Merry Christmas!

my gifts are bought/knitted and wrapped. the stockings are hung. the tree has been up and decorated for weeks. bring on the Christmas! all i have left to do are get prettied up, bake a quadruple batch of jamborees, bake 2 pies, and make two dozen deviled eggs. a breeze! tonight dan and i will go to church, then we will come home, have some leftover meatloaf, and open our gifts. i hope dan is pleasantly surprised by his gift. i don't really think my gifts will be a surprise.:) dan did not wrap them cleverly... but i think he is the sweetest ever.

may God give you a truly blessed Christmas and a fantastic new year! love, molly

avalanche in mn

there are not many mountains in mn. in fact, they are puny mountains. yet, i managed to find an avalanche. i was at the drive-thru window paying for my hot fudge malt at dairy queen when the snow off the roof avalanched on me. my window was open so not only was my arm covered in snow, there was about a foot in my car. i screamed like a girl.:) hopefully this is the only avalanche i will ever be in. the malt was terrific, by the way.

homemade pizza

my tum is all warm and cuddly full of homemade pizza. i made it. i have been making them for about 2 months now. wish i had started sooner! very easy. crust mixes are around 50 cents and sauce is about $1.50. and it is sooo much nicer than frozen pizza. i haven't bought a frozen pizza since i started making them. jack loves it. he was so tired tonight at dinner that he started falling asleep in his high chair. that's because he only had a 30 min. nap in the car today. poor thing. he had to suffer so i could finish my Christmas shopping. ahhhhh... shopping FINISHED! and this year i really, really think i got people things they will like. but, that's what i thought last Christmas!:) and mom, dad, mom-in-law, and sis-in-law all took their big gift items back. crud!:) you can't win them all. hopefully this will be my year.

baby patrick

jack has a rag doll "baby". i named the doll "patrick" after a guy at pcc who had the same burnt-orange colored pants.:) jack loves his baby.

it is so fun to watch jackie play and learn. he hardly ever eats small objects, so i pretty much let him play with everything. lately he has found some pennies dan had in the basement. he just wanders around the basement lining them up on things.:)

papa dan

papa dan just dropped in for a visit. jack loves him. jack played with papa's hat and papa read some seseme street books to jack. it's really cool watching my dad be a grandpa to my own child.

couch time

it has been great having extra time to spend with dan now that i am home evenings. what with the cold and the darkness, i am getting a lot of couch time with my boys. i took a bunch of photos of us the other night. we were feeling snuggly.

Christmas is coming...

"it's the most wonderful time of the year..." i have decided to make sure i capture all the little snippets of my beautiful Christmas this year.

papa babysits

my dad babysat jack all alone on saturday for a few hours. i have to say, i think that was a first for him. dad has 5 grandkids. jack and dad are buddies. when mom and i arrived back at my parent's house we were met at the end of the driveway by dad and jack. jack was all bundled and dad was pulling him in a sled. jack had a huge smile on his face and he was saying, "whee!".

the mad hatter

jack loves hats right now. i think it is because he can put them on himself. he is very proud. this hat is daddy's. somehow when he wears this one i think of macaroni and cheese...

macaroni 2

hanging off the toliet paper holder. we don't keep the roll on the holder these days since it is waaaay too tempting for jack.

happy 14th birthday, andy!

andy turned 14 on friday. saturday night i threw him a little family birthday party... complete with doughnut cake!:) it was my brilliant idea. andy loved it. in fact, everyone loved it. what could be wrong with a huge assortment of doughnuts and some ice cream?:)

it's only 8:30pm?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is nuts. i never get to chill out in the evening with dan and the boys... and i am so BORED! i can't believe it is only 8:30pm. i have watched all the stinkin' sitcoms i can handle. after i check in with the highly addicting facebook, i am going to go knit a scarf. ahhhhhh, something to do!

unemployed for Christmas... well, i'll get more baking done!

