Knots, Weeds, and Library Fines

Moving

2010-02-04T20:47:00.000-06:00

My blog is now over here. Hope to see you there!

But WHO?

2010-02-04T13:14:00.002-06:00

Tea's world has a lot of homemade toys, art pieces, quilts, etc. These things were made with love by friends and family either for him, or for someone else in the family and eventually passed down to him. He really likes to discuss who made what.

"Granddad made these blocks."
"Grandma Cookie sewed my sheets."
"Nana made my quilt."
"Auntie M and Mama painted those animals."
And so on.
Because he's 2, we repeat these observations over, and over, and over again.

Today's conversation had a new twist.
"Who made my play kitchen?"
"I don't know, sweetie. We bought it in a store."
"But who made it?"
"I don't know. Someone made it and then we bought it from the store. We don't know the person."
"But WHO, Mama?"
"Someone whose job it is to make toys at a toy factory, I guess."
"Like Santa Clause at the North Pole maybe?"

Twisted

2010-01-06T21:28:00.001-06:00

T and I made pretzels today.

I measured and he dumped ingredients into the bread maker. After the dough rose ("like the dough the little red hen made") we rolled it into snakes. Some of the shapes we made were more pretzel-like than others.

T brushed on the egg white glaze.

He then meticulously placed pieces of salt and poppy seeds.

I promised T we'd hear the timer, but he refused to budge from the oven while they baked.

The finished pretzels looked more like demented rolls,

but T couldn't have been prouder.

In a pinch

2010-01-05T22:10:00.000-06:00

This morning T woke up feeling unwell. I woke up with a budding migraine. I had a sinking feeling as we slogged through breakfast that the day had the potential for a lot of Unfun. I needed a plan that was simple and would partly immobilize T for at least an hour while my painkillers kicked in.

We launched the reading raft. We pushed the couches together and piled them high with quilts and pillows. We stocked the nearby table with lots of books and tea (for me). I pitched the idea that we could switch off reading stories to the teddy bear. He took the bait, and the reading raft kept him snuggled up and quiet for the entire morning.

Success!

The Most Last Minute and The Best Gift (Christmas Crafting Revealed, Day 6)

2010-01-01T10:32:00.001-06:00

Here's the very last gift I made this Christmas. I finished it at nearly midnight, just minutes before Christmas Eve.

Have you ever made a t-shirt with freezer paper stencils? It's so easy!

I traced my design onto freezer paper and cut it out with an exacto knife:

Then I stuck it fast to a t-shirt by ironing it:

Next, I brushed a few coats of paint on:

After the paint dried, I peeled the freezer paper off.

Have you figured out the design yet?

Look again.

Scroll down if you need extra help...

Now go check out our adoption blog, because that has all the details of our REFERRAL!

Because Grandparents Will Hang Anything On Their Tree (Christmas Crafting Reveal, Day 5)

2009-12-31T08:00:00.011-06:00

Hi. Mama let me blog if I promise not to get the keyboard sticky.
I want to take this opportunity to say that while she spent a fair amount of time being crafty for Christmas, the project she set me up with was lame, lame, lame. I don't think it even qualifies as being homemade. Personally, I think she ran out of steam. I'm going to have a talk with her. I expect more next year.

I colored a bunch of wooden ornaments that had holes in which to paste my smiling mug. So obviously, she then tortured me with a photo shoot to get a picture to use. I formally lodged a complaint that she wouldn't let me chose the winning photograph. Here was my choice:

Next year, Mama, I'm in charge, and our craft is going to be AWESOME! We're gonna make fire truck chocolate train bears. Hurray!

Mama asked me to tell you that she saved the best project to show you for last. Tomorrow she'll show you, uhhh... freezer paper stencils. But we don't have paper in our freezer, so I think she's nuts.

Sewing for Knitting (Christmas Crafting Reveal, Day 4)

2009-12-30T08:00:00.002-06:00

I don't know if all knitters have this problem, but my knitting needles are like a cross between feral cats and socks. Not only are they never with their mates, but they run off and get lost ~~and get hit by cars and mangle songbirds~~ when I'm not looking. Invariably I'll start a project that calls for, say, size 4 double pointed needles, and will quickly locate *one* of them. One. Out of five. That doesn't do me much good. But that *one* needle confirms for me the existence of its siblings, so I can't bring myself to go buy another set. Because they are somewhere in my house. Perhaps in the freezer. Maybe under the floorboards. But somewhere. I clearly need a system.

I just assume that my sister, who also knits, has this problem as well. We are related, after all. So for Christmas, I designed a simple storage case for her straight needles using a place mat and a napkin.

Initially, I thought this design would make the case *easier* to make, as I would only have to attach pockets to a nice sturdy piece of fabric ready to just be folded in half to close. But, ahem. I quickly realized that in order for the outside of the case to be pretty, I couldn't just use the sewing machine to sew the pockets on. I had to backstitch them on by hand....through only the top layer of place mat fabric. UGH! I had no thimble so I improvised with a child safety electrical outlet plug (I highly recommend them for this use). I was cursing my design by the end, but it turned out cute, and hopefully they'll tame Meredith's needles. Maybe it's time to learn how to read patterns.

Tomorrow: guest blogger T cheats at being crafty

Gourmet Chef (Christmas Crafting Reveal, Day 3)

2009-12-29T08:00:00.003-06:00

I never formally learned how to sew beyond a sweatshirt I made in 7th grade home-ec. I remember wearing the finished product, so it must have turned out with at least the correct number of arms and a neck-opening, but I haven't sewed much of anything since, and certainly nothing with formal help.

Still, I have an old sewing machine from my grandmother and I've always really loved the *idea* of sewing. I just don't know what I'm doing beyond threading the needle. I wing it. Sometimes this works well, and sometimes I bury the result in the backyard while no one is watching.

One of T's favorite activities is playing with his kitchen, so I really wanted him to have an apron of his own. I made a pattern by having him hold a piece of newspaper under his chin while I drew the rough outline of a T-sized apron on it. He didn't ask why he was holding newspaper under his chin, so no surprises were ruined.

I cut it out, traced it onto fabric, and sewed all the edges over. I added a pocket across the bottom and sewed on some straps. If you inspect the wonky lines of stitches, you wouldn't award me any prizes, but T gives it a stamp of approval. Once he gets it on, he doesn't want to take it off.

The other kitchen-related item I made was noodles to put in a mini colander that I just wanted an excuse to buy. This was the easiest thing in the whole world to make: Hold felt in left hand, cut in strips with right. The end. Now we've been eating lots of spaghetti around here lately.

Stick around - tomorrow I talk sticks.

Baby Sweater (Christmas Crafting Reveal, Day 2)

2009-12-28T08:00:00.003-06:00

Have I mentioned I'm going to be an aunt?
My sister and her husband are expecting a Little One in April and I'm so excited for them!

I sort of cheated and knit this baby sweater with yarn she gave me when she cleaned out her stash, but I figured that she must have liked it enough to acquire it at one point in time, so it would be OK.

~~Courtney~~ one friend ~~who will remain nameless~~ might have exclaimed, "What a cute boy sweater!", but I'm hoping the color and pattern are neutral, since the parents-in-waiting want to be gender-amazed.

Next up: Critter apron and fake noodles

Fabric Gift Bags (Christmas Crafting Reveal, Day 1)

2009-12-27T08:00:00.003-06:00

This year, I spent a little bit of time making crafty things for Christmas. This was partially enabled by T's new opinion that I should "help" him play by watching him from the couch, and certainly not touching anything. Any project that was portable to the living room was a possibility so I made the best of my time.
I didn't want to spoil anyone's surprise by blogging about them ahead of time, so now that the recipients have their gifts, I can show you what I've been up to.

For the next 6 days I'll show one project a day, but I'll save the best project for last (it's a show stopper you won't want to miss!). Some took more time that others. All were lots of fun.

For starters, I really liked the idea of having fabric bags to put our presents in each Christmas. I don't terribly enjoy wrapping, I hate the waste, and fabric is fun!

I let T pick out 6 different Christmas fabrics and sewed about 20 bags of varying shapes and sizes. All tie shut with a ribbon. I embroidered a few felt tags to use as well, but ran out of time to make enough to label all of the presents. Christmas morning I was resorting to squishing and smelling and peeking into a few bags to determine who I should give them to... Next year I'm going to make a bunch of these tags from the purl bee, because they are more versatile than just a tag with a name. My family likes to write hints on their gift tags, so giving a present with just the recipient's name on it spoils the fun. I started to make one the day before Christmas Eve, but then the phone rang and that was the end of that. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute!

"Wrapping" presents on Christmas Eve was a breeze. It's really too bad Santa can't use fabric bags, too!

Stay tuned tomorrow when I'll announce I'm going to be an aunt! Oh wait....oops...

What new toys did you play with today?

2009-12-26T23:49:00.000-06:00

Our favorite was the fire station.
While wearing the cooking apron.
Of course.

