Chalkcloth is Cool!

I bought a half yard of chalkcloth a while back and finally got around to trying it out. 10 minutes before leaving for church this morning I figured out what I wanted to make with it.

Don't worry, I paid attention and I hardly fidgeted at all during mass :) I seem to get most of my big ideas at the worst times.

Yesterday I made Julia a chalkcloth mat.

It's ok, I mean- it's a big rectangle, not very interesting!
Have a great week everyone.

Wonky happens sometimes

You'd think after making what seems like 4,050 oilcloth lunch bags, I'd have it down by now. Not so.

I know it's hard to tell in the picture but this thing is absolutely insane. No matter how you turn or twist it, it just won't square up. It's wonky! It's ok, I really fell in love with the color combination while making it so now it's mine!
Speaking of Wonky:

Julia planted watermelon in the backyard at the beginning of summer and never even got a flower. Yesterday she found this guy. It's the size of a softball and was yellow and bitter inside. She was happy anyway.

Let's take this wonky thing one step further because I have never been one to know just when to stop. I may have mentioned previously that I take Topamax for migraines and it really works for me. I am down to one migraine per month...I get one the day before Aunt Flow comes to visit *wink wink*. Wellllllllll, it seems my little biopsy last month screwed up Aunt Flow's travel schedule and she's running 8 days late (don't even go there, there is no way I am pregnant) which means I have had an 8 day migraine! Wonky and awful.

Embrace your wonkiness today and and if you see Aunt Flow tell her to get her ass over here!

A much needed mental health day

I had a real crappy night's sleep and a migraine so I took the day off from my paying job yesterday. It wasn't really a sick day as much as it was a mental health day. It was very therapeutic
Did I curl up on the couch under a quilt with Dr. Phil or Harry Potter?
Nope.



I actually worked my tail off tackling the laundry mountain and organizing my sewing room for 5 hours BUT it was just what the doctor ordered. The kids were at school so I didn't have to settle arguments, listen to tattling, break up fights all day...that stuff really eats up your time. I love them dearly but I am never free from them, when I am home they are home...all the time...everyday there is at least one of them with me at all times. I needed a day off. I also know my life is out of control when my sewing room is as much of a disaster as the rest of the house. This is MY place that I can control.
Things have been bad.
I need to take a day off every now and then but I need the money so I save my days off for when the kids are sick or have some "teacher in service" day off from school so then I never have a day to myself.
This is a problem.



hmmmm, I started this post because I felt so much better after my mental health day and now I feel all whiney and pitiful again. I am becoming a terrible bore! Just look at the pretty pictures, I'll snap out of it, I'm pretty sure it's mostly PMS :/

Pre-Halloween Fun and Stress

I am a planner and I am truly an organized person...just don't look around my house...but I really am a bit OCD about things, I just have to let them go until the children move out.
*wringing hands and twitching*
Anyway, I knew this Halloween party was last night and I knew I had to search for costumes in the attic and I forgot to ask my Bumble to get them for me because he is the attic-putter-awayer (as all Bumbles are) and knows where he puts all the stuff...I'm rambling...

I spent my Saturday stressed, sweaty and dusty looking for costume things in the attic, in between baking cupcakes and shopping for juice boxes because volunteers bailed (grrr I hate that). It was worth it. Look at Julia's get up:

She was Orphan Annie (using a recycled dance costume) and was thrilled when she won 2nd place in the costume contest!


Gabby and David (aka Bumble) were in the cast of actors in the haunted school and did an awesome job scaring the bejeesus out of people, seriously, they were very frightning. Sammy and her crew were a bit to cool for all that.

Today I am going to spend some quality time with my washer, dryer and sewing machine and perhaps admire my newest fabric therapy acquisitions that came in the mail yesterday

*please excuse the blurry photos, my batteries keep crapping out on me!

Go ahead try saying it

Try saying The Thesaurus.

Can you do it on the first try?

This always causes fits of laughter in our house when one of the girls asks "where is the thethorus?"

Moving on...

Have you ever tried this stuff?

