Psst!

Happy Friday!  For those of you who have been dying to see what I've been up to on the press, there is finally some photographic evidence!  

Head over to Marta's blog for a few details and pictures of my first job.  I'll be back to elaborate on the process and the hiccups (both expected and unexpected) I experienced as a totally naive printer.Collaborating with Marta and Emily was probably the best decision I made for my first letterpress project. I am literally wringing my hands waiting to start on something new.  Perhaps something for you?

Let us all press

Good morning friends!  It is Monday and I'm here!  On my blog!  Writing a post!  Truthfully, I can't believe it myself.  I was starting to think I had parted ways with blogging.  But I'm here.  For now.  For this post, at least.

I'm here because I've reeeeeeally been wanting to tell you about a couple of fun things happening around here these days. So let's get started, shall we?

Back in January I made what I would consider one of the most impulsive purchases of my life.  I bought a letterpress.

{Yes.  For reals.  This belongs to me.}

I say the purchase was impulsive because it wasn't something I really talked about buying for more than a few months.  If you know me at all, you know that I discuss possible large purchases for a year at minimum.  Preferably longer.  So when I told some of my friends that I really wanted to buy a letterpress in October and then actually owned one in January?  Well, that is akin to grabbing Tic-Tacs at the checkout line for me.

{Nate and my dad transporting the press/completely freaking me out.}

Here's what made buying this press possible:  

An amazingly supportive husband.  When Nate figured out that I was serious about buying a press he was nothing but positive every step of the way.  He never told me I was crazy, even though I asked him multiple times.  He helped me with research and made suggestions.  When we got the press he transformed our shed into an actual workshop complete with electricity, insulation, a heater, and a fan.  He repeatedly told me that he just wanted to do what he could to support my dream.  Amazing, yes.  Thank you, Nate.

A supportive and flexible family.  To buy this press we crashed Nate's family's after-Christmas-vacation.  Okay, that's not true, they totally wanted us to come.  But what we did do was make them drive a couple hours out of their way to come and inspect the press with us.  My dad let me keep the press in his shop for a few weeks, built me a treadle, and helped Nate haul it from our driveway to our shed (presses are really, really, ridiculously heavy).  I was in constant awe every step of the way as my family helped in any way they could.  Although, I shouldn't have been surprised.  That's just the way they are.  Thank you, family.

Online friends and acquaintances who replied to my incessant, long winded, and possibly frenetic emails.  I'm talking especially of Marta and Amanda.  Thank you both for your reassurance, advice,and well wishes.

I feel like there is a million things to tell you about and I don't even know where to start.  How about you tell me what you'd like to know?  Are you wondering, why a letterpress?  What are my plans from here?  Feel free to ask away my friends.  I'll happily answer any of your questions.  In fact, chances are good that I won't be shutting up about this press any time soon.  Plus I have a billion more iPod pictures to post.  No, seriously there's a lot.  And maybe I could even take some pictures with my real camera?  Possibly?

I'm curious.  Have you made any impulsive large purchases lately?  Also, do you need anything pressed?

Ahhh....Friday.

It has taken me a full week to recover from our two weeks of vacation but I think I finally have my act together.  The beds are made, the chickens are fed (not before I heard them screeching in hunger), and there is pizza dough rising on the counter for dinner.  Speaking of pizza, remember when I asked if anybody has the perfect red sauce recipe?  Turns out that the Fred Meyer brand pizza sauce (pizza parlor style) is de-freakin-licious, so that is what we use now.  Sorry if you don't live by a Fred Meyer.  Perhaps I could mail you some?

We have a pretty low-key weekend planned.  A birthday barbecue for my sister-in-law, some super exciting work out in the shed, and church on Sunday.  Any exciting weekend plans for you?

Right now I'm looking at the mostly dying tulips on my table and thinking it is probably time to put them to rest. After that it is off to the pediatrician for Z's 4yr. well-child check.  I may have skipped her 3yr entirely.  She may have to get some shots this time. I may not have warned her about that possibly. I may have to make it up to her with fro-yo for lunch.

March 19th

{our backyard, as I type}

You know, March is full of this kind of day.  The kind of day that breaks your heart.  You may try to tell yourself that this is going to happen.  You've lived in Idaho for 24 years of your life, you know this is going to happen.  And even though it was spring-y last week, and even though you've been watching the tulips sprout in your front yard, this is going to happen.  It is going to get cold again.

