One down, three to go...

I've finished a chair.

I'd obviously blocked out how much of a pain in the butt, or should I say hands, weaving chair bottoms is.

It's not just keeping your hands wet for several hours.  It's the chunks of flesh I pulled off on tacks and staples as I hit my thumb, little finger, and pretty much all my knuckles as I wove the splints!

I guess it's a good thing I finished one of them now...by the time my hands heal and I can do another one, I MIGHT have time to get them all done before the middle of July when she moves.

Just Do It

What's your "it"?

I think all of us have at least one.  Something you're really good at.  Or something you really love doing.  And if you're lucky, both.

I love cooking.  I'm pretty good at it I think.  I like to experiment but I also like the tried and true recipes.  I keep a kitchen garden just outside on the deck so I can have all the fresh herbs I need.  I have 6 tomato plants on the deck, 4 heirlooms and a couple of others.  I like to run my hand through the herbs and tomato leaves...nothing smells better!  I also have a strawberry pot, although it is more for looking at since Washington farms has all I can pick just a few miles down the road.  I love grilling.  I love baking.  The clean up afterwards...not so much!!

my fave kitchen item!

I love painting...canvases and furniture and walls!  I'm getting better at it the more I do.  We're finally finishing the coffee table I told you we were making for Kelli's apartment.  It's been stained...didn't like it.  It's now painted and glazed to look like it's older and we let it dry overnight so we can seal it and put on its legs!!  Can't wait to see it finished.  I did a new canvas for a grad present and it's pretty nice.  I also (finally!!) finished Juliette's froggie picture!  I hope they love it!!

hard to see it here because of the lighting

bedroom table

Not quite finished in this picture...it has a pink border and froggie has a face!!

I love plants.  I love buying them, I love planting them, I love watering them.  Bright flowers, shades of greens, the way light plays off the vines at different times of the day, love it.  I like to sit under the fan on the deck, under the arbor with the wisteria vine, and just be.  It's my quiet place.  Especially in the mornings, when I let out the dogs, and nobody's up but me.

I wish I loved cleaning too, but that's WAY down the list!!  Well, maybe not cleaning, but what our parents called "picking up." I think it's a lack of organization that keeps me from being good at it.  Everything needs a place.  That part I get.  What I don't get is how to get rid of the stuff I no longer need so that everything else has room in its designated place!  I've read all the "only keep it if you use it or love it" stuff in the magazines and I've watched it all on tv.  And I'm not a hoarder...I don't think I need 7500 rolls of toilet paper just because it's on sale this week or because the world might end soon (or today, I guess, since it's May 21?!?)  I just have a hard time taking the time to throw things out!!  So at any given moment, you're likely to find folded clothes in my family room that haven't made it up to their rooms, glasses on tv trays from the night before, paint and canvases and brushes in whichever room I used last as a "studio", and a vast array of stuff on my kitchen bar and table (at this very moment, from my view from the couch, I see a large wooden salad bowl, a newspaper still in its plastic wrapper, 2 pairs of glasses, 3 rolls of athletic tape, a bag of training treats for Kelli's puppy, an empty gallon jug for ChickfilA tea, Kelli's car keys, a container of pond algaecide, 2 boxes of complete seasons of Grey's Anatomy, and a pair of scissors)--and that's just downstairs.  Cleaning is something you do before the company comes, right??

you thought I made it up, right??

these are "dog towels" to go in the puppy's crate...folded, but on the back of my couch!!

So here's to finding the things you love and taking the time to do them!  'Cause this is what I know, happiness is just that simple!! Take pride in your accomplishments and accept the compliments.  You've earned that right. We get this one life here on earth, so find your passion!  And enjoy!

Graduation Day!!

Hey y'all...it's been crazy at my house for the last week or so....

Kelli graduated from college!!!

and the rest of us celebrated!  We had a party at the lake last Friday for friends and relatives which involved a bunch of planning and cooking and mostly loading and unloading of cars and boats.  Great time with everyone, and lots of fun on the lake.  Graduation was actually Saturday morning; weather was awesome and it was a wonderful day...graduation, cookout at Ally's, then more lake fun and grilling of steaks and scallops for dinner!  (Did I mention we ate well???)  We were all surprised by Kelli's ex-coach from Argentina, Juanpa, along with a special visit from Chris and Jenn from Thomasville.  Chris was Juanpa's assistant and will be Kelli's new boss in south Georgia!  All-in-all, it was a great weekend and it took until today to even think about doing anything productive.  Can you say old and tired???

There were 6 girls who stuck it out and played soccer together all four years.  Kelli and two of the others played club soccer together since they were 10 or so as well.  They referred to themselves as the sophomore six; they came in with a few others as freshmen but the six of them lasted all four years.  Anyway, I painted each of the other five girls a picture as a little graduation gift.  Here are the canvases, some of which weren't completely finished when I took these pictures, but for some reason I didn't take finished pictures of them??!:

for Binks

for Kayla (unfinished when photo was taken)

for MR

for New

for Ally (not finished in this picture...)

As for food, Thursday before we left I cooked 3 pork roasts and made barbeque of them.  I also made s'mores in bell jars, fruit cups in cinnamon/sugar tortillas, and really that's all I cooked before we left.  I have to admit, I bought macaroni, potato salad, and baked beans from a caterer in Milledgeville.  She's the sister of a lady Kelli worked with in the solicitor's office, and her food is awesome!  I almost couldn't lift the giant pan of mac and cheese to get it in the oven!!

This is what I know...I'm proud of my intelligent, beautiful, caring daughter.  And I love her very much!