love thursday

The other day I started thinking about how much I enjoy writing my love thursday posts. It forces me to think about all the things big and little that I love and am grateful for. Sometimes it's hard to remember how blessed I am when I'm in the middle of a frustrating moment. So, here's this week's love thursday-

loving....
-hot chocolate with whipped cream on top

-after-Thanksgiving leftovers

-warm-from-the-oven homemade cornbread with butter and honey

-weather cold enough to start wearing sweaters

-twinkling Christmas lights

-the way the sun slants and sets now that it's winter. We get the most lovely soft yellow light toward the end of the day

-Monkey Boy throwing open our door in the morning and coming over to my side of the bed to shout "Hi Mommeeee" as a wake up call

-fresh pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and a cup of coffee

-Pumpkin Spice creamer- yummy!

-reading books with the small men curled up next to me

what are you loving this Thursday?

is NaMoBloPo over yet?

What day is it again? I'm not sure that I've run out of things to say, but it's starting to feel like blogging is a chore. Before NaMoBloPo, I would blog two or three times a week on average. This daily blogging is difficult. I sometimes feel like I have nothing interesting to say...I know there are people visiting my blog, but since I get few comments it sometimes feels like I'm just talking to myself.

Of course, that's nothing new- I am a mother to two preschoolers after all!

Some days I think, "oh, I have the perfect blog entry" but by the time I actually sit down to type it all out, it seems like too much trouble...or I get sidetracked...or I've completely forgotten what the hell I was going to say in the first place.

Anyways.... (what a rambl-y, nonsensical post- I guess that's what I get for posting at 12:30am)

Here's another digiscrapping page. I posted the original photo on my blog earlier this year, in case you're wondering why it looks familiar:

click for credits

my boy is a crafty boy

crafty-ness must run in the family:

Little Man put this centerpiece together for Thanksgiving. He found the leaves and we tied them together with a piece of long grass. Then he put the foam pumpkin man and turkey together (with a little help from me and the glue gun). I think the toothpick spearing the pumpkin is the perfect touch.

all i ever knit is socks...

...and it makes me happy:

the sock siblings, hanging out together on the couch


lil' tiger strype socks for Monkey Boy


'indian corn' socks....named by Little Man's swim teacher. I was knitting while he was swimming and she said she thought I was holding an ear of indian corn.

The tiger strype socks were made out of Opal Tiger sock yarn from their Rainforest line. I had made Little Man a pair of socks out of this yarn earlier this year. There was plenty left to make some socks for Monkey Boy as well. When I finished the first sock and slipped it on MB's foot to make sure it fit, he didn't want to take it off. Then he got quite upset when he realized that there was only one sock. He immediately grabbed the ball of yarn and a knitting needle out of my basket and commanded me, "Mommy, do!" And I did.

The indian corn socks are also made from leftover yarn. It's mystery yarn, tho- the ball band is long gone and I have no idea where I bought it. I had *just enough* left to complete both socks. It's a good thing I used a contrast color for the toes because I had literally two feet of yarn left over when I was done.

FO Report:
Indian Corn Socks-started 11/02/06, finished 11/14/06, for Little Man
yarn- unknown, looks like Koigu but ??
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 52sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in a 4x2 rib. Slipstitch heel.
notes- fits perfectly and is super comfy (according to the wearer).

FO Report:
Tiger Strype Socks, started 11/18/06, finished 11/24/06, for Monkey Boy
yarn- Opal Tiger
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 46sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in 4x2 ribbing. Slipstitch heel.
notes- I didn't do the 3 needle bind off for the toes of these socks. I just decreased down to 8sts and pulled the yarn through to drawstring the toe shut. This will probably be fine since MB will outgrow the socks before they wear out.

Christmas traditions

We are in the process of digging out all the Christmas decorations this weekend. Every year we put up the lights and pull out the tree right after Thanksgiving. It's one of our Christmas traditions.

When I was a lil'un, we lived overseas, following my dad in his job for a multi-national company. We moved all over the place...my sis and I were both born in Vietnam, but by the time I was 5 we had lived in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Germany & the States. There were several brief stop overs (where we only stayed in apartments for a few weeks/months) in other countries as well. So we didn't have much in the way of family traditions during the holidays. I know my parents always put up a tree, but it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you live in a Muslim country and no one else is celebrating.

