Back to Normal

My husband’s uncle and auntie came and stayed with us for a week. They are both 60 this year and are celebrating their 40 years’ wedding anniversary. My husband and I booked time off work, took them to places, wine and dine them every night… and really pushed the boat out to make their visit in Florida special and memorable.

Here is a picture of them enjoying the airboat ride to see the Everglades. They were sitting at the left back row, the uncle in green shirt and the auntie was hidden by the man in blue.
We have done this so many times now that I was happy to wait in the car and to do some knitting. This is what I managed to do while entertaining the relatives. I’ve done the left front, working on the back…just the right front and two little sleeves to go.

When it was time for the uncle and auntie to say goodbye they gave me a surprise gift.

A money box decorated with an abacus for addition, a little drawer to keep the coins, so neat.

After a week back to work, this is the first weekend when things are back to normal. I have my first chance of spending some times in my craft room this morning. I selected my next project, knitting a swatch to test the gauge right now.

Thank you for visiting. Have a great weekend.

Poppy got expelled

Long time no blog. I still tried to keep up with blog reading but I have not been able to find time to write the posts I have in mind. Poppy has been a concern over the last few weeks.
Florida is in the rainy season now. When the season changes from dry to wet, the garden comes alive. Trees, plants, grass, weeds…suddenly wake up and sprouting new growth in earnest. The place is buzzing with flying insects, crawling bugs, snakes, furry creatures… before I knew it, Poppy was bitten by a bug on her butt. It happened last year and like last year Poppy made the little area worse by licking it and turned it into a sore patch.

One Monday morning 7:30am I dropped Poppy off at the Doggie Day Camp, they sent us home. They refused Poppy because of the hot spot on her butt. I had to take a sick day and stay home with her. Luckily my husband was working from home the rest of that week, so Poppy was able to stay home with daddy.

My husband and I know the drill now. We gave Poppy a summer hair cut, shaved and applied medication on the sore area, put an e-collar on Poppy and she healed quickly. So a week later off to Doggie Day Camp she went.

My husband was travelling this time, so I was relying on Doggie Day Camp to care for Poppy while I was at work. All was well until mid-week. When I collected Poppy in the evening, they told me that Poppy bitted an assistant. Not deep. She nipped the skin and drew blood. Poppy was expelled. I can’t believe it: Poppy got kick out from Doggie Day Care the second time.

I have no friends or families live nearby who could help. Luckily someone we met a few times who does dog walking as a hobby came to my rescue.

Over the weekend we went to see Doggie Day Camp and found out what happened. Poppy didn’t want to play with the other dogs in the big play room and she didn’t want to go back to her own cubicle. She was in a smaller relief room and when staff wanted to move her, Poppy told them no by going for the hand.

Their in-house dog trainer came to speak with us. She asked all sorts of questions…any changes in routines, food, medication, how we interact with Poppy, dog personalities…at the end she concluded that we should not use her crate as a punishment. Poppy is a commend dog. Staffs have to tell Poppy what they want her to do. They cannot man-handle her and should use treat to reward Poppy when she goes to her room. She gave Poppy a reprieve.

My husband said to Poppy, “Come on girl. You’ve been given a second chance, don’t blow it, ok?”

My shopping

The mail man delivered two parcels last week: 2 craft books and 2 magazines. I came across the Australian Homespun when I was blogging last Christmas. My local book store does not carry Homespun so I took out a year’s subscription. They have beautifully illustrated projects, I can’t make up my mind which project to do first.

I don’t have a lot of free time now, but my life is not the same if I can’t do my craftwork. I am slowly getting used to a new work routine and I even managed to spend time in my craft room this weekend…so nice. I made good progress with my knitting.

Till next time.
Good night and have a great week.

Very little craftwork done

This work business really isn’t helpful when it comes to my craftwork and my blogging. All I managed was a little knitting for the last three weeks.

