Frosty goes to school....

I got back from Thanksgiving break and put up my  little tree.

Later that day, I noticed the other teachers had begun their door decorations.  Since I love decorationg my own front door and not wanting to be left behind, I skipped the elaborate cutting and taping of paper and covered the door in the ONLY color of paper left in the workroom...okay, so there was orange and yellow too but I don't consider them all that Christmasy!

Then after work, I went straight to the artist in the family, picked her up from school and brought her back to create something simple that could go through January.

20 minutes after she arrived, Frosty arrived too, complete with a bubble pipe!

Considering we live in south Louisiana, I doubt we will get snow but you NEVER KNOW!

Gunter's Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a working holiday for us this year.   We headed to Florida to help with the task of cleaning out our family home.   The act of striping the home you lived in for the majority of your life is so hard. 
Of course, not everyone knew what the task at hand was.
Gunter stowed away thinking he would join us for the holiday!

Before, during and after dinner, Gunter  flirted with the ladies....typical!

He also taste tested the mushroom gravy, had a little too much wine and was found trying to enjoy a margarita straight out of the machine!

The only time things got a little crazy was when he tried to flirt up Olivia.  She was a little rough on the old boy!  

He was so tramautized by the experience he had to climb up on the couch to rest....

Overall, he had a great time!!!!

Another year...

Another year has passed since our yearly donation to the local pet shelter.   I swear, it gets harder for me each year.   These poor animals are simply cast offs in our disposable society.   Yet, there they were happy to see us.  Eagerly wagging tails and begging to be pet, some barking, some shivering.  The cats purring and playing and meowing, rubbing themselves against their cages.   

Even though our animal rescue is a small affair, they manage to keep most animals until placed.  One dog has been there since he was a puppy, about 7 months.  He is cute and sweet but average looking.  Just another mid sized black dog in a sea of them.  Heart breaking.  I always cry when we visit the dogs while Kaela always cries when we visit the cats. 

I managed to make 22 pet beds this year while Kaela made several cat toys.   

When we were picking up all the food and litter, a lady and her daughter exclaimed "WOW, You must have a lot of pets!"   I explained that we were taking it all to the animal shelter.  She asked how long I'd been doing it and when I told her, her eyes filled with tears and she shoved a 5 dollar bill in my hand, asking me to put it toward something for the animals.   I told her we couldn't take her money at which point her daughter said it would make her day.  So, we bought some extra treats with it. 

It was a bittersweet morning but we left knowing that we did some good.   If anyone has old yarn they would like to donate, I'll email you my address and you can mail it to me.  I start making the beds starting in January and aim for 2 dozen.  I use any kind of yarn although the thicker the better.  I like the cheap stuff as it holds up better. 
For anyone who'd like to do some for their own pet shelter, here is the link to my pattern.  I crochet holding 3 strands together to make it soft and thick. If you are making them for a dog, just make them a bit bigger.  Recently our local shelter started using wooden pallets to keep the dogs off the concrete and then they put the beds on top of the pallets.  

one more bird

I couldn't let this year pass without making something for daddy.  I made these right before going to Florida to give to everyone for their tree.  

The color is actually teal but in the lighting, looks more green than it is.

Just little ornaments to remind us of daddy's love for birds, especially hummingbirds.  They aren't expensive or fancy.  But neither was daddy.  Just a gentle man who loved nature and loved to create beautiful things.  I miss him so much.

This will be a hard Thanksgiving without him.

A Day without Hunger

The company Dean works for is very serious about feeding people on a global basis.   LeSea is a christian broadcasting company.  They have a nonprofit food distrubution company called
 " Feed The Hungry" and feed 56,000 kids daily.  It is something Dean's boss is passionate about.

Dean was talking with his staff about doing something locally on a smaller basis and came up with "A Day Without Hunger."

Dean got started and organized to have 80,000 pounds of food delivered to a local car dealership warehouse.  Then he and his staff set to work, figuring out logistics and advertising.  They found sponsors to help get the word out to make the day a success and volunteers to get the boxes packed.   They got local churches involved to ensure the food went where it needed to go and to give God the glory for the event.  

It took a lot of hours and even more sweat but he and his team pulled it all together.   After planning for a couple months, they worked almost around the clock for over 2 weeks.  It got to the point where I think he would have had more sleep if he'd slept at the warehouse.  

Pallets of food and boxes ready to be filled...

Rainy days

Cold days

His staff was changing clothes between appointments so often, they were feeling like Clark Kent looking for phone booths to change in!

Some days with no volunteers, other days with so many they didn't know what to do with them!

In all, they gave away 2,000 boxes of food to needy families and had leftover food to donate to the local food bank.

The event was a huge success.  Dean and his staff were exhausted but in a good way.  Nothing like giving back to make you even more thankful for the blessings in your own life.  

God is good.

birdies galore

I've been making ornaments for my themed tree.  Lots and lots of them!   

Some were specific to what I had on hand.  Like this card I altered....

And this "spoolie."  I've seen them but never made one before.   I was going to make a blue bird but never used wool roving before, much less felted it.  Once I got it shaped and dried, it resembled a hummingbird so Dean crammed a painted toothpick in it's wee head.   I think it is perfect.  The best part is that there really are hummingbirds this vibrant blue.  See?

This zentangle one was inspired by something I found on pinterest.  

I liked it enough to make lots more.

Cinnamon birds, another pinterest idea.   
Before I glittered them, they were very aromatic.  You can still smell them but sadly, not as much. Next time I made these, I'll only glitter the front!

Paper clay birds.  This is on pinterest too....hmm.  The lettering is more visible than in the photos.  I like how they turned out, simple bird shapes with holiday sentiments.

I don't think I'll have ANY trouble filling my tree with birds!

experimenting with wristwarmers......

I love the wristwarmers I made so much, I decided to make another pair for knocking around.

I wanted a pair I could use and not worry about if they got messed up, like when working outside when it is cold.  I used some leftover yarn from another project I made a few years back.  The yarn was a wool blend so I decided to make them a bit large and felt them. I knew that this particular yarn felts better and better with subsequent washings which means it will stand up to hard work. 

I used an "F" hook and chained a little larger than my wrist...about 28.  Then I worked every row as hdc.   I finished off the edges in sc.  The bobble edge is just *sl, dc* repeat around.    The picot is *ss, ch 3, skip 1* repeat all the way around.

Here they are before felting.  Vibrant stripes with a fake bobble at the wrist and picot at the knuckles.  

And after 3 washings and dryings.  You can see how the lines between the blues are blurred.  The mitts are also snug to my hand which I really like.  

Now, If you want a true stripe pattern with a real bobble edge, complete with picture tutorial, check out attic24.