Yesterday's Adventure

Considering this is my first big outing in almost two weeks, it was an adventure for me. Yesterday we had errands to run. Had to go see the Doc to check on my ankle, which is actually doing a lot better! I'm not on crutches or using a cane at this point...just call me 'hop along'. I still can't run a marathon or go hiking or be on it for too long, but at least I can get my own coffee. We stopped for lunch at Knight's Diner.

Then we popped over to Northwest Seed & Pet to buy seeds for the garden. We decided to try the heirloom seeds this year & try our hand at saving the seeds to plant for next year. I still have research to do to figure it all out, but that's part of the fun! The seeds we bought are from Ellensburg from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds. We also bought a couple blackberry plants & a couple blueberry bushes. The folks at Northwest Seed & Pet are really helpful & knowledgeable. Now we just have to plan our garden out for this year.
This years seeds.

Oil is coming along nicely.

Good bye crutches!

Crutches Are Now My Best Friend

So this is why I haven't been at my computer much this last week...Tony & I went up in the woods to pick cottonwood buds. We do this every Spring. Why? I make a medicinal oil out of the sap in the buds. I use it for things like sprains, arthritis, fibro pain (note: this is not medical advice from me to you). It's not something that can be bought so I make it. It smells so good! We have a lot of good memories doing this too. It's something we look forward to every year.

It was a beautiful day...blue sky, warm, lots of sunshine, no clouds, fresh air. Things were going beautifully...we were in a feild that had some snowy patches & bare patches. I was walking across a snowy patch & my foot went through the snow, which had been happening all day, but there was usually more snow underneath that would support my foot. Not this time....there was a hollow under the snow where I stepped & wouldn't ya know it...I rolled my ankle...more like folded it in half. I thought it was broken at first. So we're in the middle of a feild & I'm laying in the snow. Tony helped me walk to the road...although I wouldn't call it walking. He left me by the road & went & got the truck. I'm just sitting there hoping that something doesn't come along & eat me in the mean time. LOL

Went to the Doc & it's not broken...I just tore all the ligaments in my ankle. Great. Doc says to take it easy & sit on my behind for the next couple of weeks (this was a week ago yesterday). Basically, if the ligaments don't heal right...I'd be looking at surgery. So even though I'm a horrible patient & I hate just sitting, I am following doctors orders. It must be getting better though because I'm able to sit at the computer longer & longer each day.

In my boredom I started taking pictures of stuff from wherever I'm sitting. Below are a few pics. Some of them I was playing with my telephoto lens.

Me hanging out in the back yard while Tony stacks wood. All of the photos below were taken from me sitting here.

Here's the oil I'm making from those cottonwood buds. Isn't it a gorgeous color?

Another photo of my tulips coming up.

Just the power lines that run down the alley. But look at that blue sky! Beautiful!

Spring Has Sprung

You know how life just seems to get away from you sometimes? Today I'm catching up on my blog. I've been taking pictures, meaning to share them...but then life happens. I've been at my computer in brief spurts...stay tuned for my next post & I'll tell ya why. But I'm back now. Took these a couple of weeks ago around the yard.

My Chives are comin' up. I even used some in the potato soup the other day. Yummy!


Crocuses by my front door.


Tulips are getting bigger!


Last of the snow!

April In Idaho

Days like today I wonder if Spring & Summer will ever really get here. I don't think I can remember a time when we had snow in April. One year we did have snow on the Spring Equinox. And one Summer it may as well have been October...I was wearing fanel...in July. That Summer it rained & I actually remember a day where it was 40 degrees. That was back in the 90's.

We ran out of wood last week. Tony went up to my folks property to get more.

Eat Green Lettuce

I had no idea! I'm definitely going back to good old fashioned lettuce!

LETTUCE- SOPHIE ULIANO - watch more recipes and videos

Candles, Cookies, & Tea

Last night was Earth Hour from 8:30-9:30pm. I made super yummy gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies...but I was out of brown sugar..so I used regular sugar & they turned out even better! Then I made a pot of tea before 8:30. We lit all the candles we could find in the house. It was beautiful! Tony & I were like, why don't we do this more often? We spent our time talking & then our daughter came home & got in on the action. She's 17...you'd think a teen would be like this is boring...but she really enjoyed it. When it was time to blow out the candles & go to bed, she was bummed.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are going to go 'power free' one night a week. No lights, no stereo, no tv, no computer...anything that can be turned off will get turned off. The fridge & all that stuff will stay on of course. We will allow one exception...& that is if our daughter has homework & needs to use the computer. That's pretty important stuff! Here are some pics of our Earth Hour:

Cookies & tea by candlelight. Divine! You can see what time it is on the stove if you look close.

