A Boy and His Cat

They seem to have a love/hate relationship. He carries her around. She cries to be free. He pulls on her tail, he gets scolded....she curls up next to his sleeping body. They seem to be good friends. In fact, last night, he was taking a bath. I went into the bathroom to check on him and noticed Moses was S-O-A-K-E-D to the skin. I asked...."Uh, how come the cat is all wet?" He said, "Oh! Well, she was taking a bath with me! But she didn't scratch me!"

Knitting 101

I was so excited yetserday when I signed up for a beginner's knitting class. When I got home, I broke out my Knack For Knitting Kit and found a simple pattern for a dishcloth. I pawed through my basket of cotton yarn and found a whole ball of this lovely pink and white yarn. I think, originally, I'd planned to crochet a dishcloth with this, but since I couldn't remember why I'd bought it, I decided yesterday was the day it would become something. I was really excited when once I found a "groove", the project was so MUCH easier than I thought it would be. I think I will change my reservation from Knitting 101 to Knitting 201.

Yo!

I figured it out! I need 2, 025 of these little things to complete this project.

Maybe I will have all the yoyos made by the time Q graduates college?

Peek-A-Boo!

Moses peeks out from inside Quincy's backpack.

Totally Tubular!

I love this shot of this flower with the one tubular petal. I was attacked by very hungry killer "skabeetos" in my garden while capturing this.

Five for Friday

electric pencil sharpeners
Lovely Green Grass in AUGUST
Fun mail to make me giggle...eh, Bay-bay??
a house to call a home
the weekend is HERE!

Yaaaay!

i finally replaced the lampshade that was destroyed by children playing football in the living room. i like it.

Moses Kitty!

I love how kitties will seek out the teensiest amounts of sunshine on the floor. We sure are enjoying our little cat.

Today's Grateful Five

Gardening
Work
My Children
My Home
Laughter

The Many Faces of Q!

When I was through with my maternity shoot this afternoon, Quincy wanted me to takes some photos of him...so we had a mini shoot. He was acting a little squirrel-y and really didn't want to cooperate at all. I ended up with some really funny shots...that really make me giggle out loud.

These first shots are relatively benign, right? A typical three-year-old in front of the camera.

Here is where we start to....well.....fall apart a little bit.

I actually really like this shot. He'd laid back and his eyes just looked gorgeous.

Something tells me that by this time in the shoot, I was NOT A-1 on the jukebox ANYMORE!

Hee hee!

Bumble BEEDS!

While in New Jersey, my cousins took us to Absecon to visit a little shopping village called Smithville. I found a little bead shop where I purchased these brightly colored lampwork beads. I haven't quite decided what to do with them yet, but I do know that each of my daughters and I will have a piece of jewelry of similar design. The orange bead is for Kait, the green bead is for 'Manda and the blue bead is for me.

Today, at the end of a shoot i did here at my house, Q was playing with the beads and was having a bit of fun. I decided to join him.

A Little Visitor

It's been unusually cool and wet. Today, we saw 48 degrees and 93% humidity. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of rain. When the rain stopped, I noticed a Bluebird in the back yard.

Recently, I wondered if I would put a nesting box in my yard, if they would come to visit. Apparently, I don't need a nesting box at all! I also saw a younger bird which still had it's spotty plumage. The photo I shot of it wasn't my favorite, though.

...and a little haiku to round out the post, HA!

Feathers of bright blue;

Happy notes chirp from your beak!

Welcome, Visitor!

Take Time To Smell The Flowers

While Echinacea isn't very fragrant at all, I do love to see them. They are definitely a welcomed late bloomer in my garden.

Somebody Loves Me

I received a very special parcel on Thursday. Each item has a little story behind it. As I opened the box and discovered each item chosen, I smiled and or laughed out loud.

THANK YOU! You completely made my week!

I Love Handmade Stuff!

I participated in a couple of swaps this past week. For one, the challenge was to send my partner an oven mitt. When I looked through her profile, I discovered that she has six cats...and likes them...(a lot, apparently) I dug through my fabric stash and found a piece of fabric with leopard spots on it. Seemed a good fit. I fashioned an oven mitt and then included some measuring spoons and recipe cards and sent it off. Here is the mitt:

And for another swap, our partners were supposed to list ten items they would like to have for their quilting room...then the sender picks five of those items to assemble together in a nice parcel. One of the items my partner requested was something handmade by me. I made this cute pincushion. Notice the use of the paisley? I hope My partner likes paisely, too. :)

This pinchusion measures about 3.75 inches square and 1.25 inches tall.

