breakfast with the neroni's

hello all.. I am really quite tired tonight. ready for another weekend.

We had a great weekend. the weather was perfect here, we cooked out every night, and ate late.. I love summer nights when we dont eat until 8:30 or so.

Saturday I went garage sale-ing and flower shopping with my daughter Jennifer. we had fun. We discovered the most interesting garden at one yard sale.. look at these pictures...

Then Sunday I planted and puttered the day away.. Heres a couple pictures of my yard... You need to understand that I am not a gardener. I like to plant in pots and window boxes... thats about the extent of my gardening abilities.. plus.. I hate to get dirty.. and I HATE worms!!


Monday I went out to breakfast with all my children plus one. that was interesting... my youngest son had been out drinking with buddies the night before and still had a buzz going. He was a bit obnoxious and I was flipping back and forth between being ticked off, amused, frustrated and embarrassed! At one point he said, as he was fiddling with butter and jam packets "ask the waitress for something to put this butter on". when we told him that she would be bringing his breakfast soon he said, "ask that man over there if he has anything to put butter on." Then he pulled out 60.00 and tried to give it to his brother if he would drink the little tiny pitcher of cream and eat 5 packets of sugar... Tony told him he wasnt going to take advantage of him. rob keep bugging him about it and finally I said.. give me the money and I picked up the creamer and was going to drink it myself.. I figured I didnt mind taking advantage of the kid, if he was dumb enough to offer.. but I couldnt make myself do it, there were other people near us and I didnt think it would be very good manors to drink out of the pitcher!

EIY YIE YIE!! Had I know he wsa in that condition, he wouldnt have gone, or I wouldnt have. but he rode with his brother.. When we got home he went to bed and didnt get up until way later in the day! Anyways, theres always something interesting or painful going on around here!

The trip up was interesting too.. I rode with my girls and they were blasting music that bethany made on a CD for me, and were singing at the top of their lungs.. very short video below! actually , I always have fun with my girls!

Yesterday, I crafted.. Imade the liner for this basket, and you can see that Jasper thinks its all about him.. Gosh that cat cracks me up!! He is so needy!! He needs my constant attention! I love love love him!!

then I made this little bear. I wanted him to look like the old carnival bears, they were kind of square-ish and were brown and yellow. I just couldnt leave him plain though, he ended up with buttons and a hat!
OK.. thats all ..
except.. please girls if you havent sent me pics of your miniature pieces from the swap.. please do! I'm just dying to see them all!! have a good week all!

miniature swap and suitcase

Hello all you lovely bloggers! I'm having a difficult time coming up with pictures of the last swap.. please send me pictures if you havent already. and if you have sent them and havent seen them posted in one of the last three posts, please send them again. the beautiful "strawbeary" above was made by Diana . Isnt she adorable! Diane swapped with Stafanie Both Diana and Stafanie live in Germany! Are these two bears cute or what!! I love them both and would love to swap with these girls myself! This precious little doll was made by my friend Mystele (you'll hear more about her below!) Isnt she the cutest!? Mystele is a very talented lady! Her doll went to SAmmy. I showed you Sammys adorable needle felted two posts ago.. if you didnt see it you need to go back and look! Its adorable! dont you love seeing all these tiny things? remember everything was under 6 inches!

This sweet doll was made by Michelle Michelles awesome little party doll (looke at the sweet cake and gift!) went to Vanessa and Vanessa made the next wonderful little doll for Michelle. her doll is a little fairy princess!

this last miniature doll was made by Jillian. she made a miniature of her partner Debra Schoch. It turned out so awesome! I'm dying to know how deb liked it!

OK, so there are about 10 of you I havent heard from or recieved pics from. And I'm just cant wait to see what you made!! so please girls email me!!!

so, now, see this sweet little painting? Remember those little birds I made a couple posts ago? I swapped with Mystele the birdies for this picture she calls songbird. I love it!!! and, the dear sweet Mystele also sings and sent me a CD of her singing! I LOVE it. Very beautiful voice she has.. Thank you sooo much mystele..

a couple weeks ago, Mica from Garboodles posted the cutes darn little case that she had bought. It was a little suit case that someone had beautifully altered and made into a little craft case. Ive been obsessed about it since.. so over the weekend I went "thrifting" looking for two old cases, which I did find! then my daughter Jen and I went shopping and bought papers and trims to put them together. Here are pictures of mine. Shes not finished with hers yet, but when she is, I will post the pics! this was so much fun to make! I may have to go find a couple more cases! I made this little bear years ago.. In fact it may be the first miniature bear I ever made.. I just threw the nose, hat and collar on him to spruce him up for the box!

I did not make this other tiny bear, its a little ganz cottage collectable, I just dressed him up a bit.

