a homework project I could help with

For the most part Mark is the homework helper parent.  I do pretty much everything inside the house, as well as keeping up with all the appointments and shots and camps and playdates, so I feel like Mark can cover the homework end of parenting.
I also happen to be totally impatient when it comes to helping with homework and there are big gaps in my knowledge base.  I  have the English thing nailed, but when it comes to math and science, I am sort of old fashioned and out of practice.
On Friday Maxwell came home with a potato that he had to make into a character with a costume.  If ever there was an assignment that I am perfect for, it was this one.
We brainstormed a little and came up with Robert Plant, and I was off like a shot knitting a tiny longhaired wig for the spud! I happen to have some silk and micro-suede scraps in my sewing basket, that were perfect for a rock star potato's clothing.   We spend quit some time looking for some kind of foam for the microphone head, when I noticed some sponge paintbrushes, and VIOLA!
My life has been so intensely cruddy lately, this was just the thing to lighten things up.  Maxwell is thrilled with the outcome-win, win.

Good housekeeping

The container garden is really starting to take off!  My friend Lily gave me that giant green pot  that I filled with pansies and herbs, she gave us the kitty face too!

Our first berry! Freyja found two more in our raised beds, this one is from a pot on the deck.

Ever since we moved in we have had a really ugly utility shelf unit in the mudroom, with dog-food, art supplies, and over-sized groceries.

It wasn't the worst thing ever, but it didn't please me very much. We used to use this piece as our "mail table", with my over-sized serving pieces stored below, it was in our dining room and I wasn't ever very happy with it either.  I had to move a number of things around & re-purpose some furniture to make Freyja's room more organized, so we wound up moving a shelf that is better for the mail, into the dining room, and this thing was a leftover.   So I decided to put it in the mudroom, and get rid of the utility shelf once and for all.  It's a little weird to have dog-food AND art supplies together, but who cares, right?  Freyja's room looks great, the art supplies are handled and the dog has a lot of food.

Aparently I need a lot of colored pencils & scissors.  The acorn canister is full of markers.                                           I also need to own a lot of markers and a giant bowl of modeling clay is also essential. The scissors and paint brushes are being stored in test tube holders the university where Rolf works were throwing out.  They were brand new, unused.

GLUE! I need to have ten varieties of GLUE! A basket FULL of glue makes me very happy indeed.

My latest project

I was given a bamboo buffet last fall, maybe even late summer, I don't recall now.
It is in very rough shape. A mess from sitting outside for years, when it should have been inside.
All of the veneer on the top is peeling, some of it gone completely, but it is structurally very sound, so I thought I would give it a makeover.
 need something to store my vases and garden gear in, and a place to put food when we eat outside.

At first I thought I would tile the top, the way I did my dining room buffet (which I found on the street in front of a dumpster).  But that is a lot more work than I am able to commit to these days, so I decided to just put a plywood top on instead. 
I was thinking marine plywood, but when Rolf went to purchase the wood for me and have it cut, the fellow at the store freaked out, at the notion of using treated wood for a table, and I wound up with regular old plywood, which I will treat myself. HA!
I liked the look of the wood grain, so I did a little sheer color wash over it with Stockmar watercolor, and then I will seal it with some weather proof sealant.

The first step was to take the last of the veneer off, then sand. 
Freyja helped with sanding. 

It was dark when I was finishing up the staining with the watercolor. 

The top is really lovely, the front of the drawers looks like it was done in the dark, by a blind person, an angry blind person that hates bamboo furniture, but it will have to do. 

I also bought a piece of  3/4" decorative trim, to put long the front, to hide where the new top meets the old.  I think it will look pretty nice when I am done.

getting things ready for St. Nicholas Day

the boring part

 We are doing a very scaled back St. Nicholas Day dinner this year. 

No goose.  

I can't deal with a goose. 

Rolf has insinuated that I am happy to dispense with the goose because I hate cooking them, and I don't eat them, which is somewhat true, but really it is a matter of time and my sanity, and the hefty price tag geese are sporting these days.   

