Well, it's only taken about a year and a half, but I have my pond up and running, or spouting, or whatever ponds do.  It's located just outside the window of the guest room, so if you come to visit me for the weekend, you can wake up in the morning, and enjoy the calming sight and sounds of a country pool by turning your head the merest tilt to the left.

You will probably want to wait until daylight before turning your head.  Apparently we have murder and mayhem going on in the wee hours.  Yesterday, there were two lovely goldfish in the pond - you can just make them out in the edge of this shadow -

Today - We only have one fish.  There isn't hide, nor hair, nor faintly gleaming gold scale left of fish #2.  I suspect a raccoon enjoyed himself at my expense last night.  And let me tell you, these were some EXPENSIVE fish.  Oh, not so much the fish themselves, they only cost about $2 each.  But the plants for them to snack on, the fish food for them to dine on, and the tall plants to provide them shade ran me about $30.  So I'm going to be waiting for Mr. Raccoon tonight.  If you hear sounds of weeping and wailing in Salem, it will be Mr. Raccoon returning to his forest abode with my footprint on his furry behind.

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Fugitive and I are not only sisters, we are competitors.  In a good way you understand.  Right now she's way ahead of me in total number of subscribers.  But I'm pretty sure I have her beat for quality. 

My Dad has been keeping me updated on the high score he's acheived in a certain addictive computer game that he and I play, right now his high score tops mine by about 20 points.

Tim and I have been doing this diet thing.  He just reached his first goal, and I'm still struggling to lose a whole pound.

But, I think I've found a competition I can win.  Quiltnmomi for President headquarters is now open for business and draped with bunting.  None of this red, white, and blue stuff.  Oh, I know those are the colors of the flag and its traditional for a serious candidate to wrap up in them, but in the spirit of changing times, I'm jettisoning tradition in favor of the colors I personally prefer.  The Quiltnmomi campaign will be run with lavender, teal and ecru.

I'm available to make speeches to civic organizations and debate the also-rans via satellite from my big blue chair.  Hey, I have a phone connection right in the arm, what more could I need?  Oh, I know the election is over two years out, but I realize that it's going to be important to build up name recognition early.

I'll be having my first fundraising dinner this weekend.  I've got Tim lined up to smoke a turkey and I'm baking bread and tossing my famous Fruit - Romaine salad (recipe below).  I'll need you to RSVP before 5:00 EST yesterday in order to ensure that you will have a seat for this historic event. 

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Fruit Romaine Salad

1 bag of romaine lettuce by Dole
1 Granny Smith Apple, chopped
1 bag of Craisins
1/2 c walnuts
1/2 c grated white cheese

Toss the lettuce with apple, walnuts and cheese.  Add as many craisins as you have left after the family has snacked out of the bag while you weren't looking.  Serve with Honey - Vinegar Dressing.

Honey-Vinegar Dressing

1/3 c white vinegar
1/4 c honey
1 T garlic powder
1 T dill

Stir and drizzle over salad before serving, the vinegar will keep the apple from turning brown. 

Pix As Promised

This is my new favorite spot in the house - my reading corner in the bedroom.  I wish you could see my chair better - this thing is huge - it has a built in massager and heat, and the arms fold back to reveal a magazine rack on the left and a built in phone on the right.  I could LIVE in this chair.

All the school stuff - it looks so mild mannered in it's corner - but don't be fooled - this stuff can and will mutiny in an instant.  The ship was almost lost to those mangy math manipulatives last week!

On the other side of the room - the grown up desk.

This is the new computer set up.  It takes up about 1/3 the space that the old one did.  I love it.  See those two small shelves?  They are holding most of the books that used to be on "my" desk.  One shelf of books in the school corner and one shelf of books in the reading corner also used to live on my desk.  With so many books - our insulation factor should be roughly the same as a beer cooler!

This is the table on the other side of my reading chair.  I really love this corner. . . Except for

This is the view from my chair.  All the stuff that lost it's home when everything got shuffled.  I knew that Fugutive would be skeptical that there wasn't a mess SOMEWHERE in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd go ahead and admit it so she didn't have to force it out of me later. 