I would have never tried it on my own but my bumble got this at a grocer's food show and we tried it...YUM! I am usually not one for any kind of sweetness on my salad but this is awesome stuff with grilled chicken, croutons, crisp veggies on a bed of dark greens. MMMMM!

Gotta run, but I want to say thank you for all of your kind words on my last post, you guys are great!!!

One year ago

Last October 15th I started this humble little blog. I remember being so hesitant to click "publish", what if no one ever reads this, what if someone does read this, what if I don't keep up with it, what if, what if....here we are. It is just what I want it to be, a place to share, to vent, to connect, to be happy, sad, angry, excited, a place that I can keep organized. This is where I can be me without pressure.

I really suck at responding to people. I'm sorry. I read every response and am grateful for each one. So, that's my Big Blogaversary Edition, no giveaways, contests or any fun stuff, my life won't allow it, just a great big thanks for coming here, it really makes my day!

(The picture above is from my driver's seat going to pick up Sammy from her awesomely fabulous private high school that we break our butts to pay for that she thinks she doesn't want to go to any more because it's too hard. I can't talk about it yet...)

I had a busy weekend of sewing, enjoy some pictures:

I am still here, just insanely busy with life...I won't bore you...much.
How do you people do it?
Please tell me!
How do you work, have kids and get them places, cook, get and keep the house clean, deal with mountains of laundry, etc. and somehow stay sane? Someone? Anyone? Words of wisdom? Magic potion?...legal or illegal at this point. I think I know where "Wits End" is because I may have reached it!
OK, let's look at a pretty picture while I melt down:

This is part of Gabby's math project that we worked on last night and then managed to eat dinner around the pile of components. Don't ask what shrinky dink flower pots have to do with algebra, I don't have the energy to explain, they're pretty cute though, huh?

*Thanks for all of the Mom sympathy on the last post. I feel guilty even typing stuff like that but this is my outlet. I think her negativity and my lack of tolerance for it comes from us being so close all of the time (we live upstairs from them) and she doesn't feel the need to put on the happy Mom face for me.

PS- Good news, my biopsy results came back A-OK!

Forcing Fall

Fall in New England should be cool crisp air, changing leaves, bright blue skies...NOT Hot, humid and 80 degrees. Yuck!

We did enjoy a local apple festival this morning despite the summer like weather. I took along my niece (she's feeling much better Deb!) and my Mom who is 72 today.

Mom is becoming quite a challenge these days. She is in perfect health, has all her wits about her, reads a 900 page book every 2 days and can knit or crochet circles around anyone yet she is completely miserable about everything. She can just suck the happy right out of anything lately. We only stayed at the fair for about an hour before we left because she just stood there having something negative to say about everything. Mom, do you want cider, cakes, muffins, etc? "nah, I can make that" Mom, why don't you let me get you that inexpensive cute thing you're eyeing for the front yard? "Nah, someone will just steal it" And so on and so on... Enough of that, I'm just a bit down lately because of this. Sorry to vent.

They had a great Farmer's Market at the fair, look at this bounty:

Sorry for the blur!

Take a look at the size of that cauliflower!

I put an apple next to it for perspective. I can't wait to cook it tomorrow. Here's my favorite way:

Preheat the oven to 375. drizzle a cookie sheet with olive oil. I remove the core and slice the cauliflower into 1 inch slabs and place them on the sheet. drizzle the tops with olive oil and season with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until really golden brown and turn. Season with salt and pepper and continue to bake this side for another 30 minutes until done. Try it, I promise that you will be a cauliflower fan if you weren't already!

Now I must leave you as I have birthday parties to run to. Please enjoy the goofy October calendar.

No Fair!

No Fair!
Originally uploaded by cbcyr

September 22nd? Do I drive with my eyes closed? Why did I not see this until October 4th? I drive by the this telephone pole 3-4 times a day and it's approximately 1/2 mile away from my house. HUH???? .50 cents a yard? Fat quarters .25 cents? Who sells fabric from their house?
Maybe it was some sort of sting? Trying to draw out underground covert quilters? *shrugs* I dunno! Now every time I drive by that house I go really slow, scoping it out... looking for signs of a new fabric sale.