Happy Mole-idays!

I'm sure you've been lying in bed the past few nights, unable to sleep, plagued with wonder over what on earth Mike was sewing the other day. Well, now it can be revealed: He was sewing a mole for his Chemistry class.

"A mole?!" you say. "For CHEMISTRY?!" That is EXACTLY what I said! Great minds think alike, I guess.

Yes, Tuesday was National Mole Day. According to the website: "Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry." How have I made it to the age of 40 without knowing that?!

His assignment was to create a mole that represented his chosen element, radium. I showed him how to use the sewing machine, powering it by the hand wheel instead of the pedal, and he did quite a nice job sewing it together. I confess though to helping when it came time to sew the little hands and feet on. Here is "Mole-icious:"



So happy belated Mole Day!

Scotty doesn't know

This morning as I helped Mike prepare for "culture day" as part of his school's Spirit Week, I felt kind of like Prince Charles's valet. That is, if Prince Charles's valet ever had to call his dad during the previous night's trial run to ask what on earth all the damn buckles are for!



Mike was really taken with the sporran, that little purse thing that's hanging down in front. He filled it with pencils, chapstick, guitar picks, etc. Who needs cargo pockets when you've got a sporran?!

I drove him to school this morning, because it was raining cats and dogs. As he got out of the car, he said, "Wow, I need to be careful not to pull a Britney here!"

Many thanks to my dad for lending Mike the kilt, jacket, and all accessories! (And now you know what was in the mysterious package I mentioned the other day.)

My own personal sweatshop

There has been a lot of sewing going on around here in the past few days. I made Annabelle a pair of microfleece pajama pants to wear home after swim practice, but I haven't gotten a picture of them yet.

The kids have been pretty busy, too. Mike had a most unusual school assignment (chemistry, no less!) that required him to get acquainted with my sewing machine:



I'm not telling what it is though! You'll just have to wait until it's finished.

Annabelle spent most of Sunday afternoon embroidering part of her Halloween costume:



Again, not going to say what it is right now. You'll find out soon enough!

My, I'm mysterious tonight, aren't I?

My mom is a creative goddess!

Long-time readers might remember the tale of Annabelle's baby blankets and how New Blankie temporarily went AWOL in the Renaissance Hotel in Orlando. If you missed that story, I suggest you get up to speed. I'll wait here. OK, you back?

If I hadn't been thousands of miles from my house and all my photos when I posted that almost 4 years ago, I would have included this picture from 1998, which I like to think of as "When New Blankie Met Old Blankie:"



Time apparently is not a friend to blankets. At some point New Blankie surpassed Old Blankie in rattiness. This is Old Blankie:



And this is New Blankie:



It has been years since Annabelle refused to leave the house or go to bed without her blanket, but it was still kind of sad to see these beloved blankets waste away to nothing more than scraps. She had been thinking lately that it would be really nice to have a blanket that would last forever, now that it would not be required to do any more work than providing warmth to her while she's watching TV on the couch.

The problem with designer blankets is (1) you can't just go grab one at Walmart and (2) they aren't cheap if you can find them at all. My mom found one on eBay for a hundred bucks!

Mom has been saying for years how easy it would be to make a hankie-blankie, but I never really expected to see her produce one. We have a long proud tradition in my family of meaning to get around to craft projects, and if you don't believe me, maybe you would like to see the white corduroy with brown cats on it that I have in my basement. Mom got it to make me a jumper when I was 5 or so and then passed it on to me to make one for Annabelle when she was 5 or so. Perhaps one day I'll see my granddaughter wearing it. At any rate, you get the idea.

The other day a box arrived with some stuff in it that my dad had sent for Mike. (You will want to check the blog on Tuesday to see what was in that box! Trust me. Put it on your calendar.) There was also a little wrapped package for Annabelle. I had no idea what it might be and figured it was probably just some cute thing that Mom had found somewhere. So imagine my surprise when she opened it up and found THIS inside:



Annabelle was THRILLED to see her blanket that should last forever. She has grown up a lot, however, since the last time I wrote on this topic and says that blankets are now to be referred to as "blankets" rather than by name. I have also been informed that blankets are to be referred to as "it" rather than "she." But inside my mind, all I can think is, "Blankie Three! She has come home to us!"

