The lonely garden

--or--

So that's why pickles were invented.

--or--

So that's what tomato cages are for.

I finally went out and spent some time in my poor garden today. With all of the rain, I haven't needed to water, so it's been neglected. The weeds made a fence around the whole thing and it's work just to get in.

The zucchini seems to have given up, crowded out by the massive tomato plants.

The yellow squash is fighting valiantly back, I think I'll have another 15 squash later this week.

The cucumbers, who've mixed with the cantaloupe, are all over the place and producing zillions of cucumbers. I don't even like cucumber.

The tomatoes, sans cages, have grown wild and taken over yards of garden, but they're sprawling and thick and so no light gets to the little tomatoes, and they're perpetually green. And nibbled by bunnies.

The cantaloupes, which did look so good, now look like an elephant came and stepped on them, or like vampire bunnies came and sucked all of the insides out. I really don't understand what happened there.

The watermelon still seems happy. When should I pick him?

Here's the bounty for today. Some of them look too big to be good to me. Does that happen? Do they get too big to be good?

Girls Day In

Today Anna and Mama ignored the messy house, forgot about the unfinished classroom, and threw all responsibility out the window and spent the whole day in Mama's bed watching the Olympics and building things out of pillows. It was lovely.

Time to get back to it!

Go World!

A safe snob, maybe?

Adding the copyright at the top of the blog makes me feel like a snob, but after reading sweet/salty today (warning--a naughty word or two, she's angry), it seems like a good idea, at least.

Belated Birthday Wish

This is late--for Chelsea.

We may be getting older, but take comfort in the fact that on the fridge on 5th St, we'll ALWAYS look like this.

Happy 30th Birthday!

Farm Girl

Tonight I prepared and froze zucchini and yellow squash from my garden. I feel like a real farm wife. I signed up for this "Fix it Fresh" mailbox course from my extension agent, and it has instructions for doing all sorts of things with produce. My yellow squash and zucchini have been doing really well, and we don't eat here at the house very often, so I wanted some way to keep it. It was pretty easy and fun.First I chopped it all up. That was fun because ever since Sarah taught me how to dice things, it's lots of fun to do. I had about 18 cups all together. I can't remember how many yellow squash and zucchini I cut up.

Then I boiled a lot of water in a big pot. (the instructions say 6 cups to a gallon of water) I put 6 cups of vegetables into the water and boiled them for 3 minutes.

Then I drained them immediately and cooled them off with cold water and ice cubes. Rinse and cool for 3 minutes, drain, and transfer to bags. I did three batches.

It was pretty fun and didn't take too long, except the waiting for the water to boil. That took a long time.

I don't know how the rest of my garden is going to do. I didn't get tomato cages on my tomatoes and so they're all spread out all over the place. The lettuce I picked but haven't eaten yet. The peppers I accidentally got look good, but I have NO idea what I'm going to do with them. Anyone know about banana peppers? The cucumbers and cantaloupe have grown together in a tangled mess I only noticed tonight, so I don't know about them either. The watermelon's looking OK, but I've never grown it before so I don't actually know.

Fly on the wall

Tonight Anna and I had dinner with Linda at Quiznos. Anna noticed a fly on the window and Linda commented that the fly was crawling instead of flying.

Anna (delighted): That fly is pretending to be a cat!

Dog Days of Summer

Check out Matthew's post about what happened here tonight.

Not a conversation I ever envisioned having.

4th of July

Anna and Lucy. Two good friends. Too too cute.

We Alsops like doing quiet fireworks. Snakes...

Smoke bombs...
Snap 'n' Pops

The whole crowd watching from the front porch.

This year Matthew was harvesting, so I did the meat all by myself. Delicious.

We also figured out Mom's Potato Salad, which was very exciting.

It was a good day.

My Mama

Rita Alsop

September 23, 1951-June 18, 2008


Service Times:

Vigil @ St. Dominic Church 7:00pm Friday, June 20, 2008.
Funeral Mass with Dinner to follow @ St. Dominic Church 10:00am Saturday, June 21, 2008.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (KJV)

Mom's cancer didn't go the way we'd hoped, but there are things to be thankful for.

• Hospice is a great organization, they're helpful and efficient and unfailingly kind.
• It's summer, so I can be home all day, every day, to help out and squeeze in every moment of time available.
• Anna has so many friends and so much family that she just thinks she's getting to do lots of fun fun things. I already have her scheduled through Wednesday.
• It's summer, so every day the three Alsop girls can go to the pool when Dad gets home from work, and then go for sno cones.
• I'm married to Matthew, who'll let me spend every day, all day, at my parent's house.
• Susan gets to stay home another week.
• I really like Father Wesley.
• I have a lot of friends who love me.
• We get the chance to say things many people don't get to say.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Gatorade

Since Matthew's pretty much on his own these days, I like to throw in little bits of helpfulness where I can.

