Thursday, November 10, 2011

Letters from Camp

Bailey stays w/ friends when I travel (lucky him, and grateful me!) and their home is referred to as "Camp." He loves them and going to their house. When I say "Do you want to go to camp?" he jumps up, turns in circles and jumps/pushes against me until we're going out the door...

Sometimes I get letters from camp:

Dear Moma,
I have a new calling and role in my life. Before, I thought I was created to keep the squirrels away. But now I know that I was made for so much more! I have the artists call in me. I am on the cutting edge of interior decorating and design. Let me explain. The other day L had this big machine out. I think I may have seen one like it at home but I am not sure. And I am certain that if I have seen it at L's house, it has been so long that it is like a new machine. Anyway, she gets this machine out and turns it on. It makes a big noise and she starts moving it all over the floors. At first it was totally boring watching her but then she moved onto the carpet in the living room. I felt my spirit come alive! She moved the big wand over the carpet and made it smooth and I came after it making designs. My feet are amazing! You would think that they would move in an orderly manner but no, they pounce all over. The carpet was amazing. Such random designs by my paws. I was thinking of calling my new business, "Paws by Design". We can talk about it when you come home. I think L appreciated the art work because she kept wanting more. When I did a design, she moved her wand over it and made it smooth for me to design on again. She understands the artist's soul, the need to keep creating. Sigh, such satisfaction.

That boy came over today. He's getting better. Today he offered to share his little men with me and didn't take any of my toys. I tried to maintain my artist's aloof manner. Eventually he crawled under the table and called it a fort. I wasn't even tempted to crawl under the table with him. I think I am maturing. But then again...

You should have seen this one. L was sitting on a stool with her legs stretched out. She knew I wanted to come up but kept shooing me away telling me there was no room. Now, I understand that she is vertically challenged and no matter what chair she sits on her legs are never at a perpendicular angle, especially on those stools. So, imagine her surprise after shooing me away when I came sneaking in and then took a flying leap and landed on her pathetic excuse for a lap! Score! She wrapped her arms around me she was so surprised. I knew I could get her attention away from that boy.

Today I went for a walk with the boy. He holds onto my leash but L holds on the the back end. We only went to the end of the street and back. I am hoping for an evening walk with B and a "real" walk with L in the morning if the rain stops. I hope you are having fun with your new friends. I miss you but camp is fun.

xoxo Bailey

P.S. I am eating like a good boy.
xoxo


and then:

Dear Moma,
I have given this some thought and I think I would like to change my name. Just hear me out. Names usually communicate something about the person/dog if you must. Bailey is cute. I do look like that stuff you and L like to drink but here's the thing. It's just not me. When I meet other dogs and tell them my name is Bailey, well, I don't think I get the respect I should get. So here is what I would like to change it to. Mr. Fer Ocious. My friends could call me Fer and my close acquaintances could call me Ocious. But those who don't know me, or to those to whom you would like to introduce to me, Mr. Ocious. Don't you like the sound? Imagine calling me in the backyard, "Hey! Ocious! bring that ball to me." I think it has quite a ring to it. Please consider this. I am getting older now and Bailey doesn't sound all that, well, ferocious.

xoxo Your loving son,
Fer

P.S. L was much better on the walk today.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Love this...

So I'm not doing very well at 'revive-the-blog' - too many partially finished things not ready for posting.

But... this is so worth watching.... again and again and again. LOVE it!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

New York re-cap

I met E & C in NY for a girls' theater-filled weekend!!!

The weather alternated between gorgeous and rainy, but it just didn't matter... we weren't trying to go shopping or sight-seeing, just a weekend together on Broadway!

Our first show was The Addams Family... And I'm glad we had discounted tickets because the show was a dud! The music was forgettable and the show was boring. Brooke Shields was Morticia, and the young woman playing Wednesday great! My entire familiarity of The Addams Family is the music with the "snap, snap" - but I don't think it would have been any better even if it were more familiar!

I can't stop raving about How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying!! Daniel Radcliffe was phenomenal! Hard to believe he's so young, so wealthy and so committed to theater that he's performing on Broadway in such a draining role. I'm not sure what surprised me more - his height (just 5'4" or 5'5") or how well he danced!

DR Billboard

E wanted to hang out with the groupies near the exit and I captured a fleeting, blurry shot of him as he got into the limo...
DR car

The final show of the weekend was Priscilla - Queen of the Desert. Definitely NOT a family show with a story of drag queens, but it was a fun, silly tone, had fantastic costumes and an actual plotline with character development!

It wasn't ALL theater.. first a return glimpse of Times Square before the rain...

Times Square

And a stop at the rebuilding of the World Trade Center and emerging memorial...
World Trade Center

And finally...as a Project Runway fan... I had to visit Mood Fabrics!! E&C were able to get tickets to Book of Mormon and I didn't mind about not getting a 3rd ticket because I really didn't want to see it. So I happily entertained myself with fabrics and then a much-appreciated hour at a coffee shop.

