The Strawberry Snatcher Returns.........

Yesterday after letting Max out to bark at the pool I wandered over to my little container garden to take a peek and what do you think I saw?  A strawberry plant missing strawberries that weren't even ripe yet!  Now I thought my boy had waited to eat the ripe ones until they were just perfect but apparently he is not that discerning.

The evidence.

Only one tiny strawberry remains.

The perpetrator always returns to the scene of the crime.

Look at this guy blatantly searching for more strawberries.  He got so excited yesterday when his Aunts came over for a visit he actually pulled a lettuce plant out of my container and he doesn't even like lettuce.  Notice the black hole?

The strawberries have been moved to higher ground and I know you are wondering why I did not do it sooner, apparently I am not that bright!  

Sometimes I forget Max is actually a dog, I mean he really is, even though I think he is a person with fur.  

Remind me to have my strawberries up high next year so my boy does not think he can snack on his favorite fruit whenever he wants.

Have a great Sunday.

Five on Friday

I am linking with Amy and her Five on Friday project.  It is a nice way to sum up your week, and look for the positive.

The last two years I have gone to an art show in Tarpon Springs with my friend Cathy and we buy beautiful crochet beaded jewelry.  I love what I have bought so far and wear them all the time.  I don't treat myself all that much but I do this for myself once a year.  Cathy found out she was not available the weekend of the up coming art show and we were both crushed.  We look forward to this all year long.  Cathy emailed the lovely Kristi of Denim & Pearl and she told us she would be in town for a Olive and Wine festival this past weekend.  We took Little Buddy along with us and I bought three lovely beaded bracelets.  I am in love with them.  Now I am not sure why her prices are so high on her etsy store, not sure if it is an error because these were only $15 each, and the long wrap bracelets were her normal $35.  If you want one I would email her and ask her about her pricing.



A few days ago I saw two of my strawberries getting nice and ripe.  I went out this morning to cut them off and this is what I found.

Two missing ripe strawberries with some ripe strawberry residue on the ground, I think I know who is a big strawberry lover in this family and waited just for them to be perfectly ripe.......Max!

My flowers are blooming especially after a nice little rain shower early this morning.  If I could pick these and give you all a little posy I would in thanks for your lovely get well wishes for Little Buddy.  He is back at school today after three days at home.  He lost a lot of weight and he is paler than ever but he is back to laughing, smiling and playing, hooray for that.
 

I started working on my new project Jordan by Vicki Chan.  After a little issue getting the back and front center exactly in the center I am on a roll.  I have learned to love crochet chart reading, I think it is so much faster.  I love this pattern and hope it is a bit larger when it is blocked.  I am already thinking of making another one, you know me I have to make at least two of something.

My loom has be returned from my SIL who apparently does not think weaving is for her.  Maybe it was her teacher (me).  Regardless I felt a loss when it wan't in my office/studio.  I am happy to have it back right where it belongs.

Hope you are having a great day and please join Amy for Five on Friday for some Friday fun.

A sick little boy...................

These past few days have not been kind to Little Buddy.  Monday when he woke from his nap he had a fever, and by the time I got home from work it was getting higher.  He then began to get sick and it has only now started to slow down.  He does get sick every once in a while, I think he gets very dehydrated from all of his hard work and gets ill, but this time it just might be a full blown flu.  Bless his heart he had a high fever last night and just cried and cried.  There is nothing like rocking a warm little one who does not feel well.  Needless to say I had to stay home from work today to tend to the many diapers we have had.  For once I am grateful Little Buddy still uses a diaper or I would have one heck of a mess on my hands.  

He did want to get dressed which is a good sign, but then he was on the floor watching the Disney Channel all morning long.  Nothing like a bit of Mickey Mouse to help brighten your day and make you feel better.

So hoping he feels like this picture above soon, and that his smile returns at least by tomorrow I miss it and his sweet little voice chatting away.  As there has not been time for yarny fun, I am posting a few Little Buddy funnies for you to enjoy.

His teacher told me two weeks ago he had to be placed in the,"make a better choice chair," for throwing toys off the table at table time.   I think she thought I would take this seriously but I am sorry that one just made me laugh.

When his Aunt Heidi was here watching him so we could go to Mr. 21's swim meet she asked him to stop touching something saying, "I don't think your Mom would want you to touch that."  His reply was, "Aunt Heidi, shut your eyes."

