Summertime and the livin' is easy.....

I can't wait till summer.

I won't have the time crunch of dropping the kids off at school and can ride my sweet bike to work. She still need some racks and baskets.

But know we are in a quandary. We are starting to look for a new house. Ben and I are at odds as to what we want. We both agree on more space, that extra bathroom would be awesome. But I would like to stay here in Old Town. He's looking at things farther out. I love being close to everything and able to ride my sweet bike to work and walk the kids to school and such. The thought of having to drive into town for all that just doesn't set me at ease. I love the old houses around here. He wants something he wont have to fix.

So keep us in mind while we look into this new shall we say "adventure".

Giveaway Grapevine

Just to pass on some yummy fiber goodness to all you yarn-a-holics out there.

My good friend Cyndi, The Twisted Purl, is having an awesome handspun yarn giveaway.

Hurry on over to sign up :)

From my front porch

I don't know if you can classify it as a porch actually. It's a bit more than a stoop though. The late afternoon sun is shining through the trees. Right now it's hit an open patch on out catalpa tree and it is rather bright, but I am not really complaining. After having weather that basically consisted of a month and a half of straight rain, I'll take a bit of bright sunlight. Just gives me a good reason to put on the Audrey shades.

For the past couple of days I have been watching a momma bird tend to a baby in our front yard. I first caught site of her feeding him in our high grass. The ground has been too saturated to mow until of late. I could see the baby stretching his neck up like they do and the momma fluttered about with bugs and worms and such.

As Ben started to mow yesterday, I ran out quickly to do a spot check of where I had last seen the mother and child but they had moved on. As I set here typing (on my new laptop which I can take outside... LOVE IT!) I can see them over in the still higher grass of the drainage ditch. He's fuzzy with feathers but likes to spread his wings. I wondered if they lost their nest somewhere in the rain storms we have had.

My nicco hydrangea is sporting many beautiful bloom heads. I am still waiting on the blushing bride. I guess she's just shy ;) I have a new climbing rose that has just started to bloom.

Today was the first day I have had off since last Wednesday. Working a full weekend makes for a rather long discouraging work week. And these days at home on nice sunny days make me miss being home all the time. Getting to be in my house alone and enjoying my clothes line. Sunny days are made for laundry. At least in my book. :)

But I am looking forward to my 3 day weekend. Its Riverfest weekend in Little Rock and Saturday will mark 11 years of wedded bliss.

As the sun dips lower, it highlights the bugs darting to and from and the birds are taking advantage of it. Guess its suppertime for all.

Throwing the towel in

Yes you read that correct.I have officially thrown the towel in when it comes to crafting as a business. Well at least on any kind of regular schedule.

I want my crafting to become fun again. But I will still be here showing off my creations to anyone who cares to see my irregularly scheduled programming. I enjoyed blogging and I so enjoy creating and crafting, and as I keep saying I want it to be "FUN" again... not a chore, like cleaning the toilet. Which I need to get to as well :)

Speaking of towels, I have this crazy urge to crochet dishcloths and even edgings for my dishtowels. The fabulous EllynAnne always talks about how housewives used to make their "tools" for housework pretty so that even when doing the dirtiest of jobs could be enjoyable. I finally finished a project in my Tuesday night Yarn-A-Holics group that meets at the library. The comment was made one night that they had never seen me finish a project. I was like welcome to my crocheting life. HAHA.

But I did finish this dishcloth and I absolutely love it! I think the "yarn" may actually be butcher's string. I got it in a grab bag of things from Savers.

Speaking of Savers, my mom and I had the best Mother's Day on Sunday. We were given the chance to head out on the cloudy, drizzly day and hit the antique malls and flea markets. I don't think she and I have really done this since I was in high school or college. OK maybe we did it once or twice in San Antonio but we never were completely on own own.

But we hit some places in North Little Rock, Savers and Hidden treasures and then just worked our way back to Conway.

I have made a vow to buy all my bed linens from thrift stores. I rarely pay more that $6 for my queen sized sheets and they are already super soft and in the unique retro and vintage prints that i adore anyway. Why pay $40 for a sheet set?

I did pick up a potato masher for Ben :)

But my big find was so super cool.

Look at this canister set!