i suppose i should mention that my job position was eliminated yesterday. the paper was very nice about it, but i will miss my job. my CAREER. it is nice to be able to spend evenings with dan, though. last night we decorated the Christmas tree. and "all things work together for good", etc. i wonder what the next chapter in my life will be... stay at home mom, coffee shop girl, a job at the local hospital (phooey! i don't want to work there!)... i am not worried by money. that's a blessing.

in other news -- jack and i have a touch of the flu, i think. hope we are better by saturday for andy's birthday party. he turns 14 on friday. i think we will be. we aren't very sick. jack has a bit o' the diarrhea. "do you not know that i have had the diarrhea since Easter's?!" --:"nacho libre" HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! i love nacho libre. "did you not tell them that they were the Lord's chips?" ah, well, i better go change jack's pants again. he just did a big old squirt. poor baby.

Thanksgiving extravaganza!

Thanksgiving was fab. mostly because my sister and her girls stayed for a whole week! we had such a good time painting Christmas ornaments, baking pies, decorating cookies, birthday shopping with my niece emelea, holding my almost 3 month old niece elles, a play day at my house... i think this was the best visit yet. jack would agree with me. he loves playing with his cousins. he even loves elles. he kissed her about 6 times a day. here is a photo of jack admiring elles.

"darlin' don't you go and cut your hair..."

my sister cut my hair and no one has said a word. punks.

chair buddies

today angie's girls are playing at my house so that my mom and sis can get some shopping done. jack pulled his rocking chair up to the little recliner. the girls thought that it was great that they were all sitting in a row.:) pictured: jack, nole, eme.

face painting

i am having a fab week. my sis is here with her 4 girls. yesterday we painted Christmas ornaments. the girl's ornaments are angels and jack's is an elf. then i painted the girl's faces. elerene painted a lady bug on nole's face. she is a very naturally talented artist and i am very curious to see if she is the next generation of artist in our family.

what i painted on my face is a little joke. that's what my dad wrote on the back of his lawn tractor with reflective tape letters. ha ha. i am holding my little niece elles. she is a little over 2 1/2 months.

cheesy love

this photo is a bit cheesy. o well. i never get my photo taken with jack. so i took it myself. i was wearing a black sweater, then i put the black scarf i knitted for claire on. so i look like a big shadow.:) i love the colors. look at that sky! and i STILL love my green walls. peace out.

Christmas is a comin'

oh. are you as jazzed about Christmas as i am? shopping yet? baking? i have shopped a bit. i have 5 lbs. of butter in the freezer waiting to be made into sandbakkels, scandinavian almond cake, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, etc. i decorated my arbor today with 4 fake pine garlands and i will hang the 2 fake pine wreaths as soon as i figure out how i want to arrange the red velvet bows on them. so, soon. i listen to Christmas music all day long. only the old school will do. elvis, dean martin, bing crosby, frank sonatra, nat king cole, ray charles, and the muppets. can't wait to get jack's photo taken with santa again. it is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! last years photo is precious. jack looks like such a jolly chubbers. ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

oopsie

lauren's etsy shop address and soulemama's aren't working. i will look into it when i have more time. sorry.

updated blog -- viola!

hello. you might not have noticed, but i updated my list of favorite blogs. there are a few of my fave old blogs, but there are some new additions and some have been dropped because they never write anything anyway.

please check out lauren's shops. she is an amazing artist i went to school with. she is selling prints now, so, can you say afforable Christmas gifts? and check out soulemama. she is a mom living in maine who is amazing. she knits, cooks, gardens, homeschools, and has a book published. and more. check her out, it's an amazing read. enjoy.

