apron strings

holiday at our house.

new pressie (lens) + christmas=

   

i made all of the wrapping for presents under our tree. i forgot to take a picture of all of the pressies before we opened them.

the cape and hat we got our nephew, c, for christmas. after he opened it, he put it on, and said "i pulh de yabbit outta here,' wilding gesturing a pulling motion from the hat

i love this train. $25. from home depot. so, so cute. it plays the most obnoxious christmas music. and, of course, makes train sounds.check out the cool lit trees. i have street lights too. all battery operated. screw environmentalism.

yummies part deux.

mmmmm. yeti cupcakes. they have marshmallows in the the batter, thus in the cake part of the cupcake. very wintry. although, i'll make them again at easter. because eating them is a religious experience. it is too bad that the reusable silicone cups only come in pastels.

the recipe is easy enough, but the frosting kind of stumped me. the frosting is supposed to be light, fluffy and marshmallow like. i did everything it said, i think? mine is heavy and melted marshmallow like? and messy. very, very, messy. until it dries. the icing doesn't effect the eating...and we know in that twelve cupcakes are missing. the neighbors broke in!

holy cow. i thought the peppermint ones were good. these, these...well, you're just going to have to make them* to find out. or, come over today.

 

* i haven't added the recipes because i am not sure how to and because i feel like it's not mine to share. this poor woman who worked and worked in her kitchen to make this cupcake book that is only being sold for $15.00, of which she is only getting about $3.00 a book, probably wouldn't want me to? TELL me if i'm being a little too artist friendly. i mean, if i was giving away a brittany song...i would all day. who wants to give that girl anymore $$, but a cupcake art lady is different.

so much. so much. and yet nothing yet, and maybe never.

i am about to go to our donor consult. i have low expectations, because lately, i've realized that we are just as far away from baby as we have ever been. which, of course, sucks, and as i told k yesterday, i am just a flaying fish. buy, buy, buy (bedroom set, new purse, crafty supplies, galore, etc, etc, etc.) sew, sew, sew (gown, dolls, christmas sewing). always wanting what i get to fill the seemingly endless vacuum of sadness and nothingness that is our lack of child. which it doesn't. doesn't doesnt'. constant, endless flaying. (well, aren't i ms. cheery?)(it's cd 1 no. 25 (like chanel no. 5 but oh.so.different), the christmas season, 28 days from my 33 birthday which is two away from 35, and the beginning of at least a 11 month wait for even a *hope* of baby).

k is doing better than me. and is helping me take this more lightly. he's named our adoption worker tricky ricky, which is funny as all. for reasons that i will explain later.

in creative news i started sewing our christening gown, which is bittersweet. bitter, because it is christmas, a child's holiday. a child's biggest holiday, and yet we have none. but beautiful and a reminder of faith. that i do not have at the moment. if you build it...

to begin, i learned the easy, beautiful in it's simplicity, art of entredeaux. it's a part of heirloom sewing (too busy, too fancy,too ostentatious) which i generally do not like. here's a sample. the gown will be gender-neutral, simple with a few beautiful buttons, made with batiste (a slightly shiny swiss fabric) with three panels. (that represent the father, the son, and the holy ghost), i am probably going to embroider the first initial of k's last name on the collar. the slip will be made from fabric from our wedding dress. which will envelope our beautiful baby's body. wrapped in a reminder of our love for each other and family as my wedding dress was made my my dear aunt. (with $120/yd fabric to boot! bought in the fabric district in new york).

a sample of entredeux. see?  

wish us luck this morning. we are going to ask that i not be forced to have another HSG just because i need one in the last year and i had one 13 months ago, to not have to go counseling (which they charge $600.00 for) because we've gone to counseling, for adoption, and i've gone to a counselor for year where we discussed donor and adoption, and that they not question our well thought out desire to go straight to donor.

i'll update as a thank you for the warm wishes.

because dolls, pink and pink hearts are yummy.

(post on ms.watson now mother of two is here.)

so, on black friday when suckered into shopping with mom, i, of course, went into the pottery barn outlet, and was quite excited when i saw this:

two sets of itty bitty pink chairs with a white table.

there were only two left. i scurried and got them, knowing that my new niece, and two other nieces (okay, second cousins, but that's just too much. so nieces they are. and aunt ce ce i am) needed them and cute dolls from patterns from here. and that they needed to be made in delicious fabrics like these:

 

here's a sample of the three doll's that i'll make. for ava, reagan, and ila. of course, i'll machine embroider thier names on their doll. here is the doll that i made for me. or, really my future (PRAY G_D) children. she doesn't have a face, and hasn't for some time. every time i see her i start singing "doll without a face, got no human race, we're dolls without a face." which she, of course, does not think is so funny. at first she sat at the table, and then i reminded her that dolls without a face must sit on top of the table. so now, i feel very guilty. and will at least give her eyes.

seriously people. how.cute.is.this. going to be? i promise they'll have faces and i'll take pictures.

at home. cooking. sewing. drinking wine.

the goods.

 

 

the menu.

rosemary/garlic turkey(k's creation)

gingersnap sweet potatoes (mine)

fresh cranberries cooked with orange and cinnamon (moi)

oyster dressing. (blech! compliments of my dear mother)

cranberry tart (me, as if)

spicy pecan carrot cake with candied pecans (really, i am this talented)

with the MOST important toasty drink: toasted coconut nog with fresh whipped cream and rum. (as if you don't who the heathen is in this family).

happy cooking and eating my sweet people.

blogging.

this blogging everyday is making me feel like the assistants at Martha Stewart, Living. having to come up with posts everyday is what they must feel like when they have to come up upteen crafts for every issue. with potentially the same results. some of that magazine's craft projects are so obviously from people who've been asked a few too many times to come up with projects. printing out butterflies and taping them to ceramics, i mean really?

but alas. here we are post number 18 of the 11th month.

in reproductive news...we have decided to do something sciency in another state in january. either a donor embryo cycle or a fresh donor cycle. k is leaning towards a donor embryo cycle while i am leaning towards a donor egg cycle. he, as always, is thinking of the money. a donor embryo cycle is $4,500. a fresh donor egg cycle, split, is $11,000 (and i actually think it ends up to be more). his theory is that we can do three embryo cycles for the same price as one embryo cycle. (what do you all think?)

oh, and i forgot to add that we *think* that k's work will pay for the embryo 'adoption' which means that it would cost $1,500.00.

i would like our child to have some sort of bio connection to one of us. mainly, because i think it would be easier for a child to grasp. and what's $11,000. (a crazy amount to blow on something that is more likely NOT to work if you're NOT IF).

we'll see what sciency baby-making doctor says. on december 3rd. with eager ears. (not such an eager beaver). (ok, don't hate...you KNOW you wanted to make that joke)(especially you).

in creative news. my embroidery software completely.shut down. and in a way that no little troubleshooting menu was going to help. pray, for the sake of everyone in the house even cricket, that i can figure it out or someone is going to go insane. i have christmas crafting to do. for the sake of pete!

i hope that you all have a wonderful thanksgiving week. and may we get ready to begin the year in which we will be mothers.

let the christmas crafting begin.

so saturday was a glorious day. k at work. me and the pup crafting all day while listening to christmas cd's with smells of baking in the background. the fabric is really leftover interlining from my dining room curtains. i used it because i like it's warm fuzziness and earthy non-color color.

this is my favorite production. these are to go on my christmas mantel piece. once i've sewn their backs on, i will string them together with ribbon and hang them on top of the mantel piece.

i LOVE my embroidery machine. professional results that look great and you can cut out patterns while it's going.

cute, n'est pas?