Lots of FOs

Lots of yarn goodness today at my house.

Thing 1 completed her first knitted FO, a bookmark, which she gave to Thing 2 because green is T2's favorite color.

Ah, sisterly love. Almost makes you forget that 2 minutes later they were squabbling over puzzle pieces.

With some "assistance" by T2, I dyed a skein of Knitpicks Bare Superwash using Easter egg dyes. It's interesting. Kind of a tie-dye look. There are instructions here.







My Mom completed a project, too. It was supposed to be a placemat. Before felting, it made a pretty good Saint Bernard hat.

After felting, it made a really cool bowl, which we decided was better than a placemat anyway.

I love this swirl pattern. The yarn was some stuff we Kool-Aid dyed last year, and I like the colors, too. The pattern is in Felt It!

Hair and French Swap

Thing 2 has been begging me to cut her hair. This is traumatic for me because I've never had her hair cut since she was born (except the bangs). But I finally caved in because I was tired of hearing the "ouches" when I brushed her. We had a whole story going about the Tangle Fairy, who, according to Thing 2 lives either in Atwater or near Disneyland.

Meantime, Thing 1's hair was getting long, too. So a trip to Supercuts was definitely in order. In this series of photos, you see 1. Before 2. During and 3. After. They do look cute.

And here are the goodies that arrived today from Virginie in France:

It took forever for this package to get here, apparently because it was held up in Customs. Customs also opened the package of cookies that was inside, which meant they were mostly

crumbs by the time they got to me. We wouldn't want any dangerous French cookies to enter the country, would we? Anyway, the rest of the package was wonderful. Knatolee, take a look at the tea haul! There are 4 kinds of caramel teas alone. I'm going to have to drag out what's left of my high school French to try and read the books to the Things. :-) Thank you, Virginie!

Number 12 = Halfway Done

Stuff

My parents are visiting with their dog Foenix. So this is what the family room looks like now. Where there's not dog, there's drool. We don't mind, though. Foenix is a love. And he and Ruthie are enjoying each other.

Here's my Mom teaching Thing 1 how to knit last night. She's getting the hang of it pretty quickly. I love the look of concentration on her face, tongue sticking out and all.

And yesterday a wonderful package arrived from Maggie in Bulgaria. It's so much fun to receive a box covered in Cyrillic! The inside of the box was even better, with lots of goodies. I'm glad Maggie sent rose soap, because I've just used up the soap that Ruthie sent me (Ruthie the person, not Ruthie the dog, of course!). There was a really cool postcard in the shape of Bulgaria.

But I think my favorite thing is this cute little ship. Thank you for everything, Maggie!

My Head Hurts

This is an actual sentence from a term paper I am currently grading, verbatim:

In the book "Monster: A autobiography of a L.A. Gang Member" written by Sanyika Shakur, which was his name after he converted to the Islamic religion, but was known as Kody "Monster" Scott of the Eight Tray Crips of South Central, you are abruptly thrown in the front line with one of Los Angeles most prominent gang member Kody "The Monster" Scott as he remembers life experiences, drawn from his sixteen years of gang involvement starting in the sixth grade when he was intitiated into the Crips gang, while he is in solitary confinement.

I gues I could call this the James Joyce/William Faulkner School of Term Paper writing. But I was subjected to both "Portrait of the Artist" and "The Bear" as a high school senior, and the experience scarred me for life. Plus, both Joyce and Faulkner could properly punctuate, when they so chose. What's sad is that the sentence above was written by someone who will be a college graduate next week (and who, I am sure, has never read either Joyce or Faulkner, and thus could not claim his inspiration there).

Lame

This tiny little amulet bag has taken me forever to knit. I guess it's the zillion beads and all the fussy little details. Plus, I managed to murder three beading needles in the process. It is pretty, though, isn't it? I guess now I need an amulet.

I think I'd prefer an amulet to protect me from Lame Excuses and General Irresponsibility. Why? Here's an email I received this evening; it's a good example of the communications I've been getting from students lately:

Hi Professor , this is [name deleted to protect the not-so innocent]. I believe you know
me but just in case you forgot im in your class. I have such a
huge dilemma right now. You might have noticed that i did not turn in a
group project. Well, to be completely honest with you I have no idea how
this happened but I honestly never knew about it. I know that sounds
really ridiculous and I am totally blown away how i never knew about it. I
was talking to my buddy in the class today and he totally blind sided me
with it. It is not like me at all to not do my work. I really dont
know what to do. I have only four classes left to graduate and plan
on graduating next semester. I really cannot afford to not pass this
class. So... My request would be to possibly do the project or
something, anything at all that would allow me to pass the class. I have
passed both my tests and turned in my assignments. I would really
appreciate anything you could do to help. I look forward to hearing
from you soon. Thank you very much.

