Seven Quick Takes: Great Hats, Kitchens, and Tea Sets

1. In a mad dash to catch up with my summer neglected blog, I must first present to you this lovely lady in the fabulous hat!  She is my...aunt?  She's my sister-in-law's mother-in-law, and my dear friend.  She has to be the most cheerful and extroverted person I've ever met in my life!  She also has Alzheimer's, a fact that does not lessen our enjoyment of our time together.  We hung out together most Saturdays over the summer, and she helped me decorate my kitchen.

2. We went with a beachy theme for the kitchen!

I love the beach and I love my kitchen, so it's a good
combination for me.

Will I get tired of it?  Given that I found a cephalopod to hang in it, probably not.


3. Continuing in the kitchen, it's hard to say which made me happier: getting new countertops or getting all my cabinets sorted out at the same time, but I'm happy I don't have to choose!

Having kids old enough to sort cabinets for me makes up for the years of lost sleep.

4. August is kind of blah in my garden.  It's just too hot and dry yet humid.  I wilt under those conditions too.

September brings a new surge of flowers though, and I'm really enjoying it!

5.  And speaking of flowers, I decided to try my hand at embroidery again.

I haven't had time to do this for a long time, and I'd forgotten how much I love it.

It's a really nice way to dress up a plain shirt,and fun to do while listening to audiobooks with Klenda while she does her tracing.  We were listening to North and South with this one.



6.  By "tracing," I mean Klenda's art school homework.  She has to trace an anatomy book.

The whole book!

She has a year or so to do it, and she is almost done.  She should finish before her school starts up again the first week in October.






7.  I am loving this tea set my friend Bill gave me.

First because it looks so much like my grandparents' Blue Willow
tea set.

Old countertops!

But more because it is NOT Blue Willow, it's Things Could Be Worse.

It's completely decorated with things that would be definitely worse than whatever is bugging you: giant frogs, plagues of pterasaurs, alien invasions, mysterious tentacles and many, many more.

Here's hoping you have a weekend free from Giant Frogs!  More fun with Kelly!