Ex Patria

MSCE Day 23 - The crib bumper is finished

So I finished the crib bumper.  I used an Amy Butler template from this book, and fabric from the Ginger Blossom line by Sandi Henderson.

The bumper sags a bit because I used batting instead of the suggested bumper pads - mainly because we can't get the bumper pads in Germany.  However, the husband travels to the US in May and promised to bring the pads back for me.*  That's why I didn't bother quilting the bumper, since the batting will be removed again. 

I also didn't bother making a fitted sheet.  Two reasons: I was too lazy, and then I reckon that if I don't cut and sew the fabric, I can reuse it when Leah needs a bigger bed!  Because I love the fabric so.

I wanted to make the outside of the bumper green, or striped (the other Ginger Blossom options I have in my fabric stash) but the male vote went for the pink floral.  I live to serve. ;-)

The canopy, btw, is a cheap IKEA thing that goes so well with the colors of the fabrics as if I had intended it to be so.  I did not.  But I can pretend I did!

I will make a quilt from the same line next but that might not happen this month.  I've run a bit out of steam, we've had bad professional news last night which shook me more than it should have, the gorgeous spring begs for outside time, and I'm trying to recharge my batteries for two weeks of single motherhood in May.  So, quilt - later.

 *Watch out for packages!

MSCE Day 22 - Earth Day

Things I did for Earth Day:

•  Participated in the Earth Mosaic project.
•  Read to the boys:

 

• Didn't plant anything today but did plant within the last month: two currant bushes, one elderberry bush, one each of thyme, oregano, lemon balm, lavender, parsley, dill, chives, sage, basil... and quite a few other herbs and lots of flowers.  I live by the credo that every day is Earth day.

• Talked to the boys about the Earth but we do that a lot anyway.
• Stopped and looked around and gratefully took in all that green, the flowers, the trees in full bloom, the birds singing, the clouds up in the sky, the wind attacking our Bali flag.  Beautiful Earth. 

Happy Earth day.  Because, you know, we are really quite happy here.

MSCE Day 21 - Finally, the herb snail garden

It's done.

We had visitors, we had some rainy days, we needed to pick up the stupid rocks.  It turned out that a. rocks are really expensive when you want to buy them and b. there are so-called "Steinlesen" everywhere -- designated spaces where farmers can dump the rocks they remove from their fields.  One can just go and pick them up there!  Very clever, and very for free. 

Anyway, so I didn't get finished until yesterday (day 20).  But I'm pleased with the outcome:

You see the little bucket pond in the front - it's got a burlap sack hanging into it which wicks water into the area next to the bucket.  That's where those swampy plants are growing - water iris, water lily and cowslip and water cress (which I still don't have).  I'll get some more smallish rocks today or tomorrow and finish covering up the rim of the bucket.  It had been all covered up but then I used many of the small rocks to stuff holes in the larger wall.

The snail circles off the left side and sort of behind the wall you can see there behind the water.

The top is the Mediterranean zone - sandy and warm.  The big bush is rosemary, the lavender is already in bloom, and in the front you can see oregano, thyme and lemon balm.  The sage is really tiny still and is hiding behind the lavender.  Hm.  Now that I think about it - is the lemon balm okay up there?

I stuffed some rock garden plants into the holes of the walls - rock cress and saxifraga.  Nice little splashes of color, no?

The pond, btw, has two goldfish in it.  Our neighbor, who is very green and very nice (or the other way around), has a big garden pond with loads of fish.  He loves that we do stuff with our garden and he donated two goldfish.  When I told the boys they should maybe name them, the only thing they came up with were "Alan-Fish" and "David-Fish".  You would think they could come up with better names!

I also planted some container strawberries and put them next to the pond (we'll just call it pond, OK?), and I also planted a rhubarb.  Doug loves rhubarb and so do I - he prefers compote, I prefer my Mom's heavenly rhubarb cake.  In any case, we now have rhubarb.  Last, not least, I also planted some aquilegia just because I like them.  (All of the latter ones are outside the actual herb garden walls.)

