Cookie Jars

did your mom ever play the “who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?” game with you? mine did, but we didn’t actually HAVE a cookie jar.

my sister recently visited to spend some quality time with the LO and the beach. while she was here, she made us some cookies. i love to bake cookies as well, but we don’t own a cookie jar.

growing up, my own mother would just put the ones that weren’t eaten right away into whatever container would hold them all (usually an empty ice cream bucket of which my parents have dozens).  around christmas time, the cookies were usually all thrown immediately into the freezer until we made our cookie trays to bring with to grandma’s house or where-ever we happened to be celebrating that year.  the freezer is safer than the kitchen countertop with 4 kids and 2 adults meandering around.

we DID have a canister on the counter with sweets in it, but i prefer cookies to sweets; you can eat a lot more cookies before you get sick than you can with sweets.

this whole post boils down to this: i want to have a cookie jar! will you help me find the perfect one?

our kitchen/house is decorated with lots of colors you’d find in nature: browns and beiges, greens and blues. we’ve got copper and oil-rubbed bronze metals going on with our light fixtures and some other accents.  overall, there’s no theme, but we’re going for a slightly nautical, slightly cozy woodsy cabin feel.

do you have a cookie jar? what does it look like? what cookie recipe do you use most often to fill it up?

Tooth Unrest

we’ve got a lot of tooth-related distress in our family these days.

the Little One has not been herself this past weekend, to the point of sleeping for most of saturday, being fussy for the times she was awake, and having a temp for pretty much all of the weekend. we’ve given her some infant advil to keep her comfortable and help her sleep, but i don’t feel like that’s good enough. so i’ll be taking her to the doc today to make sure it IS only tooth related and not something worse. she’s crying so much more than i’ve heard her do in such a short time. i just feel helpless.

we also haven’t looked for a pediatric dentist yet. ugh, another thing to add to the to-do list.

as for the rest of us, the cats are probably in dire need of a good tooth-brushing. we’re really horrible at helping them with that. not looking forward to their next vet visit where the doc will likely suggest a sedated tooth-cleaning adventure.  pretty sure there will be at least 1 incredibly unhappy cat if that does happen.

and i need my wisdom teeth out.  i actually had an appointment to have that done 2 years ago. we were all set to go, then i got a positive pregnancy test. not that i’m complaining; we love our LO like crazy! but now that i’m done with the pregnancy and the breastfeeding (for now, we’ll likely have another later) it’s time to get back on the wisdom wagon.  i actually had a dream recently that my teeth fell out. like, all except for maybe 3 of them. it was rather disturbing and i did not like it at all!

so i’ll be making that appointment again soon. not sure when, though, since i’m supposed to be starting a full-time engineering job this week (yay!) and i won’t really have any vacation time to take for recovery.  gah!

we’re not the only ones who have it rough right now.  Harmon, the bald eagle chick from central MN, is in a pickle. he got his wing stuck in the nest recently and required human intervention to get free and get the wound cleaned. he was returned to his nest yesterday, but his parents have yet to return to feed him and care for him.  you can watch the free live video stream on the Minnesota Bound website.  i hope he gets some good luck soon. i dont’ like watching him sit there, alone and hungry. it makes me feel even more helpless than i already do, not being able to help my own baby feel better.

hope your house isn’t having to deal with anything like this.  what do you do to cheer up your Little One? how do you shake that helpless feeling?

WIP 22 – Up To

i HAVE actually made progress on a bunch of projects this past week-or-so.  some projects were sewing related, a lot were domestic tidying sort of things, and a couple have been just plain fun.

for the last few days, i’ve been devoting a lot of computer time to the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt 2012.

 it’s been fun! and productive! in the time i’ve been hunting, i’ve found quite a few of these little babies:

Great Cloth Diaper Hunt – the goal is to find one of these within each sponsor’s website!

i’ve got 1 EXTREME Sponsor left to go to qualify for all the prize levels, so i’m chomping at the bit a little to get that one figured out.

other than spending hours of my life on the computer, i’ve also:

• completed a small quilt for friends who are expecting — pictures to come once i send it off in the mail
• continued working on Hubby’s BSU Quilt — cutting pieces for the end-zones of the ‘field’ quilt top (nothing fun to show, so no pics)
• finally finished Hubby’s polo resize — only had the bottom hem left, but dang i took my sweet time getting to it! (he’s not a cooperative model, so again, no pics)

i’d like to get some of these tackled in the coming week:

• exercise — likelihood: approx 15%
• mop — need: 100% under the LO’s high chair at least
• finish the BSU Quilt top — desire: 40% would be more, but cutting and piecing all those squares will be a little tedious
• organize my sewing area — need: 100% cuz we’ll have company staying with us next week
• relax a bit before the chaos takes over again — desire: 100%, likelihood: 95%

why?  because lately i’ve been filling out paperwork like crazy to support my upcoming EMPLOYMENT! i’m excited! it’s actually an engineering position (which i dont’ feel i’ve had since my internship during college, almost 8 years ago) and not too far from home (20 min commute or so).

that DOES mean, though, that i’ll have less progress to show you guys, but let’s be real: i haven’t been all that good about posting in these past few months of renewed unemployment anyways. but to those that still keep an eye out for Ente Ente Gans updates, i’ll try to keep you updated.

in the mean time, what have you been up to?

