Bibs to be for All Babes and Babes to be

Say that a few times fast...

Congratulations to Tim and Melissa and their new babies: Mia and Calder. Tim and Melissa are a super sweet couple, I am so happy for them. There are 3 more babies on the way in my world. Tomorrow morning my neighbors son will join us for breakfast because his mommy will be having wee Kora. Tina and Annie will become mothers soon. I have a few other baby crafts up my sleeve but I couldn't resist making a few bibs out of some fabric I had lying around. Two of the bibs will be made of fabric that was once Janet Shea's dishtowel, it ended up at Sharon's house where I admired it (can never resist chickens) and she gave it to me. I made curtains out of it so I could look at it every day. Now it is destined to absorb spit up and smashed peas dribbling out of baby Temelko Post's mouth, alas, it will have returned to the family...

cool craftiness

I am a Denyse Schmidt fan (check out her quilt for this blog) and an Obama fan. This is exciting...

Crafting  for Chamge- Obama Project

Zippers, Robin Hood and Cookies

Today the Ferrari household received two fabulous packages. One, courtesy of mama-in-law, was an oatmeal box filled with cakey, lightly spiced and iced cookies. A perfect accompaniment to my freshly poured cup of black tea.  Thanks Sharon! The other was Henry's Robin Hood costume. My mother was not sure if he would be comfortable wearing the scarlet lycra of Dash (The Incredibles) and knew he admired Robin Hood, so she made him two costumes this year.  The Robin Hood costume was nestled amongst a ton of my nana's old zippers and some dark chocolate. Zippers and chocolate, yeehaw. Henry is currently outside with his buddy Rasha, sporting his fabulous costume. He informed me that he would like to wear the tights, just the tights mind you, to school sometime, 'cause the girls get to. I am fine with him doing so, I just don't want him to learn about the societal limitations of freedom of self expression the painful way. Luckily he was sidetracked before we continued that conversation. I guess I would have to tell him that he doesn't own any skirts to wear them with and I packed all of his shorts away... 

the bane

Would someone please put me out of my misery and tell me I am a diabetic? Lie to me. Every time it is raining or threatening to do so, every time it is cold outside, I want to bake and eat copious amounts of sugar.  I have to either move to Greece or convince myself I am allergic to sugar. Today I made my favorite lazy, low brow cookies.  I am pretty sure I used to call these "white trash cookies" before I realized that was a nasty term to use.  You basically throw 2 embarrassing cups of sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa pwder, 1stick of butter, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla into a pan. boil for a minute then add 1/2 cup peant butter and 3 cups quick oats. The result is  fudge meets oatmeal. healthy right? Groan. Ack. I have a tummy ache. The tummy ache I warned my children about. These are the cookies my friends and I made in junior high. The same friends that I would sneak out with at night to drink ginger brandy, or cheap vodka and smoke granny's slims. The same friends who had deep fryers and deer and wildlife murals in their living rooms. Our dads all went hunting and at some point all of our porches would have dead deer hanging from them. I specifically remember avoiding the north porch for a whole weekend because of "bambi". These were the aqua net friends. We didn't have aerosol in our house so my bangs were decidedly less large. These friends and memories are still dear to me and yet, it is no wonder that these cookies always give me a stomachache.  

sunday is for the ride

pleated beauty

I think that is what Amy Karol calls this bag in her book, Bend the Rules Sewing. I love her book and this bag is adorable. Brown velvety corduroy and bright spring green calico peaking through in the pleats. The only thing this bag is missing is a zipper or some closure of some sort, though I made it for molly's bff who has been using a library tote bag as her bag o' choice for some time now. It is a bit imperfect but the imperfections are all small. I love that it has a sturdy bottom, thanks to the rectangle of webbing sewn into the facing and covered by the lining.  

MIA

So sorry. My internet connection has been ack lately. I have had a lot that I wanted to share too. I hate playing catch up though. It seems sort of cheap. I will pretend today is Monday. Virginia Lee Burton anyone? We have 4 of her books. Only three are represented here. The Little House is lost somewhere on the shelf.  I seem to be drawn to artist/writers from the 40's and fifties. Something about the optimistic aesthetic from that time period pleases me. My favorite textiles seem to be from the same pd. Mike Mulligan is probably her most famous. Matt loved it as a child. Burton's  Life Story is wonderful, although my kids could care less about it. It is basically an illustrated time line beginning with a red hot fiery ball of matter and ending with a bucolic farm scene and then, " And now it is your life story and you play the leading role..." The images are beautiful and have a Grandma Moses feel to them. Auntie Michaela from San Francisco, gave us Maybelle the cable car, which is really sweet. I think the one book that would complete our collection (of my personal favorites ) would be Katy and the Big Snow. A lovely story about a persevering little snow plow named Katy (great material for budding feminists). I am not a huge fan of talking cars and machines, but let's face it, the boys are into that kind of thing. Virginia Lee Burton has a way of  animating machines/houses etc.  in a manner that is not cheap or "Disney" in any way. All of her books have gentle morals in them, whether it be  honoring the underdog, celebrating perseverance and grace or embracing the beauty of  the "old".  

scrumptiousity

A big thank you to Martha Stewart. As annoying as she can be for a variety of reasons, she can cook and bake and arrange flowers like nobody's business and she is responsible for turning me on to faux bois. It is her recipe for root veg. and sherry vinaigrette that I used for our supper Sunday night. As always, I followed it loosely. I roasted a combo of parsnips, carrots, red onion, red potatoes, and golden beets. I made  a vinageraitte with sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and minced red onion (Martha used shallots but with the economic crisis going on I made do with red onion). I made do, which reminds me of an old adage.. "Use it up, wear it out, make it work or do without." A dusting of sharp cheddar and a bed of tangy arugula that wilts perfectly under the hot veg. makes a scrumptious meal... or "side" as Matty would prefer to call it.  

