Finished for Friday: Harry Potter Books 1-3

This week I'm participating in Finished for Friday hosted by threeundertwo over at her wonderful blog Lit and Laundry. This week...Harry Potter!

For those of you who are completely oblivious to all things Harry Potter, the movie for book six (the Half Blood Prince) is coming out next Wednesday. In preparation for this glorious day, I'm re-reading the whole series. I typically do a re-read at least once a year, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it.
So while I haven't finished the whole series yet, this week's finish is books 1-3.

I'm currently on chapter 26

of book four (the Goblet of Fire)

and hopefully will get it finished up this weekend and move onto book five (the Order of the Phoenix).

I know others out there are also doing re-reads of at least book six (threeundertwo and Daddo, for example). Daddo had better get a move on though, as he was only on page 71 last time I checked.


Be sure to check out some of the other finishes for this week!

Fourth of July Weekend

For the Fourth of July weekend the N-boy and I went to visit his parents up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As I'd mentioned in my previous post, I was nervous about this visit, due to the N-boy's getting so sick this spring (he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder-more about that in the future, when I'm ready. Let's just say it was a very rough spring here.) Well, it was a GREAT visit-perhaps one of our best trips to see them. We were able to have some good conversations out the health situation, ate some good food and saw beautiful scenery. I can't wait to go back!

Here's the front of their new house.The floor plan is eerily identical to the parsonage they moved out of!The first night there we went to eat at Applebee's up at Sturgeon Bay. Food was ok, but the view from the table was great.
Sturgeon Bay is where they build very large ships.

On Saturday we spent the whole day up in Door County. We stopped at a Piggly Wiggly along to way to get the makings for a picnic on the beach.

The N-boy insisted we get a picture of the sign.

Here is a picture of the water in Green Bay. I didn't even know there actually was a Green Bay. Look how clear the water is!We spend a lot of time just walking around some of the cute little towns in the area. Lots of them were Scandinavian themed. This one had a sod roof with goats on the top!Here is D-Mil and I in front of the goats. For the celebration that night we were invited to a cottage on Green Bay by some of D-Fil's congregation members. It was an adorable little cabin, and had a great dock, beach, and view of the bay. We had a super delicious dinner (BBQ ribs, corn, salads, desserts) and then waited for it to get dark.

The N-boy sat looking out at the Bay and relaxed.

And he watched the sun go down.


When it got dark there were HUNDREDS of (likely illegal) fireworks all along the bay. They just kept going and going. It was super nifty, especially with all of the bonfires people lit, as well. Unfortunately, all of my fireworks pictures just look like a bunch of pretty dots in the sky, so I won't make anyone suffer through those. Clearly my night time photography skills could use some improvement.

Overall, though, I think both of us had a great weekend, and I think the N-boy's family did too. Sunday was highly uneventful; we attended church, drove back to Indiana, and managed to get extremely lost in Chicago when we accidentally got off I-90 and couldn't figure out how to get onto Lake Shore. But we made it back, and even had time for me to relax by the pool for a bit. I hope everyone out there had a great holiday weekend!

Finished for Friday: Polka Dot Dress

I'm joining threeundertwo over at Lit and Laundry again this week for Finished for Friday! Yesterday I took a day off work as a comp day (for leading the Taste of Chicago field trip last weekend). I went out for a bagel, read Harry Potter book 2, and worked on this dress:I'd gotten the pattern back in May at JoAnn Fabric when it was on sale for $1. I know that princess style seams look best on me, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I've made skirts before-successfully-and was hoping this would be just as easy. The N-boy picked out the fabric himself!
Here are the pattern pieces all layed out. After I took this picture I realized the fabric was folded the wrong way, so I had to take everything off, re-fold and re-pin. I'm counting this as a finish because it is put together, even though it still needs some tweaking to make it fit correctly. The Momcat has already promised to help me with this. The problem is that the arm holes are a little tight, the bust line needs a little adjustment, and it's a bit too big from the waist down. In the picture below You an kind of see the problems with the sleeves.BUT for my first attempt at sewing clothing in many years, I think it turned out ok. I'm going to try a skirt again next, to see if I can't do better with something a wee bit simpler.

The N-boy and I are heading up to his parent's for the holiday. They took a new call (ELCA) last November, and this will be the first time for me to visit them there. It will also be my first time to see them since the N-boy got sick this Spring, so I'm a bit nervous about that. His illness is definitely going to be that big elephant in the room that noone wants to talk about, but that needs to be discussed. Oh well, I'm sure it will work out ok, and it will be nice to see family.

Hope everyone out there has a wonderful holiday!

The Near Death Experience of Mr. Coffee

I am, without a doubt, addicted to coffee. I don't know when I became officially addicted. I started drinking coffee my senior year in high school, but only drank it on and off throughout college. It wasn't until graduate school that I started needing it. Every single morning. My morning coffee is now affectionally referred to as Mr. Coffee and he even has his own theme song (to the tune of 'Rubber Duckie, You're the One'). Parents-I blame you for giving me the coffee addiction gene.