Tonight I made 260oz of Gatorade in about 10 minutes.

Here's the (over?)simplified recipie.

1 packet kool-aid

2 T lemon juice

3/8 tsp salt

1/2 c. sugar

2 qts water

Mix it up, pour it into saved bottles from the real stuff, and you're good to go!

Public Service Announcement

Even if it's a really good prize for going in the potty, even if it's cute....

It's never a good idea to give a 3 year old a harmonica.

yea/yeah/yay

I've seen much confusion in the blogosphere about the appropriate use of these three words.

On Friday, Matthew's daily calendar of "random things people say incorrectly and how to correct them" (a wonderful gift that we really enjoy, because we are nerds) addressed this very issue!

Here is the answer:

yea/yeah/yay

"Yea" is a very old-fashioned, formal way of saying "yes," used mainly in voting. It's the opposite of-- and rhymes with--"nay." When you want to write the common casual version of "yes," the correct spelling is "yeah" (sounds like "yeh"). When the third grade teacher announced a class trip to the zoo, we all yelled "yay!" (the opposite of "boo!"). That was back when I was only yay big.

Thank you, nerd calendar. And Katrina, for knowing us for who we really are.

Pickles, jam, rocks, and hard places.

I did NOT see this coming.

Today, after the 3 accidents before 10:00am...we had no more accidents, and also, no successes. She just didn't DO anything. (we were in the pool for a while, so I guess I'm hoping she did there?) I am hydrating the child! I'm really confused.

Tonight, when she really really didn't want to sit on the potty, I thought, OK, so we're not there yet, no biggie, and explained that if she didn't want to use the potty, we'd need to put a diaper back on. But no, she doesn't want to wear diapers, they're for babies. She wants her soft panties. She doesn't want to get the panties wet, she doesn't want to sit on the potty. She, apparently, wants to not release anything from herself in any way.

I'm so glad we started potty training! Before I felt bad just because she was 3 and in diapers...now I can worry about her actual physical and emotional health too! Yay!

Bored yet?

Day 2

Woke up dry, then three accidents, then our last visit from Parents As Teachers *sniff*

She did her "chore" (putting away the clean silverware) in record time and without complaining, so when she said she wanted to watch something, I thought that would be fine. Once again, watching TV on the potty.

I think we'll get some pull-ups in town today.

End of Day One

No more accidents, one more success. We were playing in the pool when Anna suddenly said "I need to go potty!" We ran in. Panties have stayed dry since.

I passed parenting duty off to Matthew when I got home, so they're in the bathroom together now.

My fortune from tonight's dinner:

"Your short term goal will soon be realized."

So I'm expecting smooth sailing from here on out...

continued

After the third accident put a temporary end to the plastic panties, I just plopped her on the potty in front of a movie. (Not a Mama's finest hour)

1 hour later, we have contact!

Now we're off to the pool.

Potty Training...The first few hours

Anna had a terrible start to the morning. She woke up at 6:30, and stumbled, crying, into our room. She was still exhausted, but it was light outside, so she thought it was time to wake up. She crawled into bed with us, and instead of falling asleep, she cried and kicked us, so she was sent back to her own bed with many tears. I finally went in to talk to her, and ended up falling asleep with her in her bed. We woke up a few hours later.

I had been thinking that if we could just get a good start to the morning, we'd start really trying to go on the potty. Today I thought, we're never going to have a good opportunity to do this, so we might as well just start now.

We've been wearing panties and sitting on the potty every 15 minutes, and we've had two enormous accidents accompanied by tears (Anna's) but nary a drop in the potty itself.

Hmmm....

A warning

If you enjoy reading chick lit for fun, for a laugh, for easy conflicts and happy endings--AVOID "Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner.

This is not to say it's a terrible horrible book. I'm sure it's good, but it's not what I was looking for. It's NOT "literary cotton candy" It has sad in it. I think maybe books should come with warning stickers or something.

Blankie on a limb

I went a little crazy with the last baby blanket that I made. I'm sending it to my cousin Janie, who's pretty fun and funky, so I hope she likes it. I do, but it is strange. Very Dr. Seuss.

It's light blue with stripes of green fuzzy yarn.

Here's the whole thing.

Here's a side shot so you can see the fuzzy texture,And here it is on a test-drive.

In other news, I have 16 items on my Summer To Do list. I'm trying to be relaxed and ok with not getting it all done.

Today I've been working on the photo projects for the summer. Each year after Anna's Birthday I go through the pictures for the year and pick a picture from each month to print in an 8x10 for her big album, and 4 4x6's for the hall. It helps me feel better about not ever taking professional pictures. I've just finished choosing and cropping and they should be at Wal-Mart in a couple of days. Then I put them in the album and frame and I'm down to 14 things on the list.

