Happy Thursday

T.G.I.T.
Thank Goodness it's Thursday.

I confess. I got nothing. At least nothing new.

My challenges are getting to be more of a ...challenge.   They are time specific or place specific. And I'm not in the right time or place! 

But.
I do have a garden update.

It's starting to bloom!

Daffodils near the drive.  Sorry- didn't realize this pic was a bit blurred.

 Goodness. I thought I looked at these when I took them. Must not have had my glasses on.

Anyway, more daffs in the zoo/garden.

 Johnny Jump Ups!! Particularly exciting because there are a bunch of them and we didn't plant them.

Left over from the previous owner and they must have appreciated the fertilizer that was sprinkled about last fall.

 Even the Allium is trying to get in on the action.

Tulips and Grape Hyacinths.

The Grape Hyacinths are also volunteers. 

I wish I had seen these beds when the original owners were here.

I bet they were lovely.

However, those pesky vegetable seeds I planted aren't doing much. That would be No. 39: Grow a Vegetable.  Apparently I planted the most under achieving seeds ever. Especially those tomatoes. The green peppers are at least making an effort...

And outside the sugar snap peas have sprouted and totally surpassed the inside sprouts.

The slacker tomatoes. 

Honestly. They are no larger than they were a month ago.

The green peppers at least look more robust.

Still. Not much of a showing.

Another thing that I have been working on is No. 36: Find a Signature Fragrance. I have always had a thing for gardenias. Ask anyone who knew me in Mexico- there was a gardenia lotion available only there that I lived in.  And while since then I have never considered myself a "floral"scent person, guess what I realize I've been attracted to? Yep. Florals. 

This morning I read two different blogs that were espousing grown up versions of gardenia perfumes. Off to "The Perfumed Court" website and decants are on their way to me. Yay! It's an early Mother's Day present to myself. Maybe one of these will be "the one". Or at least "the one for right now".

(What did I order? Arquiste Boutonniere and Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion. I'll let you know…)

And Thursday is the last day to get in on the double give-away for a blanket from my new venture, Cherry Creek Co.  That's No. 10: Start a business.    Click here to enter. Or go here if you just want to see the lovelies and buy one flat out.  That's okay with me, too.

Have  a great weekend.  After this week, I need a break! 

Tuesday Meanderings

Tuesday Meanderings….
a.k.a. No projects this week, just some odds and ends.


No real post today because…
Lots of reasons.


Belle was sick last week.
She hasn't been to a doctor here in Colorado so last minute efforts to get her in to see a doctor locally were futile. I was directed to the ER or Urgent Care.
I knew she had a bad infection and didn't want to wait, so I checked for the closest Urgent Care office with my insurance company. Turns out that would be TWO HOURS away in the Springs. Good thing we weren't feeling that urgent.
The ER seemed like over-kill, and Belle is always up for a trip to the Springs for Chick-Fil-A, so off we went. Left the house at 11:30am and were back home with meds by 6:00pm.

The next evening was one of those that starts with a phone call and ends with a nice police officer and   the exchange of insurance information. Bunny learned that throwing water balloons at people with short tempers does not end well. Even if it was an accident. (The water balloon was meant for another car.) She was followed and then hit. A new bumper for her car is in order. Thankfully no one was hurt and she was not at fault.

Pobre coche.

There was prom for  Belle which required another trip to the Springs for hair and make-up. And more Chick-Fil-A.   I spent an inordinate amount of time sewing in underpinnings, adjusting hooks and eyes and re-attaching beads and sequins to her dress before she could get out the door.
I think everyone would agree that the results were worth the effort.

Belle-Senior Prom 2014

Then today, the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the deer were leaping about ….
and then it started to snow.  Really???
It snowed off and on but never really stuck.
Still.
It's almost May.

And…I got in my car this afternoon and the tire pressure light was glowing red.   Closer inspection revealed a very large nail in my back tire.
Can't I please just have all cars working at once with NO problems?? Please?
(Click here, here, and here to read about some of my other car problems. It will make you feel better about your life, I promise.)

So in the morning I will be bonding again with AAA.  O joy.

And since this really isn't a post-more like a list of my catastrophe of a life- I will leave you with this.
Carlos.
Watching a video of puppies.
Can we say ADORABLE????

                              

As always, if you can't see the video, click here.

Isn't he cute???


O! And a reminder that if you want to enter to win a blanket
from my new venture- Cherry Creek Co.-
click here.

A Tuesday afternoon update. 

