Fower Bed ReDo ...

I've wanted to re do the front flower bed for a long time.  There was one privet that grew exceptionally well, was totally beautiful and completely blocked the water from the sprinkler system from hitting the rest of the bed.  Every time I asked to have it moved, the landscaper who mows and cares for our lawn would find a multitude of reasons why it should not be moved... we can always raise the sprinkler heads... etc... etc..  Well, the sprinkler heads were raised and it still didn't help.  Guess what... that privet is NO LONGER THERE!  

It will take about a month for the bed to fill itself in and look like something other than a mess, but I can wait.  :) 

Son John worked like a Turk all day on Saturday and then we finished up with the mulch on Sunday morning.  Looks a little sparse for a while, but that will change.  :)

John works for Midwestern State University in their horticultural and grounds maintenance department.  He was telling me that an alumnus left a chrysanthemum to the University that was over ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD!  I had no idea they would even live that long!

There will be stepping stones added in a couple of places to make working the bed easier... and stop the walking all over my creeping phlox.. :)  I cannot wait to see it when it is all mature... (telling self to BREATHE... lol)

Do so enjoy having the kids home.. Just seems there is so little time...

Another of the paintings I have done lately...

This is the side view of the house my father's parents lived in when I was small.  My brother and I would spend hours playing on that stump.  I am trying to find a  few pictures of the front of the house... but since my photos were all destroyed first in the tornado in Wichita Falls and then again in a mistaken trip to the trash.. sigh... I have to rely on the goodness of someone else's heart to get them.. :)

The weather is cooling off,  being out during the day is wonderful now.  I'm sure that since that little ditty was said out loud the North Texas weather gods will laugh out loud, snort and bring the temps back into the 90s... but we'll enjoy it while we can... lol

Have a wonderful day... :)

It's Saturday!

Have my youngest son here this weekend.  Even makes the coffee taste better.. if that's possible.. lol We're going to totally re-do the front flowerbed.  It's been quite a mess for the entire year and the fact is ... I'm tired of it!!!  Haven't the faintest idea what it will turn out to be, but it certainly can't be any worse than it is.. 

I don't know if I've mentioned my rash...  I've had it since February of 2014 and it seems quite content to set up housekeeping and stay until it retires.  The only reason I'm mentioning it is that I've totally set aside all the wool and fiber things to see if I can find the culprit that is causing it.  So.. I have taken up watercolors.  

I realize that I will never take the place of Picasso or Michelangelo...lol... but I do enjoy the process. So for the time being this will by my passion.  Not that I won't be doing some knitting or crochet or sewing...  I just won't handle the raw wool for a while.  (She says that and somewhere deep inside a voice is snorking... )  Well, I'll try to stay away from the raw wool... :)  

I had another heart cath a couple of weeks ago... results wonderful.  Dr. says will not have to have another one for years..  Now to work on the bradycardia.. slow heart rate.  I think this definitely is caused by the meds I take for familial tremor but I've tried 2 other meds and they didn't work so this is my last option... I think.  We'll see.. :)

Every year I say the same thing... can't believe how the year has passed so quickly.. but... Here we are at nearly Halloween and the holiday season is upon us once again.  All the heat from the summer will be gone and we'll be complaining about the cold...lol   Personally, I think we just like to complain.  :) 

I suppose I should get busy if I plan on accomplishing anything, so I will just say ... I hope everyone has a wonderful day.  I know I will.. since every day spent with my children is a day worth it's weight in gold.  

Phlubliefitttzzz... :(

I have another blog.  It's called Fabric Follies Two and on it I have put up some free crochet and knit patterns for anyone who would like to use them.  But... I did NOT plan on Lion Brand taking them and calling them their own!  When they took the scarf pattern I sent them an email... this time I won't bother.  These patterns are the most popular on my blog and are listed as mine on Ravelry.  I'm not sure why I am so upset about this, but I am!







On a happier note, I have a new scarf pattern that I put together for one of my sons.  It's a combination pattern scarf using ribbing, long cable and short cable.  It's made from I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.  It is 100% wool and knits up really well. It should be toasty this coming winter.. :)

The weather here has cooled.. and that's a good thing.  However, I am still having those "personal vacations in the tropics" causing rivers of sweat to cascade from my being every time I walk across the room.  My sweet DH has started wearing long sleeve shirts while I, for the first time, spend most of my time in shorts.. phew  I suppose if it keeps up much longer I will have to make a trip to the Dr. to see what's up with the hormones .. :(

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Have a great day.. :)

Wonderful Surprise!

Our phone rang yesterday afternoon... What a wonderful surprise!

Grandson Jeff has just finished basic training in the Air Force and I am so proud of him.  Had a lovely visit and was just wishing it could have been longer.. ;)

Today in My Life... July 11, 2011

 








Today is:  Wednesday, July 11, 2011

I got up this morning:  early.  4am.  It's not that I mind getting up early... it's that 10am letdown and sleepy that gets me. 

As I look out my window:  the sprinklers are sprinkling.  There's a street light on our corner and the water makes all the plants out front glisten like tiny stars.  Pretty enough to go sit out and watch... but it's already 82°F out there at 5:30am....

I am hearing:  my sweet DH wandering around the kitchen getting coffee and asking me why I was up so early... ;o)

I am thinking: that the air conditioning in our new house is wonderful...but I'll be right back...after I've slipped on the shawl that Karen made for me!  Cool on my back this morning!



