Old Fashion New Fangled

Summer's gone

2011-09-23T12:34:00.000-05:00

The entire summer has passed me by. I barely remember it. No, not because I was in a chemical induced haze or other such non-sense. I was just busy. I starred in two plays and spent a great deal of time potty training the my youngest child. All three things went quite well, but sucked my my day. Still, that is not an excuse for not posting. Well, both my cameras are broken, which is a slightly better excuse.

I am almost done with a quilt. Perhaps I can post pictures of that soon!

Summer is almost here!

2011-05-05T21:04:00.001-05:00

I am super excited about the impending summer. (There are only three weeks left of school!) And do you know what's most exciting for me? My list of crafting projects! With the combination of the new job (best job ever, by the way), my master's degree classes, and directing this year's high school musical, I haven't had much time for my random crafty goodness. I sewed Mady a little shirt, which was a fun experiment. I mixed three different patterns, and it turned out cute. I also did a little work on my best friend's new baby's quilt, but there's a lot left to do.

Here is a picture of Mady and Micah on Easter. Molly was at her dad's house, so that's why she's not pictured. No, I did not sew thier outfits this year. No time for that this year, but please look at their super cute outfits from last year!

I also wanted to share a picture from Molly's dance recital. It was cute.

And here's a picture of Mady opening up a gigantic package of shoes on her birthday.

And here's a picture of Micah and his new dog.

We've been busy!

New Job!

2011-02-21T19:40:00.001-06:00

I have not been blogging because I have been very busy. Yes, even busier than usual. I got a new job at the end of January, and it is Awesome.

I am now an English and Journalism teacher at my Alma Mater, Greenbush-Middle High School. It rocks. I love it. I have not gone nearly an entire month without a single call from the police. I really love not being on call 24-7!

I have had very little time for my craftiness. I did start recovering the chair in my livingroom. So far so good. I'll post pictures when I'm done!

In the mean time, here's a random picture. Mady got panties for Christmas, and like every child I've ever known, she felt the need to put them on her head. Notice the candy all over her face? I hate it when people only post perfect pictures of their perfect children being perfect. Mine get dirty and wear underwear on their heads.

Scarf Season

2011-01-01T10:41:00.000-06:00

Last night we were blasted by a heck of a blizzard. The hubby and I had hoped to go out for a little while, but the weather was so bad that our babysitter (Grandma Mary) turned around and went straight home, stating that she didn't want to get stranded over night. She only lives two miles away.

So instead of partying it up, I colored my hair (redder and darker, like I do every winter) and curled up in front of the fireplace to crochet. Mark lounged on the couch and watched a sci-fi movie. At least we both got do to things we enjoy, even if our night out was thwarted by the weather.

Cold weather always inspires me to make something cozy, and I love accent scarves. Even though I wear two or three layers in the winter, there is something extra warm about having a cute scarf wrapped around my neck.

I made this scarf yesterday and blocked it this morning. The colorway is called "Strawberry" and it's a perfect description of the colors. I think I love it. Today I'm working on fingerless gloves from the same yarn. My hands get super cold at work, so I think I"m going to stow them in my desk.

I made this scarf last winter and never got a picture of it posted. It's easily my favorite. It's crochet out of a lace weight cashmere/silk blend, and it feels just as soft and light as you'd image it would. The pattern looks like little snowflakes, which I find quite fitting.

It's cold and blowing again today. I'm thinking the fireplace and some hot cocoa are calling my name.

Holiday Family Photo 2010

2010-12-24T15:33:00.000-06:00

Madelynn (18 months) Micah (4) Molly (7)

Monique (29 - I swear) Mark (old)

We didn't get our Christmas pictures back until December 23, which is why I don't have my Christmas cards done yet. I guess our friends and family will be getting New Years cards this year.

Today we are spending the afternoon making cookies for Santa and wrapping the last of the presents. After the evening Church service, we have the annual Rocky Point Arnesen Extended Family Party Extravaganza. Good times.

I'd love to promise that I'd post photos of all the fun, but my fabulous new camera is completely out of commission. Even though the battery is completely charged, it won't turn on. Which is why I haven't been posting photos of all of my holiday craftiness. Well, that and that blogger got blocked at work and I can't do blog posts on my lunch break any more.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

The little monsters had a great halloween. Actually, there was only one monster: Micah the vampire. Molly was a beautiful bride, and Mady was a hatless cowgirl (the wind kept on blowing it off). Yes, I sewed most thier costumes -- we tried to use as much existing clothing as possible.

The kids had fun trick or treating, and then we returned to the town-house to host a small party. When we got there, we found that our bowl of candy had been emptied -- yes, someone walked into our entry way and emptied the whole bowl. Who does that? Seriously? One of the best things about living where we live is that you can leave your doors unlocked. Unless you have candy sitting close to the door, I guess.

The party was great. The turn out was a little smaller than expected due to the amazingly gorgeous weather. It was a "Come and Warm Up" party, with no need to warm up! I'm not complaining, except that we will be eating worm sandwiches for the next week and a half.

Hope that everyone's Halloween was great!

New Furniture

2010-10-06T09:18:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking of getting new furniture in my livingroom. What do you think?

I don't care for the throw pillows, but I love the clean, straight lines of the whole set.

I think that my Ikea end tables and coffee table would look great. And I really like the greyish beige-ish color.

This chair and ottoman would be great replacement for my favorite crocheting spot:

And I'm thinking something like this for curtains:

I'm getting pretty sick of the orange. And my sister loves it, so I have somebody to hand it all down to. What do you think?

