Joanne Heim

This and that

Turns out the old caretaker wasn't the old caretaker after all, but an imposter who'd locked up the real caretaker at the lodge in the barn. Luckily the Girl Scouts came to the rescue just in time... I'm loving all these vintage scouting books!

Toben and I hit Costco and the grocery today to buy lots and lots of food to get ready for my sister's visit. I don't think I've ever bought so much food at once before! We filled the back of the Expedition and when we got home it took ages to put it all away.

But I've planned great menus and am excited about all the yummy things we'll eat while they're here. All in all, it's much cheaper than eating out and will be lots more fun for the kids to stay here than to go out. And since the weather has been so nice lately, I'm guessing we'll eat outside a bunch.

Kristen said Ava's eating real food--but not a lot of variety. So I stocked up on cheese, cheerios, and graham crackers--all of Ava's favorites.

I do love grocery shopping--especially when I'm not in a hurry and double especially when Toben comes along. I love looking at all the different kinds of produce and wandering up and down the aisles to see all the fun stuff to eat.

My mom has always said that she loves grocery shopping too--when she and my dad first got married, it was the only kind of shopping she did that she didn't feel guilty about. After all, they had to eat!

Secret project

I've been working on a little something for my niece, Ava, and I finished it today. But I can't really write about it since my sister will see it and the surprise would be lost. Kristen, Wade, and Ava are arriving on Friday night and staying for 10 days. I'm so excited! My calendar is empty except for some school stuff for the kids, so we can play.

I did take some pictures of my project today and will post them on Friday or Saturday--after I give it to Ava.

Got a new book in the mail today from ebay--The Girl Scouts at Penguin Pass. I'm off to go get lost on Candy Mountain and discover what the old caretaker at the lodge has locked up in the barn that he doesn't want the Girl Scouts to find...

Eek! A mouse...

...running across my kitchen floor! But Joey's got it under control. Phew!

We did actually have mice--real mice--in this house at one point. Uck. I'd catch some movement out of the corner of my eye and then scream like a little girl. Somehow they're cute outside or in a cage, but not running across the kitchen floor. Once we got them all caught, we got a cat and haven't seen any since.

This little green mouse was knit using a pattern from the Knit Knack Kit and is stuffed with leftover yarn scraps. I made him during a couple of M*A*S*H episdoes. Joey really doesn't seem to care about him--which is probably good. I'd hate for him to start loving knitted stuff. That could cause big problems in our relationship.

My guy

Toben has been out of town for the past few days, and things just don't feel right when he's not here. Sure, the girls and I watch old movies (The Music Man and Hello, Dolly!) and do some things we don't usually do (sleepovers in the big bed), but the day just doesn't feel quite right when Toben's gone.

He works from home quite a bit, and is around so much that I miss him a lot on those days when he's in the office all day long; so when he's gone days at a time I really, really miss him.

Before the girls were born, I didn't mind when Toben travelled so much. And he used to travel a ton--gone for two weeks, home a week, gone for another week or two, home a week, and so on. I'd watch movies all weekend, or read stacks of books, or go stay with my parents, or go see movies with my girlfriends. I guess I enjoyed the chance to be "single" here and there (something I never really experienced since we got married when I was 19). But being a single mom is hard--our family just isn't complete without him around.

I love this man.

We've been through it and there was a year or two just recently when I wasn't sure we'd make it; our daily life was filled with pain and silence and sorrow and bitterness and loneliness and I couldn't imagine a future filled with more of the same. By God's grace alone we made it through and now that we've come out the other side, I can't imagine life without him.

Here's the two of us at the lake last summer...

P.S. It's Sarah's birthday today...happy birthday, my friend!

Playing in the dirt

We played in the dirt today.

An herb garden for the kitchen table--basil, curly parlsey, golden sage, and cilantro--in the enamel bowl I found last weekend.

A roasting pan I never use any more filled with mint for the outside table.

A new, cinnamon-scented geranium.

We also planted snapdragons and impatiens, but those photos didn't turn out very well. And I pulled out a fern from the front walkway that was taking over--it must have been four and a half feet tall and sending out little fern babies everywhere. I hate throwing plants away, but it was completely out of control and needed to be done.

New carpet, new flowers, new perspective

Emma and I spent a long time at Home Depot today. I found new carpet for the girls' rooms--new carpet that cost less than $2 a square foot, and new carpet that can be installed by next Friday. And it's all 10 percent off, the pad is free, and installation is included. Yippee. And to top it all off, despite the very limited selection of carpets that can be installed that quickly, one of them matches the carpet in the other rooms just about perfectly. Double yippee!

