our little corner of the world

It hasn't taken long to find some motivation and get started on projects. In addition to Thursday's intense house-cleaning, I spent a good part of today with my sewing machine.

First was a dress-up skirt for Morgan. The fabric was a scrap from Mom, a piece from the dress she sewed for herself to wear to our wedding. Here it is turned into a long play-skirt for Morgan:

While I had the navy thread running in my machine, I decided to go ahead and cut off a cute pair of trouser jeans that Morgan recently put a hole in. I adored these jeans on her and was disappointed when they wore through the knee. For all the times she had them on, I cannot believe there's no "before" picture to be found for comparison. So instead I give you Morgan in her new, long, walking shorts (uninterested in modeling):
























After cutting off the jeans, I thought about what I could whip up with the spare legs. At that same time, Morgan walked in, carrying one of her babies and we decided together a new denim skirt for Baby would be just the ticket. I found a small scrap of elastic, and voila!
















The day was capped off with a new recipe for dinner. After enjoying a Wolfgang Puck dish this past summer in Orlando, I decided to try a version of it at home. This recipe is where I started, modifying the ingredients and cooking times to come up with this:


















I wish I could say we all enjoyed it, but sadly, Andrew was furious that his peas were covered in a white cream-sauce. And ketchup was the only thing that took the chicken from his plate to his belly. But I quite liked it and there are lots of leftovers to enjoy this weekend for lunch.

We'll have to see what I can come up with in the days ahead. I've realized that this small burst of creativity is very helpful to my happiness as we wait out these last days of winter. Feels good to be productive somewhere other than the laptop.

I am craving change.

That isn't a phrase that leaves my mouth very often. In fact, I'm usually one of the last people on board with a new idea. But we need a shake-up around here. Everything seems gray, dirty and old. And the comfort of routine has become too much, the rhythm of our days way too repetitive. Like any good beat that gets you going, after a while, it becomes annoying, headache-inducing noise. And I'm having a tough time getting over the hump, instead just existing at an even keel with the recurring beat thumping subtly in my head.

Must be time for a to-do list for a new, fresh outlook. What can I modify or transform that will do the same for my attitude? This is what my brainstorm produced:

Move the furniture around.
Organize the kids' closets.
Try a new recipe this week.
Complete one of my bookmarked projects.
Reline the pantry shelves with new paper.
Vacuum the van.
Redeem that massage certificate.
Get a haircut.

How do you jumpstart when your tank is running low?

With another big snowfall - this time ten inches! - we enjoyed another afternoon outdoors. Our backyard has a very slight grade so with some snow shoveled into a pile, we had a nice toddler-sized sledding hill.

To my three favorite Loves...

With blizzard-like conditions predicted for the last several days, it was no surprise that (despite the poor showing of only six inches, maybe?) schools and businesses were listed as closed already last night. Even Scott's employer was shut down today.

So how did we spend our day? I plowed my way through the piles of laundry while Scott plowed through the drifts of our driveway and sidewalk. And when the winds finally subsided a little and most of the snow stopped falling, we all made our way outside to play.

"He looks like a dinosaur!"

Those were the first words out of Morgan's mouth tonight as she opened the door to the bathroom, awaiting her turn in the tub.

I was thinking more like rock star. But okay, I can see the dinosaur resemblance. Rawr.