On the way to the Uptown Art Fair, my mom and I found this glittery tree in someone's dumpster. It's been hanging from the rafters in the garage until last weekend, when we put propped it up and put on some decorations. Zander's mom sent us the beautiful tree skirt a few weeks ago. She made it out of one of Zander's great-grandma Pearl's tablecloths. I LOVE it.



After the last CC meeting, with a crash course in ornament making, I whipped up some Christmas softies of our kitties. One of Boo and one of Juno. The one of Boo is cuter, but that does not mean that we love him more. We, especially I, love them both the same.



I'm still messing around with felted sweaters a bit more before I but together a big quilt. I made this scarf for my co-worker that I didn't think I would like, but has turned out to be a dear friend already. How is it, that so many things in life that you let yourself get freaky-psyched out about, turn out better than could've imagined? Anyway, she loved the scarf. She's funky and the scarf is funkier looking that it is in the picture, so it was a good match.

EARLY on Saturday morning we're heading out to Christmas with our Colorado clan. It'll be so nice to get away and spend time with all of them. All of you, have a fun and safe and lovely holiday!

I got tagged by the Juice to tell all ya'll five interesting things about me. Hmmm. I feel like it's all so obvious, but here goes.

1. In college, I started out as a classical music major. Since then, I've totally given it up (except the not-so-ocassional-karaoke) and would love to take voice lessons again. Oh, and maybe learn how to play the guitar.
2. When I was a kid I'd start to have flying dreams, but it'd always turn into the devil making me levitate instead. Last night was the first time that I could actually fly in my dreams, and it was so flippin' awesome. Yep, the conservative Christian upbringing scared me to pieces. Our children will have to ask their friends what a devil is.
3. I love taking classes, but I also really love discovering things on my own. I want to take oil painting and continue belly dancing this January. I also really love the time of day (4ish right now) when there are really long, purple shadows, and everything else seems golden.
4. I'm most likely to swear when I'm happy and cry when I'm angry.
5. This last one is a tease, but I've got a secret. Don't even try and guess what it is, because I'm not telling.

Bonus Track: Oh, and in the summer my challenge is to get to where I need to go, but only go through the alleys to get there. It's not just my OCD coming to the surface, it's the best way to get the best junk.
Extra Special Bonus Track: You can find some of life's sweetest poetry in Patty's music.

Now, I'm tagging:

Messica
Reuben Sandwich
McGoose
Jackalope Ranch
The guys over at the Big Attic

A few nights ago, at the very swank Big Time Attic Christmas party, we were discussing olds trends. Specifically, the pinning of the pants. We were all quite specific that the pants needed to be pegged, but our methods varied slightly. I sewed mine so tight that my foot could barely make it through the ankle hole, and then rolled them with a cosmetic safety pin out the outside of the roll. Others constructed the peg with a single fold and roll, and yet others made it all possible with a double fold. Well, news flash... And it really is news because I've only just noticed it today, but I've noticed it on about thirty high school girls in the last half hour. The rage is now pinning the back of your shirt to make it fit even tighter. Mostly I'm seeing this accomplished with huge safety pins, but I've even seen a few with the old style diaper pins. This one's bound to be a classic.

Send a big day old smooch over to Reuben. She had a birthday yesterday!

No Child Left Behind

No child left behind, unless of course you're on an ART II field trip at the Minneapolis Institute of Art today. In that case, it's two children left behind. We realized it right before the bus driver got a call from the museum, but just before we got back to school. Whooops!

This summer I found some really lovely quilts that are pretty light weight and not so great for our Minnesota winters. I was so sad to put our old comforter back on the bed... it just looks so blah now. However, today I found this, and it's just filled with beautiful blankets made out of felted sweaters. I've been picking up old wool sweaters around town for a while now, and I've got a small collection going. I might give the whole quilt idea a try. After messing around with how to felt, I think I've got it down to a science. Hot wash/cold rinse with a couple tablespoons of dish soap. Dry on high, but empty your dryer filter mid-cycle because it makes a huge mess.



Isn't this skirt adorable? Lots of fun stuff over on their site. It looks like it'd be pretty easy to make without a pattern. So, I'd like to try and slap one together soon. Does it seem like it would be better with a stretchy fabric? I don't want it to pull when it's tied, AND I don't want something I'd have to iron. Any suggestions? This is a total side bar... The website where this skirt is from sites on every one of their pages, "Don't Steal, Karma is real". It's not like I'm going to put one together and then try and sell it to Target. I just like making skirts, but what I hate is how superstitious bullcrap sucks me in, even when I don't (especially in this situation) feel like I'm doing anything remotely wrong that'd warrant me getting hit by a truck. In my mind this goes along with the forwards that you're supposed to forward to your all of your friends within 5 minutes or a baby angel will lose it's wings and fall dead to the ground. Or, none of your wishes will come true. Ever.

On a happier note, we had a great weekend over here at the Cannon house. I took a class at the MIA about modern American painters on Saturday afternoon. I wasn't all that excited at first, when I found out that the class would last for 4 FREAKING HOURS. But, the class was wonderful! I got to see the new exhibit, which was pretty good, and heard lots of background info from the docent. Best of all, there was a 70+ year old artist that came for a show and tell about his work. His stories were wonderful. Many centered around LSD, which seemed especially cute because he was just so darned old. After that, almost ALL of our holiday parties happened on Saturday night. So Much Super Lots of Fun. Then, Sunday we got to see the Gnome, the Gnome's husband, and the Gnome's darling baby. It was great to see you coffee slurping mongrels.

On a more personal one, I've been a bit under the weather lately. Nothing catching, just trying to get this crappy thing called Factor V under control with... You guessed it, yeah baby, self injections. Like most people, I like to be in control. In fact, I like to be the driver. I like to be the teacher. I like to follow recipes where I know things turn out yummy. I don't like that this is probably why I miscarried last year. Right around this time. That sucks and it makes me sad in my otherwise happy world. I'm feeling pretty sorry for myself, jabbing myself in the gut every night with something that feels like poison. Ugh. So, tonight I'm making english muffin pizzas and drinking light OJ (which is surprisingly good) and we're going to watch a comfort movie like Moulin Rouge and I'm going to sing along through the whole entire thing. Lucky Zander, eh?

Last night I had an absolutely lovely time at the Mess's place for our CC meeting. The food was great, the project was fun, and as always, the women were fantastic.