i love hot liquids in the winter

hot peppermint tea, a nice vanilla chai, cocoa, a mocha... i love a hot drink in the winter-time. i am so happy today. i haven't bought an espresso coffee for months. i have been making them myself for a few months now on my home espresso maker (thank you, angie!). today i splurged. my mother, jack and i made a short run to aitkin to hit the bakery and a store for fabric. i decided to go buck wild and get a coffee too. you would have thought i was going to buy a bag of weed (disclaimer: i have never had a drug. just caffeine. i swear!) i was so full of heady, illict delight.:) we went to the bakery first. just so you know how nuts i went, i will list my purchases. i bought: a loaf of uncut "kitchen bread" for 90 cents!!!, a loaf of swedish rye (anise makes it swedish), a dozen hot dog buns, a lemon jelly roll, 6 toffee cookies, 6 m&m cookies, 1 carmel roll with nuts, 3 custard filled doughnuts, 2 raspberry bismarks, 3 glazed raised, and 3 sugar cake doughnuts. it all came to... $14.45. sooooo cheap. i dashed across the street to stash my huge bags of baked goods in the car and came back for my baby.:) while i was gone my mom bought huge bags full of baked goods, also. i swear, i felt like a plundering pirate with bags of booty. i gave jack a cookie as soon as we got to the car. he was begging for it! he says "cookie" now. and i dove into the doughnuts. then i got the coffee. then i moaned and groaned and yelled until i think i scared my mother. today was a very good day. a very good day indeed.

lavendar dolly blanket

i am knitting a little lavendar dolly blankie for one of my nieces. depending on how swiftly i knit this one, i might make one for each of my sis's girls, or this might just be eme's b-day gift. i might even try to freehand embroider on it. i think white swirls would be cool. i wish i could make one for my niece, claire, but she is 8 going on 28. if you know what i mean. she wouldn't care for a dolly blanket. i made her a lovely fuzzy black scarf, though. i am quite in love with the fringe.

heirloom goblets

my auntie nancy came over to visit today with her granddaughter. auntie brought a surprise with her... a box of china! eeeeee! good surprise! the box had china from my grandma, great-grandma, and great-aunt. i am supposed to share with my sis. i will, but i am prepared to drive a hard bargain for these little goblets that i have fallen in love with. don't you just love china? especially heirlooms?

oh what fun to do a little girl bonding!

second day hanging out with my recouperating mum. how nice! today i brought over the peanut butter cookies, again, and remembered to leave them with her.:) i also made us some homemade pizza. it really is not very difficult. we watched a chick-flick and a half. i knitted. jack puttered about. i also helped mom by picking up stuff, bringing her the remotes, cleaning up spills (thanks, jack.), and bringing her lots of diet coke! tomorrow i might try the chocolate cake in the microwave recipe. what fun! usually i only have jack to enjoy chick-flicks with. poor soul.:)

please pray for jack

my jackie has strange pink blotches all over his body. i am thinking he is having an allergic reaction to his wall-e bubble bath yesterday. he looks pretty weird, but he seems to be fine. please pray for the poor little guy. as for my mom, she is doing great! she got discharged from the hospital yesterday and she and my aunt decided... to come home! i spent the first part of the day with mom, knitting and watching an old cary grant movie. thanks for the prayers.

please pray for my mommy

today my mom is having surgery on her hip. i am sure that all will go well... but i would appreciate your prayers. we all have a positive attitude about this surgery. hopefully when mom heals she will be the shopping-machine that she once was.:) also, we are looking forward to the crochet/knitting parties and extended visit from my sis and her 4 girlies. mom has 3 weeks off! how cozy! so glad i have my days free! so glad i enjoy my night job!

don't forget. please pray for my mom.

obsession

i am obsessed with knitting right now. obsessed. i knit all the time. i have knitting in my lap right now. i couldn't sleep this morn and got up at 4:17 am and knitted.

andy asked me last night if i "even like it" with junior high scorn in his voice.:) yes, andy, i do. it is calming, productive, and yarn can be had for cheap. what's not to love? so there.:)

right now i am cranking out wash cloths and scarves. hey, hand knit wash cloths go for about $2.50 around here and scarves for $15. i am definitely thinking of making some to sell. and, i have inspired my mom. how cool is that? she just bought a crochet hook. she knows how to knit and crochet. she is going to make herself a scarf and a sweater while she is recouperating from hip surgery this coming week. and she says she will teach me how to crochet. well, ok!, but not until after i have exhausted this wash cloth and scarf business. Christmas presents! oh, and i have been thinking of knitting blankies for my niece's dollys. wouldn't that be nice?

