Summer is Just about Here...

Summer is just about here. Memorial Day weekend has always been special in our family. First off, my baby brother was born on the traditional day to celebrate Memorial Day--May 30th. Happy birthday little brother! Another thing that many of you in my age category may recall, on Memorial Day we could start wearing our white shoes again! For you younger folks, white shoes were taboo except for between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I don't know why, that's just the way it was. Memorial Day was the start of summer fun--school was almost out, the cold weather was gone and it was time to cut loose and have a bit of swimming. I'm going to take a break starting tomorrow for about a week and a half and visit some of my good friends from my younger days. Things have been happening at home that have me big time stressed but I won't bother all of you about them. Let's just say this jaunt is what the doctor orders. My crochet hook and yarn are packed and ready to go! Any of you have special plans for this weekend and your summer?

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and a great summer

Big Picture Money Saving Tip--

We all need to save money and one thing that will help us is to not allow high school students to drive to school except for extraordinary situations. The price of gas is partially determined by the law of supply and demand. Decrease the use of gas and the price goes down. One of the other things is the value of the dollar and we all know that's not worth much today.  Another way we will save is a decrease of the expense of maintaining parking lots on school campuses. You know, there are school buses that we already pay for to transport these kids to school. Perhaps we can increase the age teens get their drivers licenses to 18?  Bet I'm not making friends here. Have a great day....

I Have to Share this With You--

When I was a very young little girl, I remember seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show; it's been a love affair ever since.  As I was surfing around in Youtube, I saw the video of this show! Ladies and gentleman--THE BEATLES!

Going Away Again...

I'm going to visit an ol' high school friend in California on Saturday. She generously sent me a ticket!  I've been pondering on what crochet project to take with me. I think I've found it. It's the Ocean Grove Round Wash Cloth pattern from Lion Brand. If you remember, not too long ago I found a super great sale on cotton yarn, Sugar and Cream for around $1 each, so I'll be able to put a dent in my stash of it.

Granny Ripple Baby Blanket--Done

It's finished. I'm not 100% satisfied with this pattern. The edging shows a lot of the other colors where I crocheted over them. Anyway, it's done.

Monday's Link to a Free Pattern 23 May 2011

Here's a pattern for a cute sun hat and it has directions for sizes from baby to adult! Enjoy ...

Couldn't Resist...

I received the following in an email and couldn't resist sharing it with you!

THIS CABLE GUY HUMOR IS FUNNY BUT UNFORTUNANTLY IT’S TRUE!  THE MAN'S A GENIUS!!!        
    

    

Everyone  concentrates on the problems we're having in Our Country lately:  Illegal immigration,  hurricane recovery, alligators attacking people  in  Florida . Not me -- I concentrate on solutions  for the problems -- it's a win-win situation.

* Dig a moat the length of the Mexican border.

* Send the dirt to New Orleans   to raise the level of the levees.

* Put  the Florida  alligators in the moat along the Mexican border.




Search Amazon.com for larry the cable guy  

I Actually Accomplished Something Worthwhile....

Yes, I did accomplish something today. I finished planting the garden. I started and dh joined in and helped a little bit. I had already planted potatoes,and garlic and dh had planted tomatoes and today (or I should say yesterday as I glance at the clock) I added green beans, purple peas and cucumbers. I planted a "salad bowl" too. The salad bowl is a large planter filled with salad greens and the ones I've seen have not only been edible but also decorative.  Here's a few pics for you:

These are the potatoes we had already planted. I let some of my potatoes get the eyes on them and then planted so we didn't have to buy the sets. The potatoes were new potatoes that had 3 types in the bag and one kind was purple!

The tomato plants. They're kind of small can you see them? :) 

I'm thinking about planting my sweet potato--It's getting big.

DH putting the finishing touches on the garden with water and Miracle Grow.

No, we're not raising pigs! Nellie Belle dragged one of her "babies" outside and promptly forgot it.

I was going to end with a "pretty picture" but blogger won't let me add more photos. :-(

It's that Time of the Year Again....

I found corn on sale for only 20 cents an ear so I bought some and I'm going to freeze it. Last year we figured out that if we could find corn for under 25 cents an ear it was cheaper than what we paid for a bushel. Anyway, corn is shucked and waiting on water to boil so I can blanch it. This year I'm going to freeze the corn instead of canning because I'll need my jars for pickles and I'm thinking of making spaghetti sauce too. We'll see how it goes. Last years tomato crop really sucked because of the drought we had so I didn't get much tomato sauce made and no spaghetti sauce. I have 14 tomato plants in the garden. I still have a few more things to plant. My fingers are crossed for this year!

WIP Wednesday--2 Projects

I'm working a little here and a little there on 2 projects. I have not finished the granny 'ghan I've been blogging about for a while now. I'm at the sewing together the squares stage. Here's just a quick peek at it:

I'm also working on a baby blanket. It needs a border and the ends woven in:

Both projects are at the stage I don't like but I  need to put my nose to the grind stone and get busy.

Click on the following button and you can see what some other crafty folks have been working on.




Have a great day....

