Bert and Ernie, Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?

Ernie: “1-Q.”
Bert: “2-Q.”
Ernie: “3-Q.”
Bert: “4-Q.”
Ernie: “5-Q.”
Bert: “6-Q.”
Ernie: “7-Q.”
Bert: “8-Q.”
Ernie: “9-Q.”
Bert: “10-Q.”
Ernie: “What's that, Bert?”
Bert: “10-Q!”
Ernie: “I couldn't hear you, Bert.”
Bert: “10-Q! 10-Q! 10-Q!”
Ernie: “You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome, Bert.”

Bert and Ernie share the basement apartment in the 123 Sesame Street building. Ernie loves to play games, while Bert would rather read a book. Bert has 368 bottle caps in his collection and loves to study his pet pigeon, Bernice. Ernie loves sing in the tub with his Rubber Duckie and use his imagination. He often wakes Bert in the middle of the night to ask him a question, while Bert does his best not to get frustrated. To say they are opposites would be an understatement. But when Ernie is not getting on Bert's nerves and Bert is not being too serious for Ernie, they are best pals. These friends don't always agree, but they always try to work it out.

Bert and Ernie have been a part of Sesame Street since the first episode in 1969. Bert is performed by Frank Oz, and beginning in 1997 Eric Jacobsen also became a principal performer for the character. Ernie was performed by Jim Henson until his death in 1990, and is now performed by Steve Whitmire. When the characters were first created Jim Henson performed Bert while Frank Oz did Ernie, but they switched after not too long, and each performer gave their character a bit of their own personalities.

More Serious Bert Facts:
Birthday: July 26
Best Friend: Ernie
Favorite expression: “Er-nie!”
Favorite Color: Grey
Likes: Brass bands, paper clips, bottle caps, argyle socks, the letter W, and watching the weather forecast on TV
Favorite food: Oatmeal
Dislikes: Being woken up by Ernie, Ernie's jokes

More Mischievous Ernie Facts:
Birthday: January 28
Favorite expression: “Hey, Bert, old buddy? Are you asleep?”
Best Friend: Bert
Favorite Song: “Rubber Duckie, You're the One”
Likes: Singing in the bath with Rubber Duckie, playing the saxaphone and playing tricks on Bert
Dislikes: Cleaning up

Patterns by Michelle Thompson
Piece Count: Bert — 87, Ernie — 133
Fabrics:
Moda Marbles: Bert — Electric Yellow, California Orange, Turquoise; Ernie — California Orange, Scarlet, Bubblegum Pink, Grass Green
Kona Cotton: Snow & Black

I've also finished the label for the back of my quilt.

My layout is getting more filled in.

Or is it? Michelle has finished more patterns.

Uh-oh. I think I just heard my layout getting bigger.

I'm still debating the idea. Help me out, will you?

In the “cons” to expanding the quilt column:
• It will be like going back to square one. I started out with 12 blocks to finish and I will still have 12 blocks to finish {Zoe is almost done} if I expand the layout.
• Each block takes anywhere from 7 to 10 hours.
• I will definitely not have it finished in time for the first two of three quilt shows this spring/summer and possibly not even for the third.
• Each block takes anywhere from 7 to 10 hours.
• My embroidered quilt label will have the wrong month on it {and possibly the wrong year}.
• Each block takes anywhere from 7 to 10 hours.
• Because I don't have a deadline, it is possible for this quilt to end up sitting half-finished until the quilt shows next year.
• Have I mentioned how long each block takes?
• I will need more Moda Marbles for the back. I'll also need some other colors in order to have enough fabric to make more blocks.

In the “pros” to expanding the quilt column:
• I won't feel like I'm leaving anyone out.
• I'm definitely not going to have the quilt finished for the first quilt show and probably not for the second show, anyway. I can ease up the pace a bit and make myself not so crazy.
• I will need more Moda Marbles for the back. I'll also need some other colors in order to have enough fabric to make more blocks
• I won't feel rushed on the machine quilting part and can maybe explore other options besides stippling in the background behind each character.

It would seem that there are more cons than pros to making the quilt bigger. But knowing myself as I do, I think I probably won't be happy with it unless I include all the blocks that are available {except I'm going to have to choose between Guy Smiley and Barkley because there aren't enough spots for both of them}. Perhaps I'm not still debating it after all?

Shay told me that she really likes Sesame Street too, and asked if that made us childish. I told her that I'm sure that it just makes us young at heart. I'll keep telling myself that, because I'm going to have to start watching it so that I can see who Abby Cadabby is.

