Back in the saddle again! Time to Blog!

Did you realize that the NFL season officially kicks off tonight at 7pm Central Time (pun very much intended, thank you!) Vikings and Favre get to show the country what they are made of, and I'm planning to finish a sock while I sit and watch.

As yet another sign of fall, I give you this: one of the big maple trees on Abbott Avenue South is definitely turning red. I kid you not. Don't know if it's because of the lack of water this summer, or global warning, or what, but it seems as though all of the trees locally are turning color very early this year. I was a bit shocked this morning to let the dog out for her morning pee, and discover a handful of dry, yellow maple leaves already fallen on the dark green lawn....another sure sign of impending fall.

And that can only mean that snow and mittens are not far off in my future. But for the moment, I will ignore that thought. It is Evil.

Hoping to go to the Farmer's Market again on Saturday. I want to try one last picking project, this one especially for Dad. If they have cauliflower and red peppers, I'm going to try a very vinegar-y pickled mixed cauliflower-pepper-carrot recipe. Much easier than salsa, no veggies to peel like those darn tomatoes!

Found another embroidery project on Urban Threads that I simply must have. I want to stitch this one out for Jennifer, and frame it for her Christmas present. What do you think?
And because it's Traditional, here's Lydia's first day of school picture for 9th grade. Standing in front of the same hydrangea tree as always.

Hope you get a chance to catch a few minutes of football, in between celebrations for Carol's b-day and bowling, and that your week finishes up on a high note.

Love,
Mom

In my next life, I'm gonna be a bear....

In this life, I'm a woman.

In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear.

When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that, too.

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping, and you wake up to partially grown, cut, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a momma bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers you or your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them, too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate expects you to wake up growling. He expects that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, I'm gonna be a bear!

Back after a long weekend of snow and taxes!

Thought you might get a nostalgic kick out of seeing your old Lily, sacked out on the kitchen floor, waiting for dinner to be served.

This image brought to you courtesy of my spiffy new Sony digital camera from Dad as my Valentine's present - so cool! I'm really having fun playing around with the settings, and it takes great pictures.

All told, we ended up with about six inches of fluffy new snow from Friday's storm. A pain in the butt to be shovelling out on Saturday morning, but no doubt good for the plants to come in future spring months. When spring actually decides to show up here is anyone's bet, however! We still were only 2 measly degrees this morning, pretty darn nippy!

Hey, I updated the old blog site for Amelia's Cinderella costume with new photos of the Embroidery Purse Project so that you could see my progress to date:

http://ameliascinderella.blogspot.com/

More photos with my spiffy new camera, of course, but you'll get a good idea of how I'm coming along. It certainly will not be done for her birthday on Thursday, but hey! she'll get it eventually.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, you know, so your dad will be busy nearly all day with services at St. Bartholomew's. Don't know if you ever think about going to church up there in the Vermont, but we're coming up on the Easter season, so I thought I'd give you a cue if you wanted it.

Other than getting our taxes and the FAFSA done this weekend, not a whole lot going on. We're kind of in a holding pattern, waiting for spring to come. Can't wait to get outside again and plant!

Love to you,
Mom

If you have a little cash, this economy is great!

Honestly, there are some seriously incredible bargains to be had these days, if you just have a wee wodge of cash burning a hole in your pocket!

Take Eddie Bauer, for example. I spent last Sunday at Southdale Mall (a ghost town, to be sure, these days....), and wandered into Eddie Bauer on a whim. Their sizing fits Dad well, so I was hoping to buy him a shirt or sweater as a Valentine's Day present. But ay, caramba! They were having a sale: 50% off the already marked clearance prices!

So for the royal sum of $23.50, I walked out with a lambswool 1/4 zip sweater, two waffle weave cotton henley button shirts, and a long sleeve tee shirt. The sweater alone was originally $55, and I bought it for $10. Amazing.

Amazing enough to Dad that he wanted to go back on Wednesday while Lydia was at confirmation class to see if he couldn't pick up another sweater. Hit the jackpot again! Two more henley shirts, a v-neck wool sweater, two tee shirts, and a pair of jeans: $42. It's incredible.

