Community Scrabble Game at the flea market

 

We were out at our local flea market and showing off the 3D printed things, the magnetic Scrabble game, and our greenhouse plants.

 

branching out

bit of branching out AND narrowing in?  Is that possible?  I have been visiting two new sites besides the green owl - busuu.com and linguno.com and have found good resources on both of them - I also found a bunch of pinterest and flickr files for French children's books, reading primers and poetry and have been working through those a page at a time.  

I worked at copying some poetry, focused on accents and made sure I looked up every word that was unfamiliar in the children's primer - they definitely use a different set of vocabulary, and also, the primers looked like they were from 40 years ago, so there is that, as well.  Still browsing on Bulgarianpod101 and using Clozemaster for exploring words and practicing listening.

rugit 'roars' (roars, tiger)

tromphe 'trunk' (elephant)

cuveau (vat, basket, trough?)

caoutchouc (rubber)

Mark made me some new magnets for my whiteboard, and I made a few more yesterday as well out of some mosaic tiles.  When I put up my vocab review and words that I need to pay attention to - I like to have enough magnets to move them around some.  I write on the board often, as well - but sometimes I do want to write something down and just shuffle it away and put it up again later.

3d printed with rare earth magnets tapped into the hole in the bottom

Spanish vocab list from spanishdictionary.com - I did Spanish on my mobile app as well today while I waited for packages to be sorted.

I'm expecting a harder day tomorrow, so headed to try to sleep early.

of rugs and cats

It's been a while since I mentioned this, but we're sort of a hobby farm - with all these chickens, and my gardens, our 'working dogs' who are Catahoula and mutt and protect the chickens and the cats - and Melody, our blind goat whose main job is to eat weeds.  I had thought at one time I might have sheep or goats for wool and milk, but I wasn't quite brave enough for that, at least.. yet.  I guess you could also say our cats are actually 'working cats' - although don't tell them that there are cats that aren't (they won't believe you anyway) - they catch mice, they patrol around the yard and the chicken yard perimeter and the gardens, the garage etc.  And we have lots of mud, and lots of cold floors in the wintertime (cement and wood). 

 

 

  

The first of the 'working rugs', shown with Loki cat, a large Manx (we bought him and his sister from a working farm near Milan, so our cat Minion would have someone to teach to chase mice after all of her kittens were gone)  Loki decided this morning he would sleep there - although our dogs have been loving them, as well, especially as 'parking points' while they watch us cook.  I made this rug years ago for use in Esme's room.. but it sort of phased out and ended up in an old hamper.  During one of these cold snaps I had pulled it out and washed it, and put it back to good use.

 

 

 

This rug is headed for in front of the chair in the downstairs bathtub area - where the green one was before I got very cold cooking one night and moved it to the kitchen.. then I moved it to another place in the kitchen, and that sort of set off 'You should make more of these'  So I did, I made two more.  And when they get really dirty (like these garden shoes here, which are some of my favorite, mud and all) they can just get thrown into the washing machine. 

The bits : I darned socks and blankets today, finished that rug, swept floors, (swept floors again, and again... it is like that here with dogs!) did lots of laundry - put away lots of laundry! --- that ice storm, and the frigid cold that made it last all last week meant so much got pushed to the back burner.  I've got to work the weekend so I tried to just put as much 'good' as I could without really wearing myself out.  Esme when she got home and saw the post : You know that's a cat, not a rug, right?  It's not a cat rug?  Maybe Loki thinks it is.  The post says 'of rugs and cats' : it's about how our cats are working cats and chase mice and stuff, and these rugs are working rugs - as in, we're putting them to use.  Loki is, putting them to use, too.

I also finished that thank you gift for the people who helped us pull our truck out of the mud -a couple of knit dishcloths and a little card.

Took a mile walk this morning, still in the COVID-19 quarantine.  Our schedules are all off -- I am up at 3 am making soup, Mark is just getting to bed, and Esme won't wake up until 10:30 in the morning.  This is not like us.. but we have about two weeks more until school starts back up.. unless they cancel it for the rest of the year.

