Mrs. Do-MESS-tic

auld lang syne pudding

2012-01-02T08:28:00.001-10:00

Happy New Year. I'm not much into resolutions and year-in-reviews, but I still feel something a little stirring about the changing of the year. Perhaps, this year, it is because in less than a month and a half we will be leaving our beautiful island home to embark on a new adventure. Moving from Oahu is going to be really, really difficult- but I'm putting on my big girl panties and looking at that brighter side. Family closer. Mountains that won't crumble when you climb them. Fall. Schools for my kids that well, teach them things. Sweaters. Ikea. Going to school full time to BE something when I grow up.
Sigh, but I love Hawaii like I have never loved a place before in my life. I think from the moment I stepped off the plane from Maryland almost four years ago, I knew it was home.
And you know what?
We'll come back :)

I'm sure I'm sharing an experience with many, many others today in feeling a bit nostalgic. It feels good.
Like sitting in front of a warm fire playing Scrabble. Jammies fresh from the dryer. My daughter giving me a face massage.
Like bread pudding.

(How's THAT for a lead-in?)

The Bestest Bread Pudding Eva Recipe

*with tipsy brandy sauce*

(from a self-proclaimed bread pudding connoisseur)

Ingredients:

3/4 a loaf of Hawaiian Sweet Bread (or if you can't find this, a sweet challah would work. Maybe even potato bread? hmm...)

half cup raisins

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 a stick of buttah, softened

5 eggs

cinnamon
brown sugar

1 tbsp vanilla

For sauce:

1 cup sugar

1 stick buttah, melted
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brandy

Tear apart the bread into inch/inch and a half chunks. Use a light touch- you want to bread to retain its loft. Layer into a casserole dish with raisins. In bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing in between. Add cream, vanilla, and cinnamon. Carefully pour over bread, ensuring all the bread is moistened. Sprinkle some brown sugar and cinnamon over the top. Let sit for half an hour. Preheat oven to 350. Cook for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, add butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until all melted/mixed. Add brandy and stir well.

When pudding is cooked, let sit another 30 mins before serving. Pour sauce (to taste- there will be extra) over pudding and nomnomnom.

I've made this today to share with some friends for New Years dinner.
One of the bestest things about this place is the friends that I have made here. I will miss them.
But we'll come back :)

We'll bring these guys with us.

the joy of giving

2011-12-29T13:22:00.000-10:00

And here, as promised, is a photo compilation of the presents I sewed this year for Christmas. In uploading these I realized there were a few I forgot to take picturess of before wrapping/sending, and a few I didn't get to finish at all (an IOU is a lovely present, no?). But, I'm not going to stress it. I'm currently recovering from an icky cold and from being the caregiver to two children also suffering the same icky cold. The caregiver role may have scarred me "just a bit". So, I'll mince my words...I'm scared what may slip out in my current condition. (I mostly jest!)

Without further ado:

Rainbow colored pencil roll for Prismacolor pencils.

Roll all rolled up :)

Patchwork coasters

Previously shared travel car mat

Rainbow patchwork bookmarks

Reversible Hello Kitty skirt with patch pockets

Reverse of skirt

Itty Bitty baby pillowcase dress

Table runner #1

Table runner #2

Table runner # 3

Hope they were well-received and enjoyed.
Have a happy and safe (don't drink and drive!) New Year- I'll see ya'll on the flip side.

New Clothes!

2011-12-26T10:45:00.000-10:00

So I rarely sew things for my children. In fact, they BOTH are still awaiting their baby quilts. Kenzie's is almost done- just needing a binding, but Ash's is nothing but a few completed blocks. I'm not sure how many baby quilts I've made in the past four years, but it's truly a sad testament to my parenting style that there are babies all around this island snuggling with their blankies, yet my kids, well, aren't. So this year for Christmas, I was SET on making my babies some gifts. And I did! Here are some pics of new duds they received. I know I'm partial, but seriously? So cute.

For Asher I made a pair of pants with knee pockets. I used this fabulous tutorial: MADE Kid pants with flat front Take some time on her site- she's got the most amazing tutorials, and her blog is beautiful.

I was hoping these pants would turn out a bit bigger- I guess I need to work on my pattern drafting skills a bit. I lucked out in that they at least fit him now- but there's not much room to grow. The material is a japanese cotton with linen knee pads. It's super soft and super cool.

And MacKenzie received a wrap-around circle skirt. I went here for some help. I was hoping to make her a skirt in the same fabric as Ash's pants, but didn't have the length left in the fabric I had purchased. So I used this awesome print I have been hoarding for awhile. (I'm a baaad fabric hoarder!) It's lovely- a wonderful swing to it, and fairly adjustable. It is the PERFECT twirling skirt.

I love seeing my littles in their new clothes- and knowing they love wearing them as much as I loved giving them. It feels so good to make things for people you love!
And speaking of people I love, here's my Mr. with his nattily attired youngin's. (Can girls be nattily attired? Hmm..) His thermal has a little hand-painted elephant wearing shoes. Have you ever mouthed the words "elephant shoes" to someone? Try it :)

Elephant shoes to all of you. Check back soon for the full Christmas present round-up. I'll show and tell all the fun things I've made this year.

Travel Car Mat Tutorial

2011-12-21T10:18:00.000-10:00

Ladies, it's crunch time. Only 4 more days until Christmas! So, you're either reading this with a smug grin, knowing you got your shopping and presents done in July (dear sister of mine) or you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to find those last minute things for the hard to shop for.

Why not hide out in your jammies instead, and make this easy-peasy travel car play mat? It'll take you about an hour, and depending on materials you may already have on hand in your fabric stash, could even be free. Sweet, no? Yes.

I'd like to give a shout out to my fellow crafty mommy here in Hawaii, the supah talented Sharon of Mama's a Mess. Check her blog out, and then order her stuff here: Happy Hapa . She originally introduced me to this AMAZING fabric that has a little block of Honolulu printed on it- complete with the Zoo, Shell amphitheater, and iconic Waikiki. Love this stuff!

Supplies:

1 11x18" piece car themed fabric- city scenes, roads, airports, or even just wide stripes could work *fabric A

1 11x18" piece town themed fabric (or an additional car themed piece, to have the same front and back) *fabric B

1 11x18" piece interfacing or heavy cotton batting

2 11x6" pieces for the pockets in coordinating fabric

1 coordinating button, snap, or velcro

coordinating thread

pins

Once pieces have been measured and cut:

1. Sew a top hem in each pocket panel to finish top edge. Just a basic fold and fold again type hem will work.

2. layer pieces as follows:

interfacing

fabric B, right side up

the two pocket panels, right sides facing each other, aligned with bottom of fabric B

fabric A, right side down

Pin along edges.

Should look like this, but lined up evenly on the edges:

3. Sew around edge (I went a half inch from the edge), leaving a 4-5 inch gap for turning. It helps to do a fix knot or some backstiching on either side of the gap.

4. cut corners like this:

5. Reach into fabric sandwich between fabrics A and B and flip right side out, being sure to poke out the corners.

6. Fold in/iron the fabric at the turning gap, and sew a line around edge of entire play mat, like this:

7. Now you can add pocket separations if you'd like. I made three sections to mine, marking with fabric chalk. I used a heavy bar stitch to make them nice and secure.

8. Fold up along the edge of the pocket into thirds- the last third should be smaller, and will create the flap for closing. Now you can mark where you want your securing device to go- I used a button, but velcro or a snap would work just as well.

8. (Optional) I added some cars to the pockets on the city scene, but wanted something different for the opposite side. I cut a bunch of shapes out of felt to create little village scenes. The felt kind of 'sticks' to the fabric, making it a good option for the car. Here's a scene my daughter made:

That's it! Lemme know if you try this out- I'd love to see your takes on it. Enjoy these last few days before Christmas- time to start making merry in earnest! :)

2011 Domesstic Family Christmas Card

2011-12-14T10:24:00.002-10:00

Merry Christmas, friends and family!

Wishing you all the best this Christmas, and for your upcoming year to be healthy, happy, and full of the wonder of life.
It's a good time to remember those less fortunate- if you have the means, I'd like to encourage giving back, either by donating gifts (toys-for-tots, Lokahi tree (in Hawaii), and the Salvation Army are all good options), or by donating your time (caroling at a nursing home, making a sandwich or two for the homeless, offering assistance to someone to help deal with winter's 'gifts'). This site is a good resource for ideas on volunteering in your community: http://liveunited.org/take-action/volunteer
It's so easy for our children to get washed away in the tide of Christmas consumerism. Whether this day is Holy for you or not, I think we can all agree that the spirit of Christmas isn't something that can be bought from the store.

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons.
It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

From our family, to yours, with Love and Aloha.

Gettin' Messy

2011-12-05T16:06:00.001-10:00

I feel I owe my fellow mommies an apology, as I have been doing you all a disservice. I guess one of the advantages of having a blog is the ability to self-screen. Is my living room messy? Crop it out of the picture. Did my kid(s) meltdown in the middle of the 'fun' picnic Thanksgiving on the beach? You won't know if I don't tell you. (Did I just tell you?) It's so easy to make my life look like homemade gingerbread and sweetly singing husbands. But the gingerbread cookies were originally gingerbread men- they fell apart, so turned into circles. And the husband? Well, ok, that part was legit.
What I'm trying to say is my life IS messy- I promise. It's a big messy mashup of good intentions and half chewed banana- and you know what they say about good intentions.
Today, in fact, was messy.

Today is Monday.
Tomorrow is an Anatomy exam (for which I have not studied nearly enough), Wednesday is my Sociology Powerpoint due date (which I haven't finished), Thursday is my lab portion of the Anatomy exam (read above studying tactic), and Friday is my due-date for mailing the one-hundred sewn gifts to family for Christmas (wanna wager a guess on how many are done?) as well as my Sociology final exam.
Today is Monday, and this is my upcoming week.
Today I awoke to Asher screaming. This is normal- he wakes up grumpy most every day. We all go downstairs to get breakfast- but Asher is screaming so loudly that I get a headache, give up on cooking, and give the kids yogurt. I hold him while he sips his yogurt pouch, and check my ~~Facebook~~ UH email. He aims his pouch at the computer and squeezes. Messy.
I set him down while I try to clean it up, and he screams. He screams and grabs a block and hits his sister over the head with it. They both cry, and I start my period. Like, literally... (TMI, I know. Oh well. ) Messy.
Asher screams and hits his way through breakfast, and we try to play for a bit before nap. He takes a poo. He gets Hulk-mad while I'm trying to change him and starts hitting and kicking and twisting. Poo is everywhere. I am begging my one year old to help mommy, he is screaming at me, and my daughter is telling me over and over that the dirty diaper is on the laundry. The clean laundry. It takes awhile for that to click in for me. Messy.
It is FINALLY his naptime. I put him to bed, and half crumple onto my bed, taking a moment to breathe. I am still wearing (just) my robe, I'm not sure I've cleaned all the poo from my nails, and my head is pounding. I just need a minute. In comes Kenzie. She jumps up on the bed and begins bouncing on her knees next to my head. On top of my hair. It's pulling my hair off my scalp and hurts like a mother and I've asked her to stop 3 times and I finally push her off. Where she loses her balance at the side of the bed and falls backwards, head first.
Time stops.
I race to her, and, once assured that she's not paralyzed, I start crying. Like "something snapped inside me" kind of crying. And my little girl is patting me on the head, saying "it's ok Mommy. It didn't hurt! I'm ok!" Which really didn't help the tears. ...Messy.
I get myself under control and we go downstairs, where I immediately smell burnt metal. The dishwasher, it turns out, is broken. So during the one precious hour that my son is sleeping, instead of studying or power-pointing or sewing, I now have to wash the dishes, by hand. At least the poo is now clean?
It's soon time to take my daughter to school, and Asher screams the way there. Kenzie and I sing "The Wheels on the Bus" like mad women, but it doesn't help. The kid is too far gone by this point. Until we get to her class, where he is a smiling angel, saying "hi" with a big grin to every lovely lady who passes by. "He's such a happy boy!" they all say. Grumble grumble grumble.
But don't worry. He's soon in the car again and screaming.

