A Meme; No Tagging Necessary

Just out of curiosity, I had to try this meme, when Lynn posted it.

1. Go to the current book you're reading.
2. Go to Page 161.
3. Copy down the 5th sentence.

The family, rather taken aback, agreed, and then, somewhat suspiciously, asked me what I wanted.

That's from My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. I'm reading the Corfu Trilogy right now, which is a collection of all three books he wrote about his family's years in Corfu. Wonderful, wonderful books.

The sentence is from passage where clever Gerry has worked out a way to get exactly the boy-naturalist supplies he wants for his birthday by targeting the wish lists.

Saint Wanda, and Watercolour Class: Week Three

First, note that my streak of daily blogging lives on (I did blog yesterday at the HealthSpa blog).

Second, I am indebted to my new hero, Wanda of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. In the space of 8 minutes of the phone, she noted my lost license in case of identity theft, took all my details, and generated a replacement license thingie (photoless but legal) that is mailing out today, and is good until 2012. Hey, a photoless license is bound to look better anyway.

She totally rocked my world, and potentially saved my bacon because I must appear in court (with a license of some sort) at the end of February to face my speeding charge. I, Maria Andretti of the Leaden Foot, was caught in a speed trap on the way to base. Sigh. I was wrong. So wrong. Seriously, I've been pretty darn careful about speeding since I have been here.

Moving on to item the third, we began a Norfolk landscape today. Working from photos of the Hunstanton cliffs at low tide, I produced this. We will work on them more next week, adding details and finishing various things, like the rocky gravelly bit along the bottom of the cliffs.

What I like about this picture so far: the sky came out really well and I think the tops of the cliffs (chalky part) are going to really be good. The sand is a good color mix, and I think the carrstone boulders look nice and seaweedy.

What I don't like: The horrible, horrible shade of blue I used in my little pools (and the patch of ocean, for that matter). I think the water is really blotchy as well. I am really not pleased with the carrstone portion of the cliffs - it should be paler, almost a reddish pink and brown. I can't make it lighter now that it's on.

It's an interesting scene to work on and I think if I paint it again (and again), I'll get the coloring better.

Back, and Back in Action...

Our trip to Cadbury World couldn't have gone better. We had an awesome time, spending about 5 hours there, and the trip home was as smooth as the trip out, which is to say...like buttah!

Yes, chocolate was consumed. No, I did not rip my head off for ease of pouring candy down my gullet. I did take some pics of the kids at various points, but a few fun areas were off limits for photos. I will post them once they're uploaded, but for now, I'm just patting myself on the back for a road trip well done, and for unpacking the very same evening we returned. Whoo hoo!

Quick Post

In case I don't get back online today, we're headed for the Wonderful World of Chocolate here. Should be fun, and I am pretty sure I can restrain myself from inhaling the entire place. Pretty sure.

I miss you.

Mom would have been 72 today. I miss you always, Mommy.

Morning Kaffee Klatsch

Today I had to set up for and "host" our spouses' group monthly morning coffee. It's a very informal gathering but there's still prep time involved.

I managed to get everyone sorted out and to school at this end, and get set up in our meeting room down at the base in good time. A fine time was had by all (I hope). Certainly, I had an energizing morning. We had some new faces, one soon-to-be-departing person, and lots of chat with everyone.

I forgot to eat a decent breakfast beforehand, but managed OK. Thank goodness I brought fruit along - that's proved to be very popular on the snack table.








Lovely image from this quilting site.

Comments, and All That...

Thank you, Gentle Commenters, for all the nice words about my "art" yesterday. You make me feel special. Almost as good for the self-esteem as hanging out with Mr. Rogers.

Toni left a comment about another post [my salt rant] that has me thinking. I blogged about it on my other blog, but I'm seriously contemplating her suggestion of a month without processed foods. Just have to wrap my head around portion control a bit more firmly, before I give up the ready meal crutch.

Watercolours: Week Two

I am love, love, loving this class. Today's work was about tones, and this is the exercise we did. It's a Lake District landscape, working from a black and white photograph.


I learned a lot about tones/gradations of color. Still fumbling with the painting of water. Wouldn't you think it would be easier to paint water with watercolour? For me, not so much!

Ooof.

It feels like I haven't stopped moving all day...dinner's over, though, and we're in the home stretch to the bedtime hour.

I got a lot of miscellaneous errands done, and had lunch and a spot of shopping with my buddy Chrissie (waves!). I'll blog one of my purchases another time, when I have good light to work with.

Meanwhile, a little foody musing. What is UP with salt in prepared foods, and why oh why must the makers be so heavy-handed with salt? I've leaned heavily on the ready meal in the past couple of weeks, and the offerings range from terrific (the new Tesco Light Choices, with much less fat and sodium) to deeply, deeply disappointing (tonight's Tesco Steam Meal - salmon, potatoes, and veg).

The meal itself wasn't bad, actually, although the broccoli couldn't stand up to all the cooking time. However, it contained 1300-odd mg of sodium, and tasted like someone had up-ended a salt shaker over it.

What has Susie learned from this, Gentle Readers? Apart from "Cook-your-own, already!" ? Look at the sodium information, too, when picking a food. Wow, it only took me 40-odd years to come to grips with that. I'm a quick study, I am.