anybody else obsessed with knitting/crochet? or anything else? collecting those little clown dolls on qvc?:)

jack's first sentence

today i am super busy cleaning the house. i have dusted, cleaned the bathroom, folded laundry... but in the midst of all this drudgery (which i don't really mind. what can be bad about cleaning your very own house?:)), jack did the amazing. i had given him his wooden tool box to play with. he hadn't played with it before and i thought he might need a new challenge. i was in the bathroom. he comes in, holds up a wooden screw with a wooden nut on it and declares, "i did it!!". i am so proud. not only are his motor skills immpecable, but he just made his first sentence. Praise the Lord!

my mommy goes ballistic

just checking in on the internet-world. thought maybe i would add a little note about that bench i painted yesterday. apparently grandma (telephone, telegraph, tell-a-grandma-lou... the fastest forms of communication?:)) told mom about my red bench/her old green bench. mommers was a bit aghast. well, i told her i was thinking of painting it. i believed i mentioned it. i think the last consensus was that i was going to paint it black. whatever!:) it will look great in my sunflower yellow walled foyer with the black "slate" laminate floor and the my dearly departed aunt sandy's painting. the painting has a black background and has yellow, orange and red flowers. i think that color scheme sounds tied together, don't you? and anyway, mum has a red bedroom. talk about a big committment. i just painted a bench.

spankin' fresh bench

my mother gave her her old bench. it has storage under the lid, hooray! the bench is charming and i totally needed one for my foyer. i was not terribly crazy about the green color. my husband had some red paint that he borrowed to my gramps. gramps painted his chicken coop. it is fabulous. since there was some left over, i decided to use the beautiful FREE chicken-coop-red paint. i am so glad we had one last (perhaps) day of wonderfully upper-60's weather. tonight it is supposed to rain. praise God for this one last chance!

good knitting weather and... a painting in his hands!

it is about 69 degrees out today!!!!!!!!!! can't believe it. sat on the bench outside my grandparent's chicken coop and knitted while jack amused himself with the coop door.:) could have stayed out there for hours, but was starving for lunch. i opened up a ton of windows in the house. may go back out there to knit after i make some chocolate chip cookies.

today i got the postal notice that the painting i bought from my friend lauren's on-line etsy store was at the post office ready to pick up. !!! so excited. i packed jack into the car without even any socks on, just shoes. had to wait for them to open from their lunch break. come on!... when we got back to the car, i ripped open my package. inside was my painting and odds and lovely ends. i had a little flash of epiphany. took the painting (in frame and ready to be hung!) and handed it back to my son in his carseat. wow. that was amazing. i think that was the first time jack has held a painting. it meant so much to share that with him. i will have to teach him all about art this week. we'll go on a gallery tour of the house.:) maybe i will even paint something. shocker.:)

blonde nursery buddies

jack had a great time last night at the "halloween alternative sleepover". there was a lot of: kids, food, noise, games, and candy. mostly the party was in the Church's basement. at one point i had enough of jack escaping to climb up and down the stairs and i corraled him in the nursery. i asked the little boy on the right, joe, if he wanted to come play with jack. then the little boy on the left, ben, came in with his sister. i knitted while the boys played with the toys and devoured the candy from their treat bags. i think this photo is funny because ben almost looks like he has a trickle of blood coming out of his mouth like a halloween vampire. in actuality it is a stream of chocolate drool. at one point i told joe i thought he had enough candy and he might get sick. he scowled at me and shoved another piece in. i just laughed. let his mother worry.

mommy's little baker, part 2

here we go again! jack and i made 2 batches of sugar cut-out cookies yesterday for the "halloween alternative" sleepover. what a great time we had. jack really liked the dough. when i wasn't looking he grabbed a HUGE hunk and shoved it in his mouth. i thought he was going to be sick FOR SURE. nope. he also liked playing with the cookie cutters.

mommy's little baker

i love having a little helper. everything is so much more fun with jack. he likes to cook with me. all i have to say is, "jack, do you want to cook?", and he starts to pull out his chair to stand on. day before last we made a zucchini cake from scratch. with homemade cream cheese frosting. we had a blast. jack threw back his head and laughed just as i took this photo.

