Look at the Way We Gotta Hide What We're Doin'

My mini-swap was received a few weeks ago, but due to postal difficulties we still haven't received ours.

Oh well. Sometimes that's the way life goes.

In any case, I want to share what I made.

(And feel free to oooohhhhhh and aaaaahhhhh. Okay?)

My swap partner, Malene, lives in Denmark and has three kids (two girls, one boy). For the two girls I made....

gray puppy with purple flair

white puppy with pink flair

... puppies (made with this free pattern from allsorts, enlarged 200% and using a half-inch seam allowance) stuffed with natural cotton and wool-felt eyes. The fabric brooches are on pinned onto felt collars, which have velcro for easy removal.

For her son I made...

... a little artist case (free pattern from Craft Apple) with orange interior (shown) and a psychedelic dinosaur print on the exterior (hmmm, I didn't get a good shot of that; damn!) (the same dinosaur print from Griffin's birthday blanket).

I also sent along...


... some thrifted books, American candies, a few little other goodies and...


... a magazine, some chocolate and a tissue holder for Malene.

(Holy crap, y'all. Did you see that I made softies? SOFTIES. I am so fucking impressed with myself, YOU HAVE NO CLUE.)

My Friends Are Just as Screwy as Me

Happy Nerd Day!

Okay, it's not Nerd Day but it is Pi Day.

π = 3.14159

Today is March 14th. Get it? GET IT?!

And it is also Albert Einstein's birthday. You can't get more serendipitous than that.

And the Backyardigans are singing their love of pie on Nickelodeon right now. (Pie. Pi. Get it? GET IT?!)

Oh, my nerdiness is never ending. ::sigh::

In other fantastically nerdy news, I concluded yesterday that Griffin will have to be re-evaluated for his sensory issues and possibly be screened for autism. Fun, fun.

Yesterday was parent conference day at Griffin's preschool. Granted, his teachers love him and only had glowing things to say. But I could tell by what they were not saying that Griffin is still delayed beyond a point of "normalcy" (starting to really fucking hate that word) and with Griffin starting kindergarten in August he's going to have a lot of difficulty with the rigid time structure and what's expected at him.

Of course, growling at the other students doesn't help either.

So in order to get Griffin the best education possible, he needs a diagnosis before he starts school (and with an IEP if needed). Because the last thing I'm going to do is knowingly send him to school without any help.

Being a parent rocks!

(Meh. Notsomuch.)

Edited to add: Griffin was diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder and "borderline" autism in the autumn of 2005, he needs re-evaluation before beginning kindergarten so he can have an IEP if needed. You can read more about our sensory adventures here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

And can I just say? Keeping this blog rocks. It's like a medial handbook for my family. Geesh.

She Said Babe You Know I Miss Jill and Joe and All My Funky Friends

What is it with spring time that makes me get sick?

I'm blaming daylight savings time for this.

crocus

My one, lone flower in the garden. ::sigh:: At least I know more flowers are on the way.

Despite not feeling well, I spent two hours outside working yesterday and I'm itching to get back out there today. Unfortunately, Aaron wasn't all that keen on getting me a porta-potty for illness emergencies.

He ruins all my fun.

Well Maybe I'm a Little Bit Slow, or Just Consistently Inconsistent

The time change is seriously kicking my ass y'all. Seriously.

And could someone please explain to me how the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (where it was decided that we would change our clocks in early March instead of early April, and back again in early November instead of mid October in the autumn) really benefits us in conserving energy? Because really, all it is doing is Kicking My Ass.

KICKING MY ASS.

Gah.

You know what else is kicking my ass?

Wordpress.

Wordpress is totally kicking my ass.

I've spent over 20 hours this weekend working on my recipe site and honestly? You cannot tell a difference. Oh, stuff is in there (no new recipes though) but I can't figure the shit out.

