Busy Day Cake

Wintry Mix

Like half of the country we've had our share of wintry mix the last day or two.  Compared with most, we ended up with a relatively easy end of the stick.  While there is plenty of ice on our driveway, things clear up at the end of our lane (glad we parked a car on the street). 

During our day of on and off icy rain, MB and I played sequence and watched the first half of The Sound of Music.  After lunch we all pitched in and worked on the centerpiece for our table at the school's fundraiser on Friday night - paper snowflakes. 

We had a noisy night of wind, ice crashes and limbs cracking, followed by a seven hour or so power outage.

Ever since MB heard we might lose power she has been beside herself with excitement.  She enthusiastically took inventory of every flashlight and glow-in-the-dark item in the house and helped bring in extra wood. We did all the laundry, ran the dishwasher and charged every appliance in the house to prepare.

She was clearly disappointed when we had only a few seconds of a power flicker yesterday and happy this morning to wake up to no electricity (asking me to please turn the light on to prove it to her).  But within an hour she was articulating a sadness about the day. I think the extreme quiet of the house unnerved her senses just enough.  And then, of course, once she settled into it, the power returned.

We're fortunate that when power goes out, we still have hot water and the stove to cook on (with the help of a lighter), plus the woodstove to heat the downstairs.  Even still, I'm glad to not have to empty the fridge contents onto the screened-in porch and charge my phone in the car.

Within ten minutes of the power returning, the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds.  It's intermittent but enough to brighten the day, even as an inch of snow falls on top of all the ice.

Dog Bed

Yesterday, while the icy rain fell, I had time to finish Pepper's dog bed cover that I started a few weeks ago.  There is something fun about making something not so important.  I guess I feel more freedom to experiment and not plan everything out beforehand. 

I just started making four identical squares, quilted them individually, then had to figure out how to make them fit an old pillow.  I'm quite satisfied with how it ended up, but perhaps its a bit too nice for a dog bed? 

The colors make me happy and I'm feeling more confident in my machine-quilting abilities.  Thanks for the sewing opp Pepper.  Maybe I am up for a whole quilt next.

Capacity Building

I read a blog posting recently that talked about making up a "badge" system for learning how to do a variety of things.  Their family had developed badges for learning how to make your own sandwhich, pumping up bike tires, cleaning a toilet, etc.  It wasn't that the children had to do these things all the time once they learned but that they could do them occassionally, not so dependent on an adult for every little thing. I love this idea of capacity building over time, breaking down life into some individual skills. 

A few months ago I started having MB dry dishes after supper.  It wasn't every single night, maybe 3 times a week, depending on what was going on. 

Through the process she is learning where things go, what things are for and, of course, how to dry a wide variety of kitchen things.  I love the extra time to talk with her and having someone else help eases some of my own stress.  Having all the dishes dried and put away right after the meal is a cool bonus.

So, this morning I asked MB if she'd like to learn how to clean the sink.  She put on rubber gloves and I showed her how magical it was that the cleanser erased all the gray marks in the sink.  When I cleaned out the dish drain side of the sink she exclaimed "do I get to clean out that sink too?!" 

Lovely. 

Cake Pops and Limits

One of my goals for winter is to use up much of the food I have been stockpiling so successfully.  I set an ambitious goal of spending no more that $150 on groceries and eating out for the month - hopefully enough for fresh veggies, fruit and a few meals out.

Having our budget limit has caused me to think more creatively about use of our available resources.  We ran out of paper napkins so we're using our cloth ones.  We have also greatly increased visibility in our deep freezer which adds to the ease of using what we have.

When I saw this blog posting reminding me about cake pops, I remembered that we had some GF cake and homemade buttercream in the freezer.  All we needed were popsicle sticks which I bought when I returned something to Sur La Table the other day.  And, really, we didn't even need those (darn, there went $3).  Chocolate and sprinkles already lived in the pantry so we were good to go.

While a bit too sweet for my taste, these are right up MB's alley and I do like the fact that they are small.  These kinds of things help make the living-from-the-pantry less of a struggle for MB.

Pizza Night Art

I just love this ingenious Pizza Night invitation designed by MB's teacher, Janet, and partially executed by each student at school to take home.  So cool I almost couldn't throw it away.  Taking a picture of it made it a little easier.

Day in the City

Today MB and I spent most of the day in Cincinnati.  We started out with our fav lunch of crispy paad thai at Bangkok Bistro, then headed for O'Bryonville for a little browsing at Ten Thousand Villages.  With a quick stop at a yarn shop, we arrived at the Cincinnati Art Museum. 

I had so many museum experiences growing up that they kind of all melt together.  It was just a way of life in NYC to spend a half day at a museum.  I forget that I need to go out of my way to give MB those experiences.  When I mentioned the idea of going to the art museum (a bit timidly) she responded with a gasp and exclamation that she had been wanting to go there.  (Truth in advertising, it might have helped a wee bit that she saw they were having a wedding dress exhibit.)

It's a lovely museum with loads of artistic history and, thanks to generous endowments, admission is always free.  From there we headed to some errands, multi-course dinner at Whole Foods and a late stop at Joseph-Beth Booksellers around the corner.  Since I'm rarely near shopping these days, MB agreed to a  stop at Target even though it was already almost 8.  We were able to pick up a youth sized basketball for her to practice and found rollerblade pads at long last.  On the way home we played 20 questions. No whining, no yelling.

All in all it was a fabulous day with lots of laughing and idea-generating conversations.  And we still have two more days off to play.

Hoops

It was a sweet evening.  I don't know why but I found MB's first night of instructional basketball very inspiring.  There was something about seeing the adults so patient and encouraging with these first and second grade girls, teaching them about a sport they themselves enjoy.  And something about seeing my girl jump right in and enjoy every minute, even when her only friend there arrived late.  And then there was the fun of seeing her enjoy the new-found power of springy new gym shoes (the girl who has never ever worn lace up shoes). I'm sure it all seems especially neat in light of my own lack of this kind of experience growing up. 

And then there was seeing her face when she made three baskets towards the end. 

I love the girl power of it all.

Harry Potter

We've read the first Harry Potter book to MB over the last few weeks (thanks to Clark who read much more than I did as I scurried around wrapping, sewing or recuperating from the holidays). We finished the book on Saturday so Sunday we got to watch the movie together.

So much fun to introduce MB to the world of wizards and witches and JK Rowling's creativity.

Last night, following the movie, MB started her birthday wish list, and as a backup, her Christmas wish list.  If you see a Nimbus 2000 on sale, please let me know.

Sewing in 2010

In looking back at 2010, I think I sewed more than I have in the last ten years combined.  I've been so busy squeezing in sewing machine time that I've neglected photo-taking and blogging. I'll try to catch up on some of the documenting, if only for myself.

Over the break, I managed to complete a pennant banner for MB's room.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out - crisp, colorful, dense feeling. 

And, because we keep our thermostat pretty low, each of us now has our own heating pad to sleep with.  I made up this heating bag cover for MB's.

So long 2010

What better way to ring out the year than a trip to Columbus to see our friends and time to shop at Sew to Speak?  While Diane and I only had about 30 minutes at the shoppe, it was blissfully and exclusively a grown-up trip (thanks Tom).  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the girls played on the Wii and organized a ballet.