I ;am still deemed an 'essential' worker in both of my jobs - postal worker and medical technology service - but the actual hours are few and far between.  I do not see many people.  So, there's that.  I went out to two medical tech jobs the other day and wore gloves for both.  I'm doing what I can for those patients - even though I can't stay entirely at home.

I love the stages of the hickory trees, and the redbuds, and the dogwoods.  The sarvis (serviceberry) trees have finished now with their flowers, falling away to green leaves only.  The dogwoods that are blooming now are a green color and large flowered.  The more delicate white flowered ones will be popping in the woods soon I'm sure.  It seems like it was just a few months ago I was photographing them -- but I know it has been nearly a year.

Time has been so odd this year, even before the coronavirus, with changing jobs and getting through the anxiety of that - then Dad died in October - and I had a lot more anxiety and PTSD type epiphanies.  But  that is a human response, and I am feeling like I've swum to the other side of the shore.

I made soup, following my nose.
I'm a champion at thinking up weird combinations in my sleep... woke up and decided to make onion soup at about 3 am.  Then, as I grabbed for ingredients, things fell together to this.  The actual soup looks awful - kind of like the shiitake mushroom tapenade someone once tried to make with me - and it was so awful the cats and dogs wouldn't touch it..  But, this was amazingly good.

Lentil Seaweed Soup with Onion

About 2 to three cups of water
About 2 tbsp olive oil
celery salt, black pepper, garlic powder, ginger powder
1 medium onion, diced small
about 1/2 cup of brown lentils (washed)
1 sheet of Kombui seaweed
2 cubes of chicken boullion
1 packet of miso tofu (red style) soup
Some leftover packets of tofu cubes and green onion flakes from another bag of miso where they come separate from the paste

It started with waking up thinking about onion soup.  I have eaten a couple of cans of French Onion soup the past week and found them very satisfying.  But - looking at the recipes for how to make it from scratch did nothing for me.  It wasn't right for me.  So, this morning I was thinking I would just start with olive oil and onions and see where it took me.

I put in the spices, and then I knew I wanted the brown lentils.  Then the thought filtered in about the bouillon.  After all of that was together and bubbling nicely, the miso soup that came in the mail the other day entered into the edge of my mind and I added that in.  It was when I put the tofu soup packet in that I smelled the little bits of seaweed that are in it, and it made me think - I bought sheets of kombu last year for soba soup making.. which I've only made a couple of times since.  They were still in the cupboard, waiting.  They add a lot of salt, along with the bouillon, so NO need to add any extra.

After I had let that entire combination boil then simmer for an hour or so, I took the stick blender and gave it a few careful pulses.  You could pour the whole thing in a blender and do the same thing.  I am always careful about hot soup - volcanic bursts onto skin if you do it wrong etc.  But a few pulses was all it took to wake up Esme, too - she had slept through our entire conversation about 'soup at 3 am' but the stick blender woke her up.  She came out and looked at it, made some comments about games she had been playing, and went back to bed.

To serve the soup I put in an extra fresh grind of black pepper and a full teaspoon of hot madras curry powder right into my bowl.  It was one of the best things I've eaten in a while - but yes - it LOOKED gross.  Nova dog highly approved when I woke up at 8 am and had more for breakfast.

This camera has better eyes than I do - it almost gets down to the grain of the wood and the 'feather and fur' of each little leaf.

There was an ant crawling in the redbuds, and bees buzzing everywhere.  I couldn't get any of the insects in focus, but I wanted to remember that they were there.  The sun was coming up over the trees behind me and it made the redbud glow.

My right ankle gave out on me, as well, this morning.  It sent me crumping to the ground just like that time I was pregnant with Esme.  I remember that one often because I was so scared for her.  I fall down in this way quite a bit - just the other week in the garden, as well, but that was the time I had to worry for more than myself.  I was also thankful this morning I wasn't carrying the camera yet.  But, because I was now bleeding from my hand and knee - I was even more determined to capture some images of the things that were unique about this morning, the things that turned a walk to the mailbox into an expedition.

