Summer Travel: New York

This summer I took my first trip to New York for a family reunion that coincided with the 100th anniversary of our family's immigration from Italy.

Dad, Mom & Rivers in Little Italy

It was a wonderful trip, and a great chance to be with my family.

Rivers lives in Wonderland

Rivers, Mom & me: Empire State

Mom on the ferry

We all took a trip out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty 

Central Park Duck

You knew I'd get a picture of a duck, didn't you?

Third Time's a Charm

I often find myself wondering why I haven't posted to the blog lately and I can usually come up with a list of reasons.  I didn't have time, I was too tired, or I just didn't feel like I had anything to say.  But I'm going to try to be better about it because frankly there's a lot going on!

We're trying to buy a house, and hopefully this time it will work, they do say the third time's the charm.  Is it really our third go round?  It certainly is.  Here is one of those horrible quality realtor site images, but you get the idea.  It's quite the little house with three bedrooms and 1.5 baths and a full basement just inches from being finished.

We've been busy here too.  I've been working quite a bit and when I'm not working I'm usually visiting Mom.  This past week we were helping Marilyn clean out her house and pack up for her move, and I'm working hard on getting her slides scanned.  It's slow going, but I've got one box down and just two boxes to go and they're big boxes!

The last of the 2010 Fleas

Well, Maxwell Street Days last Sunday was quite fun, and rather successful as we got rid of quite a few things from our basement and made a bit of money doing it.  Plus it kept me so busy at the flea market that I only managed to buy lunch and not any stuff.  We came across a great chrome kitchen table with six red chairs (we've been searching for a chrome kitchen table for a while now) but we didn't buy it because it needed quite a bit of work.  Lots of rust to be buffed off, and the chairs would have all needed to be reupholstered. But all it all, it was good to get up before the sun and spend a day outside wheeling and dealing.

Now that I've started nannying again I'm doing a lot more driving these days, and the drive to work or to my parents' house is typically a thirty minute drive, so I've tuned back to books on tape.  Or rather, books on cd/ipod.  This week I started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I finished it last night.  It was a sweet and rather sad story.  It was one of those stories that actually makes my chest tighten with emotion, and it was beautiful.  Next week - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.  The best place for audio books is the library, and our library provides digital downloads of books as well so you can load them on your ipod.  The digital download only last two weeks, and after that the files won't play anymore, but its really handy when they don't have the actual cds available.

It's official.  Fall has begun.  Let's break out the sweaters and yarn.

Welcoming Fall

While last  Wednesday was the official beginning of fall the event that marks the end of summer for me is coming this Sunday.  The last Maxwell Street Days flea market of the season.  And to make it even more exciting we're going to have a booth!  So if you're in Cedarburg, WI you should come visit us!

This week will be a whirlwind of getting ready since we weren't sure if we were doing this until this past Monday.  I suppose there's no time like now to get ready!

Creative Endeavors: Spiral Blanket

I must admit, I started this blanket some time ago and now I'm a little stalled.  Since I started the blanket as an experiment I didn't buy all the yarn I would need for a full size afghan, instead, assured by a sales associate that Sugar N' Cream yarn colors are never discontinued, I bought a few skeins of each color and got started.

Lo and behond, when I've finally gotten into the swing of things and perfected the pattern to get exactly what I wanted I go back to buy the rest of the yarn and... there isn't any.  It's gone.  I picked four colors for the spirals - sage, country red, country yellow, and country blue - and there is not a single country color left.  I can still find the sage and the soft ecru I'm using to join the spirals since they are some of the staple colors that are always available.

After some intense searching, and dropping in on every Michaels, JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby we've passed on every road trip, I managed to get enough of the country yellow and country red.  The one color missing from every place we've gone is the country blue and now I'm down to less than half a skein and I'm going to have to resign myself to paying full price ($2/skein) online with $8 for shipping to get the rest of the yarn.  This little fact turns this project from affordable to a bit more expensive than I expected.

You should know that I'm a coupon girl.  I've been known to make Richard come in with me to buy a second skein of yarn in a separate transaction just to use a second 40% off coupon at the craft store.  I rarely pay full price for anything because stretching our dollars has become second nature and every penny puts us just a little bit ahead in our savings.

We're still trying to find a house to buy, which hasn't been the easiest process and has left me a little jaded.  But, as my father said at dinner this past Saturday, we will never find a better market in which to purchase property.  But that is a discussion for another time.

The pattern I'm working from is from the blog quarter of an inch, and although I admit I changed some stitches around I'm not sure I could ever tell you what exactly was changed as the circles have now become so easy and automatic.  My only goal is to finish this blanket by the end of 2010 because I think one big project a year is enough, especially since I've been working hard on more cupcakes and getting started on this year's hat and scarf, and with the cold weather coming fast I'd better get cracking!

Half Price Books and $2 Journal Finds

I was out in Brookfield the other day for one reason or another so I took a moment to visit the new Half Price Books location (I'm a sucker for used book stores) and look for a few things.  I found a couple of books that I've been looking for but I decided against picking them up until I've finished a few of the books on my shelves that I have yet to read.  Of course I couldn't leave empty handed so I was wandering around the clearance section to see what I could find and a stumbled across a couple of red Picadilly journals for $1 each.  

