Our New Dog

I love dogs and cats. So when I came upon this little dog, Astrid, I couldn't resist her charm and calm demeanor.  Before we got our Aussie, Honey, we talked about getting a medium size dog that didn't shed.  When we heard about Honey, one eyed, had heart worm, probably had 7 litters, tied up outside her whole life with no hair around her neck where the choker collar rubbed it off, we forgot all our ideals and brought her home after her heart worm treatment was completed.  We were soon to learn when an outside dog moves inside, there is enough hair (undercoat) to create another dog at least weekly.  Next dog has to match the carpet...only problem is we have spruce/teal green carpeting.  Hmmm...

When we got her she weighed about 55 pounds...now she weighs 80 pounds.  I know, I know - we've been accused of overfeeding her.  Truth to tell, she thinks she is in heaven and in heaven apparently you don't have to exercise.  So inactivity has affected her shape.  She is the best, loveliest companion ever - very gentle and so pathetic with her one eye...which is all she needs to take over your heart.

So I got her a pal to keep her young - one that matches her personality and attitude...medium sized and doesn't shed a hair.  I introduce to you, Astrid, our new Schnauzer.

Honey checking out her new sister

 Norma Jean making friends with Astrid
 with Honey ignoring both of them 

No vet bills for Astrid - yay!

Honey contemplating this new interloper!

So our little family is even more complete...without adding more groceries, vet visits, or potty breaks.

Have a great weekend!

Bonnie

Snow Days

It wasn't easy getting out of the house yesterday...but Hubby squeezed out so he could shovel snow away from the door, a path to the edge of the deck and down the steps.  Our dog, Honey, came out, looked around and headed back to the house.  So Hubby went down the steps and shoveled a path so she could go...literally...go.

Today all the snow has been shoveled and blown so we can get ready for the next snow at the end of the week.  Whew!  We sure have had our share this winter but so have other parts of the country.  Enough!!!

The insurance adjuster was here today to check out my barn.  It seems to us to be a total loss...the foundation is buckling along with the ends of the barn.  He was very nice and will have our depreciated estimate (100 yrs. old) in a week or so.  Should be an interesting read.

I had another cooking day today.  Chicken noodle soup, spaghetti meat sauce, granola/chocolate chip cookies and a green salad are prepared and ready to eat.  We are bringing lunch to relatives tomorrow who sound like they might need some chicken soup for starters.  The winter is getting long for those of us who are able to get out and about.  For our mature friends and relatives, it gets depressing and dangerous to venture out.

If you have a friend or relative who might be house bound, see if they would like company or a bowl of homemade chicken soup.  It might be just what the Doctor ordered.

Bonnie

Reporting on Shopping Saturday!

Shopping on Saturday with my two friends, Pam and Lynn, was so much fun!  We were off to St. Paul to find a little quilt shop tucked on the side of one end of a strip mall.  Pam is a creative, clever long arm quilter who loves to create contemporary quilts.  Lynn and I are more conventional quilters...Lynn likes the Up North theme with darker, richer colors in her quilts.  I tend to like 30's and floral prints for my quilts.  So to say that Pam was in her element is diminishing the smile on her face as she entered this quilt shop.  Faye is the owner of Twin Cities Quilting and is also a long arm quilter.  Long arm quilters take our pieced tops and with the batting and back make our quilts come alive!  Well - not really breathing alive but they sure do look more lovely when the quilting is done.

Lots of samples of quilts hung on the walls and we were awestruck with the designs, colors and quality quilting.  We each found our niche at the shop and here are the fabrics that I will be working on.

I'm making the bottom one with the Baltimore Oriole

I love poppies and this will be a table cloth for my kitchen

After a great Mexican buffet lunch, we were off to another quilt shop.  Rosebud's Cottage in White Bear Lake where I had to have these fabrics.

I'm not sure what these fabrics will be when I grow up.

It was a very full day - full of laughter, food and shopping!  I got home, made supper and then took an unscheduled nap.  After which I finally finished my second locker hooked journal cover.  It is made of muslin and red pillow ticking -  nice and plump and feels good as you carry it around to record important stuff.

I added yo yo's and a large pearl button as a closure.

I had a great time and found such wonderful treasures!  Spending time with good friends is priceless...

Have you taken the time to enjoy your friends lately?

Take care,

Bonnie

Fantastic Friday!