Right now I'm reading A Million Little Pieces and really loving it. The writing style is choppy and sort of runs on and on, in a surprisingly good way. You might have already read it, but it takes place at Hazeldon, so it has lots of little Minnesota cameos. Reading this book makes me especially glad to have met Zander. Before Zander I dated 1 or 2 nice guys and about 100 FREAKS. One of these freaks was a guy that I met at the grocery store in the Midway. One of the previous nice guys had just broken my heart and I thought a date with someone new was just what I needed.
Him: Yeah, my car's in the shop. Do you think you can pick me up when we get together?
Me: Of course, that'll be so fun. (He wrote down an address and I didn't think a thing about it)
The next weekend, I got all gussied up for our date and went about finding the address. I drove and drove and drove. I FINALLY happened upon Hazeldon Treatment Center and (surprise, surprise) the address matched. At that point, I should have turned the 1989 Ford EXP right around. But I just didn't think that was very nice. I mean, who am I to judge someone when they're trying to get their stuff together? Well, to condense, the night was bazaar. Just a few highlights: He was the president of City Pages, but he used a different name in print, so no one would find out. He created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His father thought he was Andrew Cunanan. Hazeldon was his temporary housing. He was a millionare that really just wanted to be real. He gave away all his cars and cash to the poor. But more than anything, his family was the most important thing in his life. (This he proved to me by sharing an old picture of a family picnicing more than a block away) Enough. I've disgressed. The book is good. Pick up a cheap copy at Costco.

Right now I'm stuck in my room with about a million students cramming to finish a painting that's due tomorrow. Panic is finally settling into their cold little hearts. Mmwaah, haa, whaa. I really can't believe that tomorrow is already Friday, although I can't say that it upsets me much. Especially because I can FINALLY get my hair cut on Saturday. Melissa, if you're reading this, you're impossible to get an appointment with. Especially on my one-two day's notice.

Zander and I were supposed to be heading down to Nebraska this weekend for the family Christmas party. We're just not going to make it. There are all kinds of reasons why not, the least of which is just that I'm a big old winter riding/driving baby. Luckily we got to see my Grandma a lot in the last couple of weeks, so I don't feel quite as bad about it. So, since we're staying in town, I am super-excited for the craft and mcad sales coming up... Especially since I've done zero, zilch, nada, and nunka Christmas shopping.

Alright, the kids are outta here and so am I! Have a good end of the week!

Yesterday I taught for half the day, and then had a check up in the afternoon. I hate having to be gone and leave plans for a sub. Really, it's almost more work than staying. Anyway, my check up was quick, so it bought me some thrifting time. My most exciting purchase was a pair of rollerskates that fit perfectly. I'm a kind of sucky rollerblader, but I absolutely LOVE rollerskating! I might even put some cute little pom poms on them to bring me luck. I also scored one of Jane Brody's cookbooks, which really looks like a good one. Maybe it's silly for me to keep picking up cookbooks, when I know that pretty much everything is available online. I just really like the idea of one great cookbook that I use for everything, full of my own little notes.

In other news, if my calendar is serving me right, we should all shout a happy birthday over to Ugly today!

1. Whew, conferences are over. Lots of intense parents this round. I think they wanted me to define their child for them so they could decide where to send them off to college.
2. In between the 30+ parents that I saw yesterday, I was felting little balls to string on a necklace. It's extremely easy. I just felt a little ridiculous when some showed up early because I had to shake their hands with wet felty fingers. Gross. Oh, the cats found my stash of little felty balls in the middle of the night. They're EVERYWHERE.
3. Juno is going to the vet today to get his shots. He must know it because he's been a little bitch all morning long. He likes to hide under the bed and dig his claws into my ankle as I walk by.
4. My grandma is still in town and she's going to show me how to crochet today. Yeah, I know... Teachers are already way overpaid and then they give us off a non-holiday on top of it all.
5. We're getting some Grumpy's tonight and then heading over to see The Hopefuls. I haven't seen them before, so I'm pretty excited to hear what all the fuss is about. The music starts after I'm normally in bed.
6. Zander seems to be getting sick and I've got a sore throat. Ick.
7. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

So we went to see Jethro Tull last night at the State. I got the tickets for Zander's birthday, and quite honestly, I can't say that I'd ever heard their music before. We met the lead singer and flute player after the show. He's not a hand shaker, so here he is, rubbing elbows with Zander. The show was absolutely wonderful. It was great on so many levels, but especially the addition of Lucia. She's this young, beautiful, violinist prodigy that played in a frilly pink dress and bare feet. I've never heard a violin played like that, and if I had, I'd of surely taken it up as a child. Wonderful. The only down side of the night was the prissy State Theater. People needed to rock and they tolerated very little of it before sending down security. The rockers won in the end, there were just too many people that were moved and finally the security people just scowled by the back door and let us be.

Since my sister works for Parasole, she got us into their new, and not yet opened, place over on 50th and France tonight. I'm pretty excited. I remember when we opened Chino and had our first pre-opening event. It was really exciting. I'm also excited because Anthropology isn't far from there and I LOVE that store. No, not to buy anything, I'm far too cheap. Instead, I love to browse and then RIP OFF their ideas.


And speaking of stealing ideas, I'm definitely going to steal Martha's idea on making felt balls. I think you can buy the wool at Micheal's (I've got some left over coupons, you know) and then I'd like to string them into bead necklaces. Maybe even some dangly earrings. How cute!

A Reason to Knit

I found this little Yoda and it's rekindled my hopes of someday learning how to knit. I want to make one for ME!

Getting to school by 7am and getting enough sleep to make somewhat rational decisions while I'm here is proving to be a challenge. So I've been coping by making very few plans after work during the week and then cramming in every ounce of fun on the weekend. Monday morning? Sucks. Must create new system. We definitely need more weekend chill time. Next weekend there's Jethro Tull and virtually nothing else. I'm going to sleep in late and then read in bed. Oh, and drink coffee.

I'm stuggling putting together a witty and meaningful entry today. So here's some randomness:

1. Does anyone have the new Fiona Apple CD? Is it good?
2. I've got to get new paint brushes for my art room and I'm just cruising through my budget, so I've collected Michael's coupons from my students. I know that it's one coupon per transaction/per day, but do you think they'll really mind if I go through the line 11 times?
3. This weekend, Zander bought speaker guts from AxMan for 12 bucks and fixed our broken ones. So much better than throwing them away and buying new ones like Best Buy suggested! Besides, I use them for plant stands too.
4. My grandma gave me a large collection of vintage matching earring and necklace sets last weekend. They're absolutely adorable (she wore most of them to go square dancing) and special because they're from her. The clip-ons only bug me once or twice and day, and at that point I feel like smacking things with a baseball bat. Luckily the feeling passes quickly.
5. The students are super wired today. The Sadie Hawkins dance is this Friday and I can almost smell all of the hormones in the air. I even saw two students dry humping on a locker before school this morning. Barf city.
6. I want to make baked acorn squash for dinner this week with a scoop of something good inside. Any ideas on what would be good inside AND if I'd cook them together or separate?
7. Snow already? Please no.
8. I'm looking for a huge mirror to hang on the wall in the basement. Yes, so that I'll be able to watch myself practice my bad-ass belly dance moves. Instead of just imagining how stupid I look.
9. I love Method cleaning supplies. I especially love the one that kind of smells like almonds and is for wood. Oh yeah, and the grapefruit kitchen cleaner... ahh, so nice.
10. I've got to hem two pairs of pants this week. I'm so crappy at it. I really wish I could find a good sewing class that would cover basic alterations.

