Wordless Wednesday

What's on the needles: Postpartum Sweater

It's hard to believe it, but in three weeks, we'll be welcoming a new baby into our house. One thing I'm really looking forward to is loosing all this baby weight! I know everyone says not to worry about how much weight you gain, but I'm not sure anyone truly follows that advice. I'm not really one to even worry about it, but damn I'm sick of these maternity clothes. And particularly because only about six things still fit me, I really want to be back in my old clothes.

And some new clothes! To celebrate my body being all mine again (soon), I am knitting my first sweater (well, that's a little fib but the first one didn't count, and it's no longer around). It's turning out really cute and aI can't wait to be able to put it on. It's cotton and short sleeve, so hopefully in September (I'm giving myself a couple of months) it'll be perfect weather to put it on.

I'm really excited that my new knitting friends helped me learn how to check my gauge properly and I'm also thankful for this relative quiet period that's given me the time to knit. It's the calm before the storm, when I know our lives will be turned upside down by sleepless nights and all kinds of craziness. When I'm done with the sweater and ready to show off a little, I'll post the completed photo! Until then, where's my ice cream??

Wordless Wednesday

My apologies that this blog has been awfully wordless lately. I guess the new baby prep/nesting/summer has caught me up.

Wordless Wednesday

Firsts: Fishing Trip

My dad, the father of two daughters, the grandpa of two granddaughters, has only one grandson. My little Pumpkin. But that hasn't stopped him from taking his girls fishing. But I like to think it's kinda special that now he has a little guy to take out on the lake and show the ropes. This weekend he took him fishing for the first time.

We've been practicing with the fishing rod that he got from Grampy as an infant. It's been dropped in the lake, used to retrieve the toy helicopter off the roof, and used to "catch" the doorknob and open the door in the house. Finally it broke, so of course Grampy had to get him a new rod. And it worked great. We headed out Friday morning to Lake Waubesa in Wisconsin. The weather was perfect -- calm, warm but not hot, and overcast.
Once we got out to the spot that had been staked out ahead of time, it only took an hour to catch two little bluegills. Little Pumpkin only wanted to pet them, and throw them back. Which is exactly what we did. Mission accomplished, we headed for home to have some lunch. Little Pumpkin insisted that we "drive the boat fast" all the way back to shore. Which is exactly what we did.

It really couldn't have been a more perfect day. We caught fish, the weather held out despite predictions of rain, and Grampy and his only grandson got to bond over a new shared love for fishing! A good first.

Three Things I Love Right Now

I'm feeling random and scattered today. It's rainy and I want the sun back. This early Spring/Summer thing has got me in full outdoor dining, skirt-wearing, ice cream making mode and I don't want to see long pants again for at least three months. So here are three things I'm summer-loving right now.

This awesome Cargo Plant Love lipstick I bought at the Sephora near my house. Oddly enough, I chose CeCe, which is apparently Courtney Cox's celebrity shade. Anyone who knows my husband knows he thinks Courtney's pretty hot, so I guess I'm on the right track. I was first super excited to see that the lipstick is all natural, and then really excited to see that the packaging can be planted to grow your own wildflowers! Too cool!


My garden has gone completely nuts lately, and we're already making salads with all the lettuce. My new absolute hands-down favorite dressing is this Lighten Up Honey Mustard from Newman's Own. Next in line is a lime vinaigrette also from Newman's.



And because a girl cannot survive on salad alone, I've been cranking up the ice cream maker. I have an el-cheapo Rival cannister jobby, and it works just fine. Last week I tried to make a frozen yogurt recipe that I kind of made up, though, and it didn't go too well. I think I'll stick to the Ben and Jerry's cookbook.

What are you loving right now?

Wildflower Prairie Buzz

Last year, my sister got me interested in prairies and native wildflowers when she dragged the entire family to Prairie Nursery, a well-known nursery (I think Martha Stewart has even been there and written about it in her magazine) in Wisconsin. I was able to join a little walking tour hosted by their catalog photographer about how to photograph flowers and landscapes. Although I don't think I am a skilled enough photographer to pick up many tips, I did walk away with an appreciation of these varied and beautiful wildflowers and native landscapes. I had no idea how many native flowers there are, or how hardy they are!


When we moved back to Wisconsin, I found that our county has a program offering native prairie grasses and flower seeds to residents at a huge discount. Given that my new yard is devoid of all flowers, I jumped at the opportunity to plant my own little wildflower prairie. I ordered 1,000 square feet of seeds and asked the hubby very nicely to help me till up the entire front of my house. Maybe because it takes him around 3 hours to mow our yard (!!), getting rid of this amount of grass didn't seem to make much of a dent in our weekly lawn care. But if it works...

Birds will be chirping, butterflies fluttering...pure bliss, right? Well, we'll see. At the moment it just looks like a big (HUGE) area of dead grass and dirt. But I'm sure a utopia of naturalness awaits! I even have a new bird feeder ready to set up right in the midst of it so when our yard is overwhelmed with all the rare birds it surely will, I'll be ready! Any experienced wildflower gardeners out there? Any tips?

Wordless Wednesday