cottage on the lake!

I am pooped out! not sure why. but I am! Just wishing I was taking a real vacation this year. What I really need is a cottage! right on the lake, so I can sit out on a sweet little screened in porch facing the lake at night. I love the sound of the lake at night. When I was little, my great grandparents had a lake cottage in wolcott ny. I remember staying over night sleeping on the back porch listening to the sound of the water while I was falling asleep, so soothing! and then bathing in the lake in the morning! we actually used soap and shampoo in the water. I think now they would say that isnt environmentally safe. but we loved it. I can also remember my grandfather pushing me off the dock when we had been fishing and there was a bullhead on the end of my line. I wasnt happy about that. I remember being very mad at him! I also remember stealing stuff from the little store in town. I dont remember what I stole, but both my cousin and I did and we didnt get caught... naughty girls we were!
You know, I tell you all the time, I was supposed to be a rich princess and i'm sure I was switched at birth. Just think, if I had been left with the right family, I'm sure I would have a beautiful beach house.
I have to admit that sometimes I struggle a little bit when I realize that I am 50 years old and what I have is what I have. not going to ever get a cottage on the lake. I need to be thankful for what I do have (and I am very thankful) and also be thankful that though I will never have that cottage on the lake, I do live just down the road from the lake and can be there in 5 minutes and really, my house is very cottage like. so its all good. right?
OK.. enough rambling.. Ive got to start work 2 hours early tomorrow so I better go figure out what I'm wearing and go to bed!
night all! sweet dreams!

wheres waldo?

Awww... Look at mr and mrs naughty pie. they love playing on my craft table! they're sooo freaken cute I cant stand it! lol.

Finally its sunday, which means BEACH TIME! however, mr weather man is not going to give me a perfect beach day. sunny and cloudy and only in the low 70's.. which means cooler at the lake. gee whiz.. doesnt he know how much I need the beach today? dumb weather man! I still feel like I should not complain as some places have had such horrendous weather situations. so I should shut my mouth and enjoy what I get. OK.. so thats what I'll do!

My craft room table looks like a page out of wheres waldo, or one of the search books that i love! I did make another firecracker dog because I decided to give the other to my friend Kelly. I think I'm done with the dogs now.. and ready to move on to the next thing hiding out in my brain! and for some reason, there are some halloween things already creeping around in there!!

I wish I had time to go to barnes and noble before the beach. I would love some new magazines.. but really.. I have stacks and stacks of them here and I dont need anymore! I would go though, if I wasnt going to church this morning to hear Jennifer sing Redeemer by nicole C Mullens. one of my favorite christian songs ever. Jen was in a show this weekend too, I went yesterday to see her. I'm always amazed when I here her sing and act. Please again keep her in your prayers, she had another interview on friday, and they called her soon after she left to set up another one for this wednesday. Please pray that this is the one!! (thanks!) she SOOOO deserves it. I dont know what is wrong with the loser principal at our own home town school that she didnt hire her. but I wont get started on that.. I think I should start another "secret" blog, where I can write what I really think! hmmmm... OH and you would all be so shocked! lol! of course if it were secret, you wouldnt really know!

OK.. off I go.. I should start packing up and getting my self together!

Have a lovely day all!

still playing with dogs!

TGIF!!!! what a week. 20 hours overtime on call (or very close to it, I havent added it all up yet!). Mostly do to naughty boys in foster care! Its been a crazy week.. there was the sick kitty.. and yesterday I was at training all day in buffalo... I am sooo glad its friday. I'm not doing anything this weekend that I dont feel like doing.

My biggest plan is to hit the beach on sunday.. for the whole day! I cant wait. gotta pray for perfect beach weather. I better go buy myself a new pair of sunglasses since I broke my last pair.

a little kitten update. shes still alive and shes at the Vets.. however, we will have to decide what to do with her today. She is mostly if not totally blind. She also may have some sort of nuerological disorder (yeah, ok.. I cant spell that). In that case we will put her down. the blindness I think someone could deal with.. but not the other. The vet said that she doesnt really respond to affection. it really just breaks my heart.

I hate people.

not any of you though.. just some people..

so anyways.. I made this other doggie on the firecracker last night. isnt it freaken cute!? I have to take it to work with me today so I can look at it. I just like to look at cute things sometimes. Well really all the time.. its a sickness.. I think I'm going to send the first one I made to my friend that I do the swaps with, Kelly. though I think she would like the one on the firecracker better.. so Maybe I'll make another one tonight...want to get stuff in the mail tomorrow.

speaking of the mail.. Suzeeez.. I have not mailed your package yet.. but will in the morning. You'll have it in time for the 4th! (I hope anyways.)

