Freckled Hen

day one

2012-02-01T14:56:00.001-08:00

I’m going to attempt to do this photo a day challenge from over here. Today is called “your view”.

Today was spent in equal parts in the kitchen and the craft room.

No matter how outdated your kitchen is fresh flowers always make it feel better. These made me happy many times today as my husband recognized that I was having one of those days yesterday. And just when I was thinking he must think I am the most naggy pregnant woman in the world. Having three teenagers sometimes can stress you OUT!

The last day of January

2012-01-31T07:39:00.001-08:00

January seemed to drift on by whether we were aboard or not. It went by fast! January conjures up images of “winter work” to me. When one should sit and do that pile of stuff they couldn’t do when the lawn needed mowing or things needed to be canned. My January list usually amounts to more items than there are days.

I moved my sewing machine up to the kids playroom and sat much of the month away cutting and sewing neutral things for the little one.

Though I thought I would always consider myself an organized person, somehow I have been relishing the sewing mess I’ve created amongst the kids play things. It really is a grand room with a grand mess. Henry and I blast records from “Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra” to Neil Diamond’s “You don’t Bring Me Flowers” and of course if we are feeling the groove we will listen to “Sesame Street Disco” with Grover in his 1970’s leisure suit on the cover.

And truthfully I’d be lying if I didn’t admit not only do I try my best smoky voice to all the Adele songs but Henry knows all the words, too. It is a great way to spend January while the outside world spews out ice and snow and various shades of gray.

This outfit is probably my favorite which is why I haven’t done the buttons yet, it needs eight buttons and we all know the chances of eight buttonholes coming out just fine are slim. When I am feeling optimistic I’ll attempt them.

The little duckling is from an old transfer pack, using an old transfer is hit or miss, it took me a couple tries.

For the first time I played with some ink jet transfer paper. I took a picture from a children’s book with my camera and after uploading and editing it I printed it on transfer paper- the kind that is like an iron on.

Ironing it on was almost too easy. I think I’m about to become an iron on freak.

Hope all is well in your world!

indoor voice

2012-01-26T12:50:00.001-08:00

Lately I’ve been writing a lot. Writing has always been much easier for me.

Talking? Not so much.

It’s been like that moreso than ever.

I don’t feel like talking.

I’m not mad, sad or glad.

Just quiet.

My kids share their day with me with all the appropriate drama and exclamation that kids use and I grunt my wows and uh-huhs.

I have been sitting at my sewing machine making little clothes for the wee one.

I have been going to auctions and sales and selling my junk on ebay.

I’ve been reading Dickens which fits right into these gray winter days.

And having (too many) doughnuts and tea.

All of which takes no spoken words at’ll.

hmmm

2012-01-17T16:23:00.001-08:00

Have you ever made something with good intentions then spent way too much time on it only to have the tension on your sewing machine eat a hole into it as you were sewing the last stitches so you use fabric glue and glued felt cowboy boots on it to cover the holes-that-made-you-almost-cry, then stood back and wonder if you even like what you made?

Molly says she loves owls (though her sister says she only likes owls because SHE liked owls first) and she said she liked the owl shirt even though I told her she could just wear it to bed if she wants, but really I believe she really does like owls because they are kind of trendy and kids usually like trendy things, and truthfully I don’t always like it when my kids like trendy things but in this case whoooooo cares, it’s just an owl.

A little bit of this and that

2012-01-12T14:44:00.001-08:00

This brown paper shade has been amongst my craft supplies for a really long time. It was one of those things I got so used to having in my stash that I kind of looked over it. I remember having it in a house when I only had one child. That’s a long time ago!

I covered it over with craft paper and embellished it with an image from the children’s book Blueberries for Sal.

We love Blueberries for Sal…do you?

I actually cut the image straight from the book…but it’s okay, I think. This last year I’ve been trying to “use what I have”. It turns out I have a lot of stuff.

Aside from the nice copies of Robert McCloskey books we keep on our family shelf I found some older editions a few years ago at a used book store. So even though I cut one, there’s still two more.

They were in the clearance bin, why would a Robert McCloskey book be on clearance? His books are timeless and we have had many a happy story night reading all of them. His illustrations are among my favorite…

On a day that looks like this outside:

The kids were surprised with a day off.

We did a little of this…

And a little of that….

What about you? What was your this and that today?

baking, growing and the window box

2012-01-09T13:46:00.001-08:00

Though I tried so hard to schedule the amaryllis to bloom during Christmas it has an agenda all its own. It’s finally about to burst and each morning as I make my way to the kitchen I get a little excited to see if it will be the magical morning.

Growing things has always been miraculous to me, especially during the cold gray days of January. My plants sit in the glass window box tricked by the brightness of the day, I will never tell them how cold it is out as surely they would shiver themselves into hibernation. Fresh herbs make cooking more fun, I love fresh basil, tomatoes and garlic over oily spaghetti noodles.

This morning was a raisin bread morning. It was one of those mismatch kind of mornings when everyone's routines bumped into one another and the stress of it was almost too much. But raisin bread fixes all that.

But more than plants in the window box, the splendor of bread rising, or the growing of an amaryllis…I love the miracle that’s growing in my belly.

A baby…soft and sweet. Growing each cold winter day until the green returns to the grass and the sun shines a little longer in the sky. It will be here in time to sit snuggled in a sling against me as we turn the earth for our family garden. It’s hard not to count the days!

wrapping around everything

2012-01-05T12:58:00.001-08:00

Four years ago I discovered craft blogs while searching for wraparound skirt patterns. I think I found Cece of All Dolled Up, who sadly no longer has a blog but will always be among my favorite blogs ever. I remember going to bed with my thoughts swirling. It has changed my life in so many ways. All for the better.

Anyhow it’s today, four years later that I finally got around to deciding on a wraparound skirt.

This one I altered for Molly and her teeny tiny waist, which at the moment is the opposite of my own waist.

My oldest is heading back to school tomorrow, after a nice long stay at home. I’m trying to act like her going to school faraway is okay. Yup. Just fine. Though I have a house full of other kids to care for and enough stuff to stay busy with I just want that kid here too. She is super funny, and she likes crafts. That’s good-people qualities, you know?

Though it seems like I am just rambling on and on, I’m not really. It’s all relative. The wraparound skirt was research of sorts to look through lots of old patterns and fabrics and make a gigantic mess…which in reality was therapy of sorts to keep my head happy busy.

I’m trying not to make it homely as the pattern, but there is really only so much you can do to make a wraparound skirt not come off as homely. Regardless, I love the simplicity of a wraparound and if ever someday when my baby is toddling around and my waist doesn’t look like I have a front butt* I would like to wear one, too.

* I made this phrase up, it’s pretty clever, eh?

ever since

2012-01-02T06:52:00.001-08:00

Making bathrobes for my kids is one of those things that seems like it might be too much work but really it takes no time at all. There’s no zipper or buttons, it’s right up there with making an apron as far as ease…and the benefit is actual utility. My kids always wake up cold and end up wearing an old sweatshirt on top of a nightgown or something ridiculous. At least they look decent if the neighbor stops by. It might be 3:00pm, but at least they look decent.

The only trouble is ever since I gave Henry his he has been acting different.

He’s taken to wearing an ascot and calling me ‘babe”.

I must stop using my kids as props, he hardly noticed I did this to him as I bribed him with Scooby Doo cartoons.

Hope your 2012 is off to a good start….Happy New Year!

it twas the night before

2011-12-24T15:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve gift inspection

G’nite and Merry Christmas, friends…

nature style

2011-12-23T06:05:00.001-08:00

I woke this morning to gray light. I could feel the stillness of the snow even though I was snug as a bug in a rug.

This is the view from my bedroom window…this is what was missing. It feels Christmas-y now.

I put my boots on and ventured out to look at the brook.

The brook runs right next to the barn, it sounds comforting. I think of all the people who have lived here the past 200 years and listened to the same babbling water. Living in the country, it makes me feel less alone.

The shed in the back looks cold and forlorn. We haven’t done anything with it…there’s bunk beds in it but truthfully I can’t imagine sleeping it for fear a bear would come knocking.

The old truck is almost reaching vintage status…almost?

I hope these last few days before Christmas find you warm and happy.

Happy Holidays!

hen pecking and holiday decorating

2011-12-19T05:09:00.001-08:00

PS: don’t mention this post to my husband

tags of yore

2011-12-15T09:52:00.001-08:00

The one activity the kids and I return to each year is making gift tags. We set up some tables and all the stuff that can be glued onto card stock and spend our free time making tags. Sometimes it’s 10 minutes and sometimes the whole day. There is always Christmas records playing and candy to munch on. Often we are loud (some of us more than others) and occasionally we laugh and fight at the same time.

I save the tags each year and love looking back at them.

Hadley comes home today, as well as my husband. The house feels warmer when everyone is home, so does my heart!

hand-me-downs of the best sort

2011-12-10T08:13:00.001-08:00

Growing up my grandfather shared many stories about his parents. Quickly I fell in love with them, and I think it’s safe to say so did my brother Mike. We were the youngest kids in our family and those stories we heard were better than TV. And not just because our TV was miniscule and only got 2-3 channels depending on the weather.

As we grew older we inherited the contents of their lives. I know my great grandmothers handwriting like that of a familiar dear friend. And though I never met her I just know her. Do you know what I mean?

I had a small box of cards from her older years. There were stacks of cards all neatly bundled and tied with the year tagged on each. She labeled everything, maybe knowing that someday someone would be looking at each one with appreciation. Did she know it was me?

I laughed out loud when I saw she put a special index card where 1954 should have been to let whomever know that year she used her cards to make gift tags. It’s a good thing as I would have been up all night wondering where all the cards from 1954 were!

glittered skates

2011-12-08T09:17:00.001-08:00

One of the great things about saving things (aka collecting junk) is sometimes you have a brainstorm and after digging through barn bins and boxes (aka making a huge mess) you find everything you need to begin and end a project. That is one of my favorite feelings.

This project is relatively easy and a good alternative if you are tired of hanging a wreath on the front door.

These pictures are terrible as there was an awful glare, not that I’m complaining about glorious sunshine.

I glittered the skates, added vintage ribbon laces and some faux feather boa trim around the top. Then Henry and I went in the woods and cut some greenery, this was my favorite part as it was a foggy, gray day and it felt like an adventure to both of us. The only sad part being he found where I hauled our jack-o-lanterns after Halloween-- they sat with distorted expressions all saggy and deflated. He talked about those pumpkins all day. Oh the sad facts of a jack-o-lantern life.

Sally O’Malley has become a part of our family. She has added a softness and sweetness to our days. I have to refrain from talking too much about this cat. I can only imagine how I will be when there is a baby in the house.

This brings me to say thank you for your well wishes… we are halfway there, the baby is due in April. The good days are slowly pushing ahead of the not so good days, I have some other health stuff going on but each day feel more and more invigorated and dream of holding that little baby in my arms!

*************************

PS Recently feeling lowly and gruff I reread the first year of my blog, it’s so dumb! I wanted to delete the whole thing. Has that ever happened to you?

Go ahead and act like those two grouchy old men on the Muppets and ask me, what are you so worried about? It’s still pretty dumb! ha-ha

from holiday lights to dry heaving

2011-11-29T13:33:00.001-08:00

I love this time of year. From Thanksgiving right up until the New Year, I like the busyness, the sparkles the school programs. The days spin along with their own agenda pushing us from one thing to the next.

We went down the road to cut a Christmas tree, something our younger kids have yet to experience. We walked about the tree farm until we all ended up in the same corner and decided we found the right tree, somewhat because it was the right size and somewhat because we were tired and the trees all started to look the same.

a ta

That’s Ken and I giving each other the look of love, and Molly setting off on her high speed trek to find the right tree. She runs everywhere, do you have a child like that?

Thanksgiving came and went. I spent that morning with my head over the garbage can, something that is all too frequent and I really wish would stop. But in just the nick of time I managed to get dressed and go to my sister’s house. My brother was there whom I haven’t seen in 5 years and it made me cry. Surely he thinks I am a freak with my dry heavy breath and wild look of black mascara tears.

After that we went to Ken’s side. We had a full day, in a very good way. It was a much different Thanksgiving than in past years when we had a table full of airman who were unable to go home for the holiday.

This is my Irish mother in law. She likes to pick on me and I like to pick on her, so it works out nicely. This would be an example of the face she would make if I asked her if she boozed it up before we arrived.

My oldest came and went. We tried to fit a lot in while she was here, to include crafting marathons and sushi. I miss her being close by. She makes me laugh so much!

(This is where a picture of Hadley should be but after a recent Facebook incident of posting pictures that are unflattering without asking all us girls agreed to only post pictures with permission,though pictures of my mother in law are always okay.)

Henry turned five yesterday and is officially not a baby anymore. He has hauled around a stuffed cat he named “Mama Kitty” for years. She used to be vibrant and cute but now well... she smells a little tangy in a not so good way.

So we got him a kitten. A real one that doesn’t take batteries. I put her in a gift bag and Henry was pretty surprised. I think I will remember his face my whole life.

I love the little kitten. We named her Sally O’Malley, okay I named her Sally O’Malley because if we let Henry name her he would have said something like ChukkahBukkah or CheezyWeezy.

