Always Remember That

Is this thing on?

2012-02-01T15:08:00.000-05:00

It's an odd thing, not wanting to give up one's blog but also never really feeling like updating it. Anyway, I'll take the easy way out and highlight the past few weeks of our lives in pictures:

Phoebe. Is there anything funnier than a Phoebe? Above she is dressed up for her half-birthday at school (since she's a summer baby). (She did, in the end, decide not to wear the hat.) Every outfit, every clothing changed is thought out with precision detail. Where she gets her fashionista tendencies I do not know.

A few weekends ago she suddenly announced that if I did not get her a pair of jean shorts she would just die. This was alarming, but since we had to go shopping anyway, I said I'd see what we could find. Luckily we found some on sale. She has taken them off only to go to school --she wears them to bed! -- and she thinks they look best when she wears them with a skirt-shirt, as shown:

...and is frustrated by the fact that she mostly has skorts, which cannot be pulled up to her armpits, instead of real skirts.

This is how happy she is about her shorts:

In other news, I turned forty, which...what is there to say about turning forty? Here I am on my birthday with my girls:

I did decide to make the afghan, and have completed 16 of the 212 pieces. I'm guessing it will be 2015 before I get it done. I made this panda for Mallory:

...which coordinates nicely with her freshly-painted bedroom, of which more later.

I also made a chihuahua for Phoebe, who is on a Skippy Jon Jones kick:

He's supposed to stand up by himself, but, well, he doesn't.

What's up with you? Oh, and would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?

Somebody stop me

2012-01-09T16:04:00.000-05:00

Because I have all the time in the world and unlimited patience, I want to make this:

The flowery one on top, not the stripy one on the bottom. Even though I've never crocheted anything larger than a scarf, and I only made the scarf this weekend, and before that I'd never crocheted anything larger than a cell phone case. Even though this afghan is made of two-hundred and twelve separate blocks that would have to be stitched together, and my least favorite thing about crocheting is stitching pieces together. Even though I don't need another blanket in my house, I have plenty. Even though I'm afraid I'm going to become a crazy crochet lady who keeps making things that nobody needs and foisting them on people. Here, have a scarf! Have an afghan! Have some booties! People will tire of me.

If I'm going to make an afghan, having never made one before, it would be smart to start with something easier:

or at least with something smaller:

But what if I hate the whole process and decide, having completed one of the above afghans, that I never want to make another one? Then I'll have an afghan, but it won't be the one I want:

I really love it.

I really have a million other things to do with myself.

Maybe instead I'll make another scarf:

Even though I don't really wear scarves. But isn't it pretty?

This is getting dangerous.

Wrapping it up

2011-12-29T14:09:00.000-05:00

No, not like that:

I am way behind here. I don't think I ever posted about Mallory's birthday, and I had some thoughts about Christmas decorations which I guess I'll save until next year, and I should tell you about the fab time I had with my family last week, but instead I'll just sum up 2011.

Best Books Read:
There But For The by Ali Smith
Chime by Franny Billingsley
The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
The Boy in the Moon by Ian Brown
Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin

Worst Books Read:
Obedience by Will Lavender
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
Sister by Rosamund Lupton
The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Best Movie:
Bridesmaids

Fave TV show:
Modern Family; also Prime Suspect but I think they're taking it off the air

Proud of myself for:
Teaching myself how to crochet
Losing 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas (now need new pants)

Best new experience:
Riding a Segway with Aimee through downtown Charlotte

New places traveled to:
Atlanta
Chicago (prefer Chicago)

Glad that I:
Took the girls on fun outings this fall, even though it ate up my weekends and wore me out

Not glad that I:
Spent too much time on the internet
"Prepared" so many unhealthy "dinners" for my family

Most fun had:
Trip to Chicago (except for getting there, and the heat)
Visiting my family at Christmas

Favorite picture:

Up next:
Painting/reorganizing the girls' bedrooms

Hope to:
See my whole family again soon
Crochet more
Exercise more
Get my children to eat vegetables and meat that isn't dipped in batter

Happy 2012!

The Have Nots

2011-12-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I sorted through the girls' books and set aside some to donate. I put them in a Bruegger's Bagels bag because it was big and sturdy and had big sturdy handles. Naturally, the bag has been sitting in our hallway ever since.

Phoebe noticed it last Saturday. "Mommy, why is there a Wubbzy book in this bag?" she asked.

"Because those are books I'm going to donate," I said.

"To the poor?" she asked.

"Yes."

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said.

