Blowing Like Stink

We've had gusts up to 60 mph (about 97 km/hr) today on the Straits of Mackinac. It's so windy that right now the bridge is closed to "high profile" traffic. That means they are only allowing cars, vans, and empty pick-up trucks to cross; everyone else has to wait until wind conditions improve.

This morning, it was so windy I actually had to peddle my bike down the hill to school. Coming home, on the other hand, wasn't too bad - the wind pushed me home...

Bagels = Yummy

Yet another reason why I love this book...

The bagels are more time consuming than the bread since they have to be boiled first, but they're so worth it. Woe is me if I ever develop diabetes because I'll just about die if I have to lay off the bread and start counting carbs.

Enjoy your weekend!

Confirmed

The diagnosis is official - nerve deafness.

My daughter has nerve deafness - thank goodness it is just in one ear. The diagnosis wasn't a surprise really - she failed her newborn hearing screening in that ear, so we've always known something was up. But the ENT and the audiologist insisted they couldn't get accurate results from a hearing test (you know, the one in the sound proof booth) until at least age four. She's now had two tests, six months apart that have shown the same results: she can hear very high frequencies and very low frequencies in that ear; but almost all human speech falls into the range of frequencies she can't hear.

I know the hearing loss effects her because of the little things she does. She refers to her good ear as "my listening ear" and has told me (while pointing accurately) "this ear doesn't work." This morning, while she was playing on the computer, she choose to only put the ear bud into the good ear. I thought the other one just fell out so I offered to help her put it in so it would stay. She assured me, "No Mama, I don't want it." O.K. - whatever works, I guess.

As of right now, life is good. She is already asking us to repeat things when she doesn't quite hear us. I'm sure "selective hearing" will start when she is a teenager, but she's not there yet. And as of this week there is an amplification system for her preschool classroom so the teacher's voice can be slightly louder than the din. The speech therapist is monitoring her and tells me her speech is "age appropriate." Apparently Ls, Fs and Ths are harder sounds to make and are often not perfected until later, so I shouldn't worry about her inability to make them correctly. But, of course, I do. I am her mama after all, it's my job to worry about her...

A Very Fairy Birthday

I love my son. Right now my son loves fairies. So, logically, when he told me he wanted a fairy themed birthday party, I agreed. (Two years ago he asked for a mermaid party. Blogged here and here.)

It all started when he saw this little cake topper at Wal-Mart back in August. When he saw it he immediately told his Papa that he wanted it on his birthday cake. Papa bought the cake, we enjoyed it for desert that night, packed her away in a safe place, and this little fairy became the inspiration for the birthday celebration.

Since fairies always make me think of flowers, we had yellow flowers everywhere; from the centerpiece, to the napkin rings...

to the cake. I made it and frosted it (yes, with some of that leftover frosting), but our good friend, Miranda, made the flowers. I can't believe how perfectly she got the yellow ones to match!

Of course, what Fairy Party would be complete without a dash of Tinkerbell? I was planning on making something for the wall, but I just couldn't leave this banner Wal-Mart when it was on clearance for $3.00. I certainly couldn't have made something for that price.

I didn't manage to get a photo of the fairy wings, but I did remember to get one of the tutu. (I used tutorials from here, and here.) He loved it. Thank goodness his sister had no interest in hers, because she let him wear it after his got covered in milk. At first he was disappointed that he didn't get a crown this year. But after I reminded him that he did get wings and a tutu, he decided that was really better than just a crown.

Of course, no birthday in these parts is complete without a new birthday shirt. (I used my raw edge technique.) When my son looks at it, he sees a fairy, but the rest of the world sees a dragonfly. (Which is a good thing when lots of the people in your small rural town just don't "get" how a little boy can like fairies; after all, they're supposed to like trucks.)

I'm glad he hasn't given into the "supposed tos." I adore him just the way he is: my doll and book loving, fairy party wanting, Sound of Music singing, snake catching, roughhousing, so skinny it's hard to get pants to fit him, little man. I wouldn't have him any other way...

I Heart Homemade Shopping Bags

I made more of these. I had collected ten pair of rain / wind / athletic pants (from my favorite "donation only" thrift shop) that were taking up valuable storage space in my sewing room. It was time for them to get transformed into shopping bags. I had a couple oxfords I couldn't use for these so they got transformed as well. And let me tell you, it was great to make something other than mittens. They have been all consuming of late - like every moment of my spare time has gone to making them. I am so looking forward to working on costumes! (A pink dinosaur and a stick man, if you're wondering.)

I know I can purchase bags for a buck or two at most stores, but shouldn't they really pay me to advertise for them? I'd rather make my own instead. And knowing that mine are recycled just makes them that much better.

They may not be the most attractive bags, (let me tell you - those turquoise pants were hideous!) but they're super easy; I'd say less than 20 minutes each. I made eleven of them other day. Add those to the two I already made and I got out of the grocery store for the first time ever without using one of their plastic shopping bags. There's only one downside - I just realized I don't have any bags to scoop the litter box into! Any suggestions?

Thirsty

Have you ever seen something that struck you as really odd? This little fly did just that the other day. I noticed it in the bay window in the back of my classroom. I have a table back there with lots of plants and often I spill a little when I water them. That fly must have been really really thirsty because it stayed near those little droplets for over 40 minutes. It would suck up a drop and then move on to the next one. Even with me crouching overhead to get close-up pictures - it didn't so much as flinch. I've never seen a fly behave that way before. Have you?

It Takes a Village...

...to make and frost enough cupcakes for an island wedding.

You've got to love it when an entire community comes together. Recently a local gal, Kelly, got married. She didn't want anything fancy at the reception so she opted for cupcakes instead of a big cake. About 400 cupcakes! So another friend, Wendy, organized everyone, passed out two dozen paper cupcake liners to each person, and told us all when to bring the cupcakes as well as our icing bags and tips to the Mackinac Island Community Hall for a good old-fashioned cupcake decorating party. (I'm doubtful that islanders of old held cupcake decorating parties, but who knows.)

It did not take the 15 of us long to frost the bazillion cupcakes with the giant 45 pound vat of frosting Wendy brought down. Trust me, I'm not exaggerating when I use the word "vat."

We island girls are nothing if not prepared! Wendy knew we couldn't just pop home to whip up another batch if we ran out, so she intentionally over estimated the amount of icing needed per cupcake - just to make sure we'd have enough. Believe it or not, there was more icing that just isn't in the picture.

It worked out well for me. I brought home four one-gallon size zip-lock bags of it home to use on my son's birthday cake and there was still about 25 pounds of leftover frosting, so we had to have a few samples. Nothing like a sugar buzz to get you ready for the one mile, up hill, bike ride home.

Fall

As I was driving the other day, I noticed these sunflowers growing by the side of the road near my parent's house. The light was just perfect, so of course, I had to stop and take a few pictures. My dad is going to love this one - I'm certain that's one of his bees.

A New Begining

My little guy started kindergarten this fall. He loves it, but tells his little sister, "It's much harder than pre-school." He's so excited to get up each day and always has lots of exciting news to share as the two of us walk home together. I know we're only a week into the school year, but I feel like he's off to a good start. I'll be off to a good start after I sit through his teacher's Back to School Night presentation tomorrow - it's the first time I get to sit in one of those small chairs instead of standing while I present to parents. When I taught kindergarten I use to make parents write with their feet to help them experience the motor control most five year-olds have in their hands, so I am quite curious what she has in store for us. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the other side of the table, but just to be safe, last night I painted my toenails...

On Mackinac Island we have half day kindergarten - in the afternoon only. The first graders come alone in the mornings and then the kindergartners join them for the afternoon. This year the K-1 class is BIG; there are 15 in there! I've taught on the island for 18 years and the average class (two elementary grades together) I've had is about 10.

You Gotta Love Mom

My mom spent several days at my house recently helping me make mittens, mittens and more mittens. We took over the dining room and turned it into our own little mitten making factory. Between the two of us, we got 75 pair into various stages of completeness. The only down side to the whole thing was moving all those felted sweaters back upstairs into my sewing room; moving them downstairs was so much easier! It was really nice to spend one on one time with my mom. To show my appreciation for her hours of cutting and sewing, we went out to dinner here (which was fabulous.) I am hoping I can get her to come back once a month to help me all winter. Though when she comes in February, the dining choices on Mackinac will be much more limited. (That time of year only three restaurants are usually open.
Thanks mom! I really appreciate all your help.
bribe her

From Bag to Little Boy's Shirt

When I saw this tutorial, I had to try it. And let me tell you, it was a piece of cake. Now, I just need to find some more interesting plastic bags. The one I used for my son's new shirt was from one of Mackinac Island's fudge shops. My son was thrilled to have a shirt with his name on it. Unfortunately, I have yet to find bags with all the letters in my daughter's name; much to her dismay. When S wears his shirt I am immediately asked, "When will I get my shirt Mama?" It's so hard to be patient when you're four...

Mackinac: Where Horse is King

Both my children have been taking riding lessons through the 4-H program here on Mackinac and they love it.

I love that they are not just learning how to ride but how to take care of a horse as well. Horses are more than just riding - they're a lot of work!

My son loves riding the horse,

but my daughter loves telling the horse what she wants it to do.

Luckily Blaze is the prefect little horse for them to learn on, and their teacher, Leanne, has been fantastic. Riding has been one of the best parts of our summer. Sadly, tomorrow will be their last lesson. But Blaze will be on the island all winter, so I am fairly certain we'll stop by the barn occasionally with a carrot or two...

Homemade Button Storage

I am just in love with my new "button storage system."
(I know, I sound like an infomercial.)

It all started when we were clearing out my grandmother's apartment. My mother already had a wine rack, so she offered grandma's to me. Add in a $10.00 box of wide mouth, quart-sized Ball jars, some circles cut out of card stock, some double sided tape and viola!

Neatly organized buttons.

No more sorting through zip-locks for me. Plus, I love that every time I look at the rack on my shelf, it reminds me of my grandmother. Though, to be completely honest, I have more buttons than will fit in the rack and I did have to liberate a few of my husband's empty honey jars. I say I need another rack, but my husband thinks I just need fewer buttons. Despite my admitted hoarding tendencies, I do use them - every pair of mittens I make gets at least two buttons.

If you have an old wine rack laying around, and don't want to spend any money on jars, the large size Wal-Mart peanut butter jars fit in my rack as well. I was just so excited to organize that I couldn't wait. We go through a lot of peanut butter, but it would have taken quite a while for me to collect that many.

Lingering

Thankfully, we still have two weeks of summer vacation here on Mackinac Island. And yes, we plan to savor every minute. There are kites to watch, fudge to eat, bugs to catch, horses to ride and more rocks than we can throw in a lifetime. Summer's been good to us this year -

so very good...

May I Borrow...

Borrowing things is quite common here on Mackinac Island. We all know each other so well and every one of us has been in a pinch at one time on another. On more than one occasion I have borrowed eggs and other ingredients from a neighbor when I didn't have enough to complete something. So I was not surprised when one of the island bakeries called me the other day hoping to borrow some powered sugar. (I am good friends with a number of the employees there and they knew I'd help if I could.) Their sugar was coming over on the boat later in the day, but they had cakes to make and needed the sugar that morning.

"No problem, I'm sure I've got some sugar. You're welcome to it; how much do you need?"

"Well," she said, "a lot. Four pounds would be good, but six would be better."

"O.K.," I said, "I'll run down to basement and see how much I've got."

Only on Mackinac Island would a normal person have six pounds of powdered sugar in their pantry! My hoarding, I mean preparedness, pays off again. Though I do have to admit, six pounds of powered sugar is probably more than I really need...

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Meet Anna. She's a cutie, I know. According to my five and a half year-old her name is pronounced Ah-na, with the emphasis on the first syllable. (He's very particular and I know you'd want to get it right.) We caught her and four of her siblings (named Le-le, Lu-lu, Fi-fi, and Nemo) at the pond in front of Mission Point Resort back in early June. The pond use to be part of a small cove years ago, but when the lake levels dropped it was cut off from the lake and the pond was born. It was loaded with tadpoles this spring.

Anna's a big grown-up frog now, tail almost gone, breathing air and ready to live on her own.

Don't worry, we'll still be keeping tabs on her. She's only moving into our neighbor's pond. We'll be able to visit her anytime we want. And when we can't find her because, of course, her chances of survival aren't that good, I've got my reasons all ready: she's taking a little rest, she's visiting friends over in the garden, she's off looking for yummy bugs for [insert meal name here], and my personal favorite - she's playing hide and seek with us!)

Soon, it will be time for her sisters to join her. To be honest, we didn't sex the tadpoles so we don't know they are girls; we aren't even sure what species they are. It's just that in my son's eyes if it doesn't have very visible penis, it must be a girl. Makes sense to me. (I wish I had known that male frogs don't have penises when we had that discussion - I would have liked to hear my son's response. Perhaps we'll discuss it at dinner tonight.)

