What's This Bird???

Does anyone know what type of bird this is? It was visiting my feeder one day. It has a yellow chest. This is the best picture I could get.

Lucky "Mail" Day

Do you like the mail? I mean snail mail. I normally hate the mail. I always let it pile up. It seems that nothing ever comes but bills. But today...was my luck mail day.

I got a rebate check for $25.00 from this expensive prescription dog food that I have to feed Tom. Then there was this envelope from the mortgage company. YUCK! Open it up, SURPRISE. We had an overage on our escrow account. Now that never happens. We were over $336.00 and we got a check for that amount. Cha-Ching!!!

Dragonfly

Sorry, I haven't been posting much. It has been so hot here. The humidity is killer and we are totally revamping the shop. Darn job, they just get in the way! I took this picture yesterday. I have these rusty iron greyhound silhouettes out by my pond. Every time I take the dogs out, there is a dragonfly on one of their noses!

Worker Bee

Well, I am busy as a bee today. I got the floor painted and put 2 coats of polycrylic on. So now I am ready to "fluff the nest". I am learning to hate stairs. Moving things from the lower level to the first floor involves 13 steps. I want a one story house next time. Of course, since the husband is still gone, I have to take everything apart to get it upstairs. Did I mention I hate stairs...pictures later!

My Floor Progress

Okay, here are a few pictures. I am about dead. Kneeling and using the paint brush have about did me in. I got all the outside border done and I am not even half way done with the center part of the floor. The room is about 9X14. So I will be back at it tomorrow. Hope to get it done and at least one coat of polyurethane on. I can't believe tomorrow is already Thursday.

Things to Do!

Do you ever have those days where you think, "why did I even get out of bed?". I have had a couple of those lately. I think I have come to the conclusion that it is time to do things for ME. For almost 48 years now, I have done everything for everybody else. When I was younger, I did it for my parents. When I got married, I did everything for my spouse. And then when I had kids, well lets just say I have spent the last 27 years doing everything for them. Do they stop their life and consider all the stuff I have done for them? NO WAY. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like I am having a pitty party (perhaps I am though), just some realizations that I have made lately.

Of course, I don't have a camera today, but I got my floor painted the base coat and I am going to stencil today. Hubs is out of town until Saturday and I am going to get this project done while he is gone. Went to Lowes Sunday and got my quart of black paint. Put a fresh coat of paint on the walls while I was at it too. Now I have to go to the garage and see if there is any polyurethane left. If not I will pick some up when I go to pick up Dixie at the vet. I will get pictures tonight of the floor!

Dreamin'

My newest wish is to move my sewing room to my daughter's old room. I had posted about this earlier. I did manage to get a picture. The day bed is going down stairs in the old sewing room.

I have tried to no avail to talk my husband into letting me paint the floor. This floor is nothing special. The top layer is particle board. Underneath is 1x12 sub-flooring. They used this for the entire house. All I can say is the price of wood must have been cheap back in the 70's. The boards aren't in that great of shape. They will have nail holes in them for sure after the sub-floor is taken up. BUT, this is the best part, I found this really cool floor stencil. We have a company that we order from called MB Historic Decor. They have all kinds of "period" stencils. They have done extensive research to come up with their collection. Very interesting stuff!

This is what I really want to do to the floor. I wouldn't have to worry about pins getting stuck in the carpet. My husband says I'm crazy. But I love it! Soooo, he is going out of town next week, and I just might do it while he is gone. Does anyone else do sneaky things like that?

Laptop Sleeve

For quite some time now, I have been looking for something to put my laptop in for protection. I keep my laptop in a Longaberger Magazine Basket by my chair. Sew Mama Sew had this really nice tutorial for a Laptop Sleeve. Click here for instructions. It is pretty simple to make, I even ad all the supplies on hand to make it.

A Little Project

Since I got early yesterday morning, I did manage to get a little project finished. I purchased this fabric at Joann's last week. It was on sale half price. I got 3 1/2 yards for under $6.00. I bought the remainder of the roll. I wish they had more, I love this fabric.

The cover and pillows on the bench on the porch downstairs were really faded. I whipped up a new cover for the cushion and the two pillows. I ran out of fabric for the third pillow, so I need to find something that will go with the fabric to make that third pillow. I know the fabric kind of blends in with the paint on the bench, but I just love this material.

Check out this critter!

Looking for something to blog about, I came across this picture. My daughter's parsley plant from a couple of years ago. See the caterpillar? I am not sure what type it is. We did catch it and kept it in a jar, watched it spin it's cocoon. Then let the butterfly go. Although I am not sure what kind of butterfly it was. It was pretty interesting stuff.

A Couple of Bargains

Here are a couple of thrift store finds from the past couple of weeks.

This cute little firkin is actually an ice bucket. It has a plastic insert for ice. I practically stole this for $1.99. I never find bargains like that. The Thrift Store Gods must have been watching over me that day!

This wooden scoop cost me fifty cents. It is pretty good sized if you look at it placed on my cutting mat. Eventually I want a dough bowl or wooden tote to put cutting boards and rollings pins and such in. Other than a few more pieces of wool, I haven't really found any other bargains for a while.