thrifted afghan pictures...

I just LOVE this afghan!! My mom's mom had one and I have always wondered where it went. I'm sure some cousin has it but mom thinks it may have been donated. No telling, that was well over 20 years ago. Anyway, I've never seen one in a thrift store til now and this is a beauty! There are several squares in need of shoring up with some matching yarn but that can wait til we get back home, it won't unravel before then. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, it was late at night and I've got no editing software on this computer.










(Nan kicking Bert's butt on bags of our salvaged wool)

Felt Balls and Halloween...

A few days ago I found the perfect place to display my felt balls! This is an old Pepsi carrier that my parents had when I was a bitty girl. I remember it from waaaay back. The fuzzy thing on top is a crocheted bowl out of alpaca boucle and fun fur. Its about big enough for a racquetball to fit in and I use it for jewelry or change.







Now for today's happenings....


(last year's fall mantle)


(garland made from fabric leaves we found at Michael's)


(two packages made three garlands)


(I did this while painting with the girls, craft paint on construction paper with clear glitter)


(this year's fall/halloween mantle- the pumpkin/jack o'lantern is reversible)


(the girls couldn't resist this adorable owl)


(and, thanks to my bloggy friend Susan at Blackberry Creek for posting a picture of her little jack, my Jack now has a beautiful chapeau)

Cats, Crafts, Clutter, and More...

First, it is really hard to get anything done with this kind of cuteness going on. We are now wondering if Tallulah will end up being a normal Manx cat after all. Her diet of special easily digested kitten food with pumpkin seems to have done the trick as far as her "poops" are concerned. She has not had a problem in two weeks! And, AND!, she can move her tail now!!! We first thought that her nerves had not developed that far down along her spine because she seemed to have no feeling in her stump of a tail and was unable to move it. Yesterday she was raising it in response to being petting down the length of her back. Those of you with cats know the movement that I mean. We are hopeful that she's free of the genetic problems known as Manx Syndrome but it will probably be early next year before we know for sure.

Now. We are finally ready to get down to the business of painting the kitchen soffits and dining room walls. YEEEHAW!! So, in case you haven't followed my blog through my bedroom painting experience, I take forfreakinever to choose a paint color. And then I sometimes get it way wrong. This time though, this time I am not making a hasty decision. I want it to pop and sing but I don't want it to be garish. Which ones do yall like?



My favorite from this shot is the yellow between the rusty red and teal, on the left. It is also the same color that's in the third and forth photo. What is too funny is that each of my kids, at different times and all on their own, suggested that we do the walls in splotches of color just like these. It would look FANTASTIC if you want my opinion, but I don't think certain people would be terribly supportive.



My favorite from this next picture is the harvest gold that is next to the robin's egg blue and again to the extreme right. Unfortunately it looks terrible next to the countertops.





All three of these are great but my favorite is still the mustard yellow. We are probably going to do the kitchen soffits in the rust(a more burnt orange than this one).



I am continuing the decluttering from yesterday. We lazed a bit and I didn't get this finished last night. Actually we didn't cook our fajitas til 8pm and then Mark got a call to deliver something to a nursing home so he had to eat and run. And I just plain old DID NOT FEEL LIKE IT. There. So, it waits for me today. I'll empty all the baskets, boxes and suitcases and bag up what I don't want. Looking on top of the entertainment center, I just noticed almost a dozen more baskets to sort through. Yeah.







I did finish my wet felted balls but I'm not satisfied with these results at all. It didn't work very well the way I did it, they are way too lumpy and holey and lopsided. The first one, from a few weeks ago, was a ball that has been completely needle felted first and I got a perfectly round ball after wet felting. This time I basically draped the felting around and around and rolled it in my hands to form a loose ball. Then I needle felted enough to hold it together. I filled a bucket with hot water and dipped each ball into it, squirted it with dish soap and rolled the ball in my hands like playdoh. I'll stick with the original way I did it.

Ending this post on a high note... IT IS RAINING!!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!

Inspired by...

These felted leaves. I was googling for something to do with some of my smaller scraps of felted wool and came across this fun project from one of my favorite unschooly, crafty persons. They are just the inspiration I was looking for!

Alas, Jasper had other plans for my felt which did not include me touching it.



Gypsy, however, was all about the crafting today. She helped Sarah, Amy and I make jeans for Pink Panther!(click for the detailed versions)

Something a bit different....

Still very much in the trial phase...



The driftwood, found at Wright Patman Lake, measures about 4 feet long(5 if it was straight) and the largest needle-felted balls are about the size of golf balls. I have 4 more pieces of driftwood that I'd like to incorporate, one is about 8 feet long, and I can make as many balls as I need. My favorite so far is the multi-colored one and the blue with yellow tag-a-long.

