Dirt Therapy

I love days like today. The smell of dirt was calling my name. That sounds weird. But it's a fact.

I had a wonderful Mother's day. My mom, sister, niece and I saw Legally Blonde. (Thanks again Mom!!) We left singing the catchy show tunes. Elle is all about retail therapy and looking fabulous. Personally, I loathe shopping for clothes and I make up my face with a mere four products but I still loved this movie and the musical is so fun. "Whoever said orange is the new pink was seriously disturbed." Absolutely! "Bend and snap." UPS man was hysterical. Rent the movie if you haven't already or go see the musical!

So today was my day for some dirt therapy. Perfect blue sky.

Gardening shoes pulled off the potting shelf and dusted off.

A few simple tools for the cleanup job ahead.

Weeds to pull. Plans of seedling choices to be made. Last year's garden attempt was not what I had expected. Even the neighbors guinea pig wouldn't eat the carrots we grew !!!!

So this year it will be mostly flowers. Cut flowers so that I can enjoy them inside and out. Zinnias, Cosmos, Shasta Daisy, Coneflower, and I'm not sure what else. I hope it's not to late to grow from seed. I took a trip to a couple greenhouses and I didn't see what I wanted in a starter plant. I did pick up a couple of tomato plants. That was the one fruit of our labor that flourished.

This is our "Nala" bloom. I am not certain of the name but I believe it is a lily and it has an golden orange flower just like Nala's coloring. We planted this above Nalee's grave which is right next to our garden and swing set.

And I must include a Lucy update:

She is finding great satisfaction in running into the playroom or kids' rooms (where she knows she isn't supposed to be) and stealing a stuffed toy. Then she hightails it into the kitchen to her bed and begins the demolition process. I snapped this picture when she had about four or five illegal objects on her bed.

She's quite the girl. Puppy kindergarten begins tomorrow. Hope she passes.

~Annie

Hmm.hmm.hmm.hmm.hmm.hmm.hmm

That's the sound in our house lately. It comes from two sewing machines in operation. My daughter and I have taken over the formal dining room (who needs one anyways, right?) and have set up shop. I haven't purchased a machine yet but a sweet friend of mine is loaning me hers. My daughter got right into it. She started making things. I should really share what she has made so far. I'll do that in another post. Quite inventive I have to say. I found a cheap, working sewing machine at a thrift store for her and she just loves making "stuff". We have been sewing much and knitting not so much. This year for halloween I decided to sew the kids' costumes and it's been fun, challenging and definitely a chance to see what I really want in a machine when the time comes.
So how many three year olds do you know that want to be Prince Charming for Halloween?? That's what my little guy requested to be. He came up with the idea too. (I think from watching too much Cinderella, but he LOVES that movie :) Don't worry dear hubby, he did mention we wanted to be a pirate and some kind of superhero but that is not allowed at his preschool so Prince Charming it is! And I guess I'm supposed to be Cinderella (what a sweetheart) which leads us to my daughter's costume. I thought it would be cute for them to coordinate but since she has already been Cinderella in the past and she's way too cool for that now we opted for the Fairy Godmother. I've got to pull this all together in the next week. Halloween is celebrated big time here in the "Halloween capital of the world". Parades, Boo Bashes, 5K Gray Ghost Run, pumpkin carving contests, etc. etc.


Another sewing item completed is the bag I mentioned in a previous post. Love the fabrics but not so crazy about the functionality of it. Actually, it will make a nice small knitting project transporter. I just don't want to go digging for a cell phone, wallet, or keys in the thing.

Soccer has come to an end. She really enjoyed playing but has told me that she loved it because it's getting her in shape for the 5K Gray Ghost race!! She's going to run that with me.


Lastly, a picture that closes the chapter on summer and our garden. Did I mention what a flop our garden was? Some kind of mold or a white powdery substance took over. We picked a few cucumbers (that we never ate); there is tons of basil that's still there; beans that turned yellow (oops, I should have picked them on time); tons of carrots (why did I plant so many? Bandit, the guinea pig neighbor will love us though); one pea pod (mmm, that was good, for about a second); but thankfully we did have lots of yummy tomatoes and about ten zinnias that were cut and placed in vases. Live and learn.

Summer's in full swing

We've been busy busy but it's all good.

1. Last week we had an awesome time at Vacation Bible School. The theme was Cosmic City. I photographed all the kids in a rocket ship.
2. I took a crochet class. Love it but still love knitting most.
3. The baby bird eggs hatched and survived and as of today, they have all left the nest.
4. Potty training well under way and going better than expected.
5. Training for the Twin Cities 10 mile run in October.
6. Lots of perennials blooming in our gardens.
7. Made strawberry jam last week. Yummy!
8. Our garden has been robbed. Suspect: Peter Rabbit!
9. Had fun blowing bubbles using this super-foam-erator over at Betz White's blog

10. and of course knitting stuff, more to follow...

Nature's Voices

I love hearing the birds sing in the morning. When I do I know it's going to be a productive day. Something about sunny mornings make me happy and when I can listen to nature's voices it's all the better. We have a hanging planter in the front of our house with hot pink geraniums in it. Little did I know when I picked out that plant at the farmer's market it would become the home for a Purple Finch family. They built their little nest tucked neatly inside the plant and are waiting with anticipation for their six little eggs to hatch. We've been watching closely and hoping the raptors will keep their distance. Last year the luck was not with the Finches :(

I love my feathered friends and it has put me in the mood to cast on for these. I adore this pattern! Once again, Marie has designed a fabulous woolly something. The cardinal is one of my favorites and has such a pretty song so he will be first. Pictures to follow!

(PS. Did you get a glimpse of the new gnome she created! Eeeee! I can't wait to make him too)

Garden Life

Back in April we had the idea of starting a vegetable garden. Unfortunately, our spring was not as cooperative and the seedlings we started indoors failed miserably. But alas! there's hope. Sprouts have been spotted!

We planted:

Carrots

Peas

Beans

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Sunflowers

Zinneas and

Sweet Basil

Little Seedlings

Just in time for....next fall. Oh well, I'll have something to look forward to and use right away. This pattern is the Fetching fingerless gloves on Knitty. I think I'm going to like having these especially in my very cold work place! I changed the pattern a bit after reading some comments on Ravelry. I did a regular bind off and on the right glove I tried a different kind of thumb gusset to see if it was better. Unfortunately that change made me running to the yarn store for another skein. I was hoping to do it with one.

Pattern: Fetching from Knitty

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Needle: #6 dpn

Actually I'm very glad I won't be needing these gloves (now just watch, I'll have jinxed myself) because it was looking a bit like spring today. That put us in the mood for planning a garden. My daughter was home from school today with lovely strep throat which I also contracted so the three of us hung out together and did some planting. This is what it looked liked:

1. Pick out seed packets of things we might eat.
2. Scoop up dirt and place seeds in cup.
3. Poke seeds down according the depth required on packet.
4. Water.
5. Wait patiently.

I really hope something grows just because they worked so hard and are so excited. We've never had a garden before only perennials so this will be a fun adventure. Last spring we tried sunflowers only to see the sprouts go to the birds!!