Spring has Sprung

Posted on March 20, 2013 by April

Happy Spring everyone!! As most of you know, today is the first day of spring, and honestly I couldn’t be happier about it. I am certainly not a winter girl, the cold short days really take their toll on me. But now that the days are getting longer, warmer and the opportunities to get out and play in the sunshine are more abundant, I can shake those winter blues like Annie shakes off the dead winter grass from her back. It’s quite exhilarating, shaking the winter blues that is, not shaking grass off my back.

With spring upon us, I’ve been enjoying a few spring-y touches around the house.

Daffodils, they’re so sunny and bright, they almost smile.

They make me smile right back at them. I’ve also discovered glitter covered eggs from the dollar store.

They maybe a little tacky, but at least my table looks Easter-y.

Recently, I’ve been seeing my sweet momma a lot, and finally got to give her the Valentine’s gift I’d stitched up for her.

The scarf came out huge, apparently I have gauge issues.

But sweet momma tried it on, anyways. Under Goldie-dogs watchful gaze, of course.

Oh, and spring not only brings with it daffodils to my table and finally a grass free dog, but also new birds to my yard!

A male Northern Flicker Woodpecker.

Guess the bugs living in between the stepping stones didn’t stand a chance. I couldn’t get a shot of him flying, so I borrowed a shot taken by Laura Meyers, who obviously has a quicker shutter finger than I do.

Via

Doesn’t this guy have a gorgeous undercarriage? The one munching on bugs in my backyard had more of an orange-y undercarriage than the one pictured above. But he still took my breath away. It’s not too often we get birds other than pigeons and doves hanging out back there.

Now that spring has sprung and the sun is shining brightly, I’ll be taking my leave out of doors. (And maybe cut back on my BBC viewing.)

Happy Spring Everyone!

Weekend Happenings: Wild and Crazy

Posted on February 5, 2013 by April

How’s this for a week that’s already off kilter? Thrifting Thursday on a Monday and a weekend review on a Tuesday. At least, I’m blogging this week! So, I’d call the first two days of the first week in February a success! (By the way, why is February so hard to spell? Every time I try to spell it on my own, spell check kicks in and gives me the dreaded red line. I shouldn’t be surprised since most of the time my posts are covered with red lines. Thank you spell check.)

Anywho, on this Tuesday I’ve got the past weekend still on my mind, maybe I’m hoping the next weekend will get here a little faster. Actually, I should rephrase that, I am happy with where I’m at right now, which happens to be in the middle of a work week. And thank goodness, I have work to keep me busy during the week. Even though the prospect of having a life of all weekend seems pretty enticing, there are little things to worry about like eating and paying bills. Ya know, the small things in life.

But back to the happenings of the weekend:

I started a new crochet project, this time it’s a kid-size blanket for my soon to be 6 year old niece. Once it’s done I’ll tell you all about it.

We ate pizza and salad, yeah I know me and the hubs live on the wild side.

And last but not least….

I read a magazine and took a picture. This post gave me the great idea. Aren’t you glad I have follow through?

Hows that for a wild and crazy weekend from one wild and crazy gal? (By the way that was typed with the same accent Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd used in this SNL skit.)

Weekend Happenings: The Business of Un-busyness

Posted on January 22, 2013 by April

This past weekend was the complete opposite of busy, it was un-busy. Meaning that it wasn’t busy, but it wasn’t quiet or lazy either, just un-busy, pleasantly un-busy.

It was so un-busy, I took pictures of Bubba replacing the wipers on my car. While Goldie supervised of course.

We watched a couple of our favorite silly movies. I had to get my Mixed Nuts annual viewing in, the third weekend in January is close enough to Christmas to still be watching Christmas movies right?

I hope so, because if it’s OK to be watching Christmas movies, then it should be OK to still have ones Christmas tree still up.

Just so ya know though, I am working on taking down all the Christmas jolly’s. Although, if it’s still Christmas in my heart I should be able to keep the outward portrayal of all that cheer in my living room eh?

