A Lazy Snowy Day

 It's snowing buckets outside right now and has been all day.  The snowplow has just gone through and it doesn't even look like it 10 minutes later.   I've been in my rug hooking room most of the day not doing much but watching TV and at different times have had a different kitty in my lap.  My husband is holed up in his bunker watching the Flyers game.  I took the camera around at different times today and as you can see from the pics - no one is doing much!

This was taken right after 'breakfast' - Looks like someone needs a nap...

This was right after breakfast - someone is settling in for his long winter's nap...

Another one down for a long winter's nap...

Later this afternoon...

And this picture truly amazed me - You have to remember Miles grumbles and growls and hisses and spits anytime Riley or Jonesy comes near him...

And this one about 1/2 hour later - because I just didn't believe what I saw earlier - I truly almost dropped the camera...

Maybe Miles is lightening up - or maybe they are doing it out of necessity - do I keep it too cold in the house and they are snuggling for body heat?  I don't know but I do hope it lasts - I love when all my guys are buddies.  

Okay - what do all these items have in common?  A bag of snippets, my hartman hook, my miller hook, my wool bag that holds my hooks, and my snippet dish????

Sure they are all rug hooking items but that's not it! What they have in common is that they all helped solve a part of a mystery.

A few weeks ago I went into my little wool bag (where I keep my rug hooking scissors, my two hartman hooks, the little white miller hook, a sharpie, my whipping needles, and whatever else lands in there.   I opened it and no hartman hooks - neither one were in there - these are my favorite hooks to hook with - I really don't care for this little white hook but keep it using it now and then - you never know - eventually I may like it - Anyway - I start looking all over the place - in my worm pile, in my bags I take to hook-in's, I then started looking everywhere in the hooking room - under the bed, down the side of the daybed, under the tv cabinet (remember I have those guys with little paws), everywhere - I spent two hours looking and was totally frustrated.  So I ended up finishing an item with the little hook.

Then for the next week I got busy with other things and didn't think about it. 

Well last weekend I went into my closet to pull out my bag of snippets to use to stuff the pin cushions.  I'm stuffing away and put my hand in the bag and hit something hard! OH WOW IT'S MY HARTMAN HOOK!  Oh my goodness, I could not stop laughing at myself - yes i was so happy to find my hook, but i'm just such a bonehead sometimes.  What I must have done was layed the hook down in my snippet dish  and then dumped it in the big bag without even realizing the hook was in the dish! 

Now to find my spare hook.... and no it's not in the bag of snippets - I checked!  Maybe one of the guys with the 4 paws knows, but they aren't telling!

Hoping everyone is safe and warm and enjoying their day.  I'm off to find something to hook...

Who'd A Thought A New Hair Dryer would Make Me Happy!

Sorry - no pics this post - My husband borrowed my camera and I haven't seen it for a few days. I told him I wanted it back next to my laptop where it belongs! Hmmm still hasn't shown up - little does he know he's getting a new camera (nicer than mine!) for Christmas - I bought him one for my Mom to give to him for Christmas. He keeps asking "What did you tell your Mom to get me? Tell her I want an Amazon.com gift card to buy a camera". I keep telling him it's none of his business and if he doesn't behave he'll be getting a rock!

How many of you like your hairdryer? Dumb question I know. I've been through several hairdryers in my life and none work as nice as the ones at the hairdresser. Let me re-phrase that - work as fast. I hate drying my hair - it's always been fine but thick and a lot of it (not length) and even when it was shorter, it takes forever to dry. It's really rare I ever fully dry it unless I've been to the hairdresser. I really hate to fuss with it and take the time to dry it - I feel there are so many other exciting things in life to be doing! hehehe I know I know - never had a good hair day and probably never will . And yes I do drive with the windows open (weather permitting of course) - hair be damned. I refuse to become part of the "helmut head brigade" - going through four cans of Aquanet a week and not allowing a touch of air on the head! Okay - I'm exaggerating - however a friend of mine years ago did go thru 2 cans of Aquanet a week and spent 3 hours doing her hair - yep everyday - Boy did everyone used to tease her. One time the guys threw her in a pool after she got out of the bathroom - and yes - back in the bathroom for another 3 hour session! Anyway, do they still make Aquanet?

