What's Up?

I missed posting yesterday.  So, here's an update of my weekend and what's up.

My sweet Penelope went in for surgery this morning.  I'm trying hard not to worry about my sweet girl.  I found a lump where her microchip normally is.  I Googled to see if tissue can grow around microchips or if they can cause tumors.  I was shocked to see that tons of stuff came up about microchips causing cancer and lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.  YIKES!  I took her in to have it checked yesterday.  The good news is that the lump doesn't seem to be attached and can be moved around.  And, her lymph nodes seemed to be fine.  They're going to remove the lump today and send it in for testing.

Poor baby was so scared this morning.  It was so hard to take her in for this but it seems to be the right thing to do.  I don't want to wait and take a chance of it being bad and spreading to the point of not being able to do anything.  I love this girl SO much!  She's the sweetest and most loving kitty we've ever had.  She's so attached to me and wants to be with me almost constantly.  She comes to me often for snuggles and looks at me with ooey, gooey, loving, eyes and always has lots of kisses for me.  Fingers crossed she'll be just fine!

I snapped this pic over the weekend of her enjoying the morning sun.  Looks like she's meditating.

I bought a crock over the weekend that I'd had my eye on at my favorite antique shop.  They were having a sale, it was still there, and I got it for less.  Woot!  I put my antique rolling pins in it.  I love the rich color of it.

Hubby and I went to Oceanside for a bike ride on Sunday.  It was a cool, cloudy day with temps in the mid to high 60's.  Ahhhh!...a nice break from the heat wave we had for a few days at home.

These gorgeous Matilija Poppies were growing near where we parked.  The bushes were about five feet high and loaded with these beauties!

Our garden has some veggie babies!  Yay!  I snapped a few pics this morning.

A volunteer butternut plant seems to be doing well...

More tomatoes!  I'm so excited for these tasty treats!

Zucchini...

We have an eggplant blossom!  :-D

I plan to stay busy crafting and working around the house today to stay really busy and keep my mind from worrying about my sweet Penelope.  I get to pick her up sometime this afternoon.

Lovely Find

There are a few local antique shops that I like to pop into regularly.  It's always fun to look around to see what's new.  I found something on my last visit that just HAD to come home with me.

It a carved piece from the top of a french armoire.  I think it's made of oak.  The owner knows the person who brought it here from France.  She loves it but has so much stuff that she decided it was time for this lovely piece to find a new home.  

I love it!  I brought it home and placed it above a door in my craft studio.  

I adore the delicate roses on it.  The leaves and ribbon are beautiful too.

I have no idea how old it is but it's obvious that it was handcarved.

I'm just giddy over this find!  It's so pretty!

It was inexpensive too!  I love that!  

Road Trip, Day 5 and 6 - East Texas

The fifth day of our trip started in Austin, Texas with a short drive to East Texas to see family. The drive was gorgeous!  We went through rolling green hills with lots of trees, flowers and farms. It looked like a story book.  Perfect and beautiful!

We made a stop along the way to visit a yarn shop called, iPurl in The Woodlands, Texas.  I found it online when I started planning the trip.  I've been following them on Facebook and in May they posted some great tools they'd gotten in the shop.  I was hoping they'd still have some by the time I got there.

We received a warm and friendly greeting when we walked in and the entire visit was nothing but enjoyable!  The people were super nice, the selection of yarn and supplies was wonderful, and they had lots of inspirational projects displayed around the store.  And, yes...they had the tools I was hoping for.

I finally got a lucet!  I've been wanting one for a while but haven't found any in yarn shops until now.  This one is made with beautiful cherry wood and it comes with directions complete with photos.  I'm so excited to give it a try!

The other tool I was hoping they'd still have was one of these yarn ball holders.  It spins and keeps yarn easily available but doesn't let it tangle.  One of the sweet ladies in the shop said it's one of her all time favorite yarn tools.  They not only had some left, they also had a choice of finishes.  I chose this dark wood one.  I love it and I'm so excited to try it out too.

I looked up the company that made these wood tools and it turns out they came from California....where I'm from!  Funny how I never saw them in yarn shops at home and had to come all the way to Texas to find them!  I'm just happy to have them and happy they're handmade in America.

I'm so into crochet thread lately and always on the lookout for pretty colors.  iPurl had lots of it in a few different brands.  I had to get some!  I already have in mind what I want to make with it!

While my items were being added up, I noticed some cute purse handles hanging near the cash register.  Yes, I had to get some of those too!  Aren't they cute?!

They had them in several different colors but I had to have the red ones.

I think they'll look super cute on a black felted purse.  Or, who knows...maybe another color!

As she bagged up all my goodies, she put a little gift inside for me...

a set of cute little stitch markers...