I didn’t do any needlework over the last few weekends either. I used the free time to shop for a second car. You wouldn’t believe the number of car dealerships we went to see. Our search came to an end yesterday. We found a little 3 months old Volkswagen GTI we both like. I think Poppy likes the GTI too; she was checking out the inside of the car when we were looking it over. I will have to show you some pictures when we go and collect it this coming Thursday.

The other craft related activity I did was to order some craft books on-line. Two parcels are on their way, one by air and the other by sea, something for me to look forward to :0)

Winter is definitely over with us. It is warming up now, 84ºf / 29ºc for the last couple of days, and the rainy season is just beginning. When it gets hot outside, Poppy stays close to the air-con unit inside.

Well, I hope you're having an easy Sunday.

Take care.

Joyce

White Gnome

It has been quiet over here, all because I accepted a job offer and have returned to work full time. It all happened so fast, by the time I have the chance to slow down and catch my breath, I have been working for two weeks and I took my first pay check home last Friday. It’s a great feeling, not just the money, but a sense of achievement. I work for a small manufacturing company; lovely people. They gave me such a warm welcome.

Poppy has been great too. I sent her to Doggie Day Care for 4 days in the first week. It was hard for her at first, but she was adjusting to the new routine. The second week was better because she could stay with my husband while he worked from his home office.

Even though it was hectic I still managed to find time to do a little knitting and carried on with my cross stitch. I kept up with my blog reading too. I learned that a blog friend has received my gift which was mailed to her in the beginning of January. Here is what I sent.
It is lovely to know that Ekaterina's children adore the white gnome.

Well, I hope I won't leave it so long next time.

Till then, take care and have a great week.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

I was reading a post called WOYWW on Diane.W’s blog and it was fun to look at her craft room. When I followed the link to the original author’s site I was laughing out loud as I read Julie’s comment about the “push back” work desk style. Anyway, here is my first WOYWW.

My work desk is hidden away. You will have to walk through the home office before you can go to my craft room.

The home office. Computer on the right of the picture for all those blog entries. I cut out all my sewing patterns on this tile floor.Looking to the left of the home office. Door way to my craft room. The folding table is my spare craft table.

My craft room. The left side has 3 bookcases holding all my craft books and magazines. 3 baskets on the floor, each holding a project and they are all work-in-progress.The right side: work desk and my rocking chair.

Working on the lilac fairy cross-stitch at the moment.

Top view – right half of the work desk. My husband doesn't like that little blonde doll in pink. He said she stares... The sewing instruction at the back for the first summer top. Pink yarn and few rows knitted for a baby cardigan. A ball of white crochet thread (half hidden by the sewing machine) for a doily. Red embroidery threads, white and red fabric for the Wish Quilt by Bronwyn Hayes. Dark blue on white print fabric for the second summer top. The bundle of blue and red fabric near the front is for a fish appliqué…they’re kind of marinating at this little corner.The left half of the work desk. Big round glass jar at the back is my button jar. Animal Crackers card and paper pads for making cards. Small blue box is my table top bin for rubbish. It's Poppy, she is so nosey; I can't have a bin on the floor.My work desk is not normally this busy, honest. I have not put the sewing machine and the over-locker away because I am going to sew the summer tops... soon. They take up a lot of space, right?

OK, then. Thank you for looking.

Hope your week is going well so far.

My latest Projects

I finally finished the cross stitches of the lilac fairy and am working on the top stitch...so happy.
I made a start on one of the summer tops; I cut the pattern pieces, just need to sew them together now.

I need something to do while watching the television in the evening and knitting is something I could do with dim lighting, so I cast on a cardigan for a baby.

I harvested the tangerines. I was going to leave the fruits on the tree for decoration, but after woken up by two raccoons screaming and fighting over a fallen tangerine at 4:00am in the middle of the night, I changed my mind.

Hopefully I will have a finished project to show you next time.
Till next post, take care and have a great week.