If only "Potty Train Anna" were as simple.

An appeal

I'm doing another tech program next year at school. Today we had to sign up for the equipment that we'd like to have in our classroom, and one of the things we could choose was a digital camera, a nice-ish one, for $250. I'd love to have some cameras for the kids to use, but they really don't need nice ones, and it occurred to me that I could donate our old camera to the school, and that would be free! Then I thought, if we have an old camera that we've replaced with something fancier, surely other people do too... If anyone would like to donate a camera to our school, let me know. I'll be glad to help. Or maybe you'd consider donating one to a school close to you? I know they'd appreciate it and use it. I could go on and on about the benefits of technology in the classroom (I just did a presentation on it), but you already know that, right?

Just an idea I had. Let me know if you'd like to help.

Lainey's blanket

Now that Lainey has her quilt, you can see what it looks like.

I enjoyed making it, though I'm not super happy with the binding. It's very uneven in one spot, but I didn't get it back from the quilter until the day before we left, so I was up late finishing it. Sewing the binding on by machine is quicker, but I think the hand sewing is a nicer finish, unless I get much better at the doing it by machine.

I also learned doing this quilt that I don't like doing borders. Once I get the main piecing done, I don't like having to do borders too, but they do look nice.

And I really want a machine so that I can do the quilting myself too, but I think that's a long way off.

The pattern is from a quilting magazine of Mom's...They called it "Atlantic Chain" It's a simplified version of an Irish Chain, done in purple and a white with purple flowers, with a Leopard print back, per Lainey's request.

Here are a few shots.

Marg and Lainey...I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing, could you take one and send it to me? Thanks!

A post without pictures

The other day I was in the shower when I heard Anna say


"Say Cheese, Mama!"







Then we had a conversation about how we don't take pictures of people when they're not dressed.



When did she learn to turn on the camera?

Summer!

It's not quite here for me yet. School was out on Tuesday, but then Wednesday I had to start packing up my room, since I'm losing it to 6th grade next year and moving into the Library. This morning we gave our presentation for the Tech program we did this year, I'll find out in the morning how we did. Hopefully we'll the the full amount of $, since I already bought the tickets to Oregon. :) Then this afternoon Abby came out and helped me finish packing up the room. Tomorrow I need to "check out" officially and get all of my papers signed, and THEN, it's summer. I'm thinking I'll take the weekend totally off, and then get started on my summer projects, etc. Well, except that maybe I'll try to potty train Anna, which is on the list.

I'm going to go ahead and post an unflattering picture of myself here, because it made me laugh so much to see it. Matthew took these on our trip this weekend, when I fell asleep in the car...

Should I maybe add *sleep* to the list?

Anna's Art

Last week Anna drew her first picture that was more than random squiggles. Lions, and birds in the sky.

And here's her self-portrait.

Spinning...Or...Is this why I'm late for everything?

Here's my today so far.

Get home from school, talk to Poppa Marion, note that Anna is in a really good mood. Mentally thank Katrina for her prayers. Look at the computer for a minute and listen to the LOONG annoying song Shauna posted. Since the song is STILL going on, and Anna's happy, go ahead and get out the yarn to choose next project. Play yarn with Anna and decide what to make. Notice fabric on table to make blanket for another baby. Anna wants to sew. OK, lay out blanket and stitch it up with Anna on lap. Turn right side out, decide it needs to be ironed before top-stitching.

On the way to the ironing board, remember that Matthew will be home soon for lunch, and will be more interested in eating than top-stitching. Lay blanket on ironing board for later. See Washing Machine. Remember that it's laundry day. Better start a load. Check dryer, still has work clothes in it. Take work clothes to bedroom to fold. Can't put them on bed, bed is not made. Make bed.

Change out of work clothes, notice the bathroom is messy. Tidy bathroom. Ask Anna to help pick up clothes off of the floor and put in hamper. Anna is Clifford, notices new books as she crawls across the floor with a t-shirt in her mouth. Anna asks for a story. Read a story. Read "just one more". Explain to Anna that Daddy will be home ANY MINUTE. Try to make her laugh and distract her by pretending Daddy will be a big hungry bear. Fail. Listen to Anna whine and cry for another story.

Walk by Anna's kitchen and pick it up quickly while thinking that she should really be doing it herself. Go into the kitchen to start lunch, can't start until counters are clear, begin to tidy kitchen. Find strange cup/spoon/yogurt contraption by Anna's highchair. Take it apart to wash it. Anna flops on the floor crying "Don't do that to my birdhouse!" Apologize. Start lunch.

Ask Anna to pick up her shoes and put them away. Ask again. Count to 3. Put screaming child on time-out. Cut up an apple, get out carrots. Talk to Anna about why she's on time-out. Give hugs.

