Dinner Guests in the Buff

I made a messy dinner on Sunday of pasta, chicken. marinara, and (hidden) chard from my CSA. I didn't want Ellery to get her dress dirty, so I took it off of her. The other girls (or probably their Mom) decided that they didn't want their clothes to get dirty either, so off they came.

In the end, I think Lexy was completely spic and span. Not a drop of spaghetti sauce to be found on her face, hands, or toes.

Ellery, on the other hand ......

So Many Projects, So Little Time

Lexy Lou (age 4.5) was in my living room trying on a sweater made for Ells Bells (age 1.25) and it just wasn't working.
She entered the family room where the Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and cousins were watching silent NBA playoff games and chatting it up on a slow, Sunday afternoon. She then whispered to me (the Grammy) that she wanted to show me something.
Now, you have to understand that this child isn't normally a quiet, discrete soul, but she really wanted to know why that lime green sweater with crazy colorful pompoms on the sleeves and belt ties wouldn't fit her. It seemed long enough in the body and yet the sleeves and torso were just not up to the task for fitting her dainty cute little self.
So, I explained to her that it was kind of a coat sweater, long enough to cover up Ells down to her thighs and it would match a dress that I was going to sew up soon.

Great Yarns Pom Pom Coat

This is a straight stockinette stitch and shaped very simply with additions of stitches at the side edges for an A frame coat.

Love this updated 60's look fabric by Lila Tueller for Moda. I got it at Prarie Queens Quilt Shop in SJC

Then after I make a t-shirt quilt for Michael,

start a photo board for the memory room at the high school depicting Michael Michael's lifetime thus far,
whip up a blessing dress for the newest addition to our family coming in August, and apparently make some jalepeno/cheddar bread for Austin,

(just kidding Katz), 

I would then make her, Lexy, a pink and orange sweater just like the one I just finished for Ells.
"Pink and ORANGE?  I don't like orange," she stated, quite matter of factly.
"Oh, let me show you what I have in mind," I said, hoping to change her mind.

Down the hall we went  to the sewing room, where I stash materials for the above projects. "I bought this great pink, yellow, orange, & green flowered fabric to make a little outfit for you and I thought a pink and orange sweater would go with it so well."

"I think it should be just all pink," said the opinionated preschooler.
"I don't have enough pink yarn, so we will have to trim the sweater in another color," I replied.
"Oh, how about pink and yellow then," she said.
"Then I could make a little orange one for Lena to go with what you were wearing," I argued.
"I think Yellow would be good."
"Yellow, it is.  Yellow and pink."

Pick Up Day

I thought I'd write a little more about my C.S.A.
This is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture, and my family participated in this same program a couple years ago.
When my son Jonathan moved home for a few months in 2008, he talked about what he wants to ultimately do for a living. He would like to have a small farm that grows for people who live semi close by.  I guess that many places around the USA have been doing this for several years. The farmer grows the produce (of course it's Organic) and the city folk "invest" in his farm by agreeing to buy shares. This give us fresh seasonal vegetables, prevents the produce being shipped all over the world, therefore saving petro and the environment, and basically makes us cook and figure out how to prepare a wider variety of healthy food.
I have purchased one share and so I get a box each week delivered to a common site in my town.
If you look up Community Supported Agriculture, you are sure to find something that is relatively close to your home.
The farm(s) I use are Two Small Farms. This is a collaboration with a farm in Hollister,  CA, and one located in Watsonville, CA. They are in separate climates and so we increase our variety that way.

Each week they send us a newsletter explaining what we will receive, some great ways to cook it, and some other tidbits.
There are a couple of other farms in our area that participate in the same kind of program.

 

We just picked it up this am, (our pick up is at the JCC here in town) and the leeks, oranges, first crop of strawberries, kale, & dill look gorgeous. It does make me want to eat healthy food.

We are going to go to Hollister this weekend and build scarecrows. Sounds like back to nature for us all.

We missed it last year so decided to do it again this season.

Mothers

My sister sent me this youtube about mothers. It made me cry, because I'm racing to that next stage of empty nest pretty quickly.

Oh, what am I saying, I would have cried about it years ago as well, and I'm sure I'll always tear up as I relish the memories of those days with all of us under one roof.
It is a bit long(7 minutes), and just an oration, but I really enjoyed it anyway.
So go to this site., if you have a few minutes. How should I have embedded it in my copy???? Suggestions???

Beets and Carrots Oh My

I have started my CSA for the year. I'm excited because they have some really interesting vegies.

 

I know I'm kind of strange that I'd like to try something like these carrots or colorful beets, but hey I think they are quite beautiful. I'm sure they taste good too, especially if they are fresh. Yum.

So now every Wednesday I go pick up my new fresh vegies and I'm going to be very healthy this summer.

"I Want My,"

MTV DVR.

 I am so spoiled by this device. I usually never watch television in real time and with commercials included.
This week I have had to be patient as I watched a couple of movies and games with the Papa.

I decided I really don't like TV without the back and forth of DVR. "What just happened," is just not a question you can ask around here.
At least I'm not as spoiled as the DD and SIL.  They watch the tube (which it doesn't have anymore, so I think we shouldn't keep calling it that) with a DVR and in time and a half. I guess through Media Center you can play things 1 1/2 times faster than in real life.
Whoa, I don't think my parents could handle that.

Snow in Them There Hills

Last night it rained here in Big J.  I hear from other members of my family that it rained in Los Gatos, CA., Salem, OR., & Salt Lake City, UT.
Rain everywhere I suppose.
But when I drove Dad to the PT this am, I saw the Bookcliffs to the north of town and couldn't believe how they had changed from yesterdays view of them.

Snow, snow, all across the range. The other mountains surrounding the Grand Valley have not lost their snowy winter coat yet this year, but these aren't a very high elevation and they are the first to melt with each snowfall.
By the time I'd arrived back at the GG's house, the clouds had started to cover the mountains/hills so this picture isn't nearly as clear and beautiful as when I first spotted them.
Later after lunch  tried again to go get a few shots of the Bookcliffs especially. These matchless mountains are a long single range of sedimentary formed soils that go from Price, Utah all the way to Rifle, Colorado.

 The snow just falls down on the tops of the layers of rock and then it skips down to the next ledge, making for very interesting patterns on these unique mountains.

The dessert hasn't even begun to awake from the slumber of Winter. This childhood home of mine is so different from where I live now.

Here is Mount Garfield, the crown of the Bookcliffs in the Grand Junction area. It was so pretty this am, and now the snow is nearly gone.

I'm out by the airport just a hop skip and jump away from the parentals home.  See the little plane coming in for a landing?
As I write this, it is snowing, no hailing, no sleeting, no icing?, snowing outside of my window.
A beautiful and interesting place. Love it.