(While it's not the greatest carpet, it will be perfectly sufficient for kids' rooms. Especially since they're not super high traffic areas, the kids don't eat in their rooms, and they don't usually have on shoes.)

After waiting in a long line and getting the carpet ordered, we bought flowers and are all ready to plant flats of impatiens and snapdragons tomorrow. We also got a bunch of herbs for the herb garden. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sunny weather.

Finally, while cleaning up after the toilet mishap yesterday and dealing with getting new carpet today, I realized how minor an inconvenience it is compared to people in New Orleans. I can't imagine coming back to a home that had been completely flooded by much yuckier water and dealing with that. And then there are so many other people in the world who don't have houses with indoor plumbing, so at least I have a flushing toilet to get backed up in the first place. So, all in all, I got off pretty easily. In short, it made me realize how blessed we really are. I suppose this is a prime example of why God tells us to be thankful in all things--because even in the midst of seemingly frustrating, awful things, we can still see his provision and blessing when we stop to think about the big picture.

One of those afternoons

I got up from the couch this afternoon when it was time to walk to the bus stop to get Audrey and found that the toilet in the girls' bathroom had overflowed. Water in the bathroom was about an inch deep, the hallway was flooded, the carpet in Emma's doorway was wet, and the carpet in Audrey's room was soaked from the doorway to about three feet into her room. And the toilet was still overflowing.

I used every towel in the house to mop it up, the wet/dry vac to suck it up, and then when I jumped over the wet carpet into Audrey's room, I found that though the carpet was dry beyond the obvious wet places, the pad underneath was soaked, so water squished up--it actually splashed!--from seemingly dry carpet up my legs.

Yuck.

After we got home from the bus and I'd wiped down the entire bathroom with bleach and mopped the floors with bleach and sprayed everything with lots of Lysol, Emma came running in upset because she stepped in dog poop in the backyard.

In the midst of doing laundry and washing Emma's shoes, I'm waiting for whatever comes next since these things always come in threes...

And, of course, Toben's out of town.

I suppose the good news is that the girls may get new carpet sooner than I anticipated...

Time to go switch the laundry. Again.

It doesn't fit anymore

I decided that I would take all the knick-knack accessories out of my house today, put them all in the garage, clean all my furniture, and then rearrange everything. Sounds like a great idea, right?

My furniture is all clean, glowing with orange oil, the carpet under the sofas vacuumed, the floor under the couch in the kitchen mopped. But--

After I started rearranging little things (my furniture is really set up well as it is--the house "works" with it the way it is so I knew I wouldn't be rearranging any big stuff), I found that not everything fit anymore! I felt like a mechanic who takes a car apart, puts it back together, and is left with a little pile of "extra" parts. Maybe I didn't hold my mouth just right...

It may be time for a Goodwill run. Of course, some of the stuff that doesn't fit anymore is stuff I really do love, so I may just have to live with it for a while and see how it can be tweaked. ("Tweaked" always makes me think of the movie, You've Got Mail--a movie I really like. There are so many great little phrases in it. One of my favorites is "a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils"--something I think I'd be happy to receive.)

P.S. Janna sent me a great picture of a coverlet made from vintage hankies (thanks, Janna!)--I think I may need to collect some more. A tablecloth from vintage hankies would be neat to do too. Hmmm...

My garden

I love the English way of calling your yard the garden. It just makes it seem like such a more wonderful place--filled with the hope of growing green things, "wick" things as Dickon always said in The Secret Garden. Yard is prose, garden is poetry.

I love my garden at this house more than any other yard we've had before. (And this one is most definitely a garden compared to our yards of the past.) Southern California is very garden friendly; something is always blooming.

What's blooming now is my hydrangea. I love hydrangeas and hope that the two I have planted will grow big, big, BIG! The bouganvillea is also blooming around the fountain in the back, and I have similar hopes for it.

The plans for this holiday weekend are garden-y kinds of plans. Planting an herb garden for the kitchen in an old enamel-ware bowl I bought last weekend, pulling out the geraniums that surround the dining room windows (they are so fuzzy and so big and so red and the caterpillars cannot stay away; I think I'm going to give up on them) and replacing them with ivy geraniums (the caterpillars don't seem to like them at all), giving the impatiens under the pear tree lots of Miracle-Gro.