OK.. I have to trudge off to work... UHG!!! so dont want tooooooo!!!!!

huggles girls.. have a great friday and a wonderful weekend!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

bow wow!

♫♪♪ take a bow. bow wow take a bow♪♪♫
When I was a kid, I had a record that was all songs about dogs, and "take a bow, bow wow take a bow , take a bow, bow wow here and now .." was on it. so was "I'm too big for my dog house, cant get through the door, I want to lie down there, thats what a dog house is for.." and of course.. "how much is that doggie in the window.. the one with the waggily tail, how much is that doggie in the window, I do hope that doggies for sale." There was probably about 10 more doggie songs on it but at the moment those are the only three I remember any of. (haha..lucky for you.) just be glad you cant hear me singing them!


I've been on call since friday and I have 19 hours overtime in at this moment.. I think.. maybe 19 and a half! I'm so glad I'm not on call again until sept! Its been a crazy week.

today I rescued a kitty.. a very sick little kitten. severely anemic from fleas! we tried to drowned off the fleas at work, and ended up picking off about 60 of them and she was still crawling with them! I took it to the vet this afternoon and left it. A few of us are pitching in to pay the vet bill. the vet couldnt promise that the sweet little thing would make it through the night. If it does.. then I have a whole other problem... what to do with it. I cant keep it. It will need a home. I have a feeling though that she wont make it. though the vet told me shed call me if she got worse, adn I havent heard from her! People make me so mad when they dont take care of their animals. I have so much more that I could say about this whole matter, but because it is work related, I will say no more!

So, do you like the little doggie I made this week? not sure if I'm keeping it or not. I have a special friend that I do a swap with every holiday, so I just might give it to her, though I'm leaning towards keeping it! I have a couple other 4th of july friends dancing in my brain right now too.. so we'll see what comes out this weekend!

I suppose I should get ready for bed, I have to leave and hour and 45 minutes earlier tomorrow to go to a training in buffalo.. thats going to kill me! (the leaving early, not the training!) I'm up plenty early enough but i have things I like to do here in the mornings..

OK.. off I go.. sweet dreams everyone! keep our little DSS mascot in your prayers.. k?

xoxo vivian

a quick little show and tell..

A few weeks ago I did a patriotic ornie swap with a few girls. we each made 6, one to keep and five to send. these are the ornies everyone made. it was a fun swap! the one above is from one of my newest bloggy buds Kim kenward.

This one was made by April Mechelle and the one below by Cindy from prairie's edge farm!

And this one is from Jill M from bucks county folk art.

This last one is by Linda Ruthie from linda ruthies aprons! Lots of talent and lots of fun. The girls should all receive their packages tomorrow I hope. I was going to wait to post this, but I couldnt.

This is what I sent the girls. I love making those little faux cupcakes!

IN other swap news, I received this bug collector doll with his butterfly and catapiller friends from Jan D in a bug swap! Who da thunk, I would ever in my life be involved in a bug swap?!

Do you ever look at your life sometimes and think.. REALLY??? how did I get here?? I think it ALL THE TIME!!!

Anyways, I love the things that jan sent me. I showed you a few posts back the ladybug pinkeep and the bumble bee doll that I sent her. And lastly, this was not from a swap, but something I won!! and believe me when I say, I never win anything! But I had a lucky day last week when I won this most awesome ever skully belt buckle for halloween from my very adorable friend Lulu! Isnt is freaken cute!?

OK.. thats it for show and tell for this morning. I may be back later with something else. Hubbys goign to the motorcycle races for fathers day, so i think some of us are going to the lake and were all meeting back her tonight for a steak dinner and to celebrate fathers day!

Happy day all!

summer means....

Fresh picked strawberries! mmmm!!

and strawberry shortcake for breakfast!

And this weekend.. I'll be making several batches of strawberry jam.. mmmm!!!

but for now.. Its off to work I go. I just wanted to announce the winner of my giveaway, which is suzeez! send me your address suz.

be back later girls and have a nice day!

sweet swappies!

Ive been involved in a couple swaps recently. the first one was hosted by Amy Powers inspireco. She did a birthday treasury box swap. we had to use these awesome boxes by Tim Holtz and fill them with birthday type sweetness. I was so inspired to make mine that I started it right away and its been done for weeks!! My partner Marlene Haveron didnt want me to mail it until she was ready to mail. I finally got to send it out yesterday. I hope she receives it tomorrow. I love how it turned out and I think she will too.

