Rained Out!...But Holding Onto My Mittens!!

     My photos aren't good enough for me to show you the pouring rain, and trust me when I tell you, you don't wanna see it anyway!! In fact, the header photo was taken yesterday evening, before the pouring rain actually got here!
 

     The forsythia was growing wild and tall, with bumblebees galore all over them!! And the sun was shining beautifully!...Cut to this morning when we opened the blinds....*gulp!*..."What happened to the forsythia?!!!" O_O ...The rain had beat it down to the ground!! The only thing I could see in my window was the hanging hummingbird feeder, and lots and lots of backyard lawn!!
     As the day has worn on, the forsythia has slowly crept back up...Well, most of it has!...I would show you a picture, but it's so dark outside that I can't get a decent shot! Grrr!  By tomorrow it'll probably be back to it's wild and tall self, and you'll wonder what I was talking about! ^_^
     
     I don't have much time to talk right now anyway. I have to get me a nap before my meeting tonight!! You know...old people gotta sleep!! ^_^ But, before I go, let me show you one of the finished mint green mittens! :-) ...
 

     Since I took this picture I've actually finished both mittens. But again...no light to take a proper photo! :-( ... Keep that in mind when you look at my 'Picassa'-altered photos below, of the last 'yucky-yarn' hat!...
 

     The hat shows up good in the pictures, but who is that underneath the hat?! LOL Oh well...you've seen 'Shequita' look better, I'm sure. But trust me, it's her!! ^_^ And you can take my word for it too that she is "sportin' that hat"!!! ^_^

     I started a scarf to go with the mittens, and I'm making up my own pattern for it. Creativity...here I come!! ^_^ If I finish it tomorrow...and the weather cooperates!...I'll take picture and show it to you. If not....I'll find something else to talk about, like maybe...DATE NIGHT!!! ^_^ Have a good one, Everybody!! ♥ :-)

Daylight

Daylight, you bring such happiness,
shining on the Autumn hues.
And when you're gone, you leave more darkness,
bringing on some moody blues.

How could some light, or lack of it,
have me waxing poetic rhyme,
wishing for a place with celestial money,
so I could buy some Daylight Saving Time?!

How Are Sisters Suppose To Act Anyway?!!

(Custom Portrait Illustration by 2DayIChoose)

     Do you have sisters?!...If so, how do you get along with them?...The reason I'm asking is because I was impressed by the display of sister-love between Serena and Venus Williams last night (Tuesday night) after their tennis match. ♥ 

     They really went at each other on the court!! I mean, extremely powerful serves, forehands, backhands, slices and lobs were flying!! ^_^ Serena won the first set. Venus won the second set. And the third set was ultimately won by the better player...Serena. {Sorry. I forgot to say: SPOILER ALERT! ^_^}

     But as great as the tennis was to watch between them, the display of their obvious love for one another, which was shown as they met at the net after the match was over, was even better! Especially since the biggest smile and hug came from the one who lost!! (Venus) ^_^ She squeezed and hugged her little sister and mouthed the words: 'I'm so proud of you!'

     Is this the way sisters, who have been lifetime competitors and each other's best friends, suppose to act?!...The truth is, who knows!! They're a rare breed, siblings in professional competition with each other. {The only other siblings I can think of, with the same level of success, are the football quarterbacks, Payton and Eli Manning.} 

     I would like to think that this 'is' the way sisters are suppose to act!! :-) Love for your sister shouldn't be altered by your profession or money. Love should just be LOVE, right?!! ♥ ... Unfortunately, I'm embarrassed to say that the one time I had to play against my younger sister {we played basketball for rival High School teams} was not all about love!... ***holding my head down low*** I was the older sister and I just wanted to beat her!!!! And I did!! ^_^ I've grown up a lot since then...thankfully!!! :-)

     I don't even wanna think about how difficult the situation would've been if me and my sister had news press in our faces with prying questions and microphones!! O_O ***shaking my whole body*** Nah! Let's not think about that!!! LOL Let's just share a song for the girls!! ^_^

         Moving on!! ^_^ ... I wanna show you my latest projects!!...starting with a mint green pair of mittens!...

    

     Actually, I didn't start this project with the intention of making a pair of mint green mittens! All I wanted to do was work a mitten pattern up to a certain point, so that I could check out whether it worked well for my girlfriend whose trying to make a pair of mittens for her son. (Her gauge kept coming out too big and she wanted to know if it was possible to work the pattern with less stitches...As it turns out, the answer for this pattern is NO! Not with the yarn and hook she's using anyway.)