I was about to launch into a lecture about how she had too much and other children had too little and she hadn't read any of those books for ages and --

But then she added, "Because if the poor children see this bagel bag, it's just going to make them hungry."

----------------------

Twenty-five people were laid off from my office yesterday. Luckily I was not one of them, although there were a few tense moments when I thought I might be. I feel bad for feeling happy that I'm still employed, when so many of these people -- including some friends of mine -- are now not. And, although of course I never want to lose my job, knock wood, wish on a star, cross your heart and so forth -- Chris and I have a pretty good safety net. I'm fairly confident that we would never end up without a home to live in or food to eat. I'm afraid that a few of the people who were let go yesterday don't have that kind of assurance, and it just makes me feel terrible. And although I understand the reasons they were let go now instead of a few weeks from now (because if they kept their jobs into 2012 they'd be able to claim there 2012 vacation hours) -- it's still particularly awful that this happened right before Christmas. I think the powers that be deserve a few lumps of coal for that one.

If you're not in the spirit yet...

2011-12-05T21:37:00.001-05:00

you will be after watching this.

My only regret is that this version does not have Beeker singing the nine ladies dancing part. That cracks me and Phoebe right up.

Ten

2011-12-02T14:33:00.000-05:00

Last night Mallory asked me to carry her. "Carry you?" I said. "I haven't been able to carry you for many years."

"But you said you always would, no matter what," she said.

"When did I say that?"

"On your blog," she said.

I guess she read this. Which, in spite of its schmaltziness, is one of my favorite posts. I can't believe that was 5 years ago. I can't believe that Phoebe is older now that Mallory was then. I can't believe that I thought five was old. I can't believe I didn't factor 4th grade social studies into the equation.

She's ten, my beautiful, goofy, kind-hearted, generous, bright and funny little girl. If I'm a bit sad today that she's growing up so fast, I'm consoled by the fact that I'm the one who gets to be there with her while she does.

Happy Birthday!

Notes for when I take over

2011-11-29T22:07:00.001-05:00

Went to the grocery store today; glanced at my receipt on the way out and saw that, through my store's Loyalty Card scheme, I have saved $436 on groceries this year. And it occurred to me to wish that they gave you an option -- you could either save this money on your purchases throughout the year, OR, you can pay full price for your groceries, but then get a rebate check for the amount you WOULD have saved at the end of the year. Would that be awesome or what? Paying $10 extra per grocery trip wouldn't be that bad if I could get a $500 check around Christmastime.

Teachers should be disallowed from giving two major tests in one week, especially when one of the students is so excited about her upcoming birthday that she can barely breathe. (Studying for a 4th grade science test is just as exciting at age 39 as it was at age 9 (in other words, not). Mallory always manages to lighten things up though. She gave this example of a food chain: "Grass...hamburger...me...a shark!")

Employers should release their employees one and a half hours early each working day between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This would be more effective if I had more examples, but now I'm going to bed.

What I'm thankful for:

2011-11-24T11:36:00.001-05:00

A mother who taught me the importance of a homemade pie crust, and a father who perfected the art of applying vanilla ice cream to a piece of pie. Streusel topping for when the top crust just doesn't come together. A daughter who loves to bake, who's almost old enough to bake things by herself, but who still asks questions like, "This says I need three-slash-four cups of sugar...how much is three-slash-four?" Another daughter who is finally old enough to play games that require reading, but who is still young enough to say "cimmanon" and "bekfrast." A job to go to, even when I have to go there the day before Thanksgiving. A house to live in, no matter how messy. The internet, so I don't have to go shopping for reals tomorrow. In-laws who have always welcomed me with open arms, and who gave me the job of making desserts, rather than vegetables, for Thanksgiving dinner. Two sisters and a brother who feel close even when we're far apart. A husband who always makes me laugh, and who tolerates me when I'm not in a laughing mood. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

5th member of Kemple family

2011-11-20T10:52:00.001-05:00

We got a blue beta fish last night at petco. Did you know that NONE of the fish were dead? We prayed on the way over there for all of the fish to be healthy and God preformed a miracle! Mallory came up with the name Blue Berry Kemple. She is reading him a story now. She is very happy.Happy Birthday Mallory! [This post was written by Mallory]

Recipe for Disaster

2011-11-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

So I've been hunting around on online recipe websites for some Thanksgiving inspiration. I love being able to search for recipes online and am thinking about doing away with cookbooks altogether. I really like the reviews that most sites have - it's useful when someone comments that, for example, the recipe called for 1 TBSP of salt when it should be 1 TSP, or that someone else substituted chicken thighs for chicken breasts and the recipe still turned out delicious.

