Vol. 4, No. 212, July 31, 2019

4212 - Lettuce Bake.

This years One Community One Vegetable is Lettuce. Therefore, lettuce was incorporated into the county fair. There were many options for Lettuce projects. One option was lettuce bread. When you Google 'lettuce bread's you get multiple ways to use lettuce instead of bread. Fortunately I found a recipe as well. It is basically a spice bread with lettuce pieces in it. I am not a fan, but it was fun to try.

The recipe I used can be found at https://www.thriftyfun.com/tf67905379.tip.html

Vol. 4, No. 211, July 30, 2019

4211 - Everything’s Fair.

Today is the day before entry day for the Meeker County Fair. This means it is cram to get everything finished that I had all year to plan for, yet saved for the last minute. I created a lot today and will be sharing the projects over the course of the next 5 days. Today’s showcase includes my artistic flower arrangements. The picture shows two entries: Miniature and Tea Cup. I didn’t have any floral foam so I substituted a packing foam. It worked, but was a challenge because it kept floating to the top fo the container.

The miniature arrangement is in a salt dish that had belonged to my grandparents.

Vol. 4, No. 210, July 29, 2019

4210 - Royal Retreat.

Today Queen CC and CAT came over to see the Miller Littles. Everyone go a chance to try on CC’s crown, and jump on the trampoline with her. Then we headed to the driveway to draw with sidewalk chalk. I drew a butterfly.

Vol. 4, No. 209, July 28, 2019

4209 - Goodbye For Now.

Today we closed yet another theater production. For the final show my father suggested that we add more petals to the rose dome during intermission to better correspond to the line about the flower losing petals at an alarming rate. When he mentioned it, I happened to be standing in front of a vase of wilting roses left from Grandma’s funeral. I swiftly grabbed the head of each of the 5 roses, pulling the petals off of the stems. At intermission, I carefully transferred them to the rose dome.

You may think that this isn’t a very creative endeavor, and I would agree. However, after a full day of preparing the flower, ushering for the show, organizing the strike of props and cleaning up the paint room after the show as well as helping to clean up the theater after the cast party, I was exhausted. I couldn’t think enough to come up with a different project, let alone actually completing one.

Vol. 4, No. 208, July 27, 2019

4208 - Flower Fields.

Today Becca and I attended a needle felting class at the Dassel Library. At this class we learned the art of 2-D needle felting as we created a field of flowers. I decided to make a field of poppies, and I worked in a little bit of a Starry Night sky.

Vol. 4, No. 207, July 26, 2019

4207 - Portrait Please.

At 3pm Oldest Miller asked me if she could do my project with me. When I explained that I haven't chosen a project yet, Oldest Miller suggested I draw a portrait of her and S. They posed and I started drawing. When I was finished sketching everything out, Oldest Miller suggested I add color and brought me the bin of colored pencils.

Vol. 4, No. 206, July 25, 2019

4206 - Failed Friendship.

I attempted to make a flat friendship bracelet with a watermelon pattern. It wasn't working out the way I wanted it to, so I switched to a Chevron pattern. This was looking better, but it was taking a long time. Therefore I changed styles again going to the rope style that I used the other day. Since it didn't go the way I was hoping I decided to gift the bracelet to Oldest Miller, she asked me to make her one after seeing the original.

Vol. 4, No. 205, July 24, 2019

4205 - Mash Banana.

Last week the Miller Littles got bananas with their free lunch. The banas were pretty ripe already, so instead of letting them go to waste, I offered to use them to make banana cake. Middle Miller doesn't like frosting, so he insisted on banana bread. I decided today would be baking day. Oldest Miller was the only Little willing to help. Since I don't love banana bread, we actually made a cake. However I left the cake unfrosted to it was basically bread, just a slightly different texture. Regardless, everyone loved it and wanted more.

Vol. 4, No. 204, July 23, 2019

4204 - FAN-tastic.

At the Hopkins parade this weekend, I got a blue fan. I thought it would make a good fan for royalty to have on their float. I brought it home and used nail polish remover and some scratching to remove the advertisement. Then I used puffy paint to add a tiara to each side of the fan. Now it is a fan fit for a queen.

Vol. 4, No. 203, July 22, 2019

4203 - Audience With The Queen.

This week I have a lot of Miller Time scheduled. One thing I thought would be fun was a chance to meet the Queen, AKA Miss Litchfield Cecilia. I decided to create a formal invitation. I challenged myself by creating a pop-up crown using a heart design similar to the actual Miss Litchfield crown.

Vol. 4, No. 202, July 21, 2019

4202 - Raspberries.

