Has anyone seen my mojo?

I'm feeling more and more like I've lost or misplaced my mojo......

Maybe it's all the home remodeling going on and feeling like I'm tied to my house every single day that I have a day off.

Sure, there are always things that need to be done around here....but I'm just so tired of HAVING to be here...it's getting on my last nerve!

Or maybe it's that I'm trying to let my hair grow out and that is also getting on my nerves.....I'm seriously thinking of going back to short.....

I miss my short hair...

it was so easy,

so quick,

so chic....

now I find myself spending so much more time trying to get my hair to do something...anything....

hot rollers,

curling iron,

hairspray....

it's just so freakin' tedious!

Sorry to rant, but just had to "get it out of my system".

29 Day Giving Challenge

My friend Sheri at Shabby Sheep invited me to be a part of 29 Day Giving Challenge. This involves giving something away every day for 29 days…..it can be money, clothing, a smile, sending someone a card….the possibilities are endless.

Give one thing away each day for 29 days. Why? Because to see your world change, you have to DO something to change your world.

Today, I paid for the lunch of the person behind me in the lunch line at work. It was fun, just to see that unexpected smile! Maybe that will inspire that person to do something nice for someone else today….I hope it does.

Can’t wait to think of something to do tomorrow!

Find more videos like this on 29-Day Giving Challenge

This is based on the book

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Going with the Flow

Well, I'm trying to go with the flow of the universe this week.

The guy who was going to do our fireplace was going to come on Wednesday, because it was supposed to rain that day..

...instead, it's supposed to be sunny on Wednesday

and rainy today.....

yep, it's rainy.

Fortunately, I was able to trade days off with one of my co-workers and be home today for him to work on the fireplace.....just one problem-o.....
we thought he was going to make a false front for the fireplace
and he thought that we were doing that part.....oops!
However, he has a friend who needed some work who is a carpenter, so the guy drives down from Joplin, about an hour away, and things are starting to move along now....YAY!
Since the guy drove so far I'm going to see if I can also get him to do our baseboards today while he is here....that would be awesome!


Here is the BEFORE picture of the fireplace with a lot of the stone laid out in front of it....I hope to have an AFTER picture for you tomorrow.

So what to do on a rainy day when you have to be home from work and hang around while your house is being spruced up?.....I'm thinking hook!

So, I'm sitting in this recliner in the bedroom hooking away on the garden rug

while the dogs sleep the day away Why is it that any time you put a rug down to take a picture, it always ends up with a dog on top?

Go forth and be creative,

Tammy

Things are coming together

Hey all, just checking in.

Things are moving along with the den remodeling....finally!
The floor is in and grouted and sealed....YAY!
Wednesday we should have the fireplace done and then we need baseboards put in.
Needless to say, blogging has been a little lower on my list this week.
What I've been up to:

• sealing the slate floor
• picking out fabric and trim for the bottom of the hooked foot stool
• reading
• cooking
• space clearing

It's all good!

One of the books I started reading today:

Will write more later this week.

Where I got my name

Sappy? Maybe.....

but I love this song....it's my namesake...I was named after this song.

Ahhhhh

So, I did get quite a bit accomplished on Wednesday. I took back the stone samples to Acme Brick, but forgot my measurements of how much I needed to order…..I realized this when I was half way across town.

But not to worry, Rachel let me know that I could call those in to her. So I did when I got back home and to my delight they have the stone that I need in stock….YAY!

The grout on the floor is supposed to go in Thursday night after work, so things are looking up. Thursday, I’ll just have to call the mason and see if he has time to come and stone the fireplace when I’m off next Wednesday.

In the meantime, I went by the store and picked up my ingredients for catfish, coleslaw, cornbread and apple/ricotta tarts.

Verdict, catfish was AWESOME! Definitely a keeper!!! I used some yellow stone ground corn meal from Bob’s Red Mill…it was the coarse grind cornmeal….think that was part of the trick….made it really crunchy!

When I went to the grocery, catfish nuggets were on sale for $1.99/lb….what a deal!

Jiffy Corn Muffin mix was on sale for 2 for $1….must have been my lucky day!