     As you can see in the above photo, it does work up into a really cute mitten though, when you follow the pattern exactly! ^_^ And now that I've made one really cute mitten...I might as well make the other one, right?! ^_^ So...I will!

       In other news, the last project...or at least I 'think' it's the last!...the striped hat, is all done! :-)
  

     If I have enough yarn left I'm gonna make a flower or two to go with it later today...but that's it! :-) Then it'll be onward and upward to the next sister act, tennis match, or crochet project of love!! ^_^ You're welcome to come along if you like!! ♥

Sisters

Sisters-on the family curve
sometimes just get on your nerve;
But, sisters will a purpose serve,
they will your life preserve.

Sisters-sometimes they're at war;
and sometimes they "do" go to far.
All sisters want to be the star-
not follow where you are!

Sisters-they don't care a bit!
When fighting they will never quit!
But, sisters, all your jokes they get;
and, when with you, they fit!

Sisters-are your family.
Sisters, see the things you see;
Sisters, knew the girl you'd be,
and set your spirit free.

Sisters-beside you they live;
and sometimes drain you, like a sieve;
But sisters, their last dime will give,
and will your bad forgive.

Sisters-no one else can knock;
and wow!-the memories they unlock.
A sisters smile can stop the clock-
'cause sisters "They Just Rock!"

Parents-with the seasons flow.
Boyfriends-they will come and go.
Brothers-by your side will grow.
But, sisters ease your woe;
and one shared heart you know.     

Where Is Dr. Seuss When You Need Him?!!

     Hi, Y'all! :-) I don't have a lot of time to talk tonight, so I'm just gonna show you the last project from my bag of ugly 'yucky' yarn. :-) You can see the beginnings of it in the header photo. It's a striped hat. I'm adding some white yarn with the blue and making a hat with the inspiration markings of Dr. Seuss's 'cat-in-the-hat'. ^_^ Or, at least, that's the first thing I thought of when I got it going. :-))
 

     The only difference is that it's not gonna be as tall as Dr. Seuss's hat! ^_^ Or as brightly colored.

 

     I may make a flower to add to it too, if there's enough of it left. Totally unlike Dr. Seuss!! I don't think Dr. Seuss was into crochet flowers! ^_^
 

     It's been a great weekend so far. Tennis...food...tennis...crochet....tennis!! ^_^ What's not to love!! In fact, I just got through watching a great match between Kevin Anderson and Andy Murray. Who knew that Kevin Anderson had that kind of fight in him!! :-] Just in case some of you are tennis watchers and you haven't seen the match yet, I won't tell you who won. But don't assume you know!! ^_^
      Tomorrow evening the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, are playing each other in the semi-finals!!!! I can't wait to see that match!!!! :-) ... Until then...me and an ugly Dr. Seuss-inspired hat have a date! ^_^ See you later! ♥

Balance

You teeter totter, in the middle,
Lean a little, OOPS! You're off!
Now you know that you're not balanced,
and you hope the ground is soft.

It's not easy to achieve,
and once you have it, to maintain.
In almost every part of life
our balance is so hard to gain.

You have to balance your emotions,
how you eat, and how you spend.
And when you're balancing your checkbook,
try to keep a level grin.

Staying somewhere in the middle
takes a conscious, careful touch,
because it doesn't take a lot
to go from balanced to 'too much'!

So try to keep a balanced eye,
a balanced plate, and balanced life.
Keep your feelings all in check,
and minimize the stress and strife.

And don't compare your sense of balance
 to your neighbor's...you're alone.
Because your neighbor's also trying
to get some balance of his own!

I Didn't Even Know What To Call It!!!

      It's another one of  those 'A rose by any other name smells as sweet' type of things. ^_^ And yes, I'm talking about the 'thing' in the header photo! ^_^ My girlfriend thought the last of her white and maroon 'packing peanuts' yarn...from the bag of yucky yarn I've been talking about for a few days now!...might make a cute.....uhhh....shoulder thingee! ^_^ You know the thing you can wear over your shoulders to cut the chill on a cold day, or to match your cute dress that has a neckline that's too low! :-) (You know what I mean, ladies!!)
 

     I wasn't sure if this yarn could ever make a really cute...ANYTHING!! LOL But I was wrong...I'm happy to admit! :-) It came out really, really cute!! I wish I had a model to put it on, so that I could take a picture of it being worn!
 

