Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Hey, there!

It is sooooooo hot!!!!!! When will fall be here? Seriously, it isn't even summer yet and I am ready for it to end. I can't handle the heat. Not at all. Okay, so that's the weather.

What else has been going on?

Chickens. We are slowly getting the coup built. Because it is soooooo hot (see above) it is slow going. Poor Dave. He's such a trooper dealing with the crazy heat and his crazier wife. We are going to try to get it "finished" this weekend. Mean while we've moved some of the birds out to the back yard so they won't feel soooooo hot and crowded in this heat.

Garden. Is a-growin'! Wow! We had a bunch of rain before it got sooooooo hot and, even if I'm not loving it, my veggies are! We've been eating lettuce and spinach. Thy Hand has posted about freezing spinach which I think I will try this week. All that is left to plant is watermelon, basil and some more leaf lettuce and maybe more spinach. I'm not very happy with the carrots, so I think I'm going to replant those in the spots where they did not come through.

Anniversary. The ninth to be exact. Dave took Monday off and we got to hang out together, redhead in tow. It was a nice, easy day but soooooo hot. I'm sure we didn't look like we were celebrating our anniversary. It was too hot to be close to anyone I don't care what day it is.

Swag Bucks. Go here for a better explanation. It is basically an opportunity to earn a little money doing what I do throughout the day- searching on the computer. It is pretty basic, you just down load the Swag Bucks tool bar and do all of your searches through them. Every once in a while you get Swag Bucks. As you collect Swag Bucks you can turn them in for stuff. You can also get Swag Bucks by purchasing through them, filling out questionaires, watching videos, find secret codes, etc. Anyway, my goal is to save up Swag Bucks for gift cards to pay for Christmas.

T.V. Wow! What a couple of weeks in T.V. land. I finished the 3rd season of Doc Martin which threw me into a deep depression. My parents have told me to hang in there as they have seen most of the 4th season. Grey's Anatomy's finale put me into adrenalin overload. Castle broke my heart. Lost, oh, Lost... I laughed, I cried... Sigh.... More finales to come. Oy!

Hockey. That being the greatest sport in the history of mankind. And the Philadelphia Flyers, being the greatest team in the history of hockey. And officially the greatest hockey team in the Eastern Conference 2009/2010. I'm so proud! Go Flyers! Knock some more teeth out of the mouths of those Chicago Black Hawks!

Books. Just finished "Double Comfort Safari Club", part of the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. If you haven't ready any of these books, you should. They are good for your soul. And, you'll fall in love with Botswana and want to move there!

Sewing. I have been really enjoying my creepy creations. I've been doing a lot more drawing because of this and I love that! I've been working on a series inspired by beauty pageants. I've been creating contestants for an autumn-themed pageant. So far there is a Miss Pumpkin Patch, Miss Sunflower Blossom and I am currently working on Miss Harvest Moon. Waiting in the wings is Miss Halloween in Black & White.

That's it in a rather large nut shell. I'm off to find a cool spot to sit and sew while little ones nap. Enjoy your day!

Monday, May 17, 2010

New Blog!!!

Want to know what I've been working on for the last two weeks? Go here.

I will still be doing all of the other crafting and sewing. I just needed to try something different. Something that is more me. Something that I wish I had been doing all along. (Funny how that happens, isn't it?) Anyway this is a new venture for me, an off-shoot of Sew Sweet Fabric Confections. A way in which to showcase my talent, my love for Halloween and ghost stories and Edgar Allen Poe, and my need to be an artist again. Something was missing, now it is found!

I hope you enjoy my new adventure. I've been having so much fun creating this small sampling of what I have in store.

FYI, the Sew Creepy blog will strictly be a selling blog that will link to my Sew Creepy Confections Etsy shop. I will only post when I have a new piece to add to the collection. This blog, Sew Sweet Fabric Confections, will run as usual.

Enjoy!

Family Update

This post will be dedicated to updating you on the Crane homestead.

First, we have the tree branch from we-don't-know-where that joined our family a couple of weekends ago. The boys have become quite attached to it and I fear that when Daddy finally breaks out the chainsaw there will be tears. (I will not be crying. It's time for that thing to go!)



Now for the garden. First we have a lovely pic of my wee lilac bush that I planted last year. It is right behind my first garden bed so when I'm out there workin' the fields it smells just delicious. It actually makes my mouth water. Yum!

Here we have a potato plant. Last year I tried to grow potatoes using my own, store-bought potatoes and nothing happened. (Actually something did grow that I thought was a potato plant-to-be but was probably a weed. A well tended and loved weed.) This year we found out that grocery store potatoes are treated so that they cannot be used as seed potatoes. I bought actual seed potatoes and here we are! Such a pretty, little thing!

Here is some spinach and kale.

Here is a whole lot of stuff. Saturday night we consumed our entire crop of radishes, thus the empty square second down on the left. They were very good and I will be planting a second crop in a day or two.

And here are my pea plants. Love them!

Now for coop news.

Here we have Asher setting up theater seating for those interested in getting covered in saw dust.

No takers.

And here we have the Crane men-folk hard at work building a home for our chicks.

That nail took most of the evening to get itself hammered in. What a trooper!

And here are the lucky ladies themselves!

