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!