Well thats all for now ... I had something else I was gonna say, but Its late and I've forgotten...

Yay!! its memorial day weekend and a three day weekend.. OH HOW i am looking forward to it!! And we're finally supposed to get some warmer and sunnier days!!

I'll be back!! Till then, Have fun!

LOOK what came in the mail yesterday from Jenn! I am in awe! You guys are all so darn talented I can hardly stand it! I just want to swap with everyone so I have a little piece of each of you!!! This is my new favorite thing in the world! My husband laughed when I opened it.. I just kept saying "OH. MY. GoD... This is so freaken cute!" Amazing.. This is amazing.. Jenn is amazing.. YOu are all amazing!! You all make me day.. every comment that gets left makes me happy! (you know people that dont have blogs really just dont understand this!!!) sometimes when Im talking to my friends and I mention blogging they roll their eyes!! and I have to say, I love flickr as much as blogging! they dont get that either. oh well..

OK.. Its the weekend.. finally..... I live for the weekend! I am going to eat some toast and tea, throw on some clothes, brush my teeth and go garage sale-ing and FLOWER shopping! PLus my little neighbor girl is getting married today! thats not till 4:00, so I definitely have time to play first! I bought a new dress.. ... I am very unphotogenic.. I should say extrememly unphotogenic.. but if by chance there ends up being a half way decent picture, maybe I'll post it. hmmm, I never did buy shoes.. I better go search my closet and make sure I have a pair to where! Or I will have to add shoe shopping to my list for today! OOPS.. and I didnt buy a gift yet either.. but I think I'll just put money in a card. oh and.. I bet my family would like me to buy some groceries too.. but that isnt happening today!

so off I go, out to play.. I'll take pictures and probably be back tomorrow!!

huggies to you all!

this is just a quickie post.. I went shopping with my daughter and video'd her singing in the car. She cracks me up!

thats all folks.. gotta go to work.. was gonna show the glittered bird (looks like glittered poop!) but its not uploading fast enough and I'll be late if I wait!

have a lovely!

little birds, little dolls and little bears

I'm doing a swap with Mystele, she is so creative and talented and I love her art work! she made the sweetest painting of a girl singing and I just adore it, so we are doing a little swap.. she is getting these little birdies! I hope she loves them! I had a ball making them!

They are made out of strofoam balls and paperclay. actually very easy! I couldnt decide whether or not to glitter them, but they did have a mother, and I glittered her, big mistake! she turned out like a big piece of glittered POOP!! so unfortunetly these babies are now orphans!! Mystele will need to care for them.. as their mother no longer exists! well she exists.. but she is not going with them!
I made them a little nest out of a little goblet and some excelsior (cant spell that!) and some little trims. the baby boy birdie has a little pewter pacifier! and the baby girl has a little flower charm.. I almost hate to part with them, because I do think they're rather cute! I'll be happy for Mystele to have them though!

IN other news.. well, its not news.. I dont know why I said that.. but anyways, Ive decided to go ahead and post the pictures that I've recieved so far of our miniature swap pieces. PLEASE please.. send me pictures to post!!

This first one was made by Sammy Stafney and was sent to Mystele. I understand that this was sammys first try at needle felting! she did an awesome job! look how adorable this little bear is!


This next piece was done by Debb George and was sent to Donna Robinson. Debb made this bear out of a little gourd and some spare bear parts. she also crafted the little playpen to go with it! I think she turned out really cute! Very creative DEbb!

Donna made this sweet fairy in a jar for Debb! Adorable! I believe she is created out of polymer clay? correct me if I'm wrong donna! She is sweet! I know Debb loves her!

This next piece was created by my buddy Barb Burkard ( i just love her!) Barbs sweet little bunny was sent to her partner Kecia Deveney .

And the talented artist Kecia, sent Barb this wonderful little kitty doll! this doll is a sister doll to the one Kecia made me for the last doll swap. she is adorable!

Next is a sweet little girl made by the very kindhearted and sweet Cindy Owens. Cindy volunteered to take a second partner when I realized I had somehow skipped someone in the swap! thank you sooo much Cindy.. and how lucky for your partner! Cindy sent this sweet girl to Becky Jorgenson

Cindy sent this beautiful miniature doll to her first partner Susan Van Horn she made a whole wardrobe (not pictured) for this little doll! Cindy I want to swap with you sometime! Actually I want to swap with everyone!!! anyways, this doll is awesome!

This beautiful miniature baby doll was sent to ME!!! She traveled all the way from Denmark and is from Maija Pape. I adore this doll.. she is so sweet! Thank you sweet maija!

these miniature bears went to Maija Pape in Denmark, Mariella in Italy and Jenn Docherty.