Wow, it's 5pm and already almost dark out. Today started out just gorgeous. I went for a long, fast walk down by the river and actually got hot enough to take my jacket off. Most of the leaves are off of the trees and I'm just loving that leafy smell. I keep thinking that it'd be interesting to take one picture a day of some kind of urban beauty. Today it would have been the little boy sitting in the corner of his yard, on my way back home. From about 20 feet away he had this goofy look on his face and when I got up closer I saw that he'd been grinning at me the whole time. "What doin'?" "Goin' for a walk." "It fun?" "Yeah, it fun." After I'd walked about a block farther, I heard him yell, "BYE!" Hey, I have slow reactions too sometimes... alright, alright, maybe most of the time!

Tomorrow my entire family is coming over for an early dinner and we're making waffles. We might even make everyone wear a robe. After all that we've eaten this weekend, that might be all that fits anyway.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm slacking on the posts these days! No lack of love here, just lots of random busy stuff. Here are my highlights...

On Halloween our first trick-or-treaters were all excited to get their candy until Boo jumped out the door and they screamed "BLACK CAT!" and ran away. It probably didn't help that I kept yelling "BOO, get back here". They just ran faster and faster.

For Zander's birthday on Tuesday, we headed over to Rice Paper again. It was good, but not as good as before and I wanted it to be great for a birthday night. The server sat down the check with our meal! That's fine when the bill is under twenty bucks, but I was pretty irritated because we'd had wine and entrees and appetizers, how about offer us some coffee??? I got us tickets to see Jethro Tull for Zander's present. He LOVES them and I don't think I've ever heard their music. I'm kinda excited to check them out.

I had one of these on Thursday. It kinda really hurt. Thus, I missed my beloved Crafter's Conspiracy AND and chance to craft in a crack-users home. SHIT BALLS. By the way, despite my previous suspicions, my test results looked good and I've not recently peed out an ovary or anything.

I got two lovely vintage dresses at Value Village. One is brown two-piece dress that I adore for its conservity. Anna, is that a word? I'll wear it to conferences. And then there's a knee length, empire waisted, hot pink polyester number that I love for promising me the hottest christmas ever. Hot pink is the new red... or so I'm telling myself.

Friday I got to skip school and attend the art educators of Minnesota conference. It was a nice change of pace and I scored some great samples. It was like trick-or-treating except that I got scissors, construction paper, and Sharpies instead of Twix. The best part of the day was having a glass of wine at Thistle's afterward and bonding with my co-worker. All summer long I thought we were going to hate each other and I absolutely LOVE her. She's funky and funny and thinks I'm funny and she's 56 and got carded at the bar. We giggled a lot. I thought we were going to get kicked out.

Dinner last night was the most delicious I've had in ages. We went over to Julie and Brian's downtown swanky condo and just chilled. We drank, we played a fun game that I've forgotten the name of, and just chatted away while it rained outside. They built a fire. It was wonderful.


Today we're going to the school play and then heading over to my Mom's to make some soup because my Grandma is coming to town this afternoon. She thinks that Minnesota is the coldest place on earth, which is her version of hell, so I'm just doing my part to warm her up. I'm just dumping things together, but something with chicken, spinach, and tortelini.

Have a good Sunday!

Party Guilt

What a weekend! About a gallon and a half of red wine and a pound of cheese later, here I am, just getting through Monday. Tomorrow is Zander's real birthday, so I'm trying to figure out a fun place to go to dinner. As many of you already know, we had people over to celebrate yesterday and Zander REALLY had a great time. I had a great time too, but I'm suffering from day-after guilt. I keep thinking that I didn't get to talk to everyone I wanted to enough AND that maybe people felt weird just pouring themselves a drink and I should have been more hostesserly. So, if I didn't sit down and chat or pour you a drink, please don't think I'm a jerk... Just a little ADD in a big group, and then sorry for it the next day.

FRD

What do these crazy characters have in common? Well, F, R and D! Frodo and Frida had a lovely time at Rob and Amy's reception. Lots of red wine, good pizzas, exceptional dancing, enticing conversations, and an all around fun time. Now, so sweepy. Must go to bed. Zander is putting the meat in the crockpot as I type. Tomorrow's gonna' be fun...

Wowza. It's been quite a day! First hour one of my students came up and said, "Look at my hand." I need to preface this. Usually this type of statement means that the above mentioned student has learned some kind of trick to make their hand LOOK mangled. Like putting a bunch of glue on their hand and then sticking a pin through the glue... Unfortunately that was not the deal this morning. It was a clay needle tool and it went all the way through the "webbing" between his thumb and index finger. It didn't bleed because there was too much flesh. He went into shock. He went to the ER where they made sure it didn't splinter a bone or hit an artery. This needed to happen before they could remove the needle. Oh, and had he taken it out in class, it would have sprayed us all. I'm not going to get into how or why it happened, but needless to say, I'm planning where I'd like to stop and get a bloodymary tonight. Whew.

Last night we made it over to see Minnesota Pro-Wrestling at First Ave. Usually we have to drive all the way out to Maple Grove, but now at long last, we have some true culture in our very own downtown. What a blast! The next show is on November 30th, at 8pm. Put it on your calendars people!

In other news, I need to put up a picture of my newly sewn kimono shirt. It's really pretty cute, but might teeter on the edge of looking a bit pajama-ish. I'll wear it to the next CC meeting and get some opinions. I've also been experimenting with the quilting foot on my new machine. I cut up an old flannel shirt and a pair of sweats and cut them up into skinny, long strips. So now I've been quilting the flannel and sweats into a long and skinny scarf, leaving the edges unfinished. Not exactly high fashion, but a good experiment for me.

Alright folks, I just found out that my insurance will give me $20 off at the YMCA if I go 8 times a month. I'm going there right now to check out their class schedule and see if there are a plethora of classes that will be uber convenient AND so interesting that I'll be eternally enticed into working out all the time.

I'm trying to cram lots of good stuff into my couple o' days off. This morning I had a leisurely coffee and egg, gave Boo and Juno some extra love, did a bit of reading, and then headed out to the new H&M. There was LOTS of interesting stuff there. I really held back so I'll be able to justifly making a return trip out some other time with girlfriends. I did "splurge" (come on, it was under $30) on a cute little sundress that I'll wear with a turtleneck and jeans. Sounds a bit awful, but really looks cute. I also got a cheap pair of dangly earrings to wear to a fancy wedding reception this weekend.

I also met my mom for lunch over on Como Ave. I love it down there right now. The leaves are beautiful, the air is crisp, and I used to wait tables at Muffuletta, so it's filled with some fond memories and funny stories. Next I headed down to the Boy Scout Garage sale in Roseville. Total Boringsville. Eagle scouts keep lots of crap that even I don't want. Next stop, JoAnn Fabric. While it's not my favorite fabric store, I do like their sale bins and 40% off patterns. I got something really simple that I'm hoping to embellish, but really who needs to embellish when you're working with a skunk/squirrel print with a polka dot contrast? I'm pre-washing the fabric as I type. Oh, and keeping an eye on Oprah and how irritating she is. Why isn't Ellen on at 4? She's got ALL the dance moves as far as I'm concerned.