Sally O’Malley and Mama Kitty. One of these cats smells better than the other.

That’s all I gots for now. It’s time for dinner- chicken soup with rice. So I best be getting to the kitchen and doing some cooking while listening to holiday music of the big band swing variety.

Tootles, friends….

PS We saw the Muppet movie and it was good, it was the first movie in a very long time that our whole family could watch together without it being too loud or scary or full of fart jokes.

choo choo

2011-11-19T06:59:00.001-08:00

Today is Saturday. I woke this morning with supreme optimism…I will clean the entire house! I will haul the Christmas stuff from the barn! I will sew! I will bake bread!

Soon enough my people woke and stumbled downstairs and ate the eggs I cooked that were beyond overhard. Then I swept the floor and Henry pouted about not being able to build a huge Lego set that is his brothers.

Then I was tired.

So I wonder am I really tired? Or is it just watching all the energy of my children that makes me tired? I will never match their mad skills of running full speed to be first outside or riding bikes up and down the driveway enough to equate the Tour de France.

Sometimes it’s hard to be a mother/wife in limbo. It’s obvious what needs doing but what you really want to do is go to the candy shop on Main St and buy candy for a gingerbread house that you are determined to make this year but by Dec 23 you kind of realize that you won’t and all that glorious by the pound candy is sitting in the dark hutch drawer in your dining room.

This is how I live my life, it can be the candy store, the fabric store, the craft store. When I was first married I followed through on my projects 100% of the time. I would save and purchase and create with such determination that it makes me nauseous to even think about it. I remember looking at stale mothers who had kids with unmatched clothes and boogers and thinking with a shudder how that would never be me.

But sometimes I feel like the train is pulling into the booger station and it’s my kids who are about to climb aboard. Some days when I am buried under the proverbial mountain of laundry I open my eyes and see Henry wearing pants that are too short and tiny shirts that dig into his armpits. Poor Henry! How did this happen?!

There is a whole list of reasons why this happens, and the more I study my own list the more it makes me appreciate my kids.

Instead of joining a playgroup I would much rather join a group of mothers of large families… we could get really loud and try to top each others stories. None of us would have manicures or even a decent haircut for that matter. Many would be wearing clothes our teenagers didn’t want and we would all most definitely be wearing comfortable shoes. We would tell our kids to go outside. They wouldn’t be whiny though, they wouldn’t squeal for snacks and they would climb trees way up high. They would create games to play amongst themselves. They would build a fort with stuff from the woods and tie the pieces with proper knots made from vines. One of us mothers would have a pack of graham crackers in a purse made of faux leather that the kids would open and divvy up evenly. They would break each cracker into four small rectangles perfectly because they had lots of practice doing that.

And I suppose that is why I love having a big family. As much as my instinct is to have a clean house I would much rather have plenty of little armed hugs, even if they struggle to put their arms around your growing belly and wipe their nose on your shirt in the process.

gingham is good for boys, too

2011-11-17T14:25:00.001-08:00

Blogging about making stuff seems so far away. Did I really do that?

Slowly I am finding routines I like and making stuff is creeping its way towards the top of the list.

I finished the boys curtains and set about decorating their room. Though they are far apart in age it seems to work somehow. It’s kind of an eclectic mix of airplane and cowboy with a couple sports oldies just for fun.

The airplanes are hung from the ceiling with fishing line, and what you can’t see is the gouge I made in the plaster ceiling. (Note to self screws and anchors won’t really work in a plaster ceiling.)

On a whim I decided to make the curtains above the beds just valances as I wish I could say I trust my four year old not to play with regular panels and pull them over his head but he is four and often surprises me with his antics.

I always forget how homey curtains make a room feel. The kids rooms are easy for me to pick and choose what would look right…I struggle with the other rooms as it’s such a permanent decision, you know? The investment of fabric and time only to wonder if you really like it. I guess that’s called procrastination!

the farmer pilot

2011-11-15T13:45:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I tagged along with my husband as he was to speak at a small Polish Veteran’s club in Massachusetts. He will often speak on behalf of the Air Force or veterans because I think he feels honored to do so. This is why he is the grown up in our relationship and why I am always learning from him.

The club was being dedicated to Capt John Ogonowski, a 9/11 pilot whose plane hit the first tower. He left behind his wife and three daughters. I knew all this beforehand but what I didn’t know was how I was about to change on that somewhat sunny and breezy Sunday afternoon. Much like my husband he was a farmer who loved airplanes and joined the Air Force…his parents are quirky New England folk and his wife and daughters felt like instant friends. He was no longer just a name on paper that I read a tragic story about.

This wasn’t a memorial service but a day for him and his family and friends. They had taken a large rock from his farm and had it etched for the front of the building. It was very pretty. I sat amongst the crowd that was mostly Polish people and listened to their stories with their Boston-like accents. They all knew John, from the diner, the post office, from grammar school. We stayed all day and ate food and heard stories and ate more food. It was humbling.

I felt his void within his family and his land. And these emotions can’t seem to leave my mind.

The uplifting part of all this is getting to know his family and seeing their spirit for life and how much he still lives through them is really a beautiful thing. And though I have never met him he has taught me so much about my own husband and that intense drive he has for the things he loves most. Even if it’s the smell of silage or fresh cut hay.

Hopefully I haven’t depressed you all with my thoughts, even though it was an awful thing that should never have happened we should never stop learning from it. And learning is always a good thing for everyone.

I realize this is a hard post to comment on…that’s okay. I just felt compelled to write.

an elephant kewpie may or may not be cute

2011-11-08T14:51:00.001-08:00

The last two sales I went to kind of made me crazy. I could have just sat there with my number high in the air the whole time. The last few years of sales have changed me, they were of a different pace.

Anyhow I sat and watched box lots of stuff with no bids until it was down to next to nothing and my arm would twitch and the yellow number card would boing into the air. That is how I ended up with an elephant kewpie and lots of other old toys. My youngest was with me, he is all about lincoln logs and I think I have built him a set in which he could now build us a full size house. So I’m pondering not buying anymore, even when they are only a dollar and they have roof pieces that are SUPWER COOL, MOM.

Since I last posted we have had 20” of snow, and been without power for a bit. It’s a whole new life style and as long as the woodstove is full of fire the world is just fine.

I hope your world is just fine, too!

The funny and good day

2011-10-27T14:13:00.001-07:00

Thank you all so very much for your kind words on my last post. It was magical for me really, to read your words. I wrote that post feeling uncertain about so many things and all your comments made me feel even more that it is hard to draw a line between “real” friends and blogging friends. If I could come to your house with baked goods and hugs I surely would.

I am so thrilled to have another child, it felt so fragile there for a while that I was afraid to say it out loud. My thoughts made little sense and it felt hard to talk…about anything. Everything seemed so minor compared to that little bean in my belly and it’s steady beating heart. So yes, from the bottom of my own heart- thank you!

Today has been a funny day. I went to the closest large town to pick up a few groceries and I couldn’t find the grocery store. I have been there before but with the one way streets going the wrong way I got so discombobulated. I found a different plaza and it was even nicer than the original store. Lucky for me there was a Michael’s and I found myself roaming around until Henry’s craft store meter was used up. He only piped up after I went to the glitter glue aisle for the third time. And if all that wasn’t smiley enough the clerk let me use two 40% off coupons at once.

Soon after we came home it started spitting snow. We ran outside like any people from Texas would when it snows in October. I took these pictures of the old school house across the street…

You can’t really see the snow coming down in those pictures, but now as I look out the window it looks like an entirely different season…all in the same day!

We live near this mountain, I’m guessing snow will be part of our lives until April.

As for the old school, I will answer your questions before giving you a chance to ask them.

The town owns it and it’s full of junk. I peeked in the windows and other than the junk it still has lots of old charm, like a gigantic chalk board. I wish I could buy it just so we could play school in it. I would love to decorate it for Christmas.

I hope you had a good, funny day, too. I hope you are warm hearted and happy and when your kids come in the house and track in muddy snow try not to yell, it’s only the first time of the season for goodness sakes.

just me leaning on you

2011-10-21T19:03:00.001-07:00

It’s autumn and I love pumpkins and the changing leaves and um… I’m pregnant.

I envisioned myself writing this post in a couple months in a fun and surprising way. But as I have started my second trimester it has been a tumultuous ride. I’m not a good pregnant person. It sounds silly as I have five children but writing about it now seems to feel right and maybe that worried mind of mine would selfishly be a little comforted by hearing what you have to say.

Being a mother has always dominated my thoughts, even from my doll playing days. I love being a mother and from the moment my first child was placed in my arms I knew I wanted more kids, lots of them. Luckily my husband thinks the same way.

Like many journeys in life, pregnancy and childbirth have never been storybook for us, if there is such a thing. Over the years we have had our share of sad moments and fear and I suppose even a little anger.

And now I find myself full of fear again. I made it through the first part and felt like I won a marathon…and now this morning an unexpected call from the OB and my worrying is back into full swing. When I was younger I felt such resolve and determination, I wish I had that back. It seems so wasteful to worry when God has been so good to us.

The last few months were up and down, my poor family in Connecticut must think the worst of me. This post is their announcement (Guess who’s expecting again!)… I’m not so good at the personal stuff, and I think I may have hurt some feelings and been hiding too long. Not that my whole family reads my blog but really it only takes one person in my family to read this and news spreads like wildfire.

As I write this my youngest daughter is in bed and singing to herself. It comforts me and makes me feel things will be just fine. That is a pretty similar emotion I get from you. You comfort me, from wherever you are. You never make me feel shy or self conscious- things I struggle with nearly everyday.

So if you are giving free hugs or want to tell me I’m a hormonal lunatic, it’s okay. I love your comments.

Sewing

2011-10-18T08:37:00.001-07:00

My sewing list is long, and I don’t seem to take time to do it. There’s always more important stuff. Or more stuff to procrastinate with. Like blogging.

I need to make curtains, the house seems empty and echoe-y without them. The boys room is first as I bought this fabric in June just for their room and I finally washed it and carefully folded it back on the bolt.

I folded carefully for about 10 seconds then savagely wound it up like the spin cycle on an out of control washing machine.

Now it has sat like that waiting for me. And I keep procrastinating. because I would rather sew other things. And really I don’t feel like ironing 32 yards of fabric.

Now that I’ve taken pictures of sewing stuff I think I am ready. I think I will play the Mamas and Papas and dump the lincoln logs on the floor for Henry, eat some chocolate covered raisins and sew.

Au revoir! A bientôt!

going to Boston while the sun shines

2011-10-10T08:22:00.001-07:00

Boston holds dear memories of the early days while getting to know my husband. We strolled through the cobblestone streets like young love does, holding hands and taking no heed of time. We were young but it didn’t feel like it. I think we felt grown up eating in fancy restaurants and shopping in city stores.

We have tried to take a trip to Boston each time we headed east through the years. Slowly we added kids to our city treks. In fact I remember Molly taking her first steps on a little patch of grass near the wharf as we watched the boats.

Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful weather and marched our kids through the city. We had a yard sale on Saturday and conveniently spent all the loot we earned on dinner at the Oyster House.

don’t step on a crack

this is the first time I realized Sam is much taller than Maggie

the sky was so blue and clear

Henry had a birds eye view much of the day

the public garden was so pretty, I could have sat there all day

the Oyster House is kind of touristy but we can’t resist

And that is how we spent the day in Boston, it’s still pretty fun even though our young love is just a memory. Old love is just as good!

book look

2011-10-05T12:46:00.001-07:00

Having kids of all ages means we have a lot of stuff to cover the ages. Especially books. It’s hard to decide who keeps which books in which room. In the hall next to the kids room I built a shelf to house the children’s books. It’s the first time they have mostly been in one place. The kids books I treasure I selfishly keep in my own little room.

If you blew up this picture and stood in front of a room of wood workers with one of those kaleidoscope pointer things I ~~wood~~ would be really embarrassed. Every time I try to build something I come across a “Fine Builder” magazine or something like it and I laugh myself silly. I look at the plans to make stuff and think it’s like reading some exotic language. Instead I walk around the barn and look at the wood we have and then go insane with the saw and drill until the level tells me it isn’t technically crooked but then when I bring it in the house it is kind of like a parallelogram. So I add more screws every which way. Is that a normal way to build stuff?

I made sure it’s secure and it won’t fall over. Hopefully you notice there are spaces available for more books :)

Thanks for your comments on yesterday’s post. I almost didn’t post it as it felt like I was exposing our boring-ness.

This is what the soup looks like when it’s finished, I’ll try and post how to make it soon.

Hope you are having a happy day!

two minutes

2011-10-04T14:14:00.001-07:00

October 4, 2011 between 4:34 and 4:36. What were you doing?

dinner prep: minestrone soup and bread in the bread machine (again).

Sam making a sign.

Henry cutting tiny pieces of paper without using an art mat (patience, mothers) with his latest favorite book he’s been hauling around.

Molly making stuff at her craft corner she set up. She sells us tickets to attend and make stuff.

Maggie snuggling and telling me to leave her be.

It’s cold and rainy today…

Two everyday minutes.

from Ina to Hadley

2011-10-03T07:39:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I worry that while my oldest is away at school she doesn’t eat right. Sometimes I can’t help myself and go on and on about how important it is to eat right and get enough sleep. Things are so much easier when you eat right and get enough sleep, don’t you think?

