April Resolution Review

I'm a week late with this post, but April was a whirlwind for me, and I'm just now catching up.

I set some goals at the beginning of the year, so I thought I'd give a quick monthly update on my progress in April. 


Reading: 

• Goal - 18 Books and more than a year of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home back issues (and yes, I've let the subscriptions to those magazines expire).
• April Progress - Read 2 books (9 books of 18 total), and none of the  magazines (so still at 10 magazines of 38 total). 

The books I read were:

• Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
• Dandelion Hunter:  Foraging the Urban Wilderness by Rebecca Lerner

Crafting:

• Goal - 12 completed projects, preferably one a month, with one being a quilted item and another being knit socks.
• April Progress - Quilted a table runner for my dresser ( 4 projects of 12 total)

So, I finally quilted something.  So many people (I'd venture to say they're mostly women) say quilting is their hobby of choice, so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about and learn a new skill.  I enjoyed the process, but I didn't love it.  On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being a crafty project I hate, like mending clothing, and 10 being a project I love, like crocheting an afghan, I give quilting about a 6. 

I chose colors that coordinated with our bedroom, and I think selecting the fabric was the best part of the process.  I also enjoyed doing the machine quilting, which in this case was simple diagonal lines.  Cutting and piecing the top was okay, as was sewing on the binding.  The part I didn't like was, that as careful as I felt I was being, there were still glaring mistakes.  I've read that it's to be expected with a first quilt.  I chose to leave the mistakes in, because I just didn't have the patience to rework any of them.  That is the main reason I may not quilt anything else.  Then again, maybe I will.  It will probably depend on the type of project and my mood.

All that said, here it is.  It's a simple hourglass pattern, without border, but with binding I cut myself.  I did all of it on the machine.  If anyone is interested, here is the pattern, and here is the websites I used to teach myself the basics of quilting, and how to get the diagonal lines straight.

Gardening: 

• Goal - Organized planning, leading to an organized garden.
• April Progress - We completed our spring planting sometime early in April, but I don't recall taking time to fill in what we did in my garden organizer.  I really need to do that before I forget entirely.
  
  And I'll just be blunt.  Three mornings of frost in late April sucks.  Snow (yes, snow) during the first week of May sucks more.  So far, everything has survived, with the help of tarps and upended buckets for cloches, but growth has been very slow for this time of year.
  

Diet/Nutrition:

• Goal - To switch over to less harmful types of sweeteners and/or reduce sugars in our foods.  To grow more of our food in our backyard.
• April Progress - We switched away from buying granulated white sugar in March and were able to stick to that decision in April.  No other changes were made.

Fitness:

• Goal - To join a local yoga class better flexibility, balance and overall health.
• April Progress - Again I say, gardening is great exercise!  Reach high for the tarps, carry them to the garden, spread them out, haul firewood to hold them in place, wait out frost and snow, then reverse.  Repeat approximately once a week, well past last average frost date.

Finances:

• Goal - To pay off our RV.
• April Progress - Shane continues to work out of town several times a month, so we are continuing to pay extra each month toward the loan principal.  A noticeable dent in the balance is being made.

Simple Soap

I just wanted to show off my latest batch of homemade soap that I made yesterday.  These are actually shampoo bars, but the difference is in the ingredients, not the method of making them.

This is my first batch of hot-process soap.  It was made in a Crock Pot and only took about 90 minutes, including clean-up.

In the past I've always made cold-process soaps.  There are advantages to each method, but in terms of curing time, hot-process wins hands down.  While still soft, it can be used the day after it is made, as opposed to several weeks of curing time with the cold-process version.

Because it was my first time, I didn't try to take any photos as I made it.  I plan to make another batch this weekend and will try to enlist Shane's help so that I can write a tutorial with pictures.  Stay tuned for that.

Pottering About

Last week during spring break, Kat, her mom (my daughter T) and I spent an afternoon at Paint, Glaze & Fire Ceramics and Coffee House.

The concept at Paint, Glaze & Fire is fun and simple.  Customers choose and pay for unfinished pottery pieces, then pay an additional small studio fee to paint them there in the shop while also enjoying hot or cold coffee drinks or tea.  The staff then glazes and fires the pieces and they're ready to pick up a few days later. 

