Please keep the students at Northern Illinois University and their families in your prayers. There's been a shooting in one of the lecture halls. The University is about 15 miles from here and many of our friends children attend this school.
After the Virginia Tech shooting, NIU put an emergency plan in effect and perhaps this helped in some way. Upon learning of the shooting the school immediately sent an emergency e-mail to all students, faculty and staff. The plan outlined for everyone what they were to do in this case.
This is shocking news and especially when it's so close to home.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Valentine's Day
We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog-cast for.....
the stomach flu.
Join us tomorrow when hopefully we will work on the Easter project. Now, back to my 7-up and jello.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Postcard Project
On the 23rd, that's a week from Saturday, the farmer and I will be leaving on a jet plane. Our destination? St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
We love to travel and our choice this time around was narrowed considerably when, about a month ago as I was going to finalize some plans, the farmer announced that his passport was expiring! That threw a monkey wrench in things. But my great neighbor and travel agent Debbie helped me come up with a solution. Since St. Croix is a U.S. territory, we don't need passports.
You'll all be able to enjoy the vacation (virtual, of course) after we return and I download all the photos from our adventures. But I'd like you have something tangible from the trip so we're going to do a Postcard Project.
I've done this many times before and it's alot of fun. Just e-mail me you snail mail address (put "Postcard Project" in the subject line) and I'll send you a post card from St. Croix. Don't worry, after I address all the postcards I tear the list into tiny pieces, sprinkle the pieces on some local food and eat them!!!
I'd love you have you participate. I'm going to be busy getting ready for the next week and I want to be able to get the list finished and tucked away in my carry on bag.
Oh....and I'd love to lift a drink and toast you when I'm on the beach. What do you like to drink?
UPDATE: Let's not tell the farmer, OK? I went to Payless for their BOGO sale (buy one-get one half off) and got 8 pairs of shoes and 2 handbags for $32. I'm probably going to need a separate suitcase for the shoes!
I especially love the brown polka dots flats and the lace covered ballet flats. Oh heck, I love them all.
OK, they're not Jimmy Choo's, but then again I'm not Jennifer Lopez.
Tomorrow we're going to do a tutorial on a really fun project for Easter. The whole family can get involved in this one!
We love to travel and our choice this time around was narrowed considerably when, about a month ago as I was going to finalize some plans, the farmer announced that his passport was expiring! That threw a monkey wrench in things. But my great neighbor and travel agent Debbie helped me come up with a solution. Since St. Croix is a U.S. territory, we don't need passports.
You'll all be able to enjoy the vacation (virtual, of course) after we return and I download all the photos from our adventures. But I'd like you have something tangible from the trip so we're going to do a Postcard Project.
I've done this many times before and it's alot of fun. Just e-mail me you snail mail address (put "Postcard Project" in the subject line) and I'll send you a post card from St. Croix. Don't worry, after I address all the postcards I tear the list into tiny pieces, sprinkle the pieces on some local food and eat them!!!
I'd love you have you participate. I'm going to be busy getting ready for the next week and I want to be able to get the list finished and tucked away in my carry on bag.
Oh....and I'd love to lift a drink and toast you when I'm on the beach. What do you like to drink?
UPDATE: Let's not tell the farmer, OK? I went to Payless for their BOGO sale (buy one-get one half off) and got 8 pairs of shoes and 2 handbags for $32. I'm probably going to need a separate suitcase for the shoes!
I especially love the brown polka dots flats and the lace covered ballet flats. Oh heck, I love them all.
OK, they're not Jimmy Choo's, but then again I'm not Jennifer Lopez.
Tomorrow we're going to do a tutorial on a really fun project for Easter. The whole family can get involved in this one!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
All over but the shoutin'
Yesterday Mary from Little Red House participated in an interesting tag. She also has a great method of tagging others.....if you're interested in being tagged, go for it! I love the fact that it doesn't put the burden on someone unless they're interested.
I decided to accept the tag. Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
Immediately I decided to break the rules. I'm wierd that way. Rule #1 was easy because as I sit at the computer I face bookshelves that contain between 900-1,000 books. So I walk over and grab a book, Carson McCullers, "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter".