It's my last day of school for the week and I'm just giddy happy. Happy to have a few extra days off, happy to have eaten a delicious dinner with good friends last night, happy to have hogged (held) just the cutest, fattest little 12 week girl for the whole dinner, happy to blow off a home improvement project tonight and go see the Wallace and Grommit movie with our very favorite five year old, and happy that Zander doesn't have any stupid conventions this weekend so we can play! Alright, sorry if that rant made you want to puke. Dinner last night was at Rice Paper. It's in the adorable Linden Hills and I guess that it's a fusion of Vietnamese and Thai food. The food was delicious. I had the lettuce cups filled with marinated chicken and toasted coconut. The wine was good and I especially liked that their wine glasses were the traditional shape, but stem-free. We were even lucky enough to be served by the lovely Reuben's cousin.

Our basement sanding project needs to wait a little bit longer than I'd planned. I'll explain why later. Maybe. Other than that, I'm planning on hitting a few thrift stores tomorrow morning and then settling in for some hard-core sewing in the afternoon!

Well, it's the Monday of a three day work week for me, and I must say that I'm pretty psyched for a four day weekend! I hope, hope, hope that the weather stays nice. Normally fall gives me this doom-like feeling that we're all going to be frozen solid on the side of the road waiting for AAA to come by and give us a jump. Strangely enough I don't really feel that way this year. I'm not sure if it's the weather, LOVE, or job happiness, or what... I'm going to ride this good fall feeling as long as I can. Oh yeah, school is great. No more bomb threats lately. The kids are great and I'm especially enjoying my art club. They're funny and smart and especially proud of themselves for thinking up things to shock me. I'm not as easily shocked as I used to be (after being married to Zander for four years), so I do my best to indulge them and ACT shocked. So yeah, I'm still enjoying working with these high school people, yes, even the somewhat LOUD Irondale lovies that read this blog regularly.

On Wednesday night Zander and I are planning on renting a sander to get all of the paint off of our basement floor. What kind of wine goes with home improvement? Maybe some Grateful Red? Anyway, the paint has been peeling like crazy and it's so disgusting to take a shower down there and then have to clean the paint chips off my feet before I can put my socks on. Paint chips stuck in the toe of my tights on regular basis is no way to live. I think it's going to be a really hard and dirty job getting underneath all of the stuff that's accumulated down there already, but hopefully well worth it.

In other news, I'm injured. Somehow (I don't remember falling or anything else that I'd associate with this kind of pain) I hurt my tailbone and now my whole body is paying the price. It sounds like an exaggeration, but seriously, tailbone stuff sucks. It hurts to sit almost as much as it does it stand up, and that hurts almost as much as it does to cough or sneeze. I've been trying to cure myself by doing some yoga stretching, but I'm almost to the point where I'm going to call the doctor. Poor me and poor Zander for having to hear about the status of my butt every time he turns around.

Woah There!

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES MOUNDS VIEW IS APPROVED FOR Q COMP
Today was an exciting and historic day for Mounds View Public Schools. At a press conference held at Edgewood Middle School, Governor Tim Pawlenty officially announced that our district was approved to participate in the State's new Q Comp program.

Q Comp supports districts that establish alternative compensation plans for teachers. Mounds View's version of Q Comp is called Mounds View Teacher Professional Pay System (MVTPPS). To date, Mounds View is the largest suburban district and among only four districts in the state to be approved to participate in this innovative program.

As Governor Pawlenty said today, "Mounds View has a chance to be a very large leader," and clearly, this unique achievement demonstrates that our district has a progressive spirit. It also represents a shared commitment to doing what's best for students by aligning teacher compensation with teacher performance and student achievement goals.

Wow. This seems like good news, doesn't it? (Insert stressed out maniacal sarcasm here) I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to get paid for my outstanding work with student achievement. I work hard and I really like my job. I'm really quite good at it. But, in order to get paid, I will now have to give my art students tests that can ONLY be answered by marking letters A-E with a good old #2 pencil. Student achievement must now be measured by a very precise little machine that scores these little A-E beauties and then barfs out the data for us. Data is very important you know. Data is the wave of the future is what I'm told. OH, and will ONE of these tests per semester truly measure my job performance and my students abilities? Probably not. So, I'll just test some more and gather more data, and many of my students will shrivel up right before my very eyes. Then I'll truly deserve the pitiful check that I live month to month for. I CALL BULLSHIT. Thank you Mr. Pawlenty for allowing me, my art students, and my entire school district the unique opportunity to become your own unique opportunity to put something (data) in your file set aside for education. Why don't you pick on the elderly next time???

This is yummy ya'll!

Tomorrow I've got double duty in the potluck area. At school the art dept is in charge of this month's "Wednesday is Treat Day," and it's also the second Thursday of the month, so that means it's time for the Minnesota Mosaic Guild meeting. I usually just buy something for the guild, but since I'm already cookin', I thought I'd make a double batch.

Cheryl's Pumpkin Bars that She's Been Making for Thirty-Three Years

4 eggs
2 C sugar
1 C oil
2 1/2 C flour
1 can pumpkin guts
1 TBL cinnamon
2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt

bake at 350 in a cookie sheet, when it's cool frost it with...

The Best Frosting Ever that Cheryl has Been Frosting the Pumpkin Bars with for Thirty-Three Years

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 stick of butter
1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz cream cheese

Tonight Zander and I are baking Mom's pumpkin bars, listening to Death Cab for Cutie, and I even talked him into doing some T-shirt stenciling with me.

Mike Joyce is officially titled, "Da Bomb."

After a VERY productive day inside yesterday, I'm ready to get outside and enjoy this sunshine. How productive was yesterday, you ask? Well, my Mom and Mike came over and bailed me out BIG TIME. We had maintenance on our furnace last week, only to wake up yesterday to a brisk 58 degrees inside. After trying to get through to Centerpoint Energy for 30 minutes straight, I found out that we couldn't get a service call until Thursday! The woman on the other end eventually realized that was shite and pulled some strings to get someone out to us on Monday. Well Mike to the rescue! He fixed it by pulling a DEAD BIRD out of the blower and replacing the old one. How does a bird get inside the furnace? How did the maintenance guy miss the dead bird last week? Why do you have to read about it now? Anyway, 68 degrees feels perfectly balmy now. I appreciate his work so much, I mean, all I could do was hide in the stairway, afraid that something was going to blow up. (While I was watching in fear, I did plan out how I'd save everyone involved.) Oh, he also drilled a hole behind my beloved fridge and connected a pipe to our cold water pipe downstairs. This is a project that the Home Depot guy told me that I could totally do all by myself if I only bought a fridge from him. I believed him at the time. Luckily I didn't run with that belief. I've now learned that copper tubing is a sensitive little beyotch, and our hammer and phillips screwdriver set are no match for these kinds of projects. Thanks again to Mike, we've now hatched our first litter of adorable little ice cubes AND we can drink cold filtered water from the little thingy inside the door.