     It's still really thick, and really hard to crochet with, but...thankfully!...I don't have any more of it!!!!! ...***doing the happy dance about that too!! ^_^ ***
 

     I do still have some of the blue, and some thinner white yarn, to work on. I'm gonna be making a smaller hat for one of my girlfriend's daughters. Then......DONE with the 'ugly'!! ^_^ And as happy as I am to be finishing this bag of 'ugly' yarn, I'm getting a very satisfied feeling from the fact that it's not yarn that's being wasted, or put in a bag in the back of a closet somewhere! It has become two crochet hats, a monster brooch, a scarf, and a capelet. YES!!! Capelet!! That's what it's called!! ^_^
       You know how I found out that it was called a 'capelet'?!...I went onto Etsy's site to try to see if I could find others to share with you. :-) I searched 'crochet shoulder shawls' and saw some beautiful 'thingees'.....which they were calling capelets!! ^_^ Then I searched capelets and found a lot more of them that looked sorta like mine!! ^_^ Wanna see some of the work of these talented Etsians?!...Here you go!...

 (Shoulder Wrap, Capelet by amerzarcreations)

 (Hand Crochet Shoulders Warmer by ONiksShop)

 (Striped Crochet Shoulder Capelet Shawl by SkeinandChain)

      Very cute, right?! :-)

     Okay...I'm off to finish watching my tennis match. Serena Williams versus Madison Keys. And it's a good one too!! :-) Have a good rest of the weekend, Y'all!! ^_^ ♥

     By the way, in case any of you were thinking of looking around in my shop (wuglyees), I wanted to let you know that I put my shop in vacation mode for a few days. I'll open it back up soon though. No worries. :-) 

"Ping!"

Do you find that you have lulls?
Times when life just has no 'Pings!'
Times when all that you've been planning
has been done! ... and nothing 'sings!'

You don't know what you should do.
Taking naps seem so sublime!
Knowing, when you look around,
that No! You haven't wasted time!

Lots of things have all been done.
But many things that you could do.
But nothing 'Pings': "Let's do this next!!"
The lull just gets the best of you.

Right now I'll try to ride the wave.
No expectation. Just relax.
Keep flipping books for inspiration.
Enjoying colors, brights and blacks.

Soon I know I'll be off again,
deeply engrossed in some new thing.
I'll get such satisfaction from it.
And that familiar little...'Ping!'

This Bag Full Of Yarn Is About Done!!!

     Before I start talking about yarn and crochet projects...which 'YOU KNOW' I'm gonna do!...let me talk about my tiny 'beaked bird helicopters', the hummingbirds. ^_^ Of course I'm always talking about them, but this time I've got pictures to go with all of the hype!! LOL
     If you look in the header photo, to the right, above the yellow forsythia bush, and below the bottom line of the hummingbird feeder, you can see one of them! :-) ... Okay! You can't completely see him! But you can see his little black and white marked tail! Can't you?!...Can't you?!!! O_O
 

     Yes, I know it's kinda hard to ignore all of that yellow forsythia!! ^_^ But you HAVE TO ignore it if you wanna see my little hummingbird baby!! :-) 

      My girlfriend came by with her animal loving son, and  he was happy to ignore the forsythia in order to see the hummingbird! :-) Unfortunately, all he could see was it's little tail hanging from underneath the feeder....UNTIL we told him the trick! ^_^  
     The trick is to get really close to the window and then jiggle the window blind!...because we've trained our hummingbirds to come to the window and say hello to us when we move the window blind! ^_^ Okay!...so they're not really coming just to say hello! They're actually used to my hubby putting new nectar in the feeder when it gets low. :-) They LOVE to see him coming!!
     Anyway, when the window blind is jiggled, this is what you get!...
 

     ...you get a curious hummingbird, wondering who you are, and why you're so short! LOL (My husband is over six-feet tall. ^_^) Of course me, I was wondering something too!....I was wondering how long it had been since my window pane had been washed! O_O ... OOPS!!

      Moving on!! ^_^ ... These are the projects from my girlfriend's bag of 'INTERESTING' yarn. O_O The short circular neck scarf... 
     

     ... The variegated blue hat...
 

     I just this moment realized that I didn't take a photo of the finished hat!! Ugh! O_O And I'm not stopping my stream of blog thought to snatch the hat off of Shequita's (my head model) head to take a photo of it either!!
 

     You'll just have to imagine it, all variegated blue, with rings of blue and white near the bottom. :-))

     Too bad I didn't try that 'imagine this' trick with this 'packing peanuts' yarn scarf!! LOL...
 