Today my family ventured to Hopkins for our first Raspberry Festival Parade. On the hour long car ride there, I decided to make a bracelet. A raspberry bracelet would have been boring as they are all one color, so I went with a watermelon design instead.

Vol. 4, No. 201, July 20, 2019

4201 - Funeral Flowers.

Today, some of my family gathered to sort through and read the sympathy cards that we received with the death of Grandma Dot. Before the pile of envelopes was thrown out, I grabbed an assortment of colors. I cut the envelopes into squares and folded them into lilies. I was going to add leaves on all of them, however I ran out of time. Later, I will go back to add the leaves and wrap the stems in floral tape.

Vol. 4, No. 200, July 19, 2019

4200 - Rest In Piece.

Today, is my Grandma's funeral. One of the tasks that I was given in order to prepare for today's event was to fix Grandma’s Rosary which had come apart in multiple place. Grandpa Jim had given Grandma a pearl rosary as a wedding gift. We are uncertain that this is the exact rosary, we do know that I was in Grandma’s and obviously used.

My task was relatively simple as all I had to do was re-hook the chain and pinch the openings closed, but it was an important job none the less.

Rest In Peace Grandma.

Vol. 4, No. 199, July 18, 2019

4199 - Peaceful Pies.

On Saturday, my last grandparent died. Grandma Dot was 85 years old and died peacefully. This week has been crazy keeping up with everything that was already scheduled and then finding time to help get thing ready for the funeral. On Tuesday, my aunts and uncles were gathering to put together pictures to display, so Rebecca volunteered to make the dinner. In addition to roast beef sandwiches, we made peach pie and rhubarb custard pie. I rolled out and decorated the crusts for the pies.

Vol. 4, No. 198, July 17, 2019

4198 - Magical.

Today I finally finished the enchanted rose for LCT's Beauty and the Beast. It was a collaborative projec, which began with research. I found a tutorial of YouTube that looked easy enough and with my Dad's help, I got the supplies organized. Through trial and error, a switching of wires, and many rounds of painting, I feel confident in the product I created. When my wires kept getting twisted up inside the tube, Rebecca dreamt up a solution; stir straws taped together.

While this rose is designed to drop petals on command, it is not fool proof, as sometimes the petals get hooked on other wires or stuck between the stem and the edge of the glass. Fingers crossed, with practice it will start to go more smoothly.

Vol. 4, No. 197, July 16, 2019

4196 - Sunshine And Summertime.

Today was Miller Time. In the 8 hours that we spent together, we covered 4 parks and two splash pads. The weather was so perfect for water play that even I got my suit on for the second splash pad. While dripping wet, I used my footprints to create a sunflower in on the sidewalk.

Vol. 4, No. 196, July 15, 2019

4196 - Nailed It.

Today during my scheduled Miller Time, I convinced the girls to let me paint their nails. No, it didn’t take too much convincing. Littlest Miller chose stripes on her nails. It took a little while to figure out what she was describing. C asked for hearts; her nails are so small that I convinced her to just do one heart on each of her thumbs. Of course when Oldest Miller and F came home, they wanted their nails painted as well. Oldest Miller chose a layered (almost ombré) look, specifying that she wanted white tips. F chose metallic lilac, blue, black and white for her color scheme. With a few simple lines and dots, she was finished.

Vol. 4, No. 195, July 14, 2019

4195 - Whirlwind.

This weekend has been a whirlwind, full of emotions. CC was running for Miss Litchfield, so amid the crazy, I decided to make her some flowers. After all, win or lose, everyone likes flowers. I chose to make wire flowers, dipped in glue and painted with nail polish. The flowers turned out really well, however, I quickly learned that I should have started making the flowers a week ago so that they could have properly dried. I was able to get the flowers finished in time for coronation, thanks to Rebecca's help with painting the flowers.

I am pleased to announce that after a night of sitting on the edge of my seat, CC was crowned Miss Litchfield 2019-2020! The second picture is a photo I captured of her crowing moment.

Vol. 4, No. 194, July 13, 2019

4194 - Polka Parade.

As I was out and about, celebrating Litchfield Watercade, I decided it would be a good time to paint my nails. At a suggestion of a friend, I used a pink base with purple polka dots. I got a little carried away with the dots.

Vol. 4, No. 193, July 12, 2019

4193 - Rosey Posey.

Tonight I attended the Litchfield Watercade Fireworks. I brought my camera and set it up on a post overlooking the lake. Using a long exposure I was able to capture some neat pics. This is one of my favorites, taken right at the beginning of the display.