jack wore the apron dan's grandma schroeder made for andy. that was a long time back! she made an adult-sized one for dan, too. alas, neither dan, nor andy have ever worn their aprons. i hope gram schroeder makes one for jack someday of his very own. she is a lovely seamstress. she has made jack: quilt, burp cloths, blankie, bibs, and a Christmas bib with a matching Christmas stocking. anyway, what lovely heirlooms. nothing like heirlooms, photographs and memories.

squeaky clean

i sit here with a head cold, a cup of tea, and my knitting. not feeling very clever right now. just wanted to share a quick story. (may be prone to misspelling today. apologies.)

last night dan and i were sitting on the sofa. a toothpaste commercial came on. the annoying lady was crowing about how clean her teeth were in the morn because of this new toothpaste. she rubbed her finger on her teeth and made them squeak. i had just brushed my teeth. i tried it. i too could make my teeth squeak. dan could do it too, and he had not brushed his teeth. so much for truth in advertising.

new header

trying something...new. nice.

for the benefit of my family readers, the people in my header are: jack novotny (jack's namesake & gram's bro), mary lou (my gram), christine anderson novotny (gram's step-mom), mary novotny hanson (gram's aunt on her dad's side), minnie melissa whips novotny (gram's real gram on her mom's side), either aunt alice novotny or a neighbor, and gunborg anderson (gram's step-gram).

story time...

now for a little story. i have been meaning to share this one for a while. it is a little bit like things that happen to my friend nora. so, cross your legs if you have a weak bladder.

my gramps has a nice garden. he grew 2 or three bushes of jalepeno peppers. a few were for his pickle recipe, but he knows i like jalepenos, so i think he always planned on giving me tons. give me tons he did! i had so many i didn't know what to do with them all. one day i sliced them, seeded them, and froze them for later use.

at some point i touched the inside of my left nostril. immediately my nostril was on fire. really hot. i didn't know what to do. i remember distinctly it was around 9:30 on a weekday because seseme street was on. i am in pain and jack is learning about the number of the day or something. i am writhing in agony on the couch and jack is learning about the word, "tickle", or some such nonsense. (good nonsense. love seseme street.)

what can take away the pain???? i decide ice. i take an ice cube and shove it up my nostril. not so good. starts to melt. it drips on my upper lip. now my lip is burning. not kidding. i freak. i go to the bathroom and wash my face. well, it spreads.

while this has been going on, i wash my hands about a dozen times. i think, "can the jalepeno juice still be on my fingers?". i touch the tip of a finger to the tip of my tongue... wait for it... now my tongue is burning.

now i am so crazed i try to think of something, anything, that i can smear on my face. mayo? gravy? wet flour? milk? what to do. suddenly i think of jack's baby ora-jel. i smeared it in my nostril, on my lip/face, put it on the tip of my tongue... wait... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! it worked.

next time i mucked around with the peppers i wore rubber gloves!

squash

i bought a painting. my friend from pcc, lauren, was having an art sale. i bought this fabulous simple little painting. to those who know that i am so broke, i will explain. i got approx $75 extra dollars this paycheck for selling 5 "extra credit" ads. woo hoo! i am so excited to add this to my art collection. i know it will feel at home in my eclectic haven. my little offbeat colorbox. my nest.

1 dan... 2 dans... 3 DANS!!!

there are a lot of dan's around here. my dad's name is dan. my husband's name is dan. my brother-in-law's name is... dan. my husband's little half brother was so interested in the fact that there were 3 DANS at jack's birthday party. now every time we see him it seems he is counting dans. (jake is only 2 years old.)yes, i do have a photo from a while back of the "3 dans" somewhere. :) here is a photo of 2 dans, my husband and my dad. no, i did not pose this photo!!!:) isn't it funny? my dad is sticking his tongue out. that's where i get some of my attitude. thanks, dan.

a precious alligator for baby

slap your heel and swirl your skirt! i love a man in leiderhosen.

