Good morning! Long dang day yest! Fell asleep soon after getting home. Wouldn't be so bad, but I have to leave an hour b4 shift cuz it's 35 miles away...then drive home after ...left at 6 aomething in the a.m., got home at 830 pm.

Today I have to go see my new Grandbaby & Jay is insisting his Dad make him a zipline in our back yard so he can ride it! Chuck is going to do it too so we will have another free for all around here!

Beautiful pic Kimdee & I agree, there is some demon making the trees turn!

Hi Mforr...hope your weather gets nicer for u to enjoy it some.

Having some coffee and trolling around the internet cuz I am nosey!

Oh yes...the house smells good...roasting tomatoes, onions and garlic....

Hi jayme, bummer long day for you yesterday, stinks. Zip line sounds awesome, wish my hubby was a bit more handy with something like that, we have such a big area of woods and how cool would it be to zip through them. I'd love that. I'm sitting here typing and looking at a couple of suitcases for the kids to bring home any of the clothes they want for the beginning of the school year, hopefully most of the stuff can stay down here, no short shorts for my daughter at school. You should see the look of hatred I'm giving those suitcases, they are now signifying what I hate about tomorrow. Boo

Michele, naw... I was just bored. I am okay with the rug I have in there for the time being. It's a titch bit small but it's okay for now.

Have to get moving and get showered and dressed for the day. I went running out of here so fast yesterday, and then realized I needed gas, and wouldn't you know that the ENTIRE CITY also needed gas. So I was late almost for my tee time (well, no, I just didn't have much warm up time). But I hate being rushed.

So off I go. Enjoy the first day of September, whatever your plans are!

Heh... that photo is actually Northern Ontario. I guess that's why it looked like home to me. TTYL!

Have a good time, kimdee :)
Jayme, is that in preparation for some sauce? Mmmmm, I can imagine the aroma, so good :)

yes mforr....every year we make tomato sauce from our tomatoes & veggies...today I think Chuck wants stuffed shells...which r stuffed with various cheeses....soooo tasty, filling & fattening!!

sounds yum. I need to be in the kitchen again today but i'm stalling..i made a huge pot of applesauce yesterday. now I have one bucket of apples left and I just don't want to look at an apple :) my left arm was aching so much last night I couldn't sleep and then the new neighbors were making noise again (read:students) so it was one of those evenings...
have to find a place to plant some mint. I was given some nice plants and I need to find a spot somewhere...
it's September? where did the time go? other people were sunning on the Riviera oh lol and I was what? processing apples. oh. yeah. be jealous. be very jealous. :)

@mousemaker...Where r u located? We r supposed to get a warm weekend & it prob. will be our last blast at the lake in the sun...plan to try anyhow.
-I thought about planting some mint at one time/not sure what I would do with it though,. I have seen it in some summer drinks, looks refreshing.

Love stuffed shells, yes fattening but worth it. Just do a little extra running around. :)

I am located :) in the Midwest. I only dream of other places. Mint is used in salads and with some meats. it can be a runaway plant though.

Yummy, pineapple mojitos or fresh strawberry ones with all that lovely mint. Mousemaker, I love to stew apples with vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, maple sugar, maple syrup, raisins, dried currants and dried cranberries, sometimes prunes. It's absolutely delicious and the smell is heavenly. Love it served warm with custard drizzled over the top.

This volunteer pumpkin came up and is now producing pumpkins and taking over our front yard!

mmmmmm good!!!! the problem is :) that I had eight buckets of apples and pears and i'm exhausted :)

that's great Jayme!! you will have plenty for Halloween :)

@mousmaker...YES ..love Halloween.

A fabulous picture. I love water views. I am baking again today. My husband and my youngest son both have their birthdays today! I made one cake yesterday and the other just now so we have a break between them.

Jayme, have you ever read Kristin Lavransdatter?

Lots of good smells in todays discussion, what kind of cakes, Lisa?
Sounds interesting, mousemaker. I've never read those books, but may try it now. Love an engrossing saga.

@mousemaker...No I haven't ..who is she?

@Lisa...Happy Birthday to your Hubby & Son....Two cakes? What kind?
@Mousemaker...what type of writing does Kristin L. do?

Morning all, this girl went out last night and had an awesome time. Went to South Beach and went to the club and dance my butt off. Stayed out till 5am. It is raining here and putting a cramp into my yard work. My poor garden has been neglected.

Kristin Lavransdatter is a triology written by Sigrid Undset who received the Nobel in 1928. It's a story of the Middle Ages. I found it fascinating and I thought of it for you because of the pumpkins :) my thoughts sometimes make connections that I don't explain and I ask questions out of the blue, i'm sorry :)
The books explain a lot of the reasons behind our "Holidays" like Halloween and other traditions that have nothing to do with us in particular, plus it's good reading :)

@Mousemaker....exactly how my mind tends to work! Sounds cool, I will have to check it out. I love stories explaining such things, and find it quite interesting...I love to watch historical documentaries also.

you could get them read just in time for Downton Abbey :)

Thunder is rumbling... Boooom boom boom booooooooooom, grumble grumble grumble. Sounds like a grumpy old man.

