Never say you never win anything

Congrats to Bridget, for winning cat of the month!

You know how you enter random picture contests of your pets, just hoping to win...?

Well, I do anyway. Since I don't have kids, or a husband to put my energy into...guess where it goes? ...Yep, my pets.

I have this favorite pic of my cat, as a kitten, on a boat, on a lake in Mt. How could she not win any contest from this photo? I entered this pic into the local bank photography contest. Did it win? NO, why? Because it was rigged. A local bank, com'on, I'm sure they picked someone they knew or some one they knew that belonged to their particular church. (need I not mention which one)

I do not give up. Because I LLLOVE this picture, and everybody else should too. Ha. So, I recently entered this photo of Bridget to www.the catconnection.com.

To my pleasant surprise, I just received an email tonight notifying me that she had won cat of the month! We were soooo excited!!!!! Okay, I was soooo excited! Bridget just glared at me annoyingly while I rubbed her tummy chanting, "you won, you won".

Now, you may be wondering what we won? I do not know. I purely entered for the satisfaction of just winning. No prize motivation here. I just wanted to win something for once, for crying out loud. And it will never hurt your pets feelings to use them for the sake of winning. They did mention that they will be sending her a small prize. Stay posted.

It is ABOUT time. This Kitty at about 7 or 8 weeks, sitting on a boat in the middle of a lake, with 2 dogs and then camping out in a tent with me later that night. I say , she finally got the win she deserved from this picture.

Moral of the story:

NEVER SAY YOU NEVER WIN ANYTHING.

Crazy cat lady

How cute is this cat? This is Bat. I met him at a local animal shelter, and if I was a crazy cat lady he would have gone home with me that very day. What am I doing in an animal shelter when I've got plenty allready , you may be wondering? Just stopped by with a friend to visit the animals.

I mean just look at him. He is really spunky and will look at the camera when told to. Who wouldn't want this little ball of fluff?

I just want to remind everyone why it's so important to spay and neuter...so cute little kitties like Bat don't have to spend their life in an animal shelter waiting for a good home. Maybe some of us don't realize the inhumane problem it can really be to have an outside cat or a dog get pregnant when it wasn't planned.

By going to the animal shelter, it can get you thinking about these great pets. They really need a person to take care of them and look out for them, to realize how vulnerable they are, we need to recognize our calling to look out for these creatures and to prevent more unwanted pets.
If you want a dog or a cat , try checking out the animal shelter before spending hundreds or more on a pure breed.
Save little kitties like Bat.

Porch life in the fall...ahhh

As fall nears, (or i guess i need to just face it, that it is directly upon us. ) I am starting to get some " porch life" in.

Now porch life wouldn't be porch life if i could get a good internet connection inside the cabin. Which is kind of sad to think because I love being outside. Although trying to swat mosquitos off, munch on chips while drinking beer and type at the same time , can get to be too much.

Tiny is patiently waitng for me, while I blog, to go on his cool evening walk. Bridget is out on her leash stalking the little chipmunk friend that lives in our yard. (yes, I know. It's for the protection of the birds, chipmunks, and me...so that I don't have to take any chances of falling out of a tree when she can't get down.)

This is what Tiny does to entertain himself while I am away at work...

" I'll dig this one up...................................................and sit on this one, that'll show her."

So cheers to life on the porch...enjoy it while you can!

Reading the fine print

Do you ever stop and hesitate, when you run your check card? Do you ask yourself 'do I enter it as debit or credit?' Does it really matter? The money is going to come out , wether it is today or 2 days from now, it's gone.

It depends for me, I ask myself do I feel like signing my name do I want to touch that dirty pen or the dirty keypad? That's how I usually decide. Remember now, I have a hard time making decisions. If you don't allready know, when you run it as debit it immediatley comes out of your checking account. If you run it as credit it can take a couple days to post.

For the past couple years I have been using my check card quite frequently, and I have been in the habit of running it as debit. I also know that it costs the merchant less to run it as debit vs. credit...so isn't that nice of me to save them a few cents on my transaction?

Well I've got inside information, my friend that happens to be a boy, is in the credit card business. So I have recently learned that if I run my check card as credit, I earn points. And with those points I can get things, for FREE! I could have learned this years ago by simply reading letters from the bank, and I could have earned way more points. but I didn't.

Getting to the point. (Ha ha-get it?) My bank has recently been bought out by another bank, so they sent out letters saying use your points or loose them. Of course did I read any of those letters? No, my b.f. informed me the day before the points expired. So I jumped online and this is what I got for free, along with a cd !

