Archive - 2010

Quick Crochet Projects

We finally got our a/c units put in last week.  What a difference!  We put a spot cooling a/c into each of the upstairs bedrooms and they each have their own remotes to control temperature and fan settings.   The bedrooms are now comfortable retreats while the rest of the house is easily cooled by ceiling fans and open windows.

I’m not doing much blogging lately because with the warmer weather and my growing belly, my feet start to swell if I sit too long without propping them up.  Nothing to worry about, just need to keep them up.  So I’ve actually gotten more fiber crafting done lately.  I dug through my patterns and cheap, acrylic yarn and made a bunch of little projects.

These little guys are kitchen scrubbies, made with the cheapest, scratchiest acrylic yarn I had.   Nothing wrong with inexpensive, acrylic – it can be wonderfully soft and easy to care for,  but normally I only use the extra-cheap stuff for kids crafts.  And when it comes to dish scrubbies, the cheaper and scratchier, the better.  These are really easy to make and they work great at scrubbing the dishes.  The pattern is free and can be found here: Spiral Scrubbies.

I also made these tasty treats –

Oreo Cookies!!! At first glance these actually look real and then you feel let down because they are just yarn.  Good thing there aren’t any real Oreo’s in the cupboard or the fake ones could incite a riot of Oreo bingeing.  But they are incredibly easy and fast to make, too.  I used whatever white acrylic yarn I had stashed away but I had to go out and buy the brown.  I went to Michaels because I kept seeing or hearing ads about their new, expanded yarn department.  Well, apparently by “new and expanded” they mean “greatly reduced, with many of their long-time brands, colors and yarn weights gone.”  Not impressed at all.  I did however, find the brown I needed, so all was not lost.  At least I no longer need to travel to a different state to get to my closest Michaels.

Anyway, back to the crochet cookies.  That pattern is also free and can be found here:  Crochet Oreo Cookies.

I’ve got other tasty treats that are mostly finished, but are waiting for the perfect plastic base and/or to be stuffed.  The fiberfill is w-a-y down in the basement, so hopefully I can make it down there soon.  I’ll post pictures when I finally do finish.

Recovery Mode

We went on a cruise last week, did you miss me?  My in-laws decided to take their three children and their families on vacation with them, so off we went, all 14 of us.  It was a good vacation, even if we went to the Mexican Riviera in the summer and my sister-in-law looked at my belly and asked if I was having twins.

Here’s me and my belly with my two oldest children in Cabo San Lucas.

Boo had a spectacularly good time since he stayed in a stateroom with his two uncles and his boy cousin, who is also 11 years old.  We dubbed their room, “The Man Cave”.  I felt sorry for their female room attendant.

Pumpkin Girl was thrilled to have a rock climbing wall on board. She even entered the children’s rock climbing contest and came in 4th – behind three 11 year old girls! Here she is, on her way to the top:

During our days in port, Bip went to the kids’ club.  It was actually his choice and it seemed a little strange to leave him behind while we went ashore, but it was a good decision.  It was hot and humid and all we did was walk and shop.  He would have hated it!  Instead, he got to play games and have fun and eat pizza for lunch.

But now we’re home and in recovery mode.  Laundry is done and suitcases are put away, now we’re trying to get back to normal.  Ballet classes have started back up again and I seriously need to see about getting some school done.

Oops, I Did It Again

Do you know what the temperature is at the weather station just two blocks from my house?

100.6 F

Yeah, baby.

Though the official city temp right  is 96.  So now who’s all smug about living in the foothills with the view and the woods and the creek, and not on the other side of I-25, which is the hot and dry plains.

Did I mention I don’t have air conditioning?

Did I mention I’m pregnant?

Yeah.  Yay me!

It’s a well established, scientific fact that where ever I live will experience immediate, catastrophic and record breaking heat.  If I’m pregnant, it’s even worse.

So here I sit, sweating it out, feeling slightly nauseated and cursing the day we moved into Pioneer House.  Really – who doesn’t have air conditioning in this day and age?

I closed all the windows at 8:45 this  morning in a vain attempt to keep the cold night air in.  I banned all use of the oven or the stove until the situation gets better.  I’m willing to slip the a/c guy an extra $2000 in cash under the table if he’ll move us up to the top of his two week waiting list.

I can’t believe I did it again.

Thoughts in My Brain

Just some random thoughts since I can’t seem to put enough together to make a whole post.

*Being pregnant with your fifth at age 40 is much different than being pregnant with your first at 28.  Though I think it has less to do with my age and more to do with the current batch of children who need to be schooled, fed and chauffeured.

*We tried to determine the gender of the baby today.  We saw two arms, two legs, a face, a two-hemisphered brain and could even count fingers and toes.  Baby even waved happily at us…and kept his or her little ankles crossed.  We poked and prodded, but that little one would not give up his/her secret.  I’m not quite 18 weeks yet, so it was a long shot, but now it’ll be another 4 weeks until my next appointment.

