The Lodge... No Eye Candy Here

Many of you know I went to another seminar this past weekend. This one was a little different for me as I was in the minority not of women, but EMS. There was me in a sea of policemen and one other fireman. There were several women there so that was not an issue. The issue was most of the police were either Chiefs, Captains, Lieutenants, Detectives well you get the picture. You can just see them staring and trying to figure out what was up with the huge cut across my forehead. Many were nice and didn't ask, BUT I had several who did. OK you know I couldn't just tell them a piece of furniture attacked me right? You all know me better. All I said was " I didn't duck quick enough." Well that just left it wide open for them to draw their own conclusions. LOL. I did tell two of the guys what really happened and you can imagine the look on their faces like... right sure you had a piece of furniture fall on you that just happened to have a nail sticking out. It was too fun.

So I tried to take pictures of the lodge because it was just beautiful this time of the year. The name was Bear Creek State Lodge in Mt. Sterling Ohio. And yes Linda I used a flash with my camera. LOL. It was very hard to get the entire front in one shot. I so looked like a tourist taking these pictures. I had to tell a couple of the guys to either get in the picture or get out because I was posting them on the computer. Needless to say you won't see anyone in any of the pictures. LOL. Oh yeah Kimberly close your eyes you can't see the pictures. LOL.





The view as you walk in the doors. You have this little seating area that over looks a huge lake. The seating area had a fireplace, low lighting, nature sounds (music) playing softly, lodge type furniture to sit in. So relaxing.





This was looking to the right as you walk in. There was a restaurant that had a wall of windows to overlook the lake, a bar with huge TVs to watch the game, and of course a gift shop.



Looking to the left those windows overlooked the outdoor pool. There was also an indoor pool, workout room, and hot tub that I saw.



On my way to my room I saw this huge quilt hanging above one of the exits. Each square was made by a child then put into this quilt. It was so amazing and of course not being a good photographer this picture doesn't do it justice.



My room which was on the first floor. Now I am sorry, but I don't think I would pay $159.00 a night to stay here during the peak season. It was nice, but not that nice. LOL. Alright I'm a cheap skate you can say it. LOL.





The view from my patio. Now there were two chairs out here and a table. AHHHH.... how nice if you were a person with no legs. One of the chairs(the one you see in the above picture) was pushed up against the railing. There was no other place to put it so that a normal person could sit in it. How relaxing sitting Indian style in a lawn chair on a patio. The other chair was ok for me since I was short. The patios were a really weird shape. On the brighter side it was a beautiful view.



All in all the seminar was pretty good. It was about speaking in public to the media on a large incident such as school shootings, or the attacks in NY, or an incident such as this. Yep imagine me on TV. LOL. It's kinda like the presidential debates you'd get up and change the channel. LOL. OH POOH!!! It's Fat Friday again. DUH!!!! I'll post a recipe this weekend as I am at work then have a Halloween party to go to at my old neighbor's house.

The Offender...

I am back from my seminar. I know I know you missed me right? OK no comments from the peanut gallery I can wish can't I? LOL. I won't tell you about my seminar/trip... yet. Now that I think about it I never finished my Louisiana story either. Oh you are all in for some boring posts. LOL.

Also, I know many of you have asked for my little crock tutorial I am not ignoring you. Give me a week or so to get my Christmas stuff finished up and I'll see what I can do. It's one of those things that I have in my head and really have no pattern per say. It is hard to put down into words, but I will try.

Now I promised to show you the furniture offender that decided to attack me. I am not done rearranging and not sure it will work. But I have very limited storage in my kitchen and really no more walls or space to work with. So... after pondering and walking around my house I decided on this. Looks pretty harmless doesn't it?



The offender... perched high on it's pedestal proud as can be. "I'll get you my pretty" were the words whispered prior to the attack. I will open my doors and everything inside will also come off the shelves and attack you.



To seal the deal we will try to poke your eyeball out with our BIG nails sticking out of the doors. LOL. This is what actually cut my forehead. Boy, did I have a lot of fun explaining my wound to a bunch of police officers most being detectives. But that is a different story.



