26 March 2008

seems appropriate to quote louis armstrong...

the drive has been made
the biggest tantrum ever has been thrown
the most fast food i ever want to eat has been digested
(ugh)
the hotel room is paid for
the photos have been taken
the project is well under way

the boys are at the pool
the girlie is napping
the laptop is on
the wireless is working
the curtain is open
the snow is falling
the river is rolling

& i think to myself
what a wonderful world....

see you soon...
:)

ps
we will have a little bloggie post birthday celebration
for miss m when i get home
& can muster the energy to go through the pictures
& let me tell you
it will be good...
i have a picture that will go down in the Q files
until the end of time
loosely titled
'why couldn't i be an only child?'

pps
those glasses on the last post are from value village
they are not my grandma's glasses
nor are they mine
mine were red
thank you very much, jmb mommy...
& i will be holding off on pictures of those
until
hmmm
forever
maybe longer...

22 March 2008

grandma! what big eyes you have!

a new one for the Q files...
'whoa! i almost fell down! you know
sometimes in the morning my bones are
kinda tricky underneath my skin'
:)

i'll be away from the computer for a few days...
have a tricky week:)

happy easter
find those eggs!

:)

18 March 2008

pack pack




last friday i got to go see my friend jessica
(finally!)
& after we had a yummy lunch
the preschoolers played in the bedroom
the toddlers wandered & talked the language only they can truly understand
& the moms worked on projects
it was so fun!
jessica was working on binding a sweet blankie
(i hope you show it on your blog!)
& i was stitching on a little project that
Q & i started last week...

he has mentioned a few times that he wanted a bag
& then he started saying he wanted a purse
& so naturally i made him a back pack...

one of my favorite blogs is angry chicken
& last year she made this dress for her daughter...
her daughter drew a picture & then she stitched it onto a dress
go look at it really
it is so darn cute
but come back
i still have a few things to tell you...
okay...
see?
isn't it so great?
also i listen to this great blog called craft sanity
& the hostess, jennifer ackerman haywood
was interviewing someone who has a white table cloth that she
sets the table with every time she has guests
& has them sign their name on it
& then she stitches over the signatures
how cool is that?
a table cloth full of your friends & families names?
i love that!
anyway
those two projects have been
wandering around the playground of my mind for a little while
& finally they met up
& said
'hey! you're fun!'
'thanks! you're cute!'
'let's hang out together & help emily design a back pack for Q'
'but i want to go down the slide'
'don't be selfish! she needs us'
'well, okay, but then can we go down the slide?'
'sure'

on craft sanity the lady suggested either extra-fine tipped sharpie or disappearing ink
for the writing
but fine tipped sharpie?
on fabric?
for a three year old?
i don't think so
i'm not sure if i could write on fabric with a fine tipped sharpie
& i am a fine tipped sharpie afficianatto
& disappearing ink was out too
have i mentioned how i am late to everything?
& i did not want to miss that party.
so regular fine tipped sharpie it was
& it worked great!
he was super cute writing his name
& then a trillion faces
& choosing which faces to use was so hard too!
so i have a few left over
maybe they will be christmas ornaments?
or little change purses?
or patches for my jean jacket!
yes!
if only i had a jean jacket...

i was a little worried that
the sharpie would be so thick that
i would be stitching over it until
he was in first grade
(just in time for the first day of school!)
but it was fine
even when i started off with a fun grass green thread
& stitched his whole name
& then decided that it was too light
& then ripped it all out
& restitched it in black
even then...

as i was finishing brian said
'you know who else is going to want one of those?'
& so a pinkie was born too
no drawing on this one
& just a bit of stitching...
still fun for my favorite girl:)


anyway the directions & pattern i used
are down there below the smiley face
if you're feeling stitchie yourself...

bonus!
i actually let them wear them
outside even
& i didn't even yell
'stop moving around
you're going to break it!'
sometimes when you make stuff for your kids
you actually have to give it to them
& let them use it...
sometimes.
this advice goes with my party advice
just in case you're keeping track...

& check out this little sweetie
on the blue foam catwalk...

okay
so on to the next project!
don't worry i will tell you all about it
as soon as i decide what it is...