My daughter even bought some yarn!  It's a beautiful sock weight yarn with pinks, oranges and (I think) some purple in it.  It's pretty!  She's planning to crochet a lacy cowl with it.

We enjoyed our visit to iPurl so much!  I think they enjoyed our visit too as we chatted a lot and before we left they took our photo and posted it on their Facebook page...

I wish we had a local yarn shop where we live.  And, I wish it was like iPurl!

Not only did they have great stuff and wonderful people but they also have lots of classes, stitch-alongs, charity project stitch-alongs, groups, etc.  It sounds like so much fun!

Back on the road...we headed north to visit my wonderful aunt and cousins.  We had a wonderful visit!  I love them so much!  I'm not posting any photos of them though as mine all turned out blurry (my daughter got good ones). It's always wonderful to see them and spend some time together.  Since we live so far apart, we don't get to see them very often.

We were excited to find out they have Cardinals and were quickly on the lookout for some.  It didn't take long.  My aunt re-filled her bird feeder and they were there in no time.  They were, however, quite hard to get pictures of.  In fact, they seemed camera shy.  We could walk near the window and they didn't always fly away.  But, as soon as we tried to take a photo, they'd fly away.  I did get a few from a distance though.  I just zoomed in with editing to get a closer look.

Here's a wider view to see her lovely yard.  It's so green!

Here's one of the Cardinals.

See...he's looking at me and about to fly away!

There were lots of other pretty birds there that we do don't have at home. I just wasn't able to get pictures of them either.  Oh...and my daughter saw her first firefly!

My aunt had Passion Flower vines on her fence .  I'm always fascinated by them.

I posted this one on Instagram.  I used an effect but it really was purple.

Isn't it amazing?!

Hopefully, Ladybug won't mind me posting her picture.

She's my aunt's dog and she's such a sweetheart.

I finished knitting my Gap-tastic cowl while I was there. It was perfect timing too!  It may be summer but people and businesses seem to keep things extra cool in the south with AC's turned up high.  I actually wore it for a while in my aunts house.  Ahhh...it felt so good!  I'm happy to report that my handspun Merino yarn is very soft and not itchy.  Yay!  I posted this on Instagram that day...

I had to get a photo of this before we left.  It's an antique child-sized desk that someone gave to my aunt when she was a child.  My mom played with it as a child too.  And, I got to have it for a while when I was little.  I have great memories of having this in my room.

Our visit was short but wonderful!  After a day and a half we had to hit the road again for our next destination...New Orleans, Lousiana!  I'll start posting about that as soon as I can.
The hotel we are at right now has bad wifi and I am finishing this on my cell phone.   It is quite challenging...to say the least!

A Week on Instagram

I thought it would be fun to post my most recent Instagram photos today.

So, here it goes...

One of my favorite antique shops, Cottage Charm, has a monthly event called,

"Vintage Market".  It's always on the first Saturday of the month.  So, that means today was the day!

I headed down to see what I could find.  I'm sure glad I did!

I found this at a little shop next door...an inkle loom for just $15!

I've been wanting one for a while but didn't want to pay $60-$100 to buy one.

Now, to learn how to use it!  I'm so excited!

(Ooops on the pink background!  I didn't realize I'd done that until I loaded it on here.)

One of the outside vendors had this old oil heater.  I've been wanting one of these for years

but I haven't wanted to pay the prices that are usually on them of around $100.

I was surprised and happy when they said this one was only $20!

The color is perfect for my house.  And, there are no dents on it.  

I like the flower shaped cutouts on it.  So cute!

I created a new version of "egg salad" this week.  

It's gluten free waffles, arugula/rocket, eggs, and salsa.  Yum!

I take so many pictures of my adorable Penelope.

I can't help it...she's so darn cute!

Here, she's waiting near my pillow for me to go to bed.

She likes to sleep up against me most every night.

 A little bit of silliness one evening on her felted bed.

Trying to wake up after sleeping allllll day!

She loves to hang out on the top of her kitty tree that's by the window.

It's warm in the sun and has a great view of the birds in the yard.

Lazy and adorable!

She likes to play in the bathroom sink.  

And, now, she seems to like laying in it.

I'm continuing to work on de-stashing my yarn.

I bought this yarn in Sedona a couple of years ago.  I love it so much and have been 

trying to find the "perfect" pattern for it.  I thought I might have found it but

I'm not quite sure I love it now that it's started.  It's a cowl.  I like the texture and the

pattern but I wonder if it will block out enough to show the pattern. Hmmmm?

We found little eggplants at the market and tried a new way of cooking them.

I drizzled olive oil on them; sprinkled them with salt and pepper; and roasted them in the oven until they were tender.  Then, I sliced them in quarters from the stem down so they could grab onto the sauce.  We dipped them in some homemade marinara.  They were so creamy and yummy!  

