Melyssa-with-a-Y

(I refuse to use Larry the Cable guy's catchphrase. Bleh.) This weekend, I managed to finish a bunch of things that were just sort of hanging around in limbo. For starters, I finally completed the crochet caterpillar for Nicky W. I'm hoping to get to the post office on Tuesday to ship it off to Boston. I also finished re-installing (mostly) my printer/copier/scanner so I could use it to scan photos and such. (see photo, right --> ) More of those will be posted shortly. There are so many to choose from! And, I cleared out a ton of cardboard boxes that have been filling my garage... I need the space -- my new B&D electric mower is coming on Thursday! (it's so cute!) There are so many things I can get done outside, now that it's not going to be 104 degrees every day. I also started a few new things - a new pot of basil is growing, some new parsley seedlings are peeking out, and I made an apple granola crumbly-thing for breakfasts this week. I'm sure this bu...

This afternoon, Rebeka and I went to a baby shower for our friends Juan and Letty . Letty has another six weeks to go, but she looks like she's about to pop! It was a nice, small shower, with couples and kids. Of course, I was happy to go to the shower, and I made the world's quickest duckie - started last night at 9:30am, finished in the car on the way to the party! But the biggest draw for me was that it was being hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, Stephanie Klein (and her husband Phil). I've been reading Stephanie's blog for at least a couple of years, since she published her first book, Straight Up and Dirty , moved to Austin (shortly before I did, I think), had her twins in December '06... It was great to actually meet her! The "beans" are a little over 2 now and talking. They're SO cute. And Phil is just the nicest guy in the world. Our illustrious hosts made finger sandwiches, complete with the crusts cut off -- cucumber, salmon, egg sal...

like the caterpillar I made for Kelly's baby shower: I crocheted this one, but it's based on Kimberly Chapman's incredible knitted pattern .) I made up the pattern as I went along, trying to get it to look like hers. Turns out I chose the same numbers of stitches for each round (without reading hers first), so it's probably about the same size as the original, although I didn't have any bright orange, so it's one segment short! I wish I had noticed that her pattern called for a squeaky bit in the head and some bells in the tail, though. Oh well. I'm sure the baby will love it. I think the antennae and the smiley face are what make it so cute. ... and then there are the BAD bugs, like this little baby scorpion that appeared in my kitchen the other night, just as I was getting ready for bed. ACK! To be fair, he was only about 2" long, though this pic makes him look HUGE. Let me tell you, with my adrenaline kicking, it didn't matter how big he w...