The summer weather is gone here. Time for fall. Dig in.
Here figgy, figgy:
Fig, Thyme and Blue Cheese Tartines, from the Leftoverist
So good, they deserve two shots:
« August 2009 | Main | October 2009 »
The summer weather is gone here. Time for fall. Dig in.
Here figgy, figgy:
Fig, Thyme and Blue Cheese Tartines, from the Leftoverist
So good, they deserve two shots:
Posted at 12:56 AM in food and drink | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
It has taken me 10 minutes to start typing this post because my hands are busy feeding my mouth a big hunk of bread that just came out of the oven. I would like to tell you that it's some earthy, nutty, whole wheaty bread, but it's not. It's white sandwich bread, made with overly processed flour. There's butter melting on top of it. And I'm in heaven.
First, congratulations to my friends Carolyn and Scott and their daughter Joey, who welcomed baby Julian into the world today. I always get weepy when that much-anticipated e-mail comes (or Facebook update, I should say. E-mail seems so old fashioned now, doesn't it?). Good work, Mama. Now cuddle up with your little bundle and get some rest.
I have a partial update from Saturday's trash-to-treasure presentation. As a reminder, the newspaper gave me $25 to buy some junk at the big indoor yard sale they host, and then I had 24 hours to come up with a plan to repurpose it. Then, in front of a (very small) audience, I transformed it.
One of the items I bought--for $5--was a quilt top. I don't think I'm going to win any points for creativity here, but I basically just used it like I'd use any fabric and turned it into an Emmeline apron:
This was the last project I did at the show because I knew it would take a while, so I sent the audience off to do more shopping while I sewed it up. They came back at the end (well, some of them did) to see the result.
Thanks again for everyone's encouragement before the show. It went fine. Later this week, I'll show you what I did with wooden alphabet blocks, an old picture frame, and a soda-bottle crate.
Now, shifting gears ... to poverty.
There have been a couple of pivotal moments in our 4-year-old daughter Bo's life. One was when she saw the Broadway production of "Annie" last winter. It's probably not P.C., but she still likes to don the Annie dress I made her and scrub the floors "like an orphan." Hmm ...
A second pivotal moment was when her beloved preschool teacher Miss Kathleen quit her job at the school to go back to social work, helping homeless women and children find permanent housing. Ever since then, Bo has been on the lookout for homeless people. She also sometimes asks me if Miss Kathleen has found a home for Annie yet. (After which I fruitlessly try to explain the difference between fiction and reality and then give up and assure her that Annie is with Daddy Warbucks now.)
Anyhow, on a more serious note, Bo's concerns about poverty--especially children without enough food to eat or without a place to live--has been growing. I asked her last week if she'd like to do something to help, and she said yes.
Together, we came up with a plan: she's going to make crafts that she'll sell at a local farmers' market and then donate the money to a crisis nursery here in town. So between now and Oct. 10, the date of her sale, we'll be stocking up on crafty-kid inventory.
She got started tonight with a project I've eyed for months now.
Presenting Bo's very first papier mache pig puppet:(Turns out an empty thread spool makes a great snout.)
The little pig is drying now, and tomorrow he'll get a coat of paint and something to wear.
I'm sure we've all read articles about kids doing good things for charity, like donating their birthday gifts to a cause. I love seeing that, but I have to admit I've always been skeptical about how much the parents are pushing it rather than it coming from the kid. Not that it'd be a bad thing that they're pushing them to do. On the contrary. It's just the pushing I don't like--or the assumption of pushing, since it's just the cynic in me that questions the kids' motivation.
But I can tell you this crafting project of Bo's is coming straight from her heart. It's the first thing she talks about in the morning and the last thing she says at night ("are we going to help the people tomorrow?"). I'll never question those feel-good articles again.
It's enough to warm a mama's heart.
Bread warms up other parts of me. One more slice before bedtime ...
Posted at 03:06 AM in crafting with kids, family, general musings, green, paper crafts, sewing, vintage | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
... to treasure. Soon.
I'm on my way to a big indoor yard sale, where I'll be demonstrating how to turn castaway items into something better. The good folks at the local newspaper gave me $25 to spend at the sale yesterday. With Magpie at my side (and oftentimes very far away from my side--going junking with a toddler is challenging, to say the least), I spent the money on these items:
There were a lot of quilt tops to choose from, but this one for $5 caught my eye:
The cookie cookbook, well, it's full of cookie recipes. What can I say? For $3, I had to have it. The plan is to use it to decoupage, though, so I'd better pull out my favorite recipes now.
And am I the only one with a crush on these vintage metal trays? Mint and red. 'Nuff said. Wish me luck! I'm going to be on a stage, which makes me a bit nervous. You would laugh at me if you saw how little the stage is, though. It's really no big deal. It's just that I'm used to crafting in my basement while wearing pajamas, not while wearing platform shoes with people who've actually taken sewing lessons in the audience. Eek!Posted at 02:44 PM in green, vintage | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to complain about working on a Sunday if my job involves touring three gorgeously "green" houses and attending a funky-junky antique and craft fair.
