Tubas for Christmas

Once again we made the trip to the Inner Harbor for Merry Tuba Christmas. Once again the kids were greeted by many odd Santas, given too much candy, and got too tired of standing for us to stay for the entire concert. It was cold, even though we were well bundled, even though we had bought two lovely hot chocolates to share. The music was lovely, though.
Here is Jim's best shot of the tubas here in Baltimore:








And here is Jamie with "gas-mask Santa" (sorry it is blurry, it's hard to take photos with gloves on):

This Santa asked if our kids had been bad or good, and almost immediately Jamie head-butted Jim in the stomach. Dot received a piece of candy, and Jamie received a yo-yo for his bad act... but his happiness was short lived - Santa took the yo-yo back, telling us it was broken, and poor Jamie had to be content with a piece of candy.

"Christmas Facts and Fancies"

From the book 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred C. Hottes:

In Silesia a baby born on Christmas will become either a lawyer or thief.

In Spain everyone is admonished to treat cows very kindly because it is believed that cattle breathed upon the Christ Child to keep Him warm.

A dog which howls on Christmas Eve will go mad within the year.

Take an onion on Christmas Eve and cut it through to form twelve cups. Put salt on each and place in a row, giving each the name of a month. The months in which the salt is found wet on the following morning will be wet, and the contrary.

Eat a raw egg before eating anything else on Christmas morning and you will be able to carry heavy weights.

Some say that he whose appetite gives out first st Christmas dies first.

In Scandinavia some families place all their shoes together, as this will cause them to live in harmony thoughout the year.

Never launder a Christmas present before presenting it, as this take out the good luck.

The perfect present for Jim

Not that it would get done anytime soon...

Find it at Etsy, but expect to pay a lot of money!

homeschool gym class in winter

One good thing about homeschool is that you can be very flexible with the curriculum, especially in gym class. It doesn't matter much what you are doing, as long as the kids are getting exercise on a normal basis. Yeah, playing in the snow counts. Wonderful, isn't it?
You'll find a few more snow photos here.

Too busy for words...

Well, not really - but almost! The holiday season has picked up speed quickly, and is threatening to leave me behind in the dust. How's it treating you?

My new word for this season, which I picked up at Dress A Day, has nothing to do with dresses. The author of that blog has a rather different job - she is also the author of Dictionary Evangelist, which more closely relates to her occupation as a lexicographer. (Yeah, just look it up already.) Anyway, here it is:

Santagnostic

On another note, we treated ourselves this year to a new tv. Our old one (older than our marriage, which is now approaching 12 years) was slowly giving up the ghost. We found a good deal on a LCD model, and we are thoroughly enjoying it. The kids love that there are more PBS stations now, one of which is broadcast in Spanish all day long. You can see the tv (and how clear the picture is!) behind Jamie, who decided that he was not too big for his Snoopy sweater after all.

Good Timing

We are very sorry, Katrina and Joel, that we did not take you to the National Arboretum while you were here. We know it was on your list of places to visit, but as we had never gone and did not know if it was worth the trip. It is.
In the spring Dot had a class there, where she put together a bunch of plants in a small pot. (They didn't live through our dry summer.) Unfortunately, that day was bitterly cold, with ice hanging around. It was miserable weather to be outside. We planned to go back, but never made it during the summer.
We missed our desired fall activity, the Corn Maze. It just didn't work out. Not that it mattered much - the summer stayed around so long that it didn't feel or look like fall until just a week or so ago. The trees finally began their annual change of color, and we decided to really enjoy it down at the Arboretum.
Oh, and enjoy it we did. The colors were gorgeous, "Just at their peak!" according to the man at the welcome desk. The flame-like colors were amazing, tucked away here, bursting forth there. We went from one spot to another with "Oh, look at this one!" being said over and over again. It was beautiful, wonderful, awesome. (I feel as if I have overdone it with the descriptive words, but then again, check it out here to see for yourself.)

wishlist

Laura:
for real?
shelving installed throughout the house, a new van, an adjustable dressform, real jewelry, a handcrafted nativity set
more accessible?
any Burda magazine (Burda WOF in English, preferably with patterns still inside)
vintage sewing patterns
low shank rolled hem foot and invisible zipper foot for my sewing machine
gold & dark blue earrings (not crystal, preferably lapis or dark turquoise style stones, or dark sapphires)
Cooks Magazine/ Cooks Country annual recipe books
good quality stationery

