Let's Get this Show on the Road

It's time for me to get out Conor's baby book so I can record the latest entry, Baby's First Burning Man. There's a spot for that, right? It's just past the page with Baby's First Beer and right before the entry for Baby's First...nevermind Mom Does NOT Want To Know.

Okay so he's not a baby child teen anymore. He's a man. I get it. But it's still worth documenting for posterity, no? Maybe a photo or two while they get ready to leave. (Which by the way has been going on all day. The getting ready to leave part, that is.)

As you can see, Conor is totally on board with my photo taking obsession. (I'm so lucky he tolerates me as well as he does. )

Is it just me, or does it seem like every activity we prep for begins with me dying someone's hair? Donna went from blond to alternating shades of magenta, blue and purple.

They've been tying stuff to their car for hours.

You have to pack everything in (and out) of the Nevada desert for Burning Man. So there are crates and boxes of food for eating...

...jugs and bottles and tubs of water for drinking, bathing and everything else...

...and stacks of coolers for keeping everything from melting in the desert sun.

I was so happy to be able to outfit Jeremy with the appropriate head gear.

And Donna will be working the red shoes!

The intrepid travelers in the all important before picture.

"Deep inside the mountain
the adventures hide themselves.
They are of all forms and shapes.
They all have an excellent ending,
because those that live their lives in adventure
see the world in an extra ordinary special way."
~Author unknown

Tales From the Cafe

We had to install a new router for the free wi-fi at the cafe. If you've ever been in a commercial bakery or kitchen, you know how many times a day surfaces get dirty and then wiped clean and how often tools get dropped, misued or abused. Unfortunately computer equipment sitting in the kitchen is no different. Thus our need for a new box. Well, that and the planned obsolescence of any electronic equipment.

At least this box came with pretty blinking blue lights. Which of course gave Jon just the opportunity he had been waiting for to put up this sign. Apparently it has a rich and storied history.

ACHTUNG!

Alles touristen und non-technischen looken peepers!

Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben. Oderwise ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.

Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets, relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.

In case you were wondering

Here's a sneak peek at the Presenters for the 2010 LIFE is Good Conference. It's a pretty impressive group of people and I'm so excited to have each of them sharing with us next year .

Stay tuned for more updates, a new conference website that will be ready soon (I hope) and maybe even a few surprises. Life is Good!

Weekend Update

So how was your weekend? Life has been good over here at the casa de Oro. I mean it's always good here, but this weekend we had some visiting unschoolers, and they always make a good time even better.

First, the fabulous Cameron Lovejoy breezed through as part of his current adventures. He was looking to make some travel money, so we let him loose on a few odd jobs that have been piling up around here. That's how we ended up with...

...an unschooler on the roof.

Then there was a birthday party for Diana's son Hayden in their beautiful, wooded backyard. And that's how we ended up with...

...unschoolers in a tree.

A jeep load of teens arrived yesterday on their way to Not Back To School Camp. We visited, we laughed, we said "Mi casa es tu casa." That's how we ended up with...

...a passel of unschoolers around the Sunnyside Up community table this morning.

Then we were off to Eugene this afternoon to catch the NBTSC UNschool bus. And that's how we ended up with...

...my unschoolers doing their best American Gothic interpretation...
(Okay they're smiling, but still Conor just needs a pitchfork.)

...four sweet unschooling girls willing to pose one last time...

...and a brother and sister unschooling team that that is too sweet for words.

It's a good life.

So how's your day going?

Just one more bite

I've been having some way too much fun with the blog layout tonight. You see, even though nobody probably cares but me, I've been wanting to tidy up the bacon pages and give them their own look and feel. You know, give the bacon the respect is deserves. So...

drumroll please...

thanks little dude

Our Daily Bacon has a new look!

Have a peek and tell me what you think.

Did you know?

Well it does. And I do mean everything. Apparently there is nothing that someone won't add little bacon to. Here is but a small glimpse into what has been going on over at the Daily Bacon updates.

Disgusted Curious?
Need a bacon fix?
Click away my friend, click away.

Bored again?

go to

help I'm bored
It'll keep you entertained for hours a while and it's only a click away.*

*Disclaimer: "help i'm bored" has absolutely nothing to do with the Beatles

Why my fishies aren't in schools

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." –Albert Einstein

The Human Calendar

From the guys who brought you the Human Clock.

Tales From the Cafe

customer: "I *mumble* have *mumble* been *mumble* rice?"

me: "Excuse me?"

customer: "I heard *mumble* bowl *mumble* beans and rice?"

me: "You'd like a bowl of beans and rice?"

customer: (frowning...) "No, I heard you *mumble* bowls of rice?"

me: "I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're saying. Could you say that one more time please?

customer: "I heard you're passing the bowl of rice?"

me: blink, blink

customer: "I heard you're passing the bowl of rice?"

me: "I'm afraid I don't know what that means."

customer: (Obviously agitated as he turns to leave the cafe.) "Well someone told me that you're passing the bowl of rice."

me: "Have a nice day?" (Smiling, but wondering if this is some sort of euphemism for something I'd probably rather not know about.)

Moving On

I don't know about you all (y'all?), but I'm ready to move on from Bacon Hitler. It's not that I don't love him it bacon, I do. And it's not that I have a post that's particularly witty, inspirational or outrageous to replace it, I don't. Nonetheless, I feel it's time to say something, anything, in order to knock that pork fat comb over out of the top slot on the blog.

And....done!

And as a bonus, when I just Googled the phrase "pork fat comb over" here's what I got:

No results found for "pork fat comb over"

Can I possibly be the first one to utter the phrase "pork fat comb over" on the interwebs? Awesome! Just to be sure, I checked in at Urban Dictionary and got this search result:

pork fat comb over isn't defined yet.

No way! It totally needs to be defined, don't you think?

And...done! I just submitted the following definition:

pork fat comb over

The result of trying to hide one's balding scalp with long strands of bacon combed in one direction.

I don't know why he bothers trying to cover his bald head. Now he looks like Hitler with a pork fat comb over.

by zenmomma on Aug 12, 2009

Yet one more important accomplishment to cross off my bucket list.

Too cool for the sidebar

Daily Bacon

And here I thought I'd never get the opportunity to write the phrase Bacon Hitler.

Skool Dayz

As if my real yearbook photo wasn't embarrassing enough.

1950
Rocking the sassy perm.

1954
Drum majorette, a dream come true.

1960
The right bangs make all the difference, don't you think?

1964
No bump-it needed to achieve this masterpiece of hair engineering technology. Just a little teasing, Dippity-Do and VO5.

1972
Glory days.

1976

This is too painfully close to my real 1977 yearbook photo.

1986
Dude, we totally won Battle of the Bands that year.

yearbookyourself.com

Bumper sticker for your friendly neighborhood 'birthers'

Get over it indeed. Can we please move on now?
Get one of your very own here.

Friday Fill-Ins

1.Blueberries is are my favorite summertime fruit.

2. My favorite John Hughes movies is Sixteen Candles. But really, all of his movies are so obsessively quotable, even 25 years later.

RIP John Hughes

3. A baby's chubby cheek is something I love to touch.

4. The full moon casts such a lovely moonshadow.

5. I am blessed, right now.

6. When daylight fades it's time for a relaxing cup of tea.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hanging out with friends at Casa de Winkler (again!), tomorrow my plans include going to a CSI exhibit at OMSI and Sunday, I want to go to the M.C. Escher exhibit at the Portland Art Museum!

Get your own Friday Fill-Ins.

Quote of the Day

You cannot depend on your eyes
when your imagination is out of focus.
-Mark Twain