Love, hate and cinnamon pinecones

I adore this time of year. The cool evenings, mild days and the leaves turning in the trees. It makes me want to bake and do lots of crafts. Thankfully I have a bit of motivation to make some really interesting items such as Crinoids for the Natural history museum and owls for a friend. Yeah that is quite a mix!

What is a crinoid?? Well they are ancient ocean dwellers. Think octopus on a stick:

I have been making them out of clay. We are creating a new exhibit on Missouri fossils. I will put up more pictures when I am finished. Right now they look a little sad! Each one takes several hours to make because of my need for perfection. Still, they are lots of fun. The big challenge is baking them in the oven since they are quite tall.

Now that it is fall I have a list of favorites to share: My top three loves of September

1. Iced Chocolate covered raspberry Mochas- Wow, these are so yummy. I had them in a cafe in St. Charles over the summer. I finally perfected the recipe at Starbucks. Ask for an iced mocha with two shots of raspberry flavor! Super yummy even for those that have to have soy.

2. My Mom's apple pie- I have been having some bad weeks and she decided to surprise me with a huge apple pie. It has the old fashion shortening dough and is loaded with apples. Heaven for breakfast.

3. Cooler weather- Finally able to wear boots, sweaters and scarves after this scorching hot summer. I am so ready!

Things that I am NOT fond of. Oh yes there are more than 3 but I won't bore you with them.

1.  Cinnamon Pinecones: Whoever invented these horrid things should be slapped.. hard!! I hate them! It seems like every store places them right at the front door to overwhelm you with their poison. My eyes burn and I end up sneezing with every wiff. Last year I enjoyed a rather nasty cinnamon pinecone induced asthma attack. Not fun..

2. Spiders in the house- The cooler nights have made the spiders move in with a vengence this year. I cannot use harsh bug sprays due to the birds so they sneak in. I found a huge one by the front door. It was so big I could see the hair on it! I did the shrieking spider dance of horror till Brian got home and slayed it with a shoe.

3. Snarky people in the craft stores- Everyone is preparing for the upcoming holidays which means long lines, mean people and near misses in the parking lots. Do everyone a favor and put on a happy face this year. Don't be one of those crabby old ladies that yell at the poor checkers about long lines. Spread a bit of cheer for a change.

Last but not least yummy recipe of the week:

Chocolate Peanut butter Whoopie Pies from Martha Stewart:

http://www.marthastewart.com/335347/peanut-butter-whoopie-pies

VEB

A Dragon Hoard

This past weekend and much of the week has been spent cleaning my craft/library room. I was really good about getting a rid of extra craft supplies and lets face it, useless junk. However, when it came to my books I was a bit more picky.

I tend to hoard books. I am also very protective of them. They are my children and I worry when they are out in the world. Silly right? I wonder if anyone else does this. I feel like a dragon protecting its gold only it's books. I want to curl up on them and keep them safe. (Much like this picture)


I managed to let go of many craft and recipe books. Let's face it the digital age has made it way easy to look up recipes and craft instructions. It is faster than digging through a book shelf and scanning through the pages. I kept a few treasured gifts from family and friends. The rest will go to the used books stores to buy more books! (I have credit all over town)

The rest of my collection is loosely organized into a Valerie style cataloging system. I am a huge fan of re-written fairy tales, princess stories, and fantasy fiction so that collection takes up almost a whole bookcase.
I have a large section of Jane Austen and related tales (even the horrid spin offs). I also have gardening, cooking, art/crafts/photography, historical fiction, Christian fiction/non-fiction, and general books. Lastly, and I admit I am a bit ashamed, is my growing collection of Star trek, space novels and graphic novels. It seems like a lot but really it only takes up two large shelves and one medium sized shelf. My mini library..

As a book hoarding dragon I have to have copies of my favorite titles. I have yet to get an e-reader and am still not sold on the idea. I realize their merit but my budget will not allow for one just yet. Maybe if they would format all of my textbooks into e-books I would save the money and get one. For now I will stay curled up around my books and enjoy their paper pages.

Cheers~
VEB