I remember when she was two I made her a fancy lunch of Thanksgiving leftovers and set the table pretty just for her. She was so excited, I have the same feeling even now. I want to go to her house and make her food.

Henry, Molly and I made her granola bars which isn’t quite the same as T-day leftovers but will have to do until she is home and I can make her eat greens and other healthy stuff.

These are from Ina Garten. Ina reminds me of a childhood friend’s mother. She comes across as la dee dah and maybe a little snobby but you know it is just how she is because she doesn’t know how to be any different. Anyway, that’s my take on the Barefoot Contessa…she is probably my favorite cooking show person as most of the stuff she cooks I would actually eat.

I like to try granola bar recipes, as my kids consider them sweet like cookies. This recipe is made with wheat germ and honey and you can substitute any dried fruit you have on hand.

Parchment paper is very helpful when baking as they are pretty sticky and it’s easier to lift the whole cooled pan full onto the cutting board.

Bon Appétit, Hadley!

September hath 30 Days

2011-10-01T15:45:00.001-07:00

Can you even believe the thirty days of September 2011 are over?

Last night I sat and pondered about what exactly I did in September. I feel like the whole year is made to support the month of September and now (gasp) it’s gone.

I love September…it’s fresh scrubbed from summer with kids with their school supplies and new clothes. I love the way the light changes from the start of the month to the end of the month. It makes me feel optimistic.

But it’s gone now. Did I do enough to deserve being optimistic?

There’s that old saying of “learn something everyday” and I do like to learn.

It turns out September was a worthy month, moreso than normal.

I’ll start my list with an incident that happened in the dining room. It was kind of gross and it will probably make you never want to eat at my house ever...through all the sands of time.

We knew after our inspection the exhaust pipe in the dining room closet from the furnace needed to be replaced. We made a list to the sellers of what we wanted them them to repair. Choosing our battles, we opted to have the pipe done ourselves. Doing this I learned insulated pipe is really expensive. But that isn’t the gross part.

The gross part is soon after the pipe was done there was a terrible smell. A really, really bad smell. We thought a mouse might have been trapped in the new pipe. For days. But in the end it was in the closet, amongst my dishes and serving platters. Did I tell you it smelled really bad? It smelled really bad. I’m not sure I will ever get over it.

During September I finished Oliver Wiswell. Are you tired of me mentioning this book? I would be afraid to tell you to read it as it is very long and kind of drags on in some parts. But it changed my life. I think it has to do with my love for New England and history and completely having my mind expanded in learning about the revolutionary war. I still think about this book every day.

At the beginning of the month I turned 39. It’s really close to 40.

38-39 is the age when I noticed things change.

I don’t feel old, but I feel older.

There are green veins in my legs.

Young movie stars seem ridiculous.

I like to go to bed when it gets dark.

I appreciate simple.

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I hope you are having a great weekend, I’m glad we have a whole day tomorrow, too. Weekends are so great!

putting up

2011-09-23T07:54:00.001-07:00

A little over a year ago I wrote my husband a love note that said I wanted to grow an arbor of concord grapes. It was a weak attempt at being poetic but we used to live in a little old house in Connecticut that had grapes growing abundantly along the back of our property and we loved them. I have always missed the grapes.

When we moved here I didn’t notice the grapevines at first. They are all tangled amongst the weeds and trees, climbing way up high. Now they are ripe and their sweet pungent scent fills the air - it is the most wonderful smell.

I picked enough to make a couple batches of grape jam. My fingers are stained purple…though making jam is a wee bit time consuming (you have to pop the skin off each grape) it is very worth it.

I’m hoping to muster the energy this weekend to finish picking and make grape juice. Hopefully I can round up some helpers to pick grapes in the Tom Sawyer-whitewash-the-fence-fashion.

The recipes I use are from the Ball Blue Book’s Guide to Preserving. It looks like a magazine (not the actual large book), I bought it at the local farm store. They also have a website here. I highly recommend using the Ball recipes as it’s important to put up food properly and their company does a great job at spelling out food safety while making you excited to can. And seriously I get excited to can! It makes me happy to have food reserves in the basement, both because it means less grocery shopping (ugh to that, I really don’t like doing it) and because it’s healthier than store bought stuff.

I store my jars in the basement which is very brave of me as it creeps me out to go down there.

It feels like fall is right on the edge, our yard has a few scattered leaves and there are pumpkins and mums at every roadside stand. Is it fall where you are?

What day of the week were you born?

2011-09-22T07:37:00.001-07:00

I’m usually not one to buy tins, especially rusty ones. But since I needed a home for a needlepoint project I thought this one was perfect…minus the dirt and rust.

I lightly used steel wool on the outside and spray painted the inside with a primer for metal.

I wasn’t sure what day of the week I was born on before I bought it. I was pretty sure it wasn’t a Monday as my whole life I think I have lacked the self confidence to feel fair of face.

I was really hoping it wasn’t a Wednesday or Thursday.

My husband was born on a Friday, this verse speaks well for him as he is the most loving and giving person I know. Unless sports are on then he would prefer to not hear me talk about home decorating and how I just spray painted a bucketful of acorns gold. Especially now, what is up with those Red Sox?

How lucky any of you are to be born on a Sunday!

If you’d like to find out what day the week you were born you can go here.

I was born on a Tuesday- out of the seven people in this family four of us were born on Tuesdays.

If you were born on a Wed or Thurs I’m really, really sorry you are such trouble.

she has crooked buns

2011-09-19T09:18:00.001-07:00

These are the thoughts in my head as I look at this picture:

50 cents

2011-09-13T04:52:00.001-07:00

Recently I went to a yard sale atop a great big hill. They had shelves of books that looked like they had dragged them straight from the living room (read dust covered). It was an eclectic assortment with books about shed building right next to Charlotte’s Web.

As I browsed through all the titles with my head crooked sideways the woman was going on about how her daughter loves buying used books and they just have no more room….blah blah blah. Like I haven’t heard that lecture before!

After finding this one all the other books seemed dim in comparison.

Louisa May Alcott + Tasha Tudor? Isn’t that perfection?

As I was paying the woman’s daughter came outside -- she was a teenager! I thought for sure she was an awkward middle-aged woman such as myself. I love people that love books. She has a lifetime of learning ahead of her and no doubt she will reflect on those books in her driveway throughout her life. Seeing books from my youth instantly brings me back to my closet in the corner with the bookcase I would arrange and rearrange.

After I dusted the book off I placed in the honorable spot on my nightstand. It’s waiting for me to finish Oliver Wiswell, I’m finally almost done with that darn book. Which I love and read every single darn day but can’t seem to reach the darn end.

What are your most remembered childhood books?

I hope you are enjoying these fair weather September days!

sunny with an undertow

2011-09-12T07:01:00.001-07:00

We went to visit Auntie M and Uncle N. It was his birthday and because he is crazy and loving and kind we brought our gaggle of kids and a cake and sang to him.

He lit the candles three times so he and the kids could blow them out, and he sang louder than everyone else.

That is why I love him.

The waves seemed angry, but the blue sky countered that. There was a hurricane off shore (Katia) and made for some ~~scary~~ great wave riding. We were swimming kind of far out and having a great time until Maggie, Sam and I were alone and the waves suddenly got enormous, banging into us one after another leaving no space to inhale oxygen. We were stuck in the undertow while our family sat lovingly on the beautiful deck eating exotic cheeses and wine. Even though I couldn’t barely breath and my belly was full of sea water I could not stop laughing. Maggie and I would cling to each other and laugh hysterically. Eventually the waves spit us closer to shore and we crawled through the gravelly part on our hands and knees with every ounce of strength we had left. We laid on the sand and ventured up the bluff where everyone laughed thinking we were just goofing around in the water. So we sat and ate yummy food thinking: did that all just really happen?

Needless to say it was great fun but I didn’t let my kids go back in the water.

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I have been a poor blogger lately. I need a master plan as each day my list is too long to get done.

Send me some inspiration!

old and lovely

2011-08-27T13:31:00.001-07:00

This is the neighbors house, I walk by it everyday and look at it imagining all kinds of historical scenarios. Today I got to go inside and hear all about the history and it was even better than my imagination could dream up.

No one lives in it and the historical society opens it periodically. I suppose I could tell you where it is and if you really want to know you can email me but for now I’ll just say it is in a small New England town.

The same family lineage lived in it until there was no more children to pass it on to. It ended up in a distant relative-by-marriage hands and it sat empty full of stuff for many years. She donated it to the town.

The stuff is cool! All kinds of books and toys and carriages and furniture that is actually still in the crates it was ordered in. The last man to live it died unexpectedly in 1878 as he was making some renovations. There are rolls and rolls of wallpaper he ordered and carpets and I hope your mouth is watering as I was walking about with drool.

I wasn’t able to take indoor pictures (wah) it’s magnificent in the sense that things have stayed the same and the glamour is clearly evident amidst the aging and settling. The third level is a ballroom with an arched ceiling and you can almost hear the guests making their way up the two grand staircases.

This town was a busy place in 1800 when people were getting rich with textile mills. There are many old glorious houses here. By the mid/late 19th century it had kind of settled into it’s small town vibe as the railroad went to other textile towns and people went elsewhere to get rich and be social. I think it’s okay though as they left behind these great old houses.

I wish I could go in each one!

chicks and a couple cute guys

2011-08-24T13:15:00.001-07:00

Our chicks finally arrived. I was a nervous mother hen as they were a couple days late in getting here, but they are here and keeping warm in the brooder.

Molly and I put some of them in a doll buggy and paraded them around the yard because I like to do stuff like that. And so does Molly and so do the chicks as they really seemed to enjoy the late summer wind blowing their fluff about. Isn’t that good information to know?

We ordered five varieties of heavy breed laying hens from Murray McMurray and have a total of 29 chicks. I highly recommend M. McMurrays we have been ordering from them since forever. They have peak shipping times depending on where you live, the season and what type of birds you want.

Last weekend some of my family came to visit. It still is amazing to me that we live close enough for anyone to drive their car here and visit. We sat outside and ate food my husband cooked on an open fire, then we all went to the children’s fair the church next store has been having every summer for 150 years. It was quaint with games for the kids and various sales for the grown ups. I bought way too many books at the used book sale. At least that is what I am told by everyone that was with me. My opinion is that I could have easily bought many more books (sigh).

Having our sibling’s kids here to play is just about the greatest thing ever.

This is my brother Mike. He is a cowboy in case you didn’t notice the plaid + hat. He likes old houses and went everywhere in my house even the dark basement parts and told me stuff about how and why they built things the way they did in 1820.

I realized as I looked at this picture that my youngest kind of looks like him, minus the dinosaur.

Do you have anything left to do on your summer list? We are down to the last week before school and I’m hoping to have something fun accomplished. My older kids are really nervous to start a new high school. Maggie is going to be a senior and Sam a freshman. I’m glad they are friends and have each other to lean on b/c I kind of feel bad! Such is the woe of a military family always uprooting their kids.

Maggie and Sam and the truck Maggie dented in our back pasture last year then laughed hysterically until she cried.

summertime wind-down

2011-08-17T06:44:00.001-07:00

These last couple weeks of summertime will surely pass by quickly.

Every weekend my husband splits wood and the pile is getting too big to pretend cold weather isn’t around the corner.

But like a child with a chocolate bar my intentions of savoring each remaining day of summer are well intended.

I’ll wear my sandals and drink lemonade, but it doesn’t feel as good as it did a month ago.

hanging around

2011-08-15T12:17:00.001-07:00

The rain woke me this morning. It was a gentle but constant rain and I loved it. The children slept on and on so I curled in my bed and read a handful of chapters of Oliver Wiswell. It is a gargantuan book by Kenneth Roberts and I love it like I love the rain. My only complaint is that I wish I had more gray mornings to lounge in bed and read it.

When we lived in The Netherlands it rained at least once a day for 2/3 of the year. I learned to carry an umbrella and also to not let the rain stop me from riding my bike to the store. The Dutch do everything in the rain. Women wear high heels and ride their bikes to work.

Today we checked out the rushing water in the brook and then came in to bake stuff.

We made peanut butter cookies and zucchini bread. Don’t I sound like a good mother? The truth is I got a little snarky and had to force myself to be patient…especially when Henry fork flattened the cookies like a maniac.

But it’s okay, right? I mean, kids try their mothers patience and the mothers feed them cookies. Then the children wipe the crumbs on the floor and the mothers think about getting a dog so they will never have to wipe crumbs up again.

Arf-arf.

dun-nah… dun-nah… dun-nah (That’s from JAWS)

2011-08-10T07:13:00.001-07:00

We had a great time at the beach yesterday. It was a beach we had never been to and frankly though I have been beachy in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine I never knew New Hampshire even had beaches. Even though Portsmouth is one of my favorite places in the whole world and yes I knew that it is PORTS- MOUTH and there are many boats in ocean water there, I just didn’t think about the beach option. But it makes sense doesn’t it? Umm…. duh?

