As Little as Possible...

We went to see "Tag" this morning.  It is about a group of men that have been playing tag for the month of May for the past 20 years.  Interesting. It is based on a true story. They showed the real people at the end. I think that they are still playing...

This photo is hard to see, but I put a bird feeder on the center log in the photo.

Tessie and Zar wanted nothing to do with helping, so I left them to their own devices.

Snakes, dogs and rubber chickens...

They ignored me totally.

I went into the workroom.  Covered the chair with a piece of zebra skin material.  Then I took the rest of the day off and watched several episodes of Supernatural. 

Bored much? Yup.  When I am I revert to watching Sam and Dean do their thing.

Then April and Amare called.  I am jealous of Amare.  They went to the zoo with his summer camp group and he got to PET a Rhino! I want to pet a Rhino!!!

Anyway, that's about all that happened here today... Not much in the way of minis.

See you tomorrow.

Graduation Day!!!

Amare Graduated Kindergarten this afternoon.

We are so proud of him! 

Whatever task they throw at him, he does it...

He's a great kid! We love him!

His mom is a teacher's assistant in his class.  She got to hand out the flowers to the kids.  He took his and gave them to Seth, his dad. 

It might have looked strange if he has handed them to his mom like the other kids did.

We gave him a present and I made him a card. In case you can't tell, he's a big Star Wars fan.

I didn't know about the hat or I would have probably put one on the card. Oh well. Next time... Eight years from now.

Here's the inside of the card... It was a fun afternoon.  Back to the regular blog tomorrow.

See you then.

Happy Mother's Day

OK... It's a day early.  We went over to April, Seth's and Amare's for an early Mother's day brunch. Seth's parents and brother were here.

Amare showed off the new shirt that Gayle sent him and the changes to his mini room box.

Both are looking good!

Me?  No cleaning in the workroom today...

Early Mother's day.  I will clean tomorrow.

Yes. I know that the floor is still a mess...

I did, however get a pot of really pretty orchids for Mom's Day. 

Yes it is a day early, but I gladly accepted them anyway. Thank you April, Seth and Amare!

I will count this as mom's day and I will go back to cleaning tomorrow.  That seems logical to me...

I promise to go back into the workroom tomorrow, bright and early.  See you then.

Happy Easter and April Fools Day too!

This morning I got more cleaning and moving done on the back porch.

I just moved things around here and there.

Much more comfortable to sit out there now.

It's amazing what a couple of weeks can do for plants.  The pomegranate Tree had no leaves at all about two weeks ago. 

This is what it looks like now. The fig tree is still fighting to live, so I am going to get it going again. Walter is redoing the run off from the cooler so that it will drip irrigate the pomegranate and the fig.  That should help get a better crop on both. 

The little kumquat tree is going great.  It has several blossoms on it now. I don't expect a big crop this year, but I think that it is going to do well where we planted it.

I suppose that I should report on Tessie's progress... I found some purple grapes and piled those on top of the other things that she needs for the vines... She is not a happy camper.  More work for her.  Less work for me.

April and Amare came over today.  Seth is out of town for his job.  We had a good time but missed him.

Anyway, that's how our Easter went.  I hope that yours was as nice as ours.

Back to watching TV and playing with Kota. 

See you tomorrow.

Amare and the Kumquat Tree

Today was a really good  day.  April, Seth and Amare cane over and brought me a Kumquat Tree. 

I went with my friend Joan to the closing sale that Jay's Indian Arts is having until April 28. When they close, we will be buying off of the net.  Not much left in the way of my kind of beads here in Tucson.

When I got back, April, Seth, and Amare showed up with a baby Kumquat tree.  

Amare worked on a Star Wars kit while we chatted and planted a tree. 

After lunch, we came back in the house. I looked out the window and saw Tessie slipping out to the tree. 

She is in love again.  A tree with Tessie sized fruit.  Best thing that has ever happened to her.

We talked Amare into watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".

At first, he was not sure he wanted to watch it. By the time it was done, he was singing along with the Umpa Lumpas and he loved it.  I have a feeling that April and Seth are going to be watching that movie again soon!

After they left, I went out to hunt for Tessie and found her in the top of the new tree. If I let her, she would string a hammock from the branches and spend the night.

Not going to happen.

The two grape vines I planted are already starting to vine around the trellises. We are going to be up to our ears in fruit this year... Well... At least up to Tessie's ears.

Back to looking at all of the beads that I bought this morning.

See you tomorrow.

Gem and Mineral Show, Day Two...

We met April, Seth and Amare, at Micha's for Mexican food for lunch. 

They treated because Walter and I both have January Birthdays.  It was really good!

Then we went to one of the tent shows that we usually hit.

Amare is following in his father's footsteps.  He was picking out rocks just like Seth.  Seth was a Geology major in college.

