Yay for me!

It's Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10pm, and I just leveled up to Level 100 in Farmville. I'm now known as the Omnipotent Agriculturalist.

Does that mean I'm done playing the game? Nope. Still got crops to master. Still got trees to master. And what would I do with all my spare time if I didn't keep farming? (Wait, don't answer that.)

It does mean I'm at the top of the game. They don't count levels beyond 100... yet.

Decorating the mantle

We have a brick mantle behind our wood stove. It's a nice little place to add decorations for holidays. Lately I've been slow getting to the decorating, and the kids ask over and over when we can put up decorations.


Early in February I retrieved my box of Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day decorations from storage. I was hosting the book club for lunch and I wanted to have the decorations up in time. And the kids would certainly appreciate it as well.

It's a small box. I opened the box and pulled out what I had with hearts on it. Here's what I got:

The mantle scarf was made to fit our old house's mantle, so it's a bit small for this one. And the little bear vase is a bit lost in this space. (The clock doesn't work, but it's heavy enough to keep the scarf from falling off, so it stays there for now.)

Then we decorated a table for our High Priests social, and I brought home the leftover decorations:

Better, but still not enough. That's how it was when the book club came. 

Then I found an idea I liked on the internet, but I knew I could do it myself for less. I started with some lumber that we bought for 50 cents from the cull bin at Home Depot. It's been sitting in the shop without a purpose. I took my black cardstock to my friend's house and used her Cricut machine to cut out the letters. Then I moved it all to my kitchen counter because we all know that's the best place for crafting.

One day, I laid out the letters to be sure I cut the wood the right size. Another day I'm in the shop cutting and sanding the wood. A few more days pass, and I add the paint. Another day, I found the printed paper. Still another day, I cut the paper into the right size and shape. Valentine's Day came and went and the project was still in pieces on the kitchen counter.

Finally, I decided it had to get done so I could reclaim my counter. I opened the mod podge and went to work. Most of the day later, here's what I had:

And I like it.

Here's the saving grace, though:

The blocks are reversible! (So is my mantle scarf.) And now the St. Patty's Day decorations are up with two whole weeks to spare! (I still need to add the daffodils to make it just right.)

Many thanks to everyone who helped me finally get there: the blog post with the original idea, Lorraine with her Cricut and sharing ways, David with the wood shop and patience for the mess on the kitchen counter, and my kids for not messing with the mess on the kitchen counter. I couldn't have done it without any of you!

With one game to spare...

I finished these last two scarves last Sunday, with one football game to spare. And it's a good thing, too, because this last game is meant for snacking not crocheting!

My friend from Mays Pond and her Young Women are making 6 or 8 more to go along with these. I hope there are others in the state making some as well so that all the athletes get one.

Now I'm off to eat my onion dip and watch commercials. And I guess I'll watch football in between.

I finished the first one...

I don't remember how, but I came across the 2011 Special Olympics Scarf Project online one day. (You can get more information for yourself at this website: www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org)  The youth in my ward were volunteers at last year's Olympics, and they're still sharing their special experiences nearly a year later. Because of that sharing, I was inspired to participate.

I searched the internet for free and easy scarf patterns, and I found several that I liked. I started with this mile-a-minute option, and I think it turned out okay. It really did work up quickly, and it gave my hands something to do while I watched football games with David.

Scarf No. 1

So the first one is done. My goal is three. Football is almost over, so David and I are going to have to find something else to watch together!

The shipping deadline is February 19, and Washington wants 1300 scarves for their Olympics. If you finish a scarf or two in time, I'll send it in with mine. And if you make dozens, we'll just have to drive to Seattle to deliver them

Thirty-Two

Thirty-two years ago on this same day, I put on my handmade imitation Gunne Sax dress and my Famolare wave-bottom sandals and lined up under the bleachers at the football stadium while I waited for Pomp and Circumstance to play. I was part of the 1978 graduating class at Vintage Senior High School in Napa, California.