I essentially bought him two week's worth of clothing for sixty bucks.

Dad continued our family's personal effort to stimulate the economy by buying me a Valentine's present on clearance as well: I got a fabulous Sony digital camera, half off the original $230 price. $115, and it's amazing. Of course, Lydia immediately tried to con me into trading cameras with her, but for once I held firm and kept my own gift! (I thought you'd be proud of me...)

When I get a bit of time this week, I'll take some photos of the current state of Amelia's embroidered purse project. It's going a bit more slowly than I'd like, mostly because the instructions provided by the amateur designer are piss-poor. I've had to re-do three of the individual pieces because her construction method caused them to completely mess up. I can assure you, it was not operator error! I'm getting better at being able to decipher her files and see through the construction methods for each piece to figure out where the pitfalls are going to lie, and to correct them myself, but it's kind of a pain.

I spoke with Grandma Jan this weekend, and let her know that you would probably be spending part of your spring break in Connecticut. If you get a chance next weekend, give her a call to formally let her know that you need bed space, and to give her your approximate schedule. She'll be delighted to see you again, and so will Jennifer.

And in conclusion, congratulations on your STAR recognition at UVM - that's great! Are you sure you don't feel the need to apply to the Honors College for next year? You'd be a snap to get in, I'm sure at this point.....

Love,
Mom

I am officially an Animal Crossing Addict

Hi, my name is Louisa, and I'm addicted to Animal Crossing.

Thus begins another 12-step group in Minnesota!

But really, I'm totally hooked on it! It's like my best bedtime snack - I cannot go to bed without knowing that I've watered my Red Turnip, sent out three apples in letters to town friends (in the hopes of receiving an exotic fruit or coconut in return), and tried my hand at fishing in the waterfall. Lydia scoffs at me, but she's quick to ask if I want to play every night after dinner. And it's the one thing that will get her to hang around with us in the living room, instead of escaping into her bedroom to text or talk to friends.

Although she does have a bad habit of simultaneously texting and playing. When she gets a text, she thrusts the controller into my hand (to finish up her fishing or apple tree shaking), and then grabs it back when she's done....not the most polite way of playing the game, I assure you.

I keep threatening to make my own character in town, and play for myself. You're only allowed to create a single town on your Wii, but you can have up to five different characters in the same town. You can only play one character at a time, however. Lydia's afraid that I'll pick all the apples in town if I get my own character....! And she knows I'm a better fisherman. I'd have a second story on my house in no time flat.

Glad to hear that the whole roommate issue has resolved itself by turning into a whole lot of nothing, and that you've still got your coveted single room for the balance of the semester. You could do without any drama, no doubt. Now let's just hope that your computer issues get resolved as smoothly and as simply!

Not a whole lot going on at home right now. I'm hoping to pick out paint for the bathroom this weekend and get the walls done (read: that Dad will paint the walls for me in his spare time during the week). Then I'll stitch up that new shower curtain and voila! a spiffy new bathroom.

Talk to you soon,
Love,
Mom

Weather Weenies!

So, while you, m'dear, are experiencing a full-blown Lake Effect Snow Storm, the weather weenies in our nation's capital are closing schools, shuttering businesses and generally rolling up the sidewalks because of ... some ice.

Our new president was apparently incredulous that his daughters had no school today:

WASHINGTON - You call this bad weather? President Barack Obama, steeled by many snowy Chicago winters, expressed disbelief Wednesday when his daughters woke up to find that their classes had been canceled for the day.

Schools in Washington and the surrounding suburbs either opened late or scrapped all their classes because of icy conditions.

"Can I make a comment that is unrelated to the economy very quickly?" the new president told reporters at a gathering with business leaders. "And it has to do with Washington. My children's school was canceled today. Because of, what? Some ice?"

The president said he wasn't the only one who was incredulous.

