Archive for October, 2007

Next stop: St. Louis

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

So, for dinner/gathering tomorrow night, I suggest Raymond’s Place in Belleville; it’s reasonably close to where we’re staying, and isn’t in the middle of “town.”

Raymond’s Place
9735 W Main St
Belleville, IL 62223
(618) 397-4747

RSVP in comments if you plan to join us– right now I have Spud31 (party of 4? 6? 9? Is Mindianajones coming? Your dad and his wife are more than welcome, of course!) and Rhiannon (party of 2? 3? I believe Spud has a young lady and a baby in tow, so the Boy would be welcome). All other friends and cohorts in the STL area are of course welcome to come out and give me a hug. If we have more than 6, I should make a reservation, so let me know before noonish, mkay?

Let’s plan to get there at about 7. John and I hope to leave earlyish tomorrow, and Google Earth claims it’s a 5 hour drive. At 300 miles, it’s more like 7 with stops and getting lost and such, but we should be in by 7, and ready to relax and have someone else cook and do the dishes. :)

October 2007: Book Reviews

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

This is an archive of my shorter book reviews and notes, which historically have been posted over at the 50 Book Challenge on LiveJournal, but which I’m starting to move over here. I’m posting them with altered date-stamps, but they might show up in my LiveJournal cross-post anyway. Bear with me, please.

Note: Many of these books also have full reviews available in the book review podcast (RSS).
Read the rest of this entry »

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

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Hope you have a terrific, spooky, scary, sugar-loaded good time!!!

The Invasion….

Monday, October 29th, 2007

It’s the end of October here in Missouri, and the weather is actually quite nice right now. There’s sunshine and wind and we had a little rain last week, but it’s overall been decent Fall weather. All the trees are displaying their pretty Fall colors, and one critter in particular is in fine form, a bumper crop before the winter frosts set in, or perhaps on a migration path. In our little “motor bungalow,” we’ve been invaded– the poor things are literally being blown into the walls of Steggy, landing with tiny thumps against the doors and windows.

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Naturally, we are gentle with these beneficial friends and hope not to crush them when we depart. In the meantime, I enjoy seeing them zooming around the RV, alighting here and there while we sit inside and work all day long.

Family time!

Friday, October 26th, 2007

I don’t have a good pic of the “entering Missouri” sign, because they put it on an onramp onto the freeway we were already on, instead of putting it after this sign:

Another picture-heavy post. I’ll try to cut it on my LiveJournal after it goes up.

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That’s rain, not snow. We managed to arrive during a big rainstorm. Of course. Can Missouri EVER have normal weather when I’m there?

My niece played with the silk leaves included in the Trick or Treat bag I gave her. Notice the beautiful sky behind my mom, through the window?

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We went to the Zoo for Boo at the Zoo. Niece is a princess for Halloween (and every day).

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Nephew is a goofball. Oh, for Halloween he’s Ghost Rider– really scary looking.

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Husband is a a goofball, too. He’s a vampire on holiday for Halloween.

Yesterday, I finished knitting these:

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They’re made using the curly purly pumpkin pattern. They’re for a swap on swap-bot. I knitted them at a stitch-and-bitch in Kansas City out of this yarn:

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It’s a magic yarn ball I received from a fellow swapper. A Magic Yarn Ball is a hunk where you wind a skein or two of yarn around something round, and add in little bits and presents as you go until you run out of yarn. So far, I’ve found some temporary tattoos and what look like little glittery appliques.

This is the one I sent to my swap partner:
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You can either have the goodies fall out as you use the yarn in the normal course of crafting, or (if you’re impatient, like most people), you can unwind it and get all your goodies all at once. I also made a second one for someone whose partner flaked on her, but I can’t find the pictures right now.

Here’s what the pumpkins looked like when I mailed them yesterday:
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Please don’t mock me too much for making costumes for my swap pumpkins. I finished making the pumpkins, and then thought how cute they would look (and how easy to make) in little ghost costumes. So I made a ghost costume for the small one, who I imagine as being somewhat sinister in a take-over-the-world kind of way. The other one just looks like a big dumb goofball, and I decided it would dress up as Santa Claus for Halloween, because it’s a goofball.

The ATC (Artist Trading Card– it’s a small piece of art for the sake of art) just came out of nowhere, I swear. Here it is close up:
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I used a bunch of Sharpie knock-offs I bought at the Groveland Gold Rush festival, and they are total crap. They all leaked, one was cracked… total crap. So I bought new Sharpies yesterday while I was out with mom, and now have Sharpies to my heart’s content.

This is what I look like in my costume:
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Neat, huh?