My Poor Cat

Well, I told you I would be adding a video. I am trying to learn how to use this editing program but it is really hard and the longer I go between edits I have to start all over. Anyway......................Here it is:

1st look at my Halloween Cat

here is KitKat's new crocheted sweater. He is not happy about it but he sure does look adorable! I trapped him in the powder room so he wouldn't run away from me. That plate on the floor holds his water dish . I will be posting the video I took of him later.

our first adventure

I have a new granny grandson!!

Well, lets see.......I wrote this entire story once already, last week and when I added pics I lost the text. So here is my second attempt.
Summer and Jeff had their baby boy on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 824 am. She was due the end of Oct but was scheduled for a c-section on Oct 12th. Her babies just can't stay put for the entire 40 weeks. Her gestation period for this baby was 35 weeks 2 days. Harrison Michael Farmen weighed in at 5lbs 2oz and was 17 inches long. Teeny. He is very sweet. Summers water broke and she called us at 445am. Believe it or not, I was still asleep. She still had a c-section and came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon. They are both doing great. I drove them to the doctor today for a check up. Harrison is gaining and doing great. Thursday, Lucy has her doctors appointment and Harrison has a biliruben recheck. Summer can't drive for about 1-2 weeks so it looks like I will have more tales to tell........................lol

ShirtADay - Selling a new t-shirt every day

ShirtADay - Selling a new t-shirt every day

I love Taylor Swift!! Now I love the President for saying that! I will make and wear this t shirt so fast!!

My Key West Backyard

This is our backyard in Key West. Pretty nice huh? Who needs a pool? Now, what you can't see is all the white trash that lives around us. It is coming along though. This was the first day in the water, 3 hours. Charlie, the iguana, was relaxing behind us on land. I kept swimming over and making him nervous.
The second day I swam alone. Taylor had just gotten her tree tattoo finished so she couldn't get it wet. I just swam around while several iguanas dove in and swam from one side of the canal to the other. It was a perfect day.
I am home now and it is suppose to rain with a high of 70. It was fun while it lasted.

Live from Key West

Well, I took this nice unexpected trip to FL to do some motherly duties. When the children call, we run, right?? That's our job. My pleasure I say. Now, if Summer can just cooperate and not have the baby while I'm gone, life will be good. I bought a one way ticket so I am not sure when I will be returning to PA. That is the beauty of unemployment.
The weather here is beautiful. HOT! When it does rain it rains at the right time. Yesterday, Taylor and I decided to get noodles and float in the canal. As we were jumping in it started to pour. No worries, it was actually refreshing because the canal was like bath water. It rained for a little while but we just swam around. Only in FL. Today looks beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. I plan on getting out there on my raft today and getting a dark, dark tan. Taylor is not sure she can join me today because she got a new tattoo yesterday and she might not be able to get it wet. I will google that. Pictures to come when I get home..............

The Nail Boutique Isn't Nails Anymore

Well, I had several requests for pictures and prices of the things I've been posting on facebook so here they are.........
I have had an Etsy shop for a few months and have sold a few things.
Check it out:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7395188

Help I can't turn off my brain..........

So it was 3:30 am today. I managed to stay in bed that long. I was dieing to get up at 1230, then again at 115, then 230, then 300 and finally at 330 I said WTF and got up, made the coffee and headed to the laboratory!! I got a request to make key chains for 2 children with their name on it so that's what I did. Then made a funky heart ring in purple. After that I glued stones onto a tall covered vase that I am going to use to hold jawbreakers. Tired you ask......not yet. Besides, I can sleep in the car on the 2 hour drive to the boat, wait, is there anything I can do in the car? Listen to my book on ipod and make something. Some ladie told Barbara that once she stopped doing crafts she could sleep better and got rid of all the stress in her life. hmmmmmmmmmmm, she's probably right. My head just spins with ideas or just spins..........
I will end this with that thought and I will post pictures later!

1st day of school

My Garden, well my tomatoes.....

