Monthly Archives: April 2012

Luminous Koi and Water Lily Quilt

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I am more done at this point than I think I ever have been for this class. That may all change when my instructor sees this and suggests any changes. I knew I had to be quick on this one, though, because I had about a week and a half to get it done, so I couldn’t afford to dilly-dally and mess around with weird ideas. So this one is maybe not as wild or creative as some of my other ones, but I like it quite a bit and it is going to go up on the wall as soon as I get home from class.

Ken thinks I should have quilted water lines on top of the fish since they are UNDER the water and the lily pads are on top of the water. We will see what my class says.

You can see my quilted scales, and then I did some painting with an iridescent white Shiva oil paint stick to make the fish shiny.

Fish #2 has even more paint. He and the first fish are in quiet poses, trying to convey a restful or peaceful mood.

Fish #3 has a little more motion. Ken also implied that if they were on top of the water they were “floating.” Hmmmmph.

I didn’t quilt the interior of the water lilies, which I think makes them look more like they are on top of the water. We will see what the class things.

Water lily bud.

I did most of the stitching on the fish before I put the back on, because quilting that heavy makes that part of the quilt really stiff. I should have done the same with this flower.The colors I picked (blue, orange, yellow-green, red-violet) actually form a tetrad – I have a feeling she is going to be quizzing us about the colors we pick, making sure they are picked for a reason.  This is actually the same tetrad as the landscape quilt, but used in a very different manner.

MaryAnne being unladylike again.

She is not the only one.

It was cooler here this weekend, so I didn’t have a problem staying inside and quilting rather than working out in the yard. I need to get back to that this week. I did work on the seed starts on Sunday night, that is another project that has gotten totally out of hand. More on that tomorrow….

Gardening and Banh Mi

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I continued my adventures on Monday by going to Golden so I could go to Golden Quilt Company and Golden Fiber Arts, (where I usually take my class) and get some additional fabric and embellishing materials for my Koi Quilt. I got a roll of “nature” themed pastel fabrics (and now I am not sure I will use any of them in this quilt, well, maybe for the water lily) and then some Angelina opalescent fibers (I always think of Angelina Jolie and wonder what she has to do with quilt embellishing….), some Shiva Paintsticks (oil paint in a stick – can Glenderella still make a mess? Why yes, yes she can!), and some hand dyed fabric by my color instructor Heather Thomas. I think the fabric will be used to make the koi, it is yellow and orange.

Another good reason to go to Golden was for lunch. I had been debating my lunch options. Lao Wang (soup dumplings) was closed on Mondays, but I had been looking at some other options in the area. When it occurred to me that I would go to Golden, of course I went to D’Deli for lunch.They are only open until 5:00 p.m. so I don’t get to go there when I have my regular class. They are always busy, but on Monday there were plenty of tables inside because everyone wanted to be outside since it was so nice.

You can choose to make your own sandwich with your choice of meat, etc., but I always go for one of their pre-concocted options, because they really have some wild ones. This time I had the Bahn Mi – Pork Loin, Chili Garlic Aioli, Mixed Greens, Jalapenos, Cucumbers, Carrots, Green Onion, Cilantro. I am now a fan of the Bahn Mi. I have no idea if theirs is authentic Vietnamese or not, but I sense an impending trip to sample various bahn mi around the area.

Lots of interesting and delicious veggies.

You are correct in assuming the Dear Husband would never eat this.

Last time I was here I had the Banano – Salami, Pepperoni, Cream Cheese, Sriracha Hot Sauce, Honey Mustard, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Red Onions, Jalapenos, Banana Peppers, Salt and Pepper. Also excellent. D’Deli has excellent bread, with a toothy crust, mmmm, I want some right now.

I ate, made the above-referenced purchases at the quilt store and the fiber store, and headed home. I knew I had to get that quilt sketched out. I sat down with the colored pencils, crayons, and markers and went to town.

I spent my entire life believing that I couldn’t draw. I got to be pretty good at drawing in Adobe Illustrator, and I thought, why can’t I do that in real life? Turns out, I am actually OK at it. Better than I thought at least. I just needed to spend more time with it and do things slowly  – story of my life!

From an early report card: “Glenderella hurries.” That pretty well sums it up. Everything that I have learned to take my time with has improved. (I scanned in those sketches yesterday.)

