Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!

We got up at seven this morning and enjoyed a very nice and leisurely Christmas morning... Not as much under the tree this year, but only because we've sort of been opening gifts all along. One thing I observed is that we got the Wii a bit out of our system and were much more able to enjoy our other gifts.

Oh and guess what I got?! An iPod Nano! This one, in black:



Nice, huh? It even has my name and email address etched on the back! Earlier today I was wearing the ear buds in my ears, listening to music nice and low - it was so sweet! Everywhere I went, so did the soft little tune in my ear. If I heard a great song, I could turn it up! And I could totally hear everything else going on around me in the meantime. This will be especially handy at work, where I itch to listen to music, but need to be able to hear, too.

My Christmas package was delivered to Jocelyn's house last night, yay! What a relief.

And back to work tomorrow... There was talk of Jeff taking the kids up to Maine, since they have the rest of the week off. Hopefully that'll still happen, hopefully the kids will be well enough to hit the road. Maggie hasn't stepped foot outside since coming home from school on Friday! Henry and I went for a walk down to Curtis Farm this afternoon, it was really gorgeous out. Snow, but still sort of warm - good smelling, too!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

We're stretching Christmas like taffy over here

Jeff and I decided to have a staggered roll out of Christmas gifts this year, and so far it has gone pretty well. Another factor at play in our lives right now is that both kids are just not 100%. A lot of laying around and napping and accounts of not feeling good, stomachs hurting, bodies feeling "scratchy" (a catch all adjective for Maggie, although she could use some lotion). So ever since Friday night, when our holiday vacation actually kicked off, the kids have been sort of lackluster, save for some brief pockets of brightness, as documented below.

We are loving our Wii, and are still managing to get a lot of play in, despite the ill health. Right now Jeff is horsing around with the preferences, poking around and putting his mind to it. He also kicked out the JAM his first time out at Guitar Hero (Thanks for the gift, Grammi and Papa!) which surprised me, but didn't. So far I am impressed with the parental controls that come with the Wii. For example, Henry always plays using a certain "Mii" character named "hok", and we can go a message center or somewhere on the Wii that will tell us which games, and for how long, his "hok" Mii played. Pretty interesting.

I think another thing about this Christmas that's different is, of course, that I'm working. Last week, as we were all clawing our way through the work and school week, digging out cars from snow storms, securing christmas party gift exchange contribution and the holiday concert at the school, I realized yet again how hard we all work now that we have some place to be every weekday. What a chore it is to just get through the week sometimes, and how nice it would be to have four days of just us, etc. It has been very nice and mellow... I am just now realizing that Matt from the farm is the only non resident of our house to actually set eyes on our Christmas tree! How sad is that!?

Here is our tree this year, by the way:



One way to look at it is if there is only going to be one person outside our house to see our tree, it ought to be the person who actually cut the dang thing down! Maybe?






Onward with the photographs.

Here is Henry, thrilled to pieces with his very own copy of The Simpsons movie (thank you Jocelyn!), which came complete with it's own t-shirt. The t-shirt, incidentally, came compressed into the shape of a pink frosted half eaten donut. d'oh!




And this is Maggie, proudly displaying her "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set!" Thank you again, Jocelyn... This set came with only one character! I had to explain that the reason it only comes with Mickey (and not Minnie, or Daisy, or even Daffy) is so that people will spend more money. I can't figure out which is worse, that I'm right, or that she understood what I was talking about.



And yes, that is a nasty dusty old microwave she's using as a play table surface..

I just like this pic. She opened up a gift of a dozen headbands, and put this one on herself! cutie pie.



Since I knew we were getting Guitar Hero, and I knew that Maggie would end up not exactly being able to participate too significantly with that game, I worked it out so that Henry gave Maggie her own electric guitar toy for Christmas. Here she is jamming out. We've been listening to classic rock songs ("Iron Man", "You Really Got Me", "Shout at the Devil", etc.) and she was always lamenting that she didn't have the right rocker outfit. The rocker outfit involves a guitar, and also dark sunglasses. She'd been wondering about footwear, but I pointed out that a lot of rockers go barefoot, and so she was all set.




Here's a dud shot of Maggie and her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse set. Gives you an idea of the quantity of snow we have around here.




