So I'm baking today, for a bake sale tomorrow which will raise money for a woman's retreat later on.

And I'm gonna bring slices of cake and small plates of cookies. I go to the store to get the stuff I need and walk out $75 poorer.

I should have just dropped a $50 bill in the basket and gone fishing today.

Oh well, I do love to bake...

New addition to the family. Go here to take a peak.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2077524&id=1096464149&l=b51e5070b4

So my partner (in crime) has posted a story that she and wrote together in a fit of silliness which lasted about.... five plus years now.

You can find it here...

enjoy

http://jimandblair.livejournal.com/112965.html

Wow, already the end of November...

*So*.... ahem....

yesterday I took my old Sony laptop down and blew off the dust. It had become so slow that I went out a bought a low end Acer complete with Windows 7, microsoft office and nothing else! Still, I love that Sony with the wide screen and completely worn out keys. I un-installed all the junk that had found its way into the hard drive over the years and downloaded a new security program.

Would you believe it? It's nearly as fast as the Acer now.

Now I have two laptops -one for each hand, I guess- and I still don't have mini Blair finished. What can I say? I'm bad. I could go into how busy work has been (talk about something to be thankful for...) but I won't. Suffice it to say, I still love to write, but the voices are whispering, not shouting right now. They'll come back.

I got up early to get kitchen time before hubby wakes up and takes over. I have a batch of winter root veggies roasted and ready to take to dinner. I'll reheat them in the slow cooker. I have a batch of honey-wheat rolls rising. I didn't like the way that dough looked, so I whipped up a batch of sourdough to bake if the rolls are a flop.

We've been having snow since Monday and it has *not* melted. For the first time all week, we have a light rain falling. Thank you, Lord. I so didn't want to drive on ice this afternoon.

New Orleans was so much fun! When I had free time I walked the French Quarter and ate in yummy places. The buildings were nothing like I'd ever seen. The weather made me stop and pause, just to breathe I think. How in the world can people work in steam all day? You don't see it, but it's like breathing steam!

I went on a swamp tour. I know, I know, tourist alert! But there was no way I was going to rent a boat and explore on my own. First of all, the swamps are HUGH! and secondly they are privately owned and lastly I would still be there looking for a way out.

Anyway... saw tons of gaters, who look very, very scary when not behind bars in a zoo. I even held a baby gater.

Fun time, thankful I got to go.

I get to go to New Orleans next week! All excited and doing the 'going on an adventure' dance. Checked the hotel website last night. "Mmmm, 10 PM and it's still 90 degrees?'

I'm gonna melt.

Decided to give a dozen girls squirt guns after a long bird watching hike yesterday? Oh, wait... that would be me.

See, it was gonna be a hot day and the guns were a *good* price! I took my church kids out yesterday for our bi-monthly field trip for some hiking and bird bingo. (that's where you make up bingo cards with pictures of the birds you're likely to see. Then you pick the best bird person to be the spotter. Everyone looks for birds, but only the spotter is allowed to do the ID. Let me tell you, the first hour is filled with girls screaming, 'Look, LOOK! Miz Gina, LOOK!'

I don't think that wetland park will be the same after us.

Anyway, the prize for those with bingos (all but one) was a squirt gun. The one who did not get a bingo, got one as well, but she had to wait a very long five minutes before she could shoot back. So there we are, running around the park screaming and laughing, with me shouting, 'do not shoot the civilians!' as on lookers laughed and stayed out of the line of fire. It was a great way to get them ready for the ride back home in our church bus (no AC, don't cha know).

We had fun.

I'm excited.

I'll be floating the Yakima with a friend, and two guests. DH and I bought a flatbed trailer and a second cataraft. This is my first trip where I don't have to spend an hour setting up the cataraft before launching! Woo Hoo!!

The second raft is awesome. We bought it from a friend. It was the first cat I ever got to play on and now it's ours. The pontoons are enormous and the frame comes in three modular parts. It can take one or two guests.

Today we're taking two kids with us, one for each cat. They're both learning to flyfish so I hope they enjoy themselves. Perhaps, if they're lucky, they'll catch a fish.

Drove to Northern Idaho (roadtrip! roadtrip!roadtrip! roadtrip!roadtrip! roadtrip!) and picked up a small flatbed trailer. The trailer happened to have a very sweet whitewater cataraft for DH, but that's another story.

Now I have a trailer! I'm closer to having the ability to hop into the car and drive down to the river to launch without an hour of assembly. Life is good!

My roadtrip partner was the amazing Sealie, who is visiting from the UK. We actually spent the time finishing a joint fic we'd started over four years ago. Soon to be edited and posted (I hope) for reading.

Sigh... I have a trailer. I'm giddy with joy.

I go into a new fishing store that opened up within two miles from my house (really, two little miles! I could walk there...) and I'm expecting some orange painted plastic salmon eggs and a few flashers because, hey, this is steelhead country, don't cha know.

Anyway, right in the middle of the floor is a beautiful, absolutely-freaking-awesome, three person cataraft.

Did I mention I could walk to this place?

I stopped, blocked the doorway, and just stared. I'm sure the two people in this shop thought I slipped into some type of standing seizure, but at the time I didn't care.

When I found my brain reboot button, I bravely pushed down my desire to squeal like a girl and walked calmly around the cataraft and asked a few questions. Before long, I'm sitting it in and explaining how my own cataraft is wonderful *but* I'm having problems with the anchor set up and shouldn't I have longer oars and...

The shop owner builds them! OMG! Thank you, Lord! Two MILES FROM MY HOUSE! I had to drive to another state to buy my cataraft and now I have my own personnel cat builder as a neighbor.

Sigh, that is all, I'm busy making plans. Modifications, second raft, need a trailer now...