I've been even more busy than usual lately. I started my master's degree, which is in Family Life Education. It is a mix between social work and teaching, which is perfect for me. The workload is exhausting, but I'm loving the content. And my classmates are pretty awesome.

But I'm not going to lie. I'm pooped. And possibly stinky: showers are been moved even farther down the list of priorities.

There's No Place Like Home

2010-09-09T08:50:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things about traveling is photos. I am not very good at taking them while I'm actually in the process of traveling, but I always enjoy them when I get home. I love this picture of myself at Stonehenge. It was cold and windy, but hello... I'm standing in front of Stonehenge! How cool is that?

And I love all of the pictures of me and my husband. We very rarely take pictures together and I probably would have totally forgotten about it if not for our facebook happy traveling companions. This is in front of a war memorial in Moscow on the day of our friends' wedding. It's a Russian wedding custom to drive around town and take pictures in front of things. We saw wedding parties everywhere we went -- especially the palaces.

But the absolute BEST part of traveling is coming home. My jet lag is gone, my laundry is done, and my kids are happy to have mom home.

I don't think I'll be taking any two week long trips any time soon. This last one has fulfilled my wanderlust for quite some time, I think!

London is Lovely

2010-08-16T18:14:00.000-05:00

I'm enjoying sight seeing in London.

The hotel room is very small and I'm getting quite sick of my husband's incredibly loud chewing. He's always been a loud chewer, but I can usually get far enough away from him to be able to escape the super annoying noisiness. No such luck in a tiny hotel room. And he likes to snack on cookies at night. So, with no escape in sight, I am stuck biting my tongue. I want to scream at him and tell him to just shut up already, but he really can't help how loud he eats. I think it has something to do with his hearing loss. Since he can't hear himself, he can't tell the difference between loud chewing and a normal volume of chewing. For the record, I hate all chewing sounds. They give me the heeby-jeebies.

So, back to the sight seeing. We've seen Westminster, Parliament, Big Ben, some square with a lovely fountain and giant lions, and the Tower of London. We spent like 4 hours at the tower, which was way to long for my style of sight seeing. And just so you know, the British Army does not seem to have the same kind of standards for their Beefeater's as the Swiss have for their Vatican guards. The Swiss guards are all 6 feet tall and super dreamy (you notice this when you are 21 years old, which I was when I was last at the Vatican). The Beefeaters are over 50 and pudgy. The outfits are just as silly, but the men are not nearly as attractive.

I'm hoping to see lots of fabulous things tomorrow. We're thinking about going to see "Wicked." It would be a nice birthday present, I think. I would have preferred to see the original Broadway cast, but I certainly won't complain about a West End production. I'd like to do some shopping at some point, but I don't know if I'll have time.

I would have finished all of the embroidery for the wedding gift on the way here, but the embroidery hoop broke. I'm hoping to run into a craft store soon...

Chicken With My Head Cut Off

2010-08-10T11:22:00.004-05:00

I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Mark and I are busy preparing for our fabulous two week vacation. It's our first trip away from the baby, and I'm very nervous. The little ones will be home with the nanny while we are gone, so that makes me feel much better. Their routine will not be disrupted other than getting a little time away from the house with aunties and grandparents (to give the nanny a break). We also got a new computer for Mark to use in the shop (I was sick of grease stains on my pink netbook). We are going to leave his at home and take mine on the trip with the hopes of being able to skype the kids while we are gone. I've never done it before, so we are going to practice later this week. Any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated -- especially if you've every done it internationally. Does that even work?

So, first of all, work is crazy busy. Summer is usually slower, which gives me an opportunity to catch up on some paperwork and take some time off. Not so much this summer. The kids (and parents) are wild. It's like a 3-month-long Full Moon. If you know anything about the population I work with, you know how the full moon goes!

Secondly, I'm not done with the gift for our friend's wedding. Luckily, I checked on the TSA website last night, and both my embroidery needles and crochet hooks are okay to take on the plane. There is even a special section on their website about knitting and needle work, which was very helpful. I will have more than enough time in the air to finish the gift. (I decided to do a traditional mid-west American wedding gift: a set of embroidered flour towels and other cute kitcheny things. As both the bride and groom recently gained their American citizenship, I did a patriotic theme. Super cute. I also crocheted a wrap for the bride. It turned out beautifully, and I hope she is able to wear it).

Which brings me to my third problem. It will probably be way too hot to wear a wrap: there is a record heat wave and drought in Russia. And now there are all these fires right outside of Moscow that are causing major air quality problems. Not good for my breathing issues. People are dropping dead left and right, and I'm a little worried. Luckily, Olesia's father is a doctor. Unfortunately, she mentioned to me once that her family doesn't speak English. I think that I will be contacting the pharmacy to see if they can give me an extra rescue inhaler, just in case.

And did I mention that I'm just a bit worried about being away from the kids? I really want to go, but the thought of actually leaving is about to send me into a full blown anxiety attack. I'm super distracted during the day, and I'm having a hard time sleeping at night. The logical part of my brain knows that they will be just fine and that I'll miss them more than they will miss me. The emotional part of me is, like, in anguish. I'm a very logical person, and I can usually talk myself down from troubling emotions with a good reasonable internal dialogue. It's not working so well this time. This anguishing emotional unreasonableness is so unlike me that I'm on the verge of freaking out. "My babies! They are going to miss me! And I'm going to miss them! Whaaaa!"

