I always feel like...

...somebody's watching me.....

Through the mail slot, no less.

Yup, I never know what I'm going to find in the mail.

This was a good one though. I'll take a little Molly in the mail any day!

The Offshore Store

This is Tim.

Tim has a hot date with a scrub brush tonight.

Tim has nothing to do with the Offshore Store; his hands were impressively dirty, and I felt I must share. As anybody who owns a boat will tell you, it is endless maintenance. And unless you are independently wealthy, that maintenance gets done by the owner. Most fishermen are not independently wealthy. And so their hands look like this. A lot.

This is Tammy's store.

The Offshore Store is nearing completion! (These pictures are a week old.)

Should be right on schedule for opening the 4th of July weekend!

I am almost , almost done with the Birthday Present. It has become so monumental a project, that is must be capitalized.

sigh.

But I've picked my next project. I have the yarn out. I have the needles ready and waiting.

I thought about swatching...just swatching! That's isn't really cheating...it's only a swatch. I usually frog my swatches, so...it shouldn't count!

But I will resist.

I will go roll 240 truffle balls instead of swatching. And if I can finish the truffles before 2am, I'm going to knit on the blasted present for an hour in an attempt to be done!!!!!

Rites of Passage

How is it possible?

How can it be, that my kids are 6 and 8, and have never done this before in their lives??

They thought they were opening little presents!

Mama, you can ask me to do this job anytime!

Corn has HAIR!

Shortly after this picture was taken, I realized exactly why they'd never shucked corn before.

Or why I never let them into the kitchen.

I'm still picking 'hair' up off the floor, and I've vacuumed three times.

Bones

When I sent my kids to school this particular morning, they were (relatively) clean, fed, and dressed.

They most definitely were in one piece.

This is how they came home:

And this is what they thought of my reaction:

Dr. Rob, a friend of Mr. and Mrs. Finn, was here to visit. He is a doctor. He brought some props in to show the kids.

They loved it.

But Thing One is confused about my former life. (I barely remember it myself.)

She told Dr. Rob that I used to be a doctor.

I have explained many times what a Radiographer is and does.

She says, "But you said you worked in the Emergency Room, too, like Dr. Rob." Yes, there are a whole bunch of us. We aren't all docs.

"But you worked in the operating room!" Yes, but I wasn't the one cutting people.

"But you worked in the baby unit!" Yes, taking x-rays of the little babies' lungs.

" But you sewed on hands that came off!" No, I took pictures of them, so that the docs could sew them back on.

And then The Big Guy inevitably chimes in with "Can't imagine how you got on with that job- you can't take a picture to save your life."

Oy.

I'm not even telling her that I'm a mammographer as well. God knows what she'll tell people!!!

Green eggs and ham

First of all, what is wrong with this picture??

Those are green eggs.

Green.

Remember my experience with the rotten egg?

I'm a little gun-shy.

I'm egg-shy.

I check 'em over, smell 'em, heft 'em...and I crack them into a bowl as far away from my nose as humanly possible, just in case.

I've smelled some smells, people. Mass General Hospital, weekend night shift.

And I ain't never, ever smelled anything worse than that egg.

So when I see a green egg, I gotta wonder.

I immediately called the neighbor from whom I got the eggs.

Should the eggs BE green?

Yes, she said. They're from Araucana chickens. They lay blue eggs.

Oh, blue. (Blue, green, whatever.)

They're kind of pretty. But freaky. Like Easter, without the work.

Weird.

So, Thing One is in the kitchen during all the egg commotion. She sees me take 482 pictures (my camera has one foot out the door. I've just about had it.) of the green eggs. She hears the phone call to Miss Becky (egg neighbor).

She comes over to take a closer look.

And she says, "Oh, yeah, Martha Stewart has those eggs."

Oh, I'm sorry...I hadn't noticed the last time we were at Martha's what color her eggs were.

Silly me.

Apparently she saw a Martha Stewart Living magazine, and noticed the blue eggs, which her mother thinks are green.

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

I have pictures from the graduation ceremony this weekend.

Mocha Chip Cupcakes.

