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Standing Member » Lissa » Blog » Archive » August 2008

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29
Aug
2008
Lissa

Not How We Planned to Spend the Day

by LissaComment Published at 17:3417:341 comments1 comments7 Visits7 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

We had a bit of an adventure yesterday. Not the good kind. But before I go on, I’ll hasten to say that the baby is fine, and I’m okay, and all will be well.

Whew.

I seem to have contracted some kind of stomach bug or food poisoning. No one else in the family is sick (a good thing). I woke up early yesterday and the vomiting started right away, along with other kinds of g/i nastiness. When Scott got up and saw what kind of shape I was in, he called his office to say he’d be taking the day off. ...

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27
Aug
2008
Lissa

Methinks Someone Was Ready for a Nap

by LissaComment Published at 14:1414:140 comments0 comments1 Visits1 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

27
Aug
2008
Lissa

Hmm, I Think We’ll Keep Looking, Dear

by LissaComment Published at 07:2207:220 comments0 comments1 Visits1 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Beanie has a suggestion for what we should name the baby: Peccatoribus.

Me: “Um. Isn’t that Latin for ’sinners’?”

Bean: “Yup. But it’s got a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

***

This reminds me of three-year-old Jane’s first choice for Rose’s name, some ten years ago:

“Bloomingdales Abednego Peterson.”

(We lived in New York City at the time, remember.)

We went with her second choice instead. You’re welcome, Rose.

25
Aug
2008
Lissa

Bloggone It

by LissaComment Published at 20:3820:380 comments0 comments1 Visits1 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

I’m still missing some three hundred subscribers…if you’re reading this on the blog and wondering why my recent posts haven’t popped up in your feed reader, it probably means you’re among the people who were suddenly unsubscribed by my Feedburner snafu last week.

And I’m still hearing from readers whose IP addresses have been blocked from loading the site, for reasons neither I nor my hardworking web person can fathom. If you are one of those people, send me your IP address and we’ll get you unblocked. (But how will you know to do this, if you can’t load the blog ...

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25
Aug
2008
Lissa

It’s Not My Turn to Look for Grandma

by LissaComment Published at 07:3407:340 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Is that not the best title ever? I originally posted this picture book review in February, 2005. I’m reposting it now because this book is no longer in print, and I want you to grab it if you ever spot it in a library sale. (I believe you can still get it through the author’s website, too, and there’s even a version on CD which includes other stories and music. Note to self: remember this at Christmastime.)

It’s Not My Turn to Look for Grandma by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by George Booth. George Booth!

Grandma3Dawn ...

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24
Aug
2008
Lissa

Saturday Links

by LissaComment Published at 07:1507:150 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

(New del.icio.us links appear in my sidebar daily, but I thought I’d round up the past week’s worth here in one post.)

22
Aug
2008
Lissa

Poetry Friday: The Water Is Wide

by LissaComment Published at 07:5807:580 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Another old Scots ballad I’ve been humming almost incessantly lately.

The water is wide,
I canna cross o’er.
Neither have I wings to fly.
Give me a boat that can carry two,
And both shall row,
my love and I.

A ship there is,
And she sails the sea.
She’s loaded deep as deep can be.
But not so deep
As the love I’m in…
I know not if I sink or swim.

I love these old songs so very much. This one goes way, way back, and has many variations, some Scottish, some English. The most common version, the one I’ve quoted above, goes on to tell a very sad tale of ...

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21
Aug
2008
Lissa

Attention Bonny Glen Subscribers

by LissaComment Published at 18:4018:400 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

I’ve just discovered that over half of my subscribers have been unsubbed. I don’t know why or how, but there it is. If you wouldn’t mind resubbing, that would be ducky. Thanks so much.

Of course here again we have the problem of the people who need the message not being able to see the message. If any of you feel like spreading the news, I would really appreciate it!

21
Aug
2008
Lissa

Feedback (Ba Dum Bum)

by LissaComment Published at 07:3407:340 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Well, in addition to the Mystery of the Blocked IPs, we now get to add the Mystery of the Wonky Feeds on Bloglines to this week’s blog drama. It seems some Bloglines users are finding that when they click through from my feed in their reader, they wind up at Old Bonny Glen (Typepad) instead of here at New Bonny Glen (Wordpress). As best I can figure, this is the result of my having accidentally and for two minutes only reconnected the Typepad blog to my Feedburner feed, which blunder I discovered immediately, because suddenly a six-month-old Typepad post (the ...

