Guess which one Sage did?

Guess how Greg reacted when he saw how Sage was wasting time on the Internet? Actually, he didn’t say a word. He was speechless, I believe.

I especially love how you can see different views.

You can also browse other looks by other people and heart them if you like them. One of my looks got four hearts and I was just thrilled. This is how I have been coping with insomnia.

This post sounds like a paid post or something, but it’s not. I just really love it.

He’s coming around.

And then I saw this one, by DKNY. Slightly more affordable, but not.

At any rate, any bedding I will buy will be off of my future SIL’s registry, and have I mentioned that she has Bad Taste? She’s a wonderful person, but it will pain me to buy almost any of the home decor objects she has selected. Perhaps I’ll just go with towels and washclothes.

Speaking of the wedding, my mother, a former professional wedding consultant, is in a bit of a nit because future SIL does not want her input. At all. This seems politically dicey, at best.

I know everyone will end up getting along in the end, though. I’m having everyone over for the Fourth of July, so that ought to be interesting, and FUN!

Sage has been getting bitten by things. His new nickname is Bug Bite. Here is the worst of them. Upon advice from his doctor, I have drawn circles around the swollen parts. It is going back inside the circle, not outside, so we’re good.

I’m just trying to figure out which hands to put on this clock. Yes, I’m still not done with it. I’m waiting for Greg to bring home something rusty from the floor of the metal shop…

Today is not a good day for Wile E. Today he is getting neutered. Sage just cringed when he found out what that meant, and I can tell that Greg doesn’t want to have a thing to do with it. I think as a woman, though, I have too much empathy for all of the female dogs that could reap the consequences.

Sage did great at camp. He got 42 shots out of 50 with the BB gun, and made three bullseyes in archery. They also made some horses. Here he is with his.

Then we ran by and ate cake for a friend’s birthday and came on home and had dinner with some friends we don’t get to see nearly enough of. We were all gabbing, and before I knew it, it was 11:30 and Sage was still up playing the Wii. He was haaaappy! I made the cake again, and Greg had a sad look on his face when I sent it home with our friends! We kept some, but I can’t keep it in the house because just looking at it makes me gain weight!

This morning, we went to our local Blueberry Festival, and I bought twenty pounds of blueberries! I love to cook with them, so they’ll definitely be getting put to good use. More importantly, they had the local animal shelter out there, and we found a dog that we just love! He looks like a coyote (heeler/shepard mix) and I’ll post tons of pics once I’m able to pick him up on Monday.

We’ve been talking about getting another dog for a while (unfortunately prompted by people continuing to case the house…) and this was very serendipitous, as we were able to take Salsa over to the park where the animal shelter set-up was (across from our house) and make sure that everything was groovy. The dogs got along great, although Salsa sulked some when we got home.

I’ve still been on a creative roll, starting with this Tyvek purse I threw together Thursday night, sorta as a joke. It’s lined with part of an old red sheet.

I also made Sage some pajama pants (my first piece of clothing from a pattern–ever!) from some material that he picked out. The cuffs are from that same sheet. I have to wonder with Chinese characters printed on fabric…how do I know what they say? I don’t. It could be something awful, lol.

Today, I really went crazy and decided to try sculpting faces, another first. I bought some Sculptey Studio, and went to town. Here’s what I ended up with:

Obviously, I need a lot of practice, but this was really fun, as in, I could sit there and do it all day long. The smudgy look is from India Ink and alcohol–the India ink was on the brush I dipped in the alcohol to smooth out the clay, and I liked the effect. I’m going to “fire” them and maybe paint them later. We have some metallic powders that Sage insisted on buying, so I may put some of those on them. Sage made a couple of really cool ones as well, but the picture didn’t turn out. Later.

Sometime in between making the faces, I covered some cans with paper. Big whoop, but I think they’re cute. Greg came in there, and thinking I was working with clay, said, “You’re so bipolar!” I think he meant ADHD…something like that…

I REALLY need to clean that window.

Sage spent a long time today teaching himself how to draw manga out of a book we bought. It’s cool that he’s picking up on the whole creative vibe around here. I wish I had a scanner!

Varmint’s all chilled out. I have a feeling that will change when our new friend Wile E hits the scene this Monday…

A customer used the drive through at a Starbucks in Moline over the weekend. That person paid for his or her drink and the order of the person in the next car. That started a chain reaction of people paying for the next customer’s drinks.

Before it was all over, 160 customers took part.

I Stumbled upon this story, and while it is very nice that 160 people got free drinks and good feelings, what the heck was happening with the 160th person who didn’t pay it forward?

