-10a Feed Dog/Play With Dog/Walk Dog 10a-1p Picking Up Pinecones/YardWork 1p-3p Work 3p-5p Scrap/Forums 5p-6p Hubby Home/Make Dinner 6p-7p Dinner 7p-Mid Free Time

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When is gas going to be so expensive that the stupidly indulgent father that lives behind us will restrain his pre-teen son from riding a motorbike around their property ALL DAY LONG?

It used to be so quiet in this area. And since we had 20 acres, we didn't have too many people bothering us.

But neighbors have moved in all over and what was once a quiet area where you could hear owls hooting, wild turkey calling, and coyotes howling...is an overcrowded area where all that is heard is dogs barking all night, motorbikes racing all day, and the crap falling out of the horses as their riders trespass on our property.

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But in the past 3-5 years the population has exploded. The county wants to raise taxes?

Hello? Property taxes have already increased because you have more people living here...more houses being built.

In addition there is tax revenue from more employers, more building permits, and sales tax.

Why the drive to raise taxes? They are not fixing the roads, they are not improving anything around here.

The roads are so rutted from snow tire studs that they almost pull you along without touching the steering wheel of your car.

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THE REASON I DON'T READ THE NEWS :

Anybody ever heard of COULDY weather?

And then? And then? And then?

Greg bought me a juicer so that I can start drinking a glass of carrot juice per day. The nutrients in carrots give benefits that:

1. strengthens the immune system
2. increases metabolism
3. helps protect & repair cells
4. maintains healthy skin
5. maintains vision

My darling husband has a friend that was diagnosed with lung cancer and the physicians gave him 6 months to live. Tom (his friend) researched on the internet and found that a few people had success with an all carrot diet. But Tom LIVES on carrot juice and nothing else. He does not eat other foods. And within 1 year his cancer is completely gone. GONE.

I'm not looking to cure any cancer, but I would like to maintain a healthier body. Maybe it will help my drying. I'll try it for a while and see how it goes.

I have also found a website for long hair. LonG HaiR I will attempt to read, digest, and incorporate some of their advice. My ends are dry just as the rest of my body. Perhaps I can induce some health into them. And eventually grow my hair to an astonishing length like my Beautiful Baby!

She has such amazing red, long hair. Of course, she has never tried to bleach, chemically straighten, color, iron, perm or otherwise totally destroy it.

We have been going for a midnight walk around the property for fresh air since the weather has been warmer. Last evening, Greg decided he was too tired to walk. But Isabelle was already up and out of her bed, body blocking him to force him on our walk. So he had to come with us. A creature of habit, she is.

Birthday Coming Up!

Greg's B-day is April 29. I was hoping to have Ty returned from his Hawaii trip, but found out that he is there for 2 weeks. And he did NOT get the WACOM for Greg like I requested. I even stressed how important it was because the WACOM was to be a gift for his birthday. Poor hubby also wanted a t-shirt with a design on it. I had showed him some special "artistic" checks and checkbook covers mailer from the bank. We believe it was "Mr. Potatohead" but neither of us can remember! Too Funny! I think I will call a donut place to order white long johns for him. He has always loved THESE pastries and it is what actually brought us together. I was selling donuts for our club in college and he would stop to buy one everyday. Pretty soon, I was always saving one for him, especially when he was late. He was always amazed that we had 1 left over...DUH. Men are so thickheaded. But most times, he was there when we opened and we would talk. He finally asked me out after I draped myself across his desk after accounting class...Talk about OBVIOUS! So Saturday, he worked in the shop all day. Mostly by himself and he got a lot of cleaning done. He still needs to do tons more AND get cars out of there. I do not want any trouble with neighbors, complaints from county, or to have people drive by and see we are living like White-Trash. He just has this overwhelming tendency to collect junk and keep it around. He has made tentative arrangements with his friend, Richie in A-town to rent space to keep them there...Hopefully he gets them moved before my nerves are Frayed! Our driveway still needs to be leveled as it has somewhat stopped raining. Weather is better here. Yesterday was 59 and windy. Today it is windy again. The pinecones were dropping so hard and hitting the roof the garage, they almost sounded like little explosions. Several have hit the cars, so we tried to move the cars to avoid any damage. Saturday, I was a little bit more aware and got some scrap pages done and posted. But the drugs are still making me weak and dizzy. Today I will go in to the dentist again at 2:50 to discuss long-term solutions for my teeth. My solution=pull them all and get dentures! Sunday, Greg and I went to Spokey-Joe and he got his hair cut. He said the girl talked non-stop, but he managed to ignore her. HOW do men do that? If somebody is talking to me, I listen. I got my nails done and we did a little bit of shopping together. Made a deposit at the bank and picked up lattes. We stopped at Wendy's for bacon cheeseburgers for the dog as we did not take her along with us. Greg's dually is still being repaired and we had let the Mustang out for a spin. We also picked up 4 wheelbarrows full of pinecones, tidied up around the yard, and cleaned the fish tank! Wow. Clean water and now we actually SEE the fish. Afterwards, we sat on our swing on the porch and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Isabelle is sitting by her water barrel again. She just LOVES that thing. We have decided to get tickets to see She Wants Revenge in Portland, OR in June and will get reservations to stay there, visit with cousins & friends, and go on the Alpine Slide at Mount Hood. Hope to look at motorcycles soon. Greg is harping about trading in the Dually for a Harley Davidson edition truck. We actually saw one yesterday...and it WASN'T bad! So maybe I will cave in...

