Is He Expectin'...

By the looks of my hub's belly, you would think he was.

But before ya call The National Enquirer, look real close...

See those lil' paws stickin' out?

Our poor lil' Grace has been quite sick since she developed a severe allergy to her dog food this week. The vet said some dogs between the ages of 2 and 3 develop them.

When she's feelin' like heck, she likes to curl up next to my hub's belly and sleep.

I can't help but laugh when I see these two together. Prior to gettin' her, he swore our next dog would be a gigantic Irish Wolfhound. A real manly dog! One he could play and wrestle with.

Instead he has a wee Chihuahua who has him wrapped around her tiny paw. I'm sooo tempted to get him leopard print shoes with a matchin' tote to carry her in.

Thankfully, she is on the road to recovery.

These past 72 hours I have spent a small fortune on canned and dry dog food. I literally have 5 new brands of dry food and 2 of canned and she sniffs it, turns her snout up and walks away.

But if she hears me open a bag of Kettle Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper Potato Chips, *poof* she appears out of nowhere like David Copperfield in a Vegas act; just waitin' for me to drop one. Then *poof* she mysteriously disappears again.

Oh and for the record, I did not take her to the vet, hubs did. I still have the battle scars from her last visit.

:> )

Whoever Coined the Phrase...

"Try to grow old gracefully", must have been all of 25 years old, because its next to impossible to do.

Since it has sunk in that I'm another year older, I find myself lookin' in the mirror more at my "imperfections." (That's nice talk for wrinkles, creases and crevices) I'm startin' to have a slight resemblance to Duke from the Beverly Hillbillies. But I'm thinkin' my eyes are a lil' more droopier than his.

Ya know, when I was young my skin was as slick as the Exxon Valdez. As a teen, I bought Stridex Pads by the case. Now I practically do a swan dive in my Oil of Olay tryin' to keep my skin hydrated, yet I see my pores coughin' dust. I drink gallons and gallons of water on a daily basis and the only difference I've noticed is I'm goin' through more toilet paper.

And what's with these occasional break outs at my age? I thought I was over that years ago. All I know is I'm sportin' me a pitcher's mound on my left cheek. I'm waitin' for Mike Mussina to show up lookin' to strike out some players on my face.

On top of all this I get to look forward to menopause?! Oh YaY, I can hardly wait! Tack on ragin' hormones, sleepless nights and hot flashes??!! Heck, I may as well lay my wrinkly ol' self flat out in the middle of State Route 12B and wait for a Wal*Mart semi to get it over with.

Nah... Instead I'll just cannonball into a vat of olive oil.
:> )

Been Decoratin' For Halloween...

I placed this lil' sweetheart made by sweet Sherrie of Symple Tymes in a wooden pumpkin. Isn't she adorable?

This cute lil' scarecrow is from sweet Joee of Cart Before the Horse.

I made a band to place around my witch's hat that reads, "The Witch Is In." My hubs deemed it appropriate. Hmmm... He'll be gettin' eye of newt for dinner.

Here's my wonderful pumpkin gal from dear Patty of Dogpatch Primitives and an awesome owl from dear Stace of Tattered 'n Torn Prims. Brenda, my dear friend of many, many years made me the ceramic pumpkin.

I just love this witch. She's a gal after my own heart. Her lil' buck teeth resemble mine before the braces. Also, I wore similar hoop earrins' back in the 80's. The only difference was I had a key hangin' off one. Remember that look? " "No, my first name ain't baby. Its Janet... Ms. Jackson if you're nasty."

Here's my all-time favorite pumpkin dude in his boot from my favorite goober, Cookie of Curds-and-Whey.

I figured my Muddy Britches granny doll wanted to dress up for Halloween too.

Now its off to work on the outside of the house...

It's October 1st...

That means The Humble Arts has come together again!

I Can Totally Relate To Johnny Paycheck...

Sure they're breathtakin'ly gorgeous but try havin' to rake them up every year. What a job!
I should mention, this particular tree is the smallest of five maples surroundin' our house.

I've gotten to the point where its easier to rake and put them in the back of our pickup truck to haul them out. It still takes about 7 truck loads.

I don't know what in tarnations I'm goin' to do when I get too old to do this!

Maybe I could rent one of those gigantic fans they use on movie sets and blow them onto my neighbor's property. I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

I just don't know if I have a big enough outlet to plug it into.
:> )

Heaven Knows...

I couldn't help but wonder if these numbers at the close of the Dow Jones today was a sign from above???

It could be worse... It could have closed at 666.
Yikes!

My Eyes Adored You...

Feast your peepers! Your eyes will adore them too.
Enjoy!

I'll be snappin' more pics over the next few weeks! I can't wait! I love autumn!!

I've Got Me A Real Good Man...

Yep, its absolutely true!

We will be celebratin' my birthday today with family, so last night hubs baked my cake. Its somethin' he does every year for me. He hasn't conquered a cake from scratch, so he sticks with a Duncan Hines box cake.

I couldn't help but giggle when instead of settin' the oven timer for 30 minutes, he set it for 30 seconds. :> )

Ta-dah! After all was said and done he did a wonderful job! His past "creations" haven't been so esthetically pleasin'. Not only does it look delicious, it was made with lots of love!

Now if I could only get him to scub the john with such enthusiasm, I'd be in my glory!! A gal can dream, can't she?!
:> )

Just My "Subtle" Way...

To remind my fellow Americans to please get your Republican, Democrat or Independent can into the votin' booth on November 4th.
:> )

"To make democracy work, we must be a notion of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain."
~Louis L'Amour

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
~John Quincy Adams

"If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves.”"
~Thomas Sowell

"A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."
~Theodore Roosevelt

A Real Wild Child...

