all buttoned up.

It Did Not Snow

I'm still holding on to the boots and the snow pants as they are the sort of things I think fall in the acceptable Justincase category.

I finished up Bread Alone last night and only realized there was a sequel (The Baker's Apprentice) while I was going through my stack today.  For those of you who've read it, is the second better or not as much?  I liked the first one all right.  My favourite bits were the parts about the bakery, Seattle in general, and the year 1988 and all the talk of cross trainers, synthetic fabric, and french braided hair.  I was not particularly fond of the love scenes or the very end for that matter.  While I decide what to do about book number two, I'm starting Eating Animals, which will be a nice break from all the lovey-dovey, talkie-talkie of the last two (the other being Colwin's Happy All the Time, which I liked a lot more).  I also tried and abandoned (120 pages in) The Air We Breathe.  The writing was wonderful, but the subject matter was difficult for me at this moment in time-- people turning on each other in such manipulating ways, etc.-- that I found myself moping around in an unhelpful way thinking about it.  Another time, maybe. 

I am making time to read because August has completely lost his nap.  He, unlike the other two, will not entertain himself with books or toys if someone is moving around doing something (or nothing) in another part of the house.  The only way of reconciling this is to sit with him on the couch, me reading and him messing around next to me.  If I am not accomplishing anything of substance, he is happy.  We do what we have to do.  (If there was ever a child made for preschool, it is this one.)

Little Girl Sewing

I attempted to get a lot of work done at my sewing machine this last weekend.  After I dragged my lazy bones out of bed and got that magic cup of coffee, I headed upstairs to the big stack of prepped fabric/patterns waiting on the ironing board.  I put down the coffee and picked up the iron to move it away.  Unfortunately I mistimed the use of my hands and the coffee ended up over the stack of pressed fabric.   If you have seen me move through physical space, this will not surprise you at all.  There is a reason I don't wear high heels.  Or dance. 

Apparently the large stack of fabric also proved to be the most absorbent fabric EVER, so everything went straight into the washing machine and the momentum of possibility was lost for Saturday.  Again, those of you who have spent any time around this house, will know that this happens 4 or 5 times a day.  In an effort to avoid cleaning the bathtub, I pulled out the new Ottobre and a yard of Anna Maria's Voile and decided to go off the map.  I had been working on a dress from her new book (which I'll have a lot more to say about on the 18th) and had been thinking a lot about little girl sewing and how I need to do more of it.  There are little girls in our lives.  They just don't live in our house.  No problem.

First of all, I like this issue of Ottobre quite a lot and I think there's some great boy stuff in there-- especially on the pants/shorts front.  Hillary's hat is adorable, and I'm working on some of the more masculine versions for my boys.  But the girls clothes will always win right now, because flirty florals and drapey voiles are not going to do it for my people.  Secondly, some of these patterns are cut pretty generously, and when you trace them you can adjust the ease as much as you'd like.  I kept this straight from the paper (making sure to add seam allowances).  Finally, I'm going to make some short pants out of coordinating dark brown, fine wale, corduroy to go underneath.  Girls get scrapes on their knees, too, and I consistently feel bad for toddler girls who's dresses don't have the same rough and tumble capabilities as most boy clothes.  I (of course) have more to say about this pattern over at the Bolt blog. 

So, yes, I know that I'm running the risk of future embarrassment by having the Augster try on the dress.  But like I said, we have no girl children in this house and Paul (quite desperately) would like to keep it that way.  And it did not look right just hanging on the hanger. 

Let's Get Distracted

 
HAH!  I spoke too soon.  Sam is home hacking on snotting all over the place.  But I feel fantastic, so that's the overall tone I'm going for at the moment.  I never got to the sewing pile the other night because I realized we were also getting several nights/days worth of company on Sunday and there was the small problem of digging out this disgusting house.  And then deciding that maybe I wanted a new house. 

So, In lieu of painting the kitchen (soon, but not now), bathroom and finishing the basement, I have instead been busying myself with hanging things up, re-potting bitty plants, and reminding myself that soon I will also have my disgusting yard to dig out. 

Do you have ambitious outside plans for this year?  I have been digging around, moving things around, and making plans for grow boxes.  My method of tucking bits and pieces of veg in my existing borders has been proving ineffective.  Also ineffective?  The fact that I about gave up watering in the middle of last summer.  They are probably related problems.  Anyway-- boxes?  I'm thinking of fitting in wedge shapes out of trex decking.  Is it worth it for the longer lasting/more expensive building materials?  What say you?  These are going in our front yard (as that is about the only yard we have), so they need to look respectable or at the very least, NOT WORSE.  Do I dare attempt a watering system?  I know that it is more than insensitive to begin these sorts of discussions while half of the country is still under snow, but we can all dream a little now, right?  Good.  

Books I like to sit with in pre-Spring:

• The Pacific Northwest Gardener's Book of Lists (they have them for other regions, too).  I love it because those little plant tags LIE about growing conditions, and this book does not.  
• All things Anne Lovejoy
• And I'm about to get this veg one, too. 