Even this piece of wood is very heavy to work with so I need to find a kind of string strong enough to hold it once I'm finished. Also, I need a place to hang it that is low enough for me to work without having to run up and down a ladder all the time. The garage would work but its hot out there!



These pictures are terrible but I don't see them improving, the lighting is just too weird with the white ceiling and all. It looks much better in person. The coolest thing is that the ceiling fans and a/c make it spin ever so slowly, just what I was hoping!

Suffice to say....

The Clark W. Griswold family has NOTHING on us. We are tuckered out to say the least and I feel like I'm still in the boat. Here are some lovely images from our latest camping endeavor(fiasco). We had a super time despite the set backs. Maybe I'll be able to talk about them someday.

This time we camped at Lake Bob Sandlin and we'll definitely be going back. This is a nice campground with clean facilities and large sites. Somehow I managed to miss the cemetery information so we didn't visit this time.

Around Camp:





We pulled into camp at approximately 9:40 on Friday night. It had rained so everything was pretty soaked. At this point I was ready to drive back home. Seriously. After setting up tents and blowing up air mattresses, we were in bed by midnight.

When we camp, my one request is that we get close enough for comfort to the bathrooms but not right next door. We pulled onto the loop to discover that the facilities were on the left of the road before the actual loop started so we turned right and took the first site. So, it was actually across the road from the bathrooms and down a few hundred feet. Yay! There is nothing I hate more while camping than to have to walk down the road a quarter mile to the bathrooms in the pitch dark(especially when some fellow campers killed a large copperhead in that same road-at night).



Instead of canned soft drinks, I bought two liter bottles. We rarely get soft drinks at home so this is a special treat for the kids(and Mark this time). These lasted much longer and didn't attract bees like cans do. I made Zen tea for myself.

We always pack plenty of good food. This time I made ranch dip with bacon bits to eat with chips and veggies. It ended up being the perfect condiment for our breakfast burritos on Sunday morning too. Our Saturday morning ham and pancakes worked out just fine too. I ended up bringing the dry mix in a zip bag and the milk in a small tupperware container and mixed it up in my tea pitcher(this was before I made tea obviously). We also had chili dogs, Chicken Noodle Stew(Ramen, mixed veggies and grilled chicken with spices), trail mix, homemade brownie muffins, and other snacks.



To keep from being bored, the girls brought their drawing stuff. It was hot in the tent so Sarah didn't stay there long. You'll notice the brownish blob near the entrance to the tent. This was the queen-sized air mattress, used only once before, that developed a leak(we can't find) and lost 90% of its air during the night. The second night it only lost 80% of the its air. Sigh. The good news is that we were quite comfortable with our thrifted pillow cases and sheets.





The kids enjoyed relaxing in their camp chairs.



Mark spent a lot of time at the boat doing various repairs and equipment overhauling. He lives for that kind of thing.



This was the spot I chose to practice a new craft and enjoy the wildlife and scenery. In a few days I'll reveal what I learned and hopefully show you a finished project! I also taught the girls how to do it so it isn't anything hard.



Saturday afternoon we went to the swimming area but didn't stay long, I also forgot my camera. The area consists of two concrete brick retaining walls with a sidewalk at the bottom(at water level) that's about 15 inches wide. The water is about 2 feet deep right off the bat. The lake bottom has the consistency of raw wet biscuit dough with small chunks of broken concrete mixed with it. For future reference, next time we'll pass on this experience.

On the Boat:





After we made our way through the dead trees(which I wanted to take home), we were captivated by this enchanting sunset.









Then it was time to get down to the business we'd come to do.

Wednesday Happenings....

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

(this one is odd)

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

(hahaha, this one is too)

I felted several sweaters today but I didn't take pictures yet. Maybe I'll do that tonight. Can't wait to let them tell me what to make of them. I've got at least a dozen different ones now, in a wide range of colors.

And, in the "its about time" category(mom don't faint): I took down some clothes that were destined for something, I know not what, that have been hanging on the back of the laundry room door for YEARS, and I do mean at least 5 years! They are now in the Goodwill bag. I also fixed it so that we can close the door easier. We always have to shut it when the dogs come in to keep them out of the kitty candy boxes. The hanger thingie made that difficult so I TOOK IT DOWN TODAY!!!! WOOOOOHOOOO!!!

We finally heard back from the pool person today after almost 3 weeks of NOT RETURNING MY CALLS! Sheesh!! Now I have to fax the bid to the insurance company and hope we'll have a pool liner by June. We better.

The cats are healing well from having been spayed and neutered yesterday. Jasper is more alert and mobile than Gypsy since his was less invasive. Now we are down to Buttercup!

No clues as to what will be for dinner. Mark came home early so maybe I can get to the grocery store and pick something up that's mostly made.