But I messed up the frosting. I'm not sure why I thought it was OK to run the mixer while I jumped in the shower.

It was not ok.

I called Tammy, and asked for emergency frosting. In our haste, I forgot to add the espresso to her chocolate frosting, so they weren't as mocha-y as I intended, but they were still pretty darn good.

There was also a Margarita Cheesecake. Oh My Lord. It was fantastic!

In fact, it was gone in 1.3 minutes.

And as usual, I was in a panic that there would not be enough food.

We did alright.

None of these people will mean anything to anybody who doesn't live here. Suffice it to say, we had a lovely time, got soaked to the bone in the worst rain I've seen in forever, ate , laughed, and had a great time with each other. I will remember the day for that, if nothing else.

My camera hates the Church. The light is just wrong, wrong, wrong.

Then I learned the words "white balance". Things are a bit better. Not a lot, but a bit.

But my pictures have to be taken from the back forty, because if I zoom, forget it. Look at the picture in the last row, on the left. That's mildly zoomed.

Father's Day! The Things had a ton of stuff for him. They both made and wrapped 4 things, and we had a huge pillow from all of us.

(He says he misses me. We sleep in shifts now, and pass each other on the stairs around 4:30 in the morning. With the body pillow, I figure he'll stop complaining about my hours.)

Our last day of school was Friday.

My kids have already begun playing 'school'. (She teaches him, gives him worksheets to do, etc.)

Here's what they did today:

Tomorrow (wait, I guess it IS tomorrow.) they start their summer reading program.

They have a math program to do as well, but I'm not ready yet!

I took Saturday "off". I sort of took Friday off, too, but not of my own free will.

I will be back to the regular schedule tomorrow, so if you haven't heard from me...you will.

I even worked on the long-overdue Birthday gift this weekend. I'm nearing the home stretch!

I'm cool and hip, verified by a 14 year old

This is Probie.

He is our 8th grader.

While on a recent field trip, he was in charge of map reading. I can do many things while driving, but I had a co-pilot who could read, and I took full advantage of that.

However, he told me to take a wrong turn.

I said, "What happened there, huh??? You dropped the ball on that one, Probie!"

And thus his nickname was born.

We had us a BLAST on our school's big Opera Field Trip in April.

We had a sweet setup going in the car. We hooked the Things up with a DVD in the backseat, and plugged in our ipods. I knew the ride would be a good one when I saw his playlists- we listen to the same music!

That means I'm totally cool and hip, he said.

Though he also said that his Mom listens to some of the same songs, and that it was weird, and it does not make her cool or hip.

Since I got the 'cool and hip' label, I am not going to try to figure out that 14- year- old logic.

Today we celebrated our school's 8th grade graduation.
We only had one 8th grader.

Probie.
He graduated. I cried. We ate. We laughed and joked. It was a lovely event.

(I will post my crappy pictures tomorrow.)

And then a bunch of us gathered at the school for Movie Night. We watched "Bolt", which was hilarious...and I knitted! (I heard that collective gasp.)

First time I've picked up needles in a week.
I didn't count, but about half of us attended the movie in pajamas. It was that kind of night.

We are enjoying what can only be described as a monsoon. Apparently the entire Eastern seaboard is marinating in rainwater. And out here on the rock, the wind is blowing, the seas are building, and I am thanking all the Gods that I had to cancel my trip to Boston...for there is no way, NO WAY, I would get on a boat in the morning.
I know you're all peeved down there that I had to change plans.
We'll try the beginning of the week. No promises. And it will be a fly-by if it happens at all.

I know I told you all about this field trip already, but I enjoyed looking through the pictures again, and had to share.

There was swimming, eating, swimming, an opera, more swimming, more eating, a museum, and lots of laughing.

My kind of trip.

There may have been some giant spitball action, too. But I don't know anything about that.

I can tell you that Katie and Kristi are very sound sleepers. Or have diminished hearing. One or the other.

That's a root beer in the last row.

We ate a totally balanced diet while away. All health foods; lots of whole grains and water and veggies.