She loves bees, so I made her a sweet little pink and black needlefelted bee to sit on top of her box. I think she will really like it and I cant wait to see what she made for me!

Then I joined in Cindy at thimbleprimstudios bug swap! I was on a roll making needlefelted bees.. so I made my partner, Jan a bumblebee and also a ladybug pinkeep! I also made her a bug banner! I hope she likes them. I received her package of a wonderful butterfly doll and caterpiller, both being held by another doll, a bug collector! I'll post pictured of that when I post the other swappies I receive!

I do love that little bumblebee girl and I had the perfect little bee skep (is that what you call that thing?) for her to stand on!

I guess thats it for tonight girls.. i started cleaning my room tonight and I'm tired. Be sure to leave comments because I have a giveaway going on and I'll be picking a winner tomorrow night.

And, please keep my sister Valerie in your thoughts and prayers tonight because her husband is going to die very very soon, possibly even tonight. I feel soo badly for her. And I am so far away from her, theres nothing I can do to help. My mother is flying out to see her tomorrow night. Im glad that Val will have her there.

Thanks and goodnight girls.

update: my sweet sister Valerie's husband passed away this morning and my daughter didnt get the job she should have gotten.. so I'm fluctuating between terribly sad for my sister and extremely angry towards the lyndonville school administration. Nothing I can do in either case. please keep val in your prayers.

have a nice day!

puttering and a blogaversary giveaway!

This weekend went by sooo fast! After last week and all the hustle getting ready for and then having Jens bridal shower, today was perfect really.. except a truly perfect day involves the beach. i guess there are different kinds of Perfect days! Today I was home alone must of the day and night and I puttered. I didnt have to cook because I had lots of left overs for the shower.

did I even tell you what we served yesterday? oh let me get side tracked for just a minute and tell you! we had, pasta, sauce and meatballs (made by the very italian trupo girls!) italian bread, chicken salad, the kind with grapes and almonds in it, served on fresh croissants. We had seafood salad in little puff pastries, a huge tossed salad with lots of special yummies in it, and a fresh fruit salad with cantaloupe, honey dew, watermelon, strawberries and pineapple and red grapes. And before we served all of that, we had a warm taco dip, chicken wing dip, cheese, pepperoni and crackers and choc covered cream puffs for people to munch on when they first got there. Then of course to top it all off, we had a half choc, half white cake with raspberry filling and butter creme frosting. uh.. WAY too much food. we all took home left overs and I'm sure none of us had to cook today.. and maybe not tomorrow either!

OK.. so anyways.. today was perfect.. I just puttered! I finished my patriotic ornies and wrapped them all pretty. I got out all my summery decorations and redecorated .. (uhg! I have the HICCUPS!!) This always takes me most of the day. I may tweak things a little the next couple days, but I love doing that. I also ended up making a patriotic banner today too. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it in the morning. And, I cleaned up my craft room. Thats about it. I never did get to my bedroom, other then just to make the bed and get dressed. It is a MESS!

OH! and I went for a little bike ride.. did you see my bike pictures above? Did you notice the streamers? Im like a 10 year old! I love them! My dear friend, Barbara Burkard (123lavenderlollipoplane) made them for me! I knew she was up to something, but i had no ideawhat it was! They came in the mail yesterday and I have to tell you I am totally tickled by them. Barb is one of the first people I met on line, she was my very first swap partner! Thank you sooo much Barb! I just have to meet you in person someday!

Isnt figgy gorgeous? I had to take a picture of something blue for a 30 day photograph challenge Im in.. I thought his eyes would be the perfect something blue! arent they? ha! and do you think he might like to go on a bike ride with me? If I wasnt afraid of losing him, id try! lol!

OK.. One more thing before I sign off for the night.. June 16th is my 4 year blogaversary! so I Have a little package all ready wrapped up and ready to mail out to someone! I'm doing a little blogaversary give away. I'll include everyone who comments between now and wednesday and I will draw a winner on wednesday when I get home from work!

I think thats all for tonight. I really need to get rid of these hiccups!! sweet dreams all! and have a great start to your week!

xoxoxoxoxo

sunday morning

Showers over! It went well...
we had way too much food! Its always so hard to calculate how much food you will need isnt it?

I did not take many pictures. mostly just snapped them of Jennifers guests and a few of her. I was too busy!

in looking back now, I feel like I would have done a few things differently. I would have decorated more.. (ran out of time!) I should have started at 7:00 am instead of 9:00! I had a lot of help but they were all running late. but thats ok.. it did go very well.

