Embellish Life

Why I Don't Blog Any More

2011-09-01T21:50:00.002-04:00

Yeah, if you have been following this blog for a while, you've probably noticed that it is dead. It has passed on. It has ceased to be. If it wasn't nailed to its perch, it would be pushing up the daisies.

Anyway, here's why.

Numero Uno. It's 2011, and I am on the Facebook. That's actually a much easier way to share photos, hilarious kid stories, and the many profound thoughts I have on an almost hourly basis. It takes me like 10 seconds to update my FB status, even with our ultra slow internet. It used to take me 45 minutes to an hour to write a blog post, especially when Blogger didn't want me sharing pictures.

And in truth, if you look at my blogroll over on the side there, you'll notice that I'm not the only one who's stopped blogging. So I'm not going to feel guilty about it. If you haven't already, friend me on Facebook - I promise I'll make you laugh.

Numero Dos. My friend and I kind of started a business, and it takes up almost all of my time. (In a good way.) A lot of my other hobbies like scrapbooking, writing, *cough*cleaningmyhouse*cough* have taken a backseat. And I am truly okay with that - as weird as it sounds, I think that creating and selling upscale American Girl doll clothes is what I need to be doing at this time in my life.

I actually started learning how to sew the same summer I commenced this blog. Funny how the one has now eclipsed the other - back in 2006, I'd never have guessed.

Why I Don't Blog Any More

2011-09-01T21:49:00.000-04:00

Yeah, if you have been following this blog for a while, you've probably noticed that it is dead. It has passed on. It has ceased to be. If it wasn't nailed to its perch, it would be pushing up the daisies.

Anyway, here's why.

Numero Uno. It's 2011, and I am on the Facebook. That's actually a much easier way to share photos, hilarious kid stories, and the many profound thoughts I have on an almost hourly basis. It takes me like 10 seconds to update my FB status, even with our ultra slow internet. It used to take me 45 minutes to an hour to write a blog post, especially when Blogger didn't want me sharing pictures.

Numero Dos. My friend and I kind of started a business, and it takes up almost all of my time. (In a good way.) A lot of my other hobbies like scrapbooking, writing, *cough*cleaningmyhouse*cough* have taken a backseat. And I am truly okay with that - as weird as it sounds, I think that creating and selling upscale American Girl doll clothes is what I need to be doing at this time in my life.

I actually started learning how to sew the same summer I commenced this blog. Funny how the one has now eclipsed the other - back in 2006, I'd never have guessed.

...No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

2011-01-09T21:58:00.007-05:00

I. Had bronchitis all November. Spent time alternately coughing/sleeping/begging for death. Got over it.

II. Thanksgiving. Kevin & Celeste, Catherine & Matt, Mike & Mandy & Associates. There was much turkey; also, football.

III. Met up for realsies with my internet friend Meg - my psychic twin in many ways, except that she works for Duke.

IV. Turned 31. Got $ for fabric (Matt's parents) and a ruffle foot (Matt). Ruffle foot has been removed from packaging; that's about it.

V. Finished epic custom order of American Girl sewing. V. proud of self.

VI. Betsy's 8th birthday.

VII. Matt's parents arrived for 12 day visit. Used them almost immediately for free babysitting: Matt and I had 10th anniversary. Went to Macaroni Grill for dinner; got free dessert upon showing waitress pics of our wedding lunch at (different) Macaroni Grill.

VIII. Betsy's 8th birthday party. Collective noun for a group of 8 year old girl: a squee.

IX. Molly and Dad came out for Betsy's baptism. Saw 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' with Molls. Epic.

X. Betsy's baptism. Cutest girl ever. Could not be prouder.

XI. Many cookies prepared; consumed.

XII. Snow.

XIII. Christmas Eve 'All the snacks in the world' at Mike & Mandy's house. There was goat cheese, and then there wasn't because I ate it all.

XIV. Christmas Day. Many photos taken. Kids love toys.

XV. Saw 'Wicked' with Matt on Christmas Night. Wore foxy new clothes from husband. 'Popular' stuck in head for approx. 72 hrs.

XVI. In-laws back to Utah.

XVII. Watched HBO's 'The Pacific.' First half = bleh; second half = almost as good as BoB.

XVIII. New Year's Eve: cheese fondue, Jurassic Park (Porter's new obsession). Not resolutions, but goals:

Sew one thing for ME a month;
Get Amy potty trained;
Find a job.

XIV. Happy 2011!

Home again

2010-11-06T09:40:00.009-04:00

We've been home from Disney World for a week. Actually, more than a week - we got in on Friday night (the Friday before the Halloween that we ignored). What I've been doing since then is, mainly, laundry. Despite the cuteness of my blog header, I actually fully despise laundry. I hate it so much that I once created a scrapbook page about how much I hate laundry... and then had that scrapbook page published. And the absolute worst thing about a vacation is that it requires about 693 loads of laundry. See, before you leave, you have to wash Everything. Then pack it into suitcases. Then when you get home you have to get it OUT of the suitcases again (and the suitcases now smell like stinky laundry - thank goodness for Febreze) and sort it and wash it all AGAIN. And, mind you, even a three day vacation is responsible for creating this phenomenon... and we were gone for a full week.

(Interestingly, the same thing applies with cleaning out the car. You have to clean and vacuum and Febreze the whole car before you leave... and then again after you get home, because the van is full of lost Cheerios and dried up french fries and empty water bottles and lost raisins and tiny Legos and all the marker caps that I would have liked to have found BEFORE the markers in question all dried up, but whatever. And the van is starting to acquite a distinct 'odor' now that it's approaching 90,000 miles. Fortunately, my dear husband has graciously put himself in charge of car cleaning and de-stinking, as it's sort of an extension of automotive maintenance. If you stand on your head, and squint.)

Another one of the tasks following any vacation, but especially 6 days in Disney World, is dealing with all the photos. Now, digital is a boon for a lot of reasons, but I swear our computer is so slow, it almost takes as long to get the USB port to realize there is something plugged into it, as it did to drop off film (remember film?) and wait a week and pick up your photos. I blame Windows Vista. But we do have a lot of photos - I took 257, which actually didn't feel like that much spread out over 6 days (well, 5 1/2 days really) crammed into the park, and Matt took a lot of video. Although most of his video didn't count because his camera was somehow turned on in his pocket and recorded for two and a half hours. And our video isn't terribly high quality. We do have a nice camera that we bought in 2003, so it shoots 8mm tapes, but Matt didn't want to bring that because it's complicated and takes up space. So for his birthday I found him the cheapest digital video camera ever - it was $25 at Big Lots - that he could stick in his shorts pocket and use on our trip. But when you buy a camera for $25, the resolution isn't terribly high. Still, we didn't have any video from our previous trip (in 2007, the one where I was pregnant with Amy and couldn't ride my favorite rides) so this was an improvement.

So anyway, the point to all this rambly, introductory-type stuff is: Look! Pictures! Yes, last time we went to Disney I wrote massively long posts detailing each and every one of our days in the park. I probably won't this time because a) you will get bored, and b) I just don't blog as much as I used to. There, I said it. I blame the fact that I learned how to sew and now I have more hobbies than I can conceivably make time for. But anyway: Look! Pictures!

(These won't be in any semblance of order, because Blogger always thoughtfully jumbles them around when uploading, and after 4 1/2 years of having a blog, I am sick of trying to fix it.)

Betsy's all time favorite ride: the Rock & Roller Coaster (Featuring Aerosmith). Yes, my first baby is big enough to ride on a ride that goes upside down. Sigh.

I just really like this picture. We were waiting for the Beauty & the Beast show and having a frozen pink lemonade (except Porter, who wouldn't drink it on the grounds that it was pink) and I think I had just gotten off the phone with Catherine. This was our first full day in the park and we were really living it up.

Family photo by the Muppets fountain. It's a family tradition, in the sense that I had a picture taken there (by myself) on my first trip to Disney when I was 17, so every time I've been back, I've had to repeat it. First with Matt (honeymoon), then with the 2 kids, now with all 3.

Also note that in the above picture, I am wearing my Route 66 skirt. I've mentioned before that every time I wear that skirt, I get a ton of comments on it. Interestingly enough, the same holds true even in Hollywood Studios, where there are a LOT of interesting things to look at - I still got comments on my skirt.

The queue for the new Toy Story ride was a really neat and detailed one - and we should know, we spent about an hour and a half in it. (Don't worry, that was our longest wait by far. Mostly, we used Fastpass.) The giant Candyland board made me realize that they have changed the Candyland board more than I realized since I was a kid. Ice cream floats?! I remember that!

Amy's first time on a roller coaster - she was JUST barely tall enough for the Barnstormer. (And remember what I said about the photos being out of order, because this was our first night in the park. When Matt was making our reservation, he figured out that for an extra $12 we could get a 6 day pass instead of 5, and we could do a few hours in the Magic Kingdom the day we arrived, provided we drove really fast through Georgia and Florida. Which we did, and we got to ride Winnie the Pooh before it got closed for renovations, and Splash Mountain, and we saw the night parade and fireworks and generally got our $12 worth.)

The kids coloring, at Epcot. Good thing we spent two days in the car to get there and two days back, because they certainly couldn't have stayed home and colored. I kid, I kid! I actually love that there are interactive/crafty things for them to do.

Fishy faces! The Nemo ride is always a favorite (unless you are someone with an irrational fear of aquariums. Luckily I don't know anyone like that.)

It just so happened that we were there during the Food and Wine Festival. Or just the Food Festival for us, since we are Mormons. And funny story about the big golf ball thingy: Amy thought that that was Epcot, and not the whole park. So whenever she saw it she'd go "Look! It's E'cot!" There is actually a ride inside, which is long and soothing and good for putting toddlers to sleep.

My friend Cid got us VIP seats for Fantasmic. I wish I got to be a VIP more often. We got to walk right off to the cordoned off seats even though it was standing room only. Thanks, Cid!

Matt bought a whole bunch of glow sticks before we went - they turned out to be a great idea, not only for finding the kids when it was dark, but also for keeping them entertained when we were waiting for nighttime stuff (and we did a lot of nighttime stuff). Since we had a lot of extras, we were able to give glow sticks to other kids, too - a great way to make friends.

Amy being cute. And that hat got lost somewhere. And yes, she did insist on wearing a skirt or a dress every day.

Amy being cute again. Actually, we were just sharing a treat while waiting for Dad and the big kids to ride their turn on Soarin. But I love this picture because my baby is dang adorable, isn't she? And I love how the Florida humidity made her hair, which is normally a bit on the wavy side, CURLY. So cute I almost couldn't stand it - almost makes up for what the Florida humidity does to MY hair.

Meeting the princesses - get a load of my kids in their cute Mom-made outfits. The girls' princess dresses got a lot of comments, too. I wanted them to wear something that was princessy but still comfortable in the insane heat. I always feel sorry for the little girls who have to wear a heavy polyester costume all day long (and I guess I feel bad for the character actors, too, but at least they are getting paid).

Porter was insistent that he wanted nothing to do with the princesses. But he totally flirted with Sleeping Beauty.

Watching a lady make Japanese rice candy shaped like animals. It was completely mesmerizing. I think the Japan pavilion is my favorite even though they don't have a ride or anything.

Another reason to love the Japan pavilion is that they have the most adorable salesgirls who will dress up your little girl in a kimono and fix her hair and everything. And again I didn't buy Betsy a kimono even though I really really wanted to.

Porter wore his Mickey Mouse shirt just for the occasion. It was a coincidence that they were both plaid.

The nice thing about having a character meal is that you can see Mickey Mouse without having to wait in a seriously long line for the privilege of doing so. And the nice part of having Free Dining is that you get to meet characters AND have a lot of really awesome food without having to pay for either. Also, we had a really great server at the Garden Grill and I am using the word 'really' a lot.

Dale was the silly chipmunk. He made my kids laugh.

We didn't necessarily plan to have three character meals in a row, but that's how it worked out. And I know it doesn't look like it here, but Amy actually loved the characters. What she doesn't love is having her picture take (she's not too keen on bib-wearing, either).

We promised our kids Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles, and the Crystal Palace delivered.

Amy calls this character 'Tiger'. How do I explain to her that she's wrong? I don't, that's how.

Obligatory castle picture. Like Amy, I'm not crazy about having my picture taken.

But Matt is okay with it.

My kids are at the age now when they are totally into cheesy jokes, so they really liked Jungle Cruise. Actually, I really liked it too.

Space Mountain was one of the rides I was really looking forward to, since I hadn't been on it in almost 10 years (thanks to being pregnant with Amy on our last trip [totally worth it]). Only this time, when I went on it, I actually found it to be a bit too much. I started having a problem with motion sickness right around this point (it got even worse the next day) and I had to close my eyes for most of Space Mountain. Betsy and Porter, on the other hand, rode it twice in a row (thanks to baby swap) with no problems. I guess being young has its advantages.

I should also mention - since we didn't take any pictures for fear of losing the camera - that the kids flat. out. LOVED Splash Mountain. We rode that one both days we were in the parks (I brought ponchos the second day we went) and the kids got to do it twice. I think collectively that is our family's favorite Disney World attraction (and poor Amy couldn't even go).

Another thing we had promised the kids was ice cream shaped like Mickey Mouse. We made good on that promise our second day at Magic Kingdom. We were actually waiting for our Fatspass return time so we could ride Peter Pan and then leave. The park was going to be open for several more hours, but we'd done everything we wanted to do, and we were exhausted, so we decided to go back to the hotel and swim and pack up our stuff for the trip home. So. Those Mickey Mouse ice cream bars really hit the spot.

And the kids got hilariously messy while eating them. This photo doesn't even begin to show the filth and sticky smear that is created when you combine ice cream with the hot Florida sun. So we just got good and messy and had a good laugh and cleaned up everything afterwards with baby wipes (don't go anywhere without baby wipes or you have to do that stereotypical Mom thing where you lick a napkin and use it on your kid's face, which eeewwww).

Our last day - Animal Kingdom. We did the whole 'picture by the Tree of Life' thing. And if it seems like I didn't post as many pictures this time around, it's because a lot of them are redundant with the pictures from our last trip. (Only with Amy in them.) Animal Kingdom was also the day when I went on four different rides within an hour... I really don't recommend that... by the time we got off Expedition Everest I was within inches of tossing my cookies (which we got for free from the dining plan). So I swore off rides after that and we stuck with shows.

I also got to meet up with my awesome friend Cid, and thank her personally for the Fantasmic seats, but I didn't take a picture. Matt took the kids on one of the puke-inducing rides and I talked Disney and NCIS and fan fiction with Cid while Amy played adorable peek-a-boo with her.

They have the same thing for apes here as they have for the orangutans at the National Zoo. Like the Japanese rice candy lady, this was something else I could have watched for hours.

The kids like this section of the park, because it's dinosaur-themed. I always have a hard time with it, because the pavement reflects back the sun and there's no shade and there is a high concentration of puke-inducing rides. But, again, the kids like it.

Betsy and Porter being dinosaurs.

This is the hotel we stayed at. Betsy liked it because she's planning on becoming a rock star someday.

And then we went home. THE END. (Unless you want me to write about the epic poop blowout Amy had once we crossed the state line into Georgia on the return trip. It was like someone had poured twenty or thirty cups of Snack Pack into her britches. We had to bathe her at the hotel and throw out her clothes and I used an entire pack of wipes and half a can of air freshener trying to render her car seat habitable again. But that was pretty gross, so I won't tell you about it.)

More doll sewing

2010-09-30T15:47:00.005-04:00

Now that the kids are back in school, I can spend a lot more time in my oh-so-messy basement sewing area. Mainly what I've been sewing is doll clothes - I'm trying to get my Etsy shop stocked up before the holiday buying season hits. Of course, since I like to bite off more than I chew, I have probably 93657 projects in various states of completion. I'll go on a bender and cut out probably ten different dresses (and bear in mind that I sew almost everything in duplicate or triplicate) and then it's a matter of getting them sewn. And once they're sewn I have to put in snaps and/or buttons, which for some reason takes me FOREVER. I think I need to come up with a system less haphazard than "I'll just sew whatever I feel like sewing today."

Here's my most recent project. My most favorite time period to sew for is the 1930s, because I love love LOVE the fabrics. Betsy's Kit is always happy to model.

So, that's an epically bad photo because I had to use my cell phone - we are fresh out of Double A's. Here's another dress I made a while back from that pattern, and MAN do I wish I had some more of this fabric. (I think both of these are Henry Glass "Posies from the Thirties.' Yum!)

I used the BunnyBear 'Princess Seams' pattern for that one - it's probably the pattern I use the most (aside from the Route 66 one) because it's just so darn cute. I also like that it doesn't use a ton of fabric - only 1/3 of a yard if I do the collar and cuffs contrasting, and I do - which I suppose is appropriate for the time period. (The austerity of the Thirties, followed by rationing of the Forties, goes a long way in explaining the 'New Look' of the Fifties, don't you think?) I love BunnyBear patterns and have quite a few of them - I'm constantly stalking her site to see if she's put out that Colonial era dress yet.

I've also been on a big Civil War kick lately.

I think I like it for the same reason as I like the 1930s: really great fabric prints. (Now is when I link you to Nauvoo Quilt Co. - she has the BEST stuff.) I made up some dresses that included little straw bonnets (they weren't anything fancy, I just got them from a craft supplier and trimmed them) and they sold like hotcakes. I'd also like to attempt a hoopskirt, I think it would be pretty easy with some corset boning.

Did I say I've been on a big Civil War kick lately? I meant to say I've been on a big Revolutionary War kick lately.

Yes, we got an Elizabeth. I already had a Felicity that I'm saving for Amy when she's bigger. When F and E's retirement was announced, I debated getting an Elizabeth before she gets crazy expensive on eBay. I wasn't going to (because Elizabeth has brown hair, darnit! Now get off my lawn!), but what convinced me was how much she actually resembles Amy, with the blue eyes and blond curly hair. Sigh. So I used that as an excuse to sew little matching 'best friend' dresses for them. I hope they sell as a pair, because I don't really want to split them up.

So that's what I've been up to. Anyone have any interesting projects to share? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been crafting up a storm.

Too hot to blog.

2010-08-21T16:12:00.011-04:00

Holy cow, I don't think this summer is EVER going to end. (Of course, give it another six months and I will be whining about winter.) Here's what we've been up to...

My little sister Laura came for a week-long visit, which was filled with fun, sunscreen, and pancake mix. People, I have the BEST sisters. I didn't take enough pictures, though.
We went to the State Fair. It was the hottest day in recorded history, and we all basically died of the sweats.

It took milkshakes from the Dairy Barn to restore the natural balance (and chocolateyness) of the universe.
The kids started school on, consecutively, the two hottest days in recorded history. Porter actually began kindergarten the day after Betsy commenced second grade, so I didn't get to take an official 'first day of school' pic of them together. They are both pretty cute, though. The year is still new enough that they are actually excited about school. And Porter shocked the heck out of me at his 'kindergarten orientation' that I went to with him... his teacher asked him to write his name on a piece of paper and draw a picture of himself, and he actually did it. (This is the kid who usually throws a fit if you get him within ten feet of a crayon.)
Then, on the hottest day in recorded history, we went to Conner Prairie. Laura and I each brought an American Girl doll in historical garb, and we had lots of fun setting them up for photos.
I've been to the pool a LOT - we went four times in a week while Laura was visiting. I've actually gotten a tan line, something I usually avoid by deploying the SPF A Zillion.
I'm completely earwormed with this song. Curse you, Amazon and your free MPS downloads! It's just a gateway drug!
I've watched a lot of TV miniseries/movies this summer. I went through all of Band of Brothers again, then Lost in Austen (it wasn't good, but they managed to make Wickham really sexy), then Little Dorrit (it was so cute), plus Matt and I watched the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended edition, of course).
I wrote some fanfiction, too.
I've been doing a lot of sewing, down in the basement to avoid the highest temperatures in recorded history, although I would do it anyway. I actually made a dress for myself: Seen here against the lovely backdrop of my shower curtain. But look at that fabric! It's all sewing notions! And it's Alexander Henry, of course.
I'm sewing a lot of doll clothes, too. Actually,August has been a really good month for me, sales-wise. I've been selling them on both eBay (woo hoo free listing fees) and Etsy, and I think I have shipped like ten dresses this month. I made this one for a summer-themed sewing swap on American Girl Playthings, and as soon as the recipient posted pictures (her photographs are much better than mine) I had like three more people contact me and ask me to make them one. So I've been working on that.
My little girl's hair went curly this summer. I'm not sure if it's due to the hottest summer in recorded history - we'll see if it stays that way when autumn hits - but boy is it cute. Amy's completely fixated on baby dolls, and she's also been practicing her animal noises. This video was taken when a bunch of Blinns were here for the day (watch to the end for bonus Miles!)
It's been an exciting summer for my side of the family. One of my sisters got engaged, another one found out she's having girls (plural), my sister-in-law is having a baby pretty much any day now, and after thirty-one years Dad got the fat envelope from Kodak. As for us, we are working on getting Betsy prepared for her baptism in December, and planning our trip to Disney at the end of October. I'm sure this heat will end soon!

Up

2010-07-13T07:52:00.002-04:00

What have I been doing since last time? Let's see. After returning from the New Kids on the Block, I had to watch Band of Brothers (ten episodes) to get my Donnie fix. Of course I ended up watching most of the episodes twice (or six times cough'Bastogne'cough) and then writing a story about it, so yeah, that ate up about two weeks. Then I got hooked on the BBC adaptation of Dickens' 'Little Dorrit' (sixteen episodes, but they're only 30 minutes apiece) and just finished watching that yesterday. I've also been sewing doll clothes like a fiend - I'm linking you all to this but it's really only the tip of the iceberg. Fortunately, this means spending a lot of time in the basement, which is the coolest part of the house (also the spideriest).

Betsy has had a bunch of week-long sport camps (they are offered free through the school district, yay!) - this week is bowling. The kids are also on their last week of four weeks of swimming lessons (not free, boo). Porter has been doing really well with the swimming lessons - I think if we keep at it, one of my children may actually be able to swim. Betsy, not so much. But that's all right - she's good at a lot of other things. We've also been cooking out a lot (and because this is Indiana, eating a lot of corn) and swimming in the neighborhood pool. And I just made zucchini muffins from the bounty of our garden. The really crazy thing is, the kids only have a month left of summer before they go back to school!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that we had gotten a membership to Conner Prairie, the local living history museum. I honestly can't understand why we hadn't gotten a membership - it's about ten minutes from our house (unlike the zoo which is allll the way downtown) and it's only $65 a year (roughly half the cost of the Children's Museum). I think we were thinking we had to wait until the kids were school aged so that they would appreciate it. Which is clearly crazy because two-year-old Amy loves it as much as anyone. She now shouts "Connerpwaiwie!" every time we drive by on our way to church. She's a little afraid of the animals in the barn, though (even the baby sheep, it was funny how she was hanging on to me for dear life).