A lady I work with said that I'll have a good cry on the way to the airport, and then a minor pitty party the first couple of nights while I'm gone, and then it'll sink in that everything's fine and I'll relax and have fun. I hope she's right. She also said that I should expect to get the cold shoulder when I get home. I hope she's not right about that. I expect lots of hugs and kisses when I get home!

Lusting over a Serger

2010-08-06T07:04:00.003-05:00

I need a serger. Specifically, I need this serger:

Isn't it lovely? Doesn't it just scream "Sew with me!" Doesn't it just look like it would be the most wonderful, perfect addition to my sewing room?

This particular gorgeous little model is being given away by SewMamaSew (http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/?p=9630). I read this blog every day. I enter almost every contest. I've yet to win anything, so maybe this is my time. Maybe I have never won a blog give-a-way for a reason. Maybe all of my good karma was being saved up for this, the ultimate blog give-a-way?

So, how would my life be better with a new serger? It would be melodramatic to say that my entire life would change, but I'm guessing that there is a great deal of truth to that statement. I suppose that it would be equally melodramatic to say that my life changed when I got my new sewing machine, but there is no doubting that. Sewing has simply saved my sanity.

I see terrible things in my job. Things that most people hear about on the evening news, and just can't bear to think about, are part of my everyday life. It chips away at my heart, and sewing helps my heart heal. I can just leave behind the horrors and injustices of this world and just focus on the goodness of simply creating something beautiful for somebody I love. I can go into my little room, with my thread and stacks of cotton, and leave the pain behind.

Thinking of all of the things that I could make with a new serger makes me smile. The beautiful little knit shirts and dresses I could make for my girls, the rescuing and repurposing of the beloved Lightning McQueen t-shirt, the hot pink wrap dress that I've been dying to make... mmm... blissful. Winning this serger would be like the universe is saying, "Thank you, Monique, for all that you do. Here is a little token of our appreciation."

Spring Photos

2010-07-29T07:40:00.002-05:00

A friend of a friend took some photos for me. Being a single lady, this was the first time that she'd worked with a group of kids. She said that it was hard work, but I think she did great. Yay Heather!

This is the only pic that she got with all three kids in it. You can Almost see Micah's head! They were not interested in being anywhere near each other that day.

I think that I need to take some photography classes or something. I can point and shoot, but anything beyond that is just way too challenging for me.

Not that I normally have a lot of extra time, but now I really won't have time for extra things like photography classes. I found out yesterday that I was accepted into a graduate program at Concordia University (St. Paul, MN). The plan is to finally finish up my master's degree. It will be in Family Life Education, which I think is a very nice meeting place between my training in teaching and my recent work experience in social work.

I'm a little worried about the kind of time this program is going to expect from me, but I've basically accepted the fact that I won't be touching my sewing machine for the next two years. Or my paints. Or my beads. Or yarn of any kind. This is a big sacrifice for me, and I'm pretty sad about it. I'm sure that I'll find little projects to sneak in here and there, but it just won't be the same.

I also need to come up with some super fantastic strategies on keeping up with the cooking and housework. My husband's involvement in these activities ebbs and flows, depending on how busy the resort is. He means well, but I'm not sure that I can really depend on him to be consistent. I'm actually considering hiring somebody to clean. I don't know how we'll afford it, but I know that I certainly won't have the time that I need to keep the house as clean as I like it. I'm the type of person that can't focus when my surrounding are in disarray and I' might have to just write it off as a educational expense. (Mentally, not on my taxes -- unless my accountant tells me that it is a legitimate deduction, then on my taxes as well). Any moral support you can provide would be much appreciated.

Float Fun

2010-07-23T10:05:00.004-05:00

Rocky Point held a tropical themed celebration last weekend. Check out the kids (and their cousins and Aunty Heather) on this cute float. They enjoyed throwing candy and the spectators. Except Mady. She just ate the candy... and a little sand.

It was a pretty good turn out:

After the parade there was karaoke at the lodge. Molly sang "Walking on Sunshine". I helped.

I have a weekly garage sale shopping quest. It usually goes more smoothly without the children, so I left them home with Mark last time. Mady had a super fun time with her daddy. She sat in her wagon in the shop and watched him fix tires. When I got home, she looked like this:

Here's a closeup of the dirt and boogers, in case you couldn't see them well enough in the first photo.

Wow, huh?

I've always been the kind of mom who lets her kids play in mud puddles. I believe that the dirtiness of a kid's feet is the best indication of how much fun she's had. When I'm cleaning them up in the evening, I will often say, "Wow, those are some super dirty toes. You must have had fun today!" They usually agree that they had. And I figure that skin and clothes wash, right?

So, dirty children are not uncommon in our household, but for some reason this bit of dirtiness just tickled me. I love the stage she's at right now. She's starting to play with dolls and trucks. She sings little made up songs and dances. She pretended to cook me a snack in the play kitchen the other day -- and warned me that it was "hot" when she handed me the little plate. And, just like her brother and sister, she plays outside and comes in dirty. Too cute!

And I promise I washed her up! I may let them get dirty, but they do not stay dirty!!

New Toy

2010-07-21T15:01:00.004-05:00

I made a serious impulse purchase and bought one of these today. It's a digital still and video camera in one. My little kodak-that-could broke over the weekend. I will send it away to get repaired, but I thought that it might be a good idea to own a second camera. I found this and thought that the video option made it even more practical.

Do any of you have one like this? Did I make a wise purchase?

We went to the cabin this weekend and there was a mama deer and triplets chowing down 15 feet from our big picture window. And no camera. Plus, I missed all the cute cabin-y kids pictures. Bummer.