Okay, never mind that the project is listed in the syllabus (it's 25% of their grade), and they received a several page handout on the project, and I spent most of a class period discussing it, and I mentioned it in class numerous times throughout the semester, and the rest of the class did oral presentations on their projects last week.

I must say, though, that what my students lack in responsibility and attention they nearly make up for in grovelling skills.

43 Places

I just discovered an addictive new site, 43 Places. You can create a list there of places you want to go and places you've been, and you can browse locations, too. The site generates a map, which I've put placed on the left sidebar here. I haven't added many places yet, but I will soon. This is a lot more fun than grading papers.

Sunday Morning

Here are the Things this morning. Sandwiched between them is Ava. Ava's Mom and I have known each other since 7th grade. We haven't lived in the same time zone as each other for almost 20 years, but we've stayed good friends. Coincidentally, she had Ava just 2 months after Thing 1 was born. Thing 1 and Ava have seen each other a few times over the years, and, as you can see, they're great friends. Ava's family spent the weekend with us, so Ava and Thing 1 got to have a sleepover. Not much sleeping was actually done, but then, Ava's Mom and I became friends when we were the last 2 people left awake at a slumber party. :-)

Can You Raku?

Last night was my last ceramics class. We did raku. Raku is a very dramatic process involving white-hot clay, shooting flames, and quick plunges into water. It's lots of fun to watch. And the results are dramatic, too, with beautiful metallic colors up against charred black clay.
This pot met an unfortunate fate in the kiln, due to the clay being too thin in some places. I'm going to pretend that, like that blue dish, it's an archeological artifact, perhaps discovered in the ashes of some ancient firepit.

This pot fared better. I wish my photography could do justice to the colors of the glaze. I only used 2 different glazes on this piece, but it ended up in many colors which change as different lights hit it. I'm actually fairly pleased with the shape of this pot, too. Still kinda lumpy, but not too bad.

And here's my third raku creation. I especially like the coppery green .

I'm absolutely going to try to sign up for ceramics again in the fall. I haven't even learned to use the wheel yet, and this class has been the highlight of my week.

Progress on Lizard Ridge

In case you've lost track, this is Square #11. I actually ran out of Kureyon and have had to order more.

Ceramics FOs

I finally have some finished ceramics pieces to show you. Here's my very first piece, the Caveman Mug. The handle's actually quite nice, but that's only because the instructor made it as a demo.

Then I made a box. I guess it's not too hideous. I experimented a bit with my glaze "technique" on it. But I was in a hurry so it's kinda spotty. Let's pretend I intended it that way.

Now, these last two pieces I actually kind of like. This bowl would have turned out really cool---

--except the clay was too thin in one spot and it cracked when it was fired. I guess I can still put stuff in it, though, and I love this glaze (which the instructor did, again). Finally, there's this guy:

You can't tell from this picture, but his body is actually a cup, so you could use this as a pen holder or something. Believe it or not, this project was not my idea. The instructor gave us a choice of making a cat or dog, and the dog happens to look quite Saint-like. I wasn't too thrilled with this piece until after I glazed it. His tail fell off when he was fired. But I really do like how he looks glazed, and the missing tail is no big deal.

So, there we go--my masterpieces. Next week is the last week of class, and we get to raku. Whatever that entails.

I have to say, I adored this class. Ceramics takes enough concentration for me that I didn't think about anything else while I was in class, and the 2 hours just flew by every week. I'm going to try to sign up again in the fall, and maybe learn then to use the wheel. Where else can you get 16 hours of therapy plus assorted ugliesh things to take home, all for $52??

Summer's almost here

Never mind that last Thursday it only got to 60 degrees. Today it was in the upper 90s, which meant it was warm enough for the first swim of the year. I love it when the kids get to swim: they work off all sorts of energy while I get to sit in the shade and read magazines. I could knit, too, but the splashing danger's fairly substantial. I do have to pretend I don't see the weeds waiting to be pulled.

