... rolled over the state today. Crazy! Weatherman says he hasn't seen anything like this in the 20 years he's been reporting.
Stay dry and safe, everyone!
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Back to NEVOG
We had a nice working relationship with the folks at New England Veterinary Oncology Group while Finnegan was undergoing his cancer treatment. It's been a while since we've talked to them, but unfortunately it looks like we may be doing that again soon: the lesions on Echo's forehead and chin turned out to be cancerous.
We are getting a referral today and need to call them tomorrow to make an appointment. Then we'll have a better idea of what's next.
We are getting a referral today and need to call them tomorrow to make an appointment. Then we'll have a better idea of what's next.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Making book folders
Last night we regressed back to childhood with arts and crafts.
Via People Making a Difference, a couple of us helped to make book folders for Generations Incorporated, an organization that brings senior volunteers together with kids who are struggling with literacy.
The book folders house storybooks, and include discussion questions, challenging words, author information, etc. They are designed to present the reading material in a fun way to the kids, and provide useful material to the tutors. (You can read a bit more about them here.)
We were given folders, construction paper, glue sticks, pens, and picked out a black-and-white photocopy of a book cover.
I chose one from the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" series, and DH chose "Good Night, Moon," and our other friend chose an undersea book whose title I can't recall.
Things I learned:
- it is hard to cut a straight line with a pair of kiddie scissors, but arts and crafts are STILL FUN!
- "eelpout" does not refer to the expression on the face of a miffed moray, but to a denizen of the deep
- I should have chosen "Good Night, Moon." DH's folder looked fabulous! Mine, not so much.
- We'll definitely be back to work with PMD again :)
Via People Making a Difference, a couple of us helped to make book folders for Generations Incorporated, an organization that brings senior volunteers together with kids who are struggling with literacy.
The book folders house storybooks, and include discussion questions, challenging words, author information, etc. They are designed to present the reading material in a fun way to the kids, and provide useful material to the tutors. (You can read a bit more about them here.)
We were given folders, construction paper, glue sticks, pens, and picked out a black-and-white photocopy of a book cover.
I chose one from the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" series, and DH chose "Good Night, Moon," and our other friend chose an undersea book whose title I can't recall.
Things I learned:
- it is hard to cut a straight line with a pair of kiddie scissors, but arts and crafts are STILL FUN!
- "eelpout" does not refer to the expression on the face of a miffed moray, but to a denizen of the deep
- I should have chosen "Good Night, Moon." DH's folder looked fabulous! Mine, not so much.
- We'll definitely be back to work with PMD again :)
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Soap (now with pics)
We took a cold process soap class today at a historic school. (Since people were working with scary chemicals, it seemed like whipping out the camera would be an unwelcome distraction. Therefore, this post does not contain photos of the process, only of the soap after it was unmolded the next day.)
We arrived at the classroom and were given a handout on the history of soap and a list of resources. We were also asked to come sniff the scents that the teacher had brought so we could vote on the scents we would use. I was delighted to find that most of these were nice quality essential oils (rather than synthetic fragrance oils), and could happily have voted for almost any of the options. However, I put in my votes for lavender and coriander, while DH selected eucalyptus and peppermint. (The winners were lavender, by a landslide, and lemongrass, by a single vote over peppermint. Sorry, DH!)
We got down to business pretty quickly with a 2.5x sized batch of honey-oatmeal soap. For this first batch, student involvement was fairly limited. We weighed out the different types of fat and stirred them in a pot over a warm burner til they melted and combined. We also measured out lye and distilled water… then stood back and watched from a respectful distance while the teacher, holding her breath, added the lye to water. (That scary stuff, strong enough to eat through a sweater if it gets on you, also releases nasty vapors that you don’t want to breathe.) I think half of us in the room were holding our breath in sympathy!
After both mixtures cooled down (lye mixture with the help of a cool water bath), they were combined, and the whole mess mixed with an electric mixer. About 30 minutes later, after several liberal additions of grapefruit seed oil, and the honey and oatmeal, the soap mix reached trace and we could pour it into the mold. (It smelled so nice, like toast dripping with honey, or oatmeal cookie dough!)
