Author Archives: Cabol

Jun 20 2011

Neigh!

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I was waiting for Aunt Linda to get the package, and now that she has, I get to post my most recent quilled piece. (Just the horse.)

I found the design in an etsy store, and although I have absolutely no plans to try and make any money off the design myself, I wanted to make sure to give the creator credit so that the internet karma wouldn’t come after me with a big bat. See, I read a web post a few days ago on the blog of a quiller I like. She was mad, and rightfully so, because someone was recreating cards the blogger had created. Not just a bit or piece, but entire cards. And lots of them. And I thought, ya know, I really should point out where I find my designs because I don’t want anyone to be mad. I promise, blogging quillers, that I will never steal your designs for profit and that from now on I will make sure to say where I found the design. Of course, there was also a flower in the picture I posted, and I don’t remember where I found that, alas. Baby steps.

Now, back to the piece. Aunt Linda donated money to my Relay for Life team. In return, I said I would quill something for her, and she picked a horse. ‘Cause she likes horses. Most of the animals I’ve done so far have been fairly simple, but horses? I couldn’t find any examples of quilled horses that weren’t either dorky looking or pretty complex. So, I found the simplest of the complex ones and got to work on it. It took me a long time not because it was hard but because it was scary. All those pieces. All that squooshing of all those pieces into a big shape. AIEIEIE. But, like most things, I just took it one bit at a time, and I finally finished it about a week ago. Phew!

May 26 2011

May List (with some April, too)

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I missed a crafty day last month, and it has thrown off everything since. Birthday cards were late. No blog posts for a month. Groundhog moved in under the tool shed without even signing a lease. Chaos. Must never miss craft day again. Here’s the list of what’s been going on. Sorry, no pictures of the groundhog. He hasn’t been so friendly since I posted the eviction notice on his burrow.

  • Got out the swimmy suit, and filled up the mosquito breeding ground water table.

  • Anya said cute things: garbage trash, soccer kick, sticky tape.
  • My parents are weird. (Anya took this photo.)

  • Got four chickens. They lay eggs. They poo. They eat. Mostly the latter two.

  • Came out of retirement to be the part-time office manager for Anya’s school.
  • Gave a chicken a bath. We thought she had a stuck egg. Turns out she was probably just constipated. MORE FIBER.

  • Anya turned four.

  • Anya had first friend birthday party. There was a bouncy house. And rainbow frosted cupcakes. And lots of grandparents (and friends, of course).

  • Got three fish. One dead so far. Found it hanging half sucked up into the filter.
  • Caught a swarm of bees.

  • Have baby lettuces and radishes growing in the garden. Ate a few strawberries before something else ate them. Stared at baby plums on baby plum tree.
  • Harvested two batches of asparagus from various random spots about the yard. And one green sword.

  • Plant light melted, filling the scary bathroom with smoke.
  • Andy found a really good deal on paper towels. Then he sold half of them to some friends. Then he made Anya a new bed.

  • Dishwasher WORKS!
Apr 19 2011

There’s a mole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza

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I don’t like moles, but I want to pet them.

Up until yesterday, I’d only ever seen dead moles and moles being attacked by a cat. Maybe that is why I never realized what nice, soft, velvety-looking fur they have. (I should have known. That Thumbelina book I had to read 57 times tried to marry the girl off to a mole, and the book said the mole had a great coat. Why didn’t I believe?) Everything is different now that I have seen two moles in as many days, alive and on the surface, scratching around in the lawn. (Perhaps it was the same mole twice. If I see another, I will try to paint my initials on its back with fingernail polish.) I thought moles stayed underground, but maybe the ground is too wet for them after this weekend’s deluge. Or, as we call it around here, “The Storm That Ate Half Our Driveway.” Maybe these are stupid moles or sick moles or lost moles. What do I know about moles?

Oh right, they have really pretty fur. Luckily for my (still intact) fingers, moles also have freakish alien feet and a creepy nose that looks and moves like a worm trying to get out of its head. I suddenly just now wondered if that was really a mole I saw, what with the whole mole/vole thing. Holy cow. Do not do an image search on “mole.” The creepy dermatological images and the not-so-appetizing-looking food aside, there are some FREAKY looking moles. My moles, in comparison, are beauty queens. I’m still not going to find out if that fur is as luxurious feeling as it looks.