Apple/ricotta tarts….really not for me….we found them a little bland for our taste. Oh well, you live and you learn. The dogs, however, thought they were delicious! Is that horrible to say? Some folks might really love them…..do you love custard? If you do you might love them. Oh well.

On my to-do list, I got most of those things checked off today except the closet re-organization….don’t you just hate that?

I did clean a few windows

and got the front porch cleaned off as well as most of the laundry.

After that, I took Lonnie on a good long walk with Patti and her dogs, Lily and Belle. Lonnie LOVES people, but he’s not too great with other dogs….he gets right up in their face like he’s going to be friendly and then he barks at them.

I’m happy to say he got along great with Patti’s girls on their walk….wish I would have taken my camera with me to snap a photo of them…….Lonnie is so big compared to Lily and Belle

Have a great evening,

Tammy

(by the way….all of today’s pictures were snagged from the world wide web.)

Reveling

I really should be out taking a long walk,

(painting by J. Holland Berkley)but it’s still a little gloomy this morning. Just the kind of perfect weather to stay inside a bit longer with my coffee and chocolate milk concoction and dabble with my blog instead.

I always get up and feel like a have a to-do list that is a mile long….

• drop off stone sample and order stone
• sweep off front porch of all those beautiful leaves that have started floating down from the trees
• 
• clean dog smile smudges from the front door glass
• list more “stuff” on eBay
• do the “never ending” laundry
• go to the grocery to put together items for tonight’s supper, I’m thinking catfish and coleslaw and these beautiful apple/ricotta tarts!
• 
• changing out the clothes in my closet to go with the season we are in

Instead, here I sit, snuggled up in Kenny’s plaid robe, drinking coffee and blogging.

Happy with the fact that yesterday I got Cleopatra’s rug bound.

(pattern from Nola Hooks)

Happy that the slate is all in…..we have chairs in front of it now to keep the dogs off of it (yes, Lonnie could easily jump over the chairs, but one thing about him….he’s like Velcro…he has no interest in being in there unless we are) …they are coming back Thursday night to grout it, then I suppose by Saturday or Sunday I can clean it with vinegar and water and then seal it…..so hopefully by this time next week all of the furniture will be moved back in and we’ll be “living” in the den again.

Hopefully, we’ll find a light fixture or ceiling fan that we like, so we can get rid of the “bare bulb” look :)

Also, happy to have spent yesterday evening hooking with the girls at Simply Fibers. Here are some “over the shoulder” pics of what everyone is working on.

So I guess I’m really just sitting here and reveling in my happiness for a bit before I start the day……I think that’s a good thing….reveling….

It’s starting to happen

The den is FINALLY starting to take shape. Let’s see….Kenny ripped up the carpet September 4th Yesterday, they put down wood and cement backer board and today they’ve started installing the slate!

I took this picture while they were at lunch…..I’m LOVING it!!

So, while they have been installing the floor I’ve finished up my footstool…..all of the hooking and stitching and stapling, now I just need to find a fabric for the bottom and paint the legs of the footstool…..I was going to do that today, but I can’t get to the paint out in the garage for all of the “activity” going on out there.

Today, I stitched on the binding to Cleopatra’s rug. I love stitching binding……NOT!

I’ve also been working on clearing out some of my rug hooking room…..yes, still working on that project.  Tonight I’m taking several bins of wools for the girls to go through at a discounted price…..I’m still being drawn to brights, so I’m taking lots of my browns with me tonight.

Now, if I can just remember to take my camera and take some pictures to share with you later.

Gnashing of teeth

Saturday was supposed to be a  task oriented kind of day for me.

I was going to stop by Acme Brick and order stone for the fireplace and return a sample….we decided to go with Pennsylvania Ledgestone from Dutch Stone….it’s a fake stone and won’t add as much additional weight to our older home…..however, I drove all the way across town and they were closed.  I was so pissed!  I knew it was a bad sign when I pulled in the parking lot and there were no cars there.  No cars? What the ? I got out and went to the door….the sign said their hours on Saturday were 9-12, I knew I wasn’t crazy!  yes, it was 10:30, so they should have been opened.  Then, I saw another sign…..”we will be closed October 17th…visit us at the home show at the expo center” reck-a-breck-a-flep-a-jep

Don’t you just hate that?!

