Crafty Tuesday ~ The Curtain Edition.

We have curtains over here this week. One fun curtain and six necessary ones.

My friend needed a curtain for the Kidspace Pumpkin Festival – for one of those game booths. I think for this game you throw the fishing line “into the witch’s brew” (over the curtain) and fish for a prize. Anyhow, they needed a 10′ x 6′ curtain. So…we fashioned a little one for her.

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It was kinda impossible to get a good photo since I don’t have a floor spot big enough to spread it out. Imagine trying to sew that  cauldron on in the middle of the 10 foot long material. It was tricky to get it all through the machine, believe me.

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Added a little spider…

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And a witch peeking out, too…

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I think it turned out really cute. I’ll have to get photos of it in action, though.

And then I turned my attention to much needed curtains for our dining room.

When we moved in, we had…well, some very lovely wrought-iron hardware. But no curtains. (Look how little Emmy is!!)

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And, four and a half years later…still no curtains. Mostly because I didn’t want to put money into something we didn’t really need, or might not be in the house later to enjoy. And also…I couldn’t quite decide on a color. Oh, and also…curtains are expensive! I really loved these at PB, but do you see how much they are?? Even on sale. And we need the very long ones (high ceilings) and SIX panels (big window + 2 french doors!). So since I didn’t have $850 to drop on drapes, we were doing just fine without them, thank you very much.

Then a few weeks ago we stopped into a The Great Indoors store that was closing and I found gorgeous silk drapes that look suspiciously like the ones from Pottery Barn marked down from $89 a panel to $16. $16!! Yep. $96 for all the drapes in my dining room. Sold.

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Of course I did need to hem them, hence the other half of the curtain edition today. I know it isn’t really crafty, but it is all the action my sewing machine got this week. And I’ll have to take a better photo of the room in better light – they are really pretty, kind of a cross between a spun gold color and a butter yellow. I think they are neutral enough to go with whatever we decide to do in there. It may take us another four years to paint and rearrange the artwork, but baby steps…baby steps.

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Scratch One Off My To Do List.

I have about 200 photos from the first soccer games this weekend still on my camera that need to be downloaded, edited and backed up. And I have a sticky note with blog post ideas and promises that I’ve made – like “how I put the supercapes together’ (I promise it is coming, Carey!) and all sorts of other “when I get around to its” that I could be writing.

But here is one that is pretty easy and I can cross off my to do list right now – the recipe for the Lentil Salad that I’ve been raving about almost every day for lunch. Although I guess now that fall is upon us, most of my friends and family are looking for a lentil soup recipe!

At any rate, my friend Diane introduced me to this lentil salad from Nicole’s – the little french bistro in South Pasadena. It was delicious – but expensive – so I’ve been trying to perfect the salad at home. It is close…so very close!

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I use the already cooked lentils from the refrigerator section at Trader Joe’s. I have some dried lentils in the pantry, but haven’t attempted to soak, rinse, cook them yet.

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For the record, they are awesome right out of the package…and look! They are really good for you, too!

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They have a whole 8g of fiber for 1 serving! Nice.

But to make them even tastier, and more like the Nicole’s salad, you will also need:

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A little olive oil, parsley, lemon, scallions (I only had little green onions on this day – also works!), salt & pepper.

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Chop the onion ( I used one green onion), squeeze the juice of one lemon, chop up a little-ish bunch of parsley, give one round dash of olive oil (once around the medium-sized bowl), and mix it all up with the lentils. Salt and pepper to taste and stick it in the fridge for salads for the week.

Okay, well it has never lasted me an entire week of lunches. It is about three days (tops!) worth of lunch for me, unless one of those days happens to be a very hard workout day. Then I get two days out of my bowl. But my bowl of lentil salad costs 1/4 of what Nicole’s is charging.

Budget friendly AND delicious!

No Crafty Tuesday…

…but we have Fishin’! That is kind of crafty, in a way, sort of, right? Nah…well, it is the excuse I have for no finished projects again this weekend. We traveled to Denver for J.’s cousin’s wedding.

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The girls were amazing troopers since we got up at 4:30am on Saturday morning to catch a flight. Spent all of Saturday exploring Boulder and having dinner with family and were back up and on our way to Estes Park for the wedding by 9am on Sunday.

