Revival!

Well, spring is fast approaching, and spring means new beginnings and revival.  In keeping with Mother Nature's theme, I'm reviving my blog.  I've been sewing a lot lately, but not doing much gardening.  Things have been a bit busy with work, W's diabetes care and the birth of J in November!
I'm not promising a lot here, but I'll use this space to post pictures of sewing projects, plants I don't kill and other things that strike my fancy.

Birthday pics, etc, as promised

You asked for it... Well, maybe you didn't, but here you go anyway.
While my parents were here, Mike and I had an overnight get-away in NYC. I went in on the train on Friday afternoon, did around by myself for a while, and met up with him after he got done at work.
I snapped the picture below when I was meandering through Union Square. There were these three girls walking to a restaurant (I later saw them across the street from where Mike and I were eating) and they had on practically identical outfits. They were such a bad cliche, I couldn't resist...
After eating and walking around a bit, we headed to BowlMor, a bowling alley in the Union Square/Greenwich Village area.

I didn't do so well. Yes, I got a few strikes, but that was a total fluke.Of COURSE I had to take a picture of Lance Bass's signed pin at BowlMor!This was, perhaps my favorite thing that I saw in NYC... On a front door in Greenwich Village, the person had posted a plaque that read "No Menus" in both English AND Chinese! Hilarious. I totally need one of those. We get bombarded with menus for Chinese places....

While Mike and I were still in NYC the following a.m., my brave parents took W to the Staten Island Children's Museum. W loved it-- they had a REAL FIRE ENGINE that he got to play in!

After visiting the museum, the three of them took the Staten Island Ferry to Manhattan, where they met us. We took the ferry back to SI, where my parents had parked their car, and drove back home. W really liked the ferry. He thought the Statue of Liberty was neat; he has a book about NYC and when he sees the drawing of the statue in the book, he gets all excited.


So my parents are the King and Queen of Projects. While they were here, they did several things around here that have needed doing...
Dad, using the 100 lb roller on the new kitchen floor...
Giving horsey rides...
Dad also organized Mike's tools in the basement. Mom organized the other crap down there... We actually have a lot of space, now that stuff is neatly stacked!
We went to our favorite farm while they were here... The farm provides a free apple for each child who visits. W loves choosing one for his very own!
According to my mother, I loved to wear bowls on my head when I was a little girl. So of course Mom couldn't resist snapping this picture of W...
Ah, the birthday! My mom got me a cupcake tower for Mother's Day... It was the perfect thing for the party!

He loved having everyone sing to him!He got great stuff for his birthday...
Underpants!
A new bike helmet (with Lightening McQueen on it, of course), to go with.....
...his new bike! That's right, it's a two-wheeler with no pedals. It's a balance bike. A child who uses one learns to ride a bike without training wheels. A friend of ours had one for her son, and he now rides a two-wheeler perfectly, and won't be four until November!
Of course, we had an unwelcome guest...
I found this caterpillar munching on one of my tomato plants! He was actually quite beautiful. He had a gorgeous green body, with blue and white stripes along it. He will be a pretty butterfly (if he makes it!). I transplanted him to the neighbor's front bushes (hey, no one lives there!).
My tomato plants are incredible. They are taller than my fence.
It's a jungle out there!
Kicking back after the party...
Yes, it was a big weekend.

In and out

Mike installed my new ceiling fan (Mother's Day present) in the kitchen yesterday--it's fantastic (get it?!).

Here's Mike washing dishes (I love my husband so much!). You can see my new sink, new counter tops, new shade, and new light over the sink. Hooray!

My darling husband also finished staining and varnishing W's W-sized eating set to match our dining table. It looks great, and W is super-proud of it.

Here are my veggies in the backyard. I have several tomato plants, bell pepper, eggplant and squash. I sowed some carrot, radish, watermelon, and pumpkin seeds this past weekend as well.

Here's the first squash bloom of the season!

Here are my delish herbs. I have (clockwise from lower left) basil, parsley, mint, cilantro and rosemary.

Remember the stuff I started from seeds back in March? Some of it didn't work, but the stuff that did work is pretty impressive. Here are some tomato and bell pepper plants.