Ok, so I planted these 6 plants way tooooooo close. I will remember that for next year! But they are Jersey tomatoes and they are sweet!

So what do you do with all your tomatoes you say??? Google it!
Sliced tomatoes and pesto is D-licious!
Tomato salad with fresh basil and onions.
Homemade tomato sauce.....Yummy!! This I got from the internet and all I used for flavor was olive oil, salt and pepper and garlic, and lots of it. Then I poured it over linguini. Comments from Ray included GREAT, comments from my dad, it's not really that thick. Is he ever happy?? "Your mothers sauce was always thicker" Well, she never made homemade did she, I replied. And he isn't getting her sauce any time soon!
Coming up, zucchini...........I am going to make stuffed zucchini from the recipe in the newspaper. They call for ground chicken. Stay tuned.....................

This is what happens when a 6 year uses your camera...

Lucy and Summer
Summer and Ray
Me
Nice Ray
Lucy and I

Just some pics............

On the phone with Babs!
Sailing, while getting a dark dark tan!
I had to hold on to the ladder for dear life. We were sailing but I needed to get wet because it was way too hot!

The summer is almost over

Well, I did it again. Waited way toooooo long to post and now I forgot what I've been up to all summer. If you are a friend of mine on facebook you know every move I've made from day to day, hour to hour. If you are not a friend of mine on facebook, find me Susan Miller Hall and send me a friend request.
We have been sailing almost every weekend. The weather has been great and it has been fun checking out some of our old sailing haunts from over 25 years ago. Sailing the Chesapeake Bay is a lot different from Lake Ontario. It is very shallow here and you have to watch the depth sounder at all times.
We were in Key West for about 10 days in July. Talk about hot! It was mini lobster season for 2 days and we went out once. Never again will I go then. A week after mini season, lobster season opens. Who wants to be out there with all those boats for 2 days?? We got a lot done around the house as usual, this time tearing down the sea wall and old, not so safe, dock. It looks much better and is much more functional. We are planning another trip at Christmas time.
Summer will be 32 weeks pregnant tomorrow. She has a scheduled c-section for Oct 12th but we are still keeping our fingers crossed that she will make it that long. Jackson and Lucy can't wait to have a new little brother. They start school on Monday so maybe Summer will get a little break and maybe relax, SURE!!
I have been busy in my gardens. When the fall gets here I will be really busy moving everything around. I was going to Lowes almost every day to buy clearance plants. I got some great deals. Some of the plants were 10 cents each. I can't squeeze another plant in but that doesn't stop me. I went today and got hens and chicks for 74 cents a container, I had to buy all 6 pots. It looks like I have lived here for years. Barbara came to visit in June and went home with a car load. She says Macedon Lowes doesn't mark down like my Lowes.
My dad is doing great!! Well he doesn't think so but he is! He goes to the gym 5 days a week and walks on the treadmill for an hour each time. I couldn't do that...boring!! The cat is also doing good. He seems to be very happy and pretty much just hangs around the house when we let him out. His hunting ground was across the street but they are building over there now and have cleared the lot, so no more dead presents for me! I had to stop feeding the birds because he was plucking them out of the air!! That would be a kodak moment for sure!
Well, that is about it for now. I am sure I have a lot more but the priming of Summer's kitchen drawers are calling me. I'll fill you in during my next update.

At Anchor!

front sod and gardens
sod and patio.
Deck. Lime green back door. Front door is also lime green.

NO more blonde. I made these 2 t-shirts and poodle skirts for a party that Gaby's (on the left) sister was having. Amber called me the morning of the party to ask me to make the girls skirts.

the Patio I made. I planted irish moss in between the rocks. I have since added more.
Planting ferns in the back garden that I dug up from Summer's house.

knitting needles

Why do I wait so long??????

