Friday Favorites: MY Space

No, not that one.  I'm pretty much settled in to FaceBook, and use Google for everything else except social-networking.

And Netflix.  Learned the hard way that Google + Silverlight + Netflix = Really Pissed Off MacBook

I'm crowing about a space in my house that is all my own.  It's only about 21 square feet, but it's all I actively need.  I'm rather efficient and effective at storing my "raw materials."

Ta-Da!!

I can thank Hazel for my little area to craft & sew & blog & scrapbook & correspond.

Until early December, the area off the kitchen (aka "breakfast nook") was used as our dining space.  Hazel had her dining room suite in here.  The hutch held all of her wonderful stuff, but we would only eat every now and then at the table.  Sometimes one of us would use it as work space (craft, computer, homework,) but it wasn't ideal for that.

Fun, but not ideal.

The room that most would consider a "formal dining room" we used as a "library."  Lots of lovely bookshelves filled with books.  Since there was no other furniture in the room, I'd set up a table to do some sewing & crafting. Again, useful, but not ideal.  We couldn't enjoy the view of the books and nicknacks.  My work table in the middle gave me room, but no access to electrical outlets for things like my sewing machine or glue guns;  using extension cords or moving the table to the only accessible wall outlet created a walking hazard.  That room also got blinding morning sunlight; in the evening, the overhead lights were too dim.  (Sorry, no photo.)

The more Hazel thought about our spaces, especially with the kids over here and playing all over the floors, as well as a place for the Christmas tree..... Well, Carl had mentioned that the previous homeowners had used the tiled "breakfast nook" as a play area for their toddler.

One of Hazel's passions is rearranging furniture and updating accessories.

Thus, one morning, she, Zoe (in the mold of her grandmother,) Carl and I moved it all around.  Moving things isn't half hard when you have sturdy backs and uncarpeted floors.  We got all but the reloading of nicknacks done before I had to leave to get the kids after school.

I got home late and was very surprised to see the work table up and in position.  (Didn't I fold it up and store it in the garage???)  Carl told me it was his mom's idea to create a work space for me.

I LOVE IT!  I can store stuff.  I can work on stuff.  I can have a kid (or two) beside me as I work.  Or at least do "my thing" in the same room as they are doing "their things."  It's wonderful.  Although I have had "my stuff" with me wherever I've moved, it's been years and years since I've have a space to call "MINE."

Thanks, Mama Hazel.

Friday Favorites: O! Tannenbaum!

We 're finally decorating our Christmas Tree!!!

Friday Favorites: Getting Along

So, how do the kids, MLB & DLG, get along with Carl?

Quite nicely.

DLG, although she does the I'm-shy thing and the I-want-mommy thing, knows she also has him wrapped around her little finger.  They are snacking buddies.  He also is a big fan of her singing.

Carl does NOT like to sit on the floor.
But for DLG?  He'll stretch out, even in dress clothes.

Yep, Believe it.
He even let her BRUSH his hair!

Carl and MLB are fast becoming good buddies.  They "get" each other. They both geek-out about numbers and math.  They both like a certain order & symmetry to their lives.  They both can get overwhelmed by sounds and textures.  They both are all about science.

Then there's the whole computer game mania.  Carl's introduced MLB to WoW, and MLB's introduced Carl to the sites "Cool Math Games" and "Physics Games."  Those guys could stay plugged in at least half the day.

See MLB's laptop in the foreground? Yep.

Carl, with the acquisition of the iPad Mini, has passed his iPads 1 & 3 to me, who in turn lets the kids use them.  They seem to think these are THEIR iPads.....

They also adore Carl's mom, Hazel, who lives here, too.  DLG like to collect grandmotherly types, but then again, Hazel knows what little girls like: little Disney kid-meals toys (on loan from a grown-up Zoe), a PowerPuff Girls blanket (also on loan), dress-up hats (from Hazel's own collection) and make up!

