Busy, Buzzi, buzzie little bee...

Okay, first things first...I said I would post pictures of the transfer pen and the project I was working on...here it is! Somehow it looks a little more exciting in person. I used the pen first because it said that you could use it for mulitple transfers, however, I neglected to remember that due to my still recovering from a broken arm that I don't have a lot of arm/hand strength to push very hard on the pen and paper-which probably would have helped. I did like the pen, but it was like most pens when you hold it up for too long-it just got too light. In a moment of genius I traced it by holding the picture and paper up on the computer screen (white background/no pictures) and traced it. It didn't take too long, but it was hard to do all of the little corn niblets and I think maybe she might just have 6 or 7 fingers on one hand, but other than that...

The lower pictures here show how the duplicate copies came out. The one on the left is the first copy and the right is the second one, which is very light. As it is I can use the left (original) one okay, but it makes the lines disappear if I'm in the light-which I usually am :-). I may have not held it on long enough or left the iron on long enough. I will try the red pencil in the next couple of days and let you know how that comes out-from what i've been reading it seems like that may be the way to go.








Now on to the garden...Things are growing really well, despite the lack of warmth or sun1 Go figure. Our "high" is about 63 and we're lucky if the sun makes any appearance at all. Sometimes we have to wait until 5 or 6 in the evening before we see anything at all. You know it hasn't been sunny for a while when we all start applauding when the sun comes out! :-) God! I can't wait for summer!! The picture on the left is the view from the end of the garden plot. As you can see the corn is really getting big. Everything is doing well and looks healthy. I even spotted my first cucumbers this week! See below, right.
















Inspired by the shopping expedition with Grace and debi on Sunday I went to the thrift store today and wow, did I see things differently! I may have spent 19.86, BUT I got so many things and the most expensive was $1.95! That was for a bag of fabric, including some patriotic fabric that I thought would be good for a july 4th apron. Let's see...I found 6 sunny yellow cotton napkins that i'm going to embroider on (.95 cents for 2); a man's shirt to turn into an apron (thanks to georgann's directions)-1.85; a pair of light yellow swiss dot curtain thingys with a ruffle and white eyelet already attached that can be turned into an apron (.90 each); a novel; 4 sewing patterns- 2 bathing suit's, one dog costume (no, I don't own a dog, I just liked it), and a wrap-around skirt pattern-that I may have actually owned at some point in the 80's!)-.50 cents each; 2 pillow cases-1 for my pillow and one to make into a purse/bag (.95 each); a denim skort ("on sale" for .65 cents); a t-shirt (1.65); a cute little something for a ROAK prezzie; a spring-coloured tea towel(.95); a big sheet in nice colours for turning into aprons(1.50) and...can't remember the rest, but according to the receipt I bought 20 items (and the sunny yellow napkins came with 2 together). No matter how you slice it it was a good day at the thrift store:-)
As for the parade...well, as you can tell there are no pictures of the float. 'Why' you might ask...well, it's hard to take pictures of something that's not there. That's right...builder #6 (who was also builder #2) decided that it wasn't "right" and took the whoooooooooole thing apart including the wheels! Then...he had the cajones to tell me, "not to worry" in a very condisending tone. Bad idea!! I said to him, "actually, I am worried. when I left here everything was okay and now I come in today and find that the whole thing has been taken apart. I have a right to be concerned since everytime I turn around something has changed". I swear he was moments from patting me on the head and telling me not to worry me pretty little head about it. DUDE!! Not a good idea! I don't really care that you're a "good carpenter" and "a talented bamboo artist", just make my damn float and don't give me any guff!! He also proceeded to tell me what had happened to each of the previous builders and how he had "meant to build it himself" all along. Reeeeeeeeeeally, and that's why you disappeared for a week! Do I look dumb to you1? Okay, don't answer that. After this little "discussion" about how I shouldn't worry and it was under control I walked away for, I swear, not even 2 minutes and what do I see...mr builder man sitting down in the sun having a drink with his friends like he has no care in the world. I'm thrilled for him that he's so damned zen about it, but..........GET OFF YOUR DUFF AND BUILD THE DAMNED FLOAT ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, deep breath.....so, now... we're onto builder # 7. Why? Builder #6 (mr zen builder) left for "a few days" and someone else took over. I talked to the workshop director about my frustrations and he agreed that it had taken entirely too long and he'd get someone on it. THANK YOU!! finally!!!!!!!!!!!!! So..when I went down the other day I had outside posts for the walls and one of the push bars had been built. Woohoo! Maybe in the next week I can actually do something on it. It's frustrating to have a day off (monday) and not be able to go to the workshop and get some major stuff done on your float! Another deep breath....Oh, and the skirts for the costumes....well, we're onto version # 4, maybe 5 I've lost count. They are turning out to be entirely too time consuming, so with each successive version it is getting simpler and simpler. I know it'll all come together soon, but when you work 2 jobs and you only have a small amount of time to work on the float and costumes it's difficult when nothing is happening. Oh, wait...I did start sewing my top :-) It's hand sewing so it's an easy to carry around project-although it is subject to shedding at any given moment-even though it's not supposed to.
I think that's everything...for right now :-). One more load of laundry is in the dryer and then I can finally sit down. Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.
Only 1-1/2 days until June!!!!!!!!

Oh my gawd I almost forgot the exciting news!!! My one-way street, which has been closed in the middle for the past 2 years due to a sink-hole and small landslide into the neighbouring property, is...wait for it...OPENING TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally unexpected! We have waited over 2 years for anyone to even acknowledge our "little problem" let alone actually fix it. Then one day about 3-1/2 weeks ago (maybe more) the sign went up saying our street was closed-well, duh! and they began construction. It was supposed to take until June 13th, but I saw the asphalt guy taking away his equipment when I got home. Soooooooooo excited! We usually have 2 options in the morning: go to the stop sign closest to your house and cross your fingers that someone doesn't come around the blind turn too fast or go about half way down, make a right and go to the stop sign where you can see everything. Since the sink-hole we've only been able to go the stop sign/blind turn way,which is very scary. I can hardly wait to go down the street. Can we get a band?! Have a street opening party?! We NEED to have a celebration of some sort!!

Just a quickie today before I dash off...

Yesterday I got to meet Grace/Katmom and Debi/Mima. It was so much fun! We got along wonderfully and had a really nice time together. We started the day with taking our apron picture in front of the Father Sierra statue in Ventura. Grace brought some wonderful aprons, one of which we were all trying to figure out how we could make one just like it. Debi brought some really cute aprons that she got from some of our friends at MJ's. One of them was made by Georgeann/Aunt George, which was just gorgeous. It was made from an embroidered table cloth and had just the cutest little pockets! Grace was so sweet and brought little gifts for both myself and debi. Wow!
That's Grace on the left and Debi on the right. We thought it would be good to show the California plam trees and the ocean in the picture, only it was kind of overcast, so the ocean doesn't show up as well as hoped.

Another shot before we headed out to lunch...

We went off the eat at the Nature Cafe and then off to the thrift stores. Everyone found something to get at one of the stores along the way. My first purchase was an embroidered tea towel for a whopping .50 cents, although I did spend significantly more than that at the fabric store later in the day.

Here's one of the dresses that I bought. This one was $1.95. I bought it to wear to a "celebrity waiter" dinner that I'm going to on Wednesday. I'm not sure which celebrity to go with-Marilyn, Jackie O...?

Now this one's just plain ugly on!!!!!!!! I look like a boy whose sister decided it would be fun to put him in one of her dresses while their parents were away for the day! Bleech! I bought it for an 80's themed party that I'm going to, but there is not one thing that is redeeming about this dress. Not one!! Well, it did only cost $1.95. I guess that's a positive. Needless to say this is the only time I'll be seen in this lovely little number.

Enjoy your day off!!!!

Here's to an enjoyable week...June is just a few days away....

This isn't my flower, but I just thought it was beautiful.

Lot's going on at the garden this week!
The lettuce is growing like crazy; tomatoes are flowering; the zucchini are beginning to flower; the corn is growing-"bob" seems to be taking the lead in this, however it looks like something or someone is chomping the tops of the corn plants-the nerve!; pattipan squash are not only flowering, but there are small squash on almost every plant now; the beans are starting to send out shoots; and perhaps most exciting of all...I found a flower on the cucumber plant! WooHoo! I've been really worried since the...oh, what's that bright orb in the sky called...um...let me think...oh..THE SUN hasn't been shining either at all or for very long, and it certainly hasn't been warm AT ALL! I'd say 63-65 doesn't constitute warm...and that's NOT in the shade. And God forbid that the wind is blowing-it's like ice! Can't wait until it starts "warming up"-which should mean that it is above 65.

As you can tell the garden has really started to move along:

Here's "Bob". I can't believe how big he's getting!

Here he is...Guillermo-Master Gardener! He was so funny. I said I was going to take photos of my garden and he looked at me confused and said, "why, you know what it looks like"? Veeeery funny Guillermo. I love when he's down there because I feel like I learn so much. He's just full great gardening advice, which usually starts with, "Aye, Amanda..." As in, "Aye, Amanda you have to wait until the water cools down before you put it in the garden" (this was last summer during a "heat wave"). We usually speak in Spanish the whole time, except when one of us (usually me) looks a little confused then we switch to broken English (his). It's really helped me learn different names for things. The other day he was trying to describe something that had just popped up in my garden, but I wasn't getting it, so he says, " It's purple. It can come in other colours. It has a bulb. It's a vegetable." It was a beet, but I wasn't familiar with the word. I enjoy spending time down there and learning from the other gardens.



Look what I found...It's a cucumber flower! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited to see it! I knew it was getting bigger, but wow...a flower.

The beans are starting to sprout. Guillermo asssured me that they'll turn around and start attaching themselves to the fencing. I'm not so sure about that.

Let's see what else...Oh, I won $50 at my other job for perfect attendance. We have a drawing every 6 months for $ and this time I won! Yea! I think I'll use this when I go with Kat4mom and Mima (from maryjanesfarm.org) to Ventura and shopping in the Thrift stores.

I went to the hand dr. on Monday and so far everything is progressing along nicely (that is unless you need to start using power tools in the next 2 weeks :-)), but every day I just get stronger and stronger and find myself constantly amused at the things I can do. Just today I tied my own sweat pants-and they actually stayed up (unlike last time). Ahhh, simple pleasures. I made a sponge cake today and cracked the eggs all by myself, AND didn't get any shell in the bowl :-). I got up early to go to a cooking class today, but alas it was cancelled. They aren't doing a very good job of advertising, so it sucks when you get there early to get a space and then no one shows up. There's not much new at the Solstice workshop since the guy (#4 by my count) hasn't been around since I talked with him 2 weeks ago. Riccardo, who's back from Europe, said that Scott is supposed to be there this weekend. Boy I hope so! I want to get started. I'm going to start the skirt/flamingo body prototype with the costume person in the next couple of days, so at least there's something going on while I'm waiting for my little grass shack to be built. We'll see...

The Flamingo has landed...

Here they are...in all their pink glory! My friend is letting us borrow them from the school she works for, since they were left over from a fundraiser they did. I must say, just looking at them makes me happy. Aaaaaaaaaaah!

In celebration of tomorrow's big National Apron Day I decided to take some pictures of a few of my aprons. The green one someone was getting rid of a few years back. Strangely she had a whole bag of them, just like this one. I'm not sure I want to know what they did at their house.

hahahaha. It is made from a very sheer fabric-more like a tea/formal apron (and possibly flammable). Anyway, I love the ric-rac flower in the middle and have been trying to figure out how to make some. I think they'd be a great addition to shirts, skirts, etc.

This one just made me smile. It is a take off of a german ? apron with the criss-cross at the top of it and it has very intricate embrodiery of a man on one pocket and a woman on the other. I'm waiting for just the right occassion to wear it.

I proudly support National Apron Day. Monday, May 14th, 2007.

The good news is...

...the garden is growing like crazy! As you can see from the pictures the plants really enjoyed the hot weather-too bad that it only lasted a few days. It was back to fog and mid 60's for the rest of the week.

Here's a full shot of the garden. The corn has grown so much that as I walked near my garden I looked at it and said, "Holy ________! Look at the corn!!" I can't believe how big it has grown in just a few days. It has at least doubled in size. I am soooo excited!

I discovered some more squash growing too! Almost every single pattipan plant has babies on it now.

I love this under the leaves shot. I had to practically turn myself into a pretzel to get it, but I think it's pretty good and creative...if I do say so myself :-)

The zucchini plants are starting to show signs of small flowers.

Here's the magical corn...

Strangely, it looks as if the one's on the right are growing a little bigger than the one's on the left. I'm not sure why since there's nothing blocking any of the plants in any direction.

Group photo:

And a single portrait...we call him 'Bob'.

Even the lettuce seemed to double in size! I had my first salad (well, just the lettuce part) on Wednesday and it was good. There's nothing like fresh lettuce. Delicious.

Here's a tomatoe I discovered hiding. This was obviously taken before I watered ;-) Most of the tomatoe plants are starting to produce small buds, but unfortunately one of them is getting brown and not growing.

I don't know about this picture...the beans look like their in jail and peering through the fence...although they seem happy.

On the Flamingo front...

*Nothing and I do mean nothing happened with the float since I last saw it LAST saturday. When I went down to the workshop , not only had nothing happend on our float, but some person (who shall remain nameless) moved/relocated my WHOLE area that I had claimed as mine (you know-told the executive director; decorated it; wrote my name on the table that was specially built for us. Needless to say-I was not a happy camper!! At first I couldn't even find my table or the float base. All I saw was some one had moved their float into my space. Eventually my stuff was located. After talking with several people who totally backed me up I talked to the Exec. Director and after having a very strange conversation (no eye contact-from her, lots of flinging her hair around, short and not very concise sentences, and some noises she acquised and admitted that she had told them that they could BUILD in the area, but that they then needed to move into the center. Well, apparently someone forgot to give them the memo on that. I mean, come on. There's really no need for them to move their float in the first place, since they could just hook up an extenstion cord and still do the same work they were doing, just in the middle. Curses!! Phew! So...everything got worked out...I hope. I talked to the dude who's currently in charge and new at the workshop (although a friend of said Exec. Dir.) and he was miffed when I asked if he could keep an eye on the situation to make sure that it doesn't continue happening as it is very frustrating to have to go and relocate all of your stuff when you show up. All I got was a blank look. GREAT! I swear I had to explain the situation to him 3 times before he got the hang of it. And, everytime I explained my explantation became more and more simple and shorter until finally he got it.

On a more positive note...I got together with the seamstress/costume gal and we think we have the hang of the costumes, so we can make a prototype soon. On Friday I was at a school to serve some of the children I see and I ran into a guy who was lost (how fortutitis). Turns out he has a business of installing "sports lawns" ie., fancy astro turf. I couldn't believe it! Talk about fate. Every time I tried to get astro turf my sources wouldn't be available and I had just resigned myself to the fact that maybe I'd have to buy the darned stuff and then TA DA...I talked to the grass man and...he says he was "just about to throw out some stuff" and that I could have it! I love how things sometimes work out like this!!!!!! I just have to call him next week and arrange a time and place.

Also, my friend Kim, who is in our group, came by with a box of Large and small flamingos!!! Whooohoooo! We have enough to make the float look fabulous! The school she works at had a fundraising event at the VERY fancy hotel at the edge of town (many a celebrity has been known to hang out there) and at the end of the event she gathered the flamingos and dropped them off. It was a very happy moment to say the least. I'm going to add pictures tomorrow.

Remember-Monday is National Apron Day

It's going to be a hot one!!

Normally I don't post during the week because it's too crazy, but I got up early to pay bills and thought...oh, why not.
So...Yesterday it was 96 degrees!! Phew it was hot, even for me and I LOVE hot weather. I went down to the garden and discovered to my surprise that I had 2 small green tomatoes and a pattypan squash starting. I don't know where they all came from-must be the heat. It also looks like the beans are getting ready to do something to! and the cucumbers look like they are doing well too. I even picked some lettuce to add to a salad I'm having for lunch today. Yum.
Between my garden and work (job #2) I zipped down to the farmer's market. I love going on tuesdays because I can park at work and walk up just one block and I'm there. Actually due to construction on the street for the past several months the market had been moved up a block or so and it wasn't until I walked back to work that I realized that the street had been re-opened and it was back in it's old/orginal location. The market is becoming more and more exciting as more summer-type things start appearing. I bought blueberries, my first white peaches and some apricots. I only bought a few though since I wasn't sure about the flavour this early on. I'm trying to remember what the heck I bought...I had enough stuff for 2 large bags...Oh, I bought a 3-pack of the most delicious and juicy strawberries, which I took one of the baskets back to work and shared with my co-workers, who all loved them. I also shared one of my white peaches with a friend who had gotten addicted to them last summer (at my urging for her to just try one!); eggs; a spicy argula salad mix, mixed bag of lettuce (until mine is more prolific), a beautiful boquet of mulit-coloured radishes. It took me awhile to unpack everything once I did get home. Can't wait to eat lunch. Tuna Salad (with homemade mayo) on a bed of spicy arugula mix and lettuce with a melange (okay, so I don't really know what that is, but it sounds like a good thing to throw in) of shredded carrots, persian cucumbers and a side of radishes, avocado and a bit of pirate booty for good measure AND a bowl of fresh strawberries, blueberries and blackberries...only 6 more hours until I can eat my lunch!! Whoo Hoo! Guess I should start getting ready...things to iron, gather, organize and...can't forget my lunch :-)
It's "only" going to be 87 today :-) Well, maybe not-between the fog that is lingering of the coast and the smoke from the fire at Griffith Observatory it's a wonder the sun can get through all that. Good thing I work IN town farther away from the ocean. Dar! I just looked out the window and the fog is actually coming in fast-things are disappearing off the freeway...guess I better take a change of clothes, just in case. ...

Cherries, apricots and bargains. Oh My!

I am actually typing this with 2 hands...and using most of my fingers-very exciting. My right hand fingers have some sensitivity issues involving not having feeling around the knuckle area and being numb, so we'll see how this goes...so far so good :-) Can't stretch my fingers for some of the further keys, so it's a bit of a learning curve.

Monday morning found me down at my garden. There's lot's going on...lettuce is growing like crazy, the corn is getting bigger, the tomatoe plants (which keep multiplying) are getting bigger and one has some flowers, the cucumbers are deciding what to do-some have died and some are slowly growing, and the strawberries continue to do battle with the bugs-have GOT to take care of that! We have had nothing but fog, clouds and wiiiiiiiiiiiiind over the last week and let me tell you...I'm so done with the wind! I never liked it as a child and I am sure not enjoying it as an adult. I'm good with the occassional light breeze, but high winds...I don't think so...and for a week...enough already. Yesterday I thought we had finally finished with the winds, but nooooooooo they started up again once the sun went down. I'm amazed that we didn't lose power.

Here's my garden-full view. In the back on the far left we have the cucumber corral; next to that are the strawberries and in front of them the lettuce area. In front of the lettuce on the right we have a squash (either zucchini or pattypan); then on this end closest to the camera we have another squash plant, cilantro and some arugula and lettuce that need to be planted. To the far left side we have the tomatoe plants. Now, I just have to figure out what to put in the middle. I'm thinking some bug-b-gone flowers might be a good idea to start with.

The beans up close and personal: Some of the lettuce is getting close to cutting stage. Yum.

Here's the lettuce area with the strawberries in their own personal strawberry patch. The cucumber corral. The one in the middle seems to be hanging in there. Hopefully the warm weather we're currently having will help them out.

Today began with a beautiful sunrise (ok, so I missed the actual sunrise itself...) warm temps, and nary a breeze. A very welcome sight.

Okay, where was I...just had to look out the window at the beautiful blue skies and got distracted. I'll have to get out there soon. I'm thinking a (dairy-free) strawberry milkshake and a magazine might do the trick. Altough I need to wait for the electrician to finish in the bathroom-can't really go outside in my shorts, tank and extremely hairy legs (due to not being able to shave for sooooooo long) when others are around; but by myself is a whole other thing. I've been very busy this morning...Had a load of laundry done by 8:30, made blueberry pancakes, read 2 papers, took pictures of my finds from yesterday and waited for the electrican to come by.

...saw my first of the season cherries at the farmers market this week. I also bought something called a aprium (i think) a cross between an apricot and a plum. It was mighty good. Other yummy things from the farmers market this week-strawberries, argula salad mix, salad mix, radishes. Yum! Oh, and how could I foget the peaches!

On the float front...
As you can see by the pictures my float has slowly been put together. I say slowly because I think, at last count, 4 different people have said they'd "start" building my float. What a soap opera that's turned into. They may be men, but...first I gave the plans to Riccardo, but he was going out of the country so we gave them to Len instead; then Kalo called and said he was now going to build it, so we got the plans from Len and gave them to Kalo-who didn't show up at the workshop for 3 days! Then Len calls and says, 'forget it' I'm going to make it without Kalo and without the plans. Ah, okay. I go down to the workshop and explain the whole thing to Len (again) and watch it being made (or so I think). I explain everything (again) and think finally the whole thing is under control...until the next call. Len it seems can't remember what I said, but he does have the plans now...just can't figure them out...and is getting cranky...like I know how much a fake flamingo weighs! So...I get ANOTHER call on saturday from...Scott, who is an incredible float builder. He says HE"S going to build my float now; has the plans AND understands them, and that quite possibly Len may not have been completly listening and he's confusing everybody. Dang! So last night we had a party at the workshop and I met with Scott and my plans. He totally gets the whole idea and knows how to put it together with the least amount of weight and make it do what I need for it to do. THANK GOD FOR SCOTT!! He said, "tell me what you want and I'll figure out how to make it happen". Awesome! Does he have a brother?!

The humble beginnings...

Len (in blue hat) and Jesus putting the base together...getting ready to add wheels. Fortunately, this step didn't have to be repeated. We've got our first wheel of the season! Whoo Hoo! "two straights and two turners" and we're ready to go...
Yesterday I went to the annual May Madness rummage-type sale that the Music Academy puts on. I may have only bought 4 things, and only spent $4.25, but it was a lot of fun.
You can see from the photos and the prices that these were good deals. Can't wait to start using them all.

These molds were $2.50 for all 3. I'm going to use them with the chill-over or some agar agar recipes that I have to make "jello".

A cute little pot-bellied thermos to take cold things down to the workshop or to the beach. $.50. I did clean it up after I took this picture.

The little grater guy came with 3 different blades. When you grate or slice everything just goes right inside the box-genius! $1.00. The culinary cutter for herbs, etc. was a whopping $.25 cents.

Okay, so the electrician came and voila we have lights that go on and off in the bathroom again! Yea! Before they just went on and never off. My mother finally took the bulb out and brought in a lamp from the living room-very attractive...NOT! The light was so bad you couldn't hardly a thing. Oh well, all's good now...and he even got the fan working too. He had to turn the power off, obviously, so I had to find things to do that didn't require using any power. I washed a huge amount of silk scarves and hankies and other linens that I found down at the Solstice workshop. Some of the scarves are coming apart so I think I'll just use them to make a watchband like the one in the MJ book, "stitching room". Later, I took a rather large bowl of (non-dairy) ice cream and fruit along with a magazine and sat outside in the warm sunshine-still in my pj's :-) It was great and then...the damned wind started up again. I thought for sure the front door was going to slam shut and lock me out, but I caught it just in time. It is so lovely today I think that after I shower and try to trim the thicket that has become my legs I might go back outside with my lunch and a good book.

Well, that went well...it's almost 5:30 and I still haven't showered :-) I did, however, have a great lunch and took the time to watch all of the shows I saved all week. I really am going to shower I swear! It's too hot and muggy not to.