Well, Im hoping that everyone else will email me pictures to post! I'll be waiting! This has been a great swap so far.. I love all the sweet little creations! I love playing with you all! You make blogging and swapping so much fun!

Are you ready for another swap? PINKEEPS I wont start it yet. but be thinking of the possibilities! I have soooo many ideas!

talk to me girls.. its been too quiet here lately! was beginning to think my blog was invisable! remember in horton hears a who... we are here.. we are here.. we are here.. well this is me.. I am here, I am here, I am here!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! and cancer....

Happy Mothers day girls! whats everyone doing tomorrow? We havent made any real plans. I'm assuming we'll cook on the grill, or go out. I'd rather eat at home truthfully, I like our own cooking! Little tony came home from Ithaca for the weekend.. Hes really been the only one around. Jennifer is working for the Thomas the tank people as their MC, as thomas the tank is visiting Medina this weekend and next weekend. She has worked for them every year when they come. she was home for a few minutes tonight but left to go to a party. Robert left when I got home on Friday to go to Morrisville to stay with a friend, whose mother was just diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. that person is a very close friend of mine. In fact, we're supposed to be going on vacation together this summer with 4 other girls. right now that plan is on hold and not important. My friend is talking about having a mastectomy. so sad.
We just had another friend diagnosed with lymphomia (cant spell) also. in fact he is the person who introduced tony and I! I dont like this getting older crap.. It suddenly seems that we're closer to being old then to being young! and having friends with serious health problems.. sucks.

so what did I do today? i attended a wedding shower this afternoon for my neighbor.. who we've watched grow up since she was 4. she is getting married in June. One of the girls on the other side of us is also getting married.. next weekend! I cant even imagine my kids getting married!

Well miniature swappers. How did everyone do? Did everyone get their pieces mailed out? Ive got a bunch of pictures ready to post. but I really want to wait til I hear from everyone. Please be sure to mail me pictures! I cant wait to see everyones work! so far everything I've seen is wonderful!! I hope everyone had fun.
I do have a plan for the next swap, but I'm not ready to start sign ups yet.. I'll post it in a couple weeks. this time its not a doll or bear.. though in a sense it could be.. something a little different this time.
well all, Ive got a little head ache.. I think I will go get some water and clean up the kitchen from dinner!
HAPPY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Hello all.. Wednesdays always seem like the longest day of the week to me.. but once its over, we're more then half way through the week! Thank God.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a magazine addict. well the last couple I bought are these two; artful blogging and somerset life. You should check them out. There are pieces in each by girls you'll probably recognize from blogland.

Susan Mitchell from http://www.itsawhimsicallife.blogspot.com/ ,

Holly Abston from http://www.hollydoodledesigns.com/ ,

Elsa Mora from http://www.elsita.typepad.com/ ,

Heather Bullard from http://www.heatherbullard.typepad.com/

Jenny Holiday from http://journals.aol.com/jennyeveryday/everyday-is-a-holiday
And so many more that you'll recognize. I love what these girls all had to say about blogging, how they got started, what they blog about and why they keep on blogging. I know you'd agree that we all pretty much feel the same way! (guess you'll have to read them so you'll know what I'm talking about!)

Also both of these magazines are packed full of inspiration. Most of you are probably already familiar with these, But I'm a "late bloomer here!" I'm bought them several times before, but these two just seemed to impress me more then the past issues.

I really enjoy bopping around out here in blog land. I wish I had more time to keep up with everyone, though, its probably a good thing that I dont!

SO how are we doing swappers? I had three partners. two of which have been recieved. I sent to NJ, Denmark and Italy. Italy's the only one that hasnt been recieved yet, well, at least as far as I know! the others, Jenn, and Maija recieved and loved their little miniature bears. I'm so glad!

I have a new project brewing in my head.. and its not a bear or a doll! Im going to be making something special for my sweet friend Mystele soon, she and I are doing our own little swap.. I adore her art work. I think you can tell a lot about a person by the art they make.. Her heart is definitely beautiful!

Ok.. Im off and about.. time for PJs.. magazines and a brownie sundae!

played today

hello all.. I played, cooked and puttered today! I would like to spend every day that way.. no work ever! well, maybe once in a while. a couple days a week.. ideally, I would love to work 4 days a week. That would be perfect. I used to work at a drug treatment agency and I was able to work 4 long days and then have 3 off! I also had summers off while I worked there because I worked in a school with kids that were using drugs or whose parents were.. so I had july and august off.. we had to work about 8 days during the summer. Oh those were the days!!!

Oh well.. so we play when we can then.. right!? so this is what I did today...

I bought the stuff to make this bear about 2 months ago.. I've been waiting for the right time to make her.. this weekend worked! i also planned and put together what I'm going to make for the Faerie Zine circus book swap! I had fun doing this.. but have to make 28 copies of this! I have til july and its not as much work as it sounds like, because the base will be copies and then I will embellish them to finish them. I signed up for 3 of these book collaborations.. the circus one, a dollhouse one and also a Halloween opera book! FUn Fun fun!

Well, I think I've mentioned to you that I think my cat is starting to get a little senile, look where I found him this afternoon! He thought he was in trouble.. He is a trip.. hes also a bit of a pain in the neck... he wants constant attention!

I uploaded a ton of pictures on flickr tonight. the cutest ones of a little birdie friend.. You should go to my flickr site to see the story about this bird! I really want to share it with you, but I dont feel like uploading all 8 pictures and telling the story.. (which really isnt that big of a deal.. I probably could have told you in the time i took to talk about not telling it!!) Oh well.. I also should tell you about a funny dream I had last night!

Ok., the dream:

so, I dreamed I was at this Amish house, and I was sitting at the kitchen table, which was a picnic table. The amish lady didnt like me for some reason, but the little girl was sweet and she was sewing this tiny little amish doll, it was only a couple inches big and it was like filled with sand, cause it was floppy. It was so darn cute and I loved it, so the little girl gave it to me. It had tiny black x's for eyes and no mouth of nose, but it was adorable (Im thinking of trying to make it!) anyways, You know the Amish dont have tons of nic nacs and little stuff around their houses, but this one did. she had tons of the cutest little stuff! I was in awe... I wanted to see it all.. BUt when I got up to look around, there on my lap were all the cutest little tiny sewed dolls that that little girl made. I dont know how they got on my lap, but I thought the Amish lady thought I was trying to steal them. (I did want them all though). So I was looking around and she had this shelf that went across the length of her kitchen, but it was like a cat walk.. and it was up high. I wanted to see what was up there, so she like magically jumped up there and was sitting there handing me the cutest little tiny teasets and toys to look at. It was all amazing. Then! someone knocked at the door and it was my mother, my grandmother and my three aunts and they were all dressed up in these pretty dresses with sequins and high heels and they looked all fancy, they had come to get me, they were going to one of their highschool reunions. ... then, I woke up. thats it.. my dream! strange huh? I had another dream after that one, but I cant remember it for the life of me!

Ok.. thats all for now folks.. have a great week! And.. those of you working on miniatures for the miniature swap... we have about 5 or 6 days til they should be mailed out. please email me pictures to post! some of you I havent heard from yet.. I hope every things going well.. let me know!

Huggles girls! good night!

A little edit here.. everyone be sure to hop over to my friend Sabii Wabii http://sabiiwabii.blogspot.com/ You have got to see the most amazing hat she made for the kentucky derby.. it is so AWESOME!!! go see.. go go.. right now.. go look!

Now you see it.. Now you dont.. (I'll take and post that picture tomorrow!) We've been here 23 years and of course the tree was here way way longer then that. It has shaded our house in the summer for all those years! I know we'll miss it this summer! My husband hired some guys to take it down and then he and Robert were supposed to do the clean up. However, Robert slept til noon , then got up and left for the weekend to visit friends. I was goign to go shopping, but I couldnt leave my poor husband with the huge tree down and no help.. Now you need to remember something here.. I AM SUPPOSED TO BE A PRINCESS.... NOT A LUMBERJACK! I dont like to get dirty and I dont like physical labor. But, I tell ya, I worked my butt off! All day... no crafting, no shopping.. no house cleaning.. no puttering around like I like to do! And.. if I can walk or bend tomorrow, it will be a miracle! I got scratched up and bit up by misquitos! And we didnt get it finished.. but we put a huge huge dent in it.. I figure tomorrow they can finish it.. I cant work like that two days in a row.. tomorrow calls for a sweeter kinder to my body day!! plus.. I have a bear to make.
Just so you know, Im really playing here, I didnt mind helping. I was going to go shopping, but I would never leave him with such a huge job by himself. Oh, i know what I didnt mention ..... It RAINED the whole time! Changed out of soaked clothes twice! Finally around dinner time I had to call it quits, and so did he.. so we cleaned up and went out to get cheeseburgers at Bill Greys.. now I'm home, in my jammies, and itching like a maniac!! time for some lotion, ice tea and a magazine! I'll be posting again tomorrow most likely, so be sure to stop back again!
Arent these pretty! I have so much garden work to do! did I tell you I hate worms!!! yeah, I saw a few of those gross nasty things today.. They have no face and you dont know what they're looking at. they seriously make me want to puke! I cant garden with out gloves in case I touch one on accident.. Ok.. enough rambling for tonight! see yas later!