Grandma's Christmas Cactus

Last month we did some shifting of furniture between our home, my parent's and our son's & his girlfriends. In the process of shifting all the furniture this is what finally came home to me. The Christmas Cactus has been in my mom and dad's care for several yrs now.

This is my maternal grandma's Christmas Cactus. She got it in 1962 from a lady. It was already several yrs old. It is over 60 yrs old and can be much older than that.

I remember as a child visiting grandma at the farm and peeking into the Christmas Cactus. There was a creek and there was always little frogs. Mom told me abt the room the Christmas Cactus was in and how the little frogs got in. As a child it was always fun to look for the little frogs in the Christmas Cactus. We would sneak over when the little frogs were croaking and try to find them, we could only look, never touch the Christmas Cactus.

In the move from mom and dads one of the young stems broke off so I have it in water right now, it has finally started rooting so will need to put it in a pot. I can only hope I can keep the Cactus alive for several more generations to enjoy.

Boy am I glad we no longer have AIG

I'm sitting here listening to all the questioning of Liddy over AIG. Boy am I glad we got rid of AIG yrs ago.

I'll never forget when we got our statement and our rates skyrocketed. Our independent agent could not get an answer as to why our rates had skyrocketed, we never had a claim, our credit is/was good, we pay our bills on time.

Well, since they couldn't give us an answer our agent checked and found us a much better insurance and we have been happy with them. No large increases when renewals come up. I love it, of course our insurance company does not insure in high risk areas so we don't have to pay for losses in high risk areas.

I look back and now wonder if the large increase AIG tried to do to us was to cover the losses at the portions of the company that was failing.

Congress, you need to wake up and quit handing out our tax dollars like they are candy on Halloween. We deserve complete accountability and transparency.

Any company wanting taxpayer bailout dollars needs to renegotiate all contracts (Union, CEO, Etc) or else they should NOT get tax dollars. I don't care what the name of the bonus is, if you have to use tax dollars to keep the company going then you don't have dollars for bonuses of ANY KIND!

Crown Point Columbia River Gorge

While on the Old Highway in the Columbia River Gorge we of course had to stop at Crown Point. What a beautiful view of the Gorge. Wish it had been warmer, it was cold and wet but still a wonderful trip.

Multnomah Falls

I always love watching the Falls. We stopped at Multnomah Falls while taking a drive on the Old Highway in the Columbia River Gorge. It was cold and wet but beautiful.

An Order Finished

This is my most recent order for a Cradle Purse and Baby Doll. The Cradle Purse Pattern is my own design and I do sell the pattern as well as the finished product. The original is done in a Burgandy and White combo, this was a custom order.

The baby doll outfit is made from a pattern I bought online.

I have another order pending as soon as the color is picked out. The baby doll is on 5" tall.

These aren't the greatest pics but I wanted to get some pic taken before she was delivered to the new momma.

Want to see a real dangerous dog?

Lucy with her pig, she won't chew it up, she only nibbles on it like she is giving it a bath.


Lucy with Precious above her. Precious is our 3 legged cat we bottle fed. Lucy is afraid of this cat and does not like to look at her.


Mollie Ann playing with Lucy in Lucy's Kennel. Mollie Ann likes the kennel like it is a playhouse, poor dogs bed isn't even safe from the kids.

The breed isn't bad, it's the owner and how the dog is raised. I would trust Lucy over several other dogs. Lucy isn't my dog, she belongs to my daughter and her family. They also have a Jack Russell Terrier.

I know times are tough but come on

Like I said, I know times are tough and people are running into financial trouble, but come on, when it comes to debt collection agencies they should know where they are getting info or not be able to use certain tactics.

Beware, there's a I don't know how new, but new to me tactic being used so if you have anything in Collections you can expect your neighbors getting a call from one of these agencies.

I had twice now these places looking for someone who I have absolutely no clue who these people are.

First situation.

On Feb 23 at 8:37 am I received a phone call from Client Services from this number 636-947-2321. The guy gave his name and said he was looking for A.N. (gave full name), I don't know this person. He explained that this was a neighbor of mine and asked if I could go to their place and give them a message to contact him. I refused to do this, I don't know this person, I don't know which house this person lives at. I asked how he got my number. He explained that they looked on a map of where A.N lived at and found what addresses are near by this home and then done a reverse search of the neighbors and came up with my phone number.

