We made it in one piece, all the way from Idaho to Buffalo, NY, to visit the grandparents. I was worried sick about all the flying, truth be told, since this was the first trip of this kind for the twins. I can't believe how well they did though - I was so proud! I always swore we would not take the kids on a trip of this magnitude until they could carry their own snacks and activities, so I'm happy to report that they did a GREAT job of managing their little Thomas the Train backpacks. We didn't even use half of the activities, which makes me happy since we'll have them to dig out on the trip home.
Now on to the next adventure - Maui for Mom & Dad. As the day gets closer, I'm getting more and more excited! I'm supposed to be focused on work today and all I can think about is sun, surf, and six days of sleeping in! LOL!
Later 'taters!
Lisa
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Trying Redwork
I've lost practically all my sewing time to sleeping! How I wish I could say it is helping but sadly I still feel very tired all the time. Perhaps part of it is a serious LACK of caffeine - how I do miss my morning cuppa joe! But, baby doesn't, so baby wins.
Just found out a quilty friend is having her first grandbaby - so excited for her as it's been a rough start to 2009 for her personally. Our virtual sewing group is making small blocks and I want to participate but my attention to detail is sorely lacking just now - I'm sort of afraid I'll lop off a thumb if I try to do any rotary cutting!
So I started thinking, how I can participate with my limited time and inability to manage sharp tools without injury? Then it came to me...the dear lady who proposed this idea mentioned redwork! I can do redwork - I have FOUR months after all to get it done! I can take redwork on the PLANE when we fly all over creation the latter part of this month. Redwork doesn't require any precise measuring or large sharp tools! As for the small sharp tool (needle), let's just say, I've had my shots so it's no big deal. :)
Having heard about, but never actually done, redwork, I looked for free patterns on the internet. Thank you Google.
So here's a great post about the history of redwork, also known as penny squares, on Quiltbug. Great tips! I'm thinking of doing my squares in crayon brights - if it turns out to be rather easy, maybe I can make enough additional squares for a little quilt for my baby, too.
Holy cow there's some cute stuff out there! I'm not so much into really complex designs - for example, these patterns are great but not for me! I like the simpler type - kitties and piggies and nursery rhymes. This alphabet freebie is really really cute, but not for babies.
Here are some sweet free nursery rhymes - oh how I LOVE the Three Little Kittens!
And here is a really nice sewing machine. I might have to make this one as a test to put up as a little wall hanging in my sewing room!
The more I look at the patterns, the more charming I find them so I think I will do this as my contribution to the grandbaby quilt.
Later 'taters!
Lisa
Just found out a quilty friend is having her first grandbaby - so excited for her as it's been a rough start to 2009 for her personally. Our virtual sewing group is making small blocks and I want to participate but my attention to detail is sorely lacking just now - I'm sort of afraid I'll lop off a thumb if I try to do any rotary cutting!
So I started thinking, how I can participate with my limited time and inability to manage sharp tools without injury? Then it came to me...the dear lady who proposed this idea mentioned redwork! I can do redwork - I have FOUR months after all to get it done! I can take redwork on the PLANE when we fly all over creation the latter part of this month. Redwork doesn't require any precise measuring or large sharp tools! As for the small sharp tool (needle), let's just say, I've had my shots so it's no big deal. :)
Having heard about, but never actually done, redwork, I looked for free patterns on the internet. Thank you Google.
So here's a great post about the history of redwork, also known as penny squares, on Quiltbug. Great tips! I'm thinking of doing my squares in crayon brights - if it turns out to be rather easy, maybe I can make enough additional squares for a little quilt for my baby, too.
Holy cow there's some cute stuff out there! I'm not so much into really complex designs - for example, these patterns are great but not for me! I like the simpler type - kitties and piggies and nursery rhymes. This alphabet freebie is really really cute, but not for babies.
Here are some sweet free nursery rhymes - oh how I LOVE the Three Little Kittens!
And here is a really nice sewing machine. I might have to make this one as a test to put up as a little wall hanging in my sewing room!
The more I look at the patterns, the more charming I find them so I think I will do this as my contribution to the grandbaby quilt.
Later 'taters!