The colors, the cute retro pseudo-Dutch design, and they all nestle together on a lazy susan to boot!I think I am going to clean off the top of the fridge so it will have a prime spot for showing off, yet not take up valuable counter space. I.E. not be covered with the mounds of paper clutter that is drawn into my house like a black hole vortex!

I know it says its for flour and sugar and tea and coffee but those are just suggestions don't you think.

What a great spot for my granola storage! Which by the way my family ate in less than 3 days!

So while I won't be actively pursuing a crafting career, I'm still here making stuff and thrifting when I get the chance. And if there is something you see that you think you might want just ask. You never know with me ;)

Ready, Set, Toooooooooooad!!!!

It's Toad Suck Daze in these parts.

Toad Suck is a yearly festival in Conway.

Something to do with the history of the Arkansas River and the sailors that used to drink so much they swelled like toads when they docked here.

Anyway we have a big 3 day hoopla of

toad races

(Luke won his!)

music,

craft booths, carny rides,

and fried food on a stick.

What more could you ask for?

Oh yeah!

There's Stuck on a Truck!!!

Check out the webcam to see how the contestants are fairing so far.

The rain about did us in this year. Saturday turned out to be a total wash out. They completely cancelled it and we were so looking forward to seeing Robert Randolph last night and David was really upset that his music group from school didn't get to preform :(

I feel so sorry for the vendors. I heard through my friend Chris who has a booth there that she had a ton of water in her booth but that she fared better than some who had completely lost their tents.

It's Sunday today and the last day of the festivities and I believe the last little rain cloud is passing now. Hopefully we can get a tad bit more of the toady experience in before the day is over.

Yummy Crunchy Goodness

Today I made granola. Can we just say YUM!

Back when I was just a mother of 2 and led the leisurely life of a military wife, I used to make it alot.

These days I am more and more freaked out by the things that are in our prepared foods. I compulsively read the labels and more times than not leave the store without much food. So I look for non high fructose corn syrup and items that have the fewest unpronounceable ingredients.

So I am making granola again. Here's the recipe.....

Wow, ever notice how brown granola is?

4 cups old fashion oats

1 1/2 cups nuts ( I mixed almonds and pecans)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup veg oil

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Coffee break. More brown :)

Mix the oats, nuts, brown sugar and salt together.

Warm the oil and honey and whisk in the vanilla.

Pour this over the oat mixture.

Spread over a lightly oiled pan ( I used a couple of 13 x 9 metal cake pans )

Bake for 40 minutes at 300 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes.

Let cool.

You can add 1 1/2 cups of dried fruit after it has cooled. I left mine plain since folks in this house have such varied tastes. Its a very versatile recipe. You can also do some googling and come up with recipes that used other ingredients such as molasses and wheat germ. But this one was closet to what I had in my pantry.

I enjoyed mine with golden raisins and Stoneyfield Organic Vanilla Yogurt.

Sometimes life comes at you fast......

No its not an insurance commercial. It's an explanation.

Where to begin?

You may have noticed my absence as of late. If there is anyone left out there reading.

Hellooooooooo?

Ever realize that the world is just spinning and somewhere back there you forgot to keep up? That's the revelation I came up with this past month. And the result was a sad one yet relieving one. I have left the Shoppes on Woodlawn.

I simply didn't have time to devote to making my little area what it needed to be. And the pressure to get new aprons and signs and any of my other creations in there just took the fun out of why I loved doing it in the first place.

So I guess I am back to being a hobbyist. I plan to keep up with Etsy, but when i feel up to it .

And I am also involved in some local trunk shows traveling to different Conway schools that feature Arkansas artist that sell on Etsy (AREtsy). And I am always up for the custom job.... when and if I have the time.

I plan to make some things for myself and family, who have been greatly neglected in these past 2 years of my crafting. I want my sewing and crochet and what ever else I decided to dive into to become fun again.

The Library has been a great place to work as well. Although these pretty spring days have made me miss my "housewife" status.

I really, really miss hanging my clothes out to dry. Who would have thought I would miss laundry ;)

But I have started a group that meats at the Library. We are called the Yarn-a-holics. It's a non bias yarn lovers group. If you crochet, knit, spin, weave...... then we are the support group for you. Everyone has been so very supportive of it. We have had close to 20 people every week since we started at the end of March.

So while giving up the Shoppes was a tad depressing, I feel like it has released me to create in many more ways. So hopefully I'll be here more often showing you my new creations. Thanks for all your support :)