The book club has officially accomplished it's first activity... de-cou-page! Despite it being the mid-year break, 5 out of 6 of the b.c. leaders came to school at 9a.m. to beautify a bookshelf bringing lots of excitement (and gluey hands). After two hours, and a bag of marshmallow treats, we were done. I was thrilled they all worked so well together; they were thrilled to get away from their parents.

Here's the before and after...





In other exciting library news....our grant application was approved!! (In May, I had applied to receive money (a max of $500) to go towards funding the library and the activities and supplies for the book club.) Finally, the wait is over. Within the next month we will be receiving $499.86! This money will be coming from an organization called "Kids to Kids" where kiddos in the states raise money to support projects involving kiddos in other countries. They then vote on the applications and choose the most "kid-friendly" projects. We're famous!

http://www.kidstokids.org/projects/project.php?project=474


The mid-year school breaks continues through this week and then it's back to the normal schedule again. I've taken advantage of the extra time to start a backyard garden and dig a compost pit. Yeah! I've been wishing and wanting to do so and finally got the green light from my landlord.

I've also had the opportunity to tag along with the "San Vito Bird Club" and go on a bird-watching hike through the beautiful botanical gardens with a group of kids. I'm not really into birding myself, but hiking through botanical gardens on a sunny Saturday morning is a great way to start the day. Especially when coupled with enthusiastic kids and a pair of binoc's.


The rain continues and continues. I fight to get my clothes dry and never leave the house without wearing my tall, leopard print boots. Lately I've been into making wheat tortillas and have tried my hand at "blender hummus" too. As mid-month rapidly approaches, so does the number 0 in my bank account... Hummus tortilla anyone?? (for the 3rd time today?)

So please send me your gardening tips n tricks and cheap (no-bake) recipes!! I'd like to spice it up.

P.S. I'm trying to keep up with the picasa photo albums as well so if you're dying to see more than the thumbnails I include here...have a look! The 1st set of pix are from a 4th of July BBQ I went to with a bunch of ex-pats. There was a chocolate cake contest as well and I was an official judge. Tough job.