Jamie:
Little Einsteins anything
Magic Schoolbus anything
Lego sets, preferable with animals or vehicles
Playmobil anything
Tool set

Dorothy:
Playmobil anything
Legos, especially characters
Books
Puzzle books
Bow and Arrow set
Cd/radio

How to play with a cat

Jamie has not had much luck playing with Norah - he is too agressive in his desire to pet, hold, and play with her. She runs away from him most of the time, and when she gets caught she will often fight to be free. Twice now he has been scratched by her. He is frustrated, and tells us that we should not have gotten a cat, but should have listened to him and gotten a dog.
Yesterday, though, he found a way to make them both happy. Norah gets to be free to sunbathe lazily, Jamie gets to spend time with her without getting scratched. It is really cute to see him "reading" a story to her.

my newest toy

Awhile ago I wrote about being a lurker on craigslist; I now wish to announce that I lurk no more (well, I still lurk, but I now have actually used the site in the manner intended.). Not too long ago I found an intriguing ad for a vintage sewing machine, only $20. Most used sewing machines will cost at least $50, vintage or not; just make sure they work. This one, a Necchi (from Italy), has metal parts, an important distinction from many newer machines, and it runs smoothly. It also has stitch options! Hooray! I can do more than the basic stright stitch and zig-zag! I need to buy a few more pressor feet, though. More new toys! The Necchi came with its manual, thankfully, which helped me figure out how to use it. After all, do you know how to interpret these signs?




Someday, when I finally take it in for its cleaning, I'll ask if this machine can do double needle stitching. The manual has a page on it...

Too much effort

Every once in a while I am assigned to make a treat for Jim's office. Most of the time it ends up being Pride of Iowa bars, sometimes pepperoni bread, and sometimes it is whatever cookie takes the least amount of time to make. They are always happy with what is brought in. Jim's co-workers seem to have a high opinion of my creativity in Christmas ornaments, too, and I wonder if I will always be able to live up to it. Here is one way to do that. However, it requires too much effort... and too much candy! Maybe we should plan it as a party game?

Costumes and Candy, oh my

I'm not sure exactly what our final word is on the whole halloween thing. Sure, costumes are fun, candy is delicious, but there is a lot of not so good stuff that goes along with that. We don't have to worry about it this year, as halloween falls on a Wednesday - we have home fellowship group at our house that night.
Have you noticed how evil and scary the whole celebration is becoming? Every year new horror and slasher movies come out for this season, costumes become more gory, and new "haunted houses" pop up around town. In our neighborhood there are decorations - some simple: orange-and-black lights, jack-o-lanterns, blow-up Frankensteins, white fabric ghosts; some are more morbid: "funny" grave stones, "hands" and "feet" emerging from a "fresh grave." When did that become acceptable?
Jim claims we celebrate halloween a day late - at the candy clearance sales. Jamie claims that Uncle Michael and he are going to be dressed up as pumpkins together. (Not true, but that is what he thinks...) What are you doing for the holiday?

Whirlwind week

Mom and Dad came in for a visit this week. It wasn't a relaxing vacation in the least, but Mom and Dad seemed to take it in in stride, and the kids loved all the excitement, but me? I'm ready to recline on the couch and not get up until next month. Am I getting old?
Monday: tire playground, hike in forest, picnic lunch; H-Mart (korean market); grocery store; thrift store; dinner at home; watched "The Nativity Story" on dvd.
Tuesday: traveled up to Lancaster, PA for fast food lunch and Sight and Sound's "In the Beginning", traveled back to Baltimore in time to eat lunch and run out the door for Jamie's swim lessons.
Wednesday: general work around the house; trip to Sandy Point State Park where Jamie got soaked even though we weren't swimming, so we went to Goodwill for dry clothing; dinner at home; clean-up for home fellowship group.
Thursday: small home improvement projects; trip to Inner Harbor to tour the USS Constellation; picnic lunch; Dot's field trip at the Walters Art Museum; home in time to relax a little before eating dinner and running to Jamie's last swim lesson.
Friday: Mom and Dad pack up and leave; Jamie is sad that we cannot go with them, but is glad to get his room back; Dot, Jamie and I meet Jim for lunch - probably the most we have seen of him all week long.

