Perfect Pie

Our 15 year old daughter, Suzanna, is cooking dinner for two weeks. Planning the menu, doing all the prep work, the whole thing. It has been nice to sit back, blog, or read instead of make dinner for 6 every night. She has been very adventurous and ambitious in the Young Women project.

And then she makes treats for her social life: she has perfected her fortune cookie recipe and her pies. Ohh, they smell so good! She will have a high school reputation as an amazing cook.

I wasn't that brave when I was her age. I think that is the goal, that our children will be more courageous, bolder, more fun, smarter, more talented than we are.

Go, Suzu!

Good At Somethings, Not Everything Turns Out

I can deal with defeat. Not everything I do works well. I have to be brave enough to try and nice enough to myself to not freak out when things don't turn out the way I thought they would. Not that I always really even have a plan. More often it is a concept, and things change as I work, depending on how the materials work together. It is not that I "see" it and re-create that vision. I FEEL something, and work to make it "feel" right. Knowing when to stop is a big part of that. Sometimes things are ruined by 5 minutes too long with the brush, or sewing machine, etc.
Roxie went to a party yesterday. She said she had to explain what the rice bag was for. We found an elegant hand towel that matches the birthday girl's bedroom. I did the sewing, but Roxie filled up the rice and wrote instructions. 2-3 minutes in the microwave heats it up for a great foot warmer, or neck or sore leg warmer. I use two every night to help me relax to sleep. The grey present bag was a thrifted sweater earlier that morning. The bead work reminded me of the birthday girl's mom.

Blue rice bag, sweater-bag, and white retro summer bed spread turned into a journal cover.


Roxie's hairdo. Idea from the Princess & Her Hair blog. Love her video tutorials.

And my sweater merge: damask v-neck $1.50 from thrift store. Cut it down front, but it didn't meet around my tummy so I filled in by adding a men's merino wool sweater cut up and ruffled. But the weight hanging on the front distorted the sweater. The buttons didn't solve the closure like I wanted. It was not a flattering look. Too much attention on the wrong body feature. (I AM NOT EXPECTING A BABY, NO!)
You win some, you lose some. Just keep creating! Be brave to try something wild, even if it doesn't work. If it is not salvageable for another project, we can swap our experiments!

Done & Delivered!

No Thank You, I Pick the Priority Wall

I hope this doesn't come out sounding like "sour grapes." It would be nice to have a larger decorating/home budget. I will be honest about that...

I checked out a new book from library. It was heavy and huge, oversized, had two fold out pages in the beginning highlighting the decorating "love of design" a mega-star is unveiling to the world. I actually like her singing and acting (yeah for Yentil!) but I was overwhelmed/grossed out after pouring over the amazing rooms. It was all just a little too much. Too, too much. NOT the kind of house I would ever want to live in. Sure, it would be great to have a room just for naps, but, honestly? And I love lots of different styles and architecture, but this was too much, even spread out through the three homes/gardens/etc. I don't want that. The artwork was amazing, the fabrics gorgeous, the details thoughtful. I kept thinking how I would hate to have this mega-star for a client.

I want to live in a beautiful home, but not like that. Mine is busy, simple, colorful, full, noisy, projects everywhere, and it is lived in. Her home felt lonely. And as much as I love the decorated, coordinated, planned look, I wouldn't trade mine for hers. Her garden with lap pool and roses and view of the ocean...tempting.

(But she doesn't like orange! We are different, and that is okay. It was startling to me that I had such a strong reaction to her book. I took it back to the library already, didn't want it bothering me here in my home. I wanted to protect myself from the extravagance and step back from worldly/museum homes...complicated subject, because I love decorating and controlling environments through choices and juxtaposition, but not to this extreme. Not the way it consumed this star. Not the priority she made it. Blech!)