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20
Aug
2008
Lissa

Site Loading Problem Discovered

by LissaComment Published at 10:5410:540 comments0 comments1 Visits1 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

If you are reading this in a reader but are unable to get the site to load when you click through, it means your IP address is suddenly being blocked for some mysterious reason. Email me your IP address and I’ll get you unblocked posthaste. (You can look up your IP address at http://whatismyip.com.)

Now: what to do about people who are being blocked but don’t subscribe to my feed, and therefore won’t have any way to see this message??? I sure hope they will send me a note to say they can’t get the site to load.

In the meantime, I’m ...

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19
Aug
2008
Lissa

Mom, I Am NOT Going to Read that Book!

by LissaComment Published at 20:0320:030 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Would it surprise you to hear that this was the declaration of my amiable thirteen-year-old daughter—about one of my favorite books—and her words delighted me?

Because what Jane meant, what she followed this adamant statement with, was that she wants me to read the rest of Sense and Sensibility to her, because she so enjoyed hearing the first two chapters read aloud this afternoon. I admit I’m a bit of a ham and I tackle the accents with immense relish. (Former drama major, what can I say?)

She hasn’t read any Jane Austen yet (I think she tried Pride and Prejudice a ...

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19
Aug
2008
Lissa

Site Loading Problems

by LissaComment Published at 05:5105:510 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

This is one of those posts that makes no sense, because the people who could use the information are the very ones who won’t be able to see it. I’ve heard from a few readers that they have been unable to load Bonny Glen for the past few weeks. I’m working on discovering and solving the problem, but in the meantime, if you do see this post and know anyone who is having trouble, here’s a temporary solution you could share (and I’d be ever so grateful):

Try this link instead: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bonnyglen

That should load my blog’s feed, which is a stripped-down, ...

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18
Aug
2008
Lissa

Visit the August Carnival of Children’s Literature

by LissaComment Published at 06:4606:460 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

At Chicken Spaghetti!

Edited: Did I say July? See what happens when you get up too early?

15
Aug
2008
Lissa

Sometimes I Can Be Hard-of-Learning

by LissaComment Published at 20:3420:340 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Today was the Solemnity of the Assumption, a holy day for us. We went to the 9 a.m. Mass at the chapel of a local nursing home run by Carmelite sisters. The kids and I sat in the last row, but the boy grew too noisy, and I had to take the two little ones out to the lobby. By “too noisy” I mean he’s in this phase where his favorite favorite thing is to ruff-ruff like a puppy. There we were in this tiny little chapel full of nuns and elderly people, and my son was barking. During the ...

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15
Aug
2008
Lissa

Sometimes I Can Be Hard-of-Learning

by LissaComment Published at 18:4718:470 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Today was the Solemnity of the Assumption, a holy day for us. We went to the 9 a.m. Mass at the chapel of a local nursing home run by Carmelite sisters. The kids and I sat in the last row, but the boy grew too noisy, and I had to take the two little ones out to the lobby. By "too noisy" I mean he's in this phase where his favorite favorite thing is to ruff-ruff like a puppy. There we were in this tiny little chapel full of nuns and elderly people, and my son was barking. During the homily. Embarrassing much? You could say that.

So ...

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15
Aug
2008
Lissa

Places I've Learned about Plants

by LissaComment Published at 11:5211:520 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Genevieve asked:

Okay.. maybe this is a silly question but how do go about learning about plants? We are surrounded by some beautifully landscaped areas but I have no clue how to start. The Peterson’s and Golden Guides are for “wild plants”. I seem to in the mood of firing off questions at your blog, Lissa. :)

Not a silly question at all. Great question. I'm sure others will have lots of advice here, so please chime in, folks.

My best advice is to start with a good nursery in your area. Spend some time just browsing the aisles, especially looking out for plants you've seen in your neighborhood ...