In other news, the giant package I shipped to Seattle still has not reached it's final destination! I will be so bummed out if it doesn't get there! The degree of sweat and toil I employed to put what's in that box, in that box, cannot be replaced! I will be bumming hard core. Although when I was at the post office, saying goodbye to the box, as it were, I was struck by how I may never see any of the items in this box. I was putting it all in a box and then entrusting it to the good folks at my local post office to get it there. Odd, that. Also, once I got that shipment out, and then the other priority piece of mail (I'm looking at you, Arizona) made it's way into the mail, the holiday stress level, in general, really took a nosedive for me. I mellowed out like an old hound dog after those two boxes left our possession. But now I think of all the goodies in that Seattle package, and I am bumming hard core at the thought of none of getting anywhere!

Keep the faith, Susie. Keep the faith. Tomorrow is another day. The mail comes on Christmas Eve day, doesn't it?

Oh, and one more thing! I know it sounds like a regift, but it's actually a kick ass regift and I am thrilled to get it. I've never turned my nose up at anything I got second hand, and I'm not starting now! Jeff had his Powerbook G4 laptop refurbished and tuned up and now it's all mine! mine mine MINE! I am thrilled with this. He and I had talked about how I would inherit his laptop after he got his new one. But then his old laptop shit the bed somehow and I was busy passing him notes about Christmas gift ideas for me and between this and that, I forgot all about it. Until he gave me a big "Merry Christmas!" and made like a game show tv hostess and with a big sweep of his arm revealed a gorgeous laptop -- just like his new one! with a screensaver that said, "Susie's Tibook G4" -- I was like, whoo hoo! sweet!

He'd stripped it of all his business, cleaned it up and out and then fixed it up nice and sweet, and now it's all mine mine MINE! I already feel like I am writing to you from my new world headquarters... And last night, I went to Marshalls and bought the perfect backpack for it, with which I am super pleased. I would, ultimately, like to downplay the significance of the Mac in the kitchen, and this powerbook will be the first major step in that direction. if I could figure out how to retain the large scale convienence of all the Kitchen Mac delivers without having that giant clutter pit of cables and papers and dust and so forth, I would certainly do so. Now, at least, I can strip the kitchen mac of my personal business and begin to taper off my dependance of that machine and refocus it to this one I'm on right now! I can also begin to contemplate different projects I've had in my mind but have been too shy to crank out while perched on a stool in the kitchen. Dig?

Okedoke, dear reader. Sure do love you. I hope that, whichever specific reader you are, you find yourself content and able to cope with this unusual holiday season. My dad's not here anymore to say "Bah Humbug" and "fiddle dee dee" and all the rest, and we all are having to go it alone without him, and that's hard. My way to cope is to isolate myself with my family and do what I want (and what my husband agrees to - love you Jebby!) about gift gifting and waiting (or not), and so I'm hanging in there. I hope you are too. bye for now...

Thursday, December 20, 2007

We opened some gifts

Here are Henry and Jeff and Kermit modeling their great looking christmas gifts made with love by my mom!





Wednesday, December 19, 2007

News of Visitors!

Howdy!

Jocelyn and Brooke bought their tickets last night!!! Hooray! They'll be here the last week in January. This news makes me so happy! A dream come true!

In the dreams-crushed department, however, we have a story from Henry's life. He lost another tooth, and was broken hearted at no money from the tooth fairy under his pillow. Even though this is not the first tooth lost in a world where your mother is the tooth fairy for Henry. Last week when a tooth fell out, I confessed that I was the tooth fairy, and let him grab a handful of change from Jeff's spare change jar.

Regardless, this morning's crushing disappointment over the tooth fairy issue was just the ammunition he needed to mount his defense for why he wasn't dressed yet. In fact, further, he would be throwing out all his baby teeth from here on out, dashing my hopes of crafting a baby-tooth necklace for his bride to wear on their wedding day. LOL!

I told him, "Hey. you know what? I can only keep so many dreams afloat at once." There was a silent, pregnant pause where nobody mentioned Santa Claus, and then he got out of bed and got dressed.

Friday, December 14, 2007

I need to update more often, I know, I know!

Hi everyone...

It snowed a super bunch yesterday! With more expected this weekend - hooray! It's very beautiful outside right now and I am happy to have at least one day this weekend with the weather too yucky to be out running errands.

