Buck-a-Rette

The Ride

Check the above link to see little miss Abicakes in action. If she slips off to the kitchen on her own, she's usually going for a spin on old Blue Dog.

Mud Pies

We had a nice rain today, after many weeks of dry weather. So Andrew took the opportunity to play in the puddles when we got home from a trip to the mall. But playing in the puddles quickly turned into playing in the mud, then digging in the mud, then driving cars in the mud, then finally mud pies.

I wish I could make mudpies!

Scoops of Heaven

Ahh, here it is in all its glory, Grandma Reedy's Peach Cobbler! I took the children to pick peaches at Cherry Hill Orchards on Thursday and we got 12 pounds, including a few early apples. I shared them with mom-in-law, as she's a fantastic pie maker.

Friday I peeled, seeded and sliced enough peaches for 3 cobblers. Two ziplocs went into the freezer, pre-measured for baking later. With the 3rd portion, I baked up Grandma's cobbler. Needless to say, Don was pretty happy to come home to pork chops for dinner and his grandma's cobbler.

We definitely plan to go back very soon so we can fill the freezer up with fruit for baking this winter. The fall apples will be ready in a few weeks at Cherry Hill so we'll be ready for some apple crisp!

My French Market Bag

I am one very well pleased knitter. I love, love, love everything about how this project worked up and finished up with the felting process. Which, I might add, is pretty simple... just time consuming for the drying really.

I'll be using it mainly as a fall bag for myself... purse/diaper bag. But it will serve as my tote for knitting nights as well, until I can get another one made... which won't be too long. Hehee! But first, I must finish Abi's dress (not long now) and make something for a friend.

Hooray! The sense of accomplishing something is always nice, but making something that I can use daily... is pure pleasure.

Finished, before felting

and then drying

"Sorry, I have to felt my bag."

No longer is the excuse, "Sorry, I have to wash my hair." Heheee! My girlfriend called earlier to invite us over for a playdate and lunch at her house. And its a big deal for me to say no... because she is a very gracious host! But I stood there on the phone looking at my completed-not-yet-felted French Market Bag and said, "Sorry, I have to felt my bag. But we'll take a rain check!" The great thing is that she totally understands because though she's not a knitter, she comes to my knitting circle to hang out, chat and drink Starbucks with us while we SnB. LOL Oh girls, I have it bad!!!! Its all done up, and is on my son's T-ball post out back dripping! LOL I can't wait until the drippys are gone and its to the damp stage so I can shape it up and get it formed. Woowoo!

On Saturday, I went on a yarn field trip with 3 women from my knitting circle. On the right is Margie (with her daughter), who taught me to knit over the winter!
While I didn't purchase a single thread of yarn, I did come home with so much! I have a much better knowledge now of just how yarns are spun and how they are constructed. It was an amazing day! Now, when I see a pattern I like and read the yarn requirements, I'll know much better what will work.
My favorite find of the day was the hand-dyed Merino wool by
Malabrigo, from a women's coop in Uruguay. It is the softest wool I've had my hands in!

Buddies

At the park with his buddy, B. Andrew was "saving" her all day, as he called it. Every time she'd toddle off into trouble, he'd go bring her back to her mom. It was very dear.

Knit Night

Here's a great shot my girlfriend snapped from last Thursday's Knit Night at Barnes & Noble. I love this knitting circle!

Brown Bag Bottom

I'm done with the increases (faints) for my French Market Bag Since I'm a new knitter, this was actually my first time to do increases. Well. I got quite the exercise in increasing! It was so nifty for me to see and understand how things can actually "grow." And I loved using double pointed needles for the first time. Very neat, and now I'm not leary of them any more.

Here's the bottom. Time to go up, up, up now to the sides, then the handles.

Grandma Reedy's Peach Cobbler

Via my mom-in-law, here is her mother's cobbler recipe. Peaches are on my shopping list to give this yummy recipe a try this week! My own mom always made cobblers in the summertime.

Grandma Reedy's Peach Cobbler

3 cups fresh sliced peaches
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 and 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup milk
1 well beaten egg

Arrange peaches in 8x8 greased baking pan.
Sprinkle with mixture of 1 cup sugar, extract, lemon juice and peel.
Heat in 375 degree oven while preparing batter.

Sift flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Cut in shortening till mixture is like coarse crumbs.
Add egg and milk all at once and stir until flour is moistened.

Drop dough by spoonfuls over peaches, spread gently.
Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Bake in hot oven 35 minutes or till peaches are bubbly and top is nicely brown.

Morning, Glory!

Late in the summer, flowers start to droop their little faces and their greens begin their tired, dry descent down to the ground as hot weather drains them.

But we have hearty, faithful friends that take over our front
porch during this hot season and they remind us how blessed we are. They come to camp out every summer and don't require a single thing from us... no blankes, no food, no water. The best kind of house guest! They quietly make make themselves comfy and set out the most glorious feast for our eyes with no requirements from their host family.

Our morning glories have been living on H street just as
long as we have. We moved in during early April 3 years ago... we planted then in early May the same year. And they always come back... no matter how busy we are or how much we sit and admire them. They always give us a smile as we take the kids out to play or rush past them to the car. They don't care much what we are doing, for they are doing just fine.

They also camp out with the neighbors now too, although
I'm not so sure they are as welcome at their homes (giggle) as they are in ours. These beauties are nothing if they are not prolific... and their family reunion each summer has grown beyond the small borders of our yard to the neighbors on each side. Whoops! Well, we like to share.