Ms. Hazel loves hugs!!!  MLB loves to give hugs!

One last photo of all my loves together.

Alright, so DLG was photobombing.  The ham.

Friday Favorites: The Great Cover-ups

Today I baked chocolate chip pumpkin bread from some of our "holiday" pumpkins.  Every now and then, I do remember to wear an apron.

Since I wear what would be, if I were a kid, "play clothes," I often ignore the need to cover.  Thus, I find myself dipped in egg & dusted in flour.

But.... My aprons are too PRETTY to be battered up!

See that multi-colored one to the left?  It also has "pearl trim" at the neckline.  I bought it last year from Pier 1 because I fell in love with the one Terri had bought for us to use on Fred in "Greater Tuna."  (And she wanted her apron back!)  The one I'm wearing today is also from Pier 1-- I couldn't resist the pom-pom edging.  The long green one has a big E monogrammed on it; it is a delightful find from Hillary Dunham at Mint Julep Monograms (sorry, the apron is discontinued, but she has tons of other great stuff on her site and at her brick-n-mortar Mint Julep Market.)  All those short ones were passed on to me from my grandmothers and great aunts;  the gingham were kits/patterns my mom made as gifts in the "salad-days" of her marriage, others are home-ec offerings from daughters, granddaughters, nieces, two are vintage chiffon hostess aprons.

The empty peg to the right usually homes a long blue hostess-smock my mom made for her mom one Christmas; I remember watching her work on it, as well as a green one for herself and a goldenrod (I think) one for her sister-in-law.  The blue one is usually my "default" apron, but a tie got snapped off & I haven't tacked it back on.

Ah, my aprons.  Too pretty to wear; too charming not to.

Friday Favorites: Pre-K Art

What my daughter is
thankful for

What I'm thankful for

Amazing Kid

MLB has been issued a computer by his school.  A NetBook (specifically,) he'll correct us, but a personal computer nonetheless. He gets more or less unfettered use of it at home, (unless he's in trouble,) so there's no waiting if Mom will let him use her computer. It's loaded up with all sorts of Microsoft programs.

Right now, he is enamored with the "Paint" feature, and gleefully shows me what he's created with the different tools.  He has been astounding me!  Here is the first thing he proudly shared with me:  (it's a cartoon, "not right")

You'll have to admit, it's pretty funny.  I like that he's appreciating puns.  They are sometime hard to "get" by people on the spectrum.

He had his creations scattered all over this Desktop, so I created a folder for him, and in the process of helping move them, I discovered my boy is more of an innate, digital art genius than I could ever imagine!

Here's a few more, with his titles and my observations.

"Bomb" (Made with the shape tool, but shows creativity) 

"Magnet" (free-hand)

Nail (again, tools)

Screw (another free-hand)

"Seeing Stars, #6" (It's amazing how harmonic his color choices are.)

DARKDARKDARKDARKDARKDARKDARK

(again with the innate composition)

Finally this one:

Untitled 1 (wow)

That's my boy. Wow!

The "Favorite" Returns

Since the month has just started, and since I have no fresh pictures loaded, I was casting about for today's topic. I think I might have been divinely inspired. Hmm.. Here goes, but first, background.

When I first started blogging, an IRL friend who blogged did something she called "Friday Favorites," and encouraged us to write about something that we liked or moved us, then to link up with her post so we could share the happiness. She is now a successful business woman with a home-based enterprise (and a riotously adorable family,) so she has no time to write, instead expressing herself through her fun fabric creations.

But it's Friday, so I'll write about something that inspired me. (No, no linky-linky app, y'all. That would require too much thinking, and my computer gets cranky this late at night. It will be peeved that I will open FB simultaneously for just a moment. Pardon.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Approach dawn softly from the other side," Rod Smith sympathized with me as I once again turned in a slightly overdue writing assignment I stayed up all night to complete. I am NOT a morning person, in that I do not wake up easily or joyously. But once awake (or otherwise, before retiring,) I find dawn a fascinating place. It is so alive in a peaceful sense. I resolve to take a moment there more often.

