Highlights in August

Celebrated my friend Marie's daughter Dani's baby shower recently.  Such a hot day but thankfully the party was in the back yard with numerous shady trees.  Fun time catching up with Marie, her sis Annette, and in picture below Dani and my friend Lisa.  And out of 30 guests I even won the raffle prize of Hawaiian Beach body wash, lotion, and bath bomb!

The new to us dining room table needed a flower arrangement so browsed the 70% off clearance rack at Michaels. Found some tall and short yellow flowers and they fit the bill.

Also picked up clearance hydrangea flower and shades of blue plastic leaves.  Threw in a starfish and wound up with a bouquet for the coffee table.

Off on a crafting rampage this weekend, created  an art object by melding together an old lamp stand and a globe holder.  Painted it in shades of verdigris then threaded a ceramic bird, nest, and driftwood to the stand.  Turned out unusual and creative which is right up my style.

Then dug into the garage and found a beat up vase that just begged for a makeover. Painted it in more verdigris using paint mixed with baking soda for some age and highlighted the design with gold paint.  Freshened up the paint on a piece of coral, placed it in the vase, then topped it off with a Princess House domed lid. 

Created a crown made from my jewelry stash for a gold glittered bird then placed it in a Goodwill tall jar with stand.  Crafted a topper by repurposing a candle container lid, screwing in a glass knob on top, then gluing a jewel to the inside. Finished it off by sliding in a piece of vintage music. 

Recent food escapades have included Bobby Flay's pickled onions.....

Veggie sandwich.....

Shrimp and crab puffs cooked in the air fryer.....

And Mac and Cheese using "government cheese" gifted to us by Jordan and Candy.  To be honest, my expectations (school cafeteria creamy, cheesy goodness) were much greater than the final result (fairly tasteless blob of mushed Mac covered in yellow plastic.)

I've also been big into the veggies lately!  Made a veggie omelet yesterday then today chopped up cucumber, tomato, Jalapeño, and peppers so there are veggies ready made in case I want to just eat a plateful topped with pickled onion or so they can easily be scooped up and added to a cooked dish.

Recent pic of me which I thought turned out rather cute!  Can definitely tell I've lost another ten pounds, which means I've lost a total of 30 pounds since I moved into my place. 👍😀

Now moving on to our lovely visitors.  We've now become a natural habitat for birds, squirrels, pigeons, and assorted other wildlife. It doesn't help that we provide birdseed in abundance along with squirrel feed and peanuts along with providing a bird bath that all use for drinking and skinny dipping.  Our more recent fur baby drop-ins have included a couple of rare yellow racing pigeons.  Yes, Google image search is my friend when I'm trying to figure out the species of our flying friends.  This morning we had eleven pigeons, four Blue Jay's, two squirrels, and a whole gaggle of small birds hanging out in our yard. 

And that's the latest excitement in this life of a Diva!