Treasure hunting

While looking for speakers for my computer, I discovered an old lighter in the basement. I know this lighter was my grandmother's, but I am not sure when she would have purchased it. It has "Colibri by Kreisler" on the bottom a US Patent number that is obscured by wear and "West Germany". When you pull the lighter out of the decorative case (as if to refill it), there is a screw to fill and the following inscriptions:

Colibri by Kreisler
U.S. Pat No: 2671329
U.S. Zone
West Germany

The lighter still has great spark, but no fuel. Even though I am not a smoker, I am considering filling it and carrying it. I don't think it is worth much, but it is old. If you have seen my house, you can understand how I might find a lighter while looking for computer speakers. Several people have threatened to call Clean Sweep on Glenn and I, but they only do one room.

Click pictures for a larger version

In other news, I have been listening to a few Podcasts recently. I was "honored" to be able to hear William Shatner doing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" on episode 101 of Coverville. In fairness, that was the episode entitled "The Best of the Worst Cover Songs". Coverville is a frequently updated podcast of nothing but covers. Many are treasures.

I am also listening to the Renaissance Festival Music Podcast. This cast features music from performers that will be at a renaissance festival the next weekend. I have heard some really good music and it has even inspired me to buy a CD from Iris & Rose. The cast from this Wednesday, July 27th featured a GREAT song (not quite renaissance, but still wonderful) entitled The Ballad of Joss by Cedric of The Bedlam Bards. If you are a fan of Firefly, I can't recommend this song enough!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Tomorrow is my birthday. My family has decided to give me my last few presents today. Last friday, Glenn gave me a large bamboo cutting board like his little one.

When I got home from work today, the kids were wrapping my present from them and Glenn had just finished wrapping what he was going to give me. The kids couldn't wait, so I opened their present: the DVD of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Unfortunately, they accidentally picked up the fullscreen version instead of the widescreen version. Since we couldn't watch that, Glenn had me open his present. I actually squealed with joy when I saw that he had gotten me the DVD of Cry Baby. This is one of my guilty pleasure movies and I am very excited to own it on DVD. He also picked up the first season of The Greatest American Hero. This is also something I fondly remember watching. Hopefully it will stand up! I am still excited to own it.

However, this means I will not be opening any presents on my actual birthday. Glenn and I will go out tomorrow night, but that will be fairly sedate. We plan to go out on Thursday for dinner with friends and then again on Saturday with more friends for a State Street Crawl. That will likely entail some birthday celebration.

Sorry, it has been a busy month: Here's the rundown...

A knight at the joust

Things around our house have been nuts. With me working two days a week, then playgroup, then a laundry/cleaning day, then an appointment day, then weekends that are booked solid, I barely have time to breathe, much less blog.

I can tell that it is almost time for me to see the neurologist again as my migraines are increasing in frequency and duration. Last Sunday, I had a full-blown bad one including being so nauseous I didn't want to move.

Saturday, we spent the day at the Bristol Renaissance Faire for opening day of the 2005 season. We took my parents and the kids and everyone had a great time. That is, until it was time to leave. We got into the van and drove a little and it was making a horrible noise. We stopped and realized that the rear passenger-side tire was flat. With some help from my dad and Tim, we got the tire changed and were on our way. However, driving on a small-sized spare meant that we could drive no faster than 50 mph. Being approximately 115 miles from home, it was a long drive back after a very hot day at the Faire. At least the trip home was broken up by our traditional stop for food at the Machine Shed in Pewaukee.

Flat changing by committee

For those keeping track, that means our last three trips to Bristol have ended poorly. This visit: the tire. The visit before: Glenn lost the key to the van. We were waiting for HondaCare (similar to AAA) and Scott checked lost and found to finally find the key in the pocket of the Faire Director. The trip before that: Rose dislocated her arm in a case of nursemaid's elbow and we had to visit the emergency room. A friend has threatened to start a pool for our friends to guess what happens when we next attend the Faire in August.

My cake!

This time of year is also cram-packed with birthdays. All four of us have our birthdays within 36 days. We have survived Rose's, Glenn's and Ivy's birthdays and mine occurs next Tuesday. We celebrated Rose's birthday with a group party with many friends out at Devil's Lake State Park. We celebrated Glenn's, Ivy's and by birthday (and the birthdays of 5 others and a baby shower) in a large friend group party on July 4th weekend that included a tent city in the host's backyard. Glenn purchased a sand castle bundt cake pan for me for my birthday and was so excited, he gave it to me early and promised to make me a cake. I was impressed that he would even make the suggestion as he is a self-proclaimed "non-baker". He made the cake early on the day of the party (we camped over the night before as well) and finished it up during the party. Everyone (including me) was very impressed and it was delicious!

Ok, enough textual blogging, here are some photos of other recent events:

More From Bristol:
Rose on a pony	Rose, Ivy and Grandma with a fairy
Ivy and Rose with Grandparents	The Aerial Angels
Other Summer Events:
Building a backyard fort	A memorial for Gracie the cat