Kick'n zombie booty

100_1637
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

Halloween was great. The girls were zombies and some kind of corpse bridey thingy. It was awesome since Shawn had built this coffin for the front yard and we took pictures of the girls coming out of it. Lily can really get into the whole Hallowen thing. She takes it quite seriously. Shawn was a...hmmm what was he. I guess a hillbilly of sorts, he looked like Bill from "king of the hill" yes, and i'm married to him. it was hard to look at him. i didn't get into the spirit this year since i spent almost all day baking cupcakes and decorating them with the kids. i had a crazy go nuts mess! but our cupcakes would kick Martha's ass. They were really cool and tasted good despite all the candy loaded up on them. so it's now 3 days past halloween and my girls won't touch thier candy. they don't really eat it! i can't believe we're related.
more halloween pictures at my ofoto account, follow the link.

canoe trip

100_1547
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

geez, what a crap i've been. this working thing is really really hard! just kidding, i love being back to work, i even love getting up at the crack of dawn, or in my case WAY before the crack. I've adjusted amazingly well for someone who usually gets away with sleeping in like a teenager. the job is good, the girls are loving school, and shawn gets to hang out with all the moms in the morning before school starts. i like that he is bonding with my girlfriends, since they are pretty sweet and all. he's pretty girly himself.
i've even had time to work on some projects. there are the stuffed animals that i have yet to photo, and then a few knitted ones as well. i'm also working on a secret project, oooh, for the holidays.
and dear sister if you are reading this, i have not forgotten your big 40, i've just been working too much to get to the posty, so i'm sending it via one of my favorite websites instead, so keep a looksy out.
the canoe trip photos were from awhile back, but i didn't have anything to post, so i thought i would show that we are actually quite outdoorsy, ha. i somehow ended up in the huron river that day scooping out river clams for show and tell. luckly it's cleaner than most water ways around here and i survived without any wierd illness.
i PROMISE i will be posting more daily. xoxo

i forgot to add in reference to yesterday's post regarding the braise, lee and i have gotten int o the habit of saying "hmmm what would Anthony do" or "don't you think Anthony would love this?" Anthony being Anthony Bourdain. Without cable i'm unable to see his new show, so my friend is DVR'n it for me. I'm just starting his "Cook's Tour" book along with "In the Devil's Garden" makes for a nice combo read. I'm afraid he would be greatly disappointed in my lack of true food adventurism. I would love to try haggis though.

dinner please

100_1521
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

oh it was soooo good. once again lee worked her magic in my kitchen, i think i mostly just stood and asked questions. we had shortribs braised in ale, golden and red beets with sweet butter and creamed potatoes with 1/2 and 1/2. the ribs were like butter thanks to sparrow's grass fed meats. we rolled ourselves out to the fire after dinner for wine and converstation which was mainly about the food.
school starts in just a few short weeks, and i'm allready freaking out because i don't have a job yet. i'd love to still stay home and work on my own stuff, but no one is paying me to do that. man, why not!

crap room

100_1493
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

my craft room is a total crap room right now. i have been in the basement for some time now trying to figure out where i want to put stuff, and yet i'm just not motivated to do it! ug. i got a great new shelf from my friend carol, and i'm slowly taking over shawn's music space. he needs his drums out, yet i can't seem to give up any space. the girls have wayyyyy to many things, even after a successful yard sale. i hope to get som projects churned out these next few days. all i have to say is yeah central air. i feel like my nice sweet self again.

garden booty

100_1492
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

fresh picked from the garden. peppers, chilis, yellow and red cherry tomatoes a plenty. despite the heat, i have had good luck with my full of weeds garden.
BUT, today it all ends. not the garden, but the heat. INSIDE that is. at this very moment, Leon is installing our new central air!!! it's serious hot here, and we have to live in our basement for relief. in a few short hours we will be living the cool life. chloe can stop coming out ouf her room at midnight going "IT'S TOO FREAK'N HOT!"

