Fun at the house!!

Here is the other apron I made yesterday with the same pattern I used for the MJF swap. It looks like the main fabric is black and white, but it is really brown with green/orange/white flowers.

Here is my niece, April, wearing the apron my mom made for me. We were making cookies today.

Evelyn, April and Edyta (Eve's friend) in our new "pool!" We got it today because Evelyn had to have one to sit in at home. She won't swim in the river because a turtle might bite her! LOL

At first they were talking about how cold it would be.....and took a while to sit down.

Attempting to get in. Since Evelyn made me buy it, she was the first to get in, just to prove she would not complain about how cold it is. We did pour a lot of hot water in there from the house first. They sat out in it for a few hours, so I cannot complain!

Patriotic apron swap at MJF

I am just finishing up a patriotic apron swap at MJF. My partner, Toni, made this cupcake pincushion to go with my apron. It's too cute!!

Here is the beautiful apron Toni made for me!! The work is fabulous and everything is just perfect!! I wore it tonight and love, love, love it!! Isn't it perfect for Fourth of July, which is coming up really quickly?

This is the fabric I used to make Toni's apron. It is vintage patriotic and very pretty. I knew the minute I saw it that I had to make hers with it.

The finished apron for Toni. I never made this style before, but had seen it online and in the fabric shops I haunt all the time. It was easy to make once I had the pieces ready to go together. I hope she likes it. I cut another one out as I was making hers, but with different fabrics. Tomorrow I will finish that one and show you. Oh, I made trivets to match the apron, which will go in the package tomorrow.

Hi mom!! Hope your trip home was easy and that tonight you have a nice, restful sleep. Oh yeah!! You should see the apron my momma made me before she came up last week!! That is tomorrow's news, so will wait to show it til then!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

Here is a picture of my dad when he was a little boy!! Sorry it is sideways, but I could not figure out how to rotate it in this program. Hope all the dads in your lives are being treated well today (and every day, right?) and enjoying their day of rest!!

reuse and recycle!

This little blackcap chickadee was on the rug on the front porch plucking up the dogs' hair to use in the nest.

Almost a full mouthful!!

After the bird got enough, he flew off to line the nest with my dogs' fur. It's so cute how they use whatever is available to feather their homes.

Russian stacking doll tea cozy is here!!

Jessica sent me this adorable tea cozy as part of a swap we did together at MJF!! It is so beautiful and goes with my little collection of these dolls!! I love it!!

It's a coincidence that I really love these dolls and have gotten a few over the years. The big one is from a Russian store I went to while I was in San Francisco about six years ago. There are at least 24 dolls inside the big one. The tiny one is only like the size of half of your pinky nail!! It takes a long time to open all of them though!

She is entirely hand painted, and the artist used gold in some of the details. It was just something I had to have when I saw it. Went to the store every day for a week before making the purchase, but I still love it and have great memories whenever I take her out. So, thank you, Jess, for such a great tea cozy to have next to her in the dining room!!

The mess on my desk!!

My desk at work is always a mess. I can always find what I am looking for, but now it is time to clean it up as the year comes to an end (finally!). A few students like to come to my room every lunch period, and they are tackling the rest of the room (which is a mess, but I didn't make it-the kids did).

A pile of books ready to be put back on the shelves!! My students love my messy room!! That is so weird, but they say it's like their bedroom at home, with stuff here and there. If I try to clean it up, they get upset about it and make it a mess again, so now I will just get the two 7th graders who come in to get it ready for the end of the year. Next year they can make a mess again!! :)

This is an Italian grocery store about 40 minutes from my house. I have wanted to go there for a long time, so I convinced my friend Cara that we should meet there when we wanted to get together for dinner. So, we had dinner at a nice restaurant in the shopping center and then we went grocery shopping. Got some nice, fresh ravioli and some good pastries for my family.

The weekend is coming to an end and I am sitting here watching Ice Road Truckers!! I love this show and watch it every season. Jesse James is a Dead Man comes on after that, and so far we like that too. Mindless tv is a good thing!