Yes, we love our fleece throws. All of them: camping theme, Christmas theme, plain ones, fancy ones. We use them almost every day.
Sit on the sofa, oops - forgot my throw, get back up, grab one and sit back down. They are so snuggly and make TV-watching so much nicer, don't you think?
Riley likes them too. He tends to use them as chew-toys. Yeah...not good.
By the way, today is 'clean-the-basement' day. Lots of de-cluttering going on. And a ton of dead bugs and cobwebs are going bye-bye too. It feels good to be doing something productive. And something that's almost craft-related. That'll be next. And I can't tell you how excited I am to be going in that direction.
At last count, there were 1,200 lights on this year's tree. This photo does not do the tree justice. I think I need to figure out how to change some settings on my camera!
[CUE UP Joni Mitchell song] "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone."
And that goes for kitchen appliances too. Seems the dishwasher is trying to nickel and dime us to death. Well...we ain't gonna put up with that. No sir. It ain't gonna happen. It's a Frigidaire brand (it came with the house when we moved in about seven years ago.) It's not antique or anything, but .... the darned thing is working against us.
First, the springs in the door decided to go. Called the local repair guy and they fixed it. To a tune over $100.00. Then...just last week, the door handle decided to stick: Can't open it; can't close it. Not good.
Rather than continue to pour money into this monster, the wife and I decided it was time to invest in a new one. So we made a trip to Sears last Sunday and bought a new one. It's scheduled for delivery/installation today. (Keeping my fingers crossed that the guy shows up on time and that the process is a smooth one.)
I read some real horror stories on some new dishwashers as I was researching online. Comments like: "leaked all over the floor first time we used it", "it's not getting the dishes clean", "the soap compartment door won't open", "it takes over 2 hours for a wash cycle to complete", "I can get more dishes in my OLD machine". Geesh! We don't need any of that.
Here's the scoop on the new dishwasher. It will match the stove, microwave and refrigerator. Yee haa! OH...and it was on sale, and we are getting a rebate on the delivery and installation fee. And.....they are taking the old dishwasher with them. How cool is that?
Have a great weekend, bloggers!
P.S. The dishwasher guy is installing the new machine as I type this. He told my wife that you should not put any money into a dishwasher that's over five years old. And...he says that Frigidaire, Maytag and GE are the worst machines you can get. They are not the high-quality machines of older days. He also told us we were smart to buy the extended maintenance agreement -- if the control panel goes bad it would be $350 plus labor. Ouch!
Have I told you how much I LOVE home-grown tomatoes? I think I have. There is no substitution for them. Period. Don't even begin to contest that statement, okay?
I suppose my love for those juicy, red globes of wonder stems (lol, no pun intended) back to my childhood days. Spending quality time with my grandpa working in his garden. He was the best. And tomatoes were his pride and joy. Sure...he had lots of other things in the garden:
green peppers
cucumbers
green beans
beets
radishes
carrots
sweet corn
potatoes
But...tomatoes was the No. 1 plant in the patch.
I can remember many summer afternoons at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I would walk in the kitchen, open the pantry door, get out the cardboard salt shaker and head outside to the garden. I'd find a medium-sized tomato, wipe it off (using my t-shirt), take a small bite...being careful to leave enough skin on the tomato so the piece stayed attached. Then...I'd sprinkle it with salt and bite it off. O.M.G. That was like heaven.
Earlier this summer I bought a patio tomato plant and it is doing WONDERFULLY. We've had almost ten nice-sized fruits off the vine.
And....let's hope the weather cooperates. It's been VERY cool the past few days. The weatherman says it's been some of the coolest July days in history. Yeah. That's not good.
PUPPY UPDATE: His official name is Riley. We had a very tough time coming up with a good name for him. But I like the name Riley...and it seems to fit. (Whatever that means!)
Oh, and have you seen the latest issue of Country Living magazine? It's good. You should get it.
These are not the big, double peonies that you might be familiar with. These are a simple,single-type of flower. But simple is good. And since they only last for a few days, I thought I'd take a few shots of them. Then...I uploaded the photo to Picnik and played around with it. I'm a Premium Member so I get some spiffy extras to use.