Today, I emerged from the house early to drive to my daughter to Decatur. My return found me at one school or the other on behalf of my children. I felt the day move through the morning, up to noon, and then settle slowly towards dusk. Words of mine, for a friend disenheartened:

"(I think of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3.) Today is soft upon our cheeks and we can set aside the jackets til eve'n. This morning the chill laughed lightly about us, while we amazed at the first frost that enchanted the fields, the rising river of mist that cloaked the water. A man? A dog? No, a mild buck and a doe that crossed the road, they unconcerned with neither man nor dog, but on their own hunt for the rich acorns that fall now. Look, raise your eyes, be blessed with the quilt of autumn color spread out upon the trees, across the mountains. Things change. Some we perceive, some we understand, some we know. But at the heart, life is a mystery-- joy and comfort where we find it. If not found today, may you be surprised when you stroll through your memories."

I love each season, in its season. Now is the true season of hope, as we make our harvests, and from this, plan again for the coming year.

Fall has come to us, and I will exalt in it.

Trash: a Friday Favorites.

Hillary over at The Other Mama is taking at least a summer vacation from being ring-master of the FF carnival, but I like having a weekly assignment, so after my own vacation, I'm back. (Yes, I know, as a true blogger-buddy, I should offer to host the carnival during her sabbatical, but... 1) I'm still clueless about most blog-techie stuff, 2) I don't like homework and as an adult I take comfort in the idea that any cop-outs likely won't go on my permanent record, 3) which all says, why rush head-long into an opportunity for failure. I know: wimp. Let me get a year of blogging under my belt. I'm currently a size 20, so there's not a lot of room there yet.)

Anyway, back to the trash talking. I like the options I have to recycle.

Once a year I round up a bunch of gently used but no longer needed personal stuff for my church's annual yard sale.

I also use my plastic bags for the yard sale. Sometimes. Right now they're mostly used for poopy diapers.

I have plans to resume using my non-meat kitchen waste, including coffee grounds, in my compost pile this summer. (Kinda' got off track last year.)

All of my aluminum cans go to my church; can proceeds fund our youth who help with the liturgy-- alter servers, children's choir & children's bell choir. But before I bag up my cans, I pull off the pop-top tabs; these are collected for St. Jude's Children's Hospital which is helping a young child in our parish, and has also opened a center in Huntsville Hospital's pediatric unit.

Recently, I've started pulling out my #1 & #2 plastic bottles & sending them over to my dad in Decatur. Habitat for Humanity of Morgan County has started collecting aluminum cans and plastic bottles to recycle for funds to build houses. My dad is on the financial review panel for applicants, and he's thrilled to put his trash to good use. I think he said they've already funded one house & are starting a second. Even better, as far as he knows, all shape #1 & #2 containers are accepted, even wide-mouthed ones like peanut butter jars. I don't know if they found someone to buy all shapes, or if they just make it easy on their donors & sort out the wide-mouthed ones to trash. I'd like to think they're all recycled. Huntsville municipal's recycling contractor only accepts for recycling the narrow-necked bottles like for milk, shampoo & colas.

Allied Waste Management still gets my steel cans and my newspapers (although I could save up my papers for any of the animal rescue groups.) I also crush down all of my cardboard and sort my glass to take once a month out to the facility itself. Breaking down the cardboard itself saves a lot of space in our trash can. It hardly fills up during the week. If we lived some place that had per-tilt collections fees (I spent a year in Batavia, Ill., which did,) then we'd only need to put our can on the curb once a month. Except the can contains all sorts of rancid poopy diapers.

If our household trash wasn't already burned to power the steam plant for Redstone Arsenal, I'd contact the Army to see if they were interested in using those poopy diapers as bio-degradable munitions.

I love this town.

