POKEY PEAS REFUGEES CHALLENGE for September 2016

Happy September! I have always loved the start of school: new clothes, new books & supplies, new adventures!

Glad your dgs is enjoying his new school, scrapincin . Hope all goes well with the results of Bob's surgery. Glad he is coping well.

Your dh's open house sounds like a great experience, nylene . I hope you get photos of it all and have fun scrapping it.

I have a couple of days at home before leaving Saturday for my long weekend with kids and grandkids. Need to pick off my tomatoes and cukes today in case it freezes while I am gone. Hoping the corn is ready by tomorrow so I can make a big batch of bacon corn chowder to get into the freezer before I go. Also want to dig some carrots and potatoes to take with me for the kids. So a busy couple of days...

Besides cleaning my scraproom this week, I managed to create a bunch of Birthday cards for this weekend and for the time I am away on vacation later in the fall. All but one are now sealed in envelopes and ready for mail or hand delivery. Will try to get a good photo of the the one I have left on my counter.

Wishing you all a terrific Thursday!


ETA:  here is my card:

dimensional bd by Gramma Dee, on Flickr

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful start on this Holiday weekend! Not sure what I am doing this weekend but it will be good no matter what!

nylene - I know Steve's open house will be a lot of fun today! ?Wish I could be there! I wanted to ask you if your lichens planus has gone away? I have not heard you say you were still dealing with it and wondered if it went away after you found that the sawdust was causing your illnesses. Bob has only ever had two surgeries the growth on the top of his head and now this lesion on his cheek. He is very fair and has always been outdoors a lot. He always wears a hat but it looks like that helped but did not eliminate the sun damage.

@kelly21- Yes football is beginning! I will be watching that game tonight! I am trying to catch as many games as I can today. The Browns are not much better then they have been. Lost all of their pre-season games. Can't wait to see your newest creation! I have been playing with Spectrum Noir Markers-the alcohol inks.They are less expensive then copics and I can use a coupon for 40% off if I get them at Hobby Lobby.

justjac -Hope you are enjoying getting ready for your play! We love local theater and go frequently. Good luck with your teaching this year also.

grammadee -have fun this weekend! Don't wear yourself out though as that garden will still be there when you get back! We will miss you!

Lisa-hope you are enjoying your trip! We have missed you too!

Waving a big hi to Jana, and Bonnie! Getting off for now but will check back later!

Good job Kelly! Will leave some love on Flickr.

I did the drive today, dropped off some stuff at one ds's place and settled in at the other's. Had a great time playing with the two little guys! The oldest one--not quite 3 yrs old-- was treating me like a kid who had come to play with him, inviting me into the playroom, offering me snacks: so cute.

Stopped at a LSS on the way. Picked up some KC Christmas pp. I have lots of Christmas goodies at home, but this is new. And pretty. And now it's MINE...

Full day with this family tomorrow then on to spend some time with the others before heading home on Tuesday.

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice Labor Day weekend. Ron and I had a cold so we didn't get to do some things but we did get a lot of rest. Thanks for all the praise on my drawing. I love the ladies and hope they gave you a little joy too. I want to keep drawing and hope to get better at the face features. The eyes and the lips/mouth are the hardest for me.

nylene - Your dh's party sounds like a real success! That was so nice for him to want to host an event like that. What are some of his favorite things to make from wood? Such a neat skill. Have you started school tutoring yet?

scrapincin- 90 degrees in Sept? Wow! I know how you feel. We normally have hot Septembers but didn't know Ohio was still hot. Today was a little cooler so I could get a good walk in. Man, our local teams USC & UCLA did terrible over the weekend. I hope the next games are better.

LisaDV - Glad you had a great trip minus your dd's injury. Hope you all are feeling better today. I am feeling much better but my dh said he is feeling sick again. Looks like I am gonna be nurse Kelly when he gets home. LOL!

grammadee - Oh, I hope you are having a nice trip. Also, you asked if I was still gonna do my "friendship" painting on canvas. I felt like I was done with the idea but maybe I will finish it sometime.

Waving Hi to you other gals and have a nice afternoon/evening!

grammadee, ok, I must have missed this. Where are you going for your cruise? Is it a scrap cruise or a you and hubby get away cruise? Glad you are back safe and sound.

kellyr21, I find faces hard, in general.

scrapincin, love how you cut around the flowers on the pp to make the pocket.

nylene, hope you have good news at the dermatologist.

Oh, that is super exciting!! You are going to have so much fun!  

Hey girls! I hope you are all having a nice day today. I start my guitar class tonight and I think my fingers are ready! LOL! Over the next few days I will be gathering all my holiday supplies for the new pp I got and I plan to go shopping for a few more things. I want to start my Christmas cards and hope to come up with some pretty styles. Fingers crossed!

We are feeling better too. Those colds that Ron and I had are all gone.

scrapincin - Football starts tonight! Enjoy the games!

nylene - Have you recovered from your dh's party?

LisaDV - Hope you all are feeling better too!

grammadee - Did you get all your gardening and canning done? I imagine now that the weather is getting cooling your garden might be towards the end.

Good evening everyone! Hope you are all having a good week. Nice to see everyone checking in this week! I have not done any pages but I have plenty to do. I have not started getting ready for that crop at the end of the month. I will get there. I have had computer problems this week with my laptop. A message came up that when I checked it out the the home site of my computer it said my hard drive is about to die. So I moved all my photos, and documents etc. onto my EHD. That takes a lot of time. This laptop is 7 years old and been used hard.

nylene-I want you to know you are not alone with th weight thing. I have been gaining and I can not seem to get it off.A lot of it is water as my lower legs, ankles and feet are swelling. I too had to buy some new clothes. It is never ending and I truly believe it is due to what they are putting in our food to make it grower bigger and faster. I have been getting muscle cramps day and night. They are in my ribs & thighs and hurt so bad then I am sore for 3 days. I am whining! Sorry. Glad to hear that you have rested up from your fun weekend.