Plantings

I've got quite a spread in the backyard. We went to the farmers' market this afternoon and got lots of plants. I just finished getting them into the ground. I planted--

• 6 grape tomato plants
• 4 squash plants
• 4 eggplants
• 2 bunches of parsley in pots
• 2 sweet potato vines
• 1 patio tomato plant
• 2 decorative basil plants (it's a purple color and smells divine)
  

This is all in addition to the plants I put in about 2 weeks ago--

• basil
• cilantro
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 tomato plants
• 1 jalapeno plant
• 2 clematis vines
• Oriental lilies
• 2 bleeding hearts

I also separated and transplanted several daylilies and hostas. It looks so green and lush outside now. It really makes up for the bleakness of the New Jersey winter.
Mike is working tomorrow for someone, so he got today and Monday off in return. He got some molding up in the kitchen, above the countertop backsplash, so it's looking even more complete in there. He also went to Home Depot to get my Mother's Day present... A new ceiling fan for the kitchen! Bye-bye grody brown fan, hello new white fan!

Installation

Mike, my dad and our kind neighbor Matt are installing our new countertops today! Mike and Dad ripped the old ones out on Thursday. They had a little trouble with the new ones at first, as one of the pieces wasn't mitered correctly. They bought a new one at Home Depot and the new one seems to be a bit better.
Keep your fingers crossed!

Spring!

Finally! Spring has sprung! Today it got up to 76 degrees. It was absolutely gorgeous. This morning, we spent some time cleaning up the churchyard. They were supposed to have childcare, so we took W with us, but the care provider was sick, so I basically watched W play while Mike worked on cleaning up the bushes along the road. After that, we headed up to Hopewell for the Green Market at their old train depot. W got to pet alpacas, chickens and baby ducks. He got to try out a tumbling apparatus that was sponsored by a local gym for kids. We ate delicious wood-fired pizza from the traveling wood-fired pizza kitchen (believe it!). After wonderful naps this afternoon, we prepared some delicious food to grill. Our neighbors Ethel and Matt are coming over to grill, so I'm out for now.
Oh, and I'm recovering from bronchitis. But I'm doing much better. At least my voice is back.

Frolic time!

To raise money for mission projects, our church is holding FROLICS. I am hosting a sewing frolic in June. I am really excited about this opportunity to share my love of embroidery with others for a good cause. Here's my Frolic description:

Title of Frolic: A Stitchin' Time
Date of Frolic: Saturday, June 6, 2009
Time of Frolic: 9 am until noon

Description of Frolic: No matter what your sewing skills are, you can create an adorable hand-embroidered t-shirt for that special little boy or girl in your life. Carrie will take you through the process of personalizing a boring t-shirt step-by-step, from the use of stabilizer and iron-on patterns, to basic stitches (stem, split and satin) and finishing techniques. Carrie will provide a variety of kitschy Jenny Hart designs from which to choose, but if you have one of your own in mind, please feel free to bring it. You will be provided with a high-quality white t-shirt, stabilizer, embroidery floss, small embroidery hoop and a needle. Shirts range in size from 2T to 5T; please indicate which size you want when you sign up for the frolic. If you prefer a smaller size, or a onesie, please indicate as such when you sign up for the frolic. Snacks and beverages will be provided.

Number of guests: maximum of 10, ages 12 and up
Cost per participant: $35 (price includes shirt, stabilizer, iron-on design of your choice, embroidery floss selection, embroidery hoop and needle)

Fun, huh? So I've submitted it to the person in charge of organizing the whole project, and there will be a book of all the options available for the church, as well as members of the community, starting next Sunday. The pastor, an avid woodworker, is hosting a woodworking workshop. Mike is signing up for that one. Since it isn't going to be held until October, that is going to be Mike's birthday present.

Child labor

So I am getting my house in order for a visit from the in-laws... I've found that I get more done when W has a playmate, so the neighbor kid is over. I've put them both to work. W is dusting, and the neighbor kid is doing the Swiffer. I think I'll just put my feet up and read a book!

One month...?

Has it really been a whole month since I wrote something on this thing? ::checking calendar:: Yup, sure has. Life is going well; my best girlfriend in the entire world just found out she's expecting her second, and another dear friend/co-worker is expecting in July. Babies, babies everywhere!! To answer the question that everyone asks... no, not yet. Don't know when, or even if. I'm a big believer in things happening when they're supposed to happen... and it just ain't happening right now, folks!
I've completed several craft-y projects lately. Here's a sampling--
Here's a big floor pillow I put together for a friend's daughter's second birthday. The fabric is a really soft flannel with kitties and flowers on it. The trim is purple pom pom's.


This is a little girl's shirt that I embroidered for our school's Auction Night fundraiser
Here's the little boy shirt that I embroidered for Auction Night


Yup, I make seasonal kerchiefs for Maggie. Here's her Peanuts Easter Beagle one.


