Okay, I'm back

Instead of posting a bunch of individual entries for all my missing pics, I'll just give you an overview of the past week.

I spent most of my time working the graveyard shift (here's some recent pictures of the construction, obviously not taken during the graveyard shift):





recuperating from said graveyard shifts (aside...I made all three quilts on my bed):



and writing:



But there were some other things going on as well. My daughter had a sleepover that left the house a complete wreck:



With careful recycling, we usually average only 2 bags of garbage each week for a family of four. I cheated and bought paper plates/cups for the sleepover. Two bags of trash in just 16 hours:



One of the mom's brought me ten yards of this funky material when she came to pick up her daughter. Whoo-hoo!



I spent some time in my garden, too. The blueberries are really starting to ripen:



Once "God of Speed" arrived from Australia on Saturday morning...



...I spent the rest of my weekend reading in my garden:

Some assembly required

I didn't want to fold laundry anyway

Pie

This is a picture I took back in May. Originally I was going to post it here with a braggarty "Whoo-hoo! Look what I did" blog entry. But it didn't take long for me to realize there wasn't anything to brag about.



I hate to cook. I seriously do. I cook because the authorities look rather unfavorably on starving kids. Every so often, though, I'm inspired to do something a little daring. Like this lemon meringue pie. You may have noticed how awesome the meringue itself looks. That's because I got the recipe for it from Alton Brown, my favorite nerdy TV cook. The recipe came with instructions for making homemade lemon filling and a homemade crust, but that was a bit much for me; I opted for a frozen store-bought crust and a can o'filling instead. Still...the meringue was kind of amazing. I want you to remember that. Here's why:

I was so concerned with the meringue coming out Just So that I didn't think to cook the crust first. I just plopped the lemon filling into the raw (but thawed!) crust, gently spread the meringue on top, and cooked it for the alloted time (I can't even remember just what that was right now.) And so I was stuck with a beautiful, inedible pie.



I really hate to cook...

Sabotage

I'm supposed to be on a diet, and look what my husband brought home tonight.


The pinhead.

Bouquet

My kids picked this for me today.

Lots of limts

We found this buried out back behind the shed over the weekend. My son wants to hang it in his room. I wonder how much scrubbing with bleach it will take until I'm comfortable with that?

Newborn

This is what greeted me when I got home from work this morning at 7:30.

Semi-organized chaos

Otherwise known as my desk. (Yes, that's right...I'm a Sims 2 geek.)

Hazel from the other side...

The opposite view...

Distraction from taxation

First blooms of spring today:



Last summer we got a freak windstorm than knocked down five trees in our yard. (Miraculously enough our house wasn't hit.) My hubby turned one of the stumps into a chair. This is where our rock garden will go. (Expect updates on that.)



Another sign of spring:



Some of the leaves we didn't get around to raking last year:

"Pay no attention to the cat behind the curtain..."

Coordinating accessories

I realized tonight that my Tabasco sauces match my tea kettle and cast iron pot.


And here's me going all Andy Warhol on my picture...

Still Life #3: Accessorize Effectively

More snow today...

Generation gap

My daughter didn't like the fabric I bought for her bedroom curtains. This is what she chose instead. That's right...FOUR different fabrics, one for each panel. I think it's gonna be kinda cool.

Still Life 2: "Fanaticism"

I woke up this morning with an almost fanatical urge to clean every surface in my house.

For those of you who don't know me very well, this is atypical behavior.

Waiting for Summer

My daughter made this skateboard at school. Right now it's like an unpopped kernel of popcorn.

(I cropped this picture, then adjusted the contrast, so that my daughter remains anonymous.)

We are not amused

My humanitarian daughter apparently has no problem with torturing living animals with doll clothes.

Jelly Man Kelly

I am geekily proud of the fact that everything* in this picture--including the jelly cupboard**--was purchased at various yard sales over the past five years or so. I decoupaged the cupboard doors myself. (Modge Podge glue covers a multitude of dents.) Unlike ramekin, decoupage is a rather silly sounding word.



* Except for the money plant.

** My jelly cupboard doesn't actually contain any jelly. It's filled with boxes of cereal and crackers and the like.

Matters of Conscience

My 11-year-old daughter is a big anti-fur girl. Her reasoning: there are plenty of other natural and synthetic materials available for clothing in this day and age, so why kill an animal for no good reason?

Imagine her dismay when, just this morning, she discovered that the kitten knick-knack her best friend recently gave to her is covered with [not faux] rabbit fur.