He pleaded that it was really important that they get a hold of A.N. and they seem to be having trouble with their phone.

I did ask for a supervisor and I did get very upset with that person also. I personally feel they are violating a persons privacy, both mine and the person they are looking for.

Now for the second situation.

Just a short time ago I received a phone call with one of those great computer voices asking for D.B (again I have this persons full name). It gave me options of pressing 1 or 2. I don't know this person either so I placed myself on hold by pressing 2. There was no option saying if this is not DB and you don't know DB then press X and we will remove your number, oh no that would be too simple.

Well I sat on hold and had to keep pressing 2, finally on came the computer voice, can't even get a real person since this was such an important call. It gave a number to call back so I wrote it down. I told the lady, Connie I have no idea who this person is they asked for, she asked for my number and said she would remove my number from the system. She asked if we had just got this number recently, uh, like no, I think we have had it for like 20 + yrs. So I asked her where they got my number from, she said it was what was in the computer so DB must have given it to them. I'm sorry but for some reason I just don't believe this for some reason, call it a gut feeling or what ever.

I told the lady I was going to blog abt Arrow Financial and how I was contacted using a wrong number and before she could respond I hung up.

So, Mr. Collection Agency, leave me alone, don't contact me trying to find my neighbors, give me an option to press X to say I am not who you are looking for I don't know this person "Remove me from your call list"

I fear it will only get worse since more and more people are falling into financial trouble.

Pics of

what I have been working on. The first is a pattern I bought on Etsy. I didn't like the big collar so I changed it. Unles I find something different I will be entering this in the upcoming Fair in August.




This is the Christening Gown I started a short time back. I now have it finished and am weaving in ends. I will get another pic when I have that part done. I don't know when I will get all the embellishments done though. I have to weave ribbon through the gown and add other embellishments. This is only the first of a 6 piece Christening Set all done in thread. There is also a bonnet, booties, edged socks, bottle cover and matching afghan.

I need to vent

Boy do I need to vent. I am so sick and tired of watching the banks get thier bailout money for acting irresponsible and then socking it to us by raising our interest rates on our Credit Cards.

We have been at the bottom and worked out way out without any help. We raised our 3 kids to adulthood on our own without help.

We have bought a house we COULD afford and refied to get lower rates. We pay our bills on time, even ahead of the due dates and what do we get for being responsible..........HIGHER INTEREST RATES.

Thanks alot Mr. Bank CEO collecting your 1 Million or more per yr along with the bailout money.

Anyone reading this needs to take a close look at their Credit Cards and the interest, then get hopping PO'd and write thier Congress People. I have already done it and I will hound them until something is done.

Those of us responsible taxpayers deserve better than what we are getting from our Congress.

Ok, I'm done venting for now. Time to fix 3 boxes of Hamburger Helper with 2 pounds of hamburger.

It been a while since I last posted

Time sure has flown and it's been a while since I posted. I have been busy on a couple of projects. Got one done and need to get some pics uploaded. I think it turned out nice. I won't wear it since I don't want it damaged. I plan at this time on entering it in the Fair in August.

Most of my work has been on a Christening Set to enter into the Fair. It is all done in thread. I finally have the gown done. All I need to do is weave in the ends and work on the embellishments. It took a long time but I think it will be worth it in the end. Now I am whipping up the Bonnet. Stated it htis morning and will have it finished very shortly.

There's also booties, crochet edged socks, a bottle cover and a matching afghan. The afghan will be interesting since it is also done in thread.

I will try to get pics posted of what I have done so far in the next day or so.

Last Sat. we went to the Sportsman's Show in Portland, OR andi t was a lot of fun. The grandkids were with us as well as thier momma. Our son and his girlfriend showed up a little later. They missed the fun at the kids fishing pond. Mollie and Michael each got 2 fish. Michael had fun as long as the fish was IN the water but as soon as the fish was out of water and flopping around he went running and screaming. It was down right funny.

We found several boats we liked but of course right now is not the time for us to buy. Need to get the car paid off first. Less than 2 yrs and it's paid off, Yippee!!!

Last few days has been horrible. Woke up sick on Monday with a horrible sore throat. Was down sick both Monday and Tuesday but today feeling much better.