Going undercover

I'm back over at 4 Ring Circus. My email is pchef_girl AT yahoo DOT com, if you have any problems.

Hope to see you there!

file this away -- the pink party

Delaney and Sadie have birthdays in the same week, so thus far we have been throwing joint birthday parties for them, mostly for the convenience of family members who would want to attend. They have already been talking about their next party, even though it is at the end of January. It has been decided that it will be a pink party -- EVERYTHING will be pink. So it's a good thing I came across this tonight (while I'm waiting for Flickr to upload my bajillion pix) -- can you even believe all the awesome goodies at this party??!

I'm way too cool

Yes, I should go to bed, but I'm waiting for that last load of laundry to finish up. So guess what I found? You can spell your name with Flickr pics! How appropriate that mine would include a letter made of LEGOs....

One more for tonight

This uses the CTMH Free Spirit set. I know, this lacks oomph, but it's late, so who cares.

Permission granted

I had a great day today. With Ryan gone this week, I have been running the kids to fun places every day, and had considered traveling to visit Mee Mee this weekend. However, I was so pooped this morning, that instead of killing myself to get all of our gear ready and the house clean and the van packed, I decided to take a jammy day. So, here it is 9:35 pm and I am still in my jammies. I had some fabulous phone chats with some of my fabulous friends, and I did lots of laundry today. In the process I discovered that I really like the smell of Tide (mountain spring), and love it so much that I am going to quit buying my cheaper detergent. I loved the smell so much that it made me want to do laundry ALL DAY!! Yes, it is pathetic to get excited about that, but alas, it's the truth, and I try my best to keep it real around here.

So -- I hereby give you, my loyal readers, to take a jammy day someday next week. I also give you permission to buy something a wee bit frivolous, even perhaps a more expensive, yet awesome-smelling laundry detergent. Freeing, isn't it??!

So in my breaks between laundry loads tonight, I am getting out the paper and stamps. Here is a card I made with CTMH stuff (the More to Adore paper pack and the Rustic Flowers stamp set; ink is Cocoa) and I entered it into Korin's contest.



Have a good night -- tomorrow it is back to reality for me, complete with grocery shopping, paying bills, etc, etc. Hmmm, I better eat a little cookies-n-cream ice cream to prepare.

Happy rainy Labor Day

Well howdy there . . . I'm writing to you from my (covered) back porch, watching my three girls play in the rain. They're nuts. At least they're happy. I'm about to fire up the grill for some pork ribs and hot dogs, mmmm mmmm. I'm trying to be as lazy as possible today, but I did find that I was duty-bound to wash a load of undies. ;-)

Here are three new (at least to me) craft blogs that I am going to be spending lots of time at in the next little while here:

Daily Thread

Going Sew Crazy

Plum Stitches

I am trying to get myself geared up to try some more sewing. I have been inspired by "kids' clothes month" over at Sew, Mama, Sew. I did finish a blanket for a friend's new baby.



Here's hoping for some more happy sewing in the future!

Mark time

 

Do any of my fellow former marching bandmates recognize this position?? ha ha

great, now I'M craving it too!

This looks pret-tty dang good.
Check it out here

madcat

madcat, originally uploaded by pchef_girl.

Our school room is set up so that there are art supplies readily available during any downtime. As we started another assignment, I picked this up off the table. Delaney drew this in just a couple of minutes. She always amazes me by the little scenes she thinks up. In case you need some help, we have a hen house on stilts (in a pond), with the hens coming out, and a mad cat in a hot air balloon. I'm going to have to find out why the cat is mad -- there is usually quite a funny reason behind the emotions of the characters in her art.

***EDITED TO ADD: I found out that the cat is stealing the chickens' eggs, thus his angry face!

Funny stuff

Ok, this is good stuff. So there was a lady who decided to do a funny eBay auction, which became quite the thing. Turns out she has a blog that I got sucked into reading past entries this morning. She is dang hilarious.

Have a great day! I should have some fun stuff to post next week. I finally got a new (-to-me) camera, and we have a lot of family visiting this weekend. I am really hoping that my new camera comes in time!

cute new baby

You have to go see Ryan's sister's new baby, Carson. They have waited a LONG time for this little baby and we're all so happy for them.

I think skirts are more fun, too!

I loved reading Olivia's arguments for skirts vs. pants -- I am building a good wardrobe of skirts myself. They are really nice when it is so dang hot outside. If you loved me, you'd buy me this skirt, it's even on sale!
Sorry I have been away for a few days. We got over the strep, but then there was belated birthday stuff to do, and I've been getting stuff together to start a US history/geography study for the kids, I'm babysitting all day this week, and I've been trying to research cameras again. And my house has actually been pretty clean. Tomorrow I will finish a craft project that I can post for you, woo hoo! (That's another thing, I have been finding some pretty awesome craft blogs lately, and time flies when I'm drooling over craftiness!)

streptococcal pharyngitis, i hate you

Well.....
weekend plans for birthday fun have been delayed. I found out this afternoon that Delaney has strep throat, and I'm pretty sure that I'm coming down with it, too. Josh's birthday is on Sunday, and we were going to celebrate tomorrow, but now it's officially on hold. Although we'll still squeeze in some birthday cake. :-)
I hope to hibernate for the next few days, so in case you're wondering where we are, now you'll know.

got milk?

