Happy Birthday to me!

Yup, today is my birthday, and it's been a lovely day. My hubby took me out to lunch for my favorite -- Mexican food -- and he got me a new crock pot to replace my 30 year old, definitely seen better days, slow cooker. So I'm cooking a corned beef for dinner; you know I couldn't wait until tomorrow to use it!!!!

Garden notes

It was a gorgeous spring day here, and I ended up spending pretty much all of it in the garden. I moved some bushes that were in the wrong spot; they were here when we moved in, and are too big for the front of the flower bed. The previous owners had stopped gardening at the end of the lawn, so that's where they were. We're gardening a bit further out than that.

After I moved the bushes, I finished mulching that area; it's amazing how mulch makes the garden look so much more defined. It looks like a flower bed now; the plants really stand out against the mulch. I filled in the empty spaces with more lavender; I love lavender and it's not a water hog, so I feel good about planting it.

The vegetable beds are looking good; I planted six more tomatoes and four artichokes. The squash seeds are coming up, and I think tomorrow I'll plant the last of the beans.

I'm tired, sore, but happy.

Woo hooo!

We're going to have an irrigation system put in. That will give me back quite a bit of time; I've been watering by hand, and that takes awhile. Especially since we have quite a lot of new plantings and seedlings that need to be kept damp.

We've got three raised beds planted; all sort of veggies and melons are coming up. My tomatoes and peppers are flowering, and they should be setting fruit very soon. We've got honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon; several kinds of squash, cucumbers and even a pumpkin. It's the eating sort, as pumpkin pie is one of my true culinary specialties.

I'm enjoying the garden, but I have to admit that it will be nice not to have to be tied to it with a hose!

Happy, happy, joy, joy

Why do I love seed beads so much? I have no idea. But I do know that any day spent wandering about my favorite local bead store, Naturally Jennifer's, is a good day. I mean, just look at all these beads!

Now imagine yourself standing in the middle of all that, picking up the little boxes, and putting them into your basket.

Are you happy yet?

Done!

Some projects go quickly, and others seem to take forever! Quite some time ago, I came up with a design for a beaded bead. It's a fun little bead, quite different from most, and I was really happy with it. Of course, I immediately thought, "Tutorial!"

It should have been the first tutorial in my Etsy shop. Yup, that's how long ago it was; it's the first tutorial I started writing.

And then I stalled. Big time. The diagrams on this one were really hard for me to visualize. It isn't easy to take something that is very 3-D and show how to make it in in only two dimensions. Or, at least, it wasn't easy for me! I kept finding myself drawn off into other, less dimensional, projects.

But yesterday afternoon, I got determined. I worked all afternoon and into the evening, then started right in, first thing this morning. And I am very pleased to report that I got it done, and listed in my shop. It's over there, to the right.

Click on it, okay?