WIP 21 – Not a Wednesday

i’m not going crazy, really i’m not. i know it’s not a wednesday. but i just need to get my brain sorted out before i lose another day’s worth of productive time on pinterest, facebook, and aimless internet wandering.

so here’s an “update” on my WIPs, copied from an old WIP post with some changes according to my (minimal) progress since then.

it’s not much, but if you’re hankering for more WIP action, head over to Lee’s Freshly Pieced link-up! click on the WIP button above to see all the lovely projects!

prepping (in development):

– flower girl dress for my daughter – not needed until October next year, but definitely already thinking about what i want to do with it (inspiration from this pin and this sweetheart dress tutorial)

– dress for me to wear to our friends’ wedding – not needed until October next year, but wondering if i will really have the time to pull off a hand-made outfit option (inspiration from this pin)

– more wardrobe additions for me and the LO — hoping to refashion some out-grown clothes of mine into awesomeness for either me or the Little One (or both!)

THIS (just above) is what i need more distinct direction on; right now i’m overwhelmed by the possibilities and don’t know where to start!

– activity quiet/soft book for the LO

mixing (new projects):

– quilt for Kaylee – friends are expecting their first bundle of joy (already named Kaylee) and i’m making her a small quilt; some minor quilting left to do before binding and sending it off

simmering (ongoing):

– nothin’ (since i haven’t really sat down and sewn in months)

ready to serve (complete):

– nap mats for the LO – she’s required to have a nap mat WITH pillow for daycare now that she’s moved from the infant room into the toddler room; i used a king-sized pillow sham on clearance from target as a great starting point; they (made 2) came together REALLY fast!

back burner (ongoing but low priority / no progress):

– sampler quilts – Minnesota Block is DONE! and the ticker tape block layout is figured out; more details here

– BSUQ – a quilt requested by my Hubby, meant to look like Boise State’s blue football field but with orange end zones and a big bronco logo in the center of it all; i’ve finished the stitching of the bronco; next i’ll be cutting orange pieces for the “end zones”

– Comforter Q – i KNOW the piecing of the blocks is complete and i think the blocks are all squared up and ready for layout

– monogram mini quilt – no progress, but gaining motivation

– advent calendar – pieced, quilted, awaiting binding and integration of some sort of hanging apparatus

– memory game - about half the pieces are pretty much done except for tucking loose threads away; i’ve finished about 3 pairs of these and the LO seems to like grabbing at them and trying to eat them

– doll quilt – honestly don’t remember this one; like, at all

– Hubby’s tailored shirt – no progress; still need to hem the bottom

non-sewing projects:

– finish writing in my travel journal about our recent trip to Washington DC

– write thank yous to friends who hosted us during our recent trip to DC

– review our Best Bottom cloth diapers for my friend the Cloth Diaper Guru to put on her blog (i’ve guest blogged there once before, did you see?)

– domestic responsibilities – such as clean the house, keep up with the laundry, clean up after the cats (litter gets EVERYWHERE!), etc.

– get some toddler-friendly crayons – need to start the LO on some crafty goodness

what are you working on?

Planning

it’s difficult to enjoy the ‘now’ when it seems like everything that needs to get done is looking into the future.

i had to clean the house because the relatives were coming. — i think i did pretty well on that one. that’s not something you want to wait until the ‘now’ happens to do!

i’m working on putting together an itinerary for an upcoming trip to DC. suggestions are welcomed! we’ve been planning for a while now and we’re so super excited about this trip!

but i should also be super excited that Hubs is home from his recent business trip.

or i should be super excited to see every assisted step my daughter takes just in case one isn’t assisted. (even though most of those are seen from the vantage point of the one doing the assisting which hurts my back after a while)

or i should be super excited that the LO is communicating easier, going to bed with less fuss (at least at night), or that she enjoys my singing.

little did i know that all those times singing in the car or in the shower would come in handy. i like to think i can carry a tune pretty well, though it’s always easier to sing WITH the music. (i automatically tune to whatever i hear, it’s pretty crazy. i could go more into it, but i’m not sure how many of you are into music theory.)

i’m glad that one of her favorite songs right now (i say ‘favorite’ because it calms her down no matter what fit she’s in) is one i’m VERY familiar with because I grew up with it too!: Baby Beluga by Raffi.  i’m looking forward to singing other songs to her as well, though, including some awesome ones i didn’t get to listen to when i was little, like: the album ‘No!’ by They Might Be Giants (yes, they made a kids’ album!) and also some sillier, maybe not ‘kid’ songs like anything by Ok Go.

so while i’m excited about what’s to come, i’m also trying to hold onto the now.