Summer's Here!

We're going this morning to pick up Mike's Father's Day Gift
in Salem. He's getting a leather recliner for his gift this year.
His old recliner is falling apart. I was so unhappy with the
condition of it and decided we'd gotten screwed on it because
it wore out so quickly. Hahaha! That's a laugh, I started
figuring out how old it is and it's 9 years old! We definately
got our money's worth out of it.... yes, I can change my
opinion! lol

I've been buying baby chicks here and there for a couple
months now. They are growing by leaps and bounds and
are so cute. I also have 2 little geese that are growing even
faster than the chicks. They are sooo much bigger than the
chicks the same age as them. And clumsy.... they will just
knock the chicks over and stomp them without even slowing
down. lol Sooo... we got some cages from LaDonna and got
them all set up. Then came the chore of getting everyone
moved into their new homes. They're all settled in now
and seem to be quite content.

I had my newest batch of chickies in the bathroom in a
huge tote under a heat lamp. So after moving the older
babies out of the shed I had to put the younger ones in
there to clear out my bathroom. I actually have my
bathroom back to myself again!! It's so nice not to hear
little ones peeping and scratching when I'm trying to
go to sleep or taking a shower.

I have several different kinds of chicks. Auracanas, they
lay greenish blue eggs. Silkies, they have the finest little
feathers all over, even on their feet and legs. They're a
very fluffy, soft chick and very friendly. I have some
Chinese Crested, they have the cutest little top knot
of feathers on top their heads. There are some Buff
Orpingtons, they are a golden color and very big. Sweet
little chicks, they're very friendly also.

I have tomato plants, zucchini, and cucumbers in
bloom. No actual veggies from them yet, but I don't
think it will be too much longer. I can hardly wait for
the cukes to get ripe, my mouth is already watering
for some!

Fluffy Pork Chop is growing like crazy also. I'm trying
really hard not to get attatched to him. It's kinda
hard though and sometimes I wonder if we can
actually butcher him. That crazy little pig is so tame.
I let him out of his pen in the afternoons sometimes
and let him scramble around in the yard. He loves
to root around in the old leaves on the ground down
the edge of the driveway. Then he doesn't really
like going back into his pen, but with a little
encouragement and a tug or two on his ear, he'll
go back in for me.

And Bo... what can I say about her?! She's turned
out to be a very sweet little dog. She blew in at Cassie's
house with the nasty storms. Them and her In-laws
didn't want the dog and I think they were a bit mean
to her. So I was out there one day and she took up
with me. They told me she was a male..... WRONG!!
But I didn't find this out until she was delivered to my
house. When she came she was very skiddish, was
afraid to eat out of the bowl, and just acted like
she was scared all the time. With some love and
time, she's changed sooo much. After a couple
weeks I opened the door one morning to check on
her and she was curled up in front of the door. I
told Mike she was finally at home. lol Since that day
she acts like she belongs here now. You can just tell
that she considers this home now. She's even looking
better now. I feed her Puppy Chow with milk and
eggs in it. She LOVES it! Jaylan and I named her
Bo Diddley Dog.

It was in the 90s yesterday and so humid you could
hardly breathe! I had to run to Salem to pick up a
few groceries and pick out Mike's chair. That town
was swarming like a hive of bees! I think everyone
around decided to come to town! I started out with
Jaylan and Honey Wayne, then Jaylan deserted us.
She went with her Mom and Dad.... Honey Wayne
stayed with me. He ended up coming home with me
and stayed until late yesterday evening. I enjoyed
him so much! He's so different when he's by himself.

Mike's job is going good. It will take him a little bit
of adjustment I think. But so far he enjoys it. This
is his first job site where he actually has the "title"
as foreman. He said yesterday was very hectic! He
had a big truck that sank and almost turned over in
some mud, another big truck that broke down along
the road, his boss was MIA, tons of phone calls about
the yard jobs, and all the heat on top of it! When he
came home yesterday evening he looked like he was
just worn out. He went to play horseshoes last
night with his friends, I'm hoping that kinda helped
him unwind. And now he's snoozing like a baby. I'm
gonna let him sleep as long as he wants to so he can
get some good rest, he deserves it.

It was kinda strange around here last night... Jaylan
wasn't here. She's staying home this weekend since
it's Father's Day. This is the first weekend in I don't
know how long that she's not been at our house. It
felt like something was missing. lol But, she'll be back
next weekend. We're pulling out to go camping toward
the end of the week. Teri is pulling the camper down
for me, I'll set up camp, and then all Mike will have to do
is show up on Friday evening with the generator. He'll
come back home on Sunday evening but I will be staying
down at the river. I'm hoping to camp for a couple
weeks. I'm sooo ready to get away from home for a little
while. I'm even taking my sewing machine with me. lol
I've got 5 days to get all my work here at home done and
get the last of the stuff packed in the camper.

The Craziness Begins!

It's 7:30 am and the craziness has already began! I hear
Mike outside on the excavator. The waterlines saga is
about to start.

For some unknown, mysterious reason our waterlines
from our water meter to our house has sprang numerous
leaks. In about two weeks we've used over 70,000
gallons of water according to the meter. Believe me, I
sure didn't do that much laundry!

Right now it's so hard to tell exactly where the leaks are
because the ground is just squishy wet from all the rain
and melting snow we've had. And I truly hope all that
slushiness isn't caused from leaks!

We were going to contract the city to fix our lines, but
at the last minute the maintenance worker hurt his
back and can't do it. So Mike borrowed equipment
from work and is going to do the work himself.
Yesterday evening he came home in a dump truck
pulling a trailer with an excavator on it. He will dig
up the lines and we will replace them.

