I Only Get High On Life. And Tomatoes.

Last year, I blogged how I may have been a bit slutty when it came to planting tomato seeds

and ended up with a FEW extras.

Driveway of shame!  Driveway of shame!!

So you would think I'd be a little more judicious this year, right?

Think again, tomato slut-shamers!

Oh, I learned to plant only two seeds per container, not four,

But there's still over fifty little seedlings popping up in my indoor greenhouse.

Restraint is for suck-ahs!!!

And speaking of indoor greenhouses...

the Sweet Man is convinced that the feds are monitoring our electricity

and peeking through our windows with binoculars because they think

I'm tending to some homegrown weed.

Well, I'm not, so I thought I'd save the local drug enforcement some trouble

by posting a sign in the window where my grow-lights are glowing:

I figure they can read it with their high-tech drug binoculars,

but here's a close-up for the rest of you:

That should do it!

Btw, that cool font?

It's called "Wizard's Magic," and I got it from this excellent site.

The (Hopefully Not) Last Bookstore

The Boy and I made a pilgrimage last week...

To this place!

The Last Bookstore is a "mostly used" bookstore with a twist.

You can read more about it in this article.

Simply put, downstairs is a pretty-cool, but not-unique collection of used books...

but upstairs?

It's craaazy.

The aptly-named Labyrinth is a collection of art and used books,

with the books only a dollar 

but shelved with...let's call it whimsy.

Searching through them means accepting you will not be able to easily put your hands on,

for example, the second book in the trilogy you're reading.

Most books are grouped together with brethren they would not usually share space with,

but there are a few pockets of say, kids' books, or tech books,

or a whole collection of what looked to be books in some Slavic language.

This little room, for example, was filled with Sci-Fi books.

There was also a little yarn shop right inside!

Go with the flow and you'll enjoy yourself;

The Boy finally came up to me,

arms aching, and whimpered,

"We have to go!  I can't carry any more!" 

Once we made it to the register, I asked the all-important question:

"Could I use the bathroom?"

(I had read on Yelp that the bathroom was guarded by a veritable troll of an employee.) 

"I'm sorry, it's out of order," the cheerful young man said.

To which I thought, "Liar!!" because I heard some other folks discussing

 the very-much-in-use bathroom.

But!

This turned out to be fortuitous, since it meant we stopped in at the nearby

Groundfloor Cafe to "buy a drink" (and use their bathroom.)

However, once we were there we realized this tasty joint served crepes!! 

a favorite of both The Boy and me.

When The Boy was younger his sister had Girls' Scouts,

and during her meetings 

we would head to the mall to load up on manga and crepes.

So it was a sweet and nostalgic way for us to finish out our afternoon at

The Last Bookstore.

'Puff Pride!

I've just added some awesome Hogwarts house banners to my Etsy shop!

Now, which one should you buy?

For those brave at heart, whose daring, nerve and chivalry set them apart, 

Gryffindor!

Roar, wild Gryffindor lions!

For those who value intelligence, creativity, learning, and wit,

Ravenclaw!

Fly high, fierce Ravenclaw eagles!

For those who believe Slytherin will help you on your way to greatness,

Slytherin!

Slither on, crafty Slytherin snakes!

For those who value hard work, patience, justice, and loyalty,

Hufflepuff!

Uh... dig ... stripey...Hufflepuff badgers?

Yes, I made a Hufflepuff banner, too,
even though Hufflepuff is the butt of just about every House joke on the the internets.

Oh, sure, you'll get an occasional Chin Up, Hufflepuff! message:

But they are vastly outnumbered by another take on the "Canada of Houses" posts:

Even pop culture joins in, as with this Halloween scene from Modern Family:

Et tu, Phil? 
 Et tu?

I mean, I'm not kidding myself.
I'm a Hufflepuff, and this rings painfully true:

But we 'Puffs can claim some pretty illustrious alumni!

This guy was in Hufflepuff, before he got all sparkly and stalker-y!

(Oh, Cedric Diggory, your death was in the top five of those that ruined me!*)

And THE QUEEN, J.K Rowling herself,
has some kind words for Hufflepuff:

So, yeah.  'Puff Pride!

And we should remember these wise words:

So hoist your Hufflepuff banner with pride!

**********************************


* For the record, the Harry Potter deaths, in order of tears shed are:

5. Nymphadora Tonks 
4. Cedric Diggory
3. Severus Snape
2. Fred Weasley
1. Dobby the House Elf **






** And also for the record,
it has been more than five years since I read about Dobby's burial 
( "Here Lies Dobby, A Free Elf"! Ron taking off his shoes and putting them on Dobby!), 
and I still can't talk about it without crying.

Sniff!!  RIP Dobby!

Dolls, Amirite?

I was reading this book for story time with the second graders today:

At one point the two characters found themselves

in a dark library room with life-sized dolls.

They were freaked out and I said to the class,

"I get that.  Dolls can be scary."

"Yeah," 

Little Miss A. piped up.

"Even when you throw them, they never stop smiling."

HA!

And, yeah:

Creeeeepy!

Where's My Walker, Whippersnappers?

So... it has come to this.

The amount of pills I now take in the morning means

I require one of these to keep track of them:

This makes me feel 

ooooooold!

However, to look on the bright side,

I do live in a time when medical advances such as these pills are available.

Which certainly beats the old-timey alternative.

***************************************


In other, more peppy news, 
I was not too decrepit to get some sewing done this weekend. 

Isn't this pretty?

A woman commissioned the pink and black strings for her baby girl's nursery,
and I went ahead and made the pink and white for my shop.

I love it!