Cat

Need I say more?

I had thrown a roll of paper towel down the stairs for my husband to put in the kitchen but apparently Little Kitty got to it first. I ended up grabbing another roll and using it instead since we were having people over. But now we are down to our last roll - so shredded sheets it is! I am not sure how she managed to do it in such a small amount of time - we are talking 2 minutes people. And the damage goes down almost to the middle of the roll!

Web Finds Monday!

Sorry folks, you're going to get two doses of Web Finds this week! This post was supposed to go out last Wednesday, but with all the craziness going on - didn't happen. So here's the first ever Monday edition of Wed Finds Wednesday! Enjoy! And don't worry, there will be more on Wednesday. :)

Cilantro and Lime Rice - from Closet Cooking

March Mending Month - How-To: Patching Pants with Stylish Stitches - from Craftzine

Edible Schoolyard by Alice Waters Book Review 2009 - from Re-Nest

New Menu Item at Quiznos - Sounds yummy!

Free Maggie Moos Ice Cream on Tax Day

Free Knitting Patterns - Whipup.net

Recipe: Bourbon Cough Syrup for Grownups

Knit Pet Sweater Pattern - Craftzine

My First Patchwork Pillow!

The cold weather this weekend paired with the recent purchase of a new sewing book has finally sparking my creative bug once again!

I've been hoarding these lovely fat quarters from Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut Fabric line, not knowing quite what to do with it. I didn't quite have enough for a quilt - nor do I think I am ready to conquer a quilt just yet. But I didn't want to use it up on just any old project.

Well, inspiration finally hit in the form of a gorgeous throw pillow for our couch - though not even a pattern from the book I just bought - it has at least has gotten me excited about sewing again. And with a pillow - I can see this lovely design every day - and put it to much use!

I think some push for the pillow inspiration may have came a lot from Sarah's two recent crafty posts about pillows! :)

Garage Sale Season Is Here!

The husband and I had originally planned a long weekend of yard work for this last weekend of March. We want to put two more trees in the front yard, plant 4 bushes and get my new garden box moved out of the garage into the backyard.

But, as many of you fellow Hoosiers can attest, our spring weather decided to go on a vacation for a bit. We even have snow in the forecast for Sunday. Bleck!

So today was a rather lazy Saturday for us. We browsed a garage sale, ate at Panera (potato soup - yum!), poked around at Barnes and Nobles and then went back to the garage for this lovely wine rack!



We need to scoot our "Q" sign over a bit - but doesn't it look great?? And for $35 - not too bad of a deal!

Country Living Magazine Subscription Scam

Ok, so Country Living - nice ideas - TERRIBLE customer service. Let me start by saying that I never intended to sign up for the magazine - I am on their free email newsletter list and must have clicked on something because all of a sudden I started getting an invoice in the mail.

Considering I did not want the magazine - I ignored the invoice. Let me note that there is NO phone number listed or a check box to indicate you are not interested in the subscription ANYWHERE on the invoice.

Also note that we have never even received one issue. Ever.

Over time (a month or two) our supposed "account" was sent to a collections department and finally a phone number was listed on a letter we got in the mail.

My husband called the number and was rudely informed that we were obligated to pay for the subscription - even if we didn't want it, did not intend to ask for it and even though we had not received a single issue and were not interested in receiving ANY issues.

I hope Country Living tanks like every other magazine that is going under right now.

I cannot believe they would stoop to such tactics to get one measly subscription.

Throughly miffed. And will promptly cancel both my email subscription and my supposed "magazine subscription" that I was so nicely forced into.

Why couldn't they cancel the invoice? I didn't want the magazine and wasn't receiving the magazine. Why force me into a $12 year long subscription by threatening me with collection letters and a collection department?

Because now, dear Country Living, I hate you. I cannot stand you. I cannot see past the wrong you've done me - no matter how charming your spreads and ideas.

Nope, now I am going to tell all my friends and readers how awful you are - and I may just burn every issue you send me without even taking a peek.

Yup, that is right - I would rather burn $12 of my hard earned money than read your crummy magazine.

So instead of a satisfied customer - you now have one pissed off subscriber. Was that your plan?

If so, GREAT JOB!

First Day of Spring 2009!

Manged to overcome my sinus woes and celebrated the first day of spring right - see what I did? There are now 4 large holes in our walkway garden bed where huge hostas used to be. The hostas weren't really loving this spot, in the summer, they get blasted with afternoon sun and the heat off the bricks - the leaves get brown on all the edges. So, I widened our hibiscus flower bed in the backyard and transplanted the hostas there and then took the left over dirt and put it my garden box.



Oh, and check the first great sunset of spring!!



Now I got to figure out what to put in those four large holes. I am thinking peonys, hydrangeas or lilacs....something that can handle west facing, afternoon sunlight and the heat off the brick.

