Shipping Sins

When I was in 7th grade science class we did a project called the Egg Drop, in which each student had to independently design and create some sort of packaging that would protect a raw egg from breaking when dropped from the top of the bleachers onto the hard gym floor. You were graded first on whether or not your egg broke, but you also got more points the smaller your packaging was. I remember mine was part of a large sponge that I had sliced in half and out of which I carved a snug place for my egg. The whole sponge was then put inside a box and taped shut. I think I got an A on that project.

Some time after that activity we did the Naked Egg Drop, in which you dropped your egg into or onto something that cushioned the fall. Again, points were awarded for how small your target was, and from the top of the bleachers it was not always easy to judge if you were on the mark. I think my cushion was my mom's largest Tupperware bowl filled with Ziploc bags full of water. And I'm pretty sure my egg broke that time. I seem to recall it hitting the rim of the bowl.

Today I think of the Egg Drop project when I see the way things are packaged for shipping. Case in point: the Chumby.

A Chumby is a wireless internet media device we recently purchased to easily enjoy Pandora Radio in any room of the house, along with many, many other apps, like weather reports, photo slideshows from Flickr and Picasa, Facebook, daily Bible verses, Spanish word of the day, This Day in History, etc. We mainly got it for the many internet radio stations, podcasts, and Pandora. I love being able to listen to my customized radio stations in any room easily without using my laptop. So I'm a big fan of the Chumby.

I'm not a big fan of how this little device was packaged for shipping. The shipping folks got the protection factor right, as our Chumby came to us in full working order. But I give them an F minus on the size factor.

The device is about the size of my fist and yet our son could fit in that box. And what was filling in the blank space in the box? Biogdegradable cardboard? Bags of air?

No.

Polystyrene. That will never decompose.

Idiots.

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Family Portrait

Some weeks ago Calvin suggested that we should get a picture with "Mommy and Daddy and Calvin and Sasha and Lydia" in it. So this past Sunday afternoon we made the attempt. There was one injury that resulted in some blood loss (mine) but other than that, I think everyone else emerged unscathed, at least physically.

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My (sort of) New Office Space

I have moved my home office for the remainder of the summer and fall to the sun room. Now that the very hot weather has passed, I will be found typing away in the room that has for the past year and a half been taken over by my very large quilting frame.

As of this past Friday night, that frame is GONE. I finished my last three blocks by midnight that evening while watching three short documentaries from Netflix streaming: National Geographic: Appalachian Trail, The Natural History of the Chicken, and John James Audubon.

I triumphantly unrolled the finished quilt off the lower roller and started taking out the tacks that held it to the frame when I discovered, to my great consternation, that back in February 2010 I had had to skip about a two inch wide strip the entire length of the quilt because of the way it had to be tacked. I was not done after all! And it was midnight.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!

Undaunted, I carried on. Two hours and one full-length documentary (Out of Ireland: Emigration into America) later I was really, actually, completely, wholly finished. For real. I fell asleep that night sometime between 2:30 and 3:00am, but I was done. And that is all that mattered.

Last night I made the bias binding and sewed it on the front with my machine and sat in the basement to another movie (Reindeer Games, Zach's partially-ironic choice) and bound the back by hand. A couple more movies and I will be done.

So now I sit in my clean and rearranged and much more roomy sun room doing catalog edits, listening to cicadas and blue jays, feeling the breeze through the open windows, and listening to classical guitar on Pandora radio.

And all seems right with my small world.

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The End Is Within Sight

Just a quick note to say that I am on the last row of my big bed quilt. I can't bring myself to take yet more pictures of this work in progress, so here are some links to remind you what on earth this project is (since I started it eons ago). If you have a few minutes you wish were dead, you can go back and follow the agonizingly slow progress, starting in December 2009!

Contemplating a New Quilt

Many Pieces

Get Help

Coming Along

The Top Is Done!

Fall Projects

My, How Time Flies

I'm a bit ashamed at how long this has taken, knowing that if I had put off a few smaller projects in the meantime, I could have powered through and gotten it finished at least the same year I started. But what's done is done. I think I could conceivably finish the quilting by the end of the month. After that, binding is just the matter of watching a few movies and keeping my fingers moving.

What are some big projects you've had a hard time finishing? Is it time to just buckle down and get it done?

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What a Day

Yesterday we attended Day Out with Thomas at Crossroads Village in Flint, Michigan.

We rode a train pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine, Calvin rode his very first ferris wheel, we finally found a CD with Down at the Docks on it (for Daddy), we went to a magic show, and had an all-around good time in the best weather we've had all summer: high 70s, lovely breeze, and blue sky with fluffy white clouds. Ahhhh...

This has been such a busy summer, it's hard to believe August is almost over. We've spent way to much time in the car (which is starting to whine in protest—eek!) and we've had little time to relax at home. Next year we will be saying no to a number of things and trying to enjoy our home, yard, and neighborhood more. But it has been a really fun summer as well, swimming in lakes, bouncing in bounce houses, seeing family, enjoying special events, going on rides, and making memories. Still, I'm ready for autumn, a slower pace, and no weddings, birthdays, fairs, or road trips. I'm ready for raking leaves, wearing jeans, and having fires.

I'm ready for those infernal mosquitoes to die already!

I'm ready for the slow, sweet goodbye to summer.

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Calvin at Birch Lake

It may have been cold...

...and drizzly...

...and windy...

...but you can't blame a boy...

...for wanting to play at the lake...

...no matter the weather.

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Odds and Ends

Earlier this week the boy and his father had a very busy morning constructing the ultimate track for Thomas and his many engine friends to travel, complete with the Sodor airport, the logging station, the Shake-Shake bridge, Tidmouth sheds, Brendam docks, a water tower, and various hills and bridges.

