Finish what I started

Sewing is one of my hobbies, and I have the ideal set up. Not long after we moved here, Justin found this excellent thing called the Sewing Box. It looks like a nice piece of furniture up in our bonus room:

But when you open it up, it turns into the perfect sewing corner for me. Sweet.

Everything I need at my fingertips

Pivot in my chair, and cutting station behind me

I can sew, watch football, and be with the kids while they play, all at the same time. Unfortunately, my sweet set up conveniently hides something: I have a ton of projects I've bought everything for, but never started. The evidence is literally piled up against me:

How many projects, you ask? Here's the list:

• Tooth fairy pillow for John
• Red/black/white twirl skirt for Caroline

• Music fabric twirl skirt for Caroline

• Doll cheerleader outfit

• Doll Belle dress
• Doll Sleeping Beauty (did you know her name is Aurora?) dress

• Doll Colonial outfit (what was I thinking?!)

• Five coloring bags for friends and cousins
• Brown pants for me

• Pink dress for me (this was supposed to be my Easter dress two years ago - hmph)

• Monkey pajamas for John (please note how small the children on the pattern are...)

Hard to be an example to the kids when it comes to finishing what you start when I have all of these projects piled up, some literally for years. No time like the present to fix an outage, so I have officially made a mid-year resolution: finish all projects by December 31st. 

Fifteen projects, five months left in the year. Hoooo boy... better get started. I spent most of the day yesterday in front of my sewing machine and managed to knock out two of the projects on the list. This might not be too hard, after all!! 

So about the little kids on the pattern... Given that I've had this project since we lived in Ohio (ahem), I had to lengthen the pants for John, and didn't have enough fabric to make the top, but hey. Don't big boys do just sleep pants, anyway?

My little monkey

And despite my intent to finish my projects and not buy anything else until they're done, I'm apparently missing some of the notions, so I had to run to Joann's for elastic yesterday. Even with that errand, though, I got one of the twirl skirts done for Caroline:

Razorback Red if she ever decides to
root for the Hogs!

Now I ask you - what's your mid-year resolution?

Friday Feature: John's journaling

A couple of my favorites from the last two weeks:

Topic: Write about a time when you were brave.

Translation: "I was brave when I went on a roller coaster in the dark with creepy mannequin people! I thought they were creept! Very creept!!!!! I had to close my eyes. At the end it was water spraying. Fun!!!"

Topic: What is your favorite thing to help around the house with? What is your least favorite thing to help with?

Translation: "My favorite thing to help around the house is washing the dishes. My least favorite is sweep. My favorite is because it is easy and sort of fun. My least favorite is because I don't like finding the crumbs!!!"

You Live Where?: Farmers' Market edition

I think I've probably mentioned this before, but Fayetteville has one amazing Farmers' Market. Actually, they have several amazing Farmers' Markets, in multiple locations and days, but I pretty much have stuck to the Saturday morning, downtown market on the square.

With our garden, we haven't bought a ton of produce there this summer; it was all I could do to restrain myself this morning when I saw the most amazing heirloom, beefsteak and cherry tomatoes. Maybe next week.

And the eggplants were such a gorgeous, deep purple, I found myself frantically doing a search of my mental rolodex to see if I could justify buying a pint of them for some exotic dinner. No dice - all I could come up with was fried eggplant, and the odds of all four Coussoules eating that were too low to justify the purchase.

The main reason I headed to the Market this morning was to pick up Peach Preserves, the key ingredient in this week's recipe: Peach Glazed Pork Tenderloin. (I know, seriously - just writing it makes me hungry.) There is a stand at the Market every week that has homemade jams, jellies, preserves and butters, and I am officially hooked. Their blackberry jam is worth hoarding, it's so delicious.

We were a little bit later than usual to the Market this morning - the serious Market shoppers get there earlyearlyearly, as soon as it opens, to get the best pick of produce, flowers, open range meat and eggs, and other homemade and handmade wonders.

By the time Caroline and I dropped John off at a birthday party and got downtown, it was a few hours into Market day and the crowd was growing. On a mission, we stopped briefly to pet the shelter dogs, and headed right for the Bramble Berry Farm booth. Yummmmmm... but I was on a mission. Peach preserves, Amanda. No pumpkin butter, no blackberry jam, no jalapeno jelly today.

Unfortunately, not only was I a little late today, the proprietor's daughter was on vacation last week, so their variety was slimmer than usual. Not to be deterred, I spied apricot preserves - which the recipe clearly states as an option vs. peach - and we were on our way.

I promise, this is the jam stand... not sure how I missed
getting a picture of the beautiful jars of goodness

Rather than heading straight home, I convinced Caroline to walk the square with me. There are always musicians playing for tips, and there is reliably at least one wonderful folk band picking and playing Ozark mountain music. How amazing is the sound of a man picking a banjo with talented abandon?

A quick stop to play on the rocks and skip over the water, and it was time to head out.

Living in Northwest Arkansas continues to be a delight. I've loved so many of the places I've lived, and funky Fayetteville, home of the Razorbacks, is high on the list.

Friday Feature: Up, Up and Away!

Hot Air Balloon

I saw a hot air balloon flying over my house:

Most of the time, it was quiet as a mouse,

But, every so often, its burners suddenly roared,

And higher, up into the sky, it suddenly soared.

My excitement, I found hard to keep at bay,

As, a hot air balloon, you don't see every day.

A passenger balloon floating through the air,

For me, is so special, as the sight is so rare.

The sight of the balloon, filled me with delight,

And I stood watching it, until it flew out of sight.

My eyes were stuck to the balloon, just like glue,

As it floated across a sky of cornflower blue.

I wonder what it's like to float through the sky,

Wathing the world down below gliding on by.

