Bragging Rights

1. Did laundry. Lots of laundry!
2. Made meatballs. And then froze them.
3. Made hamburger soup with Hubby. (to take to Quad War with us)
4. Cooked potatoes for a potato salad to take with us to Quad War.
5. Got the kids packed. Except for Eyes - she was asleep by the time I went to do it this evening.
6. Packed my own bags. Including a shower bag.
7. Got the kids to clean their room up.
8. Weaned Eyes completely.
9. Had a shower.
10. Did dishes like three times!

The first time I did the dishes was to allow Bear to regain his lost computer privileges. The second time was after supper and it was actually Smiles' turn to do dishes today so she joined me. The third time was when I cleaned up after the soup and meatballs and potato salad. So yeah I was busy today. And should go to bed but I wanted to document my awesomeness. Hahahahaha Right!

Anyways last night I went swimming by myself because Raven worked. I did end up at her house afterwards because I really wanted to get those two cloaks trimmed and clasped before this weekend. Raven had not been able to find the green griffon trim that DD had specifically Priority Mailed up to us so I could finish my cloak. Her son C-Man had been playing with it and it has vanished - poof! Hahaha. Oh well I still have my old cloak and I am sure the trim will turn up eventually. I can also take my cloak and wear it because it is mostly finished except for the trim. So whatever.

I did look again at the material I had left at Raven's and yes Queen Pet's cloak will be a tan shell with orange lining and an awesome trim. I even got the lining cut out last night. More than that and I lost my inertia. After all I still had to price the cloaks, look at what Raven had done (I was still there when she got home from work) and count out how many items I had done as opposed to her this year. The last bit was meant to be a joke but I discovered that this year I had made 24 items. Last year I think I had done 13? So it looks to be a good Quad War for stock! Eyes seems like she is sick (which I am desperately hoping she is not) and knowing how my life goes it means I will probably be sick for it too! Sigh!

Bragging rights
are mine.
I have done this!
I attempted and won
the prize.
The golden ring was
captured.
The ferocious bear
was tamed.
The lion shall roar
no more!
I have done housework!

Ghost of my love.

1. Dishes with help done. Bear's turn tonight.
2. Made spaghetti for supper.
3. Still weaning Eyes.
4. Swept the kitchen floor twice.
5. Had guests over. (For all of 20 mins but still - guests!)
6. Wrote an interesting poem. Not sure where it came from.

So I came up with this poem and as stated above inspiration struck from somewhere. I really like it.

Ghost of my love
you wander these halls.
Forever and a day
I wish to touch you.
Castle on the hill
is where you tombstone resides
but I may never venture there again.
Widow of yours I wish I had been
but that now will never be.
Should I join you, lost and forlorn.
Can I join you in your dark despair?
I wander these halls... alone.

As a quick update Newlander goes back to Newfoundland tonight with B and R. Smiles told me that B is her boyfriend. I asked if that was official and she said "Yes! He was before he left here last year". Hahaha it still amuses me. As for my future sister in law Queen Pet her bridal shower was yesterday afternoon. It went really well and I never ever want to have to do toilet paper wedding dresses again. Funny but silly party game. Auntie Ski provided much food and I was so stuffed that I did not have supper last night. Yum! As for Queen Pet's gift I did not know what to give her so I merely asked what her favorite colour was. It is Orange. So I am going to make her a cloak and give that to her later. If I remember correctly I even have material that is a golden twill and orange fleece and that will make an awesome cloak for her. Especially if I can use the trim that springs to mind. I'll have to wait and see when I get to Raven's sometime this week. I still need to trim those two cloaks and finish up my own one :)

Hot Hot Nights

So I haven't done any positive reinforcements for awhile. Here goes...

1. Picked up the kids from Raven's house.
2. Did the dishes and have implemented the drying rule for the kids (they switch nights as to who does them)
3. Mowed the lawn.
4. Watered the plants.
5. Hung laundry up on the clothesline.
6. Folded laundry when it came back in.
7. Played with the kids.
8. Am being successful in weaning Eyes.

So last night Raven was an absolute sweetheart and took the kids for the night. Hubby and I ended up going to a Greek restaurant and then to see The Dark Night (batman) movie. We did drop by and pick Eyes up from Raven but cruelly left Bear and Smiles with her. Um yeah who ended up with chocolate waffles for breakfast and chocolate sandwiches for lunch. Man I wish I had stayed over instead! hehehe. Okay not true Hubby and I needed that time alone together. We haven't been on a date in over a year? I think?!

But as to the title of this blog yeah it is really really hot these last couple of days and I somehow don't think it is going to cool off any time soon. After all Newlander is still in town :) Of course she's leaving on Monday and I will miss her but am glad that I was able to see her three times this month. I had wanted to hold a BBQ tomorrow for her and my friends but it didn't work out. Sigh! I even made potato salad to see if I could make it like my MOM. Um not quite but close! So I hope she has a good trip back to Newfoundland and I know Smiles will miss her boyfriend. Hehehe.

