Keeping the Kids Busy, Part 2

Early in the week, Cora informed me that she wanted to have a "Make your own Creature Day", so....I went through my big box of clay scraps, and donated to the cause. The kids had a lot of fun, and it kept them entertained for several hours!

Cameron made an Elephant and a Pig. Love the color in those ears Buddy!

Drew made a dragon.....see the little spikes on his tail!

And Cora made 2 cute 'creatures'! I love how you mixed the colors up for a marbly dino!


One afternoon, I got the 'bright' idea that I'd take them to a park and let them run off some energy. LOL, I'm slowly getting the hint that my babies aren't exactly babies anymore. They lasted 5 minutes on the playground. Hahaha....I will give them the benefit of the doubt here though, and tell you it was Hot!! I was in the shade and ready to go too! Of course though, we couldn't leave the park until Cameron climbed a tree....or 2! My little monkey just scurries right up!!

My daughter on the other hand, had to have some help! What a good big brother Drew is!

Look at her laughing! That's my princess!! LOL

While I was there I found a tree that I want my tree house to look like! I love all the roots! Now I gotta figure out how to reduce it! ((I have the base of my house drawn out on some foamcore board, and the bf is already freakin' about 'Where's that gonna go', LMAO!! ~'Right over there', I say, giggling))

Another event that the kids love....Monopoly. I don't play this with them, because it stresses me out! LOL. These guys spend a lot of time 'discussing' the rules...the money...who's turn it is....who's got what money where....who's buying what....It's horrible! But they love it, And the bf loves to 'debate' so he fits right in! LOL


**Cost for the week: $0 :)

The Garden....

This is the first year in a loooong time that I've been able to enjoy my garden. And has it been good to me!! See my Monster blackberries!!


And my Day lilies! These are my favorite. When I moved in, about 8+ years ago, I planted 3 flowers in this flower bed....


.....and now look at it! Beautiful! One can't help but to smile when you walk into the yard and get greeted by these!!

OK....now these guys....my Canna lilies are quite annoying. I planted them eons ago, too......and last year was the first year that one, Yes just one, bloomed.....LOL, this year we're moving up in the world with 2 blooms, Hahahaa!! I think I know what the problem is, I just figured it out a little late in the season. For one there 'roots' want to be at ground level, not buried...and 2, they need A Lot of sunlight!!! Maybe next year I'll get 3 blooms!

And last but not least.....here are the bf's Orange Crush roses. We were afraid they wouldn't bloom this year, but they fooled us! There's so many blooms, it won't stand up. It really needs a trellis!

Be back soon with a few more blogs!

Come see my new chair!!

It was just a couple of days ago when I won a blog giveaway from Jody at:

http://peachblossomhill.blogspot.com/

So...today, when I pulled back the curtain to take a picture of something else....I noticed a box sitting on my front porch..........and new right away what it was! Oh Jody! It's beautiful! I just love the material on the chair...and the 2 birds on the Perfectly sewn pillow! The flowers are amazing! I love all the color you got into them! Those peaches look good enough to eat! Love my table~ like the width on it! I can fit a lot of nick knacks there one day. I must say...it was a pleasure to receive such a wonderful giveaway from someone who I've been blogging with since I started blogging. I've always admired her paintings on Etsy....and her chairs, and Now am so proud to have one in my collection!! Thanks again Jody!!!

((Go check out the picture on her blog, it's much better~ Mine was taken in the evening sun light!))

Until next time......

Keeping me busy!

My mind has been on over load, so I've been trying to keep it busy making things......

The images were stickers, and I just painted the inside black to stand it. I did them in white first, but they didn't make the bold statement I wanted them to..... and now the do.


I made some 'Nikki' inspired mushroom jugs for Marshmallow Manor....


.....and what would a collection be without a dragonfly jug?? Mercedes sent me this sticker a long, long time ago.....glad to finally be able to use it.


I made some silver ones. These would be perfect for Ara's Addams Family, or Kate's Sweeney Todd room, and would even look good in one of Sans dolls' hands!


Here's to show you how little the little ones are. I have a real collection of jugs in my own home.....I have big colored ones.....and a bunch of white creamers. There's just something about pottery that I Love! So it would only be natural to have some in my miniatures, too. The base of this jug was made from a bead.


Very girlie, don't you think??


So lets talk about the hutch that it's sitting on. It's another gift that Mercedes sent me some time ago. This past weekend, I sanded it down, painted it this baby teal color, white-washed it, then sealed it.......and somewhere during the drying cycle......it ate the paint back off. The bf says it make it look older like this, but I was really wanted to get rid of that red!