It was lovely out that day so after dinner I worked in the yard, clearing the old weeds from last year and dead leaves from one of the front flower beds. The little grass-looking-clump type plants apparently are pretty good at re-seeding themselves, hmmmm. Will need to dig some of those up and relocate in the current “Weed Garden,” future “Rock Garden.” I am busy digging up all of the current plants in the Rock Garden and re-locating them so we can level it and start over. By ‘level’ I mean, kill everything else that has decided to grow in there, such as a bunch of elm trees and grass. And thistles from across the fence.

“Weed Garden” in 2010

See, we have already made a start.

Then we will put down black plastic and mulch and use some of the interesting rocks I have brought from SD to make some beds, and re-install some of the plants that have shown sufficient vigor to grow over there, the sunniest and hottest part of the yard.

In other news, the neighbors with the alien landing pad have now camouflaged it with mulch, so as to be less obvious. There might even be one or two aliens hiding UNDER the mulch. Small ones, you know. You can see they put down some cement stepping stones for the landing vehicle.

Ken would say “Ok, this blog is long enough.” So it will be!

The Tetrad Landscape Color Quilt and the Koi Quilt

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I took Monday off because I missed my Color Theory Class earlier in the month because of a work conflict. It was nearly 80° so it was a pretty great day to have off.

The class was from 10-1, and was at a different quilt store, Wooden Spools, than the one I usually attend, but same teacher, and they are at the same place in their schedule. Different ladies in the class, ha ha ha, like new victims, but I didn’t have as much back story to tell with this quilt as I usually do, so they lucked out. The way the class works is that everyone displays their quilt or weaving or painting that they made since the last month that fits with the color theme we are learning about – this month it was the tetrad – four colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel. I chose blue, orange, red-violet and yellow-green, and so did most of the class. There were, as always, a very wide variety of designs and ideas.

I think I posted the design I drew and worked from:

I lost my mind and made this quilt about 35″ by 50″. What was I thinking? But I am happy with the way it turned out.

It is not quilted yet but it is fully assembled and fused together. I got some hints on a few finishing touches and how to quilt it and finish it from my teacher and classmates.

The sun is my favorite, of course.

After everyone has shown their quilt and we have all commented and asked questions, then our instructor lectures about the next quilt and shows examples. In this case, the next quilt is supposed to use color to show light or luminosity. It should look like light is shining from within, or shining on, or around the subject or part of the quilt. I have a week and half to get this quilt done, because I did want to wait until I heard the lecture, so I will be making a SMALL quilt. And I think I am going to do koi and water lilies, with the dark water as the contrast.

After my class, I went to Golden for lunch and to buy materials for the next quilt, but I think I will include that lunch report tomorrow!

Here are a couple of my sketches. After working on these, I had to go out and buy a new box of crayons, because the ones I have are very disappointing.Nothing like a new box of crayons!

I am well aware those lily pads look kind of like giant Pac Man monsters ready to chomp on my fish.

I put some fabric up on the wall and started cutting out patterns. (These are not the true colors of the fish/lily pads).

I really like this layout the best, but the fish and the lily pads are not interacting with each other at all.

I just don’t like this as much for some reason.

I am not wild about this one either. Maybe the lily pads need to be bigger. Maybe the blue piece needs to be less wide, because I just slapped a piece that was a handy size up there. I need to decide, and get to quilting, because my class is one week from last night! It sounds like it might rain this weekend, which would be good, because then I wouldn’t feel like I should be working in the yard, and I could work on this piece.

The four newts say “hi!”

K & S Come to Denver to Visit, Part II

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We had stuffed shells for dinner Saturday night, sorry, I forgot to take a picture of them, and the recipe for those is pretty much different every time. It involves a lot of cheese, a homemade marinara that has a variety of things thrown in it, and pepperoni laid across the top layer of cheese for the last 20 minutes to brown and get crispy. And the leftovers are awesome.

I forgot to say that at the Bagel Deli, Ken and K. had a french dip and chicken salad, respectively. They both said their food was good, but S. and I were too entranced with our own food to even taste theirs (well, maybe S. got a bite of chicken salad???) and we really didn’t have time to take pictures.

After dinner we taught K. and S. how to play Progressive Rummy, which is the best card game ever and I would gladly type out all the rules, but maybe sometime when I am stuck in a car and don’t have anything to do, because they are kind of complicated and long. And S. lulled us all into a sense of complacency and then tried to go out early about three times in the final hand, and still was the first one out and cleaned all of our clocks.

