Ms. Ellaneous crafts a life

Sunny? San Diego

Here's a quick wrap up of our trip to San Diego, in photos.

Fresh oranges and fresh squeezed orange juice from M&B's front yard.  The nectar of Gods.

A trip to the mother land, otherwise known as Lego-land.  We were twelve people in all and no major meltdowns.  That place is magic.

Lego inauguration, with Aretha Franklin.  Those Lego builders must have some fun!

 
Lego cupcake. Yeah!

A gray trip to the beach.

and of course the zoo.

 

There were also Yum Yum donuts.  That second Yum is not redundant.

There was plenty of swimming even in frigid temperatures and a fine time was had by all.

Now that we are back, our regular life is in full swing.  Kids are back at school, reluctantly.  G is back at work,(I think happily), and I am still attempting to launch a mini-business venture.  It's definitely a work in progress but I'm getting closer to being able to share.  I hope everyone had a great week!   

Bad Blogger- Part (I've lost track)

So I've been on "vacation", or a grand tour of every living local attraction in Southern California.  I meant to write an entry before I left but totally forgot.  The "hotel" didn't have wireless in the room so... no blogging.  We are headed back tonight on a red eye with all the kids, because that's an experience everyone should have.  I have some pictures and airline tales to share.  I hope everyone had a great week! 

Sewing with Amy or What's that extra piece of fabric?

Not that W requested some time in the studio to learn how to sew.  She wanted to make a Valentine's day present.  We decided on boxers.  Very cute material.(see below)  I was confident they would not take very long and would be a fairly gentle introduction to the machine.  Well...Not so much.  We washed, we ironed, we cut, and pinned, we sewed,

we followed directions(I swear).  But somehow we ended up with a pair of "fashion forward" boxers complete with their own, shall we say, extension, for lack of a better description.

Then we ripped, cut, re-sewed, improvised and ended up with a mostly finished pair of boxers with the opening on the wrong side. 

I guess she really did get an authentic introduction to sewing, at least the way I sew.  Things tend to not work out so well and a gross amount of improvisation is used, but it's definitely made with love and certainly unique.  She may want to find someone slightly more qualified after today.  As for me, the gauntlet has been thrown down and I am bound and determined to find out what that piece of fabric is for.  Wish me luck!

Super Open House Sunday

It seems like we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get ready for the Open House.  We went a little overboard on the cleaning, light fixtures, baseboards, and magic sponged walls, but the good news is, spring cleaning is done! Early.  G cleaned off the front porch...

and we cleaned all the wine glasses.

We had a great time.  G and A1 picked up one of her tent mates in NYC on Friday so she could be at the Open House.  They had so much fun.  They made cookies and helped organize materials.

It was lovely to see the directors of the girl's camps and to meet some prospective families.  My kids have had such a life changing experience at camp, it's hard to describe it to other people.  There was a slide show that made all of the girls who had been to camp, and me cry.  We had good munchies and good conversation.

After a day of rest yesterday its back to "Big Plans".  It's snowing again, but the kitchen is cozy, with things bubbling on the stove and clean laundry in the dryer.  I hope everyone had a good weekend too!