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Yup. That about sums it up.
With School almost upon us, I went through my kids’ clothes (again) and sorted out the appropriate from the not-so appropriate.
I came up with an idea for my youngest, who loves her grubby clothes, but should not wear them out in public any more. I took all of the stained/ripped items and put them in her suitcase. We can take them out on weekends and she can wear what she wants without getting frustrated about it during the week.
Once I separated out her grubby things, I realized that she doesn’t have many clothes that aren’t stained. Especially pants.
To the sewing machine!
I whipped up a couple of things for her tonight that I think she will love.
First, some spicy pants for my spicy girl!
Next, some Aquatic themed pants (and a shirt), because you can’t have spice without water!
We also attended the End of Summer Reader Party at the library this week. My little one won a shirt in the raffle!
It was an Adult Medium, though, so I had to come up with something creative.
I came up with…more pants!
Here is my little model. As you can see she is shedding clothes because that is what she does.
I took one photo, and then she was gone…giggling and running away.
So I listened to the pants (yup- again), and got Creative. I photographed them on the floor.
Now she has lots of pants….to take off.
You will notice that this post has no pictures. That is because it is about facial hair. On women. Ew. One woman in particular. Me.
Ew again.
This is for the ladies.
Have you ever been in your car in the middle of the day and happen to catch yourself in the mirror? Today was one of those days, and I gasped at what I found. There sat a patch of little black 2 inch hairs Under.My.Chin.
Big crazy long hairs.
Now, I know they did not sprout over night. I also know that my husband looks at me occasionally. Much more than a very busy mother of two looks at herself. Yet he did not tell me. Didn’t we take vows? Wasn’t that part of the deal? To love, honor, cherrish and to tell if there is crap on my face?
And yet, there they sat. For the world to see.
I know what you are thinking. Maybe he didn’t see them. Nope. He saw.
He actually has a name for them. He calls the my goat hairs. Seriously. He is equally not helpful when I ask him to look at my mouth to see if I have food on it or up my nose for…flowers.
I suppose I just have to look in the mirror more frequently and count on my women friends. Women tell you when there is something there that shouldn’t be.
Sisters against unsightly facial hairs unite!
Cause men…don’t care about that stuff.
We just went Blueberry picking for the first time the other day with a couple of friends. It was so much fun…and easy! A great activity for any age.
The best part is, we have lots of those little round antioxidant-filled berries. We have so many I even froze some to eat in the Winter when we will be longing for a little piece of Summer.
The second less exciting (but entirely necessary) thing we did to prepare for the Winter was Staining the Deck. It was lots of work, but it looks Oh So Good!!
Not only did we get something done, in the middle I took a break to hear our friend play the Cello. She is 11 and has been playing since she was 4 and a half. It was beautiful. For a moment, my daughter and I were swept up in the music, and found ourselves entranced. What a pleasure.
I have a feeling of accomplishment today. It was a good day.
My First Souffle!
I have said this many times, I don’t enjoy cooking, really. It is usually just pure necessity, but when I venture out on a limb and try a new recipe, I get very excited. Especially when that recipe works! I altered a Julia Child recipe for a Traditional Souffle and made it Gluten and Dairy free (which sounds disgusting, but was actually very good). I used Rice milk and Goat cheese and some Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. Even my husband ate it and more importantly liked it.
Fabulous.
Next.
This is My Second Patchwork twirly I Spy skirt- made for my First daughter.
This skirt took a bit longer to make than the first Twirly Spy, and I used slightly different fabric for my older child.
Overall, Two very successful endeavors in one day!
The sun is out and Summer is back, ever so briefly.
Even though I have spent the last few weeks preparing for Fall and getting comfortable saying good-bye to that ol’ fireball in the sky, I am so glad to see it again. Hello friend. Welcome back.
We spent today outdoors in our friend’s beautiful garden.
Here are some images from our last hoorah with Summer.
What have you enjoyed this Summer?
Here we find ourselves at the end of Summer. There is a feeling of anticipation from everyone to start school…even me. My wonderful daughters have been at each other for a couple of weeks now. The fighting and screaming is getting to me, slightly. I am finding projects to keep the girls busy (and to keep peace in the house- which isn’t easy).
The first thing we tried was Freezer Jam. If you haven’t made this- you should! It is incredibly simple to make. We even used No Cook Pectin to make it all the easier.
We took some of the strawberries that were going bad and mashed them with a potato masher, then added sugar and pectin. Each of my girls took a turn stirring it for a minute and a half. It came out very good! They love it. Especially on their Dad’s homemade Bagels.
Speaking of that, we just finished the last Farmer’s Market (selling Bagels). It was a great season, and we now have an email list of interested people for when we have time to do it again. If you’d like to join that list, email me your information and we’ll contact you when the next bake is!
