Okie Okasan

Ready for redesign

2011-08-23T15:15:00.003-05:00

OK. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I'm just going to jump right in. I wish I could have more control over the design of the objects that come into my house. I realize that I really have no control over this, but I do have a choice about a lot of things (like toys) that enter my house, and thus my constant sightline, but some things are just necessary, yet so ugly.

This might become a running series, so I'm just going to start with one that really, really irritates me: California Baby. I love their products, but I cringe every time I purchase any of them. For $15 I think I should be getting awesome sunblock in an awesome package. Not a spooky sun trying to hypnotize me from underneath a font that came pre-installed on my Mac Powerbook 165c (the "c" stood for "color"). I don't want to sound mean, but is the design guy for California Baby someone's nephew? Or, more likely, great uncle?

H is for Helium: Balloon Party

2010-07-10T22:03:00.007-05:00

It started with an idea. Balloons, red and blue.

And a birthday boy, of course.

Refreshments were served (there's always room for Jell-O).

Games were played.

Prizes were won.

Cake was served.

And eaten.

For everyone else, there were cake pops!

It seems a good time was had by all.

Happy Birthday to my darling 1-year-old boy!

Be Mine

2010-02-12T19:19:00.002-06:00

Our little play group had a Valentine's party this week, so we got a little taste of what school celebrations will be like in the future. To tell the truth, though, this party set the bar pretty high, as all the moms were really into it and everyone contributed something really special. For our Valentines, Little Omi and I made recycled crayons (recipe here) and sugar cookies. We attached Baby Bro's cards (found here) to the crayons since Omi's were the folding kind. Gramma had just given us this set of cookie cutters, which sort of combines cookie cutters with a letterpress—how cool is that? So we just had to make personalized cookies for all the kids in the play group.

Pretzels

2010-02-09T13:21:00.002-06:00

With all the snow and ice coming down lately, we've been spending a lot of time just shuffling around the house. I guess since it's starting to feel like The Long Winter, I have been wanting to bake some bread. I was perusing my copy of America's Test Kitchen's Baking Illustrated and came across a recipe for soft pretzels. I had never made or eaten a fresh pretzel before! The recipe was pretty basic—I had all the ingredients on hand (although bread flour was required for its extra gluten). The best part was rolling out the dough. Little Omi got in on the act and made a series of rings (she said she liked them better than the traditional pretzel shape). Once the pretzels are shaped, you dip them in boiling water hat has a bit of baking soda added to it before baking them. It's the soda that gives the pretzels their characteristic brown color!

I don't have any photos of the finished product. We ate them before I remembered to take a picture!

A fair is a veritable smorgasborg

2009-09-23T15:40:00.004-05:00

We had the best time taking Little Omi and Baby Bro to their first state fair this weekend. Rides were enjoyed (while I watched and had tiny heart attacks each time I saw my first born up in the air), corn dogs were devoured, baby animals were adored, and sunstroke was narrowly avoided.

While we were waiting for the sea lion show to start, Little Omi treated the audience to this impromptu performance:

Any day now

2009-07-02T21:56:00.003-05:00

37 weeks, 4 days. Keeping our fingers crossed that we make it another 13 days...

First harvest

2009-06-14T20:59:00.002-05:00

We planted a garden this year. Just a small one—some tomato and pepper plants, pumpkins, and a few experimental watermelons, corn, and carrots for Little Omi to tend. So far the tomatoes seem to be very happy in their little sunny patch. We thought these were going to be smaller grape tomatoes, but they are more like mini-Romas. Tasty, though, especially when they're still warm from the sun.

Little farmer

2009-05-23T18:28:00.002-05:00

Our friends are closing down their farm market stall (husband got a better job and wife is ready to take a much-needed break from the market after 10 years). Little Omi sure did enjoy coming every week and playing with her pal. I think they invigorated the place with their 3-year-old antics. This was the place where folks could buy my sunbonnets, so I think I'll be taking a break from bonnet-making for awhile, although I'm considering putting the rest on Etsy. Feel free to let me know if you're interested in one!

Aunt Sassy

2009-05-11T19:03:00.002-05:00

Little Omi really enjoyed having her Aunt Sassy here for her 3rd birthday. This minute pretty much sums up what she was like the entire visit.

Diaper bag

2009-02-19T17:40:00.004-06:00

My friend liked her new diapers-and-wipes case, bib, and burp cloth so much that she asked me to make her a new diaper bag using the same Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric and denim. I was a bit overwhelmed by the project, and made some very interesting mistakes, but I learned a lot and I think it came out looking pretty sharp. This was the first project I've ever made with a zipper, which was very intimidating but not that difficult in the end. The strawberry zipper pull was a last-minute addition, and I think it makes the whole bag! I used Butterick B5005. This pattern did nothing to dispel my dislike of patterns and their jangly directions (in fact it even had some pretty bad typos!), but I was pleased with the overall result: a large diaper bag with lots of pockets.

Sno-cones

2009-01-28T15:17:00.003-06:00

We just experienced a typical Oklahoma weather event—"winter mix." This starts out as freezing rain, which usually lays down a good layer of ice on all the roads, and then turns into sleet, which in this case, put a heavy layer of ball-bearing ice pellets on top of the ice. We're on day 2 of school closings, the day when school really could've been open because the sun is shining and the roads are mostly fine, but the kids can finally play outside so everyone's happy.

Since Little Omi hasn't had a good snow experience yet, I really wanted to make snow ice cream with her. But this white stuff on the ground wasn't technically snow, and therefore would make horrible snow ice cream. As it turns out, though, the tiny pellets of ice made perfect snow cones. We poured some simple syrup and food coloring over the ice, and presto! We each had two. After all, snow cone ice doesn't fall from the sky every day.

Baby shower

2009-01-28T14:36:00.004-06:00

Two of the moms in our playgroup are having babies very soon. After much debate over the appropriateness of second showers, the other moms and I agreed that we all wanted to give these new babies some gifts, so we decided to have an unofficial joint shower for the two women. Here are the items I was working on up until the last minute. I might have been able to finish them sooner, but before this I was working on a birthday present (another appliqué t-shirt) and I completely RUINED it by poking a hole in the knit right next to the appliqué. Now I've completely scrapped the first idea I had (a lion) and I have to start from scratch. Meanwhile, the birthday was over a week ago. It's a good thing our playgroup doesn't have any more birthdays in the next couple of months or I would be starting a backlog.

New skirt

2008-12-10T16:01:00.006-06:00

A new skirt for Omi. I don't know what it is about Fall and corduroy. It just makes me want to make little corduroy skirts. Here's this year's edition, worn at Thanksgiving.

Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff

2008-11-13T12:29:00.003-06:00

In this season of a birthday for every weekend, it has been a real trial coming up with different gifts for each child, especially given my limited sewing capabilities. But this tote was quite simple to make and was sized just right for carrying around copies of The House at Pooh Corner and Winnie-the-Pooh. I used Lotta Jansdotter's instructions from Simple Sewing, but made up my own dimensions and added a lining. I definitely see more tote bags in my future.

Lighthouse Tee

2008-11-11T11:17:00.002-06:00

My second attempt at appliqué. I really like these little sewing projects that we give as gifts to Little Omi's friends. It's a fun way to use bits of fabric from my stash and to create things for different kids' personalities. Plus, it's really fun to include Little Omi in the making of the project, and it's easier for her to understand that the item is for someone else, unlike going shopping for a toy, which I think can be a bit confusing and bring up some hurt and jealous feelings.

Trees & squirrels

2008-11-07T12:04:00.003-06:00

Little Omi is learning about fall. The leaves are changing and starting to fall off the trees, which inspired the artwork above. It was our first family art project, something we plan to do lots more of now that we've been reading and enjoying Amanda Blake Soule's The Creative Family. The other day, Omi was admiring the large silver maple tree in our front yard, and said, "I want to climb it! I need to be a squirrel." So, we made a little squirrel tail. Needless to say, the disappointment was apparent when she approached the tree wearing the tail and realized she hadn't gained any new tree-climbing abilities.

Yes we can

2008-11-05T02:04:00.003-06:00

I'm too excited to sleep, but sleep I must, especially if I'm going to wake up in the morning to the happy realization that this amazing evening wasn't all just a dream.

VOTE

2008-11-04T11:49:00.002-06:00

I have always taken my right to vote very seriously, and exercised it in as many elections as I could. Today I cast my vote in what I believe to be the most important election in my lifetime. This was not Little Omi's first time to visit our polling place (I bring her every time I vote), but this was her first presidential election, and the first time we ever had to stand in line. Our wait was relatively brief—20 minutes or so—especially compared with that of voters in the tossup states like Florida or Virginia. Still, it made my heart swell with pride to see all my neighbors who were willing to stand in line and wait their turn to make their voices heard in this Democracy, and to see our good friend from across the street, who has now moved into a nursing home, coming in by wheelchair to cast her vote.

Will Little Omi remember all this later on? I can't say. But I do wonder what kind of nation we can become if the very first President my daughter remembers, and the first President a whole generation of children knows, is Barack Obama. Behold, the possibility!

For friends

2008-10-27T12:56:00.004-05:00

We are very lucky to be a part of a fantastic play group, with lots of really wonderful kids and their interesting, thoughtful, and often hilarious moms and dads. Over the next month we will be celebrating the birthdays of five of the kids, so I wanted to make some of their gifts myself instead of completely breaking the bank on plastic stuff from China. So there's Little Omi modeling a sweet panda bear scarf, from Aranzi Aronzo's Cute Stuff. Next we (yes, Omi helped!) made these little bean bags. I used double-sided fusible interfacing to make the letters and numbers and then just stitched around them onto the circles to reinforce the glue. The actual bags are circles (I used an old cd to trace onto the fabric) cut with pinking shears, then sewn with wrong sides together. I left a small opening so we could fit a funnel in and fill them with rice (this is the part where Omi helped), then stitched the opening up by machine. Hope our friends will like them!

