robot•jumping•rope

and thrift stores, and estate sales, and yard sales, and trash people have parked at the end of their driveway…

Not much going on today. We found 2 sales, so our haul wasn’t terrific, but some fun stuff was discovered:

some sweet old coloring books (original price tags .12), old set of German watercolors in a little tin box, beads (I can never resist) to remake into other jewelry, and unused paint rollers (these things are not cheap! I paid a quarter).

Here’s a closeup of the little tin watercolor box

it was well-loved (and my daughter is anxious to get her paws on it)

Not shown:

laura ashley seersucker sundress with great smocking on the front for my daughter, and new with tags urban outfitters tee for me, a pair of plumbers gloves (for the next time the main sewer line backs up), and books aplenty.

About $3 spent. There was so much crafty goodness at the second sale - the lady was obviously a knitting and quilting machine and had saved everything. Too bad i had a baby on my hip and 2 kids who kept touching everything - I would have dived into those piles and probably come up with some goodies.

Looks like we’re heading to the in-laws for the holiday weekend. Small town parades, illegal fireworks and Zoey’s pizza, here we come!

fabric scraps, pinking shears and glue sticks are all a girl really needs.

Last day of swimming lessons. YAY! We celebrated with lunch out. Yes, they picked McDonalds. That new mandarin orange salad thing wasn’t half bad, but then there’s not much I won’t eat there - “Super Size Me” just had me longing for hot fries, sadly.

More fun ‘n sunscreen at the public pool after lunch until just before the baby had a serious meltdown, then back home for “quiet time” (computer for mommy, books and tapes and coming out of their room every 7 minutes asking “is it over yet?” for kids, ).

Now to get dinner started (turkey tacos with honest-to-goodness homegrown tomatoes from the farmer’s market, peach and blackberry crisp for dessert) and pick up the Artiste from work.

On to the recipe.

This is one of two dishes that are no-fail, hands down winners at every potluck, picnic and church supper they attend. They both travel well, sit out for hours with no harm done and are easy and delectable.

I stole this one from a cookbook way back when and don’t remember the title now, so I can’t give credit where credit is due, but don’t let that stop you. Make it, enjoy it, warm or at room temperature.

___________________
red potato and green been salad with rosemary vinaigrette

scrub and cut into bite-size or 1″ wedges

• 8 new red/boiling potatoes

boil in salted water until just tender OR roast tossed in olive oil and coarse salt in a 425 oven (this is my preferred way, but boiling’s faster). Let cool slightly and put in large bowl.

add trimmed and cut into 1″ pieces, then boiled in salted water for 5 minutes

• about 2 lbs fresh green beans

blanche with cold water and mix with potatoes.

add sliced thin and left to soak in ice water 10 minutes, then drained

• 1 medium red onion

add

• 1/4 c. sliced kalamata olives

to finish, toss with vinaigrette and serve warm or cold - better the next day or after sitting to meld.

rosemary vinaigrette

in a blender mix

• 1 clove garlic (or more if you like. I like.)
• 1 T fresh rosemary (or more)
• 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup good quality olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
  

finally finished my daughter’s room ~ deep watermelon pink (laura ashley deep pink I think?) with a periwinkle ceiling and a wavy border of dots in assorted sizes and colors ($3.99 template at the craft store and craft paints I already own). She loves it!

still looking for more vintage paint by number horses to join the lonely one on the wall there by the bed. You can’t see it in this photo but I scored at the junior league thrift store last year by finding 2 twin duvets, 4 flat sheets and 4 shams and pillow cases in a gorgeous Liberty of London cotton chintz. Faded to perfection. $2. I know, I can’t imagine what they were thinking, but I didn’t ask, only snapped it up on the spot. It looks great in here with its yellow, periwinkle and soft rose flowers.

not the best picture but this shows her closet opening, which is covered by a single curtain panel my mother-in-law found at a garage sale - I love how it works right along with the wavy dot border. That little blue rack holds her sparkly things…

I’m glad to be done, and glad she’s such a Girl. I never had a girly bone in my body, much to the everlasting dismay of my mother, who dressed my in frilly things and tried to hold tea parties in the afternoons with me. Poor mom - at least the giddy pink and pony gene skipped a generation and she has my daughter to spoil with princess outfits and pink confections for hair and body. Not that I don’t gussy up now and then and buy makeup and new clothes (and shoes), but it’s probably because I’m married and have to/want to keep up appearances for the Significant Other. If I wasn’t married I’d probably be a hermit who never shaved her legs.

edited to add 3 photos:

we love’em.

