Wordless Wednesday - June 24, 2015

Currently feeling: thank you for the new lantern, Papa!

Blood Drive: A Conversation With Luke

Copyright: 123RF Stock Photo

Upon seeing the sign as we drove past the church, Luke says, "What is a blood drive? Sounds like somewhere you would go for murdering." I don't know whether to be amused or terrified! LOL
Currently feeling: goulish

Whose shoes?

So, this is new. We were at dinner, and Luke was sitting opposite me in the booth. I put my hand down in the seat next to me and bumped something. This should not have happened, since I didn't bring anything in with me. So what was in my seat? These!

Pretty sure this is the first time he's been able to do this comfortably. Why are his legs so long?!
Currently feeling: like I'm shrinking daily

Wordless Wednesday - June 17, 2015

Currently feeling: enjoying summer movie season so far

The Sword in the [Insert Random Object Here]

What, you don't keep your sword in your sneakers?
Currently feeling: knightly

TV Time: The Flash

I'm not sure where we've been for the past year, but somehow we missed that The Flash was doing well as a new television program. However, after our experience with Daredevil, I was hesitant to try it. It is somewhat traditional that we binge watch a new-to-us show each summer while most of our programs are on hiatus, and after spotting the first episode of The Flash coming up on the channel guide a while back (and checking with my friends to make sure it wasn't likely to be too violent for me), we decided to give it a shot.

And I am so glad we did! We are really enjoying it, and we especially enjoy the fact that it is relatively "tame" compared to so many other super hero (and just regular cable show) productions. It's not deep, and it doesn't aim to be intriguing and complex. It is straight forward and easy and fun, and we can't wait to see each new episode. In fact, we like it sow much, we are now watching it as a family!

Tonight, Luke got to watch his first episode of it, but about 5 minutes after we started it, the power went out! It stayed off for nearly an hour, but it came back on just in time for us to squeak in an episode before he had to go to bed. When the episode was over, Luke looked at us with a huge smile on his face and asked, "are there more?" Yes, honey, there are more. We've screened 3 episodes so far, and everything looks promising. My friends say it stays about the same "level" for the whole first season. I hope they continue to be okay for him! Looks like the CW has it planned out so that, if we watch/record each week over the summer, we will be caught up just in time for the premiere of Season 2 in October. Looking forward to it!
Currently feeling: excited for our first family TV show

Wordless Wednesday - June 10, 2015

Currently feeling: enjoying our first special summer breakfast (while in need of a haircut!)

WIPocalypse 2015 - June 2015

I thought I was going to have a get-together with my local friends to tell you about, but we had to reschedule it by a week or two (still finalizing), so I'm going to go ahead with this month's update and just catch you up on *both* of my get-togethers next time (or maybe save one for each of the two July updates, we'll see). Let's see what this month's topic has in store for us.

Topic: Do you find yourself more productive with stitching in summer or winter?

I tend to stitch more during the "extremes" of the weather, be that the dead of winter or the heat of summer (here in HOT-lanta). I don't seem to do much in the spring or fall, at least according to my blog archives. I'm so "patchy" with my stitching, it's really hard to say. Although now that I'm sitting here trying to figure out why, it probably has a lot to do with the television schedule! LOL I am actually *not* one to stitch while I watch TV. I feel like I miss too much of the show and I make too many mistakes counting. But over the winter TV break and during the summer hiatus, there isn't all that much to watch, so I tend to stitch more during those times, especially during baseball games. Not that I don't love baseball (I really do!), but it doesn't require my full and complete attention. I can look up for each pitch/play, then go back to my work. Interesting, I'd never really thought about it before! Thanks for the great question.

So, are you ready to see my impressive progress pictures?

Baked Alaska, by Glendon Place

What, you don't see it? Look at the far right of each picture. I finished the corner, woohoo!

So that's it. And I don't mean that's all I did on Baked Alaska. I mean that's all I did, period! I actually forced myself  to squeeze in a few strands the last week of May just so I would have *something* to show you. (That's about 4 strands.) We were just ridiculously busy between visiting family, the end of school, and traveling for Memorial Day weekend. Whew!

But I do have a few more pictures for you, just for the fun of it. I did a little shopping.