I've always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon:

I hope I will one day, and I hope that it's soon.

-- Angela Wybrow

Paper mâché is a mess, but man, did we have fun with it. I put this on the curriculum calendar this summer knowing it would be a mess and a lot of work, but with the hopes that it would be so much fun, the mess would be totally worth it. I remember as a girl doing a paper mâché craft with my Brownie troop, and clearly it was a highlight of my artistic career. So for this craft, I joined in the fun. 

There are a lot of steps to a paper mâché hot air balloon:

Blow up balloon
Mix up paper mache mess
Dip torn strips of paper and layer onto balloon

Taking her time, covering up the whole balloon and
keeping it smooth to paint later

Step one - Done!

Let it dry for a few days, then paint a
base coat of white

And make a monkey face
while painting 

Definitely the best part

Finally - time to paint the design on!

Given drying time, my work schedule, and missing key materials like pipe cleaners and yarn, we did it a bit in stops and starts. I think the final results, though, were definitely worth the mess.

Caroline's

John's

Mommy's 

Up, Up and Away!!

The magic elixir

I love coffee. There's really no other more effective way to put it. It's a magical delight that tells me the day has started and everything is going to be okay. I would drink coffee from the minute I got up until the minute I went to bed if my stomach could handle it. When I drink it, it's like someone sprinkled good-mood pixie dust on me. Now, before you start thinking I'm some hard core caffeine junkie who may as well hook up a mainline, let me come clean: I see coffee primarily as a vehicle by which to try all of the wonderful flavors of creamer the good food scientists at Coffee-mate and International Delight come up with.

For ages, I've been a dedicated Dunkin Donuts Cinnamon Spice with sugar and Creme Brûlée Coffeemate creamer girl. Recently, I finished up a bag of Gevalia French Roast that Justin had bought and didn't really care for. I didn't really, either, but who am I to let coffee go to waste? It wasn't bad, but I was pretty happy to get back to my Dunks. 

While there's comfort in being a creature of habit, I recently tried a new creamer. Make that, three new creamers. International Delight came out with - wait for it - Cold Stone Creamery inspired flavors. For someone who in high school thought that a Sweet Cream milkshake was as close to heaven as you could get in this lifetime, this is the picture of pure bliss:

I kept the Sweet Cream at home, and have the Hot For Cookie at work (Founder's Favorite is on deck on the fridge). New creamers to go with the free Folgers, Millstone, and Dunkin Donuts coffee in the break room. Do I work for an amazing company or what?

So every workday morning, I fill up my travel mug with water, pour it in the coffee pot, and make exactly one mug of coffee to take with me to work. My commute now is so short, I can't even drink the whole thing before I get to the office. When I lived in a suburb of Cincinnati, I would make a mug plus a Thermos full of coffee, and still be sitting in traffic with a full bladder before ever coming in sight of Winton Hill. I currently have four travel mugs, and Justin has two. I rotate them based on my mood or my outfit (I'm a girl, I'm allowed to make decisions like that). 

In my experience, coffee mugs are one of those things that multiply spontaneously. Kind of like wire hangers and lone socks. I think there was a five year period when I was a kid where every gift giving occasion resulted in a new mug for Mom or Dad. My parents' cupboard has a remarkable collection of mugs, consisting primarily of music, Army, and Texas Aggie designs. 

With our moving every two or three years, we've been ruthless about keeping things pared down, including our coffee mugs. We have some that match our dishes; a set that was a Christmas gift from my mom one year; photo mugs with our adorable kids' mugs (haha, very punny); and a few that the kids have collected from hot chocolate sets.

My not-pictured Army travel mug is drying on the counter...

My favorites are the mug I got at Disney last summer

and my very first kid-art mug that John made me for Mother's Day.

This morning, I pulled out an oldie but a goodie. This mug has seen far more cups of hot chocolate than coffee, as it was a Christmas gift from my Uncle Bubby and Aunt Laurel about 30 years ago. My sister has one just like it, and I always thought it was such a wonderful gift.

I have a habit of "saving" things that have incalculable worth to me, only using them on special occasions. But this blog is not just a fun New Year's Resolution for me. It also reminds me that every moment is special; all of life's little moments add up to a richness that is priceless. So this morning, I drank my coffee in a mug that reminds me of my much-loved uncle who passed so many years ago, and my aunt who is far away in North Carolina but always near to my heart. 

The magic isn't in the coffee today. This morning, the magic is in the mug. 

Sunday morning little moment

For the first time in weeks, it's an overcast, comfortable morning here in northwest Arkansas. We're home from church, I put my coffee on to brew, and Justin is cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast. I'm in one of my favorite places, sitting on the back patio with a breeze gently playing the wind chimes, catching up on Words With Friends before I dive into a new book.

The solitude never lasts long. And that's okay. This morning, John popped out on the patio with this:

 

"Look Mommy. It's called the Speeder Car. It has tail fins and antennas so it looks really fast. I just wanted to show you and Daddy. Can I go watch a show now?"

And just like that, he was gone. Back inside, a hundred miles an hour, happiest kid on earth. 

Back to the sounds of the birds, the wind chimes, and the neighbor's dog barking as the cars go by. 

Friday Feature: John's artwork

Capturing this week's artwork in a picture was a little more challenging than usual.

Medium: chalk
Subject: outer space
Surface: the driveway

For a half a second, I honestly thought about pulling out the step ladder to get the shot. Then my Friday afternoon post-work exhaustion hit me, and I just lifted my arms up over my head, pointed, clicked, and hoped for the best.

Ta-da!!!

I'm proud of John - he did this all by himself. He has the planets in order, and the drawing of Earth is exceedingly good for a soon-to-be-1st-grader, if you ask me.

Lots of learning so far this summer, and plenty more to come!