First Day of School

Many, many years ago when I was a young mother, there came a time in each of my children lives when I sent them off to kindergarten. At the time it was a semi traumatic experience.

They were 5 years old, so of course they at the age where they making me crazy...  naturally I was looking forward to sending them off for half the day, I wouldn't even have to pay a sitter. When their first day of school arrived I admit panicked...my baby is going off in to the big bad world with out me! What if they get scared , what if they get dropped off at the wrong bus stop, what if...? 

One by one over the years I walked my little dears in to the big scarey school, took them to their class room and each one of them took off with a skip and a jump to look for new friends and play with the “educational” toys. Never looking back or giving me a wave good-bye. They were much braver than I was.

Back to School, Home Work and Standardized Test

The kids in Arizona are going back to school...in my opinion it's way too early.

One of the happiest days of my life was the day I didn't have to get my kids ready for the first day of school. One by one they they had graduated.

I didn't have to do back to school shopping for new clothes and notebooks. No more  fill out all the endless form they brought home in their backpacks that first day. No longer did I have to worry about spelling test...history papers that were completed, but some how never got turned in to the teacher.

  

No more asking the question...”have you finished your homework?” An end to calling in absences, missed school buses and standardized test.

They were off on their way to being “grown-ups... and all the mini drama that goes along with being an adult.

Weather Report, Big Black Cat and the Bathroom Sink

The weather forecasters have been reporting that we are in the "dog days of summer"...which in Arizona means it's hot and muggy. When you walk out side of your air-conditioned house, it's like stepping into a sauna.

What is a big black cat to do to keep cool?

Stretch out on the cool ceramic tile away from the house traffic...

No...even better, curl up in a ball in the  bathroom sink. Now the big black cat can stay cool and inconvenience anyone wanting to wash their hands or brush their teeth...a happy, cool cat.

What do you do with a bunch of doilies?

I have been collecting doilies...

a lot of doilies...

a whole big bunch doilies...I enlisted friends and family in this search...

An older lady at one of the thrift stores I stop in a couple times a month while on my  search  calls me her "doily lady". She would ask me how many I had found...I have no clue, I had never counted. I just knew I was going to need a lot for all the project ideas I had. 

I finally got the time to work on a banner/garland for my Darling Daughter...

I hung the doily banner on the front window at my house to take these photos. The window in her house is much larger than mine, so I draped the ends on either side of my window, then pulled up on parts of it to create some swags.

I created scrunchy bows out of crinkled seem binding ribbon and placed one between each doily on the banner...

DD hung her  banner up on her window, looks pretty good. Now I need t come up with some other creative ideas for all those doilies...yes, I'm still collecting.

Happy 4th of July

Hooray for the red, white and blue!

Arizona Flower Fairies

It is that time of the year here in Arizona, when we hit in the neighborhood of 115 degrees or higher during the day. Which creates a real hardship on our “Flower Fairies”. 

In Arizona we can pretty much garden year round...except July, August, and most of September, then it gets a bit rough for any thing to grow, except weeds. During the rest of the year our flower fairies reside in among the flower and vegetable gardens.

In the winter while the rest of the country is freezing cold and up to their knees in snow...Arizona has beautiful gardens and the flower fairies are doing their happy dance.

 

Are you wondering where the Arizona Flower Fairies go to in the Summer...
 they hide out at the mall or the movies where they can use someone else Air Conditioning to keep cool, just like everyone else!

Once upon a time, dad was a Cowboy...

Back in the 20's and 30's Western movies were a big deal. Kids would save their pennies to catch a matinee with Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, Tom Mix and many other cowboy movie stars. These "horse operas" brought action and adventure to children and adults alike. The shows were full of riding, roping and of course a lot of shooting. 

When I was a kid, my dad told me stories of him going to the movies to see his cowboy heroes, one of his favorite was Hoot Gibson. Hoot was such a big movie star at the time he has his own “star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As a teenage dad was a cowboy too...I don't think he ever moved a heard of cattle, but he did ride bucking broncs in the rodeo. And he was an "extra" in the 1952 movie "Half Breed". If you blinked you'd miss him.

So this cowboy card is for you dad...and all the Cowboys out there.