Ren Fest 2014

This past weekend was the day of our annual trip to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, which doubles as our annual vacation most years (our one day out-of-state for the year).  Beautiful weather, and a nice person gave us a coupon for a free child admission while we were standing in line. 

Sadly, no cinnamon crunchy almond vendor  this year. :(  I'll just have to figure out how to make my own. 

Also, the Boy has become a shopper.  Came home with a hat, a fan, and a wand. 

He also met a mermaid and got to be a dwarf in a fairy tale performance. 

And he spent 5 hours asking how much longer we were going to be there, then 3 hours asking how much longer until we were home.  Patience is not his strong suit. 

Yard saling

Fundraiser yard sale on Friday. 

$24.25

$10 - Cat carrier (for future pet rabbit)
$2 - DVD, season 2 of Pioneers of television (including Sci Fi and Westerns)
$6 - 3 CDs - Keola Beamer, They Might Be Giants, and Darius Rucker
$1 - baggie of Lego
$2 - Puzz3D of Camelot
.50 - green crochet thread
.50 - plushie turtle
.25 - bouncy ball (I think we were overcharged but oh well)
.50 - Lord of the Rings journal
$1 - 2 magazine holders
.50 - something else I've forgotten

Thrift store day

Nothing outrageous today, but I did get 11 partial or whole balls of crochet thread for 50 cents each, and a box of notecards (all 20 still there) for $1, with pictures of yachts on the front. 

More gardening

Herb garden is mostly done. Tier planter has mints in the bottom pots, top is seeded in thyme, oregano, and tarragon. Big square planter has two kinds of basil. Still need to plant lavender plant.

Garden progress

Garden/yard progress Planted 6-packs of zinnia and marigold today. Ate our first salad from the garden yesterday - spinach, lettuce, radishes. Spent 2 hours outside Sunday, moved 5 clumps of hosta, planted 2 bleeding hearts (lace leaved) and 2 columbine. Still have a crap ton of plants to get in the ground. Missed my chance last weekend, Saturday was cool and good for planting, but we were doing boring family stuff.

Treasure Hunting Weekend

This weekend was the weekend for the first big Friends of the Library sale of the year - paperbacks for 50 cents, and other random finds.  I bought a few dozen books (under $30) and got a big box of maps and random travel goodies for free.  I've got a craft idea or two for the maps, other than a few neat ones to keep. I took a quick look through the box this morning - not so many maps, lots of travel brochures from all over the world.  Korea, Mexico, Europe.  There were a few dozen unused postcards, too, which is a nice bonus. 

On the way to and from the book sale, I went to a thrift store and two biggish rummage sales.  One was a fundraiser for a school group, the other was a church group fundraiser.

School fundraiser:  A kid's weaving loom, made of wood and with all the parts for $8, and a Nanoblocks space shuttle for $1 (which may or may not have all the pieces, and may or may not drive me crazy, because those pieces are tiny)

Church sale:  Scrabble cube game (old!!), 25c bag of yarn for the loom kit, a glass bottle to use as a vase, and a tea tin.

Thrift store:  one CD of Hawaiian music, and two books on the Challenger space shuttle.

Bluebird season

The bluebirds are back.  We've seen 3 visiting occasionally - can't tell how many males or females yet.  They actually snack out of the sunflower seed feeder, visit the birdbath, and seem to be staking a claim on the bluebird box.  Hopefully they won't have the problems they had last summer, and can hatch more than one set of eggs. 

I am tempted to buy some mealworms for them, even at the insane price of $15+ per pound.  The most I pay for anything else is $2/pound for the high-protein peanut mix that the jays like, and even that I mix with black-oil sunflower seed (50 cents/pound).