Celebration

Quality Lunch

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Rob Bell

For those of you who know what I am talking about or care: there is a strong probability Rob Bell is right. Give him a chance. I wish people would spend less time throwing rocks, and spend more time in contemplative thought.

TV Characters

I think we like TV show characters so much because they don't sit around watching TV shows.

Vegan I Am Not

According to my kid's new pediatrician, my daughter has a mild milk protein allergy. So, we have been experimenting with new faux-dairy products. Let the record reflect, I would rather eat fresh turds dripping straight from a cow anus than eat raw vegan cheese ever again.

Chalk Board from Trash

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Sunset Gyrations

As I was driving around at work a couple of days ago, I glanced over in the direction of an old abandoned gas station, which has been a petri dish of growing trouble, but what I saw was not the ordinary riff-raff. I wasn't exactly sure what I had witnessed wizzing past at 45 mph. So, I decided to make a tight u-turn and take a closer look. What I initially assumed was an early twenties aged female having some sort of seizure or psychotic break down turned out to be dancing. As I pulled up and got out behind the young lady, I realized she was was apparently gyrating to the music coming from an abnormally large set of white earphones strapped atop her head. Although, given the dancers eclectic nature of stripped, polkadot, multi-layered and odd colored clothing, the giant headphones were somehow very fitting.

I introduced myself, and asked her what exactly she was doing cutting such a passionate rug in the middle of this abandoned parking lot next to a busy roadway. She motioned toward a large open field to the west of where we were standing. The orange and yellow Sun was hanging just above the horizon in the distance.

"I was just driving, and when I saw the Sun setting I thought it would be a good idea to stop and dance," she said without even a hint of humor or sense of abnormality concerning the deviation of the presented action from social norms.

"Okay," I responded not sure what else to add.

With unflinching eye contact and a sweaty endorphin-filled smile she asked, "Is there a problem with me being here?"

"Yes," I said, "The owner of the property does not want anyone to be here."

"Okay, I have a Plan B," she proclaimed with a overly cheerful tone, and with that she hopped in the driver's seat of her car and sped off to her next spontaneous dance date.

Oscar Winner

Living Outside

*Song: "Come On, Come Out," A Fine Frenzy

Strike 3

I'm out. Car broke down and is currently on its way to the dealership via an $80 tow truck ride. I think I am going to go find a ditch to crawl into and let myself slip into a deep dark depression.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Shirt Done

We have ten thousand buttons, but no five are the same. So, I decided, in my ongoing quest toward saving money, rather than buy new buttons I would just make my own. I used my miter box and saw to trim these little button disk off of an oak stick found in the backyard. I then used a 1/16 drill bit to make the 4 thread holes in each button. Turns out the buttons are my favorite part.

Cheap Art

I am almost done with this button-down collar shirt for the boy. I have never attempted to make anything this complex before. I made a rough pattern from one of his store bought shirts and started chopping it out of some $1.25 remnant fabric. So far so good. I just have sleeves, pocket, and buttons left. I was seriously concerned about button holes but then I discovered Nocona's sewing machine has a magic button hole making setting which is easy enough for a monkey to use, and surprisingly I actually figured it out.

I used to disregard sewing as a chick hobby, and I even recall my own boisterous insults and laughter thrown at my brother when he learned to use a sewing machine several years back. However, now I see sewing as a true art. It is an exceedingly difficult expression of creativity. I value artistic ability above most other attributes , but it is the frugality of sewing that entices me learn and try more. We are talking about a tailored button-down collar shirt for under two bucks and less than a half days work.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Heavy Load

Strike 1: Yesterday computer died.
Strike 2: Today washing machine bought the farm.

If there is a strike 3 I will be declaring bankruptcy and moving into a handmade stick-hut in the woods. Life hates me.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Cherries

I just bought a giant 3 pound bucket of sweet cherries at my local market for $1.99! Boom!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Things

It's been a while, here is the synopsis: took the family to the country for a few days, helped my mother weed eat, helped my dad build additions to his ever expanding grandkid playland (which included new A-frame for more swings, a new stairway, and a fancy mach-7 slide), put together an impossible outdoor screened living room in impossible afternoon heat, wrote/illustrated some new Zoe and Izzy "Cereal Box Books," helped set up for a giant annual 4th of July family party, drank buckets and buckets of water, watched kids swim, watched the boy entertain a bunch of people, watched the girl hide behind any available object to avoid people, had good conversations with people, spanked everybody's butt in some horseshoes (yes, Matt, forfeiting to me does count as getting spanked), took the boy on a tractor ride, watched Nocona take the boy for a tractor ride, watched my dad take the boy for a tractor ride, took the boy for another tractor ride, watched the boy beg for more tractor rides, ate a good burger, ate some good brisket, ate some good hotdogs, ate some good sausage, ate some good soup, ate too much, picked some tomatoes, relaxed, sat on the porch listening to rain, ran around in the rain, made some chocolate chip cookies, played the piano, watched kids bang on the piano, watched some Pawn Stars, said goodbyes, went home, watered pitiful petering out garden, picked tomatoes, picked cucumbers, picked peppers, tried to play on computer, realized computer is a piece of crap, backed up all my computer pictures and files, bought a refurbished Macbook, went to work, watched some Netflix, and finished typing this before this old computer blacks out again.

*Computer did end up dying before I could finish this post. I had to finish with my phone. That computer is only 2 years old! People have no pride in their creations. Patooey on Compaq!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2