So Many Projects, So Little Time...

While meaning to write more about our trip to the US, I have realized that so much time has passed, that I've forgotten most of the details by now. So, I think what I will have to do is look back and see what I've written about so far, and then just get the rest of the pictures together with a final post telling about some of the highlights of our trip.

It's been hard for me to do because after the cold, rainy San José day, the weather has been so nice lately that I've been trying to get outside as much as I can. I've been working on fixing up the garden and getting it ready for spring/summer. That means weeding, preparing the vege garden, and re-doing the irrigation systems we have set up for watering the plants more easily and efficiently.

While that is what I meant to be doing, last week Friday I got my usual urge to make something, and remembered some patterns that I had found online for upcycled pants and shorts made from old shirts. So, I ended up going to the flea market and picked up a shirt and an old apron that I wanted to use for the fabric. Once I figured it all out, I was able to quickly whip out a couple of pairs of shorts, and I found it highly addictive (So I may have to go back on a hunt for more fabrics!).

I decided not to stop there, though, and thought it would be cute to make some matching t-shirts with the leftover fabric. I got some picture ideas online, and decided to try out appliqué for the first time in my life. It's something that I have always wanted to try, but I was a bit intimidated by it. I was very happy to find, though, that it was much easier than I had ever imagined. My sewing around the edges wasn't perfect, but it turned out much better that I expected, and I actually like that the shirts look homemade to a certain extent.
To my surprise, when buying some plain t-shirts at the mall the next day for future projects, I found some appliqué t-shirts for sale that were much messier than mine were. So, I felt much prouder about my own work.

The rest of the weekend, we were much better about getting the garden work done. We also were finally able to eat the paella outside in the street on Sunday in beautiful weather. It was fun, but it wasn't the same as eating outside during fallas with the fallas atmosphere and our little fallero running around throwing his "firecrackers" while dressed in his little saragüell.

Having missed the evening get together to eat/drink "chocolate," Mauri had a craving and wanted to go out for chocolate con churros. It was late, though, so I suggested we find a recipe to make them ourselves. It was actually much simpler than I thought, and I made the churros and Mauri made the chocolate. We found it funny that while Mauri was stirring the chocolate with the egg beater, we looked over, and Eric was holding his at his kitchen. They looked great, but the chocolate was better than the churros. The churros were OK, but I think that I would look for another churros recipe to try next time. If there is a next time, that is. Not used to eating such a sweet "dinner," we both felt a bit sick afterwards, and said we'd had enough chocolate for awhile. :)

So, the weekend went well, but Sunday night Eric woke up with an obvious fever, and wasn't feeling very well. For the last couple of days his fever would come and go, especially at night, and Eric was not his usual happy self. So, he wasn't at the Escoleta, and stayed at home with mommy. I'm not sure if it had to do with the vaccines that he had been given last week because he didn't seem to have any symptoms of anything else, but who knows? So, the boy who usually likes to be running around outside only wanted to be sitting still in mommy's arms. I can't say that I didn't enjoy the break, but it made it hard to get anything done.

Luckily, though, Wednesday he seemed to be feeling much better. He wanted to go outside, so we did, and he began to help me weed out the garden. Not knowing the difference between the good plants and the weeds, his help wasn't always completely welcome.   His mommy was so proud of him, though, that she couldn't complain, and let him pull whichever "weeds" he chose to pull, and to proudly throw them into the container she had prepared to bring over to the compost bin.

We weeded around Eric's tree which now is developing fruit. Soon, we should be able to try the loquats off of the tree that we planted when Eric was born. The rest of our fruit trees are also looking pretty good, and many of them are either in bloom or forming new leaves.

Today I ended up back at the flea market looking for some cute camouflage things to buy so that I can use the fabric for clothes for Eric.  Ironically, when I am looking for myself, I can't find anything in my size.  Today, though, I ended up buying two pairs of camo pants, and both fit me!!   (Well, more precisely, I can easily button them with a little bit of baby belly fat hanging over.)  Since I happen to like the way they otherwise fit me, I may end up saving the capris for a couple of pounds from now.  Sorry, Eric.

I'll show you when I get some more things sewn up.  Today we will be busy at cousin Noa's 5th birthday party.  I'm not sure how it will go, but I guess it will give me something else to tell you about soon.