Mood NY Mood2 NY

A GREAT weekend and without a computer and email it really felt like a much longer break!

Enjoy the day!

Bailey had a great time at "Camp A" but still says:
Momma - don't leave. I can provide all the drama you want around here!!
Bailey home

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Must find this!

Saw these fantastic carpet tiles as a 'sneak peek' of a FLOR Fall 2011 design
(thanks to Poppytalk's post here)


These would be so great for my craft space!

Enjoy the day!
JavaNut

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

My favorite lamps... at long last!

A LONG time ago I saw a really cool lamp at Anthropologie. LOVED it! It was a stack of cups and saucers. It was me. LOVED it! It was $200. LOVED it! But not the price tag for something that immediately prompted my inner DIY-er "I could do that..."

I collected a bunch of pieces from thrift stores and Goodwill (and my cabinet!), got a lamp kit and the drillbit the 'tool man' suggested. It took me an incredibly long hour to drill through one saucer and it didn't create a clean hole. Project tabled...

I was link-hopping one day and found Mandy of Vintage Revivals. She recreated my lamp AND wrote a great tutorial on how she did it. So a couple of false starts later... I got my lamp!!

Forgive the phone photos... camera was charging and in my 'just do it' frame of mind, I grabbed the phone. The guest room colors are really hard to photograph well, so now I have the phone camera as another excuse for poor photos. And I'm still looking for lamp shades... trying to find some that I can thrift and re-make, but not successful. But here they are in the guest room... still LOVE THEM!!!


The large cup on the right next gets filled with toiletries when guests are here, and if they're lucky, flowers in the pitcher. If I'd made an effort for good photos, maybe I would have "staged" that too ;-)

When I finished, my friend immediately wanted one... so I continued my stalking of the nearby Goodwill. Numerous trips later had a good collection of yellow/blue... the saucer under the small yellow cup has a cute pattern, too. (and again... still working on finding the right shade).



Check out Mandy's tutorial and detailed photos... and thanks to her for making it easy!

Enjoy the day!
JavaNut

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Freeze your shoes!

I really avoid buying shoes that aren't comfortable, but if I ever have shoes that are too tight - here's a fix. I never would have thought of this...

Friday, September 9, 2011

Who knew??

This year's garden has been a bit of a bust... possibly strange weather pattern this summer, but mostly just from neglect.

Tomatoes are always my priority and I've got 7 or 8 plants... woefully unproductive. Just enough to keep me eating them... no bumper crop, no overflowing basket, and very sadly no roasted cherry tomato bruschetta! Or tomato bread salad. sniff.

Even the zucchini has been perfectly manageable!

I planted lettuce for the first time. It stayed healthy, but didn't exactly grow so I wasn't sure if I picked some of the leaves if/how it would keep growing. Then I forgot about it.

If you've ever wondered what happens... I totally cracked up when I turned the corner and saw these! Then I left them to see just exactly what would happen. They grew another 10 inches or so, flowered at the top, and then fell over. (I had also turned off their water supply as that seemed a bit irresponsible!). So not exactly my intention, but I was entertained!

IMG_2178

(I do plan on trying lettuce again and WILL remember that I've planted it. Probably.)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Back to blogging...

Back to blogging... I've been contemplating this for a while, and clearly this is a case of the longer you wait, the easier it is to wait longer! But I love the blogosphere so here's the 'just do it' post.

Significant contribution to my loooonnnnng hiatus was a long battle with tendinitis in my left wrist... therefore no knitting and less computer time. Second contribution was switching to a Mac was a less-than-pleasant process and I still find anything to do with photos a challenge. But months of therapy and then surgery late 2010 solved the wrist problem, and I'm just adjusting to the Mac. So... I'm back!

And since this was originally a knitting blog... a summary of my pitiful
output of 2010 until the tendinitis hit... pics aren't the best, and the resolution of the mosaic-maker-tool-thingy is even worse, but it's about all these projects warrant!

I do love the little gnome guys, though... Alan Dart is brilliant designer of knit toys. I NEVER would have considered knitting toys until I saw some of his patterns... totally cute! I dare you to look at his patterns and resist. Some people pay CRAZY prices on eBay for out of print ones that can't be re-released because of copyright laws...

I obviously failed the "10 Shawls in 2010" Ravelry group challenge, but jumped right in for the "11 Shawls in 2011" and had those all completed several months ago (and then some!).


So I'll leave this blogging re-entry post with another mosaic of those shawls...

I've discovered a surprising affinity with some Stephen West's designs - brilliant in their simplicity and use of color. I love knitting lace, but for out & about and the office, his ClockWork (gray/cream stripe, and multi/cream stripe) are incredibly wearable!








Mosaics done with the the aptly named Mosaic Maker from Big Huge Labs using my flickr pics.

Enjoy the day!
- JavaNut

(phew! I did it!)
Bailey says: I'd rather be going somewhere...
B&B