Any suggestions from all you garden blogger experts??

Woke Up to Friday in a Funk

Woke up in the wee hours of the morning today with a whopper of a sinus headache. 4:45AM to be precise. My alarm is set for 6:45AM - so needless to say I am a tad bit grouchy today.

Not only could I not get back to sleep until a mere 5 minutes before my alarm went off - but my face feels like it was beat up from inside and my neck and shoulders are achy and sore from being stiffed up all night.

Trying to pull myself out of this funk, because it is Friday after all and I would like to salvage the day. So, I treated myself to a McDonald's sweet tea this morning and will be going out for lunch since I was in no mood to scrap together anything for myself before work.

Hopefully the caffeine and sugar from the tea perks me up a bit here soon because I feel like I could just lay my head across my keyboard and drift away.

I loathe sinus headaches - and they seem to happen every time a weather front comes in. Anytime it goes from being 60 degrees and then drops down to 20 in the course of one evening - I am bound to wake up suffering. I should have taken my Sudafed Severe Sinus Headache meds before bed last night because I had all the warning signs. Sore muscles in my neck and a slight ache between my eyes - but I was hoping I was just tired.

Ugh.

Web Finds Wednesday

Grapefruit Sorbet - Yummy recipe I want to try!!

Petite Watermelons - A cute party idea from Craftzine!

Cauliflower Recipe - Something to try one day when I am feeling brave.

Rhubarb Lavender Crumble - From Apartment Therapy!

Garden Glove Giveaway Over at Herbal Bedfellow

Attention fellow gardeners - there's a great garden glove giveaway going on over at Herbal Bedfellow!

Go enter to win!!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2009

Ah, spring has finally sprung!! Gorgeous blooms gracing my garden!
Daffodils have made a sighting, but no signs of tulips yet.



Check out more garden blogger goodness over at May Dreams!

Southside Soup Swap 2009

So, I finally got my act together and with the help of all my lovely guests (including the wonderful blogger from Return to Rural) drummed up quite the selection of soups for the first (and hopefully annual) Southside Soup Swap! We had everything from taco soup, chicken noodle soup to carrot and more!

I won't have to cook for a week now! :)

Bark Around Town with Indy Hub

(See Salt? She's a happy lap dog!)

Made it out to Indy Hub's latest Big Event at the Humane Society of Indianapolis last week and had a blast! We took a tour of the great facility - saw the adoption areas, the surgical area and more! We met some four-legged friends - like Salt, Penny and Emily and was able to learn more about the Society's many great programs - like their Dog Park and Training Classes. I had never been to the Humane Society before and am glad I made it out last week!

Definitely hugged my pups a little tighter when I got home that night.


Here's Andi and Amos hamming it up for the camera.


Here's little miss Emily - she's a 3 year old miniature Dachshund - but isn't up for adoption yet - she's recovering from a hip fracture - she should be ready for her forever home in another week or two though!

Bulbs For the Garden

Sorry for the premature post there - hit the ENTER key on accident. LOVE when that happens - not!

Anyways, last night I made it out to the "Bulbs For the Garden" program held at the Mooresville Library and taught by the Morgan County Master Gardener's Association. Learned all sorts of things about bulbs - like the many different kinds (bulbs, corms, rhizomes, tubers and tuberous roots) and how to decipher which bulbs are hardy and which are tender and what that means to me (tender I have to pull up and store inside each winter and hardy I can leave in the ground). It was all very interesting!

The only fee was for materials but I didn't see anything that caught my eye (I already have a pretty lengthly list of things I want to plant this year) - but I did learn a lot!

For more classes and events visit the Mooresville Library website at www.mooresvillelib.org.

And being the good blogger I am, I shot some photos while in class, though it was much to the discomfort of my fellow classmates. Got eyeballed even after I put the camera away. :)

Squinty McSquintytins

Now I know these aren't the most flattering images of my precious pup - but my Lola has an eye problem! :(

I am crossing my fingers that is just allergies or a minor irritation. She's been squinting and pawing at her eye and it has just developed in the last 24 hours. And it's watering a lot.

We did go for two long walks in the last couple of warm weather days - so hopefully I can chaulk it up to something like allergies. I don't think there is anything in it because she lets me poke around at it and she never uttered a peep - and she is my baby-dog so if it did hurt she would let me know - believe me. I can hardly pull burrs out of her fur without her yelping like I am poking her with a red hot iron or something. Silly dog.

When she woke up this morning it seemed to be a lot better - no more pawing and just the hint of a squint and a lot less watering.

But if it isn't better by tonight - she's going in for a looksy at the vet.



My poor squinty pup!

Web Finds Wednesday!

Recipe: Viva La Crêpe!

From Whip-Up: crafty crafty has a nifty tutorial on making this swiffer cover and duster

Knitted Fish Pattern

Keep your lip balm handy with this pattern to make a knit lip balm holder by Knitting in the Yarn Barn.