In the foreground you can see that our next major household project is underway, literally before the dust has settled from the kitchen. We're having solar panels installed. At least this project involves several days of pounding on the roof, rather than demolishing our kitchen. Heck, maybe it'll even scare away some of our pigeon squatters. When it's done, we should be able to generate a significant portion of our household electricity. I'm looking forward to watching the electric meter run backward!

Hubby will also be installing a solar pool heating system, which should extend our swimming season by a month or so each spring and fall. If there's one thing we have plenty of here in the Valley, it's sunshine. Might as well make use of it.

Warm Weather

Isn't it nice to know that in a world full of Playstations and minature motorized Hummers and overly precocious fashion dolls, you can still entertain half the kids in the neighborhood with a $1.99 yellow plastic sprinkler?

Big Brother

I teach a Juvenile Justice class in which I try to convince my students that today's schools are turning into junior prisons. Sadly, I just received evidence to bolster my claim. Thing 1's (public) sent home a letter informing parents that they will be fingerprinting students and using biometric scanning for the kids to purchase lunches. They claim this will provide a "safe, accurate and efficient" method of providing lunches. Because, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of scamming going on over those $1.50 school lunches.

The letter claims there are no privacy issues because the system doesn't store fingerprint images, just a "template of the unique fingerprint characteristics." Yeah, that's ever so much better.

When I get angry about something my general policy is to sit on it for a while and see whether I calm down. I hate to overreact. I also like to choose battles that are worth fighting. I didn't raise a fuss when Thing 1 was chastised for coming to school with pinkish hair the day after Halloween (the "temporary" dye hadn't washed out, and the school apparently forbids colored hair). I didn't peep over the "no temporary tattoos visible" policy. No spaghetti straps for girls' shirts ans dresses? Fine, she'll wear lasagna straps instead.

So I've been sitting on this fingerprinting thing for a few days, and I've just become more ticked off. I haven't contacted the school yet, but I have raised the issue with my fellow Pinko Commie ACLU board members. I'm not sure yet what the outcome will be. I can say that even my conservative, tough on crime students were shocked about what schools have become. And look what happened to this kid. Sometimes, it's painful when I'm right.

Birds and Bees and This and That

Just a few miscellaneous things today:

• The May Magknits is up.
• I've been grading exams. Did you know the US Civil War was in 1658? Or maybe it was in the 1950's. No, that can't be right, because World War I was in the 1950's.
• If I ran the world, all grownups would get naptime every day.
• If you go to San Francisco and you're the least interested in knitting (and why else would you be suffering my blog?) you must go to ArtFibers. They sell only their own yarn, which is unavailable anyplace else. Yes, you can also mail order, but going in person is infinitely better. They will custom-design a pattern to your specs for free. They have a comfy chairs where you can sit and try out all their yarns while looking through 2 huge windows over Sutter Street. The staff is always very friendly.
• Even while seated at an empty table in a quiet room, Thing 1 can find approximately one thousand things to do other than her math homework.
• Ruthie+new wood floors+spring=rampant tumblefur
• I have become completely addicted to PostCrossing. It's especially interesting to see the wide variation in times for a postcard to arrive in various places. They seem to average a little over a week to most of the world, but so far have ranged from 3 days to the Netherlands to 21 days to Estonia.
• Thanks to a certain someone (thanks, Knatolee!!) I'm now daydreaming about Newfoundlands.
• I've been being distracted at work by birds lately. There's a group of 3 ducks that hang out outside my building--a male and female Mallard plus a male wood duck--and I find them really charming. I'm not sure who they ended up in an interspecies menage a trois, but they all seem happy. The wood duck is slightly more standoffish than his Mallard friends, who I saw mugging a toddler today for his goldfish crackers. The resident geese--I'm sure including that lazy one from the parking lot--keep flying by my window, honking loudly. And today in the evergreen just outside my window there was a little bird with a strikingly yellow head. I've looked it up, and I think it may have been a Hermit Warbler.
• Knatolee points out that today is Honeybee Appreciation Day. It's kind of cold and damp out today, so there aren't many bees outside to appreciate right now. But yesterday I spied my first Humungobee of the season. They're actually called Valley Carpenter Bees, but I like my name better.