I had to get rid of the mole. It was way too close to what could possibly be in some days or weeks an actual vegetable garden. Now that Buddy is gone, I am the mole-inator here. Problem is, I am very bad at killing things (stink bugs aside). So, I did what any normal person would do and scooped the mole up with a shovel, put it in an empty flower pot, and left it in the shade under the picnic table for Andy to deal with when he got home. Problem. Andy was already home. Barfing his guts out. He didn’t seem very interested in dealing with my furry friend. I decided to get rid of the mole by moving it far, far from my garden.

Plan A: Carry the mole way to the far end of our property up by the road and let it loose.
Problem: I was creeped out by the idea of carrying the flower pot that far with the alien-fur-coat-creature scrabbling up the sides. Plus, I’m lazy and that’s a long walk.

Plan B: Put the flower pot (mole and all) into the car, and drive it to the end of the property.
Problem: I was even more creeped out by the idea of that creature escaping and hiding in my car.

Plan C: Move the mole across to the other side of the yard and toss it over the fence into the neighbor’s hay field.
Problem: I felt stupid even thinking that a barbed wire fence would keep the mole off our property, and I felt bad about putting the creature on someone else’s property.

In the end, I pitched it over in a corner of the yard near the fence and used my mental powers to encourage it to head for the hay and never return. I bet I’ll see it again tomorrow. If I do, it better like hot pink because I don’t think the pale blue would go well with its coat.

Apr 11 2011

Easter Bunny, Take I

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This past Saturday, Anya’s former sitter, T., was helping organize an Easter Eggstravaganza in town (pancake breakfast, pics with the bunny, egg hunt). We decided to go because (A) we really like T, (B) it was for a great cause (Relay For Life), and (C) Anya loves her some egg hunting. I have to admit I was a bit sad because the event fell on a scrapbook day. This meant I missed two and a half hours of prime crafty time. But, we make sacrifices for our kids, ya know? I was also sad because it was chilly and cloudy, so Anya couldn’t wear her cute new sundress and the pictures wouldn’t be as awesome as last year’s. So, for me, the day started out kind of sad.

We had to take both vehicles to town because I planned to leave for crafty time right after the egg event. Anya and I got there first, got out of the car, and stopped. There were flocks of little kids heading back from the hunting grounds with their baskets full of eggs. I was confused. I checked my clock. I checked the time on the sign. I thought, maybe I am just confused and hallucinating the eggy baskets. I started to prepare Anya for a very likely lack of egg hunt, and we walked on over. There was one small flock of kids and parents with empty baskets near the hunting ground. They looked sad and perplexed. Since I felt sad and perplexed, there was an instant kinship.

“Did we miss it?” I asked.
“Yup.”
“But, it’s not 10:30 yet.”

Andy arrived, and I had to share with him the sad news. We missed it. Anya was sad because no egg hunt; I was sad because two and a half hours, and Andy was sad because this was his day to sleep in. We tried to make the most of things, so we moved on to pics with the bunny. Anya didn’t want to have her picture taken; she wanted to take the pictures. So, she did.

We tried to herd her back over somewhere near the bunny for a picture. She ran.

I tried to convince her the bunny was sweet and nice, but even I was scared to pet him on the head. I think it was the bow tie.

No one seemed to know what happened with the premature release of the hunters. Possibly the person in charge needed a new watch battery. More likely, I think, the little kids were so hyper and excited and WANT EGGS NOW that they overran the poor person in charge, maybe even knocked her over or buried her in pancakes, and went wild like the feral people kids around candy are.

While I headed out to be crafty, Andy and Anya stopped at the store for some candy to put into eggs at home for a little egg hunt of their own. I haven’t heard any sad tales of the egg hunt that didn’t happen, so I think everything turned out fine.

Apr 4 2011

March Craftiness

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Quilling
(Note: Very few of the quilling designs are original to me. I find pictures of things I like online and recreate them. Since I’m not making any money off of it, I don’t feel so bad about it, but if you want to know where a pattern is from originally, I can probably tell you.)

Cards

Apr 4 2011

*SQUEAL*

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Anya got TWO packages in the mail today. TWO. One from each of her Grandmas. She thought it was her birthday. (She told me today that she wants 18 presents for her birthday. I’m not sure if that is total or per person.) I let her open the box from Grandma Cheryl, but I wanted to wait until Andy was home to open the box from Grandma Diane. Anya would have none of that. I went to get the phone to call Andy to see if he would be sad if we opened the box without him, and before I could make it back to Anya’s room, I hear crazy squealing. I open the door and she is pulling off the box’s packing tape. She is ripping that box apart. So, I let her open it.

Her is Anya posing with her Grandma Diane Easter Loot. I tried to get her to smile a normal-ish smile, and she did. A normal Anya smile.