It’s been a while since I have been to a public beach and it amazes me that so many people parade around nearly naked. I don’t like feeling naked. What if one of my bits and pieces is hanging out and I don’t know it? Am I the only one that worries about this? My teenage daughter was trying to tell me in a nice way that I was the most untanned person there. Umm…thanks?

I guess they were into green yesterday.

I loved that they scoured the rocks and found sea creatures. They swam in the thickly seaweedy waters which has a tangy small that makes me happy in a gross smell kind of way. It’s not azure waters with powder white sands, if you are used to that you would see these beaches and think negative thoughts.

There was even a freckled sea gull named Seamus.

At least I think that was his name. He and his thug friends stole a bag of food from the people next to us. Instead of scaring them off I opted to take pictures.

But then a lady behind me made her kids run them off and she looked at me funny and her kids kicked sand on my blanket so I looked at them funny. Then we got in a fist fight and sharks came and everyone ran for the hills.*

*Some of these events were embellished for your reading pleasure.

summer days

2011-08-09T08:25:00.001-07:00

We woke this morning and started the day in the usual boring way: household chores.

Then I went upstairs and put on my swimsuit (call the police) and stood at the top of the stairs and yelled we are going to the beach. My children didn’t know if they should be horrified at me in my swimsuit or excited at the beach news.

Now they are running and grabbing stuff and changing and yelling.

And we are off!

PS Sean is from my daughter Hadley who is braving the TX heat and we wish she was going with us. We miss you, Hadley!

worth every penny

2011-08-05T18:11:00.001-07:00

Last year I bought a small cookbook called Picnics and Tailgates at a discount store and I find myself using it often. I love every recipe I have tried. Williams Sonoma put out several in a series and I was happy to see they are being sold used rather cheap. Like a penny kind of cheap (.01). I’m splurging on two for a whole two cents.

The chopped chicken salad is my favorite, I make it huge with three heads of lettuce as I like having the leftovers in the fridge all week for lunch.

Since we are talking about Williams Sonoma cookbooks I will tell you about a larger one called Family Meals. It isn’t set up like a traditional cookbook but it has some great stuff in it. And the paper in it smells really good, I’m not sure why but it smells like good matte paper fresh from the printer. I will be trying the blueberry jam recipe this weekend as today the kids and I picked 25 pounds of blueberries.

We hadn’t been blueberry picking in years. It used to take all day to pick 25 pounds and now that the kids are grown it only took a couple hours.

We are big fans of the kids book Blueberries for Sal and while Henry thought blueberry ~~eating~~ picking was mighty fun he was on the watch for bears…..

well color me terrific

2011-08-04T15:26:00.001-07:00

Just a warning that I might fill this post with words but yet say nothing of importance. I’m pretty good at that. Can I just start off by saying thanks for reading me through another move… this might be our last military move as my husband may retire out of this assignment. Surely I just jinxed that. But we mustn’t dwell on the what ifs, only the what-is and the what-is is exactly what I want to write about.

This house we bought has equal parts good and bad, it would be easy to just blog about the good and never let you know about the blue floors and such. Maybe it will help you think your house isn’t so bad.

The good: open and airy front entry

The bad: um…smurfy floor

Of course I’m a sucker for any room with bookcases, and I can even overlook their blueness but what stinks (and I mean stinks) is the whole room. It smells like dogs really bad. I have scrubbed and mopped and sprayed and just when it seems to smell better we will have a dark rainy day day and the smell comes eeking back in. It overpowers the old book smell (good smell) and zings our nostrils with wet dirty dog smell (bad smell).

The good: big vintage bathroom

The bad: big vintage bathroom

A woman recently stopped by, she was raised here. She said they are same bathroom fixtures from the 1940’s. She thought this was great. Me? Not so much.

The good: There is a great room added by the last owners, it is huge and sunny.

The bad: The only entry to this room is through another 1940’s bathroom. And like you couldn’t guess the color of the carpet.

It is so silly to me that they did all that work and you have to go through the bathroom to get there.

There is a long list of stuff we need to do but I think we are up to the challenge. The big stuff has been done like all new windows, septic and heating system. The bathrooms are at the top of our list, and trust me I can’t wait!

Did you learn anything today?

Good: peaches

Bad: blue countertops

Got some house quirks of your own? Please share!

gentle

2011-07-30T16:55:00.001-07:00

It often seems that all us humans rush around doing this and that. It seems like we are in search of something whether it’s that perfect vase at the home store or a certain kind of shampoo. We waste half the day in transit. I always wonder what it is we are looking for because deep inside I know it’s not the vase or shampoo.

As I age I realize what I’m looking for is within myself. It’s right here. A little bit of happy solace. It really doesn’t take much.

A few moments to sit with an open window and realize the birds are chirping, that dinner can wait, that everyone is okay.

I can obsess about everything that needs doing… and often I do, but I am learning to reckon with these rare moments when I can just sit and listen to the sounds of my life.

I have a little room in this house that beckons me each day to sit a minute. I love the oldness of it. It feels like a woman from the 1800’s was just in here sewing by the window.

It feels gentle, like only happy thoughts must be thought.

Molly and I sat and made loom potholders on one of those red toy looms. We spoke to each other and after a time just sat in the quiet and wove those little nylon bands over and over until my fingers were cramped.

Someday when the kids are grown and my husband has relegated himself to having a huge belly and reading three newspapers a day I will miss these days of having to find quiet. It seems a far away thought, but having brought my oldest to the airport on Thursday to fly far away because she is a grown-up and has an exciting life of her own, really makes me realize how fast time goes by. Too fast….much too fast!

How do you spend your “me-time”?

Happy weekend to you!

yesterday

2011-07-26T17:11:00.001-07:00

A long time ago while we were still in Texas (yee haw) I bought three tickets to a July Red Sox game for my husband’s birthday. If I can say so myself I will say it was a stupendous gift as for months my husband and two of our kids talked about their upcoming Fenway game. It was an exciting thing to talk about and it helped these two particular kids with the umph to move away from their happy Texan lives.

So yesterday was game day. It started pouring in the afternoon. I drove them to the base on the edge of Boston to meet my husband and catch the base’s outdoor rec bus to the stadium. It was still raining hard as my husband changed his shirt in the parking lot in front of the whole busload of people. (He doesn’t really have any chest hair to speak of which is funny as he is kind of old but is A-okay with me as we used to have a neighbor that was hairy like an ape and when I was pregnant and saw him mowing his lawn shirtless it made me nauseous.)

I drove away with the two youngest kids and took all kinds of wrong turns and actually drove by the same base gate 3x within 1 hour. I get lost everyday and it is really wearing at my nerves. But this isn’t a story about that but I will mention that I stopped at TJ Maxx in the rain and found a lovely Italian carpet which is magnifico.

But yes the game didn’t start for two hours b/c of rain and to make this story short (too late) I will say that my husband and children stayed until the game ended at 2:00 am (seriously, that is the true time the game ended) and rode the bus to the base and drove in our yard at 4:00 am. Then my husband woke at 6:30 am and went to work for 12 hours. That means he slept 2.5 hours in case you aren’t so great at mathematics or as my British friends say, numeracy.

Maggie was really excited to go to the game (she loves the Red Sox and especially the Celtics). This is why she is a gem because she is a very girly girl and did her hair for 2 hours before the game.

But then it rained and rained but she was okay with it because she bought a trucker style Red Sox hat (I don’t like that style, FYI) and wore it crooked like a rap star. Everyone was rowdy (she says) and she told me all the stuff my husband yelled, some of it was funny (some of it wasn’t). She boogied and twice got on the big screen (says her brother). My husband also danced and got on the big screen, it was his regular dance of slight hip sways and pointing fingers (says both his children). At around midnight I saw my husband on the television while I was eating chopped dates and shredded wheat.

That is the end of my story. It is all strange but true.

PS After 14 innings the Red Sox lost.

when the kitchen feels like home

2011-07-20T18:06:00.001-07:00

After dinner as I looked around my cluttered kitchen I expected to feel frustrated at the whatnot that is collecting on the countertops. All those items that have made it out of the boxes but have no real home yet. Instead of frustration I realized things are coming together. This kitchen with it’s almost ugly wallpaper is my kitchen? I made a humungous salmon fillet with a thick coating of fresh garlic and the smell in the kitchen will clear your sinuses- in a good way. Is there any better way to break in a kitchen other than pungent garlic and fish?

The dishes are in the cupboards.

The hen is on her perch above the door.

The sheep are herded on the sill with a spider plant baby from my mother.

Best of all there is a small child in the sink.

It definitely feels like home!

The things you tried not to think about for 17 years

2011-07-16T19:01:00.001-07:00

Things are settling down and this house is starting to feel like our house. Everyday gets better and better and truthfully I contemplate a little guilt for my happiness. I’m really so very happy. It feels strange to live in a place that I want to live, a place I could easily live the rest of my life.

We live in New Hampshire, in a quaint old village. Our house was built in 1820 and is nestled amongst other old rambling houses. We can walk to the library and general store but have enough land to have some hens and an animal or two.

As with all our moves there has been stress and truth be told our house is in need of some updating. I overheard my daughter describe this house to her friend as 1800 meets 1983. But the stress and drama is short lived as the sky is blue and the grass is green. And the little babbling brook in the back has mossy rocks and an abundance of ferns growing alongside it.

I don’t have any good pictures as I’ve been lazy about the camera. But soon!

Instead I will tell you it’s really nice to think about extended family and picnics and how to spend the weekend with them. And about how I can trade magazines with my mother and how I told my brother I will help him inventory all his horse tack in the barn. These are such nice things.

I took this picture of my mother and her brother from her house and promised up and down that I will bring it back. And I will. I will drive the 1.5 hours and hand it right to her, because I can!

My mother is the cutest little lady and Unc J though you are so gosh darn cute in this picture I just want to tell you don’t stand so close to the hind quarters again as it makes me nervous.

Hopefully my blog will be back to normal soon with less ranting about wild ferns and more serious life stuff like what I made with Martha glitter and how my oldest threw her retainer out into the grossest bag of garbage ever.

Tootleloooooo!

over the river and through the woods

2011-06-27T08:47:00.001-07:00

I woke this morning in Connecticut and for a second had to convince myself that I am really here. Our new house is a couple hours away but it is not quite ready for us so we have planted the children at their Grandmother’s house. They will splash and play and walk to the drawbridge and eat ice cream cones. They are tired of being in the cars. And so am I! All together this month we have collectively brought four cars and two moving trucks to the Northeast. It is strange not being in the Texas heat, the heat is so encompassing…like a blanket that never comes off. I forgot what it feels like not to be sweaty all day.

Today will consist of mostly laundry, then a sweet reward of eating outside at Auntie M’s with the ocean waves and sand covered children. It is a nice reprieve from my worries of closing on our house and unloading an enormous amount of household goods… to include a large amount of fabric crates. My husband who never says a word about how I love stuff was inspired to note that I sure have a lot of fabric. He said this while loading the truck when it was 111 degrees outside. He said it with a smile, it might have been sarcastic but it was a smile nonetheless.

So while my blog is sitting still and quiet I have been doing the opposite. I haven’t forgotten you, and can’t wait to sit and read what summer is bringing to each of you.

Here are some wishes I will wish for you:

sun, sand, water

red, white & blue pinwheels

grilled fish

grape (or cherry) slushies

laughter

soft little sunkissed feet

fireflies and marshmallows

A little spot of shade

2011-06-10T19:34:00.001-07:00

It’s true I’m a little bit tired. But I don’t really want that to sound like a complaint as I am so very excited for this move.

This drought and heat has made me appreciate so many things. Often I think of those who settled here first and how they dealt with all these extremes. How did they do it? Having to grow enough food for their families and animals…working under this intense sun.

I was feeling sorry for myself as I hung my laundry (our dryer has been broken and no one in this town has the right part. By the way that IS a complaint.) and started laughing at myself and my pettiness. I took some pictures of our brown yard that crunches under your feet.

I will never forget these weeks, now months of dry weather.

I came in the house to download the pictures and realized I had some of our new place I had yet to download.

The green grass made me get choked up.

I feel so emotional lately, maybe moving closer to home is chipping away my protective emotional wall. I just want to lay on that lush grass and do nothing. Maybe look at the clouds floating by, but nothing else. Okay if Ken is with me maybe we could kiss. But that’s all, looking at clouds and making out.

Tomorrow is Saturday and this makes me happy. I shall wake up, make my family breakfast, and use up the last of the maple syrup. Yum.

mute hands

2011-06-03T20:04:00.001-07:00

Life in this house is being boxed up and stacked in the front rooms. And though it’s really not much fun to put things in boxes and constantly be tired and sweaty there is a steady hum of excitement. Our new life is around the corner. We are all together in Texas again and though we are trying to enjoy the little time we have left here it is really quite busy. And it’s ridiculously hot. Have I mentioned Texas is hot?

Thoughts of writing often fill my mind, it’s the finding time part I struggle with. Everything is a priority at this point and I can’t help but dream of quieter times when I can find the calming beauty of the everyday.

Happily we found a house. I can’t stop thinking about it and am anxiously counting the days until we have key in hand and the kids can run up the stairs and find their rooms. It will be a happy day for my heart. The house is old and rambling and makes me think of this book…

Until I can sit under a parasol in the lush green grass reciting dramatic poetry to my new neighbors, I shall keep on with the packing and sorting.

