Long Time, No See

Wow!  It's been a long time, hasn't it?  Lots of stuff has happened since we last "talked" ... I am now single for the first time in 24 years, my son got married and I gained a wonderful daughter-in-law, I am working a lot more hours at work and I am the sole owner of a ranch-style home in Northern California, which also means that when something goes wrong with the house, it is all my responsibility to fix!  Which has been a huge adjustment!

Once I decided to start blogging again, I asked myself ... "What direction do I want this blog to go?"  I've decided that my intent with this blog is basically the same as a lot of the other blogs I read ... decorating, swapping recipes, pets, and life in general.  Nothing special ... just life!

I told my daughter-in-law that I would make her apron with some really fun fabric.  And like my typical self, I always have great aspirations of how I will go about doing this.  And in my head, this is how it goes:  I go to the local fabric store and pick out the material, I cut the pattern out right when I get home and have it all sewed up and ready to wear within a week.  But in reality, this is how it goes:

get the pattern

three weeks later, go pick out the material

five weeks after that, cut out the material (with the help of Fletcher)

and now three weeks after that, I still have to sew it all together.  I should interject right now that I really don't sew.  I quilt but I don't sew clothes.  But I have wanted to start sewing something different than quilts and this is what I decided to start with.  And notice what the pattern says ... SO EASY!  Yeah, well we'll just see about that!

Before I let you go, I have to show you this cool thing my aunt made me for Christmas last year.  It's a pin cushion with a bag attached to throw all your scraps into.  Isn't it fun???

And here is a close up of the flower pin cushion part ...

Have a great week!

MJ

Happy Valentine's Day & Dog Biscuits

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Today my Mom and I are taking two 90-year-old ladies (Marie & Jeri) to an ice cream parlor for Valentine's Day! I can't wait to see their faces when their sundaes arrive ... the sundaes at this parlor are HUGE!!!

My friend/co-worker has an adorable little beagle named Roxy. Last Monday, Roxy got really sick ... she couldn't stand (her front legs were not working) and she kept falling over when they would try to stand her up. The vet didn't know what was wrong but gave Roxy a cortisone shot and told my friend to wait two days and then start giving Roxy baby aspirin. He thought it could be a stroke or blood clot. Anyways, things did not look good for Roxy. So that day I decided to make some homemade peanut butter dog biscuits for Roxy (of course, Finn got some too!!). I took them to work and my friend took them home to Roxy and lo and behold ... Roxy is completely better now!!! My friend told me I should market my dog biscuits as "healing biscuits"!! :-) Hooray for Roxy!! So glad she got better.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas to all my blog friends! There has been a lot of stuff going on at Yellow Beach Dog that has prevented me from blogging. I will share with you in the next week or so. I took just a couple pictures of Christmas around my house ... (and please don't forget to click on the picture to get the complete photo):

First up ... this really cool old cardboard store sign from the 40s!

And a picture of one of my three brothers and me on Santa's lap ... circa 1961 ...

And here is Fletcher wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! Doesn't he look thrilled???!!!!

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

It's just the dog days of summer at my home ... lazying the days away!

A 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Well, how fun is this??? I was invited to a 90th birthday party! The birthday girl's name is Marie. She has been a family friend for many years. My mom and I drop by her house every once in a while to visit with her and bring her chocolate ... which she loves! I love going to her house, especially at Christmastime. She has lived in this cute, tiny house for over 45 years and she has all these fun, vintage knick-knacks that I love looking at. Anyways, for her birthday, I got Marie a pretty pink duster. Out of all the 40 guests, I was the only one that got her something like this. Most everyone got her a yard animal, which as you can see in one of the photos below, she loves!! But I think she also really liked the duster!! :-) Please remember to click on the photo for the full size. I still have not figured out why my pictures are always cut off on the right side!

The Birthday Girl

The Gift

Some chocolate (homemade Peanut Butter Balls - yum!)

The food made by her family - it was wonderful!

Some of the yard animals in Marie's yard

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

A SQUIRREL'S LIFE!

I just had to share with you what I saw in one hour's time of sitting in my backyard. First of all, I love feeding birds and squirrels in my yard!! And I usually don't mind when a squirrel eats the bird food; however, as you will see by these photos ... enough is enough!! So without further ado ... this is one hour of a squirrel's life in my yard ...

First off, he is seen eating in his own feeder ... (good boy!) ...

But wait ... there he is eating out of the bird feeder ...

Oh no, here he is eating out of another bird feeder ...

Oh my ... and here he is again eating out of yet another bird feeder ...

Oh finally! This is one feeder he couldn't get to ... see the finches eating?

Last night I was sitting in the family room and my husband points out the window to the squirrel feeder ... guess what was eating out of it? A rat!!! Isn't that just about the most disgusting thing?? I will have to find a way to get rid of that rat because I am NOT going to start feeding rats in my yard!!! LOL

Remember this?

Well, I added two baskets (painted them green) and then just put a couple of rolled up bath towels in the divided part on the bottom - wouldn't this be cute in a bathroom? I could see it full of rolled up green and white polka dotted towels!!!!

