I whipped this up yesterday and gave it as a gift to some friends of ours who just had a baby. (Hello out there!) I like the use of orange and purple and blue here.
and this is also, clearly, the best way to photograph a quilt so you can see the whole dang thing in decent light.
Here it is, ain't it purty? made of the softest flannel ever. What a treat to work with, that flannel was. Here it is on the guest bed in the cozy/play/tv/sewing room (in order of order of room makeover), and here it is in outside at the farm. THANKS MOM for all your help!
I made this apron for Lanie for her birthday, and Jeff brought it up there for her this weekend. A couple weeks early -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANIE!!!
There's a farm up the road from us, where the "Ladies" live if you know what I'm talking about. (We thought it was a dairy farm, so we called the cows there Ladies. They're beef cattle, actually. I guess we should call them Dinner now?) over the weekend they had a bucket of pears off of their driveway with a sign saying to help yourself. So we did and boy were they yummy. Here is Maggie enjoying a pear while watching Henry at his first soccer practice of the year.
... at Henry's soccer practice.
How cute is this picture. This weekend Jeff and Maggie are going up to Maine, leaving me and mom and henry behind. Henry was pretty excited to be staying behind once he realized he could practice his knitting. When he came in to the kitchen to show me his progress, my first words were "hey, cool. you know, Brian knits." I was very pleased to actually know of a dude that has knitted on occassion, as issues of what a girl does vs. what a boy does are of great importance to henry. So thanks Brian, if you're reading this, for being a dude that knits! it gives Henry permission to knit.
Here is a great picture of our kids. We were all in the kitchen when they came walking in just like you see here. luckily I was able to grab a picture. Henry is such a great big brother. yesterday maggie became very freaked out and upset by a spider and he was just so comforting and understanding towards her.
He's also really opening up to his grandma. He likes to work next to her and gradually shares details about his life with her, which is really sweet. yesterday he was telling her what to do if you're being bullied on the playground. (stick around the part of the playground that has teachers in it.) I guess they are imparting that info to the kids as part of an overall behavioral improvement campaign or something. Anyway. it was real cute to listen in on them as they sat in the kitchen working on their seperate projects.
I am a quilter. Yep! I am nearing the end stages of my first ever quilt! it's a beautiful thing. My mom is helping me with it, and I am positive I wouldn't've have made it this far without her. (I am speaking of more than quilts.)It's a full size quilt, all flannel. Gorgeous colors too. I'll post a picture soon!!! It will eventually be Maggie's quilt, but right now I am so thrilled with it I want it all for myself. So let's just say that one day it will be Maggies.
I am having a great time with my mom. She had a cold over the weekend, but is feeling much better now. We are just hanging out, sewing and crafting and eating and watching tv -- all the good stuff! I think she is very tickled with the children. They are very cute with her too. She's got a different sort of style from their other grandmother (hi grammi!) and I had been wondering how they would perceive the differences in style. if they'd think she was a stick in the mud or whatever (no offence mom! hi again grammi!) but what I'm observing is that while she may not be like their grammi, she is an awful lot like their mom. They are very comfortable and happy to have her around. JUST LIKE THE REST OF US!
Jeff had a very quiet weekend, mostly laying very low. He got out a bit yesterday with the kids so that Mom and I could go to a quilt show in Townsend, MA. That was great fun for mom and me. I picked up a new craft - Needle Felting it's called. You take a little ball of un spun wool, roving they call it and place it on a square of backing and then place that over a block of upholstery foam. then you jab the hell out of it with a felting needle, which is a needle that has little barbs on it to gradually attaches the roving to the wool fabric. Here is an example of needle felting that I found online somewhere:
Mom brought me a lot of fabric from her stash pile, so I imagine I will be jumping in to that pretty quick here. I want to finish the quilt I'm on right now first of course. All I have left to do is the actual quilting of the layers together and then put the binding on. I really cranked through it this weekend.