Aside from watching Bubba replace my wipers, avoiding any type of household chore (like putting away my Christmas cheer), I also did some magazine reading and started a new crochet project. You’ll have more updates on that soon, the crocheting not magazine reading. That would be a pretty boring post wouldn’t? It would just be a picture of me, sitting on the couch reading a magazine.

Anywho,after this short review of my weekend it looks like things were more lazy and procrastination filled than they were un-busy.

But I think I’ll stick with un-busy.

What did you do this weekend? Get shiny new windshield wipers perhaps? Any Christmas tree-putting-away-avoidance?

How to Crochet the Lazy Girl Way

Posted on December 3, 2012 by April

Lately I’ve been trying to be a little craftier, apparently idle hands are the devils playground. At least that’s what my grandmother used to tell me. So, I’ve taken up crocheting in the evenings while I watch re-runs of Friends and impatiently wait for Season 7 of Doctor Who to arrive on Netflix. Because ya know, I can’t spend the $14 to buy 6 episodes of my most recent television obsession, that would be too easy. Anyways, during my TV time the past couple of months I’ve been making this:

A baby blanket, a WHOLE baby blanket. That’s like 20 scarves all put together! I’m a beginner when it comes to crocheting or crochet?? What would be the proper terminology here? See? I’m that new I don’t even know the proper verb or pronoun whatever the correct terminology one would use in this situation. But I digress, I’m new to this craft and have only really mastered the single crochet, so that’s how this blanket was woven together (and love, woven with lots of love, you can’t have a handmade item NOT contain love!). Nothing but single crochet stitches and the chunkiest and softest yarn I could find, Bernat Baby Blanket, in Baby Pink. I found the cheapest selection at Wal-Mart, it was $2.97 for a 3.5 oz skein. Certain colors can be purchased in a huge 10.5 oz skein, which is what I did with another blanket I’m currently working on, but that’s another story.

I LOVED working with this yarn, it’s the perfect material for a beginner like me who tends to be a bit fumbly with the crochet needle. By the way, I used an N needle with this super chunky yarn, so the project was super easy and super fast. If I had worked on it for more than an hour or two at a sitting and if I were more nimble in the fiber arts I bet this could have been churned out in a lot less than a month and a 1/2.

But the one caveat I have about using this yarn is that it tends to be a little knotty, and I don’t mean it stole grapes from the grocery store for “tasting”. There were random knots within the skein, like they had knotted two different skeins together. Maybe it was just that I purchased my yarn from Wal-Mart, which sometimes doesn’t have the best quality of merchandise or maybe it’s just the nature of the product. By the way, I’m not slamming Wal-mart. They do tend to have the best deals on certain products. And yes, I realize there are lots of people out there who are very anti-WalMart, I can be one of those people at times, but I also like a good deal. Either way, the knots kind of annoyed me because it made the final product look a little messy. Or maybe it was just me making it messy with my beginner crochet-er ways.

But all in all I am happy with the final product, and have happily wrapped and shipped this handmade gift to a friend of mine who is happily awaiting the arrival of her new baby girl in just a few short weeks.

Have you started up a new hobby? Or have you mastered an old hobby? Any crochet tips from the pros out there??

Weekend Happenings: Randomness

Posted on September 18, 2012 by April

Happy Tuesday all! I trust you all had a great weekend, and an easy Monday. On this Tuesday, I don’t have many words, but I have lots of pictures. So pull up a comfy chair pour yourself a tall glass of sweet tea and enjoy.

This weekend, I realized I would never make it as a 50’s housewife. I took it upon myself to make Bubba his favorite fried eggs, everything went smoothly until I had to turn them over. It was at this point I turned the spatuala over to the cook of the house before more disaster ensued.

So, we often feed our dogs morsels from the table while we eat. Therefore, this one sees fit to beg at every meal. Does this make us bad pet parents? And does calling myself a pet parent make me crazy?