What goes up . . .

must come down!  After a week of record heat, the mercury has been keeping a low profile!  Our days have been in the low to mid 70's and our nights in the 50's!  It has been totally delightful!  I turned off the AC and opened all the windows.  That is definitely an advantage to living in an old house.  Our house was built in the early 1920's and every room has a lot of windows.  It's very easy to get a nice cross breeze and the big old trees keep much of it shaded.  As you can see, several family members really enjoyed the fresh air!

I've been trying to get stuff done around the house since I've been off.  Today I washed window sashes which had a lot of dirt from the screens.  I also hung the curtain rod in the kitchen.  I will make that curtain tomorrow.  

I have a number of sewing projects that I have to do between now and next weekend.  Ems' graduation from Graham Webb is on Sunday June 29 so I am making her a dress using this pattern and fabric:

I like the violet chiffon over the fuschia lining.  It gives it an iridescent look.  I made a muslin of the bodice for Ems to try on when she stopped by today.  I had to do major alterations but it fit. She wants me to open up the neckline a bit because it is somewhat bunchy.  That's the way the design is.  I've redrafted the neckline to show more of a plunge and expose the collar bone area.  I'll take pictures of the finished product.  I had a helper while I was sewing.
Greg has been following me around since I've been off.  He stays close to me no matter what I'm doing!  Rumor has it that he cries constantly when I go away.  Jeremy said he "cried like a little bitch" last year when I went to Boston!  Poor baby!

 I am also doing a lot of the sewing for her fashion show.  The participants are given a challenge.  This year the challenge is international or fantasy brides.  Ems has to come up with a concept, do the costume, make up and hair.  She is doing a British punk rock bride and a medieval sort of thing.  I am doing the sewing for that.  She came up with the design and chose the fabric.  I'll put it together for her.  I will have to take photos at the fashion show.  The entries are always very impressive!

The tooth fairy visited our house last week. This tooth fairy looked something like this:
Mikey's tooth finally fell out!  It had been hanging down, scraping against his chin.
You can see the tooth hanging down.  Then one morning I noticed it wasn't there and I found this on the couch!

So we put the tooth under Mikey's pillow and the tooth fairy left him a couple pouches of tarter control treats. I guess she's hoping that she won't have to visit us anymore!

On the knitting front--I have been working on Fete. I'm almost done with it, but I started my third skein of yarn and was horrified by the pooling of the colors! This yarn is Handmaiden Double Sea Silk. I've never had issues with this yarn before and the skeins have always matched. I had one skein left over from Gizelle so I bought 2 more for this top. I think this third skein is the leftover one. It is much bluer than the other two. Check this out:

That big chunk of blue is on the upper back and will be hidden by my hair most likely.  However I have to finish the upper front and I fear that I will have the same problem, though so far it doesn't seem quite as bad.  There's really not much I can do.  I don't want to spend another $38 for one more skein of yarn.  I think I will finish then knit a swatch.  I'm thinking that I can heavily dilute some purple dye and see what happens if I paint it on the blue part.  I have nothing to lose except the swatch!  I'll finish this in a day or two then I have to get started on Labyrinth.

Here is another summer recipe that we love around here:

Confetti Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 box tri color Rotini
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup black olives, halved
1/2 cup onion diced
1 container Trader Joe's Perlini (Pea sized fresh mozzarella balls), drained (optional)
1 bottle Kraft Italian salad dressing ( I use fat free)

Cook pasta to al dente. Drain and run under cold water. Drain again. Mix pasta, vegetables, Perlini, and 1/2 bottle of salad dressing. Refrigerate for an hour or so. Mix again and add remaining dressing before serving.


This is good stuff! I make a batch and eat it for lunch the whole week!

Bushism of the day:

"In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?'" --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

Kitty Cam: Samantha takes some time away from the boys.