Linda Ronstadt Songs CAN Be Irritating

How many husbands will leave in the morning for work with a quick kiss to their wife and then as he drives away sing Linda Ronstadt songs meant to remain forever entrenched in your mind... Desperado, You're No Good Nope. Only mine. But I got revenge. I sang "Blue Bayou" in a very deliberate off-key loud voice which echoed through the woods. He drove away giving me his Salute. And then gave me those final words that sent a horrific shiver down my spine... "Educated Horses"! Oh yes. He's an evil husband. A bad man.

Bad Tooth

Abcessed tooth. Lots of Pain. Surgery today. Pain killer meds & anti-biotics. Will post when I can.

Happy Easter

So...did the Easter Cow come and visit you? Did he bring you a Bunny Big Ears? Yummy. I suppose the ears are gone and you have started chewing on his sweet, chocolate body now. Or is that gone, too? Did you break into your Cadbury creme eggs and slurp out the yellow & white drippy frosting? Or maybe you are crunching into those sugary marshmallow Peeps that are out of this world. Did you know that there is an artist that specializes in creating works of art with Peeps? Yesterday we had...Snow and...Hail...and Rain...Poor little kids. Hope today was better weather for finding their Easter treasures. But it snowed briefly again here today. For the Easter holiday, most stores were closed. So we went into town and got a few groceries at Albertsons, stopped at Wendy's to get cheeseburgers for Isabelle, and then purchased lattes at the old reliable Government Way CDA Espresso stand (which, by the way, is for sale and has been renamed CDA Hot Shots). When we got home, we briefly visited the shop to take pictures of Greg's latest project. Then I conditioned my hair with Paul Mitchell Super Charged Moisturizer while Greg took a nap covered with my homemade flannel blanket! A walk around the property at 7:30pm concluded our night. Watched a little TV and went to bed. What an exciting day?

New Digital Scrap Designers

I just want to Barf. Knowing that nobody reads this doesn't bother me. I am not in the race to have everybody read my blog. I don't care. But I DO CARE that I observed that ANOTHER new digital designer(s) has started selling, I really like their stuff and they started a Creative Team... And since they are NEW do you think they would give a chance to a NEW list of scrappers that would be eager for the chance to be creative and distribute for them? NO. GOD NO. Of course they get the same old, same old people to be on their Creative Team. And I am sorry, but Gina Miller, just does not do it for me anymore. I am SO sick and tired of seeing her name on EVERY creative team. I want FRESH ideas. Fresh meat, Fresh different. Her designs are the same old same old. She was different at first, but now, again. Same old, same old boring. And Creative Keepsakes magazine with Elsie Flannagan. I immediately THREW OUT the april 2006 magazine with the TRASH. I didn't even open it. When I saw her face on the front cover I almost threw up. Creative Keepsakes is JAMMING HER DOWN OUR THROATS. Her 2nd grade artistic designs were cute at first. Different. But when you have to see the stuff for the 1,000,000th time. It is boring. Doesn't Elsie get bored with it? Yuck. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate their designs. It is just BORING now. Different at first, a new way of looking at things. I thought Wow. That is different. Neat. But now...it is So So So So So So So So boring. And I am not bringing this to anybody's attention because I want to be on a Creative Team. Don't get the idea that I am jealous. I just want SOMETHING DIFFERENT. It is similar to associating it with a mother making a child eat chocolate pudding for breakfast lunch and dinner for 6 months. Different plate, different utensil to eat it with, but always same, boring chocolate pudding! Even my DOG likes different foods. Excuse me...there are MILLIONs of women that scrap out there. Be in it to be DIFFERENT. Get a NEW and different creative team. Be daring. Step outside. Breathe the Fresh Scrap Attitude.

Sporadic Satellite Internet Service

If you want a low quality, poor reception satellite service, by all means...subscribe to Hughes.net (formerly Direcway). Because that is what I have and we have the worst service ever. Yesterday it was down and up and down; mostly down all day. It was only available briefly for me to add music to this site. And to add music to our Rocky Mtn Off Road site. It seems that the service has gotten even worse since Hughes.net took over. Time for another complaint letter (another out-sourcing at Direcway) maybe there are real english speaking persons based in the United States that I can contact. But I won't hold my breathe. Because my upload speed was 10kbp yesterday. That was with sunshine. Today it is better. With severe rain? Upload speed begins at around 120, but then drops. It makes no sense. I will attempt my white-chocolate moose layout later today. After we attended my doctor appointment, I was directed to the Lab to draw blood. Which I am NOT queasy when I give. I used to donate blood, but had to quit as I started passing out afterwards. Don't worry, Kels! I'm just going in to find out WHY I am drying up! My feet, my fingers, my elbows, my hair; I am exhausted all the time; and I forget things so very easily. According to investigation on the 'net, I might have a thyroid imbalance. From the lab, we went to Barnes & Noble so I could download some stuff. I never knew that they had wireless internet service. Obviously we will be visiting that bookstore often! Coffee sucks, but wireless is great! I just HAVE to change my NIN on my site because Trent Reznor has a just TOO seductively delicious voice. Too distracting for me to get anything done. I just sit here and stare into space, listening.