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15
Aug
2008
Lissa

Places I’ve Learned about Plants

by LissaComment Published at 07:0307:030 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Genevieve asked:

Okay.. maybe this is a silly question but how do go about learning about plants? We are surrounded by some beautifully landscaped areas but I have no clue how to start. The Peterson’s and Golden Guides are for “wild plants”. I seem to in the mood of firing off questions at your blog, Lissa. :)

Not a silly question at all. Great question. I’m sure others will have lots of advice here, so please chime in, folks.

My best advice is to start with a good nursery in your area. Spend some time just browsing the aisles, especially looking out for ...

Click here to read the entire blog post

15
Aug
2008
Lissa

More Quick Book Notes

by LissaComment Published at 06:0706:070 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Things I noticed the kids reading yesterday:

Jane—Fabre’s Book of Insects. Classic living book of essays about, surprise, insects. Jean Henri Fabre wrote a number of excellent books on insects and animals. Here are some you can peek at at Google Books.

Rose—Ace, the Very Important Pig. A chuckler by one of her favorite authors, Dick King-Smith. (He also wrote Babe. Matter of fact, Ace is Babe’s great-grandpiglet.)

Beanie—Stephen Kellogg’s Johnny Appleseed. Delightful art, and who doesn’t love this story? Stephen Kellogg’s art can be quite busy, which in my experience tends to overwhelm very young children (three or four years old) but is captivating for six- and seven-year-olds.

14
Aug
2008
Lissa

From the Archives: Life on the Trail

by LissaComment Published at 20:5220:520 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Originally published in Februrary 2005.

It’s been a rough morning. Our wagon tipped over while fording a river, and we lost fifty pounds of salt pork and our only shotgun. Then Rose took sick—cholera, we think—and died before we could do anything about it.

My girls are undaunted by this stunning double tragedy. They push on across the prairie, estimating the number of miles to the next fort. Maybe we can trade our mule for a new gun.

“At least we still have the fishing pole,” says Rose. She seems to have accepted her own death gracefully.

“I don’t like wattlesnakes,” announces Beanie.

Jane cracks ...

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14
Aug
2008
Lissa

Book Notes: August

by LissaComment Published at 07:3307:330 comments0 comments3 Visits3 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

A few remarks on things we’ve read or are reading around here…

What Makes a Raphael a Raphael by Richard Muhlberger. About ten years ago, I heard that the What Makes a… series was going out of print and I snapped up the five titles I could find. I think they’ve since been reissued with new covers, so they’re not all lost and gone as I feared they would be. But I’m glad I made the purchase way back then. We love these books. They are slim paperbacks will full-color reproductions of paintings, many paintings, by the ...

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12
Aug
2008
Lissa

100 Species Challenge Participants

by LissaComment Published at 08:0008:000 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

100 Species ChallengeHere’s a list of bloggers who are participating in scsours’s very cool 100 Species Challenge.

scsours, who started it all

The Bookworm (England)

Sandra Dodd (New Mexico)

The Common Room family

Monica (Romania)

Carmon at Buried Treasure

Learn-O-Rama (North Carolina)

Zoo on Wheels

applechexx

Yellow House Homeschool (Southeastern France)

Kathy at Restoration Place

Melanie at Wine-Dark Sea

Patricia at Wonderfarm (Northern California)

Ann of Holy Experience

Fiddler of Rockhound Place (New England)

MamaB at My Little Soapbox

JoVE’s family at Tricotmania

Angi at 4 Is Crazy

MacBeth (Long Island)

Love2Learn Mom (Wisconsin)

Ivy at Spinning Lovely Days

Theresa in Alaska said she might participate. I hope she does! Alaska! And several other commenters have said they might join in. I’ll add those links as they come.

Here’s my family’s running list ...

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12
Aug
2008
Lissa

New Year’s Resolutions, Anyone?

by LissaComment Published at 06:4806:480 comments0 comments1 Visits1 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

My friend Jordan’s friend Lynne Schreiber could use your help:

I am writing an article for Better Homes and Gardens about making New Year’s resolutions with your kids and as a family. If you know anyone who does this with their kid or kids or as a family, please let me know. I have tons of experts who can speak to this matter but I need real people, too. Thank you!

Is this a family tradition for you? If so, Lynne would like to hear your story. She can be reached at lynne (at) lynneschreiber (dot) com, or visit her website.

