by the way

Sorry if my blog posts look squished and weird. I'm still trying to get my computer to cooperate. I'm using a new browser which should help - but until that kicks in - it looks awful.

Days

Lately:

have spent the last two days with a quilt in my lap, hoping to be done today

saw a mouse in the garage - can't figure out where it's living, but it did clean the PB off the traps

need to start cooking again - real cooking

just realized Christmas is in less than two weeks - lots to do

starting to get excited to have the kids home for the break

am on a perpetual elf hat hunt - checked 6 stores with no luck - my elf may just be hatless in the upcoming school play

almost had flowers delivered to me yesterday - only to catch the delivery guy getting back into his truck, the flowers were for someone on the next street named Dawn - oh well

had a better day with my 3-year-old yesterday - only 11 1/2 more months to go...

One of those days

Clarie snapped this picture of Rose, being Rose

Today was one of those days I do not wish to repeat. Actually, most of my day was OK really. It was this evening...when it all went to pot. I love my dear daughter, I really do, but I'm at my wits end. Having Rose around when I'm trying to run errands or do anything important really is like have some sort of personal gremlin, sent to torture me. I thought things would get better since the twos were so awful, but that proved to be wrong. Three-year-olds are crazy. That's all I can say and keep thing polite.

Hiccups

Rose ready for a walk with Dad

(the puzzle pieces are in her backpack, but she insisted on carrying the empty puzzle box in her hand)

It seems to be getting darker earlier and earlier around here. I don't really mind it. I'm just grateful for portable heaters, fleece vests, wool socks and lap blankets. After living in places with cold winters for almost half my life, my preference scale is starting to tip towards places with cold winters over hot summers. Luckily here is St. Louis, we get the best of both worlds. But every time I go to Texas in the summer, I melt.

Life continues on as normal here, despite a few small hiccups (my antique spice rack falling off the wall - which was loaded with spices) or large hiccups (like my dryer kicking the bucket). But with good friends to help out, we just keep sailing through.

I would be lost without my friends.

Toasty

Pictures of my baking center, as promised. I have plans to add some shelves on the wall above to store my baking supplies in jars, but it'll have to wait for awhile. And one day, when I get beautiful mixing bowls, etc, they will go on the shelves below. It takes time to know what I want there. I love love love having this extra working room. Such a blessing!

So I killed the toaster the other day. I dropped it. When I told Ryan, who was still in bed at the time, he asked "That's what I heard?!" I dropped it nice and hard; almost on Claire's feet.

Being toast people, I thought I had better get out there and get us a new toaster and quick! I wanted to get a better one, but when it came down to it, I got the exact same kind, even though I kind of hated our toaster. It had 10 settings, but if the dial accidentally was turned up to 3, a piece of charcoal would eventually pop out. Which made me think, what would happen at lets say, setting 6? An inferno? What about setting 10!? A mushroom cloud maybe?

Maybe I should have spent the extra $20 for the primo toaster (primo according to Target...) so I wouldn't have to babysit my toast anymore. But maybe, just maybe, the maker of my red chrome Oster toaster will have gotten the settings toned down sometime in the last 6 years since I bought the original. I did notice that this new red chrome Oster toaster only has 6 settings...

And that brings me to the movie, "The Brave Little Toaster". Any of you remember that? I loved watching it on TV as a kid, but when I checked it out from the library to watch with my kids, I found it to be really weird and disturbing. My kids didn't like it at all...so what was wrong with me when I was a kid?

World (ok a log cabin) Turned Upside-Down

Last winter sometime, I started this cross-stitch sampler that I found in the book Embroidery Companion found here http://aliciapaulson.com/. I love her designs and I thought this one would be perfect in the girls' room. I happily started sewing, distracted here and there by kids and life. I started with the log cabin and then moved onto the fence and it wasn't until the fence was done that I realized I sewed the fence on upside-down (in relationship to the log cabin). Now I would call myself a pretty experienced cross-stitcher and this was a major uh-oh. I was so mad that I threw a small tantrum (that Ryan witnessed) and vowed to throw it away. The fence, while easy, was very time consuming, so there was NO WAY I was going to rip it out - it wasn't worth it to me.

So I put it away (Ryan convinced me not to throw it away just yet) and didn't touch it for a few months.

After the sting was gone, I pulled it out, figured out how to make it work without ripping out a single stitch and bam! It's done. I couldn't find a wood frame that I loved, so Claire and I picked out an unfinished one, painted it, and here is the finished product, upside-down cabin and all.

I love how it turned out. It's hanging on the wall next to Rose's bed and the blue ties in with the blue in Rose's quilt and Claire's bedding. Anyway, check out Alicia's book and her blog is great. She is such a gifted lady and lately, her blog has brought me to tears.

Finishing

Well, it's here. My computer arrived last night. The keyboard layout is a bit different, making me erase a large percentage of what I type, but I'll get the hang of it. And while it's great to have a computer that works, I forget how much I hate getting acquainted with a new operating system and having to "personalize" it all over again. Again, I'll get the hang of it.

But while I have been waiting for its arrival, I have been a busy bee. My many projects are all underway and I have spent the last three days making a quilt and staining furniture. The project above was an inexpensive way to test my staining skills. In the end, I didn't love the color for my other projects, so I did end up buying a darker stain. But last night, I finished putting on the three coats of finish and it was a success! Now onto the real stuff - they have color, but need finishing.

I think I like finishing wood, but I'm not sure yet. I'll wait until it's all done to decide - things could go very badly yet.