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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Hair Cut!

Today we finally did it. Off with her hair! 12 inches for Locks of Love...

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Before
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After
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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Warning: Poetry Ahead

Disclaimer: Poetry geek here. So if you choose to read this blog, you might get some on you. You have been warned. (Not that I am a good poet or knowledgeable in any real way about the poets I like. The right words just make me breathe better. So who can fight that?)
It is my birthday and that means I get what I want, right? And I am in the mood for ee cummings poetry. Here are a couple favorites. I once made a big clunky tea set carved all over with his poetry. I still have it and maybe I will post pictures of it sometime. I love the set because it was one of the first cool things I completed in pottery. But it doesn’t do too well as a serving set. The teapot weighs like 100 pounds. Oh well, on with the poems...


may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile



And another

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis



I have to admit that I have always had a secret romantic desire to have a scruffy, rugged, heroic figure say to me and a deep gruff voice..."lady, I swear by all flowers". Cheesy, yes? But my fantasy all the same. This is why I should write romance novels.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Pumpkins

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Fearing the pumpkin goop horror that marred halloween perfection last year, I bought some white mini pumpkins at the store (for two dollars!) We had a blast decorating them with paper doll accessories, cloth and google eyes. Shhhh.... don’t tell the kids, but I DO have a favorite one. It is my son’s “magical trevor” pumpkin. He didn’t set out to recreate magical trevor in gourd form, he is only three. Don’t know magical trevor? Here. Happy Halloween!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Paper Clay Mask

Here is what I am doing for the mask for my son’s Halloween costume. He wants to be the blue spirit from Avatar: the Last Airbender. I have shaped the mask in paperclay and let it dry. Next I will paint it to match the colors as best as I can guess by pics printed from the web.

Picture:

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Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Feeling Sentimental

I moved a lot in my youth. I have lived in my current lair for almost ten years now and before that I had over 32 addresses that I can recall. Since I am 33 now, that is really a lot of doormats. The “home” in my dreams is always my grandparent’s house. Since their old home is now someone’s new home, I will not post a picture of it here, as that would be strange. But I am thinking of it now, fondly and maybe even with a few tears.

A year ago today my grandmother died. I am not sad in “it’s unfair” sense, as she lived a long life, she would never have been ready to go, and she had a multitude of love and respect showered upon her throughout her life. May we all live the love story she did. However, I am sad in the typical loss of something sense. I miss my grandparents, their home, the times spent there with my close knit extended family (that has drifted apart somewhat with the end of that era). Death is always a chasm and question, with or without faith. Death, the passing of time and the changes they bring - good or bad, these things propel our life but sometimes give us vertigo. There is no going backward, but there are memories.

Here is my grandma’s favorite song. I have a recording of her singing it and it isn’t half bad, but can’t figure out how to embed an mp3 file here.




And here they are. Aren’t they perfect?

Wedding Day
wedding

The Artist
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Later
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Friday, September 28, 2007

Dollhouse Update

A friend asked me how my fairy dollhouse is coming along. Well, not so well. I think the fairies are impatient and come in and trash the joint at night. I have found that I LOVE decorating dollhouses and making the little stuff that goes in them, but I HATE building them.

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At this rate, maybe it will be done by this time next year.

Monday, September 3, 2007

How sometimes things don't happen as planned, but end up okay anyways.

Here instead of pictures of my girl’s clever birthday invitations that I was starting to work on, followed by pictures of an awesome cake and party, in the “magic” theme that was the choice for the year. I present these...

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My son in a “cage bed” at the hospital. Just the fact that I am taking time for a scrapbook moment is an indicator that at that point, all was well. It was scary for a bit and then fine. He bumped his head last Tuesday. Seemed fine. Woke up late Wednesday throwing up and lethargic. Frenzied ER visit with talk of airlifting, spinal taps, low low blood sugar and pressure, the works. Perked up after awhile and admitted him overnight to watch his progress. Prognosis was a closed head injury and dehydration from all the vomiting. Lasted three days between hospital stay and recovery day at home. So between that and my looming freelancing deadlines, the party is postponed until next weekend and the invites will be by phone. It works. Just come and eat cake, okay?

Grateful to have my boy home healthy and happy, but feeling out of sorts for the lack of birthday zeal. I offer last year’s bragging points as a runner’s up sort of crafty post. Last year I made the girls all little princess robes and sashes, and boys wizard robes. The hats here were purchased. Invites done in photoshop with a very willing model. This year we made cool wands and that was as far as we got. I will include pics and a link with the actual birthday post.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Crafty Fun

Arts and crafts: Painting wood shapes and the $5 dollhouse.

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Math fun: Building with the shapes and manipulatives after doing our lesson in Rightstart Math. Love that program!

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Saturday, August 25, 2007

It's the tiny moments that count...

When we look back in the past the moments that jump out at us are just that... moments. Small, potent bits of time in an otherwise hurried, stressful and micromanaged lifetime. Remember the time you rocked your sick baby all night long just to make sure he stayed breathing? It doesn't come to mind in all of it's dry-mouthed, sleeping-limbed, glory - it is the memory of kissing his warm cheek, just the two of you in the silent world of 3am that stands out.

