Flowers and pretty things

I admit it. I was suckered. Suckered by the beautiful spring weather. Suckered by the bright festive colors. I gave in too easily and I bought a garden full of happiness.



This morning I got up early and dug out perfect little dirt cocoons that my sweet alyssum and precious petunias could snuggle into and grow into healthy and vibrant contributors to not only the beauty of my yard but the whole neighborhood as well. The neighborhood kitty came to oversee my work and pounce at my spade every time he disapproved of plant placement.



So my landscaping was designed by a snuggly ball of feline furriness, with impeccable taste I might add!



In all likeliness, Houston weather may have one or two more freezes up its sleeve. If it does, I will loose all of the prettiness that the little orange fellow toiled over, but I felt good doing it. And even if they do, there wasn't a huge financial investment. Kitty and I can always re-plant!



I will add pictures as soon as I retrieve my memory card from my mother's computer...

One of the good things about living in Texas is that our winters are short. It is the end of March and we hare having highs in the 80s lows in the mid 70s. I love it!

With our chillier days behind us I am faced with an issue with my son's wardrobe. Our budget is tight tight tight with the economic crunch and what not. We went up a size at the end of January and had to buy all new clothes then, so all of his shirts are long sleeves. There is little point in holding on to all of this years winter clothing. Next winter he be wearing bigger clothes. So, this afternoon I took most of his long sleeve t-shirts and chopped the sleeves down to short sleeve lengths. Yay for extending their life a little bit longer. I also saw a really cute snake stuffie pattern made out of old shirt sleeves that I may have to create with all of the leftover sleeve bits.

I got in my new Styrofoam wig heads this afternoon. It means I will be able to work on 5 different mask designs at one time. Yippee!

TMI - Potty training day 1

We started potty training today... We were well on our way to having my DS potty trained this summer. We could put him on the potty and he would go. I had his schedule all figured out and he had even started to let us know when he needed to go. Then my dad passed followed almost immediately by hurricane Ike and moving.... Potty training got lost in the chaos. So today, with baby-signs potty program in hand we began to "Ride the potty train" right now the score is 2 successful potty trips to about 10 misses. Things I have learned from day one... My son has an VERY productive urinay system. He has the ability to have a very full pee followed by another very full pee less than 10 minutes later. I have decided that his bladder must take up the majority of his inner body space. Seriously, folks... The kid can PEE! So tomorrow is another day and we will hope the score begins to even out.

Creatively, DS painted several canvases to go in his room and Kelly came over and painted some to go in her bathroom. I completed a pendant for a swap I am working on. Mostly a very productive day.

My sister in law inspired me. If she can keep up with her blog regularly while running a business and taking care of my brother, surely I can be more regular with mine...

This week I have been feeling extra crafty and inspired. I have been participating in several craft swaps and here are my most recent projects


These were part of a buy nothing/green swap. My partner is a HUGE Dave Matthews fan. The large doll like creature is the firedancer from one of his CDs. I printed out a bunch of stickers both DM and craft related. The maroon rectangle is a pot scrubber that I crocheted out of some tulle that I had leftoverfrom a tutu that I made for a friends little girl. My favorite is the smiley face bag. The front, back, and binding are made from fused plastic grocery bags. The sides are made from crocheted Kroger bags. It was hard not to keep this piece for myself.






































My other swap partner wanted a snoodie... A scarf with a hood. It turned out really nice. I am going to have to make me one for next winter.


I have a couple other projects that I will post when they get done next week!

Craftster - My new addiction.

I have a new addiction. Seriously, I need help! www.craftster.org is possibly the greatest site I have stumbled on in a long time. Basically it is a message board for crafters of all mediums and skill levels. You can browse all you want as a "guest" without joining and filling out a profile. When you are ready to post a message, the basic membership is free. If you want access to the "friends of craftster" area (and help financially support the site) advanced memberships are downright cheap, starting at $12/year. It is super easy to navigate the page. Message boards are broken into two main groups, one one for opportunities and links the other is crafts by medium. You can show off completed crafts, you can ask questions, there are great tutorials and more.

My latest adventure into the world of Craftster has been the "Organized Swap" section. After you are promoted to a Jr. member (which happens after you have made 5 posts) you can participate in a "swap." I recently saw that they were having signups for a "Jim Henson Swap." I am a HUGE Jim Henson fan, so naturally I immediately signed up. The Swap Moderator sent me a questionaire about myself and my Henson preferences. Once sign-ups ended, I was assigned a partner that I would be crafting for. She is great! The moderator obviously went to a lot of trouble to match us up with people that have similar intrests. Over the next few weeks I will be creating henson related fun stuff that I will load up and ship to my girl. She will be doing the same to mail to me! I will let you know how it goes.

If you are someone that is a little on the crafty side this is a must in your favorites list.