Okay - I'm way off subject here - hairdryers. A few months ago mine stopped working so i pulled my really old one out from under the sink. Wasn't every happy with it and really wasn't happy with the one that conked out either. So yesterday while I was out shopping, I picked up a new one at Target and I can't tell you how happy I was this morning. This little dryer had more power on the low setting then my previous ones ever did on high! Practically blew the hair off my head - and my hair was TOTALLY dry in no time! Just loved it! This is the first hair dryer I ever had that had some "power" behind it! Okay, Okay - probably sounding like a dork here - you probably all have known there were good hairdryers out there and me at my age just finding this out! Oh well, now I won't be dreading getting out of the shower and having to dry my hair tomorrow.

So is everyone done their Christmas Shopping? Enjoying the season or stressed? I'm actually pretty relaxed - this is one of the first year that there wasn't too many demands on my time. I think I was able to actually say "no" to a few things this year which helped (family things) It's things not to do with Christmas that was actually driving me up the tree but it's starting to relax now and keeping my toes crossed everyone stays healthy and on track.

Wishing everyone a great weekend - Snow expected here tomorrow so I guess it's time to grease up the old shovel!

Cleaning, Friends, Pin Cushions

Well last week I didn't do anything creative - decided the house needed some attention - usually I can look the other way but decided to just break down and get 'er done! Well I guess I got some stuff done - ended up going thru a few junk drawers, moving some furniture in the living room, digging out old Christmas decorations I haven't seen in years (and also purging a lot of them - 5 huge bags full I freecycled! Love it - they are already picked up and gone!), laundry was done, windows washed, cat toys picked up! LOl! Now if it could only stay that way!

Riley and Jonesy were big helps following me around and helping. Miles decided to nap! I think Riley is amazed that I was actually holding a vacuum here (not one of my favorite things to do!)

Of course my "supervisors" had to take advantage of the sunbeams (which have been rare lately!)

Friday I decided enough cleaning so I decided to go visit my friend Gus - I took him a pumpkin roll I had made as he never accepts anything you would buy for him. Gus is in his late 80's and I worked with him over 20 years ago. We have kept in touch for years and he's like an adopted grandfather to me. He even went to my parents house years ago and make known his "intentions" to me - that being he thought of me as a daughter! He has a daughter who is an architect and she lives in Texas so does not get to see her that often. His wife died about 15 years ago and for a while he only had his cat Snookie who has since passed. Gus is originally from Greece and goes back for a few months each year to visit family and then goes to Russia to visit his wife's family. His real name is Constantin. He is funny - very direct on his likes and dislikes and when he calls you up - He will ask how my husband and cats are doing (and name them by name) and then ask how my parents and I are and then usually will say goodbye! On Friday when I visited - I took my camera with me and snapped a picture of him and also showed him some pics of my cats that were on my camera - he then took me outside and showed me a stray cat he's taking care of -he loves cats - Thru the years he would always show up at my office with who knows what - one time it was two 20 pound bags of cat litter, another time it was a book he put together of his wife stories, another was this Greek dish he made - and right now i can't remember the name of it, and so one. That's just the way he is! Always looking out for others but will not let anyone do anything for him!

Wishing him all the best!

After visiting - I went to an open house - they opened a Victorian House in a small town for two days and had handcrafts for sale to benefit breast cancer. It didn't really knock my socks off this year but I managed to buy a small item of course.

My friend gave me some items to sell for her on eBay - but normally before i put anything on eBay I check to see if it's worth it - Well I took on bag of the items out of the box to go over to my computer and when i came back to get the next bag - guess who had to fit his butt in the small space where i took the first bag! He's just too funny -

Saturday I got home around 10:30 p.m. and on my table was a box from my friend Debbie. Oh wow - I couldn't wait to tear into it - Debbie is also a cat lover and a very gifted "artist" in her own right. Whatever she puts her hand to - punch needle, quilting, penny rugs, rug hooking, painting, whatever - it's always great!

Inside my Christmas box was (and I didn't get pictures of it all) a small ceramic jewelry box with a Cheshire cat on top, a cute framed picture of a kitty, this great eyeglass case she made - Its so cool - made from hand dyed wools and appliqued cat on top - just perfect work - Riley is pointing it out to you here (actually the second after i snapped the pic it was on the floor!)

