I can’t keep this kid on the ground. Jumping off the picnic table is his new favorite pastime!

In celebration of my upcoming class, I spent some hard earned camera strap money on a big pile of half-yard cuts of Far Far Away II. If you’re looking for it, Purl has it all (well, they did today anyway). They should arrive in a few days.

Now riddle me this – is it lame to make myself a new tote and camera strap out of it and bring it to Heather’s class? Is that too hero-worshippy? I feel like this is one of those things “if you have to ask…” I mean, basically, I can’t play it cool. I seriously don’t know how. I might as well go to class in Munki Munki pjs.

I also use Mozy, so I *think* my pictures are safe. I think, if my external hard drive has failed, that I can get a new one and download all my pictures from Mozy.

Ugh. How can I love technology and hate technology so much?! We lost a hard drive a few years ago and with it, we lost 4 years of pictures and all of my husband’s undergrad and half of his graduate course work. Serious bummer.

So now, I have an external backup, I store all my pictures on Flickr and I pay for offsite backups! It’s crazy. And what if my external hard drive is broken…what the hell do I do with it? Can you ever really wipe the memory of these things?

Top Chef DC is off to a great start. Who else was surprised that the middle school kids loved the carnitas tacos with pickled onions?

Work of Art is awesome. Full of kooky, crazy artists. Art is SO SUBJECTIVE, I was really curious how they were going to pull this off. But when you think about it, it’s not like we can taste the food on Top Chef or necessarily ‘get’ the fashion preferences of the Project Runway contestants. I’m totally enjoying watching the little bits of the artists’ process that we get to see, and I’m especially enjoying the crazy coming out. I loved Nao’s quote in the first episode…something like, “I already feel like I won, so I’m going to be liberal with my criticism.” And Miles keeps winning and he’s the craziest of all. And I’m not even talking about the OCD. I mean, why WHY why would he interrupt the judges and critique a fellow contender’s work? Crazy is not the right word. And I love watching them shop for art supplies way more than the visits to Whole Foods or Mood. I wish someone would give me $100 and an empty bag in an art supply store.

My most favorite show at the moment is So You Think You Can Dance…I seriously love Kent. And I love ALL the all stars – I’m so happy to see them dancing again. They definitely should have kept Christina and cut Melinda, though.

What else?

Pretty Little Liars/Make It or Break It/American Teenager – mind candy. I watch them all. I like Pretty Little Liars a lot – I almost feel bad putting it in the same category as the other two, because the acting is really a lot better – and I love to see Holly Marie Combs in something new. But since it’s essentially a teen Desperate Housewives, it still falls in the mind candy category.

Lie to Me is great – I’ve missed Mekhi Phifer in the first few episodes, though. I hope he’ll be around more.

I’m also watching:

• Merlin on SyFy
• Burn Notice, Royal Pains and In Plain Sight on USA – all great
• Friday Night Lights (so awesome, always)
• Leverage on TNT
• some new shows – Persons Unknown (so far, so good) and The Gates (just Okay…I mean, how many creatures will they introduce? vampires, werewolves, succubi, witches…too many – no focus), Scoundrels (seems like a rip off of The Riches, but Virginia Madsen is good, so I’ll watch), Rookie Blue (first episode…meh. we’ll see.)
• The Good Guys – very entertaining so far, and excellent classic rock soundtrack
• Kathy Griffin, My Life on the D List – super hilarious. Start watching it today. I just wish it was for free somewhere online.
• If I Can Dream – reality show on Hulu. Gigliani is pissing me off and I want to see more Kara, but entertaining.

Lots of good stuff coming up: Rubicon, The Glades, Haven, Eureka, The Closer, Rizzoli and Isles…you see why I’m not getting any sewing done.

Can you read that star? It says “The Next Grammy Winner Award” because my kid is a robot-dancing, beat-boxing fool! Right after this photo, his teacher handed him the mic, and he treated the audience to some beats. Watch out, Biz Markie!

teacher gifts-1, originally uploaded by Beaty Family Fun.

I made these little zipper pouches for my son’s preschool teachers. Tucked inside each one was a matching coffee quilty, a key fob with a charged up Starbucks card on it, and a card. I think these little gifts were a hit!

The floral fabric was a find at Joanns. I found three precut fat quarters and THAT’S IT! I’d love to find more. It’s got all my favorite colors in it.

Grilled Chicken Fingers with Manchurian Sauce – chicken fingers in any form are a big hit. Chicken fingers that don’t require oil, bowls of flour, big crazy messes are a big hit with me.

Fruit kabobs – everything is more fun on a stick!

Black Bean Nuggets with avocado dipping sauce – yummy! I leave out the chili powder and hot sauce and my son gobbles them up.

There are a couple new ones I want to try – more kid recipes of course, because that’s the picky audience around here. Like maybe the Salmon Fishcakes or the Pumpkin Fritters.

I actually love to cook and try new recipes. But where do people find the time? And I always seem to be missing one ingredient. That is a bummer.

Anyway, being more prepared with healthy, easy to prepare food on hand is a constant goal. I thought I’d write it here to keep me honest. So let’s make a goal – one new healthy recipe a week. Easy enough, right? We’ll see!

My little ninja :)

Latifah Saafir, co-founder of the LA Modern Quilt Guild, has reinvented her blog. Her new home on the www is http://www.thequiltengineer.com/, and it’s looking awesome. I especially love her latest quilt.

Tons of awesome new fabric on the way. I’m greedily eyeing the new LizzyHouse line, Castle Peeps. And not just for the awesome name! I especially love the castle-scape prints, although I truly love the whole line.

Castle Peeps - Gallant Green Castle Town by LizzyHouse

It looks like Fabricworm will have it on sale any day now. And look at this Villagers Rejoice quilt! Super awesome. You can read all about it and download the pattern here.

And of course, I’m counting down until Far Far Away II is released. Can’t wait!