Willow: "This is all the places you have to go to get to California. You follow the line, and the circles are where the beluga whales live. The house is a bathroom, and the planets are the sun, the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranijus, Neptune. The pointy thing is the sun, and that other thing [the house] is also a rocketship. That [the letters] spell the building that the paper was made in."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
All the Places You Have to Go
Willow: "This is all the places you have to go to get to California. You follow the line, and the circles are where the beluga whales live. The house is a bathroom, and the planets are the sun, the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranijus, Neptune. The pointy thing is the sun, and that other thing [the house] is also a rocketship. That [the letters] spell the building that the paper was made in."
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Beer Makes You Happier
So say that you are having a seriously lousy morning. You STILL have some Project #1 papers to grade and you want to return them tonight to your students, who are whiny and demanding and will refuse to understand why it might take more than one week to grade 46 papers that (supposedly) took them two weeks each to write. Add this to the fact that you are actually having some discipline issues in your classroom, which is ridiculous since your students are college freshmen, although they seem to be having an unusually difficult time adapting to your classroom, which is not permissive, accepts no deviation from the stated rules of the syllabus, and requires a lot of unsupervised work on their part. Are you the problem? You know you're unhappy teaching this semester, you find it burdensome and tiring, you resent the time spent away from your family--can the little rats tell?
And of course, since this is a morning in which you need the children to play independently so that you can work, and you can't go to the park because it's too windy to grade papers there, and you can't go to the library because the playroom is closed on Wednesday mornings, the children are also being whiny and demanding. Willow is throwing an hour-long fit because she's cold--she is also naked and refuses to get dressed. Sydney is fully dressed, but you've just had to change her clothes entirely after she stuffed cottonballs down the drain and overflowed the sink onto herself, the floor, and down into the basement.
Clearly, life sucks. You need to make some beer bread. Beer bread is delicious. It's easy. It's bread. It's beer. It's yummy happy comfort food that will bring some small pleasure into your spiteful day.
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a bowl, sift three cups of flour--I sometimes do all whole wheat, sometimes all white, usually a combination thereof. If you use at least two-thirds self-rising flour, skip the baking powder and salt; otherwise, throw in a teaspoon of each.
3. Grab a beer. I have an entire case of Budweiser in the basement that I use only for beer bread, but when I'm feeling especially unhappy, I treat myself by using my most favorite of all beers: 
You need a tad less than 12 ounces of beer, I assert, so go ahead and take a little swig of that bad boy: 
If you accidentally drink too much, well, there's always another beer in the fridge, right?
4. Pour in the beer and mix it on up:
After you've got it just mixed, you can add it whatever: spices, nuts, shredded cheese, dried fruit. My favorites are pistachios or sunflower seeds or shredded pepperjack. Raisins and garlic were both kind of gross.
5. Spray a loaf pan, pour in the dough, and bake it in the oven for 45 minutes.
While you're waiting 45 minutes for your bready goodness, you've still got your demanding little monkeys to pacify, so whip out one of your faithful documentaries,. Kids sit gape-mouthed on the bed, you get to just nearly almost finish grading:
6. Forty-five minutes later, yum! I tend to like mine with some butter or jalepeno jelly or vegenaise--
--but Willow likes me to melt cheese on hers so that she can then stuff it into her mouth like an animal:
And while you're grading the last two papers and then recording the grades, flush with not so much a sense of accomplishment as resigned relief that the misery is over for a little while, your younger monkey, bored with the bird movie, will scribble over some of your students' papers and then the sheets and then fall fast asleep:
And of course, since this is a morning in which you need the children to play independently so that you can work, and you can't go to the park because it's too windy to grade papers there, and you can't go to the library because the playroom is closed on Wednesday mornings, the children are also being whiny and demanding. Willow is throwing an hour-long fit because she's cold--she is also naked and refuses to get dressed. Sydney is fully dressed, but you've just had to change her clothes entirely after she stuffed cottonballs down the drain and overflowed the sink onto herself, the floor, and down into the basement.
Clearly, life sucks. You need to make some beer bread. Beer bread is delicious. It's easy. It's bread. It's beer. It's yummy happy comfort food that will bring some small pleasure into your spiteful day.
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a bowl, sift three cups of flour--I sometimes do all whole wheat, sometimes all white, usually a combination thereof. If you use at least two-thirds self-rising flour, skip the baking powder and salt; otherwise, throw in a teaspoon of each.
3. Grab a beer. I have an entire case of Budweiser in the basement that I use only for beer bread, but when I'm feeling especially unhappy, I treat myself by using my most favorite of all beers: You need a tad less than 12 ounces of beer, I assert, so go ahead and take a little swig of that bad boy: If you accidentally drink too much, well, there's always another beer in the fridge, right?4. Pour in the beer and mix it on up:
After you've got it just mixed, you can add it whatever: spices, nuts, shredded cheese, dried fruit. My favorites are pistachios or sunflower seeds or shredded pepperjack. Raisins and garlic were both kind of gross.5. Spray a loaf pan, pour in the dough, and bake it in the oven for 45 minutes.
