Sewing along..

Our kitchen window, sorry about the flash, but it has been overcast for weeks!


Our couch is sporting some of the new pillows that I have been sewing, and behind are the curtains I am so happy with!


And, at last, the curtains which are framing our snow flake windows. I love how they turned out, they warm up the house, literally! The window should be sporting some wax hearts hanging pretty soon in celebration of Valentine's Day.


This is a picture from our banister to the downstairs. The sail boat is hand made by my dad. I fell in love with it, and of course, he gave it to me!


This is my sniffle pack, a tissue pack and a cough drop carry case. Really the case was a mistake, but I liked it and decided it could be put to a good use too. The tissue holder has a little monkey charm, I have always liked the charm, and finally put it to good use.

Tomorrow will be date night. Paul has planned it all. We haven't gone out, alone, for a while. It will be really nice, I am excited!


Finally, a little cuteness from last summer...

the little bunnies born under our deck, discovered while gardening. They all grew up and hopped away one day. I cannot wait till summer. Working on the pool yesterday got my excitement up, I have never had a pool in my backyard, it better be warm this year!

it is sunny!!

Ok...we have had less than one measurable minute of sunshine in like 28 of the last 30 days. Needless to say..I am outta here! We have been wandering our yard...the snow has melted and we are discovering what lies beneath! I have found a hydrangea and rhododendron as well as a sump pump to take the pond that has formed on top of our covered pool. (Well, Paul is doing that). I will probably blog tomorrow with pics of some finished projects. My ceramic supplies are coming closer, I just can feel it, then I can start of some of the main works of art I want to accomplish.

a day with the trains..

Caden: "no more pictures, stop the papparazzi's" a typical picture of Caden. The ham that he is, he is more of a turkey though and will not cooperate with any of mom's picture taking.


They actually staged an automobile collision on one of the train tracks.


The boys, they love the trains.


This is the airplane that Paul built for Caden out of Caden's tinker toys from Santa Claus. It took three hours to constuct and about......er....2.5 seconds for Caden to destroy. As we all know, Caden takes everything apart. It was a beautiful airplane (that is why we so quickly snapped pictures of it!)


This is my favorite picture, this year, of my boys!

♥

oh happy day...

On the good side, I got to get some of the material I needed to finish our curtains.
On the bad side, I have to go to a neurologist. Ugh. Not again. They got me in fast, that is nice, but this was completely unexpected. A completely new problem, not really related to my back injury at all. hmph. Oh well, I am going to forge on, no worries.

We have our small group here on Tuesday night, so I need to get my curtains done! I was thinking of making a stencil for the bottom of the linen curtain. The stencil is hopefully going to evoke the same feeling of this:



and



We found some sticky clear paper that will work great (I hope) to create a cut out stencil and stick it to the material and paint in the design with fabric paint. This will probably be one of my projects this weekend. It looks like we will be venturing to a HO train show. Ever since we found out we were having a boy, Paul has always dreamed of sharing his love for scale trains. We are now slowly building our own small collection. They are in the spare bedroom, which has nothing else in it yet, so why not? They have such fun!

new year clean-up

We are slowly coming out of our post-Christmas slumber around here. Real-life is emmerging just around the corner. Paul is to start his new job on Tuesday, and preschool comes back from vacation Monday. Oh how I will miss sleeping in and afternoon naps. But life always marches on.

We have completely put away all hints of Christmas and organized almost everything from the move. If we had two cars...we could put both of them in the garage. We do, in fact, have two cars..actually three, but only one is on the road. We still haven't figured out what to do about the mechanic-abused car that needs 1700 dollars to repair his mis-mechanic doings. Ugh. The other car is all fixed..all 7000 dollars fixed, but is sitting on the lot to be sold or paid for by us if we so decide. I don't know. We have a plan, now it just needs to pan out. We will see.

