How Dooney?

That's how Wednesday says is anyway. My Mom likes to tell a story about sitting in the van with Winston as The Mr. and I were coming out of the hospital with a new baby Wednesday. It took longer than we thought to get a wheelchair and get me down the elevator, and at one point, Winston called out to my Mom and said , "MaMaw! DOING?". As in what the heck is taking so long?

Anyway, I has been dooneying some fun stuff here lately and I thought I should share. One day I'll write another real post, but those always seem to be a tad depressing.

Last night I finally watched the first episode of True Blood. I actually rented it even though we have HBO! I'm going to try to sneak out of the back of the house tonight to watch the second episode without waking up the boys. It was SO GOOD. I forgot it wasn't a movie and was startled when it ended. Anna Paquin was gorgeous and very fitted to the part. The entire cast, I thought, looked as thought they belonged there. I haven't read the books on which this show is based, but I'd love to now.

I'm making a bookmark for my 20th Century reading group. It's for a swap and it's my first lace pattern. It seems sooo easy until you try to purl a yarnover or something and then I have to do deep breathing exercises!! Anyway, I hope my swap partner likes it when it's done. It feels good to push myself with these knitting projects and make my mind and hands work hard.

Speaking of knitting projects I don't think Ive told you about the bigger ones I've been planning. Another group I frequent on ravelry is planning to put together a book of Twilight (Stephenie Meyer) related knits. So I decided to put together some ideas to submit. I'm sure they won't make it to the final cut if the book comes into fruition, but designing these pieces has been so bolstering to my little creative self. The first piece will be a capelet based on the colors of Leah Clearwater ( don't want to give anything away to any newborns!). The second, if I have time, will be a scarf inspired by Sue Clearwater. I think she is such a strong character and holds up so many things in the background of Meyers books. I'll post pictures here when I get a little more more work done. I've sketched both designs and am swatching now.

What else? Oh! I'm supposed to be reading The Name of the Rose and Harry Potter, but I got pulled into a YA vampire series I first read in like 6th grade. The Vampire Diaries have been enormously entertaining to re-read so much later in life and I'm almost done. Anyone looking for a good vampire fix post Breaking Dawn, or in general might want to check them out!

I think that's all of the main things. Watching reruns of Sex and the City and sewing buttons and pockets has also been rewarding. We started behavior charts with Winston. So far they are about 40% successful. Sigh... HAPPY THOUGHTS!!

I have more to write about but the 3 year old refuses to leave me alone so I'll be back later. Thanks for your patience....

I'm Sorry

I should not have left that last post up as long as I did. We are all fine down here in South Texas. We didn't get any bad weather off of Ike. He turned 2 days after my post and started to head north.

The pictures from the devestation in Galveston, Houston, and even parts of Louisiana are heart-breaking. I am angry at all the people in and around Galveston who decided to stay instead of leave for safety.

Mostly I just want everyone to be ok. I'm praying for power and patience for the people who were affected and their families.

I'm going to close this post now and open another one to talk about happier things. Thank you to everyone who sent kind thoughts this way...

Hurry Cain

There's another one coming and I am so scared.  I know that we can leave in plenty of time, but this hurricane season has been so very stressful.  

To suddenly have to pack up everything important and carry it off; it makes me cry.  Winston was a baby when Katrina hit, and seeing all those babies suffering on Tv was unbearable.  My parents were affected my Katrina too, they live in La as well, but not in a directly personal way.

When Rita came soon after they evacuated our town and we didn't leave.  We barely even got any rain, and leaving would have been silly.

Gustav stranded my parents here and left them without power for close to a week, and there are people just down the road that won't have power for a month.

Ike is headed toward Texas/Mexico and I just want him to disappear.  It is hard for me to pray for it to go somewhere else.  I don't want anyone injured or suffering.  But I don't want to lose my home or somehow hurt my kids by them having to go through a hurricane.

I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow.  I have to bring snack for Winston's class on Thursday, but I also need to restock the pantry with canned food; just in case.  I told him when we went for a walk that there was a chance we might have to leave this weekend.  He turned around and buried his face in my tummy.  "It's not coming right now is it?"  No baby, not for a long while, but I just wanted you to know.  "But right now the sidewalk is regular, and the cars are regular, and the trees are regular"  Yes baby, everything is regular right now.  I love you.  "I love you too, Mama."

And we walked around the block together.  He got a piggyback ride and I carried him part of the way.  My huge boy that is my heart.  

Safe, God.  Please.  A small storm?  Anne Lamott's prayer always helps me:  Please, please, please.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

IOU

Oh my how I miss this blog...

My parents, who live in Louisiana, were stranded here over the weekend. They planned to leave yesterday, but are staying until tomorrow. So my blogging and knitting and general creating time is basically zippo. That is perfectly fine, I want my family to be safe. But I miss my outlets. I had the sudden urge to Perform, something I never liked doing, on the way home from taking Winston to school. It's that much of a need today.

SO I'm here to tell you about the things I need to write about once I have a little more time and space:

Awards...so very exciting...

Contests...international! Oh My!

Knitting...designing and Twilight, mmm.

Hurricanes...it's almost over, but I have things to say.

Halloween...I know it's early but I can't help it!!

Five topics, hopefully a new post everyday after tomorrow. Maybe I can even get started tomorrow night after the boys are asleep. I keep meaning to use that time for my creative things, but I'm so sleepy I can't hold my eyes open!

I also have pictures to upload and baked goods to make. The neighbor shared some chocolate cake with us yesterday, and I do love a sanctioned reason to make cookies/cake!!

