Dubious claims to fame

I’m not sure whether I’m glad that someone found my blog by Googling “help — I don’t feel like doing housework,” thus leading me to discover that this post (link) is currently the top hit on Google for that search.

Home management pop quiz

Scenario:  Your husband is sick with strep, and you’ve made dinner by yourself and gone to the evening session of Stake Conference with just your three-month-old in tow, leaving your husband to supervise the other kids’ baths and showers.  You come home to clean, sleeping children, a mostly-loaded dishwasher, and an otherwise messy kitchen, with [...]

And by the way, your house is on fire

I just found a Word file open, with this document:
D e a r     l a d y b u g
l a r v a e ,     w e     l i k e   t o
l o o k     a t      y o u.   T h a n k
y o u    f o r      g e [...]

I’ll bet “Family Fun” magazine would hire this girl

Here’s Mabel with her “Tree Talker.”
Remind me next to take a photo of the tiny wood fairy she whittled.

On being human

Sometimes a cage is the only thing that separates us from the animals.

Giveaways galore

I just discovered (thanks to the one quilting blog I’ve got listed in Reader) (and why don’t I have a plethora of crafting blogs in Reader?  No idea. Anway,) I might be the last to know about this but Sew Mama Sew (link) is doing a giveaway weekend thing where any blog can list giveaways [...]

Rose and the art of conversation

Rose: “Hazel’s such a cutie! She’s like a little baby doll.”
Me: “Yeah, but just a little bigger than a baby doll.”
Rose: “Like this?” She holds her thumb and forefinger an inch apart.
Me: “A lot bigger than that.”
Rose measures Hazel by walking her fingers down the length of Hazel’s body and [...]

I might be the last woman left in America who says “darn” to mean what I do by hand to repair clothing

I was just ironing (thanks to two episodes of “This American Life,” I’m all caught up,) and found a hole in the sleeve of this dress of Mabel’s  (link).  So I fixed it:

Can’t see it?  Here’s a closer shot:

I do really hope the hole happened when Mabel snagged her sleeve on something, and not as [...]

Yo-yo sleeper

I asked for an industrial snap press for Mother’s Day, and I’m having a lot more fun with it than I would have with some new jewelery.  I was really excited about making this pajama for Hazel after I’d had the idea to apply the snaps right through the little yo-yos.  This is McCall’s 3665, [...]

Ministrations vs. administration

While I’m nursing Hazel, Henry comes into my room, crying that he’s gotten hurt.
“Why don’t you climb up here on the bed and I can give you a hug?  Oh, wait, you have your shoes on.  You need to take your shoes off first, because shoes are dirty, and they’ll get my bed dirty.”
“No, shoes [...]