birthday sewing and "derek"

my niece's birthday was this week, so i decided to make her a book bag out of some of my favorite echino fabric. i swear, the japanese make some of the best fabrics(in fact when i made this link i saw a few there that i might just have to get, you know, because i need more fabric...)

that little chipmunk stuffed animal is so adorable. sometimes don't you just wish you were 7 years old again so you could have these super cute things and not seem weird?

have any of you seen ricky gervais' new series "derek"?? i LOVE it-in fact i can't even express how much i love it! you can watch it on netflix instant watch, and i hope you will because it is one of the most hilarious and heartwarming shows i have ever seen, but with a bit of a bite to it that saves it from being overly sweet.
HIGHLY recommended!!

happy monday to you all!!!!!

SPARTANS!!!!

yesterday i met my best friend from high school, becky, in killington, vermont to watch her daughter compete in the spartan race world championships.

she was in the ultra race which is run over 13 miles with many nightmarish obstacles and is for the top elite athletes. it was so cool to watch!

to even get into the corral at the start of the race you had to jump over a wall. o.k., right there i probably would've broken my neck!  i can say with great confidence that i could not do a single thing in this race. well, maybe i could crawl under the barbed wire!

the elite race was for a select few, but then every 15 minutes, 300 more people would start!  literally thousands of people did this race!!

oh, see that "hill" in the top righthand corner of this picture?  well, they had to carry 55 pound bags of sand UP that and then back down!!!!!

under the barbed wire, across that wall. there were more muscles than i have ever seen in my life!

then you had to swim over and climb the ropes and then grab the short ropes to get you over to ring a bell at the end. practically nobody could do this and fell back into the water.

what happens when you can't do an obstacle?

30 "burpees"!  a burpee is a push-up followed by a jump in the air with your hands above your head. yes, 30 of those. and i thought burpee was the name of a seed company! (hi kris!) i thought maybe you could just do a few and call it a day, but the officials were right there keeping track. rats!

then more running up the mountain and more doing god knows what brings you to the tyrolean traverse. lots of people fell into the water on this one, and that means more burpees!

the thing that really impressed me was that you could see how hard it was to do these things, especially this traverse. they would struggle and inch along and then hang there and i just wanted to yell out "you don't have to do this you know!!!"  and i know if it were me i'd fall in the water and call it quits!  but these crazy amazing people just DON'T quit. like, never!  that's what makes them the elite, while i enjoy sitting on the couch knitting.  we're just different!

in this photo you can see again the "hill" they ran up with the sand bags.

they climbed those ropes and had to ring a bell at the top. underneath was a deep puddle of mud. more barbed wire, then over that wall. on the other side of the wall was a ring of FIRE to run through, then "gladiators" wielding huge rubber barbell-looking things who beat you as you ran to the finish line. oh, and all of this took 6 HOURS!!!

WOW!  and the thing of it was, these people looked like after the race maybe they'd go down to the coffee shop and read the newspaper or maybe take in a movie to relax, then go for a run. no tears, no collapsing in a heap, no looking pale and shaky and throwing up.  just amazing. i think it would've been interesting to watch the "regular" people who i'm sure did all of those things.

thanks, becky, for an unforgettable day!

high times in the hen house

for the past few years we have been keeping chickens, which i LOVE!  they are so much fun to watch, running around the yard, always busy busy busy! and the eggs are just wonderful. so much nicer than store-bought eggs. if you've never had a fresh egg you should really try to find some. they are worth the bit of extra cost and don't even look like those pale old eggs you find at the supermarket. and the flavor is amazing!

anyway, for one reason or another, our chicken population has dwindled, as chicken populations tend to do,  leaving us with only 2 this summer. i was worrying about the winter coming up with only 2 chickens trying to keep warm in the coop, and if one should die that would leave one chilly little chicken all alone! so i asked around and my friend jennifer gave me 2 of her girls. i was a bit worried about introducing the new chickens as chickens can be quite awful to eachother sometimes.....but we stuck the 2 new ones in after dark, and after the initial "meet and greet" involving some pecking and chasing around, they seem to be getting along quite nicely!

this is gretel , low man on the totem pole, as it were. she is very sweet and lets me pick her up.

and this is agnes who is HUGE, and is definitely the boss!

it's hard to take pictures of chickens because they never stop moving!

annie and poppy have been knocked down a notch, but seem happy just the same. so i feel better with a full coop!

this was pretty cool! my camper is "famous"!

have a great weekend!! we've been having some amazingly gorgeous weather-hope it keeps up a while!