My children are anxious to help, here is a story…

This morning my son Sam was struggling to get the vacuum up the stairs to his room. At first I felt proud of my boy. What a loving child to vacuum his room without being told. But then I realized it was early and some of his sisters were still asleep upstairs. So I hopped up the stairs and asked him if he could wait a bit. He had this weird look on his face that wasn’t quite the whoa-my-mom-is-gonna-be-mad-face. But it was close. In the midst of my confusion Henry was pointing on the carpet saying EWWWEWW. As if on cue Molly came in and asked Sam if he vacuumed up all his dead skin yet. What? He had peeled all his sunburned skin off his back and left it on the rug two days earlier. It was like a magnificent science experiment for them.

The moral of this story is not about telling those who are taking care of your kids to make sure to enforce sunscreen when you are out of town. It is about how you should never buy a used vacuum as it’s probably got some gross stuff in the HEPA filter.

And that, friends, is all I got.

the old and the new

2011-05-24T06:29:00.001-07:00

I drove my yellow car to the sea. Mile upon mile she courageously drove through mountains and prairie winds. I sat behind her steering wheel kind of nervous as she is a very old lady, but she did it and now she is getting used to her new home and the drizzle and salty air. I think she likes it as we both sat staring at the boats and the grayish-greenish cove water and smiled.

We are about to put an offer on a house ( I think) but I’m hesitant as I worry about every decision and analyze every aspect. We could just live on base which has a lot of pros as the location is great but schools (meh) and space (12,000 pounds of books) make me want to live elsewhere. We want an old house (do we?) as that is where we are happiest (right, husband?).

I hope you are well and that the sun shines in your heart.

a few things

2011-05-17T08:52:00.001-07:00

If I had to pick a favorite toy from my childhood it would probably have to be Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I loved them like they were real people.

These are from my childhood.

Though I’ve tried to stay away from sales (because we have a crud load of stuff to move) I couldn’t help myself when Maggie and I stumbled on a sale. I was giving her a driving lesson and we were in this cute little neighborhood, looking back it’s kind of like the car just drove there on its own.

We found these dolls, and a crud load (phrase of the day, I guess) of stuff. I want to open them and smell their musty/fruity smell.

And if that isn’t exciting enough I’m going to leave in a minute to pick up our oldest gurl at the teeny tiny airport. She is flying on a teeny tiny plane to come visit us, her family.

She overslept this morning and woke to her taxi honking outside. She texted me to tell me she forgot her computer charger and her underwear. I texted her back that it is okay because I am her mother and I will buy her new underwear.

And lastly I shall tell you that on Friday as my shy son Sam was about to leave for a banquet dinner he asked if he could wear some of his Dad’s cologne. I said no but I’m sure I had a (SAY WHAT???) kind of look on my face. He has yet to shave and still has peach fuzzy cheeks like his little brother.

Though now that Sam is older I don’t kiss his cheeks as much as I used to. It’s not so much as a kiss really, it’s more like a mwuh mwuh which lucky for me Henry doesn’t mind a bit.

It looks as if he is playing with a chewed up piece of pizza, but it’s Play Doh. When you are four you have to mix the colors even though this can be very upsetting for those around you who are in the 8 yr old age range.

Shall we summarize today’s word usage?

crud load- 2

teeny-2

pizza-1

boobs-0

Happy day, friends!

Little things

2011-05-13T13:37:00.001-07:00

A small colorful cupcake wrapper can add color to your whole day.

Especially if it’s your eighth birthday and you have a matching hair ribbon.

Michael’s dollar bins are full of good stuff…like cute cupcake wrappers. And we all know cupcakes taste so much better when they are wearing pretty wrappers. (Even if you make them with store bought stuff at 11:00 at night because you forgot during the day that you told the teacher you would be sending in cupcakes and instead you sat at the kitchen table and painted by number for 2.5 hours.)

Are you tired of me blogging about birthdays? It’s hard not to as I like looking back and seeing how everyone is growing. This is it until Fall when we have birthdays nonstop from Sept-Nov…

Okay? You cool with that?

Happy Friday!

lunchtime

2011-05-09T13:42:00.001-07:00

I have happy memories of eating lunch with my grandparents. They called it dinner and called dinner supper. And my Grampy called hot dogs weiners, which would make some of us laugh into our napkins. “WHO WANTS ANOTHER WEINER?” (How can you not laugh?)

Anyway, I like lunch best. Lunch at the picnic table with a big platter of sandwiches cut into triangles, a pitcher of tea and a bowl of sliced pickles. If we are lucky there will be some leftover cake or pie that will generously be divided up so we can wash the dish…as if we need an excuse to finish cake.

Summertime lunches is what I thought of as I made these bibs for a friends baby. Bibs are fun to make and if you are a mom you know you can’t ever have enough. I wonder how long I could sit and make bibs before I get tired of it?

Have you ever tried Sarabeth’s jam? I tried it on a whim because it has no corn syrup. I buy mine at Tuesday Morning… this store is kind of hit or miss when it comes to good stuff, our local one is pretty good but I’ve been in others that are pretty junky. The jam is also sold at William’s Sonoma and Whole Foods. It is really good- and I’m not getting paid to say that! We buy a lot of it:

The jars have measuring cup markings which make it hard to recycle them, we use them for everything from painting and art:

To summertime treats:

Frozen Lemonade with Berries from Victoria magazine in the 1990’s. These are great for picnics as they double as ice for the cooler and dessert.

That recipe inspired my whole post as I pulled it out because our weather is crazy hot. I took this off the tv this morning…

Someone will have to remind me of this post when we are in our new home and I’m complaining about snow.

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I hope you had a great Mother’s Day…we went skating, I told my kids to wear long socks only I didn’t look at Molly until she was getting out of the car at the rink…

Don’t you wish you were still seven?

If I could save time in a canning jar of tulips

2011-05-05T13:58:00.001-07:00

During my last year of high school I met my husband. I loved him instantly.

Within a few months I changed all the big life decisions I had spent those teen years creating. And truthfully though I was young and naive I didn’t care at all what anyone thought. And I still don’t! People were gentle and kind with their comments but I know many were kind of aghast at the situation known as Ken & KD.

Ken is crazy. He is full speed and I have often thought it’s a good thing he was born when he was because nowadays they would say he was hyperactive. When I look at what he has accomplished in his life I can only credit his zest and intensity for life. The world needs more people like Ken. He is the most selfless person I’ve ever met. He saved me from myself, if that makes any sense.

His life isn’t about money or greed or who he knows. It’s about faith and seeing beauty in the mundane. It’s about his kids-big and small- and about how even the smallest things can make a person happy. He is real.

This is how I like him best…after an afternoon nap, kind of scrub faced and hair askew.

But I also like him like this…with a gaggle of kids about who love him as much as I do.

Today is his birthday.

It’s hard to buy him stuff, he likes stuff but it’s usually weird stuff we would never know he wanted. It’s funny to me that he can be in uniform at a moments notice dealing with one issue or another but he is the kind of guy that looks ridiculous in the grocery store. He pushes the cart aimlessly and will stop to look at something with interest. I remember once he bought a gigantic jar of tomato paste like he had great plans. Maggie (above) and I usually do the shopping, when Ken comes with us we know it’s going to be…. fun(ny).

I remember early on in our relationship envisioning him “old”. Time has passed so quickly, I just can’t believe it. Sometimes I look at us together with our new wrinkles and varicose veins and it makes me laugh. What is happening?! We used to have cute pet names now he calls me lady and I call him fatty. But the truth is I’m more love sick now for him than ever.

And I can’t tell you why or how or what is or what isn’t. But I can tell you faith and truth and love are part of each day.

my thoughts and a few favorite things on blue gingham

2011-05-03T09:47:00.001-07:00

Doesn’t it seem that as of late the whole world is full of drama? The storms in the south? The news from the Middle East? And what about Steve Carrell leaving the Office?

Drama is nothing new to me- I have three teenagers after all. But lately it seems the drama is unmatched and I’m quickly learning I don’t really like it. Maybe after losing my much loved cat it has pushed my “I- think-I-can” emotion down to the bottom. Which reminds me to say a very big thank you for your sweet comments about Peter. He was 14 and will forever have a paw print on my heart. Just writing that makes me tear up—see what a mess I am?!

Our own local drama is still fire danger. We had a close call Friday with fire rolling onto our property. A friend called in the afternoon saying he heard there was a fire on our road ( a tiny country road!) and just as my kids walked in the door I looked up and saw flames on the neighbors lot. The winds were gusting at 50+ miles an hour.

The fire was instant. We are very lucky the winds blew from the south. The kids and I loaded the cars and I gave my 13 year old impromptu driving lessons. We hosed down our house and outbuildings and watched the fire trucks racing in. But no one told us to leave. So we stayed and watched well into the night. This is the neighbors landscaping shed burning at around 11:00.

This is the land between our house and the neighbors.

Their houses were spared as well.

At first I admit I was crazy with fear. I was shaking so bad I couldn’t put things into bags. But then this strange calmness took over and I can honestly say I became okay with the thought that our house was about to be burned. Me the girl who loves stuff.

I knew my family would be okay and that we would be together. That is the most beautiful thought in the world.

It’s really surreal all this business…the fact that we are moving and actually closed on our house the morning of the fires. (We are renting the house from the new owners until we leave in June.)

Saturday night storms came and it rained so hard. It was lovely. It hasn’t rained here in so long. Have you ever seen Sarah Plain and Tall when Caleb puts the glass outside to measure the rain… only it never rains. I have relived that movie a hundred times in my head. Not just because of the drought but because of Sarah and how she misses the sea and loves her cat Seal. I don’t mean to insult Texas but I think I have been away from home too long. I miss the ocean, my nephews are in college (!) and they think of us as those far away relatives. Now that we are down to counting the weeks until we leave it is almost too much anticipation. We decided months ago to move ourselves, we have done it before and it’s a little bit fun. Fun?

Today is a better day, I am sure of it. There’s lots of good stuff ahead.

sweetness

2011-04-28T13:50:00.001-07:00

My neighbor’s horse had a foal, which as it turns out is a great boost when trying to not talk yourself out of a walk.

He is so cute and spunky (the horse, not my neighbor). When he sees us he gives a newborn whinny and kicks up his heels. You can’t help but fall in love with him.

Yesterday the cows across the street must have been curious, too, as they were right up against the roadside fence.

Henry was talking a mile a minute as I was taking pictures. He was asking questions like why is a cow a cow and why is a horse a horse? You know those kind of questions that after a 100 or so make you have a permanent silly glazed eye look? Well that is what was happening when this rather large beast was coming over a little too fast.

We backed away and watched him for a bit. He is a hulk and that is a mighty thin piece of fence wire separating Ferdinand from the human race.

By the time we looped around and came back the cows were gone and the little horse was napping.

Henry got tired, too. The wind came and rustled through the wheat. (is that wheat?)

So we went home and both took a nap.

The end.

less soft

2011-04-27T14:13:00.001-07:00

Losing a pet is never easy. Our housecat Peter was an integral part of our crazy family.

I knew he was old.

But I didn’t know what it would feel like not to have him at my feet each day.

He was a well traveled cat, often sitting in his cage beside me on cross Atlantic flights as I nursed a baby in one arm and balanced a book in the other.

Through each move and each new child, Peter was there… a constant companion.

I just miss him so much!

a partial list of happy things

2011-04-18T08:16:00.001-07:00

Though the smoke and haze around here won’t let us forget we are still under the threat of fire, life is going on.

1. We colored eggs. And I realized that when I sat at the table with the kids they were giddy and happy and when I would step into the kitchen even for a minute they would bicker. It was like an on/off switch. This still makes the happy list just because when they disagree it is usually so ridiculous and as much as I don’t like it, it’s a part of raising kids and already I can laugh about some of the things they argue over. YOUR EGG HAS BEEN IN THE BLUE FOR AN HOUR.

2. K and I recently celebrated our anniversary. We didn’t do anything “special” but we did stay home and I made roast chicken and potato salad and the Celtics were on TV and they won right at the last few seconds. Happiness? I think so.

3. I came across this web site and fell in love.

4. And happily I finished a major work of art.

Can you believe I sit and do paint by numbers when my house needs to be cleaned and boxed and its contents shipped 2500 miles east? Me either. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I did most of it in my bed.

I can’t stop doing them, it is so relaxing! It helps to use a wet paper towel to clean the brush instead of water. I wonder if Van Gough painted in his bed, too?

5. A while ago I read an idea using paint by numbers only I can’t remember where I read it..was it Cathe Holden? Anyway she color copied paintings she bought at a flea market onto big sheets of paper (collage style) and used it as wrapping paper. It was like totally awesome.

And that is all I’s got.

red flag

2011-04-15T18:22:00.001-07:00

We have been in a severe drought for a while. I can’t remember the last time it rained. Everyday it has been the same little icon on the corner of the newspaper and tv screen : red flag fire danger.

And everyday life went on, I went on lunch dates and bought cat food.

Until today when I smelled smoke during the late morning. Soon enough there were several fires burning around us. There was virtually no humidity in the air and powerful winds made these fires extremely dangerous.

Our loved ones and friends are fine.

Though sadly several houses have burned.

