Cheesie and His Mouse House

This month's challenge on the Blogging Business Artisans team was brought to us by Duni of Peri Dot by Duni who suggests that we create something using a color that we would rarely incorporate into our creations.

Well, for me, that would be grey. Not so much because I don't like grey, but because I prefer to use cotton yarn for much of the crochet in my shop. And there just wasn't any grey cotton yarn out there. So the day that I was strolling through JoAnn's and spotted some grey cotton, my heart just went into overdrive! I snatched up the only skein there was (fortunately a 14 ouncer)!

For the challenge, I decided to make a little grey mouse, and added a little blue and yellow blanket (knowing that Blue Monday at Smiling Sally's was coming up).

Then I decided that little Cheesie needed a house and what could be a better house for a mouse than a wedge of cheese!!

Cheesie, of course, has eaten all the insides of the cheese so he has plenty of room for running about and cuddling in his favorite mousie blankie.  :)

~ sharing Cheesie and his mouse house over at Smiling Sally's for Blue Monday
~ be sure to check out Duni's Etsy shop -- she has the prettiest lounge wear (a lovely gift for mom, by the way!)



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Winking Car

There I was, innocently walking through the parking lot when I spy this bad boy....

Winking at me!

Reminds me of when I was a teenager and the rule was whenever you spotted a *one-eye* car with one headlight out, you got to smooch! Oh, fun times!


~ sharing over at Miss Jenny's for AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter W



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A Special Order of Blue

I've been working on a special order that I thought I'd share -- it's got lots of blues!

Several years ago, a lovely customer ordered some washcloths from me -- and then we were off and running! 

She wanted the washcloths in specific colors and, of course, all in cotton yarn. It turns out that she teaches in a preschool and these were for her young students to use to keep their hands and faces clean!

 Then she began to include other sizes -- 5x7 and 10x12 which turned out to be sets of napkins and placemats! What a clever idea!

 This recent order was for six colors of napkins and placemats -- and included blues! 

Light and dark turquoise, a cornflower blue (remember your crayons?), and a navy blue. Light green and purple too, but they aren't blue!

I love all the colors stacked up --

 a cotton rainbow!

♥ Join me for a cup of tea?

~ sharing over at Smiling Sally's for Blue Monday
~ and at Grandma's Briefs for GRAND Social


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USPS ~ Service with a Smile?

Bam, bang goes the mail slot.

Mail's here!!

And this was in the mix

. 

The torn envelope.

The sincere apology.

I got a big kick out of this notice. They are just so humble, so sincere, so willing to go the extra mile. Ha!

And yet, when I have packages propped directly in front of the mail slot, it is not unusual for said packages to be shuffled off to the side and not picked up! I have to watch them like a hawk and sometimes race out the door to deliver my packages to the postman. 

Oh how I long for my favorite postman who always picked up every package and looked to see if I had anything to mail, even if there was nothing for me. But he got another neighborhood (lucky them) and I now have a series of different letter carriers, some who are conscientious, and some that I have to go racing across the yard to catch. And then, of course, I give them a polite lesson on picking up my packages. (Yes, I am polite and do not accuse them. You get more flies with honey...)

But, "Oh, I didn't look at the address. I thought it was for you" doesn't float.

I am appreciative of the torn envelope being put inside the bag. And I think that overall the USPS does a fine job -- but I'd sure like to stop having to chase after my letter carriers!

So, what do you think...

Do they CARE?!!!

~ sharing over at Miss Jenny's for AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter U


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Blues at the Block Party!

Recently, we "babysat" Noli while mama's band performed during a neighborhood block party.

The globe and that cute table lend a bit of old world ambiance to the porch, and the crooked mail box...

Toy Gun performs

It was fun -- her neighborhood is in a historical area and the homes are mostly from the 30s and 40s. Some have been refurbished, some not. Some are very colorful! It is a neighborhood full of a mix of ages and professions -- and lots of artistic talent.

During the block party, this house was designated the "band" house, with all bands performing on the porch. Another house was the "port-o-potty" house (port-o-potty in the front yard, LOL). There was face painting and a bounce house for the kids, as well as chalk drawing on the street.

Of course, Noli's favorite was the bounce house...

~ sharing over at Blue Monday and GRAND Social 


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Trail ~ A Fetching Neighbor...

Trail is our next door neighbor dog -- she's a sweet dog who only barks when the postman passes by and when kids walk by on the backside of her fence. So not a lot (unlike our other next door neighbor dog who
barks at anything that moves...)

Whenever Dennis goes outside, Trail expects.... nay, demands, that he throw her ball or a stick to her. She is definitely a lover of the game of Fetch!

And so he dutifully plays Fetch (I think he secretly likes playing with Trail since our outside kitties don't do much playing) The ball used to have a rope on it which Trail has chewed off, so it has a hole in it where the rope used to be. Dennis uses a stick to scoop up the ball and then lob it over to Trail.

Pretty yucky ball! 

He's not touching it, no way!!

So back and forth goes the ball with Trail running, fetching and then throwing it back over the fence to Dennis! She stands up with her paws on the top of the fence, ball in mouth, and throws it over!

On and on they go until Dennis announces that the game is over for now. Trail always looks so sad when the game ends, but I think she knows there will be another time!

Oh and Trail, true to her name, has made trails all over her yard -- all around the perimeter and a kind of Y shape one in the middle, leading to her ball throwing place at the fence and to the mailman watching area. She is a lady of habit.


~ sharing Trail over at Miss Jenny's for AlphabeThursday where we are studying the letter T


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