Well this year, I have a plan!  I'm not going to let March bring me down! (I've never been on good terms with March, as you may have noticed.)  First of all, I checked the weather, and this cold isn't going to last long.  So there's that.  Second of all, I slept in, which was totally rad.  And third of all, my to-do list is filled with things I want to do instead of the usual list of things I need to do.  Writing this post was in fact on the very top of that list because come on already!  Write a post!  Other activities today will include making granola, water coloring with Z, and beginning a full-fledged, multi-day, spring cleaning attack on the house.  Turns our that if you put it off long enough you can actually start to want to clean your house.

Life in Instagram

Lately our days have not been too busy and have therefore been  absolutely lovely.  

Last week we made homemade donuts at 11:00 AM because my friend had some leftover dough from the evening before.  It may not have been such a good idea to leave me and Z-cakes in the house alone with a pan full of donuts, but I promise Nate got a couple.

On Saturday we enjoyed fresh squeezed orange juice with our whole wheat pancakes reminding me, once again, that most of my happiest moments revolve around really good food.

Z-cakes obviously gets cuter by the day.  She got herself all dressed up to play "grocery store" outside and I was mighty proud of her ensemble.  Another favorite game these days is "book lady" in which she brings a handful of books to me, I tell her how much they cost, she gives me pretend money and is on her way, never batting an eye at the cost.  She may or may not have learned this from someone you know.

Okay, but food and toddler clothes aside, here is the biggest news of the week:  Z-cakes' hair in PIGTAILS!

I kind of feel like four years of hair growth has all been leading up to this point.  You know?

Unphotographed:

Yesterday was in the 50s.  Dudes.  Today is cold and windy but yesterday was in the 50s.  We headed to the park and flew kites with a slew of other kids who for some reason were not in school.  I brought my camera, but was having way to much fun to stop and take a pic.

We made this on Sunday night and I wanted to eat the entire thing by myself.  I saved a piece to take a picture of on Monday morning like a good blogger but instead, I just ate it.  In like, two bites.  It occurred to me later that perhaps I should have savored it.  Not to worry though, the ingredients for another are sitting in my fridge right now.  It is only a matter of time, my friends.

Jet-Puffed

You know those giant marshmallows? The really big ones that are approximately the size of your fist? Or two of your kid's fists? So, would I qualify as a bad mother if my child ate one (perhaps two) of said marshmallows everyday?

Yeah, I thought so.

I wish I could tell you that I think marshmallows are gross and that I can't stand eating all of the puffy sugar. Nope. I love 'em. I would probably finish the bag of them before Z could get her hands on them if I hadn't recently turned 30 and started practicing being an adult and showing a little restraint.

Incidentally, it takes approximately NO pleading from Z at the grocery store to get me to buy a bag:

Z: Whoa. Those marshmallows are really big mommy!

Me: Oh, okay fine. We can get them.

Me: Do you want the giant ones or the heart shaped one?

Me: Or both?

Z: Both!

Me: Okay!

And then one day Z was trying to fall asleep waaaay later than is acceptable for her to fall asleep if bedtime isn't going to be the worst so I tried to keep her awake by offering her a marshmallow! What kind of mom does that? A desperate one who knows the power of a big freakin' mallow that's who. It didn't matter anyway. She just ate it with her eyes closed and went back to sleep. A feat I decided was a possibly useful talent.

On a related note: Z-cakes has recently started saying "dude" much to her parent's approval. She demonstrates excellent inflection and consistently appropriate use. For example:

Z-cakes: Dude, mom! Look at those marshmallows!

Me: Dude, Z. They're peppermint!

Z-cakes: Dude. We should buy those.

Me: Okay!

Better

It's been a busy few weeks. First there was the church talk. Then preschool was at my house. And then I decorated for a big church meeting. That pretty much wiped me out for the month of January.

Sure it may look like I only had three things going on but I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not a fan of being busy. I very much enjoy having one major task at a time that I can plan and execute at a reasonable pace. This is a luxury I have been granted since graduate school and I'm not about to take it for granted. My ability to multi-task diminishes significantly in the winter. Because my brain slows down? Also I'm prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder. Shocking, I know. All of the previously mentioned events happened pretty much simultaneously. Well, at least within three days of each other. Which is why my mind was a mess trying to organize my thoughts and pull everything together. Fortunately everything went swimmingly.

