The Lost Blog

 Last night, I painstakingly typed out a post on my phone. This is no easy task for me, as I have the very long fingers of a pianist, but without the elegant coordination. Think baby giraffe taking it's first steps. That's how I live life. It's a wonder I'm not a walking bruise. But this is beside the point. The point is, I wrote this long, long blathering post about home-made marshmallow pops, and it was all lost. I think making the marshmallows was easier than writing the post. At least I got a sweet little snack out of that. Which I couldn't eat. Because I've been on a diet...


Oh, mommyhood.

My Little Pony Hats

 I know I've mentioned this before, but Emmy LOVES horses. Lately there's been a shift from really horses to the fantasy sort- unicorns pegasuses (Pegasi?) multicolored ponies. My Little Pony. Seriously, I walk around everyday with that song stuck in my head. It was only a matter of time before I busted out the yarn to make some pony hats.

 Of course, there are six mane (hahahaha, aren't I clever??) ponies, so I couldn't really stop at just one, could I? No, why that would be normal and not OCD at all.

                                                                             Rarity

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight Sparkle again

 I made a Fluttershy hat too, but the hair is all wrong. It really needs to be a lot longer. So, I'll post pictures of her when she's done. Next up will be Rainbow Dash and if I can find the right shade of orange, Applejack.

I think I overused the word "pony" in the post. 

Pony.

Halloween Wrap Up

 I probably should have posted this before Halloween. Ah, but that is why I'm not a famous blogger, I suppose. Anyway, I made our costumes again this year.

Emily was The Flash!

And of course, The Flash would need a really awesome matching Trick or Treat bag...

Her friend Wonder Woman got an awesome bag, too.

And I went as Amy Farrah Folwer. ... Not sure you want to see that.

Pottery Barn for Less

 I was crazy about this canopy the moment I saw it in the Pottery Barn Kid's catalogue. Emmy's bedroom has a sort of whimsical garden theme going on, so I immediately started imagining how oh-so cute her bed would look with this little woodland canopy hanging over it. 

Then I saw the price tag.

$99. Plus shipping. It's since been knocked down to $58, but that's still a lot of money for a wreath and some tulle.

So I went out and bought my own wreath and my own tulle. Two five-yard pieces of tulle to be exact. In total, it cost about $12.

I broke out the glue gun and glued A LOT. 

I used ribbon and an eye-screw to hang it from the the ceiling.

 (Pay no attention to the walls. We haven't painted them yet!)

And there you have it. A $99 wreath for twelve bucks. Not too shabby!

What's in a Name?

 Happiness is Homegrown wasn't this blog's original name. It used to be Heather in Wonderland. I renamed it last spring, after I left my job to be a full time stay-at-home Mama. I had these big plans to grow a garden in my half-acre yard. The "garden" was already there, a large triangle fenced in long ago by a previous owner. It was so overgrown, we hired someone to rotorill it for us. Oh, how beautiful it was when it was done. The smell of freshly turned New England dirt is a smell like no other. And soon, I told myself, it would be full of vegetables.

 Then we went to DC for a month. We came home to a flourishing weed patch. But we went out there and ripped a lot of them out and planted zucchini, green beans and tomatoes.

 I learned that summer that I do not have a green thumb. The zucchini grew and we made some delicious breads with it. We did have a few bowls fills of beans, but those tomatoes never stood a chance. Some little critter ate every little green tomato. Our neighbors had a garden box, no fence for protection, yet they had beautiful tomatoes. Of course, I'll bet the little buggers was too full after eating all my tomatoes.

 This year I bought a small barrel and stuffed some herbs in it. They're grown, and all but the tarragon are in good shape, by some miracle.

 I've kept a fish alive for 2.5 years. Maybe livestock is the way to go....

 This blog was never intended as a business blog. It was supposed to be ablaut all things domestic and related to homemaking and raising little ones. Somehow, somewhere, I got derailed and the vast majority of my posts have been focused on my crocheted stuff.

 If my blog was to ever have a place in blog-history, it's for my LalaLoopsy inspired hat. Particularly the first one I ever made. It's pretty ugly compared to the other hats I've made since; the hair is too heavy, the eyes too far apart, and yet such a large percentage of my page views have been for that post. Go figure.

 Anyhow, I digress, running the risk of yet another post being about HeatherDoodle Designs.

 We started Kindergarten yesterday. Our first official school year! My hopes and goals for this blog are that it becomes a place to not only document this first year through words and pictures, but also to share ideas with others.

 On that note, we're off to the craft store or Wal-Mart to buy planters, soil and seeds, as Emily has asked that we grow a real "Kinder garden." Hard to say no to that!

Horse Hat

Emily LOVES horses, so I'm surprised it's taken me this long to make a horse hat. I was going to leave it as just a hat with ears and hair, but when Emmy saw it, she asked me "Mommy, where's his face?" That settled it, and now the horse has a face.