September in Our Backyard

Sweet September. Temperatures in the 70's, a lot of time at home & a respite from the rain. Just the weekend the doctor ordered~*

How does September look from your yard?

Thing 2's birthday shindig was smashing, but will remain unblogified by teenage boy request.  Boys.  What can you do ?

Quite a Week

It has been one of those weeks.  A long, busy, productive & exhausting sort of week.  So much going on, so little sleep. 

I have loved the tales of Raggedy Ann as told & illustrated by John Gruelle for as long as I can remember. The stories, the art-- so sweet & vintage & lovely.

Both Thing 2 & 3 are full on in to their sports, and as typical high school students they are always going somewhere.  And work for both Jeremy & I has reached a new level of chaos-- I have meetings & speaking engagements & classes & notes to prepare, he has classes & library & a new research project & some other tricks up our sleeve that will eventually be discussed here.   We are all a bit tousled & bruised.

And so it goes. 

I'm not complaining, really I'm not.  I am happy-- just busy to the point of being overwhelmed.  This weekend will be Thing 2's birthday party (his 17th birthday is Monday, hence the Saturday party).  I'm hoping to do a little fall decorating on Sunday, though its been in the low 90's all week.  I just want the chance to be more traditionally creative, to let my brain rest a bit & contemplate pretty soft things & breathe.  
If all goes well there will be pictures.  Rule 24 and whatnot~*

Hugs to all my bloggie friends & their equally busy lives-- what is it with late summer 2013 that the blogosphere world seems to be frantic with activity?

Labor Day & Solidarity!

Image from here

The labor movement gave birth to Labor Day in 1894, at the height of the struggle against unfair business practices and archaic working conditions.  Union membership reached its peak during the 1950's, when approximately 40% of private-sector workers & a significant number of government workers belonged to labor unions.  Do to political scapegoating & deliberate obfuscation,  union membership has declined sharply in recent years. In 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union membership fell to 11.3 percent of wage and salary workers nationwide.  

Might be good to know that next time a politician falsely blames unions for...well....what don't they blame unions for?

Happy Labor Day!

Five Among Friends-- Cottages, Collections & our Fuzzy Family!

This week's Five Among Friends are brought to us us by Kera Martucci of Nugget on a Budget {love the blog name btw Kera-- so catchy!}

1. If you get a day to stay home {and not have to go anywhere} what's on your list of things to do?

Right now?  Play Borderlands with Jeremy.  We make a great team.  We finished Portal 2 not too long ago, and now we are busting up Pandora like pros~*

That's it really.  Have I mentioned I've been going to lots of meetings lately?  My brain is tired.  

2. Are you a dog or cat person or neither? Do you have a pet?

Both.  We have two indoor cats-- Boromir & Mac + an outside stray that we feed and have named Dalek.  We get a lot of strays where we live-- my guess is that college kids who got pets they can't afford to keep drop them off thinking they will become barn cats. Dalek showed up skinny and scared & we had to help him.  I would adopt him and bring him inside, but he won't have it.  Recently he has been allowing me to pet him & he even runs up to me when I pull in after work.  Baby steps.

We have 3 dogs-- Alice, Thing 3's jack russel terrier mutt; The Doctor, my husbands very fat beagle, and my puppy Poosh, a chihuahua mutt.  We love them all much of muchness.

2. Do you collect anything {or have a hobby you're passionate about}? What is it?

You mean, besides pets?  Lol!  We have a few collections-- but with the exceptions of the books in our library and my "bubble" glass they aren't generally displayed all in one place.  I like collections scattered around the house like reoccurring themes.  I gathered a sampling of some of our favorites, lemme give you a tour!

Lots o'books.  Vintage cookbooks & party planning are our newest obsession, but we also collect history books (comes with our profession), encyclopedia sets & vintage editions of Alice in Wonderland~*

World War I German sweetheart postcards, vintage door knobs & trench art. The World War I collectibles are a nod to my husband's field of research. On a loosely related note, he also collect vintage group photos, just because. Our two favorite mortar shell vases are on our table right now-- soldiers referred to going to the trenches as "seeing the elephant," so finishing their grouping with the white elephant seemed fitting. The flowers are artificial, to keep the shells from corroding.

