angry chicken

flavored syrups

I've had two amazing drinks on heavy rotation this summer. Both were copied from ones I had bought, a Hibiscus Iced Tea from Tea Bar and a Lavender Matcha Milk Tea which was a special at Maplewood Cafe. My homemade ones don't taste exactly the same, but are delicious. I realized they must be using flavored syrups (I think?) so I made my own.

To make the syrups:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon dreid lavender (or 3 cinnamon sticks)

Boil for 3 minutes, let cool for 20 minutes, strain and put in bottles and store in the fridge. I kept the cinnamon sticks in mine because it's pretty.

Then I added the syrups to taste after making the hibiscus iced tea (Tea Bar uses carbonated water. I never have any so make it flat) or the matcha milk tea. Amazing!!

Unrelated:

Thank you so much for all your tips about audio books and tips on getting them. I had also forgotten about the Hoopla app I have on my phone, which is also through our library (like Overdrive) and the UI is really easy to use—so I just downloaded 5 books from there. Yippee!

plant wall

I took down our needlework wall and have been working on this plant wall for a few months. It's still evolving. The wood panels came from craft warehouse and I glued various items to the wood to make little homes for the airplants. The bottom panel has 3 test tubes I can use for single stems—or grasses in this case. I'm so happy with how this turned out, it's so fun to tinker with. I still might add some plants to the bottom panel. I mounted the orchid on the left, which was really easy and very satisfying.

We have had busy end-of-summer weekend. Oaks Park, a sleep over, picking up a child from overnight camp, baby sitting a 1 1/2 year old all day, and attending the last night of Faerieworlds, 2017. This gathering is so great, please search google images "faerieworlds" to see all the amazing costumes. This was all in the last 48 hours. It's still so hot here, summer won't quit, which is fine with me. I love fall, but as I get older, I really like the warm, and the light.

Okay, is there anyplace to buy audio books besides audible? I get them from our library, which is great, but has some limitations, and there are a ton for free (in that copyright infring-y way) on you tube, but anywhere else to buy them? I just hate the idea of paying a monthly fee at audible and having to buy the audio book. grrr. 

LSP in the house. Or, in this case, the car.

The world seems to have gone bonkers. And the eclipse is coming up so Portland has gone a bit crazy because we are so close to the path of totality. That sound like a book title. The Path of Totality. It probably is. I'm not going to look.

Lydia and I made a huge Lumpy Space Princess (from Adventure Time) and she has been traveling with us, even on vacation. She was so fun to make. She is huge. Way bigger than reasonable.

I finished reading Mister Monkey and really liked it and now am reading Swing Time.

Craft-wise I have been all over the place, but hope to focus my efforts on building some stairs for my doll house that lives at my mom's. I also need to get the wallpaper in and the wood flooring. This has led me to you tube which has resulted in too much time watching miniatures being made. I find this very relaxing. 

beating the heat

I'm not sure how hot it is here today. My phone says 102°. It feels about 115°.

We have no AC. At all. Long story, but our windows don't easily take window units and central air is a big "thing" involving a new furnace and new electrical and all that, so we just suffer every summer, but it's not usually for very long. This year it's bad. The cats are sleeping in the shower. The dogs are just dumb and won't go into the basement where it's cooler. Yesterday was bonkers so I am having a portable ac until overnighted to the house. There are none left in Oregon to buy. I will then hack together a college style foam core make-shift thing to get the venting out of our sliding glass door screen. It will be awesome. I feel like the house is regressing a bit this year. What with the basement flooding and rug that got torn up and isn't replaced yet, and all.

This orange vanilla cupcake and iced espresso made me feel much better. Market of Choice is nicely air-conditioned. Also making me feel good is the great book list Alicia put together from her comments. I am reading Mr. Monkey right now and like it a whole lot. I had to read it because it's called Mr. Monkey. I'm off to get in my air-conditioned car to buy linen to make a comfy bag-like dress. Or 3.