Also I watched HBO's new series "Tell Me You Love Me" and I really liked it. Talk about your spicy meatballs as far as the sex scenes go though, good heavens! But there are other reasons why I liked the show. ;-) Anyway, now that stupid Big Brother is wrapping up I happen to have room in my schedule for better quality television. So I'll keep tuning in.
talk to you later blog!
Big Brother: Yankees Win!
The good folks over at TVgasm have written up a very satisfying and highly accurate analysis of last Thursdays Big Brother. Those two Donatos. I hate that they'll win it. Daniele is the worst.
...if by happiness you mean satellite television!
we flipped the switch to the boob toob pipe back on yesterday. It feels great to have options again for watching TV again, although I wish I didn't have to actually be at work paying for the dang thing. Here I am at my desk, when I could be home rotting in front of the television! Oh well. That's the way it goes, I guess.
This weekend we went to Canobie Lake Park as part of a end of summer thing thingie at Jeff's work. It was real fun, although real hot. The heat always zaps me of my energy. The kids had fun though. Henry was up for riding the most jarring ride possible, and Maggie enjoyed the little kiddie rides best. She was a trouper and joined us on the Boston Tea Party, which is a short log flume like ride, with a big wet splashy finish. We all went on as a family, and it was so cute to see her little body crammed in between Jeff and Henry. WHAT AN ADORABLE FAMILY WE ARE.
My mom arrives tomorrow morning! I am so excited to lay eyes on her, even more thrilled to have her in my home! Can't wait to see you momma!
FIRED UP, READY TO GO!
Henry and I marched in the Labor Day parade with Barack Obama on Monday! I even got to shake the man's hand! He was very casual and warm and friendly, full of energy and charisma. A total rock star. 
This is the crowd that was set up to walk behind him. The organizers had created big homemade letters that spelled out "OBAMA 08" and I got to wear the final "A" and Henry was the space between the name and the years, and as a result, we literally led the pack! Henry can be found in the front of the crowd of people in this picture. Can you spot him?
The man himself pressing the flesh with those of us marching with him...
This is probably the best picture of many I took over my shoulder. There had been a lot of confusion at the start of the parade regarding where the letters ought to be. In front of Obamas car, behind it, between his car and the secret service SUV's (the secret service agents weren't crazy about that), up ahead in front of the car, etc. etc. Very confusing and a lot of shouting and running into position at the start. 
Ultimately we ended up leading Obamas car, and it was very cool. We shouted various OBAMA specific chants (Henry really enjoyed that part) and basically led the way. At different points, Obama would hop out of the car and go shake hands with the crowd and we would have to stop and wait for things to move again. 
This is us coming around the Oval in Milford. CROWDS of people. Obama was like a rock star, I tell you. People would totally surround him, tons of news camera and press following his every move. It was pretty incredible to be a part of. 
And here is just one view of the crowds of people that came out to see us. Do you recognize anyone?!
It was a great day, so fun to be a part of something big like that. And to share it with Henry. That kid didn't complain once, and let me tell you, there was a lot of sitting around under the broiling sun! I was so proud of the high quality of his companionship that I promised him ice cream after, PLUS $10! That kid is terrific. I know he loved being a part of the excitement and leading the whole thing off (we lucked out carrying those letters, let me tell you) and seeing other kids he knew while we were on the parade route. He is a great kid.
Here we have the latest version of the cozy room. Moved the TV back to the living room, pulled the red couch out and brought in one of the (two) twin beds I had out on the porch. This is where my momma will sleep!
I'm most excited about my sewing corner. I'm hoping that by containing myself in the corner I'll accomplish two important things: 1. my sewing related flotsam and jetsum (thread, scraps, pins, etc.) will be better isolated and not wreck the whole room. 2. little visitors to my sewing corner might be more inclined to stay where I want them (around the perimeter of the sewing corner please!) I also like how I can see out both windows now, and my desk can be accessed from both sides, which will be great for cutting. I need a full sized ironing board, and to throw the doors back on the whole ball of wax and then that oughta do it!
OMG you guys!!!