I embroidered this t-shirt for my best girlfriend's little boy for his second birthday. His party theme was ROBOTS, so I thought the shirt was very appropriate.


Ah, the Easter season. I got three little wooden eggs from the craft store and painted them. I primed them first, then painted them. Several layers of paint later, I used Polyurethane to give them a nice shine. I love the little chicks I nestled in with the eggs. They're so old-fashioned.
I'm working on a blanket for a friend's new baby boy down in MS. It is a trial-and-error thing, hence the delay in finishing it. I didn't expect it to be as involved as it's turned out to be!
And as for my gardening... My bulbs are a success! The dwarf iris came up a few weeks ago (see below) and the daffodils are in full bloom. I think we'll have tulips in a week or so. I have some hyacinth in a pot indoors and they are blooming and smell divine.

Below, you'll see one of the two Jiffy greenhouses W helped me prepare a few weeks ago. Each greenhouse has 72 peat pots. We filled all of them with seed. I'd say 90% of them have sprouted! I cannot believe it. It will be a few weeks before I can move them outside, as the nighttime temperatures still get pretty low, but we will have lots of good veggies growing, and pretty flowers too, this summer.

Two out of three...

... is bad! Two out of the three humans that live at our house are sick, and the other one isn't so tip-top, either. I have been feeling crummy on-and-off all week, and it's really hit me now. I think it's just a nasty cold. I have a bad cough and just feel bad in general. W hasn't been feeling so well either. He was absolutely pitiful when we left school yesterday, and he was pointing at his left ear, indicating that it hurt. He has only had one prior ear infection, but I automatically knew that it was that. So I called the pediatrician. Luckily, we were able to get right in to see the nurse practitioner. She was super-nice, and confirmed that he does, in fact, have an ear infection. She wrote us a script for amoxicillin, and off we went to the pharmacy. One Tootsie-Pop and dose of children's Motrin later, he was closer to being his old self. He was a semi-good sport about taking his anti-biotic at suppertime, so that was good. He's got to take it twice a day for ten days. Ugh. Not fun for anyone. I just hope he doesn't get the runs or any other nasty side-effects from it.
Unfortunately, this throws a crimp in my weekend plans. I was going to clean the house top-to-bottom. We are having our house re-appraised so that we can get a lower mortgage interest rate, and I really need to get it semi-presentable. Moreover, we have company next weekend. A dear, dear friend of ours from all the way back to middle school (for Mike) and high school (for me) is flying up from MS on Saturday and staying until Tuesday. We can't wait! Mike is super-excited; this is his absolute best friend in the entire world (besides moi, of course!), so he's really looking forward to this. He's even taking Monday off from work so that they can go into NYC together. As much as I'd like to tag along, the thought of taking W as well just isn't very appealing, believe it or not.
So I don't know when things are going to get done around here. Our schedules are such that it's difficult to get ANYTHING done, to be honest. Sigh.

