Getting ready for a yard sale...

It's Friday.

I made a chocolate pound cake last night with cream cheese icing. It was the second pound cake I've made this week (one for Sunday lunch, one for staff birthday lunch). I need to make two more pound cakes tonight...to be baked up as cupcakes for tomorrow's yard sale.

Oh...the yard sale. This is the first of our planned yard sales for this summer. This is the preliminary yard sale to clear out the basement. I estimate it will take three yard sales to clean out our basement. :)

Whatever goes out of this house for the yard sale is NOT coming back in. We plan on starting early tomorrow AM and then tearing down mid-afternoon. Whatever is left is going right to the thrift store, not back into the house.

We're having food at the yard sale, and I think we might end up making more money from that than from selling our junk. :) Hot dogs, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and cookies...with ice cold water bottles and soda.

The weather is supposed to be nice, if a little on the warm side. Sunny and in the 80s...quite a change from the cool, rainy weather at the beginning of the week.

We'll see how it goes! I can guarantee one thing - tomorrow will be a very long day...

A Note from Bandit

(I posted this over on FB for Bea's 'parents' to see...but it cracked me up, so I figured I'd put it here too. Heehee!)

To my BFF Beatrice ~
Many thanks for the bandana. I've quite a crick in my neck from trying to smell it all evening - but it smells so much like you I can't help myself, and have you ever tried to smell something wrapped around your neck? Yeah, doesn't work out so well, and is apparently very funny to those watching.
The bandana makes me look much cuter than I already do, which causes great exclamation among the H's and an increase of patting and rubbing and unnecessary babytalk. I guess I don't mind too much, as long as you think I look cute. ;o)
By the way, don't let Tobs see this note... we both know how jealous he gets when you favor me.
XOXO - Bandit
Okay, this has been way too stressful. I think I'll just go to sleep mid-photo-shoot.

They read.
Every night for 3,218 nights they read together before she went to bed.
As a father, he gave her two things: consistent quality time and a love for reading and knowledge.

On Wasting Time

I’m sitting in a little coffee shop, sipping my iced coffee and trying to work. I’ve got my laptop open and my thesis in front of me, steno pad at the ready, and a stack of books open (ebooks, not real ones). Yet, I’m finding it hard to actually work. Can you believe it?

The whole goal of coming to work here was to get away from the familiar – the easy distractions and comfort of my own home where I spend most of my days. It’s easy to ignore what you are supposed to be doing in favor of doing other things – even good things, but not what you were originally supposed to be doing.

But the problem with coming to work in such a public forum is that when I’m in the mood to people-watch (always), I am easily distracted. For instance, rather than forming a list of questions, I’m watching the people walking by on the street. Instead of rewording my one-line questions into multiple-choice, I’m watching the interaction between an older couple at the next table. Instead of doing what I’m supposed to be doing, I’m writing this. In other words, instead of wasting time at home, I’m wasting time here. It would probably be better if I was wasting it at home because then I’m usually doing something semi-productive like sewing or cleaning.

{sigh}

And right at that point, they closed the coffee shop early for the day. The nerve of some people. :)

I love writing and I usually don’t have a problem writing. But now that the thesis is all written, I’m at the hard part – coming up with questions and turning my writing into a curriculum. Quite frankly, I stink at this part.

I’m almost there! I just keep telling myself…if I work hard and meet the deadline, this will all be over in two weeks, and hopefully sooner. :)

Thursday, April 15th

Thursday evenings are my favorite.

Piano lessons in the afternoon, and then freedom - the late afternoon and evening stretches before me.

Today it was errands first: pick up some things for my dog and pick up my free coffee (hooray for tax day deals!), then a quick drive by my new favorite thrift store. Coffee in hand, the bell on the door rings a cheery greeting to me, and I smile at the ladies behind the counter. They are older ladies, sweet and funny, and though I recognize them from being here before, I don't know any of them very well. They remind me of my grandmother with their perfect hair, faces arranged just so, capris and cropped jackets, shaky hands and lots of rings.

I move along, browsing through vintage dishes and jewelry, and I realize they are talking about me. Hushed whispers so I won't hear, but louder than they probably think to compensate for their hearing aids (which they all have). I'm careful not to make eye contact or let on that I am hearing them. To do so would embarrass them for sure. Yet I am strangely curious about what they have to say.

They've seen me before they are saying and listing where - the mall, this shop, the farmer's market last summer. They recognize me because I am always wearing skirts. They think I am into wearing vintage as a fashion statement, but one lady mentions that maybe it is my religion.

Soon I am done and step up to purchase my little trinkets, chatting about the weather, but unsure how to bring up the subject. I decide against it - to let on that I heard would be an embarrassment to these prim and proper ladies, so I just leave a kind word, my smile, and a tract with my story.

On to home and supper on the porch. Bees buzzing all around - need to get rid of some nests around the porch. My cilantro is poking through the dirt in spots of bright green, but no signs of the basil yet. Garlic still growing strong - I've counted about 16 bulbs, although some mixed in with the daffodils and it is hard to tell just now. I also planted some spring onions and some okra, just because, and I can't wait for them to make their appearance! Morning glory seeds sit on the table, the bright, glossy photo taunting me. They are my favorite of the perennial seeds we usually buy, and I'm determined to find a good spot this year where they can flourish. But I have to wait for them until the middle of May, just in case of a late spring frost. The vegetables are all near the house, so they should be safe.