I used the Fancy Focus tool and highlighted the three blooms. Notice how they stand out from the rest of the picture? Picnik is a fantabulous tool. And the really cool part is, the basic version is free. You can do some really great things to your photos. You can use the 'auto correction' feature, crop photos, put all kinds of frames around them, make collages, put text on them. There are digitial 'stickers' that you can put on photos to make photo greeting cards, etc., etc., I use Picnik to fix up most of the photos that I use in my Etsy shop. Go check it out! But beware: it can be addictive. OH...and you can link your Flickr photos to it too.
Oh, by the way, Son No. 1 is back from his Washington DC trip. He's pooped! Crafty Mom and I are so glad that he had a great time and returned home safely. He took TONS of pictures and I'll try to get some of them posted in the next few days. He's just like the old man: put a camera in his hand and watch out!
Exciting things happening around the house and at the lake. (click on the image for best results)
Hey bloggers! I wanted to share some of the beautiful blooms that are making my jaw drop. I had to catch these digitally and share them with you. I thought Spring would never ever get here. But...seems I was wrong (thank goodness).
And...some new projects popping up in the craft corner too. Coasters, Scrabble™ necklaces and some really cool aprons (up-cycled from kitchen towels).
I'm also planning a tutorial for anyone who's interested in making tote bags. I will start with the handles (I think they are most the fun part of the whole process) ☺
I really want to learn how to make You Tube videos. I know how to include them in a blog post, but ... I need to make a video and upload it to You Tube. We'll see how it goes.
Hope you had a great weekend.
Oh, by the way...we just dropped off Son No. 1 at school for his big Washington, D.C. trip. He'll be there all week, taking in the sites and sounds. I'm jealous since I've never been there. But I'm so glad he has the opportunity to go. Crafty Mama got a little teary-eyed as the bus pulled out of the parking lot. This is his first time away from home for more than a day. It's a new experience for all of us.
It's early Sunday morning and it's already been a busy day. Crafty Mom supervised the traditional Easter egg hide (the Easter Bunny did all the work, you know). And then it was chop the vegetables (for our lunch guests, NOT the Easter Bunny). I love the smell of fresh cut celery. Something about it.....smells like home. It's a comfort smell (if there is such a thing).
Here's a sampling of what we've done so far.
{Click for a larger view}
The lamb cake turned out nice. This is the first time I've used the star tip to decorate a cake. I should have practiced before I frosted Lamby, but he turned out okay. His jelly bean eyes and nose almost makes him too cute to eat. You can see the two-piece cake mold filled to the rim (yes, it ran over in the oven and made a mess). [NOTE TO SELF: put a cookie sheet under the pan next year to avoid a house filled with burnt cake smoke.]
The boys colored eggs last night after we got back from church. It was a great service. Great music, great music and a good time to celebrate the whole reason there is an "Easter". Upper left-hand corner is a shot of some bunny and egg candies I made. I was going to make lollipops, but didn't have any Springy or Easter-y molds. These turned out just fine.
School projects (both for Son No. 1 and the Little Guy)
Hem some pants (daytime high temps are NOT what they used to be)
Start making the coaster sets I cut out several weeks ago
Relax (if possible)
Church at 5:30
Finish up what doesn't get done during the day
Get some photos uploaded to Flickr so I can share them with you
Whew!
Update:
My little guy's team won the soccer match (1-0) It was an awesome game. All the kids (from both teams) did a great job and had a good time, which is a very important part of the whole 'game' thing in my opinion.
Lunch: Hacienda Mexican Restaurant (I ate way too many tortilla chips)
Hemming pants: so far five pairs (with the help of my wife --thank you Honey!)
I'm behind. So what else is new? But I wanted to acknowledge a special day at the Crafty Dad house: my wife's birthday. I won't tell you that she turned forty-something, because that's just not something you do: talk about a woman's age. Okay, let's get back on track.
So yeah, Monday was her birthday and while I usually don't send her flowers for her special day (we mutually agreed upon that a long time ago), I thought they might brighten her day. Especially with all this crap she's been going through with the headaches, and all. And...I ordered her a cake too. White with buttercream frosting. Yum-my.
I had the bakery make the cake from the boys.
Son No. 1 made a backstitch pillow for his mom.