I open the book to page 123 and......I don't like the sentences at all. Don't get me wrong, McCullers can craft words into magic, but this seemed to be a very uninspiring passage. So I walk back over to the bookshelf and grab the next book to the left, "All Over But the Shoutin'" by Rick Bragg. For sure page 123 of Bragg's book will have something interesting to say. This page ends a chapter and I decided to post all the sentences on page 123.
"I had no idea where this writing business would take me. I did dream, then, that someday it might take me fourteen miles down Highway 21 to the respected daily newspaper, the Anniuston Star, circulation 30,000. If you could get on there, you could get $114 a week, subsidized Blue Cross, Blue Shield and free roast beef at the Christmas party. I never dreamed, I never would have dared dream. of the great joy and despair that it would open to me. I never would have dared drem it would take me into the temples of my profession, to that almost mythical place above the dirty sidewalks of West 43rd Street. And I never dreamed, to get there, I would run through the dark, twisting tunnels of other people's nightmares, that I would choose to do it that way because, in a foolish and romantic way, I believed I knew the way."
Bragg's family could easily be labeled as poor white trash. The problem is that if you labeled them as such you'd miss the better story, the deeper and more complex understanding of a family and a culture. Things are never as simple as they seem and Bragg tells his story with an honesty that is breathtaking. An acquaintance of mine hates the book, but the problem is that he lived it and never accepted or fully understood his experience. Someone said that if you embrace your life history, good and bad, you become fierce with the truth.
The photo sitting on Bragg's book is on of my dad and his siblings. They were orphaned at a young age and raised by their uncle on the family homestead, a cotton, peanut and sugar cane farm in the Florida panhandle. There are elements and characters in Bragg's book that are all too familiar to me. And like Bragg, I'm not in the business of being a history revisionist.
I'm going to follow Mary's lead and simply say that if you're interested, consider yourself tagged.
Tomorrow we're going to discuss one of my postcard projects.....and maybe do some baking.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Dressing Table
My grandmother was raised poor in the rural south. During World War II she got a job in a manufacturing plant and worked in factories her whole life. Since she worked in industrial settings, often dirty and lifeless, she understood the importance of creating beauty in the home.
Her dining room wall was adorned with a Pink Willow tapestry which matched her dinnerware. Her bedroom always had a special corner for her dressing table. It was magical confection of pink and crystal and when I stayed at her house I would slip out of bed very early and sit on her padded stool and marvel at the beauty of it all.
The skirted table is a classic and she had a beautiful tri-fold mirror and crystal dressing table lamps. The top was literally covered with make up beautiful perfume bottles.
I've always kept a dressing table in her tradition and at one point I had my other grandmother's bird's eye maple set in my home. But when the new furniture arrived I passed the maple set to my sister and purchased this desk and chair from Target to serve as my newest incarnation of the dressing table.
The desk drawers provide enough room to store makeup and other items. But anyone that knows me would know this is not finished. I'm debating on what to hang over the table. Artsy photography, artwork or mirror? I'd like some suggestions. I'm thinking perhaps one of those 60's starburst mirrors, or perhaps something very different - a mirror with a frame covered in seashells. My friend Di gathered lots of shells for me at the beach and those would give me a good start.
I'm also thinking of draping the top with some beautiful heavy linen and embroidered cut work cloth. The lamp shades are boring beyond belief and I'd like to cover them with some rich fabric. I'd really love to hear your ideas.
I believe in bling on the dressing table. Mirrored frames, mirrored cones, mirrored trays.....oh, it's a fung shui nightmare for sure!
I have some perfume bottles, certainly not as many as my grandmother.
And my vintage flea market sunglasses. Love them!! Those are my Judith Jack pearls and the compact is a gift from one of my photoblog fans. Thanks Susan!
I keep the rings and earrings that I wear all the time in this cut crystal sugar bowl.
Back when I was doing the craft show circuit I purchased this lovely jewelry box from a woman who had the booth next to me. It's covered in vintage jewelry pieces. She only used earrings that were missing their mates and broken watches, etc.