Mia

Mia
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

Here is my entry for the Month of Softies. i've never made a sock monkey before, but it was pretty easy. i gave her to my friend's little girl for her birthday. I've been out of crafty commission for awhile now since it's hotter than hell in my house. 90 degrees it was today INSIDE! needless to say, i'm not a nice person when it is this hot. we ended up in the basement all day playing barbies. i set up the shoe store and playground.
so i'm usually feeling less grumpy by evening when i can feel a slight breeze and drink some IPA or something. God bless Shawn for putting up with me.

summer start & end

100_1440
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

you can tell it's really summer at our house now. first it's about 90 degrees all day inside, and second, we are never around. just when i think that i haven't scheduled enough for us to do all summer, i realize that we have TOO MUCH to do. and now it's allmost over.
the girls and i just back from my folks place out in the boonies. it was great fun especially going to a friend's farm. the girls got to pet horses and cows. there were dozens of kittens, so they were very happy. i got to see lots of family and relax a bit, sleeping in way to late.
i've had no time for projects, but have lots of new finds. piles of new fabric, yarn, and odds and ends. my garden has gone to weeds, it's just too hot to bother. but the local farm co-op has been helpful. my main focus right now is getting through all my summer reading. i finished the new Harry Potter book, and want to turn around and read it again. I'm a bit obsessed.
No new knitting projects to display. i've been too occupied at night with reading and staying cool. having wool draped over my body isn't exactly what i want right now. so we are off to the vet today to get rid of a wicked case of ear mites in our kitties, then i'm getting all my hair chopped off.
more posts promise.

handmade chloe

handmade chloe
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

chloe made her teacher a necklace out of various beads i had around. we had to string it about 3 or 4 times because she kept dropping the beads. she gets frustrated easily, hmmm don't know where she gets that from. her teacher was so amazing. she said that chloe had really matured over the past semester and is totally ready for 1st grade. i will miss her and the other cuties in her class, but we visited their new school the other night and the teachers there were very nice, and the rooms were super playful, so that made me feel better.

lily's purse

lily's purse
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

this is the purse that i made for lily to give to her teacher. i made up the pattern, and it's kind of wonky in some parts, but overall it should make a good book bag. lily's teacher was great and deserves a million dollars inside the bag, she really had a fantastic year.

the $3 challenge

yard sale finds
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

I wanted to go to this neighborhood yard sale up the street today, but discovered that i only had about $3 in change to spend. i thought it would be fun to turn it into a challenge so that i didn't get all mad if i found a BUNCH of stuff. so i set some rules for myself: i could only buy stuff that i didn't allready have, i could only spend a dollar at each sale or less, and the third was that when all the money was gone, i had to go home. it turned out pretty well, i'm reallly happy with my finds, the first sale i got the 3 cute coloring books mostly to copy the patterns for sewing total cost 30 cents. the second sale i bought the table cloth ( i know i have a billion of these!) and the two rag balls which were a total steal at only 25 cents each! total there: $1.50, broke one of my rules, but it was worth it. the third sale, i got the fingerpaints and paper for 75 cents. this was awesome since i had just ran out of both and would need to get some more for summer projects. at the last sale, i got the strawberry shortcake book for a quarter. I didn't even spend the whole $3.
today is the last day of school. i get the girls at noon. i'm happy at the thought of spending time with them and all our friends this summer, but sad that we will not be returning to the same school next year. we will miss all our friends.
i have some more posts.

yard sale find

new platter
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

The weekend neighborhood yard sales were great! we got out nice and early as usual with two wagons ready to fill. it's so nice now that the girls are old enough to walk and not get so cranky. they made it about a block or two before they were in the wagon as well. i can't blame them, it was a HOT day. I scored some craft supplies, books, wooden salad bowls, knitting needles, bits of fabric, some salt and pepper shakers, and this adorable pear bowl. it's actually lily's bowl, her $2 but she is letting me borrow it. Shawn got some electronic stuff, some really old computer, and tools. he also got this singing lobster which freaks us all out, but makes for excellent summer decorating.
i'm pretty yard saled out for awhile. the girls get out of school tomorrow. no more kindergardener. my baby is going into 1st, and little lily is allready reading chapter books at night. she reminds me of my sister not only in looks, but how she reads. i'm reading Harry Potter 4 for the 3rd time. It's how I like to start my summer reading. i have a long list of books and we just got our summer reading stuff from the library yesterday. last year i only read 9 books, so i've got to get a bit speedier. i have some new purses to post soon as well as some more finds.