Christmas pictures for faraway grandparents

2009-12-25T14:37:00.000-06:00

T wanted me to tell you that he misses you and looks forward to seeing you soon! He also is putting in an order for "lots" of Christmas cookies. You can ignore that last bit. Really. He already ate himself into a sugar coma that has lasted 2 hours and shows no signs of ending. He might not wake up until New Years...

Unwrapping his Christmas Eve footie pajamas

Admiring the full advent calendar. Ever the sentimentalist, "Can I take them all off now?"

T has a bright future as a gift-opening-assistant

We wish you were here!

Enough

2009-12-25T03:17:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve started with a To Do list.
A long one filled with Last Minute and Must Do and Needs Attention and Important, but also Silly and Relaxing and Crafty and To Enjoy all elbowing each other for their space at the top.

It was too much. Then the fish tank heater broke. The dog food ran out. The phone spoke. The errand demanded. The dishes whined. The laundry pleaded.

The list was abandoned. Impossible. We drove to church and I cried during Silent Night, as I always do. T sat on my lap and wanted to see the candle "CLOSER".

T crawled into our bed at 2 am and fell back asleep. I whispered, "Your Mama loves you" and through his sleep, he whispered back, "I know". "You do?" I whispered as my eyes teared up. Eyes closed, breathing deep, he slowly nodded twice.

Now I am bursting. I needed to write and grab this moment with the house still, my boys sleeping.

T knows I love him. It is enough. I am learning to let go of the list. I have utmost progress, and it is enough.

My heart is full. Full twice-over.
Merry Christmas.

Cookie love

2009-12-18T23:52:00.000-06:00

My true purpose in posting is to stealthily catch up to Kyle's blog, ultimately surpassing him in number of posts and thereby earning bragging rights.

I asked T to entertain Kyle for the day so I could make Christmas cookies with my family.

12 hours, 6 pounds of butter, and many laughs later, we had about 750 cookies.

Please don't tell me how many calories I drove home tonight in neatly packaged tins.

Poor Kyle the nut-hater...my family traditionally makes very few varieties without nuts. I don't really sweat it, since it means more for T and I, and that is the *true* spirit of Christmas, right?

OK, then. 139 posts to go.

Candy, candy, candy

2009-12-14T21:56:00.000-06:00

There is altogether too much sugar in T's life right now:

We made our traditional stained glass candy again with family.

T actually didn't get to eat any because he doesn't get the whole hard candy concept yet, but I think he inhaled enough powdered sugar to fuel him for a few weeks. He also enjoyed (and tuckered out) the company.

After breathing 12 pounds of sugar into his system, T received his first candy canes when he met Santa. He wasn't too sure about the whole thing, although at home he talks big about wanting Santa to visit and bring him "3 fire trucks".

T also gets to open a door of his advent calendar each day. Behind every door is a piece of chocolate and a small treat like a magnet or finger puppet. He is awfully excited about starting each day with a piece of chocolate. So excited, in fact, we probably could have skipped the little toys. But then I'd miss out on things like T begging me to look up exactly which tropical bird he got. (One was a quetzal. Ever hear a 2 year old running around yelling, "WHERE'S MY QUETZAL? WHERE'S MY QUETZAL?" Funny stuff.)

And today, T got to decorate gingerbread houses with some little friends. He enjoyed that very much. To be perfectly honest, I ate more candy than he did. Poor kid mostly listened to me today when I asked him to keep the candy on his house instead of in his mouth. What was he thinking!?

Tea geek

2009-12-12T22:18:00.000-06:00

Kyle can vouch for the complete randomness of my OCD tendencies. My spices are alphabetized and my yarn is arranged by color, while my clothes are in piles on the floor of my room and my papers are strewn about like we've been burgled. I have no idea why I feel compelled to seek extreme order in some parts of my life and can let other things slide into chaos. My tea? Is now organized. It makes me happy. It's much nicer than my previous storage method.

I made the labels for my bottles by modifying some nifty ones I found online. Caffeinated tea has black labels, while herbal teas get green ones.

The new system must be leading me to drink more tea lately, because T's play has included more and more tea-brewing in his kitchen. He is very kind and always offers to brew a cup for me as well. In reality, he doesn't care for the stuff (although I've only let him try herbal teas). My current favorite pairing is black apricot tea and delicate almond sugar cookies. Mmmmmm... What's your favorite?

So sew

2009-12-08T13:32:00.000-06:00

My sewing desk was originally in the basement. It's approximately 36.8 degrees down there on that concrete floor during the winter, since we keep the house at a balmy 65 upstairs (have I ever mentioned that we're frugal?). Sure, I could put on a parka, face mask, and mittens to sew something, but if I didn't pay attention, I could stitch my scarf right into the project I was working on and be stuck to the machine until Kyle heard my cries and came to rescue me. I'm a wimp. I didn't sew.

We have an extra bedroom that we were using as ~~a waste dump~~ extra storage so I decided to roll up my sleeves and make myself a sewing corner. Here's the disaster I started with:

After some prettying up, I have a sewing nook that I adore. T has caught me just gazing at it lovingly:

Yes, I am a geek, but I love my shelves of yarn and fabric. With them organized so nicely, I am almost hesitant to actually use them. I said almost. In the last 2 weeks I've been cranking out crafty Christmas presents left and right, plus a few fun things for myself. I would show photographic evidence, but I don't want to spoil any surprises.

Now all my little room needs is some fun artwork from one of my favorite Etsy sellers. I'm hoping Santa thinks I was good this year.

Annual Tree Slaughter

2009-12-06T21:08:00.000-06:00

With more warm clothing than we needed, we visited our favorite tree farm to harvest a Christmas tree today. T spent the morning dragging bits from previously offed trees through the field. He worked up a sweat, and eventually begged to ditch his coat. It's hard work moving all that wreath meat around.

I love cutting our own tree, but it stresses me out because I fret that I'm going to see some massive flaw the moment the saw hits the trunk. Like an empty hole 2 feet wide, a rabid squirrel colony, a 90 degree turn in the trunk, or purple needles. The trees I pick always have crooked trunks, so I also stand out in the field for 10 minutes with my head tilted sideways saying, "OK, it's leaning, but is it leaning *too* much?" Somehow, Kyle always manages to make them stand up. We only had to resort to tying the tree to the wall once, and the only year our tree actually fell over was our first year together. We have a much heavier stand now.

The unseasonably warm weather did nothing to speed my decision making, but we did eventually find the perfect tree - moderately wonky and misshapen (I like a little Charlie Brown in my trees), full enough for lots of ornaments, skinny enough for our postage stamp living room. Have you seen those fake CB trees in a box at the store this year? WHY would someone buy one of those when there are fields and fields of beautiful trees with actual character and originality? Yuck.

We noticed only one other car at the whole place. Everyone else was driving trucks. Does everyone own a truck? Or do car owners put up fake trees? We'd like to conduct a survey.

Following the tradition I grew up with, we name our tree each year with a new letter of the alphabet. Since this is our 9th Christmas, we're up to the letter "I". Kyle named our tree Icarus. But, um, Icarus fell to his death. Maybe we need to rethink the name...

An obscene number of pictures because I'm trying to crash my mother-in-law's computer

2009-11-08T21:35:00.000-06:00

Someone I shouldn't name (hmm...too late - guess she's in the post title) has lodged multiple formal and obnoxious complaints about the lack of recent blog activity. I left my camera at my parents' house after Halloween, so those pictures will have to wait, but to ~~fry her little dial-up connection~~ appease her, I offer these recent and not-so-recent pictures.

We had Thanksgiving with Kyle's dad's side of the family this weekend because they're busy slaughtering deer on actual Thanksgiving. T learned to check the oil, kick the tires, fill up with gas, and wash the windshield of his grandpa's Mustang. That's a lot more than we do with our car, so we're going to have to start putting him to work around here.

We also took a trip to the park. Yes, I cut off T's head. I didn't know Kyle would launch him so high.

A few weeks ago we were near the Twin Cities visiting Kyle's mom. We had fun at the zoo, the kid's museum, and the conservatory.

T has a love-hate relationship with monkeys (ok yes, I know it's actually a gorilla).

At the kid's museum, T couldn't decide if he wants to be a fire fighter or a freight-shipper. But one thing is for sure - from the looks of the cart he filled up at the market, he's embracing a vegetarian diet.

My favorite place to visit was the conservatory.

For good measure, here are some pictures I took while playing with my new camera.

Note to Charlene: was that enough, or shall I post a video that will take 12 years to download? Heh heh heh. Be careful what you wish for... =P

Tupperware in the woods

2009-11-08T20:48:00.000-06:00

Today felt like a beautiful September day, so instead of wasting it inside with all the tedious chores stacked up around the house, we dusted off the GPS and had a successful day of geocaching.

