June 2007-Summer As It Is Meant to Be!

The month of June has been wonderful. We have enjoyed family and been EATING and EATING. From the Pig Roast to the daily meals that Cat and Joe dream up, it has been an epicurian delight.

Catie had a Kool Aid stand with 2 of her friends and made $19.02 in 4 hours. Joey and Mike-O went on her field trip to Michigan Adventure and had a great time. The kids have had a ball on the trampoline and the pool is up and running. Sidewalk Chalk and Bubbles have provided afternoon entertainment.

The pool is up and running, FINALLY. It took what seemed like a million dollars in chemicals and hours of sucking the leaves out of the bottom, but the kids are enjoying it now.

We had the experience of having SEVEN puppies, which have all found homes (Thank God)except for Minnie, who is waiting here for Laura, Alexis and Daniel to pick up. Within 24 hours, by word of mouth, all the pups were GONE!

Deb and I are knitting and trips to the yarn shop are frequent. Depending on how my hand holds out, I may have an afghan to cuddle up with. Either way the yarn shop trips are fun.

We taught Tate how to eat corn on the cob. (Daniel was an expert and his eyes lit up at the sight of it.) Joe and Daniel cuddled up on the hammock with the 2 chihuahuas to sleep off last Sunday's dinner. So from Cat's cupcakes and cookies to Joe's pig roast and daily grill, June has been one delicious month.

The Paul Doll

I saw a TV news show that showed women making Daddy Dolls for children of deployed servicemen. They gave the toddlers the dolls after their fathers left and each of them were delighted. I decided to make one for Tate.

Well, not such a successful project. Tate first saw it and said "Da Da!" then he went back to watching TV, occasionally looking at the doll like he wasn't quite sure this was right. My boys decided it was downright "creepy" to have Paul in miniature, sitting on the chair in the dining room.

Cat cracks up laughing every time she looks at it. OK, that is one expensive project that was a bust. I think I will stick to Scrapbooking.

My Little JUNK FAIRY!

When we moved to Charlotte, we met Bernice. She was a very colorful part of the town and there was no one in Charlotte who didn't know her. Bernice was an elderly woman who wore a coat 365 days a year while combing the town for.....JUNK! She collected cans to return for cash and was often seen picking through the trash. If you stopped to talk to her (and Joey often did) she would tell you she had been "working hard lately" and sometimes said she had "worked overtime".

When Cat went to high school she began wearing some really interesting outfits. We began calling her "Bernice", but it didn't deter her. She was often seen wearing her Dad's old cashmere overcoat with a skirt made of blue gauze material from a re-sale shop with a colorful scarf tied in her hair. She became addicted to JUNK!

Karen always used to laugh and say, "My sister can go through a pile of junk, whip together an outfit and look like a million bucks every time."

Well, yesterday Cat found her own version of HEAVEN! We went to lunch and decided to tour the shops of Eaton Rapids. She was enjoying herself and then she found her store...THE JUNK FAIRY. We stepped inside and found a narrow path among the piles of objects that ranged from interesting antiques to downright JUNK!!!

Cat wound her way through the 3 rooms and 2 cubby holes and began to giggle. She looked at me and said "I feel my Inner Bernice coming out!"

She was piling up JUNK with a grin on her face. It was all priced under $1 and she was finding things like 30 year old Pyrex bowls, cake pans, a necklace and her treasure of the day....a metal star cookie cutter! Her grand total of expense was about $8 and she had 3 bags of treasures. I HAD TO DRAG HER OUT!

So if Cat is missing, she is probably in the land of perpetual Garage Sale!