First Day of Spring weekend.....

  Hi Everyone!  I'm going to do some serious catching up...I hope.  I can't believe I haven't blogged since St. Patrick's Day, and I totally missed the first day of spring. 

BUT...I've been on a wonderful vacay that I am going to tell you all about. 

So stay tuned.,,,,

I'm going to download pics whenever I have a free moment. 

It's supposed to rain two or three days this week so I'm going to stay inside, 

Spring Clean,

get ready for Easter,

and blog.

Here we go...

The day after St. Patrick's day I had The Chata Chicks over.  We are actually neighbors/friends that get together every now and again for wine night and chatting.  When I first moved out here I felt isolated and alone.  I lived in town for 18 years, close to everything and everyone.  I knew no one out here.  I've since met some fun people and I love it!   Us three in this pic can ride carts to each others house, without even going on the road!  We have a back road that we've made to each other's home.  Ok so our husbands made it, for themselves, but we've taken it over!  And I might have told you before that we've named ourselves the Chata Chicks because I got tired of saying my "wine friends."   So I told them I wanted a name for us and after much deliberating, and we happened to have a bottle of Rum Chata on the counter at the time, we became the Chata Chicks! 

And I don't even drink Rum Chata (much!)

They stayed kinda late!

 And the next morning was Saturday. 

And I had plans to go to Horton's open house in Tipton, IN with my friend Teresa.

We parked the car and got out, and Susie from She Junks blog walked up!

If you don't know Susie go say Hi.  She's a sweetie!

She invited us in Subway Sandwich shop where she was spending time with her brother and daughter and introduced us to her beautiful family.  I love meeting fellow bloggers!

 After visiting for awhile, Teresa and I went on to Horton's.

These pictures will give you an idea of their open house.

 They are selling clothes now and I thought these spring-y coats were cute.  On this particular trip I didn't buy anything except a card.

 She has several fireplace mantels in the store and I love how she has them decorated.

  I like the painted step ladder

 I also like the umbrella covered with all of these doilies.  It would be so easy to make one by collecting doilies at garage sales and putting them all together on a premade umbrella.  I'm sure that's what she has done here.

 I think this "tree" is made out of paper sacks or brown wrapping type paper.  So creative.

 She had silk and real flowers.

 I love these colors.

 I also love Stock. It's an old-fashioned plant that is a bit hard to find.  It's an annual in our part of the country.  It has a wonderful scent.  I might have to go back and get some of these.  I'm kind of into the old-fashioned flowers at the moment.

 That was it for Horton's.  I always get so inspired to decorate when I go there.  And I really need to get serious about curtains for our house!

But there was no more time to think about decorating.

My Shug and I went out to eat Saturday evening with some of Mom's side of the family, then went to play cards at their house.

On Monday,

THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!

I was on my way to my cousin's house, in Logansport, when I spotted the biggest Blue Heron ever by our pond! 

If you look really close you might see a bluebird hiding in the lilac bush.   

 When I got to my cousins house, we went to get our toenails painted, in celebration of Spring (OK I just made that up.  But from now on I'm celebrating spring by getting my toenails painted!) 

She treated me to getting my toenails painted because we were going on vacation together, along with my sister and her daughter and her daughter's friend.

 See the starfish!

Vacation prep was a lot of fun!

 She fixed dinner for me, which was delish, and when I left for home I decided to go on a small town Logansport tour.  It didn't really start out that way.  I turned this way and that to go to the custard stand and I stumbled upon the swimming  pool we used to walk to.

I think it was called Tower Park. 

 Whatever we called it, it doesn't look the same.  It now has a huge slide. 

Say in a deep man (Pa) voice...BACK IN MY DAAAAAAY..

all we had was a pool and we were lucky to have it!

 I found the custard stand.  Custard is like an ice cream, but creamier and smoother somehow.  I LOVE IT!

 Then I decided to do a drive-by....

This house...

is one of my favorite houses in Logansport.

See that porch....

You see a porch...

I see my Grandpa standing there looking out towards the street smoking a cigarette, usually visiting with someone.

See that window to the right....

You see a window...

I see my Aunt looking out that window to see who is pulling up to visit.

That middle window is a big dining room withOUT a table.  Because all of us cousins played in that room every single weekend.  And we needed room to play as there are a lot of us.

That upstairs is where I spent many a night when I stayed all night at this house.

The memories....

The sweet, sweet memories...

 And the last thing I did to celebrate Spring was get my white purse out of the closet!  I bought it when I went to Florida with my Shug back in February.  But My Sister said I had to wait until the first day of Spring to carry it.  (sigh)

My favorite season.

Spring!

Cindy

Five on Friday - My week in review!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK's DAY!

Are you celebrating?

hmmmm.....I'm having a few friends/neighbors over tonight,

and I just thought I should probably turn some wine or something green!

