5

She's five!!

Her birthday was actually on Sunday, but I'm a little late with the post. And, we haven't actually had her party yet. It'll be this Saturday.

I love this little dress. Our friend Charlotte brought it over for her and Kathryn LOVES it. She wanted to wear it to sleep that first night she had it.

She is such a good sister!

Why the diet isn't going so well

This was a whole cake yesterday. Frickin' fudge frosting.

(Not that I ate all of that...just...some.)

MOTW

Mess of the Week: Betty having a tantrum.

Well, to be fair to her, I think she was teething.

There didn't seem to be ANYTHING I could do for her, so I finally settled for giving her some infant Tylenol and letting her cry it out.

And taking pictures.

It feels a little heartless to take photos when she's wailing away, but I didn't know what else to do at that point and I figured I'd get a post out of it.

Small town famous and focaccia bread

The first time I had a story printed in our local paper (The Rumford Falls Times), I got quite a thrill from seeing my name in print. That whole by Abbey Casas Rice thing looked so exciting to me! After a few years as a reporter, the thrill wore off a bit but it never got old, seeing what I had written all over town, knowing that thousands of people read my words. Best job I ever had. I'm sure I would miss it if I ever had time to stop and think about it.

So, after quite an absence, the Rice family has made another appearance in the Times.

Fun, huh? Although really, as anyone who has ever read the Times can attest, it's not too darn hard to get in the paper. You can send in a picture of yourself weeding your garden and they'll put it in. It's a friendly sort of paper.

(If you can't read it, the photo is of Curtis, Kathryn, Vivian and Dex following the newly painted "hoof prints" of the Babe the Blue Ox statue downtown leading to the Paul Bunyan statue at the Info Center.)

I've been making focaccia bread lately and it has been a big HIT with the whole fam. The recipe is here http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/focaccia-bread/Detail.aspx . I added some rosemary and a little more salt and omitted the mozzarella cheese. Very tasty.

Viv loved dipping the bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (The weird looking things in the oil are tomato seeds - the tomatoes were dipped as well.)

We've also been enjoying our basil quite a bit, as evidenced by this Caprese salad. I can't wait until we have our own tomatoes!

Inaugural lawn mowing

Curtis mowed the lawn for the first time yesterday with our newly purchased lawn mower.

From above (from, say a third or fourth story window) you can see that it's still pretty patchy, but it's getting there.

We also bought some plants at the Rumford Historical Society's Annual Lawn and Plant sale. We bought raspberries, a rose bush, lily of the valley and some hosta. This whole garden/lawn bit is going to take a while, but I'm liking the results so far.

Speaking of the Rumford Historical Society, Curtis managed to convince someone else to take over as president for the coming year. Yay! As part of the bargain, however, Curtis promised to serve as secretary and to take over as president again the following year if no one else agrees to do it. Can you believe not many people are up for the glamour and excitement of being the president of the local historical society?

Yay me, yay America (goooo TEAM!)

I'm Team America, in general.

UPDATE: Curtis thinks this is a weird post and that it looks like I'm trying to make some Tea Party-esque statement here - nope, just feeling patriotic after voting. I guess I'm Team Humankind, really (even humans in *gasp* Socialist countries).

More finished projects

I just love making baby blankets. Maybe because they take less time to make than full-size quilts - faster gratification?

Well, that might be true in general, but not with THIS particular baby blanket.

This one took FOR.E.VER to make. It was so simple but tiiiiime consuuuuuming to sew a line every half inch. Who knew?? I was very happy to make it for little Sadie, but Sadie? Hang on to that blanket, because it's one of a kind. There will never be another one like that coming off of MY machine!

I think it came out pretty darn cute.

This blanket took considerably less time to make (though made with no less love).

It's for my friend Amy's baby http://www.progressivepioneer.com/progressive-pioneer/ (this is her blog - I forgot how to rename links). Amy and Clayton are naming their baby Vivian, a name I particularly like. :)

I used a vintage sheet I bought for $1.50 at a thrift store. The rick rack and ribbon were from that HUGE stash I inherited from my dear neighbor, Dot, who gave me a ton while she was still alive and then her daughter gave me a lot more after she died - we still miss Dot! She was one of a kind and I think of her every time I use some of the BAGS of ribbon and trim I now have, thanks to her.

(Don't look too closely - this blanket is very obviously homemade.)

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Anyway, I'm psyched to make more sheet fabric stuff - there is a lot of fabric left! Amy also has this way of making cute little girl skirts with the corner elastic parts of bottom sheets, and when I get around to it, I'll post photos of what I come up with.

I have another sheet (white with pink roses) that I will be making into a blanket for...? I don't know who yet. If Owen and Marci's baby is a girl, she'll be the likely recipient. Can't wait to see what they have in a month and a half!!

Around these parts

Thought I'd post a shot of one of the many many "set ups" (as the girls call them) we find around here. They do this with stuffed animals and other plastic animals (in their world, bunnies, tigers and dinosaurs get along just fine, intermarry and have a lovely time), but right now, Littlest Pet Shops are It.

FYI, these Littlest Pet Shops are in school, with a crayon for each pet's desk. Notice how they are all paying close attention to the teacher?

Yo-yo pillow (hey! it rhymes!)

Quick post to show something I finally finished (actually, a few weeks ago, but whatevs). It's a Christmas-y throw pillow, covered with flannel yo-yos. I was on quite a yo-yo kick about 6 months ago and made 10 zillion of them.

This pillow will match a Christmas quilt (for the couch, you know, watching "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with the kids and popcorn) that I have all the squares cut for but need to actually SEW together. I cut those out probably three years ago.... I am slowly but surely making my way through a number of unfinished projects. I have two more finished quilt/baby blankets that I will post as soon as they reach their intended recipients. I put them in the mail yesterday and I want them to be a surprise in case any of the recipients check the blog before they get them.

I hope this post makes sense. Betty is TEETHING and FUSSY and it's hard to focus on much. She is crying and clinging to my legs as I write.