Three day weekend

We have really enjoyed our three-day weekend. It's amazing how much-needed this break is! I mean, W and I just had two weeks off of school/work, but I have just been exhausted. Should a person really need a vacation AFTER a vacation? Maybe so.
On Friday afternoon, after school, W and I went to Market Fair, this mall that's nearby that has some fancier fare. We had fun in the toy store, where W played at the train table. W enjoyed a small bowl of sugar-free chocolate ice cream, which really is quite delicious. He got it all over his shirt, which really bothered him, but I was able to Shout! it out when we got home. It was super-cold; I think the high on Friday hovered around 17.
When we awoke on Saturday morning, our temperature gauge read "4.3". That's right. FOUR-POINT-THREE DEGREES. I immediately called my dad, a complete weather freak, to let him know about the cold. Seriously, I cannot remember actually being somewhere that got that cold. Even when I was at Smith I don't recall the temperature getting that low; I think I would have remembered that. So it didn't get much warmer on Saturday than it did on Friday, but we got out and about. We drove down to Hamilton because there is a Chick-Fil-A with a decent indoor play place. First, though, we went to the Barnes and Noble there; they have a really nice Thomas train table set-up. While W was playing at the train table, Mike and I switched off watching him and wandering around the bookstore. At one point, we smelled something a little (well, a lot) funky. Mike, angel that he is, volunteered to take W to the bathroom to change him. God bless him. Mike said it was the worst diaper he's experienced in a VERY long time. Very tenacious poop ALL OVER. I think he had to resort to dampening the paper towels, which W did NOT appreciate at all. Boy, was I glad I missed out on that one.
After that, and lunch, we did a quick trip into Wal-Mart to get some hygeine items for Levi Sunday. Once a year, our church has what we call "Levi Sunday". After a brief worship service, the congregation disperses and goes to different work stations to work on service projects for the Trenton area. There was a station for assembling lunches for TASK (Trenton-Area Soup Kitchen), one for putting together hygeine kits for folks and one for making cards for shut-in's, nursing home residents, and hospital patients. After working a while, we all enjoyed subs from Wa-Wa. Yum. Oh, and everyone wore jeans. Bonus, on a day as cold as it was. It's called Levi Sunday not because of the jeans, though. The Levites were set apart to do service in the ancient Temple; our church strives to avoid making a distinction between worship and mission/community work, or hearing and doing. I think it's so important to combine the two; too often, we think of a church building as THE PLACE to worship God. However, our worship of God should be evident in our daily lives and actions, not just for an hour on Sunday.
Anyway, after church, we went to a neighbor's house for their son's 2nd birthday party. It was really time for W's nap, so we didn't stay long, but it was fun nonetheless. I think W was a little done with celebrating birthdays, as we had been to another friend's child's 2nd birthday party the evening prior. He was a good sport, though. He's definitely a bit of a wall-flower, especially around big crowds and people he doesn't know, but so are his parents, so he gets it honestly.
We watched the playoff games yesterday. Can I be honest? I am SO GLAD the Eagles didn't win. Philly fans can be really obnoxious; it was bad enough that the Phillies won the World Series. I don't think any of us could have survived a Super Bowl victory! While watching the games, I managed to get some laundry done, as well as a draft "dodger" sewn for the bottom of our front door. The door just doesn't fit well, and even though we also have a storm door, the cold air comes in sometimes. So I got a little bit of corduroy fabric from the Red Tag section at Jo-Ann's and sewed a tube, filled it with bird seed (hope it doesn't attract critters!), and volia! Drafts dodged! We'll see how effective it is...
Mike took W on the train this morning. This is sort of a weekly outing for them. Since Mike has a monthly parking and train pass for his NYC commute, it doesn't cost a dime for them to take a little ride. They ride from Hamilton up to New Brunswick, get Dunkin' Donuts, and ride back. W loves the train, and Mike adores the alone time they get. I get to vacuum and catch up on whatever else needs doing. Everyone wins!
Back to the grind tomorrow. But really, I love my job. It IS work, but I enjoy it so much, it doesn't feel like "work". I know how fortunate I am to have my child in such a wonderfully nurturing environment, especially since I am in the same building with him and can sneak peeks into his classroom every once in a while! It really is a dream-come-true.

Brrrr!

We had a fantastic weekend. Friday was my 29th birthday. We got out of school early due to winter weather. It was snowy at the school, but as we traveled south toward home, the snow turned to slush. Thank goodness the salt trucks had been out. I can handle driving in snow okay, but the slush is really yuck. So we got home earlier than normal and W took his nap at home (which meant that I was able to have one too!). Of course Mike didn't get home until regular time (9:30), which meant we didn't really celebrate, but that was alright.
It was alright because the next night we had all our friends/neighbors and their kids over! I made a huge crock-pot of chili, and people brought other yummy treats and a cornucopia of beer and wine. It was definitely a feast that would make Bacchus proud! Folks started coming over around 5, so W got some good playing in with the other children. I don't know how he did it, but W went to sleep around 7 and managed to sleep through the rest of the evening's festivities. It wasn't an especially late night, as Mike and I had agreed to keep the toddler nursery at church for the following day...
We only had three kids in the nursery. One was a "crier" but I immediately intervened and worked some of my newly-attained Montessori "Toddler Whisperer" magic on her. She calmed down pretty quickly and joined the boys at the sand table without much ado. After church, we drove s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y home, as the roads were incredibly icy from all the slush. We ate leftover chili and took naps, which was heavenly. The afternoon included a trip to the library to get a Bob the Builder video for W. I don't know where he's picked up on BTB, but he really likes him. So we indulged that little desire. On the way home, we saw a beautiful desk chair out at the curb to be picked up by the garbage man. I said, "Stop! GO BACK!" We went back, Mike got out and checked it for major problems, and, seeing none, loaded it into the car. It actually is very similar to the one pictured above (middle chair), but it has wheels and is lighter in color. We're going to refinish it and use it at our computer desk in our den. It's quite lovely, and very comfortable.
It's been incredibly cold. It got down to 14 on Sunday night and only got up to around 22 yesterday. Today was a little warmer, getting up to around 30 and less windy. It's supposed to continue to warm between now and when we fly out for MS, so that's a good thing, as it means we are less likely to encounter delays.
I have quite a few things to cross of my to-do list between now and then...

