It's raining again. Perfect day for some crafting.

Craig got me a blank board book for christmas, and I thought I would make one page for each month and add scraps and bits of the projects I had done for that month. I just did the cover today finally (already February, yikes!) and hopefully will get the January page done this weekend. 

I'm feeling kindof "itchy"; like there is something just around the corner, something big. Something exciting. Maybe it's just the New Year excitement still. I love this feeling though. It's such a motivator for me. 

something....

the boys and I went to the beach today. daddy is going to be working saturdays for the next several weeks so we're trying to keep busy. 

it wasn't really warm, but it was warm enough, and the surf was big and exciting.  the baby was very annoyed with me for keeping him from crawling headlong into the sea.

it's almost February! One month down, Christmas is around the corner! 

Here are a couple of shots from this week's photog. assignment that I liked pretty well. This is the first week I've had any success taking photos indoors without the flash. And it's been really fun being able to manipulate the brightness of a photo.

This is why I haven't finished the shirt yet - it had priority 1 status. Craig's co-worker had a baby several weeks ago and I needed to get this done! 

For the blanket I made a square-yard sized log cabin block in 3 1/2 inch strips with blue and orange batiks. (well, okay - really the blue dot is batik - the others are fakers)

I backed it with a super soft furry fabric from JoAnn Fabrics that Britney told me about, and edged it with satin ribbon. (this is one of those "sew it inside out and leave a space to turn it through, then sew up the hole" blankets. it's not quilted) 

the quilt, I did in the "trip around the world" pattern with some fun fabrics (pirate maps, constellations, music), and I sewed ric-rac into the binding for a little extra fun.

the parents are both canadian so I did this for the back:

and machine quilted it with my walking foot. 

phew! done!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Is it just me? It can't be just me. 

So, not walking yet. But he's thinkin' about it. He can clap, which he loves. He can find my nose (if you count him smacking me square in the face when ever I say "where's mommy's nose?" - which, maybe you don't),  and he's becoming pretty determined not to eat baby food any more. He wants the good stuff.
He tried this sippy cup for a good half hour today. Didn't get much out of it. Largely disgusted, he eventually tossed it aside and moved on to other pursuits. 

This Birmingham Sewist is always scouting the runways and searching the patterns for the new trends and cute projects.  I hop on her blog every month or so to get inspired by what she's made lately and to drool over what she's looking at making in the near future. Here are a couple of my recent favorites: (I'd like to say that I'm going to make them, but you all know better, don't you?)

The gray suit is V1169

The red dress is V1162
Now, I have sewn a couple of Vogue dresses. Each time, I wanted to toss the whole thing in the garbage halfway through and tear all of my hair out. It's always lined, and there's hand stitching to be done. But the end product always looks so good. 

I haven't finished the shirt yet. Give me a break. 

So. It looks like the new color for Spring is going to be green. Which, yay! So fresh and crisp and sharp! 

I should be finishing many projects this week - it's supposed to pour for just days and we're all very excited for the rain. 

We're trying hard to be healthy this year. I finally got on the wagon this week (after eating my weight in chocolate). Craig has already lost several pounds and we need to stop eating the candy and junk. This is going hand in hand with lowering our grocery budget *fingers crossed*. I find that I think about food mostly because I'm bored and not because I'm hungry.  So we'll see how I do.  It helps that my oldest son just announced that he wants to jog every day after school please. 

....oooohhkaayy.  One dose 0f motivation for me. 

This photography class is kicking my butt, by the way. But it feels good to make my brain stretch and work hard.  Maybe I'll manage some decent photos this week and put them up. 

I promise nothing. 

I got this shirt-dress at Ann Taylor Loft a couple of months ago. It was on sale, but it was not long enough for me to wear as a dress and too long for a shirt. Lucky me, the self-belt was missing so I got another discount and brought it home to fix up.

First, I cut off about 6 inches from the bottom. I would have cut more, but there are pockets, which I desperately wanted to keep intact. 

