Back in the days of Merribell, the clown, balloon twisting was almost second nature to me.  But several years have passed so the memory and the stamina have taken a toll on me.  But that all changed when grand daughter, Jasmine, asked me to make balloon animals for her graduation party.  So I ordered balloons and gathered the equipment together to practice again. 

My first attempt this morning was quite hilarious.  The animal listed to the right and looked like a beaver with his tail in the air.  Actually I was trying for a dog but I put too much air in the balloon and ran out of room before I could shape the tail. 

Speaking of filling the balloons I have a Pump One that is close to 20 years old.  I bought it at convention from T. Myers out of Austin, Texas.  It allows me to fill a 260e balloon in one stoke without nary a bit of my breath.

Newer models are now available but my pump has been a life saver to me. 

I ordered 200 balloons from a2z Balloon Company on line.

Qualatex , my favorite brand, was only one day away in delivery.  The reason for 200 was, as you can see, I need a lot of practice to get back into shape. 

The last thing I needed was my books.

These I found In a computer desk drawer on the second floor and a closet in the basement.  Not as well organized then as I am now.  Jay also found some instructions on line at the T. Myers site.  All that remains is to start twisting.  I have nine days to pull this off.  Oh well I work great under pressure even if I am old as dirt!

Just a few months ago I bought two new loose leaf binders to transfer my ‘want to try’ recipes to binders with more room.  I moved the recipes to the new books and made new colored divider pages placing them in plastic protectors. Well it took the better part of a day but I was pretty proud of myself when I finished the project.  But ever since then every time I pick up one of those darn books the rings open and the pages partially or fully fall out.  I spent more time replacing the pages than finding something to cook.  I was tired of the frustration so consequently this is what my dining room table looked like yesterday. 

The other projects due to be tackled would have to wait.  In the upper right corner of this picture is a pile of clean laundry to be folded and put away.  It didn’t happen until after the table was cleared of paper. In the upper left corner are the balloon twisting books I have to relearn in the next 12 days. They didn’t even get opened!  In the center of this mess are a hole puncher, scissors, scotch tape, a cardboard box, two loose leaf binders, my reading glasses, and a whole bunch of paper. 

The reason for this mess can be explained when viewing this picture.  The black plastic tab on the right side is used to open, close, and lock the rings in the binder.  They don’t work folks—take it from me.  The metal tab on the left side is for the same purpose except it doesn’t need to lock them.  This baby snaps shut and can chew up a finger if you are not careful. 

Now this does not sound like a daunting task, but when I remembered that I transferred this mess in the first place for more room and I was going to put the whole thing back in the old binders something was going to have to change.  I started with removing every thing from the plastic page protectors which I put in the cardboard box for storage.  Next the pages that didn’t have hole punched in them had to be corrected.  I had several odd shaped recipes that needed to be trimmed and mounted on standard size pages with scotch tape,.  Then recipes printed on cardboard had to be scanned onto standard pages also. I removed the colored divider pages from the page protectors,  punched the holes, and put tabs on the sides.  All that remained was refiling the whole shebang between the covers of the working ring binders and putting the title sheets in the front cover and the spine cover(—right name—don’t know).  I’ll bet you that nothing will fall out now by golly! 

On the lighter side.

Those Iris plants just keep going.

The first Peony of several has opened.

Now the bush in South back garden, at the deck steps, has decided to start blooming.  This poor thing was abused badly by me a couple of years back because it looked like part of it was dead.  Thank goodness Mother Nature forgives a fool!

Well Jay is due in from dialysis in the next hour and will be looking for lunch.  I decided on making some biscuits, for salmon salad sandwiches ( got to go get bread later).  Also a lettuce and fruit cocktail salad for a side. So have a happy one—see yah! 

Update: 
I just check the bread box—-I still got bread—-Yeah!!!

Where were you last Friday night?

You remember times like this!

Jay and I were sitting and watching 504 happy youngsters from Lake Orion High School in Lake Orion, Michigan about to step out into a new life.

The Graduation was held at beautiful Meadow Brook Outdoor Theater on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan on a pleasantly warm evening. Proud families seated everywhere enjoying the Lake Orion band, Symphony orchestra, and chorus performing better than I have heard. any high school music department, in a long time. 

Grandson Dakota, who turned 16 on Saturday posed in his choral uniform for me before the ceremony.

I managed to get a picture of Jasmine, in yellow, and her two friends before the Senior Prom and I wanted to share it with you.

They look like they are ready to take on the world don’t they!

The proud parents, Wesley and Debra took Jay and I out for dinner before we drove over for the ceremony. They kept saying, “I’m so proud of her” but in the minds they were probably thinking only one more to go.

I will get more pictures of Jasmine in cap and gown, the graduation party, and the special entertainment that day if you don’t mind reading about an old gram crowing.

Molly knows those Hummingbirds are having lunch in that purple bush.

My Snow Ball bush is starting to melt.

You can see the bits laying in the grass.

The lilac bush that got run over by the ditch digger is still valiantly trying to bloom at the edge of the berm where I moved it a few years back.  I am going to buy a couple more to plant in the yard this year. 

Three more colors have joined the purple Iris on the berm. 

The last picture are from the other end of the berm. 

Next week I have to get out there and do some serious weeding in all the beds.  It has been building up since I got busy with the doctors.  I hope my knees are up to the exercise. 

The Wolverton Nurseries have informed us that the strawberries are almost ready.  We will have to get started on the jams shortly also. 

I hope all is going well with you and that you are smiling a little more every day.  I’m sure trying to!

The uploading program for pictures is excused the expression “Screwed”  but my IT man is going to check it out.  In the meantime I have decided a text message is in order. 

The trip to Henry Ford’s hospital in Detroit today resulted in a change in what drops for Jay’s eye and how often to administer them.  The doctor said he is coming along well and the next appointment is in three weeks. 

My latest visitor to the yard was a wild turkey that glided in from the road and disappeared behind the dome this morning. 

I have been wondering why I haven’t seen much activity at the nectar feeder the last couple of weeks.  Well I watched a Hummingbird feeding at the purple bush that hides the utility mess in the front of the dome.  Evidently they prefer natural to man made when it is available.

I also wondered if the Orioles had moved on but I saw three of them fly into the Snowball bush this morning. 

After I removed the larger seed feeder my Woodpeckers are having a time getting to the suet before the larger birds eat it all. 

Friday Jay and I will attended grand daughter Jasmine’s high school graduation.  I’m hoping she, like my other grand daughter Courtney, will go on to college.  I have one grand child left to finish high school.  Dakota, Jasmine’s brother, will be next in a couple of years.

Well it was a long interrupted day for me today and I laid down earlier this evening to regenerate so I’m messed up royally now. Maybe tomorrow I will get back to some kind of normal.  Until then take care!