Rainy Days

Ah....'tis spring!
Or well not so much in Michigan where spring is more like another three months of rain and mud and gray skies with a few days of sunshine thrown in to make us all wander out of our houses like little mole-people, squinting at the sun.

This weekend was one of those rainy times, the times that just want to make you crawl under your covers and not come out until, I don't know, you move to Barbados or something.

I, however, got to have a little sunshine in my life by spending it with these two:Now if those two faces don't brighten up your day--well, all I can say is that you have one cold, cold heart.

This is Emily, my granddaughter and, of course, you all have met Lucy.

And Emily, God bless her, is my kind of child because as she told her mother, "I don't really want to do sports. I really just want to do crafts." Could there be any more perfect character trait in any grandchild?

So we just took that old rainy day and crafted the heck out of it. First we made Easter eggs. Not the old boring dip in dye and wait four hours to turn into a pale pink Easter eggs. Oh no. We made cool tie-dye eggs.

It's just food coloring, paper towels and some plastic wrap, but so much more fun than the traditional egg dying. I found the directions over at Oakadoodle Primitives and since she has done such a great job spelling it out, you can go right over there if you are in the mood for egg dying. Here is a pic of Emily contemplating the design process: And the beginning of one of her designs:Hmmmm....I don't know about you, but I definitely see the beginnings of a quilt or rug designer here.

Afterwards, we had the great cupcake bake-off---just to make sure that every artist had adequate nurishiment.

Lucy approves and will take her cupcake in liver flavor please.

Here's hoping that all your rainy spring days can be filled with sunshine!!

I just may have to change the name of this blog to Cats and Corgis In My Wool. I give you exhibit A:I put it on the floor to take a picture and before I could pick up my camera, look who comes along and makes herself at home! But with a face like that, you can get away with just about anything even when a certain miss someone has a perfectly brand new comfy, comfy bed all of her own.

So excuse me one moment while I get little Miss Lucy moving.........

I'm finally getting some of the background put in. This is most definitely the busiest rug I've done. I think the dark border will help tone it down a bit--and, if not, it certainly will be a day brightener! This rug has been a great learning experience for me and while I'm enjoying the process I'm looking forward to working on a nice, simple project when this is finished.

There's a New Girl in Town

.....and her name is Lucy! She is a Cardigan Welsh Corgi and just turned six month old. Just look at those ears! I got to tell you there has been some serious ear nuzzling going on around our house lately. I am just having so much fun with her--even the five AM potty calls on Saturday mornings aren't to bad. She's just so funny to watch.

We brought her home about three weeks ago. I--being a serious reader and watcher of the Dog Whisperer--told my husband that I would take her for a walk around the neighborhood while he set up her crate in the living room. My thought was she would be tired and happy when she first entered her new home and she would go straight into her crate so she and the cats could get to know each other a little before we gave Lucy a walk through of her forever home.

Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. We did go for a walk, my husband did set up her crate and we did come up to the house tired and happy. That's when things began to fall apart!

We walked into the living room, went right to her crate and this is what we found....

Oh yes....Gracie had already claimed the crate as her own. Now instead of putting Lucy calmly in her crate, she is now jumping around wildly on her leash. Gracie starts hissing and spitting and will not leave the crate and the other cats are howling from the back of the couch upset from all the commotion and this new creature we have brought into their domain.

Needless to say, we got it all sorted out and Lucy and the cats have come to a semi-truce. Lucy can't understand why these little funny looking puppies don't want to play with her. And the cats, being cats, have just decided to ignore the whole matter and pretend nothing has changed. We still have some hissing and every once in a while, a yelp when Lucy gets a little to forward and the cats come down with the paw o' doom on her nose. But right now the cats are asleep in their spots in the living room and Lucy is asleep in the bay window, so we are making progress.