Nearly F O

This O actually isn't quite F; I still have to sew on the snap. It's an adaptation of the Emerald Beaded Bracelet. You may remember that I made one for myself, but this one's for Thing 1. She chose the thread and bead colors herself. I think she chose wisely. And this time I used prestrung seed beads, which saved me countless hours of putting beads on the thread.

Back from SF

Sorry folks, this one will be image-heavy. Thing 1 and I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday in San Francisco. We stayed on the 8th floor of the Hotel Palomar, where this was our view:

We're looking over Market Street and up Stockton Street. After checking in, we had cream puffs at Beard Papa's.

Then we were off to SFMOMA, where we saw the Picasso exhibit, I tried to explain to Thing 1 why artists like to depict naked people so often, and then we hit the gift shop. I love museum gift shops.

After a brief rest at the hotel, we went shopping. One highlight was a visit to Art Fibers, one of my very, very favorite yarn stores.

We also visited San Francisco Centre, which I think may now be called Westfield Mall. Whatever it's called, it has a wonderful food court (including a Slanted Door outlet) and a Japanese stationery store. I have a confession to make: I adore stationery and office supply stores. I can spend a long, happy time in Staples. So you can only imagine I am in a shop that stocks all those incredibly cute and clever Japanese papers and pens and erasers and so on.

Knatolee, there's a fantastic store there called Lupicia that has over 400 kinds of tea!

Eventually, we collapsed back in our room, although we did later make a trip to the Container Store, which was conveniently located next door.

I've never ridden in one of these things--don't they look like fun?

Today, Sunday, was less fun. Thing 1 broke the magnifying mirror in the hotel bathroom and then had a tantrum (I thought she'd outgrown those!) so we just headed eastward without doing anything fun. But as soon as we got off the Bay Bridge, our eastward progress was stopped by this:

I'm just thankful I don't commute to SF, because that will be a mess for a very long time. Today, we had to take an unplanned detour through Berkeley in order to get home, adding an extra hour to our trip. Here's what really annoys me, though. The highway collapsed 7 hours before we got there, and there wasn't a single sign on the very long Bay Bridge to warn us that the highway was closed. Nobody had any idea until they got to the I-80/I-580 split, abruptly discovered 580 closed, and slammed on their brakes in confusion. Good job, Caltrans.

Grazie!

Thank you, ladies, for all the great suggestions for that fabric! I definitely think the Loteria fabric needs to be a tote bag of some sort. I'm thinking the pink skulls would be awfully cute as a skirt for one of the Things. I need to find a really simple pattern. And maybe one of the others will be an apron. So many choices!! Something fun to think about when I ought to be grading or writing.

I received a GYS swap package today from Chiara in Italy. There was some pasta, of course, and some cute things, but this was my favorite:

How cool is that?!? Thing 1 is thrilled.

Speaking of Thing 1, today while she was emptying the dishwasher she informed me that her name is actually Gently Carefully Yesmom. Sounds good to me. She and I are heading to SF this weekend to visit SFMoMA and do some shopping. She's never been to an art museum and I think she'll enjoy it.

Suggestions?

So I just acquired some really cool fabrics. See? I have no idea what I want to make with them, and I'm very open to suggestions! I have 1 yard of each except the pink skulls, of which I have 2 yards. Keep in mind I am not an experienced or talented seamstress, but I'm willing to learn new skills and I do own a sewing machine. And of course I won't get to this until after the semester is over, but I can dream now.

So, whatta ya think??

Pics as Promised

As promised, for those of you not already thoroughly sick of the subject, here's my kitchen. As you can see, Ruthie matches the new floor:

And here's the view toward the family room. The crooked painting has been straightened.

Thanks for all the compliments! :-) We are really enjoying the kitchen.

Power On!

The kitchen guys are done! We have power! We have counters and floors and appliances! We have dust everywhere, but that will soon be remedied. Here you can see what the kitchen looked like as they were installing the tile.

And here is Square #10, lounging against the new backsplash (before it was grouted).

My parents understand our situation completely, and sent us this sign. It's still in the kitchen, but it will also fit right in at work.

And finally, I received my first Postcrossing postcard--from Helsinki. How cool is that? And you know what? One of my cards made it from California to the Netherlands in 3 days! It can sometimes take mail longer than that to get to the next town over from here.

