Lego, sewing, water balloons

• Today is the last day of Armchair BEA. I'm enjoying the posts but finding I'm not passionate enough about the daily topics to blog myself.
• So instead I blogged about the Lego table we built yesterday.
• I just bought wire and beads for a little jewelry making experiment. I need more hobbies.
• I did a little sewing this week. I made myself a brand new summer bag. The inside is the same plaid as the letters. It's a knock off of this Old Navy one. I even have grommets, but I have decided not to put them on.
• Then I made the Princess a little bubble skirt. I wish I'd done the bottom layer slightly shorter. I also wish I had the patience to take her someplace clean and nice to take decent pictures. Also, she struggles with tank tops like this, takes her arms out all the time.
• And last, I made a banner. This one is really terrific, the dots made great lettering. I see now that I should have ironed that before taking pictures. The pink part would have looked so much better ironed. (ditto that bit about pictures.)
• I really miss sewing. I wish I had space to leave it all out full time. I'd love to finish the Princess's quilt before she turns two, plus the I-Spy I started years ago before they outgrow the idea.
• Yesterday I spent 30 minutes at the sink filling water balloons while the boys ran them outside one at a time. I see more of that in my future.

What I read this week:

• 
  The Standby Stephen King. I'm way behind in the Standalong, but I'm having a lot of fun taking the book on it's own private Instagram tour. I decided that add to Trish's fun by making it another summer project.
• 
  Key of Knowledgeby Nora Roberts. Book two in the trilogy. I like this one more than book one.
• 
  The Last Boyfriend (Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy, Book 2)by Nora Roberts. I read this one in one sitting last night, more or less. I have some things to say about it, so I might have to write an actual book review.

The Standalong

My very favorite insane blogger Trish is hosting a read-a-long of Stephen King's The Stand. It starts on June 1st and we have two months to read the entire behemoth of a book.  I am really still debating if I want to do this at all (I have already read The Stand, but it was literally half a life ago), but I love Trish and she's nothing if not infectious (and as I type this, I have pinkeye, so I KNOW infectious!) so I'm signing up.  I checked out a copy from my library (same copy Trish has) and it clocks in at a massive 1153 pages and 4 lbs (yes, I weighed it.)  Trish asked that we answer a few get-to-know-you questions before we join, so here goes:

1. What makes you want to read The Stand? Trish does!

2. Describe your preconceived notions of The Stand. Well, I've already read it, so I have a vague memory of the plot and a clear memory of how much it scared the pants off me.

3. What was the last scary(ish) book you read or movie you saw? I don't watch scary movies. The last one I saw was The Ring, well before I had kids.  I read A Monster Calls, which some people find scary, and you can see my thoughts here.

4. Which version of the book will you be reading from? My copy is a massive hardcover from the library, the uncut version. The cover is similar to the on in the picture above, but with a big red band marking it as uncut. It looks like it only gets checked out once or twice a year, so with any luck I will make it all the way to the end of July before I have to return it.

5. What are you previous experiences with Stephen King? In high school and college I was a big fan of King. I read quite a few of his books (The Shining, Cujo, Christine, Firestarter, The Stand, It, possibly more) but the last one I read was The Tommyknockers, which I really disliked. I moved on to Dean Koontz after that, and then stopped reading anything scary at all.

6. Anything else you'd like to add (bonus points for being extra random). This is my first readalong, so hopefully I won't bail on it, but I refuse to feel guilty if I don't make it to the end.  Also, I think Trish will owe me a pack of post it notes by the time I finish marking off where I should be (roughly) at any given date.