'Round Here

It feels like its been a while. What have we been up to you ask? Well, first of all O'Mally (or MoAlly) is busy watching the birds. I *finally* (after a very long hiatus) filled the bird feeders. I put them in some of the trees by the kitchen window so we can sit at the table and watch the birds. Isabel loves it. Tweet-tweets are her favorite. And four months later the dog and cat are finally friends of sorts: The cat swats at Leia as she walks by, and Leia gently grabs O'Mally back. Its cute. And its about time! As for me, a friend taught me a new, very valuable skill:

Needle felting! I have been wanting to learn this for a very long time and I am so excited about the possibilities! A whole new medium for crafting. Its almost like sculpting, except more dangerous with a very sharp needle. It is a good thing my etsy shop did well this week, because I now must. buy. more. wool. Now. lol. Unfortunately my printer broke. It was one month old. Well, it was a black Friday deal that didn't get set up until January. NEVER BUY AN EPSON. EVER. It was nothing but trouble. Maybe it didn't help that it fell off of the counter and almost hit Anastasia. Even so it went through so much ink for as little printing as I did. I went and bought an HP Deskjet. I am So very happy with it.

When I paint for my shop, I like to have something for Anastasia to paint as well (this is an Isabel nap activity!). So far we made a bug box, and a nice china cabinet for her dolly house. Anastasia has been a wonderfully ornery 3 year old lately. She really has a knack for not being able to listen. And she is skilled at taking things from Isabel and teasing her until little Isabel screams at the top of her lungs... about 5 dozen times a day. Nick is supposed to bring me some ear plugs... and I hope that will help the ringing go away. I really wish I was exaggerating. But, she is cute, and we have so many sweet conversations and we really have a lot of fun now that she is older. She tells me she loves me all the time. What a beautiful mess I am in. Like Isabel and her soup:

We eat buckets of soup these days. Everyone loves soup in this house. And I made this amazing (x 100) oatmeal bread the other day. A bit of trouble but worth every bit of it. We ate both loaves in a 24 hour period. It was so good. I substituted 1/2 the flour with whole wheat pastry flour. Oh. My. Gosh. Delicious!

Isabel likes to eat, she is quite the connoisseur. She also likes to fix things (which usually means taking things apart or breaking them) but it is the thought that counts, right? She is really interested in how things work. Nick has been back at work lately. No blizzard for the past couple weeks. B-o-r-i-n-g. haha, just kidding. I really am longing for Spring. I was just fantasizing today about fresh asparagus and sugar snap peas. Carrots and onions are getting a little old. Well, I better get to bed... I am beat. I think I will dream about Spring.