Note to self: Don't leave your camera at home!

When Fred and I set out for our week in Charlottesville, I did something incredibly stupid: I left my camera at home . . . on purpose. I had a very good reason: I figured I already have so many photos that need editing and posting, and this was my fourth time attending this conference in as many years, so why take more pictures now?

The error of my ways became apparent to me an hour down the road when, just outside Lexington, we drove past a castle. Not a house that looks kind of like a castle, but a real castle! I was immediately moaning that I wished I had my camera with me. Instead of seeing my own picture of the castle, you'll have to be content with this image that I filched off the Internet:



While I'm stealing images, I might as well add this one of that same castle in flames a few years ago. It seems to be much better now:



My next case of camera remorse came 2 days later when Fred and I got all dressed up for the big dinner. I wanted to memorialize my bargain outfit ($50 dress! $10 beads!), but did I have my camera? No, I did not. Fortunately, one of the guys who was helping out with the conference had a camera:



Two days after that, I met my friend Jennifer for breakfast at Bodo's. She and I worked together ages ago when Fred and I and Mike (this was pre-Annabelle) lived in Charlottesville for Fred's Advance Course. We have kept in touch over the years, and for the past 2 years we have gotten together while I'm in town. It's always such fun to catch up with Jennifer! I had already asked her to bring her camera, which she assured me that she always has with her (smart girl!). So here we are at Bodo's, where I had just enjoyed an amazing onion bagel with lox spread (and where I would be returning for lunch that same day with Fred--can't get too much Bodo's):



I do hereby promise never to leave the camera behind on purpose ever again!

Charlottesville = food

Remember 3 years ago when Fred came to Charlottesville, VA, from Iraq for a conference, and the kids and I met him here? Or 2 years ago when we came for the conference fresh on the heels of our overseas move and our trip to FL to pick up the car and the cat, and I was so busy that apparently I never got around to blogging it? Or last year when we came for the conference and brought the kids and our new puppy with us? Well, it's that time of year again, but this time, Fred and I are on our own. (My dad very graciously agreed to fly up from Florida to keep an eye on the kids and dog. Thanks, Dad!)

I just completed the formal part of the spouses' program this afternoon. One thing I have noticed about this week in Charlottesville is that every year, it proves to be one enormous festival of gluttony for me.

Sunday: We arrived that evening and went almost immediately to the icebreaker at the JAG School. Had a couple of glasses of wine and lots of munchies like layer dip and meatballs. Sigh . . . I adore party food.

Monday: We were welcomed that morning by MG Scott Black (TJAG) and attended some lectures on the assignments process and JAG recruiting. All interesting, but the part that stands out in my memory is the delicious luncheon prepared for us by the ladies of the JAG School Spouses' Club. That and our trip to St. Maarten Cafe that night for THE BEST chicken wings ever. (Seriously! If you're ever in C'ville, you must go try the wings. We love the Caribbean jerk and the Jack Daniels Smokey BBQ flavors best.)

Tuesday: More interesting lectures, including a talk about dealing with the media and a history of the JAG Corps. We also sat in with the SJA's all morning for the addresses given by William Haynes (General Counsel of the Department of Defense), Benedict Cohen (General Counsel of the Army--really funny guy who kind of reminded me of Steven Colbert), and General Richard Cody, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.

Also more food, of course! We had a luncheon catered by Panera, and our guest was Vicki Cody, wife of General Cody and author of the book Your Soldier, Your Army: A Parent's Guide. Mrs. Cody spoke to us about how she came to write her book, which is geared towards helping parents of soldiers understand the workings of the Army and especially deployments. She is a really neat lady and knows what she is talking about, as she has 2 sons, both of whom have served with the 101st Division and have had multiple deployments.

Towards the end of our luncheon, General Cody came up and talked to us himself about the war and about the decision to extend deployments to 15 months to preserve the 12-month dwell time back home in between. He's quite the straight shooter, and it felt pretty neat to have him addressing our little intimate gathering.

Tuesday night was our formal dinner at the Darden center. We enjoyed: pasta purses with marinated olives and sun-dried tomatoes; mixed field greens with sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes; duet of sirloin steak and grilled salmon (Can you tell I'm copying this from the menu card? I would never say I ate a "duet" of anything!); and cappuccino mousse cake. One of our tablemates wasn't eating his dessert, so I ate mine and then I ate his as well (I guess I could say I had a "duet of dessert" if I were so inclined).

Wednesday: This morning we heard a lecture on care team training and dealing with grief in the unit, and then we had a most fascinating lecture from Dr. Mark Welton of West Point on understanding Islamic culture. How fascinating was it? It was so fascinating that I am seriously considering going tomorrow during my free time to hear the address Dr. Welton gives the SJA's on the same subject.

This afternoon we had a luncheon out at the Clifton Inn. I had (again from the menu card): butter lettuce salad with crumbled Vermont cheddar and white balsamic vinaigrette and red onion rings; seared Atlantic salmon with parmesan risotto and lemon dill butter sauce; and apple-phyllo crisp with vanilla whipped cream.

And now we're going to dinner with some of Fred's friends from the 82d Airborne Division! I am really going to be in shape by the end of this week. And that shape will be round.

No more tin grin!

This was Mike first thing Tuesday morning:



This was Mike just a few minutes later:



As you can imagine, he is quite happy!

You just don't see this every day

Snapped on the Gene Snyder Freeway, just south of Louisville, heading home from the cross-country meet last weekend:

Dress-up boys

I thought it was kind of amusing to see how the Taylor guys were attired on the night of Friday, Sept. 7. Fred had a dining in, which is a big fancy dinner just for the military people, no dates. He was looking sharp in his blues:



Meanwhile, Mike was doing his duty as the FKHS eagle at the football game:

Harvest time

Way back in the spring, Annabelle's school had a science fair. Her project had to do with how seeing color helps somebody working a puzzle:



Lots of kids did experiments on plants, and when the science fair was over there were lots of guinea twigs in need of good homes. We took in a tomato plant that had been part of Annabelle's friend Katherine's project, and that poor plant languished in a disposable cup on my window sill for a couple of months.

Fred eventually took pity on it and stuck it in a flowerpot on the back porch. And my neighbor Tammy took pity on it on several occasions and fertilized it (Thanks, Tammy!). And lo and behold, that poor plant--probably raised on Sprite for its formative weeks--actually bore fruit!

We've been watching this one tomato slowly ripen for the past few weeks:



Today we decided that it was time to harvest the crop before a skunk or raccoon beat us to it. Annabelle and I went out together, and she plucked the tomato from the vine:



We cut it in half and each enjoyed a delicious, if somewhat small, feast. Sad to say that as meager as this harvest is, this has actually been one of my more successful gardening experiences, at least as far as vegetables are concerned!

Sew what?

When I was visiting in Florida this summer, my mom showed me this really cute pattern that she had found. It's a 1952 Butterick pattern that they had re-released as part of their "retro" line:



I thought it was just the cutest thing, so when I found myself in a really wonderful fabric shop in Louisville last month, I picked up my own copy as well as some cool fabric.

I didn't want to cut into my pattern and fabric until I knew that I had the fit right, so I traced the pattern onto interfacing and made the top of the dress out of buck-a-yard fabric from Walmart . . . twice. Apparently 2007 Bonnie's boobs are a good inch lower than 1952 Bonnie's were, so I had to move the darts down. And I don't know if 1952 Bonnie was smoking more or maybe she just didn't like the cheese dip quite so much, but I also had to add a couple inches in the waist to accommodate 2007 Bonnie.

Once I had the alterations right, making the dress wasn't terribly tricky. It felt good to set up my serger again, which has been waiting patiently in its box for at least 4 years. I felt very clever when I applied the differential feed of the serger and finished the bottom of the circle skirt, thus gathering it just enough so that it folded easily for hemming. (Anybody who has every hemmed a circle skirt without a serger with differential feed can vouch for the fact that this can be a tricky proposition.)