One of the things they have added recently is this balloon ride attraction (it's tethered so you just go straight up and down, but it is really a balloon). Now, normally I am skeptical of the obvious attempts at adding revenue (I'm looking at you Indianapolis Zoo) but this is based on something that actually happened in Indiana in the 1850s, so I give them a pass. Back in the spring we got a thing in the mail for free balloon tickets with the purchase of a membership. And the balloon ride tickets are normally like $12 a person, so we wouldn't have done it if it wasn't free. We actually tried several times before we managed to go up - it's very weather dependent, the skies have to be perfectly clear with only a hint of wind. (Perhaps this is why hot air balloons didn't revolutionize travel the way they were all predicting it would back in the 19th century.) But we finally got our free balloon ride during Fourth of July weekend.

Look out, kids! You're going to fall out!

Just kidding, that wasn't the real thing. This is the real thing:

It's a pretty smooth ride, and even though I am nervous about heights, it didn't bother me at all. The balloon gets to a maximum height of 300-something feet. You can see all the way to downtown (granted, this is Central Indiana, so that's not that impressive) and we probably could have spotted our house if it doesn't have the exact same roof as every other house in our neighborhood.

Amy was a lot less frightened of the balloon ride than she was of that vicious, vicious baby sheep. "I go up in the sky," she said, and continues to say every time we drive past.

And here's me! Matt laid down on the bottom of the basket to get that shot. We've been back to Conner Prairie a few times - I thought the kids would be clamoring to go in the balloon again, but we explained to them it was a one time deal, and they seemed to accept that.

So, that's our summer. Pretty soon my sister Laura will be coming for a visit, and we will go to the State Fair, and then the kids are in school and the fun time is over (for them. For me, fun time is just beginning). How is everyone's summer going?

The Right Stuff.

2010-06-07T18:16:00.002-04:00

So, remember these guys?

Danny, Donnie, Jon, Jordan, and Joey. That's right, before we had all of those other boy bands, we had the New Kids on the Block. They released their first album in 1986 (when I was Betsy's age!!) but didn't really hit it big until a couple of years later. I remember being on the bus in fourth grade when I first heard about them. I actually held out for a while out of stubbornness (if everyone else likes something, I have to hate it, just to be different) but eventually I succumbed to the mania as well. Of course, on my limited budget (this was before I started babysitting to earn the big bucks) that obsession amounted to owning one single cassette tape, which I wore out on my Walkman. I think eventually I did get a hand me down T-shirt from our babysitter Tricia. I didn't have all the shirts or the giant buttons or the dolls or the Tiger Beat magazines or the posters, I didn't watch the cartoon series (in our house we watched PBS on Saturday mornings. I'm probably the only person I know who grew up watching The Victory Garden instead of Thundercats) and of course, I never went to one of their concerts.

All things good or otherwise must come to an end, and the New Kids' reign in the spotlight only lasted a couple of years. They changed their name to NKOTB and released another album but by then we were all listening to grunge. The New Kids and their cheerful songs and brightly colored Hammer-pants were so over.

But, nostalgia is a big business these days. The New Kids actually released a new album in 2008 and have been touring off and on since it came out. When their dates for this year's Casi-NO tour were announced, Mandy made it her personal business to get me to go. Now, Mandy went to town with the obsession back in the day. (Like this.) She's already been to several of their concerts, whereas I haven't been to ANY concerts, EVER (unless you count Vertical Horizon at Clowes Hall my junior year at Butler, which I don't because I left after like half an hour, which is another story). Fortunately, I wasn't too hard to persuade. An evening away from my kids? And it's up on the north side of Indiana so we will have to stay the night in a hotel? Done and done!

I have to admit, I was a little bit of a slacker. I didn't prepare for the concert by listening to their music, mainly because I didn't have any. I've been on a big indie kick lately, thanks to Amazon and their free MP3 sampler downloads, and I thought nineties bubblegum pop might be a tad incongruous with Minus the Bear and Spoon and whatever. I only had my memories to go on - that and the fact that Donnie Wahlberg was awesome in Band of Brothers. Fortunately Mandy has like every track that they have ever recorded, either as a group or solo, and she'd made a giant playlist. We left on Friday afternoon - me, Mandy, and Mandy's friend Michael (not to be confused with her husband Michael. Wow, it's like that was a really popular boys' name in the late seventies, or something.) So I had the whole drive up to Hammond - including a super awesome fun and totally unnecessary detour through Gary - to get pumped up. Funny how it all started to come back. By the time we got there I was ready to tight-roll my jeans (only I had on a dress).

Here's my ticket:

Yes, the concert was at a casino, which meant I got carded on the way in - something else I've never done before. The slot machines are all digitized so they don't have a lever any more (and they don't look like robot amputees waving hello). The concert venue at the Horseshoe Casino is actually called The Venue, which meant that every time we talked about it I felt like I was speaking in code. And hey, any day I can feel like a spy or some sort of operative is a good day in my book.

We had dinner at the casino, since the food there is really cheap (I gather it's not exactly their profit center). Have you ever had fried pickles? You should. (Mandy being pregnant and all, I think she achieved nirvana with that first bite.) As the concert got closer and closer, I did start to get really excited. And it was really funny to see the other people who were there - you could tell who was there to gamble and who was there to see the concert. The venue (or I should say The Venue) was 21-and-up but I don't think there was anyone under about 29 or so. Almost entirely women with a few male fans or long-suffering husbands. Lots of women could still fit into their New Kids T-shirts from back in the day (we wore our T-shirts huge in 1991, preferably with a knot tied in one side, or if you were really cool one of those plastic slider things.) But a lot of the women were pregnant, too. We had pretty decent seats, right smack in the middle.

You should have heard the insane screaming when the curtain went up. Mandy had warned me that she has no dignity where the New Kids are concerned. Turns out I don't, either. Yes, we paid for the entire seat but we didn't even use the edge. I was on my feet from beginning to end. There wasn't an opening act (unless you count the fried pickles), it was just us and them. Truly awesome. Here's some pictures:

Two of my friends from college were at the concert too, although they were in a different section so I didn't find them until the show was over. And you're probably thinking, Ooh, a boy band twenty years later, I bet THAT will be fun! But it really, really was. If they were washed-up has-beens phoning it in, well, I didn't notice. (I mean, I don't have a lot to compare it to since I've never been to any other concerts, but I don't live in a cave, either.) They played a lot of their new songs, which I liked so much I bought the CD off Amazon pretty much the minute I got home, and some of the older stuff that I remember from when I was in fifth grade. And I really had a hard time believing that these guys are ten years (give or take) older than me. Because they were dancing all over the place and climbing the scenery and whatnot. And they are ripped... yes, there was shirtlessness, it was only for a minute or so but I am not saying I didn't enjoy it.

Oh, and we totally saw Donnie up close and personal when all of the guys went up the aisles. It was pretty funny, because I've only watched Band of Brothers a million times (or at least three, since I always see it when I have a baby). Mandy wore her Boston Red Sox shirt in honor of the New Kids being from Boston, and I think that Donnie liked it. We were so excited, we were squealing like a couple of teenage girls.

It was truly awesome. I absolutely killed my voice - even a delicious Mint Cookies & Cream shake at Steak-n-Shake didn't prevent me from being completely hoarse the next day. I had a ball hanging out with my sister-in-law and her hilarious friend, AND I got away from the kids for a good twenty-four hours. I'm sad that the concert is over, but since this is 2010, I can always look up the videos on YouTube. And if they come around again next summer... I will so be there.

The happenings around here

2010-05-18T08:38:00.003-04:00

School is almost out, so I had better get a blog post up before summer hits and I spend all my days driving my kids around. Why did nobody tell me before I had school aged kids that planning out their summers is practically a full time job? It's not that I think they are overscheduled, it's just that with a different thing going on every week, I have to figure when to fit everything in and still have some time to play and go to the pool and whatnot. I think it'll be fun, but I know I will be relieved when it is over.

Anyway. Here's what is going on around here.

Garage sale season is in full swing. After several disappointing outings, I found some really good stuff last weekend.
After driving past it on the way to church every Sunday for nearly four years, we finally got a membership to our local living history museum. We actually got a coupon in the mail for free balloon tickets with purchase of a membership, only by the time we got there the wind had kicked up & they cancelled the ride. But they gave us rain checks so I guess we will have to go back another time!
I'm keeping really busy (but having fun) making stuff for my Etsy.
I've been kind of obsessed with The Dodos lately, especially this song.
Speaking of obsessed, Amy gets really mad if we don't let her wear a dress. She is all about the baby dolls lately, but they have to be naked. She's also figured out how to jump, which is really funny since she barely clears the ground.
Betsy keeps telling me she is going to be an author when she grows up. She loves to write little stories and then illustrate them. She is really loving first grade (they hatched baby chicks!) and she's been doing well with her spelling. Betsy is all about compound words right now. Sometimes I have a hard time explaining to her when a word isn't.
And Porter is almost done with preschool. I took him to the kindergarten orientation at his school last week... I needn't have bothered, he already knows his way around the building and has been riding a bus for the last two years. I think he's really ready, since he's already reading and everything. Plus, in kindergarten they do a unit about dinosaurs.
Oh yeah, we booked our next vacation to Disneyworld. We'll be going at the end of October when the kids are on fall break. Woo hoo! By then it will have been more than three years since our last visit, which I think is a decent interval. The kids are getting hyped up for it already.
Betsy's dance recital is this Saturday. Be watching this space, I'll post video. She likes to put on her costume (it's purple) and practice the dance, so I can verify that it is, in fact, wicked adorable.

Five

2010-05-04T07:01:00.004-04:00

Get a load of this handsome guy:

Porter's birthday was actually a week ago, but since I am both a bad mother and a neglectful blogger, I'm writing about it now. Actually, Porter was a lucky boy because he managed to get three or four days' worth of enjoyment out of his birthday!

Because of Matt's work schedule (which changes every five minutes it seems like) he wasn't going to be around at night on Porter's big day. So on Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese for an exciting lunch of pizza and arcade games. My kids really love Chuck E Cheese, and I love getting the coupons for it out of the newspaper. I forgot to bring the camera so there aren't any pictures, but it was really cute. We also got Mike and cousin Miles to meet us up there because they are fans of the cheese-eating rodent as well. Watching my two-year-old nephew own his daddy at air hockey was really, really amusing.

Sunday we had church, and then the Official Birthday Celebration. We invited Mike, Mandy, and Miles over because (as it turns out) Miles is a fan of cupcakes too. Porter's birthday dinner was hotdogs. Actually, the meal planning conversation went like this:

ME: Porter, what do you want for your birthday dinner?

PORTER: Hot dogs or pizza.

ME: Well, we are going to Chuck E Cheese and we'll have pizza for lunch, so how about hot dogs for dinner?

PORTER: Okay.

ME: What do you want to have with it?

PORTER: How about... some water for drinking.

ME: [is relieved to have a low maintenance child]

PORTER [a few minutes later]: Mom, make sure the water is not from a pond.

ME: Okay.

PORTER: Or from a pool.

ME: I promise we will get it from the fridge.

So Porter had his birthday dinner of hot dogs and some water for drinking (but not from a pond or a pool). Actually he had apple juice to drink, and some delicious Ore Ida fries, and cupcakes with yellow frosting (had to be yellow because that's a boy color according to my kids) for dessert.

Because Porter is a boy (in case you hadn't gotten that by now) it's pretty easy to buy him gifts. We gave him a couple of dinosaur-themed Imaginext sets (Imaginext are these toy sets that Fisher Price makes and P has a bunch of them already. They are very, very boy) and Grandma Lynn and cousin Miles both gave him Legos. Not the big Duplo blocks, mind you, but tiny Legos (that's what he calls them). He's been telling us for ages that when he's five, he can play with tiny Legos. Well, guess who is five now!

Two

2010-04-13T10:37:00.003-04:00

So, guess who had a birthday last week?

I'll give you a hint: her name is AMY.

Yep, my baby is two years old (sniff, sniff); her birthday actually came at the end of a very fun-filled week. The kids were on Spring Break so we had something fun planned every day, like the zoo, the museum, the library, and Chick-Fil-A. Amy's birthday was on Friday but we didn't actually celebrate it until Saturday, because of Matt's work schedule with his new job. But she doesn't really know any better.

Amy's favorite gift this year: a Bitty Baby of her OWN, just like the one she always steals from Betsy. I got lucky and found one at a church sale for five bucks last fall. I dressed Bitty in a preemie sized outfit from WalMart and I had found a big set of baby doll accessories on clearance after Christmas. Yep, I am nothing if not cheap.

Does she seem like she minds? Not at all!
Here's Bitty in her cute new highchair (gift from Grandma in Utah). We actually need to glue the tray in place because Amy likes to take it off and sit in the chair. Didn't see that one coming, did you?!
And here she is eagerly anticipating a cupcake. Funny, but as soon as Amy saw the candles she was trying to blow them out, I didn't have to show her what to do at all. I still had to help her, of course. She enjoyed her cupcake quite a bit - not very messily at all - I think Porter was actually worse (he is morally opposed to utensils of any kind).

Lucky girl, I actually was on the ball for ONCE in my life and scheduled her 2 year checkup in the same month as her birthday and not half a year later. So, unfortunately that means she'll be getting a bunch of shots this coming Friday. (Porter actually just had his 5 year checkup today... 42 inches, 40 pounds, and 9 diseases that he won't get!) Boy, with birthday presents like THAT, I wouldn't blame her if she just skips the whole thing entirely next year...

Home Court Advantage

2010-03-31T14:26:00.005-04:00

We had Blinns at the house last weekend, which is always an adventure. You can tell when my family is coming to visit because I deep clean the carpets and put ALL the leaves in the table. The main attraction was my Easter Cantata, plus I really wanted Mom to see the Barbie exhibit at the Childrens' Museum before my membership runs out.

Here we are at the museum, goofing off:
Molly and Laura and I are a bunch of fruits.
And Molly with her namesake pteradactyl (in the background) and Porter doing a flip (foreground).
Mmm, steakburgers.
I don't know what it is about Molly, but she seems to be a kid magnet. Porter could not stop climbing on her (he also was using Graypa as a piece of playground equipment) and Amy warmed up to Molly before she would come near anyone else. I don't know what it is about Molly, but she is not a big fan of Blinns when they first arrive. But by the end of their visit she would go to Grammy or Graypa or Laura no problem, and I realized after she left that she had been calling them by name ("Gammy" and "Gramma," respectively).

Miles came over for a short visit one night, too (driven by Uncle Monkey, but only because Miles' legs are too short to reach the gas pedals). It's always a hoot when Miles comes over because he is fascinated by our toys (possibly because we have 90 times more at our house) and he was VERY appreciative of the cupcake I gave him.

The Easter Cantata was on Sunday night, and I was very pleased with how it went off. We seemed to be having some trouble with the microphones, so I played extra loud on my flute. My family was sitting in the way-back (we had to open up the overflow and the gym) and they said they could hear me just fine. I had a great time preparing for & participating in a major choral work for the first time in years and hope to do it again sometime. Also, my girls wore their new dresses and I forgot to take any pictures! D'oh!

I don't know if you noticed, but there's a little thing called 'March Madness' going on. I went to this little-known Midwestern university called Butler, and they are pretty good at getting the ball through the hoop. Now, while I totally forgot to fill out a bracket this year, if I'd remembered I would have put Butler into the Sweet Sixteen. It's something they've done a few times over the last few years (the first time ever was when Betsy was a baby) and it's largely considered to be a pretty darn good finish for a tiny school with an enrollment of less than 4,000. Of course, the Final Four is being hosted in Indy this year (as it is every couple of years... we really like basketball around here) but I didn't necessarily think Butler would end up playing at home. Sure, it would be nice, but kind of a stretch. On the other hand, I do think Stevens' Bulldogs are the best they've ever been. So anyway, just in case you have been living in a cave or something for the last few days...

Butler is in the Final Four!

Now, how much I actually watched the games varied a lot. The Murray State game actually had me pretty worried. It's hard to watch when I have any kind of expectations. I also had to be careful not to scream and yell too much so I wouldn't kill my voice for the Easter Cantata. At this point, I don't mind if they lose their next game... I feel like Butler making the Final Four is like a Big Ten school winning the whole thing. And I am definitely a winner anytime I don't have to explain to people where I went to college.

The media coverage has been really interesting, too. I've been having a fun time playing 'Sports Media Cliche' Bingo.' You get points anytime a writer uses the term 'Cinderella,' 'historic Hinkle Fieldhouse,' refers to the movie Hoosiers or describes Brad Stevens as 'baby-faced' or 'youthful.' The free space in the center of the board is 'The Butler Did It' or any variation thereof, because that one's just obvious. Actually, one article I read described Butler as 'blue-collar,' which really perplexed me... Butler is a lot of things (expensive; good at basketball) but blue-collar is most definitely not one of them.

Much as I would have loved to, I will not be watching any of the games in person. I would have had to pawn my firstborn for tickets, and I'm kind of attached (especially since she just lost one of her top front teeth and is now 33% adorabler). I am going to try to go down on Friday and watch a practice session at Lucas Oil Field, though. And you'd better believe I will be screaming myself hoarse come Saturday night.

My kind of town

2010-03-17T16:57:00.004-04:00

First of all, thanks to everybody for the awesome comments on my last post. Matt and I really feel like this is the beginning of something good (so it's perfect that it comes in spring). On the other hand, we already had a pretty good life - cute/smart kids, nice house, we're all healthy - and that doesn't really change. I still haven't figured out if there is some Life Lesson we were supposed to learn over the past two years, or if it was bad luck. But thanks for sticking with my blog even when I was a Woeful Wanda (or even a Lazy Lou who goes weeks without updating).

As I mentioned in my last post, we took a brief yet action-packed trip up to Chicago (Amy: "Cago") last weekend. We had been thinking about going during spring break, but obviously Matt won't have the vacation time at his new job, whereas he had pretty much nothing to lose at the old job. I thought it was worth pulling Betsy out of school for one day, so off we went. We drove up early Friday morning and got to Chicago around 10 a.m. (I made Matt do the city driving because even with the GPS, it's not really my favorite. I can do it, I'd just rather not.) This was perfect timing because we got to the American Girl store right after it opened.

Matt and Porter came inside the store with us for a few minutes, just long enough to look around and take a few pictures. Then they headed off for more manly pursuits, namely the Lego store. (We do have some pictures for that, taken with my new camera phone, but I sort of haven't figured out how to get the photos off the phone yet...) So the girls and I stayed around the Mecca of Girliness for a while.
Betsy picked out a few things for her Kit doll, and I took a lot of pictures which I won't bore you with. I let both of the girls bring dolls (actually Amy had to borrow Betsy's Bitty since she won't 'officially' get hers until she turns 2 in a few weeks) and the store also had a lot of things that you could take down and look at. The Room of Babies was a big hit for Amy.

Once we dragged ourselves away from the AG store (without spending too much money) we met up with Matt and Porter at the Rainforest Cafe a few blocks away. Porter had been dying to go to Rainforest Cafe because they sponsor a show on PBS Kids and my kid is, apparently, highly susceptible to advertising. "Mom, it's a wild place to shop and eat!"

Porter is fascinated by this photo... "Mom, can I see my sad face?" I think he was grumpy because the service was atrocious. The place was 2/3 empty, and yet we had to beg to get a waitress to get our orders, and then it took something like a half hour to get our food. I don't think we'll be giving them any repeat business. But the kids liked the decor, so it wasn't a total waste.

After lunch we headed out to the suburbs. I had found us a hotel in Hoffman Estates and we let the kids play with their new toys while Matt and I enjoyed the novelty of cable TV, and then we headed off again. Because you know what's in Schaumburg? IKEA!

I really, really, really like IKEA. And the kids like it too (I think Matt merely tolerates the experience, but who cares? We only go there about once every two years, anyway.) Through persistence we were able to get the two older kids deposited in Smaland while Amy and the grownups shopped. I picked up some cool stuff for the house and we got a spare dining room chair. We also had dinner at IKEA - delicious Swedish meatballs, yum - and it was probably the cheapest meal we ate all weekend (including when we stopped at Arby's on the way back home).

Once through with IKEA, we went back to the hotel and went swimming for a while. I am a big fan of hotel pools. Not only is it a nice way to unwind, but if we let the kids wear themselves out, they might actually sleep in an unfamiliar bed. It more or less worked - I was the one who woke up at 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. Oh well. At least we got a yummy hot breakfast out of the deal.

Our final stop of the journey (not counting home) was the Legoland Discovery Center in Schaumburg. It looked like fun, and we got discount tickets online, although the price is still pretty steep (but not much is cheap in Chicago). But Porter had been looking forward to Legos (Amy: "Gego!") though all of the girly stuff on Friday, and I can't let my little boy down. Surprisingly, all three kids enjoyed themselves.

Porter wanted to build a tower. Yeah, we couldn't have stayed home and done that.

The downtown Chicago made out of Legos was my favorite - it was incredibly detailed. I can't even imagine having the patience (or obsession or whatever) to do something like that.
And... a wizard.
When we were done with the Lego place, we packed up in the car and pretty much headed straight home. It was a great trip, and I'm really glad we went. Matt starts his new job tomorrow, and there is still plenty of fun coming up for the kids. My parents are coming to visit the weekend of the Easter cantata, and spring break is shortly thereafter. And with this nice weather, they are playing outside all the time!

The End And The Beginning

2010-03-15T08:01:00.003-04:00

If you've been reading this blog at all in the last, oh, two years, you have probably gotten pretty sick of my constant whining about the economy. It goes all the way back to early 2008 when the collapse of the housing market struck out at an unintended victim: the student loan industry. The company Matt was working for, which we all thought was plenty stable (and had awesome benefits), decided to shut down its entire consolidation department because they were actually losing money on the record sales Matt had brought in over the last three years. Fortunately, we got a generous severance package from his company. Unfortunately, we had to pay a million dollars per month (roughly) because I was quite pregnant with Amy. Here is the recap of what happened after that:

* Matt temped for a month or two while looking for a job. He flew out to Utah twice (both on extremely short notice and both for less than 24 hours) to interview with a company there that looked really promising.

