Paper doll fun

Before hooking up was invented, little girls used to dream of getting married. And before Monster High, they would play with lovely things like this.

More fun vintage bridal paper doll sets for sale here. 
.

What I wouldn't give for some Suklaamustikka right now.

If only I had a friend in Finland who could send me some. I don't want to know what the shipping would cost. Oh, and ya gotta love those Nordic languages, even if you can't get your hands on any of their chocolate coated berries. Found at Nordic Thoughts, which reminds me how simple and lovely life can be.
.

Amen!

As only Simcha can say it. And now I no longer have to feel vaguely guilty about avoiding her blog, as I often do. Actually, that goes for about 90% of what I read online. You can't win--at least, I can't. If I read negative stuff, I feel crappy and depressed. If I read happy clappy puffy fluffy stuff, I feel crappy and depressed for not measuring up to the ideals expressed therein. The problem is not the blogs.  I should spend way more time praying and just doing my daily duty.
.

I'll tell you what

The summer is going by way too fast. It always does. Every June I think I'm going to get all these great projects completed over the coming months: sewing things, reading lots of books, decluttering, working on other writing projects (besides my normal column deadlines, that is). And then every July and August, the weeks fly by and I seem to have nothing to show for it. Even the long hours I spend weeding my flower beds seem to be for naught, since the moment my back is turned, the weeds come back and the yard looks as overgrown as it did before. Now I know why old ladies fill their raised brick planters with cement and stick plastic flowers in there. Except hint: it's still ugly.

And speaking of ugly, my schoolroom is still dismantled from when the window guys were here in mid-June. (They had to come again July 25 to replace panes in two windows that had been broken in transit). Which means, yes, I've still not finished up all my teacher-bidness from last school term, and the new fall term is but a few short weeks away. Already starting to stress over that.

I spent very little time online in July (could you tell?). Facebook has become a distant memory, and I've just drifted away from a lot of the political blogs and websites I used to frequent. This last has reduced some of the mental anguish in my life for sure.  A mother who has trouble keeping up with laundry and getting a hot supper on the table every day need not be burdened with the collapse of civilization into the bargain.

I have also spent time contemplating the future of blogging (as in, will there be one?) because sometimes, it just seems so pointless for everyone involved.

Two websites where I have spent time are Amazon, where I continue to lust over think how nice it would be to have this:

KitchenAid Pro 600 Stand Mixer, in Empire Red

My birthday is coming up, daughters (five of whom have jobs!)

and IKEA, where I have been trying to plan a kitchen layout. They had one of their "Kitchen Events" (where you get free gift cards in the amount of 10% of your entire purchase), but I missed the deadline because that was precisely when Mr. P booked our campsite at the lake. Though he had the time off, he was not amenable to driving to Edmonton (nearest IKEA) to check out kitchens. Still trying to forgive him for that. If I have to wait till the next Kitchen Event at IKEA (and I do), I will certainly NOT have my kitchen completed by Christmas. All in all, I think my online planning went well, but I'm afraid it may go the way of my kitchen plan of 2011 (IKEA deleted it because they only store clients' plans for a year, and who can blame them? They have to find a way to deal with people like us who take 15 years to renovate a kitchen).

And speaking of camping, I now need a holiday to recover from my holiday. We had taken our trailer to the lake for two weeks.  In my view, if you MUST camp, it is best to do it in a civilized way. I would prefer wireless internet (very handy when you have not one, but TWO deadlines in one week), but I will settle for a flush toilet, hot running water, and a queen size bed. This precludes tenting in any way, shape or form. I gave up tenting about 6 years ago and have never looked back. Our 14-year-old travel trailer (we bought it used, of course) is far from fancy by modern RV behemoth standards, but it is better than waking up at 1:00 a.m. (in a cold, clammy, humid-damp sleeping bag) to realize that your "air mattress" is but an oxymoron.

Of the 14 days we had the site booked, I think we had two nice days. Two. The rest were cold and windy. And if I want cold and windy, I'll just wait for winter, thank you very much. I didn't need to be reminded of it in "summer."

There is only one word to describe coming home after camping: laundry. More to follow in a later post.
.