Art and Henna

Most days ,while surfing the web, I check out Central Jersey's craigslist .Mostly I check the Free page and the Artist page but I also like (guilty pleasure)the Missed Connections page. Anyway about two weeks ago , in the Artist section someone was offering free canvases, so I e-mailed him and sent my phone number. He called a couple days later and told me how to get to the studio. It was just about a mile away and right down the road from my house! His name is Darren and he was cleaning out his Uncle's studio. So the top three pictures are just some of the art that I was lucky enough to receive for free. My original plan was to paint over them but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to do that. Darren was also kind enough to e-mail me this link to his Uncle's MySpace page. Check it out- He was an amazing artist.
The bottom picture is my henna- one week later. It's really holding up. The one on the top of my foot is almost gone and Riley's knuckles are completely faded (Thank God) .

A Beautiful Beach Day

Today we went to the Manasquan Inlet Beach with another Homeschooling family. Perfect weather, picnic lunch , more surfing. Well, Griffin surfed- Riley and I made a handmade seining net with leftover tulle and a couple of long tomato stakes. We saw lots of little fish. Riley and a friend held down the net and I ran around in the water trying to chase the fish into the net -much to the amusement of pretty much everyone on the beach. I can not believe we didn't catch one fish - I think we need more professional equipment. We had a good time anyway . I'm not sure if we'll get any more beach days this season. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain and bring in more Fall-like weather.

Garage sale goodness

Saturday I went to a great Rummage sale, a thrift store and several garage sales. Here's just some of the goodies I scored. I collect little teacups to make flower arrangements in. I thought the vintage baby pattens I could use for cardmaking. The case with all the Dawn Dolls and dozens of outfits was only $4.00!!! I was very excited about them because I remember having them myself a loooong time ago. Mine didn't look so good - I gave them haircuts, etc. I wasn't sure if they would be worth anything- I just bought them on impulse. Well after getting home and checking on E-bay, I hit a gold mine! Probably won't post them for auction until next week- gives me some time to play with them ;0) !!

Henna Pictures

Last night I went to my friend Julie's house for a book discussion / party. The book was Eat , Pray , Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Julie asked everyone to bring a dish inspired by the Indian, Indonesian or Italian locations in the book. Instead of bringing food , I made up a double batch of henna and gave a Mehndi "tattoo" to anyone who wanted one. Most of the guests left with one! The middle picture-- Life / Death across the knuckles is Riley's choice. He wasn't at the party-I did him before I left.

Shout out to Suzy

My sister, Suzanne, who lives in California has requested a shout out. So - Hey there Suzy Q and Hi to Squeak and Daisy (her two cats) and a Hey to Conrad ,her fiance who she is going to Colorado to visit soon. And a big hello to her future brother and sister-in-law who they will be hanging out with. Have fun you guys!! Love you Suzanne!!
And that, my friends, is how to do a shout out. Anyone else want one? Just let me know.


Griffin has been working on a few new movies . Here's the latest-

The send off

Well, Sunday John went off to England. By himself. For a long time.
There was a nice late breakfast with all of us. Then Tim, Griffin
and Riley headed out to a Ren-Faire and Johnno and I ran a few
last minute errands. Johnno watched the Giants play and finished
his packing. I sewed up a rip in his jeans. He had a bowl of chili-
then it was time to go. His good friend, Chris, goes to N.J.I.T.
a school near the airport in Newark, so we gave him a ride. We
made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and then he
was off. He wasn't able to e-mail right away, but we've heard
from him. His ride to the school wasn't there to meet him and he
had to deal with that. He forgot his pillow so he went out and bought
a new one. He's met two of his roommates, a boy from Pennsylvania
named Jack and a girl from Finland whose name he couldn't quite
catch.This is such a wonderful experience for him and he's doing so
well.We're very proud of him. He's got all kinds of plans for side trips.
Germany, France, Italy. It so exciting. Last night I checked ticket
prices for my visit and it's so expensive! The taxes and fees are almost
as much as the airfare! I was looking at mid-October-and that's only
four weeks away!! Maybe early November. I'm a pretty casual traveler.

More Rally Pictures

Me in front of the White House

Riley

John (right) and his friend Jim

Cindy Sheehan

Walking next to Cindy!!!