Tomorrow I'll post a pic of the (nearly) completed kitchen. I say nearly because there are still some smaller jobs awaiting Hubby, like moving and replacing light fixtures. But the really major stuff is done. :-)

Yesterday was a weird animal day here. At work, there was a Canada goose fast asleep in the middle of the road, one leg tucked up and its head under a wing. It didn't budge as cars carefully swerved around it, and also didn't seem bothered by the guys running a large tree shredder thing about 20 feet away. And then my evening ceramics class was attended by a gopher. The instructer caught it and took it away somewhere. I also saw a crow come within about 3 feet of flying into a girl who was walking across campus. What was up with the critters yesterday??

Back in Stitches

Yay--my Knitting Spot is back! I'd show you a picture, but I'm back to living like a pioneer woman while they tile they backsplash. We had to turn off the electricity to the kitchen and laundry room, which also means we have no power in the study, master bedroom, upstairs hallway, and 2 of the upstairs bathrooms. Both computers are out, although I've jury-rigged something with the router and my laptop. Also, the entire kitchen is wrapped in paper, including the sink. All the appliances are out except the fridge, which is currently residing in the family room (much to Hubby's delight--only 2 steps from the couch to the beer!). However, we do have power in the family room, which means I can sit and knit and watch tv. Hooray!

Order and Progress

My latest swapping goodness has arrived from south of the border. Waaaay south of the border actually: Brazil. My first South American swap. Cibele send so many wonderful things. To name just a few: yarn, tea towels, stickers, and earrings, all in the Brazilian national colors. I love the Brazilian flag, BTW, and I kinda dig the national motto, which is "order and progress." There are Portuguese dictionaries, which is great--a lot of people around here are from the Azores, and I've been wanting to pick up a bit of the language. Oh, and just so much more, including a bunch of snacks not pictured here, and snow globes that Thing 1 had already whisked away when I took the pic. Thank you so much, Cibele!

And yes, that's an actual floor in the picture! We are making progress and becoming more orderly. The floor is done. The sink is operational, as are all appliances except the stove. We just need to put all the furniture and stuff back, and for the next 3 days the backsplash will be installed. Then we can clean up the thick layer of dust that's over everything. I think tomight I'll get my Knitting Spot back. Hooray!!

Swap arrived from Shanghai

Today I received a wonderful package just stuffed full of goodness from Jo in Shanghai. Behold:

This picture actually doesn't even show it all--there were lots more snacks, including haw slices, which I'm really fond of. Isn't that yarn pretty? And there's a whole set of postcards from the Modern Ballet, and deco tape, and a CD, and, well, just tons of good stuff for me and the Things. Thank you, Jo!

And the astute among you will notice that these goodies are arrayed on a granite countertop. That's right--I have counters now!

Renovation

If you still care about the renovation saga, here's what my kitchen looks like at the moment.

And the family room. This picture looks like some sort of tragic accident, but it's just Ruthie enjoying the cool cement to nap on.

By the end of the day today, we should once again have countertops, a sink, and a dishwasher. My Knitting Spot won't return until Monday or so.

Kurt Vonnegut, RIP

Kurt Vonnegut has died. He was 84. He's been one of my favorite authors ever since my junior year in high school, when Mr. Johanson had us read Slaughterhouse-Five. Among other things, he coined one of my favorite words, granfalloon. Look--you can get free pdf versions of some of his books (if you want to sign up for Wowio, please let me know)! Busy, busy, busy.

Beaded FO

I just sewed the snaps on this little beauty, the Emerald Bracelet from Magknits. Obviously, I changed colorways--mine is more of a Cobalt Bracelet. There are several things about this that make me happy:

1. The materials to make it (size 8 perle cotton and size 11/0 seed beads, plus a snap) cost a total of about $5.
2. I did not go insane stringing over 1300 seed beads, one by frigging one.
3. I did not end up with over 1300 seed beads accidentally being sent flying all over the couch and/or floor.
4. I did not manage to injure myself on the size 0000 double points on which this was knitted.
5. Knitting it took 3 evenings, which was less time than it took to string the beads--that took 4.
6. I finished before my Knitting Spot went away.

Roughing It

Tonight I washed assorted dishes in the bathroom sink. It made me feel like a pioneer woman.

Now, I realize that a) pioneer women didn't have guest bathrooms in which to wash dishes; and b) even if they did, they probably didn't spend much time rinsing sippy cups and Tupperware pizza slice savers.