All Sewed Out

I should have listened to the omens before going out to my parents farm last Friday. But I did not and ended up making another 2 cloaks to sell plus another 7 items for my kids and I. I made a dark gray with black twill lining (with a pocket) and a black with dark gray fleece Clinton style cloak. I unfortunately screwed up cutting out the Clinton style cloak so it is only a five paneled small cloak. Sigh. That and I apparently wrecked my Serger just after having gotten it serviced. It seems I can not do neckline seams because now my serger goes Kachungk and where it does that there is a stitch missing or skipped. Sigh! I am hoping I can figure out what is wrong by myself but don't have high hopes. Oh well maybe I'll make lots of money at Quad War and can have it serviced again afterwards.

I also made the cloak for myself except that I am about a meter short of trim and will need to add some when it comes in later this week (Fingers crossed). I also made 2 princess cloaks out of this gorgeous panne velour that Raven gave me using a beautiful purple trim with little pale blue leaves on it. One was made for the next birthday party that Smiles is going to be going to. The other one I think I'll hold in reserve in case she is invited to another birthday later. I even had enough material left over to make Eyes a cloak out of the panne velour. She also got two green dresses from a shirt that I no longer wear and lastly I made Bear a red tunic with a dark green trim.

So yeah I am all sewed out.

Even though I still need to put trim on the two cloaks I just made and clasps on them. Oh well whatever that should not take long.

A few cute things regarding the kids are Eyes has figured out how to climb steps. My parents have a three step rise into the old part of the house from the sun room so as long as there was supervision Eyes was allowed to experiment and play there. Meaning someone had to be right next to her in case she fell backward - even with a mat underneath her. Sigh! They grow up so fast. I am also trying to wean her so that I am not on a plane with engorged breasts leaving a fussing unhappy baby behind in the middle of August. She sometimes take the bottle (she even took it from me this morning) but if she's tired there's nothing that compares to Mother's milk. Grandma continued to spoil Eyes and would take her for long walks showing her the flowers and chickens which apparently Eyes adored. Smiles would usually accompany them but did sometimes go for walks on her own. Under Grandma's watchful eye of course. She also discovered the joy of camping at the farm (meaning she slept on a mat in the basement!) Bear just wanted to play with the waterguns and boy did we ever get soaked that day. Hehehe that was a lot of fun hiding from him and trying to spot his hiding places. Thankfully the guns are bright orange and easily spottable between trees!

When I got back I found out that Raven had called wanting to go swimming because her arm was still sore. So we went and swam and hot tubbed. I then went over to Raven's and showed her what I had accomplished and she cut out another cloak. That's when I discovered I was sewed out because even though I could have done the trim last night I just did not have the motivation or energy. Which is fine! I just wish I had not woken up with a borderline migraine this morning. As is I shouldn't be on the computer because it makes my headache worse. But the kids are active and I can't hide away like I would love to so I must endure somehow! If I feel better later after Eyes' nap I might take them to the playpark.

Failed Rice Krispies Squares

How can you fail to make the simplest easiest dessert in the world. In my case apparently really easily. I even followed the directions to the T this time and still ended up with a Rice Krispies Ball instead of squares. Sigh! This is my second attempt and my first was I thought a failure due to the fact that I melted the marshmallows too high. This time I think it is because the marshmallows I used must be too old. Instead of marshmallow syrup I ended up with gloop! Sigh! I am not a cook either but I am a sewer!

As was proved today when I gave B his present today. I found out yesterday from Newlander that it was B's birthday today so not only was I able to give him and his brother the knight's shirts(tunics) and capes that I had made for them but Smiles and I went into the dinosaur bin and picked out dinosaurs for B as well. It made me happy to see B run around the play park today for about an hour in his tunic and cape. According to his mom they are really getting into the whole Harry Potter, D n D, and Lord of the Rings so that gift was right on the money. Leh and Crispy also showed up and the kids all played happily (for the most part).

I have to laugh at Newlander she is apparently the rain goddess because.... it was crappy weather when she left Newfoundland and sunny here. Now we are having thunderstorms almost every night (and sometimes days) and there hasn't been a drop of rain in Newfoundland. Hahahaha. Same thing happened when she left last fall. I told her she must be a rain goddess because the rain keeps following her. She laughed!

One neat incident that occurred yesterday was I was standing in line at the bank when I noticed that one of the three young men in front of me was wearing a Full Metal Alchemist shirt. So I asked him where he got it and we ended having a neat conversation about Manga and Anime. I think I impressed him with my knowledge of the ones out there. I told him about the ones that I had watched or read so far. Oh and I did get the location of the store that he bought his shirt from which was my main goal in the first place.