Again the pictures are pretty grainy as it is dark and SNOWING yes you heard me SNOWING here today. It is not a big change and I'm not sure I like it, but here are some other things I worked on. I don't like using the flash on my camera because it makes everything seem so bright and I don't like that since it is not a true picture of what it really is.

I moved it flat up against the wall instead of at an angle and closed the doors. mmmmm.... not too sure about it yet. We'll see.



The dry sink in the kitchen used to be here. I couldn't let it be blank so I put the table here. Then it still looked empty as I can't decide what I want to put on the wall. (The cabinet I'm working for at my friend's shop was going to go here, but now I'm not so sure.) So in one of Judy Condon's books someone put a drying rack on a box so I moved mine on top of the table.



Closer look... Before you ask yes it is leaning because the rack is that old. I got it from my great aunt who is 94.



So that is my story and I'm sticking to it. Hey Kimberly... sorry no eye candy... to shy to take pics of them. LOL. For the rest of you I did take pictures of the lodge that I'll share another time.

Something Happened Saturday...

I am leaving here in a few for my seminar. I have a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of me. Anyways, I was home yesterday trying to finish up some last minute projects and ran out of black embroidery floss and was not going to drive 20 minutes for it. So, I grabbed my Judy Condon books sat down and decided to redecorate and move furniture. I won't post all the pics yet, but I will show you a few. My header has changed as you can tell so I will show you those pics, but you'll have to wait for the rest.

I know they are a bit grainy, but I was trying a new camera setting and taking them at night. I'll take better ones later...







Now, moving furniture does not come without blood (and lots of it) sweat and tears. Can you tell???



Wow look at the shine on that forehead. LOL. I know it's hard to tell, but yeah I had a piece of furniture fall on me that happened to have a nail sticking out of it that decided to lacerate my forehead and then also give me a fat lip. I also have a HUGE goose egg around the cut to go with it. I'll show you the piece of furniture in my next post. Won't this be fun at the seminar with this little prize. I guess it could be worse it could be that big huge zit that we all seemed to get as teenagers right before the biggest dance of the century right? LOL. I did not go for stitiches, but probably should have or at least butterflies. But you know us medical people we won't set foot in an ER in less we are dead or dying. LOL. This one is gonna leave a mark.

Fat Friday Recipe

I promised a recipe tonight so I thought I'd share my spin on Rice Krispie Bars.

1 cup Karo Syrup (light)
1 cup sugar

Cook til it just starts to boil.

Add: 1 cup peanut butter and stir in 6 cups of Rice Krispies. Press mixture into 9 X 13 pan.

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup butterscotch chips togther. When melted spread on top of the bars.

That's it!!!

Now I was given the Fabulous Fall Decor award by Jan. If you have never visited her you're in for a treat becuase it is two rolled into one. As you will hear from both Jan and Brenda who are fabulous crafters and business ladies.



Now I am suppose to give this to 6 others, but I believe many of you have already been given this wonderful award. Just in case you haven't I am giving it to you so please go ahead and post it on your blog!

I won't be back until Tuesday or Wednesday as I am going out of town for work for a seminar with a bunch of police men. This outta be loads of fun. (Notice the sarcasm in my voice.) Anyway, I will be taking my camera as I will be staying in a lodge in a state park. Oh and if I see any cute men I'll snap pictures of them too so we all have eye candy. LOL. just kiddin... Talk to you soon!!!!

Fat Friday ... and I DID it

First of all, I am at work right now so I don't have any pictures. I know it is a blogger sin not to post pictures, but I don't have access to any unless you click on the highlighted words. As for Fat Friday Recipe it will need to wait until tonight when I get home because I have to have a recipe in front of me to type out for you. I can't cook by memory. I have trouble remembering numbers and names must be old age. LOL.

