Sugar drunk

Sugar drunk, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

Sometimes I thoroughly enjoy my job. "Staying home to bake for appreciative children" is definitely one of my favorite job description line items of this stay-at-home mama gig. Here is Bean, chowing down with gusto on a post-nap slice of Battenberg cake. Before this, I could literally never get Bean to smile for a photo unless I asked her to think of her Papa and how much she loves him. Apparently, marzipan-wrapped cake loaves will also work!

My friend, Kat, showed me her copy of The Gentle Art of Domesticity, and I knew right away that I needed my own copy. The recipe came from this wonderful book, as have many other inspiring (and beautifully photographed) ideas for creative home life.

I wonder if "Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts" will result in an equally smiley photograph?

Making apple butter

Making apple butter, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

It's been a miserably long time since I was last here, and while I've been absent fall has come to NC. Isn't it funny how the last day of summer happens without you knowing that it's the last day? You kinda know it's coming, but you don't know that particular 95 degree, swelteringly humid day is the last one of the year? Turns out it is, though, and pretty soon you realize it's time to do stuff like whip up pumpkin muffins with your delighted 3-year old daughter and make a big mess of apple butter to go with it. That's what we've been doing around here lately, and it's very cozy indeed.

Before and after in the garden

Before, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

And after, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

Unafraid of the big ass landscaping projects here!

Those sheets of newspaper in the after shot were expertly dampened by my own Bean so as to avoid them blowing away in today's breeze. She also expertly dampened my back, my pants, and her baby sister with that ice cold hose water, but I still can't think of a more perfect toddler gardening project!

New mama groove

I posted about this book a couple weeks ago, and have since bought my copy, read it once, and have started re-reading it a second time.

It's that wonderful. If you're the parent of young children, I recommend going out at once and picking up your own copy.

I have to say, though, that I was torn between feeling a tremendous amount of guilt that Soulemama is obviously a far more patient, talented, and family-centered mama than I am, and a tremendous amount of inspiration that I could be more like her. I could! She says all you have to do is get plenty of sleep and take care of your own creative needs, too.

Stop snickering, please.

Yeah, I know the getting enough sleep part is going to be hard with a nursing 5-month old and a toddler who both like their "sleep" sprinkled with visits from mama and papa, thanks. And finding the time to do my own creative projects on a daily basis so that my needs are met will run a close second in difficulty, though of the finding-the-time-for variety. But I'm inspired to try. Like, really try.

In the meantime, we've got some good art supplies for the big girls to use when they want. I've started asking Sister what special thing she might want to get done after school. (It was planning a "magic bead" necklace today.) And I've cut out t.v. in the evenings so I can work on my creative to-do list instead.

Next up, a banging wall on the backyard fence!

Deep spring thoughts

Big issues on my mind lately as we approach the NC primary. Like, which do I hate more, the stale air of a house whose windows are never opened or having to wipe the film of yellow pollen off every flat surface every couple of days? So hard to choose...

In other news, I'm going to be joining a group of sewing/crafting ladies tonight. I'm kind of excited about this, though it's a world apart from how I used to plan my nights out of the house. If I can manage it with Sweet P in tow, I'm going to try my hand at some embroidery. Not an actual embroidery project, but just some practice stitches. I have this idea that I'm going to make fabulous scarves out of Armani wool scraps--available at my local sewing store!--backed with silk or linen and embellished with a bit of embroidery if I'm any good at that at all. They'd make lovely gifts for my female friends, I think, and I may even try to sell them one of these days...

Easter begins early

Bean and Sister very much enjoy doing seasonal baking projects with me. We make decorated sugar cookies for nearly every holiday. (My collection of colored sprinkles takes up an entire cabinet shelf.) We make pumpkin cupcakes for Halloween, blueberry muffins in the early summer, candy cane ice cream after I undecorate the Christmas tree--you get the drift. So when I saw this idea on Angry Chicken I knew it was perfect for my girls.

Easter baking project, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

Aren't these adorable? They're super easy, too, even for toddlers. Just watch out for little girls who like to lick their fingers while doing the nest shaping. 'Cause you don't want a spitty nest.

Happy Easter! Happy spring!

Why I hate having a guest room

It's anti-American, right? To have a bit more house than you need and find it annoying rather than desirable? Nevertheless, the guest room is beginning to piss me off.