Other than that Crispy's birthday party yesterday went really well and I even ended up staying for awhile as they hadn't opened presents or had cake yet. Smiles after said "Mommy you were early (to pick her up)" and I said "No, Leh was running late!" I am happy though I was able to pick up my serviced serger and sewing machine after the party. So now I just have to make one more birthday present. That one's next Sunday and thankfully it is a little girl so I can just do a quick princess cloak. Sigh! I hadn't been planning on doing any more sewing before Quad War but you know what? I can't resist trying to do a few more cloaks hehehe.

Late Night Inventory

I went swimming with Raven last night and ended up going to her house afterward to do some sewing. Instead we ended up inventorying the cloaks that we are going to take to Quad war with us. But because we could not just inventory them we also had to put tags onto them and sort them and yeah... So we were both up later than we wanted to be. Sigh.

Today Smiles has a birthday party to go to and we have had fun making Crispy's present. I made him a tunic and tabard with a big C on it and Smiles made him a crown with stickers and stuff on it. Of course to complete the outfit I bought a dollar store sword which is probably what Crispy will like the best. Hahahaha. Anyways I am going to have to run her there soon.

A Scary Incident

Last night as I was standing at the screen door calling my kids into the house for bedtime a car drove up the back alley and stopped at our fence. The two girls Smiles and Bird (Bird and her dad were visiting us last night along with some other friends) were already heading to the house. Bear though was called over to the car and I am glad that there was a fence between him and the car. It turns out that the couple (a man driving and a woman in the passenger seat) said they were looking for their daughter and dog. My first reaction was "How horrible I should help!" So I opened the door and stepped out. As I soon as I did so the car sped off.

As I was putting the kids to bed I suddenly realized that what happened could have resulted in a very bad incident. This had all the hallmarks of a stranger(s) looking to take a child. You never think it will happen to your kid but until something like this happens. Then you realize just how easily it is for someone to try and take your child from you. I am scared to let my kids play in the backyard now and yet I know I can't watch them all the time. Thankfully it is raining today so are playing indoors right now. Except for the short period where I made them clean their room. So I am going to call up my friends and see if I can set up playdates this week just so I can get over this scare.

Oh and yes I did report this to the police and gave them as many details as I could. I just wish I could have gotten the license plate.

Farm Fun Week

I ended up staying an extra night at the farm due to Hubby's phone call. Apparently there were Tornado warnings between the farm and the city so he wanted me to be safe and not travel that evening. Which allowed me to finish one more project. So I have five items for sale and three as gifts. One was merely sewing the trim and clasp on since it was already done. That was the red wool with black twill lining. Raven had found some awesome trim when she was in Europe and decided to give it to me as a present when she saw the cloak. She's awesome. I also did a small brown wool bog coat with purple fleece lining. I had reclaimed some trim from a previous cloak that was not working. That cloak was then turned into two tunics for Newlander's kids. I also made some capes for them. That trim I put on the tunics and on the brown wool bog coat. I still have some left for another cloak. After all it was beautiful trim but the cloak was made entirely of squares (or rectangles) and was um not cloak material so it did not hang properly.

I also sewed my light blue lady's Clinton style cloak with a rose tapestry trim that we got from Raven's mom. Due to my Serger's tension not working for me I ended up having to put another line of stitching along the seams just to make sure they were not going to come apart. I also made the light blue unlined lady's cloak that I used a gorgeous purple trim on from DD. It had light blue circles in along it which came out from the light blue twill from the cloak. It looks really nice. I also was able to make a gray twill with gray fleece lining on the last day. The trim from the wool cloak was how I finished that cloak off. It will be an extra small (or teen) cloak since it fits Bear. I had also cut out a cloak for myself with the gray twill and a greenish-gray fleece lining but did not want to push myself. Also by that time both my Serger and sewing machine were pretty well um worn out. So I have it all cut out but not made yet.

When I got back to the city I took both machines into the shop for servicing and they should be ready by next Wednesday which means I might be able to use them before Quad war. I am hoping I can get my cloak done since I am wanting a new one for myself. Last year everyone else in the family got a cloak so it's only fair I get one eh! Anyways I want to get the green griffon trim from Raven before I work on it also because I want to do a really good job on it. Alas Raven went to work on the cabin this weekend or I would be gushing - er showing off all that I did this past week. Still I know she'll get a chance to see them soon enough. I am going to have to go to her house some time and inventory and price all the new cloaks from this year. It feels good having been productive.

