Canning Season

My trees are brimming with delicious fruit...red plums, Transparent, Red Delicious and another unknow variety of apples are hanging heavy on the trees. The weather threatens some freezing nights so several days ago we picked all the plums.



For a single tree we have alot of fruit, thank goodness for my friend Dixie. We prepared plum preserves today...In past years, and now this season, she has made the task of washing, sorting, trimming and finally canning the fruit much lighter. We started with three bags brimming with fruit. We set aside one bag of very firm fruit for fresh eating then got busy on the other two.



Someone recently shared that they sorely missed the time getting together to quilt, canning or in other ways help one another. It was thier observation that it was a time to solve the problems of the world and a time to train up the younger less experienced in life. I tend to agree...we caught up on each others families, shared our concerns of political manuvering going on in our nation, discussed how we handled problems, talked of how to be a better persons and generally enjoyed the process of making delicious preserves :)



It is alot of work but I'll do it again because it enriches my experience and gosh, it tastes wonderful...especially on warm bread.

Old Boxes and....Addictions

I found an old receipt that my mother had saved. It was stuffed in amongst one of the many of her old photos.It was for a camera she had purchased as a youth. She was an avid amateur photographer and she documented her life for years using the many cameras she owned.

I grew up thinking that all facets of life were kept track of through those little (at the time) black boxes. The many boxes of pictures my mom left behind have become to me a daily journal of who she was, what she loved and what she invested time into during the course of her life.

Interestingly I seem to have the same addiction to my camera. I keep one in my purse and as if that isn't enough, I also have one on my cell phone.

While surfing the net an article caught my eye on a particular site that made me want to post a comment. It was a discussion about Iphones and good pictures. What are good pictures to you? Are they always in focus? Do they have the images centered properly? Was the lighting perfect? My answer to myself was much more simplified...I love capturing the moment and I love that my iphone's always with me. I tried to express my point by putting together a Slide.com show of some recent shots while on vacation in Michigan. I've added it to my sidebar so you can see for yourself. I'm able to get some really neat shots...its all in the moment for me :)

Disney Magic and More

Our youngest son invited us on a trip to Disney this past week. As it turned out Disneyland goes through a dramatic transformation at this time of year. In a single day it is suddenly a whole new look at the park from fun summer activities to Harvest and Halloween Adventures.

The parades, costumes and activities are all turned toward the spooky, pumpkins, skeletons oh my! All done in the way only Disney can pull off...not too creepy...just enough to whet the appetites of those who love the costumed, the creepy the crazy and corn-y.

Disney Here We Come

I love the freedom of simply throwing a few things in our bags and hitting the road! I am so-ooo looking forward to spending a few days with Nate, Lauren & Fiona in Disneyland. Did our bosses give us a tough time when we planned to take the time off? No. Did we loose any clients while away? Nope. Were we worried that someone else was getting in good with the boss when we took time away? No. Did I lose a check while away? No Way! Why you might ask :) Well the answer is that we are not bound by the typical rules of play with a JOB! When we take time away our business grows and our check still comes. As Robert KIyosaki stated in his book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" ,“The richest people in the world build networks. Everyone else is trained to look for work.” Our Xango network allows us time freedom as well as financial freedom!

So....DISNEY here we come!!

Happy Anniversary Darling

We're celebrating our 37th anniversary today, I have an awesome husband. What makes him so awesome is he is faithful in the little things in our lives. He truely is my soulmate which God has graciously picked specifically for me.



So what do we have planned to celebrate? A fairly average day...We enjoyed our favorite soup and salad at Olive Gardens and had business appointments throughout the day. We will be enjoying some time with one of our sons and his family in Disneyland tomorrow-having time with our children is our greatest joy and we are so blessed to be able to hop on the road and enjoy moments like this because of our wonderful business. Xango has given us so much to be thankful for!

Monthly Stamp Club

I had a ball at our monthly Stampin Up stamp club and I wanted to show you what my talented friend and Stampin Up demonstrator Melanie Diane Sibson taught. It is a beautiful technique that uses Shimmery White cardstock and liquid inks.

Diane is always so generous with her time and talents...In fact a clever use of the stamp set Sense of Time features a time worn look of old suede ink antiqued over gold embossing powder on the face of the clock. Wide twill tape is stamped with a cute quote and stitching.

The card "Friends", a simple card with a delightful border punch accent uses beautiful paper from the collection, Night & Day, a Specialty paper. It is found in Stampin Up's 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog.

She also had prepared for us a stunning Glittery Medallion card. It is a new for 2009 background design that fills a 4.25 x 5.5 card. We used a scruptious chocolate glitter from the Supernova collection to set this design off. It is a dazzler!!

Compassionate Art

If you've stopped by my blog recently you may have noticed I have had a very full calendar... I am finally home after enjoying a wonderful week in Washington D.C.

While there I was able to see first hand the roots of our country, some of the tributes for men and women who have sacrificed to make our country such a great nation. Please take a peek at my album to see some of my experiences.

A friend dropped in today and as we talked he reminded me about a previous conversation we had and then shared the website for this extremely talented artist friend. Please stop by her website and read what she is doing to say thank you for those American servicemen and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice.