Tracking my steps

 The girls and I are making TRACKS!!!

We're half way around the Ring of Kerry and almost to Valencia, of which I have a poster on my wall...

And this is just one of the beautiful virtual views of my virtual walk.

Ireland is so pretty!

Anyway... reality.  Shub moved to his new apartment on Saturday.  Meri, Robb and I helped.  Meri had a couch dropped on her foot.  Shub and I had to take his apartment door off.  twice...

Also had to borrow tools from a mom in another building who has the BEST tool bag!!!

Susan is my new best friend. :)

We also had to take all the base off of the big couch to get it thru those narrow narrow apartment doors.  Why do they make them that narrow??!!!  

Then we all sat at his newly put back together dining room table and enjoyed some Papa Murphys pizza together.  The first meal in the new pad.

He and Meri got everything organized yesterday and today.

After a COVID scare with her littles, Meri's daycare opens again tomorrow.

She tested Negative twice and that is the standard around here for daycares.

Robb and I attended Leon's little brother's birthday party yesterday!  He just turned 5.

We had to leave about the same time as when they were getting water balloons set up.

Coincidence?  I think not.

Leon stuck around for an extra day.  Mainly because Finn was getting the new Scoob movie from us and Leon wanted to watch it before coming home...

sigh...

I spent the rest of the day on that wedding dress!  It's DONE!!!  Well, mostly.  There is just one little tweak that has to be done, but it was getting too dim out on the deck last night and you need proper sunlight and not just a lamp.

Whew!

They're coming by tomorrow night to pick it up and drop off 2-3 bridesmaid dresses that need hemming.

THOSE will be a snap!

What I've been up to and a cliffhanger

 My goodness!  The last several weeks have been a rush!  And it hasn't slowed down...

I'm still hoping to finish up that wedding dress soon.  I'm sure the bride would like it back before the wedding...  There's hand work so of course I'm procrastinating...

I'm also dreaming of other clothes that I need to make for myself, as I made the mistake of putting some of my sewn knit tops in the dryer...  UGGG now the texture feels weird on them and some are pilling...  I'm a firm believer these days in hanging up handmade things to dry.  Well, not leggings...  But tops, yes.

Last week, we discovered that our little neighboring burg had a beach!!!  Who knew?!

Well, my girls did!  They apparently went swimming there many times during high school.  But I took Leon down to it.  It's more just a rapids area of the local stream thru town and some sandy build up on the shore.  But it's perfect.

and quiet.

Well, until we got there...

Leon spent part of last week with a mask of V for Vendetta that he'd got a while back.  He painted it all black, then added more color over the top of that.  He's going to have me make him a black hoodie sweatshirt and then wear this for Halloween.

You know... IF we can even trick or treat this year...

Last week, Robb, Leon and I went to a grad party for one of my nephews.  

They live out on the winding-est road of my old home town on several acres of land.  The kids have made trails through the woods below their house with a 4 wheeler.  Back in the day, my parents riding lawnmower was our 4 wheeler... ;)  

Leon and I went on a walk about down there.  Beautiful!

They have a shooting range, a huge pile of dirt to dig in, an archery area, everything. 

Well, except for an outhouse.

THAT would have come in handy...

They had a swimming pool too!  So while the family was greeting other guests, Leon went swimming.  It was a HECK of a time getting him to agree to get out after some other young ones were getting jealous.  HEY!  GET OFF THE POOL DECK!

Also, last week, on 7/24, I was on a walk.  I always listen to Flashdance or Full Monty or other sound tracks via Youtube on my phone while I walk(dance, run,whatever)... I heard a commercial about Conqueror events and a virtual walk you can do around the Ring of Kerry!!  It's 124 miles, but if you get some team members with you, you can divide that up.  Each of you gets a medal at the end.  So we've been walking to our hearts content in small town Iowa, but racking up miles in Ireland.

Some day, I want to walk it in person again.  Well, not the 124 miles, but just 1 mile.

on a beach.

Maddy, Meri and I are doing it as a team.  We're about 30 miles into it so far!

We've got until October some time to complete it, but I think we'll be done in another week or two!

The app is cool!  Whenever you log your steps/miles/etc, you can see exactly where you are on the walk, thanks to Google Earth!  

And you get a postcard in your email whenever you reach a milestone.

Currently, we are here.

I've been updating my background profile pic on FB with our progress if it's significant.

So I've been walking a LOT lately.  I hope it soon means that some more weight will come off.  So far this week, I'm still up 4 pounds from Sunday.  The "going home from college town" pizza is really taking it's time coming off...  So is the salt from too many car chips that day...

THEN Leon and I have been trying to play Bears vs Babies once a day.  We haven't so far today yet.  I need to remedy that.

Leon is having a blast creating the monsters.  We've modified the rules so that he doesn't have to wipe out a monster until the very end when we tally up the points.

Here is one of his that he was especially proud of...

 THEN the produce from our garden is finally taking off!  We picked a bunch of cucumbers Tuesday and I managed to get several jars of refrigerator pickles done.

Wow was THAT easy!!?!

Our garage fridge may just be renamed the "Pickle fridge".

 

They are delicious!!!  I've eaten a whole jar just by myself today...

It was a small jar...

And a good one of Robb and Leon goofing off one day after work.

AND I have some news but until it gets booked today, I'll wait to tell you another time.

Have a great Friday tomorrow!

Oh There WILL Be Cake

On Friday, I got the lining/wearable muslin prom dress just about ready for Meri to try on.

She was busy and we didn't get a chance...

So the lining is completely done with skirt lining attached. Including some continents made from an old pillow case, hanging from the waistline so she can get the overall affect.

On Saturday, we got a freak blizzard...  I guess it's still March, so I have no idea if this is the "out like a lion" or we need to wait until next Saturday to decide.  The girls who stayed over on Friday night got picked up by one of their dads when it was obvious Meri wasn't going to be able to drive them home in this weather.  

Her other plans for Saturday fell through too.  She was going to go pick up her prom date, go shopping at the Goodwill for a used suit that fits and then have him at our house for the whole day so I could get a good handle on fitting his suit.

Blizzard.  So no go.

I decided to spend the entire day, instead, on her prom dress and get it done as much as I possibly could.  Once I had the lining skirt attached, I texted her to come try on the lining and she texted back, "in a little bit."  That can mean anything...  And then the neighbor girl showed up wrapped in a blanket for a coat.  She must have packed her winter things away the same as I did!

So Em went downstairs to Meri's room and the "in a little bit" turned into "a long a bit."  uuugghhhhh...  

Oh well, I had lots of other things to keep me busy.  I KNEW that the lining bodice was going to fit her, so I cut out the pieces based on the paper pattern pieces that I'd cut out, forgetting a few important details... Such as "add 1.5 inches to the top of the side bodice and back sections.  

oops.

I didn't discover it until I had the organza overlay laying on top of each piece and ironing them.  

Now WHY are all these organza pieces longer?  Does organza stretch???...

no.

sigh...  I attempted to patch the shortened areas but couldn't line up the word cific and cean with the original Pacific and Ocean under the arm pit.  yikes!  and it would LOOK patched...

So I bit the bullet and cut out new pieces.  When ironing in the LAST of my fusible interfacing, I realized I'd cut TWO of the right side front.  

really?...

So Robb may have heard me use a swear word from clear downstairs...  and I cut out another piece strategically from the map fabric.  

There is less than 2 yards now for the prom date's suit jacket now...

AND nearly no continents to hang from Meri's waist line...

The only continent intact on the rejected bodice pieces is the USA, so I can salvage that one.

I may need to order more fabric.  Good thing Amazon shipping is fast!

So here is the bodice so far.  

I finally cornered the girl and made her try on both the lining and this.  She is THRILLED with how it's looking!  It's exactly like she imagined it.  And I got some clarification on how the organza on the skirt will be.  I had misunderstood, but now it's ALL clear!  and whew!  I hadn't cut that out yet!

I will need to add more tulle to our crinoline.  It needs to be poofy.

I spent another couple hours cutting out the skirt pieces and then took a break.  Robb wanted to get a snow fort built for Leon before the snow wasn't packable anymore.

If you were down our street Saturday, you would have seen a couple 51+ year olds loading storage totes with snow, packing them in and making HUGE bricks for the snow fort.

Nine tubs of snow later, we have a fort that the boy would love and won't melt until June.  Leon was thrilled when he got home Sunday and spent a good long time playing around it.  He gently carved a window in the area where I'd carefully packed snow between the bricks.

It reminds me of the windows at Newtown Castle in County Clare, where you could defend your castle with weapons through little slits in the wall. 

Weren't they just so LITTLE??!!!!  

The kids I mean.  I can't believe that trip was 20 years ago this spring!

Back to the dress that will make you want to travel...  I'll work on it today a little on my breaks and hopefully have the skirt attached by tonight.  The suit jacket that the date's mom picked up for him will be by later today so I can see how it fits on him.  

THIS is what we're shooting for.  This pattern was $1.99!  Simplicity is on sale this month people!!!  Woohoo!

More tomorrow on my weekend adventures.  There will be cake.

Weirdly Reminiscent

Leon has been riding the bus home.  It's just too cute when he gets off the bus, looks both ways and darts across the street like a dinosaur is chasing him.  Then cuts across two yards to run into the house exuberantly exclaiming "I made a new friend today!"

He doesn't remember their name.  And when asked if it's a boy or a girl, he got distracted and said that he has TONS of girlfriends.  In FACT, one gave him a quarter on the bus.  He said that the bus driver had NO idea someone gave him a quarter right under her nose!

hmmm...  

Apparently it was a kid with My Little Ponies.  and they didn't let him play with them so he got a quarter.  ?

Kids are weird.

Speaking of weirdness...    Eh - I've got nothing weirder than that today.  But try me tomorrow!

My imaginary bloggy friend, Jane, is almost back from a hiking vacation in Ireland!   I'm sure she'll post her travel journal on her blog. But I've lived vicariously through her photos on FB and am envious of her trip.  

Someday... Someday...  I'd love to go back.

Here is Meri kissing the Blarney Stone.

And the kids on a boat ride around the Skellig islands.  

The Skellig Michael was where the end of the last Star Wars movie ended. 

 So someday, I want to climb to the top and check out the beehive huts.
Robb says my next husband should be ok with that.

He's sometimes weird like that.

Tombstones and Father's Day. They just go hand in hand.

This photo was taken in 2005 at the Rock of Cashel in Ireland.  LOVED this place! And the reason I'm showing an old cemetery is because of my dear friend Michelle at It's a Small Town Life.  She enjoys long walks in the woods, fishing with her kids and strolling through old old cemeteries.  

Her photos are phenomenal!  She has a much better camera than the ones I've had...

Michelle - I'll see if I can find the older photos I've taken of snails all over the tombstones.  

It'll be another post.

Last night, Leon and I did a project for his dad-dad-daddeo!  Earlier this week, Robb, Leon and I went shopping for t-shirts and last night, we dug out the paints.    

Look!  He's going to audition for the Blue Man Group! 

He took his work very seriously and I just noticed he was sticking out his tongue...  Silly kid.

 

Once gooped up with paint, he put his hand over his daddy's heart.  

 Blue for the pale one.

And sparkly silver on the darker one.

Then I let him play and soak it off in the bath.  It was mostly gone by bed time.  WHEW!  If he doesn't spill the beans, Ryan will be in for a sweet surprise.

 

Thankfully, Ryan doesn't read my blog!  I don't think.

Have a great Father's Day weekend!

Randomness into some Goofiness

Another busy day ahead.  Yesterday went as well as could be expected.  I was able to leave my desk shortly after five, so not that bad after all.  

Maddy would like me to make a few throw pillows for her futon couch this weekend.  I think we can fit that in.  Anyone have ideas for some cute dorm room pillows?  Send me the links!  or stick them in the comments area.

Got some nieces moving back to the nearby college town this weekend from Illinois!  It'll be fun having them close by again.  Although their schedules are so crazy we'll only see them if we invite them over for birthday dinners or super secret steak night and it fits their schedules.

Last weekend with Maddy at the house before school starts...  Trying to fit all her favorite meals in that she requested...  So Sunday night, for "the last *special* supper", we'll have the following...

Pork w/apple stuff *bavarian pork loin*

Biscotti

Mexican soup

Blackberry crumble

waffles

LEGIT sugar cookies *using vanilla bean*

taco salad 

stir fry 

and then of course oatmeal.  

She'll gain that "college 15" before she even gets there!

We've gotten through the other things on the list, one at at time.  But now that we're running out of time, we'll have to do them all together.

Kind of reminds me of our last meal that we had in the Irish cottage years ago.  It was the last night and there were lots of leftovers in the fridge.  Can't take them on the plane home!  So we had them all...

Below are a couple videos of us during dinner.  Everyone was being goofy.  Probably because we were finally getting used to the time zone there...  Or just an overdose of carbs...

Oh dear...  Now I'm being nostalgic! and wistful...  They were so young...

Rhubarb is in season!!!

I got these from a friend at church.  We're big rhubarb fans over here.  Typically we don't make them with strawberry in it since Robb doesn't like that, so I won't make him the Jam... unless of course, we find rhubarb flavored jello...  Anyone ever hear of that?

But nothing stopping me from making it or the sauce for the rest of us!

Rhubarb Jell-o Jam

5 c. rhubarb                                                          1 large pkg. strawberry Jell-o

3 c. sugar       

Mix rhubarb and sugar; let stand overnight. (in refrig.) Cook for 15 min. or more until thick.  Remove from heat and add 1 large package of strawberry Jell-o. Mix well. Put in jars (I use the small jars) and refrigerate.

That's it! Enjoy!

Rhubarb Bread

2/3 c. oil (I use canola or veg. oil)                           1/2 tsp. almond flavor   

1-1/2 c. brown sugar                                              1 c. sour milk

1 egg                                                                      1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla                                                            2-1/2 c. sifted flour

1 tsp. soda                                                              1-1/2 c. diced rhubarb

1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)                                 1/4 c. more flour

Topping

1/2 tsp. cinnamon                                                    1 Tbsp. melted butter

1/2 c. sugar

Cream oil and brown sugar together. Add egg, vanilla, almond flavoring and sour milk. Stir well. Then add flour, salt and soda.

Stir in rhubarb, nuts & 1/4 c. flour. Mix well and put into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Add topping. Bake 40 min. @ 350®. Cool 10 min. in pans, then remove and cool on rack.

                                                                                                          

(I recently made this and just put sugar and cinnamon on top; skipped the melted butter. It still turned out well.)

Rhubarb Sauce (ice cream topping)

3 c. rhubarb

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 c. water

1/2 -- 2/3 c. sugar (to your taste)

Chop rhubarb fine. Combine all ingredients and put in crock pot. Cook on low about 7 hours, until soft.

Add 1 pint strawberries. Cook another 2 hrs. until berries are soft.

 Don't those look like huge rhubarb plants?  Luckily there was an explanation of what they were.  These photos were taken several years ago at Blarney castle in County Cork.

So go clean out those Rhubarb patches and enjoy!!!

Kerrygold babies

Attention: Which ever of you guessed that my grandson would be born last night 2/15 at 10:32pm?
Then you'd be wrong. He is still stubborn in his insistence to stay where it's nice and warm.

darn.

The picture above is actually my niece Brooke from 3 years ago. Thus the pink cap. Isn't she a cutie pie?

Taking my schedule into consideration for the next few days, I've got Leon penciled in to be born on Friday afternoon at 1:33pm. I hope he's on time.

I tried to enter a contest on Kerrygold's Facebook giveaway. They're giving away a chopping board and mug with the Kerrygold logo on them. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get that! But... and there always is one... you have to be resident of Ireland.

double darn.

I love Kerrygold butter! There I've said it. Slap that on a plate and stick some parsley next to it and I'd say dinner!

Ok, I'm kind of kidding... But it is deliciousioso!

I just read on my daughter-in-law's FB wall that today might be the day!

I wait...

Bit of the Blarney...

No real vacation for us this year, so we must live thru vacations of the past.

Ireland Vacation 2005: Friday June 10th
We headed out that morning for County Cork to see Blarney Castle and grounds. We made it there just as the park was opening. The timing was great! No line at all at the top of the castle to kiss the stone. Only Ryan and Meri actually kissed it. The rest of us had done it 7 years ago and it wasn't a priority for us. Meri didn't want to when she finally sat down, but with everyone's encouragement, she went through with it. We got her a commemorative t-shirt to celebrate!
When we finished letting the girls pick out their rooms in the castle for when they live there, we visited the gift shop. Maddy purchased several post cards and I found the last poster of Toilets of Ireland. Since it was their only one and taped to the wall, they gave it to me for free. It was perfect for my one of my friends back home. Ryan bought more Guinness stuff.
We hadn't explored the grounds last time, so we took advantage of the opportunity. The woods were beautiful as well as the plants that look like rhubarb, but aren't. After the woods were the witches kitchen and the druids cave. The kids climbed all over both and even stood in the chimney. There is an interesting stone shaped like a witches face at the top of the hill and some druid circles. Lots of huge rocks and formations sitting around. So beautiful!
Then we drove into Cork City. What a mess in both traffic congestion and general construction! After driving and not finding anything resembling fun, we stopped at the mall and let the kids walk around some. Meri had a great time on the escalator and elevator. I bought some candy and Meri some new pink shoes. We had a lunch in a little restaurant there. Meri got the waitress to dance.
Ryan started keeping count of all the cute girls in Ireland on Wednesday and by this day, he was already in the hundreds. He kept his eyes peeled.
We drove to Kilmallock and got some take away food for a picnic in Bruree. We sat at the picnic tables on the other side of the river overlooking the Mill and our cottage. After we ate, Meri & Maddy ran down the hill to get close to the edge. There were some kids playing on little rafts in the river waterfall. Meri fell and looked like she hurt herself. As I ran to her, I slid down the hill, bending my leg back. So my leg was sore for a couple days after that. Meri was just fine.
Getting back to the cottage, I decided to take the girls and attend a variety show that we saw advertised in Kilmallock. Robb and Ryan didn't want to go. After getting lost just a little, we found it... a block away from the take away place. It turned out that the local community club for kids puts this show on once a year. This year it was at the local Catholic school. The girls and I sat there on the benches feeling very out of place. People from the town sat all around us and Meri kept asking why they were staring at her. As soon as it finally started (a half hour late) we realized Ryan would have loved this show! There were lots of cute girls on the stage singing and dancing. We had some trouble understanding their accents and humor, but enjoyed it none the less. There was a young girl dressed like Dolly Parton and singing "9 to 5". Hilarious! Meri whispered, "I think those are fake!". I think she was right! We left at intermission because we had an early start the next day. Too bad.

Celtic Woman - O America

Michael Flattley is AWESOME!!! and a bit conceited...

We used to be huge Michael Flattley fans. My middle girl, now 14, was 2 or 3 the first time we went to Ireland and she was ENAMORED with Lord of the Dance. I really liked it too. She kept hoping she'd run into Michael when we were there, but no luck! He was doing the last live show of LOTD in Dublin and we were clear on the other side of the island. We would have missed our flight coming home.

Here is day 4 of our vacation in 2005.

Day 4: Wednesday June 8th
We got up a bit earlier than the previous day and headed for County Clare. Our mission today was to find the house in the Burren where they filmed "Father Ted" as well as the Cliffs of Moher. I had found directions to the house on the Internet and hoped they were right. We took a couple wrong turns but eventually found it! We were thrilled and stopped by the road to take pictures. A neighbor was working on a stone fence up the road and must have thought we were crazy... But I'm sure he's seen this before.
Apparently there is a family living there, and we didn't want to disturb them. So we turned around and headed back to a main road.
Next on the agenda was getting to the beautiful cliffs of Moher. And we did. The last time we were there the parking lot was close to the cliffs next to an adorable stone cottage that served as a gift shop. This time the parking lot was torn up and major construction was going on. There was a makeshift gift shop across the highway with a much larger parking area. The walk went over the hill past many cows next to the fence. Meri wanted several pictures of them. Thus coining Robb's famous quote of the day... "We live in IOWA!! We don't need any more pictures of stinkin' cows!" This only encouraged the kids to point them out for the remainder of the trip.
The walk was through construction, but came out of the edge of the cliffs to a gorgeous view. Ryan, Meri & I purchased the euro tickets to get to the top of O'Briens tower. There were clouds of gnats up there, so we didn't stay long. There was a free telescope. Ryan bought more Guinness items and the girls found some souvenirs as well. We took lots of pictures! Meri went to town taking pictures with the panoramic camera.
It was very warm on the cliffs that day. In fact the weather had been much warmer than we had anticipated and we were running out of summer clothes. Everyone's jackets were tied around their waists. We saw one man from Germany singing in German on the edge of the cliffs with a friend video taping him. Don't know what that was about.
I bought a cd from a young man who was playing guitar on the long sidewalk down the cliffs. Meri and Maddy found a couple dogs that belonged to a woman who played the accordian there as well. I let Maddy throw a Euro in her case when they were done playing with the dogs.
We then had a picnic lunch in the car in the car park there. Afterwards headed north through the Burren. The ground around us became very rocky. We stopped a couple times to let the kids run out on the rocks. It was like landing on the moon or being in another world. Some plants grew between the rocks, but not many. Totally weird landscape. We found another beach farther north and let the kids collect shells.
On the way back we took a wrong turn and ended up on one of the secondary narrow roads again. Oops! Oh well, Clare county is beautiful and you see it up close and personal on those roads. We then made our way back to Bruree. Maddy and I drove into Kilmallock (6 miles away) for some take-away (take out). We turned down a one way street, but some helpful Irish boys helped us get turned back around. We brought back some chicken and chips (French fries). Not Kentucky Fried, but it was very good.
Meri discovered snails all around the Mill and started collecting them. She was determined to take her new pets home, but we convinced her that the officials at the airport would confiscate them. So she let them go every night. But that morning, she had quite a collection. Kludo, the puppy from downstairs had become Meri's best friend as well and came up to see if we had any treats. Maddy had some leftover chips from the plane and was giving them to Kludo. Kludo saw the snails and took off with one, thinking it was a chip. We heard him crunching it behind the flower bushes and Meri flipped out! Crisis!!!

Random Friday

I have no creative bone in my body this morning... I had to get up with the new pup very early this morning as my daughter "slept over" in her sister's room. They had a hair and makeup party.. just out of hearing distance of the puppy...

Here is one of the vacation days from our 2005 Ireland trip. Yes! I'm subjecting you to our vacation slide show!


Day 2: Monday June 6th.
We landed around 8:20am Ireland time. We got our rental car at the airport. It took 5 minutes just to figure out how to open the trunk! The kids were crabby.
It took just a little to get used to the left side of the roads and swing around the roundabouts in 2nd gear.
After we stopped at Bunratty castle to confirm our reservation for dinner that night, we went straight to the Old Mill cottage in Bruree, about 30 minutes south of Limerick on N20. The owners are Jessie and Dick Griffin with a son, David, who was Ryan's age. They live downstairs. Wonderful people! Jessie came up and gave us a quick tour of the house. Three bedrooms and two baths. The electricity was coin operated with Irish pounds. Obsolete now, but the system still worked well and the British penny was the same size, so she had a supply for us to use. We then reimbursed her at the end of the week.
Robb and the kids napped while I drove up town to find a grocery store and some food for lunch. I took a short nap when I got back.
After lunch, we headed to Bunratty castle near Shannon for the afternoon and evening. We explored all over the Bunratty grounds seeing many areas we hadn't discovered last time, like the Bunratty manor.
We got done exploring everything there was to see about 2 hours before the Irish night was supposed to begin, so we sat in the courtyard of the restaurant. Meri had talked us into buying a $100 teddy bear with an Irish dancing girl dress. (Ok, it was 17 Euro) So she played with the doll that we named Aoife (pronounced Ee-fa -- Meri's middle name) and she danced around on the grass with her. Ryan bought a Guinness cap that he wore constantly after that unless we requested that he take it off for a picture. We had a great time playing cards and talking while the park closed and we waited for the Irish night to begin. I walked with Meri and found that the dinner was getting ready to start.
Dinner was great! Between each course the waitresses and waiter performed dances and songs on the stage. After dinner, they all went up on the stage and had a wonderful show. Full of dancing, singing, jokes and stories. By this time, we had been awake for many many hours, but managed to stay awake until we got back to Bruree.