Today Zander and the boys are at the show, so I'm thinking that I'll stop in for a FEW minutes and see what's up. My motivation for going to the show isn't really based on my souls love for comics, but to see the BTA guys all dressed up in their work outfits/costumes/uniforms. Or whatever you want to call them. They're jumpsuits with a shirt and tie. They look cute. I want Zander to wear his to parties or at least around the house, but he's still refusing at this point.



I love looking for cutsie t-shirts at these comic conventions, but mercy me, we made some pretty cute ones ourselves at the last CC meeting.

Oh and really, the night is not over until the three grouchy owls fly in and break up the party.

Zander's Mom, Betsy, just sent me the new magazine called Cloth, Paper, Scissors. It's so awesome. This issue shows how to transfer photo images onto metal (even from the inside of a pop can), and I'm completely psyched to try it out. I'm kind of on project-wanna-do-overload. Especially because I re-discovered the Public Library recently. Browsing through the stacks of sewing books just gets me excited to make, make, make. I totally want to make these culots (can I make them even if I can't spell them?) from a pattern that Messica is letting me borrow. I'm working on a pottie humored mosaic entrance to our bathroom. It's all pieced, but needs to get glued and grouted. I also have about 3 other mosaic things that need to get grouted. And hello, Christmas is coming and I want to make people stuff. Like maybe a quilt sewn together from felted sweaters, or a dirty cross-stitch...

I'm a bit obsessed this week about if our Gnome has had her own little Gnome yet. I'm checking my email about every forty seconds!

Water in our basement again this morning! Rain, rain go AWAY! Poor Zander got stuck hearing me bitching about it AND having to clean it up. Henceforth, he's way into our wet/dry shop vac right now! I called the CEE about it and they suggested an energy evaluation. They're coming in with lazers and fake smoke on the 21st to check where our warm air escapes to and where the nasty rain water comes in. The audit takes three hours and then they need another hour to discuss the results and prioritize what needs to be done. While the possibilty of hearing that our house is broken and can't be fixed and we got hosed on buying it in the first place doesn't really thrill me, I am proud of myself for taking care of business instead of just trying to forget about it, which is what I normally do. Wow, run-on-sentence-o-rama.

Zander and the guys at BTA seem to be loving their new studio. Since my house is full and I love shopping the thrifty way, I'm on the lookout for cute chairs or couches for their place. I'm back on Craigslist with a vengence now. If you run across something cool at a sale, give them (or me) a call!

I'll spare you the details, but this weekend has put me into a bit of a funk. But luckily, how can I look at these faces and not feel all squishy and happy and... better?



This is Juno our new cat. Some friends gave him to us and I'm still thinking of how to really thank them. He's cute and sweet and still pretty scared of us. He mostly likes hanging out in the basement where he can hide. But when he's brave enough to snuggle, he's a purr machine, especially when you scratch right behind his ears. Oh, and he LOVES Boo. Boo is used to ALL the attention, so naturally when I'm dancing in the livingroom with Juno, he gets a little bit jealous. But mostly the two of them chase each other around, bite each other, and then have a lick fest. I'm starting to think that they're gay for each other.



Despite the funk, I'm disturbingly thrilled about getting a new fridge. I'm thrifty. I buy used. I shop alley ways. I could buy a couple more trucks for Zander if I hadn't bought this little Maytag, but gosh darn it, it's so nice. It fits right in its spot instead of sticking out a foot too far, which in turn allows us to open the basement door all of the way. Until now, the basement door has NEVER opened all the way. It also has a freezer on the bottom, which I think is pretty nifty. It's also pretty. I didn't really want to put food inside, because I know my jelly jar is sticky and I just hated to mess it up.

Two Things

1. Bomb threat at school yesterday. At 10:30 we went into lockdown. Locked our classroom doors, turned off the lights, and hid in a corner. Waited for the OK, and then "hustled" 1,600+ students out of the building and onto busses. Busses that took us to a safe parking lot where we all sat for 2 hours until the police dogs were sure that it was a false alarm. Best quote of the day, "I bet a f---ing freshman did this."

2. Just as I was about to take a shower, 10 minutes ago, a woman started knocking on our back door. Before I asked her (through the closed door) what she wanted, I saw that she was counting out a huge wad of cash. Hey, usually people at the door are asking us for money! I'm not sure what it was about me, but she immediately knew that I wasn't the chick she was supposed to give her money to. I asked her if she was lost, and she just needed our same address, but on Lyndale. Maybe I should go introduce myself and find out if they sell Tupperware, or something.

PS: Last night was wonderfully spent, huddled up with friends sitting around our fire pit drinking wine. I feel cozy today just thinking about it.

PPS: Way to go Ugly!

Rebecca

Rebecca has been sending home email from her bike trip for MS and I've been glued to the computer waiting for the newest updates. I'm always proud of her, but reading her letters has reinforced that once again. Way to go biker chic.

Guess what? I'm home again, except that today I'm not sick! Our school secretary called at 5:45 to tell me that school is closed today due to some debris damage from the storm last night.



When it calmed down a little bit last night, we headed outside only to see this just a few doors down and not far from the car that I'd left parked outside. The tree fell directly into the next door neighbor's yard, and just barely missed the house. Luckily everyone was safe, and the tree owner wasn't even home. What a nasty surprise to come home to.

Sniff, sniff, I've got a drippy cold that's left me with a charming hack. I'm home sick today. Those damn high school kids can fend for themselves, 'cause I'm drinking hot tea and watching Ellen. And sleeping. I'm really not adjusting to my new schedule. I want to be out of bed at 5 so I can do a 1/2 hour of yoga, shower, pack a lunch and be out of the house by 6:30. It's not working for me. I'm so tired! Must go to bed earlier!

Last weekend Betsy and Laurie flew in to surprise Zander for all of the Dinosaur parties. He's so fun to surprise because he's the least suspicious person I know. We drove right by him all slumped down, hoping not to be seen, and he didn't even blink.



We also made it over to the tile show at the Swedish Institute, had breakfast at Mill City Coffee and even made it out to the new mall like place out in Woodbury to see Kevin's sidewalk chalk event.

This weekend I'm hoping to take a sculpture class. Technically the class is full, but the instructor said that if the weather is really nice she might increase the class size and let people work outside too. The class is a bit spendie, but it gets great reviews from people that've taken it. In fact, I don't think classes should count for things to feel guilty about spending money on. I know a couple that don't count books in the guilt factor, and I have another friend that doesn't count things that make her healthy, or maybe happy, I can't remember which one. I'm pretty thrifty about things, it's nice to cut myself a break about this.

Speaking of being thrifty, I scored some tiki lanterns at Target for CHEAP, only to find out that they're out of the oil! Has anyone seen it anywhere else?

Happy 100 to me!

Yeah, this is my 100th post. Chikabow-beh-beh! It's been fun for me to keep this little here journal, but more than anything, I just love all the comments from you all, ya'll. I'm not sure this whole blogger thing would keep me interested if it weren't for that.