Anyway, I DID it!!!! Yesterday was my first day of working out at a gym. This is where I go. The city I work for has started a program where city employees can go for free and work out. We have 8 months to prove that it is a worthwhile program and we are making progress. So for FREE I figured I would do it. Now if you read my last post you know I decided to do this for me. When they first announced this program I said there was no way I was going to do it. I like being lazy. I like coming home from work and sitting and doing nothing. I'm married I don't need to worry about what I look like right? I have no motivation most of the time anyway now why would I do this. Plus I am not going to go walking into a gym and make a fool of myself because I have never been in one before and have no idea how to use the equipment. Do you see a pattern here? I LOVE excuses. LOL. So yesterday everyone who was on duty with me at the station went up to the rec center to work out. The Rec Center director is this big buff 20 something year old ex football player Italian guy that is very sarcastic so we get a long great. You thought I was gonna say he was a dork didn't you??? LOL. He and I are a perfect match with our wit and sarcasm. I will tell you I was a bit intimidated walking in to the Fitness Room. All those machines with wheels and pulleys and weights. How am I ever going to do this? Well, the director took me under his wing and showed me all the machines that would help strengthen my legs. He showed me the proper way and use of each and told me how many to do to get started. Luckily, we went in the middle of the afternoon and no one was there, but my partners and a few other EMS people who came up on their own time. I started out with about 30 lbs of weight for each exercise which seemed like a good starting point. He even showed me the "Gynecologist Chair Machine" as he called it. Let's just say "WOW" kind of a weird machine, but it strengthens those inner thigh muscles. Next, I did the treadmill. Now I have been walking for 2 weeks now on my own in my neighborhood, but not at the pace he made me do. HELLO!!!! the machine says 3 mph... doesn't sound like much then he put an incline on it and made me do it for 20 minutes. He was trying to make me sweat. Come on I don't like to sweat!!!! With 5 minutes left he comes over and makes the incline even steeper. I swear I was going to die!!!! But by golly I was going to do it and I did. Then of course my legs felt like rubber and like I was going to fall flat on my face and of course it would happen in front of my co-workers. I was tough though I acted as though it was no big thing. But of course the macho men I work with were in the middle of bench pressing and trying to out do each other. What is up with that? Anyway, there was another female there and of course we were dragged into this bench press thing. UHHHH I have never done it and now must do it in front of my co-workers. Yeah this will be fun... Alright guys lets do this. "Boy that sure does look heavy, I don't think I can do it guys." "Come on Mary you have to we did." So I lay down on the black sweaty cushion put my arms up grab the bar and pull it off the rack. Oh did I mention it was the bar only no weights on it. LOL..... OK they say the bar weighs 25 pounds. :GROAN: Holy Moley this is heavy for me... 1.... up and down I went until about 7. I started to get tired my arms were shaking but my spotter talked me into 3 more and I did 10 bench presses. Go me!!!!! So I am hoping to go back up today and work on upper body stuff. I am beginning to like this workout stuff even though I swore I wouldn't. I am not sore today like I thought so maybe I need to increase my weight on the machines. My arms are though from bench pressing. OK I have decided after talking with the director that maybe 10 lbs is a bit much as he said I would have to take protein supplements in order to gain muscle like that. I am not so sure I want to do that so I'll see what happens without having to take supplements. However, I did start to take vitamins, which since being pregnant I have not. I tell you in the two weeks I have been doing this I am starting to feel better and not so tired. OK... well except for this darn sinus thing I have going on for a week now I am feeling better.

So anyway, check back as I will add my Fat Friday Recipe when I get home tonight. Are you kidding??? No... it won't be Fat Free Healthy stuff!!!! I am not into being that healthy. LOL. Still gotta have my grease and chocolate!!!!

Watcha Workin On Wednesday...

Alright, I must apologize for my few and far between posts and comments on all your blogs. This is crunch time for me to get my stuff done for my wholesale shops that I have procrastinated about far too long for Christmas. I also have another seminar I must attend for two days this weekend for my regular job and then teach another class next week plus work my normal shifts. Then the shop closes down for a week Nov 2 to be exact to get ready for the holiday open house Nov. 7, which I will be working at instead of buying. That is why I have not been around. So for now I will only be showing what I'm working on for Christmas.

Now on to what I've been working on since last week. To find out what others are working on please visit Leslie's blog.

