Thursday, February 28, 2013

Midweek

Sorry for the neglect but not much going on around here. I was on the ball this morning and somewhat organized so I had my camera in hand with Josh on his skateboard. Then I took a leisurely stroll home.

Back in the saddle

Skateboarding to school

The warmer weather is a nice change and Josh appreciates being able to ride his skateboard again.

Trash day
trash day


Succulent blossom
Sign of spring
Mini & giant pinecone
two pinecones
I'm not usually a collector but I love these pinecones. One is huge with curved, spikes that will definitely draw blood and leave your fingers sticky with sap and the other is tiny, compact & cute.

Curved spiky pinecone

Barbed pinecone
caution while handling
And then we have the little one...

itty bitty pinecone

I'm working on some projects so more on that later....

Monday, February 25, 2013

Cookie weekend

Baking that is...on a roll earlier in the week starting with the Cranberry (fig) newtons, then Pecan Sandies (minus pecans/added chocolate chips) then lemon bars.

Sandies with choclate chips

Yumminess

No lemon bar pics because I forgot and sent them all out with Hector to take to his work along with the remainders of the cranbery bars and sandies. I didn't want any temptations at home. :)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Cranberry Newtonesque Bars

We have cookies!! :)

The thing I love in my Cookie A sock club membership along with the yarn/patterns are the cookie recipes.

One of the recipes is the fig bars (like Fig Newtons). I like them but decided to try dried cranberries instead since the kids would most likely eat these.

In a nutshell, these are a HIT!! I had to make some modifications like omit the honey (none in the house) and use regular flour instead of the whole wheat flour. The dough is super fiddly but I figured out a way to make it work and VOILA!


Here they are....
Cranberry bars before cutting

Cranberry bars

I gave one to Tyler and he barely bit into it before saying, "Yum." Then he took the plateful and gobbled them up. :)

Now I need to make more...

Friday Video



You're Welcome!! ;)

Thursday, February 21, 2013

California Steampunk

Joshua has a school program called Walkthrough California that is an interactive journey where the kids have parts to read and can dress up. So the setting is early California probably around the missions etc. So I'm trying to come up with a costume for Josh and of course, cowboy comes to mind.

I wanted to be able to use the same costume for our upcoming WonderCon too so I needed versatility too that could be steampunk. That way I can make Josh a steampunk cownboy. :)

Link to DIY reversible childs vest.

My sewing skills are beginner level but I feel pretty confident after the Link costume I made for Halloween so I found a DIY vest tutorial which uses old trousers but I found some remnants at Joanns that worked great. I spent about $7 on fabric, white shirt from Goodwill .99 cents, pants from Goodwill $3, and hat from Party City $8. Grand total = $21. Pretty sweet.

Josh can pass as a rancher/cowboy or as he says vaquero. ;) I added some looped twine we have as a lasso and just fastened it under a pocket flap/snap. Worked great since those pants had no belt loops.

So here are the photos that I quickly shot on the way to school.


Materials for vest
The 2 materials for vest. Josh preferred the stripes.

Serious
"I'm looking for the man who shot my Pa".

loitering cowboy
My favorite shot.
handsome cowboy
Didn't have time to add buttons or pocket flaps but the vest looks sweet.

Now I need to work on some steam punk goggles and a holster/ray gun and Josh will be set for the various cons later this year. :)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Overnighter

I love February because the kids get a few 3 day weekends which can be really needed. The kids got sick around that time so that day off gave them some time to recover without missing school. So this past weekend is our last long weekend to enjoy and we packed several activites into those days.

Saturday started off with a birthday party at Skyzone for one of Josh's friends so for one hour they jumped, leaped and played dodgeball to their hearts content. Those photos are on my other camera but I have a feeling most will be blurry.

Then we finished up our taxes (phew), packed an overnight bag and headed down to Carlsbad. We had another birthday party but this time is was for our friend Dan's girlfriend's birthday. Hector suggested if we go, we should spend the night so we can go to Legoland the next day. Fine with everyone!

The birthday party was a really nice and relaxing time. We met Dan's girlfriend only once before but everyone there was very nice and friendly. I tried to brush up on my photography skills which showed me I need to work on my flash & lighting techniques but I tried my best. I do prefer daylight/natural light so this was definitely out of my comfort zone. 

Linda & Dan

This picture I just decided to desaturate it since the lighting was very yellow due to the lamp shades which threw the camera off. Like I said, I need to work on this...

IMG_0398.jpg

Or I'd just resort to switching it to B/W to hide the lighting issues...here's Hector doing bartender duties.

