Political Victory!

We're are still trying to confirm official results, but Kane County election postings appear to indicate that Lenore won her race for Library Trustee! Yay Lenore! See the numbers here.

Lenore was up against two incumbents and long-time residents, so it's an impressive victory considering she just moved here. I think the "more porn!" platform really helped. At least that's the word on the street.

Lenore's going to drive the new library bookmobile.

Latvia Still Hasn't Called...

So this is my attempt at making Ingrid a Latvian flag potholder. I left a message with Latvia letting them know they'll need to change their flag just a smidgen if they want to be represented accurately in a potholder. Still waiting for the president to call back. I'm sure she's busy.

I made it with my vintage e-bay potholder loops, so there's some wonky fading, but it's the closest red I could find (I even did a google search). Think of it as a flag that's been around the block a few times.

Lenore picked these colors from the vintage collection, and I love it! I told her she couldn't take ownership 'til I documented the finished potholder.


Here's a montage of all the vintage ones so far. The loops are thinner, but I think the colors are kind of fun.

A Tragic Development

Eggstra HUGE apologies to Lynda, whose Easter Egg entry was not retrieved until today! It's totally my fault for not checking my other e-mail, and I'm so very sorry it was overlooked, especially since it's so bejeweled and incorporates the fabulous pink car from me and Lenore. Lynda, please send me your color scheme preference so I can make you a special Perky Potholder prize for:

The ABFAB Award
To Lynda Rock for her Pearl and Confetti entry. It's simply STUNNING!!

We Have A Winner!!

(and it's not this one)

Here are our somewhat disappointing eggs (next year we'll avoid the $.99 egg dye), flanked by pastel perky potholders for Easter, of course.

Sorry it took so long to report the results. All those eggs made one of the judges whose name we won't mention here feel a little peckish and he would not stop with the snacking.

I should say now that I'm not a very good contest facilitator because I want everyone to win just for making the effort. So we have some special awards, starting with...

An Honorable Mention to Cathy in Florida for her exploding eggs that turned in to scrambled egg soup. Apparently it was too traumatic to photograph, but I'm sure she's glad she had a perky potholder on hand to handle the aftermath.

The Intercontinental Award

Goes to Ingrid and Lyla for their natural Latvian-style eggs. Snaps to them for presentation too -- it's tres purty. I'll try and make you a Latvian flag potholder.

The Eggs in One Basket Award

Goes to Austin and William. We enjoyed the variety of goodies displayed along with your eggs. It wouldn't hurt your chances next time to share. Not that we're hinting or anything.


The Cat's Meow Award

Goes to Mitzi the cat...judging from her expression, those eggs are destined to become cat toys. Thanks to her person, Donna, for sending it.

And now...the moment you've all been waiting for. For volume, variety, and cleverness (these guys named their eggs, people!) the grand prize goes to...


TEAM CAPPS!

Wayne, Halley and Mary-Rachel pulled out all the stops...here is but a small sampling of their 70-plus entries (I could be eggzagerating). Remember, you can click on any of the pictures to see them larger. I should mention that Daryl gave you an extra point for sympathy when he heard about the tragic blow torch incident. In the future we hope you'll be a little more careful with your perky potholders. We don't yet have a source for asbestos loops, so, ya know, a little common sense wouldn't hurt. I'm just sayin'.

Prizes will be mailed soon! Thanks to everyone for playing.

Today's Weather...

Not so Zen*, seeing as it's April and all...but this is what's going on in the Zen garden here at work. I had to take this through the window since you can't go into the actual garden, which to me defeats the whole POINT of a Zen garden, but whatev. I PhotoShoped the image a little, in case you can't tell.

*According to the definitive source of all things (Wikipedia), Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that places great importance on moment-by-moment awareness and "seeing deeply into the nature of things" by direct experience. Or, in this case, though a window.

Ruth's Rockford Revelry

While everyone else was taking pictures of their Easter Eggs (contest results coming soon!), we were in Rockford celebrating Ruth's 75th birthday. We had fun visiting with everyone, and there was enough food for a small third world nation. I thought this shot summed up the point of the whole evening: LET'S EAT CAKE!




I myself was mesmerized by the bottomless cookie basket.


This was the cookie I had my eye on, but, alas, I was not fast enough, so I had to settle for a photo to remember it by.

The kids soon got bored with all the grownup chatter and reverted to their introverted high-tech forms of entertainment. Though the balloons were a big hit too, so there's still hope.



Oh, and also I fired up both bread machines. The one on the left is sesame oatmeal, and the one on the right is whole wheat oatmeal with wheat germ and birdseed (not really...I was out of birdseed). They were both delish.

7 Down...

Lenore had treatment number seven of eight yesterday and got to talk to a very sweet older lady who was having her second IP* treatment, which Lenore is pretty sure she'll try. It helped to get a first-hand account and see what an abdomen filled with two liters of fluid looks like. Shout out to Gwoba Electra (how cool is her name?!) for sharing her experience and a peek at her belly. I made a couple of potholders while we were there; here's Abby, Lenore's wonderful chemo nurse, with hers.

*That's where they implant a soaker hose of sorts into the abdominal cavity and then administer the chemo drugs directly into the abdomen. It's even more fun than it sounds. Lynda is thinking of joining us for one of the treatments in hopes of getting a two for one deal. However I'm not sure I can fit two sloshing sisters in my Mini and still have room to drive. Plus, you know them, ever the competitive siblings, they'll be arguing over who's the most bloated and I'll have to threaten to stop the car.