If you've never heard of this activity, it involves using a GPS to find hidden "caches". A cache could be as big as an ammo box or as small as an acorn that someone has hidden and left coordinates for on a central website. We download the coordinates to our GPS and search for the cache. Once we find it, we sign the piece of paper (or notebook) in the cache to confirm our find. Most caches are free, although a few require (inexpensive) membership to the website. If you have a GPS, the hobby really only costs you gas and the time you'll lose as you push to find just one more.

When we started geocaching, we were amazed to discover that caches are hidden everywhere. There are currently 47 active caches within 5 miles of our house. Searching for caches makes you look at an area differently, and often takes you to places you've never been. We've discovered many hidden gems in the cities around us, and always enjoying seeking a cache or 2 when we visit a new place. I can't wait to search for some the next time we go to Thailand!

This weekend we finished up an awesome series of caches along a trail. These caches were more creative than most, and T loved finding them. Geocaching in the fall is so fun because the bugs are dead so we're not at serious risk of death by blood loss, and the leaves are down so our GPS gets clearer signals in the woods. I wish every weekend were as beautiful as this one!

Spoiled rotten

2009-11-08T20:18:00.001-06:00

I got an awesome and totally unexpected birthday present that I've been playing with for a couple of days now. I need to take a photography class to really learn how to use my new camera, but I'm reading the manual and fiddling with settings to manipulate images. Poor Kyle and T just wanted to geocache along a trail today and I kept stopping to shoot pictures. Because everyone wants a picture of berries, right? They may live to regret their generous gift.

This weekend brought to you by the color red

2009-10-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

We were spoiled with fun times this weekend.

Grandpa Glen came for a visit.
The Napa Train made approximately 12,364 trips around the toy room. (This had something to do with the point above.)
T rode in the front seat of a fire engine.
We went pumpkin-hunting with friends.

This was all really fun, but the highlight for me was seeing They Might Be Giants in Chicago. I would admit how long it's been since I've been to a concert, but it's too pathetic. They performed the entire album Flood, which was a trip since it's the first CD I ever bought (um, almost 20 years ago...). Even better than the show was good conversation with friends. Now I need a nap.

Q & A

2009-10-09T11:13:00.002-05:00

Me: T, what will you say on Halloween when you dress up in your costume and knock on the neighbor's door?

T: SUCKER PLEASE!

Accidental

2009-09-28T09:57:00.000-05:00

I took roughly 9082 pictures at the park this weekend, and wouldn't you know, my favorite is one I didn't realize I'd be taking until it was done.

Yes, he was fine. And T's response on seeing it was: "Get up NOW!"

Where we are

2009-09-23T23:16:00.001-05:00

T has a lot of ~~girlfriends~~ friends and family spread across the state that he calls and visits. To help him wrap his little brain around where his loved ones live and where we're headed, I taped a map of Wisconsin to the side of the refrigerator:

I covered the whole map with clear packing tape to keep T from peeling it off and allow us to shuffle people around if they move.

I used a photo editor to make 1" square of head shots of T's friends and family and "laminated" them with clear packing tape. We taped them on the map together.

Now T runs to the map to see how far away Grandma is when they chat on the phone, or just how far the drive to Grandpa's house will be.

He's already learning where to look on the map for specific people and is starting to remember the associated city. I'm thinking that on a rainy day, it will be fun to "drop" everybody in Lake Michigan to see who can swim.

Zooooooooo

2009-09-19T20:31:00.005-05:00

I'm friends on FB with someone who is in high school. Every one of her status updates has words with lots of repeated letters. Does her keyboard have sticky keys? Does repeating letters make something awesomer? Is this a common teenager thing to do?

Kyle has some superbly planned half days of vacation and so was home Friday before we finished eating breakfast. We spent the day showing the zoo a little love. It's been too long and we've been neglecting her.

T was smart enough to be apprehensive about the massive tiger on the other side of what could have been, for all he knew, a piece of Saran wrap. The kid next to him was all, "Hey TIGER - EAT ME!"

Riding a bronze tortoise was one of the highlights of the day.

I'm not sure who had more fun - T or me. I love love love the giraffes, and they were supremely awesommmmmeeeeee.

Repurposed potatoes

2009-09-19T20:30:00.000-05:00

Now that I am unemployed, I get to eat dinner with my family on a regular basis. Kyle can't make it back for dinner every night, but he's here more than half the week. For me, this is a vast improvement in society and a slight improvement in fare. When I worked second shift, I ate dinner by myself in a dingy room. I sometimes had the company of another second shifter, but there were only 3 of us in the whole plant, so often I ate alone. What I ate was microwaved leftovers from what my boys had eaten for dinner the night before. I'm sure it was all delicious initially, but some things just don't reheat well, and the crusties in that old microwave could impart a peculiar flavor.

Since I am now home all day, the responsibility for meal planning and cooking is on my hesitant shoulders. I never took the lead on this in the past, even when I wasn't working nights. Kyle's a good cook, and a ~~less~~ ~~lazy~~ better planner. I've enjoyed the first few weeks of reading cookbooks to find fun new dishes to try. Kyle and T have obligingly eaten my sweet potato quesadillas, veggie quiche, Moroccan stew, and tofu burritos (can you tell we're dabbling with vegetarian cooking?).

In my first week of cooking dinner, I discovered some random ingredients in the house that had no immediate purpose to me. Kyle had bought them with meals in mind, but those meals never materialized before I took over, and by the time I asked him "Why do we have broccoli, 2 potatoes, and lemming fat?", he'd forgotten what dishes he'd intended them for. So T got to make some potato print art. He was way into it, and he feels strongly that it's the only way (apart from fries) to use a potato. On further consideration, I should have let him stamp with the broccoli as well. That would have looked really cool. I'm going to use the lemming fat to make a new line of soap. It will get you as clean as everybody else.

Petting Farm

2009-09-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

A petting farm is nothing if not a 2-hour photo op. Our trip was particularly pleasant because the rest of the world seemed to have something better to do on the day we went. T practically had the place to himself.

First pony ride. Ever since, each car trip is a brutal and constant, "Horses? Want to see Horses! Horses? Horses?!?"
"I'm not too sure about this thing standing behind me. You're gonna pick me up now, right?"
"I definitely like petting animals better from above them."

"Milk comes from there?"
Greedy goats, or, Hand Sanitizer - Oh How I Love Thee
Pot-bellied pigs. We found a box of brushes presumably for the pigs, and T had a ball brushing them. They relentlessly tried to eat my shoes, so I was far less of a fan than T was.
"I think I could really get into this farming thing."
(Disclaimer: This trip was actually a couple of weeks ago. Yes, he's had a haircut since then, and no, it isn't pretty.)

Whoo whoo whoo

2009-09-15T22:00:00.002-05:00

There is an honest to goodness real live owl outside my window that is repeatedly hooting 3 times. No lie. So where is my spinning wheel? Why is he teasing me?

Mark the date

2009-09-14T22:38:00.000-05:00

This could be the only time in his life that T voluntarily immobilizes himself.

Or maybe he's just trying out some new rules for the bean bag toss. I think blocking the opponent's hole by standing in it is a little unfair, but at least he's thinking outside the box.

Another date

2009-09-13T21:17:00.006-05:00

This time, it was just the critter and I. I offered Kyle the opportunity to join us at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, but oddly, he declined. He was even more firm in his decision after I tried persuading him with the promise of two. full. barns. of yarn vendors. How puzzling.

So I took the other boy of the house hostage (he's not smart enough yet to know he should have protested), strapped him to me, and tromped around the Jefferson County Fairgrounds all day.

Mostly, I carried him in the Ergo and got all the looks I always get. Yeah yeah yeah, he's big. He can walk perfectly fine. But he hates the stroller in large group situations (would *you* really want to be strapped into a chair that puts you at butt level to a bunch of strangers?) and he hates holding his hand above his head to hold mine even more. The Ergo is comfortable for both of us. So hush your strange looks, everyone. We won't be using it when he's 12. Probably.

First, we hit the sheep barns and watched some talented, hard-working young people showing their sheep. I have absolutely no idea how the judges could talk for so long about their choices in picking the best animals, but they sincerely seemed to see a difference between all those identical sheep.

Then we found the herding demonstration area. There were no demos going, so T tried his hand at herding from outside the fence. He did awesome - truly a sheep whisperer. Look at that neat little bunch of sheep. I am so proud. He could grow up to be a border collie!

The sun was hot so we headed inside to watch the Ultimate Sheep Shearer. He's always at this festival. Every year. He's a sheep shearing god. He has clearly been shearing sheep for at least 12 lifetimes. I'd never thought of shearing as something to be breathless over, but he's that good.

T could have watched him giving "haircuts" all day, but I moved him along to the lamb area. Once he saw those lambs, he took off. Mama who? He ran repeatedly from one section of fence to another, trying to get his hands of some soft lambiness wherever he could. Never once looked up for me. Um, yeah. Still working on that attachment thing.