I remember doing a little ceramic work as a Girl Scout when I was young, but this was the first time for Kat and T.

I chose a spoon rest to paint, largely because I broke my old ceramic spoon rest a few months ago and I needed a new one.  I think my sponge-painting technique leaves a lot of room for improvement, but the colors - a deep sea green, browns and tans -- are spot on for my kitchen.

Kat chose a couple of 5-inch tiles to do free-form coasters.  Doctor Who fans will recognize her rendition of the Tardis, and the muffin (if I'm not mistaken) represents some aspect of the My Little Pony cartoons and toys.

I liked T's oversized coffee mug the best.  The drizzle effect was another experimental technique that turned out great, in my opinion.  The colors chooses were shades of purple and teal on a cream colored background.

We had lots of fun that afternoon, and I plan on returning and trying something completely different next time.  The shop also features a comfortable lounge area and free wi-fi, as well as classes, parties and even a summer ceramics camp.  If you're local to the Kansas City area, you should check it out and have some creative fun!

March Resolution Review

It's hard to believe that a quarter of the year has already passed.  Time just flies for me lately!

I set some goals at the beginning of the year, so I thought I'd give a quick monthly update on my progress in March. 


Reading: 

• Goal - 18 Books and more than a year of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home back issues (and yes, I've let the subscriptions to those magazines expire).
• March Progress - Read 2 books (7 books of 18 total), and 4 of the  magazines (10 magazines of 38 total). 

The books I read were:

• Jewel by Bret Lott
• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Crafting:

• Goal - 12 completed projects, preferably one a month, with one being a quilted item and another being knit socks.
• March Progress - Started and completed the second toe-up knitted sock, completing the pair.  I also crocheted a couple of much needed pot holders using this pattern. ( 3 projects of 12 total)

The socks are far from perfect, but functional and very comfortable.  I love how they match, but aren't identical.  I really enjoyed knitting them and I'm sure I'll knit more in the future.

Gardening: 

• Goal - Organized planning, leading to an organized garden.
• March Progress - We finally bought a new printer and I was finally able to print pages from the garden planner I mentioned in earlier posts.  I love it; it's a very functional and attractive planner to use.
  
  We have begun planting and so far have potatoes and two new gooseberries bushes in the ground.  I transplanted 76 strawberry plants into a new pyramid, the garlic we planted last fall is coming up, as are the perennial asparagus and rhubarb.  We had big plans to continue planting early crops, but last weekend we were hit with our third mega-snowstorm in two months, so planting will have to wait a little longer.

Diet/Nutrition:

• Goal - To switch over to less harmful types of sweeteners and/or reduce sugars in our foods.  To grow more of our food in our backyard.
• March Progress - I have decided that the only way for me to do this is to just do it!  Despite the cost difference between plain granulated sugar and organic cane juice crystals, I used up the last bag of white sugar and I've vowed to eliminate it from sugar from our shopping list entirely.  I consider cane juice crystals the next step up on the sweetener hierarchy.  Not the best choice, but a better one.  We also continue to use local honey, molasses (local when possible), Sucanat and real maple syrup as sweeteners, but not with any regularity.

Fitness:

• Goal - To join a local yoga class better flexibility, balance and overall health.
• March Progress - I still haven't made any effort to find a different class, but with gardening starting up, I'm not to worried.  Gardening is great exercise!

Finances:

• Goal - To pay off our RV.
• March Progress - Shane has been working out of town a lot lately.  He's been getting both a per diem allowance (there is usually a little left over after expenses) and at least a couple of hours of overtime on almost every check lately.   That has helped me to continue to pay extra on each RV payment.  I don't think I'll reach the goal of having it completely paid off this year, but the balance will be reduced considerably.

Getting Crafty

I was going to write about how my daughter T., Kat, and I went to this really cool combination coffee house and ceramics studio and got all artsy-craftsy earlier today, but I ended up leaving the house without a thought of grabbing our camera, so that post will have to wait until our artwork is ready to pick up in about a week.

Instead, I'm going to tell you about Shane and Kat doing some leather crafting last weekend during the snow storm.

Shane is pretty good at leather-crafting, as you can see in this post from my old blog.  A while back -- maybe a year or so ago -- Kat became interested, so they started a project together.  It's a craft that can take years to perfect, but is actually quite simple to learn in basic form and is suitable for crafters of all ages.