I made giant crepe paper roses! And tissue paper pom-poms!

I had lots of help with the pom-poms, thank goodness.

I was much better at the roses after I had made about six of them.

And I thought the end result was quite lovely. What do you think?

Now that I have all of that behind me I can focus on the major MAJOR event of the month: Z-cakes's birthday. My time for planning grows lean, my friends. Her birthday is less than two weeks away! Now I'm wondering if I should do a family party or a friend party. Or both? Cupcakes or layer cake? New birthday crown? (yes) But as I have said, I am running out of time! Decisions must be made! Any and all input is welcome!

Anyway, while I'm here, I might as well make a list of the things I've been doing instead of blogging lately. Who knows when I'll be back after all.

:: Watching Downton Abbey while working on my embroidery calendar.

:: Knitting

:: Playing Words With Friends

:: Thinking about blogging

:: Going to bed at 10:00

:: Instagraming

:: Helping Z-cakes change in and out of her ballet clothes 12 times a day

:: Making dinner every night, yo! Except on leftover night

:: That's pretty much all I can think of right now.

:: XO to you all

:: Happy 6 more weeks of winter

Quiet

This is what I do when my mind is racing. And it has been, recently.

I can't seem to find a better way to quiet my mind while the rest of me feels like being silent.

In related news this quote that I spotted on my Kat's blog has been speaking to me lately:

Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening[…]Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.

- Alice Walker

Amazing, right? Right.

(Apologies for the unreadability of that quote. I can't seem to figure out what is going on with the type and I have embroidery to get back to)

Made

This Christmas definitely helped nudge me out of the crafting slump I've been in for, what, a year now? My handmade gifts weren't as varied as previous years and I'm okay with that. Perhaps I'll narrow my focus and start to actually excel in one or two crafts rather than doing a bazillion sub par crafts? Yeah, you're right. Probably not.

I started the month by adding to my needle felted ornament collection after I panicked thinking we didn't have enough ornaments for our tree. Update: We had plenty. Anyway, the fox and mushroom are the new guys and only took me an evening. Ah needle felted animals, you would think I would make more of you considering how much I love you.

Also for the tree, super duper glittery ornaments. I made these while Nate was not home (nor did I mention to him that they had been made...he found the glitter trail all by himself) and nobody was allowed to touch them. Their sparkliness was totally worth the mess.

I decided to make tent for Z-cakes to replace a completely unacceptable pup tent I made for her this summer. I made this decision around the time that a rational person would decide that there wasn't time before Christmas. Pshaw. I used the pattern from Meg's Growing Up Sew Liberated. I made it with the giant roll of canvas that I had tucked away in my basement. What's that? You don't have a giant roll of canvas in your basement? Huh. Weird.

It turns out that tents were a super hip gift this year. Ahem. I mean, I totally knew tents were the raddest so I made one because I'm hip like that. Also, Z-cakes loves it.

And now: The Knits.

An adorable hat for my sister-in-law. This is the kind of hat that I would only make for a fellow knitter, which she is.

{details on Ravelry}

I also made these fingerless gloves for the same sister-in-law, because she lives in Portland and it can get cold there.

{details on Ravelry}

I made a hat for my Nate. I figured after watching me knit for nearly seven years, he probably deserves something hand knit for himself, right?

{details on Ravelry}

P.S. I recently updated my Ravelry project page with photos and words and everything. It took a lot longer than I wanted it to so if you're a Ravelry user you should probably check it out if only to make me feel better.

Basically

{photo by Z-cakes}

Here's what's been happening lately when I sit down to blog. I log in to blogger. I write a title. I write a couple of sentences. I erase them. I write new sentences. I erase them. I write three sentences in a row that are all related to each other. I take a break to sing the intro song to Super Why! with Z-cakes. I reread the sentences. I hate the sentences. I wonder if I have a picture to post. I realize I don't. I decide that I don't feel like blogging. I close the laptop. I knit.

Later in the day I post a picture on Instagram and decide that totally counts as blogging.

