A Good Book

If you like flappers and ephemera and Fitzgerald and Coney Island rollercoasters, I highly recommend checking out The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt. Engaging visuals, a lovable main character, a charming story, and a quick read (important since I have no time to read!). Thumbs up!

The Haircut

This morning the baby woke up and looked like MacGyver. It was time to act.

I really, really didn't want to take him to a barber. He doesn't do well with strangers and he doesn't like to be confined, so I knew a haircut would be disastrous and traumatic. Today I was giving him a bath and he was having a blast playing with his cow (he calls it a moo). His hair was cascading down his little shoulders and onto his back. I called Jason in and said, hey, want me to try? He brought me the scissors. I snipped Elliot's little curls. He never realized it--he just played with his moo.


And--be still my heart--my little boy looks like a little boy and not a little bushbaby.

Cold

Oh so cold. It rained ice last night. The ground is crunchy. Things are white. It sucks.

This little guy has been my companion for the past week: a neck warmer! Just sew a little tube of cotton flannel, fill it with rice and sew it shut, and stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds. I put it on my neck and wrap a scarf around it and it keeps me warm while I'm scraping the car or just freezing in the house.

Thank goodness for bread machines and warm jammies and electric blankets. :)

A Wee Bouquet

I bought a small shelf/cabinety thing to fill the giant empty space on one of our bedroom walls, and now I'm making things to put on the shelf. I made a button bouquet similar to this for a craft swap several years ago and always wanted to make one for myself.

Old wooden thread spool, some buttons, rick rack, floral wire, and floral tape, all things I had on hand. I shoved some modeling clay in the hole in the spool to hold the stems upright and in place. Making non-textile things is always a challenge for me because I'm most comfortable working in fabric and yarn and floss. Breaking out the glue gun is slightly nerve wracking and exhilarating. :)

My Baby, the Pony

Think it's time for the first haircut?

Tropics in January

A little something to replace the pumpkin towel on my oven door. (Pumpkins are so last fall!) I embroidered the pineapple piece, gosh, three years ago, with the intent of putting it on an apron, but it didn't look right on the apron and I never used it. But it's wonderful! They're happy pineapples! So I fused the embroidered piece to a tea towel, added some gingham, and voila! Happy new oven towel.

Dough

I made my first homemade pizza today! My mom and dad got me a bread maker for Christmas (thanks, guys!), and I got so excited when I realized it can make pizza dough.


No fancy toppings: tomato sauce, Italian sausage, mushrooms, black olives (for me). An assortment of leftover cheeses. Delicious and, surprisingly, cheaper than a takeout pizza. But much, much slower.

Stretching the crust, I felt like Lucy Ricardo.