The Home We Make

Pageant

2011-11-13T17:36:00.001-08:00

This year Ella competed in our town’s pageant. We supported her because of the fun she would have, the friends she would make and the confidence she would gain.
They did a group dance.

Casual wear modeling and an interview.

Formal wear modeling.

Ella did not win. And that’s totally OK. She had fun, made new friends and gained more confidence and had a very good new experience.

Soccer

2011-11-11T10:56:00.001-08:00

This summer, Miles did a soccer camp through our park district. He has done this program several times now and has the hang of it.

Coach Billy is one of a kind. He is so energetic and loves the kids. He also loves soccer. He is truly a gluten for punishment as he lets the kids dress him up in whatever they bring in on one day and on this particular day he let them bring in water guns. He even gave good ideas of how to get him truly soaked. Hence the cooler full of water to reload super soakers.

Fourth

2011-11-09T19:44:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know, way to late for fourth of July posts, but I’m catching up. Here is the 3rd generation from a group of friends that include Jason’s parents. What a bunch of cuties.

Summer Birthdays

2011-11-08T06:30:00.001-08:00

June 27 was Miles’ 6th Birthday. We surprised him with several family members waiting for him at the movie theater to see Cars 2 in 3D.

I made the birthday boy a pineapple upside-down cake at his request. He’s not a fan of frosting. (He certainly doesn’t get this from me).

I really like his photo. As my sister-in-law said, it really shows us for who we are since it isn’t too posey and w are all pretty relaxed and being ourselves.

Jason put up a swing on our big 100+ year old oak tree in our back yard. After I taught the kids how to do “the spider”, they then had to show their Uncle John how it is done.

Miles also had a kid party. Jason make a big homemade slip n slide with plastic tarp and pool noodles. Here is Miles behind his frosted cake. Frosting? Yuck!

The other two in our family with summer birthdays are my new sister-in-law Kris and me. We met at Long Grove, IL in a nice Italian restaurant for lunch. Getting together for each others’ birthdays is a very nice way to spend some family time.

After lunch Jason, the kids and I walked around the shopping area of Long Grove. The last store we walked into was a furniture store. And what do you know, they had the bedroom set of our dreams there! It was also, amazingly, a good price and very good quality. So we went home and thought about it (not for long) and decided to go for it. We just got the furniture shipped a couple of weeks ago and LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I’ll have to take pics soon. Of course, now I see that we “need” some new lamps to go on our night stands. Ha ha!

Spring Catch-Up

2011-11-07T19:22:00.001-08:00

If anyone is interested, here are a few photos from some of our highlights from Spring 2011.
Each of our kids went on a weekend campout separately with their dad and I took the other out for a special treat. Tea at Infini-tea in Antioch.

I actually had no idea that Miles would want to go out for tea with me, but he let me know that he wanted to and we had a very nice time.

Jason and I have been to several shows over the years at the Fireside Dinner Theater in Ft. Atkinson, WI.
When I saw that Annie was playing, we made the trip up for the kids’ first show there.

We spent Mother’s Day at the Botanic Garden. My two biggest blessings…

Ella had her dance recitals (she was in two). It was also my “last” (I hope it is not my last forever) recitals as a teacher before taking time off to go to school and study. I had 3 classes in the recitals. It was a blast.

Jazz Costume

Ballet Costume

Ella bridged from Daisy Scouts to Brownies.

My dear friend Lisa was in town from Dallas. It had been WAY too long since I last saw her! I picked her up at the airport and we went out to dinner at one of my favorite spots in the city “Pars Cove” on Diversey. She’s still as sweet and gorgeous as ever.

Ella's Cute Wedding Hair

2011-08-06T06:38:00.001-07:00

hair

So, there was this wedding back in March…

2011-07-31T19:16:00.001-07:00

…where, like, my brother and his new wife Kris got married. And somehow I never got around to posting anything about it until now. So please, sit back and enjoy…

Church in Glenview, Illinois. Reminded my husband and I a bit of the church where we got married.

Slippery staircase outside caused the bride to fall just before she had to walk down the aisle. Bet you couldn’t tell her pain from the first two photos.

Ella and Miles in the wedding.

Wedding party support crew minus my husband who is taking the photo.

From left to right: Abra (Kris the bride’s sister-in-law), Matt (Kris’ brother), Pam (Kris and John’s friend and matchmaker) and me, the sister of the groom. Photographer (also in the wedding party) is Jason (brother-in-law of the groom).

A group shot of the Whiteaker side of the family. At least those who had not gone home yet the day after the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful and meaningful to so many of us. Our entire little family of 4 was honored, privileged and tickled to death to all be a part of this wonderful occasion.

Kindergarten Grad

2011-06-07T07:07:00.001-07:00

On Friday, June 3, 2011, our son Miles graduated from Kindergarten. Even though the children were instructed to keep a serious face, Miles couldn’t help but let a smile break through a little.

Before the ceremony, I threw a little party at our house for family.

Here is a little appetizer I learned how to make from a friend recently. Very simple – a brick of cream cheese, covered with soy sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds and served with rice crackers (from Trader Joe’s). In the background on the left is the corner of baked brie with cranberries (wrapped in puff pastry). It was a frozen left-over from my sister-in-law’s bridal shower.

For Jason, I made this bean salsa and served it with whole grain tortilla chips.

Here are some sandwich wraps, little cocktail breads with deviled ham/cream cheese/green onion spread, topped with craisins and in the back strawberry cookie tarts.

Miles managed to goof around in silence during the ceremony.

He received the “Most Improved Reader/Academic” and the “Word Whiz” (spelling) awards.

We are so proud. And I’m even proud that he can be a bit of a clown. He has a huge personality and loves to make others laugh. What a guy!

Spring in Lake Geneva

2011-06-01T14:19:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went camping up in Lake Geneva, WI. This is the area where I will be going to school in the fall. Lake Geneva is a beautiful place. Here are ~~just a few~~ several pictures I took on a bike ride.

I took this one for the blue heron there in the back (do you see it?)

OK, I zoomed in and cropped. See it?

We discovered that, indeed, the kids can go on long bike rides with the family as of this Spring!

I just loved the texture in this one.

In addition to nature, many home there provide plenty of eye candy. This home was really pretty with it’s detail. It is hard to see here, but the trim around the roofs adds a lot of character to this one.

Lots of pretty landscaping.

This quaint “little” house was for sale! Close up, I realized it needed a lot of work, but still. Worth the work if you’ve got the time and the money!

I totally love this church and wonder if/when I’ll get tired photographing it.

The kids. This is really the most I got of the lake (Lake Geneva).

Because Lake Geneva is a bit north of us, their trees and flowers tend to blossom a bit later than ours. Great for us to catch!

We took a path along the lake that backed up to some very large houses. Future note: this path is NOT good at all for bikes, even when you are walking them.

Exhibit A: Not too shabby…

Another…

Um… yeah…

Very pleasant on the eyes, even if hard to maneuver with bikes.

Just another sampling.

Miles made a lot of wishes that weekend. I hope they all come true!!

A Quilt for A Beloved Teacher

2011-05-24T13:53:00.001-07:00

(Mom’s Night at Children’s Corner Montessori – 2011)

I made a baby quilt for a second cousin’s baby a few years ago. It was a lot of work and I found the quilting part especially challenging. I didn’t think I’d be attempting another one for a while – if ever again.

This year I received a plea for sewing volunteers to help out with some school quilts at my daughter’s elementary school. Each quilt represents one of the pillars of character and has squares drawn and colored by students. I put my name in to volunteer. I was called in to quilt and bind a finished top. But the quilting wasn’t the kind I had done before (meandering) but rather it was stitch in the ditch (straight lines through seams). It took a little practice, but I found it wasn’t nearly as hard as the first quilt I made.

This gave me an idea (I’m always coming up with ~~crazy~~ great ideas). I would have the students at Miles’ Montessori Kindergarten come over and make some squares. And I would put them together. And I thought it would be quite meaningful to their sweet and wonderful teacher (who I personally LOVE for being such a wonderful teacher/human being to my children). We have had our children at this school for the past 6 years. This is our last year and I know I will miss the school and this teacher TERRIBLY!

So the invites went out.

And all the children came.

Along with some of the parents.

They worked hard.

They played hard.

They left.
Then the easy part started…
I happily sewed row by row.
I quilted.
I bound.

When you make something for someone you love, the process is so full of joy!

I was thrilled. But I had to figure out just how to present it to the teacher.

So… I volunteered to come in to talk about “sewing” and to give a “presentation”.
I found a great kids book about how meaningful a quilt can be and read it to the class. I brought in some quilts my grandma made from scraps left over from clothes she made for herself, for me and for my dolly. I brought in a quilt that my mom made me from my old T-shirts. I explained how much each quilt meant. I really think the kids got it.

Then I had the kids stand up and brought out this quilt for the teacher.
She was sort of speechless.
She cried.
I think she likes it.
We will never forget her, we will always love her! I hope she will always stay a part of our lives.

(Mom’s Night at Children’s Corner Montessori – 2011)

This project linked to:

This Week’s Photography Class Assignment

2011-04-27T12:41:00.001-07:00

I am really becoming more aware of how to design photographs. I don’t always get it right, but I think I’m more aware of what I did wrong when I look at my pictures after the fact. And hopefully I will learn from those mistakes. I am also becoming more comfortable with changing some of the settings on my camera to get the look I am trying to achieve and for the best picture possible. Less frustration = happier photographer = better pictures. I hope.

This week we have Architecture and People or Pets. Here you go:

The following are of a shop in Long Grove, IL. I’m sure this used to be a house. This is of the back of the house, but it is the side seen by many walkers/shoppers as it is in the courtyard type area of the cluster of buildings which house shops in that area. And for the record, I drove by the front of it later and personally, I like the back better.

A corbel near the back entrance.

Next up is my people study. These are from a portrait session with my husband. I know they are the same pose, just different distances, but one other that I like, he didn’t like and I don’t want to put it up in case it embarrasses him. Though I don’t think it is in any way, embarrassing.

One other thing. I didn’t show some photos from last week’s class!

These are of the Church of the Holy Communion in Lake Geneva, WI.

Interview with a Poet During National Poetry Month

2011-04-26T13:39:00.001-07:00

What a treat I have for you! During the last few days of National Poetry Month, please enjoy an interview with my friend Tania Runyan, an award winning poet!

I met my friend Tania about 5 years ago through a small group from the church we attended. Our group was so amazing and enlightening in that we all had strong relationships with each other regardless of our wildly differing philosophies. Tania and I have kept in touch since our small group has disbanded and occasionally get together to go walking and talking. And talking with Tania is always a pleasure! She is an amazingly insightful, thoughtful, passionate, compassionate, and artistic person. This all shows through in her poetry as well as her personality.

Most recently, she has published a collection of poems in a book called Simple Weight. This book is available through Amazon.com. You can also read more about her at her website.

In March, Tania told me about a poetry reading she was doing from her new book in a nearby town called Antioch, which I happen to love. My brother lived there for several years before getting married this March. I was thrilled to have the free time to go and hear her poetry in her own voice. It was a lovely evening and such an honor to be able to attend this event.

And without further ado, here is the interview!

KW: Could you give a brief background of where you are from and how you got to Illinois as well as how long you and Jeremy have been together an how old your kids are?

TR: I grew up in Southern California, which is where I met Jeremy at the University of California, Riverside. We got married during our senior year of college, so that makes for 17 years! Our kids are Lydia, 8, Becca, who will be 6 in May, and Samuel, who will be 3 in May. There is no quick answer to how we got to Illinois, but the short of it is that a combination of grad school programs and careers brought us up here. Many people say I am crazy for leaving California, but I really love it here!

KW: When did you first become interested in writing?

TR: When I was 7, my babysitter, who was probably in sixth grade at the time, showed me two animal posters in her room. "Why don't we each pick one and write a story?" she asked. I ended up writing a story about a koala and was stunned by the freedom and excitement of creating with words. I have been hooked ever since.

KW: What/who inspired you to start writing poetry?

