Matthew wanted a snack. So he opened a box of cereal. He does things his own way. I should have taken a picture of the shards of cereal box all over the kitchen floor.
Oh, and I can't find the camera, so I can't show the supercute cotton top I made yesterday after watching Amy Karol's FOE tutorial. Just trust me, it's very summery.
Here is the rice cooker recipe I promised! I've made this twice now. We all liked it and it doesn't feel like "making do". Another rice cooker meal attempt was OK, but not good enough to be repeated. Anyway, here is what I did:
Put 1 measure white rice in cooker. Drain 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, reserving liquid. Use tomato liquid and as much water as you need to make enough liquid to cook rice (as per rice cooker markings). Chop 1/2 lb lite smoked sausage and add to cooker. Sprinkle generously with garlic powder. Drain and add to cooker one small can peas and carrots. Cook!
If I were preparing this in a real kitchen, instead of in the dining room and downstairs bathroom, I would like to use more interesting spices than garlic powder, but that's all I have out right now, because I like it on pizza. Also, the canned veggies were fine, but I think fresh carrots would be much better. But I do love canned tomatoes! The first time I made this I used "fire-roasted" tomatoes. They were really good - a nice smoky taste. But now that I think about it a little more, it creeps me out a little bit to think of what weird chemicals they put in the can to get that smoky taste. Hmm, maybe plain canned tomatoes next time.
I got my swap apron (2 weeks ago)! This beautiful hand stamped card came with it. Isn't that pretty and summery? The apron is great. A ruffle, rickrack, and tropical pink flowers - very summer! I was pleased that it wasn't necessarily something that I would make - to me, that is the fun of a swap. I will definitely enjoy wearing it. And, wow!, the sewing is really quality! Thanks, Jennifer!
What does it look like? Picture to come - in the new kitchen, maybe!
Work started on the new kitchen last week. Currently, it looks a bit better than in the "after" photo above. The walls have been repaired, new electric and lighting put in, new plumbing, and tile is being put in at this very moment. They expected to be done with the tiling yesterday, but there was alot of muttering (and maybe cursing?) in Polish when one of the guys started laying the tiles, but things are going smoothly now.
Living without an actual kitchen has been smoother than I would have thought, too. We have the fridge in the basement and a rice cooker and lots of peanut butter sandwiches. I do miss cooking, though. And I cannot wait to have a dishwasher! It's been a long time since we've had a functioning dishwasher. Ten months maybe? Too long.
We had a great all-in-the-rice-cooker meal last week. I want to experiment more with that. I'll post the recipe this week.
I've been working nonstop on this apron since I last posted. Well, not exactly nonstop. Actually, the apron was about 4 days of frequently interrupted work. On a whim, I joined the Sassy Apron Swap, and it was lots of fun. Luckily when I signed up I didn't think about how much time I can actually spend sewing nowadays, otherwise I never would have signed up. I sent my apron off to Australia last week (Tuesday? Wednesday? who knows?) and when I had it all packed up I thought, "Wow, that was fun, I should do that again." Then I remembered that I would be getting a surprise apron in the mail, too, and I got excited about the swap all over again.
Anyway, I have no idea what I've been doing for the last five months. Not knitting. Not as much sewing as I would have liked. I guess mostly I've just been trying to adjust since my world turned upside down when Matthew stopped napping. I did not see it coming, and if I had, I would not have known how hard it would be. For me.
But things are better now. I'm even considering an ambitious (relatively) blog project. We'll see.
Yesterday afternoon I made possibly the worst watercolor I've ever made. But I'm glad I did it, because I did it. I didn't think about doing it, then do something else, I set up quickly and sloppily, made no preliminary sketches, didn't think much about it beforehand, but I had fun. Which is really what I meant to do.
Whew! This past week I finished submitting Matthew's college preschool applications for next year. And yesterday we/he got 2 invites to come back for child visits - yay! This probably doesn't sound like such a big deal, or like something that would take up so much time and energy, but, believe me, it is. We're not even trying to get a spot in one of the ritziest preschools (yes, some of the preschools around here are ritzy!) but there are so many young families and so few preschools, Montessori and otherwise, that it is really competitive. The applications are pages and pages of questions about your child, your family, your educational philosophy, what can you contribute to the school community, does he dress himself, how does he intereact with other children, what are his strenghts, what are his weaknesses, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes it is just that same basic question (describe your child's personality) but they phrase it 3 or 4 different ways, so yuo need to come up with 3 or 4 perfect answers. Ugh!
If you think I'm making too much of this or stressing myself out about it too much, you haven't talked to other parents of 2 year olds in DC. One mother I know who went through this last year does admissions at Georgetown (University) and when she started the process she thought, "Oh, no big deal, I deal with college admissions all day, I can handle this." Well, she had just as much trouble. Her daughter ended up getting into a nice Montessori school, but not without a lot of hand-wringing. It puts my stomach in knots just thinking about it.
So, on to less knotty things. I've been doing lots of Amy Karol-inspired things lately and it's been loads of fun! After some hesitation (I know how to sew pretty well, but Bend the Rules Sewing looks so cute - do I really need a book about how to do projects that I could probably figure out on my own - the library doesn't have the book, so maybe I should just buy it - she seems like a nice person, I'll just buy the book) I bought BTRS and I love it! It would be a great book for a beginner, but it is also a great refresher of lots of things I haven't thought about since junior high home ec. And so what if I could probably figure out some of the patterns on my own, my brain power is being used up writing essays on my 2 year old child's sense of civic responsibility, so maybe I couldn't figure them out on my own.
Last night I was hunched over the coffee table doing 2 of Amy's papercutting projects for some upcoming birthdays. Her designs are really sweet, and I just adore anything Pennsylvania Dutchy, of course! Even her banner this moth (season? I don't know how often she changes it) is folksy and PD. But she lives in Oregon, and has recently talked about Swedish Christmas bread, so maybe she would say it is more folksy-Swedish, but, whatever, I love it and it reminds me of the good ol' Lehigh Valley!
The weather here has really cooled down, perfect for a new handknit hat! Unfortunately, kids' heads are bigger than they seem, so this hat barely covers his ears and may not fit at all by March! But, it's not bad for completely-inexperienced-make-it-up-as-I-go-along colorwork, right? * Until this fall, I didn't have much any interest in colorwork patterns, but now I'm having lots of fun with it.
* the trees are from a chart in Knitting Over the Edge, so it is not totally made up as I go along, but I started out just with the idea of trees on a hat and decided on the patterning as I was knitting, so in that way I did do it on the fly
Also cool . . .
Bruce Springsteen! We left early since our babysitter had school the next day, but it was lots of fun anyway!
Is it still a stashbusting sweater if I'm buying more yarn for it? The solid sleeve defintiely looks better than the striped one, but I don't have enough for a second solid sleeve. So I ordered more of the same blue-green yarn, and, since I'm already ordering some yarn, why not order some more for cute wooly winter hats? The hat yarn arrived, but the sleeve yarn is backordered. Of course. And no, I don't know of any shop here that carries it. Of course. So the sweater is in second sleeve limbo.
Otherwise, I'm loving the crisp fall weather!
Holiday stamps! Aren't these great? I saw them in the Post today and must get them! And I must start thinking about Christmas knitting, too, I guess!