According to my wife, she had a very special birthday. Woo Hoo! Love ya Honey!
From Thanksgiving to Christmas -- all in a four-day weekend. Can I get a woot-woot? It all started with a bowl of cranberries. And quickly went from here to ...
Nutcrackers all in a row in the little guy's room...
to this...
Garfield ornament on my little guy's Christmas tree...
to this...
Gumby-style ornament...
to this...
the family room tree.
A favorite (and simple) ornament.
By the end of weekend...my wife and I felt like this.
Hershey was not impressed by all the decorating hub bub.
So: let the craziness begin! The shopping. The crafting. The baking. The making of lists. And checking them twice. In all the rush-rush-rush, may you find some peace and quiet during the Holiday season.
and it's really feeling like fall. The days are certainly getting shorter. I had so much fun this summer. I stayed up late and got up early. It was wonderful. Now the seasons are changing and I feel like I need to hibernate. It's depressing. I think I'm suffering from that ....what's it called? Not enough light. I don't even know what to Google to figure out what I'm thinking about. How lame is that?
Black eyed Susans at the mailbox. They seem to take forever to bloom, but once they start....they seem to stay forever. I'm sure the mailman really appreciates them sticking out in the road. Oh well.
Up close and personal.
See...the leaves on the trees are starting to turn color. Summer, summer, where art thou? I want you back!
This weekend was full of fun home improvement projects -- like this one.
The front door needed a fresh coat of paint and the bathtub in the boys' bathroom needed a new caulk job. So...while I crouched in the tub (there's really not a lot of room to work in a bathtub, ya know?), my wife scraped old paint of the door. That was Saturday.
It's Sunday and here's the 'before' shot of the door.
And ... a few hours later, it looked like this.
A little paint makes a huge difference.
I'm not crazy about all the extra work, but it's really not so bad once you get started. It's that nudge, push, or shove that is needed to get the momentum going. When you're done, you say, "Gee, that wasn't so bad. I should have done that weeks ago."
Here's a shot I took early yesterday evening. I love the detail of the paper-thin petals of this peony. I am really happy with the camera. I still need to learn how to take better indoor/flash shots, but in general, this is a fantastic camera for the money.
My wife took several inside shots of the park model yesterday. I'll post those tomorrow so you can see just what our version of 'camping' is. Here's a hint: it's NOT the pitch-a-tent-and-rough-it version. :-)
Woo Hoo....it's Friday! Go do the happy dance and then come back for more.
[Everyone stands up and does the happy dance.]
Okay, welcome back. Yes, it's the start of another weekend. And it's gonna be a busy one. My oldest son is having a birthday party on Saturday evening. His official birthday is May 1st so, yes, that makes him a "May Day" baby. He's invited seven or eight classmates to share in the celebration. There will be food, fun, and (crossing my fingers for good weather) frolicking in the backyard amongst soccer balls, bean bag toss games and other pre-teen-appropriate activities. Assuming I make it through the ordeal, I'll let you know how it goes.
Then, on Sunday, it's the official "family birthday party". More food, fun and outdoor activities. One of his favorite foods is sloppyjoe sandwiches. So that's what we're having (along with some homemade macaroni and cheese, and other party food). I'm hoping for a sunny day on Sunday too.
Wow. Twelve years old. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12. Where has the time gone? It's crazy. Okay, I'm going to stop now before I get all weepy and stuff.
How embarrassing. I think I have as many shoes as Imelda Marcos. Where did I get all these, anyway? Suffice it to say, some are SOOOOOO old (they have been tossed out), some are too small (they have been given to Goodwill). Others (okay, many others) are just fine and found their way onto a new shoe rack (my wife's idea) in the closet. My wife has a few pairs of shoes too. But...I was nice and did not take a picture of them. Love ya honey!
Cleaning out the walk-in closet was on our To-Do list for months and we finally got around to tackling that project a few weeks ago. Why did it take us so long? It is so nice to be be able to actually walk in the closet and see what you have! Several items were given away or donated to Goodwill. Now that we have just the 'good stuff' in there, there's actually breathing room between garments.
The 'before' photo is too scary to post. So, here's the 'after' photo.
Ahhh. A place for everything and everything in its place.