     What do you think?...do the ruffles at the bottom make it look at least a little bit girlie?!

     Anyway...that's it!! :-) Of course, Saturday has just begun. Who knows what I'll have to talk about tomorrow!! LOL Stay tuned....or not. I'll still be talking to somebody!! ^_^

You Probably Don't Care!

I know you probably don't care,
but I will tell you anyway!
I mean, I have to talk about it.
It's what I do most every day!

I know you have your own things going,
and my things? You could care less.
But I have to spill it, talk,
share, converse, chat, or confess.

Don't you have some days like that,
when you just 'let down your hair'?
Well, today was that for me,
and it's okay if you don't care!

As you see, it didn't stop me.
I'm still talking, cracking wise.
You don't have to read about it.
You can cover up over your eyes!

Forsythia and Crochet 'Packing Peanuts'?!

     The backyard was made a bit more beautiful yesterday with the wild growth of the yellow and green forsythia flower bush, buzzing bumble bees, air dancing hummingbirds, and sunshine everywhere! :-)

     The air was kinda heavy with humidity, but I didn't notice it much...or at all!...because I didn't go out in it!! ^_^ I was comfortably behind my window panes, and in front of the air conditioner! :-) LOVE air conditioned goodness. LOVE IT!!! 

     When you're a crazy crocheting fool, like I am, air conditioning during a summer heat wave becomes a good friend...sort of like chocolate is. Well.....chocolate is a different kind of friend, but I think you get my drift! ^_^

     Speaking of crocheting.....because that appears to be all I have to talk about these days, besides backyards and hummingbirds! ^_^.....my friend left me a bag of random yarn. Some of it is just YUCKY!!! ^_^ I would not spend good money on it....or bad money for that matter!! But, for some crazy reason (that my brain is not savvy enough to explain to me!) I am determined to make something out of every since ball of this yarn!! ^_^
      Two balls of it were like colorful 'packing peanuts'. You know, the Styrofoam filler that you put in your shipping box to keep your item secure. I was almost at a loss as to what I was gonna do with it until my friend said: "Maybe you can make a scarf for my little girl with it....OR SOMETHING!!" ... Hmmmmmm! :-)
 

     Okay...so it's not gonna be the cutest little girl scarf you've ever seen!...but it's sure gonna be the softest!! It's so comfy cozy!!! :-)
 

     I actually finished the whole scarf late last night while I was watching the 'BEAT DOWN' that 'Petra Cetkovska gave Caroline Wozniacki' at the U. S. Open (Tennis, Y'all! ^_^) I put a row of crochet scallops on either end of the scarf to up the cute factor! :-) 
     I didn't have the right lighting to photograph it. Nor did I want to! (just saying! LOL) Maybe I will today though. We'll see. :-)

     Also in the bag was a large ball of this thick, thick yarn!! I made a short circular neck scarf out of it, and this MONSTER flower!! ^_^ ...
 

     It's the perfect size flower to hold one of my ceramic buttons! :-) ...
 

     How large is this flower, you ask?!....Okay, you didn't ask. I asked for you!! LOL.....Well, I took a photograph of it right next to my 16 ounce jar of peanut butter!!! LOL

      The real question is: "What am I gonna do with a MONSTER flower?!" O_O Uhhhhh....give it away!!! LOL Somebody must want it....for something! Right?! O_O

     I still have some more yarn to go, from my friend's bag. Some variegated blue, and some white 'packing peanuts' yarn. I'm working on a hat from the blue right now, and I think I'm gonna make a 'grown people' scarf from the white. Only time will tell! But, if I get inspired to, I'll photograph it so you can see. If not, you'll know I'm not that happy with it and I'm hiding it in the 'never-to-be-seen-again' bin!! ^_^ 

     So, that's all I got today...unless I come back later to show off my finished projects. :-] Oh Yeah, and It's 'virtual' Friday Date Day too. Woohoo!!!!...Let me see now, is that it?!...You know how hard it is to get a talkative girl to 'SHUT HER MOUTH' for good!! LOL Have a good day, Everybody! ♥

Ode To Flowers

Ode to all loved flowers,
whatever color, shape or form.
You enthrall with sheer delight!
At other times, make my heart warm.

Whether photographed or made,
growing tall out in the yard;
In a vase or porch-side planter,
or just naturally unmarred;

Please know you always make me smile,
and lift my mood when I am down.
The world would be a different place
without a lot of you around!