attack of the greenery

the influx started a week or so ago, when the temps were getting down into the low 40s in the evenings. and it's still ongoing. i have about 6 or so plants to bring in yet, and absolutely no place to put them.

the thing is, i'm really not that into houseplants. never have been. for one thing, i'm not good with them. for another thing, it just seems a little wrong. they just seem *happier* when they live outside. which is where all of these little gems have been since last may. a couple of them (can you see that fern?) are now MONSTERish. very, very happy and healthy.

so, like i do every fall, i attempt to bring them in. because i am not a KILLER and i cannot stand the fact that soon they will freeze if i leave them out. i'll tuck them in every spare nook and cranny in the whole house, and then in january, they will die. most of them will not make it to spring. they will dry up and lose leaves and look funky and i will throw their crunchy little bodies away. and in may, i will do it all over again.

sigh. i guess writing this post is just a form of acceptance ;) but for the moment, they still do make me kind of happy.








in other news, i am getting alot of vitamins and antioxidants in addition to my normal diet of caffeine and high fructose corn syrup. i suppose that is a good thing ;)

growing

so, lately i have had a couple of things happening to me kind of at the same time, and i am starting to wonder if they are not connected.

#1. i have had a very heavy heart lately for people on the side of the street with signs. it seems that no matter where i turn, i see them. in the last month, i have stopped and given money to 3 men holding signs. i cannot help it, i know that some people think it's dumb. that they most likely have *lots* of money, and it's just a scam. i actually don't really care if it's a scam, it still breaks my heart. and what if it isn't? what if these are the people Jesus is talking about when he talked about the 'least of these'? what do you think? do you do this, too? do you think about it? does it BOTHER you to just drive by?



#2. the better part of the story is that lately, i have also seemed to find extra money in my wallet. i cannot be specific about it, because to be honest, i don't usually keep that good of track. i do know that last week, i was totally cash-less, and i went to the bank and extracted $100 from my account. then, i went to lincoln last weekend. i kind of mentioned to kristie that it seemed like i had more cash then when i started. and when i got home from the trip, i DID count, and it was $92. which might not be a miracle. except that we did stop for snacks. and i bought some stuff at the farmer's market with cash. and who spends only $8 in a weekend?

hmmmm.


last night, i was reading my daily bible. which lately, i have not read every day. it was so so good. and these verses in Isaiah 55 struck me, as many verses in Isaiah usually do:

¹ "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

² Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

and so it goes. i am praying that the Lord increases my faith in small miracles, in the workings that so many times i pass by. i am thanking him for things that i have bought without money. and i am grateful.

birfday gift

thanks kirst, i love it.

football friendly

football games are kind of weird social experiments. especially when they take place in nebraska. i learned that this weekend, for sure.

for a few years now, kristie has told me about how nebraskans love football. i thought i understood, but it became clear to me this weekend that 'you had to be there' to really get it. NOW, i know. at least i know a little better what she was talking about.

the first clue was that lots of random people commented on my sdsu tshirt all day saturday. one guy said to me 'nebraska welcomes you.' ummmm. thanks? and then there were the ecstatic sdsu people, all wearing perma-smiles after the game saturday night. one kid came up to me on the street, made a spectacle and high-fived me, causing kristie to say 'is that one of your students?' ummmmmm. no. at sdsu, we are just not afraid to celebrate losing. we're unproud that way. i also noticed that husker people do not like to win small. at the gas station yesterday (still wearing my sdsu gear) a guy actually CONGRATULATED me on our loss?! ummmm?

seriously - everybody was super nice. it was like how a big giant elephant is 'nice' to a little teeny bug that he is choosing not to squash 'nice'. but nice, nonetheless. i noticed that when the big jumbotron came on with rock n' roll graphics about the huskers team, they used words like 'power, honor and glory.' i noted to kristie that usually when i am in talking about stuff like that, i am referring to Jesus!

at any rate, i can now cross *giant stadium attendance* off my bucket list. i'm also thankful to nebraska for no mean people, no drunk people, and no rude people existing while my dreams were coming true. you guys really DO grow good football in your neck of the woods.

