Knot Sew Crafty

Happy Fifth of July!

We had so much left-over barbeque food, we just did the whole shebang again today!

Happy Fourth of July!

America:  In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words.  With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.  Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

--Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009

I Don't Think I Can Dance

but I know Phillip Chbeeb can!

I bid adieu to this long and trying week by sharing my favorite contestant on Season 5 of "So You Think You Can Dance." 

This is his audition.

Help Me, O Mighty Blogosphere!

One of the great food failures of my life is that I don't care for lentils.  I can't even take a picture of lentils because I don't even have any in my cupboard.  I feel that I should learn to like them because they are both healthy and inexpensive.  Help!  Please send me your favorite lentil recipes! Whoever sends me the recipe that converts me to lentilphile will win a small mystery giveaway package...

(Picture from Treehugger)

Every Day in July

I hereby pledge to post every day in July.

Some days, when I'm very busy, I might post stuff like this:

(Living Etc., 2007)

I love that picture and I believe that my life would be infinitely more interesting and creative if I lived within it.  Sigh.

See you tomorrow!

Happy Happy!

Today is our Eleventh Wedding Anniversary!  (If you want to see a picture of the wedding, I posted one here.)

It is definitely nice to get to eleven years and know that you'd marry the fella all over again.  Sigh.

Did I ever tell you that CMR proposed on a gondola in Venice?  Oh yes he did!  I'll tell the story soon, but for now, here's a little bit of Venice for you:

(photo from here)

Today is not only our Anniversary, but also the first birthday of my delicious nephew Eli.  I'm not kidding about the delicious part;  when I nibble on him, he tastes fantastic.

What's that, you say?  Ah, yes, Eli is playing with the present that his lovely Auntie Alexis gave him.

I bought it on Etsy at Little Alouette, a delightful place to shop for all of your baby gift needs. Seriously, Little Alouette is run by Amy Turn Sharp of doobleh-vay and her husband, and this is the fourth or fifth thing I've ordered from them.  I have been thrilled with each order.  Eli, in fact, almost did not get this stacking toy because I wanted to keep it for myself. Darn babies get all the good stuff!

Want a closer look?

Beautiful, right?

And I wrapped it in this:

I've decided to use cloth bags for wrapping presents as often as I can, ostensibly to be greener and more eco-conscious, but really because I am a TERRIBLE gift wrapper and cloth bags make it so easy.  I will confess that, while the concept was mine, Oma did the actual sewing of this one.  Isn't that fabric cute?

Today was a momentous and happy day.

Jeff Goldblum is Alive and Well

I don't know what to say about the passing of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett yesterday, except that it's very sad in all sorts of ways, and I feel terrible for their loved ones.  

I'm going to post instead about Jeff Goldblum who was the victim of a cruel hoax yesterday, when it was erroneously reported that he had died.  Who on earth does something like that? 

I'm going to honor Jeff Goldblum by sharing one of my all-time favorite movies, The Tall Guy.

Jeff Goldblum stars alongside Emma Thompson and Rowan Atkinson.

If you are anything like me, you aspire to be as much like Emma Thompson as humanly possible.  I would happily sit for hours watching her read the phone book. I'm sure it would be immensely charming and very funny.  She's the person that I think that I should really be best friends with, if she weren't a movie star and I weren't a suburban mom.  Emma, and Neil Patrick Harris, too.  Wouldn't the three of us have fun together?  I've talked about my affection for NPH before, but I don't think I've written about how he was almost my neighbor in 2001. I was living in Manhattan and he was going to sublet my neighbor's apartment during his run in Assassins on Broadway.  Then the horror of 9/11 happened, and the idea of a musical about famous assassins didn't seem so appealing, so the run was cancelled.

Anyway, sorry for the digression, back to The Tall Guy:

Jeff Goldblum plays American stage actor Dexter King, who is trying to make a living in London.  Unfortunately, he is stuck in a horrible comic review starring Ron Anderson, played by Rowan Atkinson. Dexter is "the Tall Guy" in Ron Anderson's one-man show, and the butt of all of the play's terrible jokes. Things start to look up when Dexter meets Emma Thompson's delightful Nurse Kate Lemmon and gets the lead in a musical version of the Elephant Man, called Elephant!

I don't want to give away anymore of the story, but I highly recommend that you track it down however you can.  To whet your appetite, here are two scenes from the musical within the film:

 

   

Another great thing about the Tall Guy is that it features a delightful song by Madness. This version has Hebrew titles for some reason, but I don't think they distract from the song or from Suggs, who could be friends with Emma, Neil and me, if he wanted.

Jeff, I'm glad you're still here!  

And Emma, Neil and Suggs, give us a ring when you're in town?

You Can't Go Home Again

The girls had a half-day of school today, and Oma and I thought it would be fun to take them down county.  We drove half an hour South, and ended up in my old hometown.

I was pleased to see that some of the old stores are still there.

And, of course, the real reason for the trip:

The best classic pizza anywhere on the planet.  Anywhere.  I would bet good money that Bobby Flay would not beat the surly guys at Sal's in a pizza smackdown.  

One summer during college, Auntie J got a slice there every single day.  She's the only one that the guys behind the counter didn't growl at, and I think she once even got a half-smile, although I can't prove it.

Then we went to a dollar store that was definitely not here during my childhood.  

Each child was allowed to pick two things.  I was too.  The girls picked out headbands and coloring books and golden hairbrushes.  I immediately went for this:

The translated English was priceless.

1.  Please do not touch it movement.

2.  Please don't clean it case by using paint thinner or other chemical materials.  Neuter soap of cleanser as cleaning liquid is recommendable.

3.  Please change the battey once a year.  Exhausted batter may leak and damage your product.

And on the other side:

New Design!

Funny Jump Rope!

High-Class!

In the end, I thought better of it and went for old-fashioned wooden clothespins and 55 safety pins.

But I thought about that High-Class jumprope all the way home.

In Case You Were Wondering...

what to get India for her birthday, she has made up a handy list.

She taped it to our front door so that passersby would have an easy way to find out what they could give her.  

Her birthday is coming up in August and we've been making lists like this since shortly after her last birthday.

I will naturally be getting her the "Candy Scratch Tickle Machine."  I'm told that it also has a bed-building feature and also pops popcorn.  Boy, I could market that thing like crazy if I could invent one!

Vintage Photo Friday...er...Saturday

OK, it's one of those fake vintage photos that you take in touristy areas, but it is actually one of my favorite pictures of my family from my teen years.

I think we were in a ghost town in Colorado, on one of our two family trips "Out West."  Auntie J, do you have any idea?

I'm the one in the middle with the jaunty chapeau.