A Big Old Rant ! !

I am sad to report that my pretty phone has robbed, yes a burglar broke in and touched her private parts and stole things important to her, things that she would never share with anyone.

You ask...."Who could do such a thing to a sweet girl like this?".

No other than our dear friend and slave owner.....GOOGLE!

Let me explain and bear with me as my fingers are flying in anger.

This morning, I needed to look at my Gmail contacts, something I have never really done before as I just usually do a 'Reply' or if I am composing a new email then I just start typing the name and it comes up...you know the routine.

Anyway,  I went to the Gmail with the little arrow that you see above and clicked on it.

And then, silly me, I went right to the contacts (above) ...since that what I was looking for.

What should come up but..............

ALL OF MY PHONE CONTACTS IN 'MY' CELL PHONE ! ! ! 

Never, Never, Never would I share these with Google or anyone else.  Especially Google who, if you don't know, READS our email....nice huh?!

I do 'not' sign up for all sorts of things that Google wants me to sign on to.  It is like pulling teeth to get this kind of info from me.

"How could this have happened?"  I hear you cry.

Well now, let me tell you the workings of our Slave Owner....Master Google.

Several months ago, I can't actually remember when it started, Google started giving me 'pop ups' saying they needed my cell number.....For my own good you see, just in case something 'happened' to my blog, they would need to be able to contact me...they would go on to say, "you wouldn't want to lose everything, now would you?"  And being the misbehaving slave that I am...well, I just ignored it....Master Google didn't like that, especially when I kept ignoring my Master who knows what best for me.

So, one day when I went to my blog, you know, that place that is our own special place that belongs to us...well, Master Google ...TOOK IT AWAY ...yes, the Master took it until I bowed down to him and gave him my cell number so he could text me with a 'code' that I had to put into my Little House sign in place.....Then after I was a good little slave and gave Master what he wanted, he gave me back MY PROPERTY.

Isn't that kind of what a PIMP does!?   WOW, the more I think about this the worse it is.

So my friends that is the only way I can figure how all of my contacts got transferred from my private cell phone to my gmail account.

Sorry to all those who have given me their private numbers and that want to keep them private.....Google has them now......

Wonderful!

Quite a rant huh, my friends.  Well, I am done ....... for now.

xo

Canning Book Winner

Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a fine, long Memorial Day weekend.

We spent ours doing small projects around the yard and yesterday paid our respects at the local cemetery where there is a small but heartfelt service every year. We were pleased to see the good turn out too, it seems to be growing more all of the time.

We have a winner for the giveaway book, Canning For A New Generation.  Congratulations Paula, from "Home in Douglas" blog. Send me your mailing info and I will order it today.

This is a short week and I have a long list of 'hope to get to' things. An absolute must is,
 making an apron, mine are in shreds and since I put one on in the morning and only take
 them off when I leave the house, they have a hard life.

Are there any "Musts" on your list this week?

Have a bright day! xo

Thank You For Freedom

All of the flags have been brought out and carefully put in their place of honor.

I thank my husband, father, son-in-law and all those who have served and fought and

especially those who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom. I pray that God will

 continue to Bless America.

Summer Kick Off Giveaway

Well now......I have an urge for a giveaway. As you all know, this weekend is the kick off for the summer season so let's start it off with a fun and useful giveaway.

I spent some time this morning, looking over the offerings of canning books at Amazon.com and decided on this one.

 The photos are great and the offerings sound exciting with loads of good reviews too.

 Let's make this easy, shall we? Leave a comment about what you will be doing this weekend, maybe it is a big gathering with friends and loved ones, or maybe it's just going to be projects to tackle.

 All of you are welcome to enter, if the winner is outside of the U.S., The Book Depository will be used.

 Please have your comment in by Monday night and the winner will be announced on Tuesday.

 Have a lovely and safe weekend!   xo

Armchair Gardening

Hello friends and happy Monday! I do hope you all had a pleasant weekend. Ours was a busy one with the gardens being the top priority. Since I was gone all week when the weather was beautiful we had to make up for it on Saturday and a soggy Sunday between showers.

 I have much more to get in but Mr. Weatherman told me not to plant any seeds until later in the week because they will just wash away....So nice that I have that personal relationship with him, ha!

