Exhaused.

I don't quite know how my eight year old daughter did it. Two Nutcracker shows yesterday and one today - she's beat, and so am I. The show was beautiful - the community really puts on a wonderful ballet performance.

I know this won't make sense to most of you, but to me it's a pretty big deal. The last two years I've helped as a seamstress. The first year I was given a couple of 'routine' assignments. This year, I made Drosselmeyer a new cape.

This afternoon I was propositioned. Would I be interested in making Mother Ginger a new dress in exchange for no fees for next year's Nutcracker?

That's a lot to think about!

...

I am so thankful. So, so thankful.

Today's meal went off without a hitch.

And the brine? Totally worth it.

I overheard my MIL ask my husband, "Now, exactly what did she do? That's the most moist turkey I've ever had."

High praise indeed.

Now... Off to whip the cream. It's Pie Time.

...

Planning day

Today:
Bake sweet potatoes
Bake Pumpkin Pie
Brine Turkey
Clean house
Pick BIL up from the airport

Thanks for the suggestions on brine. I ended up tweaking Pioneer Woman's recipe - as I didn't have a couple of the things on hand, but it sure did make my house smell good.

Unfortunately I had to recreate my Thanksgiving Weekend rubric - I think it's floating around the grocery store somewhere. Fortunately, because in doing it I remembered a couple of things I'd forgotten.

I also made up a timeline tomorrow so we can eat around 2.

The only thing left is a trip to the liquor store.

...

What I should be doing

Right now, I should be cleaning out the fridge and getting my Thanksgiving Grocery List ready for this afternoon.

Instead I'm surfing my archives and felting two sweaters I found at the Goodwill.

Yes, the Goodwill.

I haven't been there for awhile, but thought I'd take the Toddler in and look around a bit. Truth be told, I'm looking for a couple serving dishes for Thanksgiving dinner. Nothing I desperately need, but it's fun to look.

Instead, I found two sweaters. And since today was Green Tag Thursday, anything with a green tag was $1.49. So for the grand total of $7.49 I brought these two lovelies home:

Brand names too: one's a Banana Republic, the other Old Navy. And as wonderfully Momish as they are, they're not going to be worn as sweaters. I'm felting them so they may be mittens. Just put them in the dryer, and they're coming along nicely.

In other unfinished projects... Remember this quilt?
The backing for it has kept me up at night. No, I'm not kidding. I bought backing, but underestimated how big it would be once I put the borders on it. I'm all for cutting it as close as I can, but I still couldn't make it work. So after about three days of sifting through my stash during the day, and gnashing my teeth at night, I came up with a solution:


So it will be a two sided quilt. It's basted and I started the quilting. Now, all I need is a day free and clear to finish it up.

First, though, about that grocery list...

Turkey Talk II

Wondering if anyone out there has brined a turkey. Is it worth it?

Turkey Talk

We're staying home for Thanksgiving again this year.

I'm hoping to replicate this from last year:

Since the bird is smaller, and we're eating later, I don't have to start the charcoal until 8:30 am.

Nothing to see here... Just keep moving...

Quilt top done

Now, to figure out the backing situation...

Doing NaBloPoMo this year has made me feel like a terribly uninteresting person.

Nothing new to report.

...

Dear Jane

I've noticed that many of my quilt tops are rather "quick" - meaning I can sew them in a day. Or cut the fabric and sew them in a day.

My 2009 quilting goal is the Dear Jane Quilt.

Two Hundred Twenty-Five Patterns.

Ambitious, I know. It would be my first, and probably only, hand-sewn quilt. But I'm thinking it would be a fantastic finished project.

Now, to finish up a 'sold' project so I can buy the book and templates...

...

Sunday

This NaBloPoMo thing is leaving me at a loss for words.

Today: hockey, dance, girl scouts.

That's about it.

Not much to report, I'm suffering from a case of Brown Bottle Flu.

Hopefully all will be right again tomorrow.

Here's to an early night tonight.

...

