The Office(s) Are Open

I spend a lot of time (like pretty much all my waking hours it seems) making counters for my Etsy shop. The majority of the time I am down in my work area in the basement. Don't I look official now! Katie was very happy that she was able to reclaim her craft table. So for the last couple of months this has been my habitat.

Complete with my emergency supply of Cherry Twists. That beading is hard work and I have to keep my energy up, ya know!

But summer has FINALLY arrived in Saskatchewan! It took it's sweet old time getting here this year. Perhaps it is because we have such a short warm season that I can't stand being indoors when the weather is hot. So the office had to become transportable. So this is now where I spend my days. I like to call it the outdoor office. The biggest problem is that when I dump my beads (which I do on a frightenly regular basis) they are a lot harder to find.

And lastly, a sock. This one is Trekking 284. I love the tweediness (is that a word?) of this sock and I wear it a lot. Well, not just one sock. I typically wear two socks at a time. Just not on the same foot. Erg... you know what I mean.

But now I have to close up the office for the night since the mosquitos don't abide by the posted hours.

Yesterday was playday at Christopher and Katie's school. I have volunteered to help every year since Christopher was in kindergarten. Only once have we had rain. It was a beautiful morning yesterday. Finally we are having some weather that is befitting of summer! My job was to wander around taking pictures. Its a good gig. Better than manning the tug-o-war station that I did for the first 3 years. At least I don't come home with my hands rope burned.

Here is Christopher at the bubble station. Obviously, he had already been to face painting! For those of you without boys that is a Pokeball on his face. If you aren't aware what that is, you are probably better off.

And Katie at the egg, ummm.... golf ball and spoon races. We seemed to have a tie dye theme going on there.

Nope, the sock didn't go to playday.

This is Cascade Sassy Stripes 763, knit on 2mm needles. I knit very tight and these socks are actually a bit like cardboard. They softened up a bit, but not like I would have liked them to. What saves them for me is the little bit of mottling in the light blue part.

He's Still a Brat, But at Least He's a Champion Brat

Here is Kai at the dog show today...He is now know as Canadian Champion WillowGlyn 4 Off the Floor!

Kai earned enough points (with a few extra for insurance) to finish his championship. Thanks to judge Thom Nesbitt for his final points. And a big, huge thanks to Yvonne Halkow of WillowGlyn Shelties for entrusting the brat to me.

Kai celebrated by coming home and unplanting a bunch of my bedding plants that were in pots on my patio.

Ignore the picture of me. My sister and I had an arguement about who is least photogenic. I still say I win. I may look like I am really not having a good time, but I was jumping up and down on the inside.

Katie also did well at junior handling today. She took second in the junior novice class despite being 3 feet shorter than some of her competition.

Grooming Day

Kai is entered in a dog show this week end here in Regina so today was a serious grooming day. Bath time was earlier in the week, but today was trim and start the poofing time. I took him over to my sister Susan's since she is way better at grooming shelties than I am. Plus it was her birthday so I figured that letting her do the grooming would make a pretty good birthday present. Not sure that she agreed. Anyway, Happy Birthday Susan!

So here is Kai up on the grooming table, partly groomed in preparation for going in the ring tomorrow.

When we were done the sun made a brief appearance between all the rain we have been having. It was good timing for the dogs as they had excess energy to burn off after being cooped up in the house for the last few days. I guess Kai forgave Auntie Susan for the grooming. Notice the swishy tail!
Kai's registered name is WillowGlyn 4 Off the Floor and this is why...

Kai is a brat. His idea of a good time is to harass who ever will let him. Or in the case of Robbie, who isn't afraid of telling him off. Robbie may look fierce with his teeth bared, but he is really having just as good of time as Kai.
Fur already partly flattened by the wet grass, Kai was reluctant to leave his play mates.

I Am Soooo Not Ready for This

I knew subconsciously that after Katie's bedtime confession last evening that I was in a state of denial. This morning reality hit me hard over the head. There was no denying it any longer - Katie was using her halter top as a bra substitue. She insisted on wearing it under her clothes to school this morning.

After school she brought her friend Stephanie home to play. Katie took off her shirt that she was wearing to school (at least I really hope that she kept her other clothes on at school) and the two of them are colouring together in a My Little Pets oversize pad. I can't be the only one to see the irony here. The halter top was definately a fashion statement as it was windy, pouring rain and blinking cold today.

I am really having a lot of trouble with this whole bra thing. She is seven, for pity sake!

But I can see Katie trying to wear this same halter top every day. She is stubborn if nothing else (and I can think of a whole lot "else"). So I went and got her some "small undershirts."

This is the smallest and least suggestive I could find. She is still going to swim in them.

God help me when this kid gets hormones.

Damn Cut Worms!

As if my poor garden wasn't in bad enough shape this year with my planting so late, I am now dealing with cut worms. I have dug out a few already and hunted around for a few more, but I can live without a radish or two. But today I found this...

When they start attacking my head lettuce, then I get angry! At least I got that sucker!

My garden really is pathetic this year. Have you ever seen a sorrier tomato?

But if you look reeaaallly closely, you will see that today it had an actual leaf forming! I love Sugary tomatoes. I special ordered the seed back in December and had it started indoors under grow lights at the proper time. And then I got started with all these beads. The seedlings took a back seat I am afraid. I never even noticed that this was the only sugary seed to germinate until it was time to plant it outdoors. So I plunked it in the dirt and hoped for the best. With my luck the cut worms will have got it by tomorrow.

I have a few pairs of socks on the needles right now. This one is Austermann Step, #18 Vulkan. It is sitting on another little sock bag that I got on Etsy from Stuck in Illinois. I thought it would be great for dog shows.

P.S. I was just tucking Katie into bed when I noticed that she had a halter top on under her night gown. Katie loves halter tops probably mostly because I won't let her wear them to school. When I asked her why she just said "Cause I'm a girl." Apparently she told Dallas earlier that it was because she "was a woman - well, not quite." Well, that explains it.

Monday

I finally crawled out of my space in the basement, plopped down in my knitting chair, did 3/4 of a row of a heel flap while the laptop fired up, and then sat here. And sat there. And sat some more. I did think while I sat, but not about much. Canadian Idol is distracting me.

Wow, she was good...

So since I haven't been doing much of anything lately that is blog-worthy I thought I would steal Kaessa's idea on her blog, My Life Has Gone to the Dogs, and do a Monday Happy List.

So in no particular order here are 5 things that make me happy:

1. Monday Happy Lists
2. Freshly bathed dogs (one dog down, one dog to go)
3. Hot, sunny summer days (come on, God, I am still waiting...)
4. Long summer evenings (16 hours and 20 minutes of day light today)
5. Kraft Dill Pickle Dip and ripple chips