Cats Alike

Hewwo, Oliver here... Mommy's been doing that hooky, yarny thing with a cat kitty that looks just like me!

But LOOK WHAT SHE DID!!

Meowzer! It's in pieces parts! Do you think she'll do the same thing to me? But, since I'm the King Kitty and Boss around here, there's no way I'm letting her get me!

Oh wait a kitty minute here.... she must be practicing to be a kitty doctor 'case look what's happening to that yarny cat kitty.

I feel better now... that kitty has legs just like me. And a tail too. All attached! Whew! That was close -- I was scared for another kitty minute there.

A  long time ago Mommy made another cat kitty that looked like me, but she gave it away to that Noli girl for her birthday. She even got a purple carrier with it.

I thought maybe she'd make a purple carrier for me too, but no, she said she's not going to. I don't care anyway.... whenever I have to go the the kitty doctor I get to ride in mommy's lap, all wrapped up in a towel. It makes me feel safe so I don't want any old carrier anyhow. So the purple one can just be that other kitty's, I don't care. That Noli girl likes it. And she puts other stuff in it besides her kitty -- I saw her!

Don't you think this new kitty looks just like me? 

Of course, I'm more handsome! Hey, wait a minute...

I want a heart patch too!

I think mommy said it was going in her shop, wherever that is.... I hope it's not too far away 'cause I want to play with my look-alike yarny cat kitty sometime!

Sharing Oliver's look-alike yarny cat kitty over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter C.


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The Tale of Little Tommy Turkey

Yikes, yikes and yikes!! I totally forgot to write about my November challenge for the Blogging Business Artisans team! So I'm posting it anyway, even though it's now December and my project was a.... 

turkey!!

Edi of Memories for Life challenged us to create something with the beautiful colors of fall and to take our inspiration from nature. To me, those colors come from leaves as they turn colors from the green of summer to the yellows, oranges and reds of fall. A turkey has those beautiful colors in its feathers, and of course we all think about turkeys at Thanksgiving time!

This is Little Tommy Turkey and he's awfully glad he didn't wind up at part of somebody's Thanksgiving dinner -- he would much rather be part of the Thanksgiving decorations instead!

He's a little cutie, all round and chubby and with feathers of those beautiful fall colors. He says he's just a tiny little guy so no good for Thanksgiving dinner anyway.... 

To see some more November challenge projects, Turkey Trot over to the BBA Blog!

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Holiday Sales with A Pop of Red

Did you know that today is Small Business Saturday, and Monday is Cyber Monday? You probably did unless you live in a cave with no TV... LOL!!

Some of the BBA team members are offering special discounts for those special shopping days, some for more holiday sales lasting later into December. To see what is offered, just give a click on this cute badge and it will take you to the list...

Last night I made this Pop of Red treasury featuring the Blogging Business Artisans team and other Etsy friends, and wanted to share it today. Each month the members of the BBA team make at least one treasury -- and I almost missed the deadline!!

This collection has an eclectic assortment of handmade goodies that would be perfect for your favorite guy or gal on Christmas Day!

'A Pop of Red' by magnoliasurprise

Black and white with a pop of red from the BBArtisans team and friends

You can click on the title to go to Etsy for the actual treasury if you'd like to leave a comment or share, and clicking on the photos will take you to that shop. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

So, if you will be out shopping today, I hope you can find just the right thing for that special someone -- or you can avoid the crazed shoppers and long lines and just shop right here with the Blogging Business Artisans!!

Have an awesome weekend!

♥♥

Always Eat a Good Breakfast!

We are big breakfast eaters around my house -- hubby always cooks -- well, if we're having cereal, sometimes I pour it into the bowl, and I'm always in charge of cream of wheat -- or as we say, creamy wheat! He cooks a mean breakfast! 

Usually eggs of some sort -- fried, scrambled or poached -- 

with whole wheat toast for him and an English muffin for me. 

With lots. of. butter. : )

Orange juice for us both, and a glass of milk for him. He drinks it all in one gulp! Yikes! He says his Dad would say "Down the hatch with General Patch" (he was Army) and drain his glass of milk!!

Sometimes we have panny cakes -- yep, we still talk like when our kids were littles; some things just hang on! So, panny cakes with lots of syrup.... and I recently brought out our waffle maker and we made waffles for the first time in years and boy were those waffles good!

But, Thursday being Thanksgiving, we will probably eat cereal -- so that means I'm in charge of pouring into the bowls and adding the milk. Oh, so much work on Thanksgiving morning!

But, shhhh, I try to keep this a secret, but hubby cooks most of the Thanksgiving dinner! I'm in charge of the sweet potato casserole and setting the table.... oh, and putting the cranberry sauce onto the dish (we like jellied and I apparently am the only one who can make it slither out of the can without breaking apart -- there are just some things that we were born to do....)

We are having our dinner around 6ish -- both our son and daughter will be here, along with Stephanie's beau. On this Thanksgiving we are thankful that both of our grown children live close by and that we can see them at other times rather than just on holidays!

Adam will be eating a turkey leg!!

Hubby actually suggested that we get a turkey breast this year.....
we'd never hear the end of it from Adam if he didn't have his leg!

So, what is your favorite breakfast? 

The crochet foodies are, of course, handmade by me and either are or will be in my shop (just as soon as I can make storage bags for them!!)  Nothing like a bit of self promotion, you know!!

