This easy: The other day I was pouring myself a cup of coffee as Troy passed through the kitchen. I asked him if he wanted a cup. He said he’d love one. I told him I’d warm some up in the microwave (as we were still drinking the morning pot of coffee in mid-afternoon) and bring it upstairs for him.

As I stuck the mug in the microwave, Annalie wandered into the kitchen to see what I was doing. “Mommy,” she said, pointing at the double row of glass bottles that had been sitting along the back wall of the counter next to the kettle since I had washed them two weeks before in preparation for using them, “are you ready to make another batch of vanilla now?”

I thought about it for a second. “Well…sure. Why not?”

I pulled out the spouted Pyrex measuring cup and a clean pair of scissors while Annalie found a funnel and started bringing bottles over to a clear spot on the counter. I rummaged in the cupboard till I found the vanilla beans I’d ordered months ago, and got out the economy-size bottle of vodka that we bought for this very purpose. Annalie snipped the beans in half widthwise, then I cut each half lengthwise so each long bean became four short, skinny pieces. We stuffed eight small pieces (two whole beans) in each small bottle, and sixteen small pieces (four whole beans) in the larger bottle. I poured a half-cup of vodka at a time into the measuring cup and Annalie carefully filled each bottle using the funnel (we only had a couple of overflows which were easily cleaned up with a paper towel) and then screwed the caps on.

And voila, we had a whole batch of vanilla done, just like that. The whole process probably took ten, fifteen minutes tops, start to finish. I stuck them on the top shelf of our dish cupboard where they’ll enjoy a nice month-long rest in the dark, being disturbed only when we need a glass or a plate, or when I deem it time to inspect the color and give the bottles a good shake.

I bought two different types of vanilla beans this time (Madagascar Bourbon [which refers to a variety of vanilla bean, not to the alcohol used in making extract] and Tahitian) so I did an experiment of sorts. I made a few bottles of Bourbon-only, a few bottles of Tahitian-only, and made the rest with a mix. I marked the bottom of the bottles so I’ll be able to tell which is which. I look forward to doing smell- and taste-testing when the extract is ready to use.

Oh, and after all that was done and I’d cleaned up the mess, I remembered that Troy was still waiting for his coffee. I nuked it for a few more seconds then carried it upstairs, apologizing for taking so long and explaining that Annalie and I had just made a quick batch of vanilla. Troy laughed and said it was okay, he’d heard us doing something and figured either I’d bring the coffee up eventually or he’d go back down and get it.

Then as I handed Troy the cup, I accidentally sloshed coffee onto my old laptop Troy’s new laptop* which was sitting on the cedar chest we use as a coffee table. Doh! Good thing I can make a mean batch of homemade vanilla, otherwise Troy would have gotten sick of me spilling liquids all over his electronics and just generally being a klutz. I think he sticks around at least partly for the baked goods.

*The laptop was fine. Coffee only got onto the corner of the case, didn’t even get into the keyboard.

For a more detailed account of how to make homemade vanilla with lots of pretty pictures, read Make your own vanilla extract.

I have a bunch of pottery photos that I’ve been meaning to blog, including this Fribbit mug. I started painting it, just for fun right after Bug’s 3rd birthday party, took it home, and finished it several weeks later. When I posted a photo of the unfired mug on Flickr, Aimee saw it and fell in love, asking if I’d be willing to sell it to her. So I did. If anyone else wants a Fribbit mug, let me know.

I painted another Gumball mug at Moose’s request.

Annika saw the butter crock I painted for myself and liked it, so we arranged a swap. I painted this crock for her, and she’s sewing a reverse-applique skirt or dress (I don’t remember which one we ended up agreeing on) using thrifted t-shirts for Annalie.

During the last run of 7 Days, I was at the pottery studio, thinking about how it would be nice to paint a little something for Sarah and Lauren to thank them for starting such a fun group and keeping it going for the past two years. So I painted them each one of these little bowls.

