This week: Nature walk and a back door

Huh? I know. It's a weird week already.
Monday we were so not liking being trapped inside. It has finally cooled off here and we have been having the most perfect fall days- sunny, cool, slight breeze. Love it! So we headed outside for a nature walk. Not much nature in our neighborhood, I tell you. But Nick and Stella carried their little brown paper bags as if they were looking for gold. Then we went down the street to watch a cement truck pour concrete into a wheelbarrow. Woohoo. But Nick loved it. THEN, the man let Nick pull the lever to pour the concrete. Very cool. Then we headed home and colored our findings. (I just make this stuff up as I go along, okay. At least my kids don't care if it makes sense.) We spent almost the entire day outside.

Nick coloring:

Stella taste-testing:

Helping??


Tuesday: I finished installing a storm door to our patio (ok, Shawn did help, I had to let him. It was a heavy door and Shawn is tall.) We talked about getting one when we first moved into this house. And Sunday we bought two storm doors- one for the front and one for the back. The one for the front should be much easier b/c it is a pre-hung door. It is a really nice one. The back door is just a cheap door. I thought we should start with the back door in case we messed it up- no one would see it.
Attaching door to house:

Door hung up on one side:

Door and frame hung, glass and screen in door:

Oh, and no I didn't hang the door crooked. Promise. My house is crooked. Trust me. I measured and checked with the level like a hundred times. But, I am SO happy with how it turned out. I have never put up a door before, but it wasn't bad at all. No problems, really. Soon, we will have a really nice one on the front door!

IKEA!

We had such a great shopping trip to IKEA, or as Nick calls it "the place with a K." Spent 6 hours there on Friday. No lie. We toured all the model rooms and homes upstairs. Had a Swedish lunch in the restaurant.


Let the kids play and romp in the Children's Ikea. Then headed downstairs to the Marketplace and warehouse. It is just such an experience to shop at Ikea. But they are so unbelievably kid friendly. They even sell baby food at the restaurant and have free diapers at the restroom changing stations. And they don't mind if your kids try out their stuff. In fact, they encourage it. So we tried out the rooms,

the beds

and the toys. They loved these rockers so much that we bought them. Not bad- 10 bucks each. So $20 impulse buy on Friday. We had to get two. They were great to have in the hotel room.

Then another $20 impulse buy on Saturday. Oh, yes, we went back. Just quickly went around the rooms and homes, then played and had lunch. But Shawn is such a sucker for these kids!!

So now we have two new goldens (plush toys). Stella's is "ruff" named by her. Nick decided tonight that his is named "Puppy Dog." So now Stella sleeps with Piggy and Ruff. Nick sleeps with Doggie Dog, Baby Dog (Doggie Dog's friend), and Puppy Dog. Whew. That is a lot of animals to get to bed.

I don't know what this face is all about.


I have one last finishing touch to hang up in their play room. I really really wanted to paint but I was vehemently out-voted. Maybe in the winter. Pictures coming soon.

Mug O Cake

Nothing better than a quick way to make a little cake. Saw this idea here and here. And if you go there, you will see that they found it other places. But here's the deal. You put some ingredients in a mug and microwave it for three minutes and then you have CAKE! This is not just for kids. Cake-loving friends, you are welcome.

What you will need:

Recipe:
Mix these dry ingredients in the mug first:
4 Tbs flour
4 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs cocoa
Add these wet ingredients to the mug:
3 Tbs milk
3 Tbs oil
1 egg
remember Dry 4, 4, and 2. Wet 3, 3, and 1. Cook 3 min

Start mixing.

Mix very well.

Put in the microwave for 3 minutes.

Not one blog mentioned that your cake might rise up out of the mug. Both of ours did. But did not explode. Whew. Wanna see what I mean?

Dump in a bowl. If you can't wait that long, eat it from the mug. But it is very hot.

I will be making these again in my test kitchen to see if you can substitute applesauce for the oil. I bet this can be done with banana or peanut butter or pumpkin! Hmmm.
Everyone ate theirs differently- with Cool Whip, plain, and with powdered sugar. I think it needed real whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!
Satisfied customers:

Four days

until our trip to Ikea. I cannot wait. I have my eyes on some awesome kids-storage-organization-toy holding furniture. They call it Trofast. I am going to call it cleaned up. I want toys up off the floor in their play room. I want everything to have a place.

So what did we do this weekend?
Well, this:


Check out Wordle if you haven't already. You can type in a list of words. You can also enter a web address and it will "wordle" that site. The jpeg is then yours to do whatever with. Lots of possibilities.

Some spray park fun we had earlier this month.