My mom made the dress, copying those at the store that just didn't fit. That dress was special to me. So much so that I still have it today. I just can't bring myself to give it away. (Secretly I hope one of my girls will want to wear it someday.)

Between our morning practice and our evening commencement, I practiced walking in those 4-inch tall heels. (Mine were just like these, but white. I liked the shoes, but I guess they weren't as special as the dress. I didn't hang on to them all these years!) Of course, walking on carpet is easier than walking on bumpy grass, but gladly there are no mishaps to report.

Do kids still dress up under their cap and gown? I don't know. But I do know that the event is as special to them as it was to me. Tonight, my nephew is graduating with Bothell High School Class of 2010. Congratulations, Caleb!

On a side note, I have another graduation of my own to report. It's been about thirty-two minutes (at least from when I started writing), since I mastered the last of my Farmville crops. Hooray, and congratulations to me!

They will probably introduce new crops soon, and I'll have to go back to farming to keep up my status. Kind of like continuing education credits.

Kitty heaven

We learned a lot about kittens in the last two days. Things like they have to be warm enough to eat or they can't digest the food. Warm enough is more than 98 degrees. They have to eat 10ml of formula every two hours when they're three weeks old. If you don't already have the formula, you can make some out of egg yolks, mayonnaise, canned milk, and unflavored gelatin. And you can use the syringe left over from the kids' antibiotic to feed the kitten, if you can get him to open his mouth. Next time we see a pregnant cat, we're going to buy the formula and the bottle because by the time you find out the kittens need it, there isn't time to go to the store and buy it.

But after all we learned, we were unable to save the last two kittens. We think Mama cat didn't have enough milk for them. She kept leaving them alone so they didn't stay warm enough. Did they get too cold to eat? Or was there something else wrong with them that she could see and we couldn't? Who knows.

Kevin says, "Skye was a bad mama and she let her kittens die."

Dad responds, "You know, those kittens have a spirit mama in heaven, and she's probably happy to see them. And we hope they learned to like people while they were here."

And then there were two...

Mama cats are supposed to know how to take care of their kittens. It's instinct, right? But sometimes, it makes no sense what she's trying to do.

For the first week, she was happy to leave the kittens in the box. Then one day, they're gone. We found them in Sarah's closet. We put them back in the box. Next day, same thing. Now Sarah keeps her door shut.

One night, I'm sitting on the couch. Mama cat brings a baby and drops it in my lap. Hmmm. You want them in the living room? We'll bring the box here. All is well for a couple of days. Then Sarah left her door open, and we found kittens under her dresser. She doesn't like them in there, so we put them back in the box and keep a better vigil on the door.

"The living room isn't private enough," David says, and moves the box into our bedroom, to his side of the bed. That worked for a few days, but then again, no kittens in the box. We found them in the back of the closet, behind the clothes hanging on the lower rod. You like the closet? We'll move the box into the closet. Keeps the kittens corralled, and we know they're safer that way.

Another day, more missing kittens. This time they've been hauled downstairs to the bathroom cupboard where we keep the towels. We move kittens back to the box, she moves them back to the bathroom. (The litter box is in that bathroom.) She even figured out how to get the door open to get the kittens in there. But it's not safe because they're getting big enough to move around, and they could fall off the top shelf. Mama cat doesn't realize this, but we do.

Then today. All four kittens are in the box when the kids and I leave for school. Half an hour later, when David leaves for work, he finds one kitten behind the clothes and puts it back in the box. After school and work and a trip to Costco, we get back home about 6:45. Always one kid or another goes to look at the kittens. Today it was Lexi and David. No kittens in the box. David finds them in the back of the closet, under the clothes. He pulls them out, and two of them have died. We don't understand what Mama cat was thinking, but we suspect the kittens tried to crawl away, got caught in the clothes, and suffocated.

So now there are two. And it's a sad day.