oktoberfest

my mother-in-law invited me to go with her to oktoberfest. so, jack and i went! oktoberfest is a German celebration. i really don't know what they are celebrating... could it be beer?:) i think that is what most would say. we had a brat (naturally!) for lunch, shopped-shopped-shopped, had some apple studel (of course) and a mocha, listened to a huge men's chorus singing german songs ("schnaps!" was, amusingly enough, one.), saw some native dancing, and i stood in line for an eon for a balloon alligator for jack. it was the best time! jack loved the live music. he was such a good boy. he loves to get out of the house and go on adventures.

bounty from the land

i made a stew yesterday with venison from gramps, carrots and green beans from my garden, and some potato and peas. yum. carrots from a garden are about 80% better than carrots from a store. i love to pull them right out of the dirt, rinse them off with a garden hose, and eat!!!

spoon lover

jack loves a good spoon. or fork. this morn he flung his blueberry pancake and waffle off his highchair tray. why? it took me a moment, but i finally realized it was because he wanted to eat it with a fork. he has issues.

new baby girl

i love all my nieces. this is my newest, elles (like ellis island) angela miller. she is my sis's babe. she is only about 5 weeks old in this pict. she is a sweetie. i held her a lot when she came to visit. she brought back all these sweet little memories of jack that i had forgotten. that made the time doubly sweet. i wish she was here right now, sucking on my knuckle.:)

birthday boots

jack got these boots for his 1st b-day from my auntie lana and uncle barry. they are a huge old size 7!!! we've got these really great puddles for splashing in right now. trouble is... he doesn't realize he shouldn't splash if he doesn't have the boots! mama has some shoes that need washing.

a rosie little shower

my mother threw a baby shower this morn and i was her "right hand woman". it was a lovely shower for an old church chum and his wifey. it was very spur-of-the-moment, but no matter. the menu was awesome, the decorations appropriate, and there were a lot of gifts. hooray! i am so happy for the couple. i hope they had as great a time as i did. I LOVE PARTIES!!!

potter family... 80's style

i found this family photo over at my gram's house. i am taking precious family photos that i discovered were in a 4-drawer dresser next to the TOILET in my gramp's bathroom, and putting them in an album. this photo was taken in front of our tiny little first home. i am on the left. my sis and i are wearing "member's only" jackets, i think. you probably can't tell, but there are pin stripes on my jeans, and i am wearing kilty tasseled loafers!!! ha ha! but they do not have taps. (pcc inside joke)

jack's first scarf

i knitted jack a scarf! now, if i could only get him to wear it...:) i don't know if i will put fringes on it or not. it only took me a few hours. i might make him a camo one, too.

i tried to convince andy to let me make him a scarf. i think he would look really cool in one. he won't let me. oh well. he might regret it. also, scarves protect your delicate throats from colds. i believe that!

crash bandicoot

andy gets into more scrapes... ha ha. this time he was going down a skateboard ramp and hit a rock. eek. the boy just can't seem to stay on his bike, skateboard, or dirtbike. maybe he should be more careful. right? thankfully he was only scraped. he didn't break anything, not even a tooth.:)

so chilly in mn!

we went outside today totally bundled up. jack wore his new thermal underwear, a tee, a fleecey shirt, flannel-lined overalls, socks, boots, hoodie, baby hat with chin strap, and mommy's coral gloves. do they make baby sized gloves? i wonder. i have little mittens that were dan's. i think jack would prefer gloves. easier to pick up rocks and sticks. jack was peeking at the chickens through their fence. jack is addicted to chicken watching.

love lies bleeding

i had to buy the seeds for this plant. it is called "love lies bleeding". it does bleed, doesn't it? i think that is so cool. a very different flower. it took forever for it to come up, but i love it. i hope i can find the seeds again next year.

fall tomatoes

i got a free tomato plant with some plants i bought for mother's day. i didn't take great pains with it. i didn't really think i wanted tomatoes. so, i was delighted when it started to produce 2 tomatoes. then, 2 tomatoes more! it is so pathetically petite and adorable. the bigger tomato is towards the bottom and you can barely see it. my first tomato plant.

