So many hobbies!

Sanibel Sandcastle

There is a guy who comes to Sanibel the same week every year and practices his castle building.  I've heard the rumor that he's perfecting his technique to become a champion sandcastle builder.  I've never actually met him so I can't say for certain.  Every year, his castles become better and more elaborate.

Even the back is beautiful!

I've been asked to post pictures of the bathroom with its new paint job.  It seems rather boring to me but here they are.  These will be the last pictures until the bathroom is completed and decorated.

Painting is all abou the prep work.  Most of the time "painting" is spent spackling holes, sanding, sweeping, vaccuming, washing the walls, taping off the parts you don't want painted, and putting up/down plastic so you don't get paint all over the place.  The actual painting only took me maybe half an hour or so.  I have a few spots that need touching up but for the most part, the painting is done.  I think I did a pretty good job.

Sunny is better than cloudy

As usual, Sanibel Island was beautiful, sunny and warm.  My two sisters and I and my parents had a great time together.  We visited several beaches, talked, laughed, collected shells and made some shell mirrors.  One of my sisters and my nephew got me addicted to the game Plants vs. Zombies and I played it far too much.  If you have a tablet or an iPad, try it.  The game is a blast.

On Wednesday, we took a ferry to the island Cayo Costa.  It's a pretty isolated island and we went for the shelling.

The view was pretty nice, too.  I was hunting for Baby Ears.  I've only ever found them on Cayo Costa.

That trip wiped me out.  Between the sun, the wind and all the fresh air, I was exhausted by the time we got back.  I slept nine and a half hours that night.  I was tired but the adventure and the shells were worth it.

When I wasn't shelling, I was working on a couple of shell mirrors.  Some of the shells I found on the beach, some I bought, some were given to me and some were left-over shells from last year.  It takes more shells to cover a mirror than you might think.  (I borrowed my mom's hot glue gun to affix the shells to the frame.)

First, I sprayed the frame white.  The mirror needs to be cleaned yet; some of the paint got under the paper I used to cover the mirror.

I decided to use last year's mirror and this year's mirrors to decorate my "new" bathroom.  Objects work better in odd numbers which meant I needed to make another mirror:

This time I didn't paint the frame white.  I wanted it to disappear in the background.  The round mirror is only 7 or 8 inches in diameter.  It's a cute little thing.

Speaking of bathrooms, this is what greeted me when I got home last night:

A completed shower surround...

and a tiled floor.  It's now my job to paint the bathroom.  I picked up the paint today.  Now I need to prep the walls:  fill any holes, sand down any high points,  take down the towel rods, vacuum the bathroom and wipe down the walls, and finally tape off the edges and cover all the nice new tiling and the new toilet to protect them from any wayward drops of paint.

I'm both happy to be home (I really missed my babies) and sad that Florida has now been replaced with cold, clouds and snow.  It was great to spend time with my sisters and parents.  We laughed a lot and had a great time.  I really love my family a lot.  No one gets you like your family does.  You share the same sense of humor and know the same stories.  I really miss them now that I'm home.  I can't wait until next year.

Sunray Venus

I wanted to stay

I walked on the beach every morning and lived the week in shorts.  It was a cruel awakening to come home to Michigan and winter.  I took my camera with me but hardly took any pictures.  Usually, I take a bunch of photos of the sunrises but it was cloudy every morning so the gorgeous sunrises didn't happen.  Still, walking on the beach is fabulous even without a good sunrise.  There was a full moon last week so we had some fabulous low tides.  Sadly, the shelling wasn't very good but we had a great time anyway.  We visited some new beaches which was lots of fun.

I brought two knitting projects with me, mittens and socks.  The mittens I finished and they're great:

They were used today and worked beautifully.  I reknitted the first finger 4 times before I get it right.  Thanks, Gayle, for the direction to cast on some extra stitches for the finger.  I wouldn't have figured that out on my own.  I love how they came out.

The other project I worked on was a shell mirror.  My mom brings her hot glue gun with her every year so I had a ready source of glue.  Part of the shells I glued to the mirror were found on the beach, some I bought in the local shell stores and some I got from my sister.  Here's what I made:

That pretty shell flower at the top was made by my mom.  (Yes, that's the TARDIS on my shirt.) 

We had a great time.  My sisters and I are trying to find a way to buy a house on Sanibel and live there year round.  At this point, though, it's just a really nice dream.  None of us can move to Sanibel for quite a few years.  Anyone want to donate to the Sanibel fund?

Nibbled by a goat

 

The Handmaiden Casbah socks are done.  Finally.  I started them October 2nd and finally finished them this past Saturday.  Well, I wove in the ends Saturday.  The fabric is tight and thick and will be very cozy on my feet.

 

I cast on for these in the airport on my way down to Florida.  I've made pretty good headway.  The kittens, on occasion, give me a bit of knitting peace so between the week in Florida and the past week, I'm about an inch and a half from starting the heels.  They're going much faster than I expected them to.

 

A little more shell art.  This is a Sunray Venus my parents found on the beach.  I pretty good find.  I'm partial to anything sun-like so once I find a place, this guy will hang on the wall.

 

My spinning guild meeting was this past Saturday.  One of my fellow guild members often brings in orphaned baby goats or sheep.  This little girl is a three day old angora goat.  For some reason, she nibbled everyone's chins and necks (she wasn't hungry, we tried that).  Little, tiny nips with her teeth, but not enough to hurt.  It tickled instead.  (The picture was taken by my friend Amy with her iPhone and a special photo app.)

So beautiful here!

I've made it out to the beach the last three mornings in time to see the sun rise.  Every morning it's different and always beautiful.

It was windy today which meant the waves were beautiful.  Hey, can anyone tell me why on some days there's two low tides and on some days there's only one? 

I was able to get a cat fix today.  This is Miss Wildflower.  She lives at one of the stores in town.  When I first saw here, she was sleeping on a pile of pet beds for sale in the store.  I guess she was doing her part to prove the beds were pet approved.  (I miss my babies!  No one has laid on my face or stepped on delicate body parts in days!)

It's into Fort Myers tomorrow for some shopping and lunch at our favorite restaurant:  Sweet Tomatoes.  My sister and I make the trip every year to visit the bookstore, Sweet Tomatoes and craft stores.  This year we're adding a quilt store.  Could be dangerous.

 

It's sunny here!

 

I love Sanibel Island this time of year.  Especially compared to Michigan in winter.  The sunrise was beautiful this morning. 

 

The guy who makes the sand castles was here last week.  I don't know how he does it but this sand sculpture will look this good all through this week.  Apparently, this year he was working on spheres.

I'm lucky enough to be here with my parents and both of my sisters.  My mom tells us on a regular basis to behave ourselves.  If she wanted us to behave in public, she really shouldn't have let us spend so much time with Dad when we were growing up.  Dad's worse than we are!  Needless to say, we're having a great time.