I'm A Mormon: Brandon Flowers — A Fire Still Burning

I want to be a positive force in the world and I want to uplift people.

A lot of people love to come up to me and tell me they were raised in The Church and they expect there to be this camaraderie about, “oh, we've outgrown it now and we're smart enough now to not be in it.” It started happening often enough that it really made me take a look at myself. I realized I was raised in it and there's still a fire burning in there.

My name is Brandon Flowers. I'm a father. I'm a husband and I'm a Mormon.

Cookie Monster, Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?

“C” is for cookie that's good enough for me,
Oh! cookie, cookie, cookie starts with "C!”
–Cookie Monster, “C” is For Cookie

There is more than meets the eye to Sesame Street's resident googly-eyed, cookie craving monster. Cookie Monster is a complex being; though his vernacular is simple, he has quite a large vocabulary. He composes poems and sings songs about his beloved cookies. He asks deep questions about where cookies come from and he is in touch with his emotions, bursting into tears at the sight of an empty cookie jar.

Cookie Monster got his start as The Wheel-Stealer, in a 1966 snack commercial which never aired. After several evolutions, he became the cookie-and-pie-and-hubcap-and-letter-and-veggie-and-flatware-eating monster we know and love today. The gravelly-voice Cookie Monster was performed by Frank Oz until 2001 and the principle performer has been David Rudman since that time. In order to preserve his fur, the prop department provides him with rice cakes painted to look like cookies to devour during his scenes. He's appeared in more than 500 episodes of Sesame Street and is one of the most beloved characters of the show.

More Delicious Cookie Monster Facts:
Given Name: Sidney, or Sid for short
Birthday: November 2
Favorite expression: “OMM-nom-nom-nom”
Favorite Song: “Hungry Like the Wolf”
Favorite Book: The Joys of Eating
Favorite food: Cookies
Dislikes: An empty plate and eating the last cookie
Alter Ego: Alistair Cookie

Pattern by Michelle Thompson
Piece Count: 121
Fabrics:
Moda Marbles: Cornflower Blue & Taxi Cab
Kona Cotton: Snow & Black

I Must Ask . . . How Often Do You Cook?

There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves. –Thomas Wolfe

Two weeks ago, I asked how many picky eaters there were. Among the picky eaters, texture was the main cause for not wanting to eat something, which I thought was interesting because for me it is mostly taste. And although there were more total combined picky eaters, there were a surprising number who said they weren't picky, but then went on to list this or that they wouldn't eat. From one picky eater to another, I don't blame you one bit .

We're still talking about food this week. I'd planned to ask this last Thursday and then ran out of time to put it together, so it was a funny coincidence when the new girl at work, who'd noticed that I bring left-overs for lunch quite often, asked me how often I cook. I was all ready with my answer because I've been thinking about this post for a couple of weeks now. Generally speaking, I cook five times a week. I write out a menu that has three weeks on it. I fill the first week in and shop for groceries for everything I need on Saturday. I always cook something nice for dinner on Sunday {LadyBug requests pork chops frequently, which compliments Grasshopper's requests for mashed potatoes and gravy}. I do pretty well Monday through Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the days I have a harder time cooking. Sometimes, I swing by the pizza place on the way home from work on Friday night, but we don't eat out too often. Most of the time if I don't cook, we kind of eat what we can find; leftovers, cold cereal, ramen noodles. Whatever I have on the menu for the nights I wimp out on cooking gets moved forward to the next week, so that's one less meal I have to think of for the next go round. I find it really helpful to plan a menu and have done it most of my married life. That way I can have all the ingredients on hand for what we're eating that week, I don't have to think up something every night when we're all hungry and tired and if I know what's coming up, then I can "get in the mood" for whatever's on the menu. It also helps manage the expectations of the picky-eater Little Bugs. I have them help me plan the menu and if they can see that there are several dinners they like on the menu during the week, especially dinners they've chosen, there tends to be less complaining.