I wish I had taken pictures of the decorations that we did have! duh! Torry pie was there... and everyone loved him! (he always looks so serious at meal times!)

Jennifer got LOTs of wonderful gifts and a ton of gift cards. (im a tiny bit jealous! Shes going to have a good time shopping.)

Tonys (Jens tony) sisters are so sweet and I love that they are excited about having Jennifer for a sister in law.

So, with that behind me, I have an empty slate for today! Ive been up since 5:30 working on my patriotic ornie swap ornies, they are just about done. I got side tracked and pulled out all my summer decorating stuff.. and now I'm sitting at the computer!

I'm going to finish up here, finish the last ornie and then do some summer decorating.. then.. I suppose.. I'll clean my room! oh my goodness... It is atrocious!!!

Have a lovely sunday!

busy busy busy

morning blogland! Im in a hurry, but just wanted to pop in to say hey! Ive been busy getting things done for Jens Bridal Shower for sat am. and in between, I needed to finish up this bear order. I think as far as the shower goes, Im all set. I'm didnt make all the coffee filter flowers that I wanted to make, but we'll be fine with out them.
I have to go to the grocery store tonight to get all the food, then tomorrow night after work I'll make the salads and stuff! (plus I'll be watching my torry pie!)
It'll all come together.. but i feel discombobulated! lol! (actually I always feel that way!)
speaking of Torry pie...

He was 6 months old yesterday. Bethany takes these pictures of him every month with this silly dog. but Torry seems to like it! isnt he the cutest little freaken thing ever????????!!!!!!!!

I love him to pieces.. but you all know that dont ya!?

have a great day!

jabbering.. but some important questions..

I feel like Ive neglected my blog this past week. I had four days off from work and have just been busy I guess. though, I've been here checking out all of your blogs everyday, just didnt get around to posting myself! Truthfully, sometimes after I've been on the computer reading your blogs and then checking out Flickr and facebook, I end up tired of sitting here and then just have to find something else to do.

I wanted to thank you all for all the great ideas you gave me for the seed packets. I really was at a loss as to what to do with them. Originally, I had an idea, but didnt like the way they were turning out. Im not sure who said I should do them the way I package the gifts and swaps I make, but thats what I ended up doing. Plus my daughter sent me some pics of cutest ever little seed packets with paper flowers and tags. Regardless, it was a conglomeration of all of your ideas that inspired me to do anything at all.. because I was totally blank!! So, This is how they basically turned out, I still want to add the words, Love Grows on them.. or something similar. They are very simple. but what turned out really cute.. and was even more simple, was the candy sticks! arent they cute?? and they photograph well.. the seed packets I really couldnt get a good picture of.

well, I hope everyone has great week.. I will be busy getting ready for Jennifers shower on saturday. Lots to do and no time off this week.. I still havent even ordered the cake! maybe I should just make one... no, no time for that. I have no idea how many people will be coming to the shower.. we invited a lot of people, knowing that about 15 of them definitely wouldnt come because they were out of state. But Ive only heard back from 26 at this point that have rsvp'd that they are coming and about 10 that arent able to come. I cant complain about people that dont rsvp.. because I'm not good about it either. I'm going to plan on there being about 40 people there. I still have a couple invitations that didnt get mailed because I didnt have the right addresses.. I really need to call them and let them know that they are invited..

(coffee filter flowers.. cant get a good pic!)
Ok.. question for you.. just because Im curious.. I'm trying to figure out if its just me or what...
I love showers, and I love giving gifts and even playing silly games. I am happy to be invited to them. I love sitting around with a bunch of women telling wedding and baby stories. And watching someone open a bunch of gifts.. am I an exception to the rule? I know some people who I'm almost afraid to invite because I know they dont like showers. Do you like going to showers? Do you feel like when you get invited to a shower its just about getting gifts? I wouldnt even care if that really was what its was all about. just wondering what your opinions are.. and also about the invitation list.. omg... how do you decide who to invite and who not to invite...? Very hard for us.. so we just invite everyone. And its not because we want their gifts.. Its because we love them, value their friendship and dont want to leave anyone out! (or because sometimes there are some people that you do just have to invite..)
anyways.. I hope youve read down this far and can give me your opinions.. because I really am wondering.
Oh, and one more question... My family is not very traditional.. (beth having baby out of wedlock, Jen getting married by JOP and then having a shower and getting remarried and having party.. and then Rob getting engaged.. then pregnant before married.. ) ARe people offended that they are asked to come to a shower in these instantances? Just curious girls and looking forward to reading your opinions.
OK.. sorry this is so long! Love yas and have a happy monday!