happiness is..

happiness is trying to teach Caden how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. I have no idea how I learned this particularly "cool" (to a five year old) ability, but Caden sure helps me relish in the little things in life. He has not yet mastered this talent, but he has been trying and trying all afternoon.

In other news, the vin number on the wheels to our stolen car has been "pinged" in the database. Apparently they are somewhere in Detroit. I wonder if we at least get the wheels back? The car has to be gone for 30 days until the insurance pays us for it. Thank goodness for insurance. Caden's theory of the whole car thing is that they simply needed a ride because they lost their car, and they needed to "use" daddy's car. Hmm, to think so much of this world. Caden was quite heatbroken because he had his two "favorite" (everything is his favorite) trucks were in the car. Daddy is upset because his peacoat was in the car (winter is coming tomorrow, literally) and all of his computer programming programs...oh bugger. This is our third stolen car, and it just sucks. It is hard to keep starting over again, but, once again, that is why we carry good insurance. Sometimes it seems that if we didn't have bad luck, we would have no luck at all. But really, we just need to stop buying cars that everyone else likes to steal.

The first batch of owls are cooling down from the glaze firing. {I peeked, they look cute!} Looks like they will be packaged and ready to fly away on December first, right on the deadline!

press on...

Well, here I am, all in a sour mood, for a couple of reasons, but mainly because Paul's car was stolen today. In broad daylight. This is the third car that we have lost to theft. This was won the record, we had it for less than it takes to make a payment. Ugh, but then in all my self pity I read this....

Life is so important, things are things, they can be replaced.

wild bird

Last week we had a bird smack into out bay window. It was so stunned, it walked right onto my Dad's hand...


the bird didn't want to leave my Dad's finger, he sat on his finger for at least ten minutes...



Paul was able to coerce it onto a stick and tranfer the bird to safety to our pine tree. It sat on the tree for another thirty minutes or so until it must have regained it wits and went on with its life.

Oh, just another exciting chapter in our life......more to come, I am sure.

Happy Thanksgiving...

Wishing everyone a happy and safe thanksgiving!



And a very happy anniversary to Mom and Dad in Oregon...

200th post....

Finally....I have some pictures of some ceramic art in process. I am making owl ornaments for an international ornament swap. I need to have them all fired twice and sent out by December 1st!


this is an owl in process...

I am making ten of them right now, maybe I will make more for our tree if I have time!

I decided to add a beak, which was kinda tricky...

ten little owls, drying out, waiting for sanding, then the first bisque fire, glazing and then glaze fire, packaging and out in the mail by December 1st.

Caden was inspired by Mommy's studio-palooza, and decided to make bird ornaments for his friends and teacher. He use polymer clay, which cures in the oven.



such concentration...and, may I say (as a proud and slightly biased mother, such an artist, already!)

Caden had been quite ill with an ear infection, actually missing pj day at church and laying down for the entire day. He has never, ever, done that, although he has been more ill than this, he was in a lot of pain from the pressure of fluid in the ear. It took two screaming doctor's appointments, but it finally got diagnosed and is on the mend, thankfully.

(still sucking his two fingers, in fact he has started to chew on then collars of his shirts..? I think that maybe he is getting ready to lose his first tooth? who knows, he sure is oral, in every way...his bus driver has notified us that caden's voice works better than a megaphone)

and finally...a little levity..

On a little hike in the golf course woods that are behind our house, we found a tumbleweed, and Paul, always the entertainer, well...I guess the picture speaks for itself!

Quote of the day...

"The shadows prove the sunshine" Switchfoot

Quote of the day...

"You cannot use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." Maya Angelou

November 10th....

image from theTiny Showcase

November tenth means one thing....HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

In other news, I decided to get my rear in gear and participate in an ornament swap. I am designing ceramic ornaments that will be sent all over the world. There are 400 participants. You can view pictures of ornaments in the making here.
I am excited to push myself to finish and share a final product. I am so bad about sharing my art, I feel that I am inadequate. Maybe this will help me towards my goal of starting an etsy shop one of these days.



ps..I have added to Caden's Christmas Wishlist....

no time to blog

Just a little note to let you know that we are ok, but busy. My dad is visiting from california for two weeks, so I may not have time to post. I still need to share pics of Caden's Halloween.....talk to you all soon!

halloween prep.