Tree topper star. She wanted something simple and this is all I could think of in a short period of time. Oh yes... before I forget...on my blog when the Christmas season rolls around you will see Merry Christmas NOT Happy Holidays. I celebrate Christmas and Christ is the reason for the season. Now I am not saying that those that are of different religions that celebrate their own holiday are wrong they are not they still believe in a God. I am saying those people who do not have a religion and insist everyone say Happy Holiday instead are the ones I have a problem with. So to those who think I shouldn't say Merry Christmas please grin and bear it during this CHRISTMAS season if you read my blog. (stepping off my soap box)



My Christmas goose made from my pattern which is available on my website.







I had other pictures, but I have misplaced my storage device of course. So once I find it I will show you what I decided for the Christmas trees I made last week.

I FOUND IT!!!!! Here's the rest of the pictures.






Now in other news...



I received the I love your blog award from Olde Country Creations. Thank you so much I really appreciate each and every award you all give me. Now for the bad part. Since I am so far behind I am unable to bestow this others. Please give yourself this award from me if you don't already have it. I appreciate and LOVE each one of you who read this blog and also comment when you can.

I was also tagged by AnnaSam to share 7 random facts about me. Then pick others to do the same. I will share the facts, but will leave it up to you to participate if you want.

1. I have started exercising and will begin weight lifting this week for me. This is something I am giving myself and doing for me.

Ok I just went blank... LOL. I have done this before and I don't want to say the same thing.

2. Oh yeah I am addicted to Airhead candy. If you don't know what it is it is chewy like taffy but sour.

3. I am a horrible cook. All of our meals as a kid came from a box.

4. I love all animals... except cats. They seem to attack me every time I get near them.

5. I am afraid of cows and mice. NO laughing.

6. I am only 5 feet 5 inches tall and would blow away in a strong wind, which is why the need for number 1. LOL.

7. I can't believe I am saying this to all of you, but this is my first step in recovering... I have very low self esteem and body image. The reason I am so skinny is I have been told I was fat so I kept my weight too low. You know this images you see of the movie stars where they look sickly skinny? That is me... I don't own a scale I have no full body mirrors at my house. For my new workout program I had to face my weight and body mass index. I have told them that seeing my weight go up due to muscle will be very hard for me. I will freak out. My goal for now is to put on 10 pounds of muscle and eat regularly.

So now you know and have stepped inside my personal life, which something I normally do not share. This will be a tough journey for me, but I will do it.

Fat Friday... on Saturday and Saddle Up

Alright not exactly saddle up, but stirrup girls!!! LOL



Are you cringing yet??? LOL... I know I am.

Well, Thursday was my day (yearly visit) to go visit that dreaded doctor the ob/gyn. Now I should be used to him by now, but I have anxiety when it comes to this appointment. I sweat and get hot (no not hot flashes...yet LOL) and very nervous. My doctor is awesome and caring, but there is just something about it. I actually owe him a lot. I had not been to an ob/gyn since my son was born in 1999 until about 2002 because I hated them so much. I went to a different one to have my kids and the doctor actually passed away and she was only like 40 something. So I had to find a new one. Luckily, one of the EMTs I work with worked for one and said he was fantastic. I couldn't not go since I was starting to have major problems. Anyway, I went and talked with him and had the pap thing done and found I had abnormal paps at age 28. My Mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer a few years prior and she went 28 years without going to an ob/gyn. So I had to continue going back every three months or so for paps. Talk about sick of seeing my doc. I actually asked him if he was going to start paying me to come since it felt like I worked there since I saw him so much. I had many procedures/surgeries done too by this man in between. Nothing helped and he kept telling me a hysterectomy would work. However, he would not do it until I turned 30 so I could be sure I was done having kids. I knew I was and I was tired of the problems so 3 months after I turned 30 in December I had my surgery. This was the best choice I could make. Obviously they sent everything to pathology and sure enough I had the beginning stages of cervical cancer amongst other things. I feel awesome and am glad I had the surgery. The moral of this story as much as we hate going please go and have your exam.

Alright enough of the boring stuff... my Fat Friday recipe...