(Sorry for the awful pics. It was dark outside when I finally finished the bean bags and I couldn't wait for the photo shoot.)

O Pumpkin, My Pumpkin

2008-10-26T17:48:00.005-05:00

It's a good thing we got out the camera(s) for these pics:

(my turn with the camera)

(Little Omi's turn)

Because the very next morning, I found all three of our pumpkins smashed in the street:

Wah! We went out and picked up two new pumpkins, which have been rolling around in the back of my car for several days now because I'm afraid to put them out on the porch in case they become the victims of neighborhood ne'er-do-wells.

Rites of passage

2008-09-30T01:16:00.002-05:00

So today we had the worst trip ever to Super Target. We were tired, cranky, hungry, and the whole world seemed out to get us. I of course bought some M&Ms for the trip home just to make it all better (for me and for Little Omi) and we had to stop at Sonic for ice (for Omi) and a root beer (for me). Omi ate a few M&Ms, and then suddenly got a look of concern on her face and started reaching into her mouth like something hurt in there. Suddenly, a river of chocolate straight out of Willy Wonka came shooting from her mouth, all over her perfect little white shirt (that we discovered in the closet today that had only been worn once all summer) and the car seat. All I could do for about 10 seconds was stare in horror and think, "Well, now my day is complete."

First joke

2008-09-25T22:24:00.003-05:00

Little Omi told her very first joke today, and it went a little something like this:

Omi: I want to see a cow.
Mommy: Why?
Omi: So I can hear some moo-sic!

OK, I really think this joke was unintentional, because she always pronounces music "moosic", but still, it tickled my funny bone.

Always call the police/sweet little bunnies

2008-09-23T23:03:00.006-05:00

We were rear-ended last week. At a stop light. With my mother-in-law in the car. And my friend's 2-year-old. And Little Omi. Luckily, no one was hurt. We just got this nice little smack on the rear bumper. The woman said she was on her way to pick up her husband at the hospital. I jotted down her insurance info and we went on our merry way. Now it looks like that insurance info was bogus, and any repairs to my car are subject to my insurance deductible, $500. We went to the claims office today. Guess what the estimate was? $524.48. I now have a check for $24.48 and a nice dent in my car to remind me to ALWAYS get a police report.

While I wasn't posting, I was still managing to squeeze in a few sewing/craft/homemaking projects. Like this cute little bunny hair band from the Aranzi Aronzo book Cute Stuff:

And these Miffy wheat thins, inspired by angry chicken's post (recipe here):

Little Omi likes to eat the ears off the Miffy ones and say, "Where did Miffy's ears go? In my tummy!"

Baking with Omi has been a real hoot. She is quite talented at adding ingredients and mixing stuff up. She really, really wanted to be in charge of rolling out the cracker dough, and even though I had her help I think she knew she wasn't doing it all by herself. But when we finished she told Big Omi, "I love cooking with Mommy!" And that's about all I'll need for about another month or so.

Where the sidewalk ends

2008-09-22T13:05:00.003-05:00

Oh dear. It's been so long since I wrote an entry that everyone has stopped checking in. What a terrible thing to happen! Much has been going on, and really my only explanation as to why I haven't posted anything new is that we have a Wii, and summer TV* got really good this year. So my usual posting time (at night, after Little Omi has gone to bed) has been filled with Mario Galaxy and TiVo catch-ups. Well, I hope to lure you all back with the promise of bigger, better, new and improved posts, starting today.

We are getting a new sidewalk at the park by our house. We are fascinated by it. So much so that we build sidewalks wherever we go. It is taking such a long time that Little Omi is starting to be able to conceptualize large chunks of time. The other day, after Grandma took Omi to the park to see the progress, the kid came home and announced that it would "probably be finished in six months." Probably. That's Little Omi's new word, along with actually. I made her some felt food recently, and one pea pod was dubbed a leaf. When Big Omi tried to explain that it was a pea pod, she replied, "It looks like a pea pod, but actually it's a leaf."

*By the way, my friend Streak recently wrote about who he looks like. I happen to think he bears a strong resemblance to this guy.

Before I go to bed, I'm going to run around

2008-07-02T00:50:00.003-05:00

Oh, dear. Ever since the Wii came into our house there has been a very sharp decrease in my attention to the blog. Actually, I've been trying to write one of those sweet letters to Little Omi that everyone seems to be able to craft when their child passes a milestone (like, say, turning 2) and I've been having a lot of trouble making it coherent and less stream-of-consciousness. That, and my craftiness had all but dissipated in the heat of summer. But, I promise to write more than one paltry new entry per month from here on, starting now:

Little Omi, like her mother, loves Miffy, the sweet little bunny created by Dick Bruna. For some reason, Miffy is not a big deal here in the states, but she's quite popular abroad, where one can buy all sorts of fun Miffy merch or completely deck out your baby's nursery with a Miffy theme. As I said, not so here. So, I thought it might be fun to make a completely unlicensed Miffy bed for Little Omi. Up to now, she has been sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor, which was working out okay until my mom found a brown recluse spider in her house and I started to worry about little critters crawling into bed with her at night. The bed itself was fairly easy to construct. I bought a piece of plywood and some 2x4's at our local hardware megastore and had them cut it down to the size I needed, then put it all together with screws. I covered the sides and the headboard with 2" foam and some batting before covering that with soft navy decorator-weight fabric, and, finally, the little Miffy head on the headboard. If you look at the foot end of the mattress, you can tell that I forgot to add in the 2 inches of length on the platform that would be displaced by the headboard foam, so the mattress overhangs by a bit, but when I finally discovered that, the bed was in place and Little Omi was ready to sleep in it, so, live and learn!

Also, don't you just wish you had a spare $9,560 to drop on this little Wilber?

Bread and Board

2008-06-01T15:13:00.005-05:00

Little Omi received a cook book from Aunt Sassy and it is already coming in handy. We made these cheesy bread rolls and it was so much fun. Omi really enjoyed putting flour on our work surface and spreading it around, but she was good at kneading the dough as well. She also loved sprinkling the sunflower seeds and poppy seeds on the rolls just before they went into the oven. While they were baking, they made the house smell so wonderful; it reminded me of my own childhood and the times my mom baked bread.

The recipe, in case you'd like to give it a try, is from The Toddler Cookbook by Annabel Karmel.

We also have a new board game for our collection, the very first for Little Omi, called Cranium Cariboo. She absolutely loves this game, mostly because there's a key that unlocks doors and bouncy treasure balls. The other day at dinner she kept saying "Omi play Cariboo" but it sounded to us like, "Omi Kabul." Finally, exasperated by our inablity to understand her simple request, she said, "Treasure-ball game!"

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T16:51:00.002-05:00

For mothers and children of mothers alike, I submit for your enjoyment: Billy Collins reading his poem, The Lanyard.

I can't wait to get my lanyard.

Rock Chalk

2008-04-18T15:54:00.003-05:00

OK, so we're a little late with our congratulations to our fellow Big 12 basketball team, the Kansas Jayhawks on their amazing win over Memphis in the NCAA Tournament. But for Jayhawks fans, and especially Aunt Sassy, I hope this will be worth the wait:

*"Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!"

Library love

2008-04-16T22:19:00.004-05:00

Today our local public library held a special baby storytime parade, which all the kids who regularly come to storytime got to march in. The parade route was through the library, out onto the sidewalk, then through city hall and back again. Little Omi was very serious about marching and stomping her feet as much as possible. After the parade, we went to the regular storytime. Miss Susan knows what kids love: bubbles, and lots of them.

For the love of pockets

2008-04-13T15:09:00.003-05:00

After sewing all these bonnets for fun and profit (17 so far, with 8 sold!), I decided to get back to work on a spring dress for Little Omi. The fabric is from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope collection, and the pattern is McCall's 5370. Her favorite part of the dress? The pockets, of course. I can't wait to dig half-eaten fig newtons out of there.

Nothing ventured...

2008-04-04T23:47:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow I am starting out on a new venture. I will be selling my sunbonnets at our local Farmers' Market. A friend of mine has been kind enough to offer me some space in her booth so I can avoid rental fees while I see if this is for me. I have to say, after sewing 12 bonnets to sell, I'm not really sure if it is for me. I made 6 in one day, and I was beginning to feel like I was losing focus on why I was sewing to begin with. In other words, it felt a lot like work. And with the market opening at 8 am, I'm afraid going in will feel a lot like going to work, too. We'll see. I'm mostly worried about Little Omi and how she will hold up for the 4 hours we'll be there. But, she'll have a playmate, and so will I, so perhaps it will be fun after all...

I'll deal with my procrastination problem later

2008-03-21T17:08:00.006-05:00

This week I had a lot of chores to do, like taking all our income tax information to the accountant, making an appointment for a haircut, calling a tree trimmer to remove a branch left over from the ice storm, and packing for our upcoming trip to visit Aunt Sassy. So of course I decided it would be a good week to build Little Omi a cardboard kitchen. Needless to say, the kitchen was completed long before the chores (in fact right now I'm still not packed and we're leaving tomorrow).

