my journey, destination unknown
The first Saturday of December in Pine Lake is one of the many reasons why I love this place so much. As with every first Saturday, a dedicated team of volunteers wakes early and gets the coffee on and grills heating down at the beach house. At 8:30 the doors open and neighbors start straggling…
On so-called Black Friday, I celebrate a tradition of Buying Nothing. I don’t know when this holiday started, nor when I started. Rob said that I have done it as long as he can remember, but I’m not sure. In fact, I don’t really like the absoluteness of the day, nor the need to feel…
Even with Chloe’s emergency trip to get stitches, we had a mostly relaxing Thanksgiving. The four of us, plus my mom, dad and sister (and a cat and dog) spent the long weekend at the cabin. We went outside when the weather was nice and did things inside when the weather wasn’t as nice. For…
Chloe has been wandering around today wanting to do projects. She wants to make puppets, clothes for the cat, cities with blocks, stories in her imagination. I have lots of dreams of being creative, but I’m really an organizer. I’m not saying that people can’t be both, but for me, I tend to organize and…
I stopped in to talk to the postal person today when I went to get the mail. We ordered something form Amazon, and the site insisted on a street address. Yesterday, I found out that the item had shipped via US Mail! Since we don’t get mail delivery at home (our village is too small…
41 percent of DeKalb voters already cast ballotsBy TY TAGAMIThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionMonday, November 03, 2008 One precinct that may prove a refuge on Election Day is tiny Pine Lake. The south DeKalb city has one precinct, the smallest in the county with 605 voters. It also had the smallest early turnout, with 16 percent. Election…
I clicked over to Amazon this morning, and was greeted by a wonderful home page. I don’t know if it will still be up, but eliminating Wrap Rage is a simple, yet terrific idea! Getting rid of all that packaging will help us get to the purchase faster and easier and also reduce waste!!! I’m…
The Halloween pumpkins and flamingos have had their own posts, as has the village Halloween Party. But what about Halloween? On Thursday, we had our homeschool group Halloween Party. Chloe was not in the mood for a party and just sat with some adult friends and ate some snack food. Camille participated in the parade…
Having three leftover boxes of flamingos in the garage from our PLamingo parade has left us feeling a bit crafty. One person had spray painted their flamingos orange and decorated them for Halloween. Camille thought that was a cool idea, so we copied it … where to hang the flamingos in order to paint them?…
Last week a nice big package arrived for us from our pal Mindy at XMKids Radio. See, the girls and I have been tuning in to XM while on our car travels. Chloe keeps occupied in the car as she tries to call in to talk to Mindy, Kenny and Robbie. (Though sometimes she gets…
When we went out to the mountains a few weeks ago, we had so much fun at the apple orchard that we never managed to pick any pumpkins!! Rob and the girls picked some pumpkins up on their way home from the girls’ sleepover at a friends’ house. The girls helped Rob clean out the…
It’s been a whirlwind getting back from DC and getting back to “normal”. New tires on the car is a good thing, but the engine still smells terrible. Yesterday was our village Halloween party! Chloe, as in years past, decided at the last minute to NOT dress up. Her way to stand out is to…
I’m sure I’m not the only one to deal with this. I’m tired of the stuff. We have closets and rooms and a garage and a storage room full of stuff. Stuff that I get to organize, put away, clean, fix, take care of. So often I feel that our stuff is controlling us and…
A few months ago, Uncle Jeff posted a bunch of photos from a flamingo parade. People took the iconic pink plastic creatures and decorated them. I thought this sounded like a great fundraiser for our eclectic little city. I search for a place to buy these guys in bulk, but apparently the original company had…
Rollercoaster, going to ride you to the sky! That’s been our week. Thursday: Back to routine – Latin, swimming, gymnastics, normal. Friday: Revolving door of kids in the house. Fun, but not relaxing. Saturday: Mad dash to make something for the neighborhood International Dinner. You know, me the chef. Cough, cough. At least the kids…
On Saturday morning, Chloe and I went to the book festival. Tonight, we walk down to the Labor Day Concert down at the lake. In between, I have stayed home. Not cleaning, not working, not doing (much) busy-work. Instead, I took the time to dream. To reflect. To consider the future. To read. And I…
You must watch this amazing time-lapse video made by a friend of mine. It is even better in “high quality”. Go to YouTube and click on “high quality”.
I’ve always been intrigued, but the rest of the family is so much more active in this “sport” than I am. Friday, Rob got permission from our city manager to plant a geocache in our little city. He put it out at 10pm, it was listed on the geocaching website at 10:30pm, and was already…
After I woke this morning, and as usual, I headed to my “office” (that would be the dining room table) to read my mail. I was not prepared for the mail in my work inbox. Not prepared at all. IBM pads software lineup; Buys ILOG for $340 million Of course, it didn’t come as a…
Chloe and Rob headed over to the Beginners Tree Climb yesterday and learned all about climbing trees. Chloe can’t stop talking about what a great time she had!