big game

so, tonite lou and i will drive to lincoln, ne, in preparation for the big 'jacks vs huskers' game tomorrow. this is only big for sdsu folks, who for the most part cannot believe that they are playing nebraska. word is, it probably won't be pretty. but you never know, God may smile upon sdsu and give them a chance.

not that it really matters to me, i am just excited to go to the farmer's market in lincoln tomorrow morning, and to wear my new cute jackrabbit tshirt for the game. about the only smack i will talk about the rivalry, is that i actually think sdsu has the better logo :)

happy weekend y'all!

soup's on

rainy days make me want soup. good thing for the ole betty crocker recipe card library ;)

not quite

i bet you think i have forgotten about the garden. nope, not quite yet. it's still rather beautiful in a ruined sort of way. the bees are happily buzzing, sucking the last bit of nectar out of the sedums and other late-blooming things. the dead stuff is golden and kind of pretty now. the air is different, and i don't take these lovely days for granted as much, because there are fewer of them. the zebra grass is larger than i thought it would be. the kiss-me-over-the-garden-gates that came up voluntarily are showing their worth, huge and pink and swaying and so cool. the vines that started out so innocently have now almost completely taken over the door to the porch. everything is too much!

and still, i am not quite ready to say goodbye :)

mad man

sigh. it's just hard not to love him. after a 2-year absence, i am back to watching mad men on sunday nights. it is at once familiar and icky and wonderfully vintage. :))

junk and food

whoa. all of a sudden a whole lot of livin' was done in the last 3 days. except for yesterday. yesterday i laid on the couch and watched a '48 hours mystery' marathon. scary.

but friday was superb. the junk bonanza is my kind of fun. i don't know what was better, the road trip with my favorite art girls, or the show itself. probably both.

there are not words to describe how happy my eyes are when they see this kind of visual explosion...ohhhhhhhhhh. lovely.


collectively, we did get a nice haul. mr. evan is going to get a new bedroom makeover with a vintage world map and a vintage sign letter 'e' from our favorite store 'hunt and gather.'

i get to keep the barkcloth purse ;)


probably my best catch of the day is something i spotted about 10 minutes into the whole shebang. the tag said 'cemetary fencing.' i like that. technically, it is 'double loop wire fencing' - it was popular in the 20's, because it kept varmints out, but still kept a friendly feel to the neighborhood. unlike today, when a 10 ft. solid wood fence still leaves a little too much of the neighbors ;)) ha. mabel will be stylin' in the spring, when this goes up.




then today, i got to do a little harvesting. the last of the tomatoes were some little cherries that looked kind of delish. i found a roasted tomato soup recipe from tyler florence. i love roasting vegetables now. i did NOT use 1/2 cup of olive oil. i drizzled. they were still spectacular.


the soup had just the right amount of yummy roasted tomato and basil flavor. this soup is about as far from campbell's as one could get. although, in a pinch, i'll eat that as well :)


then, while i was out cleaning up the back yard a bit, my good neighbor adrian asked me if i wanted pears. um, YES. i got about 2/3 of a 5-gallon bucket full. that's alot of pears.


7 quarts of them are now cooling, and there are probably enough left for a fun batch of pear jam, to be made sometime this week.

schwew. i think i need a weekend to recover from my weekend ;) but oh how i love this time of year. sigh. hope you all had a chance to reset your dials this weekend too!

junk awaits.

whew. made it through, and almost ready to head out the door and pick up my art girls for junk bonanza. have a happy weekend, peeps!

let's just skip today

i woke up at 3am today, because of another giant rain storm. of course, that kept me from sleeping again until about 5am. which makes me very tired right now.

i also have to get ready for class tonite, and i don't want to. i have to read the stuff i have to lecture on (yeah) and write a quiz, and present a new project, and get the students ready to hand in their first project next week. i don't want to. in fact, i'm tired just thinking about how much i don't want to.



and tomorrow, i DO want to do what i am going to do. because junk bonanza is going to be awesome.

so if you don't mind, let's just skip today, okay?

sunday at the farm

kristie, cass and her sister tiffany, evan and i went out to visit our friend janet's farm yesterday. we saw kittens, chickens, and pigs. and we picked apples. i am pretty sure the kitties were the hands-down winners for popularity :)

thanks for having us, janet and denis!

