Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Car organizer

The other day I finally made something for myself. I have been wanting a car organizer for awhile...checking them out online at at places like Target. Nothing seemed right though. Then I happened upon this... and I was inspired. Not inspired enough to actually order the pattern, because honestly, it looks way too complicated for me and my limited sewing skills. But I kept going back to the images of it and thought, what the heck? I can give my own version a try.

My organizer started life as a box of 48 waffles from Wegmans. It was the perfect size I was looking for. It's not perfect, as you can see by the wonky fit of the divider, but so far I am pretty pleased with it. Although I wish I had added more pockets. (I am not a planner, so the pocket was the last thing I put on... not a smart move. It was very difficult to get the thing through the machine in the direction I wanted to sew.)

Then I made a garbage bag too. I had intended to use plastic grocery bags as a liner, but they are way too big (again not planning or measuring before making this was not working in my favor! go figure)...but I think bread bags will work well. We go through enough bread to keep us steadily supplied with bags.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Pear Crisp

We have a pear tree in our yard. It's weird though, I don't think it gets enough sun... all the pears grow at the top. I climbed up it the other day and still couldn't reach any pears. So I gave it a good shake and pears fell down like rain. The kids gathered them up for me and now we have a 5 gallon bucket full of pears (and oh so many more that can be shook down!)

So tonight, after the kid went to bed, I made some pear crisp.

I reminded me of this time a few years ago when my youngest, Ethan, was still at home with me...he was probably in pre-school, but we still had a lot of time together every day. We picked pears one day and made pear crisp and he kept calling it "crust", which sounded so umappetizing!... and it makes me sad because I miss him. I mean, he's still here, but he's getting older and moving further away from being my "baby" and I miss him at that age. Tonight when I put him to bed we talked about tomorrow's school day and he said, "I love first grade, but I miss you Mom. I miss you when I'm at school." It broke my heart.

I've had a rough couple of days here. My husband has been away for a week, and I've been dealing with some "stuff"... just stupid stuff that makes me question my parenting, and then to hear Ethan say that on top of everything else was almost too much to take.

So I came downstairs and made some pear "crust". It smelled delicious as it baked... and I cried a little bit.

Friday, September 19, 2008

How big a loser am I?

Ok... don't answer that. I already know.... and I have proof. Remember back in April (APRIL!) when I made a little tote for my husband's best friend's son Fritz? And I mentioned that I needed to make another for Fritz's twin brother Beck??... well, I just finished Beck's.

Sorry for the super crappy picture...but I wanted to be sure I got a picture of it before I send them off.

Monday, September 8, 2008

More Freezer Paper Stencils

We used the freezer paper stencil technique to create peace sign shirts for our children's choir to wear as they sang "Imagine". The project moved along pretty well... I cut the stencils, another mom ironed them on and we let the kids go nuts with the paints. IMO the negative images turned out better (where the peace sign is white)...but they all looked pretty darn cool. After service a man came over and asked my sister and I how we made the shirts, so I gave him a quick tutorial and a big sheet of freezer paper (it was still in my van from the night before when we all got together to paint them). Sometimes it's nice to feel like the craft boy-scout...always prepared.

Cate gave it a try too. I cut out a large butterfly for her and set her up with some paints. I did have to help a little... mostly to make sure she painted right up to the edge of the paper to make a nice clean line. I'm a little anal like that.

She was quite pleased with the results.
And remember this picture from the other day?? See the pile of zucchini?


This is what happened to it today.....

Friday, September 5, 2008

Today

Look at what I picked this morning!
I need to make some more sauce or these babies will go bad I'm guessing. My husband and I are good for about one tomato a day each- unless we make a pizza or something, which we will probably do tonight- but the kiddos just are not tomato eaters. I can't really fault them. I didn't like tomatoes until I was an adult. I think it was a texture thing.

We are having some chicken drama around here... the two boys are making everyone CRAZY! They are such beautiful birds and for the most part not a real problem at all. But the crowing, oh God. The crowing, or as I call it, the cock-a-doodle-doing, is making for some tired people around these parts. I do not have a problem sleeping through the noise, but my husband does. And we used to let the birds roam free, so one morning when Justin went out to go "kick the damn birds" (he really can't kick them because we can't catch them) and he stood in door of the back porch and was scared half to death when one crowed from BEHIND him... it was already on our porch.... our enclosed porch... like a stalker. I thought it was pretty hilarious! He did not. And, during their free-roaming days, they would go up on my great aunt and uncle's front porch and crow at 5am. Not a good thing for 75+ year old people. So every night we have been waiting until they (the roosters) fall asleep and then we sneak up on them, catch them and stick them in their coop. This seems to keep the crowing down a bit- or at least muffle it enough that we can all sleep. But now, to make up for it, after being released from their coop they crow ALL FREAKIN' DAY LONG!
We called our local humane society as we know they accept farm animals, but the lady said that they have too many roosters already and that they would just euthanize them. That's not ok. If they are going to be killed, they should at least be eaten. And honestly, I just feel too bad to do that to them. I mean, they are kind of our pets, and I'm not planning on eating my dog any time soon.
So if you know anyone who wants a loud but pretty rooster, let me know!!