I have spent too many hours dreamind of purchasing this book:
it has the cutest patterns for sweet little stuffed animals, but alas, it is in Japanese and Paul insists that it would be silly for me to get a book that I cannot read. But I hear from so many sources that the pictures speak for themselves and you can figure out the patterns quite easily. The major problem is that I haven't found anywhere locally that carries these books and online shopping seems to mess up my account everytime I try it. One day we aspire to have a separate credit card just for online, but right now, I am quite happy being credit card free.

I also have been drooling for this book...
But I haven't found it locally, but I just came up with an idea...could it possibly be at the library...hmm I need to check that out. Our scanner just broke, so it would be difficult to save any inspirations to my computer.

I have been wanted to try my hand with paper collages sort of like these..

by Ana (http://www.papeisportodolado.blogspot.com/) sorry being a lazy blogger...

and these


and


by Camilla (http://www.camillaengman.com/misc/index2.htm)

I have the materials, I just need to get off my duff and get around to it! I have all my stuff ready to order for the ceramics, but decided to wait until Paul starts his job. I did, however, but eight yards of heavy muslin fabric to use as liners for my new curtains I made. The idea is that they will be reversable, and I am going to use fabric paint to stencil on something simple on the bottom. Maybe something like Lotta (http://www.jansdotter.com/). That would be nice! Oh, and one more thing I want to work on, a sock dog! Yep that's the list. Let's see how much I accomplish between all of my medical appointments and etc!

blah blah blah, but leave it to me, I registered for the prescription benefits wrong and I have to wait another month before my insurance will pick up prescription costs...ugh!! I got a confirmation on the internet, but was lazy and didn't write it down, if I did, i wouldn't had to wait this long probably. But it works out because I had chosen the wrong plan anyway. Isn't this just the most interesting post ever? ;)

A Happy New Year

This new year is going to be very different and exciting. Paul will be starting a new. very different for him, job. We are quite excited and a little nervous. As with any job, this will be stressful, but we hope not as stressful as running your own business, and being responsible for so many employees and families. In this economy, we are quite blessed for this opportunity.

Also, when (and sometimes it feels like "if') Spring comes, we will be doing a lot of yard work. We really haven't had to deal with the yard yet. We moved in and the next day it turned into winter, literally-with snow and everything! We have almost an acre of lawn. We to create more perineal areas and perhaps a hammock between some of the trees. We also get to learn how to care for the pool. Quite exciting. The other day, we say a bald eagle fly through the back yard! We have deer that come to the front of the house, the seem to like to munch on something near Caden's window.

We have already started on the inside of the house. We need to update the main bath, it doesn't look that bad, it just isn't very functional. It will be nice to put a nice big tub/shower in there.

I have been sewing alot. I finished the denim throw pillows and I want to actually make a quilt. I have no idea what I am getting myself into! I am really inspired by Denyse Schmidt's quilts I want to do a modern quilt something like these:


or



I also like all of the beautiful log cabin pillows I have been seeing. Like these...
at Lisa's blog
Down to every detail, just beautiful.



Isn't this an adorable idea, to make a small art quilt from your baby's old clothes. These are by Lori joy (Her site is http://www.lorijoysmith.com/studio/blog.asp) You just might want to look at her entire site, she is such a talented artist.

And, as always, I am excited to be able to start using my kiln, once we have financially recovered from the house and car troubles. I am so excited to make ornaments, pendants, tiles, anything thay I can fit into my little kiln!

Penguin tales and such...

Ok, I must make one correction, the car that we bought is a Passat, not a jetta, ok whatever close enough. Right now, all I care is that it has four wheels, is safe, and will go throughout the snow. Our poor abused car (my Saab) has been diagnosed. It is not good. It would have been fine, but we decided to be responsible adults and bring it in to have routine maintenance. That was a mistake, a BIG mistake. The mechanic changed the timing belt (er...let us just say wrong) and returned to us a sputtering shadow of my car. The once running car can now only sputter. It has been diagnosed (two mechanics later) and it is not good. We will see, it was so nice to have TWO whole days with TWO nice running cars. What to do, what to do. I know what I want to do, but we all know it wouldn't be nice.