Annalie painted this trivet all by herself. She chose the colors, she painted the cat, she wrote the letters with a fine brush. I had to tell her how to spell “meow” but I think that’s acceptable for a not-yet-5-year-old.

I painted this dotty bowl thinking of a day at the beach, with soft colors—pale blue for the inside, like water, and yellow, green, and beige. It didn’t turn out exactly as I’d hoped; specifically, the yellow is more neon that I’d like. But I like it anyway.

Annalie painted this little egg cup. I do believe she’s planning to give it to me for Mother’s Day. Shhh, don’t tell me! It’s a surprise!

When Annalie and I went to pick up some finished pottery one day, Annalie asked if we could paint. I hadn’t planned on it so I had nothing particular in mind and ended up painting this funky little dish in sunny yellows. I like it, even though a little spot of dark paint ended up on the inside of the dish where it doesn’t belong. Oh well. That happens sometimes, when the unfired color is so light you don’t notice it till after it’s fired. Anyone want this? It’s in my shop. Kristin bought it! Thanks, KJ!

Erin emailed me recently and said she had been admiring my dottery and wanted to commission a pastel-colored dottery bowl or plate. This is what I painted for her. Erin, it’s in my shop waiting for you!

A baby blanket for my friends Sarah & Bill’s second little boy, who will be born in just a few days!

When I sent the blanket I included this little crocheted plane as a big-brother gift for B, their older son. I used this pattern (pdf), adapted to be slightly larger.

Whew!

If you have kids ages 13 and under, they have until Monday April 27th to enter Brenda’s fun coloring contest! Just go to this post for instructions! There are cool prizes (buckets of art supplies!) for two age groups. You can actually still enter if you’re over age 13, you just won’t win a prize. And if you don’t want to enter the contest, well, you can still go download the free PDF for a fun coloring sheet.

Or you can even sneak in a little edumacation with it. Heather and Sue mentioned to me when they were here last week that one big thing in kindergarten is the kids have to learn the names of colors. Then the other day we walked over to the playground at our neighborhood elementary school and I noticed the rainbow art projects on the kindergarten bulletin board, with each color’s name printed out three times and circled with the matching color.

I don’t consider myself an “official” homeschooler yet since Annalie won’t be in kindergarten till this fall. But I thought this coloring sheet was perfect for a color-by-numbers. So I just made a quick chart on another piece of paper and wrote corresponding numbers on the coloring sheet. Annalie sounded out the color names with a tiny bit of help and circled each one with a marker before finding that number on the sheet and coloring those areas in.

She got a little tired of coloring after a couple of colors, so we set the sheet aside and came back to it the next day. Even then, she got bored with coloring in large areas so I suggested she could just use stripes and dots. I even talked to her a little bit about pointilism and showed her how that worked on another piece of paper. She thought that was pretty cool. I also suggested she could add more flowers or a sunshine, so she added her trademark smiley sun (yellow for the face and rays, red for the features).

At one point Annalie even threw in some math without any prompting from me, counting how many colors she’d already done, and how many more she had left, and adding them up (”Four colors done, three left to do…that makes seven! Four plus three is seven!”) to figure out how many colors she was using altogether. She has been surprising us more and more lately by adding numbers up in her head, so I’ve been doing my best to encourage it. I keep telling her that since her daddy is really good at math, and I’m pretty good at math too, she will probably be a math whiz. Take THAT, Barbie!

p.s. I have so many photos from the past few days I need to edit and upload, but I’ve been busy lately working on the 2009-2010 edition of the calendar we give our moms and Annalie’s godparents for Mother’s Day every year. You can see the 2008-2009 version on Flickr, if you’re curious. I hope to catch up on my photos soon, now that the calendar is done and ordered, using my new MacBook Pro (on which I’m typing right now) for most of that editing! That sound you heard was all my Mac-loving friends cheering.