The Die in at the Capitol

Washington D.C. Sept. 15

Pogo- sticking for Peace

We had the best day yesterday. We left early- 5:20am- to head down to D.C. for the giant Peace rally. It was amazing! I took tons of pictures- I'll post them tomorrow- I walked (for two minutes) right next to Cindy Sheehan. Griffin wowed the crowd with his flipping sweet pogo-sticking skills (Napoleon Dynamite reference). The link below is to a forty second clip of him right in front of the White House.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WDee5OQBrqc

Today Tim, Griffin and Riley are doing archery demos at a local Ren-Faire and I'm watching Johnno pack for England. We leave in four hours for the airport!!!!!!!!!!
More tomorrow.

Z is for Zombies

37%

Mingle² - Free Online Dating

O.K. so Zombies are a pet peeve of mine- can't stand 'em. Still- I think I should have better than a 37% chance of surviving a zombie attack. If only we lived in the country or owned a gun- but really the reason my score is so low is I would always try to get to my loved ones and I could never- ever kill any zombie family member. As long as there was even just a one in a million chance of some secret government agency - deep underground- working on a zombie cure- I could never do it. Well- Tim scored higher than me and guess why- (like we don't have enough real life stuff to argue about). After more than 21 years of marriage he would take a shovel to my zombie head so fast. You think you know someone- I told him I would imprison him if he ever turned zombie and feed him stray cats. For better or worse- I told him- those vows should mean something. So he changed his answer- but I don't know- anyway I'm allergic to cats.

Clink on the red square to take the test yourself.

107 shopping days 'til Xmas

Yet another party! Yippee! A good time was had by all- O.K. , Yeah I'm pushing it with the Y thing. And 107 shopping days 'til Xmas ?- it's a bit of a stretch -still, this Encyclopedia of Me Meme has been fun and a good introduction to blogging. Thanks Bella Dia for the great idea!
The party was great- how do you like the look of that s'more bar? And chocolate marshmallows! I was embarrassingly excited to find those. I was at a flea market a few months back and found glow sticks and light up necklaces for 10 cents each. These were a big hit with ALL ages. From my mom to my 3 year old niece- everybody was wearing them. Griffin and Riley brought out their boom box and put on a Lynyrd Skynyrd Greatest Hits CD- the perfect music for a Bonfire.

Work is a four letter word.

Working around the house-- Party Three for Riley!!! I guess one party isn't enough when your youngest baby turns lucky thirteen! We're having a bonfire -weenie roast- s'more making blowout with all their cousins on my side. As we were cleaning up the house and yard for this big event , Riley and I were singing the song and doing the dance from this you tube video. Do you remember that one? Gotta get back to work- I'll post party pix tomorrow.

U.V. Rays

U is for Ultimate Beach Day!!
V is for Very good surfing lesson!

Today was the "Not Back to School Beach Day" for homeschoolers at Belmar Beach. Griffin's good friend brought his surf board and gave Griffin a lesson. He was thrilled- he loves to bellyboard and has wanted to try surfing for some time now. The water was perfect- low tide and not too cold. Griffin got super banged up- scrapes on his shoulder, knee and a long one down his chest. Still, he can't wait to do it again and is thinking about buying a surfboard of his own. Riley spent the day in the water, also. He didn't want to try surfing but he rode the bellyboard and jumped waves. Lots of families were there- I was able to catch up with a few friends of my own. We brought some old hot dog rolls for feeding the seagulls- it was like something out of a Hitchcock movie!

T is for Tim

T
T is for Tim- My handsome hubby of over 21 1/2 years. Tim is a technical writer although his major in college was for graphic arts. His hobbies include- fiction writing (he's writing his second book now!), playing video games with his boys, watching the Giants play with his dad, doing the puzzles in the newspaper and longbow archery (at targets only).

S is for Studio

S is for Studio- I'm gonna call it a "Before" picture- but it's actually "after" I moved things around a bit.
It's been a crazy week- Tim was on travel all last week (to California!). It was Rileys and my Birthday. We had a sleepover party. I found little ants in my pantry, our toaster broke and Johnno got in a car accident. He's fine and our car is mostly fine but the neighbor's car is gonna need some work. So I alone dealt with bugs, teenage boys and insurance companies.
Well, this weekend is looking up- today I went to the Ocean Grove Craft Show and tomorrow I plan on crafting with my friend, Laura.