Simply Sunday...

Jasper enjoyed the view.



Sarah talked on her phone to grandma and friend Callie.



Anyone want to buy a 1991 Suburban?



I love it when the oak tree is this color.



This is one tall tree!



Jasper tried to make friends with Jeff, the red eared slider Sarah caught at the park today.(click to enlarge any of the pictures)

Ocean Sapphire...

Sarah's friend got a Siamese Fighting Fish(betta) a few weeks ago and she's been bugging us to get one too. I resisted because of the cats, but finally gave in today. He's GORGEOUS!! (click to see larger images)



I wish his irredescence showed up better in the photos. He's a dark blue with slightly lighter fins.


Here he is backlit, showing off his greenishness. You can see a few of my needle-felted balls behind his bowl too, an nice foil for his coloring.


This is the truest picture of his color.


We already had the bowl and red marbles, a perfect habitat for such a beauty. However, we will be looking for a bigger container. They do better in 1-2 gallon tanks, this one is probably a half gallon. Why yes, that is a C3PO standing in the corner!

In other news...

I'm taking time this weekend to go through a newish(acquired last year) old cookbook, Rodale's Naturally Great Foods Cookbook by Nancy Albright(published in 1977). Is it ever full of good stuff! Not just recipes but instructions on everything from making yogurt, sprouting sprouts, and even grinding flour from pumpkins! Wowza!!! There are soooo many recipes in it that I'm dying to try out, like Alfalfa Sprout Gazpacho, Avocado Banana Dressing, Grainburgers, Millet Meatloaf, Broccoli Timbales, Yogurt Cheese, Sourdough Rye Bread, and the list goes on and on and on!!! I'm also reading another goodie called Cooking Vegetables the Italian Way by Judith Barrett. Lotsa good stuff there too.

We are supposed to be taking the last bits of wallpaper down from the dining room tomorrow. The paint we've decided on is called Caramel Cream, a rich, bright orange. All the playing I've done at Valspar's online room painting thingie points to this color. I think it will be perfect.


I'm sure it looks garish on your monitor, kinda looks washed out on mine too. Trust me, its really a rich, goldish orange with depth and a nice warmth. In fact, if you'll scroll back up to the third picture of Ocean(his true color pic) and look directly above his tail you can see a felted ball of red, yellow, and orange. The orange in that picture is very close to the wall color. I can't wait to get it painted!!

Guess that's all the goings on for this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to blog more next week. Having a working teen who is also very social is demanding more of my time than I ever thought possible!!

Is this cute or what?

My parents adopted two babies several months ago. This is Bert and he weighs about 5 pounds. They look like china cat figurines, very beautiful and delicate. Nan is a bit shy but I've got some pics on my camera. I'm trying to figure out how to get them onto the girls' computer, which is where I'm posting from now. Hopefully I can get it all worked out soon.

Mom and I have been going nuts at the thrift stores with the wool blazers and sweaters. So far we've deconstructed at least 15 or 20 and there are maybe 15 more to work on. We'll end up halving the goods when we're done. I have LOTS of ideas in the works, LOTS! I'm also working on my third batwing shawl. Its about halfway finished.

It was 14 degrees here this morning!! We're expecting snow on Friday but it will be followed by rain and won't stick. When we were here 2 years ago there was the pretty kind of snow that stayed for 3 days. The kids were in heaven. I wish it would do the same this time.

Anyway, that's the goings on here. I don't know what we'll do today for our New Year's celebration. I'd like to cook something, maybe a chocolate pie or something.

The Cuteness Continues...

(to the point of amost being unbearable)


(he had just finished bathing her head)


(she woke up and had to reposition)


(ah, that's much better)


(is it sweet enough for you?)

my baby thinks she's a pig...

(Panda, Rainbow, Sundae, Shimmer, Stella, and Meadow)


(She had no clue she could jump over this fence)


(They have no fear of her at all)

In Other News...

Mark had something to do this afternoon so the kids and I are lazing around. We might head up to the Yamboree after he comes home. I'd like to take a load of stuff to Goodwill but we may wait til in the morning to do that.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!! It is just beautiful here, blue skies and low-70s! I LOVE this kind of weather, it makes getting out and doing so much easier.

A new, um, pet!

His name is Joe and he lives in our living room. Ryan found him on a downed limb at Mark's parents place yesterday. We looked up care for him and have everything he needs except crickets. It might be sow bugs if Ryan can't find any soon. This is his habitat.

And now for some WAY cuter rodents(and some fabric)!

(Echo and Basil)


(Echo's other side)


(Moonshine and his daddy Basil)


(Meadow, Echo's sister)


(Meadow showing off how gorgeous she is)

And, here is the fabric I bought to cover the computer chair I got from Goodwill a few weeks ago. It will end up being a bit more complicated than I'd hoped. There are tabs with grommets and a plastic piece that goes across part of it. I've got to examine it closer and see what I need to do.


(this shows the pattern best)


(this shows the color best, sort of, the lights aren't quite as light as here and the dark is a rich dark chocolate. between Muffin's hind end and the date stamp are the most true colors-at least on my monitor)

The Kitties!!!

