it was an amazing Sunday ...

I updated my picture in the previous post but wanted to include some of these others from yesterday. 

We do creek baptisms frequently, regardless of the weather.  Yesterday there were snow flurries, and the wind chill was probably in the teens.

These next photos show how frustrating it is getting Charlie to hold still for a selfie with me.

Gracie was jealous but unwilling to take part.

Finally, a quilt board I started working on Saturday evening and finished yesterday between services.

I think I may hang it outside by the front door, and am debating putting the house number on it, or a scripture.  It's not a large square, only about 3.5"x3.5".   I'm working on repainting the existing mailbox, and don't want to put house numbers back on the mailbox since I had put them on the front of the house after I moved in.

Up to my ears in fun ...

    As promised on the 21st, here are the details and back story of the practical joke on my Pastor.

     For starters let me just post this disclaimer:  I have a warped sense of humor.  

     It developed as a survival tool actually because I learned early that if you can't laugh ~ and specifically laugh at yourself ~ you will have a miserable existence.  

     When kids in school called me four-eyes for having glasses, I retorted that I actually had six-eyes because they were bifocals.  

     When I had a retinal tear and wore a patch over my right eye for several months, I posted this card on my cubical at a new job.

     When my toes started to turn black from Reynaud's last January, I told my doctor I was more worried about whether or not I could find my favorite boots in two sizes smaller just for my left foot.

     Last week at Bible Study, Pastor Garrett made a comment that "we" didn't know how to have fun.

     Say what???  Ha!  Challenge accepted!!!

     To be fair, Garrett and his family were about to leave on vacation.  To DisneyWorld.  And Bible Study that night was pretty amped up with a lot of praise and worship, and he was just a little giddy to be getting on the road.  He left us a lot of instructions, busy plans for the week, and people to reach out to if anything came up.  He was also available for any emergencies, but for the most part, he was recharging his batteries.

     I totally get that.  But I still know how to have fun.  I was the one that put the fun back into my dysFUNctional family, after all.

     The first second my paycheck hit last week, I was hitting the buy now button on Amazon.com and I ordered 80 ears.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears that is.

     Garrett and all the family that went with them were back in the church today.  80 of us wore our ears into the church and kept telling him, "Where were you guys?  We looked everywhere for you and couldn't find you anywhere!"

     Yeah.  I know how to have fun.

Cabinet update & little things ...

Clicking photos enlarges them.

      I've been busy this week with a little of this and that and managed to finish repainting the organization cabinet for my office.  You may remember it from my Pi Day post on the 14th.

     I wish now I hadn't put glue on the top of the fabric of that right bin, but oh well.  What is done is done.  I was missing a knob for the one bin and will look for a wooden one I can paint to match.

     Originally I was going to purchase storage bins to use on the shelves, but think instead I will upcycle cardboard boxes that come in the mail by covering them with fabric.

     These beauties are the pink cyclamen that I found at the grocery store and mentioned on Monday.  I just love them right now in the kitchen, but can't wait to see them naturalize all over the side yard eventually.  I spotted a lone [link> Glory of the Snow blooming in the front yard and hope to be able to transplant it to my shady side soon.  Since we are expecting cold weather tomorrow, I've put it in a pot for now on the back patio so I don't lose it before I can move it.

    Trees are budding out and the willows are already showing that lime-green of new leaves stretching for the sun.  Some that flower are showing shades of deep pink and the air smells wonderful.  I love the scent of the daffodils on my craft table right now!

     Yesterday I quickly did some wrapped flower vases on empty Starbucks cold coffee bottles that I was gifted from a friend at church, and am working on making some more today.  I love this ombre orange yarn that has both a spring and fall feeling to it!  As a tip if you want to make your own, use some double sided tape to help keep it from slipping up on the upper curved part of the bottle, or just cover the lower half.  I used hot glue to secure the first and last rows.

     Last night I was sitting on my back patio with all the fur-kids enjoying the weather and listening to the birds.  I had put out some nesting balls, and it appears that the birds really like them.  They come filled with natural cotton, but I've been saving the lint from my dryer, and Charlie's hair when I give him a quick trim, to refill them when they are empty.