All is right in my world.

The dining room is finished.

The house is restored to its more normal state. (Don't get me started on the mess I made in order to paint the dining room.)

My husband is home.

My kids are in bed.

I'll leave it at that.

Have a great night.

...

Very nearly done

I am woman, hear me roar.

After re-orienting the table and hutch, I am much more pleased with the layout.

I still need to sew and hang the curtains, and hang one more framed thing, but that really shouldn't take too long.



And I decided that I dislike the color of the light fixture.


So I'm going to paint it black. I started, and really like it. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it is nearly the same color as the wall - no 'pop' at all.

...

Now, all I have to do is figure out where I'm going to put all the crap I pulled out of there.

...

I struggle with 'warm and homey' verus 'messy and disorganized.' Our house should look like someone lives here, but I need some sense of order. Some. Not much. My latest and greatest plan? Take one measly hour a day and tackle one room. Work for one hour - clean out the laundry room, hit a couple cabinets in the kitchen, sort out the family room toys. Not big, massive projects - but just enough to keep chaos from tightening her grip. Set the timer and go.

One hour shouldn't interfere too much with my sewing/volunteering schedule.

Too much.

...

Happy Hump Day!

...

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

The dreaded dining room. I've written about this before.


I am tired of the first thing people see when they walk in our house is one (or more) of my crafting messes.


Though I have to wonder... Have I bitten off more than I can chew?




...

Today is Veteran's Day.

This morning when I couldn't sleep, I googled and found Quilts of Valor. They are quilts donated to injured servicemembers and veterans of the war on terror.

I can't help but think I need to do one. Or more.


Al Lind, WWII veteran, German POW for 2 years and maker of 110 quilts of valor.

...

What have we done...

Considering it's practically a religion around here:



(Click on the picture to see the whole thing)


The Boy is signed up for "Pre-Mite" Hockey. His first practice was yesterday afternoon. Yes, on a Sunday.

I told you it was like a religion.

...

Silk - the gift that keeps on giving.

I'm kind of at a loss today.

It's our anniversary.

I've written about it before, but nothing's coming to me today.

Perhaps we skipped over the seven year itch and landed straight in the twelve year apathy? I mean, the "Silk" anniversary? Does anyone even follow the traditional gifts anymore?

For what it's worth - I'm making cinnamon rolls for breakfast - that has to count for something - right?!?

...

As an aside - a big shout out to my parents. They're celebrading their 40th anniversary.

Yes. Forty.

And they're still making it work.

...

Honestly.

After visiting my new neice, I can honestly say I'm done.

It's been hard for me to get to this point, and though I've proclaimed it before - it really sunk in yesterday.

Yesterday I could hold a nearly three week old baby and my uterus didn't ache. For the longest time I wanted my boy to have a brother, but it just wasn't in the cards.

I love my family for what it is.

Three is enough.

Sweet Baby A

Here in the heartland visiting my sister and her sweet new baby.

The cousins are enthralled with each other. They take turns playing with the twins and beg for turns holding their new cousin, Miss A.



Who can blame them?

...

I never thought this day would come.

I very nearly wept this morning.

My son struggles to be 'a reader.'

Something in the last two weeks has clicked for him.

He wants to read. He works at reading.

Today he offered to read to the class.
To see my boy sit in front of the class and read... This child that fought me last year, nearly weeping at the thought of reading... This child that fought me all summer when it was time to read... This child that has told me too many times to count that it's "too hard."

To see him read with confidence brings tears to my eyes.

...

It's done.

I don't know as I've ever been so glad to see an election over.

Mostly due to the Norm Coleman/Al Franken Ads - and guess what - that race is close enough it gets an automatic recount.

Finally. I have my TV back.

DH and I stayed up last night to watch the results. I thought both the concession speech and the victory speech were well done.

I did learn one important thing this year.

Talk to your kids.

My kids came up with some great questions this year. Some were harder to answer than others.

But if they don't get their information from me, they'll get it from someone else.