Yes, it really does look like a painting. Anais, is there anything you dont do? Beautiful hair, beautiful pictures, translating books and did I read you paint as well? I think I am beginning to hate you! lol Only kidding, of course. Once again, beautiful hair! 

Went to the craft store today to restock my paints, and to get more brushes. I was wearing my usual long African skirt and decided long hair would look good with it as well. It felt really nice to let it loose while in the store, especially as there was plenty of air conditioning. I also went commando in public for the first time, which felt really cool. I came home with oodles of supplies and finished the dioxins cartoon.

Cookbooks were on sale for $2.99, each one about six inches long and an inch thick (such titles as Italian, Mexican, Vegetarian, Healthy Cooking, Baking, and oh yeah, Chocolate. Of course Chocolate has its own separate cookbook) They'll make great gifts at our upcoming picnic-a-thon, especially during the peak of barbecue season. (Speaking of barbeque, it seems that "barbeque" with a Q is more often used to refer to the sauce, while "barbecue" with a C is more often used as a verb) Said massive picnic-a-thon will be followed by a walking day of exploration in the islands.

We have a serious gnat problem. I quite haven't figured out how it got started, but gnats are everywhere these days. Our moth problem has been much much improved (since I began swatting them. They're easier to swat than flies) but the gnat thing. Oy! Another item to add to the to-do list. Find a natural solution to all of these gnats.

Mango Chipotle macaroni and cheese
with meatballs and broccoli. (Hobbits love this)

what you'll need
1 tablespoon of oil
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped into microscopic pieces
1 cup of ground beef
cajun spices
black pepper
onion powder*optional
about a 1 tsp of soy sauce
1/2 tsp of brown sugar
Mango Chipotle marinade from Costco, or Taco Bell's mild taco sauce
6-8 cups of cooked macaroni
steamed broccoli (take number of cups of cooked macaroni, divide that number by 4. That's how much steamed broccoli to use) done by microwave
nonfat milk powder
mozzarella cheese or swiss slices
chopped green onions*optional
salt to taste

(1) Cook macaroni and broccoli[/u] (separately of course) and set aside.
(2) Mix the cup of ground beef (or ground turkey) with annihilated microscopic chopped garlic, pepper, cajun spices, onion powder*optional, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Mix well. Add some garlic to the frying pan separately if you like. Spoon the ground beef into the pan to make meatballs. Make sure they're cooked!Set beef aside.
(3) Put the macaroni into a deep skillet, must be nonstick. Add about a cup of water. Add the nonfat milk powder (dissolved in some water if that helps make it not so lumpy; I learned the hard way), then the Marinade or Taco sauce. Mix well and add the cheeses when you've got enough heat going.
(4) Keep mixing the macaroni constantly until the cheese melts into the water as a sauce. Add salt to taste. It will take awhile for the sauce to thicken. (5) Add cooked broccoli (microwaved is fine) and the browned beef meatballs when the cheese sauce is finally thick enough to somewhat coat a spoon.

I think Esme said, if sock buying is boring then you're buying the wrong socks.

There's a dollar store at our mall now. They stock all kinds of silly socks... I bought three pairs of these rainbow ones.

It's too late to write.
::subconscious garble ::

but not too late to get a start on my day - of books, of hot tea, of comfort, and joy in a good day's work.

Lord and Lady smile upon you all.

Anais

Anais, your hair is so beautiful!!! I can only hope mine looks as good as yours when I finally loose all the bleached parts.

I can relate to the ortho experiences, although I never got an ice cream RX. Just kidding! I had my braces for six years instead of the original two year projection I got from the orthodontist. During those 6 years I had headgear, a weird spacer on the roof of my mouth, pulled four teeth because my mouth was "too small", and goodness knows what else. I hope you don't have to wear your braces for much longer.

Looks good - enjoy that comb.

My socks include goofy stuff like batteries and weird animals - maybe you are onto something for a crazy sock thread  ...g

Went shopping with Mom today. She bought this, but in the wrong size (7.5). It fit while in the store, but then miraculously didn't fit after we paid for them. I think Mom was wearing socks when she tried them on. So anyway we made the purchase (we bought both shoes of course) and now they're mine. We're going back today to get her a pair to match. We haven't done a mother-daughter matching purchase in a long time.



Hair. Scalp's a little sore from scritching too hard last night - I need to remember to "lift" gunk, not scratch it off. Or better yet, to scritch in the shower. In other news, I found a huge split end while in the grocery store today. and I mean HUGE. It was almost an inch long, which is really long by my standards because I rarely get any splits to begin with. Just my luck! All the scissors in the store are sealed in cardstock and molded plastic. The only cutting tool available was the nailclipper, hidden in one of the closed checkstands, where I stood and ::stealthily:: snipped off my split.

A big WELCOME HOME to our Biker-Momma!
All right, all right, just an excuse to put up a picture of this niiiiice motorcycle that I saw the other day.

Quote:

I was gonna ask, but I won't. Glad that your lovely, or lurvely, hair is doing so well.  Can't wait until the next pix!