Maggie and Henry were both sick this week! Maggie more so. She began throwing up around 2 in the morning on Wednesday, and then kept throwing up almost every hour on the hour until around 2pm. Night Night had taken one for the team and soaked his ear in the vomit bowl, so he didn't get out of the dryer until 2. He got right back to work however, and our girl was able to sleep pretty much until the next day. Jeff stayed home on Thursday, and both kids are back at school today. Henry had a stomach ache and seemed plagued by some sort of bug that didn't make him barf, but did seem to keep him down for the count all of Wednesday.

It was nice to stay home on Wednesday as I was able to finally get a holiday shipment in the mail to Seattle Thursday at lunch. There are still other packages to get in the mail (Arizona, I'm looking at you), but sending that box out West was a big load off my mind, I won't lie to you.

We are getting a Wii for Christmas! They are so hard to find in stock right now, I was complaining about that fact to my sister Dian and she said she knew someone who was selling one second hand! It's only four months old, so it's hardly second hand - we are very excited!

NOTE: Say nothing to Henry or Maggie on this issue until AFTER Christmas. Thank you.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Fishes



Here is sweet baby Eli from down the road. what a cutie. Took this yesterday when we went to cut down our christmas tree...

Friday, December 07, 2007

Maho Bay Camps, St. John, U.S. Virgin Island

omg I want to go here:

The roomy tent-cottages are nearly hidden by lush foliage providing privacy. Translucent fabric on wood frames, screened windows and open air terraces take advantage of the cooling Virgin Islands trade winds. Each has a separate sleeping area with comfortable twin beds. An extra mattress is behind the sleeping-couch in the living area. Bed linens, blankets, towels, cooking and eating utensils are all provided, including propane stove and ice cooler. Every tent-cottage has its own private deck, electric outlets, lights and fans. Barbecue areas and fresh water are available along the walkways.

Our secluded white sand beach and year-round tropical climate offer a variety of popular water sports (with expert instruction available) including kayaking, windsurfing, sailing, snorkeling and scuba diving. Massage, yoga, National Park presentations, weddings, live music and other activities are available. Glassblowing demonstrations are a popular activity with mesmerized guests watching beautiful glasswork being made from crushed bottles in our Trash to Treasure Art Center. So there is something for everyone, we also offer an array of classes for both adults and children that include a number of craft areas such as tie-dyeing, ceramics, glass blowing, watercolor painting, and paper making -- and each class demonstrates an aspect of creating art out of recycled materials.


and it's like just $160 a night for a family of four in January. Doesn't that sound wonderful?! I'd post a picture but iphotos acting funny - but go ahead, click! see for yourself.

Maho Bay Camps, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Good Morning...

We have been having trouble with Henry getting up in time for school in the mornings. I go in and wake him up and get his clothes out for him (if I'm feeling charitable) and then leave him in a seemingly awake state to suffer the consequences of not following through and actually getting up and dressed and downstairs.

This morning, Jeff facilitated some consequences. I was in the kitchen making lunches when in walks Jeff with Henry (wearing only his underwear) in his arms. Jeff opens the front door, deposits Henry outside, then closes and locks the door! I was howling with laughter. "It's not funny." he says. "You can't carry a seven year old kid in his underwear outside and lock him out in the snow and not expect me to laugh - THAT IS FUNNY." I say.

The morning did not get much better for our boy. I let Henry inside, he ran upstairs to get dressed, then accidentally slipped on the stairs coming back downstairs and landed on his tailbone. :-( And then he accidentally smacked his sister in the face with his backpack. And no time for breakfast. And no gloves to be found (just two right hands) which meant he'd either get in trouble at recess or not be able to go outside, etc. I was feeling bad for the guy! Hopefully this morning was sufficiently uncomfortable for him to maybe get up a little earlier tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Hello...

Maggie has been wearing the dress pictured below NON STOP, except for school. She wore it all day Saturday, slept in it, wore it all day Sunday, slept in it, took it off for school, put it back on when she got home, and slept in it again last night.

HOWS THAT FOR HOLIDAY SPIRIT?!?!?

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Morning Edition

I was a few minutes late to work this morning, partly because I couldn't get out of the car for listening to the radio! NPR did a story on the CNN/Youtube debate last night between the Republican presidential nominees. I found myself able to follow along and knit together what I was hearing with what I already knew and just really enjoying the story all the way around.

I even found myself chuckling aloud at something Fred Thompson said. Each candidate was invited to present their own youtube video, and his video was a collection of clips of his fellow candidates flip flopping or whatever. He explained his creative vision by saying he just wanted to give the other guys more air time.

