come out & play with me

ooh a food game! bittersweet had an idea based on a list that's flying around cyberspace. she explains everything here.

it looked like fun, so i decided to play along. you play too - ready? set? go!

***

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.5) Pass it on!"

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut
50. Seaweed
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxtess cupcakes
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato Milk
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

***

tag - you're it!
~peace.

a moment of your time

it would appear that i do quite a bit of looking everywhere; yet not often enough, directly in front of me.

the weeks of uploading thousands of photos led to looking through them; first by myself, then with manlyman or thehobbit. it was lovely in the beginning - to relive the moments we shared - yet it led to much sadness as well. seeing how small thehobbit was, even just a year ago, compared to the lanky 10yo he is today has been difficult. i love to watch him grow, & see him accomplish or discover new things - & yet...

too much time looking behind you can be dangerous. it can lead to wishing you'd done or not done, or focusing on things that are no more. not that looking back is entirely bad; i don't mean to imply that. i've just been looking behind a tad more than is healthy of late.

i have been looking forward as well, just perhaps a little too far into the distance. all the planning for the homeschool year, all the prepping for the winter show, all the dreaming that i am forever lost in. that is a biggie for me, that last bit. i am a dreamer of the grandest magnitude. just yesterday i was lost in a daydream, & realized that thehobbit had been talking to me for a goodly while, & i hadn't heard a thing. not a pleasant thing to realize - that you'd been so lost in dreams of where you want to be, that you're ignoring where you actually are.

the photos here are but a minute fraction of how many upward shots i found during the uploading. oh how i love to look up - to gaze at the sky, to watch the birds or the clouds or the stars. i don't know what it is about the world above my head that pulls at me so strongly.

i discovered many photos of rooftops & carved ceilings, of towering trees, of signs, of banners, & well you get my point.

having a child who loves the hidden world beneath his feet, has gotten me into the habit of searching downward for places to explore. rocks & tiny flowers, acorn & eucalyptus caps, signs of wee folk - it's all right there. we look for paths to walk down; literally & not. we scan the ground for things to delight us, to inspire us, to take home, or perhaps just to watch. it's easy to let time slip past this way.

***

what i need to do is find a way to do all of the above; all of the looking ahead, behind, above, & downward; but keep my focus on what is directly in front of me. the here & the now. it shan't be easy for me; gazer, dreamer, searcher that i am.

perhaps if i take it in moments? don't say today i shall spend the morning playing with thehobbit & ignoring the rest - rather - right this moment i am here. with thehobbit. playing. & this moment. & again, this moment.

~peace. right this moment. peace.

plant this!

many years ago manlyman realized he would be happier if he just accepted my love of containers & my ambition to have the largest collection ever. baskets, wooden boxes, metal buckets, enamelware: the more utilitarian, & rustic the better. oooh that gives me the chills.

he still does not understand my love, nor would he mind were i to wake one day & decide to toss the lot. that's ok with me though, because i don't need him to understand. i do need him to keep bringing home cool baskets & tins that his co-workers don't want. (they receive a lot of gifts in containers from the club's members through the year.)

***

months back he brought me a wooden planter that had been filled with jams. i liked it, but couldn't figure out how to put it to use.


there is a plastic lining, so i briefly considered actually planting something within - shocking i know. i'm not big on using things they way they were intended to be used. so the planter just sat there, working as a temporary, dust-collector. until...



i realized file folders fit perfectly! i'd previously kept the files stacked on a small, low, wire table beneath my computer table (i use a farm table instead of a desk) but the stack was forever falling over. the planter fits perfectly in place of the stack. i put those fuzzy little disks beneath the little table's legs, so i can easily slide the whole thing beneath the larger table when i don't need the files.

