Valentine

I made a few cards.

I had a lot of pink ornaments, so I made a Valentine's tree.  I really enjoyed having it.  

I think I'll do an Easter tree next, with the family-made easter eggs.

Pink and Sparkly Returns

“Pink and Sparkly” returns!

I now have enough vintage ornaments to cover the entire tree. But where do the hooks go while in storage? I swear every ornament had a hook when I put them away last year.

New this year are two color-changing LED spotlights. 

Christmas Cards

I made some Christmas cards this week.

I mostly used natural pigments I bought last year at La Compagnie des Ochres in Rousillon France.

Grinch

My Grinch is from 2018. 

A Few Cards

For my friends who missed our lunch bunch. 😻

Christmas Crafting

I am attempting a few arts and crafts lately. Here are some ornaments I made to share with my “ladies lunch bunch” tomorrow. 

The beads I used for the embellishments have been in my stash for at least 50 years! 

Feliz Dia de los Muertos

Para Francina, la reina de los gatos. 

Mid-Century Modern Cat Art

I did this back in 2020 or so. 

Happy Halloween

Flashback to 2017 and one of my favorite bookstore windows.

We transitioned the window Halloween night when the Great Pumpkin appreciated its sincerity.



Signs of Fall 2024

I always enjoy the scarecrows around town. I loved the clever use of a lampshade to make Halloweentown's mayor. This was at the city hall building.

We saw a Dracula comedy.

And visited the original.

Had some fall pie.

Made mummy dogs.

And enjoyed the first fire of the season.

Cards

This is the first creative project I've done in ages. Do I have some mojo back?

Handy liked them.

Personalization

I always love creating these personalized items but I’m not going to order them. I have enough stuff!  Here’s the latest batch. 

Long Long Trailer

I didn't realize that the Long Long Trailer lives nearby! 

It appeared at a local fundraiser!

So cool!

I entered a raffle to win a 2-night stay. 

I doubt I’ll win, but a person can dream.

Coincidentally, I had read the book a few months ago.  It’s hard to find but you can read a free scan on InternetArchive. Archive.org but they are temporarily offline  

Handy Work

When the Handy Husband retired, our House decided it needed some more attention. 

Some projects Handy chose to do, others the House thrust upon him!

House opened with a failed double pane window. Fortunately it is still under warranty (lifetime aka only for the original owner) and we are now waiting the 5 to 6 to ?? weeks for the replacement. 

We offered up a new set of doors to go with the window. Waiting on those too. 

House then threw a leaky water heater into the soup. 

Handy countered with fixing a small leaky window, plus cleaning and replacing rain gutters. 

So House has now added a failed attic fan into the mix, plus an intermittent A/C in the master bedroom. 

Here’s our lovely electrical panel! The flipped breaker for the attic business is 6B. 

Look at this labeling! WTF is Beth’s room? Who is Beth? Does she haunt the rodents in the attic? 

Breaker 6B is labeled as Wet Bar (now a pantry) / Hall Bath. I never would have guessed.

So Handy put in a new fan.

And he upped the house by finding an unsecured vent in the attic, which was perhaps a rodent entrance. Screened off now. 

It’s the house’s turn next. 

Cat Quiche

When Harry's not in trouble, he is sweet and entertaining.

He was in trouble last month for eating something disagreeable, which caused massive non-hairball vomiting and bloody diarrhea. He's an inside cat, what could he possibly get into? Well his brother Leo ate some thread in January and had a very expensive emergency surgery.  Harry's ER escapade only cost a third of Leo's.  The x-rays were "frankly, boring," said the vet. So they gave him antibiotics and fluids and probiotics to have at home. Pretty soon he was back to his happy go-lucky self.  

Here he is, pretending to be a quiche.

Which has overflowed during cooking.

Signs of Fall 2023 Part 2

Bugles are hard to find these days. I remembered making witch fingernails but it was disappointing as most were flattened in baking  

My light-up bar is a good spot for holiday displays  

First fire in years. The kittens had been too active and then hearth got covered with music stuff. 

The Orange Pan

I recently went through a box of my MIL's pictures which had sat in my garage for 10 years. Oops. Anyway, I found this gem of a Thanksgiving picture. It's taken between 1988 and 1990, as in 1991 we remodeled the funky kitchen.

Handy is carving the turkey and placing it into his beloved Orange Pan. My flea-market-scrounging uncle gave the pan to us soon after we were married. It has always been Handy's pan.

We can't ever have a barbecue without using The Orange Pan.  When we gave Frank a propane grill as a housewarming present, we knew we had to give him an orange pan too.  I found one on eBay! (I actually found 2 - Ernest will be getting one for Christmas.)

So the saga of The Orange Pan will continue.

Signs of Fall 2023

I ran into The Batmobile today! There was a school field trip walking around and many students wore Batman capes. I did not go Edna Mode on them. They were short capes, traveling capes, I used to tell my mini superhero children. 

We split a cord of wood with Frank, who has moved 2 blocks away into his grandmother’s house. He’s looking forward to fires this winter. We hadn’t had any fires for a few years due to misbehaving kittens. They still parkour across the woodstove, but the big fireplace seems to be off their route  

I have very few flowers these days.  This is a volunteer, loved by hummingbirds.

Dessert season. Our 40th anniversary and Frank’s birthday