Saturday, June 19, 2010

Pitty Pat- A Year in Pictures!

Hey Y'all!

Exactly one year ago today I brought home a wiggly, squiggly puppy! Here's a little recap of Paddington's first year in pictures. It takes about 5 minutes... but you can really see how he has grown up!



Have a great weekend y'all!
:) JKP

Friday, June 18, 2010

Ribbit, Ribbit..

Hey Y'all!

Ok, so a few days ago, I promised you some knitty goodness. Well, take a gander.



Isn't he cute???? I have a pattern for a teddy bear hat, so I modified it a bit and made a frog. He was really easy to make and only took a few hours, once I figured out how I wanted to knit the eyes. This one is a prototype for on my store on Etsy... but I imagine my little friend Aaden is going to end up with this one!
I think the next one I am going to do is a ladybug. How cute would the antennae be????

Alrighty... our thunderstorms have passed.. so Pitty Pat needs a walk. Can y 'all believe that tomorrow is a year since I brought him home? Yes sir.... Pitty Pat came home on June 19th last year. Wow. Has he grown up in YEAR!!!!
Tootles!
:) JKP

Monday, June 14, 2010

Summer Lovin'

Hey Y'all!

Well, I have officially been out of school for one week! It seems longer than that, but one week it is! Tomorrow through Thursday I have to take a three day class on how to be a "mentor" to a student teacher. Then, after that, I am a free woman!

This past weekend Pitty Pat and I took a little road trip to see Mom in Beaufort, SC. I lived in Beaufort when I was in Kindergarten and First Grade. Beaufort has changed a lot since then, but some things I did recognize. I wanted to take Pitty Pat down to the waterfront and get some pictures, but y'all it was just too hot. 90 percent humidity at 9:00 in the morning is just miserable for everyone! Maybe next time we can have a photo shoot! For you movie buffs out there.... Beaufort is where The Big Chill, The Great Santini, G.I. Jane, Forest Gump, Forces of Nature and The Prince of Tides were filmed. Let's not forget... it is home to Parris Island as well!

Anyhoo! This summer I have discovered two new and favorite things! You may already know about them, but y'all. I love them!

The first thing I have fallen in love with is the Sketchers Tone Up Flip Flops. Y'all know that I am a flip flop girl and wear them year round. Lately I have been having some problems with one of my knees and I thought I would give these a try. Y'all. It is like slipping your foot into BUTTER! There is so much support in these things! The pair I got is below. I picked them up at the Tanger Outlets... but not the Sketcher outlet. Believe it or not, the Famous Footware outlet was cheaper $39.00, than the Sketcher outlet for $49.99!

I have been wearing them on my walks with Pitty Pat and my knee already feels better. I am wearing them more for support than weightloss, but anything in that area is a bonus!!!!!!

The other thing I have fallen in love with and have an obsession with is Palmetto Cheese!! This is a local product that originates right here in Pawleys Island. It is the yummiest pimento cheese I have ever had! My favorite thing to fix for supper on these hot nights is a cold plate with fresh fruit (tonight it was blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and tomatoes) with Palmetto Cheese on with a Kings Hawaiian Bread Snacker. YUMMY GOODNESS!


If you check out the website, you can do a search to see where Palmetto Cheese is being sold in your area. Right now it is in several southern states, so run don't walk and grab you some!!!!! There was also a write up about this in the May 2010 edition of Southern Living too!

Already, bedtime for me! I've got class in the morning. At least I am not teaching it!!!
:) JKP

Friday, June 11, 2010

This Little Piggy.....

Hey Y'all!

Well. I don't know if I mentioned it in my last post, but Cesar the CR-V's air conditioning stopped working last weekend. I took Cesar in to have his "air conditioning" issues looked at. $1500 later I now have air... and will be eating Ramen Noodles for the rest of the summer. I swear. I love my CR-V. But this will be the last Honda I EVER buy. My car has had to have major things done to it, all right after it hit the 50,000 mark. Trust me when I say this. I will never buy Honda again. I now have a bionic car. Everything has been rebuilt on it. I have a new air conditioning system (because the compressor BLEW up all over my engine.) I have a new catalytic converter, new tires, a new battery, a new oxygen sensor and NEW headlights. Folks, this equals a bionic car. And one unhappy Honda owner. I will hit the 100,000 mile mark with Cesar this weekend. I just hope he can hang in there for another 100,000, because folks I can not afford a car payment. I will have to live in a van down by the river. I wonder how Pitty Pat is at catching fish? He is so good at catching frogs!