It scared me.

a market bag

2011-04-11T13:37:00.001-07:00

I recently read that the reusable bags I bought at the commissary contain lead. What do I do with them? Should I throw them out? The stores will take them back but they will most likely throw them out as well.

Feeling optimistic I took out my vintage sheets and told myself I would cut out five bags. Thankfully I only cut out one as I think I made more mistakes making this bag that anything else I have ever made. It was almost funny.

Anyhow it turned out okay, but I’m going to come up with a plan B as I think I would cry if I had to make four more.

There is something nice about sewing with vintage sheets. Check out this tutorial page on this blog, there’s some really cute ideas. I hope your week is off to a good start!

Sunday Night Reflections

2011-04-10T19:11:00.001-07:00

Each day brings us new thoughts, new happiness, new woes. This past week taught me something, it was an epiphany that hit me right between the eyes. At first I thought maybe it was just a moment of inspiration that would dissipate as quickly as it arrived. But it didn’t, it’s still here in my brain. It’s kind of a long epiphany that started with the passage in a book and I’m not sure how I can summarize it without sounding like I’m the drunk guy at the end of the bar who is in love with everything.

I’m definitely not drunk, by the way.

Early in the week I read a passage in a book from the perspective of a naive girl describing a woman she admired…

“…an initial acceptance of herself as she was and so of other people with their foibles. And so she did as little scolding or criticizing of others for their foolish behavior or their sins as anyone I had ever known. It was not that she was willing to compromise with wrongdoing or poverty or ignorance, just that she was a long step ahead of wasting emotional energy on fretting. And she never put pressure on the rest of us to accept her opinions. The secret of her calm seemed to be that she was not trying to prove anything. She was- that was all. And her stance toward life seemed to say: God is-and that is enough.”

Maybe the exact moment in time in which I read this crossed perfectly with the exact moment in time in which my chaotic life was ticking along.

I have an extreme life.

This is no surprise within our family, my husband has a demanding job- he travels extensively both in and out of the country. I will never say I am used to this nor that I don’t mind because from the bottom of my heart I mind. At the same time this is what it is. And what it is… is life.

And we have a great life. The intensity only adds to this and this is where the epiphany comes in.

Only it’s hard to put it into words.

Most of my life I have suffered with anxiety. And I deliberately use the word suffer as it is a physical pain to carry around anxiety. When you carry around anxiety usually you carry around other stuff, too.

It’s like I am growing up and can finally comprehend that endless worrying is wasteful of me.

It’s not up to me to worry, to judge, to be opinionated.

Just as I don’t have to think about anyone in a negative way. People will judge me but it really has nothing to do with me at all.

It’s just fine to live this extreme life and let Henry eat cereal for dinner in his underwear.

All these years I’ve spent being shy and anxious when ironically I really love people.

I am who I am, I don’t need to carry the past within the present.

I will never be tall.

I will never be a ballerina.

But I will always be a mother to my children,

and a wife to Ken.

The happiness that gives me is all I need to carry within my heart.

thou art woman

2011-04-04T14:06:00.001-07:00

I hath no time to write really, but as a woman I am able to magically find time to fit in a post.

I am feeling womanly today. Do you ever have days when you are glad you are a girl? I realize by asking that my brother is going to leave some kind of sarcastic comment, but it’s okay b/c I don’t mind when brothers are sarcastic.

If there was ample time today I would make a wrap-a-round skirt out of this fabric:

It’s my favorite fabric of the week.

I would make it reversible with a dark chambray cotton and use this pattern minus the pockets:

What’s on your to-do wish list?

An Announcement

2011-03-31T11:32:00.001-07:00

I am pleased to announce I now collect glass mayonnaise jars.

Am I suffering from dumb humor? Yes. Though if you are reading this you might be the one suffering from it!

Today and yesterday have been fantabulistic days. For no real reason even.

They were just innocent, regular days that got bumped up to Good.

Here is my advice to you:

Hug your loved ones and tell them they make you happy.

Look at the sky.

Stretch for five minutes.

Pet your cat.

Read a poem.

Smell a flower, even if it’s in the grocery store.

And then, you will have a fantabulistic day, too.

helpful hints for wardrobe planning

2011-03-29T10:35:00.001-07:00

Summer clothes. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

I love planning out my wardrobe for the sunny days of summer. But then usually by the first of July I am wearing the same jean shorts and T-shirt that I will wear until September. At first I appreciated the help I recently read in an old Essential Sewing Guide by Drucella Lowrie. I wish this woman could walk into my home in her gabardine suit and gloves and tell me exactly what to wear.

She has no trouble illustrating her advice:

That square neckline with the eyelet trim is a little much for my lifestyle of spray painting thrift store stuff and yelling at my children.

Secretly I kind of like the housewife-at-home sample dress. I like the big pockets, they would be handy during my daily chores that involve clothespins and a flask of hard liquor.

Self made trimmings sound like a good way to personalize something to your own taste. But then I remembered that huge L Laverne would wear on Laverne and Shirley and I’m kind of thinking maybe it’s not such a good idea. I can’t imagine sewing a big K on all my clothes.

Truly I wish I could dress my teenagers in the three bottom row outfits. If they loved me they would let me dress them like this.

There is a whole chapter dedicated to the “chubby woman”. It made me depressed as all the measurements given as examples were smaller than mine. Who is chubby and has a 30 inch chest? Darn you, Drucella! I am definitely not buying your book Restyle Your Hats that I saw on Amazon for $250.

you won’t know unless you try

2011-03-27T16:14:00.001-07:00

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

They are very easy to make and have on hand as a healthy snack.

Peel the outer leaves and cut the ends off a couple pounds of brussel sprouts.

You can feed the leaves to your hens, it will make them happy.

Set the oven to 400 and line a heavy duty cookie sheet with foil, spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Cut the sprouts in half and put on the pan all crowded but single layer.

Drizzle them with olive oil, sea salt and a little lemon juice.

The amount depends on your taste, I put enough oil on them so they look shiny but not enough that they are swimming in it. Same with the salt. I use about a tablespoon of the lemon juice.

When we lived in Turkey I learned that anything from cucumbers to eggplant to chick peas taste great with olive oil, salt and a little lemon juice.

Roast them for about 30-35 minutes. Give them a stir every 10 minutes or so. They kind of smell bad while roasting, unlike the way the taste which is very delicious.

ma petite chérie Molly

2011-03-25T07:59:00.001-07:00

This is another Citronille dress called Albertine. I was feeling confident one night after the kids went to bed and I cut into a two yard piece of knit fabric that I’ve had in my stash forever. It holds a steady place in my top three favorite fabrics. This waste not want not mode I am in feels a little dangerous. But if I don’t use the fabric now while Molly is young when will I use it?

I had a little panic about making the dress too small so I went up a size and now, well, who am I kidding the dress is huge.

But at least it’s not too small,eh?

She has been a busy girl of seven, learning all kinds of new things and gaining some Tasks of Responsibility.

We bought her a brand new shiny bike for no reason at all other than she would be the happiest girl on the planet. We never do anything like this. We set it on the porch and told her to look out the window and still it never crossed her mind that the bike was hers.

Have you ever spoiled your kids for no reason? We are always bent on not spoiling them and having them earn things by working for it. But I think it’s okay once in a while.

I’m pretty sure she thinks it’s okay, too!

I’m hoping my brother Mike is reading this and feels inspired to make this for Henry.

I’m certain this would equate to favorite Uncle status, just sayin!

Keds and Sensibility

2011-03-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

I lost myself among all the Keds at Zappos.

There are so many styles!

My heart wants plaid but my smart says navy.

And if my mother were taking me shoe shopping like the old days she would say navy matches everything.

She would be right, of course.

I always thought I would grow up and buy the trendiest things.

My wardrobe is very simple with lots of khaki and navy and white.

There is no glittered, neon half-shirt.

But once while visiting my mother’s…

I saw she had leopard printed underwear.

How sensible is that?

the goings on

2011-03-23T13:42:00.001-07:00

Our house is under contract…I’m afraid to use an exclamation point as I kind of feel like I need to hold my breath until the closing next month.

There is good and bad -- we are losing money on the sale which kind of stings a little but we are able to live here until the kids finish school as we will be renting the house from the new owners for a couple months. When you weigh out all the good and bad I think we are making out okay.

No more showing of the house. Hooray!

It’s my goal to live as “normal” as possible right up until we move to Massachusetts. It’s hard on the youngest kids as they can’t really remember all the hullabaloo that goes on. It’s hard to logically explain that everything we own will move with us.

We have been going through all the art supplies and each sunny afternoon finds the sunporch littered with new artwork.

Henry thought fingerpainting was the best thing ever. He kept giving me that ARE YOU SURE? kind of look.

I call this picture, “painting concentration with a small booger”.

That’s the goings on…sewing, painting and boogers.

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Thanks for all your comments on my apron giveaway! Henry picked number 7 which is from Jemm…

Jemm is witty and nice and has a great blog- you should check it out if you haven’t already!

an apron giveaway

2011-03-19T18:02:00.001-07:00

I made this apron to celebrate the arrival of fair weather. While I was cutting it out I realized I had enough fabric for two. One for me and one for you. It is always a good feeling to welcome the pastel colors of spring…robin’s egg blue with a little carnation pink. Soon enough we will be anxious for the primary colors of summer but for now as we wake from our muted winter grays the pastels are a soft encouragement to welcome the warm changes ahead.

This apron is fully lined and ties at the back, it will fall at the knee for most.

Leave a comment to enter and feel free to link the giveaway on your blog.

I will randomly pick a winner on Wednesday March 23.

The Pioneers of Pillowcases

2011-03-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

Long before blogging and the liberal use of the words vintage and retro, there were women who had the desire to save and collect things. Somewhat out of necessity I am sure, for useful things like buttons and cookie tins but perhaps also due to genetics that inexplicably show up within generations of innocent families. That gene can make you do something strange like collect pillowcases until the back room of your house is full of boxes of carefully pressed and folded pillowcases. My husband and I went to a sale yesterday and the house was pretty full of various collections. But when I made my way to the back room and realized the whole room was full of pillowcases, I kind of felt a kindred attachment.

The woman that had done the collecting and folding had been gone a while and her 70 year old daughter was selling them. First I started looking slowly then realized my want pile was pretty big. So I made an offer on all of them. And then brought them home to my screen porch where I have spent hours going through them. I love many of them, but will sell the majority. Because really after this experience I realize you can have too many vintage pillowcases.

It’s funny how when you “inherit” someone’s collection you can kind of figure out who they were. And in this case (get it?) I know I would have liked her. I admire her for living in Texas before air conditioning, for wanting to save pretty linens, for keeping her treadle sewing machine looking nice through all those years.

And then when I got to the bottom of the last box I found a bonnet. It feels old and delicate but I washed it and got the musty smell out.

Maggie tried it on and it made me think of how much times have changed. If it was pre-1900 Maggie would surely be married, not because she is boy crazy but because my husband loves cows and would certainly trade her for good stock.

Oh dear, can’t a tired mother joke about trading her kids for cows? I love my baby Maggie but she is 16 and who ever coined the phrase “sweet 16” most likely never had a 16 year old living with them.

Which brings me to say I am really tired, that part is not a joke. Though admittedly not from my 16 year old but from washing and hanging out all those pillowcases!

I hope you had a sunny day wherever you are…g’nite!

more jumbled thoughts

2011-03-16T12:14:00.001-07:00

Recently Maggie (kid #2) was competing in debate at Hadley’s (kid #1) school which is 6 or so hours from here. It was nice to have an exciting plan to visit a city (!) and see my gurlz away from home which right now as I write this is going through a termite inspection in preparation for it being sold, which is in preparation for us moving to the east coast, which is loverly and wonderful.

So we drove the pretty straight path of browns and tumbleweeds.

All the while I was thinking all kinds of thoughts.

I’m pretty stressed about the selling of the house and everything surrounding it.

But then I would think about Japan and the news reels that have kind of haunted my mind.

It’s humbling, isn’t it?

Sometimes on the expanse of land you can see the sun far, far away. Even though it feels gray and gloomy where you are it is always comforting when you see the sun still does shine.

And sometimes something will surprise you. Like after driving hour after hour on lonely roads, you drive by a buffalo and you think, did I just drive by a buffalo?

Yup. You did.

At the university I watched Maggie debating and thought to myself this is why I never feel like I win when we have a disagreement. Where did she get those mad skills? Between you and me she kind of scared me, the next time we have words I will probably get a goofy grin and have nervous laughter.

It was a different kind of break for me. It was a comfort to see Hadley, she was our tour guide and evidently finding the coolest thrift shops in the city is part of her curriculum. These are new emotions for me. My girls are grown-ups!

Hadley’s school is a wonderful place. Someone knitted around a whole bunch of trees. Isn’t that reason enough to send her there?

The seeing and doing was good nourishment and the hugging of Hadley was a much needed renewal.

I was able to get myself back in the car and drive the lonely roads home.

And if you need a tractor I know just the place you can get one, American Pickers style.

The house isn’t so bad. I was thinking the husband and wife compromised 50 years ago…

She said: I want a decent house.

He said: I want to have a few tractors.

Love is beautiful, eh?

