Normal Seems Wrong...

"Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it."

~ Ellen DeGeneres

I don't want to be normal today...

I would rather stay home and sit on my patio...

sigh...

Thank goodness it is at least Friday and it's pay day and it's a long weekend!!!! Hooray!!!

Happy Friday!

Thought For The Day

Sometimes you need to

marvel at your own beauty

~ inside and out ~

Winter in July

In helping all of you that have the extreme heat and

playing with Kat's Corner

~ Winter in July ~

if these photos don't help you cool off...

well... I just don't know how else to help you!! :)

And while you listen to my favorite Christmas Song...

please excuse me while I leave Winter in July

and go back to summer

(or what little we have had of it)

as our warm days have been few and far between!

Have a Happy Day no matter your weather!

Wild Nights

Last week I had a really 'wild' night!

There were hawks on bales...

and dear jumping through yellow fields...

while mommy deer and baby stood in the sunshine...

and an unexpected owl tried to hide in trees...

with his big yellow eyes looking at me...

and there were lots of geese confused as to which way they should be going...

while other geese families were heading in the right direction...

and plenty of ducks that seemed to know where they were going...

as big fat bumble bees landed on purple flowers...

and funny looking red bugs were creeping me out...

What about you?

Been doing anything wild lately?

~~~~~~

And for those of you needing to 'cool off"

check out Kat's Corner.

She's having a winter challenge

that I will be playing tomorrow!

Let's Catch Up!

Hello! The lovely sunshine called to me all weekend and I stayed away from my computer!

So let's catch up:

Renovations are finally done ~ hooray!!!

Photos of 'before'....

And the 'after' photos.

New siding, new front door, new side light, new window above the door. Very exciting!
New mailbox and new light and of course I showed you my 'creation' a few posts back. All that is left to get is house numbers. But we can't find what we want and we figure that there is no hurry because anyone we would want to visit us knows were we live anyways! :)

But what I've learned? Always add at least 30 days onto the 'completion date' quote your contractor gives you!
And I got a 'kitten fix' this morning! This wee sweet kitten was at a farm that I went out and took 'pregnancy' photos for a new mom and dad to be.
Errrr.... I'm not really sure what I was supposed to be doing with my lips there. Giving kitty a kiss I guess.
Darling orange kitty ~ so cute!
I have a bunch of things to show you of what I've been up to since I haven't posted for over a week ~ but I will catch you up over the next few days.

Right now ~ I am off to catch up with some of you to see what you have been up to!

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday evening!!!

Post #700 ~ and the winner is....

Here I am

Post #700

Who knew I would have so much to say

or so many photos!

So I printed off all your comments

(thank you to everyone who entered!!!)

Folded them up

Mixed them up

Put them on Banjo's window seat

(he hates having anything on his window seat)

and decided the 1st one he put a hole in

(he loves chewing paper!!!)

would be the winner!

And the winner is.....

Beaded Tail!!!!

All those beautiful ladies at Beaded Tail

(Isabella, Angel and Sadie)

must have sent out the 'love'

vibes to Banjo!

Although the prize is really going to be for their mom

I suspect by the time I finish personalizing the prize box

there may be a little something in there for them as well! ;)

Congratulations girls!

Get your mom to e-mail me your address!

To the rest of you

THANK YOU for playing along

and THANK YOU to those of you

that pop in to read my words

and see my photos

I appreciate it.

And now back to regular blogging....

It was hard going 5 days without doing a post

I feel like I have been through

Blog - Detox!!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

xo Catherine

One Post Away From #700

*** UPDATE (Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:00 p.m.):

Thank You to everyone who has entered my draw!

In totally borrowing the idea off other blogs (thank you!)

I am going to have Banjo pick the winner.

And since we need time to take photos and get

them ready for tomorrow's posting,

