Saturday, May 30, 2015

Salvaged Lace

     Before you get rid of clothes you've stained, ripped, out grown or it's just plain old, take one more look to see if there is anything you can salvage.  Do you know how much a jar of buttons at a yard sale costs these days?  I've even reused long zippers for pouches and purses. 
     
     Don't forget to take a second look at the lace. If it's easy to remove, then it could make a birthday gift just a little more special.

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Thanks to the FREE programs:
possibly used for this post
GIMP for cropping & other digital effects
 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo
PicMonkey creating collages used on this page

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Wordless Wednesday #123- Wild Mustard: Nature's Yellow Paint Brush

This time of year, where soil has a certain deficiency, 
the yellow wild mustard will thrive in KY.
It actually can make a beautiful scene.
These shots are drive by shootings going about 50 mph down the highway 
in south central KY, Barren County.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Comparing New Camera Lens

   
    Last week I broke down and replaced my broken Nikon D60 with a D5300. After a large amount of action shots with the 55-200mm Nikon lens, I was very pleased.  However, I'm so tired of always needing to swap out my 18-55 mm lens with the 55-200mm lens.  For the longest time, I've wished the 2 common mm lens could be combined. So, yesterday, I broke down again and pulled out the bucks.  I was amazed the lens would cost more than the camera!
     I shopped around online & the other big box stores, but my local specialty camera store, Murphy's Camera had the same price at their store which meant no shipping & slightly cheaper than the big box stores.  When I got to Murphy's, the gentleman showed me another brand name that was $300 less!  After trying it out on their Nikon, I was impressed.  Murphy's has been in business a very long time, so I didn't think they would be selling a sub-rated brand.  I thanked him tremendously for saving me several dollars & finding a lens that cost a bit less than my camera.
    
 The rose shot was only about 12 feet from me.
The dock was over 100ft from me.

I'm VERY pleased.
I no longer have to swap out lens,
& best of all, the camera bag doesn't have to tag along to carry the other lens.
Now I'm ready for my Grand Daughter's graduation.
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Monday, May 18, 2015

2 Ingredient Cookies: Banana + Oatmeal

         I have become very hesitant to try things I find on Pinterest and the Internet in general.  Some writers/photographers can do a fantastic job selling their ideas or recipes to me upon which turn out terrible when I try them.
         This is one recipe I had to test since it wasn't going to take a ton of ingredients and therefore cost a ton of money to prepare.  Matter of fact, the bananas were dying and headed shortly to the trash can, and I could spare the oatmeal.  Also, had about 2 dozen chocolate chips (yes that many), and some walnuts that needed to be used up before expiration.
          I was surprised they turned out like I expected. This cookie is not sweet but will be just fine with coffee in the morning in place of a bowl of oatmeal. 
          Can't get much healthier than this, and these cookies will fit into SO many types of diets including my whole grain, no sugar diet.
   
            Being just me most of the time, I really appreciate the small batch it makes. I enJOY moist, chewy cookies. Most of all, its going to be fun to be creative and add that 3rd, 4th, 5th.......ingredient. 
        I used 2 bananas, 2 cups oatmeal.  I don't think the ratio of banana to oatmeal really matters, just as long as you can get a moist dough.
          If you want to try this recipe, here are the two sites that gave me the courage to give it a try. One recipe is found at Burlap Bag and the other at Ambitious Kitchen.
  

Friday, May 15, 2015

Senior Night with Girl's Softball- 2015

We have had SO much fun over the past years watching my Grand Daughter be Catcher for her team.
So sad to see it coming to an end.
Last night we attended Senior Night.
She did an awesome job, as well as the rest of the team.
Almost went over center field fence.
I call it, "Giving the heads-up," between plays.
Always serious, but good natured when she needed to be.
She's graduating 4.0 and has decided to study Civil Engineering.
Far smarter than her Nana.
Oh, the other Grand Daughter just finished Freshman college year with a 3.5!
So proud of both of them.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Wordless Wednesday #122- Reflection from a Friend

 
Thanks Mary for sharing your shot!
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Sharing at several Linky Parties.
Thanks to the FREE programs:
possibly used for this post
GIMP for cropping & other digital effects
 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo
PicMonkey creating collages used on this page
 Attending these Linky Parties:
 Better in Bulk studio waterstone Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday   NanaHood.com

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

New Start: Saying Thank-you

Vintage Stationary and Cards

    Another chapter in my life has come to an end.  We started April 7 cleaning out my Mother & Dad's house.  I've dreaded this job for a long time.  It was a physical challenge for this arthritic body.  Last weekend I think I carried my last load of memories home.  A big thanks to Mr. G for helping us during 3 of those weeks, and helping me carry the stuff home and then unloading it which I couldn't have done alone.
  We had an Estate yard sale the first weekend of May. I think it was a great success with a lot of people coming by to see us.
   *As a little girl, I remember Mother many times pulling out the top 2 boxes in the picture above.  She must have just refilled them all the time. Back in those days, you didn't throw anything away. We even used such a thing like a stationary box over and over.  Sometimes they became treasure boxes, or sewing boxes to hold our supplies.
     On the following Sunday, we looked through what was left over for the Salvation Army to come by and pick up the next day.
      One thing that didn't sell was a grocery bag filled with boxes of vintage occasional cards and stationary.  This is something that always catches my eye at yard sales and isn't very expensive compared to what they cost in the store.  I had these priced eventually for $5 for the whole grocery bag full, and they still didn't sell.  So I took the treasure. This is only a small sampling of that bag.
      
         Today I mailed the first card for my new start in my new life to a lady that came and helped us learn about the value and history of some of Mother & Daddy's treasures.

    
Thanks to the FREE programs:
possibly used for this post
GIMP for cropping & other digital effects
 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo
PicMonkey creating collages used on this page