Lisa
Monday, March 2, 2009
March Comes In
March has roared in like a lion at our house, bringing with it yet another round of illness. Both boys have ear infections, Nicholas having both ears and Nathan just one. Still, they are tough guys, because neither really complained about ears hurting. Yesterday their eyes started getting all goopy and I was worried it was pink eye, so first thing today we marched off to see the wonderful Dr. P. He loves to see the kids, even if they are sick. I was really surprised by the diagnosis - usually ear infections come with crying and sore ears but not this time around. I didn't really feel like Mother of the Year either, since I'd taken them to the pool on Saturday when it seemed like everyone was fine. I guess we can't keep them in a bubble, but I sure do wish spring would REALLY come so we could throw open the doors and windows and AIR OUT a little. I'm still struggling with the congestion crud. Think I'm going to have to break down and go to the doc - I can't be sick at the end of the month when we have our vacation coming.
We got my brother married off (well, for the second time) last weekend. Kids had a ball learning what a "reception" is and dancing like fools. Naturally, dancing like fools HAD to include Mom - who else do you dance with when you're 4? I did manage to get one nice dance with DH in, to "Unchained Melody" which was one of the four decent songs the DJ played all night - the others being "We are Family," "Celebration," and "She's a Brickhouse." Yep - they got so much worse from there, with lots of scratching and beat-boxing and noisy whatnot. Not my cup of tea. But my brother and his new wife seemed to have a lot of fun - his kids and her son were all very involved in the ceremony and reception. I wish them only the best.
Gotta run, work won't wait.
Toodles!
Lisa
We got my brother married off (well, for the second time) last weekend. Kids had a ball learning what a "reception" is and dancing like fools. Naturally, dancing like fools HAD to include Mom - who else do you dance with when you're 4? I did manage to get one nice dance with DH in, to "Unchained Melody" which was one of the four decent songs the DJ played all night - the others being "We are Family," "Celebration," and "She's a Brickhouse." Yep - they got so much worse from there, with lots of scratching and beat-boxing and noisy whatnot. Not my cup of tea. But my brother and his new wife seemed to have a lot of fun - his kids and her son were all very involved in the ceremony and reception. I wish them only the best.
Gotta run, work won't wait.
Toodles!
Lisa
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
You noticed something strange...
...like, I have been missing for a month, right? Well, in the spirit of telling you about my "firsts" in 2009, I'm back with a new first.
I'm pregnant. With just one baby. Talk about your firsts.
Now maybe this news would not rock everyone's world, but it rocked my little world a bit. So I took a little break from pretty much everything unnecessary to life for a few weeks as I processed it. And now I'm feeling much more simpatico with this change, so I'm back.
If you would kindly send a quick prayer for the health and well-being of this little child, I would appreciate it. Mom's no spring chicken and while I know worrying about what you can't control is just borrowing trouble, I still can't help but need a little reassurance.
"Worry never robs tomorrow of it's sorrow, but only saps today of its strength." ~ A.J. Cronin
Later 'taters!
Lisa
I'm pregnant. With just one baby. Talk about your firsts.
Now maybe this news would not rock everyone's world, but it rocked my little world a bit. So I took a little break from pretty much everything unnecessary to life for a few weeks as I processed it. And now I'm feeling much more simpatico with this change, so I'm back.
If you would kindly send a quick prayer for the health and well-being of this little child, I would appreciate it. Mom's no spring chicken and while I know worrying about what you can't control is just borrowing trouble, I still can't help but need a little reassurance.
"Worry never robs tomorrow of it's sorrow, but only saps today of its strength." ~ A.J. Cronin
Later 'taters!
Lisa
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Mystery Needles
So I've been slowly working back into quilting, which I love but had largely given up when I had the twins. I have a sewing room with a door that locks now, so it's been easier to ease back into it. I've joined some terrific Yahoo groups, which I'll blog about another day, but what I need to talk about in this post is: needles.
Sometime before the kids were born, I must have gotten a "sweet" deal on a box of 100 sewing machine needles. I say it was a "sweet" deal because I know myself and in the fog of pregnancy brain, I must have decided to buy this box of needles due to their incredible price. However, I clearly neglected to confirm they were the right type of needles for the Juki. Let me say that Juki makes industrial sewing machines, but a few years ago they came out with a few home-sewer workhorse machines that kick-it on the straightaway! I adore my Juki 98TL! So, I saw "sweet" deal price and the name Juki and thought I was being wise.