And I have big plans for the front yard, but need to get Toben on board. I'd like to put in a white picket fence. While an arch wouldn't work for my front garden, look at this gorgeous one Terri and I saw in Julian last weekend.

This is exactly what I want along my front sidewalk, set back about 18 inches and covered in trailing, rambling, lovely, lazy roses. Isn't it fun to dream and make plans?

Family fun

Today was a good mommy day. This afternoon Emma and I painted and drew while Toben and Audrey hit balls at the driving range. Emma drew a picture of me and Audrey at the beach with starfish, and I sketched a picture of Emma painting. Then we read story books on the couch and cooked dinner together (pot roast, oven roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli and cauliflower--yum!).

When Audrey got home, she and I sat and worked on her math homework (beginning multiplication) without arguing about it once! We talked through each problem and worked on them until she understood what she was doing. Then she wanted to know how to play kickball, so we started to head out the back door. Toben said, "I wanna play!" And Emma said, "Me too!" So we all went outside to play family kickball--girls against boy. Girls won.

Then the girls wanted to see inside a golf ball, so Toben sawed one in half. Emma was thrilled to see that it was pink inside!

After dinner, we sat in bed and read the first chapter in The Secret of the Old Clock, book 1 in the Nancy Drew series.

There are days where I don't feel like I've done a good job being a mom, days when I feel like all I do is nag and say the same things over and over again without anyone listening. And then there are days like today, when I have so much fun, enjoying whatever we're doing all the more because somehow it all feels just about perfect and has all the ingredients for one of those moments we'll remember forever.

Happy Saturday--one day late!

Terri and I spent the day together yesterday, celebrating her birthday. We left around 9, got home around 7 and had a ball!

We drove to Julian, a little town about an hour east of here, and talked the whole way! It's a beautiful drive and here's just some of what we saw along the way.

We stopped at Dudley's to buy bread, apple strudel, and to have a snack of danish, turnovers, and coffee. They have fossils and rocks and jewelry and Indian arrow heads and all kinds of other fun stuff to look at in their gift shop.

We stopped at Wynola to visit this antique store and had a ball digging through stuff and finding fun treasures. If I had a bigger car, more money, electrical know-how, and a husband who'd be excited about it, I would've bought an antique range for my kitchen. They had two fantastic ones that would be so fun to restore and use, or just put in the kitchen for decoration. This store has two resident cats, Maggie and Molly (I think!). Great for entertaining any kids who happen to be along for the ride and don't get excited about old wooden clothespins, rolling pins, and vintage telegraph machines.

We had tea at Julian Tea and Cottage Arts and wandered around town. There are some great shops to visit--Cabbages and Kings has all kinds of gifty stuff (and everything was 20 percent off!), the used bookstore has fewer books after our visit, American Gardener has soaps and potpourri, and Oakwood Creek as lots of fun stuff to see--both new and old--in addition to being located in a great old house that both Terri and I are ready to move right into.

On the way home we saw sheep and goats and horses and a donkey and ostriches and one snake slithering across the road (uck!). Except for the snake part, I think that I'd love to be a country girl!

Of course, I came home with some treasures, but haven't had a chance to photograph them yet. So, more to come later!

Oh dear Gussie!

In my mother's family, you don't say "Oh my" or "Goodness" or "Land sakes" or "Jeepers" or "Gosh" or "Golly." You say "Oh dear Gussie!" I'm not sure where it came from, but that's just what you say when you're surprised or amazed or you hit your finger with a hammer.

I love reading old Trixie Belden books, in which they say things like "Oh, gleeps!" while riding around in the jalopy. Or Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, in which Pete, Andrew, and Jupe also say things like "Gleeps!" and "Whiskers!" and "Golly!"

I wonder if all those kinds of sayings will ever come back into vogue. Somehow I doubt it. More's the pity!

Looking forward to summer

The girls don't get out of school until the middle of June, but I'm already really looking forward to summer. It could be that the gray weather (yes, coastal southern California is very gray and gloomy in May--most every year) has me longing for lots of sunshine and hot weather. Or it could be struggling through math homework with Audrey has me wishing for school to be out. Whatever it is, I'm really anxious for summer to begin.

I love new beginnings--summer, back to school, the first day of Christmas vacation, New Year's. It's a chance to start over again, to begin afresh, and to rethink the way I want my life to be. I recently read a book about the Sabbath, and loved the idea that part of celebrating the Sabbath is to have that new beginning, that getting back on track each week. I'm working at it, but am not quite there yet.

