Spring Break, part V

This will be the last post about our vacation, promise! We were in Arizona at the perfect time, as a lot of the plants and cacti were blooming. Many of the houses have desert landscaping instead of grass (a good thing!). One afternoon I took a walk around the neighborhood and took photos of flowers and things.

Spring Break, Part IV

One of my favorite things we did on our trip was go to the Arizona Renaissance Faire. When David and I lived here ('90-'92), the Faire had just started, and we went. It was so small and lame! However, I found out via Heather Bailey's blog that it had grown and was celebrating 20 years, so we decided to go again.

We watched this guy's show. He holds 4 Guiness World Records with whips, one of which is the most whip cracks in a minute (over 400!). Besides using these fire whips, he also used a whip to crack open a can of soda, sliced celery held by a patron with a really really long whip, and had a chain mail whip which made the loudest crack I have ever heard. It was way cool.

We watched some belly dance troupes. I've been taking lessons since October, and believe me, belly dancing is HARD. It's all about muscle control in your upper and lower abs.

There were lots of shops. This one had little paddleboats for kids to play with (and hopefully buy).

I took a lot of pictures of just scenery.

Isn't this woman (or man?) awesome? I missed her lecture, but I think it was about styles of dress and makeup in that time. Look at that little traveling dress on her table. I want one!

Spring Break, Part III

One of the fun things we did on our vacation was go for a hike in the desert. We went to Ursery Mountain Park, and did one of the easy trails (Connor is pretty slow).

It was so pretty, and a lot of the wildflowers were in bloom. We hiked to the backside of a hill, took a play break on a playground there, and then hiked over the hill to get back to the car.

At the top of the hill, we saw a gila monster! How cool is that?

It was a nice time, and the boys enjoyed the desert.

Another day, we visited Rawhide. Connor (a big Thomas fan) got to ride on a train (twice!), and loved it.

There were gunfights!

Both Caleb and Calvin got to try out the mechanical bull. They also panned for gold and tried some climbing.

Spring Break, Part II

On Easter Sunday night, we took a red-eye flight to Phoenix, to visit with my in-laws. We hadn't been back to AZ since I was pregnant with Connor, and spending a week in the sun was looking really really good after that blizzard on Friday!

My in-laws live in a retirement community, and we went swimming at least once a day.

Connor loved the pool, although apparently he's mad at me in this pic, as I'm probably not going fast enough for him to catch one of "my boys".

The last day, he finally got comfortable enough to put part of his face in the water and blow bubbles. I had been trying to get him to do that for the whole week!

My in-laws have a few citrus trees in their yard (pink grapefruit, tangerine, juice orange, and tangelo. They even have a key lime tree in their front yard). Every day we picked oranges.

It takes a LOT of oranges to get enough juice for my crew!

Caleb hit on the perfect combination for juice: half juice oranges, half tangelos, with 1 or 2 grapefruits. Delicious!

See that juice pitcher? We went through at least one of those a day, with at least half of the juice drunk by ME! I love OJ, and to have fresh-squeezed every day? Wonderful!

Spring Break, Part I

I know I've been MIA. First, I got really sick, and it was all I could do just to get up and get the kids off to school. Then, we left for a nice vacation in Phoenix, over spring break. The next few posts will be about that.

On Good Friday, we got hit with a blizzard. By the time I went to bed that night, they said we had officially gotten 10.9" of snow, bumping this winter up to #2 snowiest winter of all time (#1 happened in the 1800s). Thankfully, I had not been able to procure airline tickets for then (like we had wanted to), as the airport even shut down. We live near the lake, and it got VERY VERY windy. So, we had areas of our yard where you could see the grass, and areas that had 3 foot snowdrifts.


On Saturday, it was beautiful. Bright and sunny, and warm (relatively. perfect for playing in the snow). Calvin pretty much spent the entire day outside. He carved an igloo out of one of the snowdrifts in the park across the street.


