Grads, Dads, and Two Really Big Messes

What a glorious day! After all the rain (yes, more rain) last night, it was another sunny and breezy beautiful day! I had a long list of things to accomplish, so I set off early to get everything done.

First off I checked my hanging tomato plant I bought last week from Farmer Mike. He actually thinks this one may last the season (read: I can't kill it). We'll see about that. He has no idea about my special powers.

Yep, there she is! My first red tomato! And what a beauty!

Sweeeeet! And the best part is I got to it before those pesky squirrels!




Next Up: recycling, and Mess #1. I took the three dead potted plants from my front walk to get rid of them. I briefly thought I should dump the dirt out into my 2x2 garden in the back yard, but then changed my mind. I took plastic grocery bags, put them on the car seat, and put the three pots on top of them.

When I got to the recycle station and dumped the pots, I realized there was lovely, black dirt in them, including worms! And since we have mostly clay around here, good black dirt is a coveted commodity. So I changed my mind, grabbed the pots, put them into the plastic bags, and started to scoop up the wet, black dirt with my hands and put it back into the pots. I got most of it, including the worms, put the bagged pots onto the seat of the car, and headed on to my next stop: Chloe's, to drop off some more cards.

As I was leaving the recycle station, the bags of dirt had the audacity to tip over. AAAAAAAUGH! Just look at this mess! Ugh.

But I showed them! I belatedly tied up the bags so nothing else would spill. So not only were my hands caked in mud, including under my nails, but now my jeans and my car were muddy, too. And I had not even had coffee yet!!!

I got to Chloe's, washed my hands, dropped off the cards, and thought to take a pic of my box (that's it nestled onto the second shelf). Then I got a coffee and cheese danish. I think I'd earned it by then!

And just to show you there is no end to sources for inspiration, check out this bag the danish was in. The wheels are turning already!






Then I remembered I hadn't processed my veggies from yesterday's market. As usual, I buy veggies when they speak to me, and much like paper, I am weak, so I buy.

Here's my yummy loot. I made ratatouille and I also cooked up some rhubarb & strawberries. M-m-m, that's good eats. The ratatouille is already gone. :-) The basil may become pesto, maybe even tonight!

On to the really, really big mess. I bring you Mess #2:

Yes, this is my lot in life. And lest you think this mess is limited to the table top, you are so very wrong.

Here's the floor surrounding my stampin' chair. Sigh. Please remember that part of my reason for being is to serve as an example to others, and to make you feel better about your own stampin' space just by seeing how bad it can really get.




Now that I have gotten past all that, let's move on to the Grads portion of our show.

Here is a Gift Card/Money-holder I CASEd from this one on SCS. I used some retired Wild Wasabi textured card stock for the bases, and since I love the contrast, I used black behind the sentiment and for the striped ribbon on the belly band. I really like how they came out!

Here's the inside.

And these fit into the small envelopes, so they are mailable. Yay!

Here is a more 'me' version of the Duck Grad In Car. Hey, I had one left, already stamped, so I had to use it!!! In hindsight, I think I should have made his car red, to go with the whole MD color scheme. Oh, well.

Then I played with ... more ducks. I had thought this one would work, but after I got to this point, I actually decided to give it up. This one will just never happen, I am afraid.

And finally, the Dad part of this post. This is not my best work, but I made two of them, and I have about 8 more shirts in different papers to use this week. I am sure I'll think of something a little more layered or be-ribboned. :-)

Not bad for an afternoon. I think I'll go fold some towels and maybe clean something. Or not.

Thanks for stopping by!