Travel Photojournal: The Grand Canyon

I was worried that the kids wouldn't like the Grand Canyon:

 

  

  

  

  

 

  

They liked it.

Next, we tour Lowell Observatory!

P.S. Want to know more about my adventures in life, and my looming mid-life crisis? Check out my Craft Knife Facebook page!

Travel Photojournal: Bakersfield, California, to the Grand Canyon

Southeast through California into Arizona:

There are a lot of windmills.

Next, we see the Grand Canyon!

Travel Photojournal: Bean Hollow State Beach

The girls and I are on our wild and unruly adventure!

We make our pilgrimage to Bean Hollow State Beach, otherwise known as Pebble Beach, every time we visit the San Jose area. But we've never before been in November:

 

 

 It's still pretty great.

Next up, we're driving to the Grand Canyon!

A Statement of Truth

Chad is rad:

Am I right or am I right?

Rainbow Snowflakes

I always have about a million projects going on in my head at one time, but if you ask me, the best projects are the ones that my kiddos come up with.

Such as my older daughter, who found seven perfect colors from my cardstock stash, folded them, cut them--

 --glued yarn on the back of each of them--

 --took a break while the glue dried to watch a little Roy G. Biv on youtube--

--and then had me hang her rainbow's worth of snowflakes up in her room:

Where, yes, she has asked me to hang other things amply, as well.

Barter and Trade

I've been bartering. Inspired by Radical Homemakers, a book that I didn't even really like that much, I've found myself setting up trades for lots of things lately, saving myself money and getting stuff that I appreciate in exchange for something that somebody else appreciates.

Also, no tax!

Here are some of my more recent trades:

• a baby bag for a book bag
• blog post editing for cookies
• photography for cornstarch
• fabric for fabric

In that last one, a lady at a craft fair admired the novelty prints that I use in my I Spy quilts so much that she offered me three bags of stash fabric in exchange for some 2" quilt squares in novelty prints for a charm quilt that she's sewing. I'm also sewing a postage stamp charm quilt for myself, and I occasionally offer postage stamp charm quilt sets in my pumpkinbear etsy shop--

--so it was no problem.

Now I need to find a way to barter for babysitting, a travel chess set, some yardwork, candlemaking lessons...

Bedtime Story

Because One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is DEFINITELY better when it's read out loud.