The whole reason why I stayed for so long was that my parents church was holding VBS (Vacation Bible School) this week and we wanted the kids to go. They had fun and really liked the songs and crafts. I ended up leaving Bears bike at the farm due to the fact that I couldn't fit it into my trunk for the drive home. I somehow accumulated more stuff than when I went out there and my trunk was full going there. Hahaha. So Grandma and Grandpa will bring it in the next time they have to come to the city or it will stay out there until my next visit. Bear was a little sad about that but he'll just have to cope. I am now going to see if I can find playdates for the kids. Eyes will be missing Grandma because she was totally spoiled by her! I mean totally! It got to the point where Grandma would be walking outside and if Eyes heard her voice she would crawl to the window to look for her.

So here's a few poems to commemorate my week at the farm....

Sewing
Scraps of cloth
pieces of thread
Clothes that you wear
the hat on your head
Who do you think makes them
Why me of course Fred!

Sing a song
Sing a song of sixpence
A pocket full of rye
Drink a diet soda
and live before you die
Where would we be today
if not for those who're shy
My cat who's sleeping next to me
is so cute I want to cry

(Well this poem does anyways! hahaha)

Canada Day
Nonsense in, nonsense out
Canada day, Canada day
Makes me want to shout
Fireworks and BBq's
everything for a big hullaballo.

BBQ Season
Fireworks blaze across the sky
like a flower or a marshmallow pie.
We stuff ourselves with food and drink
Singing and dancing no time to think!
We act like gluttons for a short while
What am I saying it's BBQ season. Woohoo!
Let's eat!

Farm Duties
I am off to farm
The cows and pigs are fine
Strawberry fields grow wild
and gathering the eggs is mine
As jobs go it sucks! lol.

The Difference
Life at a relaxed rate
Where the breeze blows softly
and the chickens cluck lazily.
Life in the fast lane
Where the cars honk noisily
and the people swear incessantly.
Choices, choices, choices.
When I have more time
maybe I'll move to the country.
Until then I'll call you from the city.

Canada Day BBQ

So last night we held a huge BBQ for friends and neighbours. My husband had gotten it into his head to go and buy a tenderloin to roast thinking this would would be enough to feed 20 and some people. hahahaha! RIGHT! Anyways he ended grilling the steaks that I had told him to do for the few people who ended up coming a little late for supper. All in all though a good time was had by everyone and I am glad. There was lots of food and I discovered this morning that Sushi doesn't fit into the cold pizza for breakfast category. Next day Sushi is gross!

It was fun talking and watching the kids hit each other with boffer weapons that one guy had brought. Most of them were just home made duct-taped foam weapons wrapped around PVC piping but the kids really enjoyed it. For like FIVE hours straight kinda thing. There was also six kids in total, oops seven I forgot to include Eyes but she mostly just ate the grass. Bear and Smiles had alot of fun whacking their friends and once or twice got hit harder than they would have liked. Bear has a welt on his cheek from were a foam sword sprang back and hit him. He's fine. Well I should qualify that.. if he wasn't moaning with a fever and headache on the couch he would be fine. He apparently caught the sickness that Smiles had last Friday.

So it ended up a good thing that Auntie Ski couldn't take them camping as she had planned. She had been going to take them to her boyfriend's family cabin for 5-6 days. There was boating, quading, a trampoline and more which she would not be able to do with a severely sprained leg. She had thought she broke it initially. So needless to say the kids stayed home. She might be able to take them to the big Exhibition that comes every year in July. I had promised the kids that they could stay up last night to watch the fireworks but the we couldn't see alot due to the angle of the fireworks and the trees in our neighbours yard. Also Bear fell asleep an hour earlier due to being sick. So instead we'll have to let the kids watch the fireworks at the Exhibition.

A couple of other things that happened yesterday were my friend Newlander is in town and she dropped by with her kids. So Smiles got to play with B (she claims he's her future husband - hehehe) and we all went to the play park for about an hour. Newlander says she'll be in town til the end of the month which makes me really happy! I look forward to finding splash parks to take the kids too.

The last thing of note is that I experimented and gave Eyes some blueberries yesterday. Hahahah. Oh my what an ooey gooey mess. hehehe. She loved them! She also really likes pickles (she has started to just eat the insides of the pickle and leave the rim) and strawberries. Today I decided to see how she'd like an orange. I cut up a few slices for myself for breakfast and decided to peel one slice for Eyes. She didn't devour it but she did suck all the juices out of it. I think she just wants to chew things again because I can see her two front teeth poking out from the top of her mouth. The other milestone that Eyes has achieved is she is now able to consistently roll from her back onto her front. This morning I awoke to the sounds of the mobile jingling in Eyes' room. Lol and behold a smiling baby was playing her mobile! So now no more mobile. I am also thinking I am going to have to get Hubby to lower the crib mattress. She can consistently pull herself up on things and has not yet pulled herself up on the crib rails but it is only a matter of time. I wouldn't be surprised if Eyes' is one of those babies who can crawl out of her crib before she's a year and a half old. Uh oh I really hope that doesn't happen. hahaha