Have the leaves turned yet?

Every year, I get all excited when the snow melts and spring starts to peek its soft green head up out of the ground. And then it's halfway through July and I could give a flying leap about any of it outside. Too hot. Too muggy. Too many bugs. (And I'm a particularly sweet kind of bug sugar--I have to Off! myself just to walk out the back door.) Right about now, I'm hoping for a tiny cold front--enough so that I can get out my jeans and Docs, a favorite jacket, and go walk arund in the refreshingly crisp air without worrying about sweating. But it's barely August. The only cool thing about August is that my birthday is later this month, and I firmly believe that my birthday should be a national holiday--at least for me :)

Some cool things to look forward to:
As if my autumn won't be exciting enough (those in the know, know), lookie what's coming in November! Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the trailer for which has just been released!!

Soup, casseroles, red beans & rice, and crumbles! I just made this tray of blueberry crumble squares (thank you Smitten Kitchen!).


Go check out her pics--waaaay better than mine. Oh, and I only had 2 cups berries, but it still tastes great. (I was supposed to wait until they were fully cooled before eating ... yeah right! I scooped some out and ate it with a fork from a bowl. Had to be sure they weren't poisonous...)

Until then, I guess I'll have to make do with homegrown toms. I just popped out into said buggy yard to dump stuff into the compost and made a pit stop at the mater plants. First of many harvests:


Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, the buttons ALL found homes!
Tiffani

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

at least, I was always curious. How much a quarter of a cow actually LOOKS like, all cut up and ready for your freezer. Man and I finally, after many moons of debating, bought a share of a cow--1/4 of a cow. And here it is:




And, because I know that I would want to know, it cost-all together with the processing fees--about $350.00. This is an Angus cow, grass fed, no hormone, free range, all the good stuff. It is about 275 pounds of meat. Completely worth it.

Like Rabbits

I think buttons reproduce while we're not watching.

No, really.

I recently found a lovely new home for five collections of buttons--white, red/pink, green, blue, and yellow. I thought I was done. Oh no! I just went back through the stash to set aside buttons that I know that I cannot part with, and I was left with GIANT piles that need new homes. I have now listed four more sets on Etsy: black (200+ buttons!!), brown (160!), gold (101!), and silver (61!). I really really really hope that's all. Or they're all going on the pill.



Tiffani

Letting go of the past--Facing the future

I nearly failed Home Ec in junior high school. I had to make a pillow out of felt: it was black, purple, and yellow and shaped like a surfboard with a big footprint on it. Very OP. Very west coast. And I could not make the damn thing. My grandma ended up finishing it for me! (Shhhh... don't tell)

A few years after that, I embraced my heritage and learned how to sew. And now, I'm proud to say, I can make lots of stuff ... it's just too bad that I don't do it very often! There's only so much time in the day. And, to be honest, having the Etsy shop and making things that just sit there has been a little heartbreaking. I went through this years ago when I had a small (small as in just me) purse business and would spend hours making one-of-a-kind creations out of velvet and trims and tassels, and some ... lady ... would come to my table, pick it up, and say "I could get something cheaper at W*lM**t." Ugh. To leave all that behind, we've slowly been closing up shop. I haven't made anything for the shop in months and months, and I haven't made anything for myself since last year. Until this week.



A friend gave me a t-shirt with a decal of Sock Puppet Theatre (don't know about them? YouTube it--if you love Doctor Who, you'll totally get the joke!). The shirt was way too small, though, but there was no way I'd get rid of it. So the other day I took it with me to the fabric store with the idea of making a bag. One thing led to another and I found the perfect pair of plaid wool shorts at the thrift store for $2. Making all of those purses over the years came in very handy as I was able to make this bag without a pattern. I just made it up as I went along! It's lined in green & white flannel with two pockets inside. I even kept one of the pants pockets along the seam on one side! I think the whole thing cost around $5. And it cracks me up every time I look at it :)

I'm pretty proud of myself. Makes me want to find that Home Ec teacher and show her that, yes, I did figure it out!
Tiffani

Housekeeping

As life gets more hectic (as if it was ever any less hectic), I've been neglecting the blog a bit. But a gift from a friend has prompted me to finally get back here and take care of a few things. Those of you who know me know that for the next couple of months, I'll be in the bunny hole getting ready for the writing workshop I've been accepted to in September, but I don't want anyone to think that I'm ignoring recent mentions, gifts, awards, etc. So, in no particular order:

Thank you so much to Carolyn of Magpie Pixie for the fabulous new banner! Isn't it cute? She noticed that our blog was a bit bare along the top and made us this homey, "sew-ey" banner. It makes us look like a new penny!

We've been featured by a wonderful friend, Sandee of Sew Much Detail! If you haven't checked out her page or Etsy shop, do so right away. I LOVE her fobs and use mine religiously!

We've also been given the award below by two of our blogger friends: Lynn from The Rose Cottage and Debbi from All in My Cottage.



The rules for receiving this award are:
1) Put the logo on your blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

However, I don't think we can come up with 14 (so many of our regular reads have already been nominated)! We'll stick with the original 7, but I think I only have 6 here!

Kat from Kat's Imagination Kat is just great at organizing swaps over on ECS!
Gail from Shabby Cottage Studio Gail is an amazing artist and a great inspiration!
Twig from Opheeelia Says Well, this woman just cracks me up!
Ally from IHeartThat!Dance Ally is one of the first friends I made through ECS. She's a bit AWOL right now because of a move, but she'll be back online soon!
Jaime from Always Inspired Jaime was one of my first Etsy friends--our love of Marie Antoinette linked us together!
Carolyn from Magpie Pixie Carolyn and I bonded over a love that will never die: a shared affection for Duran Duran! :)

Because I'll be putting my head down here soon, I probably won't be blogging very much for the next couple of months. But please don't think I've abandoned you! I'll still read everyone's blog pretty regularly. I just won't have any crafts or thrift-store finds to share :(
And I'm sure the last thing many of you want to hear about is my day job, the books I'm currently reading, and the weird story ideas racing through my head!

Thank you again to all of our blogland friends!
Tiffani

Butterflies and Chihuly, what more does a girl REALLY need?

Maybe a spot in the paper?! (yep, that is my goofball)
Well, anyway, it has been way too long since our last blog, and being that I do absolutely NOTHING with my days, I have no excuse.



Last weekend I took the family to the Franklin Park Conservatory here in Columbus, Ohio. Of course, it was under some construction (this is something that I am cursed with, along with red lights; every time I go anywhere for architectural observatory purposes, it is being worked on. Versailles? Check [every TIME!!!]. Notre Dame? Check. Koln Cathedral? Check. The list could go on and on.) Anyway, a few years ago, they were graced with a Chihuly exhibit, and when the 4 mill$ (or so) worth of goodies were going to leave, a bunch of ohio peeps got together to buy it all for the Conservatory. So now they get to keep it all the time. AND they have butterflies.



Here are my pics, and they actually came out pretty snazzy. The floating globules are chihuly glass--I guess he went to Japan, where they still use the floating globe things for fishing, and he got the idea to see how big he could do it, and these are the results.



It is a cool place, and you could easily spend three hours there. Butterfly release is 1 and 3 o'clock, until september.
It isn't the cheapest, but there ARE coupons floating around out there, and student discounts. Wait another two weeks and the construction will be done; there will be a new Zen garden, and not sure what else. Also, there are BIG future plans for a community garden, and bunches else.
Signed--Dena