Baby Countdown

Here is a fun way to count the days until baby's arrival!

Remember the paper chains you used to make at Christmastime?  You can also turn this idea into a way to count down your due date.

You will need:
Multicolored craft paper
Scissors
Tape
Ruler

Mark the craft paper and cut into strips, each about 1.5 inches.  From a piece of construction paper, I was able to make about 8 strips.  Tape the strips into rings, forming a multicolored chain.  Hang the pretty chain in an area where you can enjoy it, tearing off a ring as each day brings you closer to your baby's arrival!

Tuesday Should Be For Grilled Cheese

Tuesday night, watching Coal Miner's Daughter.  Tommy Lee Jones, I think I'm sweet on you.

Researching, looking at Flickr for well-photographed quilts and Anthropologie dot com for my color theory classes. 

Been feeling so sleepy lately.  I'll be glad when spring comes along.

influences

Just found Inspiration Resource. Really cool, facinating blog. Stumbled upon while researching photos of crazy quilts.

Been making crazy quilts of my own, practicing techniques and foundation piecing. Going well, but boy! I'm tired. Lots of work getting all those bits on the square. Gah.

Quilt Progress for January

Working on John's quilt for Mom, from Granny's fabric. Too small, want to punch it up a bit. Thought of adding strips between 4x4 blocks, may turn the blocks similar to on point, with triangles or appliqued over larger blocks... we'll see.

List for Summer

Things I want to accomplish this summer:

Watch all the dvd's in the local library, going A-Z.  That starts us with Auntie Mame, I think.  (Any I have watched, I don't have to double up on.)

Sew up a baby quilt for Sam.

Sew up the orange/mighty girl ruffle sweater.

Transfer one of the potted orchids to a bark-wall planter (maybe make it magnetic, too.)

Walk with Pancake from my house to Circus of Books.  This may not work, depending on the heat of the days.

RV trip with Ron and my mom & dad.

What have you eaten?

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

(yes) next to those I have eaten...

1. Venison (yes)
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros (yes)
4. Steak tartare (yes)
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding (scary, no)
7. Cheese fondue (yes)
8. Carp
9. Borscht (yes)
10. Baba ghanoush (yes)
11. Calamari (yes)
12. Pho (yes)
13. PB&J sandwich (yes)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (no, but alternate should be a stadium game hot dog!)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns (yes)
20. Pistachio ice cream (yes, sadly)
21. Heirloom tomatoes (yes, happily!)
22. Fresh wild berries (yes)
23. Foie gras (yes)
24. Rice and beans (yes)
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche (yes, and you must get the right kind! i can show you where to shop.)
28. Oysters (yes, raw and awesome!)
29. Baklava (yes)
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas (yes)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (yes!!)
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut (yes)
35. Root beer float (yes)
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (?no thanks?)
37. Clotted cream tea (yes)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo (yes)
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (does cheese count?)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala (yes)
48. Eel (smoked eel is the best!)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (yes)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear (yes)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone (yes)
54. Paneer (yes)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (yes, and I won't do that again.)
56. Spaetzle (yes, and I may not do that again, either.)
57. Dirty gin martini (yes)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (yes)
59. Poutine (no, but I would like to try it)
60. Carob chips (yes, sadly)
61. S’mores (yes, gladly!)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (ay! no!)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs (yes)
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (yes, with lots of toppings!)
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain (yes, yum!)
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (yes)
71. Gazpacho (yes)
72. Caviar and blini (yes)
73. Louche absinthe (yes)
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (yes)
78. Snail (yes)
79. Lapsang souchong (yes)
80. Bellini (yes)
81. Tom yum (yes)
82. Eggs Benedict (yes)
83. Pocky (yes, Yea for Pocky! I love strawberry the best.)
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef (yes)
86. Hare (yes)
87. Goulash (yes)
88. Flowers (yes)
89. Horse (um, no.)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (yes)
92. Soft shell crab (yes)
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish (yes)
95. Mole poblano (yes)
96. Bagel and lox (yes)
97. Lobster Thermidor (yes)
98. Polenta (yes, often!)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (this one, was it John who went camping and they found a snake and one of his friend's dad cooked it. That should be the only acceptable way to eat snake. Not, for example, in a restaurant. But caught while camping and cooked over the campfire. I've not eaten it.)

I think shark and homemade ice cream should be on this list, but I guess it is just 100, so some of them would have to be traded off. Maybe horse and, I don't know, nettle tea?

she's sleeping in the middle of the living room floor. fuzzy red puppy on strips of hardwood flooring. Half on her side, half on her back with front paws together and legs butterflied. Looking back and she's moved. She must have known she was being talked about. She will sleep and sleep and sleep and then come over to me to lick my arm; to bite my shoe. She doesn't know how to pace herself-- it is all or nothing. She will dash around the backyard until she is exhausted and collapses panting and delighted on the outdoor couch. She sleeps and sleeps, waking up hungry and trusting that she will be fed. She knows she will eat, I turned my back on her yesterday and she stole the end two tablespoons of butter. Her only worries are not having both husband and I with her at all times or being separated from us. Happiness is when we collect the leash, she knows she will come along.