Maybe I'll try to get something crocheted for each letter of the alphabet for Alphabe-Thursday....

nah, probably will never happen! But a girl can try.... 

sharing breakfast over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter B

♥♥

Oliver Finds a New Cozy Place

Hewwo -- Oliver here. I found a new cozy place for naps and since I'm King Kitty and Boss around here I'm in charge of finding new cozy places.

My hoomans said that it's turned cold and crummy outside and there will be sleet. Not sure what sleet is but it looks icy on the street. Oh... maybe that's what sleet is.... hmmm, icy streets? Icy anything means cold! For sure when somekitty gets smacked with a falling ice cube from that cold thing my hoomans call a freezer. Brrr! 

Anywho, I found this new cozy place. It's here when daddy doesn't hang up his coat (which is most of the time, you know). He left it in one of my fave chairs and it's just the coziest -- the inside is yummy warm.

OK, now I've been found. And now I'm disturbed. My hoomans just won't leave me alone. I frown and look sideways at them but it doesn't do any good. Sooo.....

I'm outta here!

Those outside kitties don't know what they're missing.....

 >^.^<

Airplanes in the Clouds

Wow! It's the start of another round of Alphabe-Thursday -- it's hard to believe that Jenny has been hosting this for eight rounds! And this is my fourth round! It's like chips -- you can't have just one.... or the Energizer Bunny -- it just keeps going and going and going :)

I've been working on a special order for a new-mom-to-be who is doing her nursery in vintage airplanes -- and she asked me to crochet airplanes and clouds for a mobile. She has the wooden hanger part and is going to assemble it herself.

My first attempt at this airplane was huge! Way too big for a mobile... a kid could practically ride on the thing!!

So I began again with a smaller hook and ended up with this, and I'm well pleased with it. It will definitely make an appearance in my shop! It's still pretty big for a mobile but could be the middle one that hangs the lowest.

This is what the other airplanes will look like -- they are just over 4 inches long and just right for a mobile! I had to work with this pattern too and ended up pretty much redoing the whole thing. When I used my original pattern, they came out so tiny they looked like butterflies! Weird butterflies, but still.

The others look like this right now -- kind of alien buggy looking without their wings! (But they're big enough this time!) I've got the little pieces parts done (and I do mean little!) and ready to be sewn on. Each airplane body will have wings and tail in another color.

Since I think the big plane is too big (she said if it was she would just use it on a shelf until playtime comes around) so I'm going to do another plane for the middle of the mobile. I think a red one and the wings will be blue, the middle tail will be black and the side tails will be white -- so using all her colors! Since it will have all the colors on it, it will be different from the others and good to use as the middle airplane. She wanted five each of the airplanes and clouds and has four colors so mixing them on this plane will make everything come out even! I stressed over that for a while (OK, for days) and when I came up with this solution it put my mind at rest :)

That way she can decide what she wants to do with the big plane!

She wanted off-white clouds to go on the mobile above each airplane -- these were fun to made but I really had to keep close count to make all the little ups and downs, hills and valleys come out right!

I've enjoyed making these airplanes, once I got through all the figuring and ripping out and doing again parts! I love the way the big plane came out, and the little ones are going to be so cute! I like the one little plane that I've finished -- it helps me to see the cuties they will be instead of some buggy weird thing!!

Sharing airplanes over at Miss Jenny's for Alphabe-Thursday where we are studying the letter A


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An Evening with Josh Groban

I remember seeing Josh Groban when he was just being introduced, probably on David Letterman or The Tonight Show. He was something like seventeen and already had that beautiful baritone! (Or, as he says.... baritone-ish!)

from his new album All That Echoes

 Wednesday night he was in concert at the American Airlines Center

(home of the great Dallas Mavericks)

Note the parking lot -- this is where we parked..... at $30.00 a pop! Yikes! But, with all the construction and extra traffic between our house and Dallas, what should have taken a half hour took considerably more, and so we chose the $30.00 lot right outside the entrance lest we be late! 

After standing in line to get inside (we already had our tickets) and after the purse check and scanner check, we were ready to find our seats! It took a couple of tries to find the right aisle, but once we were there, we had great seats! 

What was really great was that the concert was in the round, so everyone's seat was a good one! Josh and some of his band walked around the stage so that there was always someone to watch. The center area was elevated and the round stage surrounded the band. There were three sets of drums! A guy on trumpet and another on violin were some of the band members highlighted.

Judith Hill was the opening act and was outstanding! You might remember her from last season's The Voice. She was (shockingly for sure) eliminated but obviously caught the eye (or ear!) of Josh Groban! Great performance.

Getting things set up for Josh. Can you see the guy on the upper right mopping the floor?

The drummer on the right was so good!! 

He could have been a show all to himself!

These looked like damask curtains, see-through and fluttering

There are eight screens, four back to back, so you can always see what's going on. Josh said that was a freaky thing for him, a guy who is basically shy, now seeing himself on eight screen all at the same time!

  

The lighting was excellent! 

I couldn't capture the full effect but it was beautiful!

Josh plays a mean drum too!

All in all, a wonderful show

I think my hubby now has a man-crush on Josh! He said that he had never seen a performer so humble and so willing to put his band members and chorus in the limelight, and take it off of himself. 

sharing Josh over on GRAND Social

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