Got up Sunday morning and had waffles and bacon, and then took them for a scenery run. (Run in the car, not an actual on-foot run, oh that is SO funny.) We went up to Standley Lake, and wandered out onto the floating dock to take pictures. The lake was like glass that morning.

I forgot to pay sufficient attention to the reflections of the mountains and clouds in the water. There was a gentleman up there fishing, and some ducks swimming close to shore, egrets (I think) further out, and pelicans. S. is a little freaked out by birds so she was OK with the pelicans not flying too close.

Not much of this cottonwood is still alive, but it was a spectacular contrast against the blue sky that morning.

They we headed up Coal Creek Canyon, just to show off that hey, we live 20 minutes from the mountains (if not less) and because when you live here, you don’t go up into the mountains and appreciate them enough.

The Flatirons and just south of the Flatirons, and Jefferson County open space in the foreground.

They have shooting star flowers here in Colorado too! At least that is what my family calls them. I had never seen them in Colorado before. They are a little more healthy and bushy than the ones in South Dakota.

Pose by the creek. I stuck my finger in the creek, it was pretty darn cold.

Awwwww. So happy for my friend K. that he and S. found each other. S. is my friend now too, but I knew K. for a long time before I knew her, and always hoped he would find the perfect partner. He has.

Then they had to head home, and I tackled the back yard. This involved spraying myself in the face with the hose accidentally, but if that is the only mishap for me with an afternoon in the yard, that is pretty good. Got 6-7 hollyhocks moved to a new place, plus a surprise peony that came up from an old root. Aggravated Ken by digging up two big rocks in the edging and leaving them on the grass. :  ) Went on weed patrol with my trusty jug of Round Up. Those rotten thistles that come over from the neighbor’s yard need strong measures. With all this nice weather in April I MAY actually have the yard in decent shape before I get tired of working outside in the heat and let it go to pot again. Who knows, maybe it will give me something to blog about if I keep it in decent shape, THERE IS ALWAYS A FIRST TIME!

I also tried starting a bunch of seeds in moist paper towels in ziploc bags. I put in a bunch that are kind of old so we will see if they sprout. If they all do, I am in serious trouble. So they probably will….

A preview of the current flowers:

Well, the lilacs over the fence from the neighbor, but I appreciate them. Much more than I appreciate the thistles.

Bleeding Heart, always an early bloomer.

And a happy, happy pink tulip. There may be a dandelion leaf in the background, but I choos to focus on the tulip! :  )

IKEA and Bagel Deli – K & S’s Visit

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We did NOT get up at the crack of dawn. Well, except for me, the unlucky person who cannot sleep past 7:00 regardless of how late we stayed up talking (and we stayed up REALLY LATE for us.) MaryAnne obliged by being polite and showing off for K. and S., fetching her ball and letting S. pet her. Leo hid under the bed or inside the box spring the entire time they were here. S. got to see a brief glance at him when he was out on the bed, for about 20 seconds.

I had tried a new recipe for breakfast casserole in the slow cooker. I do not recommend it – very bland and being in the slow cooker so long cooks it all together like mush, it creates a weird texture. I may try the leftovers in a soft taco shell with some hot sauce and bacon this week, we will see.

It looks pretty good:

Maybe next time I will try one of the ones with bread rather than potatoes. I will report back if I find success.

We hit the road for Starbucks for our caffeine needs, and then headed to IKEA. S. was looking for some things for the wedding, and Ken and I were thinking about one of their couches for our downstairs living room. It is a long, narrow room, and you have to come downstairs and around the corner, so we can’t fit anything traditional larger than a loveseat down the stairs. We think we want the Ecktorp sofa with two sides, and would put that in the corner and along the wall where the entertainment center is now, and would then need to get a flatscreen TV that would mount on the opposite wall. This is several months of saving away….. We still managed to spend money without buying the couch on a magnetic knife rack, chair cushions for my mom, a multi-hanger for my scarves, etc. in the closet, and a set of plastic containers to replace some of ours that have seen better days. I stayed away from the chocolate bars, which I now regret. S. found several things but some of them are for the wedding SO MY LIPS ARE SEALED! :  )

S. is originally from Boston and has been lonely for Jewish deli food, so I knew right where to take her. Bagel Deli (my previous post on their wonderful food)! If I lived closer, I would probably eat here once a week. S. had to do a little happy dance, she was so glad to be there. I ordered three different things so I could get a taste of some foods I hadn’t had before. Well, the matzo ball soup wasn’t new, but I am not going to go there without getting some. I showed some restraint and just got a cup this time, not a bowl. It was fabulous as always. S. had a cup of this too.

