Real Men are Pink!

Remember how Grace and Garett decorated the sidewalk yesterday? Little did they know that their artwork would decorate Tucker today:

I let the cats out the back door this afternoon, turned around to grab my sunglasses and turned back around to find Tucker rolling around in the pink chalk, having the time of his life.

Admittedly, he looks a little silly running through the house, chasing Max to wrestle, but real men do still wear pink, right? :o)

How Does The Garden Grow?

With all the rain we've had the past few weeks, the garden is green and lush, and has grown, but slowly. Now that the temps are heating up, I expect to see the plants shoot up quickly.
Here's where we began last month: Here's where we are now. I labelled what is where, but you'll have to click on the photo to enlarge and read it. In the blog-spirit of "keeping it real" you can also see all the weedy glory out there. Slowly but surely I'm making progress in getting rid of them.

Oh, and here are Grace and Garett with their artistic rendition of a sidewalk chalk garden. They had chalk from the driveway (around the corner of the garage) clear up to the bottom step of the deck. This was my favorite garden decoration today. :o)

Topping off the Windows

A few years ago I was inspired to create an easy window topper pattern by a photo that was posted on a home decorating bulletin board (this was before the advent of mass blogging, and I didn't save any information about who posted the idea, so unfortunately I can't give credit). I needed something for the four sunroom windows and the one in the kitchen.

The first set I made was during the 2006 holiday season. This fabric was on clearance and is a nice heavy weight for winter. I didn't get back to this project until the next Autumn when I found a pair of lightweight floral panels on clearance and cut them up. I used the same pattern as the winter ones, but for the kitchen window I make it a bit shorter.

The next Spring I picked up this red/white print for the summer version of window toppers. Last weekend I finally pulled it from the box and whipped these up in less than an hour. (The kitty is wanting to be outside and is pouting because I won't let him go roll in the mud.)To make the pattern, I measured the width of the windows and added an inch for seam allowance. Then I cut a paper rectangle that width, and the length I thought I wanted. (To get paper that wide, I taped together a couple of large desk calendar pages.) Another measurement to find the bottom center, then drew lines from the sides (with a few inches of drop to cover the shades) to the center to make the point. After I cut it out, I taped it to the window and made whatever adjustments were needed.

After cutting the fabric, I just used fusible web hem tape to finish each edge (no sewing!), then attached the topper to the top of the shade using Velcro. Easy on, easy off.

I love having different toppers each season, giving the room a fresh new look every couple of months.

Going National

A week ago on the weekend, Alan raced in a regional qualifier at Millville, MN and is now headed to Tennessee in August to compete in the AMA Air Nautiques Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn Ranch. This is "the" amateur motocross race and he's been preparing for it for two years.
Angela sent me a few photos from last week. In this first one, he's taking the "hole shot" - that means he's taking the lead position out of the starting gate going into the first turn. Getting the hole shot is always a really good thing. (He's number 17.)
You may want to click on this one to enlarge it. Here he is in the air...

He finished first in the 45 and over class, ensuring a spot at the Nationals. We wish him the best of luck in Tennessee, and Al, don't break your femur! :o)