The N-boy used to be just as addicted to coffee, but lately he has cut back due to health reasons. Now he drinks---NONE! Oh the horrors! However, one of his "jobs" each night before bed has always been to get the coffee pot set up to come on automatically the next morning. Last night, as I was reading blogs in the other room, I hear an ominous "uh-oh" from the kitchen. The N-boy says, "The coffee pot just broke." Scarier words were never heard.

This is the piece that broke off. It's that tiny little hook that keeps the basket for the grounds latched into the whole unit. Who knew such a tiny piece of plastic could be so important Luckily, I am both resourceful and too cheap to want to buy a new coffee pot. A few strips of lab tape later and...tada! A working coffee pot. The N-boy has suggested we get some velcro to make this a more permanent solution, so we don't have to re-tape it every night. And I don't go bonkers from lack of Mr. Coffee. The coffee came out fine this morning, so until we get some velcro the tape method will work just fine. And since Daddo gave us a large quantity of very festivly colored lab tape last Christmas, we have no shortage of tape supplies.

On a somewhat less scary note, I made ginger cookies last night! I used a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I'm happy with how they turned out, even if ginger cookies aren't a "summer" cookie.

Clearly the batter was equally as tasty!The N-boy and coworkers have given them a thumbs up, so I think the recipe is a keeper!

Knitting Needle Holder: Complete!

One of my goals for this last week was to make a knitting needle holder for my friend E. E and I are in a knitting club together (amongst many other shared activities). One of the other women in the club (who is also in my quilting guild) was showing us a knitting needle holder that she'd made. E loved the holder, and kept talking about how she'd have to find or make one for herself.

Well, her birthday is conveniently coming up on July 1, so I thought, "How hard can this be? I'll make her one!" And the best part of this is that it wasn't hard at all! I Googled to find a pattern and ended up on Multicrafty's site where she has a super tutorial. Using E's favorite colors (colonial blue and fuschia pink--all from my stash, no less), I put one together! I made a few small changes to the pattern, most notably using a 3/8 inch seam allowance when sewing the outside fabric border to the top of the inside pocket, to make it easier for me to flip the fabric over and stitch in the ditch to secure.

Here's a picture of the completed holder, rolled up and tied with pretty ribbon. On the insider there are three pockets for storing knitting needles of various lenghts, and wider pockets for circular needles. A close up of the inside, with a pair of needles in the top pocket. The inside with the top piece folded down in preparation for rolling up and securing with ribbon. This folded down piece keeps the needles from slideing out the top!
All in all I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I can definetely see making more of these in the future. Although I did finish it in a day, I'm confident I could make the next one more quickly now that I've gotten the hang of it. E comes back from her vacation next week, and I hope she likes it!

Taste of Chicago

Another busy weekend here in Indianaland. Saturday morning started out with a bicycle trip to the farmer's market, where a wide variety of yummy things were purchased. This week haul included swiss cheese, steak, veal bratwurst, chicken-apple sausages, peas in the shell, rhubarb, coffee, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash. Yum!Saturday afternoon and evening the N-boy and I went to the Taste of Chicago festival as trip leaders for some of our international students. I'd never been before, but BabyBrother had attended last year and gave us some great reccommendations for things to try. For those who don't know, Taste of Chicago is a giant food festival held in Chicago each summer. Admission is free, and then you buy tickets that are then used to get food at the booths. Different foods cost different amounts, and there are "taste of" options at all of the booths too. The "taste of" options are either smaller portions of some of the regular items, or special items that are cheaper. It was pretty crowded there, and hot too. We made sure to drink plenty of water and gatorade and rest in the shade, but we saw many people being taken for medical attention.One of the items BabyBrother reccommended was corn roasted in the husk from Dominicks. Please note the presene of my new favorite pink hat and the nifty retro sunglasses they gave as the favors at the 50's themed all-staff picnic a few weeks ago. The hat came from the NAFSA conference in L.A. and it says "All we do is work." I love it!The N-boy and I had a good time together at the festival. He lived and went to school in Chicago for a while (long, long ago), so he always enjoys going back to his old haunts. It was nice to spend time doing something fun, and to get out of town for a short trip.

Finished for Friday!

This week I'm joining threeundertwo at Lit and Laundry for "Finished for Friday" again. Celebrating the fact that I did indeed manage to get something finished for this week! I feel like I have so many (too many) projects going on right now, so it felt super good to finish something.

This week's finish is the scarf I made for the Momcat for Christmas. Last Christmas. I'd finished up the knitting before, but hadn't gotten around to sewing the ends in. I'd actually put the whole thing, needles and all, into a gift bag and presented it under the tree last year. Last night, while watching This Old House on PBS I sewed in the yarn ends for each little stripey section. I find it particularly satisfying that I finished a Christmas present (even a belated one) on Rudy Day, celebrated in the 25th of each month and led by CEO at Organized Christmas. Now if I can just get ahead on this coming Christmas... Merry Christmas Momcat!