Archive for Autumn

{ November 18, 2008 @ 3:30 am } · { Autumn, TUESDAY, Vegas }
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Autumn Cleaning!!! I spent most of Monday working and repairing the computer’s registry keys! I ran a scan and the software found over 700 errors! [Mostly Active X, some shared DLL files and useless extension files] And I chose to check each one individually to make sure that they were no longer needed. You know how it is. When the program says it’s invalid or no longer useful, I have to question that. Make sure myself. I also made a complete backup of the system before I began doing the clean up…just in case! So, naturally, it took most of my morning and part of the afternoon. But I feel better to do it that way. My choice, I’m not complaining mind you, I just have a bit more confidence doing it that way. After that was done, I then downloaded and installed the new version of Firefox; Firefox 3.0.4. I personally wouldn’t use anything but! Firefox in my opinion is so much ‘friendlier’ and useful. Internet Explorer on the other hand is just too susceptible to viruses and spyware where Firefox and the wonderful ad-ons keeps my computer a bit more ‘protected’. When that was complete, I did an upgrade on my virus program and my Windows Defender for Vista. I think I did well. Especially after cleaning out the registry!! The computer now runs so much faster! It’s amazing to think that in less than a year there were so many useless things uploaded and no longer used. LOL Now it’s getting all my graphic files from the many folders all burned on to a new disk. I have hundreds of those also. :::sigh::: But, none-the-less, it’s fun in a way, I learn a lot. I’m a ‘hands on kinda gal’ where if I do something like this physically, the mental takes hold and I can remember a lot of what I do. [Oh, of course, I've had my share of Senior Moments also, but hey....twenty five years ago my kids, if they could see me now, wouldn't believe this old lady could actually do and comprehend all this.]

I’m also a bit busy with my ‘giveaway’ project, so I may be hidden from view a lot in the next few days. :o )

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Heads or Tails this week: Share an Autumn memory

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, stays in Vegas.
LAS VEGAS BABY!!!

One Autumn, still in Colorado, we got a heavy, early snow. I wasn’t ready for it. Luckily, we had a long weekend planned in Las Vegas. It was a whirlwind trip. Flew in to Vegas on a Friday night…spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday and flew home on Monday which was a holiday.

I can still see the most awesome sight ever. I love flying into a city at night! And Las Wages Vegas was something to behold.

We had reservations at MGM. And at the airport, after claiming our luggage we had a hotel shuttle bus ride through all the lights…down [yuk!] Wayne Newton Blvd! Over to the green building. With a huge colassal gold lion to greet us! By the time we were under the hotel’s canopy it has started raining so I opted to take a photo of the main doors the next morning…. Now, granted, it’s a city of ‘sin’ and gambling. But the two of us had other plans. We actually didn’t want to gamble much…we did try the slot machines in all the casinos, but we wanted to actually just walk the strip…check out all the hotels, eat and dine and buy gifts. We were already married, so we didn’t need to find one of the infamous wedding chapels you read about.

And we wanted to rent a car for a day and go to the west…to the mountains and check out the little backwoods town of Pahrump, Nevada. We heard there were properties cheap…and perhaps we might buy something there for our retirement! No way…what a joke. It was like taking a wrong turn…and you came out on a road to nowhere and there are people, or should I say ‘clans’…we felt so out of place while looking at homes with a realtor. Nope…not for us. We got back in the car and headed back to the ‘mountain pass’ that heads back into Vegas, only to stop at a winery. Ya, a winery… in the middle of the desert. Amazing. We tasted some wine, bought a bottle to take back with us for that evening after dinner.

Without a doubt, we had to find the Hard Rock Cafe!! I used to make sure I got a t-shirt. It all began back when I entered the very 1st one I ever saw in Honolulu. Then, had to get them everywhere I went that had one in the city. [that came to a screeching halt tho because of the expense...I did end up with Vegas, San Antonio, Washington D.C., Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Aspen, Colorado tho!] We took a cab on the first afternoon to find it.


After we realized it was within walking distance from MGM, we opted to take a moonlight stroll there for the evening!Other than the ‘street walkers’ it was a pleasant walk. And we, of course, weren’t the only ones with the same idea. There were several enjoying the starlit, cool, evening and the city’s lights. It was awesome.

The next day, more walking…we checked out all the hotels in and around our MGM area. The Luxor, the Caesar’s Palace, Excalibur…they were beginning to build the NY NY at the time we were there in a huge vacant lot. Bought some souvenirs for the family and ourselves…gambled a bit in the slots and had a very enjoyable weekend.

Bud [in left photo] and I [in the horse carriage on the right photo] in front of the Excalibur Hotel

Back to the MGM…it’s one awesome hotel. The reason I liked it so much was the fact that Gone With the Wind was all around me in the hallways…they had memoribilia and paintings and carpeting to match the movie’s set and portraits of the stars in character! Down on the main floor with the gambling tables and buffet was Wizard of OZ…I got the Tin Man to pose with me for a picture…

On the day we were to leave to catch the plane back to Denver, we had to go back into the MGM courtyard. Behind the hotel is a huge shopping district. A small village if you will…where there are specialty shops. I spent way too much money. But, I couldn’t go home without it. And you know, I’ve never worn it! It’s been hanging on my bedroom wall ever since….

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We left this behind that afternoon…a beautiful sunset. Only to get back home to Denver with snow flurries!!!

{ September 16, 2008 @ 2:45 am } · { Autumn, Holidays, Home, P J, RECIPE, TUESDAY }
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HoT entry below this prayer request

A long time online friend who evacuated last week from the threat of Hurricane Ike, living just a few miles north of Galveston Island, Texas, has been in my thoughts since landfall. We’ve been emailing each other for a few days.

Here is her last email from yesterday afternoon:

    “We heard we can park on hwy and walk in from there (about 2 miles) entrance only with our IDs so that is the plan tomorrow. I have seen some photos but none of our specific house, after seeing those photos it may be just was [as?] well. The debris is mind boggling! I just keep telling myself…it’s only stuff…it’s only stuff. I’ll check in when I can, a couple of my coworkers have power now so can use the computer there and one has even offered a room for us and our cats so we can be close to work on our home until it is safe to be there. I have to tell you, it blows me away that we really got hit this time. I suppose it will sink in when I am cleaning up the dead fish and chasing out the damn snakes from my little house. I just never really believed it would happen, you know?“

Today, she and her husband will drop off her cats at a friend’s house and then the two will go farther down to their exit and walk into the subdivision. I ask that you take this graphic [click on it to open in a new window -then save & add to your blog], pass it on for a continual circle of prayer and strength -with your prayers that they have a home and find that there is not much damage. If you’d know P J, you’d be saddened that this vicious storm disrupted her life….she’s the sweetest! Here is an example of her loving nature…she found a feral cat, fed it, loved it…helped it survive. She took the cat in with her family, already with two cats of their own. Yet, after finding out that the feral cat she took in was pregnant, she let some of the kittens out for adoption yet, when she saw the turmoil the kittens had to go through, and knowing what they had already gone through at the animal adoption agency…she and her husband took them all in and became a family of many. She calls her furbabies the ‘six pack’…and the stray kittens born to them…are all named after the cast of LOST.

Please, pray for these two wonderful people. Keep them in your thoughts as they trek through the piles of debris left behind, to finally get a chance to find their home —


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Recipe is this week’s prompt.

This one that I share today is something that I tried nearly 20 years ago or so and it was so good that my son, Erik, [I believe he was on USMC leave at the time 'cause Irene was already pregnant with Clint and not living with us any longer] said upon finishing his first helping: “I think I need a 2nd opinion on this.” And he went back for another helping. After that helping, a hefty one at that, he stood up licking his spoon and stated: “I need to have a specialist check it out.”

