7 Reasons for Blog Neglect in 7QT

So. Hi there. It's been a while, amirite? I have lots of lame-o excuses totally legit reasons for going AWOL, so here they are in Seven Quick Takes:

1. Well, this happened on July 2nd.

Little Irish debuted at 10lbs 5oz and hasn't stopped growing yet. He's precious and mellow and brilliant and the snuggliest baby ever who gives hugs JUST BECAUSE. And by hugs I mean that he slams his forehead into my face or body and vigorously shakes it back and forth. He's our favorite little boy in the world and we love him so much!







2. See these?

They are just a small sample of the tissues my family massacred during our eleventy billion colds from September to four seconds ago (ah-CHOO ah-CHOO WILL IT EVER END). It seems that Ninja Girl is a kind of strep throat Mary who brings all sorts of fun diseases home from school while avoiding infection herself. Thanks, sweetie.






3. School! School happened too! No-longer-wee Ninja Girl started kindergarten in September and is doing great. It's one of the few half-day programs left in our state, thank goodness, and she is thriving. Not that I'm surprised, she is a real social butterfly, unlike her mother. And her father.

Look how much they've grown!

4. All hope of my social life is not lost, however, as I did manage to find and join a local Catholic mom's group, through which my kids and I have made wonderful friends. It's been inspiring to meet other moms facing the same challenges as Catholics in our society. I have learned a lot already!

My lonely, socially awkward self, but with awesome boots.

5. Oh, that? That is my new piano. Because I needed another hobby...

6. Guess what is outside in my front garden right now. A rosebush? Nope. Gorgeous perennials I tenderly planted in the Fall that are now blooming beautifully? Uh uh. Half dead azaleas? Well, yes, but NEVERYOUMIND. My snow shovel? Why, yes, it is still sitting outside the front door. Yes, it's May. But after the winter we had, I am not taking any chances. Nope, nope, nope. Besides, if I take it inside and then it snows EVERYONE WILL KNOW IT WAS ME and I just don't need that stress in my life.

7. Our most recent project: Little Irish into the girl's current room, girls into the former guest room. it involves dealing with piles of junk, buying/making new furniture, sheets-into-duvet projects, canopies out of old curtains, painting, removing closet doors, Pinterest, and so very much dust. I hope to have a post in the future detailing some of the projects I undertook to maximize storage in a small room and make it extra fancy on a budget.

And there you go. Ten months of insanity in Seven Quick Takes. I'd figure out some sort of mathematical equation for that, but English Major, so...



Thanks to Jen @ Conversion Diary for hosting!

Seven Quick Takes Friday

1.  So, it's been a while since I've posted.  Since my last post, I've driven the girls to Albany and back to serve as slave labor paint my parents' bedroom and visit family, made two Halloween costumes, and....

Okay, so that's about it for big things, but I somehow tumbled into a veritable abyss of busywork that's kept me occupied most of the time. 

2.  Things I have not yet managed to do: weed the gardens, rake/compost/bag the leaves, vacuum out the cars, mow the lawn, sweep the deck, ready the potted plants for winter, make rice crispy treats with WNG, clean out the girls' closet, clean out my closet, clean out any other overcrowded closets, undungeonify the basement, locate-purchase-paint-set-up a bookshelf for the girls' room, brown-betty some apples, carve at least one pumpkin, make my bibliofairy costume, and nine kazillion-florillion other tasks that must—MUST!—be done before the winter.

3.  Wee Ninja Girl's secondary Halloween costume: 

The shell is made from two 22"x11" red felt half circles with fishing-line-spool-diameter black felt spots hot glued on, then sewn with a zigzag stitch to a black "youth cut" t-shirt. 

The wings are made from a single piece of black netting cut in the approximate shape of ladybug wings, knotted in the center, and sewn onto the t-shirt just under the spot where the half-circles meet.  Those were sewn through the red felt with more zigzag stitching.  The wings are tied onto WNG's wrists with black yarn threaded through two 1/4" grommets on each wing.

The headband is a cheapo plastic thingy with black pipecleaners wrapped around it and fed through two holes punched in a strip of black felt that was hot-glued to the plastic.  The giant pompoms (chosen by WNG and way too heavy for the double pipecleaners) are hot-glued onto the pipecleaners.  Easy-peasy, minimal sewing, and one very happy ladybug!

4.  I should clarify: WNG has two Halloween costumes because last year I made her a satin and brocade princess dress (hot pink, her choice!) and while it still fits her this year, she was supposed to dress up for preschool today and I didn't think satin/brocade + preschool was a stellar idea, so I whipped up the ladybug for her to wear to school. 