I also had noodle kugel, which I had never had before. It was actually kind of sweet, with raisins and pineapple. I loved it. Would definitely have it again. Generally, I have felt that way about everything I have had to eat here.

Bagel Deli being so close to IKEA is keeping me from eating at IKEA. I also had an order of Kasha Varnishkas, which is bowtie pasta with buckwheat groats. That may sound weird but it is tasty.

The bowtie pasta in this is not meant to be al dente, and it is not. It is lovely, delightful, earthy comfort food. Mmmmmmm. I would eat some right now if I had some.

S. knew she could taste some of my dishes, so she ordered a corned beef sandwich with chopped liver on the side, and a potato latke. I had never had chopped liver, and she let me sample. It is good! Not that liver-y at all, it is seasoned well and tasty.  I could probably eat a bunch of that with some toasted crackers! The look on S.’s face when she tasted it would have been worth a 50 mile drive.

The corned beef was also excellent, and I got the leftovers to take home! Mmmmm.

I did not get a bite of the latke, I was busy with my own plate, so I will have to get one of those next time….

After the Bagel Deli, we visited Denver Fabrics, to look for some possible wrap fabric for the wedding (we found a possibility) and then took them on a drive through the Denver downtown area (we are trying to influence them to move down here if they ever move) and then we headed home to sit around and visit, and/or nap.

K & S Are Here – Adventures at Govnr’s Park Tavern and Sushi Den

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My friend K. and his fiancée S. (also my friend) arrived on Friday night for a quick visit from Wyoming. They rode down with friends, and we were all going to meet at Sushi Den for dinner. Sushi Den was packed, and our reservation was for 8:30, so when they arrived a little early, we picked up K. and S. and their friends they rode down with went to check into their hotel. We went to find somewhere to have drinks, and ended up at Govnr’s Park Tavern, which was busy and hopping! I had a lovely beverage called a Snozzberry whicn I did have a picture of but I accidentally deleted (still getting used to new phone….big learning curve.)

We didn’t intend to eat but when we saw the table next to us get a plate with two giant soft pretzels, we had to have an order. They are described as “Homemade Pretzels – two giant soft homemade pretzels baked to order, with mustard and cheese sauce.” I am kind of a collector of places to eat soft pretzels, and these were excellent. They were $7.50 and they were EXCELLENT. Just the thing to tide us over until dinner.

Did I take pictures? Of course I took pictures.

I will be going back for these.

We made our way over to Sushi Den, still packed. We were seated about 8:45 for our 8:30 reservation. There were four couples total, we shared two orders of edamame, except for Ken who doesn’t know edamame are good. Each couple ordered an assortment of rolls, except for Ken, who had teriyaki chicken (sorry, picture of that didn’t turn out…..). I ordered the tofu roll (because I always have to try something I have never tried before), the Rocky Mountain Roll (smoked trout) and Anakyu (Sea Eel) roll. Well, plates of rolls kept coming to the table, and I got my plate of Tofu Rolls, and then never got my other rolls. And by that time I had had pretzel, edamame, Ken’s miso soup, and had partaken of rolls that others were sharing, and wasn’t really hungry for them, so when I told the waitress about them, we just cancelled them, she was very nice about it. Here is some of what we did eat:

This is my tofu sushi.

I don’t know all the rolls everyone ordered, but we were all very happy and very full at the end of the evening.

The new phone is a Samsung Galaxy and takes pretty good pictures, it seems, I am still figuring out how to do most other tasks on it, however.

Tomorrow: IKEA, Bagel Deli, Denver Fabrics.

One of the Best Part of Travel is the Planning – New Mexico Pre-Trip Report, Part I

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We are planning a short vacation soon to the Great Sand Dunes, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. We thought of this because of the SDSU Jackrabbits playing in the NCAA tournament in Albuquerque – “Hey, that is only about 6 hours away, we could drive down there if they make it to the 2nd round!” Well, they didn’t make it to the second round, but I kept the fact that Albuquerque is only 6 hours away in the back of my mind. I knew I really wanted to go somewhere for a vacation before summer starts and my job gets really hectic.  Airline tickets are kind of pricey right now, so I thought, hmmmm, where can we drive to?