(Remember kids, 'what happens on field trips, stays on field trips'. Amen.)

Probie's Mom- look away!

Now, the amazing quality of this next picture can be attributed to the horrifying hour of the day those kids woke me up.

And then, adding to the punishment, we had to wait, like, forever, for The Big Guy to bring us coffee from the Double D. you know who I mean. All Hail Dunkin' Donuts!!

This is Tammy's coffee. This is not a morning coffee. I'm not sure it can even BE CALLED a coffee. What is that sludge there at the bottom??

Check out the straw he brought her to drink this with.

It's a coffee stirrer. It didn't even reach halfway into the cup. She had to wash a pen to stir it with. We are still laughing over this.

I've been married to this knucklehead for 15 years. I'm totally on to him. He figured that if he messed up the morning coffee orders, we'd relieve him of the job the rest of the trip.

Ha! We chastised and nagged him, and sent him back until he got it straight.

He said he won two wives. We're still laughing at that one, too.

Fried clams, from The Red Barn in Augusta.

Yum.

And they gave the kids this:

I hate Play-Doh.

I created the Frenchboro Preschool (with a group of like-minded women; not by myself), because of two things:

1. Play-Doh

2. scissors.

I wanted my kids to be able to play with such things. Just not in my house, or in my presence.

Thank goodness for Miss Becky, and her patience.

Both of my kids can now cut with scissors, thankyouverymuch. And only a few times did they smuggle Play-Doh home and grind it into the carpets.

"Hey, kid, whatcha got there?"

"Watch this! I'm going to drop it in the pool."

"Boys are so weird!"

Note to Auntie Ree

I heard what you said about me.

I am not amused. Can't wait to see what you look like at 96.

At least my fur covers all my saggy wrinkled flesh. You'd better start growing some hair.

And when you come to visit? I'm totally sleeping on your pillow. Bring your allergy medicine!

My parents are losing it

Here's the story I got:

My Mother, Al, found a bird. 

A baby bird. 

A birdlette.

It was not well. Fell out of the nest, or was sat upon, or something. She wasn't sure.

Now mind you, this would have been the offspring of one of the demonic creatures she curses daily for 'evacuating' on her car. Seriously, it's like the only place in the neighborhood birds poop. She's had 4 different vehicles in the last 10 years, and they all seem to have an invisible target on their roofs.

So what does she do? She brings the bird into the house. 

Wait, it gets better!

With the aid of my Father, she makes it a little bed. They feed it with an eye dropper.

An EYE DROPPER, people! 

And how 'bout my Father, aiding and abetting?

This is the woman who got rid of our precious, beautiful Siamese cats because  they miaowed.

(That's meow, in Siamese.)

Who took said Siamese cats to the vet to be 'fixed', and declawed, because they were messy.

(They may have been tearing up furniture.)

I went with her to pick them up. When the little cat saw us she screamed uncontrollably miaowed endlessly while we gathered them up and paid the hefty bill. The noise was deafening.

Al glared at me, and ordered us all outside.

I said, "C'mon Nico, we better get the heck out of here before she has your tongue removed too!"

And now she's adopting baby birds.

Birdlette, in the house. 

It's unprecedented!

And here's why:

There's an old Italian superstition that birds in the house bring bad luck.

She would not have a plate, cup, dishcloth, anything at all with a bird on it come into the house. Ever. In my entire life, I've never seen anything in that house with a bird on it.

" Oh, that's beautiful! Too bad it has a bird on it." 

Ma (that's our Grandmother) was even worse. She wouldn't even look at a bird.

And now, there is Birdlette.

Well, it seems that Birdlette was the one with the bad luck; he didn't make it.

Trying real hard not to comment here about what they might have been feeding little Birdlette. I shudder to think of the braciole and moradel they were stuffing into it's tiny little beak.

So Al is talking on the phone to Uncle Carmen. She tells him about poor little Birdlette, who she rescued, and sin of all sins, brought into the house to recuperate (or, you know, die).

She expresses some anxiety about having a bird in the house; the old superstition, you know.

He says, "Oh, I think you're alright. I think it's just if the bird gets in and dies..."