I used these instructions, which cost a very reasonable $7, although I see the price has gone up to $8 recently. We were lucky enough to find a really huge double-walled box behind the new Circuit City and all of the pieces came from it. I had to make some minor adjustments so that we could fit Little Omi's new stove top on the stove side, but it worked out pretty well. I'm waiting to add the sink. Right now the counter space seems too valuable; Little Omi likes to make omelets and bake muffins and she needs room to crack eggs and fill muffin tins.

Of course no new kitchen would be complete without a nice oven mitt. This photo shows the sweet Amy Butler fabric that was also used for the curtain above. (Thanks so much to L for introducing me to Quiltworks, my new favorite local fabric shop!)

While we were at it, we may as well make some little napkins to go with the tea set. Grandma had the bright idea of fringing the edges, which gave them that little something extra, I think.

eBay + imagination = LOVE

2008-03-10T22:16:00.003-05:00

I've been on the hunt for a nice tea set for Little Omi for quite some time now, ever since she started to bring Big Omi and I imaginary bits of food she had plucked off the furniture or walls. I didn't think my criteria would be too difficult to meet; after all, I just wanted something simple, that adhered to the basic principles of good design, didn't require batteries, wouldn't break if mishandled by an almost 2-year-old, and, if possible, wasn't pink. It turns out that most tea sets on the market these days fail to meet any of my standards. The tin set at Magic Cabin is passable, but the design is a little busy... and pink. There's also a Curious George set, but Little Omi doesn't even know who Curious George is yet. Moolka.com has a couple of nice wooden tea sets, but neither one comes with more than 2 cups, and while you'd have to check with Martha on this one, in my opinion one cannot hold a proper tea party with only 2 cups.

Eventually I realized I was searching for the tea set of my own childhood: a Fisher-Price white plastic set with yellow flowers on the tea pot, yellow lids for the tea pot and sugar cup, 4 tea cups and saucers, and 4 fat little yellow spoons, all nestled in their own little divided sections of a sky blue tray. Enter Grandma and eBay, and today we held our very first little tea party with the newly-procured tea set of my childhood (sans tray, but perhaps that will show up some time, too). Little Omi was ready for it. She seemed completely stunned and excited by the idea that we could all pretend to be drinking tea, stirring in sugar and cream and refilling our cups frequently.

Here's the rest of the happy gathering. While Miffy and Baby Doll were perfect guests, Paddington Bear was quite rude, demanding spoonful after spoonful of sugar in his cup, and making very loud slurping noises when he drank. Perhaps it was because he wanted a cookie; he was never offered one and eventually they were all eaten by Okasan and Grandma.

Little sprouts

2008-03-10T22:08:00.002-05:00

Little Omi's pea plants have sprouted and are growing fast. The other day I pulled 2 of the 3 plants to make room for the biggest one to grow, and we studied the different parts of the plant. Eric Carle's book The Tiny Seed helped out a lot, too.

Artsy smock

2008-02-24T17:55:00.004-06:00

Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing is the just the gift that just keeps on giving.* This week I made the Swing Swing Smock, however I used a vinyl tablecloth and made it a nice waterproof apron for Little Omi to wear while she does water play. I just love Amy's zigzag method for applying bias binding. What a snap!

*I just found out that Amy is working on a SECOND book! Hooray!

Is it Spring yet?

2008-02-18T17:24:00.004-06:00

Little Omi was feeling much better today, so we ventured out of the house for the first time in days. We went to Sonic (of course) to see Omi-chan's friend Angel, who has taught her to blow kisses, something she finally started to do after months of Angel blowing unreciprocated kisses to Little Omi. Sadly, the flu must have sidetracked Little Omi's kiss-blowing skills, and today she just flashed her usual coy smile.

Feeling bold, I decided we could check out the hardware store to research a possible DIY water table project I've been mulling over, and we stopped in the new seed display to shake packets for quite some time. Little Omi finally picked out a nice packet of peas, and we brought them home and planted a few.

U R SWEET

2008-02-14T17:38:00.003-06:00

This day has been a bit of a trial. Little Omi has the flu. She started on Tamiflu yesterday and also said "all done" for the first time—when we tried to give her the dose of yucky, bitter liquid. This morning, we tried to sign up for a swim class at the YMCA. Most of our playgroup is signed up already, so we really wanted to get in this particular class. It's full, of course. Wah. Then while I was online finding this out, Little Omi was climbing up on the sofa where I had stupidly left a full glass of Coca-Cola balanced precariously on the back of the sofa and against the wall. This got knocked over, of course. Nap time was a disaster.

But, things are looking up. When I went out to check the mail, this was waiting for me on the front porch:
A sweet basket full of heart-shaped cranberry muffins, and two sweet tea towels. Did I mention Little Omi loves crocodiles? Or that I love muffins? And tea towels? What a sweet mama I have. This is definitely one of the benefits to living right down the block from your mother.

Chocolate and flowers to all

2008-02-14T15:07:00.003-06:00

Big Omi just got over the flu. Now Little Omi has it. Keep your fingers crossed for me and my immune system...

Simple pleasures

2008-02-06T17:05:00.001-06:00

Little Omi loves to play with dry rice, dry beans, and water (not together—yet!). She also loves to play in the big box we picked up to make her a cardboard kitchen. We're not sure when the kitchen will get made, since the box is currently so beloved.

If you're looking for your own simple pleasure, try this.

You light up my life

2008-01-24T03:21:00.001-06:00

Hooray for estate sales! And, hooray for my sharp-eyed mom who pointed out this $5 lamp after I had completely walked past without seeing it!

At and coke

2008-01-22T21:53:00.001-06:00

I finally came across the perfect fabric and ribbon to match Little Omi's coat and sewed this sweet Amy Karol bonnet, which I bought way back when. The pattern is just right—not too fancy, but with just enough little details, like the slightest of gathers on the back and the lovely ribbon, to make this a real stand-out project. I was afraid spring would come before I would get a chance to make this, but as luck would have it, the weather's been very cold the past few days so Little Omi has already had a chance to wear it out of the house.

"At" and "coke" are what Little Omi calls her hat and coat. When we are getting bundled up to leave the house, she chants "at and coke, at and coke, at and coke" until we are ready to go.

Big man on campus

2008-01-13T16:12:00.000-06:00

A couple of months ago Big Omi got to speak at the groundbreaking of a new science building at the university. It was a very big deal, and we had to find him a new suit and have it tailored with just a couple of days notice. He wrote and delivered a magnificent speech, and we were all on hand to give him a good round of applause at his achievement. It was nice to have something so ceremonial happen, so suddenly, in the middle of all this graduate school slogging. I think it made us both realize that there will be life after graduate school, and that life is not as far away as it used to be.

A friend of his shot this little movie of the actual (ceremonial) groundbreaking, which was pretty neat:

100

2008-01-06T22:07:00.001-06:00

I've been trying to write this post for some time now. It's #100, you see, and I just love milestones like that. I meant to have it up for New Year's Day, but that didn't work out, mostly due to the fact that we stayed up way, way, way too late on New Year's Eve playing this game.

Then, we finally got the Wii set up, so that's taking up most of my free time these days. Big Omi is currently editing his Mii, a little avatar that looks like you that you use to play in Wii Sports. Mine looks like me if I were drawn by Cathy Guisewite, i.e., eerily dead-on, but not very flattering, either.

But, today Little Omi and I baked these neat apple-currant-oatmeal muffins using the recipe on the back of the currant box and they came out pretty yummy, so I snapped a photo and knew I could squeeze a quick post in before resuming my new life as a Wii addict...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The littlest snowman

2007-12-28T00:23:00.001-06:00

We received the tiniest of snowfalls yesterday, but it was just enough to make a very short snowman. Little Omi did not like to put her feet on the snow, so we had to clear away what little snow there was so she could stand on the grass to admire Aunt Sassy's handiwork.

Tonight we got together with our good friends B & L for some home-smoked pork ribs. Mmm! B smoked the ribs, and Aunt Sassy made mashed potatoes and cole slaw. And to top it all off, she and Little Omi baked ginger snaps, which we enjoyed with some delicious home-canned peaches from B's mom.

After dinner, B entertained us with some great guitar playing and taught me the chords to Wilco's "California Stars," one of my all-time favorite songs. Little Omi accompanied us by playing the harmonica and scratching the walls.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night

2007-12-26T00:47:00.001-06:00

We had a very fine Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For Christmas Eve, Aunt Sassy (or Sa-sa as Little Omi says it) really outdid herself this time by preparing a feast of seven fishes. It was a wonderful meal, complete with baccalà, or salted cod, which was actually quite good. While we were missing Little Omi's ojii-chan, we were happy to be spending the evening celebrating with so many good friends and the rest of our Oklahoma family.Little Omi enjoyed checking under grandma's tree, where she found her first present for the year.
Where's Omi-chan?

There she is!

Grandma gave Little Omi a choo-choo train, and since she has had enough storage space all these many years, she still has my train set from my childhood, which thankfully fits with all the wooden train sets of today. So, we are all set with tracks and tunnels and bridges for the next several holidays.

This was our first holiday where Little Omi could unwrap presents and really get what was going on. It was unbelievably fun watching her enjoy all of her new toys, dashing from one to the next and then back again. Her new words for today were house and chair.

My Christmas was pretty wonderful, too, and one of the best gifts I received was this gorgeous Liberty fabric my sis picked up on her recent trip to London. I hope I will find a project wonderful enough to justify cutting into them soon.

Big Omi received a little Christmas miracle, one that I will enjoy as well. Keeping it a secret from him was really tough!

And since we've no place to go

2007-12-24T02:44:00.000-06:00

Things are falling into place around here. I finally finished decorating for Christmas. I put up the wreath we bought at Ikea and found a lovely branch of deciduous holly covered with stunning red berries in the local Methodist church parking lot (it had been a casualty of the recent ice storm). I am lucky enough to have 2 blooming amaryllis plants. Even the closed pine cones I picked up outside have started to open and are looking beautiful.

