Cornucopia

I'm inflicting yet another Cornucopia on you, dear reader. Hopefully there will be at least one thing in here that is interesting to you!

My $5 score at the local thrift store yesterday, a carousel for poker chips, complete with chips!

Howza about this kaleidoscope?

I had to of course wash the chips because they were eeewww grungy,

and then I had to spread them out on a towel to dry,

and of course I noticed how pretty they were,

pictures was taken of course

and if pictures are taken,

now apparently the final step is to make a kaleidoscope.

sigh.

I'm all about completing the process,

checking off the list,

doing all the steps.

So, Why did I feel compelled to buy this thingy? I mean, it isn't exactly beautiful, it is plastic-y and not in a particularly nice or retro vibe-y way.

Did we really need one?

Well, I'll just say two boys, one teen aged (14!) and one almost, and yes poker is a game we're into these days. And it just isn't as cool to play with pinto, black and white beans. Especially when you are hosting your friends for your birthday party tonight (eeek another house full of teenagers!).

Just think, now these pieces of plastic will NOT be joining the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I'm trying to be more conscious about the plastic bags and wrappings that we use and discard. Especially with plastic bags, so here is a new bag I'll be using. Just got it from Dharma Trading, it is made from recycled paper, is lined, and has water hyacinth braided into sturdy handles. Apparently the water hyacinth is a big pesky problem in the rivers in Indonesia where this is made. I love this bag! I think I'll be gifting these this year to several people...

Last night, we attended the final football game for Zach for this season for the SLV Cougars, freshman team, they played in Aptos. Here is the sunset through the eucalyptus trees.Some people are really really really glad that we don't have to go to any more football games until next season. He was torn between wanting to support his big brother and wanting to be just about anywhere else. Learning about the game got him a little bit more interested, but not enough to get enthusiastic about watching a whole game. Last night he spent some time off on the sidelines of the field, climbing some trees (which necessitated several cell phone calls to dad to get the okay).Anyways! Hooray for ol' number 77, the big big win (38 to 8), the co-championship and for learning a new sport, being part of a team ,etc...To quoth the teen"It's all good."

Julie, Lately

Whatever have I been doing this past week that I've abandoned my poor ol' blog???

Dealing with the savage attack of our neighbor dog on my dearest Zelda the Wonderdog. She is healing up now. But it wasn't/ isn't pretty and neither was all the self-inflicted drama and angst. pshew! Very hard to recover from!

Washing fabrics and cutting charm squares for my tumbler quilt:

Oh and Wow is this ever addictive: Blogger Play it shows the photos being uploaded in Blogger, real time, just streaming by, really gives a picture of the worldwide usage of Blogger. Cool! I just leave it up and glance at it every now and then, and bam, you're around the world in Israel, or Chile or Japan or Alaska, etc...

Hmmm, buying more patterns! Guess I ought to make up some of these, right? I think I'm reaching critical mass on the pattern stash. One is for cool pincushions (thought they'd make good gifts). And yet another skirt pattern, called the Taos Skirt, it has really cool options for the hemline that I'd never thought of, or seen before.... Both from Diane Ericson's ReVisions.

Taking Alex to his first TaeKwanDo lesson. He's so excited that he broke a board with his bare hand his first day. He is absolutely focused and fierce during class. Having a big brother who is bulking up due to the physicality of football practice requires some self defense skills...

Watching my son Zach at freshman football games. This is our first away game at St. Ignatius up in San Francisco on Saturday. This is a great sport for him because he is so fast (he ran track last year), needs something really active to keep him focused on school, and a good way to make new friends at high school. Also, he is the third tallest on the team, but he is kinda skinny compared to a lot of the other guys on defense, so he's learning how to play mentally first, technique is so important when you don't have the body mass to just blunder around.