On Our Turf

The plan for Friday was to get outside and do a little patchwork sodding in the front yard. Back in November I got a little overambitious with the excavations in the front yard when I dug up a bunch of Monkey Grass and we got rid of the Quince (replacing it with a smaller Vitex Chasteberry). To cover up the muddy bare spots, we got a modicum of sod and figured we'd deal with the lawn in the Spring.

So, on the second day of Spring, we got busy. We picked up a pallet of sod early that morning and figured that we'd have some left over to replace some weedy areas in the dog's back yard. We started digging and turning the soil and pulling weeds when I found what appears to be an original water line or perhaps a faucet to our old well...among many other things like old sprinkler parts, bottle caps, random roots. No rusty coffee cans full of gold or cash though...

Queen of the Hill!

We dug and raked and grated until our fingers bled.... and then we had a moment of prayer.

I TOLD Scott not to snap any pics of me looking like a Heifer, but he doesn't always listen....

Day Tripping

We didn't have any big plans for Spring Break this year as we've been busy with soccer, basketball, track and everything else our children are into these days. But we did squeeze in a day trip to a very cool aquarium.

Cool pool with lots of little "Nemo" fish and 2 bright purple fish.

Under the Sea

I feel the same way sometimes after a big meal!

Now I know what my goldfish and tadpoles see when they look up...

This little guy was getting a little fresh with Aubri.

We saw the cool shark tank and at times it was almost like we were in the water with them. Except for the loud kid noises which surely would have caused the sharks to swarm.

Luck of the Irish?

Or maybe it was just some sugar cookies made with love into festive St. Patrick's Day treats?

I watched a quick video on decorating cookies for St. Patty's and then we made do with what we had. See how engrossed my children were?

Blending the Icing

Getting Creative with the Icing

Lost in Concentration

I think I would have had better luck with 15-second or 30-second icing, but I didn't and I still haven't googled what those are because I don't care. Mine looked cool for the short length of time it took to admire then devour them.

My Loose Interpretation of a Shamrock

And without any help from Pinterest or the internet at all, I found some extra wine corks I'd saved from gatherings and my visit to Napa and was able to make that red rose horseshoe! Love it when a plan comes together!

I Touch Roses

Yesterday during the cold rainy day, I decided to tackle that mini rose garland for Flip. It involved cutting lots of spirals into the felt and winding the felt around and around and gluing each to the little felt "blanket".







I halfway watched the 2nd Hunger Games movies while crafting the rose blanket (later, I all the way watched it). I guestimate that I made ~220 mini roses. I had to take a few breaks but I got 'er done! And then I used up the rest of the felt sheets to make 17 regular size roses.



I think they look pretty cool but I am GLAD to be done with the glue gun for a while... until I figure out how to make the horseshoe, that is...

Not Pinterested

Cruisin' around the internet looking for some easy ways to make red roses for our Kentucky Derby party and I think I may be missing out on a whole boatload of things not being "on Pinterest". I am a fairly ambitious woman and I get my fair share of ideas for food and crafts, etc without Pinterest, and I can Google with the best of them. Plus I can't handle being "on" anything else. I don't have the time for another computer timesuck, I have earmarked that time for FaceBook where I can keep up with framily AND sometimes ideas for food and crafts come to me without me having to search.

Tonight I was looking for DIY tutorial for tiny red felt roses so I could somehow create a miniature "Garland of Roses" for my cool horse weathervane (a.k.a. "Flip"). I am not so ambitious that I need the mini garland to be comprised of exactly 554 roses, but I'd like it to at least resemble the real rose garland. I thought it would be cool to crochet the red roses myself and then I reminded myself that I never learned how to crochet more than a straight line. Don't worry though, it's on The List.

I hit the motherlode just shy of Pinterest because I didn't (couldn't) go in. I (try to) know my weaknesses and limitations. I found a cool rose mobile that must be made I might make. And I definitely want to make a red rose wreath for my door but I've wanted to do that since the last felt wreath session! Maybe I could re-use my Christmas Peace wire wreath (yet again) with roses this time. So many options!

Actually, I might make a cool horseshoe rose wreath for the front door.

Ok, enough of the wreaths and garlands, I need some floating roses for the pool...maybe some candles?

Talk Derby to Me

Some friends gathered at my house on the last day of February - a warm flip-flop sort of day - to plan our "Run for the Roses"/"Greatest Two Minutes in Sports History"/"Kentucky Derby" party.

Scott and I had the Mint Julep ingredients available in an effort to try to create the perfect Mint Julep.



And we found out that many of my friends are not fans of the stout drinks. But they liked my Nanny's bourbon balls.



One of my friends made Bourbon Pulled Pork and THAT will definitely be on the menu too.

We are planning to have a hat contest and a Derby trivia contest and of course we will be watching the race, but any ideas for food or activities are welcomed.

Looking forward to a cool Spring gatherings with friends!