of toys and gnomes...

On Wednesday, it was POURING so it was the perfect day to do this month's toy drop, a happy little rain cloud.




I dropped it into a chair in Starbucks before walking out with my salted caramel hot cocoa (yum)


Then this morning, Kaela and I ran to get donuts.
Gunter overheard us and asked to go because he wanted to pick his own donuts out.

Here he is...Kaela had to give him a hand though so he could see the top shelf. He fussed at me for not giving him proper legs!



He was so excited that he got up on the counter to pick some more out



On the way home, he insisted on sitting up front to make sure Kaela didn't eat any of HIS donuts...




How many donut holes can a gnome eat? 12

makes 'em happy

Nothing makes Suki happier than a good game of peek a boo through the sheets......

apparently Ginger's dog bone makes the squirrel in our backyard happy...he chews on it all the time!


As for Ginger, she loves to sleep in Suki's bed...how a 90 pound dog squishes herself into a bed for a cat or small dog is beyond me!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

discovery...

I decided that the reason Leo got so grumpy after Suki came along was that she made him realize that he was a CAT. Until her presence, he had believed himself to be a dog.
It was a brutal discovery......and one he didn't like, hence all the y'ugliness.

So now that he goes outside with the dogs and comes back in with the dogs, and sniffs butts with the dogs, he has decided he really really really is...a dog.

So instead of meowing to go out or to come in, he does what most dogs do.

LET ME OUT!




LET ME IN!
hahahaha........at least he is happy again!

Homecoming........

Matt decided that this year, he would go to the Homecoming dance without a date and hang with a bunch of other guys.

When I asked him why he didn't ask anyone he said:
"Well mom, if I ask a girl to go with me, I have to buy her stuff and I can only dance with her....but if I go with a bunch of friends, I only pay for myself and I can dance with a LOT of girls!"


hahahaha.......they learn quickly don't they?

September's ornament

I have been down and out with bronchitis for the last 8 days. I swear I thought I would break every single rib with all the coughing. Yesterday I came home and FINALLY felt better. Instead of cleaning house (which it desperately needs,) I decided to make my September ornament for YOE.

I was tempted to do another acorn ornament but have always loved milkweed seed pods. I think they are so beautiful.

the 'seeds' are actually stems cut off some whole cloves...the ornie is cute AND smells good!
BTW, I was inspired by Green mama's ornament but decided I had to do something with an acorn, so made a little acorn fairy and tucked in nice and cozy.

There are certain times in your life you never forget...and you shouldn't.

September 11th is one of those days for me.

At work, we had a little tv we turned on in the morning for job applicants. For some reason, we flipped it on around 8 am. It was set at an angle so we could catch the news . When I saw this I thought our channel was on a movie...and got up to change it.

but our receptionist, thinking the same thing, walked over and flipped the channel first...only to show more of the same...


once we realized it was no movie, we watched in horror.....as our fellow Americans died....

and while first responders rushed to help....

For all those who died, for all those who survived, for all those who helped.....

let us not ever forget.

cool drinks

I made an apron for the cool apron swap....but it got lost in the mail somewhere. I had created the apron with a little vintage design to it. It is similar to a clothes pin apron in that it has one large pocket. I used some fabric in my stash that I had been saving. Sadly, I had none of this fabric left so couldn't remake the idea....plus I designed it as I went along. Anyway, it was cute so I thought I'd show it off anyway.


A close up of the appliqué. I sewed on the "sugar rim" beads ...took forever!
.


I replaced it with this one in case the polka dotted one ever shows up. I took the photo at night...the colors are actually much brighter than they look...



A close up of the limes and spilled salt. Since I used so many beads, I used a washable fabric glue instead of sewing them on individually.


This weekend I'm making myself one with some cute martini fabric.
I don't drink martinis but they sure are cute!

crafting in the rain

Thanks to Tropical Storm Lee, I got a lot of crafting (and baking and eating and movie watching) done over the Labor Day weekend.

A teacher at work just had a baby so I made her a bear rattle, one of my hands free baby towels, a couple of burp cloths and a receiving blanket. (click on the link if you want the tutorial)



I made this apron for my giveaway winner...she loves tea :-)



and a cute little mouse for her kitty....



and an itsy bitsy spider ...

the best part was that I got to stay in my pjs without feeling guilty!

With all the rain, we've got CABIN FEVER!

OH! to be a prince!

I made some frogs and toads for an ironcraft challenge a few weeks ago but once I finished up, I didn't really need them.

I decided to add a few crowns and embellishments so they would fit last month's YOE theme of the frog prince.




they are really cute on my YOE tree.

Breakfast or dessert?

Dean is trying to be good (bah!) so I had to get creative for his August dessert.

I decided to make something out of the Barefoot Contessa At Home cookbook. It used homemade granola, fruit and yogurt.
I change one thing. I used vanilla yogurt instead of plain since I had it on hand.

Here it is in a pretty glass...ready to eat!


Since I hate yogurt, I didn't even try it but Dean and the kids gave it two thumbs up.