Goodies in the mail!

When I arrived home from getting my hair trimmed today, I noticed packages on the front porch. I just love packages! I picked them up and brought them into the house. It wasn't long before I heard little skeleton feet running down the hall and Mr. Skellie was dancing around my legs wanting to see what came in the mail.

I asked him to go get the box cutter so we could open up our booty! He came in with it

and we started with the Young Living box.

People do open box videos of their orders, but Mr. Skellie prefers still shots so here we are. Mmmm, nicely packed...

and check out what was inside!

Some Slique to support healthy weight management, some Young Living deodorant, 3 bottles of foaming hand soap with the pumps (1 for each sink),a bottle of Purification that I like to use in the washer, and a surprise....

Spearmint Vitality! Yum! How about some spearmint frosting on the next batch of brownies...sounds good! Then I opened the box from Life Science and found the books I ordered to send to new sign-ups!

I told Mr. Skellie he has to get cracking on his next presentation...I think it's going to be about Ningxia, Young Living's essential oil infused wolfberry supplement...it's delicious! I saved the best package from my daughter for last. Enclosed was a nice note and some oils I had been wanting but was going to wait until next month's order to get.

My sweet, sweet girl! Thank-you so much Honey! So I think I will go sniff the new oils and then get cracking on cleaning up the kitchen. Have a great day!

Sign me up!

Since I am still a little under the weather, I have been home alot. Mr. Skellie doesn't mind this at all. He has taken to reading over my shoulder in the afternoons.

I'm reading "Gameplan" by Sarah Harnisch at the moment and he was deeply interested. Since we have returned from the bicycle trip, we have been searching for something new to get involved in. I have been a member of Young Living for quite awhile, so we asked our daughter more questions about it. She recommended the book and we have been slowly learning and expanding our business. Mr. Skellie wanted to know if he could sign up under me. All he had to pay with was some pirate booty he had somehow accumulated so I checked to see if Paypal would accept that. He knows it's a little too late for him, but he was concerned about all the toxic cleaners and personal products in our home. He had an app called "Think Dirty" on his smart phone and was going through all the cleaners under the sink with it. He was chatting away and so I followed him around listening. "Did you know that the average person applies 300 chemicals to their body every single day, and 80 of those chemicals before breakfast?

Most are from 4 things...soap, makeup, shampoo, and hair care. The biggest pollutants in our homes are fabric softener, dryer sheets, air freshener plug-ins, and candles. You are literally poisoning your family every day with the stuff that you can't pronounce in your home, like your bright blue dish soap, the cleaner you use for your kitchen counters, processed food, and more. Health and safety data only exists for 15 percent of all the chemicals out there, even though so many are known to cause asthma or endocrine disruptions." Holy smoke I said, this is a real problem! He went on to say, "Essential oils are a better way. They are totally chemical free, steam distilled or cold pressed from pure plants. There's nothing in them but that one oil, whether it is lemon, tangerine, lavender, peppermint, or others. There are over a million uses for essential oils...cleaning supplies, personal care products like toothpaste and deodorant, in the diffuser, and oil-infused nutritional supplements." So how can I find out more? He said he wanted to get some people together and give an oils class and would I be there so his knees wouldn't knock together too bad. So we are preparing his posters

and inviting the ladies from the quilt shop and who knows, maybe the minions will show up too! I hope Mr. Skellie has a great turnout, just remember, you are invited too! See you soon, have a great day!
P.S.  If you would like to read more about Young Living, click on the link for all kinds of info.
http://bit.ly/themorins

Trip to Savannah and Home...

I was so wound up about the poor birdies the other day that I forgot to tell you about our trip to see our son and his family! They live in a lovely home and he wanted to do a bit of remodeling. So we packed up to go for a visit for a few days over Memorial Day weekend. It's about a 6 1/2 hour drive from here, but there's nothing I like better than a good road trip with my Dear Hubby. The day was clear and beautiful and we didn't come across too many crazies on the road. I did see a couple of billboards that made me smile. The first one was: "Country Cookin' makes you good lookin'!" Let's just say that is definitely puffery for sure! LOL! The second one showed a frog in the lotus position on an inner tube and it was for a company called "Zen Tubing" and their slogan was "Get in touch with your inner tube..." It cracked me up. When we arrived, Bill and Caleb got right to work building a wall in their master bedroom. The room is very large and was an L shape. It was kind of a second room but not a room so they built a wall with a doorway there and it became the "man room" of the house. The wall on the right in this picture is the new one.

