A chance to put yourself on the map.

Come be a joiner!! Zippy already has one friend in Corby, England! Just stick your own little pin in the map. I promise we'll call before we come visit. Find Zip the wonder cat's map here: Zip (and Musicgeek's) map

Cheers! Now I've got to go put up a Christmas tree.

Gobble gobble, baby!

The baking has commenced. The tally so far:

-1 batch white chocolate-macadamia cookies
-2 pumpkin pies
-1 rhubarb pie
-1 batch Brickle drop cookies (on deck, ready to be baked)

Still have more to make...hope it all gets done.

I also want to get the worst dirty bits of the house put in order before we head out for all the thanks that just keep givin'. I know, I know...it'll be there when I get back. I've heard it all before. I just hate coming home to a mess. There. I said it. I've become my mother.

I'll make sure everyone has decent underwear on too.

My new toy

Go here for your very own Brawny man.

He's kind of like turtle cheesecake. He's real sweet, but you can only stand so much of him.

My brain feels like it's scrambled.

Today was Get Smart with Art day in Ciara's class. "What is that?", you ask. (I have no idea if the punctuation on that is correct.) It's the day that rolls around every month when parent volunteers go into the classroom and do a short lecture on a preselected art print, then do a little tie-in project with the kiddies. Sounds simple, doesn't it. Here's the recipe:

Paint, scissors, glue...2 adjacent classrooms so crowded you can hardly move between them...and 57 fourth graders. Add dirty brushes and murky rinse water sloshing about in a basin and a drying rack groaning under the weight of sodden cardstock. Season with the superheated sauna-like air in the classrooms. Add a pinch of fourth grade B.O....

Voila!! There you have it! Get Smart with Art!!


Will somebody please tell George Bush that I really don't care about going to Mars. Just get me an art teacher in my kid's class.

Singin' in the rain...no, cold...errr, sun...

Yesterday was some wacky weather around here. I had to do some running around, and every time I got out of the car, it was a new climatic adventure. I said climatic adventure people, get your minds out of the gutter.

This is how the trip started.

After a stop at Target (really, who can't stop at Target) the sun popped out of the clouds in all it's retina-searing glory

The sun brought with it about a 10 or 15 degree temperature change too. So, OFF went the scarf and jacket that had felt so good just an hour before. I was happily checking out a new place in Belleville called Bronx Zoo, and enjoying the pretty spring weather. The owner of the shop just mentioned that she had opened the front door and turned off the heat. In about 5 minutes, a gale force wind starts blowing. Freaky clouds are zipping by, and Kimmy decides to get the hell out of Dodge. On the 15 minute or so drive home, the temp falls by 15 degrees. I've got the little outdoor thermometer thingy built into the rear-view mirror, and believe you me, I was checking it out. We were lucky, all we really got was wind and rain out of the deal. I think Indiana and Tennessee got hammered pretty good.

Now it's just cold.

Good.

Aawww, look at him...isn't he sweet!

I'm soooo happy for my nephew, Levi. He won his first USAC national sprint car title last night. I really shouldn't say last night, because it took and entire season to get it done. I'm way more of a Levi fan than a race fan, but even I know this is HUGE. He's such a good guy...it's nice to see when good guys finish first.

The photo above is Levi (in blue and red) and Damion Gardner celebrating their victories. Gardner is the regional-CRA champ, while Levi has the Valvoline national sprint car title.

Finishing stuff is a good thing.

Some new stuff.




This is a wire and bead crochet set I made to go with a particular shirt. It all looked really good too. Well, it did until I washed the shirt, anyway. Now it's an item that would fit a preteen. Good thing I have one of those around the house too.







This is my first ever KNITTED scarf. The close up photo shows more of the true color of it. It weighs about a hundred pounds. I really don't know how that happened. Mae, the knitting guru, says it's because of the mohair in it.





This creation is a new bag made from an extra pillow sham. It's a quilted suede cloth in a very hard to photograph color somewhere between burgundy and purple.



This is the new thing. Last night my first scarf was finished early in the night. I went poking around through the yarn in the shop and this is what I came up with. I just love it. It's on it's way to becoming a keyhole scarf. It's probably going to be finished sometime today. I don't seem to be able to just do a little here or there. I always want to go and go until the thing is finished. Then I'm sitting there wishing I had another thing to knit. I'm blaming it all on Jennifer.

If they cooperate, I'll get some pictures of the girls with their projects later. Savannah is almost ready to felt her bag (heaven help me!) and Ciara's scarf keeps growing.

-k

Where did the damn Yankee come from?

I suppose living for 7 years at the tippy top of Illinois left it's mark on me some way.

Your Linguistic Profile:

80% General American English

10% Dixie

5% Midwestern

5% Yankee

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

The girls and I went to our local yarn shop last night. Savannah just wanted to go and do some more work on her felted bag. Ciara and I took a beginner knitting class. We all had lots of fun. Ciara did a great job, and really started to get the hang of it. I can see right now that this will be an expensive hobby. This morning, I was working on my knitting project while I was watching the news. Zip, the ancient one, was all curled up beside me. Ciara remarked that she needed to get the camera because I looked like "those knitting people who always have a cat by them". Ooh, that's sexy...

-k

The zoo and some art

Last Friday, the kids had no school, and Granny was over for a visit. What to do, what to do...go to the zoo, ba-by!! It was a perfect day for it. I've paid my dues at enough scorching hot field trips to the zoo to really appreciate having to wear a jacket. We packed a lunch in the wheely cooler and headed out. Granny had never been to the St. Louis zoo before, so with Savannah as the official navigator, she saw EVERY section. Let's just say Ciara's enthusiasm for the day was "fluid". One minute she was ready to leave ("I'm tired of this zoo."), and the next she was happily snapping photos of leopards ("Oh, mom, let me get a picture of him looking THAT way!").

The first picture of the day, when everyone is "fresh".

Checking out the penguins and puffins. They're stinky, but cute.

In front of a rather bored bald eagle.

Lunchtime! The kids were certain they would perish from hunger before we stopped to eat.

After the zoo, we headed on up "Art Hill" and took in the new exhibit at the Art Museum. Ciara was really not thrilled about this. It was an interesting exhibit, and I'll probably go back sans children to get a better look. We had a typical kid visit, rushing through the show then spending FOREVER in the gift shop.

Outside at the Art Museum. Note purchases in hands of kids from said gift shop.

I was kind of jazzed about the Chihuly chandelier that I'd never noticed there before. This humble little pic doesn't do it justice. The colors and sparkle of the glass are just beautiful.

Outside view of the museum. You need to go there. Now.

So, there's how we spent the kids day off from school. Animals, lunch, and a smidge of art thrown in for good measure.

Later,

-k