Thursday, October 29, 2009

Haloween Treats

I am linking up to The Graphics Fairy For


So this year I thought maybe it would be a good idea to get treats for my sweet Sunshine and Moonshine classes that were not sweets. (know what I mean?)  At Costco they had the Halloween Pop Corn such a great treat.  I was also hoping that there would be some extra bags left for me to eat all by myself  my children.  Okay me being me I could not let the children hand out the treats in the original form.  No that would not do.  So I looked over at The Graphics Fairy and found so me really cute graphics. (of course)  I used the graphics in a graphics program and added text in the Bleeding Cowboys Font which you can download Here




  
This is what I came up with.  I put two to a sheet and then just cut the sheet in half.  They turned out pretty well.  Just remember if you have two kids you have to change who they are from before you print.  My son almost had half his class done in treats saying they were from his sister.  Live and learn.

You can make it blank instead of putting the recipients name.  I made a few of these because he could not remember all the names of the kids in class.


 

We had fun and I think they all turned out great.  I know this is kind of late to post as an idea but I only did it last night and I know there are more procrastinators like me out there!  You still have time!




Happy Halloween!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Tari Manukrawa

Manukrawa dance be danced by a group of female dancers who numbered between 5-7 people. Manukrawa Dance is a new creation dance that describes the behavior of a group of water birds (Manuk rawa) as narrated in the story of Wana Parwa Epic Mahabharata.






This dance was created in 1981 by I Wayan Dibia (choreographer), and I Wayan Beratha (composer). Before becoming a freelance dance, Manukrawa dance is part of the Mahabharata "Bale Gala-Gala" work of Ramayana / Mahabharata Ballet team of Province Bali displayed in Bali Art Festival in 1980.



Friday, October 23, 2009

My Hospital Guild Find

Check out more craft ideas at
A Soft Place To Land
I also Linked to Thrifty DecorChick

and Linking up to BNOTH 

This post is linked to Finding Fabulous


I found this lamp at the Thrift Store.  Only $4 I thought that was a steal!  It had a shade but I forgot to take the photo of it.






















The lamp was cute the way it was but I wanted it for my work space in the laundry room.  So it had to be cream!  I also had to change the shade because it was burgundy.  I covered the shade in Scrapbook paper and added a little ribbon bow.  (hope it's safe to have a paper shade)

 
This is what it looks like in the space.  I am pretty happy with how it all turned out.


(click to see full size photo)The Keep Calm and Carry On was a free graphic from The Graphics Fairy
She has some really neat stuff make sure to check her site out.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Halloween Project


This post is linked to Finding Fabulous She hosts




Okay so I bought this frame on sale at K-Mart for $5 from the clearance rack.  I had put up my fall decor and needed something Halloween.















So I decided to print the letters B O O and a little clip art I found online on orange card stock.  I also printed the words Trick Or Treat then ripped them out.  Added a little of my scrapbook stuff I came up with this.

















I was pretty happy with my quick and easy project.  It did the trick.  Here it is on the mantle.  Let me know what u think.



Thursday, October 15, 2009

Home Again




So let me start by introducing myself, I am Tara a wife, mother and by His grace a child of God.  Often I stumble but He always picks me up again.  I live on 34 beautiful acres with my hubby, my 9 yr. old daughter "Sunshine" and my 8 yr. old "Moonshine".  I have good days and bad days but I am thankful for everyday with my family.  I hope to get to know you and share this beautiful yet crazy life.



Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Meet Bill Nichols of Nichols Tree Farm in West Lebanon and Lyme

Bill Nichols and his wife, Srimalai, of Nichols Tree Farm have been growing Christmas trees for 40 years. They planted their first trees in 1969 on a 76-acre property they purchased after Bill got out of the Army. He was stationed for a time in Thailand, where he met Srimalai.
The Nichols’ operation now encompasses some 2,700 acres, a retail Christmas tree location in West Lebanon and a choose-and-cut outfit in Lyme, maple sugar operation, and firewood and timber production. We caught up with Bill in early October, as he was gearing up for the tree selling season. Here’s what he had to say.

How did you get started growing Christmas trees?

“It was kind of a high school age dream. I used to work in the woods when I was in high school. I recall having a discussion with one of the guys that I was working under, running survey lines out in the woods on some of the property that I now own, and I asked, ‘If you want to work out in the woods and make a living, how much land do you need?’ He said you probably need about 1,000 acres. I asked, ‘What’s the best way to get money off that?’ And he said Christmas trees and maple syrup, probably.”

That sounds like a lot of work.
“Oh, yeah. You can’t say I don’t work.”

Do you still do the maple sugaring, too?
“Yeah, I do a little bit of that. We sell a fair amount. We do 200-400 gallons a year.”

How much land did you start with?
“The house that we bought in ’69, there was 76 acres with the house. Cost me $23,000. I got my money back on that property. Actually, I’ve gotten my money back on most all the property I’ve bought. But most of it has been sweat equity. A lot of firewood. I work pretty late a lot of nights splitting firewood. The original property that we had, I sold off 50 acres of that. I had my sugarhouse there, which I kept, along with 26 acres of that property. There’s just a few Christmas trees on that.”

What kinds of Christmas trees do you grow?
“Mostly balsam and Fraser fir. We used to grow some of the other – spruces, Scotch pine, a little bit of Douglas fir – but all of those other things have not been profitable. They used to sell a lot better than they do now. We’ve got about 10 different farms. Some of them aren’t too big. Others are fairly good sized. The smallest acreage of Christmas trees is probably a couple of acres, and the largest would be about 60 acres of Christmas trees.”

How many trees do you sell in a typical year?
“There really isn’t a typical year. We planted land as it became available or we made it available. Right now we’re at a fairly low production. We’ll probably only do about 8,000 or so this year. Three years ago we did about 14,000. Three years from now we’ll be up around 20,000. We’ve planted a lot of trees in the last five years, so we have a lot of stuff coming in. We’re going to start scaling back. Next year will be the last year that we plan on doing much planting. I’m getting a little old – I’m 63. It’ll take 10 years to get those trees we plant next year.”

How many people do you have working there?

“A lot of my wife’s relatives from Thailand work as legal non-immigrant farm labor. We normally start bringing them in in April for planting, and they go home in December.”

What’s been most enjoyable in your work?
“I find it very rewarding when everything is going good, which is mostly dependent on labor issues. Anybody that’s running a business will tell you that one of the biggest headaches is managing your people and getting good production out of them. And when everything goes good, it’s nice. The business if fun when everything goes smoothly.”

What is something your customers might not know about growing Christmas trees?
“Most people don’t realize the work that goes in it. They think you just stick a tree in the ground and a few years later you cut it and sell it. But you have to take care of every tree every year – fertilize, weed control, mow the grass, shear the trees, watch out for insects, drought, disease.”

Do you ever have any time off?
“I do a little fishing sometimes. I used to do a little hunting, but the hunting conflicts with the harvest season. I relax when I have the time I guess.”

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Tari Gabor


Tari Gabor / Gabor dance is one of many kinds of Balinese dance which it's dance movement identical with Pendet dance. It also often be present as a welcoming dance.