High 5 for Friday! 8.2.13

Woot woot for Friday!

Boo hoo for my last Friday before school starts on Monday.

1.  I have crocheted my brains out this week.  I have made 8 hats, 7 decorative flowers and zero progress on putting my granny square quilt together.  

I have a few more hats to make for some friends.

I LOVE the easy patterns I have found over at Sarah's blog.

2.  I have loved doing the crossword puzzle each day this summer. 

I'm sure going to miss it when school starts.

3.  I went into my classroom for the first time all summer and made a little headway.

Simply putting my desks where they belong made a HUGE difference.

4.  I got my polish on today.

I don't usually paint my own nails because I'm not patient enough to wait for them to dry.

However, the dealership that we got our Escape from has a manicurist on staff.

And it's free!

This may become a weekly thing until the baby comes...

5.  I had my first, true pregnancy craving this week.  

I wanted chicken wings from a place we never go to.

They had to be the real deal, too.

No boneless wings for this baby.

Handsome Husband laughed at my insistence.

I hope you had a great week, too.

Please forgive me if I don't post every day since the school year is starting up and I never know what could happen!

Check out the other H54F blogs here.

Laters!

Mrs. B

What I'm Loving Wednesday: 5.1.13

Woo hoo!

I got the date right the first time!

That's a big deal for me...I usually have to go back and change it.

Here's what I'm loving this week:

I'm loving that I got my stairs done this weekend.

I'm loving this blanket and all it's colors.

I'm also loving the method of laying out color progressions for a blanket.

I'm loving that I spent an hour or so roaming my local farmer's market this weekend.

I can't wait to do it again.

I go at least once a week in the summer.

I'm loving these succulents that I got while roaming the market.

I'm loving that I got to crochet my brains out on Monday night.

I'm hating that I had to do it during two show finales.

Dang you season-endings!

I'm loving that Handsome Husband said that I may have cooked him his favorite meal last night.

Pork chops (cooked in white wine), caramelized bourbon onions, roasted zucchini and summer squash, and Stove Top.

I LOVE cooking and felt so relaxed while I was doing it.

I'm loving that I joined a photo challenge for the month of May.

I'm loving that I found the most PERFECT little table for in front of the window in the living room.

I just happened to stop in at a local second hand shop and found this beauty for $12.00.

Saweet!

What are you loving?

Laters,

Mrs. B

High Five for Friday 4.26.13

What an exhausting week!

I've been a bad blogger this week.

I have had zero energy and motivation...maybe because I needed it all for this weekend.

I'm in the process of painting my stair risers.

Here are my top 5 from this week.

They like it!

They really like it!

I'm seeing progress on my granny square quilt.

I grow one stinking daisy (well, keep it alive) and think that I can grow herbs, too.

We shall see.

I went to a cooking show with my mom and a friend at a local college.

It was like being able to smell the cooking channels.

Yummo!

My stairs are a work in progress.

I got all of the sanding and priming done today.

I.  am. exhausted.

My shoulder is killing me, too!

The payoff is going to be totally worth it, though.

I hope your week was great, too!

Laters,

Mrs. B

Ring Pillow

So, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

I have been working on my friends' (Lindsay and Nate) ring bearer pillow for their wedding in June.

I was so stinking nervous.

It's their wedding day!

That's huge!

It had to be perfect.

I started it as soon as Handsome Husband and I got home from LA.

This was the skinniest yarn I've ever worked with.

It is a gorgeous cream color with a bit of sheen worked in.

It's called Seduce by Berroco.

My original plan was to use an ivory towel (it gave the under layer a great texture) but I felt that the color took away from the yarn.

This picture shows the 5th attempt...which I hated and promptly ripped out.

Cue 3 more tries. :)

(I'm a bit of a perfectionist.)

I did the first few tries in a half-double stitch, but changed to a double stitch to get better texture.

And heck yes I used a TP roll...I couldn't get the stinking yarn to stay balled up.

This worked PERFECTLY!

The end was in sight last Monday night.

Thank heavens two of my shows are on on Monday nights...it gave me plenty of work time.

I used a petal pink towel with stuffing for the innards of the pillow.

I then sewed the crocheting around the innards.

It was so exciting to get to this point!

The finished product!

The ribbon is a pink-edged ivory silk that was left over from their invitations.

It's hard to see the pink, but I'm sure that their photographer will get some great pictures I can share!

This was a thank-goodness-it's-cute-10:30-at-night photo.

Here it is Instagrammified.

They both loved it which made me breathe a sigh of relief.

I was so honored to be asked to do this for them.

Now...back to the granny square afghan!

And this hat for Jayders Potaters;

Picture via

Laters!

Mrs. B

Thrifty Thursday

So, after running my (not so) little tushie off yesterday, I got some much needed down time.

(I actually woke up at 7:30 on my own - which is unheard of - and stayed up - also unheard of.)

I crocheted my little heart out and worked on my granny square quilt while I patiently impatiently waited on the floor lady to show up to give me some stain samples.

