Fall Photo Round-up (Update)

 

 

 

We found this odd plant growing at the base of one of our apple trees.

Does anyone know what this is? Is it poisonous?

I have been notified that this is Pokeweed, and that it is very poisonous. I will be getting rid of it shortly!
 

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Black Animals Are The Best: MOnday



Black cats are the best!  I ♥ my sweet Frankie.

Advocacy:
♦Black dog syndrome: black dogs are often overlooked and have higher rates of euthanasia. More info: Black Pearls, Start Seeing Black Dogs
♦Cats have the same issue, so here are 13 reasons to adopt a black cat. Black cats are one of my favorites, I would have a heard of them if I had the room and $$$.
♦Keep your body comments to yourself! Dissecting the terrible things said to Fiona Apple at a recent concert.

Art:
♦Amazing satellite photos They look unreal!

Awesome:
♦Catster has a list of cat themed time wasters. Examples: a cat kaleidoscope,  cats snowflakes...
♦The most bad-ass cowboy ever. Hands down! [Trigger warning: homophobic slurs]

Beauty:
♦Nic Cage eye shadow....even weirder that it sounds! They also have an eye shadow set called Badger Mushroom Snake If you are unfamiliar here is the  Badger mushroom meme (Sound is on auto-play)

DIY:
♦Glamorous floral headband I recently found this blog, and I love it. She has great style, and her photos are gorgeous! She is all about over the top glamour.
♦Balm to protect sensitive ears. This is great if you have metal allergies, or just can't wear cheap earrings.
♦Drink can butterflies, would be cool as bats, or flowers. Oh hey, here is a how too for the flowers!

Fashion:
♦Another fashion gem: Style Crone. This gorgeous little pixie has wild and fun style. The best part is her extensive and amazing hat collection.

Feminism:
♦Indigenous womens' thoughts on how American men react to bear breasts. This is spot on!

Halloween:
♦30 gross Halloween treats [A note of caution, some of these are REALLY gross looking. You have been warned!]
♦Cool spooky weather-vane
♦Bloody broken glass cupcakes

Lol:
♦Fact: corgis have laser-eyes*
♦If you need a laugh...this cat will help


Noms:
♦Frico grilled cheese. Smitten Kitchen is genius!
♦Chocolate and pumpkin truffles
♦Homemade gnocchi OMG! Yum!


Are you working on your Halloween costumes? I am. ;)
Have a great week!

*Not true, thankfully or we would serve our fluffy over-lords!

Pumpkin Dance* Monday

Source

Art:
♦Interview and video tour of Artist/Tinkerer Blair Somerville's workshop. He makes really cool stuff from scraps and junk.

Awesome:
♦Phone App that helps you track products you are boycotting.
♦This is just like what happens when we brush our cat Frankie! Ha ha ha!
♦I know that these are for Halloween, but I would wear them all the time!

Creepy/Goth/Dark:
♦Video tour of the Suicide Forest in Japan. [Content warning, images of deceased persons, skeletal remains.] It is a dark subject. I wish I could talk each person out of it. Thankfully the park official who is on patrol is kind and companionate.
♦"You Rang, Mr. Addams?" video about Charles Addams, creator of The Addams Family.

Cute:
♦Holy CRAP! Origami corgi!!!!!!  The fox is super cute too!

DIY:
♦Have you heard of Poo Pourri?  (The commercial cracks me up!) Jillee has a recipe to make your own.
♦Cool bat decorations. Great for Halloween or everyday if you are Goth :)
♦Cool candle ideas: Wallpaper/scrapbook paper or dark and gothic
♦Bandana backed shirt Would also be cool with a plain shirt and patterned scarf.
♦Needle lace skeleton leaves Beautiful! These would be great for so many things. This  blog has loads of cool stuff, like this sweater update, and this feather pin....!!! OMG! This pendant necklace!
[I have to stop, before I link to her entire site! ;) ]
♦20 cookie ideas for Fall/Halloween Sugar Belle has fantastic ideas for cute cookies. I highly recommend her blog.
♦Fall scented play dough

Pumpkin DIY's:
♦Starry Night  Alexa of The Swell Life has tons more tutorials, These three are just my favorite!
♦Grumpy Cat
♦Gilded 
♦37 more ideas compiled by Buzzfeed

Noms Pumpkin:

 

♦Pumpkin Nutella Swirl Muffins YUM!
♦Crockpot pumpkin spice latte recipe. (Thank Deviant Dispatches for the recommendation.)
♦Pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust
♦Pumpkin Spice roll out cookies

 

Pumpkin Dance Meme source

WTF:
♦I do not like sock-monkeys. They really freak me out. So this scary version is horrifying!

I know that the dancing pumpkin guys is silly, but it really cracks me up!

Have a great week!

Mid-Summer Update (Photo heavy post)

My Rue playing in his new "cat fort"

 

Some gorgeous lilies from my mom's garden! (Thanks mom!) 

 

 My kiddos by new herb garden. This was a spring bulb/rose garden. I managed to kill all of the roses. Boo! So this year I ripped almost everything out and planted herbs. This garden is right by the kitchen, perfect spot to plant herbs. The smell is awesome too!

 

(Fun tip: use the wine bottles to keep the delicate plants hydrated. Instead of buying water-globes) Although I do get teased for having an alcoholic garden. Ha ha ha!

 

 I trained the morning glories to grow over my alligator.