April 20th was my last post? What was I thinking? A friend of mine, who has a blog, because she is sailing around the east coast, living on her boat with her husband told me to write a little every few days and it wouldn't be so over whelming. Well, that was 2 weeks ago and you see I jumped right on that. Who can keep up? What with facebook and twitter who has the time?I was up at 4 am today and let the cat out, made coffee, hung 2 empty picture frames(I did remove the price tags) and did a little surfing. I heard this screeching outside, dropped everything a ran out in the pouring rain to look around. Nothing. Ran in the garage to find my soaking wet cat shaking like a leaf. I scooped him up and ran upstairs to towel dry, scrub him off, only to find him bleeding from his front and bag paws. As I tried to examine him, not only did he bite me (I'm not afraid of him, whats a little biting), but my clean white sweatshirt is now covered with MUD. Now I am doing laundry. The poor little thing. Needless to say he is in for the day! I am hoping this will not be another $400 extravaganza!
So let me fill you in on what has been going on here in PA.
We found a marina in Bouley's Quarters, MD on the Middle River for the boat. It is a very big and friendly marina. It is 1/4 mile walk on the pier just to get to the boat. It is also very rocky. I mean the motion of the boat while at the marina. My first few times on the boat I thought I was going to get sick. I am much better now. We took the boat out of the slip and took our first sail 2 weeks ago. It was great to be back on the Chesapeake Bay. I can't wait to start crabbing and fishing. We met our friends from Sodus, mentioned above, for the weekend. They are now headed north for a visit with Jim's mom in Long Island. We are going sailing again this weekend, if it ever stops raining.
The end of May I got a new front lawn (sod) and seeded back yard. The rain is helping that and all of my new plants but not good for sailing. It is so funny to hear everyone here complain about the weather everyday. Let them try Rochester right? In my last post I showed a pic of the wall we built with Barbara and Tony. Since then Ray and I have added more rocks and I have planted tons of things back there that I get at Lowes in their garden clearance. Yes, they do have one. I can buy perennials for about 50 cents, shrubs for $2 and annuals for 10 cents. They just need some TLC, and I have all the time in the world for that. I did build a limestone patio next to the deck and have a fountain on it for the birds. With all this rain they don't need it, but it looks cute.
My dad is doing great, he just doesn't know it! He had joined the gym (not mine) and was going everyday. He told me the class wasn't good but he liked the tredmill. His membership ended and he was going to join another gym but has not.
The grandchildren are out of school for the summer and looking forward to time in their pool. Summer is doing good and is now 22 weeks. She is having a boy and Lucy comes up with some crazy name every day. I see them a lot and know why I needed to be closer. I haven't been to FL since Kyle's birthday. We are going the end of July for mini lobster season. It is a 2 day event right before the offical lobster season begins. People come from all over to catch lobster. 6 per licensed person. I want to bring them home this year.
I have kept busy with all of my craft projects. I have been knitting and crocheting, making polymer clay things and now beaded salad bowls and utensils. Why, when I see something must I say to myself, oh I can make that?? Then I need all the supplies and somewhere to store them
I am sure there is much more to tell but I don't want you to get bored of reading so I promise I will be back sooner.

WORK WORK WORK

Barbara and Tony came for a real whirl wind, too short visit. They arrived here at 4:15 on Friday and we were all digging and planting by 4:30. She and Tony dug up all the plants that I had stored in a holding cell at her house, that she insisted I remove from Folkside Lane before I moved. I tried to fight her on it but she told me I would be sorry if I didn't take them with me. Believe me, she was right, again! I had only a couple of gardens ready when they arrived but by Saturday afternoon, I had gardens all around the house, including a new veggie garden and a rock wall garden too. It looks like I have lived here for years, except I don't have any grass yet. Maybe this week. My plants and trees were soooooo happy to see me and hear my voice, not to mention so very warm! It was 80 degrees here Saturday and all the just starting buds on my things are twice the size. I kid you not. I am so glad that Babs would not take no for an answer and made me dig up things to get me started here. I am sure my neighbors must think I am out of my mind but they would have found that out sooner or later.
The rock wall was a big project with a lot of laughs. I happen to live in the sink hole capital of the country. I am sure most of you remember that when they dug for my house they hit a sink hole. Anyway, the land here is filled with beautiful limestone. When they dig the houses, they have to break up the limestone and dump it. There are several piles of it, that we can get to by car, so we made several trips in Tony's painting van and put them 2 at a time in a wheelbarrow then up the back yard hill to their new home. I still need more of them to stack but at least hauss Tony got the big ones out of the way. Ray and I can manage the smaller ones, I think. Then I will have it filled in with top soil and plant perennials that I am growing from seed in the basement. Can you say Suzy Martha Stewart??