***

i did some experimenting for you: spiral notebooks, magazines, construction paper, or printer paper all fit nicely as well. you needn't stick with wooden planters; metal, or wicker would work splendidly. i personally wouldn't use wire, because i think things would not slide in & out as smoothly; but if you don't mind that, you can use a wire planter. if you haven't a planter of any kind, check out thrift shops. i'm forever seeing them there, & for a few dollars at most.

happy planting :-)
~peace.

when you wish upon a star...

do not wish you could spend a day doing nothing. don't think how lovely it would be if there was nothing to do, & you were able to watch mindless television the whole day long. why kat, why? why should we not wish for such a thing? it sounds lovely. well i shall tell you why, oh yes i shall.

because your wish shall come true! however... not in the way you had imagined it would. i wished for this very thing, after a few days of playing catch-up during the moments my back was behaving. i was exhausted, & nowhere near caught up, so i made my wish. it would seem these weren't the brightest of things to do; neither the wishing, nor the day at disneyland with a pack on my back nor the catching-up.

today my wish was granted, & i spent the day doing nothing. wait. let me rephrase that: unable to do anything. tooootally different. my back is now utterly out. all walking is done in slow motion, & the most minute of movements can trigger a freakypainful spasm, which freezes me in place until it passes. i am one miserable kat.

***

i spent very little of the day watching television at least. we did watch some, but it was a beautiful day, so much of it was spent out of doors. my guilt at not being able to do anything with thehobbit vanished when i realized he was spending his summer day as i had spent many of mine: left to play the day away in the backyard, with no adults to pester him.

i did check on him a few times though, because he was dressed quite inappropriately for a warm day. over pants & a tshirt he had on: a black suit coat, black gloves, an invisibility cloak, & a bike helmet (on backwards.) he never caught on, as i said i was coming outside for smooches. ha! by the way, i asked what he was dressed for, & he looked at me confusedly, & said huh?...

i sincerely hope the rest of you had a vastly better day than i. do me a favor - put on some music, & dance around the house in wild abandon. i'm going to wish that i can join you.

~peace.

things i'm enjoying these days

1) slacker radio - similar to pandora, but i like it so much better. i find with slacker, i hear the artist i chose more often than i did with pandora. plus the look suits me better.

2) dr. horrible - i keep replaying this whilst working on other things. hysterical! but it's slowing me down, because i cannot stop clicking over to watch my imaginary-tv-boyfriend singing for me. blondes aren't my thing; my other imaginary boyfriends are the dark, brooding type (as is manlyman); but he is quite funny on his tv show, & he can sing. funny is good, & singing earns serious imaginary-boyfriend-points. & yes i know he is gay. imaginary boyfriends need not be straight. or real. hence the word imaginary. stop picking on me, this is how i stay sane. -ish.

3) komankeo - we discovered these a few months back, & fell in love! the entire belfry is smitten with the kitten. don't stop with one, watch them all. i always watch the user radibo's clips. i forget why now, but there was a good reason i preferred his (hers?) over the others'.

4) dang! i also forgot what the other enjoyable thing was i'd wanted to share with you. i'll make something up. it's easier to keep typing, than to delete number 4. um. never mind. it's been a long day. let's just say... i enjoy babbling, & leave it at that.

what things are making you happy these days? leave a comment with links please!
~peace

here's mud in your eye

paper & i took the shorties to mud mania today. it was hot; not as hot as last year; but hot enough to sweat where a girl ought not. as usual a fabulous time was had by all. the shorties ran about squirting everything with water, & couldn't have been happier. i must say that selling (filled!) water bottles at an event such as this, was pure genius! all day fun for $1.

for some reason neither child felt like making adobe, or any of the usual historical activities. come to think on it, they did very few crafts this year as well. for the first time in mud mania history, both kids arrived home in their original, non-muddy clothing! very odd.

***

because of the historic aspect of the venue, they always have a small table of the sweetest, old-fashioned toys, & kits for sale. the shorties made a beeline for the cast iron pencil sharpeners, squealing "borrowers!"

for only $3 i couldn't say no. well i could, but look how damn cute the stove is! the door opens so the borrowers can stoke their fire. & really, they couldn't keep cooking on that little bottle cap hotplate thehobbit rigged for them. um i mean - he said. the little door opens!