As you can see, the boy is very proud of it. But I'm pretty sure it was Daddy's idea. It was also Daddy's idea to go to the circus this week. This child is three years old and has already been to the circus three times. I never went to the circus as a child, though I remember wanting to and watching the Circus of the Stars (is that a thing?) on TV.

We bought him an overpriced light-up spinny thing that entranced him perhaps more than the circus itself. But he did enjoy watching the dancing camels and the motorcycles and the elephants and the ponies. And we even got to ride an elephant, which he has been wanting to do since the first circus he saw last winter.

But it hasn't all been fun and games. We've had some serious work to do at the house. Case in point, my husband's out-of-control ties.

Pastor Zach and I have the exact same personality when it comes to order. Deep down, we're a bit OCD about organizing. We like things like ties or spools of thread to be ordered precisely by color and lined up nicely. But we are also inexplicably lax about putting things away after we use them. So Zach's ties have slowly given in to entropy and were calling out in pain for more order. So they all made their way to the couch and I ordered them by color and Zach put them away nicely on his three tie racks. Yes, three. The man has almost 70 ties. Really. He managed to part with perhaps half a dozen as we were organizing, which were blessed subtractions ('90s in an unironic way...*shudder*).

Zach contemplates a couch full of ties.

In fact, I've recently gotten the purging bug again and I've been looking into closets and toy boxes and shoe racks with my eagle eyes, searching for dead weight. I've managed to pile a bunch of my shoes and some toys and some clothing into the last of our diaper boxes and they are sitting on the landing, waiting for transport to the thrift shop. And pretty soon I will have to deal with the sinkhole of junk that is the garage.

The lawn needs mowing and the gardens need weeding (and mulch) and the laundry needs doing. I suppose as summer winds down it's time to get down to business and reign in the chaos. Wish me luck!

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His Own Big Bed

Some time ago, perhaps 6 months, Calvin and I got this book from the library. He was excited by the idea of having a big bed of his own. So we used it as incentive for potty training. Every time he refused to sit on the potty, we reminded him of what he could get if he was potty trained. Oh, the possibilities!

"You can get out of bed in the morning and play instead of waiting for Mommy or Daddy to take you out of your crib!"  (Which really means, "You can get out of bed in the morning and play instead of waking Mommy and Daddy up with your incessant yelling!")

But despite that and other incentives, including toy cars and trains, it just didn't click with him until this month when we added Starbursts, banned diapers, and stuck the kid in some underwear. Sometimes you just have to make it happen, especially when your child is a staunch defender of the status quo.

Then this month a friend of a friend happened to be selling a toddler bed we thought might be right up Calvin's alley. Last night we introduced Calvin to his very own big bed and a new toybox to go with it.

I think he likes it.

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Eggplant Parmesan from Your Garden

We're starting to get quite a crop of tomatoes and peppers. And we've had eggplants, which I made into eggplant parmesan. It's a fairly easy dish and it is sooooo tasty. We ended up eating it for two nights. The key to good eggplant, I've discovered thanks to the internet, is draining out the excess fluid. Here's the deal. You slice up your eggplant into about 1/4 inch slices, then layer in a large colander, sprinkling each layer with kosher salt. Cover with a plate and let sit two hours (put the colander on top of a plate or dish to catch the liquid). Then rinse and pat dry. I used three normal sized eggplants (not huge ones you might buy in a store).

Next you dredge them in a mixture of equal parts flour and bread crumbs, then dredge in beaten eggs, then fry in a pan with about 1/2 inch hot olive oil. Fry until golden brown, turning once, then drain on paper towels.

Take a shallow pan (9x13 for a large amount, though I used a smaller one) and start with a layer of sauce (homemade is great but store-bought is respectable, just something tasty).

Next a layer of eggplant.

Then shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Do yourself a favor and get a block of real parmesan cheese and then grate it. Don't get the hard, pre-grated stuff. Ick. Then on top of the cheeses a layer of fresh basil from the garden.

Repeat the layers again but omit the basil (one layer is really enough) and end with cheese. Bake 30 minutes at 350 or until the cheese is browning and bubbling. Remove from oven and let sit 5 or 10 minutes before serving. Serve over spaghetti and more sauce and garnish with basil.

I'm telling you, I've made this but once and yet I know it will become a staple in our house. My husband mentions it daily. We have five more eggplants currently growing on our plants and more flowers blooming, so I hope to have this meal several more times before the first frost.

Don't have a garden? All of this wonderful stuff can be found at the store, albeit in a more expensive and chemically enhanced form. If you aren't growing eggplant, you should be!

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King Calvin

It is official. Calvin is potty trained. An accident here or there notwithstanding, he is out of diapers for good.

We're all quite happy about it.

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Up Close and Personal Answer

Between comments here and on Facebook, you guessed an avocado, a fish, a dragonfly, and the vague "something of the biological nature" (very safe bet, Anna).  :)

Is is of a biological nature and it is an insect, just not yet in it's final form.

It is a caterpillar, a black swallowtail, if I'm not mistaken. (Let me know if I am mistaken, Dave.)

I found this handsome guy on a carrot plant in my garden.

He made my day.

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Up Close and Personal Again

Back on my old blog I did several posts called Up Close and Personal, in which I post a way close-up shot of something and you have to guess what that something is. Well, I'm bringing it back! To see some of the previous posts, just click here.

Game on:

Now, what do you suppose that is?

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Wish You Were There? I Do.

It's no secret I love my state. Take a look at this gorgeous slideshow of photos taken by fellow Michigan-lover John McCormick and you'll see one of the many reasons why. These breathtaking views are all of the Upper Peninsula's beautiful Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.



Now, don't you want to come visit?

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Pure Summer

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