Oh well, the day was not lost and it was still young…..I went over to Patti’s who always has a great cocktail for just these occasions and minor life setbacks and we worked on our footstool assemblage some more

(yes, this is my inner geeky girl…glasses, hair straight, and no make-up….every nuclear medicine technologist has a geeky side)

Stitching up that 4th side was a BITCH  bit tedious and I think I have it too tight ARGHHH , so tonight I”m going to try and unstitch it ARGHH , add another row or two of hooking and then stitch it back up…..doesn’t sound hard, yeah RIGHT!!! but I’m doing the hooking NOT on a frame, so it’s slow going.  Then I’m going to add a few more rows of hooking around the bottom that should take about 1.5 hours  and then we’re going to finish them off tomorrow afternoon…I think PRAY.

I spent today going to craft shows with my some of my bff’s….Renee, Reba and Haylee……I’ll post pictures of that hopefully tomorrow. Haylee was our official picture taker, so just waiting for her to put pics on facebook that I can steal!!!

Have a great evening,

Tammy

Coming together

….but still not done.

I’m really excited to post these pictures of the cube footstool that I started with Kim Nixon at Rugs on the Rocks this summer.

If you follow my blog, you know I started this back in August.

Last night some of us got together to hook and I worked on the assemblage of the footstool.

I was able to get this side sewn up

….and then this side

and part-way up the third side

So, really, just a side and a half to go! I’m doing the sewing with dental floss….I had never really thought about how strong it is!

Want to make your own footstool? Visit Kim Nixon’s website Under the Rug.

Oh yeah, here’s the top…..I hope to get to work on side three tonight and then side 4 with Patti on Saturday…..side 4 might be the hard side….we’ll see!!

Another score!

Freckles has found a new home!!!! What a great week for the dogs!

Getting Organized Mission

Today I'm hanging out waiting on the "Geek Squad" from Best Buy to come and install our new home theatre system.

So, what's a girl to do while she's waiting?

I'm going to try THIS! Click for details!

Who wants to do it with me?

I'm feeling a real need to purge!

Another Victory

Dakota was found by the landfill, but now he has a home!!!

Please check out the homeless dogs I'm featuring on my sidebar. If you find a dog you love and they are far away from you, don't despair....a lot of rescue groups work together to bring dogs across the country to find their forever homes.

Savannah has a home

YAY! Another victory....Savannah has been adopted!!!

Will be looking around to find another dog to feature

Slow and Steady or Binge

Confessions of a rug hooker:

I’ve tried the “hooking 10 minutes a day” and for ME, it’s just not working……I think I’m a “binge” hooker! Sounds like an episode for Dr. Phil

I have a hard time getting out my hooking to just hook for 10 minutes….I wish I would make myself carve out a “dedicated” hooking spot in my house, but  my husband I just don’t like my hooking stuff “sitting out”.  When I’m done it goes back to the hooking room. dragging it from one end of the house to the other

So, you say, why don’t you just hook in your hooking room?

Have you seen my hooking room?! Holy crap!  There’s no way I could post a picture!  I worked on it yesterday for a few hours, a lot of that I just stood there looking at stuff…just standing and looking….is there a word for that…when you have so much stuff that looking at it overwhelms you? paralyzes you? trying to make a “place” for everything, but I think it still has a ways to go. 

I’ve got most all of the wool put away, now I’m just trying to clear the clutter off of the bed that is in that room…..I’d love to be able to sit back on the bed and hook….will work on it some more today. some more….reminds me of s’mores…now I”m getting hungry.

However,  on those days when I can make time to hook, I drag my stuff into the living room and just sit and hook and drink coffee for most of the day. Why does that make me feel guilty? Hooking and watching “Lifetime TV” or “HGTV” or “FoodTV”…..heaven forbid there is a marathon of some sort of reality TV on….I could hook and watch that ALL DAY LONG!

I’m looking forward to colder weather and having days to hunker down and really BINGE hook.

In all honesty, to be a “10 minute hooker” you just have to do something hooking related for 10 minutes a day……yeah, I think I still qualify. I hate to get kicked out of the “in” group….I really like you guys in the “10 minute rug hookers…you give me hope, you inspire me!

So, are you “slow and steady” or “a binger”?