cheap thrills (well, $12.99 thrills)

When I saw this cute cherry chomper at Angry Chicken, the box of cherries on my countertop practically drove me to New Seasons to join in the cherry chomping fun. Our dilema at the store? Do we purchase the one cherry at a time cherry chomper for $12.99 or the 6 cherries at a time blah plain cherry pitter for 14.99? As you can see, cuteness won the day. Chloe's solution? Buy both. When telling Chris, he agreed. Dang. But here is the ultimate reason for buying the cute instead of the practical: Would my daughters hurry through with their jobs for the honor of pitting cherries with a blah plain cherry pitter? I think not. The biggest problem? Enabling Chris. I knew I was in trouble when he commented on how much yummier cherries are pitted.

"my own" little handiwork

Among many recent goodwill finds, is this embroidery. I tried to tell the girls that their very mean grandma donated my handiwork to goodwill, but they didn't believe it for a second. (They know that any sentence that includes mean and grandma couldn't possibly be true!) But I do love the idea of a six year old little girl embroidering away on this sweet sampler. And it has made me a little anxious to get all of the girls working on their own samplers. (that I will NOT donate to goodwill and will promptly frame)

speaking of good will: If anyone finds some cute vintage hankies at goodwill, a garage sale or maybe even a jumble sale (why don't we call them jumble sales? It sounds so much cooler!)...and is willing to send them my way, I will reward you handsomely. Not only have I been using them in apron dresses, I am now trying to always have a few to wipe noses. I am thinking that a hankie is a lot more dainty to use than {my shirt}! (I whispered that part out of slight shame for succumbing to the conveniences of motherhood!) A summary:: hankies for me, treat for you.

Sewing Camp Recap

Here it is, the short and quick of it:

Chloe got permission to do sewing camp at the last minute (fhew....no complaining about it all week and she loved sewing her little heart out)

The girls sewed every afternoon away with these wonderful grandma types that lovingly taught them to sew independently and, quite honestly, ambitiously.

The moms sewed every night away (we would have sewed every afternoon away, but the kids took all of our machines!)

Lia and I each made a quilt from Material Obsession (you know, the easiest one in the book?) to teach Lia the basics of quilting a la free motion

Altogether, a week full of cousin and sister bonding. My only regret? That it was the week after Tony came back from sea and I felt like a big time intruder. Big. Time.

Home at last (aka:the marathon of July begins now!)

We came home today with just enough time to empty out the car and head back into Portland for a piano recital. Now, the highlight of every trip: Mount Laundry, that is due for an explosion. What does our July look like? Camping, Beach housing, girl scout camping, a visit from Chris' family....busy stuff. The real question? Why am I blogging instead of scrubbing my house right now? My to do list is making me sleepy. Report on sewing camp to come shortly.

how time flies.....

The girls and I are up in Kitsap County while the girls are attending a fun (and cheap!) sewing camp. This, of course, forces us to spend lots of time playing with the Romero family in between camps. So far? Picnicking, lots of driving, sewing, cousin bonding (which takes shape in many different forms) and lots of girl talk. I promise to post pictures....later. For now? I am off to quilt.

part japanese?

Why I just might have a little bit of Japanese in me:

I have always been asked if I was part Asian (not sure why, but hey....)

I am attracted to a certain Korean young man and they must like them too, seeing that they took over their country so many times

I have found myself flipping through books "backwards" a lot, which would be mainstream if I was in Japan

Looking through my new Japanese Embroidery book makes me giddy, so I obviously feel the Japanese spirit of all things crafty, right?

I feel a pull towards my new homeland. (can we say fabric shopping?)

my own little product endorsements:

After a lovely dentist visit with a screaming child, I got  to work on a project that I am copying from a source that I cannot seem to recall.  It is a art gallery for the girlies, complete with frames of different sizes that are empty but have a metal clip attached to the wall inside the frame.  Don't you worry.  As soon as I get the clips in the mail, I will give you all fabulous pictures.  I have been collecting frames (mainly gold intricate ones) from Goodwill and today I spray painted away.  Because I am a top notch wife, I did not paint them red as I was inclined to do and stuck with white.  I figure that the texture of the different frames is enough for me and I would have hated to have them burn in an accidental fire while I am out of town next week.  So here comes the product endorsement.  I always use this great spray paint from Fred Meyer's because of the beautiful colors it comes in and have thought it to be a great can of paint, until now.  I found, hiding in my garage, this can of paint.  This was after I had already spent a good 1.5 cans of paint on my frames, that were succumbing to much beading a dripping.  (Yes, probably due to user error, but keep listening!)  I pulled out this great can of paint that claims that it covers with twice the coverage and after using it, I must disagree.  I think it is at least with 3 times the coverage.  It was amazing.  I spraying this to my many layers with the other paint and that was the end of my project.  It was quite magical.  The moral of the story?  Always buy rustoleum 2x's spray paint because: IT ROCKS!

The next product up for review: The shark.  Sounds menacing, eh?  You have to be menacing to tackle my stinky dark wood floor.  The good: Reusable pads, it uses water instead of some expensive and stinky cleaner and it cleans my floor easily and well.  The bad: With all the steam, I was a little hot by the end of it.  Maybe next time I will open a window.  Maybe I will be able to keep my floor one level above disgusting now.  Only time will tell, as the shark still requires a person to operate it.  (Unlike my scooba, that either ran away with the roomba to elope or was stolen by our stinky movers.)

