Nest Building

Lyndi, at last, is beginning to look like she’s expecting. Her body is so long and willowy that her baby girl has been able to hide away from all of us…until now. She kicks and squirms so much more these days, like she wants to be sure we know she’s there, waiting to be ours. She’s like her mama that way. They haven’t settled on a name yet and so the sweet thing has been dubbed Baby Chomp after the Nintendo character. Lyndi says, “You know that phase where you’re just starving, so you eat…and then 5 minutes later, you’re starving again.” Baby Chomp…get it?

Of course, she felt like she was eating everything in sight–like Pac man–tortillas, Tillamook, Goldfish crackers, Teddy Grahams and anything with cream cheese on it. All of which was very new and scary to this daughter. But I think her body was making up for all the year’s she spend flitting and dancing around forgetting to eat altogether. She’s happily somewhere in the middle now.

So, as the temperature keeps dropping and we huddle in a bit more closely to home, I’ll start pulling out some of the finer yarns and slightly smaller hooks and begin the stacks of toasty things, to keep the new one coming snuggly warm. The booties and socks and caps and leggings. Then to rekindle interest in the dozens of half-worked projects waiting to be finished.

There are 4 or 5 shawls and wraps in the works, countless slippers for 20 or so feet, new hats for the twins, soft, jingly toys–with no noisy microchips attached–thank Heavens, and my own version of “doggy dollies” –that I will show you in the next little while. A few piles of crocheting are for now, most have the Christmas deadline–and the rest are for January…for that tiny face we don’t know yet.


All to keep my baby birds warm till spring.

Do Not Disturb

No raking please…

Just let the leaves stay right where they are. I’m not finished with them. I need them to drift and swirl and float and land and rest undisturbed for a while yet.

I’ve waited so long–all winter, all spring, all summer in fact, to stand in the wind and let the browns and yellows and woody greens and reds…oh, the reds, fall into my out stretched fingers.

Please let them stay until I’ve had my fill. Until there is no need for jumping in them or hiding under them or sloshing through them. Until the very sight and smell of them no longer makes me breathe more deeply–with my eyes shut–to lock them safely inside my heart. Until the feel of them falling in my hair no longer makes me shiver like Christmas.

My advice to you is…please

…wait.

The Bald Kid’s Severed Hand…

Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to tell you a gruesome campfire story or anything.  It’s like this…

Every year, my sister has a Halloween party on the Monday before trick or treats. Every year, before we leave the party she pulls out a huge basket with fun prizes and lets us choose from the basket. So you sort of want to pack up before all the good stuff is gone. I think that must be how she gets us all to go home. Ha.

ANYWAY… For my prize, I chose an adorable shelf-sitting witch with a green face and purple and pink hair. Lyndi chose some really cute, transparent skeleton stickers. Nate chose a jointed snake–not incredibly into snakes, but it was ok. So here comes Rhen. Yeah, he chooses a rubber, severed hand that you soak in water and it grows. I guess somebody didn’t think it was disgusting enough–and it needed to be BIGGER.

So this nasty piece of work is sitting on my kitchen counter…all day…all night…Feel free to gag.

I must admit that there are some parts of Halloween that I could do without…mostly severed body parts.

Blaugh!

 

Brownie Sandwich Cookies

Brownie cookies 004

Brownie Sandwich Cookies

1-1/4 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients slowly. Drop on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees fro 8 minutes. Allow to rest on pan for a minute or two before removing to cool.

When completely cool, spoon about 1-2 tsp. of filling on back side of one cookie and press another cookie to form a sandwich.  Note: Add a few drops of color to filling for a holiday touch.

Cream Cheese Filling

1 c. powdered sugar

4 tbsp. butter

6 oz. cream cheese

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix filling ingredients together till smooth.

Brownie Sandwich Cookies
 
Ingredients
  • 1-1/4 cup butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • ¾ cup cocoa
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
Instructions
  1. Cream butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla.
  3. Add dry ingredients slowly.
  4. Drop on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees fro 8 minutes.
  5. Allow to rest on pan for a minute or two before removing to cool.
  6. When completely cool, spoon about 1-2 tsp. of filling on back side of one cookie and press another cookie to form a sandwich.
  7. Add a few drops of color to filling for a holiday touch.
Notes
Cream Cheese Filling 1 c. powdered sugar 4 tbsp. butter 6 oz. cream cheese ½ tsp. vanilla Mix filling ingredients together till smooth.

 

 

10 Seriously Last Minute Costume Ideas…

Happy Halloween!!

Ok, here’s the deal. We’ve collected some of the easiest costume ideas–some we’ve used, some we’ll save for next year. But don’t worry…these are so clever and simple you don’t even need a picture. Trust me…

Posterboard tombstone hanging from your neck that says, “R. I. P.” with a letter C below it…Dead Sea

Plain white T-shirt with a red, paper letter C taped or sewn on…Red Sea

Plain white T-shirt with a green, paper letter T taped or sewn on…Green Tea

Plain dark T-shirt with a blue paper cutout of a quarter moon taped or sewn on…Blue moon

Crumble about ten pieces of different shades of green construction paper. I took a long piece of yarn and strung them on like popcorn garlands at Christmas time. Tie a knot in both ends so the paper doesn’t slide off. Wear this around your waist like a belt…Green Waste

Being fully dressed–of course, hang a sign around your neck that reads, “Nudist on Strike.” Nudist on Strike

Tape newspaper around your body and write “BAD” across the middle…Bad News

Cut a huge letter C out of craft foam and pin it to your shirt…Sea Foam

Cut out 5 o 6 small letter C’s out of different colored construction paper. Tape or pin them to one side of your clothing…Sea Side

Draw a large quarter and pin it on your back…Quarterback

Here’s a good one from the Pittsburg Tribune-Review:

Dress conservatively like a teacher (hair in a bun, skirt and sweater, glasses on a chain). Then stick a paper airplane in the back of your hair, tape a “Kick Me” sign on your back, cover your hands, face and clothes with chalk prints, and attach staples and paper clips to your clothes. Substitute Teacher

I hope you’ll show us what you come up with. Have a great day!