Still laughing over this and this.

Also, eating too many of these:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies don’t last very long around here. Too good. Too many!

This is my response to the Reveal Your Dream challenge my husband wrote about on his blog. It’s my first take at it, so while I like what I’ve come up with, I reserve the right to make changes later on. I mean, it’s not exactly a “wild” dream, as neil suggested. What does that say about me, I wonder? Anyway…

This is my vision of the not too distant future.

I live with Neil and Dash (maybe another baby?) in our clean and well-organized home in Southern Maine. We have not too much clutter because the posessions we choose are meaningful and serve us well, not impulse purchases or “stuff.” Or at least a minimum of “stuff.” We’ve been strict with ourselves on the whole “a place for everything and everything in its place” thing so we’ve learned to contain the stuff-sprawl that tended to happen before. It makes keeping the house clean a much easier prospect. This makes me happy.

As before, we make most of our meals at home, together, enjoying local and organic foods as a rule. We eat well and Dash thrives on the diversity of flavors put before him.

And speaking of Dash, he continues to grow and learn, inspiring us every day to introduce him to new things and share old favorites. We spend a portion of every day on creative projects and reading, and another portion of time outdoors. He is happy and always up for adventure.

I am running my own business out of either the studio in our home or a small cottage on our property. It enables me to fulfill my entreprenurial goals and still be home with Dash for the majority of the day. I spend some time each day by myself, working on my business while he is cared for by friends and/or family. He and I both look forward to this time to do our own things. My studio continues to be an inspirational place for me and project after project is completed. I’ve even learned to sew!

Hmmm… what else? Happy, healthy, growing family. Clean and warm home. Money coming in. Oh! It’s also warm and sunny almost all the time. Sometimes there’s a windy rainy day that leaves great big puddles just right for jumping. But the wind is never so strong that it blows my Christmas wreath right off the house just after I put it up. Oh no. That never happens anymore.

And now friends, it’s your turn. I’m tagging the following people but feel free to chime in with your visions (read Neil’s original Dream Challenge post for all details) even if you don’t see your name on the list. Let’s put the Law of Attraction to work for us.

Cassie
Joy
Pixigenne
Rob
Liz

OH! One more thing to add to my dream vision: We have cleaned off our front porch and it’s now a totally usable and beautiful part of our home. Dash plays out there when it’s warm (which it always is, remember?) and we have informal dinner parties there in the evenings.

I can hardly stand it! Folks, I’m holed up in the office/studio (still can’t call it a studio as it’s nowhere near finished) listing a bunch of new items in the shop and outside my backyard is being coated with a fluffy layer of brand new, pre-Thanksgiving snow.
I have mixed feelings about this and not a ton of time to explore those feelings. Must finish shop update, relieve Granny/Nana combo of their Dash-duty, and write about a dream of mine in response to this smack-down challenge.

Got to run, but I’ll be back later. And watch out! When I’m done telling you all about my dream, I’m gonna be tagging you.

I’ve just put up some photos of the studio taken before it goes through its miraculous transformation. Five gray walls, one red wall (yes, there really are six walls), one walk-in closet with the door put on backwards, four windows in need of replacement, one ceiling fan that’s seen its last revolution, and a tiny red mystery door. I hope to have some new pictures to share on Monday. New meaning “showing progress.”

I guess I accidently skipped out on doing the obligatory Halloween post. It wasn’t intentional, really. That morning, we went in town and spent some time in a cafe, intending to write while Dash slept. Naturally, Dash woke up almost immediately, and since he doesn’t enjoy sitting in his car seat, that means at least one of us wasn’t going to be writing. Neil volunteered (he’s a whole lot more prolific than I am anyway so that seems fair) and I got to writing. After taking a few pictures, that is.

Rasta baby.

You mean it’s not real?

Shocking!

There’s my boy.

Me in disguise.

Then back to writing. I suddenly noticed the wireless meter going down, down, down, up, up, dowwwwwn. The friendly barista with devil horns told me that in fact they don’t have wireless since they think it takes away from the community feeling within the shop. I guess I was hijacking someone elses the whole time. Oh well. We packed up and moved on since I hate community. Kidding, but I did need wireless.

The rest of our day was filled with exploring the town, finally buying my birthday sewing machine, and seeing a gorilla ride down the street on his bike. You know, the usual.

Happy Friday everyone. Have a great weekend! If you’re free, come on by and help me paint. Seriously. I have beer and I know a really good pizza place.

My weekend plans for being a good housewife and churning out pots of soup, salsa, apple butter, and more were foiled by a simple runny nose.

That’s right. Dash, at nearly nine months, came down with his first cold. The snot ran, the eyes watered, the baby cried, the sleep was interrupted. It was both sad (it was impossible to look at his little face and not feel bad for him) and pathetic (it was equally impossible not to laugh).

And then, just like that, it was over. In about 24-hours he cycled through snotty misery and came right back out. Please, please, please let this be a sign of how he’ll react to any colds/flu/bumps/bruises in his future.

And to celebrate, we forced him to wear a wig and pose for a picture. You know, it’s what they call Good Parenting.

Why must you people mess with me? Why, Mon, why?