What I'm into--July 2013

I am joining Anne in linking up with Leigh Kramer to share what I've been into for July.

reading:  I will be linking up with Anne on the 15th for the Twitterature updates.  I have read seven books in July, and I am currently reading two books right now.

We are going away next week with my husband's mother, sisters, and their families, and the four of us ladies have decided to read the same book while we're on the beach. We chose The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan.  My mother-in-law and I have also read Maine by this author.  I am looking forward to a shared reading experience because most of my reading is solitary.  It will be nice to be able to discuss a story as we're reading it.  I am also going to pack a few other books in my bag.  There will be some nonfiction reads as well as Cuckoo's Calling.

tv/movies:  With our regular shows on hiatus, there really is nothing we are watching right now.  I have been watching reruns of The Mindy Project, and I am enjoying it.  I may move it into the DVR recording schedule in the fall. We experimented with Netflix earlier this summer, but Rob and I could not find any series that we wanted to commit to watching.  We only watched a couple of the new episodes of Arrested Development, and that was the reason we tried Netflix in the first place.  I have been reading instead of channel surfing this summer, so I consider that a win.

And movies?  The family went to see Monsters University this summer, and that has been it.

music:  I have been desperately searching for new music.  My kids love to commandeer the radio when we drive around town, and the radio makes me crazy because it seems that the stations only play the same six songs over and over and over.  We are going to be taking a long family drive together soon, so I hit the library in search of some tunes to take with us because even our tried-and-true road trip CDs are getting old.  Bobby requested some Beatles, so I picked up a couple of CDs, and I have discovered Punch Brothers and Kurt Vile.  I don't know whether Rob will like them, and I expect the kids to complain, but we have to have something else to listen to besides Maroon 5 and Robin Thicke.

things I am loving right now:
moleskine notebooks
school supply displays
tomatoes
eating dinner outside
walking the dog around the neighborhood in the mornings
eating ice cream cones
sleeping on freshly changed sheets

So how about you?  What are you into?

Summer Reading

Summer isn't over yet, but I was inspired by Erin's post to share my summer reading list (so far).  Here's what I've been reading:

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (also saw the movie--very cute)

French Kids Eat Everything by Karen LeBillon

Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel

A Long Shadow - Charles Todd

Hurt Machine - Reed Farrel Coleman

On Writing - Stephen King (This is the only Stephen King book I've ever read!!)

The Body in the Library - Agatha Christie

Bowling Avenue - Ann Shayne

Murder is Easy - Agatha Christie

Anne of the Island - Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Uninvited Guest - Sadie Jones

The Dressmaker - Kate Alcott

A Surrey State of Affairs - Ceri Radford

The Expats - Chris Pavone

The Red Book - Deborah Copaken Kogan

A Jane Austen Education - William Deresiewicz

The Lifeboat - Charlotte Rogan

Whew!  I've been having a really good time.  And because I use the library, I have no problem starting a book and then putting it down if I don't enjoy it.  Here are some of those titles:

The Starboard Sea - Amber Dermont
Prague Fatale - Philip Kerr
Trapeze - Simon Mawer
Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
The Innocents - Francesca Segal

And I'm off to the library again this afternoon.  Happy reading!

Still July...

I could have called this post, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," but that's not entirely accurate.  It's more like, "The Delicious, the Delightful, and the Disgusting."

Let's move on to the Delicious, shall we?

I borrowed this book from the library.  After making a couple of recipes, I was ready to press "order" on Amazon.  Last week, I ordered it. 

I'm so happy to have my own copy to write notes in.  I've made pasta and pasta sauce, ravioli, pizza (and pizza sauce), pancakes, waffles, homemade pop-tarts, hamburger buns, and the best yellow cake ever from this book.  I am burning through flour, buttermilk, and eggs like nobody's business.

The Delightful:  I am on my last round of the Granny blanket.  I am going to ignore the fifty million ends that remain, because I'm on the last round!

As my title says, it's still July.  Some days, you'd think it was late August.  The children are all done with being nice to each other.  They are tired of looking at each other--and they tattle to me when they do look at each other!  It's tiresome. I know I'm not alone because I can see other moms and kids out and about, and it's the same everywhere.  I've been seeing this in Target lately--which brings me to the Disgusting:

This was the boil on Bobby's arm last Monday.  The doctor drew the ring around it to show me that if the boil gets any larger than that, to bring him back in.  Yesterday Bobby finished his course of antibiotics (from the Target pharmacy), and the boil had not resolved.  We went back in this afternoon.  The examining room was full--Bobby, the doctor, a PA, a student, the girls, and I were all crammed in there watching the doctor slice open the boil with a scalpel.  I was not expecting blood; I was expecting pus.  Bobby was very brave.  The doctor drained it, cleaned it, bandaged it, and sent us back to Target with another prescription to have filled, and told us to come back tomorrow.