Hello ladies. I made a cake called 'Lazy Daisy Cake' from my America cooks book and it's a brilliant cake. So easy, impossible to get wrong - a blind chicken could make it. It's a plain sponge cake, I just add different frostings. I tweaked it and made my husband's as a coffee cake with coffee flavoured frosting made with mascarpone. Two cakes in one day - we're all buzzing!

That sounds delicious!!! You may never get to sleep tonight, lol. Sugar and caffeine (even if it's only flavoring, the coffee taste will do it anyway, the power of persuasion) a deadly combination.

Mmm... cakes.

I am having some cheesecake factory carrot cake. Mmmmm

How are you Robin?

Without us?

pics of stairs

I've been working on my staircase...scrubbed down all the steps with mineral spirits then ended up putting a new coat of shellac over the existing finish. I could have worked hard and got out the telltale lines where the old runner was, but it didn't bother my hubby. He's right - he says that the only people who will notice it are me and my business partner.

We still have to tackle the sagging in the stairs so I'll wait until that gets done before doing any major refinishing work. I don't think it will turn out to be a major problem because the plaster underneath the stairs isn't cracked and the wall is solid. I'm thinking that we just need to reattach the stringer to the side wall but that's a project for wintertime because you never know what hides inside the walls of an old house. The stairs are in fantastic shape for an 80 year old house and I wouldn't mind leaving them without a runner but it seems too slippery and dangerous without a runner

Hi everyone :)
Spectacular day around here, middle son took us out for Dim Sum and then we were off to the lake. Not too hot, not too breezy, just right:) The leaves around the lake have been changing for 2-3 weeks already, PMO!!!! But, hoping September will be long and lovely as usual. My nephew is getting married in a couple of weeks, need a good idea for a gift???? hmmmm, what to do.

I need to talk someone into going to Dairy Queen for me, all this talk of cake has me craving my favourite. Looks like a Peanut Buster Parfait night.

before and during pictures of my carpet removal project

Now that I have the carpet off and the finished cleaned up a bit, I'm tempted to post a picture to the dilemmas section to see how many people suggest painting the stairs. The banister, spindles and risers are cherry (I think!) and the treads are oak

Looks like a different staircase, great job Linda. I didn't put a runner on my stairs, funnily enough, my husband slipped on the stairs a few times at our old house which had runners. I didn't do it at main house or here at beach because after the years of waiting for all construction to be done, I finally realized that no one had slipped and I love seeing the woodwork. So that helped save few bucks as well. You never know. :)

Hey Candace, did you get to lake? Clean out anyone's nasal cavities for them? ;)

Hi Linda,
What do you mean"I could have worked hard". seems that's all you do is work hard. What's the address of this house, I have someone I'd like to volunteer for you to take a walk down those stairs.LOL. So, besides work, what else do you like to do.

Linda, you did a great job on those stairs, they look new!!!

Michele, yes is did deliver my speciality, deep water nasal flush plus one lake water enema. I turned down an offer to ride a kite tube today, maybe I'm getting older and starting to be a bit of a chicken pants!!!!!

Candice - From about April through the start of August, I like to garden. But, I'll admit that I'm getting tired of the jungle now because all the plants are starting to look tired for the year and it will soon be time to start fall cleanup. Every year, I start getting itchy fingers and I can't wait to get started in the garden, but by Labor Day I'm getting ready for a frost.

When I'm not working, I do spend quite a bit of time on my laptop - this site, playing solitaire, reading the news, looking at cool design ideas (not implementing many, just looking and thinking about them mostly!) I also like to read, mainly mystery books and some non fiction and biographies. We are fortunate in our town to have an absolutely wonderful library which has won tons of awards. The library has a beautiful second story reading room overlooking the river with a huge 4 sided fireplace and you can watch bald eagles which nest along the river. I'm planning to go spend some time down there over the winter when my hubby is out of town, rather than staying home alone.

Linda, I remember the runner, just wanted to share my experience about the slippery factor. :)
The library sounds wonderful, I'd spend a lot of time there myself. When I lived in the city, I loved to go to the metropolitan museum of art to wander and admire the artwork, but also to sit in some of the huge soaring spaces with views of Central Park, just to read, relax and people watch. What a wonderful place. :)

My hubby says that the library is the one and only one line item on the property tax bill that he thinks is an excellent value for the amount of tax we pay

I agree with him, there are some places and things that need to be preserved. Places like that definitely fall into that category. :)

I hear you Linda, loud and clear on the garden thing. I have to admit, when I passed by my small greenhouse this evening, I actually thought If it snows then I don't have to pull those weeds :(

The Library sounds wonderful, wish we had one like that close by. I've actually been watching a Bald Eagle all summer at the lake. My goodness, he's huge!!!! What a fisherman he is and I really enjoy watching him play in the wind. Today, my hubby spotted what we think is his nest, so cool:) I only read on the laptop, I don't purchase magazines or books anymore. I enjoy a good episode of 48Hours Mysteries, 60 Minutes, American Greed and Dateline. I love the lake and all water activities that go with it as I'm sure you may have noticed :)

The flowers on my upper rear deck are still looking great, but the ones out front are getting leggy and gross. I am the same, about this time of year I stop caring too much about them.

That's it for me, time to hit the hay, night all.

Night, Candace. Sweet dreams.

Night all...