Disclosure up front - that's my motto - no I never smoked pot - I tried speed once when I had to stay up for a night shift - but when I didn't sleep for the next three nights, I realized that was a mistake.  Let's see, while I'm confessing - I've never sold stocks in violation of SEC regulations for the simple reason that I've never owned any.  (My husband has bought stock - you'll have to ask him about his relationship with Marvel comics, I had nothing to do with it.)  I've never failed to pay taxes for my nanny - because I don't HAVE a nanny.  I want one though.  Anyone willing to move to Indiana and live in the purple room and help out with two wild and wooly boys?  I haven't ever engaged in the sale of children - because I can't find a buyer.  In short - I dont know what I'm doing wasting my time here - I'm the perfect candidate for high office!

Terri for President!  Quiltnmomi for Congress!  I'll lower taxes!  I'll disband beauracracies right and left.  I'll treat the American people like grown-ups.  I'll reform the court system by bringing back the idea of contributory negligence.  I'll stop trying to reform criminals, we'll go back to crime and punishment - straight and simple.  (I may lobby to repeal that unusual clause in the constitution, I think that unusual punishments are a sign of creativity.)  I'll only send troops into battle if their Moms sign permission slips.  I'll insist that if Arafat doesn't want to resign that he has to move his office to a bus stop in Jerusalem.  I'll insist that if Sharon doesn't recognize that the Palestinians must be treated better, he has to move to Ramallah and try to live on the wages and under the restrictions imposed on average Palestinians.  I'll make the French give us a refund for the Louisiana purchase, (is anyone else cheesed that they threw in all those mosquitoes.)  I'll give Montana to the Native Americans as an apology for the past 200 years.  I'll - wait a minute - I'd have to leave my chair. . . never mind. 

End of Summer Make-over

Wow, have we been busy around our house this weekend.  There are few things that thrill me more than a sale on an item I've been eyeing.  This week I got a deal on a couple of bookshelves that have been on my list for months.  Whooo, Hooooo!  So I have a new computer area.  My desk (remember that ppor peice of furniture that you couldn't see because of all the books?) is replaced with a couple of bookshelves and the whole kit and kaboodle takes up less than half the space of the old one.  Space is at a premium on the Good Ship Verrette these days, and Mom is in a mood to toss out and reorganize to create more.

I turned a guest room into a schoolroom/office.  I've been debating myself for a while on whether I wanted to do this.  I like the philosophy of homeschool that says that school takes place everywhere you are all the time - but the bottom line is that this method drives me nuts.  I don't LIKE having my school supplies scattered in every room.  So I've finally decided that if it makes sense that we bathe in the bathroom, and cook in the ktichen because that's where we keep towels and pans - it makes sense to have a designated area for our school tools to live.  So henceforth, rulers, crayons, paints, tangrams, maps, beads, flannel, markers, clocks, play money, cotton balls, and glue sticks are quarantined below decks.  (Books are still allowed free run of the ship, for now.  )

The most marvelous thing I've done is rework my bedroom to create a "reading" corner for myself.  Ooooh, it's WONDERFUL!  I took photos today, but my camera and computer seem not to be on speaking terms.  So until my genius husband - who by the way is WAY off the charts in excellent spouse points for bringing me a dozen roses just because - can negotiate a peace settlement between my electronics, it doesn't look like I'll be able to post any annoying - server slowing photos.

Hey Ya'll -

Well, I glanced back through Plymouth Plantation to see if I could find a reference to Yorel's ancestor.  I didn't find him mentioned directly, but there was a funny incident that I thought I'd share.  The Pilgrims who formed the passengers of the Mayflower and founded Plymouth colony didn't believe in the observance of Christmas.  (Because they knew that Dec 25 wasn't the actual birthdate of Jesus, they felt it was an inappropriate appropriatrion of a pagan tradition.)  The next group of people to join the colony used this as an excuse to avoid working one day.  They told the Pilgrim colonists that their conscience demanded that they observe Christmas instead of cutting wood.  But when the Governor of the colony returned home unexpectedly to find them playing ball in the street, he confiscated their athletic equipment and told them it was an offense to his conscience that they were playing while others were working to feed and house them.  He suggested that a day of sober fasting would be a more fitting observance of the holy day. 

Based on the other information that Yorel shared, I don't think that his ancestor would have been among the slackers.  He mentioned that his ancestor arrived provisionless when the supply ship that was supposed to be preceeding him had to turn back due to foul weather and taking on water.  The people who arrived on that ship came several months after the Christmas incident.