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(Yes, we had to do a little creative double-buckling to fit us all in the car! Shhh…you didn’t see that!)

Anyhoo, Colorado is so beautiful. I think I could totally live there someday.

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And the wedding was incredibly beautiful, too.

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But it was in a bit of a fishbowl, so it was really windy. Uncle Jeff had to loan Addie a hoodie…

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And Daddy found a jacket for Em….

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After the wedding we had a few hours to kill and we found this little trout farm and the girls really wanted to learn to fish. So Daddy and Uncle Jeff, in their wedding attire, helped the girls experience fishing for the first time.

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Em got really good at casting…

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And got close to the worms…

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But Addie landed the first fish (with a lot of help from Uncle Jeff!)…

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How big was your fish, Ad?…

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Exaggerated like a true fisherman, it was a bit smaller….

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Finally Gracie snagged one, too…

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She was less enamored with the fish once they were on dry land…

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And then…I expected some tears when they started cleaning them. I heard Addie say to the guy at the fish counter, “Don’t hurt the fish!”

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But neither of them budged while they conked the fish on the head and gutted them. And we haven’t had any nightmares, so I guess my city girls still have a little country blood in them.

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After our tough day of fishing, we bellied up to the bar and swapped fishin’ stories…

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Stopped by the rest of the party…

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Tried for one family photo documenting us all dressed up – and this is what I got at the end of long weekend, on our way back to the airport…

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And that is how you do Colorado, a wedding, a fishing expedition, and a reception in 48 hours. In case you were wondering.

Just life.

Yes, yes…I know! I’ve been berated by my two most faithful (maybe only 2 at this point!) readers – apparently I have been far too absent on ye olde blog as of late.

I don’t really have any excuse other than…life happens. And it is happening at warp-speed around here and I’m just barely trying to keep up.

Soccer season has begun. And this year we are doing soccer season x two.

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I thought it would be difficult to help coach Em’s team this year with double practice and game schedules, and thought it might be a good time for Daddy to step up, so I “volunteered” him to assist Daddy Alain with coaching the “Terrible Teals.” (Of course I didn’t volunteer him without asking him first…I just strongly suggested that it might be a good idea!)

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But then Addie’s team was kind of limping along and her division doesn’t have very many girls, so for awhile they were trying to get me to head coach one of the teams. As I was vehemently declining I said something to the effect of “I cannot commit to head coaching – I have two in soccer this year! Maybe I could help assist if someone needed it…”

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Yes. You see where this is going? A head coach (from the team that Addie was temporarily on) heard that…and made sure that Addie stayed on his team so that he got an assistant coach as well. Soooo…Mama is helping with the Purple Ponies. It will for sure make Soccer Saturdays interesting. Already on Friday nights we go in completely opposite directions for practices. Addie and I go one way and Emma and Daddy hop across the street. But so far, everyone is happy and excited for the season, although we all have to miss tomorrow’s first game as we head to Denver for a wedding!

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The girls are settling into school nicely. There seems to be a lot more going on over in homework land this year, but I’m happy with the progress both of them have made in just a few short weeks. Addie was star of the week this week in her class, so she got to share her prized possessions every day this week. She brought in her cat collection every single day – including Tiger this morning.

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All of the kids in class write about the star of the week and then Mrs. K. puts a book together for each student with the writings from their friends. I was peeking at some of the pages when I was in there this week working and every single kid started out with, “Addie loves cats.” A few of them said, “Addie really, really, really loves cats!” To their defense, she didn’t give them much more than cats to work with! I am pleasantly surprised and happy to report that the reading is finally clicking with her, though. And I am hardly getting any push back at all on her reading to me at night, instead of the other way around! So that is real progress, my friends.

Em is in a 3rd/4th combo class, I think I mentioned before – NOT with her BFF in the whole wide world, Audrey. There were a few rough days there, and since Em ends up lumped in with the 4th graders, she doesn’t have recess or a full lunch with Audrey, but they are managing just fine. We are trying to find time for them to hang out – and they have soccer together…so there is still plenty of bff-ness going on.