I'll think on it...

In the meantime I'm joining Amy at Love Made my Home for Five on Friday!  It's the last time Amy is hosting Five on Friday, but not to worry, Tricky Wolf from F.A.S.T. blog is taking over for her.  I think it's great that she had someone else take it over, rather than just dropping it.  Very responsible person!  Thank you Amy and thank you Tricky Wolf!

On with the five!

ONE

NATURE & WEATHER

The weather here is not going to be good for St. Patrick's day parades, or any other outdoor activities.  I believe you are supposed to be planting potatoes and snap peas in your gardens today, in these parts of America.  I don't think much of that is going to be happening either.  Back in February we had a lot of warm weather days.  In the 70's.  My bees were thriving.  Problem is, it's been in the 20's and 30's again and snowy, today freezing rain is predicted, so it's hard to tell if the bees will make it.  A fellow beekeeper sent me a picture

and he was "very worried' and wanted my advice.  He felt like this was a lot of bees dead in front of his hive and feared the worst.  I told him that is NOT a lot of bees for a hive.  That's just a sign of bees cleaning out the hive on a nice day.

However, I wanted to show you something with this picture that he sent me.  Look closely at the top of the wire entrance.  You will see "white" bees. 

Those bees are larvae (babies - sad face) that were almost ready to hatch out.  They probably froze to death.  So here is what happens with honeybees when the weather fluctuates so greatly.  

During the winter, the queen will only lay enough eggs that the bees can cover the brood (eggs/larvae) with their bodies and keep it warm.  Just enough to keep the hive alive through the winter.  When it warms up, the queen starts laying eggs like it's summer, 1200-1500 a day.  So, back in February when it was in the 60's and 70's for almost two weeks, that queen started laying like it was summer.  Then, it got cold again and the bees can't keep that many eggs/larvae warm.  So the bees either spread out and freeze to death trying to keep the brood warm, or the brood freezes to death because there aren't enough bees to cover the brood, or both.  I had four hives die last year when this happened.  They were alive one weekend, and the next weekend they froze to death.  So, if you look at this picture it's a good example of larvae freezing to death.  Then, there are times that the hive just doesn't have the energy to raise another generation of brood, so the hive dies off. 

A honey bee only lives around 45 days (in the summer).

The workers are female and they work themselves to death. 

True story.

Yesterday I kept trying to get a good picture of this eagle, flying across the road above our pond.  I took several before it landed in a tree.  I watched through a monocular until my arm got tired of holding it up!  Plus, I had somewhere to go, so I left and sure enough it flew.  This was the best picture I got of it. Not great, but the good news is it's back!  I haven't seen it in months.

TWO

CHAIRS

My Shug sent me a message from work and said on his way in he saw three chairs that he thought were in someone's trash!   They live around the corner from us so he stopped and asked the lady if they were throwing them out.  She said, "yes, and she knew if she put them on the curb someone would get them." 

Look at these chairs...

 

Look at our chairs!

Can you find the difference? 

He got three.  The fourth one was broken.  We are always scrambling around when family is over, trying to find enough chairs for everyone.  So I was very happy about this!  One man's trash is another man's treasure. 

THREE

CURTAINS

Remember the curtains I was making last week?  They were drapes I bought at a rummage sale somewhere over the years.  Stashed away and forgotten about.  They were long and pleated, and needed those hook type things to hang.  I cut off the pleats and measured, more than once!

 I made one panel first to see how they were going to look.  I'm making these for the basement room that we lived in while we were building.  I think they are going to look great!

So I made the rest of them.  I washed them but was afraid to put them in the drier.  I'll iron them and hang them this weekend.  Hopefully! 

FOUR

CROCHET GROUP

So last week when I posted a picture of my blanket squares, Tricky Wolf commented that I had a snazzy crochet hook!  WHAT!

And it hit me....like a brick.

 After I finished the square (above-with the snazzy hook) I noticed it was a tiny bit bigger than the other squares I made.  I even told the girls I think the white yarn is a bit thicker.

After I read that comment about the snazzy hook,  I started digging through older photos on my phone.

Do you see it?

I was using a 4.5 hook and the "snazzy hook" is a 5!

AUURRRGGHHHH!  (I think that AUGH in Irish!  In honor of St. Patrick.  Or maybe it's pirate speak.  Either way, the mystery is solved!

My advise is to take ONE picture of your project when you first start it, with the crochet hook you are using IN THE PICTURE!  Then, you'll know. 

I have no idea how the snazzy crochet hook got in the bag, but it did.  I have some ripping out to do.

So, I decided to work on my beach bag this week.  Do you know how many bags I have that need lined?  I don't even know!

Debbie is a crocheting machine!!!

K is making the same blanket as Debbie.

