orange cat problems

This is Leo.

aka Leroy, Leroy-my-boy, wootie (as in cutie wootie). Leo is 20+ pounds of adorable and rules the house. The only thing Leo doesn't control is the constant flow of furry visitors to our kitchen door.
Meet Little Red

He lives, and I use that term loosely, in the broken down house next door. He comes to the door every day for some food and a kind word. Leo hates Little Red.
This is Missy-

Missy is Little Red's mother. She visits everyday for food and to torture Leo. She doesn't care if I talk to her or not. In fact, she prefers it if I just put the food down and walk away. Leo really hates Missy.

This is Jake.

Jake the squirrel taps on the window everyday looking for peanuts.He has a few friends that kind of hang back because they are shy. Fine by me, I don't need 3 squirrels knocking on the door. Jake and his friends also live in the broken down house next door. They literally live in the house, in the attic which thanks to me is probably covered in peanut shells. Sorry. Leo really likes Jake for some reason,

probably because Leo doesn't care much for peanuts.

Easter Recap

Thanks for all of the nice comments about Winston. This week will be much easier at work, I think. I don't really cope with loss all that well.

We had a nice Easter here although it was much smaller group than our usual holiday dinners. I gave my mom the day off from cooking and she was actually happy and relaxed as opposed to her less than happy and relaxed self of late.

Honestly, I was so stressed out last week, the last thing I wanted to do was plan a menu, shop and cook all weekend but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I really hate to come here and complain about how busy and stressed I am but I really thought I was going to snap.

My etsy shop is bare, I have a big order I am finishing, I had a work party to plan, another party to attend, kids birthday parties, Holy week at church, Easter dinner, plus all of the normal daily stuff. I really thought I was going to lose it. Thankfully I had this little girl around:

Not only does she like to help...she's really good at a lot of things. She made this eggplant rollatini from start to finish (I made the sauce and fried the eggplant) with a 2 minute lesson and minimal supervision. It was delish and she is still so proud of herself. My camera shy 12 year old made a pie all by herself and the teenager...well she didn't ask for any rides this weekend. David (aka my Bumble) was also an enormous help by letting me boss him atound more than I usually do.

This boy loves to hide and get into places! We were looking for him and found him in "the wine cellar" (it's actually a cold closet in the basement). How funny is he?

weekend recap

whew!
Business is booming, I am nearing my 100th sale on my etsy shop!
I am starting an oilcloth lunchbag revolution...I hope my lower back holds up. I am having a lot of trouble keeping up with the demand, just as I get 6 bags in the shop they all sell and I have requests for 3 more. I need more hours in the day and one more day in the week that no one in my family knows about.
I ventured away from lunch bags for a bit today because I don't want to start to resent them...they should all be made with love you know...

But I couldn't stay away all together:

Look at these two boys:

Whenever they find this laundry basket on it's side they race to get inside it. (we call it the kitty cabana) That's Leo inside of it, he usually never gets there first being the chubby one. Gilbert is the one on the top, he's too cool for everything. I'll let you in on what a dork I am...I imagine that if Gilbert could speak, he would sound just like Tim on "Project Runway", so I will often speak for Gilbert in Tim's voice when I think he has something to say.
I've said too much. Must be the oilcloth fumes getting to me.

moo

I know, I know, I owe you a finished amy heather butler-bailey quilt and yet I am posting this cute new cow quilt instead.

I made this for no other reason than I saw all the fabric, it matched and it was kinda cute. I cut and sewed the top last Saturday and I machine quilted and binded this afternoon. I have no idea what I will do with it, but it's done! I think Leo really wants it.

Sorry about the crap pictures but I am out of natural daylight for the day.

I'm sure you have read "6 weird things about me" at the other blogs, I will tell you one weird thing about me. I'm afraid to tell you all of them because you may not come back!
I can't hand quilt unless it's night time, can't do it. It makes me squirrley to sit down during the day. Oh, I want to but I am just not able to let myself relax while the sun is out. So, it's only machine quilting for me by day!
I have way weirder things that I will save for another day.

resuming normal-ish life

whatever my normal is!
All traces of Christmas are almost back in the attic, almost everyone is healthy, house guests are gone and life feels more normal again.
I bought some new bedding with Christmas money. It's summery but I can't wait that long. Besides- it was 70 degrees in Connecticut yesterday. I wonder if we'll ever have winter.

I even started Jacob's birthday present last night, he'll be 4 in March, I'm good!

I'm making him spaceboy and robot from weewonderfuls. I have the robot all stitched and stuffed but I'm not loving the fabric choices that Julia insisted on. I think I'll give her this one.
New Year's Resolution update:
I wrote my first good news letter last week. It was to our police chief to commend a female officer who stopped 2 lanes of traffic to help a man in a wheelchair cross the street. It was a tough spot and he was having trouble, she got out of the car and helped him up on the curb, turned him in the right direction and waved him goodbye. It was really very touching and he was so appreciative.

Moving on

Ho Ho Merry!

Santa brought Julia an American Girl doll and a tent for it

and look who wants to camp!

Can I take the tree down now? Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and for all the right reasons but I am so done with it (and every other holiday) right after it's done. Get those cookies away from me and put all the decorations back in the attic! Maybe because my house is so small for us and clutters so easily or maybe because I have ants in my pants all the time, whatever the reason, I'm done. I am happy to just have winter now even though the temperature has barely gotten below 50 degrees. I want to make soup, bake breads and sew....ahhhh, that makes me happy. I need to clean up this place and buy some groceries; David's daughter Christina and her boyfriend are coming here for a week. I have no idea where everyone will sit for dinner, my kitchen barely seats us 5, maybe we'll eat in shifts or I'll stand.... I dunno!

mojo-busting $%#$()*!@^ bobbin!

There's nothing like an empty bobbin to ruin your quilting mojo over, and over, and over again. Sheesh, I've filled this bobbin a lot and it annoys me every single time. If I ever get finished sewing for Christmas I swear I will fill dozens of them or better yet buy those already loaded bobbins that they sell...yep, that's what I'm doing.... *SIGH*

I've been sewing since dawn. Really. Look at the funny looking pink glow in this picture.

That's the pink glow of dawn, people! Mind you, I have had 4,205 interruptions and I did stop to eat lunch, but I am not nearly done. I just want to cry. Even Gilbert is doubting that I will ever finish or change his litter box, for that matter.

*SIGH* I wonder what's for dinner tonight.

19 pounds of love

Yep, he's 19 pounds now. It's hard to believe he fit in my hand when we got him. The vet didn't even say anything about it and he gained 3 lbs. since last year! Maybe he was more concerned with his infected tooth that I knew nothing about, apparently that's why he has bad breath.....I thought the bad breath was from eating cat food. *shrugs* I have to bring him to the kittly hospital in 2 weeks to have the tooth out. Poor Leo.

We've been keeping busy around here but managed to decorate the tree on Sunday. There's something on the calendar every night except Saturday, so hopefully we can put the rest of the decorations up then.
I'll be back with more crafty business soon, have a good week!

dollhouse ready for fall

dollhouse ready for fall
Originally uploaded by cbcyr.

I haven't made any new progress on the dollhouse project since summer but the front is painted and the roof is partially shingled. This is a project that needs a dedicated space and unfortunately my family didn't appreciate having it live on the kitchen table for 2 weeks. Hey- it was summer, we ate outside!


As you can see, Timmy and Margaret are excited about Halloween this year.

you can also see that Gilbert is enjoying the dollhouse.
you can see more dollhouse pictures here: