Jack of All Trades

Almost all trades.

I wish I was good at everything.  Ever.
I am a tinkerer.  It is what I do.
I am pretty good at a lot of things.  (And Awesome at others!)
But there are some things that stop me in my tracks.  Not for a lack of desire to be good at them.
Rather for a lack of time, or knowing where to begin.

My car.  My trusty ol' Jetta.
She had served me well.  Then came the day when the garage said she needed lots of work.
Since then, she hasn't been the same.
(Yes, she.  Machines and cars, like boats, are regarded as feminine, you need to treat them gently, with care and respect... and a bit of love.)
There was a noise.  They said they were fixing it, while making me terrified that if I didn't have them fix what they said was bad, that my daughter and I would be in a serious accident someday soon.

They "fixed" it.
The noise was still there.  (and other parts were broken)
The garage owner unplugged one little part, and the noise went away.  Plugged it back in, and Ta-Da, there it was again.  "But if that was actually bad, you'd have way different problems."

Tears have been shed over this matter.
Because as of this past Saturday, Jetta D would't start.  And I don't know what to do.
Google has been opened hundreds of times to look up one thing or another in the past few days.
And when I think I may be getting closer to an answer or solution, something else pops up.
So I am learning all I can from the Magic-Answer-Machine and the Owner's Manual (which is kinda sparse in information.)

Looking up codes and images and how-to's.
But when it comes down to it, I just don't know what to do.
It's not about the fact that I have loved that car, even though I have.
It's about the trouble.  The concern of if and when it works.
It's the cost.  And the problem that nothing seems like it has really been fixed, just the issue has been moved elsewhere.
I want to be able to fix my car.
Myself.  Ok, really, with help from an acquaintance who knows what he is doing.

I want to be able to take matters into my own hands
And make it better.
I am tired of paying other people to work on it with no resolve.


I want to use the information that others have set forth for me to find on Google
and be that Jack (Jill) of All Trades.
Be that tinkerer I always thought I was.

 

gift time

Babies, babies, everywhere!

Two more cousins are on their way, and it is a pretty exciting time.  There was a baby shower this past Sunday, which I was out of town for, but I sent these cute little burp cloths along to the momma.

 My mother in law has been making quilts for the new babies, and I have been using the fabric she has left to make matching burp cloths.

I just love these little owls!  

Super cute choice by my mom-in-law.  

I feel like I have been planning, well, Everything lately. 

So much so, that I have planned out Christmas gifts already.

That's not really like me to be that prepared.  

I even wrote on my calendar, counting it out.  

I have one week per person.  Oh boy.

Because, obviously, I am making the gifts.  And I am pretty darn excited about them!  I even have the "packaging" figured out.  Now I just have to get cracking, and get the materials.  (That is surely eating into my plan of "one week per person"!)

But, that is all I can say right now about those gifts.  

Moving on, over Labor Day weekend we took Lily on her first camping trip!  

Pointing: "Dat?"  "That's a tent."  "Dat?"  "Tent."  "Dat?"  "Tent."

Cutest little thing I have ever laid eyes on!

She crawled around in the dirt and mud, picking up all the grass and leaves she desired.  She played hard!  

We came home to our garden overgrown with burcucumber.  It started growing when the beans were coming in, and so I figured it was a bean, since it was crawling like one.  The wide leave should have warned me, but I thought it was just a different kind of bean than I had grown before (I tried two new types this year.) So yesterday, my husband did the research and figured out what it was, then we ripped and tore until it was (almost) all gone.  We uncovered TONS of little cherry tomatoes.  Yay!

Up next:

More garden adventures

Hopes of making some jewelry

Revamp

Summer vacation came and went.
Quickly.
Now it's time to be back on some kind of a schedule.
Some key players in this schedule:

Mommy, Daddy, Baby

Play, Food, Work

and Naps!

(Please, naps!)

Summer was crazy busy.  There was a grad class that took up tons of time and energy.

And a baby who took up tons of time and energy.  (In the best way!) 

She learned to do so much over the summer.  

Pat-a-cake

Stair climbing

Pointing

But now it is back to school.  My husband had his first student day today with a new classroom, a new para, and a new school.  Changes, changes.  

And I picked up one (of many) applications to be a substitute teacher.

I love every second of being at home with my baby, and wish that I could just do that forever.  But I know that my baby will not be a baby forever, and at some point I will need to go back to work.  I do also love teaching, and want to keep my foot in the door, since that is what I want to do for work.  

I feel like everything needs to be revamped, though, as far as my studio work is concerned.  

I need to make the time to make jewelry, and get it out there.

Changes, here we come...

Food Galore

Baby.

Food.

And a little bit of work.

So I had some "things" going on with my car for a while there.  I will just say that I questioned whether I should have trusted the garage I took it to.  But it's back now, hopefully in much better shape than it was two months ago, when the whole process began, but I'm still listening extra carefully to all of its noises, in that slightly paranoid, just-in-case kind of way!

