Mask of Zorro...

I just finished watching "The Mask of Zorro", 1998. I've never seen it before....and I LOVED it! Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones...great performances!!!

The last song of the movie is "I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You"...


Now, I'll have to watch the sequel, "The Legend of Zorro"!

Remember the 90's series???

Part 1...


Part 2...



Have a great evening!

A Bird in the Bush is Worth...what???

I have a soon-to-be family of ring-necked pheasants living in front under the pine trees. Well, apparently, the male just visits. Saw him flying into the side yard the other day and quickly snapped this photo. Have seen him strutting around the front yard, but I have yet to see the female. I'm hoping to see her and their little ones one day soon!!

Knock, Knock!

The other morning, while walking through the dining room, I saw a sight that stopped me dead in my tracks. Straight ahead, out the sunroom windows, was the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen! The treeline on the other side of the hay field was ablaze with color! Golds/oranges/reds...I was in awe. I hurried up and fed the dogs (cuz that's what I was on my way to do), ran and got my camera and snapped some photos! I was facing west as I took the header photo across the field...the sun was rising behind me. The photo in this post is kind of southwest from my back door. I have lived here for almost a year (yeah, already!) and I am up early every morning...and this is the first time that I saw the sunrise so brilliant! The new header on this blog is one of the photos I took that morning. I hope it shows up well on your monitor....bright colors of fall, really! Those trees are actually all green; nothing like they're showing. I believe that God is knockin' on my door...


Here is another photo I took.





Now, for those of you with a bit of cynicism in you, I have looked every day since then, and the sunrise, though pretty, has not been anything like the one that day.

DAVID COOK...

is the WINNER of American Idol's Season 7!!! Need I say more???

Here are a few of my faves...some of them are the (complete) studio versions...



He had me at "...hello"






This song takes me back...way back!


And, of course, TIME OF MY LIFE...

City vs. Country...& WorkForce Salute!

Living in the country is an entirely different experience than living in the city!

In the city, the inhabitants of the huge

neighborhood of apartment complexes

where I lived had many outdoor parties...

and it was sometimes very noisy...

and could be very scarey...

almost as though we lived in the Wild West at times!

Here - in the country - it is peaceful and quiet...

and the scenery is much more awesome!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I signed up for the 'workforce salute' on

wiba fm (classic rock) radio station.

Every Wednesday, a name is drawn and

that person has won a catered lunch from

for the people in his/her office!

Guess what????

They drew MY name this week!!!

YAY!!!

My coworkers were extremely pleased to be given a free lunch...

(they were soooo nice to me that day!)

sandwiches, pickles and chips from Panera Bread!!!

The food was absolutely YUMMY!!!

Today is all about Mothers...

Today is the day set aside to honor Mothers! Did you know...in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

And, honor her, we do...Mother's Day is now considered to be one of the most commercially successful occasions in the US. In fact, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts — like spa treatments — and another $68 million on greeting cards. Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the US jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008. Americans are expected to spend close to $3.51 billion in 2008 on dining out for Mother's Day, with brunch and dinner being the most popular dining out options. (Wikipedia)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celebrating Mother's Day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ultimate mother and child...

This oil portrait is entitled, "Kissing the Face of God"...here is what the Christian artist, Morgan Weistling has to say about it..."This painting was first inspired by a song that I heard one day. Sometimes, hearing one phrase is all it takes, and then a flood of inspiration follows. The phrase "kissing the face of God" immediately struck me with this powerful image of Mary and the Baby Jesus. It is an image that we have seen depicted many times, but never simply as a mother and her child with real tenderness. I started to contemplate the awesome privilege that Mary was given, being able to hold God in her arms, but also keeping in mind that He was still her baby. This cute little child whom she bore was also God in the flesh. And yet, she cuddled and kissed Him, just as all mothers do with their babies. This thought propelled me right into this painting which I wanted to be a very human representation of divinity. My prayer is that the viewer will be struck, as I am, with the amazing way that God chose to send His Son into this world — in pure humility."

The song he speaks of is "Mary, Did You Know?". Here it is, by Mark Lowry...



A side of Mark Lowry you may not be aware of...comedian...with "Mamma Had Enough!"!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This song is for my Mom...she'll know what this is about.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Closing Website...

I am closing my website sometime this month...somewhere between the 15th and the 19th. I will use my eCRATER store (need to add many new items)...and this blog to advertise/sell my wares.
I will be giving the final exam in my online course (Veterinary Medical Terminology) this week and, once I get the final grades in, that will be it. There is talk of offering the online course both fall and spring semesters...we shall see what happens there.
Nothing much new, here. Not working on anything right now. Am in the process of gathering wool for a new project, while Fruit of the Spirit is waiting for more work to be done on it. OH! I need to work on a gift for my Mom...tomorrow is Mother's Day! Forgot about that!!! Well, she'll be getting it late, I guess. Hopefully, she'll think it's worth the wait. Sorry, Mom!

I hate to leave this post without any photos, so here's a nice one to look at...


And, here's a photo of Don/Elaine's beautiful collie pup. Sierra is 11 months old...and GORGEOUS!

Have a great weekend...and Happy Mother's Day to all!

Lookie, lookie...

Remember this fabric I showed you before???

It's to make curtains for the sunroom and kitchen.

I dyed woolens to match that fabric...

and hooked two 12" round mats to go in my sunroom.

I can hang the mats, use as chairpads...

whatever.

They're brighter than what I usually do, but they look good, hey?

I might hook another row around this one...

Gotta go...DWTS is on!

Cleaning off the Patio...

Ya know those things that fall from the tree. Nooooo, not leaves...before they are leaves! They look like this...


Well, I have about a hundred gazillion of them on the patio. I've been thinking I should probably sweep all those little things up so that the dogs and I don't track them into the house. But, Tag had a better idea! Before I tell you about that, I must tell you that he doesn't go outside into the newly fenced yard without his warthog. Have you seen it? It's his HUGE toy...about 13" inches tall and 11" wide...it's heavy (the collies won't pick it up in their delicate little mouths, ya know) and he absolutely thinks of it as his security blanket.

Got all that? Okay, so when I let the dogs out after work this afternoon, Tag tore out the patio door with his warthog...pottied while still hanging on to the warthog...set the warthog down...like this (yes, that's actually how he set it down)...


and proceeded to clean up as many of those little things as he could (or, as many as I would let him eat while I was taking photos...anything for a post to my blog!). I guess I won't have to sweep, hey???

...that boy cracks me up!!!

Neil Diamond sings "Pretty Amazing Grace"...awesome!

Have you noticed how many songs sung by guest artists (and the kids, themselves) on American Idol are Christian-based? Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, and more...the American Idols with "Shout to the Lord", etc., etc.???? And, now Neil Diamond!

Never being a fan of his, I am simply awed by this song...brings tears to my eyes...his simple words speak so loudly! I find it pretty amazing, indeed! I believe that we are being given a message...and I hope everyone is listening to what God is telling us!