Fair Pictures #1

Howdy y'all here are some pics of the county fair from last weekend. 

A mama goat and her new babies!

My dinner was freshly cut and fried potato chips.  OMG!  The best ever.  I even thought of going back to the fair just to get more.

The fair is huge and we only had from 3:30 to 9pm to see allot of the things we wanted to see.  We visited the barnyard animals; the Budweiser Clydesdale horses, the Human Body exhibit (which was really gross, I hate to see skeletons) the lovely ladies spinning yarn and now I understand how yarn is made!  Of course I now want a spinning wheel and some spacious land with furry friends living on it.  We saw the quilts (beautiful!) needle arts (some people sure are talented) and hand painted china of which I will post pics soon.  Next year I might enter something I crocheted and definitely need to spend the whole day as we felt rushed.

It has been hot all week and it really has killed my business.  Hardly seems like Oct. begins tomorrow.  It's been hot in my bedroom and I haven't slept well.  I get the permanent crown on my tooth tomorrow morning (yeah, that will soon be over with) and my dance and Pilates classes are going well.  At least I've kept it cool (not cold) here at the shop and have spent some time looking at crochet patterns on the web.  Hope you are having a fab day!

Hey, It's Hot Here

Well so much for the mild summer as autumn would like to cook us.  I do believe the high here today in LA was 112F.  Yesterday at 109F was hotter than Saturday's temp. which was around 98F.  I didn't go to the fair on the hottest day!  Even at 3:30p when we got there, it was allot cooler than that.  We had a fun time and I have some pix to show ya soon.  I haven't been too busy at the shop today but I didn't think I would be.  The TV and radio media are busy telling everybody to stay indoors and keep outta the heat and that kills my business.  BUT, if I didn't have AC here I would have gone to my sis' at the beach and just stayed there until it cooled off.  So it's ice tea and cold food day.  We'll survive!  Hope you are in cooler territory and having a wonderful Monday!  I'm sure I'm not the only one dreaming of owning one of these right now!

I brought my new crochet project in to work on and I 'm glad I did, so now I'm gonna go work on it. 

**********EDIT***********

OKAY, so we had a record breaker of 113F today and it's still hot out, 102F right now at 6:45p!  I'm not leaving the AC, I'm hanging out at the shop until about 9pm.  Maybe it will be cooler by then.  I hope so.

I've Been Blogging for a Year!

Blogging for a year already?  Hey, how did it get by me?  My first post was 9/22 last year.  I've only posted 82x.  Oh well, I'll do better this year.  What should I do for my anniversary? Hmmm.  I'll think of something.  Meanwhile, I want to thank those of you that come to visit.  It makes it worthwhile to write. 

     THANK-YOU!  You are awesome!!!!!!

Going to the County Fair

Yes, I know, we couldn't have chosen a hotter day to go to the fair, and we've been having such nice days.  That's what happens when you're a working stiff like me!  It was a toss-up between tomorrow (hot) or next wknd (the last wknd of the fair, lotsa people).  We chose HOT over PEOPLE.  If you've never been to a metropolitan city you have no idea how many people there can be in one area at a time.  In LA everybody drives a car so it's people+cars!

I'm going to meet my friend Tracy there after work and we're gonna check out the needle-arts, crochet & knitting projects, see weaving, spinning and candlemaking demos and check out the quilt show.  I always like to quickly see the barnyard/4H club animals, too.  It just wouldn't be the county fair without smelling like it!

Yup fall is here, we can tell by the heat that burns the leaves off the trees instead of them changing colors.  I'm really hoping it doesn't get past 95f tomorrow.  I'm gonna have to find one of my "packed up because we're going to be moving, HATS" tonight so I don't burn my face off.  Since Tracy is still getting her energy back after her cancer surgery and treatments, we'll just rest and duck into the air-conditioned marketplace bldgs when we need to.  It'll be fun even if it'll be hot.  I even heard they have deep fried frozen lemonade this year.  What's up with that?

