proof of life

I am so excited, I might wet myself!!

What we have here is a genuine, grown from seed, heirloom tomato! The gardening gods must have taken some pity on me and my 20+ tomato plants and decided to throw me some hope, in the shape of a tasty, juicy tomato!

Here is our ghetto planter. A leftover impatiens bag, repurposed. Plants that were going to be pitched, because I have used every available inch of space in the garden and outlying areas...
...naturally these are the first to show signs of tomaotes!
If I'm lucky, I'll get a few before Labor Day!! Woo-hoo!

enjoy the process

The freight train in my brain got ahold of me last night and I never posted about the quilts.

Yesterday was a quiet, easy day. The kids were playing 'Zoo Tycoon' most of the morning and into the afternoon. I took the opportunity to piece together the strips, thinking I wouldn't get much more done for the day. The neediness comes and goes-I never know for sure whether I'm going to get 5 minutes or 5 hours of time to myself.

But it was flowing, and when things are flowing I like to keep moving. I have a bad habit of completing 75% of a project and then moving onto something else. One only needs to look at all my WIP's on needles to know I tell the truth!

In the span of 8 hours or so, the quilt top is completed. I even tried my hand at free-form quilting, although my machine is old and I have no business doing so. It was fun. It was harder than my practice piece. Now I know why long-arm machines exist!

The whole reason I am making this smaller quilt is to practice before I make the larger one for us. It's been many years, and I am out of practice.

The whole time I was quietly piecing, I was thinking about the fact that I have had this fabric for probably 20 years, and have never done anything with it. It got me thinking about the nature of hording, and how ashamed I am at all the things I have stockpiled. It started with fabric, then polymer clay stuff, then scrapbooking, and now yarn.

I come by it honestly-many members of my family are first class horders. My Mom is fighting the battle with my Stepdad about getting rid of some things. Since his strokes, he can't do the things he used to do, and his memory of things' value is gone. It's more than they can handle. I don't want that to happen to me, to my kids, when the time comes. I have begun to step back, and take stock of what I have, and what I can do with it.

Use what you have

use it wisely

enjoy the process

I really enjoyed piecing the quilt together. All I have left to do is the binding, and I have completed one lovely crib sized quilt. I am going to gift it to a friend-someone I know who will appreciate it and love it. And it didn't cost me a thing.
p.s. In the next few days I am going to talk about this.

dog days of summer

I know the 'dog days of summer' are usually much later in the season, but for me, they are now.

The days where everyone is getting bored with sleeping in, hanging out at home, playing video games, going to the pool, and being in each others company in general. Tempers are short, and boredom is the rule of the day. I know, it's a rough life. Still, too much of a good thing isn't a good thing.

Yesterday the kids were at each others' throats all day. Therefore, I was involved. No matter how much I try to stay out of it, they kept dragging me back in. I hate days like that. By the time we were ready to sit down and watch tv, I was a strung out, headachy mess, and they were best friends again. I wanted to kill them.

Today they spent the entire day in the basement, like mole people. I heard cleaning and vaccuuming noises, nice talking to each other, getting along. I was pleasantly surprised to find the room completely cleaned, and order restored to the universe. It's a wonder my head doesn't explode.

My head is swirling with craft projects of a dozen varieties. Today I decided to tackled step one of my latest obsession: quilt. Cut the strips...

and why waste my time only doing one? Let's do two at a time! Maybe tonight I will start piecing together. Or not. We'll see. I waited until our hottest day of the summer to iron 24 pieces of fabric, and stand and cut them into strips. Even with the air on, I'm a hot sticky mess with frizzy hair and aching feet. (I have plantars facitis on my left foot, and when I'm home I never think to put my shoes on. So by the end of the day I can hardly walk. Good times). And I have to start dinner before the mole people have yet another snack...

See ya!

it's been a very spendy week

Evan, enjoying Coraline in 3D and his football uniform. He wears it all day, everyday.

We have spent a ton of money this week and we didn't even go somewhere fun to do it.