I collect pigs-- they were seen as good luck in American colonial culture. I also collect one specific mold of cast iron flying pig because he appears to be smiling & I find him adorable. I have a few cast iron doorstops, but my Humpty Dumpty is my undisputed favorite. My Mom found him-- she knows my taste so well! You might notice the Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee print in the background of the first photo-- Alice art is another collection.

And then there are the craft supplies.  Projects in the making, I has them.  I didn't photograph the piles of scrapbook paper & empty jars because I don't want ya'll to think I'm a hoarder.

Those are just the tip of the iceberg really. Some other collections have made appearances in past posts {like the vintage frames & mirrors in our bedroom}. For the most part our collections are relatively small & quite specific-- that keeps them special & makes finding them more fun.   We are always on the look out for new things to amass!

4. Cabin in the mountains or house on the beach?

Oh wow, that is super tough.  Hmmmm.  Okay, I'd have to go cabin in the mountains, well, cottage in the mountains to be dream-perfect.  But I reserve the right to change my mind later~*

Photo from Remodelista

5. What is the best piece of life advice that you can give?

Life is what is happening right now.  You can't live it by thinking "someday I'll be happy" or "when this is done I'll be happy"  or "if I meet the right person, I'll be happy."  You are in charge of your own happiness, and every single day you spend unhappy is a day wasted.  That doesn't mean life is always perfect, or will ever be perfect-- and it doesn't mean you should stop growing or changing.  But it does mean that if you are currently unhappy, look hard at what you are doing-- if it is worth doing, or necessary, find peace in that and let go of the unhappiness. If it isn't necessary or can be changed, then change it.  Most mistakes you make can be fixed, but remaining unhappy out of fear of failing is just a waste of time.  Besides, isn't living an unhappy life the biggest failure there is?  Max Ehrmann had it right:

Poster from Matt Dominguez

That's how I try to live my life.

So there it is, be happy by making your own happiness and, correspondingly,  stop making yourself miserable.  Is that too much to ask? lol

One way you could make yourself happy is to check out the other bloggers that play Five Among Friends!! 




Now go out and be awesome!


PS 
This is the first week of classes-- I do have posts thought out for Wednesday & Friday, but whether or not I'll have time to write them remains to be seen...

Mondays & Timing & Five Among Friends~*

So.  Here we are.

This semester promises to be extra, well, extra.  Jeremy & I are writing a textbook.  I am on a few committees that actually interest me rather alot.  I have an article waiting to be published.  And I have my classes.

I may not be around here as much as I have been.  Not that I think for a minute ya'll are sitting around with bated breath waiting for my words of wisdom. And not that I won't keep doing what I do, crafting & making messes.  Just that something has to give.  

I'm going to chuck the schedule out the window & just post when I can, whatever I want to post about.  Hope that pleases & sparkles with you~*

And today what I want to do is answer the clever Five Among Friends questions posed by Jeane from The Dauntless Tales.   

What do you do when you first wake up in the morning?

I am by no stretch of the imagination a morning person.  I generally wake up at least a half an hour before I have to, so that I can have sit and drool time, sipping my coffee and generally getting my brain in order.  

If someone was to give you one gift, money is no object, what would you want to receive?

Well, it may seem unexciting, but I'd love to have our house paid off.  We owe less than half of its value right now, so we are nearly there.  I love this stupid house.  Sigh.

From Slightly Sprightly

If you had three wishes, what would you wish?

I am guessing I can't wish for more wishes, right?  I am also guessing no beauty pageant I-would-wish-for-world-peace type answers, yes?

Okay.  Hmmmm...

1.  Long life for my parents & family &  kids & husband & me.  That's one wish because it all falls in the long life theme.  Don't cross me on this, I know my wish lore.