Routine

I didn't realize I was a "routine" kind of person. But not having one has been making me crazy. Since we moved I have felt lost and overwhelmed- daily. And I don't even know where to begin to make everything right. I think our lack of routine may have some small part of my insanity. And there really isn't much I could do about it. Working, not working, work a day, work two weeks, different people watching the kids, only having one car for a while, sorting through boxes. But now I am done working for a long time and so this week I decided I need routine. And I think, maybe, I am getting us into one. Already I feel like I am in control of things here. I made a To Do list and have been crossing things off every night. It feels great. So here was our week:

Sunday:
Went to church where we belonged last time we lived here. We are still trying to decide on churches- either the one where we belonged before or the one that our friends go to and is closer. It was prettier than I remembered. It was smaller than I remembered. However, our church in Alaska was huge. Then we went to lunch at a Chinese Buffet that I heard was really good. I don't know why I even thought it was going to be any different than any other Chinese Buffet. They are all the same to me. And I am not that crazy about them. I have to be REALLY hungry to want to go. Guess that was the case. Well, mystery solved. Not that great. Then we spent the rest of the day hanging pictures and other framed things that have been sitting on our floors since the beginning of July. We are still not done. It is quite a challenge with the kids wanting to help pound and climb ladders.

Monday:
Duh, muffin tin monday. These pictures are from about three weeks ago. But so? Food was different but their happy faces looked the same this week.




Tuesday:
Nick went to school. Stella and I went to the "Y" where she played in the child care and I went to yoga class for the first time since May. It was...eh. I miss Mary's Class But I am going to stick with it. It was still good for stretching but then on Tuesday nights I am going to the little yoga studio around the corner to give that a try. I need it to be good. But here is a picture of my little student. This was actually from his first day of school last week. Shawn took these- I had to work. But I got to pick him up from his first day.


Wednesday:
We made these shirts. I saw this on several blogs. I couldn't resist.

Basically you print out a design on freezer paper, cut it out, and iron it to your shirt. Then use fabric paint to paint in your stencil and wait for it to dry. We waited several hours. Then heat set it with an iron. Our paint says we need to let it cure for seven days then wash. And if you can't find freezer paper and are just REALLY impatient (like me) then you could try glue-sticking cardstock stencils onto your shirt. I peeled as much paper off as I could (the falling rock that Nick made!!). The rest will disappear in the washer. You could also try sticker paper (the water and rocket). It is like label paper for your printer but it is not pre cut. The whole page is a sticker. And if you can be patient and wait the several hours it takes for the paint to dry, the sticker paper is a great (though costly) alternative to freezer paper. I will continue to look for it in the stores.

Thursday:
Nick to school. Stella and I back to the Y- as in YMCA. We finally joined. It is SO nice. Probably the nicest gym I have ever used. Today was spinning. My first spinning class ever. I know! How have I never done spinning?! I have always wanted to just never got around to it. I really like it. What a good change. But I had a bad bike. The instructor said so. It was not OE (operator error). I would add tension ever so slightly but nothing would change and then suddenly I would be fighting more tension than anyone would want. It was all or nothing. So bike #25, I will not be using you next Thursday!!
Stella luh-huvs books now. She made this.


Friday:
Nick, Stella, and I to the Y. Another yoga class to test out. Then off to the library. Books are due and there are new books waiting on the On Hold shelf!!

Ok, there it is

right over there on the right side of the screen. It is my little, tiny, etsy.com shop. Etsy is the largest website for buying and selling handmade goods. I have been trying hard for 2008 to *make* my gifts. Of course time is always a factor in this. But through this effort, I began making a "few" other items. Perfecting my craft. I am a lifelong sewer and crafter (thanks, mom) and I love this hobby. But after several months and several yoga mat bags and nursing covers and grocery totes and headbands, tissue pockets, coffee cup cuffs, baby gifts, and, and, and...I am opening a little spot on etsy.com.

My Grand Opening is Aug 1st. Any purchase Aug 1-3 will receive a free gift. My shop is open, but not Really Open until Aug 1st. However, I made my first sale last night. You better believe that sweet girl in OH got a free gift anyway. I am slowly photographing (boy do I need help with that!) and posting items to the store. I should get everything up by Friday.

www.madebykateann.etsy.com
www.etsy.com

Right now

Right now, we, at least I, am thrilled that the sun is NOT shining. It is cloudy. I think it rained last night and it looks like it might rain any second! YEAH! Nicholas has already asked if he can play in the rain (IF it rains, that is). I said YES, of course. It was 105 when I got in my car after work yesterday. We need break. The heat is just draining. It is so humid and hot all day long. Even in the early hours. Except today. So this is how we had breakfast this morning:

Like Stella's Spiderman pjs? I heart hand-me-donwns.

I had to. Then I let them play for a while in their pjs. I had to. What if it gets too hot and we are trapped inside...again?! Later I will be working on my etsy shop and sewing a nap mat for Nicholas to bring to preschool. Oh- and get orgainzed. (ha, right!)