So as July comes to a close, I'm optimistic that we can buckle down and really enjoy our last month of summer break.  I plan on taking the kids to the pool as often as we can (once the wound has healed); I'm going to read as many books as I can and cook as many tomatoes as the garden will give me, and we may be adding a new family member next month.  The children are clamoring for a puppy, and we think the time may be right.

Back to Summer

This has been a typical summer week.  There were trips to the library.  As you can see I am still on a mystery binge.

There was crochet.  There was also knitting, but I'm lucky to get in a round or two a day.  It's my TV knitting, and there wasn't a lot of TV this week--at least for me there wasn't.  The kids are up to date on all the Disney/Nickelodeon shows, of course.

I got outside with my garden clippers and brought some pretty blooms inside.  Our hydrangea has finally (after five years) decided to bloom.  Maybe it was the plant-tone...

 Last night, there was homemade spaghetti.  It's worth all the flour mess.

And now, it's time to menu plan for the upcoming week!

What did your summer week look like?

More Making

Finishing the Sparkle Plenty quilt felt so good that it led to more Making.  It's been busy around here.

I've been sewing:

A new case for my Kindle.

 and baking:

Molly Wizenburg's Winning Hearts and Minds Cake, or as we know it, Four o'clock Cake.

And there has been some crocheting (I just crack up when people call it "hooking"):

And all of those squares led to some playing around and planning:

A new idea for the grannies--one that will use up more yarn than the original plan.

These last two pictures were taken with my phone.  I have a smartphone now, and while I may not be smart enough to figure out why it randomly makes noises (like the text notification tune when there is no new text), I'm enjoying the heck out of it. And I added the Instagram app, so let's share, shall we?  I'm megevans2.

Back on the Granny Wagon

Dishcloth knitting season has been replaced this year.  This year, it's Granny Square season.

Remember these?

August 2011

 I gave in to the Granny urge late last summer.  I was going to use up all those bits (and skeins) of leftover yarn.  I made about 27 squares before this project was shelved.


May 2012--now up to 36 squares

A couple of weeks ago, I whipped out my WEBS gift card that I'd been saving since Christmas and started choosing some Cascade 220 colors.  (I'm sure you remember that WEBS has its annual sale in April and May.  If not--what are you waiting for?)  To be honest, I'm not sure where I put my bag (or two) of yarn that I'd been working with, but I knew that I would need some fresh yarn to help see me through.



Cascade 220--now on sale at WEBS!

 I'm going to work exclusively with the new stuff for a while.  Then I'll go find the other yarn and start mixing it all up.  My original plan was for a blanket with 81 squares with at least one border around the whole thing.  Now I think I'm going to make it larger--maybe 121 squares. 

Realistically, I'm going to keep making squares throughout the summer without getting bogged down by "how many more?"  Granny squares are portable (and that's part of their charm), so I should be able to find lots of time to sneak in a square or two.  I think it would be great to be stitching the whole thing together as the weather turns cool.

And Just Like That...

They're off.

 Sixth grade, second grade, fourth grade.

 This is her last year at the elementary school.  That fact brings up all sorts of mixed emotions.

These two have a few more years.  Bobby's second grade teacher was Caroline's second grade teacher.  This is our first "repeat."   I love the first day of school because the principal allows parents to come in with the kids.  We get to meet the teachers and (try to) give a last minute kiss goodbye to the kids.

I came home to discover that two of the kids had left behind their "what I read this summer" lists.  That gave me the idea to share with you my list of what I read.  Here it is:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (I took the kids to a play of this--they loved it.)
Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maude Montgomery
State of Wonder (her latest novel) and Truth and Beauty (a memoir) both by Ann Patchett
The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall
Mockingbird (a biography of Harper Lee)--I forget the author's name, but it was really good
The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst
The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory
The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
and the second and third Flavia de Luce novels, The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag and A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley.

There were a couple of books that I started and skimmed a little.  There was at least one that I checked out and returned unread.  But when I look at the list, I think I'd recommend all of them.

So, how was your summer?  Did you read anything good?

Hanging in there

What, your kitchen doesn't look like this at 9:30 in the morning?

We're in the home stretch of summer.  I'm trying to look past the bickering and enjoy my time with the kids.  I'm doing a lot of deep breathing.

Re-Entry, or a Late Start

We've never gone on vacation this early in the summer.  We usually go in late July or mid-August.  This year, we left just two weeks after the kids got out of school, and during that time I felt like I was just marking days off the calendar until our departure.

We're back, and it feels like our summer can begin in earnest.  I wonder, are we re-entering or just starting?  I'm opting for just starting.  A shorter summer will be that much sweeter.

Now we can establish our rhythm of library visits, afternoons at the pool, late dinners, and baked goods made by committee.  The 4-H fair catalog arrived Tuesday, and the eleven-year-old is eager and persistent about beginning her first fair entry--a quilt.  I have two potential fair entries of my own that are in different stages of completion, so sharing my machine, ironing board and creative space will become part of my days for the next few weeks.

