Orange Hummingbirds

Do you see that little guy? He seems harmless. even cute. We have 2 of them. And they are fighting with all of the other hummingbirds. They beat up on them.

Yesterday morning, I literally had to stand outside and watch the birds. These 2 orange birds were following me around. I was trying to water our trees. We have pinon and pine trees. These birds were falling me around. Like if they were ready to attack.

But they beat up on the other hummingbirds. Even the big ones. I feel so bad for the little babies. They try so hard to eat. But these big orange guys, they keep beating up on all of the other birds. So I googled them. And I found this article. Doesn't give me much hope. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Coffee Table Topper

Another lovely doily from Free Crochet. This is today's free pattern. And I really like it. I have a soft spot in my heart for doilies. And for the pineapple stitch. This is definitely going on my to-make list.

Now I just need to get to Hobby Lobby. I want to make this for my living room coffee table. I really like the pineapple stitch. And this looks like such a great pattern.

I've gotten a few messages about doilies. They're not hard to make. Working with the small crochet needles and thread isn't too bad. You just have to worry about your tension. Your stitches have to be pretty uniform. But it's not hard. Then you can always block your doily when you finish.

Our Garden

It's suffering something bad. My daughter brought me some seedlings that she had started. When she planted them, we immediately had some issues. The black ants started eating my plants. Then the heat was just killing everything.

But more recently, it's been the crazy rain that we've had. Yes, the kind that comes down in buckets. But I'm still trying. Trying to save some of my plants. The watermelon and tomatoes seem to be doing the best. I'm pretty sure the pumpkin and the squash are dead. But I keep watering them. You just never know...

Do you have a garden? How is it doing? I hope better than mine. We just seem to be having such a tough year. Weather wise and insect wise. I hope that we can get some vegetables. We had cherries in June. And we had to beat the birds and ants to those too. The were so sweet and delicious.

How Much?

The last time I opened up a bag of sugar, I decided to keep track of it. I just can't believe how much these hummingbirds are eating. Or how many birds we have! There are so many of them. Over 20 that I know of.

We went through a 5lb bag of sugar in less than 2 weeks. Yes, that's how often I have to fill the hummingbird feeders. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. But it's been a lot. Some days, I fill up both of my feeders. Yes, 2 feeders a day!

I recently bought 10lbs of sugar. We don't even use sugar in our house. But for the hummingbirds, we do. But it's nice to get up in the morning and see all the hummingbirds eating. Recently, we've noticed that at least 5 birds will feed at the same time. It's amazing to watch.

Baby Sacque and Cap

I really do like this Baby Sacque and Cap. I've been thinking a lot about winter time crafts. And stuff I can make for our annual Craft Fair. This is going to be something I add to my to-do list. It also helps that it's a free pattern from Free Crochet. :)

Yarn Sale

About 2 weeks ago, I went to Wal-Mart. To pick up a birthday present and a few groceries. Like always, I look at the craft section. We're the only store in town that still sells fabric and such. I noticed a large bin of clearance yarn. So I picked up a few skeins.

Then a week or so ago, I called my daughter. And we were talking about the yarn. I had to agree that it was a good price. And she asked me to pick her up some if I went back. Tuesday, I went. And I picked up a lot of yarn! It was the baby Bernat yarn. And it was almost 50% off.

This is obviously a good thing. It's great to find a good deal. But it is also bad. I can just assume that Wal-Mart is not going to sell this yarn any more. I'm really hoping that our Wal-Mart doesn't close the craft department soon. From what I've heard, this is how it starts...

But now, I've got some nice colors of yarn. And I got it at a great deal. My daughter and I will start working on some projects for our Annual Craft Fair. We do it every year. It's at our church before Christmas. But I'm still a little worried about our craft department.

How Much Do They Eat?

I'm wondering just how much hummingbirds eat. I started this Spring with 1 feeder. And maybe 4 hummingbirds. I was refilling it maybe every 4 days or so.

