Suet Feeders Made out of Tree Limbs

I like the rustic look of this suet feeder I made this week and listed some in my etsy shop. Today I'm going to make some homemade suet. I've never made it before and will be rendering beef suet...thinking to myself how hard can it be. 
I use to feed the birds but one winter some critter filled the carburetor on hubby's bike with safflower seeds.  I thought the man was going to kill me. 
So I'm thinking suet cakes should be okay.  We have a lot of chickadees and I always feel bad for them when it's so dang cold up here in Minnesota. 
If the suet turns out I'll post about it.

Clearance and Garage Sales

I'm still busy creating for my upcoming boutique. 

I picked up some flowers on clearance from JoAnn's and

have been having some fun with them.

Garden Flower Girl

Flower Pin

I just love these colors together. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

I scored this cool bedspread at a garage sale and made some cute snowmen & snowgirls.

Off to Caribou Coffee to get my free birthday drink....lalalala!

Yummy Zucchini Cookies Recipe

Don't have a clue what to do with all that zucchini?  Well here is recipe that has chocolate chips, nuts and powdered sugar.  I got the recipe from a neighbor when she gave me some zucchini and I asked her what I was suppose to do with it.  Yeah everybody gets that look when you say zucchini cookies but you can't taste the zucchini.  I made a batch last and was pleasantly surprized to see the container still full when I came home.

Zucchini Cookies         

3/4 cup butter                     2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup sugar                   1 tsp cinnamon

1 egg                                  1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla                         1 cup nuts

1 1/2 cup grated zucchini     1 cup chocolate chips

2 1/2 cups flour

Bake 350 for 15 minutes Sprinkle with powdered sugar

makes 4 to 5 dozen

I throw the first five ingredients in my mixer until creamy.  Then add the next four and add the nuts and chocolate chips last.  I use more chocolate chips then called for...I like chocolate what can I say.  I used pecans because that's what I had on hand.  Walnuts are my favorite.  I also add some fresh grated nutmeg too.  

                                                

The Brat Boys

The brat boys are getting along today.  Usually two of them gang up on the other one and have a tag team thing going on.  It is never the same one getting picked on either.  The brats must wake up in the morning and have a conference to decide which one will get the wrath of the other two.  This can go on for hours and is down right nasty.  They must be pissed at me today cuz' one of em puked all over my shoe.  I mean... really!

Little Miss

Miss Bella had a bath and a shave today.  Here she is lounging in the backyard after the traumatic event.
The girl is so patient when she gets clipped.  I groom her and let me tell ya her hair is a nightmare to clip.  It goes every which way and  I have to free hand it because the guide won't go thru it.  She usually has several  matted areas (they seem to appear overnight) with grass or twigs in them.  But mainly she is just covered in Brutus spit. eeewww!  you know the crunchy hair syndrome.  Well she's clean for a couple of hours anyway.

Getting Ready For My Christmas Boutique

I haven't had a Christmas Boutique for a couple of years.  I was to the point where I couldn't paint one more santa.  But after a much needed break and several people asking if I'm having it this year I'm going for it.

Here's some of what I'm making

 

Pot Holder Repurposed From Wool Sweaters

 

Little Pouches Repurposed From Wool Sweaters

Gift Card Holders From Felt and Wool Sweaters

Crayon Rolls

I haven't had to buy supplies yet other than the wool sweaters (I got them at a church sale for a buck a bag).  I use to make cigar box purses and have a lot of fabric, ribbon and embellishments on hand.

I was at Jo Ann's yesterday just browsing and ran across buttons on clearance.  Buttons are like beads to me...I can never have enough.  A lot them were 10 and 25 cents.  Yippee!

