Independence Days challenge, week 28

Time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge:

1. Plant something: Bought a big hanging pot of thyme, sage, and parsley and a big rosemary plant to add to my indoor herb garden.
2. Harvest something: Eggs. Sorrel, Good King Henry, kale, swiss chard.
3. Preserve something: Froze 12 pts. pumpkin puree.
4. Waste not: Am frantically at work on a quilt for Craft Hope, which is made entirely of seen-better-days fabrics, now given new life.
5. Preparation and storage: Added on-sale pasta, olive oil, lentils, beans, and spices to storage. Stored 6 bunches of leeks, 30 lbs of squash, 90 lbs of potatoes, 5 cabbages.
6. Build community food systems: Inspired by this post about a neighborhood garden, we started talking more seriously about where we could find some sunnier land to grow veggies next year. Andi came up with a perfect solution! There's a many-years-abandoned public-housing house across the street from us. Why not plant a garden in the back yard there? If they ever decided to use that house again and take it away from us, oh well. We'll have had use of it for a while. We talked to our friend who lives next door to that property, and she'd like to go in on it with us. So this week we'll lay a tarp to kill a patch of weeds there, as a beginning.
7. Eat the food: We've started to break into this year's stored food: frozen blueberries, some jam, "root cellared" carrots (stored in the shed) and sweet potatoes (stored in the bedroom closet) and apples (stored in the baby's room). We're still eating "green eggs" weekly, and now lots of soups. We've started to get a bit better about using our dried beans from storage: this week, made kidney beans and used dried split peas for soup.

A peek into Lucy's room

I was tidying up Lucy's toy-strewn floor this afternoon, and I realized I haven't shared any photos of her room here. That's because it's not finished, and I tend to want to wait until everything is just so before sharing it. But I love seeing photos of other people's homes, so thought I should show a bit of it (it will never be "finished," anyway).

This is the main storage in her room. We use her closets for other purposes (they're tiny, and better suited to--for example--cold storage of apples, than clothes. Doesn't everyone store apples in their baby's room?) so we wanted a lot of storage in her room. Ultimately, this room will be shared by two children, so eventually these shelves will be chock full of stuff, but for now, we can keep them sparsely populated.

Like everyone else on the planet, apparently, we envisioned the IKEA Expedit shelf in this space. But the big one wouldn't fit, and the small one was too small. I loved the shape of the Markor, but it was dark, dark brown. Five coats of paint later, we have this. (I swear I spent all last winter in that room, painting.)

My best friend, organizer extraordinaire, arranged things on the shelves for us originally. I recently re-arranged a bit, to make the bottom two rows of shelves just right for our now-mobile baby. (And there's the fact that we just can't fold blankets in the perfectly neat way she could...)

What's on the shelves?

There's some practical stuff--lots of blankets, washcloths, hats, and shoes.

There's some sentimental stuff--our childhood teddy bears, a yo-yo clown from my childhood, her baby book, and a lullaby book made by that same friend.

There are many stuffed animals and other toys that were gifts from friends and family, as well as hand-me-downs from a friend.

And there are some books--but don't be fooled--most of our bookshelves look nothing like this. I used a few decoratively here, and put some of her favorites down at the bottom, but this is about 1,000th of the children's books in our home.



Beside the shelf is this little vignette of special objects--a framed card from my aunt (of "The Owl and the Pussycat," a poem we recite for Lucy all the time), a bird I made while waiting for her birth, and a decoupaged light switch (from a Gyo Fujikawa book).

I feel very self-conscious sharing parts of my home--it never feels as "finished" as other people's. But here it is. Maybe I'll go scrape some paint off the windows now, and share another corner soon.

Dressing for the weather

It's cold and damp here. Not just outside, but inside, too. A few years ago, I joined "Crunchy Chicken's" "Freeze Your Buns Challenge,"and we turned our thermostat way down. There are a lot of kids and babies in this house, so we kept it above 60, but barely (it's set at 62, but that does not mean it's 62 degrees in here. This is an old, drafty house with almost no insulation.) So we have a big basket of slippers by the door in sizes tiny to giant, and after a while, guests realize that yes, indeed, they do want to borrow some. And we've learned to dress for the weather (well, those of us who don't work in 90 degree offices, that is).

To face the rainy chill yesterday, here's what Lucy had on. Yes, she wears a hat in the house; I dress all the babies in hats in the cold. And that sweater-y suit, which a friend got for a steal at an Iowa thrift shop. Under it, she's got a t-shirt and a long-sleeved t-shirt, wool shorties, her diaper, and socks under her slippers.

I used to worry about the reaction of the families in my early childhood program, or of our parents when they visit. But I've gotten grouchy in my old age. You're cold? Why on earth are you wearing a thin cotton shirt in November in New England? What's made us think this is normal? I had to learn about layering when I moved to Massachusetts. Now I've got it down, and I've become evangelical about it!

Now, I'm off to find my slippers. I forgot to put them on when we came back inside. Brrr!

9 patches for Amanda Jean

I read a few blogs. Ok, so I read a LOT of blogs. What can I say? It's embarrassing in a way, to peek into the lives of all these strangers, and yet it's so inspirational, and such a good way to feel connected to a community of like-minded people. Anyway, one of the reasons I started a blog was to join that community more fully. I always envied those bloggers who would say "I got this in the mail today" or "I'm sending out this gift to so-and-so."