***

before dinner thehobbit & i relaxed in the backyard, waiting for manlyman to get home from work. he quietly searched the grass for roly-polies, whilst i just lay there, & stared at the sky. it was the clearest blue, not a cloud to be seen. there are certain shades of sky that i cannot tear my eyes from. this was one of those shades. just a crisp, perfect, sun low in the sky blue. i know many people think that los angeles has a brown sky; which we did back in the day; but it's no longer the case. ok i do live where it is nearly always breezy, & that breeze is straight from the ocean - but still!

staring at the sky set my mood for the remainder of the day; a peaceful happy. how could it not: a cool breeze on a warm day, a beautiful boy nearby (content to whisper to the bug world), everything so quiet that i could hear all the leaves rustling on the giant pecan tree, & all of it ending with manlyman coming home?! i could have done without the part where he had to help me up, because my back was acting badly.

i hope your day ended peacefully happy.

~peace

** congrats to a certain cowgoddess on the future expansion of her herd! **

the elves began it, waking up the trees, teaching them to speak

i've begun the painfully slow process of uploading all my photos to costco, so i can remove them from elvie. i'm convinced that once i'm able to do that, she'll no longer run slower than dirt. because she does though, means that uploading photos is a royal pain in the arse.

the one thing stopping me from throwing elvie out a window; other than i'm still unable to lift heavy things; is that thehobbit & i are having a wonderful time discussing everything the photos tell us. what amazing adventures we have had!

***

i did notice a theme running through the years of photos - it would seem i love trees. ok i already knew i loved trees, but i hadn't realized that i took pictures of them nearly everywhere we went. many of the tree photos are like these; from beneath, looking up through the branches. i wonder why that is. that one above is the giant tree in our front yard.

***

the tree below is the same as the one featured on this site. neither photo shows how enormous this tree really is. the plants in the foreground are probably 3ft tall, if that helps. thehobbit likes to lean against the trunk of the tree, between the giant roots. he doesn't do anything once there, just stands. i don't know if it's a tree thing, or that thing kids have where they like being in enclosed places: blanket forts beneath tables, cardboard box forts, etc.

the tree was photographed at last year's mud mania. seeing it reminded me of the previous year's event, & led me to search for this photo:

that is the hobbit after his team lost a game of tug-o-war. they don't mess around with skimpy mud puddles - the pit was fairly deep. he's not got his hands on his hips in a 'tude of any kind; he was trying to keep his shorts from falling off from the weight of all the mud. i love this photo :-)

***

it feels wonderful to be able to share photos with you! & so easily. wish me luck that the internet gods allow me to upload the remaining few thousand!

have a lovely day :-)
~peace

second to the right, & straight on till morning.

the end of summer is when homeschoolers rush about, making plans, & gathering things for the coming school year. we don't actually do school in our family, so we don't have anything from which to break each summer. still; each august i find myself rushing along with everyone else.

i recently wrote briefly about the most fantabulistic plan ever (tmfpe) - & how we're going to do less, & focus more by doing themes. a week into planning, & i am thrilled at how well this is working out! tmfpe is making searching for projects, activities, field trips, & crafts so much easier. i'm also finding that as i hunt for books for one theme, i can write down books i run into that will work for themes ahead.

we don't start until september (pirates!) but i noticed we've stumbled into a theme. i have no intention of doing any planning for it that takes more than a few minutes of my time of which i have none; but if we stumble some more we'll go with it. the unofficial theme for august is: peter pan.

a few days ago we finished the peter & the series (see below) - which if you have not yet listened to you must! it was the most amazing trilogy i've ever heard (jim dale!) i'm sure reading it is amazing as well (but jim dale!)



we i mostly cried at the end; it was a bittersweet ending, & thehobbit & i hate when things end. except back spasms - any day now please.

tonight manlyman was looking for a bedtime story, & i suggested a book we were lucky to snag at the last book swap. they got 2 chapters in, & declared it awesome!

this story focuses on tink & the other faeries, which thrilled thehobbit to no end. he had no idea what the story was about before they lay down to read.

the library is requesting we visit this week; something about wanting books back?; so i'll see if they have my favorite of the peter pan movies. i like the cathy rigby version of the play, & hook is cute, but i cannot stand the disney cartoon.



knowing thehobbit he'll come up with loads of make-believe to go along with this. don't be surprised if by september i'm so up to my eyeballs in over-the-top peter pan activities/lessons/crafts/field trips, that i'm bitching about being behind.