I didn't necessarily need TWO journals, but I've been looking for a new sketchbook as my previous one has been very full for sometime now, so for just two dollars I figured it was worth trying them out.  I'm already enjoying them and even have a project for my Tumblr Buddy gift sketched out.  It's a little strange to be drawing things over the lined pages, but it certainly makes my handwriting a tiny bit tidier.  All in all, I say I've made a sound $2 investment, and I may even swing by the Half Price Books near us to see if they don't have a few in clearance as well.

A little aside: I have always had this strange habit of not writing in the first few pages of a journal or sketchbook.  I'm not exactly sure why this is, especially since it's not a conscious decision and I usually don't notice until later, but I realized this time I've left five entire pages blank.

Apple Picking

Since today wasn't nearly as dreary as yesterday, and there was this great crisp chill to the air, we headed out to Barthel's Fruit Farm to pick some apples and get some of their fabulous apple cider.

We were a week too early for the cider, but we came home with a giant bag of apples just begging to become apple sauce, baked apple chips, and some canned apple pie filling.

I'm planning to do some baking on Tuesday or Thursday because Anna sent me a great lavender tea cookie recipe and with the chill in the air it is certainly the time for tea and cookies.

Now I'll take my afternoon break to read through the paper and clip my coupons for this week's grocery shopping.

Weekly goal update.

Well, it's Saturday, so I guess it's time to see how I've done on my weekly goals since I have just tomorrow left to finish them.

Make: The cupcakes are almost done, I have the pieces for four finished and they just need to be sewn together and filled but for now I'm still working on the pieces for the fifth.

Home: The office is just about done!  The floor is now clear (you can walk!) and I put the new duvet cover on the bed.  There are still small piles of paperwork that needs to be sorted (and most likely trashed) and a couple of boxes of things without homes, but it's so close and I feel rather accomplished.

Food: We made the Chicken Caesar Tetrazzini, and boy, was it good!

Photography: 1) I was able to scan three (3!) sets of slides this week, and hope to squeeze in one more tomorrow and 2) I plan on taking project photos tomorrow afternoon while Richard watches the football game.

Other: Turn in application to become a vendor at the October Maxwell Street Days in Cedarburg.... hasn't even been done.  The application is still sitting in my bag, so my goal is to fill it out this afternoon and stick it in the mailbox.

Monday Goals: 6 September - 13 September

So I'm going back to my weekly routine of setting a few achievable goals and to keep myself honest, and motivated, I'm going to be posting them here. They all fit into neat little categories, so this should go quick.

Make: crochet five cupcakes (ten cupcakes in the next two weeks)

Home: organize the office/spare bedroom. With all the furniture moving around lately it has become a bit of a disaster.

Food: Richard and I have the goal of making one new dish each week and this week that is Chicken Caesar Tetrazzini.

Photography: 1) scan one roll of film or one set of slides and 2) take photographs of two projects (this week: train case & crocheted cupcakes!)

Other: Turn in application to become a vendor at the October Maxwell Street Days in Cedarburg

***update: I've already crocheted one and a half frostings and one cupcake bottom, so if I keep up this pace this should be a breeze!

One day in Oshkosh

So yesterday while I was up in Oshkosh four things happened.

1) I went to Hobby Lobby and found more skeins of the "funfetti" yarn I liked so much. It's a different brand ("I love this yarn" - the Hobby Lobby brand) but it seems a bit softer so I think it will be even better for the cupcakes. Which leads me to a side note: for the next month I'm going to give myself little crocheting/making things challenges. I really want to get more of my projects done, in a more timely manner, and I think this might help. So, my first challenge is to make 10 cupcakes in the next two weeks.

2) I spent the rest of the afternoon with Beth and Ben, and we went to Mario's for lunch... and all ordered the exact same veggie quesadilla. Later that evening we all went to the New Moon (my old cafe haunt) and all had the same veggie sandwich for dinner. Because we're awesome like that.

3) Went on the Zombie Walk, the fundraiser for the Time Community Theater, and saw all my old Sketch Night friends. It was a bloody good time!

4) Saw a few artist displays on Gallery Walk, but my favorite moment was being able to see my old writing professor's show. She has been using pieces of jewelry that belonged to her mother to create new pieces and every last one was gorgeous. It was also just wonderful to see her again. She was one of my favorite professors of my entire college career.

Things that Stick in My head: Up There

UP THERE from The Ritual Project on Vimeo.

New Books: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I finally ordered my copy of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins! I'm so excited I could burst! I didn't pre-order the book because I'm trying to be a good little budgeter and have only been buying things from amazon when I have enough gift cards from Swagbucks to cover the cost. My goal after this purchase is to save up enough of the gift cards to buy that cute little Fujifilm Instax Mini. Goodness knows I don't need another camera, but I've been without an instant camera for so long that I just can't stand it anymore!

But speaking of books: as with most of my literature choices lately Anna had a direct role in getting me into The Hunger Games. It was one of the books she read while working for Scholastic, and she couldn't stop talking about it. Since I'm a frugal little penny pincher I had been lurking in the local used bookstore hoping the first novel would show up so I didn't pick it up until this past June and I'm actually really glad I didn't get into the series sooner because I would have been so heartbroken to wait so long for the conclusion. And no matter how the book concludes the story this is sure to be a bittersweet ending, because I just don't want to leave these characters yet!

So if you haven't read The Hunger Games yet - you really should.