Good stuff on Halloween:

Breakfast with Maw Maw and Da. A very excited boy asking if today was the day. Twenty-one Kindergartners marching in a costume parade. A little ghost trying to eat a cupcake through the hole in his sheet. Pipe cleaner spiders. Goody bags. Jack-o-lanterns glowing. A fog machine fogging. A wee red cape. Baby Skittle breath. Taking her home to get serious about the gathering of candy. Overhearing this: "Trick or Treat. Thank you. Don't you have Snickers? Da wants Snickers."

The little contest:

We heard a lot of this, "Hi, there! Uh, what are you?"
I guess J's costume isn't as obvious as I thought. So, the first person who correctly guesses what he is will win a little handmade surprise. I'm not sure what, but I'll think of something.(And don't play if you already know cuz I've told you. Or you asked him. At our party. Or on the phone. You know who you are.)

Someone already guessed correctly this morning! He is a fire ant! Releia, I'll email you soon for your postal address. Thanks!!

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween too! And much luck to you dealing with the tummy aches and sugar-induced tantrums.

Posted by Alicia at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)

Our big Halloween party went well last night. This was the ninth year. Gone are the days of moving the furniture to create a dance floor, 2:00 a.m. conga lines, and kegs of cheap beer. As more children join the mix it gets earlier and tamer. But that's fine by me. I am having so much fun reliving Halloween through these kids.

I didn't get pictures of J and N in their get-ups, but I will Tuesday for the real deal. J always comes up with the wackiest ideas for his costumes and this year is no exception. You'll see. He's a goof ball. (Look at him two years ago as a mail carrier. I swear. He picked it on his own and was he ever a hit.) Actually, I didn't take any pictures at the party at all. I don't know what got into me?! I guess I just felt too busy.

I'm wondering if a day will come that they won't want me to make the costumes anymore, choosing a store-bought one instead. That'll be a sad day for me. There's usually lots of polyester felt and glue involved and thrifting for various components. I have a great time putting them together. And then when they try them on for the first time- oh, I could just eat them up!

Since many last minute projects were finished and the house is still fairly clean, we're recovering nicely. We plan on spending all of today lounging around, watching football and napping. Boy, does it feel good.

(Click on any of these photos to see them a little larger.)

Posted by Alicia at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Still no time to visit... tonight I'm sewing Halloween costumes.

Here is J's set of photos from our "photo walk." He took around 20 pictures and I picked out a few of the nicest ones.

Happy Wednesday (and probably Thursday!)

Posted by Alicia at 07:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Good morning friends. Hope all is well with you. Just popping in to say, "Hi!"

No time to chat. Still toiling away, trying to get ready for our big party this weekend, but here are a few of my shots from a recent "Photo Walk" (which are actually walks/scoots/rides/strolls.) The fruits of my budding photographer's labor will be posted tomorrow.

Have a great Tuesday!

Posted by Alicia at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Don't you just love finding secret messages? I do. Such sweet little surprises.

Garage saling in St. Louis, we found this tiny vintage (school?) table with three chairs and hauled it all the way home so it could gather dust in the basement for a couple of years. Yesterday I brought it up, wiped it down, and shored up the wobbly legs. When I opened the drawer on one end, this drawing was hiding inside.

I thought about it for a long time. Who drew it? Did they love someone or were they just doodling? Where are they now? Then this morning I remembered these.

These are on the underneath side of our dining table, which we purchased at a garage sale in our old neighborhood before we were even married. The one on the left makes me smile. The arrow points to one end of the table where someone would sit. Here's how it plays out in my mind: someone shy had a boy over and planted the message beforehand. She arranged for him to sit in that spot and the whole time they worked on their science project, she knew, that her love was secretly declared to him. (It could have happened!)

But the secret messages I find most often are in my sketch book when I leave it down low. Scribbly little faces. Wonky train engines. The name of a tiny boy who is learning to read and write. I don't mind one bit. They make me smile too.

Have you ever found any messages like these?

Posted by Alicia at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

My dear friend, Suzy, ordered an apron for her daughter at the beginning of the summer. Now it's mid-October and it's finally done. Her daughter adores horses and I hunted and hunted for a nice print. Long after I bought the green, Vicki wrote about this fabric. Seeing that made my heart sink; it would have been perfect. But I made due with what I had, and I think it turned out pretty well anyway. The little removable ribbon is just an extra. A please forgive my procrastination extra, if you will.

