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.

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.

I Want One of Those!!!

No. Tessie wasn't talking about Amare's rocks.  He is into rocks and what they are made of right now... He demonstrated how to smash a rock and get tiny fragments to study...

Unfortunately, Tessie wanted one of these... Amare's off the floor bed. It is tall enough so that I can walk under it. There is a ladder at the foot of it, so that he can get up there.

Seth built it for him a few years ago.  It has a lot of room under it so it almost doubles the size of his room...

Now Tessie wants one in her size.

A friend did Amare's name in  wrought iron and it hangs on the side of his bed.

Tessie wants one of those too...

There is a light under the bed so that he can see what he is doing.  It turns the walls in that area kind of a lilac color...

Tessie wants the whole room that color when she gets hers built... Guess who she thinks she is going to get to build it...

OK... I am getting out the graph paper as soon as we get done here.

I had to show you one other thing that is new in their house.

Seth built a new dining room table!!! It is two slabs of walnut put together and finished with the raw edges of the tree! It is amazing!!!

I am taking lessons from Tessie! I want one!!!

I am going now to talk Tessie out of a seven foot high bed... It probably won't work and she will probably want it by yesterday!

Back to work.

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 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.

Movin' Right Along...

OK. I am about to start mini-ing.  That's as soon as I decide what to mini.

I spent the past two hours moving things around again...

I dug under the bed in the computer room and fished out the Chinese Bird Panels.  They are now back in the bedroom on either side of the TV.  That way, if I don't like what's on, I  can look at them instead.


Then I proceeded to take down the Tudor quarter inch and put up different stuff.  Again, it's just things that I like to look at. No more Tudor house hanging over my head and making me feel guilty.

The black and white photo of the flamingo is one that April's husband Seth took years ago and I talked him into giving me a copy.  He is a VERY good photographer.  The one above it is one of mine from college.  It is an abstract with a bunch of ladybugs in it.  The thing at the top is some kind of rusty gear thingy. I found it in a parking lot about 40 years ago and decided it was something that should be saved. I mounted it on a piece of suede and stuck it in a frame.  I like it, even if nobody else does.

The last thing I did was put the two CD towers that were hanging on either side of the TV to good use. 

They are now hanging above the wood pile in my workroom and I have most of my mini material stuffed in them.  That way, I can pick and choose, without moving baskets around in a drawer in the living room to see it all.

I know it's not beautiful, but very few things in my workroom are beautiful... I just want things where I can see them and get to them without difficulty.

I still have three small baskets in the drawer... As soon as I can find a place to put them, they will join the rest.

For now, I am a happy camper.

It is now 8:00AM. Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Macrame and Beadwork... No Minis This Morning.

I will go back to the antique shop this afternoon.  This morning I had to do some macrame and beadwork for April's birthday.  Seth's is tomorrow and April's is on the 11th.

All she requested when I asked what she wanted, was a macrame hanger for a plant that I gave her yesterday... To quote her, "None of those seventies fluffy nylon things.  So I showed her this twine and she agreed to settle for that.  I didn't fringe the tassel or anything cute.  Just some brown beads and plain knotting.

Incidentally, if you want to do something like this in mini, you can do it with crochet cotton or #5 pearl cotton.  I use small seed beads when I do that size.

Just put "macrame" in the search box on the right side and you will find some information on how to do it in mini.

April also liked this bracelet that I just made.  I tried to give it to her and she said to save it for her birthday... So I did.

This is a piece of flat chenille stitch that I have been trying to learn.  I am having problems with turning corners on this one.  I will keep plugging along until I get it right.

That's about all I have done, so far today.  I am going to go work on the antique shop for a while now.  Wish me luck.  I might even get some mini-ing done this afternoon.. 

See you tomorrow.

A New Set of Eyes...

That's all that was needed.

Tessie was standing atop the plant stand this morning, trying to get to the new bird house. 

She was complaining as she went.  It's too small for her to live in!

When she attempted to get to the top, she dropped a foot. That sometimes happens with detachable feet.

It doesn't hurt.  It is just an inconvenience.  Hard to walk or climb up to birdhouses.

She enlisted me to help search.  I couldn't find it anywhere, even though I watched it fall.

We gave up searching.  I went to look for spare parts.  Nope.  No right feet.  No left feet either...

I am going to have to sit down and make more spare parts.  She is rather hard on them.

