An Announcement

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.