blog #143 >> Three Sketches

I found these three sketches today during my extreme organizational challenge. I drew them a long time ago and never hung them up. And today will be the perfect day for it.
T

blog #142 >> Plumcot Jello

Here's the Plumcot Jello mold I made last night. I used apricot Jello and added chunks of plumcots, (plum crossed with apricots). It turned out pretty good. But I was experimenting with how long I need to chill it before adding the fruit so they won't float to the top. Apparently, one hour is too long, it got sort of chunky. Forty-five minutes should be just right for next time.
T

blog #141 >> I used a power tool...

...and didn't hurt myself!
I finished this pencil I started out camping this morning by drilling a hole in it and adding the lead. Here's also a couple of the rocks Will and I found.
T

blog #140 >> Camping is Dirty aka Bonding with dust

I'm finally home, and I'm finally feeling sort of clean. After camping for five days with my parents and nephews, I realized, "Hey, I'm really dirty." An absence of plumbing, scads of fish guts and a dry-dusty wind really makes for a messy trip. Although despite the mess I had a wonderful relaxing week away from work. We caught fifteen fish, not counting the bass (which we didn't keep) the ones that were too small, and of course the ones that got away. I should also add somewhere that there was lots of pirate jargon on the boat as well as the singing of Captain Bogg and Salty's, Scurvy. I was ship navigator until I got demoted due to my poor sense of direction to cook's assistant. Will kept calling me Captain anyhow.

I have to admit I hardly got any reading accomplished. Wherever I'd open my book (Jane Austin's Mansfield Park) one of the boys would be right there, "What are you reading?" "Mansfield Park? What's that about?" "Ah! It sound's mushy and awful! How can you be reading that?!?" "You're crazy! How can you like that, and ketchup." "You need to come find a cow." "Find a cow?!?" I'd ask. My youngest nephew decided it was his life ambition to find a cow in the wild. (There were several cow pies around the campsite.) I tried to explain that the cows weren't wild and the best thing to do would be not to search for the cow, but let the cow search for you. Well, we went cow searching anyhow. And to make a long story short, we didn't find one. So to make up for it, whenever we'd pass a cow on the way home I'd shout, "COW!!!" very loudly and point out the window.

We did find lots of fire-ant hills though, and other strange bugs. One night by oldest nephew found the strangest cricket. They found it at night and it was huge ugly and creepy, it was stepped on instinctively and immediately. However the next morning we were talking about it and I looked down to were it was buried... and long behold, "It's alive!" It was trying to dig it's way out. So we were able to get a better look at it during the day. It was some type of cricket, so we put it in a cup and left in on the ice chest. By afternoon, it had crawled away.
That's one hardy bug.

I'm also happy to say it was perfect telescope weather, clear with no moon. I've been trying to take it out all summer, but it's hard in the apartment. You can't really see the stars though all the city lights, and the neighbors always think your spying on them, and then all the kids come out and want to use it. Last time I drove it up to my parents house I was so certain it was going to be a clear night. And when I finally got up there, it was cloudy. CLOUDY! Stinkin' clouds. However, it was absolutely beautiful up at the reservoir. I tried to take a picture of the star field, but failed. We got to see Jupiter with it's rings and big red spot, and four of it's moons: Io, Ganymede, Europa, and Castillo. We also saw, The ET Cluster, The Beehive Cluster, The Lagoon Nebula, The Triffid Nebula, and countless stars, constellations, The Milky Way, and the best meteor I've ever seen. It had a double trailing tail that covered nearly a third of the sky. I had forgotten how much I love doing that. It's such a joy to spend time hunting for little jewels in the sky. It's kinda like thrift shopping but costs less money.

Anyhow, it was a great trip.

