Don't forget to enter my Christmas Gift Guide giveaways!!

If you're not a frequent visitor to my other site, Thrifty and Frugal by Debbie, then you may not know that I'm running quite a few Christmas Gift Guide giveaways right now, plus a couple of others!  Head over and check'em out!  My giveaways are listed at the top of the right sidebar, can't miss'em...see you there!!

It's about Christmas...I JUST got my tree up!

That's totally unlike me, I know.  I usually start right after Thanksgiving, but my schedule and motivation has not been great lately.  Busy as hell.  And when I'm not, I'm working on Thrifty and Frugal, or shuttling kids back and forth.  Yes, one drives now, but she refuses to drive on the interstate, and so does her boyfriend, which means mom or dad drives them back and forth to see each other, ughhhh, lol.

It's just bare bones so far, the hubs and youngest put it up on Saturday while I was at a seminar.  They didn't dare start decorating, lol.  They knew I'd want to inspect the fluffing of the branches and how many MORE lights it needed, lol.  It's finally ready to decorate, so I'll probably be doing that this week and weekend, since T&F will be down due to the move to WordPress. 

The hubs has the lights on the house, for about a week or so now.  I haven't done the swags on the railings yet, ughhh, I need to seriously get with the Holiday program!!  The peeps that know me know that I'm a HUGE Christmas fanatic...I've had 13 trees up in this house a few years ago.  Last year was only about 9 or so, I think.  So far, I have the one in my bedroom, living room, one by the front entry, and 2 on the outside on the porch...that's 5 so far.  We shall see what I do this week and weekend.

What about ya'll???  How goes the Holiday decorating for you?  Are you slow at getting to it this year like me, or did you grab the bull by the horns full force and jump in head first right away to get it done???

Ya know, Martha's Home Depot ornaments aren't as pretty in person...

So, yesterday, my oldest was having a shitty bad day, so instead of making her wait 2 hours and right the school bus home (she's an 'early out'), I picked her up.  Normally, she'd just drive home, however, last week, a few unmentionable acts occured, to which she's not allowed to use her vehicle this entire week for pleasure or school, as a punishment.  I picked her up and we started home and I decided to pull into the Home Depot lot and check out Martha's new 'shatter proof' ornaments that Kevin Sharky helped display and show off the other day on the show (yeah, I know, I talk like I know them or something, rofl).  Anyhoo, the shitty bad day was my excuse, because I knew that as soon as we got home, she'd go upstairs to her computer and I wouldn't see her for the rest of the day.  It turns out, I was right, because she instantly saw a shiny hot guy that made her shitty bad day not so bad anymore.  So after pressing all the buttons to make the dry-snow globes play music, we checked out Martha's new Christmas ornament line, and I was horribly surprised.  I mean, Martha, seriously????  you approve of less than perfect workmanship such as that?  They're defintely NOT as shiny, NOT as pretty, NOT as precise with the detailed painting, and NOT something I would want to spend money on.  I know...sad, right???  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

See?  don't these look like they'd be pretty?

Well, they weren't...actually, they looked a bit 'tacky,' believe it or not!

suppose to have glitter on the whites...not so much sparkle at all.

I had high hopes for those Tiffany Blue balls...blech, now that I saw them in person!


Now, the new Martha's Project Paint????? THAT is a comPLETEly different story!  We, of course, had to follow Shiny Guy around for a bit in the store (eh, it made her feel better, and it wasn't like I don't enjoy looking at fun project stuff in a hardware store, so I appeased her), so I headed for the paint aisles.  Now, Martha has paint, of course, gallons that you can buy, and now they have small 'sample' containers of the same paint that you can buy to see if it's what you want to use (or for small projects).  The lady pointed to where I asked, and she was giddy about them herself, lol and proceeded to give me the flyer of the the workshop that Home Depot is doing tomorrow night (Thursday, 11-10) around the US (participating Home Depots, times may vary by store) where they're going to do projects with Martha's Project Paint...I'm in!  I am SO going tomorrow night for this workshop.  Our's is from 6:30 - 8 pm, it's free, and you get to play with Martha's new paints!!!!  they have GLITTER paint...they have CRACKLE GLITTER paint! YESSSS, they DO!  They have her special paints that she likes to make her faux boui (or however she spells it) (fake wood) designs with.  She even has kits now that has the wood grain rocker in it ($5.99! seriously!) and other doo dads for projects. 

