• 15 minute posts,  BIG news,  domesticity,  Family Matters,  gardening,  house stuff!,  movies,  Niece-com-poops,  party party,  Shop Talk,  the sticks

    So. Much. Going. On.

    Be Happy

    So here’s a quick flick through my camera stream lately. First a photo taken by Rapunzel of her own hand. She’s not afraid to grab the camera and get in there with the interesting shots. I love that.

    upshot

    Another one of my old saguaro. She can’t believe that I never took this shot myself. Nope, I didn’t. Too prickly!

    R & M

    We had a little tiff at dinner so I’m feeling a bit sentimental as I post these photos. Teenagers are so complicated!

    tagger in another life

    I spray-painted an old wooden chair my mom had laying around. I wanted to give the chair its own post but it’s not like I’m really a DIY home-decorator blog or anything so I’m just going to smash it in here instead.

    spray on

    Spray, spray, spray. Don’t you love it when you forget to change the ISO setting on your camera and the last thing you shot was a product shot inside at 3200 and then you go outside and over-expose everything so bad that your backyard looks like heaven from the 70’s?

    nicely done

    Maybe that’s just my version of heaven from the 70’s.

    at home in it's habitat

    Anyway, the chair looks fantastic! It went from country bumpkin to eclectic mess which is sort of good except I hate eclectic mess. I love the chair though. I just need to de-clutter my house a little so it can shine on its own.

    meeting

    It’s already a favorite for family meetings.

    me and my new/old chair

    And vain self-portraits.

    what's this?

    Speaking of, I need some better self-portraits because I’m A PUBLISHED AUTHOR NOW!!!! And I had to put some dumb hand-held frumpy mom shot in the back of my book. I know I could pay someone to take a real portrait but I like to keep it real (or cheap). I am self-published after all, it’s not like I have a big book-contract deal. But I do have an awesome agent/publisher friend who is hooking it all up. I’m so excited. This is really a dream come true for me.

    It dropped on Amazon yesterday for my birthday! This is just a soft launch. I have two more books to illustrate and then we’re going to launch a blog tour with giveaways and prints and a book party (squee!) and I’ll probably talk about it so much you will all get sick of me. But until then check it out! $2.99 yo! It’s only on the Kindle right now I think but you can get a free kindle ap for your mac or ipad. I’ll share more when I get the hang of it. I’m new at this still. (Also available in the UK and Germany)

    In the meantime I have two books still to illustrate! (And many more after that I hope) I’m so behind. If you see me goofing off, feel free to kick me in the butt. I’ve got work to do!!! It’s always feast or famine around here.

    what's left of my birthday cake wearing her cake and eating it too

    Yes, my birthday was fantabulous. Thank you for asking. We kept it low-key with a night out with my best beach gal pal DMA and a new friend on Friday and then a family dinner with the niece-com-poops and my Aunt Keren and Grandma on the day itself. My grandma made me my favorite birthday dinner (peanut encrusted Thai chicken—soooooooooo yummy you could die) and Rapunzel made my cake. How can I be mad at her when she’s so sweet like that. Teenagers! She kills me.

    birthday cake under wraps! R dishes it out

    Anyway, it was super sweet and fun and the kids had a blastola swimming in Grandma’s community pool.

    learning to swim

    summer

    I love summer.

    peach pie

    Why yes, I did make a peach pie. I know! All this fun going on when I have work to do!!! This is what I’m talking about. I should be shackled to my laptop but no, I’m in the kitchen pretending to be Martha Stewart or something. It’s just that it’s summer and the fruit is going bananas (or more correctly, peaches) and it’s such a wonderful new thing to me that I just can’t bear to let it rot! It’s me and the fruit flies and I’m not about to let them win.

    Farmer Bug

    Peaches, zucchinis, apricots, plums, sugar snap peas and soon tomatoes. I can’t even keep up with my camera. Life does not stop for the weary!

  • 15 minute posts,  Buddies,  coffee!coffee!coffee!,  Family Matters,  heavy on photos,  Niece-com-poops,  the sticks

    Iced Coffee in the Wading Pool Time

    4

    You know what time it is, don’t you? The sweat is rolling down your back, the kids have been traipsing dry grass bits in and out of the house faster than you can vacuum them up, bickering seems to be the favored form of communication…it’s time for a coffee break. An iced coffee break.

    ready to make iced coffee mmmm...chocolate

    First you need some tall glasses and some little ones for the kids. Fill them with ice. Add chocolate syrup liberally. Fill the adult glasses halfway to three-quarters of the way with cold coffee and then the rest of the way with ice-cold milk. The kids get just milk and chocolate and maybe a smidge of coffee if they beg hard enough.

    poured, not stirred

    Like so.

    dumping the pool

    Then dump out the kiddie pool and refill with warm hose water that has been baking in the sun.

    cheers!

    Add kids…

    hose!

    goofs

    foot soup

    girls

    Bug and Super Chic

    miles of legs

    me and R

    lanky us

    I guarantee it will cure the summertime irrititus.