If you haven't had a chance to see the Chuck Close exhibit at the Walker, check it out. He's amazing. We saw these sculptures on the way out of the museum, and they remind me of just about everything we saw in Japan. The artist is Japanese, but I can't remember who he is. Aren't they cute?

Today Zander's at a convention in Wisconsin and so far I'm just chilling at home. Well, not really chilling I guess. I did mow the lawn because our place was starting to look like a crack house and I'm worried that the 5-O are going to raid our garage and find all the catnip drying upside-down. "Mam, aren't you a teacher?" "Yes sir, I am, but you see, it's all for my kitty." "Cuff her and stuff her Barney, we've got to get this stuff down to the lab." Other than mowing and indulging in my sick fantasies, I started reading The Kite Runner this morning. So far, so good. I've also been cleaning our dirty-gross house and am thinking about sewing together a little curtain for the bathroom. The one that's in there is from the previous owners and I'm not sure what they were trying to match. But jeesh, it says Pottery Barn on the label, so slap it up already! We've been collecting big sticks for a bonfire in our backyard this fall, I bet Pottery Barn sheers burn up real nice. Right now I'm imagining about three of you frequent readers gasping. Really, I'm not going to burn them. ARC is coming next week, and they'll be in the box out front.



Oh, here are the colors that we painted. I love the pink in the hallway, but the bathroom blue color is going to go. I'd like a brownish color, but it might end up a purplish color instead.



Here's the green bedroom.



Last weekend I found yet another quilt at an estate sale. I bet if I would go every week (as if I don't) at the same time, I'd see the exact same people at all the sales. I'd also have way too much stuff. Sometimes I wish I could just have a little store front to sell all my goodies. Maybe when things on our end of North start to get swank I'll think about it.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Schools on and that means slacker blogging for me. Sorry folks. Things here are good. Much better than I psyched myself out for ALL SUMMER LONG. My students are fun. I was afraid that I'd forgotten how to interact with the older ones that are too cool for school, but it's a lot like that old saying about riding a bike. It all works out. So far, I have a few intense girls in my classes that absolutely want being an art student to define them. I could just eat them up. Another bonus from the day: a sort of stern looking woman asked me what I was doing out in the hall and where is my pass for that matter?!

Things on the homefront are a bit sloppy now that we're both working extra hours... Especially because we just painted the bedroom and the hallway and had to take everything down to do it. I love how everthing turned out, but now I don't like how the blue bathroom looks next to the pink hallway. It looks like we just need some little wooden geese with plaid ribbons around their necks and we'll be all set for 1995. Speaking of home, we're on the lookout for a friend for Boo. We've been feeding a stray and just waiting to get her to the Vet. But before I knew it was bad to let Boo play with any old mangy cat off the street, they had an afternoon in the sun together. They tried to bite each other's face off. We named her Suzie GraySkull. Our neighbor boys want her and Boo is boo-hooing all over town. Anyone know of any social young-adult cats or kittens out there? I know we can go to the humane society, but I'd like to put the word out first.

I just found these free patterns and am thinking about making the wrap skirt. I love the pouch in the front.

Things with school are going alright. I'm frantically getting everything ready for the first day. My classroom is getting cute, I've got my syllabus ready, I've got Pictionary for the first day, I've got seating charts, and I had a first day of school cute outfit all picked out until... I received an over-sized polo type school shirt that we're HAVE to wear on the first day. How can I demand respect from these people when my shirt touches my knees AND it's a little tight on the hips???

In other news, LA brought me some paint and cookies last night. The cookies are gone and the paint (lovely pinky mellon color) will soon be up in the bathroom or in the hall on the way into the bathroom/bedrooms. I'm not sure why I'm so hot to paint these days, but I figure I should just go with it. I've also got to finish painting our bedroom. I also plan on spending lots of time outside frolicking with Zander. He doesn't really frolic, but it's fun anyway. We've got loose plans for dinner tonight. I want to try somewhere new and something healthy. Any ideas?

Well, today was my first day back to work and they surely didn't ease us back into it. Jeesh. Meetings started at 7:30 and I was busy pretty much all day. I wish there was more time in the day to spend in my classroom. And when I say time in the day, I mean time in the day before 3pm because it is just too nice to be inside for too long today. As you can tell, my good old artroom needs some charm sprinkled onto it. Right now it is vomitiously (yes that is so a word) filthy and there is clutter everywhere, BUT it isn't the room that I thought it was... and that's a good thing. Yes, I'm definitely happier about this job switch than I have been, but there's still a long way to go.



Oh, and we did make it out to the fair on Saturday. This picture is from The Dark Side ride in the midway. It was totally sweet and awesome. The cheesecurds were delightful, but so were the baby animals, and the cool artwork, and of course the cookies. The only thing we couldn't find was the butter sculpture of Princess K!



Here's Boo. I haven't posted a picture of him lately, and I think he's looking especially cute. Lately he's taken to giving this rug a running jump and leaping underneath of it... WHERE WE CAN'T SEE HIM! It's a terribly fun game over here at the Cannon household.

Oooh, Ahhh... I just found this necklace here, and gosh, I want it. The price tag prohibits, but have any of you seen something similiar for a girl on the cheap?

Yesterday was my last day of summer freedom until next year. I woke up stressed about going back to work. Then, I painted part of our bedroom the loveliest shade of asparagus. I'm crazy about the color, and jeesh, Behr paint is pretty nice. I also worked on gluing more smashed up coffee cups on to an old terra cotta pot. It'll be cute on our doorstep next spring. Then I stressed some more. Then the insulation guy came over to give us an estimate, and ended up giving us free advice on doing it ourselves. Such a nice guy, I wanted to ask him if he's married, and if not, give him a couple of numbers on the spot. Then I primped for our Anniversary Date. I even put on mascara. We ended up over on Grand at Cafe Latte for dinner and then Grand Ol' Creamery for some cones. Before we left we even played a doubles game of Ms. Pac-man and Zander got the high-score! I still can't quite believe we've been married for 4 years. In some ways it feels so much shorter, but in lots of ways it seems like we've known each other forever. Ahhh.

Today I got to school for an 8am meeting. I left at 11:15. I cried some hot, sad tears on the way home. If I had those little faces that you can blog with to show moods, mine would be the ugliest today. With puffy eyes even. My classroom is still a mess. I talked to the custodians today and they basically leave the art department ALONE. He said that he'd help me move the stuff I can't push even when use every ounce of strength I possess. But, he doesn't think I should move anything until I talk with the other art teachers. AND, it seems to him that the art teachers all switch rooms throughout the day and he had no idea even which room would have my desk in it. What seems like it should be my desk is filled to the gills with clip-on earrings and half-eaten CERTs. I am quite certainly in a serious funk about this. Monday we have a department meeting at 10am and I'm seriously hoping to be able to turn this frown upside-down ya'll. Or you'll hear about it, oh will you hear about it.

