Monthly Archives: April 2009

Do You Garden? The eBay Queen Doesn’t…

Posted on by
Reply

I need to tell you I am not a gardener. I wish I was a gardener.  I wish that I could look at dirt and grass surrounding a house and say.. “We shall do this… ” and it would be done, grow and look beautiful. That doesn’t happen with me.  We built our house (the house that eBay built) about 9 years ago, and it STILL does not have ANY  landscaping.

Last year I worked my behind off to make a garden or two.  I plotted, and planned.

#1 (last year) Digging rocks out of what was suppose to be the new rose garden.

This is right by our drive way (see the cars? <img src=” ) #1 and I thought a fabulous rose garden would look great right here.  It never really happened.. You know why?  See those 2 trees? They “leaf out” over the drive way.. but for some reason the bushes would not grow.  So we moved them. Not the trees.. the roses.  (photos to come later)

See those rocks.. we grow those.. You can’t put a shovel an inch in the ground without seeing one of those rocks.  (oh.. that’s child #1 and child #2)

See those rhododendrons up on the porch? I planted those last year… they didn’t’t come back this year.

We call this #5 in a Sponge Bob blanket

This is what I want the stairs up to my house to look like.

You should know.. my house doesn’t look like this. I have the rocks.. but don’t know how to use them.

Here’s the Man digging..

#2.. who knows what he’s doing

Here’s the youngest 4 children..

Here is my success story.  I planted these last year.. and they came back with a vengeance!

Mothers Day is coming up, and I hope the Man and his 5 children take me to the garden center… so I can pick out some new plants that will die I mean grow.

Walking Tour of Ottawa or Hey I got a Flat Tire

Posted on by
Reply

I woke up this morning, had some scrambled eggs and grits and headed to my friends house.  We had a 9:30 meeting, then I planned on going to the coffee shop, finish my eBay article, plan the confirmation retreat, figure out how to post my confirmation class info on the internet so those kids could get the work they missed before our big “graduation”.

As I walked out of my friends house I saw this…

Please ignore the dirty car.. if you remember I have a good excuse.. I live in the middle of no where.

After much discussion I decided I would go to the coffe shop any way, call a few tire places and have them go fix the tire. I received several quotes of $75.  Being the cheap skate I am, I told The Man to come and get me when he was done at work.

These next photos.. are basiclly what I did from 1:00PM to 7:00PM

Here’s my little work station at The Potter’s Wheel (where you can get awesome sandwiches) I have everything there a girl could need.  My laptop, phone, earpiece, Blueberry iced tea, camera, Mp3 player, PayPal card holder, and box of eBay stuff to write up. (there’s also book on how to plan a retreat and a Girl Scout book)

I settled into my workstation, ate some lunch, and figured out that one of my nine pairs of headphones were not placed back into my bag after one of my children borrowed them.  I could not make it through the day without some headphones, so I headed down to Radio Shack.

I love this little area between two buildings, with the red bud hovering over the benches

This is the Franklin County Courthouse.  It was built by George Washburn (see the wood dude? I think that’s a carving of him)

The front view.. pretty building huh?

There’s the post office.. I’ve takes several packages there. The Ottawa Post office SCANS my boxes.

Here’s one of my favorite places to eat in Ottawa.  The cheese dip is awesome.

Tip Toe through the Tulips.. even in Kansas

Two blocks.. and we are at Radio Shack

Nice shot of Main Street.

War Memorial

See that.. right there.. that person in the black.. that’s our parking patrol.

They mark the tires of all the vehicles that sit on Main street.  If you sit more than 2 hours you are getting a ticket.  Normally I would be worried.. but since I have don’t have the wheels.. I have to rely on my Fit Flops.

I love the way this building looks.

Fabulous Artwork back at the coffee house.

I don’t live in Ottawa, and I’m not from there.  But it sure has grown on me since I came. The first time I visited this little town I thought “Holy Smokes all they have is a McDonald’s and a Sonic”.  But Ottawa is so much more than that.  It is where people know your name, and even if they don’t most people all smile and wave.

Around 7:00pm The Man showed up a the coffee shop. To some people being at the coffee shop all day would be nuts.. but I love it there.  I can put on my headphones and work on my article, eBay stuff or whatever.  If I feel like talking there is always someone there to talk to.

Here’s the man.. changing my tire 🙂

This is where he was telling me I would owe him royalties for taking his photo.