TR: I came to poetry relatively late after seriously considering a career as a screenwriter. I always saw myself as more of a fiction writer or playwright until my high school creative writing teacher told me I was strongest with poetry. I went on to college again with playwriting on the mind, but I kept those teacher's words in my heart. Once I started taking poetry workshops in college, I knew poetry was my strongest suit.

KW: What most inspires your writing?

TR: Over the past few years, biblical texts have been most influential to my writing; I am writing almost exclusively on scripture, biblical figures, and my own personal experiences with faith.

KW: What do you feel is/are the biggest misconception(s) about writing poetry?

TR: It bothers me that while many people accept the fact that a good musician, dancer or actor must practice and rehearse, they believe poetry is some sacred, untouchable expression that nobody dare criticize. While poetry is indeed self-expressive, it is an art and a craft that deserves an artist's full attention. Poets indeed do and must practice and revise in order to improve. Scribbling off a poem in a journal and defending its artistic integrity as pure self-expression does not show respect toward the art. There is definitely a place for journal-writing; I keep a journal as well, and most of my poems grow out of those entries. But I would never dream of considering one of my spontaneous journal entries on equal par with a poem I've labored over for ten hours.

KW: Who is/are your favorite contemporary poet(s) and why?

TR: This list changes constantly, but right now I really enjoy reading poets who write from a context of faith, such as Paul Willis, Scott Cairns, and Barbara Crooker. I've also been exploring contemporary Welsh and Scottish poets, such as Anna Wigley and Kathleen Jamie. Their poetry is raw and searching but with exacting language--exactly what I try to emulate.

KW: Who is/are your favorite deceased poet(s) and why?

TR: I love Rilke for his soulful and haunting voice. If only I knew German!

KW: Which of your poems is your favorite?

TR: Probably "Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit" and "The Goldfish Pond."

KW: When you are not writing, what do you enjoy doing?

TR: I love gardening, especially propagating my own plants. I also play on the worship team at church: violin, mandolin, and bass. I am obsessed with Irish and Scottish music and enjoying playing that genre on my violin and mandolin as well.

KW: What do you need to do your best work?

TR: Coffee, good Celtic tunes, and a big chunk of time!

KW: Please share what you feel are your greatest accomplishments in your writing.

TR: I would have to say writing about the Bible in a way that is both personally authentic to me and interesting to others. Of course, I continue to work on this, as I feel I have further to go and deeper to delve.

KW: What is your next goal in your poetry career? In your life?

TR: I am currently working on a book of poems based on the apostle Paul and his writings. The grant from the National Endowment for the Arts has afforded me time to really concentrate on this project. After that, I would like to work on a collection about revival, perhaps the revival in Wales or the Hebrides in Scotland. As for the rest of my life, I am interested in returning to the school setting once all three kids are in school--perhaps as a reading specialist or special Ed teacher. I am currently in the midst of figuring out what I want to do "when I grow up"!

Many thanks to Tania for taking the time to do this interview. You are an amazing friend with amazing talent. Dear readers, please do yourself a favor and go check out some of her work!

Daffodil Girl

2011-04-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

Each year since she was born, I have taken a photo of Ella by the daffodils. All but one, so far, has been by the same daffodil patch in our backyard. Here is this year’s edition:

2011 (7 yrs)

And all the others to date:

2010 (6 yrs)

2009 (5 yrs)

2008 (4 yrs)

2007 (3 yrs)

2006 (2 yrs)

2005 (1 yr) – This one was at the mall waiting in line for the Easter bunny.

2004 (4 mos)

Which Would You Choose?

2011-04-18T13:22:00.001-07:00

Well, it is about time for photography class again this week. Last week was horribly cloudy, so I didn’t get out until Saturday to take pics for this week’s assignments.

One of the assignments was to take a bunch of pictures of a landscape using different angles, zooming in, zooming out etc. etc..

Lucky me, I happened to be going up to Lake Geneva, WI on Saturday. If you are not from around here, Lake Geneva is a resort town that is located on Lake Geneva. The houses, trees, scenery are beautiful. Especially coming from flat Illinois. So my favorite landscape photo is this:

Perhaps difficult to see, but it is a little too blurry. My husband noted there was no subject to this picture. So I went out to a forest preserve on Sunday looking for a subject to have in my landscape pictures. I happened upon a bunch of white tailed deer. And here is my best from that:

Not only is there a stinking tree branch in my frame (I should know better), but when I showed this to Jason, he said it was really now a wildlife photograph.

Frustrated, I emailed my teacher. He asked me to call him the next morning. He actually liked my first pic, and helped me to figure out how to better increase the chance of getting clearer shots. He had a few comments like not to show the sky on a yucky day and that perhaps it would be better to have more water between the dock and the land. As for the deer, he said he like the shot, but indeed, since the eye goes right to the deer, he too would consider it a wildlife photo over a landscape. But he did like where I chose to place the horizontal line of the reeds (not in the middle). I guess if the deer was farther back in the photo and not looking at me, it would be more of a landscape.

Then, this morning it snowed. Just for reference, it was 80 degrees F last Sunday. BUT… it made for some beautiful pictures. At least I got this one. This was as I was driving home from dropping off my son at school. Then I got home and called my teacher. At the end of the call he told me to go outside NOW and take some picture. Stupid me, I did a few things around the house and then went out. And everything was melty. Should have listened to teacher.

But I did get some interesting pictures. The are all in pairs and I can’t figure out which pair to choose to show on Tuesday. Unless I get something better tomorrow. I was wondering if any readers had an opinion?

Photography Student: Class 2

2011-04-12T13:17:00.001-07:00

So, by the way, my photography class is called Designing Your Photographs and is taught by Lou Nettelhorst who actually lives very close to us. He also leads many other photography classes, seminars, outings and private lessons.

I think what I will do now is just try to throw in a few facts/pointers I learned in class along with the photos that I plan to submit for the assignments.

First (after going through all of the students’ photos for the previous week’s assignments) Lou talked about shapes and how we should try to go beyond labels of objects in order to see both primary and secondary shapes. For instance, a flower can be a circle and a tree can be a triangle. Each shape can represent a different feeling. One tip was that too many shapes in a picture may prevent the viewer from seeing any coherent theme and may otherwise present as chaos or competition within the picture.

We are to submit one image of a shape that we have photographed that creates interest in the subject. Here is mine:

Not sure how terrific this is other than I rarely notice/consciously recognize that objects are shapes. I discovered that there are a lot of triangles out there, but had a hard time finding circles. I’m sure there are a lot out there, I just need to look harder. This is part of a roof of a bar in Antioch, IL. It was quite a cloudy day. I made the colors pop by playing with the color saturation and luminance. I shoot in RAW format, which allows the “artist” to easily tweak the pictures after they are taken with special computer programs. I am currently using Lightroom.

Next up was texture. Texture is best highlighted by proper lighting and cropping. Texture tends to provoke memories of what things feel like. I had a hard time with this as the lighting hasn’t been really great, and when it was, I wasn’t feeling too great! Now I have three that I need to choose from before class tonight. Please feel free to vote!

The rim of one of our beloved salad bowls. We love pottery and this is from a set that is one of our favorites. Made by Alice Goldsmith.

Close up of a garbage can outside of the Grayslake Park District building.

Bud getting ready to bloom outside of the Grayslake Park District building.

Finally we talked about perspective. Perspective represents depth or distance and can be best created by distorting or deforming space (enlarge an object in relation to another). We were near the end of class when talking about this, but I see some things Lou went through quickly from our handout. I’d rather not write about it too much as I don’t quite have a handle on it myself, but basically it covers influences of our perceptions of depth in regards to light and what qualities represent closeness and distance. So without further ado, here are my two images for the assignment:

This is a walkway through a nature area behind the main street in Antioch. The little dead leaf, or whatever that is, is a little distracting…

This is a set of stairs behind a building on the main street in Antioch.

Here’s another I took today of tights lined up before my first dance class:

While I like the concept, I should have shut the bathroom door in the background! Live and learn…

Just for fun, here are a couple of others I took that I like that may or may not follow any of the instructions for the assignments:

Close up of same stairwell as above. I liked the peeling address numbers in red/orange and the green door in the background in contrast to the neutrally colored worn wood and brick.

Tin ceiling at Café Book in Antioch. A cute and comfortable bookshop/café. A little too flat to use for the texture assignment.

FYI, my submissions for last week’s assignment were well received. Phew!!

Pillow Whip Up

2011-04-11T13:18:00.001-07:00

Recently we purchased a new recliner. This purchase was to replace a VERY comfortable well loved leather chair and ottoman. The previous chair had been pretty marred up by cat scratches. Plus the green color was just not working with the room.

We spent a lot of time at the showroom deciding on the fabric color. We brought swatches of the paint color, the carpet and all of the other upholstered fabric in the room. Yet… when we got it delivered, it looked MUCH lighter than what the fabric sample looked like in the showroom. In a way, it almost matches TOO much. Like it blends in. I decided it needed a pillow with a bit of color to brighten it up. Jason suggested we try a fabric with blue in it. First I looked through my stash. Among other fabrics, I had a large swatch of upholstery fabric that looked like it was from a few decades ago based on the writing on the tag. And even then, it was labeled “vintage”. I wasn’t real sure about it, but once I laid that sample on the chair, Jason thought it was “the one”. Either that, or he realized it was free, so go with it. I found some canvas fabric to back it with and bought a pillow form at a local discount decorator fabric warehouse.

The fabric itself had another colorway sewn to it in a spot that I needed to be a part of the pillow in order to center the floral bouquet. I carefully took out the stitches and was left with big holes! Luckily the fabric is fairly forgiving in its texture. I ran my nails over the holes and ironed over them to help them disappear. I think it did the trick.

I also decided to add a zipper, just in case we get tired of the cover, or just want to change it up a bit from time to time.

In the past I have done a lot of piping (cording) on my throw pillows, which does take a bit more time. But even so, I was amazed how easy and quick this was for me. ESPECIALLY with the zipper.

I started back at sewing (after some sporadic minimal attempts) when I was pregnant with my son, by making pillows. Since then, I have ventured into many other areas of sewing. And now pillows? They are so amazingly easy for me. I guess it takes something like this to realize how far you have come. And I’m not afraid of zippers (as much) anymore!!

On a side note: I am keeping something from you! (Well, unless you are my friend on Facebook). It is a sewing project which will be a gift for my son’s teacher. I am so excited and pleased with the result and can’t wait to see her face. It involves all of her students this year and it is something I kinda swore I wouldn’t be doing again for a long time after my last one. But now… have I caught the bug? Anyway, sorry, but you’ll have to wait until the end of May for this one!

Up soon (hopefully tomorrow): This week’s Photography Class Assignments!

Other topics I’d like to cover/revisit:

How my mail organizing system has worked for me.
Some slipcovers I made for our dining room chairs many months ago, which I never blogged about.
An interview (which my friend agreed to but which I have yet to prepare for and conduct) with my friend Tania who writes amazing poetry.

Photography Student

2011-04-04T09:08:00.001-07:00

Both my husband and I have been interested in photography for quite a while. We are blessed to have two nice digital SLRs between the two of us. For a while it was just one and it would get frustrating when one wanted to use it, but the other had it. My husband is a much better photographer than I, but I would like to get better. So… I signed up for a class at our local community college, the College of Lake County. It meets once a week on Tuesday evenings for 3 hours. So far I’ve only had one class. The main points I’ve learned are how light affects your pictures and how it is important to “make” your picture. Mainly for me, I have started noticing my backgrounds and whether they add to or detract from the picture. This week’s assignments are lines and light. First we were to take several photos of straight lines and curved lines and bring one of each to class. Here are mine:

Straight: (part of the roof of Central Bark in Grayslake) Diagonal straight lines are supposed to suggest movement.

Curved: (flag outside of the local Park District Building) Not sure if this counts as curved, as the curves are due to motion in the wind.

The second part of the assignment was to take photos of two different items in direct light, side light and back light. Only one study will be submitted. Here are mine:

My subject: A bouquet of roses that were on sale at the grocery store.

Front lighting. Supposedly causes the subject to look “flatter”. Hmmm.