And another incredible gift - a penny rug with cardinals, kitties and mice - It is perfect for my round table in the living room! Never had anything right for that table until now - The table sits under my hooked rug "Mouser" (an adaptation of an antique rug) Anyway - it's wonderfully prim and the stitching is perfect. Thank you Debbie!

The rest of the weekend was spent making some more of those Ball Jar Pin Cushions which I learned to make from another blog with the tutorial last year and made up a bunch. I had put some in the Folk Art Sale and they called me up and said they sold out and did I have any more as people were interested. So I decided to make some more. Jonesy helped me most of the day today finishing them up and tomorrow will take a few of these over to the sale.

Wishing everyone a stress-free Pre-Holiday Season! Hope you are enjoying your week!

Now where did we put toys?

Apple Crunch

Apple Crunch - Just out of the oven!

8 to 10 apples - pared and sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar (i only use 1/2 or less)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 stick butter or margarine
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Place apples in an 8 x 10 greased pan.
Toss apples with brown sugar and cinnamon mix
Mix flour, sugar and baking powder - add egg -mix well
Spread on top of apples
Melt butter and add lemon juice
Spoon on top of crumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.
Good hot and cold and great over ice cream!

A Prescription for All of Us!

New Store Opening, Folk Art Sales, and More

For the last few years I have had some of my rug hooking items in a store called The Copper Partridge, located on Main Street in Sellersville. The Copper Partridge is full of mostly hand-made items from different artists - Pottery, Redware, Fiber Items, Jewelry, Some Furniture, Some Antiques, and so many more unique items. Well on Friday, Diane (owner) opened another Copper Partridge in Skippack Village in Skippack, PA. It was amazing how much work she did in only a few short weeks to get it opened in time for the Holiday season. I was in an almost empty store on Sunday to drop off some items and last nite, it was full of great items and so nicely decorated. I wish Diane and her crew and all the artists and craftspeople much luck in both stores.

Here is Diane - who is smiling - hard to believe the woman is even standing with all the work she's been doing!

A part of an area where some of my larger rugs are displayed -

Well after visiting The Copper Partridge on Friday nite, I went to visit my sister-in-law who was doing a show at a craft fair - She makes some really nice jewelry - forgot all about taking pictures there!

After visiting and looking around the craft fair I was off to the Heritage Center in Harleysville. They have an annual PA/German Folk Art Sale for the entire month of December. This is the second year I have participated. Friday nite the participants are invited for an opening reception and also the public is invited to shop for a donation before the show actually opens on Saturday. My uncle was there, he did their decorations and was helping out with the punch bowl and whatever was needed. So I spent a little bit of time there looking at every one's great items - lots of redware, fraktur pictures, fraktur painted boxes, woodgrained boxes, painted carved birds, quilts, and I could go on and on - I had some rugs in the show and was pleased to see some had already been sold by the time I got there!

Well now it's Saturday and it was dreary day - then it started to rain/snow and then just snow. Just not ready for that! Tomorrow is supposed to be sunshine so I'm sure all the snow will be done.

The mail lady brought a big surprise - our group AAPG had a Secret Santa Swap - well my package arrived today - Chris Moore (Mystical Primitives) had my name and boy did she spoil me - She is an incredibly talented lady - She made me this wool kitty pin cushion and covered the pins with wool on the hand, also a large box she covered in fabric and put a pin cushion on top - in the front of the pic is three stitch handids - oh her work is incredible, there was also 2 ornaments - they look old -not sure what the technique on them is called. Also was some chocolate, a notepad and a kitty calendar - and if that wasn't enough...

She sent me this old quilt - she thinks it's probably from the 40's - really cool - I love it, and if that isn't enough....

This old tin container with a date of December 7, 1880 - from Norton Bros,Chicago, will have to do some research to see what it was originally used for - Veggies? Ice Cream? Coffee?? I don't know but I love tin items and this is wonderful!
So thank you Chris!

During the day I was trying to bind some of my items - but as you can see from this little guy in my lap that was requiring belly rubs and/or playing with the wool yarn and cording - it wasn't even going! He's just too cute to shoo away!

