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Thursday, July 31, 2008

Time flies...

I haven't been blogging because... I just finished a freelancing project, the phones are finally slowing down and the kids have new bikes :) So for us it feels like summer is just beginning. I've been busy putting my house back together again and playing with the small neglected ones.

My house gets all Cat in the Hatish around freelance project time. Piles and piles of things all over. It is a little frightening when I pull myself from the haze of deadlines and look around in shock at the chaos surrounding us. This project usually falls during a lull in my husband's business, so he picks up the slack. The lull is late this year, which was a bit tough mentally but I can't complain when the economy is iffy and our business is doing better than usual. We survived, sometimes barely, and now we get to enjoy the slower times together.

Blogging and reading blogs in the summer is such a feast and famine experience. It seems like everyone is busy just living life, or even busier blogging about the life being lived. I don't have it in me to just stop blogging or to document the minutes of summer. So I guess I have to fall somewhere in between until the cooler temps of fall quicken my brain. However the nights have been coming on earlier, Amazon will soon bestow many books upon me, and I have art projects on the brain that will want documentation. Blogging will be here when the words and days are in sync.

Oh. My. Gosh... The husband just walked in and he has PLAYMOBIL bags. Later!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Now THIS is a Sunday...

I remembered to take pictures this time :) I have a hard time remembering to take the camera out of the craft room. It is one of my goals to do better with that. Later when the man and I are old and forgetful we will want to see pictures of our littles playing much more than my crafty stuff. Not that I am giving up shooting those. Just both.

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Ready to fly!!!

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We need to raise the seat a bit.

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The bike shop guy told us once she stopped using the training wheels most of the time to put the seat as low as possible and take the pedals off. She will scoot around on the bike for a week or so, learning the balance of it. Then once we put the wheels back on she'll be riding like a champ. He said it worked like a charm for his timid grand-daughter. I thought my girl was going to be timid on her big bike. She was for about three minutes then whoosh!!!

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Check out that determination. Sigh... I love bikes.

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And then there's this little daredevil. :)

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See the cool back part where you can hitch a ride? I read a thread about this trike that called it "drunk uncle proof". That is good, he has a couple of those. :)

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I can't believe how fun this thing is. Or that we bought a tricycle for our four year old. But he is actually using the smallest setting and my six year old (who is tall for her age) rides it with ease. My boy is happy to own a vehicle with some heft and speed to it. :)

Then after biking in the school parking lot, we played on the school playground. Which is lovely, shaded, huge and totally ABANDONED in the summer. Not like the crowded, intense and sometimes brutal public park playgrounds that are filled with cell phone mommies and helicopter daddies. We do brave those from time to time, but to do some serious, long term playing... off to school we go.

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My husband lovingly refers to this as the 'wall of death'. As my kids like to climb half way up and suddenly freeze and fall to the ground like they were electrocuted. We can't figure out why they do this, or why they keep trying to climb it after falling off. And I can't figure out why I am sharing this actually as it is sort of odd, so forget I mentioned it... Moving on.

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Rollie slides are the best. They make such a pleasing noise as the kids whoosh down them too.

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Check out how they sneak in exercise equipment onto playground equipment now, and how my daughter falls for it. Sucker.

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Fun was had by all.

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Remember the mole that makes her look more like me? Here it makes it's first photographic appearance.

Later we went to a family reunion where the kids ran around like monkeys and the adults baked in the sun and talked about boring adult stuff. Full, fun day. Finally things are feeling more normal around this place :) The flooding earlier this year sort of delayed the beginning of summer for so many people. It was the running theme at the reunion today. But she is finally here in all her hot, buggy glory.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Saturday fun!

Tourist in our own town day...
(The camera on my phone is terrible.)

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We were walking the breakwall that leads out to the lighthouse. I didn't get a lighthouse shot because I couldn't tell if my phone was taking usable pictures at all, and it was crowded out there.

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Every single time I visit the beaches and parks in my town I feel lucky. When I was a kid my family used to vacation here. After we moved I never got over the 'we are on vacation' feeling during the summer. When we are out playing that is. Not on Mondays when we are grumpy and working and stuff. Hmmm.... if I forwarded the business calls to my cell phone, technically I could work from the beach... goodness, that thought gets the wheels turning. And speaking of wheels....

Today...

Was NEW BIKE DAY!!!

It wasn't a planned new bike day. It was a random, mommy and daddy were on a 'date' and walking around downtown and stumbled into the local bike/kayak shop and found the coolest tricycle that we've ever seen. On sale. Our boy is very small and a bicycle is still a bit beyond him at this point, (not due to lack of trying). His old tricycle is too small and has no ability for speed. My husband and I both heard angels sing as we gazed upon this beauty. We just looked at each other, each with a stupid smile on our face, and much to the shock of the bike shop guys, we both practically shouted, "we'll take it." One guy actually whistled. The bike is seriously that cool.

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I should have snapped more pictures, but we were all having too much fun taking turns standing on the back of the thing. It can hold an adult, and you can 'help' by pushing it like a scooter. Wow it was SO FUN! I am dragging out the camera for tomorrow's biking adventures for sure. Especially BECAUSE...

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See his face? This "I am so happy that my brother is so happy," face? The face that quickly, and quietly turned to this one.

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A little introspective at the fact that her brother has about the coolest trike ever, that we are all having a blast with and she has a teeny, tiny little bike that is pretty much impossible for her to ride now. This is the face that didn't know she was going with her daddy to get sized for a new two wheel bike! Wooohooo!

And did I take pictures of that homecoming and bike riding festival? Heck no, I am not that reliable. (And I am kicking myself.) But by then we all had our bikes out, attaching the new bike rack to the car. Bike rack! Car! Big bikes! Yay! We are mobile. I could never get into the baby carriers behind the bike thing. Those freak me out. And I LOVE my bike. I have been waiting for this day for sooooooooooooo long!

It actually wasn't as impulsive as it sounds. Though impulsive is fun, I am not knocking it. We've been wanting to buy the kids new bikes, or scooters. It has been a problem, with the little guy being well, such a little guy and my girl not overly motivated for big scary machines that represent the two wheel world she is sized to inhabit. She got over it though once she set foot in the bike shop armed with the knowledge that one of the machines could come home with her if she so chose. Oh, and she chose. And I had tears in my eyes at how big she looked on her bike. How confident and capable.

It wasn't that long ago that they looked like this...

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I cried on this day too. She looked big to me on this bike.

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Wee bike-lings. I didn't find this the most fun stage of development. They enjoyed riding, but it involved way too much of me for my taste. I like to see kids riding like the wind, you know? My bike was one of my favorite childhood things. It was my horse, my circus trick bike, my motorcycle. I did very stupid things on my bike. Definitely got hurt on it. But that powder blue beauty with a flower basket and banana seat was about as perfect an object that summer can bring. I want my kids to have that freedom and fun too. And now they will!

And a side note... we did get them helmets. Just in case anyone was worried. :)

Homeschooling Questions

I want to play too.

1. What was your motivation for homeschooling? Was it based on religious reasons? Was is it based on curriculum - did you want more freedom in choosing what your children were being taught? Was it based on socializing - wanting to have more control in the people with whom your children came into contact with? Was it based on logistics - the nearest school being 20 miles away? What made you finally decide to go this route?
Health problems, unfortunately. A kid with gastro issues and on stool softeners was no fit for all day kindergarten and her gastro specialist told us not to send her. "Not send her to school?" We were flabbergasted. How exactly do you accomplish that? Well we googled. Found homeschooling. Happily ever after. Health problems much better now, thanks. Still homeschooling anyway.

2. Don't hate me for asking this. How to you handle socialization? What steps do you take to make sure your children are around other children and adults? Are you active in a home school group? Do you spend a lot of time at church activities? Maybe you utilize the local Y for activities and they meet friends there?
"We're not here for socializing, people." Didn't your teachers say that too?

But seriously, we don't sweat it. I have one shy one and one outgoing one. They'd be the same if public schooled. They both play naturally with other kids in our lives and the ones randomly encountered on playgrounds and such. My mother and sister work for our local mental health system and recently took the kids to a company picnic where they "did well" and "acted very socially appropriate." Which was said to reassure me and with love, but also sort of implies that all counselors had their eye on the homeschooled kids for any 'outside the cookie-cutter' behavior. I guess mine are good cookies.

3. Do you use the public school system for any part of your child's routine? Some children here come to the school for band or chorus, or maybe for science class. Do you send your child to the public school to take advantage of any of their programs?
They went to a preschool program for awhile (a family program that we went to too). But other than that not so far. We are actually assessing the desire to homeschool on a yearly basis so I can't say they won't be entirely in public school a few years from now.

4. Do your children begin and end school at the same time each day? Do they have a strict schedule, at least as far as waking up and reporting to the school area of your home? If not, when/how will you transition your children into following a more rigid schedule - awaking at the same time each day so that they can follow a routine outside of the home like for college and work?
Not a strict schedule really, but we do follow a pretty similar routine time-wise each day. But that was just how it evolved. One of the best parts of homeschooling is when I hear the kids waiting for the bus at 7am when it is still dark and snowing, and my kids are still snuggled in bed. Not to brag, but that rocks. Certainly, public school moms totally have me beat when it comes to free time. So give me my small joys.

Not all jobs have a routine that follows a school day. I see the lack of ability to adapt to a new situation/environment as more of a problem than not being in the 'habit' of waking up at 6am every day. No job has you sitting in a room filled with people your same age being told what to learn and how to act, even how to think. Public schooled kids sometimes have a hard time dealing with the sudden freedom once away from the scheduled environment of modern childhood. Every kid's path to adulthood isn't necessarily without having to suck it up and do stuff they're not used to. Learning to create new, beneficial habits is part of that transition from dependent kid to independent adult, and no mat
ter how you are educated you need to learn how to do that to be happy and successful.


5. How many spelling bees has your child won? Oh, I'm kidding. We all know most of the recent national spelling bee winners have been home schooled children. I just wanted to throw a little funny in there?
:) Spelling = Lots of reading  + Spell check. It's not the sort of contest we are into. 

6. Do you have a sense of humor? It's probably a little late for me to ask that but...
Oh heck yeah. For me and mine life is about fun. Humor oils our machine.

7. Where do you find your curriculum? Do you shop for it and order it? Do you create your own?
I LOOOOVE curriculum. I love to learn too and it gets a little 'but I HAVE to have this, in the name of the kids' education', that old song.  I need. to. stop. buying. curriculum.  Online shopping is evil and fun. The absolute best. Our local second hand bookstore is pretty neat too, esp. since it seems to be well stocked by homeschooling families by the looks of the books I find there. :)

8. Do you have any worries at all about teaching your teenagers the higher level math and sciences? I, for one, could not teach chemistry to my children but I could probably teach them calculus. Is this a concern for you?
Nope. I am learning along with them. Filling in the gaps from my public education :) Besides, mine are still little. There are some pretty awesome online classes, outside tutors, outside classes if I am not up to snuff. It isn't about hiding them away for us. It is about finding what is best for their current needs.

9. What bothers you the most about the reputation home schoolers have? What things do you hate to hear people say about you for your choice? I really hope you don't say that it's my previous post.
I hate all kinds of judgement, in every aspect of life. It is so unnecessary and fear based. Why can't we all just get along? Don't we all love our kids? Don't we all hate to pay taxes? Don't we all hate shopping at Wal-mart on a Saturday afternoon and it feels like the aisles are closing in on you and you just want to scream and run out of the store leaving your cart... oh wait. Maybe that is just me.

10. Be honest, do you, at least in your mind sometimes, judge those of us who choose public school? Do you ever think we are making a bad choice for our children? Are you vocal about that disapproval?
I honestly don't think most people even know about homeschooling except in an extreme, religious stereotype sense. I certainly didn't, until I had to learn. If I am feeling attacked by a vocal public school mom, I might get snarky back using some of the perks that come with homeschooling as fuel. But that is just because I am witty and sharp tongued and it is not unlike an old west drawing of pistols kind of fun, and in the end people enjoy poking at each other. But in full disclosure my best friends outside of the family are public school teachers.

11. Is "home school" one word or two? I've seen it both ways. With spellcheck, it shows it as ONE word when used as a verb, but two words when used otherwise. Please enlighten me.
Homeschoolers tend to use the one word version. Non-homeschoolers tend to use it as two words. My spell check hates the combined version. It soothes my inner rebel. 

Friday, July 25, 2008

Bugs and stuff


When I first started dating my husband we were hanging out in his apartment watching a movie when a little cricket made its way from who knows where, wandering right up to us. It was as if he were asking for directions out of the place. We both immediately took it as a good luck omen and returned the little guy outdoors. It was a second floor apartment and something about the quirky silliness of it all started me thinking I was going to marry that guy. Just the fact that his first instinct was to save the cricket instead of making fun of me wanting to save him, showed me that at least we were mutually cricket friendly. And since most other things can be overlooked in a relationship, we might as well have said our vows then. My husband bought me a cricket house, sans cricket, for our first anniversary.

Today, I was at my fake job which gives me a decent escape from my regular routine for a bit. I was in the breakroom and a cricket walked up to me taking me back to the apartment scene. I had to rescue it and locked myself outside in the process, as the door in the breakroom has a keycode that I don't know. But it left me feeling happy, sort of giddy and hopeful. Maybe silly since we are talking about a bug here. But really, it is all about how you look at it right? We get to decide whether or not we crush the bug or save it. We get to decide if we run from it or carry it jumping in our palms to freedom, feeling part fool - part little girl.

It was a good feeling, this little cricket visit. A reminder to keep a look out for the unexpected joys in life. Sometimes they crawl in disguised as a bug.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Timely reminders

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Wow, I needed this today.

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I went on the internet this morning to look into returning a booster seat that I am not thrilled with. We wanted to keep my boy in a five point harness since he is so small. He's outgrown his carseat (just), and needs to move to something new. But the one we ordered just fits quirky enough for me to question it, though it has good reviews. So I was going to exhange it for the booster my daughter uses, a Jane.

When I got to the site there is a little button with a kid giving a thumbs up that says something like, "find out if your kid is ready for a booster." I was like, good, this is exactly what I need to know. What it linked to was a video by a family who lost their son through seat belt failure when he was in a booster. (Like the kind I want to exchange for.) After bawling through the video, I clicked through to Youtube with some random desire to do something, anything, leave a comment, but more likely just cry and feel helpless. Only once I clicked over to youtube, you know how on the right of the screen they have recommendations for similar videos to the one you are viewing. Yeah. A whole row of memorial videos for beautiful, sweet amazing children. Oh my god. I am going to be sick.

And now I really don't know what to do about the carseat situation. But I sure as hell know I am going to be appreciating my kids today.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Overheard

My son: "Sagie, I bought you a bounty hunter. Look, he's so shiny! Wasn't that nice of me?"

This all in reference to Lego Star Wars, but definitely a conversation to perk up the ears. My son sure will know how to woo the girls in a few years, eh? Shiny bounty hunters... what's not to love?

Today my sister and I kidnapped my mom and took her here...

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This movie was so fun and I learned a few things from it.
I learned that a) I want to move to a greek island, b) life should be lived as a musical, c) there is an ABBA song for every situation, and d) watching a chick flick with two other 'chicks' (and about a hundred other women at the theater) in the middle of the day is FUN!

I loved Dr. Horrible, but it was all dark/light contrast and played with my mind and heart. I loved it, don't get me wrong. But I needed a dose of light musical joy afterwards. Mama Mia fit the bill nicely.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog



Go there now. Watch. It will be gone after July 20th (well, it won't be free after the 20th). And while I am pretty sure you will want to buy it after you see it, this gives you two days to watch it multiple times and marvel at its glowing awesomeness, in 'in the now' splendor. Go. Shoo. Watch. Sing along.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Sometimes, I just need a nap.

These are old pics. I so wanted to pull out the camera yesterday when my boy fell asleep. So small, cute and unbelievably quiet, it is hard for me to resist sleeping shots. But he is more sensitive to flashes now and the room was dark. So I did the next best thing. I laid down next to him and snoozed a bit myself.

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Yesterday, the boy and I were both having a 'hard' day. He was continually having tantrums and fits of anger, triggered by anything from his lunch choices to the color of his shirt. I was wondering why I even had kids, why it is illegal to sell them on ebay, and why they didn't sell antidepressants out of vending machines for those of us who don't want to commit to chemical stability, but might want to dabble on occasion.

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Then, a weird thing happened, meaning I had a moment of clarity even as I was spiraling out of control myself, and did my mental checklist of tantruming kids. Is he hungry? No. Cold? Nope. Sick? Don't think so. Tired. Oh, holy cow. Why yes, look at the kid. He is exhausted. So I grabbed the warm, angry ball of boy into my arms and we rocked in the big rocking chair just like old times. In five minutes he was asleep. Ten minutes later, so was I.

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We both woke up totally changed, like the world shifted into focus again. I am not always 'naturally' maternal when it comes to the kids but I have developed my own systems to figure out how to comfort and handle kids in various stages of disarray. Including the above mental checklist I go down when a kid is acting out unnaturally. It helps me recognize and effectively deal with the real issue causing my kid to act like hell spawn, and turn my frustration and anger into sympathy. Over the years, I have learned to recognize their needs relatively quickly and to even get them to start to recognize the signs in themselves.

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However, I am starting to realize that I am bad at recognizing that I often have tantrums based on my own needs not being met. Only I always assume I am 'unbalanced', have 'anger issues', or am unhappy in whatever current situation is underway. Using all the catch phrases of the day as an excuse for my behavior, when really I am not taking responsibility for myself. Sometimes I just need a nap.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Today's Mini Thing: July 15

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Here is the sun face all colored and waiting to be used for a wall decoration on the finished dollhouse. You can see it below at the top of the group of white little ornaments when it was a blank canvas. I wish I could show you the other little ornaments, but they were claimed by my children and colored with pen. Perfect for their dollhouse I say :)

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Just a small thing to share, but still moving forward and that feels good.

We should be getting my daughter's dollhouse in the mail any day now and we are both excited. We went with the little Primrose cottage as its size seemed manageable for both production and storage after it is built. I was nervous about taking on another dollhouse, but now I am excited to see what the girl comes up with.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Hello Monday

Today I have a headache and hate the phone and the voices that yammer from it. Today I don't feel like speaking all that much. So I am starting slowly, evolving into Monday carefully, hoping not to wake the angry gods that guard work weeks, keeping them free of dilly-dallying.

I am off take a bottle of baby asprin and chase it with some coffee. Then I am going to try to do something creative. Wish me luck.

Friday, July 11, 2008

One of the best videos ever.*


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

And one of the best 'about me' pages I've ever read.
Edited to add: I just noticed on his FAQ page when asked why the world is so screwed up he answered: men
And in answer on how to fix it: women
Darn interesting fellow, this Matt.


* If you click over to his site, or to youtube, you can watch it in a higher resolution. It is worth it.

Rite of Passage: A Father's Daughter

Don't give up
Because you want to be heard
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If silence keeps you
I...I will break it for you

Everybody wants to be understood
Well I can hear you
Everybody wants to be loved
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Don't give up
Because you are loved

Don't give up
It's just the hurt that you hide
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When you're lost inside
I...I will be there to find you

Don't give up
Because you want to burn bright
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If darkness blinds you
I...I will shine to guide you

Don't give up
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When your heart's heavy
I...I will lift it for you

Everybody wants to be understood
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Well I can hear you

Everybody wants to be loved
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Don't give up
Because you are loved

You are loved
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They were dancing to this song. It is one of my daughter's favorites.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Silly*

Remember the silly-putty from my last post?
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Here it is after picking at it for while, trying the ice cube trick on it, (can we say, yeah right?), and after calling my husband for tips. My husband is a carpet and upholstery guy and he just sort of made a noise in response to my request for a magic silly-putty removal formula. It wasn't a good noise. It was a, "I didn't like the covers for those benches anyway," sort of noise. So of course I had to turn to my true partner-in-life for advice. Google.

Google told me to use rubbing alchohol and q-tips.
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It started well, with putty succumbing to alcohol soaked q-tips with ease.

However, as it progressed, things weren't working as I planned. See, I expected to be all smug when my husband came home. Like a, "look how I saved the $4.00 clearance curtains turned into cushions that are already snagged to heck but no longer have a silly-putty stain," kind of smugness. Take that, mister negative carpet man.

But the alcohol didn't totally work. And its lack of working caused me anxiety. And the anxiety caused me to scrub, and all good wives of upholstery techs know you never, ever, ever scrub. Just blot. With water, or vinegar if you must get crazy. Not me though. I got all frenzied, ruin-the-fibers kind of rub-it-off-with-friction kind of scrubbing with the rubbing alcohol. Sort of hoping the heat from the friction would ignite the alcohol and settle the whole matter in a much more satisfyingly dramatic way. But no.

Instead I got this:
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Not so bad really. Nothing photoshop can't cure. And for the real life folk who will see this in person, trust me, it won't be like, "Oh no, YOU have a stain on your furniture?" I mean, you should see my carpet. Oh yeah. We don't have much carpet. Only two rooms in our house really. My magic ability to attract impossible stains took care of that pesky carpet problem long ago.

You heard it from a reliable source people, a carpet cleaner's wife. You don't want stains? Then rip the carpet out. There are places that will take it for recycling even. I mean, this post wouldn't even exist if my son had been playing with the putty on our laminate floor. But not if you live in my town, of course. If you live here keep your carpet and call my husband because other than his obvious lacking in silly-putty wisdom, he does a pretty swell job. And of course, mama needs new bench cushions, and $4.00 clearance curtains don't grow on trees now do they?

* This post is brought to you by the ill effects of rubbing alcohol fumes and the fact that my husband doesn't read my blog, unless I make him, and even then I suspect he is faking.

And suddenly there I am...

My daughter has never looked like me. My boy, he is a little squeaky version of me, with his daddy's and my passionate nature all combined into a pint-sized tornado of a child. Here he is, seemingly all sweet an innocent. My how a photo can lie, no?

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Doesn't he look cute and artsy here? Yeah, that is his 'soldier' hat and in his hand is a little nerf plane launcher that is standing in for his 'gun'. I captured this picture before he rolled off the bench for the seventh time. AND, I took these pictures right after I found out from my step-son, that squirrel-child (the small boy) is ineligible for the military due to his severe peanut allergy. This is no small thing, folks. Because I am one of those people that gets tiny dark thoughts at inappropriate times. Like when I heard I was pregnant for a boy, and the first thing I thought of was how he'll have to sign up for the draft at 18, and how soon would we need to move to Canada. I know, I know... so many things to cringe at with that admission.

But anyway, this post wasn't intended to highlight my sick mind but to talk about the power of small things really. Like I mentioned before, my daughter has never looked like me, except in nature possibly, like her quiet intensity, her strength when sick or injured, her intolerant perfectionism. Well, I guess I am responsible for the last one. We actually don't know where the other two come from either. She's sort of a mystery. But here she is in a perfect mommy mimic moment.

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Notice the unblinking focus at the screen, the downward set of her mouth, the dark circles. Yep, that is exactly how I look when Photoshop is making me SO. MAD. This picture was taken right before my typically stoic daughter had a tantrum mommy-style over trying to 'erase' instead of 'undo'. It was quickly resolved with a reminder of the history menu and an embarrassing discussion over how mommy needs to learn a new way to manage her stress on the computer. Ah, if only life had a history menu.