So now we have:  Parsley, chives, lemon balm, organo, thyme, rosemary, sage, mint, basil and dill.  I still want to get coriander, water cress and maybe tarragon.  Oh, I can already taste all the herby goodness!

(I just realized that I need to switch the parsley and the chives around. Parsley needs to go further up, the chives need to go closer to the water.  Ack!)

Pay it forward

Let's see if I can get you guys to comment.  I know I have quite a few readers, only nobody talks to me. 

Here's a meme I first encountered on Facebook when my friend Monique posted it.  I really wanted something cool from her (she's a great photographer and also has incredibly good taste) but I couldn't imagine what the hey I could make that anybody would actually want from me.

Then I started the MSCE challenge and now I have plenty of ideas - weird ones, cool ones, impractical ones, odd ones, nice ones, great ones, really small ones.  And then Dot from the MSCE fame posted it on her blog but I was too late to register as one of the five commenters.  But then I thought, so what? I'll just do it anyway!  Here is how it works:

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you. (Be sure to leave a working email!)

IMPORTANT: The fun part of this is keeping it going, so don't forget to post this text on your blog if you want to play. This text was used from dabbled.

And now, comment, people.  I'll die from embarrassment if nobody comments on this one.

MSCE Days 19 and 20 -- Memories of Nana and salt dough

After Leah was born, my sister-in-law gave me a little gown that had been hand-made by her beloved Nana, her's and Doug's paternal grandmother.  Nana passed away before Doug and I met but I know she's been a great influence in his life, and everybody talks in glowing terms of her.  A kind lady with a green thumb and a vicious card player streak - she must have been something. 

I was really touched by this present, all the more so because Nana had made this baby gown for R, my nephew.  The gown came wrapped in a piece of old-fashioned wallpaper.  P. told me that it had been wrapped in this wallpaper when she first got it from Nana -- a left-over piece from her kitchen wallpaper. I know what to do with the gown but I had no use for the piece of wallpaper.  Yet, I couldn't just throw it away.  But stashing it in some corner for years to come? It would become just another piece of clutter.

Then I had an idea.  I have some decal frames - wall decals in the shape of picture frames.  We also have a staircase full of art and photos, our ever growing motley collection of things we like and that can be hung on a wall.  So I cut the wallpaper down to size and stuck it on the wall (wall - wallpaper, get it?) with the decal - and voila!  It's cute, visible, it's a reminder of Nana that is both whimsical and touching and I don't feel bad about either throwing it out or it collecting dust somewhere.

And then we also made new hand prints.  Remember the not-so-great outcome of the ready-made hand print version a few days ago? 

Well, David made one at a birthday party last week where they used salt dough.  Hah!  That's easy, I thought and made salt dough. There are a ton of recipes on the net but basically, it's flour, salt and water.  My mother, who is a very crafty person, recommends a little bit of oil and a tablespoon of wallpaper paste powder to create a very fine, smooth dough.  Do what she says, people.

Roll out the dough, let kids press their hands in, voila!  If you don't like the results, scrape it together and knead a bit, roll out again and repeat.  Very fast, best results - much better than the store-bough putty.  It has the right consistency for prints - not too soft, so the kids don't go through the dough when you press their fingers down, not too hard so that you don't see anything.  Also, kids love salt dough.  Any leftovers will be gleefully turned into snakes, balls, or weapons.  If you have boys, that is.

I recommend to let anything made of salt dough dry at room temperature for about two days, and then gently bake it in the over at very low temperature for about two hours.  The pre-drying prevents cracking - the faster you dry, the more you have the danger of cracking.  Patience is a virtue here.  Also, the oil and wallpaper paste powder will help here.  Once the prints are dried, I plan to color the outlines and leave the prints white.  And then, of course, they will go into the artsy stairwell.