* And then a little thing called childbirth happened. (I have been scrolling through my old blog posts and getting all misty-eyed... I can't believe Amy is going to be 2 next month!)

* We really, really thought we were going to move out to Utah (and live in Matt's parents' basement) - to the point of calling a realtor and painting the house and everything. A company out there had made him an offer, and then they... changed their minds? And then denied that an offer had ever been made, even though we had it in writing? It was very strange, but I am glad (other than the opportunity to live near Opels) that we didn't end up moving out there.

* In June 2008, Matt finally got a job offer selling mortgage training for a local company. The catch? It's a sales position, so the base pay is infinitesimally low, and it will take a long time to build up enough sales to earn even the base level of commission. (Oh, the other fun catch? The health insurance is ridiculous... like $900 a month AND a $7K deductible. Thanks, but no thanks.)

* We figured out that we could make that work, since it was the only job available and didn't require relocation, IF I dusted off my ol' chemistry degree and worked for a while. But only IF I was actually earning enough to cover child care for three kids and actually have a little bit left over. I went to maybe three job interviews and was offered a job (I always feel slightly guilty that it's easier for me to find a job than it is for Matt. But this is probably because I have a more specific skill set + a lower salary requirement.)

* So at the end of June, I started working in a quality control lab for a petroleum blending facility. It was a strange adjustment for us to go from no jobs to 2 jobs within about three weeks. Amy was ten weeks old and it was awfully hard for me to leave her, but I knew it had to be done.

* For eight months, we both worked. This was crazy. We ended up switching our childcare several times. I was working four 10-hour days, which meant that I had Fridays off but it also meant that I had to get up at 4:45 a.m. And I was determined not to pay for formula so I pumped like a madwoman (in the car, at home, and in a dirty, unlocked breakroom at work - which was, I later realized, in violation of Indiana state law for my employer not to give me a place for pumping, but whatever) and ended up having more than enough milk. I know you needed to know that about me, right?

* During all of this, Matt kept on going to job interviews. And with each lead, I'd promise myself I wouldn't get my hopes up, then I'd go ahead and get my hopes up anyway, and then I'd be bitterly disappointed every.single.time. when it didn't pan out. In fact, a good outcome was a company actually bothering to email a rejection, since most people don't do that - they interview you, they lead you on for a while, and then they just ignore you. How rude!

* I was working hard in the lab, doing what I assumed was a good job since I never heard otherwise, and then one day (this was in February '09) they let me go. It was rather unexpected - at 3:30 on a Wednesday, it was just 'Drop what you're doing, turn in your key, and get out.' Well, okay then. I was incredibly bitter about this (it still rankles me, just a little) BUT I was also hugely excited to be at home with my kids again.

* So we were back down to one job, but I kept my feelers out. I had the opportunity to work over the summer for a former employer of mine, but it was full-time and I didn't want to go back to that crazy schedule, so I turned it down. Instead, I spent the summer shuttling my kids back and forth to various lessons and activities.

* And Matt kept right in looking for jobs. By this point relocation had become much less of an option, and Matt took as many job interviews as he could. The summer wasn't a very good time for sales, so we were basically living off his base salary and our savings. In August, I finally took my sister's advice and went down to the WIC office to apply for benefits. (The income threshold is surprisingly high for a family of five, and it really helped getting all that free milk and cheese.)

* Things kind of went in cycles. He'd have no job interviews for a month, and then three in one week. He had awesome sales in the last quarter of '09 (it's kind of the nature of the business) and hardly anything in January 2010. And Matt has been dealing with the supreme frustration of a poorly managed company, trying to make sales with inadequate support.

* A few weeks ago, Matt went for yet another interview - this time for a call center manager position with ITT Tech. He felt like it went really well (especially since the interviewer knew some of Matt's former co-workers from the student loan industry - I love how everyone says that networking is the best way to find a job, but it's a lot harder to do when your entire department got laid off), I promised myself I wasn't going to get optimistic, then went ahead and did it anyway. Also - and this is crucial - the people that he interviewed with referred him over to a different department with the same company. (They're a pretty big company.) Matt ended up going to 3 or 4 interviews there - luckily their building is like 3 minutes from his current job, so he was able to do it discreetly on lunch breaks & things. One of the H.R. people Matt interviewed with was named Betsy, which I took as a good sign.

* On a Monday a couple of weeks ago, Matt got the ol' 'thank you for your interest but we have decided to go in a different direction blah blah blah' email from ITT. And while I respect the fact that they fall into the approximately 25% of companies who actually tell you they aren't hiring you (you think I am exaggerating), I was obviously disappointed. As was Matt, since he felt like he had done really well in his interviews and actually wanted to work for the company.

* The following day, I took a call here at home for Matt. From ITT Tech, and the lady wanted him to call her back. Matt hadn't taken the cell phone that day - he's smart enough not to make all these things with his phone at work - so I emailed him and he came home during his lunch break. But since they'd already rejected him, I couldn't imagine why ITT would need to talk to him again.

So, I was around while Matt was on the phone with ITT - he was upstairs but he came downstairs and was gesturing to me and trying to write something on the dry erase board, only the marker didn't work because Betsy had smooshed the tip. But apparently what ITT had to say to him was not 'Nyah nyah nyah' but 'We'd like to make you an offer.' See, apparently he was turned down for the FIRST job he'd interviewed for - I had forgotten there were actually TWO.

Let me reiterate: MATT GOT A BETTER JOB. After what felt like for-like-ever. He's going to be Managing Director for Educational Recruitment, which is awfully fancy-sounding and MUCH better than the unsatisfying sales job he's been struggling with for the last almost-two-years. There are a whole host of reasons why this job will be better, to wit:

* Opportunity for advancement. At Matt's old (current) company, there was pretty much nowhere to go. Matt will be managing the call center for a fairly new department, and it's a big company (headquarters are here in Indy). So we are hoping that within a few years he will be able to move up the ladder. It's nice to think that his career is back on track after a brief hiccup (none of which, I should add, was due to any kind of failing on Matt's part - it was just lousy luck and a bad economy).

* The pay isn't necessarily a whole lot better when you compare it with our 2009 tax return, but it is better. (Our thrifty habits honed over the past several years will always come in handy. I will still shop at Goodwill, but let's face it, I'd do that anyway.) The main thing is that it's consistent pay, without the stress and silly mind games of salary-plus-commission.

* Insurance benefits that we can afford. (No, we haven't been uninsured for the past two years. We got benefits through my job, and after I got the sack, we've been doing a self-paid thing. It works, but it's not optimal. It's more expensive and we don't have dental or vision.)

* Matt was really impressed with the management that he will be working with. One of the big sources of frustration at his current-soon-to-be-former job is that the company isn't really set up for the salespeople to make good sales. Also? He will be management. There's a lot to be said for being in control of your own fate.

Matt will be working the same crazy hours - 1 to 10 p.m. - that he did when he was in the student loan business, only without the 1-hour commute downtown. It's about 20-25 minutes, depending on traffic. And honestly, I have learned that there are both advantages and disadvantages to this work schedule. He misses rush hour, and while I don't like not having him around in the evening (that's when the kids are at their crankiest. Probably because they are hungry, and he hasn't been getting home until 6:30 or later.) it's AWESOME having a chunk of time in the morning when I can do my grocery shopping or whatever and he can play with the kids. Matt's biggest concern is having enough time to spend with Betsy, since she gets on the bus at 8 a.m. and goes to bed at 8 p.m., but we will figure out ways to make it work.

So, finally, FINALLY after two years of alternating hope and despair, things are looking up for our family. Our kids have been praying 'Please let Daddy get a better job' in much the same way that you would say 'Blessthisfoodthatitmaystrengthenandnourishourbodies' and I'm really happy that their prayers (and ours) have been answered. I'm feeling a level of optimism for the future that is almost uncharacteristic for this Gloomy Gus.

Matt starts the new position on Thursday. He's winding down at his current job - it's so futile he actually finds it comical. We were planning to take a mini-vacation during Spring Break, but since he won't have the vacation days, we took off last Friday and went up to Chicago for a day and a half. But I will blog about that later because I feel like this has gone on long enough...

Another Sewing Post

2010-03-05T07:50:00.004-05:00

So, I was looking at my blog the other day, and down on the left side it shows my total number of posts by month. I realized that I updated my blog twice in January, and once in February. For a grand total of three posts so far in 2010. And that's, well, kind of pathetic. One of my good friends is doing a project this year where she updates her blog every single day, meaning so far she has written 64 posts. And I have written three. One of my purposes for this blog is so that I can remember things that happen, since I have a notoriously bad memory, and I already am not too sure what's gone on in 2010. Here are a couple of the highlights:

- I got a root canal. Boy, was that fun. I had a cavity (that had previously been filled) that was bothering me badly enough to go to the dentist, even though we don't have dental insurance. I was tempted just to get the thing pulled, but Matt convinced me to spend the $1700 (yikes!) and have it fixed.

- I have been practicing my flute like crazy for the Easter cantata that is coming up.

- Porter and Betsy have been playing together really, really well since Christmas. They will go off together in the basement or one of the bedrooms and I won't hear from them for an hour or two (until the playing turns to violence).

- Amy has really had an explosion of speech. She's using two- and three-word sentences more often. In fact, when she sneezed at the dinner table the other night, I told her 'bless you' and she looked at Matt and went, "Say 'bless you,' Dad." She's going to have a few more visits from the speech therapist and then she will be done.

-Amy is also OBSESSED with the song 'I Am A Child Of God.' She will sing the song - while conducting - and then fold her arms and say a prayer, just like we do in the nursery. Only she does this about three or four times a day. One of these times I will catch it on film and then you will see what I mean.

- I've been sewing like a FIEND. I knew I would have to get started early on my daughters' Easter dresses, because of the aforementioned Cantata eating up much of my time. I am proud to say that they are done. Done! with more than a month to spare. Here is a little sneaky-peeky:

Aren't I a stinker? You'll see the full awesomeness eventually, I promise. Betsy has a big fluffy crinoline slip for hers, but I am still looking for something to give Amy's dress the appropriate vintage-style poof. And I came to a realization while I was sewing the last button on:

We don't actually have church on Easter.

Boy, it would have been super if I'd remembered that ahead of time, huh? (Easter falls on the first Sunday of April - that's General Conference.) No matter, my girls could always use something adorable, sweet, and charming to wear. So I guess they will be Palm Sunday dresses, instead.

My other big project for 2010 has been sewing doll clothes. I've actually been buying things at Goodwill (skirts and blouses are good) then cutting them up and making American Girl-sized dresses. The idea being to sell them in my Etsy shop and make a little money to spend on, most likely, more fabric. Here is the first batch:

There were actually 8 dresses originally, because I made duplicates of some. (If you cut carefully, and spend more time than you'd like to admit picking out all the darts, a women's size blouse can become 2 doll dresses.) I am quite thrilled to report that I have sold all 8 of them already! I had so much fun sewing all these dresses (I just really have a thing for dresses. Have you guessed?) that I have already started in on the next batch. Fun times!

Polyester!

2010-02-12T15:20:00.004-05:00

So, in my last post I alluded to the fact that I'd decided to sew myself a dress, sort of my way of protesting against the dreariness of winter (and that inevitable moment that comes in mid-January when you look in your closet and realize you are sick to death of dark colors and heavy sweaters). And that's exactly what I did. I made myself a dress and I'm wearing it today for the first time. This was the third time I've used an actual vintage pattern (not a repro) and I think it worked out pretty well.

This is the pattern I used:
Copyright 1975. I got it in an enormous lot of vintage patterns I found last summer at a church sale and paid $2 for. I listed quite a few of them on Etsy, but there were a lot of patterns that were not only my size but my style as well. I can't say what it is exactly about this pattern that I liked so much - probably the topstitching. For the fabric, I had a length of vintage polyester doubleknit that I got at a different church sale for next to nothing (I think I paid $2 for a great big garbage bag full of assorted fabrics) in an interesting kelly green with white dots. I hardly ever wear green, I always think I don't look good in it, but this shade seems really nice. And I knew it would be perfect for a winter dress because that polyester doubleknit is hot.

So, here's the finished dress:
I used some vintage buttons from my stash (on the cuffs - you can't see in the picture) and I already had a pack of ballpoint needles from yet another church sale - the only thing I ended up needing to buy for this project was some polyester thread. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The topstitching at the neck is a little wonky (probably because there's so much bulk there) and I added pockets, so the hips don't lie as smooth as they should (but it's worth it to have a place to stash my chapstick, a winter necessity). The pattern pieces actually aren't as much of an A-line as the illustration suggests... I had to take in the waist by about an inch, and if I make this pattern again (which I would like to, in contrasting prints, something like this) I will redraft the skirt to flare out a little more. But still, this project was the perfect cure for the winter blahs. I even have the perfect brown wedge-heel shoes to wear with it (a steal from Old Navy's clearance rack) although with all the snow today, I paired it with my Goodwill brown boots.

I've actually been on a big creative kick lately. I've started posting a new story, and I've been cranking out scrapbook layouts almost as fast as I can get the photos printed. I've been having a lot of fun with my new Slice (it's this digital cutter thing - yes, I held out on the die cutting machines for years and years, but I've finally given in) and trying to dig my way through my colossal stash of paper rather than going out and buying more. Here are some of the fruits of my labors:

It's a good thing I've gotten a lot done, crafty-wise, in the last couple of weeks because I'm sure I won't get anything else accomplished until the Olympics are over!

Bleh.

2010-01-28T14:06:00.003-05:00

It doesn't come as a shock to anyone who knows me that I am not really the biggest fan of winter. I even haven't updated my blog in ages because once Christmas is over, there's nothing interesting to say or do or look at for weeks at a time. It snows, it melts, it rains, it snows some more. Actually, today is one of those icy-sunny days, which I think I prefer over 30 degrees and overcast. So yay for the sun. Although, I'm probably not doing myself any favors dividing my time between the basement (for crafting) and the computer (for tutoring and, occasionally, updating the ol' blog.)

But we are just plugging along in this family. Matt goes to work, Betsy goes to first grade, Porter is in preschool in the afternoons and when Amy naps I have a little time to get things done. Matt took Porter to a Pacers game last week and they both had fun, although Porter was mainly interested in the water fountains at Conseco Fieldhouse. Betsy had the 100th day of school and glued 100 buttons to a T shirt - much to my surprise, they didn't all fall off. Amy's new words lately are "okay" and "mm-hmm" (both of which crack me up), she's doing better with two-word sentences, and she likes to blow raspberries on my cheeks. She's also obsessed with baby dolls but that's nothing new.

As I mentioned above, I've been doing a lot of crafting in the new year. Mainly sewing, so far. (I finally cracked and got a Slice - a digital cutter for scrapbooking - but it was dysfunctional and I had to send it back, so I really haven't scrapped that much yet.) I've been sewing a lot of doll clothes - something I really enjoy, although I think I need to take a break from it for a while. Last night I cut out the girls' Easter dresses, mainly as a way of looking forward to spring. They will both be vintage patterns (Amy's and Betsy's) made out of fabric with vintage patterns on it. Yes, there are times when I enjoy being the mother of daughters and this is definitely one of those times.

I was talking to a friend today and realized that while I've been sewing like crazy lately, I've barely sewn anything for myself. In the past year I've made me two dresses and a skirt. Sad. Now, one of my New Year's resolutions - pretty much the only one - is NO NEW FABRIC until at least June. It's fun to challenge myself to shop from my stash, and I've realized that I really need to make something for myself, because I've reached that inevitable point in the winter when I realize I hate all of my clothes. Anyway, I have lots of summer dresses, and lots of Sunday dresses, but what I really need is a winter weekday dress. Something that I can wear over thick cotton tights and some knee-high boots (from Goodwill, of course). So I went through my ever-growing pattern stash (the corollary to my rule above, by the way, is no new patterns, either) and I've definitely come up with some good options. I have lots of vintage patterns that are actually my size, so hopefully I will be able to get something whipped up by the end of next week.

The other thing that's been keeping me busy lately - no, it's not laundry - is the Easter Cantata. See, a lady in my ward decided it would be fun to put together a multi-ward choir (It really baffles me that some mothers - she has three small kids, even - can do stuff like this and I can't even get my laundry folded.) and put on a massive performance of one of Sally DeFord's easter cantatas. Matt was actually the one who saw the flyer first and told me about it - I've really missed being in a big choir since I left Rochester. Anyway, guess what this paricular choral work has?

Have you guessed yet?

FLUTE PARTS, and guess who plays the flute (although not so much in recent years), it's me. So I went ahead and volunteered my services, and surprisingly there are actually not a ton of flute players around here, so they were more than happy to have me. So I've had to practice a lot, although I have to say, it's all come back pretty easily. I loaded the music onto my new MP3 player (Thanks, Matt!) and listened to it over and over so that hopefully, when March 28th comes around, I won't totally embarrass myself.

Actually, now that I think about it, 2010 hasn't been so boring after all. We've been to the Children's Museum and saw the new Barbie exhibit (Mom - you HAVE to come see it) and we went to Conner Prarie, the local living-history place, on MLK Day when it was free. I actually liked it so much I think we might get a membership (it's only $65 a year, which is cheaper than any of our other memberships) and go back in the summer. Matt and I went out for our 9th anniversary (only a month or so late) and I wore this new outfit, courtesy of Goodwill. The Colts are going to the Super Bowl, and unlike certain brothers of mine, I am hoping they will win (although I wouldn't mind if a Super Bowl victory is not followed by a giant blizzard like it was the last time around). I've been watching Universal Sports Network a whole lot lately and getting excited for the Winter Olympics, which I always enjoy watching even though I'm not really a sports person. So it's been a decent year so far and there is still plenty to look forward to.

2009: Year In Review

2010-01-08T22:20:00.005-05:00

Yeah, so I've been meaning to do this blog post all year (ha!) and haven't had the time. Right now I am in a tutoring session waiting for a student so I will take the opportunity to sum up some of the many things that happened in 2009. Sort of the highlights of my blog, if my blog can be said to have any highlights.

2009 got off to not the greatest start with my Grandaddy passing away. I have to say, though, that in looking back I find this more bittersweet than anything else. His passing wasn't particularly unexpected, it was peaceful, and he had a really beautiful funeral with military honors. (Oh, and I was totally shouting ROLL TIDE last night in Grandaddy's honor.)
Things got kind of interesting with the child care situation. And then, all of a sudden, everything got easier again when I was let go from my job. I have to say, I was expecting to stop working sometime in 2009, but not in the way that I did. Crazy. On the plus side, I've been able to get more tutoring hours and that goes a long way in making up lost income, especially since I don't have to pay for child care (and can write blog posts while I work). And I can totally take a nap or make cookies any time I want.
We didn't have any car accidents in 2009, thank goodness. The van did have a flat tire and a $400 brake job, but it's got 80,000 miles on it (and is paid off) so I guess that's to be expected.
I got a serger, which is like the awesomest thing ever. It really came in handy when making Betsy's Halloween costume. And I established my craft area in the basement, which means I now never have to pick up after myself ever and have almost infinite storage space for all the fabric in the world.
Amy started walking. And talking. We found out she has a mild speech delay (the other 2 probably did as well but we didn't know as much at the time) and started her with speech therapy through First Steps. Which basically consists of a Nice Lady with Toys who comes out and plays with Amy for an hour, twice a month. Win-win as far as I'm concerned.
One visit to urgent care (when I spontaneously broke out in hives in July) and one visit to the ER (y'know, when Porter fell on his head) complete with CAT scans. No stitches or broken bones or concussions or appendectomies, thank heavens.
I saw two of my brothers get married: Rob in the same church where Emily and Russell got married, and Kevin in the Washington D.C temple (it was my first time attending a temple wedding since my own). Welcomed three new girls into the Blinn family: a niece and then two sisters-in-law, tipping the balance even more favorably towards the double X chromosome.
Now that I think about it, I saw the Blinns a lot in 2009. Besides the weddings and funeral, my parents and sisters traveled here a couple of times, such as to see Mike graduate law school or because I didn't think Matt and I could finish a whole Thanksgiving turkey by ourselves. Also, Cath came out for like a week and a half during the summer and we had a blast. Of course, with Mike and his family living on the south side of town, I expect we'll be seeing a lot of them (sorry, guys). Actually, I totally unexpectedly ran into Mandy and Miles at the Children's Museum right after Christmas (well, the museum is really fun so it's not that unexpected).
Porter spontaneously taught himself to read. At the tender young age of four and with still a full year left before he starts kindergarten. Yeah, much as I would like to take credit for that one, I really can't. If anything, we should blame the bump to his head because it was right after that that he suddenly knew how to read. I wonder if it will be like in old movies where he will bump his head again and then forget everything. I sure hope not.
Betsy also learned how to read in 2009, and learned math and writing too - she is really loving first grade.
The kids took swimming lessons over the summer - this was as much about conquering my irrational fear as it was about them. Crazy Mother, party of one! Betsy also did some sports camps which she enjoyed, even if she doesn't show a whole lot of natural athletic ability. Sorry, Matt.
Matt and I both got new callings: he's the stake Young Men secretary and I am the Primary chorister.
Interestingly, 2009 was the year I decided not to have any more kids. For a long time I'd been planning on adding a fourth after Amy and this year I realized that's not practical for several reasons. The good news is this means I get to keep calling Amy "the baby" until she's about 60 or so.
I joined Facebook. Weird to say that this changed my life, but in a way it did - I got back in contact with many high school and college friends and have even met up with some of them in the "real world" (you know, that thing that's not a computer).
I started a lot of projects, and finished many of them.
I had several cards and a layout picked up for publication. I have received some of them already and am currently stalking bookstores for Scrapbook Trends' latest idea book (there should be a cute one-year-old inside!)
I bought two American Girl dolls, both of them secondhand at ridiculous discounts, and both of which are currently put away for the girls to get a little older (a Kit for Betsy and a Bitty Baby for my bitty baby). Also, I discovered how insanely fun it is to sew clothes for American Girl dolls.
I finally joined the rest of the world, circa 2005, when Matt got me an MP3 player for Christmas. But I still have a cell phone that only makes phone calls.
I played my flute in church right before Christmas - something I haven't done for a while. (But I will be doing a lot of fluting in 2010 so stay tuned!)
I learned how to sell on both eBay and Etsy - didn't sell a whole lot, but made enough to have a little bit of "fun money" to blow on fabric and patterned paper.
Turned thirty, and found my first gray hairs. Yuck.
Things that didn't happen in 2009 that I thought probably would: Matt didn't find a different job and I didn't stop nursing Amy. Oh well, there's always 2010.