I encourage you to carve out a beautiful space for yourself, a dressing table if you have the room or a nice spot on the bathroom vanity.
TIP FROM THE FARMER'S WIFE -
Over the years I've had lots of earring that have lost their mates. I call them "orphan earrings". You can put them to good use by making scatter pins out of them. Get either tie tack hardware as in this example, or earring backs that have those rubber stoppers. Tie tack hardware works best because it "locks".
Use a bit of glue (I use clear silicone glue) and glue to the back. Instant scatter pin!
Tomorrow we're going to engage in an interesting assignment. Mary from Red House put out a tag and I accepted the challenge. Don't worry, I won't tag you!
Her dining room wall was adorned with a Pink Willow tapestry which matched her dinnerware. Her bedroom always had a special corner for her dressing table. It was magical confection of pink and crystal and when I stayed at her house I would slip out of bed very early and sit on her padded stool and marvel at the beauty of it all.
The skirted table is a classic and she had a beautiful tri-fold mirror and crystal dressing table lamps. The top was literally covered with make up beautiful perfume bottles.
I've always kept a dressing table in her tradition and at one point I had my other grandmother's bird's eye maple set in my home. But when the new furniture arrived I passed the maple set to my sister and purchased this desk and chair from Target to serve as my newest incarnation of the dressing table.
The desk drawers provide enough room to store makeup and other items. But anyone that knows me would know this is not finished. I'm debating on what to hang over the table. Artsy photography, artwork or mirror? I'd like some suggestions. I'm thinking perhaps one of those 60's starburst mirrors, or perhaps something very different - a mirror with a frame covered in seashells. My friend Di gathered lots of shells for me at the beach and those would give me a good start.
I'm also thinking of draping the top with some beautiful heavy linen and embroidered cut work cloth. The lamp shades are boring beyond belief and I'd like to cover them with some rich fabric. I'd really love to hear your ideas.
I believe in bling on the dressing table. Mirrored frames, mirrored cones, mirrored trays.....oh, it's a fung shui nightmare for sure!
I have some perfume bottles, certainly not as many as my grandmother.
And my vintage flea market sunglasses. Love them!! Those are my Judith Jack pearls and the compact is a gift from one of my photoblog fans. Thanks Susan!
I keep the rings and earrings that I wear all the time in this cut crystal sugar bowl.
Back when I was doing the craft show circuit I purchased this lovely jewelry box from a woman who had the booth next to me. It's covered in vintage jewelry pieces. She only used earrings that were missing their mates and broken watches, etc.
I encourage you to carve out a beautiful space for yourself, a dressing table if you have the room or a nice spot on the bathroom vanity.
TIP FROM THE FARMER'S WIFE -
Over the years I've had lots of earring that have lost their mates. I call them "orphan earrings". You can put them to good use by making scatter pins out of them. Get either tie tack hardware as in this example, or earring backs that have those rubber stoppers. Tie tack hardware works best because it "locks".
Use a bit of glue (I use clear silicone glue) and glue to the back. Instant scatter pin!
Tomorrow we're going to engage in an interesting assignment. Mary from Red House put out a tag and I accepted the challenge. Don't worry, I won't tag you!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The Way-Back Machine
Time: 2004
Place: Batavia, Illinois
THE MILKMAN COMETH
This photo recalls a day in the mid-1950's when every suburban home enjoyed home delivery of milk, eggs and bread.
Oberweis Dairy still makes home deliveries in the northern Illinois area and for years we've enjoyed their wonderful milk in glass bottles.
I took this photo at a convention of milk truck collectors. Yes, there's a collector's group for almost anything you can think of, including old milk delivery trucks. Some of the participants came from as far away as California. In fact, many of the most famous dairies seem to have been from California.
People also collect the glass milk bottle and cardboard bottle caps.
When I was younger we lived about 40 miles west of Chicago in one of those communities of small ranch homes built for returning G.I.'s after World War II. No one had two cars in those days. The housewives were stuck out in the suburbs from Monday to Friday without transportation to the food store and so the business of delivery was very important.
I fondly remember the milkman and the bread man. The bread man was especially important because he brought the packages of cinnamon rolls. What a treat.