And this is the other project I worked on this weekend. It was a dresser that once lived in Cora's first house..... Over the years we lost a drawer, so I decided I'd take all but the top drawer out and paint it. I sanded it first, then painted it, then sanded it down again. I haven't sealed it yet, because I didn't want it to run like the other one did. I think with this one, I will use a spray sealer, and hopefully it will look the same when I'm done.

I really like how this one turned out!

And another view........

So, that's about it for now......

I'll be back some time soon with a new tutorial. Just have to get it right first!

Until Next Time..........

Keeping the kids busy.....

The kids are out for the summer now, and will be spending the summer with me. They're normally in daycare where they get to do all kinds of fun stuff....but not this year... This year they get keep me company. So, I'll be looking for lots of free things to do.... I'm sure we'll visit the library, and the park, and the beach.....but I also want to make sure their being kept busy here at home. When they're busy.....they don't argue as much. I don't wanta here "He's sitting on my side of the couch!" or "She's looking at me!" all summer....so I've been finding things for them to do.

Today they painted a castle. I ran into a blog the other night, that I just couldn't stop reading. Meg from http://www.megduerksen.typepad.com/ is a Mom, that blogs about a little bit of everything. She's got the best colors...and some amazing pictures....And some really Good ideas on how to keep the kids busy. At their house they have Craft Thursdays.....and here recently, her kids painted pictures of castles using watercolors..... ((I loved that rainbow castle!)) .....so today, I decided to get my kids to do the same.

My youngest jumped right in.... and was at the bar painting before the other two were done sketching.... He's always excited to paint!

Where as the 2 older ones over thunk it. ((Yes, Thunk is a word in my vocab!.....and now that I've spell checked everything, I see that spell checker says it's a word, too...lol)) Not sure if it's the age.....but they're really critical of themselves. I tried to tell them it wasn't going to be graded or anything......and that I just wanted them to have fun with it. They set out to paint a masterpiece, but somewhere along the lines I thing they gave up and just painted a picture to please me.

This is Cora's Princess Castle!

And Cameron's Castle...

....And Drew's Castle. Now..... All three of my kids can draw when they want to. They just weren't all in the mood for it today. Drew started to sketch out this intricate castle, with moss covered walls and notes on the side to remind himself of how he wanted to paint it. And then ended up with this:

LOL....Slacker!!

Please don't think I'm telling my kids that it's not good enough, because that's not at all what I'm saying! I just don't think they were in the mood for details today. I will say though, that it kept them quiet for about 2 hours:)

I hope to do more things with them like this over the summer......... And then you'll see what I mean! I'm going to bring the artist out in each one of them yet!

Be Back soon with some jugs........

Weekly update from the Crazy Farm

Thought I'd show you what I've been working on this week. After seeing some oval jugs...I realized I had to have some, too......... and then it hit me.....Beads! I could use beads as the base and just attach those paper rims to the top........I really love those little ones!


But like I said.....I wanted an oval jug, so I kept digging and finally found some small oval beads~ see the red one in the middle, or the pink on the left....there's also a silver one in the back?? The red ones will eventually go into Marshmallow Manor. (I think they need some mushroom spots around the bottom, don't you?) I still have several layers of painting to go....and the handles need to be added. But over all....I like em!


As usual, I had help.....

We had a visitor the other night.....Boogers! Him and Fred were sharing kitty kisses.....

And this is Maggie....AKA Mud or as the bf calls her The Gremlin...Poor girl! She's the new Momma around here.... wanna meet the babies??

She's been bringing them up onto the porch in the morning when she eats breakfast.........Look, it's a baby JD.....(JD's fixed, so I know he's not the daddy.....but Ill be darned if this baby doesn't look just like D did when he was little!)

They have the cutest faces!

I couldn't just leave them there in the dust.....So I brought out a towel....

....and put them in a box....


And then I sat and talked to them for awhile........

After she ate, she took them back under the porch with her.....they were starting to cry, so I'm thinking it was time for them to eat, too.

They're cute and all! But They're Not staying.......and as soon as I can catch her.....I'll call animal control (again!) to come get them.... but until then, I can look can't I?

