Crafting progress

It’s April 29. I don’t think I’m going to make the April 30 deadline for the projects I wrote about here, but I’m happy to say I’ve finished “prep stage 1” for the T-shirt quilt. I had way more than 9 shirts left to interface, and it definitely takes time.

T-shirt quilt squares

I brought my ironing board upstairs so I could watch old Schoolhouse Rock videos on You Tube with Ollie while I busted my tail trying to iron as fast as I could. Now I have the Adjective Song in my head. “He was a hairy bear, he was a scary bear, we made a hasty retreat from his lair… and described him with adjectives.” I love that song. Apparently, Ollie does too, he watched it about 10 times in a row.

Relive your childhood here: Classic Schoolhouse Rock – Adjective Song

The wine cork board is in disarray. I didn’t set baselines, and my rows started tilting towards the left. Voices in my head kept saying, “What would Martha (Stewart) do?” Of course, she’d start over, and so did I. I’m insane. As for the baby burp cloths, the fabric and ribbons are all cut. While Ollie took apart the couch after lunch, I ironed and pinned. I still might be able to finish sewing the burp cloths by the weekend.

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Happy Earth Day

Had a really nice time at our local Earth Day fair. Look, we took a ride around our nature center park. Made the man work with all of us in the cab! There were more activities than I thought, which was nice for the kids. We also had a great time listening to Rocket J, local band. They covered some oldies and goodies. We KNOW the drummer! So cool. He’s actually the father of my daughter’s preschool friend. Almost needless to say, Ollie rocked out big time. Air guitar and all. He wanted to stay and dance the whole time. Daisy, Abby’s friend, invited Ollie onto the stage, but I don’t think he was quite prepared for that, and politely said, “No.”

We went around and visited the various booths. Here are some highlights aside from the local garden club, soil and water conservation district, National Wildlife Federation and local park district.

Sustainable, handmade paper products, such as wildflower seed notecards, memory books, gift tags, frames and custom wedding invitations at www.womancraft.net,

Soap artisan makes hand made natural Olive oil soaps, body oils and bathing essentials (www.abbeybrown.com),

Fine specialty teas promoting wellness and health at www.senteamentalmoods.com,

Books promoting diversity, creativity and discovery for children at www.readingbarefootbooks.com

Another candle on her cake (Webkinz birthday theme)

If I think about too much, it’s almost a heartache how fast Abby has grown. I’m so proud of her.

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She’s putting last touches on her Webkinz themed cake for her Webkinz themed birthday party. It was a blast crafting ponchos for all the pets, decorating bags for game prizes, our own homemade Wheel of Wow, Gem Mining and W Shop.

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The pets… I mean, kids, had an awesome time.

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Friends gave her a special tea blend named for her: Tea for Tiu. Strawberry tea goodness.

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Happy seven candles, my first little one. How big you are now.

Growing up foodie

Looking back at some posts, I don’t know that I’ve written specifically about our penchant for cooking, entertaining, and food. Good food. Good ingredients help. We like a good restaurant, fancy or not, kid-friendly or super posh, and good deals are a favorite. Ha. It’s no secret, we enjoy it all. I wonder if part of it is from my husband’s stint at a seafood restaurant during high school. Or maybe it’s my fascination with The Food Network which I’ve watched from the beginning. I’d watch and think, “Hey, I could make that.” Much like crafting, eh? I’m thankful I’m not any heavier than I am with what I eat!

Before kids, I used to have this weird idea that our children would have mature palates and speak like Sylvester the Cat’s son… “Fah-ther, why must we eat the bird?” Remember that? But instead they would say, “Mother… I would like grilled brie on baguette for lunch.” or “Father, please pass the smoked salmon.”

Over the weekend, we shopped at our local Trader Joe’s and watching our kids in the store is probably indicative of how our foodie habits influence them. Our girl does enjoy salmon, cheddar cheese and apples, dark chocolate. Then there’s the boy. He made his way to the cheese section. I love that he went for brie first! But in the end we bought some parmesan… he likes eating that too.

Shopping for cheese

Shopping at Trader Joe's

The boy likes tea, too. He’s my tea buddy at TeaLula’s tea bar. His favorites are fruity flavored ones with lots of sugar cubes, but I try to keep it to one cube per cup, if that. Tea and scones. Ollie says, “Ah-yee (Ollie) cone, cone now, eat cone. Dink tea.” Pictures by Ollie. Mom, Miss Sheila and his beloved “cones”.

TeaLula and Sheila DudaScones at TeaLula

Late Night Musings

I’ve been away. Seems like an impossible task to make (uninterrupted) time to sit and write.  I’d love to stop time for a while… could you imagine what craziness would ensue if I could? Although, I know I do it to myself. Not making time. I’m trying to do lots of things: cleaning up, putting away, making lists, crafting during little snippets of time.

But really, we’ve had a little bit of sickness in the house. The below zero wind chills do not make for good outings, and then the little one had a bout of hives which are still unexplained. We were just really sensitive because he has a nut allergy already.  I can’t convey the worry and stress we were going through, but if you’re a friend on Facebook, you’ve been following all the action. I’m happy to report he’s been hive-free for two days now. I’m keeping a journal of what he’s eating, and I’ve washed just about everything in his room. I think he’s okay.

On another note, here’s the scene in our living room on Super Bowl Sunday.  Yeah, that’s right. My two kids. Two laptops.

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They were both playing on the same website, too.  I think it’s funny that a two-year old who doesn’t speak much can navigate through the Windows Menu and find a website, play a game, and then shut down the computer, correctly.  I’ll turn around one day and he’ll have a website of his own.  My 6-almost-7 year old just asked me when would she be allowed to have an e-mail account. That’s a good question. I tabled it for another day. This was after the Super Bowl. The two of them in our bed. It’s so sweet how they get along.

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Last thing, I tried to make candied orange and grapefruit peel on Monday. Wasn’t too difficult, and I wanted to do something to get my mind off of Ollie’s hives.  I saved a few rinds in the refrigerator figuring I’d get to it, and I did.  The kids LOVE them.  The chocolate covered ones are divine.  Too bad they don’t all look like the one in the picture, but who cares.  Trial run for a possible bridal shower treat.  Let me know if you want the recipe!

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