Scrap Retreat Weekend

My sister and I and the other sisters went on a scrapbooking retreat weekend at the Craft Cottage over the weekend. It was lots of fun, lots of laugh, and lots of creativity. We've always wanted to go an do that! Now we have...I don't know that we'll need to go again though. It was a long time to sit and do that! The place could have used a couch or something to be able to take a break and relax. I got a lot done! I made a card, altered a hideous picture frame, and made lots of pages. I even got in 5 hours for my Master Gardener volunteer time!

Kurt is still in the Philippines. He's scheduled to get home Wednesday night. I can't wait!

I love map cards!

I collect all kinds of postcards. I've already mentioned my love of postcrossing. I got this AWESOME Oregon card via private swap today. LOVE IT!!

Made out like a Bandit

At the second meeting ever of Garden club last night we had a plant exchange. I got lots of perennial goodies! I need to figure out where to put them all! I got:

• 2 pinky/purple coneflower
• a sumac
• a bleeding heart
• hollyhock seeds
• blanket flower seeds
• some ground cover with pretty blue flowers in the spring
• castor beans ~ I have to check to see if these could kill Francis before I plant them
• creeping phlox
• iris
• tiger lillies
• day lillies

Pretty good doncha think?

Be honest!

Is this cool? Or does it look cheap? I made it for a birthday gift, but I can certainly give her lotion from Bath and Body works!

Labor Day Weekend

I had a pretty decent holiday weekend. Friday night I cropped at Archiver's in Des Moines with my sister and the 3 Beymer girls. It was 6 hours followed by a hysterical good time at Buffalo Wild Wings. The waiter said wings were 40 cents since it was after 11 p.m. I'm not a huge fan of wings so I ordered 1 to try. He was less than impressed. It could be that this is one of those "you had to be there" kind of stories.

The five of us are participating in a 15 hour crop on November 1st. I barely made it through this one. I need to do some training!

Saturday involved waiting on my brother-in-law and hauling lumber in my giant truck - It finally has hauled something other than groceries and children! Once we got that taken care of we headed down to the huge Des Moines Farmer's Market. We got there half an hour before it closed. We still had time to get an egg roll though. Plus we bought some FANTASTIC Gouda cheese. $5 for a 1/4# wedge seemed like a deal. Only later did I realize that equals $20 a pound! I've been hoarding and savoring it.

We had some pints and lunch at the Royal Mile. Then we met Rachel at Dos Rios later for drinks and laughs. I seldom get to see her so that was a lot of fun.

Saturday afternoon was spent watching Ryan play in the sprinkler thing and his pool (which was infested with sharks btw). I came home that evening very tired.



Sunday Kurt and the kids went canoeing at Backbone. I stayed on shore and enjoyed the view, the gorgeous weather, and the people watching. Afterward we went to Fontana to see the animals and came home through Amish country.







Monday we had a family BBQ with my parents and ALL 4 of the children. Hopefully our relationships with them will get better. It's been along time since they've all been here.

365 Project

I'm participating in a web/blog project. It is a bunch of women from all over who are going to photographically document their lives for 1 year. There are 54 women participating which equals 19,710 pictures in one year. The address is http://www.picturesandpie.blogspot.com/

Check it out!