Any Similar Revival

Hannah:  "You don’t have skin cancer."

Me:  "Yes, I do!  It’s a scaly patch! I know it’s skin cancer."

Hannah:  "No, I think it’s ringworm."
Me:  "And where would I get ringworm?"

Luke:  "Allyson, have you been wrestling?"

I forgot to add this to my previous post.

This is my new Ragamuffin hat and scarf, made for me by the afore-mentioned crafty, handy, lovely and talented Heidi.

Today, somebody paid me actual money for a Richard Simmons "Sweatin’ to the Oldies" video.  Fifty cents.  Two quarters.  For Richard Simmons.  That was all she bought, and she seemed excited.  Sold about $85 worth of stuff at Weymouth Day today on Faithy’s front porch.  Not bad for just sittin’ around all morning, eating snickerdoodles and saying, "Fifty cents!  Two dollars!  Make me an offer!  I’m going to find pierogies and hotdogs!"

Yesterday had its share of oddities too.  Like this book on how to make animals out of towels.  Just in case you ever needed to know how to impress your guests with a towel shaped like a scorpion.  We can’t blame Heidi for this–she’s supposed to figure out how to do this for the friend to whom the book belongs.  I will not name names, but really, if you want to know how to do this, figure it out on your own.  Don’t bring shame and misery onto innocent crafty, handy bystanders like my poor auntie.

The Results (shown with the handsome and talented Jordan Fodor)

Today is Faith’s half-day at work, so she is over scrapping with me right now. I’ve been in a creative slump lately, and I haven’t been able to even be inspired to make anything.  So I am so happy with the layout I just finished!  It’s from mid-August, when my dad and Debbie came to visit from California.  I haven’t journalled on it yet, but it’s enough to just get the photos on the page.

Heidi and I are trying to cook up some Christmas-presents-to-make ideas, and that has kind of stirred my interest in getting moving again.  We’ll see.

1.  Quailcrest.  Too many people.  Too much sun.  Too much weird music.  And still, the Heidi-and- Allyson show managed to have fun anyhow!  The one sad thing is that I lusted after beautiful pumpkins, and Heidi wouldn’t let me buy one. 

2.  Picnic.  Sigh. . .it was so wonderful.  Heidi is the best picnic-packer in the whole universe.  Tender filet, crisp salad, creamy goat cheese on pastry wedges, lavender cookies, "personal eating apples."  And we found the perfect spot–Hubbard Valley Park.

3.  Bluegrass shin-dig.  Food, music, friends, personal mortification.  Everything that makes a good music festival.  I sang one song with Chad, AKUS’s "A Living Prayer." Then my cutie-pie song-and-dance-man sang half a dozen more.  He makes me so proud.

For all those myserious stomach ailments that attack me every now and then.

This is my glass of water.  It’s sitting next to me.  Of course, what’s mine is Emma’s, and she found this glass handy enough. I like how her face is so smashed in that she can hardly open her eyes.

Baked Goods to the Rescue

On days like this, I just want to kick myself. I have absolutely no reason to feel anything but joy and gratitude. But sometimes, man, I just want to camp out in my living room with mind-candy mysteries and endless pots of tea. But this just doesn’t jive with my personal code for behavior.

So. How I am solving the problem today:

1. Go to the library. Get as many books as I want. They don’t even have to be literature. I don’t even have to read them if I don’t want to. Hey, it’s free.

2. Bake a Banana Cake. Use up those black, gross-out bananas on the counter, break out the old red Betty Crocker cookbook. Play with the Kitchenaid. Fun times.

3. Start a blog. Don’t tell anybody you’re going to do it. Just play.

4. Spend the rest of the day trying to figure out this whole blog thing. In between doing laundry and running to the grocery store for cream cheese to make my frosting.