We're so excited that we actually got some snow yesterday! Aunt Sassy arrived safe and sound and we managed to cram in a Sonic run before it got too crazy out there. Then we spent the rest of the day snuggled up inside, watching the great big snowflakes falling. There was even a tiny bit of accumulation, and here's what we had outside this morning:

Of course, the sun came out and by noon it was over 50°F and the snow had pretty much disappeared. But it's probably the closest we'll come to a white Christmas, so I'm taking what I can get.

Oh, and, thanks, Aunt Sassy, for bringing this to our attention. The British really do advertising much better than we do.

On being a big fat copycat

2007-12-23T19:30:00.001-06:00

Gosh that Amy Karol is a crafting wonder. After seeing these easy little crafty gifts on Angry Chicken, I decided to give them a go. Here are a few of the little blank books I whipped up:
I put these in little packages for the moms & kids in the little playgroup Omi-chan and I recently joined. For the kids, I made little personalized name clips for hanging photos (again, from this Angry Chicken craft, which I copied almost exactly, right down to the baker's twine. Like Amy, I got the stars, clothespins, and twine at Michael's. N.B. The twine was in a special Christmas display of Martha Stewart stuff, and not in the baking area. When I asked an employee where I could find baker's twine, she said they didn't carry any and I should try a specialty foods store.).

I also had each mom send me a photo of her child, then had them all printed up at Walgreens and included a montage of all 6 kids in each package. Little Omi wouldn't let me hang up her copy of the montage, instead she just carries it around the house and gazes fondly at all of her pals.

Flashback Friday: Ghost of Christmas Past

2007-12-21T00:33:00.001-06:00

Some comments have been made by people who shall remain nameless about how the Flashback Friday photos often show me as cute and my sister as a bit on the dorky side. Well, I can't help that my cutest years were pre-1985, which is one of the rules of FF. Believe me, many photos exist that captured my awkward years, which began right around 1985. But I think I've found a good compromise in this photo, since it shows off my amazing fashion sense: striped socks, rolled-up jeans, and a sweatshirt with satin appliqué hearts. It's not surprising to see this outfit. I'm pretty sure I wore it all the time.

And, yes, that's my sister placing the angel atop the tree! And we wondered why I got so excited by all the Scandinavian ornaments at Ikea the other day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-21T00:05:00.001-06:00

We finally went out and got a Christmas tree last Sunday. It's the first live tree we've had, which kind of amazes me because I am such a fan of the live tree. Little Omi greets it every morning with a cheer, and loves to visit it and all the ornaments throughout her day (especially when the lights come on). And, yes, for those who are wondering, those are pool noodles wrapped around our coffee table. Got to protect the wee noggin, now, don't we?

And here's our darling tree-top angel. She was our tree-topper when I was growing up (I'm sure you're not surprised, considering her dress is orange calico). When Little Omi sees her, she points and says, "Baby-doll!" which is her newest word. She got a book about babies from a friend recently and now she's all about the babies and her baby doll (who can be seen on the sofa in the above photo).

I've been playing Christmas music non-stop, in an effort to catch up before the day actually arrives. While usually I am nuts for Charlie Brown's Christmas music, this year I'm afraid it has been a bit overplayed, and so I've opted for Ella Fitzgerald and some other classics like Dean Martin, Andy Williams, the Jackson 5, and Elvis. And in the car, it's all Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas all the time.

Sweet wee bathrobe?

2007-12-19T00:07:00.001-06:00

After my initial success sewing the sweet wee jacket and woodland elf hat from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing, I decided to make another set for a friend of Little Omi's 2nd birthday. I wandered around the fabric store for hours, trying to find just the right fleece to match this girl's personality and sense of style, and ended up picking out a really fuzzy hot pink number and some orange to contrast on the hat. Well, the hat turned out as cute as can be (and I totally failed to photograph it before giving it away! Drat!), but the jacket was a different story. I scaled it up from the pattern and when I was finished (yes, finished meticulously hand-sewing the bias binding around the neck) I tried it on Little Omi to see how it fit. Well, I'm not sure if it's the color or the fuzziness of the fleece, but it turned out looking more like a tiny bathrobe than a cute jacket. So, I've still got it. I just couldn't bring myself to give it to this kid. And as it turns out, she already had a jacket that matched the hat perfectly, so thanks for that bit of providence.

Whipped up

2007-12-18T01:04:00.000-06:00

I made this felt mat as a gift for my mom's birthday using strips of a felted sweater sewn together in a rag-rug sort of style. I started out trying to make a little bowl, but that project went nowhere, so I decided to try a flat mat. The most satisfying part was ironing it when I was done. It had been puckering a bit in the center, but it ironed flat in about 2 seconds. Would that every project could be rescued by a quick steam press at the end!

Ice storm update

2007-12-15T15:46:00.001-06:00

Well, we made it through Ice Storm '07 mostly intact. We sat mesmerized at our window all day Monday watching branches fall all over our street. We were very lucky to have our electricity on throughout the whole ordeal. Over 600,000 Oklahoma households were not so lucky, and many are still without power.

The pansies and violets I bought to plant way back before I injured my knee held up remarkably well, even though they are still not in the ground:

Unfortunately, the fun ended for us on Monday evening, when we heard a crack and a bang that seemed to shake the house:

The top of a pine tree had snapped off and landed on the hood of our car. Wah! Oh, well. After some initial panic, we discovered that we do have insurance coverage for such accidents, so soon the whole thing will hopefully be a memory. We feel pretty lucky that this was the only damage we had.

Flashback Friday: Kid crafters

2007-12-14T02:12:00.001-06:00

When I was growing up, my mom was an avid knitter. In this photo, my sister and I have just learned to knit and we are diligently working on our first projects. I am pretty sure mine was going to be a Barbie scarf. I am also pretty sure I never finished it, and I never knitted again! Too bad, because now I wish I could whip up some cute little sweaters for Little Omi. What I love about this photo is the looks of concentration on our faces, and the look of pride on my mother's face. I wanted to include this photo of her today, too, because it's her birthday! Happy birthday, Mom!

This photo is from that magical Christmas we spent in Colorado. I've been dreaming about it lately, trying to get into the Christmas spirit this year. Freezing rain and falling tree limbs just don't quite compare with quiet, deep snow and cozy nights knitting by the fire.

n.b.: Fans of previous Flashback Friday posts might recognize the blue booties my sister is wearing.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

2007-12-09T22:55:00.001-06:00

It's Oklahoma winter weather doing what it does best, that little thing called "winter mix" by our local weathermen. Freezing rain, a touch of snow, thunder and lightning, and trees creaking and cracking under the weight of all that ice. Kids (of all ages) are glued to the TV, practicing alphabetizing and watching to see if their school district will be closed Monday morning.

Did Big Omi and I let this stand in our way of our very first date night since the birth of Little Omi? No way, José! Even thought we had to scrape the ice off the car 3 times (and for the last one, Big Omi had to climb in the car from the back hatch because the locks had frozen), it was sure worth it. We saw The Golden Compass. We are big fans of the book, and the movie didn't disappoint. The casting was very good, the costumes and production design were wonderful, and the overall adaptation was well done. Fans of the book should be prepared for the movie to end a bit earlier than the book does, but it's understandable why they had to lop off the cliffhanger (and a bit of a downer) ending for moviegoers. Obviously if a sequel happens (there are three books in the series) they will put the ending at the beginning of the next one. Thumbs up.

Big thanks to L and Grandma, ace babysitters!

Little Omi is not a fan of Santa Claus

2007-12-07T22:44:00.001-06:00

I'm this close to using this photo for our Christmas cards this year.

50 gifts under $50 from Domino.com

2007-12-07T22:15:00.001-06:00

OK, so there's a few misses, like the peppermint pig, but it's a surprisingly good gift idea list.

Holiday Happening

2007-12-06T23:16:00.000-06:00

The family spent a lovely evening at our local natural history museum for their annual holiday event. Little Omi had her picture taken with Santa and her playgroup pals. She was the only one who cried. I hope the other moms didn't mind me being in all the shots! After the trauma, Big Omi and I gave her a tour of the museum, which is a special place for us because it's where we were married. Here she's posing for the museum brochure by pointing at the world's largest skull (from a land animal), which was discovered by my great uncle, Willis Stovall in 1941. (In case you're wondering, it's a pentaceratops.)

Flashback Friday: Sister love

2007-12-06T13:21:00.001-06:00

This week I am either late or early with Flashback Friday depending on your point of view. I've taken a bit of an unscheduled blog break so I thought the best way to get back into the swing of things was to do a flashback photo. Angela at three buttons has been hosting Flashback Friday all these months and has decided that we'll go theme-free from now on. So I'm just going to make up my own themes and see how far I get.

I am quite sure I could use the theme "Sister love" for the next several weeks, as I have many, many photos of my sister and I palling around. This is one of my favorites, though. I have very vivid memories of this day, and how wonderful it felt to be hugged by my big sister like this. Also, I'm wearing the coolest dress I ever owned, but you can't see why. There's a Rowlf the Dog on the front, playing a piano keyboard, and the keyboard was also a big pocket! It was so neat. I loved to pretend I was playing the piano on the keys, too.

Qu'est-ce que c'est Anthropologie?

