Friday, April 16, 2010

7 Quick Takes Friday:Do You Smell Stinkbugs, Or Is It Just Me?

Friday already? Really?

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Larry and his sister Auntie Kate took the kids out for a hike, leaving me home alone for a blessed six hours. Maybe I should get something done? Dinner prep? Cleaning? Editing work?

Naah.

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Auntie Kate and I are enjoying our annual crafting binge. Before she'd been here even 72 hours, we'd paid 2 hour-long visits to Joanne's, started a few knitting projects, and planned a makeover for my living-dining room. Of course, this all necessitated certain expenditures...

How do you like that beauty to the right, eh? Auntie Kate showed up Monday night waving the sales circular featuring this particular machine, while I frantically gesticulated to her (behind Larry's back) to PUT IT AWAY until later. "Don't you already have a sewing machine?" my beleaguered wage slave of a husband asked. Frugal soul that he is, Larry doesn't realize that a broken bobbin winder on a 20-year-old appliance justifies an upgrade.

And really, what he wouldn't have noticed wouldn't have hurt him....meaning, I was paying for it in cash.


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Auntie Kate wants to teach Rachel how to use the new sewing machine. Auntie Kate seems to have put certain traumatic incidents behind her....or else she is seeking revenge....

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Our first projects for the new machine are these adorable burp cloths from the Rocks in My Dryer blog. I've been meaning to make them for two years now. It's not that they are difficult to make; it's just that I'm good on the planning, slow on the execution.

Very slow. 2 years worth of slow. I can see Amy shaking her head in disbelief right now. Yes, Amy, I am pathetic. I know. I still need to mail you a book, too. How's about sending me your address again? The third time might just be the charm.


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Does anyone else think this volcano thing is super cool? I mean, it's revelatory to me to realize that, even now in the 21st-century, a natural event like this can have such an impact on our lives (and yes, I have noticed the gazillion earthquakes wreaking havoc all over the globe lately - but I had thought that one isolated volcano wouldn't have such far-reaching effects).

22 years ago, I almost went to Iceland (with the Navy). My orders were yanked at the last minute because I was having a temporary problem with my knees. I wish I had been smarter and kept my mouth shut about the knee pain until I got there. It looks like such an amazing place.

Then again, I was young and stupid. I probably wouldn't have appreciated my good fortune in being there. Remember Mt St Helens, in the 1980's? I paid no attention to it whatsoever. Young, stupid, and oblivious....that was me. Youth (life in general, really) is definitely wasted on the wrong people.

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I can't tell if I am smelling the potroast cooking in the crockpot or a smushed stinkbug. Maybe there are stinkbugs in the crockpot? Or perhaps I am slowly going insane...



You can check out more 7 Quick Takes posts over at Jen's Conversion Diary - she's much less oblivious (and less of a procrastinator) than I am.

15 comments:

  1. Hey! I find stinkbugs everywhere. I vacuumn them up with my shop vac. The kids think that's the proper way to kill a bug.

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  2. Just... who in your house uses burp cloths now? Are you not telling us something? ;)

    I can't tell you how glad I am that my husband isn't in Europe right now, seeing as how they canceled flights over the Atlantic. I bet you're glad yours isn't, too. Of course, it's not like mine is HOME. Nope, he just has to fly over the Pacific to get here. Cross your fingers nothing else happens before then. I am quite serious when I say I'm waiting for plagues of locusts. Earthquakes, volcanoes, floods...it's kind of scary.

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  3. I wish my husband would take all the kids somewhere for 6 hours. Instead, we have the day off from school, my useful driver-license-toting son is in Florida, and I forgot that a 4th grader was coming for the day until he rang my doorbell at 7:30am. (He'll be here until 6pm.) In the meantime, I'm supposed to clean the house and I'm out of chocolate.

    How did I not know about the volcano in Iceland? I live in a vacuum. Thanks for educating me (and my kids)!
    My sister was stranded for 4 days when Mt. St. Helens blew her top in 1980. She wore a t-shirt that claimed, "What a pain in the Ash!"

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  4. Yes, I imagine you probably are going insane... but it's not your fault :) I think it's our lot in life as mothers to slowly lose our marbles.
    I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't know about the volcano (I tend to not check any news sources...). I'm just waiting for the volcano under Yellow Stone to blow. That should make life exciting (not that we live anywhere near Yellow Stone).
    We don't seem to have stink bugs here, but please DON'T send them our way. We have plenty of other pests around here.

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  5. Hmmm, stinkbug potroast. Delicious.

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  6. You sound like you're having a craftacular time with your aunt. And yes, bobbins are necessary requirements of sewing machines--get the upgrade!!!

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  7. My Mom and my brother biked across Iceland about 10 years ago. Very rough terrain and crazy weather patterns made for a grueling trip. It was a life-changing event for my Mom who had been a stay at home Mom to six kids for 30 or so years at the time. She was in her early 50s. She is my hero.

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  8. My sister moved to Tacoma WA years ago and saw her new neighbor standing staring. She finally went over and asked him what he was looking at.

    Why, the volcano!

    What volcano?

    St Helens had just blown. She had no idea.

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  9. I really want a sewing machine even though I don't have any babies in the house and I buy my curtains at Penney's.

    I just feel like it's something I need to have to make me a real mom.

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  10. That volcano thing...I never thought a volcano could erupt in Icelande. I would have thought so much ice would cool it down!
    Lindsey Petersen

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  11. mmmm. Slow-cooked stink bugs.

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  12. I was listening to an NPR interview with British travelers stranded at JFK--they were a little bit delighted by it, I think.

    It would be cool to say, "when I was grounded by the volcano back in 2010."

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  13. I heard the thing on NPR, too. What a memory.

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  14. Now, if you find anymore stink bugs, will the exterminator come back for free and treat again?

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  15. We have friends stranded here and in Europe thanks to the volcano. We know a lot of people affected by it. It's wild. Have you seen the photos? Stunning.

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