The Kids bought new matching Wedding rings with an inlay of Koa wood from Hawaii.  The photo doesn't do them justice.  Very pretty.

They asked what I wanted for my birthday... I handed some of the gemstones that I had picked out and some petrified shells as well.

These are the shells.  They are smaller than they look in the photos.  I am thinking that they will make good earrings or rings.  I am going to have to get the wire out and start experimenting. 

I was very happy with the selection. I will be wire wrapping and jewelry  making for a while...

My biggest problem is the fact that I do this every year.  I stock up.  Then I do a few pieces and wait for next year to come.  I think that the acquiring of the supplies is the most fun.

Walter and I are planning to go back to the ballpark at least one more time.  He wants to find a stone to make a necklace and I have my eye on a couple of things that I didn't buy yesterday...

Round and round we go.  See you tomorrow.

Beading and Lunch With Spiderman!

OK.  I finished the beading on Watch One.  All I have left to do on that one is put on the fastener...

That is if I can get it away from Tessie.

As soon as I snapped the photo, she grabbed it and ran.

Then she leaned back against the bead tubes and told me to snap the photo fast, before the belt fell off...

I just barely got the photo before she let out a deep breath and the thing fell off. Luckily one side of the band didn't really reach around her waste, or I would have had trouble getting it back...

She had the nerve to complain about it being a very uncomfortable belt...

As for lunch, April, Amare and I went shopping this morning.  We hit a Goodwill that April didn't know about and bought a couple of things.

After that, we met Walter at Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch...

Walter bought Amare a Halloween costume at Costco.  He has been wanting to go as Spiderman for quite a while.  That's his favorite superhero...

We gave him the costume when we got out of the cars. Before we went into the restaurant...

He wanted to wear it for lunch.  We talked him out of that by saying that he would get Macaroni and cheese on it... That held him off until after we ate.

Then Walter accompanied him to the Men's room and he changed into it.

Needless to say, we had one very happy grandson. 

I have the feeling that April is going to have a job trying to get him not to sleep in it and wear it to school!

They are off for Autumn break right now and they are all going camping.  I doubt that he will want to wear the outfit while climbing rocks and hiking... Unless his spidey powers kick in before they go.

I'm just glad that I'm not the one that has to talk him out of it... Good luck April!

Back to working on the watches. See you tomorrow.

If It Isn't One Thing...

It's another... I couldn't work on the two rooms this morning because this got in the way.

We are going over to stay with Amare while his mom goes to a meeting.  Seth is out of town so we are the elected sitters.

I found this shelf out in the garage and decided it would be good for some of Amare's latest treasures.

April says that his room is starting to look like a natural history museum.  He is collecting rocks and other nature things.

This morning, I added the sign and we will take it with us this afternoon.

This is going to be a full day.

 It is Wednesday so there will be a gathering of witches.  As soon as I get home we will leave for Aprils.

The title was suggestive of what is going on in the back yard now.

For the past few weeks, the hummingbird feeders have been cleaned out by bats every night.  This is a yearly happening.  The hit here every winter when the season starts to change and it gets cooler.

Just when the bats seem to have left(migration) the bees take over. They are just starting now.  They will also disappear in a couple of weeks.  The poor hummingbirds are having to wait in line to eat.

I am not sure what I did to make Kota mad, but for the past two days, he has been ignoring me.

I did something that he didn't like. He is at least posing for me when he sees the camera.  Otherwise he just puts his nose in the air.

I will wait patiently until he gets done being in a snit.

If looks could kill....

Anyway, I thought that I had better write something before Wednesday Witches.  There probably won't be much time after. 

I am off to get ready to go.

See you tomorrow.

The Way It Used To Be

It used to be that these doors just fit in the holes in the room box kits... Someone has changed something.  The doors are now too short and too narrow to fit right.  They are going to have to be fudged a bit. 

I have already cut between a quarter and a half inch off of the cutouts for the doors. 

As you can see, I have them glued and taped in place. 

Now I am waiting for the glue to dry.

I found this bag of stuff for Tessie when I was cleaning.  She now has combs, safety pins, hair pins and scissors. Not to mention nail files... I can see it now.  I will be getting out the beads and findings to make nail polish and such. 

She knew I was hiding something and she went looking...

She was grinning from ear to ear when she found out what was in the bag... And I was right.  Nail polish bottles coming right up!

I am getting closer to finishing the rya rug.  I just keep plugging along.  A few rows a day and soon I will be finished.

I am liking this one and I want one my size like this one... April tried to talk me into making one just like this in real size for her... I don't think that I will live that long!

It takes me weeks to finish this size.  Can you imagine doing this on a piece of canvas that is six feet square... It might take a while!

Then after I got that finished, I would have to go back and finish all of the mini ones in this box...

I just told her that if she could afford enough silk yarn to make a six footer, I would get started...

I think that I am pretty safe.  It would be in the thousands of dollars category...

I am going back and work on the two room boxes some more.

