fullofstitches.com Blog

How long has he been working like mad? Let’s see, wasn’t it just 3 weeks till the relatives were visiting? And, that was the first week of the month. So, 2-3 weeks since they left.. Wow, at least 6 weeks so far. I know how service-wives do it. The husband is gone. There’s not a wishy-washy 7PM today, midnight tomorrow, I won’t see you for 3 weeks, except on weekends (which are taken up with other life events). In many ways, it’s SO much easier when he flies away: I have a date on the calendar when life will return to ‘normal.’ Not in San Jose. Such is life.

How will this all work out when I go to a birth? I think he’ll work from home..

I had such a good weekend. It was back to back class days with studying and research all night. Like stepping into another world. I look forward to getting on with schooling and beginning to attend Study Group.

Thinking out loud: It would be fantastic if the Homeschool group had a regular meeting. I know we’re all doing different curriculum, but we could touch base and compare and feel like it’s worth while.

gotta get a breather.. no, have to clean up this huge mess and figure out how to get in routine again.

MissB is officially 4 years old. She’s still trying to be 5, but she’ll have to wait another year. The grands and uncle came out for a visit the week before her birthday, so we were able to have a nice celebration with them. I made a Green Velvet cake (I was out of red dye) which MissB doted on (purple & green being her favorite colors).


I’ve done a little bit of sewing. I made this blue strawberry apron for MissB (early B-day present) and I’ve started a dress for me. I’ll get the apron pattern info later. It’s an older pattern for a ‘top or dress.’ MissB’s consistently asking for strawberry patterned fabrics every time we’re looking at the fabric store lately.

My dress is a vintage Marian Martin pattern. It scalloped neck, sleeve, and pocket edges. I’d forgotten to remove the shoulder pad allowance before cutting, so I need to rip the sleeves & shoulder seams and fix that. Otherwise, I’m so pleased with the dress!

What does MissA say as her Daddy gently lifts her back into her bed?

“Stop it, Tom!”

I bought a “balance bike” for the girls a few months ago. I like the concept: instead of training wheels, start off with a bike with 2 wheels without pedals. The child learns all about balance and later just needs to learn the pedals. In our case, the pedals can be learned separately (we had training wheels on the smaller bike, and the neighborhood children have them), then the two skills can be meshed.

MissA loves the balance bike, but is getting too big for it. She can get going and coast for at least 30 feet. So, with the start of summer upon us, I decided it was time.

Yesterday, Ben had a long afternoon with MissA helping her overcome her fears. They and the bike disappeared for a couple hours -he said he had to remove her from her comfort zone to help her focus- and they came back, panting and sweaty, to announce that she loves me more.

Today, they went out for maybe an hour. And when they came back, she was riding the bike without help. Exuberant and proud of her mighty accomplishment. Thursdays’ ride to the library should be a piece of cake (let’s make it so by riding a little each day to keep up the new skill).

Ben introduced me to a food-tracking service online. I’m trying to work on my nutrition a bit, so I’m giving it a go. The Daily Plate lets me enter the food I eat, I can even dig a little and find ways to enter healthy whole foods (like adding ‘recipes’ and using the ‘fix’ button to enter info that actually pertains to the foods I use -like “whole wheat, whole-grain” instead of just “whole wheat flour”). Most ‘recipes’ has the ingredients spelled out, so something like the first ‘whole wheat flour’ shows that it’s someone’s mix, not real whole wheat flour! I’m going to play with it awhile.. doesn’t look like there are many NT-style eaters on there, but I may have just not found them yet.

It’s been a while since I posted - a month today! I’ve been busy with class these last couple months and today was the end of the beginning class. Next month is advanced class - hands-on workshop, really.

I’ve been getting up early with TJ for homeschool. I can concentrate better in the morning (especially if I actually slept, so I’m going to bed after this post), and we actually get schoolwork done. I’m going to have to set little goals through the year to get work done on a good schedule! Especially as I’m adding MissA to ‘regular’ school -she’ll be in first grade. He only has two more weeks (4 days) left of his co-op classes! This semester has just flown by!

I bought a baby seat for my bike this week. Tonight, TJ and I rode over to the store and I used the seat for the groceries to practice the high center of gravity. It worked out fine and the 2 minutes to the store really flew. Usually, we walk over there and it’s more like 10-20 minutes (even when they roll down the little grassy knolls). It was nice to have that little bit of freedom - light breeze, powered by me, blood flowing, so much nicer than being cooped up in the car or super slow walking to the store! I’m looking forward to riding the bike to the library on Thursday!

We’re looking forward to a visit from the children’s Grandparent’s and Uncle in early June! I’m finishing off tasks and trying to get the house in semi-order. It’s refreshing to see the counter regularly again!

