Mean Mommy

Mavis slept over at Nama's house last night. I brought her some clothes to wear the next morning. This dress is one I made to sell at the Beehive Bazaar (obviously, it didn't sell). I guess she doesn't like it, but I made her put it on anyway. I also made the headband to match the dress. Now, to be honest, I was trying to be a little sneaky. I can't get her to wear any of the dresses I made, but often, if I can't get her to wear something I want her to when I'm helping her get dressed at home all I have to do is bring it along somewhere else when I know she'll need a change of clothes and she'll change right in to whatever I bring, no problem. I've done this many times when I want her to wear some outfit that she's averse to. Anyways, my trickster ways didn't work this time. She was really mad.

Moss Green and earthiness and birds

This is an illustration that I think is by the same person who made this lovely little movie showing what I think are photos of moss covered plants with sweet animated illustrations incorporated. I found the link to it on my husband's cousin's blog. It is very satisfying to watch, and filled a need for some earthy browns and greens in my evening.

Jack's New Skills

Jack learned to climb down the stairs 3 days ago. It happened when Josh tripped over the gate that sits on two stairs separating the kitchen/dining area from the family room. When he tripped on the gate he also broke it so Jack tried going up and down those two stairs. Right away he turned himself around and reached his foot down toward the next stair. We were excited that he wouldn't be falling headfirst down the stair anymore. The next day he descended the entire full-size staircase. Way to go little guy!

dead camera blues

I haven't been able to find the charger for my camera battery. It's been a long time and the camera battery is dead. It's terrible. I couldn't take any good pictures of my Beehive Bazaar crafties, nor any good pics of the chilluns. I miss my camera!!! That's part of why I've only posted twice in the past two months. The other reason is that I was too busy crafting away. Blue, blue, blue (pms 5404 c).

I'm having my next baby here

I found this info on this fun blog.

The article originated here.

p.s. No, I'm not pregnant, but I think it's a great idea, and we all can use more pms 210 (pink) in our lives

Four Faves (sort of)

Four places that I go to over and over: my desk (that's where my computer resides), the kitchen, the neighbor's house across the street, church

Four people who e-mail me regularly: Hailey (a friend), Netflix, Anthropologie, Janet

My four {plus a few more} favorite places to eat: Avec (in Chicago), MK (in Chicago), Pizzeria 712 (in Orem), Home (Josh is the best chef). Gosh, it's hard to limit to four here... I also love Thai Evergreen (next to Walmart in Orem), Spark (fun new place at 86 N University in Provo), Settebello (pizzeria at 200 West and 250 South in SLC), Cafe Trang, Pearl (cool sushi/asian place in SF), Tartine (best bakery ever, also in San Francisco), Bongo Room and Orange (breakfast places in Chicago), Thailand (everything was great there), Kua Aina (in Haleiwa on the North Shore)

Four places I would rather be right now: The BEACH (always the winning answer!)... getting a massage, or napping in a sauna, or swimming (rather soaking: think Lava Hot Springs), eating warm soup and bread (or something else yummy) with Josh.

Four favorite colors: Green spruce, Lagoon, Canton, grass green {see Colorstrology ...most of these colors are found in the December category, including on my bday }

The Piano Man

Jack is just barely tall enough to reach the keys on the piano. He is delighted by it. If I sit down with him at the piano and play songs he gets really excited. Mavis never cared much for the piano, but Jack really likes it lately.

Purple Cabbage Rolls

Based on a recipe from Bridgette, I made these cabbage rolls. They were a huge success! Mavis devoured them. I would have followed the recipe exactly, but I didn't want to run to the store, so I just used what I had: purple cabbage instead of green, red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar, no red wine, fresh tomatoes instead of canned, garlic powder instead of fresh garlic cloves. ¡Wow! This recipe is a keeper, and super good for the Fall what with the rich colors, the heartiness and the warmth of it. Filling the cabbage leaves is a mix of ground pork and ground beef with fresh grated nutmeg and allspice that deepen the richness of the dish and make it interesting, although it does not cross over into the realm of exotic. For those who stay away from adventurous food, this is more than safe and you will LOVE it. At the same time, it somehow still manages to go beyond boring for the rest of us who thrill at the thought of new savory sensations. And now that you're all dying to get your hands on the recipe — hahahahaha —I cannot give it out since it's not mine. I'll look into it though and see what I can do for you.

