Victory for the North!

On a recent trip to the northern tundra of Minneapolis-Biceps, his mother and I-went window shopping.
We came across a store named, ‘Victory’, that changed our lives. Well, at least Biceps’ life.
Because of ‘Victory’, he will actually consider the color blue in a decorating sense. And mustard gold.
And for that, I am forever thankful.

The owner, Kerry Ciardelli, and I must have been separated at birth. She knows everything that makes my little heart skip a beat.

Every corner held a new delight to study…and then study again, because I had missed something.

I will take all of these, please. Geoffrey-please pack these up and send them to the car.

The portraits, the zebra head, the gold mirror-I cannot believe a woman that I have never met knows my style, oh so well.
I love everything about this place.

My eyes surveyed the exquisite fabrics, the white porcelain coral, the hand-made journals and thank you notes, and I realized that I had gone to my happy place.
I was overwhelmed and didn’t want to ever leave. Except for that nagging feeling of needing coffee. So, that motivated me a bit to quit loitering…

The store and its owner knows nothing about me or the fact that I am blogging about them. If you are in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, you should stop by. But don’t tell them that I told you to do so. That won’t get you anywhere.

The Pumpkin Roll

My oldest brother has established a rule for his children pertaining to picking out their holiday pumpkin.
The simple rule is: ‘If you can lift it, you can have it.’
In my experience, children-especially the sneaky nephew-types, tend to come up with all sorts of ways to circumvent the rules laid down by the parental figures.
I know because I was a sneaky child. But that was many, many, many moons ago.

At first, the oldest and sneakiest nephew realized he could ‘roll’ the pumpkin up onto his body-without a lot of heavy lifting.

The others followed suit while impressing even the most skeptical of aunts. (That’s me.)

However, the ‘pumpkin roll’ became passe.
Newly instituted was the ‘double lifter’.

For some, the concept of the ‘pumpkin roll’ or the ‘double lifter’ was lost, amidst the simplicity of merely climbing on the giant orange objects.

That is, until a sneaky Gramma came along and showed the littlest how it was done.
This pumpkin had found a home.
Gramma had found a new manic intensity.
And we had all found a new source of blackmail.

A Bird in the Headband….

The whipping fall wind brought about the need for a hair taming device. I dug around my sewing scraps and found a piece of lace that happened to be long enough to wrap around my noggin’. I liked the simplicity of the lace, but decided to add a touch of cute factor with feathers and a mini bird. In five minutes, I had a simple solution to the crazy hair-all-over-the-place problem.

If you don’t like the feathers and bird look, the options for the headband are endless:
replace the feathers with fabric or scrap ribbon and fray the ends, replace the bird with a button or a jewel…Get creative, get crazy!

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own Feather and Lace Headband (or a similar version):
Piece of lace, ribbon or material long enough to fit around your noggin’
Two rubberbands
Feathers, scrap ribbon
Mini birds (found in the hobby section), jewels, buttons
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Thread to match your lace and a needle or a sewing machine

While your bird is watching (see upper right corner of photo), intertwine your two rubberbands as pictured above.

Loop each end of the lace around one side of the rubberband, sewing the loop closed.

Group together the feathers, frayed ribbon or fabric and cut a piece of lace to ‘corral’ the objects. Wrap the lace around the entire bottom of the ‘corralled’ objects and hot glue it together.

Add a bird, button or jewel to the top of the ‘corralled’ feathers.

Hot glue the ‘corralled’ object where it suits you on your lace headband. I chose the right side of the headband, halfway between my ear and the crown of my head.

I’ve also been known to wear this like a hippie would, and it looks just as cute-at least to me, it does. You may not agree and that is quite alright. I know that I am weird. But, if you are also weird…then….
All hail birds of a feather!

Cowboy brings his work Home

I was in the middle of cooking, when I distinctly heard a ruckus.
We have an open door policy in the fall, and I knew instantly who to blame for the said ruckus.

Cowboy Cat 2000.

Prancing about my breakfast nook was the little furry guy-with his prey.

I believe that his preference for crunchy insects is due to a tender heart-he just can’t bring himself to kill the other furry creatures that roam the backyard.

Biceps thinks it’s due to his lack of claws and basic hunting skills.

Whatever.

He can be so vicious, but disarming. Wrapped up in the furriest little body you could ever imagine, lies a killer inside.

His favorite action was to place his paw on top of it. Genius.

And then, he would occasionally bat it underneath the door.

Only to fish it out again.

Finally, he moved the game of cat and butterfly outside.

At least he cleans up after himself.

Cowboy perched for awhile here, letting the other butterflies know who is king of this castle.

After a few minutes, he was bored with the kill and came inside for some man-made treats.

My vicious little killer loves his ‘Party Mix’…