New Things!

Well, my lack of technology is getting worse. My cruddy little phone is on its very last leg. I'm pretty much limited to text messaging because everyone I actually talk to on the phone sound like they're on the moon. It's very, very, very obnoxious. Luckily, Martino has ordered me a new one from eBay for not much money. And it's pink!

The other new gadget Martino got me (this one as a BIG SURPRISE) was a nice new camera!!!! I'm really excited for it. It hasn't come yet, but I am sooooooo excited for it!! I can't wait to start taking good, flash-free pictures that aren't always blurry!!!!!! It'll be good too, since we've been tossing around the idea of getting a computer. Martin is on board for this online, at-home test scoring job, which is really only twice a year (fall and spring) and last fall he did it from work and it was tough. The time before, he did it from home and it worked out pretty well. So before this spring gig starts, he'd like to have a laptop. I'm not sure we'll get internet at home right away, but it'll be nice to have the option of being able to go someplace and enjoy a cup of coffee and some free wi-fi to make a blog post. ALSO, if we ever do get a computer AND internet at home, I'll start my Etsy shop back up because my pictures will be a million times better! And I've been crafting things all winter that might as well be listed in an etsy shop because I'm not really going to use them. So, anyway, it might not be long before I'm not needing to come up to my mom's anymore to do all this blog posting. It'll be nice, I think. I have a feeling that when I'm taking better pictures I'll want to be posting them to my blog!!!

One day during the most recent cold snap (before the delicious warm spell) we went up to the river for the day. It was beautiful and very cold. We had good warm stew to eat.

And the girls throroughly enjoyed sliding down the "slide" up in the playloft (which Anja calls the hayloft.) They'd never been up there much before... or maybe even at all.... and it was SO FUN. Martin and I sat up there with our knitting (me) and book (him) and just laughed and laughed at them playing. They played so hard that they fell asleep less than ten minutes into the drive home--and it was only 3:00 in the afternoon!

Shortly after we got there we realized there was no water coming into the house. Martin tried everything and finally figured there was a frozen spot somewhere in the pipes. That made toilet flushing somewhat difficult. This was Martin's solution:

We dumped it all into the tank and made one community flush at the end of the day. That's what being resourceful is all about, right?

Valentines Day was SO fun! For having written Valentine's Day Schmalentines Day only five six years ago, I've really made a turnaround since having children. I really enjoy making the holidays special. We started Valentine's Day with heart shaped pancakes and all day long enjoyed making valentines for people, recieving valentines from people and eating a lot of chocolate. For a special little gift each girl got a new notebook to be their sticker books for the year. Last year Anja got her sticker book for Epiphany but this year we forgot to get it for some reason, so we saved the idea for Valentine's Day.

And this is what a real man's gun looks like:

I like to think of that flower as a symbol that Spring is really coming. I am so ready to plant. We're going to be buying CSA this year (yay!) and planting our usual garden, plus hopefully adding to our few berry bushes we planted last year (assuming with doubly crossed fingers that they survived the winter.) We're planning to fence in our pumpkin patch so it looks a little nicer too, and so we don't have any more tragic baby pumpkin deaths due to growing over the sidewalk and being run over by the trash can!

And now onto the crafting of late:

For Valentine's Day I made these pants:

They are reversable! They fit both girls--for Greta they can be rolled up to show the coordinating print on the other side and for Anja they are just long and snuggly. The inside is green and brown. I think they are cute and Anja likes them!

The other thing I made is this rug:

Two wool blankets felted, cut and sewn together. You make cutouts in the top blanket so the bottom color shows through. Isn't that a brilliant idea? I got it from the book AlterKnits--Felt by Leigh Radford. I love it! I am really, really happy not only with how it turned out, but also with how it fits in that newly arranged space and ties the room together. Without knowing it, I made this in the same colors as our bookshelf in the same room!

Really, really happy with it.

And this is the newest addition to our family. Welcome to the desk, friend!

I have no idea why it took me eight months of not having a computer to have the bright idea to buy a typewriter, but as soon as I got the idea I was desperate to get one. One day this week Martin came home for lunch so I slipped out (without a coat because it was sixty degrees!) and walked down to the antique store. They had this, and even with it's missing the number 1 key and the T that sticks, I couldn't resist. I walked home proudly with my little typewriter in its little black box! And since I had been up to see the Typewriter Man a day or two before, I know I can get it repaired and find new ribbon from it through him. And he's only a few blocks away!