Wow - we just got back from the new movie starring Liam Neeson, "Unknown."  It was scary, intriguing, and very surprising.  I totally enjoyed each minute...lots of action, car races/crashes and explosions.  I really like Liam - he's not that handsome but I love his tall, lanky and ambling demeanor.  I have such sympathy for him after his wife died unexpectedly in a skiing accident in the last year or so.  He's so interesting to watch - his face is chiseled and expressive.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours 45 minutes in the dentist chair...not that fun.  Today before noon the temporary bridge broke.  Back to the dentist where he put a temporary on the temporary bridge.  Which meant - no popcorn at the movie.  I adore - no love - movie popcorn.  But the movie was so good that I didn't even miss the popcorn.

Go - especially if you are feeling a little winter depression.  If you don't like an intense, fast moving, suspenseful movie - don't go.  However, you will have missed an invigorating 1 hour and 53 minutes!!!  (Remember I had my jacket over my head a few times but I love Special Op stories so usually I can take most movie scenes.)  I can really lose myself in movies - do you?

Bonnie

February Thaw

It's February - in Minnesota - and its 40 degrees!  So after our quilting meeting and lunch (of course) I came home to do something to celebrate this wonderfully warm (by Upnorth standards) day!

So what better project to accomplish than ----- wash my car!!!  It has been a while and for those of you in warm climates, sand and salt do a number on our cars...daily.  When I bought my car a year ago, I wondered out loud about the color and dirt.  The salesman said that it stayed pretty clean compared to a darker red. (?)  I opted for the bright red so I can go to a fire and be mistaken for the fire chief.  Have I told you that I LOVE MY CAR!

I was in such a hurry to get a picture
 that I didn't get a good picture of all the dirt!!!

All pretty now and ready for another
 40 degree day tomorrow and then it gets cold again!

It was fun washing the car outside in February!

I didn't wash the top because none of my friends can see the top and I didn't want water running down my arm into my armpit.  I crept out of the house to do this project before the hubby could tell me why I shouldn't!  It was windy and it dried before the water froze on it.  Yay!  I wonder if I can stay out of the puddles tomorrow. 

Well - it was kind of a slow blogging day for me but I sure had fun and doesn't my car look pretty now???

Off to finish up a wallhanging for my bedroom that I just might show you tomorrow if I get it hung up.  Not sure how I'll do it yet - on a branch or on a curtain rod or on my canopy on my pencil post bed.  Hmmm...

Take care,

Bonnie

Happy Valentine's Day!

The old Man in the Tree and John and Addy at our farm!
  Very bright outside!

Our beautiful handmade Valentine's from John and Addy!

John's b'day, Christmas, Valentine gift!

His camping quilt unfurled!

Addy's Pomp a Doodle scarf - I made a small purse
 but it was packed away at photo time!

Hope you're having a great Valentine's Day!  Hubby gave me a very beautiful card (he's so good at finding the perfect words!) and we're going out for supper!  Yay!

Take care,

Bonnie

Day 2: Still making Valentines, etc.

for the King of my Heart!



Here's a sample of the 20+ Valentine's I'm working on.  As usual it turned out to be a last minute project again - I would have enough time to finish but now the g'kids are coming in the morning so I have to have their cards done along with their gifts.  I'm doing pretty good considering I wait so long to get started.  Of course I also need to get a few in the mail...I'll be running to the Post Office early in the a.m. in  order to get them to their destinations and some will be a day late or so.  Hmmm...I guess I'll never change!

lots of diamond dust!

ah - so shy!

Have a great weekend - I have to go finish those g'kid projects!  Yay!  I'm excited for them to get here!

Bonnie

Day 1: Making Valentines and other stuff...

There is something soothing about making cards...cutting the paper, printing the verses, designing, gluing, glittering, and signing.  Hallmark has nothing on my production line here at my island in my kitchen.  

First versions didn't turn out so good - better ones to come!

It brings me back to when we decorated shoe boxes that we made for the Valentines our classmates would slip inside.  It's funny what I remember about elementary school - White Elephant sales, selling popcorn balls for PTA, making miniature floats during Winter Carnival time, playing spin the bottle before school before the teacher came in the room in 6th grade, playing Pom Pom Pull Away and then later Pom Pom Kiss Away at recess (where were those teachers any way?), ice skating in my skort during lunch instead of eating lunch, and being so in love with blond Dicky Jackson.  Whew - quite a walk down memory lane.

I love my Jim Shore cow!!!