So here I have 100 needles with round shanks. They don't fit in any of my machines, since all of mine take a flat shank. Hmphf! So much for my "sweet" deal.
I offered them up on quiltvillechat to some ladies who were mentioning they were struggling to find needles to fit in old machines. So, we're going to try an experiment - I'm sending out some needles to them and anyone who gets a good "fit" gets the needles that are left!
It makes me happy NOT to have these hanging around the house any longer. In 2009 I really want to work on the clutter and chaos around here, and that means clearing out sewing clutter as well. I'm never EVER going to be able to use these needles. I hate waste. So I'm praying and hoping that they will work for at least ONE of these nice ladies so we can give them a new home.
I did promise to write about the mystery-quilt-of-a-zillion-little-pieces...it's coming. I need better pictures first. :)
Toodles!
Lisa M
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Make your voice heard
Please take a minute to go read about the CPSIA that could become law in early February 2009, then spread the word that we need to amend this law before it passes. While I'm not a home-business owner, there are literally thousands of American families that could be negatively impacted by this poorly worded law.
Let's tell our representatives how we feel about this. We can make a difference, from one voice to many.
My thanks to coolmompicks.com for this wonderful little button.
Toodles!
Lisa M
Let's tell our representatives how we feel about this. We can make a difference, from one voice to many.
My thanks to coolmompicks.com for this wonderful little button.
Toodles!
Lisa M
Sunday, January 4, 2009
A Year of Firsts
Welcome to my first public blog! 2009 is going to be a great year of "firsts" for me, so I wanted to set up a little spot where I can share it all.
Blogging seems self-indulgent in a lot of ways, so what want to do is offer you a little "something" with each blog, not just a random brain-dump of whatever happens to be up there at the moment. My posts will likely cover a wide swath of ground - my "firsts" whenever they happen as well as some pearls I might have picked up in my few years.
So let's talk about a first - artisan bread. Who doesn't love it, right? Chewy dense interior, with a crackling crust that just about makes you want to weep.
So I'm a little nutty about good bread.
Found an intriguing post on angry chicken about this five-minute bread. So...I'm thinking that just isn't right, but the pictures really look great. Seriously great. And she has small children and can still make it. I decided to check it out from the library.
2009 Cheap Tip #1: If you don't have a local library card, what are you waiting for? Just go get one. Seriously, get your money's worth for all those taxes you pay to support the thing and go get yourself acquainted with your local librarian!
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I checked out this delightful book that assures me that I can make artisan bread at home, with little or no bread-making skill. "Hmmm, I have little or no bread-making skill," I think to myself optimistically.
I used a gift card from my boss to buy a pizza stone from a local restaurant supply place. All the other ones at places like Bed, Bath, and Beyond just looked thin and wimpy. If I'm going to do this, I'd better do it right! The restaurant supply store had a stone that is at least 1/2" thick, as recommended by the book. With little or no bread-making skill, I figured I'd have the best success if I stuck to the book pretty closely on supplies. Picked up a pizza peel on the way home from aforementioned BBB. Oh, learned what a pizza peel IS, then picked it up at BBB.
2009 Cheap Tip #2: Research what you are looking for on the internet, then see if you have a local store you can buy from on your way home from work - with a coupon. And no shipping cost. And no long wait. Don't get me wrong, I do love me some internet shopping - just not in the case of a long weekend, a new cookbook, a new pizza stone, and a burning desire for 5-minute bread.
I read the instructions first. This should prove beyond a doubt that I truly do not possess bread-making skills. I gathered the ingredients and tossed them all into the Kitchenaid and let'er rip! I let it rest/rise for the 2 hours noted, pulled off a hunk and made my first baby loaf of artisan bread. I could not believe this was going to work.
Amazingly, it was great! The bread came out beautifully, my family scarfed it down. Pickle remarked repeatedly that this was the best bread EVER. At bedtime, when asked to tell God what he was grateful for, can you believe he told our Heavely Father that he was grateful for my bread?!
I made 4 loaves from that first batch. Then I made a second batch, this time I got braver and added some wheat flour. DH thought it was such a masterpiece that he staged this photo shoot this afternoon for the loaf I made this morning.