On a bit of a cheerier note, this weekend is packed full o' fun! Tonight there's a fiesta at the lovely Kari's pad. Tomorrow we're going to the FAIR (congrat's Emily), and Sunday there's a Boo Hoo, We Have to go back to School shin-dig at Anna's. I'm hoping that she's still got the recipe for her famous Bee's Knees potion. Speaking of recipes, I just picked this up for $5! It's a pretty simple cookbook with lots of fish, veggies, and awesome looking desserts. However, lots of the recipes call for caster sugar. Is this powdered sugar, or what?

Right now I'm killing time waiting for the "alarm guy" to get here. He's late, but he called first, so he's still alright with me. Most of you have heard the rant about how I'm going to get that alarm installed TODAY, well yes, today I finally am. In about 30 minutes I can officially check it off of my list of things to do before I go back to school. Other things that still need checking off... Paint our bedroom, bathroom and office, plant a tree in our backyard, get a northside home improvement loan, so we can start thinking about a new roof on the garage, a bathroom in the basement, and insulation up in the attic so we don't have the water damage we had last year... Oh I also need to have at least one more BBQ, go camping in the back of our new pick-up truck, sew a wrap skirt with vintage stretchy fabric from ARC, clean out the garage, call ARC to come and pick up my old stuff, make some gazpacho, get signed up for belly dance class, and maybe try and get down to see my Grandma in Nebraska. Whew. Oh, and maybe plan some art projects for my soon to be students. One idea for them is mandatory "doodle of the day" time. Which will hopefully give them a time to warm up their hands and get into creative mode. I'll provide blank note cards, and folders of artifacts from other countries, and they've got to provide a bic pen doodle that somehow represents what they see without copying. At the end of the quarter we'll bind them into a doodle book.



On Sunday we went to the Lantern Festival at Como Park. Here's Zander with Mike and Rhonda while we were getting ready for the lanterns. Zander looks happy because only hours before he got the title for his truck. It ain't pretty. However, it will be able to handle any alley way extravaganza that I might stumble upon. Mike and Rhonda were great sports after having to deal with Rhonda's purse getting stolen early in the morning. Thief, if you're reading this, you're a bad, bad, person. Give it all back and say way more than just 20 Hail Marys. Anyway, we watched some drumming and saw more than our share of Ninja style fighting. During one of the demonstrations the teacher explained how Ninjas would disable their attackers and then sneak away into the darkness. It was pretty quiet at that point, until a little guy with a not so little voice said, "Ninjas are cowards, huh Dad?"



When we first got to the park, this huge string of kites was flying with almost no wind. Bee-u-ti-ful.



Here's what we came for... The lighting of the lanterns. I'm so crappy at taking nighttime photos!

Crap Week

...but especially crappy yesterday. I went into school yesterday. Do I want to go into school yet? No. It wasn't a good thing because, dear friends, it was awful. I had to get a "sub key" because it's too early to get a real key. I politely asked the secretary what my classroom number is, and to hell if she knows. Finally, and begrudgingly, she opened a notebook and told me 119. 119 is CRAP. And backwards, it's 911. That cannot be a good sign. It might as well be 666. There are tables everywhere, some of them turned over on their side. Speaking of over on their side, there are 3 HUGE flat files on their sides... too heavy to push over, but junk cascading onto the floor. Files that don't belong to me or the previous teacher, but to the teacher NEXT DOOR. Nothing is labeled, and everything is dirty. My mother-in-law taught me the word "catastrophizer." I'm trying my very best not to be one. But mostly I want to FREAK RIGHT OUT. In the midst of my anguish, one morsel of school-workings 101 came back to me... The custodians really rule the school. On Monday, I'm bringing in some home-made cookies and I'm not going for the "sub key". I'm going for the masters of all the keys.

In other news, I finished Harry Potter 6 yesterday. I laughed and cried and begged for more.

In other, other news, next Thursday night is our anniversary! Unemployed Ladies Club, I've earned no points with you so far, and it's not looking so good.

Yep, it's down

Our tree is down and our yard looks naked. We're interested in a tree for the front to make up for it, but our local nursery is looking pretty shabby in the tree area. We'll see...



Here's a Cherokee Chocolate tomatoe from our garden. They're delishioso!



Last night we painted the town red with Mike and Emily. I got a great shot of them at the Red Dragon, but I'll email it to her in hopes that she'll stinking update her blog, darnit anyway. I'm not sure what I was doing with my tongue, but otherwise, not a bad picture for only four tries!

Here's what I found under the pergo floor last week. I think it's probably from the 70's, and gosh darn it, I kind of like it. ANYTHING is better than that fake crapola that they threw in here to sell us the place. There is hard wood flooring underneath this lino, but right now I'm just not up to tearing out the lino and the subfloor, and then throwing some money at someone to refinish everything. Instead, I'm into throwing money at a plumber that had to come and save us from an exploding toilet problem. Boo "accidentally" smacked some dental floss into the toilet and I, not predicting floss in the toilet, flushed and no amount of plunging was going to fix that situation. I even had a pregnant lady at my house and had to forbid her access to our disgusting situation. No problem though, I signed up for Angie's List, and I've got the recommendations of people throughout the cities. If you need me to look something up for ya, just let me know.



Here's the pride and joy of my thrifting last weekend. $1.50 bought me this cutey little summer quilt. Someone spent a lot of time putting this together. Thankfully it wasn't me because I have absolutely zero patience for putting together little triangles--so their corners fit together just so. Blech. Anyway, our regular comforter is thick and warm and perfect for being thrifty on the winter heating bill, and not so great for sleeping with the window open during the summer months.



This Saturday night at Mosaic on a Stick there's a gallery show called Emotions, happening at 7PM. I did this piece called Preconception. It's all about trying to get pregnant and really, it's my own little shrine. The little baby on the front was a gift from Lori. She kept it in her pocket when she was trying to get pregnant and so she gave it to me. (This woman is just the sweetest) Well, I know that things in my pockets usually disappear for good, so I decided to glue it onto something instead. I had so much fun with this project.


The numbers on the front are a reference to this song.

Three Things

1. If you're in the Twin Cities you NEED to get signed up to get these weekly updates. Today I scored a beatiful handmade quilt for our bedroom, a vintage fiestaware cutie pie bowl, a fertility doll, a set of 16 mugs that I'm going to smashie-smashie, a big old blue beaded necklace, and some vintage linens to hang in our kitchen for under $15! I'm so proud of my purchases that I'll have to post pics when Zander gets back with the camera.

2. In my opinion, the Uptown Art Fair has become an absolute bore. Yes, there was some good stuff there. In fact, most of what I saw had wonderful craftsmanship. Done to perfection. I totally support putting the arts in the public eye. I love that this particular fair is huge and, from what I understand, difficult to get in to. But do we want the general public to see art as something clean and shiney, not much soul, and expensive?

