Lupins, anyone?

I had the great pleasure of attending a performance of Spamalot last night. It reminded me how my high school friends and I used to love staying up late to watch "Monty Python's Flying Circus" every weekend. Then for the next week, we completely analyzed every part of it, silly walks included. I reminded Spouse that it's because of Monty Python that I grow lupins in my garden. (Not sure if he ever really knew that.) Man, I grew up with that show.

There are some great moments in Spamalot, including the scene when the ginormous wooden rabbit is wheeled onstage as a secret weapon against the insult-hurling French soldiers.The songs are memorable and full of word play in typical fashion. Loved the words to "All for One" -- pure Monty Python.

All for one
One for all
All for one
And one for all

Some for some
None for none
Slightly less for people we don't like
And a little bit more for me

Free publicity!

A reporter from the Des Moines Register called and asked to visit my class at Memory Bound last Tuesday evening. This was a nice surprise! I've never before had a reporter in one of my classes.

In addition to having a great class, I decided that my main goal should be to refrain from doing or saying anything embarrassing, which (if you know me) I'm quite prone to do. (I actually tripped and cut my leg just prior to her arrival. Whew! Got that out of the way early.)

When the reporter arrived, she told me just to continue on as usual and she'd roam around the classroom and catch us in action."OK, everyone, let's act perfectly natural!" I suggested.

As it turned out, the class was very lively, and the reporter (who was not a crafter) appeared have a lot of fun, too. Over the course of the evening, I think we just about hooked her on scrapbooking. (If she had set aside her camera and notebook for even a minute, I would have handed her an ink pad and put her to work.) In fact, the reporter stayed for the entire two hours, taking photos and interviewing each person in class as we completed the project.

The article appeared in Friday's newspaper. You can read an excerpt from it here: article

You can see a gallery of several photos from the class here: photos (click on "Scrapbooking at Memory Bound").

I'm always happy to spread the word about scrapbooking and the great store where I teach. I think the article contributed to both!

Big Day for a Big Fan

Unless you've been living under a rock, you probably know that today is the day that the final Harry Potter book was released. This day has been listed as a holiday on our calendar since the release date was announced.

DD pre-ordered her copy on Amazon and waited quite impatiently for it to arrive via mail truck. Around noon, we heard the familiar sound of the truck as it rounded the corner into our neighborhood. DD met the mail carrier at the street and took the box directly into her hands. After waiting so many months, it would have been dreadful for the book to be delivered to the wrong house.

Since opening the sacred box, DD has sequestered herself with the book -- no phone, no Internet, no accidental spoilers -- and plans to read continuously until she turns the final page.

IASAR Formed: Sensitive Motorists Sought

Des Moines, Iowa. The blogging world reported this week that a new organization has been formed for the sole purpose of rescuing stuffed animals found by the side of the road.

The organization, International Association for Stuffed Animal Rescue, will be global in scope, reports Maureen of "I'd Rather Be Blogging."

The new alliance was formed following the recent rescue of Grandin, a small white teddy bear apparently discarded along a busy thoroughfare of the same name in Manitoba. Grandin's rescue was executed by Maureen and her daughter. Read the full report of this heartwarming rescue here: Teddy Rescue

Maureen says that she was inspired by a similar rescue which took place near Des Moines some months ago. At that time, Janet of "Of Cats and Cardstock" rescued a stuffed elephant from a roadway on a blustery winter evening. The elephant has since undergone gender modification and now goes by the name "Ellie". Read the full report of this daring rescue here: Rescued

Following Grandin's rescue, Maureen developed the concept and badge for the international association based a suggestion made by Janet's daughter. She created the organization's motto, "Please help...For those who can't help themselves", to reflect the organization's plea to sensitive motorists. Once the stuffed animal is rescued, the organization expects that the motorist will clean and sanitize it, freshen its bow or frock, and provide it with a new and permanent home.

Janet explained that the name of the organization is pronounced "Eye-A-Sar", not "Eyesore" as suggested by someone not directly involved in rescue work. Although the association is in its infancy with only two charter members, she is confident that it will grow with lightening speed. Already, she has received a request for a window decal. Travel mugs and t-shirts will surely be next.

After all, who can resist a dirty stuffed animal lying by the side of the road?