Now we're up to 2 feeders, about 12 hummingbirds, and me filling both feeders every other day! Yes, that often. I have a 3rd feeder, but I'm wondering if maybe I'm feeding them too much. I'm just not sure. And I can't find any real concrete information.

I just refilled both feeders. And there is 1 hummingbird not letting the others get to the feeders. A typical day. But I'm just worried that I'm overfeeding the hummingbirds. And I don't want to do that. I just want our hummingbirds to be healthy.

Helmet and Mitts

I saw this pattern and it just made me smile! It reminds me of something I made my son when he was a baby. Another great pattern from Crochet Soiree. I'm printing it off. And I'm definitely going to make a set or 2. Either for gifts or for our annual Craft Sale. I just can't get over how cute the little hat is.

Starlight Doily

A while back, my daughter sent me a link to Crochet Soiree. I just hadn't had time to look at it. Until today. And it is a nice website. They sell lots of crochet patterns and materials. There is also a nice blog. And some free patterns. You just need to download them right away. Most are only free for a week or so. But I did find this one...



You can get the Starlight Doily pattern for free right now. I really like the look of it. And I'm printing it out as I type this. The Starlight Doily is definitely going to be on my "To-Make" list. But I'll definitely be going to this website many times in the future.

Hungry

Over our fun weekend, my husband and I made a quick stop at a Wal-Mart. Just to pick up a few things. And I seen one of those cooking magazines with all the recipes in it. Those little mini ones. I had seen it a few times. And I kept wanting to buy it. Because I knew my daughter could make us the dessert on the front cover. It looks amazing. And in case I haven't said it before, she's a great cook and baker!

On Saturday, I finally bought the magazine. And early this week, I was talking to my daughter. I was also going through the magazine. Telling her all about the recipes. Making us both hungry. Now, I'm sitting at my desk. Trying to work. And all I can think about are the tasty recipes.

I wish I could tell you the name of the magazine. But I'm at work. And it's at home. But I can still see those amazing pictures right now. And they're making me hungry! I wonder when my daughter is coming to visit again...

A Fun Evening

Yesterday I had a class to go to. It was in the afternoon, for just a few hours. It was for my certification, for our business. So my husband drove me. It was about 30 minutes out of town. I probably should have looked over the books or studied a little. But I didn't. The good news, I past my exam. With only missing 1 question. It felt good.

After, my husband suggested that we go to the Casino for dinner. It was on our way home. We went. And dinner was really good. We finished dinner by 6:30pm and decided to play the machines for a while. Which is always fun. My husband and I don't gamble a lot. Don't laugh, but we like to play the penny machines.

But it was so cold in there! Around 8pm we decided to go outside to warm up. Actually, we thought about going home. Instead, we warmed up and headed back inside. And we played for a few more hours. We won. Not a whole lot. But it was nice to win something.

We got home right before 10pm. Our son was worried. A little panicked to be honest. He called our daughter, who had no idea where we were. But she wasn't in a panic like our son. I think a lot of that had to do with my husband forgetting his cell phone at home.

But we did have a nice night out. Something that is usually out of the ordinary for my husband and I. But over the last month or so, we've really begun to enjoy life a little. And I did enjoy my late night chat with my daughter. I know it was after midnight for her.

Wonderful Weekend

My husband had a really nice weekend. It started out on Saturday morning. With a "Family Breakfast." My husband's sons put it together. It was the 4 of them, 2 of their wives, and a few of their kids. But it was enjoyable. And I really liked seeing my husband so happy.

I enjoyed talking to our daughter in law. She always has interesting things to talk about. And she was telling me about our new granddaughter. Our grandson and his girlfriend are expecting a little girl later this year. And I also enjoyed talking with my granddaughter. We don't see her a whole lot. But she is almost 2. And is really starting to become talkative.

