I went to a farm auction today. Was a beautiful day, nice breeze, not too hot. I got a bit sunburned, but I'm fine. Just a touch of pink color.

Folks turned out in droves and there was plenty of competition. Not too many good deals to be had though. People were in a buying mood, and most items went steep. Anything primitive went high. Actually, nearly anything at all went high. Was a titch frustrating.

I managed to walk away with three things. My first purchase was an old butter paddle. I collect some kitcheny things- molds, graters, etc. I have always looked at the paddles, and pick them up and fondle them at shops, but haven't purchased one yet.



This one was very nice and such a nice shape. I am very pleased and will display it in my kitchen.

This was a first time auction at the old estate and there were so many nifty things. Lots of furniture, collectibles and primitives. Probably 25 crocks of different varieties. I must have bid on 6 of the 25, to no avail. There is one local guy who goes to EVERY auction and buys EVERY crock, and of COURSE he was there. I was disheartened with my bidding and the outrageous turn each item took for the high end of the scale. This was the last crock.



A 3 gallon Red Wing jug with cork. It looks a bit defective to most buyers, with it's missed glaze. But I loved the character about it. And now it lives at my house!


Lastly I won my choice of 1 out of 4 boxes of antique lacework/doilies. It's such a lost art now. I love all the old doilies and like to think about the women who sat by lamplight and tatted or crocheted these pieces I hold.



The other boxes had tablecloths and linens. I chose the one with most doilies. This is only about 1/4 to 1/3 of what is in the box. Purdy!

I got a little sunburned, a little peeved at nearly always being the losing bidder, and I am tired. But it was a very nice day out in the sunshine and breeze of the beautiful countryside ~ rummaging through all the "stuff" from the farmstead.

Oh Dear. It's been a week again since I posted... I *really* need to get a better handle on this blogging thing, and keep a schedule. So very sorry... I will try harder! And I need to keep my camera handy more often, too.

Was a dear friend's birthday this week, so I've been running a lot of little birthday errands and secret missions to get her a load of goodies suitable for spoiling her on the special day. It was a very girly theme of sparkly deco jewelry boxes and picture frames and bling. I made her some jewelry to go INSIDE the flashy new box, and we went out for cocktails as well. Was a very fun night of chick time. I think she liked her fancy-schmancy prezzies, and the jewelry I made, and her spiffy wrap jobs and all that. (Next time I promise to take pics of the gifts before she has at 'em! But I'm telling you, she was chomping at the bit!) Happy Birthday Darling Kayla!

Next we have The Harry Potter Release! Wyatt and I arranged to have a Mom/Son date night to go to the release parties, just the two of us. He took a nap in the late afternoon so he would be primed to stay up late. (Such a special occassion to get to stay up for... yet he would have even taken the nap gladly if I said "Would you like to stay up until Midnight with Mom and eat Broccoli?" it is just THAT fun to stay up late when you're 9, you know!) So we went to dinner together and had some Chinese food, which he LOVES. Then we went to our local library for some Harry Potter and Hogwart's themed festivities.



Wyatt dressed as Harry, and Mom was an average Muggle.

We did run uptown to the new Borders to check out their release party, but the place was just PACKED, so we didn't stay. We quickly came back down to the library, and then the whole lot of us partygoers walked through the downtown together to our locally owned bookstore and counted down until midnight. We were #99 to get our book.




It was very exciting as the numbers were called and there was a load of good energy from all participants. The public library party was completely geared for the kiddos which was so nice. That was the whole reason Wyatt was my date! We also felt really good buying our book from the locally owned business. YAY for hometown!

Camping tonight, and an auction tomorrow!

My concert evening

I went with my Aunt and her husband out of town for a concert last night. I was wanting to go to this one so badly.... been excited and counting the days. Alison Krauss and Union Station! We drove down to Cedar Rapids, just the three of us. Got to go to the big city- woohoo. They even have a Red Lobster there! *Laugh*  We ordered Margaritas and appetizers, and I got a shrimp feast, including shrimp linguini alfredo, some scampi and...you guessed it! Yes - SCALLOPS!

