Vintage Toy Pin Cushion

Had fun making this pin cushion as a birthday gift for a friend

Started off as a mass of wool felt

Ended up as a felted hay bale.

 

Look, But Don't Touch

Once again, we attended the San Diego Cat Show at 

the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Lots of cats, lots of merchandise, but no petting!

Cat themed coasters

Judges attempt to see how closely each cat compares

to the "perfect" cat in their breed.  They feel, look, and stretch

the cat and sometimes consult their conformation books to

be certain they remember all the standards for each breed.

This Oriental Shorthair kitten was quite a character and won
its division to a round of applause!

Judge's face doesn't show it here, but he was quite amused.

Judge was not so amused with this little hairless cat.
The cat hissed at him and tried to do a bit of biting,
but when the judge got a cat toy out, the cat pounced on 
it immediately and forgot all about biting.   

Another hairless cat; this one was very calm.

Another fan favorite because of its beautiful color

 

No touching is the rule at these cat shows, so I come
away from them kind of depressed; I want to pet the kitties!

This Persian's look says, "I don't do pets"!

Cute sign, but the cat is inside a clear plastic carrier-
couldn't touch its beans even for good luck!

    

End of Birthday Week

Cute picture of Tom and his birthday cinnamon rolls. 

Tom requested this meal for his birthday dinner; meatloaf,
green beans and mashed potatoes and gravy-a classic!

Emi asked to go to Mitsuwa's for a birthday lunch.

 

Birthday Lunch

Tom and Emi had their birthday dim sum lunch today at the Jasmine!

 Seems like we drop a big chunk of change every time we eat here, 

so we try to save it for special occasions.

We don't drink tea, so the wait staff looks at us kind 

of funny when we ask to keep the tea cups.  

We mix our soy sauce and chili oil in them for our dipping sauce!

Before

Emi's favorite, lo mai gai.  This dish consists of rice and
miscellaneous meats wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed.
The lotus leaf smells so good!

After!

Today's Wordle

Love these two!

Jin dui for dessert,
also known as sesame ball

 

Behold the Order!

Tom's had a few days off and he decided to clean up the garage!

Behold how orderly it is now!

While it was a lot of work, I could tell that he really had a good time

rediscovering tools he hadn't seen in a while.

Tools are, after all, his thing!

I admire people who do their thing well and 

Tom certainly does his thing well!

 

Funny-One of My Fav Birthday Cards

Quick Trip to Rexburg

Kimo and I worked together to make a custom made box 
for his 3-d printer

Tired Kimo

Emi and Kimo stuffed in the back seat

Taking turns driving, Tom always gets the first shift

Stark desert beauty

Vegas

American restaurant at the NY, NY

Kids scoured the adjacent tables collecting all the blackberry jam for me

Visited Hershey World (again)

Checked out Gallagher's aged meat

Tom loves pretzels!

Kimo likes pretzels, too!

Visited Parowan Gap petroglyphs (again)

Indoor swimming-too cold for me!

Visited The Creamer(y)

Met up with Sterling in Layton for dinner! 
It was good seeing him!

Tom was certainly a carnivore on this trip!

We stay with Nicomi and Manny up in Rexburg, but Nicomi was still feeling sick from having the flu! Her dogs entertained us with their play.

Tom was quite popular with the dogs.
This guy sat for a long time while Tom pet him.

Oh, man was it cold!

Tired Tom!  We were all tired!

Helped Kimo get all his stuff to his room-some was stored in the dorm storage, some was stored at Nicomi's.

His dorm is super cute!

Tom getting ready to give Kimo a blessing at the hotel. 

We'll miss Kimo, but it felt good to be headed home to SD!

You can never go back...if you know, you know.

Met Phoebe, the cat, and her owner at the airport.