The Mad Tea Party!

Thanks to Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist for hosting this wonderful event! Check out her Mad Tea Party by following the white rabbit link below.

Welcome friends!  I am so glad you are here!

Come right in and pull up a chair...there is tea to be sipped

and sweet treats to share.

There are stars in the ceiling

and beads to put on

Look! guests are arriving to join in the fun...

Prince Frogs and toads and bunnies and more

toadstools and dolls and snails galore

all beckon you to have some tea

then throw in your hat to win something from me!

"Unbirthday" is Mad Hatter approved. So please leave a comment, you mustn’t be rude!

The rules are kept simple, for those that aren’t sane. You have until Friday to throw in your name.
Be sure to leave info in case you win...or I will be forced to pick again…
Now off I go to join other parties, I mustn’t be late, I mustn’t be tardy.

Please follow the rabbit, the fun keeps on going, just as sure as the weeds in my garden keep growing! 

-I'm late, I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say "Hello, Goodbye" I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!!!-

Osa's hair salon

HAPPY 4TH!

I was thinking about today and immediately thought of things I am thankful for.  I know I'm a few months early...it isn't Thanksgiving.  But it should be.  We forget how lucky we are living here in the USA.  

Our country, our leaders, our people....we aren't perfect.   Those who came before us weren't perfect either.  But their efforts built our country...and those who followed kept it strong and safe.  People daily work to keep it strong and safe.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

The right to speak your mind, even if you are an idiot.

The right to pick your own career.

The right to religion.

The right to education.

The right to own property.

The right to choose your own spouse....

and much more.

Simple things really.  But things so many others do not have.....

We need to remember all this when we Pledge our Allegiance to the Flag...it is really to our country, the flag is just a symbol.

I say it at work.  I put my hand over my heart and mean every word.  I give laser beam eyes to kids who aren't being respectful during the pledge. Then they get a lecture. They laugh and say their parent's don't care about the pledge.  They say I can't make them say the pledge.  Which is true.....and that is something they should be thankful for...because in some other country you might not be able to NOT pledge allegiance to something....sort of short sighted, isn't it?

So today, I am thankful and you should be too....you are probably out cooking hot dogs and playing at the beach.  At the least, you are hanging with friends or loved ones.  Even if you have to work today (retail, I know...been there, done that) then chances are, your shift is shorter and management has a little something in the back because they know it sucks to work when everyone else is out having fun.

So remember what today really is all about.  And be thankful for it.

Five on Friday!

I am joining Amy again this week for her Five on Friday blog hop!

Our yard is happy happy happy so I thought I'd share what is blooming!

First of all, our rain lilies made an appearance!  They are small but their coloring is so lovely.

They are not native to Louisiana so they don't bloom as much here.   When they do, it is like a little gift.... 

My little herb garden....each year this trough amazes me.   I have herbs all over the yard but this is what I have by the back door...perfect for cutting for dinner.

It contains: oregano, sweet basil, flat leaf parsley, chives, green onion and thyme.  I moved the lavender to the small pot in front of it because the basil was squeezing it out.

Gimli and his angel wing begonia.  I usually plant a giant geranium but they were hard to find this year.  I'd always wanted to try one of these so this was the perfect opportunity.

A gladiola volunteer.  I love these girls.  So frilly and pretty.  So SOUTHERN.  They remind me of these dresses.
They bloom all summer long.  I redid my angel bed for them in the backyard...cannot wait until they poke their heads up out of the ground.

Our agapanthus.  Beautiful as always.  I moved our angel into it last year.  Mrs. Bunbun doesn't mind sharing her garden.

We planted these elephant ears a couple years ago in a space off our front porch.  The space gets a weird mix of sun and shade and nothing seems to like the area.   We tried the elephant ears and they love it!

The "dead zone" is a little space that was nothing but mud when we moved in.  Since there are so many wires and pipes going in to the ground here, I never dug the ground.  The fern is a sun fern that died a couple years ago during an unexpected freeze.  I cut it to the root, threw it on the ground and dumped a bag of soil on top of it.  The vine is another morning glory. 

Our black eyed susan vine is really growing!  Just today I noticed our morning glory has volunteered in the same area so soon, I should be seeing those blooms too.

Be sure to go to Amy's and check out the other bloggers playing along today!

moving fast......

This summer is moving WAY too fast.  I feel the need to say WHOA!  Between doctor appointments, dental appointments and just keeping things going, all of us feel the need to take a breather.  
In fact, right now, I am with Matt at the dentist....poor guy is getting his wisdom teeth done today.  Impacted teeth = no fun.