LOOK!

the house is CLEAN!!!

we had company on saturday, so most of the day was spent decluttering and cleaning the house.  i swear, we need to have guests once a week so that the house always looks like this...just don't look in my car, because it is full of bags of yarn and fabric.  i need a new wing of the house just for my craft supplies.  i'm sure some of you out there can relate.....

i also rearranged the living room a bit.  i got that green chair at a yard sale this summer for $15.00!  yay!!

and here's a sweet picture of the birthday boy.  rosco turned 13 this month.  happy birthday, rosco!!!!!

lately

not a whole lot going on around here lately.  i went peach picking with two of my cousins which was really fun and such good peaches!!

i'm slowly plugging away at the x and + quilt.  i can't wait til i have time to really crank those squares out!!  i found some sweet prints the other day at the fabric store.  the green polka dot fabric was given to me by my friends kelly and roger who found it at the flea market.  i love it!

we've had some crazy weather this week-HOT and terrible thunder storms! brian and i took a walk this afternoon and found a spot on the sidewalk where the lightening hit and turned the area to glass!  pretty cool!

pretty relaxing day here today which has been niiiiiccceeeeee!  enjoy your sunday!

dogs, elves, birds and more!!

we went to the flea market this morning, and may i say, get ready for cuteness overload!!!!!

bird theme!  the seagull looks so good on the shed door.

elf theme!  i have found so many of these little planters this year. i think this picture makes him look a bit creepy, but really he's very cute.

got this recipe box (the aqua inside is what sold me), and about a million yards of this pretty curtain fabric! 

dog theme!  aren't the collies adorable?!?! i think this is a planter too, but i don't really know how you'd keep a plant in there. i think it would make a perfect business card holder for the craft fairs. hmmm, now maybe i need to make business cards for my non-existent business.....

a very successful flea market day!!!

stuck on the bridge

it's so nice having the new bridge open, but i had forgotten about the delays ...the span is raised every half hour for boats to pass, and if you hit it at the wrong time, late for work! 

i took a few pictures the other morning waiting for the bridge to come down.

fall is in the air tonight! happy thursday!

windsor fair!

o.k., you might want to get yourself a cup of coffee and find a good seat, because this is going to be a photo extravaganza!  here are some pictures from the windsor fair!

first of all, you know you're in windsor when you see this sign. for real!

we always like to go on the last day of the fair, partially because it is so hilarious to see all of the shriveled up brown vegetables with their blue ribbons!!

then there are the exhibition halls full of crafts. i really liked these hooked rugs. i think that chicken is amazing!

next is the museum with an old general store, different period rooms and this extra creepy military exhibit...

there's the one-room schoolhouse with "a student". come on! couldn't they do a little something about this hair-do?? now to mention her arms were on backwards.............

in the 4-H building we learned that there is lots of fun to be had with baby chicks!

 

lots of great ticky-tacky-ness! and don't forget the rides!! the last time we went to the fair we all decided to go on a ride which made us all so sick that we had to leave.  never again!!

we can't forget to mention the food! i think maybe they should say "ridiculously BAD FOR YOU"!!  but sadly, they're probably DELICIOUS!!  

and now for the real reason you go to the fair...ADORABLE ANIMALS!!!

the sheep are so sweet with their little smiling faces...

how cute is this little banty rooster??!!

how now, brown cow! 

ok, now the best for last! wait for it...........

BABY PIGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!