I try feeding him bites of quesadilla in between wails. It's tricky to do this while driving, as his carseat is behind mine and rear-facing still. One particular stretch back there left me with a lap full of my own burrito. It was hot and saucy. And, yes, quite messy.
We get to the store, and he's still being a little butt. The only thing that keeps him happy is pushing the cart. But he WAILS if I stop it to grab an item I need, so I have to race around grabbing things and racing back to keep him from knocking the cart into every vulnerable ankle in the place.

We survive shopping. We pick sissy up and scream and cry our way home, where I attempt to put Asher down for another nap.
After a few minutes I give in and go back upstairs to pick him up.
I can smell the poo from the door.

fa la la la la

2011-11-30T19:37:00.005-10:00

We've broken the seal to Christmas. No turning back now. The tree, the carols, the movies, the gingerbread. It's all so good. We are not a religious family, but Christmas is so magical, so sweet, so exciting. Even as an adult I get caught up in it. Thank you, dear Christian friends of mine, for letting me join in on your celebration.

We've baked our gingerbread cookies, and decorated our gingerbread houses. We've decorated our tree and listened to upteen Pandora Holiday mixes. (My faves? Glee Holiday mix, Amy Grant, and, of course, Michael Buble). We've dried apples, oranges and pears, and scented them with clove and peppermint for garlands. Our trolley tickets are bought and Holiday party arranged. And I've sewn and sewn and sewn, a sure sign in our house that the Holiday is near.

And, it's still November. :)

So, I invite you to share a bit of our Christmas spirit through these pictures. I have a special treat awaiting you at the end. My early Christmas present to you.

Best to be enjoyed with cocoa and fresh baked cookies.

One of the coolest things about Christmas is that nearly everyone who celebrates has a tree- but they vary so widely. I love going to friends homes this time of year, to see how they've displayed their tree, their ornaments- to see their tastes and what they find meaningful. (Have your tree up? Invite me over!)

Our tree is fake. (Although I LOVE real trees, it's a bit saddening to me to see the piles of pine carcasses by the refuse the days following Christmas.) It has little pine cones and berries and Asher is mad about it, pulling the berries off and running his little baby fingers through the branches. It's been hard to develop the "ooo-saaa" reaction to this, but we're working on it.

Our tree is also almost entirely handmade in decoration. What is not handmade has been given to us- there is only one ornament on it that I've bought, and it was a present to Mr. for our first married Christmas together.

I love the stories that are hanging on our tree.

Like the ornaments my grandmother made. There are quite a few, and now that I'm older, I cherish them more than ever. She gave us something she painted/sewed every year for Christmas, and I really miss that. And her.

There are ornaments given to us by some we hold dearest:

And beautiful ones made by friends:

And those that just make me laugh:

There are so many! The day that we put up the tree is a day that I look forward to all year, and I spend a good part of each evening while it's up looking at our tree.

Eww, what a sap.

And speaking of sickly sweet- here's this years gingerbread house. I think "MacKenzie" has gotten quite good ;)

I love her expression in this picture. I think she might have just been told she could actually eat a piece of the candy.

Now for YOUR treat.

While not a Christmas carol by any stretch of the imagination, the song Hallelujah is frequently listened to in our house, and evokes some serious emotions. I'd like to share Mr's version of the song. Be sure to listen to the end- I think it gets pretty spectacular.

Enjoy, and if you'd like to leave him some kind words (there's a comments section!) it could even result in further recordings in the future. It just takes a bit of cajoling.

See why I keep him around?

gobble gobble gobble

2011-11-24T18:01:00.005-10:00

Hello, and "Gobble gobble gobble" (as our family greets each other on this day). Happy Thanksgiving!

Our day is winding down- our tummies are full, our Christmas tree is up, the kids are tuckered out. So I thought I'd spend a few minutes with you guys.

This year, in light of no real group plans for the day (we are both really missing our non-nuclear families, I think), our family decided to volunteer. I made calls to arrange something, and kept hitting dead ends. They already had enough help, or we couldn't work with the baby, or they only needed monetary donations... essentially, no one wanted us! So we did our annual food bank donations and set about planning something last minute and low-key. Our good friends had a fun Hawaii Thanksgiving tradition of picnicking on the beach, and with this as our local beach park, how could we not?

In truth, I was kinda happy our plans changed. I love cooking, and it's not very often that we eat so many different dishes at a time. It being just the 3.25 of us, it was still a modest meal by Thanksgiving standards, but soooo yummy. I'm thankful for food!!

The menu this year:

Rosemary roast chicken (couldn't justify the turkey for just Mr.)

Roasted grapes with pecans and sunflower seeds

Savory sweet potato/apple bread pudding

Wilted greens with fried shallots, walnut, garlic, and pomegranate seeds

Roasted garlic on sweet bread

Sweet potato pie

Dark chocolate pecan pie

Um, yea.

It was fun creating the 'recipes' for these dishes, and everything turned out quite nicely. I tried to use a lot of stuff that we already had in the fridge to cut down on shopping- afterall, I'm nothing if not cheap ;)

The spread on our table. Couldn't have asked for a better beach day, either.

Have you ever roasted grapes? Do it!!

This pie is my favorite part of the holidays. Dark chocolate and real dark molasses make it so rich and different.

Cheers! Kenzie had her own bottle of sparkling cider and thought it was the best thing

ever ever ever.

After dinner we ran off some of our excess calories, playing in the field and along the shore. We really are so lucky to live here. It never gets old.

Trying for a family shot.

We took Santa to the beach! I love digging this quilt out on Thanksgiving each year. My oh-so-talented MIL made it for us. It's got Santa's booty on the back.

Kenzie got the bag of seeds as an after-dinner snack. Think she was happy about it?

Asher was just happy to roam around collecting trash. I swear, we can't take him anywhere.

Rocking her American Indian headdress and bathing suit...

While daddy and baby watched waves. Surf was up today our side! Perfect.

But it was getting a bit late,

And the little ones were tired, so we wrapped up our picnic and drove the five minutes back to our house. To eat and drink more while the babies sleep.

gobble gobble gobble

Ghost of Halloween past

2011-11-01T11:04:00.008-10:00

[little disclaimer- I've been having some technical difficulties with this post. I had always thought myself fairly tech savvy, but I can't get my images resized/organized the way I want them- I've been trying since oh, the day after Halloween- and this is me throwing in the towel. You get what you get.]

We love Halloween, and lucky for us, so does Hawaii. We always have a few parties to go to, and a big trick-or-treat hullabaloo to attend night-of. And every year I make the kids their costumes. In trying for something a little different this year, I thought we could go as famous paintings. It looked so great in my mind, but turned out kinda, meh. So for actual Halloween night I dressed Kenzie in another costume (made the night before), and Asher wore a three year old hand-me-down. I know they could have really cared less, and it all sounds kind of OCD. But, it made a difference to me, and, really, that's what counts ;)

So, this post is a multi-part share. The original Painting themed costumes, and then the night-of costumes. Followed by a Mishap Sob Story to round things out.

Costumes, Pt 1

The paintings I chose for our costumes (here's the part where the formatting is all mucked up):

So a Salvador Dali, Jackson Pollack, Roy Lichtenstein, and Van Gogh. I think part of the issue I had was the painting selection- the Dali and Lichtenstein turned out to be unrecognizable to all but a very few people. I think it was also that the kids weren't cute. You know- they were pretty, interesting, different- but not cute. And I like to see cute costumes.

Anywho. Here's Kenzie's Starry Night outfit. She also had a mask and a moon and star sequined veil.

For her dress, I took a velvet dress from the thrift store and added fabric from a satin pillowcase to make the skirt, and then painted it with acrylics. Once she tried it on, though, it was a bit of a blob, so I added a sash belt. The pictures above show the before and after. Kenzie likes things to be fancy, so we sewed some starry tulle underneath to make it poufy. She enjoyed showing that off.

For Asher's melting clocks costume, I just velcroed sewn clocks onto a black sweatsuit. I tried to make the clocks look liquidy- and used this slippy gold material for the clock backs. I will NEVER use that crud again. I really think it killed my machine, and I stayed up way too late one night fighting with it. Yuck.

Mr's outfit was simply a white shirt and pants splattered with paint. Kenzie helped a fair amount with that one, and it was a fun, messy family project. We now need to pressure wash the deck.

My costume just involved face paint. Here's another area where things went awry. I used goopy face paint, which couldn't get the detail I wanted, combined with a q-tip for application. Add the fact that I was sensitive to the paint so my eyes were red and watery? Insta Scary Zombie Girl with Chicken Pox costume. I had children running in tears at the Fall Festival we attended. It's kinda funny how off it was.

Here's a family portrait of the Paintings:

The best thing about my costume? Washing it off :)

Costumes, Pt 2

A while back I started this skirt, using a fun Japanese import fabric I had. Like, two years ago *blush*. I loved the other side of the skirt, as well- one of my grandmother's fabrics (remember that I inherited her collection?), it was bright candy-cane striped and slightly sateen in finish. Loud, fun, and cute. I stumbled upon the pieces I had cut and decided to make it into a costume. Using some felt birds as applique, I made her a "birds in a cage" costume. Yea, I know- I went from obsure to obscure-er- but it was pretttty darn cute! :)

Two blue birds, in their cage.

Fully reversible! I love this. I love it so much that I've made another for a Christmas present. And I loved that one so much that I'm going to make another for another Christmas present. AND, as a special gift to you guys, I'll do a tutorial for you. It's pretty easy! So stay tuned for that.

Her fascinator. I want one for me!

MacKenzie was classroom helper on Halloween. She took her job very seriously.

Mr. Asher, as his sister was "birds in a cage", was "free-flying bird". See, it all makes sense. Right? I made this parrot costume for MacKenzie three Halloween's ago. I had to make some adjustments to make it fit him as he's sucha little guy, but I'm so happy I remembered it. It used to have a parrot hat complete with eye patch and feathers but I found it destroyed in the back of the drawer. Sigh. Kids. He wouldn't have kept it on anyway, though, so for the best.

Fly, Ashman, Fly!

First time soliciting. I'm so proud.

And with that, we now arrive at:

Mishap Sob Story

You know what babies like? Bright shiny things. And my dear son is no exception. He is also curious, and fast as heck. These qualities create a horrible combination, the perfect storm really, for injury. Halloween night, after we had finished trick-or-treating, we reconvened on a friend's deck. Who had jack-o-lanterns. Asher thought they were pretty (they were!) and stuck his hand inside to investigate further. It's now three weeks later and that burn is just now looking like it's healing. The screaming. The blisters. The endless doctor's appointments and consultations and bandage changes and crying (from mommy). He has another surgical consultation on Monday to give the final word on skin grafts, so send a little luck his way then. He's been a happy boy, and fully cooperative during examinations and bandage changes, but I am so ready for him to get a clean bill of health. And for us to be allowed back to the beach.

So, Happy belated Halloween, and Happy early Thanksgiving, in case I don't catch you in time. I'm thankful for all of you!

2011-10-27T11:04:00.001-10:00

Cellular respiration is not my cup of tea. Chemical reactions and by-products and energy output? Blech. Just give me a pig to cut open, please. But that's unfortunately what I'm studying now, which means I am burned out. But my dear MacKenzie kindly helped me take a study break this morning for some easy-peasy craft time. And I must say, I feel better; fresh and smarter-er.

We started with some color theory:

And continued on to luminary design:

Kenzie was actually super good about keeping the paint inside the jar, and not on her brand new pillowcase dress. In hindsight, a smock woulda been a good idea.

So simple project is as follows:

Paint inside of mason jars orange (mine were the cute faceted jelly jars, but any will do).

Paint outer rim of jars green for the stem.

Draw spooooky faces on jars. I think Kenz takes the prize for this one.

Drop in a tealight and turn out the lights.

Fun!

She is such a doll.

We also made some spider-webs to munch on for brain-food. These went well with my morning coffee- nothing beats sweet and salty! (And please excuse the bad cell phone photography, which, isn't too bad considering, eh?)

