TTHT

Hey guys/gals -

I just sent out the email about the Tavern this week - theme is the Fair, and entries are due to me by Saturday night. If you'd like to sign up for the weekly update, check out the Tavern above and enter your email in the box on the top right.

Can't wait to see your entries (mandie AT captivatedbymandie DOT com)!
http://cbm.blogtog.com

Who is pulling who?

I hate to do this to ya'll, but I think I'm gonna redirect again, and pull the plug on this blogger account. Expressions really has everything I need so far, so there's no reason to try to keep making this work. Don't know how I'm gonna transfer everything yet, or when, but I think I will. http://cbm.blogtog.com my feed: http://cbm.my-expressions.com/atom_3746.xml

While I'm in transition, you may want to have both. Just sayin'.

Missed me?

Hello all! Enjoyed the time away? I might have, had I not been so hard at work.

Last Wednesday started with a massive undertaking - the basement and garage clean out. Not only did it involve moving heavy appliances, moldy everything, and breakables, but it also mandated a rotten-canned-food-cleanout. Dad sat in the corner and opened jars of spoiled food and dumped it - and 2 five-gallon buckets later, it was done. *thank God for fans* I had the happy tasks of getting the good food organized and finding a place to put the clean jars. I (with the help of Bobby, and then my dad) jumped in and started pulling everything else out - Clutter Busters style - and organized it all into Mine, Parent's, Brothers, Yard Sale, and BURN PILE! WOO!


*pyro must calm down*

Thursday, I started working on the yard sale. Advertising. Signs. Setting things out front. Selling them just as fast. Covering up for the night.

Friday we started full blast, and I did considerably well, considering most of it was junk.

Saturday, my bestest friend in the whole world helped me out of a pickle and covered for us while we were at work. She was treated to a Ruby Tuesday dinner for that kind of big help!

Sunday, I made it out to the Feeding of the 5,000 concert/worship service at FCC in Kernersville. I don't think we took one bad picture. You can see some of those shots on my new-and-possibly-soon-to-be-permanent-blog at cbm.blogtog.com.

Monday brought the clean-up, buying totes for all our stuff that was previously occupying the basement and organizing things into them. It was a little harder for Bobby to throw things away than me. Notice he's keeping all of them. Bobby and I piled them on the truck (ONE TRUCK!!) and backed it down into the storage building. Surprise, surprise, it ALL fit, with room to spare! Then, I put things back in the garage that actually belong there, and there was room to walk - romp, even!


Yesterday, I took things to the thrift store. I carried Dad around to get parts for his car and dropped off some eBay stuff. Then, to the task of updating my sister's pictures on her farm website. Check. But then, I took off after I received an urgent call. Yes, everything's fine, thanks for askin'. ;-) I ended up with a terrible dream about Brandy, though. It's because I haven't seen our cat in two days. :-(

So, no wonder, today has been totally uneventful. I have done nothing productive, save wiping off the table cloth and reading another chapter in Life on the Edge. Yes, I know, I don't read, but it was new and pretty and in my stuff, so I had to take a look. Dad and I mo-sied over to the muscadine vines to see if any were ripe. I rode to Brookberry for a few minutes tonight to let Ginger run and to take a photo. Now I'm here.

Oh, and I received my Mary Kay Look Book in the mail - that's always so exciting! It means the next quarter is here - the Christmas book! There is a free sample of the limited Romance spa lotion waiting for me! If you'd like me to send you one (Fall/Holiday 2005), let me know! Remember, I do gift baskets and custom-made Christmas gifts - now is the time to slip that list into mom/dad/hubby's lunch box!

So with that, you have been properly informed of all of my going-ons in my little world. Feel priveledged or afraid - the choice is yours.

Reflective

Moody Monday: Reflective

Bathroom stall 12/4/04 at Concord Mall? Me thinks.
It was scarily clean. Like O-C-D-ish.
Rather that than the alternative, I suppose.

Essence of Comfy

Nice name for a lotion, huh? This is Betty's new bedroom in her lake house - don'tcha just want to lie down and nap in the fading sunlight?


Right now, I'm trying out Expressions, since their templates are made for photobloggers. I am going to give it the 30-day trial. For future reference, I'm at cbm.blogtog.com. Right now, Bobby is home, and I'm getting off the computer.

Suuee-EEEE!

My sister's piggy-pigs, after eating their dinner.

Ah, to be a pig. Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Together they stay

A break in a dam on Big Horse Creek in Lansing, NC. More from the farm coming soon. I'm still yard-sale-ing my brains and back out.

Too weird!

Taken 9/4/03 on Hwy 421 driving south:


Taken 9/4/05 on Hwy 421 North, shooting south:


What are the odds that I'd be taking cloud pictures on the same road on the same day near the same intersection in the same direction??? *twilight zone theme*

High Rock moon rise

Hi ya'll. I've decided that since I can't make thumbnails work on my rss feed, that I'll set the preview to show the whole post. I really wish you'd still come by and see me, though, so I know someone is looking.

Taken last night on Swearing Creek in High Rock Lake. That's the moon and a planet on the left - does anyone know which one??

Say Bye, Summer

Does anyone know how I can remove that water reflection in the bottom corner with PSP?

Earless Goats

Indeed. I jest not. These are LaMancha goats - which entails them being 'earless', but not deaf, mind you. They are just cartilidge-impaired.

They are the newest addition at my sister's farm, which, ironically enough, just got some attention from PBS's Small Business School (smallbusinessschool.org) and are publishing my photo taken of my neices: http://smallbusinessschool.org/webapp/sbs/Holidays/LaborDay/school.jsp

The baby in the foreground actually has the ears - don't know what that's about - but as you can see, the nanny and other kids don't. This set is very shy - so this is as close as I got before the battery went dead on my camera.

More farm pics tomorrow, and I promise I will update the photos on my sister's site this week. Girl Scout's honor.

Rusty Wheel

Another one out of the archives. Talked to an old high school buddy tonight, and it made me realize how much time has flown since then. My spokes are still holding up, but I'm showin' some rust.

Labor Day

These are the fruits of my labor:

One of my biggest melons in the garden, almost ready for pickin'. Guess it won't go in the fair this year - it's goin' in my TUMMI!


The very last of my Tommy Toes:



Most exciting of all: The first scuppernongs were ready to eat tonight! I pulled 3, sweet, juicy grapes from the vine before cramming them in my mouth, but after taking their picture. It was almost dark, so forgive the quality. I was excited. What can I say?

Ripe Scuppernong:

And to see how heavy the vines are hanging this year, you can download this short video I took tonight. It's incredible. Really. *note: although short, it is 29MB, so you probably don't want to download it unless you're a high-speeder, and I'm not talking about your driving.*

Black kitten

This is the black kitten that migrated here from next door via her mommy. Ginger tried to eat her, but she's come a long way from the scaredy-cat she once was, and has almost integrated into the kitty family. She's considerably younger than the rest, yet Chloe is preggo yet again. I can't get the cat fixed because she's ALWAYS pregnant. At least this one really isn't hers.