The new room even has it's own air conditioning vent and a double window and easy access to the bathroom. If they sell one day, it will make a great nursery or even an office. But for now, there's a masculine place for my son to retreat to in a houseful of beautiful ladies

(my sweet daughter-in-law and their 3 beautiful daughters of course.) The next project was a large archway into the dining room which made the perfect visual separation from the kitchen. I will put up a picture when that is complete...we managed to get everything done but the sanding and painting so I am eager to see how it looks. A few days after we returned, both Bill and I were hit with a stomach bug of some kind and I am finally feeling better today. I have tried to stick close to home so as not to spread it around but I actually went outside today to get a picture of the early morning clouds on the mountain.

Now you know why they call them the "Smokey Mountains" here. Later on, I went out to pull a few weeds and got a picture of the very first gladiola bloom of the season.

I know these flowers are seen by some to be a little over the top, but I just love big bouquets of them. Can't wait until there are more out there! Uh oh, I just heard the clitter, clatter of little feet and you know what that means...the skellies are up and about! I was sure there would be rude comments about something, but Mr. Skellie had climbed up to the Minion Village to Larry & Louie's Landscaping

and got me a bunch of flowers.

I didn't ask if he went under the cover of darkness...I mean, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth around here...He said he heard I was under the weather and wanted to bring something to cheer me. He said he was sorry about the "wide load" comments but since seeing my x-rays, they know I am one of them and were just "busting my chops". Who knew a small plastic skeleton could have such a big heart. I was careful not to cry on him as he didn't want to get his bones wet so he scampered off and brought me back a tissue.

As he was leaving, he turned and said, "Ya big crybaby!" and winked. At least I think he did, this eye socket thing can get a bit disconcerting sometimes.....hurrah, I am one of them! Have a great day!

It's hot here!

When it's hot outside, my thoughts turn to....cleaning?! Not very often, LOL! But since dear Hubby is caught up in projects in his shop, the trim on top of the quilt shop is sidelined for a little while. I have lots of window frames to paint so put the skellies to work cleaning up the mess they made while I was at my mom's house.

There was the usual whining, but I soon heard them in there sweeping and vacuuming and saw a cloud of dust drift it's way into the dining room. While they were busy doing that, my job was to remove all the tea things from the bookcase in the dining room so that the doors can go on.

After taking everything out and putting it on the counter, I realized this is going to take awhile.

One of the reasons I asked Bill to make doors for me is dust...and as you can see, I have quite a collection of that too!

One of the skellies came out to see what I was doing and started sneezing and complaining. Then he walked over to the side of the bookcase and found a friend.

He wants to keep him as a pet hoping he'll grow big enough to ride someday. I told him spiders were outside pets and with the new swallows nesting in the yard, the fly population had greatly decreased so it would be pretty hard to find him enough food. I pulled out the vacuum and told Mr. Skellie that the spider was going to take a trip down a long tube to spider paradise. He was content with that and Mr.Spider is no more! (Whew! Close one...) The cabinet is all nice and clean and I moved all the tea stuff to wash later as we are having company tomorrow and I am making my potato salad that Bill likes.

The doilies got washed too,

and I even have some great hardware for the doors.

But, looks like the doors will be another day so wanted to show you what I found waiting to go out with the trash. I'm sure something cool can be made out of this!

So the ribs are in the smoker, company is on the way and here's a picture to make you drool....

Have a great day!

Is this what I think it is?!

It started out as a normal Saturday afternoon. I was cleaning up the kitchen when I heard giggling coming from the shop. Uh, oh, what are they up to now....I heard the pastor's voice, "Debra, come here quick!" I stopped short at the doorway when I saw everyone gathered together. The minions were there of course

along with a new buddy from Belize,

The Captain and Rose were there too.

The skellies were on their carnival ride singing out..."It wasn't our idea!"

The Steampunk family,

Vincent,

the ladies from the Tea Shop,

and even the new ladies from the quilt shop were there.