Tell her to put her shoes away. Ask again. Count to 3. Put screaming child back on time-out.

Pour drinks, set table, give Matthew lunch. Talk to Anna about why she's on time-out. Give hugs. Tell her to put her shoes away.

Go with her to her room to help put on her slippers. Change diaper. Anna tearfully asks for a nap. Put her in her bed and put on the Cinderella story tape. Notice on the way back to the kitchen that the washer's done. Put clothes in dryer, start new load. Matthew is done with lunch. Sit down to eat. Think about the last 3 hours. Wonder how 3 hours can feel like 20 minutes.

Blog about it.

Woozy

I've been fusing plastic bags together today. I opened the door and I sure couldn't smell any fumes, but you know how my nose is...I feel a little lightheaded and nauseous.

So if you want to fuse plastic--GOOD VENTILATION is important--otherwise it's very easy. Here's the tutorial I used. I recommend just using one piece of parchment paper that you move around under the iron, it's easier to see that way. And when sewing it's a little easier to sew with parchment over the plastic, some of the plastics really clung to the presser foot. You can just pull the paper away when you're done and feel very cool and professional.



Anyhoo--here are pictures of what I made.
A bagand a little pouch (why? what on earth for?)

This one has the same awkward shape all of my bags do. When I'm making bags, I always do it just like Megan showed me, with the folded in bottom. I wonder if I should try a different method sometime. This is what usually happens. I sew the sides together, fold in my corners, and think about a nice wide bottom. Then I sew it all up and turn it back right side out and the bottom is too wide and the bag is not deep enough anymore. And when sewing plastic--you can't rip out your stitches to redo it.

Plus for this project--I used some of the bags that I had from Mexico that I've been saving forever because they had Spanish on them and I couldn't just throw them away. Downside--proof that if you save something, eventually you will figure out what to do with it.

Also here are photos of the pale star blankie I've been working on. A shot of the whole thing and a close up for colors. I used up several scraps on this one, that made me happy. The very pregnant mama at my school was happy with it too.

I'm currently deciding what to start next. I have 4 more babies on the list, but I kind of want to crochet something different, so maybe I'll sew for those babies.


Now maybe time for a glass of water.

Shakespeare's Birthday

Sonnet 23

As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharged with burden of mine on love's might.
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more expressed.
O, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

I think I'll call them...

JoJoBalls!

Remember when Joanna sent me the big bunch of strange pieced fabric pointed ellipses? I've been having loads of fun with them (Anna too). These take about 10 minutes to make and are strangely appealing. I've made 4. I have enough fabric to make 12. If you want one, comment and I'll send you one, because really, WHAT are we going to do with 12 fabric balls? They're actually pretty nice for throwing at people, soft and light and unlikely to hurt, but, unlike a nerf ball, with good throwing velocity.

I also learned how to do a new stitch. Here, in the blurry pictures, you can sort of see how I finished the first ball with a whip stitch.

I thought as I was doing it that there was surely a better way, so I took it to town and asked Mom, and she showed me how to do a blind stitch. (I'm not sure if that's what it's called) Anyway, the stitches are all hidden inside. Here is a picture of the second ball. I especially like making them because Anna helps me stuff them and sits on my lap while I'm sewing. Yesterday I heard her "sewing" She was talking herself through the process "first you line up the sides like this, just right, now don't get your fingers too close..." What fun.

Introducing...

Lady.

So here she is from the front

and the back

I don't use a key to start her, I just push this little button. The first morning I couldn't remember how to start her and I had to run back in and get MJL. (You have to have your foot on the brake.)

This is what I have instead of a key. As long as I have this, she recognizes me and I can open the trunk or the door without even taking it out of my pocket. It's pretty fun. On our first errand day together, I found this CD at Goodwill. We had fun singing it together (makes me giggle every time). It feels appropriate, as I get adjusted to driving something so fancy.

I'm itching to take a trip now...

Little boxes

I made a couple of little boxes this weekend. I found the kit at Goodwill a while ago, it's been in the project pile. They were pretty fun to make, and I like to think about using them to wrap presents for years and years. I also got to do a couple of things I've never done before. I used iron-on interfacing and tried out the "stipple" quilting method (meandering stitch) I drew some lines on the fabric and then just tried to follow them. I'll need LOTS more practice at that if I ever want to use it on something real.

I used slurmies instead of ribbon, because I love slurmies.

Here they are:

And inside views with gifts for scale.

Good things about growing up.

(Happy Happy Birthday Phinn!)

I'm 30 now, but 30 still sounds young and hip to me, so I'm not worried.

I was thinking today about the things that I like about being (at least on paper) a grown-up. Here's a little list.