i'll teach you to jump on the wind's back, & away we go! ~ p. pan

~peace

trash to (sea) treasures

the other day my friend treela asked about a camping trip my family took 2 years ago. her family is contemplating a holiday there, & she wanted to know where we stayed. ever since our chat, i've been thinking back to that week, & the amazing time we had!

our reason for camping so far from home, was inspired by this show - we wanted to see glass beach for ourselves. i thought there would be a thin, pretty layer of sea glass on the sand, but was i ever wrong!

we dug deep holes into the sea glass, & never found the end of it. the deeper we went, the more sand there was mixed in, but that's all. originally this cove had been a garbage dump. locals would toss their trash down, expecting the ocean to wash it all away. eventually a group of people managed to have this practice stopped, & over time everything that decomposed did, & all that glass turned to treasure.

the above photo is what i collected. it's pretty in its jar, all pale & frosted. what you don't see until the glass bits are wet are their actual colors, & a sparkle that makes you doubt they are truly glass. the ones that appear to be dark rocks, are really amber, the grays really clear. others in the jar are pale pink, pale green, pale blue, & even white milk glass. milk glass!

i was told that once there were red sea glass, & cobalt blue, but they were the first to be collected by visitors. i felt sad at first, then i realized i couldn't leave my treasures behind either. yes i know, very selfish. the beach has been since purchased by the state, so i imagine the taking of sea glass will one day; if not already; be forbidden.

people also threw out pottery, & china. there wasn't much to be found - i wonder if it breaks down more quickly than glass - but i did find some beautiful bits. this photo shows some i was considering doing a mosaic with. i eventually chose to house them in their own jar instead. if you click on the photo you might see the patterns some still had, & even some crazing.

thanks treela, for sparking memories! thanks to you as well, my one & only reader, for sharing the memories with me.

~peace

more cooking with boxes

the good news is that the pestilence is waning; both thehobbit & i woke today feeling much better. the bad news; that dratted balance again; is that my back is worse. i don't know how this happened, i may have worked a bit on the farm yesterday but i do know that by bedtime last night i was a wreck. sleep was fun. when i slept. which wasn't often.

thehobbit was not thrilled to learn i'd have to take it easy again. luckily he is well enough to be with other kids, so he spent the morning playing quietly in the backyard with boobah (his honorary little brother.) whew.

***

some of you may not know this, but we are vegetarians. there also various food woes amongst the belfries: wheat, soy, corn, cow-dairy. it makes cooking quite an adventure.

i love to cook, as well as to modify & create recipes; so there is that. one of my hopes for this blog, is to share my food alterations & creations with you. i've not posted many, because i always forget to take photos to go along with recipes. yes i know that doesn't shock you in the least. i should invite clip-art over for dinner once in awhile. ha!



another problem is that i never measure. friends are forever yelling at me for that - apparently it makes sharing recipes with them a tad difficult. who knew? i've enlisted soap as my official recipe tester, which forces me to dust off the measuring spoons & cups. that, & i want to ensure she keeps gifting me with her farm's bounty. shhhhh. she tested the first recipe last night:

Potatoes & Slop

1 box imagine no-chicken broth

1 box trader joe's pav bhaji

1 can chickpeas, rinsed

1 brown onion, diced

2 med. zucchini, diced

1/3c brown rice, uncooked

1c orange lentils, uncooked

russet potatoes, 1-2 per person

*put all the ingredients; minus the potatoes; into the crock-pot.

*cook on high for 5 hours (it will look like gloppy, slop when it is done - do not panic!)

*whilst the crock-pot is doing its thing, bake the potatoes to your liking.

*serve the slop over the potatoes (salt & pepper to taste)

** note :: even though the pav bhaji is quite spicy, the slop has no heat whatsoever. **

the verdict -- the belfries, & the soaps loved it; children included. i hope you do as well. let me know when you've tried it please.

***

sorry i have no crafting to share; it's had to take a back seat to other things for the time being. how do you cope when life gets in the way of crafting & sewing - because seriously? i'm having withdrawals.

