I am a poor wayfaring stranger
I want one.
No wonder she’s angry – she’s got a yarn shop full of crappy acrylics.
Toots
It’s easier to run and harder to be still
How many of you can reach for a snack from where you are sitting?
What is that outside my computer window?
Are those the black raspberries I have been patiently waiting for?
Why yes, yes they are!
Hello delicious, conveniently located healthy snack!
om, nom, nom
I relish the thought of the pies to come.
Toots
Don’t stop till you get enough!
I’ve been makin’ coasters – and now you can too! you can buy the pattern or you can buy some of mine. Either way, stop by the Etsy shop to pick out your goodies!
I promise a return to actual, regular blogging in July. Be well my little chickadees!
Toots
The smile on your face I live only to see
– Lay here and watch the trees sway
How to have my Tuesday in 7 simple steps.
1:Wrangle with your insurance company and that of the other party involved over the fault of the rear-ending that you experienced 5 months ago and finally get them to come to the conclusion that it WAS NOT your fault and that you can now get your car fixed.
2:Drop your car off at the body shop which also has a rental place and drive off in a spiffy PT Cruiser.
3: Get a job teaching at WEBS so you meet awesome people who will bring you fresh Hadley Grass from their garden for NO reason, out of the blue, while you are happiily crocheting away at Drop-in. Thank you Joyce!!
4: When you get home from work with the kids marinate the asparagus with some chives and oregano from your garden and a bit of the real balsamic vinegar that your sister brought snuck back from Italy almost 2 years ago that you totally hoard.
5: Fire up the grill and get it ready for some steaks and the super yummy asparagus.
6: Counsel, comfort and bandage your almost 7 year-old after she shatters the glass on your garage side door and scares the SH!T out of herself, her sister and you. (Breathe a sigh of relief when you clean up the Van Gogh worthy amounts of blood from the side of her face and ear and you only find superficial cuts. *sigh*)
7: Clean it all up and be ready to sit down to a delicious meal just as the hubby pulls in.
You could probably get away with steps 4, 5 and 7, or you could make up your own, but that would be simple and easy. The best things in life are more enjoyable if you toss in some drama, and a full belly.
SO full.
and no, that is not some secret allusion to me being pregnant, I’m just super full of asparagus.
Toots
Done up in blueprint blue
– its your favorite foreign movie
I made my Mommy some flowers yesterday. I loves her.
I’ll try and put together a tutorial later in the week if I can get through the rest of the stuff I need to do.
Toots
Hold your breath, make a wish
The kids have been watching this movie like crazycakes the past month, not that I mind, I would rather spend hours with Gene Wilder than 10 minutes with Hannah Montana.
I bring up Willy Wonka because the name came up twice in my life this week.
First: We made jam on Sunday. I had gone to the Twist Fair on Saturday with Melissa, Kristen and her amazingly well behaved (you put me to shame) daughter and Rue and we had a lovely time, and a lovely lunch at which I mentioned wanting to go home and make violet jam, I have mentioned this in past years. Melissa loved the idea and demanded the “receipt!” Oh the calm repose and patience that woman has Then I went back to Twist with Annie and had a second loverly time. I ended up with not a lot of loot but good loot. I bought some super cute hair clips from Tina, got a beautiful necklace from Malea – I’ll shows you later, soap and lotion from Bunny Butt and I ran into all sorts of people I know and love. Now, if I could just get off my ass a little more and make some stuff I could maybe vend at one.
Oh the Willy Wonka thing, right, its because Violet Jam is an insane color and Saebra commented that it looked like a candy that Willy would make.
Second: My friend Matt picked cahsews this week, he’s in El Salvador with the Peace Corps for the next 2 years. He and his host brother went out to pick cashews and he’d never realized they came attached to fruits. He said, ”…looks like something from Willy Wonka’s health food store.” Unfortunatly they don’t taste so good. And for those of you that followed his link, please ignore the mustache. Somewhere under there is the cutest boy in the world, I swear.
So what do you do with electric purple jam? you eat it of course! and it is delicious. Melissa says it tastes like spring and she is so totally right.
If you’d like the recipe, here you go:
Violet Jam – referred to by my husband as his brothers as violent jam
Makes 12, 4oz jars
3 C violet blossoms 5 C sugar
3 C water 2 – 1.75oz packets of powdered pectin
2 tsp lime juice
How can I hold the part of me that only you can carry
- I will not take these things for granted
The girls got new bikes last week from their Uncle Kevin and Auntie Jamie. Today we put their old bikes out by the road so some other lucky little kid could have a new bike. Saebra has a very hard time letting go.
She’s alright. We talked about how special she felt when she got her new bike and how special the child that gets her old bike is going to feel. Then she got to go get ice cream, its all good.
Our neighbor dropped by this morning and asked if we liked fish. Um, yes. Her nephew had gone fishing on Friday and bagged a bunch of trout, she wasn’t really interested in it but would we like some. Um, yes.
And oh was it good! Saeb ate half a fish all be herself. Marinated all day in olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, hot pepper flakes, terragon, dill and ginger, wrapped in a few bacon slices, wrapped up in foil and grilled to perfection. I’d show you whats left but skin and bones is just not attractive.
Today I also finished my 12 potholders. Here is my prototype and the one that Melissa picked out, its her fault I’m doing this swap, she told me about it. oh, shiny pretty swap…
The swap is only for 5 but I have 6 other people to whom I promised handmade goodies so I figured that if I was going to dive into potholder mayhem I might as well go whole hog. The pattern is my own based on something I saw on Ravelry that had no available pattern. Maybe I’ll write it up. Would you want me to?
This is what I started with
This is what I finished with – minus Malea’s, she got hers yesterday 
Tomorrow I’ll go back to finishing a tank and neckwarmer that are promised to other folks and contemplating some pattern ideas rattling around in my noggin.
Oh and some serious thank-yous to Melissa, Grill-Master Gene and all the ladies at the chocolate party yesterday. I had a grand time, my ribs still hurt.
Toots
five, six, nine, and ten.
Saturday was a great day and miserable, grey, rainy days usually just aren’t. We played Yahtzee, Saebra won a family game for the first time ever! we colored Easter eggs. Multiple color dips make the greatest eggs!
We also made Easter cards for the family. We made our own paper shaped into little rounds with wildflower seeds embedded in the fiber so the paper we made can just be torn up and planted. Pretty cool, huh!
Yesterday we got to visit most of the family, well the girls and Pat did. I spent my afternoon with a sleepy Easter Bunny
Toots
With your fingers you can touch me
- I’m for spare parts, broken up
(btw, the lyrics for this one are nsfw! or small children. Have I mentioned that I adore Thom Yorke?)
One last class sample is done for the summer run at WEBS.
Wanna make one? Sign up for the class
Toots
Think about the days of me and you
- Then remembering will have to do
(thanks for the music today Ma. All I need is another excuse to cry in the middle of the day)
I finished up a big project today.
Perty idn’t she. This is the sample blanket for the crochet block of the month class I’m teaching from July – June of next year at Webs. Once I really sat down to work on it things moved along pretty quickly.
There are detail shots of the squares on my flickr page.
Its pizza night and I have a basket full of laundry to fold and I still have to go pick the Hubby up from work. Have a great weekend, chickadees!
Toots