Weekend Projects

2010-07-16T08:06:00.003-05:00

I'm so looking forward to the weekend starting that I can barely contain myself. I've got some fun projects planned and I can't wait to get going on them.

I'm going to finish up Molly's reversible sun dresses. My thought was that maybe she wouldn't change her clothes five times a day if she could just turn the dress around and get a whole new look. We'll see how that goes. She wants matching dresses for her American Girl doll, but I think I'm going to have her work on that herself and just help when she needs it.

I'm also bound and determined to make some upcycled underwear for the kids. I've got all of these cute t-shirts with one little hole or stain that I've just not had the heart to throw out, so I think that this will be the perfect project to put them to good use. I've surfed the web and browsed tutorials in preparation. Some of them are pretty good (This one's my favorite: http://sewastraightline.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-boxer-briefs.html). I'm going to make my own pattern, so we'll see how that goes. I want to try to not use elastic, and that might be a little bit of a challenge. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

And just so you don't think that I'll be sitting on my bum all weekend, I'm also planning to teach the nanny how to do back handsprings. We've been working on back walkovers, and she's almost got it figured out. She has a cheerleading thing at the U of M next week, so she doesn't have much time to prepare. Luckily for her, she just happens to be working for one of the four people in the tri-county area that can actually teach her how to it. The pay may not be great, but the benefits seem to be working for her.

To top it all off, the resort has some sort of summery celebration planned. There is a parade on Saturday, and the kids want to make a float. I also think that this might be a good opportunity for Molly to do the lemonade stand that she's been talking about since February.

Cutest Dessert Ever

2010-07-06T22:22:00.003-05:00

We had a family pot luck on Monday evening. The nanny and I made these to bring. By the time I got these pictures taken, they'd melted a bit, but they were still cute.

The grill base is a brownie and the food is salt water taffy. We couldn't find the candy that the directions suggested, which would have been much easier, but I think that the taffy turned out better. Look at how cute the shrimp kabobs turned out:

We even put little grill marks on the food. Sweet, right?

How do food bloggers get such awesome pictures of their food? I had a neck of a time getting these -- I guess natural lighting would have helped, but they didn't last until the next morning!

July 4th Fun

2010-07-06T22:06:00.002-05:00

As part of our holiday festivities, we went tubing this weekend. Nephew Collin said that it was the greatest experience of his whole entire life (all 10 years of it)! As you can see, everyone else had a blast, too!

Tubing was super fun, as was the whole weekend. We did a great deal of lounging around and enjoyed the Arnesen Beach Firework Potluck on the evening of the 4th. Mady even enjoyed them. About five minutes into the fireworks show, I asked her if she liked fireworks. She nodded yes vigorously. Five minutes later I stuck my head into the stroller to check on her, and she was fast asleep. I guess she didn't like them enough to stay awake...

Salt in Wound

2010-07-01T12:35:00.002-05:00

As if the breakdown of my stupid van wasn't bad enough, look what I saw pulling into the parking lot (in my father in law's full sized Ford pick up) coming back from my lunch break.

Yep, that's my Vibe. I asked the new owner if I could please buy it back from him. He said that I did not have enough money to buy it back from him. I lied and told him that I had a lot of money. He said something along the lines of Bill Gates not having enough money to buy the car from him.

Yes, he loves it too. I'm not the only one. I'm not even romanticising it in hind sight. He loves it so much that he sold his other car.

God, I miss that car. I wish I had been able to find more petite car seats for my darling angel children.

Stupid van.

Stupid Mini Van

2010-06-30T10:12:00.004-05:00

I seem to have bad luck in the vehicle department. Earlier this spring, this happened:

Notice the wonky angle of the tire. That’s due to a snapped ball joint. It snapped while I was driving down a gravel road at about 45 miles per hour. Needless to say, I swerved out of control. Luckily I was able to keep the vehicle on the road and upright.

But as you can see by the tracks in the pictures, it was a close one. Hitting that ditch at 45 mph would definitely caused a roll over. My kids were with me, so I’m sure you can understand how lucky we were. We were also only about 5 miles away from home and only had to wait for about 10 minutes before my hubby came to pick us up, which was also quite lucky.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I got a flat tire. Like the snapped ball joint, this was on the rear drivers side. I drove all the way to work (remember that it’s a 43 mile drive) without noticing it. By chance my husband had made his monthly trip to town that day and was able to patch it up while I was working. Again, I was quite lucky.

Well, this morning my luck ran out. As I type this (in a word processor document, which I’ll paste into blogger later) I am sitting in my van on the side of the road. Flat tire again. Rear driver’s side again. This time, I didn’t make it all of the way to work. This time, I wasn’t just five minutes from home. I’m halfway to work.

I tried to use my handy built in air compressor, but nearly 10 minutes crouched at the side of the road only produced 1 additional psi in my tire. I tried to limp the rest of the way to the nearest town, which is only about 4 miles away, but the “thump, thump, thump” noise and bouncing made me change my mind and find a nice place to pull off the road. My husband is on his way. Supposedly. I’ve been sitting here a long time.

Sitting here in my broken down vehicle makes me miss my old car. It was the best car ever. I drove that sucker for over 100,000 miles my very own self and I was never broken down on the side of the road. Not once in five years. I loved that car so much that I crammed three car seats in the back for nearly a year. It was a Pontiac Vibe and was clearly not designed for three car seats in the back seat. But I crammed those kids back there and listened to them complain about being squished because I loved that car.