 One thing I've learned over the past week:  is just how much fun it is to share brownies and cups of tea with friends.  This is not a new learning experience.. ;o) .. it's just that it's been such a long time since I've been able to that it SEEMS like a new one... ;o)  Hopefully all the major hubbub with the move is about over... ;o) 

 



 Creatively: I've learned a bit this week.  You don't have to use vinegar to set the dye for Kool Aid (unless you are worried about the blues being colorfast).  Kool Aid has citric acid already in it ... therefore it will be colorfast without any other additive.  And... I feel totally set free now that I've dyed roving in the microwave and it didn't come out a felted hot pad.  Thanks, Pat, for all the tips last Friday. 

Things I am thankful for:  Visits from sons John and Phil over the 4th of July... Life can't get any better than that... ;o)


Plans for the rest of the week:  include (finally) the installation of the storm doors today... yes! this morning!...yayyyy!  
And the RRFA meeting on Thursday.  Really glad that Mercy may be able to continue coming even tho she's moving. 

It's hot.  And doesn't look there's much chance for any change in temps for a while.  Not even into August yet and the temps are now what the usual high for the year is... ;o/

But... the grass is green, the sky is blue, the flowers bloom and it is a lovely day.  Hope yours is too... ;o)

Four Year Anniversary... I Missed It

On August 13, 2005 I made my first ever blogging post. I never dreamed that I would still be posting 4 years later. The customary thing is to link back to that first post on your anniversary... however... we were out of town. So I will do it here... Sharon B's Bags of Fun That was a fun undertaking. As the pages clicked by while I was looking for that first post there were several that stood out as places that turned out to be kinda important. Here's one...

The Joy of Handspinning Anyone who has been around my house lately can vouch for the fact that this site definitely changed my life...lol I am now surrounded by hand made spindles, a spinning wheel and a rigid heddle loom. I teach anyone who will stand still for a minute and doesn't fight back...lol

This site gives step by step instructions for making your first spindle and how to use it. Somehow it never left the back of my mind, but nothing happened until August of 2007. That was when I had been back to the site multitudes of times and finally decided that I would give it a try. That would be 2 years ago this month.

Much has happened in the 10 days since my last post. A trip to see my sister, on to Tulsa for a trip to the chiropractor (none near us uses our insurance .. bummer), and back home just in time for our son and daughter in law to arrive from Michigan. Busy time.. ;o) What a wonderful visit!

I hope all are having a good Sunday... It's a lovely, sunshiny day here and we have tiny baby wrens just hatched out in the back yard. It will be fun to watch them grow...

Very Nice Few Days...DS...Michael Lee Doll

We have just had a wonderful visit from the son who lives in Michigan. What a surprise..lol The phone rang and the question was..."What are you doing the next couple of weeks? I'm in Missouri!" After picking my jaw up from the ground, I was too excited for words.

We went to McKinney a couple of days ago and wandered through the antique malls. It seems there is a downtown improvement project going on and the corner where our favorite restaurant is located is torn completely up ... but from the looks of all the brickwork already finished on other sides of the street, it will be very nice.

I found a doll for $5.00 that was thrown in a basket on the floor in the last antique shop we visited. DH and DS both grinned a bit and thought it was a little funny that I wanted a doll, but this turns out to be a special one. I had no idea at the time... I just knew that I had never seen one like it before. It turns out to be signed, dated and numbered by the old Chinese man who made these dolls in his 700 sq. ft. home in Hong Kong. Wow! His name was Michael Lee and was a refugee from China fleeing when the Communists took over the country. Click here for his story. It's a lovely one... he spent most of his money helping other refugees find their way out of the refugee camps.

Anyway...after I washed his face and ironed the clothes it made a really big difference. I think he's cute as a button!

Green Bean Harvest

The first green bean harvest from the DS's postage stamp garden. Have to grin...he planted this garden and was so excited about the first harvests and then got sent off to Arizona for a job that will last for the next several months. But never fear.. DSIL is on top of things.

When he called and told me about the green beans, he said the tomatoes are coming along wonderfully...nice, juicy and red...and the birds love them. He said every one that he has tried to pick had been pecked out by the birds.

I guess they have tried everything from scare crows to fake owls, but nothing seemed to work. He said he grew tired of it, so down to Home Depot he went..and voila'... bird netting over the tomatoes. I haven't heard in the last day or so if it is working as well as he hoped...but will find out...

New Naalbinding Needle

I didn't say much about Chuck in yesterday's post because if I had it would have been a terribly long post! A couple of weeks ago I cut a piece of excess maple picture frame molding that we had on hand for picture frames into some different sized blanks for new naalbinding needles. While he was here we went to the shop and he helped me make a new needle. This one is not as long as the oak needle that I made and it is thinner across the eye end. Chuck spent some time with the sandpaper smoothing it and taking a bit of a hump out of the center that I had left in when shaping it. The blue is acrylic yarn that works well for trying out the needle.



He showed me a picture (still in his camera) of a quilt he made for Allison. It is so adorable. He took the Disney and Pooh character fabric pillow panels and used them as blocks, put strips between them, quilted it and used contrasting binding. So cute.. and she loves it.



When he was home last time, we talked about the knitting boards found here.. He said he bought this one. As you begin your knitting on this board, he said the instructions are to lay a long piece of heavier yarn across it to pull the first 2 or three rows through and keep the loops on the board. He said that doesn't work really well and suggests using a tiny dowel rod that you can attach yarn to each end and in the middle to keep the tension even as you pull. He also said I really need to get me one of these...grin

After 18 years in the Marines, he is finally at the stage where he has bought his home in Yuma, AZ and will be instructing until he retires. Ask me if I'm proud of him....