The auction seems to be the central thing that Dad, in particular, would like to see us attempt. I’m sure that it will be less ambitious than before, but I’d like to suggest that we approach it more or less the same way, though on a smaller scale. We should take some time to talk about logistics: the only practical time for both auctions seems to be the afternoon of July 4, but that’s open to debate.
Should we plan on an auction in which we lower our expectations, but still try to share what we can? Andrea just sent me the suggestion that we take some time to traipse around Boise, going to thrift shops and trying to find auction items. This sounds like great fun, if a little risky (at least with my family’s schedule, I’m not sure that we’re going to be able to fit thrifting into the time we’ll have), but there’s no reason to insist that all (or even most) of the items in the auction be homemade. We understand that there are other obligations which will take precedence this year (you know, moving, having babies, getting married, buying houses), and I suggest that we should just try to have a few fun things to give, wherever they come from. I’ll bring the money, Dad will bring the paddles, and I hope that Steve will bring his auctioneer’s patter.
The kids’ “auction” was a real hit, I thought, and I’d like to repeat it. If you find any interesting candies or little toys that you can bring for the bags, please do; we’ll probably have to search Boise, land of dollar stores, for the majority of the stuff. Since we won’t have the luxury of putting kids to sleep before we have the adult auction, one possible fringe benefit of having the kids enjoying their bags is that it may work to buy time for us to have the adult auction. (As I see it, since we will probably have to hold the auctions at the rental house for reasons of space and timing, we’ll need to find something for the young ones to do while we wheel and deal.) If they are looking through their bags, it may provide us at least some beginning time for our auction.
I had another thought, actually. A week ago, Jeffrey sent me this fun link . It describes a family’s efforts at making trading/playing cards which depict monsters or other invented creatures. After the members of the family draw pictures of beasts on their cards (and name them), they shuffle, pick, and exchange them. I thought that it might be fun to have the kids involved with something like this – if we have them draw the cards on Friday or Saturday before the auction, we could put cards in the bags and then allow the children to look at and swap them while we are auctioning. I wonder whether someone whose boys are already into trading cards (Jill and Will, do I understand that this may apply to your family?) could weigh in on the possibilities here – and the things that might raise interest in such a project. Let me know what you think; if there is approval for this idea, I could cut some paper for the cards before we come.
Well, Shawna and Stephen asked me to make announcements for their wedding, and I found it a real pleasure to work on them. And although I can't exactly say that I met their deadline, they tell me that they've received the package with 150 cards, each including an image of hydrangeas (printed from a hand-cut wood engraving), type set with the invitation text, and my calligraphic presentation of their names. I don't think that it's really possible to see enough of the announcement to make this photo a spoiler, but I thought you might find it interesting to see part of the project drying in my pressroom.
(makes 8) 6 eggs 1 cup flour 1 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar
Super crepe sauce: Sour cream Brown Sugar. 2:1 ratio respectively
Open-faced egg sandwiches: (for four people)
Eight or nine eggs, hard boiled and cut up into chunks. About a half cup mayonnaise. About two tablespoons mustard. About a half cup ham chunks About a half cup grated or diced mild cheddar cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.
I say about, because everything is really to taste.Mix everything together in a bowl, and then spoon onto halves of potato or dinner rolls.Broil on middle shelf for a few minutes.Keep an eye on it, because as soon as they start browning, they go fast and can burn easily.
We don't really have any foods that we eat specifically around Easter. I love ham but we decided to go non-traditional (and cheap) for our Easter meal.We tried a chicken fajita marinade from Our Best Bites. It was really tasty. Also, as a special treat I made Brazillian Lemonade from the same site. I have been wanting to try this, because I have heard a lot of good things. It was delicious! I made muffins for breakfast. I had ripped this recipe out of Wondertime magazine years ago and never made them. I substituted canned pumpkin for the yams and craisins for the cranberry sauce. They were really tasty. In fact, I made them again today with the leftover pumpkin. I also found this recipe for Easter Rolls that looks so fun. You bake a marshmellow in the center of a roll and when you bake them the marshmellow melts. When you open the roll it is empty (like the tomb). I thought it would be a really fun recipe to make with the kids!
I think I invented lollipop puppets when I made a person lollipop. I just wanted to have a head. I wanted to eat the lollipop, but I saved it under my pillow, I think.
The first one was a really silly one, with the dress going around her. I should have done it the other way -- where you put the dress straight on her, and tape it on the back and front and bottom and top.
