Gem and Mineral Show, Day Two...

We met April, Seth and Amare, at Micha's for Mexican food for lunch. 

They treated because Walter and I both have January Birthdays.  It was really good!

Then we went to one of the tent shows that we usually hit.

Amare is following in his father's footsteps.  He was picking out rocks just like Seth.  Seth was a Geology major in college.

The Kids bought new matching Wedding rings with an inlay of Koa wood from Hawaii.  The photo doesn't do them justice.  Very pretty.

They asked what I wanted for my birthday... I handed some of the gemstones that I had picked out and some petrified shells as well.

These are the shells.  They are smaller than they look in the photos.  I am thinking that they will make good earrings or rings.  I am going to have to get the wire out and start experimenting. 

I was very happy with the selection. I will be wire wrapping and jewelry  making for a while...

My biggest problem is the fact that I do this every year.  I stock up.  Then I do a few pieces and wait for next year to come.  I think that the acquiring of the supplies is the most fun.

Walter and I are planning to go back to the ballpark at least one more time.  He wants to find a stone to make a necklace and I have my eye on a couple of things that I didn't buy yesterday...

Round and round we go.  See you tomorrow.

Progress....

I didn't like the other bench that I made.  I started over and came up with this one.

It has a whole space ship covering it. 

We are moving right along with the room.  Making lots of progress.

I am finding toys and other accessories now.  I still have a way to go.

The wall on the right has a poster of a very large earth mover on it.  I may just attempt to do it myself or I will have Walter help me with reproducing it in the right size.

This is some of the jewelry that I have been working on.  A couple of the pieces will be gifts and a couple, I will keep for myself.

Remember when we got the new chair? The rules have changed. 
Now, if we put the foot part of the recliner up, it belongs to Kota.

We are allowed to reach down and pet him, but our feet have to be way over on the other side.  This is Walter following the rules.

This is Kota making sure that they are followed.

I am just the photographer.  Back to business.

See you tomorrow.

Beading and Lunch With Spiderman!

OK.  I finished the beading on Watch One.  All I have left to do on that one is put on the fastener...

That is if I can get it away from Tessie.

As soon as I snapped the photo, she grabbed it and ran.

Then she leaned back against the bead tubes and told me to snap the photo fast, before the belt fell off...

I just barely got the photo before she let out a deep breath and the thing fell off. Luckily one side of the band didn't really reach around her waste, or I would have had trouble getting it back...

She had the nerve to complain about it being a very uncomfortable belt...

As for lunch, April, Amare and I went shopping this morning.  We hit a Goodwill that April didn't know about and bought a couple of things.

After that, we met Walter at Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch...

Walter bought Amare a Halloween costume at Costco.  He has been wanting to go as Spiderman for quite a while.  That's his favorite superhero...

We gave him the costume when we got out of the cars. Before we went into the restaurant...

He wanted to wear it for lunch.  We talked him out of that by saying that he would get Macaroni and cheese on it... That held him off until after we ate.

Then Walter accompanied him to the Men's room and he changed into it.

Needless to say, we had one very happy grandson. 

I have the feeling that April is going to have a job trying to get him not to sleep in it and wear it to school!

They are off for Autumn break right now and they are all going camping.  I doubt that he will want to wear the outfit while climbing rocks and hiking... Unless his spidey powers kick in before they go.

I'm just glad that I'm not the one that has to talk him out of it... Good luck April!

Back to working on the watches. See you tomorrow.

It's a Miracle!

Well... Not really...

Actually it was Kota and Tessie... Kota was keeping me company most of the morning...

Tessie put me out of my misery by using the mesmerizer on me a couple of times, when I started whining.

At first Kota and Tessie stuck together.  Then Kota snapped at Tessie.

She thought that discretion was the better part of valor and zapped herself to a shelf well above Kota's reach.

Then she whipped out the mesmerizer and I found myself cleaning at the speed of light... Or at least a couple of times faster than I usually clean.

 Hey! Look! There is actually a black rug beneath all of that junk!

OK.  So it isn't all the way clean, but it is much better than it was.

I am doing this now so that I can go back to playing minis without stumbling over things.

It is working.  I haven't tripped over anything in the past half hour.

I have to be honest though.  This is what the other half of the room looks like and I am going to have to find places for the rest of this stuff.

I have been on a break for about a half hour. 

Walter got home in the middle of the night, last night. He left about half an hour ago. 

He is bringing home lunch later, so I don't have to make lunch. Bless him! More time to work on the mess at hand.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Tessie's Cactus Collection...

I no longer have a cacti and succulent collection.  This afternoon, Tessie helped me start gathering the information on all of the plants that I have on the back porch and in the yard... Then she announced... "If I have to do all of this work, I should have custody of all of the plants that I list.

She seems to think that she has listed every plant on the porch... Interesting. I have not even gotten all of them listed yet.

Why am I doing this?

All of the plants that I have in the collection are things that are of interest to me.  I came home after buying most of them and looked them up on the net. 