     I have several bird houses around the back patio but haven't seen any activity in any of them, which is probably not surprising since that area sees a lot of Charlie traffic.  I may move one of them to the front porch, facing away from the door, and others to different parts of the side yard.  

     My next big project is going to involve these vintage window screens.  Seven of them are quite large, and I'm considering turning one of them into a privacy screen in front of the kitty litter boxes in my office.  I still have quite a bit of the sheer fabric I cut into for the encaustic project (see the blog post from 21 Feb 22) and think I will staple it to the frame and then add some 2x2 pieces for feet to the long side of it to keep it upright.

 

Weirdo Lucy

   Normally I wouldn't share an embarrassing photo of Lucy like this, but it is kinda hysterical, and part of why I would like to have a privacy screen in front of their boxes.  This is how she poops.  Like a cheerleader or diva at an outhouse.  Standing on her tippy toes on the edge of the tub.  She cracks me up every time.  Thankfully, any video work meetings I've ever had I've made sure the camera doesn't have a view of the boxes.  (The boxes aren't filled with that much with litter.  There are smaller boxes within the tubs.  It just helps when Gracie is throwing the litter around trying to get to China.  Lucy on the other hand just drops and runs without any effort to bury it.  Soooooooo annoying!)  I have no idea why she poops that way.  Her mom doesn't do that, and the boxes are scooped several times a day (or else I gag during work).

     The other six large ones will become a "catio" so I can safely leave the cats outside without needing to be constantly out there supervising their bird-watching.  An old patio chair with a outdoor cushion on it, and a planter with cat grass and catnip... the girls will be thrilled with it. I'm still looking for a freebie chainlink fence to put along that edge of the patio so it is a little taller than the almost invisible chicken wire that is there now.  With outdoor concert season starting soon at the restaurants around the corner from me, I'd like to sit outside and listen to the music more often.  Last summer I chased the cats into the house every time I went in to get more iced tea, or fix something to eat, which they found annoying.

     The two smaller screens will be cleaned, stenciled and hung for decor.  I think one of them I'd like to hang on the back porch with a stencil of the state shape on the top half [with a heart where WSS is] and "Almost Heaven, West Virginia" on the lower half.  I've been pinning a lot of ideas to Pinterest, and looking at some adhesive stencils on Amazon.

     Hope that your weekend is off to a good start!                   Hugs, Ci

Sunflowers and Spring collages...

     I had last Monday (the 14th) off work and managed to get my craft (former dining) room under control.  But little else.  It was a busy week for me with weird blood sugar drops and unexpected blessings.  

     I'm working on a practical joke for my Pastor, which I will share later this month, and apparently, God thought it was pretty funny also because one of my blessings was a check from unemployment which covered the costs for the joke. 

     I took time on Friday to paint this small 6"x6" sunflower friendship quilt pattern with watercolors.  I stand with Ukraine.

     Saturday I took an art class for a wildflower Spring collage.  It was fun and very creative.  This is my creation with Cornelious T. Bunny, Esquire.  Now to figure out where he fits in on the family tree.  Clearly it will be on the fun side.

     Spring has finally decided to make an appearance in my yard with blooming daffodils and grape hyacinths.  I made the mistake of going down the spring planting aisle at Walmart and bought too many several shade loving ferns, caladiums, and lilies of the valley to plant in another three weeks when it looks like we might be past any deep frost danger.  I've decided to embrace the shady side of the yard and let it naturalize with plants and gradually get rocks to fill in around them, with larger flat stones to step on.  

     When I went grocery shopping over the weekend, there were some beautiful pink cyclamen for sale so I grabbed one to plant.  Hostas are on my shopping list and I have spoken to a landscaper friend at church about any pull-and-toss shade plants that they may get this summer to give them a new home in my yard.  Virginia bluebells "volunteer" in the vacant lot to one side of me, and the next time I see them volunteering, I'll transplant some to my yard.

     I've rejoined the Arbor Day Foundation and as my "gift" for rejoining selected some free white dogwood trees.  One of them will be planted in the yard between my house and the rental next door.