$70? 

Really? for something I don't eat?

I think not.

I have to work today and work the art sale at Maxwell's school on Sunday, so we are streamlining things.

I ran around like a crazy person from 3:00-6:00 buying, decorating, cleaning up the mess from decorating the tree, yesterday. 
Thank goodness our neighbor sells trees, so I didn't have to drive far with the trunk open, which makes me nervous.

Then Mark came home and assisted with the gingerbread house.  

Maxwell lauded me for minimal yelling.  

Even when I spilled potting soil on the carpet. 

I was positively Zen.

re-potted Christmas Cactus

                           Freyja did a pretty good job of decorating the tree this year, and I did a very good job of not interfering. 

Mark brought home a sample of DOMO lights from work.  Oh goody...

resisting the urge to eat the house and the snow and the decorations!

the finished product

please don't take my picture when I have been running around like a crazy woman for three hours.

candy hands!

another birthday cake

lanterns drying on the "lantern drying racks" AKA bowls

 I am preparing for Thanksgiving, my big holiday, my thing, and this year I am making paper lanterns for the table.  They are simple to make, with tissue paper and glue. 

I forced Mark and Maxwell to help me one evening, and Mark's came out the best.  

Who knew?

the finished product with candles

 I had to do a birthday party for a friend last week.  I made a very fancy complicated dinner, and a very fancy complicated layer cake, with a Bavarian cream filling. 

 It was all going well, until about 30 minutes before dinner, when I peeked in the fridge to check on the cake, only to discover that it has split down the center and had started to list to one side, rather pronouncedly. EEEK! 

A baker's worst nightmare! 

 I whipped a lot of cream, added some chocolate powder, used it to spackle the crack, then had Rolf hold the cake together, while I tied a grossgrain ribbon around it, to anchor the top layer, and make it look as though I had intended it to be that way... pretty freaking BRILLIANT if I do say so myself.  AND I do.

chocolate Bavarian torte with raspberry sauce

the felt acorn

felted wool acorns

I forced my children to felt wool acorns with me last Tuesday.  

They were fighting and snarling and I thought a little sit down with hot soapy water would be just the ticket to settle them down.

Maxwell wound up with two woolen snakes (the boy is simply not crafty!), but  Freyja made some excellent  faux nuts. 

My plan is to hang these and some real,gilded (ok, not really gilded, but spray painted gold) acorns by fishing line, from curly willow branches, as a center piece for Thanksgiving.

I am having an artist friend draw me a line drawing of a goat standing on top of a giant acorn, which I will glue onto old fashioned packing labels and use as name tags for the guests.

a work in progress

I am tiling the top of a coffee table, using free tiles from Pratt & Larson's free box. 

It has taken me forever to get enough of the one inch tiles to do the job, but I am pretty happy with the outcome.  

I got this little table out of the trash when we lived in NW, but the top was pretty beaten up. 

It goes well with all of our other repurposed furniture and makes me feel empowered on my "buy nothing" crusade. 

I wish I had the skill to tile the floors. Dang!

it's a wrap

Freyja's friend has a birthday today, so it was a flurry of activity, as I  sewed a wrap skirt/apron at the last minute.
It came out really nicely, with the little embroidered  daffodil face.  I love the vintage inspired embroidery patterns.
The flower fairy holding the  e card on the bag, is made from silk flowers and a wooden clothespin, with a little acorn cap as a hat.

The pink tote is filled with art supplies and stickers, and wrapped in a piece of sari cloth, which is good for all kinds of dress up play and fort building- a back up gift just in case the homemade thing doesn't cut it.
Now, on to the next 2400000 things I have to do this weekend.

A Fairytale life

I am working the knots out of this pile of  fairytales. 
Fairytales are long knitted tails, that the children use for all sorts of things in the preschool.  One thing is tying things and sometimes other children up, hence the knots.  I am using that chopstick to work the knot out, and when necessary, I am repairing the fabric by knitting it back together.  It is tedious work, my penance for not going in on my day off and working on painting the school.  I am deeply guilty, whether it is rational or not. 