An evening trip with my mother to pick up some groceries, then home again to sweep through my little suite of rooms - picking up and cleaning out more. Every time I make a pile of more things to go, I am amazed at how much I have gotten rid of and I'm sure that is the last of it. After a couple weeks, I always seem to find more things laying around that I never use, never wear, don't quite fit or don't quite work. No more time for hanging on, storing up, or fixing up - it's time to clean it all out! We had our first yard sale planned for this Saturday hoping to clean out the basement, but with certain rain on the forecast, we will have to wait until the end of May. Our schedule is packing up rather quickly!

And now a peaceful evening - windows open, spring breeze, clean sheets and a snoring dog. Needs met and future certain - happy in Jesus! What more could I ask for? :)

Wednesday, April 14th

Broiled grapefruit juice (I know it sounds gross)

Cut grapefruit in half and rub with brown sugar. Put under the broiler until brown and bubbly. Allow to cool, squeeze to juice and let chill. It's amazing! Can dilute with some water if it is too strong. I'm going to try diluting with seltzer water next time. :)

They're here! They're here!

Someone's comfy...

My Dream Kitchen

I like interior decorating. I think if you read this blog for any length of time, you pick up on that. :) I'm not a big magazine person, until it comes to decorating magazines. Even if the magazine is primarily a style that I dislike, I still like looking at pictures and, more importantly, seeing how they do things. 

I browse a lot of design blogs - both from the style side of things and also the 'how-to' side of things, because that is really what interests me. I started a folder of pictures that I particularly like - just this ever-growing folder of pictures, and occasionally I go back and see what I've saved in my folder.

Today I thought there was such striking similarities between all these kitchen pictures. Just looking at them, it's not hard to see what I like, at least in theory. :) Most of these have a couple things in particular that I like, though I wouldn't necessarily want everything as pictured. (And I have no idea where I got these pictures...I've been saving them from all over the internet!) 

So just by looking at these, you've probably picked up on their similarities. Evidently, I am drawn to simple kitchens with lots of white, lots of light, cupboards that are open or with glass fronts, elegant hardware and fixtures, with little splashes of color and little personal touches.

This particular picture has really captured my interest. I love it! I would put up a curtain, but other than that, I could totally see this kitchen in my house. I love the big contrasting tiles, the dresser and lamp (so unexpected!), the chandelier, little accents of green, the branch/tree thing, just everything about it! Looks like a gas stove too, which would make me very happy. :) And do you see the microwave down below? What a great idea! And they have a dog and a couch in the kitchen, books on the table and plants in the window...I'm seriously wanting this kitchen right now. :)

Then in all these pictures of white, simple kitchens, I have these two gorgeous, colorful kitchens. I'm not sure that I would ever go with kitchens like these, but I still think they are beautiful. I'm all for using color, but I think I prefer to use it in other rooms of the house and keep the kitchen more simple. But still, I can admire these. Bek, the first reminds me of you. :)

Daffodils and Sunshine

I've always wanted to do this...

We have so many interesting varieties of daffodils this year! My favorites are the one fourth from the left, in the short green bottle. The petals are all ruffled pale yellow, with little orange petals in the center. So beautiful and unique!!!

Beautiful Days

Full of sunshine - streaming in my room each morning,

the first delectable strawberries,

cruising with the top down,

blooming forsythia, and a beautiful hand-stitched find at the thrift store.

And a certain someone with brown eyes turned two years old. (Someone tell her to stop growing up so fast!)

Welcome Spring!

My mother pointed out today that my garlic has come up in the front flower bed. I am so excited! I had completely forgotten that I planted it there last fall before we left for Africa. Yet, there they stand, straight and tall like sentries, 12 little garlic stalks against the wall. What we'll ever do with 12 bulbs of garlic I have no idea. I cook with a lot of garlic, but not quite that much! That's enough to last us nearly all year, and we're only planning on being here 6 more months. :) I'll have to find someone to share with.

The sighting of the garlic reminded me of the other seeds I dried last year in anticipation of this spring. I guess I should have started them a few weeks ago, but better late than never. I'm trying something new and soaking my coriander seeds before planting. I just read about it and decided to give it a try, as it seems that half of my coriander seeds never sprout. Just rub the seeds between your fingers until the hull breaks, then cover in water and let sit for 24-48 hours. Then plant as normal - which I'm planning to do on Friday, with my basil seeds. I don't think we will plant much else this year, except maybe some tomatoes. No use canning and freezing for the winter, since we won't be here and we can't take it with us.

Today was sunny and beautiful, which was a welcome relief from the cold, windy, rainy weather we've been having. Spring tempted us with a few beautiful days, then switched back to winterlike tendencies. I, for one, am more than ready to pull out my flip-flops again - and I miss my freckles! This weekend is supposed to beautiful, which is going to make it awfully hard to stay inside and work like a good girl. :)