We had a strong afternoon storm yesterday. Lots of rain and heavy winds. Mother Nature took a second swing at my Subaru, but was thwarted once again! Her persistence is admirable, though.
Mother Nature strikes again
4 Replies
Author Archives: Rebecca
The Curious Incident with the Tree in the Night-Time
Peter and I both woke up around 7:15 this morning. He went downstairs for something and I went to the bathroom and back to bed. A minute or two later I heard the baby gate swing closed and moments after that Peter came into our room and said, “You need to go look outside!”
Still groggy from waking up, and a little bothered that I wasn’t still in bed, I stumbled out to the front door, stepped outside and saw this:
We knew that a big storm had blown through, but had no idea it was causing this kind of damage! Peter and I quickly assessed the cars and much to our surprise there seemed to be no damage at all! What a blessing and a miracle! I’d imagine that had the cars been smashed, the following activities would not have been as much fun as they were!
By 8:15 the tree had been totally cleared from the yard by Peter, neighbor, Catherine and myself. Not bad for an hours worth of work! All the pics from our adventure can be found in their gallery album here.
An Announcement
Peter and I are happy to announce that, come the end of February, our little Catherine will be a big sister!
We haven’t really told her yet (9 months is a long time to wait when you’re 2!) but I did discover her reading my most recent library book. She must have a gut feeling and want to be prepared!
Summer Dress: the Sequel
The cute stripey dress I made last week (Yes, I think it is fabric from Ikea! Thanks, Kinda!) was really just a practice project for another dress that I’ve had in mind for some time now.
The story. (There’s always a story, isn’t there?) Way back in college…7 years ago… I bought a cute little skirt. I loved it and I wore it a lot and then all of a sudden I didn’t like it. I mean, I didn’t like it as a skirt anymore. I still loved the fabric and couldn’t bear to part with it.
From college, to my parents, to Beverly and finally to Danvers it traveled with no specific purpose in mind other than “someday I will use this fabric for something.” It survived massive rounds of purging and organizing and evaded many bags bound for the Salvation Army. “I will use this someday!” I continued to tell myself. The skirt’s saving grace was that it was small and light and easy to tuck into a box or drawer. By being so cute and being stealthy the skirt outlived all of its comrades.
With this dress as inspiration, I knew that my skirt was destined to become a summer dress for Catherine. Having already tested out my “trace the dress on the fabric, cut and sew” theory I went forward with confidence onto dress number two.
I was particularly careful with this dress, as I wanted to try and preserve the skirt’s original hem. I was successful and was also able to position the dress so that I could also make use of the original zipper right up the back! With this dress I only had to sew the side seams, finish the neck and arm holes and connect the shoulders. It really did work out quite nicely.
Reusable Tulle Produce Bags
Lately, I’ve been noticing that more and more people at our local Market Basket have been using reusable grocery bags. I think it is great! We’ve been using our cloth bags exclusively for some time now and have been very happy. Recently, I’ve decided that it is time to go whole hog and I’m no longer going to use those little plastic produce bags.
I’ve been putting larger or single items right in the top basket in my carriage, but it is hard to buy several lemons or green beans without putting them in a bag. Why not use a reusable bag for these items as well as the rest of my groceries? It’s a great idea and there are several mesh, gauze and tulle bags for sale out there specifically for this purpose.
But,before I buy anything I look to see if I have something that can serve the same purpose, or can be crafted to my needs. (then I try to find it secondhand from Freecycle or a Thrift Shop and lastly, I buy it new) In this case, I knew that I had some tulle in my fabric box that would fit the bill. It is a dark, hunter green tulle that I was especially happy to reuse. In fact, it has lived a couple lives already! It started out as a little shawl for my friend Joanna’s wedding. I wound up with three bridesmaid’s shawls and once we got back home they shawls quickly became window valances in our ‘office/sewing room/ nursery. They hung in the windows for the next five years! One of the three had a brief career as the arms of my Princess Fiona costume, Halloween 2006. They’ve been in a box since we moved just waiting for the perfect opportunity to be used again.
I made myself several little drawstring bags from the shawl/curtain/sleeves. Then I tucked them into my shopping bag where they sat until their maiden voyage today. I am happy to report that my new produce bags worked out quite nicely. The cashier didn’t even bat an eye as she rang up my tomatoes and other veggies. The tulle is strong enough to carry produce in and translucent enough to read the PLU numbers on the veggies’ stickers. Nice.
It will probably take a few more shopping trips before using these bags becomes second nature. I’m sure, though, that like recycling, shutting off the water while I brush and using canvas shopping bags, soon I’ll have forgotten how ‘new’ it was to bring my own produce bags.
Homecoming Day
Today marks two years since we were able to bring Catherine home from the hospital.
In celebration, I spent her naptime sewing her a new dress. She has this dress that I love and have been wanting to copy and make her more of. I came across a great piece of fabric at the Beverly Bootstraps Thrift Shop and knew it would be perfect. I traced the original dress onto the new fabric and an hour later Catherine had a new dress. And it only cost a mere 25¢ !
Art Time
Catherine has been very interested in using her art easel lately. She loves her markers, crayons, pencils and watercolors. The last time we painted she kept putting her fingers in the watercolors (the hard, disk kind) instead of the paintbrush.
So, I thought she might like to try finger painting. Thanks to this recipe (second one down) I didn’t need to waste gas or money on getting new paints. I cooked up a batch, separated it into red, blue and yellow, and set the gal up at her easel.
Of course today she wouldn’t paint with anything but her paintbrush. I think she had a good time. There are more pictures here. Enjoy.
I (heart) my new towel rack.
Our towel shelf in the bathroom has always been a bit of a disaster. I can’t get one towel down without pulling down all the others as well. I can never fold the towels so they look nice and it has bothered me right from the start.
I’ve always loved the towel racks I’ve seen at various hotels. They hold the towels so neatly and there’s never any risk of toppling the pile when you only want one. For years I thought these fantastic racks were found only in hotels. Now I have one of my very own. Who’d’ve thought I’d find one at the Beverly Bootstraps Thrift Shop?
We installed it today and reorganized the bathroom a bit. Frankly, I’m thrilled. 🙂
Driving Photos
By holding the camera facing backwards and aiming ‘blind’, I was able to capture some photos in the car during our trip last week. I think they tell a great story of our adventure.
Sometimes Catherine was awake:
Sometimes she was asleep:
Sometimes Momma drove the car:
And sometimes Baby drove 🙂
Heading Home
Friday morning saw Catherine and I packing up, eating breakfast and saying our goodbyes to Kirsten and Mark. We hopped in the car and proceeded to shuffle off to Buffalo. The rain stayed with us the whole trip, but we enjoyed the tap, tap, tap that it played on the roof.
Catherine especially liked playing with the Lyttles, our hosts for the night:
