Simply Saturday

I can't believe my last post was on Monday.

So much going on.

I know I keep saying that and one day I will fill you in on what's happening here at the homestead but first, I have to wrap my brain around it all so that I can come up with the words to write a sensible post.

I do have words for a few things that are going on.

Miss LizzieBelle and I are attending a Fund Raising event for a non-profit animal clinic today.  There will be food, prizes, adoptable pets and a costume contest.  Miss LizzieBelle will be dressed as a witch.  I hope to get a good shot of her today at the event (she didn't want to cooperate before when I tried to take her picture with her costume on!).

While we're there I hope they will take a look at LizzieBelle.  I think her yeast infection is back.  She is constantly scratching, driving both of us nuts!  She scratches herself raw.  Her flea stuff is not working and she's having trouble with her ears.  I gave her a good bath yesterday with her medicated shampoo.  It alleviated the itching for several hours but then was back again.  I've cleaned her ears and rubbed almond oil in them to soften and soothe the skin.  We both need help to know what to do to conquer whatever's going on with her.  Poor girl!

I've also been setting up a Spooky House for our church's Fall Festival on Halloween (and having a blast!).  Country Boy and I have donated most of our Halloween decorations to the church for their yearly Fall Festival.  We have no need for the decorations since we moved out to the country because we don't get any trick-or-treaters, which is one thing we really miss.

Each year the Fall Festival gets better and better.  This year there will be food, games, a bounce house, a Spooky House and each family will go home with a large bucket of candy.  Fun, fun!

I will post pictures of both events in a later post.

And since I always have at least one photo in my posts, I will end with this...

I hope you have a great weekend!

Till next time,

Miscellany Monday

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and now you're ready to enjoy another week!

I had a busy and productive weekend starting Friday morning with a garage sale.

As you know I've been doing some purging lately.  The sale was on short notice so I grabbed things here and there throughout the house, threw them in a box and took them to my brothers place where we held the sale.  I was blessed with some awesome help!  A couple of guys from church graciously loaded the big stuff in their truck and trailer and transported it 45 miles one way to my brother's place while I took several small loads in my Jeep.  Once the stuff was there, my sister and sister-in-law set everything up and even priced everything.  Even a neighbor of my brother pitched in and helped.  Prepping for a garage sale is a lot of work so I'm very thankful to everyone and so appreciative for all their help!  I could not have done it without them.  Seriously.

Most of my family (father and siblings) lives in a huge retirement community and the residents love checking out any type of sale that's going on in the neighborhood.  So, needless to say, I did pretty well in getting rid of a lot of my stuff.  I would say the garage sale was a success, woot!

I am going this afternoon to help pack up what is left.  We're going to have another sale in December.  By then, I should have the rest of the stuff I'm purging set aside, priced and ready to go.

~~~~~

LizzieBelle's feeling puny today.  She has not eaten her breakfast yet and it's late morning.  Her belly's rumbling and yet she won't eat.  She was also shivering this morning.  It was in the low 60's this morning when we got up so I put her sweater on.

Isn't she cute?

The sweater took some getting used to but I think when she realized it was keeping her warm she's tolerating it.  I'm taking her with me this afternoon when I pack up the garage sale stuff.  She loves to go for rides in the car!  Right now she's napping in her bed in the office while I write this post.  I hope she feels better soon.  Poor LizzieBelle!

~~~~~

This weekend, I finally finished designing my tags for my handmade goodies that I sell on my Etsy shop (which is currently empty due to lack of time to take photos and get anything posted on the site even though I have items that are ready to be sold, sigh).  As a graphic designer, I have found that I am the most difficult customer that I've ever had!  Too critical of my own work?  Probably.

Anyhow, after several attempts at coming up with something I like, I'm finally satisfied.  It's a good thing because I have orders to fill and get to the customer.  One such order is for a bunch of crocheted dish cloths where the customer paid in advance.  I finished the dish cloths several days ago but had to wait to get them out until my tags were finished.

They're now complete and ready to give to the customer.  Yay!

That's about it for this Miscellany Monday.  I'd best be getting LizzieBelle and I ready to head over and get packing.

