Fairy Land, Maisies, and Storms

Hi again!  To you Americans, we hope your Independence Day was relaxing and celebratory.

We attempted to grill.

Our grill had a leak and started on fire!!!

Greg was calm and manly.  He came inside speedy-like, but not frantic, and said, "I need the fire extinguisher" (which he stocked in the laundry room 18 years ago!), took it outside, and put out the fire.

Here is is, in the haze of "nuisance dust" (that's what the extinguisher instructions say the chemical haze is)

After this event, the yard looked like misty fairy land!

Dispersing . . . 

We didn't breathe it, we brought Juvy inside, and then Greg washed off the patio

and cleaned out the fountain to make sure no birds or Juvies drank the tainted water.

What a man!

We are proud to announce . . . 

NEW MAISIES!

Allistair's favorite toy was a little pink mousie named Maisie.

But her innards fell out and her skin got too thin to hold anything in.

I've been shopping for replacement Maisies, and I found some at PetSmart that seem to maybe be okay.

Allistair playing with new Maisies - 

YouTube link

Here's the wee man:

Cindy and I went to the consignment shop to take a bunch of stuff to them.

There was a check for $39 for me from stuff of mine they have sold!

Sidenote: I think I might use that money to buy a pair of BLUE glasses!

What do you think?

I "bought" two things with money from a previous trade . . . 

1.  this cool drawstring bag in a lovely camel color

Photo makes it look yellow, but it's not

2.  And this denim jacket!

you can't really tell from this picture, but I've done some pattern mixing.
The shirt has little white polka dots and the skirt is obviously striped.
Love it!

It's by Janeville, which was a brand started 10 years ago (by Gymboree, believe it or not!) that was aimed at mature women who like a weekendy sort of style. It didn't last very long; most of their stuff was sorta frumpy and saggy.  Prices were in the Banana Republic range - too high in most cases, as far as I'm concerned.  But quality was good.  And this jacket is completely exactly what I was looking for!

In fact, I've been scoping out white denim jackets because I love my other two denim jackets and wear both of them a TON, even in the summer (when dining out or when at church, where the auditorium is chilly), but darker denim seems a little too wintery for the 100+ summer days.  White is perfect!

This one has to be almost new because it's in perfect shape.  

It was marked down to $4.25, but I didn't even have to pay that because I had credit leftover.  

I paid nothing!  It's convenient to be on the small side, because when people grow out of their clothes, they consign them; I suspect it's more common for people to gain weight than to lose it because there seem to be more options in the smaller size ranges than in bigger sizes.

Cindy and I also stopped by TJ Maxx, where I picked up this gold bag by Betsey Johnson 

(I had a gift card, even!)

I love the great big bow and the studs.

We are getting clouds and wind and dust many afternoons & evenings.

It rolls up like this:

And turns into this!

Part I:

YouTube link

Part II:

More wind

YouTube link

Part III:

Blowing leaves

YouTube link

This last weekend, the curriculum for my 1:1 (special needs) classroom at church

called for making this dough!

It's cinnamon, applesauce, and glue.

It smells delicious, and it feels sort of sticky and squishy, so it's a wonderful 

sensory experience for the students.

I had fun making it, too!

My volunteers kept saying, "I can't wait for Christmas now!" because the classroom

smelled like cinnamon.

We had a lot of people drop by to chat with me this weekend, 

and everyone told us how great our classroom smelled!  

This is Parker in the classroom, working hard to make his art.

If you have weak or falling-out eyelashes (as I do - every few months, a huge clump of my eyelashes just fall out and I have a little naked spot - boo!), give this eyeliner a try.  It has a built-in growth serum (and it rates only a 2 on the toxicity scale by the Environmental Working Group)!

Because I style my hair using heat almost every day, the ends were getting a little sizzled.

I started using this BB creme, and it has made a lot of difference.

It's pretty toxic (it's too new to be in the EWG database, but most Pantene products are not what I would consider nontoxic, sadly), but it works!

I also bought adorable new sheets for our guest bedroom.

Anyone wanna come sleep over?

 An extra little bonus:

if you're hungry, try out these MEAT energy bars.

Ew.

But I guess it's no different from jerky . . .