Life Through the Eyes of my Scattered Brian

During the summer months with tree trimming, storms and just trying to get your yard looking good you can rack up some tree and bush brush (say that one 5 times in a row real fast!!). Lately I have noticed all along my neighborhood roads there is brush stacked every where, including at the end of my drive. Last weekend I cut back a tree at the back of my yard that was bad need of a trim. It was the type of tree that you see growing along the river or lakes, I think it is called a river birch. There were several of them along the creek in my yard when I moved there 16 years ago and I have lost most if not all but this one, and it is hanging in there. It developed a bad lean, right over into my back yard, a low lean, touching the ground. I thought if I got back there with my cutters and took off the smaller branches that would help take off some weight and it would pop back up. I did not realize just how many smaller branches that would require. A lot! I removed them and the main larger ...

Three years ago this past February I had an accident in my car. It’s a funny story in a way if a car accident can be funny. I worked with two photographers for the State of Tennessee at the time. Our director and a good friend of mine had lost her husband to cancer. The three of us were heading out after work to go to the funeral home for visitation that evening. We were taking our own cars since we all lived in different areas and that way we could all head to the house afterwards. Jed decided to hit the interstate, where Phil and I decided to head down a four lane highway. I was following behind Phil. We had just came out from stopping at a red light, had gotten our speed up to about 15 or 20 miles per hour when a woman in front of Phil hit her brakes. Phil in turn put his brakes on, I at that time had glanced in my rear view mirror. As I looked back at Phil’s car, I hit my brakes, pulled to the left to try to avoid hitting him, with no such luck. Yikes…yes, I ran up the rear of his ...

Here is an easy, simple but really cute outside project that is not costly at all. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to make. I started with a piece of rebar. The size you will need will depend on how tall you will want your project to be. I did not want mine to be that high so I went with a shorter piece. Cost was $4.87. Next I purchased 5- 6 inch clay pots with a hole in the bottom center. Cost $1.27 each. You will need rocks and dirt. These I had on had. My plants cost me about $6.00. Hammer the rebar into the ground just a bit making sure it is secure. Then you will take a pot and slide it over the rebar placing it on the ground. I then put in a layer of rock for drainage since this will be sitting on the ground. Then I filled almost to the top with dirt. Rebar with first pot/rock and dirt. Next, I slide another pot over the rebar at an angle, not straight up and down. This will put the rebar touching the rim of the pot. Again, a small layer of rock, then dirt. I then planted some pl...

Okay folks here’s the deal, common sense and common courtesy! That should pretty much say it all but as we all know, it don’t. First let me say, I was probably one of the very last people in my age group to jump on the age of techno with a computer in the home and a cell phone in the pocket. I got my computer maybe five years ago and my cell just three years ago. The computer was not that hard for me to get the hang of since I worked on one at home but the phone…who would have ever thought something that little would be so hard for me to get. I always said I would never have one, I made fun of people who talked while driving, thinking that it should be able to wait till they got home. Then I had wreck, it just so happened that I hit the guy I worked with (that is another story), so I was able to use his phone but I realized I needed one. I spent a lot of time to and from, here and there, alone in the car and usually at night, I knew it would be best to have a phone. Funny thing is, I l...

Last Saturday I went to the Franklin Tn., Farmers Market that sets up behind the Factory Mall on Saturdays. I had never been before, but my friend Theresa wanted to go and I decided that I would like to ride along. When I say ride along, that is about the extent of it. I don’t cook much so buying up a bunch of stuff is not something I do since it usually goes to rot before I get it used or put up in the freezer. Now, let me just say, I use to cook every night when I had kids that lived at home. My kids got a cooked breakfast almost daily, except maybe once a week where they had cereal. They got dinner cooked at home every night except maybe once a week where we would have burgers or something. Usually we would do a place where it was 5 burgers for $5 or something like that. When you are raising two kids as a single Mom and money is tight you just don’t have the eat out money all the time. My daughter moved out when she was 18 and my son when he was 12…yes, 12. He moved in with his Dad....

