Mia's turkey birthday

When your birthday falls on Thanksgiving you might not get the birthday wishes call you'd expect because your aunt's mind will be preoccupied with thoughts of turkey. Eating the turkey with a side of delectable mashed potatoes and gravy. MMmmmmm, gravy. And lemon meringue pie. And corn. And macaroni and cheese, which may not be on your Thanksgiving menu but should be as mac 'n cheese will raise your Thanksgiving feast to new heights. But I digress...

Mia has turned six. And today, while locked out of her parent's house*, I delivered, constructed, decorated, and stocked a little gift for her to find when she returns home from school. I'm seriously starting to think I should start a "Pimp My IKEA Market Stand" business. Those things have great versatility and cost next to nothing.

For future PMIMS project, I would not recommend covering the cheap IKEA frames with scrapbook paper. I have no confidence these will stay together but they were too cute not to hang as decorations. This pic shows Mia wearing a Dora the Explorer apron I made for her after finishing my first sewing class.

Those are Hen's hands reaching for cupcakes. Note: He's reaching for both cupcakes at once.

I did not have time to make my own goods to stock the store so I did the next best thing and bought them from Two Tarts Bakery. So very good.

Mia G's Bakery is open for business!

As it looked on the front porch where I was forced to leave it since I could not find a way to break into Brother Nick's house.

Thanks to a last minute stop at Collage I was able to get supplies to make a small chalkboard to slip into the sign spot. Sure, it's a touch too big but with more time and a sharp blade that could easily be cut down to fit perfectly.

*I grabbed a key I thought was Brother Nick's but, alas, it was not. 

Presented without comment

Original @ Twitter

And so ended our first Hanukkah

Things I learned about Hanukkah:

1. It began as a way to fight against assimilation and the suppression of the Jewish religion. 
2. It is not considered to be an important religious holiday.
3. Nine candles are placed in a menorah* (also called a chanukkiah) with one candle set apart (higher, lower, in front of, behind, etc.). 
4. The extra candle is called the shammus (servant) and is the candle that is used to light all the other candles.
5. The shammus is required because the Hanukkah candles are meant for pleasure and cannot be used in any productive service.
6. The candles are placed in the menorah from right to left but lit left to right, honoring the newest thing first.
7. There are three blessings (berakhot) that are recited, but one is reserved for the first night only.
8. This is a special year because of how early Hanukkah started. Hanukkah will not fall this early in the year for another 79,000+ years.
9. A minimum of 44 candles are needed to complete the ceremony over eight days.
10. On the eighth night all nine candles remain lit. 
11. It is traditional to eat latkes (i.e., potato pancakes) for Hanukkah. 
12. Latkes are yummy.
13. The traditional gift for Hanukkah is gelt (i.e., money). 
14. It is unusual for Jews to give Hanukkah gifts to anyone other than their own children.
15. Dreidel play is huge around this holiday.
16. A driedel has four Hebrew letters on it: Nun, Shin, Gimmel, Hei; these letters stand for the phrase "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham," which means "a great miracle happened there".
17. The letters also stand for "nit" (nothing), "gantz" (all), "halb" (half), and "shtell". These are the rules of the game!
18. Dreidel is a gambling game typically played with chocolate coins and pennies.

*Our first candle holder has been dubbed the menurkey because of this year's Thanksgivukkah.

Scholastic Warehouse Sale, take two

1. The Notebook of Doom: Rise of the Balloon Goons by Troy Cummings
2. Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader by Ryder Windham
3. Amelia Bedelia Bakes Off by Herman Parish
4. American Girl: Really Truly Ruthie by Valerie Tripp
5. American Girl: Meet Kit by Valerie Tripp
6. Mysteries According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney
7. Nathaniel Fludd Beastologist: Flight of the Phoenix by R. L. LaFevers
8. The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman
9. 43 Old Cemetery Road, Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
10. Pie by Sarah Weeks
11. Who is Albert Einstein by Jess Brallier
12. Dragons by Lucille Recht Penner
13. Splat the Cat with a Bang and a Clang by Rob Scotton
14. Meerkats by Laura Marsh
15. Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown
16. The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann
17. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
18. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester
19. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
20. The Graverobber's Apprentice by Allan Stratton
21. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
22. Human Body: A Book About Guts by Dan Green
23. Amazing Armadillos by Jennifer Guess McKerley
24. The Death and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
25. Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
26. The Princess and the Pig by Jonathan Emmett
27. Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott
28. The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins
29. The Underpants Zoo by Brian Sendelbach
30. Shoe-la-la! by Karen Beaumont
31. Glamsters by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
32. Zoomer's Summer Snowstorm by Ned Young
33. The Monster in the Woods by Claire Freedman
34. Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio
35. Mody Dick by Herman Melville
36. Dinosaur Disaster by Geronimo Stilton

Slightly more than the previous warehouse sale, coming in at $2.48 per book.

