It’s been over a week and I’ve been too swamped to post this wonderful news! Some of you are already aware, but last week I was featured on the blog spruce [décor]. I was interviewed for the “Midwest Minute” section and am super thankful to Lissa for having me. You can check out the feature here.
–c.
This past weekend went by so fast! I’m sure it’s because we actually did something. Friday night we drove to Toledo, Saturday morning we went to the Indiana Dunes State Park on our way to Chicago to see the Eccentric Soul Revue Presented by The Numero Group. Right after the show we drove 4 hours back to Toledo and woke up 4 hours later to drive to Cleveland for the Cavs game then out to a late lunch with Andrew’s brother and his girlfriend! Whew. But we’re getting too old for this. It totally kicked our asses. We got home and went to bed at, no kidding, 6pm and woke up at 6am.
BUT I had an amazing time and it was so nice to be in Chicago again with friends, eating good food and seeing amazing music. It was even nice to take a long drive (though Andrew might disagree with me since he did the majority of the driving.) If you haven’t heard of The Numero Group, you should check out their site here. I can’t describe them better than they have themselves, so you should check out their “About” page. Their mission statement being:
“…to dig deep into the recesses of our record collections with the goal of finding the dustiest gems begging to be released from their exile on geek street. No longer would $500 singles sit in a temperature-controlled room dying for a chance to be played. No more would the artists, writers, and entrepreneurs who made these records happen go unknown and unappreciated.”
“Numero releases are sound with substance, living at the nexus of song and story. Scrupulously researched, painstakingly re-mastered, and with an attention to detail that is unmatched in the reissue field, the end result is a top-of-the-line compact disc.”
Highlight of the show being:
• The Notations, singing and dressing like bands don’t anymore: matching blue suits with black patent leather shoes without a trace of irony.
• Syl Johnson. I can’t even pull out points from this performance. I was amazed that he is still doing what he does at his age. And scared because he is still doing what he does at his age. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I was surprised he didn’t throw out his hip with all his gyrations and hip-thrusting.
• The brass section. Serious.
–c.
If you have a chance, you should see this documentary. You can find out more information about it here. We were fortunate enough to have seen this movie two weekends ago at the 33rd Annual Cleveland International Film Festival.
It’s a documentary about a community and what happens to when its livelihood is threatened. It takes place in Cairo, a city of 8 million people with no official garbage collection service. For decades, the Zabbaleen, a community of about 60,000 people, have become the unofficial garbage collectors of the city. They’ve made their living collecting and recycling the trash of the residents of Cairo. But in more recent years, they’ve had to compete with foreign garbage collection companies contracted by the government to do the job they’ve built their lives on. The film focuses on three young Zabbaleens and follows them as they “come face to face with the globalization of their trade.”
“Each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.”
It’s a fascinating film, not only the overall story but the boys have such character it’s hard not to find them endearing.
–c.
Well, yes, have some fruits & vegetables. (I just decided I like an ampersand in there instead of a long, boring “and”) is germinating – for a lack of a better analogy. Our first meeting went well. Having everyone present to share their thoughts and ideas was great. Like we’ve said, we’re no pros, we need help. And together, with all of us doing our research, I think we’re going to be just fine.
Our soil test came back and looks good! It’s 65°F today! I even opened a window to let the warm breeze in, which may have been a bit premature, I was freezing two minutes later and closed it. But, things are coming together!
Our soil, in not so layman’s terms.
–a.
Well, yes, have some fruits & vegetables. (I just decided I like an ampersand in there instead of a long, boring “and”) is germinating – for a lack of a better analogy. Our first meeting went well. Having everyone present to share their thoughts and ideas was great. Like we’ve said, we’re no pros, we need help. And together, with all of us doing our research, I think we’re going to be just fine.
Our soil test came back and looks good! It’s 65°F today! I even opened a window to let the warm breeze in, which may have been a bit premature, I was freezing two minutes later and closed it. But, things are coming together!
Our soil, in not so layman’s terms.
–a.
Baby Layla has been the focus of yes, have some. lately, as is evident here, here and here. The latest gift for the little one is this Puzzle Box I made. At this point, six of her could fit into one of the small compartments, but she’ll grow into it. And until it’s filled with her toys, I’m sure Mama and Papa can use it for blankets, or clothes, or any of the other large amounts of “supplies” that little, tiny humans require.
–a.
This is my newest sewing project, a request from one of my co-workers for her new niece. Cat pillow! You can see ones we’ve made in the past here and this is the very first one I ever made years ago.
–c.
We’ve never done it before, but we’ve been reading and planning and organizing for weeks, and our very first garden is starting to come together (on paper, at least). This is the Spring/Summer/Fall where we work the land and reap the rewards, like we’ve wanted to for years. In total, we have nine gardeners who are going in on this project with us. Our first garden meeting is this Saturday and the agenda is chock full. Not to sound too much like city folk, but we had no idea how much consideration goes into a simple garden.
So far we’ve chosen the site (a perfect South-facing plot with sun-o-rama), made a gate for easy access, organized the participating parties, started a budget, picked out the fruits and veggies we want to grow, and our soil is being tested as I type. Next on the list is buying seeds, organizing our blocks with future crop-rotation considerations in mind, putting up a section of fence, tilling, planting and on and on and on.
It’s borderline overwhelming, but the day we’re laying on our backs in our overalls eating fresh, warm strawberries straight off the vine in the summer sun will be the day I happily forget all the planning and laboring.
The section of fence we chopped up and converted into a gate.
Our hopefully bountiful plot.
Stay tuned, sweet corn is on the way!
–a.
One of the many great things about living in Ohio is we finally have more room to make things. During the really cold months it’s a little more difficult because the barn is too cold to work in for extended periods of time. We have a basement where it is possible to do work as well, but the ceiling is really low and Andrew has to duck every time he goes down there.
Last summer we found this school desk at a junk shop for $18 and fixed it up for our niece. The whole thing was covered in layers of paint and was all around ugly.
We stripped all the paint off the wood, refinished it, repainted the metal parts and added my nieces last name across the top corner. Voila! Brand new desk.
–c.