In the midst of waiting almost 4 hours for AAA to show up, I get a call from Belle. She pulled into the school parking lot and the Hummer died. In the middle of the parking lot. Not in a space. Probably blocking other people. She sounded almost in tears although I give her credit for hitting that OnStar button even before she called me. Boys from her class came out and pushed the car into a space and out of the way. OnStar sent a tow truck. We are waiting for a diagnosis. 

And this is what came out of my tire:

The staple, not the dime, was pulled out of my tire. 

I'm thinking of moving to Mackinac Island. No cars allowed there. 

Follow Up Friday

Follow Up Friday:  A Couple of Things


First, yesterday was the launch of No.10: Start a Business.  Yay!

Every blanket gets this little card attached.

To celebrate the launch of the new blanket and quilt business, Cherry Creek Co., there will be not one but TWO give-aways. Two  of my nieces (they're twins!) are each having give-aways on their blogs starting today.

Go visit Amanda at Meet The Joiners  and Allison at The Blogivers  for a chance to win your choice of blanket.

And to get a look at the blankets, visit the Etsy store:

www.Etsy.com/shop/CherryCreekCo

A selection of blankets blowing in the breeze.

And second, a garden update.  Things are blooming! 

Just barely, but I thought I would share.

First up are the daffodils. I took this Thursday morning and by Thursday night

there were three daffs open. I love their little faces. 

 There are some volunteer grape hyacinths.

This is the first of the tulips to open. 

But there are LOTS more to come.

And I'm not sure what this little flower is. Is it part of that vine? 

I wasn't aware that vine would bloom.

But I also have never been at the cabin in April or May, so who knows!?

 These are three little Sugar Pea plants.  

I got the feeling that my indoor seeds (No. 39:Grow a vegetable) just weren't going 

to do much. In fact, they look exactly like they did last month…

So I hedged my bets and planted some peas outside.

So far so good. At least they have sprouted.

 And this has me scratching my head. It's a hole, slightly caved in.

I have a feeling it connects to...

 ...this hole. Entrance? Exit? 

I'm just not familiar with things that dig holes in gardens.

We have had some beautiful 60º weather with lots of sunshine. Could Spring be here for real?

Crossing my fingers.

Happy weekend!

No. 10: Start a Business That Makes Money

No.10: Start a Business... and Here It Is!

Voilá!

A business.

My friend Cherrilla and I have been plotting this for a bit.

She makes gorgeous contemporary crazy quilts that are for forever.
I make fun little baby/toddler blankets that are just perfect for everyday use.

Together we have started  Cherry Creek Co.

Everyday Blankets

We are starting slow and small but the basics are in place.
World domination is our end goal.

There is a website:  www.CherryCreekCompany.com
Please be impressed with the fact that I built this website all by myself.  The hardest part was coming up with a domain name and therefore coming up with a company name.  While we are doing our sales from Etsy to start out with, we felt it was important to have a website ready. You know, for when we take over the world.

Have you ever tried to get a domain name?   It seems every name is taken. I'm still not sure how we managed to get the one we did.  
And how did we come up with this name? Well, I'm sure you have heard "Necessity is the mother of invention".
Desperation must be the father.
Endless emails, phone calls, thesaurus consultations, dictionary consultations, map consultations, more emails, more phone calls and EVERY name we came up with already had the domain name taken.
And then we turned on Cherry Creek Drive.


There is even a Facebook page. Go "like" us and make my day.

Right now there are only the Everyday Blankets available.

The Contemporary Crazy Quilts will be online soon. They are worth the wait.

And to make the launch even more fab, my wonderful nieces are having blanket give-aways on their blogs on Friday.

Want to win a blanket?

Visit these two blogs on this Friday:
Meet the Joiners
The Blogivers
Then follow their instructions.

If you just want to be bold and buy a blanket for your favorite little one, go to our Etsy site.

www.Etsy.com/shop/CherryCreekCo

More blankets will be online by the end of the weekend and we do take requests. 

No. 10: Begun.

No. 10: Start a Business that Makes Money

No. 10: Start a Business that Makes Money…Hopefully


OK. A few of my challenges do involve events that are out of my control.
I must not have been thinking clearly when I was coming up with the list.

So "Start a Business" can be done.   "Make Money" remains to be seen.

In my dreams!

But let me tell you, this has been too much fun and so educational.

And again, this was one of those things that "other people" do that always intimidated me.

I have many friends that have made and sold stuff and had businesses big and small.  Just the thought of it all over whelmed me.  But you know, it's not all that hard. And I'm not in jail yet.

The hardest part was coming up with a name that wasn't already taken.  Those domain names are a challenge.

Thanks to computer classes being required in high school these days, I have had in-house tech help.  Bunny wins the Patience Award for answering all my questions. The website should be live in a couple of days.

There is an Etsy account set up with products online.

