Toy Story!

I love the Toy Story trilogy.

Looooove it.

Toy Story 2 is, no lie, my second favorite movie of ALL TIME.

So when I started decorating my new guest room/sewing area,

Toy Story seemed a natural fit for a theme.

I have four cool boxes of Toy Story Duplos, 

MIB, but my adult kids are horrified that I'm displaying them as such.

"That's against the whole MESSAGE of Toy Story!"

they argue, and they're right.

(Oh, Jessie.  "When She Loved Me" kills me DEAD.)

So I figured out a way to solve the problem.

I gave one of my Woody dolls a tiny pair of scissors...

... and set him up near the boxes.

There!

I'm sure Woody will spring his pals when I'm not around.

What Have I Wrought?

Oh, hubris.

I made the mistake a couple of weeks ago of

bragging on the tomatoes I'm still harvesting here in sunny SoCal.

But then!

This week we got a

FROST WARNING!

This happens roughly every, oh, never.

What should I do?

Well, I knew from reading about other folks' experiences

 that I was supposed to keep them warm?  

Protect them somehow?

I started by dragging some into the garage, 

which thankfully had some room, now that my offspring

have emptied it of some of their debris valuables.

But which to save? 

 I have over a dozen tomato plants still producing!

It was like Sophie's Choice out there in my  garden!

(No, you do NOT get a picture of Meryl from Sophie's Choice.

That movie (and book) wrecked me.

I will allow you to see Meryl happily singing and dancing

in Mamma Mia, instead.)

But I had a whopping big piece of plastic from the futon mattress

I just installed in The Boy's room...

... and a ton of towels, and so far, so far,

(fingers crossed)

both my indoor tomatoes and those toughies in the garden

 seem to be surviving.

Good!

Because I'm not that interested in making

tomato popsicles.

Yer A Wizard, Infant

Shameless self-promotion time!

I have three new Harry Potter Gryffindor quilts in my shop,

all about 36" x 45".

Quilt number one:

Quilt number two:

Quilt number three (the one on the right):

I've also made three strings of Gryffindor bunting!

Wouldn't these quilts and bunting be perfect for a little Gryffindor?

"Who's a cute widdle wizard?  Who is?"

An Open Letter To Trader Joe's

Dear Trader Joe's:

I love your Reduced Guilt Mac & Cheese.

I love your Cheese Blintzes.

But, maybe?  So I end up with my intended staff room lunch?

You could make your boxes look a leeetle different from each other.

When A Door Closes, A Closet Opens

The Boy is moving out tomorrow, 

but I don't have designs on his closet space.

Nope, not me.

My New Workout Regime

I read something mind-boggling on Lifehacker:

standing rather than sitting at your computer three or four hours a day

will add up over a year to the amount of calories burned running

TEN MARATHONS.

Wow!!

So just by elevating my keyboard, I'll end up with a body like this?*

Sign me up!

My home computer desk needed a makeover, anyway.

Once I cleared things away, I found there were three different devices/plugs

that weren't even connected to my computer!

A poster on the original article had a good idea:

instead of buying a fancy "standing desk",

just put a little table on top of your regular computer desk.

He used an Ikea table, 
but I thought a Sterilite container from Target

would do just fine, instead.

(Minnie approves.)

The keyboard was sliding around, 
so I added a bead of hot glue to the feet.

Problem solved!

Lookin' good.

(As a bonus, the lip of the container works as a nice little ledge,

for me to put my meeeellion reminder notes.)

I'm ready for my new bod now!

*Yes, yes I know:  results may vary.

Don't crush my dreams, y'all!

Gaze Upon Them And Weep, Cold Weather Folks

A SoCal perk:

I just harvested these tomatoes, 

and I've got another two dozen ripening on the vine.

Hope I'm not rubbing it in, snowbunnies.

Goodbye, Wonderful Halloween

The Sweet Man thinks I'm having a little trouble

letting go of Halloween.

He says it's time for me to let the jack o' lanterns rot in peace.

But they're not that bad yet, right?

Right?!?

Sigh...

okay, maybe an intervention is in order.

It's SAVING Not SAVINGS

Daylight Saving Time is the worst.

I'm glad to see the end of it for six months or so.

Hey, Kid...Wanna Treat?

Look what I'm passing out

in addition to candy:

BOOOOOKS!!!

BUT... I don't get many trick-or-treaters.

Do you think this will work to lure them up my hill?

Here's hoping!

A Comic For Meeee!

Since I titled my post from yesterday before I saw this,

I'm choosing to believe the talented Mark Tatulli drew it 

just

for

me.

I Knew They Would Come In Handy!

A while back, I mentioned that I was burning through Lysol wipes.

I saved a bunch of the empty containers,

because they seemed just right for an as-yet-unknown project.

And this weekend, I figured out the project!

 Dammit, Minnie!

Okay, let's try it again.

I give you... ghost luminaries!

These things are so freakin' easy 

I made a dozen in about as many minutes.

I just pulled off the labels,

Sharpie-d the faces...

... popped in some color-changing tea lights...

... and I was done!

Aren't they nifty?

(I also tried making a sugar skull luminary,

but I think those would work better with acrylics, instead of markers.)

They'll be scattered around the front yard come Halloween night,

so hurry on over, trick-or-treaters, to see something cool!

******************************************

(My Pinterest photo, because I'm hoping this will be as big
as the glow stick in the toilet paper rolls.)