The red brown brush beside the road always piques my attention.  I wonder if there are many other people who find it as beautiful as I do.  This, and the red gold grasses bring me back to a time in the field at Arbo Road - standing in the middle of the sky, one tree to my back and a full circle clearing farther than I could run in one breath to all sides.  I was alone with the sky and the tree there.  I spent a lot of time there, far beyond the garden, but not too far Mom couldn't hear me when she yelled.  I sat at the base of that tree and thought about my ancestors, about my future, about the woods around me.  I was a deep little nine year old.. but there was something about that place - something it imbued me with - that comes back to me when I am out in the grasses.  It is one of the reasons I like to drive up by Martin, TN, too - the wide open sky, like an eyeball looking down on me from above, and the grasses, and the trees like eyelashes at the edges, waiting to blink.

Red brown feathers, delicate structures.  They seem to shine almost pink and looking through them is like looking many strings and webworks repeating over and over to infinity.  When it rains, they collect shining drops of water in their branches and intersections.  When it frosts, they collect tiny crystals of ice.

I think I spend more time looking at the tiny bits of plants around me than most people - it is something I find joy in, the changes, the differences, the transformations.

Mark found this out in the driveway yesterday, he says a woodpecker has been hard at work on it.  It was almost hollow inside - insect work that the woodpecker then went after the insects?

I'm sewing up the ends of dischloths, knitting on yet another lap blanket, bright green this time. Our black tortoiseshell Minion is truly enjoying where the pink one ended up I made over the last few months.

Besides that , more soup, maybe a bit more work in the garden.  It is supposed to rain today so I don't think it is right to put the seedlings out to day.. but it is so warm it is almost there.

We also finally downloaded the game GardenPaws, and it is very sweet.  Esme and I have been exploring that new world and discovering all of the creative things to do in it.

crochet basket and shawl

I've finished a few projects, FO.. in crochet, not in knitting.  I'm knitting dishcloths here and there, but the crochet items were on my list .

A crocheted basket 'in the round'... my hand kills after doing this each time, but I keep making them once in a while.  I had found this raffia rope in my stash and used all of it to make this seven inch wide basket.

and the colorshift shawl I've been working on for a few months.. these two balls of yarn came from a vendor at the flea market and I've been looking to try this colorshifting yarn out..

Tuesday macaroni and Columbus

 We kept Columbus

He is settling in nicely to the dog crew.

Homeschool log:

She had thought up some actual projects she wanted to do today.

8a    - Blimp Jet project (from the Design crew on PBS)  Had her read a bit of the instructions then we took a stab at it.. wasn't that great of a result...
9.15a    - cleanup and reorganization of desk area -- so much grump during this!
9.30a    - break

10.30a    - macaroni necklaces - painting and stringing

First I had her take Daddy's macaroni out of the macaroni and cheese box, and put it in a ziploc bag.  Then we emptied the Fiori noodles into another bag.  Then we found two clean containers and made sure the balance scale was balanced and even.  I had her weigh out the same amount of Fiori as there had been macaroni for Daddy's cheese packet - so he could make it later, and then we could use the macaroni (which isn't as good) for projects and a few of the leftover Fiori for necklace making.  She liked the balance scale, as usual.  She chose nice colors and didn't get frustrated when things were hard.. which was good considering earlier.
11.30a    - break

12.15p    - copywork
1p    - planet earth ep 9 - seasonal forests
2p    - done

macaroni necklaces, hers is on the right hand side

 stringing macaroni

Then I had to go to work..and Daddy continued with more copywork and science docs.

Esme told me about the zombie ants she saw in the episode, and also how the copywork is rotting her brain, no - it's not pratctice, she insists.. it is full of the boring.  I insisted it has all the letters and we did it as kids.  She said, yes, that is what Daddy said.  And then she harrumphed at me and brushed her teeth for bed.  She did highly reccommend the planet earth episode, and told me I should get it from Daddy and watch it before I went to bed.  She also said the spaghetti she and Daddy made for dinner was very good.

