New Creations!

What a great week! I finally got my bookkeeping system up and running, (ready for tax filing), made a gift, (can't BELIEVE I forgot to take a pic before I sent it!), and made and sold new leather eyeglass cases! PHEW.....I have been having so much fun making these cases! They will all eventually be listed for sale in my shop.

I can hardly wait to make more! For $20.00 each, I think they should sell well. Let's hope! What do you think?

Friday Funny

A must read for Grandparents..

(Those who aren't will love it, too.) 

 

 

 

At one point during a game, the coach called one of his 9-year-old baseball players aside and asked, 'Do you understand what cooperation is?  What a team is?'  The little boy nodded in the affirmative.

'Do you understand that what matters is whether we win or lose together as a team?'  The little boy nodded 'yes'.

'So,' the coach continued, 'I'm sure you know, when an out is called, you shouldn't argue, curse, attack the umpire, or call him a pecker-head.  Do you understand all that?'  The little boy nodded 'yes' again.

He continued, 'And when I take you out of the game so another boy gets a chance to play, it's not good sports-manship to call your coach 'a dumb ass' is it?'  The little boy shook his head 'NO'.

'GOOD', said the coach.

'Now go over there and explain all that to your grandmother.'

***********************************************************************

Now go have a relaxing weekend!!

Death and Taxis?!?!?!?

I FINALLY cleaned up the studio, straightened up and cleaned out all of my so called files and got a handle on the procedures I need for bookkeeping! I have to efile my first state tax thingy next week, so it was a necessity! Thank goodness my friend is going to help me set up some excel pages so it will be easy to keep up on a monthly bases (?) anyway, I've also been applying for part time jobs and trying to create things for my shop. Plus, my 3 month old grandson had some minor surgery (still scary), he's doing fine. PHEW!! A little overwhelming! Needless to say, fun stuff has been put on the back burner and I've been walking around looking a bit like this:

Ok, definitely not as cute! I've still been perusing your wonderful blogs for entertainment, thanks! Now, back to work. I'm not quite out of the woods yet! Talk to you later.........

Awww, the joys of summer!

This is what it's all about,

 Getting the raft ready for a nice trip down the river,

Floating in the cool river, with a cold drink....wasting the day away.....Oh wait, it wasn't me! I did get to shuttle the kids down and pick them up at the end of the day. But I can dream.......
Hope you all stayed cool this weekend!

Tom's Favorite - Corn and Black bean salsa

Nothing inspires me to cook more than a trip to the farmers market and Trader Joes! (gotta love Traders). I'm not sure were this came from, I started making it a few years ago using Trader Joes frozen roasted corn.Now I use fresh corn if I can. The recipe is great, easy and very forgiving. There is no measuring, just some suggested ingredients.

First of all, open the beer and add a small wedge of lime. Have a sip. Now you're in the mood for a Tex Mex fiesta!!

Today, I cut corn off 3 ears, sprinkled on smoked paprika (not Hungarian)  and sauteed it in a little olive oil.

While that is cooling, open, rinse and drain, a can of black beans. Chop any amount of red onions, garlic, peppers (hot, mild, according to your taste). I use a combo of  jarred, roasted piquillo peppers, and fresh colorful bells. Mostly cuz I am a whus who does not like alot of heat! Start adding the ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mix. Add chili powder to taste, hot sauce if desired, and plenty of fresh chopped cilantro. Love that stuff! The first time I made this, I added Italian dressing, sounds weird, but it was good. This time, it seemed "wet" enough, so I just added a tbs or so of white balsamic vinegar and fresh lime juice for acid.  You could use chopped tomatoes, but it doesn't keep as well if you don't eat it right away.

My son, Tom uses this in quesadillas  . Its a great dip for chips, a good side dish for fish or chicken too. Enjoy!

I bought a HUGE bouquet of dill for $2.00, couldn't resist. It smells soo good! Also, some cherry tomatoes for one of my favorite summer recipes found here: Roasted tomato appetizer 

I'll have to come up with some good recipes using fresh dill quickly before this stuff dies! Hope this inspired some market visits before summer ends, much too soon for me!

Squirrel in the fountain

I Love the little visitors in my fountain!

Fake turtle,  real squirrel!

Friday Funny

It's been awhile since I gave you a Friday Funny, here goes:

 If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!
A United States Marine was taking some college courses between assignments. He had completed 20 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan . One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist, and a member of the ACLU.

 One day the professor shocked the class when he came in.

He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, "GOD, if you are real, then

 I want you to knock me off this platform... I'll give you exactly 15 min."