OK, onto better subjects. We have unwittedly scarred our child for life. How? You may ask. I will tell you: The March of the Penguins..Yes, the terrific, heartbreaking documentary has turned our child into a perpetual penguin. Caden wobbles around all day holding his "egg" gently on his feet, just like a penguin. This is not the bad part. You see, the problem is that it seems this movie has equipped Caden with a great curiosity of the birds and the bees, where did I come from ,how did I get out of there, etc etc those kind of questions. It has been a cute and sometimes funny addition to our daily life.

Here are a few things we have done for the holidays, and some of the things just hanging around.


clove and citrus. This is one half, the other half turned moldy. Why doesn't Martha warn us of these things? :)

Our snowflakes have been hung...as you can see, we don't really need to make paper snowflakes, we have plenty of our own outside! But they are cute anyways!


Our stockings are hung...


and granny is hung! I made this ornament a long long time ago. It has made it through four cross country trips! She deserves her prime spot front and center on the tree.


This is such an adorable picture of caden! This was his present to us at "family day" at preschool today. Such an "angel" (he is supposed to look like an angel, with chenille stem halo and all, the body of his angel is made from a tracing of his foot) A very cute idea!


I just had to share this pic. It is a picture of a photocopy of "my boys", hands. I just liked it. :)

Tis the Season..

to be busy for too many reasons...We have put an end to our car trouble and bit the bullet and bought a new to us car. It is an all wheel drive Jetta wagon. It is nice and we are thankful to have two cars that will safely travel from point a to point b. My Saab (which is now Paul's primary car) had been in for routine maintenance and came back to us sputtering and with the engine light on. Not happy. No no no, you don't take a perfectly good car to someone and expect to get back something that cannot even idle. Five hundred dollars later, all seems ok. We hope.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, we have misplaced the charge cord for the camera. I should be able to get one of the camera's to work.

Tomorrow Caden will be going to a school Christmas party. It is an annual party that the kids have, which gives mommy and daddy time to go Christmas shopping. We have been very behind with this whole Christmas stuff, we haven't even designed cards. This year, we are purchasing cards. With the new house and the car drama, Christmas just snuck up on us.

I officially "retire" from filling in at the architect's office on Wednesday. We fired Caden's daycare last week, so Caden has been coming to work with Dad. This will not work for much longer, and I cannot work too much as it is, so it was great while it lasted.

The nerve blocks that I have been doing have been deemed ineffective, so meds have been doubled. Maybe one day, when the total disc replacements become more reliable, this will be a better route. This is our only option right now. We have been thinking about getting a spa later. The doctors seem to think that this could help a little. Our pool will be great in the summer. It is difficult to talk about this, but it does majorly effect the way we live, so sometimes you just have to get it out.

The craft room is almost set up. All I need to do is to buy the ceramic supplies. This will be happening in a few months. I can't wait! In the meantime, I have some sewing to do!

I will try to post some pictures of our Christmas decorations and festivities, not to mention the snow...

I Finally Figured it Out!

That's right folks, I have finally figured out my sewing machine. I spent hours and hours reading the manual and trying over and over. I went through an entire spool of thread! It is one of the simple Singer drop in bobbin. Apparently I was using the wrong bobbin. The lady at the sewing store was like "duh!". I felt so belittled and stupid. I was like "you know how it is when you are just learning to sew on a different machine...." and she was like "no...I don't" Well, wouldn't it be nice to be as perfect as she apparently is? I know I will not be returning there again. I am so happy to start sewing again. I am working on turning my Crate and Barrel shower curtains into regular curtains (they are not made of shower curtain-like material, just a normal curtain material. I went to the Crate and Barrel outlet a few months ago right as they were discounted from $40 each to $4.95. I got four of them! I finished one, it looks pretty good. I'll post a pic when I finish them.