This is our front bay window. The big owl like object is caden's interpretation of a bat, I think that he meant for it to be an owl because I have recently become enamoured with everything owl. Isn't it cute? He did it all by himself, he didn't want to comform to mom's idea of making bat wings from his hand print, we only got one done!

This was my idea, "no mom I want to do it...." Mr. Independant...

I used a template to print out the word "halloween" and strung it on orange yarn from the window top.


We made a whole bunch of just plain old bats and hung them all around the windows. We have pumpkins and gourds grouped all over the house. Having a child is a great excuse to make our house more festive for each holiday.


This is Caden with his prized pumpkin from the farm we visited with his school.


This picture was taken the morning of picture day, he is such a goof...

In other news...we had our first snow of the season, a light dusting..



Caden and all of us send hugs to all family and friends that are far far away!

This week Caden is KinderKing. He got to bring in baby and family pictures and his favorite costume (a huge horse that he wore last halloween) and his favorite book and toys. His favorites depend on the minute you ask him. He has numerous favorites in each category! We also got to bring in a special treat this week, I brought in cupcakes with star wars rings on top. (Caden's choice) But best of all, in Caden's words is that he gets to be the line leader. Yes, we have a born leader here...mr. trouble. he he

.....addition to santa list for Caden.....Toys r Us megafort, and HO scale train parts and pieces. He plays with his train all the time, he can put it together all by himself. I got his a catalog for trains and he circled almost every thing! I think he favors construction additions or something that actually does something like move etc.. I will try to put up his list on the sidebar, just for the fun of it.

Happy week everyone!

tic toc tic toc

Can you hear it? The tic tic ticking of my biological clock? Well, it has been on overtime since Caden has started kindergarten and I turned 31 a couple of weeks ago. We really want to expand our family. Yesterday was my appointment with my spine specialist. And his answer was not what I wanted to hear. But actually not a big surprise. No, no, no. Not going to happen. He said that the fusion would be stressed and that it would cause more unrepairable damage. I am so grateful to have Caden, truly blessed. So that's that. We have thought about adoption a lot, but I think that I just need to be happy with my little family, making our way through the world.

So I got my spinal injections that I get every three months. My legs are still numb, which I quite prefer to what they usually feel like. So I think it will help out this time. The relief lasts anywhere from 2-6 weeks. It decreases my swelling by a ton, though. I am always amazed how much I really swell and I thought I was getting chubbier. I have been walking on the treadmill and doing pilates for the last couple of weeks, and I hope to keep going on that. We haven't had much sunshine, so the time has come for the treadmill.

The lack of sunshine also means that I cannot get a good picture of my latest crafting adventure. I cut up a felted sweater to make a wrap-around shrug. It is cute, but I think that I will only wear it in the house for now, because I think I may have cut it a little short. Live and learn.

Paul was able to work out his Chicago job to a contract basis, so he will not have to leave us for three weeks at a time. He may need to travel a like two days a week for the next few weeks to finish the contract, but at least we don't have to get an apartment down there and basically pay for two houses, etc. He is now working in Grand Rapids and it seems to be going good. He just hated leaving us for the week. The only bad thing is that we have one car right now, so I am stranded home. We do not have any public transportation out here. That is ok, though. It won't be too much longer until we find the right vehicle. Hopefully within two weeks I will have some new wheels, or I will have the Passat back!

I have had a few requests from family for Christmas ideas for Caden. We just bought him three pairs of shoes last weekend, he wears 13.5 but I would buy 1's. Stripey socks are always a popular thing around here. For clothing, he is a size 6. We have recently purchased a play station two, (PS2), so children's games would be loved. He has always wanted a guitar, in fact he has been saving for a nice one (wooden) for a few months, but he is still far aways from the $40.00 goal. He likes to sing and play music, a karaoke machine or radio with a microphone would be so loved by him (not so sure if we would love it so!;) Books are great. He loves legos. He spends hours putting things together and taking them apart. I hope that this helps you all out.

until next time! have a great weekend!!

Michigan Farm Field Trip

Well, it is that time of year again, the trees are changing and the air is getting crisp. Time for the annual school field trip to the pumpkin farm. This time we went to an apple farm that happens to grow pumpkins and other stuff too. I am so lucky to be able to come along on the field trips. Caden was proud to have his mom there, he held my hand and introduced me to everyone. I am not looking forward to when he will inevitably get embarassed of having his mom tag along when he gets older.

I will let the pictures do the talking (well, sorta....)
We arrived and went through an eight acre corn stalk maze that was shaped like the state of Michigan. We had to locate eight different cities. After that we got to see how they press the apples to make cider. The kids also got to see the bees.


