Today it rains

And rains and rains.


And I determine that the best thing to do is pull out one of the pattern books step-dad gave me for my birthday and try my knitting skills on some stockings.



If I don't answer my phone this evening, it's because I can't hear it over the sound of my own cursing. I do not understand this pattern, but I so badly want these stockings that I WILL figure it out.

Love, J

Green sun tea

water
+
gunpowder green tea leaves
+
a touch of agave nectar
=
aaahhhhhhh...

Love, J

We won't be calling them "dog" days around here

I've got a summer to-do list that's a mile long. It's overflowing with parties to throw, things to make, plants to grow, food to cook, people to play with, books to read, places to go, and other ways to have fun.

But if all I wind up doing this summer is having lazy, lovely days like these, it will be a very good year.

Love, J

What I grow best

The hubs finds them cheery and sweet, and I concur. I do understand that our neighbors probably disagree, though, so I am trying my hardest to keep them under control in any non-chemical way I can contrive.

As far as I can tell, I am losing the battle, and we should be enjoying a sunny yellow carpet of a yard inside a few weeks.

Love, J

Camera bag

Cushion-y softness for one of my most precious (and most often used, and most complimented) possessions: the graduation camera.

Materials: 2 old sheets, thread, quilt batting from (where else?) Value Village, and a clasp and bias tape from a box of Grandma's hand-me-downs. No pattern this time, I decided to try winging it.

Love, J

Sweet, sweet freedom

The hubs has cordoned off a very large corner of the yard with chicken wire, enabling the bunnies free range in a super-sized enclosure. To say they are enjoying their liberty would be a gross understatement.

I garden, they frolic, the hubs naps in the hammock. Life is good.

Love, J

I can already feel myself changing

It's official: I'm a celebrity.

I've mentioned before how much I love to feel famous. And now that my photo has been on TV, I for sure qualify as a 'big deal,' right? Go here to watch. The segment I'm in starts around 6:25, and my photo's in the bottom right. There's also one of G with Vinny in the upper left. Stick around to watch the whole segment and get a feel for how awesome River's Wish is.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find myself some fashionably large sunglasses and practice my scowl in the mirror. The first hoard of paparazzi should be here any minute now.

Love, J

Reunited, and it feels so good

I anonymized a couple relatives who
aren't as attention-craving as yours truly.
Anyone else who'd rather not have
their photos up here, let me know!

The happiest day of my year...

... is not Christmas. It is not my birthday. It's not even Halloween (though that does rank terribly high).

It is the day I finally am able to unpack my warm weather clothes. The day I look up the forecast to find that it's not supposed to drop below 60 degrees again for the foreseeable future. When I replace the sweaters and other long, dark clothes in my closet with light, bright cotton dresses, tank tops and capris. Switch out my boots for flip flops.

Oh, Summer Clothes Day, how I love thee. Thank you for coming. Tonight I will celebrate and toast you with homemade pizza, root beer, and an Ingrid dance party.

Love, J

More fun to watch than TV

And coming from Ms. 40-hour-a-week-reality-show-and-sitcom-habit, that's really saying something.

Love, J

Say Uncle

Love, J

I'm Awesome

I heard this on the radio in the car last night, and I think the couple in the truck next to me at a stoplight were laughing at me because I was grinning so hard as I sat there listening to it by myself.

I was going to recommend just listening to this without watching the video, since I think it detracts from the lyrics, BUT: he wears a "Spose" Snuggie around 2:40, so don't miss that. Plus, hello, Fresh Prince homage. 'Nough said.

Love, J

That's what I said!

Happy to see I'm not the only one who thinks there's something very wrong with the Inlander's "Best Of" lists. This guy gets it. Only he's more cheesed off with their food picks, while I take issue with the yoga choices.

I can't have too much to say about the food, because I'm guilty of patronizing Red Robin and other similar joints more than independent places. What can I say? I hate driving out of the Valley for most anything, and chain restaurants are really the only choice out here. (And in Red Robin's defense: their veggie burgers are pretty damn good, AND they will put takeout orders in tupperware we bring from home - some places are really weird about letting me do that.)

Love, J

Enjoying our home & garden

It is peaceful here tonight. Even more than usual. The dishwasher is humming along, the floor is swept, and the hubs is off fighting crime. He cleaned the house while I was at work today, so I was able to spend the afternoon in the garden. I weeded a bit and planted almost 60 onions. And those were just the reds - I still have the whites and yellows to tackle another day. I appreciate all kinds of weather (depending on whether or not I have to be out in it!) but in the sunny warmth you just can't help but smile.