I bought my home 16 years ago the first of this month. The year after I moved in it was painted on the outside. The original color when I moved in was a country, gray blue color. I went back with that same color when it was painted the first time, not a lot of impact when you do that, but change the color from a dark color to a brighter, lighter color….you have impact. ~ Before ~ Fifteen years have gone by and the house was yelling out to me ( loudly) that it needed a fresh coat of paint again. My house is a wood siding home and with that said, there were some pieces of wood that needed replacing also. Then there was also damage done by the freak’n squirrels that ate a hole in the eve of the house and moved into the attic back in the winter. It cost me a small fortune to rid myself, my attic and my peace of mind of them pesky, freak’n squirrels! Anyway, I had Dave (painter, and hubby of the woman that cuts my hair) come out and give me an estimate. Dave has been painting for 27 years, ...

Hello all, It’s my third Trash to Treasure’s Tuesday! Today I am not showing anything that I have done or anything that I have purchased as a treasure from Goodwill, a thrift store or yard sale. I am showing something that my brother makes. Talent seems to run in my family. I paint, do crafts, jewelry, photography…etc. My oldest brother is talented with his hands and his ideas. He is right now finishing up the remodeling of one of his homes. Him and my nephew Chase have gone in and gutted this ranch type home and redid it all. They have done everything from taking down walls, to putting in all new bathrooms and building cabinets. He is great with photography and one fantastic businessman. My younger brother, Mark, is talented with his hands also. He is great with wood and scrap metal and metal odds and ends. He built my Mom’s sewing center, end tables and coffee table many years ago out of solid oak. He replaced her kitchen cabinets from pine to oak also. He does awesome work. Right no...

Saturday morning I got up early (what was I thinking, I could have slept in), and got ready to go to the Farmer’s Market in Franklin with my friend Theresa. I met her at her house at 7 am. Our first stop was her kitchen where she filled up a travel mug of coffee for me! Next, we hit the road to Hardees for breakfast. This is where we had to try out the new biscuit holes, and dipping sauce. They consist of biscuit dough rolled into balls, deep fried and rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon…. hummm, good. The dipping sauce of course is frosting! Then we were off. I had never been to the Franklin Market before but it was really nice. A bit smaller then the Nashville one, set up behind the Factory Mall in the parking lot. Very nice, clean and well organized. I really enjoy walking around and looking. I did not buy much but I still enjoyed the outing. I got a few tomatos, home grown garlic, free sample of handmade soap, and of course a watermelon! I don’t do a lot of cooking and I find if I b...

Hi….for those of you that just stop in the view my site I thought maybe it was time for you to meet me (for the ones that don’t know me already). Okay, so this is me with my makeup on! LOL…. I try to not leave the house without my face on. You women out there can relate I am sure…… Actually, this was last Halloween. The department I work for has a Halloween party, pumpkin carving/painting contest (which I won….I was the only one to do it) and chili cook off. So I pulled my stand by outfit out and put it on. Why would I have all this stuff? Hum…..of yes, I remember, many, many, many (okay, that is enough manys) I use to do kids parties as a clown. I checked out a book from the library and taught myself to tie balloon animals (most of that forgotten now), I did acts with my shoe laces, hula- hoop, tied and made faces on the balloons, and ran around like I had no better sense (kids love that). Course the fun part was when my kids got older and they had to ride in the car with me going to...

Making Jewelry I am a mix media artist. If you go back into my blog files you will see that I am an artist for oil painting. You will run across some of my photography but now I am going to post some of my jewelry. Just something else to keep me busy and out of trouble... Enjoy. Thanks for stopping in, Pam

Back 5 years or so ago I bought a store bought version of a Zen Garden. It came with a small tray, this powdered stuff that I guess was suppose to be sand, rocks and a couple of rakes. I worked with customers at that time coming in and placing print orders so I sit it on the end of my desk. A few played with it, most did not. Shortly after getting it for the desk I moved to another building and when I did, I broke the tray. I wanted to replace it but this time I wanted a correct one (with real sand). I went to the Dollar store and found a ceramic dish in a basket. I had a friend pick me up some sand on her trip to the beach and I made my own Zen Garden. Complete with real sand, rocks and my racks. It is a stress free feeling to pick up a rack and move the sand around. This little version of a Zen Garden did not last long in the office I worked in. There were only 3 of us in Photo Services, two photographers and I. Thanks to my then co-working photographer and now my friend, Phil, it be...