And the youtube viewer who asked how the guys who hadn't specifically been tortured before could stand up there next to a guy who HAD been tortured before and, further, believes that waterboarding is torture, how could they stand there next to that guy and not admit that waterboarding is torture.

Oh! And the guy who asked, with regard to the death penalty, what would Jesus do? One candidate (I can't remember who) answered by saying that Jesus wouldn't run for political office, that's what Jesus would do! I'm still not sure what to think about that!

Anyway. Reminds me of my Dad and how much fun following politics was for him and how I'm going to let my Orvillelight shine by continuing to follow along and knit together what I know with what I hear. By caring.

I'm certainly not in danger of tuning into Fox News Channel and I won't install a tattoo of Ronald Reagan's signature over my heart -- or Barack Obamas! but I may march in a parade or two, and participate in any "Political Interest Survey for a Major News Network" dinner time phone calls that come my way. I will care! And I'll tip my hat to my dad, and give thanks to him for being such a top notch character who actually gave a hoot about the state of the Republic.

And so can you! Know Your Vote!

PEACE Quote


Do you know what is really new?
The latest is that breath that just came.
That's the newest thing in this whole universe.
That is the newest thing.

And you just got it.
And it left - and here comes a new one.
And it just left.
And here comes another one.

I'm trying to point out the magic of that existence to you. Just the magic that's there. That's heaven.
- Maharaji


Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Family Photo calamity

We've gotten a special request for a nice family photo, and we took a few minutes last night to try to make that happen. What a calamity! My goodness. The kids were bouncing off the wall, the parents were patiently trying to set up/stand in frame, keep things light. Then Maggie nearly smashed her face on the coffee table while trying to jump off the couch, smacking her hand instead and breaking down in hysterical tears. So we stopped efforts and comforted her, and decided to try the photo again when her tears had dried.

Only that second effort didn't go so well, more chaos ensued, more jumping about and acting wild from the kids, fissure cracks spreading like wildfire in the parents ability to keep cool, until KABLAM! it all went to hell and the eldest child mutinied and we had to abandon our efforts until another time for the four of us to be together long enough to regroup and try again -- which is looking like Thursday at this point!

Wish us luck!

p.s. it wasn't so bad. it sort of got ridiculous after a certain point. you wouldn't think it would be so difficult to fit the four of us in the frame, but I guess it is. These days anyway!

Great Minds Think Alike

On the way home from our terrific Thanksgiving vacation up in Maine this weekend, Henry and I were in line at the double D for donuts and juice. I made a joke about the Chocolate Stick donut and it's resemblence to poop, to which Henry politely giggled about.

When we got back to the van and everyone had their half a gingerbread donut in hand, Maggie remarked, "Hey. This donut is shaped like the poop I made last week."

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

PEACE Quote

Choice is destiny's soul mate.
- Sarah Ban Breathnach

Friday, November 16, 2007

Be You Ess Why

Well would you look at that. Another week has blown past. Jeff got home on Wednesday night and it is good to have him home. No less hectic, however.

I could type out a laundry list of my To-do's for the weekend and another list of What-did for the work week, but let me sum it up for in three words: home, work and family. and PTO. So, four words.

I shall now give you four things to sum up what my week did NOT include: Alone time. A decent cheeseburger. Sitting down before 8 or 9pm. Hanging out with friends (especially Matt, who is as busy as me and whom I am most desiring a hang out and chat with. Besides YOU, dear reader.)And, lastly, my week did NOT include.... drumroll please... anything more than I could handle.

Last week I made up some very cute little lunch bags. I used an apple tote bag from the produce department for a pattern and managed to whip out three bags in the space of a Sunday afternoon! The first one turned out the best in terms of finished quality, but the other two incorporated lessons learned and designs tweaked while making the first one that had me winging it here and there (resulting in a poor quality finished product). Which one might YOU get for Christmas?!

(Insert Sisyphus-ian blurb here about laundry and housework chores awaiting my Saturday and Sunday.)

I believe we are traveling to our family in Maine next week for the Thanksgiving Holiday! It will be terrific to see them again, feels like forever...

Yesterday, where I bought my sandwich, I finally checked out their used book nook and came away with two goodies. Witness to America by everyone's favorite Mans Man historian Stephen Ambrose (R.I.P.) and some other guy, I think he's related to Tom Brokaw. And also a book I'd given as a gift years ago that I have heard was very helpful to her and others she passed it to, Another Country by Mary Phipher, who wrote "Reviving Ophelia" and in this book explores the 'emotional lives of elders' So I guess if you are an elder that matters to me, I will soon be gaining more insight into your emotional life. And you can too!