Santa Was Here

2009-12-26T09:30:00.007-05:00

Okay, I'm not even going to bother trying to get all of these pictures into the right order. I think you're all sick of hearing me rant about Blogger, right? At least it only took me 3 tries to get them all up.

There was snow on Tuesday, although it's all gone by now. That was also the day I took the kids down to the Children's Museum for their awesome Jolly Days exhibit, including the Yule Slide... I had never actually done the slide before; I was surprised at how fast it actually is! (Parenthetically, we also visited the newly opened Barbie exhibit. Porter didn't hate it as much as I thought he would. IT WAS AWESOME.) I spent a good chunk of the week wrapping presents and baking with my three little helpers. Actually, Amy's idea of helping is: put on an apron, drag a chair over to the kitchen island, and stand there demanding cheese. But what she lacks in utility, she more than makes up for in cuteness.

We went to Mike and Mandy's on Christmas Eve for a family tradition of theirs aptly titled All The Snacks In The World; the cousins exchanged gifts and we got to enjoy some adult conversation and came away quite sated. The kids went to bed easily on Christmas Eve and let us sleep to a quite reasonable seven o'clock on Christmas.

And then: the presents. It turns out my kids were good this year.

Se7en

2009-12-15T10:29:00.002-05:00

Some kids only get to celebrate their birthday on ONE day. Not Betsy - she got a whole weekend.

On Friday, we took a birthday treat to her class to share - Meijer brand granola bars with rainbow chocolate chips, as she specifically requested. Here she is with her teacher.
It was really cute watching Betsy pass out treats to all of her little classmates, especially because she let Porter help her. For Saturday, Matt had told Betsy she could choose a fun place to go, since she didn't get a party this year (I only have parties for even number birthdays). She vacillated on it for a while but finally settled on Chuck E. Cheese.

We had actually never taken our children there before (and I grew up in the era when they had a whole animatronic house band and not just the rat and a big screen TV, and they didn't stamp your hands so you could take just anyone's kids home with you) but somehow they knew instinctively that it would be fun. And it was surprisingly inexpensive - for twenty bucks we got a greasetastic pizza, some drinks, and thirty tokens, which was plenty. The kids had a really good time, even Amy.

Sunday was the actual birthday. We let Betsy open presents first thing in the morning, since it was going to be a crazy day with lots of church things. And in spite of the fact that she knew exactly what she was getting for her birthday (since she was with me when I bought them. In January.) she still managed to drum up some enthusiasm.

Yeah.

Anyway, once we undid all the little twist ties from her Barbie MyHouse, and I applied all the stinking little decals, she had a fine time with it until we had to leave for church.

We finally had cake at night and sang to her. Only, because I am the worst mother in the world, I had neglected to buy any birthday canles, so we only had three teeny tiny little nubs. But I think I'll be able to tell from the photos that she's actually turning seven and not three.

Thirty things I've learned in thirty years

2009-12-09T07:25:00.001-05:00

1. If you love someone, tell him right away.

2. I have the best sisters in the world.

3. My brothers aren't too shabby either.

4. It doesn't pay to be an early adopter of new technology.

5. Chocolate.

6. In looks and personality, I am a little dad, a little mom, but mostly my own self.

7. I am a good writer.

8. I can be either a morning or a night person as required.

9. How hard you work in life sometimes means less than who you know.

10. No matter what job I have, I can always find something to like about it.

11. But it's probably good I've never worked retail.

12. I will probably never stop twirling my hair, and that's okay. I actually see other people doing it all the time.

13. If God wanted me to swim, He'd have given me gills.

14. I shouldn't have waited so long to learn how to sew.

15. I live in the greatest country in the world.

16. Music makes me happy.

17. It's impossible to start the Christmas season too soon.

18. I still swoon over cute male celebrities. This is totally normal and doesn't make me a bad wife.

19. There is a huge difference between the ages of 19 and 21.

20. Filtered water is best.

21. I am more financially responsible than the majority of Americans.

22. The best books were written between 1910 and 1950 or so.

23. It's kind of nice to be five foot seven.

24. Be mindful of the opportunity costs.

25. Eating good food with people you like is one of the great pleasures in life.

26. If you're wearing something crazy and people are staring at you, it's probably because they wish they were brave enough to pull off something like that themselves.

27. The internet is awesome, but it'll steal your soul if you don't watch out.

28. Leftover black bean quesadillas are the best breakfast of all time.

29. The most flattering clothes are ones that fit.

30. The dryer really does work better if you remember to clean the lint trap. (Sorry, Matt!)

Ten years gone

2009-12-05T09:31:00.002-05:00

This picture was taken on my twentieth birthday: December 5, 1999.

You may notice that the date was exactly ten years ago today. Yep, it's my thirtieth birthday. Now, being that I'm a woman, this is supposed to be one of those dreaded milestones. I have to say, though, I think I've gotten my money's worth out of my twenties. Let's take a look at the last third of my life, shall we?

Age 20: When this picture was taken, I had just changed my major to chemistry a few months before, I still wore glasses, and I had very recently broken up with the last boy I ever dated and didn't marry. Within two months of this photo, I had switched to contact lenses and started dating Matt.
Age 21: Got married. Bought my first non-rusty car, got a job in a lab, met my in-laws, started scrapbooking, and graduated from college (eventually).
Age 22: Got pregnant with Betsy and got laid off from my job a few months later. Oh well, that gave me more time to look at garage sales for baby stuff. We bought our first house in November of that year.
Age 23: Umm, became a mother.
Age 24: Started working for the online tutoring company that I am still with, five years later. Got in a car accident & wrecked the Taurus - bought a minivan, which is what I've wanted ever since I was a teenager. Matt turned 30 and I found out I was pregnant with Porter the next day.
Age 25: Had Porter and served in the Relief Society presidency.
Age 26: Sold our first house and moved into our current place which is much, much bigger. Wrote my first piece of fan fiction, started my blog, bought a sewing machine, and had a scrapbook page published for the first time.
Age 27: Found out I was pregnant with Amy, went to Disneyworld, and taught seminary.
Age 28: Matt lost his job a month or two after my birthday. Thought we were moving to Utah, then didn't. Paid through the nose for COBRA. Actually went into labor on my own and gave birth to what I didn't realize at the time would be my last baby. Upgraded my sewing machine. Got a full-time job for the first time in years. Spent a lot of time pumping.
Age 29: Got sacked from my job and enjoyed being home with my kids again. Bought a serger.
Age 30: Wrote this blog entry.

T-Day Wrap-Up

2009-12-03T15:18:00.005-05:00

Since Thanksgiving was a week ago, and I've now officially divested my fridge of anything that could be considered a 'leftover,' maybe I should actually write about it.

We had, as you can see, a houseful of Blinns. My parents drove out on Tuesday night, arriving in time to watch that night's episode of NCIS (I thought it was
just okay but I enjoyed the shoulder holster and the Real Genius reference), and left on Friday morning. It was a whirlwind trip, but we still had time to go on Steak 'n' Shake - we went on Wednesday night since my mom and I were full on sick of cooking at that point - and even squeeze in a visit to Hancock Fabrics. Matt and my kids and my dad and sisters went down to the Childrens' Museum on Wednesday and Mom and I stayed home to cook and bake and generally mess up the kitchen. (I also found the time to list a bunch of stuff on eBay - I've finally figured out how to use that site so I've been clearing out some of the piles of stuff I've accumulated in my basement over the years. The fact that I get money for it is just a nice little bonus.) Also, I discovered that the Guacamole Steakburger is the fall-apartiest steakburger ever, but it's delicious, as is the Peppermint Chocolate Chip Shake.

Mike and Many and Miles came up on Thursday morning while Matt was at Turkey Bowl, and there were plenty of cinnamon rolls to go around. We pretty much feasted from one end of the day to the other, what with crackers and cheese and sausage and veggies and deviled eggs and then the feast really began. The turkey was done around 4:00, which was perfect timing - if it had finished before the Packers/Lions game was over, I don't think anyone would have touched it. My personal big accomplishment was making yeast rolls from scratch for the first time ever ( with only a little help from my mom) (okay, and some assistance from Molly) and they were really, really good. A little pie to round the whole meal out and some Christmas music while cleaning up the dishes, and I'd have to call it an enormously successful holiday.

All About Amy

2009-11-17T11:31:00.003-05:00

Amy had what I'm deeming her 19-month checkup today. She weighs in at a hefty yet adorable 25 pounds, and I forget her height and head size but she's right on track for that. She also got a bunch of shots and I swear, the look she gave me afterwards was heartbreakingly hilarious - Mom, how could you do this to me? But even that should be more or less done with, since she won't have too many more immunizations scheduled, and she'll be better able to understand it when she does. Actually, Porter was really funny in the dorctor's office this morning: once we established that he wasn't having a shot (both he and Betsy got the H1N1 through the schools, and it was a mist) he informed me that Amy wasn't going to have one either. I don't know if this is because he didn't want to see her hurt (Porter has his moments of being a really solicitous and loving older brother, like when he and Amy went to Egypt while I was making dinner last night) or if he just didn't want to hear her cry.

Anyway, Amy is now or will soon be immune to a whole host of nasty-but-largely-forgotten childhood diseases. Yay! She's also forgiven me for the thigh jabs. Our doctor's office has just added a nurse practitioner who doubles as a lactation consultant, and that's who we saw today, so I had a nice chat with her. I was slightly embarrassed to admit that my daughter is nineteen months old and still nursing, but she was impressed (or at least nice enough not to call me a freak). For what it's worth, the High Octane Mom Juice seems to be agreeing with Amy, since she's healthy, adorable and fat. Anyway, I told her that my goal is to get Amy off the sauce before her birthday, and she agreed that it probably wouldn't hurt to keep nursing her until winter cold/flu season is over, which is a point I hadn't even thought of. So, that gives me a little while to figure out how I am going to handle the Weaning Angst.

Mine, not Amy's.

We also chatted about Amy's speech development a bit. Now, I noticed about two or three months ago that while Amy had plenty to say, she wasn't so much for actual words. I'm perfectly willing to chalk that up to any manner of causes (her explosion of gross and fine motor around 13 months probably had a lot to do with it) but I also consider speech, hearing, and communication in general to be important enough that I don't mess around. So I called First Steps who came in and did an evaluation, and almost to my surprise they said that she did have a mild speech delay, so Amy's been getting speech therapy twice a month. The nice thing about speech therapy for a one-year-old is that it basically consists of a nice lady coming to our house with a huuuge bag of toys and giving Amy her undivided attention for an hour. Boy, that's really hard, right?

Anyway, Amy's had about four or five visits from Nice Lady With Toys, and I swear it has actually made a difference. Amy's gone from saying "hi," "bye-bye" and "Daaaaa" (her name for Daddy - it's not so much what she says, as how she says it) to having probably twenty or twenty-five words. Her Top Five right now are:

1. NO

2. Mine (Hmm, is someone the youngest of three kids?)

3. Bite

4. Daddy (she still doesn't know how to say my name, although Matt says she does, but if she only says it when I'm not around then it doesn't count)

5. Baby (Let me tell you, this child is fixated on dolls. She's either carrying around one of hers or one of Betsy's. I decided to go ahead and give her a Bitty Baby for her second birthday instead of her third. And because I'm AWESOME, I found one at a church sale for five bucks last weekend.)

So, that's my little girly in a nutshell. She continues to be the center of attention and probably will be for a long, long time. Actually at the moment she is trying to play Duck Duck Goose with me - this consists of saying "Dah? Dah? Dah?" and randomly patting my head, then running away. Then we're going to go to Meijer and see the fishies and I am going to bribe her with juice to let me do the grocery shopping.

Candy Hangover

2009-11-04T07:37:00.004-05:00

Yeah, we have A LOT of candy in the house. Fortunately, I've been doing my best to remedy that situation, as you knew I would. The kids basically got to do Halloween twice: Ward Trunk-or-Treat on Friday (And I've been wondering, is that an Indiana thing or a Mormon thing? Because I'd never heard of it until a few years ago) and the neighborhood parade on Saturday. It was a little bit cold, but the kids' costumes were warm enough, or at least I didn't hear any complaining. Betsy had the fewest layers on, but she's also the one posessed of the most intestinal fortitude (at least when candy is involved), so she wouldn't even dream of putting a jacket on over her costume.

Just to rehash: Betsy was Glinda (sewed by yours truly); Porter was Buzz Lightyear (re-used from last year, although I think this is his last time wearing it); and Amy was a zebra (a costume which has been in use in our family almost continuously since 2004). I didn't even bother trying to get a photo of all three of them together; if you've been reading this blog, you know why. But I did get some adorable pictures of each kid individually. I guess when I scrapbook, I'll just overlap them.

I think that the best part of Halloween, as far as my kids were concerned, is that their Grandma and Grandpa were here to enjoy it! Matt's parents flew out for a quick three-day visit while the kids were on fall break. Betsy had a blast doing shrink art with Grandma (she kept referring to it as 'snark art' which I find irrationally hilarious); Porter duly impressed everyone with his reading skills; and Amy made a point of being especially adorable and fetching. Grandma insisted on taking them down to Target and buying them each a small toy. (Sadly, my kids don't have anywhere near enough toys!) Betsy got a My Little Pony (I later found out that she chose Star Song mainly because the neighbor girl already has that one and she didn't); Porter chose a Lego fire chief car (to go along with the fire truck he'll be getting for Christmas), and Amy got a baby doll that can go in the bath. She couldn't wait until it was out of the package, and was hugging the bath. Girlie has definitely hit the baby doll stage in a big way.

Now, of course, I'm ready for it to be Christmas. It's not that I don't enjoy Thanksgiving. Any holiday when we get to enjoy three or four kinds of pies in one day is the kind of thing I can really get into. What's more, my parents and sisters are making the trek out from New York for T-Day. But nothing can really compare to the Christmas season! We're having our family picture taken on Friday (there's a guy at Matt's work that does them for free) so I sewed myself a fluffy skirt out of this cool retro poinsettia fabric I got a couple of years ago.

This week, I'm scrapbooking, and making some cards for some submission calls (I don't think I mentioned, I had one picked up by Cards magazine last month - it'll be my first time in that mag., so I'm thrilled) and today I'm probably going to Hancock's for some really awesome fabric of which I will shortly post pictures. Oh, and maybe I should at least think about taking the Halloween decorations down.

Before and After

2009-10-26T09:45:00.004-04:00

Here's our recliner, which has been around forever:
I got it from my grandparents when they were downsizing, so probably 2004 or 2005. My grandmother says she's actually had it reupholstered TWICE. I had bought fabric to do same, only then the economy collapsed, and I couldn't justify spending $3-400 on something that wasn't food, diapers, or health insurance. But, I did have the fabric (which was a steal at $5 a yard) so I finally decided to try my hand at sewing a slipcover.

To wit:
I actually... sort of hate it. The pattern I used was badly drafted, and nothing fits the way it's supposed to, and it looks all bunchy and homesewn, and the only way to keep it together is with a bunch of upholstery pins which like to pop out and prevent a safety hazard. BUT. At least it matches the rest of our furniture now.

I got a lot of other stuff finished last week, too. Like Betsy's Halloween costume, which is very sparkly and girl-tastic. I also made some random doll clothes (my current obsession, I must admit) and an apron for Betsy that I cut out in, I think, 2007. I made matching mother-daughter aprons for us and since I had so much leftover fabric, I also cut one out for her in a larger size, since she grows and whatnot. The interesting thing was, something that used to take me days to sew is now completed in mere hours. Yay competence!

I should be cleaning my house before my in-laws arrive on Thursday, but I'm blogging instead. I'm also dealing with a houseful of sickies... not fun. I was rather miserable last week but all I have now is a lingering tickle in my throat, which is more of a nuisance than anything else. But poor Betsy is home from school today. On Friday morning she threw up on the bus and had to come home. I'm hoping she'll be all better tomorrow, since it's a short school week as it is. And Amy had a fever yesterday: we actually had to leave church early, but not until the Primary program was done, which was AWESOME and I was so proud of all the kids and not just mine.

But, it's not all bad around here. Look what we saw this morning:

No, that house isn't on fire. It's a RAINBOW.

I Haven't Died

2009-10-19T08:37:00.003-04:00

I've just been doing a lot of multi-tasking.

(Isn't that picture hilarious? The best part is, Amy came up with that trick all on her own... and immediately came running to show me Just How Clever she is.)

We've been getting ready for Halloween, which is always a fun holiday. I put up the decorations a few weeks ago and I've been working on Betsy's costume:

She's being Glinda, the good witch from the Wizard of Oz. She came up with this idea entirely on her own, mind you. The dress isn't totally finished in the picture above: it still needs hemmed, and there's a lit of sparkly trim. But I'm thrilled to death with how it looks. The funny thing is, this costume weighs a TON. I made it out of good heavy satin - I think it was originally from the bridal section, and not costumes, because they didn't have the right color - and that skirt is abot a million yards wide. I have no idea how Betsy is going to handle trick-or-treating, but I'm sure she'll manage.

We went to the pumpkin patch last Saturday and let the kids pick out their own pumpkins.

It's really turned into quite the event, with games and rides and whatnot. We let the kids each pick a couple of activities that they could do.

The next big thing on my plate is the Primary music program. We rehearsed it in the chapel last Sunday; we have one more practice on Saturday and then it's SHOWTIME. And I woke up this morning with a killer sore throat... I seriously cannot lose my voice this week!

WCMD '09

2009-10-04T07:54:00.005-04:00

Okay, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I didn't get any cardmaking done yesterday, which was World Cardmaking Day. I was just way too busy. But, I'd sort of anticipated that that would happen, so I got these done a little earlier in the week:

Yeah, I'm still having lots of fun with that Early Bird paper pack. Maybe at some point I'll actually use it for a scrapbook page?!

There's a chill in the air...

2009-09-29T12:10:00.005-04:00

It was actually in the mid-sixties yesterday, but the gale force winds made it feel a lot cooler. The calendar and I agree: it is definitely fall. Now, I largely view summer as something to be gotten through in order to achieve the reward of cooler days (I mean, I like the 4th of July and the State Fair and everything, but I hate to sweat) so I'm happy when I can open the windows to let the breezes in and haul my sweaters out of storage.

There are lots of fun things about fall. Like the season premieres of all my favorite TV shows. I actually somehow spaced out on the first episode of The Office (don't worry, I caught it online) and Chuck, another favorite of mine, won't be around until winter (curse you, Jay Leno, for messing up the NBC schedule!) but the first episode of Season 7 of NCIS was AMAZING. Now, it's no secret how I feel about that show, but WOW. Can't wait for the second episode tonight.

Speaking of NCIS, here's a birthday card that I made for a friend who is also a fan of the show:
The sentiment on the front is a reference to how DiNozzo likes his pizza, and on the inside I wrote (actually stamped, and I still have red ink all over my fingers, which would be so cool if it was Halloween) "May you enjoy all of the things you love on your birthday." And I love the crisp autumnal colors and vintage stylin' of those papers (Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird line). I made a whopping $10 off of our fall neighborhood garage sale, and promptly blew it all on scrapbook supplies.

And speaking of cards, October 3 is World Card-Making Day. (There are just all kinds of craft-related holidays! For example, September is National Sewing Month. I think my previous post shows how I feel about that.) That's also the first day of General Conference, so I think I'll set up the broadcast on the baby monitor and go down in the basement, so I can listen to the prophet and apostles and play around with paper & stickers at the same time. Since it's conference, I'll also need to make some cinnamon rolls.

Speaking of baking (Man, I am just on fire today with these awesome segues!), fall is also the time I really want to start baking again. Actually, I'd start making Christmas cookies right now if I thought I could get away with it (have I made it clear on this blog how I feel about Christmas?) but that would be weird, so I'll hold off until at least November 1. But I got some baking apples to make a pie, and I just found a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I'd like to try (did you know that a can of pumpkin has like a zillion percent of your RDA for Vitamin A? See, they're not a dessert, they're health food) and oh yeah! The cookie press that Matt gave me last Christmas has a pumpkin shaped plate so I'll have to get that out too.

Another thing that fall brings is the Primary music program for church. Now, at first it seemed like a bum deal that I got called as Primary chorister less than two months before the program, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it's not so bad. See, the kids already know the songs; I don't have to worry so much about teaching them, just reviewing. And the calling is really starting to grow on me. (Much like seminary did two years ago.) The first two Sundays, I thought I was going to die, sweat was just pouring off me and I was certain that the kids could all see through me. BUT once I convinced myself that I could do it (and really, how judgemental can these kids be? They're all eleven and under) then I started to have fun. I mean, I like kids (apparently), I like music so what's not to love?

Oh! And I am so looking forward to Halloween, even though I am nowhere near ready for it. Matt's parents are actually coming out to visit the last weekend in October, and the kids are way psyched that Grandma and Grandpa get to see them in their costumes. Porter is going to be Buzz Lightyear again, Amy is going as the ubiquitous zebra, but Betsy actually gets a new costume this year. She told me in June, or maybe it was April, that she wanted to be "the good witch from the Wizard of Oz" this year. Yikes - lucky thing I have a serger, for all that ravelly fabric! Anyway, lucky me, this was the year that Simplicity put out an actual licensed Wizard of Oz pattern (they actually did several versions, including baby, dog, and ho) so I won't have to improvise. It did take me a really long time to find the exact right color for Glinda's dress - it's not a pink pink, it's more of a peachy pink - but I finally tracked it down at Hancock's (clearance, yay!) and got everything cut out last night. So, we'll certainly be an eclectic bunch for Halloween (someday I'll make matching themed costumes for the three of them, but not this year) but as long as there's candy, it's all good!

Craftaholics Anonymous

2009-09-17T11:30:00.007-04:00

So, I've been pretty much crafting non-stop for the last couple of weeks. (What else did you think I was going to do with my free afternoons? Laundry?!) And since I haven't updated the ol' blog for a while, I thought I should share some of the fruits of my labors.

Needless to say, I've been scrapbooking. (Don't know what's up with these scans; I promise the real thing isn't so blurry!)

And, while I had the trimmer and the stamps and all of THAT mess out, I made some cards too. Just for fun and a way to use up the scraps.

So, I decided to go ahead and get started on Christmas. Betsy's getting a lot of doll clothes for her Bitty Baby, mostly made out of the scraps of other projects. If you look closely, you'll probably see something you recognize:

Anyway, I had so much fun with that, I decided to haul out my old Molly doll from 1991 and see if I could sew some dresses for the 18" dolls. (Betsy will be getting one next year so I guess I am REALLY working ahead for Christmas 2010!) I could seriously get addicted to sewing doll clothes... they only take about half a yard or so and I can whip one up in an afternoon while Amy sleeps. Kind of the sewing equivalent of making cards from my scrapbook supplies.