With the new mom-mobile mini van, we have a lot more room but we seem to have a lot more problems as well. Ugh! I wish we had mass transit! What I wouldn’t do for a rural train system…

On the benefits of domestic employees

2010-06-15T08:01:00.002-05:00

For the summer, I've hired a teenager to stay at my home and care for my children. This allows me to wake up super early and get only myself dressed, fed, and out the door. If I shower the night before, I can do it in twenty minutes. I can then drive to work and put in a 10 hour day while my children sleep in as late as they'd like and spend a leisurely day tootling around the house. I found a particularly wonderful teenager, and I come home to happy children and a clean home. And since I hired a teenager and not a professional nanny, it's not any more expensive than my usual daycare bill.

It's bliss, pure bliss.

Coming home to a clean house is the most amazing, life changing thing that's happened to me since the birth of my last child. I marvel at the sudden existence of free time. I obviously give her the weekends off, but the effects of her presence continue while she's gone. This weekend I:

* did like 12 loads of laundry
* organized my entry and finally got all of the hats and mittens washed and stored away. Yes, it's June and I still had hats and mittens out.
* shampooed the carpet in the entry. It was really gross and took a long time.
* crocheted 5 or 6 dishclothes. We were running low.
* hooked up the new modem and wireless router. Our old one was fried when we got hit by lightening a couple of weekends ago.
* watched Julie and Julia from Netflix via our wii. So handy... and I can fold laundry when it has to take little loading breaks. And Meryl Streep needs more Oscars. That woman is amazing.
* put a good sized dent in the flooring installation in my bedroom. It's been partially tiled for like 6 months. I think that I'll finally be able to finish it this week.
* cleaned the rarely used dining room (also known as storage room #2). The table is completely clear.
* dusted. really!
* scrubbed (really scrubbed and not just wiped down quickly) the shower. I forgot that it was white and not the ivory color that it usually looks.
* started a lovely shawl for a friend who's getting married in August.
* went fishing.
* went shopping for something other than groceries (crafting supplies for the friend's wedding gift).

* snuggled my kids.

* snuggled my husband.

I love my life right now.

SO Busy Writing

2010-04-16T09:36:00.002-05:00

I've been super busy working on patterns for what I hope will eventually be a book. It's all I can think about lately and I find myself being very distractable. I've got all of these little post-it notes with pattern sketches stuck to everything! I seriously found myself typing while I made supper the other night. Stir, type, stir, type... As I get a little farther in the process, I'll share more details, I promise.

Easter and Mady's Birthday

2010-04-13T09:38:00.004-05:00

Our family had a great Easter. The children wore their matching outfits with out complaint, and I'm smart enough to know that this won't go on for long. Micah had never worn a tie before, so he frequently patted his chest and told us that he was handsome. We, of course, agreed. Unfortunately, I could get all three of them to pose together for a picture. The closest I got is this one where you can only see the back of Mady. I guess that you'll have to just look at the separate pictures and imagine them all standing nicely together and smiling beautifully.

The day before Easter, we celebrated Madelynn's first birthday. Being a bit of a princess, she didn't even get frosting all over herself.

And, somehow, in the midst of all of this excitement, I sewed myself a shirt (I originally intended to enter it into Made By Rae's Spring Top Contest -- but I don't know if I'll get around to it). I was so inspired that I finally finished my magenta sweater. I love it.

Since then, I've sewed myself a sleeveless shirt with the same pattern as the floral one, but I haven't gotten a picture of it yet.

Challenge of the Utmost Kind

2010-03-03T08:55:00.003-06:00

I've joined Dottie Angel's Challenge of the Utmost Kind http://dottieangel.blogspot.com. The challenge consists of buying only used or handmade items for my home or self (clothes) for a year. I will be making some exceptions (the tv and blue ray player that I already have on lay-away and socks and underwear -- no used skivvies for me!) but otherwise I will diligently follow the challenge guidelines. Of course, this shouldn't be a gigantic problem with my love of crafting and thrifting -- Fun, fun, fun!!

I've not blogged in so long... I've missed it! My grown-up job has been quite busy and I've not been good about making time for myself. I will try to do better.

Portfolio on Flickr

2010-01-26T12:36:00.003-06:00

Just as I suspected, I'm spending quite a bit more time on my new computer. I finally got around to setting up an online portfolio. I just did a few projects to start with, but I think that I like it so far.

My Portfolio

Super Cute New Netbook

2010-01-22T14:49:00.003-06:00

I got my new netbook in the mail today. Isn't it cute? And it works SO much better than our laptop with the broken screen that I've been stuck using for the last few months!!

I suspect that it's portability and sheer attractiveness will increase my blog posting and facebook participation tenfold. The other ladies in the coffee shop and library will ooh and aah with admiration and jealously. Or, they'll look at me and think "What is with the grown woman and the barbie computer? Does she think she's 11 years old?"

Either way, I will happy just to have a screen that works on a computer that weighs less than ten pounds!

Famous Fishermen

2010-01-15T12:11:00.002-06:00

Mark and Micah are in "In Fisherman" as well!

We went to the grocery store on Wednesday night and Micah saw "Midwest Outdoors" on the newsstand. He was terribly excited. "Look Mom! It's ME! And my DAD!" He jumped and threw his arms all over and squealed with excitement. The fisherman standing in line behind us at the checkout was very impressed, as were the kids from his daycare who happened to be shopping too. He BEAMED with pride as they congratulated him.

I'm afraid all if this exposure it going to go his head!!

My Boys -- The Cover Models

2010-01-05T22:58:00.003-06:00

Aren't they handsome?

