i want a giant plate of caffeinated fried food please

well dear one & only reader: i survived the first 2 days of no caffeine; quite possibly it is more accurate to say that all those around me survived. i nearly caved the first day off as the headache was brutal, but i managed to stay the course.

the more difficult has been the food. i should have gone to the market before beginning my evil, life-sucking diet healthier eating habits. i need to figure out what snacks will give me the same emotional satisfaction as the ones they'll replace. as it stands, all of yesterday was spent fantasising about snuggling under a blanket on the couch, with an entire casserole of stuffing all to myself. mmmmm.

***

autumn has been uncomfortably hot thus far, even for southern california. today & tomorrow are promised to be cooler, so i plan to get as much work done on the farm as possible. everything is suffering from the heat, & the dry wind. i didn't plant any seeds at summer's end; because the beds need serious work done; but we lost a pumpkin, & the row of leek seedlings. happily we had another pumpkin already harvested, so thehobbit will have something to carve.

it's amazing how wild the earth goes when one is too busy to tend it properly. the farm isn't too bad, but the rest of the yard is insane. still, i think if we focus one section at a time, we should have everything under control by winter's arrival.

i'm so grateful to live in a house with a gigantic backyard, that i don't really feel i can complain about all the work to be done. 11 years of apartment living is still too fresh in my mind for that.

the little guy in the photo is a garden gnome we rescued from a pile of things tossed when a neighbor moved last year. thehobbit & i love him with his faded paint, & ever-watchful stance. thehobbit says that he guards the blueberries from goblins, but (as he's nowhere near the blueberry bush) i'm not sure what he's watching for.

***

that's all i have time for today. i wish i could stay to chat longer, but i have a hobbit in need of a pre-gardening snuggle. i hope you have a lovely day.

~peace.

in which i share my thoughts

change is in the air, i can feel it. not the autumnal change, nor the serious changes the world is facing - this one is all mine. the feeling has been creeping up slowly for a time now. i'd sense it ever so slightly, but it would disappear if i stopped to ponder.

i don't know what the change will bring, but i don't feel foreboding, or a sense of dread at all. what i do feel is a tingling charge, like someone, somewhere is whispering fantastic things to me, & if i crane my head forward just enough, i'll hear wonderous secrets.


i think i'm ready; or as near ready as i'm ever able to be. i know i am ready to take kats in the belfry beyond blogdom & shows. partly because i can finally upload photos at the speed of faster-than-dirtitude (real word,) but also because i'm ready to succeed. i have never been one to put off, or keep from doing something for fear i'd fail. what's kept me from going forward with many things over the years has been success. does that make sense? i see heads nodding - i know you're out there too, my fellow freaks who are afraid of what comes after (or with) the end of the rainbow. dangit! now i have who's afraid of virginia wolff in my - no! & now who's afraid of the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf, the big bad wolf? is playing in my head. rats & fleas.



the other changes? i honestly have no idea. i probably should sit down, & really give it some thought. try to figure out where i should be going, or looking, or something. the thing is, i just don't want to. i want; & this is a first for me; to just discover it when it is ready to be discovered. i have no desire ok a little, but only a very little to control this, this whatever it is that is headed my way.

***

this morning manlyman told me his concerns for my health. there was no way i could argue that, so i didn't bother trying. i decided i'm done with eating poorly, & done with what has become a sedentary lifestyle. i'm not a sickly woman, but i do have genetically high cholesterol, & heart disease runs in my family. so, yeah. it's time.

today marked my last caffeinated drink, & last day without exercise. yes i know the day is not yet over, that there is plenty of time for a good yoga session at least. the thing is: i believe strongly in marking occasions in a grand way. it wouldn't do to spoil the grandeur of tomorrow, by beginning a portion of my journey tonight :-D

***

just think! one day soon you shall come to visit me, & find a fit, skinny woman, with a thriving bizzie, giddy from all her new adventures, & happily celebrating the first black man to be elected president in the united states. i cannot wait.

~peace.

a quickie with photos

i am supposed to be at the grocery store right now, but i stole batteries from something else (duh) & wanted to share a few photos before i left for the day. it's also craft night, so you would have had to wait a whole other day. we both know waiting sucks.


this is for a fiber arts mushroom swap. it's made from wool felt, with the cap stuffed with roving. i didn't attach the cap; which is why i was able to tilt it for the photo. it needs to tilt so you can see this!

everyone should have a chinese mushroom! i used a wooden, gnomie body for the stem & head. i hope my swap partner likes it.

another i am in is the pocket lady swap. the items needed to be waldorf-appropriate, & dinky. each of my 2 partners was to receive 3 items. i already sent my first out, but didn't take photos. this mushroom is freakysmall. i meant to put a coin into the shot, so you could see just how wee, but i was too lazy to head over to the coin jar.

i still have 1 more item to create, then i'll have completed this swap. here is the little mushroom with a forest gnomie.

i want to keep them both!! i didn't get a photo of the gnomie's back - his cloak is embroidered. he's fancy.

past time for me to be off. i hope your day is a wonderful adventure. & by the way... i checked, & my comments are not turned off. some of you people need to delurk & say hello. let me rephrase that, some of you need to delurk, not anonymously, & say hello.

~peace.

small house. in the middle of the street.

did i tell you that i finally made the switch from mouse-on-wheel power to dsl? that's right people, i am now able to zip through the internet at speeds that make me a tad vomity! & yes i was the one who just last night was extolling the old-fashioned way. people? i was able to take a shower in the time it took elvie to upload a photo to blogger! i kid you not. ok a quick shower, but still! besides, i am writing this post whilst wearing a bonnet, & churning butter.

i have many photos to share with you, & were my camera's batteries not dead, i would be able to upload them at a wicked, vomity speed. i have been a crafting mad woman. i've begun getting stock ready for the waldorf winter faire, have been tinkering with a few new items, & have kept going with the swap-bot stuff. oh! the woman received my whimsy jar, & had lovely things to say about it. she even hearted me, which is quite a big deal :-)

***

because i cannot share my photos, i've taken some from greenleaf. thehobbit & i spent an hour this morning, poking through photos of miniatures online. looking at freakyexpensive dollhouses led us to look for more affordable kits. i'm not thrilled with the tab & slot construction, but it does mean that thehobbit can put this kit together on his own should he want to. what do you think?

this one is called arthur. manlyman & i are talking about getting this for thehobbit for xmas. he loves building wooden kits, & he loves minis, so this is the perfect prezzie for him. it's handmade for the holidays taken to the extreme - happy xmas love, make your prezzie yourself. hahahaha!

& if you think this house is sweet, you have to see this! i'm trying to come up with a reason to justify buying that for myself. can't you see the exterior painted to look like a vintage airstream?

all of this takes me back to my childhood. my gramma & i belonged to a miniature club. we'd get 1 kit in the mail each month, then spend most of the day putting it together. those kits were extremely detailed. i remember a dresser with queen anne legs, a grandfather clock, chairs, tables, a 4-poster bed, & loads of dinky brass bits. in a fit of nostalgia, i showed thehobbit photos of minis similar, & he said those are too fussy for me. that boy is one of a kind to be sure.

i know i'm not the only one in prezzie-mode. what are you planning to give your kids?

~peace

** song now stuck in my head from post title **