1. Having my own bottle of super-glue. (it was actually this joy that prompted the list)
2. Staying up late.
3. Having my own house.
4. Living with Matthew.
5. Anna.
6. Taking trips whenever I want.
7. Buying candy bars at gas stations on said trips.
8. Having matching dishes.
9. Feeling good about who I am.
10. Not having to do math.

Here's Writer's Almanac for today. Thanks Dad!

Rainy Day Things

I made a big ol' pillow for my bed today, with fabric that matches the curtains. I always thought making a pillow sham with a flanged edge was something fancy, but come to find you just make the pillowcase 3 inches bigger all around and then sew a seam 3 inches in, and there's your flange. Simple as can be. Here's my little darlin' (sick today) using it to watch Robin Hood.
We got to see Heath and Jenny and their boys this weekend, that was fun. We went to the park and the kids ran around together, but I forgot to take any pictures. Oops. They'll just have to come back. :)

Matthew and I started watching "All Creature Great and Small" last night. We both just finished the books and loved them. The show is wonderful too. We laugh and laugh, and, unlike most other things, we can watch it with Anna around. It's eerie. I know my parents watched them when they were on TV, and it makes me feel like I'm little again. It's all so familiar. I remember thinking that my parents watched really boring TV, and now I'm choosing it. Does that make me old?

My Dad sent me a link to this article about people's top 5 books, and asked for our lists. I took that to mean books I loved and would always want to have around, and read over and over. Here's mine: (edited after Susan called me out, saying there's no way I'd put the Bible above Anne. I'm afraid she's right, but that's terrible. She also said I couldn't count all of the Anne books as one, but I'm going to anyway...People count the Lord of the Rings trilogy as one book...and hey! the Bible has lots of books in it too. So there.)


1. Anne of Green Gables, et al--L.M. Montgomery
2. The Bible
3. Cannery Row--Steinbeck
4. Our Mutual Friend--Dickens
5. Papa's Wife--Thyra Ferre Bjorn


Now--What are your top five??

Dollar Store Challenge

I entered this month's Craftster Challenge, though my entry is just a trifle alongside the incredible, amazing offerings of the other craftsters. It was fun for me, and I learned several things, and I know what I want to do with what I made, so I'll not feel bad about my entry.

Here are some that you should definitely look at. The challenge was to spend no more than $10 at a Dollar Store and make something.

Hands off my trash

The shag bag

Mod circles bath mat

Mum & Bub rainy day ensemble

Shoes!

Super functional kitchen caddy

Fancy Pants outfit for a toddler

Retro-style flower hat

The Amazing Technicolor Puppet Theater

Goodbye, sweet friend

Matthew bought me a new car. He says that when we got Prissy I was sad and just missed Iggy. He says it wasn't until she told me her name that I loved her. I guess I'll love my new car too, but I think I'll always miss Prissy a little.
Remember...

• Bringing Anna home from the hospital.
• Driving home from Denver for Katrina's wedding, with Chelsea and Brandi and Katrina, feeling like no time had passed since High School.
• Getting stuck in Traffic for hours in the Smoky Mountains, tossing gum to fellow travelers, scaring Katrina.
• Going to Henderson TN, instead of Hendersonville in search of Johnny Cash's grave.
• Leaving her lights on at the State Fair Brad Paisley Concert. Katrina and I trying to jump-start her.
• Anna's crazy poo explosion in Limon on our first big trip together.
• Exploring Kansas.
• Driving all over Corpus Christi with Susan looking for the Selena Museum, and wondering where all the people were.
• Ringing in 2006 with Matthew driving through Scott City, singing Tiny Dancer at the top of our lungs.
• Mice living in the car that cold winter.
• Playing Fiona Apple loudly on bad days at the High School.
• Playing Vico C loudly on good ones.
• Accidentally going to the airport instead of the hotel in Wichita with Abby.
• Learning where my turn was when we moved out to the country.

Please share your Prissy memories. I'd love to know. And a prize to the first person to guess how many miles I put on her in the 52 months I had her. Within 1,000.

I feel like I ought to be sending her off into the world with a little personal ad on her windshield--

"Single White Female, loves long trips, the beach, loud Spanish music and Johnny Cash. Looking for love AND a good time."

Quarterly Checkup

I was thinking--maybe I'd do a better job with my resolutions if I thought about them more than just once a year. So, as we're finishing up the first quarter of this year, I thought I'd check in. **may be exceptionally boring post**

Be more healthy:
1. 5 fruits and veggies a day.--I think I am actually doing this most days. Woohoo!
2. 8 glasses of water.--Varies widely. But I think I'm drinking more water than last year, so that's something.
3. 7 hours of sleep a night.--Sometimes. I'm still working on it.
4. Get up before school to use my new treadmill!--I've given up on this one, as it is not possible to get enough sleep and get up before school. I've compromised- I use the treadmill in the afternoon, when I'm already up.
5. Incorporate new fruits and veggies into our lives.--Hmmm, I don't think I've really tried much new at all this year. Too busy so far. I'll have to work on this one.

