The Alphabet

I started off buying a single "S" and now I've been slowly adding in more letters. Eventually I want to have the whole alphabet and put the letters up on the wall above Simone's crib (high so that she can't pull them down). I have S, A, D, and an I so far.

Rusty Food

Cooked food for Rusty?!? What?!?

Yes! So when Rusty goes to Pampered Pooch we send him with cooked food because they don't feed raw. I make his food for the days he's there. Here's a recipe that even people can eat!

Beef & Chicken with Rice & Veggies

1 lb beef
1 lb chicken
2 cups cooked rice
1 bag of frozen veggies
Salt & pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Brown beef. Drain fat. Cook chicken in oil until juices are clear. Steam veggies. Combine all.

Rusty gets 2 cups per meal. This makes enough for 6 large dog meals.

Holy Buckets!

It's been a long time and I finally downloaded the phone app! Yay!!!!

I need to tell y'all about the burglaries in my neighborhood, the panhandlers, my gardens. Yikes! Long time!!!

New Crochet Scarves

I've put a few new crochet scarves up in my Etsy shop but I'm sort of stuck in a rut. I LOVE stripes (what, have I not mentioned this before????!!!??) and yet they take so long to crochet, you have to keep dropping yarn, then weave in all the ends (which when you have stripes it means there's 4 ends to weave in, yuck) and it just takes so darn long. I still can't stop crocheting though!!

I've also been into shell crochet lately - I need to figure out how to make stripes look nice with the shell pattern, the single colors are a little boring unless you have pretty yarn. I'll have to make a few more of these!

And I have to get rid of my stash somehow, maybe a craft show? I'm not really sure I'm up for one quite yet. I've got a few wreaths to sell, some simple jewelry and probably 20 scarves. I'll have to keep an eye out for some upcoming shows and scout them out to see if my stuff would fit in.

Happy Monday!

Outdoor Dining

 Remember that post from May where I found a few outdoor dining sets and promised pictures of ours?

Well, here it is!! Of course it's raining when I took the picture but you can still see it.

The chairs came with white outdoor cushions, which is fine - but then you can totally see the dirt! With Bimmer Man working in the garage so much, we've relegated a few towels to the back porch to throw over the white cushions. But then when it rains there's more dirt so we store the cushions inside. Love it!

New Project - Napkins!

So I've recently discovered that it's going to take me about two weeks to finish this dang project! I wanted to make a new set of napkins for summer... however... it's taking me forever! I have to work between naps, cleaning, taking a shower, etc... and so I've only begun the pinning process. Which is fine, but I'm so used to working so much faster! Goodness gracious!

Above - you can see the Bumbo where Simone sits to watch me. She's entertained for about 10 minutes and then my time is up! Darn!

Fabric - Michael Miller

I LOVE stripes and I really need to use this fabric. I'm going to save a yard so I can make something for Simi for the summer next year. Maybe a little sundress? I dunno... I have to learn how to make clothes!

Happy Tuesday!

The Monkey

 And here's my first baby:

Summer!

Ahhh... the great outdoors during summer!

We were lucky to inherit this awesome outdoor dining set from a friend (BARELY USED! HOLY BUCKETS!) and so we no longer have to use the plastic set that I got at Menard's. YAY! (Don't worry, I will have pictures soon, but today it's nasty outside so no pictures... sorry).

But still, I can't help but look at Pottery Barn's latest and greatest because the style totally doesn't fit our house. HA. What style does you might ask? Well, think Mad Men, 50's, 60's, etc.. since our house was built in 1949 it has all the original stuff to it.

And then I get a bit jealous of all the lake houses and shore houses (um, RHONJ, their beach houses are awesome!) and think, how awesome would these be?

Pottery Barn Tavern Stacking Armchair - $199

Pottery Barn Soleil Chair - $159

Ahhh... summer! Sitting outside and enjoying the lovely weather!

To Do This Week

1. I absolutely HAVE to get the garden beds raked out. Unfortunately Bimmer Man slaughtered my only good Hosta in the back yard so I have to go to Home Depot for their 4-for-$10 perennial special and replace it. Oops.

2. Fold laundry.

3. Stare in wonder and amazement and envy at the new West Elm catalog. DID YOU SEE THE RECIPES IN IT???? I want to try the guacamole. YUM.

4. Get the Monkey to a portrait studio. She's growing so quickly that I want to make sure we get photos of how little she is.

5. Clean. As much as I can... We shall see. If I Swiffer at least once, it's been a great cleaning week.

6. Make BBQ pork tenderloin. On the grill.

7. Somehow read the book for book club. Maybe just watch the movie instead. HAHA. That totally reminds me of high school.

8. Find my spring and summer clothes. I don't know where half of them are.

9. Figure out WTF my computer is so freakin' slow. Methinks it's almost time for a new one.

And now some pics of the Monkey: