(Lunes) there's color everywhere...

barring some cataclysmic event that leaves me as one of the few surviving women of child-bearing years, i am fairly certain than i am never having kids.  this was my mantra throughout the four-and-a-half hours spent today with two incredibly energetic little girls. don't get me wrong here. i love the heck out of those two girls, but they always manage to leave me worn out, physically and psychologically. the highlight of the afternoon had to be the younger one walking around our local used bookstore chanting "N- has a beauty mark on her boobie" [in reference to a tiny mole that was visible (if you were being incredibly nosy... which she was) near the armhole of my sleeveless dress]. i wasn't exactly banned from the bookstore, but let's just say that it's luckily that i have enough unread books to last until the shame subsides.

back at home, we introduced them to the wonderful world of watercolor painting. this was my first foray into that medium since being unceremoniously drummed out of the Wednesday Watercolor Society on account of my (rather obvious) lack of talent. i still can't paint to save my life, but the point of the exercise was (as always) to have fun, and i certainly did.

i've been making a concerted effort to add a bit of color to my life.  having rejected the prospect of a bi-national crime spree with the FBI and RCMP on my heels, i've opted to settle for color in the more literal sense of the word.  after admiring the dyed merino for some time now at my favorite online fiber retailer this side of the border...

...i finally broke down and got some.  despite the self-imposed ban on buying yarn, or anything yarn-like, i could not resist the 25% off sale.  so, there i was adding a few colors of dyed fiber to my shopping cart on Friday, and (somehow) all of this showed up at my door today...

the important thing to note here is the stupid-fast shipping time for an order that was placed at around 5 pm on a Friday. the plan is to use this assortment of so-not-me colors to blend with the more somber tones of my washed fleeces. i got 100 grams each of the aforementioned merino in indian yellow, verbena, royal, rust, jasper, lime, and anthracite....

then i tossed in 100 grams each of bamboo, eri silk, dyed Tussah silk (dune), and bleached Tussah silk...

and just for the heck of it, i got 2 of their 1 pound bags of mill ends (which, as the name suggests, are the bits and bobs fiber mills have left over at the end of a run). both bags contain superwash (i.e., washable) merino top in a variety of colors.  they were marked "sold out" on the site, but i called to ask when they planned to restock, and John made a special listing there-and-then just for me to add to my cart.  Alan (the other half of the business) described it over the phone as "one bag of bluish greys with some reddish browns, and a second bag of blue and purplish bits"... so, naturally, i had to buy both bags...

the collection of colorful things will serve as my very own painter's box for future fibery adventures. and, yes, i did make sure to store them away in moth-proof packaging (i.e., lots of little plastic bags). hey... whatever works.

oh, and there was a cat.  there's always a cat (because, apparently, i require constant supervision), and it's usually this cat (because, let's face it, the other one's just not that into me).

and, as if that was not enough color-overload to last a lifetime, i ended the day with a supper of leftover roasted chicken and this very on-topic salad...

the little leaves are oregano from my herb box...

my significant other has never quite developed an appreciation for adult beverages, so i made him a fresh batch of lemonade, and popped open a bottle of still cider (which i don't have to share).  so, while this technically qualifies as a white, it is the perfect end to an extraordinarily colorful day.