Oven Carmel Corn



15 cups popcorn
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Divide popcorn into 2 13X9X2 ungreased baking pans. In a saucepan heat sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt stirring occasionally until bubbly around edges. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat: stir in soda until foamy. Pour on corn until it is well coated. Bake 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.

Watcha Workin On Wednesday

Shew!!! I know I am posting late as normally I post in the morning, but I wanted to get things done to be able to show you. Yesterday I had fun working at my friend's shop. She had me putting lights on the Christmas trees. I now remember why I normally buy trees with lights already on them. LOL. Then she said I could move things around if I wanted so I did. I set up a new display for her because I couldn't stand the bare spot she had in one room since she sold a cupboard. I didn't take a pic sorry, but I did take some on my way back home.







So now on with what I worked on today...

I finished all 12 of my little crocks.









Ok not a crock, but it will be an ornament. I think I'm going to put bells on the branch tips, but not completely sure yet.



That's it for now... I need to go get dinner. Thanks for checking in!

Happy Monday!!!!

The trees are finally starting to change color here in my neck of the woods. Like I said I took a drive last Thursday through Amish Country and it looked like this...

Not much change...






This is actually my road...






But then I woke up Sunday morning and looked out from my porch and saw this...








See where those three trees are that is where my house originally sat back about ten years ago.




Our furnace is not yet hooked up I guess we need some parts from Lowe's. Yesterday was quite the day. How many of you can say you grocery shopped twice in the same day. Now I do not like shopping so this was a nightmare. We went to Wally World in the next town over. We spent an hour or more walking through the mecca which has just been remodeled trying to find stuff. We get up to the check out line and low and behold the electric goes out for no reason. It is an absolutely gorgeous day not a cloud in site and of course no back up generator either. Wally World???? Of all places no back up. They yell that it will be another 3 hours until they can get it back up. They tell us we can leave our carts and they will put everything away. It was like a concert just let out. A mass exodus out of the store and then of course all the traffic lights were out too. It was a mess. My hubby got so mad. I am trying to learn to shrug things off that are beyond my control. So we came home and I had to drive another 20 minutes the opposite way to go grocery shopping again by myself because he was too mad. We needed food so I had to go. My in laws came over to check out the furnace last evening so we had a good visit.

I must get going it is bedtime and I need to get my kids to bed and get some sleep tomorrow to work at my friend's shop and then my DD has a choir concert tomorrow night.

Thrifting Finds...

I know I missed Fat Friday again, but I was working and Thursday I went to my friend's shop to make sure I knew what I was doing. She asked me to run the shop on Tuesday since she is going to a trade show. She will be looking for me a shelf/cupboard for one of my walls amongst other things of course. I am so excited!!!! This is one of the things I'm working towards in her shop. LOL.

Well, I have not been thrifting in awhile to try to save money. But since my favorite thrift store is along the way to my friends shop and it opens an hour earlier I headed out. It was Thursday so all the good stuff was put out on Monday. I did manage to find some things...

More stencils for my floor cloths or walls...



Thought I would try some stitcheries and all of you seem to use hoops so I bought a couple. I know most people don't like the metal ones because of rust, but I do because they seem to hold tighter.





Last but not least I found this hand quilted wall hanging. Yes it's a bit bright, but I think I'll use it in my upstairs hallway which is dark. I just love it!!!! Get this $1.00 yes you heard me a BUCK!!!!! Couldn't pass it up.



Remember that empty cement pad I showed you. Well, it finally came yesterday. My new outdoor wood furnace. This is what will heat my house this winter and hopefully help save us a ton of money! You load it up twice a day with wood and voila heat. It actually heats up water that will run under ground in pipes into my home then into my existing furnace that has an exchanger on it that will change that hot water into heat. We are also hooking it into our hot water tank so I will have a better supply of hot water. After all I do have a teenager that likes to take long showers. Can you tell the trees in the background still haven't tarted to change yet.



If you want more info check here. There are laws in many cities against these, but since we live in the country we can have it. I love the smell of burning wood. I'll let you know how well it works when it really starts to get cold. Hubby is working on getting it hooked up today.

Hopefully I'll have another post for you on Monday if all goes good. LOL.