See you tomorrow.

The Day Off...

The kids came over this afternoon.  Tessie babysat Kota.  I am not sure that it wasn't the other way around though.

The two of them spent the afternoon in the bedroom while the rest of us enjoyed Mexican Food and Kid's cartoons.

After they left, I found Tessie trying out her old furniture from the townhouse in the room box that she is working on. 

It's pretty boring so far.  One bed. One table. One chair....

Did I tell you that, after the townhouse was emptied Rocky Raccoon has taken to his old habits of wandering from place to place, looking for a new place to live...

Unfortunately, he has not changed his habits and still carries a champagne glass wherever he travels...

I found him this afternoon, wandering around the Tudor Trailer with his glass... He is getting so desperate that he was looking into sharing the under trailer cave with the baby dragon... I don't think that is going to work.

The baby dragon keeps trying to set Rocky on fire and merely succeeds in lighting the champagne on fire and taking away all of the alcohol. 

Not good for either raccoon or dragon...

I may have to stop what I am doing and find a place for Rocky to live, before he goes up in flames!

I am going to have to get right on that.  Maybe a tree house?

Back to work.  See you tomorrow.

Amare and Me

I had room cleaning help today.

April and Amare came over.  Amare volunteered to help with cleaning my workroom... On the condition that he took over where Tessie left off.

That is... He bargained with me over things that he would like to take home. He did pretty good!

I keep things that I think that he might like in the bottom third of my typesetter's drawer, that hangs outside the workshop door.

Take a look... Not one thing left in there.

He got some of my older plastic boxes that I use for storing small things.  He also got four of the brown boxes that you can see in the upper right corner of this photo...

We bargained over metal minis and other things that came to light in the search... He did pretty good and took a couple of big bags home.. April will now be the one that has to decide what to keep and what to throw away... Good luck April!

 I looked through all of the drawers in the closet and through the bookcase on the next wall.

A lot of things that I don't need anymore followed him home... Maybe I should say that he dragged them home.

Anyway, we both had a lot of fun looking and grabbing.

One thing that came to light was three more theater trays! I think that I have enough to finish this side of the roof!

We are planning to go to a movie Monday.  That will contribute a few more trays.  I can't wait to see how this roof turns out... So far, I am liking it a lot!

I am going back now and glue on more tiles.  It may not be done in a hurry, but it will get done and it will look like Spanish tile!

Back to cleaning. See you tomorrow.

A Good Day For Playing...

I really didn't get a lot of work done... I did cut up some of the trays that I want to use for the She Sheds and the Wall Hanging Boxes.

It's Wednesday and there are so many directions in which to go...

 I had to carry all of the cut up theater trays and a lot of other stuff to the Witches meeting. 

I dug into the closet and found this.  April made it for me several years ago for Christmas.  Her intention was for me to have a bag to carry things in to the Witchy meetings.

It somehow got hung in the back of my closet and I hadn't seen it for a while.  Now that I have found it, it will get carried a lot.

It has a rather sedate looking outside...

Then you open it up to get something out and there is a party going on inside. 

She found this Alice in Wonderland fabric somewhere and though it fitting for Wednesday Witches. It is!

It says "A Mad Tea Party" around the inside and has original illustrations from the book.

Anyway, I got to Witches with everything in the bag and then decided that I didn't want stone work on the inside of this one.

This is the one that Tessie wants for relaxing in... When do I get one to relax in?  As soon as I start building one, she claims it and has a new idea of how SHE can use it. 

She wants tile on the floor and a cozy rug to wiggle her toes in. Here we go again. 

Oh well. I haven't done any tile work for a while.  Good practice.

She says stucco on the outside and in, and rocks around the edge of the foundation.

I just handed her a trowel and a can of spackle.  Then I told her to "Have at it!"  That could have been a mistake... I had better go grab the supplies and lock her in the workroom again.

Back to rounding up Tessie.  See you tomorrow.

Senility?

Not quite, but close...

Remember the socks that I just finished?  I loved the yarn the minute that I saw it.

Finished the socks in nothing flat, because I loved the colors...

This morning I had a doctor's appointment.  Nothing urgent.  Just a check up.

On the way I started a new sock. It is made from the other sock yarn that I bought when April and I went yarn shopping. 

I have almost an inch done.

We went to get my new glasses this afternoon and I was knitting in the car.  I lost a needle and neither Walter or I could find it.  

So I went looking for another needle... What did I find?

Another pair of socks... almost finished...

They are the exact same yarn as my new ones.  Evidently I started them two years ago just before Christmas.  That was pre cancer.

I had them knitted all but one toe.  It's ok though.  April will be happy to take the extra pair. She never refuses handmade socks.

If you read this April, I am working on the last toe right now.  You will soon have socks that match mine.  Merry Christmas(two years late)!

I have to go finish a sock. 

See you tomorrow!