I will still be down at the marina selling my wares at the Farmer’s Market for a while longer. Which brings me to the next KeepThemBusy Project… Peeling crayon wrappers.
I will be melting some more of the crayons to make my Recycled Crayons.
Let’s see what other projects I can come up with. Hmmm. How about painting the deck?
So is life on Waltons’ Farm.
Seriously, though. First the cherry trees were good to us, and now our apple trees.
We baked our first (Gluten-free) Apple Crisp yesterday and it is GONE today!
There has been some serious apple picking going on here. They even employed their Papa’s Pickin’ Device to help them shake those apples down. Hard work. They love it. I love to watch them enjoy gathering food for themselves. (Plus I get to eat the Crisp *wink*).
This is the season of bounty, and It. Tastes. Good.
I am going to stray a bit out of my comfort zone here and post a Recipe. I will admit cooking has never been my strong point. I can’t really bother with it. I do it because I have to and that is it. No pleasure in it for me. Just work.
That being said, I have (with my husband’s help- who is a Chef, by the way) come up with a recipe for a dish that I eat almost every night. It is THAT good! It is also THAT easy! Those two things combined with it being Gluten-free make this dish perfect for me.
Cauliflower Fritters:
- Take about 1/4 of a head of Cauliflower and chop finely (this time I actually put it in the food processor).
- Add 2 eggs
- A pinch of salt (opt. pepper or spice)
- A Tablespoon of Gluten-free all purpose flour (or the flour of your choice)
- Mix well and add flour until the batter is a bit thicker than pancake batter.
- Using a slotted spoon, spoon little piles into a frying pan with a little olive oil (enough to coat the bottom)
- Fry until golden brown, then flip over with fork and brown the other side. Take out onto a plate and let cool a bit. Then add sea salt (or other type of your choosing). Then EAT!
YUM.
Even if you are a Cauliflower skeptic, you should still try these. They are SOOOOOO Fabulous. They don’t even taste like Cauliflower!
Enjoy!
I have been in Rummage Sale Heaven lately. Yesterday my little one and I hit the Garage/Yard/ Rummage Sales in our neighborhood and They. Were. Good.
I found this little coffee table for $2.00. I have been looking for a table for the kids to do art projects on. It needed a little paint, but the table itself was structurally sound. So today I painted it!
I painted it to match the desk I did a while back, Project Feather.
I also am proud to announce a new addition to the Noggin’ Toppers products (due to your suggestions)…
Zippered Pouches (Just in time for the start of school).
They are now available (in the fun colors shown)to purchase at the Kingston Farmer’s Market or online for $10.00 each.
Whew!
Continuing on with school preparations, I made another pencil pouch (this time for my little one), and a patchwork tiered Twirly skirt (also for her- lucky girl). Both very easy, quick projects that leave me feeling like I accomplished something creative for the night.
The pencil pouch I made is slightly larger than the others, and made from
Orca Whale fabric. If you have been following my Blog for a while, you’ll know that is my little one’s favorite animal.
She immediately put in all of her important things. Markers, “Penguini the Penguin in a Space Ship” (seriously), and her 2 small whale figurines. What else do you need?
Next is that cute Twirly skirt.
I found this great tutorial on one of my favorite Blogs Here.
Notice how I snuck in the pattern of her second favorite animal- The Zebra.
I call this an
I Spy Twirly Skirt.
It is a variation on an I Spy quilt. I love it. Anything to keep her busy!
I Spy with my little eye an Awesome Skirt!
I can’t believe I am thinking of school already. Didn’t Summer just begin?
We are already buying supplies
and taking inventory of what we have to start the new school year right.
I went through all of the clothes the girls have and am soaking the stained ones in Oxyclean overnight to see if they make the grade (I couldn’t help myself).
This year our little one actually starts Preschool. Woohoo! She is so excited about it- and so am I. I gain 2 “free” hours twice a week. That means I get to run errands sans kids. I know that doesn’t sound like much- but it SO IS.
Anyhow, to prepare for the kids to go back and get learn-ed, I started sewing. The first project is a BoPeep Skirt from this great book entitled ” Seams to me : 24 new reasons to love sewing” By Anna Maria Horner. Fantastic!
What a fun project!
Next I whipped together a little pencil case from that tutorial I shared with you a few posts ago.Here.
So much to be done still, but I think we are off to a good start!
Today, we celebrated my 37th Birthday on the Beach. It is one of my favorite places to be. A few of my close friends with their families all joined me in birthday merriment.
OK Fleece in August. There is always a cold breeze at our favorite beach. Always. I have learned to come prepared. Some of our guests didn’t know. Sorry guys.
My husband was kind enough to not only make the actual dessert, but to make a sand cake as well.
All this AND a giant hole. A day at the Beach would not be complete without someone digging a giant hole.
I had a very relaxing beautiful celebration. It was the perfect way to appreciate life.
Thanks to everyone who made it happen.