And so I'm looking foward to summer. I'm going to clean out closets and sort through clothes; I want to talk a walk every night after dinner (without worrying too much about bedtime and the alarm that rings at 6 a.m. for the kids); I want us to walk to the library and sit on giant beanbags to read story books; I want to make rock creatures and paint on the sidewalks and plant flowers in the backyard.

At this point in the school year, I usually get a little lazy...letting things slide because the end is in sight. I want to finish strong, but the motivation I feel in the morning has often dwindled by the time 4 o'clock rolls around.

I will give myself a little break. We are back into the habit of reading aloud (at breakfast, after school, after dinner) and we've been eating at home more than we've been eating out (our particular vice!). So perhaps by the time school ends, all those things will already be part of our daily life and we'll have a whole new range of things we want to do and try over the summer.

Gratitude List

I'm feeling a little down and out tonight--nothing huge, just a lot of small, little things that added together feel like a lot. And since part of gratitude is attitude, thought I'd make a list of things I'm grateful for to help turn it around. (I do love making lists!)

1. my family
2. sitting in bed with Audrey at night
3. Emma's hugs
4. Molly the rabbit
5. Bible study tomorrow morning (which includes Beth Moore, and all the amazing women in my group)
6. my eyesight
7. my comfy bed
8. God's love for me
9. the color pink
10. a sense of smell
11. the smell of rain
12. the feel of Joey's fur
13. Joey purring and snuggled in next to me at night
14. reading out loud to my kids
15. all my wonderful childhood memories
16. diamonds
17. the ocean
18. Paris
19. yarn!
20. my apron collection
21. old china
22. digging through antique stores to find treasure
23. M*A*S*H reruns
24. my dog, Daisy
25. the school my kids attend
26. my big car
27. lunch with friends tomorrow
28. Terri--Happy Birthday, friend!
29. my Bible--all marked up and written in so I can always find what I'm looking for
30. pedicures
31. more books than I could ever read
32. the smell of cooking onions
33. ice cream
34. singing hymns in church
35. sleeping in
36. a husband who loves me
37. playing dress up
38. my sewing machine
39. getting to stay home with my kids
40. the chance to be published
41. tulips
42. laying out in the sunshine
43. happy memories
44. my health
45. baskets to make clutter look organized
46. old tablecloths
47. strawberries
48. freedom
49. my Brownies
50. my girlfriends--you know who you are!
51. the first sip of coffee each morning
52. being all alone in my house
53. going to the movies in the daytime
54. photographs
55. watercolor pencils
56. gingham
57. red geraniums
58. the scent of orange blossoms (blooming outside right now)
59. old tea cups
60. a sense of touch
61. music
62. mascara
63. great teachers for my kids
64. my parents
65. my education
66. teeth
67. pot roast
68. roasted potatoes
69. packages in the mail
70. candlelight
71. bedtime!

Okay, that helps. In light of all there is to be thankful for, the little things don't seem so overwhelming...

Sea World

One of the great things about living in the San Diego area is getting to go to places like Sea World on field trips. Today was Emma's field trip to Sea World, and since I haven't done much with her class this year (she only goes to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays--days I tend to have stuff going on) I went along.

We made a new friend!

He's a sea lion...and was very loud when the people around us started throwing fish. We also saw a polar bear swimming (I love their big feet!). He had a noodle--maybe he still needs a few swimming lessons to feel really confident in the water. That's what Emma decided. And we saw sharks, penguins, manatees, and of course--dolphins.

Emma took this self-portrait while we waited for the dolphin show to begin.

After we all got home this afternoon, I put on my floral smock and polished ALL the silver. It started out as a quick job on two trays I've been meaning to hang on the wall, but then I remembered that some of the demitasse spoons I use when I host knitting were getting a little tarnished, and then the forks, and then I decided I might as well just go for it. Audrey helped dry the silver and Emma helped put everything away in the silver chest. They learned all about different utensils, and I thought my mom would have been proud to hear the girls talking about seafood forks, sugar tongs, nut spoons, and so on! It was fun to see them get excited about identifying the different kinds of spoons--I'm thinking we may need a formal dinner on Sunday...

By the way, here's the mother's day gift Audrey gave me at school yesterday. Her class hosted a mother's day/author's tea. The kids painted tea trays and put together poetry books, and then each one took a turn reading some of their poetry in front of the class. Not one of them was nervous, and it made me wonder when people start feeling nervous to speak in front of a group. Defintely not by the second grade!