Anyway, now it's time to stop messing around. Tutoring started this week, I got a new calling (Primary chorister), and Halloween is just around the corner. (Actually, if the aisles at Hobby Lobby are anything to go by, Christmas is just around the corner.) Betsy is getting a homemade costume this year, so I guess I'd better get cracking!

Speed demon!

2009-09-03T08:25:00.003-04:00

Amy's new trick: RUNNING. With a telephone.

And P.S. how much do you love her outfit? I seriously love those Circo separates they sell at Target (they're cute and CHEAP).

In other news, it's Matt's birthday today. I'm attempting a very fancy dessert to go along with his special birthday dinner. So, if it turns out, I'll post a picture, and if it doesn't... well, at least there will be ice cream.

Catching up, yet again.

2009-08-22T07:58:00.004-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this blog. (I've found Facebook to be a pretty effective timesuck, in case you were wondering.) First off, a meme from my SIL Laura's blog - she tagged me in one of those 'Seven random things about yourself' dealies and in case you haven't noticed by now, I love talking about myself and could do it all day.

1. I consider myself to be pretty low maintenance. I've still never had a pedicure, I color my own hair (when I remember to, anyway) and the only place I buy shoes these days is Goodwill.

2. Speaking of which, even if we were millionaires I'd still shop at Goodwill.

3. I actually resisted getting a digital camera for a really long time. Matt still teases me about this from time to time. As it is we're only on our second digital (and unlike most scrapbookers, I still have a fairly basic point-and-shoot).

4. I love the bonus features on DVDs, especially the previews. (This is actually a trait that Porter shares with me!)

5. I write fan fiction, but until recently I didn't really admit it in public! Now I don't care who knows. And I am really addicted to reviews as a way of boosting my ego. Horrible, I know.

6. If I ever have the time and money, I'll probably go back to school. Because paying off student loans is just so much fun!

7. They haven't really bothered me yet, but I need to get my wisdom teeth removed.

Moving on... the kids are in school now, and I am loving it. Betsy's in first grade and she seems to be adjusting really well so far. Porter is in afternoon preschool this year so four days a week, I am down to one kid between noon and 3:30. Which is pretty awesome, especially because Amy still naps.

But because summer isn't over yet, we went to the State Fair last weekend. Which is always fun, and to prove it, here's pictures!

Now that I've piqued your curiosity...

2009-08-09T18:52:00.006-04:00

I guess it's about time I told the full story of our trip to Washington D.C.! We drove out on Wednesday and got there with plenty of time to go to Celeste's bridal shower with my mom and Laura. (Unfortunately, Emily and Catherine were stuck in traffic, so they missed it.) We did our best to scare Celeste away from the family, but for whatever reason it didn't work. Sorry, Celeste. Thursday morning, we went down to the nearest Metro station and rode the train to the National Mall. Betsy loved riding the train, by the way.

Unfortunately we only had one day on the Mall so we didn't really get to see a whole lot. But, because Matt and I are slightly obsessive about our vacation planning (Really!) we'd mapped out a pretty good strategy, allowing us to see the highlights of each museum while hopefully avoiding too much boredom on the kids' part. We started at the National Air & Space Museum, which is a perennial favorite. I really liked the new exhibit about the golden age of American air travel; the kids were more amused to learn that astronauts wear diapers in space. When we got done there we hooked up with all four of my sisters and went next door to the American Indian Museum because Fodor's said that they have the best food, and if I'm going to pay too much for overpriced museum food, I at least want it to be good overpriced museum food. Which it was, actually. I had this overpriced chicken soup with lemongrass and cilantro in it and I lapped up every overpriced drop. After lunch Emily wanted to see the American Indian Museum because her kids are half Navajo (the other half) and Catherine wanted to see some art, so we split up again and headed over to the American History Museum. This one is actually my personal favorite, because I'm a little bit of a history junkie, but we also knew the kids would be bored so we kept it brief. America On The Move was my favorite - it's all about how transportation changed the American experience in the 20th century and vice versa. I'd worn my favorite skirt in honor of that one. We also hustled through The American Presidency and The Cost Of Freedom (a history of American wars - all the wars, even the unpopular ones) but didn't really have time to do them justice. Not to worry, though - the Smithsonian also puts together top-notch online exhibitions, so I can enjoy them from the comfort of my own home (and with cheaper food).

We met up with my sisters again at the Natural History Museum, or as my kids call it, "the museum of dead things." I skipped out on seeing the Hope Diamond because we'd already seen it on our last trip in 2003 and... well, not to call a giant diamond overrated, but if you've seen it once, there's no need to see it again. Maybe if they let you try it on or something. Anyway, my sisters and I all completely loved Written In Bone, which is a relatively new exhibit (and it's only there until Feb. 2011, so plan your trip now). I wouldn't have pegged myself for someone who's interested in forensic anthropology (despite my near-obsessive love of NCIS) and, in fact, hadn't even planned on visiting that one but my sisters wanted to. But I got absolutely sucked in. When you have a few minutes to spare, be sure and check out the interactive webcomic, which is slightly cheesy but tells the fascinating true story of one of the skeletons from the exhibit.

After the Natural History Museum we were pretty worn out, but we also wanted to avoid rush hour on the Metro, so we wandered around the Mall for a little while. There's actually a lot more to see than the museums we went to - there's gardens and sculptures and interesting buildings and monuments and whatnot. But, there was also ninety-degree heat AND one-million-percent humidity, so we kept it short. Also, on the train on the way home a pair of extremely well-dressed women (I love people-watching on the Metro - there are some seriously well-turned-out people in our nation's capitol) complimented my skirt, so that felt pretty good. It also felt amazing to go to bed that night.

Mike, Mandy and Miles arrived that night so the next day we all headed to the National Zoo together. We saw a lot of the same animals as the zoo here, of course, but we also saw giant pandas and a baby gorilla, which we don't have (and which totally cracked me up). Again, it was really hot and it started to rain, so we only stayed until 1:30 or so. But the Zoo has free admission, so it was all good. One thing I learned from this trip is that it's not enough to use Mapquest to get directions to a place - you've also got to get the directions back, because they may not necessarily be the same. Pretty much every time we went somewhere, we got lost on the way home. Coming back from the zoo, for example, we ended up in Georgetown, in a pouring rain. But, it was an adventure, and I didn't really mind. A GPS-enabled phone would have been nice, though.

Anyway, Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, or at least what passes for a rehearsal dinner in Mormon culture, since we don't have wedding rehearsals in the strictest sense of the word. It was more like a post-decorating-the-stake-center-for-the-reception dinner. Only we didn't help with the decorating but still showed up and ate lots of barbecue. Sorry!

Saturday was the big day in more ways than one. First of all, Emily cut my hair, which is always nice. And Matt and I got to dump our kids on my mom and go to another state (we were staying in Virgina and the temple's in Maryland. Only about half an hour away, but still.) Only one small wrinkle ensued. See, while I was ironing my dress, Porter was outside climbing trees with Graypa, and he somehow managed to fall and bonk his head. he didn't actually fall out of the tree, but he managed to give himself a big ol' lump on his noggin (I believe it even had cartoon birds tweeting around it at one point.). Now, not to sound callous, but Porter hits his head pretty much all the time, and he'll usually cry for a minute or two and then shake it off. I think his skull is actually made of cement, or lead, or something equally hard and impregnable. So, we didn't think too much about leaving him in Grammie's capable hands while we went gadding about.

The wedding was really, really nice. The Washington D.C. temple is beautiful (not to mention huge, a fact I'm sure I failed to appreciate the last time I was inside of it, in 1983). And neither Kevin nor Celeste had changed their minds (or done anything really boneheaded like left their temple recommend inside the other person's car the night before) so they got sealed together for all time and eternity. Yay marriage! Anyway, once we got outside Dad turned his cell phone back on and there were like three messages from my mom. Apparently after we left, our cute lil' head injury victim had been dazed and cranky and, most importantly, pukey. Oh great.

So, we posed for a couple of quick photos outside the temple (and I'm just going to apologize to Celeste right now for making a 'my-kid-fell-on-his-head-and-I'm-the-worst-mother-ever' face and probably ruining the shots) and hurried home. Luckily, there was an urgent care right up the road in McLean. Unluckily, almost as soon as we got there (we meaning me, my dad, and of course my son) Porter ralphed in their trash can. Apparently they have a very strict 'no tossing your cookies in the fixtures' policy because they sent us up the road to an actual hospital. With, I might add, incorrectly Mapquested directions. So maybe it's just a D.C. thing.

And that's why there's a picture of my son in the E.R. on our vacation.

Fortunately, the E.R. wasn't too awfully busy that day. Kevin and Celeste's sealing was at 1 p.m. and the reception wasn't until 6, so we had a little window of opportunity or things like hospital visits. Still, there's always a lot of 'hurry up and wait' where things like this are involved. The triage nurse didn't seem hugely concerned (I think Porter impressed her by reading the Pain Scale faces on the chart. You know, No Hurt, Hurts a Little, Hurts More... Did I mention that my four-year-old spontaneously learned how to read in the last two weeks? No?) but the vomiting was a bit of a problem. We ended up getting him a CT scan to make sure everything was all right, because we'd be heading home the next day and didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere and suddenly have a problem. Luckily, the scan showed that everything was fine, he'd just bumped his head pretty darn hard, and they even burned me a complimentary CD with images of my kid's brain (I think I've found my new screensaver!)

So, it was a pain in the neck but could have been worse (although, we'll see how laconic I feel once we get the BILL) but it still ate up a pretty good chunk of the day. By the time we'd gone back to the house, changed Porter out of his pukey clothes, found a pharmacy that was actually open and filled the prescription for anti-barf pills (Thank you, Dr. Anne-Marie Langdoc!), and battled through the usual inexplicable traffic jams, we were an hour late to the reception. Where Porter promptly ran onto the dance floor and started spinning in circles. And then ate all the frosting off a piece of cake. I think people would have thought we made the whole thing up except for Porter's hospital bracelet (and the visible lump on his head).

So. Kevin and Celeste's reception was very nice, and they graciously waited on all the first dances until we were there. The cake was insanely delicious (all those flowers that you saw on the cake in the previous post? They're candy) and K & C did smash it in each other's faces, but tastefully. Honestly, I think if I'd thought about beforehand, tasteful cake smash would be a pretty safe bet for the two of them. And Kevin's car was decorated with Oreos and we all got to blow bubbles to "whoosh" them off on their merry way.

That was pretty much the end of the festivities but since all the Blinns were staying together, we all stayed up way too late talking. (Some family friends we used to know in Rochester live in McLean, VA so of course my parents invited them to the wedding. They couldn't make it because they were heading out to Utah for a family reunion and would we like to stay at their house instead of a hotel? Would we!) And, the next day Matt packed up the car in a pouring rain and we headed home. It was a quick trip, and we're already thinking about when we can go back to D.C. again (but if we do, it will not be in the summer). And now it's Sunday again and the kids are starting school this week! I can't decide if I will clean the house, scrapbook, take a nap or just finish a sentence?

Sneaky peeky!

2009-08-03T13:54:00.005-04:00

I don't have time to do a proper write-up of our trip (sadly, the laundry ISN'T going to wash itself. Ask me how I know) but I thought I'd share a few shots. I actually wish I had taken more photos, but I was busy trying not to DIE FROM THE HEAT. Hey Kev, thanks for choosing to get married in August! But seriously though, we had a pretty good time. It wasn't totally uneventful, though. I'll tell the full story later on. Here you go!

Hitting the road + Cards!

2009-07-28T09:58:00.004-04:00

We're heading out tomorrow morning for Washington, D.C. Very early in the hopes of arriving before 8 p.m. so that I can get to Celeste's bridal shower. It's actually about the same distance from here to McLean, VA (where we'll be staying) as it is from here to Rochester, so it's a pretty manageable drive. Well, as long as we have the DVD player for the kids.

Here's the NCIS cards that I mentioned before; I finally finished them over the weekend. Why NCIS cards? Well, because of NCIS FanFest. (Yes, there's a convention for NCIS. If there's one thing I've learned since subscribing to Netflix, it's that there's a convention for just about everything.) Now, mind you, I'm not actually going to FanFest - even if I had the time, I sure as heck can't afford the plane tickets - but a lot of people that I "know" from the fan community are, and I ended up making these for the Tony booth. It was really fun coming up with quotes from the show either about or by Tony, who is my favorite character on the show (no offense to all you Mark Harmon fans out there). I used the BasicGrey 'Lime Rickey' 6x6 paper pad - it was really hard to find a patterned paper line that was appropriately masculine but still bright and colorful, but I think this fit the bill. I used some American Crafts letter stickers in a font that really reminds me of the show (and the whole huge booklet of them was $2.00 at Tuesday Morning, so that's a huge plus) and raided my stash of computer fonts to round it out.

It was really fun making these, and a good challenge for my card-making skills. (Speaking of cards, I'm having another one published! I just mailed it to Utah on Thursday. Woo hoo!)

Moving right along

2009-07-20T09:48:00.003-04:00

I mourned Catherine's departure for a little while, but then I had to keep going, because it's a busy summer. (And really, it's not like we won't all be seeing each other soon, when Kevin gets married.) After Betsy's T-ball camp, next on the roster was swimming lessons. Ahh, swimming lessons. I told you there was a story there...

See, back in the eighties, when I showed up for my very first lesson at the YMCA (and unlike most of the kids there, I actually couldn't swim at all) they informed us that first thing, right off the bat, we'd all be jumping into the deep end. And they had diving boards, so it was deep, like twelve feet or something and you could barely see the bottom. Now, I've always been good at math so I could figure out that at four-foot-something, I'd be jumping into water WAY over my head. My objection - and I think this is a valid one - is that maybe they should go ahead and teach me how to SWIM, first, and then I'll consider jumping into water considerably deeper than my short stature. The swim instructor, who I can still remember vividly (and this was the eighties, so there was one instructor for all these kids) told me to do it anyway, that I wouldn't drown. I've always had a hard time ignoring my instinct for self-preservation, so I refused. I did eventually jump in, but it didn't accomplish anything (although I didn't drown, obviously). I was scared and stubborn, and the instructor just didn't know how to handle that. All he ended up doing was making me MORE scared. Anyway, after a couple of summers Mom and Dad got tired of wasting their money so I was spared further torture. (I've actually had a few people since then try to teach me how to swim and I've figured out it's just not in the cards for someone as hopelessly uncoordinated as me. I'd be able to swim just fine if I had gills. Seriously, as soon as I turn my head to breathe, I sink like a stone. Needless to say, given the choice between swimming and continuing to live, I choose the latter.)

The thing I didn't realize until recently is that my experience was pretty much par for the course. The prevailing method of swim instruction for my generation was the whole "Throw 'em in and they'll figure it out." I mean, it was a different time, you know? Reagan was president and we used to walk to school. And being unceremoniously tossed into the water worked just fine for a lot of people - my husband, for example - but not so much for me. Sure, I'll go in the pool with the kids, but it was years before the smell of chlorine didn't make my stomach do flip-flops. (And it goes a long way in explaining this, although it's also possible that I'm just nuts.) But I also decided early on that I didn't want my kids to be non-swimming lame-os like their mom. I informed Matt that if I didn't like the way their swimming lessons were being run, I'd pull them out, even if they're non-refundable.

But, I'm happy to report that things have actually changed a lot since I was a kid. My kids are taking lessons down at one of the high schools, where there's one instructor for every two or three kids. And the instructors are a bunch of college-aged girls (they're adorable) who are actually patient and empathetic, and don't view it as a sign of weakness that my kids don't already know how to swim. (That's the thing which has always baffled me about my lessons at the Y: why the heck would my parents be paying for lessons if I already knew how? But I digress, and quite frankly, I'm sure you're all sick of this journey into my wounded and delicate psyche by now) Betsy was pretty intimidated the first day, but she's doing fine now. And Porter displays the usual fearlessness we've come to expect from him. When they were in the thirteen-foor diving well last Thursday, he was hanging on the edge with one hand and dunking his head under like it was nothing. (I have to spend my time talking to the other moms so that I can avoid projecting my fears onto my kids. But I still make them walk as close to the wall as possible when we're alongside the pool. I know, I'm a loser.) I think, with a few more summers like this, they'll be swimming like little fishes.

Unfortunately, we haven't been down to the neighborhood pool for my kids to hone their skills, because it's been in the seventies and low eighties for the last couple of weeks. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I hate to sweat. But I think we all know what's going to happen... as soon as the kids start school (the second week of August! What the heck, Indiana?!) summer will finally begin in earnest. In the meantime, we've got plenty to keep us busy. Things like...

Getting Betsy's back-to-school shopping done. She really needs jeans that don't have gaping holes in the knees. I don't know how she does it. We've also got to get her on a schedule once we get back from our trip, because she tends to sleep in until 8:30 or so. Not going to work once you're in first grade, missy!
Preparing for our upcoming trip to Washington, D.C. for Kevin's wedding and a much-needed vacation. We've been walking around the neighborhood to get in shape; Matt's been poring over the Fodor and I've been reading this, which, while not technically a guidebook, is an awfully entertaining read.
Alternating between paper-crafting and sewing. Right now I'm working on the NCIS cards (I'll post pictures as soon as I'm finished). Matt got me an actual office chair for the basement (thank you very much, Staples, for having a 50% off sale) and my back is much happier. Next up: some knit dresses for Betsy to wear in the fall. I'm so excited about having a serger, because a serger means I can sew knits, and guess what? Stretchy dresses don't need zippers. So it's an elegant, if expensive, solution to my continued zipper-ineptitude.
I finally listed some stuff on Etsy and I had my first sale: a vintage card of tiny pink buttons. (They were featured in my National Pink Day post, and now they're in Colorado someplace.)
Cooking out as often as possible, and making S'mores. Oh, the deliciousness. Only we've let the marshmallows go slightly stale since then (I had to hide them, because even on the highest shelf in the pantry Porter could still get them) so I will have to make some Rice Krispy Treats. I know, it's hard, but making sacrifices is part of being a mother.
Trying not to drool too much over the CHA new releases (American Crafts, you'll be the death of me yet).
Adult conversation! Really! See, since joining Facebook I've gotten back in touch with a lot of my college friends (and it's only eight years since I graduated, so I don't have a good excuse) and some of us decided to gather at Buca di Beppo's last Saturday. Matt graciously volunteered to stay home with the kids, for which he was handsomely rewarded with leftover lasagna.
Updating my blog. See?

Blast from the past

2009-07-06T12:50:00.008-04:00

Way back when I was in college, I had this brilliant idea that I should draw a set of paper dolls for my younger sisters. (I'm pretty sure it was 1999 because I remember working on them while reclining on Jean's pappasan couch.) We always had a thing for paper dolls when we were kids and I thought it would make a nifty - not to mention cheap - Christmas gift for Emily and Catherine. I ordered one of the Patterns from the Past catalogs off the internet (yes, the internet existed in 1999) and faithfully sketched as many of the historical dresses as I could, then copied them onto cardstock and colored them. I worked as a phone operator for Butler then so it was a good way to kill downtime in between calls. And while I can't draw to save my life, I can copy decently, so I was pretty pleased with how they turned out.

I always intended to keep the original drawings so that I could maybe make up another set for any future daughters I might have (and Betsy was born only three years later so that was oddly prescient) but somehow, in the five times I've moved in the last ten years, they got lost. I was pretty bummed about that because there is no way I'm investing that kind of time and energy all over again. Lucky for me, my sister Catherine decided to come for a visit, and even luckier, she brought the paper dolls with her! I figured they'd been long ago destroyed but every dress I remembered drawing was there.

I remember working particularly hard on this Civil War-era ballgown: all that ruching was crazy-difficult, not to mention all the roses. I think it turned out pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Notice that what I'm not showing you is any of Cath's work. See, she's an art major and next to hers, my stuff looks like it was drawn by a blind monkey, or perhaps a drunk toddler. So, let's keep my ego intact and move on to the next subject.

Something I'm actually pretty skilled at is making dresses, which Cath thought would be a lark to do when she came out here. So I let her paw through my stash of vintage patterns and she found this beauty:

Which is one of the ones I swiped from my mom in the first place, so it's kind of funny that it will end up back in Rochester eventually. Anyway, after checking to make sure that all the pieces were present (they were), we headed out to JoAnn's to score some fabric. Now, JoAnn's is much maligned by serious sewers, but I've always found lots of neat-o fabric, within my price range, and the employees are for the most part helpful (the older ladies at the cutting counter love to chat about dresses). Anyway, I had a couple of coupons and Catherine couldn't decide between two different fabrics (both of which were around $3/yard). Because I am evil, I convinced her to go ahead and get both, and make up the dress in both views.

We used my awesome new rhymes-with-merger to overcast the edges of each piece, to prevent ravelling, and then stitched it up on the conventional sewing machine. I helped with some things and gave as many pointers as I could from my vast three years of sewing experience. Like, it's important to press the seams. And understitch facings. I still had her do as most of the work, though, because they're her dresses (also I am lazy). I didn't even touch the zippers. Mom will have to help with that when Cath gets back to Rochester!

Anyway, speaking of sewing, here's what I've been up to:

The pattern was yet another freebie-by-way-of Mom; the fabric is actually a vintage sheet (really!) that I picked up for $3 at a church sale (the tag - which I kept - says 'Inger McCabe Elliot for Martex', 1976. Does that ring any bells for anyone?); and the buttons came in a huge bag of vintage goodies that I got for like two bucks at the Goodwill. So the whole dress cost me almost nothing. Which is good, because I'm not totally enamored of how it came out.

I shortened the sleeves quite a bit, because elbow-length sleeves drive me batty. I should have lengthened the bodice; that high-waisted sixties look actually doesn’t work so great on a five-foot-seven gal like me. Also, I had a really hard time matching the print because it wasn’t actually a straight horizontal stripe; the bands of pattern undulate up and down like waves of grain or a field of flowers. Still, the colors make me happy (and the buttons match so perfectly I can only assume the universe intended it that way) and for a really cheap dress, it’s not so bad. I love that the sheet it was made from is that no-iron percale (basically a poly-cotton blend) so I can wear it right straight out of the laundry, which is a huge bonus for a lazy pants like myself. I wore it the other day with a white cardigan sweater ($3 at Goodwill and it’s J. Crew) and I think that helped the style a lot, so maybe I will just save it for cooler weather.