One year my parents and some other ex-pats somehow got ahold of a Santa suit and threw all the small ones a Santa party. So we all got small favor bags and got to sit in Santa's lap. It was the first time I'd seen Santa in person and I remember it very vividly: he seemed so BIG! And HAIRY! And LOUD! I know why a lot of children freak out when they meet Santa for the first time.

When we finally settled in the States, it became a family tradition to take my sis and I to the mall for Santa photos. I have a whole series of photos I wanted to show today, but my scanner decided to quit working on me so I guess y'all will have to wait for the lovely circa 70s Santa shots. :)

After I had Little Man, I decided I wanted to start our family tradition and take him to meet Santa too. Since my scanner died on me, here are the two photos I already have on my harddrive....

Christmas 2003


Christmas 2005

The second photo is one of my favorites. Little Man *never* cried when meeting Santa...but Monkey Boy really did not want to sit in Santa's lap last year. I'm going to take the boys to take Santa photos this week sometime to continue our Christmas tradition. What are the chances that we'll get a smiley photo from Monkey Boy?

What small traditions do you have?

saturday sky 11.25.06

Sunset over Catalina Island (Powershot 540, 3.5/1250, ISO800)

working the turkey off

No Black Friday shopping for me. At least not at brick n mortar stores...I did spend some time clicking and purchasing some fun digiscrapping stuff online. Much better way to shop!

This is a short photo post, since there's not a lot to say today....

(click for credit info)

thankful thursday

Thankful for:
the Dearest, who
- always listens to my rants sympathetically
- is a wonderful father
- still makes my knees weak when we kiss
- doesn't laugh when I say I'm going to cover the funbus with hippie flower stickers (ok, maybe he laughed a little)

the small men, who
- keep me on my toes by making me laugh every day
- drive me nutso some days (but that's ok, too)
- let me see the world through innocent eyes
- taught me to let go and get dirty
- give me perspective about what's really important in life

other things, I'm thankful for:
- having a healthy Dearest, healthy small men and being healthy myself. Good health is seriously underrated and a huge blessing.
- the ability to be creative in many ways
- the lovely bloggers I've 'met' in the blogsphere
- good friends
- my lovely sis and her hubby (I wish they'd move back here, tho)
- family (even when they're aggravating)
- pumpkin pie with whipped cream
- a cool oven that allowed me to sleep all night as our hugemongus turkey cooked- I woke up this morning and that bird is perfectly done. Woot!

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

day before turkeyday posting

I have a 24lb turkey relaxing in the bottom of my fridge.

24lbs of bird for 4 adults and two children. How did that happen? (blame it on the great price for fresh turkeys at the local big box discounter- the smallest bird there was 24lbs!)

so the plan today:
-set up the cooler with ice water and brine solution so the turkey can soak all day (we're cooking it overnight so it'll be ready in the morning tomorrow)
-lunch with my dad and the small men to celebrate my dad's birthday.
-cleaning up the house in preparation for the guests tomorrow
-laundry duty
-eating more pumpkin pie

Maybe I should move the 'eating pumpkin pie' to the top of the list so my day goes better.

And here are some shots from our trip to Dland last week:

to the beach, to the beach

It was so warm yesterday (90F!) that I decided to take the boys to the beach to play in the water and watch the sun set. We were trying to get out of the house around 3:30pm, but due to several domestic slow-downs (Little Man fell on the stairs, Monkey Boy wanted to watch Wubbzy after his nap), we didn't get going till nearly 4:15pm.

That meant that by the time we arrived at the beach, the sun was already setting. In fact it slid behind Catalina Island just as we walked out of the parking structure. It was still warmish, but the typical beach dampness made everything a bit sticky. I decided that since we were there, we might as well get a little wet.

The small men needed very little encouragement to start wave dancing:

Despite the coolness of the air, the water was pretty warm. Not warm enough to enjoy a long swim, but perfect for dunking our feet. Monkey Boy is always a challenge at the beach; he doesn't really have a fear of the waves and will chase the water as it recedes. Then he gets clobbered when the waves come back up the beach.

Last night the tide was pretty low so there wasn't much wave action going. We played in the water (Little Man said it made his foot feel much better after his stair-tumble earlier) for a while. Then Monkey Boy discovered that throwing rocks in the water is more fun than chasing the waves.