Side lighting. Supposedly gives more dimension to the subject. I would certainly say so. More so than direct light, that’s for sure.

Back lighting. Supposedly creates more of a silhouette. In this case, it really gives some interesting affects. Since the flowers have translucent petals, the light shines through them at certain points. Though I don’t see much of a silhouette here per se, the shadows and lights are quite interesting and pretty. I think it looks more romantic and dreamy.

Perhaps I AM learning some new things! Hope this helps you if you are also looking for a few photo tips. I’ll try to share more as I go along with the class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, and here are some photos I thought were just cute, but see how the background (and other noise) kinda ruins or takes away from the pictures. (These are not for the class).

Subject one: Paris, our younger girl kitty. The bag of stuff on the chair and the bag on the floor by the door really ruin the picture! She was so daintily balancing on the arm of that old chair and I love the back lighting here.

Subject two: Velvet, our older boy cat. I came home on Sunday to this scene. The blanket and pillows really detract! My daughter had set up all of these stuffed animals at her pillow and it was so cute how Velvet seemed to want to join the pillow party.

But really this one was worse: Because of those cords!!! I purposely changed angles to get the one above without the cords in the background.

The main problem here is that if I had taken the time to remove the offending objects, the subjects may have either gotten bored and moved on or gotten irritated by the movement and moved on. So I guess the moral of the story is to always keep a perfectly clean house. Ugh, right…

What’s for Dinner? - Fish Tacos with Lime Sauce

2011-04-03T13:38:00.001-07:00

I often pull interesting looking recipes from magazines and stuff them into a binder which I intend to organize someday. If they are lucky, I will try them out. If they are even luckier, I will put them in the “keeper” pile to make again!

This recipe is for a food item I have only experience recently and loved! I found this one in Better Homes and Garden’s 2011 April edition. We had a couple of fish tacos from different vendors down in Key West, Florida last year. I believe we were quite spoiled in general with sea food in the Keys, because I don’t think we will be able to find such fresh fish here in Chicago grocery stores anytime soon!

I did make a few modifications to the recipe in an attempt to make it even healthier.

The original can be found here (again, all credit to Better Homes and Gardens):

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/seafood/fish-tacos-with-lime-sauce/

ingredients

1 lb. fresh tilapia or catfish filets
3 limes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
8 small (6- to 7-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 small carrots, peeled and shredded (1/2 cup)
1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, thinly sliced

directions

1. Rinse fish and pat dry. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

2. For Lime Sauce, juice two of the limes into a bowl (cut remaining lime into wedges for serving). Stir mayonnaise and chili powder into juice. Remove 1/3 cup sauce and toss fish in it.

3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil over medium heat. In shallow dish combine flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Working with about a third of the fish at a time, toss in flour mixture and add to hot oil. Cook 2 to 4 minutes or until fish flakes, turning to brown evenly and adding additional oil as needed. Drain on paper towels.

4. Wrap tortillas in paper towels; heat in microwave 30 seconds. Top tortillas with fish, cabbage, carrots, and jalapeño. Drizzle with Lime Sauce. Pass lime wedges. Makes 4 servings.

MY CHANGES:

In place of mayonnaise, I used fat free plain yogurt and a dollop of mustard.

I did NOT coat the fish in flour.

I really should have piled more filling in here for the photo. My husband ended up doing so anyway before he ate it!

He calls the recipe a keeper. I say the sauce needs a little more oomph. Keep in mind, that my sauce was not the same as the original recipe.

Bottom line – I will be making these again! I will just be playing around with the sauce and trying to avoid the mayonnaise!

GEEKS

2011-02-13T17:07:00.001-08:00

So I am reading a book that seems to be validating our already “unconventional” (old fashioned) parenting philosophy. Not only am I feeling validated, I am also finding new ideas as well as other aspects of our type of parenting to consider. I will post the book name once I am completely done reading it! Though the title to this post gives a clue.

Last week, as often is the case, I said “no” to TV. I turned on some Thelonius Monk and the kids spent there time on much more productive activities than zoning out.

I believe our parenting style has encouraged both kids to read often for pleasure and learning. Ella is our big book worm, next to me. Miles is quickly progressing in his reading ability too and I catch him reading to himself often in his room.

On this quiet Friday afternoon after school Ella devours her school library book.

Though, I will say, both kids have their fair share of “non-imagination sparking” toys (which, by the way, they rarely play with), they also have quite a few that will help their minds’ grow. I bought this set of simple blocks for Miles a few years ago and he still loves to take them out and play. The whole time he makes up little stories to go along with what he is doing.

This was after we made some cookie dough together.

Next I catch Ella reading about dinosaurs…

Pretty soon she will be off to dance class.

No TV that evening at all…

Chicago Blizzard of ‘11

2011-02-13T16:51:00.001-08:00

During the last week of January we were hit with what was supposedly the 3rd biggest blizzard in Chicago’s recorded history.

Here is what Jason found when he opened the garage door.

And the kids, they had a blast.

Personally, I stayed in all day and organized kitchen cabinets. The kids had 2 snow days off from school. It was nature’s way of telling us to slow down a bit!

Pre-Wedding Celebrations

2011-02-13T16:30:00.001-08:00

My brother John and his fiancé Kris are getting married in just a few short weeks! To gear up for the big event, the bridesmaids Pam, Abra and myself threw Kris a bridal shower!

Mother of the bride: Laura.

Kris chatting with some Aunts.

Pam’s “Bistro Style” concept.

Good quality cake is an important family tradition.

Kris is well loved and it was therefore a very big shower. Thus, the gift unwrapping was a major event!

Kris and Ella have grown very fond of each other. Kris really wanted Ella at her shower and though she was a bit under the weather from her surgery, Ella was determined to be there. She was a real sport and many of the adults commented on how well behaved of a little girl she is. I am thrilled to have Kris as Ella’s aunt. Though it is not yet official, she has really already deserved the title!

John came near the end and pitched in too.

Bella, the beloved “flower” dog even showed up!

And Ella was thrilled.

Miles came later to help load up the car and got a wonderful surprise! Silly shoes to wear at the reception.

____________________________________

Next up, a group of girls took Kris out for a laid back girls night out. Here is the group, minus me at Nirvana restaurant.

The beautiful bride-to-be with a good friend.

Then we all went back to Pam’s for ice cream, cupcakes and…

gift giving…

Removal

2011-02-13T15:58:00.001-08:00

In December I brought Ella into the ENT to see if there was an obvious cause of her snoring, snorting, difficulty breathing and perhaps her sleep walking. The doctor looked in her throat and said in amazement, “Those tonsils are GINORMOUS!”. So out they were to go, along with her adenoids (if they too looked big, which indeed was the case). It was a quick-ish out-patient procedure and she did quite well with the initial post-surgical recovery. She did take a week off of school and took the full two weeks to make a significant recovery.

Pre-surgery and post sedative.

Post surgery with her new unicorn pillow pet and purple popsicle.

Post Holiday Fun

2011-02-13T15:33:00.001-08:00

At the end of December, our family of four visited the Museum of Science and Industry. There is really no way to see the whole museum in one day, so we will have to go back a time or two this year. The only downside is that the traffic into and/our out of the city of Chicago is horrendous.

Scenes from a 2010 Suburban Family’s Christmas

2010-12-28T21:43:00.001-08:00

At home on Christmas morning.

Later that day at Babi and Grandpa’s.

All dressed up!

Hairdo:

Even later at a party for friends of my husband’s family.

Dec. 26, Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa.

With Uncle:

Christmas Dinner:

Family:

Nice kids pic by the tree:

With Uncle John:

Ella’s 7th Birthday Rolls Right In

2010-12-20T16:42:00.001-08:00

Having kids means re-discovering your own childhood at times. One of the many things we have “re-tried” with our kids this years has been roller skating. Ella was hooked. Miles was pretty happy about it too. But Ella was so smitten, she was sure she wanted her next birthday to be a roller skating party.

Here she is with her schoolmate buddy: (yes they are the same age)

Cupcakes? No problem, we can fit 7 candles on a cupcake! And look, theirs plenty of room left.

The girl of honor.

The opening of the presents.

Ella’s Uncle John and “Almost” Aunt Kris surprised Ella by showing up to skate. (Sorry no pictures of that here).

Next up was the family party at home. Lots of family, pizza, gifts and fun!

Great “action” shot of Ella and Miles with Grandma and Grandpa Whiteaker.

Goofing around with Uncle John and Kris.

Mom gets a little time with the birthday girl!

And her brother. (I’m giving him a shoulder rub)

Ella and my dad.

Miles and his Babi.

Kids with Uncle Scott and Jen.

Miles, again goofing around with Grandpa and Grandma.

Get Ready

2010-12-06T07:05:00.001-08:00

This weekend was quite full of tasks around the house. Much of it was preparation for many things.

First, we have carpet installers coming today, so we had to remove breakables as well as small things scattered on the floor in all the bedrooms. Now that so much is out of the kids rooms, I feel I can breathe better. All those boxes of their stuff in the dining room and living room… I’m not sure I want to put it back after the carpet is in. I just feel like we have too much STUFF! And it feels a bit suffocating.

Jason also painted our bedroom ceiling. We had some drywall repaired and it need to be painted. We figured why not now, while it doesn’t matter if drips get on the carpet! I will be SO glad to replace that carpet. It is mauve (PINK!). It has been that way since we moved in 7 1/2 year ago. I can’t want to get replace it with a neutral.

Jason also put up out outdoor Christmas lights and we went out and bought our Christmas tree. On Sunday evening we decorated it. I had been hoping to wait on the tree, but well, now it is done! This is the fullest tree we’ve ever had and takes up quite a bit of the family room.

We are also getting carpet ripped out of half of our basement. See, we had a little problem with our dear little Paris Kitty. She had some medical (and I think emotional) problems for a while and did a number on that side… With that, another project presents itself. We will be installing vinyl “wood” on that entire side of the floor and then putting up quarter round around the trim.

Finally, I spent a few hours studying for my final exam which is this week. In reality, I don’t have to take this test. Our professor said that he will only count our top 3 tests and I did rather well on those. But I am taking this class to learn and I don’t want to just flake out on the last three chapters. They were the most interesting anyway.

Faith

2010-12-02T20:44:00.001-08:00

Sometimes in the thick of “it”, we want out. We want change, we think our circumstance is a mistake and it should be “fixed”.

This brings me to an excerpt from one of my favorite, life changing book authors.

"Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see." Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place

Sometimes we have to have faith that we do not have ultimate control and the One who has plans for us knows better for us than we do. It is up to us to trust and to listen in order to find out what we are meant to do. We can look to uncomfortable circumstances as an opportunity to build our character or we can turn our backs and grumble through them.

If you haven’t read The Hiding Place, I highly recommend it. When Corrie and her family were placed in concentrations camps for harboring Jews from the Nazis in their home in Holland, God was preparing Corrie’s heart for to reach out to help even more people. He used her sister to help build up her faith in the midst of a horrifying experience. Her release from the camp was a “mistake”, she was supposed to be killed that day, but He had other plans…

With that, what would you have done in this circumstance?

Have a little faith, and make a big impact!

"It is not so much what happens, but how we take it that is important. All our times are in God's hands, even the difficult ones." Corrie Ten Boom

A Very CPK Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T20:20:00.001-08:00

Due to incompatible holiday weekend schedules, we did not get together with extended family for Thanksgiving. But we did meet up on Sunday with my parents, my brother and his fiancé at California Pizza Kitchen. My parents hadn’t seen the kids since August! It is hard to believe our school and activity schedule has been so crazy that we haven’t gone to see anyone for a while! Anyway, I think a good time was had by all. We certainly stayed there long after we were done eating!

Sorry Mom! (She doesn’t like having her picture taken).

Just Us

2010-11-28T20:19:00.003-08:00

Two days and the day before Thanksgiving I made up our meal. I hadn’t planned on it, but we changed our minds and decided to have traditional Thanksgiving fare. And just so you know, Thanksgiving food reheats really well.