2007-11-26T00:17:00.000-06:00

I am head-over-heels in love with all the Christmas decorations and ornaments at Anthropologie. Some favorites:

Gratitude

2007-11-25T15:01:00.001-06:00

So, Thanksgiving came and went while I was away from the blog, so I think I need to back up a bit before we get too far down the Christmas-frenzy path. As I mentioned, my sister was in town, which was just wonderful. We are very close, and it's hard to be separated by distance especially now that she's an auntie. The phone, which one served us very well, just doesn't cut it anymore. I am 100% positive that each time she gets to be around Little Omi, our girl's intelligence and abilities just skyrocket. On this trip, Aunt Sassy taught her little niece to roar like a tiger, buzz like a bee, and say "please." We couldn't be more thrilled. Plus, with my knee on the fritz, Aunt Sassy had to take up a lot of the slack that I couldn't do. This was in addition to cooking the entire Thanksgiving meal!

In addition to my wonderful sister, here are the blessings I am so very grateful for this year:

Of course, I'm thankful for my hard-working husband and clever daughter. The two of you are just the bee's knees as far as I'm concerned.

I'm lucky to have my mom back in town, and she's brought such a sweet and funny companion back with her. J is a real spark plug and a great addition to our family.

I am especially grateful, and I know Big Omi is too, to have such wonderful friends as B & L. They really know the meaning and spirit of family and friendship, and they're the most genuine people I think I have ever known. Spending time with them is always a delight, and I can count on them to make me laugh, think, cry, and simply appreciate the life I have. They are both so good with Little Omi, and B is so very patient with me as I continuously forgo my guitar practicing to do some other crafty project. On top of that, L makes the most amazing pies and B can smoke a mean piece of meat! Who could ask for anything more?

I am also really thankful for this blog. I love having the opportunity to take a little time out and think about my life, and to share the things that seem to matter from day to day. I appreciate every single visitor and love to read the comments you all share. Most of all, I like the way that thinking about a post has made me tap into my creative side a bit more than usual, and it seems to be spilling over into other areas of my life, like crafting, sewing, or just playing with Little Omi.

This morning I woke up in a really crabby mood. Missing my sister, worried about all the clutter around the house, my knee, and our general lack of money, I was quite inconsolable. But now that I've just spent 20 minutes thinking about everything wonderful in my life, I do feel a bit better. Now, if I can just close my eyes and make it out of this cluttered room without tripping over something and further injuring my knee, I think this may turn out to be a swell day after all...

Christmas is coming

2007-11-25T01:25:00.001-06:00

My sister is having a holiday party, so we thought it would be fun to Gocco the invites. I was a bit rusty since the last time I used the old Gocco was to make our wedding invitations 5 years ago, but it came back to me after I had printed about 30 or so of these. I was a tad disappointed in the way the master came out; I would've liked the text to have printed better. All in all, though, I'm happy with the final product.

Flashback Friday: Hippie Love*

2007-11-25T01:07:00.000-06:00

I am pretty sure my parents qualified as hippies. This photo is from my sister's christening. Not shown are all of my sister's godparents, who stayed for the pickin' and singin' party after the ceremony. I'm blanking on the name of the little band that was there; who can help me out? Mom? Dad? Sis?

Just in case you didn't get a good view of my sister's christening gown, here it is in all its glory.

By the time I came along, Mom and Dad had grown out of their hippie days somewhat, although my mom is still looking good in her prairie skirt. Dad has moved into his western shirt phase (for more proof, see here). And notice my christening is taking place in a proper church, and I'm wearing a (somewhat boring & conservative) white dress.

*OK, so I'm a bit late this week on Flashback Friday, but my sister was in town and we had a lot to accomplish. Better late than never, as they say...

Headed for the glue factory

2007-11-21T15:08:00.000-06:00

I've injured my knee somehow. I don't know how it happened, but for the past several days I've been walking around with a hideous limp. And I can't walk very fast, which got really irritating this morning when the temperature dropped to the low 40s and we were trying to get from the car to the library as quickly as possible. Harumph. Feeling old.

Taking a break from all your worries

2007-11-19T01:33:00.001-06:00

It's just 3 days until Thanksgiving, and my sister is in town. She's already whipping things into shape around our house, and for that I am eternally grateful. For our Thanksgiving dinner this year, we will not be eating turkey. No, no, it's not for some moral reason. It's because my sister always gets sick on Thanksgiving, and we think it might have something to do with the turkey. So, we're going to make a pork rib roast instead. Tomorrow we will make the first of what will surely be 25,000 trips to the grocery store for ingredients and supplies. Wish us luck!

p.s. Good grief!

Flashback Friday: Travel bug

2007-11-16T23:37:00.001-06:00

When I was growing up, my family took two epic road trips. The first, when I was almost 8 years old, was to the Pacific Northwest via every state in between Oklahoma and Washington. This trip was really amazing. We camped a lot in our Volkswagon Vanagon (see below), which was always really exciting for my sister and me because we got to sleep in the bed that was up in the pop top. We saw Old Faithful, The Grand Tetons, and Seattle's Space Needle. The photograph above was taken at Yellowstone. (Who's that cute little boy standing next to my sister?) A park ranger there inspired me to pursue a career in the park service (later, when I was working at the entrance gate to Rocky Mountain National Park, I met a woman who had been that ranger's roommate at Yellowstone). We drove into British Colombia, where I remember a waiter at a restaurant hesitated to give me a menu because he didn't think I could read (!). We went on a ferry that had a wonderful hammered dulcimer band, The Wild Rose String Band, whose music would become the soundtrack for every road trip our family took thereafter. On this ferry I also met a man from New Zealand who taught me that (at the time) NZ had 3.1 million people and 65 million sheep.

This photograph is from our second major road trip, to the East coast. This was probably the coolest place I've ever car-camped. I'm pretty sure it was in Tennessee, and the camping spaces were giant decks on stilts. In case you're wondering why my sister is wearing a blue bootie on her right foot, it's because earlier in the summer, she stepped on one of these:
And she had stitches in her foot. I guess she couldn't wear a shoe on that foot, until after my dad removed the stitches in a hotel room in Washington D.C.

By the time this photo was taken, we had been in a car wreck in Virginia (we were rear-ended on the highway by a man who was asleep at the wheel) and so here we are standing in front of our second rental car (a Buick Regal) but still making progress on our trip. Looking back on it, I am sort of shocked that my parents were so willing to persevere on our trip after such a harrowing experience!

These road trips are some of my favorite memories from my childhood. I sure hope to be able to give Little Omi experiences like them when she's a bit older (without the car wreck, obviously).

Thanks, AJ, for this week's theme!

A very small diaper

2007-11-15T13:49:00.002-06:00

Little Omi has started displaying mothering tendencies by carrying her dolls around and patting them reassuringly on the behind and trying to feed them at the dinner table. I decided that it's never too early to teach a kid how to put a diaper on a baby, so I made a little cloth diaper for her Miffy doll.

This is my first attempt at sewing doll clothes. And as Tim Gunn says, good clothes are nothing without good undergarments, so I guess it's a good thing I started with the basics.

Here's Miffy modeling her new diaper. Why is she also wearing a hat and mittens, you ask? Well, you and I know that they come off, but Little Omi doesn't know that yet, so for now let's just keep it between us, k?

And here's our model seconds later, naked as a jay bird (except for the hat and mittens, keeping her hands and head nice and toasty). Well, we did already know Little Omi was a pro at taking diapers off. I guess it'll be awhile before she's into the whole diapering thing. But when she is, she has her own diaper bag to store it in!

And the land we belong to is grand

2007-11-15T00:24:00.000-06:00

On Friday, Oklahoma will celebrate 100 years of statehood. It's a pretty big deal around here, with parades and dedications, concerts and re-enactments, special exhibits and free admission days going on. It's also a bit of a touchy subject, what with the whole "Here's some territory for the Indians, let's make them all go live there. Uh, whoops! Actually we'll be taking all that land back now." history of our state.*

So, in appreciation of our centennial day, I'd like to write a bit about what I love about Oklahoma, and share some interesting facts about our state.

Oklahomans are, on the whole, quite humble, so we don't like to toot our own horns very often. Ours may not be the most beautiful, or cosmopolitan, or forward-thinking of places, but it's a nice place to live and start a family. The people are usually kind and courteous, the weather is mostly pleasant (except for those pesky tornadoes), and the cost of living is quite low. Oklahoma does have its own beauty, too, that unique kind of prairie beauty of rolling green hills and our wonderfully red soil.

Spring in Oklahoma is my favorite time of year. I just love that first day when you can drive with your windows rolled down, feeling the warm sun beating down and smelling the soil heating up.

Did you know that the shopping cart and the parking meter were invented in Oklahoma? Also, the first-recorded sale of cookies to benefit a Girl Scout Troop took place in Oklahoma.

We Oklahomans have our very own Christmas song, in the form of a jingle for a local jeweler. It's not Christmastime until you hear it.

Plus, we have a panhandle. How cool is that?

Frank Lloyd Wright built the "prairie skyscraper" Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It has recently been converted into a hotel, where you can stay for a shockingly affordable price. Big Omi and I stayed there for our first wedding anniversary, and it was a blast.

Oklahoma is also the birthplace of a ton of famous people, from Will Rogers and Woody Guthrie to Carrie Underwood, a slew of astronauts, J. Paul Getty, Carl Albert, Walter Cronkite, Ralph Ellison, Louis L'Amour, Tony Hillerman, N. Scott Momaday, Bill Moyers, Hopalong Cassidy, Joan Crawford, Gary Busey, Iron Eyes Cody, Blake Edwards, James Garner, Ron Howard, Terrence Malick, Rue McClanahan, Megan Mullally, Chuck Norris, Brad Pitt, Mary Kay Place, Tony Randall, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Alfre Woodard, Hoyt Axton, and his mother, Mae Axton (who wrote "Heartbreak Hotel"). Other musicians include Gene Autry, Chet Baker, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Bob Wills, The Flaming Lips, JJ Cale, John Denver, Color Me Badd (but without them, would we ever have been given this?) and Hanson. Let's not forget Oklahoma outlaws Pretty Boy Floyd and Belle Starr, and then there's the infamous saloon-smasher, Carry Nation. Oh, and perfect-ten Nadia Comaneci lives here with her Oklahoma-native husband, Bart Connor.