We’ve been having a lovely heat wave this week. Thursday it hit 103F near TJ’s class. We went swimming when we got home. Friday the children and I went to the beach and left when we felt chilly there, it was only 101F when we got home. Saturday was a planned trip to Big Basin. Beautiful. Next time, I’m planning on going earlier (I prefer to hike in the morning or evening rather than midday). We were a little late and missed the group hike, but were able to enjoy a family hike. There’s lots of campgrounds there, so we may try that later in the year.

I can’t find most of my size 2 DPNs, something tells me the wee little one had a trash run with them (she’s at that age where everything goes in the container, especially the garbage container!). I’ve started TJ’s gloves on the size 2s, so I’m thinking I’m stuck buying more to finish the task!

Really, I have been knitting… I’ve got a heel on one of my Scherherazade’s Slippers..

Yesterday, we went to the store after picking up TJ from class. I’ve been wanting to start cooking lamb occasionally, but at $20-30 per pound for some of the ‘classier’ looking cuts… well, I’m not willing to try at this point. We wandered by the meat counter and, lo and behold, leg of lamb’s on sale for four bucks a pound. That’s about the same as getting boneless skinless chicken around here. I snatched one up!

We picked up the farm box and headed home so I could get it in the oven. I pulled out my Nourishing Traditions cookbook and looked through the lamb recipes. I settled on Stuffed Leg of Lamb (p.344) and started substituting. I hadn’t thought to have her remove the bone for me, so I had to do that myself (not exactly a work of art, but I’ve got lamb leg bone in the freezer for next time I make stock). I’m out of onions, so I used up last week’s leeks, 2 in the stuffing and one in the pan. I couldn’t find the pecans, so I used walnuts. Last week’s spinach is long gone (so good), so I used the fresh turnip greens from this week’s box. Mint came in the box! Perfect! I wanted the oranges in the box for dessert, so used the ones we had picked up at Safeway for in the recipe. There’s no vermouth in the pantry (can you believe that?), so I used some Bare Foot something or other that’s in the fridge from … umm.. how long’s it been there? And, I’m out of beef stock. Or so I thought, turns out there was just over a cup left in the freezer, so I made up the other 2 cups with water and bouillon. I tossed a few potatoes in the oven for the last hour as a side.

All in all, the lamb looked good and cooked thoroughly waiting for Ben to arrive. He had a somewhat last-minute emergency with the server and was about an hour or so late. I started plating the children’s food just before he came home. I dished out the green beans and potatoes and took that to the table. BB looked at the roast and said, “I no like that chicken, I no eat that chicken!” I sliced off a portion and chopped it small with her screeching in the background, put about a teaspoon’s worth on each of the girls’ plates and Ben arrived. Suddenly, the girls just couldn’t get enough of “that chicken” and dinner went really well for awhile. Everyone was really tired, though, so I had to set an end time and send them off to bed.

Lot’s of food posts this week! Here’s another:

I went for making a healthy lunch for TJ today. He gave me input (which shapes for rice, no PB to dip the carrots in), and I went from there.

The brown rice packs into the molds really nicely! Here’s MissA’s rice star from last night:

I came across organic blueberries on sale at the store today. I bought two of the precious tiny containers. They are so full of flavor! MissC wanted to gobble them up, too! After we’d eaten most of the first container, I remembered my mini pie pans and searched out a recipe. This one sounded good and quartered it -there’s only a little over a cup of berries left. I found I’m out of cinnamon as I was mixing - kinda too late.. oh well, we’ll see how nutmeg holds its own.

I was so tired and need to study. I sent a text to Ben that at 6 I would be going on break. He and the children would be on their own. I threw some potatoes in the oven and was about to gather my things when MissB pulled out the mini-pie tins and MissA asked if we could have pot pies for dinner.

Ah, I have pie crust in the fridge (store bought for just such a moment). Veggies abound since the CSA has started up again, and TJ pulled a radish from the garden. And, there’s chicken stock in the freezer (my bad. I meant to cool it off quickly and forgot about it!).

I pulled a few potatoes back out of the oven and chopped up the vegetables - broccoli, celery, squash, radish and potatoes - and tossed them together. I double-bagged the bowl shaped broth and smashed it on the pavement, then put a few big chunks in a pot (~2-3 cups). When it melted, I added flour (maybe 2 Tbsp, could’ve used at least 1/4 cup) and let that boil till it reduced a bit, and added a dash of thyme and basil. The girls helped me place the crusts in the pans and poke them with forks. Then I filled the pie pans with veggies to just under the rim (no higher than the liquid level will be, the filling above the gravy may not cook) and poured the broth over them. The potatoes came out of the oven just before the pies were ready to go in. I think they cooked about 30 min, maybe just under.