And what was in the Grandma Cheryl box, you ask? Why this awesome new summer dress with fairy tale fabric (and some other clothes, but this was the big squeal generator).

Yes, I cut Anya’s bangs. Yes, they are incredibly crooked. Send me a kid-sized strait-jacket, and I’ll do a better job. Maybe.

Apr 2 2011

Seeds, glorious seeds!

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  • Today I was looking through more of my seemingly endless seed stash, and I found several packets from 1999. Even with my seed hoarding habits, I feel pretty okay with tossing those right into the compost.
  • We have baby tomato plants!
  • Going to plant some lettuce and spinach today.
  • May also do some germination tests on some bigger seeds like cucumber, bean, squash, sunflower. Mostly because it sounds fun.
Mar 27 2011

Gardening in the Snow

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This morning we woke up to snow and ice, so we decided to plant some seeds! Anya helped me mix up the peat moss and perlite and put the soil mixture into the seed trays. Luckily, Andy had mopped the floor yesterday, so it was nice and clean for us to put dirt all over.

I planted the seeds while Anya and Andy used the label maker to…make labels. I’ve tried all sorts of things in the past to keep track of which seeds are where (popsicle sticks, maps, bits of whatever set on top, my memory {hahaha}), but it seems like things always get mixed up. Maybe the labels will work? Andy spelled the words out, and Anya typed them into the machine. After the labels were printed, Anya trimmed them, peeled off the back, and stuck them on the trays where I pointed. She was a very good helper! She also got to plant some dill and cilantro because those seeds are big enough for her teeny fingers.

So, what did we plant?

Peppers: Alma Paprika, Sweet Bell Mix, Relleno, Espanola Improved, and Cap’n Leigh’s Dragon Peppers (developed by Andy’s father over several years)
Tomatoes: Mexico Midget, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Speckled Roman, Black from Tula, Beam’s Yellow Pear, and Crnkovic Yugoslavian
Herbs: Black Cumin, Cilantro, Dill, Sweet Genovese Basil, and Opal Purple Variegated Basil
Other: Purple Tomatillo

The newest seeds we had were “Packed for 2008.” The oldest, 2004. I threw in three or four seeds in each cell and hope that at least one will grow. I should probably just toss most of the seeds, but I can’t. They are baby plants! I can’t toss them! I could give them to people, but they are up to 7 years old. I don’t think anyone would want seeds that old when they can get new ones for a dollar. I suppose I could toss the REALLY old ones in the compost, and then they would have a chance to grow, so it wouldn’t be like I was throwing them away? Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, the plant room (aka scary bathroom) has its first occupants. I just need to write a big note, so that I don’t forget they are down there.

Mar 27 2011

Welcome, Spring!

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Anya’s school had a party to celebrate the start of spring. I was a bit concerned about going seeing as how last time there was a celebration, I ended up with a broken foot. The party started off with a Marshmallow Challenge where each class was given a few pieces of dry spaghetti, some dental floss and masking tape, and a big marshmallow. They had about 20 minutes or so to build a tower using the supplies and with the marshmallow on top. Anya wasn’t very interested in this, and decided to camp out in the Quiet Corner of her classroom.

After that was finished, we all went outside to sing and dance. First, though, we were sent out into the woods to find something special to put on the Spring altar. Anya found a large branch, and I found a piece of bark with a mossy thing growing on it.

The people leading the dancing and singing had starting playing drums, and we all gathered back, put our items on a large mat of felted wool, and sat in a big circle.

Most of the little kids weren’t very interested in the singing and dancing, and they ran off to the sandbox. I used Anya’s leaving the circle as my excuse to sit out the rest of the songs. It was just a little bit too much singing and dancing for me. I did enjoy watching the others, and I took a lot of pictures for the school to have. The afternoon ended for us when Anya was chasing a little dog someone had brought (we aren’t supposed to bring dogs to school, but inevitably someone does), and she tripped and fell and scraped up her knee.

Later in the week, Anya’s class went to visit Ed’s farm, one of the founding fathers of the school. We got to see baby goats, baby chickens, and baby frogs.

The kids had a great time, but I think Ed had the most fun.

Finally, back home, we had a few nice days when we got the berry bed mostly cleared out and mulched and some pea and carrot seeds planted. We need to improve our fencing around the berry / pea bed because right now all that we have is a two or three foot chicken wire fence. We put it up last year to discourage the rabbits from eating the strawberry plants. Other than that discouragement and keeping little Anyas and neighbor dogs out, the fence isn’t very useful. Deer scoff at it, birds think it is a nice place to land, and rabbits mostly like to stretch their legs jumping over it.