Caden is so ready to read, he is studying the letters and trying to read the sign, who cares if is is upside down :)....

Next it was time to see how they make those delicious fresh donuts that is a requisite for any visit to a farm in the fall...

Caden and our neighbor friend Aaron were struggling to get on the top rung of the ladder to get the closest view.

Snack time followed...

mmm, tummy rubbing good, fresh donuts and just smooshed apple cider.

we had to wait a while for our hay ride so it was playtime...

nothing beats a pick up game of football between kindergarteners and an imaginary ball.

tackle!

but still the best of friends.

This was followed by duck, duck goose...



and some rest time...



finally..

hay ride time!




some trees are changing...

some are not quite ready.


The twist on this hay ride was that we actually got to pick some apples right off the tree tops while on the hay ride. We all got to enjoy some fresh red delicious apples picked right off the tree. The lady in the background had her pockets stuffed with like 30 apples! Caden enjoyed his "baby" apple.

A great time was had by all.

Now, if only we can all feel better, I went to the doctor today and picked up some anti-biotics to get over my month long sinus infection that turned to a migriane. fun fun.

Email Solutions

Hi everyone, I just thought that I would let you know that if you want to email me, there is a direct link right under the "stay in touch" on the left. The "email me" is a direct link to my email which is mareal719@hotmail.com.

The blog comments are public, so any personal info left in the comment section can be and is seen by a lot of people.

Please feel free to email me anytime!

Also...I cannot respond directly to the comments because blogger doesn't record email addresses, so if it is an anonymous comment and no email address is given, I cannot respond.

I hope that I have not offended anyone, I was trying to retain your privacy.

Have a great day.

close call

Yesterday I waited for Caden at the bus stop as usual. The bus just drove on past me. I was talking to Paul on the cell phone and all I said was 'they took our kid' and starting running after the bus. I was so upset because what I really was thinking is that he is only 5, they don't stop at the stop when the child is not on the bus, he is only five, he is only five....!!! The bus stopped about a quarter of a mile down the road and the door opened. No Caden. I kept running like a madwoman and I saw Caden at the top of the stairs of the bus, there was a substitute bus driver. Ok, I calmed down. Poor Caden, he has had some bus tribulations so far, not getting along with the older kids and the "pecking order", and once I had to board the bus to get him off because he wasn't sure he was at the right stop yet. This time he said "I thought I was lost in a field" hmmm, no field, but I get what he was saying....It was scary. Today we didn't have any problems, but I think that I will be picking him up after school from now on. He has asked several times, and I just feel more connected to the school and his teachers if I can peak in daily or so.

I spent this afternoon organizing the studio (aka my basement craft room). Paul had ordered some really nice organizing units and they came in this morning, so I made quick work of them. It is so nice to have it a little more organized, especially since my interests have expanded. I have my ceramic studio, am working on my first quilt, and also working on a series of encaustic paintings and collages. On top of all that, we found an old letterpress. I have been collecting letterpress fonts, both wooden and metal, and letterpress stamps that I use for my ceramic work, so we thought that we could use them for the intended purpose also. I also carve my own stamps from clay and rubber, which can also be printed on the letterpress. Now that everything has its own station, I think I will be able to get a lot more work done. Maybe I will even take pics! Paul had the camera card with him in Chicago, so no pics for the last few days.

I also re-scanned all of Caden's art work, but the files were too large to upload on flickr, only a few worked. So I have figured out a way to decrease resolution and maybe I can try to put them on the blog again. He just brought home a whole bunch more art work today, so I have even more for your viewing pleasure! He has been drawing a lot of birds and airplanes lately. Each picture he draws has a little narrated story to it. He is very creative. Today he brought home an 'early reader' book, they are expected to be able to 'read' the book by Monday. He is doing great with it, he almost has it memorized and can identify most of the words. He has been also learning to write more than just his name, so neat to see him grow in leaps and bounds like this. Thursday is picture day, the only problem is that Caden has somehow lost the paperwork between school and the bus drop. I guess I will pick it up after school Monday or on the field trip to the pumpkin farm on Tuesday. Not really a big deal, I just minorly (not a word, just my own special vocabulary ;) panicked.

