Frozen

This weather has made us hermits.

Even the dog is getting antsy.   She is eating everything that she shouldn't be: Sharpie Paint Marker,  Valentine list for school, lid for our pretzels and most heartbreaking, Tom's wool hat he has had since he was 13 years old.

We went for a walk tonight. She is very protective of her yard.   Barking incessantly.   On our walk,  a neighbor dog was barking at us.   Millie couldn't understand what the noise was about.   Quite funny.   Although my legs were frozen within three minutes of the start of our walk,  we forged on.

A warm-up is on the way.   31 degrees.   Sounds like short sleeve weather.

Hello, My Name is Carrie

Happy New Year!

I've missed this blog.  My former boss used to say, "If you are going to work from home, you must get dressed and ready to work each morning in order to be productive."

I may have not bought into his mantra a couple years ago, but I have been thinking about it recently.  It's been a year and a half since I stopped working full time.  I had many plans.  I've done some, been sidetracked on others.

Building my Etsy shop was going to be my number one task.  I haven't done that.  I have four purses, almost complete, that could go on Etsy.  Instead, I made this:

And this:

And I've made other things, which are fulfilling, yet not money makers.

It's time to get dressed and be productive. 

~Carrie

Good Morning

Its a beautiful,  crisp, and cool morning here in Buffalo.

This is Millie's favorite spot.  She gets very excited when she spots a squirrel.   We have to slide the screen incredibly fast or else she will run right through the screen. 

I love how she never gives up.  She chases multiple times a day, she gets close, but never succeeds.  Frankly, I'd be afraid if she ever succeeded.

The first weekend in December is the Artist's in Buffalo Holiday Showcase.   My location is the Red Cross Building on Delaware.   I am excited, and nervous.   Not nervous to be there, but nervous that I won't have enough items made to show.  I have had a few dreams where I show up and have only a few items on the table.  Not very reassuring.

I'm going to take a lesson from my dog.

I'll keep chasing the squirrel until December. 

Now,  back to my squirrel (yarn).

The Not So Fairy-Fairy Garden

"Here lies Neil.  He slipped on a banana peel and kicked the bucket. "

Lines like this were abundant this morning.   My mom and I participated in a Fairy Garden workshop at Mischler's Florist and Greenhouses.

The instructor was kind, creative, encouraging and funny.  He also happens to be my talented father.

For $20 you get the pot, the dirt, three plants, sticks, rocks, mulch, and moss along with a fairy. You may also purchase from the cute Fairy Nook, any other trinkets to go into your garden. I went with a Halloween theme and took advantage of a root turned upside down that looks like an old spooky tree. 

My favorite parts are the spider hanging from the root and the black cat peeking from behind the plant. I chose one succulent and two house plants (probably not the best idea based on water consumption, but I can make it work).

I understand there may be two spots left for tomorrow morning, Saturday September 28th at 10 a.m. It's totally worth it you should try. 

You'll be hooked.

What I've Learned From My Dog

We have only had Millie for four months, but she has taught me so much.

Millie is my first dog. I grew up with golden retrievers, but was never responsible for their daily care. I can't imagine this family without Millie.

Millie has showed me the importance of napping. Who doesn't benefit from a nap?

Fetch is ok, but playing with your toy without someone throwing it 20 feet away each time is better.

Surely there are all the lessons on unconditional love and forgiveness,  but the best lesson is: You don't need to see where you are going to enjoy the ride.

This is Sunday

Wool and a dog that resembles a sheep.

Love.

The Rain

Forgive me readers, it's been much too long since my last post.

Our house phone rang at 3:24 am.  The confusion turns to panic, then turns to aggravation when it's an unknown number and dead air.

I had really wanted to sleep in, but was restless since then.

The rain is falling.  We have a part of our gutter that is bent and the water falls to the patio and creates a loud clapping sound.  Yes, I am truly awake, now.