When Caleb saw the igloo (we could see it from our front window), he got geared up and went outside too! It was hard getting a photo of them IN the igloo, as it was so bright with the sun on the snow, but if you can't tell, they are both fully inside their house.

In the afternoon, I had to run some last minute errands before leaving for our vacation. While I was gone, David and Connor got dressed up and went out to play as well. Here they are on the HUGE snowdrift in the park. Seriously, I think this drift was at least 4 feet high. They worked on carving tunnels throughout it, and eventually, this area was crawling with kids. :)

They all had a great time, and I think Calvin even got a little bit sunburned from the sun reflecting off of the snow!

Sweet Sixteen

Today David and I celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary! We spent part of it flying home from Phoenix, part catching up on our sleep, and the rest just relaxing and getting settled back home. We realized we've been an "item" for 20 years! That doesn't make me feel old, but it does seem like a long time that has gone by fast. That's a good thing, right? :)

New Camera

I finally bought a new camera yesterday. For the past month, I've borrowed my mom's camera when needed (thanks mom!), but had to stop using that crutch. I came home with a Kodak EasyShare Z812 IS (I didn't pay as much, whoo!), and I really like it.

The boys and I had fun playing with it yesterday:
Caleb snapped this through the window, with the zoom.

He set it to take black and white photos. I like this one of Connor and me.

The camera has this cool panoramic setting. You take three photos, and the camera 'stitches' them together. When you take the first photo, the right side of the photo stays in the viewfinder, and you pan to the right until it matches your scene, then snap the 2nd photo. Same for the third, and viola! Three Calvins! :) We sure had fun playing with this one.

Now I'm going back to bed, as I spent most of the night coughing. I'm tired of the family being sick.

New Patterns!

I rarely buy new sewing patterns anymore -- I have so many (500+?), that those along with the Burda WOF, Topkids, and Ottobre magazines means I probably have just about every design imaginable, with just a few tweaks here and there.

Anyway, I joined an Apron Swap with the Reclaiming The Home group at Ravelry. Pattern links were being shared, and I fell in love with the Emmeline Apron. Isn't it cute??? I can't wait to get started on it. I plan to add pockets, and I plan to make the tops of them gathered into a band, so they match the bib. It'll be fun to stash dive for the fabrics.


I bought my pattern from Sew, Mama, Sew! and decided to find something else to make the shipping charge 'worth' it (I know I'm not the only one that does that!). I picked up the new Amy Butler Lotus Tunic and Cami. It'll be perfect for our upcoming trip to Arizona. I was also amazed at how fast the patterns arrived! Now I need to attempt to clean up the sewing room and get sewing.

Happy Leap Day!

Besides being Leap Day, today is also Calvin's half-birthday! We made snickerdoodle cookies last night for a half-birthday treat in class today.

It's also Spirit Day, so all the kids were encouraged to wear green. So, Calvin got a green faux hawk too. :)

When I Grow Up

I want to be Helen Mirren. She looked fantastic last night for the Oscars.

Lunar Eclipse Tomorrow Night

There is going to be a total lunar eclipse tomorrow night! It is supposed to be visible from South America, most of North America, and Western Europe and Asia, as well as Africa. Click HERE for more information with times, etc.

The viewing time is perfect for us, with totality happening around 9 pm. Last time, it happened around 5 am, and even though I got up, I couldn't see anything. Hopefully it will be clear tomorrow night!

Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

You know what that means, don't you? We've been working on making valentine's for the last 2 weeks. Last year we made these, this year we made woven heart baskets. These ended up being a bit more involved and difficult -- I did most of the work. Still, they are really cute, and most importantly, we had fun doing them. (I am thankful that we only had to do cards for Calvin's class. I guess in middle school you don't pass valentine's out anymore.)

I made a Flickr tutorial so that you can make your own sometime. (I also added the pix from last year's cards)

Now I have to go run to the grocery store to get a treat for the Valentine party, since my cupcakes are a failure (they are all sunken in the middle. weird).