This same picture was on the cover of "Outdoor News" a few weeks ago. Mark says they never do that (use the same picture on the cover of a competing publication) so it's a pretty big deal.

The Work Jeans Quilt

2010-01-05T22:08:00.007-06:00

Even though people generally see my husband on TV and assume that he's got a fairly glamorous day job, this couldn't be farther from the truth. He brings our little guy out fishing on the weekends and will go out on the ice to hang out with my dad when he's up, but otherwise he really doesn't do all that much fishing. The majority of his work week (which is like 80+ hours in the winter) is spent in the shop. He's got a couple of mechanics to help him, but he is responsible for the design and maintenance of all of the track rigs. All of this time working in the shop means that he goes through a lot of jeans. He tears the butt out and gets terrible grease stains all over.

I just couldn't let all that denim go to waste! I've been saving jeans for years -- literally years! My original plan was to make a rag rug. (I have one started around here somewhere.) Then I found this cute quilt pattern and changed direction.

I started by cutting 2.7 million circles. Well, it felt like 2.7 million, but was really only like 200. About a hundred denim circles from the old jeans and another hundred in flannel. After sewing each denim circle to a flannel circle (right sides out) I stitched them into rows. Cutting and sewing the circles was tedious, but getting them into rows was actually kind of hard. The problem is that work jeans are about twice the thickness of standard denim. It was heavy and very hard to maneuver.

Assembling all of the rows just about threw my back out. Oddly enough, I only broke 3 needles and got like 10 errors on my machine. When I made my brother's Crown Royal quilt, I broke nearly a dozen and I think my machine spent more time beeping at me that actually stitching!

Every time I make a full size quilt, I get about halfway done and have this incredibly strong urge to quit. I can make a baby quilt and breeze through it. I can do table runners and place mats and all things kitchen related. I've even done okay with some "throw" sized quilts. But big quilts kick my butt.

I just about gave up a couple of different times, but I did finally finish the quilt. In all honesty, I had some pretty crooked quilting at the end -- the white zin was my quilters equivalent to liquid courage. It took me a couple of evenings to get it all fringed up, but I'm pretty happy with the results. The hubby seems pretty happy with the results, too. After a super long day at work, he usually crashes on the couch, so he's getting a lot of use out of this very heavy, but very snuggly, quilt. Plus, I chose fabrics that match our family room, so I don't nag him to fold it up and put it away every morning!

Above are picture of the front and back of the quilt. Of course, Molly couldn't let me take pictures of any sort without posing for a few. Notice the grease stains on the denim -- extra character, right?

This is the hubby -- enjoying his quilt. Yes, he really is sleeping -- I took this like 10 minutes ago.

Welcome Followers!

2010-01-05T13:24:00.003-06:00

After a few months of faithfully writing to a very shy audience (I mean you my loving family!), I have real followers. Whoo hoo for me! So: Welcome to my followers. It's lovely to have you. I'll do my best to say something interesting for you.

Coming soon:
* The epic story of my husband's work jeans' quilt (with pictures!)
* My latest adventure in being a tightwad (My thriftiness might be getting out of hand).
* My frozen water saga (It was -40 degrees this weekend and by pipes burst!)

and...
* a give-a-way! I'm not sure what I'm giving away yet, but it will be Fabulous, I promise.

I've been wanting to do a give-a-way, but didn't have anyone to give something to. I enter them when ever I find one on the blogs I read, and I have been itching to do some giving. So, once I reach 20 followers, I will do a fabulous give-a-way! To help me get to 20 followers, please refer your own friends a followers to my blog. For each new follower that you send my way, I will give you an extra entry in my first give-a-way! (New followers, please leave a comment on this post with the name of the person who referred you!)

Where did 2009 Go?

2009-12-31T08:33:00.002-06:00

As I venture farther into adult life, I am taken by surprise every Dec. 31. Where did the last year go? It seems like I just got used to writing "09" when noting the date, and now I've got to try to remember to write "10"? Years didn't seem to zip by this quickly when I was younger.

My Christmas Present

2009-12-22T11:41:00.004-06:00

I requested a mother's day ring for Christmas this year. My husband told me that I should pick out what I wanted (he knows that I'm kind of picky when it comes to this sort of thing). I checked out the jewelry stores, but did not like what I saw. So instead of getting something that I didn't absolutely love, I had a set of stacking rings custom made by and etsian, http://www.etsy.com/shop/kyleannemetals

Through a series of emails, we worked out the details together (parents have gold bands, kids have silver; girls are faceted stones, boys are smooth). Kyle was lovely to work with -- it's like she read my mind!

Check out how GORGEOUS this is! The postal service can not go quickly enough to get it by Christmas, but I'm super excited.

My Pretty Girls

2009-12-18T09:11:00.006-06:00

I brought Mady to a *Real* photographer for her 6 month pictures. Molly came with and got a little time in front of the lens, too. I've gotten the photos back, and they are gorgeous!

Friends and Family: Let me know if you'd like to see the rest: I'll email you the link to mpix.

We're Just Not Like Other Families

2009-12-16T09:35:00.004-06:00

A couple of days ago, in a tired-induced mini-fit, Molly complained that she didn't have any candy to eat on the bus. She insisted that all of the other kids ate candy on the bus and that she felt very left out. I told her that I understand that it must be very frustrating to be candyless when everybody else is eating sweets all the time, but that we eat healthy foods in our family and that's just the way that it is. Even though I've told her a million times, I said that candy is a special treat and not something that we eat every day. She continued to cry and fuss about her lack of candy, but she got over it by the time we got home.

