Miscelaneous stuff

Every year this excellent church

converts their basement to a Bethlehem bazar. It's pretty fantastic. All the people are in character and very knowledgeable about their station. The lady selling brassware can tell you all about oil lamps, the people at this 100 year old, hand written, Hebrew scroll can tell you all about how the scroll is read. It's all very Christmasy. (Sorry about my lousy pictures - I don't know what's wrong with me.)

This is the lady who wrote the kids' names for them in Hebrew.

This girl is smashing grapes with her feet.

Here's Maggie making olive oil from olives.

Their costumes are fantastic.

You really feel like you might be in Bethlehem. The floor is covered in wood, there's salted fish and little breads. Everyone says Shalom greeting you. Everyone asks if you've heard about the baby who is said to have been born - the king of Israel.

Isn't this expensive? Isn't this crazy tons of work? Yes, but people here in the South, really love Jesus. There are even camels, and real frankincense and myrrh.

I've been fretting about all the sewing/projects I wouldn't get done in time for Christmas. But then I decided that what makes Christmas special is not the beautiful table runner, and painstaking hand-made gifts. What makes Christmas special, is the pie.

This is what is left of the cream cheese pumpkin pie that Paul made. It was so delicious. I made a cheddar crusted apple pie. It's already been devoured. However, I decided I prefer a regular crust, the texture is better. For the record, Paul's crust was flaky and tender. Wow. I didn't know he could make pie crust so well. I was impressed.

Here's the bedding I made for Boone from this duvet cover I cut up. I added the owl.

And for the few of you that check my blog and notice that I haven't been posting lately, and not many pics of Boone... that was intentional. Boone is so cute and darling, but for the last 3 weeks he's been having some terrible baby acne. I kept thinking I'd put up pictures the next week, when his acne cleared up, but it still hasn't. So now I'm swallowing my pride and letting you see my angel. Please look past the skin. He is an absolute dreamy, perfect baby.

He's growing so fast. He smiles when you kiss his face. His cheeks are so chubby. He almost never cries, and when he does, is easily soothed. He sleeps about 18 hours a day. He goes right back to sleep at night after his feeding. Really, he's been no unpleasant work. When he wakes up, I eagerly go to snuggle him. I love him being around. Who do you think he looks like? I can't decide.

These are a few of my favorite things

Citrus Scented Turkey and Cranberry Sauce

Pear, Walnut, and Feta Cheese Salad

Butter Rolls

Rum-glazed Candied Yams

Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans and Pearl Onions with Tarragon Vinaigrette

Savory Spinach and Artichoke Stuffing

Cranberry Apple and Sausage Stuffing

Sourdough Bread Stuffing

Pear and Sour Cherry Flat Pie

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie

Cheddar Crusted Apple Pie

Pumpkin Roll

Cranberry Pecan Pie

almost as good

My friend has organized a sip-n-see at my house for this Friday. I'm very excited. With my limited party planning experience I know that an important factor in an elegant table is, levels. I've had this lovely inspiration in my head for a while, and wanted to try it out.

So I went to my favorite Goodwill, bought some plates and cups; mine is much more simple, but only cost me $4 and will store away nicely.

It's almost as good as the inspiration and only took me 30 minutes of finding, and 30 minutes of making. I imagine it with cupcakes. Maybe I can do something Christmasy with it. Hmmmmm.

I also had a little craft trade with a friend of mine. She made me an excellent sac person for Axel's birthday, and I made her daughter some pants.

And because I know you all just really want to see more pics of Boone....

Hello World

Dad your mustache is scratchy, but I sure do feel aware about men's health.

Hey Mom, why are we not eating?

Born today. 9 lbs. 3 oz. Very chubby. Very hungry. Very wiggly. Very loved. Mom is doing great, believe it or not. I pushed that huge boy out in 10 minutes, no tearing. Good start to our relationship, Boone. Labor and delivery were absolutely perfect.

Boone's car seat

I decided to redo the car seat. It has gone through 5 children. My own three, one little friend who used to be at our house 50 hours a week and came everywhere with us, and someone in our ward borrowed it. When I took it all apart to clean it I found mold growing on the underside of the foam cushion. Very scary. Luckily I had spare foam, in exactly the right thickness and just enough. So I took it all apart soaped and then hosed this bad boy. Took off all the bazillion caution stickers I never read and are terribly scratched up now. Recovered the old cover. (I love working with bias tape I discovered.) And made a new canopy from taking apart the old canopy for a pattern. I found the fabric as a remnant at my favorite posh fabric store. I love Anna Maria Horner. And have liked this fabric for some time. So when I saw it as a remnant for half price, it was all the encouragement I needed to make a new car seat for a new Reynolds. And thank goodness I did. The mold really freaked me out.

And I had just enough left to make a little blanket to tuck around the chubbers to keep him warm.

It was my first embroidery experience and I liked it more than I expected.

Tonight in Axel's prayers he said:

Please bless Boone to come safely, and that he won't cause an explosion in mom's belly, and that he'll come tonight.

I said 'Amen' loudly. Our fingers are crossed.

Record Table

The table is done. I love it. The green is the natural color of the poplar wood. It will probably turn brown with time.

Here's some old wood that I cut off, before planing. What a gorgeous transformation.

The sewing table base was left in our garage in our last house and our landlord said I could have it. 1 1/2 years later, my vision for it is finally realized.

I tried to leave some of the rough elements of the wood, like the saw mark on the front edge.

I love the nail holes and bark.

I glued it together with a spline. You can see that my planing was not that excellent. But I figure it's ok because it a rustic table.

Special thanks to my mom for helping me plane. Seriously, what kind of awesome mother agrees to plane when she visits instead of being treated to all the excitement of Nashville? You're the best.

The planer was my grandfathers. Thanks Grandpa. It still works!

And thanks to Paul who supported me through all the unmade dinners, and even did the sanding. I could say thank you for helping me cut the table top, but really we just fought about how to do it correctly and I was reminded once again why you and I and table saws don't mix. But you did look fantastic in those goggles.