22 legs, 11 heads, and a ton of heart

So today, I put a big old box of fun in the mail. Little one even threw in a note to the Vintage Chica.

The back of this note says Thank You. It is because of you Eren, and your friends like Jade, that we can have this honor of helping others and seeing beyond our own very small world.

Let me start a week ago...

3 fantastic friends came over for a night of craftivism. Everyone brought fabric, supplies, and enthusiasm. One super mom even got her kids involved by trying out our project with them before we all got together. We spent the night -- 'till about 1:00am -- talking, cutting, and sewing a total of eleven dolls to send off to the Craft Hope project. I just stumbled across this project online, much the same way I stumbled across these friends.Well, I didn't find the friends online, but you know what I mean. They are the kind of friends you know really REALLY want to have, and you can't believe how lucky you are that your paths actually crossed at the perfect time. I know you have friends like that, too.
Anyway, these very different, very creative women gave up a night of sleep to help out kids they will never meet. I am forever grateful to them for doing this. I like to do what I can to help, and I love that I know people that want to do the same. My favorite question at the end of the night...
"What are we doing next?" My friends rock.

My kitchen looks like a slasher movie.

Today, I went with the fam and some friends to pick strawberries. This was my first time doing this (as a grown up, when the "you can only take home what you can carry" rule doesn't really help limit things much.) We had such a good time. Chatting, picking, watching the kids get completely covered in strawberry juice -- they were the stickiest, cutest vampires I have ever seen. Well...18.5 lbs of berries later, I am up to my eyeballs in macerated strawberry guts. Strawberry cream cheese, strawberry vinaigrette, strawberry puree, 2 kinds of strawberry jam, and I still have about 12 quarts left. I am freezing the rest. I think I'll make the world's biggest margarita. The thing is, I thought this all out. I said to myself this morning, self, since you are going to be in the kitchen anyway, you might as well pick up some battered and bruised tomatoes for sauce. 2 bankers boxes full. 16 quarts of tomatoes. I am thinking about painting the kitchen walls with the leftovers. That might be kind of fun. After I finish of that world's biggest margarita, right?
It really is fun, though. And I only get to (have to) do this for a few months to have summer and spring all year long in my freezer. Speaking of that, due to the Red Debacle of 2009, my husband is out at the hardware store pricing freezers. I guess the Get-a-ton-of-produce-they-are-so-cheap argument is a flawed one.
Hey, I did my first load of laundry on the line this week. It was great! I thought that I was out of luck this week, as we were supposed to have big rain everyday. Well, Wednesday afternoon the sun broke through. I grabbed the little one and my freshly washed cleaning rags and towels (they are so cute -- most of them I knit to get over the precious knits syndrome) and hung them (the knits not the kiddo) on my retractable line. I have to say, I was really proud of myself. We ran through the towels and smacked our hands in the middle of them just like I remember doing at my Gramma's house when I was a kid. It was fun, and because there was a little breeze, nothing turned out too crusty. All in all, a good start to the Clothesline Challenge. I'm sitting at 20% dried on the line. Cool. I should have taken a picture. Next time I will. Just have to charge my battery. And really, you don't want to see the kitchen right now. Trust me.

Clothes lines and rainy days

I just took the Clothesline Challenge that I found here. I am starting out at the novice level. Sounds like a good push for me. 10% of my laundry on the line is doable, I think. Towels, and Sheets to start. I've got a little tally sheet tacked up next to the washer so that I can be sure to keep myself honest. The rainy days part came after I committed to the challenge. It's supposed to rain for the next 6 days. Ack!
A side note...I now have pea plants taller than my 4 (!!) year-old little one. She gets so excited going out to check on our garden. Every time we go out there and the plants are a bit more lush and flowery, she is sure that a garden fairy has been there. I asked her one time what kind of fairy she would be. "An everything fairy, Mama." Nothing stops this kiddo. I love her spunk! Hmmm....it's 9:30 and I think I am going to knock off for the day. Time to knit some scrubbies and get some sleep. My brother and fam are heading back across the bridge tomorrow. The weekends (even the long ones) just go by too fast. Gramma heads out on Tuesday, but as promised to come back during the summer to play with us. I wish there was a way to slow down the time when they are all here and really enjoy each minute. It all really just whooshes by. My Gramma and I did get a great chance to hang out together in the kitchen on Saturday. We made dinner for the troops -- 7 grown ups and 4 kids. It's funny, but we are so in sync (but not in a boy band way) in the way we cook, it wouldn't have mattered if we were cooking for 2 or 20. We just stirred each other's pots and added stuff here and there and it all was great. We giggled our way through it all. Maybe it was the wine, but it was a very silly time! My Gramma is fun. No doubt about it.

