Farming Fantasy

I've been reading The Complete Guide to Raising Chickens, but all of the chickens I'm likely to get are on this shirt.


It took Boo all day to notice they were chickens and not polka dots. Subtly farmy - it's all the rage.



We have had some farming success. Our mushroom logs finally sprouted something! Edible, right Dad?


The mushroom plugs were my sole purchase from last year's garden show. My Dad cut down an alder on his property, drilled the logs full of holes, and Jonny helped him hammer the plugs in with a mallet. We've been waiting for them ever since....and I was ready to add it to the list of fruitless endeavors. Score one for the growers!

A Sweet Surprise

Tony came thru with his typical under-promise and over-deliver approach to relationships. (It goes well with my philosophy, which is: lower your expectations of people, and just appreciate what you have. It may sound jaded, but it's more contented.) First, he warned me far in advance that he was going out of town the day before Valentine's Day. No big deal.

Then, yesterday, Tony came home with dinner (luckily before I'd begun cooking) and flowers, and when I woke up this morning, everyone was busy in the kitchen making all kinds of candies and chocolates.


He and the kids had been planning it all week - with most of the supplies stashed in his truck! (Hey! They never keep my secrets!)



Oh, the Valentines calories! Peanut-butter, coconut, orange, and oreo-filled truffles...plus caramels, chocolate strawberries and dipped pretzels. I'm not going to want sugar for months. ...unless it's gelato.

We had to drop in at Cosmo's, so we could share the treats we made with some friends...and it would be just rude not to eat their gelato while we were there. (Old italian hospitality rules - look it up!)

Doesn't Cozy look uberpleased with herself at having stolen mine.


Joke's on her.

It was rice-flavored.

She tried to spit out every grain of rice she noticed! But there's no need to feel too sorry for her, Boo was happy to share his "so cold!" mint chocolate chip.


Happy Valenfood Weekend!

A breath of fresh air...

My sister was right, sunshine was coming to the Pacific Northwest! (Yes, I am too lazy to look up the weather. I only find these things out thru hearsay.) We finished our morning lessons, threw a quick lunch together, and headed out for the "crab park".

Really, it's the Waterfront Park in Silverdale, but, since we spend most of our time there turning over rocks and harrassing the tiny wildlife...it's the crab park.


Wary of pinching claws, the kids improvised clam crab-tongs for holding the crabs and clam crab-ladles for scooping crabs out of the murky tidepools.



There were also tons of clams everywhere...but they don't do much. One had it's foot hanging out for 2 seconds. Thrilling.


Cozy slept on my shoulder the whole time we were at the shore. I kept wondering if it counts as getting fresh air and spending time outside if you are asleep...and unaware of it?

Happily, she did finally wake up once we went up to the park. Swung (Boo even figured out how to "swing himself" - so cute!), played, looked with envy at someone's fuzzy little puppy. That counts for sure.


And as we were leaving, she noticed the beach....

Honeybee Dress

A couple of weeks ago, back in my camera-less dark age, I made Cozy a litte dress...from one of Odie's shirts. (It had holes in it, and he wouldn't stop wearing it. It had to be destroyed.)

I took a couple pieces from another tee and chose a simple shape (that wouldn't require attatching sleeves).


I've had matching leggings cut out for weeks. These tights just go so well (thanks, Natalie!) that I haven't had much incentive to sew the leggings together.


I think I'd wear it, but (thank goodness) even Tony's t-shirts aren't big enough for me to make myself dresses from (...plus they're mostly an ugly heathered grey - yuck!)


The end.

My Night In

My poor Booboo hurt his neck somehow. Yesterday he wouldn't even get out of bed....he just lay in the same position. Today it seemed better, but he's still walking around with it cocked to one side. Sad.

So, last night I stayed home with sad Boo and tired Cozy, while Tony took the other kids to a double feature of Gulliver's Travels and Yogi Bear. I totally got the better end of that deal! Both kids were sound asleep by 8 o'clock. The house was so quiet!

I made some cookies, folded some laundry....and then thought I'd look around for an unfinished project to wrap up. A curtain for the boy's room. I've had this fabric for at least a year - I think I just had funner, more challenging projects keeping me from it.


I put in a pole pocket, even though I planned to use the clippy drapery rings (easier for kids to slide open and closed).


...because you never know what you might want in your next house...on some other window....in Maryland. Yes, Tony has crushed my midwestern dreams.

I'm coming to terms. It helps that it is by far the best deal $-wise. I'm hoping there is something there for me, that I can love and enjoy (aside from the people I'll be bringing with me, of course!)

Sarah, as far as the camera goes, here is an inside action photo with no flash. ....at least you can tell who they are, right?


Little sisters - even cuter than puppies.

Tarnal Fool Rug

"Tarnal fool" is my favorite Little Britches swear (circa Fields of Home)...and I think of it every time I make a little "tarn" (t-shirt yarn) for the braided rugs I have been planning.


It's a long-term plan (hatched after I saw this cute rug), so don't get your hopes up about seeing anything more exciting than balls of tarn for quite some time.

Sew Liberated said she got her instructions out of Handmade Home. If so, she is a super-intutive crafter. I was all, "huh?...but how?" Instead, I got an old school rug-braiding book from the library. Written by a grandma who knows people need diagrams and massive amounts of pictures.

And I'm not ambitious. I'm going to make a little rug for my laundry room and one to put in front of my kitchen sink.

Tony = totally unsupportive of my new endeavor.

Tony: Is that my shirt you're cutting up?
Me: You mean this 8-year-old Flag shirt that I paid $2 for 8 years ago? (I know it's eight years old, because it says 2003 on it.)
Tony: I still wear that.
Me: hmmm. (All the more reason - said in a quiet aside) Well, it's the exact color I need for my rug, so....

I should have come up with a better cover story. Tarnal fool husband.

Finally!

My camera finally got here...and it's about stinkin' time! The little blue dear has already proved it's worth by taking this picture at night, with no flash. I'm so proud of it!

Mom, do you want the battery and charger to my old camera? ....the one you still have?