She hadn't told him that part yet.

No good deed goes unpunished.

p.s. Last I heard, they didn't know what to do with Birdlette. He was in a ziploc bag on her desk.

I'm putting 'research nursing homes' on my to-do list.

School Music Program

These are a few pictures from the Frenchboro School's Music Program with Bo Newsome and Graham DeZarn. 

My kids love any excuse to get dressed up.

Some of these boys would vehemently deny it, but I know they secretly enjoy it too.

And I'm not referring to Bradley; we all know Bradley looks for any excuse to wear a tie. Or a batman costume. And his flying shoes. He's one cool dude.

That's our whole school up there, minus one.

They did a great job. How cute are they??

And look at this!!

Amy Boogie's book is out!

I knew she had written a book, and that it was due soon- and there it is.

I would just like to point out that I found Amy long before she was famous, and hand-picked her to be The One Who Would Teach Me To Spin Someday. 'Course with her new-found fame she won't have time for the likes of me anymore...

But that won't stop me from buying her book, and you should do the same.

Could I BE any prouder of Boogie girl?!??

"Ain't that awful!"

That's a line I've heard John Lunt say almost every day that I've known him.

John Lunt is a Frenchboro icon. He's a dry old Mainer, the last native islander, and one colorful character!

I wish I could imitate his accent and inflection through written word, but, no. I cannot.

That line above is his standard reply to just about everything The Big Guy says.

Like, when The Big Guy says "The reason the lobster market was so poor last fall is John caught up everything there was on the bottom and flooded the market."

And John will laugh and say, "Ain't that awful."

Or when The Big Guy says,"Ol' John's sitting here rubbing his knees. He's tryin' to get a blow on so all the Big Dogs can't get out to haul and scoop up his lobsters." (John doesn't fish in bad weather anymore.)

And John laughs, and says, "Ain't that awful!"

Or when The Big Guy says, "Ol' John, he don't go to church every week by choice, he goes to beg forgiveness for catching all the lobsters 'fore any of the other guys get a chance at 'em."

John was a highliner, back in the day.

He just laughs and says, "Ain't that awful!"

We have a whole lotta fun with John.

We go to a local fair every year, have every single year since I moved to Maine. 

Sixteen years in a row, I've gone to the Blue Hill Fair with The Big Guy. 

Now we take our kids.

In recent years, they've added a new attraction at the fair: pig racing. It's hilarious!

It's a huge hit, and draws quite a crowd. Last year they sold things to the crowd: little pig noses, flags, stuffed pig animals. 

The Big Guy bought a stuffed pig puppet.

He had me sew it onto a baseball cap. It was a baseball cap with a big pink pig head on the bill.

He gave it to John.

All that fall, the fishermen oinked at John on the VHF. 

I know this, because I have to listen to the VHF to hear the mailman's boat come in the harbor when I work the post office..

Which means, I must endure the fishermen on the VHF.

John laughs a lot. That's why we love him.

These are a few pictures from the school's Music Performance last Saturday night.

I will show you pictures of the kids tomorrow. 

This isn't about the kids.

This is about the heathens, Tammy and The Big Guy.

Tammy, mere seconds before she flipped me The Bird.

The Big Guy in the process of flipping me The Bird.(Great minds think alike??)

And all I could think was, Ain't that awful!

Bear in mind that I did absolutely nothing to warrant being flipped. (You don't have to, with these two.)

I am, of course, a perfect angel. 

Ask my Mother.

(I heard that, Tammy.)

One day, on an island in Maine

I knew I was in trouble before I even opened my eyes this morning.

You know the drill: the nausea, stiff neck...and the ax stuck through your skull, piercing the frontal lobe of your brain...

Migraine.

And we are in the middle of what can only be described as a monsoon. Torrential horizontal rain.

Great knitting weather. If only...

The kids had to be at school by 8, and the rain showed no sign of slowing, so we slodged out to the truck. It isn't very far to school, but I hate to have them sit there all morning, wet and chilled.

File into the truck, put it in reverse, look in rear view window...and there's something white and LARGE looming in the mirror.