When we first bought this house almost two years ago, the "upgrade" from three bedrooms to four seemed to make sense. Knowing that we wanted three kids meant that someday we'd have the option of giving them all their own rooms. Sister wanted to share a room with Bean then which meant that we wouldn't need this configuration right away, but someday the girls would want their own space. In the meantime, we had visions of hosting out-of-state friends in our fourth bedroom and we outfitted it accordingly. We bought a new mattress set to go on the bed frame that had once belonged to Husband's mother when she was growing up. We moved her entire suite of furniture from Atlanta to here--the bed frame, two large dressers, a night table, and a wall mirror. I added a quilt rack with vintage quilts, some toiletries that our imminent guests could use if they forgot theirs, a framed picture, some knick-knacks...

Who have we hosted in the almost two years in this house? Exactly three sets of guests. And one of them was one of my local college girlfriends here for a grown-up slumber party I hosted once when Husband was out of town.

What our guest room is really used for is storage of a lot of unnecessary shit. For example:
--a three-foot square box of unopened mail that is now two years old! I'm not exaggerating here! But Husband doesn't want to throw it away because there might (still!) be something important in there. The cats use the box as a scratching post, though. Perhaps that keeps them from using the sofa arms quite so much for the same purpose? Fucking cats. Fucking box.
--a turntable and two massively heavy boxes of record albums. Will we ever listen to them again? I know I won't listen to my portion of that ancient vinyl, not least because to do so would mean replacing the turntable's needle, lugging the thing downstairs, and routing it through our receiver somehow. Can we get rid of the turntable and the albums? Husband says no. He might want to listen to them someday.
--other electronic stuff. A couple of computers, a couple of old telephones, bundles of wires that belong to god-knows-what.
--a hideously ugly woven blanket that traveled with Husband from Guatemala that he wants to keep as a souvenir. Never mind that we never use it because it's entirely too scratchy to be comfortable and is suspiciously hairy. And did I say super ugly?
--a large plastic box of family memorabilia that doesn't belong to us, that we've been charged with looking through, scanning if we want, and mailing back to the cousin who loaned it to us. She sent it when Bean was born because it contained items belonging to Bean's namesake, the cousin's mother. That was almost three years ago and I'm guessing she'd want it back...oh, 2-1/2 years ago?
--a closet full of out-of-season vintage dresses. If I'm being fair here, I should admit that some of the stuff is mine. I keep telling myself that once my little kids are big, I can wear my gorgeous frocks again without risking spit-up, "washable" paint, and peanut butter destroying them. Maybe I should let this little dream go?

Humph. Maybe we can get rid of the other crap first and then we'll talk.

Vintage dress love

All of a sudden I find myself without sewing projects! Sister's silent auction has come and gone. The wall hanging I put on hold for awhile is done and on the wall. My Japanese girl clothes sewing books are out for translation. I have nothing to do! I mean, other than take care of three little girls, of course.

But a mama needs projects, no? For those few minutes here and there where both little girls are sleeping at the same time? So the sewing project vacuum and the just-around-the-corner arrival of spring--not to mention my shrinking post-pregnancy body--have conspired to induce a new obsession in me. Here's a clue:

Favorite dresses, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

And another:

Lovely repro vintage prints, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

I do love my old vintage cotton and rayon print dresses, but at mt age I find myself unwilling to ignore the armpit stains, holes, and poochy boob area. (Is it just my tiny chest, or did everyone stuff their bras back then?!) I should also say that I find the greasy feel and almost slimy texture of my former favorites unacceptable. "Greasy and slimy?" I hear you wondering. Greasy and slimy indeed, from their many years spent as work dresses during my baking years. (I used to joke that I would get white lung one day from all the flour thrown into the air while mixing gigantic batches of chocolate chip cookies and gingersnaps. But it's my wardrobe that has suffered. Who knew?)

The solution I've come up with is to try to recreate my favorite frocks in vintage reproduction prints. Brilliant, right? Except that I have very little clothing sewing experience and absolutely no clue how to make a pattern from an existing dress. Do you have to take apart the dress in question first? Can you just sorta...I don't know trace the dress onto some wrapping paper or something? Any advice from any sewers out there would be greatly appreciated. I promise to post photos of any cute items I'm able to make up!

Another project, done

Blue and orange batik wall hanging, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

I've been working on this batik wall hanging for a month or two now to go in our newly painted family room. It came out well, even though once again I made the mistake of thinking our sofa is orange when it is, in fact, a sort of rusty, persimmon pudding-y color. So it doesn't completely match, but it's better than the things I had on the walls in there before. Mostly I made it because I wanted to try using batiks for a change and also wanted to try making something with wonky shapes. I think I might love wonky shaped things. Yes, you do waste a fair amount of fabric in the trimming, but personally I find it much easier to be precise in trimming than in sewing.