Alrightie, have a good weekend blog!

Friday, November 09, 2007

TGIFriday

Goodness gracious what a week. I have made it to Friday! My house is a pit, my laundry is piled up, I have a busy weekend as well, but at least I'm taking Monday off work! That's the goal, get to Monday...

Maggie is really missing her daddy! We all really notice his absence in the mornings, when he is always around usually. The evenings can still make sense when Jeff isn't home, but the morning, it just doesn't make sense! Lots of whining and whimpering and very fearful of shadows and being left alone while in the house. :-( I guess her Daddy really makes her feel safe!

Henry is doing great, what a wonderful fellow he is. Last night my friend Bob watched the kids so I could get out for a couple hours, and I had told the kids that they could have a sleepover in my bed once we got hom. Henry said, on our way to Bob's house, "I feel like the luckiest kid in town! I'm going over to my best friend's house, but my best friend won't be there, I had corndogs for dinner, tapioca pudding for desert, I have new pokemon cards, I don't have school tomorrow AND I get to sleep in your bed tonight!"

There's a teachers conference today, so Henry is at the daycare all day today. He was laying in (my) bed this morning, whimpering about how it is supposed to be a long weekend for him, boo hoo, etc. I admitted to him that this is one of those times where I wish I hadn't gone back to work. Quick as a flash he assured me, "At least I have two days off..."

Then at drop off, I was feeling sort of overwhelmed because the ladies there don't exactly pitch in to get the kids settled, so I was sort of running all around and feeling funny/guilty by the lack of warmish welcome, Henry having to ask, "Where do I put my stuff?" to the ladies. Small feelings of guilt and doubt about what am I doing making my kid sit in day care so I can come here and click and drag, but not exactly wanting to stay home with a whimpering three year old all day either. Oy. Made me well up and almost start crying as I headed out the door. No fun.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Let the Pokemon begin!

Henry is beginning the Pokemon trading craze with his friends at school. It's been cute to listen to his plans for total domination of the Pokemon world. This morning he said that he had been going to trade two of one kind of cards for one of another but that he couldn't find those two cards so what he was going to do is trade THREE of a third kind of card to a different boy, who in turn would trade him the original two he needed to trade for the one, most important card of the day. Then he found the two cards he'd misplaced and happily scrapped the backup plan he'd put in place.

We have little plastic bags that are made to fit trading cards of this nature, so I gave him some of those to protect the cards he's got. I suggested that one way to build his collection would be to trade empty plastic bags to his friends for cards. Boy you'd a thought he'd figured out a way to print money or something. "You know, you've really given me an idea, mom!"

Hey Now

A good friend of the family passed away suddenly a day or so ago, and this guy was a classic character. Real decent fellow. He came to the family thru Jocelyn and Brooke, name of Duane. I guess Jocelyn met him when she was 3 months pregnant with Brooke, which would've made me about 10 years old when he came into the mix.

I was talking with Jocelyn earlier and we had a sad chuckle at the thought of our Dad possibly being there to greet and welcome Duane to the other side. Big smile, hand outstretched for a nice warm and welcoming handshake, laughing with Duane about not expecting to run in to him so soon, Duane countering with a quick quip about not expecting to be there so soon himself, etc. Then maybe the two of them go off to find a golf game or something good to eat.

Anyway, give your loved ones a squeeze and call all your good buddies to check in and let them know you're glad they're yours, would you? You know where to reach me.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Online shopping for fabric

I have been drooling over fabric websites. Here is a good one I just found.

Reproduction Fabrics

ReproductionFabrics.com is a source of cotton reproduction fabrics for costumers and quilters. Fabrics of time periods 1775-1950, as well as indigo-dyed prints. We have the largest selection of reproduction fabrics on the web, including the "newest" of the old.

http://www.reproductionfabrics.com/

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Family Photo, Halloween 2007

Presenting Geoffry Sarboxely

Jeff's costume this Halloween was a laugh riot!




Found the Poem!

