After preschool the other day we were walking behind a woman and her son. Claire looked at the woman't shoes – they were short black boots with heels. She said in her loudest voice "Those are the shoes that witches wear."
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I’m so thankful for the string of beautiful weekends we’ve had. Last weekend we went up to Wisconsin, again, to get our pumpkins and to go for a little hike. I’ve never picked pumpkins from a field – that was fun.
After getting just the right pumpkins we went to the New Munster Wildlife Area for our walk.
Taking a hike with daddy is so fun the girls almost forget they’re hiking. He uses all of his powers of goofiness to keep them chugging along and giggling.
And they found a frog.
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Brian is the purported cheese lover around here, but I too find myself missing the good cheese we had at our old home.
We’re still enjoying some of the cheese that Brian smuggled. Even the packaging makes me happy.
We can get some Swiss cheese here – I spotted this big round of cheese waiting to be cut at the grocery store. Seems anything from Switzerland kindles the fond feelings I have for that country.
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Hello turtle – thanks for posing for me.
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I’m sitting here on my non-couch* feeling happy because a few minutes ago I was in the bathroom turning the water on and off, on and off, on and off… with our NEW FAUCETS! Yeah we have progress. Each little bit of progress urges me on to get busy and finish up the whole thing. It’s an adventure this old house of ours. I’m learning to be OK with taking it slowly. I’m having fun with things I’ve never purchased before – like sinks. Look at my cute charming rectangle sinks. I want to kiss them. I’ve been trying to do as much as I can on my own with these projects – we just can’t stomach spending huge amounts of money on every little thing when there is so much on the to do list. Uhg. We had a hiccup with the counter installation last week. The contractor cut his finger when he was installing it and then the caulking looked like a nine-fingered, not so bright man did it. I was really discouraged when I realized how bad it was. Thankfully they came back and made it right so I didn’t need to slip into a deep depression thinking about goopy caulk. Ha.
Anyway – hope I’m not boring my devoted readers with this renovation journey of mine. Next up on the journey is the tile – installation happens next week. And it’s supposed to be rainy this weekend so maybe I will repaint the cabinet.
* The couch situation is frustrating – and I want to warn my mom – when you come to visit there will be no couch to sit on in the TV room. But maybe we will let you sit in the one chair.
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We are back in the swing of the school routine. We’ve had lots of nice sunny days and I might have to, finally, water my garden a little. Fall feels nice – I’m surrounded, so closely, by big decidous trees here.
• We did some more raspberry picking. Bea had the day off on Thursday and we took along one of her friends. Then I made some raspberry jam. I gazed in the pan and enjoyed the darkest, deepest silky red color you can imagine.
• I struggle. I struggle between liking that my girls are creative and can gather stuff from around the house and make their own playthings and artwork. And then I get annoyed because ther are piles of pipe cleaner and paper clips and kleenex with sparkley things taped on and acorns in little yogurt containers, and bits of paper cut and colored and taped onto stuffed animals. Uhg. What’s a mommy to do? Here they are proudly showing off their creations:
• Brian “imported” two large bricks of cheese from Switzerland last week (he’s living dangerously). I hauled our beloved raclette grill out of the basement, along with the power converter. We had a yummy raclette dinner and felt nostalgic.
• House projects keep chugging along. Yesterday I sent our couch away to be reupholstered. Yikes – I’ve never purchased 20 yards of fabric – big decision. In the meantime this is our temporary couch. The girls like this arrangment better than a real couch. I’m looking forward to having a clean couch. One that doesn’t requiere strategically arranged stain hiding blankets. I can’t wait. I’m busy with the girls’ bathroom too. The countertops and new sinks came this week and the week after next our tile floor will be installed. I’m searching for the perfect shelf to hide some flawed tiles, thinking about peach ceiling paint… the list goes on.
• The end.
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I’m in a crafty and sewing mood. I cleaned my sewing room (things were practically piled to the ceiling) and I was reminded of the huge list of things I want to sew. I get a panicky feeling when I think about how my days of sewing sweet little dresses won’t last forever. I came across this old stained tablecloth that I’ve had in my stash for a long time. I decided I’d better make a dress out of it now because a) a 12 year old probably won’t be into wearing tablecloths and b) even if they were there isn’t enough tablecloth to make a 12 year old sized dress. I had to do it NOW! Forget the laundry, forget the dishes, I must make this dress!!!
Here’s the before:
Here’s the dress. I used the Oliver + S. Playtime Tunic pattern, it’s such a good basic pattern. The tablecloth fabric is really nice – it feels heavy and light at the same time. I don’t know what you call it, but I like it. I used the hem of the table cloth for the bottom of the dress.
Time will tell if Claire will actually wear the dress. She tried it on for five minutes so I could take some pictures. There she is with her unbrushed hair and her forced (by Bea) smile.
Aaah – I feel much better now that I have that out of my system. Hmmmm – what’s next…
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Fall has come quickly and the girls just finished their first full week of school for this year. We’re back to our routine and it feels good at the moment.
• We are anticipating Halloween and I started gathering the materials for a spider and a bat. The girls decided on a spider and a bat the day after last Halloween. I can’t believe they didn’t change their minds to an Olaf or a princess in all that time. Claire and I decided she needed some sequins on her spider outfit. 50 cents a yard – oh yeah – we’ll take 8 – one yard for each leg!
• I was pleased with the wreath I made this week. We needed something Fallish – I used sticks and yarn and of course some hot glue. What would we do without hot glue.
• The penguin obsession is still strong around here. As I type I’m listening to Bea and Claire and best bud Mabel playing a game where penguins fall into an oil spill. The stuffed penguins fall down the stairway into the oil and then they have to be rescued by being lifted back upstairs in a basket with a string tied to it. Every time a penguin has an unfortunate oil accident the girls yell “PENGUIN IN THE OIL SPILL!” And then they have to wash him off in another basket upstairs.
Bea made those four little penguins earlier this week.
• Claire told us the other day, while we were riding in the car, that when Bea is mean to her it makes her heart feel like it popped. Brian and I keep thinking of her popped heart and it breaks our hearts. She is so expressive and, yes, sometimes it’s not easy being the little sister.
• The cold came so suddenly this week and the girls got excited about it. Bea put jeans on (this is a big deal since she has been wearing the same two skirts all summer) and they both put their winter coats and hats on. The house went from hot and sticky to a nice cozy warm over night. Brian made the girls steamed milk with caramel flavoring – his traditional wintertime treat.
• I got out the ping pong set and attached it to the dinning room table. It works out nicely since we don’t eat in there very often. We let the girls stay up a little late because they were having so much fun playing with Brian. Claire was even happy to be the ball girl.
• I grabbed a diet Coke while I was in the checkout line at Joann Fabrics. I didn’t realize it was one of those with a name on it until I got home and Brian noticed his name was on it. Huh.
• Hope you had a good week too.
Laowai 