It's good to have one of my sewing projects come to a good end. Kinda takes the sting out of Friday's silent auction humiliation. The three items I made and donated got bid on and sold, it's true, but were not exactly wild successes. I had a large green purse sell for $19 with maybe 4 or 5 bids on it. The leaf print bag I posted a picture of sold for $16 with 4 bids, one of which was (ahem) mine when I realized that someone was going to get it for only $10. Is it gauche to bid on your own donations at an auction? I don't care! I LOVED that bag and wanted it back if the world wasn't going to appreciate it! But when the little 5th grade girl I'd just outbid came marching up behind me and bid $16, I just let it go. If she wanted it that badly and all...

The cloth grocery bags I donated as a set went to one of the Girl Scout moms who was maybe (but maybe not!) doing it out of pity. She seemed to genuinely like them and even stood guard over them at the end so that no one else would outbid her. Bless her, I was flattered even if she WAS being a little effusive with her admiration.

All in all, I raised $60 for Sister's school. Meh. I also spent $80 on a cooler full of plastic beach crap made in China that I stupidly bid on and won. At least it's for the school. I guess. Though Husband pointed out that people's priorities are all wrong if we'll pay that much for plastic mass-produced shit and spurn something someone made by hand. Bless him, too.

As I said, a bit humiliating.

Points for mama

Beanbags for the girls, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

Sometimes it's just so easy to make a kid happy. An example: it's dreadfully cold and rainy outside today and I needed something new to entertain them. It took me about half an hour to make up some bean bags with squares of fabric I had left over from a project, a few bobbins with a bit of odd-colored thread still left on them, and about 4 pounds of dry beans from the pantry that have been sitting in their jars for probably years now. (I used to be a vegetarian and cooked a hell of a lot of dry beans once upon a time...)

The result is pure kid nirvana. Who knew? Sister came home from school and helped me finish stuffing them, was literally jumping up and down while I sat at the sewing machine stitching up their last seam, then spent half an hour arranging them in order from her least to most favorite. I can't wait to see what Bean does with them when she wakes up!

Leaf print handbag

Leaf print handbag, originally uploaded by Secretsugar.

This is one of the handbags I made for Sister's school's silent auction event coming up this Friday. I love it, but I'm terrified that no one will bid on it. I'm having visions of overhearing the scornful comments of the suburban school mamas there who can't believe someone would actually expect such a homemade looking thing to appeal to anyone. Yikes! And of course, Sister will be telling anyone within earshot that her mom made that, so there'll be no hiding. I'll keep y'all posted. And cross your fingers that SOMEONE buys it, even if only for $5!

A new low

This week started out better than last. I got some sewing projects finished to donate to Sister's school silent auction (photos to come soon!), got some much needed sleep this weekend, got the laundry caught up on after our machine broke and we lacked a new one for half the week, plus got the house put back together after a paint crew was here to repaint our shiny gold living room to a nice, soothing aqua blue. (Wish I'd taken before and after photos...)

This week is comparatively empty, then, and for most of yesterday the house was peaceful and calm. But starting yesterday evening, Bean has entered an even more terrible phase than the usual terrible twos I thought were bad enough before. Yesterday evening, she ripped me a new one for taking her to the "wrong" park.

I'd been talking up the park all afternoon because the day was gorgeously sunny and warm, and she was excited about going after nap. I got her into the van without incident, drove over and everything went to hell. She took one look at the park and went into hysterics. This was NOT the park she had mentally pictured, I guess. Which was confusing as hell to me since it's pretty much the only one we go to. I got her out of the van, managed to make a walk to the community center next door seem like a good idea. We got inside and there weren't any kids there, so more hysterics, this time lying on the floor kicking and screaming with tears running down her face. I managed to get her back outside so as not to annoy the front desk clerk, but I had to drag her by one arm to do it. I could go on here because SHE went on. You know it's bad when other parents are staring at you, wondering what the hell you're doing to your child to make her scream so loud.

This morning, Bean began screaming, "NO! NO! NO!" at me the minute I walked into her room. I'm not exaggerating here--she screams at me! The dog bit her twice and me once, the Girl Scout cookies suck so much the local paper did a story about them and I need to exchange them for new ones in another town, and the chickweed is taking over my perennials and it's freaking February, fer chrissakes.

What the hell is a dispirited mama to do?

