What's Up?

I missed posting yesterday.  So, here's an update of my weekend and what's up.

My sweet Penelope went in for surgery this morning.  I'm trying hard not to worry about my sweet girl.  I found a lump where her microchip normally is.  I Googled to see if tissue can grow around microchips or if they can cause tumors.  I was shocked to see that tons of stuff came up about microchips causing cancer and lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.  YIKES!  I took her in to have it checked yesterday.  The good news is that the lump doesn't seem to be attached and can be moved around.  And, her lymph nodes seemed to be fine.  They're going to remove the lump today and send it in for testing.

Poor baby was so scared this morning.  It was so hard to take her in for this but it seems to be the right thing to do.  I don't want to wait and take a chance of it being bad and spreading to the point of not being able to do anything.  I love this girl SO much!  She's the sweetest and most loving kitty we've ever had.  She's so attached to me and wants to be with me almost constantly.  She comes to me often for snuggles and looks at me with ooey, gooey, loving, eyes and always has lots of kisses for me.  Fingers crossed she'll be just fine!

I snapped this pic over the weekend of her enjoying the morning sun.  Looks like she's meditating.

I bought a crock over the weekend that I'd had my eye on at my favorite antique shop.  They were having a sale, it was still there, and I got it for less.  Woot!  I put my antique rolling pins in it.  I love the rich color of it.

Hubby and I went to Oceanside for a bike ride on Sunday.  It was a cool, cloudy day with temps in the mid to high 60's.  Ahhhh!...a nice break from the heat wave we had for a few days at home.

These gorgeous Matilija Poppies were growing near where we parked.  The bushes were about five feet high and loaded with these beauties!

Our garden has some veggie babies!  Yay!  I snapped a few pics this morning.

A volunteer butternut plant seems to be doing well...

More tomatoes!  I'm so excited for these tasty treats!

Zucchini...

We have an eggplant blossom!  :-D

I plan to stay busy crafting and working around the house today to stay really busy and keep my mind from worrying about my sweet Penelope.  I get to pick her up sometime this afternoon.

Sweet P

How about a sweet Penelope post for today?!

She's just so darn cute that I can't stop taking photos of her!

Here she is testing out the throw I'm (still) working on.  I think she likes it!

Peek-a-boo!  It's warm in under the comforter!

In spite of all the cattitude she has....she does loves us!

Cozy

I bought a new throw/blanket lately that we've all fallen in love with!  It's super soft, very warm, and oh so cozy!  Our little Penelope is enjoying it too!  She's so cute!

We like the striped one so much that I went to TJ Maxx and bought another one.

And, you guessed it, she likes that one too!  :-)

All of these photos were taken with my cell phone and I used PhotoGrid to size them for Instagram.  "PhotoGrid" recently started showing up on the corner and I can't figure out how to get rid of it.  My daughter uses PhotoGrid and is able to keep it off her photos by clicking it off at a certain point.  I do that every time but it doesn't work for me.  I even took it off my phone and re-installed it to see if that might work.  Nope.  Sigh.  Oh well.  Does anyone know of another editor/re-sizing app that works great but doesn't do that?  Recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  :-)

Kitty Cuteness

Penelope is just so darn cute that I just can't stop taking pictures of her!

Here's a few of the newest ones...

She's always anxious to go to bed and patiently waits until she knows we're about to go upstairs.  Then, she races up and waits for us on the bed.  Sometimes she stays on the bed as we remove the comforter and pillow shams.  Here she is last night...looking like she was thinking, "come on, mom, hurry up, you're late for bed!"

She's a very snuggly girl but only with me.  She won't snuggle with anyone else in the family, no matter how hard they try.  She sleeps right next to me every night and has her own pillow that I put next to me for her to lay on.  Since it's started getting chilly at night, she's started to snuggle under the blankets.  She sometimes even puts her head on my shoulder or my pillow.  It's really hard to get a picture of her doing this because I have to do it with one hand on my phone, it's kind of dark, and she gets annoyed when she notices that I'm taking pictures...again.  But, I got one this morning!...

Since the weather has cooled, I'm back to knitting on this never ending blanket.  It works great because it's long enough to keep me warm...and, Penelope too.  ;-)

Does anyone reading this use PhotoGrid to size your photos before posting in Instagram?  Just yesterday the photos started having "PhotoGrid" on the corner.  That's kind of annoying!  Do you know how to prevent that?  Or, do you know of any other editing/re-sizing apps that won't do that?