*Is it possible for cats to be moody? Not just normal cat aloofness, either.  I mean like, being all, “love me, love me, scratch my head, give treats, love me…”, purring just at the sight of you, weaving in and out of your legs one week, then all walking away as you get close and giving you the stink eye the next week?  Our still-not-spayed mama cat is like that.  Could she be hormonal?  We do plan on getting her fixed, we just want to give her time to adapt to being taken away from the only home she’s ever known.  You know, before subjecting her to major surgery.

*Speaking of cats, I found the perfect way for Pumpkin Girl to keep her room clean!  The cats live in her room.  Their food and litter is in the bathroom across the hall, but they spend most of their time with her.  She reads aloud to them and cuddles them and pampers them like the little goddesses they think they are.  Plus she has a giant window seat in her room where they can perch and look down upon humanity.  Anyhoo, as a result, her room gets a little furry.  So every other day she has to clean everything off of her floor and vacuum.  Plus, she is learning that anything that she leaves out is fair game for the cats to attack, scratch or nibble.  I’ve never seen her room look so good for so long!

*I’ve never seen an episode of “Lost”.   I didn’t care for “24”.  Thus, my life continues as normal this week.

*I downloaded a bunch of ’80s songs on iTunes, and then rediscovered my CDs.  I already owned most of those songs.

*Phil was complaining that he’d put on some weight (bringing him out of the “skinny” category and into “normal”).  Pumpkin Girl blithely told him, “Don’t worry, Daddy.  Everyone gets a little winter blubber.”

In Which I Make Plans

…and God laughs.

I have this nice house now, you see.  After 17 years of following my husband around the world, making a home out of whatever 4 walls we found ourselves in, we have a real house.  With carpet and granite counters and a deck and a basement and even a music room! It’s only 15 years old and we’re the 2nd owners, so there’s not much work needed.  We’d like to update the landscaping, add some built-ins to the music room, get one of those custom closet things…

But before then we’ve got a little more unpacking to do.  Little areas around the house still wait to be sorted, purged and put away.

Then there’s the children.  We need to stay ever vigilant over math woes, I have some fun hands-on history projects waiting and the little one thinks maybe he might want to learn to read.  Or maybe not.  He’s only 4, so we’ve got more than enough time.

We need a better daily schedule and our chore system needs updating.  I’d like to be more efficient at the computer so I can spend my time with more important things.

I’ve got things to do, you see.  Plans.  Important plans.

And God laughs at my plans. Not in a mean or sarcastic way.  But laugh he does, though I think he  acknowledges that all those plans are important.  But before I get too hung up on all I think I have to do, he’d like me to slow down a bit.  He’d like me to get some more rest, eat a little – a lot- healthier, learn to delegate, and get some fresh air.

Because a long time ago, my lonely little girl’s  heart wished to have a big family.  I wanted five children to fill my house with love, laughter and joy.  The Good Lord smiled down at me and said, “Now THAT’S a good plan!”

So God said, “let there be five…and there were five.”

Yes, indeed!  Sometime towards the end of October, our fifth baby will be arriving.  As Boo would say, “the Lord has blessed us again!”

Just…Sick

I had hoped to make  Major Announcement here last week, but that and every other blog worthy moment in my life was preempted by The Sick.

For the last three weeks we have had pretty much every viral symptom known to man.  Headache, stomachache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sore throat, sneezing, coughing, aches, chills, fever, congestion, runny nose and crying.

I’m the one doing the crying.

Even though each symptom we’ve had has been pretty mild, someone in the family has had at least one on any given day.

We’ve missed soccer practices, soccer games, religious ed classes and today Bip and I even missed church.  And if you’re Catholic, it’s a Very Big Deal to miss church.  But for the whole hour between when I woke up and the rest of the crew left for mass, I sneezed and coughed and blew my nose.  This was one of those times when having the man be the spiritual head of the house is such a blessing.  Man said, “stay home,” so I stayed.

I’m sure the congregation of mothers with small children, older people, and children with upcoming sports games, recitals and First Communions were glad I was not there to share the love.

I’m not a good patient, either.  I despise being sick. I don’t lie there and quietly recover.  Nope.  I turn into Crabby McCrabbypants, wishing for death in one breath and taking it back with the next. I get very hard to please, then weepy because I’m being difficult. Cooking and blogging and other necessities fall the wayside when I’m sick. It’s not pretty.

So until further notice, this blog is on hiatus.  Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s me.

