Come meet Mia aka: Sonic Sally Mia because everyone has an opinion on what she should be called.  We are hogsitting her for the summer and we are in love!  She's a bit spikey, but very lovable. She spends evenings running around our bed, hiding under pillows and trying to burrow into Dave's shirt.  Priceless.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. This was a great read if you like a mystery.... it is a bit gorry and some parts were very disturbing ~ so be warned (overall nothing you wouldn't see during prime time TV).  I hear they are making it into a movie again, it would make a great movie in my opinion.

There is a lot to the storyline and I wouldn't know how to go about telling it... so.... there is a great synopsis HERE on wikipedia.

I will be looking for the next one in the series.... "The Girl Who Played With Fire".

Here it is..
You might be asking yourself... where do you get a shower curtain that big.... well, I'm glad you asked.  It's actually a canvas painting tarp that we got at the hardware store.  I had to cut in half and sew it back together to make it skinny and long, instead of a huge square.  Then I added big grommets to the top to put hooks through.  The poles are obviously from the property and we had the rope lying around.  Overall I think the whole thing cost about $20.

Well, let's catch up on some reading again...
For May I read "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone.  Normally I'm not into anything written by a celebrity but this one got such good reviews I decided to check it out anyway.  I actually think she did a great job.  She had lots of good info, lots of Dr.'s backing her up, and I was inspired.  Nice.  She has a website that's really good in case you can't get your mitts on her book: The Kind Life Website 

While I'm not a vegan I would say after reading her book I might qualify as a quasi-vegan.  I'd say I'm now vegan about 90% of the time.  But lets face it.... cheese is from cows, and that's a hard drug to drop.  I also love my cream in my coffee in the morning.  Other than that I have cut out pretty much all my other animal products.  I feel pretty darn sweet.  If I could just break the cheese addiction....

1 1/2 cups quinoa flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. veg oil

Measure and mix all dry stuff in a big bowl.
Whisk together wet stuff!
Add to flour mixture and stir just until blended.
use 1/4 cup per pancake in a nice hot greased pan.
Serve with maple syrup, pecans, and whipped cream.
YUM.

My first Baby Shower Cake.  It was a fun one....

Well the back window of our pick-up cap is finally fixed.  I'm not going to point any fingers but SOMEBODY was driving the truck with the window up and smashed it out.  The sound could be heard for miles and was akin to a grenade going off.  Needless to say.... no more window.

We looked into buying a replacement window.... and looked at the guy at Truck World as if he had just lost his mind.....  You want HOW MUCH for a piece of glass?  Did you blow it yourself?

We looked at getting a new cap on Kijiji (where we found our current one) and found some nice deals but I would have to REPAINT, and WASTE the one we have.... that seemed pretty wrong.

SO..... we made one.  Perfect...it is not.  Functional... yes.  Funky.... FOR SURE!

Pictures....ok:

In process....

Glue is drying....


Installed and painted.

I don't know how long it will last, but for now it works.

Chapter 1: How is a street prostitute like a department-store Santa?
Chapter 2: Why should suicide bombers buy life insurance?
Chapter 3: Unbelievable stories about apathy and altruism
Chapter 4: The fix is in---and it's cheap and simple
Chapter 5: What do Al Gore and Mount Pinatubo have in common?



OK, onto April.  That one was a bit more disturbing.

BUYOLOGY by Lindstrom

From The Hippie Moose

It was a bit of a wake-up call in terms of being more aware of advertisers and how pervasive the whole business is.  It's everywhere, the price they pay to do it could end world hunger, and it makes me sick. If anything I have stopped buying anything I don't need to.
I will cover one of those things in my next post...... but I digress.

Both books came from my local library and I would recommend both for different reasons.

NEXT BOOK.... something a little more uplifting.

I just walked into my sons room. 
I turned. 
I walked out. 
Who instructed these two in the use of explosives? 
When did it go off? 
Why didn't I hear anything?

I could freak out.
I'm not going to.
I'm just going to give them both big hugs,

From The Hippie Moose