5.  Little things that make me happy:

 This rather plain butcherblock microwave cart has CHANGED MY LIFE.  My awesome-in-laws don't need it in their new kitchen, so they offered it to us, and even though my kitchen is puny, it fits in the breakfast nook and gives me 50% more food storage.  Yes, folks, 50% more!  No exaggeration, I promise!  My kitchen has a grand total of six cabinets, including the under-sink cleaning-chemical wasteland.  I used two for food, and now I have three!  I was also able to move the wine rack off the refrigerator and make it much more accessible, because, well, do I even have to justify it?

These little salt and pepper shakers belonged to my dad's father's mother, and may have even belonged to her mother.  I don't keep salt or pepper in them, but I keep them out because there's something so sweet and cute about them without being too kitschy. 

WNG cut these leaves out of construction paper a few weeks ago (I drew the shapes and hoped for the best!) and she did a great job for her first ever try with scissors.  They kind of blow out the door every time we open it and three of them ripped off today, but I think they are festive and beautiful and she is so proud of them!

6.  So much for the "quick" part of this...

7.  Happiness is...

Thank you to Conversion Diary for hosting!

Falling for Fall (SO original, I know!)

I really love autumn.  The leaves, the crisp air, the earthy colors, the soups and stews, the baked desserts, the dying of the bugs, all of it! 

I love that I can boil water for tea without overheating the house.

I love how my kitchen table looks with this neat runner my mom found at a thrift store and a bean pot EP Dude bought at a church-sponsored world goods sale years ago:


So warm and cozy!

  I love that it's apple season and I can get yummy local apples everywhere.  These Galas are just BEGGING to be baked into a brown betty or applesauce, don't you think?


Yummy local apples!

 I love that I actually managed to complete a fall craft project BEFORE Advent for once!  This banner is made of felt and embroidery thread.  I made 2.5" x 7" diamonds (measured from corner to corner) from four colors of felt.  I got three diamonds out of each felt sheet with plenty to spare.  I split the embroidery thread into 3-strand bunches and free-handed the letters.  It says "harvest time" on the front, and "give  thanks" on the back, so I can leave it up through Thanksgiving.  When all the triangles were lettered and whip stitched (really badly) together, I threaded some brown yarn through them all and looped the ends over stick-on hooks.


Some festive bunting!

  I've been noticing a trend in hand-crafted bunting decorations lately, and thought it would be something simple to add some seasonal flavor to my otherwise undecorated abode.  I may have to figure out something similar for Advent and/or Christmas, although it's WAY too early to think about that, right?  Right?

Close-up!

 Today was a typical Rochester, NY, autumn day, which means it looked promising at one point, but rapidly turned gray, windy, and rainy.  So, I covered the dining room table with newspapers and set WNG up with her watercolors.  In between being called in to check on her progress ("Mom! Mom!  Come see!  I added a dot of purple here!  Mom!  Mom!  Look!  It's a yellow line!"), Sillypants and I read all the books she picked out—mainly the weird, poorly written ones I always try to discourage/hide/throw away—and had a lot of fun.

I do try to spend as much one-on-one time with Sillypants, although she seems just as independent as her big sister thus far.  It's nice when I can do so while WNG is still home (as opposed to being in school) so she can see that Sillypants deserves my attention just as much as she does.

At any rate, WNG happily watercolored and Sillypants happily sat with me reading until maybe the eighty-seventh request for me to see the latest painted blob.  When I went into the dining room, I noticed that WNG had some blue paint on her lips. Thinking she wiped her mouth with a painty hand, I told her to keep her yucky hands away from her face. 

"Oh, okay," she replied, exposing her blue teeth.

Remaining unflappably calm (HA!) I gently requested that she open her mouth, further exposing her very blue tongue.

Me: "WHAT DID YOU DO, LICK THE PAINTBRUSH?!"

Her: "ONLY FIVE TIMES!  No, less, four times.  Or maybe seven?"

Me: "AJEROWINJKJLNJRHTOIWJAKLGNJSFNGKLJFJ!"

Sillypants: *grabs one of the paper cups filled with brown paint-water and drops it on the floor*

Me: *sob*

So, here are the four pictures she painted.  They are, clockwise from upper left:

1.  A tree and a mountain and a square for EP Dude's brother and sister-in-law, whom we will see this weekend.  (WNG asked me very particularly if they like SQUARES because she painted one under the mountain.)
2.  A rainbow for me.
3.  A sun, a cloud, a blue horse with red stripes, her red handbrint, some grass, and a tree trunk.
4.  The view out a window.  It's the window of someone we don't know, though, and that blue swoopy caterpillar shape is the windowsill.

Well, EP Dude is home, naptime is over, and it's time to realize that I have no idea what to do for dinner, even though as the at-home parent in this equation, it's kind of my job to have these things figured out.

Maybe we have enough leftovers for everyone...