Autumn in North Carolina

We've had a warm spell lately--today the temperature was a mild 72 degrees. But there's a cold front coming tonight, complete with rain and wind, and tomorrow's high will only be in the 40's. I really needed to get out and plant the last of my spring bulbs, but I just kept thinking how so many of those gorgeous leaves would be on the ground tomorrow. That should make some beautiful shots in itself, but I wanted just a few more pics before that happened. I mean, can you get too much autumn color? So here are a few of my favorite shots from the day:

Just for laughs 2

The boss of a small company called a spontaneous staff meeting in the middle of a particularly stressful week. When everyone gathered, the employer, who understood the benefits of having fun, told the burnt-out staff that the purpose of the meeting was to have a quick contest, those theme was "Viagra advertising slogans."

Dividing into groups, the only rule was that they had to use past ad slogans from other products to capture the essence of Viagra and its benefits.

About 7 minutes later, they turned in their suggestions, and created a "Top Ten List". After all the laughter and camaraderie, the rest of the week went very well for everyone.

Here is their Top Ten List:

10. Viagra, It's "Whaazzzzzz Up!"

9. Viagra, The Quicker Picker Upper!

8. Viagra, Like a Rock!

7. Viagra, When it absolutely, positively has to be there tonight!

6. Viagra, Be all that you can Be!

5. Viagra--Reach out and Touch Someone

4. Viagra, Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman!

3. Viagra--Here's the Beef!

2. Viagra, We Bring Good Things To Life!


And the unanimous #1 slogan:

1. This is your penis. This is your penis on drugs. Any questions?

Crafting meme

Libby, at A Simple Girl, was tagged for a craft meme, and open-tagged anyone else. As this one caught my fancy, I'm going to play along.

1. When did you start to make and create crafts?
I remember making dresses from scraps of cloth for my Toni doll when I was about 8 years old, and I once furnished a little "house" for my Cracker Jacks plastic sailor boy using bits and pieces of items. Other than that, I'm not sure I really made anything else until I was in my 20's. Oh, I took Home Ec about 4 years total between 7th and 12th grades, but didn't do too well. I remember still making simple skirts in senior year while the other girls were making coats. My mom bought me a sewing machine for high school graduation and I made a few dresses in nursing school and when I first got married, but they weren't that great, and J-Man kind of discouraged that hobby.

2. Why did you start creating? Darned if I know. I loved reading, stank at sports, and was always a solitary child. I guess this was a natural segue into Things To Do When You're Alone.

3. Why do you create? Maybe it fulfills a long ago need to have something all my own, something that belongs to me. After all, I was the oldest of 4 kids, daughter to a steel worker, and money was tight. Rooms were shared, clothes were homemade or hand-me-downs, and privacy was at a premium. Then again, maybe it's
an attempt by an ordinary person to explore her unique-ness. But always, it's satisfying. Sometimes I feel like the little kid's voice at the end of the credits for The X-Files: " I made that."

4. What do you create? I still make things with bits of fabric: Quilts! Table runners, table toppers, wall-hangings, lap quilts, and bed quilts. I'm still a novice, but I can look at my early projects and see how I've improved. Then, of course, I look at other quilters' works and see how much I NEED to improve.

5. Has this changed since you began crafting? Ohh, yeah. First I started sewing simple skirts, shorts, and later, scrubs. Then a fellow nurse taught me to crochet and I did that for a while. Tried macrame, but that bored me. Needlepoint--also boring. Latch-hooking, ditto. Crewel--nice and did several pieces, then came cross-stitch. Cross-stitching was a lot of fun, but was a strain on my eyesight.


Michael's was offering calligraphy classes, so I signed up for that.

J-Man even gave me one of those small tilt tables and I did some certificates for my daughter's elementary school, but moved on to other crafts. I recently gave my pens and inks and supplies to a fellow nurse who started playing around with calligraphy. He was thrilled, because they were better pens and tips than he, as a single father, had bought for himself.