"As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled," Obama said to laughter. "In fact, my 7-year-old pointed out that you'd go outside for recess. You wouldn't even stay indoors. So, I don't know. We're going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness."

Asked if he meant the people of the national's capital are wimps, Obama said: "I'm saying, when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things."

I am the master of Power Cooking!

Wow, what a kitchen marathon yesterday! I am so freaking chuffed, I think I managed to cook more than a dozen dinners in one afternoon, all tucked away in my "outdoor freezer" (also known as a breezeway!).

Here's the sum total of my marathon efforts:
-two weeks' worth of Lily's food;
-two sausage lasagne pans (one for the Tenzins' gift);
-5 pounds of pot roast with extra gravy (OMG, that gravy is going to make the most fabulous shepherd's pie in a couple weeks!);
-5 pounds of mashed potatoes;
-one cheesy hashbrown potatoes casserole;
-three meals of chili;
-one loaf of bread;
-poached chicken breasts for curried chicken salad, plus frozen chicken for a future casserole; and
-prepped a double turkey breast for roasting tonight.

Somehow it doesn't feel like as much when I put it down in writing....I sure washed a hell of a lot of dishes yesterday to get everything cleaned up!

I also spent some time on Saturday working on Miss Amelia's Embroidered Purse. I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of this project. Must admit, the instructions that came with the package are less than helpful at times - huge chunks of information missing, scant explanation of assembly techniques, even incorrect stitching orders for the embroidery files. After a couple false starts, I think I've worked out my own system for putting the individual pieces together, and thus ignoring the instructions altogether.

The biggest pain was the way the original designer had set up the assembly order -- she had you construct the back side completely, stitching the back fabric onto the tearaway stabilizer with a sheet of foam under the fabric for stability, trimming the piece to its finished size, and then fiddling about with trying to line this piece up perfectly underneath the second hooping with the front section completed. There was NO WAY to get all of the edges to line up perfectly and get covered evenly by the last satin stitching around the edges to finish the piece - one side or another was always off.

So after two failed attempts, and much cursing, I put it aside for the night and mulled it over. Bingo! the light dawned! No reason not to do everything in one hooping step when the back side of the object is plain fabric: just finish embroidering the front side, do some nifty backing up in the embroidery stitch out to sandwich the back fabric and foam onto the backside, trim the edges close to the first stitching line with my tiny scissors while the object is still hooped, and then fast forward to the final satin stitching to finish the object. It never fails, all of the edges line up perfectly.

So when I have to embroider the back piece as well as the front piece, I decided not to trim anything to fit until it comes time for the final assembly. I'll put the foam under the front side, and then position the back piece as best I can, stitch the first placement line to hold it all together, and then trim the front and back befor the last satin stitching.

As soon as Lydia's camera batteries are recharged, I will post some photos - the wee keys turned out fabulously!

Dad seems to have gotten the point that he's going to have to scrap, claw and struggle to keep the money flowing into the coffers, even if that means he has to take a low-paying hourly job. I think he finally understood when his friend, Stan, told him that Chanhassen might be cutting their orchestra and that Stan was prepared to go back to bagging groceries at Lunds to make ends meet.... Pride doesn't buy the pizza, as the saying goes. Dad has spent a fair bit of time calling around to his organist friends, trying to pull in some work to make up for the Sundays that Richard Clark cancelled, too.

And, drum roll please ......... we received a letter from the UVM Dean, congratulating us and you upon your stellar academic performance last semester. You made the Dean's List, bravo! We are also advised to send it on to the local newspaper - shall I have it put in the Sun Current, to brag on you? Good job, sweetie!

On the home front, we are roasting a turkey breast tonight, and having it with the aforementioned hash brown potato gratin casserole. Lydia and I will no doubt play more Animal Crossing tonight (I'm hooked, I freely admit it.) I cajoled her into letting me buy one red turnip seed; now I have to water it every day without fail for seven days, and then I can sell it back to Tom Nook on Sunday for 16,000 Bells.

Now you know: your mother is a dweeb.

Hugs, and hopes that you stay warm!
Love,
Mom