Today, I will...

. . . do a bunch of laundry,

so that I can actually pack a suitcase,

and be ready to leave at the CRACK of dawn tomorrow to go to Indiana.

. . . update my Ipod,

including burning the Brendan James cd,

so that I do not nut up on the plane,

because my last several flights have been awful,

and I have four ahead of me in the next five days (thanks, Priceline!).

. . . finish my swap for Susan,

so that it will be ready for mailing in the morning,

and she will not think I am a flake.

. . . send some work emails,

which I have been avoiding,

simply because I don't want to look at the stupid documents ANY MORE.

. . . talk to Bear,

because we are the food committee for the upcoming NOLA trip,

and we cannot let anyone (much less ourselves) down. :)

Happy Friday!

Brendan James @ Memorial Hall -- All I Can See

Caro continues to attempt to keep me musically cool - this CD was my birthday present, and this is my current favorite song from it. Believe me, it makes looking at work stuff all day MUCH more pleasant. {She actually knows this guy - it's her friend's brother!}

Happy Tuesday!

ETA - Let's see if THIS one will work, since the last one decided to quit. :)

New friends.

This is my new penguin friend. She has a man in her life, and he lives with me, too. Well, actually, they've been living here for about a month, but they just decided that they liked me enough to visit me tonight. They made a pretty cool appearance in some items for the Parasols, Pink Lemonade, & Polka Dots swap.

My partner for this swap is the lovely Susan, who blogs at Days Too Short. {I think we can all relate to her title, even thought the days are mighty long right now!} You should stop by and say hi. Be sure to observe her fabulous garage sale finds! She's a very dedicated swapper, and must be excellent at time management, because I think she's got at least three swaps going at any one time. I'm late half the time when I only do ONE at a time! :)

In other news, our demographic at church has decided to organize! (Go ahead - sing the Internationale, I can take it.) The first meeting of the Backyard Bible Club (long VBS-related joke, not a statement on our geekiness, though that is also evident) will be Thursday night. I am allowing a single boy to make pancakes in my kitchen. Obviously, our first activity will be a time of prayer that nothing burns. Just kidding. Sort of. :)

Happy Monday, tomorrow. And remember, the revolution will not be televised. At least, not in this house, since we don't have TV.

Hibiscus.

I know you were beginning to think that it didn't exist, but it does! It does! And here's photographic evidence of that. I'd like to point out that even though it's taken me far too long to acknowledge it, the thing is STILL blooming! WOWIE!

It's hard to say why I haven't been writing anything - it's not like I've been nearly as busy as I was last week, but it just hasn't been happening. Weird, huh?

I promise to do better this upcoming week. I have a new swap partner for you to meet, and some peeks at things I'm making for her - woohoo! There is also some patriotic fun on the mantel (I know you won't sleep until you see that), and probably some other stuff I can't even think of right at the moment.

Happy weekend.

Crazy Daddy.

Aren't they cute? That's Daddy & my cousin Abby in August of 2006. She's going to be in second grade in the fall (gasp). Can you tell what she's reading? It's a Christmas story called The Holly & the Ivy, loosely based on the carol. It's L-O-N-G. Abby always wants the LONGEST books in the world read to her, and Daddy always obliges. He usually did the same for us, too. In fact, I remember being in second grade, and more than anything in the world wanting Samantha for Christmas. He would come home from work, let me crawl in his lap, and look at the catalog (remember those from back in the Dark Ages) with me forever. This picture reminds me of that.
I feel obligated to add that the American Girl dolls were once wonderful, historically accurate playthings. Ever since the original creator of the dolls sold her company to Mattel, I've been nothing but displeased. They were always expensive, but they were very high in quality and integrity. Now, it's just an excuse to waste a lot of money on plastic, and the historical authenticity has gone out of the window. If I should ever have daughters, they will play with my dolls, but we won't be supporting the consumer nightmare that the American Girl concept has become. Thank you - rant over. :)

Happy Father's Day. :)

It's over.

And that is awesome.

VBS 2008 is done, and mostly enjoyed, and did I mention that it's done?

Running that is NOT a job for someone with a, um, JOB. Fortunately, I could "work from home," meaning scramble to finish things at the last minute. If I'd had to go to the office every day, and then go handle it? It wouldn't have happened.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Promised hibiscus photo notwithstanding,

I give you the Sweet Goodness Swap 20 questions game:

1. What is your favorite Summer Drink(s)?
Cream soda - at least this week

2. What is your favorite Summer Activity?
Going to the beach - I love the beach, but I came from very non-beachy people, and I married a fairly non-beachy person, so until Caro moves close to a beach, I'm out of luck.

3. If you could spend a lazy afternoon reading, what would be in your hands?
Heavens to Betsy - do you people seriously think it's possible to answer this question? ANYTHING might be there - shallow fiction, long fiction written by foreign authors, crafty magazines... There is just no predicting this.