We gobbled it down with crockpot Porkchops and Cabbage from this crockpot bible. I have the series. Perfect for someone with little or no skill.
Tomorrow we'll see how a day-old loaf tastes with Crockpot Split Pea Soup - same recipe book. Why mess with a proven winner?
We'll see if I can continue to make bread now that I'm back to work on Monday. I have enough dough in the fridge for about 3 more loaves this week. Once the dough is made, it honestly did take about 5 minutes to pull off a hunk, shape it, and set it out to rise. Rise 40 min, bake 30 min, you're all set for fresh bread - very little active participation once it's set out, other than setting timers. Oh, and turning on the oven at the right time, that helps.
Coming soon: the insanity of a Mystery Quilt. Subtitled as - what was I thinking??
Toodles!
Lisa M
Blogging seems self-indulgent in a lot of ways, so what want to do is offer you a little "something" with each blog, not just a random brain-dump of whatever happens to be up there at the moment. My posts will likely cover a wide swath of ground - my "firsts" whenever they happen as well as some pearls I might have picked up in my few years.
So let's talk about a first - artisan bread. Who doesn't love it, right? Chewy dense interior, with a crackling crust that just about makes you want to weep.
So I'm a little nutty about good bread.
Found an intriguing post on angry chicken about this five-minute bread. So...I'm thinking that just isn't right, but the pictures really look great. Seriously great. And she has small children and can still make it. I decided to check it out from the library.
2009 Cheap Tip #1: If you don't have a local library card, what are you waiting for? Just go get one. Seriously, get your money's worth for all those taxes you pay to support the thing and go get yourself acquainted with your local librarian!
Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming. I checked out this delightful book that assures me that I can make artisan bread at home, with little or no bread-making skill. "Hmmm, I have little or no bread-making skill," I think to myself optimistically.
I used a gift card from my boss to buy a pizza stone from a local restaurant supply place. All the other ones at places like Bed, Bath, and Beyond just looked thin and wimpy. If I'm going to do this, I'd better do it right! The restaurant supply store had a stone that is at least 1/2" thick, as recommended by the book. With little or no bread-making skill, I figured I'd have the best success if I stuck to the book pretty closely on supplies. Picked up a pizza peel on the way home from aforementioned BBB. Oh, learned what a pizza peel IS, then picked it up at BBB.
2009 Cheap Tip #2: Research what you are looking for on the internet, then see if you have a local store you can buy from on your way home from work - with a coupon. And no shipping cost. And no long wait. Don't get me wrong, I do love me some internet shopping - just not in the case of a long weekend, a new cookbook, a new pizza stone, and a burning desire for 5-minute bread.
I read the instructions first. This should prove beyond a doubt that I truly do not possess bread-making skills. I gathered the ingredients and tossed them all into the Kitchenaid and let'er rip! I let it rest/rise for the 2 hours noted, pulled off a hunk and made my first baby loaf of artisan bread. I could not believe this was going to work.
Amazingly, it was great! The bread came out beautifully, my family scarfed it down. Pickle remarked repeatedly that this was the best bread EVER. At bedtime, when asked to tell God what he was grateful for, can you believe he told our Heavely Father that he was grateful for my bread?!
I made 4 loaves from that first batch. Then I made a second batch, this time I got braver and added some wheat flour. DH thought it was such a masterpiece that he staged this photo shoot this afternoon for the loaf I made this morning.
We gobbled it down with crockpot Porkchops and Cabbage from this crockpot bible. I have the series. Perfect for someone with little or no skill.
Tomorrow we'll see how a day-old loaf tastes with Crockpot Split Pea Soup - same recipe book. Why mess with a proven winner?
We'll see if I can continue to make bread now that I'm back to work on Monday. I have enough dough in the fridge for about 3 more loaves this week. Once the dough is made, it honestly did take about 5 minutes to pull off a hunk, shape it, and set it out to rise. Rise 40 min, bake 30 min, you're all set for fresh bread - very little active participation once it's set out, other than setting timers. Oh, and turning on the oven at the right time, that helps.
Coming soon: the insanity of a Mystery Quilt. Subtitled as - what was I thinking??
Toodles!
Lisa M
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