What's Up Holmes?

So the New York Times has informed me about this new Sherlock Holmes movie that Guy Ritchie is doing with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Annoyingly the author of the article is all "this isn't your Basil Rathbone Holmes, he's moody, he has addictions, he has problems", and I'm thinking that clearly this person has never seen Jeremy Brett and that's a shame since he is for me the definitive Holmes and really maybe you shouldn't be writing this article if you haven't. I'm sure I'll go see the movie anyway, even though I never go see movies, because it is Sherlock Holmes and I'm sure it will be enjoyable. Although I thought it was interesting that his addiction in this is gambling and not heroin, but maybe that was a little too close to home for Robert Downey Jr.

However, it is the movie in the sidebar of this article that has me really interested: a comedy is coming out with Sacha Baron Cohen as Holmes and Will Farell as Watson. This one has me completely hooked although I'm sure they both will go way over the top with it. Well, that's my two movies for this year. Nothing else better come out that grabs me or else Jason will have a heart attack if I actually go to three movies this year.

Sewing Continued

This week I finally got around to dealing with the window in Nora's room. Here's the curtains I "made". Actually it's a shower curtain that I cut down the middle and hemmed up. I really like the way it turned out and it works in the room.
Here's the pattern close up - yeah it's toile-y but Nora really likes birds.
This morning Nora astounded us by telling my dad there was a woodpecker outside, he looked and sure enough, it was. My girl knows her birds! One of my favorite things in Nora's room is this quilt that my mom's aunt made in the 60s or 70s. I really love it so much.
On of the things that makes is so great (in addition to all the retro fabrics and crazy quilt strips) is the fabulous fabric backing it-

SHEEP! All the better for counting when you want to go to sleep. Someday I hope to make a quilt as fabulous. The rest of Nora's room is still a work in progress.
She's got way too many toys, but some of them are really mine - like that FP boat and farm and the doll house was my mom's, then mine, and now Nora's.
She's also got too many books, just like her parents. She's talking to the fox family here in these photos, but I have no idea what she's whispering in their ears.

Snow Day

Today I'm home since it's been sleeting and snowing since last night. But I've been really busy. It seems like snow days are the only days I really get things done. This morning, Nora and I went out and helped Grand Marshall clear the sidewalk and driveway. Nora is such a snow baby, it seems like the cold never bothers her and we were ready to go in long before she was.

We came in for a snack of pretzels and cocoa. The pretzels were some we made this weekend from Vegan Lunch Box, but really they taste best when they are hot.
This afternoon, Grammy put Nora down for a nap and I got to work on a project I've been wanting to do for years. Jason's office chair was banished to the garage at the last house, and the deal we struck for bringing it in here was that I got to recover it. Here's the before (actually middle, I had disassembled it to figure out how to best make the cover)

and you can see that it was uglier than Jason's soccer shirts, but at least it was pretty easy to recover. On the bottom I just stapled onto over the old fabric with that Amy Butler pattern (I think it's called "coriander") that I bought last year. The top I had to slipcover since the metal brace was not removable from the back. Now we have another problem:
I like it so much I want to keep it for myself. Don't you think it matches my new file cabinet well?

Oh No!

Something terrible happened today. These came in the mail. Readers you decide, which of these is the worst? Vote in the poll over on the right.





At least one of us is happy.

Inauguration Day

This morning I had a meeting at one of the adult education centers. At 11:00, we all took a break and joined one of the classes to watch the Inauguration. If I couldn't be on the mall, this was certainly the second best place. Teachers, students, tutors, staff and we gatecrashers from our meeting watched together; sometimes silently, sometimes in tears, sometimes with cheers. Yeah, there was one guy on his cell phone, and someone was doing her homework (hey we always tell them that they need to put their studying first and turn off that TV), but 95% of the class was listening and there was this feeling going around, like we were part of something. And we were: many of these students voted for their first time this year, either due to age or because no one ever gave them reason to think that their vote mattered before. I couldn't stay for the class discussion afterwords, but I've got that warm fuzzy feeling that these students, most of them labeled only as high school dropouts, gang members, single moms, or slackers, felt like they had helped elect someone who possibly saw them in those terms, but also sees them as parents, churchgoers, community members and people who don't always have a voice, but definitely have something to say, and that maybe that something is worth listening to. I've got a whole lot a hope in them, in him and in us.

It Might Be 15 Degrees Outside, but the KC Hall was on FIRE!