It happened rather quickly

2011-03-10T10:26:00.001-08:00

Along with the hustle and bustle of child rearing I kind of forgot my kids were growing. You know…like they eat food and run and play and sleep in their beds until morning (unless we have a stomach bug and various children vomit in their beds and other various children try and make downstairs to vomit but instead leave a trial kind of like Hansel and Gretel did in the forest except it’s definitely not bread crumbs).

So yes, if we feed them healthy foods and threaten them that they have to eat it all… they grow. I watched the two oldest girls grow right past me. And truly this didn’t surprise me as the two oldest girls have always been smarter than I ever was at any particular stage in their lives. They just get it, you know? I can pretty much count on them not being rude or offensive when at, let’s say…a buffet. They won’t head straight to the dessert table or carry a dirty plate up for refilling. They have tact and it just makes sense that they would be taller than me.

But their brother Sam (kid #3) has always been little. Not just in the sense that he is younger but amongst his peers he has been, well, not as tall. His Dad is a giant and Sam looks just like him except for the giantness.

I suppose his height represented that I was indeed his mother.

And this morning as I innocently looked on, he was measured and the number was bigger than mine.

And the tech said WOW he has grown A LOT in a year.

I dropped him back at school and while driving home I kept thinking about the two above pictures. Ken was in Kosovo at the time and before he left he told Sam to take care of the girls. He took that so seriously!

It seems like yesterday. Why do they have to grow up so fast?

This is Sam now. He has huge feet and if he’s anything like a puppy that is a good indicator that growing taller than his mother is just the beginning.

Sigh.

happiness is buying bubbles

2011-03-01T15:56:00.001-08:00

This morning as I grumpily left my bed and went out to feed the animals I saw from a considerable distance the neighbors cat drop us a gift. It was a rat. Not a mouse but a rat. The neighbors cat likes to hang around the edges of our property. Did you see Jim Gaffigan on Jimmy Fallon last night? He said his neighbor asked if you could tell she had cats by standing at her door and he said no but I can tell you have a box of turds in your living room. Maybe that doesn’t translate well, but it made me laugh out loud in my bed.

Anyhow I didn’t mean to start off with a dead rat story as that’s about as uninspiring as it gets…and I’m sure you have heard enough about my thoughts on moving so instead I shall share what has made me happy today.

Like March first coming in like a lamb. It’s so warm and sunny here, the kind that makes you want to look at the summery picnic stuff at Target. It’s so colorful and pretty and really inspires you to tell yourself to spend the summer going on picnics. But the truth is I don’t really like melamine and if I’m going on a picnic it will have to be at the beach and if that’s the case then I’d rather buy grinders wrapped in wax paper. See how I talk myself out of buying summery picnic stuff?

But buying bubbles is okay. Henry thinks so, too.

I lost myself in this magazine for a moment or two. It’s jolly good if you can find it at your local bookstore.

The magazine inspired me to use my rationing of Crabtree after my run today. I ration it like sugar during the 1940’s. Crabtree stuff is jolly good as well.

And if all that isn’t happiness enough I finally sewed the buttons on this little outfit. Hopefully the baby it is intended for won’t grow too big to wear it. And no, I’m not having a baby. But I kind of wish I was. Does that happen to you?

I hope your March 1st is like a lamb, too. Only without the dead rat!

a penny for your thoughts

2011-02-25T12:56:00.001-08:00

The air is heavy today, which is a change from the dry blowing wind we have recently had. When it’s dry and the wind blows the air gets dusty and it smells like a far away brush fire. I like the heavy air better, even though it makes my hair half curly and half straight. Which really means it’s just a big mess.

Maggie and I went to the first real sale of the season yesterday. We weren’t the only ones looking forward to a sale as I think half the population of all the counties in north Texas were there. We didn’t get our thrills there so we went thrifting.

Good news: I found a like-new set of Holly Hobbie sheets. This is my second set of double sized crispy clean HH sheets.

Bad news: Samuel is the only one with a double size bed.

It’s actually a 3/4 size bed, which is shorter and wider than a twin.

I also found this shiny Pooh Bear nursery toy box. I would like to use it to hold my collection of vintage infant and toddler patterns in my someday sewing room. That someday sewing room sure makes me buy a lot of stuff.

My youngest was recently pretty ill, he is doing much better. We have been worried about him, but today he played and built this Lego hotel all by himself. So this is a happy picture sent out through the air waves to my family back home.

Good news: Henry is doing really good!

Bad News: He is smiling because I called my mother (whom my kids call Nanny) Nanny McFanny. Oops, it looks like it’s a keeper. Sorry Nanny!

two tall guys and a cherry pie

2011-02-21T08:38:00.001-08:00

I’m not certain why I love President’s Day so much. It seems to be a combination of reasons, My great grandmother was a Lincoln though I don’t think we are related to Abe…it was enough to spur a love for that awkward tall guy with the stove pipe hat.

There’s been so much said about these two, it almost doesn’t matter what’s an exaggeration or not. Did George chop down the cherry tree? We don’t know but it makes a good reason to bake a cherry pie on a cold and windy February day.

These are stencils from an old patriotic stencil book…

You can enlarge them onto card stock and use a craft knife to cut out.

By George, I hope you are having a splendid day--

a sunshiney day

2011-02-15T13:25:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine’s Day a day late. There’s still lots of love so being late is just fine. In fact there is enough love to last the whole year through. Valentine’s Day intrigues me, the early years it’s all about the do-you-like-me-circle-yes-or-no vibe. Those were good times, weren’t they?

We were all kind of busy yesterday and the day kind of slipped by.

February is a good month

*it’s almost spring

*Valentine’s Day + President’s Day ( I love George and Abe)

* pink and red

* Texas weather is good…like Thursday is supposed to be 85 degrees kind of good

* it inspires me more than March, but I’m not sure why

* writing lists makes me happy

* I made four cakes today

* and the house smells really good

*we had some squadron people over on Saturday night- one of them left yesterday for Afghanistan. I wish I could talk about this person as it is an inspiring story but just will say bless our troops as they are amazing people

*there was game snobbery, and Sam (my precious son Sam) beat the military guys. And they were getting miffed and talking smack, and Sam (my precious son Sam) just sat there quiet as ever.

* this is an edited post as I had shared something about Sam that perhaps he wouldn’t want you to read

* so instead I will just say boys and men are dorks

* but you already knew that, right?

simple summer dress

2011-02-13T11:34:00.001-08:00

This dress is just what I wanted to make but I didn’t even know it. It’s really more of a frock than a dress, I like the fluidity of it…it’s delicate yet the perfect thing to wear on a summer day in which you find yourself running through a grassy field barefoot.

Molly is a bit of a twig and is kind of lost in it, I think I will have to add some elastic along the shoulders and bodice top. And truthfully I think the pattern recommended this but the directions were in French. I kept making up my own translations that usually ended with a très bien!

Hopefully there will be more of these in the near future, as I think I am in love with these patterns. The groovy kind of love that makes you whistle and sing even while doing housework. The patterns are from Citronille. The one above is here and I have this one and this one sitting here within the reach of my ever loving heart.

We had a realtor here yesterday who saw my sewing stuff and immediately we spoke rapidly of sewing and sewing stuff then we would talk a little about the house then more rapid sewing talk. I never meet people like that, it was like finding a long lost relative. I wanted to hug her when she left, but I refrained.

It’s Sunday and a beautiful one at that, I hope the sun is shining in your heart, mes amis…

puffed heart food

2011-02-10T08:52:00.001-08:00

Puffed wheat is really a nice segue (I had to look that word up b/c I thought it was segway like the two wheeled thingy but I think segue looks much more romantic if words can look that way) from yesterday’s post about Faye.

For a time I lived with my grandparents and for breakfast we ate puffed wheat or puffed rice. I didn’t like it so much. Gram let us put a teaspoon of sugar on it but usually it was sugar Twin which wasn’t sugar at all. It was chalky and stuck to the back of your throat and made you want to act like a cat contemplating a hair ball. So we ate it with milk. Nowadays it seems kids would just say “I’m not eating that” but in our house there was no room for finicky nor disrespect.

The irony is now I like puffed wheat and rice. And Golden Grahams. And granola. All mixed together sometimes.

Anyhow using puffed wheat as a substitute in Rice Krispie type of treats is a good way to use them up if you have a large amount sitting in the pantry and you are moving to Boston. (high five)

This is different than the Rice Krispie recipe just in case you are using them.

Puffed Wheat/ Rice Bars

3 TBSPN butter

4.5 cups mini marshmallows

4 cups puffed wheat (which is unsweetened and usually in a bag not a box)

1 cup puffed rice (also in a bag near the puffed wheat)

2 tsp butter flavoring (this is my secret ingredient , is it bad for you? I’m not sure but it makes them taste good.)

In a large pan melt butter and add marshmallows. Remove from heat and add puffed cereals and butter flavoring. Stir well . Spray a piece of wax paper with nonstick cooking spray and use it to press mixture into 13x9 pan. Sometimes I press in M&M’s or dried cherries. Let them cool then cut into squares…or hearts if you love the people that are eating them.

Tootles, friends!

faye: a brave girl

2011-02-09T13:54:00.001-08:00

Thanks for your comments on my mish mashy last post. It’s just been a whirlwind of stuff lately.

The buyer on our house retracted their offer which, yeah made me cry a bit. And soon after I felt ridiculous, there’s worse I could be worrying about. Happily just a short bit ago we received official word we are going to Boston. No more maybe. I’m thrilled…Boston is among my favorite places. Being so close to our families in Connecticut and the ocean? After being far away so much I can’t even believe it!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And now for Faye, a brave girl indeed.

Unbeknownst to me, my Gram was old. And though she passed away years ago I am still learning from her.

She was brave and courageous and loving and kind. In perfect measure, like a symphony as it builds and crescendos then delicately winds itself away from you in the most beautiful of ways. That was my Gram.

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This is a $1 wooden frame from the craft store embellished with paint, craft paper and glitter.

The silhouette is from a larger one I have on the wall of my Gram, using a wallet sized picture I took with my digital camera and glittered…

hearty things from my heart and from my hands

2011-02-07T11:35:00.001-08:00

I miss my kids this morning. After a week of surprise days off we kind of got into a routine of making messes and having a grand ol time.

The time building up to these surprise days off was really intense with sick kids and showing the house. My husband was hearing bits and pieces about where we will move next and each day my heart was going really fast and then really slow and I would be really happy then get really overwhelmed. There are many pros and cons to being a military wife and unfortunately for my family we are in the midst of one of my cons. So as you can see how graciously I accepted the gift of snow and ice knowing no one would be looking at our home and I could cook foods that make the house smell like garlic for days and use crafting glitter with ill abandon. My family thinks of me as an over reactor (you think?) but people want to walk in your home and envision themselves living in it and not look at your mountain of laundry and think cowabunga these people have a crud load of kids.

And guess what? We received an offer on our house, one that we are still in negotiations with. Truthfully I am a wreck and trying to keep busy with little projects here and there. I just want this to work out very badly! Like really, really, really, bad.

Knitters hide your eyes, I used synthetic fleece

I made Molly these fleece mittens in celebration of where it looks like we will move… and for Valentine’s Day. We have received word that we will move here, it’s my dream assignment just writing that gives me a lump in my throat. Though he won’t have orders for another month or so which makes me want to wait to believe it but I can’t stop myself. We have learned the hard way that the military can switch things around at the last minute.

Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite days. It’s not just about being in love with your significant other but to me it’s about love in general. It’s a good reminder to love each other…to love life…to be thankful for the love that rests within your warm heart.

I have rediscovered my love for paper ephemera, which is a good thing as I have bins of clippings and stickers and papers that truly looks like a bin that should be headed for the recycling center. Though I dappled in scrapbooking years ago it has always been the unconventional use of these things that makes me the most creative.

This is this year’s card to Ken (you know-- that guy that I said I would spend the rest of my life with before I realized that he makes weird snortle noises while he sleeps and has severe ocd about keeping the cars clean—yeah, that guy and of course I would still have said yes even with the snortling/ ocd).

I took a picture of the silhouettes of us that hang in the living room and printed them wallet size on our printer. Then cut and glittered and glued them onto cardstock. I tried to make them kissing but our noses kept getting in the way, kind of like in real life.

Do you ever get on the phone and start talking and then realize you were doing all the talking so you say…so, how are you???

Umm…how are you?

There is no sense of normalcy

2011-02-04T13:51:00.001-08:00

When the weather takes a turn towards ice and snow I have come to understand how these friendly Texans deal with it. They hunker down and wait for what ever is happening outside to turn in some other direction. In this case we have been waiting for a long time- today is snow day #4. There is no plow scraping by or scattering salt and sand. We have been sitting in our house, amongst these four walls that seem to be getting closer together with each passing day.

I have lost my sense of normalcy. It took some deep thinking to realize today is indeed Friday. Friday?

It’s silly how much we haven’t done this week. Getting dressed seems like work.

We have been playing games and having a Lego extravaganza.

All day, building and searching for a certain piece. Hours and hours.

Lego has a website, and also stores scattered about the US. But usually if it’s a good deal we buy them off ebay.

When we lived in Europe I was pleasantly surprised at how many adult Lego collectors there were. You can design your own building and download it to their site and they will create the pieces for you. Isn’t that totally awesome, ja?