As Death Approaches

I can't believe I'm laughing!
I'd have sworn I'd be
shaking or sniveling.
And I sure didn't expect
a limousine.
I've never been in a limousine.
No biggy.
I've had better than fame.
Who needs the pressure?
As for fortune, I'm filthy.
That's why I'm laughing.
I've had so much love:
the giving, the getting.
It's shameful.
It's embarrassing.
And it's too late.
No one can take it away!
And I've had the pain
to help me appreciate it.
Thank God for the pain!
Easy for me to say
now that I'm going!
But no, seriously,
the kicks in the teeth,
the gut, the rugs
pulled out, slammed doors,
setbacks, snubs.
Without them, I'd
never have recognized
Love, bedraggled,
plain eyes shining,
happy to see me.
Do I want more?
Of course I want more!
I always want more
of everything: money, hugs,
lovemaking, art, butter,
woods, flowers, the sea,
M&Ms, chips, tops, bottoms,
trips — I did give up drinking —
time, sure, and yes,
I'd like to see
my grandchildren,
if there are any.
I'd like to see my books
but more has never
been good for me anyway.
Enough — that's what I've
always needed to learn,
and is there a better way?
So this laughter
I had to work up to
through so many tears,
it just keeps coming
like a fountain, a spray.
Let it light on you
refreshment, benediction,
as I'm driven away.

Susan Deborah King, from One-Breasted Woman. © Holy Cow! Press, 2007


Buy the book!

Boo!

Happy Halloween...

Maggie is terrified of going trick or treating, no interest whatsoever. Too scary, she says. I think I will stay home with her and we can answer the door together. She can still get into costume, she can run if things get too scary, etc. I just hope we finally get a few folks this year! (but not too many, thank you.)

I heard a poem on "The Writers Almanac" last night while working in my sewing room. It was so great, reminded me so much of my Dad. I'll try to find it and post it here later...

Monday, October 29, 2007

Fall Outside our front door




Nicole and Eli

Who knew carving pumpkins could be so fun?

Whoo boy did they have a great party at the farm this Saturday. My goodness. The premise for the party was to carve pumpkins, but due to the weather being less than ideal, the carving was done in the farm's nightclub, and so everything ended up taking on this special groovy dance time carv-o-rific vibe that was just so, so much fun. The most fun I've had carving pumpkins, ever. Many thanks to our wonderful hosts. I hope they do it again real soon!

We invited a couple of friends, a husband and wife and their daughter. I have a real good feeling about all members of this family, and I am especially looking forward to getting my Sew on with the Mrs. Both Mr. and Mrs. appear to be fundamentally great people and their kid is a charmer, too. They seemed to have a great time at the farm party too, fitting in seamlessly with all the other guests. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of them!

And yesterday was a terrific day, too. I'd cracked the whip on Saturday before the party to get the house in shape, so Sunday was a total lay about day. I blissed out at my sewing machine for hours before taking a nap and then going out to dinner and target with the family. not too shabby, eh?

I have a bunch of pictures I need to post, and I have that effort planned for during dinner prep. So check back later today and see if I ever got around to it!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Halloween Parties

Today is the Halloween parade and party for Maggie at her preschool/daycare situation. At 10:30 they will all be marching down main street, and then return back for a party. Maggie is VERY excited as you can imagine. Henry's after school group is having a party (but no parade) after school, and he is ready to go as well.

Last night was a real second shift! The moment I got home it was work work work. I had brownies to make (for Henry's party), cold veggies to chop for Maggie's party, take out dinner to call in (thanks for the pick up Jeff!) and then the minor adjustments and costume tweakery that come with the night before the Halloween party. Henry's jeans needed to be hemmed, a gold band of fabric sewed to his sweater, and a closing device for his Quidditch robe devised. And in between all that I cleaned the kitchen (well, sort of.) and Jeff got the kids bathed and put to bed.

I scored a bunch of copy paper boxes from work and have also begun creating a mini fabric store within these boxes. I'm taking food boxes and folding them flat and then wrapping the fabric around them, pinning it and then filing it in the box. This way I can see exactly what I have without pulling it all apart. I just need more food boxes (the Triscuit gods are smiling on me!) to wrap the fabric around. I sure have accumulated a lot of fabric since this whole thing started!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Brace Yourselves.

Here we have Maggie's Halloween costume for 2007 thank you for all your help and support marcia! This is the dress rehearsal, she still needs her hair done and the ribbons up her legs. Too cute. Like candy.