So I love it when an opportunity presents itself for me to give back a bit and to feel a part of that group. It has to be a smallish contribution, because my life is way too busy. But when I read that Creative Chicks was trying to organize a group quilt for Crazy Mom Quilts, I knew I had to participate.

You see, Amanda Jean (Crazy Mom Quilts) had made 2 9-patch quilts for herself and her sister, and had organized a virtual quilt-along as she did them. (That was too much for me to handle.) She mentioned that she'd like to make a third for her other sister, but couldn't do another. I'm one of three sisters, and I loved the idea of similar quilts for each of them.

So did the Creative Chicks, apparently, and they suggested that readers could make the blocks and send them to her. Now that I could manage. I love seeing Amanda Jean's work and enjoy reading her blog, so I thought this would be a perfect way to give a little something back.

My sewing skills are not on par with hers. I hope she won't be disappointed in my blocks. (They're prettier than the bad-lighting photos, but not so nice as I'd like them to be.) But I had fun making them, and discovered that 9-patches are deceptive--not as simple as they look (I have a hard time keeping all the seams in place as I sew). I can't wait to see what else she gets!

Please don't tell me if your camera is nicer than mine

It's here, it's here! My new camera arrived in the mail yesterday, and so far, I love it.

Our old Olympus Stylus was great in its day. But it's been getting slower and slower, and the battery needed to be replaced, and then...I dropped it on the sidewalk. Even its all-metal casing (a key point for me) couldn't hold up to that. It broke, and I was in immediate need of a replacement, as I use a camera daily in my work documenting the children's play. So I did some quick research, reading all I could during naps and late at night. I started by looking at the cameras of some of my favorite bloggers, but I'd have to win the lottery first!

I thought I'd made a good-enough choice when I ordered the "Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom". It had a great zoom lens, took much better interior photos than my old camera, and when I read about it, it sounded pretty small. I was really excited about the good zoom lens, because when I take pictures of the kids, I like them to be fully engaged in their work, and not posing for the camera. But when it arrived, I found it wouldn't fit in my pocket--a big problem when I need to have the camera available all day but also be able to, say, play in the leaves with the kids. And, I was resigned to the fact that cameras I could afford are plastic now (ugh), but this one had a removable plastic lens cap and a plastic pop-up flash which you had to manually push down after using. Too slow to do all that, and worse, they were sure to break off or get lost. But oh, well, it had that great zoom and was fairly affordable.

I tend to agonize over decisions too much, so I tried not to worry about it and just use it. We shelled out the $40 for a memory card so we could really test it out at the Garlic Festival. We were having a great time playing with the zoom and getting used to the camera when I ran into a friend and her dad. Making small talk, I mentioned that I was getting to know my new camera. Her dad said "oh, what did you get?" and when I pulled it out to show him, I felt like I had to explain "it's kind of bulky, but that's because it has this good zoom." That's when he pulled his new camera out of his pocket and said "mine's a little bulky, too, but it's got this 12x zoom." I saw metal parts, and a retractable lens, and an automatic flash, and my heart sunk! (Dramatic, I know, but like I said, I tend to agonize.) I rationalized "well, it must have been much more expensive," until I got home and looked it up and it was only $50 more than what I'd bought.

I decided I didn't want to regret my decision for years (when I buy electronics, I use them until they're well and truly dead, not just until the next thing comes along). So I decided to return my first choice and try again. So here it is, my new "Canon PowerShot SX200IS 12 MP Digital Camera with 12x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3.0-inch LCD".

Now, please don't go telling me there's something better out there. I don't want to know!

Surprise in the mail

I won a giveaway I didn't even realize I'd entered! What a treat! All I meant to do was to comment on a great pair of pants Trish had made for her daughter, and I ended up winning a handmade lanyard and key chain. One of these is destined to become the strap for my new camera.

And you know you're really far gone into craft-land when you look at this:



(which was used as ribbon to wrap the gift) and think "ooh! I can use that for cards!"

Thanks, Trish! They're beautiful!

Independence Days challenge, week 27

Time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge:

1. Plant something: Nope. But we have been moving a lot of compost to the gardens, and my brain's been busy with dreams of next year's garden.
2. Harvest something: Eggs, various greens.
3. Preserve something: Strung hot peppers from new "houseplant" to dry. Dried turnip greens. Canned 3-1/2 qts applesauce.
4. Waste not: Made more longies from shrunken wool sweaters.
5. Preparation and storage: Stored carrots, squash, and cabbages from the farmer's market. Bought lots of pumpkins which will be pureed for winter baking.
6. Build community food systems: Talked up local food with Andi's niece, who visited this weekend, and showed her how to make and can applesauce.
7. Eat the food: We're doing pretty well here, for a change. I've been doing lots of cooking: sweet potato soup, potato-leek soup, squash-cornmeal muffins, sweet potatos with bok choy, green eggs, and more. Yay! The new crock pot is getting a lot of use; I love the emotional warmth it adds to the house to have cooking smells going all morning.