Ah, Martha, you surprise me sometimes...sometimes, eh, not so much! lol

UPDATED: Not ONE person better wish me a Happy Birthday!!!

That's not very nice, is it?  To not want to be wished 'happy birthday?'  The thing is, I didn't turn 30 easily.  I grew up fast, I made sure of it, but that didn't mean that I liked birthdays, and I don't...my own, that is.  I think I just hurt my husband's feelings because of this, and I'll have to go make amends for that, but don't you think that my wishes for my own birthday should mean something?  If ask 'no party' then I shouldn't have to endure a party in my own honor, one that I've been saying for over a year 'seriously, people, I mean it!'  If I ask, 'no gifts, I don't want anything for or on my birthday or anytime that is to celebrate the date of my birth this year' then I should have those wishes, don't you think?  I'll be celebrating the 2nd anniversary of my 39th birthday this year...tomorrow, actually, so you can figure out what age that is.  I do not want to be that age...I didn't want to be 30, so why the hell would I want to be 40???  I just caught my girls and hubs whispering under their breath to each other, and I know what that means...they have a prezzie or surprise that they're discussing or trying to hide.  I said, 'ya'll, I've been saying, I want NOTHING for my birthday except a normal day, and I mean it.  Do NOT wish me a Happy Birthday, do not give me a gift, don't even mention what the day is!'  I mean it so much, that even if my hubs comes in with a new $600 Coach bag, I'll be upset, not happy or surprised, but livid, to the point of pissed, because it's MY friggin birthday and those are my wishes!  I'm trying to save people money and the hassle of having to remember a birthday, to the point you don't even have to write it in your 'dates to remember' book, give it up already and take MY gift to YOU and forget about it....grrrrrrrrrr.  btw, thank you blogging bestie for my Bath and Body Works surprise package!! lol And all of this is probably why you had it sent to me LAST week instead of this week, lol  but I also know that you won't call, text, email, tweet, or blog me a 'happy birthday' tomorrow, lol  and THAT'S why you're my bloggin' bestie  ;)

Seriously, I can NOT be the only one in the world that feels this way.  Do ANY of you sympathize with me about this?  it's just so frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


UPDATE:  yes, I went downstairs last night and the hubs had a gift...he brought it in from the car and it was a HUGE Coach gift bag, with a HUGE Coach gift box w/ribbon in side.  I instantly burst into tears, because I told him I wanted NOTHING, and if I wanted nothing, then I defintely wouldn't want him to spend hundreds of dollars on me for a bday I didn't want to celebrate when we have bills that need paid, and he knows these were my wishes.  Ya know what he said???? Those rules and wishes don't apply to husbands.  yep, that's what he said.  So, my wishes only matter when someone wants to abide by them, but not when they want to say it doesn't apply to them? He got me a lafge Coach Tartan that he ordered weeks ago and they had to get it from Detroit because no one in St. Louis carries it yet.  So how am I suppose to be mad at him for that?  So he said, 'happy Monday' when he gave it to me....ok, well, tomorrow's Wednesday, wtf am I gonna get for THAT day??? lol

Happy Halloween!!

Am I the only that's NOT in the Halloween mood???

Seriuosly.  I'm not the least bit in the mood to decorate or even HAVE Halloween this year.  The pumpkins I made and posted about below??? those are literally the ONLY  Halloween/Fall decorations that I have going on at my house right now, with the exception of some real pumplins and guourds outside.  Plus, with Halloween on a Monday this year, we can't fully install our haunted cemetery, because the girls have school the next day and the hubs has work and I have pt, which means we don't want to have to spend all night undecorating (we have old hags and 'insert not so nice name calling terms here' as neighbor, therefore our decoractions must be taken down the night of Halloween).  We already drive that 'insert expletive name calling terms here' neighbor crazy at Christmas, rofl.  We like to get the most of our outdoor lights, install them not so long after Thanksgiving and we turn them on every night up to New Year's Day, rofl  that old fart HATES us, rofl, but we have a blast annoying him, and he can't do anything about it...but Halloween?  he complains and then the city whines to us that he's wasting their time complaining...instead of them growing a 'set' and telling him to shut up, they say 'we'll talk to them about it.'  And if we don't do it, he continues to complain to them.  I finally said, 'am I breaking any ordinance?' they say ' no, but it's being an nuisance to the 'expletive' So WE say, 'if ain't in writing stating that we're breaking an ordinance, we ain't doin' it!' HA!! that'll learn him, lol.