It's just melted chocolate (I used a mixture of peanut butter, milk, and white) poured over broken pretzels, and allowed to harden. The fridge will help speed things up ;)

Well, that was a nice break. Back to the grind, and wish me luck tonight!!

'Tis the season.

2011-10-22T15:51:00.008-10:00

One of 'em, anyway.

Autumn in Hawaii is odd. I'm from the land of changing leaves and early Mountain freezes and apple pickin' in our warmest sweaters. I don't miss much about Virginia, other than family and friends, and I wouldn't trade living here in Paradise for anything, but there is something so bittersweet about October in the Islands. Everyone decorates for Fall, but the orange and browns are all faux. The air gets crisper and nights chillier- but not quite crisp or chilly enough. We all go to Haunted Houses and pumpkin patches, but the sand still in our slippahs from the morning's surf session takes a bit of the authenticity away. It's still wonderful, just a little less....real feeling. A little odd.

Anywho, all that being said, Happy Fall! I do love this time of year, regardless of where we are.

I love spiced lattes and carving pumpkins and making Halloween costumes. We like to spark up our little firepit on the deck and hang out at night after the kids go to bed. It's usually cold enough to bring a quilt, so now my quilts all smell a bit like woodsmoke. It helps ;)

We've decorated some. I have a big bag of spooky Halloween decorations in the garage, but in true Domesstic fashion, I opted for just a Autumn color-scheme this year. This way, I can leave them up until Thanksgiving! Score.

I love these paint sample pennants! I made a couple for Asher's Birthday party, and still have one hanging in our hallway, unwilling to part with it. These Fall ones hang across our front deck and garage and have awesome color names like "Spicy Gingerbread" and "Crisp Grannysmith." Cute! I wish I had used a sturdier ribbon so it didn't furl so much, but I still think they are lovely. Bonus- they are free!! And the looks you get when stuffing handfuls of samples into your purse at the hardware store are half the fun.

Kenzie and I made some Jack-O-Lanterns. These are ridiculously easy, and really look bright and happy in our entryway. The green vine cutting exercise was really a learning experience for me, as well. Learning how to be patient with my daughter as she attempted it, that is.

I made some starburst-esque things with the leftover cuttings of paint samples. I like how the tulle looks, but the wind likes to tangle things up. I think just ribbons would work better in the future, something with a bit more weight.

And our one spooky contribution this year. Spooooooky.

Here is Asher admiring all of our hard work.

And today we took the obligatory trip to the pumpkin patch. Despite being a bit guilty about the slave labor and baked alive in the Hawaiian sun, we had a great time! Asher and MacKenzie really enjoyed walking the rows of pumpkins, and while Asher was happy with all the pumpkin varieties, it took Kenz a looong time to find her perfect Princess pumpkin. We skipped the hay ride because of long, unshaded lines, but did check out the petting zoo. I am now convinced we need a chicken. Seriously, I've been Googling chicken care and everything! If only we weren't leaving so soon. I'd have some free-range chicks and yummy fresh eggs and annoyed neighbors in a heartbeat.

Tell me this kid wasn't made to be in a pumpkin patch?! Of note, that cute romper was made by my grandmother for me when I was a little girl. So thankful my mom saved it for me.

A contender, but it didn't make the final cut.

Two happy kids in a tire.

Mr.'s watermelon pumpkin. He has grand plans for its future carving.

Here Asher finds the ever-elusive white pumpkin. He got a bit sad that he couldn't play with the "ball-ball".

Another wonderful thing about this time of year is the food. All of that squash and 'winter' vegetables and curries and spices. Mmmmm. The other day I made a twice baked acorn squash that made me want to cry it was so good. The neighbors probably had a good laugh that night, with my husband and I both moaning our way through dinner. It was basically squash, mixed with coconut milk, raisins, cranberries, cashews, honey, curry, and cumin.

Mix it all up and bake it in the acorn squash 'shells' with some parmesan on top. Holy yum. I served this with a spicy cranberry glazed salmon and herbed brown rice. It felt so decadent, but still fairly healthy. Nice when things work out like that ;)

So coming up I'll show-and-tell the Halloween costumes for this year, and also share three baby quilts I've been working on. Time to get some sewing-related stuff on here, huh?

Enjoy your crisp Fall weekend, wherever you are!

Well, aren't we fancy!

2011-10-18T10:09:00.006-10:00

Fancy a cup of tea, love?

In honor of this upcoming election season, we had our own little tea party. (giggle..) It was one of those slow afternoons when Mr. and I wanted nothing more than to ~~nap~~ study on the couch. And one of those slow afternoons where the two children were systematically dismantling the toy bins, and rapidly getting bored with it. We saw them eyeing the glassware and knew we had to intervene. I initially set up a plastic tea set for them inside, with water and cookies to make a good, fine mess. But then I remembered that we have a lovely Chinese (Japanese? ) tea ceremony set that, as far as I'm aware, had never actually been used. So, I set the hubs to work cleaning the grime from the cups and boiling the water and got the kids in proper tea attire. One MUST dress for tea, afterall.

Kenzie was feeling the Steampunk vibe, apparently. (BTW- I LOVE the Steampunk look. I couldn't rock it myself, but how fun would it be to wear bustles and corsets and little mini-hats?? Oh, and those tiny eyeglasses? Dahhhling.)

We didn't have any loose tea leaves, so we picked some mint from the front, and voila, now we're makin' memories.

Above you'll see Mr. 'seasoning' the teacups. This was all very authentic.

He Googled it, afterall.

And about halfway through the ceremony, we were discussing the types of mint leaves being used. Turns out I had picked sprigs of Mojito mint. Hmmm.... Mojito...

....

.....

Ok, we couldn't help ourselves. It was almost 5, afterall ;) They were surprisingly tasty! And a weee bit strong.

Don't judge.

Lack of nap aside, it was a lovely afternoon- good family time with no money spent, no gas used, and no broken glassware. Even Asher had a ball! See?

Mojito Recipe, Domesstic style

Mojito mint sprigs, several (8?) leaves per tea cup sized portion

Three glug-glug-glugs of Agave nectar, total

Two to three glugs of Rum per tea cup sized portion

Lots of lime juice. Lots.

Muddle ingredients in wooden bowl.

Pour into tea cups. Feel very fancy, and increasingly tipsy.

Quarter life crisis.

2011-10-13T09:59:00.006-10:00

I am sitting here embarking on yet another attempt to anchor myself to this little blog, when laundry, dishes, counters, bathrooms, clutter, toys, homework, and my daughter's Medusa-esque hair CLEARLY should be winning my time. But, I have something important to share. And it takes precedence to toilets (doesn't everything?).

However, it's been awhile. You have missed me so. So to catch you up...

A quick Cliff Notes on life here.

Mrs. got knocked up. Had Baby Boy. Named him Asher Vaughn. He's really (I mean Really) cute. And he's now one. Had a big-ol party and four teeth and some zombie walking. Mr. got a new job. Or will have a new job. We move in February. To California. Northern. Where it is cold, all the time. But there's wine, so I can drink my way through it. Daughter is as precocious

as ever. She tolerates her brother. When her hair is combed, she is also really cute. And really smart. Unless it's a puzzle. She likes to read and sing and talk. And talk and talk and talk. Mrs. is back in school. She wants to "be something". Her classes are medical-like. Maybe she'll be a nurse? Who knows. She's working very very hard to get her A's and is actually enjoying it. When she doesn't have a test the next day. Mrs. has very little time to sew or craft anymore, but there have been a few projects. Maybe some pictures can be arranged. Mr. and Mrs. and the two munchkins are well and happy and are working on that white picket fence to complete this rosy picture.

Wait. Rosy picture? Well and happy? What's with the quarter life crisis tag line, huh? Well, sometimes 'happy' doesn't feel like enough. Lately, I've been wanting more. Oh, poor bored housewife, I know. But it's good, for this spurred my initial decision to go back to school, and that's a very good thing. But lately that restlessness has been creeping back. Convertibles aren't very family-friendly, and God-knows I don't need hair plugs.

Solution? (Pay attention, other SAHMs. This can save you so much heartache.)

It's revolutionary.

Life changing.

It's....

Red lipstick.

Ok, so as most of my friends know I've been sucked into the world of Mad Men and my masochistic jerk of a boyfriend Don Draper. (But, I'll change him, s'alls good.)

Loved the escapism of the show, but seeing those women, always perfectly coiffed, demure and stylish and not covered in the breakfast, lunch, AND dinner (of yesterday) was getting me down. I felt so unglamorous. Before I was a mommy, I needed to look good for my job. I wore heels and stockings and mascara and jewelry. And my underwear matched my bras. I was kinda sexy. That was who I was when Mr. fell for me. And, somewhere from then to now, I became someone who wore nursing bras long after I stopped nursing, long pants because I didn't have time to shave, and a ponytail, everysingleday. Someone who looked nothing like this:

Then, a revolution. In the amount of time it takes to put on a pair of ratty yoga pants, a tank top, and Chapstick you can instead put on (secondhand) designer jeans, a bright blouse, and Red Lipstick. Add a fancy clip to your ponytail and a sandal instead of rubber flip flops, and you no longer scream "I have young children, I haven't had an adult conversation in a week, I think I may have poo under my fingernail, and yes, I am aware that my son just pulled my elastic-waisted shorts down." Seriously, SAME amount of time!

So what if I look like a hooker in my push-up bra and Red Lipstick at the gas station? Who cares if no one wears stockings in Hawaii because they are flippin' HOT? I wanna wear this flirty skirt, darnnit (and I still don't have time to shave). Even if I don't actually plan on leaving to go anywhere. Maybe the UPS man will stop by.

And if he does, I'll be ready.

Caring about how I look again has been good for me. I do fear it is affecting my daughter, though. She spent about forty minutes in the mirror this morning, wetting, combing, rewetting, recombing her hair. And then she asked to wear some of my lipstick.

I told her when she's a mommy, I'll buy her a tube of her very own.

Fighting the lazies.

2010-08-08T17:44:00.004-10:00

So, as most everyone knows by now, Mrs. Domesstic got herself knocked up. (Yay!)
But, consequently, I've exploded. (I'm at 34 weeks, and I just don't see where the additional 6 weeks are going to fit....) And Mr. Domesstic has up and left me alllll allllllone for the past eight weeks. (Ok, he didn't just "up and leave". He's got obligations and all. But it just doesn't have the same ring to it to admit that, does it?)

Anyway. I'm here, allllll alllllone, a giant, tired woman, with a 3 year old to entertain. And today is Sunday. The day of rest, right? All I want to do is clean my house a bit, and maybe get some sewing done. (Yes, that is actually kinda restful, comparatively.) But a guilty conscience *ahem, Mr.* prevented me from following through on a plan of movie-time for the munchkin, so instead, I got my butt in gear and played with my kid! No, you didn't read that wrong.....I really did! Go ahead, a brief applause is totally within reason. I can wait....

...
...

Ok. So, want to be super-mom like me? It's so easy!

#1: Find/draw animal pictures. I cut mine from a coloring book. Have child "help" glue pictures to super-stiff-hand-torturing cardboard. The pain-factor is important. It really makes you feel like you're a true blue, selfless mother. (Because motherhood hurts, right?)

#2: Encourage child to color said pictures. Try not to mention that kangaroos are not, in fact, blue. Also try not to be discouraged that child doesn't actually want to color said pictures. Best laid plans...

#3: Create Safari Log Book. Hand draw previously mentioned safari animals in little book. This is where the super-mom comes in. Let the child gush over what an amazing artist you are. It will feel very, very good. Prompt child, if necessary. Write name of animal next to picture. Go over the spelling/sounds of animal's names. This is a teachable moment.

#4: Create Safari outfit. In my case, this included an easter basket, binoculars (the ever-popular toilet tube/saran wrap version), giant stealth shades, and a visor. (We were running a bit low on creativity at this point...)

#5: Hide safari animals outside, and bask in the cuteness that is your child as s/he goes on a safari adventure.

#6: ....Try to still look excited when child goes on her sixth consecutive safari adventure.....

