What's in my bag

Over at nice girl notes, there is a 'what's in your purse' link up.  Lots of fun friends are sharing pictures of what's inside their purses.  I think it will be evident what our daily activities are by peeking inside.  I took my pictures and here they are.... good grief.  It's in 3 photos. 

buckeye, rubber giraffe, fake vampire teeth, beanie baby tag, hot wheel car, paperclip, saftety pin, binder clip, index cards with a story Bee wrote on them, sunglasses, school key, cell phone, 3 pieces on candy, box of raisins, keys

coffee cozy, empty silly putty egg, Bee's sunglasses, handful of tickets, post it notes, blue pencil grip, acorn, hair band, bobby clips, hotel room key from weeks ago, chapstick, lip stick, sun block, camp out thank you note from May. 

small sewing project, 2 pairs of sewing scissors, Vera wallet, empty snack bag, bandaid, bouncy ball, small rock, zipper bag containing 4 more pairs of kid sunglasses, Joanns coupon, 4 Bionicals cards, 11 assorted pens and pencils and markers, snap happy bag containing ipod shuffle and two sets of headphones.

Not sure how that all fit in there.  As you can see, Lou sees my purse as his personal carrying case for treasures.  I'm guessing not many ladies are carrying vampire teeth, cars, rocks, trading cards, candy and bouncy balls by their own choice.

ruffle shirt to skirt

Bee's been wanting a ruffle skirt and I kept telling her I'd make it.  It would take like 15 minutes and I just needed to find the right ruffle fabric.  I kept looking with no luck, certainly without spending more than it costs to buy one.  Luckily she was being really patient.  At a yard sale recently, I found it though.  I bought this XL shirt for $1.  They had it marked at $2, but it was late in the day and I wasn't paying that much.

The fabric was right.  The construction was super easy.

I just cut it below the arm pits, gathered it up and stitched it to a piece of thick black elastic. The sewing isn't even pretty.  No one can tell.  Except you.

There was so much fabric left I thought a shirt might be needed.  We also whipped up a ruffly hair clip (you can see it in the picture of the full outfit). 

Bee gets 10 points for patience.  I get 5 for a good bargain.

dried apples

My sister gave me this book as an early Christmas present.  We keep secrets and gifts like that. 

It has some fun recipes for jellies, jams, sauces, chutneys, etc as well as some information on very traditional preserving methods like drying and smoking.  These dried apples looked delish and since apples are as cheap as they are local right now, I decided to try it first.

They were so so good.  We gobbled them up.  They were very much like the expensive dried apples we sometimes buy the kids for travel snacks.  Only, I never eat those because I want to 'save them for the kids.'

This is more a method than a recipe, so I don't feel bad sharing all the secrets from this page, because they aren't secrets.  Ladies have been preserving fruits for eons with this method.  Some men maybe too, but l feel ok saying ladies...  Regardless, the apples get washed and sliced thinly.  I used several varieties of apples and they all had good results. 

Then they get cored and dipped in 2 c water, 2 c lemon juice. 

Lay them on a drying rack and bake/dry for 10ish hours at 175 degrees.  I tasted as we went and did enjoy them at all leathery in-between states.

When they are removed from the oven, they need to sit a hour or two on the counter to cool.  They do a crazy crisping up at this point as well.  It was as though all the sweetness of the apples was condensed in the smaller space.  They made a great snack for sitting on the counter to grab whenever you needed a little something.   It was better than grabbing a handful of chocolate chips every time I walked through the kitchen.  Why are those blasted chips even in my pantry?

We liked them so much, we packaged some up for Bee's teacher.  

Along with a water bottle, it made a fun 'first day of teacher conferences' snack.  There's no shame in buttering up the teacher before conferences!

kitten sitten

Sorry Grandma, it's more kitten coverage. My Grandma isn't a cat fan.  

We are kitten sitting.  5 little 5 week old babies have taken over Bee's room.  

They are the same little guys from here and here. 

They are past their alien stage and are just stinking cute right now. 

They play and wrestle and act goofy.  They are pretty much like any little kid.

Holiday e-book

The Holiday e-book from We Teach is ready.  I'm honored to be one of the 24 published contributors again.  This book is full of fun crafts and learning activities for little ones for holidays through the year.

  

To download the free book, you must be a member of We Teach, an online forum for teachers and parents- but that's free and easy to sign up for as well.  

costumes

I finished Bee's Cleopatra costume this weekend.  I had all of the materials on hand except the shimmery blue that is the 'wings' material.  I had all that gold fabric on hand.  I can't even explain why a person would have 2 yards of crazy shiny gold fabric.   I think we've got $3 in this costume.

She wanted to be Cleopatra after seeing one at the store.  It was in the adult section and was a little revealing.  She said, "What is that?  I want to be her!"  We opted for a bit more conservative version.   We did get a Cleopatra book at the library to learn a bit more.

We raided the Christmas decoration box for the gold beads.  Hubby will be pleased, there will be no gold beads on the Christmas tree this year. 

 We are still working on the eye make-up. 

I offered to make Lou a costume, but he wanted to wear his favorite Batman costume.

Bee and Lou had a friend over for a costume birthday party. Lou's son, Cat,  was having a birthday.  He also has another birthday next weekend. We like to party.

I tried to get Bee to 'walk like an Egyptian.'  She was very confused. 

Now that song will be in your head too. 

We're ready for some trick-or-treating!

and possible some super hero work. 

pumpkin collections

Here are a few pumpkin things from the past.  I wish I knew how to do one of those roundup galleries.  I tried, but it was an html mess. I took a computer programming class once, but my teacher said it wasn't something I'd need someday and not to worry too much if I couldn't get something.  He had to help that Beals kid, he showed a lot of promise! 

Yarn Pumpkin bowls

Pumpkin Cans

Fabric Pumpkins

 What's inside a Pumpkin craft 

Pumpkin Search Game

Pumpkin Snack

 While you're here, here are this year's carving pictures.  Lou and Bee were both paid a quarter to reach their hands in!  Bribery at it's best.

The morning after carving these, the neighbors pumpkins were smashed in their driveway and ours were sitting by the curb, probably next in line.  The weekend before, the cars on our street got egged.  We need to start giving out treats so we don't get more tricks.

sweetness

I found this on Bee's nightstand today.  She said I could share it.  It says Prayer 1 because it's the best, it's #1.  It won a award even.