Smock specifics

Here's more information on the smock I made yesterday. This is what my pattern looks like (reduce, reuse, recycle--as the kids sing from the Curious George soundtrack!).

The pattern is placed on the fold and then cut out. For the floral smock, I just cut a curved edge for the bottom instead of the petal edge. I turned under about a 1/4 inch hem, then turned that hem under again because this fabric frays. You could also use bias tape around the edges if you didn't want to turn under a hem. I might try that next time.

After sewing the hems with about a 1/4 inch seam, I added the straps. For the red one, I used a 4 inch strip of fabric, sewed with a 1/4 inch hem and turned inside out and pressed. To get the correct length, I sewed the strap to the top edge, then tried it on and adjusted until I got it right. Then I just measured the second one against the first one. (The strap crosses over the back to attach again at the point where the smock comes in at the waist. That way the straps crisscross.)

The pocket matches the petal edge of the bottom; the floral smock has just a curved pocket. I turned under the top edge hem and sewed it, then ironed under a 1/4 inch edge and topstitched the pocket to the top of the smock, stitching straight lines for pocket dividers. (For the floral smock I didn't turn under any edges--I left them to fray like the smock edges.) I think I'd like to make another one with just one big kangaroo pocket--a little shallower so it's easy to get stuff in and out.

I'm thinking I may need to make a really girly one too--with lots of ruffles and rickrack and pom-pom fringe. I'd also like to to a linen one with some embroidery. Oh, the possibilities...

Here are some close up photos of the embroidery from the vintage smock that inspired these. The butterflies are pockets, and the flowers are all around the edges. I love that someone took so much time to do this and wonder how it ended up in an antique store rather than cherished by a family member.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Audrey and Emma woke me up this morning--well, not really, but I pretended to be asleep--by tiptoeing into my room to give me my mother's day cards. There was lots of whispering and shhh-ing and quite a lot of giggling, to boot. What a great way to "wake up"! I love being their mom!

I finally got to talk to my own mother today--my parents have been camping in Moab for the past four or five days and completely out of cell phone range. So I was happy to have her answer the phone when we got home from brunch this afternoon.

I know I've said this before, but I really love my mom. I admire her so much and want to be like her in so many ways as a woman, a wife, and definitely as a mother. I hold her up as an example in so many things, big and small--from how to plan a menu and cook a well-balanced meal, to writing notes for lunch boxes each day, to dealing graciously with anyone I come into contact with.

I love you, Mom, and I'm glad your mine!

After laying in the sunshine in the backyard for a while this afternoon, I decided to make a smock for Brownies as planned. I found this red fabric in my stash--the extra length from some IKEA curtains in my bedroom. I used my pink mother's day smock/apron as a sort-of pattern. Turning under a double hem on the curves wasn't easy for me--seems like if I knew more about applique it would've been easier. Not sure how you're supposed to do it, but it looks pretty good (from a distance!). The straps criscross in the back like the one mom gave me too. I love not having to tie anything.

I'm really excited about the pockets on the front (the lower edge curves to match the smock hem, if you look closely)--they'll hold all my gear for Brownies--cell phone, roster, agenda, camera, etc.--all that stuff I carry around.

Then I made this one out of some other curtain fabric in my stash. (It was a good day for left-over curtains at my house!) I didn't hem this one, but let the edges fray. I gave this one a plain, curved hem. The pocket turned out a little too deep--not sure I'll ever be able to get anything little out once it goes in! For the straps I used some grosgrain ribbon I had laying around. I do love this Waverly print--I have lots of it in my kitchen.

I can totally see wearing these two smocks all the time. I do collect vintage aprons and often wear them over my jeans as a fun accessory. Think I may have to head on over to Tie One On and join!

All That Jazz

We had our dance recital tonight--along with lots of little girls in pink, orange, and purple tutus. I think we were a huge hit--best in show even (or so the rumor goes)! We had a blast and once the nerves went away, it was nothing but lots and lots of fun. I'm anxious to see the DVD and everyone else's pictures.

I'm very, very tired and am ready to hit the hay...

Tie One On

I haven't joined the Tie One On group, but I do collect vintage aprons and love looking at all the fantastic aprons other people have made as part of this group. The theme for this month is a smock that you would wear outside the house.