Be more happy:
1. Try to sit more, not rush from one project to the next.--Total failure? Though I have been trying to watch TV with Matthew at night sometimes.
2. See more friends, make time to talk on the phone.--Nope. Worse than ever, I think. :(
3. Be nicer to Matthew.--Yes? I'll have to ask him.
4. Enjoy Anna.--Any tips on enjoying her when she's whiny? Because otherwise I'm doing ok, but the whining drives me crazy.

Be more holy:
1. Don't sleep too late to go to church. Enjoy both services.--Doing much better! New resolution--don't be late.

2. Read through the Bible.--Umm, we read though Anna's Bible, does that count? Otherwise, nope.
3. Pray more in a more focused way.--We may be figuring this out, praying with Anna and all together as a family is nice, and I've been trying to use my treadmill time too, but I sometimes feel bad multitasking God.

1. Support more local business and buy more handcrafted things.--Yes and no. We bought a lot of stuff for the bedroom online, and I forgot and bought the paint from Home Depot instead of J&M, I have done some shopping on Etsy, just no purchasing yet.

2. Take the GRE and start my master's program.--Application all done, now I wait!

3. Find more new music to love.--So far, pretty good. In January my Student Teacher introduced me to Bebe, from Spain. I love love love this CD (Pafuera telarañas). We had a great time poring over the lyrics with dictionaries trying to figure out which songs were clean and which were the reason for the EXPLICIT LYRICS warning. Bad words vary from country to country, so what's bad in Spain isn't in Mexico, and vise versa. It's a super fun CD, and I can recommend it without reservation, because most of you don't even speak Spanish, and won't know where the bad words are. (There really aren't too many)

In February Linda gave me a copy of Carla Bruni Quelqu'un M'a Dit. It's very calm and nice and in French, and I've loved it too.

In March...I don't think there's been anything perfect yet this month. Linda introduced me to She & Him, Volume One, and it was fun, but I haven't heard the whole CD yet. So, you all have one more day to give me a March album to love.

How're your resolutions going?

Book thing

Shauna said if we were reading her blog, we were tagged...

The instructions: 1. Pick up the nearest book. (No cheating! Don't try to be cool and find something spectacular. It must be the book in closest physical proximity.)2. Turn to page 123.
3. Count the first five sentences.4. Write down the next three sentences.

"With the first doubled strip, make one cut 51/4 inches from fold, and another cut 141/2 inches from the first cut, producing two 21/2-inch-deep x 101/2 -inch-wide pieces and four 21/2-inch-deep x 141/2-inch-wide pieces. Repeat these cuts with the remaining fourteen doubled strips for a total of thirty 21/2-inch-deep x 101/2-inch-wide pieces and sixty 21/2-inch-deep x 141/2-inch-wide pieces. Set these Log Cabin Strips aside for piecing.

--"Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts" Joelle Hoverson

If you feel tagged, you are. (I wish I knew what that philosophy was called)

Evidence

backstory here:

Tag

Katrina tagged me, and I do want to encourage her to blog more, so I'd better respond.

10 years ago:
I was living in Boyd with Nikki, rowing, and having the best Spring with Matthew. We had so much fun that semester. I think this is the semester I realized that Spanish was my favorite thing to study. **EDIT** Actually, it was the semester I majored in Economics.

Things on my To-Do List today: (all of them?)
1. Make Lunch (I like to put everything on the list so I can mark it off)
2. Work out-1 hour
3. Clean bathrooms
4. Sew pieced border on quilt
5. Cut/sew outer border
6. Piece back of quilt
7. Prep to take to quilting lady tomorrow
8. Town-errands
9. Work on Craftster challenge project
10. BH&G online garden planner
11. Finish grad school application

Three Bad Habits:
1. Not going to bed when I should, staying up indefinitely to do "one more thing"
2. Picking at the skin around my nails. (drives MJL crazy)
3. Being late to school, church, everything.

If suddenly I became a billionaire:
Isn't this the same for everyone? Pay off debts. Farm on a cash basis, not relying on Farm Credit. Travel travel travel. Share. Buy a new Barbie Pink VW Bug with silver glitter lightning stripes and kickin' sound system even though I can barely fit Anna in it. Visit everyone I want to whenever I want to and fly out of GC even though it's expensive. Buy everything locally. PUT IN TWO POOLS!! indoor and outdoor. I'd better stop now, I'm getting excited.