     I love this time of year when all the trees burst into color with leaf buds and blossoms.  Birds are everywhere, and I heard the frog peepers the other night for the first time.  Soon there will be fireflies in the evenings while I listen to the outdoor bands at the restaurants around the corner from the comfort of my own back porch.

     Lasr week I ordered (drumroll, please...) business cards for my bookshelf shop.  I'll get some of my books to put on the shelves for now, and will begin soliciting for other indie/self-published authors to reach out to me so that I can add them to the shelves and begin creating a list of those who will be interested in doing readings.

     I hope your week is off to a wonderful start.

                                       Hugs,    Ci

Pi Day ...

      No craft classes for me this past weekend, but still plenty to keep me busy during the week.  Yesterday I got this free2me cabinet.  When I'm done repainting, it will go upstairs in the office to help keep me a little better organized.

     Once cleaned of the dust and cobwebs, I will repaint it the same olive-brown that I used previously on the other chair in the office.  The bottom drawers are not on rollers, so I will probably put the short one in the middle and cover the fronts with the fabric I used to recover the chair cushion ~  unless I can't find enough scraps, then I will have to go to Plan B.  

     Since there is a knob missing, I will either try to find a match to the others or get three new wooden ones and paint them.  Plan B will be to paint them and recover the knobs in fabric.

     The two shelves are removable, and I'm going to take the top one out permanently.  I want to get seagrass baskets to use for storage ... office supplies, stationery, etc.

     I had today off and took advantage of it.  The weather was beautiful and Charlie and I took a walk up to meet with the owner of the Gum Store Studios.  They are a collective of artists and like-minded people, and will soon also be the home of the "Tell Me Your Story" bookshelves!  Great things have small beginnings!  Look at acorns and oak trees!  Or mustard seeds!

     This week I will begin building a Facebook page for Tell Me Your Story and reaching out to other self-published indie authors for their books.  There will be space for book readings, poetry nights, and writing seminars.  It is a dream I had almost given up on ...

     ... and speaking of dreams... I think I've mentioned in a previous post that I have very vivid and weird dreams/nightmares when I sleep on my back.  This morning I had one that may have been a little prophetic since it dealt with books.  I was trying to teach the Dewey Decimal System of library book organization to an elderly gentleman (with no success I might add, making it more of a nightmare than a dream).

     I hope that the start of your week was less frightening and the week will be more exciting,

                                Hugs, Ci

Monday ... cherry tree stumps and alcohol inks

      It was a busy week.  For most of it, after I got off work I was working on stripping the bark off the two cherry tree logs that I turned into side tables in the living room.

     I had decided to keep them looking as natural as possible, but the bark was housing some little bugs I didn't want to have as roommates.

     The one on the right has two knotty holes in it that are very cool looking.  When I was cleaning it, I had to get a flashlight to make sure there weren't any little eyes that were going to look back at me! 

     The crocus are starting to come up in my side yard, and I'm so excited.  Five days earlier than last year, but we've had some very warm days lately.  The last two days were in the 70sF!  It was wonderful and Charlie and I took advantage of it and did some walking downtown.

     He got a haircut (finally) and had a little bit of a swager to his walk.  I found one of his little man muscle hoodies and he's been wearing it the last few days.  It says "Mama's Boy" on it and he's a huge hit with every one that sees him.

     I ran out of treats for him, and rather than go buy more, I found a recipe to make some using stuff I had on hand.  Oatmeal (3 cups), pumpkin (1 can), and peanut butter (roughly 1 cup).  Bake at 250F for 2 hours.  I made balls about the size of my thumb tip touching the tip of my index finger, then flattened them out.  Much more economical and easy to make before I went to church yesterday morning.  Not to mention Charlie loves them.

     Yesterday between church services and choir practic I went to another art class.  This one was learnng how to make abstract [emphasis on abstract] flowers with alcohol ink, which was the same medium I used last fall to make the Christmas baubles for my sisters.

     My inspiration were the crocus that I've been seeing everywhere.  There were some amazing flowers created in the class, including some beautiful sunflowers for Ukraine.

    I don't have another art class until the 20th, so lots of time to get caught up on more house projects (and housework).  Much needed time!

     I hope you have a wonderful week.  I'm praying for a few friends who have surgeries today and later this month.                    Hugs,  Ci