While you're waiting 45 minutes for your bready goodness, you've still got your demanding little monkeys to pacify, so whip out one of your faithful documentaries,. Kids sit gape-mouthed on the bed, you get to just nearly almost finish grading:
6. Forty-five minutes later, yum! I tend to like mine with some butter or jalepeno jelly or vegenaise--
--but Willow likes me to melt cheese on hers so that she can then stuff it into her mouth like an animal:
And while you're grading the last two papers and then recording the grades, flush with not so much a sense of accomplishment as resigned relief that the misery is over for a little while, your younger monkey, bored with the bird movie, will scribble over some of your students' papers and then the sheets and then fall fast asleep:
Instead of ahh-ing over how adorable your little daughter is, you will think, "Crap. There goes her afternoon nap."
Hello, writing lesson plans with a baby on my lap!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
To Do
So now that I'm done with my big craft fair, and luckily have just enough left over to make for a good display at the final local farmer's market craft fair next month, I have vowed to make nothing else to sell until I work through at least some of a very long list of things I need to make for my own babes and big guy:
Any interpretive thoughts?
- Dinosaur T-shirt quilt for the girls' bed
- Star Wars T-shirt quilt for Matt
- Winter pajamas for the girls
- These booties: My theory is that I can resize the pattern to make winter slippers for the whole family.
- Huge felt board, with felt cut-outs, for the girls' playroom
- Curtains for the girls' playroom
- Dino quilted wall hanging for the bathroom of the girls' playroom
- At least two birthday presents for at least two special kiddos in my girlies' lives
- Headbands for Willow
- Tied tutu for Will's little girlfriend
- New pattern templates for my growing girls, based on my most favorite book, Short Kutz
- Halloween costumes
- Little girlie winter pants out of old sweatshirt and sweater sleeves
- Lasagna gardens for next year
- A good scrub for all the grungy house using the recipes from my other most favorite book,
- Kid-made Halloween decorations
- Mom-made Halloween decorations!
- Must try dryer lint modeling material!
- Rain barrels!
- Scrapbooking at least some of the backlog--there's a big backlog
And that doesn't even include all the randomness, such as this brown pillowcase sitting on my desk that is begging to be made into a pillowcase dress for Sydney even though she doesn't need another pillowcase dress, and if I make a pillowcase dress for her, I might as well make one out of this black-and-white pillowcase for Willow, but I could then use the leftover material to make matching headbands, and that counts for my list...
In other news...I didn't have a chance to ask Willow to talk about this art that she created this morning, because she worked on these two pictures literally from the moment she got up and grabbed an adult (one of whom only wanted coffee, the other of whom only wanted a shower) to get her "markers and beautiful paper" to the time that I told her, "Listen, get some pants on or we are going to miss the bus to the library!"
Any interpretive thoughts?
Monday, September 29, 2008
Strange Folk Sunday
The second day of a two-day craft fair isn't quite as awesome as the first day--the excitement's worn off, and it's less busy, with more sightseers out for a wholesome Sunday activity than super-excited handmade fangeeks looking for the next big thing. Instead of only having one thousand people looking at the record bowls and asking, "How do you make these?" or joking "I bet they don't play anymore!" or berating you with "That's a fine thing to do to a good record!" you have two thousand people doing the same. It's still a fun experience, but somehow it's WAY more tiring than the first day was.
But while I was trudging through Day Two, Matt and the girls hit the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis Zoo (and yes, I was also bummed that I couldn't go, too!). The St. Louis Science Center is always a top spot on account of the giant anamatronic dinosaurs, but guess what the family found at a special exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo?
Dinosaurs!!!
But while I was trudging through Day Two, Matt and the girls hit the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis Zoo (and yes, I was also bummed that I couldn't go, too!). The St. Louis Science Center is always a top spot on account of the giant anamatronic dinosaurs, but guess what the family found at a special exhibit at the St. Louis Zoo?
Dinosaurs!!!
Such a lucky day.
Today it's back to the grind--freshman comp papers to grade, grocery shopping to do, kid to drop off and then pick up again from preschool, meals to cook and trash to pick up. On the plus side, I've got some #6 plastic, and me and the kiddos are going to make ourselves some Shrinky Dinks!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Strange Folk Saturday
It has been a good, good Saturday! If you've never been to an indie craft fair, my friends, I must tell you that I highly recommend it. Just imagine chilling out here in suburban St. Louis with me this weekend, wandering through the enchanted craft forest, visiting over a hundred handmade items vendors and with every one of them you think, "Huh, their stuff is cool!" When you get tired you can take a break over at the alpaca petting zoo or the #6 plastic Shrinky Dink station, and when you get hungry, why, there's both a coffee shop and a booth selling deep-fried Snickers bars. Yum.
Here are just a couple of shots of my booth...