Then I got this shot:

About two seconds later, Monkey Boy managed to run down the beach, trip over the only rock within 300 feet of coastline and fall face first into the sand. While I was busy running after him and attempting to stuff my camera back into my bag, a wave soaked him from head to toe and filled his mouth with seawater. I got to him a second later and picked him up; the poor babe was completely wet, covered in sand and quite upset.

I managed to get him out of his sandy/wet outfit and we stayed for a few more minutes. Eventually he calmed down enough to demand "More beach!". Typical- the child has no fear.

It was nearly full dark by the time we left, all of us damp from the sea air and smelling beach-y. If the weather holds, we will go back very soon for more wave-dancing.

Santa and the pirates

Every year the local commuter train does a special Christmas run called the Holiday Express. They deck the train out in tons of lights (50,000+ to be exact) , bring out Santa and do a short musical show. The train stops at three or four different stations so you can bring the kiddies and watch the show. It's all a way to bring people together so they will donate unwrapped gifts for needy children.

Last night we decided to go watch the Holiday Express for the first time. Monkey Boy has been really fascinated by trains lately so I thought he'd really enjoy it. We planned to go to the San Juan Capistrano station early and have dinner at Ruby's Diner. Unfortunately everyone else decided the same thing and there was a 35 minute wait at the Diner. So we ended up eating at the Sundried Tomato Cafe, which was yummier and a lot quieter.

Then it was off to see the train. There was quite the crowd of people; here's our little group waiting patiently:

Little Man; Cousin A & her Daddy

Monkey Boy is transfixed by the train

And a video of the train arriving:

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There's another short video of the show here if you want to see it.

The small men really enjoyed it. Seeing the wonder on their faces really brings home the Christmas spirit. It's so easy to forget about that when you are rushing around trying to get the holiday stuff done. But since we've had children and especially since Little Man has started understanding more about Christmas, this time of year has been a lot more fun for me.

They both got to meet Santa afterwards, though Little Man decided he was going to be shy and hid in my shoulder. Monkey Boy didn't cry, so maybe this year we will get a smiley picture with Santa.

A few candy canes later, we were home and putting the small men to bed sans bath since it was so late. We'll definitely have to go again next year.

"big bird doesn't wear a watch"

Yesterday we attended a birthday party for one of our neighbors. The little girl, B, is a huge Elmo and Big Bird fan. The party had an Elmo theme, and guess who else attended?

When we told Little Man that Big Bird would be there, he wondered "How will he fly to B's house? His wings are too small!" So the Dearest had to explain that Big Bird is like the dodo and can fly even with small wings. Technically incorrect, but LM was ok with that.

The characters were a little late because they had dressed up and gone to the wrong house. We had a laugh over that- can you imagine opening your door and seeing Elmo and Big Bird standing there? Especially if you don't have kids?

Surprisingly, most of the little ones at the party were pretty happy to hang out with the characters. Usually kids this age don't much like huge furry creatures. To tell the truth, they kind of creep me out- especially when the person in the costume looks at you thru Big Bird's beak. The characters made lots of balloons and did some magic tricks to entertain the kids.

Monkey Boy wasn't so sure about Elmo:

Little Man was pretty excited to play with the balloons and hang out with Big Bird. Then about halfway thru the party he came up to me and said he had something to tell me. He whispered in my ear, "Mommy, Big Bird isn't real."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"'Cuz he's wearing a watch and the real Big Bird doesn't wear a watch."

Astute observation, no?

Just a couple more photos:

one sock at a time

Believe it or not, I *have* been knitting. There are four large projects in my knitting basket right now- a jacket, two sweaters and a child's sweater. Unfortunately I haven't been knitting on any of those at all.

The jacket is stalled because I am debating on how I want to knit the front. It's a chevron striped pattern involving many color & yarn changes. The back is finished but I'm dreading weaving in all those ends. Then I started on the right front of the jacket and realized that not only would I have a ton of ends to weave in (x2 because there are two front pieces), it would be difficult to match up the stripes. So I'm thinking of knitting the front pieces together and steeking the resulting panel to create the two separate fronts. I'm kind of stuck tho- not sure if I should knit the whole piece in a tube, or if I can knit it flat and still steek. What I need to do is make a swatch and try it out....dunno if that's going to happen any time soon because I so dislike making swatches. Here's a glimpse of the back:

The other two sweaters are also stalled- one is just slow going (sportweight yarn on US3 needles) and the other is up to the neck shaping. It's not going anywhere because I have to recalculate the shaping myself due to modifying the pattern.

