An Incomplete Summary of What's Happening with Hazel Lately

The in-laws are arriving tonight and they aren't privy to Hazel's House Blog and I'd like to keep it that way so if I don't blog right now it will be a while. I think about blogging all the time but it doesn't happen. I have a similar experience blogging to that of my friend Amacrine* (see her blog "blackbirdnight" at the right), who stated in her last post that she gets ideas for blog entries and the ideas disappear by the time she gets to the computer. But I do have a few things to share.

Yesterday Blueberry and I had our friends Lucille* and Tori* and Lucille's baby Almond* over for tea. It was delightful.

Tori used to live in Minnesota but moved away in December, so Blueberry hadn't met her yet, but no doubt remembers hearing her voice at all those camping trips last summer.

See the Strawberry on Blueberry's rear? That was no accident!!! Her (real) name pretty much rhymes with Strawberry, so when I can dress her in a strawberry-themed outfit I am the happiest girl in the world. On a similar vein, as you may know, her middle name is Violet, and I like playing up this fact in the random choices I have to make for her. Such as, should I get the green pants or the purple pants? Well, obviously! The purple! And this week, while Blueberry and I were out walking, I plucked a violet from the alley and stuck it behind her ear.

We're trying to take advantage of every nice day that comes along. The other day we spent the afternoon under a shade canopy I made by plunging sticks into the ground and draping a scarf.

It was terrific. We chatted, we had a couple of meals, we slept, we adjusted the canopy as necessary, we listened to the birds. A perfect afternoon.

That shade canopy reminds me of this photo of a darling nursery that I saw on a blog; it was either design*sponge or decor8 (see links at the right).

I really like how nothing screams "baby" but everything looks sweet. And it made me add a tent to the list of items I want to sew. How hard could it be?

Speaking of sewing, that's going really well and I'm enjoying it, and I'll write about it someday. But right now I have to prep for the in-laws.

Letter Bonanza 2010 Update: It's the 24th of April and I've sent 8 letters. A bit behind my goal of one letter per day. It's not likely that I will succeed in sending 30 letters, mostly because the in-laws are in town until May 4th, and I don't see myself taking the time to write letters while they are here. But I'm not going to rule it out. That would be crazy.

*Names changed.

Hazel Has Created a Monster

It's getting easier to capture Blueberry's smiles.


It's baseball season, apparently, so we've put the Astros uniform into the rotation. And judging by the look on her face, the Astros aren't doing too well.



In other news, I've been sewing. Here's one of my first completed projects. It's a monster. All it needs is a mouth. Or not.


I will remove the eyes before letting Blueberry play with it.

What's that you're screaming? Why did I make this hideous thing? Ah. Well a while back I wanted plum-colored flannel sheets for our bed. So I ordered these from amazon.com:

They turned out to be fleece, not flannel, which was plainly stated on the website, but I was thinking flannel when I read fleece. Pregnancy brain. Also, they were advertised as plum, but they are about as purple as purple comes. Not the effect I wanted at all, but we tried them anyway, and that was a hellishly staticky experience. I was very pregnant at the time, and my efforts to roll over in bed were made even less enjoyable by the static sparks. Definitely the most uncomfortable sleeping situation I have ever experienced. Okay, maybe some camping trips were worse.

I didn't want to donate the sheets to GoodWill or someplace like that and make someone less fortunate even less fortunate, so I decided to use them in sewing projects. I made diaper liners:

Granted, one can hardly call this a sewing project because there was no sewing involved. That's the beauty of fleece; it doesn't unravel, so no hemming. The diaper liners are great for wicking away moisture and since Blueb started using fleece liners in every diaper she hasn't been bothered by diaper rash. I only had a few to start with, in the expected white color, and I would always run out of them before washing, but now I have more than I need. And they were free! Well actually they were quite expensive. But it was fun making them.

But I still had a lot of sheet left over. So I created a monster, and used the remainder of the fitted sheet to stuff him. It was supposed to look more like these but I'm an amateur so what do you want.

So that takes care of the fitted sheet. I still have to do something with the flat sheet and two pillowcases. I may make a family of monsters. If you have any other ideas, do let me know. For example, would anyone like some diaper liners?

In my last post, I went off about some roasted parsnips we had for Easter dinner. I've been asked to share the cooking method once I find out what it is. It turns out to be from Chef Jamie Oliver. Click here for the recipe.

Easter '10

I know Easter was a whole week ago but I wanted to share ours with you.

This was the first holiday in which Hazel felt pressured to dress up Blueberry for the occasion, take pictures, and share those pictures with the world. It's a rite of passage, I guess. Here is Blueberry in her Easter outfit.

I must again stress that this expression means she is generally happy. I have a lot of other photos that I took right after this one in which she is unhappy. I'm only posting the happy one here.

We had six friends over for Easter dinner. Here are half of them.


The dinner was a group effort and was really quite delicious. Roast leg of lamb, roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips, asparagus, and wild rice salad.

I loved the roasted parsnips. I generally have not enjoyed parsnips before, in fact I have alwasy found them disgusting, but I was surprised that these were really delicious. Our friend Jorge* (pronounced "George") made them and that reminds me that I need to find out his technique. The veggies were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, and had just the right amount of oil. And did I mention that the parsnips tasted good? I don't understand it.

Spring is here, the sap is running, and so the sawed-off limb of the birch tree is oozing. And the butterflies love it.

*Names changed.

Hazel Discovers Rare Footage

In the crazy mad days that followed Blueberry's birth we had forgotten that Stanley had taken video right after she was born. I was rummaging through the files and was so excited when I found it. She's less than an hour old, and already showing signs of awesomeness.

Letter Bonanza 2010 Update: It's April 7th, and I've sent 4 pieces of mail. A little behind. No biggie. I don't feel pressured.

It's Deck Weather!

The weather was fabulous last week so Blueberry and I have been hanging out on the deck.

(Incidentally, that is her first photographed smile that I know of.)

Chillin':

Talkin' trash:

Ignoring toys:

Tummy Time Al Fresco:

Napping on mommy:

Letter Bonanza 2010 Update: It's April 3rd and I've sent three cards/letters. So far, so good.