Five jobs I have had:
1. Cashier at the Fun Center
2. Baby-sitter
3. Office Cleaner
4. High School Spanish Teacher
5. Elementary Spanish Teacher


Five things you might not know about me:
1. I love being irresponsible in tiny ways.
2. I don't like to watch movies.
3. I wouldn't turn down a free trip, but I'm not interested in traveling to Asia, Africa, or Australia.
4. I can't stop watching Mr. Rogers if I start.
5. Making this list was incredibly difficult.

OK--now I'll tag...Melanie, Chelsea, and Jenny.

Puzzles

A few things that I just don't know WHAT to think about...

*****In the US News Career Guide, teaching is listed as one of the 13 "Most Overrated Careers"

*****I have a huge yard that I would like to make nice, but I have no idea where to start. Is it possible to have a passably nice yard without an incredible amount of effort? I'm willing to put in a lot of work up front, but then I don't want to have to do a lot of maintenance. Maybe I could do one job outside every day? 30 minutes or so? Does anyone want to make up a plan for me? Every time I go outside to work I end up overwhelmed. I know I could do it if I knew what to do.

*****Anna asked her Grammy Joan to teach her how to read on Saturday. She recognizes 4 words plus her name now. I hadn't even been working very much on the alphabet. She knows 11 letters, I checked tonight as we were playing with sidewalk chalk.

It set me again to thinking--what do I want for her? What do we REALLY want for our children? It's easy to think sometimes that she's a super-genius, but I know that's just proud mama-ness. But honestly, would I want her to be a super-genius? Sometimes I think that I just want her to be happy, and that super-genii don't seem to be very happy. It's a circle I go through over and over in my head. Do I want a "great" "important" life for her, or a regular one? I don't want to do anything particularly important with my life, I just want to enjoy it as much as I can, and love people as best I can. Are the "important" people happy? It doesn't seem like it. But how can I say I'd have Anna aspire to mediocrity? And then there's the issue of God to muddy the waters further. Perhaps I shouldn't want her to be happy or important, but to be devoted. That seems easy enough, but is tricksy too. Lots of amazing people weren't particularly happy, and how can a Mama want anything less?

I suppose it doesn't really matter what I want for her, she'll have to figure it out on her own, but it's been swimming around my head since she was tiny.

Wichita, etc.

On Monday and Tuesday Abby and Anna and I went to Wichita for a major shopping trip. We had a really good time, and I think Abby got everything she wanted. Anna was an excellent shopper, happy to stay in her stroller and touch the clothes as we walked by. The only time she really wanted to get out was after she watched Abby's feet in a changing room. As far as she could tell, Abby went into the room, shut the door, and then stood on one foot, and then the other, and Anna thought that looked like great fun. We went swimming at the hotel that night, and learned that Anna is not a bit scared of the water. I let her go under several times, trying to teach her that she needs to ask "Are you ready?" and get a "yes" answer before jumping into the pool, but I didn't succeed. For the first time EVER, I'm a little bit glad I don't have my own pool in the backyard. She's spooky. Since Anna's been having such fun sleeping with Grammy Joan in the company bed whenever she goes to visit, I thought it would be fun to have her sleep with me in the hotel bed. It was not fun. I couldn't ever sleep with her in my bed when she was tiny, I would wake up in a panic every 30 minutes. I don't know how other Moms do it. I still woke up, even though she's almost 3 years old! I don't think I'll try that again for a long time.

I wrote down a few of my favorite quotes from the trip:

In the Olive Garden, the waiter brought me something and said "Ma'am".

Anna: (loudly, of course) "My Mama is not a man!"

Driving past downtown Wichita at night.

Abby: "Wow, Wichita is humongous!"

Also at the Olive Garden.

Betsy: "So, is Olive Garden all you expected?"

Abby: "More! So fancy shmancy."

I'm really glad we got to take the trip together. I had a blast.

***************************

I sort of finished the top for Lainey's quilt this afternoon, I have all of the blocks together and just need to put on the borders. I have an appointment to drop off the top on Thursday at 1:00, so it'd better be all done by then. I put off putting the blocks together for so long, and then it didn't take any time at all to do it. That's the part that makes me nervous, where you'll be able to tell if you did something wrong and it won't go together. It turned out nicely though, and I think it's going to be nice when it's all done.

Abby and I shopped and shopped in the Dollar Tree in Dodge City on the way to Wichita, the next Craftster Challenge is due April 1-5, and involves making something out of things purchased at a Dollar Store. She helped me choose items and make a plan, and I'm eager to get started working. Hopefully I'll get done in time! If I enter, I'll be 3 for 3 on Challenges this year!