~peace

** there is a new post at hogwarts homeschool **

pass the tofurkey & stuffing please.

i'm feeling quite thankful today; vastly different from yesterday's someone peed in my cereal post. we still have the pestilence, but my back isn't spasming nearly as often. the belfry is still a mess, & i'm still done with being here, & not having my own friends with whom to play. & yet? i'm paying attention to the silver linings now.

here is a list for what i'm thankful today; none of it deep, moving, or accompanied by photos.

* miniature legos, dinky harry potter characters & hogwarts castle set, wooden blocks, mud, water, & a borrowed shade structure in the backyard - combined with thehobbit's long attention span, & freakyhuge imagination. plus his contentment playing all of that by himself. ssshhhhh.

* books on cd from the library.

* knowing manlyman has a short day at work, & shall be home in just 2 hours.

* ready-made food. yes i know we should eat all of our food fresh; & i mostly do; but when i'm pestilencificated, (real word) & worn out? bring on the boxes! here is what we had for lunch today:

punjab choley noodles

1/2 a box of imagine's no-chicken broth

1/2 a bag of trader joe's rice noodle sticks

1 box of trader joe's punjab choley

put it all into a pot, & cook for a few minutes; until the noodles have cooked.

that's how i ate mine, & it was brilliant. because thehobbit can't handle its heat; oops i forgot to tell you that this is quite spicy; i added more to the pot once i filled my bowl.

1/2 c frozen peas

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 c trader joe's coconut milk

i realize some of you may not have trader joe's near you, so try whole foods, or perhaps order things online. by the way; the coconut milk is not the thin, watery kind that you drink. this is a very thick liquid. it is added to cut the heat, so don't substitute for the more watery version. if you do dairy, i'd use cream. well i personally would not being lactose intolerant, but i would use chevre. many who cannot tolerate dairy, find it is just cow dairy that they cannot handle. all the belfries can't have cow products, but we can tolerate goat & sheep products perfectly well. you should give it a try if you too suffer from lactose woes.

***

once the pestilence has gone, my back is fully well, the belfry is no longer foul - then i'll be thankful for my beautiful hobbit, husband, & all that jazz. for now i'll focus on the little things that are helping me through.

~peace.

balancing act

i know there needs to be balance in the world, & i'm fine with it: good/bad, light/dark, caff/decaff, etc. what i'm not fine with is balance messing with my schedule. i should have known that an amazing few days of expo & family time; would be followed by a few days of sucky time.

it began with my back spasming, followed closely by thehobbit coming down with pestilence. now i have pestilence & back spasms, plus a to-do list longer than santa's. sigh.

i'm a little stressed by all i'm unable to get done right now. not that i enjoy cleaning, & errands mind you, but if i fall any farther behind it will be a nightmare to catch up. i suspect it already shall be. and (i had to write the actual word, to stress the importance of this next bit) i am sick of being home. do you hear that home?! i am sick of you, your mess, your ants, your laundry piles, & the fact that you don't have any soy ice cream with chocolate sauce & whipped cream for me!!!!

if that wasn't enough for a proper pity party; thehobbit & i are done having only each other for company. i love him, & he loves me, & we're both ready to stare at other people now. when he realized that daddyo was working the late shift tonight, & they wouldn't get to play together; he began to cry. i nearly joined him.

***

with the back spasms i'm not able to do much, nor sit for very long. i did get the farm watered, but that's pretty much it, & watering took forever. we have our next round of seedlings popping up, so i could not let it go until manlyman got home tonight. the heat of the day would have killed them. still, it wasn't too difficult, & i didn't worsen my back lugging the hose about. that would be a very thin silver lining - unfortunately i'm not in the mood for silver linings of any thickness.

on that happy note, i'm off. i hope you are having a vastly better few days than i. if not, join the pity party, & leave a comment.

~peace.