Here's a sneak peek at some of my new stash I got on ebay.  I hope I have enough for the project I want to do.  I'd better get back to work, the UPS, DHL and Fedex bills are calling out to be reconciled.

Hope you get to do something fun this weekend!  Take care!

Update #2

Hi!
Well, I got the second coat on and in some places it looks like it needs a 3rd coat.  We're getting there...seems slow at times.  Geez, if I just had a money tree in the backyard or didn't have to work, I'd be done!

Here's a couple of pics of the before and after of the kitchen cabinet hardware.  I thought I took some pix of the outlet covers before I sprayed 'em BUT, did not.  Even if some places could use the 3rd coat it just LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER than before.  No pix of that yet because when I finish, there will be the FINAL REVEAL.  Sorta like the Extreme Makeover Home Edition, (not).  But I can wish.  Ya know, some people told us to apply to them and we'd get the makeover done to our house.  Truth is, they started just tearing down everyone's house and ours just needs major makeover, not do-over!  Besides, we wouldn't have qualified since we didn't have that, "needy-ness" and hero/destitute/drama thing going on.  I actually used to watch that show when it first was on because I'm fascinated at the amazing things people can to with saws, drills, ingenuity and paint!  But, when I found out that people who had been on the show were losing their new houses to taxes, IRS gift tax, increased property taxes and they couldn't afford the utilities for such large houses etc., I got disgusted.  It's like, "Here ya go now, enjoy this new house until the government takes it away from you".  I don't mean to rant here or be political but I feel a change is coming from "we the people" who are disgusted at how large and inefficient (that's a nice word for it) our government has become. 

The magic of paint!  I sprayed 'em with antique brass and then did an antiquing over the paint using the Restorzit product that I'm putting on the cabinets to highlight the indented areas.  The darker outlet cover, I just brushed the gold on the highlighted area where it was worn a bit and then sprayed the polyurethane on top to make it shine.  Now, I didn't choose this hardware but it goes with the kitchen so instead of throwing them out, I made 'em look better at least!

Here's something prettier!  The Coleus plant sure likes it on the front porch!

The yarn I bought on ebay came so I'm gonna go home now and play with it!  Happy evening to you!

Kitchen Update

Howdy!
I've been letting the first coat dry all week and since it's not very shiny,  I'm going to apply another coat later today.  I think that it's not shiny because the wood absorbed the new finish so, like the bathroom cabinets, I'll do the 2nd coat and that should do.  I also sprayed the knob and handles to freshen them up a bit (I'll show ya pix next week) and I got some clear polyurethane to spray on 'em to make the finish last longer. 

This week my baby turned 24 and I can't believe it's been that long that he's been with me.  I've been so busy that instead of making a cake for him I just got him a little dessert thingy from Whole Foods Mkt. and a small container of cookies and cream ice cream.  Lord knows, I don't need any dessert.  AND, I have lost a bit of weight by just disciplining myself...by cutting down on the amount I eat and not eating too late in the day/eve.  I don't weight myself, I can just tell my jeans aren't as tight!  I'm also gonna start a Hawaiian dance class and a Pilates class with the same ladies I used to tap dance with.  The teacher isn't offering the tap class any longer so I chose these 2 classes to get my booty moving around and can burn off some calories as well as some muscle toning.

The praying mantis is still living in the Hibiscus bush in the new garden and since the city decided to raise water prices and start rationing the water, I've cut back on watering and the new plants seem to be doing ok.  It's been such a pretty late summer into near fall weather; so much cooler than usual.  Cool and crisp in the early mornings...soon it will be time to make some apple pies, yum.

I bought some yarn on ebay for a killer deal and I already know what I'm going to make with most of it.  I'll keep you posted on that.

Oh, and I went to the dentist yesterday and got the last of the metal outta my mouth!   My left side is sore and I need to eat soft things until it heals more since it is only the temporary crown for the next 2 weeks.  I'm almost done with my "teeth mending program" yeah, yeah, yeah!  I'm as bad as the next person, I don't like going to the dentist but I want to keep my teeth.  So if you haven't gone in awhile, go, take care of yourself, you deserve to keep your teeth until you are no longer needing them because you are in heaven!!  Now, go...