Friday Favorites: Short & Very Sweet

Amazingly, Hillary over at The Other Mama and I are channeling the same sort of theme for Friday Favorites.

Mine? CHOCOLATE!!!!

(Should insert picture of chocolate here, but I've eaten it all. Must find more.)

Admittedly, I'm all PMS-y right now, so this is a major nutritional requirement. But I can always be in the mood for chocolate. When I'm on my last nerve. When the boy brings home a great report from school. When I'm tired. When I'm busy. When I breathe. (Maybe that's why I haven't been knitting or scrap-booking as much-- those are so chocolate-unfriendly activities. Unlike time at the computer.)

I like all chocolate. Godiva is as wonderful as Hershey's. Sometimes I'm in the mood for caramel (Milk Way now has a delightful all-caramel filled one as well as their "dark chocolate" one!), sometimes crunchy, sometimes PB. Handfuls of semisweet chips are cheap in a pinch. Someday soon I plan to try ChocoVine, a chocolate flavored wine recommended by the ladies over at Southern Fried Snark. I've heard it's very good. I even gave it to my son's two teachers as an end-of-year gift, along with some gourmet chocolate-filled cookies. They deserve it!

Yep, and today is the last day of kindergarten for MLB. Quite bitter-sweet.

Sounds like a good reason for chocolate to me!

Friday Favorites: Carmel Apple Salad

This is actually a "fave" from 2 weeks ago, but with end-of-school picnics & Memorial Day upon us, we could all use an easy-peasy, sure-fire recipe. I got this from Sue C., one of the ladies I knit with (when the kids let me,) and when she made it, I nearly made a pig of myself. So, I decided to make it for the "Appreciation" breakfast that I'd brought MLB's teachers two weeks ago. I understand they all but licked the bowl, too. I hope you like it, too.

**********************************************************************

CARAMEL APPLE SALAD

1 (3.4 oz.) pkg vanilla instant pudding

1 cup milk

1 (8 oz.) tub whipped topping (can use fat-free kind)

6 - 8 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into bite-size chunks

6 regular size Snickers candy bars, cut into bite-size chunks

(Optional: colored sprinkles or chocolate curls for garnish)

Mix milk and pudding until blended.

Fold in whipped topping.

Add apples and candy bar pieces, and mix well.

Chill until ready to serve. Garnish.

Serves 6 -10 (you hope!)

**********************************************************************

Personal note: Please, PLEASE, remember to get the instant "no-cook" pudding mix. I wasn't thinking & grabbed a big box of the "regular" kind. I added it to the milk & thought, "OK, how is this going to thicken if I don't cook it? And how can I can add whipped topping to sloshy milk, or hot pudding. At 6:30 a.m. With 2 kids to get ready?" So I put the milk & mix into a microwave-safe bowl & nuked it 30 minutes at a time until thickened, and then flash cooled it in the freezer. It was much harder to properly fold in the whipped topping this way, and it took WAY longer than it should, but I got the job done. And it was delish. A different vanilla flavor to my taste buds, but I am somewhat of a super-taster. Consider yourself cautioned.

Another happy installment of the Friday Favorites carnival.

Friday Favorites: Snack-cake ERVs

This week I volunteered to be in charge of the "Special Snack" for my son's autism resource class. Since they were learning about emergency responders like policemen & firemen, I thunk-up some ERVs from snack-cakes. (The hardest thing was brain-storming what to use as wheels.) I have been told that the kids loved making and showing off their creations today. Not that artistic pride got in the way of eating their ERVs. This might not be an engineering marvel, like a space shuttle, but it's also a proud Huntsville creation. I hope you like them, too.

Snack-cake ERVs

(Emergency Response Vehicles)

Ingredients for each ERV:

White or vanilla frosting
1 Twinkie or other oblong snack-cake
4 Junior Mints
2 Reece’s Pieces (or other small, round candy)

in yellow or orange

1 Berry Candy (or gumdrop-like candy)

in red or blue (or two)
Red or Blue sugar sprinkles
(can omit if using red or blue frosting)

Step 1:

Unwrap, then lightly frost top & sides of snack-cake.