Do you remember the milkman? Or did you milk your own cows?
Place: Batavia, Illinois
THE MILKMAN COMETH
This photo recalls a day in the mid-1950's when every suburban home enjoyed home delivery of milk, eggs and bread.
Oberweis Dairy still makes home deliveries in the northern Illinois area and for years we've enjoyed their wonderful milk in glass bottles.
I took this photo at a convention of milk truck collectors. Yes, there's a collector's group for almost anything you can think of, including old milk delivery trucks. Some of the participants came from as far away as California. In fact, many of the most famous dairies seem to have been from California.
People also collect the glass milk bottle and cardboard bottle caps.
When I was younger we lived about 40 miles west of Chicago in one of those communities of small ranch homes built for returning G.I.'s after World War II. No one had two cars in those days. The housewives were stuck out in the suburbs from Monday to Friday without transportation to the food store and so the business of delivery was very important.
I fondly remember the milkman and the bread man. The bread man was especially important because he brought the packages of cinnamon rolls. What a treat.
Do you remember the milkman? Or did you milk your own cows?
Thursday, February 7, 2008
More about the library
Thanks for sitting in my library while I was out plowing. I realized this evening that I had a bit more to say about the library and books in general. We were thrilled when we bought the house that it included a separate office that we could use as a library. Our previous house was small and didn't have an extra room that we could earmark solely for books, computers, writing and thinking.
There were certain elements that I'd dreamed about including in this space. Floor to ceiling bookshelves were number one on the list. Also included were a large desk and credenza. The desk and credenza were easy to find but the bookshelves were actually very difficult. I visited many, many furniture stores looking for a combination that would fit on both sides between the walls and the center window. I could not believe it but the IKEA Billy bookcases came in perfect combinations of sizes and had a corner unit that allowed me to wrap around to yet another wall. The extensions take it almost to the ceiling allowing for the installation of down lights. They were very easy to construct and they're very sturdy.
The paint color was an easy choice, I love red and have always wanted a red library. It's dark and calm in here, even in the daytime.
I mentioned in the comment section yesterday that books make me feel safe. I can't elaborate further because it's too much work to figure out why......they just do! There are favorites that I re-read occasionally including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Good Earth, River Horse by William Least Heat Moon and of course, Cross Creek which I just finished for the umpteenth time.
I feel like the old woman in the Ray Bradbury novel, Fahrenheit 451. She's successfully kept her large library a secret for many years, but the powers that be discover her books. Rather than be separated from her precious volumes she chooses to stay as the police burn the house and the books to the ground. At the end of the movie they discover the people living in the woods - living books, walking around each day reciting the books they've memorized by heart. Each person had to decide which book they were going to be.
Which book would you be?
There were certain elements that I'd dreamed about including in this space. Floor to ceiling bookshelves were number one on the list. Also included were a large desk and credenza. The desk and credenza were easy to find but the bookshelves were actually very difficult. I visited many, many furniture stores looking for a combination that would fit on both sides between the walls and the center window. I could not believe it but the IKEA Billy bookcases came in perfect combinations of sizes and had a corner unit that allowed me to wrap around to yet another wall. The extensions take it almost to the ceiling allowing for the installation of down lights. They were very easy to construct and they're very sturdy.
The paint color was an easy choice, I love red and have always wanted a red library. It's dark and calm in here, even in the daytime.
I mentioned in the comment section yesterday that books make me feel safe. I can't elaborate further because it's too much work to figure out why......they just do! There are favorites that I re-read occasionally including To Kill a Mockingbird, The Good Earth, River Horse by William Least Heat Moon and of course, Cross Creek which I just finished for the umpteenth time.
I feel like the old woman in the Ray Bradbury novel, Fahrenheit 451. She's successfully kept her large library a secret for many years, but the powers that be discover her books. Rather than be separated from her precious volumes she chooses to stay as the police burn the house and the books to the ground. At the end of the movie they discover the people living in the woods - living books, walking around each day reciting the books they've memorized by heart. Each person had to decide which book they were going to be.
Which book would you be?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