Till next time,

Sunday Blessings

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord, not for men,

since you know that you will receive an inheritance
from the Lord as a reward.
It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong,
and there is no favoritism.  Colossians 3:23-25

Wishing you a blessed Sunday!

Till next time,

Simply Saturday

Purging, purging and more purging.

That's what I'm in the midst of these past few weeks.

It's mind-boggling the amount of 'stuff' two people can accumulate over the course of a few years.

Stuff that I thought I needed or just had to have when I saw it in the store then is quickly forgotten.

Stuff that might get used once in a while or stuff that collects dust.

It all needs to go.

Lantana

I'm on a mission to simplify our lives.

Part of that simplification process is to rid ourselves of any unnecessary items.

I want to keep only the things that we use and just a few things that we love.

Simple. Uncluttered. Uncomplicated.

That's my goal.

Wishing you a lovely, simple weekend!

Till next time,

Catching Up

The last week or so has been busy.

Keeping up with and cleaning up after puppies, a major purging spree for a garage sale as well as several previous engagements that I committed to attend.

I'm not sure why everything seems to happen around the same time.  There can be weeks where nothing is going on or needs tending to.  (I like those weeks!)  Then, there can be weeks where it's non-stop.  I don't do non-stop very well. I happen to like my simple, slow pace of life!  I'm a homebody.  I truly enjoy staying home.  There are times when I dread having to go to town.   Like today.  But, it's a necessity and can't be postponed.  So, I'm going to make the best of it and I invited a neighbor to go with me.  We'll go out to eat and then run the errands.

When I'm not home much for several days in a row, I feel that my home gets away from me.  It gets cluttered and unorganized.  I don't do those very well either.  Most people would call me a 'Type A' personality.  Whatever that is!  I never did take those personality tests but if a 'Type A' person is one who likes all their ducks in a row then that would be me!

So today I spent the day doing laundry and reclaiming my bathroom by getting rid of those horrible pee pads, mopping, putting the rugs out and pulling the shower curtain back out from inside the tub.  I also did a little more purging and spent a few minutes snapping the following shots.  Which, makes me feel better.  Now I can handle the rest of the weeks events.

Enough about my crazy week, it's all good so no worries.  'Kay?!

I bought two of these plants when we first moved here eight years ago and placed each one by the stairs leading to the front porch.  I can't remember what they are but they get really tall and bushy and put out these pretty yellow clusters of flowers each October.  Faithfully.  Unless, that is, CountryBoy trims them back one too many times!  He does not like how tall they get so last year he trimmed them back all throughout the year.  They didn't bloom last year.

As you can see, he didn't trim them this year and I have a tall, bushy plant with LOTS of gorgeous clusters of yellow flowers!  I wish I knew what this plant was.  Anyone have any ideas?  It dies each winter after the first frost but faithfully comes back each year.

In other news, the last puppy was picked up this morning.  I believe they all went to good homes and for that I am so thankful!  It was bittersweet to see them go.  I do have to say that it was quite the experience!  I am happy to have my bathroom back though, ha!

LizzieBelle was such a good Mama right to the end.  She truly loved her puppies and enjoyed playing with them.  She would get so excited when we all headed to the front porch for morning coffee.

Come have a brief sip of morning coffee with me and the puppies...

Wasn't that fun?  So much energy!  They wear me out just watching them.  Oh wait, maybe that's from my busy week, ha!

Till next time,

Sunday Blessings

Teach me your way, O Lord,

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

I will praise you, O Lord my God,

with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the

depths of the grave.

Psalm 86:11-13 NIV

Beauty Berries

Have a blessed day!

Till next time,

Wordless Wednesday

Find beauty wherever you are!

Sharing with

Till next time,

And They Call It Puppy Love

Seven weeks ago today, LizzieBelle popped these little boys out.

So cute when they're sleeping, and yes, even when they're awake romping all over the place and wrastlin' with each other.  (Not so cute when they're peeing & pooping all over the place and wadding up their pee pads, sigh.  Although, they're getting much, much better about using them, yippee!)

Here's a reminder of what they looked like seven weeks ago...

They're quite a handful now but in a different sense, ha!

