Almost Halloween

I have my external drive hooked up to my computer and I have been looking through some old photos. Thought I would post this one from 2003. I tried to convince Chuckles to wear the police officer costume this year. However he has insisted on being a mummy. I have been struggling to create a mummy costume that is removable for preschool. I am almost done. My fingers might become hot glued together. It is a combination of sweats and hot glued strips of mummy fabric. Hopefully I will post the finished product tomorrow. Nothing like waiting to the last minute.

Pumpkins and Books

The top picture is of all the pumpkins carved by the Daddies and Mommies at Chuckle's Preschool. The bottom picture is of Chuckle's pumpkin. Daddy is a master carver. I am going to be doing the carving duties on the other two pumpkins we have at home. The giant man child is out of town. It has been long time since I have attempted carving. Usually, I am not allowed sharp objects. It should be interesting. I promise to retain all my digits.

On another note, I just finished some great books. I am on a non fiction kick. I just finished Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez. This is an excellent read about an American who opened a Beauty School in Afghanistan. It is amazing how much oppression the woman in Afganistan live in. I love the American woman perspective . I also finished One Small Boat by Kathy Harrison and Another Place at the Table by her too. Those were real tear jerkers and a real eye opener about the foster care system.

Goodbye Honey Bucket

I was stunned this morning to see that the Honey bucket that inspired this blog's title is gone. I am not sorry to see it gone. I know many of you will be disappointed that I won't be following through on the suggestion to take our Christmas picture at the honeybucket. It looks like the construction is moving along and they have finally poured the foundation on the school. There is a place on the school district website to suggest names . I am pretty sure Levy Elementary and Honeybucket Elementary are not going to be accepted. I am not sure if I could come up with a good politically correct name or not. How would you like to be on the committee that reviews the names?

Crazy Hair

Today is Crazy Hair day at school. It is all part of spirit week at school. So far, we had college t-shirt day, sport team day, twin day, and tomorrow is blue and gold day. Hey we have a jump on blue and gold day. LOL No, we are not going to be talking about my crazy hair. #1 Son picked this color out and decided stripes was the way to go.

Sumo Wrestlers

I was having a hard time coming up with anything blog worthy today. But thanks to my neighbor, I have something to write about. How often do you have Sumo Wrestlers on your street? You have to admit pretty entertaining. Were not your normal street!

FIRE

These pictures are from 2003. The top one is from near Julian, CA and the other is out in Otay Mesa. It seems like San Diego is going up in smoke. It is like a flashback to 2003. We were there for the 2003 fires. We returned from a weekend trip to Santa Barbara and we came back to raining ash and smoke. I hope all my San Diego friends stay safe.

Rag Quilt 101

Here is the one of my latest finished rag quilts. It is for my friend S and her charity Catholic Daughters. This one I consider a lap quilt as it is twice the size of the baby ones I make. This one is to be raffled off.

I have been fielding a lot of questions about "how to make rag quilts" so I thought I would post a few links and tell you my super secret tips and techniques - not so secret if you know what I mean. I consider this project perfect for novice sewers like me. I do straight lines really well. I like this website http://www.lovetosew.com/makeragquilt for the basics.

For baby quilts I get a yard of 4 different flannels or cottons. So each baby quilt is a total of 4 yards not including the batting. 100% cotton is what rags the best. Out of each yard of fabric I cut 24 - 6 inch squares for a total of 96 squares. You will need 48 - 4 inch squares of batting. I just use the cheap stuff. A rotary cutter is really helpful but not necessary. You are going to make 48 fabric sandwiches there will be flannel on the bottom, batting in the middle, and flannel on the top. Refer to the love to sew for the rest of the directions. I tend to use a 1/2 inch seam rather than the 1 inch. I also suggest investing in fiskar scissor that are specifically for rag quilting if you plan on doing more than one quilt

These are fairly quick and addicting. JoAnn's is having a terrific sale on flannel this week- $2 a yard and I really stocked up. It was so cheap per yard. I decided to stock up. So I got fabric to make 3 more baby quilts. (2 for girls and 1 boy) IT was too good of a deal to pass up. My friend and I stormed JoAnn's. It was pretty funny how much people were hoarding fabric. My friend and I had a good laugh. People are funny - for godsakes it is just fabric and there is plenty of it.

Adventures

We made an unexpected visit to Deception State Park. We hiked around Rosario Beach. Some of the cliffs made Mommy a little nervous. We walked on the Beach which had lots of logs. Some of the logs were 4 feet wide. We also saw "The Maiden of Deception Pass."

1st Grade

Here is me in 1st Grade. Everything was easier in 1st Grade. I love the collar on the dress. Being a parent is hard work. It is a lot of work without immediate feedback or only negative feedback . I don't know how my Mom and Dad made parenting look so easy and effortless.

Murphy was Here!

You know Murphy's law- what will go wrong, will . Well, Murphy paid a visit yesterday. My little Chuckles hasn't been feeling well so I took him to the doctor and he has walking pneumonia. The whole doctor's appointment was behind. I had just gone in expecting them to tell me it is the stuff going around or just the common cold. It would be an easy in and out. Of course, it was a whole another ball of wax when they have a conversation with you about chest x-rays and breathing treatments. It wouldn't of been so bad that the doctor's office was behind except I promised to pick up another child from preschool. Needless to say Murphy showed up and in the end, I was 30 minutes late picking up the child. Murphy just kept popping up all day. The previous example just was the most dramatic. There where extra trips to the pharmacy, grocery store, late library books, and a completely different dinner plan. The good news is that Chuckles is feeling better today. I hope Murphy finds another family to visit today.

Dining Room View

This lovely latrine is what I can see from my dining room. The house in the picture is mine. I am so lucky to view this everyday. The school district is building a school behind my house. So, not only do I have to deal with construction related noise and traffic but I get to watch the construction workers use the facilities. Sometimes, I wave. I have jokingly call it my other office.