Attempt at upcycling...and zippers!

Mad has had a zebra print backpack which she really loves. However, it was poorly made and after several months of use, the lining came apart. So I made an attempt to take it apart and make it into zippered pouches. And then having overcome the "fear of zippers," I am having lots of fun making pouches!

Ode to Spring

Oh how I miss thee
Those gleeful days of spring
My love for you is lasting
Unlike those adolescent flings

As I lay in warm sunlit grass
I hear the birds chirping pounding my ear drums
Why the lovely days so quick to pass
And soon autumn brings sprouting mums

Rosy cheek dawn brings the night a quicker
The moon soars up early, come hither
As the cool season breeze fades away
How my heart longs to swing into spring today

- by Mad

I couldn't remember my favorite spring poem so my Mad offered her own.
I am ever grateful for her creative mind!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Black & White 2

To overcome cabin fever, I have been making a couple of pins and coasters in my favorite color combination: black & white. The coasters reflect my yearning for spring weather. Sigh. The pins reflect quaintness I feel when I see a parked bicycle and my love for a cup of coffee with a friend.
The ceramic tile coasters are supposed to be super white but it looks like off white in the photo, due to my lack of skill in phtography. I suppose I did improve a bit compared to last year but...

My Mad's party is swinging downstairs finally tonight with most of her friends! The music and the chatter and the laughter... loud but nice!

Cabin Fever

Gusty wind is blowing new snow all over... when do we get to go for a nice walk?

The power goes off and on as I frantically cook to last us a few days just in case the power goes out. Pepco has pulled in workers from repair work due to dangerous conditions... We are hoping for a quiet evening.

We are charging cell phones, laptops, and inflating aerobed to camp out in the basement, which supposed to be the warmest spot in the house in the winter. Hope that's true!

Finally, the sun's out!

With the sun out, the world [yes, I have such a childlike perspective] is so delightfully bright!

Although the snow causes such a physically demanding labor, I love the whiteness of it all.

A job well done!

It's still coming!

Still digging and still snowing...
It has passed the window sill!

Snow...more to come!

The school is closed due to snow. I took a walk outside to capture the pretty wet snow on tree branches.

When the girls were up, we baked a pan of brownies and ate some with dollops of ice cream.

As we are eating, my phone rings with a text message from the county Weather Alert: Winter Storm Watch until Saturday PM. Expect 12-20" of snow. Mad moans audibly since her major birthday party is on Friday.

I remind her about her actual birth day.... We had historical inches of snow and the government closed for the day. I remember starting out 5 in the morning when the snow pile reached mid-thigh. When she was a toddler, I used to tell her that the heavens celebrated her birthday with lots of pretty snow and government closed to honor her birth. Oh, the white lies we tell our children!