I want chickens too, but 1. a wolf lives next door and 2. we have very little room.  Also, I have a very love/hate thing with those birds.

(small pots by Melissa of Bridgman Pottery)

A Whole Mess of Boats and Sycamore Street Press

 
We all went up to Grammy and Grandpa's for Christmas break.  Usually these visits afford us lots of family time and have been very event oriented (weddings and babies mostly).  This visit Paul and were determined to have a date-- a real life, honest-to-goodness date.  Naturally, we were not sure about so much time alone so we headed into Vancouver to see Claire and Nathan (we need to ease into this sort of thing with good company). 

 
It was beautiful and cold and I was reminded of why I love that city so much and how thankful I am to have good people to visit there.  We walked down to Granville Island and around the bay to where we could see the open water.  I decided that while I don't love the water, I could be a boat person.  Paul reminded me that you have to have money to be a boat person.  I rethought. 

  
We walked and walked, then went back to their house and killed big salads and two and half pizzas (which we did not help with at all).  I laughed a good amount and only had one teeny, tiny pang of worry about the boys. So what if I had a few tears-- I am not a robot.  They fed us, wooed us with the Wii and pretty books, and sent us on our way full of good feelings.  It was the best dang date I've been on in years.  Thanks, you two. 

***

P.S. They had a beautiful 12 month calendar hanging in the kitchen which Claire told me was made by her friend, Eva, and sold in her shop, Sycamore Street Press.  I am so late to this party.

 

The calendar is gorgeous.  Uh, this card is flippin' rad.  I love the letterpress mats a whole lot.  And wait!  There's a club-- this print by Roxy Marj is really wonderful.  Anyway, they are having a very good sale at this very moment, so don't dilly-dally if you like what you see.

For the Win!

These exceeded my high hopes-- really, I'm in trouble.  There has been a series of testers through here today that all agree these are very, very close to the rolls at the actual bakery.  There will be some minor tweaking next time-- I undercooked them slightly (the bakery ones are quite crispy on the outside) and I feel like they need more goo.  Beth and I have decided to start baking our way through the cookie pages and I'm pretty sure she's going to make jammers tomorrow.  I am considering hand pies for the weekend.  I've made them before, but that was child's play.  The book is everywhere (Beth got hers at Costco!), including at a discount at Powell's (where you can also ordered signed editions) and here.

A couple of years ago I got smart and requested a small kitchen scale for Christmas.  It has made a big difference in the way stuff comes out of my oven.  I was finding that my cakes were a little dry or my cooking times way off-- but I think it all had to do with the way I was measuring my dry ingredients.  Now I just pop a small bowl on the scale and dump in the flour, etc. according to weight.  It has also come in very handy when trying to decide whether to ship boxes or envelopes using the flat rate or not.  I need to be making those decisions before I get to the flipping post office with my *helpers*.  

If I could justify click and ship and grocery delivery I might never have to leave the house.  Also helping: Tiny Desk Concerts on NPR.  We are living large. 

Molly's Life

I do not make a lot of room in my life for books.  Children's books-- yes, but other sorts, other than cook books or craft books or whatever-- no.  If I were to explain this to 9 or 14 or even 22 year-old me, I would expect that they would sit in shock for a moment while their eyes welled up with tears of disbelief and sadness. I have consoled myself over the last few years that there will be a time, very soon, when reading for joy will be just that, joyful, and not something to try and fit in when I've exhausted other options.  I have read some very good books this last year or two (and two really not good ones), but it's felt a bit like cheating on the rest of my life.  Sad, but true.

I've been thinking about this a good amount, and wondering what to do exactly, and then Molly's book showed up in the post this morning.  Molly-- now there's a girl worth cheating for.  So, while the babies were sleeping and Sam had his mouth full for a minute (he's at that crazy don't-stop-to-take-a-breath-I-have-so-much-to-say-out-loud stage), I put on the Frances tapes and said very quietly, "bud, I'd love it if we could just sit and be together quietly for a little while.  Is that all right?"  He said that it would be okay, maybe, if he could have more granola and milk and, uh, a small candy cane. 

I made it to page 55.

Then, while acting as passenger on our couch plane, and right before he pointed above my head to the blank wall and said, "Mrs., do you see that sign?  It says books are dangerous when you're flying, so put it away. Thank you", I got right up to Coconut Macaroons, recipes and all.

I love good stories and I love good food and Molly knows how to pull out both.  There is this deep, hilarious chasm between people who love to write and people who love to write and do it well--  A Homemade Life falls soundly into the latter category and it makes me yearn to put books and reading and taking great pleasure out of both, back into my life. 

Thank you, Molly.

(I'll be at Powell's tomorrow, but the whole list of signings and appearances are here.  Totally, totally jealous that I won't be hangin' in Oklahoma City with the Huffsters, so if you're there, give Hannah a little good game smack and tell her it's from me.). 

Jammin' on the One.