Anyway, we went ahead and took photos with her sitting down and her skirt covering the missing appendage...

Tessie insisted that she should show you her new Talavera Mexican pot.  Actually it's mine, but you know how that goes.  Anything that comes into the house is hers.

It is beautifully hand painted.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  I am going to paint the terra cotta pot the same yellow as the vase itself.  That way it will look more like the plant is growing inside.

The brown and gray pot next to it is one that Seth(son-in-law) made.  It was my Christmas gift a few years ago... He is my favorite potter!

Since Tessie couldn't do much running around this morning, I put her to work on the edge of the Russian carpet... Actually, I worked on it for a couple of hours this morning.

She did about three stitches before heaving a heavy sigh and whining... "I need another foot..."

About that time, Walter got home and volunteered to do another search of the crime scene.

He found it!  It was right where I thought it was, in one of the pots below. Evidently, I looked in all of the right places at the wrong angle.  Thanks to him, Tessie is now up and doing a happy dance.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Thanks to the Easter Bunnies!

Easter Bunny April brought me four fat quarters of quilting material.  All very nice.  All will be put to good use.

If I had them a bit earlier, I might have used the one on the left for the daybed.  I am NOT changing it now!

Easter Bunny Seth grilled chicken for us all.  Really good!

I got a lot more done on the rug to go in the library. 

This rug is a little different than most cross stitch rugs.  I wanted a little more pronounced diamond shape. If I did it on regular cross stitch, even weave fabric, the diamonds would have been square. 

I did it on fabric that was a longer weave in one direction.  Thus the diamond shapes.  Cheaters sometimes prosper...

The only other mini-ing that I did was the bolster pillow for the window seat.  I still need to put tassels on the ends.










Easter Bunny Amare painted this for me last week...I might just have to make this three year old's masterpiece mini.  If I did, it could go into a mini scene.  Maybe even over the fireplace in the library...

The amazing thing is, he didn't use a brush.  It was done by pouring paint on the paper, in a box.  Then putting marbles in the box to roll around on it. 

He has been doing a lot of these and they all look pretty good for a three year old artist!

Anyway, it's Monday and we are going to see Fast and Furious 7 this morning. 

See you tomorrow...

"For Me??? You Shouldn't Have...."

That was Tessie's favorite thing to say as I opened gifts.  Then she would grab whatever it was and run! 

The best quote of the day was from Seth though.  He took one look at the party going on in the townhouse and said.  "I want to go to Tessie's party.  They look like they are having fun and there's pizza and beer!"  He know how to make Tessie happy.

Now to the gifts. Seth's mom found these for me.  They are Chinese Cloisonne.  Each one is different and all have little handles on both sides, with the exception of the middle one.  That one has two loops towards the top of the neck, one above the other. 

I suspect that these were maybe on a necklace or something.

Thank you, Jill....I had them for about 10 minutes and then Tessie zapped them.  She has plans....

Something that Tessie didn't get away with was a couple of gifts from Walter.  I knew I was getting the pendant watch.  He let me pick that one out.  The ring was a complete surprise.  He knows I like Steampunk. If Tessie even dares to breath on either of these pieces, she is going to get a severe reprimand.  And maybe even locked in a closet for a couple of days.

When I first started minis, every year I looked forward to my dad's special present.  He worked in a place where they had Elmer's glue in GALLON containers.  He knew I used a lot of it, so that's what I got.  This year, April got me these! It's not a gallon, but every little bit helps. 

It was the most popular gift in the house.  We all piled up the presents for Amare and he had trouble getting through them all...But he did.  He decided that my four bottles of glue were more interesting than all of the toys. 

He just about wore the labels off of them.  They started out on the footstool in front of where I was sitting.  They were delivered to everyone several times each.  Then they were placed on the living room rug, here and there.  We kept picking them up and putting them back.  He kept toddling around with one in either hand to deliver them to where he thought they should be....Toys?  What toys?  He walked around them or stepped over them to get where he was going to deliver the glue...

At one point, I told him that if he could properly say "glue", he could open the bottle and squirt glue wherever he wanted....I felt pretty safe....Until everybody started telling him to say "glue" and he came out with "goo" a couple of times....I had to rescind the offer...

I am now going to play with all of my new toys....Even if Amare won't play with his.  He's still trying to say GLUE properly.

See you tomorrow....Merry Boxing Day.