Holy $#%^&@!

I came home to downed trees, flooding and a basement full of about 3 feet of raw sewage Thursday. I could go on and on about how *&%^#-ing inept the village has been in helping residents deal with it all (hey, they did pump my neighbor's basement of sewage into my yard, thank you very much, so I got my garden fertilized). The town still looks like a disaster area. What's most frustrating is the village knew this backup was going to happen and didn't tell anyone. Not a peep of communication to homeowners, so most people lost everything. I was lucky in that I didn't have all that much stored in my basement, but it looks like I'll have to replace my water heater, washer, dryer and boiler. I may have to raise the price of my potholders. I haven't got much more time to write because I've got pumps going in the basement that need 'round the clock monitoring. I have an idea what new parents go through getting up every couple of hours, only I think this is probably much less gratifying. Lenore's been a huge help with squeegee duty and moral support, and my mom fed us several meals. I'll try to post some pics, but it doesn't always work as well from a mac. On a brighter note, both my swing and windmill survived the onslaught. And all the neighbors have been helping each other, which is heartening. Minor but still a bummer is my cable tv wire was ripped off the pole, and when the guy came to fix it, he noticed I didn't have a filter, so now I am only getting the few channels that come with basic service, so no more food channel, CL TV or weather. :( I may just cancel it altogether.

New Contest!

So I'm still pretty enamored with my windmill (I know, I need to get out more). Here's a little movie I made...mesmerizing, isn't it? It's not unlike the video my brother made one time of lightening. Perhaps only fascinating to the cameraman? Anyway, it needs a soundtrack! So if you e-mail me your best choice for music (e,g, "You spin me right 'round baby, 'round 'round like a record baby"...I can't get that horrible song out of my head!) and I like your choice best, then you'll win not only a perky potholder, but a designer original tie dyed t-shirt. I know! Holy crap, right?! What copyright laws?? I'm talking the actual digital music file, not just a song title. You know it's totally worth it, even if you have to gift it through iTunes. Seriously.

Operators are standing by.

In the meantime, can you hear the cicadas in this raw footage? They chime in after the lawnmower.

First Perky Potholder Customers

Documented here are savvy shoppers perusing the perky potholder selection made available at last Saturday's farmer's market. So maybe they were just friends humoring me, a sale is a sale!

Steve seems very pleased with his Dundee Cardunal flavored potholder, while Kim and her mom Sandy went with the old adage: when you can't decide, buy them all.



Earlier that same day...
We took the all terrain wagon for its maiden trip to the market! Alert readers may recall me mentioning this farmer's market purchase in a prior post. Said wagon came in very handy for carting Lenore's tomato contest entry (sadly, it wasn't weighty enough to win), an umbrella and other necessities, plus it made lugging home our sweet corn, flowers and other purchases much less labor intensive.



Did I mention it was an all-terrain wagon?



Cheerful sunflowers from the market.



Tomatoes getting weighed in. Read more about the contest by clicking the DTVC link on the right side of the page (in the link list) or here.

Perky Potholder Prizes

Laura earned these two perky puzzle piece potholders by being the ONLY alert reader to take my trivia quiz. Now don't you wish you had tried too? The light green and pink loops were dyed with leftover tie dye. How hip is that?!

Merri picked this color scheme, so guess what's going to be coming soon to her mailbox?



In other potholder news, I finally dipped into my (expensive!) bag of 100% wool loops from Harrisville Design. It turned out to be a little disappointing, because the assortment bag I got didn't contain enough of any interesting color combinations to do any of my favorite patterns! I need at least six sets of six colors, though I prefer 3 sets of 12 (total loops in each potholder is 36, in case you were staying awake wondering about that). So, anyway, I made do as best as I could (sure wished I had more red!). These are very sturdy and flame retardant potholders...maybe I can sew some together for a sporty vest.



I like this pattern because you get to switch colors a lot. And it ends up looking kind of tweedy.



Lastly, this is the mega potholder basket my mom got me at the farmer's market! It's big enough to hold the former basket (shown here with Hoops running by and then sans Hoops). It's kind of like when you go to the store and buy a tote bag or purse, and then they put it in a bag. "Do you want a bag for your bag?" Why, yes, I believe I do.