As Promised

Here's a picture of the Telly-watching Scarf, just after adding the second ball of wool. See that thin band of red? That's not where the first ball ran out; it actually faded right back to the golden shade for about an inch of knitting, so it was very easy to add in ball number two. Looking good, I think. I just love these colors - so warm, and welcoming. I like the random size of the striping as well.

Knitting...

There hasn't been much knitting here at the KnitFarm this past week. I've still got the warmer-colored one-row scarf on my needles, but not much progress. Today, the plan is to watch a DVD with the kids, so I'll be knitting then. Once I get this done, I may pick up one of my many languishing UFOs, but I rather think I'll be moving on to another simple project instead.

I've got the perfect yarn for the French Market Bag from Knitty - it's a speckled spicy colored wool, with jolts of blue, but it's too busy for anything wearable. I think felting will blend the speckliness (is that even a word?) nicely.

Once I start it, I'll post a picture of the yarn.

Friday, O Friday!

Made it to the end of the week...a little crazy this morning but all is calm now. I've got a birthday party to schlep the kiddies to this afternoon, and then we're appointment-free for the next couple of days. Here's to weekends, and recharging.

Movie Meme

In the absence of a life-related post today, I offer this. Really kinda cool. Courtesy of Annalea at The Passionate Mind.

Here is a list of the Top 100 Films of All Time. So, here's what I've seen . . .

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone with the Wind (1939)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler’s List (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960)
15. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
16. 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40. The Sound of Music (1965)
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47.A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961)
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. Deer Hunter, The (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970)
55. North by Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975)
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973)
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994)
77. All the President’s Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)
84. Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

53 out of 100. More than I expected to have seen.
Consider yourself tagged if you want to be. Just copy, paste & bold the ones you've seen. (Then leave me a comment so I can go see what your score is. ;o)

A Sunny Day

A sunny day, a walk outside, lots of little jobs taken care of inside, laundry sorted, dinner in the works...I think today's definitely a very good day.

About to get even better, when Torchwood series two premieres tonight at 9:00. Captain Jack Harkness. Mmmm. Excellent.

My Morning At Watercolour School

A report by Susie.

I started out on a grand note by ... forgetting to go! Fortunately, a phone call to me (happily picking up a birthday gift in Lynn, and planning where to head next) saved the day. I swooped home and grabbed my supplies and got there in time to dash out my color wheel. I didn't even miss the coffee break. Normally, I would have been mortified to the point of tears, but for some reason, I was very zen and cheerful about it, and even took the ribbing from the instructor with ease.

Wanna see my stick figures from today? Suuuuure, you do. This was our exercise: a little sky, some cloud, irrigation canals, a ploughed field. It was actually good fun, although I'm not thrilled with my perspective, or how heavy-handed I was with the paints in the sky, in particular.

The instructor is terrific, and I am so pleased I signed up for this course!

Another Good Day

Today, I got everything done on my list, except eating breakfast (oops, better write it on my list). Had a good morning chatting and crafting with Chrissie, got my on-base errands run, and even did some laundry in the bargain.

David went to his new Cubs meeting and had a lovely time. He made this boat, with a friend. It came second in the races they held, so I guess it's seaworthy. Will have to test it in our bath.

Lily and I spent the wait at the library for the most part, and she slept on my lap in the car as well. It's juuuust short enough a meeting to make it a hassle to drive home and back.

FitDay

Hey...remember that FitDay I was loving so much last year? [See the sidebar for link.] I just logged my food for the day thus far, and I am patting myself on the back. Just a little bit. I hadn't logged in food since the end of July, although I did put in my weight a couple of times as it crawled upward.

I feel like I did something good for myself today.

A Little Laugh

After a long, sleepless, anxious sort of night, and a downer of a morning, I am giving myself a pep talk and heading out with the kids.

This would cheer anyone up. It's the Chopping Broccoli song from Saturday Night Live of the 90s. The link is the official network one, and it won't work if you're not in the US, so you'll have to Google it. Trust me. Funny.

Long Week...

Somehow, the week has been a good one, a busy one, but as I head into Friday afternoon, I feel like it's been Just. Too. Long. I'm ready for bed. I'm ready for the weekend. I imagine I may need a coffee to make it through to bedtime. That's OK.

How about you all? How's your week been?

10-minute Tidy

Not so much, actually. More like a 90-minute tidy. This afternoon, I tackled David's room, with his help. We cleared out two shelves of beloved but too-simple books (Magic Treehouse, Time Warp Trio, etc. - saving for Lily to read soon), and that made space for all the books that had been carpeting his floor. Once they were shelved, we reached the toy layer. Once that was shelved, D's room became a terrific playtime oasis again.




Well, Miss Lily saw the magic happening, and demanded we tidy her room. I took before pictures in hers (below), so you can see the difference.

Now, to keep it all this way. What's needed next is a MASSIVE de-toyification in both rooms. I'll tackle this when they're at school. My plan - remove 30-50% of all toys, bag them and put in shed. If anything is missed, we can bring it back in. If not, I take them to the charity shop in a month or two. There's sooo much stuff in each child's room right now, they just can't figure out what to play with.