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (16 May 2011)

This time of the year usually sees many weddings taking place. What a better wedding gift than a crocheted wedding cake that actually has a practical use. Check out this pattern and see what I mean.
Another idea is to crochet wedding attire for 7-8" dolls (bride, groom, bridesmaid).

Wishing everyone a wonderful week...

Here's a Little Project I Just Finished...

I love this pattern! I had tried to make it before but the yarn I used didn't have enough stretchiness so it ended up being for a middle-schooler.  I used Vanna' s Choice yarn. OK, enough talk, here's the pictures:

Finally the Blogs Are Up and Running...

Blogger is back on line. I was going through withdrawal. I've been trying to read the posts I've missed but on the reading list on my dashboard they're all mixed up with ones I've already read grrrrrr...

I've finished making all the squares for the latest granny 'ghan I'm working on and all the ends are woven in (so far). No picture of it for you yet so please be patient a little longer ok?

Here are a few pictures of the amateur nature preserve aka our yard:

Momma robin keeping watch on...

Baby robins; 1 made 1st flight a few minutes after photo was taken.

A few of my flowers:

There is a story that goes with this next picture:

This rose was originally a rose tree but the top was totally broken off from the trunk. For 2 years I debated on where or not to dig it up and toss in the trash because it grew bushy, but didn't have blooms until this spring. I'm happy I kept it.

Believe it or not, these pretty little red roses are supposed to be carpet roses but they're growing like climbing roses for some reason... 

Pretty irises

I hope y'all have a great weekend...

WIP Wednesday--A Granny 'Ghan--11 May 2011

I haven't been very busy with crocheting lately--just sort of piddling around with it. I did finish a few more squares. I need 3 more big squares and then I'll weave in some ends and assemble the ghan. I'm not sure of the colors but then again, granny ghans have traditionally been made of some wild colors. ;)

If you click the button at the top of this post, you can see what other crafty people have been up to lately. Y'all have a great day...

Added a New Link for a Round(ish) Afghan Pattern

I added a new link today for a roundish throw. You can find the new link under today's date on the page listed at the top of my blog under the header where it says "Links for Free Round Afghan Crochet Patterns"  or you can go directly to the list from here. If you just want to see this one pattern it is here.

Mothers Day 2011--

I had a quiet Mothers Day yesterday. Both sons were working but son #2 did come over on his dinner break to surprise me. Love it when the sons drop in--the fridge gets emptied of the left-overs! :)

Anywho, here's my handsome son #2:

And here are the cute gnomes he and his wife gave me for Mothers Day:

Search Amazon.com for garden gnomes

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (09 May 2011)

Items crocheters often get some good-natured teasing about are crocheted covers for the spare roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. Today's pattern is for a humorous version of the crocheted tp cover.

Feeding Our Wildlife--

DH and I feed the squirrels and birds that visit our yard. Here is a little squirrel dining al fresco at the squirrel table son Justin made for them a few years ago:

When I was a little girl, I remember my grandmother feeding birds scraps from the table such as bread, cake crumbs, extra pancakes and that sort of thing. Now, I do the same thing and often buy seed for them too.  But wait, the squirrels are gluttons and have invaded our feathered friends' dining facilities:

The other day I saw an oriole but it was gone before I got my camera in hand. It was the first oriole I've seen here and I really wanted to snap a pic. I'm keeping my camera closer at hand so maybe I'll have better luck one day.

Y'all have a great week!

New Friday Thing for You-->Coupon of the Week

Because of some recent male menopause thing my husband is going through, I'm having to be more frugal than ever. I've been watching the extreme couponers on tv and youtube. Unlike them, I haven't found anything I can get for free like they do YET. Anyway, I thought that on Fridays, I would post for you a link for a coupon, preferably for a free item. Today's coupon is for a free sports drink at a GNC store. Go here to get it.

I'd like to say "thank you" to everyone for their kind words since I've been under the weather. I'm still not up to snuff, but getting better everyday.

Hugs....

I Know I haven't been Here for a While...

Did you notice I've been gone for a few days? Maybe not but "stuff" has been happening. I've been sick--body aches and allergies too. I've spent quite a bit of time in bed--reading until my itchy eyes couldn't stand anymore printed words. I think I have imbibed in enough water to float an aircraft carrier! DH is going through male menopause in a big way. No, he's not fooling around or anything like that. I'm having some anxiety--we'll just leave it at that. Anyway, while I was lounging around, I did get a few more squares made for the granny afghan I'm making. Only 10 more to go! Here they are:

I have 4 squares of each color made except for the black, tweedy-color one in the back. Most of the colors are muted so hopefully they'll all blend in together when the afghan is assembled. Most of the yarn came from my stash. Quite a bit of the yarn came from Dollar Tree when I did an impulse buy there.

I hope you are all having a great week. Hugs to all....

Search Amazon.com for male menopause

Monday's Link to Free Crochet Pattern (02 May 2011)

I saw this pattern and it was love at first sight. Lately, I've gotten into the granny square look. This is a baby afghan that has the squares but also it is a bit avant garde. I can see that it would be easy to enlarge it into a 'ghan for adults too. Here's the pattern. Have a great week y'all...