Oh my gawd! It was like totally awesome!!

Okay, so I'm going to a 80's themed birthday party next Saturday, so today I went to Ventura to scout the thrift stores for things to wear to the party. WOW!! I got an especially lovely black and white number with shoulder pads that would make a football player drool. It was on sale for .99 cents-marked down from 2.99. I also found a fabulous pair of shoes, although they were kind of expensive at 4.99 :-) (note, when I got home I noticed that the shoes had NEVER been worn-making them an even better deal). The shoes are really cute on and are pretty comfortable and perhaps best of all...I can actually walk in them. Well, okay, "walk" might be a bit of a stretch, but I can stroll better in these shoes than any other high heel that I've had.

Then...if that wasn't enough...I found a pink wig for my flamingo costume. It was a whopping 1.99! Oh, how I LOVE thrift stores!!!!!!!!

I also found this pretty pillow case that wasn't much either. Then, I went across the street and...well, let's just say, you might want to put some sunglass on...I found this cute, albeit bright, little half apron. Looks like it's 70's. It's really cute and has white ric-rac on the pocket and bottom hem. I also bought a large amount of fabric (black background with medium-sized pretty yellow flowers) for 3.95. I had to really think about this one. I figured that I had purchased about 4 yards of fabric for 3.95 that had probably orginally sold for about 9+ dollars a yard, so I figured it was a pretty darned good deal. I also (yes, there's more :-) ) got some cute skorts for working down at the workshop and also for when I go bike riding, some cute shorts, a few tops and many other things. All-in-all it was a most productive thrift store visit. Although, I did miss Grace/Katmom and Debi/Mima.

Big doing's in Flamingo Land this week! The float was finished and we started putting up the walls. Sometimes it feels like a barn raising rather than float building, but either way, it's exciting. Saturday we put on primer and Sunday we start putting on colour! Very exciting.

On Tuesday, Flock members Monica (in black shirt) and Summer (in blue shirt) came down to unleash their inner power tool diva! Monica learned how to use the Electric Staple Gun under Len's watchful eye. She was a speed demon and became darned good at it!
Summer got to use my absolutely favourite tool of all time (a close tie with the electric staple gun), the impact driver. LOVE IT!! Nothing makes you feel more powerful than screwing things up, ah, I mean in :-) We drilled screws into the cardboard for good measure just in case.
Flock member Kim and her daughter, Sarah came up with a really cute skirt design that's easy to make!
Here's the front....

...and the back.

All it takes is a little sewing and tying knots. Genius!!!

Here is this weeks (tuesday) garden picture. This was taken before the sun started shining ALL day and before it actually got above 63 degrees. Yesterday it was 77 and today was downright summer-like. I can't wait to see it tomorrow! There is always a big change in just a few days, but add in sun and warm weather-who knows what it will look like. I have about 6 green tomatoes, zucchini', cucumbers, and patti-pan squash that's ready to pick soon. And of course lettuce. The beans have flowers, so I might see a little more action when I go. Can't wait. It's all so very exciting once the weather changes.
Oooooh! BIG NEWS! My one way street that had been closed for over 2 years opened yesterday (not a week ago as hoped)! It was even done early. The end date for the project was supposed to be June 13th. I can't wait to drive on it. It has been waaaaaaaaay to long since we were able to use it.

We're into count-down mode...only 6 more days (if you count tomorrow) before Summer Vacation starts, although I'll still be working job # 2. I look forward to spending more time with friends, going for bike rides, going to the beach, bbq-ing, reading mags and the new Janet Evonavich (which comes out in 2 weeks) and a manicure here and there.

Progress...at last

It's JUNE!!! It's JUNE!!! Finally!!! Did I mention that it's JUNE!!

So many pictures...I'll let them tell the story...

Parade/float update:


Well here it is at last...the frame to my float is FINALLY done! And it only took 7 builders :-) It's currently up on blocks-though I'm not really sure why.




Heeee's baaaack. Len's back and working helping me with putting the "siding" up on my hut/shack/house. Thank goodness he has a carpenters knife because let me tell you...It took a lot of cutting to get the pieces of cardboard to fit properly. I have to say though, I LOVE the electric staple gun! Seriously, I think every home should have one! Best of all I could use either hand and it wasn't too stressful on my one hand that's still recuperating.


See...I told you it was fun. I LOVe this tool! When len said we could use it again this year we were just thrilled. :-) Aaahhh, cheap thrills.


Stand back! I have a staple gun and I'm not afraid to use it! Note the lovely new "work apron" (see farther down to find out why it's "new"). A friend of mine loved it so much that she said I should make them for the kids at the school and have the parents buy them. Great idea!! I was so glad that I had my apron on, since I ended up with all kinds of wood schmootz, paint, and other asundry things on it. Better on it than on my clothes.




Today's dance rehearsal was in the parking lot across the street from the workshop. It was lots of fun! And best of all the sun came out and it was relatively warm-keeping in mind that the average has been 63.


Garden News:


Here are the very first zuchini from my garden. The beans are starting to flower and going crazy. My one cucumber is still small, which is good,since the plant is not that tall. Tomatoes are flowering, maybe the "warmer tempetures will help everything out. Here's hoping.

Okay, so on Saturday (yesterday) I decided that I need to make a "work apron" for the Sosltice workshop so that I didn't have to worry about my clothes, so I decided to make a little MJF apron. I enlarged it to only 300% since I'm smallish. So long story short...I picked out fabric that I liked, but it was orange-a colour I don't wear, so I thought it made perfect sense. However, the more I sewed it the more I liked it and horror of horrors when I was done I couldn't believe how cute it was that I thought, "there's NO way I can get this dirty!" And...it's too cute! go figure! Now I have to make another one (see the workshop picture). Soooo. I started over. And three broken needles, 2 different spools of thread and 1 bobbin later i had a "new" work apron.
Oooooh, my sewmamasew.com order arrived. Just the presentation alone was amazing, then I noticed the hand-written note. WOW! I haven't seen that in ages. I can't even begin to describe the amount of joy this package brought me. Everything was so beautiful! And the packaging?! I don't even want to take anything out of the package! I bought lots of different apron patterns so that when it comes time for a MJF swap I'll be ready! On Saturday I took the patterns to work and cut all but one of them out between phone calls.

My banana bike fabric that I bought to make something for a friend, but....I might have to get her something else.
I just loved the simplicity of the fruit fabric.

Well, it was an exciting week! I can't wait to get back to the workshop and get working on the float. I am enjoying making my aprons, broken needles aside (turns out it was the fabric and not me). I can't wait to make more aprons! And i'll add embellishments once I get more comfortable with everything.

Happy first full week of JUNE!