We had a blast last night at the Farewell Tour for the Starlighters, my Uncle Bill's dance/wedding band who's last gig was 20 years ago. We got there around 6:30, and the place was absolutely packed. Thankfully, Ted and Linda had saved us a seat and Ted, who'd been standing in the beer line for 10 minuets already ($4.50 for a PITCHER of Bud Light), took our beer orders, we went with the pitcher. After a close call with the fish plates (they had already run out of slaw, and we got fish right under the wire - not really a big problem since there is now a pretty good Mexican kiosk inside the KC hall too) we settled in for what turned out to be a really fun night. Lynn and Ellen had clued us in that the band had practiced only 3 times prior to this evening, and they were pretty nervous. You sure couldn't tell once they got started. Amazingly, it appeared that 80% of the hall, did I mention it was packed?, was here to see the band, including Bill's Psychology class from SWIC - they even had shirts! The Starlighter's repertoire includes a mix of oldies, country and polkas and this crowd, which ranged in age from under 3 to 93, was really into it.

Nora had a great time on the dance floor, but often had to make sure she kept out of the way of the the serious dancers who were on their feet through just about every song. It made me really wish I actually knew how to dance, even a polka. One of the neatest things about the evening was the multi-generational makeup of the dance floor. The older folks put us all to shame (except for one fabulously nimble-footed teen-aged pair) and it makes me think that the Starlighters really need to consider this as the beginning of a reunion tour instead of their final performance.

Here's some shots of the night:

I give you THE STARLIGHTERS

My Uncle Bill, obscured by mike. I understand that there was a plan for multiple changes of headgear, but that the person in charge of wardrobe "forgot" to bring them.
Fans Uncle Ted and Aunt Linda joined us for fish


And on the dance floor:

Aunt Lynn and Ellen partnered Nora throughout the evening on the dance floor, they agree that Nora needs to take lessons from someone other than Jason, who could use some lessons himself. The table behind us was in agreement.
Nora and Aunt Lynn take a break and admire the drums

Jason and Nora get down
Nora leads Aunt Lynn back to the dance floor after getting some coaching in moves from her both of her Aunts.

The evening finale (for us) Smoke on the Water, notice the addition of shades, which were thankfully not entrusted to Wardrobe. While we were busy dancing it was reported that Bill took the power stance and performed the windmill twice (he also removed the shades for the sax solo - but maybe it was because he needed his glasses to read the music), BTW, those two in the foreground - the aforementioned teen dancing duo:
Nora and Aunt Lynn are feeling the Purple Haze

New Years Resolutions

I don't have any. Nor do I have a five year plan or even a one year plan. This may have something to do with playing too much Civilization at the warlord level. Or maybe it just is what it is. If I made New Year's resolutions, I should probably include one about blogging more, especially since due to Facebook, I now have more readers stopping by, at least for the moment.

I still don't know what I think about Facebook. Sometimes it makes me super-happy. Just seeing the interconnectedness of the Hendrix diaspora. And I enjoy the silliness of it as well. And the strange disconnect but also connect between ourselves as highschoolers, as college students and whatever we are now, I guess that would be adults. But I also sort of resent the minute to minuteness of it all too, that our lives are measured by the continually updated news board of what we are doing right now. And then there is this weird sense that we are somehow staying in touch through cheerful notices about our fandom or tossing philosophers about.

Anyway, in an effort to keep you all apraised of our activities, here's what we've really been up to (when we're not making virtual buttons with My Pretty Pony Newborns on them):

This week, Jason went back to teaching classes, thus ending his long winter break. We broke down and subscribed to super duper soccer dish tv, so now there is even more soccer in our lives than before. And lots of Monk. And Dr Who - not that we watch these things, we just record them. There is only 5 hours left, we've got to get cracking. And he bought a new winter coat with a velvet collar (so very unexpected).

Nora went back to pre-school after taking a day off to finally purge the stomach virus that has been plaguing her. Now she is staying there later too and is (happily for her parents) seeming to really enjoy being there. Or is at least no longer really upset when we go. She is still touch and go on this potty learning thing. Some days are all about the big girl pants and other days we could care less. Since Christmas, we've been receiving phonecalls from Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus on Nora's red phone. They are all on at once, not sure if it's a conference call, three-way, or if everyone is just bunched up around the phone. This is my mother's doing, but I think I'm okay with it for right now.

I've been back at work for the past week, and while nothing new is happening, I did get to meet up with the group of women I've been working closely with for the past 4 years (some of them for longer). We all belong to different programs in the area and externally we couldn't be more different (we span at least 40 years in age, are various races and marital statuses, some of us wear suits and heels others (me) sloutch on by in cords and tees, some of us are moms, some are grandmoms and moms and some are moms to pets, etc) and we've been meeting monthly as a committee over this time and we've done some really amazing stuff around literacy and advocacy and student leadership and all sorts of things. I've realized that I've really come to appeciate our value on the process as well as the product and the complete lack of ego, turf, and grandstanding that too often happens in meetings that are supposed to be about getting something done. Over the years we've learned so much about our lives outside of work and the stresses that drain us at work and figured out how to keep ourselves and our little group going and moving and building. It's nice, and I just thought I'd share.