Weaving!

I have a great little LeClerc floor loom that sits patiently waiting...and waiting...and waiting for me to use it.  I bet it's in shock right now because I actually am using it again!  I measured out some warp last week for a dish towel and finished warping yesterday.

I have a weaving assistant!  She supervised last week from behind the loom.  Yesterday, as I finished up, Penelope jumped up on my lap and looked up at me as if to ask what I was doing...

Then, she did a close up inspection to make sure I did it right...

Then, I started weaving!  Wooot!  It's so fun!  Why don't I do this more often?!

I'm just doing a simple plain weave for this dish towel project.  I love seeing how multi-colored yarn works up.  And, so far, this is looking great!  I have a busy day ahead but I hope to find some time to work on it today.  There's only enough yarn for one towel.  So, it should work up pretty quickly.

Happy Tuesday!

Kitty Yarn

I have a friend that's a very talented yarn dyer.

She recently came up with a new colorway that she calls, "Soft Kitty".

It was love at first sight for me because it's not only beautiful but it's also the same 

colors as my dear kitty, Penelope.  Could there be a more perfect than that?!

I gasped when I saw it!  Without any thought, I immediately ordered two skeins.

I had no idea yet what I'd make with it but I had to have it!  I call the color, "Penelope".

Here's a picture of my dear Penelope to compare colors.
My daughter took this photo.  I think Penelope likes having her photo taken!

And, just one more because she's so darn cute.

My yarn dyer friend is not only talented but she's super sweet and thoughtful too.

 Over this last weekend, she worked hard to dye the two skeins for me so I could take it on my trip.  She thought it would be like taking Penelope with me.  Isn't that sweet?! It just blows me away to have someone do something so thoughtful for me like that!  And, yes, it went in my bag immediately.  There's no way I'd leave this at home!  Thanks, M!  You're a gem!

If you haven't already visited her Etsy shop you should head over and take a look.

She creates some of the most beautifully colored yarns I've seen.  She has some kits with patterns created especially with and for her yarn.  And, she's big in the whole mini skein craze.  She sells beautiful collections of minis.  Her beautiful Inner Yarn Zen yarns can be found HERE on Facebook and HERE on Etsy.  And, if you see one of her beautiful yarns on Facebook and can't find it in the shop, be sure to message her.  It just might be a color she can repeat and create just for you!

Adorableness!

Is that even a word?  It has to be a word because it perfectly describes my

adorable little kitty girl.  Just check out her adorableness in action...

She loves to have her belly rubbed!

A Fairy Garden and a Week on Instagram

Wow!  Last week flew by and I didn't get anything posted on my blog.

It was kind of a weird week.  But, I did get a few things posted on Instagram.

Here they are...

My daughter came home from college for part of the weekend.  When she arrived on Friday 

night, she asked me to close my eyes.  She had a little Mother's Day surprise for me.  

What a sweetie!  She bought some adorable little plants and a little arbor

and gates to start my very own little fairy garden!  Aren't they cute?!

I've wanted to make a fairy garden for a while now.  In fact, my daughter and I went shopping last Spring to find containers and supplies.  Life got busy and I never got any further than that.  But, I finally got around to making one this weekend...thanks to her!  I used the old roasting pan that I found last year at a thrift shop.  It was the perfect size to hold everything she got for me.

Here's a close up photo.  I've since added a little bunny tucked in close to the bush on the right.

I'll be watching for a few more things to add a little more character and cuteness to my fairy garden.

We've been careful not to use insecticides around our house for the past few years.  I don't want to hurt the birds or other wildlife that my live here.  By doing that, we now have a great insect control system...lots of lizards. There are several different kinds and colors.  And, we sometimes have tiny babies running around.  Some of the lizards are getting big.  And, some are very colorful!  I found a couple of them on Saturday that were bright and colorful in the sun.  One of them had glistening green and blue on it's back.  This one had glistening blue.  It's even prettier in person.

Sometimes, I just NEED to crochet.  And, sometimes, it just NEEDS to be on a rock.

It might seem a little weird but it's so much fun!  I enjoy the creativity and problem solving

required to design something and make it fit nicely and snuggly on the rock.

I treated myself to a little ball of turquoise crochet thread on Friday.

