The Bee Hive

THE LION LIES DOWN WITH THE LAMB

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:10:00 +0000

It is a pre-Christmas miracle! Patti-Jo is nervous and excitable, and so Buddie, who is strict and sober does not like her much. But here they are both sharing the dog igloo. They have done this at least two different times lately. And it's not because we are short on dog houses. We had two doghouses for Carl and Patti-Jo, but then Buddie started spending most of her time over here, and sometimes taking one of the doghouses overnight. So we bought a third dog house, identical to our first one. But all three dogs avoided it, if possible, in favor of either of the other two dog houses. So now, Patti-Jo and Buddie usually set aside their differences to bunk together.

SEE THE FACE IN THE SKY?

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:35:00 +0000

Here's a funny photo. You'll have to enlarge it to see it properly. Just click on it. I should have cropped it, but failed to do so when I was first uploading this batch of photos from the camera to the computer a week or so ago, and now for some reason, I can't get it done.
I had noticed that Amy had the tree in the yard lit up, and the full moon was shining, so went out to get a shot. But when I clicked, clouds had covered the moon. I took a total of three shots but never did get the moon showing like I wanted to. It was cold, so I gave up rather quickly.

HAY FOR THE HORSES

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:58:00 +0000

Chuck has been scrambling for hay lately for the horses. This was maybe a couple of weeks ago when he brought some square bales home. Since then, they've eaten all of this, and have started on a large round bale.

No, they didn't ride up there, they just posed that way on the way to the horse pasture. When I was a child, my cousins and I got to ride on the hay in the back of a pick-up in the pasture pretty regularly. I can remember helping feed the cows, as a child, by throwing pieces of the bales off as the pick-up moved through the cow pasture. It was great fun!

This is Starlight and Ed. "YUM-O!", they nickered.

CHRISTMAS TREES AND ANGELS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Mathieu came over this afternoon and finished the angel he started the other day. Also on the fridge is the Christmas picture he made a couple of weeks ago. Cute all the way around!

CHUCK AND THE GIRLS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:34:00 +0000

This is what it looks like, more or less, when Chuck leaves for the post office every day. Chuck calmed them down from their barking and pogo jumping while waiting for me to take the photo. Patti-Jo and Coconut go absolutely wild! They love their post office trip and can tell time, so remind Chuck, loudly, when it gets close to 9:30. You can see why Patti-Jo doesn't get many outfits, like Coconut does. Besides muddying this one up within about 3 minutes of wearing it, she scratches a hole (or in this case, scratched a button off, leaving a ripped hole) almost immediately upon first wearing any outfit. Still they look soooo sweet, don't they?!

LITTLE BY LITTLE

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:01:00 +0000

I am late with an angel paper doll swap I joined, but finally finished my angel last night. Yay, me! (Sort of...) Mathieu and Zach were here, so Mat worked on making an angel paper doll too. It is really cute. Hopefully, he will finish it today, and I can post a photo of it tomorrow.

The other photo is of two cell phone cases I made. I made one in late October or early November, and thought I had finished the second one, too. But when I took them out of the bag last night, I realized the other one still needed some stitching. Gosh, my eyes are not what they used to be. My stitching was awful last night; I could hardly see what I was doing. As much as I hate to, I am going to have to go back to the optomotrist soon. I am way past due.
I got some gifts wrapped last night, too. So I am making progress. Mathieu and I also helped me hung the second green garland around the kitchen windows.

WARM AND TOASTY

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:31:00 +0000

It's really been so much colder than usual for this time of year. Or what I should say, I guess, is that it has gotten cold earlier than usual. It is predicted to be a colder, wetter winter this time. We keep blankets handy to cover up with on the love seat and in the recliner. Coconut got a new sweater the other day. Tres chic, no?
Meanwhile, I am happily wearing flannel pjs around the house...sometimes with a zip front sweatshirt over them and thick, crocheted socks on my feet. Very UN-chic, but sooo comfy and toasty. I bought Chuck a pair of flannel pj bottoms and he's enjoying wearing them, too. I've never mined washing dishes, but I almost enjoy it now, with the warm water heating my hands.

FROZEN PUMPKINS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:25:00 +0000

Patty-Jo and I took a look at the pumpkin vines that, sadly, did not make it through the snow and freeze the other day. I was really looking forward to my pumpkin harvest but, alas, it was apparently not meant to be.

Amazingly, I think I got all my Christmas gift shopping done today. I had lunch at Chisholm with Lydia and then went to Beeville with list in hand. Three or four hours later, I was back home with everything on the list! Of course, I think I will probably have to do a tiny bit of fine-tuning, but basically I am through!

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:57:00 +0000

Here is a recipe I got from an online friend. (*waving to Pat in Florida!*) She got rave reviews with it, and I did too, the first time I made it this past Halloween for my grown kids and their families and my husband and I. I also made it again last night for 'dinner'. Yes, it is just my husband and I and we can eat what we want...so
'chips and dip for dinner' this time. ...I said CAN not SHOULD. LOL!

BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

4 BONELESS, SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS (about 2 lbs...or you can use rotisserie
chicken)

1 - 12 OZ. BOTTLE FRANK'S HOT SAUCE (supposed to be the best, but you can use
any brand)

2 - 8 OZ. PKGS. CREAM CHEESE

1 - 16 OZ. BOTTLE BLEU CHEESE SALAD DRESSING (or Ranch dressing)

8 OZ. SHREDDED SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE (OR MONTERREY JACK OR COMBO)

Boil chicken till done, then shred using 2 forks. Preheat oven to 350*. In a 13"
x 9" pan combine chicken and hot sauce and spread evenly. In large saucepan over
medium heat, combine the cream cheese and dressing, stirring until smooth and
hot. Pour evenly over chicken. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, sprinkle with
cheese and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before
serving.

We eat it with tortilla chips, but that's up to you. Crackers or crustinis would
be good too, I think. It is not 'hot' with the hot sauce - at least with Frank's
(the teeniest bit warm in places) or some 'brand x' that I used last night, that was even milder than Frank's.

Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy making it for Christmas or New Year's
get-togethers.

DECEMBER!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:58:00 +0000

It's December already! I intended to try to post a photo every day for December, like I tried to do for October, but time got away from me. Here it is the 7th, and I am only making my first December entry. Oh, well...

It snowed, briefly, last Friday, I think it was! Actual flakes floating and drifting down from the sky! Of course, it melted almost immediately, but still, snow in South Texas is rare.

My sister, Jan, came to visit for a couple of days and we were kidding that I probably wouldn't get a single Christmas card to help in decorating the scrawny garland I hung over the living room windows, since I hadn't sent a card, myself, in 2-3 years. ;) HOWEVER, this photo is to prove her wrong! I did get a card the other day! (Thanks, Natalie!!!) It is hanging proudly - and lonesomely - in the center of the garland. Honestly, can this even be classified as a 'garland'? It is so skinny maybe it should be called a 'rope' or something. Anyway, sending and receiving Christmas cards is one of my favorite traditions, but for the past few years, I just have not had time to send the ones I have bought! Or I guess I should say 'made time' since I know I could get more done than I do, if I tried harder. ...Not that I do soooo much, but everything takes time....and space. Anyway, I am not sure if I will even try to send cards this year. Now with our money so tight, I am not sure about spending for postage. And there is so much going on with our Children's Religious Education department, that time is being crunched too. ...and, um... I also got a new video game and found a new online game that tends to crunch my time as well. But I do enjoy it all - Christmas traditions and intriguing, but time wasting, games.

"IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS"

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:05:00 +0000

...next door, anyway. This is what Amy and Mat were working on this afternoon. Me? I've still got my last three pumpkins on the deck, the string of silk autumn leaves and veggie people on the cornice, and my Halloween tablecloth on the table.

Maybe for December, I should try to have a blog post and photo every day like I did in October. ...I didn't succeed in having one EVERY day, but I came fairly close.

ATC DOLLS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:05:00 +0000

These are two different styles of ATC dolls I made for a swap in an online group. The one on the left is a regular ATC with a cut out 'doll' added. The one on the right is jointed with an ATC as her middle, to which the arms, legs and head are connected. I talked about the vintage Japanese schoolboy ATC before, on this blog, when this Harajuku girl was still in the beginning stages. I like how she turned out, but the connecting joints gave me fits.

HORSE SURFING

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:32:00 +0000

Zachary and Starlight, taken this afternoon.

ARTISTIC POKER CHIPS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:28:00 +0000

Aren't these totally cool? Thanks, Keith! You are so creative and thoughtful. We love them!

WORKS IN PROGRESS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:15:00 +0000

I've been working on some artist trading cards lately. These are some of them. The only ones finished so far are the one with the circa 1940's Japanese schoolboy picture and the one I'm calling Gee's Bend Wannabe. Mathieu did a small Gee's Bend inspired painting too, beside mine. The colors are not showing clearly. The Japanese schoolboy has metalic gold behind him, not silver as it looks in the photo. The rectangle with the lace and ribbon set beside it is destined to become the middle of a jointed Harajuku style paper doll. The two faces-in-progress are probably going to have a Thanksgiving theme.

WHAT I DID THIS AFTERNOON

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:51:00 +0000

There was a dinner at the parish hall tonight after Mass in honor of the musical group who came to play and sing for the vigil Mass. So I finally got around to cooking the three largest pumpkins that Reagan gave us. I made two really large pans of sweet pumpkin and froze about 5 quarts of plain mashed pumpkin.

This is what one pan of sweet pumpkin looked like at the dinner. That's Bruno and Emma's famous rice next to it. Isn't it beautiful! I love rice with lots of fresh peppers, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. It looks like a work of art!