Tonight I plan on getting around to my own little messes - the ones the hubs has to clean around when he picks up the house. (Example: the tower of sewing supplies stacked in the living room. Every time I think to put it away, I see the bunnies are playing with the fabric, and I hate to spoil their fun.) I have dozens of relatives flocking to Spokane this weekend, none of whom have seen our home yet, so I want to shine it up nice.

Love, J

Sneak peak at tomorrow's post: I bet I complain about my back hurting from my time in the garden!

We grew up

Here's something I "made" a while back, as a Christmas present one year for my grandmother. I stole a shot of it when we were at her house last week. Photos of KT as a toddler make me want to gobble her up with a spoon, she was so freaking cute.

Love, J

Vinny

This is Vinny. He's more private and low-profile than Lily, so he doesn't really headline on the blog the way she does. But this windy afternoon he agreed to a photo shoot so you all can see that he is well.


He is both jolly and plump, just like Santa Claus. When he flops on his side, he always lolls back and forth a bit, getting high-centered on his rather ample middle before settling down to nap.


And while not a great giver of affection, he does love to receive it. A dozen times a day, he will creep up to Lily and stick his nose under her chin, demanding to be groomed. She usually complies, though he has only been witnessed returning the favor once or twice.

I would find this rude, but she steals the majority of his treats, so I guess things balance out.


Each day he is acting a little less like a skittish, formerly ignored rabbit, and a little more like the adored, pampered prince he is.



He seems happy now, and we are certainly happy to have him.


Love, J

POST EDIT~ We adopted Vinny from River's Wish Animal Sanctuary, and I cannot say enough nice things about it. If you're thinking about getting a rabbit (or any pet, actually), please, please don't go to the pet store. There are TONS of shelter bunnies that need good homes, and they come in all shapes and sizes so you'll be sure to find the little guy, gal, or pair for you.

Kissy time

Love, J

Right now we are 5

This little crew is living in our guest room.


And when one afternoon I described to them Battle of the Bods, my latest grotesquely offensive television program discovery, God love 'em, they instantly demanded to see it for themselves, and were soon as enthralled as me. So now we spend each evening gathered around the laptop, arguing over which contestant has the best legs. There is something irresistible in the unparalleled trashiness of a show that bleeps out comments uttered by the host herself.*


Only Baby has the good sense to shield her eyes from the unbridled depravity.


Love, J

* Even I could only stomach one episode of this show on my own. The trick, it seems, is to watch it as a group and treat it as an interactive horror show, rather than a passive spectating experience.

Happy Easter & some painted eggs

Not being religious or young enough to want to dye and then hunt eggs, it's never seemed like Easter had much potential for the hubs and I. This has always irked me, celebration-junkie that I am. But this year, we live in a town full of grandparents and other relatives, and the day's appeal has become obvious.


This is the holiday that kicks off spring. It is a day to get dressed up in light-colored (though still warm!) spring attire and go calling on your loved ones.



And if you are lucky enough to have a family like mine, it's a day to eat really, really well. Basically, I choose to consider it an April Thanksgiving. And I am thankful.


I was happily surprised by this little basket of treasures on my grandmother's coffee table.


My mother emptied and painted these eggs when I was small. They are a prime example of why I will always think of myself as crafty and resourceful, but never artistic. That word I reserve for real art, such as this:






Love, J

Both upsetting and sort of cute

These intrigue me.


Anyone who has these displayed in their home has a home I would like to see.


Buy the patterns or completed projects at this shop.

Love, J

"CFLs and bourbon, together at last"

Check out this cool video from the "Carrotmob" in San Fransisco.

I will always wish people and companies would do the green thing just because it's what's right, but I accept that some find their bottom line more convincing. This is a smart approach to dealing with that reality.

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

I would like to smack some of those so-called hippies around for not bringing their own shopping bags. Hello trees, goodbye forest.

Love, J

Tiny onions

Is it weird that I am totally enamoured of the onions we bought to plant?


I never knew they weren't seeds. They're teeny, tiny onions. I don't want to plant them, I want to read them a story and tuck them in to bed. I want to dig out all my old Barbies and have them cook up some french onion soup. I want to pin them to a little scientist board and display them with little name labels like cutus tinybitus.


But then, in the end, I do want to plant them after all, because mmmmm... onions...

Love, J