Friday, July 10, 2009
Frugal Friday - Lavender on my mind
Posted by Shalet at 8:30 PM 2 comments
Labels: frugal friday, lavender
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Rookie Kitchen

Over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go. This week all three kids are gone. The boy is at lacrosse camp and the girls are with their grandparents. On top of that I only have to work one out of the five nights they'll be gone.
Posted by Shalet at 11:46 PM 5 comments
Labels: a day in the life, random mumble jumble
Friday, July 3, 2009
Frugal Friday - I Spy Bag

My youngest was invited to a five-year-old birthday party later this month. The minute we got the invitation I knew what I wanted to make - an I Spy Bag. Of course the invention is not my own; it's been floating around the web for a while. I couldn't find a specific tutorial but the bag was easy enough to make without one. Here are the basic steps:
- Go buy clear heavy-duty plastic from your local fabric store (I bought 1/2 yard on sale for $2.00 and still have quite a bit left-over).
- Send your children on a scavenger hunt around the house for small treasures (this keeps the kids busy, clears the clutter from your house and saves you money).
- Make a list of the trinkets to be included in each bag.
- Find some fabric scraps (do you remember this project? I used left over fabric from that - once a curtain now a book bag and a toy).
- Cut the fabric into two squares (or any other shape you wish).
- Cut a window into the front square in any shape desired (I made a square window by cutting four triangular flaps and folding them over. This left a nice clean edge. )
- Cut a piece of plastic in the same shape as your hole only larger, in and sew to the wrong side of the fabric using a straight stitch. (Note: on another I Spy Bag I cut the window as a star shape then used a zig-zag stitch to attach the plastic which kept the fabric from fraying).
- Pin right sides of the fabric together and stitch the bag edges. Be sure to leave an opening to turn right side out.
- Fold the edges of the opening in and iron to make closure easier after filling.
- Fill the bag with rice and trinkets (a creamer pitcher works great for this).
- Top-stitch to close bag. For a professional look top-stitch the entire border of the bag.
- Print a list of the bag contents and laminate (I simply used clear packing tape).
- Attach list to bag (I plan to use a pretty ribbon).

It turns out my kids also wanted I Spy bags so I made them each one too (they are five, nine and thirteen ... even the teenager wanted one of his own). And finally I made a bag for my niece. All told I made five bags in an afternoon. These would be great party-favors and are also perfect for summer car rides.
Happy Sewing and Happy Frugal Friday!
+++++++++
Posted by Shalet at 7:49 AM 6 comments
Labels: crafts, frugal friday, I Spy Bag
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Love Thursday
- Sitting on the porch and watching the girls "wash" the car.
- The way the wicker couch vibrates as the labrador pants.
- The rustling of aspen leaves as they dance in the breeze.
- Finding a homegrown strawberry.
- Dreaming of stuffed zucchini flowers.
- Knowing how to spell zucchini.
- Listening to chickens babble as they rid the yard of weeds.
- Birthday flowers from the neighbor's garden.
- Plastic Sponge Bob cups used as vases.
- Plans to canoe and kayak on the 4th.
- Friends coming to town (even if only briefly).
- Pleasant summer afternoons to counter long nights at work.
- New projects to contemplate.
- Crafty stuff yet to share (stay tuned).

Thanks for the sympathy and love yesterday. I'm am feeling much less sorry for myself. Ahhh the joys of parenting!
Posted by Shalet at 2:33 PM 4 comments
Labels: love thursday
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Happy Birthday To Me.

Today is my birthday. I've been on this planet for thirty-eight years. I learned long ago that birthdays, though special, are also just one of 365 days. And on that note I rang in my birthday with a midnight vacuuming of the living room. This morning I ran a load of dishes and also managed to finish a couple of loads of laundry. This afternoon I cleaned my daughters' room.
Posted by Shalet at 6:21 PM 10 comments
Labels: a day in the life, birthdays
Monday, June 29, 2009
Monday keeps coming around ...

Posted by Shalet at 10:04 PM 2 comments
Labels: bench monday, family, Knitting, sewing
Sunday, June 21, 2009
I have a dirty little secret ...
Yesterday we went to a birthday party. Friends and neighbors gathered to celebrate Nina Bee’s first year of life. Small talk was inevitable as not all attendants were intimately acquainted. As I refilled my wine I became privy to one of these space-filling conversations; an enticing discussion about clover. Enjoying my fly-on-the-wall status I feigned activity and listened in.
“Well,” said one person, “ the clover in this neighborhood is really the fault of so and so up the street. She’s all organic. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But her grass is full of clover and now it’s migrated to our yard.”
“Oh that’s terrible” said another, “no one wants a yard full of clover.” They went on to discuss the various merits of herbicides used to eradicate this evil invader from their lawns.
I quietly slipped away. You see our yard is blanketed in clover. Initially we were going to eliminate it as removal seemed the neighborly thing to do. But then we read the ingredient list on the herbicide bottle. We quickly decided we’d rather have clover than odd growths on our children or an eight-eyed school of fish downstream. And so we went against the first suburban commandment and simply let the clover be.
And here’s my dirty little secret ... I like the clover.
It’s green. It doesn’t die off when the dogs pee on it. Were it not for clover our lawn would be entirely yellow/brown (I’m not joking). Instead our lawn is peppered with little white flowers that attracts bees. These bees, though they come with stingers, are good for environment. Shoes are a good idea when playing on our “grass”. It’s a fair trade; shoes for environmental friendliness.
When the kids are bored I can send them out to search for four leaf clovers. I’m willing to bet families with “perfect” lawns can’t get their kids to go out and pick through the grass as a form of entertainment. Besides these kids would probably contract some sort of mutagentic disease if they were to do so.
And there you have it. Perhaps I’m lazy. Perhaps I’m a hippie. Perhaps I’m the dredge of the neighborhood. Or, perhaps, I’m all three. What I do know is I like fish with two eyes, children without growths and my blanket of clover.
Posted by Shalet at 9:01 PM 20 comments
Labels: a day in the life, random mumble jumble