 That is an easy way to find out how to take care of them.  I keep collecting photos and information on my Pinterest site in "Succulents and Cactus".

That way if something goes wrong, I can find out, pretty fast, what to do to make them get healthy again.

I am always amazed at how much you can find out about anything that you want to know just by putting a couple of words in the search box on Pinterest.

I am writing things down the old fashioned way, but I may just have to do it on the iPad.

Tessie is holding on to about 10 pages of the notebook that are filled with names of the things in the pots on the back porch... She did NOT write them down.  I did... Therefore I think that the plants are still mine.  She will tell you a different story.  Please don't listen to her.

Anyway, I had a doctor's appointment this morning.  Nothing wrong.  Just routine. So I decided to do something fun, just for me.  I fed the birds and squirrels.  Then I sat back and watched.  We have three new baby squirrels.  Walter called me out to the kitchen window to watch. Momma was teaching them to chew on the bird  block this afternoon.  Very cute! 

So I didn't really accomplish anything mini, but then, neither did Tessie! So she can't hassle me about not doing any minis.

The wind seems to be calming down a bit.  Maybe I can do some more re-potting.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day

This is going to be a short one.  The only minis that you get to see are the ones on my Mom's Day card.

Tessie, Zar and Kota all got in on the photo shoot.  Then Walter made the card.

It's nice to know that I am not the only one in the family that believes in little people... and cats that talk...

The regular sized kids are coming over a little later.  That should be fun.

I have to show you the last of my Christmas presents for this year.  

It may have to make Kota a collar.

This is a loom that has been around for a couple of years, since I had credit, I finally broke down and bought one.

It makes the piece the exact size that you want.  And then, unlike other looms, you don't have a huge amount of loose ends to get rid of.

I tried it out yesterday.  I think that once I get the hang of the very last row, I will have a winner.  We shall see.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to those of you that celebrate it and Happy Sunday to those that don't.

See you tomorrow!

A New Set of Eyes...

That's all that was needed.

Tessie was standing atop the plant stand this morning, trying to get to the new bird house. 

She was complaining as she went.  It's too small for her to live in!

When she attempted to get to the top, she dropped a foot. That sometimes happens with detachable feet.

It doesn't hurt.  It is just an inconvenience.  Hard to walk or climb up to birdhouses.

She enlisted me to help search.  I couldn't find it anywhere, even though I watched it fall.

We gave up searching.  I went to look for spare parts.  Nope.  No right feet.  No left feet either...

I am going to have to sit down and make more spare parts.  She is rather hard on them.

Anyway, we went ahead and took photos with her sitting down and her skirt covering the missing appendage...

Tessie insisted that she should show you her new Talavera Mexican pot.  Actually it's mine, but you know how that goes.  Anything that comes into the house is hers.

It is beautifully hand painted.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  I am going to paint the terra cotta pot the same yellow as the vase itself.  That way it will look more like the plant is growing inside.

The brown and gray pot next to it is one that Seth(son-in-law) made.  It was my Christmas gift a few years ago... He is my favorite potter!

Since Tessie couldn't do much running around this morning, I put her to work on the edge of the Russian carpet... Actually, I worked on it for a couple of hours this morning.

She did about three stitches before heaving a heavy sigh and whining... "I need another foot..."

About that time, Walter got home and volunteered to do another search of the crime scene.

He found it!  It was right where I thought it was, in one of the pots below. Evidently, I looked in all of the right places at the wrong angle.  Thanks to him, Tessie is now up and doing a happy dance.

Back to work.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Walter!!!

And Happy New Year to the rest of you...

I am taking my resting seriously.  I have to get rid of this cold by Monday or there will be a postponement of the surgery.

So... I sent Walter off to see Star Wars with April. 

I benefited by doing so... I got two more refreshment trays... Now Tessie wants another castle... I am ignoring her for the moment...

I also benefited from one of the hikes that the kids go on, out in the desert.  Lots of pretty rocks and some desert glass besides.  All of it will be used.  Thanks kids!

I stayed home and started watching the series "How to Get Away With Murder".  I have only watched a few episodes, but I am hooked.  Great series.  Especially for cross stitch... Lots of dialog.

The rug doesn't look like much so far, but... There are already about a thousand stitches in it... The whole thing will be 15,000 so I have a pretty good start. 

Tessie would like you to believe the she did all of the hard work... It won't work.  I have the needle dented fingers to prove that it was me that did the work...

I am going back and learn more about how to get away with murder and get more stitches finished...

A combination of watching and learning...

See you tomorrow.

Still Not Up to Snuff

Doctor Tessie was in this morning... She advised fresh juice... Walter ended up shooing her out and making it.  She can't handle pushing carrots through the tube very well.

 So... She then gave me a lecture on fresh fruits and veggies... Then she quickly disappeared.

Walter found her cowering in the living room of the townhouse in the dark...

I think that the juicer traumatized her... She figured out that, if she slipped, I would be drinking Tessie juice... So much for Dr. Tessie...

I am still hanging in there... Just barely.

See you tomorrow... I think...