oh the horror

I was just beginning to get into taking photos. I plugged my camera in to charge the battery.
Moments later, I smelled the ozone as the circuits melted and I grabbed my camera--it was as hot as a frying pan. The charger, stolen 2 years ago out of our van (because I left the doors unlocked while it sat next to us at our campsite--doh!!!) was replaced by a general all purpose charger that had a switch to increase the voltage. Somehow the switch had been moved to the highest voltage and my precious camera was cooked. Stick a fork in it.
Here is the Vodka and Orange juice that I consumed in my grief.



All things have a silver lining--even a cooked camera.
Xander has been dismantling electronics and the chance to get inside a digital camera was akin to winning the lottery. He was beaming as he went to work.
So here is my camera now.


B-O-O-H-O-O.

But all is not lost because my gadget obsessed hubby had already purchased a new camera. He liked to have it at work to take extreme close-ups of projects. It is water and shock proof.
If only camera's came Renee-proof!

Upon A Pawn

Once upon a time,
sat a pawn upon a chair.
Upon the chair I sat upon a pawn,
GOOSE!!!

Written by Grandma, Xander, XuMei, ChrisC and me after Grandma sat down to dinner on a pawn.

Why I love Linda Hessel or The REAL KEY ingredient

Chocolate is really important around these parts right now. Really Important.

I stopped to pick up XuMei at a friend's birthday party and was caught red handed in the kitchen eating spoonfuls of frosting right outa' the jar. Yeah, it's that important.

This chocolate binge I am on reminded me of a sweet post from an amazing woman who blogs over at:

Four Little Birds.

Here is the excerpt:

After helping me mop up the mess, Jake said, rather pointedly, “I think it’s getting to be chocolate season around here.” And then, when I didn’t respond to his satisfaction, “We need to go into town and get the key ingredient to happiness.”

I mean, really, I’m laughing just writing that out. Who could stay mad? Thankfully the kids got their papa’s sense of humor. Because clearly I take myself and my life way too seriously and occasionally need to be nudged back into the reality that these things don’t matter and that by giving them power I am causing my own suffering (not to mention that of those around me.) “With a little help from my friends”… in this case the ones I gave birth to. Yeah, chocolate is good, but I know what the real key ingredient is around here!

---Linda Hessel

Well, it is Chocolate Season here, too. And not just for me---for all of us. XuMei loves a good piece of chocolate as a soothing balm or a pick-me-up. And my Ma, who lives with us, and at 67 has decided she is deschooling herself , will indulge whenever the fancy strikes her. She points out that it tastes better "without all that guilt". When I was younger I used to wear a button that had a Sandra Boynton hippo on it that said, "If wearer is found depressed, administer chocolate immediately". In another life, I was depressed and I ate a lot of chocolate. Now I agree with Linda, chocolate is lovely, it is the frosting on the cake of life, but if life is shi!!y, it's pretty much just sh!t frosting.

Linda gets at something profound in her story: what really matters. The real key ingredient. And it ain't the chocolate!!!!!

If it's not a Utilikilt, It's CRAP!!!!!

Beware the Beefy Kilted BAD Guy.
He may use his laser eyes to fry the "goods" of the Beefy Kilted GOOD Guy when he least expects it. Like when the Beefy Kilted GOOD Guy is standing on scaffolding......

- -
(I love the word "Scaffolding". Just say it a couple of times. It feels good)


ChrisC got a Utilikilt at the Oregon Country Fair. I have no time to blog because I cannot keep my hands off him.

Why I love Qacei

Qacei took a picture of this moth that landed on XuMei's hair. As part of a series of posts about people and ideas that have influenced my thinking I am telling this simple story of a young woman I only just recently got to know:
I seriously love this girl. She is amazing. She blows my mind. She is an unschooler.
I was hanging out with a couple of cool beans: my Nonie (of Babble-On Sisters fame), Kat (of kat craft fever) and Mary (the one who inspired blogging for me with Zenmomma's Garden) and somehow the discussion of breasts and breast development came up and I was mouthing off like I am wont to do and I asked,
"Is that NORMAL?" (about something XuMei had said)
and Qacei responded,
"There is no normal."

Holy Shitake Mushroom.
She is so right on, Sister.
It brought tears to my eyes.
And still does even now as I think back to the look on her face. She wasn't judging me and she had no fear-- she spoke her truth, a truth so loud and clear in it's quiet simplicity....and I am temporarily shamed, shocked, stunned changed.
I might even have evolved a little today!
And you could too if you check out her blog:
Normal is So last week

Maybe they were poisonous?!

After we spent all day in a tree picking these:


I discovered the kiddo-pies on the couch like this:



And this:

Apparently, the cat thought it was a good idea too.

What bubbled up

Mary from Zenmomma's Garden said , "Let it bubble up." And so it has. And here it is:




ChrisC brought dry ice home from work and we played and played with it.


He was astounded to discover that I had never played with dry ice. This was my first time stirring the smoking cauldron and when I looked closely I saw these white bubbles coming up and popping on the surface of the water. While I was having a magical moment staring at the bubbles ChrisC and XuMei and Xander devised a cork gun out of a 2 liter bottle and some old pvc pipe we had lying around. They shot that cork 15 feet across our yard!
That is what "bubbled up" for us today!