We ate them all!

Three X's in the sky!

I love Instagram!  I can't wait to see what pops up to post on there this week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cookin' Up Some Color

I sewed some window treatments for the kitchen a few weeks ago.

I bought the fabric a while back for $3 per yard.

So, this whole project was very inexpensive.  The rods were the most costly part.

It's hard to get good photos because there's a covered patio outside that keeps

a lot of light from coming in the kitchen window.  And, it's a cloudy day.  

I also sewed a panel almost 9' long to add a little softness and color over the sliding glass door.

It's wide enough to cover the vertical blind when it's all the way open.

The fabric is a woven plaid with orange, reds, brown, white and a bit of yellow.

The color is actually closer to the two photos above.  But, here's a close up to show the plaid.

It looks great with the tablecloth I'm using right now.  It has a lot of the same colors.

The colors in this photo are more accurate...

We have a cinnamon red KitchenAid stand mixer on our Island.

The floor tile is a terra cotta like color.  And, I've been adding some more things that tie in 

with the colors of the window fabric...like this antique metal tray with painted roses...

A pretty plate I saw at Macy's and just had to have.

It sits on a plate stand on the counter.

And, for a little contrast and fun, I have an antique typewriter sitting on the kitchen desk.

I grew up with an Underwood typewriter like this.  I've been keeping an eye out for one.

I was excited to find this one in a local antique shop this summer for a good price.

I guess you could say I've been cookin' up some color and fun in our kitchen.

These small touches sure did a lot to transform the space.  We love it!

I'll post more photos when I get it all put together the way I like.

And, if I can figure out how to get good photos in this not-so-bright space.

Fun Finds

I popped into one of my favorite local antique shops last week.

Right as I walked in I spotted a couple of little treasures that

just had to come home with me...

I'm still not completely sure what I'll do with this adorable little bin but I just had to have it.

I just know it'll be perfectly handy in just the right room...once I figure it out.  ;-)

I love the lacy look of the punched holes on the front.

I tossed in a rolled towel and some old clothes pins for the photo.

I knew immediately what I wanted to do with this one.

I needed a place to hang a hand towel near the utility sink in our laundry room.

The little attached soap dish is perfect for holding some handmade soap.

The star is a bonus because I have stars here and there throughout our home.

The prices on these were pretty good too.

Fun finds!

As a little side note...I started having problems with blogger flipping my vertical pictures
sideways a few months ago.  This month, they're not only flipping sideways, they're distorting.

I've figured out ways to get them to display the right direction when I view the posts on

my computer.  However, I discovered today that those same photos are showing up

sideways when I view my blog on my phone.  It's frustrating and I can't seem to find an 

answer.  I've noticed a couple of other bloggers complaining about the same problem.

Has anyone found a solution?  I'd love to know.

More Fun Finds

I have some fun finds I'd love to share...

I recently saw a blog post about the 100th anniversary of Ball canning jars.

Turns out they're making some limited edition blue jars to celebrate.

I love canning jars and started collecting them when I was in my 20's.

So, this was exciting news.  I quickly went to the Ball website and found them.

However, the cost of shipping is about the same as the price of the set of jars.

I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much on jars that I don't really need.

I'm glad I waited because I found them today in my local Target store.

What a surprise!  Yay!  I now have the set of jars and didn't have to pay shipping.

They're pint size so they aren't very big.  But, isn't the blue color pretty?

I think it would be great if they'd make them in various sizes and sell them on a regular basis.

And, even better, I think it would be awesome if they made them in green, yellow, pink

and maybe some other colors too.  Wouldn't they be great? 

I could really use some small side tables and I've been searching for some at good prices. 

Last week, I popped into one of my favorite little antique shops and found a little side table

for only $28!  It was freshly painted with Annie Sloan paint and waxed.

It's cute, sturdy and the neutral color should work great in any room.

One down...still looking for more.  

A while ago, I remembered a beautiful metal tray my mom used have and asked her about it.

She recently found it and gave it to me.  It turns out that it was one of their wedding gifts.

That makes it even more special.  I didn't measure it but it looks like it's about 16"x20"

I found this wonderful Santo a couple of years ago...

 After I brought her home, I thought it would be nice to find something tall to set her on.

I thought an antique plant stand would be nice.  I began my search and eventually found

a black, wood stand that I thought would work perfectly.  And, it was less than $20.

I moved it out of the normal place to get a full photo of it.

Here's the base.  I love the chipped paint and worn, old look of it.

I'm not sure what it was originally but it's perfect to hold my Santo.

Now, to find the perfect places in my home to display my new treasures!  :-)