I feel like when I was in 8th grade and a visiting friend would look at my room and say you still play with dolls?

What? Huh? Dolls?

It’s nice I can blame the Lego stuff on my kids but between you and me I am very fond of the colorful bricks…and snow days for that matter.

G’day friends…hope you are having a happy day wherever you may be!

on childhood and maturity

2011-01-28T12:46:00.001-08:00

While recently in the book store I paged through a how-to-blog kind of a book. Somewhere in the first third it said something about how to use as few words as possible on each post. It struck me as amusing as I envisioned a blogging “expert” critiquing my blog. What would they say? Maybe not to write so much about nothing? Maybe to have an actual point?

This is where the surprise of blogging comes in for me. One of the things I love most about it was accidental. In the beginning I spoke of my kids with trepidation, but now three years later these silly little posts have given these mothering days a timeline of life. With just a few clicks I can see Henry’s first scraped knees or our house in Illinois. All those everyday thoughts I would have otherwise swept into the dustpan of a hurried life.

Just this morning I was thinking about how unique it is that our kids are kind of spaced out in age and the somersault of emotions that comes with that. Having our oldest away at school while her brother is here at home finding joy in getting to use a glue stick for the first time, it’s kind of a strange thing but it makes me happy all the same.

In the mailbox today was an assortment of postcards from Hadley.

She wrote this one to her Dad, who sent her a card that never made it to her box (and it had money in it!) and he hasn’t sent another one since.

It made me cry, her silly but heartfelt words to her Dad.

I’m not sure how to describe my relationship with my own Dad but I don’t think I could ever write and ask him if I should be a Trekkie.

And this was all in my head today as I sat to read Henry his afternoon prenap story and garumphed at him because he was taking forever to choose one. Then as he hoisted himself into my lap I realized he picked one of Hadley’s favorites.

It felt like just last week that I was garumphing at her to hurry up and pick a book. I try not to think about things like when was the last time I read Hadley a story? When was the last time she hoisted herself into my lap? Was I too busy to notice she was growing up?

And then my thoughts settle and I realize childhood is fleeting and the rest of the story is writing itself as we speak, kids grow up and learn from their parents then parents get older and learn from their kids.

And so even though I wrote this whole post myself I’m still not 100% on the point of it all. The blog expert would tell me I used way too many words. I would tell the blog expert to go suck on a lemon.

Sew More

2011-01-24T13:05:00.001-08:00

Lately I have had a thirst to sew. I spend more time figuring out what to make than I do actually sewing and sometimes that is just as much fun.

A bias trimmed apron out of some of my favorite fabric. I think it’s an American Jane print.

Unlike the corduroy vest I recently posted about these overalls from the same fabric have no secrets. And I realize they might be a bit geeky but Henry is four and can still get away with a little geeky/cute.

I’m hoping for his sake I realize when geeky/cute is just geeky.

owls and argyle

2011-01-20T13:47:00.001-08:00

Molly was home sick from school today but I still asked her to model an outfit. Is that mean?

I actually made this as a tunic to wear with jeggings but going upstairs to get the jeggings seemed like too much work at the time. She had these humungous argyle socks on that she wears as often as she can because her sister gave them to her. They kind of match, and you gotta work with what you got.

The dress is Simplicity 4927.

This week has been stinky. Do you ever have weeks like this? I’m wondering if I should wait until next week to be smiley and nice or should I just finish the week out like this…all snarky and full of vinegar. Decisions, decisions.

The Corduroy Vest with a Secret

2011-01-18T12:34:00.001-08:00

A corduroy vest seemed just the thing to make for Henry. He is a young boy who is made up of equal parts rough cowboy and charming lad. Often though the rough cowboy is the one that comes along with me to grocery shop or run to the post office.

The flannel lined vest is perfect for the unpredictable winds of Texas. It’s also nice to cover up any remnants of egg yolk from the morning’s breakfast, as you will see in the next picture.

He likes having a secret vest, and I know I feel better knowing the Marshal is always along in case we’re fixin to run into any trouble.

The badges are under $1 at walmart and have a little metal piece that slides into a loop I sewed on the inside of the vest.

Red taunts Henry whether or not he is the law.

Happy days to you and yours!

as the sun sets on another good day

2011-01-16T16:41:00.001-08:00

It is a satisfying feeling to sit here and watch the sun sink into the horizon after a nice weekend. The sky that was kind of heavy and gray all day now has brilliant shades of pink and oranges peeking out of its edges. I think this is a good indicator for less gray and more blue tomorrow.

Gray days are good for staying inside and doing things. And that is just what happened…lots of doing. Sewing, baking and more organizing than I thought possible.

I made this loaf of bread from our go-to recipe we use in the bread machine each week. Only this time after letting the machine do most of the work I took the dough and shaped it, letting it rise near the woodstove for an hour. I baked it in the regular oven at 350. Remembering what Julia Child said about French bakeries and humidity I added a small cast iron skillet of water to the lower shelf and sprayed the bread a few times intermittently with a water mist. And if you’ll let me brag: it was very, very, very good. Did you see I used very 3x?

As I write this the Patriots game is on VERY LOUD. And they are losing which means someone is speaking to the TV VERY LOUD. Boy oh boy I guess I’d better go and roller-skate through the living room naked, that always cheers him up.

glassware and book reading

2011-01-13T13:29:00.001-08:00

Aside from the deployments I think selling a house is my least favorite thing about being military family. I can deal with the moving (it’s kind of exciting) and though the missing of family can wear me down it makes seeing them that much sweeter. But the selling of a house? It makes me crazy… the sheer abruptness of having to clear out and have the house clean at a moments notice so someone can look at it. Double ugh.

Lately I have been cleaning all those things that I never clean, like light fixtures and all the glassware in the bar.

I put some silk forsythia in the dining room even though it’s only January, it brightened me right up.

It feels like a routine, this business of setting the house straight. I box up lots of my books and knick knacks to make the house seem less cluttered. In doing this I came across my Besty-Tacy books. Have you read them?

I wish I could say I read them as a child but the truth is I was well into my twenties when I read the first and slowly found them at yard sales ‘for my daughters’ and brought them to my own bookshelf soon after. The last five are my favorite. I have read them over and over.

So now I’ve shared books and told you I’ve been cleaning…let me zoom out a bit.

There is still much to do. Double sigh.

before I blog/ New Year’s thoughts

2011-01-07T12:57:00.001-08:00

It’s the perfect time of year to think about what needs a bit of perking up. Besides the obvious (my figure) I have slumped in many areas of my life. In the past I prided myself with the ability to get it all done, you know? The cooking, the cleaning, the occasional game with the kids… I think I was organized emotionally. I’m not anymore. Often I wake with the doom of having a lot to get done and that feeling seems to hang around for much of the day.

Writing makes me happy, I look forward to posting and always have fragmented posts reciting themselves in my head throughout the day. I tried telling myself that I had to earn that hour or so in the afternoon when I can type away carefree. That didn’t work too well-hence the lack of posts, only I could be my own student and not quite follow the rules. My kids laugh when I say hence, don’t people say hence anymore?

When I find myself with some spare time I usually end up in the recliner watching all the taped episodes of “If Walls Could Talk”. (Which by the way is a great show on HGTV on early Tuesday and Thursday mornings and might just be worth any amount of procrastination on any given day.)

It’s a moving year for us, just thinking about this makes me bleh. But I have the desire to Aim High until then and I really must clean up my act.

I have resolutions that are much like everybody else's, like being a better wife and mother.

But also I would like to stop buying Martha stuff at TJ Maxx just because it’s a good price. This is one of those things that I may have said in humor at the officer spouse club coffee but really deep inside I mean it. Is there counseling for people who can’t stop buying Martha craft junk?

Also I have enough glitter. I don’t need to buy anymore. It’s really hard to write that.

I will put the armoire to better use in our bedroom, rather than stuffing it with old diaper boxes full of patterns. I don’t need to buy anymore patterns for the rest of my life, as there are more diaper boxes under the bed and in the barn. Though please credit me for the magnificent reduce, reuse, recycle usage of diaper boxes.

I will put clothes away before I blog. This may sound silly but sadly laundry is a huge part of my life. If I’m not the one doing the washing then I am the one who is yelling at someone (whose age ends in teen) to switch or fold or unball 40 pairs of gym socks. This is an edited version of I will make sure the house is clean and exercise before I blog. The unedited one was really, really hard.

The most important one: I will take better care of my mother…

because she took care of me.

And because I love her.

Have you resolved to be better this year? Please share!

ding dong merrily on high

2010-12-30T14:44:00.001-08:00

Ohmegosh my kids are noisy. Even though I yelp occasionally like a puppy who has their tail stepped on I love these sweet holly-days. They are really growing up and their humor has a bite (I dunno where they got that) my mouth has hurt all week from laughing. And sometimes I am laughing at stuff that a mother shouldn’t tolerate.

Though the gifts have long been opened I am happy there is still a festive feel to these days. I am not one to take the tree out the day after Christmas, by the time I pack everything up it has a nice coating of dust. Winter is so long, I have never understood the haste one feels to put Christmas back in a box so quickly.

Sam likes to bake. I like to eat sweets. It works out nicely, don’t you think?

His sisters were really in his space in the kitchen today telling him he was marbling his brownies all wrong and he just stood there while they high-pitched-voiced their directions over each other and then did it his own way. It’s like he has a mute button for them. He is a nice boy and I’m glad he’s still cute and little and not sweaty and smelly like most teenage boys.

We went to go shopping in Oklahoma which even after three years still makes me break out in song.

OOOOKLAHOMA, WHERE THE

WIND COMES SWEEPIN

DOWN THE PLAINS

But my husband took some side roads and instead of looking at the Le Creuset at Williams Sonoma we looked at this western stuff and ate BBQ.

I liked this area. Whenever we come across an area that has stayed true and independent it makes me happy. So many of our towns look too much alike with the same department stores and urban sprawl.

We did end up looking at Williams Sonoma (too expensive) and seeing Santa (too fake). Henry was so full of fear and adrenaline I thought he was going to pee his pants.

See you next year!

to you and yours

2010-12-23T18:29:00.001-08:00

Have a very Merry Christmas dear blog friends!

Wishing all of you near and far a warm and happy holiday…

See you next week!

a little bit o’life in my camera

2010-12-20T18:43:00.001-08:00

frosted ice cream cones and candy made by little hands that want to help in the kitchen

a wreath crafted from the Matthew Mead holiday issue, it was fun to make but cost too much for supplies

peeking in on the kiddos while bringing in wood, which brings me to say Texas has the strangest weather as we have been cold the last few days but today I woke up to the sun and by 3:00 it was 83 degrees.

hadley looking so sweet and lovely without her long hair. today we put the kitchen table in the middle of the living room and crafted while watching Christmas Vacation. it was great fun.

maggie dressed as a boy in her latest play (Greater Tuna) and if that wasn’t bad enough we laughed through watching these two as the craziest old ladies. one of them is him. it always seems when something funny happens i am laughing way too hard compared to everyone around me, then i start thinking about it and can’t stop. it’s a problem.

pecan bites…i make these because I don’t like them and won’t eat them all.

do you have a sweet tooth? mine needs to be punished, it’s out of control.

feeling punchy

2010-12-16T13:34:00.001-08:00

There is a high level of energy in this house. It’s almost Christmas!

I’m at the point where the amount of stuff I have to do pretty much equals the amount of time left. I feel some procrastination coming on. Have you completed your list? Go ahead and tell me you had your shopping done since July and everything is wrapped and embellished with tiny pinecones you collected on a nature hike.

We have had a crazy December so far, everyone is busy with performances and parties. The military loves a holiday party. We have one more to go and so far I haven’t embarrassed myself too much, though now that I said that I will probably make up for it.

Everyone is busy except for him:

He is pretty lazy.

He is nearly 14 and it took me this long to realize he likes Christmas. He knows all the routines and often puts himself in the middle.

He knows I’m going to yell at him for chewing ribbons, I think that is why he does it. He also knows that I will snuggle with him in bed even though he makes my eyes get red and itchy. He knows if he meows REALLY LOUD in the upstairs intercom at night I will get up and make sure he has food.

This picture is for his cousin Earl in Ohio.

He lays like this in front of the stove, I’m not sure if it’s gross or funny.

I hope you’re enjoying the countdown to Christmas.

Peter (the cat) says he hopes you’re feline well and have a Meowy Christmas.

Saturday Morning Hair

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The Wave

The Propeller

The I’m Still Not Awake

A little Saturday morning love for the boys in my life.

Over the Sink Link

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Leila is having an over the kitchen sink link. It’s fascinating to see. Thanks Leila for sharing this!

It’s unique how many emotions get carried around the kitchen. It is where I find myself for the good chunk of each day whether I feel like cooking or not.

It would be difficult to complain about our kitchen as I have lived in some places with some, ahem, less than perfect conditions. It has everything I need and a bit more. It’s not my dream kitchen, though.

I bought the cactus on the right when we moved here- something about living in Texas and having a cactus made me happy. The kitchen sill is my favorite place for plants, probably because it is hard to forget to water them when they are right there in your face each day.

Thanks for visiting my sink!