WHAT WE DID OVER THE WEEKEND

E. went out and bought some lumber

And a NEW saw, (didn't see that one coming).

To make these beautiful white picket fences.

Love them!!!!!!!!!

To keep these puppies out of my garden.

They are just too cute.

Dumb and Dumber

Meet Dumb and Dumber, not Smart and Less Smart ie: Sam and Sadie. Sam and Sadie spent their day burying this bone then digging it up only to rebury it in the same spot.

They were each trying to hide it from the other.

Mind you they were both watching each other bury the same bone over and over all day long!

What can I say but, " They're mine and I love em!".

Oh and by the way this is why I get nothing done quilting or knitting. I am either being entertained or getting a puppy out of trouble. Sam later in the evening fell off the high ledge and screamed like no other. Thought we were going to end up in "animal ER" , but he was only kidding and was fine after tons of attention.

PS: That cake in yesterdays post will be going to knitting group tonight. Oh thank goodness !

A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Sunday was a glorious day here in the West, the sun was shining, little wind, and not too hot. Some even thought it was cool.

After a slow morning I felt like setting up some flowers in the yard

Making chicken fingers

Italian cream cake

Life is not all roses, for every great creation in the kitchen or yard their is the clean up! Not my favorite part but a part of the process non the less.

Making Home Made Laundry Detergent

Homemade laundry detergent is very easy to make and does an incredible job of whitening and cleaning clothes. It cost about 7 cents a large load, is not harmful to the environment, and we have never had sensitivities to this detergent.

You should be able to find these products in the laundry isle at the grocery store. I have noticed that not all stores carry these simple products. Remember you want WASHING SODA not Baking Soda.

Grate the bar Soap with a cheese grater. This does not need to be fine grated just on the medium grate side.

Mix the entire grated bar with 2 cups Washing soda and 2 cups Borax.

That's it, you could add essential oils here if you want.

2 Tablespoons per large load, I use 2 tablespoons for all loads

This recipe I found on down---to---earth. Take a look see, you will be pleasantly surprised with all the info Rhonda has to share.

Our Maiden Voyage

Last weekend we took out our trailer/truck for our first time, a weekend of working out the kinks with other seasoned Rv’ers and trailer campers. Oh how the excitement built to the big day, we stocked the trailer from our “lists” of must haves, hooked upped and off we went down the highway out to the eastern plains of Colorado. We went with friends from the hospital to the state summer kick off of The American RV’ers and campers. No less than 250 trailers and big “rigs”, (what I call homes on wheels) all on the fair grounds of the small town of Brush. I had never seen so many campers in one place in my life! I was also shocked, I had never seen so many old people in one place either and driving these massive moving vacation homes. I soon realized this was not only our introduction to trailer camping but also an introduction to a retirement community. I just giggled all weekend. These camping clubs are huge and all across the country, with elected representatives and loads of activities for the young and old. We had a blast!

Here we are all unhooked and ready to camp. Eric did a great job with lots of "advice" from the old timers.

What is a camping trip with 250 other trailers with out a tornado warning? It was a weekend of firsts !

Lots of food

Long walks with beautiful scenes

The puppies enjoyed all the attention.

The food frenzy

It was a fun eye opening weekend. Our next trip is in the mountains and it will be Eric and myself only, hope we do not get bored and hungry by ourselves

CHICAGO

Navy Pier on Lake Michigan.

We went to Chicago last week to celebrate our oldest graduation from North Eastern Illinois University. My sister Mary Margaret was also graduating from the same school so it was a double celebration. This was one of the views from our hotel the Swissotel on Whacker Drive.

Another view of condos and the lake behind the buildings.

The graduate on the left with his Dad on the right. We are walking through Millennial Park. The picture is in front of the "bean".

Nathan is a walker and we walked all through the city. We walked and walked , then stop at a coffee house for some refreshment , then walked and walked again. The neighborhoods were beautiful, trees all in bloom, and the flowers, loads of flowers.

These tulips were on the "Magnificent Mile". This is Michigan Ave. north of the river.

The weather was not great but bearable, cold, raining and of course windy.

Staying in the downtown area was great. We took the el all over, I even rode it by myself! I have not done that in over 33 years and I did not get lost once.

Visited some of Chicago's famous restaurants! Deep dish pizza was good going down but not on the return. Going to Chicago is a oral organism in food. Gino's is way at the bottom for good food, but I had a taste for deep dish pizza and now I may never want anymore in my life.

Oh that Costa Rican restaurant is to die for. The spices and flavors of rice, beans, meat and bananas.....yum, yum. We so wanted to eat here that we were willing to eat outside in the cold. It was worth it! My sister Mary Margaret on the right.

Nate and Mike

Eric and Larry

Those that could gathered at MM's and Bob's house and we celebrated with a fantastic dinner . My family can cook like no other, I must of been behind the door for those genes! Dessert was from Hoosier Mama. This pie shop was so fun to go into, just a little hole in the wall and yet they have unbelievable pies. We bought 4. I had some for breakfast the following morning too.

The Michigan Avenue bridge going up

The sail boats coming out of dry dock on the Chicago River heading for Lake Michigan and a season of sailing. Chicago is a great town to visit!!

Oh yes I did stop at a yarn store and bought some goodies, more on that later.

House Plants and Antique Vases

I enjoy collecting antique vases.

Philodendrons are the only plants I am capable of growing. Seems everything else I just kill off and very quickly too.

Most of my philodendrons are cuttings from the original plant I have owned for 30 years.

These plants love me and I love them. I can even go on vacation for 2 weeks and not water my philodendrons and they just wait patiently for me to come home. These guys are hardy! Since I am not a good care taker I try to be nice to them by housing their strong roots in antique vases. They seem to like green and pink ones, the older the better.