I think we can harness these small morsels of life and change the world. Call me a dreamer. But I am a creative dreamer at least. Plus, I get a lot done and don't thrive on stress. If creating something does it for me, then maybe it can help some other people too. I have found many inspiring sites that have helped me to pull all my endeavors together into this blog project, and I will share the links to those throughout the blog. Though my biggest personal time sapper is the internet so I have had to learn when to stop browsing and start making my own stuff.

Along with making stuff, I sell stuff and give stuff. I don't like to clog the home with too much as my family and I tend to get cranky when closed in. I have found that if I let go of my creations I am a happier person and sometimes my pocketbook is a bit happier too. I personally believe it is part of the process, this creating and letting go. Like releasing the creative energy into the universe or something heady like that.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Clay Pictures

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Here is what I have been working on lately. I did the first for the Windows of Our Lives Project for downtown. Not only did it sell, but I got a commission for the second pic on here. Yay! Thank you Art League. I am happy, happy, happy. I love getting money for art stuff. 12/12 Update: Now my daughter’s piano teacher wants to barter for lessons for two more pictures. Fun!

Friday, August 3, 2007

A Walk in the Park

Lately we’ve taken to daily walks in the park. It is as good for the spirit as it is for the body. How I love living here.

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

First Tooth

First tooth sorrow. “I put a lot of love in that tooth,” she said with tears running down her face. So we quickly wrote a note to the toothfairy to see if she wouldn’t mind just checking out the tooth but leaving it behind. (Which is so weird because I kept all my teeth when I was a kid too, but never told girl this. Sappiness runs in the family.) We put it in the cool toothfairy house that we got from the Toymaker . (Awesome site, by the way - prepare to spend many hours there.) We had it pimped out with a pillow, blanket and tooth-bag, so it was like a little toothfairy harem tent. Toothfairy must have liked it because she left a deluxe craft scissor set. She’s upgraded since I was a kid.

Inspection
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Comfort from daddy
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Toothfairy Harem Tent (let's see the hits I get from that phrase)
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Saturday, June 9, 2007

First Recital

“At first I was nervous but when I got out there it was a dream come true. I have waited my whole life to be on a stage in front of all those people.” - quote from my daughter. Should I put her in karate next year, or what?

Nah, she was too cute. We even got some intermission drama with one of her peers locking herself inside a locker backstage. I figured it wasn’t my girl, she’s a rule follower. If the boy had been back there however - not only would he have crawled inside one, he would have convinced the rest of the crew to follow his lead.

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Friday, June 1, 2007

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Cheap kid library shelves

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When the kids were smaller we used a small bedroom to contain their toys. There was either room for a bookshelf or floor space but we needed something to do with their books. When visiting a local elementary school library we found this awesome solution. Plastic rain gutters. They aren’t the sturdiest thing in the world, but secure pretty well to the wall by putting screws through the brackets that are supposed to hook them to the roof, and then some screws through the back of the gutter for good measure. You can’t overload the shelves and the kids can’t use them to pull themselves up. (This results in a faceful of books, trust us.) But it displays the books well and holds a decent amount.

Friday, April 20, 2007

What do dress-up clothes and toilets have in common?

Awesome organizational accessories...

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We had the most difficult time trying to tame the overgrown masses of dress up clothing that my daughter NEEDS. For years we’ve tried hooks on doors, walls, small hang up shelving. Nothing worked well. My mom asked me if I wanted an extra bathroom organizer that goes over a toilet the other day and it got my mind spinning. So we grabbed it, (YES, we washed it well), and then added a clothing bar below the bottom shelf. Voila! Dress clothes organizer - with shelving. Thanks mom!

Friday, March 23, 2007

A simple story of a girl that loves a boy.

Eight years ago my husband and I stood in this house surrounded by a few wedding crashers (planned on only a few people but got possibly 50). Fun was had by all. People brought gifts and food! Who knew? And it has been sort of sappy, fairytale-ish ever since. Seriously. We just really like each other.

Here is a poem in honor of my love. Feel free to gag and leave now, if you stay - don’t say you weren’t warned. I didn’t know my husband when I wrote this, but I wrote it for him anyway. It is one of the ways I recognized him when we met. I knew I was talking to him here.

and I think you could
know to help me (lazily)
name the little white
flowers that lay
scattered; with joy
(under trees) with moss
carpet and small
unkissable frogs

child, and can hold
me there (and here)
soft, maybe like
the moss (unkissable)
but for me I find
your lips most (tiny
turned up corners)
flowers (kissable) and wine


And here he is. What is not to love here? Happy Anniversary my love!
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Thursday, March 1, 2007

Happy Birthday Dad!

Here is a long distance birthday card! My kids love using iMovie and photobooth to ham it up and gave me perfect material for this:



Hope your year is the best one ever. We love you dad!