As many of you know already,

it's been HOT here in the south. A dry, dead calm, kind of hot that parches the soil and feels like an oven when you walk out the door... so, except for the occasional tending of the garden

I've tried to stay inside.

It's been at least 2-4* hotter each day

[maybe more, I think it was 108* here yesterday]

than predicted...

We've watched several movies this weekend: The Grey [I didn't make it even half-way through this one...], Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close [good, but oh so sad too...] and We Bought a Zoo [fun movie - true story]. And we've tried to avoid heating up the kitchen so we've eaten out some, and picked up food to bring in - one evening I fried up some yellow squash and zucchini [yum] and had it with pinto beans and cornbread I picked up at Publix - and let's just say, they're idea of cornbread [more of a -- sweet -- cake, really; I couldn't find the CORN anywhere] is very different than mine...

and we went to grandmother's house [a restaurant] one night too

- VERY GOOD.

I've started my happy sampler [will share that in a few weeks - but wanted to share that I pulled out my old DMC floss organizer [aka tackle box] to go through the thread I last cross-stitched with over 20 years ago -- happy to report - it hasn't rotted.

A few weeks back when I was taking Margie's [Spark Your Summer] Cass I'd made several junque bows for flags, thinking I'd put them all in that big pickle jar - but liked just one with sunflowers better... so I stuck this one on top of the hoosier cabinet - and I like the bit of celebration it adds to the kitchen [I stuck the other near near a picture in the hallway...]

I had some left-over 'supplies' so I pulled some out and embellished this Dollar Store frame.

[Apologies for the side-ways of it - straight out of my phone does that sometimes.]

Love the cupcake liner that looks like bunting, and of course. the precious photos were 'taken' from my sweet niece's blog. It's like a little scrapbook page in a frame... and while I was working on this, I took the time to finish up some of my 'pay it forward' gifts - I really hope to get them in the mail in the next week or so...

And, I've been playing with my hair color a bit - a part of me wants to have more grey put in so I can see how it looks, but I ended up pulling a little 'caramel' through it and like it too - love that I can change it up some...