Finally, Oklahoma has its very own musical, which is just pretty darn cool. And here's the most ridiculous version I could find**, starring John Schneider (aka Bo Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard) and Pam Dawber (Mindy from Mork and Mindy):

(If you get a little bored and want to skip ahead to the song Oklahoma!, it's at 5:25.)

*I do regret not paying better attention in my Oklahoma history class in high school. However, my teacher, a football coach who on the first day of class listed his priorities on the chalk board as being: 1. Football, 2. Oklahoma history, 3. Family, and 4. Scuba, and was later found to have forged his teaching certificate, was just not a very captivating man.

**For the second-most ridiculous version, see this.

What the flip?

2007-11-13T23:47:00.001-06:00

Today I saw, within minutes of each other, not one, but two different guys driving their cars while wearing headphones. Seriously, dude.

At least they weren't text messaging each other. Apparently, all the kids are doing it: texting and driving. Yikes. I sent a text (from my house) the other day and it took me approximately 20 minutes to type it out. So you know it won't be me out there texting on the roads anytime soon, unless I have someplace really far away to drive to.

Proud of the Pride

2007-11-13T13:26:00.000-06:00

It has recently come to my attention that our marching band (aka the Pride of Oklahoma) has been performing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" at halftime shows at the past few football games. And by perform, I mean perform. Check it:

Flashback Friday: All in the Family

2007-11-11T14:14:00.001-06:00

So, I've been a bit behind on my blog posts this week due to large amounts of scary editing that I am turning in today. This is why I'm running my Flashback Friday photo on a Sunday afternoon.

The FF theme for this week is All in the Family, suggested by Hyena in Petticoats. Here's the only formal family portrait that I'm aware of from before 1985 (and thank God the FF rules say pics must be from before 1985, because there's another formal portrait from the 90s that is just horrible. But enough about that!). I like to call this one the Sunshine Family photo, after the 1970s hippified Barbie-alternative dolls we also had and played with a lot. Favorite bits of this photo include:

My sister's braids. AWESOME.
My dad's hair flipping out on the side, echoed by my own hair flipping out in the exact same way.
My dad's Western shirt. He had a whole collection of these, all with wonderful mother-of-pearl snaps instead of buttons.
My mom's shaded lenses and velour dress. YES!

I'm also going to have to check with my mom to see if she still has these two little girl dresses in her stash of Precious Baby Clothes (that's what it says on the outside of the box) because they are too cute. Can you even remember the last time you saw a Pooh-themed dress that wasn't in pastels?

Eye candy

2007-11-08T14:46:00.000-06:00

This crocheted wreath from Garnet Hill.

These bed linens from Ikea.

And this adorable passport cover from Etsy shop revontulitikku.

TK-421, Why aren't you at your post?

2007-11-08T00:51:00.001-06:00

I've written before about my love of Legos and admitted that there is a large quantity of them in our house, stashed away in a closet so Little Omi can't play with—er, choke on them. Today I noticed these adorable little stormies, which had been a prized acquisition before Little Omi was born, now gathering dust after having been tossed carelessly into a bowl of spare (and mostly foreign) change. Ah, parenthood. It does rearrange one's priorities, doesn't it?

The eyes have it

2007-11-07T13:05:00.001-06:00

Before I landed this cushy new gig as a stay-at-home-mommy, I never really had a career, but instead worked a series of interesting jobs. While some were more interesting than others, I always had a good time and learned lots of useful tidbits from each job. For instance, when I was a cook at a pre-school in my 20s, I learned how to time the cooking of each meal item so that everything came together right at lunch time. I also learned that 3-year-olds do not necessarily appreciate a lot of seasoning in their food (kid, after taking a bite of my special peppery corn: Teacher, more milk please! My mouth is burning!).

For a couple of years right after Big Omi and I were married, I worked as an editor at a textbook company. It was a great opportunity for me to hone my skills as a nit-picker and perfectionist. My experience there also led to some freelance work, copyediting scientific journal articles and grant proposals for non-native-English speakers. Now, I'm not exactly sure if what I'm learning from reading these articles is very useful, but you never know when you're going to be able to drop into a conversation how scientists check to make sure mice are properly anesthetized (with a toe pinch, if you're interested) before they are euthanized (with a guillotine, I kid you not), or that fresh retinas from dark-adapted calf eyes can be obtained at slaughterhouses. Although, with the holidays coming up, I'm sure the opportunity will present itself.

Woodland treasures

2007-11-06T22:59:00.001-06:00

The weather has been all over the place around here lately. Yesterday, Little Omi was wearing a very summery sleeveless dress for our pecan-gathering outing in the morning, then today it was back into long pants, turtlenecks, and sweaters. I'm hoping the cold air tonight will finally be enough to finish off the mosquitoes, because both Little Omi and I were attacked by the little bastards yesterday & the day before. Poor Omi-chan's face is covered with bites and she looks like she has measles!

We discovered these little mushrooms a few days ago. They're growing near a tree stump next to our house. I wonder if they'll make a good snack for some passing hungry squirrel? Which reminds me, I saw a squirrel napping on a tree branch yesterday. I actually saw him fall asleep, when he... just... couldn't... keep... his... eyes... open....

Picking up, sorting

2007-11-05T14:40:00.001-06:00

At 18 months, Little Omi is really getting the hang of sorting objects. Today we spent quite a bit of time in the back yard picking up pecans. For some reason, the dogs haven't been able to eat them all yet, so we collected quite a bounty!

Where's fishy?

2007-11-04T21:37:00.001-06:00

Today I was cleaning all the leaves out of our little whiskey-barrel pond and I couldn't find our fish anywhere. It was quite troubling; we've had this fish for 6 years and she has survived 6 winters, 1 move, and 2 dogs constantly drinking the water out of her small home. So when I couldn't see her I just assumed she had finally been lapped up by one of the dogs. I searched and searched, looking under all the lily pads and the big rock, but she was nowhere to be found. Eventually I gave up and came inside and told Big Omi, with a sniff. He looked out the window and there she was, swimming around in the pond like her usual self. Phew! Now, I wonder where she was hiding?

In other news, we made the drive to Chickasha today to enjoy their lovely park and the 80°F weather we had. Little Omi was a very big girl and went down the slide all by herself! (This was after going down about a million times while Daddy was holding onto her.) Quite a big step for everyone involved.

Oh, and we won our football game last night. All in all, a wonderful weekend. Go Sooners!

Flashback Friday: My stylish mom

2007-11-02T00:01:00.001-05:00

My mom is one of the most stylish people I know. And how hard can it be to look stylish with you've got such perfect eyebrows? Not only can she put together a beautiful outfit for herself, complete with the perfect dangling earrings, she's always decorated her home so amazingly well, too. Alas, I can only aspire to be so stylish in my own appearance and home. Somehow I didn't get those genes (nor the eyebrows).

But my own memories of my mom don't have that much to do with her style as they do with all the wonderful things we did together when I was little, like playing Legos on the floor of our living room, gardening (well, she gardened while I mostly just pulled up baby carrots or wandered around eating the all the tips off the asparagus), taking walks to collect pretty autumn leaves, or making peanut-butter balls and orange juice pops (and eating them, too!).

And to top it off, she's quite crafty, too. I loved to watch her weave on her big loom, or spin yarn or knit or sew. I can remember clearly the sound of the shuttle zooming across the warp threads and the way the heddle rods would shake when she pulled the beater down on the weft. And the sound of her metal knitting needles clicking together—heavenly. I've mentioned before how she made the all the dresses for our My Friends dolls' wedding. When she was at her sewing machine I loved to sort through all the patterns or play with the fancy weights she used for holding down the pattern on the fabric while she cut it.

My goal in staying home with Little Omi is not only to give her the best foundation she can possibly get to start her life, but to create with her some wonderful memories like these. Love you, Mom!

Happy Birthday to me, circa 2005

2007-11-01T23:01:00.001-05:00

What's that, you say? You say my birthday was way back in August so what's up with the celebrating? Let me explain: Back in 2005, my Dad gave me a gift certificate to L.L. Bean for my birthday (incidentally, I also found out I was pregnant with Little Omi on my birthday that year). I have sat on that gift certificate ever since, keeping it in a safe place and visiting it from time to time. I've spent it dozens of times in my mind, going as far as putting items in my basket on the L.L Bean Web site only to chicken out and dump everything at the checkout. I really suffer from analysis paralysis when it comes to gift certificates. I love having the possibility of the new item so much and deciding which item takes away that potential. Well, a few days ago I finally broke through my AP and ordered these wonderful Keen clogs. They arrived today and I already know they will be my primary shoe for the fall and winter (until spring when I can switch back to my Keen sandals). I love them. Thanks, Dad!

Now maybe I'll tackle that Title Nine gift certificate I received from my Mom last Christmas...

Zoo animals on parade

2007-10-31T13:31:00.001-05:00

Little Omi got another chance to wear her costume today at our library's baby costume parade. What fun! We paraded all around the library, then next door to City Hall. All the city employees ooh'ed and ahh'd at our little menagerie. The best little girl in the parade was dressed as a lion and would roar on cue. Too cute!