There you go! Six easy steps to getting rid of that guilty conscience, so that, when it comes time to make dinner, and you are a giant, tired woman who also happens to be alllll allllllone, you can feel totally justified in turning on Pingu.

And, speaking of dinner, check out our breakfast. It happened to be another super-mom moment:

Greek yogurt, pumpkin granola, homegrown papayas, and a drizzle of honey. .........omg...........

Peace and Quiet. A typical morning...

2010-08-07T13:21:00.003-10:00

7:00 Am:
I hear the door open. Oh no. Covers come quickly up over my head.... just don't move.....
Kenzie: "Mommy? Mommy? Mommmmmmmyyyyyyy? MOM!?"
Me: "Mmphfph."
K: "Come play with me! Come downstairs! Come play! Do you want an animal? Here's an animal for you!"
Me: "Mmmmphg. Early! I'll meet you down there..."
K: "No, mommy, you have to come now. I'm a little afraid. You need to be with me. Here's an animal for you!"
Me: "Go on ahead. There's nothing to be afraid of...I'll be down in a few minutes. Let me wake up and go pee."
K: "Ok, mommy. I'll wait right here. Mommy? Mommy, get out of bed. Mommmmmyyy. Here's your animal!"
Me: "I'm up! Can I just have a minute to go pee?"
K: "Sure! I'll come with you!"

9:00 Am:
Me: "C'mon, Kenz, it's time to go."
K: "Ok, mom. Just wait one second. I need to get an animal."
Me: "Please hurry, hun, we'll be late."
K: "OK mom, just WAIT! I need another animal. I'll be right back....."
Me: "Kenzi, we're going to be late, and you won't get to play with your friends. It's your choice....."
K: "I'm COMING mommy. Mommy? Mommy, I'm hiding. Come fiiiiiiiind me."

12:00 Pm
Me: "Kenz, I just need to run in this store for a few minutes. It won't take me long at all, but you need to stay with me. Please?"
K: "Ok, mommy! Can I have a treat?"
Me: "We'll talk about it, after you've been a good girl in the store...."

12:02Pm
Me: "Kenzi? Where are you? I told you to stay where I can see you..."
K*yelled from undetermined location*: "I'm Hiding! Come fiiiiiiiind me!"
Me: "Kenzi, please get back here, and stay where I can see you."
K: "I can't! You have to fiiiiiiind me. "
*after kid is found, we have a little chat. We discuss proper behavior in a store. Again. We agree to be a good girl, to stay with mommy, and to give mommy FIVE minutes to pick out a bra. Just one bra. Please?*
K: "Mommy? What's this? .....Why?......What's that?......why?.......Mommy, I need to pee.....Mommy.....come fiiiiiiiiiiiind me!!!"
Me: "Ok, I give up, let's just go home."
K: "But, can I have a treat?"
Me: "............"

1:00Pm
Me: Kenzi, I'd really like to listen to this news story. Can you be quiet for a minute?
K: "No, I want to listen to my princess music."
Me: "We just listened to the whole cd. It's my turn now. Can you be quiet for a little bit so I can listen?"
K: "Ok. Sure."
5....4....3...
K: "Mommy? I'm sorry. I just can't be quiet. I tried and tried, but I just can't do it. Sorry."

Me: "MacKenzie..... I know."

New Addition.

2009-10-02T15:56:00.006-10:00

No, not the band, you hopeless 80s geeks, it's a......

puuuuupppy!

I'm interrupting your previously scheduled programing for a brief introduction to our new bundle of fur.
Meet Luka Bella Nelson:

We now have two dogs- and soon-to-be two very large dogs. Craziness has always been a fun hobby of ours.
Ripley, our lab/shar-pei, had some doggy friends come stay with him a little while ago. While they were perhaps the WORST dogs ever...

...Ripley enjoyed the heck out of their company. He was a different doggy, and was so sad when they left him... Because we tend to spoil those little ones we love, we decided to adopt a friend for him. We've been looking around- we wanted a small dog (one I could hold) around a year old, already potty trained. We went to the shelter one day and on our way back from meeting one (small, 1 y/o) dog...... we passed the puppy pen. We were just going to peek inside "for MacKenzie." The next day, said puppy came home with us.

We named her Luka, and she is a lab/siberian husky mix. She is three months old, will be around 70 lbs, and is NOT potty-trained. The best laid plans, and all that.
But, we adore her.

(Niles didn't want her to be a couch dog. That lasted...)

The puppy loves Kenz. Kenz loves the puppy. Kenz doesn't so much love the puppy trying to eat her, but we're working on that.

Ripley enjoys his new friend very much. Luka has much more stamina for play than Ripley, however, and she just keeps going and going. He's going to be a very fit dog soon.

So, that's our big news. She'll be twice this size in a matter of weeks...we'll keep you posted.

Ps- And, for those of you who just read this whole thing to end in disappointment that, yes, this was a full post about a DOG...here ya go:

back..from outer space...

2009-09-23T10:52:00.006-10:00

I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face....

Miss me??? Ugh, I stink. Not literally (wait..*checking* ...no, not literally) but yes, I'm aware of my stinkage. And I'm sorry.
On to better things? I suppose I should use this post as a big-giant-conglomerated-hodge-podge of catch-up. Try to keep up ;)
So, our two and a half year old is now wearing big girl panties, sleeping in a big girl bed, and going to big-girl school. Waaaah! Sigh, but really. I'm so proud of this munchkin. Potty training is going well (isn't it interesting how mothers of toddlers assume that EVERYONE is just as interested in their child's bathroom habits as they are??? And I'm no exception.) She still has occasional accidents, but we're doing pretty good. As long as we don't go to her friend Julia's house, which seems to be an accident trigger...hmm, or Leif's....or the beach...sigh. But really, she's doing very well! We use a book each time we go pee-pee, and Kenz has learned to "read" it along with me. A video:

Pretty cute, huh?
A few nights ago, she began informing us that her toddler bed was too small- "I too big for this bed. I need big-girl bed!" I'm not sure where she got this from, but she succeeded in ~~coercing~~ convincing us to make the new-bed purchase. We actually got her a bunk bed, but we've only put together the bottom bunk for now. She really likes it, and we think she just looks so cute and little when laying on it. The quilt is her big-girl quilt that I started back when I had free-time. It's VERY undone, but you won't tell, right? ;) (And really, a finished quilt? How Un-doMESStic..)

Storytime... Daddy does the best voices....

Btw, yes, she's half nekkid. We do live in Hawaii, afterall...
Her new preschool meets once a week and is a co-op, meaning all the parents take turns being there/teaching. For us, it's a bit of a prep for the real deal when she's 4. Preschool here in Hi is UNGODLY expensive, and we are sooo thankful to have found a group of ladies with similar mindsets and drive to make this happen. Kenz is retaining information from class, too, which is so exciting for us. For instance, when she sees letters, she'll say, "that the letter O" or "that Q Mama!!". Buuut, when she sees "B" she states, "I learned B in school! Julia's mama told me..."
She also keeps mentioning that she fell in school and hurt herself...not sure what that's all about, but she seems to have survived it??? Anyway, here is the obligatory "first day of" pic....

BTW, no, I did not cry, because I was in fact teaching that first day. Kinda anti-climatic, actually. Sadly, she doesn't remember much of what we learned when I was in charge....

And now it's time for the cute and random Mackenzie "story"...drum roll please....
Kenzi is a bit of a whiner. When I say a bit, I really mean she's got more wine than Robert Mondavi, but we're attempting this new "power of positivity" BS mindset, so we'll stick with "a bit." We try many many things to try to get her to speak without crying/whining, and Hubby's new thing is to tell her a bee will sting her if she's got her whiney-voice on. (Yaya, we're evil, abusive parents. We know. Moving on.) When she starts up, we bzzzzzzzz and it's actually quite funny and remarkably effective. So, just the two of us were in the car the other day, and Kenz starting whining, but caught herself.
She said, "Oh, I not crying. No bee, you no get me!"
Me: "That's right, honey. 'Cuz you don't want a bee to sting you."
She: "No Mommy. That's what Daddy says. You can't say a bee will get me, only Daddy says that." (This admonishment actually went on much longer, but I'll spare you the full transcript.)
Well.
Poll on what my anti-whining tactic should now be, as I'm NOT ALLOWED to use my husband's?

Speaking of my husband, he's also well. He has yet another position with his work, and with it another schedule change. But, it works out fairly well, and if I keep the girl up a little late "accidentally" then I can continue to weasel my way out of bedtime-responsibilities. Go me! I think he may be getting a bit bored with his current lifestyle though- he keeps picking up these new hobbies that don't seem too "long-and-injury-free-life" conducive. Nothing too dangerous, but stuff that makes me briefly envision full-body casts. Be careful stud-muffin!

Ps- I love all the girls in the left side of this photo. They have these expressions on their faces, like "OMG, I TOTALLY can't believe he just did that!"

We haven't been surfing as much, and I think it's bringing him down. But for my birthday, we were able to go out together, as a friend watched Mackenzie for a few hours for us. (Thanks Dawn!!)
And, so, on to me. I've been quite busy with sewing lately. Or, maybe I mean, even busier. There's a craft fair (really a mini-craft fair) coming up soon that I've, in a moment of insanity, agreed to be part of. I've been making tutus and obi belts and gift bags and headbands and appliqued shirts and ribbon wands, and and and and..... It's been 'fun', but it's hard to put so much work into something to sell. A gift- you know who it's going to, and you know it will be appreciated. But "goods"- you're always worried about whether it will sell and price-points and streamlining the process in order to make that two-dollars-an-hour hopefully turn into three or four ;) Ha, sorry for the tangent... I have "created" an etsy site to help find a home for anything that doesn't sell. Vitruvian.etsy.com Right now, it's just a banner, but hey, I made that myself and it's kinda pretty, no? But check back in a few days and I'll have some stuff up. Hopefully.
Just kinda hoping to find a way to support this growing habit of mine.
No, not that, I kicked that yeaaaars ago ;) Fabric-retail-therapy, duh!
My next post will likely be a show-and-tell of new projects. And from there we should be back in business with no more excessive boring catch-up posts. Hip hip and all that...
Oh, yea, for those of you that don't get the email, or aren't on my facebook (do such people exist??) I've also updated flickr. Now's your chance to over-indulge in MacKenzie cuteness... Kenzie's flickr page
See ya! (or write atcha, I suppose....)

Pleeeeegh...There, I did it.

2009-08-26T19:41:00.001-10:00

See, honey. I posted. So there. Get off my tookas.

Ps.- Mwah.

wascally wabbit

2009-05-11T16:14:00.003-10:00

Why won't my daughter sleep?!!?!?! And how many times is too many to put her back in bed? Little stinker.... And her silly little face is just Too Cute when she gets caught- I have to really train myself not to giggle.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T13:16:00.004-10:00

Hello all you mommies out there- happy You day! Today is definitely a "me" day, and it has been delightful. I slept in until 11:30- yup, no typo- 11:30!!! The plan was to have a beach day but it was a bit murky out this morning, and I was feeling lazy. I really have benefited from the sleep, too, I feel like a whole new person. During my rest, my main man took DD out to pick up mimosa supplies, so I had booze with my coffee and breakfast sandwiches- lol, it was just very nice. And right now, I'm sitting here, wearing my mommy crown (thanks mom!) listening to The Decemberists- my ALL TIME fave music (that DH downloaded onto HIS ipod so I could listen to it- remember, my computer is no longer with us.) I'm lovin' life. To all you hubbys out there- this is What To Do for her on special days. A nice drink, a nice breakfast, and a free slot of time to do whatever and listen to her favorite music. Siiiiiggghhhhh.
So this post is really not about me, however, but my own mama. My mother is a remarkable woman- warm and funny, and super creative with little things that bring a smile to your face. She's been an excellent role model for me in my own parenting- everytime I cast societies' disapproval aside to dance and sing like a crazy person in the middle of the Target checkout, I know I am channeling my Mom. That's who she is. A crazy person who could give a darn- if it makes her kids happy. Thanks for my childhood, mom. I was/am very lucky.
This is a show-and-tell for her benefit. I've been working on a quilted wall-hanging for her for Mother's day for awhile now, and it's been almost done for awhile now, as well. Except somehow, probably in our move, I've lost the walking foot to my machine, so I haven't been able to quilt it. I had ordered a new one weeks ago, which still hasn't arrived. Boo. So, here it is mom- mostly done, just waiting for the silly part to come:
I've been really excited about this. I designed it myself- which is nothing special as it's just squares- but it's a crossword puzzle (my mom loves puzzles) to which there are real answers- all "mother" related. I'll send the clues along with the quilt. The purple/dark square fabric is all my grandmother's fabric- my mom's mom, and the light fabric is all mine. And the word "mother" is hand-sewn. That's right kids- like, with a needle and thread! I'm proud of this quilt, and of the collection of special components to it, and I hope she'll love it. 'Cuz I love her. Sniffle.