 Can't wait to dig into the latest issue of Mary Janes Farm, as you can see on the cover, they are tempting us with a recipe for Carrot Jam...sounds very interesting!

The chickens would like to say hello so we will hurry out before the next shower.

There they are...see how our garden has shrunk as we needed to give up space for the new 'chicken wing'.  I guess someday we will make it all a bit more permanent.

Oh my, the rooster has given them a warning signal...look at them run to the coop, something must be around.

And there you have it, the hawk, this is their nesting and hunting area.  We used to be afraid of them but the eagles are our real enemy as far as the chickens are concerned but Junior the rooster never takes anything for granted and gathers up the girls just in case.

Here is a great shot almost right above us.  As you can see the little birds are happy to 'escort' Mr. Hawk around, just to make sure he stays away from their nests.

Well that was an unexpected surprise to this post, I am so pleased I could share it with you.

Hope you all have a nice start to your week.  I'm off to go gather up magazines to recycle or soon they will be doing a 'hoarders' episode on me!

xo

Three Happy Bits

I have three happy family reports to share with you all. First, Sissy (Juliet) has new ears, she can hear again! Here she is with her Papa before the surgery to clean everything out, get rid of those nasty adenoids and insert the tubes in her ears. Great job Sis!

Kami had a great return visit with her Radiology Oncologist and the good report on this is, she has already gained 6 lbs. ...Good job Kami...keep it up!


 Last but not least, our son called the other evening and put the little granddaughters on the phone to make the announcement to Grandma...they both shouted..."Mommy's got a BABY in her tummy! Yippy! We will be having another bundle of joy around Thanksgiving. Needless to say we are very happy about this news!

Life is good and The Lord has richly blessed us.

I will be on the road heading up north to the Little House in the morning so I will take this time to wish you all a wonderful weekend filled with joy! xo

No Beginners Luck Here!

As promised, I am sharing the results of my first attempt at French Macarons.....Hahahaha,  you can see, they did not turn out as planned. Maybe I shouldn't have tried doing them this morning, while trying to pack up to leave...Maybe?!

 I had intended on putting my entire self, body and mind, into it on Saturday, but the weather was grand and the Mr. wanted to till the garden and when you live in the Pacific NW, you never want to miss any opportunity to get the garden going because it could start raining and never stop until June.

They actually taste really good....chewy like candy.

So the sad story is, I think I over worked the batter and probably a few other errors too.  When I get a chance, I will go online and look up some photos of failed results...Something tells me that mine might be one of the worse.

 But I will never give up, this flop will not deter me from trying until I get. I have many more videos to watch and more experts to examine. Stay tuned.

 I must be off, wishing you all a marvelous Monday! xo

Macaroons Anyone?

I want to make french macarons/macaroons.  Am I afraid to make macarons? Yes, yes I am.

Do I end up doing things that I'm afraid of? Most of the time, yes I do.

Image and info at Amazon.com

How will I make myself take the plunge?  I will tell you, my faithful readers, that I am going to do it and you will hold my feet to the fire....right?

 O.K. I will do it since you are insisting.  Saturday, I will make them and take pictures too and will share even if they are the most horrid french macarons in the world, I promise.

 My question to you is...Have any of you baked up any of these lovelies and if so, do you have any stories or advice?  Please do tell.

 See you Saturday if not before! xo

Joining the Living

Happy Monday everyone!  It is so good to be back with the living....Wow, what a bug that was, hopefully I built up some immunities so I never have to go down that road again!

I wanted to share this photo of our apple tree that is right out the back door....can you even believe those blossoms?  The tree has never looked like this, looks like I will be up to my elbows in applesauce this fall, can't wait.

Off I go now, there is so much to catch up on after losing so many days.

Have a wonderful day!  xo

Dwell Mag. Sub. $5.99 YR

I am sorry I have been missing but have been quite ill...I'm sure it must be a bad flu. I haven't even been to the computer. My father used to say "So sick I thought I would die and afraid that I wouldn't" ...sigh.

 I am thrilled to find this great deal on Dwell magazine for $5.99 a year at Slickdeals.net

Just go here and enter the Code 1264 in the box and in the end you should see the savings. Remember that these deals don't last long, sometimes just a day.

 I miss you all and will be back as soon as possible. xo