crafty gifts and other goings on.

Where did November go? Can it really be the 20th already?

Although I have been a bad blogger lately, I have gotten lots of crafty things done, including: 2 sets of beanbags, another hedgehog, some new illustrations, a memory game for YaYa, and this owl (for a good laugh, see my first post here):

Hooty Hoot Hoo! I love this guy...I whipped him up while watching a very exciting Colts game last weekend with the hubby. His body is the arm of a thrifted, felted sweater; his ears the cuff. Oh, how I do hate my wood paneling, though (as pictured behind Mr. Owl). I would love to see this room painted, but I'm afraid it's too full of our life (2 computer desks, 2 dog cages, a dining room table and misc. toys) to ever be emptied and painted. Ah well, I am way too thankful for everything that I DO have to get stuck on that. :)

And here is the memory game I made for YaYa for Christmas. Hubby had been given boxes full of old science textbooks to e-bay or get rid of as he liked (still sitting in garage), so I took two books that were the same and cut out matching pictures from each, pasted them on cardstock & laminated them. There are 16 sets of cards in the deck, but we'll probably only play with 5 or 6 sets to start. It's a gift that can grow as YaYa does!

On Monday, YaYa and I broke into her very first pomegranate. Pomegranates have always been such a magical fruit to me, and I wanted to share that magic with my little one. When I was young, my parents had an Indian friend, Om, who would bring us over exotic fruits to try, including mangos, pomegranates & starfruit. Twenty-some years ago, these fruits weren't available in the grocery stores like they are now. Pomegranates were so amazing to me, with their hundreds of sparkling red jewels inside!! I think that's why I like these garnets so well now, they remind me of the pom jewels. Anyways, YaYa was as impressed and amazed as I had hoped she would be, and gobbled up the pretty little jewels until she was covered from head to toe with the purple juice!!

mmm...I love seeing those chubby little fingers reaching into a bowl of such beautiful fruit!

Till next time...

Chair,

Hav

more felted owls

I am a hypocrite. All I can think about is making a cute little felted owl to perch on a branch in my daughter's room. And while I'm at it, does anyone have a simple recipe for a good bread? This fall weather has me ready to try my hand at baking my first loaf. Thoughts of the scent of freshly baked bread keep swirling through my head. That, along with the image of cutting through the crusty shell into the soft goodness. (Stop it, Hav, this is not helping!)

I made a delicious apple cake tonight from the spoils of yesterday's trip to the orchard. My inspiration came from maya*made, and you can find her post and recipe here. She's absolutely right...doubling the recipe is a must. YaYa & hubby & I gobbled it up. And I wanted to throw in one more picture from the orchard. This one's my fav.
So, about my salutation, "Chair". It all started in middle school with my friends Laura & Elizabeth. We were all in French together, and when we learned that the French for chair is silla, we couldn't resist. Instead of saying "See ya!", we would tell each other "chair!" It became our official sign-off, and so remains mine today. Here's to middle school...awkward bodies, poofy perms & ginormous glasses. I don't miss you at all.

Chair,
Hav

No felted owls

I'm a little intimidated. No, a lot intimidated.
I read other people's blogs, although "stalk" might be a better word.
But this is my first post. After internally blogging all my activities & thoughts for weeks, I decided that they needed to be let out. So here goes...

I will not be talking about handmade felted owls in this blog. Nor will I discuss my favorite artisan bread recipe. (Confession: I have never made a loaf of bread.) No offense if you love &/or make felted owls and bread! I enviously gobble up others' blogs of these subjects, I just have too much going on right now. I guess I lied...I've already spent a paragraph talking about something I wasn't going to talk about. Ah, get used to it!

I took my 20 month old to the apple orchard for the first time today. What fun! She gleefully ran up and down the rows of trees, clutching the first apple that we picked. She wouldn't let go of that thing for anything, even after it got rubbed in the dirt a few times. She finally got tired of her half eaten apple on the drive home.
We stopped for treats on the way home.


Picked up a sugar cookie with sprinkles for YaYa, and carrot cake for my hubby & me.
We had dessert first tonight.

Chair (I'll explain later),
Hav