They've been lots of fun, an overload of cuteness, a joy to watch and quite the experience!

Tomorrow, they are going for their second vet appointment and will receive their first round of shots.  They'll each get a folder that will have all their information in it and I will also purchase a gift certificate for each puppy for neutering when they're old enough.  I will give the folder and the certificate to their new Mom's & Dad's.

Two puppies will be going to their forever homes this week.  I'm going to miss them but will be glad for a little less to clean up.

The other four puppies?  I'm going to have a lady adopt them out.  She does all the homework on the new owners and even checks out the homes which I think is awesome because I want them all to have a good, loving home where they're a part of the family and not just an animal.  She offered to do this for me and I am so grateful as I have a few things on my plate right now, which I'll be sharing with y'all at some point, and having the puppies taken care of is a huge help and one load off my mind.

LizzieBelle has been a fantastic Mama.  She still loves her puppies and will play with them from time to time.  They try to nurse off her, even though she's drying up, and she's so tolerant of them.

Here's Miss LizzieBelle hangin' out in her crate underneath her blanket...

She's a little blurry in this photo but I thought this was so cute I just had to post it!

Till next time,

Sunday Blessings

Praise the Lord.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Psalm 106:1 NIV

Have a blessed Sunday!

Till next time,

Simply Saturday

I have SO much to say about simplifying that I can't even wrap my brain around it yet to put it into words.  So, I'll simply leave you with some photos and save the verbage for another day when I have a better handle on all that I want to say.  How's that?!

Gulf Fritillary

These photos were taken with the 50mm lens I recently purchased.  I'm really starting to like this lens.  A lot.  A year or so ago I tried my photog buddies' 50mm lens and didn't care for it back then.  At the time, I liked the versatility of the 18 - 55mm that is usually on my camera at all times.  I like being able to stand in one spot and zoom in or out depending on the subject.  But, when I purchased the Raynox Macro lens the 50mm lens was recommended also.  I'm glad I followed the recommendation now.

It's raining cats and dogs outside right now with lots of thunder and lightning.   LizzieBelle and I went out for an evening walk and we literally made it on the front porch just in time before the heavens opened up.  I'm hoping to finish this post and get it published in case of a power outage.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Till next time,

More Micanopy

As promised, here are some more photos of the small town of Micanopy, Florida.

A little bit of the history of the town if you care to know...

An historic mansion and inn...

An Episcopal church...

... love the red door!

Daughters of the American Revolution...

Some lovelies...

Some whimsy for your garden...

Shopping anyone?  Whoops, sorry they're closed...

Main street...

Old buildings...

Fancy brickwork...

That's about it for the small town of Micanopy.  There's not a lot there, some antique shops and a few restaurants.  But, I can now say that I've been to the first distinct American town that was founded in the new U.S. Territory back in 1821.

And in case all you country music fans are wondering where you've heard of Micanopy before, it is mentioned in the chorus of John Anderson's Seminole Wind:

So blow, blow Seminole wind,

Blow like you're never gonna blow again.

I'm calling to you like a long lost friend,

But I know who you are.

And blow, blow from the Okeechobee,

All the way up to Micanopy.

Blow across the home of the Seminole,

The alligators and the garr. 

And upon looking for the lyrics to the above song I came across another song by Tom Petty, A Mind With A Heart of its Own, that also mentions Micanopy:

Well I been to Brooker and I been to Micanopy

I been to St. Louis too, I been all around the world

I've been over to your house

And you've been over sometimes to my house

I've slept in your tree house

My middle name is Earl

A mind with a heart of its own

A mind with a heart of its own

And, if that's not enough trivia for you, the film Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox was filmed in Micanopy.  (I'm going to have to re-watch the movie now to see if I recognize any of the locations.)

So, there ya' have it, a few tidbits and photos of a town not too far from my neck of the woods.  Hope you enjoyed the visit!

Till next time,

Micanopy Treasures for Wordless Wednesday

CountryBoy and I recently visited a small town called Micanopy about an hour and a half's drive from where we live. It's known as the oldest inland settlement in Florida.

Here are a few treasure we saw along our walk down the main street...

I'll have more info on the town and more photos to share with you in another post.

Joining

Till next time,