by Charlene Teglia | Sep 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
1. Blogging today at Genreality on getting ready for NaNoWriMo and the writing mindset.
2. Just finished reading Ilona Andrews’ Bayou Moon. It was over too soon and now I must wait, wait, wait for the next book.
3. Chinese lanterns were out front at the grocery store for seasonal decoration. We bought one. They are such fun plants.
4. Slowly getting my office organized post-move. New chair and updated copy of Word have arrived. Turns out you really do have to upgrade once in a while.
5. Today’s my anniversary. I don’t know what’s for dinner but there will be fabulous dessert! Cheers to the man who has put up with my “thousand mile stare” while I plotted books for 9 years.
by Charlene Teglia | Sep 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
One of the things we love about this house: the windows. The deep sills and the fantastic light they allow in with the nature views outside make them focal points. We hate to cover any of them, but there are some rooms where that has to happen. For instance, the downstairs bathroom. It faces the front porch.
We debated various solutions but either curtains or blinds would have to be kept closed, losing light. The answer: stained glassification. Not real stained glass, which costs a small fortune, but the fake kind you apply to the glass surface, getting the decorative effect and giving the room privacy while still letting in the light.
The supplies: a spatula type thing that applies your chosen design to the window, a spray-bottle of adhesive, and the fake window design of your choice. We chose bamboo.
The instructions say to leave a gap all around the edges, for no reason we were ever able to figure out. The applied design doesn’t stretch. The first step is to measure the window and trace your cutting lines on the design to cut out the correct size, and it’s probably safe to go edge to edge with your measurements.
Next, make sure the window is clean and dry so your stained glass design will stick.
Spray the glass with the spray-on adhesive.
Peel the backing off the cut-out window panel, line up your edges, and smooth out any bubbles with the tool while firmly sticking panel to glass.
Voila, stained glassification.
Feel free to let your husband do all the work while you admire his manly muscles. That’s what I did.
by Charlene Teglia | Sep 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
While the parents were visiting, we really wanted to get out on a whale watching tour. We managed to get booked on a perfect day; smooth seas, sun, weather in the 70s. We went aboard the Glacier Spirit, a lovely boat with an excellent crew who bake a mean Blueberry Buckle, and set off towards the San Juan islands in search of orcas.
And orcas we found. The whales were diving and blowing, and several were identifiable by name; we saw brother and sister Cappuccino and Raggedy along with Mega and many others. We watched them for close to an hour, entranced. Oldest child was amazed at the grace of these giant creatures. I was amazed at their playfulness.
Stellar sea lions basked on rocks in the sun while cormorants spread their wings to dry. Seals rested or swam. Jellyfish floated by and porpoises appeared briefly to perform their aquatic acrobatics before vanishing as quickly as we sighted them.
We stopped in Friday Harbor and climbed 78 steps up to the Cannery. Yes, we counted the steps. My mom pointed out the dedicated benches along the way and said, “See those names? Those are the people who didn’t make it.” Next bench; “There were a lot of them.” 78 is a lot of stairs, but we all made it and the lunch and the view from the top made it worthwhile.
After lunch we fell into a bookstore event horizon and came out the other side clutching bound and printed things. I do not know how we end up in bookstores no matter where we go. I also do not know how youngest child managed to spot and grab the only AA Milne book we didn’t already have in about two seconds. Life is full of mysteries.
It was a magical day. There was even a
double rainbow in the boat’s wake which made us look at each other and say, “What does it mean?!” Then the husband drove himself crazy trying to photograph it. Fortunately, he had better luck
photographing everything else.
Wishing you a belly full of blueberry buckle, a whale song in your heart, benches to rest on when life’s stairs are too many, the very book you needed, and a double rainbow while you’re surrounded by the people you love.
by Charlene Teglia | Sep 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
Parents are arriving today and then we will all play tourist. It will be awesome. In the meantime, I need to get kids through lessons and house spiffied up and dinner in the crockpot.
My to do list will look so much more exciting when it says “whale watch” instead of “vacuum”.
by Charlene Teglia | Sep 21, 2010 | Uncategorized
I’ve been tracking my reading on Goodreads this year, which is a new thing; usually I go along with no record of what I read, how many books, what kind, etc. I’m not recording everything, we go through way too many bedtime books with kids for that, but it’s pretty complete. It should be interesting to see what it looks like at the end of the year.
Just finished reading: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I had to read the description of Fat Charlie’s hangover out loud to my husband. It’s perfect and hilarious and makes it so believable that of course he fell for the woman who cured it. If you think the gods might be crazy, read Anansi Boys for proof. Or just read it for the descriptions.
Currently reading: Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver. You don’t have to be a nature lover to love it, but it will give you new insights into the world around you.
Plan to read next: Probably The Third Circle, Amanda Quick. Part of the Arcane Society series.
In kid reading, we are on book 3 of the Ivy and Bean series. Highly recommend this one for middle grade readers, it’s very fun.
What are you reading? Anything blowing your doors off? Anything you’re looking forward to?
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