Lessons for today: If you want to spray paint (which you should because it is SO fun!), use Rustoleum 2x.  If your floor is gross like mine was 15 minutes ago, use the shark.  (I feel like there should be jaws music playing)  You won't regret it.  And if you do, please still be my friend. :)

juggling

Sometimes, I am lucky to just keep all of the balls I am juggling in the air.  Most of the time, I am busy picking up the balls that I keep on dropping.  Today was one of those days full of juggling, yet enjoyable.

What have we been up to?  Yudu-ing with Kylene.  Picnics in the backyard.  Gardening.  Cooking up bok choi (from our garden).  Cleaning.  Laying out my zig zag quilt, finally.  Watering the garden.  Washing off Lilly, who plays in the mud while I water. Watching Monsters vs. Aliens at McMenamin's.  (dinner and a show for $31.)  Cleaning the footprints from everyone who played in the mud while I watered the garden.  Weeding.  Bedtime.  Hanging out with Chris while laying out my zig zag quilt, again.  Piecing my zig zag quilt.  Blogging.  Back to piecing.  Sleep will be next on the list, theoretically.

camp recap

Yes, Chris came for his nightly visits. (I think he felt challenged after my comments about his disdain for camping.  That and he likes to play with fire.)  Our days were filled with hikes and bike rides that inevitably took us down steep trails and finding an alternative trail back up that was always just as steep. 

There were butterflies and caterpillars found, beaver sightings, a little bit of horse stalking (all for Hannah!) and scenic views.  For anyone that hasn't been to Stub Stewart: Go! (Just don't rent a cabin when we want to be there.)  When you look around you, all you see is tree covered hills as far as the eye can see.  Breathtaking, I tell you.  

The girls all rated the trip at a 9 out of 10, with their reasoning for their one point deductions varying from mosquito bites, minor injuries or the 30 minutes of rain that we had on our last day.  I think our trip was a success if that is all they can complain about.  Rachel was off bike riding for the majority of the trip, although I think she needs to learn an alternative to bribing her friend's big brother to carry her bike back up the hill.  We enjoyed identifying all of the many varieties of wild flowers and even found out (at the end of our trip) that we shouldn't be picking them.   Stub Stewart Park, we will be back.  (After I recover, that is.  Nevermind.  Star Party this Saturday night...if the weather cooperates we will be back before Stub Stewart recovers)  And we just rented a yurt for the beginning of July at the beach.  Dutch Oven, dear, we have a date.

the signs of an over photographed child

How you know your children have had their pictures taken one too many times:

When your three year old asks you to take a picture by accurately mimicking the sound of your shutter clicking. 

When your daughter gets dressed in the morning with her photo shoot all figured out, down to the outfit, props and location.  If she starts figuring out the lighting, I will be scared.  

 

A few pictures of our little adventure, with a promise of more tomorrow:

out on another Kang adventure

After our run in with Stub Stewart state park for the lovely star party, I (on a whim) made reservations at one of their cabins for two nights.  Fast forward a month or two and our party has increased two families and we are in the process of loading our car for our little adventure.  This adventure includes my first fire starters that I made last week, my 6 year old virgin dutch oven   (that will come back nice and worn in), my new charcoal chimney and 5 (yes, you read that correctly) bags of marshmallows.  What could go wrong as long as we have those ingredients? 

Wish us luck and we will see you again on Wednesday. (or Thursday if I am completely wiped out from all of this fun!)  The only ingredient missing?  Chris.  He, conveniently, has to work. (or something lame like that!)  Chris has a love/hate relationship with camping.  He loves putting bugs on people and playing all sorts of camping related pranks on people, but he hates pretty much everything else involved. (especially the lack of indoor plumbing.  Even if they have bathrooms, his idea of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night does not include needing a flashlight.)  I digress.    Luckily, I think he can still make it to heaven because Gordon B. Hinkley's son once talked about how much his dad hated camping.  It can't be too big of a fault, right?   (I think I just heard Chris sigh in relief)

niftiness

Yes, that is us on our very own place mats.  Who would have thunk of it?  Paige, of course.  I am still in awe of the ingenuity of it all.  There will be no fighting over which one belongs to who, that is if I ever let anyone use them.  And let me just say that it sure is fun to have such a fabulous surprise waiting for you in the mailbox.  

new items at our house

No, you probably won't find a ton of gap clothes for your children in near perfect condition when you are out garage sale-ing in our town.  You probably won't find the latest and greatest baby gear, either.  But if you are seeking great vintage items for your home, Forest Grove is the place to be.  Last Friday, we hit the jackpot!  We found this classic "Telephone Table", that was just a small piece of material away from being perfect for our entry way.  We came across a Country Sale, that was very much so just that.  After going further and further into the country, I was happy to see the drive pay off as we came across a whole bookshelf of vintage Little Golden Books that were priced at a quarter a piece.   On the non-vintage front, we scored two sewing machines (in great condition) for $5. (Not $5 a piece, but $5 for both of them!)  As soon as Rachel and Autumn get their room in order, we are going to start working on a sewing corner for them.  I must say that I think our garage sale day was a great success and made me love Forest Grove that much more.