I started swimming again, and hopefully I'll keep with it since it's relaxing and exercise (amazing that it can be both) and those are both good things.

Karl remains the ever loyal dog he's always been, but is starting to show his age - which would be somewhere between 13 and 14 years. His eyes are starting to cloud over with cateracts and he's not hearing as well as he used to, but he still tries to give the squirrels a run for their money.

My parents are in Florida so the kitchen wars have stalled right now, but look for a return to the battle of the toaster oven when they get back. We are also strangly aware of the lottery right now.

This weekend is the farewell tour of the Starlighters at the Maryville KC Hall. I have to say I'm excited about going.

Hmmm, that sort of covers the updates.

Bevo the Beverage, Bevo the Mill.

I was surprised to learn that AB still owned it and even more surprised that they've turned it over to the city for free. Here's the story. And here's a brief history of Bevo the Beverage: "The All-Year-Round Soft Drink. Appetizing - Healthful - Nutritious - Refreshing. Milk or water may contain bacteria. BEVO never does."

Cakes, Cookies and Presents

For Nora's birthday we had some friends and family over and I made cakes. Two to be exact. I had planned on making cupcakes, but then I saw this star form pan on super-duper clearance and then there was the problem of locating the large cupcake tins (with the combined household, we have enough tins to make over 7 dozen mini-muffins without re-using a tin, but my regular sized muffin tins are packed and Mom can't find hers), so it turned out to be two, two layer star cakes. One was chocolate with pink icing and the other coconut with white coconut icing. I adapted Isa's chocolate cupcakes and "buttercream" icing from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and her Coconut Heaven cupcakes and icing from Vegan with a Vengeance. I even broke out the pastry bags and icing tips for my first ever attemp at cake decorating. It wasn't Martha Stewart, but Nora was really happy as was I. Here's a really bad picture of a partial coconut cake and the pink cake after a star point was cut off. (I have no idea why I don't have a picture of just the cakes).
She had a really great time and everyone brought her too many wonderful presents. One of the many downsides of having a birthday right before Christmas is that all of your loot comes in one fell swoop, and it's hard to not get overwhelmed. On the upside, Jason and I will probably always be off for her birthday and we'll do our best to make sure her day isn't lost in the big holiday hubbub.

The Saturday before, Nora, Laura, Grammy and I made cookies - here Nora and I are working on the gingerbread cutouts (we used a doctored up recipe from Vegan Lunchbox) she really loved decorating them BEFORE they went into the oven (so, yes, they are safe to eat despite a three year old's hands being on them). She also loved tasting the dough, sprinkles, red hots, and sanding sugars as well as the finished product. We also made the Lemony Cutout cookies from Vegan With A Vengeance, but we just dropped them, flattened them and added sprinkles.

Christmas meant even more presents to open, including the whole Santa mythology which continues in our house thanks to Dad and I (Mom and Jason are really not into it).
Santa, with the help of Elves, Todd and Natascha who made a trip to Ikea, brought this fabulous easel. It's been one of the most popular gifts this year:
Along with Steve, Barbie's dog who's been born with a plastic heart on his abdomen and came with a complete pink and purple vet kit (thanks Mom). I don't know why Nora named him Steve. Lastly, I have my Aunt to thank again for this:
This is Penny. And actually I belive my cousin Ellen might be the responsible party, because believe it or not, this is a My Pretty Pony Newborn. Yes, I know it's blue, its eyes are too big (this is a big selling point with Nora) and it's hair is rainbow colored and it has a pacifier, but nevertheless its a horse and now its also beloved and must sleep with us. Her ears are not very nice to roll over on, but I think Penny is here to stay.

Molasses

The Solstice, Nora's birthday, Christmas and New Years has come and gone. I've been on vacation and while I've been having a good time, I don't feel like I've really gotten anything accomplished. Family was visited, cookies made, presents wrapped, there was good cheer. I read and enjoyed both of the Sarah Vowell books I gave my father (Assassination Vacation and The Wordy Shipmates). But I'm due back at work on Monday and I still haven't unpacked anything since we moved in, other than the basics we took out that first week. There's people I should have called, thank you notes I should have written, projects I wanted to at least begin, and now its the new year, and while that should hold promise, all it really seems to hold is the prospect of time moving ever more swiftly.