Cath and I have been having a fine time. In addition to sewing not one but two dresses, we've been to the art museum (one never realizes just how much nudity there is in art until one pays attention); traumatized my children with the movie Spirited Away; been thrift-store-shopping (Cath didn't find anything but I scored some sweet red peep-toe pumps); saw Easy Virtue (swoon); visited Mike and Mandy's new place (Miles is a fine little host); and made our contribution to the unfortunately neglected literary sub-genre of overwrought Victorian melodrama. Fun times.

I've also been papercrafting:

Next project (after Catherine goes home, which mercifully isn't for a few days yet): a set of NCIS-themed notecards. Should be interesting!

Happy Pink Day!

2009-06-23T10:04:00.009-04:00

Did you know there's an entire holiday just for the color pink? I didn't either, but the editors at Paper Crafts say there is, so it must be so. (I know they wouldn't lie about something as important as colors; right, Susan?) I've always said that my favorite color is blue, but I've really been drawn to pink lately, especially since I'm such a girly-girl. And with two daughters in the house, I don't have to look very far to find pink things.

(The pink aisle in the toy department is like some kind of Mecca to Betsy!)

Fashion-wise, I have become a big fan lately of the pairing of pink and black. I found this blouse a few weeks ago at Goodwill and I'm wearing it today with black capris.

Here's one of the aprons I picked up at a church sale last weekend (for a whole dollar!) I just love the rickrack trim on the pockets, don't you? When it comes to papercrafting I have a plethora of pink products. One of my all-time favorite paper lines is Cosmo Cricket's Honey Pie, which is very pink-heavy. (I finally caved and bought the whole paper kit, although of course I waited until it was 50% off at Hobby Lobby.)

Hot pink works great as an accent for black and white (this is the card I made for Rob and Laura's wedding - the damask print is just a scrap of the wrapping paper I used on their gift):
I'm also really fond of pairing pink with my new favorite neutral, chocolate brown.

I think pink even works well as a Christmas color when it's matched up with some aqua blue and evergreen.

In the world of sewing, I pretty much can't avoid pink. (Like I would want to!) My most recent project was the vintage dress I mentioned in my last post. I went fabric shopping at JoAnn's with something completely else in mind, and came away with this gorgeous, cherry-blossom-pink poplin. I love how the dress turned out, and I'd wear it every day if I could.

When I first put it on I wore it with a white belt but Matt said I looked like a waitress! So I went down to Goodwill and picked up a black one for 25 cents. I used my Crop-a-Dile, a really handy scrapbooking tool (which incidentally has pink handles), to punch some extra holes for the buckle - worked like a charm.

There's also pinking, which is to say, trimming the seam allowances with pinking shears so that they won't ravel. I've always been pretty diligent about seam finishing, even though it doesn't show from the outside. Only I won't be needing to do that any more now that I have a serger! Hooray! Instead, how about some vintage pink buttons (courtesy of Goodwill, and there's lots more where that came from):

What's more, a length of bright pink silk dupioni that I recently purchased off of Fabric.com (I couldn't help it; they were having a really good sale) is currently sitting in my fabric stash. To be made into some future project (I actually have the pattern in mind already but nowhere to wear it) or at least blogged about.
So, what do you think of pink?

Edited to add a late-breaking Pink Day find! Mom, you are seriously going to die. I found this at the new (and I mean BRAND new) Goodwill store up here:

Vintage. Pink. Crinoline. Petticoat. Pretty much the awesomest thing ever (although I say that about everything I buy at Goodwill, so take it at face value). It's miles too big for me in the waist, so I will have to do something about that (possibly take apart the side seams, although it may just need new elastic at the waist) and I don't technically have any dresses that need a crinoline underneath (at least not yet) (at least not a HOT PINK one) but for four dollars, how could I possibly pass it up? Happy National Pink Day, indeed!

Living in flip-flops.

2009-06-16T10:12:00.005-04:00

Ahh, summer. Once I finished all the laundry from our trip to Rochester (which took DAYS), I felt like we could really get into the swing of things. I found some various activities for the kids to do: sports camps for Betsy, summer school for Porter (two weeks through his preschool AND it's free AND they will bus him), and swimming lessons for the both of them (which will be its own separate blog post because there's a really long story behind that!) Matt and I felt like we were walking a fine line between overscheduling the kids and not doing anything productive with them, but I think we've hit the perfect balance. There actually isn't any overlap between the various activities, and everything was either free or really cheap. Betsy started softball camp yesterday, which is free and staffed with no small amount of enthusiasm by the girls on the high school team. But, we've also left plenty of time for riding bikes/swimming/going to the park/playing in the backyard. Our zoo membership is expired, so we won't be heading back there for a while, but we've still got the Childrens Museum. And the IMA has free admission every day, so I'm hoping we can make it down there as well.

Our garden is going crazy with all the rain we've had lately. Matt built a second garden bed this year so we have one for tomatoes/peppers/lettuce, and one for zucchini/squash/broccoli/cauliflower, plus the bean plants Porter brought home from school that I totally thought would die but didn't. We also have strawberry plants growing around the patio, which are in their third year and are producing really well, plus a bumper crop of various herbs. Betsy picked the first red tomato this morning. I can't wait! I've found that tomato plants seem to be ideally suited for the Indiana humidity so we usually have more than we can handle. Maybe I should make gazpacho...

And as for me, I've been getting up early and going walking before Matt leaves, which gives me more energy to face the day. I spend as much time in the basement as possible (and not just because it's cooler down there), pretty much alternating between paper crafting and sewing. My camera did turn up - it got left behind in Rochester - so as soon as I have that back, I will have tons of wedding pictures to scrap, which I'm really excited about. (In the meantime, why not peruse these?) I actually finished a dress for myself, and as I was thinking about it I realized it's been at least a year since the last Joni-dress. I made a couple of tops for me and FOUR dresses for Betsy, but that's it. Anyway, this was my first ever vintage project (sure, I've been collecting the old patterns, but not so much making them) using one of the patterns that Mom gave me while I was in Rochester.

I'm even using vintage buttons (I felt slightly guilty cutting them off of the lovely button card, but then I got over it)

Gorgeous, no? I think that the Butterick from the 1950s have the best pattern illustrations. Once I finish the belt (and have my camera back) I'll do a blog post about it. Sewing vintage was not nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be, and it turned out really nice.

As if that weren't enough, I will very soon have a new toy to play with:

Yes, finally. If you've been reading my blog for a while you've caught on to the fact that I've wanted a serger pretty much from the moment I started sewing but in the past, I've had to rely on my mother bringing hers every time she comes out. (Hey Mom, now that I have one of my own, you won't have to visit any more!) The combination of finally establishing a serger fund and finding a really good deal ($200 on AllBrands.com) have allowed for the fulfillment of a lifelong dream that I've had for the last three years or so. I've been trying to kill the time waiting (yes, even with 3-day shipping it's hard to be patient!) by haunting the thrift stores and such in search of yet more vintage patterns. I picked up a huge stack at a church sale last weekend for, I am not kidding you, a little over two cents apiece.

So, that's summer around here. What's everyone else's plans?

Home again

2009-06-08T07:31:00.006-04:00

We went to Rochester (for the first time in almost 3 years) over the weekend to see my brother get married. Which he did, and Rob looked quite handsome in his dress blues, although I'm not sure how he's legally allowed to get married considering that I'm pretty sure he's technically still four years old. Laura was a lovely and gracious bride and the weather was perfect. The most important thing, however, is that Betsy basically set the standard for flower girls everywhere with her serious and diligent fulfillment of the role. I could have died of the cuteness when she came up the aisle... she very carefully and reventially laid down exactly nineteen flower petals on the aisle runner. And she was basically insanely cute in her white dress (we were inspired by the line "Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes" although the sash ended up being crepe) and long curly hair (she sat still like a little pro while Emily curled it) and MAKEUP. Just a touch, but enough to make her feel special.

Now is the time when I normally would post pictures to quantify my claims of extreme cuteness. Funny story, that. I got home last night, went to get my camera out of my purse, and it WASN'T THERE. I'm hoping I left it behind at my parents' house and not at one of the places we stopped on the way home, because then I can get it back. I can replace the camera, of course, but not the 100+ pictures I took over the weekend. (Particularly hard to re-create is the shot of my grandpa Bob, my brother Rob, and my son Porter Robert. Because of course Rob is going to be in Germany for the next THREE YEARS.) I'm just sick about this and am praying for its safe return.

After the wedding was over we took our kids, along with Kevin and Celeste, out to see some of the Church sites. We went to the Joseph Smith farm, the Sacred Grove, and the Hill Cumorah. Also had some really delicious fries in a greasy-spoon in Palmyra. Emily gave Betsy an ADORABLE hair cut so that I don't have to deal with her long, unmanageable hair anymore. Oh, and I came away with a huge stack of vintage patterns that I can't wait to sew, courtesy of a lady at my mom's church. So, it was a quick trip but a pretty enjoyable one.

Fortunately, I had dumped the memory card the weekend before we left. Which means that I can at least share this with you:

(Did you spot Betsy? She's right there on the end of the front row... the bangs are a dead giveaway!)

School's Out

2009-05-28T10:31:00.003-04:00

That should be "School's out for summer" but it won't actually BE summer for quite a while. And if the weather is anything to go by (60s and drizzly) it's still going to be spring for a good long while. On the other hand, the kids' first day of school will be August 11th so maybe we just observe a slightly different calendar here in Indiana?

Anyway, it's the kids' last day of school today. I guess technically, the last official day was yesterday. Betsy is having Kindergarten Field Day right now and Porter had his preschool picnic, although we left because of the aforementioned rain (although not until after he had a chance to go on the carousel at the park). Their last day of riding the bus was yesterday. Also, Betsy brought home a bunch of school work - her entire art portfolio (And I'd just like to mention how hilarious it is to hear a six-year-old talking about pointillism. She says it's "little dots.") and her second semester writing journal. The kindergarten journals are always a hoot, especially towards the end of the year when she decided to write all of her letters with flourishes and little hearts on them.

This has been a really crazy week, and it's not over yet. Betsy has her dance recital on Saturday night and a dress rehearsal on Friday (when Matt and Porter are going to an Indians game) and it's ALSO the neighborhood garage sale this weekend. Which I guess guarantees that it's going to be bad weather at least until Sunday. I have a HUGE mound of old baby and maternity clothes to get rid of (but don't worry, there's still plenty left should we decide to havea fourth child) and would desperately like to unload at least SOME of it. Matt has to go to Connorsville, wherever that is, on Sunday (he has a stake calling now and he has to travel. I'm trying really hard not to complain because I did say that I would support him) and then we have to get ready to go out of town. Because the weekend after that is Rob and Laura's wedding!

Finds

2009-05-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

So, I've been having a run of good luck lately. See, I've been shopping at Goodwill for years and years and YEARS now; I got all of my clothes there when I worked in labs (jeans & tshirts that can be disposed of without regret when they get trashed) and now that I am not working again I go in at least once a week. I never used to find anything vintage - nice stuff, granted, but not vintage - and I never saw any sewing patterns until I bought like 20 of them in a 3 week period. I kind of think that the universe is giving me good thrift-store karma to make up for, you know, the whole repeated-job-loss thing. Here's some of the sweet finds I've scored lately:

A green glass jar ($3) that sits on my kitchen counter and holds cookies when we have them, which isn't often (not that I don't make cookies, they just don't stay around very long)

Patterns, patterns, patterns, patterns (49 cents apiece).
This is only a small portion of my huge stash of vintage patterns. I literally tripped over some of them because they were strewn across the floor one of the times I went in. The ones that are my size I will keep and eventually sew (I'm dying to make that Very Easy Vogue wrap dress from the 70s just as soon as I have the right fabric) and the rest I will list in my Etsy store, once I go through all the pieces and everything.

What's better than old sewing patterns? Umm, how about the pattern and the fabric to go with it? I found these cool boxes (a steal at $2.50 per) that had apparently been in someone's stash that they never got around to using. I love this cool brocade-y stuff: I think I will see if I can lengthen that pattern into a dress, since I don't have much use for a tunic with Nehru collar and matching bellbottoms. And I found this one with the pattern pieces already cut out AND the notions inside the box: The dress will actually fit me, and I completely love the style, so I think I'll sew it up and wear it this winter and piggyback off someone else's hard work. I'm not crazy about the fabric since dark green isn't really my color, so after I finish I'll probably make it up in something else. Maybe shorten the pointy collar a little because technically it's not the seventies ANYMORE.

Polly Flinders smocked dresses ($4 each)! Remember those from the eighties? The funny thing is that we had THESE EXACT ONES in the Blinn household at one point. I have vivid memories of Emily wearing that green one around Christmastime when she had bangs in her hair. They're too small for Betsy (size 6 but Polly Flinderses seem to run small. Amy has one that's a 24m and she wears it now. With pants underneath because it's so short) but Amy will grow into them eventually. And then I will pass them down to my girls when they are grown - one for each of them - and we will pretend that they are family heirlooms and not a miraculous thrift-store find.

Speaking of smocked dresses for little girls, how about this beauty ($4)?
I snatched it right off the rack because it's clearly homesewn. Once I got it home and took a closer look at it I realized what a good job it is - French seams, a seriously deep hem, miles of slipstitching (something I personally loathe, and avoid whenever possible). It's in pretty good condition but not so much so that you would think it's never been worn, and it's just a tad big for Amy at the moment.

A huuuge stack of records for my mother ($10 for the lot, or roughly $1 a pound).

Mom's been listening to records a lot lately and these ones are seriously old - they predate vinyl, and according to Wikipedia the switch to vinyl was around 1940. Cool.

A really cool old full slip - my mom swears that her mom had one just like it in the sixties. Only this one is way, way bigger (I could get maybe an arm into Grandma's slip; she was a teeny little thing)

A really nice heavy saucepan ($5) - I haven't been able to find out much about the Altiva brand other than that it used to be sold at Sears. But it's the perfect size, bigger than my other saucepans and smaller than the stock pot.

A bike for Porter ($13) and helmets for both of the kids ($2 each)

A sheet ($3). Why a sheet? Because it's old and cool and I liked the print. It's really soft and not faded in the slightest, and I think I will cut the elastic off the edges and sew it up into a dress.

This purple satin dress ($2.50)
They had these at Target around Christmas and boy, I wanted one BAD but I wasn't about to spend $40 on a dress. Goodwill shoppers know that sometimes if you get lucky, brand new stuff from Target will appear once it's no longer in the stores, and I got lucky.

Because I'm my mother's daughter, a Liz Claiborne purse ($3). I like that it's capacious enough to hold my keys, cell phone, camera, anti-swine-flu hand sanitizer, some snacks, and all of my coupons without making me look like the kind of woman who carries all that stuff around in her purse. (Sorry, I guess it's not 'swine flu' any more - it's now H1N1, which I believe is pronounced "heinie.")

The outfit I am wearing THIS VERY MOMENT ($6 total).

Because if there's one thing I love, it's a cotton print A-line skirt. The polo was rather unappealingly baggy so I took in the sides with my sewing machine, and discovered that the knit stitch makes an interesting rhythm as it sews.

So, who else has been thrift-store-hunting? Any great finds lately?

So You Think You Can Walk

2009-05-18T08:22:00.002-04:00

Amy's been able to walk for a while now. She can even stand up without having to pull up on the furniture, which is a pretty impressive feat on its own. However, she still preferred crawling as a means of locomotion... maybe it was easier? Anyway, we figured that one of these days she'd realize she could walk and she'd just take off. Last night, when the missionaries were over, Amy rose gracefully to her feet and just started toddling all over.

I guess this means she's a toddler now and not a baby anymore. SO not ready for that distinction. (And if you're wondering what I'm motivating her with, it's those Gerber freeze dried yogurt bites... which apparently are so addicting for 1-year-olds that they ought to come with a warning label.)

See?

2009-05-14T21:32:00.004-04:00

I told you I'd update for real, and here it is. In no particular order, here's a handy bullet-pointed list of what I've been up to lately. Oh, and with no photos because Blogger is evil.

Mom, Dad, and the little girls were here last weekend because Mike was graduating from law school (INSERT LAWYER JOKE HERE) down in Bloomington and I guess they thought it would be a lark to see us as well. Whatever.
We took the girls down to the Childrens Museum on Saturday and had a great time. Betsy got to meet Barbie because they will be opening a Barbie exhibit soon (and by "soon" I mean seven months from now) in honor of the doll's 5oth. Amy got to ride on the carousel and I could have DIED from the cuteness. This is one of those times when the whole Blogger-is-evil thing gets kind of inconvenient, because pictures would have been nice.
And oh yes, there was Steak 'n' Shake. Guess what? The Frisco Melt is STILL delicious.
We went to three different Goodwill stores in one day. Mom got some awesome old records (as in really old, pre-vinyl, I think you have to use a pterodactyl's beak to play them) and we saw the single most interesting set of living room furniture I have EVER seen. Oh, how I wish I'd taken a picture. And it sort of led to my developing an alter ego but the less said about THAT, the better.
I cooked a lot of stuff in the Crock Pot. It seems to be the easiest way of doing stuff for a crown and my mom LOVES the Moroccan Chicken. But on Sunday Matt made a grilled pork tenderloin and that was delicious too.
Betsy's flower girl dress is done! Mom did the invisible zipper for me because I am NOT GOOD at zippers. I also used her serger for some parts because the serger fairy just keeps missing my house. Maybe I need to leave a tooth under my pillow, or something. AND I learned how to use the blindhem on my machine so guess who won't be hemming by hand anymore?
Porter and his Graypa are like best friends forever now. After my family went home Porter just sat forlornly on the swing with no one to push him. *sniffle*
It's official: I want a Wii.
It was fun to have Mom here for Mothers Day. I made her a mini chipboard album/brag book with pictures of all the grandkids. She acted like she liked it even though I know she secretly hates it. Porter gave me a potted flower and Betsy painted a picture for me in her kindergarten class (and KEPT IT A SECRET which is pretty impressive in itself). I got chocolate at church and a Hobby Lobby gift card from a husband who knows me all too well. (So far I've used it for some Stickles and a magnetic pincushion. I can only use one 40% coupon at a time and my legendary cheapness is not suspended even when it's a gift.)
Mom and I went antiquing, something I've been dying to do for the longest time. While she was drooling over the Fire King dishes and gingham aprons, I found a book I've been hunting for ages: The Little Brown Jug At Kildare, by forgotten Hoosier author Meredith Nicholson. I read a bunch of his books while I was in college (they had a whole shelf at the Butler library) and that one was my favorite. It's a really nice edition with a full color front and it only set me back ten bucks... probably because the dealer didn't realize that it was written by an Indiana native.
Amy learned how to say hi. Her first word! While we were out she was keeping up a stream of HI HI HI HI HI HI to everyone around us, which was really cute. She can also say Bye Bye and wave her hand, which is darling. And she walks. WHICH IS NOT FAIR.

still here

2009-05-13T14:34:00.003-04:00

I haven't died, I've been very busy making Betsy's flower girl dress and having an awesome time with my parents and sisters. Will type all of it up soon (the dress is 95% done. Yay!) with pictures and everything, promise!

NSD'09

2009-05-03T20:39:00.004-04:00

My plans for yesterday's National Scrapbook Day were thus:

1. Scrapbook until my fingers fall off;

2. Get prosthetics;

3. Scrap some more.

And other than a brief trip to Meijer for tomato plants, that's pretty much what I did. Here is a brief glimpse of the fruits of my labors:

That's actually several days' worth, since I got into the swing of it sometime on Thursday and kept scrapping up to today while Matt was at stake conference. I'm getting a lot faster at my craft - it used to be I could complete one, maybe two layouts in a day and sometimes I can do four or five. But I really need a chair with some decent back support down there. I've been perched on an El Cheepo Folding Chair for the better part of four days and man, am I feeling it now. The good news is we've got a better chair up here at the computer desk - lucky thing, because it's going to take the rest of the night to get all of those pages scanned.

My favorite four-year-old!

2009-04-27T12:13:00.003-04:00

Happy birthday, Porter!

We had a little party on Saturday with some of his preschool friends; he got a Lite-Brite (luckyyyy), some Wubbzy DVDs and a couple of squirt guns. We'll have his family party tonight and I'm totally wrapping his gifts even though he already knows what he's getting. Because he was with me when I bought them, and because he's been sneaking into our closet about once a week to visit them.

Porter's birth predates this blog so I don't think I've ever written about his birth story (except for in my scrapbooks, of course). First of all, Porter was by far my kickiest baby, which I swear was a sign of things to come, and I had never been so gassy in my life. He was my earliest baby - he was due on May 14th but came along on April 27th, which would have been fine except that I was totally unprepared. (This seems to be a running theme with me.) I hadn't even gone into the nesting stage, and I hadn't even bought his infant seat - one of my funniest memories is standing in the parking lot of Burlington Coat Factory, in the rain, installing the baby seat while Matt held an umbrella over me, just before we went to the hospital. He was also my longest labor - I arrived for the induction around 3 p.m. on a Tuesday and he was born at 5:27 on Wednesday morning. Some of my other vivid memories include watching both 'Scrubs' and 'NCIS' while I was in labor, and also being starving. Because I was rushing around like a crazy person the day before, I hadn't eaten anything before I was induced, so I ended up going almost 24 hours on nothing but ice chips and a Popsicle. That's hard for anyone, let alone a pregnant woman. So, one of the first things I did when I got up to recovery was order a breakfast tray and eat every scrap of it.

Porter was by far the easiest to deliver - three pushes and he was out - and he was also the smallest of my babies. Being 2 1/2 weeks early, I was worried that he'd be tiny and fragile, but he weighed in at a pretty respectable 7 lbs, 5oz. He didn't cry too much in the delivery room and he was a great nurser - he latched right on and suckled for about an hour first thing after he was born. Porter was a good baby - he slept through the night at 2 months (I'm looking at you, Amy Louise) and he was always happy and fun to be around. And so gorgeous, with the blue eyes, light-blond hair and the fattest.cheeks.ever.

(I did get really depressed after he was born, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Raising Porter has been a really interesting four years, as he is far from mellow (I think I've mentioned that a time or two before on this blog). However, he does have some traits that I really love like his musical ability (the kid is a great singer), his vivid and silly imagination, and his ability to love. Porter is so sweet and kind to his baby sister (the Earth actually revolves around the sun, but don't tell my son that) and he loves to come in our bed in the morning for an early-morning snuggle.

It's done.