what was I sayin???  oh, not in the Halloween mood...yeah, I'm not.  Am I the only one?  I just can't 'get' in the mood...it doesn't help that my kids are half grown...one turns 18 on Friday, the other turns 13 in 2 weeks, and they hate trick or treating.  The 13 yr old has refused to trick or treat since she was 8, and the oldest hasn't been since she was about 11 or so, they just don't like it.  They dress up still, but that wears off about an hour into Halloween night, lol and then they all go inside and leave me outside w/the fire pit and trick or treaters all by myself, while they sit inside watching scary or haunted movies, eating big bowls of my annual pot of chili...and I'm alone, outside, in the cold, in the dark, ughhhhhhhhhh.  Plus, my bestie and her boys always come up, and since they all have work and school the next day, so they don't get to come hang out  :(   so, with all this, I am just NOT in the mood for Halloween this year.  But, I'll wish that you all are, and that you have a safe, enjoyable Halloween fun night!!!

CLOSED! Christmas Records Keeper/Tracker Giveaway w/TWO winners!

I've had these for a couple of years and haven't used them, I'm still on my first one, so I thought I'd share with a giveaway.  I have TWO of these Christmas Records Keeping/Tracking binders up for grabs.  They have a section for Christmas Cards sent/rec'd, presents, thank you's and parties and MORE!  If you like to keep track of those kinds of things so you know who gave you what so you don't re-gift something to the same person, or keep track of who sends you cards each year, then one of these Records keepers for YOU!  Super easy giveaway, will end Nov. 6 at 11 pm CST.

Disclosure:  This giveaway is not affiliated with any company, site, or promotional campaign.  The prizes above were bought and paid for, and provided by myself/Administrator of Lavender Cove.

MY version of Country Living's Toile Decoupaged pumpkins!

Last week or so, I done a post about the cover of this month's Country Living magazine with the photo of a pumpkin that was decoupaged with toile.  I got my copy in the mail and read that they used a toile FABRIC.  I have many types of toile fabric, but I really didn't want to use it.  I was afraid of the decoupage medium causing issues with the 'sizing' of the fabric and after awhile it wouldn't look quite right (just paranoid, didn't want to have wasted my resources or time), so I decided to look into it.  My challenge in that post, was to NOT spend ANY more than $2, not to have any of the supplies already (with exception of the modge podge).  So, what did I do?  I went to my local Dollar Tree.  I found several types of pumpkins...


the front 3, and the one on the far left behind the 1st row, were all $1 at Dollar Tree
the back 3 were a few that I got on sale at Joanne's and Hobby Lobby

So, I decided to use the larger pumpkin on the right and this roll of adhesive shelf paper to make my own version of the decoupaged pumpkin.  I cut them in strips to apply them, since the pumpkin is a round object, I knew I couldn't just wrap it and be done.

So I started applying them, then quickly realized that I needed to actually cut the strips to a point, so I cut from the lower right corner in a straight line up to the upper left corner, and continued to apply the strips.




When it was finished, I had a wild idea to add some sparkle, but only had some pink on-hand, lol  I didn't want to get up and dig out the fairy dust (it was a lazy moment).  So here's the final product:



it's final resting place....so far!

Total cost:  $2

~~~~~

Pumpkin Project #2

NEXT, I was pumpkin decorating happy, and continued with the two smaller pumpkins (in the above, 5th pic up) that were a dollar.  I wanted a couple of cute pumpkins that would  fit in with my mercury glass candle holders.  I'd seen a few silver metallic pumpkins at Hobby Lobby, but even 40% was more than I wanted to pay, so I decided to make them.




I took the stems out and put them on top of a shoe box, outdoors.

The pumpkins were each $1 and the metallic spray paint was $3 after my 40% coupon at Hobby Lobby.  Total cost:  $5 for 2.

Here they are with some of my mercury glass decor items.  How do they look?!