It was a great stress-free family day. I was Thankful for the opportunity to serve others, to serve my family and to end the day with a feeling of peace. I think the rest of the family felt it too.

Serving Those Who Serve Us

2010-11-28T20:19:00.001-08:00

I have wanted to serve those who otherwise wouldn’t have a Thanksgiving Day feast for quite a while. I always imagined doing this at a soup kitchen in the city (Chicago), but last year we heard of a wonderful opportunity to do something similar very close to our home. So we signed up to serve. The turnout was huge - almost 200 Navy servicemen and a few homeless as well. It was our privilege to serve these young (very young) men who have committed to serving and protecting us. I tried my best to make sure everyone at my table had what they wanted. It was a pleasure to wait on them. They were very polite and respectful.

Miles wished each man a Happy Thanksgiving and made a few friends.

People behind the scenes have very important jobs too.

I hope that my family will always have giving hearts.

(Miles has taken to giving this goofy smirk during pictures!)

A Day Out on the Town

2010-11-28T19:51:00.001-08:00

Both kids had the week of Thanksgiving off, so on Tuesday I took them down to Chicago for a day of museums. There are three museums in extreme close proximity in the city, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. On Tuesdays both the aquarium and planetarium are free.

I didn’t take any indoor pics (besides in the cafeteria) because it was so so dark.

Planetarium

Telescopes on the perimeter of the cafeteria at the planetarium were of a great deal of interest to Ella and Miles.

On the steps of the aquarium.

In front of the Chicago skyline right outside of the planetarium.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T10:00:00.001-08:00

Wherever you are, whatever you do, may the blessings of Thanksgiving be with you.

Dance Dance Dance

2010-11-18T10:46:00.001-08:00

Ella loves to dance. I have no idea where she gets this from. ;-) We now have her in TWO recital classes, Ballet/Tap and Jazz/Hip Hop. She was in cheerleading this fall and insists that she wants to do poms next year. Not that she didn’t love cheer. And not that she wasn’t a good cheerleader. She just knows she will like poms better. I think she is right.

A few weeks back we enrolled her in a Pom Clinic at the “other” high school in our town (Grayslake North – we live in an area that feeds into Grayslake Central, the older school). Last week we got an email inviting her back to perform with the others at the clinic at a competition at the school on Sunday. Considering she learned the routine a few weeks back and they had only a brief time to review it that day, I don’t think she is that terrible… If you don’t know what she looks like, she is wearing black pants and has her blond hair in a ponytail. Enjoy!

Here is the other dance that they did at the clinic. This one is from the actual day of the clinic.

Later that day (this past Sunday) we went to a very cold and wet Super Bowl game for the little league football that Ella cheers for. It was officially her last game. I can’t even find her in this group!

Cheap Art

2010-11-15T10:47:00.001-08:00

As usual, I’ve been moving things around in the house. Hey, what can I say, it’s free redecorating! Since I moved my sewing machine up to the guest room, I hadn’t moved my “Red Thread” (by Modern Art Everyday) print from the basement up to the guest room until recently and realized I’d really like another print to go next to it. That week I saw a photo of a sewing room on a blog where someone had framed some fabric which I recognized (otherwise I wouldn’t have known it was actually fabric). I knew right away what I’d do. I’d pull out one of my favorite scraps (meant for a bib, but oh well) and frame IT! I knew it was in the right color family. So why not enjoy it everday. I bought the frame with matte included, at Walmart for a good price. Viola, there you have it.

Here it is next to Red Thread. Please forgive the sewing mess, I’m working on finishing up some slipcovers made from a drop cloth. I’ll show you them when I’m done!

Sweet Things

2010-11-08T21:29:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I stopped by a garage sale in our neighborhood. She had some pretty embroidered linens. I could not resist this pillowcase for Ella’s room. It has the perfect colors and such delicate handiwork. How often can you find something like this anymore?

Today was an amazingly beautiful day. 66 degrees for the beginning of November. Not too shabby!

I felt the best I have in weeks, though not 100%. I’m going to the doctor on Wednesday to see if she recommends any testing. Some issues seem a bit troublesome and just being sick for so long is not preferable either.

On another note, as much as I was worried about taking an online class, I have been really enjoying my online Statistics class. I thought I’d miss that classroom time. But really, for math, I think I’m better without it. I can read the text and practice problems on my own. And honestly, taking a test at home alone in peace and quiet (when kids are at school) is much easier for me than sitting in a class with others under the buzzing fluorescent lights and (to me) a greater feeling of pressure. That being said, I took my 3rd Exam today for this class and got another 100%! It was the toughest exam yet and I was prepared to not have a perfect score, but boy was I shocked and pleasantly surprised. 1 big project, 1 smaller assignment, a bunch of intermediate homework and 1 more exam and I’ll be done. Hmmm, still sounds like a lot to me!

Pumpkins and Treats

2010-11-04T14:16:00.001-07:00

Caution, post is photo heavy. Mainly for family.

Here Miles still has a 5 o’clock shadow. He was pretty creeped out about putting his hands in the pumpkin guts. So we didn’t torture him with that for too long.

Ella’s pumpkin had the thickest shell ever.

On Saturday we went to Downtown Grayslake business Trick or Treating. An example of how our large town can feel like a small town.

An example of Mile’s rapper pose.

Getting ready to Trick or Treat on Sunday.

With Uncle John and “Almost Aunt” Kris.

We went to a LOT of houses. Even THEY got tired.

As for my health. Not good. Stomach flu Sunday night. All night. As in laid on the bathroom floor all night. Now, still having respiratory problems.

It’s becoming the normal. And I don’t like this normal.

I love a Parade

2010-11-02T17:03:00.001-07:00

Parade numero uno:

Children’s Corner Montessori Kindergarten

Miles had a princess on each arm.

How to get the whole class to smile at once? I’ll never know.

Cute little pirate man.

Parade Numero Dos:

Woodview Elementary School

Ella - next to her teacher, both were butterflies!

I came in to help with the party. After making the rotten apple punch, I manned (or womanned) the cat cookie making station. Here is Ella with her creation.

My cute butterfly and pirate!

The Week Before Halloween

2010-10-29T08:05:00.001-07:00

Health-wise, this week hasn’t be TOO bad… Miles got sick to his stomach Wednesday night and vomited 3 separate times. The next day he was fine. Then I had lots of yucky congestion which has gotten worse. But so far it hasn’t developed into any infection (that I know of).

This week, as usual, I spent time studying for Statistics. I really shouldn’t jinx it, but so far this has been a fairly easy class. I also taught my first classes for the dance recital session (a total of 5 classes)! Ella had her first ballet/tap class and tonight will have her first jazz/hip hop class. I volunteered in her school class for the second time. I also did a lot of cleaning and purging at home. All the while, a little on edge from the gusting winds whooshing through trees and rattling windows. Thursday night was Teen Mother Choices at which we had goal planning night. I am so lucky to be able to spend time with my girl for the 4th year in a row helping her to plan her goals. I cannot believe how much she has matured and how strong she is now. I love our relationship and can’t wait to see even more maturity this year. I am SO proud of her!

This upcoming weekend will be busy, filled with Trick or Treating, Ella cheering at a playoff game and lots more, I’m sure, but I hope to get some rest in there sometime!

Last week/this weekend was quite exciting with two sets of our friends giving birth. The first was a planned c-section. They added a beautiful 3rd girl to their already gorgeous family. Welcome Shelby! Next up was more of a surprise. Several weeks before planned, another set of friends had some signs that the baby wanted to get out early. The hope was to stabilize the pregnancy, but that little dude just wanted to be born! Gavin seems to be doing remarkably well for his preemie status and for that we are very grateful!

Today I will attend Halloween Parades at both kids’ schools and stay to help our/enjoy Ella’s classes’ party.

The next 2 weekends will involve craft shows. I feel tired already.

This Weekend in Revue

2010-10-25T08:09:00.001-07:00

This weekend I have been feeling quite under the weather. But it is weird. At times I feel like I can manage participating in life’s activities (although still a little off and dizzy), at other times, I am O.U.T. I had a fever last night before bed and I swear I had a fever today during the Poms portion of the Pom/Cheer competition that Ella was in today.

But let’s go back to Friday. Killer headache all day and that feeling that “uh oh, I’m gonna be sick tomorrow.” I know I should have stayed home for my own good, but an event was planned for Ella’s Daisy Scout Troop and earlier I had promised the leader I’d come. Plus Miles was coming too (since Jason wasn’t home). I was functional, so we went.

Daisies Fall Outing

There was some general free time and running around by the pumpkins and animal stables.

Group Picture!

A hay ride, which I don’t have a picture of.

S’more making, ghost stories and funny stories by the fire.

And a great full moon.

Saturday morning Ella cheered at a game. It was raining, I was feeling out of it, so I stayed home. I did, however, go off to a baby shower. While I was driving (it is about a 1 hour drive), I felt dizzy and had pains shooting down my arms. No fun. Then I made a wrong “turn” at the fork in the highway and tacked on another 30 minutes to my ride. I had to leave the shower early anyway, so I felt bad that I was barely there.

The Hair Party

Back home, I quickly glue Ella’s fine hair into a high pony tail and headed out to her “Hair Party” where all the cheerleaders and their moms/guardians gathered for pizza and setting the pony tail hair into curlers. This was a first for me. But it was kind of fun.

Ella and her good friend Tara goofing around after getting curled!

Curls all safe and sound.

Helping Mary hold her hair.

Sometime during that party I felt horrible. But I waited until the gifts were passed out and the cupcakes were eaten before insisting we leave. I went on home to find I had a fever and was feeling even worse.

Next morning I felt ok, still a little off, but not knocked out on my feet sick. So we went to the cheer competition and Jason graciously agreed to take over the volunteer job one of us was required to do (by volunteer I mean we had to do it).

Cheerleading Competition

Besides a 10 minute episode in which I felt horrible and was burning up, I really was touched by the event. It is very close to my heart as I used to be a baton twirler and went to many competitions. I know how special you feel when you get all prettied up and compete. It’s even better when people are there to watch you and cheer for you. What made me even more emotional was the new division that they had for physically and mentally impaired kids. To see the joy in their faces was priceless!!

The only thing I was not to keen on was the multiple-way 1st place ties for the younger girls. At what point should you start learning that someone else is better than you? Ella’s team got 1st, tied with another team. Though she is still so excited and proud, I feel a little weird. They didn’t really earn that 1st. I started competing at an early age, I think it is good for kids to learn how to lose (and win). Losing is often motivation to work harder. Anyway… I made sure Ella knew where we were in the bleachers before they performed. I knew that would be important to her.

P.S. Here is the result of the curlers! She wanted to keep her hair this way for school today. I have to admit, it looks very sharp and I might do it like this for future special events.

Miles’ First Day of School

2010-09-04T20:33:00.001-07:00

This is a little late, but better late than never. Miles first day (and second, and third) went very well. He transitioned quite smoothly with no crying or anything. He just turned, walked in and didn’t look back. He talks so much about what they do each day and seems quite happy. He has also been my sweet little helper lately, making his bed without being asked, asking to help make dinner and helping me put dishes away.

Well, without further ado, here are a couple of shots of Miles on his first day:

First Day - Ella

2010-08-26T19:50:00.001-07:00

Here are the obligatory first day of school photos. Not only was it Ella’s first day, it was her first day at this school. She is now attending 1st grade at our nearby public school. Here she is ready to walk to school.

Found a friend from Daisy Scouts and acting class.

Wow, big girl with her own locker.

Beginning of school year flag raising ceremony.

To be honest, I’m not sure how Ella is feeling about school. She is very quiet and melancholy when I pick her up. Not herself at all. I don’t think the kids are allowed to talk much at all. This is very different from her past experience in a Montessori school where there was definitely time to be quiet, but also lots of time to socialize and self-select activities. At least she had lunch and recess and she said she made a new friend today. Hopefully she will start getting into a groove and feel more comfortable.

