Author: Sarah

Quick, Somebody Call A Contractor!

Sarah Cakes

Julia is moving soon, so today was her last playgroup with us. We threw a little going-away party, and I baked a house cake:


Isn’t it lovely? Except I didn’t read the pan instructions about using a pound cake mix until after my favorite Duncan Hines butter recipe golden cake was baking in the oven. Still, I persisted in believing it would all work out. But less than an hour after I finished decorating the cake yesterday, it looked like this:

Not good. Not good at all. I was terrified of what it would look like in the morning, so I decided to take pre-emptive house-saving action. I cut a cake board the shape of the back of the cake – no small feat, since it didn’t resemble the shape of the pan much at all anymore – and gently tipped it backwards. (Meanwhile, Carrie is hanging onto my pant leg, begging “Carrie eat cake? Carrie eat the cake please?”) Luckily, the bushes and flowers around the base of the house mostly stayed attached to the house. Unluckily, I was completely out of icing so I had to make another half batch in order to frost the bottom of the house. This is what it looked like when I served it this morning:

I can only imagine what it would have looked like if I’d decided to leave it standing up. Either way, it was tasty. It was a good playgroup. All the kids had a lot of fun playing together, and I know Carrie will miss Maddie in future playgroups, just as we’ll miss Julia!

Jump, Snore and Fly!

Sarah Carolyn

Carrie figured out how to jump yesterday – a real, coordinated, both feet off the floor jump. Then she practiced jumping around the house counting backwards from 10 to 1. She knew it was a new thing, too, because when we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner I told her to show them her new trick, and she started jumping.

Bedtime has been fun lately. We tuck Carrie in with her binkies and loveys, and as we walk out the door she starts fake snoring. It’s all I can do to get out of her room without cracking up.

Carrie’s imagination seems to have taken off in the past week or so. She pretends to be a caterpillar crawling, a kangaroo hopping, a dog wagging her tail, an owl hooting and an elephant stomping – sometimes all at the same time! Her “babies” (which include everything from a rag doll to a ronald mcdonald little people dude) are fed, diapered, bathed and rocked to sleep. She imagines that Leah and Alex, the kids in her Signing Time videos, are her friends that we can call and talk to. She “talks” to Poppy on her play phones regularly. The other day she had an oddly shaped green bean and said it was a fish, and fed the fish another green bean. We never used the airplane game to get her to eat – we never had to, since she eats everything! – but now all on her own she’s started playing airplane with her food.

It so cliché, but I think this is my favorite age so far.

Thinking Wintry Thoughts

Sarah Knitting

Remember when I started this scarf? Why do I do this? I put it down 2/3 of the way through. It took me two evenings and an afternoon nap (Carrie’s, not mine) to finish that last third. I left the needle in it, though, because I’m knitting a matching hat and if there’s yarn left from that I’d like the scarf to be a little bit longer.

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In case anyone is wondering, the pattern for the scarf is here. (The pattern for the hat was here, but apparently it’s been published in a knitting magazine and is no longer available free online.) I’m 2/3 of the way to the hat decreases. (Uh-oh, there’s that magic 2/3 number…)

Anyway, I’m determined to finish these this year. Last year I didn’t have a scarf that matched my coat, so I didn’t wear one at all. Brrrrrrr.

Just Hanging Around

Sarah General

Today was “Hang Around Victor Day”. No, really, that’s the name they came up with for our annual town festival. It’s the 30th annual H.A.V.D., so I suppose there’s no changing the name now!

We spent the morning hanging around Main St., checking out the vendors and chatting with friends and neighbors. And although I’m leery of posting unprotected pictures of Carrie, Denis is in these too so if anyone steals them they have to explain him away. Here they are playing on a old fire truck during the chicken BBQ the firemen host every year:


(Carrie was thrilled when she discovered that there was a rope running the length of the truck that made the bell in the back clang.)

And just because, here’s a gratuitous shot of adorable alpacas. There’s an alpaca farm nearby that brings a couple of these cuties every year.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging around the house, and I just finished up a small-ish batch of pepper jam. I think last year we must have used bigger peppers, because we only ended up with nine jars of it this time around. And I really, really, really hope it turned out OK, because it also cooked down much faster than I expected and there were a few bits stuck to the bottom when I went to ladle it into the jars. I guess I’ll have to buy some cream cheese at the store tomorrow so we can taste test it. Darn.