~~~~~~~~

Pumpkin Project #3

My final pumpkin project was with a small Funkin that I got at Joanne's Crafts for 57% off, so it was just $3.47, and 10"X10" piece of tissue paper that I'd gotten on after-Halloween-Clearance at Walmart last year in the card section (never forget that section during the Halloween clearance sales), it's Hallmark even.  I'm not counting that into the cost of this project, because I already had it AND it was only a small pc out of the 5 large sheets in the pkg.

This was a simple decoupaged project using Modge Podge.  First, it's tissue paper on a surface that was a bit slick, so I knew I'd have to put some of the medium on the pumpkin to get the tissue paper to stick.

After putting some Modge Podge on the pumpkin, I'd smooth the tissue paper over the spot, and did this all around the pumpkin.  Then I took a dry brush and smoothed out some of the bubbles, trimmed the top around the stem and attached the tissue down with more Modge Podge and smoothed it, then trimmed around the bottom and did the same to flatten it.

Final product:

I haven't quite decided where I want to put it yet, tho.

3 pumpkin projects to total 4 pumpkins for Fall vignettes for only $10.47!!

Pics from the Cake Demo I participated in on Saturday...

lots and lots of baking during the week, too!!

First, before you tell me how 'gaudy' my 2 tiered cake is, lol, know this ONE thing: they put us in the front of the Hobby Lobby store, less than 20 feet fromt he constantly opening and closing doors, which meant that the humidity was higher than I thought it would be...heck, I didn't realize there'd be ANY humidity, since we'd been in the back of the store a back room working for 2 days, where it was literally freezing, which is perfect for cake decorating.  So with the high humidity, NONE of our icing would allow us to make buttercream roses, or even other buttercream 'stand-up' flowers.  Which meant, my design went OUT the window and I had to design on the fly, and in front of lots of strangers.  I had no coordinaing fondant colored in the correct pink, so I had to use what I had to use.  The very top tier, isn't so bad, except I broke the gumpaste tiara more than 5 times, rofl...and had to fix it.  The last time I broke it, I literally dropped it on the floor and pearls and stones went everywhere.

So, you saw the gems that I made earlier this week in like 2 posts below.  They were too big to put too many on the tiara, so I only used 4.  Then tucked more into the border.  The off-pink flowers? ugh.  THAT was one of the biggest on-the-fly things I had to do...with the wrong color.  It was suppose to be a trail of tall roses, white tipped in pink, and smaller solid pinks, trailing down the side of the cake, but since we couldn't make roses, I tried putting gems around the cake...didn't work.  So we had to improvise, so I made molded flowers, in the WRONG fondant (which was the only pink I had made, because I didn't plan on even using it), grr.  So, THAT is why the cake is so GAUDY, lol and doesnt' even look like it matches. 

Normally, my cakes don't look this guady, I promise, lol.  Then, I made some mini-cupcakes that I handed out to little ones, whos parents loved having kids walking around the store with icing all over their face and hair, lol.   OH, btw, the roses and carnations that you DO see on the cake (there's 4), are made of gumpaste that I'd made a good while back for practice, and when my cake didn't turn out so well because of the non-roses (ugh), I had my hubs bring them to the store I so could use them...the cake definitely needed some height, and tipped them in pink luster.

Now THI product, is for a TRUE drunk, lol!

I was looking around my deal site and ran across this...Wine Collars for Hands Free drinking, rofl

are you SERIOUS???  I can't fathom a real reason for these...can you???  Wait, I have a friend, who's probably reading this as we speak, that rides a 'party bus' to and fro wineries...yep, this might actually come in handy for something like that.  You can't just sit a glass of wine down in a cup holder like you can a soda or glass, but these babies???? you can carry your wine around your neck!!  In case you're interested, they're $7.99 for a set of 2, with FREE shipping...enjoy!

Busy making buttercream, fondant, and MORE!

Many of you may know that I decorate cakes for fun.  Fondant doesn't necessarily like me, lol but we've been working together to fix that, lol.  I'm self taught, starting around age 19 or so, and have made plenty, including several tiered wedding cakes.  But I couldn't make rose...the right way, anyway.  Mine always looked....WRONG, lol.  So, a few years ago, my oldest and I took a flower making class.  The oldest enjoyed it well enough, I just didn't want to take it alone, but when I went back for the gumpaste class, she said to count her out, lol.