My extroverted son then walked right up to the *6* year old who was working to feed the sheep and asked if he could help. The kid was amazingly gracious and explained he had just finished putting the last of the hay out, but that he'd show T how he feeds the lambs. He led T by the hand to the area where he prepared a bottle of milk, and then held up a lamb for him to pet before he fed it.

This kid was phenomenal. I asked him how much work it was for him to care for his animals, and he explained to me how he drops his backpack inside the door when he gets home from school and heads straight to the barn because he has to feed his lambs every 2 hours. He feeds them again after dinner. That kid is a good egg. Smart and hard working and sweet and SIX. T wanted to go home with him. I wanted to take him home with *me*. But that sort of thing is frowned on.

We rounded out the day with a quick walk past all the vendors pushing their luscious yarns of all colors, weights, and textures. I couldn't not walk through those vendor barns, but I had to keep singing to myself, "La la la la la, I can't SEEEE you, you pretty yarns....you're not really there, and I certainly don't neeeeeed yooooouuuu....." When the devil, I mean, a kind old woman offered to show me how to spin, I ran screaming from the barn, "I will NOT begin another hobby that I have no money and no time for!!!!"

I escaped the festival without a single bit of wool or knitting/spinning/weaving gadgetry on my person. (I hired someone to smuggle it out for me. I'm waiting by my open window now. Kyle's a light sleeper, but when I hear three owl hoots, I'll slip out the back door for my 3 cases of yarn, dozen rovings, and new thousand dollar spinning wheel.) Just kidding, Kyle. No purchases. Really. Miracles never cease. But I'm not making any promises about next year.

A Date

2009-09-12T22:57:00.002-05:00

We forgot to take a single picture as photographic evidence, but Kyle and I stole away for a nearly 10 hour date today. (When you only go on one date a year, you've gotta make it count!) We enjoyed lunch at my favorite spot in Spring Green, hiking around Tower Hill State Park, and then an amazing outdoor performance of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. It was lovely.

At lunch I had the jarring experience of running into a woman who coached me in forensics in, ummmm, 1991. She didn't remember my name, but remembered which poem I performed as a 7th grader. Unbelievable. She said she remembered it because she'd never liked the poem until she heard how I interpreted it. I later wondered aloud to Kyle if she didn't remember it because I was especially horrid, and he lovingly remarked, "Well, you can be sure your performance was memorable."

Hiking the trails around Tower Hill was wonderful despite my skirt and inappropriate footwear. The weather was perfect, if not a little warm for the steep climb up the to of the hill they used to make lead shot on. After seeing the house they melted the lead in to drop down a shaft to form round balls of shot, we hiked down to see the tunnel they'd dug in the cliff to haul the shot out to the river for shipping to far-away cities. I was amazed how the cold air just rolled out of the tunnel in the rock. We spent some of our time in silence just because we could! (T is rarely ever quiet. =) )

The play was incredible and we were really impressed with the performance. Since I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice last night, I loved comparing the two stories. Couples of unequal rank seem to be such a common theme in British literature. I was especially impressed with the strength of the women characters in the play (with the exception of the stoic queen who inexplicably was in some strange grief coma for 20 years, but it was Shakespeare, so I'll let it go).

T seemed to fare well on our day away. He was already fast asleep, half hour ahead of schedule and with no fuss, when we arrived back home. I'm hiring "Aunty M" to do bedtime every night, because for us, he would have been up making a scene and crying for another hour at least.

With my new (non)work schedule, Kyle and I are going to try to make a point to get out more often. I loved spending the day with him.

Perspective

2009-09-09T08:38:00.001-05:00

This morning T was really upset because he wanted to do something and I asked him to finish his breakfast first.

He told me he wasn't done eating, but started to cry about wanting to get down from the table.

I was exasperated because his bowl was empty and he didn't want more, but he was insisting he wasn't finished, and was also begging to get down.

He then proceeded to eat 12 handfuls of imaginary food before proclaiming he was all done. He was so relieved that he could finally get down from the table to play.

Summer Recap

2009-09-08T22:14:00.015-05:00

I'm not working anymore (woo hoo!) so I *might* have time to resurect my much-neglected blog.

Here's a quick recap of our fun summer in pictures, because no one wants to read old news:

Clint and Brienne's wedding

The 4th of July

A week at family camp

T learned to ride his "bike"

Rock County Fair

Wisconsin State Fair

I knit a baby sweater

T learned to somersault

We registered T's adoption at the Thai consulate in Chicago

Thai American Association Picnic

Lots of Geocaching, including our 100th find

A fun camping trip where we forgot to take a single picture

Grandma's birthday party

T potty trained himself. NO MORE DIAPER LAUNDRY!!!

This summer did NOT include wasting time weeding our garden. Clearly.

Blogging because I don't Twitter

2009-07-23T12:16:00.000-05:00

T is happily proclaiming, "T drive you nuts! T drive you nuts! T drive you nuts!"

Getting my knitting groove back

2009-07-22T09:41:00.004-05:00

I haven't really knit much of anything in the past year. I think I knit a pair of arm warmers while on my trip to NYC and that's about it. T is an active little critter and between watching him all day and working full-time each night, I have roughly negative 12 minutes of free time each week. I *miss* knitting. And then my sister cleared out her stash and gifted me a huge box of lovely yarn full of possibility (because, ya know, my current yarn stash is so inadequate - it's only twice my body weight).

The box of yarn sat on my dining room table for a full week while I contemplated how I was going to justify keeping it if I didn't ever actually *knit* anything. The spark that finally moved me to action was that one of my dearest friends had a little one this summer and I wanted to knit him something. I hadn't started a project yet, knowing my propensity for procrastination (as in, I've started projects for many other dear friends' little ones - projects which are now still languishing on needles while their kids have long since outgrown whatever I was making - sorry everyone - I really stink!)

So I decided to cast on a sweater for the little peanut and do my very best to actually finish it before he's 5. I like the yarn, I like the pattern (mostly) and I'm almost finished with it already! I can't post a picture of it until I give it to his Mama but I only have half a collar and button bands left. I think I can do it - but I just heard he's gaining an ounce a day, so the pressure is really on!

And how have I managed this sudden feat of knitting productivity, one might wonder? T is suddenly interested in "knitting" with me. I give him a small tangle of yarn and 2 needles and he jabs those needles into that yarn over and over and over and over, declaring he's knitting, with a big grin on his face. Incredibly, this keeps him content for up to an hour at a time. He also really loves to rub yarn on his cheeks to feel how soft it is. He's already learned that wool is from sheep and cotton is not.

Peonies

2009-06-12T23:14:00.002-05:00

Tandem pie baking

2009-05-17T19:37:00.004-05:00

T and I baked pies today. Mine was rhubarb from the garden. T's was orange, strawberry, cantaloupe, and onion.

A new kind of hide and seek

2009-02-20T09:19:00.002-06:00

T thinks hide and seek means "tell mama where to hide and then hide with her". It's fun nonetheless, and I think it means we have a world-class Sardines player in the making.

Baby American

2009-02-17T21:45:00.002-06:00

My baby's officially an American now. We finalized his adoption today. We still have to appear at the Thai Consulate in Chicago (by invitation at some unknown future time), but that's really more of a formality on Thailand's side.

I have this sudden strange sensation of a lack of strings being attached to us. Strings to our social worker, to our placing agency, to the courts.... I don't know that I was really that conscious of the "strings" before today, but I feel their absence now, and it feels good. We have nothing but good things to say about both the agencies we worked with (obviously, as we've chosen to work with them again for Critter #2), it's just nice to finally, officially, really be T's mom.

I wish T's first mom could see what a handsome little boy T is growing to be.

My near brush with fame

2009-01-11T10:43:00.001-06:00

I don't think I was on camera at all during the Martha Stewart taping of our shadow puppet segment. That was fine with me - Meredith did an awesome job showing Martha how to make the puppets and I got to enjoy the show from the comfort of the audience. I blogged about it on our Orange Moon Toys site if you want to read about that part of our trip.

I was lucky to spend my limited time in NYC with Ewan and Mer. They were great guides. Ewan marched our feet to bloody stumps the first day. We walked a large section of Broadway to see Times Square, the Flat Iron building, the Empire State building, Central Park, and best of all, just soak up the flavor of Manhattan in general.

The second day we spent mainly at the studio to tape the show.

Day 3 we only had a few hours before we had to leave. We spent our time on the absolutely frigid Staten Island ferry, from which we saw the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

We ate great food everyday. I was called bad names on the subway. We saw celebreties (Martha, Rupert of the Hello Deli (from The Late Show), and country singer Josh Turner (never mind that I'd not heard of him before the trip)). We ate NY bagels. We took lots of cab rides. We ate pork belly BBQ (which is supposedly trendy at the moment). We thoroughly enjoyed the people watching.

Perhaps the best part of our trip (aside from taping the show, or course), was visiting Chinatown all 3 days we were there. We ate a lot of pork dumplings and drank more bubble tea than I should admit. Chinatown is Mer and Ewan's favorite place in New York and I could see why. Yum!

