Back Again!

It's been a very busy month!  We've had a lot going on at work, and by the time I get home, it's tough to find a brain cell that hasn't fainted from exhaustion.  Both my daughter and my granddaughter had their birthdays this month, and present-shopping can be challenging!  My granddaughter is now six, and we try to restrain ourselves from going overboard on birthday and Christmas gifts - we do quite a few "no special reason" gifts during the year, though, so I'm sure she doesn't feel deprived!  What she really wants, though, are...

TATTING SHUTTLES!  Pink shuttles -- blue shuttles -- all for her very own.  And I, doting grandma that I am, have prepared - I have quite a few shuttles waiting for her!

 

However...because they have pointy ends, and because she's still in that slightly klutzy childhood stage (I'm hoping to grow out of mine soon), her parents (neither of whom can tat) have decreed that the pretty shuttles and thread must wait for her to "grow up a little more."  So...the pretty shuttles are waiting for her, as is the sewing box I got for her to keep them in.

The Sound of Silence! (Not Quite...)

I heard birdsong this morning - - just birdsong without the accompaniment of "the phaser on overload."  Yep, the cicadas are done until 2024!  The birds have enjoyed them immensely as have the lizards (which DH calls skinks - don't know if there's a difference, or if it's just another name for the same critter..).  Doesn't really matter -- the cicadas have gone for a long while!

In the meantime, if anyone wants something to remember them by, check out The Two Old Bags & Beaded Palm Studio - they have earrings made from cicada wings!  This is their Facebook page - unfortunately, their website (and even their email account) got hacked, so the best way to reach them at this time is Facebook. 

DEAL OF THE WEEK:  Check out this Stanley 19" toolbox, found on clearance at Lowe's, for $5.59!  It only comes in black with yellow trim, but you can always decorate it if you want to!  It has a removable carry-around tray, and the bottom is deep.  I have several of the 5-compartment plastic utility boxes in two different sizes, and four will stack with room to spare.  I also have several of the plastic school boxes (about the size of a cardboard cigar box) purchased at Big Lots for 88 cents), and three will fit, slid in sideways (hinge on the school box on the bottom of the Stanley box).  And there's still more room!  The yellow lids on the box lid flip up to reveal a double compartment - each will hold one of the small Whitman's tins!  I've put lots of odds & ends into it and as I run across stray shuttles, I'll add them to the collection. 

I had a wonderful salad for supper this evening, and I'm thinking that I hear a donut calling my name from the kitchen.  Yes, I know it's at the other end of the house, but donut song travels far!  Our DD dropped in this morning bearing a dozen from the new donut shop here in Greenwood, and there are plenty left.  Maybe...a donut for breakfast as well?!