Later that evening, we were working on the gift baskets that we are giving to many of our friends and family members for Christmas this year. Molly was helping me scoop potato soup mixes into baby food jars (which are the perfect size for a single serving) and decorating the the jars with stickers and curly ribbon. She tells me, "You know mom, most people just go out and buy Christmas Gifts." I agree with this observation, and she continues, "But I figured it out mom: We don't eat candy and we don't buy Christmas gifts -- We're just not like other families."

We aren't like other families. We aren't involved in a million activities, we eat supper together as a family every night, we often go all day without turning on the television, we value experiences over possessions so have relatively few possessions compared to other people, we reuse things whenever we can, we make things instead of buying them, and we don't eat candy very often. I know how difficult it is for a child to feel different than her peers, but I hope that the quality of the time we spend together will make up for the fact that we are no where near to keeping up with the Jones'. And that evening, as we were laughing and singing and curling ribbon around baby food jars, we had more definitely enjoyed our time together much more than those kids on the bus enjoy their candy.

My Computer is Broken

2009-11-30T13:27:00.002-06:00

I've been a bad blogger and haven't been writing anything. It's not my fault. I swear. Our computer is totally broken. The screen goes black after about a minute and a half. I was afraid that it was a virus, so I hooked up the screen from my old desk top. The second screen worked fine, even after the laptop went black. I have no idea how long it's going to take to fix, or if it's even worth fixing. Either way, I probably won't be a master poster any time soon. This is a total bummer, as I have a ton of super cute pictures to put up and a ton of really fun projects to write about (my first machine quilted table runner, a recycled jeans quilt, my kids' hats and mittens, and *my favorite* snowman kits). Some of them went really smoothly and turned out awesomely, some of them were what I like to call "a learning experience." I also have a ton of slippers to list on etsy -- it doesn't look like I'll have them up in time fore the Christmas shopping season. :-(

Corn Cob Slippers

2009-10-22T16:20:00.002-05:00

Pictured above are the original corn cob slippers. Of course, they are not slippers, but pot holders. My grandma used to keep them on her kitchen counter, and when I went to visit her as a little girl, she would let me put them on my feet and slip and slide all over her kitchen. A few years ago, she gave them to me. They now live on my kitchen counter and I even occationally let Molly slip and slide around the kitchen in them.

I have a crochet pattern for slippers that I love to make, which I refer to as "corn cob slippers." They slip and slide as well as the originals (unless I purposely un-slippy them with puff paint) and I can easily modify them to make them in any size imaginable. Last Christmas, I made a bunch of these slippers for gifts for family members... even Uncle Max yelled, "Yes! Corn Cob Slippers!" when he opened his.

Stubborn Little Twerp

2009-10-21T08:23:00.002-05:00

Micah woke up at 6:15 this morning, took off his jammies, and went potty -- all according to our regular schedule. But that's as far as he got in his morning routine. He told me that he was hungry and I told him that I'd like him to get dressed before he had some breakfast. I gave him his clothes, but he proceeded to spend the next 45 minutes doing anything but putting his clothes on his body. I reminded him a few times, with updates on how long he had until it would be time to leave. "Micah, you'd better hurry up and get dressed. We need to leave in 10 minutes," to which he would reply, "I don't wanna get dressed." I suggested that it might be a cold ride to daycare if he didn't have any clothes on. This usually works, but today he decided to test me. Well, after numerous gentle reminders of what he was being asked to do and what the consequences of not doing it would be, he was brought out to the car in his underwear.

Yes, he went all the way to daycare, roughly a 45 minute drive, without his clothes on. In Northern Minnesota. In October. This does not surprise me. What does surprise me is that he didn't even complain -- not even once. I even asked him if he was cold and he just said very calmly, "Yeah, a little bit." I seriously started to wonder if my logical consequence (if you don't get dressed, you get cold) was even going to work. It was a little chilly out this morning -- it should work.

Because he has legs that work quite well, I generally do not carry him around. So, he had to walk in from the car and into daycare. In only his underwear. At this point, he started to complain about being cold. "Mmm," I told him, "You probably should have put your clothes on, huh?"

When I left him at daycare (with instructions to the provider that he not be allowed to eat his breakfast or play with toys until he got himself dressed) he was still mostly naked. What kind of 3 year old can seriously hold out over 2 hours before doing what he was told? He is simply a stubborn little twerp! I wonder if he'll get dressed tomorrow? Honestly, I do not know.

Finally... A completed project!

2009-09-29T23:20:00.003-05:00

I've got a million projects in progress, but it seems as if I've been so busy with school starting, birthdays, and returning to work full time that I haven't been able to finish anything at all. Well, that changed last night with the completion of the season's first pair of slippers. I love corn-cob slippers! I'm going to sell these ones, so I can't wait to get some nice pictures taken and list them on etsy.

Birthday Party

2009-09-29T23:08:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, we had a birthday party for Molly and Micah. Micah turned 3 years old on Sept. 12 and Molly turned 6 years old on September 23. Since we have so many people that have to travel for the party, I usually do just one party. They don't seem to mind.

I made Molly as Strawberry Shortcake cake. For some reason, I just couldn't get it right. I started out with a plan to cover the cake with fondant, but the fondant kept tearing. After the third try, I just used plain frosting. Yummy home-made frosting, but plain frosting all the same. I did my best to make a girl who at least looked a little bit like Strawberry Shortcake -- my work did not live up to my standards, but Molly told me it was beautiful, and that's all that matters.

