Around the House – Page 9

Unrelated Items

46 Comments / March 31, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Around the House, Bunnies, Swaps

It’s Official! Spring has sprung in ThimbleannaLand.

Our DuckCouple is back. Yipee! I love it when our little DuckCouple returns. They’ll be here for another week or so and then they’ll move on. I wish they’d have their babies here. Apparently, we’re good enough for a stopover, but not the nursery. I hope they’ll be safe while they’re here, too. We got a neighborhood notice that someone a few streets over lost a small dog to coyotes. The fact that we have coyotes around here is always startling to me — I’m mostly from out west and I thought coyotes were a western thing. I mean think about it — you always read about coyotes and cowboys, not coyotes and cornfields.
Last month, I participated in a spring/fall swap hosted by the ever so lovely Trashalou. It was a really fun swap for me, as my partner was new to me — the very sweet Catherine of Calidore.

I made a little bag for Catherine to keep her hand sewing things in — scissors, thread, needle, thimble, etc. I have a little stitchery bag and I carry it everywhere. I drew up the pattern for this one — if I were to do it again, I would use Janet’s fantastic tutorial — I LOVE her little bag. She published her pattern just after I finished this bag. Catherine got better pictures of the goodies than I did and she wrote me such a wonderful thank you. Thank YOU Catherine! The package to me is on it’s way — I’m not sure if it will be from Catherine or someone else (the partners were a surprise), but I’m excited to find out! Thanks for hosting Trashy!
Flat Stanley has paid us a visit! Beth’s young son’s class is doing a Flat Stanley project and I offered to host him here in ThimbleannaLand. While he was here I took him to see Johnny Appleseed‘s grave. It was a beautiful day and I think he rather enjoyed it (I certainly did)! If you’d like Flat Stanley to come and visit you, I’m sure Beth could hook you up. ;-)

Finally (!), Make Life Bunny is so excited about the giveaway, he’s all packed and ready to go. And look! In addition to that 1/2 yard of fabric, he squeezed a card of those cute Make Life Simple buttons into his suitcase! Don’t forget, if you’re interested in a chance to win him you have to make sure the giveaway appears on your local evening news just have to comment on the giveaway post.

I hope you’re all having a great week!
XOXO,
Anna

A Virtual Visit

52 Comments / March 7, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Around the House

Dear Chookyblue,

I’m so excited about your virtual visit and I thought you might like to see what’s in store for you when you come to ThimbleannaLand. First off, this will be your room — you’ve probably seen it here before. There’s an extra bed if you’d like to bring someone along with you.

This is the view out of your bedroom window. That little patch of snow melted today, but I’ve heard we might get more snow this week. We’re still a good month away from getting leaves on those trees. If you were to come in the summer, you wouldn’t be able to see through those naked trees.

I’ve put out a few patterns and books from your fellow Aussies so you’ll feel right at home.

After you get settled in, I’ll take you on a little tour of our town. We’re known as a city of churches and visitors often comment on the large numbers of spires in our downtown. (Sorry for the wonky angle, it was the only way to get all those spires in from my vantage point.)

We’re a pretty tame town, but there are a few fun things to see — like a pretty new minor league baseball field, a children’s zoo (complete with Australian Adventure LOL), a botanical garden (which I thought would be fun for you to visit to see the contrast between your flowers and ours) and our fun little local indie cinema. They show all the cool pics, many of which were nominated for Oscars this year.

After we blitz our town, we’ll surely have to spend a day in Shipshewana. They have quilt shops and you’ll be able to get a little local Amish flavor.

After we finish all that visiting and shopping, we’ll need a day to rest, maybe stitch a little and chat and watch a few old movies. We can hang out here in the dungeon. (It’s a little hard to tell, but there’s a rip in that sofa cushion that I’ll try to repair before you arrive. One too many high school boys used that poor sofa as a ladder to sneak them in and out of those windows. SadlyFortunately those days are over.)

And after all of that, it will be time for you to move on to your next blogger visit. I’m thrilled that you’re going to let me travel with you for the European part of your adventure.

My bags are packed and waiting for you by the back door!