Feline Friday: Words to Live By

When in doubt, cop an attitude.
Lily in t-shirt and visor, July 2007
Photo by DD

Garage Sale

It's that time of the year -- the time when my mom and I drag out stuff for our annual garage sale.

We typically have nothing of real value to sell. In fact, we talked today about having a "Reverse Garage Sale". We'll price the items and then we'll pay customers to buy them.

Garage sales are very hard for me. In fact, one day I'm going to write a dissertation about how my pathetic sentimentality leads me to hang onto material things way too long. I'm going to write about how I keep clothing so long that you literally have to dust it in the closet. I'll tell you how difficult it is for me to part with toys, games, playpens, knick-knacks, and ice buckets. I'll write about how I sometimes put things on the garage sale table, only to take them back inside. Those bears pictured above were rescued shortly after this photo was taken at last year's sale.

One day I plan to write about how matter-of-factly my mom rids her life of clutter. She begs me to clear out my closets. She tells me how much better I'll feel. Then I spot a white porcelain cat from my childhood that she's tried to smuggle into the sale and sneak it into the house.

But for today, rather than wax poetic, I've been challenged by my mother to go deep into my closet and clear out the 20-year old wool suits which are sure to be the Next Big Thing. I've been told that I must rid myself of the corduroy shorts that have made their home on the top shelf for ten years. Even the black swimsuit cover-up (never worn in public) must go. Of course, I don't wear any of these items and in reality, I probably won't miss them. (The truth is, I could wear pretty much the same thing every day and be quite happy.) But Mom says if I do not get to the bottom of my closet today, she will come to my house and do it herself. I've been warned.

So if you never hear from me again, you'll know that I've fallen into the black hole of my closet, overcome with dust from my 1980's blouses.

But wait: Isn't polyester coming back in style?

5 Things

Yesterday's 2Peas blogging challenge was this: List 5 things you do each and every day, weekday or weekend. Because I'm (at least) a full day behind, I'm posting yesterday's challenge today.

1) Drink coffee with Creme Brulee creamer
I must ease into my day with a couple of mugs of strong, dark coffee. I used to use French Vanilla creamer, but then I discovered Creme Brulee and haven't looked back. I can only drink coffee until about mid-morning. I never drink it during the middle of the day, but I often drink it in the evening.

2) Listen to NPR
I actually keep the radio on all night, listening to BBC via NPR. During the day, whether I'm home or in the car, NPR is my companion. It's an addiction, I think.

3) Check my e-mail (somewhat compulsively)
I'm often tethered to my computer if I'm at home. I would not even guess how many times each day I check my e-mail or peruse something on the Internet. It's amazing how much these things are part of my life.

4) Update my blog and peruse other blogs
I love reading blogs and leaving comments when I have a chance. I recently started to make a concerted effort to update my own blog every day.

5) Review and update my calendar / planner
Our family calendar is on Outlook. I plug in events for DD and me, and DH keys his events into his Palm (actually, DD named it his "Pokey" a few years back after seeing him use the stylus). Every few days, DH points his Pokey at the computer and everything is synced. I have my own Pokey but can't deal with using a stylus, so I print out the calendar pages for my Franklin planner. I'm old-fashioned that way, I guess.

So there you have it: My 5 Things. I'm sure that I have many more daily routines and rituals, but these are 5 that are a consistent part of my life right now.

Mini-card set

Mom liked the triangular box I gave her for her birthday on Sunday. She decided immediately that she’ll use it for a jewelry box. She told DH that she’d like to hire him to paint their bedroom green to match her new box. Ha! That would be the day! DH will not be released for work until he finishes painting our kitchen. That could be a very long time, at the rate he's working.

As you can see from the photo, I put three beads on the bottom of the box for "legs". I stuck them on with my handy-dandy hot glue gun. The beads dressed up the box just a bit. I found a package of four beads on the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby for 60 cents. Can't beat the price!

I filled the box with a few goodies and this set of mini-cards. I picked up a package of 10 3x3 cards with matching vellum envelopes on sale at Hobby Lobby. I used scraps and rub-ons to make the cards. They were very quick to finish. Mom always likes having cards on hand, and I think I’ve finally convinced her that it’s OK to actually use the card sets that I make for her: I can always make more!