When we returned to the library Little Omi took off for the reference section, her favorite part of the children's area.

Golden countdown

2007-10-31T00:40:00.001-05:00

photo credit: Laurie Sparham/New Line Cinema

The movie version of the Phillip Pullman novel The Golden Compass opens December 7, and Big Omi and I are so excited to go. My dad originally recommended the book, which is part of the His Dark Materials trilogy, when we were visiting him way back in 2001. Without going into a lengthy book review, I'll just say it's the only book I've ever owned that I've given away to a friend who expressed interest in reading it, because I just hoped someone else would read it so we could talk about how great it is.

While I was somewhat worried when I read there would be a movie version, I have to say after seeing the trailer that I'm totally on board. Nicole Kidman is going to make a perfect Mrs. Coulter, the icy villainess/mother figure to our plucky heroine, Lyra. Plus, Ian McKellan as the voice of the armored bear Iorek Byrnison! Sam Elliott as cowboy-hot-air-balloon-aviator Lee Scoresby! Hooray! Even Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel isn't too bad, even though I imagined him to be darker. I guess Daniel Craig is reinventing dark-haired characters one by one.

P.S. Check out that beautiful bonnet on Lyra. I'm excited for the costumes in this movie, too.

Haunting the zoo

2007-10-29T23:19:00.001-05:00

Tonight we learned a big lesson. We went to the zoo for their big Halloween event and braved the hordes (thank goodness for the stroller) with some other families we know. When we arrived at the carousel, everyone eagerly got in line, except us. Weren't we taking Little Omi? they asked. Oh, nah, we replied. We'll just stay behind and watch all the strollers. We were sure Little Omi would cry or get scared or just not be up to it for some reason. Where we ever came up with that idea, I'll never know, because as soon as the others stepped onto the platform, Little Omi started to wail. Was she just tired? Overstimulated? No, as the others got off and we went to play in the adjoining playground, it became clearer and clearer that all Little Omi wanted to do was ride that carousel.

So we took her, and she loved it. I think she would have stayed on forever if we had had enough tokens. And we could have watched her forever, with that look of wonder on her face.

This marked the first time she told us she wanted to do something she had never experienced before. (Or at least the first time we got it!)

Pumpkin patch

2007-10-29T01:43:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we finally made it over to the pumpkin patch that a local church organizes every year. Little Omi has seen a lot of pumpkins at the Farmer's Market lately, but never this many in one place. She kept trying to pick each one up, except this one, which she kissed.

Tomorrow we are going to do our first Halloween event up at the zoo. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she'll keep her costume on for more than 5 minutes this year!

Two turntables and some cutie pies

2007-10-28T22:39:00.001-05:00

OK, so I found this on Z Recommends, but it is so cute that I just had to put it up here, too. (Plus, Blogger is having trouble uploading photos, so the pretty pic of Little Omi at the pumpkin patch will have to wait till later.)

Flashback Friday: Favorite Activity

2007-10-26T23:01:00.000-05:00

The theme for Flashback Friday this week is Favorite Activity or Toy. Unfortunately, and quite astonishingly, I don't have any photos of me playing with Legos, which was probably my all-time favorite toy as a child (and those of you who know me in person also know that there are Legos to be found in our house at this very moment, and they're not Little Omi's!). I was heavily into the Castle series and had a whole portion of the floor in my room dedicated to my castles and surrounding forests.

While playing Legos was primarily a solo activity, by far the most popular toys my sister and I played with together were our My Friend Mandy and Jenny dolls, or "Mands and Jens" as we called them. We also had Becky and Mikey, and although you may remember Charles and Diana's as the biggest wedding event of the 1980s, you obviously did not receive an exclusive invitation to the nuptials of Mandy and Mikey. We worked for days on this big wedding. Our mom made all the dresses by hand. Sis and I made tiny tulle-wrapped rice baggies. And the whole event went off without a hitch, or apparently a wedding photographer, because we have no photos of it!

In the summers in Colorado, my sister and I turned our attention to our Lincoln Logs. I have to admit we spent many hours building, demolishing, and re-building to perfection "The Lincoln Lodge" even into our teen years. By this time, we insisted we were building, not playing. Note the distinction!

I am not sure if we built a huge number of sandcastles together, but I just happen to have TWO photographs commemorating this craft. I think they were taken in the same year. The top photo was taken on our road trip to the Pacific Northwest; I remember wearing that satin-heart-covered sweatshirt and wondering why so many people were still mistaking me for a boy. The photo below was taken at our grandparents' cabin in Colorado, and I'm pretty sure that shortly afterwards, we were busy playing with our Star Wars action figures in this castle/Hoth snow fort.

Flashback Friday: The OTHER Pop's Spot

2007-10-25T14:18:00.001-05:00

OK, so last Friday I misunderstood the meaning of the word "pop" and mistakenly posted about my father instead of my grandfather. I promised a make-up post, so here it is.
Here's my grandpa Oliver reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to my sister and me. This was an annual tradition in our family, and one we still miss every year at Christmastime. These are but two of the photos I have that captured this sweet occurrence. When he got to the bit about the reindeer Donder and Blitzen, he would tell us that Donder and Blitzen mean thunder and lightning. Every year. We counted on it. (He would also joke and say "I tore open the shutters and threw up the hash," changing forever the meaning of that line.)

This one (above) was taken the one year we got to spend Christmas in Colorado, which was also the year the area received record snowfall. It was such a treat for us Okies to spend so much time in the snow. I'll never forget toboggoning down our steep road with my dad yelling "Grrrit yoouurrr teeeeeth!"

I had to include this photo, because it's of my grandparents before they started dating. Yup, she was his secretary (this is some time before she became mayor!). Just look at that twinkle in his eye!

Here is how I remember my grandpa. He was just such a happy fellow, and the smartest man I think I have ever met. He was a political scientist, and pioneered the use of math and computers in the field. He was a Japanese-language translator in WWII, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Geneva. But to me he was grandpa, and we shared a special bond in our love of numbers and puzzles. Our birthdays were two days apart, and when I turned 7, he turned 70. Each year we loved to figure out how our ages fit together (when I was 8, he was 71, or 7+1=8; when I was 9, he was 72, or 7+2=9; and so on...). I remember one year, I think I was around 19 (1+9=10 and 8+2=10 also!), I went to dinner with him and his companion and her sister & brother-in-law. I felt like such a real grown-up, joining in their spirited (in more ways than one) debates about art and politics.

My grandpa died in 1999, and I was so disappointed for him that he didn't live to see the calendar roll over to 2000. I often think about him and wonder what he would have to say about the way our country is going these days. If he were still alive, he would be 96. 9+6=15, and 1+5=6. I am 33, and 3+3=6. Missing you so much, Grandpa!

More tilt-shift fun

2007-10-25T01:47:00.001-05:00

Our recent trip to the zoo also yielded some shots for faking tilt-shift photography. The trick is pretty simple in Photoshop, and once you start miniaturizing your photos, you won't want to quit. There's a great flickr pool with some really amazing shots. Check it.

GABA-dabba-doo

2007-10-23T00:42:00.000-05:00

Am I the last person on Earth to find out about GABA rice? We eat a lot of rice at our house, 99% of it Calrose. I recently picked up a copy of The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood by Dr. William Sears which really drives home the benefits of eating brown rice. Now, I grew up eating brown rice, but Big Omi refers to it as "dog food." I can see why, too, since our rice cooker does a very poor job with it (see how I conveniently blame the rice cooker when it's likely that I should be soaking the rice prior to cooking it, but we'll get to that) and it often comes out underdone and slightly crunchy.

As it turns out, scientists have discovered that pre-heating brown rice at 104°F for 2–8 hours before cooking it activates "gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid believed to have health giving properties such as lowering blood pressure, improving kidney function and relieving stress" (from the Zojirushi Web site). Wow. I should point out that it was Big Omi who came home with this information, saying that he was on board with making the switch to brown rice, but was I ready to commit to the extended heating and cooking time? And, oh, yes, we would probably have to buy a fancy new rice cooker that has settings to pre-heat your brown rice and get the GABA flowin'. Okay... now all I need to do is find a good local source of quality brown rice.

Yesterday it was 80°F

2007-10-22T23:13:00.001-05:00

Big Omi, Little Omi, and I had a very good Sunday. Our power was out for most of the morning (the power company is replacing all of the power line poles in our neighborhood), prompting us to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather. We stopped by Big Omi's lab so he could turn on a vacuum pump and then stayed on campus for a bit enjoying the plentiful mums. Little Omi did some serious running around, exploring, and collecting pine cones.

Today the temperature peaked at around 55°F, and it was gray and drizzly all day. What? More fall, please! Still, it was perfect chili weather. Score one more for The New Best Recipe.

p.s. Did you hear the news? Dumbledore is gay! (link contains book 7 spoilers)

Playing favorites

2007-10-21T00:40:00.001-05:00

How about a new little game? Name your favorite, most cherished, best-loved, or frequently-used cookbook. (There could be one for each of those categories!) Write about it on your blog, then leave a comment here to let me know you did.

Not to beat a dead horse, but for me, I think the answer has to be The New Best Recipe. I just love the fact that each recipe has been thoroughly tested so you know it will turn out the first time you give it a try. And everything I've made from it—curry butternut squash soup, turkey burgers, tabbouleh, salmon, and more—has tasted fantastic. I also learned how to properly dice onions from their handy tutorial, something that has changed my life for the better!