Safe Travels!
XOXO,
Anna

We Need A Cat Whisperer

52 Comments / January 27, 2010 February 22, 2011 / Around the House, Scruff

Last week, we experienced a little hijinx around here. It seems that someone has developed a fondness for my sweaters. ???? Every night when we came home from work, we found one of my sweaters in a crumpled pile on the floor, in a different room of the house. (And just for the record, I don’t leave them thrown all over the house — they sit folded on a shelf in our bedroom closet.)

We narrowly escaped disaster on Tuesday — that sweater was halfway to never being seen again. Given extra time, it could have been sucked into the abyss-under-the-bed. The first few days we just laughed, thinking it would be short lived. But, toward the end of the week, it was clear that someone, was enjoying this little game. In an effort to thwart the prankster, I closed the closet door on Friday morning before I left for work. Being smarter than the average cat, our little felon managed to get the door open. It deterred him enough though, that he only had time to pull a few sweaters off of the shelf — but no time to drag them around the house.

So. The big question is…who’s the guilty party? Paul?

Or TheEmptyNestChild???

At least this time, we know it’s not the monkey. He’s been safely locked away since the last event.

Feel free to provide parenting advice. ;-)

XOXO,
Anna

Puttering

44 Comments / December 11, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House, Crafting

Just popping in to say hello and Brrrr! It’s COLD out there. Old Man Winter arrived this week and it hasn’t been pretty. We didn’t get much snow, but the wind has been bone-chilling. We’re actually having a heat wave today — it’s 20F (6C) out there now. I’m staying in today!

I didn’t get much done this week – mostly just going to work and trying to stay warm. I did finish one little project. When I was a freshman in college, one of my roommates brought a family book to show us. Her mother had taken all of her five children to see Santa every year and had compiled a book of Santa pictures. I loved seeing their family grow right before my eyes — from the very first little baby on Santa’s lap to five big grown children crowding around Santa for a picture. That book had a big impact on me and I knew I wanted to have one someday when I had a family of my own.

So now, after many years, I finally have one. (Well, two – one for each boy.) It was a lot of work over the years to remember to go and see Santa (we forgot one year — I remembered on Christmas Day and by then Santa is all packed up and resting for the next year). And getting teenage boys to go and sit on Santa’s lap wasn’t easy either, but they’re sweet boys and they don’t like to see their mother cry. They’re very simple books — I didn’t want a lot of embellishments to take away from what’s really important — those Santa pictures. I love looking through them, but it does bring a tear to my eye as I know that having completed books means that the boys are all grown up now. {Very Big Sigh}

Ok. I’m outta here. Must. Decorate. Today. You should see the front porch. The glitter bells are hanging on the front door and the snow frosted pumpkins are on the steps. Classy.

Have a Great Weekend!
XOXO,
Anna

Transition Weekend

30 Comments / November 24, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House

Well? How was the weekend? It would have been better to ask you that on Monday…and I would have, but I couldn’t post yesterday. Uploading problems somewhere along the line…Grrrrr. Anyway, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of moving into this house by cleaning our clothes closet and living to tell about it. It was a close call though, we almost succumbed to dust inhalation. Whew – it was bad in there! The closet is breathing a big sigh of relief now and I counteracted the dust effects by spending a whole day outside in our beautiful fall weather. One last day of yard cleanup with the other man in my life, John Deere. John, Dear.

John and I go back 22 years and he’s getting tired, but he squeaked through another year without complaining too much. It was a perfect fall day so I thought I’d wave at you with a modified Wilson. Don’t you think I look hot with my hearing protection? (I’m channeling my inner robot.) They’re a new accessory this year — I should have been wearing them all these years of mowing — John has a little trouble with volume control.

I’m pretending the hydrangea stalks are my antennae. All the leaves are gone from the hydrangeas now, but the gorgeous pink flowers are still there.

So, this concludes another season of yard work. It was one of the best that I can remember — our summer was just perfect — cool and just the right amount of rain. And our fall weekends have been just the right weather combo too, so that the final clean up wasn’t with snow.

Potential snow flurries are in our forecast by week’s end and I’m looking forward to the new season of extra time to work on inside projects. As soon as the outside work was over, I started one — a little red for Christmas, which is screaming at me everywhere I turn. (Man, I wish retailers would cut us some slack and let us enjoy our seasons!)

Anyway, I’ll be spending my week prepping for Thanksgiving and sneaking in a little crochet here and there. I hope you all have a fun week planned too!

XOXO,
Anna