Monday, June 28, 2010

A Tale of Blue Pants

Merely 8 hours ago these pants were pink. The sickly, I've been bleached, pink. It all started with an iron stain far wouldn't come out, and proceeded to a frustrated me throwing them in with the bleach load - several times... But I really, really like these pants. They are comfortable and lightweight, perfect for traveling to hot places. So, last night I bought some dye, and viola, I have blue pants, albeit in a much darker hue than before. Thank you Tulip fabric dye, for saving my pants. (Lol, I think the dye may have cost more than the pants did... I love thrift store shopping.)

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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Park

Sunday nights sometimes comprise of Jonathan playing soccer at a park a few towns over. Tonight we went along as they have a great area for the kids to play. Noah is getting plenty of step practice.

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Changes

So finally, after thinking about for quite a long time, I've changed my header and title of my blog.  This started out as the adventures of our family moving, and has become more of an outlet for myself - so I thought I would make it a little more personalized to me.

When I was first thinking about changing the name I had a pretty rough time coming up with something.  I wanted it to convey what I was talking about on here, and have a little bit of me in it.  Needless to say, I had a bit of trouble coming up with something clever.  As I was thinking it all over I realized that 3 things that I usually talk about are my kids, cooking, and quilting.  And then, because I am a huge nerd, I starting thinking about how strange the English language is - that you can have an alliteration with three words that start with different letters. So I decided that that would somehow play into my new name.

That was about 2-3 weeks ago... Finally yesterday I sat down to make a new header.  I wanted something a little more generic.  Somehow I had taken a picture of food on top of my cutting mat, which seemed perfect. Then I added my alliteration, but it felt like it needed something else.  With just posting my garden post, I figured I needed a word for that  - and came up with cultivation.  Then I had to look up alliteration, just to be sure that it really was an alliteration, and then to see if there were other forms of the word.  That was how I found the phrase alliterative verse, so I figured it would be ok to use the word alliterative in other ways.  So My Alliterative Life was born.  Tag Line: Stories of Kids, Cooking, Quilting,  Cultivation   (and other random things)

It states what I usually talk about, and there is a bit of me in there.  The geeky nerdy grammar loving bit. (We won't get into how one of my favorite classes in college was my senior level grammar class...)  Please don't critique my grammar on here though.  I love it, and like to be grammatically correct, but I know I am not all that great with it. :)

Oh, and I also set my self a goal to try and post something every day until next Tuesday - just for fun.  It has been fun coming up with something to post each day.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Why There are No Quilt Blocks

This is what has been taking up the free time that would usually be used at the sewing machine.  And it needs to use up more of my free time, evidenced by all the of the weeds still present... :)



Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Gooooaaaal!





This year marks the first year I have ever watched The World Cup.  I've never been a huge soccer fan - but I'm being pulled in.  I got Jonathan tickets to a MLS game for his birthday and we attended that game earlier this year.  It was so much fun!  I loved going to the game, and since I've been more interested in watching it on TV.  Now that the World Cup is on, I've been watching along with Jonathan.  Today's game, USA vs Algeria was excellent.  So suspenseful, and with a great ending!  A winning goal that won us the top position in our group and sends us forward in the tournament!  I'm looking forward to watching the games the next couple weeks, and then the finals when we are in Colombia. :)


*Picture from http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/06/23/sports/23us8/23us8-sfSpan.jpg

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sad state of affairs

I had hoped to have a post with my final blocks by now, but unfortunately I ran into some issues involving tearing out seams, holes in fabric due to poor tools, and the need to resew a few things. Hopefully soon.

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Favorites Weekend

This week I'm featuring my favorite North American* vacation spots.
*I added this clarification because, once I started thinking about it, I realized that there are other places I would consider favorites, but they are all over the ocean. 



#1 Anna Maria Island, FL
We have been here twice.  One time was at a friend's grandparent's winter home, and the other we rented a condo.  Both very close to the beach.  And speaking of the beach!  It is beautiful.  White sand, not crowded at all, wonderful sunsets.  I love the smell of the ocean - and I really wish we could make it down this year.  Maybe next year!



#2 Lake Nipissing Ontario, Canada
This was our family vacation spot for most of my childhood.  I haven't been back in over 4 years, and I really miss it.  It wasn't your typical vacation.  We would get up super early to go out and fish, come back and eat a wonderful brunch, nap/read/munch, early supper, then back out on the lake until dusk.  We stayed in a fully furnished cabin, made all of our own meals, and just really spent some quality time as a family.  It was also nice that we never had to worry about taking nice clothes along. :)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Fulfillment

The pop of a jar sealing is probably the most fulfilling noise for a canner. I know it gives me enjoyment to hear it. :)
This afternoon's project was to make and can some strawberry jam. Usually Sundays are reserved for leisure, but with a power outage yesterday and strawberries that were getting more mushy by the minute, it had to be done today. The recipe is quite simple.
2 quarts strawberries
6 cups sugar
Mix together in sauce pan. Bring to a slow boil. Cook quickly to gelling point. (Do not let it boil over... it doesn't smell that great burning under the burner...) Fill the jars and all that good stuff (email me for more precise canning instructions if you need them.) Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.
I'll let you know how it turns out. I also didn't use quite as much sugar as it called for, so we'll wee how that worked too.

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Friday, June 4, 2010

Updates

Wow, 3 blogs in 2 days that has to be some sort of record. :-) Just thought I would give a bit of an update.
Quilt-along: I was just marking and pinning a bunch of half square triangles tonight - so hopefully by the end of this rainy weekend I'll have some completed squares. I can't wait to have it in the quilt frame, and then hopefully on our wall.
Trip: I'm not sure that I ever did give real details. we are heading to Colombia - in less than a month! It is being called a service and learning trip. The goal is to help out, but to also learn and be able to tell others back home about all that is going on there. We are pretty excited. I'm most nervous about leaving the boys, but I know they will be in good hands. Please be in prayer for us as we travel early next month - for our safety and that God will open our hearts to what He wants to teach us.

That is all for now. Maybe tomorrow a lament for our horrible internet connection - and horrible lack of options.... :) (so I'm being a little over dramatic, but only a little.)

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Favorites Friday (the comeback)

So summer is really not the best time for blogging.  I can sense a down shift in activity in my Reader feed - with the exception of the non personal blogs of course. :)  I've been wanting to blog, it just seems like whenever I'm in the mood, there is some reason I can't get to it.  So finally I'm here - and with a comeback of the shortlived Favorites Friday.

First off are my new shoes.  As seen in the post previous to this one. I've been reading about barefoot running and it's advantages.  Also, I really like to be barefooted.  So I wanted to try out the shoes that claim to be as if you were barefooted.  Or as Ohlen would say, "I'm going out in tiptoes." :)  So after I did some research I decided on Nike Frees.  I'm usually an Adidas girl all the way - but Adidas doesn't make a barefoot shoe that I know of.  They are also pretty expensive new, but I was, luckily, able to find a slightly used pair on eBay for about half the price of a new pair.  I wanted to make sure that I liked them before I fully committed.  And I love them.  I really can tell a difference in how I run (jog...) in them.  If you want to know about all of the logistics of it, just google barefoot running and it will lead you to lots of information.

The second thing I wanted to talk about is this:




This is the final image seen in the series finale of Lost.  I loved this show.  Loved the finale.  And that is really all I'm going to say.  :)  If you would like to talk to me about Lost more - please send me an email. I love discussing this show - which is probably why I like it so much.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Testing

Just testing something. More later - including an explanation of why I posted a picture of shoes. :)

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