Rough return, but then more nesting

Ugh. It took exactly 2 hours on Monday for the afterglow of the annual ladies-only beach trip to wear off. This week has been so busy again, though, that it already feels like ancient history. So I guess there's no point in wallowing here in Husband's obvious crankiness about my being absent from little girl care for 3 days and nights, about the house-wide infestation of dust bunnies, the empty fridge, the mountain of dirty laundry....Nah.

Nesting in preparation for our new little daughter has begun in earnest now that my trip is over. Her room--formerly Bean's room--is pretty well set up. Baby toys and clothes stored in the attic have been washed and put away. Cloth diaper service begins on 11/10. We have a new freestanding freezer, courtesy of my friend Suburban Gorgon, in which I'm looking forward to stockpiling food for the baby apocalypse. On the agenda today--4 chicken pies and a large batch of pumpkin muffins.

Swaddling blanket

P1000607, originally uploaded by salutor.

Another new baby blanket, though the picture isn't showing it off too well here. It's pretty in person, though. This butterfly fabric is one I fell in love with a few years ago at our fabulous local quilt shop and bought 4 yards of it. In going through my stash recently, it inspired me all over again for the new baby's room. Hence this blanket, backed with tiny yellow plaid flannel, some baby bibs, and soon a 24" stuffed cloth ottoman once I get some matching turquoise polka dot fabric in the mail. The ottoman is from Amy Butler's pattern here.

Oh, and I should mention that the scalloped edge on this blanket was from Amy Karol's pattern out of Bend the Rules Sewing. It wasn't easy, I must confess, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.

New baby's new quilt

P1000605, originally uploaded by salutor.

Meant to post this picture of the new baby's quilt before I left town this past weekend, but somehow didn't get around to it. Here it is, though, made only of 100 scrappy half-square triangles so that it was surprisingly easy and fast to make, especially since I learned a nice cheat for this particular block. For those of you who don't sew, please skip this next paragraph.

You take 2 equal-sized fabric squares and pin them right sides together. Then you draw a diagonal line from one point to another. Take it to your machine now and stitch 1/4" line on either side of the line. Then cut along your drawn line, open up your newly pieced squares, and press! Very easy.

I'll post more nesting related pictures soon for those of you who are interested in this sort of thing.

Laid low

Sister's first week back to school and then transfer of Bean's little 24-hour stomach virus to me yesterday...let's just say it's been a busy week. But nothing that a nap and 10 hours of sleep on top of that couldn't cure, because I am cured, energetic and optimistic all over again. Especially because it got down in the 60's last night here in Chapel Hill. I could open my house windows to some fresh air and now I get to sit here on our back porch with my cup of tea. How I love love love fall temperatures when I'm a big fat pregnant woman!

I managed to finish the new baby's crib quilt this week during Bean's naptimes. It's a bit puckery because I quilted it quite inexpertly on my machine rather than by hand, but still looks damn good if I do say so myself. I'll post pictures if I can figure out how to do it on this new computer which hopefully won't be too hard for this very tech-unsavvy mama. I also made 8 flannel-backed baby bibs from this book, which my friend Pie Eater turned me onto and which is full of many projects I want to make now. (Although I'm kicking myself for not thinking of making bibs before. They were ridiculously easy and I got to indulge myself in some rick-rack trim!) Nesting has been fun during this horrible 100 degree weather, but now the garden is calling me. I've got some serious weeding to do before they all go to seed and make new baby weeds for next year.

Today I'm trying to...

...prevent many dying garden plants from completely giving up.

...maintain my equilibrium in the face of very interrupted sleep and a very cranky and still somewhat sick Bean.

...find a happy mama place before Sister gets home from school.

...determine where the hell the ants all over my kitchen counter are coming from and what they could possibly be after. There are no crumbs! The cookie jar is empty!

...free-motion quilt the new baby's blanket on my mysteriously uncooperative machine.

...plan the meeting for Sister's Girl Scout troop parents at my house tomorrow night, made difficult by the fact that half of them STILL haven't responded to a couple of emails now. (I wish everyone checked their email as often as I do, dammit.)

...make a delicious dinner of cheese-coated fried pork chops with madeira sauce, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli.

...feel unconcerned that I still have between 13 and 15 weeks to go of feeling this uncomfortably pregnant. (It will only get worse.)

This mama is trying.

Nesting

I'm still here and blogging on my cute, new MacBook from the sofa--woo-hoo! Husband felt the need to go out and purchase a swank and tiny little computer to tote around in London while he was gone last week, but justified it as my home laptop to replace my very old, refurbished dinosaur of a laptop. I get the sense that it's way fancier a computer than I need or can really appreciate--mainly I'm just psyched that it has enough battery power to enable me to use it somewhere other than our desk.