Oh oh oh - they were so good. Really enjoyed my nice dinner out on the town and my Uncle picked up the tab, which was so unexpected and sweet. I really had a lot of fun at the restaurant savoring my delicious scallops. I took a little of everything home to enjoy later as well. Man, I love seafood, and will take any opportunity to get it. Hubby doesn't dig it at all, So I have to go for it with other folks.

Then we headed to the concert. We had the most amazing seats and the show was just spectacular! This band is fantastic and Alison Krauss has the most beautiful voice. They played for 2 hours, which was not nearly enough. What a show! I truly enjoyed every moment of my evening. The company, the dinner and the concert. Such a lovely memory. I would definitely recommend seeing them perform and would go again in a moment. What talents!

Here is Alison Krauss & Union Station's tour schedule, so you can find a show to go to. If you're not familiar with the band- Let Me Touch You for Awhile and Every Time You say Goodbye should give you a great idea of the sheer talent of this group of musicians.

Last night I went to see a semi-local duo perform in a cozy little basement club in town. I saw them play at some outdoor festival 5 or 6 or 7 years ago and just fell in love with them. (Well, ok maybe a little crush. But who can resist a songsmith in a rolled up cowboy hat?) Husband and wife Mike & Amy Finders are just the most splendiferous team. Acoustic guitar and mandolin bringing folk, country and bluegrass to a boil, and seasoned with sprinkles of harmonica. I will always want a second helping.

Some pairings are made in Heaven, and these two were surely destined for one another. Amy's voice is pure gold and Mike's songwriting is nothing short of superb. He weaves a tale, and they pick and play- harmonizing like nobody's business. I have 3 of their CDs and am hoping to come across the 4th here sometime soon. (My birthday is coming.... hint)
I have a video link over here on the right, so watch and enjoy! If you really dig their stuff, check out their WEBSITE
to buy music, get a little more info or see where they'll be next! You won't regret it!


I got that new job a week or two ago, teaching classes at Michael's which doesn't seem like a job yet, as I haven't had any classes! But I have been diligently working on some projects for the workshops I will hold. When I was hired, they really wanted to try to capitalize on my magazine exposure with this current issue featuring my patriotic designs, so they asked me to at least make up 2 or 3 patriotic ideas to teach right away. I know the workshops will be held after the official holiday of the 4th, but I am hoping that I still have students sign up. The whole month of July should be patriotic! Those feelings and symbols should last all summertime anyway, as I see it. I hope others do too, because I think the projects are cute!


I saw a felt pincushion here and thought it would look sweet done up in patriotic. So I fiddled around making minor modifications to do it all with hand stitching. I think they turned out cute and will be a good workshop. I love the primitive look, so I stained it up and loved it even more. This will be a fun and even USEFUL project. We will even make a fancy hatpin to poke in it!



I always like to do a vintage style hanging cone. I think they are so fun, and you can put great little objects in them. I did one up for a workshop project and I hope I get some sign ups for this one too! This is a happy little project which should make for an exciting class.



Lastly I did up a hanging star, I have yet to schedule this one.... If you are in the Dubuque area, please join me! Click on my Calendar to see class times.

I am really looking forward to these workshops, because I will just love sharing my ideas and designs with folks. I think they'll give me an opportunity to meet some like minded crafters in my area and have a good girly time stitching, gluing, giggling and glittering. I am working on more project ideas for upcoming workshops ~ jar fairies, altered art necklaces, Halloween thingies... In one way, it's great that Michael's gave me complete free reign to go from scrapbooking to jewelry to whatever mediums I want to do. On the other hand, it is also hard, because now I jump around and can't focus on just one area. My projects will be all over the place like I am, LOL! "Jack of all trades, Master of none!" Oh well. Even if I can't Master all of them, at least I can dabble. Dabbling makes me happy. Dabbling and babbling. Dabbling and babbling..... *dances away doing a soft shoe*. (OK, not a softshoe. I'm doing a barefoot, actually~ but I will slap my feet down to make noise, how's that?)

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Bob!

I hope everyone had a lovely Independence Day! Ours was very nice. The weather turned out beautiful, although they had predicted high heat and humidity. Family picnic outdoors, some sparklers, watermelon...couldn't get any better.