And here we have the first born. So handsome and healthy and glowing and thriving. Good stuff. Here is Henrys first grade picture:



And here he is for second grade.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Pictures from Marcia's Visit


Here is a link to snapfish.com where, once you sign in (or up, depending) you can view the slideshow of pictures taken during Marcia's visit! We dropped the ball on getting the kids in a halloween dress rehearsal, but there are some good ones. Worth checking out, for sure.

Marcia's Visit October 2007

One eared Kerm in the woods

On Sunday Marcia and Maggie and Kermit and I went into the woods in search of twigs to finish Henry's broomstick for Halloween. I have more pictures I intend to put up, because Maggie just looked so beautiful. something about the beautiful weather and being under the golden tree canopy makes for real purty pictures. I wanted to post this one right away so I could access it at work for my desktop picture.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Peak!

Holy Calzonies did things peak out here over the weekend! Here are three pictures from Saturday morning, when Marcia and I went yard sailing over in Milford. The greatest find of the day for me was a collection of sewing machine attachments that work seemlessly (pun intended!) on my machine. I can make ruffles, pleats, I can hem to varying degrees with ease, I can do zippers, enclose cord inside fabric, you name it. And the attachments themselves are just crazy beautiful pieces of machinery. Must be seen to be believed.

But how about those trees!



Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Save Your Mamma from The Drama!

That's my new saying to the kids when they're feeding off each other with sibling related hijinks. "Save the drama for your mamma" always comes to mind, but I, as you know, am the children's mamma so that wouldn't do.

Well kids, it's another day in blogland. My excitement is reaching a fever pitch in relation to my sister Marcia's upcoming visit. Marcia is SO MUCH FUN to hang out with, I simply can't wait to see her! We were going to go out for dinner and drinks on Friday night, but I have adjusted those plans and now, with Marcia's help, we will be having a small dinner party at the house instead.

Jeff's aunt Rozanne and her beau are going to be in town and I have a couple few new friends I've been wanting to have over and so this party on Friday night will be the perfect solution. I'm taking Friday off work, so there should be plenty of time to make ready. Trying to keep things on the small, mellowish side. (Don't want to alarm my new friends and auntie Ro-beau with a big gigizo house party quite yet!)

Anyway, I have just one more day of work and then I'm off for the weekend. Yay! Tonight Jeff has a planning board meeting and tomorrow night we have an ice cream social and book fair at Henry's school, then soccer practice Friday late afternoon, then dinner at the house. On Saturday I want to go yard sailing with Marcia and Henry, there's a fall festival on Main Street, a soccer game Saturday afternoon, and then we're heading in to Keene for their pumpkin festival. Sunday I hope to lay around and relax. (and by 'relax' I mean work feverishly on Henry's halloween costume.)

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Crafty! Yardsale Patchwork Crazyquilt!





Here's that quilt I mentioned a few posts back. I am in the process of stitching everyone's name onto a square. I plan to add our town and the month and year, too. I really like this quilt. The size of it is sort of the length of a twin bed, but not the whole width of it. Like a long, sort of narrow rectangle. It's pretty fun and very satisfying to work on it a bit at a time. I ought to bind it up though, then I can call it finished whenever I want. It's not finished until it's bound, as any quilter will tell you.

The new soccer fields




This is the first year for soccer at Carnival Hill here in our little town. It's so beautiful, and the weather has been just top notch at every practice and game so far. They call it Carnival Hill because, back in the day, local townfolk would throw a winter carnival here, with sledding and other wintertime festivities. I can personally assure you that the sledding here can't be beat.

You park your car down below and walk up the little hill to where the soccer fields are, and the whole scene unfolds in this beautiful mellow good-clean-family-fun sort of way. I like how as you crest the hill from the parking lot, and you make your way to your kids field, you get sort of absorbed and enveloped in the crowds of other folks whose kids are practicing and horsing around. You see folks you haven't seen all week, catch up with friends, enjoy being outside. it's great.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

It really is getting gorgeous out here

We finally got our yard cleaned up last weekend, I took these a day or two ago.


This is a new favorite tree. It's right across the street from the house and greets me every day as I come up the road.


Here we are looking west, towards Curtis Farm.


The house. I hope to doll it up with some autumnal spirit when Marcia gets out here (next week! can't wait can't wait can't wait). Right now it's a style I call "Pre-Reveal"...


And here we are looking east, towards Milford.

Aren't you glad I shared? Interestingly, as you can see, we are not at peak fall color yet. As of October 10th or something. Marcia will be in for quite a leaf peep!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANIE!