I told Cheryl to smile and she assured me she is!

FIVE

OUR HOUSE

We are working on the house again!  Click here to check it out.

Also don't forget to Check out other bloggers who joined Five on Friday and

see what they're up to!  Click here to pay them a visit!

Cindy

PS.  I've been wanting to share a couple of things with you.  First of all, apparently I'm a 'NO REPLY' blogger to some of you.  But, I have gone into my settings and it shows that I am NOT a no reply blogger.  I even unchecked and rechecked the box that I'm supposed to check or uncheck.  Also, I am not able to leave comments on some of your blogs, and I've heard of other bloggers not able to leave comments as well.  I think it has something to do with blogger and google plus.  Not sure how to fix this stuff but I've tried.  Just wanted you to know.

A LESSON about TEETH!

I know....you do NOT want to see a picture of the inside of my mouth. 
But you're looking at it and I'm telling you why!

See that tooth with the filling, on the left?

Well, after years and years of clenching, grinding, and chewing, teeth that have fillings in them start cracking.  It's from the pressure of the filling pushing against the tooth.  Two different mediums pushing against each other for years, the lead wins, the tooth cracks.

So here's what  happened in the last couple of weeks. 

See the back tooth on the right side. 

Looks like a piece of bread stuck in the tooth -ewwwww

That's a temporary filling in a temporary cap.

On Monday (two weeks ago) I went to have that tooth capped, because it had a crack.

On Thursday of that week, I went back because that tooth was hurting.  It should never hurt after a cap.  Luckily, in my case it was still the temporary. 
And btw, ALWAYS tell your dentist immediately if you get a cap and it's hurting.  Otherwise, more damage will be done. 
So, on Thursday he filed the cap down because we thought the bite was off, and maybe the cap was sitting too high.

By Friday it was still hurting a little.

By Saturday afternoon it was hurting a lot ( same day as Mom and Dad's anniversary party so I downed some Ibuprofen, put on my big girl panties and went and had fun!)

But by Sunday night I was up until 1:30 in the morning, taking ibuprofen, putting numbing stuff on the tooth, trying to get it to quit throbbing so I could sleep.

Monday, back to the dentist.  He numbed me up, popped the cap and took an x-ray and poked around.

He couldn't find anything...so

Tuesday he sent me to an endodontist about 45 minutes away for a 3D xray. 

This would be a good time to explain that those x-rays the dentist takes once a year do NOT show cracks in your teeth. 
Don't believe me?  Ask. 
They don't.
That's why he sent me for a 3D xray.
And just an FYI, I floss and brush EVERY DAY and
I go to the dentist EVERY SIX MONTHS for cleaning and check up.

Anyway....
The Endo (Endo-for short)  didn't do the x-ray.  He did some other testing instead, which was not fun.  Then he did a root canal which was REALLY NOT FUN!
My heart was ready to leap out of my chest after he numbed me 4 or 5 different times. 
The only good thing about it all was he looked like a young Kevin Bacon...so.....he was cute.
BUT...I had my eyes closed most of the time.
And when the Endo did the root canal, they put sunglasses on me, and he had a very bright light on and glasses that magnified my teeth by the 100's.  So while he had that get-up on, I asked him check the filled tooth. 

BONUS-it is cracked and so is the filling.
See the crack?
No, you don't.
Because you can't see them.

Tuesday evening, while talking on the phone to my sister, the temporary cap fell off!

WHAT IN THEE HELL!

So, I was talking like this.....
clench your teeth together....

Go ahead, do it.  I'm telling you to clench your teeth together.

But just lightly clench them together lest you break a tooth.
 Now keeping your teeth together
READ the following out loud.

That's how I was talking on the phone, because I didn't want that cap off of my tooth. So I was using my top teeth to hold the cap on the bottom tooth while I talked.

I immediately hung up from my sister and called the dentist Emergency  number,
but he said I would be fine until Wednesday morning.

I put my bite guard on my upper teeth and held the cap on thusly, until the next morning.

So, Wednesday back to the dentist.

My dentist made a new temporary cap for  me, and so far so good.

I'm here to tell you IF YOU GRIND OR CLENCH YOUR TEETH

WEAR A BITE GUARD NOW,
or you WILL have cracked teeth when you are older. 

A bite guard costs around $20 just about anywhere.

Caps and root canals cost hundreds. 

Not to mention the pain.

And the reason I don't have a tooth behind the filled one, is because it cracked last year the week of Easter and ended up getting extracted. 

I've never been in so much pain in my entire life when that tooth cracked.

Okay that's my lesson on teeth.
Now unclench your teeth.
Stop talking funny.
It's weird.

Cindy

PS.  So far so good with my teeth.  The tooth will get it's permanent cap next week.  Crossing fingers.