Yum, yum yum yum (yum yum yum yum)*

2007-10-20T22:47:00.001-05:00

Tonight we dined on some delicious curry butternut squash soup. The recipe is from The New Best Recipe, the virtues of which I have already extolled here. The white stuff is a yogurt-lime-cilantro topping to cut the spiciness of the curry. So good. The coolest bit of this recipe (which I would post but I'm not sure how the whole copyright deal works, so I highly recommend at least checking the library for this cookbook) is the use of the squash seeds and strings in the liquid used to steam the squash. Then the liquid is strained and used to thin the steamed squash into the soup. "Mmmm, bo!" (as Little Omi would say)

*Sung to the tune of the theme from Oz.(Link not recommended for the faint of heart; Oz was a graphically violent HBO television show set in a prison.)

Flashback Friday: Pop's Spot*

2007-10-20T00:23:00.000-05:00

This week we recognize our dear fathers, and I have to admit I've been waiting for this one. I just happen to have a ton of great images already scanned from a project I made for my dad's 60th birthday. These are probably the best of the bunch because they contain so much information, even though I don't really remember when they were taken (the year was 1977, so I was 3).

On this particular evening, my sister and I were all cuddled up in dad's lap, reading a Richard Scarry book, totally engrossed. Can you guess what was just out of the frame to the left? The TV. My parents, along with the rest of the country, were watching the miniseries Roots. My sister wrote about this photo later when she was in high school, and she remembers the scene where Levar Burton is saying "My name is Kunta Kinte." She also recalls that all I was saying was, "Reeeead!"

Other things to look for in the photos: My crooked bangs, growing out from the time my sister decided to cut them completely off; my mom's spinning wheel; and the reflection of the coolest light fixture ever, seen also in the photo below as my dad is standing just inches away from where the rocking chair used to be!

Here's one to illustrate a bit of my dad's crafty side. This is from 1984 and we're going to a Sting concert on Halloween night. My dad is dressed as Vyvyan from The Young Ones. As I recall, he made the costume all by himself, only needing help using gelatin to make his hair stand up from my then-teenaged sister. He affixed the metal stars to his forehead using hot glue!

* I just discovered that "Pop" means "grandfather" at Flashback Friday. What a faux pas! (har) I guess I've been reading Hop on Pop a little too much lately. I will do a make-up post to celebrate my pop, or, grandpa, as we say in my neck of the woods.

Blog: What is it good for?

2007-10-17T22:31:00.000-05:00

I have absolutely nothing to report on today. But it's been a couple of days since I posted, so I'm feeling the pressure to put something up. So, here's a pretty picture of my mom's sumac changing color.

Little Omi and I returned to the zoo on Tuesday for another dose of animal fun and ran into an old friend, A, who I've known since we were in pre-school. I would say it was a coincidence except I know he likes the zoo and goes pretty often, so really it was just a matter of time before we saw him there.

This morning Big Omi and I woke up with head colds. Wah. I turn into the world's biggest baby when I have a cold. Did I already say wah?

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, L!

Weekend update

2007-10-14T22:00:00.001-05:00

How was your weekend? We had a good one, starting on Friday night when our dear friends B & L came over for temaki-zushi. We've tried doing sushi at home before, but always got bogged down by the precision needed to make rolls (not to mention the sharp knives needed to slice the rolls into precise little pieces). Then we discovered this wonderful description of temaki-zushi on Blue Lotus and knew we had found the answer to sushi at home.

Here is L's very first roll. Y U M M Y ! At the end of the night, B played his guitar and serenaded Little Omi to sleep. I wish he could come over every night and do that.

Today Big Omi and I decided it was high time for Little Omi's first trip to the zoo. We are sort of unenthusiastic about zoos in general, especially the smaller ones, which Big Omi calls "sad animal parks." We visited one such park in Japan that just had a single deer in a cage. Very sad, indeed. But we do feel it is important for Little Omi to get to see some big animals and after all, it may just inspire her to do Great Things with her naturalist's side.

We arrived at the zoo around 1 pm and could not have asked for a better day. The weather was perfect; warm but not hot, cloudy but not rainy. We saw almost every animal the place had to offer. The gorillas were particularly interesting. One female came right over to the glass and gave Little Omi a good long look, which was pretty intense for Big Omi and me.

OK, so this is a statue, but it pretty accurately depicts what the scene was like with the real gorilla.

Rhinoceroses are cool.

Little Omi found them fascinating.

Being big Meerkat Manor fans, we were delighted to see some meerkats. We watched them for quite awhile, but couldn't discern which one was the dominant female since none of them was wearing a radio collar. ;) Plus, look how fat and sassy these little guys are! I guess the zoo is a far cry from the Kalahari desert.

Flashback Friday: Homemade

2007-10-12T00:02:00.001-05:00

That's me (far left) with my sister and our cousins frosting a homemade cake at our grandparents' house. I vividly remember this encounter, my very first try at frosting a cake (although it's clear I did a fair amount of spoon-licking and I wasn't close enough to the actual cake to get much frosting time in!). My oldest cousin, the one in the bandanna, was very clear in her instructions to the rest of us to "start smooth and then make little peaks." I love so much about this picture: the red booth, my cousins' stylin' wardrobes, the Diet Dr. Pepper can that signifies my mom was somewhere nearby, the scissor-tail flycatcher figurine above my head, and especially the expressions on all of our faces.

Thank you, Pip, for a great theme this week!

Small and mighty

2007-10-11T00:38:00.000-05:00

Calling all earlybird Christmas shoppers...

Have you seen the new Loop Troupers at The Small Object? These remind me of my all-time favorite Christmas tree ornaments, tiny wooden angels with darling little smiles and delicate little triangular wings. I used to pretend that they came to life at night and had little adventures in our living room.

#12 and #20 look like Little Omi to me.

Flashback to Flashback Friday

2007-10-10T22:15:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I promised to post a picture of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt my grandmother made using appliqués her grandmother had made. This was the best I could do, unfortunately there's a whole row not showing here. Still, I like how this photo shows off the exquisite hand quilting my grandma did. Something to strive for!

This one is my favorite:

Check my Flickr page for more close-ups.

Let it go, Indy.

2007-10-09T23:01:00.001-05:00

After much hemming and hawing, Googling, brainstorming, and 2 trips to the fabric store to look at patterns, I have decided to give up on sewing Little Omi's Halloween costume myself this year. I made it official on Monday by purchasing this zebra costume at Old Navy. At $14.50 I could hardly turn it down, considering the fabric alone for a costume would cost more than that. It did break my heart just a little, though. See, this year Halloween falls on a Wednesday, which means it will be on a library story time day and Little Omi would actually have someplace to wear her costume. Plus, I dreamt up the best idea I've ever had for a Halloween costume and it even has a literary theme: The Very Hungry Caterpillar! I just don't have the sewing experience to figure out exactly how it would work, though. If anyone out there has made this costume, please let me know how you did it! I won't give up entirely, however. There's always next year, when Little Omi might actually go trick-or-treating.

Fabric addiction, meet bowl addiction

2007-10-06T13:33:00.001-05:00

Before I developed my fabric addiction, I already had an unhealthy addiction to dinnerware, especially bowls. I just love bowls, and most of my favorite foods tend to be things that are eaten out of bowls (soup, cereal, and especially i c e c r e a m ). I just picked up four little bowls and matching teacups for Little Omi (only 2 made it into the photo because some little imp was busy stacking the others on the floor nearby). We are drinking from cups these days, but it is difficult to find just the right size cup for little hands. I like these squat little teacups because they fit right in her hands and they also don't hold too much liquid (in case of spills).

Flashback Friday: Nanna technology

2007-10-05T00:59:00.001-05:00

This week's theme, from Kirsty, is devoted to our wonderful crafty grandmothers and what they taught us.

The first photo is of my dad's side of the family. My memory is that we all got together for Thanksgiving, although I'm not sure why I am wearing a green shamrock pin on my cardigan! There's my grandma in the red jacket. We only got to see my dad's parents once a year, so there wasn't a lot of time for her to pass along too many crafty skills, although I do remember going shopping for miniatures with her and making some fun sequin-covered styrofoam Easter eggs one year. I also received my all-time favorite t-shirt from this grandma. It read: "anything boys can do girls can do better." She's a mad quilter now, and she made Little Omi the most amazing Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt using fabrics that belonged to her grandmother. (I'll try to post pics of the quilt tomorrow.) She has definitely inspired me in my sewing and quilting pursuits!

The second pic is of my mom, sister, mom's folks, and me participating in a protest demonstration against a big sign that was erected one summer along the highway that passes through Allenspark, Colorado. The sign completely blocked the scenic view of the mountains, and so one of the local residents cut it down. Our t-shirts are in support of this woman, dubbed "Chainsaw Maggie." There hasn't been a sign in that location ever since. My mom's mother was a bit of an activist, and even served as our town's first woman mayor. She died when I was only 7, so I didn't get to learn any crafting at her knee, although she was a knitter and she sewed. In fact, it is her Bernina that I have been using to sew all the sun bonnets and other projects I've posted he re, so I like to think there's a part of her in all of the things I make.

Autumn = corduroy

2007-10-03T22:35:00.001-05:00

I *h e a r t* corduroy. I just picked up a couple of yards of this lovely chocolate brown mini-wale on sale at our local Hancock's and immediately starting thinking smocks, bonnets, and skirts. This is the first skirt I've ever made. I used bits of this tutorial, but drastically reduced the amount of fabric for the width since I was using a heavier fabric. The trim on the bottom is from one of the Civil War-era reproduction fat quarters I received a while back. I like sewing for Little Omi because the clothes are so small, they're almost like little mock-ups of bigger sizes—so if you totally screw something up, the disaster is on a smaller scale, too.