We have to go to Salem this morning and get all the
supplies he will need.... I wonder what we will
forget! It's a 30 mile trip so I'm hoping, crossing
my fingers, we get it all the first go around. lol

I know in reason my yard will be a complete mess
when this is all done.... not to mention the
condition of my floors in the house from us tracking
in and out. Jaylan is here already and Honey
Wayne will be here later today to see Papaw use
the equipment. Honey Wayne is mesmerized by
big equipment.

Now to top it all off... when I got out of bed a while
ago..... IT'S SPITTING SNOW!! Can you believe it?
Yesterday the sun was shining so brightly and the
temp. was so nice. Oh well, just our luck.

Ok... gotta get in the shower before Hubby Man
breaks a waterline and I have no water at all!! LOL

Mother Nature

Yeup, Mother Nature is tricking us again. The weather has
been absolutely fantastic here for a few days. Temps.
up in the 60s, but nasty stuff is supposed to be on it's
way for the weekend.

I got Jaylan's shorts finished, they're really cute. When I
finished the first pair I thought they looked absolutely
HUGE!! But we tried them on her and the elastic was
about 2 inches too big.... not quite as HUGE as I thought.
I guess she's just growing and I don't want to admit it.
Anyway, she thought the shorts were "awesome" as
she puts it. Today I've been working on the bikini for
her. I got the top done and am now working on the
bottoms.

I talked to Goobies today and we decided to meet for
dinner at the restaurant, she asked me to bring the
bikini top so she could see it. While we were there,
Cassie & Brandon showed up with the GrandMonsters.
Jaylan was very pleased with the bikini top, she wore
it over her shirt! In her mind she was Miss
America beautiful. When I get the swimsuit
completed, I'll take some pics of it and all
the little shorts I've made lately.

I have such a terrible cough and just can not seem to
shake it. I haven't been sleeping much because I
keep hacking in the night. Last night I took a HUGE
dose of Nyquil and I ended up getting about 5 hours
sleep, 2 more than the night before. So I just
finished taking another big ole dose of Nyquil, I
hope it does the trick again tonight.

I put the list of "Top Sewing Blogs" in my sidebar,
if you get a chance, you ought to check it out.
It's got some fantastic sewing patterns, tutorials,
and other goodies listed in it. There are 539
sewing blogs on the list. Thanks Suzi for
compiling this great list!!

Have a great night!

Snazzing Things Up

Hello Goobies! Finally made it to see my blog, huh?
Thought you'd never get here.

As you can see, my blog got a face lift today, a much
needed face lift! It looks so different, so much better
than before.

Today is an official, "I Got Nothing Accomplished"
day! I've been playing with my sewing machine and
computer today. If I don't get with the program, Hubby
will be eating bologna sandwiches for dinner.... heaven
forbid that should happen! It's just nice to take a day
off from the normal humdrum and do something
I want to do instead of what I'm supposed to be doing.

Jaylan's shorts are coming along nicely, I'll probably
have them finished tomorrow and then I can start
on another project.

A Blanket Of White

I'm still seeing white when I look out my window! We've
had this snow/sleet/ice for over a week now and I'm getting
kinda tired of looking at it. Every time I need to go
somewhere I skate out to the truck! lol The roads have
been graded so they are clear and the highways are
salted so they are clear too. Yesterday was the first day
they've had school here in over a week. I bet there were
some happy Mommas.

I've been playing with my new sewing/embroidery
machine and I think I have most of it mastered now.
I thought the embroidery part would really be hard,
but surprisingly it wasn't. I'm sure I don't know it
all, but I know enough to get by right now and I can
learn more as I go along.

I'm working on summer clothes for my GrandMonsters
at the moment. I have some shorts made up for
Honey Wayne and 3 more pieces of fabric laying on the
sewing table to cut up for more. I have 3 pair of
shorts cut out for Jaylan and coordinating fabrics
for some shirts to match.

Monday I recieved my vintage swimsuit pattern
I got on eBay. It is a cute pattern, has a bikini,
a sarong, boy's swim trunks and a button up shirt
pattern. I wanted vintage because the older swim-
suits were made from plain ole cotton fabric, we
didn't have the knits and spandex back then. I
don't paticularly like sewing knits, rather sew
cotton. But anyway, the pattern has sizes 1, 2, 3,
and 4 in it. If the 4 doesn't fit Jaylan I'm sure I
can enlarge it, Honey Wayne takes a size 3, and
Miss Cookie takes a size 1.... soooooo, I've got all
my bases covered. I want to finish up some other
projects though before I start swimsuits.

I finished up a really cute purse a few evenings
ago. I used McCall's #5599 and used view C.
I used a piece of Amy Butler fabric and it is
cute, but it's a bit plain. It needs some kind of
embellishment, maybe a crocheted flower or
some big pink buttons. I have it propped up
on my dresser so I can look at it and I'll
eventually figure out exactly what it needs.
The pattern is easy and fairly quick. the purse
turned out much larger than I expected. I
didn't look at the finished dimensions on the
envelope, which is my own fault.

Have you ever been sick and tired of being sick
and tired? I've had several different little bugs
lately and then with the cold weather the
arthritis has kicked up in high gear. Everyone
I talk to around here either has a bug or has
had one lately. The flu was so bad around here
that they ended up closing school for a few days
a couple weeks ago. That did get it under control
a little bit.

But I'm amazed by some of these parents! Their
child is sick, home from school, but yet they drag
them into the local restaurant and all over town.
The kid will sit at the restaurant all hollow and
glassy eyed... take those babies home and give
them some TLC! Don't bring those sicky germs
out in public so I can get them! lol