That's a Wrap

We were picking up a few things from Hobby Lobby when Ryan brought three rolls of black and white print wrapping paper.  He was surprised when he saw I already had two rolls of wrapping paper: plain black and solid white.  I let him get one of the patterned rolls ;).


I knew mine wouldn't stay solid or plain.  I just wanted blank canvases for my wrapping plans: nothing expensive or difficult to find, just a few on-hand supplies and an evening with the kids in bed.

o1  The Bow-less Ribbon Wrap:  simply tape each end of strips of ribbon on the back for a simple, different ribbon wrap.

o2  The Brick Layer:  using plain white label stickers, create your own pattern.

o3  The Leftover Wrap:  paper punch several shapes out of that strip of leftover wrapping paper and glue with rubber cement.  Don't feel like you need to place them perfectly.

o4  The Sticker Paper Wrap:  those blank label stickers left me with several pieces of waxy white paper.  I punched them all [I know, I'm so violent] with my square and did a simple checkerboard pattern.

o5  Mister Mustache:  wrap some crochet twine [or whatever else you have on hand] around your hand several times.  Tie in the middle and cut open the loops.

Punch [or draw] two eyes for a mysterious wrapping job.

o6  The Go Crazy with that Twine!:  tape one end on of the string on the back and quickly wrap around and around and around until you're happy with the result.

Look around to see what you have on hand and how you can creatively use it.  Gift wrapping is fun because it's a small space to work with and doesn't have to be perfect because it's just going to be thrown away!

Naughty or nice, we're stuffin' it

Do you know what you're stuffing in your stockings?  Go here for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to help you out with that.

Indian Ice cream for Thanksgiving

Azure collected two bouquets for our non-traditional Thanksgiving turkey-less dinner

We took baby dills 1-4 on a 2 mile run [slash walk] on the beach to get some Starbuck's Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate followed by naps in the sand for everyone over 10.  Even Azure did a fair amount of running.

She complained the next day that her little angel hair legs were sore.  We congratulated her that she really used her muscles.  She wasn't so pleased.

We all got one bite from each Indian ice cream flavor:

The Falooda Kulfi tasted like the smell of my grandma Fae's perfume I remember from 15 years ago.

My favorite was the Chickoo.

We walked wearing t-shirts down to the tree lot to pick our perfect coniferous holiday decor centerpiece [aka our Christmas tree].  I put the lights on and only had to send Ryan 3 times to get more strands.  In my defense, 2 of them quit working after the tree was 2/3 done.  Then the baby dills got in to help trim the tree with blacks and whites.

Saturday we attended an outdoor art festival and had our fill of carnival foods and entertainment.

The prettiest produce I've seen: hydroponic butterhead lettuce

Upside down paintings of Einstein done in minutes

The fashion diva of the day

Ryan loves it when I match my accessories to his.

I'm wondering whose watch is off?

Infiltrator

Thank you all for your well wishes.

The three baby dills are feeling much better,

which makes life easier for the momma.

We chose black and white for our Christmas colors this year.  I ransacked and subsequently organized [again] my year's supply of fabric, pulling blacks and whites, remembering where I got each piece with fondness.  Is that silly, that I have memories attached to folds of fabric?  I plan on making these baby dill girls of ours a new black and white frock for Christmas.  I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to pull it off, although my other handmade gifts are well under control, so just perhaps, with a bit of Christmas magic it might happen.

Ryan dutifully planted paperwhites and white amaryllis to match the theme with black rocks as the "dirt".  Only the first amaryllis to bloom did not follow the color scheme.  The nerve that she would show her ruby colors off without scruples.  She does look lovely next to the giant pomegranates and le vase des pommes, no?

Have a dillicious and fulfilling [food and otherwise]

Thanksgiving.

Ingrate to Grateful

Three letters for which I [and three baby dills] are not grateful:

U

T

I

The doctor says it's just a coincidence.

[me, in my mind: A very strange coincidence.]

I am grateful for modern medicine and urgent care.

Secret Weapon

Want to know a secret weapon of mine?  Short on time and an easy way to get a whole bunch of vegetables in your [kids'] diet?  From-the-box fondue!  Don't ask me why it doesn't need refrigeration--it's almost too good to be true.

It comes in a foil pouch that slips out and into your pot.  We are now officially a two cheese box family.  Can you believe it?  We do have a fondue pot, but we don't mess with digging it out dusting it off, we just warm the cheese on the stove and return it whenever it cools off too much.  Creates anticipation, you know?

I steam all my veggies together.  You could even buy precut to save additional time.  I almost couldn't find my apple, it was so well camouflaged.

Big chunks of dipping bread are known to be popular with the little people of my house.  You could also dip cooked chunks of your meat of choice for additional protein and iron.  I'm more of a veggie/carbohydrate girl myself.  

We always do fondue on New Year's Eve, but we love it so much, I pulled it out a little early this year.  And we might be seeing even more of it with it's luring simplicity and ease.

Busy Bee-ing Busy

Speaking of making gifts for the holidays,

if you're in need of some ideas,

Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting the 4th annual handmade Holidays guide.

My Puffy Bloom Tutorial was featured as an idea!

There are a plethora of potential projects,

so you ought to hop on over and take a look-see. 