Pumpkin cat and her mother Minion enjoying a morning sunbeam in my chair

They say it has been too cold lately, too...

bit

It was a very early work day today.  After that I was out and weeding more between the corn - it needed it, and with all the grass that was pulled out, it needed hilling up around the stalks, as well.  I am hoping I haven't killed any/too many with pulling so much grass next to their roots.  The grass needed to go, though.

I plan to plant some cornfield beans in there among a few of them.  Did some research on what beans in my collection have been used as cornfield beans in the past - and have chosen the Mayflower / Red Nightfall beans to do that.  They have a history with the Amish and are listed under many names.  In the past I've only planted them on back fences and have been disappointed with how delicate to full sun and how late yielding they are.  This might be the better use for them... we'll see, I went through my jars and actually found a good quantity.  It is nice they are not so rare, too - so if they fail badly I will be able to find more if I want them.  They will appreciate some shade between the stalks as well as be light bodied enough not to pull the corn down with them.  I spent a little over two hours out there today and that was more than enough on top of the early freight day ... without it actually being done to my liking yet.  I had a nice raspberry, eucalyptus and tea tree oil bath afterwards :)

In the house I have eggplant seedlings that still need to go out.  The tomato seedlings from the other day are a little sunburnt but seem to be holding up.  There are little peppers on the banana pepper plant, and the very fringe beginnings of green beans on the Providers, which has a strange black edge leaf thing going on.  I should thin out the salad rose radishes again, as well... 

I did a few more rows on the big gypsy moth colors blanket, as I couldn't think of anything else I had energy for.  The dress I was making for Esme really needs to be tackled again - but I know the gathers will take a bit more thought power than I had tonight.  Esme was really wanting a friend, and playing with her on games she had made up... but there was only so much we wanted to take on there - she ended up disappointed I didn't play her picnic and balloon games to her liking... but then, I was a bit disappointed she didn't help me at all in the garden.  She just kept 'talking to the corn', asking it questions and saying 'uh huh, hmm, sorry to hear that Mama Corn, Daddy corn, kid corns - how are you, are you alright?'  silly... a bit strange, ha.  She did feed the chickens some of the grass and did not step on anything.

Also, halfway through 'Mrs.Lincoln's Dressmaker' book... taking that to work with me daily, and read a little of it at Esme's 'reading pirate party - you can do anything you want' party in our truck bed.  It was getting dark and buggy, though... could not actually interest her in reading her own books at first, then she brought out her Make and Do book which she loves, and went through reading bits in that..  I am planning to take her to the library again on Friday to return her books.  I think I have the second already checked out for after this one, there might be something else in between them, though.  I don't want to put much else on Friday, though... want mostly to stay at home and get things done.

bits

Feeding the chickens greens out in their coop - they really love clover, 'headknocker' which Grandma says is the name for a certain sort of garden weed we have in abundance, and honeysuckle flowers.

 Our potato plants, seeded from some kitchen potatoes we had left too long in March - are doing very well.  I think the flowers are very pretty.  I had remembered Potato flowers being yellow, for some reason - bright yellow-green yellow, from my childhood.  I wonder if I was just mistaken or if this is just a different kind?  I really think I was just mistaken...as all the pictures I can find are purple or white, and that seems to ring some, too.

Washing and counting the eggs after she brings them in.  We had five, today. 

She said one for each hen, but not one for each rooster.  There were four lying in the box and one in the coop, and she was able to tell the hen to give her that one in the coop and not have it break.

We received a large box of fabric from a lady at work the other day - it was being passed down in her church to find someone to use it.  I am planning making some things for Esme out of it but haven't gotten started on anything more than washing a few pieces and going through patterns.  She has grown quite a bit since the last time I did this!  She is now in between the size 6 and size 7 patterns - which is just where she 'should' be... I should make a few for summer and then start on a few for next year.  There is a gorgeous royal blue with darker blue flowers fabric that is in many pieces - but I can almost see a long sleeved dress still coming together out of it.  The lady at work said she saw the 'patchwork' possibilities in the box - and that is the main reason she thought of my sewing style and Esme's dresses.  :)  There was also a big bag of a pretty green metallic yarn, which I am kind of thinking of as a random birthday present.  I was thinking about green yarn :)  Even though my birthday isn't until next month, I am looking forward to that day to have off, sit in the sun, and think.  So much has happened this year.