I am quite proud of it too, I must admit. This is a battery powered frother. If you don't have one, it's time to get one. One of these babies can cost up to $20 bucks if not more. This one is deluxe because it is stainless steel and came with a holder. Now when you loose electricity, or choose to live without it, this thing is sweet. Because you can have that latte no matter what. All you need is a camping espresso maker, a campfire or woodstove, and thats how you do it with no electricity. heat milk on woodstove then froth, brew esspreso, and walla.

The moral of this story is read the fine print and you just may be pleasantly surprised.

Hearty fall color

simplicity goes a long way kale

pansy
Pansy

Mums the word

Ok, so I got all moved into the new place today! Moved in but not unpacked. There's a little tiny flower bed in front of the porch that is quite sad, with no flowers. First things first, gotta have flowers even if it is the end of summer. I found these nice little mums ( 2 for $5) at my favorite place to shop, which is Fred Meyer aka Freddy's.

What a concept, planting flowers in Sept, who woulda thought? Not me, it's gonna snow soon anyway. It's time to cut plants back not plant them. But when you move every couple months you work with what you got and make it what you want.

The mums didn't cut it for me, I had dirt on my hands and I just wasn't quite satisfied, so off to the nursery I went to see what other hearty fall plants were out there. I mean it seems kinda silly spending money on something that could die just like that on the first frosty night. Which could really be any day now, or night.




While I was in the nursery picking out just a couple little plants, some lady looked at my hands full of kale and pansy's and then said to her husband " they're just gonna die anyway, right?" They left empty handed in their car with California plates, and I left with some fabulous color for $6. that I am hoping to enjoy for the rest of the month. Welcome to Idaho.



Justification: that is only $2 more than a latte, and $1 more if you leave them a tip. And they will be enjoyed much longer than it takes to suck down a latte, that may not even be a good one. More on that another day.






Where are the pictures of the kale and pansy's, you might be wondering? Well, I got side tracked , blame it on aadd. I took pic's of Tiny and Bridget instead, enjoying the summery- fallish day. I'll put them on tomorrow.

Bridget doing her morning stretches

Sacrifices?

Sacrifice : a short term loss in return for a greater gain.

I just can't seem to get the right combination when it comes to finding a place to live. This is nothing new, and has been going on for quite sometime now. I have moved soo many times that I think my dad is probably wishing that I would get married and become someone elses problem, because he is the one that helps me move everytime. Which by the way, has been 5 times in the last 2 years.

So my dilema with finding a place to live is : I find the perfect place, but it is over my budget. Or I find a place that I can afford but doesn't allow pets, or they want a 6 mo or year lease and me... committ? I don't think so. So I end up in all these strange little places that accomodate my budget and my family of one huge dog and a screen climbing cat.

The first place in teton valley I rented for only $150. a month, but I gave up an indoor toilet, kitchen and electricity. Then I lived in someonelse's house for 9 mo's and gave up the pets, just recently I have lived in a camper, giving up my dignity and privacy. I just rented an adorable cabin to call home for the winter and it is everything I always wanted, well almost. There is no oven. And I like to bake. But it's a place to call my own. So I have chosen to sacrifice the oven.

I often wonder if I should just get a new career. But I like what I do, I really look forward to going to work. So I figure that happiness outweighs living in any nice home that I would never be in, for being at work all the time at a job I didn't care for, in order to pay the rent. I guess we all make sacrifices of different sorts, and it's hard to understand why others make the sacrifices they do. That reminds me of the sacrifice God made giving up his Son to pay for our sins. I can hardley believe it or comprehend how much love that really is. Just like many people couldn't understand why on earth I would want to live in a cabin with no running water. By living in that cabin I have gained an un forgettable experience and financial freedom. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.

Take a hike

I think today was the first day all summer that I ignored my phone for just a couple of hours, so I could take a hike. Because sure enough, the minute I get outside to do something I want to do on my so called scheduled day off, work calls. Therefore I end up working my days off and my days on, and that equals one grumpy girl that has too much pent up energy and needs to take a hike for her sake and everyone else's around her.

So I loaded up BIG T in the backseat of my jetta, Miss Bridget sits where ever she pleases, she usually likes to lounge in the back window and lick her butt. And we drove the mere 3 miles to the trailhead, where we went on the most peaceful, pretty and serene hike. I will share with you a little piece of the serenity and beauty I was able to enjoy.

Letting go...

Yesterday I made the official decision to sell my jeep. It shouldn't be that hard of a decision, you would think, but any kind of decision is hard for me. When it comes to my jeep, this is something that I have had a hard time parting with. I'm not sure exactly why. If I'm holding onto the memories I had in the jeep or the fact that I have just always wanted one and finally got one.

The story behind the jeep. After about a 3 yr relationship ended with the guy I thought , at one tiny moment, I might spend the rest of my life with, I went out and bought a jeep. Well, it wasn't like the next day or anything, but it definetly was the next step to moving on to another chapter. And why not start a new chapter in your life with a cool, red jeep? So despite the naw's and nay's from my father, I did it anyway.