end of summer garden

Most people have piles of produce by the end of summer, but not me. This summer we have one further and further into a drought, and it has caused most of my plants to suffer. Weeds don't mind drought, and they have done well in the garden... The tomatoes have fallen to some virus or such. The squash and watermelon fell to squash bugs. I thought the potatoes has also been eaten of bugs, but it didn't bother me much. This is the first year I have planted potatoes, and I didn't follow directions (I hadn't actually read any directions), so I didn't have high hopes for them anyway. Imagine my surprise, then, when I did some work in the garden Saturday evening, and found that the potatoes had actually produced! The white potatoes had a small pile of fingerlings, and the sweet potatoes had some small, funny-looking tubers, also. It was enough for a delicious saute to accompany our London broil on Sunday afternoon, and enough to encourage me to try again next year - and to follow directions!

Learning to swim

Jamie is now old enough to begin swim lessons at UMBC here in Catonsville. He is very excited about the lessons, but doesn't fully trust his teacher, Juan. It doesn't help that they are in a competition pool, so the water is over his head. Juan has taught him a very valuable skill - if you get water in your face, just spit. It remains to be seen if he'll actually learn any swimming skills, but at least he's getting more comfortable in the water. He has made a few new friends, and it's fun to watch them play while they sit at the edge of the pool. Jamie might not like to learn to swim, but he loves his swim lessons - he cries when we have to leave. Oh, and yes, we are still warm enough to have the lessons outdoors!

What our hands hath wrought

Pets can be quite expensive, so we have tried - in our very cheap way - to DIY. Thankfully, our two projects this week have come out pretty well. Here is our newest toy - the "bird" - that Norah loves, and even hunts and begs for when we put it away. She can really jump and twist as she pounces on it! It was quite cheap, as it is simply a dowel rod, some lightweight twine, and a few feathers glued together.










Next up, the major building project! Cat trees are super expensive in the store, and we were wary of buying a used on, as it might have fleas or other not so nice guests. We thought we could do it ourselves... and we did. Some of the supplies were in our basement(sound familiar?), and some needed to be bought. Ever wonder what to do with the carpet you take up in previous home-improvement jobs? Recycle!

Things seen in Meadville

Norah

After much preparation - and way too long of a wait, according to the kids - we have finally replaced the fish. Today we headed down to the animal rescue center, and picked out a cat. Norah is our beautiful new one-year-old cat. The kids are having a hard time letting her adjust without "help" from them. (If she ate everything they wanted to give her she would be so fat!)
So far we have found out that she is extremely curious, a good jumper, and can smell the mouse that has invaded our house. Stay tuned to see if she will ever get used to the kids!

Mail Call

Do you remember getting excited whenever the mail came each afternoon? Perhaps when you were young your mom or dad lifted you up to the mailbox, and you reached eagerly for the treasure inside. Andwhat about the excitement you felt when there actually was a letter for you - and it wasn't your birthday!
There is a little person in our house who calls out, "The Mail's here!" every day, as soon as it hits the mail slot. Ah, but he is so often disappointed.
"You open the door, I get the mail. Oh, no! Junk mail. No mail for me?"

Meadville

This weekend we traveled up to Meadville to celebrate Grandpa's 90th birthday. The kids were thrilled to stay in a hotel Friday evening, and Jamie thought Super 8 was our new home. After a pitiful "Continental breakfast" on Saturday morning we headed out on the road. We neared Meadville around 9:30, much too early to go directly to Grandpa's. Hooray for side trips!
Pymatuning has been fixed up, and is much nicer than I remember from my childhood. The refreshment/souveneir stand was open for business, and we bought the requisite bags of day-old bread. Dot showed restraint, carefully breaking up the buns into smaller pieces, and her bag lasted the whole time we were there. Jamie, however, quickly threw whole buns into the water, and spent much of the time without anything to feed to the ducks and fish. (Apparently he is cute enugh that older women will give him free bags of bread, though, so he recovered at the end.) The fish are still large and numerous, and willing to fight for their food. The ducks provide more fight, color and sound, which Jamie really enjoyed. However, the wind was blowing the cold air through our clothing, and we were turning blue.










