Boy, have I been having fun! Last week, Russell gave us his old, decrepit, rusted, pitted, ugly propane barbecue grill and Ed bought a $3.50 can of high-heat black spray paint and transformed it into a beautiful, charcoal slow-cook barbecue suitable for making Lisa's Famous Ribs and Beer-Bomb chicken.

On Sunday, I made the inaugural Rib Feast and invited Russell and the fam over to enjoy them with us as a thank you for their barbecue. They couldn't believe the transformation--it was rather dramatic--and were delighted with the rib results. I, of course, am ecstatic to have both a propane grill and now a barbecue that I can make some good, old-fashioned smoked ribs and brisket and good stuff on. I've had a hankering for barbecue for months now and Ed wouldn't let me use the grill for it anymore but he didn't want to spend $130 to buy a charcoal grill. This little exchange was perfect. ::contented sigh::

And then yesterday, I went to Jamie's house with Stacey, Baylee and Joey to paint T-shirts with Jamie's cool fabric dye. Oh man, that was a total blast! It was way more fun than tie-dying. And the colors are so vibrant! Joey made a blue/green/purple one with some pearly accents and a purple and gold tank top. We put some starburst salt on them to create cool waves of color after we'd splashed them and dotted them with dye. It was fun practicing our Jackson Pollock impersonations. I made and orangey one for Ed with with salt dots and an orangey-yellowy one with fuschia dots and splashes for myownself. It's my new favorite shirt. Woohoo! Painting shirts rawks!

Monday, Amy came to town and we went shopping. She bought $300 worth of clothes that she hopes will take her through most of her pregnancy (she's tall, very athletic and very fit so she might not even show until she's 6+ months along). And then we bought some baby stuff. We decided her nursery was going to be purple and green and mine will be yellow and orange (with fuschia accents if it's a girl, lime green if it's a boy). We bought these really cool blankety cuddly stuffed animal things in our respective colors to commemorate the decision. We took a tour around Babies R Us and I suggested that she buy the Girlfriend's Gu!de to Pregn@ncy book as it had been recommended to me by a few women. If nothing else, it's quite entertaining. Having a pregnant sister is so fun!

Speaking of expecting babies, the adoption agency called and set up an appointment for us to be interviewed by a social worker. Yay! Things are moving forward. Now if the stock market could adequately rebound, we'll be in business. Our stock options that were worth $15K in May are virtually worthless right now and that was the money we were planning to use for the adoption fee. Arrrgh! So if you have money to invest, just go right ahead and do it. Any little bit will help bring the market back up again.

I got quite sunburned yesterday when we were painting the shirts--the right side and back of my neck and my right ear and cheek and right forearm are toasted. That goes with the left side of my neck and chest and left cheek and left forearm that got sunburned at our town's parade and festival this weekend. Joey was in the parade and looked like a right cute little pioneer child. It was so fun to see her walking down the street with the other kids. But I could do without the sunburn. Silly me, I put on my ballcap thinking "Ok, now I won't sunburn my scalp and forehead" but I forgot about the rest of my exposed skin. You'd think I'd know better, especially after my recent burning episode in Las Vegas. I'm not sure what it's going to take for me to remember that my skin freaking burns when exposed to sunlight. Hello? Sun to Lisa--wear sunscreen.

So this afternoon when I take Joey to play in a fountain in a nearby town, I'll stay in the shade. I promise. No more sun for me. None. I'm going to pretend my skin will melt away if exposed to direct sunlight. Because it probably will!

Ciao,

--L