On a lighter note, my best friend Marie from Lexington came to visit for a few days. We had a lot of fun! We hit the beach, the shops and ate some yummy seafood. We even cruised "The Boulevard" last night so Marie could see the new boardwalk they have built along the ocean. It was a great visit!

Marie left early this morning and I had some quick errands to do. One of my errands was to use one of my end of the year gift certificates to get a manicure and pedicure. Y 'all. How I love these, but never splurge on myself to get one. Note fixing car debacle above. I had the best time today and was so relaxed when I came home that I took a three hour nap! Check out my piggies below! I chose the color "You're a Pisa Work" by OPI. It is one of my favorite colors for summer time!



Pitty Pat says, "Enough of the girlie stuff... I wanna play!"



We are heading out on a road trip tomorrow! I'll take lots of pictures, I promise!
:) JKP

Monday, June 7, 2010

Beware of What You Wish For......

Hey Y'all!!!

Whoo, hooo! I am officially finished with the 2009-2010 school year! My classroom is moved and I am ready for a break! Bring on summer!

Yesterday, I was sitting on the beach with my feet in the water reading a great book. I suddenly looked out over the water and had a thought. What would it be like to be rich? I mean to actually have a million dollars to your name. I think what brought this on is the book I am reading. The characters in my book are really rich. Like, so rich, they haven't ever had to worry about how they were going to put gas in their car or how they were going to buy milk that week. Nice. Anyhoo... I continued my thought of what I could do if I had a million dollars. Folks and organizations I could help, the sleep I would have at night, because I wouldn't be worried about how I could make my pay check stretch any more. Eventually, I went back to reading my book. A little while later, I noticed something fluttering towards me in the water. It happened to float right by my chair. I picked it up and examined it. It looked like someone had lost a dollar bill. I swear this could only be a "Julia" happening.



Hell to the yes! It was a $1,000,000 bill!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fake of course, but enough to make me sit there on the beach dumbfounded for a good five minutes. I looked around to see if anyone was acting like they lost their fake $1,000,000 bill. Everyone seemed fine. So I did what any American would do. I took it as a sign and bought a lottery ticket.

My Mama is crazy in the head.

So, the rule to this story is, beware of what you wish for! I am off to enjoy my first free night of summer! I have a knitting surprise for y'all tomorrow!!!

XXOO,
JKP

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Mama's Got a New Camera!

Hey Y'all!

Well, we have had lots going in at Chez Barks A lot. I got a new digital camera last weekend! Also, I have officially wrapped up the school year. Friday was my last day with my kiddies. Since I am moving down to second grade next year, I had to move my ENTIRE classroom. So between my 22 third graders and about 30 fifth graders, my classroom was moved in about 20 minutes! I have to go back in to school tomorrow for a work/unpack day, and then I am DONE!!!! Woot, Woot!

I was hoping to spend my first day of vacation on the beach, but Cesar the CR-V has other ideas. His air conditioning stopped working yesterday. And, the heat index was 110. Not cool. Hee, hee... literally not cool! So it looks like I get to spend Tuesday getting Cesar fixed. The nice thing is that my best friend, Marie is coming for a visit on Wednesday. Yippee!!! So I have that to look forward to!

I have also been a busy bee getting my ETSY shop set up. I have decided to name my shop The Sea Purl.  Since I live at the beach and the purl is a stitch in knitting, I thought it was nice. I have the shop established, but I am still working on policies and adding merchandise. I have tons of stuff to add, but I want to make sure I have plenty of stock so I am not knitting like a mad woman. My business cards should be here this week. I will add them to the blog when they come in! Hence, that is why I had to have a new digital camera. Y'all have seen from previous posts that my pictures haven't been all that great, so it was time. I picked up or I should say Mom picked up (it was her donation to my business!, that and free baby gifts when she needs them!) a Kodak Easy Share M340 from Big Lots. So far I have been really happy with it. My first digital camera was a Fuji FinePix and it weighed about 5 pounds. The Kodak Easy Share is light and easy to use! Also, I like the software that comes with the camera... I can automatically integrate it with facebook!
Here's some pics that I have shot this week.....

Flowers from a student

An end of the year gift from Yankee Candle

Pitty Pat


Don't even think of messin' with my toy!


Hmm.... is there something I need to bark at?

As you can tell, Pitty Pat likes being a ham for the camera!!!! Well, I am off to go and sit at the beach for a while, and then on to some knitting.
Tootles!
:) JKP