Weeks Dye Works 30ct Linen in Gunmetal

This is Weeks Dye Works 30 count linen in Gunmetal. I actually ordered this fabric back in February, I think, but it's been back ordered because the huge popularity of the Hands On Design Year In Chalk Series (no affiliation, just a happy customer). It finally arrived in May. Now I just have to cut it apart, get the fibers (didn't see the point until the fabric arrived), and start stitching them!

More Glendon Place Dessert Mandalas

I also decided to finish up my Glendon Place Dessert Mandala collection. I had six of them; may as well go on and get the other four, yes? Top L-R: Strawberry Shortcake, Cherries Jubilee; Bottom L-R: Rainbow Parfait, Pumpkin Swirl. Sorry for the funky camera angle. I had to take the pictures inside, so I was trying to get enough light for the picture to show well and avoid the glare of the overhead light on the plastic.

Needle Minders from Gina's Unique Boutique

And some more needle minders (because I didn't have enough, haha). Needle minders have become a bit of an obsession for me. I have, uh, some (I won't even lie by saying a few; it's definitely more than that! LOL). For anyone not familiar with them, each of these beautiful things has a rare earth magnet glued to the back, and there is a second "loose" magnet to go with it. You separate the loose magnet from the front piece, put the decorative one on the front of your fabric and the loose magnet on the back of your fabric, sandwiching your piece in between. You've probably seen some of my other ones in my various WIP pictures. Then you put your needle on it when you're not using it (clipping thread, getting out a new color, whatever) to "mind your needle" and keep it secure. Please please PLEASE don't put your needle in your mouth! I used to do that all the time, but this article scared me straight. You can also use the minders to hold your pattern, if you so choose. Plus, who doesn't love sparkly blingy things, right? I have gotten over 80% of my collection from Gina's Unique Boutique (no affiliation, just a happy customer), but many needlework shops both online and in real life carry them. Gina is really great to work with, though, and she ships quickly, but due to the strong magnets, the packages sometimes take a while to arrive (I've had some arrive in 2-3 days, I've had others take 2-3 weeks). I know I sound like a commercial, but I just love mine. They make me so happy just to look at them and see them sparkling and shining on my work!

So that's it for me this month. Hopefully, I'll have some decent progress to show you the next time we meet. Until then, happy stitching!

Currently feeling: embarrassed at my pitiful progress

Baseball Camp

Looking a little worried on his first day of camp.

This year, we decided to try something a little different for the summer. He will still be going to the same place that he has spent his summers since he was two years old, but we also wanted to give him the opportunity to do a few new things, too. For the first week of summer, he did his first sports camp, a half-day baseball camp run by the same organization where he plays baseball in the spring. He was there from 8:30 to 12:30 every day this week. It threatened rain most days, but generally, it held off until at least the afternoon, thank goodness!

He was a little concerned when he first arrived, since he didn't know any of the kids there. At the end of his his first day, he declared baseball camp "fun but tiring." Yes, that would be the general idea! On Wednesday, when we arrived home after eating lunch, he asked, "Mommy, can I lay down on my bed?" Well, sure, I guess. He slept for over 2 hours! But today was what the kids have been looking forward to all week: sliding practice! I was actually a bit worried about it, until they explained how they do it. We were reminded yesterday that everyone needed to wear swimwear the next day. Why?  Because sliding practice involves the slip-n-slide! What a fun and brilliant idea! Luke really enjoyed it.
Currently feeling: like we're having (tiring) fun

Gaston Family Recipe Scoring

Recently on Facebook, my friends and I got into a discussion of how we rate recipes. I realized a while back that I actually have a fairly specific - if unusual - scoring system for all recipes, and just for the fun of it, I made up this graphic to go along.

Unfortunately, tonight's dinner was a complete bust. I tried two new recipes, which is uncommon in and of itself. Typically, I only make one new recipe at a time, since doing more than that has the potential to lead to disasters such as tonight where someone(s) leave the table hungry. The meatloaf scored a mere 1.5 spoons (DH ate all of his, I only ate half of mine). The no-boil mac and cheese scored 2 spoons (and you know it had to be pretty sad if *I* threw away mac and cheese). To me, new recipe success means the meal scores at least 3 spoons, and we didn't even come close tonight.
Currently feeling: hungry

Wordless Wednesday - June 3, 2015

Currently feeling: trying to remember why I wanted to start cooking again