Under Construction

Roll ups for the lunch box

I wasn't sure which Instagram filter was best for sliced ham. I chose Hefe. Still not sure.

Anyway, Biscuit asked for "roll ups" for her lunch this week. Here's the recipe I came up with that has satisfied all three roll up eaters in the family:

• Lavosh bread (from Trader Joe's)
• Sliced ham (from Trader Joe's)
• Cream Cheese Spread

Cream Cheese Spread recipe (adapted from the UC Davis Coffee House Cookbook)

The measurements are (obviously) approximate. Use what you've got!

• 1 green onion, finely chopped (2-3T)
• 2 small carrots, grated (1/3-1/2 cup)
• 1-2T parsley, finely minced
• part of a green pepper, finely chopped (1/4-1/3 cup)
• pinch of salt
• few grinds of pepper

Stir into 8 oz of whipped cream cheese.

Cover Lavosh with thin layer of spread. Lay a single line of ham slices across it and roll and slice. (Each lavosh made 8 little roll up slices).

Yum.

 

Letterboxing

Have you guys tried letterboxing with your kids? My friend discovered this activity just in time for our joint family trip to Pismo Beach.

The 5, 6 and 7 year old kids were really into it. The 2 year old played along too.

You can look up clues on your phone and follow the treasure map-like instructions to find the hidden letterbox.

At first we didn't know how to interpret the cryptic clue "ANG+MEI" but we eventually figured it out.

And let the stamping begin! Apparently it's a thing with letterboxing that they include hand carved stamps. Very cool.

Appropriate for the Monarch Grove (one of the three letterboxes we found in the San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach area)

There were butterflies everywhere. Can you spot it? This was me just pointing my camera at the air and pushing the button.

And this was with the super zoom. The butterflies were way up in the eucalyptus.

Anyway, letterboxing. I recommend it!

Can I really blog from my phone?

We're at the beach with friends. So I'm seeing what I can do from my phone.

Sent from my iPhone

For a baby girl

Yesterday I spent the holiday helping my friend sew a quilt for her soon to arrive baby girl.

The pattern was (obviously) based on one from Denyse Schmidt's book but as much as I love the look of Denyse's work the assembly instructions are way too tedious. So we cut wonky strips and sewed them together and then squared up each square. I LOVE how it's looking. Next step, quilting and binding hopefully to be done before baby is!

Paper on the wall

Yesterday Biscuit and I "wallpapered" the computer nook area.

From this (ignore the mess):

To this (I just moved the pile to the couch):

100% inspired by this real wall paper.

All we did was use two strips of my endless roll of white paper.

We drew "frames" with a Sharpie large enough for the art we have lying around. I drew the rectangles and Biscuit and I shared responsibility for decorating the frame borders.

The whole thing is hung with tacks and scotch tape.

All art is by Biscuit from age 2ish to nowish. It was fun to go through my "Biscuit's Art" file and see what she's done over the years.

So far I'm really liking this.

Skillz

My parents needed video evidence of the new skill. His daycare provider says he improved significantly today (on her carpet) but between the fleece jammies and our hardwood floors he wasn't able to show us at home. Granted, it's not much in the video, but he's definitely crawling. Time to babyproof!

Ode to a green leather couch

Sometimes when a woman loves a man very, very much, she is able to overlook minor flaws. For example, his taste in upholstered furniture. And sometimes when a man and woman love each other so much they decide to spend the rest of their lives together they realize that they bring to their union many duplicate posessions. Such as a full set of Le Crueset and a full set of Calphalon pans. And so, the man and woman will learn the art of compromise and the fact that, yes, two full sets of pots and pans can be sqeezed into a tiny kitchen. And the woman, being a cheapskate, will realize the logic in keeping the (oh gosh I don't even want to KNOW what he paid for it at Macy's) high quality green leather couch over the (I'm pretty sure I bought stolen property out of a storage place off the side of the highway) inexpensive denim couch. And they will enter into a wonderful and loving marriage complete with bachelor pad living room furniture.

Years will pass.

Over the years the woman may recognize and appreciate the durability and wipeablity of leather. Especially when child number 2 turns out to spit up a lot. And she may conceed that the couch is indeed incredibly comfortable and serves admirably as a resting place for houseguests. And yet, she will never love this couch and will always wonder how many green cows were reqired to cover its every surface.

And so, on the 12th anniversary of the very day the man proposed to the woman, the woman will list the couch on Craigslist (in pretty darn impressively good condition she might add). She will note that the couch has many features:

• the aforementioned comfort and ability to double as a (narrow but comfy) guest bed
• the wipeability and fact that it has withstood 1.2 childhoods (give or take) with nary a tear or scratch
• the fact that it can hold 5 loads of laundry, three adults or approximately 6 babies without any trouble at all
• the ability to rest up to three remote controls on it's wide, curving arms
• bottom cushions that can be removed to dig for lost change (or remotes) but which velcro into place for secure sitting
• The fact that this couch is available immediately and comes with delivery in the Sacramento area

What do you think this piece of furniture nostalgia is worth? I need a price to put it on Craigslist.

Hearts + river rocks

Last weekend we collected rocks at the river.

Biscuit painted hearts

Then added initials to the back and we sprayed them with a clear acrylic.

And, in typical Biscuit fashion, she wrote notes on envelopes and enclosed a stone and a package of smarties. All set for Tuesday.

Unrelated to giving folks rocks for Valentine's Day but related to love, we got this Knock Knock brand note pad from a friend for Christmas.

It's really perfect for lunchbox notes. If you like to put notes in lunchboxes I'd recommend it.

Clean and messy

This activities should definitely have been conducted in reverse order but, regardless, Oscar and I had a good day on Monday.

In the morning we washed dishes.

The dishwashing was inspired by Meg's post about practical life activities (for toddlers) then she actually posted about sudsy play the next day.

I had a LOT more dishes. But he was pretty proud of his work.

Later that afternoon he did some painting with his spinach dinner.

Once again, he was very proud.

It's hard to be cute covered in green sludge but, somehow, he manages. Or maybe I'm just biased?

I'm teaching a class!

For any local, Sacramento folks, I'm teaching a class! For a variety of boring reasons it came together very last minute so it's NEXT SUNDAY (February 12). Sweetheart pillowcases just in time for Valentine's Day. It's a "learn to sew class" with a super simple project and a focus on the basics but it should be fun for all levels of sewists. I'm limiting it to five students so each gets plenty of attention. And it's only $15.

I spent the weekend making a poster and flyers and a sample pillowcase. Did I photograph any of it? No I did not.

But here are the details from the flyer:

Learn to use your machine and make pillowcase for your sweetheart (or yourself) just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Sunday, February 12
2-4:30 p.m.
Beverly’s in Carmichael
arrive at 1:30 for guided shopping trip to purchase supplies at Beverly’s

$15 plus the cost of material.
 Limited to 5 students. Pre-register and pay at the door.

Learn to: use your sewing machine--thread the machine--wind a bobbin--stitch straight--sew French seams--make a pillowcase!

If you are local and are interested, email me (or just leave a comment) and I'll get you on the registration list. I'm hoping to have the minimum number of students (2) but who knows, it could sell out :)

I'm really looking foward to seeing how this goes. Oh, as an added incentive I plan to make some cookies.

Dang this post could really use a photo.