Busy Busy Bee...

2009-05-07T14:43:00.004-10:00

I have so many things to write about- but there is an imaginary ticking clock VERY LOUDLY counting down the seconds left in my sweet daughter's naptime- and well, I have a lot to do in this precious window. I wanted to take a moment to share some new projects with you guys, though, because, well, I'm super excited at how they turned out. It's nice to put out a little self-love every now and then, eh?
As many of you may know, I couldn't sew before Kenz was born. I had a machine- a very basic Brother- and I attempted a few projects. (I recall a pair of pajama pants in which the recipient couldn't fit his hand into the pocket). But it wasn't really my thing. And then I inherited the mother-of-all fabric collections from my grandmother, and I thought, well, now I HAVE to learn how. Luckily (?), Hubby was going to be on a rather extended trip, so I packed up the new baby (awwww) and we went down to Miami, where my MIL taught me to sew a quilt. And it's been all downhill from there ;) But until recently (very recently) I've stuck to quilts- I love the process of picking out fabrics, and the end result, but mostly I love that it is two peices of fabric sewn together in a straight line. Over and over and over again. Very much in my comfort zone.
Well, I have officially broken out of my comfort zone! I saw this tutorial: Spring Sewing ~ Spring Ruffle Top Tutorial and I had to have this top. I also had this perfect fabric. I had made a quilt with it, and had some left over to do something with, but never knew quite what, until I saw this. Kismet. Anywho, I know it's very- uh, different- but it's soo me, and it is my new favorite top that I own. Yay!!! Also, it was fun to make, so if anyone wants one (very roomy in the belly area too...) let me know and we'll chat.

Additionally, I tailored my first piece of clothing, and it turned out beautifully. I wish I had a before picture of this, but, well, I don't. I found this at the thrift store, and originally got it just for the fabric- I thought I'd cut it up and make it into- dunno, something. But then I tried it on, and the fabric felt like- well, how I imagine ~~Edward~~ My Dear Hubby would touch me when he was singing me to sleep. ;) It's so tissue thin and soft and divine. However, it hung like a sack. It was originally sleeveless, with the line from the shoulder going straight down to the waist- no curve- and the arm holes were about three times wider than they needed to me. So I simply pinned it where I thought it looked nice, added a cap sleeve, and cut! I wasn't too nervous, because it wasn't ever meant to be intact anyway. But somehow, it worked, and now it may be my second-favorite shirt. Oooh, I love new clothes!!

And, finally, something for my niece Hayden. Her first birthday is coming up, so I wanted to make her something hip but girly to wear. This is based off a Hawaiian skirt called a Pa'u, used for Hula. I made it longer than what would be right for a one-year old, because I wanted her to be able to wear it for a longer time. There are detachable straps for wearing it as a dress, but I don't have any of the snaps to put it on yet- but it's the same polka-dot fabric as the trim. As for the girly-glittery skull print- well, that's all Hayden's mama. She's punk-rock like that. I hope she likes it- I know Kenz loves modeling it- I'll have to make her one now.

Now I'm off to do some comfort-zone sewing. I have all the pieces for my BIG DEAL quilt project cut. AHHHH!!!

Late May Day, Forgetfulness, and Aprons.

2009-05-03T11:25:00.004-10:00

Sheesh. I think the planets are aligned against me being a frequent and timely blogger. I swear, I start these things every day, but there's always something 'conspiring' against me, pulling me away to do more important work (reading..sewing...taking care of my ~~pack of wild monkeys~~ child). I will say, though, that my one (quite distracting) vice is now no more, as I've finished the Twilight series. Although I hate to end a good series, I have to say I'm a bit thankful- as I wasn't getting anything done. Now I can focus again.
We are now into the lovely (and scorching hot) month of May. I hope everyone on the Mainland is having fun with the weather, and appreciating the blooms popping up around you. we don't have many new blooms- as everything is in pretty much constant bloom here, but I did notice that some of the herbs have gotten flowers. Typically you should pinch the flowers off herbs, and I did... after snapping a few pics. It's a shame to pull them off, as they are so delicate and sweet, but if it's between flowers and food- well, I think you guys know where I stand on food.
Our May Day was spent at Home Depot, picking out new flowers for our window boxes. I'm so thankful that Hubby loves going garden-shopping as much as (if not more than!) I do- we could spend hours in the flower aisles. We came away with some happy garden mums- I'm not sure why, but I always disliked the mums back home- they came out in force around Thanksgiving- in burnt orange hues- maybe just because they graced every single Maryland front porch, I was snobby about them. But these yellow and purple ones spoke to me, and I'm loving what they add to our front porch. I also think these would make lovely wedding centerpieces....hint hint to someone getting married soon. Always looking out for you.

In addition to replanting my boxes, Hubby did all of the grass-related yard work. I haven't been feeling fabulous lately (have you ever sucked on a mouthful of pennies? yea..uh....neither have I. But, HAD I experienced something as totally weird and gross as that, I could imagine the flavor being similar to the taste in my mouth almost constantly. Ugh.) Usually yard work is my 'chore', which I actually like, as it gets me outside and in the sun. But, what with my icky tummy, it's been- well, neglected. So DH went out and did it all- edging, weeding, planting, and brick laying included. Woohoo, I'm lucky. ;)

I went to make him a Thank-You treat. We had gone to Costco and were woo-ed by the some ungodly pounds of strawberries. I thought, hmm, strawberry muffins? I had some bran, so planned on an oat-bran muffin, assembled all my ingredients, and got to work. Except...uh, no eggs. Sigh. I looked online for an egg-less muffin, found one, and got to work. Except...uh, no actual flour. Jeez. So I just looked in the pantry to see what I DID have. EEEK, not much. I had some silken-tofu, so I thought- strawberry cheesecake, but alas, no ingredients for crust. Turns out the ONLY THING I could make was a smoothie. Poor DH. This is sooo un Mary Jane. However, I do, at least, make a darn good smoothie:

about half a cup of peanut butter
roughly half a box of silken tofu
a few handfuls of sliced strawberries
a pour of soy milk
a pour of juice- I used apple
a scoop or two of flax meal
a dollop of honey

As you can tell, this is a very precise recipe. It sure is yummy, though. (As just an aside, I did run out to get eggs that evening- so he has muffins waiting for him when he came home. Stud-muffins. Har har.)

To compliment my mad kitchen skizzeels, I've been sewing/planning to sew some aprons lately. These two were made as gifts:

I didn't have a pattern to use, and just kinda winged it, but I think they turned out pretty well. I quilted one:
...and added ruffles to the other.

It was my first time doing ruffles, and well, I've practiced a lot since I finished this one. Oh well. Now I know.

And I found these beauties (cloth napkins) while thrift shopping: I went looking for pillowcases, which is just never really a fruitful hunt here. But these are fun, and about fifty cents each- I think they'll make adorable little aprons.

I especially like this one: It's so hideously 80's. I'm not going to keep it, so if anyone loves it as much as me, lemme know and it's yours.

We've also begun a Very Big Project here in our house. I wanna keep it secret until completed for the WOW factor...but here's a hint:
The person who guesses the room involved correctly first gets a homemade change/makeup/small-loose-items bag. I believe the blog is now set up so that anyone can comment (no account required) so don't be shy people!

Ain't too proud to beg.

2009-04-29T09:39:00.004-10:00

Ok, guys, just a quickie. I was hoping for a favor?! I've been really interested/slightly obsessed with pillowcase dresses/tunics (typically for little girls) lately. They are super easy to make, and really fun to customize. Thing is, they are supposed to be made out of old pillowcases- the more vintage in feel, the better. We live on a little island in the middle of nowhere and commodities such as neato vintage pillowcases are a tad scarce. In fact, they don't even need to be authentically 'old', just something different than the standard unadorned white case. So, if anyone was cleaning out the linen closet or making a trip over to goodwill (and happened to come across the bedding aisle) and found a neato pillowcase that they wanted to, ahem, donate, ahem, to...uh...,me, that would be soooo cooool. Any fabric design would be awesome, and I'd even send it back to you if you wanted- I just have fun making them. These also make really cute maternity tops...hint hint hint.
So I'll post something real a bit later- I just wanted to beg while the courage was fresh. Email me if interested in helpin' a sister out. ;) Love you guys!

A day in our life.

2009-04-27T20:43:00.006-10:00

Let me begin by asking everyone to take a moment of silence, and to send warm, healing thoughts to Percy. Percy (whom I have just now named) was burning up with a fever, and I feel he just gave up on this life. But we, I hope, caught this disease in time, as he is now lying in the hospital, where he will remain for two weeks getting treatment and transplants. Percy has been with me for a long time, and he is my very good friend, and without him, this blog wouldn't be possible. Yes, folks, Percy is my dear, dear Macbook Pro. His fan died, and he's been very sick, and I had no choice but to give him over to those who could take care of him better than myself. Did I mention he'd be away for two weeks?! Sigh.
So, I had some posts planned, but all my pics are held captive in the Mac store currently. I have a few current ones still stored on my camera though, so I thought I'd use them to give a pictorial of what an average day in the DoMESStic household is like (lately). Enjoy.

::Administrators note: please do not look too closely at the pictures. I edit almost every picture I ever post. These haven't been touched. They look like dookie, and I'm too lazy to do anything about it. Thank you for your understanding. ::

7am: Kenzi wakes up. She says/screams, "Mommy! Mommy! Moooooommmmmmyyyy!" Oh god. DH and I rock, paper, scissors it to see who'll be getting up. We take so long fighting over it that she falls back asleep. Phew- close one.
8:30am: Kenzi wakes up. Again. She says, "Mommmmmmyyyyy!" (I've really got to get her trained to ask/scream for her daddy). Hubby usually gets up- he keeps expecting me to, but ha. (He's got a lot to learn). I roll over to fall back asleep. I hear little footsteps. "Mommy, what doing?" "Sleeping." "Oh, I sleeping too!" "Great." "Mommy, what doing?" "...Sleeping." "Oh. .... But mommy- what doing?" Sigh. Now I'm awake. We all go downstairs.
8:30-around 10- Breakfast stuff. Hubby plops my coffee in front of me. It's like instinct. Nothing gets done in our house until Mommy gets her cup of coffee. Which is funny, 'cuz after I get it, I wait about an hour for it to 'cool off' before I drink it. Guess it's just psychological. Kenz feeds Ripley, the dog. There is a 50/50 chance she will dump the cup of food on the carpet. On purpose. If this happens, it will be a bad day. If mommy is making breakfast, it means some combination of waffles, pancakes, omelet, yogurt, and fruit. If daddy is making breakfast it means sharing a bowl of cereal. Daddy made breakfast this morning. The cereal had pumpkin seeds in it. I told Kenz she would grow pumpkins out of her belly. She grasped her belly in shock...

and began to scream....

I chuckled and grabbed my camera. World's Worst Mother {takes a bow}. You know, my dad tormented me relentlessly growing up, so A.) it's only fair that I get to dole it out some myself, and B.) it made me a much more cautious, empirical (right word?) person, and that's never a bad thing, eh? Haha, she hates the "I got your nose " game, too. No, really, you've got to try it!
10-1- We try to tire her out. This often involves a playdate- these days are lifesavers- or a trip to the beach with daddy, also a good time.
(This would be a good time to get some surfing in. But daddy took mommy's surf board out to play, and forgot to strap it on the roof as he drove to come home. Can you believe it made it alll the way across a four lane highway without hitting another car? Crazy. I'd post a picture of the damage on here, but that would involve me getting off my chair, finding my camera, walking to the garage, and taking the board down off the wall, and then making the return trip. Use your imagination on the damage.)