We split for lunch at that time, following a local resident out to where we could grab a quick bite. (Yummy orzo salad!) I kind of regretted leaving my coat in the car. It looked pretty and sunny outside, but even insulated with the cockiness that comes of making it through another winter, it was still too cold for shirt sleeves.
Back at the school, we noshed and pored over the handouts, reviewing the process. Yup, looked quite familiar, now that we’d tried it ourselves!
The teacher returned and gave us more handouts (oh no!): additional things to do once you’ve invested in all the ingredients. How to tweak/alter your recipes. How to try to fix a batch of soap you’ve messed up (worrisome that she has a handout on this!). The qualities of various essential oils, etc.
Then it was back to work for our scented soaps: first our lavender, to which we added loofah and colorant. We did a bit more of the work ourselves this time, two brave souls even tackling the pouring and beating of the scary lye. The new aspect was watching the teacher marble the top of the soap. If you have ever made cream cheese brownies, or any kind of marbled cake, you will have a general idea of the process. It looked very neat when she was done!
The lemongrass soap had the students collaborating (using the third different recipe) and tackling all the steps ourselves. Success! Not as visually arresting as the lavendar but, like everything we made today, it smelled absolutely delicious!
We’ll be able to go back and pick up the firmed up soap tomorrow. Then it has to cure in the basement for 4ish weeks (the chemical process is still in progress). The colors will change a bit too. We saw a honey oatmeal soap bar that she had made and it was quite a bit paler than our pumpkin colored soap mix.
I feel like this is something we could do at home, if we invest in all the ingredients and the (rest of the) equipment (the equipment has to be dedicated only to soap making, for safety’s sake); and if the cats can deal with being shut up in the bedroom for the duration. It was fun and - once we got over the eek factor with the lye - not really as scary as it initially sounded.
We arrived at the classroom and were given a handout on the history of soap and a list of resources. We were also asked to come sniff the scents that the teacher had brought so we could vote on the scents we would use. I was delighted to find that most of these were nice quality essential oils (rather than synthetic fragrance oils), and could happily have voted for almost any of the options. However, I put in my votes for lavender and coriander, while DH selected eucalyptus and peppermint. (The winners were lavender, by a landslide, and lemongrass, by a single vote over peppermint. Sorry, DH!)
We got down to business pretty quickly with a 2.5x sized batch of honey-oatmeal soap. For this first batch, student involvement was fairly limited. We weighed out the different types of fat and stirred them in a pot over a warm burner til they melted and combined. We also measured out lye and distilled water… then stood back and watched from a respectful distance while the teacher, holding her breath, added the lye to water. (That scary stuff, strong enough to eat through a sweater if it gets on you, also releases nasty vapors that you don’t want to breathe.) I think half of us in the room were holding our breath in sympathy!
After both mixtures cooled down (lye mixture with the help of a cool water bath), they were combined, and the whole mess mixed with an electric mixer. About 30 minutes later, after several liberal additions of grapefruit seed oil, and the honey and oatmeal, the soap mix reached trace and we could pour it into the mold. (It smelled so nice, like toast dripping with honey, or oatmeal cookie dough!)
We split for lunch at that time, following a local resident out to where we could grab a quick bite. (Yummy orzo salad!) I kind of regretted leaving my coat in the car. It looked pretty and sunny outside, but even insulated with the cockiness that comes of making it through another winter, it was still too cold for shirt sleeves.
Back at the school, we noshed and pored over the handouts, reviewing the process. Yup, looked quite familiar, now that we’d tried it ourselves!
The teacher returned and gave us more handouts (oh no!): additional things to do once you’ve invested in all the ingredients. How to tweak/alter your recipes. How to try to fix a batch of soap you’ve messed up (worrisome that she has a handout on this!). The qualities of various essential oils, etc.
Then it was back to work for our scented soaps: first our lavender, to which we added loofah and colorant. We did a bit more of the work ourselves this time, two brave souls even tackling the pouring and beating of the scary lye. The new aspect was watching the teacher marble the top of the soap. If you have ever made cream cheese brownies, or any kind of marbled cake, you will have a general idea of the process. It looked very neat when she was done!