Back in the late 90s I knew all sorts of code, I built all kinds of different websites. Now I don't know jack and apparently I don't have the patience to sit down and read, read, read. Well, I'm sure I actually have the patience, just not the uninterrupted time to do so. Grrrrrr...

(Anyone have some easy-peasey tips for me? Anyone?)

Another ass-kicker (yes! another one!) -- I cannot find a place to order my curtain fabric. It is the Windham Vintage Euro Nursery Garden. Gah. Help me! Help me! (I keep spelling "hemp me! hemp me!" Do you think that means something?)

Aside from all the ass-kicking the Universe has bestowed upon me this weekend, we actually did have a fairly productive weekend.

If you count the greenhouse still standing "fairly productive."

Ahem.

Saturday the whole family spent the day outside. The boys played, Aaron worked on clearing out the dilapidated shed (yes, because everything in our yard that is not nature can be classified as "dilapidated") and I worked on the garden.

While clearing out the shed, which has broken doors and hasn't been opened for about six years, Aaron found a mama mouse and five baby mice.

Aaron freaked, Griffin freaked and Darwin was oblivious. The mama mouse ran off with one baby attached to her and abandoned the other four. We managed to find three of them and (using gloves) put them in a saucer so we could catch the mama.

Aaron wanted to kill them all, which I talked him out of (proud of me Kim?) since they were not in the house. I told Aaron we could just relocate them.

When we went to catch the mama and the last baby, the mama ran off abandoning that babe too.


The poor babies couldn't walk or open their eyes. They breathed really heavily and squeaked, hoping their mom would find them.

Griffin found the whole thing to be Very Traumatic. At first, he wanted us to keep the mama and all the babes as pets and was very upset that we said no. Then he was beside himself with worry that the mama abandoned her babies and never returned for them (we even saw where she scurried off to and placed the babies over in her area).

He was just beside himself with she's not a good mama and you'd never abandon me and Darwin and you're a good mommy, Mommy and why isn't she taking care of her babies Mommy? and you always take care of your babies Mommy.

This turned out the be The Topic Of Conversation All Weekend. Griffin just could not wrap his mind around the mama mouse leaving her babies. By Sunday morning the babies were still abandoned, but we didn't tell Griffin. ::sigh:: How do you explain such a thing to a child? That a mom was willing to abandon her babes?

In any case, the babes are there anymore (we have at least five neighborhood cats), all the pottery is out of greenhouse and into the shed and it was a very eventful, productive weekend.

And it is still kicking my ass.

They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab, I Said No, No, No

Must. Sew.

Really, I'm pinning all my hopes and dreams on this weekend. I want to tear down the greenhouse (well, not me but Aaron), I want to sew, I want to scrapbook, I want to drastically update my recipe site. ::sigh:: There's never enough time in a weekend, is there?

vintage buttons purchased off ebay ::drool::

Anyone know a good place to get some awesome buttons. Anyone? Anyone? ::sigh::

It's all like crack, running around to get my next fix of awesome fabric, buttons, paper. ::sigh::

Is there a crafting rehab anywhere? Are massages included? Will they give me hours of uninterrupted crafting time?

You Can Breathe... You Can Breathe Now...

Signs spring is on the way...

surprise lilies

alliums

tulips

daffodils (narcissus)

freshly planted nemesia ("angelart fruit punch")

asthma inhaler

'Round and 'Round and 'Round it Goes, Where it Stops Nobody Knows

When picking Griffin up from preschool yesterday...

"Griffin has the sharing bag today."

"Oh, great! What's the topic?"

"The instructions are in there, it's sharing something his whole family likes to do together."

"Oh. Um, you should be pre-warned. Griffin may bring legos."

"No, something the whole family likes to do together."

"Yeah, Griffin will probably want to bring legos."

"It's something The Whole Family Likes To Do Together."

"Yeah, Griffin may want to bring legos."

"Some. Thing. The. Whole. Family. Likes. To. Do. To. Get. Her."