Sewing skirts

100_1193
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

I spent this morning sewing 3 new skirts for the girls. they refuse to wear anything really other than skirts and i'm running out. I like this pink stripped one the best especially since i sewed a zipper in the back instead of an elastic waist like the others.
got to get my booty outside before it rains!

Thrift score

100_1189
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

Here are my thrift scores for today:
a pair of rocketdog shoes for $2
a bag of mohair yarn for $2
a cool knitting pattern $2.25
a picture frame 50 cents
5 cones of cotton yarn $5
a skirt pattern 10 cents
and an old piece of feedsack cloth 50 cents

I was really happy with my finds.
this weekend is our neighborhood yard sale. It's my favorite so hopefully there will be lots of craft goodies to be had.

Ice Crystal Caves

Ice Crystal Caves
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

This is the baby squirrel Shawn and the girls found on a bikeride. It was so so sweet. We named it Rocky, but Chloe decided it should be called Ice Crystal Caves. She is well known for her extra long names. Like her hippo is named Marching Band Parade. We found a rescue for the little baby where it will live with an adopted squirell family. It was really amazing to be holding a non-domesticated creature. It was really like having a baby. You have to keep it's body temp really warm, so I wrapped it in a blanket and carried it around in a baby sling for most of the day. We have a habit of finding some kind of wild or dometic creatures every summer. Last summer it was the mommy and 5 baby kittens, and the year before that it was Smeagle the Beagle. This was the wildest by far.

Turning Japanese

Turning japanese
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

I got my package from YesAsia yesterday. I was too tired last night to start any projects, so I just marked pages and kicked myself for not learning Japanese from all those Japanese exchange students we had living with us growing up! I took them with me today while I subed at the girl's school. I was in the Jr. High class, they are an easy bunch believe it or not.
Also, NEVER, i repeat NEVER take out your own stitches. I got a mole removed on my arm last week, and it got all gross and infected. so i couldn't leave the darn thing alone. I took out the stitches last night because they itched so bad, well, not such a good idea. I'm going to have a dandy of a scar. oh well, I'll just get a tattoo over it.

100_0969

100_0969
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

allright, just one more post today and then i really think i should get some work done. For those who have not seen a recent picture of the girls, here one is. they were on thier way to a tea party.

100_1169

100_1169
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

I'm really liking this posting pictures stuff! Now I'll have to backtrack on some of my projects and get them posted as well. Here is my lettuce. it popped up overnight! i'll be posting some craft pictures soon.

100_1036

100_1036
Originally uploaded by sourgrass.

me sorting a bunch of wool covered in sheep poop. I was really excited when I got the wool from one of the teachers at school. little did I realize what a job washing wool is. I haven't even made a dent in all of it yet, but I'm looking forward to carding it then hopefully spinning some.

I think it's time that I really really try to get this thing going. After failed attempts many times to start a blog, i think I have found my inspiration. Not only have I found an abundant amount of blogs that i love out there in blogland, but i actually have things to say! amazing. i also have friends who know how much i despise the phone and my bad emailing habbits. perhpaps this will keep me in check. mainly i want to post my crafts and finds. tis the season for sales and rummages, and i have allready found so much good stuff. i have dedicated today to getting organized. such a crazy hobby. so my goals for this blog are:

* to post my crafts (knitting, sewing, baking, gardening, etc)
* to keep in touch with my friends
* to make some new crafting buddies
* to inspire myself to keep on doing creative things everyday

let's see if I can....