the sky is pink

During my brief hiatus, we had a lot going on with the boys and cub scouts. Jackson earned his Wolf. Carter earned his Religious Knot, Webelos, and ... The Arrow of Light. Both boys have been working very hard on their scout stuff and we are very proud of them. And Taylor, my almost 13-year-old, is finishing his last merit badge required for Eagle. He is just one project away from being an Eagle Scout. (It helps that Joe is an Eagle Scout, which he earned as a 13- or 14-year-old. You would think after three boys in scouting, I'd know what I'm doing. But I don't. I have a lot to learn before Mason and Sawyer are old enough to join.)

(watching the funeral procession, taken via my cell phone) November 16, 2009 Joe and I just returned from the funeral of a young marine killed in Afghanistan. At the end of the funeral, the Marine’s father went up to the casket and tapped on it. Then he escorted the young widow out. After the church funeral, we went outside for the military proceedings. It was completely silent standing outside. The only sound was the giant American flag blowing in the wind. And the very hungry stomach of a person nearby. No one spoke. I could hear repeated taps. I couldn’t see what it was at first. Then I realized the taps were the feet of the Marines who were carrying the casket. Small, short, quick and precise steps in unison. Each made with exactness. As the flag was lifted off the casket, Joe pinched the back of my thigh and said, “behind us.” (He was still standing at “attention” so he wasn’t supposed to move or speak.) When I turned around I saw and heard the 21-gun salute. And then the bugle p...

(See. My hair does not look purple .) I was browsing through some blogs a few weeks back when I stumbled upon a cute, simple scarf . I thought, "Hmm. I'm always cold. It looks easy. I think I shall do this." And that was that. A few days later I slipped into the fabric store for Halloween fabrics and picked up some homespun cotton. And then it sat. I guess you can blame it on my fall because everything sat. And only absolute priorities were taken care of, like Halloween and a little girl's birthday . Everything that was non-essential was put on hold. Well, now that my knees are not grossly swollen anymore and are only grossly bruised now, I'm trying to get back to my regularly-scheduled life. And so I made it this week. Complete with the fringed edge. It does keep a neck warm. Random Updates: A Marine was killed this weekend in Afghanistan. He was from the outskirts of my town. It's very sad. While I did not know him personally, as a mother and the wife of...

Two years ago our family started Operation Service . Our goal was to serve a nutritious meal to some of our elderly neighbors. We have one widow and two widowers right on our little end of the street. They are so kind to us and our children. Some weeks are better than others with actually getting the meal out and delivered. It really depends on what I'm serving my family for dinner. If I prepare a roast, I always share. If I prepare a potpie with leftover roast, I only sometimes share. (I have to make sure there is enough to feed my own family first.) When I decided I wanted chickens, my plan was to make quiche as part of Operation Service. For some reason, older people love this bacon-cheddar quiche, as I have discovered through several family members. So yesterday afternoon, I decided to use some of the dozens of eggs in my fridge, and I set out to make quiches. Two, in fact. One to split amongst the neighbors and one for the children's breakfast. And while it was still war...

he loved me more than all the rainbows at his house. At first I didn't know what he meant. But I think I now do. I am forever grateful for three-year-old boys.

This morning's smoothie. Blackberry-banana-peach smoothie with cottage cheese . Carter's eye after being kicked with soccer cleats during a pregame soccer warm-up. (He was helping Jack's team warm-up and was the goalie.) Shoes? I thought they would be more red than they are. Oh well. I've never owned purple shoes before. These are this year's birthday shoes. A little tradition I started a few years ago when I saved up birthday money and bought shoes at a price I would never normally pay. Last year I bought the boots . These fun shoes are from two years ago. Hmmm ... I can't find any record of what I bought in 2007. I'll need to research this. (The day that I bought those faux-red-mostly-purple shoes they had a sale, so the shoes were $20 off. That's my kind of deal.) Oh, and my hair was almost purple-pink last week. I decided to color it and in the lighting it appeared to have a purplish tint. Of course I freaked out, but it was just my imaginati...

The kids went trick or treating on Saturday night. Taylor went with some friends from school. The other five went with our family friends. Taylor was something. I'm not quite sure what. He wore that cape and carried a sword. Jackson and his friend, Lorenzo, were soldiers. Carter was a scuba diver. Kallie (family friend) was Scooby - Doo . Mason was a zombie. (He decided to forgo the white and black face paint he wore for our church's trunk or treat last week.) Spenser was a witch. And Sawyer was Peter Pan. I only made a few of the costumes this year including: Peter Pan. I took the easy route and used green craft felt. I found a red feather for his cap. He wore a pair of Spenser's brown leggings under the tunic. They were supposed to be green, but we didn't have green. A witch. A store-bought black shirt with a black felt skirt (cut with a jaggedy hem) and an orange tulle "tutu" overskirt . She really wanted to be a witch. I tried to talk her out of it...