Right after breakfast, we head north. For a 3 hour drive. We were going to a birthday party. For our niece's step son. And it was a beautiful drive. Everything was so green and beautiful! I seen these light-lime green Hollyhocks. I really wanted to stop and pick some of the seeds. I planned on doing it on the way home, but I forgot. And now I'm really sad about that. Hollyhocks are some of my favorite flowers.

But when we got to my niece's home, it was such a beautiful place. We'd never been there before. When she got married almost 3 years ago, we were going. We had reserved a hotel room and everything. But she got sick, and her and her husband just had a small wedding. No one was invited.

I'm very glad that we went this time. Their home is beautiful. Nothing fancy, but very welcoming. And their property is amazing. They live out in the forest. And the stream goes through their property. It was a really nice place. With tons of gorgeous roses.

They wanted us to stay the night. But my husband and I decided to head back. Really, we were hoping to stop by the casino. The one that our daughter went with us to last month. We headed back south. It was about a 90 minute drive.

We had a nice evening. Both my husband and I won. Before we knew it, it was after midnight. Way past our bedtimes! We are usually in bed pretty early, 10pm or so. Because we have to be up early for our business. Now we needed to find a place to stay.

We drove south. Our capital city is about 30 minutes from where we were. We were about halfway there, when we got stopped in a DWI checkpoint. It took almost 90 minutes to get through. We weren't stopped. But there were so many cars there. Just outside of that, the Opera had gotten out. Another traffic jam.

At nearly 3am, we were finally in our hotel room. Completely exhausted! We slept for a few hours, then got up and got ready. And our hotel had a nice breakfast. We had breakfast, and went back to our room. To take a nap. We really didn't get a whole lot of sleep that day.

By 10am, we were on the road again. My daughter had told us about a fiesta that was going on. Again, we went north, but in a slightly different direction. This time, the drive wasn't as long. And the fiesta was nice. It was different from what we're used to. But we had a nice time.

Sunday was a pretty hot day. So we were very happy that the park we were at was under a lot of trees. The music was really good. And we had some delicious burgers. I had a tortilla burger. But the chili was so hot!

Because we were in a small town, I decided to look around some of the shops. Boy were they expensive places! They claimed to be antique shops, but most sold things from about 5-10 years ago. I seen some Avon broaches, selling for $40! And some pretty ugly dolls for $100. I didn't buy anything. I did see a hat from the 40s that I really liked, but it was almost $90.

That was our weekend. We got home on Sunday night around 9pm. We were beat tired! We just took our overnight bag down, and I went to bed. I didn't even hear all the fireworks that were going on in our neighborhood. But my husband said there were a lot of them. We had a really nice weekend. Something that we definitely needed. And so did my daughter.

Retro Dishclothes

I seen these dishclothes and I'm really liking them. I think it's the trim to be honest. But they're really cute. And I want to make some. The pattern is free, from Lion Brand. You can quickly make a set of these. And that's just what I'm going to do. Make myself some. As soon as I pick up some cotton yarn.

Boston Med and My Favorite 2 Doctors

Last night's episode of Boston Med reminded me so much of my daughter and one of her good friends Dr. L. My daughter is going to school to become a doctor. A pediatrician. She loves working with the kids. From time to time, she can get a little too attached to her patients. But how can you not? These are sick kids.

Dr. L and my daughter grew up together. They dated for a few years as teens. And then went to college. Driven young adults. Both in the medical field. Dr. L went to Harvard. His parents are good friends of ours.

But those doctors reminded me so much of these 2. Driven, focused, and successful. But never forgetting the human element. You know, some doctors forget that patients are people, with loved ones. Not these 2. They're amazing!

My daughter actually makes her patients amigurumi toys. Each one gets a little toy. And Dr. L, is so talented. A neurosurgeon. I still can't believe these 2 are grown up. I remember Dr. L playing baseball in little league. My own daughter sitting in the stands, playing with her baby dolls and eating pop rings.

Now these 2 adults are saving lives. Helping to heal the sick. And making their lives better. I still get all choked up when I see them in their white coats. I'm so proud!