Both pets had to go to the vet for checkups/ various vaccinations/ lab tests, to the tune of $400.

I had a temporary crown put on today. Another $165.

Had to buy a man girdle, cup, and heat gear shirt. $79 more bux.

Ran into TJ Maxx and bought a few gifts, and a bathing suit & sunglasses for a certain someone travelling to Florida in a few weeks. $65.

Now would not be a good time for something to croak or go on the fritz.

On the plus side, it's been raining up a storm and it's cool, so there's some money saved!

oh Lordy, someone help me!

Today we picked up Evan's football equipment. The reality is beginning to settle in-my kid is going to play football and other kids are going to hit him! Gah!

(In the future, I will refrain from referring to him as cute. But look at him!)

running to catch a pass. it's a whole new world-one with no peripheral vision!

Ooops...we have a problem. The name is misspelled. Going to fix it tomorrow!

It's a whole family workout to get him into the gear. I was bathed in sweat by the time we got him in and out twice. This is his practice jersey and it is super extra tight. For the next 2 weeks he has to practice putting in the pads, snapping the helmet, and securing the shoulder pads himself. And he has to wear the helmut at least 45 minutes a day, so that he can get used to it. I have my very own bobblehead!

At least it isn't hot!

Tomorrow we have to go shopping for a girdle and cup! Oh joy!

FO-Eunice

pattern: Eunice by Cookie A., in her Sock innovations book

needles: size 2

yarn: Louet Gems in cloud grey

Cast on: July 1st

bind off: July 12 or 13th

I don't think I have updated anything I've done lately. So here's one. A pair of socks for a KAL group I am in. 12 pairs, one a month. Eunice is this months offering. The pattern was easy to follow, and in general I enjoyed it. There was one row, however, where you switch everything up and I didn't like that row at all. The yarn was a joy to work with. It has a very faint tinge of lilac to it. Chances are, these will be for my Aunt Ro for her birthday. She loves my socks.

Other than that, been busy with kid activities (camp, swimming, driving places) and dyeing yarn...working on things for my shop. Started a scarf that I think will be for Emma's birthday.

I can't believe that July is more than half over. In a few weeks, the kids have soccer camp, and training begins. Evan will have double duty with football & soccer. Time to start thinking about school supplies. Gah!

Happy Thursday!

so, how is summer treating you?

Ours is going swimmingly, thanks!

crazy

This kid has been making me absolutely insane all day long. From the minute I got up, until 5 minutes ago. I don't know what his deal is, but it's like he caught a naughty bug, a lippy bug, and an attitude bug all at the same time.

After making breakfast (which he griped thru the entire meal), and puttering around, we went over to the pool. That usually wipes out the nastiest of moods, but not today. He proceeded to pick a fight with each one of us. He spent more time sitting out of the pool for his behavior than in the pool. He has been argumentative about every little thing. I have felt like my head was going to spin off and I was going to become the screamy insane person deep inside. The only reason I didn't was because we were at my Moms'. And you know what's even more maddening? She thinks it's cute. Argh!

Tomorrow is bound to be better, if only because it couldn't be worse

Happy Saturday

brought to you by your friendly neighborhood pre-teen fashionista.

spray park and crayfishing

Tuesday was a lovely, unseasonably-cool-for-July day, which found us at the totally cute and totally free Plymouth recreational park. It's been years and years since we last went (don't know why...just never thought about it, really). We met up with our friend's, the Kemp family. Rachel & Emma have been friends since kindergarden. They have 4 girls, all different ages, and are always up for adventure and laughs.

Crayfishing was first on the agenda after lunch. My kids have talked about nothing else for days.

Ev & Elizabeth trying to catch one in the shadows

The water was no more than 5 inches deep, and considerably less in some spots. Emma found this 4 inch fish, and caught him. Meredith thought it would be fun to hold him.

