October 9, 2010

This morning I went to Sharin' Memories to use their accu-cut machine. I'm getting ready for a craft-day with Claudia tomorrow. I'm about set to accomplish stuff! Afterwards I met up with Phil and we hung out at Borders for a couple of hours. I picked up this leaf outside of Borders. Oak? Phil bought me a latte and we looked at books and magazines. It was a very nice way to spend some time.

I also went scrounging a little for more goodies to use in my crafting. I bought a large zip-loc full of old sewing stuff. Lots of snaps and self-cover buttons. I love the images on the above packaging. And I found some lace to use for a couple of projects. I got this stuff in an antique store, at thrift store prices!

And I did a little photography for Phil. This is the underside of a train car. He built every little piece of mechanical stuff there! Later he'll spray paint it all black! He is thinking about submitting a "how to" type article to one of his train magazines. That was fun to work together. I wanted artsy photos like the one below - he was more into shooting straight down on them. We got some of both.

It has rained hard all day. Its still pretty warm though - 59 degrees I think. Although it looks cold and gloomy, it isn't cold enough to build a fire yet.

October 8, 2010

Friday

Last night I stayed up late, and decorated my paper teacup. Its not entirely finished, but this is phase one of my effort..I made the roses, very easy. Mostly I made do with what I had around my craft room. And a close up of the other side of the handle, with stickles (sparkly glue) here and there.
Today we had a rare day with both Phil and I at home! We went to Proctor for lunch. This is a Mexican Restaurant, very nicely decorated and good food, and the prices were up there!

Phil looks grumpy, but really I was saying
"just look out the window - look natural, don't smile at me!"

Tacoma Trains & Hobbies is the real reason we went to this particular town!

Phil's dad's train set needed some new goodies on it...

Its a charming little town. But, when we were there, the middle school had a half day and the streets were packed with teenagers listening to i-pods and checking their text messages. It was very weird and interesting!

When we got home, I decided to re-organize my emergency pantry. I had this big box of Frosted Flakes, its been in there for 5 years I think! I bought it when W was in co-op and we were doing history and I brought samples of the kinds of foods that were introduced different years. I thought someone would eat them eventually, but no. Now my pantry is nicely organized and there is ROOM for more stuff, like bottled water.

. . .

W is in Columbus Ohio tonight, with the football team. Their game is tomorrow. I was amazed how far away that seems from Michigan, but I think it is probably only 4 hours away. He is having a tough semester with lots of homework and harder classes. He still seems to enjoy most of it though.

...

Have a great weekend!

October 7, 2010

CSA Vegetables countdown!

Only three more weeks of vegetables and I'm on my own.

Buying frozen peas and baking potatoes; just the vegetables I need for specific recipes.

I'll miss my weekly surprise box. This week was another Romanesque cauliflower. We are very fond of those. Chioggia beets (not as strong as regular beets), more onions and garlic of course, more carrots (nearly every week! We love them but I'm surprised our noses aren't turning orange! or ARE they?) peppers and potatoes. I also bought extra basil today for pesto pasta tomorrow night. Last night I made a very good beef stew (the first of Fall). We are eating the other half of that tonight.
Vicki and I have enjoyed meeting nearly every Thursday for lunch at the market. We've tried just about everything there I think! Today I had clam chowder. It's a great time to catch up on our kids and our jobs and all the other things going on day to day. People watching and admiring all the vegetables and fruit for sale.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am taking the day off from my usual obligations. Phil and I have an appointment in Tacoma and we'll probably go out for a meal and to a bookstore or antique store just for fun.

...

I'm looking forward to a crafty-weekend.

10-6-10 Wordless Wednesday...

October 5, 2010 - unfinished projects...

So many ideas, so little time! One thing I have been wanting to do is to make doll clothes! I've actually been looking online at some already made, but yesterday I went into my favorite thrift shop and found three packs of patterns, .25 each, never used, looks easy...I think I'm committed now! Tonight I got out an old silk nightie I am going to experiment with (underwear and pj's)...and I have set up my sewing machine on Walker's computer desk (shhhh!)... Speaking of W, I still need to finish his 2009-2010 school year album. I'm almost done! I only have March, Feb, April and May to finish up! and the cover and miscellaneous details...
...and, I have started on my Glacier journal. Only two days into it, a bit to go!

And then, if that isn't enough (and that's only a few of my projects...)

I just got the pattern today to make these cute cute paper teacups!

I have one in the works right now.

Can you imagine it as a favor at a tea party?

or a gift filled with cookies or tea or m&m's?

Lotsa lace, flowers, buttons, glitter.....

October 4, Happy Birthday Phil

Happy Birthday to you!

I made this banner and put it up the night before,

so Phil would see it first thing when he turned on the computer in the morning... Here he is looking at an e-mail from W first thing, and he's opened my birthday card for him, but he hasn't seen the banner yet!
...much later (he finally saw the banner - made up for how long it took me to notice that he shaved his beard and mustache off - all day).

His favorite gift - a cool tool...

We went out to dinner - Iron Rabbit. Very delicious.

Had pumpkin pie and espresso for dessert back at home,

watching an old movie "X-files".

We had never seen it before.

All this partying is exhausting!

We had a great day.

October 3, 2010 - Things "Fall-ish"

SUNDAY

I haven't posted anything for a couple of days. Just nothing seemed photo-worthy. I've gotten a second wind though and hope to make up for it today. I woke up knowing I had a class to attend today "Challenging Behaviors". I didn't have to leave until 10:00 though, so I had plenty of time to clean out the fridge and make good use of some of the less beautiful apples from our tree:

applesauce! Phil saw it and said, hey that's pretty - you must be blogging it!

...and when we were on our trip, Phil was tempted by "baked oatmeal" but chickened out at the last minute. I googled baked oatmeal and found lots of recipes. I tried this one, which coincidentally also called for applesauce. It was pretty good and passed the "phil oatmeal test". There should be enough for 3-4 mornings of breakfast. I'll make it again.

We decided to rendezvous in town after my class and go for a hike. We went to the Nisqually Wildlife refuge. It was raining a little by the time we got there but we went anyway. It used to be a farm, and there are still apple and pear trees around. They were all ripe and falling off the trees and the birds were having a celebration - even the crows!

Rose Hips decorating the greenery...

Little ferns that love the rainy days in Washington...

So many changes at the refuge.

This is what it looks like now, from the observation deck.

We didn't see many birds besides the crows, until we walked out on the trails through the swampy water areas...

We saw several herons, a white egret, and other unidentifable birds.

I think this is Chamomile.

It is growing wild in the gravel of the paths.

Starting to look a little like Fall in the great Pacific Northwest.

But this pretty tree says it all!

. . .

We had a great time, even with the sprinkles - and when we got home, it hadn't even rained here!

. . .

Tomorrow I am going to post all my projects I'm working on and are uncompleted - to try to shame myself into getting something finished! Watch for it.