I am asked this one frequently.  "Mom, do you have your mouth on?"  

A few days ago he was in the bathtub and I was at my green counter top near my sink getting vitamins out.  He proceeded to quietly dump all sorts of water on the floor as my back was turned.  When I told him not to do that any more this is what he said. "Mom, go to the green table and do your work." 

 He really does make me laugh.

He can now count to 25, knows his ABC's, knows all his colors and is initiating all sorts of conversation.  He is a hoot, a hoot that does not feel good right now but still a hoot.

Hope you are having a great day and that the flu has not descended into your home.  

Finished Baby Blanket.................

I had a few goals this past weekend, finish the dreaded pressure washing, and finish this adorable baby blanket.  I achieved both of them.  My screens and pavers on my back pool area are sparkling and this baby blanket is done.  A good weekend I'd say.

Of course I chose to take pictures on a dreary rainy morning but I just couldn't wait.  The way my week is lining up this might be my only allotted time to post about it.  

This is another version of the The Crazy Granny Square by Melinda Miller.   The blanket measures 41 x 41 inches, with just a dc border.  I did not want anything fancy, just a simple border to go with the basic pattern of the granny square.

I used Kraemer Yarns Tatamy in Baby Powder and Playtime to make this blanket.  It is for my husbands nephew and his wife who are expecting their first baby.  1,500 yards were used to make this, 375 yards of the white or baby powder, and 1,125 of the playtime or green.  The white yarn was left over from the African Flower Baby Blanket I made ages ago, and the green was bought 3 years ago to make a sweater, a sweater involving a ton of short rows, I should have known better.  I think this yarn was waiting for this baby to come along all this time.  We don't know the sex yet, and won't until this sweet little one is born so I went with gender neutral.  I used a size H hook.  Seems like a lot of yarn for a baby blanket but crochet is a yarn suck isn't it?

I started this blanket on March 4 and finished it up yesterday.  It is amazing how fast you can get something done when you are monogamous.  I am monogamous in everything in life but playing with yarn, I usually have several projects on the go at once. 

This small horse or big pony was a gift from my next door neighbor for Little Buddy.  It was hers when she was younger.  She is all of 14 now and is much too old for it, he loves it.

Thank you for your very honest and sometimes very funny responses to my last post.  I think we all try to see the good in life and post about it.  But a reality check every now and again keeps us honest.  I have a thing about social media, which is one of the reasons I try to steer clear of it.  It presents us with an unrealistic picture of life of our friends, and sometimes family, they post a picture perfect moment and then we think about our own life and it somehow falls short.  Some blogs do that too and I am not judging them, I like beautiful projects and gorgeous flowers myself.  But I think I need to show the beautiful, the staged photos and sometimes the real ones, too.  Life isn't always picture perfect, it is not meant to be, sometimes it is just plain ole life. 

Have a great week.

Blog reality check.................

My friend Holly and I were chatting yesterday, and laughing a lot.  You see she is one of my only friends who actually reads my blog, I know I am weird that way, I don't tell anyone I have a blog.  She saw the pictures of the men in my life having a grand time together and was a bit wistful, her son had been home, too.  So we got to talking and had a reality check about our visits.  I try to be honest on my blog, but I also try to notice the good.  You see not everything is picture perfect.  Lots of life is blurry like the photo above.

Here you see crocheting and think, how lovely!  But the reality is this has been on my table for two days and I have not touched it.  There has not been time.

Those flowers are not thriving, they are slowly checking out, but we don't include this in our blogs do we?  We don't include the cleaning, and changing beds, the five loads of laundry, the walks with Little Buddy and his walker where he refuses to move and we are 1/4 of a mile away and I have to pick him and the walker up and trudge home, the working so hard on your day off that you can't seem to have the energy to pick up your crochet hook, or the daily grind that leaves us exhausted.

I asked Mr. 21 to help me clean the screens, and he did, but did not do near enough  He took long breaks, watched a show, had his lunch and got some sun.  So I spent four hours yesterday cleaning them myself and I have yet to finish.  If I just posted this picture you would think he was the hardest worker ever, believe me that is far from the truth, but he did help and for that I am thankful.

 This picture is so wonderful.  But it doesn't tell you that I had to convince my husband to go golfing, and that it took me four days to do it, which was not fun.  And that I had to almost kick these guys in the butt to get them together for a picture.  They now have great memories golfing and a wonderful photo to remember it all, and I am still exhausted from making them do it.

