Shop Hop

I don't think I shared this with you all.  

On Thursday, my daughter called me at work and needed a favor.  

She has a barn cam in her barn and noticed that some of the bigger birds had knocked over the heat lamp and she was worried the straw could catch fire and burn her barn down.  

Would I please drive over to her house and turn off the lamp?  

This was around 11:30 in the morning and I was halfway into a CrAzY busy day at work. 

 Her work would not allow her to take the hour it would take to do this.  

Sheesh!  

So I took her car (I don't drive to work, I take the bus) and drove the 30 minutes over to her house.  

I turned off the lamp and this burning spot was in the barn! 

 I poured some water over it so the embers would not catch fire.  

Crisis averted.  

Drove the 30 minutes back and continued my work day.

My SIL and I went on a shop hop on Friday.  

We had so much fun!  I don't think I took any pictures of my loot but 

I did manage this selfie of the two of us!

This was the final shop we stopped at near Battle Creek.  

It was called Sew Unique Threads.  

My SIL and I are taking a Fiber Works class together and need some florals 

(I don't have much in my stash).  

I was really hoping that one of the many shops we stopped at would have some Kaffe florals.  

This last shop had TONS of Kaffe!!  

It was a very nice shop and the woman working there was so nice to us.  

There was a fair amount of Tula fabric too.  

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning on Saturday and

 being entertained by these two goofballs.  

I needed a break and to be able to clean for a bit without "help", 

so I put the boys outside in their tent.  

Hallie wandered over to say hello while I was outside.

The garden was FULL of peppers and some tomatoes.

Perfect for making and canning 10 pints of salsa!  I did this on Sunday.

How was your weekend?

What did you do?

~XOP~

The Front Garden

I can NOT believe how busy my weekend ended up being. Who plans these things?  

The upcoming week is no better.  WAY too many social engagements.  

On Saturday I got up and did some major clean up.  

The house was a disaster as hubby has been very ill. 

 So he makes food for himself and just leaves everything, which I get, but it was killing me.  

Saturday is typically the day I do work around the house/yard so I can sew on Sunday. 

 I decided that afternoon would be the day I tackled the front garden.  

No more putting it off.  UGH. 

 It will be so nice once I get it done but it was a crap tom of work and 

I am about half way or less done!!!

You probably remember the bushes getting pulled out on Mother's Day.  

Well, since my husband decided that we needed to change the shape of the front garden, 

that meant a lot more garden. 

 Which meant all that Hell grass needed to be taken out! 

 For anyone that doesn't know, Hell grass is this thick grass that is very invasive. 

 For the yard this is great.  

No weeds grow through it, for the garden?  Not so much! 

 My husband though he would just spray it with Roundup and it would die. 

 Not the Hell grass.  

Oh it *looks* like it is dead but don't buy it!  

It also is the first to turn brown in the fall and last to green up in the spring.  

So I put on my gardening boots and started digging it up with a shovel.  

I just threw it on the lawn. 

 Here is my pile of Hell grass.  

I had to load it up in the wagon and dump it in the back yard.  That stuff is heavy!

So here you can see the 2 blueberry bushes are planted, the Peony bush is planted, the third blueberry bush was transplanted and I moved a rose bush. 

 I transplanted some cone flowers and Hosta and laid down some week barrier 

(which I need more of). 

 I still need to plant the vegetables in this garden and my Foxglove 

(which I would love to have more of too).  

I need to transplant another Peony from the back yard to the front but 

I need it to finish blooming first. 

 Then everything needs to be covered with woodchips. 

 Oh yes the green blob on the left still needs to be dug up, Hosta removed, and grass, t

hen some of that can be replanted.

While I was weighting the weed barrier down with rocks this 

giant-ass spider came creeping out of the stones.  

NOPE!  Just NOPE!

Have a nice day Fishing Spider, but I will work there when you are gone!! 

 She was probably about 3" with legs and everything.

After 4 hours of working in the sun, I was exhausted.  

I came in and took a shower.  

My face was beet red, hubby thought I was burned, but it is just what I do when I overheat!  

I then went to a Lularoe party at my friend, Jessy's house.  (she is also my hair stylist).  

Her younger sister was there.  

I have not seen her since she had her daughter, who will be 1 shortly. 

 It was really nice to see her and catch up.  

She spent almost as much time at our house as at hers growing up.  

She was my middle daughter's best friend for many years.  Really like another daughter to us.

You can see that my face was still pretty red!

Also, Hallie was being completely adorable.  I was sewing and she was adorabling.  

That's it for now.  

Come back on Wednesday to see all the sewing I worked on.  

I have to save something to show for WIPs With Friends right??

How was your weekend??

~XOP~