Wednesday, half way there

This is Tonka, my son's cat that has been with me for the last couple of years. He is such a lover and so funny, he gets into the strangest positions and gives you such looks. Another friend who helps me cope, a good guy.

We have been having such wonderful weather. There was a small interruption for a rain storm, I am not complaining about the rain, so needed. I was not real happy about the high wind, it even knocked over one of my big clay pots with the cherry tomatoes in it. The temps have been in the 70's cooling off at night, blue skies, the kind of weather you just wish would last all year round.

http://ediemariesattic.blogspot.com/ check out our Miss Edie Marie, she is celebrating her 100Th post with a giveaway. Very nice person, funny, creative and just the type of person you wish lived next door.

My new part time job is going along OK, not great. So much to learn and remember and everyone giving you slightly different information. I can feel the rust flaking off the brain cells as I require them to function at a higher level. There are gas pumps to keep an eye on, registers with all kinds of functions to cope with and food to be put out. Being an octopus would be great. I just keep reminding myself that it is not forever and that I have goals, grit my teeth and keep plugging. Be glad I am able to work and learn new things and that someone actually hired me. Once I have the garage turned into my bakery I can say bye, bye.

My friend from Minnesota is leaving for France tomorrow, I wonder if I will ever get to travel and if I really want to. I so hope she has a wonderful time, she is such a nice, nice person and I am so blessed to have her for a friend. Be safe Carol and come home soon.

Best to you all, Barbara

Very early morning

I'm up and can't sleep, had this problem all week. Not sure why but I am getting lots of reading done. I had managed to doze off and then about 4am Elvira was yodeling at my door wanting out. She does not bark that much and has this wierd whiny yodel. So out the herd and I went and back Elvira, Molly and I came. Charlie went who knows where, so while I waited for him to make an appearance I made a cup of tea. After about 10 min. he showed back up, by now of course I am wide awake so started catching up on my blog reading. I am really enjoying this blog stuff. Such a wide range of people makes it facinating.

I started a part time job at the store in town, I guess it will be alright. I have certainly worked worse places in my life and right now a few extra dollars will come in handy. I made a birthday cake last Friday for a friends husband, then got a call on Saturday with an order. Word of mouth is great!! I am hoping this will be a real start to getting my business rolling. We need to get to work on organizing my equipment in the garage and removing all the extra stuff that is out there. Oh, here is a photo of the wedding cake I did at the first of the month. One thing making this did was to make me realize I do not have the faintest idea where most of my stuff is. Also, not doing this for a while it takes a bit to remember all the steps. In the end all was well and the grooms Mother and Dad assured me that everyone loved it, which is always a good thing. I am looking forward to setting things up so everything has a place and making my cakes will not be quite so stressy.

On Good Morning America they did a piece on how many people were going back to having a garden in their yard or community gardens. They mentioned that having your own garden can save you in the area of $400.00 a year. I know I am loving going out and coming back in with 4 or 5 pounds of wonderful tasting tomatoes. I almost have enough to try making some tomato sauce to can. When the rest of them ripen I will really be busy.

Jim went back to his apartment last night, seems so strange with him gone. This past week was the longest he has been home in one stretch and I really liked having him here. As always we try to keep in mind that him having a job is a blessing. There is of course that corner of the mind that wishes a super job would open up around here, or one of the lottery tickets would come in with a few million. Hey, we can dream!! Just not count on it and enjoy what we have.

Think I will try going back to bed and catching a few zzzzzzzzzzzs. Best to you my friends, Barbara

I'm Baccckkkkk!

Well, the first thing I have to say is thank you. Reading the comments this morning and reading that you missed me made me tear up. I tend to be pretty independent, had to be due the hand life delt, so having people notice I was not around touched me. Thank you again.

Ok, part of being MIA was being busy. I had a wedding cake to do and deliver. This was a fairly large reception so am hoping to garner more business from this. This time of year is hectic I have actually been canning!! I am pretty proud of myself with this new skill. I have salsa, applesauce and pickles. As soon as I purchase a pressure canner I will expand my skills. I love the idea I can put up meals to send with Jim for his apartment and also have back up here. I love cooking large batches of things so this will work well. Soon potatoes will be ready and I can buy 50 pound bags for less then $10.00, my friend Ellen tells me they can beautifully. So I am going to put some of those up also. I am also going to make lots of tomato sauce as that can be used in so many meals. My gourds are growing huge! I do not have many, but am thrilled with the ones I have. I now know I can grow them and make cool things with them.Last week was stressy as Jim was in the hospital, he had food poisoning. He had purchased some fried chicken at a store deli and about 1 am woke up very sick. That afternoon he went to the ER and the admitted him. He was there until Sunday, very scary as I was here and could not go hold his hand. All is well now, they gave him a week off from work so he has been at home where I can fuss over him.

I need to get ready to go out now, so will check in with you all later. On a closing note here is a picture of a neat plant my friend Caroll in MN shared with me. I believe it is call Dragon's Tears.