5th grade, here she comes!

Today is my least favorite day of the year.


Don just left, headed for BWI with 2 suitcases, 2 carry-ons and my precious Mary Grace. I hate this day as much as I love the day in May when she arrives once school is out. MG starts school, the 5th grade, next Thursday. How can it be that my 1st baby girl is starting 5th grade? My, how time does fly.

She's headed back south after a nice full summer of fun. She left here with knitting on her lap... I'm so proud of her having the patience to learn and for sticking with it. She will never forget her newest art. And she may never put it down for that matter. This girl has the bug for knitting. I owe that to my dear friend Margie. She's going with a yarn stash that even I'm jealous of, again courtesy of Margie, and a brand new 29" #7 circular needle. She picked it out at AC Moore yesterday, telling me it would give her more flexibity to knit small projects, or larger projects in-the-round. It makes me beam with pride to hear her rattle off knitting jargon and anticipate that she will need that flexibility. She's such cool kid.

She's also headed back with a very fun new binder/satchel that we got yesterday at Target. We went out to lunch with girlfriends and their children. Then they also went along with us to Target for the hunt. We'd hoped to find an obnoxiously sparkly and very girly binder, but Target didn't have anything quite over the top. But MG managed to pick out a tasteful and VERY practical lipstick-pink double binder with a handle and strap option for carrying it. We picked up lots of add-ons too, including a silver sequined pencil compartment that hooks into the binder. I'm totally jealous. I always wanted some thing so cool. Of course we filled the pockets with new gel pins, colored pencils and mini-markers. It was quite the scene actually, me and my two girlfriends TELLING her what she needed. We were totally picking out what WE'D want if WE were still 10 years old. We were so puzzled why MG wouldn't go our way, then we all suddenly realized that we wanted her to have what we wanted. We're all still girls at heart, I suppose. Always will be.

So she's off. Another summer done. Another moment of her childhood X'ed off the little chalkboard I carry around in my heart. Sadness consumes me. I'd like to go to bed and cover my head up for the rest of the day. But these other little busy bees need me. So off I go to mommy the two I'm blessed to be with around the entire calendar. Today, despite my qualms with letting my big one go south once again, is just one more day in the life of my children. And another chance for me to help my children grow and learn and become strong little people.

Thanks to everyone who made this summer so special to my girly... and to those of you who are my crutches. I certainly couldn't do anything without your love and support.

Gimme a break! Gimme a break!

Time to put the breaks on and sit back and re-evaluate again. I'm going to say, "whooooaa nelly" to my local playgroup, because honestly, I'm all played out. All thought out. All debated out. All worn out. While we can't leave his dear friends, I need to rest my weary head for a while.

The fall will soon be here and our schedule is going to be turned upside down anyway. Andrew will be in pre-school 3 mornings a week. I'm considering toddler gym again and my dear friend, L, reeeealllly wants me to join her at MOPS every other Tuesday. Its at a church close by and its for moms, where moms do activities and attend talks together while the children have surprised playtime with each other. Mommies play. Children play. Sounds good. Ahhhh. Time to shift gears.

Ears

Andrew has an ear infection. He's been sticking his head under the tub spout for fun during bathtime and now his eustation tubes are infected. The eardrums are fine. Crazy boy.

He told me this morning that his ear was sunburned, but I didn't think anything of it. Then this afternoon I heard him tell MG that his ears hurt down deep in the holes. Hello! That got mommy's attention. So I called the doc and we were seen right away.So now he's on Zithromax. Argh

Participating in a new drug study

Mom's doctors have signed her up for a new medical study for a cancer chemotherapy drug. Its still in the development stages, so she is participating in a blind study. She received her first part of it last Wednesday and then another one yesterday. She'll have several rounds of this sort of double-teamed series and then they will re-evaluate.

There is a possibility she might be receiving the placebo. If her numbers aren't coming down after a few weeks, the docs can contact the research company and ask for them to switch her to the actual drugs. I guess this is the process that must be followed, since its not an FDA approved pharmaceutical yet. The good news is that after the first two times going, she's had some side effects. So we are praying that it means she's getting the drugs and not the placebo. She had some shortness of breath, elevated BP and nausea... so we hope those icky things mean good things in the long run.

Mommy Wars

Why are women so hard on each other? I am one... and I'm totally guilty of it. But why is it this way?

I travel in several mommy circles, in person and online, and there always seems to be some drama going on. What is it that keeps us stirred up? Just recently I've seen people take their toys and go home over the darndest things. Peanut butter, the raging breast feeding vs. forumla debate, who posts more often and contributes more to the group, junk food at playdates, moms having babies via Csection being treated as second class mommies.

Ugh.

I used to say that I hated working with women because they are so emotional and hormonal. And its just always true. Men were, at the very least, predictable. Even if you can't count on them to do the best job... you know they will shut up and work.

Isn't it hard enough work to be a parent and a wife? You have to be right all of the time too? Sigh.

My little cozy

Yay, my yarn is here for my French Market Bag and I wanted to do a test felt of the yarn. Instead of just doing a swatch, my friend K suggested that I do a little needle cozy. She had done a few from patterns in Cat Bordi's book, Second Treasury of Magical Knitting so I gave it a go. I adore the way it turned out! So much so that I had trouble taking the needles out of the cozy to start my bag! Hahaha!!