Well, needless to say he had a 3rd helping. And from that day forward, we use the same expressions he used when we try something that is just beyond good! We’ve even had to have a 2nd specialist sometimes. LOL

Okay, so the recipe is called: SEX IN A PAN [yep, pick up your jaw, that IS what it's called]

1/2 c Margarine; melted
1 c Pecans; chopped
1 1/2 c Graham wafer crumbs
8 oz Cream cheese
4 c Cool whip; divided, thawed
3 oz Chocolate instant pudding
3 oz Vanilla instant pudding
3 c Milk
1 Unsweetened chocolate square
1 c confectioner’s sugar

Mix well margarine, pecans and graham wafer crumbs
and pat into 9×13 inch pan. Bake at
350 degrees F until lightly browned,
about 20 minutes. Cool completely. Beat together
cream cheese, sugar and 1 cup of
Cool Whip. Spoon onto baked layer. Mix both
puddings with milk and beat per package
directions. Let pudding almost thicken and pour
over second layer. Put remainder of Cool Whip
on top and swirl melted chocolate throughout
topping.

~…end Heads or Tails
[Autumn 'trinkets' around our home, below -Otherwise comment HERE]

I finally received an email from Erik. Tho he still isn’t back in Houston, which is probably a good thing, he is keeping in contact with his friends who also live in the Houston suburbs and has been updated on the situation around his home. He seems to not be worried. Of course, while out of the entire USA, there isn’t much he can do until he returns. I tend to be a worrier, so my concern is typical of me. He told me that his area was ‘up’ the next day –I’m thinking it means power. Dunno tho. Time will only tell. He should be back in the states by the weekend. It’ll be a long week for me, I will still not stop fretting over Ike, until I hear from him once he gets back and assesses the damage if any to his home.

So, getting away from the hurricane…thank goodness, huh? I’m tired of it…and I bet you are too, just visiting with me. It’s time to move on. Today is another day, can’t dwell on the affects and effects of disaster forever. I took some photos of our Autumn display around the house. Care to view them with me? All with mouseover captions, here they are:

By the way, the wooden bowl that is holding the glass Autumn beads and angel is hand made…by Erik. From many many years ago during his extra curricular class in Jr. High School…wood shop. It’s beautiful. I should take a photo of it all alone so you can see the wonderful workmanship.

More to come later…

{ September 5, 2008 @ 10:01 am } · { Autumn, AWARD, Home, Show-N-Tell }
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This past week, since last weekend, I’ve been slowly working on getting a few rooms in the house to celebrate Autumn. September is the month I decorate with a ‘general’ Fall decor. Pumpkins, scarecrows, Fall firgurines and colored Autumn leaves. [October of course I take everything down that is necessary and bring out my witch collection for Halloween. I then take those down and pack them away and bring out the Autumn again, and add some Thanksgiving turkeys and such until the end of November and start then all anew for Christmas.] I began with the fireplace mantel. On any given ‘normal’ day there are southwest figurines and trinkets like the photo shows below — [all with mouseover captions]

From this:

To this:





[since the photos were taken, I've added a 5th brass candle holder & candle]

Kathy at Life Goes On told me that she awarded me yesterday. And with great pride I show off the award she presented me. Thank you so much. And thanks for the lovely sentiment! You filled my day with sunshine! Stop by and visit with her if you have some time. Her blog is fantastic.

{ September 3, 2008 @ 3:02 am } · { Autumn, Crafts, Holidays, Home, W W. }
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~…end Wordless
[CLICK HERE FOR COMMENT FORM if you wish to skip the joke below]

A Catholic Priest, an Indian Doctor, a rich Chinese Businessman and an Aussie were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers in front of them.
The Aussie fumed, ‘What’s with those blokes? We must have been waiting for fifteen bloody minutes!’
The Indian Doctor chimed in, ‘I don’t know, but I’ve never seen such poor golf!’
The Chinese Businessman called out ‘Move it, time is money’
The Catholic Priest said, ‘Here comes George the green keeper. Let’s have a word with him.’
‘Hello, George’ said the Catholic Priest, ‘What’s wrong with that group ahead of us? They’re rather slow, aren’t they?’
George the green keeper replied, ‘Oh, yes. That’s a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.’
The group fell silent for a moment.
The Catholic Priest said, ‘That’s so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.’
The Indian Doctor said, ‘Good idea. I’m going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there’s anything he can do for them.’
The Chinese Businessman replied, ‘I think I’ll donate $50,000 to the fire-fighters in honour of these brave souls’

The Aussie said, ‘Why can’t they play at night?’

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