Hello, friends, it's been a great day in so many ways. My prayers were answered about someone close to my heart, which is the main reason it was a great day.  In other matters...we found a new home for our two chickens that were left out of dozens of them that we raised.. There is a nice mexican guy that lives down the road, he has lots of chickens, they just run free and his pitbull actually protects them, it's pretty amazing. So, our last two cluckers will spend their final days with 4o other hens and roosters. So we are officially out of the chicken business after 11 years. What an experience! We sure enjoyed them. It was a beautiful day and we spent lots of time outside. I also worked on re-purposing some Altoid tins, and some other projects... I hope you all had a great day.

Visit with the Yandells

Mom and I went to Decatur today and spent the day with the grand boys, and Shelley. Cary was working, but we got to see him for a few minutes right before we left. We had a delicious lunch and then we all gathered in the kitchen, kids included and made a cheesecake dessert that Shelley found on fb, the boys were a big help.....really....., it was very tasty!! Enjoyed the day so much, hope you all did too!

Happy Birthday, Preston!

Happy 38th birthday to my youngest son, Alexander Preston Phillips . Have a great day, son, we love you so much and are so proud of the awesome husband, wonderful father, and all in all the man you have grown up to be...hugs from all of your family in Illinois, especially your mama... smile emoticon It was so nice to hear your voice yesterday.we miss you.

First face painting event of the year...

I had a nice day at the Donoho Prairie Christian Church Quilt and craft show. Got to see some old friends, Bill Bandy, was so nice of you to make a special trip to see me, wish Tina could have made it also, and John Sharon Claybaugh, always a pleasure, my friends! Thanks for rounding up the grand kids.., Bob Lybarger, thanks for helping me set up this morning, and for giving me such a hard time...lol.... Donita Morris, I wouldn't have been there had it not been for you, so thanks, and always love seeing you. The kids were awesome, as always, what a fun job I have! Here is my favorite photo of the day....I was set up by the slide, they were arguing over who was the boss of the slide, and were getting really noisy and blocking the slide, and the ladder, , so I told them that I was the boss of the slide, and to come down and line up, so I could take their picture....and then I told them I would hunt their parents down if they didn't quit arguing.... They were pretty good after that.....I'm a MEAN face painting lady....I hope you all have a good day too.

Sheila's shed improvements

We got lots done outside today. I got my hostas, ornamental grasses and wine color carnations planted in the garden and around some of the larger trees in the back yard, the taters are planted also, yeah! Bill made me some little gingerbread house shutters (that's what I call them anyway) for my craft room too, He's just the best! Now I need lots of flowers planted around the building, but that's for another day! I hope you all had a good one!

INTO THE WOODS.

Mom and I had movie day today, and we decided to watch INTO THE WOODS, which, as many of you know, is a musical. I'm not a huge fan of musicals where there is little dialogue and most of the story is told through song. This was no exception, it was beautifully done, but every song sounded like the last one and in the same key, it got very tiring. The acting was great though, how could it not be with Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp and many others, just not my cup of tea, but I gave it a go anyway. I hope you all had a great day!

And the gardening begins...

I got some flowers and carrots planted today, and did some weeding. Actually, I did LOTS of weeding...  I hope you all had a good day!

The mustache Chronicles

Those crazy grand kids and surfin' bird...

The boys wouldn't go to bed until I played "surfin' bird" (Family guy version) about three times...they crack up every time...then I crack up at them...The dogs lay on the floor by me all night, so I feel pretty safe here, they are BIG dogs, but are just lovable puppies at heart. The cat doesn't like me, and the fish don't care either way...lol... I hope you all have a good night.

No storms, yeah!

Well, it has done absolutely nothing, weather-wise, I'm not complaining. We are still under the gun tomorrow. We just got back from Subway, those boys ate all of their food. I thought they wouldn't be able to do it. So I let them get extra soda and got some cookies for a treat later. They are playing on their xbox, so I am relaxing. I hope you all have a good evening.

RAPBERRY TEA ROOM.

I treated myself to lunch at the Raspberry Tea Room, which is less than a mile from Shelley's house. I've driven by it, literally hundreds of times on my way to see the grandboys, The food was wonderful, and is a good place to have a light lunch, or a whole meal. They had 20 different desserts, seriously! The restaurant is at the end of an antique mall, which used to be a motel. I checked it out too...anyway, I've had a good day. The boys and I are going to Subway tonight, they are looking forward to it. Still no storms, but the sun has been out, and things are getting more humid...I hope you all have a good day!

Well, the grandboys were disappointed that I didn't bring crafts and experiments to do this trip, so I went to Dollar General while they were at school and got a few things for them to do.. so after a supper of tacos, we made some glow in the dark sand art, and then we started working on jigsaw puzzles...lol...now THAT kept them busy all evening and me too! Shelley and Cary are in Austin, Texas on their vacation in their cottage that they rented. I'm sure they will have a great time!

Back in Decatur, IL

I'm back in Decatur, Shelley and Cary have left to stay with Darren, so they will be closer to the airport in the morning when they fly off to Austin, TX. The boys have school, so I'm not sure we will have time for crafts and such. I hope you have all had a great day, so far..

Easter Sunday dinner on Saturday.....

Had a wonderful time at dinner today, but, Oh my..so much food! Mom joined us too, and we all had a nice visit. Look what my mother-in-law got all of the daughter-in-laws for Easter! Isn't it cute? Does anyone know what kind of succulent this is, so I won't have to go searching? The reason that my mother-in-law always gets us something is because her "boys", have to have a chocolate rabbit every year...lol...a few years ago she thought it was time to stop getting them the chocolate bunnies, I mean, two of them were over 50 already. and they all were whining "Where's our chocolate bunny?" Waa waa...So, being the good mom she is, the bunnies arrive every Easter like clockwork.... This is a true story....really, it is. We did some yard work, getting the garden ready...can't wait to get something growing in there....I hope you all have had a great Saturday!

Glitter glue slime and shaving cream eggs

I've reach the bottom of my Mary Poppins Magic bag of tricks....today, we made glitter glue slime...it was not the greatest stuff, as it got too firm, but they had a ball with it. Then we colored Easter eggs using shaving cream and food coloring...they LOVED this, of course, because it was very messy, very, very messy! While we were waiting for the eggs to dry, they had to play in the left over shaving cream stuff...lol..kids!...anyway, the eggs turned out beautifully! We used neon food coloring and put them in a basket. They are playing with their remote control cars now, they are SO busy! I hope you all have a great day!