I bought some smokin' hot red shoes and some red earrings and a red bracelet (and a red necklace that I wound up leaving at home as I felt like the black seam binding at the neckline was enough neck detail), and voila! I was ready for the first luncheon of the year yesterday:



Mike took this picture as a joke. I think I'll get an 8X10 printed for Fred's desk:



It's kind of like domestic cheesecake. I wish I had thought to do a whole series: me vacuuming, dusting, etc., all the while channeling my inner Donna Reed.

Now that the dress is done, I'd like to keep sewing, and I already have my next project picked out. About 3 years ago, I got Annabelle a stuffed anteater sewing kit for her birthday. We're going to work on that this weekend.

Dude, where's my car?

Mike had a cross-country meet up in Louisville today, which meant he had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus with the rest of his team at 7:30. Fred and I drove up at a more reasonable hour to watch him run and then take him shopping afterwards for a friend's birthday present.

As you might imagine, Mike was rather disgusting after having run 5 kilometers. He took off his wet shirt and sat on a towel on the ride over to Toys R Us. I suggested that when we got there, Fred and I should get out of the van and he should just change into his regular shorts real quick rather than going in to change in the restroom and then having to carry his soggy running shorts around with him.

He thought that was a good idea, so when we got there we stepped out of the van, leaving it running so that he could have the A/C and wouldn't get even sweatier changing into his dry clothes. Apparently we weren't giving him enough privacy, so he stuck his head out the door and asked, "Hey, can't you guys go stand up by the store?"

"Fine," I said, "we will meet you in the store." It never occurred to me to add, "Please turn off the car and bring the keys when you come." You can see where this is going, can't you?

Sure enough, we had all been in Toys R Us for a few minutes when Mike said to me, "Hey, did you know you didn't turn off the car when you left?"

As Fred sprinted for the parking lot with Mike hot on his heels, I stood there with my mouth hanging open, praying to whomever might be the patron saint of cars, fools, and parents that they should find the car right where we left it.

The car was indeed sitting there, so all's well that ends well. I, however, am looking forward to the day when my grandchildren do something especially boneheaded, and I can say, "Hey, did I ever tell you about when your dad left our car unlocked and running in a parking lot and went shopping?"

Hi ho, hi ho, it's through Ohio we go went!

Annabelle and I had a wonderful weekend in Pennsylvania! The drive up was uneventful, and we stopped along the way in Ohio to have a snack with my invisible friend Patty and her kids. I have "known" Patty thanks to the wonders of the Internet for about 8 years, but this was our first time to meet in real life (IRL). It was so nice to finally meet her, and I wish we could have hung out for longer, but I still had several hours of driving time facing me, so I couldn't linger for long:



As you can probably imagine, there was a lot of squealing and jumping up and down when Katherine and Annabelle reunited. We took our Playstation and the Dance Dance Revolution game, and the girls spent a lot of the weekend "dancing" along with Katherine's little sisters.

On Saturday we went to the beach. "The beach?" you ask. Yes, the beach--the lovely shores of Lake Erie. It surprises me to no end to be saying that, since everything I ever knew about Lake Erie I learned from an old Saturday Night Live skit, and it was NOT flattering (and good grief, doesn't Bill Murray look YOUNG?!). But yes, the beach was wonderful, and the girls had a great time:



Saturday night we went to a baseball game, the Erie Seawolves versus . . . hmmmm, somebody else. Altoona, perhaps? The kids got their picture made with Mr. C. Wolf himself:



Sunday was full of shopping and more Dance Dance Revolution and supper at the Olive Garden. Then all too soon it was Monday, and we had to leave.

We stopped in Ohio again for an IRL encounter with 2 more of my previously invisible Internet friends. Again, Kim and Melanie and I have been posting on the same message board for ages and know so much about each other yet had never met before. Here we are with our girls outside Panera:




I have spent the 2 days since we got home resting up and recovering from all that driving and those late nights spent hanging out and chatting with Katherine's parents. Believe it or not, we actually outlasted the girls! It's nice to know that with just a day's drive Annabelle and Katherine can be together again.

Vote for Unicycle.com!

Unicycle.com is a really wonderful business. I've bought a couple of unicycles from them as well as a number of DVDs, t-shirts, and books. They are always a pleasure to deal with.