1-4- Hubby leaves for work. I then plead, coerce, threaten, cry, pray, bribe, etc etc etc MacKenzie to take a nap. Didn't I mention somewhere on here that we (the parents) always lose? Sometimes she will lay in bed for two hours singing songs and talking to herself, not crying, but definitely not sleeping. Soooometimes she'll sing herself to sleep and sleep an additional hour or so. Lately, that's just not been happening. This means I spend an afternoon/evening alone with a cranky, overtired little girl. Sometimes we'll go for a ride during this time. I'll often remember I need *insert random item as excuse to go to target here* so we go to Target. But when we pull into the parking lot, I find this: Great.

4-6:30- We come up with things to do. A new fave is making Cheerio jewelry. I have to say, this was a stroke of genius on my part. This gets us, like, a whole half hour of activity time!

We also put our peepee in the potty. This usually works better if little bit has some privacy. But if it gets quiet for more than three minutes or so, this is what you'll find:"I wipe my booty!!" uh...Yay..??

6:30-8- We eat dinner. Dinner could be something super fancy like a fake turkey sandwhich- ...or boxed pasta and corn on the cob. Seriously- I get so down sitting down to a nice dinner that I've made when it's just me and the little one.
me:"Kenzi, how's the citrus infused fish?"
her:"Yucky."
me:"Oh. Well, I think the coconut rice turned out really well tonight. Thoughts?"
her:"Yucky."
me: "I see. Do you have any suggestions for next time?"
her: "Make boxed pasta and throw in some string cheese."
Sometimes in this time slot we watch a movie. We like the Blue Planet/Planet Earth dvds, or March of the Penguins. By "we" I mean "me." Kenz likes Elmo Goes to Grouchland. Didn't take me long to decide that we'd never be watching that one ever again. Ugh. I swear, Elmo is brainwashing America's children. Why?! He's a furry little red dude that has an obnoxious laugh. What's The Big Deal? Sorry for the tangent...
Anyway, March of the Penguins is at least educational. See, it teaches young children how babies are born:

8-8:30- We take a bath. (Kenz gently reminds me to wash her "arm-pitty-bits"..and her "toe-sy bits". Uh, and her "ear-sy bits". And her..."hair." Sometimes she forgets to remind me to rinse her hair, though...) We read stories. We 'wrestle' our way into pjs...it's so much fun. Really. We feed her fish- whom she named- OgeeOgee. (Not, BTW, Ogee for short. It's gotta be OgeeOgee.) I put her in bed.
She makes sure she has her wubby, her pookie bear, her pookie bear's wubby, her mao-mao, her mao-mao's wubby, her monkey bear, her dukey dog, her medium-sized bear, and her blanket. And her another blanket. And her another another blanket. Uh, oh, now she's gotta pee. Ok, now kisses. And noseys. And cheeksies... But she needs milk! And it's too dark. Is the fan on? Both fans? .....GO TO SLEEP MACKENZIE!!!
8:30-10:30- She sings. I try to tune her out and pay attention to Edward.

getting all techie

2009-04-24T12:29:00.012-10:00

::So blogger lets you post videos. I (obviously) haven't tried it yet- so please let me know if these work! I don't want to keep dud videos on here wasting space.::

As many of you may know, my uber-talented hubby is not only a renowned polyglot (go ahead, look it up), an excellent daddy, and a super-duper cutie, but he can also sing his little heart out. He's not too bad on the gee-tar, either. We are SOO hoping that this musical ability has been passed on to the little bit, but the thing is, I'm around her much more. And I sing pretty much constantly. And it sounds like a bunch of hyenas with bowel issues. I have a song for everything, all made up and nonsensical, because I can't remember the words to real songs. In fact, hubby has actually requested that I don't sing so much (read: at all) around her, in case I may be contagious. Pa-shaw. I can't help it, I wouldn't stop anyway because it makes me happy, and besides, she doesn't seem to be toooo affected yet. 'Cuz she, too, can sing her little heart out! I think the first song she really learned was her ABC's- missing quite a few of the letters, of course. And from there her repertoire just exploded. Einsy weinsy spider, Baby Beluga, I love you, Wheels on the bus, Old MacDonald...and if she hears a song in the car that has a repeating chorus, she'll pick up on it and sing it by the third time around. (For those 'hipsters' out there, if you were to sing "Daddy tried to make me go to rehab, " she'd say, "no, no, no!" ) It really seems to be her thing. Here she is remixing the Elmo song- this was about a month ago, so she's definitely shown improvement since, but still pretty impressive, I think:

Here is an older version of her abc's and wheels on the bus. Be sure to watch it to the end, it's hilarious (but I guess I'm biased). And I apologize for the shoddy camera work...

And a more current version, complete with guitar accompaniment. She's usually much less like a stoned zombie, I promise...

So, like I said, if she has talent (we can't really tell yet, as the screechy-baby voice is kinda hard to get past) she'd have come by it naturally from her daddy...

::: Ok, so there used to be a video here of hubby singing and playing a song.
I warned you guys it wouldn't be here long. Well, he made me take it off.
Grrrrrrrr. He said he'd 'let me' put up another one sometime
but I'm not going to hold my breath. Can you tell I'm a bit peeved?
This is all I will say on the matter.:::

procrastination

2009-04-23T16:24:00.010-10:00

It's amazing the things you can find on the internet if you're avoiding actual work. Not that blogging is work, really. It just requires me to use a bit of my brains, and as I've been proactively turning my brains to mush, it takes a bit of effort to come out of my haze to type coherent sentences. But back to my internet procrastination... Like, for instance, did you know you could take a quiz to find out if you're the Messiah? Find that here: http://community.sparknotes.com/messiah/ Or, did you know that you could play with a virtual tarantula (but unfortunately, never succeed in killing it...)? http://www.onemotion.com/flash/spider/ And, you know what else? You can buy fabric online! Oh, dear, I just never knew.... The internet truly is a marvelous place. I should really be cut off...
A brief explanation: DH is on the nightshift. Sort of. There's a new teacher on board where he works, and he's "training" her- which means his 7am-5pm day has turned into a 2pm-1am-ish day, leaving miss MacKenzie all to myself. For a veerrry long stretch of the day. Without someone to keep her from the kitchen while I cook dinner (so I've stopped cooking 'dinner') or someone to give her baths at night (so I've 'learned' how to clean my own child) or someone to watch her while I go upstairs and scream into a pillow (so I tie her to the kitchen table)... ok, not really on that last one. Sigh, this schedule does make for a long day for me, though, and at the end of it, I just feel like shutting off. Either watching tv (mindless HGTV), plopping down in front of the sewing machine to do (again, mindless) quilt piecing, or wasting time playing with virtual (mindless..see the pattern?) tarantulas.
And then, there's Edward. I needed someone to cuddle up and fall asleep next to, now that my beloved hubby has left me each and every night. Everyone's been recommending Edward to me, but I just didn't listen until recently, and now- well, guys, you can't have him back. He's mine and I'm lonely and I deserve him. (For those of you totally confused right now, I'm referring to Edward the erm, vampire, of the Twilight Series fame. It's kinda lame writing. It's a kinda lame premise. It's juvenile literature- literally. But you won't be able to put it down and yes, I'm a little ashamed to be so hooked, but there you have it...)
So, as you can see, between (my) Edward, HGTV, tarantulas, and sewing, I've just been swamped. ;)
I have been productive in my mindlessness, at least. A few ladies in the mommy-group are expecting their second child(ren) soon, and there was a triple baby shower thrown in their honor. I made a set of burp clothes/nursing covers for each of them:

A green set for the one boy, and pink for one girl, purple for the other.

I added taggies cuz well, they're cool.

The cream fabric is an ultrasoft, undyed organic cotton- that side down is for nursing, facing up is for burping.

Here I am 'nursing' Pookie bear. Hey, he was handy.

I did place an order for fabric online- after hours of 'window shopping'. Here's what I got:The owl fabric on the far right is for curtains for Kenzi's room, the lemon is destined for kitchen curtains, the japanese leaf fabric will become some clothing and bags, I believe, the navy net fabric will be a border for a log-cabin pattern quilt top, and the fabric on the far left I've used to recover two of my dining room chairs:

I've also made a monk bag using some leftover fabric from Hubby's 30th b-day quilt:...And a book sling- it's like a book shelf, hung on rods. This one is for my sewing room, which has a nautical "theme."
Lastly, I'm working on two quilts- both are surprises, though, so I won't add pics. I will say that one needs to be done, like, nowish, and the other, while I have a bit of time to finish it, is NOT the type of project for my currently mushy brain, as it's the hardest quilt I've attempted yet. Wish me luck!

Ok, so it wasn't the plan to bogart this post with my sewing stuff, but now that I have, I'm thinking adding any more content would be overkill. So, stay tuned for:
What hubby, munchkin, and I do in the mornings since he's now home...
Our new babies: tomatoes, peppers, beans, carrots...
Our musical family. (Excluding myself, of course. I'm on crew. And occasionally cowbell.)...

Happy Easter, everyone!

2009-04-12T11:46:00.007-10:00

Happy Easter. Ok, I know it's not Easter anymore, but when I started writing this, it was. Really! I just got kinda busy. Or lazy? Both, I suppose.
I loved Easter growing up. My mama always did a great job with our baskets- unique gifts and special treats instead of three pounds of chocolate and assorted marshmallow animals. Although we got some candy, too. And, as we were allowed candy at Halloween, Christmas, and Easter only, trust me, this was a big deal. I hope that MacKenzie gets a kick out of this special day throughout her childhood, as well. I think we're on our way to ensuring this.
This was the first year she really understood that something different was going on. We had a week of Spring time events leading up to Sunday, and she had a lot of practice hunting for eggs before the big day. At a playdate, she dyed eggs for the first time. She really got into it, although she thought she was making soup.

She also thought she could eat un-peeled hard boiled eggs just like peeled ones. Bit right into one. Uck!
I'm also very proud to say that she didn't know what the heck was inside her plastic eggs once found. They were filled with little candies, but she hasn't (hadn't) experienced small candy before (yes, we're Nazis at this house), so to her, it was just shiny stuff that rattled inside the eggs. Fun! Notice I said she hadn't known about candy...

For her real-deal Easter Morning egg hunt, I did fill one egg with a Hershey's kiss. The rest were filled with fruit chews, goldfish crackers, and hair do-dads. She opened the one with the kiss, got really excited (I think because we were "oooohhhh"ing so much) and said, "oooh, wow! It's, um, it's a...it's a Brown!!!" (It was a caramel kiss- brown wrapper.) Priceless. She figured out the wrapper pretty quickly though, so now she knows all about the shiny things inside eggs. Sigh, it was good while it lasted. But that one kiss, plus an Easter ice cream, turned our little Princess into a crazy crazy monster! It's amazing how much sugar affects little bodies- she really looked like she was on drugs.
The saturday before Easter there was a little festival at a beach park down the street from us. Where we live, we can walk (about 15 mins) to a small, decent beach, or we can take a ten minute bike ride to a really nice beach park. This park was having an event, and we rode our bikes over for the day. I love where we live on the Island, cuz it's a lot more "local." This side feels different from the Mainland, which is how I think Hawaii should be. For instance, at the festival, we were perhaps one of three white families there. Out of hundreds of people. That ratio seems a bit more appropriate to me. And one thing about holidays on island- they go ALL OUT!! A huge stage set up, with music all day, thousands of eggs in the Easter egg hunt, lots of rides and bouncey houses, and fireworks! Because no Easter celebration is complete without fireworks, right? Ha, it was so much fun. We actually watched the fireworks from our backyard (it was getting pretty dark to be biking home.) Oh, it's a good life.