2009-04-23T13:10:00.003-04:00

So, I had a really good job more or less offered to me on a silver platter, and I just got off the phone turning it down. It was a great position, generous pay, but it was 40 hours a week and I just can't do that right now. I can't be away from my kids for that many hours in the day, now that I have gotten back to being with them. It was really hard to say 'no' to the opportunity, but I had a really, really good reason.

Whew.

What I'm up to lately

2009-04-15T11:53:00.012-04:00

Not working on Betsy's flower girl dress for Rob & Laura's wedding. Not at the moment, anyway. I did get it completely cut out and marked, which took the better part of a day. And I put in all the stay-stitching, the gathers, AND the basting, but I had to stop there because I am CLEAN OUT of white thread. Crazy thing to run out of, I know. (You can see here how I marked everything. Wouldn't it be funny if all that washable marker didn't wash out? HA HA.) JoAnn's is having a massive sale early next week so I will pick up some more thread, along with the blue material for the sash. In the meantime, I got a whole passel of photos printed (which is slightly less than a slew) so, there's always scrapping.

Scrapping. Because it's fun, and also because I got some goodies in the mail. I actually wrote to Making Memories to ask them for a replacement of these paper snowflakes I got - the die was mis-aligned and some of them were cut funny, which is no big deal, but I'd heard they were good about replacing defective products. Anyway, they emailed me back and said that they were FRESH OUT of paper snowflakes (Maybe because it's April? I dunno) but they'd send me some other products for my trouble. This padded envelope full of joy appeared in my mailbox the day before Easter. I'm kind of in love with the colors (yay! green! I don't use enough green) and the little 6x6 paper pad will be perfect for card-making. Speaking of which...
I finally opened my Etsy shop after wanting to for a really long time. Totally not a big thing but I thought it would be fun to make some cards & stuff and sell them. If you click on the cute little wolf on my sidebar it will take you directly to my shop.

Making homemade stuff to give to people (from that 3 things post I mentioned a while back). I made a 'new baby' card for Emily, a birthday card for my mom, and some onesies for a lady in the ward who just had her FIFTH baby. Okay, I didn't actually MAKE the onesies - the good people at Gerber did that. But I did slave over a hot iron for a good twenty minutes, so that's gotta be good for something. (I also patched Betsy's school jeans while I had the iron out. I swear, that girl has cast iron knees or something.)

Laughing at all the people who waited until the last minute to file their taxes. We got our refund forever ago. And it was our biggest refund ever, only because we paid a king's ransom in child care and health expenses in 2008.

Trying to ignore the 937 pounds of leftover ham in the fridge.

Also trying to ignore the Hog Heaven paper pack at Michaels. That is one of my favorite paper lines EVER (I even made a card with it that's being published soon. Yay!) but I truly do NOT need any more patterned paper. Like that's ever stopped me in the past. Don't even get me STARTED about the new Thickers at Hobby Lobby.

Eyeing my non-nursing-accessible clothes with a bit of longing. Yes, Amy still views me as the walking lunch cart, and I am okay with that. But. I have this awesome dress I got at Target in the winter (on clearance for 6 bucks. Woo hoo!) that I have not worn once. It sort of represents the light at the end of the tunnel and my consolation prize for when I am not able to nurse any more.
Writing fan fiction, because I'm a dork like that.

Obsessively refining my Pandora station. I know you can have multiple stations but I prefer to have one big giant mishmash. The other day it played CSN&Y, and then Buffalo Springfield, and then The Byrds, and then I think Stills & Nash or whatever that last incarnation was. And while I could listen to 'Rock and Roll Woman' all.day.long. I thought that was a pretty funny combination. Not so much with the variety.

Hanging out with other women from church. Dude, I love being a stay-at-home mom again. We've been doing brunch (which sounds a LOT fancier than it actually is) every Wednesday, more or less. I'm hosting next week, mainly out of pure selfishness, so that I don't have to leave early to come home and meet Porter's bus. (Which sometimes comes at 11:30 and sometimes at 11:55. Oh well, you get what you pay for.)

Number 11 notwithstanding, applying for some part-time chemistry jobs. And fielding calls for Matt, which is a good thing. He had 4 prospective employers call him in two days... and they were all women, so I've started teasing him about that. Fingers crossed that one of them will come to fruition. (Not one of the four, but can you believe Sallie Mae is hiring again? Crazy!)

Wearing my glasses a lot more, because I'm down to my last pair of contacts and we have no vision insurance. We also have no dental, so don't forget to floss, kids!

Totally pumped to rock out to the New Kids On The Block in June with my awesome SIL, Mandy. Oh oh o-o-oh, the right stuff.
Getting ready for Porter's birthday party, which I totally forgot is in like a week and a half. We're heading down to HobLob this afternoon to gather party supplies. I made these awesome invitations, or rather I made one invite and then scanned it and uploaded it to Walgreens, because they're having a 10-cent print sale. It's really cute, and I'd post it here except that it has all of our personal information on it (address, phone number, blood type, last 3 library books checked out, etc.) and I don't trust you people.

Excited for my parents & the little girls to come out in May. I'm totally planning a ton of fun stuff to do. (Children's museum? Check! Fabric store? Check! Antiquing in our awesome downtown? Check and check! Steak n Shake? Is pretty much a given. Art museum? Only if there's time after all the other fun stuff! Who needs sleep, right?)

Wondering if the sun is ever going to come out.

It's official

2009-04-12T16:38:00.005-04:00

Now that she's opened presents and gotten frosting on her cheeks, Amy is truly one year old.

If you are wondering what the inspiration was for the big smile on her face in the above photo, it's DADDY. Every home should have one!

And yes, I did color-coordinate the wrapping paper to her outfit (both of which are selected to match my scrapbooking supplies). So what?

This is probably the only photo from the present-unwrapping session that doesn't have ONE or BOTH of her siblings "helping" with the gift. I actually had to banish them to the other side of the room, which lasted for about a second. But, it's a proud older-sibling tradition to be unusually interested in baby toys on birthdays and Christmas. And to Amy's credit, she didn't seem to mind. She's so used to the noise and enthusiasm of her brother and sister, I think she actually thrives on it.
Look at me being all artsy with the camera. Actually, I took the picture straight-on and then used the 'straighten' tool in Picasa to tilt it. I also used the 'focal b&w' button to make the cupcake even more delicious-looking. Now, for a lot of scrapbookers, fancying up their photos is as natural as breathing, but I kinda stink at the photography side of scrapping, so this was a big deal for me. Baby steps, Joni. Baby steps.

This one was kind of gratifying. None of my other ones really went for the cake on their first birthday. This time around I made cupcakes instead of a cake and now I wish I'd done that all along. A cupcake is the exact perfect size for a one-year-old to pick it up in both hands and get a faceful of pink frosting. She still wasn't too messy - no frosting in the hair or anything - but I think that's because she was more concerned with eating than with playing. When it comes to desserts, she doesn't mess around. That's my kind of girl, people.

One year.

2009-04-09T15:34:00.004-04:00

That was then, and this is now:

Check out my baby's footwear, huh?! That's pretty typical attire for her. Amy actually prefers to be barefoot but those sneakers are a little more work for her to get off, and she had other things to do... those buttons aren't going to push themselves!

Man, it kills me just a little, that she's (probably) the last baby and she's not going to be a baby for that much longer. I, um, kind of have a thing for babies (as you may have noticed by now). That said, as much as I loved it when Amy was squishy and tiny and wrinkly, she's sure a lot more fun now. Newborns don't blow raspberries or play peek-a-boo during a diaper change or sing along (and conduct!) with the hymns at church (and maybe keep singing after everyone else is done, just because they like the sound of their own voice).

We're actually celebrating on Saturday, because it's easier and because her cousin Miles is coming up for a visit. I'll be sure and get a lot more pictures.

Blah blah blah music blah blah.

2009-04-08T21:26:00.002-04:00

Anyone who's spent too much time around me in the last couple of years has been forced to listen to me extol the virtues of Yahoo Radio. I discovered a while back that I could create my own customized radio station just by listing my favorite genres, artists, and songs, then listen to it all day long while tutoring or folding laundry or whatever - for free. (Sure, you had to put up with a few commercials every hour. And you could pay, like, $5 a month for commercial-free, but I'm too cheap. Every dollar spent on tunes is a dollar not spent on awesome scrapbook paper.) Over a period of time I refined my station to reflect my dizzyingly wide array of musical tastes. Because where on earth can you go from Death Cab to Steely Dan, followed immediately by a Baroque concerto, the Crunchy Frog sketch by Monty Python, and then a couple of tunes by Sinatra? Only on the internet, that's where. And I liked that it would suggest new stuff based on my preferences, so I discovered some bands I'd never heard before (Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, say, or Rogue Wave) as well as rediscovering some older ones (I had no idea I liked Guster or Joni Mitchell so much). Of course it took a little while to winnow out the music I hear far too often on the real radio, as well as what I just plain don't like. For example, the computer assumes that if I like Led Zeppelin, I must also like AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne. This is an incorrect assumption. Van Morrison, yes; Rod Stewart, no. Dave Matthews Band, yes; Green Day, no. You get the picture. But after a couple of years I had something like 1,000 ratings saved so I had it pretty well tailored to my preferences (including about eleventy-million different recordings of Ants Marching, which after all these years I still think is pretty much the best song ever).

So anyway, now that I am staying home again I logged into Yahoo so I could listen to some free music and I found out, it was gone! Apparently they sold the whole Yahoo Music concern to CBS or something, and all of the user-customized stations got deleted! Which isn't a problem on the scale of earthquakes or pirates, or even layoffs, but it's a bit of an inconvenience. So I've been looking around for an acceptable substitute. I found out about Pandora on a scrapbooking blog, actually, so I've been trying that out. It's free, which is the primary recommendation, and you can listen to it on your iPhone, assuming you're hip enough to own an iPhone. (I'm not even hip enough to set foot inside the store.) Pandora is definitely different than Yahoo, better in some ways (like the profanity filter, which never seemed to work on Yahoo. This is a problem when you like Ben Folds as much as I do. Great music, lotta swears.) If this doesn't work out the way I want it to I'll try another site; any suggestions? I know about Rhapsody but I think you have to pay for that one. Have I ever mentioned being cheap?

Also, speaking of music, one of my favorite new-ish shows is Chuck (which is in its second season) and they have really been bringing it, soundtrack-wise. I've been starting to annoy Matt because every episode I'm like, "Oh man, this song is aaaawesooome!" and then he can't hear the dialogue or whatever. Enter TV Show Music... problem solved.

Spring: Broken.

2009-04-07T07:59:00.002-04:00

So, the kids are on spring break this week. And it is freezing. It actually snowed yesterday (apparently the universe doesn't realize that if I wanted snow in April, I never woulda left Rochester) and it's supposed to be in the thirties and forties all week. Nevertheless, we are determined to make the best of it. My goal is to do something fun every day. Yesterday, for example, we went to the pet store (and cleaned the basement. Fun! Yay!); we also have trips planned to the zoo, the Children's Museum (for the first time since before Amy was born), the library, and Chick-Fil-A. Yes, Chick-Fil-A counts as 'fun.' Their food is delicious and they have an awesome play area.

Speaking of things that are broken, I went to Wal Mart yesterday and one of the things that I picked up was a replacement copy of The Princess Bride. Can anyone guess what happened to the original? If you guessed 'The kids broke it' you're dead on. Anyway, I got the brand new disk home and, guess what? That one doesn't work either. I was kind of bummed because now how am I going to know who is and isn't left-handed? So, I'll have to make yet another trip to Wal-Mart (which actually is a big deal because I usually only go there once a month or so) but it will totally be worth it to have The Princess Bride again.

Another thing that seems to be broken: I can't figure out why my blog posts are not showing the date. I keep going in to edit the template and it says that the date is already being displayed. Must be something broken in the new template... any suggestions? I am so not a computer genius.

Shiny!

2009-04-01T15:40:00.003-04:00

My blog was starting to look pretty dingy, so I trawled the 'Net for a new style. Luckily there are like billions of free Blogger templates you can download (I've even saved a few for when I get tired of the laundry line). I've been working on re-building all my sidebar widgets; I think I've got everything in there except for my Web album of scrapbook layouts.

Up by the little birdie you can type in a search term and actually search my blog posts, which is pretty neat. If you're wondering how many of my posts contain the word 'poop,' the answer is: More than one. (Ditto with 'boogers.' I guess we know what kind of blog this is, don't we.)

And now that I'm looking at it, I'm realizing that the little B&W picture of me over there is seriously old. I took that picture when we lived in the old house so it's been at least three years. Looks like it's time for another self-portrait!

Paranoid in the suburbs

2009-03-30T11:13:00.004-04:00

My husband is AWESOME.

It ended up taking him about a week, start to finish. (Which of course GUARANTEED that winter would have to give us one last gasp before melting gracefully into spring, because this is Indiana. It actually snowed while we were in church yesterday.) He started it on a Saturday and the following Thursday, not even a full week later, we got the requisite snotty letter from our HOA. "Your play set in your back yard is broken. Please fix it or we'll charge you a $25 fine." I got a pretty good chuckle out of that, especially because that's the second time we've gotten a letter from the HOA about something that, when you really get right down to it, is not actually a violation of the neighborhood covenant. (The first was my kids' Little Tikes playhouse... you know, the kind that you see in every third backyard.) I thought it was pretty amusing that one of our neighbors had nothing better to do than rat us out for not completing construction in a timely manner (which is, apparently, less than a week). I have this funny mental image of one of our neighbors peering out between the blinds, furtively scribbling on a little spiral bound notebook. So we amused ourselves trying to figure out who it was. I'm pretty sure it wasn't our next door neighbors (although their kids were pretty darn eager for us to finish our play set so that they could play on it while our kids play on theirs); I'm fairly certain it's not the guy who didn't mow his lawn for two months last summer; and I'm nearly positive it's not the family that does archery practice in their backyard. But whoever it is, I guess they're happy now.

So, here's some other fun things to share.

When we were at Toys R Us getting the baby swing, I found that Fisher Price is totally bringing back a lot of their old-school toys. And even better? Some of them are in PINK. I got Amy a pink corn popper and a pink chatter phone (you know, the one with the rotary dial. Remember rotary dials?) for her birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa.
I love this interview with Colin Firth and Ben Barnes. I swear they're like an old married couple. Totally cannot wait to see Mr. Darcy and Prince Caspian in the same movie.
And I love this idea: paying it forward, crafty-style. I'm working on 3 projects to share and will post pictures as soon as I'm done.
We got Bolt from Netflix and there was a preview for The Princess And The Frog, which is supposed to be all hand-drawn animation (speaking of There's No School Like The Old Skool). It looks like it will be really good.
I actually got a compliment on my personal style the other day. I was at the school and one of my teachers told me I looked like I should be on American Idol. I was really flattered! I guess I've come a long way since my days of total dorkitude.
Oscar Mayer makes little tiny hot dogs now. I know that's not exciting for most people but it is for my kids.
The kids are on spring break next week. I'm so glad I will be around to do fun things with them. And you know what else, people? It's almost skirt weather!
I actually have a job interview tomorrow (organic extraction, third shift). Haven't decided yet if I really want to go back to working full time... Matt had a really good month for sales in March and also, I am having way too much fun with my kids. But it's nice to think that I am still desirable, thin resume and the lousy economy notwithstanding.
Remember how cold it was on Easter last year? It should be much nicer this year. And here's a fun bit of trivia: Amy will actually be more than one year old on her first Easter. (One year and three days but it still counts.)
It's my mom's birthday today! Let's all wish her a happy one.

Babies!

2009-03-24T11:56:00.004-04:00

Ahhh! Severed head!

My baby is about to turn 1 (sob!) I already had a gift for her that I found at the Massive Toy Blow-out Clearance in January at Walmart (yes, I blogged about it) but ever since I saw the Simplicity baby doll pattern, I really, really wanted to sew Amy a baby. Now that I have gobs of spare time, I decided I could actually tackle it before her birthday. I got all of the pieces cut out on Friday night and by Saturday evening, the bear was finished and the baby was done except for hair. I have to say, I was expecting it to take a lot longer than that! Baby is all done now and ready to go and Amy's day isn't until the 9th.

So, that gave Matt and me both projects to work on over the weekend. I'm just cutting out some extra doll clothes from my scraps to sew up for the girls for Christmas, and Matt continues on the play set. The clubhouse portion went up on Saturday and it smells very cedar-y. (Am I stragne that I love that smell? I have my great-grandmother's cedar chest and I keep my sweaters in there just so that they smell good.) After dinner last night (meatloaf and mashed potatoes; apple pie for dessert; just in case anyone was doubting that we are a family of blue-eyed Midwesterners) he started in on the roof. So, if it's not done this weekend it sure will be next weekend... just in time for the gorgeous spring weather we've been having.

Anyway, I promised babies, plural, in this post and far be it from me to break a promise. The big news around here is my new baby niece Magdalena (Lena for short). Emily's been wanting a girl so I am thrilled for her that she got one this time. Now the balance of grandchildren is even again on my side of the family... three boys, three girls.

I also found out that one of my scrapbooking friends had a little boy... they just brought him home after a bit of time in the NICU. And several of my favorite bloggers are expecting, so it's been fun checking for updates.

Porter's been asking lately when he's going to have a little brother. HA. I've been telling him the same thing I used to tell the kids when I was working and they would ask if I could stay home with them... it's not up to me, it's up to God. We so cannot afford another baby right now, much as I would like one. (It's more the indirect cost than the direct cost... our insurance doesn't cover it, and the insurance that does cover it would cost $700 a month. Umm, no.) We've been praying for over a year that Matt would get a decent job and one of the reasons for that is that I really don't feel like our family is complete yet. I think we still have another little boy waiting (You'd think I would have learned my lesson after Porter, but no.) but unfortunately, a lot of it is contingent on the economy. In the meantime, it's lots of fun hanging out with the kids I do have.

All the same, when garage sale season comes around in a few more months, I think I am going to weed out some of my huge stash of maternity clothes. I didn't like most of my pants anyway.

Three weeks

2009-03-18T19:08:00.003-04:00

So, it's been three weeks since I was summarily dismissed from my full-time job. And you know what? It actually feels a lot longer. I've finally gotten used to sleeping past 4:30 (well, except for yesterday, when I freakishly woke up and could not go to sleep), I don't have to deal with pumping, I no longer carry 7 pairs of earplugs in my pocket, and oh yes, I don't stink any more. So far I've gotten to watch Porter get on the bus (that was a first), I've sewed and done a ton of scrapping, I've been to the school a couple of times, I've roasted a chicken and made shamrock cookies, and in general I've gotten to enjoy the normal life that I really missed. Still looking for another job - but really enjoying this too.

We got our tax refund check last week, yay! We've been planning for ages to get a play set for the backyard so our little gift from Uncle Sam (or rather, the repayment of the interest-free loan that we made to Uncle Sam, since I know Mike is reading this blog) is going toward this. (They are a lot cheaper than I thought they'd be!) Matt will be assembling it himself so wish him luck. I can't wait for the kids to have somewhere to burn their excess energy. They've actually been on the neighbors' swing set like every day this week so it's about time we got one of our own.

The tornado sirens went off last night... we had weird weather all day so I thought, Huh, maybe. So I hustled the kids into the basement and turned on the radio. (Only the radio is in the kitchen so that doesn't really help much. Note to self.) It turns out that this is Indiana Severe Weather Awareness Week or something like that (I really like the idea of awareness that actually means something) and the sirens were a scheduled test that I would have known about it I was a little more up on things. But I think that not knowing for sure if it was real or not was helpful for me. The kids handled the whole thing pretty well - I'm sure it doesn't hurt that most of their toys are in the basement. And it was a good chance for me to analyze how prepared we are (really well in some areas, not so much in others) and have a talk with the kids about tornado sirens and what we should do.

Hold my clothes and tie me down, sir.

2009-03-10T16:36:00.003-04:00

So, I finally scrapped the photos from Betsy's dance recital... almost a year ago. I used the title 'Tiny Dancer' (even though it's slightly a cliche for a DANCE page) because it was the name of the patterned paper line. Yep, there's a whole line of scrapbooking supplies named after old songs... Penny Lane, Free Bird, et cetera. I can't help feeling that they missed an opportunity, though. Why not I Am The Walrus? Why not Ground Control To Major Tom? Or, for Valentine's day, Pompatus Of Love? (Of course, first they'd have to figure out what a 'pompatus' is. I think it might be the same thing as a 'hoosier.')

Aaaaaanyway, Emily was concerned on the last post that I scrapped each of my kids except for Betsy. So here ya go. I don't love her any less, I just don't have a lot of patience with the scanner.

And you see, Susan, that I wasn't kidding about the cards!

Maybe for my next post, I should write about something non-craft-related. Somehow.

Something like spring.

2009-03-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

It's in the sixties today, and it's supposed to be SEVENTY tomorrow. Perfect weather to wear these:

(Betsy took my picture for me - I think, at the moment, she's a better model than a photographer! But look what a great model she is.)

Something I've been wanting to do for a really long time is make mother-daughter clothes. And I got my great new sewing machine last year and have hardly had any time to use it! Matt gave me a Hobby Lobby card for Christmas and I, of course, blew it all on fabric. I got a length of that pink paisley intending to make a blouse for myself, but when I started laying out the pattern pieces, I realized I was going to have a LOT left over. So I found a little girl pattern out of my stash... they're not exactly the same design (hers has a square yoke and mine is round) but I still think it's a pretty good match. I already had the black fabric in my stash and by laying out the pieces VERY carefully, I was able to get her top and mine cut out without having to buy any more yardage. The only thing I didn't already have in my stash was the black bias tape that I used to bind the sleeves (which I didn't technically NEED but it was so easy and turned out really cute!) and that was like a dollar. So Betsy's top was essentially a 'freebie,' which was nice.

I've really enjoyed my week at home with the kids. We've spent most of our time down in the basement... the kids play and I sew or scrap or make cards and Amy hangs out in her playpen and it's really great! I did start a new job this week; it's in-person tutoring, VERY part time (one evening a week) but the hourly pay is pretty good and it's a nice change of pace from only working on the computer all the time.

I got a jury summons in the mail this week! Kind of weird that I've lived in Indiana for over a decade and never gotten one for this state before. I used to get them all the time for New York state when I was going to college...

Making lemonade.

2009-02-27T08:00:00.004-05:00

Can't go to work - might as well scrap!

Hmm, anyone noticing a similarity between these layouts? I guess I'm not as creative as I thought! I think that the 'Good Boy' page is still missing something, but I don't know what. One thing it's not missing, however, is the intense blue of my son's eyes.

