on cookies, colds and the great big suckity-suck

 I'm sitting on my sofa nursing a cold and a belly full of peanut butter cookies (why am I always so hungry when I'm sick with a cold?). I'm wrapped up in a thrifted Holly Hobbie quilt with one eye on the book in front of me (the top book on my too tall library stack) the other on an episode of Bones from season three. There are smarties wrappers scattered around the floor and laptop desk, mingling with the tissues I've been taking advantage of and there are rings upon rings of condensation circling all of the above from the many, many jars of ginger ale I have been downing (Vernors...so good).

I head into the bathroom to wash the paint off my hands because in a fit of needing productivity, I toss a sheet of wax paper atop the sewing table and get to painting stones for a project. I wash my hands, dry them, then reach for the lotion and get a glance of myself in the mirror and snort with laughter. Atop my shorn hair I have wily-nily placed metal clampy-clips in an attempt to fake a finger-wave as my short, short hair is now in that stage where there is the possibility of poufiness. I completely forgot I had the clips in my hair (which didn't work, by the way) and am grateful I am in pajamas and my favorite shirt sans brassiere because if the bra had been on, I would have been out in the carport shuffling through the storage boxes looking for things to make Hallloween things with. I blame the cold.

So I sit here and curse those peanut butter cookies as I type away and think if only for a moment that this one thing, being able to wallow in the frivolousness of a cold is a small simple perk of infertility. The no kids thing suckity sucks in a way that makes me so tired most times that a girl has to grab the brass ring when she can. Being sick is a big time ick but being able to camp out on the sofa with a pile of books? Not too shabby.

possibly one of the coolest thrift finds ever!

 

a hand embroidered rendition of Senecio by Paul Klee. I've long been a fan of Klee made even more strongly knowing he was a student at a Froebelian kindergarten. Doubly cool that he was a member of the Bauhaus.

I can't decide if I should frame or pillow it. What do you think?

d'ough!

 A very early morning or so before we left for our road trip, the mister poked his head into the very dark bedroom where I was snoring snoozing away and said:

"Jessica? There is dough on top of the fridge?"

Ugh. This is what happens when you operate on an addled pre-roadtrip brain. While trying to organize the food for the trip, I had to reorganize the freezer and fridge. I took this package of mini croissants from Trader Joe's out of the freezer and placed them on top thin king I would prep them for breakfast the morning of...

As we can all see...that didn't happen. They were magnificently light and airy though....the dough...not the croissants. This did not get baked.

Sigh.

bake: welcome to fall cake

Hop on over to scrumdilly-do! for the ridiculously easy three ingredient masterpiece.

snails a-go-go

 I have been remiss in my thank yous for the snails that have been arriving at the tiny casa. Here is a pretty picture of what I have so far and I believe I may have misplaced one. Please let me know if I have so I know to look more. Thank you to Iris, Jessica, Kara, Alissa (and kiddos) and Ander! My little cabinet o' snails is filling up. I still have mucho room so if anyone wants to swap let me know! Oh, and to those of you who have sent me the most lovely of lovely packages? I'm working on yours, I am, I truly am! Thank you again, for the sweetest little bits of mail love I have received in a long, long, time!

ma-ma-mamiya

 The sister a-go-go used to dabble in photography and has quite a few nifty cameras floating about. This
lovelier than lovely bit of professional goodness spent some time hanging out with me in the new tiny casa for a few weeks, and boy, did we have a whirlwind romance.

 

mr. a-go-go managed to load a roll of film into its fancy-pants compartment and in less than twenty minutes I managed to shoot the whole roll, all the while crossing my fingers the presets I selected will work well enough. Someday I will send that roll (and far too many others) in for development.

 

 The viewfinder on the Mamiya is breathtaking, seriously breath taking. It's like viewing life through a viewmaster reel. The mister had some fancy-pants scientific wording for the effect but I preferred to believe it had magical powers and managed to carry it about the tiny casa capturing all sorts of everyday goodness through the viewfinder.

 

 I limited my picture taking happy to the tiny casa as this baby weighs just shy of five pounds and it needed a tripod for smooth shooting.

 

 I did not build a tube for this, I simply positioned my Rebel over the viewfinder and snapped away. While my photos did not capture that viewmaster magic, they still have a quality that has me swooning. The camera is back with the sister a-go-go as she is selling it (lemme know if yer interested). We looked into getting a digital back for it but seeing that the back costs more than Dr. Eleanor Teeth we thought better of it.

It was such a lovely little affair...it makes me want to upgrade my Rebel. Someday...

pretty pretty poppy pods

it's a poppy pod party!

like a sunny sunny hat

lookie the little windows for the seeds to jump out of

all them seeds from this single pod

 

 

 

Now say that three times fast! Oh how I adore poppies! The sister a-go-go planted many a Shirley Poppy and I think I took perhaps a few too many photos of them while they were in bloom. How could I not? There were bees and you know how I love bees don't you? These poppies are gorgeous in bloom and just as gorgeous after. The seed pods make me swoon just as much as the petals. Lookie all those seeds! Each little pod there is a little house FULL of teeny tiny seeds. I need to find a place to plant these for next year...perhaps a little guerrilla gardening is in my future?

banana oat muffins

 

 

  I had a hankering for banana muffins and found this recipe online. The granola topping was my own flair...these I will definitely make again!

i can't decide

 

 if I should use these as they were intended or stitch them all together and make them into something...another score from my epic month of thrifting.

the end of summer campfire

 

 On the last Friday before the nephew a-go-go returned to school, we a-go-gos packed up a plethora of snacks, beverages and other bits of goodness and hit the beach for an end of summer weenie roast.

 

 

 

It was overcast and cool, then hot, then cool again and then cold once the sun set. We were prepared though with umbrellas, sunscreen, jackets and a campfire.

 

 

 

 

There was digging and reading and chatty-chat chatting with a walk to the pier and a gape at the mad number of pelicans diving into the sea. Sadly we were too far north to see any whales but we did see some sea lions and the aforementioned pelicans.

 

 

 

 Hot dogs were roasted, s'mores were enjoyed and ghost stories were read. It was the perfect tribute to the summer's end...a-go-go style.

i had two sales in august

 

 does anyone else want any gingham? One of my favorite things about a sale (other than the selling) is the wrapping up and packaging of it all. I'll be back end of September and the shop will be open again then...

put your feet up

 Do you remember how mr. a-go-go recovered our borrowed sofa and how it now is a rockin' garden o' delight? Well, that fella o' mine also whipped me up a portable table/footrest with reversible top so that one side is a cushioned foot rest and the other becomes a laptop/lap desk.

 

 The suitcases house what is left of my fabric collection save for a pile or two that might or might not be stuffed into a closet or corner or under said garden o' delight.