This idea has been floating around blogland and other Relief Society projects last year, and I wanted one. I didn't print this photo, since it didn't have enough contrast to work printing at the size I wanted for the wall, but gives you the idea without the glare from my frames below.
This is an early anniversary gift to John and our forever family we formed almost 22 years ago: priority wall. This is the wall you first see as you come in our front door. Last year for Mother's Day Maxwell made me the electronic version of this overlay of "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" on one of my favorite couple photos. I finally got it printed up this week when Snapfish had a poster 2fer deal.

Me before I went to a viewing/funeral. If this one wall is all my children know about me,they will know I love them, love their dad, and I want us to be a happy family!

Recent Project

Same client as Cat in Hat/Yosemite Sam/Taz wall: 4 stools to go at work/play/art station. With four Looney characters. My favorite transfer tool is broken, so this is all freehand, pencil & erase. I don't use square to square transfer, but I do draw center lines, block out hands and heads and look for the relationship between them, see how they connect and pay attention to negative spaces.

These will make more sense with color painted in. Due tomorrow.

No, I Do Not Have A Personal Vinyl Cutter

It would be a dangerous thing. I already label drawers in kitchen. I paint murals and injunctions on walls. I have not tried to paint on the Marble Bathroom walls (we did not remodel this 1950 bathroom. Came with the house!)

Front hallway mirror frame (with sign language quilt behind me. Gloves spell out "We lead by example more strongly than any other way" -Sharon Larsen.

A sweet sister from Church gave me this removable vinyl "Everyday holds a possibility of a miracle." I just edited the phrase with scissors and spread around the letter love. Almost wrote "hip to floss"

Making My Own Lace

While I am a passenger in a car, I like to bring along my handwork (I sound like an old lady). It helps me relax, not worry about traffic. How long does it take me? Two trips to the temple and I am finished with this project. Crocheted lace edging on a flannel baby receiving blanket for...Baby Babcock niece, birthday in April! I need to get nephew Jack's I Spy quilt done before he turns a year old! Polly's quilt is first, though. I am behind by 2 months in my quilting.

Blanket stitch around both layers of flannel all the way around the square. I like these blankets big, so I use whole width of fabric and cut it to the largest square I can make.

4 Double crochets in one hole
1 single crochet to anchor it in the next hole
skip a hole
repeat with 4 double corchets...

Easy, once you get the hang of it.

President's Day Celebrating Forever Families

We carpooled with John's parents to the DC Temple. Afterwards they took us to the Taylor's recommended Deli, Stoneybrook Dr. turns into Jones Mill. Keep going straight until you turn left onto East West Highway, then turn right at the Jewish temple on GRUBB ROAD. Just past the elementary school on the left is Parkway Deli. They have a relish bar. All you can eat pickles, beets, carrot-raisin salad, olives. John's King sandwich.


Corned beef on rye for me!

Mural On

I really liked the English crown with "Carry On" and "Cranberry On" and "Turkey On" poster campaign. Lovely sentiments.
This is my mural on a tv cabinet. Lighthouse, Great Herons, Rockfish, Black-Eyed Susans. On sale now at Antique Mall in Havre de Grace.


And crabs. Love those blue Maryland crabs!

Handmade Kaleidoscope

Look through the opening here...

Tunnel is stained glass that lets in plenty of light. Changing pattern from glass tube filled with sparkles, glitter, colored water. If you turned the tube around in a circle, the pattern changed faster, but if you held it still, it would slowly change.
Neat toys at Boss Lady's home!

Block Party

I need a new collection! Look at these antique toy blocks that greeted us above the fireplace! My boss asked us to dinner.
Place setting markers. This was my seat!
Roxie pulled this message out of Boss Lady's basket of blocks to thank her for the wonderful crab lasagna dinner.
Boss Lady is a down-to-earth, on-the-floor kind of hostess. The children loved her and her 3-legged dog, Penny. Look at those baskets behind her--she makes exquisite baskets.
And she collects antiques. She demonstrated on Maxwell the spoon with a hole for force feeding gruel to sick patients.

How Are You Doing, Really?