My Latest Project

So.............Three weeks ago I take a tiling class at Home Depot. I wanted a glass back splash in my kitchen and wanted to learn how to tile. Nothing to it! The class was an hour long and very informative. When I got all the information I needed I got out of there and was ready to tackle my job. The problem was that all the tile I liked had to be ordered which doesn't go well with my anal, obsessive, ADHD personality. I put that job on the back burner and got into polymer clay, which by the way is doing well on ebay.
Last Thurs and Fri I was in NJ for my nephews memorial, can you believe it's been 3 years?? On Fri my sister took me to a tile place and I found just what I wanted IN STOCK!! My dad and I left to come back to PA Fri and that night I went and got my tiling supplies and Sat morning go the job done. Well part 1 done. Part 2 done on Sunday. And that's how that is done. Well, kinda.....
I had a great time doing the tiling on Sat but Sunday's grout day wasn't as easy as I thought. The BLACK grout is messy and black. My poor hands will never be the same. I couldn't use the tool I bought for putting the grout on because the area I was tiling was too small for the large tool. I used a sponge and got my fingers and fingernails yucky! Then I left the grout on the tiles too long and Ray Hall and I spent 2 hours scrubbing. My dad kept telling me to tape off the woodwork and cabinets but nahhhhhhhh, that would take too much time. This morning I repainted the window. It needed another coat anyway. Well, you be the judge of this little baby....

House,cat, etc UPDATE

Hi everyone!! I sure do miss you girls and all of our chats. No one listens to me go on and on here. Sooooo, while I have your undivided attention I will go on and on...I am chomping at the bit to get outside and work on my gardens. Tomorrow the landscaper is coming to talk about sod for the front yard. It is all dirt still. They will seed but the neighbors say not to get their grass because it is full of weeds. I have a lot of my plants at Barbara's but since it is still winter in NY it might be a while before I did them out. Yesterday I filled my window boxes. You know, the ones I stole off my old house. It has really brightened up the front of the house and is so springy. Is that a word?
We are blowing into town on Wed. to get the boat ready for shipment. Looks like it might arrive in Maryland the beginning of April. We found a new marina on the Chesapeake Bay and we are looking forward to sailing and crabbing in our old stomping grounds.
Summer is feeling good but has her complications, as usual. So far so good, she is now 10 weeks. The kids are very excited and Lucy wishes the baby was here now. My dad is good, looking for something wrong with him. I am trying to get him to join a senior center but he is dragging his feet. Not sure why, tomorrow he is going for a sleep study.
KitKat had his first run in with who knows what but surgery and $400 later, he is recovering just fine. He crys like a baby to go outside but the vet says not till his stitches are out. He has a cone around his neck and looks adorable. Wed stitches out and cone comes off. Remember the skunks in Fairport?? I caught and released 8 of them, left the trap out a little longer with no results so I packed up the trap and was sure they were all gone. Right? Wrong. Tony was over the house painting for the new owner and she asked him if I had problems with skunks. He almost choked. She told him she tought skunks were living under the deck. Needless to say, the release videos on Youtube are gone/deleted.
I've been doing some clay art switch plates like MacKenzie Childs for my kitchen. So much fun that I made a few extras and listed them on ebay to support my new love. They are a bit time consuming but I have a lot of that. I made different ones for the family room, polka dots for the dining room and fancy ones for the foyer. Can you say A.D.D.???
That's it for now................I will be back!!