Our grandkids, John (7) and Addy (5) are coming to stay overnight with us this Saturday.  We really enjoy having them because we get to eat what they like - Chicky, fries, pizza, chocolate chip cookies and made-on-the-stove popcorn.  There goes my diet for a day.  I'm thinking up crafts we can do while they are here...making Valentines for Mom and Dad is just one activity.  

Well - I'm finishing up Valentine gifts for them so I will post them tomorrow.  My other projects were put on the back burner until I get their things done.  First things first you know.

What are you doing for Valentine's Day?

Bonnie

Things to do on Super Bowl Sunday!

Because I really don't care who wins the Super Bowl, I thought I would see how many creative things I could accomplish today.  Some of the things that I've been thinking of doing are not very creative so I thought if I announced that I was going to be creative...I might get creative.

So far I've made breakfast, am working on making lunch, read the Sunday paper, made one trip upstairs with things that need to go upstairs, and took a shower.  Oh yes - I did 20 reps of a new exercise using one dumbbell.  I'm going to take another few trips upstairs to get some more exercise.  Doesn't satisfy my creative spirit so far.

I joined an online dieting program so I'm trying to change my eating patterns and get creative (!) with some new low cal/low fat recipes.  I'm making a recipe that I guess is an old Weight Watchers Chocolate Muffins recipe.  Mix one Devil's Food cake mix (without pudding) and a 15 oz. can of pumpkin.  Put in muffin liners and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  My oven isn't the most accurate so I just upped the temperature to 375 and I'm hoping that they will be done at 20 minutes.  Makes 24 muffins.  No eggs - no oil - just a couple handfuls of chocolate chips added to batter.  Very chocolaty and about 90 calories each.  The second batch turned out great and was done.  So you'll have to experiment with the temp in your oven.

Low cal/low fat Chocolate (Pumpkin) Muffins

Tomorrow morning I will bake the Pineapple Angel Food Cake (WW recipe).  Mix Betty Crocker Angel Food cake mix (one step mix) with a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple with juice.  Put in a 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for 35 - 40 min. or when cake pulls away from sides of pan...test with toothpick.  Top should be lightly browned.  Plain is wonderful but Lite Cool Whip or Redi Wip is more delish.  If you cut the cake in 12 pieces, 148 calories each.  Big birthday celebration with Curves Girls!

I have a large tote full of zippers left over from my craft shop days.  So when I saw the latest catalogs with all the zipper pins, I thought - WOW! - I already have the supplies!  Yay!  So here is my first completed pin...I have to work it a little more before I can say I really love it but I have so many wonderful colors for spring that it will be fun to work on more.

Metal Zipper Pin

Well - the Super Bowl isn't even on yet and look how creative I've been!  Off to finish a couple more projects so I have something to show you in the next couple of days.

Hope your team wins!!!

Bonnie

My Old Barn Update, Easy Wrap Recipe and Misc.

We walked out to see the damage done to our barn the other day...its pretty wrecked.  The hay mow floor is holding up lots of the roof because its held up by pretty big logs.  We sure have lots of wood to make stuff.  Barn wood for sale!  Tamarack wood is harder than pine so stay tuned for primitive treasures that we'll be selling at our next sale June 3 & 4.  Maybe I can make my craft cabin out of the wood from my dear old barn.  I'm still sad about her demise.  Darn!

We got our exercise walking out through the knee deep snow.  I love this picture of hubby's footsteps...not pigeon-toed by any means.  Oh and the pigeons who used to roost in the hay mow are gone.  I liked hearing their cooing.  Life means change I guess.  I hope they found another neat old barn...probably moved in with relatives!

What great gifts I received from Steph from the Dallas area!  We were matched up online and have so many things in common.  It's great to meet a new person and find out their interests.  I've just packed up a box of goodies for her...I hope she likes all my handmades!  I didn't share the chocolate covered almonds she gave me and I don't feel guilty at all!  Thanks again, Steph!

At our quilt camp we had Turkey Wraps on the George Foreman grill.  They were so good and so easy!  Take a tortilla, fill it with thin sliced turkey or whatever you like, different cheeses, a few dried cranberries or dried cherries and pecans like I used when I got home, and mix a little mustard with Mayo or whatever you like for a little sauce.  Then fold in the sides and roll up the ends and put it in the heated grill and wait until it melts the cheese.  So good!  My kind of cooking!

Well - its time to finish "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout, a Pulitzer Prize winner.  It's a unique premise....13 short stories with Olive wandering through each story.  I think I could do that if I ever write my book.  I love when a book keeps you intrigued from cover to cover.

Take care until next time,

Bonnie