I've been eyeing it for a long time but hadn't bought it because of my yarn diet.

Sometimes, a girl just needs a treat of new yarn!  I came home and quickly got started.

Here's what I came up with...

Here's the back...

Little Nellie (Penelope) is a big part of every week and everyday!

I love this little girl!  She was very snuggly last week.

She hopped up on my lap a lot and just wanted to be held and snuggled.

How can I resist taking more photos of that?!  She's so cute!

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

A Week on Instagram

I thought it would be fun to post my most recent Instagram photos today.

So, here it goes...

One of my favorite antique shops, Cottage Charm, has a monthly event called,

"Vintage Market".  It's always on the first Saturday of the month.  So, that means today was the day!

I headed down to see what I could find.  I'm sure glad I did!

I found this at a little shop next door...an inkle loom for just $15!

I've been wanting one for a while but didn't want to pay $60-$100 to buy one.

Now, to learn how to use it!  I'm so excited!

(Ooops on the pink background!  I didn't realize I'd done that until I loaded it on here.)

One of the outside vendors had this old oil heater.  I've been wanting one of these for years

but I haven't wanted to pay the prices that are usually on them of around $100.

I was surprised and happy when they said this one was only $20!

The color is perfect for my house.  And, there are no dents on it.  

I like the flower shaped cutouts on it.  So cute!

I created a new version of "egg salad" this week.  

It's gluten free waffles, arugula/rocket, eggs, and salsa.  Yum!

I take so many pictures of my adorable Penelope.

I can't help it...she's so darn cute!

Here, she's waiting near my pillow for me to go to bed.

She likes to sleep up against me most every night.

 A little bit of silliness one evening on her felted bed.

Trying to wake up after sleeping allllll day!

She loves to hang out on the top of her kitty tree that's by the window.

It's warm in the sun and has a great view of the birds in the yard.

Lazy and adorable!

She likes to play in the bathroom sink.  

And, now, she seems to like laying in it.

I'm continuing to work on de-stashing my yarn.

I bought this yarn in Sedona a couple of years ago.  I love it so much and have been 

trying to find the "perfect" pattern for it.  I thought I might have found it but

I'm not quite sure I love it now that it's started.  It's a cowl.  I like the texture and the

pattern but I wonder if it will block out enough to show the pattern. Hmmmm?

We found little eggplants at the market and tried a new way of cooking them.

I drizzled olive oil on them; sprinkled them with salt and pepper; and roasted them in the oven until they were tender.  Then, I sliced them in quarters from the stem down so they could grab onto the sauce.  We dipped them in some homemade marinara.  They were so creamy and yummy!  

We ate them all!

Three X's in the sky!

I love Instagram!  I can't wait to see what pops up to post on there this week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Penelope Post

Just have to share some photos of my precious Penelope.

She's the sweetest, cuddliest, silliest, most wonderful and unique kitty I've ever had!

I love this girl!

Her and I have bonded and she's my sweet lil girl.

Every morning she waits until she sees me open my eyes and then runs over for morning snuggles.

I love that!  She even looks into my eyes with a loving look and puts her paw on me.

It's become a morning ritual.  She's trying to make it a middle of the night routine too.

If I wake up in the night, she runs up and lays next to me for at least a few minutes of snuggling.

She's so sweet!  Just look at her adorable little face...

We started taking her on camping trips when she was itty bitty.  She meowed a LOT!

We went again last week and she did SO much better.  She did very little meowing.

 I think she even liked it.  She seemed to enjoy looking out the windows. 

She hung out in the back seat with my daughter for most of the trip.

She wore a harness and a leash to keep her safe.

In this photo she was checking on our dog Salsa who was laying in the back...

A little time in the front seat with me...

And, in the back seat again, sitting on my daughter's lap.

She used my daughter's arm as a paw rest...

She rested her chin on the window sill of the door for a while.

From the reflection in the glass, it looks like she fell asleep...

She seemed to enjoy her week of camping.  There was a lot to see, smell and listen to and that

kept her awake and busy watching out the windows and running around the RV all week.
She slept and snuggled at night and early in the mornings but took very few naps.

Now that we're home, she's all tuckered out.  She played with her toy a little this morning.

And, she did a little sun bathing.  But, most of the day has been spent cat napping...

She was very relaxed and stretched out on the love seat this afternoon...

Such a cutie!