@kelly21-Not sure if I am going to watch football tonight- may watch the US open semi finals. So glad to hear you are going back to guitar lessons. It keeps your mind ion good shape.

grammadee- did I read correctly your cruise is more then a month? It sounds like a wonderful cruise though. Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend.

LisaDV- Hope you are recovered and can get back to where you left off in the house.

Waving a big Hi! to everyone! Will check back in later this evening for any new chatting.

Love your pages, nylene . Glad you have recovered from the open house. Have fun shopping for clothes. For me, that has always been an important ritual of going back to school. And don't beat yourself up over the weight. You are not alone. I am sure my knees would be much happier if I took off the 30 pounds I regained over the past 10 years.

scrapincin , those cramps do not sound like fun. Have you talked to a physio therapist? I find that when one thing is out of line, I tend to compensate with the rest of my body and then I get cramps from trying to balance ways that should not be attempted. Don't know if that makes sense, but one dil is a physio and the exercises she gave me are really helpful. After my cortisone shot, I know my knee will be sore, and have already warned dh I will be resting tomorrow. He was telling friends tonight that he was going to leave for the day tomorrow because he knows I will be cranky. So all I will have to do is rest my knee.

How was the guitar lesson, kellyr21 ? Hope it was easier than you thought it would be. Working on Christmas cards sounds like fun. I am itching to play with the goodies I picked up last weekend, but refuse to open my Christmas supply cupboard in September. You asked about the garden. The surface stuff is all in the house now. That leaves the potatoes and carrots out in the garden. I hope to get the carrots dug, washed, and packaged a few at a time over the next couple of weeks. Dh is trolling the weather sites trying to find the perfect day to dig potatoes. That is our biggest job yet to do out there, other than work up the ground, and dh has a tractor and rotovator for that.

LisaDV how did your canning go? What did you end up doing with your garden market finds? Also, I am hoping your laundry is working in the house again. How are you all feeling now? Too bad your vacation had to be cut short due to injury and illness.

Well, I am off to bed. TTYL

Good evening. We are all healthy again. The spaghetti sauce and salsa got canned. Today, we had a great house day. The washer finally got fixed. We finally found the septic tank. Everyone around here has either lived in or had a relative that lived in this house and NO ONE could tell us where it was (they all had differing thoughts). We also spent a bit more time in the basement for cleaning and got through what we hoped. Still a lot more to go, but baby steps. It needs to be cleaned before Oct when our trim and doors arrive. I did revamp a layout I was working on so hope to finish it off tonight or tomorrow.

kellyr21, So glad you are feeling better. I'm thrilled that you are continuing guitar!! That's fantastic that you'll have the teacher to yourself. I'm sure your Christmas cards will be fantastic. I'm so bad, I not only don't make my own cards, but haven't sent cards in 4 years at least. Every year I say, I'll get them done this year.... Hope your refrig keeps things cool enough while you get a romantic night. I also hope that the workers can get whatever they're doing finished sooner than the 12 hours.

nylene, Adorable layouts. You do such fantastic work. I'm always oohing and aahing over your pages. Are you very excited to get back to your kids at school? I bet you are. As for weight, I wish I only had 20 pounds to lose. After 40 the weight goes on just by looking; the working out and dieting doesn't seem to take off a pound. But I gain 5 as soon as I stop. I'm getting ready for another try.

scrapincin, Sorry about your cramps. They do not sound good. I'd see a doctor, ok, well not me personally, but I would suggest that you see one. I did go to a doctor in 2012. My feet swell in the humidity, is that what is causing yours?

grammadee, sorry about your school friend. Did the shot make your knee feel better? Do you can your carrots or freeze them? (I'm still learning so I need to glean information from others.)

maribeth, hope all is well with you and your family! I miss your avatar and inspirational quotes.

It's almost 7 so I'm off to create for a bit before bed.

Good evening, Ladies.

A pretty slow day for me. My knee is kind of achy and it feels "full", but that is much the same as after the last cortisone shot I got. I really need to rest it for another day or two. Dh has been good about not expecting me to do anything outside. He got what I needed from the garden for supper.

I read and watched TV, but I also did a little playing with paper: a calendar page and a birthday card.

September 2017 by Gramma Dee, on Flickrmay every candle by Gramma Dee, on Flickr

Tomorrow I hope to grate up some zucchini, scrapincin . I will probably make some muffins with at least some of it: that is my favorite way to freeze zucchini: in something baked. I also need to clear out some space in the upright freezer so dh can find what he needs when I am gone. I would like to think he will heat up the prepared meals in there, but I know he is more likely to buy salty prepared meats and buns and cookies from the bakery and live on that.

LisaDV , we keep carrots all winter in the fridge. I wash them in really cold water, trim them a bit, and dry them, then put them into "vegetable" ziplock bags--the kind with little holes in them--with a folded paper towel to soak up the moisture. A couple of months in, I replace the paper towel, and they keep until spring. Glad you got your canning done and that so much progress is being made in your reno and that your washing machine is working again. That will save you a lot of time.

Glad your guitar lesson went well, kellyr21 . With individual help, you will probably progress much faster. Hope your electricity is back on soon.

maribeth , I hope all is well with you and yours.