But. It drives me nuts when someone gives a recipe a bad rating and then says:

This recipe was terrible! It was so bland! I left out the garlic and onion because I don't like those, and it had no flavor at all. Plus I left out the cheese and sour cream to save on fat but cooked it as directed and it got really dried out!

Well, guess what, you didn't really make this recipe. You changed the recipe, and it turned out terrible, but that's not the recipe's fault.

This kind of thing is even worse:

This was delicious! I made it as written, except that I added a bunch of different seasonings, plus some link sausage, plus I shortened the cooking time but amped up the heat a little bit. I didn't use the sauce recommended, I used another sauce that my grandma taught me how to make, and it turned out great! Five stars!

If it's so delicious the way you made it, then post your own recipe!

It also bugs me when people give books a bad rating on Amazon because the book may have been damaged in shipping, or because they thought the price was too high, or because of some other reason that has nothing to do with the book.

People. What are you gonna do.

Unsuper

2011-11-17T16:01:00.000-05:00

I don't pretend to know anything about how government works, but this is what I'm picturing in my head about the supercommittee meetings:

Democrats: We need to raise taxes on the wealthy.

Republicans: No.

Democrats: But [list reasons, some of them valid, why this is a good idea].

Republicans: No.

[Break for lunch]

Republicans: We need to cut entitlements.

Democrats: No.

Republicans: But [list reasons, some of them valid, why this is a good idea].

Democrats: No.

[Break for the day. Tell members of the press that the gridlock is the other side's fault.]

The end.

Snaggletooth

2011-11-16T12:50:00.000-05:00

When she was about 18 months old, Phoebe somehow chipped her front tooth. We had it capped at the dentist -- a procedure that involved me holding her body on my lap while a dental hygienist held her head and the dentist worked (very slowly) and Phoebe writhed and screamed like we were killing her -- but two days later, she bit into a bagel and the cap came off. Of course.

So we decided to let it be. After all, it was a baby tooth, it was going to fall out eventually. I remember thinking, though, that five or six years was going to be a long time, looking at that awful chipped tooth every day.

It wasn't a long time at all. And it stopped being awful:

And now it's gone:

Mrs. Neill

2011-11-14T16:33:00.000-05:00

I found out today that my third grade teacher, Mrs. Neill, has died.

She was one of the best. She's what every teacher should be.

I hate to even mention this story in the same post as Mrs. Neill, but still -- I would bet that Mrs. Neill wouldn't have run away and called her dad and asked what she should do about an unsettling thing she saw in the locker room. I would bet that Mrs. Neill would've hauled back and given that person a solid punch in the jaw. Without having to think twice about it.

I like to think that, having been taught by her, I would do the same thing.

The dollhouse dilemma

2011-11-11T11:56:00.000-05:00

For her second Christmas, Mallory got a very nice wooden dollhouse from Santa. Her grandparents and aunts chipped in to get all the associated furnishings and dolls.

She played with it fairly regularly for a while, but then when Phoebe came along, we had to rearrange some things in her room and it kind of got pushed back to an inaccessible corner. Later, we moved it into our attic playroom, but by that point, they were both more interested in Polly Pockets and Barbies, and the dollhouse got very little use. I estimate they play with it once or twice a year.

I would like to get rid of this dollhouse. I think it's a wonderful toy, it's high-quality, it's a great thing -- but my kids don't play with it and it's taking up quite a bit of space and gathering dust. I've considered saving it for my grandchildren, but that assumes that I'll have grandchildren that will be interested in a dollhouse, which really is a tall assumption, and we don't really have the storage space to hang on to this for 20 years or so. I have thought I'd either try to sell it on craigslist (thus generating a bit of cash for this year's Christmas presents) or offering it to a friend of mine who just had a baby girl.

However, when I mentioned to the girls that I was thinking the dollhouse had to go, they protested. They love the dollhouse! The dollhouse is their favorite! The dollhouse is very special to them! How can I consider giving away the dollhouse!

Except, they don't love it, except in an abstract way. I understand that it's upsetting to lose childhood toys, but we've gone through this before (selling Little People playsets at garage sales, donating stuffed animals to charity) and within days they've forgotten all about the toys they no longer have. It would seriously not be a deprivation for them to be without this toy.