12
Aug
2008
Lissa

Aug. 28: Tasha Tudor Remembrance Day

by LissaComment Published at 05:3505:350 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Tasha Tudor Remembrance Day

Cay has all the details.

11
Aug
2008
Lissa

Feels that Way Sometimes, Doesn’t It?

by LissaComment Published at 07:2507:250 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Beanie’s first words to me this morning:

“Mom, a fact just blundered into my mind.”

11
Aug
2008
Lissa

From the Wayback Machine: Parts of Speech Car Game

by LissaComment Published at 07:2507:250 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Originally published in November, 2005 as “The Purple Cow Hula-Hooped Boisterously.”

This is a game we played in the car yesterday, all the way to town and back. I assigned each of the girls a part of speech: noun, verb, adjective, adverb (one girl had to take two parts in each round). From there it went something like this:

Me: Miss Noun, what is it?

Beanie: A giraffe!

Me: Miss Adjective, what kind of giraffe?

Jane: A hungry giraffe.

Me: Miss Verb, what did the hungry giraffe do?

Rose: It bounced!

Me: Miss Adverb, how did the hungry giraffe bounce?

Jane: Enthusiastically!

All together: THE HUNGRY GIRAFFE BOUNCED ENTHUSIASTICALLY!

Wonderboy: Huh?

09
Aug
2008
Lissa

The 100 Species Challenge

by LissaComment Published at 07:1807:180 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Updated to add this link to our family’s running list.

At The Common Room I learned about the 100 Species Challenge, the brainchild of scsours over at xanga. The idea, sparked by a quote about how few people can name a hundred plant species in their own neighborhood, is to become the exception to that observation by learning to identify the flora of your own surroundings.

Back in Virginia, we could have filled up our list right quick! But here in San Diego, as I’ve mentioned before, a good many of the plants are new to us. No longer can I dazzle ...

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07
Aug
2008
Lissa

Poetry Friday: With Apologies to Margaret Wise Brown

by LissaComment Published at 20:5320:530 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Well of course I had to pull the green bag poem out of the comments for Poetry Friday this week.

If you missed the beginning of the conversation, a commenter referred to my “great green bag,” which sounded so much like Goodnight Moon’s “great green room” that I couldn’t resist a bit of spoofery:

In the great green bag
There was a cellular phone
And a box of mints
And fifty-two cents
And seven receipts
And a package of treats
And a stray Life Saver all alone
And diapers and wipes
And what’s that? Oh cripes!
The remnants, now mush,
Of things from that bush…
Some kind of berry
Stains like a cherry
My keys ...

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07
Aug
2008
Lissa

Day Planners for Moms

by LissaComment Published at 07:1607:160 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

I’m updating the links (and lost images) for the day planner series I ran at Lilting House two years ago (with a follow-up last summer). My readers are a planner-loving crowd, because those were some of my most popular posts ever. All the Lilting House links are dead now, and it took me a while to update the links. “Image not available” is still showing up in some of the posts, but I’m slowly replacing them. When I imported Lilting House to Bonny Glen, images did not transfer. (A giant pain in the neck.)

...

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07
Aug
2008
Lissa

Best Comment Thread Ever

by LissaComment Published at 05:1605:160 comments0 comments1 Visits1 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

People are sharing their Costco (and Sam’s) shopping lists in the comments. Care to add yours? I am learning a lot. Am also getting hungry.

06
Aug
2008
Lissa

Day in the Life

by LissaComment Published at 20:2120:210 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

I wrote this for my daily notes blog but halfway through decided I wanted to ask the Costco question here so am sticking it here instead. Forgive the chatty blah blah and lazy writing.

Really nice day, though at the outset I thought it was going to be too busy. Turned out to be productive (in the a.m.) and mellow (in the p.m.).

Piano classes first thing. Rose was deeply troubled by a back tooth about to come out, afraid it would fall out during class and there’s no bathroom right there and what would she do?? I told her she could ...

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06
Aug
2008
Lissa

From the Archives: Things to Buy Instead of Curriculum

by LissaComment Published at 08:3208:320 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Excerpted from a Lilting House post I wrote in July 2006.

(Updated with suggestions for wee ones in the comments.)

