Garden Hoes February Work Day

Last Saturday was the year's first "Garden Hoes" workday. We met out at Naomi's to help prep her new HUGE veggie garden. Unfortunately, we didn't get as much gardening work done as we probably should have but definitely had more fun than we probably should have.

After a little work outdoors and a yummy lunch break, a few of us sat down and got crafty painting terra cotta pots for the Boys & Girls Club of Georgetown to use as give-aways at the Home & Garden Show on March 1st. We had TOO much fun doing this. A couple of the pots I decorated that I loved the most included my "Scooby-Doo", "Zannadoo" and "Eyeballs" pots. Naomi and Beth's pots were more of the beautiful variety where a few of mine were, well, a little "out there". It was a great time for a good cause!



Sadly, we are going to be saying goodbye to one our little group. She claims she hates our "cold Texas weather" and yearns for the warmer, tropical climate of Florida. In reality, we are trying to come to terms that she just doesn't love us... well, she does a little as she brought all her plants to our work day, since she couldn't move them. We love her for sharing her plants with us and I'm already working to give them all new homes in my yard. You will be missed though, Beth!

My Little Supermodel

So my DH took my DS in to get his 2yr pix taken. While waiting to see the proofs, my DH was just about to call me to tell me that we had NOTHING to worry about in regard to our kiddos ever being models 'cause apparently DS was quite a pa-toot during the shooting and just NOT working with the photographer... he had his own ideas about where and how he was going to stand. ANYWAY, as my DH is getting ready to make the call, the photographer comes out requesting that he sign a model release. HA HA!! "You've GOT to be kidding." was pretty much the response. Turns out that the photographer caught a pix of my little man in one of his finer "totally him" moments and liked it so much that the studio had already blown it up and had it in a big frame ready to hang in the front of the studio. I had to go by after work just to see for myself and, sure enough, there was my little supermodel in the front of the studio for all to see...and giggle over his "pose". Anyway, it was super stardom status to us and gives us a chuckle every time we see the pix, in our house or at the photo place.

More Birthday Cakes

I've had a few people ask that I post pix of some of the other cakes I've done. Well, there are only two that I've done that were pre-blog, but here there are anyway for you to see. The Monkey cake was for DD's 2nd bday and the clown cake was for my DS's 1st bday.

Monkey was yellow cake baked in a glass mixing bowl (to give the domed shaped). Its ears were created using a cupcake cut in half that were then tooth-picked

to the base (cause I couldn't get them to stick with icing like Martha did) and then all was iced.
Clown cake was created by using a round chocolate cake layers covered in chocolate icing with the clown and such iced on top.

3 Year Old + Scissors = OH NO!!!!

It started out as such a BEAUTIFUL day. Despite being January, we were playing outside in the mid-70 degree weather. The kiddos were helping me to plant some flower seeds and we were playing on the swing set... life was beautiful. Then my 3 year old daughter (see bday pix in previous post) needed to go to the bathroom. Yippee!!! (Yes, we finally have this potty training thing done with her.) Upon returning outside to play I notice that her hair is all wet. When I ask her why she was wet she told me that she'd washed her hands (meaning also she obviously did her face and some of her hair as well). (I'm picturing liquid soap everywhere.) Her hair looks a little funny, like more than just "wet" and when I ask her if she used anything other than soap she informed me that she washed with "sticky soap" (aka hair gel). Great. I'm fearful for what liquid soap and hair gel mess will face me when I enter the bathroom. I was NOT prepared for what I encountered. As I open the door to the bathroom what I saw brought me to immediate tears (after the screams of horror and disbelief first....think old horror movie screams and frightened looks....that was me). PILES and PILES of gorgeous long blonde locks of hair were EVERYWHERE!

I ran back outside and hollered for my DD to come over to me so I could see WHAT ON EARTH she did. Keep in mind that her hair is plastered with soap and gel so despite the initial shocks I received upon checking out her new "haircut", we were in for FAR more shocking results once we washed the goop out of her hair and saw what was the real end result of her haircutting session.

My DH chopped off the beautiful long locks of hair to, as best he could without giving her a buzz cut, "blend" what was left of her hair with her new self created "rocker chick" do. He did an amazing job...for what he had to work with. I'm still heart broken over it, but as everyone keeps telling me.... it will grow back. I just have to keep repeating that to myself, "It will grow back. It will grow back..." Currently, her bangs (which she didn't have before) are ALMOST 1/4" long. The sides of her hair are about cheek level in front and she has SEVERAL 1-2" wide chunks all across her crown that are, at best, about 1/2" long and, unless we gel them down and do a Donald Trump comb-over, stick straight up in the air.

When we asked her WHAT she did and WHY she did it, my DD merely responded (while primping her sticking up in the air and have no hair in some places now 'do), "I made it SOOO pretty!" Lucky for her she is cute....

In Honor of the Smurfs... Adventures in Dyeing & Felting

Remember the "Smurfs"? Well, for a few hours recently, I was Smurfette when I forgot to wear gloves to dye some yarn. Fortunately, the blue has washed/faded away and I'm back to normal.

The Magic Yarn Ball Swap on Ravelry seemed like a good excuse to try some new knitting adventures, namely dying and felting yarn. As one of my "goodies" to be hidden the "magic yarn ball" I decided to make a felted needle case and figured out a way to do so entirely from my stash. I'd inherited some fisherman's wool that I dyed with Kool-aid (2 Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonades). Unfortunately, my pix of the dyed yarn didn't turn out as vivid as the aqua yarn (which, luckily for me, was the color I was going for). Once my hand-dyed yarn was knit, it was time to try my luck at felting....that was kind-of fun. I should have felted the item a little more as once I was done with the case, I could still see some of the stitches, but... I'm pleased for my first attempt. Some ribbon to close the case and my swap partner's initial and we were done!
Wrapped this, along with a bunch of other goodies, in the yummy Ranco yarn I got for her and off it shipped!