craft saturday

wow. i haven't gotten to craft in awhile. i did get the yardstick table made over, i like it much better than when it used to be a mexican sofa table. most of all, i'll love being able to bring some of my plant babies indoors, instead of having to let them freeze.

i wish days like this would last forever. happy weekend!

love. love. love.

thank you lou for showing this to me!

purple is creative

karen's post this morning about her son's purple socks (plus, i noticed she is using purple as an accent color on her blog) reminds me of how obsessed and how much meaning people put into color. as a designer, i am usually obsessed with all colors, but i frequently notice how many times i seem to keep repeating turquoise, orange, lime green and brown. i'm currently embracing cool, muted blues and thinking of painting my bedroom those colors, with chartreuse accents.

isn't color great?! the above video is a rough for the big project carey and i have worked on for the past year. those people LOVE their purple.

hello old friend

i seriously missed you. i feel good that we are meeting every day again. along with your good friends the lap quilt and the fuzzy booties. let's hang together for the next few months!!!

that's crazy.

well, the photos kind of prove my point. lifelight may NOT be the best place for a hermit to habitate :)

ha. there is something very amazing about worshipping with a group that size, however. wow. i might be a little regretful.

every year, tons of people get online at the newspaper forum and try to disprove the number of people who actually attend. um, yeah. wonder if they've ever actually been there, or even looked at the pictures? looks to me like a small city is standing in that field.

so excited that i live in a place where God is glorified!

nice weekend

whew. how nice to have a few days in hermitville! i SO needed this! so much so, that i skipped the mercyme/need to breathe concert! i know. but seriously. over 100,000 people did not fit with my need for solitary confinement. i cleaned my closets instead... ;)

anyway, it has been good. i am on my 5th or 6th book in the last month. i got a few books at the local thrift store this weekend, so i am set for the next couple of weeks...yay!


oh. i guess i did one social thing. went to my beautiful friend emily's wedding, and was so happy to see her so happy. plus, i had to ask to touch that dress. ohhhhhhhhhhh.



i also made an accessories 'wall' in my bedroom. this is my fashion plan for fall :) lots of funky accessories. look at the cool asymmetrical arm warmers i got from lou for my birthday, made from recycled sweaters. i can hardly wait to wear those! sigh. plus it will be nice to have some stuff available at a glance, not just shoved in drawers somewhere.



oh. and i started a craft project. well, not really. kristie's dad cut down an old table i had in the basement, and i am going to collage the top with yardsticks. some. day. :)) ha. kinda ran outta steam there. but this will be my 'plant stand' in front of my only really good south window this winter. so, i hope to finish it soon. i got the idea from country living (below). love that mag.


k. gonna go lounge away one more evening!!! happy labor day bloggirls!

my turn at random

Her

fantasizing about a whole 3 day weekend in which i speak to no other living creature. i am kind of needing that. it will not happen, esp. since i am going to a wedding and a concert. but, i maybe won't say much. just a warning :)

It

i am still thinking about the house that i almost decided to buy this week. i am 50% happy that it needed a bit too much work to make purchasing it a plausible decision, and 50% sad that i cannot live in it. i'm funny that way.

Them

i would say it's been a good year for sweet peppers, wouldn't you?!

happy pre-holiday y'all!


:)

let's talk about murder

i know. not exactly a normal blog post over here in mayberry. except that murder has been on my mind for the last few weeks, and i am so excited to not think about it anymore ;)


here's the scoop: remember in early august, when i went to the North Shore and visited a mansion? i went there because kristie and i have seen advertisements for the grandeur of the congdon estate in a LOT of the tourism pubs around duluth. a LOT. they make it look like a simply pretty old house.

except that google says it differently. we figured that out, when we got back home, curiosity piqued, and decided to learn a little more and find a book about the mansion.



what we FOUND was this: in 1977, the youngest daughter of the congdon family (by then an old woman) and her nurse were murdered in the middle of the night by the lady's adopted daughter's husband. and that the adopted daughter is a nutso who somehow avoided conviction, but since has been in and out of prison for many things, including arson, and is also suspected to have killed a couple of other people.

and she is still alive! yikes. i cannot believe we went thru an entire tour and heard nothing about this!! it puts a whole creepy spin on things. and i will be kind of happy to finish the dang book and not think about it anymore.