TABLE NAPKINS

i'm always trying to par down on consumables and simplify my home life.

and of course as i have confessed here often i love to collect things from by gone times.

{ my favorite books to read is anything from the mayflower to around 1950's }.

so i got to thinking about paper napkins that are on my kitchen table.

my thinking went like this: they are expensive, non reusable and only take up space in the land fill.

i could find no redeemable use for them in my home :(.

then i got to thinking.....land sakes i have been collecting real dinner napkins at estate sales,

lots of them.

so i started going through every nook and cranny in my home and look what i found :)

all those great napkins that so many women used in their homes and i had the privilege to bring into my home !

so i cleared off the drop zone

cleaned the table

ironed a vintage table clothe

pulled down a favorite blue bowl

wash and lined dried all the clothe napkins

{ no ironing }

folded and placed my lovelies in the blue bowl on the vintage table clothe

on kitchen table and

viola.

i'm smiling 

how about you ?

how are you simplifying your nest ?

GARDEN JOURNAL

i spent a large part of the cool morning in the garden. 

i had beans to pick and even a hand full of peas :)

also their was plenty of weeding needing to be done. 

as one can see the beans a thriving !

i put in two full beds of beans, mainly  to put up for the winter stew months.

we love green beans here and as with tomatoes can hardly stand the cardboard taste of store bought beans.

this morning i picked a basket of beans, the rest of the lettuce and to my complete joy

the first two red tomatoes !

what a treat ;)

garden tomatoes for us is like eating in heaven.

the sweetness, juicy, meaty homegrown fruits of loveliness is worth the wait.

and no, oh no, they are not sliced and put with anything else. the first tomatoes are eaten all by themselves.

i also picked the first zucchini.

medium size, great for shredding and freezing.

i can use shredded zucchini in breads, cakes and tomato sauce, { adds an extra vitamin punch }

i do have two sunflower plants way back in the corner.

sunflowers make me smile every time i see one.

they are my happy flowers,

a ray of golden sun !

i put in a total of three squash plant, three different squash plants.

at least that's what i remember thinking i planted.

sometimes my garden is a surprise for me. 

i'm not great at marking things, { it's that organizational thing } takes too much time

so i get surprises when it is time to harvest some plants.

i have never been disappointed yet in my gardening career.

marigolds are such a simple sweat flower, and gardens love them.

marigolds help with bugs that are not helpful to our vegetable plants.

i'm not keen on spraying anything on the garden,
something that has caused many a conversations between mr.p. and myself.

eric is not a marigold fan, i think it may be his least favorite flower plant.

but i figure if our fore- fathers/mothers used these beauties in their gardens, well that is enough for me.

they must be helpful, plus they add some color.

 bean beds.

all this weeded goodness will go into the compost bin to make good organic stuff, that will go back on the garden beds next spring.

it is all in that life cycle theory.....

i have several knitting projects going too.

and i hope to get in some sewing today.

my sewing mojo is really in the tank, and i have no idea why !

i look at quilting pictures every day on pinterest and my heart swells with their beauty,

but i just can't seem to get to the fabric and the sewing machine.

today maybe today i will be moved in that direction.

linking up with

small things

and saturday gardening.

MY SATURDAY

A DAY IN MY LIFE

my work day starts fairly early.

up by 4:30 to be at the hospital any where from 6-7:00 depending on what i am doing that day.

charging i like to be there by 6:15, robots by 6am , 7 am room time well then i need to be in the room by 6:30 and if i'm real lucky, sometimes but rarely i have a 7:30 start so i can stroll in leisurely at 6:53.

yes you read that time correctly 6:53.

i have no idea who thinks these times up, i just follow the rules...( at least i try real hard to abide by the rules).

coffee, toast and two 3 minute eggs for the

 ride to work.

yes i can multitask :)

a cup of morning coffee, a little reading, and the thought," i really need to clean off this drop zone this afternoon ".

my OR hats all cleaned and fresh to go to work with.

what hat mood am i in today....the choices!

i wore the red one.

one of the best not to mention fun nurse to work with.

we had the best room in the joint , hehe.

an open OR room

weather permitting i eat outside away from the OR.

i need a few minutes of quiet to rejuvenate for the afternoon push to get my room finished.

and today the best case is yet to be started.

after lunch a couple more hours in the OR and then i go home and feel like wilted lettuce.

the older i get the less energy i have after work and the heat here is not helping:(

but that is what a work day in my life looks like,

thought you might want to know :D

FINISHED SKIRT

caitlin in berkley, ca. wearing her newly finished skirt. 

doesn't she look great!

i can't tell you how fun it has been sewing with caitlin and her friends.

seeing these girls finish projects is amazing and so satisfying since it seems i can not finish a thing.

oh how i want my mojo back, but a season for everything and now my season is helping the girls learn to sew!

oh yeah, caitlin is teaching english to 15 chinese students at berkley......she suffers so:)

and looks so unhappy.

not, she loves to teach english and loves to be around chinese students to sharpen her mandarin language skills.

see you in mid august sweetie!

A LOVELY WEEKEND

mr.p. and i headed up the canyon for a weekend in fresh mountain air.

loaded up the trailer and the puppies and off we went,

driving up the canyon, almost to cameron pass.

clouds are so beautiful in the mountains, they seem close enough to touch.

i can spend some serious time with my head in the clouds.

making shapes out of the puffy whiteness .

i often wonder if my family and friends that have passed on , are they running and jumping on those pillows of softness. 

it makes me smile to think so!

sometimes the clouds even play "peek a boo" coming around the mountain peaks.

yes my head is in the clouds when i'm up in the mountains.

so relaxing!

i only took one picture of our friends who also came to relax and fish.

kathleen and i sat out in the mountain pine fresh air and knitted.

it was as close to heaven on earth!

how fortunate i feel to live in this part of the country.

where a two hour drive will put me in all this wonderfulness.

couds, mountains and water.

now mr.p. and j. did not fish in this lake,

oh no, they fish the streams  that fed into the poudre river.

those two left at 9:30 in the morning and only returned to feed us knitting girls in the late afternoon.

yes the fish were biting and they were in their fishing zone!

but now it is back home and time to fluff the nest before i return to work tomorrow!

SKIRT SEWING 101

the girls and i got together to finish sewing the skirts and did they turn out 

CUTE!

these guys are doing so well and picking up the basics of sewing fast.

After each girl cut their pattern, i fitted the pattern to them individually.

then they cut out their fabric AFTER i checked the lay out of the pattern first,

did not want to ruin any of their beautiful fabric

measure twice, cut once.

and no mistakes were made.

they are all so patient with me and each other.

helping each other

no funner way to sew

watching, asking questions, lets not cut any fabric wrong

pin, pin, pin 

then i will cut

ready to sew

lets fit this one more time before stitching.

a little nervous cutting into her fabric.

so happy to be sewing

concentrating

checking once, twice and yet another time.

they did so well!

by evening end all that was left to do was the blind hem,

but it was late and i needed sleep .

caitlin will be over later in the week for those instructions and then the girls will meet at mel's to get that done. 

next time i see them they will be dressed in their beautiful hand made skirts :)

these sewing sessions have been so fun for me. i am amazed how fast we are getting through projects.