Caden has been home sick from preschool, he has had a perpetual runny nose. Hopefully a little time off and away will clear it up. We made paper snowflakes for the window, ala Martha Stewart

We have had a large car dilemma. Paul's car blew the engine. We have been down to one car for about two months. It isn't working well. We need to make a decision. It looks like we are going to purchase a car (used) and get back to paying a car payment. ugh! It just isn't worth paying for a car to get fixed when fixing it costs as much as another car. We have it at the dealership (a friend). It will be fixed and then sold and then we will split up the profit (not much, but at least not a complete loss) It seems to happen all at once. The engine went out during escrow on our new house.

It has been snowing lots here. Nice and cozy! That about sums it up.

Oh no, it has started..

Great, Caden has ventured into the land of talking back. No returning to the sweet, innocent days of respect. I simply told him that he needed to eat his popsicle at the table or he would have to go to his room (without said popsicle). He quipped "you have to catch me first". .. What?! What was that that came out of my formerly sweet four year old's mouth? Needless to say he was quite surprised that his decrepit old mother could move so quickly and put him in his room. Oh boy.

Belated..

Happy belated anniversary to Paul's parents! Paul reminded me to send a card the day before and, well, um, ...I didn't. Sorry...there you have it, I am a slacker! But I did remind him to call (but he didn't need it). Paul is quite homesick, the holidays will do that.

Also, happy belated thanksgiving. We had a nice quiet celebration just the three of us. Sometimes it is nice to have quiet times, but I think we would much prefer to be around family and friend for the holidays. We received about 18 inches of snow for Thanksgiving. Now is is quite warm and we had thunderstorms with lots of rain. All of the snow is gone, including "snow turtle". What is snow turtle you may be asking, well, our kid adopted a chunk of snow and named him turtle. He toted that chunk of snow around all day. (when he was outside) He even asked to stick him in the freezer! Mr. Smarty-pants!

Nothing much else is happening. We are settling into the new house nicely. And I figured out that sewing isn't like riding a bike. You can't just go back to it without a learning curve. Thus, we do not have curtains. Everything is ready to be stitched up, I have gone through one whole spool of thread, and I still haven't figured out this sewing machine. I have a simple machine, but I got the drop in bobbin thingy, (everyone said it was so much easier), well, not so easy for me. If I could afford lessons, I would be there! Trust me, I need them.

I have been going to some new type of physical therapy for my nerve disease. It is called Felden Krais. It is really weird, but somehow, someway it does seem to help a lot of people. (http://www.feldenkrais.com/) It is supposed to re-teach your autonomic system how to move correctly. Different.

For all you lucky Grandparents and relatives, I have decided to help you out with Caden's wish list!
1. He loves anything to take apart and put together, like lincoln logs etc. (he doesn't have lincoln logs), mega blocks castle, geo trax
2. socks (this is my request)
3. a tee pee or fort like this (this one is from pottery barn..kinda pricey)

4. a leapster, once again, pricey, but we are looking to work on fine motor skills and concentration, this seems like a way to help out with that.

5. he is really into scooby doo right now.
6. a skateboard (not that mom and dad are thrilled about that request, but he does have a helmut)
7. games like operation, candyland etc (we only have hi-ho cherry-o)
8. an all terrain remote control vehicle kinda like this:
Something that goes on land and snow and water, he always is asking for one.

Just a few ideas, he loves anything with wheels etc.. He will love anything, I just know that it is difficult to Christmas shop for kids! (He wears size 6, 13 shoes, 8 pj's, and is quite tall and long-as you all know)

Things I am loving..

From www.freepeople.com, I love this ornament.


Jeremiah Ketner's work found here
and here


Daniel Chang's works found at www.danielchang.net


These relief paintings are also very cool, by Alena Hennessey, which can be found at www.alenahennessy.com

That was then..this is now...

our backyard:)

We Made it!

We are all moved in. It is wonderful to have our very own house. This is the picture of us and all our leaves!

We have made piles and even tried to burn them, but they are too wet from the snow that we received. Ah, the responsibility of home ownership! I have no idea why these leaves are stressing me, but they are!