So Albuquerque and Santa Fe, here we come! And I am enjoying planning the trip, investigating hotels, checking out places to eat, perusing websites, and asking my friends who have been there or even lived there for recommendations. This part is almost as fun as the trip will be.

We are planning on driving down to the Great Sand Dunes on a Wednesday morning, and taking that in. Ken hasn’t been there before so that will be a bit different, sometimes, because of his former media job, he has been to many places that I haven’t. We are planning on staying at the Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista, where you can watch the drive-in movie from the comfort of your room. I haven’t investigate all the dining options in the area yet, I will get to that later.

I am thinking I am going to use some hotel points in Santa Fe. The hotels there are more expensive than the ones in Albuquerque, so it won’t be a hotel with “character” but I am sure it will be fine. Ken will go golfing somewhere, and I will go shopping. I am certainly going to the Georgia O’Keefe museum, and art galleries. Hopefully I can find something affordable to bring home (hmmm, is there an Art-O-Mat there?) I have been instructed we need to eat at the Plaza Cafe, and go to the Santa Fe Baking Company for a breakfast burrito and a lemon poppyseed muffin. OK, sounds like a plan! (As a matter of fact, that friend said, “If you don’t go there I don’t know if we can still be friends,” so I take that as a very strong recommendation.)

Also: Shopping at Pueblo of Tesque Flea Market, and a knitting friend is working on a list of yarn stores for me, as well as other suggestions.

More on additional activities in Santa Fe and Albuquerque yet to come…..

Any other suggestions?

Eating at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I do believe this is ON the Spash Mountain ride, however, I do not look soaked at all, so perhaps it is before we went on the ride.

Wrapping up the trip with a 3 day cruise on the Disney Wonder. We wanted to see if we liked cruising. Oh yes, we do.

New Pasta at Panera Bread Review Part 2

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I have been remiss in reviewing the third new pasta at Panera Bread, forgive me, there was an unpleasant bout with food poisoning in there (NOT caused by Panera) and my knitting group moved back to Knit Knack, our wonderful home knitting store, and so I hadn’t been to Panera in a while.

I have been getting quite a few search hits on my review of the first two pastas, so I felt duty-bound to the foodies of the internet to review the third. I knew people would be looking for information on the pastas as soon as word spread, and I was certainly frustrated in my quest to find any, so I hope this is helpful.

I tried the third pasta, Tortellini Alfredo, in combination with the broccoli cheddar soup. This was quite a cheese-laden lunch. Upon reflection, I should have chosen the tomato soup as a contrast. Still good, however.

This is what you get for 10.70, including tax, at the Panera Bread in Fort Collins. Pasta/soup combo with baguette (small size) $8.29, regular soda $1.59.

This soup is certainly cheesy. Other than the broccoli, it also has shredded carrots. Most of the broccoli is in small chunks, and it has been cooked rather well, but there is still a little bit of resistance there, not cooked to mush. Great winter or cool weather comfort food, best for dipping the baguette.

As I expected, the tortellini is my least favorite of the three pastas, because it is the least interesting. It did surprise me with its strong cheese taste, however, because I thought the 6-cheese filling in the sacchettini was kind of bland, and this had more of a bite to it. The six cheeses listed in the sacchetti are: ricotta, parmesan, romano, monterey jack, cheddar, and mozzarella. The three in the tortellini are: ricotta, swiss and romano. I am guessing it is the swiss that jumps out. I was pleasantly surprised on the first bite.

The Alfredo sauce is creamy and mild, it does appear to have fresh parsley in it (looks more bright green than dry, I think) but nothing that makes you sit up and say “Wow!”

Again, this is not a fresh-made, hand-crafted, al dente pasta. You need to go to your hometown Italian restaurant for that. But it is a fine alternate to a sandwich or a salad at Panera if you are not in the mood for one of those. My favorite is still the cavatelli, second favorite is the sacchettini, and third is the tortellini. If you are a tortellini or Alfredo lover (or a pesto hater!), your mileage may vary.

Weekend Cooking and The Scary House

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As my friend Erin and I were winding our way to Santa Fe Ave. to (unsuccessfully) visit the Art-O-Mat, we went down the street behind Santa Fe, and we saw this house. And then we had to go back and take pictures. You don’t go by a place like this every day.

This house looks like it was decorated for Halloween and never undone. It is more of an art installation than a decor job, which is quite appropriate for the neighborhood.

