Merry Christmas!

I hope your holiday was magical!

Merry Christmas!

Colleen

The Stockings Are Hung...

Yesterday I had some spare time and fabric, so I slapped together some stockings for Mister and myself.  I plan on adding some embellishments to them...maybe some buttons or embroidery (thanks to my super neat books that I just received from Amazon).

Can anyone spot the sleeping piglet in the picture? :)

Of course, even though these have just been made, I probably won't be able to resist making new ones for next year! I mean, just look at all these super cute stocking ideas!



Hable Construction 



Livin 4 Prim



XmasMuse

ChristmasIsLove

So excited tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I still have a little baking to do, but Mister and I have sworn off any and all things resembling work this weekend, and we plan on just enjoying the holiday together.  I hope you all are able to spend the holidays with the ones you love...

little dear tracks

I get to start a new hobby! Well, an extension of a current hobby I should say. My Aimee Ray books arrived from Amazon today! I purchased her two Doodle Stitching books and I am going to have a go at embroidery.  So here's to a soon-to-be tangled mess of embroidery floss.

She has some really great designs in these books. One even comes with a CD of templates.

I can't wait to try my hand at these cute little guys.

She also has a lovely blog called Little Dear Tracks, which I couldn't say enough about. It looks just like cotton candy!  

Little Deer Tracks

She made these wonderful little woodland creatures that she just posted. I would love one!

'til next time....

Sock Monkey Saves the Day

Today didn't start out so great. But then my friendly UPS man brought me a package from my mom that contained these!

Eeek overload! Sock monkey onesies? 

I've found my couch uniform for the next several months!

Thanks Mom!!!! 

So now I'm sitting here at 4pm in the afternoon eating Honeycombs out of the box and watching Forensic Files in my new onesies. Does my mom know me or what?

'til next time... ♥

Look Ma! No Hands!

Seriously? I'm impressed.

Eeeeeek! I love squirrels!!!!!

BEHOLD! My Groundhog!

See?  I wasn't lying... I knew I saw him!

The pictures aren't great. He is kind of a skittish little fellow, so they were taken through the screen of my kitchen window.

Squeak! He's so fat and cute! I think I'm going to name him Bob.

...dogs and cats living together... Mass hysteria!

This chair is prime real estate this week.

No one is going to give an inch.

And may I just throw a quick shout out to Fat Cat?

Thanks Fatty for forcing me to turn the pillow each day.

Wasps!

I stumbled across a wasps nest this last weekend. It was on the side of the barn and covered in wasps, so it unfortunately had to come down.  I snapped a few pictures before the guys insisted on disposing of it.

It's nothing completley spectacular to look at - but I'm used to seeing California wasps nest that have maybe 10-12 cells on them max... This guy was as big as my shoe!

The picture below shows the eggs that have been laid in the individual cells starting to develop into larvae. It almost looks like the queen lays the eggs on the side of the cell...

Here are a couple of larvae that are kinda sticking out of the cells. They are so fat there is hardly any wiggle room for them at all. Once the larvae start to pupate, the adult wasps will cover them with with a papier-mâché dome.




Now, I was curious as to what was under those little papier-mâché domes, so feeling like a mean little kid, I took a couple off. Here is a shot of some almost completely formed wasps in thier cells.

Larvae

(they look like really big maggots with little faces)

Pupae

You can see the tiny wings just starting to develop along the sides of her back.  The wasp is very soft and delicate at this point. 

This fully developed wasp actually started to crawl out of one of the cells.  Freaked me the hell out.

Aaaaaannnnnd, unless something spectacular happens, I think that will be the extent of my fooling around with wasps. 

I really do feel quite bad about killing the nest.

'til next time...♥

Evansville - Little California?

Mister and I decided to drive down to Evansville, Indiana today and check it out. We've been told by several people that it's a 'Little California'. So we just had to judge for ourselves. It's actually not too shabby.

Oh the sweet, sweet taste of a Starbucks Iced Tea with light water and 7 pumps of sweetener.... I had to drive to Evansville just to get one! Evansville just so happens to be 49 miles away...talk about dedication.

I got two while we there... Bad Colleen.