Step 2:

Attach 4 Junior Mints to frosting as wheels, using 2 per long side.

Step 3:

Attach 2 Reece’s Pieces to frosting as headlights, using both on one short side.

Step 4:

Lightly sprinkle with red sugar for a fire truck or with blue sugar for a police car; or leave plain white for an ambulance. (Can omit sprinkles if using red or blue frosting.)

Step 5:

Attach 1 Berry candy (or 2) to the middle of the top of the cake as the emergency light. Use a touch of frosting if needed.

Emergency Response Vehicles can be additionally decorated with candy strings, piped icing, alphabet cereal, etc.

Friday Favorites: My Son's Other "Mothers"

(I'm coming in at the wire with Friday Favorites, but we had a family wedding this weekend, and that's always a busy time, even if you're only a guest.)

I want to keep this "Friday Favorites" quick...

It's TEACHERS!!!

My son's school just wrapped up "Teacher Appreciation Week," and I DO appreciate all of the love & care & guidance that they give my son on good days & bad days (his days, not theirs). He's learned so much from them this year. He has been so impressed with all that they know. He's even said he wants to be a teacher when he grows up, since they know so much.

I say, "Go for it!" I have many cousins, aunts & uncles who are teachers, and think that it is a wonderful profession. I am not a teacher because I do not like homework, but these men & women do it out of LOVE not "like." I am so grateful. It was a privilege to bring them breakfast this week.

Every week should be "Teacher Appreciation Week." Tell all the teachers you know that you love what they do.

Friday Favorites: MLB

I don't mean Major League Baseball, although that is fun & a (mostly) respectable sport that doesn't seem to last all year long. (Go Braves!)

MLB = Mommy Little Boy = my son.

I've sort of introduced my son via his room, his quirks, his observations and his diagnosis, but he's really a neat-o kid who has a lot to offer. Usually. In my blog & FaceBook, I refer to him as "MLB." I want to keep him anonymous for all of the usual reasons. "MLB" is actually his idea. His baby sister just ADORES her father (& big brother); she's also cute (as is her big brother.) Her daddy had been calling her PYT (pretty young thing), but then when it was obvious she has been "Daddy's Little Girl," he changed it to "DLG." ("Are you DLG?!?!?" giggle-giggle!)

So, brother pipes up with "I'm MLB!"

?????????

Oh!

And so he is.

May is his birth-month, and since you've only seen one picture of him from Easter, here's a few more to catch you up:

This one of my favorites! His smile goes from his toes to his hat! I got lucky snapping that one with a non-digital camera. He's about 3 months old here and he's wearing his first baseball outfit (given to him by Trish W. when he was 3 days old). Of course, that's Daddy. Oh, that quirk to his smile? MLB was born with a complete unilateral cleft-- except for that anomalous band of skin under his nose. A month later we would begin a 3-month series of corrective operations.

MLB is 9M here, and cutting his first teeth. He's now six months past the repair of his lip & his scar has healed to almost unnoticeable. The palate was repaired in November. What I wish I have is a fish-face picture; once the palate was repaired, and he could create negative pressure, he was making kissy-fish faces all of the time. And demonstrated he no longer need help with his bottles, thank you.

A few months past his 1st birthday. MLB is having too much fun at the Hubschers' Fourth of July party. He's just a swangin'!

MLB is waiting to go to MMO. He's 2 and it's August, so this is his first day. The boy is very smart: see how he's matched up each letter with its corresponding number, using his magnetic letters & foam numbers? We didn't teach him that. See how he's quirky: the series had to start with "1." ("0" = "10" here.) Not long after this he further demonstrates his intelligence & quirkiness: he recites the alphabet "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXZY" because, we deduce, that he doesn't like endings, so if the "Z" doesn't come at the end... He also boycotts the use of "zero" for about six month since it's "nothing." Did I mention he soon became a self-taught reader & obsessed about numbers & math? By age 3?