What Legos Do At Night

No doubt you’ve seen Lego mini-movies all over the web, but I think this one is my all-time favorite.  If you’re a “Les Miz” fan, you’ve got to check this out.  It’s one of my favorite Les Miz songs to sing.  I usually sing the part of Enjolras (he’s the brunette in the video with the red shirt and big sword).  I know I’m a girl, but I’m also part French and I’ve got leadership issues. As in, I’m always trying to be the one in charge.  And people actually follow me.  Scary.  The Mac and Cheese Chronicles, coming to a barricade near you.

So, with no further silliness…

I’m a Winner

This is very cool.

Way back in 2007 I was planning our Disney Cruise.  There is so much Disney planning information out there, it’s just crazy.  I wanted this cruise to be the trip of a life time and trying to gather all the information together and make sense of it all was overwhelming.  Plus, given the choice between reading something on the computer or reading it in a book, I will choose the book every single time.

I don’t know how I stumbled upon PassPorters, but it was just what I was looking for.  I blogged all about them here: Just A Little “Dis”tracted.

In 2008 we planned our first ever trip to Disney World, this time toting along my cousin and his family.  Of course, I turned to PassPorter.

However, last year when we went to Disneyland, I didn’t get one.  Why?  Because I have been there more times than I can count.  (But I secretly wanted the Disneyland Passporter.)

And the point of this whole post?   Right before Easter I submitted a Disney tip to PassPorter folks and it was selected to be published in their email newsletter.  Cool.

But wait, there’s more! Because my tip was chosen to be published, I won a free PassPorter!!  I chose the Disney World one because I think they used one of my pictures in it.  (Also very cool.)

Now for some links.

Here is the link for the PassPorter News that has my tip.  The tips are along the left hand side, mine is the one about fireworks.  PassPorter News 4/9/10

Check out the book trailer for the Passporter.  You’ll get a glimpse of why I totally love them.  It’s almost as good as coming over to my house and letting me show you in person.  PassPorter’s Walt Disney World book trailer.

And now that you’ve watched the video and so totally want a PassPorter and a trip to Disney, here’s their website. PassPorter.com

Maple Sugar Candy

“It’s called a sugar snow, because a snow this time of year means that men can make more sugar.  You see, this little cold spell and the snow will hold back the leafing of the trees, and that makes a longer run of sap.”
-Pa Ingalls in Little House in the Big Woods

In mid-March, after a couple of days of near 70 degree weather, we got several inches of snow, followed by another warm up and even more snow.  We woke up one morning to this:

In anticipation of the sugar snows, I went out and bought some pure maple syrup to make maple sugar candy, just like in “Little House in the Big Woods”.  It’s surprisingly simple and quick to make and very, very yummy.

Here’s our syrup, bubbling its way up to 236 degrees F.
(Don’t you love the drip pans covered in foil?  Classy.  Goes so well with the granite countertops and hardwood floors.)

Pumpkin Girl stirs the slightly cooled syrup.

Thirty minutes later, the hardened and unmolded candy sits ready to be eaten!

Here’s the complete recipe:

Maple Sugar Candy

You will need:

8 1/2 oz pure maple syrup (regular pancake syrup won’t work)

candy thermometer

candy mold

Directions:

Lightly grease the rim of a heavy 1 quart sauce pan with butter to prevent maple syrup from boiling over.

Pour maple syrup into sauce pan.

Over medium heat, cook maple syrup until candy thermometer reads 236 degrees F (approximately 10-15 minutes).

While maple syrup is heating, put hot tap water into a two cup glass measuring cup.  When syrup is almost 236 degrees, pour out water and dry measuring cup completely.

Transfer syrup to the warm glass measuring cup with pour spout, using rubber spatula to remove as much syrup from sauce pan as possible.

Place candy thermometer in the maple syrup and cool syrup to 200 degrees.

Use a small wire whisk to stir the maple syrup in the measuring cup until it begins to thicken and turn cream.  This is only going to take a couple of minutes, so be ready.  Don’t allow syrup to get too thick.

Place the candy mold on a cool surface and carefully and quickly fill each candy cavity to just full with thickened syrup.

Let the maple candy cool in the mold at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Gently push on the bottom of each cavity to loosen each maple candy and carefully remove pieces, one by one.

Remove any rough edges that remain on the candy (and eat them).

Update

If you are using Firefox or IE, my blog looks great.  Tis a thing of beauty.  (Though mysteriously, in IE, there is a small smiley face next to my picture in the side bar. It’s not there in Firefox.)

However, if you’re using Safari, the posts are messed up.  Being the secret mad CSS coder that I am, I know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it.  I’m missing a slash or a semicolon somewhere…it’s just the “where” that is the problem.

Never fear, you crazy Mac users, I’m about to run my code through a validator and see where the error is.  Hopefully that’ll be fixed by today.

Updated update: It’s fixed.  Some browsers can just be so picky about having perfectly valid code.

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