Back to the car, and onto Meadville! Of course, we had to stop at Cutters. Unfortunately, it's not as tacky as when we were young, and there wasn't much there to interest us. We did buy a "flipping frog" and a pig mechanical pencil, though; our bill was less than a dollar, so I guess it was worth the money.
We finally headed up to lunch with Grandpa, although Jim decided not to infect the whole retirement home with his cough- he headed out to KFC. It was good to see everyone who was able to make it up for the party. (The staff bent over backward to keep Jamie and Dot happy at lunch - I would have left a large tip if we had been at a restaurant! ) Once we were done, though, and most of the other residents had gone back to their rooms, Jim came in for cake and conversation. We enjoyed the few hours we had, and I am sure we wore Grandpa out thoroughly. I know I'm up for a nap this afternoon!

latest home improvement

We took advantage of extra time off this weekend to do some much needed home improvement. This task was supposed to have been completed earlier this summer, but someone got sick with a sinus infection... (no hard feelings, really!) After some general cleaning, we began to move furniture - and lots of books - in order to tear up our badly-stained-no-longer-cream-colored-carpet. We were very relieved to find that the wood under the carpet was in fairly good shape - a few paint marks here and there, but nothing to worry us right now. In a year or so, or when the kids stop spilling, we'll take the time to sand and refinish the wood. For now, though, we've thrown down the area rugs and will live with the wood the way it is. It looks a whole lot better than the carpet did!

Fair sewing results

Woohoo! What a great day at the fair yesterday! We found out that all our sewing won ribbons! Dot's purse even won first prize in it's catetgory! Hooray!
We also spent a good amount of time looking at animals and collecting "treasures." Who doesn't want new pencils for school? And stickers? Posters for your wall? Lots and lots of coloring books?

another year older

Dot knows enough to make a big deal of her birthday. Jamie didn't, earlier this year, and was somewhat surprised about all the fuss being made by Dot. He still doesn't understand why he doesn't get birthday presents now, and why he doesn't get a party (which Dot isn't getting either, at least in the traditional sense). Oh well, he also has trouble with the whole idea of aging anyway. When talking about birthdays in the car, he found that he would be turning 5 on his next birthday. His response? "Oh, no! Not again!"







For Dot, we ate a summer meal of hamburgers and peel and eat shrimp, along with corn on the cob. Marble cake for dessert - which Jamie so eagerly helped to decorate. Later we will be going to Chuck-E-Cheese's, not for pizza - to play lots of games with a friend or two.
Presents included a previously loved American Girls doll (Samantha), some books, a very highly desired (and also previoulsy loved) study Bible, a few craft sets, and a dinosaur hat.

Fair sewing

My sewing entries for the fair are completed! Dot, on the other hand, has quite a bit left to do on her items. I'll post photos of them when she has them done. Here are mine:
a child's day dress











a child's two piece outfit











and shorts for the boy who wanted the striped pants (which he can't have because they are *girls* pants!).











These won't be entered in the fair, because I didn't get them registered. I didn't know I would be making them!
Also made, but unpictured, a pair of women's trousers.
I've never worked so hard on my sewing before. I finished every seam, and reinforced quite a few as well. This makes things look nicer - and keeps edges from fraying. In ready-to-wear, you have seams that are serged. I do not have a serger (they are still too pricey for me), so I have to go to a lot of extra effort to finish my seams. So much extra effort that I don't usually do it! Call me lazy, I don't mind.

Sick of summer... clothes?

Are you tired of wearing shorts and t-shirts? Are you ready for courduroy and wool? Perhaps the weather is not obliging - our temps are in the 90's for the rest of the week - but the fashion industry is touting it's fall lines, and the stores have back-to-school clothing on display. (They also have *halloween* candy out, but that's another rant entirely.) What is in store for the chic and trendy this fall? What was presented as "ready-to wear"? Apparently more of the figure destroying that has been out there recently. Yes, the "guaranteed to make you look pregnant" tops and dresses continue for this next season, but we also get this: the cropped menswear trouser.














Yes, even the super skinny models look hippy in these trousers. What hope is there for the rest of womankind?
Okay, so let's change things around, and put the volume on top: puffed sleeves.














