Monday, August 4, 2008
... Um, yeah, and we saw lots of fish, too.
While in Santa Cruz, I bought these unicorn band-aids and , which are awesome. And they actually stick, which is much more than I can say for the crap rainbow bandages I bought from Wal-mart one time when I was trying to help the girls rock their ouchies without contact from media characters. I have also, due to California's depth of stores, finally managed to make a pilgrimage to Torrid, the store of awesome clothes for curvy girls. I restrained myself, in this crazy spree of buying actual new clothes (It felt weird, the nice fitting room and the mirrors and the privacy, and the tags with the sizes RIGHT ON THEM, and not searching for stains--actually, I didn't like it very much), to stuff that I obviously couldn't make or modify myself, and thus I ended up with, among other treasures, this skull tank top (Me? A tank top? But it fits!) and this pair of denim capris with skulls embroidered on the cuffs (Me? Capris? But they fit!) and, um, this other skull tank (Sort of a theme here? But seriously, you don't know how many fat clothes I've seen with stuff like Tweety Bird on them--skulls make waaay better fat clothes), and a couple more things, and yeah, one more thing with skulls.
In tomorrow's update--dinosaurs! Yarn store! And the grand revelation of the first rows of my very first real knitting project! Oh, and we're going to Berkeley.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
More Sightseeing, Less Crafting
--I tried to get one of those photos of my family in the room with the altered proportions so that they look all weird compared to each other, but certain members of the family would not cooperate--
--and the "paint your own face" face painting booth was a BIG hit:
So no, there hasn't been much crafting, but I do have plans, at least, to visit Uncommon Threads tomorrow (beware of the stupid baa-baa noise when the page opens) to get the exact colors of Cascade 220 yarn that I need to make the Hogwarts House Scarf (I'm a Ravenclaw, don't you know) from . I have my brand-new circular knitting needle in my possession, and I'm sure that if I could just do the exact same stitch about eight billion times in a row, like I will with this scarf, then I'll finally be able to remember how to do it the next time I knit. Is it too ambitious to be thinking about House Scarves for the whole family for Christmas (Matt and Sydney are Hufflepuffs, and Willow is a Gryffindor)?
I also found the most awesome book in Matt's mother's house, and after I asked her to make the quilt for the girls, she told me I could just have the book (and make it my own damn self, darn it). But how amazingly, awesomely awesome is ? I am really, really excited about making these blocks using only thrifted/vintage materials. You have to watch out, though--the layout for the applique is spot-on for the character blocks, but the actual block illustration is just an example of what your block *could* look like with a little more creativity and skill than the book provides. For instance, the Fozzie Bear block is made with the actual fabrics used to make, you know, Fozzie Bear--good luck with that one, home sewer.
And last but not least, my Sublime Stitching Stitch-It Kit is sitting there patiently in my luggage, waiting for me to whip it out and learn some basic, yet valuable, embroidery skills. On account of that's what vacations are all about, right? Ooh, and visiting local thrift stores!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
So Easy, Even Small Children Can Do It!
It's just about my favorite aspect of natural cleaning, particularly making your own cleaners--the kids can actually productively use them to help me clean, and since I know exactly what's in the cleaners and that they cost about a penny to make, I know that they're not harming themselves or the house or wasting money when they begin to clean a little, um, boisterously. Sydney likes to take the spray bottle of vinegar and tea tree oil, for instance, and spray, well, everything--walls, tabletops, couch, cat, floor.
When she does that, I think, "Oh, good! The baby's cleaning."
Monday, July 28, 2008
Simple Dolls
And so, as it was with the dinosaurs, when my kid gets into something, I tend to come to appreciate it, too. And by appreciate, I mean make stuff: I really love, now, felting old wool sweaters and sewing them (this post on SouleMama about dying wool felt is about, I fear, to take me in another new direction) into awesome stuff. I've done felt food, shapes for the girls' felt board, ornaments, pincushions, stuffed animals, quilts, and all manner of other things that both turn out and definitely do not, all with tacky old wool sweaters cut up and felted in the washing machine. I'm most fond right now, though, of making children's playthings, balls and cubes and bean bags and these dolls, for my Syd and my etsy, all with really simple shapes.
It's in some ways a response, I think, to the wide variety of overstimulating children's toys on the market today, sort of like in The Bean Trees: A Novelwhen Taylor's roommate, Lou Ann, goes to work at a salsa factory and all her cooking becomes really, really spicy, so on the nights when Taylor cooks she makes the blandest foods she can think of, white fish and mashed potatoes and such. I make really simple toys for kids, with simple, organic shapes and single fabrics with interesting textures----and my girls love them, at least. Although I don't know what possessed me to put the creepy eyes on:
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Gettin' Our Jump On
and this:
and this:
until finally, finally, finally, for the first time in my life, I am rendered Utterly. Jumped. Out. What satisfaction can compare to the satisfaction of that?
And so, to tomorrow, when all I have to do is start getting ready for our Thursday trip to California. That won't be stressful, right? Right?