The phone books are here, the phone books are here!

Ski season has started! This was taken off of Cascade Express at Mt. Hood Meadows last Friday. Woot!

Cousins

gavin, audrey, henry

sherwood, oregon

30 november 2013

Happy Thanksgivukkah!

Hen's poem to Mamoe

Mamoe, sweet Mamoe,
with a little furry head.
Cudding with you
is best,
for me
and you.

Ready to make pie

Vodka, a.k.a. most important pie crust ingredient

Things I've noticed about Hen lately

He's still short enough that when he sits at picnic benches his feet dangle inches above the ground.

He says "patter-ren" and "Satur-ren" for "pattern" and "Saturn".

His hair is getting long again.

He'll mix up his socks so they aren't matching on purpose.

He likes to mix upper and lower case letters when writing.

He quietly sings Hebrew songs all the time when he's playing by himself.

He is still not embarrassed to show his naked self around the condo.

He loves a good game of chase.

He spelled his friend's name REL - her name is Ariel - because that's what it sounds like.

He is really into Star Wars but his old favorites - Ninjago, dinosaurs, and sea creatures - are never far behind in his lists of favorite things.

He's great at hugging.

He doesn't mind that I read "girl" books to him.

Book twenty-two: Marty McGuire by Kate Messner

Hen's summary:

Marty McGuire doesn't want to be in the play. She gets the princess part. The play is about a frog. Marty does a real frog. She kisses it instead of throwing it against the wall. Annie goes to Marty's house.

Would you vote for this book?

Yes, because there's a frog. 

Handwritten letter to Santa

With a cute letter like this there's no way the kid won't get the LEGO set he wants. (Don't tell him that.)

Chasing

Currently chasing the bourbon with "a festive winter ale" while crafting. Because I'm a multi-tasker, yo.

UPDATE - 11:17PM / chasing bourbon and beer with chocolate mint tea and a spot o' honey. Done crafting.

Book twenty-one: Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection by Debora L. Spar

If you are female, you should read this book. If you are male, you should read this book. If you are a mother, you should read this book. If you are not a mother, you should read this book. If you have a career, you should read this book. If you are thinking of having a child, a husband, and a career, you should read this book. Pretty much everyone should read this book.

"In 1947...two prominent psychologists...described feminism as a "deep illness" and warned that any woman who fell prey to its temptations was "neurotically disturbed" and likely afflicted with a nasty case of penis envy"." --pg 21

"And when our mothers cooed happily about our ability to have it all, we silently begged them to offer the only thing we really wanted: a week of free babysitting... there never was a woman - a real woman, at least - who balanced her life and her loves and her job and her children with the panache that women of my generation believed would come naturally." --pg 28 

"Why does the English language contain no equally disparaging male equivalent for the word "slut"?" --pg 77

"My husband was even blunter. "Just don't look down," he would warn impending dads-to-be. "Hold her hand, pretend you're breathing, and don't for a minute believe you're doing any of the work." --144

 "I'm a mediocre mother like the vast majority of women, because I'm human." [Elizabeth Badinter] --pg 149

"Yet as the feminist revolution has unfurled over the past four decades, sending millions of women traipsing blithely into the workforce, patterns of househould labor allocation have barely budged. Instead women, regardless of their jobs or income, still tend to do the bulk of both household and child-rearing tasks...And there still doesn't seem to be a dad on the planet who knows how to book his kids' dental appointments." --pg153

"Marriage has never been easy...to bind oneself to one person forever; to share finances, meals, children, old stories, and germs till death do you part. That's why we still sign contracts, why marriage remains a legal state as well as a personal one. Because, unlike weddings and sex, marriage is hard. It is hard to organize a life with one person, day after day, for decades. Hard to be a good husband or a good wife." --pg 165

"...women, given the choice about their lives and careers - are making these choices differently than men. In the aggregate, and given a certain measure of financial security, they are making the choice between work and family in favor of the latter." --pg 186

"In fact, divorce is one of the worst calamaties that befall women in middle age...recently divorced women are more financially strained than others in the general population, experiencing higher rates of poverty, lower incomes, and greater reliance on public assistance. According to a British study, separated wives saw an immediate decline in their incomes of 22 percent, while separated husbands saw a rise of 13 percent. For women who originally left the workforce to focus on the home front, the fallout from divorce can be particularly treacherous...because many stay-at-home moms had solid academic credentials and extensive work experience before they chose to stay at home, courts often presume they will become financially self-sufficient and treat any potential alimony payments accordingly." --pg 222

 21 down plus 5 to go.


