The Cicada

The bugs in Arkansas are GINORMOUS.


Everything just seems bigger.  Evan and I may have figured it out too.  With no winter to speak of, the buggies don't die off or hibernate, they just keep growing.  And growing.


In the south, they have these things called cicadas.  I had never heard of one until I moved to Virginia.  The trees were making this crazy sound at night and I asked a new friend, "What in the world is that noise?!"  Cicadas.  Oh, of course.


I never saw one until I moved to Arkansas.  In case you were wondering, they are 1-2 inches long and nearly as wide.  I don't know why, but they just fall out of the sky apparently.

For example, we went running the other day (pick your jaw up off the ground.  I'm actually doing pretty ok) and one dive bombed us, then flew around drunkenly before finally hitting the pavement.  I'm fairly certain it was scorched so badly it died there.  Have I mentioned it has been 100+ since May?  By 9am we are usually up to 90.

Anyhow, back to the bugs.  I left for work Wednesday, and there was one half dead in my rosemary!  It's still there, I'm afraid to touch it.  I suspect my rosemary will only last a couple more weeks in this drought anyhow, so I'll just dump it all together.

Last night, as Evan's research buddy was leaving, one dive bombed it's way into our house.  It flew around drunkenly (notice a pattern?) then hid somewhere.  We couldn't find it.  Which is amazing because it is HUGE!  So we went to bed.  I woke up and there was a pillow against the crack of the door.  Apparently Evan had this recurring thought that it would crawl under and start flying drunkenly around the bedroom.  I'm glad we were protected.

We waited this morning for it to start flying around.  It was quite the sight to see the two of us (neither very fond of bugs.  Especially large flying ones) trying to get it out.  Finally we got it under a cup and let it fall off the balcony.  These cicadas have it out for me.

Remember when we first moved here and saw some snake head looking bug in the ground?  The mystery has been solved!  Cicada!

Twinners

I envy Evan most Sundays.  He grabs a pair of pants, a shirt, a tie, and done.  Everything always matches. Always!  I pick a skirt, can't find a shirt that matches, or want to wear a shirt and the skirt doesn't go.  Of course, this could be avoided if I thought this through Saturday night.  Or even Sunday morning since we don't have church until 1.  But I prefer to wait until noon or so and rush myself into dressing.  You'd think I learn, but I don't.

A few weeks ago, I was in a fury of the "What to Wears" and going through options like crazy.  I finally decided on something and rushed to get my bag so we could go.  Evan looked at me and said, "Hey, we match."  Shirt, pants/skirt, shoes.  Even my camisole matched one of the colors in his tie. Believe it or not, we did not plan this.

And there you have it.  The Andersons in all of our matchy-match splendor.

Babies everywhere!

It seems these days that everyone around me is having babies!  It's an exciting time.  And with it, I've been using my sewing machine to make new and beautiful things.  I made a bib, burpcloth, changing mat (linked to tutorials) set for a friend that I am extra proud of.  I think it turned out very cute :)  It's been sitting in my closet for about 6 weeks now, I really need to send it along!

Then there is the baby shower I helped throw for Mrs. Grassroot Elegance, and all of the decorations are turned out ADORABLE!  I am continually impressed by the skills these ladies have.  We have found some great friends down here, I am glad to have them (and their future babies)!

Our fun banner.  We decorated all the onesies one night while we crafted into the wee hours of the morning.

 Mrs. "I'm not crafty like you ladies" (Here on referred to as Mrs. Arkansas until I think of a new nickname) made this one.  She just started painting and it turned out super cute!  I don't know what she is talking about.

 I made this one following this tutorial.  I pinned it months ago and have been waiting to try it out!  I used a different flower, and sewed it on permanently instead of making it a pin.  I think it will hold up ok in the washer.

This one is an apron!  Mrs. Grassroot Elegance has a collection of adorable aprons in her house and Mrs. Arkansas said, "I wonder if we could make a tiny apron to go with the collection."  I started out trying to just make one on my own, freehand, to applique on the front, but it wasn't turning out so well (Anyone who has ever seen me draw knows that I probably shouldn't have even started).  So I used this tutorial and scaled everything down.   I didn't do the inside lining (I don't think baby Grassroot will be doing much baking in it), then sewed it on the side seams.  It ties in the back.  The neck straps are just sewn down on the back of the shoulder.  Tiniest apron ever!

This one was also done by Mrs. Arkansas.  She did see a picture of it on google somewhere and then painted it on this onesie.  Of course, she glammed it up with some rhinestones on the gray stripe.  This will be one fabulously dressed baby!

Our diaper cake!  I can't even describe how happy we were with this.  Maybe, a little too proud.  It looks really crooked in this picture... I guess I got a bad angle? But Baby Grassroot gets a tutu and a headband out of it! tulle and glitter quickly took over.

See?  Tulle and glitter on her wreath!

There is a strip of glitter tulle on these as well.  You can't see it.  Aren't these super cute though?!  All from the brain and skill of Mrs. Iowa. (I know I know, not creative names.  But they don't blog and we don't do many nicknames so this is what you get.  She is moving to Iowa next month, so, Mrs. Iowa it is) (also, she is having a baby too!  In November!) She has the talent for sure.

Tulle and glitter was on the food table too.  Under the bowls of course.

There were some bibs as well, and a mobile we used for a game with a bunch of stuff attached to it.  I didn't get any good pictures of it though.  Overall, a fun shower and we may have had even more fun making all the decorations :)  Excited for the coming babies!