MSCE Day 18 - Caterpillars and bugs

Another rainy day, so we made some indoor crafts together.  Old egg cartons cut into two, painted green and adorned with pipe cleaner antennae and legs, and wiggly eyes - tadah, a catepillar!

Jacob made this one.  I helped with the feet and the antennae but mostly, he made it himself.  Very earnestly, too.

I made these, with the little bug being a single egg cup, and another one cut into two and trimmed down a bit to make the wings - because, when I said "look, here, a bug!", Alan insisted on it getting wings.

 

The whole family of bugs and caterpillars.  The boys had fun, and so did I.

By the way, Doug made a praying mantis from a paper towel roll, an onion, drinking straws and play doh.  Unfortunately, the enthusiasm about it was also its sad end - but it was a cool and inspired thing!

MSCE Day 17 - Cool printables, and a fridge idea

I love printables.  I don't know why, but there it is, and I have tons of them on my computer and I use them a lot and they inspire me in various ways - to do crafts, to organize myself better, you name it.

I will frequently browse the webs to find new printables and I recently stumbled across some very nice ones.  So today, because it's a rainy day and we did some crafts which were fun but not outstanding, here are some printables I like.

This grocery check list from Mommy Club is great - it looks nice and neat, and it really works for my family.  I tend to write grocery lists and I tend to forget what we really need.  So, for over a week now, we're out of sugar, although I've been in the shop almost daily.  I don't print this list out every time I go shopping, I rather use it as a master list that reminds me what I need to get, and then I scribble those items on emptied envelopes (my favorite notepads - reusing before recycling).  The one pet peeve I have with this list is that "raisins" is spelled wrong.

Speaking about groceries, this meal planner by Future Girl is the best.  It's cute, flexible and works really well for us.

These printable bookmarks are really sweet.  Jinjerup has loads of freebies, including very cute little boxes, that are just adorable.

Apples pies in little pie boxes for Valentine's Day - I personally think that this idea can be transplanted to any other occasion as well.  Twig and Thistle is generally worth a visit.

We (okay, my wonderful husband) cleaned out the fridge a couple of days ago.  It was quite disgusting.  Although it wasn't quite as disgusting as when I visited my SIL in August one year, and she and her husband dared each other to clean out the pot that had leftover turkey in it.  From Thanksgiving.

Anyway.  Our fridge was intended for a vacation home, so it's rather too small for us as a main fridge.  Things get shoved in, wander into the back, and then are forgotten about.  Apart from throwing money away, it's also not very hygienic.  We re-organized it, so now dairy sits on the top shelf, condiments and jams on the second, the third is for meats, cheeses and leftovers.  We write the opening dates on cans, and we put a magnetic wipe-off board up onto which we write down what we put in the fridge, and when. 

Moving right along...

Craft Chi has thread cards - cute and useful, if you embroider or sew lots and need to store all those loose threads.

Lula Louise made really nice hangtags.

Doe-c-doe has these vintage tags which are simply adorable.

And last, not least, the stamp set by Green Kitchen - use for any purpose!  Green Kitchen, btw, also has an awesome tutorial about making kid pants from sweater sleeves - just the thing I need for my favorite favorite favorite sweater that got all shrunk and felted in the wash by accident.  This way, it will be turned into some warm pants for Leah.  Yay me.

Disappointment

I've supported Obama pretty much from the start.  We've donated to his campaign, we lived and feared and hoped along with him right until the victory.  I cried at his inauguration.  And I relaxed afterwards.  It was a feeling as if finally the adults have come back home.  Now I could rest and not fret about every single move that was made in US politics.  Finally, the sensible people were in charge and I could go on with my own life.