2.  Good health for same folks.  No fun having a long life if you can't enjoy it, right?

3.  Happiness for the same folks.  I mean, we are generally happy people so that bit shouldn't be too hard.  I think someone buying my parent's house would go along way lol.  Oh hey, could I tack that on to my "money no object" answer?  Pay off my house & buy my folks.  Now really, is that too much to ask?  


What is one quality you admire most in others?

Passion.  

Describe your dream vacation. :)

I've talked about this before!  Though right now there is a little micro-brewery/b & b just 65 miles away that I'd love to slip away to for the weekend with my handsome hubby~*

Now don't forget to check out these wonderful bloggers & their clever answers to the Five Among Friends!

And be sure to join up with the hottest hop on the Mommy web!

Quotes, Ramblings & Five Among Friends~*

Today is a two-fer:  Five Among Friends with a bit of rambling and a couple of quotations and a leg of mutton.  Because what is life without mutton, I ask you?

This week's fab questions are thanks to the wonderful Lisa of Squishable Baby.  Yay!

1. What was your favorite book to read as a child? Would you recommend it? Why?

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, no contest.  I still adore this book & have several tributes to it in our house & multiple vintage copies of it in our library.  I resoundingly and passionately recommend it.  It is far darker and more cerebral than Alice in Wonderland and John Tenniel's illustrations were politically charged and topical {with many of the less attractive characters being depicted as caricatures of politicians and aristocracy of the day).  Quite risque for the quiet, reclusive Dodgson.

colorized version of Tenniel's pen & ink found here

Why I would recommend it, however, has little to do with the witty drawings or historic significance.  I recommend it because in all the countless numbers of books I've read over the course of my life, I've never read another book like it.  It is utterly and completely unique, and beautiful, and...well...weird.  It captures exactly what it is to dream.  Alice jumps from strange event to peculiar occurrence without any real acknowledgement of the oddness of it all.  And there are some truly bizarre occurrences, believe me.  And there is Alice, accepting the world around her and doing her best to deal with it-- whether she is trying to properly a-dress a queen, or stop a war, or serve a mutton she's been introduced to.

Its a metaphor for life really.

2. What sport did you play in high school?

Did I mention I was an pale, asthmatic kid?

I steadfastly avoided sports.  I was, however, a theater nerd in high school.  Not really a sport, but it was a school activity...

3. What is one prominent childhood memory?

Okay, okay.  I thought about this one.  Here's one of those memories from childhood that comes before you actually know you are remembering, if that makes sense, but that I remember clear as crystal.  When I was about 5, I think {Ma, help me out here} we went to Disneyland.  I distinctly remember seeing Pluto, and having Mom and Dad encourage me to go up to him.  And he gave me a hug, and for just a moment I looked him in the eye-- it was one of those mascot suits with "netting" over the eyes.

Anyway.

When I looked in his eye, I saw the human behind the dog and was woefully confused.  Now I understood that it was a man inside the suit with out a problem.  My dilemma came from wondering why this fellow wanted to lie to me and pretend he was Pluto like I was some sort of idiot.  I wasn't sure how I should respond-- should I pretend I am amazed by meeting Pluto? Should I be angry at the deception?  I was utterly confused by it, and very worried I would hurt the fellow's feelings.  After all, it had to be hot in there.

So there is that.  And here is this:

4. What were your dreams as a child?

To be Diana of Themyscira, Leia Organa &/or Sara Crewe 

Yes.  

I think I may have issues.


5. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you fulfill those aspirations?

Well, I wanted to be a revolutionary.  No joke, that is really what I said in high school.  I think, in a way, I did fulfill that aspiration.  I devoted my academic life to studying revolutionaries-- the people who weren't afraid to stand up against the status quo, who dared to demand more.

I started to write a list of people.  It got rather long.  I deleted it out of fear that I'd put you to sleep.  Trust me.  There are many of them...when you have a nation that was born in revolution and designed by revolutionaries, you end up with a lot of rabble-rousers.

Now go check out what my fabulous friends have for answers!