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I was just surfing around the internet and found some inspiration:

Miniature cupcakes with flavored sugars sprinkled on top from Matthew Mead. So then I had to find out how to make flavored sugar. And I found this page. Maybe that will be a fun treat to make this weekend. Here is a question for people who live at higher altitudes: what can you do when baking to make sure things will rise like normal? I usually add a couple extra tablespoons of flour, but still my cakes and scones and things are not as high as I’d like. Speaking of treats, I’m going fishing tomorrow, so I think I’ll make some of these to take along for everyone. What are some of your favorite treats?

I have a lot of works in progress going on right now, but I have finished one little project:

This is a thank you gift for a co-worker who cleaned out her closet and gave me a ton of very nice hand-me-downs. The pattern is from one of the Mission Falls booklets, and I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. Love that yarn!

I’ve been visiting here recently. And I’ve been reading this. I found Amy Stewart’s blog last week, which was so cool, because I really enjoyed this book. I think once the chickens are all settled in, I’ll be looking into getting one of these.  And have you seen this?! Beautiful and inspiring.

I’m driving up to L.A. tonight so I can take my mother-in-law to her colonoscopy appointment tomorrow. I have a very long 24 hours ahead of me. And I think it’s best if that’s all I say on that topic.

Someone visited my site by searching for "pictures of scary things". I have no idea why that happened, I haven’t posted many pictures of myself here.

ha ha ha! I crack myself up.

Gigi
1992-June 4, 2006

It’s a sad day here at our house. My little gigi-girl passed away this morning around 5:30. Friday evening, we noticed that she wasn’t feeling well, she wouldn’t eat or drink and was a bit wobbly when she walked. She wouldn’t stay in my lap, which is a sure sign of a problem.  I stayed up with her all night and we got to the vet’s office as soon as they opened the doors at 8:00 in the morning. We had to take her to an animal hospital where they hooked her up to IV’s and poke and prodded and did every test possible. She was in diabetic shock. She was there all night, but we got the call this morning at 6:00 that she was gone.

Thirteen years ago, before I ever knew him, Mr. Lucy went to pick up his new cat, a retired tonkinese show cat named Dune. While he was at the breeder, he saw a little box with three tiny kittens. One was going to be put down because she had crossed eyes and funny bent legs and would probably need surgery to correct her eyes. Mr. Lucy asked if he could take her too. She was Dune’s daughter and he named her Gigi.

Gigi was the most un-cat-like cat I ever knew. She was never arrogant or snobby or indifferent to the humans around her. She was shy and didn’t like a lot of noise, so she would hide when the house was too full of people, but otherwise she was usually in the same room as one of us. She always came when I called her. Every night at bedtime I would ask "Where’s Gigi?" and she would hop up on the bed. She liked to sleep in the crook of my arm. She loved to be warm. She was always finding her way into my lap, sometimes without my even realizing it. I’d be watching TV and knitting or just sitting and reading and look down and there she was. She would even sneak into the bathroom when she saw me heading in there. Just slip right through the door before I would get it shut. I guess she thought that if I was going to be sitting there, doing nothing, I might as well have a cat to keep me company.

Despite her crossed eyes, she was a good little hunter. Once, as I was getting out of the shower, I spotted a lizard in the bathroom (I still have no idea how he got in there!). I went and got Gigi and she chased him around the bathroom and just had a good old time. She’d do the same with spiders and any other little thing that moved. After the lizard incident, I caught her in the bathroom many times, creeping around the bathtub, still looking for that darn lizard.

She and Reggie were special friends. Every evening she would throw herself down on the floor in front of him for her nightly bath. He would lick and lick and lick her. She loved it, and rolled around so he could get her all clean. They played together too, and she let him herd her around the house.

One of her little quirks was her love of tape and paper and glue and boxes. When I tore off a sheet from the lint roller, she would come running so she could nibble on it. It was like Christmas to her when we’d bring home a box. Especially one with packing tape. It would keep her entertained for hours. We have a few books and magazines with little Gigi teeth marks where she chewed on the corners.

She had the prettiest little feet I ever saw


She walked like a little supermodel, putting one dainty paw in front of the other.

If I wasn’t sure where she was, I just had to look for the sunny windowsill. She would follow the sunshine around the house.

We have a rose bush in our yard called ‘Miss Gigi’, we dug it up and put her little body deep underneath it.

There is a big hole in my heart that will never be filled again. She was my gigi-girl. I loved her.

What a nice long weekend. One more day would have been perfect, I was just starting to feel productive and was getting things done. My peonies opened up and the color faded as they got bigger to a pretty, soft pink:

In my typical ADD fashion, I worked on many different projects this weekend. I finished a cover for our hot water bottle:

It’s still a bit chilly at night, so we could get a little more use out of it. I really should work on the timing of the projects I do. For instance, this would have come in handy a couple months ago when we were both sick. Isn’t this much more comforting when suffering from feverish chills than a water bottle wrapped in an old towel which keeps slipping off and getting tangled around your feet? Ok, maybe if you’re sick enough you don’t really care, but I like this version better. The pattern is from Sarah Dallas Knitting. Which is a nice book full of very pretty photographs of projects that are nearly all stockinette stitch. Not that there is anything wrong with stockinette, the two sweaters I’m making myself this summer are nothing but stockinette, but a little more variety in a knitting book would be nice. I think this is the most interesting pattern in the whole book. I have to show a close-up of the top:

That edging? Is crocheted. That’s right, I did it myself. It only took 3 attempts and 2.5 hours, but I sat there with the pattern and my Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework and a crochet hook and some pretty awkward maneuvering, but I figured it out. My technique is unique, I’d probably be laughed out of any self-respecting crochet group, and my wrist is a little sore, but it did it! Anyway, is that not the cutest hot water bottle you ever saw? I think it is (patting myself on the back).

I did some sewing this weekend too. I made a pillow cover:

Vintage eyelet, linen, a green satin ribbon and a pretty little print. It’s not the most exciting pillow ever, but I think it’s pretty. It has a buckwheat hull pillow inside. I also worked on my backtack project, and I’m happy to report that I think the fabric is going to work out well for the pointy kitty. I was a bit worried that the print was too big, but I lined it up just right for the face, and it looks pretty cute. I also tried making some patchwork coasters for my living room, but let’s just call the results an ‘experiment’ or a ‘learning experiance’ and move on. I’ll have to try that again.