I took a long nap today - had a bad stomach event last night after feeling bad since Friday morning... trying to find a way back to feeling okay but in the meantime it means I haven't gotten much done.  We did give away several kittens... that was yesterday.  Esme is a bit bummed that I haven't played more with her.. but she is bopping around the house entertaining herself mostly.

 Pink primrose is very pretty, too. Oenothera
I have a pot of lavendar started in the house that I want to plant near this, and there is a volunteer Cherokee Rose starting there, too.  Our perennial garden is going well.

We went fishing for a bit.  It was humans 5, fish 1.  One of them took off with my hook after it got dropped/knocked out of my hand and got the string caught up under the dock where I couldn't get to it anymore.

A basket made from sisal twine

I've really been enjoying trying new fibers and trying my hand at basketmaking, as well - for use around our house and for the experience of making them.  Last week I picked up some sisal twine at the store - and with a medium large crochet hook and some downtime - I made this.  Each side was made flat and then it was all sewn together with very strong cotton crochet thread - then the handles were crocheted on with the yellow cotton yarn.  I have ideas for making another one with less sewing... but more shape to worry about as I go along... The material was very tough on my wrist initially.. but the results were worth it.   And - it only took one 525 yard ball of twine, which cost about a dollar... which is kind of amazing.

Baskets from Hardware store rope and twine

 I've been experimenting with what I can find for hardware store jute rope and nylon twine.  I made a tote bag out of the twine a few months ago.  The green basket here is jute rope - and it isn't quite as waterproof (I could take a hose to the other if necessary) it is sturdy and rich looking.  In the basket is a big roll of sisal twine, a bit less cohesive but lighter in weight, as well.  I will see what I can get with that.  Mark thinks plant hangers for a project out of it...

And since Esme was saying she was running out of playdresses and summer is on its way - I made this.  The white paisley fabric is heavy denim, but there wasn't enough of it to do much else with... and the other fabrics were the last bits of scraps that made something that 'sort of' went together.  The lining is a green 'hello my friends' fabric from a Japanese pack long ago, and the blue was from a friend years ago when I made matching dresses for Esme and her daughter.  It is open in the back to halfway down with a button at the back neck.  I hope it will fit for a while. 

 

The picture shows my messy studio space.. but that is part of the process lately.  

We had laid down an old piece of underlayment in the kitchen on the concrete floor to keep it warmer.  I had seen some ideas for 'wood rugs' and wanted to add some life and color to the rug.  Mark said go ahead - and some masking tape and craft paint later we get a little bit of 'different' that may not last forever but it is interesting while it does.

 I had told Mark I wasn't just looking at home dec pictures on Pinterest.. but was actually doing some of it.  So he decided I needed a picture of me doing it.. which turned out pretty good :)  This was a fun project, kittens and all...

Minion and her kitten are confused by it all...there was much shooing off of little feet and even a little bit of cover-up of tiny footprints that found their mark.

crochet headband

just little bits of things as I go by... have two days off starting tomorrow and hope some 'real' news then.  I was working on this little headband over the past few days in crochet thread - as something small to bring along with me.  It was a ball of crochet thread I had and a size E crochet needle.

Of course, Esme liked it, and now this one is hers - although I may have to downsize them just a little for her to keep the tension in them.  It looks pretty good on her.

I'll have to make some more for me - I have a shirt yoke I've done as well as 'small take with' that is ready to try sewing it to some fabric and see how that looks and how it drapes.

bits in productive mode

Mark made Esme an egg calendar so she can count up all the eggs over the next few weeks.  We are thinking of basing her allowance on this.. we'll see.  They've averaged four eggs a day the past few.  I've been trying to make a few productive steps each day, even with work.  It always makes me feel better to say 'I got that done.'... some days it is hard, like when it is raining, and there can be no progress made outside.  I have a black stitching (not quite blackwork) embroidery towel I am bringing to work with me today.