This photo was taken less than 10 feet from a short eared owl at the Farm (where i grew up), and I was sitting on an idling 4-wheeler. They burrow in the ground, if you can believe that, and are not nocturnal. They return every year to my dad’s back 50 acres and rear their babies.

So this was a very anticipated event in our household, and it really lived up to the billing. We skipped over to the library after swim lessons and joined a packed house for the show. There were 6 assorted hawks and owls, and they were all so alert and frightened and beautiful. Those strong talons! Those razor-sharp curved beaks! My kids had a front row seat and were very impressed with every bird. I spent my time chasing the baby, who needed a nap something fierce today and responded to not getting one with absolutely atrocious baby behavior. To be expected.

At home I printed owl coloring pages, and we agreed to listen tonight for the call of the great horned owl who roosts next door in our neighbor’s huge old pine tree. Fun day all around!

Still working on some loosely woven plans for “summer school” or whatever we’re going to call our catch-up season. I had already planned to do summer journals, and smiled to see others with similar ideas - though mine aren’t nearly as pretty! I’ll be excited to return to Carol’s site often to see how they’re filling their summer days and beautiful little books.

I’ve chosen a few titles from the FIAR and Ambleside Online lists and we’ll be reading one story each week starting next Monday, then do some quasi-related projects during the remaining days, hopefully (still working on the project ideas list…). Need to keep chipping away at some basic skills before second grade comes around, like reviewing addition/subtraction facts, telling time, and counting money, so we’ll try to incorporate some of that stuff with our daily fun.

A LOT of my plans were obliterated when the accident happened - I just didn’t have the emotional or physical energy to keep up our daily school routine, and that’s okay with all of us. But since our regular school year was “lite” because I knew we’d be doing an every-other-week summer schedule, we really fell behind. Okay, not really behind, but not even close to what my plans were for what we’d try to cover.

One thing I have already set in motion and hope to continue, well, forever, is daily journaling (3 sentence minimum this year), and I have a list of topics at the ready. Lots of ideas here. I think it’s really, really important that my kids to make a habit of writing every day.

Sigh. It all sounds pretty optimistic, doesn’t it? Hopefully we can pack a lot of fun into the weeks we have left and still have time to just sit and be and enjoy the season (so important!).

so very sick.  almost all of us.

even worse, it is BEAUTIFUL here today.   

I, for one, am glad it's Friday. Tonight will be (cheap) pizza and (not cheap) margaritas for mama.

whew, what a week. swim lessons every day for the big ones, driving the artiste to the Big Greeting Card Company for work each morning and picking him up in the middle of evening traffic. I'm tired of driving! Why is this city so sprawling?! moan, whine, etc. etc.

oh, and my TMJ jaw pain has returned. yay!

just wanted to say that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING more delicious than roasted new potatoes coated in delectably garlicky aioli. NOTHING I SAY!! I could eat these for breakfast lunch and dinner. and just might.

My latest $5 estate sale find. I am loving orange with red (or hot pink) lately. I think he looks lovely on my chocolate brown couch (which comes out a bit greyed in this photo, curiously). The back is old gray ticking. Love!

and on an utterly unrelated note, how cute would this sandcastle cake be for my July birthday man? Pool party, anyone? I'm not Martha, i swear, but this just cries out for a full-on theme partay, yes?

the details on the pan are here(but I'm not gonna pay $30 for it!)

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I sew a little tiny bit, mostly by hand or really simple stuff like amending existing garments and other stuff I can do on my ancient machine, but I definitely don’t make dresses or blouses or anything that might involve a zipper or a buttonhole (ack!). HOWEVER, I am not utterly craft-less: my special gift is turning homeless objects into useable household goodies.

Observe:

This guy was discovered topless and filthy (and full of tools) at a yard sale for $3. I considered stripping him to bare metal, but that look is getting a little overdone here. So we went to work on him with model car paints, cleaned off his handles and (not shown here) made a new MDF top for him which I tiled with 1″ glossy black ceramic tiles and grouted black. His sides and back are chalkboard paint and he sits in my son’s room. (that’s Mr. Niffid on the side, there)

Now this little guy I found driving home from church one day. He had been dumped at the end of a driveway and was a little rickety. Some small nails and wood glue took care of that, and a new coat of paint and knob made him into a wonderful bedside table. Lovely long legs, don’t you think? (sorry for the terrible photo, and that’s my winter quilt, so this was taken with my old crappy digital cam)

Right now I’m working on 6 chairs I found at my mother’s house/storage facility. They’re getting a fresh coat of paint and then a major distress job (I’m going a little overboard with the distressing lately but it is so cool to make something look ancient!).

