Pillow talk

I got cracking first thing this morning and started sewing the back on the pillow.  Martie from Taos Sunflower  asked me how I finished the backing.  I did take a couple of not great pics while I was working.

First I did a double zigzag with the sewing machine close to the hooked edge.  Then I layed the pillow front on the backing and secured with some pins.

I trimmed the excess from the backing and then began to fold the fabrics under and do a simple, discreet whip stitch along the edge.

It didn't take nearly as long as I thought and it wasn't nearly as painful a chore as I anticipated :)
The finished result ........

Earlier today I got some bad news.  My neighbor at the cottage passed away.  Our cottages were built the same year, so we have been neighbors forever.  Before Mom got so sick, I used to move out to the beach all summer.  Every weekend morning we would each go out on our respective decks, in our jammies and bathrobes, turn our chairs to face each other and have our morning coffee talk together.   Mary Louise loved flowers so this flower is for her.  She will be missed.

Ends with Y

I have been quiet all week.  My Grandma used to say if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything.   So I thought of that often this week.

The week can be summed up with words that end in Y........

Grumpy, Crabby, Whiney, Bitchy (yes, I said it), Witchy, Moody, Yucky, Busy, Crabby (yes I said that one twice)

Then I took Friday afternoon off to relax and try to get back to normal.  I had plans!  Then by 2pm a mild headache had turned to migraine.  Spent the rest of my afternoon off in bed.  Arrrrgh!

By this morning I felt better and decided I needed to find another happier Y word to start my Saturday.  A quick trip outside to find.....

DAISY

A happy word that ends in Y. 

I may have turned the corner :)



Blooming

The love and laughter has continued throughout the weekend.  I think that the concept of celebrating your birthday over several days should catch on - it is so much more fun that way!

I did go out to dinner with some girlfriends last night.  We did "howl" a little - well.....howl with laughter!  The food was great, the drinks were flowing and the company was excellent.   I think we need to do that more often. 

The thunderstorm that threatened all day never materialized so late in the afternoon I grabbed the camera to capture a few backyard images. 

The lilac tree is just ready to burst with blooms.  This is the best this tree has blossomed in years.  It suffered some ice damage a few years back and looks like it is recovering nicely.   I just love the smell of lilacs.

Can't you just smell them?

You know I hate to garden but I am actually considering planting a few flowers this year.  I have a bed in the back yard that is a mess of ugly perennials.  I wish the Garden Fairy would come over and dig it all out so I could start over.  (Do you think that might actually happen?  Probably not eh!)

Since there is still potentially one frost left, I will wait another week and then see how I feel about digging in the mud. (Blahh)  So, in the meantime, here are some "voluntary" flowers.

I think I have the only camera shy birds in town.  The yard is always full of birds - - until I take out my camera.  Seriously, as soon as I bring out the camera they just scatter. 





There was a bird in front of this birdhouse when I snapped this picture.  I swear!!   Stupid birds.

At last

So, things are better today.  At last, I did get our tax stuff delivered to the accountant.  It should be ready tomorrow and then e-filed. 

Then I went to the post office and got both packages sent.  Holy cow, postage rates are expensive.  One box was less than half a gram overweight and the price difference was $5.60    Less than a gram........ and it was a small box.  But the clerk was kind so I got the lesser rate.  Still over $10 but way better than $15.  Yay!

 Work settled down some today too.  A co-worker popped in today.  He laughed about yesterday.  He said he looked in my office and the look on my face said "Do Not Ask Me For Anything".  (He was right - I was rather close to the edge yesterday)

At last, my tulips in front of the house are starting to open.  This photo is from last year, because by the time I am writing this it is too dark to show you tonight.   And I see some green leaves sprouting on the orange bush.  The lilac tree is struggling but I think in a few days I might see some leaves.   SPRING!!

And in the the final, most amazing "at last".......Today I discovered the best thing.  A little exciting, an idea whose time has come, a bit dangerous for me.......

How many times have you been looking for the perfect pair of shoes?  You might find a cute pair, but the wrong color.  Or the right color but the wrong heel.   Well, brace your self ladies.......   I found a website where you can DESIGN YOUR OWN SHOES.

Yes, at last!   Why did it take so long for me to discover this?   Why didn't someone think of it sooner?   You have to go to this site - Milk and Honey Shoes    You pick your own style, a huge selection of materials and colors,  select your heel type and height, add some fancy embellishments and then they make them and send them to you.

It's like I died and went to shoe heaven!!!   Have any of you ever used this site??  And if so......why did you keep it a secret from me??   I have been playing with it all evening.  The possibilities are endless.  Too many choices, but so much fun!    I get a little giddy just thinking of it.