Vol. 4, No. 192, July 11, 2019

4192 - Lettuce Brainstorm.

I asked for ideas for today’s project, but didn’t get much help, so I decided to pull out my Nature Print Paper and make a print using fresh lettuce from the garden. I was hoping for an awesome picture that I could use to make a greeting card for the county fair, but I don’t think I was successful enough. It didn’t help that it was almost 9 pm when I headed outside and the sun was already down behind the tree line.

Vol. 4, No. 191, July 10, 2019

4191 - Toasty Buns.

When I was working the Lumiere costume, I used spray foam. Once a can is started, spray foam doesn’t save well, so I decided to use the remaining foam to make bread. I painted the bread with the spray paint I had on hand. I only had dark brown and orange, so the bread looks a little well done. I may try to lighten it with different paint later, but I am going to wait to see it with bread I already have.

Vol. 4, No. 190, July 9, 2019

4190 - Muddled.

Today I had some Miller Time. Littlest Miller picked a tiger lily on her way into the house and gave it to me. There was a plain white piece of paper on the counter, so I decided to use the flower to paint. The first thing that came to mind was a pumpkin. When I was finished painting, I cut out the pumpkin to get rid of the smudges around the outside created by rubbing petal pieces off of the pumpkin.

Vol. 4, No. 189, July 8, 2019

4189 - Candlesticks.

Today I finished the candlesticks for Lumiere's costume. The center candle started as a top hat. With some spray foam and spray paint, I created a candle in a candle holder. It was challenging to keep the paint from soaking into the fabric of the hat, so I added a layer of glue. This helped the paint stay on the surface better.

Margo was kind enough to model for me.

Vol. 4, No. 188, July 7, 2019

4188 - First Game.

Every year, my family tries to make it to at least one Twins game together. When planning for this year, we knew that we wanted to do it after Eleanor was born, and on a weekend, as to not interfere with everyone’s work schedules. Today was the only day that worked.

To commemorate Eleanor’s first Twin’s Game, we made a sign. Becca sketched everything out and I painted it. The Twins lost 4-1 after 11 innings.

Vol. 4, No. 187, July 6, 2019

4187 - In Color.

Like the song by Jamey Johnson says, "You should've seen it in color." Tonight I spent more time out on the lake with my family. Being the holiday weekend, there were more fireworks and of course a bonfire. I snapped a couple pictures of the festivities, and then decided to turn them black and white.

Vol. 4, No. 186, July 5, 2019

4186 - All American.

What's more American than apple pie? Today I made my first woven top pie. Woven pie crusts are very time-consuming, but the look is worth the effort. I can't take all of the credit for the pie, my sisters helped with preparing the apples.

Vol. 4, No. 185, July 4, 2019

4185 - Independence.

Today was my first lake day of the summer and I got too much sun without enough sunscreen or water. So this firework pic is the extent of my creativity for tonight. Happy 4th of July.

Vol. 4, No. 184, July 3, 2019

4184 - My Fave View.

Tonight as we we were eating dinner, it started to rain; and when we had finished, the sun came back out. There was a full rainbow over the water tower and I decided to go out and get some pics. As I was outside, I questioned why I was doing this. I have taken similar shots multiple times, so these pics weren’t unique in any way. Oh well, I still took the pics. Then I headed back inside to work on a project for today. I decided on a whim to look at the Fat Mum Slim July Photo-a-Day to see what the topic for the day was; “where is that spot that you go and think,’Oh boy, this is beautiful!’ Take a photo of that spot. I realized that one of the reasons I continue to. Take pictures of rainbows over the water tower is because I like the view. I grew up with that view; it is familiar and safe and I have a feeling these won’t be the last rainbow/water tower pictures I will take in my life.

Vol. 4, No. 183, July 2, 2019

4183 - Great Expectations.

Today I was hoping to finish the Lumiere costume for LCT’s Beauty and the Beast. However, the painting wasn’t covering as well as I had hopped, so that didn’t happen. I figured it was okay because I was making dinner for my family tonight. I would just post a picture of the plated meal. Well, I forgot to take a picture. So there I sat 9 pm and no project. I settled for a picture of my dessert, a root beer float.

Vol. 4, No. 182, July 1, 2019

4182 - Forked.

As Prop Master for LCT's Beauty and the Beast, one of the items I needed to find was a pitchfork. For safety reasons, the director didn't want a real pitchfork. I found some two different plastic pitchforks online. The cheaper of the two was a bloody pitchfork, meant for a scary Halloween costume. Tje price gap was enough of a difference that I opted to order the bloody ones and repaint them. So today I pulled out the spray paint and repainted two pitchforks.