Nevertheless, that's how I felt.

We've lost the countertops, dishwasher, and kitchen sink. The stove and washer and dryer are next to go. I don't know what they're doing about the fridge, but at least we'll retain the microwave.

Oh, and today I learned the whole project will (allegedly) be done next Wednesday, not next Monday, as I'd originally been told.

But tomorrow I will really have to rough it, because I'm losing my Knitting Spot for several days. All the furniture has to come out of the kitchen and family room and laundry room so the new floor can be laid there. Which means the living room (which is not being refloored) will temporarily house 3 couches, 1 kitchen table, 11 chairs, 1 coffee table, 3 end tables, 2 toy boxes, 2 DVD racks, 1 large sidebaord, the contents of 3 closets, dog dishes, a trash can, a china cabinet, an Ikea corner shelf, 3 bookcases, and a 9 foot pool table. It's a big room, but it should be pretty much impassible for the duration. And neither of my other comfy sitting spots--the loveseat in the study or the Ikea chair in the bedroom--is in view of a tv, and I like to watch tv while I knit.

Life is tough.

Sequels

This summer will see the release of Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, Hostel 2, Fantastic Four 2, another Die Hard movie, and probably many other sequels. I'm thinking maybe they could save resources by combining some of them. For example, we could have...

Spiders of the Caribbean!!

Maybe the dust is getting to me. Here is what's left of my kitchen:

We have no functional kitchen sink for the next 10 days. Great. Time to try every restaurant in town, I guess. And because some of us have spring break, I guess we'll be trying lunch specials around town, too.

Oh, and Knatolee, there's no actual picture of the mailbox in yesterday's post. I wasn't trying to drive you crazy. Our mailbox is pretty boring anyway--it's the kind that has individual locked boxes for everyone on the block. What you can see in the post is the book of postcards that arrived in the mailbox.

Cough cough cough

After a week and half of obnoxious hacking and coughing, and after everybody I know told me to go to the doctor, I actually did go to the doctor. Bronchitis. It makes it really hard to teach, but that's okay because spring break is upon us. In my case, spring break will mean a week of keeping Thing 2 and Ruthie out of the way of the counter and floor guys, but at least I don't have to talk for 3 hours a day to 110 people.


Thing 1 doesn't have next week off, but she did have off today. I was going to take her SFMoMA (where there's currently a Picasso exhibit) but didn't quite feel up to it. So instead we went to see Meet the Robinsons in 3D--and we both enjoyed it a lot. It's one of the better animated features I've seen in a while, and the 3D is fun without being overdone.


Darned if we didn't pass a nursery on the way home:

It's 80 degrees out today--time to plant! Among other things, I scored three kinds of lavender. I also bought some cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers, in the vain hope that the Things will eat more veggies if they grow them themselves. We also came home with a preying mantis egg case. We always end up with a lot of mantises anyway, but I guess the more the merrier. THere are plenty of aphids and things for them to gobble.



And if you look closely at the picture, you can see the lovely surprise that was waiting for me in my mailbox. Eve sent me a whole book of Barry Foundation postcards. What could be more fun than a bunch of Saint postcards directly from Switzerland? It was a wonderful surprise. Thank you, Eve!!

Number 9, number 9....

Are you bored with these yet? Obviously, I'm not. I think it's the quick gratification, coupled with the nummy Noro colors.

Swapping

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I enjoy swapping. I've always loved getting surprises in the mail, and it's fun to send them too. I've completed quite a few swaps via Gimmeyourstuff. What's amazing is that so far, I have yet to be disappointed in a single swap--although I do have to exercise patience waiting for packages to get here from overseas. I've participated in several knitting-related secret pal exchanges, and been the recipient of some really lovely, generous gifts. I've gotten to know some amazing people, too! Several of you have jobs I really envy, and such interesting lives, plus you're so creative! I've also recently done several postcard swaps through Swap-Bot. And today one of my postcard swappees told me about Postcrossing, which is just way too tempting to pass up.

I wonder what people think when they receive a postcard from Turlock--and yes, you can actually purchase such an item. Does Turlock seem exotic to someone living in say, Finland or Thailand?

Number 8

You can tell from the look on Ruthie's face that it's hard work being a model.

This is block #8, which means the blocks are 1/3 done. I keep meaning to start a different project, but these blocks are completely addictive.