A beautiful girl in our house turns five today. And her gift of the day? Fifth disease . How's that for poetic justice? She woke up with the happiest attitude and the rosiest cheeks. One look at her and I knew. This is our first case of this virus. And it happens to the girl on her fifth birthday. We had a little birthday tea party for her yesterday with her girl cousins. I surely hope that we didn't contaminate anyone before her symptoms appeared this morning. (She never had a fever or any signs of being sick.) And here is the thrifted china I found back in the spring/summer. I figured she's want another tea party like last year . I love you, my girl. I hope your cheeks come back to normal color soon. Have the happiest birthday, my little love.

A bird in our flag bunting. Joe said one flew away (over his head). This one stayed. I had a feeling something was living in them. They are noisy. And check this out. I boiled some of our eggs and this one was a double yolk. I've never seen anything like it. I asked the kids who wanted to eat the egg with two half-yolks (everyone wanted a half). Jackson replied, "Do you mean the whole yolk? Two halves make a whole." Funny little smart kid.

So here's the skirt that took weeks in the making. Well, the actual making didn't take weeks. It was just a long, slow process. I cut out the skirt and did nothing with it for weeks. Then I inserted the zipper and sewed the side seams and did nothing with it for weeks. And then when I finished the skirt, I realized it had a horrible mistake . It was like the skirt was not meant to be. This skirt, like too many in the past , did not fit. I made the A-line, side-zipper skirt from Sew What! Skirts . It's a book I really want to like, but I have found that all of the skirts I have made from it (excluding the wraparound skirts) have been grossly large on me. By inches. After the zipper was sewn in this skirt, I tried it on. I ended up taking an inch off one side seam (because I was not going to take out that zipper). The skirt was doomed from the start. After the skirt was finished, I noticed the zipper . And then I tried it on again, and it was so big around my waist that I co...

On Saturday morning I was going to go for a short run. I told Joe, “just two or three miles, depending how my knee feels,” and out the door I went. I wanted to get in an outdoor run before the Saturday rain hit. I started my iPod and started my watch. I thought it was impossible, but it happened again. My left ankle gave out on me (which it usually does in the same spot every run) and I did not recover (like usually do). I fell. Yes. Lera fell. Again. Go ahead laugh. I’d join you, except that I pulled a muscle in my chest and it hurts any time I try to breathe, laugh, or move. It happened so fast that I couldn't even think “not my knees! NOT MY KNEES!” Before I knew what was happening both knees were on the road and my mind was screaming , “not my face! NOT MY FACE!” And I threw my hands down on the ground. And I did a major, major push-up action. Well, I didn’t really push up. I just landed that way. Like I was going to do a push-up, if I could do a push-up. My nose came within...

when the only thing holding your son's trumpet together is some super glue and clothespins. But, you're a little classier when you have trumpet-case fur sticking to it, giving the trumpet some extra bling. (For the record, Carter's mouthpiece was stuck on. As we tried to remove it, the trumpet fell apart. It was Sunday night or so. Joe glued it and Carter took it to school on Monday. As the band teacher tried to remove the mouthpiece, it fell apart again. Poor guy. He was probably sweating bullets when it broke. We glued it again. And then again. And now, the mouthpiece is stuck again. It will probably stay attached until his new one arrives. Any day now.) So, I ask: What's holding your trumpet together?

too early in the day to eat pumpkin roll? I think not. Pumpkin Roll: 3 eggs, beaten 1 cup sugar 2/3 cup pumpkin 3/4 cup flour 1 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. cinnamon Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together. Grease and flour* cookie sheet with sides or jelly roll pan. Pour in mixture and add nuts, if desired. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle paper towel (or clean kitchen towel, I use a dedicated "pumpkin roll" flour sack towel) lined with powdered sugar and roll cake in towel. Let cool for 1/2 hour. Beat together: 8 oz. cream cheese 1 cup powdered sugar 4 T. butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla Unroll cake roll and remove towel. Spread mixture on roll and roll up again. Refrigerate. * Pam cooking spray with flour works wonders. I do not suggest Bakers Choice. It's crap. Now ... what to do with the leftover pumpkin ... Suggestions?