We moved right before the weather turned. In fact, the final part of the move was in the cold rain. Here are some pictures my mom's friend took of the pier when we had some wild weather.




The weather here is always fun, something new everyday. Tonight it is supposed to start snowing again and it isn't supposed to stop until the end of the week.

Hopefully life will get back into the normal swing of things soon. We are so thankful to be in the new house.

tuned out..

That is how I have been feeling lately, tuned out. Everything is whirling around and here I am just trying to hold it down. We will be moving Monday, we sign all the paperwork tomorrow for the new house. We are living in the midst of boxes and clutter, just the way that I cannot tolerate. I despise clutter. I think it is because I have so much going on in my mind, I cannot have it all out in my house, my refuge from the world, also. Well, all things are good, and I am not trying to complain. The good news is that we are quick at unpacking and getting organized. Yippee, we are getting closer to the end.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. We will be going out to pizza which is our little tradition that was created when Paul, Caden and I moved here a few years ago. It is nice to have some sort of family tradition, I didn't really grow up with any.

The job news is also good, it may or may not be permanant (ok with me) depending on how we all feel. I only have four days for this month and they don't start until the 23rd. So that will give us a lot of time to move in and get organized.

In other news, I have come upon a few cool things in my internet perusings...


By Jeremiah Ketner


by Fumi Watanabe, I love her work, I would love to get one for our new house! (not going to happen, too much right now :(


I totally adore these salt and pepper shakers by Perch. All of the above item can be found here

I also love Eendar's work:


It makes me so excited to be able to buy the rest of the supplies I need to use my kiln.

Big News...

The house loan is done and ready for signing! We should be in our new house by mid-November. Yahoo! We are so relieved and excited, and a little bit nervous.

In other big news, I have had a job offer too good to not try. My disability allows for a five month exploration of jobs. It has never been my life's' aspiration to be disabled, but sometimes you have to take the deal that has been dealt. This job is part-time (I know I am not healthy enough to work full-time), pays really well, and is a job share. Caden would end up spending only two afternoons in daycare. I think it will be a good move for all. I will have more crafting money (yes!) and I think it will help me feel a little more secure in life. (Not so dependent) I seem to have reached a stable point where palliative measures (lots of meds and MD appointments) have helped me not to get any worse. Also, this job seems to be not very physically demanding, and I wouldn't have to sit all the time either. We will see, only time will tell. The way we see it, it doesn't hurt to try. I already looked up all the ceramic supplies that I will need to make use of my kiln! Truly exciting. I find out more on Monday morning, while Caden is in preschool.

Big changes, but good. Paul's car is still broken, but at least now we know what is wrong with it (top half on engine..about $4000) We will get is fixed soon, after all this house stuff is final. We have been so blessed. A wonderful person from church has loaned us a car in the meantime. So so very blessed. My hopes have been raised, life can be good!

I will leave you with some beautiful illustrations by Ana Ventura

He did it again..

ooooh scary



This is reminiscent of the corn kernel in the ear incident, so mother's of young toddlers beware! Caden has done it again. This time it involved an orange tic tac and his nose. I gave him a tic tac, turned my back for two seconds, and in those two seconds, he inserted it into his nose. UGH! Orange syrup was dripping from his nostril, Caden freaked out. I asked him to blow his nose, it didn't budge. I was sort of relieved to see that it was melting, but also had the fear in the back of my head that he cold inhale it and who knows what would occur then?...It dislodged itself in very little time. Caden will not talk of this tic tac incident, and seem quite traumatized by the whole incident. Maybe this will keep him from inserting small objects into his nose and ears. I am losing my faith, but maybe, just Maybe, the lesson has been learned.

Pumpkin time

Caden wanted a scary pumpkin..Here it is in all its glory (err gore-y...hehe;)

Including spaghetti hair and red colored sugar lips that turned out to look bloody. ewe.

Paul and Caden in the middle of our creation.

love

beautiful movie by Cube studio.
Isn't love grand? hehe