Whew!! It took every bit of strength I had to get this one dressed and ready.

I tried everythin' to get her out of the pumpkin patch includin' bribin' her with food and cold hard cash but nothin' worked. She just clung to the pumpkin with that lil' smirk on her face.

She put up quite a fight, but finally I had to lasso her out of there.

I decided to name her Wilda which means "untamed". (Ain't that the truth!)

She will be offered on The Humble Arts on October 1st. I may have to tie her down beforehand.

:> )

The First Evenin' Of Autumn...

The leaves are startin' to change.

The geese are headin' south.

As we soak it all in by the outdoor fire.

Ahhhhh... Autumn is my favorite time of year.
:> )

She's Stuck In The Middle...

of my pumpkin patch.

My lumina pumpkinhead cutie ran out the door buck neked and into my garden. Sigh.

She thinks I won't notice her. Hopefully I can wrestle her out of there, get her dressed and ready for The Humble Arts for October 1st.

She may be feisty, but I'm bigger than her.

I'll keep ya posted...
:> )

Ahoy Me Hearties...

Well blow me down! Today, Septembree 19 be talk like a pirate day! Arrrr!

I neregot into th' pirate thin' until I saw Johnny Depp in Pirates o' th' Caribbean. I didna think I could love a man who looks like he hasn't bathed in a year an' wears more eyeliner than me, but aye I do! That sea dog shivers me timbers!

So I want ye t' spend th' tide talkin' t' yer loved ones like this. 'Tis will surely annoy th' heck ou' o' them.

I best be shippin'out ye lily-livered landlubbers!
Time t' get t' stitchin' up me Humble Arts dollie.
Arrrggghhhh! I'll keep ye posted...

Aye, I also want t' thank Brenda of Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe for gi'in' me this Kreativ Blogger award. Aye, me parrot concurs.
Thanks my matey, me truly appreciates it, gar!

I Guess She Just Lost Her Head...

But not for long.

I've been workin' on one more autumn piece for the season. This pumpkinhead gal will be offered on The Humble Arts come October 1st.

I'll keep ya posted...

I Don't Like Ike...

Well, we had some affects from Hurricane Ike the other night. Nothin' at all compared to the folks in Texas but enough to rattle our house. The wind howled through here like ya wouldn't believe! Thankfully we didn't lose power but many folks did.

As you can see my sunflowers don't like Ike.

Especially this now bald one...

Our wood pile doesn't like Ike either.

As I rode my bike down the tow path this mornin', I reckon this tree would agree.

Then there was this one...

As I came upon this large limb blockin' the path I thought, "Why the heck do they name Hurricanes after people? Is it supposed to sound more endearin' even though they wreak havoc where and whatever they touch?!" I would think folks with the names like Katrina, Andrew, Gilbert or Rita are quite insulted. Not to mention insultin' to our former president.

I say call these storms by their true colors! Names like Hurricane B@st@rd, Hurricane Son-of-a-B*tch or Hurricane Sh*thead are quite appropriate, don't ya think? And if it happens to be lower than a Category 2, let's go with Hurricane Lil' P*ss Pot."

I think I'll write The National Hurricane Center and see if they'll jump on the bandwagon with me...

:> )

The Cow Game...

I remember as a young'un when our family would take a Sunday drive or better yet go on vacation, we'd play the Cow Game. We'd travel the roads and the first one to see a cow and blurt out the word "cow" got a point for it.

I guess it was similar to the "Slug Bug Game" (remember?) but no bodily harm was involved.
My sister was bigger than me and had a mean right jab. I never did like that game but she did.
To this day, I still flinch when I see a VW Beetle.

In honor of the Cow Game, I'm workin' on a mama cow and her baby.

"COW!!!"
A point for me...
:> )

I've Got Happy Feet...

I can't stop dancin'!!

That's because I received my amazin' Autumn Secret Swap from my To Dwell In Primitive Thymes sister Patty of Dogpatch Primitives! I've been on Cloud 9 ever since!

When the mailman pulled into our driveway, I literally ran out the door to greet him. My eyes got as big as saucers when I saw the box! I yelled out, "Is that for me??!!" he laughed and said yes. He didn't know what hit him after that. He lay there with stars circlin' his head as the trail of smoke from my heels went back into the house with the gigantic box.

I know this sounds corny as heck, but I really felt like I did as a kid on Christmas mornin'!!! I torn into the box like a monkey on a cupcake.

When I opened it, all this was in there!!!! Holy smokes! I almost had to be resuscitated. Hubs stood there in a white lab coat, paddles in hand ready to yell, "CLEAR!"!

Thankfully the paddles weren't needed and the hyperventilation lasted only for about an hour.

There was all kinds of wonderful gifts in there like fabrics, a chenille pumpkin, candy/chocolate/bubble gum, potpourri & all kinds of fantastic smellin' things! There was an old enamelware coffee pot, gourmet coffees, a cool old strainer, doggie treats for my three canine girls, two terrific Halloween hang tags by another TDIPT sister Susan of Country Crocks AND a beautiful card designed by yet another TDIPT sister Suzanne of Pear Tree Primitives! And did ya see that adorable candy corn garland?!

THEN! Standin' there in all her Americana glory was this FABULOUS pumpkin gal!
ISN'T SHE PERFECT ??!!

Patty, I can't thank you enough! Your generosity and thoughtfulness brought tears to this ol' countryfolk gal's peepers! I will treasure everythin'! Thank you again!!