Barack Obama is walking in the Milford, NH Labor Day Parade!!!!!! OMG I am so excited. I just signed up Henry and myself to walk the parade route with him. oh my goodness am I thrilled about this. I had to let you know right away!
Oh Blog. You're always there for me, excited to hear my news. love you!
Howdy, Ho.
Did you read my mom's blog?! about the murder outside her apartment building?! Dad would've loved that. Well, you know what I mean. The excitement and hubbub and drama, he would've loved that.
So many things I wish my dad had lived to see! Crazy that he's been gone not quite three months. I believe in my heart that he KNOWS about all these things, but it would just be so nice to hear what he has to say about them all. That's what I'm missing.
I read somewhere that when a loved one dies, your capacity to love them grows and grows and grows. The love you have for the person becomes more intense than was ever possible while they were alive. Since you don't have to attend to their needs anymore, and the risk of them not meeting your needs has gone away, all there is left to do is love love love. This has been epecially true for me.
I have been blurting out things he would say several times today. One was, "That, and seventy five cents would buy you the sunday paper." another was, "Fiddle dee dee." I also employ "What's the ssshhheddulle?" Soon I'll be wanting "EYE-talian food"!
Anyway. Miss you daddy. I'm not bumming out hard core, but I am sad for the fact that you aren't on the earth anymore. BUT! As you always said, nobody gets out of here alive.
And I'm sort of glad you weren't around for the shoot out at your old apartment, because you would've been hopping into your pants and scrambling down to the lobby to see what's what - MIGHTA GOTTEN SHOT YERSELF!
It was SO HOT AND HUMID this weekend. totally miserable making. Saturday was the worst, Sunday was better. On Saturday, it was so hot (HOW HOT WAS IT?!) that anything anybody said to me was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. And there seemed to be no escape from the oppressive weather.
We could get in the car and drive, crank the AC, but then the kids would tease and slap and tickle each other, driving the parents crazy. Any stores we went into just meant spending $$, handling repeated requests for toys and things for the kids, crowds, etc. YUCK. Going home would subtract the spending of money, and the parents could try to evade being in the presence of sanctioned slapping/teasing/tickling/ shouting of the kids, but then you add in the heat and humidity and it'd be a wash. There was no escape! It was the worst. This weekends weather would definitely be on the top five of worst days of the year. very very yucko.
But Sunday was better. Jeff and I seemed to get a lot of housework done, and early in the day too, which was nice. By 1:30pm I was able to lay under the fan in the *clean!* bedroom doing some embroidery work while Henry watched TV and Maggie and Jeff were somewhere else in the house. Jeff got loads of laundry done, and I got ours and Maggie's bedroom cleaned up finally. So that felt pretty good. And I was able to take a load of recycling to the dump. Lots of stuff that was able to be crossed off my list so I could head into this week feeling on top of my game.
We are currently missing two very important members of the family, NightNight and Margaret. nobody's sure where they are, we've looked everywhere, retraced steps, etc. I had a dream last night where they were in the backseat of Jocelyn's car, which is not possible, obviously. Luckily Maggie's not too freaked out about it. Hopefully they'll turn up!
Okedoke. have a good day now!
Today is a slow day, but I have been keeping busy. Today is the last day at Henry's summer camp program. They had a talent show. He'd asked us to come and see him perform - the only clue he gave us was that his talent was running. But when Jeff got there (before me) Henry informed him that his group may not be performing after all. So Jeff and I got to watch the other kids perform their talents, and it was very sweet.
one girl played her violin. She came on stage and sat down very calmly and then proceeded to saw out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" -- not hitting one right note during the whole performance. it was too cute. Another girl was scheduled to sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow", but she got stage fright and instead trembled and cried while the camp counselor held her on stage with a protective arm around the shoulder and led everyone in singing the first verse of the song.
The folks running his camp are terrific. I will be happy to incorporate their offerings into Henry's world as we head into the school year and it's various school vacations and whatnot.