This week, we also did a belated birthday party for my Stepdad Bob, who's 69th birthday was postponed as we had family health concerns with my Grandmother. With her Osteoporosis~ just turning over in bed she somehow broke 2 vertebrae. She was in the rehab center after her back surgery, then FELL OUT OF BED .... Seriously! How can a place let a person who just had back surgery fall out of bed in the middle of the night? She ended up breaking her lower sacrum? Anyway, the spot right above her tailbone. The poor thing! They can't do anything for that break other than anti-inflammatories and pain meds. Then she had a huge drug interaction which caused all sorts of problems. I just feel so bad for her. We have all been going up to visit her often. Keeping flowers in her room, trying to make her rehab center time more enjoyable.

For Bob's belated birthday shindig- in addition to his other presents, I also made him a card and frou-frou'ed up a little frog for him. Here is the card, starring the new family member, ZIP. My husband didn't laugh so much... but *I* thought it was funny and fitting. I laughed myself silly while I made it. Sometimes I think I am funnier than I really may be. Could that be the case? Nah...



Here is the inside.



Bob has a frog pond out back in their yard and loves little frog statuary and the like. We got him a yard frog, but I have a feeling that this one is going to be sitting in the house awhile instead. *smile* Happy Birthday to our very own Prince ~ Bob! We love you, Grandpa!



The birthday festivities were just a small gathering out at our land, while Mark worked on the cabin. He did actually stop to eat though ~ What a surprise! *grin*. My Mom packed up some fantastic foods and I manned the grill. This was the grilled fare: green and yellow zucchini, red potatoes, sirloin steaks, skewered shrimp with garlic, large sea scallops (LARGE! HUGE!) and hot dogs for the kids. We also had fresh fruit, salads, etc. and pie for dessert. It was just fabulous, and I promise we will be grilling those steaks, shrimp and scallops again soon! I didn't get enough! ( *laugh* ) Next time I will take pics of it all on the picnic table before we eat, as it all looked so pretty and fresh out there in the fading sunlight of the evening.

I am definitely being haunted by scallops. I see recipes and photos of them everywhere I turn. They taunt me. I didn't know I was such a fan until every magazine I open and flip through, I land on a mouth watering picture of scallops and it just absolutely calls to me. They are like a sea siren wailing, tempting me....eat....Eat.....EAT! I wish they weren't so darned expensive, or I WOULD just eat, Eat, EAT!

We went camping again this Saturday night. Mark's Dad has a small popup camper that he lets us borrow. We purchased some land last year and have the camper set up out there. We'll be staying in the camper until the cabin is finished. It's always been Mark's dream to have a weekend cabin to go stay at. So we purchased 73 acres about 25 minutes away. Not too far to go! Mark has been squirreling away odd windows and bits of log cabin siding for awhile now, until he had a nice pile of goodies to build with. He is the sort of guy who at 1 am will start a project. At 11pm- "Honey, I was thinking maybe we should remodel this bathroom..." then discuss things for a bit, talk about how it might look, etc. I am thinking, "Ok- new project on the horizon. Cool." and flip through a magazine for a bit of inspiration. I misguidedly believe I will have time for daydreaming about it a bit in wakeful hours: colors, fabrics, wallpaper and so forth... when suddenly I hear "CRASH!" and know I better get my butt to the store and choose a paint tomorrow!


Such was the case with the cabin. He said, "You know, I am going to just start the thing." And that was that. I hadn't been out to the land for a week, and it was a structure. Another week, and here we are. It's sort of creepy-cool just how much he can do. It's going to be such a nifty little cabin.



It's just one room, 16x20 with a loft upstairs. That's where the boys will sleep. Very "Little House on the Prairie"! A small porch on the front. I will have to junk shop for some furnishings.





Maybe do some favors for family members with superfluous dressers and the like. ( How to furnish a cabin on a shoestring! *grin* ) Perhaps every family member can bring one chair they don't like anymore, and we can at least have somewhere to sit. BYOC (chair).... sounds like a hit to me.