I found this interesting.  Target is apparently a Greatland when it sells groceries.  I didn't think we had these in California, but turns out there are a few.

 

A quick lunch at Logan's Roadhouse. You can throw your peanut shells on the floor.  We though that was cool.

They had really cute signs all over the restaurant... I liked this one. 

We were pretty tired when we got back, but decided to cook our dinner on an open fire anyway... Cause we can do that now...

'til next time...♥

Anywhere I Lay My Head is Home

Lately, I feel like this is all I see....

one crappy hotel after another.

 

The entire drive to Indiana, the cats shoved themselves behind my passengar seat.  They did this voluntarily, so I can't imagine they spent three days like this because it was uncomfortable.  I think they just like to sleep in weird places.

Oh my goodness, this time the drive was miserable.  Mister and I had to drive seperately, each in our own car, which meant I had to drive the entire 2,000 miles by myself, with a car full of animals... Never, ever again if I can help it.

 My car was a little worse for the wear after making the trip.  I ran over a tire on the I-40, which tore up my front bumper...and it took quite a while to get all the darn bugs off.

The farm was the nicest site I had seen in a while.  This is where we will be hanging our hats (laying our heads) for the next couple of weeks, until I can find a place to rent for us...

Then we'll be laying our heads elsewhere (this is the part I'm trying not to stress out about...)

'til next time...♥

Oh Brother!

Yay! I got a new sewing machine! Thank you, thank you, thank you Sandy, so much for the wonderful gift!

I guess you can have yours back now. :)

It's got so many cool stitches... Now I just have to figure out how to use it.  My head is spinning with ideas.

'til next time....♥

Ivan the Terrible

Happy Belated Birthday Ashley! I know he was a month and a half late, but I finally finished him!

This little guy, whom Ashley has named Ivan the Terrible, made its home with my brother's girlfriend.  I know she'll take great care of him.

Close up of his peg leg

He came out so much messier than I thought he would - but I think it's good, cause he's a dirty scoundrel pirate anyway!

I had to rush to finish him since we got the call to leave the state, which only left me a couple of days to pack and wrap him up! I apologize for the not-so-great pics, but again, I was really rushed.

'til next time....♥

Goodbye California...Hello Kentucky

So....we got the call. The union has work for my Mister in Kentucky.

Kentucky.

They gave us the call this morning, and want us there by next Monday morning. That only gives us six days to pack and get there! What a rushed way to leave the state!  I have to pack what I can into Mister's car, pack all the animals in mine, and away we go.  I'll return to California in a couple of weeks to pick up our furniture and drive it out in Mister's parent's trailer. We'll be staying at the farm in Indiana until I can find a place for us to rent in Kentucky.

I am going to miss my family so much.  As exciting as this is...I'm really sad and it kinda hurts.

My brother and sisters

My beautiful mom

Love you guys more than you'll ever know...♥

Oh, The Pretty Little Things...

This beautiful creature was kind enough to grace me with his presence today. 

He matched my shirt almost perfectly!

I believe he had been hit by a passing bicyclist and then kind of spiraled into me. I let him rest for a minute and then put him on a bush.

Another pretty thing?

An unopened Sprinkles Cupcakes box!

Banana w/Chocolate Frosting & Carrot Cake w/Cream Cheese Frosting

It just get better looking all the time!

Sometimes you need to take a step back from the stress and see the pretty.

'til next time...♥

Charming Crystal Cove

We made a day trip to Crystal Cove in Laguna today. It was a little overcast, which made it the perfect weather for me.

The Cove consists of cottages for rent in a historic district of the Crystal Cove State Park. There is also a restaurant, snack shack, bar and a store. Pretty much everything restored to way it looked in the 1930s, with cheery colors and long boards. It is just the cutest little place!

While we were walking through the state park, I came upon these succulent flowers that I can't identify. Any help? They look like a form of berry almost.

This was the first time I had ever been to a tide pool - it was amazing. Here is a photo of an anemone and a hermit crab.

This little crab was seriously about to kick my butt if I didn't get the camera out of his face.

There were areas that you couldn't step on because the anemone were so thick.

It was a great trip overall. I kinda wish I had gotten to see a starfish or sea cucumber though... Maybe on the next trip.

'til next time...♥