Boys are all asleep and I think how great life has become.  It was hard a mere three years ago.  The load has lightened, our moods are brighter.   Our difficulties are different, but not worse.

Highlight the quiet, serene moments of life.

Even if they only last long enough to write one paragraph.

Pitter patter of little boy feet headed my way.

Portable Strawberry Cheesecake

Thanks to Pinterest, I finally tried the cheesecake strawberry.

It's dangerous people.  Really dangerous.

I was short on time, so made a no bake cheesecake.  It was soft and more pudding like than cheese like.  One gal tried it, even though she hates cheesecake,  she liked it.  This would be easy to do with pudding that was thickened with gelatin or whipped cream.  

I had extra cream after the initial batch and another eight for a neighbor.  This is where it gets dangerous.  All that precious cheesy cream filling in a big bag with a nice hole in the corner.  

Think Redi-whip.  

Yup.

It was that kind of dangerous.

Back at It

 

Finally getting the yarn needle moving.  I've had all the parts to this bag done for some time now, just waiting to be assembled.

If it wasn't for a boy, a puppy, or the heat, this would be ready for delivery.

The clouds are moving in, it's a great night to work.

The Fourteen Minute Camping Experience



 

We went camping this weekend. 

Well, kind of.  I was so thrilled with myself.  Not only did I pack the entire camper, all the food and clothes, but I even cleaned the house before we left.   It was great.  I packed food for the less than two hour drive to Cayuga Lake State Park.

When we arrived, upon check in, we learned of a massive rain storm the park got earlier that morning that flooded many sites.  As we drove to ours, we were happy to find mostly dry land and a very wooded site...our favorites.

The boys were anxious to get to crafting and setting up and getting the fire going.  Tom and I unfurled the canopy and Tom cranked open the pop up camper.

Then...it fell.  Well, more like crashed.  The whole roof fell straight down.

What a disappointment.  The boys weren't very happy.

Frustration was high. 

But, we looked on the bright side...we weren't in the Adirondacks or somewhere far away and mostly, we weren't inside the camper when the roof fell.

Hazy Evening

Week 3.5 at the pool gave a creepy haze over the 7:00 PM sun.  One boy in swim lessons and one splashing away doing tricks.

I was grateful not to have to wear my sunglasses.  As much as I love them, they don't fit correctly.  If I look down, they fall off.  A normal person would take them back to the optical store I purchased them from and have them adjusted.

You see, I went to the wrong place.  I tried the new Stanton Optical on the Boulevard.  They have a wonderful selection of frames and a lovely optometrist and the building is orange, but that's where the joy ends.

The staff is horrible.  The workmanship is rotten.  The sunglasses were late and had a stress fracture in one lens.  My new frames had a stress fracture in the lens.  My new lenses in my old frames were not sitting in the frames correctly.  Every single pair needed fixing.

Too make a long story short, they stink.  The people working there seemed to make excuses and blame other things for their incompetence,  I was treated as if these were my first pair of glasses.

Don't go there.  

For me, I really need the sunglasses adjusted, I shouldn't avoid Stanton out of spite and I can't have my glasses falling in the pool every time I answer the call, "Mom, watch this."

Purple

Pickerel in the Pond

Speedwell (I think) by the Pond

Puppy in the Plants

Half Way Through!

I'm not a big fan of summer.  It's just too hot most of the time for me.  I prefer snuggly sweaters and hot coffee to shorts and ice water.  This is one great way to cool off in our backyard.

On a day like today, where it's not hot (just hovering around 70), I move around quicker and actually get things done around the house.  Today, laundry day.  Three more loads to go and every clothing item in the house will be clean, perhaps not folded, but clean and dry.

There are parts of summer I like:  gardening.  ice cream.  cold showers.  swim lessons.  And the moment I realize the boys go back to school in five weeks!  Halfway, Moms, halfway!

First tomato and hungarian pepper

Dahlia Bud

 

Hot Dog