I also made some cards, since I had all of the stuff out.

So all in all, it was a pretty good day. I've found some decent job leads already, and I got to hang out with my kids. Can't beat that with a stick!

Ten things you need to know about Amy

2009-02-22T06:50:00.003-05:00

at ten months old!

1. She has eight teeth (most of which came in within about a week of each other)

2. She is a world champion of crawling

3. She is finally, sort of, sleeping through the night

4. Daddy feeds her vegetables during dinner

5. Sometimes she sticks her fingers in my mouth while we're nursing

6. Her favorite song is "I Am A Child Of God" and whenever we sing it, she sings along and waves her arms

7. She thinks bath time is great

8. She's a paci-a-holic

9. Her brother and sister can always get a smile out of her

10. We happen to think she's just swell.

Pecus I am nis.

2009-02-17T19:25:00.004-05:00

Betsy wrote me a love letter for Valentine's Day. I think her writing skills are coming along nicely. Here it is, in its entirety:

ILUFYOVERE
MUCPECUS
YRUNISMOM
YOLUFME
TOVEREMUC
OSOYLUFME
PECUSIAMNIS

I was able to decipher the whole thing, actually. But I think that's one of those skills like understanding toddler-speak; it's much easier when it's your own kids. (And yes, we are working on the word spacing.)

Also, on Sunday night I had a puppy named Christober. Tonight I had a dog named Science Fair. It's worth noting that both of these canines are a three-year-old boy.

V-Day

2009-02-14T16:43:00.004-05:00

I seriously love the graphics in this one. And the singing octopi! How can you not love a red, heart-shaped cephalopod?

I went to Betsy's kindergarten class yesterday for her Valentine's Day party. Have I mentioned how much I love kindergarteners? They are just so cute. Betsy made all of her valentines herself, with absolutely no help from either of us - I am quite proud of her crafty ingenuity. Matt and I are getting takeout tonight and watching To Have And To Have Not (you really can't beat Bogie and Bacall). Because sure, you don't need a day on the calendar to be loved and blah blah, but at least I'm getting dinner out of the deal.

This is where the magic happens.

2009-02-08T17:25:00.003-05:00

Presenting my incredibly glamorous new scrap space:

I'm pretty sure that Creating Keepsakes will be wanting to do a spread in their magazine. Hard to decide whether to focus on the bare concrete floors, or the insulation on the walls (which Porter tried his darndest to pull down).

All kidding aside, it's nice finally to have ALL my craft stuff in one place. I finally have a table big enough to spread out on, and some cabinets to hold my embarrassingly large stash of fabric and patterned paper. I've been wanting to set up a craft area in the basement for a while now, and it was good timing because all that organizational-type stuff goes on sale after Christmas. I'm still looking at Goodwill for a desk lamp and a halfway-decent chair. (And I think I need a space heater, too, because it is FREEZING down there.)

I think my ribbons look so nice all in their little glass jars. (Oh, and you can see my top secret chocolate stash in this shot, too.)

It's the (second) most wonderful time of the year

2009-01-30T15:27:00.006-05:00

What, you thought I meant Christmas? I'm talking about clearance time! January/February and July/August are when I do most of my shopping for the kids: when the previous seasons are being cleared out of the stores (to make room for, y'know, swimsuits in January) I buy up all their clothes for the next year and store them in those big Rubbermaid totes, along with all of my Goodwill and garage-sale finds. I get a lot of good stuff for ridiculously low prices and my kids haven't figured out yet that their clothes are always a year out of style. Generally, something has to be at least 50% off to catch my eye (unless it's something that's harder to find, like coats or pajamas). Today I went to Target, Old Navy (all their baby clearance is an extra 50% off!) and Walmart (I know! I hardly ever shop at Walmart. I'm not one of those anti-Walmart people, I just don't like their stores. Although the gear oil lawsuit thing is probably not necessarily their fault. When quality control analysts do their job, everybody wins. But I digress) and brought home a seriously good haul. And since I had nothing else to blog about except complaining about all the snow, I thought I'd share.

I came home with a huge pile of clothes for Porter - adjustable waist cords, buttondown shirts, a hoodie and some other goodies - for like twenty bucks. Given that he hasn't outgrown all of his size 3's yet and they may be good for another year, I think his fall/winter '09 wardrobe is pretty much set.

Betsy is a little more difficult, since she's at the awkward age between toddler and tween. Call me crazy but I don't like the idea of decking out my little six-year-old in Hannah Montana or High School Musical. It's hard to find anything good for her, let alone on clearance. But I picked up some cute velour trackpants ($5) and a huge stack of long-sleeved T shirts ($3 each) at Walmart. Since the shirts are plain, I think I'll dress them up with some of my scrapbook supplies. Goodness knows I have enough foam stamps, ribbons, and buttons laying around that I can spare a few. Who wouldn't love to have a bunch of unique, custom-designed tops?

Okay, these were for me. I couldn't decide between the black and the yellow, so I got them both. In my defense, they were five dollars a pair (which is the exact same price of a pair of shoes at Goodwill). A little different from my usual style but I think they're so cool and vintagey-looking: you'd have to be dead inside not to love the little ruffles on the vamp! My sister Emily is always telling me that I need to get over my fear of ballet flats (Emily loves ballet flats. Emily got married in a pair of ballet flats. Even though her husband is like eight inches taller than her) and that there's nothing wrong with a little toe cleavage. I'm not sure if these technically qualify as ballet flats because they have that darling narrow strap and a kitten heel that you can't see but I'm not a shoe person so I don't know what else you'd call them.

So, just when I thought I'd get away with a minimal amount of damage, I discovered the toy clearance at Wal Mart, which was marked down an extra 50%. I thought I'd take a peek and see if there was anything worth putting in storage for a future gift giving occasion. I ended up having so much that a complete stranger (a really nice lady) went to the front of the store to get a cart for me, because I couldn't put it all in the stroller.

I picked up this neat, insanely detailed jungle playset for Porter's birthday in April (fifteen dollars). Check out the spider web! And the rocks shaped like a gorilla!
A radio-controlled car, also for the P-man's birthday (fifteen bucks). I think it will be a lot of fun in the basement, where there's hard floors and lots of wide open spaces. And being that he's a guy, he does love the remote control.
A ball-rolly thing for Amy's first birthday (twelve-fifty). It plays really annoying music when you roll the ball down the track. Think I'll be taking the batteries out of this one.

Oh, and the much-coveted Barbie MyHouse that Betsy originally wanted for Christmas but didn't get because Santa didn't feel like buying all the little furniture sets separately. (Don't feel to sorry for Betsy - she got a bunch of art stuff instead.) It was packaged together with the living room and dining room sets for a whole seventeen dollars, and I got the last one. Poor Betsy is going to have an awfully hard time waiting for her birthday to get here.
So, blog-readers, what are you shopping for these days? While you're at it you may want to pick up some mouth socks, which is what all the cool kids are wearing these days. Everyone knows only lame-o's put their socks on their feet...

Ten items or less

2009-01-21T17:17:00.008-05:00

1. Amanda Ripley, author of The Unthinkable, is going to be on 20/20 on Friday night. I've been recommending the book to everyone - it's one of the most interesting things I've ever read. (The title and cover makes it seem like it's a scary book, but for me at least, it had the opposite effect.) So if you don't have time to sit down and read a whole book, catch the TV version of it instead.

2. One of my very best friends just opened up this Etsy store. Cute!

3. How's this for cool: a craft-themed line of scrapbooking supplies (from, of course, American Crafts)!

4. Porter and I discovered Wubbcasts the other day (YouTube with Mom is an important part of his after-bath ritual) and I think I am addicted. Porter really likes the water fight; my favorite is the hopelessly-earwormy Don't Lie. You are powerless to resist its catchiness...

5. I've heard the same song on the radio on my drive into work every day for weeks. Is the universe trying to tell me something, or is it merely a case of diegogarcity?

6. Look look! Mother-daughter dresses! And mother-daughter shoes! Oh, the possibilities...

7. I am so glad that all of the drugstore-brand cosmetics manufacturers have jumped on the whole mineral-foundation bandwagon... because that means I can finally afford it. And it makes my skin look awesome.

8. So, Butler basketball is doing really awesome this year. But, is anyone really surprised by that? I mean, at some point doesn't the word 'Cinderella' no longer apply?

9. I analyzed batch # 24601 today. And no, I did not pile all the lab equipment into a barricade and climb on top of it waving a flag. I did hum a little to myself, though. (It was a 5W20 semi synthetic, in case you're wondering.)

10. My babysitter's kid is finally gaining weight, now that she's started him on solids. She's also been feeding him some of the extra milk from my freezer and the doctor told her not to because (and this is a direct quote) my milk is "not fatty enough." Gee, I guess that explains the appearance of Amy's thighs...

Back home again

2009-01-17T15:07:00.004-05:00

I really had to hit the ground running - I was gone Sunday through Wednesday and then I worked Thursday and Friday. Now I have a little bit of time to re-group but I also have to prepare a talk and a Sunday school lesson tomorrow (and catch up on groceries and laundry). It was fifty-one degrees in Alabama on Wednesday and minus eleven in Indiana on Thursday. Hmm, maybe I should have stayed.

I took a lot of pictures, mainly because I am the one person in the family who can be reliably counted on not to cry. (I'm not a horrible person, I swear. Even onions don't usually make me weep.) Grandaddy's funeral was really nice. I would describe it as more sad-bittersweet than sad-tragic, and when you really think about it, we should all be so lucky to be remembered like that. Emily, Catherine, Laura and I sang 'Amazing Grace' (reprised from Grandma's funeral three years ago - I think Mom just really likes to hear us sing) and we had some time to rehearse it in the hotel the night before, so I felt like we were able to do the song justice. Grandaddy was retired Navy, so he had the whole military funeral, which was neat. This is my favorite shot:

After they folded the flag they presented it to his widow (it's a long-ish story; she's not actually our grandmother, but they were married for 34 years and we all like her a lot) but later she gave it to Mom, which I thought was a really nice gesture. After the funeral we went back to the house (which is maybe a 3 minute drive from the cemetery and funeral home) and talked with all the family and friends. Grandaddy's church had sent a lot of food - fried okra, sweet potato pie, probably the most delicious cornbread I've ever put in my face-hole - and the Autaga County sheriff brought a ham. I had a really nice time chatting with my relatives before Emily and I had to hit the road again.

Here we are all in our fancy clothes:

Seven out of the eight grandkids were there (all except for Rob, who just got to Germany. Because he's in the Army. Grandaddy was okay with that; he was just relieved Rob's not a jarhead.) and two of the great-grandbabies. I just brought Amy, while Matt and the kids stayed home. It was really hard for Amy to absorb that much love and attention, because like all of my offspring, she's pretty shy and retiring. Although I'm a little concerned because I left home with a three-toothed (or tridentate - ha, I knew all that Latin would come in handy someday) baby but I returned home with a quadrident. So I think she might have been switched out of the hotel or something while I was sleeping.

Grandaddy

2009-01-08T19:22:00.000-05:00

He was 76. He will be missed.

The New Year

2009-01-04T19:27:00.003-05:00

We rang in 2009 in fine fashion, with family members (and a free turkey from work). Catherine took the bus out from Philadelphia, where she goes to art school. I hadn't seen her since 2006, so that was fun. Emily drove up from Ft. Campbell (where they will shortly be leaving, so we had better enjoy the proximity while it lasts) with Gavin and a fetus. And Mike and Mandy came up from Bloomington with Miles and a Wii, both of which were played with to the enjoyment of all. (I threw a strike on my first ever roll of Wii bowling, and promptly quit while I was ahead. Also, I stink at Mario Cart.)

Since all the cousins were together, we decided to line them up against the wall and shoot them.
With cameras, I mean.

Anyway, it was the first time Em, Cath and I had all been together since Emily's wedding, over two years ago, and we had WAAAY too much fun. We threw an air mattress on the floor and basically had a big slumber party (as much as that's possible when one woman is nursing a baby, and another is hugely pregnant) and did facials and talked about shoes and whatnot. Granted, the three of us shared a bedroom until I was 16 or so, and it wasn't nearly this much fun.

Anyway, in some not so good news, my Grandaddy is pretty sick with pneumonia, so we're hoping that turns out well. But in really great news, my brother's girlfriend Celeste is now no longer my brother's girlfriend, she is now his fiancee because Kevin asked her to marry him and she said yes.

Umm... Happy Boxing Day!

2008-12-26T17:14:00.003-05:00

We celebrated by going washing machine shopping. Hey, they come in boxes, right? Our washer was pretty much on its last legs, but when I tried to do a load on Christmas day, we found that the tub didn't spin at all any more. Being a front-loader, a non-spinning tub turns it into a boat anchor. So, the purchasing timeline shifted from "whenever we find a good deal" to "as soon as we run out of clean socks" which was pretty much TODAY. But, we got a pretty good deal on a machine at Lowes (another front-loader - I will never go back to a toploader. Seriously.) and it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Ho ho ho. I talked to the collision place this morning and they said that they have the Yaris but they haven't looked at it yet - their lot is still wall-to-wall cars from all the accidents that day.

We had a pretty good Christmas. The kids liked their presents, we got to talk with family on the phone, and the ham was pink, fatty, and delicious (kind of like Amy). I am dying to do some scrapbooking. Normally this is the point where I complain about how hard it is to get decent pictures on Christmas morning but as I'm looking at them, I'm realizing they're actually not that bad.

...And to all a good night.

2008-12-24T13:21:00.004-05:00

What do you do when your car is smashed up so you can't leave the house and it's Christmas Eve?

You scrapbook, of course!

Edited to add: Also, you take pictures. Cute dresses courtesy of Aunty Emmy, who doesn't have any girls (yet) and has to shop vicariously through mine. Bright, shiny smiles courtesy of the M&M/Mars Corporation ("Smile reeeeal biiig, and you'll get some M&M's!") Naked baby's upper arm rolls courtesy of Mom.

Well, Merry Christmas already!

2008-12-23T20:09:00.004-05:00

So, we got out of work early today, because the roads were bad. The thinking behind that was, if you leave before rush hour, you'll be less likely to get in an accident, right? So I went slipping and sliding across the parking lot to my car, chiseled the ice off of it, and set out at a snail's pace for home. It wasn't even snowing, it was freezing rain, which is almost worse because you have no traction, and all the caution in the world won't help you when there is no traction. People all over were getting into accidents... which is exactly what I did, not five minutes after I left work. That's right, I got into a car accident two days before Christmas.

So, that was awesome.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. The other driver's car was still driveable (is that even a word? drive-able?) but mine wasn't, so it's sitting in a parking lot waiting for an available tow truck. Fortunately, my co-worker was taking a different route home from work so he drove by not two minutes after it happened (and he was driving a borrowed van instead of his usual sportscar - really, a series of fortuitous concidences) so he was able to help me get part of the way home. And lucky for me, the people at our insurance company are wonderful and manage to be uplifting and helpful even though they must be dealing with billions of car accidents right now. (Liberty Mutual. I highly recommend - every time we've dealt with them, they've been great.) And the lady who was watching my kids was very understanding about having to look after them for an extra three hours or so while I slowly made my way home. When I did talk to the police dispatcher later, I learned that there had been something like eight hundred car accidents in Indianapolis today, and that's not even counting the interstates. And I guess it's a little bonus that I won't be working tomorrow, which I was scheduled to but, um, didn't want to because it's Christmas Eve.

So. We need a new washing machine (the bearings are shot or something, so the drum comes loose and the spin cycle rattles like World War 3) but that's going to go ahead and wait until after the estimate comes in. And truly, I don't think it's going to be that bad, but then I thought that about the Taurus in 2004 and it turned out to be a total loss. Which is NOT REALLY what we need this year. Mainly, I just need it to hurry up and be 2009 already.

Now She Is Six

2008-12-13T16:30:00.003-05:00

Betsy's lucky: she got to have her birthday party on her actual birthday. And I, being burdened with more ambition than common sense, thought it would be a kickin' idea to throw her a birthday party. You know, with all my spare time and whatnot. Actually, once I was able to scale back my expectations a little bit, I was able to come up with some ideas that were perfectly suited to the attention span of five- and six-year-olds. And I was able to do the whole thing - decorations, invites, goody bags and all - for around fifty bucks. Thank You, Hobby Lobby.

Unfortunately, Matt woke up this morning with the stomach bug that's been making its rounds in our family. Fortunately, both Betsy and I had already had it, so we were able to make do. Of course with my Chief Balloon Blower-Upper we were in danger of having no balloons because I can't blow them up to save my life. (Insert "But you're full of hot air! Ha ha!" joke here.) Fortunately I was able to use the foot pump from one of our million air mattresses, and good thing too, because the balloons were a huge hit. I mean that literally - the girls were all whacking each other gleefully with them. And if you haven't seen seven kindergarteners with their hair standing on end from static, let me tell you, it's something.

Anyway, Betsy was a gracious and charming host/birthday girl and all her little friends were sweet. They played Duck Duck Goose and Pin The Crown On The Princess and had cupcakes with pink frosting and colored princesses (seriously, at this age it's so easy to keep them entertained) and even made a craft. And Porter had a lovely time clomping around the living room in Betsy's new Cinderella slippers.*

*(He is going to kill me for that when he is sixteen.)

Mission: Accomplished

2008-12-06T17:35:00.002-05:00

Got my kids to sit on Santa's lap without crying.

That doesn't happen often. We had a Breakfast With Santa at the kids' school this morning. It was really nice - a good breakfast, and a lot of crafts, and a visit with Santa and a free photo, and a goody bag, all for $4 a person. The kids had been looking forward to it a lot and I kept telling them it was after my birthday. I think they were in a hurry for my birthday to be over so that it could be Breakfast With Santa Day.

Also, while we were inside the school, approximately 1,364 feet of snow came down. So that's fun.

I got to do some scrapbooking yesterday with my new goodies. This page was really fast - I did it while I was on the phone with Emily - because I scraplifted it from one of my previous layouts. Rather than reinventing the wheel every single time, ya know, like I usually do.

I love love love that picture. One of Matt's coworkers does photography with his wife, and they took pictures about a month ago and we got some free prints to send in our Christmas cards. (Assuming I ever get the Christmas cards sent. Hint: Don't count on it.) Anyway, after we were done torturing the kids they had some time before their next appointment, and I was just playing around with Amy. At least she seems to like having her picture taken. So of course I had to get some prints so I could scrapbook it.

Happy birthday to MEEE!

2008-12-05T12:17:00.004-05:00

Friday is my favorite day of the week anyway... lucky that it's my birthday too! Today I am 29, which makes me the same age as my mother (it's a biological miracle). My mother-in-law gave me the gift of cold, hard cash which translated into a trip to Archiver's. I had a blast. (Actually some of this stuff I bought a few weeks ago when Scrapbook Corner was closing. sob)

I have to say, even I am surprised at how much Basic Grey I bought, considering that my usual amount is none. I don't know why, I just found the colors in those papers really appealing. (Lest you think I am abandoning long-held principles, though, rest assured that I didn't like any of the other BG lines that I saw. Not even the Christmas ones.) Anyway, they were having a sale on Thickers and if there is one thing I love, it's discounted letter stickers in cute fonts and innovative materials. And seeing my new stuff all laid out reminds me that Betsy made a very astute observation (which I was too preoccupied to notice): that Archivers has the exact same countertops as my kitchen.

I also went to the BMV to get my new license. I was in and out in about fifteen minutes, which is crazy. Next up is making my cake - I think I'll put some peppermint extract in the chocolate frosting, because it's my birthday and I can do whatever I want. Nyah.

On a sad note, Betsy figured out today that 'scissors' begins with an S and not a Z. Oh well. There's always a bright side, and today the bright side is that Porter has been going around singing: "On the one day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... A pine tree."

Back from Texas

2008-12-03T18:17:00.007-05:00

Okay, okay, so we actually got back on Sunday night. I am just updating now because I am busy all the time. I HATE BEING BUSY ALL THE TIME. But I got a lot of good pictures and I'd like to share. So here they are in no particular order (because Blogger makes it really hard to put my pictures in the order I want them in).

This is pretty representative of what we paid for gas most of our trip. The lowest we saw was $1.35 in Rolla, MO and the high was $1.85 in Dallas. (This was in Illinois. The funny thing was that if I'd walked inside the gas station and bought a quart of oil, that would have been a blend that I tested and approved. Okay, so it's not THAT funny.)
Amy and her cousin Kage. She's actually going to abandon me and go live in Utah so that she can see her buddy Kage every day.

My niece Anahi... I totally wanted to steal her. Those eyes, that curly hair... couldn't you just die?

On Thanksgiving night the girls went out and saw Twilight. Mark took a picture and the shutter on the camera didn't open all the way. But I think it's kind of appropriate, don't you? The movie was cute but I am really looking forward to #2. Team Jacob!

Everything is bigger in Texas... even the spiders. *full body shudder* Jessie found this hairy spawn of Satan out by the mailbox. So if I ever move to Texas, don't try to send me anything by mail, because I will never set foot within 50 feet of my box

The fireworks. SERIOUSLY. Nobody lost any fingers, though.

Carolyn (Jenny's mom) got these canvas teepees and put them in the yard, and each kid got to paint a section. What a neat idea.

We had dinner at the Yacktmans' house - that's my husband's brother's wife's parents. (We actually know them pretty well, since they used to live in Chicago; they were at our wedding, even.) Plus, two of Jenny's brothers married sisters and so pretty much their whole family came too. I think the final count stood at 46, although I don't remember if that includes babies or not. Believe it or not, there was actually food left over.

Betsy and her cousin Shardae bonded over Barbies.

Sophie licked the frosting knife clean. And then stuck it right back in the can. Man, I wish I was six and could get away with stuff like that.

This is what the frosting was used for: to glue these little beauties together. We are so making these next year.

The paintball warriors! Wednesday featured a massive paintball war between the Lynns and the Yacktmans. The Lynns lost. Oh well, we're still awesome.

Sohpie loved pushing Amy in the swing. Don't you love Sophie's long, strawberry-blond hair? The last time we saw her she was two and didn't have that.

Matt finally got to play some tennis with his brother Mark. I love this shot because Matt looks really cool and Mark looks like a dork. I married the good brother, people.

We stopped in Springfield, MO to pick up fireworks for Mark. The store actually wasn't nearly as redneck as I thought it would be.

None of us had ever been to Missouri before, even though it's only two states away. My kids really liked the big upside-down letter U.