A Rather Disapointing Re-Cap

*ahem* Sooo....how's it goin'? What'cha been up to? How's the fam?

Me? Oh, I uh...was uhm....well I...

Nothin.

I wish I could say I went on sabbatical, traveled Europe for 6 weeks, loaded up an RV and criss-crossed North America, ....broke all of my fingers?

But no. No great stories, just...life keepin us busy. And then sitting down to 'catch up' and not being sure where to start. Like a weird writer's block, but opposite. There's so much to catch up on I'm not sure where to start. So this morning I decided to just go through my pictures for the last 6 weeks and do a random update to get us up and going again! Let's get to it!

So let's start with July....

Oh! I ordered some roving from hello yarn (Adrian is super great AND sent me a button! I LOVE buttons!)

Then I dyed it using kool aid and food coloring.

These are listed - with better pictures - in my etsy shop. I hope to add more soon.

And why food grade dyes? After some debate, I decided to stick with them for the time being. With a 3 year old and a dog whose sole purpose in life is to lick anything and everything, I didn't want to mess with the acid dyes. I've read they're safe unless you're huffing the dust for years and years, I've read you should practically don a biohazard suit before using them....I just decided to play it safe for now. Plus...they smell good :)

The boys went camping in the backyard. ...for an hour and a half. Long enough to watch The Grinch on the mini DVD player and realize it was too hot and muggy to camp that evening. (I was well aware of this, and was in the house. Where the air conditioning was.)

Zach got a strep rash. Upon further inspection, it was discovered he'd had strep throat, and we just never knew.

We watched RAGBRAI as this year's route went right in front of my aunt & uncle's property. (click that link for more ragbrai photos, including zach's attempts to join the race)

This is just the beginning, later on the stream of riders is constant. But by then, we were busy selling goodies (bike riders took a real liking to her cookies and nut rolls) and I never got the camera out.

I did manage to get a picture of Coley and Gum. (his name is not Gum, its really Andrew, its a long story, but Zach kind of re-named him.) Coley (aka Nicole) is my cousin, and the daughter of above referenced aunt & uncle. Gum is her rather neat-o boyfriend. (even though I hate calling him her 'boyfriend') And some RAGBRAI riders behind them. Zach spent the day working the crowd.

I made granola. (Ok I make granola a lot, but happened to take a picture of it because I'll be posting the recipe soon.)

My cousin Kelsey came up for a visit on her way North. This only confirms that my cousins are all drop dead gorgeous, and I hate them a little for it. In my defense, that's a bad picture.

And lastly, my dad and his wife went on an excursion to The White Great North (...canada...) and sent me a cozy fleece jacket. (and yes Papou, it fits! As does Zach's. And he loves his black dog tshirt)

swanky eh?

There has also been garden tending, garden neglecting, resulting garden weeding, knitting, sewing, walking, ice cream eating, farmer's market visiting, ...and minimal cleaning. on that note, I found this shirt the other day: must have ...it sounds about right. And in all that, I started a part time job. Because groceries and gas have about doubled, and yet...somehow, our income did not. Weird huh? Plus...it was starting to eat into my craft budget, and that can't happen...

So now I work in the bakery a few days/evenings a week frosting anything that steps in my path. ...including myself some days...

And now I'm in the process of washing a very dirty alpaca fleece. But more on that later...

A post of special interest to my father...

First of the season, just acquired a couple of days ago.


Thought you'd enjoy...

And just because...

Betsy seems to like them too.

And why wouldn't she, what isn't there to love about flip flops?

Has anyone seen Sarah?

Oh! Hi there! I just stepped away for...oh...uh...3 weeks.

WHOOPS! *ahem* My bad.

How have you all been? How are the kids? ...College? Really? Wow, I need to blog more often!

(har har har) ;)

Ok, Ok, sorry. Things were a little nutty around here the last few weeks, and apparently when I get stressed, I do something that is very similar to yelling "RETREAT!" and hiding under my desk. Not literally of course, but very very similar. Blech.

Nothing TOO stressful, just both cars broke - one without air conditioning, and one without...starting ability. Normally, not having a car doesn't bother me. We go outside, we go for walks, we play ball. Oh no wait! That's when its NOT 95 degrees with eleventy-million percent humidity. Then...we stay inside. And stare at each other. And about go mad.

The boy was bored, I was bored, and after about a week, neither of us was very fun to be around. =P Maybe a good thing I didn't blog ;)

I hate the heat as it is, but add in HEAT with no car, and I'm downright miserable. The kind of heat where its still 85 degees at 9:00pm. The kind of heat where you see that the mail has come and then decide "it can stay out there. I'm not opening the door".

The good news? The heat has come down some. Some. As in I think I saw a '91' for Monday. That's DARN NEAR 80-something. I'll take it. =P

On top of that, both cars are FIXED. We won't talk about how much that cost....because I'll cry. Hard. I will say it was less than eleventy-million. That almost makes me feel better saying it.

But I have air, so we can finally get out of this house! (And they rejoiced)

In the meantime, I knit a lot. A few ballband style dishcloths, a few other dishcloths, a scarf that I've knit/frogged/re-knit/frogged about 3 times. Right now its a ball of yarn, and I hate it a little.

I have a ton of photos I want to blog. (around eleventy-million actually! haha, I love that word!) But I'm also trying to figure out flickr. Hopefully I'll get those up tonite and you can look at something interesting, because we all know...my writing doesn't cut it! :)

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! I'm going to go catch up on my blog reading. More from me tonite, now that I'm back amongst the living! =)

Eldridge Days

Friday night we went to Eldridge Days with my aunt and uncle. If you want a wild and crazy night, this is your gig!

...Ok, ok, its more small town Friday night action, but seriously? We had the BEST time! The weather was absolutely perfect!

We'd heard about this "Bovine Bingo" and decided to check that out first....

Bovine Bingo? You're not familiar? Allow me to explain...

I guessed it was something to the effect of, they let the cow in, and wherever she stops, or grazes, or something....was the BINGO decider? ...not so.

A crowd gathers 'round, watching the cow (whose name I've forgotten, my apologies!) and wait for her to....well, make a cow pie. Yup, that's bovine bingo. We all stood around and watched a cow, hoping she'd produce. She did not, for what its worth.

Probably the most surprising event of the night:

He. got. on. the. horse. (pony!) ohmygosh, he did it it! We couldn't believe he got on. The plan was, sit him on there, maybe get a picture, and be happy with that much. MAYBE get him to ride clutching one of us to his side, maybe.

Oh no! Not him! He got on, grabbed the saddle, and went on his way like he does this every day! (this the same boy who is suddenly - oddly - afraid of dogs and my aunt's sheep, whom he used to adore) My aunt and I just stared at each other.... See him holding the rope? and he talked about it all night long.

Cowboy

And of course, fireworks!

We couldn't have asked for a better night. In between the cow watching and horse riding, there was also a few trips into the inflatable jumping "things". AKA - little boy wearer-outer =)

He was TIRED by the time we got home, and that....is a good night.

We'll deffinately be going back next year! Hope you all had a great weekend!