So part of the reason for the delay in my blogging has been my increased sewing. I've been doing a lot of projects, which I will share in another posting (I can already sense the eyes glazing over now- best to do it in small doses..) but one current-theme-appropriate project I completed was a bunny-ear headband for MacKenzie. I was cutting fabric for another project and had these scraps left over in the exact shape of a bunny ear. How could I resist? I whipped these up using some other leftover fabric from my neice's baby quilt, and the ears were born. I loved them. MacKenzie did not. In fact, she kinda refused to wear them. It cooooould have had something to do with the fact that they were slightly too small, or that the ears kept (constantly) dangling in her face, but I'm leaning more towards that she just wanted to be spiteful. Really...you don't know her like I do....

Get in my belly!

2009-04-08T20:14:00.013-10:00

For a skinny b*#%h, I really love to eat. Like, really. Snacks before dinner. Seconds of dinner. Dessert. And then the second dessert that I sneak after hubby goes upstairs to shower. "Hmm? What cookie crumbs? Honey, I really think your age is starting to affect you.." I've already opened the one bag of Easter candy we got to put in plastic eggs. I'm an addict. Luckly, I also really enjoy (now that I know how) to cook. For one thing, it's the one time during the day that I get to myself. No little monkeys or monkey daddies in the kitchen while Mommy is cooking. Do not test me. ;) Also, sometimes I cook with wine. Like, in the sauce. Like a glass full, right? I mean, it's in the recipe...
I also enjoy taking pictures. I'm really inexperienced, and have never really taken the time to sit down with my camera and figure it all out. But it still makes me happy. So I like to cook, put wine "in my sauce", and take pictures of dinner. Kenz is going to grow up thinking that before any meal is served, it must be properly photographed. It's like saying Grace in our house. Anyway, I've collected some foody shots and thought I'd share them, as well as brief recipe descriptions, with you guys. And no, I'm totally not eating cookies as I write this. They have lemon in them, so I'm counting it as a serving of fruit. Several servings.

Cheesy Polenta Sausage Bake
Ingredients:Packaged polenta, sliced
sausage, I use vegetarian, italian style
one green pepper
onion
handful grape tomatoes
mozzerella cheese
vodka sauce
olive oil
fresh basilSlice polenta, dice half the onion, shred the basil and put in baking dish, drizzle with olive oil. Broil on high, until onions look brown on edges.

Meanwhile, add sliced sausage and the other half of onion, roughly chopped, to skillet. Cook until cripsy brown, adding diced pepper toward the end.

Add sausage mix to polenta, slice tomatoes, and pour about half a jar of vodka sauce over. Top with mozzerella cheese (mmm, use plenty!) and bake, at 375, until cheese is bubbly.

Top with fresh basil, and invite me to dinner.

The next dish is a Barefoot Contessa recipe. I think it's meant to be a side, but it has all the dietary needs of an entree, so we eat it as such. And it's so pretty.

Lemon Orzo with Roasted Vegetables and Feta
Ingredients:
Orzo
Feta, cubed
two non-green bell peppers, roughly chopped
two japanese eggplants, roughly chopped
red onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced
pine nuts
fresh herbs, chopped
additional fresh basil, shredded
lemons
olive oil
Add all veggies, garlic, herbs, and olive oil to roasting pan. Roast at 425 for 40 mins.
Meanwhile, cook orzo- al dente.
Combine orzo and roasted veggies in bowl, making sure to get all the gooey brown pan-leavings.
Add juice from two lemons, fresh basil, salt, pepper, toasted pine nuts, and cubed feta cheese.

I guess I forgot to say grace that night, as I don't have a picture of this plated- but I put fresh rosemary sprigs on top and lemon wedges to the side. It's a good spring/summer dish and I believe we ate this with sangria.
Lastly, what we had for dinner tonight:

I don't actually have a recipe for this, nor preparation pics, but it's pretty self explanatory. Broiled Ono (fish) fillets, on greens, with a sauce of lime, teriyaki, a touch of beer (really, just for the sauce!), some chinese 5-spice, and salt/pepper. I cooked this with mushrooms and added mandarin oranges in the pan towards the end. The side is wild rice Inari (stuffed sweet tofu skin.) The fish was a tad overcooked, to be honest, but eating it with the sauce and juicy oranges made it ok. The preperation was a definite keeper, though it was originally supposed to be Ahi, and I should've stuck to the plan.

And for those of you who skipped all the food mumbo-jumbo looking for that picture of MacKenzie, here it is. This is what I do to little girls who come into the kitchen while I am cooking.......

New toys and boo boos.

2009-04-07T11:02:00.006-10:00

All the kids around here have Ripsticks. For those of you not in-the-know, a Ripstick is a skate-board, that flexes in the middle, with only two wheels. It's a lot of fun, an excellent workout, and tricky as heck. Hubby had to have one.
Said Ripstick arrived in the mail a few weeks ago (2? I dunno..) He uses it to walk the dog. To get the mail. To race with the girl (age 6) across the street. He loves his new toy. He had a friend over the other day to try new tricks. I was pretty impressed:

(Btw, the pants he is wearing are called Thai pants- styled after Thai fishermen's. We own many pairs, and they are one-size-fit-all. Highly recommend. Although I had a neighbor ask if we were from Africa the other day. "Um, no, the East Coast. Why?" "Oh, I just wondered because of those pants you guys always wear.." Ha. )

Here's his friend trying. He totally has shoulders. Girls, enlarge the pic.

Kenzi got in on the action, too:

And, then, last night, the inevitable happened. A wipe-out. I'm kinda bummed I wasn't there to see it happen (does that make me a bad person?) but he came home looking like this:

It actually looks worse in person. Without going into too much gory detail, I'll just say there were rocks and tweezers- I love playing nurse :) Enjoy your next meal, everyone!

Why I shouldn't bother.

2009-04-07T10:23:00.004-10:00

I know I kinda gave the impression in my last post that I was not successful in getting any cleaning done. This is a half-truth- I got most of it taken care of, in about triple the time it should've taken. Is that a success? You tell me.. But, the place looked better yesterday, anyhow. However, this is what I faced as I was heading to bed last night:

And this:
This is why I should just give up.

I should be cleaning.

2009-04-06T11:33:00.003-10:00

I stayed home from a planned park playdate today to clean my house. This is pretty major for me- if I actually make plans to clean, you know that means the place is filthy. I'd take pictures, but I'm too embarrassed. Thing is, keeping Kenzi home all day is NOT conducive to a clean house. Because it means she needs to play, inside, with all her toys, in every room, at the same time. So as I clean my kitchen, she is busy destroying the laundry room, which I then tackle next, as she goes upstairs and tucks all her dolls into our bed, leaving a trail of their clothes in the hallway. Sigh. She is taking a nap now, which means uninterrupted work-time for me, and what am I doing? Eating frozen lasagna and typing to you lovely people.
So it goes.
Happy Monday to all. Hope everyone is well-rested, and had a wonderful weekend. Ours was mixed. Here are several things we did not do over the weekend:

Go surfing. DH finally gets cleared for going in the water again, and the waves are flat!!! Oh, the irony. And my poor hubby.
Clean the house. Pretty much all weekend, nothing. Eh.
Go pee-pee in our panties. That's right, everyone, not only did hubby and I stay dry (I know, sniffle, we're all growed-up) but the little one had a dry pull-up even overnight! She even came to get us from the back kids-room at a birthday party! Where Happy Feet was playing, no less. She still has accidents, but she totally gets it now.
say "no" to that second Lemon Drop Martini at afore mentioned party. MMM. I had no idea.

And here's what we did do over the weekend:

Spend $100 on macaroni and cheese. Ok, not exactly, but we went to Target to get ingredients for mac and cheese to bring to the b-day party, and left a hundred dollars poorer. I can't even recall what we got now that was so expensive- I have a hunch it was something we didn't need, though...
Sing until we were hoarse. Karaoke!! Ooh, it was fun fun fun. Kenzi even enjoyed it, singing her ABC's and Happy Birthday. I think a video was taken, I just need to get it sent to me to post.
Clean up after some jerk-faces. We had a wonderful picnic Sunday evening, at a local beach, watching the sun set (and storm clouds roll in). Another family was near us, and as they left, we noticed a mound of trash they had left behind. We're talking dirty diapers, empty beer cans, the works. It was so disheartening. Hubby came up with a good bumper sticker, though: "Life's a beach- just keep your trash off mine." I'd put it on my car.

I don't really have any pertinent images to post right now- my camera is in Hubby's car. I think I can edit this and add them in later, though. So check back. Until then, here's MacKenzie blowing bubbles. Literally.

Spring.

2009-04-03T09:55:00.013-10:00

I awoke this morning to the sounds of our many many birds who live in the mountains facing our house. They tweet and sing away constantly, but this morning was different. I suppose it's springtime here in Hawaii. The morning 'chill' has lessened, the grass is seeding, and the birds are looking for some action. Loudly. It wasn't a bad alarm clock- if I had wanted to get up at, say, 7am.
I have to say, although I LOVE Hawaii, I miss the seasons of the east coast. I almost ache for my garden back home in Maryland this time of year. Every day, something new would pop up out of the ground. My tulips lining the path would be in bloom. The forsythia would be going insane. And our pear trees....oh, I miss them in all their stinky glory. But we have some pretty major flowers here, too. And since I plant a lot of seeds, I still have the joy of watching my babies grow up. In honor of springtime, and because I still feel icky and want the morale boost, I'm sharing some photos of my favorite flowers we have here in the garden. Or at least the ones I could take a decent picture of.

A terrestrial orchid.

I'm not sure the name of this one- it's a hanging plant, outside of Kenz's playhouse.

MacKenzie's birthday lemon tree. These blooms smell like love. Wrapped in Heaven.

Our snowy-white hibiscus. I don't see many of these around here.

Another hibiscus bloom- just opening.

Called a "coral tree." One of our centerpiece plants.

Some kind of iris. It's a teeny bloom- so delicate and perfect.

This flowers abundantly with perfect purple stars.

This lantana is taking over our front bed, which we love. The baby blooms look like little butterflies, and fittingly, the butterflies love this plant.

Not all of our gardening is for decorative purposes. We do try to keep some edibles and shade plants around. But I'll write about our practical plantings another time.
And for those of you who don't give a darn about my flowers, and simply want more pics of MacKenzie (sheesh!) here's a good one of my little helper:

Copping out.

2009-04-02T20:42:00.008-10:00

I feel like dookie. I have all day. Not sure what's up, but it's not fun.
I ate fruit chews for dinner. Eh.
Hubby said, "what, no blog today?" Hmm. Maybe? I have some photos I can post...I'm not really up for much more than that. It's hard to be cute and witty when you feel like dookie.

So here are some random Kenz pics for your viewing pleasure.
A quick tech note- any of the pictures can be viewed larger by clicking on the image.

Yes, I'm proud, and yes, this will come back to bite me in the a$$ when she's a teenager. I don't care.

I've been carefully cultivating a love of household chores.

Kenzi is covered in chalk, not dirt. Ok, maybe chalk and dirt. A group of kids like to come and play with her- this is after they did her "makeup." They're fun kids. The cone is not ours.

I'm an overprotective mother and playground behavior scares the poopie out of me. But, no knocked out teeth yet.

I don't even know.

A FOOL in love.

2009-04-01T14:02:00.000-10:00

Happy April Fools day, everyone!
This day is super-special in our house. Many of you will know this story already, but it's so nice for me to re-live, that I'm going to post it anyway.

Many years ago there were two friends. They liked to climb together, and went to the same climbing gym. The boy thought the girl was cute and silly, but she was fresh out of a relationship, and kinda young. The girl thought the boy was buff (*blush*) and intelligent, but she was fresh out of a relationship, and he was kinda old(er). So they stayed friends, and safely held each other up high while climbing, learning to trust each other and admire the buff muscles of the boy (*blush*).
April Fool's day came around and the girl wanted to play a trick on her dad. Growing up, he was the undisputed King of pranks. She wanted something major.