A week ago I had two ginormous tomato plants with flowers and the promise of wonderful tomatoes. Now I have stem rot and I am going to have to throw all of this but the containers in the garbage bin.  Life is not always picture perfect.

Holly and I discussed out sons.  Boy we love them so much and can't wait to see them.  But they are both a bit full of themselves right now, so full of opinions and judgments and their sense of independence, which mind you they really don't have as they are still at University and are funded by their parents.  I know this is a stage, and one I have to be honest is not always fun.  But I do look at this young man of mine playing with his little adopted brother and I have hope, hope that he will indeed become the responsible and respectable man I have raised him to be once he gets all of these shenanigans out of his system.  I seem to remember thinking I was quite something at this age too!

And even though my tomatoes look like they will be a bust, I do have strawberries, there might only be a few, but they are growing.  

Reality and what we want to show the world are not always the same thing.  I want to be honest, and not show all the roses and perfect times in my life.  Oh and can I add my husband snores and has woken me up three times each the last four nights.  I almost kicked him really hard last night as I had had it!  He is out of town tonight and I am looking forward to a blissful nights sleep, well that is after I finish those screens and cleaning the pavers on my back deck.

I think it is good to have a blog reality check every once in a while.

Biggest Brother Fun........

When Mr. 21 comes home it is like going on a wild ride for Little Buddy.  He is picked up, squeezed, played with and loved.  Now my teenager is a great influence on Little Buddy, but he is quieter, steady, and always there.  He will be the one Little Buddy goes to for sound advice, Mr. 21 will be there for a good time.  And let me just say Little Buddy had a very good time with his Biggest brother home for a few days.

This was the start of it all.  Mr. 21 got in the pool after a round of golf and that led to Little Buddy wanting to dip his feet in.

Which led to getting in the pool.....

Which led to being dunked up and down......

Which led to a very wild ride on the alligator........  Life is fun when you have big brothers, one that is steady and calm, and one who will throw you around everywhere just like a regular 3 year old.

Just so you know my teenager does exist here he is on Sunday with my husband and his brother before golfing.

Mr. 21 still hassles him, giving him a bit of a pinch right in the middle of my photo shoot!  

It is quiet now, Mr. 21 returned to Ohio this morning and Little Buddy is taking a nap.  He needs a good long one, he has been having a grand time and will miss his biggest brother, I will too!

A little help for the birds.................

Happy Sunday everyone.  I am stopping by quickly before everyone gets up and moving in my house.  These darker mornings are still throwing us all off schedule.  Mr. 21 arrived home late yesterday afternoon and I was so happy.  There is just nothing like seeing your child's face is there?

Even with his messy hat hair, and a week of stubble on his chin he looked like the most beautiful thing in the world to me.  He will only be here a few days, but I am going to treasure each and every second of them.  Well that is until he leaves the toilet seat up all the time, stops putting away his dishes and leaves his clothes everywhere.

Yesterday before he got home I made a little something for the birds.  I know you have seen these around, but it is so, so simple.  A suet feeder filled with yarn ends.

Grab all those ends of yarn you have been saving because they are just to pretty to throw out.  This glass was so filled with yarn, it was like going on an archaeological dig and figuring out which layer correlated with which project I had completed. 

  

Buy a cheap suet feeder at your local hardware store.

Fill with yarn bits and you are done.  Really isn't this the fastest project ever?  Hmmm... there is the red from the cowl I made a year ago, and the Malabrigo from the Christmas cowls, and the gold from my Lady Kina. 

Hang in a tree for all the birds to use to help cushion their nests.  Wouldn't it be fun to see these bits of color poking out of nests?  Even if the yarn does not get used I think this is pretty hanging in my tree, and I have an empty jar to starting filling up with new yarn ends.

Look what is left of the nesting ball I made last year with Max's hair and bits of yarn.  It is almost empty.  I just might have to start collecting his hair again and refill it.

My alpaca nesting ball  still looks full.  Maybe the birds here think alpaca is a bit to warm to fill their nests.  This ball has been on the ground more than I can tell you.  I swear some raccoon has had its fun with me.  I finally stuck it on a limb that had been cut off, like a marshmallow on the end of a stick.  It is stuck on there pretty tight and has been for a few weeks.  Maybe I have outfoxed this raccoon now?

