Kentucky Coffee Tree...a stick in the yard

We are on our way to Kansas, oh I wish I had some sparkly red shoes....no worries the drive is only 5 1/2 hours not over 20! Yeah to living close to our families!

I thought I would share a photo of our new Kentucky Coffee tree that we planted last Sunday. Thankfully it has rained twice this week and the weather has been cooler. Hopefully it will have enough water the next few days. In the next few weeks I think the poor thing is going to look like we stuck a stick in the front yard, the posts to keep it straight are bigger around than it is. At least we planted ours, my mom still has hers in the container we bought them in.

I know you can't see that the yard is recovering from neglect but it is. :) Colin and I fertilized the yard and he trimmed up the butterfly bushes. Next spring I plan on transplanting the bushes to the backyard and planting some drought tolerant plants up front as well as adding some seed for the dead areas of the lawn. The very best thing we have done though was remove the dead bushes by the front porch. We are getting there slowly, I see the appeal of buying a new house where you don't have to clean up the yard mess of the past owners. I am still working on getting rid of all the rock in the front flower beds before spring...I would like to do the same with the back but there is only one of me. Colin is not interested in the yard other than the tree, that is really the only thing he has been set on since we bought the house. I may have to load the truck up with rock this coming week and take it to my Aunt Cindy's so one flower bed will be ready.

Tuesday I have an appointment with my accountant to make sure my business files are all correct to file this quarter. They also specialize in my accounting software so I can get some guidance. :) I am so glad life is coming together and is good.

Enjoy your weekend and those around you!

Waiting

I am just waiting....my list of things to do is complete. :)

-Set show set up.
-Get food/drinks, they are all ready in the fridge.
-Mow lawn, this almost didn't happen because it rained last night.
-Vacuum entire house, including the stupid black casino carpet in the basement/bar. (Not dog hair friendly!)
-Kick Colin and the dogs out.
-Mop the house after the boys left.

I finished too early so now I am sitting around waiting and it is not going well, two of my RSVP's have called (sounding terrible) because they are sick. Not good for them and not good for me. :( I really hope they get better quickly because being sick is no fun.

It is weird that the house is so quiet with just me home, between the two dogs and Colin it is never this quiet on a Saturday. It is rather relaxing and wonderful. Enjoy your Weekend!

Tomorrow's Show :)

I just wanted to share a few photos since my show is all set up and ready for tomorrow. Well minus the delicious snacks. I already have to break open another bag of peanut m&m's because my Mamo ate them all while she was helping me set up.

Ornament Trees with small and medium ornaments for sale.

The sale table set up in the next room, all of these have been marked down A LOT. I hope they find nice homes tomorrow. :)

Table against the back wall, it has a variety of new different pieces.

Main table in the middle of the room, its hard to see but there is a button bracelet tree in the middle.

View from the front door, notice I FINALLY finished side chair #2. Between those chairs are my $5 items which I save exclusively for shows.

I can't wait :) And I should be hosting another party soon as a friend that can't make it would like to host one at her house in Castle Rock. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Food Saver :)

I just wanted to share my new gadget. Colin and I had dinner Tuesday night with my Mamo and made a huge omelet complete with: mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, onion, zucchini, and asparagus. Of course there was bacon on the side. Yum!!! While we were there she gave me a Foodsaver. :) She said she doesn't use it very often and thought I would use it. I have wanted one of these for awhile but it never has really been a priority. I know you can see the plethora of zucchini behind the machine. I already have a ton shredded and bagged in the freezer but now I can bag the rest with this handy machine. I can't wait to try it out.

I love kitchen gadgets! But I think I am going to love all the delicious zucchini bread we are going to enjoy this winter. I missed being able to freeze extra food with out the worry of moving and having to throw/give it away. This is much easier than canning. :)

Oh I got a bunch of raspberries on sale, not the same as Colin and I picking them but I will be making more jam this year. Today between cleaning I need to research trees to plant for our front yard since they are on sale and everything I have read says to plant them in Fall. Any suggestions on tree choices out there?