Kat's first project was a tooled tri-fold key wallet.  As so often happens, projects get set aside around here, but they finally picked it back up and finished it last weekend.  Here she and Shane are using a device called a stitching pony to hold the key wallet steady while they stitched the binding.

Here is the interior of the finished wallet...

And here is the exterior.  I don't use her real name on the blog, so it has been electronically erased from the center area there.

Her next project is going to be a belt, with a daffodil pattern. Here she is doing a practice pattern for it on a piece of scrap leather.

I can hardly wait to see how it turns out!

February Resolution Review

Since Shane will be home and our weekend will begin tomorrow, and since the last day of February is today, I decided to write my Friday post today.

I set some goals at the beginning of the year, so I thought I'd give a quick monthly update on my progress in February. 


Reading: 

• Goal - 18 Books and more than a year of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home back issues (and yes, I've let the subscriptions to those magazines expire).
• February Progress - Read 2 books (5 of 18 total), and 5 of the  magazines (6 of 38 total). 

The books I read were:

• Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
• During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase

Crafting:

• Goal - 12 completed projects, preferably one a month, with one being a quilted item and another being knit socks.
• February Progress - Started and completed one toe-up knitted socks. ( 1.5 of 12 total)

I taught myself to crochet around the age of 12 or 13.  A few years later, I taught myself to knit.  I don't consider myself an accomplished knitter, and think it's more difficult than crocheting, but I usually do alright.  These socks were probably the most challenging knitting project I've tackled.  The work itself is not difficult, but just finding a pattern I could make sense of took days.  I made irreparable mistakes causing me to start over several times, but with each re-do, the quality improved.  A few nights ago I was determined to finish the sock, but come 2:00 a.m. when the yarn was about to run out, I completely forgot to consider that I needed a stretchy bind-off.  I bound off in a traditional way and couldn't get the thing over my foot.  So, I had to rework that, and now it might be too stretchy, but at least I'll be able to wear it (and learned a stretchy bind-off to boot!).

The sock isn't without flaws, by far, but it will be wearable, and I'm looking forward to finishing the pair.  What's more, now that I have a clue what I'm doing, I'll probably make more socks in the future.

My first sock!  It's in Paton Kroy washable wool
sock yarn; the colorway is Clover Colors.

Gardening: 

• Goal - Organized planning, leading to an organized garden.
• February Progress - Our printer quit working and I haven't replaced it yet, so I haven't been able to use the garden planning downloads I bought.  However, I've been planning all the same.  I know what we will be planting, in approximate quantities, and have ordered seeds.

Diet/Nutrition:

• Goal - To switch over to less harmful types of sweeteners and/or reduce sugars in our foods.  To grow more of our food in our backyard.
• February Progress - I have to admit that I haven't made any progress toward finding less harmful sweeteners since last month.

In other nutrition news, I've started making kombucha tea and tibicos soda (aka, water kefir) again after letting both go dormant for a few months at the end of last year.  Since re-establishing the habit of drinking a cup of one or the other -- or both -- daily again, I've felt a noticeable improvement in the way I feel.  To me, they are like safer, more natural energy drink and they are good for your gut.  IMO, they taste good, too.


Fitness:

• Goal - To join a local yoga class better flexibility, balance and overall health.
• February Progress - I have not found a different yoga class to join and to be honest, haven't given it much thought.

Finances:

• Goal - To pay off our RV.
• February Progress - A little.  When we first bought the RV, I padded our first two monthly payment by about $90, rounding it to the next hundred dollar amount.  For the next five months, though, I wasn't comfortable doing that.  We are in a position now that I can start paying extra again each month and even start catching up on the five months when I wasn't able to pay extra.  Every little bit helps.

Beautiful Weekend for Heritage Days

Shane ended up having to work on Saturday, but Kat and I decided to go to Warsaw Heritage Days without him.  This is the first time in many years (15?...20?) that I've gone, despite it being in my hometown of Warsaw, MO.  The festival, which began in 1981, is a celebration of the pioneering forefathers of the area's Kaysinger Bluff, now the site of the Harry S. Truman Visitor Center at Truman Lake.

The weather was beautiful and we had so much fun, eventually catching up with one of my sisters and her husband before going to visit my dad for a while.