Reusable Snack Bag Tutorial

Yummy Torilla Soup I want to try...

Gaiam Great Green Giveaway!

Green lifestyle company Gaiam is sponsoring this Great Green Giveaway over at the Alternative Consumer. One lucky winner will be able to dry their threads powered by the sun and wind. How cool is that?? Save money, save the planet and save your threads.

The easy-to-assemble, folding Umbrella Clothes Dryer allows for easy clothes hanging. Height adjusts from 4 feet to 6 feet. Polished aluminum post fits into permanent ground box. Arms are galvanized steel.

To Enter this Random Drawing, simply:
Visit gaiam.com. Then leave a comment on the giveaway post over the Alternative Consumer, telling them why you like the Umbrella Dryer, and how it suits your lifestyle.

One lucky winner will be selected in their Random Drawing, and notified by email on Friday, March 13 at approximately 6p (ET). Winner has 24 hours to claim their prize, or offer is null and void. Winner’s name will also be included on this post.

Wasted Warm Weather

Pretty sure my husband and I wasted a perfectly good, unusually warm Saturday to do nothing but nap.

Well, we did make it out of the house to peruse JoAnn's (I've got my eye on a spring wreath), checked out the new store in town - The Christmas Tree Shoppe - which, by the way, is nothing like the name....no Christmas tree in sight - just tons of marvelous goodies! I could have walked out with a cartload - but, alas, I was able to restrain myself and didn't buy a single thing - a miracle really!

We lunched at my old favorite - Burger King - love their flame-broiled burgers - treated ourselves to one of their slushie/frozen what-ever drinks. Word to the wise - don't do the mixed version - just stick with either the cola or the cherry - never both - yuck.

Walked through Lowes and gazed lovingly at all the trees, patio furniture, bulbs, lumber for my new garden boxes, bags of fertilizer and weed killer. Again, didn't buy anything - but we sure are itching for spring. I want to plant asparagus, potatoes, garlic, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin, peas, carrots, lettuce, radishes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, dahlias, bleeding hearts, a magnolia tree, a pussy willow tree, black eyed susans, purple coneflowers, cucumbers, squash, gourds, watermelon, canteloupe.....um, I think that's it. :)!

Still no blooms on the crocus - and no sightings of my other blulbs (daffodils and tulips) I checked.

But other than a brief looksy around the yard and a little time shopping, we spent most of the day napping. At least the windows were open in the house - so even if we didn't spent a lot of time outside enjoying the warm weather - we did let the warm breezes in. That counts right??

I had all these plans for Starbucks or Dairy Queen and a walk in the park with the dogs - maybe trying out our new wine/picnic kit- but we were so tired that we came home and knocked out from 1PM to 4!! And of course, the hubby has to work tonight - so if I want to run around to the park or otherwise I have to wrangle the dogs on my own. :(

We may take a stroll around the neighborhood though before it gets dark.

Anybody get out there to actually enjoy this weather?? Tell me what you did!!

Just A Little Update

Just to give you all a little update...

1. I've fallen off the bus. Yup, during those frigid below-zero temps we had this winter I stopped riding the bus to work (i.e. no more 4 block walks to work and 30+ minute waits on the curb). Maybe I am a fair weather bus rider. But I am not ashamed - I am quite happy toasting my bum on my heated leather seats for awhile. I do miss reading on the bus though - but that is about it.

Yet, there's a new bus in town - so I may give it a go and see from there...

Just feeling - eh, about the whole idea.

2. I CANNOT WAIT FOR SPRING! Sorry, for the outburst, but REEEEAAALLLY cannot wait. I am already prodding the hubby to build more garden boxes in lieu of my April 1st plant date! And I'm already out pacing the yard much to the neighbors' amusement I am sure. In the last hours of daylight after I get home from work you can find me stooped over outside eyeing all my flower beds in search some signs of growth - usually with camera in hand. (found rhubarb and crocus so far!!)

3. Haven't been doing a lot of fun things lately - so nothing good to post about. It is a weird time of year, doesn't seem to be a lot going on as far as fun, free events. Maybe I am just too busy to look at the moment...either way...boo!

Badminton in the Snow

Remember that badminton set my husband got me for my birthday?? We've already put it to good use - though we now know that we need to invest in some multi-colored shuttlecocks because we kept losing the two white ones we have in the snow. (we played a few rounds last week before all the snow melted). And we found out that our pup-dog Showbiz, likes to steal the Shuttlecock - so badminton becomes more of monkey-in-the-middle as we try to keep her from nabbing it. :)

Sorry for the blurry pic - it was my favorite though. There's no easy way to look good in your puffiest coat, crazy mountain-woman hat and snow boots - so I'm not really worried about clarity here.