I refashioned the dragon bolster pillow this morning.  I had taken it off the bed because it was now too wide (We downsized to a full from a queen) and was worming its way out and onto the floor.  But, I have noticeably not slept as well without it filling in the 'dip' in between the headboard and mattress.  Finally I cut up an old pair of corduroy jeans (bought at the flea market years ago, and never the right size) and sewed the legs together to make a long bolster.  I slit the dragon pillow leaving most of the stuffing inside and stuffed him inside the new lining, sewing up the ends with circular patches.  It worked out quite well, and I no longer feel like the regular pillows are falling away from me in between the headboard when I lay down.

Then I cleaned some items out of the fridge.  And now my time is gone - and I have to get ready for work.  I am investigating making a cross stitch sampler for our hallway... silly feeling, old craft but I like the fact that they are a moment in time that we can still look back and say 'this was done X years ago'... and maybe one day Esme will make one.  I'm a bit nostalgic on those things.  Mark says soon I'll be making her a hope chest and filling it up with things.  We were, I guess, some of the few girls that were still meant to fill up our own hope chests back in the 80s... I have some nostalgia about that, too.  I learned to make things, and I still like to do it.

chickens, eggs, a ravioli rug and archery

 Here are our chickens.  There are six hens and a rooster - and they are 'Red Star' type chickens.  They lay large brownish eggs and seem to be quite happy in their new home.  We got four eggs from them this afternoon.

Here is Mark showing them off

 We had the fencing and lumber already in the garage for the pen and the coop, so it was the price of the chickens, from a coworker, and buying some chicken layer feed.  Mark built an incredibly nice coop with the lumber on hand.

Our pretty multi-headed daffodils are blooming, as well.  I'm working on what I'm calling a 'ravioli' rug for Esme's room.. but it is also sort of like a zigzag pattern of little crocheted squares.  The white yarn came in a box from Mark's aunt and had cuts through it - but this is a perfect use for it.  The squares do not take very long to make.  Usually the tough part about making a rug that is a useable size is how long it takes to get it there.  By the time it is the right size it feels odd to lay that much work down on the floor to be walked on.  We will see how this one goes. 

Mark also dug out his old recurve bow out of a storage about a week ago.  We took it out today and practiced some target shooting.  There is a lot of muscle memory involved.  It has been about fifteen years since I had a bow of my own and did regular shooting with the 'same feel'... I had about two hours practice today and was able to get everything mostly on or very close to the target (a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of styrofoam on blocks).  We will do more practice later.  I was impressed how kneeling with the bow the memories came back of how to swing it over my neck to the side, how to counterbalance the quiver when I knelt and hold it to the side when walking etc etc... little things you don't even remember until you are in the same position again.

 Father and daughter getting ready to check for more eggs.

 A large brown one in the nesting box, and one more out in the yard.

 That was two more eggs, and that makes six for six.  They are happy chickens.

 Esme, practicing at being a chicken whisperer.  She talked to them for quite a bit. Then we all went and ran a new water pipe from the hydrant to the chicken coop fence, before dinner.

bits

 I continued the busy streak today - both with the cleaning, and the other projects.  I started to put a border around this knit bathrug that was never large enough... and it is turning out okay for never having crocheted around a square before.  I'll put a few more rounds of blue on it when Esme is in the bath later, and it will be ready.

I cleaned some more - and then did some plumbing (which will lead to more) cleaning out p-traps in the pedestal sinks.  I discovered they really need to have the drains inside the sinks replaced soon - and that is on our list.  There is a drawer slide in the kitchen drawers that can be repaired, too.  I did the cleaning in the hallway I had set out to do - have a tiny bit more there later after Esme is home.  I am actually going to recruit her for the vanity sink p-trap, and see if she helps.

