Welcome to the World, Mete!

Nora now has a new cousin! My cousin, Leah gave birth to her son, Mete Dylan Berkoz this past Saturday. He weighed 8 lb. 1 oz. and was 20 inches long. He came right on his due date - what a prompt little guy! Congratulations new parents Leah and Oguz and grandparents Ted and Linda. I can't wait to meet him!

Spunk Lost and Found?

Carol has been complaining lately of a lack of blogging spunk and apparently it is a problem over here as well. I can't complain about a complete lack of activity, because, actually November has had plenty, which may be why I've done so little blogging.

We returned Sunday from our trip to Arkansas for Thanksgiving which was a bit of an exhausting drive and required more luggage than a debutante's tour of European capitals. But Nora got to see her grandparents again, and Jason's grandmother, Grant was up from Texas and Max was down from Bentonville. Nora had a great time re-arranging Kathy's rock tray and bowling walnuts, and practicing her piercing shrieks among people who find it endearing. Jason and I took advantage of the free babysitting to eat a meal together (as opposed to in shifts between Nora chasing) and to check out downtown Hot Springs and marvel at the changes that have occurred since our Little Rock residency. Happily, the fabulous toy store is still there and we had a great time buying too much stuff for Nora (musical instruments, kitties, and a music box). For those who care, the Arlington now has a Starbucks and they've done some redecorating so it's not quite so bright in the lobby. Oh, and there was some football game between the Razerbacks and LSU, I'm told it was quite a game, but it's really not my thing.

We took a little side detour to Conway to see Bob, Sarah and Zelda. They ministered to our need for a place to unwind and an audience to vent about the horrors of travel and holidays with family. Zelda kindly played big sister with Nora and let her touch and play with all of her toys (even the horses and unicorns) and read stories to her and prevented her from destroying the house while Jason and I languished on the couches and made Bob and Sarah entertain us with stories. It was very restorative. Hendrix has grown by leaps and bounds and I learned that there are actually two new mascots - one with a sword and one with a banner not sure that one is that much of an improvement over the other.

Now we're home again and December looms in front of me. I actually do have some Christmas spirit this year and while that doesn't translate into putting up a tree (we really don't have any room). I did get an advent calendar for Nora (it came yesterday and no, I didn't pay that much for it) and I think there is some serious baking in my future (I've got the whole Veginomicon to get through!). The Rock N' Roll craft show is this weekend and while I know I will be shopping I also hope it inspires some more craft activities. Unfortunately, I didn't really have an opportunity to work on Nora's stocking this break and my mom has made a lovely one for her already, so I might not get it done, but I had so much fun with the felt food, that I'm hoping I get another project underway soon.

Breakfast, Morning Everybody, Sun's Up And We'e Having Toast and Jelly...

Or something else. Here's my felt breakfast and there have been some comments regarding some of the elements not resembling what I think they resemble. So, can you name what's on the plate? Or have I gotten in over my head with my breakfast creation?


I also went a head and made a little snack as well. My favorite - cookies! These are oatmeal raisin because that's what Nora eats, but maybe you would prefer chocolate chip or some other yummy variety. Whatever you like, it's your imagination!

Pasta Party

I took a mental health day to try to catch up from working several weekends this month and to take on a project that I've been meaning to do for awhile. Nora's kitchen should be coming any day now (I hope) so I need to get onto making that felt food to complete her birthday and Christmas present. Awhile ago I bought a pattern for an Italian dinner set from a mom on hyena cart. I probably could have winged this one on without the pattern, but in retrospect, I'm really glad I had it for my first foray into felt food! Without further ado, here's the pics:


Above is the ravioli and butter pats with a cannoli. I'm most happy with the ravioli. The canaloni is my least favorite, but that also could have something to do with me deciding I didn't want to make it quite the way she suggested. I'm also thinking of making some pancakes so that Nora can use those butter pats again. I might make some eggs, just because that seems so fun, even though Nora can't eat eggs.... Here's the fettucine with tomato sauce and meat balls.
This was so much fun, it took me about 2 hours because I decided I didn't want to hunt up a sewing machine, so I did all the raviolis by hand and nor did I have a pinking shears so that took a little while too. I got to finally use my cutting wheel and mat, so over all I'm pleased, but I'm sure the next projects will go better since I've got the hang of it all now. Next on my list is the breakfast and then I might go on to making some cookies and fruit. I think that this will work for Jason's dinner - he went to the dentist today to have several cavities filled, so maybe felt food will be soft enough. Poor guy!

American Girl

So my mother got an American Girl catalog in the mail and passed it on to me. Nora is a bit too young still for their targeted demographic, but I ended up browsing through it anyway. It confirmed much of my early opinion of the marketing giant, that they use book tie ins to lure parents in to buying a whole lifestyle for their dolls, that they might even balk at buying for their daughters themselves. After my initial horror, I brought it to my office and to a group of women who are similar minded to me, for them to turn their feminist eyes on it. One of them noticed (& I heard her cackling at her desk) and pointed out to me that Kit, the 1934 doll was described as the "bright light of the depression era". We were all feeling a mixture of shock and awe at the sheer volume of accessories and lifestyle packets that are available for the dolls, some of which correspond with their literary historical counterparts (check out the new 1970's doll if you really want to feel old) and then something odd happened. It got to my co-worker first. She turned the page with the matching daughter/doll pajamas. "Ohhh, I can see why people buy this, I would've wanted my daughter to have this", As I was laughing at all the excess (do we really need tiaras for our daughters and our daughters dolls?) I was occasionally pulled in by some of the details. It brought me back to my aunt's amazing barbie doll wardrobe and how much fun I had playing with it. My colleague, who's daughter is just a couple of years older than Nora, pointed out how well made the AG stuff is compared to other toys, and how cool the record player (for the doll) actually played little miniature 45's. Then I saw the Kit doll's doll (insane isn't it?), who was dressed like an aviatrix. Now I want an aviatrix outfit and matching doll for Nora (no, I haven't checked to see if this is possible). So who knows if I'll eventually fall into the American Girl marketing quagmire. I've still got a few years before it starts working it's evil hypnosis on Nora, and maybe by then I'll figure out where I stand.