I scream. (migraine + no coffee on board + 4 hours of sleep = odd reactions)

Both Things scream, because I do not normally scream, so it must require screaming in unison.

Now head feels reeeeally good. Throb, throb, throb.

I jump out of the truck, and see this:

Oh, man. This could be a problem.

We pushed, we pulled, we tugged, I cried, they whined. 

And all the while...throb, throb, throb.

There we were, out in the middle of the street; I, in my nightie, with no raincoat, and no brassiere....

and the Things going to be late for school...

I stopped to think.

Options. What are my options here?

1. Have kids walk to school, and leave the blessed mess AS IS. (the fact that the road was completely blocked didn't taint this option at all. In the back of my mind, I thought this would work to my favor as I'd have help from passers-by getting this faux paus covered up before The Big Guy saw it...)

2. Send a kid next door to grab Mikey, who would surely help me hide the incriminating evidence of my stellar driving skills. (I may have been here before...)

Oops. pj's/no bra.

Cancel this one.

3. Send a kid across the street, where I see a red car, which means Jeremy might be home. However, it is nearly 8am. If Jeremy IS home, he is very likely still in bed, where all normal people should be at this hour.

Hmmm, but Katie very recently commented on Jeremy's 'morning person' disposition...so maybe he is up and about...

Crap. pj's/bra thing.

Next.

4. Gravity, my constant companion, may actually help me out here. In the same manner it causes me to continuously fall on my face, le boat could also fall out of the truck...the rest of the way.

Yes! We have a winner!

Stand Back!, I yelled. Mama's got an idea!

The Things, by this time, are in hysterics, laughing. Thing Two could barely breathe.

I needed both Things' help pushing that boat back up into the bed of the truck. That sucker was full of rainwater and weighed a ton.

(Meanwhile I'm having palpitations at the thought of crushing one or both of these kids with a boat. How'm I gonna explain that one?)

We got it back up, with herculean effort.

Throb, throb, throb.

I considered just leaving it be and driving them to school, but then I remembered Heartbreak Hill, which I would have to climb to get home again. No way was that boat going to remain in position if I dumped it backing out of my almost- level driveway!

With slack in the line, I was able to untie the boat. Now how am I going to get it out?

I looked at the two kids. Not much help there.

I ordered them back in the truck, out of the rain.

I got in the truck, too.

Weeeell, I s'pose...

I'm just gonna dump 'er, I said. I see no other choice.

Ever hear of a 'Neutral Drop'?

(Mechanics everywhere are wincing right now.)

DO NOT pass this info on the The Big Guy. Remember our motto, "What happens on the island STAYS on the island"!

I carefully backed down to the steepest (ha) part of my driveway, put the truck in neutral, goosed the gas a tich, and dropped the shifter into drive.

WHAM!

The truck shot forward, and that boat slid gracefully right to the ground.

 (Yeah. That's what it did.) 

Worked like a charm.

Woo- hoo! And the crowd goes wild, as ace driver Marissa Andretti saves the day....

That is one rugged 8 year old, let me tell ya.

We hauled the boat over to the side of the road and went on our merry way. Thing Two was still belly-laughing when we got to school, and I knew right then I had not a hope in Hell of keeping this incident on the Down Low.

Ah, well.

Driving myself back home, I began to get an uneasy feeling.

He's gonna have a fit when he sees this.

Maybe it's off the road enough that he won't notice it. Maybe I can get Jay or Chris to help me move it before he gets home. 

Look, you can't even see it. We must've gotten it way over into the brush...

Oh. Or not.

Mmmm. Definitely going to notice that.

Oh, yeah. There's no covering this one up. 

It is what it is.

I went inside, drenched to the skin, for much needed coffee and Excedrine Migraine. 

Nine of 'em. 3600mg of caff-pow. Plus coffee.

cue theme from Rocky...Flyin' high now.......

A bit later I heard the unmistakable sound of The Big Guy driving up the hill.

VVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRR,

coming around the corner, VVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRR, 

aaaand coming upon the boat, v  v  v  v  r  r  r  r...

uh-oh.