Posted by Alicia at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

another bowl of soup. This time chicken and dumplings.

A warm helping of comforting goodness. My mom made this often when we were kids. No real recipe to it. Cook some chicken and veggies in chicken stock for awhile. Season to taste. Spoon in some biscuit dough. Cover and cook a little bit more. Mmmmmm.


Whenever I get the camera out to snap pictures of food, Brian ALWAYS chuckles and reminds me about Maggie Mason's book. I know, I know. But I'm domestic. What can I say?

Posted by Alicia at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

All right, folks. I have to explain why I've been blowing off my custom orders and fun artsy projects. The bathroom, she is done. I should have had patience for a sunny day to take some photos, but I couldn't wait any longer.

See the before pictures here, here and here.

We have been working like dogs to get it (and the living room) done before our annual Halloween party in a few weeks, and we are tired. After these two rooms are done, we're taking a well-deserved break from the home improvement projects. Maybe until Spring. It's time to do some sittin' on the couch and some watchin' worthless television.




Oh, one last thing. There was one point in the process when the clouds opened up and heavenly rays of sunlight shone down on my sewing machine. I used the (cue angels singing...) automatic button hole feature on the top of the shower curtain. It's nearly a miracle.

Happy Monday, friends!

Posted by Alicia at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Lately I've been dreaming of soups. stews. chili. On a cold and rainy day like today I just had to have some. A memory of Amy's Potato Cheese Soup popped into my head this morning and refused to leave.

This soup was delicious. (Too bad my photo is not as nearly cookbook ready as Amy's.) It is the perfect comfort food. I didn't have oyster crackers, saltines worked just fine, but as we ate, Brian and I decided that a little piece of french bread cheddar toast laying on the top soaking up the broth would be a perfect touch. Next time. And there WILL be a next time. The kids even ate this soup and I have a heck of a time convincing them to eat most.

I hope the weather stays cool this week. I have more on my mind. Tomorrow? Chicken and dumplings.

Posted by Alicia at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

This apron is for my niece who just had her 5th birthday. She's been in need of a proper white cotton half apron to transform herself into Cinderella. Not the fancy Cinderella, but the poor servant Cinderella. Because I am who I am, I added the extra stitching to the hem. Included is a little white bandanna to hold her hair out of her face as she toils away. There's little doubt that her sister will be coerced into playing the role of one of the step sisters...

** Added 10/29/06: Looks like she likes it! **

Posted by Alicia at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

This weekend we went to the Applefest. Now, it's Fall. We had a great time although it was warm, perfectly pleasant but a little too hot for a Fall festival, and Baby N was coming down with the sniffles and wasn't terribly cooperative. But we managed a nice afternoon anyway. I love Weston, MO.

If you're interested, see more pictures here.

Posted by Alicia at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

** Added 10/10/06- Well, I'm done making the changes and I've settled down. Thankfully, everyone in their family is safe and sound. But the mere thought of something scary happening made my head spin. I guess it has been on your minds too judging by the comments.

Enough said. Now let us move on to something much more pleasant. **

Hi everyone. Feeling a little blue this morning (and maybe a bit paranoid) but Stephanie has removed her old blog from circulation and will no longer be talking about her children. I hope something bad didn't happen.

I have been contemplating this for awhile, and I wonder why I didn't do it from the start, but I'm going to be referring to the kids as J and N from now on. And I'm going to go back and change all my old entries. It is a strange world we live in and unfortunately there are creepy people out there. I thought when I started this that only a few people were reading, most of them family, but as more people have started reading, I'm feeling a little weird about putting the kids so "out there." A little too vulnerable. For now I will still be including them here. How can I not? They are such a part of who I am. I'm just going to be making some small changes to my sites that might make it just a bit harder to track them/us down. I know, it's not much, and bad people have their ways of finding stuff out, but at least I might feel a little better.

Thanks for understanding and please ignore all the old entries that may pop up in Bloglines as I make all of these changes. Better safe than sorry.