As for weekend plans, we don't really have any, and I am thrilled. Putter, putter, putter, futz, futz, futz. YAY! Lots and lots of yard sales in the paper this week, too. And my friend Bob invited us out on Saturday night, but I never squared away a sitter, so there goes that. Maybe my wonderful mutton chopped husband (you know who you are) will encourage me to go out on my own!!!
I hope you have a great weekend, whoever you are. Wherever you are.
bye now!
The days fly by even faster than before! Our house is such a pit right now, goodness gracious. I had been fantasizing about getting a housekeeper to come by a couple times a month, and now I am sure I want to. Maybe to come over every other Monday or something to spit shine the place. That way we can pick up on the weekend (to get ready for the spit shine) and then have a clean house during the week, which is really when we need it. I had been thinking it'd be nice to have them come towards the end of the week, so we could have a clean house for the weekend. but you have to pick up before they come, and I'd rather do that on the weekend than stressing out over it the weeknight before. Anyway. We'll see... All I know is at the end of the workday, I run out of steam after fixing dinner and cleaning up and so forth. And I've switched from fixing the kids lunch the night before to getting up 10 minutes earlier to do it in the morning while jeff is in the shower. Aren't you glad you know all this? Hey, I promised I'd blog more often, this is the best I've got right now!
Last night Jeff had a planning board meeting, so he was out for the evening. I made a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs that the kids totally devoured. Jeff is living la vida low carb right now, so instead of noodles he had brocolli and cauliflower under his sauce and 'balls.
My other low carb tip to those of you out there following along (Jocelyn, I'm talking to you) is to cook up boneless chicken breasts, then pour marinara over the top of 'em, add pizza cheese, add pepperoni, add more pizza cheese, and then pop 'em back in the oven again. it's like having a pizza, only your crust is breast! 100% low carb. (you could obviously put any of the standard pizza toppings on it.)
we love cold pepperoni for a low carb snack. our local food shop sells it from their deli - YUM! very tasty.
Weekend plans include a haircut for Maggie, hopefully. Plus cleaning house, plus laundry. I'd also like to get some new tennis shoes, onaccounta I'm a workout girl now and the shoes I have are old and nasty. Today at lunch I plan on checking out a quilt shop that is just up the road from my house, in the middle of nowhere!
I am really looking forward to my mom coming to visit! we have big plans to crank up my sewing skills (BANG!) and hit a couple of quilt shops and so forth. I would love love LOVE to make a quilt for henry's bed and also one for maggie's that is just like the quilt my mom made ME many years ago. The red and white flannel one, remember momma? the weight of that quilt is so perfect, I just love it.
Anyway. Back to work! bye now.
Yesterday I came down with some hard core sneezing and runny eyes and my sinuses packing up, etc. BOO! All day long I told myself I should run home and take some Airborne, but I wasn't able to get away. So I sneezed my way home and climbed right into bed. Jeff, bless his heart, went to pick up the kids and some nyquil for me. When he got home, I took two nyquil gel caps, and one sudafed.
Boy howdy did that sudafed do the trick! I felt much much better eventually, but I still stayed in bed while Jeff made dinner. My new thing is to emrboider while I'm in bed. it was heaven! Jeff put some pork chops on the 'Q and whipped up one of the more delicious home cooked meals I have had in a very long time. Many thanks to my wonderful husband.
The nyquil knocked me out around 8:30 -- GET THIS: I didn't even stay awake to watch Big Brother!!! Can you believe that?! I can't. Thank goodness for Tivo, and the internet, and the chat forums at tvgasm. I don't feel like I missed the goings on inside the big brother house. I know Jen is going home, Jen knows she is going home, etc. Sigh. She was my favorite, too! Now I want Jessica to win. But not Eric! Eric is a shady character.
ANYWAYS. Feel a little better today. I took another Sudafed this morning before coming in to work, and I brought the Airborne tablets with me. So I might be okay!
Yesterday I worked out during my lunch hour, I am real proud to say. And I am actually looking forward to doing it again today! I need something trashy to read, though. I've got my ipod to distract me, but could use something for my eyeballs to rest upon while I work out. (I sense the perfect justification for buying the latest People magazine!)
