. . . the more the mary-er . . .

. . . i started with these adorable charm squares . . .

. . . a birthday gift from a quilty friend . . .

{thanks, peg!!}

. . . including a couple of fat quarters

which turned into binding . . .

. . . i found some www inspiration . . .

. . . but i wondered how it'd look in skinny form . . .

. . . yep ~ i think i'll like it . . .

. . . so i made lots of snowball blocks . . .

. . . cherries . . .

. . . many . . .

. . . ways . . .

. . . and ginormous paisleys . . .

. . . and what could be mary-er

than black & white checkerboards? . . .

. . . here's how my new *walker* looks

keeping "happy" warm . . .

{*i'm calling it a walker because i'm much too slow to be a runner*}

. . . and with my buttons {i bet you thought i'd lost 'em!} . . .

. . . and these colorful spools . . .

{copied from one of my quilty idols

[who i've never actually met, but i feel like we're friends anyway!]

she designs fabric and patterns ~ amazing!}

. . . i once read a mary engelbreit quote that said:

"it's liberating not to be matchy matchy." . . .

. . . well said, mary . . .

. . . and i concur . . .

. . . we've got a situation here . . .

. . . there's been a little excitement this evening

in the 'hood . . .

. . . involving the three patrol cars

you see here . . .

. . . plus {i'm sure} at least that many more

down the street to the right . . .

. . . officers in body armor with really big guns . . .

. . . dogs . . .

. . . megaphones and shouting stuff like

"come out with your hands up!" . . .

. . . a concussion grenade {um ~ they're LOUD} . . .

. . . a {really noisy} chopper that kept circling

and circling and circling and circling . . .

. . . and a pretty dumb criminal . . .

. . . they found him in a tree . . .

. . . but my favorite part of the whole episode . . .

. . . was watching our friendly {off-duty}

neighborhood policeman . . .

{you can see him below in khaki shorts/white t-shirt listening to his radio}

. . . the song that kept coming to mind? . . .

. . . "put me in coach! i'm ready to play" . . .

. . . thankfully ~ all's quiet now . . .

***read terri's comment . . .

this all happened AT HER HOUSE!!!!***

*****THEN . . . click over to Double A's blog

to read an official account*****

. . . it's good to remember . . .

. . . thanks to my daughter

for sharing this beautiful video

with me . . .

. . . i absolutely love it . . .

. . . i hope you will, too . . .

. . . the words of this song are true!!! . . .

{even better than watching this video was

watching her video of elliott watching/signing/singing along

with this video}

[tears]

trivial edit: drew says lots of the people

in this video live in gilbert

and he home teaches the nice asian guy at 2:27

. . . mr clean . . .

. . . who doesn't appreciate a tidy a/c guy? . . .

{the violet print is an especially nice touch!}

. . . and when your appointment is at 7am ~

they're here at {or before} 7am . . .

. . . props to jri . . .

{johnson refrigeration inc}

. . . now let's get this place cooled down, please! . . .

. . . next . . .

. . . on the neverending project list . . .

. . . i'll be cutting into

this stack of boyish cuteness . . .

. . . baby johnson's debut

is only a few short weeks away . . .

. . . and we can't wait to meet him . . .

{hopefully his mommy and daddy will figure out what to name him soon,

so i can stop calling him ferris.

nevermind ~ i'll probably always call him ferris anyway!}

. . . recuperating . . .

. . . hosing down the patio furniture . . .

. . . raking/sweeping up

mass quantities of pine needles . . .

. . . backwashing and repeatedly

brushing the pool steps . . .

. . . yep . . .

. . . we're taking a break and resting

after our haboob jobs . . .

. . . in case you missed it . . .

. . . or if your name is rip van winkle . . .

{thanks, mike!}

The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011

from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

. . . heat advisory . . .

. . . i was born in mesa, arizona . . .

. . . i know it's coming . . .

. . . it always has . . .

. . . it's hot here . . .

. . . and right about now . . .

. . . it'll start getting sticky, too . . .

. . . but it seems like as i get older . . .

. . . my comfort zone is shrinking . . .

. . . i'd be happy as a clam

if it never got hotter than 80 degrees . . .

. . . or colder than 60 . . .

{okay ~ fine . . . 85 and 55}

. . . so in honor of the heat . . .

. . . i whipped up a quadruple batch

of the most delicious dressing . . .

. . . it's pretty warm, too ~ thanks to

a healthy dose of roasted jalapenos . . .

. . . and tomatillos . . .

. . . and cilantro . . .

. . . and speaking of hot . . .

. . . it never hurts to have

fresh salsa on hand . . .

. . . on today's dinner menu? . . .

. . . we cooled things off . . .

. . . with this refreshingly fruity all~american salad . . .

{thanks for the tip, karen!}

{if you're feeling lazy like i was today,

it tastes fabulous drizzled with

brianna's blush wine vinaigrette}