Distraction

I've been doing all of this sewing...but it hasn't been super fun. Because, as much as I love starting projects, I'm just not as into finishing them. The creative part is fun. The other part is a lot of work.


So, last night I took a break from making quilt binding to peek at a blog or two....and that was the end of productivity.

....unless you call making the most adorable deer potholder ever productive.


When I saw Netties awesome pot holders, I just had to drop what I was doing and make one. Sadly, all of my "peopled" fabric is already destined for something. ...but deer are people too, right? (Dad, feel free to disagree.)

Now Sofia and I are fighting about whether or not it's legal to make something this cute into a pot holder. She wants to frame it. Or at the very least, turn it into a pillow....so I might be forced to make more. :)

Where are my deer scraps from? Something I should be working on.

Thai Tapioca

My husband hasn't been travelling anywhere exotic (Iowa, DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania) ...and yet he's managed find some quite exotic recipes during his hum-drum excursions.

This one comes care of my in-laws. YUM! They say you're supposed to eat it warm, but I love it cold - with lots of the coconut cream on it. (I'm trying to think of more things I can put the coconut cream on! So good!)

You might have to visit your local Asian market for some of the ingredients. We finally found baby coconut meat in the frozen section (instead of a can), but had no problem locating tiny, non-instant tapioca pearls. The can of coconut milk...you can probably get anywhere...commisary...Safeway.

So,checklist:
bag of tapioca
can of baby coconut meat (or frozen container - whatever)
can of coconut milk
sugar

Thai Tapioca

Boil 1 quart water (1 qt. = 4 cups)

add 1 cup of tapioca to the boiling water AND stir until they are mostly transparent

add 2/3 to 1 cup of sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves

Remove from heat

Pour into storage container

Add 1/3 can of coconut meat (in our case - thawed coconut) and 1/3 of the coconut water from the can

Store in the fridge! :)

To serve: warm in microwave and top with coconut cream (mix a can of coconut milk with a couple tbsp of sugar and store in frig. Yum.)...and I think we tripled the recipe?

Belated and Elated

Wow. This post has been sitting around, half-finished for about a month now. Oops.

Featuring: Anthony!


Q: What's cooler than getting a fun late birthday present in the mail?


A: Having it contain something edible and gross (to tease your sisters with)!

Everyone loved the "Crickettes"....but no one loved eating them. They were our favorite flavour, but we just couldn't get past the little legs. Thanks, Beth and James!

P.S. The gummie army men were awesome too!

The Horror

No one came to look at my house (still for sale) during all of October and November...and I've been nothing but grateful for that. We have just had too much going on. With Becky passing away, we're just now getting back in the swing of things with school (Not to blame you, Becky - it just threw us all for a loop.), much less house cleaning.

Tuesday broke the streak.

My nine-year old answered the phone around 11am.

I hear, "Yea. Uh-huh. Sure. Ok, see you then."

Me: Who was that?
Annika: Oh, someone is coming to see the house at 5:30.
Me: Dear, please don't answer the phone anymore.

Who makes appointments with 9-year-olds? Not that I wouldn't have let them see the house! ...but if they had asked to stop by in ten minutes, she'd have probably said the same thing...and it took me cleaning from 11 until 5:30 to get the house in buy-me condition.

The horror. I'd rather have been working on this:


...or one my secret Christmas presents - instead of packing them all away!

call me Minnie...

...the Moocher - not the mouse.

I'm a terrible gardener. Actually, I'm decent with plants...as long as they aren't supposed to produce food. Those kind never seem to work out for me. This year we ate 2 green tomatoes out of our garden. That's it. Sad.

....so we mooch. My Dad lets us pick all we want at his house. This year we stole potatoes and beets.




Dad pickled the beets and Mom delivered them (along with some yummy raspberry jam) when she came for the Festival of Trees! How did I get so lucky?


What's the white stuff in the jar on the right? - only what's left of the indian corn my Dad grew, ground, and donated to his non-farming daughter. At least I know how to make corn bread!


If his gardening skills and bee knowledge skip a generation...I guess I'd be ok with that. When I'm old, my kids can deliver the fresh produce. :)

Reely Jiggin

Jonny and Cozy got to participate in their first Irish dance performances at the Festival of Trees. Cozy in a more unofficial way. She donned her homemade costume and danced in front of the stage...


...when she wasn't clinging to me and hiding her face against my legs. So many sides to that little personality!

My Mom and nieces even skipped the big talent show (that Dad, BIL and brother were performing in - she's already heard it lots :) to be there! Yeah! Sofia got to be in the Crossing Light Jig for the first time. She denies it, but, to me, she looked petrified (as in extremely frightened...not stiff).



Cozy was pretty happy to be dancing quasi in front of everyone, so that kept her entertained for most of the performance...until she discovered that she could get through the stage curtains.



Not good. That's when you see me ducking after her. Isn't my hair horrid? I just don't know what to do with it. Makes me want to shave it again, but I have no excuse for such nonsense now.

The last time I shaved it was right before Becky went into the hospital with her stroke/brain tumor. ...and now I kind of feel like my hair length measures how long it's been since she passed away.

Almost two months growth now.

Maybe that's why I hate it?

Or it could just be because it looks terrible.

Ok. Digression over.

The Festival of Trees was wonderful! Tony wrangled Boo. Anthony refused to watch (dancing embarrasses him). The dancers did great (and forgot all about the horror of having their hair curled!)


Our company even stayed the night, so our neglected guestroom got some use! Whoo-hoo. The girls gave an encore with their cousins later that evening...but they were dressed as vampires and lip syncing to Girls Just Wanna have Fun. I should have gotten that on video!

...they just wanna...they just wannaaaa....

Thanksgiving

Since we're planning a move for this summer, I knew this was probably going to be our last Thanksgiving at my folks for a few years. (Tony can breath a sigh of relief...he gets a little overwhelmed by the ten adults and twenty-one children that make up my family. :) Understandable.) So, I just had to soak it all in and save it up!

The ambience.


Cooking in the kitchen with my sisters. (Man! I look way cuter in my brain!) ...and Dad - who was whipping out the pie crusts!


Annika with the pie crust cookies.


Kids swarming for the chocolate box.


The menfolk practicing their hornpipe for the talent show. My brother James is on guitar, BIL Mike on the penny whistle and the fiddle sticks (so cool!), and Dad on fiddle. Background dancers: Cozy, Lucy, Lilly, Natalie, and Lance. I'm sure they rocked the talent show yesterday (minus the dancers - bummer)!