They are in a competition through Forbes to win $100,000 in a "Boost Your Business" contest, and they are very close to making it into the next round of the competition. Please go here and vote Yes for Unicycle.com!

For Annabelle

For our first 2 years here at Fort Knox, Annabelle and her friend Katherine were inseperable. They had sleepovers almost every weekend, did their homework together, etc., etc., etc. One thing about the military lifestyle though is that either you will move away, or your friends will move away. And sure enough, this summer Katherine and her family moved away to Pennsylvania.

They moved shortly after we left for our vacation in Florida. Katherine and Annabelle spent the days and nights before our departure together and then had a tearful farewell the night before we left. It was very sad, but we were slammed immediately into the excitement of our Florida vacation, so there wasn't much time to dwell on it.

When we got back from Florida, however, it was a whole 'nother story. There were new people living in Katherine's house, and Annabelle had to start middle school by herself, after being in the same class together for 2 years. So it has been a tough adjustment, and Annabelle misses Katherine a whole lot.

Well, the nice thing about (western) Pennsylvania is that it is only a 7-hour drive away, which is downright next door compared to some of the places in the world where we have friends.

I called Katherine's mom (who is also a very good friend of mine) last week, and we made a plan. The kids don't have school here that Friday before Labor Day, so I am going to take Annabelle and hop into our van and take her up there for a visit. We will come home on Sunday to avoid the crazy traffic of Labor Day, but they will have 2 nights and 1 whole day to spend together.

Once the plan was in place, I decided to save it for her birthday, which is today. I am betting this will be her favorite present.



Happy birthday, Annabelle!

Curtain call

What a whirlwind week! After daily rehearsals Monday through Thursday, "Little Mermaid" went live with 2 shows on Friday (one during the school day and one at night) and 1 Saturday afternoon. I went to the Friday night performance, and Fred and I both went to the Saturday one.

The show was terrific! It is truly amazing how much they accomplished in just 5 short days.

Annabelle was one of the "Sea Scouts," which come on stage for a couple of musical numbers, take on different rolls (such as the dragon seen in the photo below and a band of sinister soldiers), and move scenery around between scenes.

I tried taking pictures during the show, but I didn't get very good results since I couldn't use flash. My dragon photo is the only one that was halfway decent (Annabelle is the third set of feet from the right):



I had better luck getting this video clip of the sinister (and somewhat silly) soldiers:



Before we knew it, it was time for the final curtain call, and Missoula Children's Theatre was over for us for the year. That's Annabelle in the back row, holding the dolphin:

You can't take the K out of FKHS

Believe me, we tried, but he wouldn't go.

When Fred and I went to the school yesterday at half-time to pick Mike up from the soccer game, he didn't want to leave. He and 3 of his buddies had decorated themselves for the occasion and were determined to wait it out until the bitter end:



Apparently, being green is easier than previously reported.

The "if you give a mouse a cookie"* nature of my life

I have a dirty little secret. There is a daybed in my office, and somehow when we were unpacking 2 years ago, it became the landing pad for all manner of crap that just didn't have a place. Over the years, the pile has shifted and morphed like some sort of clutter dune, but never has it gone away entirely. This was the state of the bed at the beginning of August:



Right about then, I got inspired to clean up the Daybed from Hell, but it has been very slow going. This is mostly due to my propensity for getting distracted, kind of like one of those "Family Circus" kids who, when told to go get the mail, has to wander the whole neighborhood, stopping to pet dogs, run through the sprinkler, chat with a friend, buy an ice cream, and so on and so on. The following story is a vivid example of what I am sure is adult-onset ADD.

I unearthed from the pile of clutter the minutes to this month's high school PTO meeting and decided that, as part of my ongoing quest for Total Organization, those papers should really go into a binder dedicated solely to PTO business. So I went up to the attic and grabbed a 3-ring notebook. (Still on task and working hard.)

This notebook has a pocket on the front so that one might put a title page in it. I thought that perhaps if my binder were neatly labeled, I might have an easier time maintaining my motivation to use it. I suppose I could have simply written "PTO" on a sheet of paper and stuck it in the see-through pocket, but I wanted something a little nicer. (Mostly still on task.)