 The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes

 went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am GOD, I'm still waiting."

 It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got

 out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him;

 knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

 The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently.

 The other students were shocked and stunned, and sat there

 looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to,

 noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked,

 "What in the world is the matter with you? Why did you do that?"

 The Marine calmly replied,

 "GOD was too busy today protecting America 's

 soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid

 stuff and act like an idiot. So He sent me."

 The classroom erupted in cheers!

Have a great weekend!!!

Great New Shopping Bags!

I finally got back into the studio to make these new shopping bags. I have an old book with fruit and vegetable labels and have been thinking about ways to use them. I love how they turned out! They are sturdy and hold alot. Of course I make the bags from scratch also, out of canvas. I  am excited to crank out a bunch of them! What great beach bags or book bags also!

Skunks and fireworks - WHAT??

The good news is, we finally trapped and skunk, the bad news, it's just a cute little baby! I'm waiting for the wildlife people to come take her away. Hoping to get some pictures. I can't get close enough right now and there is a fern right in front of the cage, blocking a good view.

Last night I watched a small fireworks display after a BBQ with my friends. My camera has a fireworks setting on it. Because of the sloooooow shutter speed, you are supposed to use a tripod, which I didn't do. The pictures are not great, but still kind of cool. Hope you all had a great holiday!  

                                    Our snacks were very colorful!!

Potato salad recipe - Happy Fourth of July!

Potato salad - everyone that makes it has THE best recipe. It is also not for the faint-of-heart-dieter! But it is a bring along must for every BBQ and get together this season. Here is my best recipe. First, brew up some great sun tea. You'll need it in that hot kitchen! My favorite is Red Rose. It has such a clean, bright flavor, and who can resist the dorky figurine included in every box! 

Now, here is the ingredient list for the potato salad:

about 2 lbs of white (waxy) potatoes, cooked, peeled and sliced (or 9 cups)

1 cup chopped peppers (any mix of colors)

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup chopped black olives 

2 chopped hard boiled eggs   

love this egg slicer!

Mix all in a large bowl: 

Now for the sauce, mix together in a separate bowl:

1 cup mayo

1/2 cup yogurt 

2 splashes of balsamic vinegar

1 tsp yellow mustard (gives it a kick)

1 tsp. each, dill , basil and parsely (fresh if you have it)

1/4 tsp. celery salt 

salt and white pepper to taste

mix well

Pour over potato and veggies and mix well. Adjust seasonings and chill.

Yummmmm.....your new best potato salad! You can use any veggies, I've used chopped radishes and green olives, instead of black, whatever you like.

Wishing you all a great Fourth of July weekend!

 

Leather Flower Tutorial

Ok, this one is for Lori! Lori is a wonderful fellow blogger (and yes, MY girl crush). You must read her posts to see that this is not as weird as it sounds!! Anyway, Lori has TWO very entertaining blogs you MUST visit! http://waterstonejewelry.blogspot.com/ and http://whatsafter29.blogspot.com/ . She also makes fabulous handbags - don't look, don't look - and beautiful jewelry - Ok, look -  available in her Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/waterstonejewelry . She is funny, soooo talented and a great inspiration to all she knows! After all, who knew you could seal and curl the edges of leather with a lighter? Lori not only knew, but was willing to share the info with me!  So this tutorial is dedicated to her! Here goes:

First, cut a flower shape out of leather, like this:  

( I pulled a finished one apart, thats glue in the middle). Now take a lighter and singe the edges, keeping in mind each type of leather will melt and burn differently. Next, put leather glue or  "loctite super glue" in the middle, and fold in half. Hold for a little bit until the glue holds. 

Repeat and fold in half again:

It will look like this:

Finish by adding leaves and stamens of your choice, and voila - a great flower! 

Have fun and don't forget to link your creations in your comments. We all want to see how creative you can get with this idea! And thanks, Lori!

Adventures of Wildlife - In my yard?!?

This has been quite a summer in our yard! Skunks, raccoons, possums, and turkeys! Yesterday the Mom and 7 babies had a little visit. Mom kept close watch as the youngsters hung out for a little R&R.

I think this is the same family from a few months earlier. Glad to see the are well and thriving.
As for the skunk problem.........remember this guy?

Well, I figured out he, she, has been getting too cozy under my house! So I had the Wildlife trappers set a few traps outside the crawl space.

  This guy lives under my bedroom window and is VERY unwanted! Stay tuned for the (hopeful) capture! Anything interesting living in your yard?