So, in reverse

A little bit of work:

The somewhat unexpected financial situation that came about because of the car (and the fact that my husband is home) had me calling in to my old job to see if I could help out while people are on vacations, meanwhile, making a few extra dollars.  So back I went to make glasses.

I have to say, it's a pretty good job, actually.  It's nice knowing that I am helping people to see, and I like the work I do there, its hands on making, which is kinda my thing.

Which brings me to

Food:

I made an angel food cake for the first time.  It's my friend's favorite, and considering the fact that I get lots of eggs from his hens, I thought it was only right to make his favorite cake. (Of course I shared it with him!)  

It wasn't the prettiest cake in the world, but it did taste good!

I also picked some raspberries from my friend's farm, so I made this tart. 

I cheated.

I know.

But I wanted it sometime before the raspberries went bad, and with the baby around, and the working and everything, well, graham cracker crust (that I got for a key lime pie) it was.

Then we have the food straight from the garden...

There are lots of cucumbers.  And many of me need to be chopped up and made into pickles.  We did relish yesterday, but that didn't even make a dent.  Though it probably should have.  We decided that we didn't need to double the recipe because there were so many cups of raw ingredients, we were sure to have plenty to use and give away.  ** it cooks down **                   Why didn't either of us think of that?

And now to baby.

                           

While I did all sorts of chopping, I tried to keep her in the kitchen with me.  

The little stinker outsmarted me!

My makeshift baby gate really just turned into a fun obstacle course for her- which really, is fine by me. She was happy and occupied.  At one point she would just crawl out, and turn right back around and crawl right back in, over and over!  

Cutie.

And on top of that, she LOVES climbing the stairs now. 

She keeps me busy!

Luckiest mommy ever.

Up next:

Who knows!

(My) Summer Vacation

What will I do on my summer vacation?

Well, it's not really a vacation, per se, for me, but my husband is a teacher, and he is done with school for the summer, so it's something.

The day he finished, we packed up the car and headed north to Vermont, after some sad events.

First my studio pickle pot stopped working.

Then one of my old fish died.

Then I got news that my car needed more loving from the garage than I expected.  And a hard to find part.  

(So we piled our stuff and ourselves into my husband's two door car.  It worked just fine.)

The guys went fishing almost every day, and my mom and I, true to form, spent some time in the sewing room making thing like... New, cute diaper covers. Go figure.

We also took a side trip to Walmart.  Normally I stay far away from that store, but I wanted a nice white crock pot, and google said that was the place to find it.

Wow.

It was a frightening experience. Character isn't quite an appropriate word to describe these people. But scary would work... I should have known better! My line options were 1) wait behind an obese, hillbilly couple with their yappy dog in the shopping cart, as they argue with the cashier about how much money is on which card, 2) wait behind a guy with a full belt of camping gear, 3) wait in any other line that had at least three or four customers with lots of stuff.  

I chose the camping guy.  Three cases of beer, one pair of new boots, a tent, the line that he can't buy cigarettes at and $459 later, it was my turn.  

No thanks, I don't need a bag.  

Thank goodness grandma stayed in the car with the sleeping baby!

But now I have a dandy, new, white crock pot with three heat settings, and it's already set up on my bench.  With my husband home, I got the chance to clean off my metals bench and get reacquainted with what I want to work on.  I pulled out lots of projects that I had started but never continued and set them all out.  

*clap hands together*  Where to begin?

Yeah, it's all tarnished and not so pretty now... But just you wait! 

I, for one, am excited!

Gardens are doing well.  We have a net up to keep the neighborhood bunnies out of our leafy vegetables, and a superb trellis *pat myself on the back* for the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Even the big garden is still under control.  (For now, and I really hope it can stay that way.)

I made more rhubarb muffins and granola bars.  Yummy, but I think I will still continue to tweak the recipes.  I also found, with the muffins, that I liked the way they baked in the silicone liners that were place on a cookie sheet more than how they baked in the regular metal muffin tin.  It was an interesting observation that I want to look into more.

Up next

Parties?

Pizzas?

Pastries?

Jewelry! 

Who knows what will happen next.  It's summer vacation!

Memorial Day Weekend, and then some.

I had a wonderful time last week seeing old faces.

Wednesday I met some friends at the relatively new Indian restaurant The Himalayan Curry & Grill.

We also went into Bella Boo, where one of our favorite Debbies got the wee one two awesome Haba toys.  As it turns out, Bella Boo also sells gdiapers. (I would so much rather buy local than from Babies R Us.)

Thursday I was lucky enough to go back to the school where I student taught last spring!  They had their art show, and I was invited to judge the jewelry.  Talk about hard to do!!! The kids all did a great job, (it helps that they have an amazing teacher!  Hopefully I will be as good as her someday!). It was wonderful to see some of my old students, who were more than happy to watch the wee one while I looked at all of the work.  After that I went over to the big garden, and while my husband tended to the bees, I threw piles of grass clippings over newspaper paths.  Time got away from us, and we had to hurry over to the local high school, where a friend of ours had work in another art show that was going on.  