Good luck little frog. We've enjoyed getting to know you...

Boom!

Now that my grandma has moved into an assisted living apartment, she didn't have room to keep all her stuff. She had an estate sale when she moved up north a number of years ago so she had already gotten rid of lots, but she still had quite a few mementos from her lifetime of travels. Mementos like this little iron cannon.

According to my mom, my grandma and grandpa picked it up in the 1950s during a summer they spent living in Mexico. Grandma even had the gun powder container it came with, with the price still on it - six pesos. Six pesos in today's currency is about fifty cents; makes me wonder what the cannon cost in those days.

I have very fond memories of firing it from Grandma's front porch on New Year's Eve. So when it needed a new home I immediately asked if my house was an option. Of course, as soon as we got back to the island we had to test it. It is such a little cannon, we didn't realize quite how loud it was going to be. It sure packs a wallop!


Now we just have to decide what memories to build with it for our family. New Year's Eve? Good report cards? So many possibilities...

Hot!

You know it is really darn hot when your husband drops into the kiddie pool after his walk home. If I hadn't been holding my camera I probably would have joined him.

I may not be ready for school to start, but I am ready for the cooler temperatures fall will bring.

Maker Faire Detroit 2010

Fun For All Ages

The Maker Faire Detroit was a fantastic event. You may remember we went to the Mini Maker Faire last summer, but this year's event was much bigger. Don't for a minute think this was just an event for adults. My little ones (almost six and four) loved it! They held on from 9:30 am until 4:30 pm and behaved quite well. I'd love to credit my above average parenting skills, but it really has more to do with the Maker Faire holding their attention. OK, and snacks. I did bring a well packed stroller; nothing brings out the grumpies in our family like low blood sugar.

The day began perfectly because both kids got their own tickets - that they could hold. Having something to hold makes the 45 minute wait until the gate opens much more bearable. (And before all my friends think it was me that had us there 45 minutes early, you're wrong. This one was all my husband!)

There was stuff for kids everywhere! At the Kid Robot's Wrecklab they had tools and electronics for kids to take apart.

There were robots everywhere.

Some of them the kids could even try out.

After making this little fella scoop up wiffle balls, shoot them at a target and then return to his parking spot, each child earned a driver's license to wear for the rest of the day. Then, all day long people commented on how the kids had them - which, of course, they loved.

The Lifesize Mousetrap game was also popular. Especially when the safe hit the mini van and we could feel it through the ground 40 feet away.

My daughter loved the arduino powered target shooting game, while my son preferred the arduino skeeball game.

We spent a lot of time at table where the kids could build vehicles from reused materials. The car that traveled the farthest won a prize. Sadly, we weren't contenders...

Then, who could resist making their own non-Newtonian fluid to take home. Here's the recipe if you want to try. It's cheap, easy and oh so slimy. Just keep it off the carpet - trust me.

The Art Dog table was fun too. The kids made clay designs and then...

used them to decorate paper mache dogs.

There were old puzzle pieces brought back to life with a coat of spray paint, some hot glue and a pin back,

beads to string,

and uber-cool Coke and Mentos fountains. (It's old video, but it gives you the idea.) Luckily we arrived early, had a decent place to stand, and most importantly - avoided the "splash zone." My son was quite sad when we weren't willing to wait in line for one of the 105 half-full bottles of flat, slightly minty Coke Zero they were giving away after the show, but he got over it quickly.

By far, for my two children anyway, the hit of the day came next. They both claimed to have other favorites, but in terms of how long a display or activity held their attention, this was "it." It wasn't the snacks, the tickets, the giant flame shooting bicycle, meeting good friends or staying with relatives, it all came down to the fish. Yeah, you heard me, the fish.

All 250 of them.

My photo just doesn't do it justice. Pop on over to their web page and watch some of their video clips. You'll see why the kids loved it so much. My daughter just wanted to pet the "little cute ones," but if you know my son, then you can imagine him dancing and spinning around the car singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen as sung by 250 hacked rubber fish. (He knows the lyrics thanks to this.) It was a sight to behold.

The entire 2010 Maker Faire Detroit was a sight to behold - and we didn't get to see everything! All I have to say is there had better be another one here next year, Make Magazine. Because if there isn't, you're going to have some very unhappy kiddos. Myself included...