End of the school year, already?

Ok, so it's not *exactly* the end of the school year, but it will be in 2 weeks. This week, however, is the last for this year's snack program, for which I volunteer. Today's my last day. It's going to be very strange not going in once a week!

When we moved here last July, I didn't know anyone in town. No one, except for my husband, who'd come up a few months earlier to ready the house. In late August, the girls were offered a mini-tour of their new school (small town, small school.... small tour!) and I was asked if I wanted to volunteer with the snack program. I agreed, mainly because I thought it might be a good way to get to know some of the other parents from the school. I thought I'd try it out for a month or two, and see if I wanted to continue.

Turns out, I kind of loved it.

So I've been doing that all year, going in once a week, sometimes more often if someone was ill or couldn't get in, as I was geographically the closest person to the school. And about a month ago, the lady in charge of it asked me to take over for her next year, as she didn't want to run it anymore. I was a bit flabbergasted, because like I said, I haven't even lived here a year yet!

So next year, I have this huge responsibility, but I think I'm looking forward to it.... almost. I'll know better when it actually happens. Wish me luck!

It's that time of year...

... to start gardening!

So our little town has started this year with community gardens. Now there's apparently been some confusion. I've heard that apparently some people think this means free vegetables for whoever wants 'em. Not so! In this case, it means anyone in the community who hasn't the space for a garden can come reserve a plot & plant what they want & weed & water it, and then eventually harvest it. Most of the other people are older (50+) single ladies, or are in apartments. I have a house (ok, a trailer...) and yard, but the yard isn't very big, and the soil is questionable for planting, as the people who lived here before us had a workshop out in the yard. What this means is that my garden plot is 2x the size of anyone else's, because mostly they are feeding 1 or maybe 2 people, and I have a family of 5. The nice part is that 2 of my friends have plots right next to mine, so we can all be chatty more than we already are, haha.

What I've planted: 3 regular tomato plants, 3 cherry tomato plants, 1 yellow tomato, green & yellow sweet peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, romaine & leaf lettuces, radishes, spinach, and both green & yellow beans. Whew! Lots of work, but it will very tasty when it's all harvestable. Another good thing is that it's halfway across town, so I will get a bit of exercise just going back & forth!

Hello again!

Has it really been over a year since I've posted here? Good heavens, I *am* derelict, aren't I?
Of note:

1. I moved!
 

Back to hard water. *sigh* Hard water wreaks havoc (I can no longer say "wreaks havoc" without thinking of Jonny Harris ) on my hair & skin. BLAH. Also, the water tastes funny. It's clean, but it's tastes kind of chlorine-y, like a swimming pool. At least, the town water is safe. The cemetery, on the other hand...




 2. Still stitching & sewing, but not, y'know, *completing* a whole lot. :P





3. Still baking!
  Honestly, this trailer (yes, I said trailer -- every single storm I start thinking about how tornadoes aim for the damn things...) hasn't really got much in the way of insulation, so over the winter I baked a lot to keep the place toasty. Never you mind how much padding that put on me, either!

4. NOT WRITING. I hate to admit that. I have a pile -- like, this huge, really -- of unfinished stuff that really needs to be finished. I actually was writing shortly after we moved, and then ... I don't know what happened. I'd like to say I got busy, but with what? Well, it'll happen when it happens.

5. Hopefully by the time I next remember to update here, I will have: finished Liv's skirt; finished that pink quilt I'm making; finished any of several cross-stitch projects; baked something beautiful & tasty; finished a story or two. Fingers crossed!

Non-craft stuff :)

Y'know, I wonder why my blog feels the need to tell me I replied to someone's comment... Seeing as *I'm* the one who commented, shouldn't I already know? I know I can be kind of scatterbrained, but jeez Louise!

In other news, I am going to be moving in a few months. Due to sort of personal reasons -- well, they're not that personal, but they're hella complicated -- my husband is going to move up north by the end of April, and the girls & I will follow in early July. We think it's only fair that they get to finish out their school year with their friends first.