Chives!

I can't believe I grew something! So, I have a famously brown thumb. People have long teased me that if we lived in pioneer times, my family would have wonderful toys and clothes and furniture, but nothing at all to eat. This is pretty accurate. Or, at least it was until about 20 minutes ago. Little one and I planted some seeds. Chives. I have never done this before. So we filled a bucket with dirt and put in probably way to many seeds (is one packet per 1/2 gallon bucket excessive?) and we dutifully misted them daily. The packet says that they should sprout in 7-9 days. Well...that came and went and our faith that we would have chives began to waver, but we kept at it, and 16 days later we have cute little shoots. 20 of them! We are so excited. We grew something here! Well, now I am all puffed up from this success and we are off to the local hardware store to buy some seed packets for outside. Because lets be honest, you can't feed a family on chives alone. Or can you? hmmmm.....

Blinking at the bright bright daylight

So, the last what month and a half (!?) I have had back to back to back colds. Yay first year of preschool. I feel like I have slept through Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I don't want to jinx anything, but I think I might be on the other side of the sickness now. By golly, I am not, I mean NOT, going to miss Christmas and Hannukah. This is the most fun time of the year for me. I am sewing and knitting and cutting up loads of bits of paper like a fiend. Sorry, no pictures. Most are gifts, so under wraps (haha!) until January.
I did manage to peek my head out every so often for a day or two over the past few months...Here are the highlights.

Went trick or treating...we hit about 6 houses. The first one, little one wanted me to ring the doorbell, hold her hand, and say "trick-or-treat" by house number 4 she was running up to the door "HURRY UP MOMMY!" and banging until they opened it (promting a very brief talk about patience.) She had a great time. Came home and ate 8 M&Ms, watched The Great Pumpkin and went to sleep. Next morning, she forgot all about the candy!

My little niece turned 3! Can't believe it. I mean she just got here! It was a Tinkerbelle party, and my fabulously talented sister (in law) made the most amazing cake. She was out-to-there pregnant too. Where did she find the time and energy? I think she has a secret plutonium supply that she just dips into evey now and then. In addition to the cake...there was glitter! Glitter tag. I don't know if it went exactly like they planned, but let me be the first to say, it rocked. The kids were just dumping bags of glitter on each others heads. They were running around so thery were all quite sweaty, and the glitter stuck. HA!

Went to Waterfowl Festival, where our town shuts down completely to celebrate ducks. I love this place. Little one and I went to a Dock Dogs competition where the dogs jump off a platform into a pool and try to jump the farthest. It was so funny, but the big hits of the day were riding a school bus for the first time and eating a gingerbread duck. You know, with a 3 year old you never know exactly what is going to set them off and make them crazy. So, little one spends about 10 minutes picking out her favorite gingerbread duck -- it has to have the perfect face and be the same color all around the edges. Yikes. She finally finds the winner and we buy it. We sit on the curb to eat it and before she can take it out of its little baggie, drops it on the ground. Its little neck snaps and its head falls off. AAAAK! I just watch her face. She stares at it for a minute, looking at its shattered body and then...bursts out laughing. Cool. I like her sence of humor!

I peeled and chopped 18 apples and cooked some apple pie filling. It rocked! We made 4 pies worth of filling, the remainder we put on anything that would hold still. Pancakes, biscuits, ice cream. So yummy and we still have 4 pies worth left! That will make christmas baking E-Say!

My little niece was born! Yay! We have been waiting for you, tiny peanut, and we are so happy you are here! We can't wait to see you this weekend!

Ah, one more thing. When you are sick, this is the best show. Ever.

Happy Halloween and #27 & 28 for my list

Make cheese.
Learn the accordion.

Too cute not to make

Gotta try making this. Maybe put one in this. There is so much great stuff out there to make!
Found another something great to make, and another! Ok, time to turn off the computer and bust out the glue.

Ok one more. That's it. I swear.