I can never seem to get enough Tazo green tea. I love the stuff. I make and drink it all the time at home, but it’s also great to have one of the nice baristas at Starbucks shake me up a venti (con tre Splendi, heh!)—especially on a particularly tough early morning walk. I know, I know . . . . how tough can it possibly be if I stop at Starbucks?
Would somebody please inform the fabric designers to get crackin’ with some more chartreuse in their new lines? Thanks. I reaaaaaallllly need it to compliment the stunning “Hep Green” on the two biggest walls in the living/dining room. Check out Sherwin Williams awesome Color Visualizer.
And if you haven’t tried this juice yet, don’t be afraid! Even though Henry will tell you that it looks like the glowing cartoon nuclear waste in The Simpsons, and the older kids refer to it as “sludge”, it’s delicious. And darned good for you, too! But drink it super cold on ice or it does get sort of icky.
I think I’m going to put together a green tea yogurt sludge juice smoothie and see how that tastes!
Green soap, green soap. For the longest time, I didn’t even realize that I had a thing about green soap. Apparently I do. [Not present at photo shoot: assortment of green shampoos and conditioners.]
I’m pretty sure it’s not just a marketing thing. I don’t want to think it’s some sort of neurosis, though. Green just screams clean to me. And I can live with that.
Posted by fabricpile
Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:06:00 GMT
I dislike wallpaper. A lot. But as I stripped it from the ceiling in the kitchen today, I kept a positive attitude. I had the narrator’s voice from Amelie in my head as I attempted to remove it in one long piece:
“Madame K. aimes . . . arracher des grands morceaux
de papier peint.” [flips hair out of eyes triumphantly.]
Sometimes I was successful.
Sometimes not so much. But it looks better in shreds on the floor than it did on the ceiling!
Posted by fabricpile
Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:17:00 GMT
In spite of my late start in gardening this year, I have some wonderful color in front of the house. Every day a couple of mothers walk their children to school past our house pushing toddlers in strollers. I have given them permission to pick the red globe amaranthus as they go by. Their little ones never seem to let them forget to stop and pick one along the way and it makes me smile. I’m happy to share.
I have begun to dig out the main gardens in front where the two mini van-sized bushes used to be. I’ll soon be doing some fall planting so that we start next Spring out with a blast of brilliance.
I finally found some time to play with fabric today. Ironically, this grouping is mostly from a new line called “Play” by Windham and Baum (Thanks, Mrs. Schmenkman!)
Posted by fabricpile
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:27:00 GMT
When I was five or six years old, my parents traded in our piano for a small organ. I’m not sure what prompted that trade. I really liked listening to my brother Mark play piano.
We younger kids were immediately signed up to take organ lessons. The guy we took them from played at Komet hockey games and at the pizza place that had the giant pipe organ. That gave him minor celebrity status in Fort Wayne in the early 70’s.
I really hated organ lessons. I just wanted to play the piano! I quit for a time, and then when I was 10 or 11, my mom made me start taking lessons again from a woman who worked at the piano/organ store in the mall. I hated the way her fake nails clicked constantly on the keys when she played. I thought it was completely ridiculous when she made me play “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue” to a very fast samba rhythm. I guess when you’ve got “Samba” as an option, you just can’t let it go to waste!
My instructor freaked out when she realized that I couldn’t read music very well. I had been playing everything by ear. I finally convinced my mother to let me quit playing the Wurlitzer of my nightmares.
But, hey! I can play “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue” by ear to a fast samba beat! How’s that for musical talent?
Posted by fabricpile
Sat, 08 Sep 2007 00:30:00 GMT
It’s been a whirlwind of Sherwin Williams paint chip cards around here as John has solicited the Krutulis Color Crew’s decorating advice on how to paint a new house.
Of course, if he were just a bit more color blind, I might be able to convince him that chartreuse is the way to go. “Um, yeah, John! It totally matches the brick color—and the sofa, too!!”
It’s all good. Red wine and chocolate match both of our color schemes.
Posted by fabricpile
Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:24:00 GMT
Today at Otterbein Library’s storytime, the kids got to decorate these t-shirts.
Miss Cindy likes to let the kids do crafts with stuff that mom might not allow at home. There’s nothing like a bunch of toddlers set loose with glue and glitter! I’m glad I hired her back to do programming for me. She’s great with the kids. The t-shirts reflect her professional motto.
So when Kira and Mark saw the t-shirts that Emma and Henry had decorated, they laughed hysterically and immediately wanted one.
But not for cute, sentimental kiddie reasons. Noooooo . . . my twisted little basement-dwelling geeks’ brains went directly to this:
This is one of those days when I realize that my kids aren’t really children anymore. And I’m cool with that! They are all so much fun to have around.
Posted by fabricpile
Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:05:00 GMT
This is Bill. He’s my dealer. His stand is almost on a street corner—actually it’s in the Pizza Hut parking lot.
He pushes the sweetest corn, melons, and other produce from Prairie View Farms in Battleground. He fulfills my every sweet corn and watermelon desire through the summers. I’ve been buying from him since we moved back to Indiana. Now that I live within walking distance of the stand, it’s a lot easier to keep stocked up. Bill says that I am only one of two customers he always remembers by name each year. I think I know who that other friendly frequent buyer is . . . . Gary!
This has been a remarkable year for local produce. We have been given more surplus tomatoes than I can reasonably use. I haven’t had the time to can this summer. I probably should have made time. They have all been delicious fresh, though.
And this is not your granny’s grocery push-cart.
I bought this when we first moved here so that I could easily haul food and other goodies. It’s a half mile to the grocery, a half mile to the farmer’s market, and only a mile and a half to Wal-Mart. I want to be able to leave the Momtana at home as often as possible as I run walk my errands. This cart can haul!
Ten years ago, I spent a whole summer in Berkley pretending that I didn’t have a car. The kids and I walked everywhere and I loved it. I hauled produce from Westborn Market, library books, quilting stuff and two kids in a Radio Flyer. It felt like I stretched my right arm longer than my left that summer.
That is one of the memories that made the move from the lake into town more appealing. Life is sweet—like a watermelon.
