Oh yeah, our home study went really well yesterday! We've got more than a bit of paperwork to do, but things are good. Boo the cat was a bit overly friendly with our very nice social worker, but I don't think she really minded. That is, until we spanked him raw. Anyway, the orphanages in Colombia require formal portraits, so we got some taken at Proex last night. Full body shots, together and separately. Same goes for the 3/4 shots and the extreme close ups! Oh my gosh, I felt like a huge dork. Especially because I think I might possibly appear slightly more motherly without my glasses on, so I had Zander keep mine in his pocket, and now I'm wondering if I just look like I can't really see anything. Oh vanity.

Recent Thrifty Finds

Memorial Day found me in the local Value Village. No, it wasn't the entire day, thank you very much... More like a very respectable hour or two. I got a fantastic vintage black suit. It's adorable, but I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to wear it. However, these little honeys I'll use. The little bird will hold my brooch/pin collection, or at least part of it. AND, I've been looking for a ring holder for a long time now. 1/2 price on 69 cents, and the price is right!


Side bar: I did not think us to be capable of getting PBS television. I've heard about it, but just thought that it must be part of a cable package. Oh no. It's available to us all, and so far, it's a bit like NPR for the eyes. I watched 2 episodes of Craft in America before I felt like the shiny box with flashing pictures was rotting my brain.

spring flowers

What a weekend... We hung out with good friends, ate good food, and got a TON done around the house. I even made it out to the Value Village 50% off sale early this morning. I'm happy. Content even. Think happy thoughts for us tomorrow, we're meeting with the social worker at our house. I gave the poison hatch under the sink an extra good cleaning. I'm picturing her looking through that kind of stuff. I'm imagining her writing in her notes something about how I should use something all the way up before I open a new bottle of tough on grease cleanser.
Since I'm a little bit nervous about our meeting tomorrow, I'm going to need to go on
a really boring rant about my garden. I'm loving working in the garden these days. My prettiest stuff doesn't even need any of my help. It just does what it's supposed to do.



I don't know exactly what kind of bush this is, but I think that I've heard it called an orange bush. It's huge and overbearing, but these little blooms smell divine. Ahhhh.



Last year I planted poppies and they kind of flopped. I was completely surprised to see them bud out this year. I love how they look like phalic looking aliens.



Here're my climbing roses. Can't wait for them to bloom.

Truck Lust

Yep, I've got a bad case of truck lust. How freaking cool would it be to do this to our Subaru? (The image is from Extreme Craft)

Art-a-whirl

This year for art-a-whirl, I decided that I wanted to get some stuff. I love things made by real artist type people, but darn it, they're always so much more expensive than the crap I can buy at Target. So I sewed myself up a bunch of reversible/expandable headbands, and sold them to the crowds. I made enough to snag some of the art work below (although the Puny Bunny was a gift), a cute ring that I'm too dumb to photograph without it being blurry, and cover my costs plus a tank of gas. Not too bad. The novelty of selling something I made was fun. I especially loved seeing little girls dancing in the hall while wearing my headbands. Art-a-whirl is fueled by lots of people who are passionate about their art, and the selling part just buys them the time to make more of it... Their art seems to define who they are. I felt really out of place in that aspect. I don't have a strong political or spiritual belief tied to my little headbands. Indeed, they are not meaningful, and are even less practical than say, a baseball cap. But it's the making itself, not even the product that excites me. Anyway, blah, blah, blah! I had fun.

Here's a bunny print by the talented Puny people. I can't wait to pop it up on the wall.

This sassy gal was printed by AmyJo. I've been a fan of hers for a while now, so it's kinda great to have a piece of her work. It was also pretty great to meet her. What a nice, nice person.

I can't remember the name of the person I got this from, but I LOVE it. It makes me feel very punk rock meets punky brewster.

On a side note, we got together with some friends on Saturday night and played Times Up. If you're into playing games, this is so fun. There's a bit of trivia involved which inevitably makes this big-picture girl feel like a dipshit, but not true this time... so, so, fun.

Bit of a bummer... The adoption home study with our social worker that was supposed to be tomorrow afternoon is postphoned until next Tuesday! So tonight we'll be watching Lost in our very clean and child-friendly home.

Iced Coffee

PRODUCT ALERT! I love iced coffee, and for a long time now, I've been trying out different ways to make it at home. Brewing it in the pot and popping it in the fridge tastes funny to me, even when I add lots of ice! One time I even made ice cubes from coffee, and that even tasted funny. Based on a recommendation from Treehugger, I ordered the toddy. This little system makes the best iced coffee ever, and it's so concentrated that it lasts me at least a week. It's not a fast process... You get 1 lb of coarse coffee grounds wet and let them sit and stew for 12 hours. Then you let them filter into your container for another couple of hours, and voolah, it's done. It's definitely cheaper than hitting Starbucks everytime the urge hits me, but more expensive than brewing hot coffee everyday.