I took lots of pictures of our day.  Here are few -- to see the rest click HERE or on the Heritage Days tab at the top of the page.

Can I Be Frank With You?

Let's see if I can "Frankenstein" $10 worth of thrift store clothes into a big freakin' mess Halloween costume for Kat. 

Into the lah-bor-ah-tory I go...

Product Review: Our Homemade Shampoo Bars

The lavender bars in the top left and center are our homemade shampoo bars;
the others are our regular bath soap.

There are lots of posts lately about going "no 'poo", the baking soda and apple cider vinegar alternatives to shampoo and conditioner.  I was curious, so I gave "no 'poo" a try.  I was already using our homemade soap to wash my hair, and while I had good results with "no 'poo", I decided it was just simpler for me to carry on with the homemade soap.

As some of you already know, Shane and I have been making homemade bath soap for a couple of years now.  We wouldn't want to go back to commercial made soap, and both felt our soap was working fine as shampoo.  But when I found a "recipe" for a soap bar formulated especially for hair, I wanted to give it a try.

Washing your hair with handcrafted soap is not like using shampoo.  At first, soap may dry your hair, or make it oily, but once your scalp is accustomed to the handcrafted stuff, it normalizes on it's own.  That's when you'll find that you probably don't need to wash your hair as often as you're used to.  Under normal circumstances, I wash my hair about every 5 days now.  I rarely use any conditioner, and when I do, it's nothing more than a diluted vinegar rinse or maybe a dime-sized drop of olive or coconut oil worked through my hair.

You apply the shampoo bar by working it into a lather in your hands first, then working it into your hair.  The problem is, most homemade soap doesn't lather a lot.  The first thing I noticed was that the shampoo bars lather more than our regular bath bars do.  While lather isn't necessary for cleaning, it's what most of us are used to, and I do believe it makes it easier to tell if I've distributed the soap throughout my hair. 

The second thing I noticed was that my hair felt softer when I was rinsing it, similar to the feeling I'd get if I used conditioner.  When I combed my wet hair, it also felt as if I'd used a conditioner.

Now, my hair is what it is.  I learned some time ago not to try to force it to be anything else.  Most days I'd rather let it dry curly than to subject it to the drying heat of the blow dryer or flat iron.  I haven't had a perm for decades, and I quit coloring my hair several year ago because I actually like the natural graying color.  Since then I have decided that I don't want to expose myself to those chemicals, anyway.  

I like my hair in it's natural state, but I'm fully aware it's never going to look like a Pantene ad.  But it's soft and the last few times I've had it cut, the stylists have commented on how healthy it is. The first time I tried the shampoo bar, I let my hair air dry.  It dried in long loose curls, and though still a little frizzy, it wasn't as bad as usual. The next time I tried the shampoo bar, I blow-dried my hair.  It was pretty fluffy right after blow drying.

But by the next day, and the day after that, it had "settled down" a bit and was very soft and smooth (well, as smooth as my hair ever gets). I've found that if I wash my hair on a Monday, it will look best on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Shane and I both like that the shampoo bar isn't heavily scented like many shampoos and conditioners.  We included a few drops of lavender essential oil, which smells nice while we're using the soap, but doesn't linger in our hair afterward. I also like that Kat likes this bar.  She didn't like using our typical homemade soap for her hair.

As for negatives, at this point I can't think of any.

If you're a soap maker and are interested, I used this basic shampoo bar formula from the Crunchy Chicken website. 

If you aren't a soap maker but would like to be, read everything you can get your hands on, then give it try.  Caution should be taken, but it's not nearly as intimidating as it first seems.

A Quick Sewing Project: Doll Dress From a Baby Onesie

Here is the quick craft project I promised last Friday.  Better late than never, I guess.  When I made Kat's new dress last week, it was quite a bit longer than it needed to be, so I cut a few inches off the bottom before hemming it.

With that extra strip of fabric, I decided to make a coordinating dress for Kat's American Girl doll (whose name I can't tell you, as it changes almost weekly).

I'm not really skilled enough to try to duplicate the jumper-type dress I made for Kat.  Maybe with enough time I could, but I wanted this done in time for the big Easter celebration with her step-dad's family this weekend.  So instead of a jumper, I used the leftover fabric to make a skirted t-shirt.

