A new addition to the family....

Well, we survived the “Snowmaggedon”!  It actually wasn’t too bad in central NJ - we only had 10-12 inches.  But I think the member of our family who enjoyed the snow the most was our 5-month old Border Collie mix puppy, Janie.  Janie was a Christmas present from my husband and me to our two children.  We haven’t had a puppy in the house, in about 18 years (our last dog died two years ago at the age of 16) and have completely forgotten how much work they are.  Its kind of like having a two year old on speed - only the two year old would do a much better job of listening and wouldn’t be nearly as fast.  But she’s a sweet thing and like our previous dogs, provides much more than a smile a day.

I still "heart" you......

I realize that I’ve been ignoring you, my poor little blog.  But just because I haven’t been here, doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.  You started off as an experiment and I know that I get overwhelmed by the thought of posting something new each day but I’m going to do my best to get back updating you regularly.

I’ve been working very hard to get my Valentine’s day groove on and have been looking for something to decorate my entrance table.  Nothing at Michaels, Joann’s or AC Moore seemed to fit the bill - everything seemed too glitzy or cartoonish.  Then I started poking around Etsy and found these ADORABLE little blocks!  I knew as soon as I saw them they belonged in my house.  Aren’t they wonderful??  Countryside Saying’s Letter Block Shop at Etsy (link) has several different Valentine’s Day styles to choose from, and I just may have to go back and shop again for these blocks before St. Patrick’s Day.

I see Lara has an announcement on her shop that’s she will be closing soon due to the imminent arrival of her new little block maker - so get your shopping done soon!

How are you decorating for Valentine’s Day???

Fall Scarves

I’m still working on that beautiful Kiogu Snowflake Scarf that I blogged about last month here.  There isn’t that much yarn left to work with so the end is definitely in sight  - one or two more rows then I’ll post a photo of the finished project! In the meantime,  we have a nor’easter hitting us and the temperature has dropped into the 30s and 40s. Brrrr -its cold outside!  So I pulled out a beautiful and easy-peasy scarf I had crocheted a few months ago to wear as a back up with my fall demin jacket.  It’s a Ruffle Scarf made with Lion Brand Homespun yarn.  The pattern is available as a free download from their website and was super quick to make, taking only 1- skein of yarn.  I was pleasantly stunned by how many compliments I got on it this afternoon and had to promise to bring the pattern to some of the teachers at my children’s aftercare program at the elementary school.  Here’s a closer look at the stitching:

Crocheting scarves to go with my fall jackets seems to be a theme this year and I’m already eyeing up my next project.  For  a sneak-peak visit Sarah at Sarah’s SweetHearts and check out her Surreybelle scarf pattern!

No-cost Fall decorating

Last October, my next door neighbor and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Martha Stewart show in NYC.  We had an outstanding time and were awed by her set.  It was completely decked out for fall and had total eye-candy everywhere you looked!  One quite beautiful decorating detail was oodles and oodles of bittersweet vine berries tucked among all the creamy white dishes.  It looked so warm and inviting, that it was something that I had to give a try at home.

Bittersweet is a vine native to the US and has yellow berries in the fall - these burst open later in the season revealing a gorgeous orange berry framed by a yellow paper frame.  Its not too difficult to find bittersweet vine on a nature walk in the northeast.  For me in NJ, this meant hopping over the fence into the “natural” area behind our home.  There was an American Bittersweet vine inhabiting one of the small trees, not too far from the fence.  American bittersweet can be distinguished from it Chinese counterpart by the absence of thorns.  Since the vine was about 7 ft up, I had to jump up to get a grip on the tree branch to pull the tree slightly over to one side.  Had this been a cartoon, no doubt the tree would have snapped back to upright and catapulted me off into the air to land several miles away - a fact that my husband, who I love dearly, relished in telling me as he stood safely on our side of the fence!  After a little hard work, I had several generous branches of berried vine.

I’ve never been one of those people who can artfully arrange drying branches in a vase or across a mantle to make that beautiful display with the crinkly leaves.  My mother-in-law can do this with both hand tied behind her back, and last year arranged a gorgeous vaseful for us!  I tried to do the same this evening but to no avail - however I arranged it, it just looked like I had brought dead smelly tree branches inside the house.  So I settled on harvesting the twigs laden with berries, removing the leaves and making tiny sprays of bittersweet.  These were tied with some left over ribbon from another project and tucked them in strategic places around the house.  I think they give our house a homey fall look and the best part, cost nothing at all!

Bittersweet vine on a kitchen bookshelf

Tucked into a towel basket in the powder room

(I need a ribbon around this, don't I?)

Next to the pumpkin in the entryway

On some silk leaves in the dining room

I'm back!

