Manic Monday

I think I need a one way ticket out of here after the high anxiety morning I had today

I awoke to the sound of thunder at 2:30 this morning. When the alarm went off at 4:20 I discovered that the back  yard was flooded, and it was coming in to the basement. Wade informed me that the sump pump wasn't working which means that when it fills up it's just going to keep right on filling the basement.
Neither one of us could miss work so we had to leave and hope for the best when we got home.
The drive was anything but pleasurable. We had rain, we had fog (thick as pea soup) we had flooding and we had huge ice chunks washing in to the road. I  have never been so happy to reach my destination as I was this morning. Yikes, that was scary.
I came home at lunch time to check on the basement and the water level in the back yard was receding and the basement hadn't taken on any more.
All is calm in my world once again. I'm giving myself the nigh off from any responsibility of any kind and I'm putting my feet up and taking it easy.

Where's my sunshine

Over the weekend I haven't felt like sitting at the computer, taking pictures or even working on any of my craft projects. I've tried to do all three but my heart just wasn't in it. I spent more time sitting in front of the television than anything else. That is just not like me. I need warm weather and sunshine.
I dug into last years pictures
I found birds

They may be very dirty and dusty but they are birds. The looked like spring time though so that was a plus.
I found fish

That made me think tropical which is very good.
Now I will go back to dreaming about the sun shining and opening my window to a balmy breeze.

Completion

com·ple·tion

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 [noncount] : the act or process of completing or finishing something : the state of being complete or finished ▪ He will receive his degree upon completion of his studies. ▪ The project is near completion. [=almost finished]

 Upon completion of Duke's nap he will entertain you with a short presentation of my most recently completed project.

Happy Saturday everyone. Now that I am bright eyed and busy tailed I would like to show you the jumbo quilling project that my mom was working on

The flowers are very pretty but they don't smell like real flowers do. 

Even though it is snowing outside it feels like spring time inside with this bright little pot of flowers. Even the butterfly likes it.

That concludes my presentation. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Well done Duke. You did good. Now it's off to the kitchen for a special treat.

The Brenda Photo Challenge (2-26) Red

Yes it is time once again for the Brenda Photo Challenge. How is it that these things keep sneaking up on me? I am totally unprepared for this one. I could have run around the house in search of some red and taken some pictures but I decided to take the easy way out and search through the archives.
How about ketchup. It's red

Yeah, pretty lame. Ok a box of Russel Stover Chocolates in a red heart shaped box?

Not very impressive since the chocolate is gone.
One last try, I know I can do better. How about this?

Duke giving me that look that says "Oh please, Me in a RED collar, what more do you need"
I should have known better
Hop on over and check out the rest of the red entries in the Brenda Photo Challenge

Inspiration at the dollar store

I was in the local dollar store the other day. (does it seem like I spend a lot of time shopping lately?) I walked down the isle that had all the Easter decorations and spotted something I just had to take a picture of. I pulled out my cell phone, checked to see if anyone was watching me and started taking pictures.
These reminded me of quilling and I think I'm going to see if I can imitate them.

 

I don't know what these were made out of but I thought they were really cute. Oh brother, another project is about to get added to my growing list.

Clearance

Don't you just love the clearance section in a store. It's my favorite section to shop in.
With all the home improvement projects we've been doing it was time for a little decorating. Not much really, but Wade said we needed something for the coffee table and something for the dining room table.
Last weekend when I was out I was browsing through some clearance items and found a little something I liked. I wasn't sure if he would like it or not but no matter, it was reduced and I was buying it.

He suggested flowers but anything I found looked really cheap. This did have leaves on it though

I like candles so I thought this would work just fine

Turned out he liked it so it was all good.

I'm suffering from a bit of a headache tonight so I'm going to have to skip the blog reading and play catch up with all of you over the next few days.

Can we talk?

I think that today would be a good day to have a little

I know that sometimes

 

Can make you feel a little 

So just keep in mind that in order to get off to a

 

Sometimes you just need a little reality

I couldn't help it. I had a little time to kill at the end of the day and the cereal isle was talking to me.

I forgot

I could have swore that I had a post scheduled for today.
I guess I shouldn't swear.
I leave you with thoughts of sunshine streaming through your window.

Thoughts of it are about all we get around here since it's back to snow and cold again.
Spring where are you?

Rugs

Please use the rug

Under your mug

Ever since I made those crochet hearts I've been in the crochet mood. I like quick and easy projects so this set of coasters fit the bill

I found the pattern for these and a few other styles on Crochet spot. The link will take you to this pattern but if you look around she has directions for so many different things. If you like to crochet this is a good site to poke around in.

Saturday Highlight

I woke up and didn't have to go to work this morning. That was the highlight of the day.

I've done a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a whole lot of nothing. No matter though since that gives Duke the opportunity to appear again. And I know how much you all like that.
Maybe tomorrow I'll find some pictures or take some that are worth posting.

Well he seems to like it

Thankfully I took a picture of it before Duke got a hold of it.

We had a little game of tug of war with it and then when I wasn't watching Duke proceeded to give his new toy a makeover. He felt that the ball inside would look better if it was hanging out.