Her class seems very challenging, which I am grateful for. She is the type of kid who will rise to the challenge if it is put out there by a teacher and she seems to handle it all beautifully. If it is put out there by Mom, however…not so much of a chance. And that is reason #562 that I could absolutely never homeschool. Her new teacher is really able to motivate the kids, and Em is again with a great group of 3rd graders, so I’m very happy so far.

Oh, let’s see. What else? That hardly seems like enough to fill our days around here. The girls have both joined the choir at church. Both are taking piano still – Emma is rocking it, Addie is still struggling. In fact…they are working on a little duet piece…it’s pretty sweet. They are working the kinks out still, but getting close!! This was from a few weeks ago, the piece is much better now. But just to see all this sweetness on one piano bench makes me smile…

The Duet from carrie voris on Vimeo.

Em is still swimming on the swim team, although with soccer she can’t do much, so we are just swimming once a week to keep her spot on the team until soccer is over. And Addie is sticking with ballet for another year. Her idol (Audrey’s older sister) Yvette just went en pointe this year…so now Addie has something to shoot for. She REALLY wants to get pointe shoes. Granted it is another 6-7 years of ballet…so we’ll see how that works itself out.

Yeah…that is pretty much it. My days fly by and another week is gone. I seem to be incredibly busy but feel many days like I got absolutely nothing accomplished. It is just life, I guess.

I’m off to pack us up for the weekend, we’ll see you back here next week!

Crafty Tuesday

Well, today we have little bits of everything crafty, but it is still all about the Birthdays over here.

Little Miss Six had to have something to wear with her new sparkly skirt on her birthday so she got a new “6” tee from Mama. You can’t see it very well, but it is indeed CAT fabric. đŸ˜‰

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If we are friends on FaceBook you already know my love/hate relationship with the cakepop. The first batch for Choir on Thursday didn’t turn out all that great, but the Friday batch was definitely improved.

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Perhaps I’ll do a little tute post the next time I do them. When we were restocking our supplies on Thursday night Addie piped up with –

“Mama? We can just dip them in chocolate and then roll them in sprinkles, I think.”
“But I thought you wanted cat cake pops, though?” I asked her.
“Yes, but I just think that the kittys are too many bunches of work for you.”

Oh. Baby. I will make that sweetness 20 dozen cat cake pops if she asks. It was the such a sweet thing for her to say. And her squeals of pride as she handed them out to her classmates. Well, that made all the blood, sweat and tears totally worth it. (Well, actually there was no blood…but lots of sweat and tears. It was over 100 degrees the two days I was messing with them!)

So back to the sewing room we went. I had several “teen” birthdays this month, and teens love the gift cards (so I’m told) and I made some of these little purses to hold their card loot.

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These are TRULY easy, and I fully intend to do a little tutorial on these too. The problem is I don’t think of it until I’m done making them, and of course at that point I haven’t photo’d them every step of the way. But this one I’ll put on the list.

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It is an easy way to use up little scraps of fabric, plus it makes giving a gift card a little more personal.

And last, but definitely not least, we have another beautiful example of my mom’s handiwork. This was Addie’s birthday card from Nana and Papa last week…

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And Addie after she discovered that it was a sunflower! With M&Ms for the seeds! (I think she has some in her mouth even!)

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That Nana always finds a way to outdo herself, doesn’t she?

Birth…days and days.

No matter how low-key I vow to make a birthday celebration, as in – “Hey, this is an off year, we are not doing a big party nor a week-long celebration,” I always seem to forget that promise about two days before what proves to be the next birthday extravaganza. This year was no exception. Epic fail, yet again.

I told Addie that we had a big party for her last year so this year she could invite a friend for a fun date and dinner with the family.

“But I can’t pick just ONE friend, Mom! Can I have more. Like three, or maybe four?”

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So we compromised on TWO friends. Plus Emma Grace. So we landed at four girls. All Ad wanted to do was go to Color Me Mine and paint some pottery.

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Oh, and then maybe dinner at Shogun.

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And then maybe the friends could spend the night? And since this was all happening on Saturday, the day AFTER her birthday, we needed treats for her class on her ACTUAL birthday. And since we were signed up for snacks at choir, maybe we could just bring birthday treats to choir since it was the day BEFORE her birthday. And thus, the nearly week-long birthday celebrating our Addie was born.