Workout Barbie

Okay, just one more Halloween costume. This one was really a winner. She gets an "A" for style, for craftsmanship, for concept. She even has an accessory jump rope attached to the inside of the packaging. What a babe! The box is a delicious pms 218c.

Halloween Dance at the Caldees' place

Witches fingers (breadsticks with almond fingernails . . . I stole this creepy idea from the fun party we went to last week).Winners: "The Best Tights Couple"
We were delighted that Sarah Palin joined our party.
The Asian crew wearing real kimonos, Thai shirts, authentic fisherman pants and special hats (including an upturned rice steamer basket hat).
Josh's delicious clam chowder.
Ursula, the bad sea witch from "The Little Mermaid". Appropriate costume for Granna Leslie considering Mavis dressed as Ariel.
Grandma Helen grew some extra legs too!
Becky's cute ghosties.
Tall & tasty breadsticks. Josh also made two trays of the best focaccia.
More witches fingers. Jennifer crafted these from carrots. Creepy.

Cutest Halloween Costumes

These are my nieces, and I just couldn't resist posting these pics of them in their Halloween Costumes. They are sooo adorable!! Hopefully Erin doesn't mind me showing off her kids (she took these lovely photos).

A nice girl pumpkin

Mavis wanted me to make her pumpkin a "nice, girl one." So I complied.

Visiting Great Grandma

We certainly don't visit Great-grandma Virginia Irons enough. She lives in Nephi. She's in her late nineties. She patted our hands a lot, and rubbed them as we held her hands. She couldn't hear us very well, and didn't speak at all. We woke her from her nap. Jack kept trying to jump around and climb on Grandma. We had to be vigilant in restraining him so as not to leaver her injured from our visit. Mavis wore her Halloween costume, although she had to remove the wig to eat her snack (yams) before we left.

Dinglehoppers for the Ariel Princesses

Today the girls (Mavis and her friend Sophia) got to wear costumes to preschool (even the teacher dressed up). They were lucky enough to both be Ariel, the adored, complete with astounding and beautiful red wigs (I don't know if Pantone makes such a vibrant color as this neon red! I didn't know anyone could, but a somewhat close match is pms red 032). They were also supplied with dinglehoppers to comb their lovely locks.

Spooky Halloween Party with Friends

Witches FingersGhostie-berries

Scary Little Monsters

An Alien Witch

Wearing the head of Jack Skellington
(from the piñata)

The Rush for Piñata Candy

These pics are from a party at Jonathan & Maira's place. Maira made the sweet piñata (one of the best I've ever seen!!) and all the spooky treats. I just wish I had a better picture of the Jack Skellington piñata and a picture of the amazing chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, including disgustingly realistic eyeball noodles. I tasted one and although it tasted as good as the rest of the noodles, I still couldn't eat any more because they looked too real—SICKening!

Foodie Training

Relatively speaking, Mavis is a great eater. She eats all kinds of things that other kids wouldn't touch. I like to flatter myself that it's because I've taught her well, although it's very likely that her palate naturally tolerates a broader range of flavors than that of most other kids. There are, however, times when I just cannot get her to eat what I'm serving. On one such occasion she hoped I wouldn't notice the two bowls she'd stacked to form a little hiding place for some undesirables.



Although she wouldn't eat her green beens and cukes that day (strange too because cukes are one of her all-time favorite foods) I did convince her to partake of this delicious goulash I invented.