And you don't tell your child's daycare that she's got whooping cough. Or so it would seem!
Turns out that Maggie doesn't have whooping cough after all, she's just got croup! But that correction wasn't made for me until AFTER I'd called the daycare to explain why she wouldn't be in today.
Apparently a kid getting whooping cough is something the owner of the daycare has to report to the state, so she was alarmed to find Maggie being dropped off by her dad this afternoon! She'd already called "the state" to report it, and was going to get back to them to call off the hounds of whooping-cough-ery -
D'OH!
Maggie went to the ER at 1:30am last night! She's had a runny nose for the last couple days, and woke up at 11:30 and then again at 12:30 last night with a terrible honking cough and sore throat. Jeff had been out very late and came home at 1:30am to Maggie flailing around on our bed, crying and moaning. I think her throat was so sore that it made her cry, which made her throat hurt more, which made her moan, which made her throat hurt more, etc. I had been sort of waiting for her to calm herself down (like she'd done at 11:30) when Jeff came in and saved the day. He was so concerned by her behavior that he swept her up in his arms and brought her to the ER. They were home a couple hours later, with nothing major to report. I guess she has whooping cough and it sounded so terrible because of her smaller lung capacity or something. Anyway, Maggie.........will recover. She is at home today with her dad, but I'm sure she'll be heading back to "school" tomorrow.
I, on the other hand, am most likely catching what she's got. I have some Airborne (Thank you Maxine!) at the house that I keep thinking I should run home and take, because I can feel it coming on (sore throat, sniffles, etc.) but I am here at work, not there at home, so it may have to wait.
I brought my lunch today with the hopes of going to work out on my lunch hour. I may be heading off to do that real soon here. I had been thinking it would be too inconvenient to work out at lunch, but then it occurred to me that in fact, it wouldn't be. Yesterday I talked with my girlfriend Heather about tips and tricks on working out and she gave me the hookup and inspiration to give it a shot. Thanks Heather!
Okay, so this officially fulfills my promise to post each day at work. We were going to go see Barack Obama at a Nashua Pride baseball game tonight, but those plans have been run asunder by various forces no longer under my control. Boo. You and I will share the same space some day, Mr. Obama. Today is not your day, however.
Bye for now!
I had a great birthday. And a wonderful weekend. First weekend in a very long time where the difference between monday thru friday and saturday and sunday was so evident. As a result, I found myself trying to cancel everything possible on Saturday so I could just stay home and putter!
On Saturday morning, the four of us went yard sailing, and boy oh boy did I score big. A woman was selling her recently passed mother's old quilting supplies. So for seven bucks I walked away with a box of notions and quilting supplies, and another big box of some of the craziest, vintage-iest fabric you have ever seen. it was like manna from heaven. I am trying to build up my stash, and this really helped.
UPDATE: The quilt:
We'd had plans to take the kids to see "Underdog" for my birthday, and then Jeff had secured a babysitter for Saturday night. But I was so anxious to get back home and incorporate my new stuff into my sewing supplies that I postponed what I could and brought us all back home for the day. IT WAS SO WONDERFUL TO BE HOME!!!
I've spent a lot of time at home these past several years. To be thrilled to stay home and putter was a new and wonderful feeling, let me tell you. And there was this wonderful balance of "my house is a shambles! I don't want to do work on my birthday! It's my birthday, I feel like doing a bit of work to get things just so, so I can turn my back on it all and fondle my notions and maybe sew up a tote bag! I think I'll do the dishes! Hey, this is nice! this feels good, doing the dishes!" etc.
For my birthday, Jeff and the kids gave me a couple of wonderful cards, and a three photo collage for my desk at work. These two pics are from the series of photos they gave me - aren't the colors wonderful?
On Friday night I had a girls night out with three good pals. We went out for mexican food and margaritas, and I had a great time. thanks gals! After dinner, Nicole and I kept the party going by prowling the fabric section at WalMart. GOOD. TIMES.