OK.....I'm off to make some more phone calls.....still can't find a lawyer to take my disability case, and I'm reaching the end of the line, here. I sent my records up to a lawyer in Fredricksburg yesterday~ that's about 3 hours away form here.....close to where my Mom lives....so keep your fingers crossed! I can't find a lawyer locally, and believe me, I think I've called just about everyone around here. No one wants to take it cause we're at the federal level...Hell, I don't wanta go to Federal court either, but a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do, right! ((And for the record...this is exhausting! I hate making phone calls! I'm tired of going to consultations....I don't have the energy for this..... I just wanna go crawl right back in the bed and pull the covers over my head!)

So, until next time.....maybe by then, I'll have the jugs done?!

And ya'll thought I had a lot of cats...

I got an email earlier pointing me in this direction: Go check it out.....I can wait..... :)

http://www.nidokidos.org/cat-house-t44764.html

OMG! Talk about heaven! This is what we need! I could live on 30 acres with 500 cats.....and be completely happy, too! And look, there's even a blog!

http://caboodleranch.livejournal.com/

Speaking of kitties.......Wanta meet mine?

We'll start with Pocus......our oldest kitty. She'll be 11 this year and has been with us since she was a couple weeks old. She's a bit of a food whore......Here she is in the pantry thinking about what could be in that McDonald's bag?!

And then there's JD, my guard dog. He's an outside kitty.... and lately his job has been to keep the outside kitties under lock down. NO one can come in our yard without his permission, lol!

Then there's Otis.....No matter who else comes along, he's still our baby! Here he is chewing on his nails.....


Remember Rufus......he's an inside kitty now! Right after he got fixed we let him back out, and before we knew it he was came home with one hell of a battle wound. So the bf took a tube sock, cut off the toes, and shoved it down around Rufus's neck.......he had a really yucky wound, that he kept scratching open, and this was the best way to keep him away from it.......You can see the sock under the ace bandage.....


He's fine now....and you can normally find him here:

(That's Jasper in the picture with him.......He sure loves his Daddy!) And he's the only one tough enough to wrestle with Daddy.

Next is Ninja kitty....he's so ninja, he slid though the crack in the wall in the bathroom, and is now an outside kitty again. This kitty head-butts harder than any cat I've ever met!

And then there's Bella girl. She sooooo sweet, sleeps right next to me and Otis every night! Oh, and she doesn't meow.....she squeaks!

Then there's T-boy. He's a sweetie, too.....He's just terrified of Rufus. (Mind you Rufus is his Daddy) He hides under Cora's bed 99% of the time....and Rufus sits at the door, waiting for him to make an appearance. I'd love to find him a nice quiet home to go to.

On to the 2nd litter........We start with crazy, lazy Fred. He's so lazy, he lays down to eat, lol. He's a sweet kitty, too.....just a little bit on the dumb side.

And he does a lot of this, (sitting on his butt) lol...... I have a lot of candid shots of Fred.

And last but not least is my Jasper....... Crazy, hyper Jasper. It's not Otis that wakes me up these Days......it's Jasper. He comes prancing across the bed and bites anything he can find. And generally he's bouncing across the bed every night as I fall asleep. Jasper's not a head-butter.... he's a face rubber. And if I take my glasses off, he thinks he needs to lick my eyes....so strange!

So. I still have 2 more outside, too. Boogers and Maggie. Boogers (looks just like Fred, but he has a black spot right under his nose that looks like a booger) sits in the window and stares at us....he wants to come in, I just haven't let him in yet.....(And for the record, out of all the new litters that have come in, I'm only responsible for Fred. The bf is responsible for bringing in the rest!)

And then there's Maggie........Last week we were thinking that she might have a kitten or 2 under the porch....Then I saw her carrying one....Then Saturday.......she brought all 5 of them onto the porch. I called animal control for help....and they told me they'd only come get them if I could catch the Momma. ($##^^&%^....thanks guys!) So....I put the kittens in a cage....and waited for her to go in. But I'm too slow for her, and before I knew it~ she grabbed one and took off with it. And at that point, I was over it, so I said: 'Awe Hell....take um all why don't you!' And walked back inside. I will try again in a couple of days.

So this is my real excuse for not getting a thing done lately. I love all of them, but would like to find about half of them new homes. Good new homes. They're amazing kitties, it's just too much for me.

OMG.....I forgot Mini-T. (That's short for Mini Tabby) Daddy caught him last week......We think when Maggie had her babies, she chased him out of the yard. We found him sitting next door screaming, and of course Daddy (the bf) couldn't let that happen, so he moved him in, too. He's so little.......and so loud. Daddy was ready to put him back out on night 2, lol.

So...that's where I'm at with that.....

overwhelmed and in love