1. make chocolate-covered pretzels for neighbors
2. make cookies for church Christmas Eve reception
3. meet/greet at church Christmas Eve pageant at 4 pm tomorrow
4. clean house in preparation for pet/house sitter
5. finish laundry
6. find digital camera (?!)
   
7. pack for myself and W
8. celebrate Christmas with Mike and W tomorrow, as Mike has to work on Christmas Day
9. attend neighbor's Christmas gathering on Thursday
10. catch 6 am flight out of Newark on Friday
    

And once we get back into town on January 2...

1. write six 3-page papers for Montessori Philosophy class (due first week of January)
2. sew placemats and napkins for toddler lunch group at school

Pater

Mike's 94-year-old grandfather died yesterday. Mike is flying to Little Rock tomorrow morning. The funeral will probably be on Wednesday; Mike will get home late Thursday night. Most airlines don't offer bereavement fares anymore. As far as bereavement "favors", the only thing they'll let you do is change or cancel your ticket with no penalty fee, which I suppose isn't a small thing, considering how much they generally charge for that. I wish that W and I could go with him, but with tickets over $400, it just wouldn't work out.
So it's going to be just me and W this week. Wish me luck.
I got my Christmas decorations up yesterday. The house looks festive. I can understand why some people leave Christmas lights up all year! Unfortunately, the cats think the tree is for chewing and swatting. Badness!

Toilet paper woes

Amazingly enough, our supermarket has fantastic store-brand toilet paper. I never would have thought that generic TP would be the way to go, but seriously, Wegman's TP is great. I did something dumb last week, though. We were nearing the end of our stash and were in desperate need for more. I was at Wal-Mart (ugh) and figured I'd just buy some there. I got a 24 pack of the White Cloud (WM brand) kind. I mean, toilet paper's toilet paper, right? WRONG. This is, as Mike calls it, John Wayne toilet paper-- "Rough, tough, and don't take sh*t off no one." It is only ONE PLY. And, it doesn't feel very good. So now I'm stuck with 24 rolls of crappy (I couldn't resist!) toilet paper. I have definitely learned my lesson.
Oh, and today, when we went to Wegman's, I got a big pack of their TP. So we have enough to last us the rest of 2008.

The latest pics

Here are some not-so-recent pics that we recently uploaded. Most are from late-July, I believe.

Finished pillow--I stitched the design and made the pillow. The design is called Summer Line-Up and is by The Trilogy. I did a Spring one a few months ago and turned it into a pillow; I am now working on the Autumn one.

This pic of W has become our new desktop background on our pute.


My butterfly bush and cosmos. A little blurry; I need to try to get a better one since it has even more blooms on it right now.

Look closely and you'll see a bright green preying Mantis on the stem of a cosmo.

A very happy bumblebee--they love my flowers in the front yard--who can blame them?? We also have a large number of Monarch butterflies that enjoy the floral buffet, but I have yet to capture a picture of any of them.

My little gardening buddy. He loves deadheading the flowers--unfortunately, now he thinks ANYTHING is fair game for deadheading--not just the dead ones!

Long time, no post

My in-laws have been here for the past week, hence the lack of posting. We had a wonderful time together and managed to keep ourselves quite busy. On Tuesday night, Mike, his dad and I went to a Phillies/Cardinals game. The Cards won, which was fantastic. The only other MLB games I'd ever been to were in St. Louis so it was a bit of a rude awakening to go to a game in "enemy" territory. It's not that the fans were rude or obnoxious necessarily, but they just weren't really watching the game. There was little cheering, and actually quite a bit of booing on the part of the Phillies fans for their own team! Unbelievable.
We left W at home with his Grammy Lynn--he was well-behaved for her, thank goodness!
LMSS with Darling Husband at ballpark
Our view. Our seats were waaaay up high, but they were actually decent. Good view, nice breeze. Once the sun set, it was even better.
I think Mike took this pic of the scoreboard right before Rick Ankiel hit his homerun. Check out the setting sun behind the scoreboard.
Loved this guy. Check out his shirt!!

My project this week was hanging pictures behind my sofa. That wall was so bare, but I couldn't come up with a good filler. Finally I had the genius idea to do a photo collage of the past two years. Most of the pics were taken by Mike's former co-worker Melanie, but a couple of them were taken by none other than Alice. Fab!