And thanks to Grandma "Cookie", I don't know if T even noticed I was gone.

NYC or bust

2009-01-03T22:44:00.004-06:00

Kyle's mom is taking care or T so I can gallivant for a few days next week. I'm off to New York to watch my sis teach Martha Stewart how to make our shadow puppets! I'm not sure if I'm more excited about getting to see New York, or the fact that I am not the one with the pressure of the live taping of a national show. Although I heard a rumor Martha will ask me a question or two, I can relax in the audience for the duration. I'm really along for moral support and, well, because it's New York, and I've never been there.

Wait - were you paying attention?!? Martha Stewart's "people" liked our puppets enough to invite us on the show! WOO HOO!!

Watch for us on the Martha Stewart show airing January 12th.

The Grinch that stole the library

2008-12-23T23:33:00.005-06:00

I am not proud of myself.

Tonight, T decided to repeatedly stand on his books. He does this because he knows that he is not supposed to and because it drives me Up. The. Wall. I can hear the books whimper as the spines crack and bindings groan.

After putting him in his 3rd "time in" for standing on the book with the largest, most crackable spine of all, he gave me a hug, jumped off my lap, and ran straight to said book and defiantly stomped on top of it. I'm pretty sure he smiled.

At my wit's end, I asked if I needed to take away all of his books since he couldn't treat them nicely. "Yes", he nodded seriously. Stupid Mama. I cannot threaten things I have no intention of doing. I gathered up the books. It took years. Books are like water in our house. Like air. He has more books than socks, diapers, toys, and bananas combined. (And he has a LOT of bananas.)

Armful after armful of books were piled into mountainous towers in a closed-off room. T screamed like his limbs were being torn from his body. Like his heart was being removed from his chest. T loves his books more than toys, more than snow, even more than bananas. And I love that he loves books. But I want him to learn to respect his things. I know he's little. I know I'm asking too much. But tonight he was being so willful about it, I lost my head.

I am so very mean that when I found his stupidest book ever (The Friendly Possum) after The Book Cleansing had finished, I plucked it from his reaching grasp like the Grinch stealing the mouse's last miserable pathetic crumb from the hearth.

Tomorrow we're going to have to kiss and make up and bring a few books out of exile. I'm pretty sure Santa is bringing more books and we (all) need to practice being civil.

Wicked fun

2008-09-26T12:33:00.000-05:00

Spooky new Halloween puppets are up at our Etsy shop. Here's a picture of one of the 4 new sets. There's enough puppets to scare all your friends and neighbors.

Oooooooooo......

Accidental Thai Hat

2008-09-14T20:06:00.002-05:00

I accidentally knit a Thai hat for T. It reminds me of the hats traditional Khon dancers wear, and of chedis (stupas) at Thai temples.

I intended to just knit a plain hat with earflaps. Then I decided to add stripes. Then I thought a pointy top would look cute. After I wove in all the ends, I thought, where have I seen this before?

Hat details on Ravelry (which, by the way, I somehow managed to avoid joining until last week and now I am hooked. How in the world did I not realize what I was missing? Free patterns all together and easily searchable? People trading stash yarn? Photographs and comments from a zillion other knitters who've already slogged through the patterns I'm considering? I'm in heaven!)

Puppet invasion

2008-09-13T11:41:00.003-05:00

It's pretty cool to see our shadow puppets mentioned on other blogs.
Here are a few:

Kidazy
3 dainty delights
Things we like
Pulp
Fancy island

And an artist "spotlighted" on Etsy listed us as a "favorite artist to promote". We're flattered!

Belle's Stratagem

2008-09-07T15:57:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we took our annual pilgrimage to outdoor American Players Theater. The play - The Belle's Stratagem - was written by female playwright Hannah Cowley in1780. It was fantastic and we were laughing through the whole production.

Nearly as funny as the witty performance was the high school drama group sitting to our left. At intermission, one kid asked in exasperation, "Does anybody know what's going on?" I thought he should have been required to relinquish his "Drama Geek and Proud Of It" t-shirt. Another student started to explain the plot and soon had the whole flock bunched close around her, hanging on her every word. It made me slightly worried about the state of their educations if self-proclaimed drama geeks couldn't follow the play. It wasn't really that complicated.

Soon all the kids were up to speed and the second half of the play began. Armed with knowledge of "what's going on", the high school group was much more engaged. They let their amusement at the wit of the play be plainly known to everyone. I found myself thinking that this must have been what theater was like centuries ago with the unruly "yard" standing up front. Every witty remark got extra laughter from the kid section. Every time a character delivered a sweet, sappy line, the whole section would sincerely sigh, "awwww...". And when a character would give someone their due, there was loud whooping of approval. It was incredibly amusing for those of us sitting near them. I had tears in my eyes from laughing. It made me wonder if people shouldn't be a little more interactive with their theater and treat plays like rock concerts. I bet the actors wouldn't mind at all.

We also stopped at a small petting zoo of sorts and Meredith fed some deer, llamas, wallabies and goats.

Top Secret Project

2008-09-03T09:59:00.003-05:00

A representative from a national show contacted my sister and I about the possibility of presenting our Orange Moon Toys shadow puppets on television. Yikes! Frantic scramblings of preparations are underway. More information to follow if we're successful. Wish us luck!

Rock River Thresheree

2008-09-03T09:30:00.007-05:00

We attended the Rock River Thresheree over the weekend. It was interesting to see nineteen bazillion tractors, and steam engines running everything a steam engine can run. (Including a sawmill, blacksmith shop, woodworker's shop, train, calliope, pile driver, water pump, ice-cream-churner, and most importantly, aluminum can crusher.) We also saw oats being threshed, or course. My favorite was seeing sorghum smushed (my verb, not theirs) and boiled down into syrup. We brought a jar of it home and I'm cooking up some tasty granola with it right now. Yum!

Hay baling.

The sawmill was rather terrifying.

Obligatory photo in front of a Ford tractor with Grandpa Glen. (Too bad there weren't any Honda's!)

Dulcimer and mandolin

With all the noise and smoke, this was not the ideal place for T to catch his morning nap. I'm impressed he managed to sneak in 20 minutes of unconsciuosness.

Whatever you do - Do Not Scribble

2008-08-26T22:51:00.013-05:00

I made recycled crayons for T today. He's not shown any interest in scribbling and I thought it might be the spindly little crayons I have. So I melted them down in muffin tins to make nice toddler-sized chunks of gorgeous color. They turned out so pretty I wanted to eat them. T agreed. He wanted to: eat, stack, smash, and try to hold all of them at once. He did not want to scribble with them. Sigh.

I also impatiently stuck them in the freezer to harden them faster. This caused most of them to crack. I can wait 6 months to bring home my baby, but not an hour for crayons to cool? Serves me right.

My baby loves yarn!

2008-08-01T09:44:00.006-05:00

How lucky am I?
Or wait, maybe we'll be fighting over my stash.
Not that I have time to knit anyway.

Adoption Blog

2008-05-26T21:44:00.002-05:00

We made CritterQuest, our adoption blog, private this week. If you'd like to follow along as we travel to Thailand, email us at kyleandrobin at gmail dot com and we can add you to the reader list. You'll need to use a gmail account to sign in a read it, but it's easy and free to sign up if you don't already have one.

I wish blogger showed an email link on the page announcing a blog is private, but it does not. So I'm giving notice here in case anyone missed the message last week and didn't shoot us an email.

Have a great week everyone. I'll probably not have time to post here again for a very long time.

New toys

2008-05-09T22:55:00.003-05:00

What's more fun - the new camcorder or the finger puppets? That's a tough one. Don't tell Kyle, but the finger puppets might win....at least on a cuteness level, until we get video of T into our video camera.

Hungry animals

2008-04-20T17:46:00.004-05:00

I've never painted anything before, but with my sister's help and some cheap canvas and paint from the local craft store, we created 4 paintings for T's room. Initially, the animals were alone, but after they were painted we were inspired to feed them all lunch. Kyle thinks we're a bit morbid. I love them.

Poor timing

2008-04-14T21:07:00.006-05:00

My sister and I have been working on starting a little business for the last few months, and now we're finally up and running. We are selling homemade shadow puppets on Etsy. We named our store Orange Moon Toys, after the glowing orange moon during an eclipse (the coolest shadow ever). Photos of all the individual puppets and sets are on our new website. The neatest thing is that Meredith found a way to make puppets that cast colored shadows. Super fun. Really. I even took a squid to work to play with (shh...don't tell!).

It was so much fun to get everything planned and organized. (Perhaps Meredith would say it was slightly less fun, as she had much more work to do, being the actual artist.) The problem is this: We have a billion cool ideas for new sets we want to create, as well as other things we want to design and sell. But we should have started this last year. I suddenly have a wonderfully full plate.

Lucky for me, I think Meredith realized this would happen. I'll still pitch in when I can.