the entry deadline is now officially over.

After all.... Banjo and I

need our beauty sleep! :D

Sweet Dreams Friends!!

Come back tomorrow morning to see who wins!!!!

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

To my lovely followers...

With this being post #699

as a way to say "THANK YOU"

for following me

I invite you to enter my

#700 Posts Give-a-Way!

The Give-a-way Prize:

~ 8 hand-made note cards {made by me}

~ A package of butterfly sticky notes

~ A pretty pencil & pen

~ A silver butterfly paperclip

~ A glass lady bug

~ An assortment of metal clips

~ An assortment of page clips

~ An assortment of paper clasps

~ All in a cute wooden box

But wait...

there's more...

{just like in those commercials...}

I will add in a few more items customizing it for whoever wins!!!

All you have to do to enter is:

1. be a follower {near or far ~ here or there}

and

2. leave me a comment as to which of the

following describes you best:

a) Animal Lover {cats and pups and all things furry}

b) Queen of Crafty {paper and ribbons, buttons and glue}

c) Photography Buff {cameras and lenses, photos and frames}

d) Protector of the Earth {nature and gardens, flowers and trees}

e) ________________________ {you tell me!}

I will announce the winner

Friday morning, July 23, 2010

which will be post #700.

Which means I will be taking the week off from posting.

But not from reading and commenting on your blogs!!!!

So good luck to everyone

and have a wonderful week!

Come back Friday

to see who wins!

xo Catherine

Sweet Kitty ~ Careless Owners

Friday it was hot out ~ very hot out.

This sweet boy (perhaps 8 months old?) was wondering the back alley where I work. He wasn't a stray as he looked healthy and fed and was looking for love and attention.

Oh he had it ~ 5 women ooo'ing and aaaw'ing over him. This is a very busy back alley. The offices around where I work have deliveries all day. Big trucks, fast cars, lots of traffic. It was getting quite hot out and there was no water for kitty to slurp.

What were we going to do with him? The SPCA doesn't open until noon (it was only 8:30 am). Well... there was clearly only one choice... sweet kitty got to spend the morning with one of the gals in the cool office behind my office building. I think he got to help her with her paper work! :)

But no collar ~ no tag ~ nothing. No way to identify who this kitty belonged to. The closest residential home is blocks away from downtown. What was this sweet kitty doing out all by himself on such a hot day without any identification?

The worst part is, this is the 3rd kitty in just over a week who has been found wondering our back alley. One tiny kitten was not so lucky. Another one, about 7 weeks old, made it to the SPCA and is "out on a test drive" with a family. Hooray!!!!

I am glad this pretty orange boy made it into the arms of a caring and thoughtful person. I know she took care of him and made sure he either found his way home or made it to the SPCA.

Good luck kitty!

Special Project & Give-a-ways!

FRIDAY is here!

I made it.

And it looks like it is going

to be a sunny and hot one here ~ hooray!

I am hoping to spend some time in my garden this weekend

do a little weeding

and a little reading

perhaps a drive with hubby

and a little photoshoot.

I am also hoping to finish up a little project that I have been working on.

I am getting ready for a Give-a-way for you my lovely followers.

I am coming up to having done 700 posts!

So keep checking back ~ not many more to go!

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

And speaking of Give-a-Ways ~ you should check out the

Really Random Double T-800 Blog Party over at Random Thoughts and Winded Words ~ prizes galore! Added bonus ~ Sharon and Jackee's blogs are fun to read and look at!

Hope you go check them out!

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

I wish for you this weekend the loveliest weather

and that you get to do something special for yourself!

xo Catherine

Classic Saskatchewan

And for those of you not familiar with Saskatchewan ~ Corner Gas ~ written by and staring Brent Butt a Saskatchewan Comedian/Actor, filmed in Saskatchewan, about life in Saskatchewan and the classic quirky people we are. Enjoy!

Random Photos ~ Dragonfly

Yes...

It was alive

Just very intent and focused on it's task.

Just like me back at work yesterday....

:]