** a new post at hogwarts homeschool **

jane's addiction

actually the addiction is mine, but manlyman had this song on the radio the other day, & it got stuck in my head.



what is wrong with me that i love books so? yes, i know kajillions of people love books, but i worry that my love borders on the you can love your dog, just don't love your dog kind of love.



do i not already have shelves & stacks of books crammed into the belfry? did i not just get rid of books at a swap, & here? did i not then receive books from both places? & finally, did i not just post about books i bought at the expo? why then did i purchase more books today?

ok so books are wonderful. books are even necessary, especially when one homeschools -ha! i wrote expecially at first - but seriously. i need to stop. i shall not stop, & if any random person tries to stop me, i'll sell all his golf accoutrement whilst he is at work but really i should. i won't. but i probably should. or i'll perhaps buy more.

we decided to shake things up in our homeschooling this year, & play with month-long themes. whenever possible we plan to mesh what we already do into those themes. for example: september is to be pirate month. we'll read a piratey book for thehobbit's book/craft club, take piratey field trips, do loads of pirate crafts, & whatever else we can come up with. this way we do less (because we aren't adding fun themes to our already bursting schedule,) & we'll focus on what we do more. in theory it sounds perfect! that brings us back to the books i bought today.

** edited to add :: people have emailed with concerns that the above sounds more like fun, & not so much like school. first let me say, we aren't in school, so of course we're having fun. ha! to clarify; he will be reading maps, using a compass, studying the carribean, building a wooden pirate ship model, & whatever else we come up with. thanks for your concern. **

***

i bought them from the new or used section, & chose the least expensive, with the shortest distance to be shipped. in every case the shipping; at $4; cost more than the books. in a few cases 3 dollars more! i have to say, i behaved only slightly very well, & stopped with just the books i was looking for.

i try to use the library for the majority of our book needs, but i will buy things we're bound to use over & over. & seriously... can one have too many piratey books?

you are invited; as usual; to join us on our piratey adventures through all of september! i'll post any activity, or other piratetastic (real word) thing we do - then you come back, & leave a comment with a link to your blog, so we can all see what you did! arrrrgh.

~peace.

ps... all questions regarding my behavior are rhetorical.

books - a p.s.

i forgot to share the books i bought at yesterday's used curriculum sale: happy reading!



if you've used any of these books with your kids, i would love some tips. if not, get the books, & play along with us.
~peace

homeschoolpalooza...

that is how one mama described the homeschool expo this past weekend, & i think that about sums it up. it was 3 of the most amazing days ever - i'm having serious withdrawals today.

i met people i'd only known as email adresses, reunited with people i hadn't seen since last year's expo, hung out with local friends, & spent time with close friends who had abandoned me moved away.

the sessions i attended were inspiring - well all but one. sadly one i'd been looking forward to turned out to be lame. manlyman, soap, & i made up for the lameness, by quietly misbehaving in the back of the room.

our hogwarts homeschool (hh) session was a success! i was on the verge of vomiting the entire time, but i managed to make it through. those of you who don't know me in person; i'm horridly, freakyshy. it takes all my focus to just talk with people i barely know. even then i feel slightly queasy, so you can imagine what a room filled with people did to me.

when i wasn't in sessions, or volunteering, i played with friends. manlyman & thehobbit swam whenever they got the chance. those 2 are fish. strange, slightly dorky fish.

oh! i almost forgot: i took a ribbon embroidery session. i sucked at it, but it was fun. the woman who taught many of the home arts sessions was quite lovely. go visit her blog - wait! not yet. sheesh. finish reading, leave a comment, then go visit.

i don't yet know who won the gift bag the dragonfly artisans donated. hopefully the winner will either come here, or to the group blog, & let us know who he/she is.

***

there hasn't been much time to craft or sew of late. this week won't be any different. i have to get everything from the expo session, uploaded to the hh blog, then start getting ready for the r&s day of peace in september. i could use a time turner about now.

i hope your weekend was as fabupalooza as was mine. what did you do?
~peace.

ps... sorry for the lack of photos. blogger isn't letting me upload today.

behave!

we're packing bella, & heading out today! thehobbit is beside himself - a swimming pool, both his bestest friends, fun classes & activities, homeschoolers everywhere, a swanky hotel room...

i have to leave delilah at home, so there won't be any blogging for me. i expect you to behave yourself over the next few days! one of us should at least - ha!

have a glorious weekend.
~peace