A bird in the hand

2008-03-11T21:49:00.004-05:00

There is a place along the Anvil Lake trail in the Nicolet National Forest, just east of Eagle River, WI, where chickadees and nuthatches will eat seeds right out of your hand (or off your head!) This was the highlight of the retreat my mom, sister, grandma and I attended at Camp Moon Beach last weekend.
As you can see, Mom was a bird hog, and was feeding two at a time.

Baltimore

2008-02-19T18:41:00.003-06:00

I'm in Baltimore for the first time to attend a conference for work, and I wish I was here on vacation instead. Of course, I forgot to bring the cord that connects my camera to my laptop, so I can't post any pictures yet. (This one has been "borrowed" from a fellow visitor to Baltimore. Forgive me!)

The conference was interesting, but far cooler is the city of Baltimore. I've gotten a chance to walk around a bit, and I love the Mt. Vernon neighborhood pictured at left. I persuaded my co-worker to try a Thai restaurant - Thai Landing - on the street pictured that was highly recommended online. We were not disappointed. It was delicious, and the fist time I've had scallops prepared in a Thai dish. Mmmm....

The inner harbor area is pretty sweet, too, and also within walking distance of our hotel. We met an amazingly helpful gentleman who was being dive-bombed by pigeons as he gave us a map (very useful), info on how to use the water taxi (which we didn't use yet - maybe tomorrow), and a recommendation to walk over to the Little Italy neighborhood for dinner (which we did). The pigeons were after his Cheetos, which he apparently feeds to them while he hangs out along the water all day. He was wearing a jacket with an official-ish looking patch and we thought he perhaps works for the city to help tourists. He was really nice and helpful, whoever he was. Even if I was in constant fear of seagull poop splashing my head for the entire conversation.

For some unknown reason, our company arranged our flight home for late tomorrow evening although the conference ended today. In the morning, we plan to climb the 228 steps of the Washington Monument (pictured above) to get a good view of the city, and then spend the rest of our time at the National Aquarium. I hope to have some fishy pictures to post once I'm back home. Baltimore is a wonderful city to visit. It goes without saying I wish Kyle was here with me. Well, I guess not, actually, since I just said it.

Glove bear and rabbit

2008-02-10T19:11:00.001-06:00

With easy instruction from my Sock and Glove book, I sewed a bear and rabbit from a couple pairs of gloves. The animals in this book are all pretty cute, and I can finish a glove creature while watching a (longish) movie. My favorite is still the sock elephant.

Hot Air Affair

2008-02-05T17:29:00.000-06:00

We were in Hudson, WI last weekend (near Minneapolis/St. Paul) and attended the Hot Air Affair parade Friday night. Hot air balloon baskets on the backs of trucks and vans parade down the street in the dark, turning on their burners to light up the downtown. Everyone was in Mardi Gras costume and there was much merriment despite the cold. It was amazing how warm it felt on my face while the burners were turned on. The pictures don't do the parade justice - it was really cool to see 3 or 4 balloons with their burners on at a time. The video gives more of a taste of what it was like. I'm not sure if the balloons got to fly last weekend or if the weather prevented a launch, but the parade sure was fun! The only time Kyle and I have been in a balloon was a sweltering summer day. I kind of like the idea of taking a ride in the winter.

Be ever vigilant

2008-01-14T21:51:00.001-06:00

The squirrel threat is always present. They will strike when we least expect it.
(Photo source unknown.)

Malaysian dinner

2008-01-06T10:36:00.000-06:00

We destroyed Mer and Ewan's kitchen last night to make a delicious Malaysian dinner. The curry was delicious, and the sambal was amazing. We also treated ourselves to some colorful tapioca "bubbles" in our Thai iced tea.

Fresh Mint Sambal:

2 oz. mint leaves
1/2" piece ginger root, coarsely chopped
1 sm. onion, coarsely chopped
4 T lime juice
salt

Put firtst 4 ingredients in blender and mix to a paste. Add salt to taste. Serve with curries or crackers/bread.

How to Make Thai Iced Tea

2008-01-04T14:20:00.001-06:00

I adore Thai iced tea, but never considered making it myself until I had my sister along on a trip to our Asian grocer. She and my should-be-chef husband have experimented with various recipes found on-line and in books until settling on just the right method to recreate Thai iced tea at home. Here's their recipe.

(Warning - Thai ground tea has food coloring in it, so everything it touches turns a lovely red/orange color. Including you.)

Pour enough water to fill your iced tea pitcher with boiling water over 2C. Thai ground tea into a large bowl. Allow to steep for at least 20 minutes.

Spread a clean (but unloved, for it is soon to be stained and for tea-use only) flour-sack dishcloth over the mouth of your empty pitcher (use a funnel if squeemish). A strainer won't be fine enough - the tea leaves are very small. Pour the steeped tea into the pitcher, filtering out all of the leaves.

Chill the pitcher of tea in the fridge.

Meanwhile, make simple syrup: Dissolve 1C. sugar in 1C. water in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat.

When ready to serve, add simple syrup to taste to the pitcher (I use all of it-mmm....sweet!).

Pour tea over ice and top with half and half or cream and enjoy!

Hat recipients

2008-01-04T13:55:00.001-06:00

Darn - I forgot to make Erika and Grandma try on their hats for my camera. Oh well. Here are half of my knitting victims.

So I lied

2007-12-30T19:21:00.001-06:00

But these are absolutely the last two shirts I will make. (I ran out of shirts.)

Red bird

2007-12-30T16:53:00.002-06:00

Elephant t-shirt

2007-12-30T15:33:00.002-06:00

The stencil for this guy was much more involved, but I think it was worth the effort. Kyle is going to have to hide my supplies. Only one more today, I promise!

Another new hobby?

2007-12-30T13:09:00.002-06:00

I had a hard time finding cute (or any) t-shirts in Wisconsin in December to send to tropical Thailand for T. So I ordered a bunch of cheap ones online and discovered how fun and easy it is to decorate them using freezer paper stencils. (I first spent a night cursing while trying to embellish with embroidery - forget that - this is so much easier!)

Using an on-line Thai-English dictionary, I found a short Thai word meaning "dear, beloved". I drew a heart beneath it and traced it onto the paper side of Freezer Paper. I cut out the design with an x-acto knife, saving the little circles and crescent inside the text.

I ironed the stencil on the t-shirt (shiny-side down). Then I placed the little circles and crescent into place and ironed them down as well.

With fabric paint, I brushed paint gently onto the shirt, trying to dab it down into the fabric.

Because I'm impatient, I used a hair drier to speed the drying (the bottle says wait 24 hours - yeah, right!) and removed the stencil. After if dries a bit more I'll set the paint with an iron.

I just wish I could take it over to him myself, right now!

Snow!

2007-12-28T15:59:00.001-06:00

We've had a lot of snow this December, but today we got the ultimate snow-man making snow. Woo hoo! We needed a step-stool to finish off this guy! Note the cheery flag from Thailand in the background celebrating the referral of our son, "T". (You can read about the adoption on our other blog.) The shoveling part wasn't as fun. It's never a good sign when the shovel will stand up on it's own in the driveway.

Hat Rainbow

2007-12-26T11:30:00.000-06:00

The mystery projects I've been working for a few months were Foliage hats from Knitty. I knit four to give away, and kept one for myself. I liked both the chunky and worsted weight versions. This was the first time I've worked with Malabrigo yarn, and I am smitten. I can't believe how soft it is, and the colors are candy for my eyes. The stitch definition of the beautiful lace pattern is much more visible when the hat is being worn.
Pattern: Foliage
Source: Emilee Mooney, Knitty (Fall 2007)
Modifications: None. Awesome pattern. Written out and in chart form.

Hat #1 (for Mom)
Version: 2
Yarn: Malabrigo kettle dyed pure merino wool, worsted weight
Amount: slightly less than one skein
Color: Terracotta
Needles:US#7, US#5

Hat #2 (for Grandma)
Version: 2
Yarn: Malabrigo kettle dyed pure merino wool, worsted weight
Color: Holly hock
Needles:US#7, US#5

Hat #3 (for Charlene)
Version: 1
Yarn: Malabrigo kettle dyed pure merino wool, chunky
Amount: slightly less than one skein
Color: Christmas green
Needles:US#10.5, US#9

Hat #4 (for Erika)
Version: 1
Yarn: Malabrigo kettle dyed pure merino wool, chunky
Amount: slightly less than one skein
Color: Glazed carrot
Needles:US#10.5, US#9

Hat#5 (for me)
Version: 2
Yarn: Classic Elite Montera (50% llama, 50% wool)
Amount: odds and ends from Erika - unknown
Color: 3805, Sica sica blue (discontinued)
Needles: US#7 and US#6

Frost

2007-12-23T20:21:00.000-06:00

The weather has turned colder and we can't really see out most of our windows. But I've made my favorite treat (pretzels topped with melted Rolos and pecans) and some tea. It's a perfect combination.