Nontraditional

2010-08-24T08:27:00.001-07:00

Though I haven’t written a post specifically about it, I think it was apparent that I took a class this summer. More specifically, I took Intro. to Social Work at our local community college. I wanted more evidence that this may be a field I’d like to pursue (or not). That mission was accomplished (I loved it) and then some…

(Illinois State is where I earned a degree in a different decade. Not where I have currently take classes.)

Being an older student with a family and other responsibilities is so much different than being a student who is young, alone and single and has few other responsibilities. For me, at least, I do better when I have more to do, up to a point. Though I forgot how intense summer school is, I was still able to strike a somewhat healthy balance between studies and other family responsibilities, though some extras like sewing and other crafting totally fell off my radar.

The big surprise to me was the difference in attitude. Not that I had a bad attitude as a teen/young twenty something the first time around in college. But this time, I was so much more interested in what I was learning. I also saw the value of participating in class and probably spoke up 10 times more than I did when I was younger. I felt no reservations asking the teacher for help or clarification on assignments, I easily took a leadership roll in many group projects and my previous years of professional writing experience were an asset for writing assignments.

I was an overachiever. I got an A on every test and assignment. Because I’m smart? I don’t know if that’s the case. But I do know that I applied myself and really, really wanted to do well.

Now I am filling out applications for part time graduate programs in the area. Why not? Will I actually do it? I don’t know, but at least I can put that option in place.

This semester I’m taking a Statistics class. It is a requirement for admission to most Social Work programs and I never took it before. I love math. But I hope it is not to much stress with the other activities I have going on this “semester.”

I’m excited. Taking a class after being a stay at home mom for 6 1/2 years after working for 10 years and being in college for 6 years was an eye opener. It is amazing how much I forgot how intellectual I am and then how quickly I was reminded of that when I took a class. It was good for my soul and made me feel better about myself.

I know that being a mom is a very important role and it has its rewards. But it is quite another thing when you actually have someone praising you for your good work and giving measurable feedback via grades and comments. I think it makes me a better mom.

Is it ok if I want both?

Is it ok if I want to find something to do for others on a flexible schedule so that I can also be there for my family?

I don’t know how this will all turn out. All I can do is take it one step at a time and enjoy it along the way.

And the field I desire to go into is another topic. It is a bit surprising, but then again it isn’t.

Our Boy

2010-08-17T19:47:00.001-07:00

I don’t think I could love a little boy as much as I do our son. I would never trade him for anything in the world.

I commissioned the plaque seen above from Crystal at Little Bit Funky. It is perfect since Miles says his nickname is Smiles and it really does fit him.

He is really maturing this year. He is happy, interested, helpful, entertaining, loving, sweet and kind. He has the best smile and a great laugh that I’ve never heard before I heard his. Watch out, he could work himself into your heart and it will be hard to say no to anything. Even when you know saying no is for his own good.

He is Miles…

Soccer Player in Training

Before he was born, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about having a son. And we didn’t know he was a boy until he was born. I always had worked with girls through teaching dance and baton. I am a girl and I know more about girl things. But Miles has shown me that having a boy can be a rewarding experience.

Pop-up Camper Cranker

He is a sensitive soul and shows so much gratitude for almost everything.

He takes great joy in so many things, as does his sister. It warms my heart every time I see them discover and play.

Sand Castle Builder

And I keep telling him he’s not allowed to grow up! But he insists that he will. At which time, I am sure I’ll love him just as much, if not more than I do now.

Loving and Loyal Son

_____________________________________________

Surgery update. It is a long story with some scary moments, but it is over, I am recovering, and some “surprise” cells they found in the nodule turned out to be benign. My husband and parents came through for me in every sense of the word and a lot of wonderful friends were praying. I am so very thankful for everything.

For now I have a little bit of a fever and last night my blood pressure was below where it should have been. So I am still praying for an uncomplicated recovery.

Scenes from a Camping Trip

2010-08-13T06:17:00.001-07:00

About a month ago, we purchased a used pop up camper. Jason grew up camping in a pop up with his family and even traveled around the country with this mode of “motel”. I did not. It took me a while to warm up to the idea.

We planned a trip for this week from Sunday through Thursday to Point Beach State Park which is near Two Rivers, Wisconsin. This was our second trip. Our first being a short getaway at a nearby RV park.

Here is our camper all set up. We seem to have tackled most of the logistical issues with storage and organization.

This park is in a very woodsy area.

This is just a very pretty photo of Ella when she and Jason went out to get something.

The bonus is that we were right next to a beach on Lake Michigan.

The water was gorgeously clear and pretty shallow for quite a long distance out from the shore.

It was not crowded at all, but also not too hard to find a friend to play with.

Fun for all ages!

Cooking is always an experience. Here the kids make banana boats. (not the ice cream variety)

Lots of time to play together. I am soaking up the time that I can still pick up my children to play with them.

The kids seemed to sleep really well. Us, well some nights were better than others.

Though I can be a little neurotic when it comes to dirt, public showers and other issues while camping, I think we had a pretty nice time. It was good for us.

___________________________________

In other news… I go in for a pre-op appointment with my surgeon today and to get a blood test. I will be having a partial thyroidectomy on Monday morning and staying overnight at the hospital until Tuesday.

Car Organizers: Two Versions

2010-08-06T07:50:00.001-07:00

In my last post I revealed the helicopter version of a car organizer I made upon the request of a friend. This was my first attempt at a car organizer and I was quite pleased with the result.

I have now finished the strawberry version and wow, how cute is that!

For those of you who may be coming from linky parties, here is the helicopter version again.

This post has been linked to:

What Is It?

2010-08-05T10:59:00.001-07:00

I really love how this turned out! My friend Becky, who I met as a vendor next to me at the Farmer’s Market asked if I could make something for her. I decided to try it out. You can find these at stores, namely stores online. But they are all black. She wanted some color.

Any clue yet? I bet these will give it away!

Is it what you thought?

I am really quite pleased with it. I used Craft Fuse (a stiff interfacing) for the fabric and lined it all with navy duck cloth, so it should be super durable and not floppy. There is durable webbing to hook it over the headrest and around the seat which fastens with two D-rings. Navy trim was used to finish all of the raw edges.

It has a generous open pocket on the bottom for books, with mesh pockets on the sides for pencils and such. An additional mesh pocket was added in the middle for other items and two side by side roomy pockets with Velcro flaps are up on top. Next up is a more pink version for her daughter!

Just Bag It

2010-08-04T08:49:00.001-07:00

After my class was over, I was set on having a fun August. Somehow it has turned into somewhat busy, and stressful August.

To relieve some stress, I broke open a new shipment of fabric, which I obtained through a trade, and started in on making a simple bag.

I like this fabric so much. It is just so cute and unusual. The designer, Laurie Wisburn, has been printing her own fabric independently and selling it through her own Etsy store Scarlet Fig. Recently she has had her line, Tufted Tweets, picked up and printed by Robert Kaufman and it is out for sale. I love the different color choices. Red with orange, aqua with lime, and purple with purple. RK will also be picking up her previous line, Urban Circus to print in large quantities and it should be available in August. I may need to pick up some of this for bibs. That is, if I have time to even make bibs!

I just felt the fabric and the bag calling me to make it. I’m not sure what it’s for. Does anyone think they might want it?

It will be reversible.

It’s Been a Little While

2010-07-31T20:12:00.001-07:00

As for an update… well I guess a lot has been going on. We purchased a used pop-up camper and took it out for a test weekend. Unfortunately, that same weekend our dear Ella bonked herself on the see saw (I believe Miles suddenly got off and let her fall – but not maliciously). The result was a knocked out tooth (baby tooth) and a small but deep gash on her upper lip resulting in a trip to the ER and 3 stitches. We plan to take the camper out one last time before school starts.

Luckily the tooth fairy let us float her a loan and we bought Ella a little stuffed dog because of the serious nature of this tooth loss. It was never recovered, which was of great concern to Ella. I suspect she may have swallowed it.

Both Ella and Miles completed their acting classes and performed in a show one Saturday in the park. The weather was a little iffy, and the trains going by frequently didn’t help, but they both did very well and we are so proud of them.

Miles also had a soccer camp two days a week for 4 weeks. We were surprised at how good he is. He is no soccer star (yet), but he is much more into it than we had expected. He will be in another soccer camp all next week every evening.

Ella starts cheerleading practice next Thursday. This is a first. We are all curious how well she will enjoy this, among other things we don’t know about this organization. At least it will be another opportunity to meet girls she will be going to school with.

Speaking of which, her school starts August 24. This is her first time in public school and she will be in first grade. I have been amazed how complex the registration process is! They will certainly know for sure that we are residents of our town! With many various documents that prove that! Miles starts September 1. He will be at the Montessori school for his year of Kindergarten. Both kids will be in school all day, everyday…

As for me. Well, it was a bit of a scary time with health issues. But all seems to be under control. I would like to have surgery, I just need to get on the ball to get that fit into the schedule.

I completed my Intro to Social Work class last week with a presentation on Monday and a final on Wednesday. I really loved it and miss being in school already. I am happy to say that I did really well in that class. It certainly doesn’t hurt to not only already have had one go around of college and grad school under ones belt as well as 10 years of work experience where one continued to hone writing and presentation skills. As for this fall, I would like to take a Statistics class. Because if I decide to go back for a new degree in social work, I need to have that class under my belt. I finally got approved for meeting the prerequisites via my college math courses, and now the class that works with my schedule is full. No fear, I have a plan to try to get in, and if I don’t, there is always next semester. I could dedicate an entire other post on how wonderful it was to remember that I am not a dummy!

I also enjoyed selling my wares at the Farmer’s Market this summer. And as a side benefit, I met a wonderful woman who makes jewelry at the table next to mine. We both have sons named Miles (spelled the same) and we both enjoy one another’s company. She seems to be one of those types of friends you don’t meet everyday. Her business is called Mi Line and she has an Etsy store. If you like daintier more understated pieces, go check her out! Her husband will soon be deployed to Afghanistan and will gone for over a year.

I was also asked to be a bridesmaid in my brother and his fiancé's wedding. So the bride and bridesmaids have picked out and ordered dresses and are trying to figure out shoes. Thank goodness we didn’t has as different opinions about the dress as we seem to have about the shoes!

I hope you have enjoyed some photos I took from a recent trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Now for some of our beauties…

A little picnic…

Posing…

Which is more beautiful? I know what I think!

This is just a part of what summer is all about!

Fourth Fun

2010-07-06T06:04:00.001-07:00

The best, and probably the hardest, part of this long weekend was that I dialed the intensity way back on my school focus. While I did read a couple of chapters from the book (many of that was done at the pool, tsk tsk I know), I did not even touch the next writing assignment or allow myself to freak out that there is another test in a week. I figured I’d worked hard up to the midterm, and it was time for a little mental break.

I don’t have photos to nearly cover all that we did this weekend, but here are a few. I’ll fill you in on some other events after these.

In our town, they do fireworks the Saturday before the actual 4th of July. So if the 4th is on a Saturday, the fireworks are in June. Kinda weird. Luckily, this year they weren’t too bad to have on July 3rd. We live close enough to the park where they have them that we could ride our bikes and put the kids in the Burley with our blankets. We really need to get them riding bikes soon!

Sparklers are always fun before the firework show. As are glow bracelets. Not so much year old glow necklaces that don’t…glow.

On July 4th, we went to an outing at Jason’s parents’ friends in a town pretty far south of us. Jason is also friends with his parents’ friends’ kids. And some of them have kids. Here is one of his childhood friends’ daughters who seems to adore Ella. She gave her quite a hug when she saw her. She has the most beautiful curly hair and quite a spirit in her too.

We managed to get an ok family picture on the front steps of the hosts’ house. Unfortunately Jason’s head is half blocked by Miles’. Fortunately my goiter is blocked by Ella’s head. Ha ha!

Miles and Ella were pretty chummy this weekend. Why can’t they be like that more often?! Very sweet.

After the party we were going to walk over to the park for the fireworks in this town (which actually have them on the 4th). But due to a short spell of rain, we ended up walking back to Jason’s parents to sit with them and watch. And the kids played with more sparklers too.