Not mine, these cuties belong to my parents. The one with the white diamond head is Bert and the one with the more solid orange head is his sister Nan. They are around 3 months old and were adopted from the local no-kill shelter in Burnsville, North Carolina.


(enjoying a nap)


(they have adopted my mom's fuzzy bathrobe as their new 'mama')


(they have to eat up on the stovetop to keep Dixie from bothering them)


(posing)

Buttercup said, "Yerrrrr're ON!"...

When Buddy tried to steal her favorite forbidden toy.(remember to click to enlarge the pics)


"Yerrrr're Durn Tootin' I'm On!!", he growled right back at her.


"I got the tooooeeeeey, I got the toooooeeeeey!"


"Yep, still got it"


"Uh, you can have it if you want. I'm tired."


In other news...

Mark and Ryan went fishing tonight. We had a rain shower come through so they are thinking it will be a good night for it. Sarah had a birthday party to attend so I rode with Mark to a used tire place to get one for the boat trailer. Then we went by his new office so he could help the driver out with a delivery(Mark did the ticket and inspections and such). This isn't his regular job there but he's in the call rotation so every little bit of experience helps.

In exchange for me "letting" them go fish, Mark set my temporary desk up beside the fireplace in the living room(it is in the place of the glass-front hutch you see in the second picture above). He had to go in the attic to drop the cable down and found out why our kitchen light hasn't been working. It seems a critter decided to taste the wiring and got fried. He didn't see a mark on the wire but there was a burned spot on the insulation in the shape of a critter so that's exactly what happened. Mark's a bit unsure of how to proceed with that sort of wiring.

And, the girls went to their friend's to spend the night and go to church with her in the morning. So, I'm here trying to decide if I want to color my hair, find something on teevee, or play around on the computer. Hmmmm, tough choices. I do have to reload the china hutch though.

Oh yeah, I did a repeat of our spinach, chickpeas and couscous dinner tonight but I left out the garam masala and added onion and garlic powder and a spoonful of Promise(margarine). We loved it both ways, it has proven its versatility!

Pigs in a Basket...

Sundae, Panda, and Rainbow enjoyed some peaceful piggy time in the girls' room this afternoon. The basket was their transport.

Can I get a rewind button?

The kind that lets you rewind anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes of your life but not the lesson you just learned. The kind that will keep you from knocking a bottle of lotion off the dresser onto your toe causing great(and I mean GREAT and longlasting) pain. Also the kind that will rewind to the part of your afghan you are about to mess up on so you can "not" make the mistake. Bigtime mess up, it has been frogged within an inch of its life. One that would also rewind to let you put the dogs in their kennel about an hour later than you did the first time so they can do their business and not bark all. night. long. because they have to "go". That's the kind of button I want.

I did finally drag myself to the neighborhood non-emergency walk-in clinic to spend 3 hours sitting. And redoing some rows on the aforementioned frogged afghan. It is good news because I might not/probably don't have an ear infection(it was too swollen to tell) but bad news because I have "significant" amounts of mucus in my sinuses that isn't draining very well. This is why it feels like there's a boiled egg shoved in my right ear. I also have "significant" chest congestion(that I haven't even noticed) and a raspy sound in my lungs. So, I'm on these horrible chewable suda-something tablets(holy cow they are NASTY, but the other option was a shot), and antibiotics because I might have a lung infection. That was $100 well spent. I do believe a nap is in my near future.

This means, of course, that I'm letting myself off the hook for any and all housework(can you say PARTAY!) except for cooking and folding some laundry. We're having pinto soup beans and "fried" cabbage(which is just cabbage cooked in a small amount of buttered water) and tuna salad sandwiches. The cabbage, believe it or not, was requested by Sarah. She's so smart!

And in other news:


(my mom with one of three new kitties-this is the male baby)

Several weeks ago my mom's sweet Nancy cat decided to escape and, sadly, hasn't been seen since. Her sister Sissy was missing her badly so mom adopted two sibling babies from their local no-kill shelter. They arrived a few days ago but are too busy having fun to let anyone take many pictures. Yesterday their longtime neighbor moved to go live closer to her family in another state. She left mom with her 5 or 6 year-old kitty Priscilla, a fat, fluffy, calico. I am awaiting pics of the female baby and Priscilla. The new babies don't have names yet, Flossie and Freddy were what my mom had wanted at first but they didn't fit. I suggested Bert and Earnie(for Albert and Earnestine) and that went over a bit better. If you have any suggestions for the two babies(they look very much alike, one of each sex) please leave a comment!!! Mom reads the blog and would love to have help getting the perfect names for these two. She says they are very loving, very used to people and extremely playful. We here at the Sonier house are a wee bit jealous(well 4 of the 5 of us are-guess who isn't, lol).

Pictures to Share...

From our weekend fishing trip, Ryan's birthday "party" and the doggies' visit this afternoon. I don't think I need to label each of them. The lab in the last dog pic is Buddy, the other 2 pics are of Buttercup "acting a fool". Buddy knows how to sit politely on the couch, B-cup does not. The corgi, Dixie, is helping my dad mow, she's not our dog. I need to get Ryan's catfish from Friday night on here, they were huge! Maybe later.