New Toy

2007-12-23T14:43:00.000-06:00

I hand-sewed a stuffed elephant from a pair of socks this weekend. I used a pattern from an adorable book, Sock and Glove. I don't really know how to sew, so I winged it. I have no idea if he'll stand up to the test of a kid pulling on his appendages, but he was terribly fun to make. I bought a few other colors of socks, too, so I might try a bear or a dog next...

Switching needles

2007-12-23T14:32:00.000-06:00

I put down my knitting needles this weekend to try my hand at sewing. But I didn't have a pincushion to hold my pins, so I decided that should be my first project. I found a cute tutorial on-line, and in no time, had a nice little pincushion. I found the fabric and a button I liked from the stashes my mom and grandma gave me when they both cleaned out their sewing stuff.

Who found the pickle first?

2007-12-18T15:36:00.001-06:00

I did!

Stained Glass Candy

2007-12-08T15:55:00.001-06:00

We got the candy kitchen up and running today and now the house smells SWEET! Our family started this tradition in 1960, so this is our (if not my) 47th year of making this delicious candy. This is the first year we've made it at our house. Our traditional mix has seven "spicy" flavors - cinnamon, peppermint, anise, butterscotch, wintergreen, spearmint, and clove. This candy has been made for various fund raisers through the decades, sometimes with production up to an insane 2000 pounds in one season! Today we worked for about 3 hours to make 38 pounds.
Grandma cooks the pans of sugar, corn syrup, and water.

She monitors the pans and pulls them off at 300F.

While I stir in the flavoring and coloring....
...Mom prepares the marble slabs by dusting them with powdered sugar.

The steaming hot syrup is then poured onto the marble.
When cool enough, one person slices into strips with a pizza cutter while everyone else cuts into bite sized pieces with scissors (as fast as possible - before it hardens and starts to shatter like glass!).
The marble is scraped clean and excess powdered sugar is shaken from the candy.
After the candy is cool, colors are mixed together by shaking back and forth in a large cloth.All 38 lbs of candy are packaged into bags and divided up among the workers for Christmas presents. Hope we didn't spoil the surprise if you find a pound in your stocking!

Bring on the Cavities

2007-12-02T20:48:00.000-06:00

Today I had an inexplicable urge to learn how to use my cookie press. I love spritz cookies, but I've never seen them made. I assumed it was easy. Ha! I had Kyle calling his mom while I frantically waved around a monster cookie press that was spewing lots of cookie-batter spaghetti noodles. It took several attempts, batter adjustments, and Kyle holding down the baking sheet before I finally got something that looked like cookies. Some turned out nicely, but I made quite a few that look like the ones in the bottom picture. Maybe it'll get easier with practice, but I definitely need to get Kyle's mom's recipe - hers taste so much better than mine!

Tree Hunt

2007-12-02T20:31:00.001-06:00

Kyle and I scored our Best Tree Ever this weekend. We got it at a local tree farm where you can tromp around and pick your own tree, but they apparently don't trust you to wield a saw (or perhaps they're just being nice) and they chop it down for you. Many trees there were a lot more expensive than I remembered from last year (>$60!), but through some strange miracle, my favorite tree was only $15. It's the perfect tree for hanging lots of ornaments, and it smells great. It feels quite strange to be decorated for Christmas so early, but it will take a lot of the pressure off. (Now if only I could find time to finish my knitting!)

I Am Special Today

2007-11-07T20:39:00.001-06:00

Kyle made me a delicious birthday dinner and dessert. Lucky me! And despite my friend Erika's best efforts, I don't feel "old".

Baby Boat-neck Sweater

2007-11-07T20:38:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post the final stats on this sweater. Mom-to-be seemed to really like it. I hope it fits the new little one! I thought it was funny - the first comment I heard at the shower after it was opened was, "You should sell those!" Uh, well.... 13 hours at minimum wage plus materials comes out to $97.05. I don't think I'll quit my day job any time soon! I knit because it's fun (usually!). =)

Pattern: Boat-neck sweater
Source: Baby knits for beginners, Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, Cascard Yarns, 1.5 skein (~300 yards)
Color: Ruby
Needles: US 7

Modifications: Many! Knit entire sweater on US 7 (didn't switch to US 8). CO 100 and knit in round (back and forth at arm holes - 4" deep). 3 needle bind-off 10 sts each shoulder. Picked up 33 sts for each sleeve and knit on dpn, decreased to 29 at wrist.

Whew

2007-10-30T21:18:00.001-05:00

It's done.

=)

One skein and one sleeve

2007-10-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

I truly though nothing could top yesterday's knitting debacle. Today Kyle was kind enough to agree to pick up my additional ball of yarn, as my hours wouldn't allow me to get there before they closed. He took the ball band from the yarn I bought Friday to show the store owner. Wouldn't you know it, in 60 hours, the store managed to sell every last ball in my dye lot. Of course! Kyle called me at work and I couldn't believe it. I just about told him to forget it, I was ripping out the whole thing and knitting a hat. But I thought it couldn't hurt to at least look at the different lots next to each other. It could be worse. The new lot is a bit brighter, but I can knit both sleeves with it, and I don't think the difference between the body and the sleeves will be that noticeable.

So, tonight I reknit the top and shoulders of the sweater, bound off (again), and knit one sleeve. And I stayed up far too late to do so, but I'll never get it blocking in time otherwise. I hope to block it tomorrow before bed and think very dry thoughts. Barring any new catastrophes, that is. Wish me luck!

Knitting Disaster

2007-10-28T20:46:00.000-05:00

Andrea requested a daily progress report on how The Plan is going. Well, pretty poorly, in fact. I was awfully frustrated until I started thinking about how many issues I've encountered with this one simple, silly little sweater, and it's actually almost funny. Almost. So here goes.

Friday: I did finish the front of the sweater, and began the back.
Saturday: I knit to within one inch of the top of the back of the sweater. Then I panicked about the pattern's plethora of seam sewing and ripped it all out. (I hate to sew seams and I'm not very good at it. And why do it if you don't have to?) Surely, a redesign to allow for knitting in the round, a 3-needles bind-off at the neck, and picking up arm stitches was the correct choice. As I cast on with my trusty size US7 needles, I started to wonder if I even owned any size 8 circulars. (Only the first 2 rows are knit with 7 and then the pattern increases to size 8.) I checked. Nope, no size 8, 16" circulars in the house. It's now 8:30pm on Saturday night. So I think, "Hmm, the drape of the fabric was rather loose with the 8s, I suppose knitting the whole thing with 7s will actually be an improvement." But what about gauge, you ask? I need to cast on more stitches to compensate for smaller needles or the sweater will be too small. Never one to fuss too much about gauge, I make a purely random decision to cast on 100 stitches in stead of 90. I knit almost 3 inches before bed.
Sunday: OK, I should be starting on a sleeve this morning, but there's no need for panic. I have all day to work on this. So I knit. And knit. And knit. I knit while watching 4 episodes of Hero's that Kyle taped for me for just such an occasion. And as I knit, I vaguely consider at what point I should stop knitting in a circle and start going back and forth to allow for arm holes. The original pattern is 40 stitches around the arm at the top, decreasing to 30 at the wrist. Do I consider the size 7 needles? Nope. Do I take time to measure my gauge and calculate mathematically? Nope. I'm a scientist, but I'm also impatient. I make a gut decision - 3 inches. I will need arm holes three inches deep. I proceed. I knit back and forth while watching Lord of the Rings. I execute a most beautiful (if I do say so myself) and clever 3-needle bind-off at the shoulders, weave in my ends, and proceed to the first sleeve. I'm feeling good. I am a Knitter. A Knitter who can rewrite whole patterns on a whim! And it's only 2:30pm. I can surely finish the first sleeve today and be right on target. Hooray! I do realize, however, that due to the smaller needles, I've used more yarn than the original pattern called for. Not to fear, I'll pick up stitches for the first arm and then, when Kyle has time, get him to drive me to the yarn store (my sister has my car and I'm afraid to drive the scary manual transmission truck into town when it's busy). So I pick up stitches. 30, to be exact. Wait, only 30? The number that should be decreased to by the wrist? With larger needles? Uh oh. Can I pick up more? Nope - 30 is all I can squeeze. Hold on. Just how deep should a sleeve hole be for a newborn, anyway? Let me check some size charts on the internet. More than 3 inches? Like maybe 4? Oh No! I panic. A lot. I am very upset. I look at the sleeve hole long and hard. Yep - it looks small. Like, too small for a baby's arm, small. I don't want to rip down 4 inches on each side and start over. I panic more. I wander around the house dazed. I am a Terrible Knitter. I stink. Why did I ever think I could randomly adjust a pattern, willy nilly, and it would work? Arg?! It's now 3pm and Kyle offers to take me to the yarn store. Nope, I say. I am a Terrible Knitter and his cousin will be getting a Store Bought gift. There's No Way I have time to fix this. I mope. How did this happen? Things were going so Well. I sweep the floor (I clean when I'm mad). Fifteen minutes later I'm still muttering under my breath, and Kyle asks for a more detailed explanation of the problem. I demonstrate. He says, "So why don't you just take apart the very top and make the arm hole bigger from that end?" Hmm. Why didn't I think of that? Sure, it'll make the whole thing an inch longer, but that shouldn't be critical. The problem now is that the store closes in 20 minutes. The store is 15 minutes away. We RUN to the car (shoes in hand) and Kyle (my Hero) drives to get me there as fast as (safely, legally) possible because this is a Knitting Emergency. With 5 minutes to spare, we reach an empty parking lot next to a locked yarn store. Sigh. Kyle will try to pick up the yarn for me tomorrow, but given the last 48 hours, I am not hopeful for a happy outcome.