There were temptations around every corner at the Two Women Barn Bazaar, but I managed to walk away with just a small stack of vintage sight-word cards, similar to the phonics cards I bought at last year's Farm Chick's sale. Some of the words on the new (old) cards: bow-wow, mama, my, blue, bird, and Nancy, which is my mom's name. I'll be sure to show you what I do with them once inspiration strikes. Any ideas?
Here's a peek at some of show's other goods:
The cards I bought are similar to these:
The tour of eco-homes was a real treat. I didn't have time to get to all nine on the route, but the ones I saw were stunning, especially a prairie-style straw-bale house in a neighborhood of turn-of-the-century homes near one of Spokane's most beautiful parks and a solar-powered house downtown that sits above the Spokane River.
I'd written about the river house a couple years ago when it first got underway, so it was fun to see the results.
If you're at all interested in sustainability (and shouldn't we all be?), hop over to my work blog (Dwell Well) to read the list of features that make that house so green. Even the steps that lead from the house to the river were made from old sidewalks and curbs, and the insulation is made from denim.
There are more photos on Dwell Well, but here's a small taste:
The straw-bale house was lovely, too. I'll write that up for Dwell Well in a couple of days, but this will give you a quick idea of just how grueling my workday was: Gee whiz. Somebody pass me a drink! (So I can park myself at that table and sip away.)Posted at 01:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
I (heart) routine.
We are back in a lovely rhythm here, and it's doing us all some good.
Morning: breakfast, coloring or simple crafts, dressed and out the door
9-1: preschool/day care for both girls. They come home with full bellies and I have 3.5 hours dedicated to work. That means, when the girls are back, I'm not constantly checking e-mails or trying to make quick phone calls (that never goes well). I can just focus on them.
On the drive home from school, there's a small treat waiting for them on their car seats.
1-1:45 or so: music! Oh, how I wished I played the guitar. Or the piano. Or anything. I gave up cello in the 10th grade. Was never very good at it anyway. Still, I've always tried to make music a big part of our lives.
When Bo was a baby, I sang to her constantly. At one point, J made the comment, "She's going to be really disappointed when she finds out life isn't a musical." I'm not a great singer, but I don't care.
I'd love to put the girls in Music Together classes, but they're so dang expensive.
So what we're doing lately is this: throw some blankets on the living room floor (we don't have a rug), pull out our basket o' instruments (tambourine, kazoo, harmonica, blocks, maracas), and dink around with them while something plays on the stereo in the background. The girls are loving Peter Yarrow's songbooks right now. I'm partial to Elizabeth Mitchell's "You Are My Little Bird" album.
Tutus are a must, of course:
And when the action slows down or moves to the couch, I know it's time for naps.
Does anyone else do something similar? Any other tips on how to make music with kids, especially for those of us who don't have the skillz?
After naps, I try to have some sort of craft or learning activity out and ready, in the hopes that this will be a precursor to homework time one day. And in the hopes that I'll be able to make dinner while they're preoccupied, but at some point (usually when they see me pull out the food processor) they always slide their little chairs up to the counter to "help."
Eat dinner. Go to the gym. Play outside (September has been absolutely gorgeous here). Sleep.
On a completely different topic, has anyone seen the October cover of Martha Stewart Living? It's not my favorite October issue ever, but the pumpkin "mushrooms" are awesome.
Speaking of my magazine addiction, Cookie came in the mail today so I'm going to excuse myself now to read about "39 family vacations I'll never forget" (but probably can't afford) and find out if "acupuncture can save my sex life." (Kidding, J. Just reading the teasers on the cover.)
Posted at 05:18 PM in general musings, music, toys | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Please pardon the downright ugliness of my blog right now. I have a major redesign in the works, and was tinkering with some minor changes tonight to hold me over until then. The result is a patchwork of grody colors and odd-sized photos and me saying four-letter words about Typepad.
Thanks for your patience.
In the meantime, enjoy the look (and content) of these lovely blogs:
Sew Liberated (check out the examples from Meg's forthcoming book while you're there. Squeal!!!)
Posted at 01:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Yes, he's still swimming inside his mommy's tummy. And, yes, it'll be a few years before he signs his name on a library card.
Posted at 12:53 AM in gifts, other blogs, sewing | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
We just wrapped up a week with guests from Sweden in our house. I wanted to put the word "wonderful" in there before "week," but in classic Megan style I ended up catching some sort of cold/stomach bug by Day 3 and was out of commission for most of the visit.
Posted at 11:19 PM in crafting with kids, food and drink, garden, general musings, other blogs | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)