Flamingos AND Halloween!

On the right-hand side is a bust (on the birdbath) which apparently has tears of blood, from the bloodstains. Note the deer skull at the peak of the roof. There was a lot to look at here.

As I sorted my cookbook collection out following the clean up after the fire and replaced them in their place, I found some old favorites that I hadn’t used in quite a while, including:

I bought this before we were married, one of the summers I spent in Brookings while I was going to college – I liked to go to auctions and went to some in the surrounding communities, and I bet I bought this cookbook there. It is a keeper. It has a whole section on just “Bars” separate from “Cookies,” that is always a good sign. I do use one of their brownie recipes with great regularity, but I sat down and looked through the whole book again and found a few new ones to try.

When you have been married for almost 18 years, you get a better grip on what your husband will/won’t like to eat, and I knew he would like this.

I BARELY par-boiled the noodles, I didn’t want them to get all mushy, and they weren’t too bad. I used more onion than this. I used 8 oz of mozzarella, just in case it wasn’t very good (cheese saves everything). Baked it in a 9 by 13 pan, and it didn’t need an hour, I did 20 minutes and then about 10 with the cheese on top. It is quite good as leftovers. It could be improved with green peppers and mushrooms, but I knew that would go over well with the DH (dear husband). So, that one turned out, two thumbs up, hurray for church cookbooks!

Ken liked it.

Other events of the day

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As we were finishing up our noodles and dumplings at Tao Tao, we got to talking about Art-o-Mat, and Erin had admired my art I got from the one at Washington, DC, so I thought, hey, there is an Art-o-Mat on the way to our next noodle stop, and we added it to our list.

We also stopped at Fancy Tiger, and admired a great many fabrics, petted many yarns, and drooled over the needle felted shark kit, but eventually decided we shouldn’t take on any additional projects at this time. (We got slightly list getting there of course.)

Then we ventured over to Santa Fe (street), not without adventure, I need to remember to put a better map in my car, I generally know the right direction to go but not necessarily the fastest route. So we get to Santa Fe, and driving up the street and looking for a parking place, we sight not only the art gallery with the Art-o-Mat, but a fabric and yarn store I forgot was there, and a store that said “CAKE” so you can bet we were excited.

Of course we went to the cake store, Frills Cake Shop, first. Well, unfortunately they were sold out of cupcakes for the day, and were working on filling orders for cakes/cupcakes. We are definitely going to have to return here sometime, possibly during the First Friday Art Walk they have on Santa Fe. Next we walked down to Access Gallery and there was a note on the door that said “Sorry, closed this Friday and Saturday” so that felt like two strikes against us, no cake and now no Art-o-mat.

However, when we got to Fabric Bliss, they were celebrating their 1st birthday, so not only did we get a cupcake or treat of our choice (I had a delicious blue and white cupcake, Erin had a coffee flavored cheesecake sort of creation) but it was 20% off everything but handmade items. I got some laminated fabric (blue with cherries) for my kitchen table, and Erin got some very cute flower hair pins. (Shoot, forgot to take a picture of either one!)

And then we traveled to our 2nd dumpling tasting, and all was well.

On the way home, I asked Erin how long it had been since she had been to La Patisserie Francaise, and she said it had been a LONG time, so it was necessary to stop there. La Patisserie is a truly wonderful French bakery with Creme-puff like “Swans” and “Nuns” which are just kind of indescribable but also involve choux pastry and chocolate ganache and creme filling. This page has a picture of each of them. Try not to drool on your keyboard. They were out of swans, so we each got a nun and Erin got another pastry that I can’t remember because I was concentrating too hard on what my 2nd choice was going to be, which is something with lemon that I haven’t eaten yet, if you can believe that. That nun was gone as soon as I got home, however. And then I had to have a little nap.

Plus, Erin is awesome and brought me presents:

A cupcake which is both bubble bath AND a bath bomb, can’t wait to use that!

And a bath toy! Which she knit herself! Doesn’t it have awesome fishy little lips! I am going to have to keep it away from the cats.

It has a ping pong ball inside it. I am going to have to think of a good name. He/she can hang out with Bruce the Shark Finger Puppet.

Well, that is so much already that I think I will tell you about the scary Halloween house tomorrow, this seems to be more than enough for one day – no wonder I was so tired!

MaryAnne has filed herself in the media center for you to enjoy later.