This was in the mail today from my mother for mother's day. I love it! The butterflies are pockets and it's pink and embroidered and wonderful in just about every way. Here's the back too.

I think I'm going to have to make a pattern from this. I just love that the straps criscross (How do you spell that? It looks weird!) in the back. I'd love to have a sturdier one for Brownie days with big pockets to hold my whistle (necessary to get the girls' attention from time to time), my list of parents' phone numbers, a pen, a copy of our agenda, my phone, and so on. I think this would be great for kids too!

Mom also sent this amazing belt buckle. She works at an antiques store and snatches things that she loves (or knows my sister and I would love) before they ever get on the shelves.

I also received this belated birthday package from my sweet friend Heidi. Thank you! The lotion is from Bath & Body Works--white cherry blossom--and it smells great if you're looking for something new. I love it!

And this vintage scout book arrived. Audrey and I have been sitting on the couch reading about Betsy and Dotsy and the other Brownies who are solving the mystery of Susie's lost--dognapped!--poodle, Herman.

All in all, another great mail day!

I'm off to a rehearsal for my dance performance tomorrow night. The rehearsal starts at 9 PM--not sure how I'll make it through the dance without yawning hugely!

Oh, and there are still two skunks in the backyard--despite the one who died (named Ophelia, post mortem). Any ideas for how to make them go away that doesn't involve getting too close or sprayed? The bad thing is that they hang out in the yard right behind the hot tub--on top of the retaining wall so they're just above your head if you're out soaking. Toben came in the other night after only being in the hot tub for about a minute and a half. He said it was hard to relax. No doubt.

Vintage mom

This picture was taken at Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs, Colorado on August 19, 1967.

My grandmother, my mother, and my aunt are in the front row on the right, at the end.

I always love seeing pictures of my parents like this. Isn't my mom cute? She looks exactly the same--almost 40 years later. I love my mom!

Juliette Lowe

Meet Juliette Lowe, the founder of Girl Scouts.

I found her on ebay and she now has a new home with our Brownie troop. I made her this little Brownie beanie tonight; she'll fit right in at our next meeting. I think she'll become our troop mascot, hiding in all the pictures we take, much like Goldbug in Richard Scarry's books. I always loved to find Goldbug!

Audrey thinks she needs a Brownie vest too, but I don't have enough brown felt on hand. I may have to go get some and see what happens. She'll also need a party hat for when we have troop parties. She's come unglued (don't we all sometimes?!) so I need to glue her back down and then come up with a plaque. I think I may just make something up on the computer so that it can change from time to time--depending on what we're doing.

I'm so excited about her...I hope the girls all think she's as neat as I do!

Boy jobs and girl jobs

In our family we have boy jobs and girl jobs.

Girl jobs include cleaning, vacuuming, cooking, and helping the kids with homework. Scheduling play dates, planning the menu, and deciding whether or not to go to church. Doing the girls' hair, and picking out kids' clothes. Ironing, laundry, and pulling weeds are girl jobs. Calling in prescriptions and taking the kids to the doctor for shots. Also making the coffee--and delivering the coffee in bed to the boy every morning.

Boy jobs include washing and gassing the cars. Changing the oil, going to the bank. Doing the dinner dishes and making the bed is another one. Early morning trip to the bus stop, mowing the lawn, and getting the mail. Going to work, changing the cat litter, and taking out the trash. Going for donuts on Saturday morning.

And this morning we discovered a new boy job: fishing the dead skunk out of the pond.

Enough said.

Mail

All kinds of mail work for me--email, letters in the mailbox, packages on the front porch. You name it...I love it!

Today was a particularly good mail day. I woke up to find a nice long comment on yesterday's post from my friend Heidi--my best friend from junior high. Our families lived in England at the same time and we spent our first year together as Americans in a British school at Rossett High School. After the first form (sixth grade) Heidi switched to Queen Ethelberga's, but we remained fast friends, true to each other and Michael J. Fox.

I've only seen Heidi once since eighth grade (can that really be true? She came to my wedding 14 years ago) but I still feel so close to her. We lost touch here and there from time to time, but we've found each other again and it's so fun to be back in touch. She spent a night at my parents' house last week, and I'm so sad that I didn't get to be there to look through photo albums of our fun together in junior high.

One of my favorite memories of us together was a school trip to Devon (in the south of England) for Easter break. We were twelve and so happy to be away from home together. We wore sparkly nail polish and waxy blue eyeshadow every day--not to mention dangly earrings. All of which were strictly forbidden at home. Oh, we thought we were so unbelievably cool and I shudder when I look at pictures. But what fun we had! (I do send Heidi glitter nail polish when her birthday rolls around. She has a little girl now and sparkly toes are a must!)