The quilt shop ladies haven't known me for very long and were very apologetic. Everyone gazed at me and suddenly, the light went on. Is this an intervention? Rose was very nice and said they were all concerned that I had lost interest in them and they missed me coming into the shop in the middle of the night. I explained that now that I was going to the chiropractor, I was sleeping much better and certainly had no intention of stopping work on all of their projects. As usual, I had to make a chart to assure them that I had a plan for each of their projects and still wanted them all as friends too. A cheer went up all around and wouldn't you know, the minions brought banana donuts for everyone and the quilt ladies brought homemade chocolate cake, (sister-in-law's recipe). The ladies from the tea shop brought some delightful scones and Vincent claimed he didn't hear the part about bringing food....;) I'm not sure if this was a real intervention or just an excuse to eat goodies but we all had a grand old time. Then someone brought out the banana daiquiries and I don't remember much after that....Stay tuned for more work coming out of my shop! Have a great day!

The skellies are concerned....

The skellies were not amused. "Why didn't we get a new ride?!" they asked. I said, "I have something much more interesting for all of you. Remember the discussion I overheard the other day...well, I think I have some answers for you." They said, "It's a little late for "the talk", don't you think?!" I just rolled my eyes and told them to meet me in the dining room. Since I am so much bigger than they are, they had been speculating as to what exactly held me up. "Yeah, "wide load", Ha! Ha!" one crowed. Honestly, what I have to put up with around here. I explained that I had been to the chiropracter a few times now and that he was straightening out my spine so that I could function better. All I got was blank eye sockets....."What do you mean spine...you mean, like us?!" I nodded and said I can prove it to you...I had x-rays done. The only thing they could find to hang them up on was one of their coffins...a bit macabre, but they could relate. I hung up the x-rays, and 2 of them fainted dead away. I knew I put a rug down for a good reason....

2 others looked genuinely concerned

and one took the x-rays and laughed his head off at them.

Talk about some different responses!  "Why are you all crookedy? What did you do to your skellie?" "Just life," I said. One of them noticed the underwires on one of the x-rays. "Hey, I know what those hold up! That's a good lookin' skellie if I've ever seen one!" "Quiet you," I said, "This is a family blog....." I had also brought all the pamplets I had received so far for them to read.

One was reading all about subluxations

and another one was reading about family care.

Then they got the bright idea that maybe they were all subluxated too and that they were part of my family so how about appointments for all of them? "There's 25 of you guys, when I win the lottery," I said. They wanted to know this guy's name so they could go look him up on the internet. I said, "Here's a link: Myers Chiropractic . He is very knowledgable and has been at this location for 12 years now." Well wouldn't you know, one of the skellies looked it up on Google maps and noticed that there's a Hooter's nearby...now they will definitely want to go into Johnson City.....I'd better hide the truck keys.....have a great day!

Cabinets and Skeletons....

I like how these cabinets look together!

Today's the day to sit down and put the first coat of paint on them. I don't remember if I told you the name of the color on these. It's by Ceramcoat and is called "Sweet Pea"; and the outside of the bottle isn't even close to the actual color.

One down, one to go!

Now that these are both done, what to do while the paint dries....

I think I'll take another look at one of those topless cabinets.

I needed something for the top...hmmm, maybe there's something left in this old kit that I cannibalized a while back for another project.

After digging around in the box of pieces, I found that the top to this dresser kit will fit with just a bit of trimming.

I measured and marked the piece and cut it with my exacto knife.

That looks pretty good!

I think I will remove the large wooden knobs and find something else. I just used my wire cutters and carefully twisted them out.

I save them as you never know when you might need something like this. I started poking around for some alternate knobs and came across these brass brads.

I glued some round wooden beads on the bottom too. Hmmm, just not sure.

I was ready to start sanding when I remembered the dust mask. After the incident the other day, I put the package up high where the minions couldn't get to them. I confidently snapped one on and heard cackles coming from the direction of the tall cabinets. It's the skellies!

I hadn't seen them since we got back from the bike trip this summer. They were glad to see me but kept elbowing each other and smirking...well, I think they were smirking, it's hard to tell with these guys and I swear that guy in the middle is mooning me. When I asked what was going on, they just mumbled something about, "nothing..." Needless to say, I was suspicious. One look in the mirror told me the truth.

The minions couldn't reach the dust masks, but the skellies are good climbers and not bad artists either...So I just sat there looking like a skellie while I sanded away on this little cabinet. I decided I didn't like the round feet either, so pulled those off and rummaged around through the same furniture kit and found a bottom molding piece. I think this will do just fine.

Time to put this aside for awhile, I have another problem to solve. Have a great day!