Where did February go?????

I just realized that I haven't posted in quite some time. Like the entire month of Feb. What a dull uneventful life I lead! Retirement is fun and I don't know where the days go. Everyday I wake up with somewhat of a plan and that really never happens. I have been going to the gym 5 out of 7 days a week. I figure if the people on Biggest Loser can work out for 8 hours a day I can do my part by going for an hour or so 5 days. I should be wasting away but nooooooo. I have met some ladies at the gym but all are young with kids in the daycare while they work out. I haven't told them that I hate kids. Speaking of kids, Summer and Jeff are expecting!! Wait, does she know?? We are all very excited and her due date is in Oct. I guess this move was really meant to be since her pregnancies are not a walk in the park, as you all know.
Jackson had his scheduled surgery a few weeks ago and is going to be going to rehab in another week or so. The surgery was to put a cath in his spine, to release medicine that will act somewhat like the botox, that he was getting in his legs to reduce his tone. It reduces his high tone in his legs, which reduces the pain and stiffness. The rehab will teach him how to use his muscles in his legs not his tone. There is a two year supply of the medication in him that the doctors can adjust from the outside. He was a real trooper thru the surgery, he had to lay still for 48 hours. His legs are much more relaxed and even his very tight right hand is not fisted and he can raise his right arm up over his head. Lucy stayed with Ray and I while Jax was in the hospital in Wilmington DE. She as you all know is a real piece of work. Oh yeah, we had the dog too. KitKat was not happy but Ollie was very good.

The Happy Kidnapped Kat

I have gotten a lot of emails asking about the cat. Well, you will all be very happy to hear that he is doing great!! He has adjusted perfectly and comes and goes as he pleases. His favorite past time to to go across the street and hunt for moles. He has brought home about 4-5, 2 were still alive and when I let KitKat in the little mole escaped. My dad is like an overprotective new father. He is worried when KitKat is outside and keeps calling for him.

My kitchen and family room

This is the kitchen from the foyer doorway.













This view is from corner of the family room. My dad is doing the morning crossword puzzle. Notice my little cubbie in the corner. That is where I spend a lot of my time. The door next to my chair is the basement. The 2 doors across from the stools are the power room and pantry.








This is the family room from the kitchen table. I have to vacuum that black rug every other day. yuck.









This is from the dining room. Next up, not sure.

The Dining Room

Today I am going to take you into the dining room and show you what I have been up to. Tony painted 3 of the walls black and left the 4th one painters white. After having a black room in my last house I knew I needed one here. Lynn suggested I do harlequin's and I loved the idea. I effing googled how to do it perfectly. Then I was walking around Lowe's and found Wall Pops in black circles, 13". They had 10 packages with 5 in each pack. I had to go to 2 more Lowe's to find the rest that I needed. Came home and my dad and I got busy. He was the helper, opening the packages and handing me the circles. I love it with my checkered table, diamond rug and swirl curtains. Next I made lamp shades, painted the bottom of the table and the china closet. I am now finished in there. Next stop.............family room, stay tuned.

One day at a time

When I got into the new house I decided I was really going to be organized. Have everything have a place. Have me be able to find and see everything. So, I was online at HGTV.com and saw them use a over the door shoe holder to hold other things. Bingo I had an idea. I now have one on almost every door in the house. I started in my closet. It's a walk in, so I hung the shoe holder on the inside and rolled up my belts. Before my belts were in a shoe box in my closet. Barbara spent time one day rolling them and organizing them, but when I needed one and had to put it back it was just too much work so they became a pile of belts, mostly on the floor.
Next, I put one inside my linen closet, which is in the bathroom. What do you use that for you say?? q-tips,tooth past, deodorant, band-aids, flat irons...
Moving downstairs, hall closet.......gloves and scarves.
Pantry................ahhhhhhh spices. TaDa...ORGANIZED
Now there are some ideas..............get busy girls!