"Yeah. Griffin will probably want to bring legos."

Anything You Want - We Can Make it Happen

We had a beautiful day outside yesterday.


Which, of course, caused Griffin to call me "the! worstest! mommy! ever!" because I made him pick up his rock collection, which has be sprinkled all over the patio the past few months.

I know. I'm so horrible.

I also managed to re-stake all my peonies and put cages around the daffodils (some genius that lived here before us put a bunch of daffodils in the grass, which is of course right by the children's play area, and I'm tired of the boys "accidentally" stomping on the all the time).

I also moved all the glass that I could easily reach away from the greenhouse, as well as some pottery (no, I didn't step foot in there, I reached in where the glass use to be) (and I used my leather gardening gloves)...


... is it just me or is it leaning a few more degrees?

Is anyone interested in a couple of magazines (or two people interested in one magazine each)?

I have the March issue of Domino (the green-living issue) and the March issue of Romantic Homes (which featured Alicia's home).


I have even managed to not tear out any pages of the magazines. Be amazed! Be amazed of my phenomenal lack-of-ripping skills!

I'll send the magazines to whomever wants them (first to say in the comment that they want them, gets them), as long as they promise to rub them against their naked bodies and tell me how good it was. Mkay?

It Took All the Strength I Had Not to Fall Apart

Oh. My. Goddess.

The horror! The horror!

I have been unable to post for four days. Four. Mother. Fucking. Days.

But it's back. It's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

::breathe:: ::breathe::

And now, Friday's post that has been waiting for 101 hours to be posted....

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You remember how yesterday I was talking about our crazy weather? Seventies on Wednesday, storms, hail, tornadoes that night and snow yesterday?

Remember back a few weeks ago and I said that one of the major things I wanted to accomplish this year was to tear down our dilapidated greenhouse?

Well...


... turns out the universe thinks that's a really good idea. I'm surprised it's still standing.

Of course, I'm overly giddy that this is happening. Aaron has been fighting me tooth and nail over tearing it down, despite knowing that if we wanted to fix it we'd still have to tear it down. Seven years ago, when we bought our home, I said the floor in there needed work. Did he listen?

Ha. That's a silly question, now isn't it?

Now, my biggest concern is of it actually falling and smooshing some plants. It's perfectly aligned to smash into some irises and the sage plant, and possibly a rose bush. And I'd really rather not lose all the pottery that's in the greenhouse, but I'm more concerned about the plants.

But if you think I'm stepping one foot in there you'd be batshit crazy. No chance. Nuh-uh. No way.

My universal karma has always been crap. Which is deal-able. I've just learned not to test the limits. Like, walking into a falling greenhouse. No thanks.

In better news, I found some yummy fabric last weekend...


... that I think matches my house really well. It's got the khaki of my living room, the red of the armoire, the brown of the couch, the sage of the entry room and black.

I need to make new valances for the entry room to replace the old ones that no longer match.


But, does that look a little like under the big top? Because even though my home is a circus, doesn't mean I want to decorate like it is.


And I definately think it will look great in the living room. And those curtains in there have got to go. I've been living with them for seven years with utter disgust. Way too heavy, way to formal and way not washable enough for my taste.

So, what do ya'll think?

{weekend lego love}

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Having the "publish" button work is like crack. Yummy, yummy crack. ::sigh::

Falling in Motion as Though I Had Wings

For the first time since The Stupid Fucking Foot Incident, I took the boys to the park yesterday.

And what's the very first thing that happened when I stepped out of the van?

I stepped on a stick.

::shaking fists in air::

Before we left, I grabbed some sage from the back yard.


And I burned it in the parking lot where I broke my foot. You know, to cleanse the park.

IT HAD BETTER WORK.

The boys had a great time...


... it was 70 degrees, sunny and warm...


... and last night we had hail, floods and tornadoes. And now it's snowing.

Kansas. Geesh.