Our Tallgrass Prairie in Mid-July

Last week, I took another camera walk through the prairie in my ongoing quest to document the summer's changing color palette. It was early evening, and the sun was just starting to set. It was quiet and as I walked, I could hear birds fluttering and bunnies scurrying to hide in the tall grasses. The prairie was golden, dotted with purple and white. Black-eyed Susan, bee balm, purple coneflower, and Queen Anne's lace are just a few of the native plants blooming in mid-July.

As I walked the winding paths, I was saddened to think about the extent to which the landscape of our state has changed. One hundred fifty years ago, 85% of our state was tall-grass prairie just like this. Today, less than 0.1% of the prairie remains.

Many groups are working within our state to restore native prairie areas such as this one. Yet sadly, many of our citizens do not understand or appreciate the wild beauty of this type of landscape. Some look at native plants and consider them weeds. They dislike the untamed, natural look of the prairie and would prefer it to be replaced with manicured grass.

Thanks to a thoughtfully constructed land development plan, the prairie in our neighborhood is not at risk. In my opinion, it's the best part of living in this community. I hope that over time, more citizens will come to appreciate and work to restore areas like this.

Supervised Progress

I'm happy to report on this Sunday afternoon that we have seen some progress of late on our snail's-pace re-decorating project. In years past, I made a series of decorating blunders. The purpose of this project is to correct those mistakes and (hopefully) not make any even worse ones in the process.

* The laundry room has been painted Behr Sweet Maple. I hung my print from an impressionism exhibit I visited in Paris many moons ago. While it doesn't look like a perfect match in the photo, in real life it works well. The shelf over the sink has always been wasted space, so I finally purchased some black leather file boxes at Hobby Lobby for storage and trim. All in all, the new color is a huge improvement over the old white walls.

* One wall in the kitchen has been painted Behr Tate Olive. In real life, it's more "pea green" than it appears in this picture. The wall to the left of the green wall is also Sweet Maple. The two colors work well together. I really love the color with our new black-ish countertops.

* Spouse is working on removing the last portions of Ugly Border in the kitchen. It was apparently super-glued on by the builder from whom we purchased this house. After that is finished, the rest of the kitchen can be painted Tate Olive.

No doubt all of this progress is due to Lily's careful supervision from atop the ladder. Note the belly hanging down between the slats of the paint shelf. I'd say that a few more trips up and down the ladder are in order. What do you think?

State Fair Mini-Album

Soon it will be August, and one of my favorite activities of the year will be upon us: the Iowa State Fair. Iowa's fair is not as big as Minnesota's, but my understanding is that it is widely considered to be one of the best in the nation. My family actually camps at the fair and spends the better part of two weeks exploring every aspect of it. We've attended the fair since I was a baby, and we all know that was quite some time ago!

With this in mind, I was only too happy to create a few samples of fair-related projects for the store where I teach. Here are some photos of a 4x12 mini-album that I created using cardstock, matching patterned paper, epoxy stickers and journaling block stamps. If you've never tried making a 4x12 album, it's very simple and uses your cardstock efficiently! This particular album will accommodate several 4x6 (or smaller) photos of memorable fair activities.

Edited to add: As we get closer to fair time, I'll be posting more about it. In addition to camping and spending a lot of time at the fair, we also enter various items in "open class" competitions. This year, DD is taking a teddy bear (which she is sewing today) and several dessert items (the food competition at our fair is the largest in the nation!). DH, DD and I each entered photos this year. (Competition is stiff, so we'll be incredibly lucky if one is even selected for display.) But..most exciting of all, this year, DD and I decided to enter Lily in the Household Pet Cat Competition! Now, that will provide me with ample blog material, I'm sure!

Feline Friday: Feng Shui for Felines

In cleaning out a cupboard this week, I came across a book called Fang Shui: Feng Shui for Felines, by Catfucius. It's a tiny book, but it's packed with wisdom. After reading it, I became enlightened and now have a complete understanding of the goings-on around our house.

Here are two bits of feline wisdom for today:

Plants in the northwest corner of the room create positive ch'i for the environment. This positive ch'i is maximized when the sagacious cat makes full use of the plant's energy by eating it.

Care should be taken not to eat too much of the plant. This can lead to excess energy. You must rid yourself of this excess.

The wise cat waits until the dark hours of the morning and then politely deposits the bad ch'i where others will be sure to notice it -- for example, in a bedroom slipper, or on a newly cleaned Persian carpet.

When the wise cat is satisfied with the cleanliness of its hindquarters, it should present them for inspection.