Curtain call

I have been the anti-Scarlett O'Hara this weekend. Scarlett took her mother's curtains and made a dress. I've taken other items and made curtains.

First, I took our old bedskirt, which we no longer need now that we have a platform bed and made a valance for our bedroom window:



Then, I took a Polish-pottery print tablecloth and made valances for our kitchen windows:



While we're looking up high, take a minute and check out how we filled the empty space above the cabinets over the fridge:



We knew we wanted to put some of our more substantial German beer steins up there, but even the big ones were just going to get lost in that space. So we took a bookcase that originally came with a set of encyclopedias my parents bought in the dark ages, stripped it down from the blue and white it had been for the past 5 years in Annabelle's room, and stuck it up there. I eventually want to get some silk greenery to add around the base and soften the fact that this house is just not square.

Again with the bullets!

Once again, I've gone for way longer than intended without updating the blog. I'm supposed to work Tuesday through Thursday at the library, but lately my days have been wonky because of making up for time lost due to snow or travel. Week before last, for example, I worked Monday through Wednesday and then drove with Annabelle to Kentucky on Thursday to meet up with Mike and cheer on the FKHS swim team at their regional meet. Drove back here on Sunday and then worked Monday through Thursday. That Friday was my first day in forever of just being home alone.

So, let's see . . . what's the latest?

• First of all, Mr. Stinky has a new house. He was looking so cramped in his old pot, so I bought this nice, new one at Target. I know this sounds crazy, but I swear he looks more relaxed. Also, we added a desk lamp to the plant shelf in the kitchen at the beginning of winter, and all the plants seem a lot warmer and happier:
  
  


• Kids. They find the strangest ways to make you proud. A couple weekends ago, Mike participated in FSU's Krispy Kreme Challenge and came in THIRD! The challenge is, how long does it take for you to run 2 miles, eat a dozen donuts, and run 2 miles back (all without puking)? For me, the answer would be: at least a week. For Mike, the answer is 33 minutes and 25 seconds:
  
  


• Check out Annabelle on her way to the Winter Royalty dance at her school this past weekend! Isn't she lovely?
  
  
  
  
  
  We got SO lucky with that dress. We were striking out online at Nordstrom, Macys, all my usual go-to places. We found that one at [hushed voice]Sears[/hushed voice], but it was out of stock! We were able to track it down at Overstock.com, and when it arrived it fit her perfectly. Seriously, it was like Cinderella's shoe or something. I couldn't believe we didn't need to at least get it hemmed.
  
  She met friends at the dance and had a great time. I've got to say, as much as the high points in Kentucky were really high, this is the most consistently happy on a day to day basis that I've seen Annabelle since I don't even know when.

Catching up in a hail of bullets

Hi, I'm back! I'm not sure why I was gone so long. Once my momentum has been broken, it's really hard to get it back. So here's the executive summary of life in the Taylor household:

• Finishing my sweater gave me inspiration to work on another ongoing project: the kids' socks I started last summer so I could practice color work. I have to admit I am amazed at what blocking with an iron can do for evening out stitches, but there is something funky going on with the ribbing:
  
  
  
  I still need to finish the second sock.


• Annabelle and I left here on Friday, January 28, and flew to Florida. We were very proud of ourselves for packing lightly enough that we didn't have to check any luggage. I packed in the bag that I bought back in 1986 to hold the souvenirs I schlepped home from the Soviet Union:
  
  
  
  On January 28, 1986, my fellow travelers and I were on a bus leaving our Warsaw hotel to get to the airport and fly home. One of the guys on the tour called home (which was a HUGE deal back then) to find out the Super Bowl score. He got back on the bus with news of the Challenger explosion. I remember that everybody seemed to think it was quite sad, but I was unprepared for the shock blast of grief that greeted us when we arrived in NYC that night.


• We had a great time in Florida! Mike took the bus down from Tally, and Jenny picked us all up in Orlando and took us back to Mom and Dad's house for the weekend. We had a wonderful visit with my grandparents on Saturday, managed to eat at both Belly Busters AND Bellini's, and then squeezed in Thai for dinner on Sunday in Orlando before taking Mike back to the bus station.
  
  We found some interesting stuff at my parents' house, like the calendars I made for handling planning my wedding details back in 1990:
  
  
  
  Most importantly though, we found Clark Gable, who has been missing for some time now. Annabelle is thrilled to be able to add him to her poster collection in her room:
  
  
  
  Annabelle and I stayed with Jenny and Jeff on Sunday night and flew home on Monday.


• While we were away, the new bed arrived! It is still kind of on the tall side, but that's OK. I can get into it without a step stool, and I no longer wake up with my head in the bookcase headboard:
  
  


• By the time Annabelle and I arrived home last Monday, Fort Leavenworth had already decided that in light of the approaching blizzard the post would be closed on Tuesday and on a 2-hour delay on Wednesday. A couple hours later UMKC closed for Tuesday as well, and the Leavenworth schools finally made the same call later in the day. That's really all I remember for the next few days. It snowed and snowed and snowed some more. The post and UMKC wound up being closed for Wednesday, and Annabelle's school took Thursday off due to extreme cold, and I stayed home, too. Thursday at noon when I walked the dog (quickly) was the first time I had been outside since coming home from the airport.


• Don't you hate it when you set the table, turn your back for 2 minutes, and turn around to find this:
  
  


• I had a lovely birthday on Thursday in spite of the cold. Annabelle and I watched movies in the afternoon, and then all went out for Thai food that night and had brownies at home. Mike wrote me a song, which made me laugh and cry and laugh some more:
  
  


• This coming Thursday, Annabelle and I are meeting Mike in Kentucky. We're going to cheer on the FKHS swim team at regionals. Annabelle just happened to have Thursday and Friday off, and Mike has been talking about going to this since he was swimming in it last year. I have ordered the yarn and needles for a new project and am looking forward to 2 whole days of sitting poolside knitting and purling.


• And finally Fred is upstairs in the man cave right now watching the Super Bowl. He is wearing Mike's cheesehead in support of Green Bay:
  
  

Well, that pretty much catches up on everything worth noting from around here. I'll try to stay on top of things a little better from now on.