20 Paws and 2 Bird Feet Part 3

Billy Bob the Parrot.  He is a Sun Conure which happens to be one of the loudest in the conure family.  Oh man can he scream.  His scream is the same pitch over and over and sends me right over the edge.  I sometimes tell him I want to scream too but I don't do I?  I'm his mate and if I give my attention to any living thing besides him that will set him off.  He has better hearing then the dogs or cats and lets us know when someone has pulled into the driveway.  He loves drama and includes himself all the time.  So you can't yell shut up Billy Bob cuz' he loves it and screams some more.
He loves to shower so much so that I call him my duck and even quacks like a duck sometimes.
I built a perch out of PVC pipe so he showers with me.

Fresh out of of the shower.

 

When he gets startled he bites so that beak of his can be deadly.  He got me a good one a couple of weeks ago bit  my thumb and finger I swear it went right to the bone and bled forever.  He can be sweet too.  He loves to cuddle and when I put him in his night cage he makes this cute grunting noise.  He has a night cage because the brat boys like to lay on top of his cage.   I've even gotten up to one of them inside his cage.  I can't sleep with the cats (they are bed HOGS)  so why should he sleep with them on top of him.  

I call him my cannibal because his favorite foods are eggs and chicken. 

There you have it 20 paws and 2 bird feet.

Poor hubby...he once said to me if I had known you wanted a farm...my answer I don't want chickens and cows.  I'm no longer allowed to go to the pet store...

20 Paws and 2 Bird Feet Part 2

We have a manly dog Brutus aka Brut. He'a a purebred Black German Shepherd. I love shepherds! He is my gentle giant and weighs in at 140 pounds. I don't know but for some reason when big dogs adopt us they get huge. He's parents weigh 90 pounds each. Our black lab (R.I.P. Mo-Monster) weighed 160 pounds. What the hell? Brutus is a Brut and pushes his way thru life. Shepherds like to touch and lean and cut you off so they can get to where you are going first even though they don't know where you are going.

He is such a happy boy!

The Big Guy!

My favorite picture when he was a puppy look at those eyes.

Yeah I know his paws were huge.  He would trip over them all the time.

Cuteness!

Just looking at these pictures I can smell that puppy smell.

The big guy is 6 years old now and just starting to get grey hairs on his chin...makes me sad.

Next up Isabella aka Miss Bella or Little Miss or Bells she was supposed to be my little girly girl dog ha ha fat chance with Brutus as her mentor.  For some reason she always seems to be in his mouth.

Oh by the way she is a Llasa Poo.

Where ever he is she is.

It's really hard to get pictures of them alone.

They love to go riding with daddy in this

So we had to make the little girl a coat to go riding

She's so funny when it comes to treats she won't take one unless Brutus gets one first.  I've even tried sneaking them to her...not happening.  The girl can move she flies thru the yard doing about 90 mph and when she jumps off the deck she clears eight feet of rock.  She's a digger and when I groom I never know what i'll find in her fur.  She's clean for as long as it takes her fur to dry.

To be continued...

Up next that damn obnoxious conure Billy Bob

20 Paws and 2 Bird Feet Part 1

Twenty paws attached to twenty legs which are attached to five furry hairy bodies makes for a lot of...well...poop!
Twelve paws are attached to cat bodies and the other eight paws are attached to dog bodies.

The cats are as follows; Spanky aka Dudes he got his name because he was such a stinker when his was a kitten and he needed spankings (of course I didn't spank him).  He is one crabby cat and loves to hang on the chair.

Ozzie aka The Crossed Eyed Wonder. I rescued him and he is my little sweety.  I call him my sick kitty because if you aren't feeling well he will lay with you until you are better.  It can be a problem sometimes because he likes to lay where ever it hurts.  He loves to tell me loudly when the dishes are empty even though he isn't hungry.

And then there is Kujo aka Kuj the Muj.  Kujo is quite full of himself he has a lot of self confidence and really doesn't care about much besides food and a comfy place to sleep.

 

 

  

Oh yeah he is laying by the fireplace 

Crazy Cat!

The Brat Boys

Life with cats...nothing is yours because everything is theirs.

My sister sent me this I thought is was hilarious

I could see my cats doing this.

To be continued...