Here's a bit of what's on around our place these days.
What's on my stove: Home made ginger beer. Courtesy of Hubs. He's a man on a mission, and despite the fact that over the past couple of years he's made ginger beer a handful of times, he still feels that he hasn't "cracked the code" on the perfect recipe yet. He considers this iteration a disappointment, as he says its neither sweet enough nor fiery enough and didn't ferment very quickly (he's blaming that on acidity and possibly the use of cream of tartar) but I actually really like this batch. Its mellow and subtle. He'll make a few adjustments and try it again (different sugar, less lemon, or maybe no rind this time), and has big plans to try making his own Root Beer or Sasparilla. (I can't say that word with out feeling like Yosemite Sam)
On the tape deck: I cannot tell you HOW MANY TIMES we listened to Cinderella this week. Suffice it to say, it was a lot! But of course, I took this picture yesterday, and since then he's changed it up to being all Rumplestiltskin, all the time. I asked him what his favourite part of Cinderella was and he said "the hear ye, hear ye, guy". That's the part where the king sends out a decree inviting all the eligible young ladies in the kingdom to the ball. He has a very funny voice, and there is a trumpet blast, and for some reason, L.D. really likes that. His favourite part of Rumplestiltskin is where the Queen tries to guess his name and when she successfully does, he gets so angry that he stamps his foot so hard that it makes a hole in the ground through which he disappears and is never heard from again. We act that out a lot, which is very funny, especially when he wants me to be Rumplestitlskin, and he has to guess names. Because he'll start with a couple of real names "Casper? Bill?" and then move on to place names "Gallilee?" and then just make shit up "Schmoo-Schmo? Blaggle?" Then when he finally shouts "Rumplestitlskin" I have to stomp and spin around and fall to the floor with a howl. And I like to really do it up, because he loves it, but I totally gave myself a headache the other day after, like 7 spin/shout/falls.
On my needles: Rock Star Doll. Can you guess which rock star. I'll be impressed if you do, and no, neither Bert nor Ernie are rock stars. I've been enjoying the activity of knitting after all the quilting I've been doing lately, but remembered why I don't generally do a lot of doll/toy knitting. Its so bloody fiddle-y! Its a baby gift for a friend, so I have to see it through, otherwise I'd have abandoned it by now. By the time I'm done I'll bet I could have used the same amount of time and made a sweater. Well, ok, a kid's sweater. Or maybe a scarf. But you know what I mean.
On my sewing machine: Another play matt quilt for the baby. But I'm going to make this one thicker, because he needs the extra padding when down on the wood floor in the dining room. He's SO active and while he still can't crawl, he somehow manages to be constantly in motion. He's like a little coiled baby spring of activity. I'm telling you, it sometimes feels like he never stops. Even when I'm feeding him his legs are pumping and he's slowly windmilling his little arms around, pulling his ear, rubbing his head, sticking his fingers into my mouth. Its quite funny. Getting a diaper and sleeper on him after his bath is a full body aerobic workout. Speaking of which....
On the floor: The world's happiest baby! Such a smiler he is. My sister says he sparkles, and its true, he is positively effervescent. He's just within the past week figured out how to pop himself up really high on his arms like this, and when I get out of his sight line, he turtles his little neck up like this and jacks himself up on his strong little arms to get a look at me, so he can warble and squeal in my direction. I love it.
On my windowsill: This sweet little flower in its tiny little cup. The vase is actually a little KLM shot glass that Hubs got at a V.V. once. (I wish I could say we got it on a plane, but its been awhile since we've flown anywhere, especially via KLM) The Little Dude picked me this flower, hence the very short stem. It makes me smile every time I see it, because it's happy and orange and was picked and presented to me with the same nonchalant comfortable love that characterizes my Little Dude so well. I was taking this picture, and actually stopped to clean the window in the background, and was annoyed that there were still spots, even though I did inside and outside the window, so I moved it to the table where I thought it might work better. Then L.D. came along to 'assist' me.
"Don't DRINK it!" I yelped when I realized what was going on as it was snatched out from in front of my lens. He looked at me quizically and said, "I was just smellin' it."
Duh.