When he wasn't over helping me bind my items - you can usually find him waiting on the bed wtih that dollar store toy - he is too funny - he will be downstairs and be sitting on the step and if you walk by he starts "talking" and you follow him upstairs, Jonesy "talking" the whole way - and he jumps on the bed and sits by his toy! Too funny!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Sunday!

Hey Guys, follow me - I got a cool toy to show you! Be prepared to play!

Ah the Joys of Shopping...

Well this week I've been doing some Christmas shopping and errands and things. Today I went to the Mall - yes the Mall - to Macy's - they had big sales going on and also sent coupons to use today and tomorrow 25% off your total of whatever you spend. Well I have to tell you - Sometimes you just have to throw up your hands and go along with things.

I had three items to purchase in the Men's department - two were the same item at $12 each.

Macy's has these scanners so I scanned it since I wanted to see the price with the sale - So 25% off $12 is easy - $9.

The Scanner says $11.25. (Original Price $15 - less discount = $11.25)

Wrong!

So I look at my items in my hand - Nope - two tags on each say $12.

I went to pay for the items and waited in line for one of the two salesclerks.

My turn - so I tell her about the price problem and to sure it rings up $12 less the 25% equalling $9.

Easy - right?

So she said Oh yes, no problem - they are $11.25 each.

So I explained the original price was wrong and should have been 25% off of $12.

And she says - yes you got the sale price which equals $11.25

So I explained again how it was basing it on wrong starting price.

So she re-does it and says - Yes Ma' am (I hate being called Ma'am) they are $11.25 each and that is with the 25% discount.

So I go thru the scenario again.

And again...

Now the 2nd sales girl is involved... She tells me the same thing...

I explain again...

and again...

Now the customer behind me is laughing with me - she understood what I was getting at (The first time!) ... So she tries explaining....

These two girls could not figure it out for the life of them - so I'm laughing and trying not to grab them and shake them...

So over comes the Manager...

We go thru the story AGAIN....

So he does everything and says they are $11.25 a piece with the 25% off.

So I explained AGAIN!

Finally another salesclerk jumps in and said she understand and rings up my order -

Guess what she did....

She gave me 25% off the $11.25 - not the $12 - Which comes out to $8.44 - Okay - it should have been $9. Oh My! At this point I'm thinking should I explain they are underselling themselves - and I just look at the other customer and we laughed and I said "Okay whatever - and thank you for your help!"

So I ended up with the additional 25% discount for the total amount I got each of the $12.00 items for $6.44 each!

You gotta love it!

Anyway - Christmas shopping for the Family - DONE!

My husband and I are not exchanging gifts this year but I did find him a pair of Doc Marten boots (personally I think Doc Martens look like Frankenstein shoes/boots and are so stiff but he loves them) at a real discount so I bought them for him and surprised him by putting them on my 3 foot Ziggy and putting them on the bed for him to find! LOL! Yep I'm a bit strange. He bought me that Ziggy when we were date some 23 or 24 years ago. He said he felt like a dork carrying it thru the mall at the time! Now him being a typical male - comes home and sees them - and says "Oh boots, for me" and takes them off Ziggy - Puts Ziggy back in the hooking room and then throws them on the floor. GEEEZZZZZ - Now me - if there were a new pair of shoes - I would be trying them one - looking at them i n the mirror - totally checking them out, etc. Men!

Yesterday I was on the way to the hospital to visit my Dad and my Mom called and said that there was a possibility of him getting sent home so not to come down (it's an hour drive and parking is expensive) So I called my husband as he originally wanted to meet at a new Mexican Restaurant - So while i was waiting for him I went into the Dollar Store to meander around. Found this silly cat toy - it's a leopard print fleece with elastic on a pole with 3 felt fishes on the end - Well let me tell you - Jonesy is in love with this toy - OH my goodness- he sleeps with it, he stands in the middle of the bed screaming for someone to come play with him with it and just goes absolutely bonkers running around when you let it fly around. Riley loves it too and even had Miles playing too . Jonesy really had me giggling - when he jumps up and catches it mid-air - he starts hissing at it - Never heard this little guy hiss before - it had me in stitches.

Oh and when he's not playing and I'm on the computer - you can find him behind my computer. Didn't embarrass him with the hat this time!

My Dad is home from the hospital and doing okay for now which is good news. Let's hope it stays that way and not have a repeat of last winter!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!