Friday night was wonderful. After Jason arrived home with our new (used) pop-up camper, I went out for a gown look-see and dinner with my brother’s fiancé and the other two bridesmaids (I am one of three bridesmaids). Her best friend lives near me and on her way home from her jog, she stopped by to see if I wanted to go with her. We had a fabulous time together on the drives, as well as the events, and I hope to hang out with her more soon! She is taking way more school than I am now. The actual event(s) were wonderful too. Our little look-see turned into finding a dress for us that everyone seemed to like (most importantly the bride). Then we headed out to dinner and continued to have a very pleasant evening. That night the fam slept in the pop-up. Not the best sleep when you are parked out in a driveway by the street on a Friday night. But I think the kids loved it. The bed was fairly comfortable too.

Saturday we all went to see Toy Story 3. This is a real treat for us because we rarely go to the movies. It was a really good one too, even for adults.

We did some swimming at our local pool a few times in there too and I made this pie for the party on Sunday. If you want to make that pie too, make sure to read all the instructions ahead of time and set aside enough time for the whole process! I was lucky it all came together right before it was time to leave for church. Unfortunately we were still a little late because I hadn’t had time to do hair and makeup yet! And I can’t really tell you if the pie was good because I am completely incapable of judging my own cooking. But a few others said they liked it.

Today was lots of cleaning. Cleaning up the camper and packing it with some supplies for future trips and then cleaning out the garage to fit the camper on one side. Then I did other indoor house cleaning and laundry and also a bit of sewing for the Farmer’s Market on Wed.

Next up is: back to reality. Time to start working on my last paper for my class before getting back into study-mode again. oh boy.

Hope you had a nice weekend too! What all did you do?

Handbag with a Side of Necklace

2010-07-02T06:43:00.001-07:00

To lighten things up a bit here:

I am pretty picky when it comes to handbags. Not too big, not too small. Just right (for me at least). I also am not a fan of status symbol handbags. I do not have a desire to let the world know that I have a Coach purse. I just want to have something cute and comfortable. Oh, and not cheaply made either.

I have noticed that I’ve been drawn to Fossil and Relic handbag styles lately. Well, I have been for a while now. Luckily we have two Fossil outlets nearby, so I don’t have to pay Fossil prices for my bags. And the last Relic I got was at JC Penney on sale. The last two or three Fossil/Relic bags I have purchased are canvas and colorful, and I think, cute. But sometimes i think it is good to break out of a rut…

While at an outlet this week, I was draw to two canvas bags, but made myself walk over to the leather side. I spotted one that was my style, but too big. Then I saw this one, its younger sister:

Cute, the right size, comfortable and leather (and on sale). Got it.

I also went into a store where I didn’t find any tops or skirts I liked (what I was searching for), but did find this necklace that called my name. The salesperson actually talked me out of buying it because she thought I should wait for a sale. Later that day I went to another mall and got it. On sale. By finding a top there that I did like and cashing in on the buy one, get one half off sale.

Christopher & Banks

This shopping trip brought to you by me rewarding myself for doing well on my test (the one in school, not the medical test).

Keeping it Real

2010-07-01T08:35:00.001-07:00

I had debated about whether to share here the medical issues I’ve been dealing with recently. It is not easy for me to share such personal (to me) details of my life. But I have seen others do it and the outcome is that they are appreciated for being real and not hiding the not-so-nice parts of life. While I still don’t discuss many other not-so-nice parts of life here, I did think that by sharing my journey, maybe someone else in my shoes would find it helpful. That they would not feel so alone, that they could find a website that didn’t just have a lot of medical terms and conflicting statistics. That they would not just be in the company of doctors, technicians, pathologists and receptionists through their own journey. I honestly don’t know if that has been accomplished. Had events had take a turn for the worst, I thought I would really be able to help someone by going forward through a scary process. So i decided I’d start writing about it. Before I knew, one way or another.

Well, for those who do care and have been offering concern and support, I got the call today. The nodule is benign. And I am so relieved!!! But the story and the journey isn’t actually over. The surgeon who is coordinating my care said that the nodule could/should still be removed if it was causing adverse affects on my breathing, swallowing or speech. Or frankly if it was just bothering me cosmetically. The truth is, it does seem to be having an affect on my swallowing and also on my speech. I feel like there is constantly something stuck in my throat and notice my voice getting raspy. This is not surprising considering the nodule is bigger than a golf ball. So at this point, after having discussed the risks and the recovery with the doctor, I am honestly thinking of going through with surgery to have it removed. Maybe blogging about that detour of this journey could help someone going through something similar. Is it worth it to make the effort to write about it? That is the question.

Tests

2010-06-30T05:52:00.001-07:00

Today I have a midterm for a class I’m taking this summer. I wanted to do a separate post on my decision to take a class, but I guess it will have to come later.

I’m also supposed to get my test results back from the biopsy I had on Monday.

Both of these things today have the butterflies going in my stomach.

Though I feel well prepared for the midterm and have had enough doctors tell me that malignancy of thyroid nodules is rare, I am still nervous.

And that stinkin fine need biopsy, while a minor procedure, was not as easy as I had imagined. You see that teeny tiny slit on my neck? It doesn’t fool me. Due to the positioning of my neck during the procedure (hyper extended) and the intrusion of a tiny corkscrew into my body to literally pluck out tissue, I am stiff and sore. While watching the whole thing under ultrasound was kinda cool, it was also hard. I’m not sure if it was good or not to be able to anticipate the pain when the doctor proceeded with different steps for tissue removal. I AM grateful that only three aspirations had to be done for samples. I don’t know if it is related, but I’ve also had lots of cramping in my sides and back. No fun. And if this is benign, I’m supposed to have this procedure done every 6 months. I suppose I should be grateful if that is the case. But for the moment, I am a big whiny baby!

The Big 5!

2010-06-29T10:33:00.001-07:00

Here is our Miles, hamming it up for the camera before his Birthday parties at Jones Island park began…

Ella waits in anticipation. After all, it was a gorgeous June day at a park, with a playground, and lots of room for running next to a lake with a beach. And there would be food and cake, friends and family.

First the Friends Party

I thought it best to get all of the eating of lunch and cake out of the way before taking the kids over in the muddy grass to hit a piñata and then over to the sandy beach to make sand castles. So here is Miles with his Cars cake… (as often is the case at outdoor parties, lighting the candles was a challenge)

Miles going after the piñata with mucho gusto.

All of Miles’ guests (and one guest’s older brother) took the sandcastle building contest very seriously. Though we don’t seem to have photos of the final entries, they were all very good and all were winners.

Miles was very happy to unwrap presents!

At one point Miles’ hair was so sweaty. I pushed it up into some spikes and really liked the look. He received compliments from many others as well. If I were to do that at home, he’d look in the mirror and smash his hair down to his regular style. He doesn’t really look to crazy about it here either.

Next up was the family party. I, personally, was ready for a nap at this point. At least a little less entertaining needed as the adults seem to be able to take responsibility for their own entertainment.

Here’s Miles and Uncle John playing TracBall. He was quite good at it. Uncle John wasn’t too bad either.

Uncle Scott trying to pour water on poor Miles.

I love this photo. Miles is running away from Scott who continues to try to pour water on him. Love the geese in the background scared out of their feathers and running away from the wild boy. (even though he wasn’t even chasing them, and had he notice them, he probably would have started crying and not knowing where to run.

Had to get a shot in of the new playground they put in this month at the park. Cool playgrounds are a very important thing when you have kids. (I think Miles is still trying to get away from Scott at this point).

The party is over. I think we were all quite tired. It was a long day outside, working and trying to entertain.

At the end of the day, I have one wonderful little boy (and another wonderful girl). And today we have a lot of new toys that BOTH kids are playing with/fighting over!

Featured

2010-06-23T17:00:00.001-07:00

Today’s Farmer’s Market was called off due to a threat of inclimate weather. We certainly have been having our share of inclimate weather! Monday night we were all in the basement around 11 pm because of continuous emergency signals.

But, since the Market was cancelled, and I was needing a break from the last few days, I worked on getting all of my remaining items back on Etsy, as well as listing some new items.

A result of this was a nice surprise. I was included in a beautiful treasury! Magnets have not been my best seller, but heck they look pretty nice here amongst these other cool pieces. I’ll take it!

Customer Requests are the Best!

2010-06-21T11:42:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I get caught up a little in the monotony when I am creating too many products at one time. I will often work with several different fabrics, but stick with the same general construction for each item. Not a ton of creativity is involved past the initial creation of a new pattern. And frankly, the process can become boring.

One of the reasons I really love getting custom requests and orders is that I can focus on that one piece or series of pieces and take time to put a lot more creativity into it/them. I can imagine what the customer might like to see and bring it to life. And so it goes with a recent request from a Farmer’s Market customer two weeks ago. This woman bought a couple of items and said that if I had anything with strawberries, she’d buy it for her mom who loves strawberries.

Will I ever even see this woman again? Maybe, maybe not. But I am ever so glad for her suggestion. It was a great excuse to buy this beautiful strawberry fabric designed by Sandi Henderson and to play up the red (my favorite color) with this sweet polka dot fabric and red thread. I love the ruffle and the decorative stitching on the bottom. I have yet to finish this one’s mate and start to put together a couple of potholders to match.

Then fate will see if the requester comes to the Market on Wednesday! Can’t wait to find out!

Note: I bought this little shelf at a garage sale. I just wanted a little something on which to store my pin cushion and pot of flower pens near my sewing machine. When I found this one with the rod, I thought it would be perfect for displaying and admiring towels I make from time to time. The shelf was an unstained wood when I got it. I just cleaned it off and then spray painted it with some antique white.

Update: Tomorrow is my visit with the surgeon for my thyroid nodule. I’m hoping he will go right in and do the biopsy that day and it is not just a pre-consultation. In general I have been in better spirits recently, just really tired. Thanks for your thoughts, prayers and support.

Engagement

2010-06-16T18:16:00.001-07:00

My husband met my brother John and his fiance Kris at the Chicago Botanic Garden for their engagement photo shoot. From the best shots, he made this video using a song from one of the bands that they both (and we both too) like. Sweet Felicity by Verbow.

Unwelcomed Interruption

2010-06-15T05:13:00.001-07:00

This year has been difficult for me with medical issues. Chest pains were thought by my doctor to be asthma. A really bad reaction to an antibiotic was a surprise and a real pain to endure.

But now, an adventure begins that I’m not quite ready for. I just hope it is a short one with a good ending.

I went into a pulmonary specialist because this so-called asthma has been worrisome to me. It was presenting itself in the form of chest pains and rarely did I have any shortness of breath whatsoever. While there, he listened to my lungs, had me run up and down some stairs several times, listened again, took my pulse. He said the lungs seem fine, but he noticed a large lump on my neck. He thought it most likely had something to do with my thyroid.

The next day I called my general practitioner first thing and got an early appointment squeezed in. She order a blood test and an ultrasound.

Today I have the results and a phone number for a surgeon I should make an appointment with for a needle biopsy. Because something looks suspicious.

I suppose one should never read their own test results, but the thing that makes me the most nervous is that I have one large nodule that has blood flow. Seems like there are several other small nodules as well.

A lot of things have seemed off with my body. Many are “measurable” like racing heart, chest pains, tremors, excessive nervousness, excessive sweating, hoarseness of voice, difficulty swallowing etc. But for the last few days, more than that my body feels off in ways I can’t totally describe with words. Maybe that I’m being eaten alive in my entire chest cavity? Something just doesn’t seem right.

For now, I will take it one step at a time and follow the plan. Take it as it comes. But I can’t deny it has been hard, and despite the statistics that most of these types of things are benign, and even those that are cancerous are mostly quite curable… I can’t help but think of the worst. And how I’m not ready for the worst. And wondering if we should always be ready for the worst.

Now back to the regular scheduled program. While I take some meds to lessen the tremors and nervousness and wait for what’s next.

Congratulations Graduate

2010-06-14T21:25:00.001-07:00

The end of the kids school year caught me off guard. I was much more emotional than I had anticipated. And just a month ago I thought the whole Kindergarten graduation (for Ella) was a little silly. Even more silly, I felt, was that we had to buy a cap a gown. But as it grew near, I embraced the concept and just went with it. Only to find out I was really glad it all happened.

