Thank you Faye!

Hi everyone.  Santa is coming along and I'm going through charts for another project.  I should concentrate on Lucy for a while before starting anything else and just may do that. 

 I mentioned that I was the lucky recipient of Faye's generosity.  And what a perfect win for me - I had this fabric and tried making a large sewing bag, burned it, but saved from the flames were the two strawberries that matched.  So I now have my bag in that fabric along with the berries!!  Thank you again Faye!  I'm thrilled!

Just a few other things. 

I went to my local antique store and purchased this bench with dried paint drips!  I can easily make these but even though I have a new and wonderful saw, I don't.  So I bought it instead.  A lot easier!  Not an antique, just beat up, and that's OK with me.  It will look great outside with pots on it this summer.

That made me happy, until I got home.  When backing into the garage I noticed a dark object on the front siding and thought it was a huge moth.  I went to check it out and found that it was a tiny bat, clinging to the siding upside down and not moving.  So I grabbed a box, gloves, and used a container to gently remove him from the siding, and emptied that into the box.  He was motionless and I'm sure very ill.  When he slid into the box he made a little squeak.  This stuff tears me up.  I can't stand for anything to suffer and I know most of you want nothing to do with saving a bat, but it's a creature and that's all that matters to me.  I believe we are judged by how we treat His creatures.  All of them.  I should have extra points for that *#%! woodpecker.  I called Mark to tell him and he said it probably has that white nose disease that is killing off the bat population.  A travesty to the ecosystem and nature.  They are awakened from hibernation and try to look for food.  It is too cold for them and they eventually die a slow death.  He's in his box in the garage and I have never been able to put an animal out of its misery, so I have to wait for Mark to come home.  He's not happy with me, but I took precautions and there was no way I could have been bitten, and I was afraid the brat cats would see him and start torturing him like they recently did to a poor chipmunk.  But he will have to end his suffering.

Moving on - my kitchen.  I obviously misled everyone about my cabinet painting.  They were painted a few years ago and the kitchen was never completely finished.  Now I will be picking another color and rearranging the cabinets and layout.  The stove area will be a different color and further out than the base cabinets, and the fridge will be behind a cabinet made to look like a cupboard, also a different color.  My husband is an oak lover and it was a process of gathering photos to show and kitchen showrooms that finally convinced him.  Now he agrees totally and sees that the darkness and especially the grain, cluttered the look in a small kitchen.  Much neater, cleaner, crisp, and soothing now.  Oak is a beautiful wood and unpainted kitchens are best sellers, but not for me. I wanted to show the difference painting made and how it saved me from considering $$$$$$ for a new kitchen.   Most older cabinets are worth the effort.   I'll leave you with a few more photos, the first is Bryce Ritter's. 

Last night we ate the final dozen of my sweet cottage cheese pierogis from the freezer.  No one around here carries dry cottage cheese anymore so I haven't made them and probably won't ever again.  I may try using the regular cottage cheese recipe as in the cheese blintzes but it won't be the same at all.  I finally found a fabulous dough recipe that includes sour cream and the pierogis were so much easier to wrap and pinch with it.   Beautiful satin dough!   Oh well.  I guess the sweet cheese crepes/blintzes will have to do. 

Mark will be home soon and I'm getting nervous about what will happen so I will close.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.  Thank you for visiting!