Now I’m on vacation! I did a few things before I left:

The guest book is finished, which is a good thing, because I’m on vacation in Boise for my sister’s wedding. Instead of having lines on each page, I made little cards that people can take and write a message or draw a picture or whatever they would like, and then they get tucked into slits that I cut on each page.

My snail mail swap has been sent to Canada:

The post man seemed to be offended by the doodle I made of a snail on the package, and covered it up with the customs form. It was a cute little drawing, too!

I recieved a very fun box of goodies from the snail mail swap from Lu:

So much fun stuff! A lovely handmade book of summer recipes, a little tote-I love the lining fabric! And some crochet flowers, a kit to make a necklace, and some pretty beads! Thank you so much Lu! A proper thank you will be send eventually.

And a package is also on it’s way to Yvonne:

So that’s all for now. Soon I will have a ton of pictures of my beautiful nieces and nephew.

This is a quick post with a bunch of pictures, so hopefully style will make up for the lack of substance. I was able to get a bit done on my to-do list, despite having company this weekend.

Meet the naked monkey:

I went with the traditional sock monkey socks. She is going to have a fabulous outfit, eventually. And then she will get to go live with one of my nieces, who will have to give her a name. I’ll let you know when that happens.

I also am nearly finished with the guest book, but needed a last minute consultation with the recipient. The pages and cover board are all cut, I just have to finish off the cover with fabric and pretty things and sew it all together. This is what I think I’ll be using:

Silk shantung, which is not as shiny as it appears in the picture, vintage linen eyelet and brown grosgrain ribbon. Not too frilly, but pretty and wedding-like. I think it will suit her.

I was originally going for an ironic shot when I snapped the picture below, but then Bear made a funny face, and he sort of looks like the vicious dog on the "Beware of Dog" sign:

He’s taking the sign seriously it seems.

A good friend of mine, with a very soothing voice, recorded a relaxation CD for me, at my request. It’s a guided imagery exercise, and it takes you through the process of deep breathing and imagining a peaceful place. It lasts about 15 minutes, and it really works, I nearly fall asleep listening too it, and feel extraordinarily relaxed when I’m done. I thought I would share the joy, so if you’d like, I’d love to swap for copies of the CD! This is just for small stuff, whatever you’d like to send. Maybe a little music mix CD, or a handmade postcard, or a scrap of pretty fabric, or a few buttons. Leave a comment or send an email if you’re interested. I won’t be sending them out until after August 9th, so you have plenty of time to respond!

Every weekend in July has been booked solid, so I’m dreadfully behind. This past Saturday was my company picnic at the zoo:

I was able to take one picture from the Skyfari above the zoo before my battery died.

So this is what I want to get done before Friday when my MIL comes to visit for the weekend:

Clean the house.
Finish and send my BackTack project (yes, I know, it’s completely late, but June was kind of a disaster, what with a death in the family and all and my recipient has been fully informed and is being very understanding, and I just really want to make it extra special nice since she is being so patient).
Make a sock monkey a la peng peng. I have the socks and everything.
Make an apron for Tie One On. I have the pink linen and everything!
Make the guestbook for my sister’s wedding, for which I leave next Wednesday. I bought the paper this weekend!
Finish up and mail out my Snail Mail Swap package. I have everything for that, just need to stitch up one little gift.
Gather together and send some magazines and goodies to Yvonne for our own little swap.
Paint the computer room. Paint and supplies are all sitting in there waiting for me.

Hmmm, it looks like I’m really good at preparing to do things, I just need to work on the follow through.

Don’t be jealous, but this is what I got from my back-tack buddy:

Serena did such a beautiful job! I really really like everything, and it’s all so useful. She made a little tote, so I can easily carry my projects back and forth from my craft/guest house to the main house, and zipper pouch and a roll-up notions holder, which she filled with all sorts of little notions (you can see the needle grabbers and flower head pins in the picture). Plus a bundle of fat quarters, mad libs and giant sweet tarts-they didn’t make the picture, though. She also thoughtfully included my favorite knitter’s hand cream, and the white flannel bundle you see on the right has thumb tacks rolled up inside so I can tack it to the wall and have a mini-quilt design board! And best of all, a little cake pincushion, complete with detachable strawberry, how adorable is that? I can’t believe how thoughtful and well made everything is, it is really far beyond what I expected! Thank you so much Serena!  By the way, the blonde plume in the upper middle of the photo is Bear’s tail. He was lizard hunting again this morning.

We have a few things blooming in the garden, despite the heat the last week or two-101 degrees this past weekend, which is really just hotter than it needs to be, I think. Anyway, hollyhocks that I planted from seed late last summer are finally blooming, and the lavender is positively buzzing with bees. I wish we kept bees so we could enjoy some lavender honey.

I have another family member to link to! I set up a blog for my fabulous sister-in-law. I have a feeling you’ll get to see a lot of my beautiful niece, and beautiful Moose, Wyoming, so go visit and say hi once she gets a post up there!

One (two?) of my favorite features are my hands. I have my mother’s hands, I keep my nails short so they don’t get in the way of digging in the dirt or typing or any of my crafty endeavors. I have long fingers, but try as I might, I was never all that good at the piano. A few years ago my fingers on my left hand started going numb and I lost all strength in that hand. It terrified me, that I might lose the use of my hand. The things that I most enjoy doing require dexterity-knitting, sewing, cooking. After xrays and MRI’s and a strange series of tests involving electrified needles, it was discovered that I had a tumor pressing on my ulnar nerve (it was a benign growth). After a simple surgery-I went home the same day-my hand was back to normal within a few weeks. What a blessing it is to have two working hands.

I’m so behind, I have so much to post here and just haven’t been taking the time to do it. The weekend before last was filled with a big big fun party (photo album is here, but nothing is captioned yet), and this weekend was filled with Harry Potter (has anyone else finished reading? I need to discuss it and have no real life friends who have read it) and a large mountain of laundry. I received my incredible backtack package, and have to take pictures to share. That is at the top of my list for tomorrow, so check back, you don’t want to miss it. Unless you’re the jealous type, because it will make you jealous :o)