I even made my own wedding cake a few years back.  I didn't have time to make
flowers for it, so I used silk roses and greenery.  As you can see, I didn't
even have time to work my homemade fondant well enough to smooth correctly, lol.
But it still turned out pretty, I think.


This weekend, my instructor was going to have a cake decorating challenge, but it seems not as many people want to join a 'challenge,' so she and I are going to do an on-site cake demonstration, each decorating a cake.  I'm also going to have a bunch of filled mini-cupcakes to decorate, and let others decorate to see how crummy their decorating skills are, and how much it can improve with just one Wilton class.  :) 

Anyway, my design for my cake includes a gumpaste and fondant tiara, and since I wanted everything on my cake to be edible, I needed to make the rubies and pink sapphires.  You may think this is easy, and actually it is, the hard part is getting the sugar gems to not stick together.  My youngesextt done a batch of watermelon with a break-away mold, and I done red cinnamon (which, btw, is STRONG!)

Mine were in a mold that had at least 1/2" of space between each stone...this did not fair well for me.  The sugar was difficult to stream from one stone-well to the next without letting too much pool between them, ugh.  Out of about 50 of hers, only 3 didn't come out right.  Out of 25-30 of mine, only about 15 resemble anything like a gem, lol.  But, I'll still be using them.

She helped me make a huge tub of pure white buttercream...of course, I should say 'white decorator's' icing because I rarely use butter flavoring.  I tend to use a bit of clear vanilla, and clear almond extract.  This blend tends to taste less over-powering, so I usually leave the butter flavor out.  Then I made a batch of gumpaste while she colored a small batch of fondant and a small patch of icing for me.

I plan to be very prepared by having anything done that I can so I can spend my time decorating, rather than preparing, mixing, and such, blah, the boring parts of cake decorating.  I don't plan on using any fondant or gumpaste flowers/decorations other than the tiara, just icing.  I have aquired some new silicone fondant molds that I plan to use on the cake tho. 

I'll take a picture of my finished cake on Saturday and share it with ya'll!

Toile Decoupaged Pumpkin...aDORable!

I just got a renewal notice for Country Living and saw the photo of the upcoming Halloween magazine.  Check out the toile pumpkin on the left!!

Isn't it just GORGE?! VERY stylish, I think.  I believe I'll be making one soon.  Rather than using a real pumpkin, I'll use a faux one...and I believe I'll do it for under, let's say....$2????  who wants to take me up on that challenge???  I bet I can do it!  and before you take that bet, let me just say, I know exactly HOW I'll do it for under $2 AND, know that I do not already own any of the items necessary to make it, with exception of the decoupage medium.  now, do you still want to take that bet? lol   Well, I will bet that YOU can do it for under $2 too...if you put your mind to it, I'll have no doubt!

Wanna hear a Creepy, Spooky REAL LIFE story??

Warning, this story is TRUE, it really did happen to me, just this morning, and if you get creeped out and the skeevies really easy, as much as I'd like for you to stay on my blog, you may not want to read this particular post, lol...I'm being serious.