Yesterday morning, I fell. I was in the chicken coop and somehow I must have stepped on a branch (that we use for a roosting bar) with my left foot, tripped over the branch with my right foot (those toes were trapped under the branch), and then fell on top of the branch. Thankfully I was wearing pants because, even though it still scraped up my leg, it could have been worse. Oh, and the pants protected my legs from all that chicken poop that I landed on. It could have been worse. The area that was swollen (and actually only slightly bruised but hurts so freaking much) is longer than my pointer finger. And I have long fingers. It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but it hurts. Oh, it hurts. It hurt to touch the mattress last night and it hurt to move it. It hurts when I stand up from sitting. It hurts when I'm sitting. I can't cross that leg and let it dangle. Apparently I'm just a klutz. Since I fell in July I haven't been right. I'm still sporting a s...

During our rainy Saturday I had the chance to sew. It is a rare thing to sew on a Saturday. We usually have three soccer games that last all day long. And, while they usually play in the rain, it had rained for three straight days and it was decided that they didn't want the fields messed up with cleats, so all games were cancelled. It was bliss. We just all hung around the house because it was too cold and dreary to do anything else. Carter had a friend spend the night and so everyone had their own thing to do. Peacefully. I sewed. I had a list a mile long of things I've wanted to do and haven't had time to do. I tidied my long-neglected sewing area, mended a few things, embellished a few things, and sewed a few things. One of the shirts I embellished was this $4.20 clearance special from Target. I bought a second shirt to cut up and ruffled away. Total cost = $8.40 + tax and a few minutes of my time. Here is a closeup of the ruffles. The color of the shirt is "m...

Think anyone will notice??

When I saw this bag advertised in a magazine, I fell in love. Before I even knew it was designed by Marimekko. Thankfully, the bag is inexpensive and benefits a good cause. You can get yours here . (I bought two. And my sister bought one. We aren't sure if we have enough, so you better act quickly.)

When I was buying school clothes (back in August), I picked up a plain striped tee for Spenser. I knew it would need something special for it, so I never gave it to her. And then I forgot about it. Well, she found it on Sunday and I knew the time had come for me to do what I had originally planned. A ribbon flower. I cut several strips of ribbons (I did 9" each) and sewed them in a loop. Then I machine-sewed the loops together to form the flower. I added a pin back so it removable (for laundering or wearing on a different garment) and then attached a complementary fabric-covered button. Voila! However, I think the next time I'll make the strips shorter. It's a little floppy when upright. (Wired ribbon might work nicely, too.) *On Saturday morning Carter wanted desperately to give me a birthday present. He ran into his room and came out with a "wrapped" gift. When I opened it, I was puzzled. I pondered it for a moment, trying to figure out why he was giving me...

I cannot allow the day to end without posting. Today I turned 40. Yes, forty. As in 4-0 . Even though I've known it was going to happen for a few years, it's still something for which you cannot prepare. It was a good day. Filled with a morning run with Joe (and unfortunately seeing lots of dead animal carcasses along the way), two winning soccer games, buffalo wings and cheesecake. This morning I had the awful feeling I should check the local newspaper online. And, not to my surprise, there it was. An ad placed lovingly by my parents, brothers, and sisters. So, yes, my face blared through not only the online newspaper, but in black and white print. For all the world to see. Announcing my new age. It did make me smile. After I grimaced . A couple of people recognized me from the newspaper today. Well, they already knew me, but they made sure I knew they saw it. One was our bishop (and his wife.) Another was the mother of one of Carter's friends that we saw in the s...

On Tuesday I went with my parents, three sisters, two brothers, one sister-in-law, five nephews, three nieces, Spenser and Sawyer to Lancaster for the day. We hit Roots first, which is an auction/flea market/farmers market all in one. It's really a place you can get lost in. Quite easily. There wasn't a lot of time to go through each vendor carefully, so I used my best Lera-radar to scan the area. Two of my most treasured finds of the day were the vintage cookbook and the cheater-cloth apron. The cookbook, Cooking by the Garden Calendar , has recipes separated by month. It truly brings home the "eating in the season thereof" theory of eating fruits, veggies, and grains in the season they are harvested. (Never mind my frozen strawberry use for the strawberry butter .) The other adorable cookbook was actually a reproduction of a vintage cookbook that was given to me by my sister, Kate. Our favorite part is this, "Have on a pretty apron, and is your hair looking...