Matthew and I looked at cars yesterday. I wish Prissy could make it another two years, but she makes lots and lots of funny noises, and sometimes doesn't go into reverse. Looking at cars is not nearly as much fun as I would have thought, and I didn't really think it was going to be THAT fun. The new Altima doesn't have a key, you just push a button to start it, and is so fancy it makes me nervous to stand by it...and the passenger seat is amazingly uncomfortable. We told the salesman that was the problem, and he sat in it, and then agreed. We went around to lots of the other ones, but it's just something funny about that seat. It tips you forward. The Chevy Malibu seems like an old lady car inside, and is called a Malibu. The used Honda is a very nice car, but there's not a bit to be excited about, not a BIT! And if it already has 50,000 miles on it, am I just going to have to do this again in a couple of years? I want to just drive Prissy forever. So, we're sort of at a standstill, hoping to find a 2006 Altima somewhere, so we can sit in the passenger seat and see if it's better. Grown up stuff-blegh!

Oh, for pity's sake.

The past two weeks we've been doing Kansas Assessments with our 3rd and 4th graders. We've had two weeks of "Spirit Days" to pump the school up about doing well on the tests. Last Tuesday I came to school and noticed that I was the only one not wearing red. The kids, after asking a zillion times why I wasn't, explained about the spirit weeks (Red="get fired up for the test"). I should have known after missing the first day that it was going to be a bad go. The next day was hat day (team spirit for the tests). I decided to skip hat day because I really don't like wearing hats and they make me look funny(*remember this*). The kids were quite disappointed. Thursday I wore yellow (going for the gold), like a good kid. On my way out of school on Thursday I asked Billee (our secretary) what Friday was, because I forgot to look. She said pyjama day, my very favorite. But on Friday when I got to school, Billee, looking sheepish, said "ummm, sorry, it's actually NOT pyjama day." Wearing PJ's to school on a non PJ day is a little embarrassing, but still very comfy. The kids thought it was hilarious. Then we started this week. Monday was just regular, but then on Tuesday it was "camo day" (war on the test),and I didn't have anything to wear and the kids were again disappointed. Wednesday was twin day(together we can!), and all of the teachers wore jeans and black shirts, and I managed that just fine. Today was hat day again (put your thinking caps on), and since I'd done such a terrible job with Spirit Week so far, I decided to go ahead and wear a hat even though I don't like to (and I look funny). So I showered and put on a hat and didn't bother fixing my hair. I got to school and all of the teachers were in the gym...for our staff picture. I had no idea it was picture day. How did I get to be such a mess? I showed them my hair under the hat, and they agreed I looked "cute" in the hat and I should leave it on. So in the 2007-2008 staff picture, we have 15 lovely staff members and one crazy girl in a denim bucket hat that says "K-State Kid". Last year our school did so well on the tests that we got a big plaque! With our Staff picture on it!

Tomorrow, I've checked over and over, is pyjama day. I'm ready for Spring Break.

Today's progress

I finished the blocks for the quilt this afternoon. True to form, on the last 2 blocks, my bobbin thread ran out, and then in my hurry I didn't get it in just right, and it was another 20 minutes before I finished those last two. But hurrah! Tomorrow I can press them and then maybe start putting the whole top together.

We also got our new bedding today, and it's all pretty in there. Here's a picture of our new bed!

Now we'll need something pretty to go on the wall above it. Any ideas?

Quilting!

I started sewing the strip sets today for Lainey's quilt. I think it's going to be really lovely. I learned a few important things.

*I can sew two sets during each side of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", but it will take all of "Katy and the Big Snow" and "The Little House" to get them all ironed.

*Just when I think, "This is going together really quickly", I should check what I'm sewing, because it's usually the wrong pieces together.

*It really is a good idea to fill up two bobbins at the beginning, and switch to a new needle like the book tells you to.

Anna loves to listen to stories on tape in her bed, I hope she will still love that come May when there's no more Binky as companion.

Hairball!

I entered another Craftster challenge! This one was "Craft your hometown" I made a miniature of our world's largest hairball. It was supposed to be to scale, but I had trouble getting it to weigh enough. Matthew and I had a really good time trying to get flour into a balloon, we used a funnel, and tried all sorts of things, and neither of us got lungs full of flour, so that's good. It was lots of fun. I had some brown hairy yarn that I got free somewhere, and crocheted it with black yarn for extra stability, because the hair yarn is pretty thin. Here it is! I love it.

I wanted to make it to scale, and it's close. The original now weighs 20 lbs and is 35" around. To scale, it should be 17.5" around and 2.5 lbs. It's the right size, but a little light.

That's two challenges so far this year. I really like entering them. The next one is a dollar store challenge, I haven't read the specifics yet, but hopefully I'll have an idea for that one too.

In other news, our bed rails arrived today and we put the bed up. We've never slept in a bed in this house before, I think it'll be fun. It's awfully pretty, I'm glad I got the one I've been wanting for so long. I'll post pictures when I get it all prettied up.