Big sister and kitty
Ingredients: a piece of paper wire a lollipop (that's the importantest) tape
Tools: wire cutters pencils scissors
Little sister and brother
First, you need to cut out a square. Then you color on the square. Then you tape the square onto a lollipop. The square is for the dress.
Then, you cut out two even pieces of paper, then you measure it, see how long the pieces of paper are, then you tape the wire onto one piece of paper and tape the other piece of paper on top of the wire. That's the arms. So, you just get some more tape, and tape the arms on. If you want to do a boy, you can do a shirt. The girls just have skirts with arms. The boys? No, they don't have any arms -- they just have shirts, shirt sleeves or long sleeves.
Baby and candy purse
And then -- it might be the hardest -- put some tape if you want eyes on the face, then draw eyes. If you want to do the hair, you have to collect it from when your brothers or sisters -- or you! -- have haircuts. Then tape it on. Or you can cut it out and color it, or just have them have white hair. But if it's a different color piece of paper, just leave it, or color it differently. If you want legs, do it the same as arms, but two of them, and shorter.
To make a bag or a purse, whatever you want, you cut out walls and a bottom and then do an opening that can open and close, and tape it together. And if you wanted a handle, cut out a skinny, long piece of paper, and tape it on the top as well. And then you can put small little things in there, and candy, that's what I did.
For the third successive year, I've succumbed to the temptation to rank my favorite new songs. If nothing else, it's a way of charting a significant part of my life during the past months – but it could also serve as a prompt for conversation and debate.
The ground rules? Only one song per band (side projects excluded). The song should have been released during the calendar year, though I've bent the rules where some self-published or import albums from last year are concerned. I'd love to see some other lists popping up on here. Steez? Jeffrey? BJ? Melissa? Buzz? Andrea? Mom?
30Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron – Voice in Headphones
31Chad VanGaalen – Willow Tree
32Sun Kil Moon – Tonight the Sky
33Women – Group Transport Hall
34Marnie Stern – The Package is Wrapped
35Jay Reatard – Night of Broken Glass
36Ted Leo & the Pharmacists – Paranoia (Never Enough)
37Destroyer – Leopard of Honor
38Dungen – Det Tar Did
39 Bound Stems – Happens to Us All Otherwise
40Crooked Fingers – Cannibals
41Port O’Brien – I Woke Up Today
42The Shaky Hands – Show Me Your Life
43Fanfarlo – Harold T. Wilkins
44King Khan and the Shrines – Welfare Bread
45She & Him – I Was Made for You
46Sunset – When Perfect Flames Expire
47The Magnetic Fields – Old Fools
48Grouper – Heavy Water / I’d Rather Be Sleeping
49Marissa Nadler – Colorado Girl
50Grand Archives – Orange Juice
51Soltero – Out at the Wall
52White Rabbits – BeehiveState
53The Fiery Furnaces – Duplexes of the Dead
54Gnarls Barkley – Run
55of Montreal – Id Engager
56MGMT – Electric Feel
57Dosh – If You Want To, You Have To
58Ratatat – Falcon Jab
59Q-Tip – Move
60The Roots – Rising Down
61Chairlift – Bruises
62Vivian Girls – Never See Me Again
63Tape – Beams
64Laura Gibson – Freight Train
65RocketshipPark – Run Away
66Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Glue Girls
67The Raveonettes – Dead Sound
68No Age – Things I Did When I Was Dead
69The Rosebuds – Life Like
70Shearwater – The Hunter’s Star
71Calexico – Two Silver Trees
72Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Cold Son
73Spoon – All I Got Is Me
74Tapes ‘n Tapes – Hang Them All
75Islands – The Arm
It's a little strange to see the songs lined up like this; it shows me that I've been listening to a preponderance of pop and folk and less of the noise stuff that benefits from live performance. Maybe this is what happens when you live in a city with no music venues.
Anyway, if there is interest, I'll continue posting mp3s. And if anyone wants to e-mail or text me their list, I'll post it, and will add the music where I have it.
The name of this site comes from a Russian folk tale in which a farmer is unable to pull a giant turnip until he seeks help from his wife, several farm animals, and a mouse. After that, turnip soup all around.
The Giant Turnip is a list of recommendations which various members of the family have discovered and want to share -- from music and books to recipes and things we've made. Most are related to the children, but none are exclusive to them; these are things we all like.
The auction seems to be the central thing that Dad, in particular, would like to see us attempt. I’m sure that it will be less ambitious than before, but I’d like to suggest that we approach it more or less the same way, though on a smaller scale. We should take some time to talk about logistics: the only practical time for both auctions seems to be the afternoon of July 4, but that’s open to debate.