I've been making some great progress over here.

I think all I need is the deadline in view and I get my productive pants on.

Wouldn't that be lovely if we could all get together

 and sew through the night into the morning,

and get inspired by each other, laugh, and eat yummy food?

IS ANYONE ELSE PANICKING?

An unintentional bubble bath was made by two mischievous girls this balmy morning.

I was so pleased with myself for not getting angry.  

After all, 

what else would one naturally do with a 32 oz bottle of a suds producing concoction sitting within reach?

But as I rinsed off the offenders,

  I panicked with the closeness of Christmas looming and me with a list as long as a full grown palm tree of what I want to do/make/accomplish before the star appears.

And you?

:::::Blushing:::::

Twig Creative contacted me and asked if they
 could feature me as one of their artists. I was
flattered of course!  You can read it here, but
you may also want to visit their cute shop.  
My favorite:

I can picture [pun intended] Clover's chubby
little hands shooting right back at me.

So Worth It

How was your long weekend?  Was it almost too long?  

This time in my life and the ages of my kids makes everything so intense: there is a lot of noise, a lot of mess, and certainly a lot of sibling squabbles.  I mentally apologize to whomever we sit next to in church before the meeting begins.  Perhaps I should start vocalizing those sentiments.  But there were two especially sweet moments from this weekend.  During our two hour meeting on Sunday I felt like it was a wrestling match, though on hard metal chairs instead of in a ring.  Up and down.  Up and Down.  Offering this book to read, this picture to color, or these stickers to stick.  Getting back from taking 3 to use the bathroom and Clover says, "I need to go potty!"  I admit that I whispered in her ear to go in her diaper, after she confirmed it was number one she needed to go.  She refused and got louder in her request until Ryan took pity [or felt embarrassed?] and took her.  I felt like it was a parade, the circus, and a wrestling match, all rolled into a bundle of 5 Sunday-clad girls.

At the end of the meeting, the older woman sitting next to us went up to Ryan and told him what well-behaved children we have.  What?!  I think she had dementia, or needed glasses and most definitely a hearing aid.  How I appreciated her simple comment.  It was almost as if she refilled my parenting confidence, encouraging us that we are doing an okay job, because sometimes I wonder.

Then last night as I was tucking my sweet Olive in bed, she said, "I'm sorry I've been naughty this weekend, will you forgive me?" with tears flowing.  And then my heart melted and I thought, it's worth it, parade, circus, wrestling match and all.

A Muster or two

I love to see your interpretations of my tutorials. Recently the Billy Cardi has been popping up: Marie made it in a nice neutral with a pale flower pin for some femininity and Emily made TWO for herself and one for her little cutie in a cool wide rib knit [quite the overachiever ;)].

And then there are some more Biased Skirts: sewnaais got SIX compliments the first day she wore hers [plus, how did she do that photo?], and joshuasprincess version with some patterned polka-dots for fun.  Also, check out Jessica's sexy red one!

I'd love to see what you're working on--post your photos to a big dill flickr group.

Mango Mustache, Mutter, and Masala

You know that person in the group who usually always order "wrong" at a restaurant?  

That'd be me.  

Except one time I ordered the absolute best, so good, in fact, that we went back again the next day to order what I did.  So, I usually let Ryan do the choosing when we do family style.  He's a pro.  Like last night, Ryan was craving Indian food.  Indian food takes a lot of work in my mind with all those spices, you know?  So we got take-out.  And Ryan ordered.  I chose one thing.  And yes, my one thing was not so good.  BUT, next door to the Indian Restaurant was an Indian grocery store.  As we walked up and down the aisles and commented how Indian grocery stores tend to smell better than Asian grocery stores, I told Ryan I would make the beverage, because unlike my ordering abilities, my beverages skills are above par.  Some call them mad.

I think I might have perfected my Mango Lassi.  Ryan said it was the best I've ever made, which is saying a lot because Ryan is a very critical cuisine critique.  I think the key is using Indian yogurt, which is much thicker and more solid than what I normally buy.  

My proportions: 

15 oz mango PULP [not juice or nectar, mind you]

15 oz plain yogurt

1/4 cup sugar

15-20 ice cubes [I didn't really count, and I have never been known to win those guessing games of candy in a jar, so perhaps you should use your own judgment, but I do like a frigid Mango Lassi]

Blend until s m o o O o o t h and serve pronto.

 I made two batches to appease the miniature angry mob, which is exactly what these two large containers yield, and this Deep brand is really flavorful, although any brand we've tried works well.  A mango lassi is the perfect thing to have on hand when your Dal, Paneer Masala, and Mutter Paneer are spicier than the man in the turban says they are.  

And don't forget the Peshwari Naan [the kind with the coconut inside]--I'd be happy with this and Mango Lassi.

Roaring elsewhere today!

When Cheri asked me to be a guest on her blog, I was thrilled, and as soon as I saw the picture of her hugging her floor cleaner, I knew we would be fast friends. 

I did this little refashion out of some corduroy pants I refused to part with, but also wouldn't wear [tell me you know how that goes?]  You can see my hints and tips over at I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar today.

Thank you, Cheri, for nudging me to do something out of my normal spools of comfort.  I'll play any day!