Momz Toyz

A Rooster and a bunny with a flower

Bear with heart sweater

A curly lamb and a bear in a skeleton costume

Bear with hoody

kitty with a beret

Look who's on the TV!

tiny Schnauzer pup

Poodle dog and Polar bear

Lamb

Bear, Dog, Owl

Monkey with necklace

Penguin, Lady Bug & Armadillo

Bear and Monkey, both make sounds

I've decided to capture all of Mom's stuffed toys. I have a couple more to photograph before I head home. She loves all of these little guys/gals.

More Ikea Fabric and some whine.

I couldn't resist buying more fabric while at Ikea. Oh, I forgot! I have to pack it and carry it back to the east coast in my nylon duffle carry-on. (I check nothing.) I used up all of the orange bird fabric and all of the black and white butterfly fabric so am happy to have more of it. The graphic design one was on sale for only $1.99 a yard (0.914 m) which is a very good deal. My older sister came by today and brought me a bag of buttons (heavy!) and some knitted stuff that she wants me to make into bags for her. Yikes! (more weight for me to haul home) whine whine whine. I brought books and some other items to be left here so my duffle probably won't be too heavy. I'll stop my whining now. I'm happy to get more buttons and happy to be able to make something for my sister.

Vietnamese yumminess

My sister and I took Mom for a pedicure this morning. While we were at the salon, a man came in to deliver some lunch to the staff. We were able to buy some items from him, too.  We got 2 packages, leaf wrapped sweet rice filled with bean and mushrooms. He also had tiny shrimp egg rolls that we needed to fry. So here's what they looked like when we got them, while frying and after. They were sooo delicious. We ate them with a sweet hot pepper sauce. The sweet rice was also good. This food was made by his mother and he delivered to the nail salons every three weeks. Guess his Mom was busy cooking for all the time.

Back in L.A.#2

Because I returned to spent time with Mom, giving my sister a chance to help her daughter, a new mom, I'm inside with limited view of the world. Here's what my first day looked like. Very sunny and hot!

Mom is still reading a lot. I brought her several new paperback mystery novels. She sits in her chair and reads and reads. Look at the books lined up for her. Notice her knitting needles and a completed scarf on top of the books. When she's not reading, she's knitting scarves. What a gal!

Here are a few of her stuffed animals. She has a large collection of these little items and loves them all. I think the one that's looking straight out at me is an aardvark!

Paloma

My sister's first grandbaby is only 2 weeks old. I was able to get a break last night and visit with her. What a cutie! Check out all that dark hair!

Pens and Pencils

Some of us are really fond of pens, especially fountain pens. I, also, like pencils. I have several mechanical pencils, some vintage, some new. Go here to read about a special pencil that has a lot of fans. Here's a link to see some of  my pens and pencils. What got me started on this topic, well, the article about the pencil on BoingBoing and reading A year of Letters blog this morning. Check it out here.

Back in L.A. Cake, Nail Polish and some Art

I'm back in Los Angeles, arrived last night, but still on Eastern Daylight Time, so I"m three hours off, which means that this post will be off, too. hmmm. Anyway, it's very hot outside, I poked my head out awhile ago, but I'm staying in with the A/C on. Mom is busy reading. I brought her a few new paperback books to read and she has already dived into one of them. I have no new photos from this trip yet, as they'll all look pretty much like the ones from last April. However, tonight I get to meet my new great-niece, Paloma. I'm pretty excited about that. I may even posted a photo of her. In the meantime, here's a photo of my chocolate cake, using a recipe shared by Paula. You can find her book and recipe blog here.

I got some new nail polish, you know how much fun I have with that. This color is a pale green that's sparkly and holographic!
I hope that you can see how flashy it is.

I'd been working on a series of collages for a book project in Spain. 18 pieces were required for an edition of books of all original pieces. We were asked to make an original and then do 18 copies, then make each of the copies a bit different. This is one of the 18 pages I sent off before I left home to come to California. I was pleased with the results of the series and look forward to receiving my copy of the book in the fall. I'll post images of it.

My pup

A week ago Monday, my pup, Smitty, got his monthly grooming. Doesn't he look a bit "shell-shocked" in this photo? The fur on his head is standing up all fluffy and light.  A few minutes after the first photo, he moved over and fell fast asleep in this position. He was exhausted from the experience. Smitty, to remind you, is very old. We got him from the city pound 15 years ago. It was thought that he was over a year old or more. He's very thin now and sleeps a lot. He has doggy dementia but still recognizes his people.

This past Sunday, he went out onto the porch to get some fresh air. I put those upturned pots there so he won't fall off the edge of the porch.