A Little Off the Top

Sylvia was visiting us for a week--checking out the new kitchen, seeing dear old friends, visiting her #2 son.  Though she was busy with errands for friends or dinner with other friends, she still found time to do a bit of our heavy gardening.  I came home from work to find this: 

Tree Debris

One of the trees had grown too big.  It was pushing one of the crepe myrtles over too much, and not allowing anything to grow underneath (which is probably why we have a mud pit at the end of the path).

So, she hacked away at it.  Will helped too, but I think that was more with the clean up of the debris.  And you can see that there is a fair amount of it.  

The trees have been sufficiently trimmed back and in the summer, we will enjoy the new growth--hopefully of the tree itself but of the grass that we will now plant to help with the mud pit.

Angus

We are watching Angus again.  The neighbors are off for a quick trip, so we have a house guest for a few days.  He certainly is making himself comfortable.  And he knows that he has it sooooo good. Just look at his face!  

Happy Birthday Annabelle!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNABELLE!  Hope your day is perfect!!

XOX, Mim and Will

Eleanor's Blanket

For my nieces and nephew, as a 'welcome to the world' present, I cross-stitched them blankets.  The theme is always the same: Beatrix Potter's characters.  In fact whenever I make a baby present, a birth sampler, pillow, bibs-- I always use her charming creatures.  Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Hunca Munca, Jemimah Puddleduck.

So, when I heard my youngest sister was pregnant, I started on blanket #5, with a pattern I had set aside for her baby.  I had been waiting to do this one for years, as this pattern was made just for her. When she was younger, I would take her shopping with me.  Now, don't think that it was me being a nice elder sister.  Oh, it was really selfish.  I used her for my calculator. "Becca, I have $45.  This sweater is $29 but is 15% off and these earrings are $12 but 10% off.  How much will that be and do I have enough?"   She would be able to do the calculations, including the tax, in her head within seconds.  Very useful to someone who has an issue with just straight adding.  Ahem.

Anywho.  I heard Becca was preggers, and I started sewing her baby's blanket with Peter Rabbit and his friends and numbers 1-12, taking a total of 10 months to complete (I admit that there were a few weeks I didn't work on it--like in Copenhagen or when I was on pain meds for my broken toe.  Medication and counting generally do not mix).  Once the baby was born, I added her name and birth date.  I added a back, some stuffing to make it warmer, my initials. Then I packed it up and shipped it off.

Only, once it was in the hands of the post office, did I realize that I hadn't taken photos of the finished product!   All that hard work and nothing to remember it by.

But, now that issue has been resolved.  Becca sent photos of Eleanor on her blanket.  She laid it out on the floor and had Eleanor pose for me, by her current favorite numbers: three with Hunca Munca, four with Benjamin Bunny, and five with Miss Moppet.  I am thrilled to see the blanket again and remember ho sweet it was.  Though, I think that the best part of all is having Eleanor also enjoying it.  Soon she will be able to read the numbers, and then she is just a hop, skip, and jump away from the higher mathematical skills of discount shopping.

Eleanor with Hunca, Benjamin, and Miss Moppet.

The entire blanket. 

Mobiles Collection

Mobiles. We love them.

It might be our *thing*, but then again, there are lots of *things* that we do. 

We brought back three bouncing birds from Denmark-- apparently, every Danish household has at last two of these.  We have the black satellites hanging in the new kitchen window.   I gave that to Will as a Christmas present several years ago, but it was never in a good place-- until the new kitchen window came along.  

We brought back wooden Viking ships from the Viking Museum in Denmark.  We have them circling around our master bathroom. We have another mobile in a guest room that holds photos that I change out periodically.  

The largest mobile is in the t.v. room: silver metal moving quietly as we curl up to watch the tube.

We are a quest for another one for our bedroom-- the vaulted ceiling seems to begging for one-- but we haven't the perfect one.  Yet.

Orchid Competition

Will issued his orchids a challenge: which ever one blooms first, gets the prime spot in the middle of the kitchen table. 

Well, the orchids heard and took up the challenge, gangbusters. 

We had our choice of orchids: blooming, budding, crazy roots systems.  We seem to have our white orchids leading, as they each have several blossoms.  Our tiger orchid isn't to be out done, however.  It has two spikes with 14 buds on each spike-- they are just slower to open.  

It is an enjoyable competition to watch, that is for sure: Every day something changes as a flower opens up on one orchid plant or a new leaf on another.  

Floor coverings

In an effort to keep the new floors clean, as well as help with noise for those living in the basement, we got a rug for the main area of the kitchen.

We felt that more green might be too much with the green tiles, so we opted for reds and oranges, going with colors that coordinate with the curtains.  It is a part of a set of three (the third one is in the  loo).

We aren't completely convinced that we have made the right choice.  We like the rug and the pattern, but we aren't sure it is in the right place.   What do you think?

Now with Back Support!

We finally get the kitchen chairs!

Now, you have a choice when  come over to eat in our kitchen: either with or without back support!

Comfy Chair

Now that the kitchen is done and we have a larger computer monitor on which we can watch the Daily Show or the Colbert Report.  However, quickly, we realized that the kitchen stools weren't the best t.v. watching stools.  Order and enter: comfy chair with ottoman.

Even the puppy loves it!

As you can see, Stirling likes it more than her little dog bed.  We have sat in it too, and we can't blame her.

Happy Birthday Darren!

Happy Birthday Old Bean!!!

Hope you have another one on us!

Creme Egg Crisis: Averted

You were worried.  You were gnashing your teeth.  Some of you might have been wailing. 

However, the Cadbury Creme Egg Crisis has been averted.  

The terrible time-consuming, not to mention dangerous, act of leaving the house to go to CVS or the like to scrounge for the eggs when in "season", paying almost more than double the actual cost has been solved. 

People, I know.   Calm yourself with this great news.

Will has discovered that not only can random plants or garden things be ordered on teh interwebs, but so can 

TWO DOZEN CADBURY CREME EGGS. 

And no, he will not share.  They are ALL for him.  He has every one inventoried, labeled, and marked.  Not to mention that he is watching them.  and you.  and me. closely.