"Ice Cream! We're Gonna Eat Ice Cream!"

And if it was Huckleberry, it was gone! Favorite ice cream of the Round up goers was definitely the pretty purple stuff with the berries. I don't know how much was eventually sold, but overall I heard that they sold more than previous years. Of course, with cones the size most of the guys made..it is no wonder that for 3 bucks people were crowding the booth! These unidentified children were very pleased with their cone of choice! I distinctly remember one little lady when she got her cone. She took it gently and her eyes grew large as she whispered 'Wow...' Now, that was a reaction that showed appreciation.

Friday was the Round up parade. And as a picture is worth a thousand words..here are some pictures!

You can make your own captions. Also, there was NOT a WSU float this year..or at least, I didn't see one. And Sasquatch, he always hangs out with the Commissioner.

(Quote in title cribbed from Bill Cosby)

Maximum Ride is not.

Well, just a note. Found out why the bubble gum books I mentioned below made me think bubble gum..they are not all written by the author! He does what several other author's do..he has group writes where people write for him and then he puts his name on them. Grrrrrr.

Also wanted to post a picture of the Oreos I made. Link on the right for the Cupcake Project is where the recipe came from, thanks to Stacey! (Friends are so wonderful!) These had green colored mint filling. YUM!

And Steve is just about done with the siding. Notice the odd colors we have. The greenish one is the original house color and the white ones are the new boards. We have no idea where the baby blue ones came from..but we took them all off the house that was there! It will all be up by this weekend!

And Jon has been seriously in the sky lately. I have TONS of cloud pictures on both digital cameras.

Am reading EM Forster for Noelle and FINALLY got the Empire of Ivory so I can finish that silly dragon series!

siding and cement

Actually, that is not as odd as it sounds. The siding is a type of cement board and Steve has been putting it on the new addition. However, it is not that easy to cut nor is it easy to staple on!

And my cement leaves are VERY cool. I have also made some stones with excess cement from the leaf decor. I only have room to make a few leaves at a time and needed to do something with the extra cement!

this leaf I sprayed with cooking spray.

I have used sunflower leaves (my favorite!), rhubarb leaves (next favorite) and the pumpkin leaves. In the stepping stones I used lots of different leaves to make shapes. In the one above I think I used choke cherry leaves..but I am not sure! The rhubarb leaf above has the veins left in it because Karla B suggested letting the leaves 'rot' to make it easier to get off. And guess what?? She was right!! After a day or so, the leaf was so dry, the bits slid right out of the lines. Way to go, Karla!!!

I am not sure how that happened..in the pictures file, the stone has the butterfly shape facing us, no on its side. Hmmm, odd. Am reading James Patterson. I liked his adult book As the Wind Blows..the kid ones are rather ummmmm, kiddish! The adult ones seemed more realistic, the ones about Maximum Ride are more bubble gum and not as scary real.

Things I have learned from cement.

This is the rhubarb leaf that I made. As you can see the veins in rhubarb are very thick, which made it not easy for them to release from the cement. Thus, I broke some of it. Which was very sad and why the second photo has bits at the top of the leaf. I also used mortar because I wanted a smooth textured leaf. This may be why it crumbled so easily. I will try this again with regular cement. After the curing, I will attempt to fix these breaks and the large crack in the top of the leaf on the right.

When you make a cement leaf here are a few things that I learned. You place a nice pile of sand or whatever under the plastic that you place the leaf on. I have poked several leaves when making my piles and seeing if the pile is right for the leaf. Then, you cut your wire. I think that if you used that tiny holed chicken wire (not sure what it is called, but we don't have any and so I use this stuff!) it might be easier to work with! I also sprayed the pumpkin leaf with cooking oil this time. It will be interesting to see what happens! LOL.

You put a layer of cement on top of the leaf, if the cement is too dry it will not glop well. I like a really gooky type! I have also learned to NOT put the first layer of cement clear to the edge (does not always work, though). On top of that you put the screening material and then glop on more cement. This is where you go to the edge of the leaf...sometimes! Then you cover it and let rest for about 3 days. We'll see what they look like then! The long part is the curing time, which most sites suggest is 3o days!!!!!! You know, it is pretty hard to find places to stash these things! And after unwrapping the rhubarb leaf, Jon asked, "Mom, what are you going to do with it?" I replied, "Not sure, but it is pretty cool!"


And last but not least, a cat! Maxwell, reclining in an out of the way spot..keeping an eye on things.