It's about time

For school to start. I have been off for for one week and one day and I am kinda bored. Not clean the house and get organized bored, but still, I feel like I need to be doing something with a purpose. I really hope this PhD thing is a good mix between time for adult mind stretching and time to do crafts while watching Lost.

our sweet birthday girl

Birthday Penant

I made this for Meg's bday. These are pretty lame pictures unfortunately, but the penant is probably 20 feet long. My plan is to applique happy birthday in denim, one letter to each flag. That will not happen before her birthday but I am planning to reuse this for more birthdays to come. I showed them to a friend who owns an art studio and she asked me to make some to sell at her shop! I don't see it happening as I have no time but still, toot toot!

Sprouts

Eyjafjallajokull, that's right, I said Eyjafjallajokull

These pics are amazing.

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Princess Boogie Eye

We waited 15 long months for eye surgery for #3's blocked tear duct. Fifteen months of 'oh she has pink eye' and ' what's wrong with her eye?' and 'why is her eye goopy?' and 'zip it with your questions' ( that one was quoting me). Also 15 months of holding her down to scrub at her eye and then not holding her down to scrub at her eye and encountering many questions ( see above). Jason took her to the surgery given as he has the street cred there and I don't. I was able to leave class and be there when she came out. Poor whup was stuck eight times for the IV due to her 'chubby toddler hands'. Note to anesthesiologists- dont ever call any part of a child's anatomy chubby to a parent. She came out of the anesthesia screaming uncontrollably and got hit with some morphine, then took a nap, then woke up and was lovingly carted straight from the recovery room to Daddy's office, ate 2 adult's worth of Qdoba, took 3 naps instead of two and was good to go the next AM.

The day before.

Immediately post op

Three days later, back to her vociferous self.

Foraging

Kindergarten soccer: Team Dread vs Team Mohawk

Soccer today was Team Dreads vs Team Mohawk. By that I mean, the coach for our team had the dreads down to his butt and the coach of the other team had a mohawk. This is kindergarten soccer. And the coaches have kids on the team. I wish I had brought my camera.

Oklahoma!

Not the state, the movie. Mom took the girls to see it at a local high school and they have sung the songs ever since. I just got the DVD from the library and they are watching it now. It was their special Friday night treat, along with some Doritos. They pretty much go nuts over Doritos, similar to cats and catnip.

During one of the songs, Mad looked at me and said " I love marriage, it's so romantic". I would like to think of something sarcastic to say, but really that was a sweet thing to say.

Megan, Go put your Jammies On!

And this was the result...

Radiator covers

We have radiator heat. This came as a huge shock to me when we considered buying this house. Mostly cause I think of radiators as so last century. The other shocking part to this Florida girl is that it means no central AC. Granted, you only need the AC a few DAYS ( not weeks or months) out of the year but still when you need it here you NEED IT HERE. That is a whole nother story and remodel project though. The radiators have grown on me. They pump out some serious heat and the house is toasty warm all winter. When we have gotten estimates on installing central AC, each contractor has told us that radiators are the end all and be all of heat and they would recommend keeping them forever. To which I reply, if that is the case, why is it that no one has them?

Anyways, the radiators on the first floor are covered with rust, ancient dog hair and many many layers of flaking lead paint. We got these super nice wicker chairs at the first yard sale of the season and seeing them next to the radiator spurred Jason into project action. He is not just handy, but also has an artist's sense. He could teach me how to use the tools, but I would never have the creative touch he does. I really love how he can take an idea or thought and turn it into an actual thing, and not just anything, but a thing that is beautiful and useful.



Before

Radiator covers taking shape.

The man at work.

Voila! It hides the old ugly radiator, works as a small table and now we dont have to wory about little bit eating paint chips from at least this small corner of the house.

Extremely catchy alphabet song

Two Goals

Make Be Bim Bop from scratch. It is essential that the rice is crunchy on the bottom.
Make my own sunflower sprouts then serve with a light vinaigrette. It seems like springtime to me. It is not as easy as the regular sprouts I grow in my windowsill (I am taking a picture each day of my latest batch to post) but tomorrow I will make a grocery run to get some unhulled seeds and start.

Spring Attack

This was taken last year right when we moved in. On the right is where the rain barrel and raised beds are now. It was like a tunnel of green to get in the driveway before.
This was taken maybe last March? This isn't the best before picture but I wanted to show the bushes before they got ripped out.

This was taken last weekend. It was so nice out!! It is still early spring ( as in it snowed today) so not too much is growing but we dug out all the rocks from the beds in the backyard and lined the ones in the front. I think it looks really good.

Jason and Cousin Matt made this gate. I love it. We have been keeping it closed so the little bits can have a big space to ride bikes and wander around the back yard.

Rain barrel and raised bed with tiny sugar snaps just starting out.

Rain Barrel. It hasnt really rained yet so we haven't tried it out yet.

Cold frame- Jason and I built it together from a plan I found online. I like the way it looks but am wondering how much I will really use it. I did put the arugula and spinach seedlings in it yesterday for the day but they are back inside under the grow lights (aka unused aerogarden) for now cause it is frickin cold out.

Remember when...?

We were all on the dance floor at somebody's wedding dancing to Abba's Dancing Queen and Mom and Dad boogied by and Mom said, "Sarah, you were conceived to this song!!"

Three little slices of heaven

The toothless wonder

The formerly toothless wonder

Dancing Queen #1

Dancing Queen #2

Soccer in the park

Today was the first day of soccer for Mad. The last time we did soccer she was three. The three year old soccer games were thirty long and painful minutes of her ( and all the other kids) kicking the ball in a big clump, coming to sit next to me during the middle of the game, asking every 1 minute for snack, staring off into space while the ball and the clump of kids passed by her and scoring goals for the opposing team. I am thinking three years of no soccer has been enough to let those memories lie and we are back at it. Go Penguins!!

I am going to start trying to take pics of Meg's outfits- today was this ensemble- complete with one pink flip flop and one black, both were for the left foot, and in case you cant tell from the pic the vest is sequined. She has been wearing a different headband like this every day including in bed. We call this one the Axl Rose. She also has a Boris Becker/Luke Wilson in the Royal Tennenbaums one too.

Goalie training.

Wild woman who refuses to look at the camera in the eye. Someday I hope to get an actual picture of her smiling at the camera. She is obsesse with any animal and sat next to this dog for half of the soccer practice.

One reason why I love Ann Arbor ( I do!)- the soccer coaches both have kids on the team- one shows up in business clothes to coach and the other has dreads down to his butt. Guess which one is an officer in the PTA? That just don't happen in 'Gusta, Georgia.