My Papasan

Hi everyone. I'm going to rat my mom out and tell everyone that she's been shopping online again.

You see when her and dad first got married they had two houses to combine. Dad had a set of chairs like this one

 Mom likes the chairs but the cushions, not so much. She said that they have seen better days. Well she's been searching forever for new cushions. She even thought about making some herself but never got around to it.
Finally she found a place online that sells cushions for these exact chairs. It's called MyPapasan. She looked at them for a couple of weeks and then finally broke down and bought them. They were delivered today.

Mom was really pleased with the cushions and the service. The website said that they would ship in 7 to 10 business days, which they did. Once they shipped they were here in just a couple of days. The hardest part about buying these was trying to decide what fabric to choose because they have so many selections.
Mom says to tell you that we aren't getting paid for this, she was just really pleased with the company and the quality of the cushions so she wanted to share it with all of you.
I bet you're thinking I'm upset because she spent money on these instead of me. Well I'm not because something came in the mail for me too. Mom had a gift card from Petsmart and bought me a toy and a bed of my very own.

the big 5 -0 and a box of awesome

Before anyone wishes me a happy 50th birthday please don't, I'm not quite that old yet and it's not my birthday today.
The big 5-0 was what the thermometer at the bank read this afternoon. It sure felt like heaven going outside and seeing sunshine and not freezing.
Now for the box of awesome. I got the best package in the mail. I recently won a blogoversary blog candy giveaway at Cards by Cheryl.
Just take a look at what she sent.
Quilling paper in the wonderful colors of springtime.

Cute ribbon, more springtime lovelies.

The cutest darned quilled bakini I have ever seen

and then this is the whole package

Lots of her beautiful quilled cards, some tags and other embellishments and more ribbon. I felt just like a kid in a candy shop going through the box. Thank you so much Cheryl.
If you have never been to Cheryl's blog you must stop on by and check it out. She's a very talented lady and she also has an etsy shop too
Click here to visit her blog
or
Here to visit her Etsy shop

The great debate

I'm sure there are other households out there who have this same disagreement.
So I ask you
Should it roll from the back?

Or should it roll from the front?

At one time I really did think this was an important issue. Now it really doesn't matter just as long as it's there when you need it.

Happy Valentines Day

These are a little treat I made to pass out at work. I'm sure you can tell but they have a sucker inside of them.

 And this is what was I put inside my Valentine treat boxes for some of the girls. Kind of chintzy on the candy but I forgot to buy kisses and I wasn't going back out to get them.

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day.

Bouncing

I've been bouncing around so much this weekend I feel like a rubber ball. I did more bouncing than a bad check.
Friday night we went out for dinner
Saturday it was shopping, cleaning, and switching back and forth between several craft projects.
Today it was more cleaning, dog bathing, more shopping, hair cut and more craft projects. Call it a lack of focus if you want but that just seems to be the way I've been doing things lately

Duke says it's exhausting even for him. He did get a new toy today though so he's quite happy. I bought him one of those Kong's. I'm wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for things to stuff in them. Today I just took some of his food mixed with peanut butter and stuffed it in there and he really liked it.

pieces parts

At the beginning of the month I showed you a sneak peek at some of the projects I was working on. It was on this post. If you remember I gave you a look at a jumbo quilling project I had going. I still don't have it finished as it was on the back burner while I finished other things and then added some more. I'm still working on some Valentine projects right now but I did make a little progress on the quilling.
Here's a little look at something else that will be included

I'm not really that far from completing this project. I have all the pieces finished and now it's just a matter of working out how I want to assemble the whole thing.
I will say that this project makes me forget about the cold winter weather at least for a little while.

I'm not heartless

No matter what some of the people at work say about me, I do have a heart. As a matter of fact I actually have several of them.
I have Loraine to thank for my abundance of hearts. She posted a tutorial for tiny crocheted hearts. She found the directions here and then shared them with all of her readers. When I saw them I really liked them so I dusted off my crochet hooks and dug out some yarn.

Mine aren't as tiny but I seemed to have a bit of difficulty trying to crochet with embroidery floss so I gave up and just went with yarn.
Then I found some crochet cotton and made a bunch more. Here is one on another of my Valentine treat boxes that I've been working on.

I have over a dozen hearts in various colors, and I'm still making more. I just can't stop. They are super easy and really quick to do.
I'm planning on picking up some pin backs and making some heart pins, and I may even make some of them into magnets.

Duke's defense

Hello everyone. Mom is letting me take over the blog tonight to tell my side of the story.

You see yesterday she showed you this picture of me on top of Mount Sectional Sofa

Well my good friends Angel, Isabella and Sadie pointed out that they had seen me napping in this picture

They were 100% correct. I was on the back of a couch and I was napping. However, this is Mount Reclining Sofa. You see, Canine labor laws in our area require that I take frequent nap breaks to prevent over stress from my high pressure duties. I don't need these naps but the law says I must take them. 

That's my story and I'm sticking too it.

A big thank you to Beaded Tail for the subject of tonight's blog post.