Wig Mahem
Published February 3, 2012 by Jill
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Our family cannot resist the wigs…. if they are found we must wear them! hah!
Sock It to Me
Published January 31, 2012 by Jill
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The mission: use up mate-less or holey socks. The result?
New hats for the Calico Critter Bunny family. Alice’s new favorite family.
Bean bags, or rice bags, from baby socks.
Puppet friend. Alice loved feeding this guy miscellaneous craft scraps. He was hungry!
And my favorite, leg warmers for babe from re-purposed Mamma socks!
A break in socking for some play doh fun! 
Being Creative
Published January 28, 2012 by Ben Holt
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Jill and I have been pretty creative lately! I’m sure she’ll post some of what she’s been doing, but I would also like to show off some of my creations! Not all of my hobbies are unproductive
1) I’ve been recording songs with Katie Enlow. We’ve been doing music off and on for over two years now and played with Sugar Road a couple times. Katie writes neat melodies and lyrics; I write the chord progressions. In the past two weeks we’ve recorded three movies and put them online:
2) I’ve done two batches of mead in the past few months. Yesterday I bottled almost two gallons of delicious raspberry mead. This has become my default recipe and I’ve basically perfected it. I’ve had many requests to sell it:
3) I’ve also been making maple sugar candy. While rather expensive in the beginning since I ruined about four batches, now I have the technique down. I can be very precise using my new candy thermometer and it comes out delicious every time now. My next task is to get some nice molds to make it look nicer:
4) Music! Other than my Katie project, I’ve been involved with some other musical things. My band The Cassettes, an 80′s and 90′s cover band, is on the lookout for gigs. I’ve also been playing with some teenage guys (John Langberg et al). Pretty fun to rock out with them, especially as an old guy. Finally, my friend Tony Astolfi is starting up a band and has asked me to join. He’s writing some really creative stuff that I want to add to!
5) Today I learned how to do that cool camera trick where you focus on a close object and the background is out of focus. One of the pictures came out awesome:
In other news, I’m getting more British. Nice!
Edit: Have to remember to change that ISO setting on my camera back to “Auto”. Ah well.
Pinterest: Done
Published January 20, 2012 by Jill
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I, like many, have a love for Pinterest. Most of my pins are filled with things that I would like to one day do…. so I decided I would post some of the ones I HAVE DONE and can add my feedback.
Bathtime Ice Cubes! From Mommysavers blog.
“Fill your ice cube trays with water, adding a drop of food coloring to each section. When frozen, these can be popped out and put in baby’s bath water. He’ll have fund “chasing” them around in the tub and trying to grab them before they melt.”
They were fun and easy! But, I found that one drop of color was a bit much for each cube, next time I will premix colored water and pour into many cubes. They weren’t hard to catch for Alice, but they were fun to lick! There was enough colored residue in my cube trays that I just filled them up with more water and they colored themselves instantly. Definitely fun for the bath.
Oatmeal Cupcakes from Green Lite Bites.
3 mashed bananas (I used brown spotty ones and they were fine)
1 cup vanilla Almond milk (I used regular whole milk)
2 eggs
1 tbsp Baking powder
3 cups (240g) Old Fashion or Rolled Oats (instant worked fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp (42g) mini chocolate chips
375 degrees for 20-30 minutes
These were great! Perfect way to get oats and milk and fruit into my little one for breakfast! I liked it cause I used up my 2 old bananas with a quick mush and didn’t have wait to turn them into banana bread. Frozen, and now I can take out one or 2 for a nutritious bite for the babe.
After Forever
Published January 11, 2012 by Ben Holt
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My neighbor Jim showed me this song, it’s by Black Sabbath from 1971. These guys were the founders of heavy metal! Pretty neat lyrics. That’s Ozzy singing!
Here’s the lyrics:
Have you ever thought about your soul – can it be saved?
Or perhaps you think that when you’re dead you just stay in your grave
Is God just a thought within your head or is he a part of you?
Is Christ just a name that you read in a book when you were in school?
When you think about death do you lose your breath or do you keep your cool?
Would you like to see the Pope on the end of a rope – do you think he’s a fool?
Well I have seen the truth, yes I’ve seen the light and I’ve changed my ways
And I’ll be prepared when you’re lonely and scared at the end of our days
Could it be you’re afraid of what your friends might say
If they knew you believe in God above?
They should realize before they criticize
that God is the only way to love.
Is your mind so small that you have to fall
In with the pack wherever they run
Will you still sneer when death is near
And say they may as well worship the sun.
I think it was true it was people like you that crucified Christ
I think it is sad the opinion you had was the only one voiced
Will you be so sure when your day is near say you don’t believe?
You had the chance but you turned it down now you can’t retrieve.
Perhaps you’ll think before you say that God is dead and gone
Open your eyes, just realize that he’s the one
The only one who can save you now from all this sin and hate.
Or will you still jeer at all you hear? Yes – I think it’s too late.
The Harvester is near
His blade is on your skin
To plant a new beginning
Well then let the cut begin
Let the cut begin
-Sixpence None the Richer, "Love"