After the meal and the parish council meeting which followed that, I came home and finished getting some more of the pumpkin seeds out of the stringy pulp. Mathieu had started doing that earlier when I was cooking and peeling and mashing pumpkin. We didn't save all the seeds, but we got enough to make a nice roasted pumpkin seed snack tomorrow. The rest went to the chickens and just tossed out in the dirt where I am hoping some volunteer pumpkins will eventually come up.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:05:00 +0000

Okay, you KNEW I'd have to show another photo of Coconut in her new Halloween costume, right?

Halloween is over for another year. Sadly, I only had 3 (3!!!!) trick-or-treaters this year, down from 95 last year, and 137 the year before that. Can you believe it?! *sigh* Actually, it's not surprising since we moved from the middle of town, on a fairly busy street, to the back edge of town near the end of a dead-end road. Chuck went to the school to pick up Zach at what should have been the prime trick-or-treat time, and said that he saw NO kids out and only one street where some houses had their lights on. The kids from the family who always goes all out with a haunted house each year were on their porch waving to try to attract people to stop.

I only made two dishes this year - baked buffalo chicken dip and pretzel logs covered with caramel and purple sprinkles. Both were good, but the dip was REALLY good. It was just Chuck and I, Stewart, Reagan, Amy, Zachary, Mathieu and Seanna for 'dinner' tonight.

These were our first two trick-or-treaters - Mathieu (a pit crew member) and his cousin, Seanna (an angel). The third one came quite a while later - Maura S. who was a fairy. I wish I would have thought to get her photo too.
But we had a good time, overall, despite the low numbers.

DEFECTIVE COMPASS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:06:00 +0000

These two pirates showed up at my door tonight. The wench was disgusted with the wobbley pirate for his defective compass, but he insisted it worked fine...
but finally conceeded that there was no understanding the ways of the compass.
Well, they pulled themselves together and presented their most respectable visage...
and so I invited them inside.
Later, they had to say good-bye and set sail for town to bedevil the good citizens downtown. I hope that compass got them there safely.

MORE TREEHOUSE PHOTOS

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:38:00 +0000

I got home Saturday, and Mathieu wanted me to come over and look at the treehouse progress. He is thrilled with it, and he's having a ball constructing features inside it. So I went and got these photos. It's a good thing I took them when I did, because we have had another deluge since then. There is water everywhere. I went to Corpus Christi this evening to pick Stewart up from the airport. When I got home, I had to hang my jeans and socks to dry before I could put them in the laundry hamper. Ick!

GETTING READY...

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:27:00 +0000

slowly for Halloween. I've kind of lost my steam for the holiday this year. Just too much going on and too scattered with other things. Now it's less than a week until Halloween and no way do I want to drag all the scarecrow frames down from the attic at the other house and construct and dress them for just one week - and all the rain, as well... But I did manage to snap this photo of Barbara, Marlene, Violette Spice-Blythe and Falba the little witch girl the other day between rainfalls.

Currently, I am nursing a horrible sunburn I got from helping my friend, Annie, sell flowers by the highway yesterday. Ouch!

TREEHOUSE

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:27:00 +0000

There's been a lot of hammering next door where Mathieu is getting a treehouse (without the tree) built onto the end of the swings. I should have waited to take a photo when it's finished, but I didn't. I'll get that photo and post it another day.

FASHION EXPERT STAMP OF APPROVAL

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:21:00 +0000

I told Zach he looked nice when he came home from school a day or two ago. He said he was wearing his new favorite outfit, so I took a photo of him. "Even a cheerleader said I looked good!" he said.

THE WANDETTES RETURN

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:53:00 +0000

SHREK: Presenting the long promised return of the Wandettes! This little episode begins in a land Far, Far Away....over at the mailbox.

COLONEL CARVER: Careful there, soldier.

MAJOR BANNEKER: Got it! I think Barbara will want to see this.

MAJOR BANNEKER: Barbara, Colonel Carver and I encountered something interesting on our reconnaissance mission earlier today. I think you will be glad we intercepted this packet.

BARBARA: Thank you, Major and Colonel. I'll open it.

BARBARA: Hmmm...what is it??? Let me get it out.
MARLENE: Could it be....? Is it.....?

MARLENE: NEW DRESSES!!!!!
BARBARA: It's about time! Now if Wanda could just be bothered to find and unpack our shoes and jewelry.

MARLENE and BARBARA: HAPPY FALL EVRYONE!
SHREK: And they lived happily ever after...for the rest of the day.
THE END

P.S. For anyone who is interested, I bought these two dresses on Etsy from "sewgrandmacathy". They are very well made; she has a large stock of cute doll clothes for Blythe, Barbie and American Girl; reasonably priced and I received them very quickly.

CHICKEN SNAKE? RAT SNAKE?

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:26:00 +0000

That's what I thought this one was, but he doesn't match the pictures I googled to check for sure. Chuck found him in the yard this afteroon, and shuttled him safely across the driveway away from the house. He is about 2 feet long.

HAUNTED HOUSE

noreply@blogger.com (Wanda) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:26:00 +0000

The is the painting Mathieu did yesterday - "Haunted House".