 

 I feel lucky, I never planted these they just show up every year. (I think these may have be a result of bird droppings. Yay for re-seeding plants!)

I had planted two varieties of clematis back in spring. Unfortunately they didn't survive. (Bugs, heat and rabbits.)

 

 I have been really busy! I dug this entire garden out. It was full of over grown hostas and half-dead irises. I split all of the annuals...which left me with tons of plants. I decided to add some more colorful  and fun textured foliage.

 

 These didn't get as tall as I had hoped. They will be moved up front next year.

 

 I loooove the colors! They also have such fun frilly edges.

 

 

 I fell in love with this vine flower the first time I saw them. The dark center makes me think of a black-hole. (Yeah...I'm a bit odd. Ha!)

 

I ended up planting two of these.

 

My first kohlrabi of the season. Yum! (Notice the Buddy bum on the left. Cute!)

 

 My sweet little gardening girl! She always stays close and wants to investigate the garden.

 

 The cabbage patch. (Please ignore all of the weeds. Its been too damned hot to be weeding.)

 

Cucumber vines.

 

 Zucchinis or butternut squash-to-be. (I forgot which...they look the same.)

 

 Green pepper blossoms. Yessss! This is the first year they have survived. The animals have always eaten them. Boo!

 

Garden tip: For repelling animals pests, I use a three prong approach: Liquid fence, smelly compost and cat litter. Yes, you read that right.

I put soiled cat litter into plastic bags and place them around the garden.(Double and triple bag it to prevent contaminate your soil/veggies.) When they don't stink anymore I throw them away.

This have been the most effective pest repellent for me.

 

 A funky bug on a volunteer sunflower. (Another gift from the birds)

 

 Pumpkin blossom. I thought it would be fun to try mini-pumpkins.

 

 Tomatoes. YUM!
 

 

 Thank you for pollinating my tomatoes little bee/bug thing!

 

 Nature's jewels: rain drops. (Brussels sprouts)

 

 Lovely purple cabbage.

 

 The cabbage head is beginning to form. Yay!

 

 Ha! Cabbage head made me think of the Kids In The Hall skit... (Cabbage head is such a creep!)

 

 Bud guarding the raspberries.

 

 Boy, the birds were good to me this year! They gave blackberries this year too! We ended up with 7 volunteer black berry canes. Awesome!

 

Raspberries. They are big this year!

 

 

 Blossoms form the mock-orange tree.

 

 

 A cool cucumber tendril.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tour through my gardens.

 

Thankful For Healthy Nephews

Source

♥Puppy-sat for one of my favorite snugly dogs.
♥Took three dogs for a walk today. Felt like a bad-ass!
♥Spent time with my friend on her birthday. Yay!
♥Made and awesome sandwich: wheat roll, Cajun turkey, Buffalo wing cheese, spinach, mayo, and mustard. Raspi loved it!
♥Fresh cheese curds!!!!!
♥Rasputin was done with work early today.
♥My nephew's knee surgery went well. *sigh of relief*
♥Buddy was making hilarious noises while being petted.
♥I ordered a super cute set of coffee mugs, and they showed up early! (Its a long story, but I got them for free.)

Thankful For Rasputin, And Our Kids

A still from one of my favorite movies: Amelie  Image source

Comptine D'un Autre été by  Yann Tiersen (A beautiful song from Amelie

 

♥Helped my Adopted Mom pick out a new phone. (Her screen died)
♥Then we had an awesome lunch. It was a fun afternoon.
♥I ended up getting the same cell phone Mom did.
♥Have been trying out oil cleansing. Its been working great so far. It really removes eye-makeup!
♥Found 5 cute shirts, a hoodie, and two cute skirts at the thrift store.
♥Raspi found an Affliction shirt for $10! (Its a low-key one, it doesn't have logos plastered all over it.)
♥Even had fun talking to a nice lady shopping there.
♥Also found a book for a friend, and a calendar for another  (Its a kitten calender  and I am going to make it into a lol-cat calender. Mwaaa ha ha ha!
♥We now have a magnet on our car.
♥Rasputin made me a an awesome Valentine with a corgi on it!!!!!
♥For him, I chiseled ice off of the sidewalk, and shoveled the end of the driveway after the plow went thought. His big surprise is that I am paying for a back massage. (Shhh don't tell him!)
♥The sun came out for a while, it almost felt like spring!

Valentine's Spirit... (Or Lack There Of...)

Woo hoo. This is as festive as I get. (Hey, its red and has a heart on it.) 

Details:
Fedora ~ Chapel Hats
Hoodie ~ Thrifted
Dexter Shirt ~ Hot Topic
Jeans ~ ???
Socks ~ Smart Wool (Toasty toes rock!)


Bonus Outtake:

My sweet little Valentine loves to smooch!

Thankful For My Ancestors

Poor Dylan is not happy with all of the snow.

♥My hair is trimmed, and styled.
♥Discovered a great soap maker. They use goats' milk to makes soaps, and lotions. We love their coffee soap, and their tea-tree lotion.
♥Made a huge batch of lazy salsa. We are sooo stuffed.
♥We watched The Lorax. Awesome.
♥Added a lavender sachet to my pillow...smells awesome. I have been sleeping better too.
♥Watched a great documentary; Farmageddon.
♥Found a pile of old papers about my family history. Some of my ancestors came to the US in 1760!
♥Also found some of my old report cards....ha!
♥Dr. Who Theme!!!!!
♥My mom has a new car! Congrats to her!!!