Best/ worse/ ? did you learn today #54 visit with friends...

Hate to move us over after all those wonderful flowers, but perhaps you can adorn this new room with more....

Liz, went back to Michaels to get thinner stretch line, still to thick so must make another trip at lunch..yuk..I better get into bead making now that I had all this equipment..would have been cheaper to travel to another USA Cracker Barrel..lol

Judy, glad you are busy at work, makes the day go quicker..wasn't sure if Paul would be here all day so brought in one of the faux window boards to paint..wouldn't you know he's here...maybe with luck he'll leave early..lol...

Carol, what are you up to this long weekend, any plans??? Greg/Mel and the boys are on vacation, coming back tomorrow and then off with the boat, Jeff and his boys get theirs the weekend after...have you ever been to Kempenfest..believe it's Ontario's largest venue with regards to waterfront entertainment and hundreds of venders..I'll be there for 9am..usually walk it quickly as not to get lost in the masses...hundreds of thousands attend...something you might be interested in...

Gita, off to read your thread...

A Four Oclock bloom

Beautiful Bev...what's on your agenda today???

My labtec camera here at work doesn't take the best of photo's but I'm dying to paint a couple of chairs I have in this fashion...

Good morning all.
Congratulations Dawn! So happy for you.
The flower pictures are all gorgeous! It's so dry here I'm just trying to keep mine alive.

Betty hope you are feeling better today

And Ruby I would love a copy of the K Stew recipe. It sounds easy and I'm always looking for new good recipes. Have you ever used whipped cream in the Ambrosia? Wonder if it would ruin it? I'm one of those weird ones who don't like sour cream.

Hi everyone else. Hope you all have a wonderful day

Cat I use cool whip in mine!

And it still tastes ok? Good! I know the whole world loves sour cream. Guess I'm just an odd ball! :-)

Oh yeah still tastes good. I could eat the whole bowl myself. I use pineapple, coconut and mandarin oranges and cool whip. Easy easy!

Betty that chair is beautiful even if the picture isn't the best.

We call that desert Heavenly Hash. I haven't tried it with sour cream, only whipped cream. I bet it's good with sour cream.

Betty, where do you get your chairs?

Canadian Tire..they are reasonable..$59.99 and you can get them in either wood grain or factory painted white..the are also folding chairs which makes it easy for storing..the last one I purchased was white to do the lily on...but back about a month or so ago I was at a garage sale and there on the roadside was a green - thin slat set with table..only 1 support needs to be repaired, would only take about 10 minutes and when I asked how much as I thought it was part of the garage sale, he said it was for the garbage..helllllooo didn't take me but a few seconds to pick them up..they are now in the secret garden area, I've a few branches to cut to make them more usable..so thought because they were free and I could make the footrests that I might just try the pattern..did something similar on the backs and bags of those canvas folding chairs ..gave them all away but one...lol...

Ruby, I'd love the recipe for stew as well..sounds fairly simple...

Andirondack chairs go for a pretty mint here, about $90 each and that's just at Target. That was a wonderful garbage find there, Betty!

Went out and burned all the papers and yard wate and am sitting here dripping wet. Not from rain either LOL I was going to drag some limbs that my son and I trimmed over the fish pond but think I will wait for clouds or cooler late this evening. I need to trim lots more but will wait for cooler weather.
Your chairs are always wonderful Betty.
Hello to all and have a good day!!! HUGS BEV
First bloom on my Guacamole hosta

And the fun never ends....Just got a call from the kid's camp and my DS was drinking water from a water bottle and another kid came up and hit the bottle so it broke his front tooth!! So I get to go and sit at the dentist office for an unscheduled appt and get it fixed! Gotta love it!!!!

Ouch!!!!!So sorry that messed up his camp fun.

OMG Jeannine, kids think that type of action is fun..NOT and costly to boot...bet your heart stopped when you got the call...panic city!

Bev do you have mosquito's there with this humidity???

That is a pretty penny Deborah, lots of individuals make them, paint them bright colors and sell about $200.00 and I never understood why someone would pay so much when you can get them made in good quality wood for $59.99 and folding at that..square tables I believe are $29.99, footstool, well I purchased them years ago and I believe they were same as table...must watch when you paint design though as the knot holes should have 2 or 3 coats of shellac to stop the bleeding through the design..

