penny carnival

To grandmother's house we go

We’re wrapping up a simple weekend that included a couple of fun outings: a housewarming party for friends and a polo match. Spokane has one of the oldest polo clubs in the U.S. It’s great fun to pack a picnic and go watch a match, but hardly anyone around here does. Maybe I’ll start a new trend.

Anyone else have the book "10 Apples Up on Top"?

Mostly, though, we’ve been packing for our two-week trip to Bellingham, Wash.--my hometown—to see family.

I took a more-is-more approach to packing this time, sort of throwing everything but the garden hose into the suitcase. I’m sure I’ll regret it in a few days.

Bo caught on and decided to remove every single pair of shoes I own from the closet and attempt to cram them into my already-stuff suitcase. Thankfully, I’m not a shoe whore, but there were still some ridiculously inappropriate ones on display tonight (can someone please slap me for buying a pair of platform shoes covered in sequins?).

Speaking of gardens, I'm going to miss our little patch while I'm gone. The sungold tomatoes are just starting to ripen and they are delish. Bo likes them enough to just suck out the juice (and then leave the flesh on the ground), sort of like a vampire. 

Check out the scarecrow she made a few weeks ago (the garden has grown considerably since then):

I managed to sew an Emmeline apron for my sister, who’s letting us crash at her house for one of the two weeks we’ll be there (my parents’ house will be occupied by our Rhode Island relatives, making my headline here somewhat deceptive; we got a smokin’ deal on a nice hotel for the other week).

I think this is the fourth Emmeline I’ve made now, and every time I do there’s always such a strong response to it, as in “I will pay you whatever you want to make me one of those!!!” Kudos to Meg over at Sew Liberated for designing such a successful pattern.

Because of that, I’m thinking of taking part in her cottage license program, which allows you to pay for the right to sell the items you make from her patterns. The cost is $75/year, which seems reasonable to me, and you have to be approved by Meg (understandably, she wants to make sure you know how to sew). What do you guys think? Is it worth pursuing and applying for? I'm always trying to reinvent the wheel, but maybe I should just do this since it's already such a hit with people.

Other thoughts …

Can someone please tell me how I can run 30-40 miles a week and not lose a single pound? I’m trying to burn off these last 10 baby pounds, but apparently my body is on strike. I know you’re not supposed to get on the scale every day, but I swear to you I stepped on yesterday morning, ran seven miles and ate healthfully all day (minus one smallish cupcake), got on the scale today and had gained two pounds. Seriously. 7 miles. Gained 2 pounds. And no, I'm not pregnant. 

I had hoped this was going to be the summer I didn’t have to wear a skirted swimsuit but it’s mid-July and I’m losing hope. Grrr …

A few things I’m loving right now …

-This house tour.

-Amy Butler organic bedding now available here. (Scratch one more project off my sewing to-do list, I guess.)

-The before-and-after gallery on Design Sponge. If I only had 1,392,022 hours to kill:

-Daydreaming of building a modern playhouse for the girls in the backyard. This one is awesome, but it’d pretty much be nicer than our actual house.

This one is adorable, in a different way.

I’m thinking we’ll start collecting supplies from the secondhand building-supply store, come up with a plan over the winter, and attempt carpentry next summer. Stay tuned.

 

Since we’ll be out of town, I’ll probably have a craft hiatus for a couple of weeks (God help me). You never know, though. My sister and I grew up in the same house. She must have a glue gun stashed away somewhere. If nothing else, I’ll have to share photos of her always-incredible cooking. 

A month without deadlines

I love my job (freelance journalist). Truly. Wouldn't trade it for anything, except maybe being a professional cheese sampler or a wave counter at the beach or a freelance journalist who is paid really, really well.

But the deadlines are piling up this month, so I'm finding myself daydreaming about being crafty instead of actually being crafty.

There are a few projects I will have to tackle no matter what--Fourth of July dresses for the girls, a gift for a new baby, a HomeMaker column that's due in a couple of weeks, and things related to Bo's birthday (a present for her, party favors for the buddies). And there are always the silly kids crafts we do to make ourselves forget about all the soggy rain (is there any other kind? I guess "soggy" is my placeholder for a superbad word I'd like to use instead) that's been coming down lately. Grrrrrr ...

But other than that, I'm pretty much glued to the laptop until our big, fat Italian vacation in July. Have I mentioned the vacation? Not in Italy. That was probably deceiving. We'll be in Rhode Island with the Italian side of the fam. For three whole weeks. That's right. Weeks. Not days. How I convinced J to do this, I'm still not sure, but we're all super excited to just park our rears on a beach for a while and spend time with the cousins and aunts.

Until then, if I weren't so booked, this is what I'd be doing ...

Making one of these for every baby on the planet.
Buying a better color printer so I can spend the rest of my life here.
Wasting countless hours here.
Reading this book.
Finding a clever way to celebrate the beautiful words to this song in our garden.
Finally, finally, finally remembering to watch my boyfriend's show on Saturday morning.
Doing more of this (that's not me, by the way).
And sleeping.

Good night.

(Photo below is from ohdeedoh.com)

Ummm ... never mind

Please disregard my decision in the previous post to run a half marathon on Memorial Day weekend.
I could blame it on the $70 late-entry registration fee, but mostly it was the realization after running 5 miles today that adding 8 more in less than two weeks is a ridiculous idea.
There's one in Montana on July 12 ... maybe I'll gear up for that (or maybe not).

Blood, sweat and insanity

Thanks for all the love everyone's been giving me over e-mail about Penny Carnival. J convinced me to finally send a link to the blog to friends and family a few days ago and your response has been overwhelming. I heard from folks who immediately ordered Amanda Soule's book, donated away half their toys and vowed to do some long distance crafting with me. Y'all brought tears to my eyes on several occasions.
Please feel free to make comments right here on the blog, too! I really want this to become a community, so grab some cawfee and let's tawk. ("Ams to the right! Ams to the left! Qwatuh tuhn to the right!"--who remembers the aerobics instructor from Boston our freshman year in college?)
A lot of you asked the same question--How do I find time to do all these projects? Let me try to answer.
First, I don't at all want to come across like this I-can-do-it-all mom. I have my share of meltdowns and there are days when the dishes don't get done, the girls wear their pajamas from one bedtime to the next, and the dog looks at me at 10 p.m. wondering why her bowl is still empty.
I've decided to make crafting part of our lives, though, in large part because I think it benefits the girls. I think it's good for them to see that we can make things with our own hands instead of always buying what we need (or want). I think it's neat to show them that instead of throwing away an old T-shirt, we can turn it into art or a bag or a skirt.
Most of the projects you see on this blog were done with the girls at my feet. Just this morning, Bo "helped" me pin a pattern to fabric. When it gets too crazy or when I can tell they need more Mommy, I just put it aside and start again either when they're napping or in bed for the night.
Three other things that help in a huge way:
-My job is part time and I set my own schedule. I realize how lucky I am to be able to say that.
-I'm trying to keep my craft room better organized. That way, when the urge strikes or when the girls are playing nicely, I can hop on the sewing machine and not have to hunt for the right scissors or color of thread.
-And, I hardly watch any TV. Maybe an hour a week. I found that when I did watch more, it was either HGTV or the Food Network and instead of making or cooking things myself, I was watching other people make and cook things.
OK, now to the reason why this post has the title it does. My sister-in-law just convinced me to run a half marathon. 12 days from now. Since the longest run I've done lately is 5 miles, I'm not sure what I'm thinking. The last (and only other) time I did this, I had sore knees for a year and digestive problems for a week. Maybe I should start this paragraph over:
My sister-in-law just convinced me to run-walk a half marathon.