Five Days In A Row......

Of delicious bacon tomato sandwiches......and I'm not sick of them.  Not one bit.  This is the best part of summer.  Garden fresh tomatoes.  I love the precooked bacon from Macey's.  It's so easy to warm it up to make a quick sandwich.  

I'm wishing we were in Las Vegas this weekend with the rest of my family.  My sister and her family live down there.  My nephew, Eric, got married today.  We planned on going but ended up not being able to. Gary and I took 3 days off work to go.  It's been nice being off...but I haven't accomplished much.  Just nice to have some down time to relax a little.

Pumpkin Cookies.....mmmmmm

 I love pumpkin cookies!  Haven't made them for a few months.  I had to give in and make some this afternoon.  I was in need of some comfort from their soft, gooey goodness!

Had a little stress today.  My paycheck which goes in direct deposit every 2 weeks never showed up in my account.  I went to the credit union, called the main credit union office in Texas, called my work, called Texas again, called work, etc.  The credit union said it was my employer's fault.  My employer said it was the credit union's fault.  Just kept getting the run-around with no real answer.  So frustrating!!  

 I didn't know what to do next.  Finally about 4:30 my work called and said they accidentally changed the routing on my direct deposit instead of someone else's account.  They can take care of it next week and I should have my check by Wednesday.  I'm mad that it will take that long to fix it.  Really?? It's not like I work for fun...but a relief to know it will be fixed. 

 Here's a fun little project for a monthly calendar.  I found many free printable blank calendars on line.  Printed off a few.  Trimmed the excess paper and glued on scrapbook paper.  I bought some 8 x 10 frames at the dollar store.  I think that the 8-1/2 x 11 frame would work better.

 Put it in the frame and then use a dry erase marker to put the dates and events on the calendar.  The glass wipes clean and is ready for next month. 

 I think a "To-Do" list would be fun too.  I've been trying to get more organized and schedule my days better.  It really helps to have things down in black and white.  

Another reunion

 This weekend was the Orme Family Reunion again.  Gary, Jaycee, and I just went down for the day yesterday.  It was good to see all the aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, again.  They always have the best crafts.  This year we spray painted shirts.  Some of the teens were cutting out stencil patterns.....so talented!  This was the Halloween shirt that several of them made.  Then they were making EVERYTHING out of duck tape.  Wallets, bracelets, masks, slippers, etc. (Thanks Jenn and Michelle!)

I wish we would have taken our tent and camped down there, but both Gary and I had to work today at 6 a.m.  Bad excuse...we should have gotten it off.  I even forgot to tell my kids about it.  I'm losing my mind....or just in denial that this summer is almost over.  It really makes me sad to see it end. 

Number of times camping -- big 0.  

Number of times 4-wheeling -- 3.

Number of times we left Utah County -- 2.

Lame-o for sure!!  

I'm getting nervous because we need to get our salsa canned and the hot pickles made.  We've been out of salsa for months and are down to about 10 bottles of pickles.  

I just don't know how to do it all.  I started a 2nd part-time job last week so that means 64 hours of work a week.  How to fit in some quilting therapy and all the other stuff I have to do.  I think I must be crazy to try it....but we need the extra income for about 8 months or so.  Hoping by next spring I can kiss the second job goodbye...before my hands wear out from all the typing.  

Catching up.......

 Life has been crazy....and it will probably get worse.  I had a little meltdown last night.  Just feeling overwhelmed with life.  I'm better this morning.  I had a couple of free hours so I gathered up some quilt magazines (or quilter's porn as my husband calls them) and spent some time catching up on new trends in the quilting world.  I found a few projects to put on my wish list.  

 Jared came by last week one night after work to put the crown up in my sewing room.  Here's the before picture and the after pics. I love how it looks!  Thanks Jared and Jon!

 This really is my favorite room in the house....truly a bit of heaven to spend some time in here.  

 And now....here's a helpful hint.  We had a mouse last year and put down these sticky traps to help catch it.  We caught the mouse in a trap, but left these sticky traps in the downstairs rooms.  I noticed that they catch SPIDERS...yes kills those icky pests.  So if you're a spider hater you might want to try them.  I just put some new ones down in my office and sewing room.

P.S.  If you have dogs or little ones, be sure to put the sticky traps where they can't get to them.  Max had one stuck on his paw last year.  Took a lot of pulling and cutting fur to get it off!

Jayda Bug's Birthday

 Another birthday!  We seem to have more and more as the family keeps growing.  This is Miss Jayda who turned 4.  She's a real princess...anything pink, frilly, bracelets, Barbie!  Jared and Lara Leigh had a family BBQ.  It was a fun night.

 I was entertained by watching the kids with the cat.  She helped herself to a little Kool-Aid while Jack watched.

The girls kept feeding her chocolate mint ice cream.  She kept eating and eating.  All I could think is hope she doesn't throw that up later in the house.....Yikes.  Oh well...not my cat!

This has been a busy week....and month for that matter.  Only 12 or so days until Jaycee goes back to school.  I still need to take her school shopping.  I'm hoping she'll still wear some of her clothes from last year.  How did I do it when all 5 kids were at home?  Maybe I was younger and had more energy?  I think it will be good to have some "order" to the day again and that she'll start going to bed earlier.    

The Last Supper....Maybe

  This was dinner Wednesday night.  I tried to BBQ chicken for dinner.  Got kinda crispy black.  It wasn't too dry if you soaked up some BBQ sauce first.  I really tried to put some thought into it.  I stood at the pantry for a whole minute trying to decide which two cans of vegetables to open to go with the chicken.  I called it the last supper because it was Gary's last week of working nights...Yay!  I'm sure I'll still cook, but not as much.

 This is Nann's quilt.  It's off the frames and in her hands now....ready for her to bind.

 There are 5 different blocks and I did each of them different.  I think the pattern she used made 3 different quilts.  She added in a few more blocks and make it one big quilt.  

 It really was a fun one to quilt.  I had it on the frames a couple of weeks and did a little here and there when I had time.

 She used 4 different fabrics for the back.  I love how the design looks on this fabric.  It really was a lot of quilting...whew!  Glad to have it done.

Keeping our COOL.....

 This is how the ducks keep cool on these hot summer days.  They are so cute to watch, just like kids.  

 The chickens hold their wings out from their bodies and pant.  They also dig a hole in the dirt and sprawl out like they're dead.  Scared me the first time I saw it.  It also cleans their feathers to dig around in the dirt.  I prefer my tub/shower..ha ha!

 And this is how I keep my cool.  The swamp cooler makes it soooo humid...okay not as humid as the southern states...but for Utah being a supposed desert state it's humid here lately.  We have 5 window units this year.  One in every bedroom and one in my office and sewing room.  At night we just turn off the swamp cooler and use these in the bedrooms.  It 's pure heaven to sleep cold in the summer heat!  Why didn't we think of this last year??  Mr. Mailman you can lose our utility bill this summer.  Don't really want to see what it costs to run all these coolers.

 The chickens are producing 6-12 eggs every day.  Some of them are still small, but the new chickens are getting the hang of egg production.  We've had chickens for 2 years and this summer is the first time I've seen eggs being laid.  Kinda fun.  I have to warn you...don't come to my house unless you want to leave with a carton of eggs.  I really don't know why we thought we had to have so many chickens.

Future bacon tomato sandwich. Yum!  One of our tomato plants is doing great..the other one not so good.  I thought they would cross-pollinate with each other but only one has tomatoes and the other one just flowers...lots of pretty yellow flowers. 

 And this is what I'm working on.  I'm hoping to get it off the frames tonight.  It's my sister's quilt.  Love the colors Nann used.