A little bit of crafting...just a little bit

Last weekend I finally got a couple of new projects completed. I really haven't felt like sitting down to make anything lately. I think I'm trying to squeeze in the last little bit of summer that I can. Plus, I have been pretty busy with some volunteer stuff at church and also some family activities. Anyway, here are a couple of things that I made.

I realize that these are over-the-top processed, but I'm not that good at it and my lighting wasn't very good at all, so this is what I came up with. I don't actually have photoshop, but I do have paint shop pro. I need to get photo shop, take a class and/or read a book so that I can figure out how to make my photos look better.

I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far! Does anyone have any big plans for the weekend? We are going to spend one day in Cannon Falls helping Jeremy's grandma with some yard work and on Sunday we will be...drum roll please...going to the State Fair. It is my mom's birthday and she loves the fair, so she gets to pick what we do. She loves to watch the talent show on Sunday night. Now I just need to figure out what kind of fried food on a stick I want!

I grabbed a Treasury!

I was goofing around on Etsy and noticed that the Treasuries were about to expire, so I was able to grab an open spot and create my own. I love these colors! If you want to check out the real page it is HERE.

If anyone knows how to save a larger image without distorting it, let me know!

Not much to post about lately

This week has been busy with everyday life. There are some blogs that I visit that always have fun, inspirational posts every day. (Here is one such blog) I think I need to start making a list of topics to post about. It probably all boils down to the fact that I need to get more organized.

One fun note for my out-of-town readers is the fact that the Minnesota State Fair started today. Jeremy and I aren't that crazy about the fair. No reason really, we just don't do the fair. However, I love how 100% Minnesota it is. Where else would you have this?

(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

That's right folks, Princess Kay of the Milky Way gets revealed at the Fair and she gets her head sculpted in butter. (the above photo is from 2005. I couldn't find a photo of 2008's winner because it might not be done yet. They mentioned on the news that it was in-process) Love it!

I haven't been creative for a long time, so tonight I think I have some time and I'm going to lock myself in the craft room and try to get some stuff done. Hopefully I'll have some fun posts soon!

Synchronized Belly-Flops

As we were watching diving the other night Jeremy said that he and his uncle Bruce should join the Olympic team. I didn't agree with him.

Olympics

I have been watching the Olympics every night since it started. I really don't know what my favorite sport is, but I'm starting to really like swimming. I guess you could say I'm a Phelps phan. (I hate that commercial) Do you have a favorite sport that you have been following? Do you have a favorite athlete?

All of the segments that they have been doing on China have been really interesting. It makes me really think about the people of China.

I was at the store today and there was a man in front of me with this bracelet on. He said that his pastor was giving them out at church on Sunday. I was interested in where it came from and it looks like Voice of the Martyrs is giving them away for free.

A to Z Produce

On Tuesday night of our vacation we all got in the car and travelled to Stockholm. (WI) There was this crazy pizza place called A to Z Produce that Grandma had been to and she said that it was just great. We didn't really know what to think of it because she said that you had to bring your own chairs or blankets and beverages and you ate on the lawn in the farmer's yard. She said it was only open on Tuesdays from 5:00-8:00 and you have to take your trash with you when you leave. There were no signs for the place and the only indication of the festivities was the posting on the barn. We pulled up to see this charming farm where many people were gathering.


The concept is that you walk up and order the pizza that you want from the menu (we ordered 7 of them) and then you can pick the pizza up in about 15 minutes. That is literally how long it took for our 7 pizzas...15 minutes! Let me tell you, this is some of the best pizza I've ever tasted!! All of the ingredients are fresh from the farm.

We ate all of the pizza in about 5 minutes. I don't know if all of us were hungry from being outside all day or what, but that pizza was gone in record time!

There was another family that we knew also eating there so we stood around them and sang the Johnny Apple Seed Song with a little modification:

Oh the Lord's been good to me

So I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need

The sun and the rain

And the Pizza too

The Lord's been good to me

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen...AAA-Men

We walked around the farm a bit and saw some of the herb gardens. I'm not sure if these are the actual herbs that go into the pizza or not, but I thought it was a good photo opportunity.

This is the parting shot of their big lawn where everyone was still eating. I hope we get to go back again sometime.

Vacation

We are home from our week of vacation in Pepin,WI! I am going to share the week in a few segments over the next couple of days so that I don't have a super long post.

We stayed in a great location called Mariport right outside of Pepin, WI. Pepin is where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born and there are references all over town referring to her. Jeremy and I drove to the actual site where she was born which is a couple of miles out of town. The site is right off the road and there is a cabin there. The cabin isn't the actual cabin where she was born, but I guess it is a good representation. (???) I think Little House in the Big Woods took place in Pepin. If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me. As we were driving up to the site I can see how a little girl would think that the woods were big! There were many, many trees. (This photos was taken from my phone)

As a little girl I read all of the Little House books and I also watched all of the tv shows. I still love all of the stories. I want to go to the Guthrie to see the musical which I is guess is really good. Melissa Gilbert is playing ma.

The accommodations at Mariport were beautiful! I will end this post with a couple of photos from our "cabins." The first two shots are from the only day that it rained. I think that was the only time when there weren't any people in the pool!

I really didn't know what to think about the animals in our guest house. All I'll say is that they are amazing creatures. The owner obviously loves to hunt. The above photos were taken in the main house and the photos below are from our smaller house.