The spare…

It’s time for the lowering of the car…

The Bridges of Franklin County

Posted on by
Reply

The Low Water Bridge

I live in the middle of no-where.  It’s 15 miles to the nearest grocery store.  The man picked out this land LONG before he met me.  It was his dream to live out in the country.

The Man fancies himself as a farmer. I call this photo Grumpy in Black Socks.

Maybe I said that wrong.. I think he dreams he is a farmer and really is a country boy. (if you met my in-laws they are not very country-fied)   To get to our home you must cross the low water bridge. Sounds scary, but doesn’t look that way does it?

Not much water here huh?

Flowers blooming on the side of the creek..

Pretty.. Not too bad huh?

Looks like a little babbling brook…

A red bud blooming.. it’s spring in Kansas

Here’s the same creek after a bit of rain

About 16 years ago, (when I just moved here) I left early in the morning to spend the day in Kansas City.  It was raining when I left, and it rained all day.  When I came back home I encountered this bridge, with water rushing over it.  It completely freaked me out.  The Man had NEVER told me the bridge gets this way.  Matter of fact, he never mentioned  the creek.

So I did what every good city girl does… I headed into town.  I needed to get a hold of him, because I had NO IDEA how to get home without going down this road.  I drove into our little town, which only has a post office, car wash, and some vending machines. I knocked on some doors to see if I could borrow a phone, and the only people I could find home said “they didn’t have no phone!”  I found a pay phone on the side of a brick building and called him. I called and called.. he did not answer the phone.

I started to panic.  I did not know how to get to my house except the one way I had always come.  I’m going to admit I was a little more than just panicked.  I was frantic. I started to cry and drive.  I drove every logical way to get to my house. I didn’t have a map, or anyone to ask where I was or where I was going.  After about an hour, I found my way home.  It was a scary experience for a city girl that drove a sports car.. known for going 0-60 in 6.8 seconds.

I’ve seen it as high as the “4”  on the gauge (2 photos above).  It’s hard to tell in this photo how high and fast this water is moving.  I don’t know the name of our litttle creek, but I know it runs into the Marais de Cygn.  It rained last night pretty hard.  My creek is up and so is the river.

Here’s part of the Marais de Cygne where 68Hwy cross it. Normally you can’t see the water unless you are on the bridge, looking down.

Here’s the Marais de Cygne in Ottawa. Normally it’s about 20ft below that walking bridge.

**see how my photos are all off kilter? That’s because I had child #2 take the photos while I was driving.  He thought he would be cool and not hold the camera straight.. so that’s what’s wrong with the photos.. and weird blue stuff on the photos.  I was not trying to be cool.

Girl Scout Father Daughter Dance

Posted on by
Reply

The Man & Child #3 ready to go to the Father Daughter Dance

It’s important to Spidey here that he get’s in the picture.

His sweet sister gives him a break and takes a couple of photos with him.

I think she was done being nice to Spidey here..

Ok.. that’s better but what’s with the weird smile #3?

Normally in years past we made dresses really far in advance… and had sort of matching clothes for The Man.  This year we were so NOT prepared for this Father Daughter dance.  We had to sort of throw something together.  This years theme was “Princess”, So here’s how we did it.

I bought a $3.50 girls t-shirt, and some super cute buttons (all from Wal-mart)

Some rick-rack, tread, elastic and 10 yards of tulle. I chose light pink and hot pink (5yards each).

I had #1 child & cut the tulle into 2″ strips.

She likes to listen to music while she cuts the tulle..

Because I am going to sew the buttons on to her shirt, I have added interfacing to the back of the shirt to give it some stability.  Now is the time I like to sew my elastic together with the sewing machine.  I know some people that use ribbon or use skinny elastic and tie it in a knot.

** just a little note I did this with less than 24 hours before the dance.. so forget how sloppy my interfacing is please 🙂

This is the process of tying the tulle onto the elastic.

Remember the Rick-Rack? I tied this on to the skirt.. and then hot glued buttons on the end of the rick-rack.

Since we had a princess theme working.. she needed a tiara.. so I made a hair bob out of tulle, rick rack, buttons and an elastic hair band.  It’s cute and matches!

**watch in the next couple of days we will be posting photos of the matching American Girl Doll outfit we made too!

Here’s some photos of years past Father Daughter Dances..

2006 Father Daughter Dance

2007 Father Daughter Dance

2007

2007

2008 Father Daughter Dance

Different Brother.. trying to get in the picture..