I don't mind cooking much. It's the dishes I don't like. Mr. Bug takes care of that most of the time {I think I've only loaded the new dishwasher once}, so that makes it really nice. I do not care much for the handling of raw meat, though. I buy hamburger 5 lbs. at a time and do all the handling at once. If meatloaf is on the menu, I make up two meatloaves, cook one, freeze the other, and then while the meatloaf is cooking, I brown the rest of the hamburger and divide it into 1 lb. portions to freeze and use later. It makes handling raw meat more manageable because I know that I only have to handle it once, but I get five dinners out of it. The same goes for chicken, only I will usually get between 10 and 20 lbs. at a time because handling raw chicken is at least twice as yucky as handling raw meat. I will divide out a couple of pounds and package and freeze those raw for dishes that have you cook the chicken as you make the rest of the meal. I bake the rest of the chicken and divide it out into 1 lb. portions, freezing it for future meals. Then, when chicken tacos {or chicken chili, or chicken enchiladas or chicken casserole} comes up on the menu, I pull a package of chicken out of the freezer, thaw it in the fridge overnight, and when I go to put dinner together all that is left is the shredding or cubing. It saves a lot of time.

When I asked what your favorite chore was, cooking got the most answers hands-down. Today I want know know just how much you like to cook, so I must ask . . . how often do you cook? Just for clarification, heating up a frozen dinner in the microwave doesn't count. But, everything doesn't have to be from scratch, either. I totally count those prepackaged pasta meals as cooking, because you use the stove top, it takes more than 4 minutes on high, you dirty a dish in the execution and I don't do them that often. I'm sure there are other prepackaged items that require similar efforts, so use your best judgement. I'd love to hear your favorite thing to cook in the comments.

P.S. I would add to Thomas Wolfe's quote that there is nothing more appealing than the sight of a man making dinner for someone he loves. Mr. Bug grills the best steaks. Ever.

Various & Sundry Monday: Vol. 28

I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved through the cultivation of altruism, of love and compassion, and elimination of ignorance, selfishness, and greed. –Dalai Lama, 1989 Nobel Peace-Prize Speech

Eclipse

Yesterday there was a partial eclipse of the sun here. What a cool event to witness! Mr. Bug rigged us up a shadow viewer and we watched as it progressed. I fiddled with my camera settings, hoping to increase the pixel area/photo size. Instead I decreased it and ended up with teeny tiny photos with even teenier tinier images of the shadow of the eclipse. My little photo is almost not worth sharing, except the next time an eclipse will be visible in Utah is in 60 years.

The eclipse, which was annular {meaning the moon appears too small to cover the sun completely and leaves a ring of light around the moon} was fully visible in California. This is a photo of the actual eclipse.

{Photo: AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama}

Dog Ear Confetti
These little bits of fabric and paper are the dog ears of 936 half-square triangles. Each square has two triangles and each triangle has two dog ears, that makes a total of 3,744 dog ears {give or take} in this little pile.

I'm doing a half-square triangle swap. I figured out how many 2" HST's I'd need to make a nice lap-sized quilt and then pulled fabrics from my stash. Our swap group used triangle papers that let you sew 12 HST's all at once. It is almost like paper piecing, but not quite. You put your two fabrics right sides together, put the paper on top and use it as a template for sewing and trimming. When you finish, the half-square triangle still needs to be pressed open and you have paper to remove from one side. I did 78 sheets and used a different print fabric for each one. It took me a week, but I am done! I kept four of each of my color combinations {312 HST's} and sent the rest {624 HST's} to be swapped out for HST's made by other members of the swap. Let the record show that I was finished and had my swaps in the mail a full 10 days before the deadline.

I won't be so on top of things with the Sesame Street quilt. Cookie Monster has been giving me the old stink eye for about a week-and-a-half now. I'm going to be right on top of the deadline for the first of three quilt shows, if I don't miss it completely. Besides Cookie Monster's other eye and the rest of his face, I have six other blocks to finish, and then there's assembly, quilting and binding all to get done by June 8^th. It is such a fun quilt to work on and I'm still really excited about it, so I hope that enthusiasm will help me get it finished in time.

Peony of the Day
I have 17 peony plants in my gardens. 13 of them are blooming this year and I intend to show you them all. I still had my camera set to stupid a smaller pixel/photo size, so pretty much what you see here is what you get.

This is Bowl of Beauty. It is kind of the teacher's pet, because I bought this as a dry root start {I know there is a name for it, but I've been trying to remember for days and can't} and usually it takes three years for those kinds of starts to actually produce flowers. This one bloomed right out of the bag {literally} the first year I planted it. I love that kind of self-motivation.

This is Félix Crousse. He's not quite completely open, but look at that beautiful color! Félix & Beauty are right next to each other and they look so pretty together.

And to wrap up, this is my second Karl Rosenfield plant. The first one bloomed last week and now this one has buds starting to open. I has been really fun to see the peonies bloom this year.