Then the mail came after lunch and the vintage hanky I bought on ebay arrived. I think it may need to become a pillow. Isn't it neat?

Of course, after finding one cool hanky, I decided I needed more and these also came today. Because if one is good, twenty must be better! Oh dear, I really am trying to live a somewhat simple life, but sometimes I go a little overboard.

I did put one in a mother's day package for my mom, but I still have 19. I'm thinking I'd like to make a handkerchief quilt of some sort. I've seen them before and think it'd be fun to do.

The mail also brought a new issue of Better Homes and Gardens--with a great article on hydrangeas. I love these flowers, and the two I have planted against the fence are finally starting to look fulll and not quite so much like sticks. I think I may have been a little overzealous in cutting them back last year. The garden in this article is a bower of flowers, as Anne (of Green Gables) was wont to say.

Tomorrow I'm going to work in the yard after my trip to the doctor for a check-up (ooh-uck-ugh-yech!). I'm excited to pull weeds and get things cleaned up--it's way past due!

Smelly dogs

By the time I realized that I had completely forgotten to post something last night, I was already tucked up in bed and super sleepy. Oops.

And then just as I was about to fall asleep, Toben came in to tell me I had to come take a peek in the back yard. He'd taken Daisy outside and heard something in the bushes. Luckily, she's somewhat oblivious and didn't notice the two SKUNKS!

Toben grabbed the flashlight and I got to see one of them, wandering around and around in circles...past the hot tub, under the table, around the grill, past the hot tub, under the table, around the grill. He was a little skunk and so funny looking. Most of the skunks I've seen are big and dead on the side of the road. This one was cute enough that I actually started to think of possible names. Uh oh.

It's just now getting light this morning and I've not let Daisy out yet. I had visions of tomato juice baths at 5 o'clock on a Monday morning and couldn't quite open the back door.

I think it was a wise choice. Every dog my family owned growing up was sprayed by a skunk at one time or another. Obie (short for Obadiah) met a skunk the night before a camping trip in elementary school--so we had a tomato-skunk scented dog in the car and in the tent for the whole trip. Then Pateley was sprayed the night before we left for college. And since she was a white cock-a-poo, we had a PINK, tomato-skunk scented dog.

I don't think I'll let Daisy out alone until we make sure our new friends have moved on. Toben mentioned calling animal control to help them on their way if they stick around too long. I'm starting to feel a little bit like Snow White with all the animals around. (Molly has been here every day and isn't running away when we go outside if we're very, very quiet and still; in fact, time to put out some more carrots!)

I'll keep trying to get a good picture of Molly--and maybe the skunks too!--but I'm having a hard time getting clear pictures. I will persevere!

Dress up

I love to play dress up.

I worked on my dance recital costume this morning and got all ready--down to the fake eyelashes with "diamonds!" on them. Red lipstick, liquid liner, and I'm feeling a beauty mark coming on. Of course, I don't have to leave for dance rehearsal for another hour or so, and so I was in the middle of folding laundry--in my costume and feathered headpiece--when Toben came home from hitting balls at the golf course. He laughed.

Laugh away, babe. The sequined cuffs, elbow gloves, and dangly earrings make me happy!

Pink rollers

I've rolled my hair up in spongey pink rollers to sleep in tonight. (We have a rehearsal tomorrow for my dance recital and I'm going to test out a new hairdo with my feathered headpiece.) Wearing sponge rollers always makes me think of being a kid and having my mom roll my hair up on a Saturday night before church on Sunday morning. Kristen and I had long hair and wore it curled on the ends, parted in the middle, and pulled back in two barrettes.

We always went to church on Sundays--first to Sunday school to hear a story, recite Bible verses, and do "Sword drills" to see who could look up a verse the fastest. My parents went to Sunday school when we did, and then we all went to church together. I remember filling out the attendance card, drawing on the bulletin, and hoping we'd sing a hymn or two that I knew and liked.

We were allowed to read during the service, but we couldn't bring a book other than our Bibles, so I read the book of Esther over and over again. The story of Esther winning a nation-wide beauty pageant to become queen seemed a lot like Miss America to me, and I never tired of reading it week after week.