Friday and Saturday were much more mellow, but Sunday picked right back up.

My husband's band played at FlavorFest.  We started our day out early, at the coffee shop, then headed to the Renaissance Faire, where the event was taking place.  Family showed up, and overall there was a great turnout.  Of course, we had to move the party to our friends house.  That's when it really started to get good! 

PIZZA!

On a charcoal grill.

Photos? Of course not!  I was too busy feeding a baby half of the time.

I had made the dough and rolled it out.  Our food-savvy friends worked on the toppings.

Pizza #1

Apples, Candied Bacon, Thyme, (and a really good cheese that I forgot.)

Pizza #2

Pineapple, Caramelized Onion, Arugula, Coconut Gouda, Coconut White Balsamic

Pizza #3

Italian Sausage, Fennel, Roasted Garlic (and I think more arugula)

Pizza #4

Roasted Red Peppers, Caramelized Onion, Roasted Garlic, Arugula, Mozzarella

It was all delicious.

The grill cooled down, and it got late, so I ended up with two rounds of dough leftover.  

Darn.

Tonight we did pizza on our gas grill, with the little smoker box.

Pizza #1

Pineapple, Onion, Red Pepper, Spinach/Arugula Mix, Mozzarella (my husband's half had sauce)

Pizza #2

I basically just put a salad on flatbread for this one...

Avocado, Beets, Spinach/Arugula Mix, Onion, Red Pepper, Feta, Mozzarella (sauce on half this time, too)

I made the decision, we are having Pad Thai again soon.  The unused half of the noodles in the bag keep falling out and onto the counter.  It's bugging me.  

Don't you like how I decide on my meals?!

Up next:

Still trying to get working in the studio.  Ideas of jewelry bouncing around in my head.  Maybe they will get on paper first?

Showers Forecasted

Well, the bees are here!
Two boxes that looked like this  --->

It was very exciting!  I wanted to go look and see what was going on, but I had the baby, so we stayed at a safe distance.  The guys got the queens in the frames and proceeded to dump and shake the boxes to get the bees out and into the hives.  Then they put the flat feeders on top, poured in a mixture of honey and water, put the lids on, and watched.

We watched as the bees came flying back out, and were crawling all over the outside of the hive.

Well, that doesn't look right.

We called the bee place, and my husband asked them a bunch of questions.
So here's the thing.
They had the wrong size feeders.
They "ordered" the wrong size.  "Only the wooden feeders fit on that size super."  the woman said.

*Shaking my fists...  And my head.*
They had asked now three separate times  "This doesn't look right.  Are you sure it's the right size feeder?"  The response was always "Yes.  It's the right size."

So what should have been a few hour adventure turned into a two day ordeal.   First they had to take the feeders off and again, literally DUMP the bees out of the honey water.  Way too many of which had drowned in it, since they should have never been able to get to the mixture to land in it.  Luckily, masses of bees who looked like they would never make it cleaned each other off, and presumably, went about their business.
But the next day, my husband had to go get the proper feeders.  They had to be painted and then brought up- again to mess with the hives.  It was 4pm by the time everything was settled and done.  The whole thing started at 7.45am, the day before!

But we have bees now!   I hope they are surviving well.  It was looking pretty bad for a while there.
Fingers crossed.

Beyond the bees, I had a pretty productive weekend. 

 This is the nicer of the two diaper covers I worked on.  It's not finished, as it still needs a front waistband, but it's getting there.  Besides, the baby isn't quite ready for the next size yet.

The first one I did, as kind of a sketch, I used an old tank top, the kind with a built in shelf bra.  I was able to use the wide elastic for the waistband.  Smart thinking, if I do say so myself!  But like I said, it was a "sketch", so it's sorta... ugly.

I made these using snap tape that fits the gdiaper liners, because...

gdiapers are pretty great.  

1.  They are cute.

2.  They are cloth.

3.  They are EASY! (On so many levels.)

The Easy part.  Let me describe.  Now, I have no issue with good old pre folds.  

Fold it, pin it, cover it, Done.

But my husband and his mother, both of whom are wonderful, and really the only two others who change the wee one's diaper, seem a bit intimidated with regards to which covers or diapers or whatever to use.  gdiapers are pretty darn straight forward.  (But they can be put on backwards...)

The other reason they are so easy is that the soaker inserts are smaller and not folded, and therefore  so much simpler to wash out.  I chose to kinda copy their style because I wanted to make covers for my girl and I don't feel toooo bad, because I am still supporting them by purchasing the snap in inserts.  Win-Win.

*********************************************************************

 And then there was food.

I made some super delicious rhubarb muffins.

This week is looking like:

leek & potato soup

a big ol' salad

macaroni & cheese

mustard chicken

sesame fish & quinoa

and then parties over the long weekend.

So maybe a pasta salad?

Up next:
Adventures in...  finding adventures.