Halfdome Hat

This past weekend my LYS had a sale. I went, to spend a gift certificate that my mom gave me, and ended up with the yarn to make Notre Dame De Grace, a sweater designed by Véronik Avery. (want to see my swatch? it's here)

Before starting yet another knitting project, I promised I would finish one. So, I finished up a Halfdome Hat for David. I started this in October, and decided to use the project to learn how to do Magic Loop. I learned I HATE magic loop. It sat, untouched, for about 3 months, because I didn't have size 5 dpns. Finally I bought some and have now finished the hat!

For you Ravelry members, my project page is here.

David loves it. He put it on right away, and didn't take it off until bedtime. Then, he put it on right when he got home after work last night, and didn't take it off until bedtime. I think we have a winner! I used Sublime Yarn's Cashmere Silk Merino DK, and knit the pattern in the round, like these instructions. This yarn is divine. It is so so soft, and David says it is very warm too. I eliminated the rolled edge and did ribbing instead. The hat itself is too tall (I started shaping at 4.5", and should have started at around 3-3.5"), but David just rolls the edge twice now. I really like the look of the raglan style decreases, and will definitely make this again. I needed to use just a bit of a 2nd ball of yarn, but if I had made the hat with the right depth, one ball would have been enough.

(we keep our heat fairly low, and David is bald, hence, he wears a hat in the house)

Superheroes!

Yesterday was the annual Music for Munchkins concert given by the high school orchestra. The theme this year was Superheroes.

I made this costume for the orchestra teacher. She was WonderWand Woman, and loved it! Not pictured are the gold vambraces I made. I also made a purple tunic and hat for The Green Goblin. The concert was wonderful, with evil villans (Green Goblin, Metroid, Mr. Freeze, and Syndrome) fighting with heroes (Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Elastigirl, Violet, and the orchestra's very own superhero: Stringman). Beautiful music was played, suspense, and action made for a great afternoon!

Calvin got to try out the instrument petting zoo. He wants to play the viola.

The boys did the crafts (masks, capes, face painting). Connor wanted to do them all, but didn't want to wear any of them. He insisted that Caleb wear whatever he created, and then was just distraught that Caleb wouldn't fly with the cape on. :)

Mittens

I finished Calvin's mittens. They were a fast project for me; I finished them in 10 days. Just in time too, since it was -4 with a wind chill of -23 when we got up yesterday (consider that it was 48 when we got up on Monday. Quite a temperature change!). My Ravelry project page for these is here.

He was thrilled when he saw I had finished them, and I tried to get a photo of his happiness, and this is what I got. :( My camera seems to have died! I think I'm going to have to get a new one -- I've tried all sorts of things, and cannot get anything but black photos. The viewfinder doesn't work, I can't get any photos no matter what setting I put it on, and the video won't work either. I can't complain too much, since I've taken 10,000+ pictures with it, so it certainly got used. Anyone have any recommendations for a camera? This was a Kodak EasyShare DX4330 (with a whopping 3.1 megapixels!), so I already have a 256mb card that I'd like to be able to continue to use.

Some Knitting

Some recent, and some not so recent. Remember my purple sweater? Remember when I ran out of yarn?! My friend Esther found some more for me, and I finished it last spring. Finally I got Calvin to take some photos! Here's one:
I also started a pair of mittens for Calvin on the 19th. I'm farther than this picture now, all that is needed is the thumb on the 2nd mitten, and weaving in the ends:
Connor had picked out the color, and once these are done, I'll start a pair for him (red).

Whomi!

I won a Whomi! Earlier this month, The Lazy Organizer had a giveaway for three Whomi calendars, and I won! It came yesterday, and it's so cool. This one is a Hidden Agenda. Isn't it pretty?

The inside is great. My calendar will be on the top, and I'll have each of the boys on the bottom. This is perfect timing, as my PDA had a run-in with a door frame. It still works, but not very well, and it's really really hard to enter information (if I touch the stylus on a Monday, I usually get bumped over to Wednesday or Thursday. Can you say annoying!). I especially like the forward planning section in the back of the calendar, 2 years out, which will come in handy when planning dentist and eye doctor appointments 6 months out.