We switched churches a little less than a year ago and the girls don't usually want to go to Sunday school. There isn't Sunday school for adults, so it's either Sunday school or church for them. I struggle with feeling like I should send them off to Sunday school--tears or no tears--but then I see Emma drawing pictures of our family on the bulletin and Audrey carefully filling in the blanks on the sermon outline and looking at the pictures in her Bible and then searching to read the story, and I'm content to let them come to "big" church.

Breakfast

When I was a kid, my dad would take me out for breakfast each time I read 10 books. We'd go to Denny's before school and I'd eat a big, round waffle with blueberry eyes, a peach mouth, and crazy whipped cream hair. We'd also go buy a new book for me.

Pretty soon we were going out for breakfast often enough that I had to read 15 books for each breakfast, then 20. In the third grade or thereabouts, I read my way through a series of books by Hilda Stahl about a girl named Elizabeth Gail. Called Libby for short, she was a foster child who went to live with the Johnson family on their farm.

I made a deal with Audrey not to long ago that I'd take her out to breakfast for every 5 books she reads. I want her to love reading as much as I do and thought that might help her want to read more. So she stays up past her bedtime each night, reading in bed. She's read 5 books and written in a little journal about each one--including the first book in the Elizabeth Gail series.

We went to breakfast this morning at Pannikin before school and even had time to stop at the beach. (We are so lucky--school is just over the hill from the beach and the quickest way to get to school during rush hour is to drive down the coast.) We built rock towers and looked at beach rocks and took pictures of each other.

It was a great way to start the day!

P.S. I talked to my mother this morning and she mentioned that she thinks (but isn't sure and doesn't have any pictures to be certain) that the outfit I wore yesterday is the one my grandmother made to be married in. How cool is that?!

Family history

My great aunt Sissie saved everything. Little boxes, tiny buttons, pads of paper from the drycleaner, yard sticks from the insurance company, and stuff like that. While we laugh about some of the stuff she saved, it's worth it to find treasures here and there--bits of crocheted lace, tiny embroidery scissors, and little cups made from acorns.

My mother saves things too. Baby teeth, the first circle I cut out in preschool, all of my sculptures from kindergarten.

I wore this outfit today.

My grandmother knit this sometime in the 1930s or 40s. My mom found it in a box over Christmas and gave it to me. She doesn't remember my grandmother wearing it--or being thin enough to wear it. And yet, somehow, it was put away in a box for all these years just waiting to be found again. It was so fun to wear it today, along with a brooch and watch that belonged to her and wonder about where she wore it and how thrilled she must have been to finish it.

It was worth it to smell like mothballs all day.

Reverse sleeping in

I don't usually post in the morning, but something weird was going on with Typepad last night and I couldn't get in to post my blog last night. So I took it as a sign to go to bed early, and was all tucked up in bed by 8 o'clock. I watched M*A*S*H for an hour and then went to sleep.

Since our kids were born, we've pretty much given up on sleeping late. Even though they can now get up and play on their own, it's hard for me to fall back asleep when I know they're up and wandering around. I can lay in bed until 7 or so, but it's not quite the same.

I've never been a super-late sleeper; 9 is about the latest I've ever managed with an exception here and there after being out all night for prom in high school. (Toben was my date for my senior prom, by the way!) But I'm very good at going to bed early--it's that "sleepy as soon as it gets dark" gene I inherited from my mother!

So we do something called "reverse sleeping in." Since we can't get extra sleep in the morning, we get it at night. We get ready for bed while the kids are in the tub, then all brush our teeth together and admire each other's pjs. And by 8 p.m., everyone is in bed asleep.

My friends often laugh at me for going to bed so early so often. But they have cooperated, and no one calls me after about 7:30 p.m.

Meet Molly Kate and Lucky

I got started on all my May crafting today...after plowing my way through an overflowing basket of ironing.

Meet Molly Kate.

She's been nibbling on the grass in the front yard along with Molly, the real rabbit who has already eaten all of these carrots I set out this afternoon. I love Molly Kate's little apron--a piece of eyelet floating around the bottom of my trims box.

This little fellow is named Lucky.

He's made from one of Toben's Lucky Brand shirts that got a big and unmendable hole in it after only being worn a time or two--I hate it when that happens. But I do love this fabric and so was happy that it could be turned into such a cute little bunny.

I made these two from this pattern found at Wee Wonderfuls. If you visit this blog, you can link to a page that shows lots and lots and lots of bunnies people have made using this pattern. They're all wonderfully unique and different and charming!