Spring blooms

I bought 2 bundles of daffodils yesterday.  The Cancer Society sells them each year.  When I woke up this morning they were all in bloom.

What a cheerful way to start the day.

The weather continues to be spring-like.  Dare I say it....?  I think we have seen the last of the snow.  I might even tempt fate by making an appointment to get my snow tires removed next week.

Not much happening here.  I did get a nice surprise when I got home from work yesterday.  Remember I mentioned a few weeks ago that my rain gutter was hanging down precariously?  Every time the wind blew I feared it would snap off and become a flying projectile.   But now it is fixed.  Yippee.  

I casually mentioned it (begged, really) to a neighbor the other day.  Apparently he took pity on me and fixed it before I got home from work.  Now that I know he is handy and easily guilted, I'm going to start a small list :)

I added a few more items to my Etsy shop today.   I packaged my sheep rug for shipping the other day.  I took extra care to pretty it up with tissue paper, stickers and tied it all up in a springy ribbon. I was so pleased with myself.  I took it to the post office and watched the lady fold it up and jam it down, hearing tissue paper ripping all the way.   Uggh, so much for trying to pretty up the packaging.

The goal for the weekend it to finish hooking the current project.  I am not happy with it and just want to be done with it.  I have a few ideas I want to start after this one.   Wish me luck.  Motivation for a project you don't like is always low.

Just Because

I've been saving this post because I wanted to ensure it didn't compete for attention with the charity auction.   The other day I came home to fnd a package in the mail.  I hadn't ordered anything recently.  I looked at the address and recognized the name.

I ripped it open and it was a present from my friend Kim.  When I read the card she said it was a "Just Because" present.  Aren't those just the best?    Look at what she sent me

A beautiful card and note, and some pieces of wool she has dyed herself using Kool Aid.  It makes such nice strong, bright colors.  

And a sweet little stitched pillow for Valentines.  I have always admired her stitched pieces on her blog and always raved about them.  In fact, I have secretly wanted one and now I wonder if perhaps I'm not as subtle as I think I am....... LOL

And then there was the little bag of sunflower seeds.  If you follow Kim's blog you know she always has lots of big beautiful sunflowers growing on her property in California.   And now I have my very own "Field of Dreams" sunflower seeds.

I bet that she blessed them so I just know that they will grow tall and strong this summer. 

The only thing better than getting a "just because" present is having friends who are thoughtful and kind enough to send you one.  

THANK YOU KIM



 

Tah Dah.................

OK, the moment we have all been waiting for.........(quite possible a massive exaggeration there folks)

THE SUNFLOWER HAS BLOOMED

The object of much mocking amongst my family is now revealed.  Finally

Its hard to believe I have waited since Easter for this one little fella.  LOL

Hmmm, someone or something else likes it too.  They have been snacking on my baby. 

Oh well, I have broken the curse ------- I can now prove that I CAN actually grow something. 

Happy weekend!!

Patience

Patience is not one of my strengths.  You have to admire that cat

because I would be clawing away at that hole. 

However I thought I would show you a picture of my version of patience.

Well, truth be told, its more like just plain stubborn but patience sounds

so much better.  

Here is my superstar sunflower.  The only surviving member of the original planting.



Every day I check to see if its going to open.  Still nothing.  But I am not giving up hope (yet)

Tomorrow will be another test of patience.  My family from Vermont are leaving

early in the morning for their long drive back.   I will be

on pins and needles all day until I receive that phone call that they are

home safe.

Tonight we had their farewell supper.  Each year it gets sadder and more difficult

to see them leave.  There wasn't a dry eye in the house. 

Say a little prayer tomorrow for a safe journey for them.

P.S.  And don't forget to sign up for my giveaway if you haven't already.

Claws and paws

Nothing says summer like fresh lobster.  In fact I waiting while they were being cooked.  I got them 20 minutes out of the pot.  Doesn't get much fresher than that, does it?

I made a small potato salad, an artichoke and hearts of palm salad and a big bowl of melted butter for dipping. 

Mmmmmm, yummy.  And there is enough for leftovers tomorrow too.

The only problem is it's not garbage pick-up week so now I have to find a "creative and non-illegal" way to dispose of the shells.  Trust me - lobster shells left for 2 weeks in warm weather would not be fun.

I want to show you the visitor we had this morning.  It appears he (or she) decided that our backyard was a buffet or something.

I'm not sure but I think it is a muskrat.  There is a small creek that runs down the hill behind our house.  He was still wet so I think that is where he came from.

He was not the least bit concerned with me.  In fact, he was either posing for the camera or telling me to not disturb him. 

 He is kind of cute until I noticed a few holes dug in the back yard as I was trying to sneak around and get his picture.  After seeing the holes - and putting 2 and 2 together, he started to look less cute and more like a varmit.