Mama duck & 6 babies, unbothered by the fishing and splashing going on right next to them

They fished for at least 2 hours and filled up that whole container with crayfish! Emma also managed to catch at least 50 huge mosquito bites. July in Michigan! And even though it was on the cool side, they played in the splash park (a very good thing because they were all muddy and mucky and gross)

Meredith running on the outer edges, just barely getting wet

Rachel, Evan, & Emma through the hoops

Emma enjoying the spray. I love how Mer has her little hand in the spray on the side.

And lastly, Mr. Man up top this totem thingy. They are all over the park. I just thought he looked cool.

Em & I are impatiently waiting for Evan to come back (he went out with a friend who's parents don't understand the concept of on time) so that we can go enjoy the pool on this sunny 80 degree day. I have a feeling we are going to be turing on the air by tomorrow :(

She & I went to the farmer's market to score some pastries and tomatoes. I have been dying for homegrown toms, and even though I have a million plants, I have nothing close to a tomato. I paid $4.78 a pound. Gah! If I start them earlier next year, maybe I can sell them and be a gazillionaire.

Happy Thursday all!

Cedar Point recap and other stuff

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

It's a balmy 74 degrees and overcast in southeast Michigan. Perfect weather for a trip to the beach or a cookout. Sheesh! It feels more like September than July. I can only hope that this doesn't push back the real summer temps into August and September, when Evan is in his full football gear. That would really suck.

The last few days have been a whirlwind, and I was too busy to post or even get on the computer at all. Playtime was done, time to get to work! 

We hosted a Friday night martini night/ 4th of July party at our house last night, which entailed 2 full days of cleaning and prep work. After a full day @ Cedar Point, all I wanted to do was sleep, sleep, and sleep some more. Didn't happen. My body hurt all over.

The party was a lot of fun and a huge success. I didn't take a single picture, because I was busy drinking rum runners and embarrasing my daughter. And then drinking a few more rum runners, capped off with a few Oberons. Good times.

Anyway, I learned 3 important lessons while at CP...

1) I am old.

2) My body can't handle the roller coasters the way it could when I was a teenager.

3) Way too many women in the middle of the country have Kate Gosselin's haircut. True.

I also didn't take a bunch of pix, because the camera was in a ziploc bag, and taking it out all the time and returing it to the bag was a PAIN. It was threatening to rain all day, but didn't until about 6:30, and then only for a short time. We got so lucky. I have been going to CP for 25+ years, and the Wednesday before a holiday weekend is ideal. The lines were non-existant for just about everything, and it was cool to boot.

Emma & her friend Kailey. Kailey's mom told us that she isn't super wild about roller coasters and she would  sit most of them out. About midway thru the day, Kailey found her inner 'ride warrior' and was tackling them all. They had a blast.

Evan and his buddy Max. In addition to being a fun kid, Max is adorable. (I wouldn't ever let him hear me say it). Max rode almost every single thing in the park.
We had a spot of sun in the middle of the day and headed for the water rides. We only got mildly wet on Snake River Falls, until the kids found the lookout bridge...


They got a little wet here.

Thunder Canyon was fun. I went with the kids while Bart held the dry stuff. They managed to get hit by every waterfall, while I did not. It was awesome.
We could have riden this all day, because there were no lines. But CP has a stupid rule that you have to get off the ride and walk all the way around to ride it again. Ridiculous! The kids did a few times, and then we had to go change cuz it was cold!

Bart and Emma on the Power tower. The rest of us watched.
Max brought enough money to pay for a semester of college, and was earnestly trying to win every challenge CP set forth. He was not successful.
He did, however, buy a Leprechuan hat, complete with beard. And he wore it proudly all day long.
Here's the 4 of them on the Wildcat. I can't believe I actually caught them! They were moving pretty fast for Emma's little point and shoot.
We rode right up until closing time, and then dragged our tired bodies to the car. It was fun, it was exhausting, it was educating. Who knew Emma was fearless, and that Evan discovered he didn't really love the big drops on coasters. He wanted to, but just couldn't. There's always next summer!