4. What is your favorite type of craft/art medium?
Paper - no, wait - fabric, unless you count ribbon...

5. What is one art/craft supply you absolutely have been dying to have or try?
I have been wanting to get into the vintage millinery stuff that is on everyone's blog, but we do not have flea markets/yard sales in Atlanta that sell that sort of thing, and old hats at antique stores are always way too expensive to buy, much less disassemble, so I haven't. Yet. ;)

6. What are your favorite colors in our 'rainbow sherbet' theme? Pink, lime green, yellow, orange, aqua (or blue)?
Together? That would be pink & aqua, but I'm partial to yellow by itself.

7. What is your favorite sweet treat?
Chocolate? Ask Jean Knee if you need additional clarification on this one.

8. Are there any craft or art supplies you would NOT be interested in receiving?
Hmmm. I don't make candles, or soap, or anything that involves a heat source, because I would probably cause a house fire. Other than that, I think it's open season.

9. What is your favorite song today?
Funny you should ask: darling little brother decided to "help" me with my ipod, and downloaded about two entire Billy Joel albums - leaving me re-loving this.

10. How do you 'pamper' yourself during the hot summer days?
Um, staying inside and deeply, deeply appreciating the man who invented central heat & air?

11. Do you have any kidlets or pets?
We have a cat. She is a mess.

12. What is your best potluck dish for summer get togethers?
Why, that would have to be the Pampered Chef sandwich ring, the very favorite thing of some folks who read this blog. (haha)

13. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere, where would it be?
Funny. Mongolia (yes, the country) apparently has this amazing summer festival called Nadam. Obviously, getting to Mongolia is difficult. And I can't sleep on trains, so who knows if I'll ever get there. But I'd like to.

14. Describe your decorating style. Does that say anything about your personality?
Eclectic? Country Victorian? I-want-my-grandmother's-kitchen? Trying-to-be-Meg-Ryan in You've Got Mail? {And yes, the question marks probably do say something about my personality.}

15. What are your initials?
SBB

16. Why do you like to join swaps?
It's fun to see what other folks are making. It's also fun to get mail, so I'm not going to lie about that. I have a hard time giving away things that I like, so this makes me do that, which is probably good for my personal growth, and definitely good for the amount of clutter in this house.

17. You have 25 dollars to spend just on you for a little treat. What do you buy? (you can list more than one thing)
Books, old dishes, ice cream. I love thrift stores, so that $25 would go a long way & still let me buy ice cream when I've finished.

18. What's one craft supply or art supply you absolutely cannot live without?
Solid-colored card stock.

19. Who's the last person you hugged?
Lindsey. I haven't actually seen any other humans yet today.

20. What's your favorite number and why?
Four, currently, for a very particular reason. ;)

My name is Sarah,

and I am addicted to my high-speed Internet connection.

I know this, because it went away on Thursday night, and just came back. Now we have a "new" modem that will allegedly not try to bite the dust when we hook up the wireless router.

I remain skeptical, but I am trying to use the power of positive thinking. :)

See you shortly.

Summertime (dedicated to Caro)

Boo hiss on this astronomical definition of summer starting in mid-June. If you live where I've (almost) always lived, summer starts when the weather gets hot. That means summer has started. Summer in the city is fun - *contrary to what the song would have you believe - because people get nice & chatty all of a sudden.

I have studied this effect in a number of cities, and it's definitely true for the beginning of the season. Sure, the glow wears off by August, but the first few hot days make people talk to you! It's so true that it appears in Bridget Jones's Diary - and if it's in Bridget, by golly, it's true. (Ask any girl from my immediate generation. They'll agree.) Like Bridget, I've actually witnessed this phenomenon in London. I was there on a little railroad-induced layover before I went to see the Feather in Oxford, and my friend Julia & I sat in Hyde Park and laughed at all of the very pale English people looking in a dazed, squinty sort of way at the blue sky and smiling. (Apologies to Helen Fielding, because I don't know where my copy of the book is, and I have a suspicion that I stole most of that line from her.)

In other news, our hibiscus is blooming. It was prey for some very nasty insects at the end of last summer, and we were afraid it was done for. Fortunately, thanks to some very potent organic plant treatment, it has made a full recovery. I'll get a decent picture tomorrow so you can be impressed, too.

Finally, as if all of that summer funness just wasn't quite enough for you - there's another Sweet Goodness Swap on the loose. Head on over & sign up speedily if you're interested. Pink lemonade! Parasols! POLKA DOTS!!!

Happy Summer!

PS Did I mention I'm done with my real job for the summer? And now I get to do some projects from the "home office"? Could this be the secret source of my joy?? ;)

*This song is one of the MANY that my very hysterical father sings by scrunching up his entire face, stomping his foot, and mumbling through the verses in order to scream the chorus.

How you should spend the next 7 minutes of your life

Especially for those of us who sometimes get bogged down in the day to day hassles of what we do.