I have been newly promoted... to Locavore!

*giggles* I think that means "eating locally-grown food" -- for some variation of "local." But I was really excited to day to pick up my first delivery of local-ish grown veggies from a farm about 50 miles away (over the mountains)!

The Gathering Together Farm crew delivers them to a wonderful local bakery, The Green Salmon Café, and then we all show up Saturday morning to get our box (we actually repack the veggies to take them home--I happened to find this old basket in our garage which I thought was perfect!). We all = whoever signed up for the food share program--there was a minimum specified of 10 people for our tiny town.

This is what we got this week:

Contents: 1.5 lb Colorado Rose Potatoes, Baby Onions, Spinach, Dill, Mustard Greens Bunch, Carrots, White Turnips, Red Leaf Lettuce, Green Garlic, 1 Cucumber. Yummmmmmm! Gonna have a greens smorgasbord for sure, and not sure what else--roasted veggies, perhaps, with fresh rosemary from the garden?


Hope you guys find some great foods at your local Farmer's Market this weekend! Bon appétit... =)

News @ The Abode

So today we were supposed to get the corner couch, and the wall unit. I guess one out of 2 isn't bad, eh? Here's the wall unit, which is awesome:


It's of course not in its final state, but we love it so far! The cats love it too--they have their own special little tunnel on the shelf behind the books. It's so cute!

The couch... was built in the mirror image of what we'd ordered. Which we only discovered once the poor guys had virtually dismantled the front door to get it in, then assembled it and everything. So, back to the store it went. Since it was specially built for us, I hope they can sell it off! I guess we get to wait another couple of months for the right one to be built... =/

And over Mother's Day weekend, we were up in Portland for another of Eddie's conferences. I took Allen to the Children's Museum. I was playing "patient" in the fake ambulance they have there, and as I was rising from the dead my camera fell to the floor, whereupon it perished in the final throes of bashedness, alas.

I'd *almost* saved up enough money to buy a new one, so frantic consultations were made with my online photographer buddies, the camera was located at a nearby Fry's, and then Eddie said it was my early birthday present! WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! It's a Canon EOS Rebel T3, and I'm having the best time trying to figure out what the best settings are...


After shooting pictures at the beach tonight, I determined I definitely need a zoom lens. The point-and-shoot was very grainy, but you could get up pretty close and do some nice face shots without being right IN the face (practical for little boys who give you the cold shoulder as soon as they realize you're taking pictures of them!).


On the other hand the quality (when I get the settings right!) is just amazing!


I also would love to get a dedicated macro lens for up close photos, although the ones I can take with this lens (the kit lens, 18-55mm [whatever that means--still haven't really figured things out yet!]) are pretty darn fine!

And I need a chamois or something to wipe down the camera and lens after being on the beach. And I need a dust blower already for the lens itself! But all in good time... Thank you honey for my magnificent present, once again!!!

Ack! I need a job!

One of the websites that I take care of is looking for a new owner, and that's half my income per month (which is less than $100, heh). But I do need even that little bit of income... So, anybody know of any online leads? I could do occasional travel, but I need to be able to do most of the work from home... it could range from graphic design to low-level website work to teaching to writing. Just putting it out there!

And here are a couple of calming layouts from the past couple of days:



Credits: Vinnie Pearce's new "Moments of Wonderful" kit for the background paper, the little corrugated heart, and the wordart. Other two "beads" from her "Thank You" kit. Font for the date: 1942 Report.

And from yesterday's walk:



Credits: Everything by 3 Pixel Chicks. Template is their "Buy Scraps In Bulk Edition" (Express Chick Out Lane). I also used 1 paper from the "Chick Your Grade" paper pack for the background, and 2 different papers from the "Hand-Battered Wheat" paper pack for the lettering and leaf (a great alpha that's included with the photo template).