Did the jeep get me anywhere in life? I got some tangles in my hair, I got wet, I got mud splattered, I got whistles, I got stuck, then I got t-boned. I was in a hit and run on my way to work early one morning. I rolled and did a 180 all at the same time. After landing back on my wheels facing the opposite direction, I could just barely make out the truck that hit me, through my completely shattered front window, taking off . He got away, never to be found. And I got a fractured vertebrae, and a totalled jeep without full coverage. ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR FATHER AND IF HE SAYS DON'T GET A JEEP, DON'T GET A JEEP.

I was able to repair the jeep enough so that I could still drive it, as long as I tied the door shut or just took it off. Now it isn't even worth half of what I paid for it. And everytime I drive it I am reminded of that day I got hit and how mad it makes me that that person got away with it. So now it's time to let it go, live, and learn. ( shhh, but someday I think I'll get a newer better one?) So long old jeepy.

40 AGAIN and environmentally friendly

I threw a party for my boyfriend's birthday on Friday, he's 40, again.

The birthday boy!

Cloth napkins, real silverware, and biodegradable plates

- for the environment The menu:

Farmers market radishes with anchovy butter

I was too busy talking and eating to get pictures

• Blue cheese bacon burgers - hot off the grill
• Beer bratworst- with sauerkraut
• Farmers market salad with smoked gouda and portabella mushrooms ( Aug issue of Gourmet magazine)
• Corn on the cob - all the way from MN, sent by his mom
• Tater -tots

Yogurt cake with fresh raspberry sauce

The cocktail bar

Gin shandy's, & fresh squeezed lemonade margaritas ...yumWe served lots of ice cold beers, microbrews, twisted iced teas, and some ginger beer & cranberry seltzers for those that would be driving responsibly. Recycleable glass bottles


Thanks to all our friends who came by and helped make Justin's party especially fun!

Wishin' I was fishin'.

This video is from about a month ago. Which was the last time I have (sadly to say) been fishing. It was also the last time that my b.f. and I have had a coinciding day off together.

Living in a "resort town" has changed the meaning of Summertime for me anymore. Now it means making hay while the sun shines. Not rolling in it, which sounds much more enjoyable to me. Not backpacking, camping, lazily floating down the teton river on a super hot day, or taking a 14 hr hike in the tetons whenever I want. These are just some of the things I love summer for. But work has seemed to become a new hobby.

Now I am not complaining about work. I am so thankful to have it. I am just explaining. But therefore I pine away for the fun things I used to do. When I had fun all the time, I pined away for money to spend, and wished I lived in the mountains. Isn't life funny that way?

Living it up

Bridget and Tiny

Ok, so this is the new pad for right now. Or so called the gypsy wagon. That just sounds way more enticing than the camper.

My journey in the solar cabin ended when I was offered a housesitting position that I couldn't pass up. Hmm, lets see, peeing inside sitting on a nice warm toilet seat or outside with snow blowing up my you know what, and possible animals sneaking up on me in the dark . Not a real difficult decision. Of course there's always a catch to something good. I had to give up my pets for 9 months while I lived in luxury. They went to Grandma and pop-pops.

So now that I have lived in a solar cabin in the woods, I can live anywhere, right? yep you got it. So here is where I live for the time being. I could probably live in this little joint for a long time, but winter is fast approaching, and this little thing is not much warmer than a tent, I think. Do I keep emphasizing little, oh yah. Soo little that Tiny, the dog, pretty much takes up the entire thing and has allready stepped on Bridget's foot. Which could do some damage.

Home made natural dryer sheets

So easy to make, re-usable, safe for your body and the environment, and you can make them whatever scent you want.

What you need: 1. An old 100% cotton shirt or other piece of scrap cloth. 2. Scissors 3. Pure essential oils of your choice 4. sandwich bags or rubbermaid container 5. Marker 6. Ruler ( optional )




Use the ruler to measure out desired size. I cut out 4x4 squares

I cut out 15 squares and used three different scent combinations. For a calming blend, use one drop each of chamomile, lavender and rosewood per square. This is nice for sheets. Do not use more than 5 drops of e.o. per square to be safe that it will not get oil on clothing once in the dryer.

I put them in snack bags and labeled them so they would keep their smell and be ready to use. You could also use any airtight container. Re -scent the squares once the essential oils fade after 2 or 3 times use.

Nice and inexspensive essential oils to use are lavender, lemon, and orange. you can also add a few drops to your wash, with baking soda and vinegar as a fabric softener, making them multi-purpose , cost effective and safe for you and the environment.