So what *have* I been knitting on? Socks. Kids' socks to be exact. I just finished a new sock for Little Man yesterday afternoon and cast on for sock #2. Next will be a pair of socks for Monkey Boy. Kids' socks are great because they are mindless and go so quickly. I haven't been feeling very good the past couple of days- I'm fighting off the nasty cold the boys have with lots of Airborne, Zicam and echinecea. So socks are the project of the moment.

drive by posting

because the babysitter is here, and the cleaning lady is here and I have FOUR free hours to myself (if I can get out of the house fast enough!)

click for credits

recap and a question

Yesterday was a busy day.

The boys and I went to the local dept. store to buy a new mattress pad for the Dearest's & my bed. The old foam pad had completely fallen apart after a couple of years so I tossed it. But for the past three nights I've slept very poorly because our mattress is too hard without the pad. Ever since my first pregnancy, my hips hurt if I sleep on a hard surface. So I was tossing and turning and not getting much sleep- hence the emergency trip to the dept. store.

The small men were extremely well behaved and I managed to not only get the foam pad (we upgraded to one of those temper-pedic type models), but they were having a great 1/2 off sale on toys so I did our Christmas shopping as well. Now I have all their gifts for Christmas, yay! Little Man was sufficiently distracted by the other toys to miss me sliding stuff into the cart. It was no mean trick to get the stuff paid for, but the cashier was totally understanding and hid everything behind the counter so the kids wouldn't see it. Then she double bagged it all so the packages weren't visible thru the bags. Nice lady.

After the store we came home, tucked into a quickie lunch of leftover Chinese food and rushed to get ready for school. It was my day to be carpool mom, so we loaded everyone up and headed down to school.

Then it was back home, where Monkey Boy went down for his nap. I spent some time cleaning up the kitchen and stashing the toys. The Dearest came home early and we decided to go to Disneyland after Little Man got home from school.

Monkey Boy was still napping when it was pickup time, so I left him at home with the Dearest and went to pick up the kids. We came home, emptied out the funbus and re-loaded in preparation for Dland.

Got stuck in traffic on the way, since it was already 3:30 when we left our house. Normally it takes about 35minutes to get to Disneyland from our house. This time it took about 50 minutes. But the boys were happy eating a milk & cookie snack so it was all good.

Disneyland was a little more crowded than we expected for so late. But I guess lots of people come to see the lights and decorations that they put up at Christmas. We still managed to do the boys' favorites: the Teacups and the Rocket Ride. We also went on the Haunted Mansion. This is the first time I've seen it all dressed up- they do a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme and it's really cute. I liked it much better than the usual Haunted Mansion.

Then the Dearest talked me into the Enchanted Tiki Room, which I haven't seen in about 30 years! The boys got a kick out of it- Monkey Boy danced to the music and laughed at the birds.

Finally we headed on home- with a stop at our favorite sushi place since it was on the way home. The kids were great and ate tons. It was already past their bedtime so I was surprised at how well they managed. Both of them crashed on the way home.

Whew, busy day!

And this then morning Monkey Boy woke up with a lovely snotty nose to match his brothers. Blech. Oh well, it's their first cold this season so I can't complain too much. Especially since LittleMan is exposed to all sorts of nasties at preschool. *

*on that note- what do you all think of flu shots? we normally don't get them (we are delayed/selective vaccinators)...but with LM in preschool i am re-thinking my position on the flu shot. in the past i've gotten the flu shot and still managed to come down with an awful case of the real flu. i was in bed for nearly two weeks. this was during a time i got flu shots every year cuz my work gave them for free. i haven't had the flu shot since then because i figured they don't work well. but....with LM getting all those nasty germies....i dunno if we should have the shots or not....anyone care to weigh in?

random wednesday

-Monkey Boy woke up from his nap on Monday afternoon with a fever. Since we have a crappy digital thermometer (the kind that stick into orfices), I didn't know how high it was...just that he was very hot and quite pink cheeked. He ran around all afternoon despite the fever. Then the Dearest was carrying him to the table for dinner when I heard the Dearest say "Oh- ohohohoh!" I turned around to see Monkey Boy upchucking all over daddy's shirt. Oops. We got both guys cleaned up and Monkey Boy was all better by the next morning. That'll teach me to feed the boys McDonalds. Sheesh.