So, we camped and cooked out and had a wonderful time in between the generator running so Daddy could run some power tools! Yes, there will be no electricity or water at our rustic little cabin. We have an outhouse already. Mom is not leaning against a tree and scavenging leaves, she'll stay home first. We made some awesome burgers and sweet corn on the grill, sat around the fire and enjoyed being a family.

In the a.m. Mark and I heard Zip banging around in the back of his truck, and we lazily laid in our respective sleeping bags for a few minutes until I decided I didn't want Zip in trouble with Dad for eating a box of screws or some other odd thing. So I flipped back my sleeping bag and popped out of my end of the camper. Mark got up too, and I said "Gonna check on Zip." He agreed, so we went out to see. He was being good, just chasing his tail and other crazy amusements in there. I used the good ol' outhouse and then found it was only 6:45 am. GOOD GRIEF! Here I was, up and dressed and awake on a Sunday morning with sleeping kids and it was only 6:45! WOW-Weeee. That's when I decided to partake in the beauty of the surrounding countryside and get my big, fat butt moving. This translated to taking buddy Zip for a long walk.

I am trying to teach him to walk nicely on a leash. So far, I haven't taken him for a walk in town - I don't yet know how that would go with him meeting new dogs or pulling me along through the city. So I think out here in the boondocks is a great place to practice that skill. I put on a belt, and hook his leash to it around my waist. Then if he gets to the end and tugs a bit, I stop dead in my tracks. He gets the idea that he cannot pull me along and we do ok. It's nice, even.

I felt like NatureGirl as we walked on our dirt tire tracks and continued along out of our property and down the gravel county road. Past the stone farmhouse of the guy who lives on the homestead of the farm property. Past the cows. Past his horses and dogs. We did stop to visit the neighbor horses, because they always come running to the fence when I walk by. First I kind of stomp around in the gravel to warn any creatures that I am coming into the tall grass cover of the ditch, and I pick a spot that is closest to the fance and gate so there is not so much to go through. We venture in by the 3 mares and their new babies. I always pet the girls and tell them how pretty their babies are. The babies frolic around and come THISCLOSE, then back away and run off again. I have yet to pet one of the babies! Zip always sits like a very good boy and smiles at them all and stays so well. The horses have so many flies, and they buzz around like crazy on this morning. I am shooing them away and petting horse noses, while Zip is chomping big bites at the flies as they come at him. NatureGirl is happy and content petting the horses and watching the babies and shooing the flies on this glorious morning. We turn to go, to continue our amble along the gravel. I make my way back through the tall grass - YIPES! I found a hidden hole. Tripped, flew through the air like some circus act and landed on my one knee in the gravel. Of course I first look around to see if anyone noticed, and the horses don't seem to be laughing. But I bet those flies are. Rotten sniggering flies. I dusted myself off, and we meandered along.

What a lovely morning, a lovely little slice of time. The sunlight was dappling through groves of trees. Small morning breezes. Wafts of heady aroma would blow by and make me stop a moment and sniff. We walked past the old stone schoolhouse, the sheep in the field, the puppy in the front yard of the little farmhouse who barked and barked at us and probably woke up his family. There were rabbits that ran out across the gravel road in front of us and I had to stop dead while Zip yanked against me for a moment. There were interesting things to sniff along the way. (BTW, NatureGirl didn't so much love the mouse that ran out across the road. NatureGirl had a hopping, jumping freak out for more flies to snigger at.) We were chided by all the redwinged blackbirds who poise on a seemingly unfit weed which bends from their slight weight. "This is my territory!" they peep at us loudly from this side, and that side. It is definitely a redwinged blackbird morning hoopla all around us. NatureGirl with her hands on her hips like some sort of superhero in ratty tennis shoes, glasses and clipped up hair. Yeah right.

We had a great walk. By the time we got back, I thought "That HAD to be 5 miles AT LEAST." The last time we walked, I was certain I went 5 miles- only to drive it later and find out it was 3. How disappointing. So I pushed this time, gauging, hoping. I am trying to get more fit and all that, plus trying to get Zip into a pattern of...well I don't know. Being a good dog, I think! (Laugh) So later when I took the boys to head for home, we drove my course and I was smack-dab, spot on for 5 miles. Give or take a tenth of a mile. Whoooo-Hoooo!