Saturday, July 26, 2008
See the Happy Birthday Girls
This party is the first year that we did well, I think, with the food and drink. We stuck with the stuff that we, personally, love, Boca brauts, pineapple, blue tortilla chips, boxed organic salad greens--stuff like that, stuff that we can therefore cook up properly and serve nicely. The other day at our big-box Kroger's, Matt was walking by their tiny little shelf, between the refrigerated Sunny D's and the Lay's chips, of micro-brewery beers, and lo!, there was Shiner Bach, our local beer when he and I were just pups dating at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He bought a six-pack for old time's sake, and yesterday, both kids in tow, the shopping cart full of Amy's burgers and grapes, I went back and bought the whole rest of the selection, all seven six-packs. Hallelujah, and awesome beer for our buddies.
I also bought, instead of cake mixes (which I always mess up, for reasons I do not understand), a big four-pack of brownie mix at Sam's, and a biiiiiig cake pan and real live decorating tips at Hobby Lobby. I am utterly surprised at this, but all that added up to: It may not look like much, but seriously, this is probably the fourth time I have ever baked something and it both looked and tasted really good. The whole party, people were complimenting me on the cake and the decoration, and I'm all, "Oh, thank you! I'm pretty proud of it, too. It was my first time cake decorating, can you tell?" It seriously did not for one second occur to me, until after the party, that Matt was the one who actually drew in the dinosaur with the black frosting; I only colored it in. Oops.
I am traditionally really lousy at taking photos during parties--I'm always too busy partying and eating, but I did manage this year to get a photo of my girls with their birthday cake:
And the wish...
Right now, Matt is ushering two exhausted girls through a quick bath before bed. I'm about to head over to a date with Dick Blick to buy some class-pack art supplies for the girls, now that we have some basement storage room, and then tonight, after the girls are asleep, I have a date with Matt back in the jump house.
What are you doing tonight?
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Fair, It was Fun
She's carried that ribbon around all day today, occasionally saying things like, "Momma, if we're outside and the postman comes, I can show him my ribbon!" or "Let's glue my ribbon to some cardboard and hang it on the wall." When little kids are proud of awesome stuff they've done, it's the best.
...but we also hung out for quite a while in the 4H building. The kiddos in 4H do this glamour-shot kind of thing in which they pose in all their different guises for this series of studio photos--one kid will pose in his football uniform, then in another shot with all his fair ribbons, then with his rabbit, then with his violin, etc. It was pretty awesome.
...the carnie advised me to put Sydney not in the first seat, which was what I was lifting her into, but the second, because in the first seat, "I betcha she'll fall out." Seriously, how awesome can the county fair get? (Pretend not to notice how you can totally see that Sydney's armband is safety-pinned on, because Matt and I cut one armband in half to put on both girls. Have I ever mentioned to you that we're poor?)
Whew! And tomorrow, BIG JUMP-HOUSE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!! I'm so excited, here's a county fair self-portrait:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Queen of the Fair
Do you think our little prize winner looks proud of herself? Will has no concept of competition, obviously, but she was beside herself to see her work "in the museum, Momma!" She was a tad bittersweet about visiting her award-winning dinosaur collection, however...
...because she hasn't played with them since last Wednesday and she can't have them back until Sunday. Poor little dino-less lamb.
I was no less stoked about having my own work up "in the museum":
My photo of Will in the Exploratorium won a first place and my other two photos won second places; both my stuffed dinosaurs, the faux fur and the felted wool one, won first places in sewing, as did my pillowcase dress, netting me a champion ribbon in the sewing with recycled materials class, and my T-shirt quilt, soldered glass pendant, and felted wool flower pin all won first place, as well:
Some of them also had honor ribbons, as well, but I don't know what those are for--the Monroe County Extension Homemakers can tend to be a little arcane. I am totally going to join them...but do you think you're allowed to have a job AND be a homemaker? Or is it okay if you're a really unsuccessful homemaker, because I don't actually give a flip about cleaning? But I'm so sold on them because at their meetings...they do CRAFTS! Who could not like that? And I bet there's food. I love anyplace with food.
P.S. I decided on eyes but no mouths for my simple dolls. Freaky, but awesome.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Grandpa Bangle's Toolbox
The gift includes a bunch of files, a stand like the one I use to hold my pendants when I solder, a saw, a bunch of hemostats (which I have always wanted!), a bunch of needlenose pliers (including one just like the one I'd just dropped eight bucks on--darn!--but a bunch just like the ones I don't have any money for--score!), and some beautiful polished stones, turquoise and quartz and some marble and I don't know what else, that Will has taken for her collection (she pores over them constantly like Scrooge McDuck--mental note to check out some books on rock identification to get the learnin' in).
We also found this in the toolbox, which Will has also spent many days walking around holding up to her eye:
She says, "Mama, it's magic! It makes things look bigger!"
Science IS magic!
The best part of the gift, though, was folded up in the very bottom of the toolbox. Look, it's Grandpa Bangle's apron:
And now Matt wears it when he putters around the house, too. Thanks, Grandma Bangle.Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Buying, It Does Not End
and watching a koala sit on its fat butt and munch eucalyptus leaves (Everyone knows that eucalyptus leaves are notoriously non-nutritive, right, and that's why koalas eat all the time? I suggested to Matt that a better food should be offered to koalas, but somehow, he failed to see the incredible insight in that), and sneaking up on the hundreds of these fluttering around in the giant greenhouse and getting splashed in the Splash Zone at the dolphin show (I'm probably alone in this, but whenever Willow and I sit there I have these frightening fantasies that a dolphin will misjudge its leap and land, spine crushed upon impact, right there on the pavement at our feet. Screaming, rioting, etc. to ensue. Am I alone in that?), and just generally looking like this:
As if that wasn't enough, on the way home we stopped by the most hard-core of thrifting experiences, the Goodwill Outlet Store. Stuff is unsorted here, people. Sold by weight. Stored in big blue bins. It's like community dumpster-diving, basically, complete with old potty chairs with dried pee still in them, and pill bottles, and band-aids. Matt and Sydney sat on a couch and fell asleep, but Will and I were in dumpster heaven. She found a bunch of dinosaur shirts and dinosaur books, and I found an 1890 Bible (beautiful, and now a birthday gift for a treasured little cousin), a pillowcase for a dress that is embroidered, I kid you not, like this
a wool sweater hand-knitted in Ecuadorthat is right this second felting in the washing machine and, most awesomely, this: Hell, yes, Will is jumping on the Master of the Universe himself! There's He-Man, and Skeletor, and Castle Greyskull, and Ram Man, and Teela. Obviously this bedspread visited the sanitary cycle in my washing machine bright and early this morning, and no, I'm not conflicted by my love of 80s crap media versus my refusal to allow my girls to experience commercial media. So they won't have any interest in 20-year-old bedspreads printed with pop culture images when they're 32? Whatever, they can buy space ponies or something instead.Friday, July 18, 2008
Buying and Selling (and Buying)
I don't know if you do this, but when I'm preparing to go on vacation with the family, I tend to use that time to buy a bunch of stuff. You know, stuff like the baby wears her really ratty swim trunks that used to be her sister's to the local pool every day, but she certainly can't wear ratty swim trunks on vacation, so let's go shopping! And the girls have tons and tons of art supplies and small toys here at home, but I'd bet they'd behave so much better on an airplane if they had all new art supplies and small toys, so let's go buy some! None of those previous items have yet to be purchased, although they're all on the dream list, but this week I did buy a few extravagances for our upcoming trip.
Although I have successfully made my own mei tai, I found it bulky and awkward. The straps crossed right over my quite substantial breasts, for instance, and although that was nicely supportive, it leaves something to be desired aesthetically, I believe. I just can't get the use out of something if I don't really love it, so I never did wear Sydney in my home-concocted mei tai as much as I would have liked to, and so recently I broke down and bought this awesome mei tai. It's pink with skulls on one side, you see, in case I'm feeling fancy, and plain black on the other side in case I need to blend. The straps are long enough so I can tie them backpack style instead of across or under my breasts, which is comfier on us more ample figures, and it's way trimmer than my bulky old tai. Although mei tais, especially in a back carry, have a learning curve (it takes me a few tries still to get the mei tai pulled up around Syd's back without catching her butt on the top and thus sitting her on it instead of in it, which makes me swear), and although I have a couple of personal preference mods to make on it, such as padding the straps where they sit on my shoulder and the back where it catches Syd's thighs, I love, love, LOVE it. Love it.
This year Willow is old enough to carry her own backpack with her own and Sydney's things inside, toys and snacks and etc., and so I decided to buy the girls and myself some nice, reusable water bottles. I'm not a fan of the whole commercial bottled water concept, nor do I approve of the long-term re-use of an old commercial water bottle for your own water needs. That cheap plastic leaches, which you ought to be able to tell from the way that the really old bottles of really dedicated re-use types look all discolored and yellow-brown. There will be no phthalates in my breastmilk or my kids' bloodstream, I say! That's why, even though I disapprove of the willful misspelling, I bought us some Klean Kanteens. They're food-grade stainless steel, nice and light and non-leaching. The bottle mouths are wide enough to pour ice cubes in, and you can buy sippy spouts for them, but we like sports caps because they're also relatively non-spill. I bought the plain silver 27-ounce for myself, Matt didn't want one, Willow chose the blue 12-ounce for herself, and Sydney chose the pink 12-ounce. Oddly enough, I didn't actually buy these from the Klean Kanteen site, because this Greenfeet site was about twenty dollars cheaper for our order. Weird.
In other news, it's finally time to say goodbye to my Sandman soldered glass pendant, which hung around on my etsy shop for months even though it had tons upon tons of hearts. It will be happily wending its way to its new forever home tomorrow.
If you're wondering why I haven't been showing off my crafting lately, it's because it's a secret! I'm tootling along on my Christmas in July Stashbuster swap on Craftster, set to send out before we leave on vacation, but hopefully I'll finish tootling this weekend and then I have lots of other wacky crafty ideas to try out and post after that.