I scouted around a little, but couldn't find a plain white t-shirt -- or a colored one, for that matter -- that would fit an 18-inch doll unless I ordered something online.  Instead, I used a newborn onesie.  If you can find a premie-sized onesie, it might fit even better. 

The fabric I cut off Kat's dress was too long; had I gathered that much fabric, it would have fanned out like a square dance dress.  Nothing wrong with that, but not the look I was going for.  Because I wanted the underside of the skirt to be "pretty", too, I cut two strips of fabric that were the same size and that wrapped around the doll approximately 1-1/2 times. 

With right sides together, I sewed them together along the bottom edge.  I turned them right-side out and pressed.  This created a self-hemmed, self-lined ruffle. 

I sewed the ends together and formed a ring.

I machine basted the top edge and gathered it to fit the cut-off onesie.   I thought about keeping the snap part of the onesie, but it was just too long for the doll (onesie on the ground, onesie on the ground, lookin' like a fool with your onesie on the ground...) so I cut off that part.

With the right sides of both the onesie and the ruffle together, I sewed the ruffle to the onesie.  Once attached, I flipped the skirt into place, folded and hand-tacked the seam in the back so it didn't show as much, and pressed the entire dress.  Because the skirt is doesn't stretch, the dress has to be put on the doll from the feet up.

And...that's it.  Simple as can be.  Assuming you have a scrap of fabric and some thread on hand, the total cost was $2 (for the onesie that came in a 4-pack for $8).  It took an hour to assemble. 

Here's the doll modeling her new dress.

BTW, the doll got purple-framed glasses this school year because Kat got purple-framed glasses this school year.  The doll was a gift from her grandma and great-grandma on her step-dad's side of the family.   They buy an American Girl (or Boy) doll for each grandchild that is their "mini me".  I think this is such a wonderful idea that I thought I'd share it in case anyone wants to start a new tradition in their family.

Strawberry Pyramids...Or, When Life Hands You Time, Use It To Your Advantage

My friend LisaB called me a tease for showing you pictures yesterday without explaining what we were doing.  Well, here's what we were doing...building strawberry pyramids!

Shane had seen some similar round "pyramids" or "fountains" for berries, but they didn't look very sturdy, so when I saw the post about wood pyramids at Hillbilly Mom, I passed that post on to him.

The basic idea is to build a large open box or frame, fill it with soil, top it with a smaller frame with extended corners and fill that one with soil, and so on.  It's easy, but maybe not as simple as you might think.  If you decide to make one, I recommend looking it up online for exact dimensions, or at the very least, working it out on paper before you start cutting lumber.  Don't forget to take into account the width of your boards.  In our case that was 1-1/2", and although it wouldn't seem like it, it can make a world of difference.  Shane did ours in his head, and they aren't without flaws, but if there is enough interest, I might be able to talk him into writing up a set of plans.

This ended up being a family project over the course of two afternoons.  Kat did a lot of measuring and marking on the first pyramid.  Shane did all the cutting, attaching (he used screws rather than nails) and wheel-barrowing of soil.  I did all of the transplanting from our small temporary strawberry bed I built last year.  We had enough plants to fill one bed and the bottom tier of the second, so we'll have to buy a few more.  I ran out of daylight for picture taking yesterday, which is why these look so overcast compared to the other pics.  (BTW, it was 71° yesterday, and this morning as I type this, we're getting a rain/snow mix.)

I think we are going to build at least one more of these to turn into a "salad garden".  Can you imagine how pretty it would be with radishes, carrots, green onions and different kinds/colors of lettuces in each compartment, with either a tomato or a big pepper plant on the top?  I think it will look really sharp.

Some of you might be wondering why Shane was able to work on these during the week.  That's because he's been laid off.  It's not a "the company's doing under and we can't keep you" sort of lay-off.  It's the "we've got several projects and we're just waiting for them to start up" kind of  deal.  We expect it to last for two or three weeks.

While there's never a GOOD time to be laid off, right now is probably as good as it gets.  We have enough savings to see us through and the weather is fine, overall, for getting things done outside, from clean-up, to bed-building, to seed-sowing.  In spring, time is at a premium, so for Shane to have time right now is something of a gift, regardless of the lack of pay.

It's also going to coincide with Kat's spring break, which is week after next, so we might be able to "vacate" for a day or two if we can decide where we want to go. We could even hitch up the camper, if the weather is nice enough that week.

Making Music

While Shane was working out of town for so many months last year, he decided to take up the guitar to combat the boredom of sitting in the motel room in evenings. 

We had picked up a cheap youth guitar at a garage sale last spring when Kat said she might want to learn.  She quickly found that the fantasy was better than reality, so Shane started out by taking that youth guitar with him.  Soon, though, he wanted one more his size, so he bought a good used one Eleca from a pawn shop in the town where he was working.  It's not a big name brand, but it sounds and looks nice.

6-string Eleca on the left.

While scouting for online lessons, some of which are on YouTube videos, he ran across something called a Diddley Bow (aka, primal slide guitar).  Of course, he had to make one, just to see if he could. He messed around with that for a little while, but was soon back at the "real" guitar.

That's when he found his nice little Martin Backpacker guitar at a really good price on craigslist.  Isn't it cute?  We actually have it hanging on the wall in our bedroom and it looks surprisingly attractive there.

Martin Backpacker.

 More recently, Shane and I both read the book Made By Hand: My Adventures in the World of Do-It-Yourself by Mark Frauenfelder.  One of the things he mentioned among his attempts to garden, keep chickens and bees, and supercharge his espresso maker was that he made a banjo from a piece of wood, some guitar strings and a tin can.  Of course, Shane had to try it, and actually ended up making two.  (By the way, we both recommend this book.)

That was Saturday, and on Sunday we visited my dad, who is a junker/reseller of the highest order.  He picked up this 1970s Ensenada 12-string guitar, sans the strings, for $3 at a garage sale.  It was priced at $5, but of course, he had to bargain a little for a better price.  My dad spent another $25 getting it strung and tuned at a music shop and had plans to sell it when he realized it has a physical flaw that could keep him from getting very much for it.  But it's still playable and sounds good, so he is letting Shane borrow it for as long as he wants it.

Old Ensenada 12-string.

Thus the story of Shane's instrument collection.  And now the good (or bad) news, depending on how you look at it.  I thought our camera only recorded video, but I learned it records audio, too.  It just doesn't have audio playback capability; I have to play the videos on the computer to hear them.  Why would I consider that bad news?  Because I usually can't be bothered to watch embedded videos and maybe you can't, either. 

If you do (want to be bothered, that is), just watch these.

Another Long Weekend

Three-day weekends are becoming commonplace around here. This is the third in a row, I think, for Shane to be home either on Friday or Monday. Today he's home because of snow/ice. Kat is home today, too, for the same reason. It's our first snow day this school year! She'll be so excited when (if) she wakes up. Of course, I'm kidding about the "if/when". I'll let her sleep an hour later than usual, but that's it.

We had a fairly nice weekend. Saturday was really cold. More likely, it was normal and we're just really spoiled by the mild winter we've had so far. We stayed in most of the day. I just did ordinary chores around the house, but Shane was a "maker" that day. He made a tofu press for my daughter (she and her husband are vegan and want to try making their own tofu), and he made not one, but two "canjos".

Here's what you need to understand. In the past 6 to 8 months, Shane has bought three guitars and has made 3 homemade stringed instruments. But...he doesn't know how to play any of them! In his defense, he is learning on his own and is now looking into buying some lessons, but I think it's time to quit acquiring guitars and start getting down to the business of learning to play them. :) Give me a few days, and I'll post some photos of his homemade "canjos" and "diddly bow".  They're kind of fun.

Also on Saturday, Kat went to a tea party at her friends' house. It was quite the affair with about a dozen girls and two young gentlemen in attendance. Here are a couple of pictures of her, pre-party, in her velvety attire.

On Sunday, we visited my dad for a few hours.  I'm not going to get into the long story, but let's just say that while at his house, I took a break from my current Primal Blueprint way of eating.  I would never be rude to him (or anyone else) by criticizing the food they are kind enough to offer me in their home -- and at nearly 80 years old, I don't think I can expect him to change what he eats if I did say something -- so I just kept quite and did the best I could.  Of course, it was a nice visit with Dad otherwise.

That's it for our weekend.  Sounds tame compared to the busy ones we've had lately, but it was a good one.  How about yours?  Did you do anything exciting or fun?