Up North it is 100% peak color, we should reach peak within the next two weeks. It is so beautiful the way the trees explode with color and then,poof, their leaves just fall off, leaving a whole new view of the woods. I especially like the birch trees with their white bark gleaming in the colorful yellow, orange and red forest. My Dad will be out in November to stay with us for a while, so he will miss the fall and head into the winter chill. For all you friends and relatives out west, I hope you know that our door is always open and we have a spare bedroom, so if you ever want to explore Michigan, you can hang with us. I know I have said this before, but I really am sincere, we cannot go west as much as we used too. I guess that is what happens when we grow up, everyone becomes too busy in their daily lives. I cannot remember when I have had a vacation, we usually are traveling to try to maintain some sort of contact with our widespread family!

have a great weekend all!

birthday gift...

with some of my birthday money I pre-ordered my very own copy of The crafter's companion!

It is full of projects written by quite a few prolific craft bloggers. I am really excited about the log cabing pillow pattern by lisa who just opened up her adorable shop here.

Thanks, Dad for my gift! (my Dad is a true believer in sending something green and is one size fits all! works for me!)

storms!

We woke up at about 2 am this morning to huge storms. My favorite! I kind of think that it is a small birthday gift to me! I think these have been the biggest storms we have had this year. Lots of rain and lots and lots of thunder! We tried to get some pictures of lightening after we dropped Caden off at the bus, but only managed to catch a flicker...it is difficult to catch lightening on film. It was almost funny, everytime we gave up, it would suddenly flash, right as we took the camera down hmph!

Thank you everyone for the birthday cards, call, emails and birthday wishes.

Caden gave me the best gift, he got onto the bus and instead of waving, he signed "I love you". The other day he had seen me looking up sign language on the computer and asked about it. I told him that we used it when he was a baby before he spoke--like "all done" or "hungry". It was really a passing moment where I taught him to sign "I love you" and he has done it only a couple of times. But today...oh it melted our hearts.


I will end it with some of Caden's art work, his favorite site to see....

life is short

Ok, this theme has been an ongoing issue for me and a lot of others I care for. Life is short. Too short to try to make everyone love us. We try so hard to surround ourselves with caring people. But the people who you care for the most can also hurt you the most. Sometimes I think if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. So I should probably shut up. now.

But I have been quiet for too long.

Life is just too hard in the first place to try to get someone to love you for who you are and not forsake you for the circumstances that have happened in your life. Paul had cancer. Past tense. had. Recently, we had a cancer scare. Because of our fear, we called our closest companions. By the grace of God, Paul does not have cancer. The very following moment after we found out the great news we called everyone again. To rejoice in the news. Why does it seem that when people go through trial it drives others away. Like they are afraid of our bad luck. Not everyone, really. It is those those few that turn their backs and run away like we are the plague. It makes me so thankful for those who stick by us through thick and thin.

Paul still hasn't been feeling well. He has been passing the largest kidney stones that I have seen. But it will pass. (literally, not to make a horrible punO) It is the past that makes me avoid sharing things for the sake of others doubts. Life is too short worrying about what others think, or why they don't "like" us. This is the way it is, but I am not going to try to prove my life. These things happen. Believe it or not. Doubt no more. You can doubt, but don't blame your doubt on us, why would I make this stuff up? I am not that ambitious.

My back still sucks. Eight back surgeries down. How many more to go? Who knows. I know that having nerve blocks every three months isn't handling it. I know that it is getting worse. My right leg used to be the worse one. Now the left leg (from the sciatic nerve damage) doesn't like to work. I am thankful I can walk. But, somedays, it is difficult. I am so thankful to have Caden and a loving husband.

Next week Paul starts his new VP position in Chicago. This is going to be a major life change for a while. But the opportunity is too great to give up. Maybe the economy will heal in western Michigan while Paul is gaining new skills and he can find something here after a year or three. He gets to telecommute for one week a month. For that I am thankful.

Ok, on another, less grouchy note...

The leaves are turning. We had quite a breezy day today, so the leaves were floating through the air. We winterized the pool this weekend, that always will be our signal that the seasons are turning.

Caden is doing so well in school. Sorry, Meghan, I cannot find his picture from the first day, but I assure you he is getting tall. He likes to make hair look like a faux-hawk. He does it all by himself, he is so pround of it. There is no toy in the house that has not been taken apart. He loves to take things apart. He also likes to keep everything, much to my dismay. I like neat, tidy, uncluttered space. He knows when I throw a broken toy away, no matter how sneaky i am about it! stay tuned for some Caden art, I scanned it in the computer, now I need to get it out of HP software abyss.