Where Did The Week Go?

Sarah General

I swear I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. I’ve even had whole blog posts written in my head, but for some reason I haven’t actually posted them. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up*:

Two of our nieces (oh, yeah, and their parents) came to visit Friday and Saturday. We spent Sunday at the outlet mall, where we bought a whole new cold-weather wardrobe for Carrie, including a great coat and snowpants. Monday, we went to my uncle’s farm and got a ton of fresh veggies and fed the horse and sheep, and then we went to Carrie’s friend Luke’s 2nd birthday party.

Tuesday, we went to playgroup. Wednesday…I don’t know what we did…went to the gym, I guess. Last night was Sit & Knit. And now it’s Friday.

In between all those things, I’ve been a busy crafter. Tomorrow I’ll actually get my camera out and take some pictures. I made two prototype gifts – which we’ll wrap up and stick under the tree for Carrie, she won’t mind the wonky stitching – for the under-ones and the toddlers on my list. I’m also working hard on an older project for myself, and might even have it done by tomorrow…?

*Please, tell me you know where that quote is from. Best. Movie. Ever. Made.

Socks and Dishcloths

Sarah Knitting

I finished the first Jaywalker sock!

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I finished it Wednesday night…technically it might have been Thursday morning when I grafted the toe closed. I was slightly worried about whether I’d have enough yarn to make the second sock, since the skein was feeling a bit lighter than the sock, but I weighed them both (I used the scale at the post office, they must think I’m nuts) and the sock weighed in at 1.5 oz., leaving 2 oz. to knit the second sock. Since I’m actually all lined up at the perfect spot in the color sequence I’ll even have some leftover. Probably not enough to make baby-sized jays though. Now I just have to find the motivation to cast on the second sock.

And remember the garterlac dishcloth I started? I finished that one and made another:

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The one on the right was sitting in my dishcloth basket just needing the ends woven in. I think it’s interesting to see how the variegated yarn looks in the two dishcloths – I personally prefer the way it turned out in the entrelac block, but they’re both pretty.

Ah-choo!

Sarah General

Ugh. I either have a summer cold or allergies. Either way, it sucks. I’ve been trying to be productive – cleaning the house, sorting through boxes in my craft room – but my head is just too heavy for my body right now. Sitting down and knitting is about as much effort as I can expend, and I even find myself staring off into space with my knitting stuck mid-row.

This is not a good way to be when your full-time occupation is watching a bundle of toddler energy. I feel like the worst mom ever, since Carrie watched a whopping 2 hours of TV today – a whole episode of Sesame Street and *two* Signing Time DVDs. It was a choice between that and letting her have free access to the snack cupboard and the play-doh. I think I made the right decision.

Now off to go stare into space knit some more. Did I mention I have 7 Christmas gifts done as of today? I think it’s only fair that I knit for myself some now, isn’t it?

The Power of Branding

Sarah General

Carrie knows the Cheerios logo so well that when I decided to pick up a box of their new fruity Cheerios today at Target, she started shouting “Cheerios!” excitedly as soon as she saw the box. The box looks completely different (colors, size, images) from our standard multi-grain Cheerios, except for the name written across the box in the same font.

Yep, that branding stuff really works. My nearly-two-year-old can pick a box of any flavor Cheerios out of a line-up of other cereals. I’m not sure if I should be happy or worried about that…

Sock-A-Month 2 Knit-along

Sarah Sock-A-Month 2

I joined the Sock-A-Month 2 Knit-along last week. I figured, since I’m knitting socks anyway, it might be fun to try to challenge myself to finish a pair a month. I don’t know if I’ll manage to knit a whole pair of socks every month, but it would be a good way to get through some of my sock yarn stash!

I’ve actually already completed August’s socks, but they’re a surprise for somebody, so no pictures. At the rate I’m going, my Jaywalker socks may actually be finished for September: I’m most of the way through the gusset on the first sock, and then it’s just a few inches of foot and a toe! (And, of course, the second sock…) I’m really hoping I have enough of the yarn left to squeeze out a pair of munchkin-sized socks, because I bought Carrie an adorable outfit from Gymboree that’s all the same colors. Hm, maybe those could be the October socks?