He continued to ignore me and eat his breakfast of leaves.  And that is when my attention slowly drifted to the right.........and I noticed a different kind of leaves.......

My SUNFLOWER.   If  Mr. Varmit thinks he is getting a gourmet dessert by munching on my lone sunflower sprout - he has another thing coming.    If he touches it, his days are numbered.  I will show no mercy to defend my baby sprout.  

Consider yourself warned Mr. Muskrat

Suffering for Art?

It is said that many artists suffer for their art.  I certainly do not consider myself an artist, yet tonight I did suffer a little.

I gave at least a pound of flesh to a killer swarm of black flies that did their damage on any exposed skin. 

As you know I am taking a beginner photography class.  Each week we are given an assignment.  This week we are supposed to shoot something interesting about a door.  But tonight I just wanted to play.   One of the goals of this class is to teach us to use our manual settings as opposed to the easy automatic settings.  We are learning to adjust the shutter speed, ISO, aperture etc.  This was stressful for me in the beginning.  Tonight I thought I would just use the auto settings.  Well after about 6 shots I thought "Gee, this isn't as much fun".  So I went back to the manual settings.  You have more control and get crisper shots.

The LUPINS are out in full force on the Tyndal Road.  I love them so I braved the black flies (AKA no-see-ems) and took about 94 different shots.

Don't panic - I'm not going to show you all of them but here is a sampling.

Say Cheese

It was a picture perfect day.  Bright sunshine and a slight breeze - just enough to keep the bugs away. 

After after my large morning coffee and a quick check of emails I planned to go out with the camera and find something to photograph to complete my homework assignment.   I did take about 70 shots but none that I really am in love with yet.  Time is running out.  Maybe I am over-thinking this whole thing. 

After lunch I forced myself to get my hands dirty and I filled the 2 pine planter boxes and planted new sunflower seeds.  I placed them in front of the bench in the back yard where they should get lots of sunshine all day.  Fingers crossed that the heavy rain tomorrow doesn't wash away the seeds.   And the lone sprout that grew from my failed attempt at plant starting indoors, got a place of honor.  I recieved a cute froggy planter for Christmas so I planted my super-star in it.

Here are a few samples of what I saw this morning.

Homework

You would think that once you are finished school the word "homework" would be wiped from your vocabulary.  The truth is it just takes on a new meaning.  Once you have a home to take care of you realize that there are all different kinds of "home"work.

This is one of my assignments this weekend.  To do some yard maintenance.  (Have I mentioned how much I hate digging in the dirt?)  

Notice the cut grass laying around.....My Handyman is harder to find than Waldo these days.  He called after supper and I blasted him so he arrived about a half hour later and mowed the lawn.   Clearly it needed to be mowed (a few days ago)

  I WILL plant my sunflower seeds tomorrow.   I decided that of I waited until I dug some new flower beds it was never going to happen - so I saw these planter boxes and had an AHA moment.   I suppose it is kind of like cheating but WHATEVER!   Its not like the seeds are likely to grow anyway :)

And i haven't had a chance to fill you in on the photography class from Tuesday night.  Well, I've been too busy eating!  Lol  My first meal without braces was a huge spinach salad with lots of sunflower seeds, followed by a Wunderbar.  Tomorrow night a big thick bbq steak is on the menu.

Back to the class - there are 4 of us in the early group.  And one of them is our very own hooker Deanne so there were lots of laughs.  We spent the first lessson learning about all the settings for aperture, ISO, shutter speed etc.  She wants us to learn to shoot manual - not with the easy auto settings. 

In between laughing we asked about 1000 questions.  And when we left she gave us homework for next week.  We have to shoot something we love and then we will get critiqued.   I still haven't figured out what I am going to choose but tomorrow morning I'm hitting the road to tackle this homework. 

Tonight I just practiced a little, trying to remember what all those different numbers mean.  There are so many things I love it is hard to pick just one.    Lilacs are out -  I love those

And I love walking around cemetaries and taking photos.  This lone cross caught my eye tonight.

 None of these will be my final assignment.  Who knows what I might find tomorrow??

Friday, at last

It wasn't a bad week, it just seemed so dang long!  But lots accomplished.  I love waking up and looking out my bedroom window and NOT seeing that old brick chimney.  That makes me happy.  Paying the bill didn't make me so happy but I just couldn't convince those roofers to rip up the bill. 

And now that the roof is finished I can bring out the patio furniture.  I hope there is at least one day of sun before Monday.  My legs are so white they are almost reflective when I wear capri pants.

I did have a little surprise today - I won the weekly 50/50 draw at work.  That should pay for one bundle of shingles. Lol   I took the Golden Girls out to supper to celebrate my win.

