Good Morning

Today has been a great day so far, and it's only 8:21.
I woke up in a great mood.
While searching for some yarn, I found my favorite pair of shoes.
They had been hastily hidden away in anticipation of a house showing and I had forgotten where.
And to top all of that off, my darling Daughter woke up and went directly to the piano where she practiced all that we learned in last night's piano lesson.

What's making your day today?

Late Valentine

Last week I was sewing a dress for the Elder Hug-a-Bug (out of the green fabric above) and she was beside me wanting to help.
I gave her some felt, some extra fabric and a pair of scissors and she started cutting out hearts.
These two looked so well matched that I sewed them together and put a pin on the back for a long-lasting valentine to my darling lady.

Book Exchange

I love to read what's going on at Bird and Little Bird and when she suggested a handmade kidmade book exchange I jumped at the chance!
I knew that my Elder Hug-a-Bug loves to write and read, and that she would really enjoy this kind of swap.
I didn't figure in how little time we actually spend together (which is a whole different post) doing crafty stuff.
So the deadline was yesterday, but the book is getting mailed today.
I have to share it with you all, she did indeed write the story and illustrate it herself.
I am a little sad to send this away, I love it so much.

Caritas Vocal Ensemble

I have mentioned before that I am a member of a small a capella ensemble.
We're called Caritas Vocal Ensemble and we are a non-profit group.
Our mission is to sing benefit concerts for charitable organizations in the Twin Cities who provide basic human services to the community - food, clothing, shelter and health care.

We have been rehearsing since the beginning of Fall and we have our first concert tomorrow afternoon.
I just came from our dress rehearsal and I am really excited to sing tomorrow.
We have a very interesting mix of composers and styles and subjects in our program.
We're singing a piece by Mendelssohn and a Beatles song, songs in Latin and nursery rhymes.
If you're in Saint Paul tomorrow come by House of Hope Presbyterian Church on Summit Ave and Avon at 4:00 PM.
We also have 6 more concerts throughout the Spring, so there are lots of opportunities to hear this great program and lots of opportunities to help some very worthy non-profit groups.

Sunday, Feb. 21
4pm
House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul
Music at Four Concert Series

Sunday, Feb. 28
4pm
Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer, Minneapolis
Benefit: Aliveness Project

Sunday, March 14
4pm
St. John's Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
Benefit: TRUST Parish Nursing Program

Friday, March 26
7:30pm
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Minneapolis
Benefit: Neighborhood Involvement Program

Sunday, April 18
4pm
Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Burnsville
Benefit: 360 Communities' Lewis House
(Formerly known as Community Action Council)

Saturday, May 1
7pm
Cherokee Park United Church, St. Paul
Benefit: Neighborhood House Food Shelf

Sunday, May 2
4pm
Edina Community Lutheran Church, Edina
Benefit: Southside Family Nurturing Center

What I Did (or started) On My President's Day Vacation

(that's styrafoam against the bottom wall there, it was all over the whole room when I started.)

We have giant closets in our house, which is a rarity in a house built in 1923. Really they're big crawl spaces under the slope of the roof on the sides of our dormers.
On Monday, I decided to swap out the disgusting, moldy, falling down, health hazard-y insulation and put up new, clean insulation.
In the midst of the project my Mom came over and instigated a larger-scale project than I had intended, but I am really pleased with the results.I covered the ceiling with bead board and then we built in this shelving against the wall.
Now we have somewhere to keep the linens, a spot for the Elder Hug-a-Bug's dirty laundry and a place for her pony house too.

I moved the Younger Hug-a-Bug's dresser into the other massive closet in the room and moved the toys to the main area.
It's already made the space feel much bigger. I really am quite pleased with the whole situation.

baked

Snowy