On the other hand, I do feel that dollhouses ARE special, and have a kind of symbolic importance. I would be a little sad if we didn't have this dollhouse around anymore.

So, what wins out here? Practicality or sentimentality? What would you do?

Can you believe we had even MORE fall fun?

2011-11-08T22:56:00.000-05:00

Really, I just can't stop with the weekend activities. My kids have been enriched to death the past month or so.

This weekend, we went downtown Raleigh for a double-header. First up: the North Carolina History Festival, which I hoped would get Mallory excited about the enormous NC Social Studies project she's working on. That night: Tickets to the ballet, a few blocks away from the festival. In between: About an hour and a half of down time (poor planning).

The festival was fine. We saw sculptures and a real dugout canoe and a replica Cherokee longhouse and the girls made bonnets and paper cardinals.

Much more exciting than history, however, was riding bus between venues:

Then, to kill time, we had an ice cream cone and wandered back to the garage where we'd parked the car. In the elevator, to be whimsical, I pushed 6 even though we were only on 3. The sixth floor level turned out to be empty of cars and the girls thought this was the best thing ever. A photo shoot ensued:

It WAS a lovely view:

We rode up and down in the elevator a few more times. I suggested that they pursue careers as Elevator Inspectors. "I didn't know that could be a job!" Phoebe exclaimed. Mallory expressed enthusiasm too, but then caution intervened: "If I ride an elevator in a really tall building, will my ears pop?"

Our parking garage fun wasn't over; next we went to our car to change clothes for the ballet. (The other option was schlepping over to the theatre, changing clothes in the restroom, and schlepping back to the car to put away our other things -- not appealing. It was cold out, and I'm lazy.) This turned out to be quite an adventure, because of course the people in the car next to ours walked up at the very moment the girls removed their shirts. Our windows are tinted so I don't think anyone could see anything, but the girls shrieked and dove under their seats anyway. "This is the worst idea ever!" Phoebe said.

Still, they cleaned up nicely:

The ballet was based on the Fancy Nancy books, which Phoebe adores. The series illustrator was there, looking very glamorous, and Phoebe got an autograph and a picture:

The girls insisted on sitting at the very tippy top of the balcony section, and then proceeded to wiggle and squirm throughout the performance. "What did you think?" I asked Phoebe when it was over.

She said: "I think ballet would be better if there was popcorn."

I think she's probably right.

We ended the night with dinner at IHOP. I know that my kids will remember the wrong things from this day -- they won't remember what a Cherokee home looks like, or what the North Carolina state reptile is, or the music from the ballet. They'll remember frolicking on a parking garage roof and chocolate chip pancakes. But I guess as long as they remember that we were there together, that's okay with me.

That'll cheer you up

2011-11-07T16:18:00.000-05:00

As a break from my list of depressing reads, I turned to Anne Frank.

Yeah, I know. It's like continuing to eat spicy food while complaining that your mouth's on fire.

Mallory asked me about Hitler the other day. How do you explain Hitler to a 9-year-old? Her main concern seemed to be whether such a thing could ever happen again. She didn't seem comforted by my answer ("I hope not") but what else can you say?

Anyway, in an attempt to bring things down to her level, I told her about Anne Frank. Then I ordered a book for her -- "Who Was Anne Frank?" -- one of a series of biographies for children. (I think I've mentioned before how much I loved the biographical series in my elementary school's library. They were all bound in hideous orange. My favorite was Jane Addams: Little Lame Girl.) I thought this summation of Anne Frank's life would be easier for Mallory -- who does not like to read -- to digest than the actual diary.

I read The Diary of a Young Girl when I was...ten or eleven, maybe? And I thought it was dull, honestly, although I would like to believe I was sufficiently saddened at the end. But then in 7th grade, as part of an "Accelerated Learning" project in Language Arts, I "got" to read the play "Anne Frank." I don't remember much about the play itself, but I do remember the series of exhausting questions in my literature book that I was forced to answer. "What was the basis of the conflict between Anne and her mother? Cite three examples." "The basis of the conflict between Anne and her mother was...One example is in Act One..." It seems that I spent weeks answering these questions. It kind of turned me off Anne Frank, to be honest.

