in search of persimmon pulp

I have been bad… I haven’t written in almost 2 weeks!

To update you… no, I didn’t win miss congeniality, but I did come in 2nd! My pre-crowning myself just didn’t do the trick, unfortunately!

The reason for my lack of bloggy-ness? Well, there are actually 2.

Reason 1 - Eric went to Europe for business. Yup, left the girls & I here to make due on our own. Such fun, I know. He gets to traipse around Amsterdam (albeit all alone) while I get to stay here and deal with reason number 2. But, at least he sent home some pictures… I guess that’s the benefit of letting him take my camera. It did put me in a bit of a bind though when I neede to take pics of new bags! C’est la vie… his came ot pretty good. Here are a couple.

I can’t be too upset with him though - he tried to get out of it, and managed to shorten the trip by 4 days. I just wish I was there with him!

Reason number 2 - M had strep throat. Ugh. Her throat was so bad that there was blood on the cotton swabs when they did the throat culture! Poor li’l shicken. She was feeling rather ucky all weekend, and earlier this week - even stayed home from school a couple of days.

So, are my excuses valid? I have one more if not… due to having said sick child underfoot - or rather, on my lap - I didn’t get much done in the way of sewing up bags to ship out, so I have been down in the dungeon office sewing like a mad woman! Well, down sewing and up here making homemade applesauce and fresh bread. Ah, the life of a modern homemaker. Actually, it’s usually not that bad of a gig… sick children aside! Here is a pic of one of the new bags… it converts from a messenger sling to a backpack. Pretty cool, no?

As Eric was touring about Europe, we didn’t make it to a recent wedding… thereby missing out on seeing family & friends that we rarely get to catch up with (bummer). Sorry we didn’t make it to the big kick-off shindig, but I’m sure our presence won’t be a deal breaker.

On a side note… are you aware that you can now register for your honeymoon? Who ever heard of such a thing! I thought that was the groom’s responsibility! While looking through the registry, I noticed that they had registered for drinks for 2 ($20), hiking up to Diamond head for 2 ($45), a honeymoon suite ($160 per night), kayaking for 2, dinner for 2… you get the idea. While I see that this is a great way for the groom to save some dough on his part of the nuptials, it just seems… odd… to me. I guess I’m just a traditionalist. Although I’m not sure which I view as worse… registering for your honeymoon, or adding an x-box and games and a slew of dvd’s to your wedding registry. What part of setting up a home is video games, movies and electronics? It’s the guy’s part, I realize, but it seems to me that video games can take away from the special one-on-one time that newlywed couples revel in. Oy… what is this world coming to?

Off my soap box now… mini-rant over. See, that one was shorter than most! I’m getting better, less angst-y or something. Or maybe I’m just tired due to lack of sleep.

The weather here can’t make up it’s mind… yesterday I had to pull out the extra, extra long scarf and a jacket b/c it was so stinkin’ cold and rainy, yet today is sunny, clear skies and lovely. I even turned on the heater last night! Yes, me, the lady who doesn’t let it get touched until around Thanksgiving actually turned on the heater before October. It was cold! The wet, seep into your bones kind of cold that we just aren’t used to having until around December or so… or perhaps it is just that it has remained in the 60’s with sunny skies until yesterday, and the cold just felt all the more colder because of it. Or perhaps I just need to go pull out the winter blankets for the beds. Oh, and stop sleeping with 2 little people who kick my covers off ALL NIGHT LONG… well, in between kicking ME. See? No sleep.

So, here I sit in my thick, warm Thorlo socks (with cold toes) and a fleece vest over my long-sleeved t-shirt sending out a short update on our lives here. Convincing myself that I need to go exchange the pirate stickers I purchased yesterday for do;phin ones, as li’l bit changed her mind (again!) on her birthday theme. This is not normal for her… she usually has them planned out 2 years in advance - and sticks to the original plan! This year has been odd… first she couldn’t decide, then she saw a picture of a mermaid doll cake & wanted that, then we broadened it to encompass all of Peter Pan, so she could have mermaids, pirates, Indians, and fairies. That sounded like it would be easier, but apparently you just can’t find ANYTHING related to Peter Pan except Fairies these days… and that just wouldn’t fly with that one. Oh no. Her sister likes fairies, so she just can’t. Seriously, she can’t. In her words, she “HATES FAIRIES!!!!!” NO emphasis added from me, in fact, I may have left some out.

So, last night she changed her mind to dolphins. I can deal with that. An undersea adventure. Kewl. So I am off to Michael’s again to get inspiration. I know… I’ll be breaking the compact for this one. In my defense I will be exchanging things, rather than purchasing new things. Does that save me at all? And it’s for an 8 year old drama queen’s birthday - that should make it fall under the “necessary” heading! How about if everything I get is actually on sale? Clearanced out? Headed for the garbage bin? Yes, I’m justifying… but I don’t care at this point. I’m tired, remember? Ha, ha, ha.

So, I shall bring this post to a close… the day is reaching it’s middle, and I am still sitting here rather than being out there somewhere getting things done. I need to go & get back so I can get more bags made! I have a new wallet style on the agenda today… we’ll see how it all comes together!

Have a fabulous weekend! I hear it’s supposed to be sunny here… I guess that means I have to mow the grass…