I fired up my hand-dandy Photoshop Elements and typed those 3 letters in a nice large font. It just seemed so plain though, and before I knew it, I was at the Photoshop Elements User website looking for ideas to make my binder cover a little more interesting. I found a tutorial for making letters that look like the varsity letters kids sew onto school jackets and thought how cool it would look if my "PTO" were made out of varsity letters. I got right to work. (Kind of still on task.)

An hour or so later, I had my varsity P, my varsity T, and my varsity O, and I was feeling quite pleased with myself. I supposed I could have hole-punched the minutes, stuck them in the binder, and moved on to some other part of the mess, but something just wasn't quite right. Yes, my varsity letters looked cool, but they were rather stark against a plain white background. At this point, I enlisted the help of my aunt and Photoshop guru Suzie. She helpfully sent me links to digital scrabooking websites, and at one of them I found a collection of school-related items that would work perfectly with my varsity letters. (Task? What task? I am now a woman with a mission!)

Several hours and several good ideas later, I had my notebook cover finished:



What about the bed, you ask? Well, it has been downgraded from Daybed from Hell to Daybed from Heck status. I am seeing some progress. I'm sure it will be much better once I've made a cover for my Band Boosters notebook . . .

*If the reference to mice and cookies leaves you scratching your head, go here.

Little Mermaid

Annabelle is taking part in a really cool activity this week. The Missoula Children's Theatre is in Elizabethtown, and she has been cast as a Sea Scout in their production of "Little Mermaid."

MCT is an amazing organization! They travel all over the country (and even overseas), putting on a show a week with children from the community. They bring the costumes, the scripts, and the props, but the talent is all local.

Monday afternoon was the audition. Annabelle was one of 148 kids vying for 50 to 60 parts. They stood the kids on stage by height in a giant circle and went around, over and over again, having them say things like their name and age (first in a regular voice, then in a snooty voice, then in a happy voice) and a couple of different lines ("So . . . ya wanna get married, eh?"). As they went around, the 2 directors would pull kids and move them around to different places in the circle.

It was a tense couple of hours, but Annabelle came away with a part, and so did her friend Matthew. (They are the only kids from their middle school who tried out. I saw a mom in uniform, but everybody else appears to be from off post.) This works out beautifully for me and Matthew's mom, as we are able to share the chauffering duties.

They rehearsed for 2 hours after the audition on Monday night. Yesterday and today rehearsals are from 6:30 to 8:30. On Thursday they are there from 4:00 to 8:30.

The curtain comes up on Friday, with a morning performance for area schools and a night-time public performance. Fred, Mike, and I are going to go on Saturday afternoon for the final show.

I can't wait! I got to see just a few minutes of rehearsal when I went to pick them up last night, and it's amazing how much they had accomplished in just 2 days.

1 week down, 35 to go

Can you believe that today begins the second full week of school for this year? I feel like I've been tossed into a raging river, and it's just sweeping me along, while I shout, "Wait! Summer's not over yet!"

I know a lot of parents get a warm tingly feeling about the kids going back to school, but it just doesn't seem to work that way for me. First, there is the whole business of getting up at the crack of dawn, which I just detest. Then, there is dealing with all the school-related deadlines and pressures, which is almost (but not quite) as bad as getting up at 6 a.m.

The beginning of school for the kids also means that my schedule is about to get a lot busier. I'm the sophomore class parent rep for the high school PTO and plan on being involved with the middle school PTO as well. I'm the band boosters' treasurer and supposedly the cheerboosters' treasurer as well, although the cheerleading team had kind of a rocky summer, and I'm not really sure what's going on there.

I'm on the school board this year, and we have our first meeting on Thursday. Plus, I'm on the School Transition Response Team, which meets quarterly.

I've also got the monthly OCSC luncheons and International Spouses Club coffees. Plus, OCSC has 2 major fundraisers a year, and I always help out with those.

On top of that, I've got my indexing work and my library school classes, which will be starting up again next week. And then, of course, there's all the household stuff and driving kids to their various activities.

The year has hardly begun, but I'm already looking forward to a vacation!