A Finished Project! AKA Saturday PhotoHunt: Knitted

(What a wacky week.  Tuesday was on Monday, and now Saturday is on Wednesday.)

I have too so many unfinished projects sitting around and I'm getting annoyed with myself.  So I have been trying to complete a few.

Hooray, I finished this scarf!  It had been sitting around for several years, reknit twice because it was too wide and short the first time. and too scratchy the second.  Mixing in some soft heathery yarn did the trick.

I did something wild and crazy and mixed crochet and knitting.  I like the crocheted ruffle instead of a fringe.

If I start another knitting project but I should finish some other things first, it would be this beautiful Entrelac Scarf from Frecklesandpurls.com.  I've been studying this tutorial from verypinkknits.

Thematic Photographic: Soft Light

Carmi at Written, Inc. hosts Thematic Photographic. This week's theme is soft light.

Last Friday, we had a very cloudy evening and the sky was filled with soft light at sunset.  I was trying to get some sunset pictures when one of our regular cranes came in for a landing.  They roost in the pine trees in our back yard.  Once, I counted as many as 20 of them.

Time Warp Tuesday: Tuxedo Boys

Time Warp Tuesday is posting early so Jenn can get a head start on the links.

You doll phobes will be happy that I am giving you a break.

Instead, I'm taken my inspiration from Karen's post last week.  Look at her adorable boys, all 4 pictures taken at the same age and in the same outfit.  Now I know my Ernest wore a lot of Frank's hand me downs (and Frank wore his cousins'), but I was never organized enough to document that properly.

Except for the famous TUXEDO ONESIE!  Can I call it a TUXSIE for short?

1990

When Frank was 2 months old, we went to my cousin's wedding.  I'm sure those in the wedding party were a little concerned about a potentially squalling infant, but let me just say Frank was a prince.  Handy and my mother were with us, so between us there was always someone to take Frank out of the room if necessary.  But really, it wasn't.  He was a happy little camper and everyone was delighted at how cute he was in the tuxedo.  By the way, my cousin is still happily married and has two very tall boys of her own.

Now when Ernest's turn came to fit into the tuxsie, there wasn't a fancy event for him to go to.  Nevertheless, I took a picture.  Ernest was a... shall we say "sturdier" baby?...  so that light spot below the white part is the tuxsie gaping open to show his belly.

1996

And now look at them, all grown up.

2011 - They've cut their hair since then.

Another of Felix's Quirks

These three slices were next to each other inside the bag, but none match. I do not like to make a sandwich with mismatched bread.

Yet people continue to pull slices out at random. I can suffer, or I can solve my problem.

Sometimes I just trim the bread.

Better yet is to go Scandinavian with an open-faced sandwich.  Cuts calories that way, too!

And I believe I could suffer the mismatched slices if I panini-ed them into this delicious Turkey Apple and Brie sandwich shown on Idiot's Kitchen (the soup looks good too).

I showed that picture to Frank and he was all, "Apple?  In a sandwich?"  And I said, "Why not?"

I may be compulsively quirky in some ways but I am totally adventurous in others.



What's been your most adventurous food choice recently?

Egg Me On

While cleaning out the closet, I found a box of Easter decorations.  I haven't decorated for Easter in many years, so that was an easy purge.  Gone:   a half used bag of plastic grass, two unopened dye kits, three jello jiggler molds, three new packs of plastic eggs, a stuffed rabbit, a plastic duck, and a styrofoam cup bunny project.

I kept the hand dyed eggs.  Ernest named a batch he made in 2005.  We've got Squiggy, Georgie, Fluffy, Mickey and Quacker.

So that led me to a project, which also involves this

And this...

You'll see it closer to Easter.

Saturday PhotoHunt: Haven and Thematic Photographic: Softness

I thought I'd combine the two themes of haven and softness by featuring my idea of a soft haven:  a bed!

Our former cat loved the haven of the bed, especially if there was soft laundry to perch upon.

Francine's fur is the ultimate in softness.  Nothing can complete with her.  It's softer than unicorn breath or butterfly eyelashes.

Francine is not so fond of beds, but she finds other soft havens.  She could star in the princess and the pea here.

She will also accept a haven within the softness of an alpaca blanket.

Thematic Photographic is hosted by Carmi, at Written Inc.  More softness here.

Saturday Photohunt is hosted by Sandi -- visit some havens here.

Time Warp Tuesday: The Bad Ady Files

If the dolls made you nervous last week, watch out!