I cooked up a Mexican feast for the staff yesterday and delivered to the school.  Today I have a veganized mac and cheese, and this lovely lemon poppyseed vegan cake.

crafting up a storm

The big fundraiser auction for Freyja's school is coming up this Saturday.  Since I have no money to buy anything, I always try to contribute a lot to sell.  Last year my cakes and handmade items brought in some serious long dollars- just saying.

Last night I waited until Freyja went to bed to get started, so I was a little frazzled by the end, but I think my things came out pretty nicely.

Two tooth fairy pocket pillows

the pocket for the tooth/money is on the back.

Two tulle fairy dress up skirts.  Sewing tulle is an impatient sewers worst nightmare! 

Two pirate dress up vests. Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr. 

I also made eight of my lightswitch covers, and gift certificates for dozens of dozens of cupcakes, spaezle, and other home cooked items, to be delivered. 

I think I am done.

I may have one or two more tutu's in me, but Mark left this morning  on a business trip, so I may try to conserve my energy. 

Maxwell came home from China with a new short haircut!  

He has not cut his hair since he was seven, so this is a bit of an adjustment for his old mama, who continues to do double takes.  

Oh, and the only remarkable cooking this week has been a pizza.  Half sans cheese, for Mark.

Freyja is now old enough to play with paper dolls, but apparently I am not old enough to be patient with my reckless five year old, so Mark is the only one she will allow to assist her in dressing the dolls. 

It is going to be a loooooong week with daddy away, friends.  Pray for me!

walking on eggshells

These are very sweet little nosegay bouquets inside sweet little brown speckled eggshells, which you can't see because I am a terrible photographer. 

Trust me, they are cute.

a flick of a switch

I have this compulsion to decorate things, and my light switches haven't escaped. 

No minimalism here, folks.

I love this Chagall painting.  

I love the goat playing music in the corner.  What an excellent goat. 

 The Creature, is my favorite.  We have a little rubber Creature too, that the kids play with in the bath, oh, and a stuffed doll too.  We are big fans of the Creature... and who doesn't love Tin Tin, in their stairwell?

I would have chosen this goat, had I been able to find an image that was the right orientation, but I couldn't, so I have the other goat.  There you go.   All of the light switches are made from ugly plastic switch covered, mod podged with images brazenly and shamelessly stolen from the internet. 
My husband has worked in the publishing industry for so long, that it has made him very cranky and uptight about copy write laws.

My funny Valentine

 

Bootiful Princess has to have 25 homemade Valentine cards ready for a party next week, so we busted out the glitter tonight.  

She is a more is more gal, just like her mother, so the kitchen was pretty dang sparkly by the time we got through. 

In the spirit of the season we purchased a really tacky paper heart mobile and one of those center pieces that folds together and becomes three dimensional.  

I am definitely mellowing... I never in a million years imagines such things in my house, and tonight they feel fun.

place cards, fairies and a little rosemary tree

These little fairies will be my place card holders this year for Thanksgiving.

I like to have place cards. In the past it was important to keep the boring people from sitting together, or the ones that were feuding,
now I just like having an excuse to craft,
since the gatherings have gotten quite small and most of us are boring.

See my fabulous new tablecloth? Goodwill- $4.99.
So seasonal AND it has a fringe.
I love fringe.

I made them with wooden clothespins from dollar tree, and some acorn caps and leaves.

I didn't have proper glue, so I used superglue, which worked, but was a bit messy.

I think Tacky Glue would be the very best option.

Initially I put a little felt skirt on them, but I think the really plain ones look almost better.


I love anything made with wooden clothespins.


I am a clothespin sucker.

I love this rosemary topiary.

I am hoping to work it into the table centerpiece, but I haven't nailed it all down yet.

Those little birds are always about in my house,

I love all little birdies, all the time, so what if they look too spring?

Here is the fairy, holding the place card.
Cute, huh?