-Last night's dinner was braised short ribs from the December issue of Martha Stewart Living. It was absolutely delicious and my house still smells like parsnips and beef stew. But in a good way!

-I finally got my Winter issue of IK. Love it. Can't wait to make stuff out of it. Love it.

-Yesterday was our first Parent-Teacher conference with Little Man's teacher. I still can't believe that LM is old enough to have a teacher and be in school (even if it's just preschool). I had no idea what to expect, but it went well. The teacher told me that LM is very kind and sensitive and loves to play Legos. His favorite activity in the school day is going to chapel. I'm just glad LM is doing well and adjusting to all the other kids.

-PSA: As a public service announcement, I'd like to remind you NOT to stand up and crack your head on the corner of an open cabinet door while trying to unload the dishwasher. It hurts. It still hurts and it's been three days.

-PSA2 (and a little vent aimed at no one in particular): some consider it 'artistic' to tilt the camera when photographing portraits. This doesn't apply when 99% of your shots are tilted. Then it just looks like either your tripod screws are stripped, or you have diffculty keeping your balance with the weight of the huge fancy lense on your huge fancy camera. Keeping the horizon level- try it, you might like it (and your viewers might stop needing dramamine).

and that's it for random wednesday.....join us tomorrow as I attempt to come up with a more coherent and less snarky blog post.

bad mommy

Little Man's hair is getting long. The Dearest keeps asking me when I am going to get it cut, but LM looks so cute with it all shaggy. He is getting quite the surfer look, dontcha think?

We went to the park today with some friends. The boys had a lot of fun- I had to chase Monkey Boy all over the place because he insisted on playing on the big kids' structure instead of the safer little kids' playground. Of course MB had to do everything big brother is doing. At one point he was running all out across a grassy field. I saw him running down the slope and thought "Oh crap, that boy is reaching terminal velocity!" and sure enough he fell flat on his face. He got up crying and I had to laugh because he managed to get grass in his teeth, up his nose and all over his face. Poor kid- here he is trying to cough up a grassy hairball and I'm laughing at him. I'm sure he'll be in therapy later over it.

And along the lines of 'bad mommy'- check out Carmen's post and the ensuing comments- they are hilarious!

toddler speak

Current toddler-ease at our house (courtesy of Monkey Boy):

ha-da-ka- helicopter
puk-ea- plug (his current obsession is trying to plug things into the front of the TV set)
schtop!- stop
tiki-tk-tki-tiki- tickle tickle tickle
change- I've got a poopy dipe and need changing
daaaats kookee!- that's kookie (from Wow, Wow, Wubbzy)
han-bamby- Handy Manny
watch- watch TV
chok-mik- chocolate milk
ou-sii- outside (as in play)
kick-kick-kick- (accompanied by much kicking and splashing in the tub) swimming lessons
schooo- school

I should be a UN Interpreter....

beachy shoot

Christmas is only 40-ish days away and I still don't have our cards done. I've been wracking my brain to come up with something fun for the front of the cards, but really haven't found anything that I love yet.

Yesterday started out a little cloudy- perfect for beach shooting- so the Dearest and I wrangled the boys into the car and headed down to the beach. Of course once we got there, the sun came out again. *sigh* Harsh overhead light is not the exactly the most flattering.

I didn't have anything in mind- just let the small men run about and shot as they were doing their thing. Not really happy with the finished photos. They are nice, but not what I was looking for if I want to use them our Christmas cards. It doesn't help that I don't really have any idea what kind of card I want to make.

Got some cute shots, tho (click for larger images):

I'm going to try again at a different location. Maybe a new place will give me some new ideas...the 'beachy Christmas card' is so done. At least I didn't dress everyone in matching white shirts and khakis.