Here she is, our lovely daughter ready to go for her last day of Kindergarten and her last day of four years at this Montessori school.

Here she is with her friend Caleb who she has known since they were both one! Caleb’s mom (my good friend) picked up Ella on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

As I mentioned, I embraced the concept of the graduation and invited everyone to attend. I also threw a small party with appetizers before the ceremony.

A nice picture of the family outside of the school.

Here is the official moment! Not shown are the awards she won. One for Star Skater (she’s been bragging about her roller skating and blading I take it), a second for best reader in her class and a third she shared with two other students for “change the world” because she is a very driven and determined little girl! She says she wants to be a scientist when she grows up.

A sweet one with her beloved teacher.

Teacher’s Gifts 2010

2010-06-12T14:29:00.001-07:00

For end of year gifts for Ella and Miles’ teachers I decided to make purses. The larger one is for Ella’s teacher who seems to like oriental designs. The smaller is for Miles teacher who has more of a funky style and likes browns (hopefully she will like the rust color here too).

I used McCall’s Kay Witt Designs pattern M5822 for these bags.

Though I have some experience with zippers, this was a new (to me) design for a zipper on a bag. I like how it turned out once I got it down for the second purse I did (see below). The main difference is on the underside, so it’s not real noticeable that it is not perfect on the first one.

Maybe not my style of fabrics, but it was fun to make something that hopefully other people will enjoy. It was also fun to use so many different fabrics on one project. The shape of the bag is really cute (in my opinion) too.

Long Weekend

2010-06-01T06:18:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we met up with our friends Dan and Jen who we haven’t seen since we all went on vacation together last August! Needless to say, it was also the first time we met their 4 month old daughter.

It was nice to get together and catch up. Their oldest had been kinda shy the last time we saw her, but very sweet and starting to warm up to us near the end of the week. Now she is much more social and still as sweet as ever. She seemed to love playing with Ella and Miles.

Ella enjoyed both girls.

We started out at an Arts festival at the Cuneo estate in Vernon Hill, IL. It was a beautiful setting and a very nice, be it a tad hot day.

I found two vendors I loved and purchased from. I could not get over the cute clothes from Hand Jive Wear Art. Here is the dress I fell in love with. It is so comfortable, cool and ~~forgiving~~ flattering.

We all then went back to our house for a lunch of coconut lime chicken soup and salad outside on our back deck.

We dressed our kids to match that day, but it turns out all four kinda matched…

Later that day Ella practiced her rollerblade skills…

Sunday after work was filled with fun. A trip to a huge playground, then the pool, then a very nice walk. At the pool Miles took his maiden voyage down the water slide. This is the first year has been tall enough to be allowed to do so.

Monday we had my parents, brother and his fiance over to watch Ella and Jason in the parade with Adventure Princesses. We walked up to the parade route from our house and then we all went back home halfway in the room for a lunch of kabobs and sides. Halfway home we got stuck in the rain and ended up providing towels and extra shirts for our guests. My brother’s fiance was kind enough to bring dessert, and luckily it was light and refreshing after the heavy lunch we prepared.

Before and After Series: Master Bedroom

2010-05-31T16:19:00.001-07:00

We moved into our house in June 2003. It is interesting to see how we have decorated the various rooms compared to the previous owners.

Here is the Master Bedroom during our home inspection:

There was either builder’s paint on the wall, or something very light. The ceiling fan/light fixture was brass with black blades and not my style. Window treatments were lace shades and mauve drapes.

My first concern was to “camouflage” the ~~pink~~ mauve carpeting. I thought that by bringing in bedding and window scarves in various colors including a hint of pink, I might accomplish this. Most people say they didn’t even notice the carpet was pink until I pointed it out. I’m still not thrilled with it! But we may get our upstairs bedroom carpets replaced soon.

Here are some photos of the evolution of the room:

We painted the walls a light mossy color. It was called “Brocade Cream”, not sure the manufacturer. We also replaced the fan pretty early on with something more mission style. We had our own furniture but did purchase the sleigh bed a couple of years ago.

Early this year…

Recently I was inspired by HGTV’s 2010 dream home to bring in some teal/aqua and to lighten things up a little. Not sure if I have too many colors going on here, but it’s ok for now.

I brought in the blues by making some pillow shams for the bed and a toss pillow for my grandfather’s rocking chair from some fabric from an inexpensive drapery panel I found at Target.

I found this sort of Pottery Barn-ish cream coverlet and Euro-sham covers at Homegoods. And the chair pad below on clearance at Pier One.

The blue plate off in the distance here was found at Homegoods also.

As most things, it is a work in progress. But for now, it is great for us the way it is.

Cutest Couple

2010-05-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Jason and Ella went on an Adventure Princesses campout recently where they won the title "Cutest Couple". When they came home with this photo, I could see why they won!

I have another post ready to go in LiveWriter, but it is not letting me upload it. I'll see if I can get it to work soon.

Key West (4th and final Part) and Actually NOT Key West, but the Everglades

2010-05-18T19:57:00.001-07:00

On our way back to Ft. Lauderdale, we enjoyed another lovely drive back up the Keys (with occasional mild rain) in the convertible. We stopped at an AMAZING seafood buffet called Whale Harbor in Islamorado. A must go if you are ever in the Keys!

Once on the mainland we took a slight detour to take in as much of the Florida Everglades National Park as possible (which was about 1 and 1/2 trails). We were able to stop for a decent amount of time at one area where we observed some pretty amazing wildlife. And no, this is not a zoo, it is a national park.

We were a little surprised to see this “large cat” crossing sign. We did not see any large cats however.

We did see beautiful birds, like this snowy egret.

Interesting birds like this “snake bird”.

Air plants.

One turtle.

And lots of alligators.

This guy looked so relaxed.

It’s alligator naptime!

I was so excited to see all of this wildlife in its natural environment and it was a nice cap to the end of our trip. It is the last thing I hope I remember happening on that trip because after that we drove in torrential rain and dealt with all kinds of traffic detours. The good news is that we did make it in time for our flight and made it home safely. Until next time!

Key West (Part 3 1/2)

2010-05-18T06:11:00.001-07:00

This is the Key West home architecture part of the series. So, if you are not real interested in seeing photos of a bunch of houses, you may want to skip this one.

My knowledge of architecture is pretty small, but I do admire pretty houses and buildings. Pardon my lack of interesting things to say here.

I think this was by far the cutest feature I saw on a house. The tour guide was pointing out the various types of “gingerbread” on houses (yay, I DO know what that means). This designer took gingerbread quite literally.

Here is a big beautiful house. Sorry, I don’t know how to differentiate or identify the styles. I love the soft color and the tilted window covers. I also am a huge fan of big porches. Not to mention second floor porches AND wrap around porches. I think I’m going to faint! Of course the landscaping really adds to the character of each house as well.

Here is a purple house used now as an inn. Apparently someone had to make a nice donation to the historical committee to be able to paint their house purple. And yes, for many of these homes, owners do have to comply with historically accurate designing for any changes or restoration to these older homes.

Elaborate gingerbread here.

Love the second floor porch fans and light fixture as well as the things (don’t know what you call them) above all the doors and windows.

You may notice a lot of these porches have their ceilings painted light blue. I wish I could tell you why they do that, but our tour guide told us that the reasoning for it has been disputed. One theory is that it comes from a custom in drearier climates that do it to keep people from getting so depressed during all of the cloudy days. Doesn’t sound quite feasible to me. It isn’t cloudy that often in Key West. Unfortunately that is the only theory I remember him saying. I think it might make you feel cooler in the warm weather??

Now you are noticing all the blue porch ceilings aren’t you? This one looked very patriotic to me. Loved the hanging plants in every alcove.

Look, more purple. Just thought this was a stunning entrance.

Smaller but still cute. I believe they call this roofline “eyelash” or “eyelid” style. Of course with the function of keeping out heat from the sun.

Even the lower “rent” districts had some real beauties.

Even purple ones.

Now I am just itching to see the insides of some of these homes. Many are guest inns, so I don’t think it would be a big deal to get a look at the interior of some of them one day.

Intermission (Mother’s Day Continued)

2010-05-17T10:59:00.001-07:00

We interrupt this super excitingly long, multi post recap of our Key West vacation from a month ago to present some photos from our pocket camera that I just uploaded to our computer. Forgive me for two posts in one day…

These photos from our Mother’s Day trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden mean a lot to me. Thank-you kids and husband for taking me!

My favorite flower of the day (top view):

The only photo of the bunch where they weren’t making faces.

Taken by Ella (it was crooked but I sort of fixed that in Photoshop Lightroom).

Taken by Miles (notice finger in frame).

Key West (Part 3)

2010-05-17T06:34:00.001-07:00

Just for grins, here is the pool that we never used at our hotel. We didn’t not use it for any other reason other than we are exploring types and we were out and about for the majority of each day.

On our last full day, we took the Conch Train Tour. Maybe it sounds cheesy to some, but I really wanted to learn more about this history of the island and make sure we saw most of the important stuff. Boy did we get an earful. It was like being in a lecture hall in college with a really knowledgeable professor who doesn’t know how to speak at a pace for normal people. I took lots of pics during the tour, but most of them are of houses and I will give them a post of their own. And if you aren’t interested in architecture, you can just skip that one altogether.

During the tour we saw the obligatory stray chicken – crossing the road.

This one is just beautiful. And we found out why all the chickens are around. Long ago, the local establishments would hold cock fights until eventually the authorities came in and enforced a ban in order for Key West to be a legitimate town in the US. So the chickens… they were just let loose. And they are now ALL OVER THE PLACE down there!

Among some of the cool thing we saw on the tour was this area dedicated to sand sculptures:

A bustling beach market area.

More beach views.

Beautiful foliage.

After the tour, we went back for the obligatory tourist photos:

Highway 1 starts at Miami and goes to the southern most point at Key West.

The famous “buoy” which I was expecting to find IN the ocean. Rather, it is a concrete structure with a line of people next to it to get their picture taken with it.

We also went back for a tour of Hemmingway’s home:

Where we saw many descendants of his first polydactyl cat snowball. Snowball was given to him by a ship captain as payment for Ernest delivering a message. Polydactyl cats on ships were seen as good luck.

I believe there are 60-some cats on the property and are the biggest expense for the owner. No one actually lives there now (besides the cats), it is open to the public daily for tours. And many of the cats, but not all, are polydactyl.

Every morning (while he lived there – before he was divorced from this, his second of four wives), he’d get up at 6 am, go over to this studio and write until noon, then have lunch and go fishing and later out to a bar down the street. This house was across the street from a lighthouse, which made it easy for him to find his way home at night.

View of the lighthouse off of one of the many ample second store porches.

The tour guide expressed his displeasure of the fact that Mrs. Hemmingway changed out all of the ceiling fans for chandeliers.

And as for our tour guide, we thought he looked a lot like Hemmingway himself (red shirt)…

We also learned about the sponge market. On the beach I collected a few small sponges that had washed up onto shore. About 2 inches long at the most. Sponge “hunting” is discouraged, but some is done, and those collected can only be sold in Key West.

We got to meet “Sponge Man” who took a liking to Jason.

And another rooster and hen.

Dinner at Turtle Kraals out by the Seaport. This delicious Key West Conch Ceviche was as delicious as it looks. Everything was so fresh.

Then back to Mallory Square for another Sunset Celebration. Here is another street performer jumping through a hoop held over a girl’s back.

Key West (Part 2)

2010-05-14T18:42:00.001-07:00

For our second full day we went SCUBA diving. I recommended that we rent some bikes. A good way to experience the island and easier/cheaper parking once in Old Key West (where everything happens). Our hotel was located in “New Key West”.

The seas were quite high that day and so the boat ride out was not real pleasant. I love being on a boat and rarely feel seasick. But I was not feel all that great on this trip. It was much more comfortable to be in the water. Well, at least after I got used to it again. Our first jump in and I freaked out a bit. It had been 10 years since our last open water dive and I just needed a little time to get acclimated. Much thanks goes to Tony, the British dive master who so kindly let me follow along with his class.

