Comfort, Comfort Ye My People

Thanksgiving was lovely, with most of the time spent just being with family.  Talking, cooking, eating, playing outside, watching movies, reading-  when we travel to see family, it’s nice to have a chance to simply be together.

We’re home now, with a long to-do list that includes unpacking and laundry.  What actually happened was making preserved lemons with some of the bounty sent home from Trent’s parents’ lemon tree.

Not counting sterilizing the cans, it was a fast and fun process that will hopefully turn out well.  Lemony chicken and olive dishes, here we come.

There might seem like a lot of things that “need” to be done, but we did make our Advent wreath at church this morning.  So basically we’re set for the next 4 weeks.  

A Message to Big Candy

As of last Saturday, the fall M&M’s were gone, as were the fall sprinkles and any other fall related sweets.  I checked three different stores, and the closest thing I saw was some weird 75% off orangey something.  That’s my best description for that.

All the red and green M&M’s were out, but that really isn’t helpful for the people who signed up to bring “Thanksgiving Treats” for the school Thanksgiving party.  I’ll probably end up buying red and green M&M’s next month and I will certainly do my best to get a Candy Cane Hershey Bar.  But I would have also purchased fall M&M’s if they had been available.  Hint, hint, Mars:  Thousands of people were trying to make dessert for school parties this week.  Missed opportunity.

So that was a hassle that left me standing in front of a big pan of rice crispy treats with our box of sprinkles (no fall colors, of course) and some chocolate chips. 

And thus, Turkey Feathers were born.  Because if melted chocolate is too lumpy for something to be dipped in it, it can be feathered out with a fork and covered in red sprinkles.  Enjoy, preschoolers.

Dressy

Pretty much since Holly was born I have been thinking about making a Christmas dress for her, a red and white smocked dress with holly embroidered around the neckline.  I thought about it all year, but unfortunately never learned how to smock and my mom, who is going to teach me, recently informed me that it’s too late for this year.  A quick online search did not result in the exact dress I’m picturing in my mind, so that idea is on reserve until next year.

Option 2 is to make whatever Gretel from the Sound of Music would wear for Christmas.  If it were up to me (and it is, so why isn’t this happening?) Holly would dress in exactly like the Von Trapp children every day.  It’s mid-November and I have yet to even look for the [most surely] complicated pattern, so that’s out.

Option 3 is fancy deluxe party dress, with red taffeta, silky ribbon and layers of tulle hidden in the lining for for added skirt puffiness.  Option 3 is happening.

Holly and I went fabric shopping this morning.  I spent all day pondering why it’s so important to me to make Holly a Christmas dress, when I could buy one pretty much anywhere.  But there are only so many opportunities to sew fancy dresses for Holly!  It was fun to walk down the aisle of Special Occasion fabric, not to mention the trim aisle, though as it turns out, gold sequins will make the garment unwashable.  Holly spend all her time in the fabric store covering herself in Ritz cracker crumbs, so a dress that can’t be washed is out for this year.

Time to get started! 

(It is- but not tonight.  Tomorrow.  Or soon.  The pressure is on.)

Things That Are Calm

It kind of feels like I’m unfairly documenting only the crazy.  Therefore, some calm:

Rush is loving singing in the choir.

Tate only remembers life with Holly.

Sleeping baby.

Tate loves prunes, or as fancy Kroger calls them, “dried plums.”

Rush’s school project last week was to disguise a turkey.  His turkey disguise: Batman.

When My Brain Begins to Reel

Because I’m feeling like this-

it’s time to undertake a cross stitch sampler. 

My sister and brother-in-law lived right outside of Washington D.C. for a few years.  The first time we went to visit, we went to the White House, the Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, etc, etc, etc.  By our last visit, we went to the movies and instead of going to Mt. Vernon, which they were totally over, we were lured into spending all day in their apartment playing a strange video game called Katamari.  During the game, a spooky little voice say, “I feel it.  I feel the cosmos.”

That’s what I’m going for with the cross stitching.  Sometimes I want to feel the universe as an ordered system, the opposite of chaos.

#34, Because it’s the 34th Birthday I’ve Had

The trick to an adult birthday is making it through the afternoon slump when you realize that there is no surprise party, no ticker tape parade.  The solution is the same as the Valentine’s Day solution:  do what it takes to make it special, even if you end up doing the work for yourself. 

There were many people who helped make the day special- the people who work at the factory with the machine that made the frozen lasagna that HEB sells; the robot who organizes the songs on Pandora; the person at church who orders a white candle to go with Advent wreaths, which eventually make it into our candlelight dinner rotation; Trent, who baked a cake; Rush and Tate, who helped me decorate it-

and Holly, who just really enjoys lasagna.

All in all, another great year, another great birthday with the people I love.

Dreamy

If you opened our laptop at any given moment, you would be able to tell exactly who used it last.  If it was Trent, the internet is open to either wood turning videos or some obscure website like homemadecircuitsandschematics.blogspot.com.  It it was me, it’s something with quilts hanging outside or warmly lit photos of half-finished embroidery projects next to a piece of quiche on a nice plate.  It’s a dreamy place where people can edit out the sink full of dishes from making the quiche.

And pan out from the quilt made by my great-grandmother to-

I bribed Tate with a pack of gum to get him to wear a sweater vest.  We stopped on the way to church to buy the gum.  I wouldn’t say I’m proud of that bribe, but I’ll admit I did it.  No regrets, because he now loves the sweater vest.

“Buzz, I’m going through all your private stuff!  You’d better come out and pound me!”

That is what we call the aftermath of Hurricane Holly. 

Yesterday we had someone come by to appraise our house.  Trent forgot to tell me that someone would be coming by, so our house was a disaster.  She, of course, had to take pictures of some rooms.  I was apologetic and embarrassed, but the appraiser assured me that she’d seen much worse.  She has grown children and assured me that these days of little children are messy and beautiful and they go by quickly.  One day, she said, the mess will be gone, but so will the children.

I thought back to my own mom being embarrassed by messes I made when I was growing up, probably getting a nice warm feeling somewhere as I got a taste of my own medicine.  I thought of all the other places I lived before I had children and what my closet looks like right now.  One day my children will be gone, but the mess…that will probably still be here.  What my children will take with them is my good excuse.

Stuff

My friend Kellaura is the master of making a stuffed animal to go with a book for gift giving.  A sailboat with cat plus The Little Island and a whale plus a book of ocean poems are just some of the gems bestowed upon the boys as birthday presents.  Recently I did the handmade friend and book combo for a 2-year-old’s birthday.  Taking the time to think about, draw, and cut out a pattern instead of just randomly cutting out owl shaped pieces made the process very enjoyable.  Very fun stuff, pun intended.