New Refashion Project

After about two months mostly focused on food preservation I thought I would show you a small project I recently completed. I found another Goodwill dress that was too big and too 80's, but I did like the fabric pattern. I cut off the sleeves, cut the neckline down and shortened it. I have a couple of caveats with this post. The before is ugly and I don't just mean the dress. I tried to do my hair curly and ended up looking frumpy and old. The second thing I wanted to mention is that I don't have a photo of the finished project by itself. I've been working on losing weight and did not feel the photos were flattering, so you'll have to just use your imagination. Lastly, I'm putting the after photo first as I hate having an ugly picture be the one people see when they are notified of a new post. That said, here ya go.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tonya

It's Officially Fall!

Today was the first day of fall. I love everything about fall, the cool crisp air, the sweet smell of turning leaves, pumpkins, apples, and layered clothing. Fall has arrived here in Oregon. The nights are getting colder, the leaves are beginning to turn and pumpkins are now available from the local farms. I'm still waiting for my tomatoes to ripen. I don't think it will happen, but we have had some sunshine in the afternoons. I planted heirloom tomatoes and the few that have ripened were so good. I haven't decided if I will use them green or wait for them to ripen on my counter. It seemed like a waste of such wonderful flavor to use them green, but we'll see. I decided to plant a fall garden as well. I've never done this before so we'll see how it turns out.

I keep checking on my garden every morning, either to check for slugs, or hoping I'll find magically ripened tomatoes or a big pumpkin. I went out a few days ago to check for slugs as they are coming out again with the rainy cool weather. I was excited to see rain drops on the large spider web with the sun shining through. I probably should have grabbed my tripod, but the sun was quickly going behind the clouds.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tonya

My Little Helper

I know it's been a while since I posted. I've been pretty busy lately with school, work and some more canning. I made three kinds of salsa/hot sauce in the past two weeks. Anyways, my busy schedule has also led to putting off some household chores till later. My little cat Princie follows me around the house and has to be in the middle of whatever I'm doing, so I've should have known that if I left some laundry to be folded later that they would end up with cat hair all over them.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tonya

Watch your step!!

Here in the northwest spiders seem to come out in droves during late summer and fall. In the summer they stay outside, but if hiking you have to watch so you don't walk through a spider's web. In the fall the spiders tend to seek warmer areas such as my house. Today I was tending to my garden (hoping my tomatoes will ripen before fall arrives) when I nearly ran into this large spider.

                                                                         mmm tasty!
Thanks for stopping by,

Tonya