So, I've not been sleeping all that well lately, nothing new there.  With my health problems, my sleep pattern isn't really a pattern anymore, lol, so I slept-in a little later than I intended.  I woke up to the dogs AND cats nagging me for their breakfast.  I looked at the clock and it said 10:47 am (our clock is set 30 min or so early), so it was around 10:17 am.  The first thing I always do when I wake up is check my cell phone for any missed calls, especially since I'm waiting on a call from my surgeon.  No missed calls.  BUT, I DID have a voicemail.  Now, this is weird, odd, and increasingly strange, because with Sprint, there's literally no way I could've had a NEW voicemail with NO missed calls.  I saw that it was from my husband (he calls me several times a day, so I really didn't think anything of it).  Even tho it weirded me out that I didn't have any missed calls, I listened to my voicemail...it was 2 seconds long.  It was the creepiest 2 seconds I've ever heard.  This voice was NOT my husband's, although it was from his work cellphone.  This was the creepiest voice I've ever heard by my own ears in my entire life.  The voice said two words, each one syllable, however the words couldn't be made out.  I immediately knew something was wrong.  I called my husband and asked if he'd called.  He said he'd been calling me all morning, no less than 8 times (which is way more than usual) and I'm like, 'what? why? what's goin' on?'  He then goes on to explain how he'd been in a car accident at 8:35 am (nothing major..well, it was sorta, but everyone was ok).  I knew that he wasn't hurt because I could hear banging and such in the background like he was in a mechanic's shop, which turned out to be the firehouse of the town (Fenton) he was heading to a jobsite in.  He explained the accident, how it would've been so much worse had he not switched lanes in time, so worse that the other driver who was in a small car, if he'd been hit by my husband's large Yukon, may not have survived.  Instead, my husband avoided the accident, only to have a woman in an Explorer slam into him.  Then the man in the car who caused the accident, didn't even slow down, but fled the scene and no one was able to get his plate number.  Everyone's fine, her Explorer was barely scathed, but my husband's front passenger side can't say the same.

So, I explain to him about the message...are you ready for this?  Although he called a multitude of times, he never left a message.  When the voicemail would pick up, he'd disconnect the line, not leaving any messages.  Now, by this time, I was thoroughly creeped out!  He wanted me to meet him to move things from his vehicle to mine for when it would be taken to the shop.  I met him and let him listen to the message.  He was thoroughly creeped out also.  I asked him if he'd called around 10:17, so he looked through his outgoing calls.  He didn't place any calls to me between 10-10:30 am.  We just looked at each other.

If I could figure out how to transfer this 2 second voicemail into a sound bite for you all to hear, I would.  It literally sounded like the demonic voice from Paranormal Activity, and I'm not joking, I wish I was.  I made sure my husband still had his guardian angel coin with him, and done an errand or two and went home...CAREFULLY, calling my oldest to make sure she'd made it home from school safely, as well..  I let my eldest listen to it, after explaining it all.  She was creeped out, but immediately said maybe it was a ghost call or butt call.  No, it was neither.  Ghost and butt calls last longer than 2 seconds and you hear background noise and such.  This was a evil sounding, echoey, growly voice, saying 2 words, over 2 seonds, then immediately disconnecting, and from my husband's cellphone.

The creepiest thing about all this?  the voicemail is time stamped for the very moment I awoke.

Creeped out????  I am....STILL!  It's giving me goosebumps just talking about it.  My daughter done a room cleansing (her bedroom) just in case, lol, so she'd be able to sleep tonight, we decided NOT to tell the youngest or discuss it in front of her (she's 12, and wouldn't be able to sleep for weeks if she knew).  My oldest and I are both now carrying a freshly charged crystal, and I'll give my husband and youngest one to carry, as well, even though she won't know why, but will just be told it's for positive energy (she'll be fine with that, I'm always rambling on about rocks and stones and their energies). 

All my life I've had creepy things happen to me prior to an accident or someone dieing, or something extremely significant happening.  Usually it's weird feelings that won't leave me be or dreams, but never anything this blunt and vivid.  This technically happened at the moment I awoke...why?  What's the significance?  What or who was speaking and what were they trying to convey with just 2 unidentifiable words?  My husband and everyone else survived the accident, and the damange isn't so significant that the insurance company won't even 'total' the car.  Or is it something that's still yet to come?  I hope not.  I hope that it was some weird cell tower fluke that was NOTHING, but just that, a weird cell tower fluke making noice that mimicked a creepy voice saying two syllable words.

what do you think?  what's your take on my morning experience?  please share, I'm curious.

Am I the only one in the Christmas mood?

I'm one of those weird people that start listening to Christmas music off and on starting in July.  As I sit and write this, I'm watching A Christmas Story, with lil Ralphie.  It's one of many holiday favorites in this house, along with Nat'l Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Christmas with the Kranks, and several other classics.  My kids don't tend to like the old black and white ones, like It's a Wonderful Life, The Bishop's Wife, or the orig. Miracle on 34th Street, but I do, so I watch them.  I've started listening to Christmas music already, started thinking about Christmas giveaways, almost completely finished with my shopping, and not quite ready to decorate, only because of my health and I know it'll be taxing on my body, but I DO love to sit in the dark with my tree lit up...nice ambience.  I have already have my Christmas cards made, ordered, AND received!!