I will leave you with a picture of the quilt I am working on...this is the design..

It is from Denyse Schmidt's book, I have gathered natural linen for the white areas, and graphic black, white, and red fabrics for the red part. I think I am going to make a patchwork of the fabrics with various printed twill ribbons mixed in. That will be in place of the red areas in the quilt. I am sure this will take me about a year! I have too many other hobbies to keep up with!

If you made it this far, I assure you that my rants are few and far between, but sometimes I just have to vent! Besides, it isn't you who I am venting about!

hotel aversions

As promised, I will share some of our recent hotel experiences. A little less than a year ago, Paul decided to surprise me with our first night out without Caden. We went out for a nice dinner and went to a piano dueling bar. The surprise was that he had booked us to stay at the Amway Grand. Well, they had lost our reservations, and completely fowled up whatever Paul had planned. We had a nice stay anyway, and they gave us some certificates for another stay for free, but it went not so smoothly. No big deal. Apparently this was only the beginning of our bad luck.

The next hotel stay was in May for a trip to Chicago. We stayed at the Westin. It was beautiful, and had a very good view of Chicago. We were quite satisfied, that was until I tidied up the room in the morning. I was picking up one of Caden's toys from underneath the bed and to my horror and disgust I picked up a used condom..ewe... I think I screamed. Needless to say, we immediately got moved into a suite, two rooms at that and we got a wonderful tray of goodies including champagne. They really tried to make up for it.

I had forgotten all about these incidents until this last weekend. This time we stayed at the Omni. As we walked through the hall, Paul and I looked at each other and smiled. All of of previous hotel experience memories come flooding back. What is that I hear? Oh yeah, it is the incessant yapping of a poor little lonely dog trapped in his room. I love animals, but, come on. This animal was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It barked and barked and barked. You could here it all the way down the hall. But our room was right next to the yappy dog. I was surprised to find out that they let dogs stay there in the first place. Their policy is no "yappy" dogs. Well who would ever admit that their dog barked and decide to stay somewhere else. This dog seemed to be in distress. I hope it doesn't do that all the time. Needless to say, we moved to another room. All was well. I feel bad for that dog. It was obviously not happy.

I don't think that we have bad luck, we just have interesting experiences. Besides, good or bad, depends upon how you look at it. What was important was that we had a good time.

renegade loot...

We went, we saw and we collected...a lot. Paul and I had a really nice, but really busy time in Chicago. Caden had fun too. This was the longest we ever left him with a babysitter. Twenty-eight hours, I think we called like eight times and we missed him terribly. But he had a lot more fun here than if he went with us. Besides, Paul and I got to have a very exquisite dinner. Paul had the best steak that I have ever tasted, it literally melted in your mouth, very decadent. (It better had be at the price that we paid ;) I think it is important to do these things every once in a while to reconnect a little and be reminded what it is like to have a "date" and be a little carefree. But it was so nice to come home to our son.

I took a lot of pictures of the things we collected, so I thought I would share with you!

First, the things we purchased:

"treelets" by Jill Bliss and Shinpei. I was lucky enough to get the very last copy. I am a huge fan of Jill Bliss's work. She lives in San Francisco, which is only about one hundred miles away from where Paul and I grew up in Auburn California. We went to San Francisco at least six times a year when we lived in the area. Jill even signed the book to us. So nice You can buy her work here..

We also got her 2007 calendar which was hot off the presses.

I love love love October's picture:
,
The calendar is a collaboration with Saelee Oh, who is also so so talented, I would love to purchase some of her work too.
Sadly, Jill couldn't bring any of her lovely prints safely via air, so she didn't have any, I really wanted to purchase a print. I will just have to do it online one of these days!

Next I bought a porcelain pin by erin at eek design at etsy, she has been a contact on my flickr because we have a similar hobby/passion. She was so nice and it was nice to actually meet someone you "know" via the Internet.

I also got to meet Heidi and her family from my paper crane. She was, of course, as sweet as you would think! She is talented, Paul even liked her soft sculpture trees and smores on a stick, what an imagination she has!

We also purchased some beautiful hand pulled papers from golden hen press

close-up

and...


last, but not least:

fused glass hair pins from kiki

and


some fabric hair pin from piddleloop

Here are various pictures of all the free things we got for being one of the first 500 to visit on Sunday...













believe it or not, I have even more pictures on flickr. We had another funny hotel fiasco, but more on than later! Thanks for visiting!