For me, that would be the real story. Someone who simply said, “Cool! Free drink!” and left it at that? Someone who was scrabbling for change to pay for a simple short coffee and who really needed the money? If so, why were they at Starbucks? A complete jerk who could care less about breaking the chain?

I’ve been fighting off a yukky cold for the past three days. I’m hoping I’m over it before school begins again on Tuesday. At that point, there will be three and a half days left. I’m really going to miss my kiddos. But…I’ve already started making plans to keep myself (and Sage) busy this summer. The first thing I’m doing is taking a sewing class downtown at a new fabric shop that I just adore. I’m going to hone my skills and get really crafty again. (I’ll have to seriously limit computer time–I’m so addicted to StumbleUpon!)

Today, Greg did the grocery shopping. He called me from the store six times. But Sage was feverish (same cold) and it was nice not to go. He brought home some raspberries and tulips. The raspberries are sooo gone.

I’ve started a pattern of downloading new music every weekend. Today it was Bill Evans both because he reminds me of shopping in Neiman Marcus and because of course we need a wide variety of piano music in the house. Oh, and I like jazz.

My next project is going to be to make this cute fabric bowl. I’ve got the perfect fabric for it…Gotta finish the hubcap clocks first, though.

The cake I made last week? Everyone who tried it said that it was the best cake they’d ever had. Seriously. The staff kept finding excuses to come by my room after they heard about it, and the kids raved about it, which is unusual for a group of tough guys. The recipe is a keeper for sure. It’s easy too. For the frosting, I simply made a ganache, beat it up and added powdered sugar until it was the consistency I wanted. It will be making an appearance at our end of the year potluck, sans truck.

Speaking of trucks, my kiddos are seriously into fixing up their cars with expensive rims and all that. It seems that many Mexicans approach cars the same way some approach building a house–get something cool and affordable, and then fix it up as you get the money. It’s a great way to do things–if I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have my house…ha! I’ve been referred to a man named Nacho, who can give my minivan a candy coat, rims and replace the falling crap on the ceiling with a lizard print if I’d like. I’m seriously tempted. It would be more fun to have a pink tricked out minivan than a boring newish car in my price range…

Missing the lowrider shows in Austin…

Sage and I had a blast making this cake. The cake itself is very chocolaty, as you can tell from this prizewinning recipe. The frosting is a ganache that I whipped up with some powdered sugar. I saved some of the original stuff for the mud puddles. The sprinkles are cows, which I thought was appropriate, because these country boys around here are always hitting them with their trucks.

The cake is for a student of mine who is turning 18 tomorrow, although he has had to grow up pretty fast, as he lost both of his parents this past year. He’s been spending a lot of time looking for a new truck, hence the truck idea, which is also partly the fault of a cake I saw on Cakewrecks.com becoming part of my subconscious cake library…

We almost went with a Lego truck, but decided the monster truck would do just fine (and wouldn’t need to be put together at the last minute.)

I’m counting down the days until school ends. At this point it is eight days. I really don’t know why I am doing this, because I have been enjoying being there, especially lately. I’m on some sort of creative roll, and I have a class that has really bonded and become a “community.”

I found this flower, which is on a big ole weed, when we were out walking the other day. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and the plant looked like a dandelion plant–but wasn’t.

We had a blast this weekend hanging out with Greg’s cousin Sherylyn from Idaho. Frankly, she’s the first person in his family that I’ve clicked with. We went out to eat together tonight, and I’m sad that she’s going back to Idaho on Wednesday. I don’t feel that “click” feeling all that often around here, so when I meet someone cool, I really appreciate it.

I found this picture, quite possibly on Apartment Therapy, but I’m not sure. At any rate, I’d love for my bedroom to pretty much look exactly like this one.

Sage is doing excellent with the piano. He’s adding his own little bits, experimenting with songs done in different scales and all that. He picked it up really fast. I downloaded a LOT of music this weekend for him. I really believe that he is going to become a musician. He already is! While I was doing all of this downloading, I found Dengue Fever, a Cambodian band from LA that really rocks. I also downloaded a lot of jazz piano and “Play that Funky Music White Boy.” You know, cuz I got to keep it real.

I don’t know about you all, but I am really hating politics/the world situation right now. I think we should all work on saving our country and ourselves (for starters) by overwhelming the corporate “governments” with our farmer’s markets and other local endeavors. Here is a very inspiring article on that very topic: How Local Self Reliance Will Overthrow the System. I think the time is finally right for people to finally start pulling together in this direction. People are feelin’ that there aren’t any local jobs, you know?

Can’t wait to have chickens again!

A few minutes ago, I rescued this ladybug from a bucket of some sort of sludge that Greg has left in the front flowerbed. She’s relieved to be on some lemon balm, I think!