3. We're contemplating a second car. A smallish truck, if we can find one. My sisters and Mom accompanied me to Car Mart (a sell your own car lot out in Maplewood) today and I was suprised that there were a few right around my price range. My favorite was a Toyota Tacoma and it was CUTE. Just as we were opening the hood and looking for the VIN, a guy (I thought he was the sales person) came up and offered to let me start it up. He was a little gruff about why we cared about the VIN, but if we wanted to waste our time with numbers we could just be his guest. At that point I should have realized that something was up. I took it for a little spin around the lot, and as I pulled up next to him he wanted to know what I thought. Well, besides the ENGINE LIGHT BEING ON, it was pretty nice. "You can't trust those engine lights, they come on all the time." "Yeah," I said, "but I just can't spend money on something with an engine light on." "Oh sure, it runs like new, but you trust a little light. Last week a bunch of damn asians came in and messed around under the hood so that the light would come on. But you go ahead and trust a little light when it runs like perfect. YOU, get out of the truck." I did get out, I was in shock. He got in the truck and squealed out of the parking lot. I hope he was on his way to an anger management class. Apparently he was the owner and I hurt his little feelings by looking for a VIN and getting all hyper trusting of a stupid little engine light. Hrrmph.

maniac

Whenever Zander's out of town, I become a bit of a maniac. I don't sleep. I stay up all night working on a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Last night, after the crafter's conspiracy meeting (which was absolutely wonderful) , I came home and made a messenger bag out of some turquise velvety fabric that I picked up at Unique Thrift last winter. Yes, I was up until 3. I didn't have insomnia and I'm what you'd call a "good sleeper." I like sleep, and I like 8 hours. So This morning after 4 hours, I got to thinking about our kitchen and the ugly, fake, wood floor that floats about 2 inches above the rest of the world. So I went and got a puller-upper tool from the basement and began what has been on my mind for almost a year now. Bye-bye ugly pergo. Hello vintage linolium underneath. For now. Until I decide you also must die.

Key Lime Pie

Our block party was an interesting one. Lots of neighbors that I hadn't met yet, many of which I'd love to hang out with before the next block party. We had a balloon toss with the little kids, which quickly turned into us all trying to soak each other. We might possibly have the cutest kids on our block. Jason (lives just a few doors down) loves playing with his action figure of the Rock. The Rock is missing an arm and he just never gets tired of me pretending like I'm chewing it up. Another little girl asked if we could have another BBQ again sometime so that we could play together. We had house tours... After seeing a few other kitchens in our 'hood, I'm convinced that there is hardwood underneath our kitchen floor. I might just rip up all the junk and see what I find... Zander won't mind--he's out of town! We also had a cell phone taken by some girls from another block. We kept calling the stolen phone and they just kept on answering. We tried to threaten them with "the police will come to your house if you don't bring it back," but it didn't phase them. Finally a much smarter man offered to meet them and make a $5 exchange for the return of the phone. Money talks. Here is the key lime pie recipe that I used for the party. It was so easy, and there weren't as many ingredients involved as I'd imagined. Yumm!

we're back!

We're back and we had a great time in Franklin, in case you're wondering. It was a relaxing vacation with lots of time for great chatting and delicious eating. We got to see a really huge lighting show that seemed to me like it was right there in the back yard. Although the yard is really a huge field that gets mowed and then raked and then burnt to the ground in just a few really smokey piles. I love bonfires... So mesmerizing... Must stare into the fire... We also got to play lots of ping-pong in the attic of the new garage. The Cannons are a ping-pong playing family, and had absolutely no problem mopping the floor with me. Our tourament is called The Coop Classic. Next year I hope to dominate.

It's fun coming back to such an exciting week. First off, Anna took great such great care of my plants that I've got quite a little harvest going on. Thank you! The next best exciting thing is our block party tonight. I'm making key lime pie and maybe some kind of salad. I'm excited to meet some more of the neighbors. Thursday night is the Crafter's conspiracy meeting, which is also very exciting. Archana is a lovely lady and I just love this whole henna business. AND this weekend is art and craft mayhem with all of the festivals going on all over the city. YEEEHHAAAW!

smashing

Had a smashing time at Leigh Ann's shower tonight over at Anna's house. If it weren't for the Bee's Knees cockatails I wourdn't be slurring right now.



Oh, and here's the rest of the monkey. LA, I hope Esther likes it!

Diet Coke

I've been off the evil juice for about a week now. I'm still a bit sluggish without that mid day booster. Headaches? Yes. Leg cramps? Yes. Mood swings? I'm not sure, but why do you ask, do you think I'm moody, because if you do, you've really got something coming to you because I'm really quite a happy person, and I shouldn't have to be everything to everyone all the time for cripe's sake. Jeesh.

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane, dun dun da da da dun dun....

We're headed out to New Hampshire early tomorrow morning to spend time with the Cannon side of the family. We're staying in the cutest little house that is called The Coop. All of the houses have names like The Big House, The Chalet, and lots more that I can't remember right now. I'm so excited to see everyone.



I'll miss my little garden! This is the first cuc and it's already about four inches long. There might be a couple that are ready to eat by the time we get home. I'm hoping to come home to ripe tomatoes too.



Here's a sneak-peak at a secret project I've been working on. I'll reveal more after tonight!

patio update!

Well, we've got the back-breaking work done on the patio. I'd still like to grow some grass around the stepping stones, and add some sort of vegitation to the fence, but it's pretty near finished. I anticipate that it will change every year--I certainly hope so, otherwise where's the fun???



Here's a bit of a closer look. Isn't Santa handsome? Our neighbors (politely asked) where we got him.



Here are my cucs hanging on the side of the swingset. There are lots of little blooms, but this nasty little guy is tempermental. MUST be watered in the AM or it lays down and plays dead on me. Our plan is to have people nail their bottle caps on our swingset after every party. Do you think other parents will let their kids play at our house when the time comes?



Here's our clematis, growing up with the hlep of a steering wheel. I believe that Zander's sister has a story about her clematis that she would kill me if I shared here.

piece makers

I saw this lamp the other night at my mosaic meeting. It's made of old pots and pans and the words on the front say, "Blessed are the piece makers." Zander's Mom is in a quilting group called the Piecemakers, so I automatically thought of her. I'd love to make a similiar lamp.

Oops he did it again...

I'm not (OK, a little) ashamed to admit that that I've been a Britney Spears fan for quite some time now. I know it's lame, but I really do like a lot of the girlie pop out there. Of course I think her new husband is a loser. That's why this absolutely cracks me up.

I don't want to gloss over the nice things people do for each other. It's too easy to let the president or traffic or work or disappointments dictate. Today a new friend did something so very sweet for me. I was moved to tears not because of sadness, but because of the pure sweetness of her gesture. She is a gem, and a friend I'd like to have for quite some time.



Tonight was my first night going to the Mosaic Guild meeting. It was at Judy Sell's house out in Stillwater. I'm really drawn to the fact that she collects junk and just glues it right in.



Here's a detail of her fountain. She told us that the hose is there because she just was so done with the project and needed a way to finish it off before her daughter came home from camp. I too share that same type of impatience!

Zander is officially in San Diego. Check out the story of getting to the airport here.

Big Time Bloggers

The boys over there at Big Time Attic are blogging! They're leaving for San Diego today and plan to update their blog throughout the convention. I'm missing Zander already! But, I'm looking forward to seeing some friends, doing some reading, and working out in the garden.