I took a few beading classes, and I still love to work with beads. I have done one project that incorporated beads and plan to do more. Then I got into rubber stamping, though not scrapbooking, and made my own Christmas cards and other projects for a few years. I miss that, and plan to make more time for that next year, once I'm no longer a group co-leader in my guild. I still have bins of paper, and an old medicine cart with little drawers all filled with stamps, scissor, inks, glitter and all kinds of goodies.


I took my first quilting class at a community education program back in the 70's, before, or maybe just as, quilting began to catch on. I'd decided my first quilt would be a Double Wedding Ring for my sister's wedding, all done by hand. (Yes, I hear the laughter echoing through blogging halls!) We'll save that story for another post.
Didn't do anything more with quilting until 1995 or 96, when J-Man's Christmas gift to me was the money for a quilting class at my local shop. It was a much better class, and I made a sampler lap quilt for my daughter, hand pieced and hand quilted. I was hooked, for life.

Okay, that's the end of that meme. Anyone else out there want to play?

Productive day

Just finished roasting 10 pounds of green chiles ordered from New Mexico Catalog and received a precarious 2 weeks ago--or was it 3? I kept them in the fridge, but still had to throw away about a dozen. But oh, the house smells so good right now.

I did this once before, a couple of years ago, but didn't write down the directions, and when I started roasting them, J-Man was on the computer, so I just had to wing it.

First, I put on my gloves! It's way too easy to forget and rub the corner of your eye or something, so I keep several pair of gloves available for handling the chiles. Then I wash them, and, taking a sharp knife, cut slits in the skin down the length of the chili.

Next, I layer them on a cookie sheet


and put them in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, turning them as needed, until they "blister".


Then I place them in a gallon-sized freezer bag, to lie flat on the shelves until all are frozen.


Ta-dah! 12 bags of chiles, ready to pull out individual ones as needed for green chile stew, spinach enchilada casserole, whatever. I will probably give DD a couple of bags when she next comes down.


This morning, I took Tandi over to a new groomer's, recommended to me by a friend. Remember the experience with the last groomer? Well, this was a whole different ballgame.

I checked the place out last Saturday morning on the way home from work. Lauri was very helpful, very knowledgeable, and seemed very competent. Her philosophy is that if it takes 6 weeks to get Tandi groomed, so be it. She won't push my pup any farther than she can handle.

So today I took Tandi over there for a short visit. There must have been 6-7 dogs, all crowding up to the doggie gate, trying to get a look (or a sniff) at the new kid on the block. Tandi was excited at all the potential playmates, and had no problem milling around with them, playing with the stuffies and squeakies available, and checking out all the equipment. She even permitted Angie and Lauri to pet her and hold her, though she was just a bit anxious. I went off and left her for about an hour and all went beautifully. She was wearing her big doggie grin when I came to get her, and didn't scramble over me trying to get out the door. SUCH a change from our last groomer. This one looks to be a beautiful fit! So tomorrow, I take her back for grooming, and they really think they'll be able to get it all done.

They let the dogs run around as they want, as long as they behave, and just work on them all day long. If and when one gets a little stressed, they stop, scoop up another and go from there. There are fenced areas outside so the dogs can run and play, and they'll separate the large dogs from the small ones so no one gets trampled. Even when it rains, they have a fenced in, covered patio the dogs can play on. And it won't cost me an arm and a leg, either. I'll try to post pics tomorrow of my little furbaby, all nicely fluffed and puffed!

Beware this Movie

Just got an email from a friend about a movie being released Dec. 7, entitled "The Golden Compass." I checked it out on Snopes.com, and it's true. This movie is based on the first of a trilogy written by a British atheist, who stated the purpose of his books was to "kill God" in the minds of children.

Here is the link:
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Now, I like the Harry Potter books, and I don't have a problem reading them. But this man does not believe in God, hates C.S. Lewis and the "Narnia" books, and this first movie is a watered-down version of his first book. They get worse.

Please pass this on to those with children or grandchildren so they will be forewarned about this movie.