Andrea brought us dinner last month as a part of Feed the Framily '08.  She brought us 23 Hoyt food because she has certain connections and she loves us (if Paul and I ever leave the house alone again, we are heading straight there for a fancy dinner).  She also brought Sam some bread and jam because she knows him well.

What Sam doesn't know is that I switched the jar she brought with some from my vastly inferior freezer stash.  You can't blame me because she brought strawberry Bonne Maman.  I ate it all by myself.

Apparently, I've been going on and on about the jam and my deep affection for jam of all kinds (except for marmalade, which I realize is very un-Commonwealth like behavior) and because she is a good friend and (probably) wanted to shut me up, Eggplant had a box of it delivered to my house.  A whole freaking box. 

When I was in college a friend of mine had asked if I wanted anything to eat from the corner store.  I requested some kind of fruit, and finding nothing good he brought me back a giant pickle from the jar next to the register.  How could I not be in love with him?

I feel like all of these stories are related. 

 

It's getting hot in here...

The oven has been on all morning.  I'm about half-way done.  All the sweet breads/pizzas/savories are coming out of this book, which I'm going to write about again because it has sort of changed my life.

Anyway.  We scrapped the Paint-your-own-pot thing because they are calling for a cold sleety mess outside tomorrow.  I planted up a bunch of things today and all the families will get to take one home.  Sam decided on a Pet Rock deal, so he's been scrubbing up rocks this week and I've been trying to hold myself back from the miniature aisle at Michael's.  It's a good thing I rarely go there, because I would be in awash in bitty sunglasses and teeny cowboy hats.
 

So Mr. 4 traded in his soothers (pacifiers he uses for bedtime) last night and it went okay but less good today.  He is such a sweet kid, but man-o-man does he have a little temper.  He does have a new skate board to show for it and my mom and he put together his new Playmobil Camper this morning, so he's not hurting on the gift front.  I am so happy to see 3 go.  He is becoming such a good brother and he really is quite smart.  And he sings to us. Hannah took that polaroid of him and it's just about perfect.  She's our Official Family Photographer now, so it's a good thing we like having her around (we miss you.  Sob.).

Back to baking!  I had to go to the store for a few things for the berry buckle and the cheese puff things and the thin pizzas...

new boots so naturally, new skirt

I bought some boots.  They are Campers and I got them with a little discount and a pretty generous coupon online.  Thank you for all the suggestions.  I wanted to buy some in town, but it didn't happen and I spent far too much time researching (obsessing) so it was time...  I'm altogether too wanty these days.  It is not a good feeling really, and I'm prone to it big time in fall or during big transitions/unknowns-- all happening now, of course.  So I gave in, and look at me with the tag still on the boots!  I'm classy.

My sister is a thorough and magnificent thrift shopper who bought this material as part of a Size Nothing Whirling Dervish type Indian skirt.  We were lucky enough to grow up with alongside a lot of first and second generation Indian families, and along with the Mennos and the Euro ex-pats, thrifting is really something special where she lives.  I'm not so into batik, and I'm not sure if that's what this is exactly, but I love it. It's forest and asparagus greens with yellow on cotton.  I used the basic skirt pattern out of the Sew U book (size Large) with a zip up back and a tiny bit of mustard coloured bias tape around the hem.  I tried to do a whole underskirt thing with the same mustard fabric, ruffles and some brown cording but it was altogether too waffle house uniform for my liking.  So.  Simple is better this time. 

The cuff thing is actually a crochet swatch my aunt was trying to work out.  She's big into making doilies these days and this worked out to be perfect bracelet size (just added a button).  I've made these kinds of cuffs before using big pieces of ribbon and lace and either attaching them with snaps or with tiny hooks and eyes.  Handy-Dandy.

I'm still working on this pile of disasters, but was able to cross my contribution to Caterine's lovely Muslin Tote Swap.  This should have arrived in Maine for Tiffany today.  Unless maybe the post person was so blinded by the beauty of autumn that is happening in both Portlands right about now.  I wouldn't doubt it. 
 

they are a little goofy looking but he's only three

So after that last business I went back to the curtains, and started making plans for pants and things.  You know, *confidence boosters*.  These are basic elastic waist pants made out of fine wale corduroy from Bolt  and reinforced knees out of some lightweight canvas Echino scraps.  Now, I say knee patches but I overshot them a bit and so they are more like shin protectors.  Oh well.  He's growing.

I sewed the waist band using a Sewing with Nancy trick that binds either end of the elastic to a piece of fabric so there's no overlap.  She also does this thing where you slip the elastic in through a hole in the seam allowance instead of leaving a space in the waist band... it's hard to explain but MAN, I've been learning so much from watching her show.  It's on at a weird time here so I feel like I'm on a bingo hot streak when I can catch it.  She's got a top 25 tricks book and dvd out and I think I might order it.  You can also watch some of her shows for free on her website.

On an unrelated note:

new shoes!  I'm still looking for those perfect brown, flat, calf-high "I'm going to have to cash in all my Christmas gift chips" boots.  Any ideas?  I've never owned a pair outside of the pseudo-combat variety.  Ahhh, college.