Posted by Alicia at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

I'm just popping in to gush about J: His photo has been featured on Kiddley this weekend for a new children's photography challenge called "Kiddley Photo Theme." Way to go, my little photographer!

Of course we're all over this project. He's already been off capturing circles...

Hope your weekends are progressing nicely!

Posted by Alicia at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Hair combed, face washed, J just trotted off for school picture day. Hopefully they'll take the Kindergartners first. I have the picture day episode of Charlie and Lola playing in my mind this morning. The one with the muddy shoes and paint on her face and pink milk on her dress, but the really nice smile... so adorable, but in J's case, all too true.

Speaking of school pictures, here's Da, Brian's dad, in the first grade at Little Flower School in St. Louis. Nice tie, cute stuff!

We'll be having a long, busy weekend around here. Maw Maw is coming to watch the kids so Bri and I can make serious progress on the bathroom (almost done) and living room (not even close). We'll also be headed for the Apple Fest Sunday, so there will be photos to share next week!

Here's to great weekends, all.
xo

Posted by Alicia at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My mom is incredibly talented. She's artistic and handy and hard working. She's an environmentalist, a nurse, a political activist. The one thing I did not inherit is her cooking skills; she is one outstanding cook. She can whip up incredible meals from nearly nothing. It's amazing.

I asked Brian last night if he was disappointed that I can't cook as well as my mom. He said, "I kind of thought you'd grow into it, but you just didn't." Hhmmpht. Now I'm not a bad cook, and I've always said if you can read, you can cook. But there is some basic meal-whip-together gene that missed me. Must skip a generation. Timing everything well is her other true talent in the kitchen. Everything finishes up flawlessly. She told me once that would come with experience. I've been cooking on my own for how many years? 15? Still hasn't happened.

But I'm trying. Plugging away. Baking bread. Fixing dinners. Making sweets. The organic veggies arrived yesterday (our last week- sniff.) and as she stood there with me in the kitchen looking at them spread on the counter, she made a meal suggestion.

I cooked the tiny little potatoes in a pan with red peppers, onions, and a couple pieces of bacon, added a splash of red wine vinegar, a dash of salt and pepper, and at the very last minute, some chard to wilt in. We ate it with buttered, toasted tortillas. It was pretty yummy. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Thanks, Mom.

Posted by Alicia at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

I have decided that painting murals and faux finishes is just not enough to keep me busy (read: not poor). The jobs dry up just when we've gotten used to the extra money. So I have been contemplating "expanding". I have always sewed little things for friends now and then, but I was painting at a client's house last Saturday when she asked me if I know a seamstress. Uh, maybe. "What do you need done?" Anything but a slipcover, please not a slipcover. She says she's got some fabric with which she wants to make a bumper pad for her daughter's crib. Confidently, I tell her that I can do it. I think. A bumper? Not too hard, essentially a long tube with batting, right? She also has a dust ruffle for the same crib that needs to be shortened, and getting all cocky, I tell her I can use the scraps from the ruffle for piping along the top of the bumper. Turns out sewing piping between all that batting is tough!

So here it is, all done. Did I choose the fabric? Nope. It is lovely. She got it here. Did I pick out the ruffle, the pretty silky purple that's peeking out there on the bottom right? Nope. But I DID learn some lessons:
No. 1- I learned that it always takes longer than you think to sew something.
No. 2- I learned that piping is tricky.
No. 3- I learned why tailors and seamstresses charge so stinkin' much!

Posted by Alicia at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Well, my little blog break became longer than I intended, and there's still not much new to say. Brian had a ReStore convention in Denver at the beginning of last week, then the end of the end of the week was spent getting ready for a quick trip to St. Louis for some family time and a Cardinals game with good friends. We're back now and I'm working on a few custom sewing orders, so hopefully soon I'll have a few pretties to show you.

While in St. Louis we picked up my old digital camera from Brian's mom. I totally forgot I gave it to her to play with, but then we all pitched in and got her a new one for Christmas. So now it is J's. Enthusiastically snapping shots out in the yard, he has already this morning filled the memory card three times. (No school today.) I've picked out a few to add to his Flickr set. I wonder if there are photography classes for tiny kids. Here's a lovely little portrait of N that he took.

Happy Monday, friends!

Posted by Alicia at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)