Squashing Bugs

I had to title this post as such because as I sit here my computer screen is attracting small bugs. They aren't staying long though....

Tonight was interesting to say the least. I got a call from Home Depot asking if they could send someone from Rainsoft over to test our water and it would take about 40 minutes in exchange for a $20 Home Depot gift card. So I talked to Colin and said ok, well it took over 2 hours. Both of us feel educated about our water now which may not be a good thing. In the future we definitely will get one of these systems. Colin and I both think the change in water might make a big difference in my skin allergies. I do feel bad that we essentially wasted the woman's time, she had to be one of the best sales people I have ever met. Not a bad sleazy sales person (I have worked with way too many) but one that is selling something she honestly believes in 100% and it showed. I think she was shocked by the fact that we told her we would be waiting and will keep her card but we will not open an account to pay off a purchase, we want to pay cash for it. I am pretty sure that almost everyone that has Rainsofts demonstration done would want their system and gets it right then. I know our water is much better here than many places we have lived and that disturbs me after tonight. The best part is that their system can come with us if we move.

Enough about that, now I sound like a Rainsoft sales person. Well I am a salesperson, even she bought some earrings from me while she was here. Anyways after that Colin and I hung out at our bar for some reason and then played Foosball....I lost.

It was just a strange evening, but now I have $20 to spend at Home Depot. :) And since we frequent that establishment at least once a week it was worth the 2 educational hours.

On a bad note that I need to get out. Colin's company is working on projects in Phoenix again, this time since we have a house they would pay all living expenses while we lived there. I am 100% against not moving with Colin, but I do not want to leave CO or our house. Since neither of us knows any specifics other than they are putting anyone with hospital experience (aka Colin etc.) on bids this may not even happen. I am just praying that he wont have to go, he already told me if he does I should keep working on my business here because my business can't grow roots without staying in one place. I think of all the opportunities moving has provided us but sometimes I really wish this was not our life. This is when being an adult sucks! I hope not only for our sake but for our friends sake that lived down there at same time we did, they would go before us and they have 2 little girls.

Sorry this has become an odd outlet for my thoughts but I can't keep them bottled up. Hope you are having a wonderful week. :)

Ranting Apology

Sorry for my ranting the last two posts. When you pay for a product/service you would hope it would work. Right?

I have been frustrated because I can't get items posted etc. if my Internet isn't working correctly, it wastes LOTS of time. Calling wastes lots of time, I spent my fair share on hold today as well. So yesterday I took the day off and had lunch with my Aunt Cindy. I do have to say from my conversation today the rep said the comment left on this blog wasn't legit, not that Comcast reps don't lie...

So without further complaining I thought I would say ENJOY your weekend!

Now I need to get back to work as I have a lot to do before next weekend.

Comcast Sucks

Please see my post yesterday! And read the nice comment from Mark Casem at Comcast. First I would like to ask "Why the hell would I give you my account info?" "Your vague information is sketchy and from checking you out online, if you actually do work for Comcast no one seems to think you helped much." Second, maybe Comcast should work on their firsthand customer service instead of having "employees" apologize after the fact. After you tick people off, after you provide shoddy service and DONT fix it!

After Comcast supposedly fixed our problem my Internet went out 3 times last night, for all I know it might have gone out more but I had to sleep. This morning it worked but I was gone all day and not able to monitor it.

I plan on wasting my day again tomorrow and complaining again. Mark if you are reading this TWO of my neighbors bills were dropped for this month due to the service and I can barely get my call answered. Apparently my 4 nasty calls were not nasty enough to get treated like a paying customer. After wasting my time calling "your" company I am going to check into other options! And I would appreciate you not interrupting my husband at work trying to sell him more options while you haven't fixed the problem!

Also after going behind my back yard and checking Comcast's cables....they are not buried in the ground and some look like they have been chewed on and are hanging on some of the neighbors fences. My next step is to call the City because that can't be up to code and your lines are on their property. By the way several of our neighbors are communicating and are doing the same since you at "Comcast" can't seem to get your stories straight and not give each of us different bogus stories. Maybe you need to learn how to communicate!