Now, we're not moving too far -- only about 90 minutes or so north -- but I'm rather nervous about the whole thing. I'm used to being able to hit up an AA meeting whenever I please; it's one of the benefits of this huge city. And where I'll be moving to has the grand total of ... drumroll, please... ONE meeting a week. There are others during the week, but in other towns -- and I don't have a car. Or even my full driver's license, frankly.

My sponsor told me today that I'm "not the most outgoing person". I laughed; she's right -- I'm not! I'm rather shy & reserved, actually. So this is going to be a challenge for me -- wish me luck!

Bunny cake!

So, as you may have gathered, it's Easter this weekend. And to placate my kiddies, I made them a bunny cake. Sadly, I'm no artist, and anyone who attempts this cake will probably do a far better job than I will, but there you go.

And it's easy! I think Kraft Canada has pretty much the same cake on their site somewhere, but my mother made this same cake for me when I was very young. It's simple, and veryvery tasty.

First, make a 2-layer cake. Make it from scratch, make it from a box -- it doesn't matter. I used a white cake mix. Anyway, put one layer on a cookie sheet.



Cut two ear shapes out of the remaining layer. The remaining middle bit makes a nice bow tie.



Put the bow tie next to the layer that's on the cookie sheet. Put the ears along the other side. You may have to trim the ears a little to make them lie flat.














Next, slather it all over with either frosting or Cool Whip. I prefer to use the whipped topping because it's not as heavy as frosting, and then I don't feel so guilty when I go back for that second slice!



Finally, snip open some icing tubes, and draw a bunny face on it. Decorate it however you like. And stop laughing at my terrible drawing! :D




Now, go eat some bunny cake, and have a lovely Easter with the people you love the most. :)

A plethora of purses!

So, I've been knitting a bit lately, which is all I've really been able to do. I haven't been able to cross stitch much, as I had to get new contact lenses. My last pair had a big smudge on the left lens which wouldn't come off, and I was afraid to try too hard as it might have ripped. Now I have new contacts & I can see, so I can get back to stitching!

In the meantime, I have a little knitted purse for my friend's daughter:














She's a cute little cupcake, so she gets the cute little cupcake button. :)















I made a much larger green purse (no buttons, just a fold-over flap on this one) that was originally for me, but I ran out of yarn, so the strap is too short for my liking. Still, I'm very happy with the results! It knitted up pretty quick -- bulky weight yarn on 9.0 mm needles.



To demonstrate how the strap is perfectly sized for a child and not me (*cries*), here's my youngest girl:




And last but not least... what every well-dressed babydoll is wearing this season!

Tablecloth!

I have a very tiny kitchen. If you've ever been to my house, you know that it's barely big enough for two people to work in without constantly smacking into each other. The nicest thing I can say about my kitchen is that it's functional... barely. There are things I do love about my kitchen, though: the stove runs on natural gas, which is what I grew up using, and far prefer to electic stoves; the fridge is incredibly cold; and there are wee knicknack shelves framing the one window. But one of the coolest things is my table, which folds out to twice its size, easily seating all 5 of my family members (and 1 guest, should I have one).

I was on a cleaning blitz last week, and while cleaning up some shelves, I unearthed a cute little blue & white checked tablecloth, just big enough for my table when it's closed, and, if I put it on a diagonal, mostly big enough for the table when it's fully extended. Eventually, though, that tablecloth had to go in the laundry. When it was bare again, the table looked sad & forlorn, but I didn't have any other tablecloths -- so off to my fabric stash I went! I found an ecru-coloured lace one (little big, but ok when the table's opened up), a heavy linen one (where'd I even get this?) and a length of bold stripey cloth. I hauled out my pinking shears and cut a square off the stripey cloth, and voila! New tablecloth!



You can tell we're a quality establishment 'cause of the paper napkins. :P In this pic, the table is only half-up. It's twice as big when it's fully open.


Now I feel all crafty without having done any actual work!