Goodbye Blue...

Blue was a good month, so many pretty projects across blogland. For me it was not very productive. I am not sure exactly how I spent June since it went by so very fast but here are the only blue projects I finished this month...

That's right I am giving it a go again at the 63 squares afghan. Here are squares 1-4. I had 63 done as well but it was wonky so I ripped it. Next month will most likely not be that purple in my neck of the woods. I do not have too many purple project ideas in mind, but who knows... Happy last day of Blue...

And now for the Fruitcake:

This is the road up to our house, or more fondly known as the road from nowhere. This beat up dirt road means so much to my husband and I . It means that we do not have to have close neighbors, we do not have to live in the noisy city and we do not have to work "normal" jobs, we never have to shop for a live Christmas tree, nor will we ever be without wild critters in our life. It also means that my fur baby has a ton of road to run on without much worry about being run over. No better road in the world!

Great American Trials 201 Compelling Courtroom Dramas ~ Editor Edward W. Knappman

(Book #5 for SRC) After a recent trip to my local Borders I found this gem in the bargain books. I love this book. It is set up like an encyclopedia of great American trials from the 1600s to the 1990s. At the beginning of the book they give you some background information on court system in general. Then the book goes straight into the cases which can be found by date or in ABC order by the case name or by crime committed. Each case starts off with the basic info behind the case laid out (who vs. whom, date, reason for suit etc), then the editors give you a little background information on those involved in the trial. Include pictures and a further suggested reading list and this book is something you definitely would want on your shelf (well at least I do). I believe that even you if are not a historian or a person with interest in the law you will like this book. Granted it is not the type of book most people will sit down and read like a novel but all the same it is fun to read and think of the dinner party conversation one could have. Unfortunately it looks like you cannot just find this book on your local bookseller's shelves. But I am sure you would be able to find a used copy somewhere. Bargain book price at my local Borders was $8.00 and suggested retail is $30.00. Stay tuned for more book reviews... SRC Book Counter: Read: 5 books Left to Read: 23 books

Life Catch Up...

Life has been eventful for me lately. I feel like I have recently lost an entire week. Early last week I got food poisoning (suspect unknown, but I have my suspicions). If you have never had food poisoning let me tell you it is like being near death. My husband was great though. When I was not in the bathroom, I was on the couch where I had tons of pillows blankets and movies. I did not read, craft anything but lay on the couch and watch TV in between naps and the bathroom. A week later I still have problems wanting to eat certain foods, but other then that I am back to normal. So here is what happened in my life before the evil food... Another FO! Now our couch has a set of pillows that were once body pillows. They are really nice to lean against and since I got 10 yards of the fabric for only $1 a yard awhile back They each were about $1! What a deal compared to what you can get in a store. Now I have about 9 yards left of that beautiful fabric and I was thinking, maybe curtains, or more throw pillows, probably more pillows. I also finished a couple of good reads that I am preparing to tell you about soon. Sorry I am one of those people that has a large reading appetitite but I am a bad reviewer, you should see me when I have to pull paper marathons! Anyway life has been slow around my neck of the woods. I am off to catch up on my reading and some crafting...

SRC forum is back up!

Spammers did not keep us down SCRers the forum is back up with a couple of differences. YOu must be registered and you must be logged in to post. Please let me know if there are any problems with it. Amanda

ABC Catch Up...

J: Joy- the emotion of great happiness When my husband plays his guitar it brings me great joy... K: King, Carol Tapestry My absolute favorite CD of all time... L: Law Literature is not my only passion. Some day I hope to get my JD M: Maverick Could there be any other M?

Tribute to Socks...

Ahh... the joys of homemade socks.

Yoga Dog

Well today I discovered another thing that Maverick loves... Hi there Maverick...Um did you know that that is my mat and that I just left for a minute? Well okay pup, time to get off... Maverick I do not think you understand... off... Maverick you are a goofy dog! Oh and by the way... Yesterday Karen asked if that was a widow that my desk looked out on... why yes it is and here is what I saw from the window yesterday while blogging... That big fella is named Dusty and he lives about 2 miles down the road. He comes over at least twice a week. He is even more shy then Maverick but he seems to like us because he has been coming by our place for about 3 years. This guy has not been around too long but we have seen him since he was a baby. He and his relatives are always trying to get into my greenhouse. We have kept them out so far this year, but it is nice to still see them around. Well blog you later...

Could it be?!

Why yes it is an FO! Actually two FOs! First up: the socks that took forever...Rumba Part II The Stats... Project: Rumba Part II Tools: US D hook Yarn: 1 ball of Dancing in the color Rumba Size: Ladies size 6 shoe Pattern: made it up as I went along Start Date: May 19, 2006 Finish Date: June 14, 2006 For: Me Related Alongs: Sock-A-Month Comments: I love the dancing yarn. It is a cotton blend so it feels nice and airy. I love to crochet with it only because I feel I have totally gotten the hang of my hook, although my stitches are simple. Second Up: Couch Pillow The Stats... Project: Couch Pillow One Tools: Fabric, thread and needle Pattern: made it up as I went along Start Date: June 15, 2006 Finish Date: June 15, 2006 For: Hubby Related Alongs: None Comments: So we had some really old body pillow that were pretty beat up and I thought that we might like some pillows besides the ones that come from the bed. Voila! One new couch pillow made today! I really love the fabric I used. So long from my new desk...

