perspicacious.org

I made this tutu for Miss Emily's 3rd birthday and it could not have been easier. I used 2 yards of 60″ purple tulle and 1 yard of 60″ green. I also used about 2 feet of 1/2 inch elastic. I sewed rosettes along the bottom, which was by far the most tedious part of the project. (I'd probably skip the rosettes next time. Also, I could easily have used twice the amount of tulle and made the skirt fuller.)

Wand and plastic dress-up shoes are, of course, optional. If the skirt lasts till Halloween (in a house of 4 boys? We'll see…) she will be a really cute little fairy.

Total cost for this skirt– about $6.50. Total time– about 1 hour.

I have a lot of kitchen gear. (Too much, R would say, but is it really too much if I use it all?) Anyway, these are the things I use every day or darn near every day:

-Coffee press. I switched to pressed coffee this summer and it tastes so much better! I can never go back to a drip coffee maker now.

-Kitchen timer. I clip the timer to my shirt or pants while I do something else– this way I never forget I have the stove on! I also set the timer for 4 minutes for the coffee press– the magic time for pressed coffee I think.

-Kitchen shears. I cut open packages, cut up meat and vegetables with them, etc.

-Chef knife. We got some decent quality knives at a Black Friday sale last year and I cannot go back to the crummy knives I had.

-Measuring cup. I have 3 of these and use them all the time.

-Pepper grinder. Much tastier than ground pepper.

-I keep kosher salt in the little pig bowl (made by a potter friend of ours). I also keep a small bowl of sea salt. I lover kosher salt.

-Cutting mats. I use one for meat, one for vegetables, one for fruit and one for bread. They are tiny to store and make it easy to add chopped food to a pot or bowl. They're cheap, too.

[Note: If possible I linked to the actual item I own. Cutting mats and pepper grinder are similar items, but not the same.]

What do you use every day in your kitchen?

R and I got this PLaymobil dollhouse and some accessories for our niece's 3rd birthday, with the intention of keeping it at our house for her to play with when she comes over.

We had a lot of fun with the dollhouse already, with the fun continuing after Emily went home. Now I am a little obsessed with Playmobil. I love how versatile and durable the pieces are, and I can see a lot of imagination happening when E plays with them. I think they'll grow with her also.

R and I originally intended to get a nice wooden dollhouse like this one, but we loved the how portable, durable and expandable this one was. (And lots cheaper.) I do love beautiful wooden toys, but you just can't beat all the Playmobil add-ons. (Need a Vet's operating room? TSA security checkpoint? Gladiator arena? Butcher shop? Playmobil has them!) And I can see this house lasting…forever. Love it

At the end of the day if the kids are packed up and ready to go I ask them Brain Quest questions. Last Friday I asked, "What is the capitol city of the United States?" I explained this carefully by saying, "Remember, this is the name of a CITY. It is where the president lives." Here is what the kids said:
-"'U' is a capital! Like in USA!"
-"Oh yeah, 'S' is a capital, too!"

They didn't get the correct answer until I said, "It's ___________, DC." Haha.

I've also been having lots of fun communicating with all my non-English speaking families. I have 8 bilingual kids in my class this year. The kids all speak English fairly well, but the parents are another story. I often get Spanish speaking families assigned to my class because I speak Spanish, though clunkily.

Here are some really smart-sounding things I said (in Spanish) to a parent the other day:
-"Sometimes I do not think she listen, but always when I ask her a question she is knowing the answer."
-"Yes, she is able to read the books of the second grade with herself."
-"She is not talking with other children, always when I look she is doing work."

Yeah, time to brush up on that Spanish. But I guess clunky communication is better than none at all…

Alternate entry title=
a peaceful and serene walk through Creamer's Field, along with a cranky toddler (Emily– niece, almost 3) who sat in the middle of the trail and refused to walk any farther.

(Really, she was quite good, considering we walked about an hour and a half.)

We're soaking up the incredible sunshine and warm temps, which unfortunately can't last forever. I love fall.