When It Rains, It Pours

The past couple of days have been kind of crazy.  Day before yesterday R went out of town, and I was going to go run some errands but it started to rain so I thought I would wait it out.  It rained and it RAINED!  We got 2.09 inches in an hour.  The city was flooding in areas, they were telling people not to drive unless they had to, and that if they found a street that was filled with water to turn around and go back.  There was a wreck on the freeway involving a horse trailer that blocked I-25 for a couple hours.  We had tornado's too.  Luckily no one was hurt by them.  I was so glad R was up in Vail for a couple days and not driving back from Denver in it.

It rained on through the night and my sinus's were so stuffed up I could barely breathe.  I love rain, but it doesn't love me.  This was excessive though.  Today my garden was nothing but mud.

Later that night, about 10 PM I started to feel sick to my stomach.  By midnight I was violently ill.  It made for a rough and exhausting night between that and the rain.  I drank peppermint tea (peppermint is good for an upset stomach) and took some pepto but it wasn't doing much, by the time R called at 5 AM, I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

Yesterday I was feeling a little better.  I don't know what caused it, it almost felt like food poisoning but I didn't really eat anything that could have been bad.   Needless to say I didn't eat much yesterday. 

I decided to go out and run the errands I was going to do the day before.  I went to the bank drive through, then the post office where I had to wait in line for 45 minutes.  Now I normally use the automated machine, but I was sending Blue Moon to Singapore and the machine doesn't do international shipping.  After that I swung into the store really fast and got cat food.  So I was gone maybe all of an hour and a half.

When I got home Ridley had demolished my house!  All the cushions were off the sofa, my winter boots, gardening clogs and sneakers were pulled out, R's hat and two quilts were on the floor.  He chewed up a pen.  I don't know why, he hasn't done that before.  It was such a mess.  Luckily he didn't chew on the sofa cushions or the quilts...or my shoes.  Believe me he knew he did something very wrong.  After I got it cleaned up, I set about doing some laundry and then I cut out a bear from the new pattern I designed the night before...before I got sick.

I got to looking at some of the things I had made and kept from ages ago.  There aren't a lot, I have sold most of what I have made.  But I did keep a pig I made from years ago, and I have been working on making a smaller one.  I wish I had kept one of each of the elephants, monkeys and dragons.  I may make some more someday, but both the monkey and the dragon take soooooo long to make...the dragon takes about two weeks.  They are both quite large.

I also came across a little bird I made.  I decided to photograph it.  I don't know why I didn't make more.  I only made the one.  I guess I just never thought anyone would want one, so I never made another one...in fact only my Mom and R have ever seen it until now.  I did make several other things, including some very sweet snowmen that I gave everyone for Christmas with their presents that year.

I have an idea for a smaller mohair bird than I am making now that popped into my head yesterday.  It's a peculiar idea and I am not sure why I thought of it, but chances are after I am done with the bear you will be seeing it.

Then probably after that you will be seeing a pig!

Have a lovely day!  Hugs, K. <3

Friday

I can't believe it's Friday already! This week has both flown by and dragged on. Does that make sense?

I had another terrible bout of insomnia and a couple anxiety attacks, but I figured out why. I had gotten these new vitamins from One A Day that are supposed to jump start your metabolism. What I learned after taking them for nearly a week is they are full of caffeine and guarana! They should put that on the bottle in HUGE letters. I stopped taking them yesterday and slept almost all night and half of today.

I am still waiting for Spring to make it's appearance. We have had rain and snow nearly all week. Yes snow! I am sick of Winter keeping it's icy fingers gripped tightly around us. I want to go out and plant things in the garden. Plus I bit the bullet and bought a pair of Havaianas. If you haven't heard of them, they are a brand of flip flops from Brazil. People swear by them, but they are a bit expensive for flip flops so it took me a couple years to get around to buying a pair. I couldn't resist the pink and gold peacock ones. They arrived two days ago and are quite nice. I can't wait for it to be warm enough to wear them.

I went to the grocery store yesterday since our cupboards were getting bare, and while I was in the produce department I saw the biggest banana I had ever seen in my life! It was easily 15 inches long and my hand wouldn't close around it. It was a King Kong sized banana! I didn't know they grew that big.

The good part of my insomnia was that I got a ton done towards the new layout and should have that up very soon. Also my brain was in hyper drive and I came up with a new bear idea. He is going to be very different and fun if he turns out how I want him to. I am working on him today. I guess every cloud really does have a silver lining! With some luck you will be seeing him soon.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! Hugs, K. <3

The Sampler Platter

I don't know what it's doing in your part of the world, but it seems as if Colorado is trying to cram all 4 seasons into two days. We have had a veritable sampler platter of weather.

Yesterday we had warm sunshine and when I ran errands I wore a tank top and sandals. Later that afternoon there were Tornado warnings and I believe one actually sat down East of us, out in the country. Last night we had thunder, lightning, rain and hail so bad I thought it was going to break the window. We had to shut down all the electronics and appliances. There were so many downed leaves afterward that it looked like Fall.

This afternoon there was so much snow they had to close the freeway between Denver and Monument. I saw pictures on the news, it looked like Christmas. R had a hard time getting home. He had to take the back roads.

I sincerely hope Spring returns soon.

September Blues

Today I am typing to you from my back deck. It's 84 degrees and absolutely beautiful out, even with the haze finally reaching us from the California fires. My heart goes out to those people. This seems to happen to them every year.

The first of September always makes me feel a little melancholy. It signifies the ending of summer, which is my favorite season. This year is even worse, because we had so much rain that we barely had any summer. I don't think we have even had a month's worth of sunny days, so I feel a little cheated.

I finished the bear I was working on, and it's waiting to get costumed. I could have done it and photographed it this afternoon, but I wanted to take advantage of the day instead. You will see the bear by tomorrow I am sure.

The next upcoming projects are going to be a Halloween and Christmas pieces. (And maybe something else as well.) This is part of why September gives me the blues. While I love summer, when we get along to this time of year I have to start thinking about the holidays. That tends to put me in the mood for them too. So I kind of go directly from summer to a holiday mood a little too soon, and I get impatient for them. But nothing really happens after the first part of September so I feel like I am in a holding pattern. I have an ad due in a few weeks and it's for the Christmas issue of the magazine, so I have to think about that as well.

Next weekend will be fun though. I am dragging R off to Littleton for A Paris Street Market. I have not been to it before, so I am excited to see what sort of treasures they will have. Then of course every year we have the Balloon Classic, and I am sure we will get up to go watch them take off if the weather is good. That's always fun and the only day of the year I ever eat funnel cake. I have never entirely decided if I like it or not.

For now though...I hope summer sticks around just a little bit longer! I am going to go play frisbee with my puppies!

Hugs, K <3