ga!

or should i say, "I GOOOOOOO!!!"? that is an inside joke. my cousin's husband speaks korean. he says "i goo" (spelling?) constantly. "i goo" roughly means "oh no". oh no. i never seem to have enough time! i really am having a lovely time, but i just wish i got more done. probably my fault. i know it is my fault. oh no. i goo.

well, at the very least i will put a short blog post out there. i have been inspired lately. #1. i have been inspired to re-read the l. frank baum "wizard of oz" books from my local library. (came across artwork from the books at work.) i think there were a bunch of them when i was little, but only 4 have survived. alas. they are from 1900 on. i read them all! the last one was "the lost princess of oz". i was surprised to find i remembered lots of the book; i was in grade school when i read these last! if you love fairy tales, YOU MUST READ THESE BOOKS. they are gems. the scarecrow, tin man, and the cowardly lion are ok characters... but what about tip, moombi, the woozy, the sawhorse, jack pumpkinhead, betsy, cap'n bill, and cayke the cookie cook? or the inhabitants of utensia? they are all kitchen utensils. it was hilarious reading that chapter.

#2. other inspiration. lauren pope. your yearning for a knit dress for jane has inspired me to dig out my knitting. i just have to finish the endge and put fringe on a long red scarf i just finished that i suppose i will keep. i don't know of anyone else who would want it. then i am going to start on scarves for jack, and andy if he wants one. jack's will be navy blue and yellow large striped. i think andy would be cool with a red and black or gray stripe. can't wait to get started.

#3. i have been inspired by my cousin stacy to use more dried beans in my cooking. i am also looking to augment my meals with noodles, rice, and potatoes. just like grandma used to do. just like how i have a veggie garden and i knit scarves. hey, it might as well be 1958.:) "not that there's anything wrong with that." anyway, i have made a black bean mexican dish and a chili recently. boy, did that stretch out! i am actually ending a 2 week pay period with plenty of food options. usually i apologize towards the end of week 2 for the meals of hot dogs and tuna.:)

have you been inspired lately?

this totally cracks me up!

i love these kinds of dumb signs. we stopped to take this photo on the way back from aforementioned ethnic fest last weekend. i could not believe dan was such a good sport about it. sometimes he is a grumpy old man, and sometimes he gets a wee bit giddy.


funny dan story -- dan talks in his sleep. last night i was still awake with a bit of insomnia. i turned over and dan propped himself up on his elbows and said something like "What's that dome full of over there?" i said, "what?". he says a bit testy, "What's that dome full of over there?". he is looking out the bedroom window. ok, so now i know he is sleep-talking. i say, "dan you're alseep. wake up." he says, "i am awake, you FOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!", he tells me with huge amounts of scathing anger. he is now on his hands and knees looking out the window trying to see what is going on. after about a minute he really does wake up and he lies back down. "what were you doing?". "... i thought i saw a dome over there.", he mumbles sheepishly. i proceed to roar with laughter. i tell him that he called me a fool. that was the funniest part. (disclaimer: he would never call me a fool normally.) we are still laughing about it today.

chocolate and vanilla take a road trip

we went to an ethnic festival last weekend (blog post to come). the car ride was long, but it gave us time to bond with the family. forced bonding, i'll take it. andy would have much rather just stayed home, but i think it is valuable to spend time together. i think it is what keeps a family close.

jack spends time with the men

i work 4 hours monday-thursday from 5pm-9pm. while i am away, dan is in charge of "the boys". when i get home i usually find them doing manly things, and they are usually dirty. i love it. jack has a little boy's dream life. there are lots of garden tractors, dirtbikes, cars, trucks, tractors, bulldozers, and motorcycles between our collection and gramps's next door. this photo was taken last week when dan was using the dozer to dig up a large tree stump next to the driveway. gram and gramps house is just down the hill behind jack. perfect.

