Epic Family Reunion

I didn't hardly get any pictures!  What with that trip to the ER and all, and it just went by so fast.

Here's what I did get... Pre-accident:

And a few after the accident:

Back from Lake of the Ozarks.

We went to what is being described as the "Epic Family Reunion: 2013".  We've got the mugs to prove it! 

Anywho, besides those mugs, the only souvenir we got was a (first) trip to the ER.  Ms. S had a run in with a set of stone steps trying to keep up with the bigger kids. 

She'll be fine.  They cleaned it out and glued it back together.  These are the shots in the car on the way back from the ER.   It's a bit more bruised these last few days, but much less than I anticipated! 

 

I won! I won!

I entered a contest over at LoadaLove and I won this sweet little fairy set! 

We decided to keep the little food set for our dollhouse (it was the perfect scale) and put the table and chairs outside for the fairies.  When the children got up the next morning the fairies had left a beautiful shell and a hosta flower in appreciation. 

Gooseberries, crafting, and this kitty

We picked some gooseberries!  The Chair of my department has a hobby farm and he told us to come pick our fill.  Yay!

We made pie!!!  It was good, but not as tart as the pies my Grandma makes.  We had enough left over to throw some in the freezer and I have visions of mulberry-gooseberry wine. 


Next up are my current craft projects:
I've got one Christmas gift bag sewn.  Whoopie.  I've only got, like, a gazillion more.
I have started on the little man's birthday quilt... again, a long way to go!
I'm in a Play Kitchen themed swap.  I'm making bacon and eggs (okay, egg).  All the pieces are cut, except I'm waiting on a piece of felt I ordered for the yolks.  Please get here soon!
I figured out how to make tattered roses and whipped up some headbands for S and I:

Then there's the slippers for the sweet baby next door who was born this last Wednesday. 
I have to get all my crafting in before school starts back up next month.  I think I'll be teaching a class, in addition to taking two graduate level classes.  I should know more soon. 



I changed out the sensory bin:

Finally, a little kitty love...

 Fang loves everyone here, but he especially loves Bella's bed.  She tolerates him. 



Kombucha - second brew

My mother had a baby (SCOBY, that is) and it brewed a batch of fabulous kombucha.  It has an amazing zingy-vinegar flavor.  But it could really use a second ferment with fruit added.  I saw some cherries in the grocery store and knew what I had to do. 

After removing the pits and "muddling" (well, not so much "muddling" as squishing between my fingers), I added the fermented kombucha to the fruit.  Then I covered again and am letting it sit for 2 days or so.  I have to tell you, it's hard.  It smells amazing.  I have sampled it twice already.

Next step is to bottle it and let the bottles sit for 2-4 days (my book says depending on the temp), this creates the fizzy carbonation that makes kombucha so much fun.  Once it's done carbonating, you put it in the fridge. 

Our bar is beginning to look like fermentation-station (oh boy, that could be a new School House Rock song!). 

So, on the left is the next batch of first ferment kombucha.  The right is the "second brew" with the cherries added.  The little jar in the middle is a carbonation test (how many days to get the right about of fizz). 

Kombucha!

I got my SCOBY in the mail and I am brewing (fermenting?) my first batch of Kombucha! 

The first ferment takes a week.  Then there is a second ferment that includes fruit.  I'll update when we're ready for that!

SCOBY: Free ( a friend in MI sent me a baby)
Jar: Already had (it's a canister I wasn't using)
Tea: $5 (Black tea ordered from Etsy - includes shipping, I probably won't use it again as I'll order through our food co-op)
Water: boiled tap (boiled for 15 mins to declorinate)
Sugar: minimal cost

Everybody likes Kale Krispies!

And making them is super fun!

Our favorite combination: Kale, olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt, and sesame seeds.  Yum!!!

Looks worse before it gets better...

Right?

It better, because we're wearing Daddy out!

Box Turtle

There is a turtle that keeps coming into our yard.  (Remember it could have previously been featured on "Life After People" it was so neglected).  Anyway, we've tried to rehome him (via the neighbors yard) several times.  Each time, he comes back into our yard and I take him away from Ginsburg (the weimaraner). 

So this time we put him in a kiddy pool and called both Kansas Wildlife (sadly, not helpful) and then the University's Nature Reach (much more helpful).  They said to put him back in the yard.  So we put him behind the garage (and out of the way of the dogs) and wished him luck. 

The kids were sad to see him go.  But it was a good lesson in wildlife and being good stewards of nature. 

Laurels and the shovel

I forgot to mention that right before the 4th we planted a couple laurels.  They were a bit stressed, but seem to be doing well in their new homes.  We can't wait for them to grow up and be visual blockers (we are tired of looking at our plastic burning neighbors).

And while we've been doing all this planting and digging, N got very frustrated with our shovel.  It was a bit bent, so he decided to fix it in his normal "overkill" way. 

These wrench handles were sitting around, leftovers from his metal sculpture class.  I love it when he repurposes stuff!

Letters from the City

So we get back from our 4th festivities (which were awesome by-the-way) to find a letter from the city.  We are to address our alley frontage in 10 days or we will be charged an exorbitant amount to clear it out. 

Well, it was on our to-do list.  Now it's been bumped to the top.  *Sigh*

Here's the first few stages.  Walnut trees trimmed and scrub shrubs removed.  There was a few neat surprises hiding back there and I hope to post pictures once we're done...

These are the piles (in the back driveway) of only some of what we ripped/trimmed out.

Pink boots courtesy of S. 

Grass

N is very excited about the grass he's growing.  You don't know how much you miss something until it comes back.

Too bad it's only 1/3 of the yard.  :)

Happy 4th!

Last Library bag post... I swear.

So here are the finished bags...

I added some red eyes to the spider (beads from a broken headband) and the orange "S" to S's bag.  Overall, I think they turned out cute (and FREE!) and I'm glad that I dusted off my sewing machine. 

In the midst of these two projects I also got a few other things done.  I opened the box of half finished projects (yikes) and thought I ought to get "on it".  So, I finally hemmed our Christmas jammies (both N's and mine) and I mended a hole in a super cute Hanna Andersson outfit for S.  And I made a couple buntings. 

I'm actually thinking of starting on Christmas bags and maybe even a few gifts.  Gosh, I may even be able to have a relaxing holiday... um... if I start in July. 

Oh and we planted shrubs, baked a ton of bread, moved a friend, I made apple-mint infused simple syrup... I love summer!

R's Library Bag

And here it is:

I wish I could sew other times than at night, but I can't.  So my pictures always come out dark.  Poo. 

Back to the bag... I left the edge of the black fabric rough so that it would fray a bit.  It looked more like spider webs to me that way.  And I had a heck of a time sewing the web on my machine, next time I'll switch to a larger needle.  It was virtually as thick as denim and I hate sewing denim. 

I'm pretty sure S needs a, well, "S" on her bag now too.  Off to cut out some felt.