You know how as you grow up sometimes you get pictures of how you think your future will look. I was a pretty 'in the now' person growing up, but I did get glimpses of a daughter now and again. She was always dark like me though. I've always had dark brown eyes, hair, a weird yellowish skin that doesn't tan or burn overly much and makes it so I CANNOT wear yellow without questioning the integrity of my liver. Liver is fine, I am just a sort of yellow person, (and so is my boy, that lucky little dude). Well, as my daughter grew she kept on being blonde and green eyed, with the palest porcelain skin (that doesn't tan or burn easily however). And while she is everything I hoped her to be and more, it feels like a shock sometimes to see this kid I made walking around so different from me.

Until... This.
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I know, I can't see it in this picture either. It seems to be too small to photograph so far. It is a teeny, tiny little mole that appeared one day. Just a baby beauty mark. (We are moley, yellow people here folks, you've been warned.) The odd thing is the presence of this little tiny spot does something to her face. It is like suddenly I am there. I have a small 'beauty mark' in a similar location, but it isn't just the spot itself. It is the 'negative space' around it. Suddenly the shapes of her face are familiar to me and I can see the similarities that were there before, but not easy to see.

This doesn't change how I feel about this amazing child at all, please don't think that I need her to look like me for my affection. It was just something that was quirky, and stood out against the predictable-ness in life, so I took note. Then to have such a seemingly insignificant alteration cause such a major shift in perception - just a thrilling reminder of how something doesn't have to be huge to cause a big change. Sometimes the little things really make a difference.

Oh, and him?
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Sometimes I seem hard on him, eh? If you could hear my voice you could tell I am fond of his scampishness. His energy, incessant chatter, passion and streak of naughty - top my charts as some of my favorite things. You know the Olivia books? How one ends with the mom saying, "You know, sometimes you wear me out, but I love you anyway."? Well, I love him because he wears me out. He's fun and silly. He keeps me young and makes me old. So please don't take my language surrounding him as negative, he is my crazed prince. Look at him in this picture with his 'special box'. I bought him this box and he automatically started keeping his treasure inside. His silly putty, scissors (because he loves to snip the silly putty with them), the magic wands he painted, some little plastic monsters, all in a gorgeous magical box that the kid carries around with reverence. How can you not love a kid like that? Also of note: right after I took this picture he succeeded in smashing the silly putty into the cushion, apologizing with a trembly voice and a big smile. A perfect example of how some things don't change. Sigh... love him, love him, love him. :)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Today's Mini Thing: July 8

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Filled out the bed's 'tree' legs with paperclay. I so love this stuff. I made a halloween mask from it last year (which I never photographed finished), but almost ruined it for use with super stinky adhesive that rendered it useless as a mask for a long time. But the paperclay was a supreme material to work with and paint.

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I then used up the little chunk of clay by shaping little circles and moons to use later in decorating the dollhouse. I stamped them with the bindi stampers I got from Second-Cousin Traveling Amy.

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Bindi stamps and powders. I think I might even use the bindi powders for color effects when it is time to paint the bed and baubles. They are so vibrant and shimmery. Perfect for a fairy-themed dollhouse, I think.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Today's Mini Thing: July 7

I figured that if I work on one tiny thing most week days I will actually finish my dollhouse. I'll post my progress to try to shame myself to keep on going. Today I made a few magic wands and assembled the base of a bed. The bed still needs some paperclay to fill it out some, then paint and baubles. The wands are hard to see in the pictures, but I am pleased with them. The largest wand is just under three inches long. They have crystal beads on the ends that don't show up well in the pics.

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Blurry pic, sorry. If there are any palm readers out there, I just don't want to know - okay?

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Wands on the bed. For the finished bed I am picturing layered mattresses and pillows, Princess and the Pea style with a bit of Arabian Nights thrown in. With beads hanging from the tree branches.

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White on white pic I had to throw in for arsty points.