This extended blog post is dedicated to my sister Jocelyn, who worries that my posts will diminish as my professional career takes off. FEAR NOT DEAR READER! I promised her I would try to post each weekday morning, and I will try very hard to do so. Time to get back to it!
have a great day, blog, I love you.
This is the true joy in life, to be used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, to be thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap. To be a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am a member of a community and as a member it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can before I die. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch that I want to make burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
--George Bernard Shaw
Yep! Working full time and everything. In fact, I'm writing this entry at work! ha! I'll try to expand on this post later, but I wanted to touch base with my loyal subjects and let you know why I haven't been posting too often around here. Busy working mom you know! the job so far is great, the commute can't be beat, and the people are my kind of people.
I want to make myself a T-shirt that says "EARNER!" across the front.
Maggie is in a preschool/childcare situation directly across the street from Henry's school. She is loving her new life as a busy school go-er and they are charmed with her at the daycare. (as well they should be!) Until school starts up for Henry, he is attending summer camp at the local boys and girls club, and is also happy happy happy there. Once school starts he'll be going to where Maggie is after school, unless I can figure out how to transport him from school to the boys and girls club (where I think he'd have a more stimulating time of it).
Jeff is the only one whose daily schedule hasn't been turned upside down. He takes the kids to their situations in the morning and I pick them up. I think he enjoys the fact that we are all up at the crack of dawn now, not just him while we sleep in and lay around the house all day.
anyway, more later!
p.s. did you know my birthday is this Saturday?! 37!
How about this now! I read about fusing plastic bags online and thought I'd give it a try. Apparently, if you place 6-8 layers of plastic shopping bags between two pieces of waxed paper, (trimming the bottom and the handles off and opening it wide, giving you two layers of plastic per bag), then iron it for 15 seconds or so, you can create plastic sheets that you can sew on your sewing machine!
Market Basket is my much loved local grocery, so I was happy to see it's logo figuring prominently. And that's duct tape binding the seams, lining the bottom and making the handles. Sure did use up a lot of plastic bags! A pretty fun project. And the bag is very sturdy, I assure you! Will be perfect for food shopping.
Here's a great looking bag that inspired me and gave me many good tips... from a really terrific website, by the way. I have been going to craftster.org many many times a day lately... Craftster.org, "Extreme Plastic Bag Makeover"
I'll try to make a video of this guy in action, but until then, just look at Margie's face. This guy just thrills her. He farts and wiggles and grunts and says, "oh yeah, oh yeah" -- then he sings "Halll-Lol-ooya, Halll-Lol-ooya" and then stops. The kids find it endlessly amusing. I picked it up from a free pile of stuff I heard about on craigslist.
This is a little headband I whipped up. It looks so cute on Maggie, but you should know that she disposed of it immediately after I put the camera down. :-(
While at the Cape, the older kids were crazy for Harry Potter. Here are the two shirts I helped fashion for Henry and Cassidy for the different Book Release Night plans they had. Quidditch is apparently a sports game played on a broomstick, and that's Professor Dumbledore on Cassidy's shirt. Beloved Headmaster of Hogwarts, is what I'm told.
This is something I whipped up a few days ago. The sewing machine came with a hard case, but once you removed the case, you only created more mess for yourself! (instead of the sewing machine in it's two piece case, you had the sewing machine, the bottom of the case, and the top of the case.) So I needed a little cozy that I could crush down and stuff in a drawer when I'm sewing, and slip over the machine (I think she needs a name) for when I'm done for the day. Store the hard case up in the clubhouse. I had extra quilted flannel from another project (that I didn't get a picture of!) and just sort of went for it.
Once I had the cozy fixed up, of course iit needed to be emroidered. I wonder if I'm spelling that right...
