Connor (age 8): “Sometimes you’ve gotta do what you hate in order to do what you love. That should be the motto of life: Do What You Hate To Do What You Love.”
Simplicity 9664: Drop-Waist Pullover Dress

I recently catalogued all of my commercial patterns in a spreadsheet and discovered that I’d only actually sewn two out of the 48 patterns I’ve bought.
This dress makes number three.
Continue readingGingered Plum-Raspberry Jam

Summer is for jamming.
More specifically, for making freezer jam.
In another couple of months, I’ll be making my favorite condiment ever: tomato jam. Until I have some garden-fresh tomatoes to put up, though, I’ll jam up whatever we’ve got that’s too ripe to eat out-of-hand. Today, that was half a dozen plums, plus a handful of raspberries I picked from the runners that the neighbor’s bush has been sending into our yard.
I based my jam off of a recipe that I’d saved from a long-ago issue of Cooking Pleasures Magazine (RIP, Cooking Club of America). I halved the batch, substituted ground ginger for fresh (1/4 tsp ground replaced 1 Tbsp fresh), and substituted 2/3 of the sugar with Splenda. The end result is tart and sweet and 1 WW SmartPoints value for one tablespoon.

So, so good.
Squirrel Feeder
After the suction cups on my window-mounted bird feeder busted off, I found some brick clips online to mount them to the exterior wall, instead.
I suspected squirrels were to blame for breaking the suction cup mounts in the first place, and I hoped that placing the feeder on the brick wall would keep them out going forward.
I should have known better.


I guess squirrels have to eat, too…
Status: July 18, 2020 at 11:22AM
Connor’s BFF came over to play this morning. They are both having such an awesome time. It’s fun to watch.