Annie -- continued

More on Annie Liebovitz's financial picture... partly grief (losing her father, as well as Susan Sontag), and partly careless. And it sounds like she has lived a little careless her entire professional life -- and now it's caught up to her.

All these parts...and 100% sad. Not to mention it could have been avoided all along the way. Even with incredible talent, you still have to be able to pay your bills.

Sad.

Stuff on the Way to Other Stuff

Could you use a free bottle of rice vinegar? (It's great for salads.) All that's needed: fill out a short survey, and give them your mailing address. Go here to start. (Thanks so much, Money Saving Mom, for mentioning this!) Rice vinegar was on my shopping list, anyways...

Don't forget about Taco Bell's special for Coloradoans -- if the Rockies score 7 or more runs, tacos are 4 for a buck, as long as you buy a drink, too. The Rocks are back to winning games (Yay!), so this actually matters. We practically had to fight our way through the crowd on Sunday night at our local Taco Bell, and nearly everyone was ordering the Rockies Special. Guess the word has spread...

Laurie at Crazy Aunt Purl has one of the prettiest knitting patterns I've ever seen -- a sort of interlaced squares thing going on. It's called entrelac, and she's also posted instructions on her July 20 post. (Or go directly here.) I'm a sucker for Laurie's color choices -- she's big on heathery nature-based shades...and hey, I like her kitties. She also has some good salad recipes for that rice vinegar.

and finally, take a look at my editor's blog...she's got a very interesting 60s strip quilt featured right now.

One more thing: if you see a large group of people standing in line at Wal-Mart's pharmacy window, do not -- I repeat, DO NOT -- go anywhere near them. It could well be a signal that the latest version of flu has hit town, and if you get close, you will be walking through a fog of coughing, sneezing, snuffling, etc..
And then guess what happens?
Lesson learned -- the hard way.

Have a great weekend.

Yow!

The world record for kayaking over a waterfall has been shattered -- 186 feet. Picture dropping the equivalent of a multi-floor building...fast.

It's not the Sears Tower, but hey, I'm impressed. Nobody kayaks down the Sears Tower!

Overcast the last few days... an incredible blessing. We even got a bunch of rain. I've had a big batch of quilts to appraise, and it is much easier doing it in cool weather. Husband even went and got a jacket for supper last night while we were eating out on the terrace; we were drinking hot tea and he said, "I think this is a sign of fall coming." Don't know about that -- we have such dog days in August -- but I'm willing to hope.

The zucchini plants in the pots on the terrace are huge, with little fruits the size of my little finger -- and growing fast.

Finder's Keepers, Losers Keepers?

Didja hear about the Brits who found a lottery ticket -- that won 30,000 pounds?! They apparently found out pretty quick who was the original owner (who accidentally lost it on the floor of a supermarket), and did their darndest to keep her from getting it back.

Didn't work. But the original owner also only gets half the value of the ticket -- 15,000 pounds, plus some interest. Ironically, that's all that's left from the prize-- the finders spent the rest of the money already.

Gives a new meaning to "money burning a hole in your pocket," doesn't it!

A Discouraging Setback

I was trudging through the final pages of the proofs last night, when I came on a note from the technical editor -- she thought I'd miscalculated on a block size. I was figuring cutting requirements, etc. for a 12" block -- but she thought it was 14".

She was wrong, in that it wasn't 14". But she was right -- it was really 13"!

Sigh.

And of course, it was the ONE BLOCK in the book that's used in three different quilts.

Double sigh.

After kicking myself up and down the boulevard, I set to and refigured all the sizes, yardages, cutting and assembly instructions for the three quilts. It took all night to carefully check everything, then continue on with the regular proofing. I e-mailed the last of it this morning to my editor...who, I'm sure, would be more than happy to cheerfully strangle me. And I deserve it.

Thank God, though, this got caught before the book went out in print.

And now I think I will take a quick snooze, before the heat shuts me down altogether. I need to make a quick run to the post office, and be available for questions on the book. I will be very grateful when this finally makes it to the printer.

Children...and Coffee

Don't forget...McDonald's is still offering a free mocha, hot or iced, on Mondays. I've intended to get my heinie down there, but tomorrow will be the first time. Haven't had the car much on Mondays.

Our children -- I have been thinking the past few days on how proud I am of the girlies. Daughter #1 just started work as a waitress for a Denver area sushi/Japanese grill, and has been working her tushie off. In the same period, she also found a nice place to stay that is 1)more comfortable, 2)more congenial roommates (Jack and Tim), and 3)is closer to work. Plus, instead of paying rent PLUS utilities, she'll be paying just a little more than Boulder -- and getting nearly all the utilities thrown in!
And she is planning on how she'll go back to school.
This is a kiddo who has struggled this year with some very difficult situations. The only way she could get through them was patience -- over and over and over again. And she's been doing it. I have confidence the job and the living quarters are the start to a much more rewarding life. I'm proud of her for continuing to plug away at it.

Daughter #2 is still working at the Boulder jewelry boutique (with increasing responsibilities), and trudging through a jeweler/appraiser course, assignment by assignment. It's not the the most pleasant around here to be tapping away at the computer late at night, after you've already put in a full day's work. But she's kept on and persevered...and I'm proud of her, too, for continuing to plug away at it.

Daughter #2 turns 21 in little more than a week, and her older sister turns 23 less than a week after that. It's hard to believe they're this old. Wonderful, nonetheless, to see them making thoughtful choices -- adult choices. We love them both so much.

Fly Me to the Moon...

Brand-new on Google: now you can land on the moon!

Check out the various Apollo missions' landing sites and examine the Moon, section by section.

Close-up.

Wow.