For all the trouble I had with Molly's cake, Micah's cake was a breeze. He absolutely loved it, and spent the whole morning singing the spider man song. Notice in the pictures that he stole the frosting off the entire base of the cake. He snuck tastes, but he was ever so careful not to wreck the cake...

The kids got some very nice, very appropriate gifts. There were no toy guns and no slutty little girl things, so I didn't even have to take anything away and hide it on top of the fridge!

Micah's favorite gift was a remote control front end loader and bulldozer. We had to talk him into setting it aside opening the rest of gifts. He particularly enjoyed the scooping action.

Molly's favorite gift was a fashion drawing kit. It has clear films with different clothing pieces and that you layer on top of the picture of the model and then trace the figure onto tracing paper. There are also some textures to rub and other fun things. I think she drew about 10 girls (fabulously well dressed ones, of course) that night alone.

The funny thing about this gift is that earlier that week, Molly had told me that she wanted to be a fashion model. If she's lucky, Molly might grow to be 5"1". I told her that I think that she is beautiful, but that fashion models are usually very tall. She was disappointed until I suggested that she might like being a fashion designer instead. I explained what fashion designers do, and she said, "Well, I do like to draw... Could you teach me how to sew?" That-a-girl!

Hugs and Kisses

2009-09-22T08:22:00.004-05:00

Little Miss Madelynn has learned to give hugs and kisses. Last night, during out designated Sponge Bob/Calm-Down-for-Bed time, she had herself a little hug and kiss frenzy. It was a slobbery mess, but it was seriously one of the cutest, sweetest things I've ever seen. She is just full of love.

Kindergarten Rocks!

2009-09-18T11:35:00.000-05:00

Molly started Kindergarten last week, and I have never seen her happier. She came home from the first day of school and told me, excitedly "We did the letter A, the number one, and the color red." I noted that Kindergarten moves a little faster than pre-school, and she agreed.

Our school offers all day, every day Kindergarten. This is a god-send for my sharp little girl. She's been more than a little bored and is very excited about the faster pace.

After two full weeks of school, she is still glad to get up and ready in the morning. She has her own alarm clock, and comes down stairs dressed for the day and ready to get down to business. After telling me about her day, she falls asleep on the way home nearly every day, so I know she's playing hard and learning lots.

Missed a big goal ... Now what? Reassess!

2009-09-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

I was one of those people who spent the vast majority of my childhood with my nose in a book. At some point, I decided that because I loved to read so much I should try writing. I wrote quite a few little stories, but was never terribly serious about any of it. I was a journaler, so I constantly had a little note book. It was mostly filled with complaints about my life, as writing has always been very cathartic for me. Writing something down was a way that I could wrap my head around a problem and work toward a solution. In college, I took a teaching course about teaching writing and it resurrected this interest in a way that surpassed simple journaling. I developed a rough plan on how I wanted to write a book by the time I turned thirty years old. Now I thought I was being rather realistic at the time. I didn't specify that it had to be a particularly good book, or that the book needed to be published. There wasn't anything in this plan that even addressed showing this book to other people. I admit that I occasionally daydreamed about this book being selected for the Oprah book and giving a rocking interview to Oprah herself (or at least Gail), but I didn't seriously entertain such thoughts.

Well... I turned thirty years old a couple of weeks ago, and I've not so much as finished filling in all the blanks in my children's baby books. I think that the saddest part of this story is that I pretty much forgot about this goal. About a week after my birthday, I was driving home and listening to Minnesota Public Radio, as usual. Carrie Miller was talking about her book club and that she was going to interview an author about his writing process and it just hit me.

I'm thirty. I was going to write a book and I totally didn't do it. I didn't even give it a good try. Oh Shit. I'm such a loser.

Instead of coming up with all kinds of excuses for myself, and there would be plenty legitimate excuses, I began to reassess. Well, I let myself feel like a total loser for a few seconds and then began to reassess.

Do I still want to write something? Well, yes, I do. Writing has always been something that I truly enjoy. Do I still want to write a novel? Maybe one day, but I feel a little too out of practice to just jump into such a major project. Novels have lots of words. Lots of words means many many hours on just a rough draft. I have three children and a full time job, so that just isn't realistic. Plus, other than listening to audio books when I go for walks, I don't even remember the last time that I even read a novel. Good writers read, and I'd feel like a bit of a fraud if I just sat down and tried to write a novel. I do read a lot of children's books. I've read hundred's over the last six years. I could give that a shot. I also read a lot of non-fiction, especially about sewing and craft projects. I could try that, too. Now I know that a children's book or something non-fiction will still be a lot of work. I'm not nixing the novel because I'm afraid of hard work. But, for some reason a children's book or non-fiction book just feels less daunting to me. They are familiar, comfortable, and interesting to me. Both are things that I would want to read, and isn't a writer supposed to write for herself?

Shortly after I decided to update my writing goal, I ran into an old friend. She's recently finished writing a book and is working on finding an agent. Wow! Talking to her was very refreshing and inspiring for me. I think I'm really going to do this. I'm going to write something. So, since I didn't get this done by 30, when do I get this done by? I've always thought that it is very important to have realistic, attainable goals. I'm going to aim for 35. If it doesn't work out, I'll just reassess again.

Me? Blogging?

2009-08-23T16:47:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I'm blogging. I'm lucky if I get a chance to check my email on a regular basis, what am I doing starting a blog? I've recently listed some of my crafty things on etsy, and I keep reading over and over how important it is to have a blog. So, I'll try. If nothing else, it will be a good place to post pictures of my kids -- maybe all of my aunties will stop complaining about never getting any pictures if I have them here!