The beach was deserted due to it being the off season and a little cloudy. One of my photog pals had mentioned that she did a shot recently where the beach was so crazy with other photographers that she literally was running from spot to spot with the clients, trying to get a shot before someone else got into the frame. There are a couple of local spots that are super popular for beach sessions (I see the same arch in at least two or three Christmas cards every year), and I knew to avoid those. So the little beach we went to was quiet and lovely and the small men had fun running around throwing sand & rocks into the water.

puzzling

click image for credits

wild in the city

A few nights ago, I saw a deer.

In some parts of the country seeing deer is not a big deal. One of my friends lives 'back East' and every Spring she curses the deer that chew her garden to shreds. But the OC is a very densely populated mega-burb with many small parks and few wide open spaces. Despite that, I've seen all kinds of wildlife.

When we lived near Huntington Beach, raccoons were a huge problem. One year I spent hours planting tulip and hyacinth bulbs (after refrigerating them for six weeks because it's not cold enough here in the winter). I was so looking forward to seeing all the gorgeous tulips come up in the spring. The next morning, every single bulb was dug up and chewed. There were all these little tiny childlike footprints in the dirt.

A few days later I woke up early and went outside to get the paper. When I walked past my would-be flowerbed, I did a double take: staring at me was a raccoon the size of a cocker spaniel. He had a tulip bulb in each paw and one in his mouth. We had a few moments of "oh sh!t, now what?" on both sides before he put down the bulbs and ambled off into the sewer grate in front of our home. It turns out that raccoons like to live in the sewers. Who knew?

Possums are another very common city creature. I've also seen plenty of coyotes. The area wer currently live in is only a few hundred yards from a very large wilderness park. The park connects to a huge conservation area. It all means miles and miles of open land, from inland OC to the ocean. Coyotes are so common here that no one keeps their cats outdoors because the cat will get eaten within days. Most people don't leave dogs out either- even big dogs run into trouble from the coyotes. I've seen coyotes here as big as German Shephards.

And then there are all the little wilds- snakes (including rattlers) , hawks, assorted rodentia, etc..

But I've never seen a deer walking down the sidewalk at dusk and that's exactly what I saw a few nights ago. Waiting for the light to change, I glanced over at something and realized it was a big deer (big enough to tower over the Honda Civic it was walking by) strolling down the sidewalk like it had places to go and people to see. We were stopped on a bridge that crosses over the wilderness park so I'm sure that's where the deer came from. The light changed but no one moved. We were all staring at the deer! Eventually it decided to walk across the street between cars and disappeared down the footpath leading into the park.

I find it ironic that all the times I've been hiking or camping and I've only ever seen a deer up close while stopped in my minivan in the middle of suburbia.

And on another note....some more digiscrapping:

sometimes mommy gets a little crazy

pbj n cheese eyes;
apple eyebrows
apple mouth + cheese teeth
cheese hair

It's "Mr. Gouda"!

a space to work, a space to play

I long for a dedicated crafty spot in our home.

Each of our four bedrooms is taken- Little Man and Monkey Boy each have their own room. The Dearest and I share the master bedroom and the small fourth room, which we use as an office. It's supposed to be the Dearest's office, but since I have nowhere else to put my computer and photography stuff, he's stuck with me invading his space.

A lot of people I know use their formal dining rooms for sewing and crafting. Unfortunately we don't have a formal dining area. So I'm relegated to using the kitchen table. Not the best circumstance since that means projects can't be left out more than a couple of hours. Plus my small men constantly roam the kitchen, making it difficult to find a solid chunk of crafting time.

The Dearest has suggested having them share Little Man's room so I could set up Monkey Boy's room into a crafting/sewing area. At first I thought it was a wonderful idea- but then I realized that there were a lot of small issues with the boys sharing a room. Monkey Boy still naps and Little Man doesn't....BIG issue. If they shared a room, it would be impossible to get MB down for nap because LM still has "quiet time" where he plays in his room for an hour in the afternoon. This gives me an hour of boy-free time every day. I'm not sure a crafty room is worth giving that hour up!

Finally I decided that we had enough space in the masterbedroom for a small desk and some shelves. If I can't get a whole room for crafting, at least I can consolidate all my stuff into one spot so I'm not running all over looking for things when I want to do a project. We already had the small desk & I bought a shelving unit to fit under our window.