That being said, I managed to do my CAL squares!

I also made this little scarf to giveaway....nothing like a little something patriotic to wear this time of year!

And I made my apron for the craft along challenge.  We needed to make something June Cleaver would wear....how about this:

I won't even apologize about the apron photo.  I just truly don't care anymore!  Have a great July!!!!

DIY Dog steps

We've never owned a "springy" corgi before.   Until now.  Which can be a problem.   Corgis are not supposed to be jumpers because of their long backs.  
Well, tell that to our dog.
Osa jumps onto the BED, sofa, chairs...just about anything the cat can jump up on.   If it weren't for her back, I wouldn't worry.  But I don't want a dog with wheels....so..........I decided she needed to be trained to use steps.  And to stay off the bed.  She has her own bed, no need to get on ours!

I looked for steps and the ones I brought home were skinny and plastic and she wouldn't use them.   Back to the store.  The only other types I found were incredibly expensive and had to be special ordered.   My sister has some foam ones that I considered but I decided to try and make some first.

I got the idea off pinterest about 2 months ago and saved some boxes.  (I just love summer, I simply didn't have the time to do this during the school year!)

First of all, I got my boxes together.   I used a low wide boot box for the bottom and some wind chime boxes for the "step."   I filled them first with stuffing so they could hold a corgi!  Corgis may be short but they are like walking watermelons so the steps had to be sturdy enough for that.  

One of my boxes needed some length so I tore another box apart to use it for that support.   Then I taped it all together like so:

Afterwards, I went upstairs (with Osa in tow) and got out my batting.   After watching Osa tunnel through the batting like a mole and taking photos of her doing that....LOOK AT THE HEART ON HER BUTT!!!!!

...I got back to work and wrapped and taped the steps.  They looked like this:

The last step was to "upholster" them. Hahaha...upholster, riiiiight!  
I just cut out and sort of pieced the fabric together.

The best part is that she used them right away with no problem.  Up and down she goes!

Oh and since you haven't seen her today, here she is in all her floofy glory!

She weighs 23 pounds now, my little girl is growing up.

Five on Friday!

I'm joining AMY for Five on Friday!  

There was a lot of cooking going on in my kitchen this week but I have to give a nod to the man of the house before we talk about that!

We took Dean out to lunch for Father's Day and then came back home to just hang out together.  In truth it was a lazy day...but we have so few of those together, it was nice.  
Simple. But nice.

there was lots of laughter...

and wine! (don't you just love that vivino app?)  Totally rocks!

The rest of the week was spent channeling my inner domestic goddess.  

On Monday, I went blueberry picking with some friends and brought home 2 gallons of these beauties!  Many were frozen, some were snacked on.  Most were cooked!

On our way home, we passed a little farmer in front of his house.  He had a TON of veggies for sale.  I bought some squash for canning and several beautiful tomatoes to use for dinner.  

This is a raw tomato pasta sauce...and totally amazing and fresh tasting.  Lots of chopping but so easy to make!

On Tuesday, I harvested some basil and made 24 basil/olive oil cubes for the freezer.  It took about 3 hours from start to finish but is so worth the effort.  Nothing beats the flavor.  Click HERE if you want my "recipe."   

After that was done, I made some deli style blueberry muffins for the family.  These are HUGE.

 This one was so top heavy, it kept falling over!  I got the recipe from chew out loud's blog.

and I needed a fork to eat it all....the muffin was about the size of two normal ones.  The best part was the streusel topping!

On Wednesday, I was back in the kitchen making sweet squash relish!  I don't eat squash or zucchini....but THIS stuff is AMAZING!  Look at all the pretty summer colors in here...getting ready to be cooked up.

When that was done, I decided putting away all my canning stuff only to drag it out again in a few days was too much effort....so....I went ahead and made some blueberry jam.   I love how bright it all turns while cooking.  Oh my gosh this stuff is soooo good!

Here is is, all canned up.  
Yes, it took me ALL DAY LONG. 
Yes, my back hurt after but I got a long soak in a hot tub with a big glass of wine for my efforts. Yes, it is SO totally worth it!  

Canning, in my humble opinion, is a dying art.   The difference in flavor is amazing.  If I had space, I would can so much more stuff.  Seriously, I dream of those old cellars where you store canned goods.  My friends laugh at me.

On a side note, I did NOT can purple and gold stuff because I love LSU.  I mean, I DO love LSU but I didn't do this on purpose.  Just sayin'

Happy Friday!  Go see Amy today for more Five on Friday posts!