She was supposed to show up between 10:30 and 11:30.

So, I wasn't too happy when I had to call her at 12:30 to see if she was coming at all.

However, I got this done in the meantime:

It felt so much more productive to do the innards first and then add the white later.

I am so excited to see it coming together!

I also had to give some pretty explicit instructions to the mailman:

The gorgeous sunlight isn't just a trick of the filter.

It was a gorgeous day today.

I guess it's hard to tell which one is the mailbox.

You know...because one has our house number on it and the other has the name of our newspaper.

Difficult, I tell you.

*insert wry facial expression here*

I don't normally care, but as you can see from the picture just above, the flag was up...

FOR THREE DAYS!!!!!!!

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I hope you had a great day!

Did you do anything thrifty on this gorgeous Thursday?

Laters!

Mrs. B

P. S.  I almost forgot to post something today because I kept thinking that it was Saturday!

Darn "spring break brain".

:)

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High Five for Friday!

Holy tired Friday, Batman.

This has felt like the longest week ever!

I could have just put my head down and taken a nap at any point.

Thank heavens it's the last Friday I have to endure before spring break!

Here are some high points:

(check out some others here)

I think the biggest high point was that I turned 29 this week!  

I officially can say that I'm in my final year of this decade.  

Whoa.

1)  I used my granny squares to give a talk on perseverance.

My nuggets requested that we keep them up so they can see the progression.

2)  I wore flowers in honor of Spring!

Can't it just feel like it already??

3)  I am heading over to a friends house to hang with my team from school to celebrate our birthdays.

Out of the 6 people on our team, 4 of us have birthdays in March.

Crazy I tell you!

4)  I decided to give my nuggets "expert words" this week and it has worked out FANTASTICALLY!

I can't wait to share more with you next week!

5)  I am headed to Kalamazoo to celebrate Lindsay's bachellorette party!

We are going to get our paint on!

Follow me on Twitter (J_Bod23) and Instagram (lilpasteeater) if you want to see some of the shenanigans.

I hope you had a great week and have a relaxing weekend!

Laters,

Mrs. B

High Five for Friday! 3.15.13

Woo hoo!!!!!!

I'm very excited it's Friday!

I had a blast last weekend at the women's retreat, but I am looking forward to being in my own space this weekend.

Here is a recap of this week's best...

(more found here)

1.  I made this clover scarf for a Notre Dame women's basketball fan.

The guy who ordered it (for his wife) was one of my regulars at my pre-teaching job.

He was affectionately called Big Papa (aka Kevin).

2.  I attempted my very first granny square last night. 

Not too bad if I may say so myself.

I'm still REALLY bad at starting new colors.

(Plus, you can't see all of the string tails that I am clutching in my hand.)

3. I picked up some yarn at a local boutique for my friend's ring bearer pillow.

I am NOT EVEN CLOSE TO KIDDING when I say that this could quite possibly be my drug of choice.

This yarn is the softest I have ever felt.

It is also TOP quality (read: expensive).

This picture shows what $90.00 of yarn looks like.

I went to Michael's, got the same quantity and spent $40.00.

I kind of want to roll around in this stuff and rub it all over me...but I won't

I just bought this much to give her some choices.

I wish I could keep it all, but I don't know if I'm good enough...yet. 

4.  My Keurig decided to crap out on me on Tuesday night.

Go figure that my 5 year old Gevalia 12-cup still works perfectly.

One great thing about using a regular coffee pot is that I wake up to freshly brewed coffee and get to save the five minutes that it usually takes me to get the other coffee ready. 

(I use a refillable K-cup, so it takes a little longer...)

I'm still undecided on whether or not to get a new one.

5.  I was more than a little excited to see that these curvy models are being used at H&M overseas.

I am sick of seeing stick figures displaying clothing that is supposedly going to fit me.

Chyeah...right.

I like big butts and I cannot lie...

Handsome Husband is taking me for a nice birthday dinner tonight.

Steak...I'm excited!

What is something great that happened to you this week?

Laters, 

Mrs. B

What I'm Loving Wednesday 3.13.13

This edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday is being brought to you by a very tired teacher.

So, I guess one thing I'm loving is that Wednesday is almost over!

I'm loving that we had a two hour delay this morning.

It meant that the planning meeting with my team lasted until 12:30 instead of 11:00.

We got so much done!

I'm loving that my birthday is in less than one week!

I'm loving that I got my hair cut last night and it looks like this...

mixed with this...

I'm loving that my friend Lindsay asked me to try and make something like this for her wedding.

I'm loving that I can find pins that show me outfits with things I already own...

like this polka-dot sweater.

I'm loving these blanket patterns and colors.

I am going to try my hand at an afghan soon...

I'm loving this pin I found...

We all need to remember this and it can only help my nuggets to learn it early.

What are you loving on this snowy Indiana Wednesday?

(Don't forget to check out the other Wednesday "lovers" here!)

Laters!

Mrs. B