Procrastinating again

2007-10-27T09:32:00.001-05:00

I have a baby shower to attend next weekend, so when did I start considering what I might knit? Yesterday, of course. Never fear, I have a Plan:

Friday: knit front of sweater
Saturday: knit back of sweater
Sunday: knit sleeve #1
Monday: knit sleeve #2
Tuesday: sew seems and block
Thursday: knit entire sweater because I failed to meet objectives Saturday through Tuesday
Friday: panic that sweater will never dry by Saturday morning
Saturday: run out to store to buy a baby sweater

The color of Christmas (knitting)

2007-10-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

Yarn for some of my Christmas projects arrived this week. Woo hoo! I hope I'm not being too ambitious this year. I assume that by next year, I won't have time to make anything homemade, so I'll enjoy this while I can.

Steady On...

2007-10-24T20:12:00.001-05:00

....like the honkers
They pass through the air
You can hear them coming
And you step out and stare.
They're in chevron formation
And they'll follow their leader
Who'll tire when she's flown
Through the sunshine
And the thunder.
-Storyhill

Cranberry Apple Crisp

2007-10-21T20:53:00.000-05:00

1. Mix topping:

1 C. oatmeal
3/4 C. flour
3/4 C. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 C. butter
3/4 C. chopped toasted nuts

2. Combine the following and put in 9x12" baking dish:

8 large apples, peeled and sliced
1 1/3 C. cranberries
1/3 C. sugar
2 Tbs. lemon juice

3. Add topping and bake at 375F for 20 minutes covered, then 40 minutes uncovered.

Oh, and I debated titling this "Kyle Gets Lucky" (refer to earlier post).

Mystery Project

2007-10-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

Here is the beginning of a mystery project. I can't tell you what it will be, or who it's for. But it's really fun to knit, and isn't it pretty? It's in a llama/wool blend that creates such a lovely fuzzy halo around the finished fabric. I really adore this yarn. Thanks, Erika, for donating it to my stash!

I ordered lots of yarn today for various other upcoming mystery projects. I don't know how I'm going to blog about any knitting between now and Christmas. (Or, for that matter, how I'll ever get it all done.) OK, everyone - stop reading. Kidding. But you might have your picture taken with a finished knit to post after I'm done. You've been warned.

Death of an Apple

2007-10-21T08:35:00.000-05:00

Apple Orchard

2007-10-21T07:54:00.000-05:00

Mom and I went to an apple orchard yesterday. It was the perfect fall day, and I had fun just hanging out with Mom. We weren't the only ones with that idea, however, and the trees were picked almost bare. Next year we'll try a less touristy orchard. The make-your-own caramel apples were great, however, and I also scored a mini acorn squash that I'll enjoy for lunch today. If Kyle's lucky he'll have apple crisp tonight.

This Morning

2007-10-19T10:41:00.001-05:00

I was home sick yesterday with the flu, and as I'm not scheduled to work today, I have the luxury of recovering fully with tea and cranberry muffins. I feel much better.

Madison and Library Knitting

2007-10-19T10:03:00.001-05:00

I'm falling behind in posting, thanks to a busy week of work, play, and having the flu. On Kyle's birthday we met Jason and Michelle in Madison for a great day just bumming around. We got turned around in the capitol building while searching for the observation deck, and theorized that the confusing passageways could be to blame for our state's lawmakers failing to pass a budget (now something like 112 days pathetically overdue). Our elected officials are aimlessly wandering the halls, unable to determine how to get to meetings and the assembly hall. One is so desperately lost, he's given up trying to escape and is living in his office.

Sunday I tried out the knitting group at our local library. I took along my blanket, which is progressing slowly because it is going to be huge. They were a small but friendly bunch, and I'll probably go back again. They are also members of the Walworth county knitting guild and invited me to join them. I'd love to, but I'm not sure if now is a good time to join another group that will require time away from home. But it was nice to escape the football on TV for a few hours. Kyle doesn't watch very often, so I shouldn't complain. I just don't know how anyone can stand to listen to those idiot commentators for more than 10 minutes without stabbing their ears with a knitting needle.

Steamy October Camping

2007-10-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

The combination of autumn color, migrating birds, and weather in the mid 80's made this weekend's camping trip to beautiful Kettle Moraine (Ottawa Lake) a bit surreal.

Punkin learned to swim and scored a few pancakes, but wasn't too sure about the whole camping thing (I'm sure she'll write about it on her blog).

The highlight for me was Meredith and Ewan joining us for dinner and a campfire Saturday night. We ate pizza pudgy pies and Kodiak Apple Surprise under a starry sky. The K.A.S. was our own creative invention, and I'm happy to share the recipe below. (And shhh....don't tell anyone, but the surprise is that the apple EXPLODES into molten apple sauce with bits of cake yumminess around it.)

Kodiak Apple Surprise

Cut the core out of an apple from the top, and scoop out any remaining seeds with a spoon, being careful not to cut through the bottom.
To the hole in the apple, add 2 spoonfuls Kodiak pancake mix, 1 spoonful water, 1 spoonful brown sugar, and a big dash of cinnamon. Stir carefully with a knife or spoon handle.
Wrap in foil with a big "handle" at the top. (This'll remind you which end to keep "up" and serve as a handle for moving around in the fire.)
Place wrapped apple on hot coals for a long time. Think it's done? Check it. Has it exploded yet? No? Put it back in the fire.
Enjoy.

Thank you, Mer and Ewan, for forgetting your ground cherries at our camp site

2007-10-07T16:04:00.000-05:00

They were delicious. You forgot your bug spray as well, but that we will return to you.

Protest

2007-10-05T08:06:00.001-05:00

I am blogging today in protest of the side column of my blog being HIJACKED by Kyle. (The Dirty Laundry Situation.) All in favor of removing this (to use the term very loosely) "feature", please leave Kyle a nasty comment now. Something along the lines of: "Kyle, How dare you squash her creative spirit by encouraging her to focus on such mundane tasks as the organizing of clothing in the traditional manner? Who is to say that sorting clothing into piles by alternative criteria such as smell and expected-lifespan-to-next-washing is not equally valid?" If we all let our voices be heard, we can truly make a difference.

Thank you for your support.

Drive-by shooting

2007-10-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

Sometimes while Kyle is driving I like to roll down my window and take pictures.

I am especially amazed by just how flat the farm land is near our city. It'd be fun to live in one of those farm houses and watch storms roll across the land. We've got a great storm outside right now. I'm looking forward to listening to the rain on the roof from under the covers. Good night!

Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy

2007-09-30T17:41:00.001-05:00

Kyle and I went for a hike in the Kish- wauketoe Nature Conservancy in William's Bay today. Poor Punkin - we didn't bring her along because we couldn't find info on the net about whether she'd be allowed or not. She would have been. Shhh...don't tell her!

It was a beautiful day, and there were nice trails through woods and prairie. We didn't see as many birds as I was hoping for, but Kyle thinks we should go back in the spring to see more.

There was a nice observation tower (see the background of picture) from which we could look over a large expanse of prairie. It was windy today, and the tall grasses were moving in waves. It was very beautiful.

Trunk

2007-09-30T17:16:00.000-05:00

The elephant is coming along, but I need a scrap of pink yarn to finish the trunk. I also am going to need to find something to stuff him with.

America's Next Top Model?

2007-09-30T17:00:00.001-05:00

The scarf is finished. I had to resort to trickery to get this expression from Punkin. I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. Boy, was she excited. I had to follow through and take her around the block or she'll stop reacting in such a cute way when we say the w-word.

Pattern: Misty Garden
Source: Scarf Style
Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Merino, one full skein
Needles: US 3
Modifications: none

Walking with shadows

2007-09-29T19:44:00.000-05:00

Evening amble

2007-09-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

We had a busy week, but I'm thankful Kyle talked me into a walk with Punkin before giving in the the list of Things To Do. I love this time of year, and it always goes by too quickly.

So close to finished

2007-09-28T10:41:00.001-05:00

I have so little yarn left to knit into this scarf, but I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to finish last night. I don't know if I'll have much knitting time this weekend, but I won't touch any other projects until this one is done. (Maybe.)