Morning all, This is my second post for Trash to Treasure Tuesday. These are a few items that apparently were trash to someone else, or at least not needed by this someone any more. I found these three items a couple of weeks ago at my local Goodwill store. I am not a big shopper of Goodwill but my Mom is, she has found great buys there more then once. I go in from time to time just to see if there is something there that I can use in one of my projects. Something to change, paint or add to. The candle holder I just loved. Solid brass. I decided to keep this one, for now, for my home. I am going to add some beads to it hanging down to match my living room. I will for sure post a pic once I have that done. I found this one for $1.99. Next is the jewelry box. Bottom draw pulls out, top lifts up. Inside and outsides are in great shape. I think I will put new life into this with a coat of paint and something painted on the top of it. I paid a whole $1.49 for this piece. Make a nice gift fo...

Kathy and her sister Tammy Looks like I am on a birthday roll again~~ Today my cousin Kathy turns 51. Kathy lives in Georgia and we only see each other once every other year or so these days. You know how it is when you have so much going on with your life. Although there was a time when we were younger that we saw each other at least twice a year. Kathy and I have always been close. It was just a given that when we went to visit Grandma, I stayed several nights with Kathy. I have even seen pics of Kathy and I playing as children of maybe 2 or so. When we visited Granny, there was not always a lot to do, we sort of made up things to do, just like kids have always done before a lot of tv and video games. My granny lived on a busy 2 lane highway and one of the games Kathy and I came up with was to sit on the porch and count cars. Granny had one of those covered porches with a metal glider on it and metal chairs. I spent a lot of time out there. But Kathy and I would sit in the glider an...

Twenty-two years ago today, at 11:37 AM, my son Cory came into the world. Happy birthday son. Cory was born 6.5 years after his sister Amber. She so wanted a little girl and had her heart set on me bringing a girl home. She was insisting so much that it be a girl that I was so afraid to call her that morning and tell her she had a brother. But once she heard the news she was fine with it all. When Amber bounced into my hospital room later that morning she asked where her Bubba was. She let us all know at that time she was Sissy and he was Bubba. That did not last to long before she was just calling him Cory. His full name is Matthew Cory, he was born with blonde, almost non noticeable hair and blue eyes. Later those eyes were to turn the color of mine and his Dad’s, hazel. His hair also got darker as he grew. Cory was my challenge baby. He cried from the minute he came into the world until he was about 3 months old. He had colic and at around 5 every evening he would start crying and g...

Okay ladies and gents after scrolling through some other blogs I have ran across some people who blog on Tuesdays and call it Trash to Treasure Tuesdays. That sounds like fun and since I love to treasure hunt in thrift stores, yard sales and Goodwill, I thought I would give this a try. Bear with me since I am new to this..... Several years ago my neighbor was sitting things out by the road for the trash pick up. She had an antique side table that had one of the legs broken. I looked over at it several times before I decided that I needed it, maybe I could make something from it. After taking it apart I had the table top of course, two wooden spindle type parts that went from the table top to a board near the bottom that four curving legs came out (one of those legs was busted up really bad). I figured I could use the first three pieces I mentioned. The table top was started, and yes, I have not finished, to be a tray. I started an oil painting on it and one of these days I will make my...

My grandson and I spent this afternoon with friends. My oldest friend, Barbara and her niece, Sarah, decided to have the 4th of July at Sarah’s house this year. Barb and I have been friends since I was about 12 years old…that means 37 years! Barb lived down the street and around the corner from me in Hermitage has we were growing up. I would have to say that I spent every other Friday or Saturday night at her house. There was a bunch of them, Billy, Beverly, Barb, Barry and Ben. We became friends early on and it continued as we grew, married and had our children, now we are working on our grandkids. Barb, time has slipped on by us and I seem to have waken to be OLD! When Barb was in high school their family moved to the Wilson Co. area, only about 15 min. from the house. Our friendship continued even though we were not together that often or attended the same school. Matter of fact, when Beverly married I was the server in her wedding and when Barb met and married Phil (that would be P...

I have always had a camera, at least since I was about 12 years of age. I have always loved taking photo's. My interest got kicked into high gear when I went to work for the Photo Services end of Media Services (printing, graphics and photo services). I had been with the printing division of the State of Tennessee for 21 years when I was asked would I be interested in moving to the photo section as their secretary. I loved my job and what I did with Photo Services, I am very much into the customer service thing, and I am good at it. My job in Photo Services was a big part of what I did on a daily basis. With my move to that area the interest in taking photo's got even more so. While working there I got my first digital point and shoot camera in Februray 2006. It is a nice one and takes great shots. In May of 2008 I left Photo and Media Services and made the biggest move of my life to a different department within the state. I have no regrets, not only was it the biggest move, i...