Oh, before I go ... a picture of Finn ... he is now almost 4 months old and very active!!! We just bought him a bubble machine at Target today .. he's not sure what to do with the bubbles! :-)

A TRIP TO THE CITY

Remember me???!!! Sorry I have been so invisible but it's called ... HAVING A PUPPY!!! Boy, they really do take up a lot of your time ... but I finally see light at the end of the tunnel ... Finn is now 3 1/2 months old and kind of potty trained. He weighed in at his vet visit yesterday and he is now 32 pounds!!! He's a big boy!

Guess what fun thing I did a couple weeks ago with my son, his friend and my nephew? Well, it involved being in bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to get onto the Bay Bridge ...

Then we finally got onto the bridge ...

See the SF skyline? If you look to your right (have to click on the photo) you can barely make out the Golden Gate Bridge ...

And we ended up here!

And what a great play WICKED is! Loved it! It was playing at the Orpheum Theater ... which was built in the 1920's. Very cool place!

I have also been getting ready for the next opening at the Room. I got this old record cabinet (it was an ugly brown ... forgot to take the before photo) at a local thrift store for just $4. And I have a pretty cool idea of what it can be used for ... wait and see!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME!!!

Did anyone besides Jan at Little Pink Houses guess what my cute and cuddly Mother's Day gift to myself is? I guess not since Jan is the only one that commented ... and she wins! She was right ... I'm adopting ... a brand new 8-week-old Yellow Lab and here he is (with my son):

And now by himself ...

His name is Finn. Isn't he cute? He has so much skin that he needs to grow into ... almost looks like a Sharpei (did I spell that right?)!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

P.S. And here is what Jan has won - something fun from Yankee Candle! I won't be mailing her gift since I will be seeing her next week! :-)

WEEKEND GARAGE SALES

The weather here in Nor Cal was PERFECT this weekend ... perfect for garage saling (is that a word??!!), which is exactly what I did early Saturday morning. I picked up my Mom and Aunt and off we went! And look at what I got for a mere total of $30 ... (don't forget to click on the pics to see the whole photo)

And here is a close up of the monkey jar ...

What do you think this is? Everyone says a cookie jar but it isn't that big. If you had a huge hard, it would get stuck inside while you were getting a cookie. It's a strange jar, to say the least!

After hitting the garage sales, I attended a Ladies Tea at my church. An old friend/co-worker and I went together to the Tea. It was nice. But I didn't take any pics. Sorry!

And I may have a surprise to post about soon!!! I may be getting something new soon ... if anyone can guess what it is, I will send you a fun surprise in the mail! All I will tell you is that is it REALLY, REALLY cute & adorable! And it's my Mother's Day gift to myself!!!!

OATMEAL FUDGE BARS

You definitely need these!!!!

These few easy steps ....

Turns into this ...

YUMMY!!!!

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups quick cook oats

6 oz. chocolate chips

2 Tbsp. butter

1/3 cup condensed milk or cream*

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream together shortening, brown sugar, egg, 1/2

tsp. vanilla; blend in flour, soda, 1/2 tsp. salt and

oats. Reserve one cup of mixture for topping.

Press remainder into greased 9x13 pan.

Combine chocolate chips, butter condensed milk,

1/4 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. vanilla in small saucepan.

Melt together until chips are melted. Spread over

oatmeal layer and sprinkle with reserved oatmeal

mixture. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

*If using cream, only use 1/4 cup cream.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Here's is what we had for breakfast in the Yellow Beach Dog household ...

Green Eggs & Ham ... and Green Milk, of course!

Don't forget to wear green today!

MY FIRST AWARD

Well, isn't this fun? I was awarded my very first blog award (Beautiful Blogger) by Musings of a Sea Witch ... http://musingsofaseawitch.blogspot.com. Thank you very much!

I'm still pretty new to all of this blog stuff so I am not sure I will print everyone's blog address correctly. Okay ... here goes ... I need to list seven facts about me and then also list 13 (way too many ... I'll do as much as I can though) blogs that I like.

1. I have never watched American Idol.

2. I don't like when women talk about their kids constantly or when they are so into their kids' lives, they have nothing to talk about with their own adult friends.

3. At the time I graduated from Business school, I was typing 100 wpm.

4. Even though I was a total tomboy and grew up with three older brothers and lots of male cousins, I have never broken any bones or ever had to get stitches.

5. I am ADDICTED to Chapstick and hand cream. I never the leave the house without those two items. They are more important than my AmerEx card!! LOL

6. I am a germophobic ... which is why I will never lean my head back onto a theater seat or try on a hat in the store and I wash my hands all the time.

7. I do not like any reality tv shows ... I figure life has enough drama already!

Okay ... now for a few of the blogs I enjoy:

http://www.chocolateandmarmaladetea.blogspot.com/

http://pupylov.blogspot.com/

http://thimbleanna.com/

And now I am off to let these three ladies know that I have awarded them the

Beautiful Blogger award.

SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!

Well, it's been a while since I have blogged. I have been so busy with my new venture (renting a space at a local shop), work, planning my son's birthday party (he has invited 25 kids!), etc. Sorry to have neglected you.

It looks like spring is almost here! The weather around my neck of the woods has been really different ... yesterday it was hailing (we don't get much hail) ...

And today it's sunny and things are starting to bloom ...

I was able to go to an Estate Sale before it was opened to the public.

Here's what I picked up ...

Sooner or later I will probably sell one or more of these items in my space.

Have a great week!