But after reading the short book I got for Mallory, I was intrigued anew. I tried without success to get the Diary for my nook; so instead I downloaded a book about the Diary, Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose. This is a fascinating book; it details how the book we now know as Anne Frank's diary wasn't just the diary of a young girl; Anne actually spent a great deal of time and effort (although, what else did she have but time, while hiding in the secret anenx) revising and polishing her book into a true memoir. It relates eye-witness accounts of Anne's last days in Bergen-Belsen, which were, of course, horrifyingly awful. And it talks about how odd it is that what most people know about, or take away from, the diary is that famous line about how "in spite of everything, I still believe that people are truly good at heart." In fact, that quote is usually lifted out of context -- Anne may have believed that, but she also believed that the world could be a pretty terrible place. And even if she had believed whole-heartedly in the goodness of people -- the fact is, she was proven wrong, wasn't she? She lost two years of her life hiding in an attic; and then she was found and spent the next six months in a concentration camp; then she died a horrible death. Good people didn't make that happen.

On the other hand. Of course the last line in Mallory's dumbed-down version of Anne Frank's life is that very quote. And if that's what Mallory, for now, takes away from this story -- that there was once a girl who was persecuted through no fault of her own, but who managed to be brave and optimistic in spite of everything, and whose words have inspired other people to be more tolerant and fight against injustice and oppression -- well, actually, that's a big take-away, but if she gets even just a little bit of that -- I guess that's enough. For now.

Almost two digits

2011-11-04T20:25:00.000-04:00

Mallory is busily creating her birthday party invitation. It was difficult to rein her in, to say, no, you can't invite your friends to a movie AND go swimming AND go for ice cream and no, as an alternative you can't invite every girl in your class (except the one you don't like) to the Tumble Gym.

It's even more difficult to wrap my head around the fact that she's going to be ten.

Bleak

2011-11-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

So I've just read a string of really depressing books, y'all. (I don't know why I just called you y'all.) In the past month or so, I've read:

We Need to Talk about Kevin -- A mother writes about the lead-up to, and aftermath of, a school massacre perpetrated by her son, Kevin. I simultaneously hated this book and couldn't put it down. All the characters behaved in a completely unrealistic fashion. (Hi, I've suspected my son is a psychopath since the day he was born, but I'll let him babysit my daughter anyway.) It obviously doesn't end well and left me feeling ooky for days.

The Night Circus -- Depressing because I thought I would like it more than I did

The Grief of Others -- stillborn baby, enough said

Please Look After Mom -- An elderly Korean woman disappears in a subway station; her daughter, son, and husband ruminate about how little they appreciated her and how badly they treated her. Nice.

Nightwoods -- Children witness brutal murder of their mother, then lots of people tromp around in the woods on various missions with varying degrees of success. Really not very uplifting at all.

Have you read anything light-hearted lately that you would recommend?

The day after

2011-11-02T16:04:00.000-04:00

My kids' school doesn't "do" Halloween, but as a "fun" alternative, they ~~allow~~ require students to dress up as saints for All Saints Day (November 1). How does one dress a child up as a saint, you may ask? Answer: I don't know, but apparently wrapping them up in veils and shawls does the trick well enough:

Don't they look happy to be saints? Phoebe is St Catherine of Siena (which is the name of their school, but it was chosen because Phoebe's middle name is Catherine) and Mallory is St Maria Goretti, who was murdered at the age of 12 and beatified because she forgave her murderer on her deathbed. Which is a nice story, right?

Still, they're getting a good education. Phoebe had to write sentences with selected "sight words" last night; the sentences had to be at least 5 words long. One of her words was "does." "I can't think of a does sentence!" she said. Then she said, "Oh wait -- how about, 'Does potatoes grow in gardens?' No...that sounds wrong. That would be 'do', not 'does'. It should be: 'Does a potato grow in a garden?'" My heart swelled with pride. Only six and she's nailed subject-verb agreement.

For the word "Who," she wrote: "Who are my parents?" I pointed out that sentence was only four words long. She erased and wrote something else and brought it to me. The sentence now read: "Who are my parents well who?"

Hee.

Hallo-wet

2011-11-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

What you don't want to happen on Halloween night is, you don't want it to rain. Rain ruins everything. Rain means that either your kids' costumes (that you spent hours making or dollars buying) get ruined, or that your kids wear a raincoat that covers up their costumes (that you spent hours making or dollars buying). Rain gets their candy buckets damp. Rain makes their face paint run. Rain deters other children from trick or treating, which means that you only manage to unload one of the five bags of candy that you bought. Rain means that you, too, have to slog around the neighborhood, wrangling umbrellas, bumping into other parents carrying umbrellas, resenting parents who opt to drive their precious snowflakes from house to house, feeling your socks get increasingly soggy. "Being a parent sucks sometimes," I texted my sister from under my umbrella.