I also got tired of not finding a pencil among my knitting needles - and all of the short items that get lost in the tall ones etc etc..  So I took two jars which I had originally cleaned off of the vanity cabinet and painted them with some gloss paint which says 'for use on glass only for decorative purposes'  check.  This makes some nice use out of something we already had - and makes them look a lot cleaner than they did before.

Also need to make more dishcloths in the next month or so - have yarn set aside.  I'm using them all over the place.  The empty coffee cans have also become buckets while cleaning... our recycling bin for containers is paying off ;)

Tried sushi for the first time today - 'california roll' with avocado, cucumber and crab.  The pickled ginger 'gari' and wasabi made it extremely good.  This is a new restaurant for our town and has been here nearly a year?  I will probably be back some other time.

My inventor makes her own fun

 Esme gets super bored on the weekends... but she does make her own fun.  Today it was a 'cake' out of blocks, lego parts and pom pom balls that was to be served up to a dragon after I got home from work - and lots of K'nex inventions.  She was also putting pricetags on her coloring book pages she brought home from Grandma's house.

I'm still working on several blankets, a rug, and small stuffed dogs for her and a birthday party gift for April.  So, she gets the creative energy from somewhere ;)

Other:  She asked me why earth was a small word, but it had five letters which was almost as much as dragon which was a big word - 'earth' vs' dr-aaag-on'.. she meant the syllables...  Right after that she was dipping water into a container, throwing it up in the air, dropping the container and trying to catch the water with both hands.  She said she wished she had three hands.  I was flabbergasted for a moment.. but responded with: 'Yes, many people have wished they had three hands, before.' She said: 'Yea, three would be good, for this.'  She said the birthday party girl would not like a stuffed dog because she only likes princess stuff..I said 'so ... doesn't matter.  she's getting a stuffed dog, because we don't have money to go buy a toy - and you like it, right?'  She agreed... and thinks it is perfect as it is although I said I would change a few things on the next one.  As I finished sewing it she said 'there, right there, perfect, it doesn't need anything else, stop there.'  Ha.

Two days off starting Monday.  Yay!

Zen Bean Bags

 And the Indiana Jones hat I made last year for gardening... it fits her now :)

 

We made 'zen beanbags' today - which was an idea I had a long time ago and made for her but didn't really post much about.  The old ones are kind of gone, and I thought it was time for a new set, and some photographs for the KnitOwl Toys and Crafts book, which I am working on again.   The fabric is something I painted the other day with textile medium and acrylic paint using cardstock as a resist stencil.  The other fabric is an old piece of clothing we have used for several things in the past.

 Stacking beanbags in proportional sizes.

They brought out the little scientist in her, she was comparing weights and measuring distances (with help) and talking about the different sizes meant we needed different amounts, which would be heavier or lighter.  She compared the small one to a strawberry, and the big one was a pancake.  I let her help with sewing up the closure on the smallest one, and she paid good attention to how it was done and the steps.  We used a funnel piece of paper to fill the beans into the two larger ones.

 I also took a coffee can and covered it with construction paper on the outside after thoroughly washing and drying the inside.  We are using it as a goal bucket.  She really really likes the 'stacking game', though.

I made 'bracers of craftiness' last night as Mark is calling them - simple sport yarn wrist cuffs to keep my arms a little warmer.  They kind of match the yellow drawstring pants I've been meaning to make for almost a year and finally got myself to cut out and start.  It really took thirty five minutes to cut it out and get them ready for finishing.  I don't know why I waited so long... really need to just 'get up and do' a bit more... been having trouble with that the past year and especially with the cold this winter.  I've been keeping a notebook again to write down the things I want to do so I actually get myself to work on things when there is time to be used - like the book - and other things as well.

The 'bracers of craftiness', which actually do help keep my hands warmer when I'm working at knitting, sewing and typing.

It was such a nice day out, several of us could barely keep our feet on the ground...

And those are some awfully big rabbits around here, too!

Picking daffodils with Grandma

A bona fide puddlehound.. just kidding, this is Minerva, the catahoula bluetick coonhound cross

 

and her older sister, Sweetie

a few dried flowers surviving in a shadow with the last of the snow