Tonight I am just winding down and relaxing with a little rug hooking and a nice (big) glass of red wine.  

I really haven't hooked much since I showed you the last little sneak peek.   But here is the next section that I am working on tonight.  Julia thinks it is a hen (she is wrong)  hahaha

 Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain I might visit the garden centres to look for a few plants to bring home and kill.  The sunflower update is not good.  The first original sprout that is in the picture on my sidebar has wizzled up and died.  There was a 2nd plant that did sprout and so far it is the sole survivor of 16 pots. 

I may just go unside and throw a handful of seeds in the air.  It will probably be just as effective!

Girls Night Out and a Highland Fling

Last night all the girls at work let our hair down for a few hours.   The occasion was a belated wedding shower for a co-worker.  We couldn't coordinate schedules before but this was a chance to get together, hear all the stories and look at the photos.  The wedding took place in Cuba.

We had a pot luck dinner right after work and of course a glass of wine (or two).   And any time you gather 15 ladies together, between the ages of 25-50, and add a little liquid refreshments - you just never know where the conversations will lead.

Good grief, the secrets and stories start spilling out.  We had a great night and laughed til we were sick.

In fact I am blushing just thinking about some of the topics that we covered.  You just never know what you are going to learn at a gathering of girls.  People talk about men in a locker room - Forget it......a group of women is a lot worse.

There is a reason I selected a photo of embarrassed that had an animal in it.  (Trust me - you don't want to know) LOL

On a more serious note, today I gathered up the girls and we went to an annual fund raiser for the Hospital - "The Highland Fling".  (Our old hospital used to be named the Highland View Hospital)

They have flea market type tables, used book sales, food and home-made candy tables, plants etc.  We go every year and on the way out the door I buy lobster rolls for our lunch.   Mom gets a little exercise walking around with me and we always see lots of friends.  They all enjoy seeing Mom.  And a bonus for me is I come home with a big bag of fudge. 

And I think I need to publish a retraction on the post about the sprout.  I'm such a moron.  OK - that sad little shoot of green was NOT a sprout.  I guess I just got excited to see something.....anything.  Apparently it just a weed or something.  Some random spore that landed in a pot.    DUH......

Now THIS IS A SPROUT



So that is 1 out of 16.   I'm not ready to declare myself a gardener yet. 

Toes, Boys, and Sprouts....Oh My !

I hardly know where to start tonight.  This post will be all over the place.  First yesturday we finally had some sun.  By the time I left work it was sunny and warm.  Too nice for socks so it was time to get the toes ready for their big 2011 debut.

I gave myself a little pedicure after supper and prettied up with a little polish.  And then I dug out the flip flops.  Ahhhhh, I love flip flops.  And now that the toes are ready, its almost time to test out the new red shoes.   But I'm never brave enough to put on the red nail polish. 

And last night was the first night it was warm enough to sleep with the bedroom window open.  I love it - I had the best sleep with the little breeze through the window.  All in all it was a good night.

Then this morning I had a meeting in the office beside the boardroom.  An outside group had booked the boardroom for the day.  As my meeting ended, the boardroom group was just taking a break.   After I walked my guest to the door, one of the boardroom men walked up to me and offered me a cookie.  He was young and very (very) cute. I have to tell you I felt like a school-girl.  Did I mention how young and cute he was??  LOL    Now that I think about it - maybe I reminded him of his mother......hahahaha.  Whatever - he made my day!  Such a sweetie.

But not to be outdone -  My Mom has an admirer !!!!  This morning I dropped her off at the Adult Day Care.  It was one of the men's birthday today.  He was 91.  At the end of the day when I picked her up I noticed he made a special effort to say good bye to her.  Then one of the workers pulled me aside giggling that this old fella has a crush on Mom.  He tries to sit by her all day and he constantly smiles at her and basically thinks she is the cats pyjama's.    OMG, we had a great laugh.  I could hardly wait to get home and tell Auntie.  What a HOOT!

Now for the biggest news.  STOP THE PRESSES.............................I HAVE A SPROUT

Yes Doris, I think your prayers last night worked.  This morning when I checked the pots, I started to walk away and then I bent down closer and closer and ..........

And there was the teeniest, tiniest, scrawniest little wisp of green.   There is a 2nd one in another pot and it is even scrawnier (if you can imagine) lol    Even stranger is that I planted all the seeds right in the middle of the pots, but both sprouts and right close to the edge. (?)  Oh well, a sprout is a sprout.

But do you think that this....

....will ever turn into this......

It was another great round of comments on the Word of the Week.  Michelle - I don't think you have a blog, but you should!  As long as you keep entertaining us, I'll keep finding a new word.