Presto!

 Our favorite pizza topping is now stocked in the freezer!  My hands smelled so delicious after handling all that basil.  This was also the first cooking project Karl and I have done together in over a year (thank you, nursing school), so it was extra sweet. 

Quiet Book Sewalong: The End

That's right, I finished it!  I'm not sure if it turned out how it's supposed to look, but all of the pages are inside a cover, and I think that was the main goal.  I used Carissa's tutorial.  Fortunately, Karl already had the glue and sandpaper, and he kindly fixed up the binder clips for me. 

I almost didn't add any decoration on the front cover.  I'm glad I did!

The button and elastic are my favorite part. 



Here's what the inside of the book looks like; I added some blue felt to cover up the binder clips:



Ten on Ten: August

1.  Luscious book coming across my desk first thing this morning
2.-8.  Putting together a surprise survival kit for a friend who is starting grad school
9.  Working on a book review
10.  Newly decorated office shelf

More Ten on Ten here!

There Are No Words...

... except "It's about damn time."

Many proud congratulations to my handsome graduate!  

Snip Snap!

Every night lately, I'm tuned in to the Olympics from 7-11pm.  It's hard for me to break away (I almost skipped yoga yesterday to watch, but the event was men's volleyball, so I did end up actually exercising instead of watching someone else be athletic).  Monday, though, I took a loooong break from the Olympics and headed to Carissa's Needlereads class.  We made snappy bags!  They're adorable, and they're so quick to make that I managed to make two!

Squeeze the sides to open it up, then close by letting go.  When it closes, you'll hear a SNAP!  Guess what we used for the closure? 

A measuring tape!  You know how they SNAP back into place?  Perfect!

They were so much fun to make, I almost didn't care about missing the Olympics!

Channeling Niecy Nash

Every year I say the same thing: "This is our last yard sale ever."  And somehow, by the time the next yard sale season rolls around, we've accummulated enough extra stuff to have another sale. 

This year, my mom, five friends and I joined forces to host basically the best yard sale ever.  We sold a lot of treasures, including a lawn mower, a bunch of yarn, tons of books, a surprising amount of clothing, a small card catalog, and lots more.  But somehow, nobody picked up my childhood dollhouse.  Maybe it was the price tag that said "Make an Offer!"  People in Madison hate making offers.  Just kidding- I just made that up to make myself feel better.  It was still left at the end of the sale, and there was no way I was bringing it back in the house (our house is under 1000 square feet, and I'm sorry, I'm not devoting any of those feet to a dollhouse), so here's what happened:

I love this kind of thing!  It's like a little mystery... who will the new owner be?  Who will live in the dollhouse?  Where will it end up? 

This little kitty from the Free Pile also didn't get claimed... it became a package deal with the dollhouse.  

This guy drove up about three seconds later.  I was overjoyed at the chance to watch part of the mysterious adventure unfold. 

He said he was picking it up for his 8-year-old sister, who has always wanted a dollhouse. 

Watching the little house be driven away, I felt an incredible lightness... and then I went in the house and started identifying items we can sell next year.  Never mind the fact that this was our last sale ever. 

Kale Explosion

Despite the desert-like conditions we've been having in Wisconsin, our kale has pulled through.  I harvested our second crop yesterday, blanched it, and froze it.  What's really amazing is the way the leaves keep growing back.  It's basically the perfect crop for a non-gardener like myself.