I bought another new plant this weekend and then forgot the name of it. We are going to be overrun with plants. This one will be living in my already-crowded classroom window during the winter. It is starting to look like a greenhouse in there, since my sunny classroom is the perfect place to winter plants, especially when there are so many helpful hands.

I found an unexpected bunch of flowers when I opened up the crisper and found these had been growing on the bok choy…in the dark of all things. Who knew?

The rest of the weekend has been really relaxing. We played Monopoly, and although I tried to teach Sage to be ruthless and make deals with me to get Greg out of the game, he sold Greg a property because otherwise, “it wouldn’t be fair”. What a sweetie!

Sage and I made origami boxes, and we were working together on making peace cranes, and HE ended up showing ME how to do it. So when my child can follow a tutorial better than I can, I guess I can stop worrying about comprehension problems. We found some great video tutorials and animated tutorials on Wonder How To.

We also made a bracelet for him. It is silver two letters on a black rubber bracelet. They say, “HA”. It stands for “Homework” and “Agenda”, because he needed a visual reminder. No one has to know that, though. It just looks cool.

I got my Mother’s Day gifts early. Sage was pretty much dancing up and down until I opened my gifts, which he was responsible for telling Greg I wanted. I got some lovely earrings, some chocolate and a gift certificate for a mani/pedi.

My own mom has taken off gambling in Louisiana, so I’ll have to wait until she gets back to give her my gift, which she’ll probably find a reason to return, because that’s how she rolls.

We found an awesome new store downtown. It’s a hippie/new age kind of joint, and I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a huge Tibetian singing bowl, because the tone relaxes me like a drug. I don’t have it yet, because it’s on layaway–remember that? I got to play a didgeridoo, and was told I have natural talent at it. Who’d have thunk? It was soooo fun! Greg had to drag both Sage and me out of there. We would have stayed all day.

I made a frittata for breakfast, we ate green tea ice cream for lunch, and there’s a roast cooking for dinner. I’m almost done with the laundry. Life is good.

However, I am too fat. I gained almost all my weight back! I saw my aunt and uncle for the first time in forever, and I won’t post the photo because I look so BIG. That’s the same reason there is no photo of me wearing my new earrings, either. This summer, Sage and I are going to be working it at the rec center. Part of the reason I fell of my low-carb thing is because of sites like foodgawker. Seriously. Just type in broccoli. Or chocolate. Or blueberries.

Moving right along, the previous week was good too. I taught two students to crochet, and four how to play chess. We’re having a chess tournament next week! My students are really bonded, and are disappointed that they can’t come back next year, which is weird since I work at the disciplinary alternative school. Anyway, I’m hoping that this week is just as good–three more weeks left and we’re outta there!

Upcoming things…working late every Wednesday to make up hours for a holiday that my district wasn’t supposed to have, Boy Scouts, piano practice for Sage, dermatologist appointment for Sage (wart, moles, rash), Sage’s school play, Sage’s piano recital…it’s going to be a busy busy couple of weeks!

The last day of school? I have a massage scheduled.

That glistening grease? Real butter. Mmmm.

I’ve been spending the day doing laundry, which includes washing out what must be some of the reddest dirt in the entire world. This weekend, Sage went fishing, and brought home plenty of it. For those unfamiliar with East Texas red dirt, this is what it looks like before it winds up in the laundry:

Lastly, here is a picture of what Greg calls my “dismal sheep”. I love my sheep!

I’ll spare you my usual Easter rant about the chocolate crosses this year. Happy Easter!

So, yes, they went camping, and the weather outside looks like this.

They aren’t too far away, so I suppose if it gets really yukky, they’ll come home.

Can you tell that I’m enjoying my copy of Photoshop Elements? After using the grownup version of Photoshop for years, I find Elements 7 to be very refreshing. I’m not trying to make counterfeit money or anything, so it works just fine. I took some pics of my craftiness that has resurfaced lately.

Indonesian Kitty had an operation. Three years of sitting on my desk was just too much for her.

I find that I have good taste. I found my Knoll table in Elle Decor, and they put the same (more or less) chairs with it that I bought at the much less expensive West Elm. I actually like my West Elm chairs better than the ones shown.

Why do they still have crap like this in decorating magazines???

On a happier note, Sage is doing so well. He’s had five piano lessons, and practices daily like a pro, with hardly any of the choppy stuff that you would expect to hear. He plays with both hands already and listening to him is a pleasure. He also learned how to crochet pretty easily. I taught him chain, single and double, and he made a carrot! Not on purpose, but even though he skipped stitches, he got how to make the stitches down pat.

Here’s a couple of pics of him making spicy chocolate cookies.

Yep. I’m really enjoying having a decent camera and editing software again.