For those of you that read my blog, sorry for the continued ranting!

Technical Issues

Yesterday I was blowing steam out my head....due to Comcast! They have the WORST customer service I have ever dealt with hands down. I hate to say it but I had to act like my dad on the phone and that is NEVER a good thing.

1)Internet has been spotty for about 2 weeks, come to find out the power company accidentally cut the line and Comcast just did a temporary fix which is not working.
3)Their box for the neighborhood is in our backyard, I have now had FIVE different service techs knock on my door the last few days to go in the backyard. Apparently I am not the only one having issues.
4)We have had an account with Comcast in 4 states now and apparently I can't take care of anything since its Colin's account. (I have had to call in the past many times and never had this issue). So I had to interrupt Colin and have him call.
5)They have an automated system that basically runs tests on your connection but will not let you talk with a human until you have been on the line almost 10 minutes.
6)They were supposed to be transferring me to a service tech and transferred me to someones house so I had to go through the stupid system again. That nice gentleman chewed me out for calling....
7)When I called Comcast back AGAIN they told me I must have transferred myself, they would not do that. My question is how do you transfer yourself? I didn't even get a "I'm sorry"!
8)They will not admit that there is an issue on their side, they told me most likely it was an issue on my side and I would have to pay a service fee....they sidestepped the issue when I said I have had 4 techs knock on my door for other neighbors.

There are NO other Internet options in our area! I am about ready to go get a Verizon wireless card and have slower Internet so I don't have to put up with this crap!

Sorry for the rant! We have Direct TV for our cable and when I call them I usually get a person on the phone the first or second ring. That is so nice.

Recovering from the Weekend :)

Hope you had a WONDERFUL long weekend!

We were super busy! Firepit, bbq at a college friend's house, live music at Copper Mtn., bbq at our house, dart board games....guests and Colin doing the 120,000 maintenance on my Pilot, well maybe that one isn't fun.



I am glad for a great weekend but also glad our house is empty. I already got all the guest beds washed and remade but the kitchen is messy from all the yummy food. I got myself some coffee to start my day and am avoiding it otherwise. I have lots of work to do today!Here are some of my new buttons that a friend brought me from Georgia. Usually I find colors from one state that I don't find in others. Out of a huge freezer bag full there were THREE silver buttons, that is strange! On the west side of the U.S. I find a lot of silver, these are the first buttons from further east though. There were more navy buttons than I have found in any state. Navy is good because I have only ever been able to make 2 bracelets out of collecting buttons for the last 4 years.


My website was featured at Faberuna.com yesterday alongside a few other AWESOME jewelry designers. Check them out to get some great discounts!

Have a good short week!

Delicious and Awesome

September is going to be a busy month I think. My list of things that need to be done and I would like to get done is overflowing. I started off with printing coupons for things we like to eat. I was really good about this before we moved and saved on average $7-9 per week on groceries. I have been failing at this but I don't normally spend more than $25 a week now that we have a freezer full of beef and everyone keeps giving us garden produce.

Last night I blew my frugalness! :( I went and had Brazilian food for my friend Julie's birthday. It was delicious but not cheap. Several of us had never had it before so we shared several different appetizers and deserts. I also had a Brazilian drink that reminded me of a Mojito. They had 2 pages of Rum on their drink pages, maybe I can talk Colin into going there for a special occasion if I bribe him with Rum. He will try anything but that doesn't always mean he will like it, I think he will like this food and the Rum selection.

I am so grateful that we were introduced to Julie and she is awesome! I have to thank our friend Lexi's husband John for that. :) I have been out with all the other girls twice now and they are all wonderful. Its nice to meet people you have things in common with and enjoy their company. Its REALLY nice when you move a lot.

We have house guests for this long weekend and I have been slacking on cleaning....I have a lot to do. Saturday we are going to a bbq at a friend from college's house that lives near us and we might go to the Denver Zoo. You can't help but be grateful and appreciative of the people surrounding you. Since I need to clean and update all my paperwork I probably wont be online much the next couple of days.

Enjoy your long weekend!