It’s been quite the week and a half since I last blogged.  I totally got thrown off my game when my daughter fell ill last weekend.  In all of her 8 and a half years of life, this was undoubtedly the most sick I’ve ever seen her. The first day wasn’t so bad and comprised of a sore throat and low-grade fever.  A negative strep test later, we were back home to wait out the virus. However, later that night, her temperature spiked to 104⋄F and stayed there for 3 full days.  J has always run very high fevers, necessitating several trips to the emergency room when she was a baby - there is nothing like a 1-yr old with a 105 ⋄F to mobilize an emergency room!   This virus was no exception, and Motrin or Tylenol alone was not enough to control the fever.  Every 24 hours, she seemed to get worse - including day 3 when she basically slept the entire day.  Thank goodness on day 4, the fever broke but by now my son had it too.  Fortunately, he rallied within 24 hours and didn’t get thrown under the bus in quite the same way as his big sis.  I’m convinced this may have been swine flu and wanted the pediatrician to test the kids for it.  I figured that their school would want to know if they had cases spreading among their students, and I wanted the information before having to make a decision on whether to get the kids immunized with the swine flu vaccine.  If they’ve already had this season’s H1N1, there’s no point to having them vaccinated as they already would have the antibodies to virus.  I was surprised that the pediatrician was not testing for H1N1 and stated that we weren’t seeing it widely in this area.  So now I don’t know, so we will be making the decision when the vaccine becomes available in our area.

Both Jordan and Ben are back at school now, armed with some very cute gifts for their teachers and the school nurse.  Thanks to Just a Girl for the idea!  According to J, the third-graders are having a great time hamming up the “toxic” effects of the hand sanitizer.  Now I need something equally as cool for next month!

Halloween Hand Sanitizer

LES Clothing Sale

 

On and off for the past month, I’ve been busily tagging children’s clothes for sale at our elementary school’s used clothing and toy sale.   This is a fundraiser for the PTO organization and raises several thousand dollars for the school.  If you are in the Lawrenceville, NJ area this Saturday, October 3rd and need fall or winter clothes for your kids (or toys, strollers, bikes or kid equipment), it is definitely worth the trip!  We have people who come in from all over the state for this and typically, a line forms before we open the doors at 8 am on Saturday.  From articles in the news lately,  second-hand clothing sales are big business this year with everyone suffering from the recession.  We have a lot of sellers this year and are expecting a big crowd.

Here’s the way its run:  All the sellers are parents, who tag and set prices for the items that they are selling.  When you check-out - a 15% surcharge is added to your purchase.  For example, if you purchased 2 shirts for a total of $5.00, you would pay $5.75 upon checkout.  The 15% goes directly to the PTO which fed right back into the school.   The seller also has 15% deducted from their total (I would make $4.25 for those two shirts you bought - also donating 75¢ to the school).  In this way, the PTO realizes 30% from each purchase.

The hardest part for me is getting organized before Friday night. Tagging the clothes takes a quite a bit of time, and even though I’ve been working on this for over a month.  I see so much more stuff around the house I could clear out!  But tagging and giving away these items is also bittersweet too.  I remember how handsome and grown up Ben looked in that 3T sweater, or how sweet Jordan looked in the red holiday coat with black velvet trim on our first Christmas time NY trip.  I have photos and memories, but it still difficult for me to get rid of those things that are part of my children’s history.  Nonetheless, I have several toters of stuff all set and ready to go.  If you see me on Saturday morning, make sure you stop by and say hello, and if you purchase any of my items, please cherish your children in them as much as I've cherished mine!

Jordan and MeMom

Size 6 Red Holiday Coat in NYC

Will be available on Saturday!

Menu Plan Monday - Week 4

I know I should be menu planning, I know I should be menu planning.  If I keep saying it over and over again, I’m going to get to it, right?  The last few weeks have worked unbelievably well.  I know we’ve saved money on our grocery shopping and we’ve been eating more wholesome and delicious food.  This is not to say that my family has exactly followed the plan that I set forth at the beginning of the week.  Life has crept in and mixed things up a bit causing a couple of meals to get dropped.  But we had 5 of 7 meals planned last week.  As always, fresh ingredient dinners get preference over pantry ones that way they can be shelved for another week.  Alright  I think I’ve motivated myself now!  So here’s what I’ve come up with for this week:

Monday - Girls scout meeting - Left-overs - Sweet Potato Risotto from Friday night.

Tuesday - Stuffed Shells with green salad.  I’m sure you all figured out I made sauce on Sunday from hubby’s guest post!

Wednesday - Crab Cakes (Frozen from Trader Joe’s.  YAY!  They are finally open in my area!) More salad or something green.

Thursday - Orange Chicken, Broccoli, brown rice

Friday - Pizza night 

Saturday - dinner out, nephew’s birthday!

Sunday - Pasta Fagiole (since it got bumped last week!)

What’s on your menu??  Make sure to visit OrgJunkie for great menu planning ideas!  Remember to tell her how much you liked the new button!