Well, there's something ya don't see every day.

Does he look mad?

What's wrong with this picture?

Caption: A Fish Out Of Water

Know what? He hasn't said a word about it.

Narcs.

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

Now, I've got all sorts of stuff backlogged to tell you about, and I'm going to take full advantage of this caffeine high and do it all in one day.

Know that my original plan was to do this one at a time, in order to give greater impact to each of these great things.

But caffeine highs like this one don't come around every day. I'm just going with it.

I have been blessed with many things lately.

First up, a drop spindle kit, won in a contest on Darcy's blog on (yikes) April 16th. The kit is from Extreme Spinning, and it ROCKS!

Oh, I loves me some sheep fur!

Check this out- wrapped separately in tissue paper...

Oh, my.

Clearly a hold-over from my too-close-to-Revere-big-haired- glitzy-rhinestone- studded -Boston days, I am always drawn to the shiny, sparkly, bling-y stuff. I kept this out on display for a week, so I could pet it. Then the cat discovered it and I had to put it up.

Love it.

Another prize from long ago...March 30th! (I shudder to think of what these people are thinking of me. I found this list of posts that never got done when I cleared off that desk. Egads.)

From KnittinDiva, (also here, on etsy- but Dudes, stay  away from that coffee bean, 'cause I've got my eye on it...) at www.bbknits.com  (Beyond Basic Knits. Very cool. Check out the Toe-tally Tonals, my current obsession.) 

She had a contest. I won.

This has been whispering what it wants to be lately.

I'm ignoring it because I have that b-day pressie to finish. The one I haven't touched.

It keeps whispering beads...

And on April 28th, I won 1000 business cards from www.uprinting.com, 

through Kelly at Almost Frugal!

Perfect timing, too, as I was getting the Bakery off the ground.

This was a perfectly painless procedure, really easy to do, and they proofed my cards before shipping. 

Tell me, does this remind you of coffee, or caramel? 

They'll print front and back.

Seriously, could there BE any more information on there? 

Everything but my weight and bra size. (Never. Ever.)

Oops, already changed my Twitter name: MaineMoxie. It will probably change again.

Don't tell Nicole. I'm going to give that girl a drinking problem.

Why are you just hearing about these now??

Because the Oprah Show aired our Frenchboro segment on the 29th of April.

This all took place around that time.

Seriously, I am just now realizing how much time that took up. Wow.

I'm sorry Oprah, but it will never work out between us. 

Island life has spoiled me, and I can never again match the pace you city-mice set.

I think you'll get by without me. Pretty sure.

Missing from this list is a gift from Amy Boogie. I ordered some indescribably beautiful lace- weight, and when I got it in the mail, she'd stuck a gift skein in there!

I remember sneaking it into the house, away from The Big Guy's ever-watchful eye, and for the life of me, I can't remember where I hid it. I've got to do a full-out search.

I will post pictures when I find it (I've added it to my List); I know I didn't take pictures that day.

Marie Grace honored me with the title of One Of The Blogs She Really Likes.

*blush*

Now, I need to share the love, and name off some of my favorites.

Whoo boy. I am almost embarrassed to say I follow skim read over 300 blogs. 

And I can only pick 7 ? No Way.

My first thought was to just publish my list from Google Reader. But it's sort of cheating, isn't it?

This was really, really hard. There should be sooo many more. I picked them out of a hat.

A Friend To Knit With- Very down to earth, and great knits. And cookies!

The Rainey Sisters- Artists. unbelievable. Check out the Henry VIII! And the Kauni!

Earthchick- What a riot! She created my very favorite, most lusted after lace creation. I want to know what she uses on her hair. And you should see her boys!

Smoking Hot Needles- Monika. A master. Check out her spinning, but her knitting will blow you away, too.

Maple Corners- Annie. Unbelievable photography, and a beautiful person. She raises alpacas, and her Mom. She's into a peg loom right now that is pretty cool.

Tiennie- The master of the multiple. In another life she may have been the Octomom.