I'm going to have to switch purses, though. I don't think it's going to fit in my current one....

Costume Details

I took a bunch of detail shots of Caleb's Pharaoh costume yesterday. I've put them in my 2008 Sewing Flickr set, with notes. The costume was a big hit at school, and survived the festival pretty well. I need to repair the headdress, as the seams in the lamé failed pretty easily.

The best part of this whole project was seeing Caleb's face when I showed him the final costume. He was pretty impressed, and kept talking about how good I was to be able to do it without him around (for fitting and babysitting). :)

Walk Like An Egyptian

(thanks to Rowena for the title. ~G~)

Today, as part of the social studies cirriculum, Caleb has an Opet Festival at school. All the students dress up like ancient egyptians, and do ancient egyptian stuff in each of their classes. I had a blast making his costume.

We took our inspiration from this King Tut costume. The tunic is made from rectangles with a shoulder slope. I had about 3" of the sleeve trim leftover when I was finished. The rest of the pieces are quilted lamé. Like most costumes, trim and accessories are everything! I found everything at Joann Fabrics on Tuesday. I started the costume Wednesday afternoon, and finished it yesterday. We copied a $200+ costume for $44.09 and about 8 hours of work. :) We made the hook thing and flail (sorry, I don't know the correct terms) from strips of plaster wrap that we rolled up and spray painted gold.

The eyeliner looks cool, though ultimately Caleb asked to have it washed off. I made the headpiece by making a quilted headband and then stitching alternate strips of the blue and gold lamé (2" finished width) into a 30x22 rectangle. This was then stitched onto the headband. It turned out really cool.

You can click on either picture to see it full size. I can take detail shots of the collar, belt, vambraces, and headpiece after he gets back home.

Resolutions

Ok, now that I've reviewed my past year, it's time to look forward to the next. :) Like Belinda, some of my sewing goals stay the same from year to year until I actually accomplish them. This year my goals are:

- Sew some nice clothes for my boys. Specifically, I want do to nice dress shirts (Caleb has a choir concert on the 29th, so I have a deadline), and I've always liked the look of Cordarounds.
- Increase my output of clothes for me. More dresses.
- Do window treatments for the downstairs (living room, dining room, kitchen).
- Finish the unfinished quilts.


On the non-sewing front:

- Get back down to about 125-130 pounds.
- More consistency with meal planning.

I have one more goal that will get its own post later.

Sewing Year In Review

It's a new year, and I get to reset my stats! First, a look back on 2007:

Yardage In: 67.875
Yardage Out: 45.125
Items Made: 47
Money Spent: $866.33

Not bad! Not bad at all. In comparison to 2006, I cut my yardage input more than in half, as well as cutting my spending in half. I also increased my output quite a bit (helped a lot by the costume sewing I did). My yardage consumption was reduced by a lot (75% or so?), however, I only did one quilt this year, and those really eat up yardage.

One goal I've had floating in my head for the past few years was to be self-supportive with my hobby, and I did that this year. Working for the shakespeare company and getting the suzuki institute job allowed me to 'support' my hobby on my own. :)

OK -- if you click HERE, you can see all the things I created in 2007 (it's a KodakGallery album, and I set it so that you do not have to sign in. The option is there, but not necessary). Apparently, it was the year of superhero capes and cowls (there's an extra one I made that I neglected to photograph).

Polar Bears!

I'll do a sewing year in review later, but first, Calvin and I started 2008 off right, with a dip in Lake Michigan! (Caleb chickened out)

For about 10 years, I jumped in Lake Michigan every New Year's Day, down at Bradford Beach, in a swimsuit and everything. I stopped after I turned 30. Anyway, yesterday was a spur of the moment type thing. Some of Caleb's friends waded in last year, at the beach across the street. This year they knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to come. So we did! It was really easy compared to going downtown. Just put on a coat, grab a towel, walk across the street and down to the beach, and wade in!

Yes it was still cold, and quite windy, but still fun.