Curly and PINK

Amanda and I are going to a baby shower today....that means there is a baby in our future!!!

Let Them Eat Cupcakes!

Today seemed like the perfect day to bake up a small batch of something yummy.

A while ago, my Dad and his girlfriend, Karen, sent us a Cupcake Kit...which turned out to be the perfect solution! So we pulled it out of the cupboard and got started.

Here is what was included in our kit: One bag of Vanilla Cupcake Mix, One bag of Vanilla Cupcake Icing, One pouch of Cupcake liners, and one bag of Cupcake Sprinkles.
Quincy sure had a great time helping to mix up the batter.

He REALLY wanted a taste of the batter. He was a good sport about waiting to lick the bowl and the spoon AFTER we'd filled the cupcake pan with what we needed. Actually, he kept telling me, "Mom! You're gonna use it ALL UP! I want some, too!"

Next, we lined each well of my antique muffin tin with a cute cup liner. The strange thing about this tin is that there are only ELEVEN wells. Whose idea was it to bake one less cupcakes than a dozen??? Whatever the reason, Q and I were having fun. And the unsual number made it easier to fill ALL the cupcake wells.


We then set the timer and placed the muffin tray into the oven....




Fifteen minutes later....and a little time allowed to cool and decorate....this was our finished product:

YUMMY

Pretty Kait

Today was registration day at school for Kaitlyn. She will be a Freshman this year. It sure is hard to believe how quickly this day has arrived.

One of her friends curled her hair for her and we decided on a whim to shoot some portraits. These were a few of our favorites. Kait helped me with a few of the edits...she told me what she wanted and what she liked.

Take a peek!

This is the photo Kaitie likes a lot:

Moonrise over Seaside Heights

This was one of my favorite beach captures. I didn't have a tripod with me which would have afforded me a little bit more creative flexibility, but for the time pinch we were in, (people were getting ready for pizza at The Sawmill) and light loss...I'd say I'm sorta happy with this. I would have liked to have seen a little more moon crater detail.

I like the blues, I like the moon's reflection and I LOVE the waves in this shot.

I wish I could go back to the beach today....

Stop The Presses!

After much coveting, I finally have a French Press of my own. I'd seen them in coffee shops, heard people talk about them and read articles about how coffee from a french press was the best coffee....blah blah blah! I gave one to a friend one year for Christmas. I wasn't sure if he used it or liked it or maybe ended up using it for a pencil cup on his desk?

When using a french press, there seems to be more of a process to making coffee than there was with my Melita coffee maker. And the house doesn't fill up with that lovely, warm aroma of fresh brewed coffee.

I do like how these coffee pots look. There is a certain romantic grace about them.

I think I will design a cozy for my new french press. Yes! There will be photos to follow.

Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!

Okay! Now that it is finished...maybe noone will have to hear anymore about this project!

I bought a paper box full of 12 skeins of Lion Brand Chenille yarn at a yard sale. The gal who was selling had started to knit an afghan. Apparently, she gave up and lost interest and sold the whole lot of yarn to me for a whopping THREE BUCKS! I unraveled all of the sloppy knitting and crocheted this lovely shawl. I made it a little larger than the shawls I typically make. It is VERY snuggly and and warm. All the kids love to cuddle with it...so does Moses! She curls up in it and falls asleep.

I can hardly wait for a cool Autumn morning when I can drape this around my shoulders and sip my latte.

Here's to yard sales and FINISHED PROJECTS!

Kitty Got Your Nose?

See the tiny kitten scratch on the end of his nose? hee hee

Check It OUT!

This "way" runs in front of the library my aunt frequents in Toms River, NJ. We all got a kick out of seeing it...and posing like dorks with the sign.

After studying the sign for a few minutes, Kaitlyn announced to me, "All you need is a screwdriver, Mom!" What a nice thought that my daughter is thinking of ways to stealing street signs

Jellyfishing!

Alex stands on the beach at Seaside Heights, NJ. He's holding a jellyfish that had washed up on the beach.....eeeewwwww. He reported that "Jellyfish feel weird!"