Here are the first few in a series of letters, either from my aunt or the dolls. These clearly illustrate the mischievous character Bad Ady displayed.

Cast of Characters:

Aunt Karky: my aunt

Janie Walker: the beleaguered, put-upon girl-sized doll

Bad Ady: herself

Blackie: young male cat, black of course

Hunter: young male cat, grey

Georgie: one of Karky's real brothers

Baby Georgie: a small plastic baby doll, a milquetoast character

Jingle Bells: a stick horse

Sister Rose: the one-eyed grey tabby cat matriarch

This is a dead ringer for Jingle Bells:

 (photo from Mitzi's Collectibles)

Here's Jenn's time warp and links to other warpers.

I Get the Hint, Homer

Homer was quite disgusted with his meal the other day. Francine was too. They have gotten used to tidbits in gravy and plain old pâté just wasn't cutting it. It's bad enough they were served it for the morning meal, but the indignity of getting it again at dinner was just too much.

"If I sit right here she is sure to notice my disapproval."

"Even the the kibble is sub par today.  I can't possibly eat those broken little nubs.  I must have complete Xs."

(Francine will take one kibble out of her own dish, crunch it into nubs, and eat them all before starting on a new kibble.  But I will not inflict Homer's leftover nubs on her.)

"Maybe if I just ignore the dreaded pâté, it will go away."

"But I really need to drop her a hint about the kibble."  So he opened the cupboard door for me.

(Oh Jen, now I have to clean the toe kick.)

Thematic Photographic: Multiples

Carmi at Written Inc. hosts Thematic Photographic.  The last theme was "multiples."

Did multiple woodpeckers make these multiple holes?

Panther Redux

When Ernest first started taking piano lessons, he was delighted as his abilities increased and he was able to play really cool songs. One of them was the theme from The Pink Panther, by Henry Mancini.

Frank joined him to play it at a talent show in 2005. Yes, I do have the old video but it's too much work to put it on the computer.

Fast forward eight years later, and Ernest is playing it again. This time, it is easy peasy to upload although it took 90 minutes.

Enjoy!

Visitor

We were watching The Possession last night.  There is a scene early on where they find a mess in the kitchen.  The dad blames it on a raccoon and screws the dog door shut.

Less than a half hour later, look what meandered past our back door.

Twice as big as Homer! Homer darling, this is why we lock you in at night.

In Which I Gracefully Avoid Humiliation

I was happily Zumba-ing the other day when I felt a pressure on my lower back.  Silly me, I thought it was a sore spot from lying on an itty bitty ball during remedial relaxation yoga the day before.  (Look at me, talking like I'm an active person.  Ha!)

During a break between songs I put my hand on the spot and there was a lump.  Surreptitiously, I eased my hand down inside the back of my pants and found a wad of paper.  Egad!  You know what kind of paper.  Thank my lucky stars it was dry!  And not hanging out like in my cartoon.

There was no one behind me so I palmed it, then gracefully turned to the cubbyholes while keeping my hand out of view, stuffed it in my purse, and took a drink of water to cover myself.

So tell me, have you saved yourselves from embarrassment lately?

Comparing Children to Cats

Unless you have a cat-cam, you never know what mischief your cat gets into when he goes outside. My husband's been quoting to me from this very interesting article.

Of course Homer fits the house cat profile of sleeping or sitting 80% of the time.  We have occasionally seen him in the neighbor's front yard but I don't think he ranges farther from his food dish than that.  This may be the most exciting of his activities, prowling around the bird bath.

The free-range child, on the other hand...  Once again, all I can say is thank goodness for Facebook.  That's him, one of those guys on top of that rock.

Out of the Closet

No, I'm not talking about celebrities discussing their sex lives.

I somehow got myself into the recesses of the closets of my house.  I hate cleaning and reorganizing.  But I needed to cram some boxes into the back of Ernest's closet.  He has the room with the biggest closets.  It's part of the deal that I get to store stuff in them.  I made a partial attempt to triage the closet two years ago, when Francine was a terrified newcomer and decided to hide in there.

Now "my side" of the closet looks much better, with room for luggage, tents and ice chests.  There are still several empty lego boxes and a basket of Power Ranger toys.  What to do with those?  I think they belong in "Ernest's side."  But I'm afraid to go there.  I think I've done enough for now.

Time Warp Tuesday: The Dolls

Thank you Jenn, for organizing Time Warp Tuesday.