Painting chairs is the worst. Oy, the spindles.

I like this question.

A pessimist, I am not by nature grateful or hopeful (fortunately I married a sunny-side-of-the-street guy). In fact, snarky and cynical have often been the best way to describe my outlook and personality. So it took more than a few moments to come up with some things I am savouring in the right NOW. But it was good for me. Try it. You'll see. You'll start thinking of the simplest of pleasures and how meaningful they make your day.

Right Now:

the piles of vintage fabric scraps I found in my mother's attic room,

the Best of Elvis Costello,

the way my youngest son's eyes turn from grey to green to blue depending on his outfit,

the new soap in its new dish next to the kitchen sink,

the new growth on my roses that signals they will be flush with blooms again in no time,

riding in the car with the windows down listening to bluegrass,

fresh peach crisp and real whipped cream,

strong hot coffee made by the Artiste and delivered to me with a kiss every morning,

and the curious, searching, blooming minds of my children, who have endless questions and limitless creativity.

art by gracie b., age 5

Inspired by the buckle, I put a passel of very ripe peaches to good purpose today by making them into a peach crisp. I was going to photograph the resulting loveliness but in my haste to DISH OUT and EAT the aromatic goodness that is peach crisp, forgot.

Hence, the empties:

The topping was one of the best and simplest I've done (she humbly said). Here it is:

(put this atop 4 or 5 cups peeled and sliced ripe peaches in about a 2 qt dish or deep dish pie plate)

1/2 c old fashioned oats (not the quick cooking/wallpaper paste oats)

1/2 c brown sugar

4 T flour

1/4 t (or more) ground ginger, nutmeg or cinnamon (I think the marriage of peaches and ginger is perfect but any spice is nice)

cut in 4 T cold butter until mixture is coarse and crumbly, and add some chopped pecans or walnuts if you like'em.

bake at 375 for about 30 minutes and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

edited to say I just realized every blog photo is taken in my yellow kitchen and it's getting old. Variety is forthcoming!

he bakes! he vacuums! he loads the dishwasher! and builds forts, buys jewelry for mama and does many other things that make our little world a happy, funny place. We love you, mikey joe.

We won't be there, but it's always a grand time to be Irish (or not) in Kansas City.

Here's a Guiness to ya!

…so we let the young ones stay up late to catch fireflies last night.

We relented because it was such a lovely night, a slight breeze promising rain that never arrived and the steady hum of neighborhood sprinklers betting on the Kansas meterological temperament. They had a blast, naturally, but the combination of a late bedtime + hours spent splashing in the local pool was deadly to today's mood.

Today's mood:  Cranky®.

Then I stupidly decided it'd be a good day to move around some furniture/arrange things more conveniently for school (I must move something large and unwieldy at least every 2 months - it's genetic, I'm confident). Bad idea. Spent the morning huffing and puffing when I should have just held them and read to them on the couch.

Ah, hindsight.

So now there are things everywhere and the floors underneath things that were moved need to be swept and I'm tired from moving all these things and listening to the whining about the things in their new arrangements.

Sigh.

We're going OUT. I do believe watching Krispy Kreme make donuts will suit us just fine.

still my favorite summer music EVER: Summer Sun
(oh, and they're are terrific live)

…and in other music news Neil Young is #2, Bobby D. is right where he should be - but John Hiatt #61?  i think not.  He deserves at least the top 30. 

for color week

some of my finds

by 9:30a.m. my children have

• pitched a tent in the backyard for "camping" out tonight
• requested hot dogs for supper
• whined for t.v.
• tried to shove a waffle into the stereo speaker
• produced at least 5 drawings for my perusal/approval
• whined to go to the pool today
• asked numerous questions about smoke jumpers
• played pirate on the playtower
• tormented the cat until he disappeared under the bed
• given me many, many slobbery kisses
• told me they love mama for making them waffles (daddy made them)
• been behaving like normal kids enjoying summer!

As promised, here are just a few of the fabulous vintage scraps I discovered yesterday while helping my mother clean house - there must be 100 different pieces of fabric here.

a sampling of my faves:

Someone was probably going to make quilt squares with these wonderful snippets, but I have other, less noble plans for them. Some ideas from the June issue of Country Living magazine look doable for a novice seamstress:

love this top (and the polka-dot Cath Kidston bag in front of it) - who doesn't have a blouse like this begging for some fun? These are just rough-cut strips ironed on with that fusible hemming tape (I'm ashamed to admit I have many rolls of the stuff…).

and the bag - a little more work but how fun to pull the patterns together. so sweet!

sigh. decisions…