The lemongrass soap had the students collaborating (using the third different recipe) and tackling all the steps ourselves. Success! Not as visually arresting as the lavendar but, like everything we made today, it smelled absolutely delicious!
We’ll be able to go back and pick up the firmed up soap tomorrow. Then it has to cure in the basement for 4ish weeks (the chemical process is still in progress). The colors will change a bit too. We saw a honey oatmeal soap bar that she had made and it was quite a bit paler than our pumpkin colored soap mix.
I feel like this is something we could do at home, if we invest in all the ingredients and the (rest of the) equipment (the equipment has to be dedicated only to soap making, for safety’s sake); and if the cats can deal with being shut up in the bedroom for the duration. It was fun and - once we got over the eek factor with the lye - not really as scary as it initially sounded.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Socks for Japan
http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/ to help
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| I gather the raw materials |
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| Each bag is labeled and filled with a pair of socks and an origami crane |
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| Now it is time to print the notes |
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| Printing half a page at a time allows me to work around the chrysanthemum motif |
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| My rotary cutter works for paper too (although I may need to change the blade) :) |
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| Some socks look better with the chrysanthemum paper |
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| Others shine with the rose paper |
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| Eventually all 69 pairs are ready to go |
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| Uh oh, will they all fit?? |
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| The box is bursting at the seams, but it's good to go! |
http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/ to help
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Hearts for New Zealand
From the eQuilter newsletter on 3/2:
Here are the ones I made. I made a heart template out of cardboard, then traced the shape on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. I sandwiched that with a second piece of fabric and then stitched directly on the tracing (leaving a small opening so I could turn it right side out later). It works very well. Actually takes longer to stuff the thing than it does to machine sew it :)
I would say that those affected by the earthquake need money to rebuild their lives and repair their homes, but here is an additional way to send your healing thoughts to those affected:
Hello from New Zealand!
We are asking for Hearts for the thousands of Christchurch earthquake victims. Not the usual hearts, but "Hanging Hearts." Two pieces of heart-shaped fabric sewn together, lightly stuffed, and with a hanging loop of ribbon. These can be any size, any fabric, any style!
We will be arranging a venue where they can all be hung and people can come and take whichever one they like. If you would like to take part could you please send your hearts to [address]
Here are the ones I made. I made a heart template out of cardboard, then traced the shape on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. I sandwiched that with a second piece of fabric and then stitched directly on the tracing (leaving a small opening so I could turn it right side out later). It works very well. Actually takes longer to stuff the thing than it does to machine sew it :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Family tree
I may have mentioned a while back that my family did some tests via the Genographic Project to trace our ancestral origins. They looked at my maternal ancestry, and we also had them trace the ancestry of my father's paternal DNA. (On order is a kit to have my dad do his mother's side, which may help us to figure out which of our ancestors was Cherokee - or at the very least will help us eliminate one option.)
I took the (free) option of transferring our results over into FamilyTreeDNA also, which has turned out to be an incredible thing.
Based on my father's DNA results, we were able to identify a few distant cousins in the system. I have been talking to one of the women with whom I share great-great-great-grandparents (I'll call this great(3)-grandparents). It turns out that she has been an absolutely AMAZING source of research. She's shared some published information about various ancestors and - what Laura and I agree is absolutely the neatest document - a transcript of a letter to our great(4)-grandfather Peter from his son Jacob (a prominent Lutheran minister) discussing the former's conversion to Baptism. (The conversion was very successful, to Jacob's sorrow, and that line of the family remained Baptist for generations... I believe up until my father left the fold, although I am not sure about the spiritual leanings of my paternal grandfather either.)
Our correspondence today - email, primarily - contains nothing like this level of detail or historical value, which makes me kind of sad. On the one hand, our future generations may never even have genealogical mysteries to solve as everything will be already tracked and available online... but, then, without the challenges and mysteries to get them excited, I wonder how much they will really care?
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