:)


so yeah
there's no pattern
i just always think it's nice when people include the pattern...
but i'm not a pattern person
surprise!
directions are not my strong suit
you might say...
when i try to use a pattern
i just end up so confused
& annoyed
& yelling
'screw it!'
& that's not really something i want to yell while
crafting
unless i'm woodworking
then i take great joy in yelling
'screw it'
the whole time...

i'm sure there are directions all about the internet
on how to make a back pack
(or 'pack pack' as both of my children refer to them)
go forth & search...

:)

15 March 2008

because it was there...

Q's school has this thing called
parent's time out...
it's one morning a week
& you can take your kids
& then go do errands
or grocery shop
or help feed the homeless
or go back home & sleep...
the room they use is a huge gymnasium type place
& they have lots of trikes & little cars
& plenty of room to run around like crazy
& that is exactly what my kids do
they L-O-V-E love it...

recently i have been estate sale jonesing
no, not the jones' estate sale
just really wanting to go to one...
back before i had my kiddos
(que the waynes world 'deedly doo deedly doo'
flashback music)
i would look through the classifieds every friday
& sometimes thursday
& sometimes monday
okay every day i would look through the classifieds
especially at the estate sale section...
you see for a while i had a greeting card business
& i had a rep who sold my cards up
& down the west coast
& in colorado
& one time in new york
(thus ends the bragging part of this section
but don't worry there's more in the next section...)
one of the lines that i made
were cards with old black & white pictures on them
& then the were decorated with
old fabric & buttons & vintage ephemera
(i love that word)
so you see i had to go to these estate sales
i had to
it was my job...

so every year in the spring time
the jonesing starts
(i do know what that means
by the way
& i know that it refers to drugs
& let me state for the record that
i do not take drugs
& i never have
(in this decade)
unless watching gilmore girls is considered a drug
then i admit
i have a problem)

so last week
i opened the paper
i looked
i saw
i dropped those kids off so fast
that they were spinning...
& i made my way to a cute little house downtown
& i walked in
& suddenly i was in heaven
it was pretty amazing
God was there & he said
'look, em, there's piles of vintage linens
& vintage aprons
& vintage fabric
& vintage books
& vintage christmas decorations'
(do you get the picture?
everything was vintage)
honestly
it was exactly what you want in an estate sale
piles of great stuff
& a full basement with two big rooms
full of vintage stuff
& two small rooms
full of vintages stuff
& upstairs?
& in the garage?
& in the woodshop?
you guessed it
FULL!

as i was browsing
(read: drooling)
i heard my name & i turned to see
one of my favorite mother-in-laws
now don't go starting any rumors
i personally only have one mother-in-law
but my friend's mother-in-law's
are numerous
& some of them are even wonderful
including this one
who i have seen at other sales
(hi sue!)
she scored a box of old highlights magazines
for her granddaughter
(see? a good grandma that one)
& also some linens
because she makes
the cutest tea pot cozies this side of everywhere...

anyway
i got some great stuff
wanna see?
okay okay...
geez
i see you have been jonesing too...

the whole pile...

the sweet aprons...
cute tulip pocket on one of the aprons...total sucker for scallops...
(not the onions
or are those scallions?
so confusing)

& who doesn't need wrapping paper
of little girls performing domestic duties?
i'm going to frame it
& put it up in miss m's room
& say
this is what lies in your future, dear
are you sure you want to grow up?
kidding...
you can be whatever you want to be, miss m!
but you still have to do laundry!
unless you hire someone else to do it for you...
why didn't i think of that?

there are a few other things
but i'm going to save them for a future post
when the jones starts again
(okay!
no more jones talk!)

plus i'm working on a little project
for the Q man & his sister...
more to come...

have a great day
& just say no!

:)

06 March 2008

tips from your friend...the wildlife photographer...


you do not even want to hear the sound i had to make
in order to get this picture...
both kids smiling?
real live smiles?
impossible!
not if you make the sound of
a hyena getting his tail stuck in a blender
nope
make that noise
or something similar
& you will get shots like that
or like this

do something silly like
say
'hey guys look at me!
look over here & say cheese!
over here
hey guys
smile'
& you will get a picture like this...

just some photo tips
from me to you...

:)