Here's a lovely tomato still life, just because. Every now and then I see something in my own house that's pleasing to my eye.

And They're Off...

Lenore was a guest of honor this weekend at a local Relay for Life fundraiser event! Her co-worker, Bob, was one of the organizers and cheerfully roped her into taking part in the kick-off celebration that was held nearby. Merri was up for the weekend, so she joined in too since her dad died of cancer, and Merri has of course been a big supporter for Lenore (and me) as well. This was the first year for the Hoffman Estates relay, and with a venue like Prairie Stone (a very nice fitness facility with an elevated indoor track), I'm sure it's going to become a popular event. Lenore participated in the "survivor lap" (which turned into two because they are all such overachievers), and she got a nice little goody bag along with her t-shirt and Miss-America-like sash.

It helps to know the organizer -- Lenore was right up front with Bob! The lady just behind Lenore whose face is partially hidden is also an ovarian cancer survivor. Everyone was cheering as they took their lap, so it was hard not to get a little misty while taking pictures!



Merri bought a luminary bag in honor of her dad.



Sunday Lenore picked up her new antique chairs that she got from the hysterical society's annual garage sale. Xena immediately tried them out and seems to approve.



I got a cute Duncan Phyfe table for only $25! It's seen some better days, but I think with a little buffing and polishing it'll be great. It's definitely sturdy and much nicer than the hand-me-down kitchen table I've currently got in the dining room. No photos yet because my cousin is making me two leaves (how sweet is that?!) and I think polishing it up for me too. My mom orchestrated that "family favor" (or maybe it was a bribe) and has given him strict instructions to make sure it's done by Thanksgiving. Hmmm...wonder what that means?! We'll have to invite our friends and fellow-market-goers, Tracy and Steve, since Tracy was such an influence on my purchase. :) Hey, if you can't spend someone else's money, whose can you spend, right?! (Sometimes you just need that little nudge to whip out the checkbook, ya know?!)

I also got a very nifty "all terrain" wagon at the farmer's market for gardening and hauling our various market purchases. I'll have to take a photo of it in action this weekend.

The Tide is High

And I hope it doesn't end up in my basement again! Here are a few recent photos of the rising river and also a tiny movie of the Carpentersville dam. Usually this dam has a gently flow of water over it, and you can pretty much wade across at the base. It's pretty wild right now!






In other news, we recently enjoyed an afternoon of lawn dice, bocce ball and eating at Elke and Chris', where Chris grilled up a fabulous lunch. Unfortuantley, we were too busy stuffing our faces to take photos.

I'm almost done with season one of Bones, and it't totally my new favorite show! Hoops likes to watch it with me, except lately she's been hiding behind the boiler in the basement due to all the thunderstorm activity. Just yesterday we had several tornados dancing along I-90 in Elgin.

There's been little time for potholder activity lately, AND my German class starts again in two weeks, so I'm not sure when I'll be picking up the loom again. But don't worry, I'm not ready to rename the site yet!

Singing for Meatballs?

I lova da music, when I hear it, I must sing, capiche?



This is a spider. This is a spider on drugs.
I totally fell for this at first...

Harvesting

This is actually our second harvest from Lenore's garden. We put the biggest tomato so far (15 3/8 oz) in the freezer for Lenore to enter in the upcoming tomato contest at the farmer's market, but this one may be a contender too.

So far my garden has only yielded a couple of tomatos and a LOT of black eyed Susans. But they don't taste very good.

Windmills on My Mind

I've always wanted a windmill...imagine my delight when I got such a good deal on this one at the farmer's market! Granted, it's not hooked up to a well or a generator...yet, but it's kinda fun to have it.

I also got a new BIG basket for potholder supplies, but I forgot to take a picture of it. Thanks mom!

Later that same weekend...


Roland, Lenore and I went to Ravinia with free tickets from the Dundee Library. It was a nice evening despite all the idiots WHO KEPT TALKING THROUGH THE WHOLE CONCERT. Also, the concrete grinding going on outside the park was pretty annoying too. Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

I brought my potholder making supplies, which we decided later made some of our fellow concert goers wonder if I was mentally challenged. Oh well.