Amazing Lace Challenge 2: Xtreme Knitting

Well Amanda and Jewels have not been getting along that great together so far in the lace. See Amanda is not used to working with someone so delicate and Jewels is not used to working with someone so inexperienced as Amanda so there has not been a lot of knitting going on in their neck of the woods. Because the two are not getting along so great Jewels has taken to hanging out with others. She is particulary fond of Sloth the Panda. They have many great X-treme adventures together. Here is a chronicle of their latest.... Sloth and Jewels have heard of a wild beast that lives in the forest. Both extremely brave they have decided to hide out in a tree to see if the can spot the beast... They did not have to wait long when the spotted him... Oh my! He is terrifying! Startled both Jewels and Sloth the Panda try to jump from the tree and run away...but the beast is much quicker then they expected... he was waiting just below the tree... The vicious beast stood his ground and the only thing the two could think of was to ask if the beast was friendly. "Well actually" said the beast, "I am a little shy I was wondering if you were friendly?" Finding out that everyone was friendly Jewels, Sloth the Panda, and the beast all became great friends. See Jewels does play well with others, now if only she and Amanda could get along.... perhaps they are not getting along because they were not properly introduced until after the beginning of the lace...

Sticking Around...

So I made a pro and con list and at this time it appears that Blogger has more pros, so it looks like to will be sticking around. I really do like the fact that I can design my own template without being a server so in the end blogger is the only FREE blog host that will allow me to do that. I will most likely be with blogger until it is no longer working at all or is no longer free. No matter what problems it has at times it always seems to get fixed. Now I have to show you one of my present successes... Can you believe I am actually growing plants! I hope sometime soon I will be able to have some veggies (click the picture to see exactly what I am growing). Today hubby and I went to the city and got 2 blueberry bushes (only $4 each!) tomorrow I will put those beauties in the ground. Does anyone know a way to keep critters out? I do not want to use anything that could harm Maverick but at the same time I do not want to feed the critters. I thought about putting them in pots and in the greenhouse (critter free so far) but I really want them to grow BIG (or at least as big as they can get). Well I am off to give the veggies a night watering (I am not sure what other veggies need but my little guys need to be watered twice a day or they weep). Edited to add... So I was asked what type of critters I am trying to keep away from my blueberries well... squirrels rabbits bears coyotes chipmunks neighborhood dogs various birds Now that I list them that is alot of critters, prehaps the best way to keep my blueberries safe is to put them in the critter free (so far) greenhouse, although the duct tape idea Mandy gave sounds promising. I feel like I live in a zoo! Oh and Jennifer... if the soil had organic compost in it, do you think I should still add more fertilizer? I also put those food pellets from Miracle Grow in the soil as well. I thought they were getting weepy because the greenhouse is HOT and they needed more water then normal, other then the occasional weeping they are doing really well and actually getting big.

Moving...

So I am thinking of ending my (almost) 2 year relationship with blogger. I have been having some problems getting into my dashboard the last couple of days and with my blog in general. I have been exploring other hosts on the web since the KTC blog went down in March and I think if I move I will go with Wordpress. I like the little extras they offer (categories, pages with out having to create a whole other blog etc...) but what I do not like is that without using one of their hosts to turn my computer into the server I cannot modify my template. What I really like about wordpress is that I can import my entire blog over there (already tried and it takes about 2-5 minutes for my monster blog). So should I move?

I: Internet

So many people are curious as to how a person can have internet without landlines. The white dish is our connection to the outside world... our satellite internet. See my other ABCs... A B C D E F G H

H: Hot

I love the fact that when little Maverick is hot he looks like he is laughing! See my other ABCs... A B C D E F G

Yarn Day

Today is the day of yarn! Jewels has finally arrived... Isn't she lovely! And she is so soft! Now she and I can begin creating Candle Flame. In addition to Jewels I also bought some Wool of the Andies... I bought some "Tan" and some Fog and a cable needle. But the greatest deal of all was what I found in the city... Fellow yarn lovers Wal-mart had Homespun for 2.50 a skein! I could not pass it up because both were a lovely shade of June...I mean BLUE! Aren't they lovely?! I plan on making the flatering jacket from Lion Brand and then something else with the leftovers. With all these lovely yarns surrounding me I declare today YARN DAY! Happy yarn day everyone...

Blue Projects

What can I say I love blue. For Blue month I have a couple of things planned... 1. Read Bluebeard Bluebeard 2. Work on my Blues log cabin bag 3. Work on Candleflame when Jewels arrives (I think she should be here Monday!) 3. Make some blue squares All in all I think I will have a rather blue month...

BLUE!

Appears in both the nature surrounding me and my knitting. Welcome June! Soon to come... my BLUE JUNE projects.... Previous Spectrum Colors:

May: Green

April: Yellow

March: Red and Pink

***Edited to Add...

For those who asked how I made my collages I used Picasa2. It is free from Google and very easy to use. It is a download that I have tested and have on my computer, it has proved safe so far. It organizes your pictures in addition to having a bunch of nifty little picture fixes. The tool I used for the above pictures is called a "Picture Grid." Thanks you guys for the comments on my pictures!

READ!

Welcome to the official start of the Summer Reading Challenge! Signups are closed. I will update the members list sometime today, as well as add some more new buttons made by members. Any comments that are dated later then May 31st by my blogger will not be published. Please note that the forum is set up and ready to go. You can post can your challenges, and reviews as well as recommendations. Happy Reading Everyone! SRC Links: Participants and Buttons Challenge Ideas SRC Forum