Paul hasn't gone anywhere this morning, sad face on me, I copied a watering can filled with geraniums on my piece and dying to paint it..won't do something in great detail as it's just decorative for the bad shed to make it country and will be out in the elements...

Betty, The mosquitos are so bad down here that they call the airport for landing instructions. Heard this years ago so is not my bad joke. LOL

Spilled coffee all over me...lol

TEE HEE

hahahahBev...Gave me a good chuckle too.

yikes, GG hope it's not too bad.

Betty, nice find...will be excited to see your painting on it.

Hey...Be back in a bit.

Waiting for the girls to get back from lunch so Wayne and I can go..it's Chinese today...just talking to sister Sharon, OMG she'd on her back, can't move..she's only 52 but am sure she'll be in a wheelchair before long..so sad!!! Says she's having a difficult time with looking after 'puppies' has to have someone come in and help...her son said he finally had a place to move to this weekend, we'll see...had hoped she could have joined me for Kempenfest but not likely..said if she could use her walker she might..well NOOOO..there are 100's of thousands of people, so crowded..wouldn't be any fun for her..

Must be day for relations, mom called me this morning, the lady who teaches porcelain dolls is moving, wants me to locate new teacher..will try but not that easy, go on internet for area instructors and can't find any except in Acton and that's quite a distance...then she wanted me to google 'New Port Richey - Florida' as it's not far from Clearwater and she thought there was a distributor for clothing/wigs/eyes etc..boy, is she planning her winter already...

Oh happy days, Paul is leaving shortly so I can paint for the rest of the day.. lol...

HI all,
First off..Congrats to Dawn on her new job at NASA.

I have been having a really slow conection to the internet since the big storms.Called my service provider..they said nothing wrong on their end. I talked to my neighbour and he said to try unplugging all the cords and plug them in again..it worked! I am so relieved.

Betty..you asked about this weekend. My children and their families are coming here for a BBQ birthday gathering on Sat. It is my son's birthday ..and we will celebrate mine as well.

Cut more grass earlier..need to go get more gas.

This is my Nikko Blue Hydrangea
Bye for now.

Beautiful blue tone Carol...yep, your birthday is Friday right..so I have it correct this time...have it on the calendar so I don't miss saying 'Happy Birthday'..nice to have family b.b.q. My family will be in different directions this weekend but that's ok..having family time with their own is a good thing..always so busy...

Busy painting, geraniums coming alive, however, I need a brighter red..lol..gee should have a supply here in my office shouldn't ?

Congrats Dawn! God bless you dahlin' and you'll be a great mentor too!
Betty, hope you're feeling much better, and where o where do you get so much energy? Bottle it up and send some down to me.
Sorry to read about your sister Sharon. I'm 53 and sometimes my joints limit my mobility.

Hello everyone!

Thanks Jaye for your concern...today I was much better..sure hoped I'd be the same as yesterday for my Dr.'s appt. tomorrow...maybe I will be, tomorrow's another day...

Just watered all the gardens, planted those 4 shrubs and can see many areas that shrubs would look great in..if I'm up and at it tomorrow maybe I'll pick up a few more..going crazy doing so but price is great and I imagine after this weekend they'll closed up..so it's get them while you can..nice wreigeilia (?) $4.99 and many of the other $5.97 but the lilac trees are still $10.98 and I'd love about 10 of them to close in the far side of the yard...maybe next week they'll go for peanuts..last year at same place bought 2 flowering crabs at $5.00 each...a steal..

Haven't had supper yet, t.v. bingo is about to start..jackpot is $3,000 ...cross your fingers..might mean a new John Deere like Carol..lol

Just got an interesting call, of course there is always someone more than WILLING to impart news...called to tell me Bill's ex (Bev) moved in with him over the weekend...will have to digest that piece of information...been 4 years...hmmmm

Don't want to miss Jaye saying 'Happy Birthday' sure do hope you've been spoilt and have enjoyed the day..tell us what exciting things you've done...

Cancelled t.v. bingo, problems with their computer...so can't win big bucks...

Betty,

Here is the white version of the Balloon Flower. Just uploaded it.
SO pretty! I just have a couple of stems, as this is only their first blooming season.
I got it from someone at the last Plant Swap.