Today is my dear sister in law's birthday. Happy Birthday Lanie. We all love you so much!

What's Happening? Nothing much.

Yesterday I caught up with three different people, and they all asked me what was up, what was happening, what was going on. And all three times I was like, "oh, nothing much really." I can't figure out if I'm in a rut, or just living life or feeling less than 100% or what. But nothing much is going on this week and I felt a little like a loser having nothing exciting to offer up to my three askers. So thanks for making me feel bad Papa! Dian! Jonboy! ;-)

Today is Wednesday. I feel a little tiny bit like crap. Nothing major, just bleh. Making my way through the week. I am excited for next week, however, as my sister Marcia is coming for a visit and we will be having a very good time. the Keene Pumpkin festival is on the 20th, so we will be going to that. Marcia needs to see that. And we will be going out for drinks with my new friend/co-worker, who reminds me so much of Marcia in so many ways that I feel they have to meet. I feel a little like I unearthed a treasure in this new friend of mine, so I am really looking forward to connecting with her on a social level outside of the office.

Maggie has picture day today at her preschool/daycare. I dressed her in a shirt that will make her blue eyes POP, and even added, at her request, a little blue ribbon for her hair. It will be a real moment for me to have TWO 8x10 school photos to frame and put up (Henry's school photo and hers). I will figure out how to post both photos online when they come in and if you happen to share the genes of my children, you will mostlikely receive an actual picture via snailmail at some point down the road! Lucky you, kin of my children.

Okedoke. You take care now. Oh! My friend Mike updated his blog finally, so go check it out and catch up... It's over there on the right, under "Blogs of Loved Ones". The Mustard Bun has been updated! Yahoo! And Katie, Mom and Matt, time to get cracking!

Have a good day.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Weekend Update

This weekend I went yard sailing. I struck such gold that I went home after just two stops! The first sale was at the local funeral home, which I thought would be cool. Not sure what I was expecting to find there, but I managed to spend $15 on books and a toy for Maggie.

What I got for Maggie was one of those stuffed toy dogs that comes with it's own fancy doggie carrying bag - complete with rhinestones and other adorable accessories! Maggie was so thrilled. The dog was named Collery at first, but now she's Jenny. If I had a dollar for each time this weekend I clipped and/or unclipped the leash to Jenny's collar, I'd be up about twenty five bucks.

Next place I went to was a big old painted lady (Victorian house) across the block from Henry's school. They had their sale inside, and what a beautiful house it was. My goodness. And so big! Anyway. Somebody's momma had just passed, and momma was a quilter... You can imagine the rest!

For five bucks I got a big box of vintage fabric. Much of it was already cut up into seven inch squares! So as soon as I could I brought it all home and began stitching a patchwork quilt out of all the squares. The lady clearly had a plan when she cut the squares up, so I went for it. Got the whole quilt pieced and added a denim border on Saturday, then, using an old blue blanket for the batting, quilted it up!

The quilting part was a real bear. I see these fancy shmancy long arm quilting machines and they make me start to want one. Very slow going and rather tiresome. Luckily I went grocery shopping in the middle of it because I picked up a quilting magazine that had a big article on crazy quilts and was sufficiently inspired.

See, I love to embroider, but I never really get far enough along in a project to have anything worthwhile at the end. I like to doodle, is more like it. So now I'm going to see my patchwork quilt as a doodle pad of a sort, stitching around the borders with colorful floss and experimenting in the middle of some/many squares with various designs and stitches. It's already quite satisfying, as each stitch now has value! it won't be thrown away or forgotten about when I get bored with it! I am pleased. At some point I'll post a picture.

On Saturday night I went out to dinner with my friend Christine, it was great to hang out with her. We went to the farm and visited with the baby (and his parents, of course) and in general had a real good time.

In a never ending quest to match his clothing, on Saturday Henry went out on errands wearing a hawaiian shirt and some shorts that are actually pajamas. We called him Henry Hotpants all day. HAR HAR!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Henry has his own cheerleading section





Here are a couple of cute shots of the kids taken Saturday morning. I'd told maggie I'd get her some pom poms to cheer henry on at his soccer game, and whipped these up. I like how serious she looks as she strikes her version of a cheerleader pose. And the one of the two of them, Henry look so handsome. Who wouldn't want him for an older brother? (Especially if it meant we would be your parents!)