Loving Comfort Knits- Grace. Master of lace. A very prolific knitter. I am in awe.

The Shetland Trader- I just recently found Gudrun. And I'm secretly thrilled that she's moving to Massachusetts, where I may have the potential of meeting her. Awesome designs, with her  Scottish heritage shining through.

Turtle- Great knits...but really, it's all about the cats. So much fun!

Miss T- Brassy and outspoken in the best way, she has great knits, great yarn, and great recipes!

Not so Fancy Nancy- Her knits, and her quilts will Blow Your Mind. Outstanding!

Passing Down Crazy-Maria, another lace master. And truly crazy...5 kids, some of whom she home schools, yet has time to quilt like a madwoman, knit, and sew. And her lace? Oh! Her lace! I love her because she is up all hours like I am. If I email her at 3am, she answers right back. Crazy!

Go check 'em all out, and report back to me. Go. Go!

And, finally, The Frenchboro Bakery website is about to get a new 'do.

I had something like 3 days to get that website up and functional. Nightmare.

Now that I've had some time (What??), I've been able to work on it.

I still can't say it's fun, this web-design stuff, but it's better than a root canal.

Go forth, my friends,  be fruitful, and multiply.

Be careful when you stand up...I've had you sitting on your butts reading for so long, you may get light-headed. I don't want anybody getting hurt.

In celebration of Anne Claude Cotty

We had a dinner tonight to celebrate our art teacher, Anne Claude Cotty.  She's been coming out to the island to teach art for a few years now.

Let me explain why that statement is so very significant.

When a teacher (or service provider, in school-speak) comes out to this particular island to provide a service, it costs us a lot of money. We incur travel cost for that teacher, on top of their salary, on top of the cost of providing transportation. Significant expense.

Now, don't get me wrong, I most assuredly do not begrudge these providers their pay. I need their services, and am happy to obtain them. I am grateful for their expertise, and even more grateful for their willingness to travel out here and school our children.

I'm just saying it's expensive; we incur costs mainland schools don't even know about.

(And these providers have the joy of occasional wet and sloppy boat rides, and the uncertainty of getting home.)

Anne Claude opts to come out on our Wednesday ferry, and stay overnight. She does classes in small groups on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, and goes off on the Thursday afternoon boat.

And she loves it.

Most providers seem to enjoy coming out. They seem to enjoy the school, and the kids, and the island. I don't have any professional contact with them, but have met each of them in some capacity, and they always seem happy to be here (thank goodness!).

But Anne Claude loves it. She loves the kids, loves the island, loves the school, and she's so passionate about what she teaches!

You know what's coming next, right?

Sadly, budgetary constraints will prevent us from continuing our regular art classes with Ms. Cotty. We will look into alternative funding sources, and hope she will continue to supplement our children's education in some way.

I drowned my sorrow in chocolate.

chocolate cake with dark chocolate and raspberry ganache

Hmmm,

anybody want to hazard a guess as to why there wasn't enough ganache to coat the sides??

Just kidding. The ganache was too thin for that. I even had some left over.

But I won't by tomorrow morning. I assure you.

I am on Chocolate Overload, even for me!

And, mark your calendars boys and girls, I do believe it's finally happened.

I'm swamped.

I'm forgetting things. I'm neglecting things. I'm avoiding things.

I never do this.

In an effort to get back on track, I swept off the top of my massive desk,and  cleaned, reorganized, and prioritized.

Oh my.

It's not good, my friends.

I found things.

Things like post-it notes with to-do lists on them. Note-SSS, as in, plural.

In blind panic, I re-listed all the notes I could find onto one sheet of paper. I've apparently been scribbling in the corners of random pages....oh, my. Very unlike me.

The Master To-Do list is now an 8.5x11 sheet of paper covered in writing.

I'm nauseous.

Here is a lovely example of a swept-under-the-rug list:

Nice. School stuff. Important school stuff.

Neglected since before Christmas. How do I know that?

Super-memory powers? Spidey-sense?

No, the Xmas cards gave it away. 

At least I know the list is from this year...I ran out of photo cards for the first time, ever.

Send help.