From a limited perspective you could say things are going great. The wobbly van that we worried was a broken axle (?) was only a worn out tire, cheaper fix than we dreaded. John is working every day, sometimes until really, really late, but he is getting the Census interviews completed and he is paid for all those miles! I finished visiting teaching for the month, and went shopping for a spring sunshine scarf for one of my sisters I visit and found it. Emma's headache pain is down. Stewart's dental appointment is Friday for the last thing before he puts in his mission papers (yeah!). Max told us he is going to BYU (YEAH!) for the year before his mission. Suzu comes home tomorrow (she is a counselor at a school camp this week entertaining 5th graders in the wilderness). Sam's lower braces don't hurt as bad as last week, and he is getting his math homework every day. Roxie finished reading all the Black Eye Susan collection of books in the media center and is winning her preferred computer game!

The reality is many un-finished projects. Decisions to make. De-cluttering, cleaning, and organizing. Clients to take care of with a long waiting list. Financial struggles, still. Commitments that sometimes seem overwhelming. Intense parenting discussions. Struggles and obstacles galore. Stuff we all deal with.

We are not bored.

We drag ourselves out of bed before 5 am, pray together. Start our day right.

I was impressed teaching seminary on Tuesday as we talked about the simple little thing of praying in the morning. It increases the light you receive. And changes your whole day. I've been lazy about counting our "couple prayer" as my morning prayer. But for the last two days I have been waking up before the alarm, and praying on my own before John stirs awake.

Does it matter? YES!

It's a great way to start the day. It gets me through the hard sticky stuff. Makes everything shiny.

Couple in a Bar Looking for a Dance

John left for prison (one of his part-time, no benefit jobs) before I could think to take a photo this morning.
This is an oldie. Early 90's glasses frames. Me skinny-sick. John's hair is long and curly. Hot crab dip in John's hand and water bottle in mine. I remember gripping that water bottle like it was a life-line. I couldn't eat and I wanted to make sure everyone knew we were NOT drinking at this party. We are at a bar in Fells Point, celebrating a Homicide, filmed in Baltimore tv show reunion. Sounds terrible. Being in the wrong place with the right person at the right time still feels awkward, uncomfortable.

We were talking about the Word of Wisdom after seminary in the kitchen. Sam was sitting near by and made the comment "It is against the Word of Wisdom to go clubbing." I agreed that it is really hard to dance in a smoky atmosphere.

I miss dancing. Good Church dances, with decent music, modestly dressed couples, great refreshments with no worries about anyone getting drunk or out-of-control. It is fun to dress up, celebrate, and enjoy music and each other. (We haven't had a Church stake-sponsored adult dance in a long, long time. I miss those!)

Maybe tonight, when John finally gets home after working a 2nd part time job, he will be greeted with some dancing tunes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Safari Bathroom Suprise for Sandy

It is so much easier to work when family is out of town!

Remember this giraffe?
Off the master bedroom is a bathroom. Imagine forest green and cream striped Victorian wallpaper. Yucky. Should have taken a before picture. I could take a picture of the garbage bag.
Now a textured grass paper wall is on two of the walls. Sandy picked it out. Not quite enough paper for all the walls, so I had to get creative...

Brown craft paper, ripped edges, wallpaper paste, and polyurethane on top for a faux leather look.

Color Change

Our children noticed that we were wearing the same color.
Kitchen color is under observation & experiment.

Good Examples of Love

My parents are still in love. Nice secure feeling. They actively do things to keep their relationship growing. Serving a mission together sounds like ultimate unity!
Today was the day we got engaged 22 years ago. I remember telling my parents, at my younger sister's wedding reception, that John and I wanted to get married. He had asked me that morning, after Deb & Roger's sealing in SL Temple (Happy Anniversary, you two!). We had a long distance engagement, two months to prepare. I was working and going to school full time. The BYU sewing studio made my dress. Somehow, it all worked out.

Nice to know who my Valentine is! He said "Yes" and so did I. Sweet!

This is What I Do

For the locals. I had made the umbrella purple to match the fan-flair on the other side of the room. Client asked for painted in name in white. Obliged.