UPDATE: What a happy surprise! The author has an assistant at the college where she works who must troll the internet searching for references to her book and he found this post. Per his request, I am adding a link to her book site so you can know where to go to find out more about her, about the book, and for info on where you can purchase the book. For those who wish to shop local (i.e., PDX area), you can also go to Powell's to get a copy. Happy reading!

Mmmmm, pie.

Finally doing something with Hen's silhouette

Years ago Hen and I traveled with Sister-in-law Megan and Miss Mia to Goodnight Room at Bridgeport Village to meet with a paper and scissors artist extraordinaire to get silhouettes done of the kids. Today, I finally got around to doing something with said silhouette. I am happy with the end result. It cost me nothing out of pocket since I used an old frame and a sheet of scrapbook paper purchased back when I used to do things like scrapbook. Although, even if I had bought the stuff for this project, it wouldn't have cost much - we're talking about an IKEA Ribba frame ($4.99) and a sheet of 12"x12" scrapbook paper ($1.00). My favorite part is the littlest cut the guy made for Hen's eyelashes. 

For anyone wanting to do the same, let not the perceived difficulty deter you from action. (I have been watching too much Reign.) A little Mod Podge Rocks! is all you need to fasten the paper to the matte.

Jam + Swap 2013 Pictorial

Lemon curd made by mama, jars purchased by papa, and label written and paper chosen by Henry Finn 

Prizes, ya'll. Ms. Rachele be kickin' it up a notch.

Pretty jars all in a row

Samples

Let the sampling commence.

Rachele's amazing biscuits topped with (from left to right) blueberry lime jam, rhubarb orange jam, and lemon curd.

The haul - Includes the cookbook door prize (the old lemon curd was the first to go - woot!), banana bread in a jar, apple pie filling, peach, rhubarb orange, plum blueberry (low sugar), blueberry lime, and cranberry chutney with ginger and dried cherries. 

Spending the holiday with cousin Mia, afternoon edition

I just downloaded the rest of the pictures taken when Mia visited us for Veteran's Day. Our afternoon included a trip to the park, a stop at the toy store, and a comfortable stay in the movie theatre. Then we grabbed a pizza for dinner and took Mia home to her parents. Fun was had by all.

Book twenty: The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

Not a kid's book, that's for sure. This book is really great. Jake is the last werewolf. He loves scotch and is busy trying to avoid being killed by the organization tasked with cleansing the world of his kind.

20 down plus 32* to go.

*Let's be honest. I'm not going to hit that goal. But I could probably get to 26 so that's the new goal.

A morning bobble and jig

Background info: Hen's school is having a talent show and Hen has requested to do Taekwondo for his talent.

Setting the scene: He's in the process of dressing for school when he runs to the dining room still wearing his red and white striped with green trim pajama shirt and nothing else.

The event: He starts practicing his mad skills for the cat watching disinterestedly from her perch by her food bowl, but gets distracted by his bits flapping around and goes immediately into what can only be described as a morning penis dance.

Conclusion: This is the kind of thing one can expect to find at my house the mornings before school.

Spending the holiday with Cousin Mia, morning edition

We were able to snag Cousin Mia to spend the night with us last night so the kids could play together on their day off from school today. Woot! I like to give periodic updates to her parents (a.k.a. Brother Nick and Sister Megan) with the hope that if they see how much fun the kids have together, they'll let us take her from time to time. It's nearing lunch so we stopped at the condo to grab foodstuffs before we head back out. As luck would have it the weather is gorgeous so we plan on hitting a park after knocking out a few chores, one of which is a stop at the bank to get cash for our later planned trip to the - wait for it - TOY STORE! More pictures to come, of course, but for now feast your eyes on these two yutes hitting the town for donuts, books, and a little good, old-fashioned tomfoolery.

Halloween 2013

Knitting: Stripey Stocking Cap

Darr suggested this might be the most expensive hat I ever knit given all the Madelinetosh, Malabrigo, and Fibre Company yarns used. He'd be right if I had purchased all of the skeins for the hat alone. But I was using up lots of yarn leftovers from previous projects. So now Hen has a wacky looking wool hat to wear for the next couple of seasons.

For those interested, I got the pattern from this book.

What does the fox say?

by mhars.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

If you haven't yet seen the completely awesome video, click here.

Book nineteen: Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan

Hen's summary:

Papa leaves his family. The family goes to get dogs after papa leaves. They get four dogs. They get a cat. And they get another dog [SPOILER ALERT] when papa is back. The dogs and the cat can talk. Mama is pregnant. She goes back home and she comes with her baby. She hears the dogs and the cat.

Would you vote for this book?

Yeah, because they can hear the dogs actually talking.

19 down plus 33 to go.