Here is a list of Some Particularly Cool Stuff My Kids and I Have Learned a Ton From or Just Plain Had a Good Time With:

Settlers of Catan, the board game. Jane got this for Christmas last year. We’ve been obsessed ever since. Except when our friends hijack it and keep it for weeks because it is that great a game.

Signing Time DVDs. Catchy songs, immensely useful vocabulary in American Sign Language. I trumpet these wherever I go. We talk about Rachel ...

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05
Aug
2008
Lissa

Poetry Tuesday?

by LissaComment Published at 08:5108:510 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Having some fun in the comments

04
Aug
2008
Lissa

I Bet the Snails Smelled Worse

by LissaComment Published at 18:1018:100 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

I already put this Blue Yonder post in my Google Shared Items, but I know from my stat counter that only about a dozen of you will click through, and this post is waaaay too funny to be missed: Purple Daze.

“I want you to know that my house stinks. It stinks really badly. It stinks like a man from Tyre.”

We took our own little purple dye rabbit trail once, but I wasn’t ambitious enough to promise a tie-dyeing session of our own. (This is possibly a case of the shoemaker’s children going barefoot. Goodness knows I wrote enough natural dyes ...

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04
Aug
2008
Lissa

From the Archives: The Rabbit-Trailer’s Soundtrack

by LissaComment Published at 06:2006:200 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Originally posted March 28, 2005

B000000pg301_scmzzzzzzz_Yesterday my kids pulled out a CD we used to listen to all the time: the soundtrack to Snoopy: The Musical. This was a play I loved as a teenager, when it was performed by some friends at a different high school. I had a crackly tape recording of a dress rehearsal which my sisters and I listened to ad nauseum. We had, after all, outgrown the soundtrack to Annie by then, and I had yet to discover the melodramatic satisfaction that is Les Miz.

So when Jane was five or six and I, for no particular ...

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03
Aug
2008
Lissa

Look Who Made the Paper

by LissaComment Published at 19:3119:310 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Why, none other than our pal Theresa of LaPaz Home Learning:

Homeschooling: Alaskan Family Shares on Blog

This family is all about exploring - from making their own nets to catch wildlife for study to traveling around the United States and Canada, rediscovering the beauty of North America. They use technology, including a digital camera and the Internet, but they also use a lot of old-fashioned, low-tech methods - notebooks and journals to record their observations, complete with impressive, hand-drawn illustrations. In this way, they can capture images of the gorgeous flora and fauna they are studying, and also produce original educational resources in the process.

It’s a ...

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03
Aug
2008
Lissa

Bag Lady

by LissaComment Published at 15:3015:300 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

So I copped to having kind of a thing for bags, and I promised some pictures.

This is the first bag I wrote about, the pretty little summer bag made by Heather of Beauty That Moves.

Heather’s photo is prettier (petunias!), but this is the bag’s regular spot now, hanging from our front door. (When I’m at home, I mean.)

(Boy do I need to wipe down that doorjamb.)

Moments after I snapped that picture, I caught a pickpocket in the act. Crime scene photo is blurry because the culprit moves fast.

Caught ...

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02
Aug
2008
Lissa

Saturday Miscellany

by LissaComment Published at 20:5320:530 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

All right, all right, I’ll post a picture of the Green Bag tomorrow. Can’t tonight because my camera’s out there and I’m in here.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this shot by my pal Kristen “Hey, Joss Whedon! Yay!” Rutherford. Does she not take the best photos?

Some of you will not be seeing this post for a few days, due to that browser glitch we discussed a while back. I mention it now only as a reminder: if your browser is afflicted by the glitch, you can get around it ...

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01
Aug
2008
Lissa

About That Bag I Bought at the San Diego Comic-Con

by LissaComment Published at 06:5506:550 comments0 comments0 Visits0 VisitsReport
This post is from from my other blog here

Funny story. I went out into the lobby to unpack all the paper wadding from the new bag so I could put my own stuff inside it. (Clerk: “Do you want a bag for your bag?” Me: “This IS a bag for my bag!”) I knelt against a wall, as many other con-goers were doing, resting their tired feet, and commenced setting up housekeeping in the loverly new bag. A guy leaning against the wall nearby complimented me on my purchase, particularly on its lime green hue. I thanked him and said I’d been torn between the green one and ...

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