The new business has an Instagram account. A logo of sorts. And a Facebook page.

I have a sales tax license.

And I'm working on a DBA. Well, sweet brother is looking into it for me.  I read those instructions online about a million times and still had no clue what to do.   The sales tax people were much more informative.

There will be a big introduction on Thursday.

I'm still tweaking.

Stay tuned.

(If you want a hint at what the business is, click here.  Everything will be live for Thursday's post.
Cross your fingers.  I'm crossing mine!)

Hoppy

Hoppy Easter!

from my Peeps 

to yours. 

(Even though technically these are no longer my peeps.)

It's a Carlos Thursday

All Carlos. All the Time.


I've had a few requests for more Carlos. Yep, the dog.

Hard to believe, I know.

But since I am still tidying up the details on what was going to be today's post...Carlos it is. 

Carlos has been nominated for "The Most Interesting Dog in the World" after his sister-owners (no, that is not like a sister-wife) gave him some eyebrows with a Sharpie. In their defense, it had been snowing for over 24 hours, cabin fever was setting in and the dog was there. He didn't exactly sit still while he was being drawn on which explains why his eyebrows are uneven.

"Save me."

It would also explain the nightmare that followed:

And…if you get this by e-mail or for some other reason cannot see the video,

please click HERE.

Then I had my own little nightmare. Except I was wide awake.

Carlos went out for a run this morning. When I let him back in, he rubbed up against me in the most loving way. ( This was about 3 minutes before I had to leave the house to meet someone in town.)

Unfortunately, Carlos must have found something very dead out in the woods on his run.
Very dead and very fragrant. And he rolled in it. Thoroughly.  

I quickly changed shirts, washed hands, and ske-daddled into town where I made sure to stay down wind of everyone.

When I returned, Carlos and I both got into the shower. Yay for the new hand-held shower head.

So grateful to the plumber that installed this wonderful shower. 

O yea. That was me! 

Are we done yet? 

Poor puppy.

Shake, shake, shake.

For more on Carlos, click Here and Here and Here.

Still Having the Green Acres Experience

Green Acres…Still!


I've said it before but I'll say it again.

Living in this cabin full time is like living with the Douglases at Green Acres.
If you aren't old enough to remember that TV show, click here. All will be explained.

Last week the one and only shower was having issues. Water pressure was less than perfect and the pulse part of the shower head- the one required by the three females living in this cabin if we want to get shampoo out of our hair- was not working.

Now, none of us have ever been that fond of the original shower head anyway but we've been going with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory.

However, now it appeared to be broken.  Yay!

I just happened to need to go over to Cañon City anyway to pick up the newly repaired sewing machine (more on that later in the week) so I scheduled an additional stop at the Home Depot.

And there I picked up this lovely:

Ooooo! Hand held.  Snazzy.

The Home Depot employee assured me I could handle this. Consultation with a contractor friend reinforced that opinion. Plumbing is do-able. 

And guess what? It was easy-peasy and now I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. 

You know what I had to do to get the old one off?  

Unscrew it.   That's it.   

Didn't even require a wrench. 

Didn't even have to turn the water off.   (This is a shower/bath combo. Otherwise, cutting off the water to the house would have been an important step.)

On another note, it was delightful to see that the previous owners hadn't even bothered using that nice plumbing tape which keeps things tight and leak free. O well. It hadn't been a problem.

The old non-functioning shower head. Ick.

The hardest part of this whole project was getting the new shower head out of the stupid plastic clam-shell.  Wrap rage- I didn't realize there was a name for that frustration!

 Scissors. Frustration. Foul language.

Finally success.

Because I am a goody-goody, I did the job correctly. Plumber's tape around the existing pipe.

The new shower head will not leak!

 And then all I had to do was screw on the new shower head…..

Hook up the hoses….

And Voilá!   A new functioning shower head. 

All was wonderful for almost a week. 

Then Friday afternoon I heard Bunny scream from the bathroom "Where's the water pressure???"

Uh oh. 

That is never a good sign.

The cabin is on a well. 

Well water here is FULL of minerals.

And sand.

And probably other stuff I don't want to know about.

Because of all those things that are in our (otherwise perfectly safe) well water, we have a whole house water filter. Conveniently installed UNDERNEATH the house. 

In a crawl space. 

Filled with spiders and Lord knows what else. 

I had to crawl through THIS tiny door.

I have managed in the past four years to avoid being the one that changed the water filter. 

 But guess what?  No other sucker one else was around. 

So Saturday I got a new filter and picked up my assistant from town. (That would be my sweet friend Cherrilla who was visiting from Martha's Vineyard.) 

And she helped me change the filter. Sort of. 