So I guess I'm not just imagining it -- milk prices are at an all-time high. It is interesting to read why, and I'll probably use that as a good economics lesson for our homeschool.

Do it with style

Julie sure looks motherhood look stylish! Check this out, and check out her other portfolio, too.

In case you weren't sure if I was weird....

I came across this site today, and being a history junkie, I thought it was pretty cool.
The Cemetery Project

I'm a blog hopper

Ok, so I'm totally a blog hopper. I start at a friend's blog, then check out some of the friends they've linked on their blog, then their friends, so forth. I've "met" some pretty cool people that way. It does kind of make me feel like a stalker, though, when they say something that I can really relate to, and have to decide if I should comment or not, since they don't know me from Adam. Lately I've decided to comment anyway, even if I feel like a total weirdo doing it. ANYWAY, so I was reading one of these friend-of-a-friend's blogs tonight, and she was talking about difficulties of parenting, and then one of the comments was so cool, I just had to share. (You should take a look at her blog, she is apparently always this eloquent.)
"There will be more needs in these next six years than you feel you can fulfill...but somehow you will do it. There will be somedays that you will 'just' survive and somedays that you will soar--and both are okay, because you're doing it."
*****
Alright, got interrupted by a late-night visit from my bro . . . now it is time for bed. It is my turn to read the next Spiderwick book (Josh just finished #3 today)!

My lucky little zoo animals

OMSH wrote about her summertime adventures in suburbia as a kid. Fun memories. My kids don't realize how lucky they are that they are part of the few kids left in the world that have something that resembles the "good ol days" of summer playtime. We live in a neighborhood that is built with homes close together, short front yards, and front porches, with the purpose of being neighbor-friendly (and we happen to live at a very low-traffic end of the neighborhood). We spend a lot of time hanging out with our neighbors, and I love it. My kids trade off playing at the different yards of their friends that all live right next to each other. They trade off raiding each other's freezers for popsicles. They have a small playground that we all share where they can have girls vs. boys wars. Pets are generally shared. We also live next to a big field with a drainage ditch that is full of its own adventures, including the favorite--harvesting of tadpoles and other critters. We happen to be reading The Children of Noisy Village for school right now, and we are all LOVING that book (if you haven't read it, you have to right now!), and we think it's so funny how similar it is to our own neighborhood. It's great that our kids actually still get to be kids, it makes this momma very happy.

This is dangerous!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry, originally uploaded by cizkeik.

I found a new flickr group that I will probably spend way too much time looking at -- Cupcake Planet -- YUM YUM YUM

yummy magazine

I have a new favorite magazine -- Cook's Country (from the publishers of Cook's Illustrated). It's large format and beautiful pictures are so dreamy. The recipes are just the right mix of not-too-fancy, not-too-easy and it is full of explanations and techniques. If you've never seen it, give it a look!

Something I can relate to...

Here's a post from a local blogger that I could really relate to, maybe you can, too.
"A midsummer note to self: Enough is enough"

Fun stuff in my mail

Today one of those nice brown trucks is bringing some fun books to our house. Spiderwick stuff for Josh, plus that naughty book everyone's been talking about. I can't wait to see them. Did I say they were for Josh?? :-D



A couple of weeks ago I got Amy's new book, Bend the Rules Sewing. I have been searching for the perfect beginner's book for sewing for awhile now, and this is finally it! I had actually just put away the sewing machine and fabric, convinced that I was never going to be able to do fun sewing projects because I never quite figure it all out. Then I read her book, and I couldn't wait to bring the machine back out! The projects are so fun and easily explained. I am planning on trying the scalloped baby blanket next (waiting for some cute fabric that is coming in the mail), among other things. Highly recommend the book and definitely check out her blog, if you haven't yet.



I am dying for Amanda's book to come out, I don't think I can wait until spring! I have loved her blog for so long, I'm sure her book is going to be really great.

Finally, through some blog hopping I came across a cool new Etsy shop, where another Amanda sells handmade cards and other things. I had to order some, and can't wait to use them. I've been thinking I need to send out some good mail, now I will have an excuse.

Such good mail coming to me is helping me to forget that I get to take two youngins to the doctor this afternoon -- hopefully for nothing instead of the ear infections that I suspect. Yuck.

Time to resume

As is typical for us, we discover that we can really only stand so much summer vacation before we really NEED to get back to the routine of school again. Even though tomorrow is Friday, we can't wait one more day, it's time to resume.