IMG_0396.jpg

The lighting was better on the lower level of condo. The 50mm lens allows the light to flood in so no flash here since I ditched that earlier in the evening.

Okay, now on to Legoland...

Slide @Legoland

Josh and I sat this ride out while Hector and Tyler decided to go extreme. :)

Ready to go

rotating right

thrills

more twists

It sure looks like they enjoyed the ride. Blech.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Week at a Glance

Here is our week in review....

Monday at the beach.
Winter Beach day

Descent

Boys Diggin

A Lotta Seaweed

Seagulls

Palos Verdes view

Squinty



Just a hour outside to get the kids moving and in the sunshine. Gorgeous day but it was really windy/chilly toward the water. The kids were totally happy digging in the sand with their buckets.

I got my yarn shipment....A very pretty yarn in forest greens that I will promptly cast on once I finish a pair of socks on the needles.

February Sock Club Yarn

Oh, look! I just finished these this morning. A nice lace pattern called On-Hold socks. Easy pattern and I finally got to use this pretty plum yarn. I do love the dark colors but it does get harder to see/knit at night. I either need to get better lighting or lighter yarn. :)

On Hold Socks

On Hold Socks3

The lace pattern reminds me of ram horns although a person on Ravelry compared them to Fallopian tubes/uterus. Ha, I can totally see that too.

Off to wind my new yarn and get ready for my hockey date night with my one & only cheeseboy! :)

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day



A cute video to share with you all... it kind of makes me hungry for sushi. :0

Going to spend a quiet evening home with the kids since Hector works late tonight. Too much fuss and hubbub tonight to be enjoyable which I've learned over the years. ;) Hector is a total sweetie for asking me for my Valentine's day list and got me the one thing I wanted even though it's kind of silly and possibly annoying (to him) but he still got it for me....

Can you guess what it is??

 
Yep, my very own HOCKEY GOAL LIGHT WITH HORN!!!   WITH REMOTE!!
I can't express how excited I am with this.
Seriously.
 
 
 Ha, I also got a cool coffee book of hockey. Oh and some roses and chocolates. ;)
 


Sure it's super cheesy and silly but my love knows/understands/listens to me and got me this light which makes me super happy.

Hope your day is wonderful...just be thankful.

Shh...I baked an apple pie for Hector tonight. I even made the crust from scratch which was a PITA so I hope it's okay. :)

Friday, February 08, 2013

Friday's video



Cute video with that overplayed song by Fun but still catchy....

Meanwhile, our 50 year old house decided to spring a leak in our problematic family room wall adjacent to Hector's bathroom. This is the same wall that we redid into my Kings wall. :( Yes, my pretty wall. Well, at least I really didn't have to remove my stuff and hole isn't too big. It'll be several weeks to make sure the drywall inside etc is completely dry so it can be patched/repainted. :)

Have a great weekend....

Monday, February 04, 2013

Cat Kiss

Klimt "The Kiss" print

Remember how excited I was for Joshua's Adventure in Art class last week? Well, it was super simple and fun so I was able to do my own mashup.

Above is my print of Klimt's The Kiss that I got from Z Gallerie about 18 years ago and it's pretty big. It's hard to find a good place to display it and right now it's in the dining room.

Cat Kiss

I tried to incorporate Kliban's cats with The Kiss and this is the result. I'm happy with it since it was my first attempt. Now I want to do the same technique to do a cat hockey player. :)

Friday, February 01, 2013

Startitis

As the weekend approaches, here are some of the recent projects that I've started and have on the needles...

SIP: On Hold Socks

After I finished my Drip Candles socks, I was eager to cast on again to not lose that mojo. I peeked into the SKA schedule and Wendy Johnson is one of the featured designers for February. I could have waited until February to cast these on but I didn't wait since it's mostly my own personal challenge and I'm not competing for prizes this time.

So the On Hold socks were cast on mid January with Malabrigo sock yarn that people rave about and I remembered having this somewhere in my stash. Here it is in lovely plum tones and very soft.

Oh, but I got distracted easily and cast on this...

WIP: Steampunk Mini Topper

A Steampunk Mini Topper which is a jaunty little felt hat which can be embellished with ribbons, feathers or whatever one wants. Of course, I need to knit it first then the magic of felting can begin. I have another 20 rows of knitting to be done then the decreases. I really hope I have enough yarn but I might have to run to Joann's and hopefully find the same dye lot.

Which brings me to this other item I began...

WIP: The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief

A little accessory called The Age of Brass and Steam kerchief. I'm trying to pull a steampunk outfit together for Wondercon in March. I'm starting with the accessories and work from there.

I still have another project somewhere lurking around but that's it for now...Happy Knitting!