The girl asked the boy if he would like to go down to meet her dad (first time ever), and announce that they had gotten married and were soon moving to Hong Kong. The boy said "yes" (!!!!!). The boy took the girl to a mall and bought her a wedding band (his idea). They went down to the bar where the girl's dad was with his girlfriend. They made their announcement. The rings and the boy's ridiculous knack for acting (ahem, lying) sold it and the girl's dad believed them. I won't go into too much detail here, but I think some teary-eyes were involved- rounds of drinks were bought (all of the girl's dad's friends were there and offered congratulations)- and "welcome to the family" was said. Remember, the girl's dad had never before met the boy. He showed so. much. class. that day. The boy and the girl didn't fess up until the next day (the news was unintionally spread to the girl's sister, who threatened to disown the girl). It was epic. And rather romantic. See, to really sell the story, the boy and the girl had to pretend to be in love. They held hands. They had their first kiss. It was so warm, and comfortable, and real-feeling. And they knew they were no longer "just friends."

And the rest is history.
Can we have a collective "awwwww"?

Studmuffin, I love you. You really are my superman, and I am so lucky to have this life with you. Thank you.

And I went to Art School!!??!

2009-03-31T21:13:00.000-10:00

I realize so far I've been quite biased with the topics I've chosen to blog about. They may have included a minor mishap or two, but all in all, they've been subjects I've been proud to share. It's nice to show off, but only showing my triumphs doesn't live up to my name of Mrs. DoMESStic, nor is it an accurate representation of my daily life.
But the following is...

Kenz and I spend a lot of time together, as many of you know. I'm a SAHM, she's an only child, I am truly her best friend. But it means a lot of two-year old style playing. And sometimes, truthfully, it bores me. So everyday we at least do something artsy, art being what I actually enjoy doing. It's mostly little coloring projects, but the other day I wanted to try something a little different.

I remembered doing paper mache in art class over a balloon. I didn't have any balloons in the house, so I chose two small containers (a small cake pan and an empty feta container). My planned project was to make little baskets which, once dry, we'd decorate for Easter and put eggs in and I'd be super-mommy and life would rock. So I mixed equal parts flour and water (a good way to get rid of all that white flour I had gotten for an ancient baking venture), cut up some newspaper into strips, and into the yard we went.

Kenzi loved it. Well, she loved playing with the goo anyway. Which was fine. She'd coat herself, hold her hands up, and say "Montsa! I monsta! Grrroowww" A very scary monster indeed. So I paper mache'd (sp?) while she pretended and it was a pleasant afternoon.

I set our/my finished 'baskets' on the front porch to dry, we took baths, and waited until the next day to complete phase two: decoration.

You remember the mention of using a balloon in class before? Well, turns out, that was because you could pop it, and then remove it, leaving only the hardened form behind. It also turns out, that it's rather hard to pop a metal cake pan. Same goes for the feta container.

Who'da thunk it? (Please refrain from answering this.) The feta-mold came off in chunks, while the cake pan had to be soaked overnight.
(At least it could be composted?...)

Sigh. I guess I should just stick to drawing circles with crayons for awhile....

Worm's meat?

2009-03-30T13:38:00.000-10:00

Ok. I know it's a gross title. It's kinda a gross subject. And definitely some 'yucky' pics. But it's all for a good cause. Healthier self, healthier plants, healthier ocean, healthier planet. That's right, kids, we're talking about compost.

I'm new to the compost scene, and am in no way as experienced or informed as pretty much anyone else who has a bin in their backyard. So this is a way for you to track my experimentation in turning leftovers, yard waste, and cardboard into what they call in the gardening community "black-gold."
As soon as we saw this house, with its postage stamp plot of land (hard to find/afford in Hawaii!!), I knew I wanted a little vegetable and herb garden, and a compost bin. But we have a lot of landscaping work left to do, plus the addition of a deck over our back slope, so I couldn't really put in anything permanent yet. I've, therefore, started my composting in a plastic trash can. Good compost needs plenty of air flow, so I drilled a ton of holes in the sides of the bin and simply started dumping kitchen scraps in. Not the best idea. Only adding kitchen waste means lots of bugs, and a bit of a smell. Compost done right smells yummy- like sweet earth- and should be mostly free of swarming bugs. My initial attempt was not done right. It didn't stink, per se, but I wouldn't have recommended a good inhalation over the bin, either. And the bugs were EVERYWHERE. Ugh!!!
So I actually read about composting (brilliant, huh?) and found out that I was doing pretty much nothing right. After adding layers of "dry" waste (soaked shredded paper and cardboard, dry grass clippings, dead leaves) the bugs started thinning out, and the mixture started to heat up- the process necessary for the composting to "work". And it is working! I get far too excited when it's time to go 'churn' my bin. I love knowing that I can no longer see certain things I've added, as they've turned into blackness. We add all kinds of things- fruits and veggies, of course, but more unusual additions as well- egg shells, coffee grounds, dryer lint (free of fabric softeners) and it's all slowly losing it's original form.

One new addition to the pile is grubs. We'll say grubs because I can't bear to think of the pile swarming with maggots. From what I've read, as the pile grows, heats up, and balances even more, these should thin out. But while they are there, they are beneficial to the compost, churning it, eating it, and pooping out super-rich grub poop. But no matter how good the little buggers may be, it still really freaks me out. And knowing that soon I'll need to actually handle that dirt they're living and pooping in gets me a bit squeamish. True gardeners suggest to pick them out to feed them to birds and fish. Hmm. Maybe that'll be a chore for hubby.
But I can't be Earth-Mother without holding a few...erm...grubs... right?

The first batch of usable compost should be able to be sifted out in about two weeks. I'll keep you guys informed (I'm sure you're beside yourselves with anticipation!)

Where Daddy go?

2009-03-29T20:29:00.001-10:00

So as I was taking a break from ~~typing away on my computer~~ being really productive and cleaning my window screens during Kenz's naptime, I realized I hadn't heard from DH in awhile. I called out for him, looking around, not finding him. This was odd as he's 'suffering' from a cold and not really in an active state. I retraced my search route, finding a strange lump on the couch:

Silly boy. The snoring was apparently muffled by the quilt (which, since you asked, is my very first quilt ever made!!). And a sneak peak underneath:

Please note, the super hip shades are worn because of his recent eye surgery, and not because he's a mega-fan of Corey Hart. Aww, he's still sexy (my hubby, not Corey Hart. I don't know what Corey Hart looks like).
Random useless fact: The song Sunglasses at Night was originally written about a "totalitarian society that made everyone wear their sunglasses at night". Deep.

She's not my child.

2009-03-29T12:54:00.000-10:00

We eat curry about once a week here. Hubby and I both love it- and it has so many variations that we never tire of it. Indian curries, with lentils and cauliflower, Thai curries with rich coconut milk, even the occasional Chinese curry. Throw some veggies together, add a protein, choose a spice-profile, and simmer away. So when a mommy-friend recently posted a Shrimp and Pineapple Curry recipe online I knew it was for us. Let me just say, I didn't just eat seconds, I ate THIRDS! It was sweet, slightly spicy, creamy (ie fattening), and delish....

Thanks Amanda!!!

(BTW, the thai basil and cilantro topping the dish came from my very own herb garden. I'm inordinately proud of this small garden...)
Here's a quickie recipe (adjusted a tad from original):

one can coconut cream
1/2 a fresh pineapple
one green pepper, roughly chopped and seeded
2 tomatoes, chopped and seeded
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
3 sliced garlic cloves
2 tbsp red curry paste
2 tbsp fish sauce
three spoons of honey
hot chili-infused sesame oil (to taste)
12 oz shrimp
cilantro/basil for garnish
brown or jasmine rice

Put all ingredients but tomato and shrimp in large skillet or wok, heat until sauce thickens a bit and veggies are tender- if pepper is getting too cooked, add flour (try soy flour!) to thicken sauce sooner. Add shrimp and tomatoes- cook until shrimp are no longer translucent. Serve over rice with cilantro/basil.

We were sitting down at the dinner table to this amazing dish, when Kenz caught sight of her portion. She made this face:

What?! You crazy child, this is the most delicious thing your Mommy has made in weeks, and you turn your nose up at it? I tell you, she's not mine! No child of mine would refuse curry... I noticed when taking above picture that I had forgotten to change the camera settings, so it was blurry. I asked Kenzi to make her sad face again. Here's what she gave me:

"Kenzi, is that your sad face?" "Yea...so sad."
I think she wound up eating one bite of rice and a string cheese for dinner. We battled. Mom and Dad lost. (We always lose....)

Love affair with grain.

2009-03-29T10:04:00.000-10:00

Sunday mornings are pancakes at our house. A note on my pancakes: most people would not recognize them as "pancakes." They are ugly. Really ugly....

But this is one of those times when you should not judge a book by it's lumpy, brown mottled cover. 'Cuz these babies rock. I think the secret to my success is my holy trinity of grain. On my counter, and scooped into almost everything I cook/serve, are canisters of ground flax meal (omega-3s), wheat germ (protein, potassium, iron, and vitamin E), and soy flour (protein).

Please note: in above picture, absolutely no photoshopping was done to remove dirt from countertop. Because that would be super-lame. Really, what kind of a person would do that?...

Kenzi and I don't eat red meat or poultry, so it's important to add protein sources and omega-3s to our diets. An easy and delicious way to add these grains? Scoop into yogurt. So yummy! You can even thicken sauces with the soy flour. Anywho, today I added Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips to the batter as a special treat. The last time I did this was for Kenz's birthday (Feb 10)- as I served her pancake this morning she started singing "Happy Birthday." She cracks me up!! We thought about explaining that it wasn't her b-day, but eh, why spoil her good mood? We all joined in and had MacKenzie's second 2nd birthday today. No presents necessary.

Everyone else is doing it...

2009-03-28T18:33:00.000-10:00

Haha, well. Here's my blog. Why should you read it? Your guess is as good as mine ;) If you're family, you'll likely be checking every-so-often for new pictures of MacKenzie, and hoping that I update here more frequently than my flickr page. Hopefully, you'll find some satisfaction. I'm new to this, though, so no guarantees. If you're a friend, you'll probably be checking up on me- to make sure that the last conversation we had (in which I mentioned that river I'd soon be visiting with my daughter) did not indeed become reality. I love my lil pumkin- she is just sometimes sixteen and a half handfuls. And I'm sure some of her finer moments will find their way to this page. And if you don't know me- stay tuned. My daily life is constantly changing/improving(?)/improvising and some of it is pretty humorous.
A little bit of history. In terms of being domestic, this is a very new frontier. I hate to admit it, but I was a spoiled child, and didn't do much for myself. I remember leaving for college, not really knowing how to do my own laundry, throwing away a shirt if it lost a button, and burning boxed macaroni and cheese. In the microwave. (Apparently I needed to add water...) I met my now-husband, and all we cared about was having fun- we climbed mountains and went on camping trips and hung out in pjs with lots and lots of take-out. His house was much much cleaner before I moved in. I began learning to cook, and had a few specialties, but we still ate out several times a week. And then, as we were comfortable and happy in our messy-packaged food bliss, along came MacKenzie. And our world changed.
I always wanted to be the earth-mother type. Cloth-diapering, making my own baby food, nothing processed/dyed/dead/wrapped in plastic would ever enter our home. This was my dream as I sat in Starbucks with my triple shot soy latte, thinking about ten years from then when I'd maybe sorta be ready to think about having a child. Hahaha. Fat chance. I'm proud of the challenges I've taken on and conquered in my mothering, but I've had many many defeats as well. And I'm okay with that now. But I do make dinner for our family, and we use a lot of natural products, we recycle, compost, are conscientious about our carbon footprint, and have a little vegetable garden out back (more on these topics later..), and my hubby and I shower together to "save water." ::wink wink::

And Kenzi eats a lot of boxed mac and cheese. Sigh, oh well.

So that's basically it. My domestic life now revolves around a phrase my hubby and I coined- WWmJD? "What Would Mary Jane Do?" Mary Jane, hubby's step-mom, my mother-in-law, World's Best at Pretty Much Everything. A lot of my homemaking advice/tips/goals come from her (and Better Homes and Gardens) and I'm sure I'll reference them from time to time.

Check back for more posts (with a lot less words and more pics of the pumpkin-head, don't worry!)