Rambling Saturday

We had a fabulous low-cost family day that included culture, fine cuisine, exercise, and a little fun.

We had never visited our Wichita art museum until today; it was great for several reasons:

1. Saturdays are FREE ADMISSION day (We saved $16)


2. This was the only art museum I've visited that had whole areas dedicated to children including a studio where they could design their own folk art (that was the focus today)


3. It really was a beautiful place


4. There truly was something for all of us to enjoy - in fact, we had the hardest time convincing Grace it was time to leave to go eat lunch

THEN we went to our favorite ever restaurant to frequent as a family...

Ode to Jason's Deli

O Jason's, your food is delicious

There's something each one of us craves

Your sweet tea is truly outstanding

And it's okay if a child misbehaves.

Free muffins and garlic bread we love

For free ice cream, we cheer and holler

Lollipops and huge potatoes bring joy

Cost for family of five: 17 dollars!

That has been a long time coming; well done, Jason's.

After coming home, the girls played outside in 50 degrees, and Greg and I went for a run. Today was an oasis of excellent spring weather invading the bitterly cold temperatures much of the midwest has been enduring.

Then Greg baked yet another batch of his amazing 100% whole wheat bread using wheat we grind in our grinder that is organically grown by a family in our church. It is something else; I go seriously weak in the knees while it's baking.

This same inspiring organic wheat family (who hosted the New Year's Eve Costume party mentioned in another post) also includes our sewing teacher, Jenny. She is our VERY HIP sewer and quilter friend and is now teaching us to piece a quilt. I AM LOVING IT! I've always had a thing for fabric. I've told Greg I want a studio with shelves just to stack bolts and piles of wonderful fabric, even though I would have NO CLUE what to actually do with the fabric. I just like it. He didn't go for it. I feel like I'm living out my fabric dream.

Now purchasing the fat quarters (I like that term, makes me feel terribly "in the know") was a little terrifying. I went to this more upscale quilting fabric shop and checked out the sale room. I had no problem picking out fat quarters I liked, but I had no idea how they would actually go together in a quilt. I sort of hovered over my fabric covering it as much as possible while I looked around, because I KNEW women were formulating opinions about my choices. They were looking at me and thinking that I had no idea what I was doing, thinking I was a total novice. They were all very confident and probably snobby. And of course, when I purchased my fat quarters, there was a line behind me. Every single piece was picked up and looked at for the right price as if it was show and tell. I felt a little queasy, so I put on my most confident and snobby face and counted every long minute.

Abby, Emma, and I are all working on the quilt, and as it turns out, we are thrilled at how it's looking. We had our piecing lesson yesterday and finished our blocks today. Thanks, Jenny!