Funny Magic

Jamie Rocks.

Hi there! Did you happen to watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution this past weekend? I sure did, and I thought it was transfixing, eye-opening, and completely inspiring. I don't watch a lot of tv, nor do I tend to carve time out of my evenings for any specific shows, but this coming Friday evening I will be tuned-in for sure.

After I watched the program I got up and taught Juliet how to make smoothies with just a minimal amount of help from mama, and then made a big batch of pesto chicken and pasta for my family to eat for dinner that night while I was away at work. And let me tell ya, it felt great...not because I don't cook, because I do, but it felt good to do it with intention and purpose and good will, rather than seeing it as one more thing to do on my daily list of stuff to do. In general, I try to be thoughtful about what I buy at the grocery store and what we all put in our mouths each day, but sometimes? Well. Sometimes I feel just too tired and tapped-out to care, and that's when you'll open up my freezer and find corndogs and frozen pizza and fish sticks in there. But I know I can do better if I just take a little time to plan ahead, while reserving some time on the weekends to cook for the upcoming week...and I mean I'm starting yesterday.

Poppy Talk

This past week I've been knitting away on a sweet little Poppy for Juliet; I'd hoped to have her finished by her birthday, but I'm still working on the dress and have yet to give her a face, so here she is thus far:

She actually knits-up pretty quick, at least once I figured out how to do the Figure 8 Cast On. (I tried Judy's Magic Cast On, but just didn't get it...)

Yesterday I finished her arms and gave her some hair, for which I decided to go for a two-tone effect:

I'm anticipating that I'll finish her up this weekend - and then I may have to make another for myself! But I'm also looking forward to engaging the sewing machine in the near future...it's been waaay too quiet lately. I'm thinking about whipping-up a Schoolhouse Tunic (or two) for Spring - pattern and fabric are at the ready.

Anyhoo, happy weekend to you! I'll be knitting (of course) and hosting a birthday tea party for Juliet and her friends complete with butterfly cupcakes, sparkly crowns, and plenty of royal foolery, I'm sure!

What's Goin' On?

Quite a lot, actually....these days I'm finding myself completely tuckered at the end of the day and in bed around 10:30pm, sometimes earlier. Hubby's working long hours right now, so getting up at 6:15am is up to me, as is putting the kids to bed each night and everything inbetween - trying to find the inspiration to blog somewhere in the day has been challenging, as is turning on the computer to catch up with my favorite people. I could go on and on but I won't, except to say that while I've been typing this paragraph I've been interrupted no less than 10 times for laundry requests, help with a fort, a barking puppy, and a request to know what time it is, but really, what else is new?? Which leads me to wonder what's more important: my blog, or my daughter's fort? Could it be that they're each as important as the other? (Oh, and did I mention that I work 20 hours a week outside the home? Yup. Seventy hours a week between hubby and I.) How do you do it all? Do you do it all?? I guess I'm feeling overwhelmed, but hopeful that these feelings will subside, even more hopeful that it'll all come down to a mild case of pms. Ahem.

Moving on to what's going on:

I ordered my annual flowers and vegetables last week from my son's school fundraiser, which makes me feel super happy.  

I started knitting a doll for Juliet, Ysolda's Poppy.

My Smoochie turns 5 this week, which leaves me amazed and proud and completely in love.

And now? I do declare it's time to call it a day and go watch My Neighbor Totoro with the kids:

Along Came a Spider

One day this past week, while Juliet was playing and I was washing a few dishes, she found a spider. The first thing she did was trap it in a glass jar, and then announced that she was gonna make a house for her new friend.

Initially, she wanted to construct something out of paper, with lots of tape and maybe some glue, but I suggested that Spider might find a way to escape from such a contraption...perhaps we should build a little home in a lidded jar instead?

So that's what we did - poked some holes in the lid of a small canning jar, put a leaf and a small stick inside, and for the rest of the day she took real good care of Spider, even going so far as to declare her love for him/her.

The following morning, Juliet decided that it was time to set Spider free - I suggested the basement, because goodness knows there's lots of cobwebs (and commrades) down there, so she opened the jar, placed it on it's side, and let him/her escape into the cool, dark underworld of our old home....and then I thanked Juliet for reminding me that spiders are really pretty darn cool.

Warning: This Post Contains Bad Knitting

Well. I finished my Rooibos. I thought it would turn out okay, perhaps a bit longer than I'd have liked, but highly wearable and lovable. Well.

It's bad, people. Bad, bad knitting. After rinsing and blocking/drying, I put it on and whaddaya know? One side is longer than the other. Not only that, the pockets are too low for me to put my hands into without assuming the position of really bad posture. Oh, and the ribbing in back that's supposed to lie around waist-level rests atop my arse. Plus the itch factor of this yarn is high, and I don't like that. Aaargh!

To say that I was ignorant from the get-go would be stretching the truth, because I did have my suspicions as I was knitting merrily along. I thought the yarn I was using might be too scratchy to wear. I suspected that I should've paid more attention to the length of this beast from the bottom to the beginning of the waist shaping. Really, though? I just kinda' played dumb. (But heck if I know how one side came out longer than the other; I suspect it has something to do with attaching the front ribbed band, which I did twice btw.)

Anyhoo, Rooibos is currently in the washing machine awaiting a good hot water wash, soon to be felted into Bad Knitting oblivion.  Now, if you'll excuse me...

I've gotta go drown my sorrow and shame in granny squares and coffee.

These Days

We've been having some terrifically fantastic weather here as of late - the snow has been melting every day, and all of the ice is nearly gone from the sidewalks, making it much easier (and less treacherous!) to walk Flossie around the neighborhood. In fact, it's been so nice out that I've taken to spending a bit of time on our front porch each day:

It's one of my favorite rooms in the house, with windows all around and sunshine streaming in. Flossie loves it out here, too:

While we were relaxing out on the front porch the other day, the UPS man pulled-up with a big 'ol box for us filled with Arizona sunshine:

Every year my aunt fills a big box with cirtrus fruit from her trees and sends it off to us, which is such a treat during the long, long month of March. I think I'll spend some time juicing lemons today and freezing the juice in ice cube trays, which'll be great to have on hand for future cooking. (Also gotta juice some grapefruits for a little cocktail or two this weekend!) 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Ta-ta for now....