I'll leave you with this, my pretty violet with variegated leaves.  Hope you have a terrific weekend and get to do something fun!

Edging Decided!

Here's the practice edging I did while trying to choose the border for my afghan.  It's from my new crochet borders book.  I went around one of the squares.  The edging is from the dark green row outward.  Of course I'll frog the edging when it's time to add this square into the blanket.  I like how it is just a tad ruffled and it has only 4 rounds!  I'm gonna do this round in white and not green (see red circle in pic).  That way the green will look a bit like stems for the lavender stitches so they look like flowers.  Yup, when you're a flower freak that is what you do.

Look what my friend Tracy made for me for my b-day.  I feel lucky.  Can you guess what it is?  I did immediately when I saw it.  It's the perfect gift!!!  I LOVE IT.  I have used it almost everyday since she gave it to me.


Tracy makes beautiful quilts and someday she can show me what she knows (I say to myself hopefully like) please.

See, it holds my crochet hooks!  Did you guess right?  The next morning when I got up, I put them all in their new home.  She also gave me this darling strawberry pot with seeds (a kit) that I will start next spring.

Here's a couple pix of my new yarn (ahem, thread) together with the new green I got since it was handy and tried the two together.  It worked pretty good, the yarns stayed together nicely, so far so good.  Now to find a yarn that will go with it color wise, is the key to it working out.  Then what shall I make???

Hope you're having a lovely and relaxing weekend despite the fact that our world changed drastically 10 years ago today.  My prayers are with everyone who lost someone dear to them, so damn sad.  Even with the state of our economy, it's great to be alive.  Be thankful and grateful for all we have.  Take care.

Knitting?

Hi, The yarn I purchased on ebay is really thin.  Lace type yarn.  I can't do lace..at least not yet, HELP!  Does anyone have any ideas for this type of yarn?  How easy is it to crochet 2 or more stands together?  I liked the color not checking to see the TYPE of yarn (as she kicks herself).  It looked so much different in the pix especially super sizing the pic on ebay.  Here it looks thin.  What should I make with it?

Hey maybe I should learn to weave!!??

I went to Tuesday Morning (a close-out store) and bought some bamboo knitting needles (for cheap along with some other yarnie delights) and gonna give knitting a whirl.  I learned a long time ago (in what seems like another life but never made anything) but it's coming back to me thanks to u-tube videos.  I also bought some green linen+cotton yarn to go with the other yarn I already own to make those (Not Forgotten) summer hats.  So many projects darn, and so little time, darn it.  DARN, Darn, darn.

Well, I must get back to work now, thanks for stopping by!

Productive 3-Day Weekend

Howdy!
Over the holiday weekend, I dead-headed the flowers, watered with one last plant feeding and got more tan on my shoulders and the tops of my feet.

In the kitchen, I got the last 2 panels of the curtains hung, one long cabinet cleaned and refinished with half the woodwork cleaned in the eating area; painted some of the hardware (pix coming in the next few days) and little paint touch ups here and there.

Only 3 loads of laundry, multiple up and down the stairs, one pumpkin pie made with my last years pumpkin that was cooked and frozen and 2 dinners cooked up.  Let's see, some grocery shopping, too.  Oh, and I finished my practice edging on my afghan (pix coming soon) and mended (by sewing) 3 fabric items...I'm totally exhausted today, yipes. 

Look who was visiting my new front garden:

It's sorta creepy when they turn their head and look at you.  He's got himself situated right by that flower so any unsuspecting bug that lands becomes his lunch.  EEeeek.  Enough of that...

Here are some flowers that are blooming now:

The mums are blooming a bit early this year.

The mini red rose has enjoyed our mild summer.

Because you are soooo sweet for coming to visit, here is a heart cactus for you!

I'll be back soon with fix-it updates and my yarnie stuff.
Be Good!