I managed to make it through last week and Husband's absence, but just barely. By Thursday I was beginning to lose it from all of Bean's night wakings and Sister's attitude. He got home Friday, so I don't think I had too much time to be an absolute bitch mama. I still don't feel entirely caught up on my sleep, but I think that may be because I'm getting on in my pregnancy. I'm at 25 weeks now, feeling suddenly large, and beginning to slow down a tad.

Since I've now finished the last Harry Potter, I'm going full steam ahead with sewing projects. I need to finish a rug I'm making for a friend, and after that it's baby quilt and flannel blanket-fest. Also, cute, doll quilt wall hangings and new pillow covers for the baby's room-fest. Oh, and new baby bib-fest. Plus some hand-sewn toys.

Ack! So many ideas! But it IS fun to nest, isn't it?

New resolve

With Husband gone for the week, I've had a bit of spare mental time to make some resolutions. Well, okay, not resolutions in the new year's self-improvement, habit-altering sense, but resolutions nevertheless to get some things done this week that I want to do. So, yes, resolving to have fun. Not that I don't have fun with him home, but I do feel more obligated to fix regular dinners, be sensitive to whether he's trying to get things done himself, keep him company, that sort of thing.

Baking. I'm going to bake some different cupcakes this week, starting with the recipe that Bean and I made this morning for Upside-down Sticky Pecan Cupcakes. They're sorta like a sticky bun, but with sour cream cake batter holding it all together instead of a yeasted dough. They came out beautifully and are so delicious I may have to give them to my neighbor to keep from eating them all myself.

Sewing projects. I mentioned last night that I was working on the border for Bean's big girl quilt, and once that's done this project will be finally over. I finished Sister's last year and just got tired of working on them. Bean's on the fast track for a big girl bed now, though, so this is incentive for her, to have a bed just like Sister's.

I also thought I'd try making Bean a Pointy Kitty from this great blog that a crafty friend turned me onto. You should go check out Wee Wonderfuls if you're at all sewing-minded. She has other free patterns, too, as well as a store with even more cute kid patterns. I already started helping Sister and her friend make pointy kitties last week, prompting Bean to ask me, "Where's mine?" I may try to make up a bib pattern, too, since Bean's used her supply pretty hard and it would be nice to have cute, fresh ones for the new baby.

As for gardening, there isn't a whole hell of a lot I'm willing to do with the weather forecast predicting temperatures close to and at 100 degrees this week. I ought to do battle with the crabgrass in the front beds but...nah. I will, however, be working on potting up some plants for the patio since most of ours died during our trips to the mountains and then to the beach. This morning, I took Bean out shopping and got a hardy banana, some variegated cannas, and some ornamental grasses, among other things. I'm going for tall things with interesting leaves this time around so I don't have to deadhead anything.

What else? I need to clean the house since I've been putting that off for awhile and Husband invited some of his friends over for dinner Saturday night. But since that's so far away, I'll put it off awhile longer maybe. The toilets don't have rings yet, so I can live with it. Heh.

Hope you're all doing things you love right now, too.

Slack

I'm a bit...not burnt-out on gardening today exactly, but maybe a little garden weary. As I've mentioned before, gardening has been taking up all my baby-naptime for the past few weeks, hence the very scanty blog posting during that time. Today the sun in shining, the birds are singing, and there are pots of things to plant scattered in the yard, but I just can't get motivated. I'd rather be inside working on my springtime pillow project and hearing the birds sing through the window. Probably Bean having a bit of a cough that had me up with her--count 'em!--4 times last night is contributing to my weariness.

Some good things: my very best girlfriends are probably coming over to my house for a sleepover at the end of April when Husband is out of town on a fishing trip. I SO hope it comes together, even if I do still have to get up with Bean the morning after. I'm feeling a bit weary with the everyday household routine, too, these days. Wake up, take a shower, let the dog out, get the kids up, make breakfast, empty the dishwasher, etc. I could use a little novelty in my routine.

But wait, I was planning to list good things going on here, so what else? Fried catfish and buttermilk biscuits for dinner last night and country ham biscuits for breakfast this morning. Sometimes, some good Southern cooking is in order, at least in this household. Also, Sister woke up happy this morning because it was picture day at school. We had fun giving her a little hair-do with what little hair she has in her pixie cut before she left--a pleasant little mama and big girl interlude. Another ceramics class to look forward to on Saturday--have I mentioned that I've been taking ceramics classes lately? I don't remember.

Sometimes life just sorta ticks by, doesn't it?