I'm all happy about flowers and yarn bowls!

OK peeps, remember a few posts back when I was all happy like?  I decided to do 100 days of happy! Well it's working! 

 I'm looking for happy stuff.

I'm not even upset that we are getting 4-10 more inches of snow.

And not that I HAVE to buy something to be happy.  But when I was getting groceries yesterday, I found these flowers on sale, 

Manager's special, $4.99!!!

They were so pretty I got a bouquet for my Mom too!

 There were enough flowers to fill four vases.

 I

 can't

 stop

 taking

 pics

 of

 these

 spring-like

Flowers!  

But stop I must, because I need to show you some

YARN BOWLS!!!

Last Tuesday we painted these yarn bowls and really had no idea how they would turn out.

 

 Well, they are lovely, don't you think?

This is how they work.

 Oh...here's the inside of it. 

 I am making my Shug a brown scarf.

 He asked me to make him a brown scarf

 to match his brown coat.

 Which I find odd....

 because when I came home with this picture...that I painted...

he informed me that he does not like brown.  (ahem....he also asked me why I painted a coffee cup with holes in it!  For real.)

So....did I tell you we are in the midst of another snow storm?  I did...well guess what.....I'm ok with it.  I really am.

Oh...and I updated the  house blog!

Cindy Bee
 

Preparing for winter

I got a comment from Fi the other day saying she wanted some of the old Christmas lights.

I was thinking Fi, you could knit some like I did! Then you don't have to worry about the old wiring. I have the pattern...somewhere...

After I was inspired (see last post) early Sunday morning, I realized I only had a few hours to finish a project for my sister. She bought a couple of hand made gifts from me for Christmas presents, and I had yet to finish them. So Dixie,

And Winston,

and I relaxed by the fire and I started knitting. It felt so good to knit again. aaahhhhhh

And I got the projects finished in time. A scarf for a young girl and a matching scarf for her American Girl doll. I also crocheted a couple of flowers for these little felt bags. All gifts for people on her gift list. She is giving everything local made or hand made this year. Sunday afternoon we went to her daughter's dance recital. Then to Barnes & Noble bookstore to peruse the magazines. I'm so addicted. Anyway, Sunday was a relaxing day, but...

So much for relaxing....Today I was talking to a friend on the phone and as I was doing some housework, making the bed, I gasped right in the middle of the conversation.

Is this fuzz or mouse poo?!?! Lordy people... I couldn't tell. I got a tissue and picked it up and threw it in the toilet. Then I stripped the bed immediately, put the sheets in the wash, and tonight I had My Shug help me take the mattress off the bed. Lest any creature be in my mattress. If he's there, he wasn't stirring....(get it - tee hee - not a creature was stirring not even a mouse!) Ok, not funny. I'm drinking wine so excuse please. I'm hoping the wine will help me sleep tonight.

Anyway, today was a beautiful day, in the 40's, with sunshine. But remember the storm I told you about that we had the other day? We not only lost power, but we lost a few trees in that storm.

And one of them fell in my bee yard. My Shug and I spent a couple of hours on Friday night cutting them up and stacking them for wood.

And as you can see, the end of the tree landed on this hive. I was not happy.

You see, bees cluster in the winter to stay warm. If that cluster is broken, they will freeze to death. Well, I still had hope for them since it was the end of the tree, but....when I went back in a couple of days, the top was off the hive. Now, every single one of my hives have bricks on top of them to discourage animals from opening the hive. All of them, except this one. Why? Why wasn't I thinking? Because when I went back, the top was completely off of this hive and on the ground. I don't know if it had been that way for an hour or a day, but since today was nice out, I decided to do final preps for winter and check this hive.

Dead. And from the looks of things...I can't tell if they froze to death or starved to death. There was a lot of honey in the super above this cluster. I don't know....I just know they are dead. So sad.

Now, this is a candy board. I don't make these, I order these from another beekeeper friend for $27.50 each.

I bought four of them because I have four hives that do not quite have enough honey to get them through the winter. These boards go on the inside top of the hive. When the bees have eaten all of the honey all the way to the top of the hive, throughout the winter,

they will start in on the candy board.

I hate opening their hives this time of year, because it breaks the seal they made to keep their hives from getting cold air in them. So I re-seal the hives with shrink wrap.

Here is a close up view. The plain wood is the candy board. It doesn't look like it in the picture, but that top lid is over the inner cover and it's all wrapped clear up underneath that top cover.

So they should be nice and warm, and hopefully they'll have plenty of room. The only thing left to do is relax by the fire, and knit, or crochet, and wait for spring.

Cindy Bee

Honey, Granny Bee, Mats!

Guess what I've been up to.....

Yup...it's honey. To see a post I did last year on how I process it, click on this.

And guess who I got a visit from the other day?

The Granny Bee!!! Along with the tree, she threw in some of those little lights for the tree.

Thank you Beth.

And remember I told you RJ and I met janis from Just Breathe Janis the other day? Well, after coffee with janis, we met my Sister for lunch.

And I had been making my sister some "mats" for her birthday.

You see, my Sister has a friend who is from England, or some such place, and they don't say rugs or coasters...they say mats. Or at least she does...this person from England. So we've decided to call them mats too. I made a mat out of variegated yarn, large enough for a pitcher...so I suppose it would be a pitcher mat. And then I made smaller mats for her glasses. I didn't get them all finished by her birthday and I had the last one in my purse. When we were having coffee, I pulled it out of my purse. And when I did, RJ was laughing at it...wasn't she Janis?"....tell the truth....she was making fun of it. And I said, "you can make fun of it all you want, my sister will use it."

And when we met my sister for lunch, I gave it to her, and she set it right under her drink! So ppphhhbbbbtttttt....RJ!

And btw, they make nice, quick, easy gifts...little beer, wine, iced tea, soda mats. I think I shall make a whole stack of them! I knitted the mat and crocheted the edge.

Oh yes, and now I think I shall start calling shopping carts..trollys...it appears that's what the English do. Gasp! I just realized, we're learning a new language!

Cindy Bee

Pets and Hats!

I received a phone call yesterday from someone I know who is on vacation in Florida. Without going into detail, she asked me if I would go to our local Animal Shelter. I went.

For some reason this week, animals, shelters, and pets have been coming at me from everywhere.

• The dog in the paper that didn't work out
• The phone call for the unplanned trip to the shelter
• The city farmgirl, Rebekah Teal, just recently tried to foster an animal from a local shelter. She actually had a good idea, but it just didn't work out. (my link won't work but her blog is listed to the right, check out A Mark on my Heart)

Maybe the reason is just to write this post, to encourage you to get your next pet from the shelter.

Just look at these faces.

Unfortunately, those are not even half of the pets in one building.

Now for my Christmas post.....I'm getting my nieces this weekend. This pic is five years ago, when I learned to knit! hehe

Merry Christmas,

Cindy