But honestly -- I wouldn't have it any other way.

In case you were wondering

2011-10-26T09:19:00.000-04:00

The dreaded Social Studies test? She made a

Whew.

Confederation, confederation, confederation

2011-10-21T09:23:00.000-04:00

Mallory has a big Social Studies test today. She’s not doing well in Social Studies, this year. When I asked her why her grades were so low, she said, “I don’t like Social Studies. Besides, no one can be good at everything.” I thought this was a fair point, but let her know that it was not acceptable for her to do quite so poorly, whether she liked it or not.

We studied for hours for this test. We read the chapter twice, summarized main points, went over vocabulary words, filled in blanks and did true/false quizzes. There were moments when I despaired – as when I asked, “The villages of the Cherokee people came together to form a...” and she said, “Um...bison?” But I think she knows the material pretty well; honestly I’m not even sure what else we could have done to get her prepared. I told her we would like for her to get at least a B.

I know she’s nervous. I’m nervous for her. I slept poorly all night.

But, I also know more than I really wanted to know about the early peoples of North Carolina. Ask me about the Three Sisters or the Green Corn Ceremony! And think good thoughts for her today around 1:30.

Even more fall fun! Man, I'm tired

2011-10-17T15:08:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the girls and I went to a pumpkin farm -- it was "Scout Day" so the girls got in free. (I paid $12) (The pumpkin was not included) This was, in fact, more than just a pumpkin farm -- it used to be a tobacco plantation, but ten or so years ago its owners decided to diversify into organic produce and "agritourism." So they grow strawberries and blueberries, and cabbages and carrots, and they sell their produce at farmer's markets and through CSAs. And they do school tours and scout events and they turned the back 40 acres of their farm into a huge playground.

I love this place. Every time I visit I think how fun it would be to run such a place myself. (I know. Please. I grew up on a farm and I know it's really not that fun at all.) But it's all so wholesome and pretty and nice. And I learn something new every time I go. For example, did you know that asparagus in the field looks like this:

It's that weedy-looking stuff in the foreground. Huh.

The farm also a huge variety of pumpkins, not just the kind people buy for jack-o-lanterns. There are peanut pumpkins:

and squashy "Cinderella" pumpkins:

and "warty" pumpkins:

and stripey Mexican pumpkins:

Here is an impressive tower of pumpkins, but what I love about this picture is that scrap of sky at the top. That's a Carolina blue sky. Every time I see the sky looking like that, I'm glad that I moved here.

The farm also has animals, such as Rosco the donkey:

and some baby pigs:

The girls love the playground at this place. I love it too, because everything is made of a re-purposed something else. There's a cow train made of old barrels, and swings and an obstacle course made out of old tires. There's a huge underground slide and tin-can stilts, just like in some Ramona book:

There's a giant bin of corn kernels, and an inflatable thingy to jump on:

And of course there's the hayride that gets you there:

Anyway, it's a good time. And as I said, I know better than to romanticize about life on a farm...but this place makes me do just that, if only for one autumn afternoon every year.

Fall Fun

2011-10-14T13:37:00.000-04:00

Whoooo wanted to buy my items at the craft show last weekend?

Nobody, apparently. Which is okay, I wasn't counting on sales to pay the bills.

Mallory also made a craft:

...and got her hair sprayed pink:

...and ate lots of cotton candy:

Phoebe, ditto:

Then we spent a loooong time in line to get their faces painted, but they were very pleased with the results:

It was a lovely day, in spite of being not-profitable.

What now?

2011-10-07T15:06:00.001-04:00

Not to sound like a commercial, but we switched to Vonage for our phone service. We considered dropping our land line completely but that just seemed too daring. Anyway, you can set up your voicemail to automatically forward transcripts of any messages to your email account. With hilarious results! For example, yesterday we got this message from the town council, which makes all kinds of robocalls to announce exciting town happenings:

This message is from the town of Xville and it's not an emergency. We are calling to let you know about our babies and microchip pet clinic on Saturday At Main Street, Park the park which is at 200 South Main Street.

A babies clinic! Ha! When it's really a rabies clinic!

So I'm getting entertained on top of saving on my phone bill. What a deal.

Speaking of money, I'm going to be (attempting to) sell my crocheted wares at a craft show this weekend. I have no idea what to charge for my products; I have even less of an idea if anyone will be interested in buying little owls and little owl cell phone cases at any price. (Also: I may have overdone the owl thing.) I will try to take a picture of everything before I offer them to the world. Wish me luck!