...and a worm.The girls have been having an awesome time, too. One of the reasons St. Louis was a good choice for a craft fair was that we love spending the weekend there, anyway--zoo, Science Center, The Container Store, Whole Foods--but Matt and the girls didn't even get out of the park today. Not only is Strange Folk in a park with trees to climb and a playground and a picnic blanket with books and toys just behind my booth and lots of grass to run in, but there is also a #6 plastic Shrinky Dink station and a make-your-own necklace table and an alpaca petting zoo, etc. Sydney especially enjoyed the World's Biggest Sandbox:
And Willow enjoyed--can you guess? 
Matt got this great shot of the two vendors at the mei tai booth, along with their mannequin:
I even got some shopping time while Matt ran the booth with strict orders to smile at people, look pleasant, respond in complete sentences when they spoke to him, and not eat:
Becoming so crafty by habit has unfortunately spoiled my craft fair visiting a little, however, because everything I see, I say something like, "Ooh, a fleece hat with kitty ears! So cool! But I could probably figure out how to make that for myself. Oh, diaper prefolds with quilter's cotton on one side! Um, I could make that, I guess. Vinyl brooches! I should make some of those for myself." But I did find a loophole--supplies! I bought a yard each (so far) of two new awesome cotton fabrics, one of zoo animals and one of the alphabet, and the sock monkey one is kind of calling for me to come back again for it tomorrow. I also bought this beautiful and bright wool roving--
--for making the little felted wool balls from .
All in all, it was a good day for a little money-making, a little shopping, a little spending time with the family...
It was a good day. 
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Happy Feet
My new boots arrived!
They love me and I love them.
I wonder how profitable I'd need to be at Strange Folk in order to earn a Serger AND this green pair?
They love me and I love them.I wonder how profitable I'd need to be at Strange Folk in order to earn a Serger AND this green pair?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Love for Nie
I'm not so much into Jesus-lovin', myself, but I do love this blog by a Jesus-lovin', homebirth-having mama with four kids and, obviously, lots of kid-related adventures. For some reason I am always, for instance, thinking of this post and cracking up, because for some reason I, too, am always being subjected to the weirdest freak-outs by people of authority about my children. One of my mom friends who's a relatively recent transplant here and so far is just not feeling the small town love claims that Bloomington is the nation's home for displaced busy-bodies, but I, personally, get people all judgmental about my neglectful parenting everywhere.
Matt's theory about "neighborliness" in smaller cities and towns is that in a big city, nobody cares how you act because they'll never see you again, and anyway, they've got business of their own to take care of and they don't need to take time away from it to tell you your kid should be wearing a helmet while tricycling. In a smaller city or small town, however, people have a bigger stake in how you behave because they're likely going to see you around A LOT. I can't even tell you how many Bloomington people I've never met but who I know by sight because I see them every week at the library, the farmer's market, Bryan Park, and Joann's. When people see you around a lot, they'd probably prefer if your kid didn't always do annoying shit right in front of them or endanger her life so that they can't enjoy their latte for fear that the kid will fall off the top step and crack her head open and then they'll have to step in and call 911 and worry about minute rollover or whatever. Of course, in a small town those same busy-bodies will also sneak up to your house in the dead of night and leave a big grocery bag of cucumbers and tomatoes on your porch, so there you go.
Anyway...the blogger and her husband, and anyone knows that if you read someone's blog you feel as if you know them so well, were in a terrible plane crash last month and are very seriously injured. Here's the family-run blog about their recovery and the fundraising being done to help them--I'm not so much about the fasting in their honor, or the race, but I was all about the two-day benefit sale on etsy. New items will be added today around 1:00 pm-ish for those kicking it here in the Eastern time zone, but you should also check out the awesome stuff that sold yesterday.
Matt's theory about "neighborliness" in smaller cities and towns is that in a big city, nobody cares how you act because they'll never see you again, and anyway, they've got business of their own to take care of and they don't need to take time away from it to tell you your kid should be wearing a helmet while tricycling. In a smaller city or small town, however, people have a bigger stake in how you behave because they're likely going to see you around A LOT. I can't even tell you how many Bloomington people I've never met but who I know by sight because I see them every week at the library, the farmer's market, Bryan Park, and Joann's. When people see you around a lot, they'd probably prefer if your kid didn't always do annoying shit right in front of them or endanger her life so that they can't enjoy their latte for fear that the kid will fall off the top step and crack her head open and then they'll have to step in and call 911 and worry about minute rollover or whatever. Of course, in a small town those same busy-bodies will also sneak up to your house in the dead of night and leave a big grocery bag of cucumbers and tomatoes on your porch, so there you go.
Anyway...the blogger and her husband, and anyone knows that if you read someone's blog you feel as if you know them so well, were in a terrible plane crash last month and are very seriously injured. Here's the family-run blog about their recovery and the fundraising being done to help them--I'm not so much about the fasting in their honor, or the race, but I was all about the two-day benefit sale on etsy. New items will be added today around 1:00 pm-ish for those kicking it here in the Eastern time zone, but you should also check out the awesome stuff that sold yesterday.
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