Here's my 4 O'clocks--"Broken Colors". Interesting plant......The blooms just come out any or all colors--or mixed....

These are right next to the others--on the same plant....

Here's the Tomatoes I picked today.....The darker ones are "Cherokee Purple". They are supposed to look like that....

So pretty, was just over ready your thread on Latvia..found it so very interesting...well, tummy is a little topsy turvey so think I'll call it a night...

Night every..

One more....

My HUGE Kopper King Hibiscus is about 6' tall! It's blooms are HUGE too....

I took this last night. I shall call it "Today and Tomorrow".
The blooms last only ONE day. They close in the evenings. I found this semi-closed bloom just perfectly "romantic:.... The bud will open tomorrow.....

This is just the closing bud.....Makes me think of pretty lace--I don't know why...

Betty--you better hurry up and read the Latvia thread. I will be posting #3 soon....

OOOw AHHHH Gita, love that it looks like a baby girl pink petal.

THANK YOU ALL, IT MEANS A LOT TO HEAR THAT. I STARTED TO TRAIN TODAY, IT WAS BORING AT LEAST TODAY, BUT I made some of the bosses laugh and I could tell I will fit in well, the people are nice, but the job is boring. It is not the job that I trained for but I am already trying to meet people at NASA and who knows what will come in the future.

I called my friend that works there and told her I am here at NASA and she told her bosses she was coming to see me and ran right down and met my bosses and met the head of HR and they talked real nice with each other so we will see. I don't work again until Monday though when my client starts training.

Lizard my Cannas are going mad. lol thanks a lot.

Am praying for your good news today Betty!!! HUGS BEV

Dawn there is a different sound to your posting. Like you are really happy! Well I don't blame you! Good luck and I hope it leads to your dream job!

Betty I'm with you today as I am sure there are many people that will be backing you up.

Hugs
Vicki

Betty has those tests run today? Praying for you sweet Betty.

Hello to everyone. As always, interesting topics and wonderful people.

First off, I will post Kennedy Stew recipe here because several asked for it. Here we go Deborah, Cat and Betty. Before doing so, Deborah asked whether to brown the meat and onions. The recipe calls it done that way, but the couple of times that I have used raw ground beef and fresh onions, it has tasted better. You will have to drain the extra grease off is there is any from fatty ground beef if cooking raw.

KENNEDY STEW

5-7 potatoes sliced small and not too thick
1 pound of ground beef
1 can of peas with juice
4 carrots, uncooked
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can of Cream of Celery Soup
1 small onion, larger is you like onions
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef and onion. Place all ingredients in a baking dish and mix well. Bake for one hour and fifteen minutes.

Hope that you will enjoy it.

Ruby

Me again. Wanted to comment on Deborah's stressful week last week and send hopes of a better one this week.

I like your chairs Betty, but am in love with purple candle chandelier. So very pretty. You are really talented lady!!!
I will say a prayer for good results today.

Liz, wanted to tell you that I am envious of the way that you try to include each poster in your writing. I took notes today to those that I wanted to respond to. I will have to do better about making notes or I forget whatever it is that I want to say.

Jeannine, I would love to hear more about Tastefully Simple.

Cat, someone answered you on the substitution of whip cream or cool whip instead of sour cream. I am not a particularly big fan of sour cream either, but if you were to try just using enough to blend ingredients, I don't think that you will taste it. My mother also used to make a wonderful jello and fruit salad and she would layer it - jello, layer of sour cream and then another layer of jello on top. Doesn't sound like it should be good, but something about the sourness just making the sweet things taste even sweeter or something.

Starzz, so glad that nothing worse was wrong with your computer. I have finally learned to do the most obvious and simplest things first these days vs. spending hours and hours on trying to fix something that was unfixable. ha-ha
I also have a Nikko Blue Hydrangea, but this is the first year for blooms and they are not as vibrant as yours. Any secrets on how to get it so blue?

I believe that is all that I wanted to cover. Today is supposed to be a real scorcher here. I am in and will be staying in. You all try to stay cool too.

Ruby

morning all,

thanks ruby i try to remember all :)

deb, hope you have better luck

bettty, sending you good thoughts hope all is good with tests post asap judy will let me know how things are will be on pins and needles all day

hello to all running late off to work..