MLB is 3 years old & ready to party! (Homemade cake, can you tell? But he wanted balloons. 3 candles + 1 to-grow-on.) He's just blown out the candles, with Paw-paw's help. In a minute, he's going to stick his fingers in the icing. With Paw-paw's help. (Funny, every time I stick my fingers in the food for a taste, my Daddy smacks MY hand. Still. How come?)

Another favorite, this time mid-May at 4yo. MLB & his Daddy before a baseball game. MLB loves sports because sports are full of numbers. As a toddler, he'd watch games on TV with his dad to see the players' shirt numbers and the score. Since baseball is just et-up with statistics & the use of numbers in all aspects of the game, he likes baseball. Not that we have a problem with that.

When MLB was 4 1/2, we welcomed a baby sister (remember, DLG?). He likes her a lot, and was very anxious for her to arrive. We told him it would be in January. By the time New Year's Day was over, he was demanding to know where was his sister! Here, she looks very startled that her newly minted 5-year-old brother wants to hold her after a birthday dinner.

Still five, but now it's August. His first day of Kindergarten at the elementary school he'll be at through 5th grade. This is actually monumental. He loves school & the other kids, and does not cry about being left. But after all the problems we'd had in previous years in trying to find him a "school" program, and having to change because of his ADHD & ASD, well, it's nice to be "home."

And now the picture from Easter. For once, he's the only one looking anywhere near the camera & not goofing off. He'd be glad to tell you exactly how old he is here, but it's not quite six & I think I'll keep the exact date fuzzy as well. But he doesn't look much different right now-- except right now he's in shorts, a t-shirt and peanut butter. (Sigh.)

So, there was my favorite son. And only one, so I can't lie.

Happy Friday Favorites!

And Hillary over at The Other Mama has had some exciting spring additions, too! She's now on WordPress, and next week will be the grand opening of her on-line store, Mint Julep Monograms! (Link to link soon.) I know you'll be charmed by MJM; I've already got 2 orders in with her, and I'm plotting more. Which says something since I'm not a monogrammed/personalized kind of gal....

Friday Favorites: New Hair (sort of)

It's Friday Favorites again & I'll get right to the root of it.

I got my hair done right before Easter!!!!

It might not seem like such a big deal, but my budget (time-wise & money-wise) doesn't have much fat in it. The last time I did get my hair cut was either May (according to Quicken) or August (according to a Swiss-cheese memory & the possibility of a gift certificate.) And I know the last time I got my hair dyed was 5 years ago when I weaned my son. I've been getting away with such neglect because I have long, curly (aka mind-of-its-own) hair. And I don't really have to have a "public face." But at a certain point, you have to scream, "Enough! We've got a return on our taxes & I'm going to use it!"

So here's a before that shows my gray & stringiness:

And the one I tried to take of myself at the salon (snort!):

See? I needed this.

I adore my stylist Hillary (no relation to our dear FF hostess) and my shampooist Stacy over at Beleza. Yes, I could go to a bargain salon, but for my little bit of me-time, I want to be pampered with a short scalp massage, neat-o smells, a mini hand massage, and a shampooing that would make you want to reincarnate as Stacy's housecat. Prrrrrr..... Hillary had even been to a seminar the day before & learned a new way to layer long hair, so I got to be the first to try it out. Sweet!

So I had a lovely time. I've got lovely hair again.

Ta-da! (OK, so self-portraiture is a joke.)

Easter, with make-up & a great cast of characters:

I really wanted to post about this on April 2 (you know, Good Friday), but I didn't have a really good "after" picture, and Holy Week is always-- no matter how uninvolved we are-- a big deal with the run-up to Easter. Here's to hoping I can get another year out of this.

But don't you wait! Go back over to The Other Mama for more fun Friday Favorites!