This and that

Sometimes I have an ambitious week...I plan a meal list, a corresponding grocery list, and then I follow it to a "T". And sometimes I do NOT have an ambitious week. This week is the latter, all week it's been a little bit of this and a little of that. I had a craving for hot german potato salad, so we made that yesterday, it was so good. The only part that was to be dreaded, was the boiling of potatoes on an eighty degree day. Of course, yesterday was also bread baking day, so I spent the better part of the afternoon in a sweat. The perfect counter to the heat was a basket of fresh local strawberries from the outdoor market. However, the little boys in the back seat of the van who were "only looking at the strawberries on the ride home, somehow managed to look at the berries with more than just their eyes. I arrived home to find red lips and tongues, and a few random berries rolling around the bottom of the basket. Gah. So, I made it up to myself today, I went out thrifting and got a chocolate shake.

tricycles, zucchini, and buttons.

I can only take so much of the wiggles soundtrack, so my kids usually wind up listening to mommy's music. they're pretty big fans of Regina Spektor, U2, and The Beetles. So, I went on a quest to find cool kids music that we all like listening to. I stumbled across the songs Sometimes, and Tricycle by Frances England, and we were all hooked! You've got to give her a listen. My daughter now begs to ride her tricycle even more than she already did, and she sings the Tricycle song as she peddles away. If you listen to the song, you'll understand how impossibly cute this all is.


On to our garden. The garden that my kids talked about endlessly, but the second the seeds had been nestled in their dirt homes, the wee ones scattered in all directions and abandoned me to finish the job ob my own, "now that the fun part is over". :) Well, today the first fruits of my labor broke through the soil. The zucchini! The kids were thrilled! Possibly even thrilled enough to pull some weeds for a few minutes. I planted the zucchini specifically to use in a recipe for Zucchini "Crab" Cakes that I make every year. I prefer to bake them, as opposed to frying, and I serve them with a salad of mixed greens, and lemon dill sauce...


And the buttons you ask? In reference to the button picture, there is none, I just love buttons and was happy with my last button purchase. I cannot quit looking at them, or touching them, or setting them on random fabrics to see how quaint they look.

the game

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

a punk rock shirt for a punk rock baby...

I made this shirt for a friend of mine's little peanut-girl. This fabric definitely suits little Ellery to a "T". Her mama is going to give me some feedback on my seemstress skills, to see if I can hang with the pros on Etsy. I had my daughter model it in the last image, I cropped her head out because I may be reported if someone sees the crazy way I left her hair today. That's what rainy days are for, right?? Sewing and bad hair. Oh, and notice her inclination to wear her panties backwards so that she can look down and see the "Go Irish", nevermind that she can't yet read it. :D

summer makes me happy.

I love it, I love running outside with the kids, and not caring that all we are wearing are tee shirts and skirt or shorts, I love the smell of the breeze, the dirt, the flowers, sunscreen, barbeque, Lake Michigan, and the combination of all the smells and sights at the outdoor market. Summer just makes me happy. I think the best part of summer, after being tucked away all winter, is having the windows open, and bringing the outdoor inside on a pleasant day.

My only girly child has been defying any sort of growth spurt for eons, to the point that I actually question if she is sneaking espresso after bedtime. Well, be still my heart, she FINALLY grew. So, in honor of her added inches, and in consideration of our pocketbook, I have been stitching a few things up for her, mainly using scrap fabric and some random fat quarters. I love the tie top in (I think pattern F??) Girly Style Wardrobe, but couldn't get it to fit on a fat quarter, so I busted out the tracing paper and drew my own pattern. The skirts are elastic waist, improvise-as-you-go summer creations. Stella's only request is that one of them had a pocket for her "ponies and flowers" on the front. The desk pictured below is a thrift store find that the kids are loving. I painted the desktop with chalkboard paint, and nestled the desk under the ash tree.









and lastly a summer picture of my princess that I just adore...

using up the stash...curry curry curry

just when I thought I had sorted and unearthed ALL of my stashed fabric, I found a huge bag stuffed full of more. It contained this cute little hula girl fabric I bought 2 or 3 years ago. I did not feel up to sketching my own pattern this time, so I used a simplicity project runway pattern. I have some vintage red buttons that will go on the back, and probably some fat, red rickrack that was also in the bag.



We love curry here at our house, and my husband picked up this great tin of curry powder when he was in Japan awhile back. I have an old standby curried chicken recipe that I love, but it's a little too much for the kiddos. And really time consuming. So last night was the shortcut version, it was great! It started out as a Real Simple Magazine cheater's recipe, but I kind of tweaked it for more of a Cambodian/Thai style curry.

Rotisserie chicken (pick the meat off and set it aside)
2 tablespoons of coconut milk
3/4 cup of heavy cream
1 small size container of plain yogurt (about a half cup)
fresh lemongrass
fresh cilantro
mild yellow curry powder (for a NOT kid friendly version, use a teaspoon of Thai curry paste)
small yellow or white onion
white rice


chop the onion and saute in a tiny bit of olive oil over medium high heat. cook until slightly golden. Add the curry powder, coconut milk, heavy cream, and yogurt, reduce heat, and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir in fresh chopped or grated lemon grass (one or two tablespoons), fresh chopped cilantro (about a half cup) and toss together until cilantro has slightly wilted. Serve over white rice. Season to taste with kosher salt.

a bit of honesty...

sorry about the lack of pictures, more to come soon!

On to the honesty. Sometimes we go through a series of rough patches in life, and we feel alone. Nobody ever wants to talk about their rough patches, esp if it's something that makes us feel like a failure, so we all just silently cope and feel alone. But truth be told, we all go through hard times in some capacity or another, so guess what? I'm going to TALK about it. I'm going to share what we are going through.

We are losing our house. It's going to be foreclosed on and we'll have to move this winter. It was a long road that brought us to this point, and we didn't give it up without a fight. My husband and I bought this house about 5 years ago. At that time we had three boys, and both worked full time at high paying jobs. Months after we moved in, I became pregnant with our twins, Mya and Stella. I was off work and in and out of the hospital (as well as getting IV's at home) for my entire pregnancy. It ended with an ambulance ride to the hospital and our twins were born 14 weeks early. They fought to live for 6 months, Stella won the battle and came home...Mya did not. She died at 6 months and 4 days of age. During their hospitalization I had to quit my job, and my husband was laid off from his. Finances were a struggle. We were also struck by a city bus that ran a red light, and our only vehicle was totaled. Thankfully no one was severely injured, but the payout on the vehicle was much less than we owed, and the city's insurance only gave us $250.

My husband quit school and got a job as a bartender to make ends meet. Recently he was employed as a manager at a bar and restaurant, we needed a job with insurance, but he's taken a pay cut. We also had another baby (the last one), little Ty. We have been struggling to get my husband back in school, but just can't find the time or money to do it. So, that's where we are today. 3 months behind on our house payment, and in the early stages of foreclosure. I know our story is not written yet, and I have beautiful hope that things will turn around, but it breaks my heart all the same. We are putting our faith in my photography business and our own perseverence, as well as God, and we hope and pray that good will come of this. If someone else reads this and is struggling, just know you're not alone, you're not a failure, and there are people who will listen to your story.