I'm doing something a little different this Time Warp Tuesday.  Instead of talking about another picture, I thought I'd introduce you to the dolls from the last time warp (before Christmas).

May I present, wearing those same summer dresses, Janie Walker, Dewy C. Dobbs, and Bad Ady (pronounced A-dee with a long A, not Addie).

Since it's January and it was 27 degrees this morning, they are quite annoyed that I made them pose in those summer dresses.  They are very chilly so they are going to change into their winter flannel nighties.  Ahhh, that's better.

Dewy is the oldest of the crew.  She is a business tycoon who drives a black cadillac.  She has a fantastic wardrobe and is rumored to own a purple brassiere.   She was my constant companion, so her hair was loved off quite early in life.  This is her second wig.

Janie Walker was the doll in the big white box.  She lived in Minnesota for a few years and then came home with me on Western Airlines.  That was back in the days when children flew for half price.  Janie was able to come home in style, seat-belted into an extra seat for free instead of being unceremoniously stuffed into the overhead compartment.  She also has a good wardrobe, as she fit into some of my hand-me-downs.  She still has her own hair but could use some Latisse.

Bad Ady, now she really was a mischievous piece of work.  She also lived on the Minnesota farm for a while and would send me letters describing her devious deeds, like dangling the Baby Georgie doll out the window by one leg.  (My aunt had a brother named George.  Do you think she might have been projecting a little bit???)  Ady moved to California after a while and continued her wild and crazy ways.  She also wrote quite a bit of poetry. She spends most of her life in the red flannel robe and pointy hat, which matches the devilish side of her personality.   She says the wig is itchy so she only wears it on special occasions.

I will share a few of the letters and poems on future time warps, so come on back! 

Pink Saturday and Saturday PhotoHunt: Celebrate

This bottle's been waiting in my fridge for a reason to celebrate. Maybe I should just celebrate that it's Saturday!

Make it a Pink Saturday!

I am celebrating my son's successful Lasik surgery yesterday!  No more glasses for Frank!

What are you celebrating this weekend?

Handiness Abounds Around Here

While the Handy Husband did not have any major projects while he was home on vacation, he found plans for something interesting on the internet.

Once he acquired the necessary and highly technical parts (2 red Solo cups and a paper towel tube), he proceeded to make...

An iPhone speaker system.

It works, sort of.  Strategic use of dryer lint inside the paper towel tube improved it somewhat.

He brought in enough dryer lint for my crafty project, fireplace starters.

Put the lint into an empty cardboard egg carton.  Melt some candle stubs in a metal can set in a pot of water -- I bent the lip of the can into a spout which shows I am Handy too!

Carefully pour melted wax into egg carton cups.  Let harden, then cut apart.  Voila, fireplace starters.

We haven't had a fire since I made them, so I cannot vouch for how well they work.

Shark Cat

Gary is not the only one with a kitten shark or shark-cat.

(I already shared the second picture last year but he looks especially shark-like so you'll have to bear with me again.)



You will note Homer has two different collars.  He lost the zebra stripe collar.  He was banished inside until we replaced it with the pirate collar.  When he went out in the new collar, the magnet picked up the old collar!  Thanks for bringing it home, buddy!

Shaming

There has been a lot of shaming going around. I swore I wasn't going to take part, but now even friends are doing it to their cats...

If I were to do the cat shaming, you'd think Homer would be the culprit, wouldn't you? With his messy litterbox habits, his voracious appetite, his shedding of fluffy white fur.  Oh I just can't expose my darling to the ridicule.

The perfect Francine on the other hand, did a spectacular boo-boo on Monday. I don't have a picture of her with a note, but here is the actual issue:

How can such a lightweight cat knock over the litterbox?

And now having shamed the perfect cat, I shall shame the perfect child, again with the actual object of the shame rather than a note:

Ernest's unwashed laundry.

It's bigger than it looks in the basket.  I think it's going to be at least 5 loads, maybe 6 as the cycling garments must be washed separately in cold water and gentle cycle.  Ernest promised he would do laundry during vacation.  Just as he promised he would finish cleaning his room and a variety of other things that haven't been done.  He did wash and wax his car, which made his father happy.  Making the mother happy is a much lower priority, it seems.

The mother's going to do the laundry now.

What's shameful in your household?

Thematic Photographic: On the Water

My favorite "on the water" pictures are from our trip to Tahoe a few years ago.

Carmi at Written, Inc. hosts Thematic Photographic.  Check out more on the water here.