Mostly she took some really delightful pictures.  (NOT)

Into this tiny space under the house I went….

Spiders, mice, and what else??

I don't want to know.

See?

My (former) friend took this lovely shot.

Amazingly we are still speaking.

Fortunately the space was high enough for me to kind of sit up while I worked.

I'm sporting the hub's one piece jumper purchased specifically

for crawling under the house. 

Stylish!

And finally I managed to remove the (disgusting) filter holder and hand it out to Cherrilla to be rinsed out.

Yep. That lovely brown stuff is what the  filter removes from our water. 

This filter change was a few months over due. 

Success. I survived. Nothing bit me. Nothing leaks. And we have water.  Clean water.

And we have great water pressure. Yay!

Which brings me back to that new shower head. 

The old one probably wasn't broken after all.  

I just needed to change the house filter. 

O well. 

We are loving the new hand held.

And I am feeling like quite the plumber. 

Cue the theme song:

                     

Click HERE if it doesn't come up automatically.

No.21 :Go to Brunch

No. 21: Go to Brunch

Over Spring Break, while the girlies and friends spent the weekend in Texas, I snuck off to New Orleans with six friends from high school. 

And this is where I throw in a million zillion thanks to my fabulous brother who came through with last minute tickets on Southwest Airlines.  Love a road trip but sometimes getting on a plane is just the best. 

While in  New Orleans we ate. And ate. And ate. 

I came home 10 pounds heavier.

The whole gang on Saturday night. 

A little blurry. Kinda how the night went.

Allison, Ann, Kathleen, M. Anne, Peggy, Me, and Liddy.

But No. 21:Go to Brunch can now be officially crossed off the list. 

Sure, technically I do brunch frequently. But I don't consider just going to a late breakfast/early lunch at the same place that I always go to as worthy of being considered "Brunch" with a capital B.

And while in New Orleans we had lunch with a Capital B at the Commander's Palace.

Just love an establishment that is willing to make a statement.

That turquoise says "Here I am !!"

Commander's Palace has been a restaurant in the Garden District in NOLA since 1880!! During the 1920s it expanded it's menu to include ..um.... "entertainment"  upstairs for the traveling riverboat captains and gentlemen of the day. That era didn't last long and while the management has changed, the reputation for fabulous food has endured. 

And our Sunday brunch was fabulous.

 The festive upstairs dining room where we sat.

No ladies of the night, just cute waiters. 

From the spicy Bloody Mary's to the exquisite Southern Style pecan pie...  It was worth every calorie. 

A perfectly set table.

The jazz band that serenaded us was just icing on the pie.

Good food AND good music plus GREAT friends.

Just doesn't get any better. 

We returned home fat and happy with plans to get away again in the fall. 

We hope. 

No. 21 is done. 

Flowers in the House,

Flowers in the House, Visitors Outside


It's another "Flowers in the House" day and I'm linking up again with Jane at Small but Charming.

Love having fresh flowers in the house and kudos to Safeway for offering daffodils at ridiculously low prices this past weekend. Daffs all over the house now. Yay!  Particularly wonderful as we are having visitors this week and nothing says "Welcome" like fresh flowers. (Well,  maybe some wine and cheese. And chocolates? Fresh baked goods?)


Anyway, flowers in the house:

 On the mantel

And on the table.

Aren't they lovely?

And outside, the garden is popping up.  This week should be in the 60s with lots of sun so I expect things to start happening outside now.

 Tulips (I think?!) in a zoo.  (prison)

I really need to learn to label things.

Tulips along with allium (or agapanthus - can't remember) in another zoo.
Again. Label. Label. Label.

Carlos has been enjoying the sun on the back deck.

But the squirrels terrorize and tease him. It is so not fair.

And since I STILL have not figured this out entirely,

click "HERE" to see it if there is no video evident.

and 

Again, click "HERE" if no video.

I finally had to call the poor dog in after about ten minutes because he was not giving up.

The deer stopped by to eat the pine branches that fell from the weight of Saturday's snow.

Who, me?

And the birds stopped by to see what I've put in the bird feeder.

It's interesting because one year I put food in the feeder and three months later, the food was still there. 

Last year, I put bird seed in it again and had only deer eating out of it.

This year, I tried again (Hope springs eternal!) and Voilá! birds.

 These Steller jays are enormous compared to our Texas bluejays.

I thought everything was bigger in Texas?

 Their blue is so iridescent.

 A little sparrow?

Need to get the bird book out.

Nope. A chickadee!

Chickadee butt

 A barn swallow? 

And a male American Robin.

If we have Robins, Spring must not be far behind. Right??

Happy Monday.