I'm trying to let myself explore the arena of working with fabric. When my mom comes out to visit next month, she's going to help me hone my skills, and for now I'm just going for it. It's very fun and incredibly satisfying. Gives me all sorts of full circle moments with my kids, too. Mom hunched over the sewing machine, letting me hang out in her sewing room and watch boob tube while she sews and stands in front of the tv pressing a seam. That's Henry's world these days. And Maggie spent an hour pouring over everything at JoAnn Fabrics with me yesterday, playing among the bolts of cloth and eyeballing the pretty buttons and ribbons. If it's anything for them like it was for me, those will be much loved childhood memories, even if they were somewhat boring at the time.
p.s. the felt sign in the back of the first picture is something I made on vacation at the Cape. I felt so sure that I was, in fact, where it was at, I needed to make a flag proclaiming as much.
This is going to be a Christmas gift for someone (luckily she never reads this blog). I asked Maggie to draw a picture of her cousin Brooke, and so she did. It was so lifelike that I had to do something with it. So I traced it onto a dark blue apron I picked up at Ocean State Job Lot (gotta love the joblot) and then stitched the design in using the same color thread as the crayon Maggie'd chosen for her drawing. Then I asked Henry to write the receipents name on the apron, and stitched that in with yellow.
I realize it's not going to be the most practical apron for a kid to wear, but fooey to that. The bug was biting and I had to scratch!
I picked up a sewing machine a few weeks ago at a yard sale and have been cranking away ever since!
This is a sleeve I made for my Jeff's powerbook. I found the Krusty the Clown T Shirt at a thrift shop and fused it to some fleece interfacing. The outside is made with vinyl tablecloth and the inside is just some extra fabric I had laying around. In between the two, two layers of batting!
I'm pretty thrilled with the result, although I may add handles or a strap of some kind. It'd be nice to be able to secure it to your body in some fashion, and would also be a good heads up as two which end is up, so the computer doesn't come sliding to the floor!
The T shirt was going to be for maggie, but it was so big, it woulda taken forever for her to grow into. When she saw that I had repurposed it into something for dad, she was crushed...
Jeff and I went to see this movie over the weekend. His folks had gone to see it the night before, having heard great things about it, and so we went the next night. Such a beautiful movie, the music and images are still lingering in my head. I won't say anything more about it, except that you ought to see it if given the chance. I can think of several of my dear readers specifically, who I'm certain would really love it. I'm talking to you Lanie, Cassidy, Mom, Katie and Big Matt Setter. Go see it and then try to prove me wrong.
Hi there, home from vacation and all is well! We had such beautiful weather down on the cape, especially the first week. Just so gorgeous! It was really great to be down there for two weeks, hanging out at the beach, laughing and talking and reading, picking up a couple new hobbies (emrboidery and sewing!), catching a movie with my husband ("Knocked Up" - very funny) and making my way through three novels! Whoo hoo! Just what a vacation should be.
It's real good to be home, though, I gotta tell you. I'll try to get some pictures up in the next day or two, but I wanted to check in here and break the seal, as they say... More later!
Well we are an hour or two away from leaving for two weeks at the Cape! Hooray. We've been looking forward to this trip for a very long time. Grammi and Papa are already down there, and the rest of us are packing furiously or waiting patiently (depending on your perspective) for it to be time to G-O go!
I'll try to post here and there, but it won't be more than maybe once or twice... Nevertheless, check back often! Try reading through the archives if you're that lonesome for me... talk with you soon!
We found the little fawn camping out at our house again this week. I'm pretty sure it was the same guy. Henry, Maggie and I came home from somewhere and found him nestled in between the steps and the house, by the front door. We had to leave soon after discovering him, and he was gone by the time we got back (several hours later).
Flickrvision swoops around the Google globe Superman-style, pausing every few seconds to show a photo that somebody, somewhere in the world, uploaded to Flickr just minutes ago.
People all over the world take photos, and Flickrvision tracks the worldwide photographic zeitgeist.
Saturday afternoon Susie went out the basement door to hang some laundry and surprised a fawn which had been hanging out under our deck in the back yard. The fawn trotted off into the woods. He eventually came back and the kids got to look at him for a while. It seemed an unlikely place for a mother deer to stash her baby while she was out grazing, and I was afraid she wouldn't come back for it. But we checked back a few hours later and it was gone.
- Jeff