And that, my friends, is my in-depth explanation of why I haven't been blogging lately. It's pretty much the best I can do especially since I hate writing blogs about blogging. It feels redundant. Meta? And just downright awkward.

Whew. Glad that's out of the way. Now I can tell you that, no, I am not dead. I have not quit blogging. I don't know if I'll ever go back to blogging every day but I do know I'll be blogging more frequently. I don't have a blog series planned, no big ideas, no Friday features. Just me. And some Instagram pictures. And my family. And lots of narration.

So basically, I'm back. Get excited.

xxoo

December 01 (aka: Yesterday)

Hello friends! Happy December to you. Did you remember to say Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit yesterday? Woe be unto you if you didn't! (I'm just kidding.) (I think.)

Last night I declared our December 1st to be one of the best ones yet. Here's what went down:

Since I had to work the first half of the day was pretty uneventful. Just me sitting in the coldest corner of our basement talking to a computer. Glamorous? Yes. Of course when Nate (did I mention I'm sick of calling him N8tr0n on here? Because I am. His name is Nate. Actually, Nathan. But I call him Nate.) and Z-cakes got home the party started.

Z whipped up a quick dinner for us. I must say she is becoming quite the help in the kitchen these days. After that it was off to....

buy a Christmas tree!

This is the first time we've purchased a real tree. The first time! I'm sure you can imagine that I was soaking up every second. The man at the tree lot gave Z-cakes a candy cane which basically made her life.

We put our tree up as soon as we got home; that is, after we carried a billion pound water softener down our stairs with our new hand truck and I suppressed my severe anxiety that Nate and I were both going to die trying to get it down the stairs. Anyway, we got the tree up and I've been sitting and admiring it ever since. And also breathing in its intoxicating smell.

I also bought a wreath at Costco for our front door because I've wanted one for like SEVEN YEARS.

The end.

30th Birthday Party

Over a month after the fact and I still can't stop thinking about my 30th birthday party. That, to me, is the sign of a great party. I am one very spoiled girl.

The Details:
The party was in Kim's gorgeous backyard which was dressed to the nines (Thank you, Kim!). We started off the evening with a six foot sammie + mingling. Two more of my friends from Denver showed up (Thank you, Ben + Rachel!)—once again, a complete surprise!

As the evening grew chilly we passed out scarves, coats, and hats (we were crazy enough to plan an outdoor party, in Idaho, in October) and we started the entertainment—TRIVIA! Some of you may know that N8tr0n and I loved going to trivia with friends while we were living in Denver. We were able to purchase trivia questions from the same company for our event! The questions were mainly 80's/90's themed (too bad for the 20-25 year old crowd) and my brother in law Kevan was our fantastic quiz master.

As the evening progressed (and got colder!) we broke out the hot chocolate and munched on fried food (think jalapeno poppers, fried pickles, tater tots, you know, bar food).

In lieu of a cake, we ate homemade doughnuts (Thank you, April + Sarah!) which were the perfect end to the night.

At the end of the night we sent everyone home with a homemade caramel apple favor (Thank you, Mom!).

I honestly can't think of a single thing that would have made this party better. Being surrounded by the people I love, eating good food on a chilly October evening in a town that I love. What's better than that? Nothing.

Oops. Been gone a while.

Two weeks? Dudes. I did not mean to be gone for two weeks. I must apologize for that. Although, you should understand that I really don't have time to blog. Because I'm knitting.

No, really. I mean, I'm working. I'm feeding Z-cakes. I'm running the dishwasher. But otherwise? Knitting.

You should also know that I have a bundle of blog posts written in my head and there is a good chance that they'll actually be published in the near future. Fingers crossed. It's just that you can't type and knit at the same time, you know? Unless you have someone to dictate to and N8tr0n is at work right now. And Z-cakes? Well Z-cakes is downright horrible at dictation. Trust me.

Last night we had a family game night. N8tr0n and I sat there marveling at how much we love Z-cakes and how amazing her attention span was and how hilarious it was when she said, "whoa, I am way too fast for you!" And just now I realized that in a few short months that girl will be four years old. And I'm going to put that thought out of my mind just as quickly as it entered.

If all goes according to plan, by the time you read this I will have been to an aerobics class at the gym with Emmylou and will probably be considering a mid-morning nap. I hope your Monday goes according to plan to friends.

XO