The diving was not the best. The water was surprisingly warm, but due to the choppiness of the waves, the bottom was really stirred up and visibility was poor. We did see a few dolphins off the bow before we jumped in the first time and while in the water a rock fish, a ray, Christmas tree worms etc…

Me with Tony, who saved the day.

During our bike rides we observed many beautiful homes. You will see that I took lots of photos of houses the next day. They may all deserve their vary own post.

For lunch we rode on over to El Siboney for some authentic Cuban food. The highly was a delicious conch chowder. Then we had some shredded pork, black beans and rice. And of course lots of Cuban bread. Yum! We found out that you will not be able to find Key West Conch outside of the Keys. They are only allowed to use enough to supply the island, not to export outside of the area.

Back to Mallory Square for sunset that evening. Some street performers at the Sunset Celebration…

The sunset over Sunset Key.

An interesting character spotted riding around downtown.

Key West (Part 1)

2010-05-12T21:15:00.001-07:00

Zachary Taylor State Park Beach – Key West Florida

Back in Mid-April, Jason and I took a 5 day trip to Key West by ourselves. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale and rented a car to drive down through the tip of southern Florida and its Keys to arrive at the Southernmost city in the continental US – Key West.

Jason surprised me by having reserved a convertible for the drive.

The ride was very enjoyable. The scenery was just beautiful, but perhaps not for those who have any serious fear of bridges. Or water. Namely oceans. The longest bridge was just short of 7 miles. The main thing that was discomforting while on that bridge was the defunct bridge next to us… and how it would just have sections cut out. It would play with your mind. Did the bridge we were on have sections cut out, and if so well… But of course our bridge was complete, the mind just plays tricks on you.

During our first full day on the island, we drove around town a bit, ate a local restaurant “The Rusty Anchor” and tried to find something on the menu that wasn’t breaded and fried. We ordered grilled fish sandwiches and it was our first introduction to the ever popular (at least in the Keys and I’m sure in Cuba) Cuban bread. (yum) Cuba is just 90 miles south of Key West.

Later we headed to a beach at Zachary Taylor State Park, where we continued to fry our skin (not intentionally as we both used SPF 30 sunscreen) and enjoy the scenery. Though the water here was too cold to enjoy.

We explored the historic Fort Zachary Taylor. For detailed history, click on the link.

That evening we had an enjoyable dinner at Hot Tin Roof which overlooks the famous “Mallory Square” which is the place to be to watch the sun set at night. As you can see, our table had a really nice view, and you can see our really nice burns from being in the convertible with our sunscreen still packed away in our bag in the back seat. We returned a few other nights to Mallory Square to catch the sunset and related activities such as street performers, bands and even weddings.

The delicious meal at Hot Tin Roof.

I really got a kick out of the stray chickens all over the island. If you didn’t see one, you were sure to hear a rooster crow. I wondered why they were all out roaming around. More on that later.

Zachary Taylor State Park Beach – Key West Florida

Featured!

2010-05-12T11:46:00.001-07:00

I just discovered that I was featured on Tip Junkie for my post Organizing that Mail Mess. I've been meaning to post a follow up to show my actual system and how it is working really well for me. Not to mention that I am organizing much more than just mail in it. Ok, yet another one to work on in addition to the Key West trip post!

A Weekend to Remember

2010-05-12T11:14:00.001-07:00

*I hope to someday (soon?) post about our Key West trip, but for now wanted to share some of this weekend*

This was a special weekend for me as a mom. It was recital weekend for dance classes where I work (including Ella’s class), it was mom’s night at Miles and Ella’s Montessori, it was Mother’s Day.

Friday:

At Mom’s night, Ella’s Kindergarten demonstrated the yoga moves they’ve learned. Ella was the leader and did a wonderful job presenting!

Over to Miles’ preschool class, they did a little dance for us.

And though this may not look all that special to the average viewer, when I saw this photo later, I was so proud. These little sweethearts have made me a Mommy. Look how wonderful they are turning out so far (well you can’t really SEE that part here).

With their beloved teachers -

Here is Ella and her class rehearsing during picture day.

Saturday:

A couple of action shots during the recital.

Proud parents.

With her dance teacher -

Sunday:

On Mother’s Day we went to church and heard a sermon about a Proverbs 31 woman (wife/mother) and were treated to all of the children walking in with flowers for the moms. We then headed to lunch and the Chicago Botanic Garden (my request for the day).

Mantel Relief

2010-04-13T13:24:00.001-07:00

Our mantel was looking really boring. I’d followed some advice from online decorators to make the arrangement of the accessories symmetrical. But ever since there was no more holiday decor to spruce it up, it was not doing it for me. So I decided to go asymmetrical and a little abstract. I looked at it and whatever came first to mind that was missing, I did whatever I could with what I had to make up for it. And so we had this…

(Yes the painting is supposed to be a little off center.)

(Yes the grate is broken in the fireplace, we have another on order.)

And I was happy. I had imagined a tall green vase, but the glass was nice, you could see the crabapple tree branches through it.

Then the speaker guy came to help run a wire and I forgot to take that vase down. And it broke.

But I remembered a sign for a Pottery Sale at the local community college. I had wanted to go because I love pottery and I assumed the prices would be pretty reasonable.

So I went, and found a couple pieces I did like and they were indeed priced reasonably. So no we have this…

I think the branches are wilting now. The second piece of pottery is in another room.

Around here all the blossoms are coming out. Nothing in our yard yet, but caught this beauty outside of the local Park District building.

Celebrate

2010-04-09T11:46:00.001-07:00

Making New Bonds

Last week today my brother John proposed to his girlfriend Kris! (great name, right) We met up with them the next day for lunch to be with them and congratulate them. There is nothing quite like being with a couple after they have just gotten engaged, especially one that you care about so much. They are so happy and we are all just thrilled. They are planning something roughly a year from now. I don’t think I could ask for a better sister-in-law to be. (sniff) Even though all that really matters is that the two of them are happy with each other.

She’s going to be a wonderful aunt too.

Making a New Life

This week my long time friend Kim (from high school), took a big step and bought her first “on her own” home. She is starting over in life and making positive strides at every turn. I’ve been a phone support for her as much as one can be over the last couple of years as she has gone through some real struggles and I am just so happy that she is growing as a person and moving on in her life.

Making a Journey

Jason’s brother Scott and his girlfriend Jen have taken a very long trip to Asia. Just recently they have completed the Annapurna Circuit—a 21 day trek through the Annapurna region of the Himalayas. If you’d like to read more about their very interesting trip, you can check it out here.

Getting Healthy

This past two weeks have been pretty excruciatingly painful and a little scary for me. I had a side effect to an antibiotic I was taking for a skin problem around my eyes. I woke up early Monday morning with a burning pain pulsating down my esophagus. At first I thought it was my lungs, considering the problems I have had with them earlier this year. But when I was awake and lucid I knew that wasn’t the case. It felt like I was swallowing involuntarily and it was PAINFUL. Like swallowing a mixture of dry ice and fire. In addition to that, it was even more painful to try to eat. If you’ve ever had a baby… it was equivalent to bad labor pains and quite similar in the nature of the pain. 24 hours after trying to get a hold of my doctor’s nurse, she returned my call to tell me to STOP taking the meds! Even so, a day later I was in Immediate Care more than a little scared about what felt like my insides being ripped apart. A confirmation that it was esophageal inflammation and spasms caused by the antibiotic I was on eased my fears, but didn’t do much for the pain. Finally, after 11 days of major discomfort, yesterday the pain eased and I was able to swallow without having to hit something or cringe. I am oh so happy and feeling celebratory that it is over and that it was indeed just a reaction and not a more serious internal problem.

New Lines

2010-04-08T13:33:00.001-07:00

I think a resurgence of energy and interest in my Etsy shop Kitchen Stitchen has been due to a mixture of some “out of the blue” sales and recent news that the local Farmer’s Market will have more attractive and potentially more effective layout this year.

With that, I’ve come up with two new product lines!

When I ask friends what else they’d like to see in my shop, it always comes back to the full apron, preferably retro. Definitely pretty. Then there are comments from browsers at shows about my half aprons being cute, but their need/want for a full apron. Full (pretty) aprons simply are a lot of work and have poor cost/profit ratio. They require a lot of fabric and a lot of work. I already feel like I have them priced too high, but with that said, I’m still not paying myself much at all for the labor. Perhaps they will at least be something to draw more people into the shop or to my table at the Market.

Lots of people at Markets and shows I’ve done have asked if I make baby bibs. I have made them in the past, but they have seemed again, like a lot of work and in the end, not very practical for the recipient. So, recently I found some great ideas to put together a really functional baby bib! Since one of my goals in the shop is to make products that are beautiful AND functional, I was pleased. With fusible vinyl, I can use great fabric to make wipeable, waterproof bibs! I simply use binding tape to finish off the edges and create the ties.

Ruffle Mania

2010-04-06T17:45:00.001-07:00

Here are some new items in my Etsy store. I put my ruffler to good work!

There are more new items coming soon, for a NEW product line! And a stack of new pocket potholders are waiting to be assembled as well.

While I’m on the topic of Etsy. Please go and visit my friend’s shop. She and three other women started a business selling shirts and bags in our area and are trying to gain an online presence. They need some hearts and sales! They are Revelari and can also be found HERE.

We are four women who befriended each other while raising our children. During our conversations, we discovered that we all have the common bond of choosing to grow in our journey of becoming better versions of ourselves, despite our various temperaments and strengths. Out of this awareness, came a desire to be known and to encourage other women to be known. The creation of Revelari’s artshirt was born. What a beautiful way to highlight our characteristics!

Along the way, we have learned that turning a dream into a reality takes hours of work, patience with one another and a celebration of each other’s differences. We challenge all women to make peace with who you are and to boldly wear your attributes.

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T21:19:00.001-07:00

The Goods.

The season. (Traditional annual daffodil photo).

The love.

After the hunt.

A very windy family photo.

The grub. It was yummy, and I’m my own worst critic. Jason put together the quinoa dish.

Menu details, if you are interested…

Rack of Lamb with Mint and Caper Sauce

Green Bean Medley (w/ sweet red pepper, green onions, mushrooms)

Quinoa with Peas and Onion (and walnuts)

Corn Pudding ("healthy" version)

For dessert: Angel Food Trifle ("healthy" version - with ricotta cheese, vanilla yogurt, blueberries and strawberries) – wasn’t so great, very bland.

Funniest moment (actually the day before).

It’s beginning to look a lot like Easter

2010-03-30T13:59:00.001-07:00

It is week number two of our kids Spring Break. One of the things they wanted to do this week was to see the Easter Bunny. And so we did. And got a photo…

Notice the plethora of band-aids on Miles’ face. He had a little fall on Sunday night. I’m just glad this was taken before the ketchup accident that Ella had at lunch…

On this trip the kids were also outfitted for Easter Sunday. I can’t wait for egg hunts, church, the cute clothes and a family meal!

I have been doing lots of Spring cleaning, organizing, exercising and working on a couple projects. Can’t wait to share!

Butterflies

2010-03-25T19:33:00.001-07:00

They have popped up twice for me while perusing Etsy and blogs today. First is this super sweet vase from Red Hot Pottery.

Next up is this quilt from the LIttle Birdie Secrets blog… to DIE for!

If you like this, you should do a little more looking around over there. Lots of great ideas and plenty of cuteness to take in!

Child’s Play

2010-03-18T13:26:00.001-07:00

It seems that Spring has made an early debut this year in the Far North Chicago Suburbs. But judging by next week’s forecast, perhaps it is just a teaser! In any case, we got OUTSIDE this week!

Look, the sun even made an appearance necessitating sunglasses!

Guess what else has come out??!! The first!

It’s enough to make you want to dance.

And…oh yes we did! (or THEY did – not me).

A “tea party” play date…

…ended up with a lot of outside play. Resulting in this beautiful collaborative St. Patrick’s Day sidewalk artwork.