'Now...that's allllllllll I have to say...about POOOOOOR Flick,' rofl lol ha ha ha ha one of my most favorite lines in A Christmas Story, lol.  too funny. It looks like I've worn out yet another disc tho, it's 'sticking' on scenes, grrr.  In the past 7 years, I've had to replace 3 Nat'l Lampoon's Christmas Vacation dvds because we wore them out, lol.  Isn't weird how you can watch a movie more than 30 times, but still crack up laughing at funny parts that you've seen over and over? lol

As you can probably tell, there's no REAL point to this post, not really, anyway.  Just talkin'.

Are any of YOU like this?  do you start listening to Christmas music and watching the movies long before the holiday season even begins, like I do?  SURELY, I'm not the only person that's like this, lol

Check out the pics of my pretty gourds! PERfect for Fall decorating!

I know I said in a previous post that I was going to try to post some pics of the gourds I have growing and Blogger wouldn't let me...let's give that a go again.

this one was about 2 1/2 inches big when picked!



This 'bird house' gourd still isn't ready for picking!



This was about 3 inches big when picked!



It turns out that i have about 3  or 4 of the 'bird house' gourds growing and getting huge, just like they're suppose to.  I think I'll give those to my elderly neighbor across the street when they get picked.  He loves making bird houses out of them, plus, I don't know what to do with them other than use them for decorating.  The striped gourds I picked, as well as a yellow bumpy goard, and put them in this arrangement:



Along with my dried hydrangeas (from plants that are now DEAD, thanks to a huge-ass barberry bush that took it over and killed it...grrr, I HATE that barberry bush, but my hubs loves it and begs me not to chop it down or cut it up.  Every spring AND fall, I prune that sucker down so much I think, 'surely THAT will kill it!' and then I could say 'oops, hun, I'm sorry, I didn't know it would kill it,' but it never does...it lives on to kill again!).  The large white gourds were grown by my bestie and given to me the other day.  I just LOVE them.  They all make a great center piece for my kitchen table.  This pic was taken before I put the striped gourds in, but you get the idea.

















This year's Basil crop, and the mess I've made of my tomatoes!

LOTs of beautiful basil...mmmmm, smells devine!  If any of you need some great basil seeds, the GLOBE basil is a great variety.  You can see their goreousness in this pic.  I went ahead and let some go to flower, this way I can get some more seeds (as if I need any more, lol  I still have like a gazillion from last year), plus I think the flowers are pretty to see when I go into my garden.

Now, my tomato bed?  THAT is a different story, even though the pretty basil is planted on the edges of the bed surrounding them.  Look at this mess, just look at it.

The hubs is like, 'well, I would've made you two more A-frames for another bed so you could've spread them out more.' ugh...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOW ya tell me!  I packed 12 tomatoe plants in this 4X8 bed, where I should've only planted no more than 8.  What happens is the plants compete for the nutrients in the soil.  I can amend the soil and even add Miracle Grow and other stuff until the cows come home, but it's not gonna make these plants produce any more than they're already doing, which isn't many.  In fact, they've STOPPED producing.  All I have are some buds and quite a few green tomatoes, which I'm lucky that the bugs haven't gotten, considering they just will NOT turn colors for anything, all because they're too cramped.  They're living among each other in a tomato jungle.  NEXT year, I will definitely do the two beds with a total of 4 A-frames, and that way I can plant 16 plants that should be happy and healthy and productive! 

My pumpkins...oh my, my pumpkins.  The problem I have is that my garden expansion wasn't done in time to get them planted when they needed to be, so they're going to be a 'late' crop, if any.  All I have are blooms, that's it, nothing in the slightest that even remotely looks like a pumpkin or the beginning of a pumpkin.  I fear that I'll not have any of those pretty white, yellow, and orange pumpkins that I planted!  :(   BUT, I have some very pretty gourds!

(I tried to post a few pics, but blogger was giving me fits, but will add them in the next day or so for everyone to see!!)
 Still no stalks on the Brussels Sprouts.  Those were 'Martha Stewart' brand, so I'll be switching next year, sorry Martha.

these poor looking brussels sprouts!