One of my dilemmas has always been finding fiction books that Josh will enjoy -- his solid preference is for non-fiction. A series that he is enjoying though is the Spiderwick Chronicles. They are wonderful -- great story, fascinating illustrations, dialogue that kids can relate to without being too juvenile, and introduces a lot of new vocabulary. Even better are their companion books, so make sure to check those out, too. I also discovered on their website today lots of lesson ideas for teachers. Love it.

A Rainy 4th

Normally we are sweating to death this time of year, but instead we are in the middle of a fluke neverending rainy spurt. Our high only gets to about 80 and there are off and on thunderstorms all day. Like, for two weeks now. I love the rain and all, but when everything is soggy and it's not hot enough to go swimming on the 4th of July in Texas, it's just wrong. We did manage to see some fireworks with friends and family, though, so it wasn't a total loss. I brought along my favorite chocolate chip cookies -- try them, you'll love them. They make little kids smile.

Jessica's Super Nummy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen)

2 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 c. (at least!) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet (I use the middle size Pampered Chef scoop) and bake for 11 minutes (I use a stone, you might cook a minute or two less on a regular baking sheet). Let stand for a couple of minutes, then move cookies to a cooling rack. Don't forget you can freeze the dough into balls for a quick batch of cookies later, just cook a couple of minutes longer than usual!

PRETTY (as Ava would say)

In my ideal world, my girls would wear outfits like this all the time and play out in fields of wheat on sunny afternoons.

I heart summer

I love kickin' back in the summer. It is about 9:15 am, we're still in our jammies. We just finished eating the hot breakfast I had time to make this morning, and the kids are watching some Noggin while I sit by them on the laptop. Ava has her little tiny hand resting on my arm while she watches. Love it.

I am having a hard time figuring out how to place pictures like I want to on this blog, so I'm going to try out uploading to Flickr instead. Go see new photos now!

Eye candy

Looking at her pictures make me want to live in Sweden, too!
Craft & Creativity (flickr)

Aah, bliss

It doesn't get much better than this: kids are down for "quiet time" on a rainy afternoon; leftover cake; and my preordered book just arrived in the mail (I've been waiting for a few months!).

This should make up for the fact that I got totally DRENCHED going to pick up Sadie from her dance class this morning, and Ryan trying to get ready for an early-morning trip = elephant trying to quietly march through the house.

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The mystery of the dead hog

Ya know, one thing about living in my house, it is rarely boring. :-D

So this morning I am sitting on the covered back porch, enjoying the morning hours in the Texas summer before it gets to the "hot as Hades" setting after lunch. Kids are toddling around. We come to the decision that it is time to retire the tadpoles to their original home at the big drainage ditch at the end of our street, so Josh and Delaney head off to do the deed. A few minutes later, I see Josh running back to the house, carrying the still full Rubbermaid of tadpoles. It is then reported that there is a huge dead hog and that "I ain't goin' back over there!!" Delaney shows up a few minutes later (isn't it chivalrous of Josh to leave his sister to the dead hog??!), claiming to not have seen said hog. After further interviews, I determine that it is time for me to go investigate for myself. I leave Josh with the two little girls and Delaney & I go to the scene. Before I left, Josh and I had a deal -- if there was no hog, he owed me $5, if there *was* a hog, I owed him $5. So off we go. I was actually a little nervous that I was going to run across a family of wild hogs, and that I would soon be running home screaming about wild hogs on the loose. Finally we come upon the spot where it was supposed to be, and sure enough there is something weird there. Hairy-looking, the right color, but looking a little flat to me. I thought maybe it had decomposed some already. Then I realize that the dead hog is actually a gathering of plant roots that were facing upward and looked remarkably similar to a dead hog. Delaney and I laughed all the way home, and of course she ran ahead to deliver the news to Josh. He went back to see for himself again, and I sent him back with my cell phone to take a picture for future generations (see below). I told Josh that ya know, it isn't a bad idea to hightail it away if you think you've run across a large, dead, wild hog. Now get busy earning $5!

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The "hog"

I am pretty darn cool

Those last two posts were pictures I took on my cell and sent to my blog. Don't tell me if you already knew how to do that. I want to pretend I'm the only one who knows about it. ;-)

So now if ever go anywhere besides my living room (where the last two posts were taken), I'll send you a pic about it.

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What can I say, I'm cheap

I have decided to implement some cost-cutting around here, and therefore find myself at a free blog again. I am way too lazy/busy to move over the archives from my other blog, so I'll be starting fresh over here.

In this inaugural post, I show you an awesome pair of shoes I would love to have. I'd be almost 6' 3" if I wore them, that would be another super reason to have them. :-D

Ok, I guess I get to figure out how to put pictures where I want them in a post, instead of at the top. Dang.