Oooooo....pretty!

This is a close up of my hanging candle holder. I got it at Goodwill...it was a chandelier light for over a dining room table. Well, I repurposed it & viola! Candle holder.

See? I HAVE been working! Right on!

I originally posted this on my MoonWillow Studio blog. I couldn't post it here until now because it was a gift for a friends 40th birthday...& she reads Karny Life now & then...so I just couldn't take a chance that she'd see it before I gave it to her. Actually, she did see it. She came over the other day & came through the studio door. So of course she saw it! I had to do something! So I just played it off like, 'Yeah, this is what I'm working on. It's for my new series that I'm workin' on. Whatcha think?' LOL So she was completely blown away when I gave it to her yesterday!

Following is the original post:

Finally...inspiration! Yaaaayyyyyy!!! This is something kinda new for me. I'm playing with acrylics on canvas with no stretcher bars....so I guess it's more like a wall hanging...or a door hanging in this case. It's actually a mixed media piece as I'm using dry pastels, paint, stamps, ink, collage, beads, charms, & fibers. This is the first little do dah from my new series I'm working on. It's titled, "Gift For A Friend"...OK, you got me...I don't have a great name for it, but it is a gift for a friends birthday. So this one is already spoken for, but there's more to come so stay tuned!

Earth Hour: March 28th

Join me in observing Earth Hour next Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm - 9:30pm. We're planning on having a candlelight dessert & telling stories. Would love to hear what you did.

SPRING IS HERE!

It's the first day of spring! Here in our neck of the woods...it's 59 degrees. That's a heat wave! The snow is melting! How excited am I? SO EXCITED! Before long it will be time to plant our garden. I've been daydreaming about Spring & Summer since the first of February. Here's what I found in my back yard:
This is the last of our wood. I'm SO grateful that it's getting warmer!

Our tulips & daffodils are pushing up to see the Sun!

That's BLUE sky folks! Yep! REAL blue sky! Haven't seen that since September!

Quinn's Hot Springs

Tony & I got away for one night. He surprised me with a text asking what kind of wine do you want in our room. I love surprises! We went to Quinn Hot Springs in Montana. It's between St. Regis & Paradise. We'd never been there before, but they were running a special & it was fairly close to home, so off we went! The room was great! The food was amazing! The bottle of wine in our room was really good. The hot springs...very relaxing. The staff, so helpful & so very nice. It was as if we had been there before & they were happy to see us. We even made new friends that live just over the boarder in Washington. Here's some pics:

Me Taking Pictures Of Me

Here I am just playing with my camera. This is my shadow in the snow.

Like my artsy hairdo & my pirate shirt? Hey, sometimes a girl just hast to be a pirate! Hee hee hee...

Laundry Room Ceiling

Just thought I'd share a picture of my laundry room ceiling. I painted it myself & then rubbed a butterfly decal on top. After all, who'd mind doing laundry under the watchful gaze of a butterfly, fluffy clouds & a blue sky ;)

Lemonaded Twice!

Wow! Another award & from two great people! Thank you Sarah & Crystal! Ok, so I'm nominating the following:

Crystal & Sarah...I have to tag you back. Seriously, you both are amazing, have great blogs, & uplift me in so many ways. How can I not smile when I visit your blogs!
Psyche Connections I'm always finding something on her blog that make me smile.

Bairbre Aine, I smile every time I get a chance to peek at your blog!

Monique at Cake & Cappuccino. Every time I look at Monique's blog, I want to bake something & tidy up just for fun. How cool is it when someone inspires you to take a task that may seem like drudgery & instead you feel good about it! Now that's magic folks!

If you've been nominated and you want to pass on the award, here's what you do:

1. Display the logo on your blog.
2. Nominate up to 10 blogs that show great attitude.
3. Link your nominees with your post & let them know via comment that they're lemonaded.
4. Link the post to the person who gave you the award!