Over four years ago, right after Bush's re-election, I wrote a letter to my US family.  I described my bitter disappointment, my disbelief that Americans could vote for someone who would not follow up and uproot the evil that was Abu Ghraib. Americans like some of my family.  I warned them that we Germans had lived first hand what evil was, that it liked to hide and make seemingly sensible arguments, that it liked to prosecute its enemies with labels like "unpatriotic" and use phrases like "who is not with us is against us".  I wrote that that it's hard to stand up and unpopular, but necessary.  Evil needs to be countered when it is still small, it needs to be dealt with swiftly and consequently.  There cannot be any excuses.  There cannot be any exceptions. 

What I received back was outrage.  Well, first, there was complete silence.  Then, I got attacked by a distant family member I didn't know (and who had not been on the recipient list). Then I was called anti-American, that I had no say because I was not American.  In not so many words it was made clear that because I'm German, I had no right to judge others -- when in my mind, this is exactly our job in the world; we know where it can lead.  In the end, to prevent a rift in the family, I had to apologize.  Nobody has ever talked to me about politics ever again.  None of my US family has ever read my blog (or HDTD) again.

Years later, some family members told me that they had always been against torturing of prisoners, when I clearly remember discussions that contained phrases like "we don't really know whether there has been torture" and the famous ticking time bomb was mentioned.  I still feel bitter about this episode, both about the reaction from the other side, and about my own.

I feel I should not have given in for peace's sake. I failed my own standards and it still makes me angry that I wasn't smart enough to argue my convictions.

But I really don't think I could have changed anything or anybody's mind.

I did think I changed something by helping Obama become president.

His announcement that all those involved in torturing and covering up torture should not be prosecuted is a big blow to me.  I'm upset and angry and very, very disappointed.

Torture can never be excused.  It can never be tolerated.  It has to be prosecuted and it has to be punished with legal means every single time.  Bybee needs to be impeached.  The CIA agents and all those who followed orders have to be prosecuted.  Following a criminal order is a crime, not a simple failing.

I'm sorry, Mr. President.  This decision is wrong.

MSCE Day 16 -- Photo jars

I found this on another blog but I didn't bookmark it and now I can't find it anymore.  So, this cool idea is not mine but it's cool and I think I can share it.

How many photos have you lying around in your house that you never put on display because, frankly, they are either not the kind one puts into a frame, or because it's a hassle to exchange photos in frames?  Lots, if you are like me.

And how many empty glass jars do you have in your house?  You know, empty spaghetti sauce jars, or jam and jelly jars, baby food jars...  I also have a lot of those.

So, combine the two and you get - tadah! - photos in jars! 

What a cool idea.

I find that because of the reflective quality of the glass, it's best to display the jars at eye level - in a bookshelf, for instance.  You can either use the lid or not, the photos stay inside either way.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Angelique, we now have the origin of the idea - Photojojo.  Thank you, Angelique! Much appreciated.  I hate not being able to attribute correctly.

Potty training

I should count this toward the Make Something Cool Challenge but yeah, I know, that's not really creative. Although, if I wrote down every single little thing that I told Jacob in order to convince him do his business in the bathroom, you'd think me very creative indeed.  Sheesh.

Jacob has chronic diarrhea. Over the past two years, his bouts have improved, and we're now down to one or two bowel movements of loose-ish stool a day.  Sometimes we even get solid poop!  On the whole, we think (hope) we are on the upswing.  We have delayed potty training him because of the diarrhea - I mean, really.  I don't think I have to be graphic about this, no?

So, in the light of recent improvement, and the fact that we really would love not having to deal with an immense 3.5 year-old on the changing table, we penciled the last week in as potty training week.  The kids have a week of Easter break, and the weather was good enough for Jacob to run around outside naked all day.  We find that our boys love peeing against trees and it somehow encourages them to control their bladder function.  Weird, but true.

We're not completely without accidents but he is peeing and pooping in the toilet and diapers, well, they are a thing of the (recent, but still) past.  We have to remind him about the peeing part, and I will have to send three changes of clothing to school on Monday, just in case.  When he's busy, he just forgets.  But it seems, fingers crossed, that he's got it down.

Phew.  Three down, one to go, before we are a diaper-free household.