This Morning

Good Morning blogger friends...

My days are rushing by, filled with yarn, crochet hooks, hot soups, books, kids who seem to be finding their stride, and hot coffee. 

The orders for hats has slowed a bit, not too much, and I'm thankful, thankful for all of the orders that have been made and thankful for the lessening of the crochet fervor that has gripped my house. More and more people are posting their happy hat pictures on my page for me to enjoy and there is an extreme satisfaction in creating something that makes others happy and warm.

Finnley has begun ballet/tap class and is so in love with it that she will be sitting on the floor watching Sponge Bob and stretching, doing all of stretches she learned in class, and some of the ones from P.E. class at school. Yesterday she went to her room to read for a bit and about an hour later she came out, completely sober faced walked up to where I was sitting and working and said "mommy I know what I want to be when I grow up, I want to be the Sugar Plum Fairy". As a mom my heart leaps with joy thinking that maybe she has found the thing that fills her with joy, and as an artist my heart went through the roof. I have for sometime wondered if either of my children would follow in my artistic ways and signs had been pointing towards no, but then ballet happened and Finn's young passion for it gives me hope!

On a side note we, my mother, Finnley, and I will be heading into Seattle Sunday to watch The Nutcracker, Finnley has seen multiple versions of the production on TV but this will be her first foray to the theatre and I am so excited and hope she falls head over heels for the arts like I did with my grandmother at that age. I'm sure posts will follow our trip and I have put a note up to remind myself to take my camera and document this bit of magic in my 6 year old's life.

Just added theses last couple of photos as proof to myself that given a bit of time and effort I can use my camera in functions that are in no way automatic.

Reese's Peanut Butter banana bread...

OK...so this afternoon I was doing something other than what I should have been and ended up making this...it is divine!

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Grease your loaf pan (I used an 8 x 4 pan) with butter or shortening.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.

4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil and sugars.

5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy.

6.  Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.

7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

big hit- sooo yummy! definite make again bread and a great go to dessert!

photo friday

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (this is from the Soulemama blog and a great idea)

Right now I am...
marveling  at the change in the weather wasn't the pool up in the backyard yesterday

tired  from all the little preparations for the change in the seasons, flannel sheets, new jammies, sock shopping, and re-stocking the pantry with holiday and cold weather staples, like baking necessities, oatmeal of course, and soup basics

laughing at my daughter's latest silly serious statement "mom, my butt is dancing, I think it likes music" we were in the car-what a nut

overwhelmed by the feeling that there is so much to do and so little time before Christmas is upon us

pleasantly surprised by Iain's willingness to share every single second of his school day, compared to Finnley's stand by reply for how school was "I don't remember"

wondering if I should have made bread today, hmmm...

grateful that my husband will be home soon to help kid wrangle and do the "manly" jobs around the house

hearing the kids laughing loud tummy laughs at "the Archies" cartoons, yup from the "60s

going on another yarn run tomorrow- can't ever have enough yarn

planning meals of soups, and chowders, and stews, and chilis, ooo and oatmeal, love things you can eat that heat you up from the inside out

digging that I get to live vicariously through all of my currently pregnant friends, I love it, it's such a happy reminder of those days

yarning (crocheting in Iain speak) working currently on 2 blankets both gifts, 5 hats all orders, and one sweater also a gift

listening to old time Jewel Pieces of Me and such

saying hurry, hurry there never seems to be enough time in the day

inspired by friends and family, the weather, and most of all the season

happy my new fall sweater arrived- luv it's warm plummy colour

delighted  by the idea that your life if what you make it, it's like a bulletin board you can add and take away until what you see is what you want

waiting for bed time, always waiting for bed time, sigh

being at peace with my family, at peace with my little slice of the planet, and at peace with the changes I hope are to come

good night.

November 1st

This is it folks, yep we made it, Halloween is a thing of the past it is officially 100% verified, it is the Holiday Season! Soon we will be watching Charlie Brown Christmas and the Grinch and cooking turkeys and arguing over whether to have cranberries from a can (yuck) or the real burst of flavour in your mouth real thing (yum) and I can't wait. Christmas music on the radio, Ralphy on TV, pine needles on the floor, school projects with glitter and glue, and well everything. There is nothing about the holidays I don't like.

We have had a busy time of it lately, we went on a sock buying trip, we keep our home at a cool 66 degrees in the winter so we have lots of slippers and fuzzy socks around.

 We also made the painful switch from sleeping in t shirts and shorts to fuzzy fleecy head to toe coverage jammies.

Art on the back deck is a hard loss to deal with when the weather turns cold, but art on the living room floor is OK but only if the quilt is include. So specific these kids are!

A lot of yarning has been going on in the house, yarning is what Iain calls crocheting, hats seem to be flying off my hooks and out to the post office. I actually sent 3 hats to Oklahoma in the last week! That's the furthest I have mailed something I've made. Though admittedly I have found it a bit difficult to a lot my time in proportionate bits. It is sometimes hard to split between orders, house work, laundry (my nemesis) cooking, baking, and the art program at Finnley's school.  However I think I may finally be getting the hang of it, I hope...

So, I know this is an odd picture-maybe, but it is a picture of a quilt, that i have recently realized is about 15 years old, yes 15 years! When I was a teenager I had a friend whose grandma made quilts and between tons of sleepovers I ended up with custody of 2 of said quilts. I am starting to realize that I will probably have them till I die. What brought this on you ask, well Iain was laying in this particular quilt and rolling about on the floor as boys are want to do, when I heard it, the sound of a seam tear. Though happy to report that 10 minutes with the sewing machine has it functional again. It has been patched and re patched, and sewn and re sewn so many times I can't remember. Though I will keep it forever because when I'm curled up in it, it's a slumber party, it's snowing, and I'm 16, all over again.