Flowers are blooming, the weather is perfect, high 70's and sunny.  My son is home, my family is all under one roof, my heart is full.  

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Five on Friday

This is my first time participating in Amy's Five on Friday's link party and I am pretty excited.  You see I am not feeling myself lately, I am sort of a little down in the dumps.  No real reason, maybe just menopause and life in general.  This Five on Friday post will make me look at things I can be happy about and therefor help bring me out of my doldrums.

Sixteen centers have been made for my new baby blanket.  I was going for 20 but ran out of white yarn, so this will end up being a square baby blanket instead of a rectangle.

I am using the same pattern I made my big green blanket with.  You can find the pattern here.  

Each square will be 10 x 10, with a white inside and a soft green outside. Simple and appropriate for a girl or a boy.

My lovely friend Nicole recently posted this recipe for Sun Butter Honey Oat Bites on last weeks Five of Friday.  I tweaked the recipe a bit using agave nectar instead of honey, and natural no sugar peanut butter instead of sun butter.  Of course I had to top them with a few malt sweetened chocolate chips which melted just a bit.  Can I just tell you how yummy these are?  Nicole, thank you so much for this super easy recipe that is delicious.

My after Christmas bargain amaryllis has finally bit the dust.  It only had a couple of blooms and they were small, but still very pretty, so I decided my kitchen table was in need of some color.  Flowers make me smile.

I have thoughts of a new project.  This is Jordan -sleeveless pineapple top by Vicki Chan.  I have had this baby in my Ravelry library for some time.  This Cascade Ultra Pima yarn has been in my stash for probably six years.  I had already started another sweater with it and never really got very far on that project.  I think it has been waiting for this top all along.  I have 880 yards of unused yarn, which should be about perfect for this top.  I rarely actually buy a pattern on Ravelry, but I think this one is worth the price.  I hope I am up for the challenge, crochet is not as easy for me as knitting.

Oops I have one more thing, can I do six on a Friday?  Mr. 21 comes home tomorrow for a few days.  He was supposed to travel to Mexico with a teammate to this swimmers home.  But unfortunately this young  man's parents were in a car accident this past weekend.  They are both banged up, but okay.  It was quickly decided that this might not be the best time for them to have a house guest, so quick arrangements were made and my boy will be home.  I can't wait to see his beautiful face.

See I feel better already.  Want to join in the fun.  There is a link for Amy's Five on Friday on her blog.

Have a great day.

Cleaning up outside..............

This past weekend was all about cleaning up all the dead plants left over from the Winter.  I spent several hours outside each day pulling things out, cutting them back and planting new plants.  

This mess is the area in question.  Boy so many plants were dead and needed to be pulled out or replanted.  It took hours to cut back.  But I was so, so happy when it was all cleared out.  Even with nothing planted it looked better than  the overgrown dead plants.

Sunday saw me reorganizing, and planting some nice new flowers.  I try to keep myself within a budget for new plants.  For a little amount of money you can make a big difference.

Looking out from my family room/kitchen I can now see dots of color that will hopefully grow into a beautiful garden.

Well that is if the deer don't have appetizers at my house.  Not sure this plant will make it after the evening feast.

My garden boxes are really doing great.  Look at how everything has grown.  I have been feasting on the lettuce, my goodness it is so good.  I never actually thought lettuce had so much flavor.

My tomatoes have flowers!

And I might actually have two or three strawberries.  I planted these late in the season, next year I will plan better.

This Superhero spent a lot of time outside with his walker and his bike this past weekend.  He had the best time.  We don't need an amusement park, we just need to go outside for a bit each day to make this little one happy.

He is making progress with his very own pair of canes.  They arrived while we we in Iowa.  He doesn't even really need us near him now when he walks with them.  They are hard to use so he fatigues fast, but every time he uses them he is getting stronger.

He is quite something isn't he?  I think he is looking older, and he is talking so much that even though he is tiny, his brain is working a mile a minute.

Thank you so, so much for your wonderfully kind words about my Berry Edged Shawl.  I am quite in love with it at the moment.  But suddenly it is really hot here in Florida so I am not sure I will be wearing it any time soon.

Hope Spring is showing up where you live.  And remember while I know you are a bit jealous I am in the garden, you will have the last laugh come summer time and I am stuck inside with intense heat and humidity and you are all out on your back porch drinking tea and enjoying your flowers.