The last few days have been spent organizing crafty stuff. Not everything will fit in our room....my yarn stash is way too huge to be corraled into one shelf. But I managed to get most of my fabric and sewing stuff together. My sewing machine is now on top of the desk instead of lurking in the garage getting cobwebby. It's not anywhere near as lovely as some other workspaces in the blogsphere....but I'll take what I can get.

FO Report

Well I finally did finish my final pair of Socktoberfest socks.....

FO Report:
Started 10/15/06, finished 11/02/06
Tiger Stripe Socks for Little Man
yarn- Opal Tiger
needles- 4 Clover DPNs, size US1
pattern- my own cuff-down sock for little people. CO 52sts, knit in 1x1 rib for about an inch. Knit the rest of the sock in stockinette. Slipstitch heel.
notes- these socks should have taken me no time at all, but I misjudged how much LM has grown. I ended up having to rip out the first try at these socks and starting over. The original sock only had 42sts....it wouldn't even fit over LM's ankle. Bumping the stitch count to 52sts worked much better. In the future, the kids' socks will be made with some type of ribbing. I think they fit more nicely and stay up better if the socks are ribbed.

Little Man is supremely happy with his "tiger stripey" socks. He insisted on wearing them out yesterday even though it was 90F at noon!

And *what* is with the weather in So.Cal.? Yesterday was insanely hot- we even had to run the A/C all day. It's NOVEMBER, people! I'm supposed to be wearing sweaters, not tank tops!

the dog bed

It's stinky, full of dog hair and the object of Monkey Boy's obsession: the dog bed.

aren't i the crafty one?

Well, I can be supa crafty if I get into the right groove. It seems like I'm currently in a necklace/beading groove. This is my newest necklace, made with all the colors of Fall. The boys helped me with the beading- Monkey Boy would pick up my needlenose pliers very time I laid them down. Then he'd try picking up spare beads, poking holes in my bedspread with every try. Little Man took all my headpins and twisted them into spirals or pretzel shapes. Those boys are oh. so. helpful.

The finished product is quite pretty, I think. Not sure if it was worth all the cussing under my breath as I wrested the pliers from MB or untwisted another headpin. Give me a couple of days of wearing it and we'll see.

In other news, poor Little Man has come down with a nasty cold. He laid abed all day Saturday- very unusual for him. Even when he's sick, LM likes to run about and play. But all he did yesterday was go from bed to couch to beanbag chair. He even fell asleep while we were watching videos. He has a low fever (about 101F) and is generally tired and grumpy. I waited till bedtime to give him some Motrin to lower his temp and let him sleep better. Hopefully between the fever doing its work, lots of Airborne, Zicam and rest, he'll feel better soon. I hate when my babes are sick. :(

at play

momma has a new pair of shoes

Damn that Zappos. These arrived at 9am this morning and I've been wearing them all day. Can you believe that they're Keds? I couldn't either. Not the clunky, white sneaks of my teenage years, that's for sure. The only drawback is they are a bit rubby on my right heel (a problem I have often) so I'm sporting a sweet Scooby bandaid to complete the look till the shoes are completely broken in.

love thursday

loving:


boys who move too fast to be photographed


"La Fondue" and fondue in general. Much yumminess!

-Monkey Boy's chatter:
"baw-bai"- brother
"shaneee"- Shane
"elw-bow"- elbow
"pway-dah"-playdough
"oopsie-daasee"- oopsie daisy
"tweekie-tweet"- trick or treat

- Pandora

- homemade beer and cheese soup with fresh bread

- In N Out burgers

- the sound of the furnace kicking on for the first time this winter

- crisp fall days

- finally being able to wear some sweaters!


the joy of discovery

nablopomo

NABLOPOMO

A post a day for the entire month? Well, I'll try and we'll see what happens....and here's the first post! :)


Another layout done. This is a two page spread...you can see the individual pics here and here. It's funny, I have sooo much background 'paper' for my digiscrapping and I find that I like plain white space the most. When I use too much pattern I feel it's disctracting and you don't see the photos. Even when I paper scrapbooked, I used a lot of single color backgrounds.

This LO took some tweaking before I was finally happy. For a while I had a blue background and it just didn't look right. Once I went back to plain white (with a light spattering of custom shapes), I was much happier.