T

blog #139 >> Another Happy Mail Day

Yesterday this little lovely came in the mail for me.
Inside a Black Apple had a benefit sale for her poor sick kitty Miette. And how could you not buy a print for such a cutie? The proceeds went to pay for the vet bills and the extra went to Dove Lewis animal hospital. Now my new print is hanging respectfully on the wall and it looks lovely.
T

blog #138 >> A Dork for Cork

Oh my, I haven't been blogging lately. I've got a lot of lost ground to cover.
Here's my latest endeavor, hand-painted cork message boards. We'll be selling the cute little guys at our next craft fair, planned for this September. More on that later, but for now, back to work.
T

blog #137 >> Blogs that devour time

Listed below is a number of blogs and websites that have wasted away my days. These are great if you're at home or work or any other place where you might need to kill some time. But beware, you may end up spending more time on them than anticipated, and they may even consume the time you can't afford to lose.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

The first time I saw it, I thought it was pretty cheezy... funny, but cheezy. But then, all the songs got stuck in my head. And the next thing I knew, I found myself singing the "...With my freeze ray I will stop the world..." song at the grocery store. Then I realized, "Hey, that's got really good music, and being cheezy is what makes it so great!" Now I'm addicted and I'm just turning it on and listening to it for the music. Watch it here.




Cake Wrecks


A blog of professional cake decorating gone disastrously, but hilariously wrong. On this blog you can enjoy the mishaps of professional cake decorators and bakers as they try their best to decipher what the customers actually want on their cakes. You can see the "life-like statue of the bride" cake, the "baby bum" cake, the "good luck that looks like an 'f' instead of an 'l'" cake, the "green like mold" cake, and of course bad spelling and grammar cakes. MMMMMM...mmm... cake. Enjoy.



Craft: Magazine Blog



Craft Magazine's blog is great for all kinds of crafting, cooking, and "Oh, what should I do? I'm so bored right now." ideas. And if you ever run out of posts to read, you can just visit their flicker site for more fun craft inspiration.









It's lovely! I'll take it!





It's lovely! I'll take it! Is a collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate photos. It also has homes that make you ask, "What went on here?" And this blog always has the answer in the form of hilarious commentaries. I have wasted entire days away on this site. And it just keeps getting funnier. (See above, The Hulk House and The "Pick it up, dust it off and this gem will shine" House)






Lileks: The Institute of Official Cheer

Ah, this blog has so many different things going for it. You can browse through poorly thought through comics, old advertisements, the Sears catalogs of the past, a matchbook collection, you can read short articles about diners and hotels gone by and so much more.




Robot a Day

These delightful bots are made by Anatomy of a Skirt and are for sale here. She posts a new bot design everyday, and I can't wait to see what she's going to think of next. They all make me laugh. Ha!



Alright, I suppose that's enough crazy blogs for now. If you can think of one I'd like, send me a link. I am slightly bored at the moment.
Now back to work.
T

blog #136>> Red Socks and Oxfords

And a new vintage dress!
Lived in Lover on Division, (one of my favorite vintage clothes stores) is closing and moving to Bombshell Vintage on Burnside. And this week they're having a great moving sale. I got this really cute grey and red dress with matching jacket, this sexy librarian style skirt, and a couple more fish for the porcelain aquarium in the bathroom. The skirt needed some serious altering. It didn't seem that bad when I first tried it on, but I ended up letting it out an inch. And it's much better off for it. But the grey dress fit perfectly.
T

blog #135>> Pajamas!

Somehow I tricked myself into sewing a pair of pajamas tonight. I got home at six, and thought, "I'll just cut out the pattern." And then at seven I thought, "I'll might as well start sewing it together." And then at eight I thought, "Hey, I don't have much left, let's just finish it." And, by nine it was finished and I was all cleaned up... And then I was staving, so I ate dinner. (But don't worry, I ate plenty of snacks while I sewed.) Here it is.
T

blog #134>> Garden of Weedin'

This week I pulled out the radishes, trimmed back the shrub, separated the onions, and pulled 32 gallons of weeds out of the garden. It's just weeds grow like... well... weeds! I guess I should have weeded it sooner.



Our one lone peach on the entire tree!






Onion flowers in bloom.




Lemon cucumber flower.


The giant zucchini.


A stuffed zucchini and zucchini roast... and there's still half in the frig!


T