Fall is just around the corner

Look how pretty my new look is....Miss Boots you do gorgeous work....thanks a million for keeping me looking so good! Loving the fall feel of things in here...now if we could just get rid of this heat and humidity and it feel more like fall, I would be one very happy camper...LOL!
I thought retirement meant boredom.....not in my case....I seem to be so much busier than I ever was while working and there never seems to be enough hours in the day.  Granted, I do have more time at home, house stays cleaner, laundry always done, cooking more, gardening more, etc....but...I am happy to say...I have more time for friends and visiting and helping them and that I really do enjoy a lot! I thought I would have more time for my scrapping and designing and blogging...and I do occasionally have those periods...but I am reconnecting with things outside of my home and that makes for really fun and sometimes tiring but happy times.
This month has been a particularly busy month with birthdays and the "little" things that have to be done to proceed with the purchase of the other half of this duplex.  What a lot of red tape, hope I never have to go through this again! It is certainly exhausting all the crap that the lenders are requiring now and these politicians have nothing better to do than make life miserable for the consumers with all these ridiculous "new" laws. Enough of that, getting off my soapbox before I really start a rant....LOL!
Yesterday was my awesome brother-in-law's birthday so I decided to make a page for him and put it on Penny's Facebook for him to see.  Then, I just could not stop there...I had to add a few more, so here they are for all my blog readers to see (and they will be printed in my year end Blog2Print book)!

 

This is a QP freebie by DbR called Tell Me Again, Weymond has his arms full of Annabeth and Calvin with their bottles. He loves holding both of them at the same time.

 

This QP freebie is called Best Friends Shenanigans QP 005 by StyRock. Papa is reading to a very tired Hayden after school.

 Mr. Cutie Calvin in a series of photos I got from Margaret's Facebook, He is on the tractor with daddy and in the car with Mama. He is 29 pounds now and has cut 6 teeth this past 2 weeks...he will be one in November.  Big Happy Boy! I used a Free template by Oklahoma Dawn from 9-7-14 and recolored to go with his clothing and increased the size of the postage photo frame.

 This marvelous free QP is by Deanna a CT for Connie Prince designs and is called You are my Gift which I thought so perfect for Miss Annabeth.

This adorable little cutie is Neli Mandel's great granddaughter, Maria Helena, that was posted on her Facebook page and I decided to do a RAK and create a page using Neli's frame (turned sideways and doubled) added some lace from Kyra at With a Russian Dutch Heart and some pearls from Laurrie at CheyOkota Scraps. 

And this is my sweet niece Sebrina in a QP that I created as a freebie for Miriam's Scraps for y'all! I started with just the Wordart, then I created the cluster frame and the background, then decided to put them all together to make a QP and used a current photo of Sebrina that I put on her Facebook as a RAK for her mother....ROFL!  I have all three in one download on Miriam's site if you want it. 
You can find links on my blog roll or I have linked some of the designers mentioned....they offer some really lovely freebies and are very generous with sharing so pay them a visit. I thank all of them for sharing their talent with me.
Amy and Margaret and Christina have shared some awesome new photos, so I hope to be making more pages soon to share...especially next week as a little boy I know will be turning 3 years old...right Jayson?
For now, though, I must get busy, got to change the bed and get a couple loads of clothes done, and bake another couple loaves of scrumptious banana bread from this absolutely simple recipe from my Cajun friend Chris....3 ripe bananas, 2 eggs, 1 yellow cake mix.  Mash bananas, incorporate the eggs, pour in cake mix and mix together, put in two medium or one large loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Totally wonderful bread, not overly sweet and so great with morning coffee or evening snack with cold milk.  (You can add nuts if you desire, I put pecans in mine). Think I need a piece now to tide me over...LOL!
Y'all have a fantastic weekend, make lots and lots of memories to share and I will chat with you more next time.  Hugs, Mat

Need to Slow Down

Wow, what a rushed two weeks....I need a breather and to slow down some.  Whoever said retirement was so boring must have had no life at all! I am much busier than when I was working full time...LOL!
We hit a snafu with the lending company over a Texas Law that their lawyer had a really weird interpretation of regarding cashing out...WHATEVER...the loan manager found another lender that interpreted the law as it was written and passed so....we had to start all over with new forms signed....etc! All is done and in process again, the survey has been completed, now we have to have an appraisal, that should be the end of all the requests other than fulfilling the escrow accounts.  Whew! buying a home (or buying out a co-owner's interest, in this case) is a long and tiring process! I hope it all is completed soon and things get back to somewhat normal around here....ROFL!
I also did some graphics work for my CPA's Naval Reunion later this month, that was fun, but a very tedious job and finished all requirements and turned over to him yesterday. He seemed very pleased with the results!
I had a girl friend come and spend a couple of days with me that took a little of my time too, we did a couple of things together and cooked and chatted until the wee hours catching up! That is always fun!
We had a cold front come in early this morning with a few little showers and dropping the humidity and  temps a little bit, so I turned off all my overhead fans and dusted all of them, what a mess that makes. Then I vacuumed and wet mopped the whole house, all the laundry is caught up, cleaned the litter boxes and started fresh with them and even planted some mums around my mailbox. Now I can enjoy this lovely weekend that is approaching. Yesterday we broke records with the heat at 103 degrees with the humidity it felt like 108 and today it didn't reach 90, but with the humidity down it feels so cool. Tomorrow is supposed to bring more showers (yeah, we need them so badly) and cooler temperatures for the whole weekend in the upper 70's to low 80's!  So, so, so happy to see that and no humidity. That has been simply awful this summer or I have really been super sensitive to it!
I haven't had much time for the internet, no Facebook, no games, no blogging and no designing (for me anyhow), but I did manage a quick page to post on Facebook on the 9th for Annabeth's first birthday. Can you believe it? Already a year old and is weighing in at 22 1/2 pounds.  She surely is a cutie pie.  Wish I could go for a visit, but...too busy and must be here for this real estate deal. Just look at her in this page I got from Fecnikek.

The top photo was made the day before her birthday and the lower one was made around Valentine's day! Isn't she a little doll?
I had started putting together another double page of my sisters with their grandbabies, so I finished that today and thought I would post it too. The QP is called Because of You by Booland Designs. You can see I titled the pages Because of You..(the of is split between the two and should look good when I have the book printed.

Well it is getting late and I need to feed all these kitty cats and start closing the blinds and curtains and get ready for my nightly routine...TV and a couple of puzzles....and hopefully lots of sleep. Will chat with y'all some more a little later on.  Have a fantastic weekend, hope you make lots and lots of memories to share!
Hugs to all! Mat