this-n-that Tuesday

I stitched my Caffeine! design with light green borders and dark green “caffeine” so it would match my kitchen counter. I want to put this in a fancy frame and hang it in the space between my stovetop and range hood. For now, though, I chucked it into my fuppie box, which where my Finished but Unfinished Projects go to die.

This past week I read two books, “Finger Lickin’ Fifteen” by Janet Evanovich and “Pontoon” by Garrison Keillor. The Stephanie Plum story was typical, with some very funny parts and a lot of bad language. There was a great laugh-out-loud dinner scene and an episode involving a hot dog suit… I have to admit though, that I always root for Steph to choose Ranger over Morelli. <insert sigh>

Pontoon was an all-out hoot to read, though I’ve never liked Garrison Keillor before. The story details the build up to the craziest funeral in history, with a naked guy hang-gliding over the lake holding a hollowed-out bowling ball filled with his grandmother’s ashes, while an almost wedding ceremony happens below and a conglomerate of visiting pastors look on. If you think you don’t like Keillor either, you might give this one a try.

There was a teacher from one of the local private schools peddling literature at my daughter’s VBS (Vacation Bible School) a few weeks ago. After much investigating, soul-searching, and bank balance checking, it looks like we’ll be sending her there. We go in tomorrow to meet with her prospective teacher who will show us the materials she uses and so on; provided that goes well, we’ll turn in the enrollment papers. I’m not at all looking forward to driving Elizabeth 40 minutes to school each day (those icy cold mornings are particularly daunting) but I think it will be a good thing for both of us. She’s at the age where we are starting to get on each other’s nerves after spending all day together, and I think a break from homeschool will be a positive change in our household. I hope. Plus, clothes shopping will be easy with uniforms.

It’s VBS week again, this time at the Baptist church. We do both because my daughter has fun and I get a few hours of free babysitting… it’s a win-win situation. Personally, I think the Baptists put on a better show than the Lutherans (they even hold a carnival for Family Night at the end of the week) but my daughter is a member at the Lutheran church and has to go to that one. So we double dip.

Tonight is the Jonas Brothers concert that I got sucked into attending. I don’t really know much of their music but I don’t think that will be a problem… I’ll be amazed if we can even hear the music over thousands of squealing pre-teen girls! My friend told me she’s bringing ear plugs, which is probably a really smart idea, but I’m just not ready to admit I’m old enough to be worried about hearing loss at a concert. I made bracelets for us, to commemorate the occasion and hopefully ward off any need for a $45 concert tee as a souvenir. Wish me luck with that ;)

 

my freewheeling days are numbered

My petsitting vacation is almost over already! Just a few more days until the family will be underfoot again, and someone else can hold the cat’s water glass.

This weekend I’m going to focus on getting ready for the beginning of our school year. (I know, we are starting a bit late, but we’ll catch up in no time.) My daughter is getting a new (well, used but new to us) computer for her schoolwork; I’m expecting a multi-outlet router to arrive today so I can hook both computers up to our DSL at once. I hope it comes with clear instructions!

I also plan to re-organize the schoolroom bookshelf. I still have last year’s texts on the shelves, while the new stuff is in boxes… this last month went by so crazily fast!

For those who have been asking, I’ve just listed a few Halloween Bat threadholders in my Etsy shop.  Those polka dots gave me serious grief, so they are on sale… I’ll have to keep practicing my dotting technique, I guess.

Thank you all for visiting my blog. I’ve been a terrible commenter the past week or so, but I have been reading! I’ll be glad when my schedule is back to normal. (when will that be again?)

 

zoo pictures

My daughter had a 3-hour reptile class at the St. Louis Zoo last Friday, so we all walked around a bit while she was in there. The zoo has this marvelous path called The River’s Edge, which is where the exhibits for the African animals (elephants, hippos, etc) are located. The path is planted up so nicely with lush greenery:

The children’s zoo has a neat meerkat habitat, and it’s fun to stand there and watch them play. It’s usually hard for me to take a good photo of meerkats (they run around so quickly!) but this one stopped to pose for me:

The children’s zoo also has plenty of birds that walk around at will. There are always peacocks, chickens, and turkeys roaming around. This was the first time I’ve seen one watching a show, though:

I brought home the sweetest purple penguin stuffie; she and Cheese bonded immediately:

 

ATCs and ACEOs on a Wednesday

Monday’s art class was all about ATCs and ACEOs, including their history and commercial prospects. Elizabeth has since launched into full entrepreneurial mode and asked me to begin a section for her to list her artworks on my Etsy shop: Art by Elizabeth. She will be in charge of creating, pricing, and shipping, while I will provide the artist’s materials, the listing space, and general supervision. She’s hoping to earn a bit of money towards her upcoming summer adventures, not the least of which is a trip to American Girl Place in Chicago. The ACEO pictured above is titled Mermaids Playing… isn’t it cute?!

Though art miniatures have been around for ages, the current ATC (Artist Trading Card) frenzy was born in Switzerland in 1997. There are just 2 rules for ATCs: they must measure 2.5 X 3.5, which is the size of a standard baseball trading card, and can never be sold. A complete (and interesting!) summary of ATCs can be found here.

ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) are basically ATCs that are for sale. An ACEO must stick to the required size but can be a print of an original, either numbered as part of a limited print run (limited edition) or re-printed without limit (open edition). Of course, they can be originals, too. I’ve seen original ACEOs selling for hundreds of dollars, though most seem to sell in the $5-$15 range. Elizabeth is selling hers for $1.50-2.00 :)

BTW, David Cook completely rocks.