Urinary Tract Infection

Greg encountered some problems on Thursday, but waited until Friday to visit the doctor, but didn’t have enough time. So I took him in on Saturday morning. He has a urinary tract infection. I always think of that cat food when I hear that. There is a special cat food you feed to cats that prevents that. Wonder if I could slip it in his jello? Then we visited the store to get a few things while waiting for his prescription. I failed to have a list. Did you know it is DANGEROUS to go to the store without a list? We always buy things that we shouldn’t…or forget things that should be on a list. Well, after waiting 20 minutes (why didn’t they page us?) we ambled back to the pharmacy. And were told that our MAJOR prescription card was not accepted by them. Now…we have filled prescriptions here before. And they DO accept it. But the person explained that they had called to get authorization & talked to a non-english speaking person (ANOTHER OUT-SOURCING PROBLEM) and were told it was not valid. Gee, do you think the language barrier is a problem? Or their attitudes? When are the major companies going to learn that out-sourcing DOES NOT WORK? Get a clue! DUH! I am going to scrap a page today of White Chocolate Mousse and then post it here. The recipe is DELICIOUS! The best mousse I have ever tasted. It is never in the fridge for long. Thus far, I have NOT out-sourced my recipe. Yippee! Saturday-After returning home from the doctor & shopping, Greg rested. I nursed. Sunday-Greg made dog grog this morning…Fired up the BBQ and made it on the deck. Greg rested. I nursed & scrapped. Greg worked in the shop for about 2 hours late tonight. Monday-I did spring clean-up outside, as most of the snow has melted there is just isolated areas where there was a LOT of build up. Picked up a wheel barrow full of pine cones. Put out my pink flamingos, pulled some wayward weeds, picked up some stray garbage. Along the highway, we always get garbage blowing into the yard…Scrapped 3 pages and posted 1 (there is something wrong with uploading at the Kitchen); Left positive comments on several sites. Went to pick up the UPS delivery at the shop, washed 3 loads of clothes & put them away. All this b4 10:00am. And still have to vacuum. WHY, oh, WHY do they have to OPEN the GATE? To drive in 5 feet and leave a package? The other UPS driver drove around our barricades, and left the package at the house. Didn’t he wonder why the gate was closed, why there were no trespassing signs, and why there were car-size logs on either side of the gate???? People…what do we have to do to make it clear that you are NOT to come on the property? Land mines? Or maybe just a big sign advertising land mines! That’s an idea! Greg will stop to see Kevin & Karen at the chiropractor’s today. Kevin is the Chiro, Karen is his dedicated, wonderful, excellent receptionist! Love them.

Hopefully we will make it to a movie this week! Oh. Almost forgot! I got TWO new Starbucks cups this weekend to add to my collection! A pretty blue and a flowery spring one!

Where DID the week go?

Sorry not to have attended my blogging folks...a dear friend of mine was having surgery in the hospital. Then a viral infection laid me to waste for what was left of the week... A brief reflection...

• Sunday-day of R&R for hubby & me
• Monday-2 hellions tore through our 20 acres on an ATV & dirt bike, trespassing and forcing me to find the father...giving him a stern lecture..."do not trespass...all trespassers will be shot...notification of cops on 2nd offense...notices posted." *These types of teens give a bad reputation to their age group; no respect for property...did not ask permission...I even attempted to flag them down, and they refused to stop. When I talked with him, the father seemed to not have any control over them.
• Tuesday-Worked on taxes. Received my camera in the mail. Great pics. Great color. Great camera thus far. Highly recommended.
• Wednesday-Bedrest
• Thursday-Comatose
• Friday...Why...That's right now.

So today I am trying to get caught up.

Hogs & Quiches to all!

The EASTER COW

Everybody knows that with April upon us, soon the EASTER COW will come and bring lots of candy. I don't know about you, but I am always happy to see the EASTER COW come to our home. He used to bring our daughter little eggs full of money. However, he left them out in the woods instead of the house. Maybe our front door was a little too small for him! As I have stated in previous posts...the weather here does not know that it is April...Spring...Daylight Savings Time...the Vernal Equinox...because it SNOWED here again today. Greg and I have been suffering from a low grade fever, that results in extreme exhaustion. I could barely get up out of bed today, do a few things, then drag myself back to bed.

As ill as he felt, Greg somehow worked down at his shop all day today AND repossessed a vehicle that was not paid for by some idiot. And trust me, folks...this guy IS an idiot. He is the ultimate con artist. Talks people into giving him money or things or letting him live at places, and then he NEVER follows through with payment. What Trash.

Hope the kids got their BOXES from us. They have never said anything about it!

I tried to scrap today, but with the fever and a headache, I could not do anything.

We are going to work on our website tomorrow.