Also, I made really good peanut butter cookies the other day. Thanks again Martha and recipezaar (look up martha's peanut butter cookies). Best I have ever had, seriously. 

So, this week our internet connection was really slow. And I was really busy. Which is why I am sort of playing catch up now. 

Off to make Friday pizza while my monsters watch Monster's Inc.

i love lamp

I mean, I love my slippers. Here is why: 1. They are not used slippers from salvation army (like my last pair, ack, I do not mind gently used shoes, but slippers are a bit too personal for me to enjoy used)...2. They are vegan, just kidding, I don't really care a ton about that...3. They have bumpy things that massage my feet. 4. They were purchased with a gift certificate. 5. They are woollen and super warm. 6. They are attractive. And there you have it. It is cool out... sweaters , hot tea, apples and slippers... yeah baby.

Monday is for Nursery Rhymes

When Henry was born, we were blessed with two volumes of Nursery rhymes edited by Iona Opie and Illustrated by the very talented Rosemary Wells. Look up Rosemary's other books, I adore her characters. We have a couple others by her but I couldn't share this post with them. Amy gave us the first two volumes, which eventually fell apart. In truth, half of our library has been given to us by Amy who was an associate editor of Children's Pub. at Candlewick Press. Now that she is managing editor at Harcourt, Houghton and Co. we will miss those wonderful Candlewick books! We were among the lucky few to snag a limited edition double volume set after our first two perished.  

I love nursery rhymes. Henry, being the first child, benefited greatly from this near obsession of mine. I think that if you pick the first line of any of these rhymes, I could finish it for you. 
Iona chose the most magical rhymes for this book.

Rosemary Wells' interpretations are refreshing, creative, gorgeous and playful.

As a preschool teacher I can attest to the fact that rhymes are a great way for children to learn about rhythm, music etc. and a creative way to help children ease into a transition. I had a dozen or so rhymes up my sleeve to get Henry from one place/activity to another without  a tantrum. 


This is  book that I actually love to sit down and read to my kids. 


"Up the wooden hill..." I used to recite every time I brought Henry to my mothers on mornings when I had to work. Before long, he was chanting it with me...  

NO MORE DIAPERS!!!! poop cake and other domestic niceties

Today is a special day in our household. Today is the day we have a cake ( chocolate with fudge frosting) in honor of Ezzie finally crossing the threshold into B.M toilet -userdom. I made that word/phrase up. I am not aware of an existing word for this purpose. Here is a list of the ridiculous antics I performed to get him here...

holding Ezzie (he being naked, me fully clothed) perched on toilet while straddling toilet myself

drawing countless graphic, action pictures of dinosaurs pooping (while sitting in the bathroom with Ezra)

singing a poop song, made up on the spot, in rhyme form

denying him a diaper to poop in despite his constant whining and crying 

offering , in a moment of true weakness, to let him poop in a bucket in my bedroom, in the bathtub, in his little boxer briefs, in short, anywhere but in a diaper (thankfully, he did not take me up on any of these)

A note, to my dear friends and family who are prospective parents, DO NOT FEAR! This does not always happen (this stubborn willfulness and  preoccupation with pooping in a diaper in dark corner near mother's drawing/craft table). It did not happen with Henry. Ezra is a bit more pig-headed. However, this morning, he pooped in the toilet all of his own volition, no poop poetry or sketches involving scat involved. Yeah God!  

In other news....Superman's leg finally broke, Spiderman's hand fell off, Duct tape anyone???These toys come a close second in the faves to trains and tracks...

Went for two great family bike rides this weekend.

Apple picking at Cold Spring Orchard was wonderful. We'll go again, I forgot my camera this time...

News from this week

Brown corduroy and Katie Jump Rope waiting for action.

Favorite childhood books... ALice and Martin Provenson made these lovely books bacl in the seventies. They are chock full of endearing, folky (sorry for that word) illustrations and sweet  sometimes humorous insights into the world of animal and farm life. 

Sara's new pup, Lady is a darling and Henry had a blast playing with her.

A decent track will keep E. occupied for quite awhile.

Noni's birthday present with books inside...

No Words

Yesterday, something unspeakable happened just blocks from my house to a child that could have been mine. I know these things happen every day but when they happen to people nearby there is something so eery and painful about it. Yesterday morning a two yr. old was struck by a school bus  while waiting with his 5 yr. old sibling at a bus stop. He just ran out after his sister and the mother was unable to stop the bus driver who had already started driving. It is not something I really wanted to put into words. And yet, I can't stop thinking about it. I could barely sleep last night thinking of the mother and her pain and agony. Yesterday was an anxious blend of phone calls, worried parents and tight hugs. The accident was followed by a district wide phone message that left may people concerned for their own children's sakes. The fact that I teach at a preschool so near the incident  meant that many parents called us to make sure that it was not their own child. Our own friend who teaches nearby called to make sure my kids were safe.  My thoughts and prayers are with the family of little Abrahim and the bus driver who has worked for the district for many years and must be in some kind of personal hell right now.