veggie garden o' mine

my veggie garden experiment went very well this year. the left half of the garden pictured here is mine. i wish i would have planted way more rows of beans (not 1 1/2 rows), only half a row of leaf lettuce (not a whole row!), and not even bothered with the cauliflower and broccoli. the broccoli has just a few small heads, and the cauliflower not any at all. i almost forgot about my spinach... mostly because it did not come up! i am disappointed that i will not get any pumpkins because i didn't plant them early enough. the plants are cute, though.:) speaking of cute, i must endorse puple beans. they are too too cool. the eggplant-purple hue of the beans are beautiful, and the lavendar blossoms on the plants and the puple edges on the green leaves are just fantastic. i can't wait to dig up my carrots. carrots from the garden have a special earthy-goodness to them. i had one cucumber plant... and that was PLENTY!!! i once heard a joke about cucumber season... yes, there does seem to be cucumbers everywhere at a certain time in the season! i ran out of room for zucchini, but i wish i had planted a bit of that. i really have enjoyed my garden. it has given me a huge sense of satisfaction. it is just great to "reap what you sow".

will the real sarah palin please stand up?

we get the wonderful liberal rag "time magazine". it's dan's fault. i think it is free, part of a deal dan struck somehow. anyway, it is perused a bit and thrown away. this day, i was walking through the living room when i did a double take. sarah palin? sprawled on the loveseat? no, it is just my step-son, andy. i quickly took a photo. andy thought it was funny, too.

angel baby

this post doesn't have a big story. i just wanted to share a shot of my beautiful son. i thank God for him every day.

what we did today

slacked. we slacked off big time. jack and i went over to gram and gramps for lunch. i brought my "deconstructed stuffed green pepper casserole". it was a hit. dan and andy don't care much for peppers. after lunch gram and i looked at a bunch of old black/white photos. they were delightful. i think everyone should have photos of their grandparents in bathing suits. too much. as we were doing this, gramps and jack were checking out the four wheeler and visiting the chickens. as always. on the way back up the hill jack and i played with some sticks. it was a great autumn day. too bad the dishes didn't get done. or the laundry. or the painting. funny, i don't seem to care.

the winner is...

MARYN! congrats maryn, you won the 250th post giveaway. i hope you enjoy your art. or your gift of art, if you pass it along. so, i will be e-mailing you soon for details.

how did i choose a winner? well, my friend lauren used a hat. i thought i would try that method. since i am in the basement i looked around for something halfways suitable. i saw my great great uncle oscar hanson's metal WWI army helmet. it's pretty gnarly. there are splashes of paint all over it, and a hole in the top for drainage so my aunt mary could plant flowers in it. she planted flowers in everything. there's that good old depression era thrift for you!:) i think i might post a photo of the helmet later. jack is ill and crying in his crib so i have to scoot. p.s. here is my gnarly helmet. not for sale or contest prize!

new name for miller girl #4!

not eleanor! angie and matt decided to call their fourth daughter, elles. like ellis island. elles angela miller. lissy for short. i visted her on saturday with jack and my dad. elles is sweet. can't wait to see her again. angie is doing ok. she is still in pain from her c-section. she is still in the hospital. hope she can get the help she needs to take care of the 4 girls in the next weeks. pray for them. thank you.

baby girl miller #4

my sister, angie, had her baby today sometime around noon. it was her 4th c-section. the baby girl was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. she has thick, dark, wavy hair. angie says that explains the heartburn. the tentative name is eleanor angela. jack, my dad and i are going down to see the miller's tomorrow. i can't wait! this is my 5th neice. think of the great slumber parties i can have some day! will post photos as soon as possible.

my little helpers

hello lily, isabelle, ava, and sterling. cousin molly is sorry she hasn't posted a photo of your visit yet. i have been trying to catch up on blogging all the fun and interesting stuff that has been happeing lately. i promise to either post more photos or e-mail you some. ok? it was great spending so much time with you and your mom and dad. i am praying that you can move back to MN SOON!!!!!!!!!

1st photo: jack pushing his buddy ava; 2nd photo: belle, bri and lily helping me snap beans under the willow tree.