Yu-ummm! I mean, aren't they cute!

And our egg-layers to be...

So, last night I was noticing a couple of the meat hens were looking a little different from the others. Then I noticed the song from the movie "The Crying Game" started playing in my head. Ah, Dave? I called out. I think a couple of our ladies are actually laddies. They all taste the same, says Dave. So sensitive! First thing I think of is that there needs to be some name changing. So, we are now the proud owners of: Lady Catherine and her daughter, Anne (the small one that always looked weak-ish), Mr. George Wickham (the cad), and Mr. and Mrs. Elton (snobs).

Now for lunch! Enjoy your day!

Monday, May 10, 2010

I'm here, I'm here...

I've just taken a bit of a break from this corner of my life. No reason other than I had other things to do. Nothing major, just stuff. Well, there was, is, something that I am working on but I'll talk about that some other time.

So, how was your Mother's Day? I started mine by being wished a Happy Mother's Day from my darling husband to which I responded "Happy Mother's Day" to him. He told me that he was not anyone's mother and that maybe I needed to go back to bed. Then, my Nathanael wished me a Happy Mother's Day. I said "Happy Mother's Day to you, too", on purpose this time.(When he was younger and it was his birthday, if you wished him a happy birthday, he wished you a happy birthday, too. So polite and thoughtful, he just didn't understand that it was only his birthday.) Nathanael responded, "I'm not a mother." What, nobody can wake up with a sense of humor?

From there we went to church, an hour earlier than usual. Therefore I spent the service elbowing Dave because he kept falling asleep! At one point I had to go to the bathroom so bad I thought we might have an incident, but I was too afraid to go and return to find Dave asleep on the lady next to me. I finally made him promise me that he would make every effort to stay awake while I ran to the bathroom. He remained conscious, you'll be happy to know. Unfortunately, not long after that, I let my guard down and was rewarded with a small snore form my beloved. Oy!!:)

My guys took me to lunch at Red Robin (I've been wanting a good burger for a while now). And then Dave took our boys to visit his mother while I received some much needed time to myself. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought a couple of books- 'Searching For Pemberly' and 'The Poe Shadow'. I also found and purchased the third season of 'Doc Martin'. I've already seen the first three episodes! If you've never seen 'Doc Martin' you must! I got hooked on it last summer while at my folks. They get it weekly on one of their many PBS stations and I got to see 4 or 5 episodes while I was there. I instantly became obsessed with the lead character played by Martin Clunes. I couldn't stop thinking about him- his character- and what might happen to him next. It's good that this is a BBC show or I might turn stalker! Anyway, it is brilliant! He is brilliant! Hilarious!!!
Find it- watch it- NOW!

After wandering about for a couple of hours, I went back to my empty house and, surprise, surprise, watched my new 'Doc Martin'. I was laughing so hard within the first ten minutes that I had to call my folks to relive it with them! I love Martin!

It was very nice having that time to myself. I don't ever get to be on my own. It's quite a feat to have only one kid with me never mind no kids. I did miss them. I'm so used to being with them, especially Asher, constantly ( I do not exaggerate here), that it is hard being with out them. Disorienting, too. I needed it, though. And, I was very happy to see the car full of my guys pull up to the house!

It was a good end to a stressful couple of days. The boys were really going out of their way, behavior-wise, with me and their father. A lot of 'boundary stretching' going on. I know these skirmishes are necessary for children, and parents, to set boundaries and define rules and learn about consequences. I know that it is more of a test of my strength as a parent, as a mother. In the end, all is well and we have all learned a lot and even grown a bit.

I have oodles more I could write but- ENOUGH ALREADY!!!:) There is laundry and lunch and naps and stitching and gardening and chicky-chicky-chicking.....

So, I will leave you with this-

I just LOVE him!!!!!!!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Welcomes and Giveaways

Good Monday morning to you! Here's what you need to do today. Click on over to the wonderful blog that is Thy Hand Hath Provided and check out her post for today. She is hosting a giveaway of a decorative treat made by me. Details are on her blog. Also, I have just posted some new, companion pieces to the one in the giveaway at Etsy. You'll want to check those out, too. So, if you want something of mine and you want it for FREE go to Thy Hand Hath Provided and follow her directions for the giveaway.

*If you have never visited Thy Hand Hath Provided before, after entering the giveaway, wander through her posts a bit. They are quite wonderful, informative, fun and encouraging. Reading her blog is always a special part of my day!

Now, for those of you who are new to my blog, WELCOME! I'm so glad you've stopped by and hope that you will take some time to wander about.

A little bit about me... I am a full-time mom to two beautiful, fun and funny, exhausting and exhaust-less boys. I'm a creative and artistic person who has finally found her outlet through needlework and fabric art. I love to sketch and hand stitch and read, read, read. I have recently developed a bit of a passion for gardening and chickens. And, I have also recently found the creative release and inspiration in the world of blogging. My blog journals my creative deeds along with the every day stories that make up my life in the here and now. So, come on in and sit a spell, peruse past posts (say that three times fast!) and click on the various links provided along the right-hand side. And please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by!

Thank you to Thy Hand Hath Provided for showing me off today. And thank you to all of you, new and old, for visiting with me.

Enjoy your day!

***Here are some pics of the item that is being given away.




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