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Not that I’m complaining (ok, maybe I am a little), but let’s just say I’m so very happy that the weekend is over. It ended with a proclamation of “this is the best birthday ever” and big thank yous and love for her new American Girl, so it was definitely worth it.

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But I think we were all just happy that it is over…for another year.

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Happy Birthday Lexer!

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it a million more times before my time is done…it is hard for me to think of my Lexer as anything other than my pig-tailed, sweet, first niece.

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And then she goes and turns 13 today.

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I’m still mystified, how does this happen?

We love you, Lexer and wish you the best day (and whole year!) ever. Sending you love, hugs and kisses.

(And to Meesh and DJ – Good luck with your first foray into the teenage world…hopefully you can pave a nice smooth road for the rest of us!)

Happy Birthday, Roo!

Love,
Aunt Bean, Uncle Jamie, Emma Grace & Addie Rose

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I’m also saying special thanks today on the 10th anniversary of September 11th. I am so grateful to be here to watch my girls and all my nieces and nephews grow like little weeds. And I am thankful to all of those who continue to fight and those that have lost their lives fighting to keep my family free and safe. We won’t forget.

My Oh My…You are SIX!

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Dear Addison Rose,

You are six.

You are a fabulous first grader.
You have crossed over to the “big kid side” where you now have to use BOTH hands to show your age.
You are funny…your quick wit and humor entertains us each and every day.
You are fearless and brave…never letting anyone tell you that you can’t do something.
You are smart and talented…even when you don’t practice or keep at something, your natural ability to learn and do so many new things is surprising.
You are strong…(sometimes strong-willed and stubborn) but I have no doubt that someday this will serve you well.
You are beautiful…inside and out your light and caring, sweet nature always shines through.
You are the best example that God really does have a plan for everyone…for our family was truly completed when he gave you to us.
You are still my baby even though…you are now six.

Happy Birthday sweet Addikins.
I love you,
Mommy

Look how you’ve grown!
Just born!
1st Birthday
2nd Birthday
3rd Birthday
4th Birthday
5th Birthday

Checkin’ In.

Been one of those weeks. Just wanted to check in and let you know we are still here.

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I have Crafty stuff to share and owe you a big ‘ol Garden update (and lentil salad recipe too, Elise!) too.
Here is a little taste to hold you over.

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But right now I am trying to figure out how to do these cake pops…
(Anyone with any brilliant advice to offer on the art of cake pop making?)
…because you know a certain someone is turning SIX in just 2 days, right?

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Chaos and things.

I am fully aware that I left you hanging for Crafty Tuesday. Again, not because we are not doing anything crafty, I am just not together enough to get it photo’d and blogged. It always seems that the work/projects/craziness all come raining down at once. I can go for weeks without really needing to do “work” for anyone, and then all of my clients contact me literally the same morning.

Unfortunately, the rainstorm also coincided with the first week back to school, so I’m still reeling just a little bit.

So a little vent/update. Or…how about a “Love Thursday” bullet list, since it is almost Thursday and I’m trying to find the silver lining on the dark cloud over here?

Things I am loving today:

  • Being dangerously close to my breaking point, putting the girls to bed without books because they are beyond exhausted, and then working downstairs and listening to Addie sing herself to sleep. That girl.
  • The fact that the girls are still happy to be sharing a room and bunkbeds, and Emma even let Addie borrow some of her jammies tonight.
  • Facetime with Daddy when he is away.

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(sorry, a post with nothing but crappy iphone photos again!)

  • Daddy coming home today.
  • Daddy promising to be “on kid duty” this weekend. (How heavenly does that sound right about now?)
  • A surprise (or two!) in the garden when I tried to wrangle the overgrown vines this afternoon.

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  • Addie’s excited squeals when I showed her our garden surprise!
  • Lentil salad. I’ve eaten it every day this week for lunch. So easy, so delicious, and not half bad for you either.

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  • Two little girls who notice when I don’t put notes in their lunchboxes, and ask that I make sure I remember to.

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  • Daddy coming home.

(Yes, it deserves two bullets on our Thursday Love list.)

Happy Thursday.