Then I cut that 6 inches of fabric into strips in order to make another self-belt for the top. 
and when I finish it tomorrow, I will post photos! :)

I started a 6 week online photography course yesterday (from this lady) and I had to go and get this book just so I could complete the first lesson: 

I'm excited to get going but after a good hour of reading I had to take a break. 

step one: apron
step 2: recipe

step 3: Yum. 
yes the cream cheese frosting is all messy on my pumpkin bars. Did you really think I would actually bother to let it cool first? No. 

Why Gambling is Bad:

oh, sorry. That picture has nothing to do with gambling at all. I just like it. It's been in my files for ever and sadly I cannot give credit where credit is due because I have no idea where I got it. But it's somebody's.  And it's awesome.

Back to Gambling.

While we were in Lake Arrowhead we had a lot of time on our hands and there was a foosball table upstairs. So on Saturday Craig asked if I wanted to play a few games with him and I agreed.  The first game was pretty close and we were getting a bit competitive. 

CRAIG: so, do you want to make this game more interesting?

ME: what did you have in mind?

CRAIG: if I win, you have to iron my shirts every time you do laundry for all of January.

ME: and if I win, I get a girls' night out every weekend?

CRAIG: done!

so, I ironed 9 shirts last night.... 

but did we stop there? No! We did not! After I lost that game, I went on to lose several more games, and bits of my freedom for the first half of 2010.  Some highlights:

I am not allowed to wake him when he is snoring for all of January. (I may have to move to the couch)

I have to get all magazines out of the house by the end of February, (dang it!), and he gets every saturday in Feb (but one, for Fletch's b-day) to do what he wants with.

I have to make lunch for him every day in March.

I have to make an investment plan for us in April (heaven help me, I am not looking forward to that one).

However, all is not lost! February sees my night-owl of a husband waking up with me at 6 every day to do Yoga. (hehe!!)  In March I get a girls' night every weekend; AND he has to complete 3 "honey-do" tasks every. single. day. 

oh yeah.

And in April? I won myself and my mom a quilting retreat. 

May - now this is the good one - In May..... he has to drive the boys to school every morning!

Is it worth it? Well, probably not. Most of those things he would happily let me do, or do for me, just because he is awesome and loving. (I said MOST, mind you).  

Was it fun? Playing for high stakes and moaning in agony when I lost? Heck yeah. 

New Year's weekend saw us taking our first family vacation that was not 1) to see someone in particular or 2) to do something in particular. We went up to Lake Arrowhead to Rest and Relax with the Thomsons and it was SO NICE!! So. Nice. 

Craig talked a lot about moving out of the city and up into the mountains while we were there...

The boys went sledding for the first time, even though there wasn't much snow left on the ground. There was a pretty good patch left over from an old sled run right down the hill from our "chalet". 

We watched tons of movies, and ate tons of junk food (we were all stocking up on junk since we are all determined to get healthier this year).

Van had fun discovering how to climb stairs, and exploring the cabin. The snow? He didn't like so much. 

Merry Christmas!

the boys got homemade capes (and lots of video games)

And Van got these blocks. Van?  Vander...?

of course, he'd rather chew on the flaslight.

We spent Christmas Eve at Olvera Street downtown, and ate at one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles.  The boys came home with little guitars, and got to see a great show at the restaurant. There were dancers, a marionette show, and a pinata.

It was very festive and colorful!

We did a Christmas scavenger hunt that Doug whipped up for the kids to do.  Alas, we arrived at the candy cart as they were locking up, so they could not try the cactus candy. Many little hearts were broken (until pinata time, that is).  

haha. "i'll be posting much more regularly"... I'll just get right on that. :) 

been makin' stuff around here.

Dad's bread recipe is the best. Major comfort food. 

This is a baby quilt I'm making for a coworker of my dh.

Christmas is TOO SOON!  I'm not-quite-ready but the season has me all excited and it's going to be a fun week!

