Peril and Easy Cooking

The other day we were locked out of Starlings for an hour. I went out to the Laundry Room and the door locked behind me. At that moment we were all out of the house and I didn't have any shoes on.
Luckily we had access to the garage. After several failed attempts at picking the locks we admitted sadly that all of those hours watching MacGuyver were wasted.

Finally, we got inside, it involved a ladder and choosing which of my children to endanger. They all wanted to be in peril. I chose Camrock because I have had him the longest and also because he is the tallest.

In other news I have been infatuated with my sandwich maker. I "invented" triplets which are only pancake batter cooked in the sandwich maker, but don't tell that to the kids who don't like pancakes but DO like triplets.
My breakfasts have been dominated by sandwiches with a filling of fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes from the garden. Yum

The best part is that there is hardly any dishes to clean when I use the sandwich maker.

The camera is still broken.

You Have Been Accepted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Boba Fett reminded me that this year it was his turn to have a birthday party. After much deliberation we decided on a Harry Potter party. Since that decision we have been eating, drinking and breathing Harry Potter. I made some wicked cool invitations and am about 1/2 way done making 13 brooms. Why did I invite 13 kids?

Things to do:
- Decide on potions for potions class
- Find potions bottles
- Charms Class
- finish quidditch preparations
- Make the wands pretty
- Print out Butter Beer labels
- Find some every flavor beans
- Come up with 11 more robes
- and much, much more...

Happy Easter?

On Sunday I realized that Nutmeg really needs a new summer dress. I make them long and squeeze as many years as I can out of them. The dress she wore on Sunday I bought when she was 6 months old and she has been wearing since she was 18 months old. That's 3 years.

So last night I went into the sewing room to tackle the project that has been filling me with guilt since March, the 2010 Easter Dress.

I had the dresses (I have a matching one) all cut out and then that fateful day arrived when I received the telephone call that turned my life upside down and I have only just started putting to rights. All thoughts of Easter dresses were instantly shelved until I could get to them again.

The past month I have had those dresses hanging over my head like a black cloud as I noticed Nutmeg's Sabbath options becoming shabbier and shorter with every week.

The dress is going together swimmingly and I don't know why I put it off so long. Still, the sleeves need to be put in and I hate sleeves, they are such an unpleasant chore. I am sure that the skirt pattern runs a little short, but even so I am going to have to add at least 6 inches to get a decent hem on this skirt. That is how much she has grown in 5 months.

I don't think that I will get to my dress this summer.

P. S. I am awesome at pintucks, but we already knew that.

Flower Hunt

I have been trying to find out how to grow Chrysanthemums, not the scrubby bushy mums that are available at every plant seller each fall but the gorgeous kind that photographers take photos of and come in your bouquet of flowers. I can't imagine Mrs Miniver arranging the bushy kind of flowers can you?


Not These,
but these,
and these,
You would think it would be fairly straight forward but I am having a very hard time. I can't find anyone on-line or in real life or in print who can tell me where to get and how to grow the pretty kinds. The Portland Chrysanthemum Society is playing hard to get but I am going to be persistent.

I just named my house Starlings and chrysanthemums will grow at Starlings.

Familiar Things

I have been doing some fairly diverse reading this summer. Philosphy novels, philanthopic memoirs and clean romance novels. When I feel the need for a little pick-me-up (which happens all too often these days) I pick up an Essie Summers and chase the blues away. I feel very ashamed of the romance novels but at least they aren't smutty and it is better than television program.

I am in between book group books and I was thinking about what to tackle next when I realized what I need to read is comfortable and familiar things. Books that feel like home, books that are personal like a pair of well worn gloves or your favorite pillow.

And so, I laid on my nightstand
Jane Eyre and
Mrs. Miniver.

Just So

My family is in town for a family reunion. Half of us are already here and having so much fun together. Weenie and I went to Walmart in Vancouver and we had more fun than a visit to Walmart justifies. This evening we all went out Benihana for dinner. I laughed hard enough that my abs hurt. I would show you a picture of the fun we have had and the fun yet to come but tonight when I grabbed the camera to take a pictre of Mr. Jmo's birthday cake, this is what I saw:

Blank, nada, nothing, black. The LCD screen on my camera is broken. What? How will I take pictures? How will I know if I have a good shot or not? I have worked so hard to become only a mediocre photographer WITH a LCD screen!

Blogging has been sporadic at best this year but my spirits have been rising and I had high hopes of a blogging comeback. I don't know if I can do it without an LCD screen.

I am wishing I hadn't had this conversation with Boba Fett yesterday afternoon.

Samurai Mom: Do you know where the camera is?
Boba Fett: Um, yeah, it is on my desk.
Samurai Mom: What!? Why?
Boba Fett: Sometimes I like to take the camera and look at myself in the screen.

Just so.