chock-a-blog

Drew Carey has replaced Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. LeAnn Rimes thinks she's Xtina Emperor Palpatine and Mother Superior? One and the same, or simply my fever delirium? Electronic toys for children are completely out of control. v smile for baby Fisher Price Smart Cycle

you haven't watched more than a handful of movies over the last year, and yesterday you watched three back to back.

I hope everyone is as lucky as I am to have a lifelong friend like A. She and I have known each other since grade school, kindled a friendship through middle school, lost touch completely through high school, college, and early adulthood, then found each other again after we'd both established our marriages and our families. Over the past two years our friendship has deepened during our early morning Tuesday/Thursday walks together. Last year we decided to plan an overnight getaway biannually, once for A's birthday and once for mine. In 2006 we escaped twice, overnighting in the spring at a rental condo in the Catalina foothills, then in the fall at The Shady Dell in Bisbee. This year we missed our spring getaway but this past weekend we spent the night at Whisper's Ranch Bed & Breakfast outside of Canelo, AZ. That little three-story house on the prairie? That's Whisper's Ranch. Whisper's Ranch is part of the owners' larger endeavor: Whisper's Sanc...

I've got this desire to collage but am overwhelmed by the prospect. Where to start? Scrapatorium has a great exercise posted on her blog, which is an incredible source of inspiration. Using her suggestions, I made this: Yay! One of my first collages! Practice, practice, practice. I notice little white edges on the elements I've cut out; I don't have any technique; always overcritical. But I had fun doing it, and I guess that's The Point.

Me in my Dinkleys

The actual trick or treating was, for me, anticlimactic after the production of two Jawa costumes. The dual production of two Jawa costumes because I was so dissatisfied with my first attempt. The second attempt commenced Saturday morning after I jogged 8.5 miles, ate The Hungry Jill at Alice's Restaurant, and visited St. Vinnie's, where I found a beige full-size flannel sheet with two pillowcases. Bought a second bottle of Rit Dark Brown at JoAnn's, and dyed that flannel before the second attempt at costume design began. On Sunday, after jogging 9.5 miles and attending church services, DH and Jack went up the mountain to view some fall colors and I set myself to remaking those Jawa costumes. Due to the smaller size of the fabric I had to revamp the design entirely but in the end I was much happier with the results. The color and the fit are better. In making the costumes I learned that sewing is way more about preparation than about running the machine. I made the gunb...

Dessicated baby rattlesnake carcass at the base of somebody's riprap. Jack stepped on it after he got off the bus... his school recently condensed the bus schedule from 3 buses to 2, and while he used to ride Bus B he now rides Bus A. His teacher went home sick this afternoon and wasn't there to make sure he got on the right bus, and forgot to tell the sub to make sure he got on the right bus, and Jack himself forgot to get on the right bus. His first words upon disembarking: "I'm never riding the bus again never ever." But we've talked about it, and he knows now what bus to get on, and I've put a note in his backpack for him to give to the bus driver, and this won't happen again. I told him, "You weren't lost because I knew where you were. And if you ever did get lost I wouldn't sleep and I wouldn't eat until I found you and brought you back to me like that crazy mother in Runaway Bunny. " I have a new appreciation for that story...

Crossed the line, still jogging. I did it.