A milestone. 

these are both my feet. wearing shoes that fit comfortably.  normally there would be no problem with a photo like this. 

except that one of the shoes belongs to my 9 year old son. 

waaaaaahhhhhhh!

(i keep grounding him, over and over, for growing. he just won't stop!)

A friend of mine used to say "Christmas at the mailbox!" every time someone had a package when we were in college (120 apartments, and someone was always pregnant, so families were sending a lot of packages).  That same friend provided me with Christmas at the Mailbox the other day:

It's an ornament, about the size of the palm of my hand, and I love it!

The other thing in the box... well Craig said the only way they were being hung in our home was if I hung them in my closet. Behind my clothes... 

heh.

I decided to spatchc00k our turkey this year because our apartment gets really hot if the oven is on too long (thank you Martha Stewart).  Naturally it looked much easier, in the pictures of her magazine, to cut out the backbone and break the breastbone of a turkey:

But it turned out okay. In fact, it was terribly juicy and scrumptious. I will probably spatchcook every year from now on. Also, I made Pioneer Woman's sweet potato recipe and it was AMAZING.  Sweet potatoes are now my favorite food. 

The Harveys came down from Seattle to visit us. Van is almost as big as Nanette. (Craig declared that she had shrunk, which she appreciated).  We missed the Thomsons this year; sadly Hannah is fighting off The Dread Disease. But Nan insisted we take them dinner, and so they got to have some yummy food at least. 

And the kids kept busy all day building a lego Christmas scene. 

terribly sorry about the sad lack of posting.  Witness my declaration that henceforth it shall improve and shall also be interesting, inspiring, or funny. 

maybe. 

We made our Thankful Turkey last night for Family Home Evening.  He's sitting under the a/c waiting for an unwary turkey hunter to walk by... 

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already! Just 36 days until Christmas!

Autumn decor FAIL.

this ugly garland has been up in my living room for a month now (there's another one, identical, on the opposite wall) because I'm too annoyed at how long it took me to make it, to take it down. It's hideous. I can hardly look at it.  It's going to have to go soon. I won't be able to handle it much longer.

My next project:  Simplicity 2508  (the short one)  with this:

I'll get a jacket that fits perfectly (assuming I don't totally screw it up) and cost less than $50 instead of more than $100. 

We survived halloween again. craig and I didn't really dress up this year (gasp! I know!) but the boys picked Pokemon as the theme and if you are at all familiar with that 'verse you know there are not a lot of adults.  and we didn't feel like being Team Rocket. So I hung a couple of Poke-balls from my belt loops and craig wore a lab coat and went as Professor Oak. 

the boys really had a good time; they just wanted a "serious" photo. whatever:

I had to make a chimchar costume for fletch. The hood was a bit tricky but I think I pulled it off. His tail was his favorite: (it's supposed to be made of fire)

and vanvan was Piplup. at least, for the few moments that he would wear his hood. 

next year i'm making the costumes in July, so I'm not sewing like mad at the last minute like every. single. other. year.   If you are my friend, please remind me of this oath next summer... 

some bits of Helena that we explored.  

naturally we did not go inside the buildings. that would have been tresspassing. 

we followed Dad through most of the explorations; and when we got to a spot that was gated, Dad found a path to the side that went past a gap in the fence and through a large patch of vines. 

Connor: Is it safe to go through there?

Me: Of course. Dad wouldn't take us through if it wasn't safe.

Sharon: Oh, right, HA!

Me: What?

Sharon:  Dad isn't allergic to poison oak. You should ask the Cunningham boys how safe it is to "follow Dad" someday. 

Dad just shrugged. Getting poison oak probably builds character anyway.... like that time my mom had to make a pee stop in the woods (can you tell what's coming? can you?) and wasn't paying attention to where she squatted..(yep, just what you thought).  She had to wear an apron on her front and saran wrap on her butt over the itch cream for DAYS.  Her sister and her mother (who she and I lived with at the time) were constantly cracking up over it.

I'm sure she appreciates me sharing.