I think that's all for right now, I've got other things I HAVE to do (like bathe!!), and I'm getting so excited that I have to stop.

Love you guys and I'll be back soon soon to write write write!

Mother, Mother

I am turning into my Mother. The speed at which was pretty alarming last week. The tiny pieces of her I try to shove off all collected, and I suddenly realized that most of them are not that bad.

The overwhelming urge to put on a robe over my pajamas one day last week didn't feel like a conscious decision, it's just what you do in the morning! Never mind the only time I wear a robe is when I'm sick or freezing to death. So I wore my silky, garage sale, kimono robe while I made breakfast, and I felt more like an adult that I had in ages.

GrapeNuts Pudding. It seems very innocent, right? I wanted to make it 2 nights ago. The making, though, had to be spontaneous, for whatever reason, or it didn't count. So although I had purposefully bought any ingredients I was missing at the store, I didn't make it until the timing felt right. I thought I was making it because it was yummy, and fun for the boys. Not so, I tell you! The real reason came to me mid-stir.

I made GrapeNuts pudding because when I was little, at random but important times, my Mom made vanilla pudding from scratch. A reminder that we were together as a family, and that the other stuff wasn't important. Winston starts pre-school on Monday; The Mr. starts his first year as a tenure track professor. These are important times, and my mind took over instinctually.

We can take this even further though. I don't make the vanilla pudding my mother did because, although it was yummy, is isn't yummy enough to replicate through this parenting cycle I'm in. GrapeNuts pudding is a Paula Deen recipe. That is the surface reason it's been chosen on so many occasions. But underneath is the memory of sitting at my Grandmother's counter eating sweetened GrapeNuts for breakfast. Breakfast at Grandmother's house is a whole post itself, but the secret here is that sometimes, I would heat my grapenuts in the microwave and make them warm and yummy. I'll let you guess what Paula Deen's pudding tastes likes.

When I speak to my boys, sometimes I have to clear my throat and try again. The voice that comes out doesn't belong to me. It's not scary anymore, just a strange comfort I never expected. My mom and I wear the same shoes. They are different colors, of course, but still the same.


In all the outwardly physical ways I look like my father's family. My hair and my eyes are the same as my Mom's though. These other things, whether learned or inherited, are a connection to her I never thought I'd have.

Thanks Mom. I'm NOT wearing fuzzy slippers though, you can't make me!

Making Martha Proud

or pissed, depending.  My oldest child has developed the MUSTSCREAMALLTHETIME disorder.  So I thought a post of the things that I love right now would help put something more positive into the universe besides "Oh My Lord Will You Please Shut Your Mouth!".

Here goes:

• I love that the lovely Jewel Kilcher finally married her rodeo boyfriend Ty Murray.  I've always loved her.
• I am very much enjoying Rebecca.  It is so very well written that I can only read it in short spurts.  I have until Sept. 15 to finish and I should make it.
• Looking forward to the trip we are planning for the month of December.  I'll talk more about it when it gets closer, but we are taking our kids to some of our most favorite places.  Lots of daydreaming...
• The anticipation of finishing a scarf for Winston and a wash rag for Wednesday so I can start Chris's hat!  And HHB's friend's scarf (Hairy Hippy Brother, jsyk)!  So exciting to make actual useful objects!
• Pumpkin Pie Spice creamer for my coffee.  I justify the absurd nature of Halloween related objects in August by remembering that I actually grow pumpkins.  Very logical, right?
• That when a 6 year old at the grocery store said he was "Bigger" than Winston I pointed out that he was "older".  Then Winston got out of the cart to show him.  He was only about 2 inches shorter than the other kid and out weighed him by 10 lbs.  Ha!  Yes, he will be taller than me in first grade and I'll be proud then too!
• Wednesday now says, "Say sorry!" to Winston when he starts hollering "No No NaNONONO!" at him.  It's usually convincing enough to stop his big brother for at least a second.
• Twitter.  nuf said.
• These songs:  Better, Saints, and the "Crazy Mama Song"

Y'all have a great weekend.  Winston starts preschool on the 25th and I'll have time to write more focused entries then!

I cake is peace!

Pre-Oven yummy....

Pre-frosting Yummy...

Frosting....  Yummmmyyy.....

All Done Yummy.....

I made this for my 3 year old's last day of camp.  He had already given teacher gifts at the end of the first session he attended, but I wanted to do something.  He finished camp, and will start preschool, at the Jewish Community Center here in town.  His class and teachers ate this for dessert after lunch on the last day.

The recipe for the starlight cake and penuche frosting are from the Betty Crocker cookbook.  My mom has a pretty old copy and I have a re-issue of the original edition.  The recipes are in both, but slightly different.  My brother and I altered the recipe into it's current form when we were little.  If my parents left us at home for a date night, we usually baked something together.  It was so fun, even when we messed up.  There was a serious cookie incident that involved some of the most disgusting cookies I've ever seen or eaten!  We decided, when making this cake for my Mom's birthday one year, that we should add cinnamon apples.  It really makes the cake so much more moist and delicious.  Mama convinced us to use canned apple pie filing once when we made this for a party and it was awful.  You really should just cook about 3 regular apples down on the stove yourself.  Just add a little water, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. 

Now, this is the cake I make for my parents, brother, and immediate family when I'm close enough during a birthday celebration.  If my brother is present, we go back into old roles and make it together like we have so many times.  This is (enter my real name here)'s Cake.  Which means the world to me.  I want to insert it more into my families traditions, so that my boys think of it that way too.

Maybe now it can be an end of the school year cake.  I need, however, to figure out how to make sure it's Kosher so everyone can enjoy it!