These would make Anne of Green Gables jealous. Alrighty then, how about volume all around? And in a color most people run from:














So, jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt might just stay a staple in most people's closets. That's not to say that the designers made each collection a complete flop - there are some wearable items out there. And there's color! For more fashion shows, check out Style.com. The couture lines may make you laugh out loud!

Recycled tires

Did you play on old tires as a child? Our school playground had a circle of old tires planted in the ground, and we played there happily each recess. Someone decided that tires were breeding grounds for mosquitoes, though, and out went all the old tire playgrounds...










Happily there is a large tire playground at one of our state parks, and it is nearby! We went there Saturday morning, and spent over an hour playing. The kids love the tire swings and zipline more than anything else there, but they did climb and balance as well. They are excited to know that we will be using this park as part of homeschool - yes, playtime can be gym class, as long as they are getting good exercise.










Another great thing about this park - it is part of a larger chain of parks that follow the Patapsco river. Together they offer history, hiking, playgrounds, and camping. We have taken hikes at a few of the other parks, and did so at this one as well. The trail winds down the hill and follows a creek, where we hopped from rock to rock and watched a crawdad swim to safety under a rock. We watched a millipede cross the path, smoothly climbing over roots and stones. We walked away from the noise and busyness of the city, smiled at other hikers, and enjoyed a bit of nature together as a family. It's nice to escape every so often.

Lurking

I try not to spend too much time online - usually that is when the kids start to get into trouble. I suppose they aren't ready to be left alone... Because of this, I don't do a lot of surfing, finding new sites to explore. I stick to my regular few, and check my email. Every so often I will update this blog and head over to Facebook to check how things are going there.
However there is one site that I have found to be somewhat addictive. Craigslist has me wasting more time than any other site online. The "free" stuff gets me - it's amazing what people will give away! I've never gotten anything from the free listings, but I lurk there regularly.
What do you have in your house that is worth posting for "free"?

Am I really that old?

So, I turned thirty earlier this summer, and I didn't think much of it. It wasn't as traumatic as it seems in the media... until I received this in the mail. Apparently 30 is the new 55.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Why, mom? Why? Why? Why?
Yup, we've entered the preschool stage of questioning everything. I understand he is simply desires more information, but his questions quickly get too detailed or ambiguous. Why did the chicken want to go to the other side of the road?










In our house the chicken poses far more outrageous questions:
Why is the chicken wearing bow tie?
Why is the egg clear? or, Where is the shell?, or Why is the egg squishy?
Why is the chicken plucked?
Is the chicken angry?
Why is the boy chicken laying an egg? (Okay, so it could be a girl, but somehow they decided it was a boy. I think it is because of the afore-mentioned bow tie.)
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? (Ours came together, from the dollar store!)

And, from the parents who have to live with the kids who play with the chicken, Why does the chicken have to squawk so much???

What to see on vacation

Okay, so it's not a normal tourist spot, but I think that it is an enjoyable place to visit. The Greenlawn Cemetary was quiet when we drove in earlier this week. Filled with many lovely historical memorials, this well kept grounds felt peaceful and interesting. I like to wander through graveyards - who were theese people? Some family plots had many small graves - sons and daughters who did not live through childhood, something that seems incomprehensible in this day and age. Some had large, intricately carved monuments, or even mausoleums, possibly with stained glass windows (Tiffany!). Some were veterans, named and unnamed.
Why do people spend so much money on the gravesite of their departed relatives? Will we remember them better with a larger headstone - or even mausoleum? Do we think of them more highly with an intricate memorial? Or are we just supposed to enjoy the beauty of the stone and reflect on life?
Mom told of the relative who claimed he wanted to be frozen and pounded into the ground - no fuss over him when he was gone. Gone are the days of simple burials. Why do we need satin-lined caskets? Will a plain pine box not do the job? Perhaps we put up such a show as a way of making our last impression, or even a lasting impression. But shouldn't our life be more impressive than our grave?
Aah, things got more in depth than I meant for today... back to the beauty of the graveyard. Old cemeteries are interesting places to visit, to reflect on life and the beauty to be found in it, to think of mortality and the chance to live forever. Even stone memorials don't last.