But just as some of us have jumped with both feet into new endeavors, there are still loose ends from vacation to tie up.  Our laundry pile is not a mountain so much as an entire range.  My trip to the laundromat on our return date gave me a good start, but in the days since then, the kids have already re-worn and soiled about half the clothes I washed.  Our laundry is further complicated by some unwanted souvenirs we brought home: head lice.  Sheets, towels, pillows and blankets have become part of the daily cleaning routine this week.

I remind myself that this is temporary.  The microscopic egg sacs will eventually all be found and removed, and our hair will not stink forever from tea tree oil shampoo.  One day soon I can stop vacuuming the couch, and the kids will be allowed to sit on it without donning a shower cap first.

Of course, they don't really need to be on the couch since I haven't allowed them to watch TV in three days.  I'm calling it "Unplugged Summer," and they claim to hate me for it.  I know I'm supposed to guide them in their show selection and help them moderate their viewing habits, but it's just so much easier on me to ban the TV outright.  Computer and Wii are also included in this ban.  The mind-numbing effect of any kind of screen on them is disturbing, and although I watched TV pretty much whenever I wanted during the summer when I was a kid, it was different.  I had to be at swim team practice twice a day (my kids don't).  I spent several hours a day at the pool in between those practices (my kids don't).  And although we had cable "back in the day," it looked nothing like the cable selection of 2011.  I did not have on-demand access to a library of programs.

So I find myself reluctantly unplugged, since leading by example is the only way to go on this.  My computer time is going to be much more limited this summer, and my posting will be like I hope my children's screen habits will become--limited and intentional.

I have many things from our trip to share, but I'm going to savor the details and take my time writing them down.  In the meantime, we'll be at home adjusting to a slower pace and soaking in as much summer as we can.

New Season

Hey there.  We are working on finding our groove this summer.  We in that stage where the children are too young to be left home alone, but they sure don't want to go the the grocery store with me.  

 We've been making lots of library trips.  Many drop-offs and pick-ups for playdates.  Many games of chess.

 Haven't made cookies yet. 

 One sleep-over.  That has resulted in a sleep-over moratorium.  And I'm fine with that.

 We're (reluctantly) doing what we call Math Olympics. 

And there is knitting.  Pictures soon, I promise!

The last day--two out of three

Today is the last day of school.  And it's a half-day.  The kids are pumped, and whether I'm ready or not, summer is here.  I'm not really ready, but I'm okay with that.

There are no grand plans for the summer.  There is an epic roadtrip in our future, and after that, we'll probably be chillin' at the pool.  When we're not at the library.  We're going to see a few plays--I may even drag them to a Shakespeare festival.  There will be the 4-H fair in August.

This summer seems like it's going to be shorter--they go back on August 30.  We're going to soak in as much fun as we can.

I'm back

Not that I've really been anywhere.  Our computer finally gave out last week, and now I'm posting this from our new, so-much-faster computer.  I no longer have to use the basic uploader on flickr, so I'm excited.  I have been up to a few things.

The Grange fair was this past weekend.  I pre-registered a few weeks ago.  I ended up entering in nine different categories (last year I only entered one).

I made this quilt to go in our bedroom.  It didn't win anything.  I had a lot of blank unquilted space that just didn't look right, and they called me on it.  Now I have something to work toward for next year.  Oh, but you should have seen the winners!  They were magnificent!

Participant.  This is totally what I was expecting.

But, hey, look!  Maybe making (and eating) all those chocolate cakes over the last month-and-a-half really paid off!

And wow!  Way to go, February Lady!  (Although Caitlin was disappointed that her birthday sweater didn't win a ribbon.  She also didn't want to part with it for the week.  "What if I need it?" she asked.  In August?  Not likely)

And if you've ever thought about making Leslie's chocolate chip cookies--you know, her version of the Toll House recipe--I can tell you that it is now officially a prize-winning recipe!

So there you have it--your Grange Fair recap.  This week is our last week of summer vacation.  And the weather is slightly cooler this week.  We are going to rest up and get ready for our big day next Monday.

This week...

Pleasant surprise: I was able to re-connect with a blog friend.  Not-so-pleasant: I have had my patience tested.  And tested.  I am constantly reminding myself that being the grown-up means acting like the grown-up--not like a bigger kid.

Pleasant: Multiple knitting projects!  Not-so: close deadlines (a.k.a. birthdays)

Pleasant: watching the light dance across the front of the house.  Not so much: discovering some deferred maintenance that needs to be resolved.

Pleasant: knitting sweater fronts at the same time.  Not so much: must pay careful attention; can't travel with this one (but this is what multiple projects are for--one to travel with!)

Pleasant: sunflowers.  It's all good around here.

Pleasant: planting broccoli for fall harvest.  Not so much: watering them daily

Pleasant: surprises on the memory card when uploading pictures!

We're going away for the weekend--a quick, semi-distant trip.  When we get back, it will be August.  And school starts August 30.  Time for this mama to re-boot the summer and stop all the fighting!