Twinsanity....

This is for the birds

2012-01-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

Since today is the second snow day in a row, there's no school tomorrow due to a teacher in-service day and the boys new favorite activity is annoying the ever loving snot out of each other, I needed a little cheering up. So I made some birds and hung them from the curtain rod/branch. Much better.

Snow Day

2012-01-13T14:04:00.000-05:00

Just sitting on the couch trying to make a dent in the mending pile when it occurred to me, how many people even have a mending pile anymore? I'd like to think that most people can manage to replace a button if one should happen to fall off their shirt, but how many would bother to sew up a tear in anything? My parents, especially my Dad bring me things to be repaired. And my brother saves up all his mending to bring to me when he comes home from Sweden once a year. Aren't I a lucky girl?! Actually, fixing something so it can be useful again does make me feel good and... well, useful. But really the best part about mending today is that while I was accomplishing something I also was able to listen to Drew tell me (in a very round-a-bout and lengthy manner) about the book he's been reading without wishing he would hurry up. And I also overheard Ian playing with the 'Captain Underpants' he built out of duplo legos, which was epic and hilarious. I'm so glad I didn't miss that.

{this moment}

2011-05-20T21:42:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - only a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- Inspired by SouleMama.

First pony cart driving lesson.

{this moment}

2011-04-22T15:00:00.001-04:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - only a few words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- Inspired by SouleMama.

2 boys + 130 chicks = heaven

Happy Snow Day!

2011-04-20T20:54:00.000-04:00

Spring in Northern MI - flowers one day, a foot of snow the next!

I'm so glad I broke my 'no picking the spring flowers' rule. We've been trying for 4 years to get the crocuses, tulips, and daffodils to spread. Somehow in my mind it seemed like picking the blooms would hinder this. I really have no idea why. When the boys said "Mama, look at all the pretty flowers! Can we pick some for you?" I said no automatically. Of course, I got a "Why?" back. And then I started to try to explain my theory, which started sounding more ridiculous the longer I talked, and ended with me saying, "You know what, never mind, that might be the silliest thing I've said all week. Yes, lets pick some." Nothing quite like getting shown how trivial something is by a couple of 8 year-olds. Now, I am so happy we picked them because at 5:42 this morning I got every child favorite phone call, SNOW DAY! We got around 8 inches of heavy, wet snow.

I spent a good couple of hours this morning snuggled up like this. I think M must be coming down with something, he never sits still that long. So, during nap time today I kicked Daddy and boys outside, with Daddy under the impression that I needed the child free time to finish knitting items for the Easter baskets. Really, I just needed everyone to stop touching me for 5 minutes. My patience is a bit wobbly this week.

Why, yes, those are 3 foot tall snowballs in my front yard.

The boys wanted to make 'the largest snowballs, ever!' This was as big as Andy could roll them. The neighbor girls were so impressed they nagged their Mama into calling to see if they could play too. There's few things that entertain me more than listening to the conversations these kids have. 7 - 9 year olds have crazy imaginations.

The last snowman of the season. I hope.

They also built me a fantastic snowman right outside the kitchen window. "So you can look at it while you do the dishes, Mama!" Clearly, Daddy did some coaching. The real message is 'daytime child free knitting time = get out of dish duty. I can live with that.

Greetings from Plague City...the Construction Edition

2011-03-30T12:06:00.000-04:00

Don't ever buy a house. Really. EVER. Especially if it was built before 1920. Oh my god. I remember an idyllic time when I blithely said "I want new flooring the kitchen and bathroom." And I measured everything and went to my local orange store and bought many cases of pretty tile. Which then expanded into new floors in the kitchen, bathroom, mudroom and laundry room since they're all kinda connected. So I measured again and went back to the orange store and bought many more boxes of pretty tile.

No, I didn't just take pictures, I actually helped too!

Which then turned into "Well, as long as we're ripping up the old flooring (all FIVE glued and nailed down layers of it!) to try to level it out, we might as well swap the positions of the stove and fridge to improve the flow of the kitchen." Which, of course, meant moving the gas line to the other side of the kitchen. Which meant moving part of the plumbing to make room for the gas line. Which also meant rearranging ALL of the cupboards so the stove and fridge fit. Which meant that the counter top was no longer the right size. Which meant SPECIAL ORDERING the new counter top since they no longer carry the right color in stock. Which will take approximately FOUR WEEKS to arrive. *Whimper* All of which boils down to, I haven't had a kitchen since Saturday and probably won't for at least another week. I have a crock pot and a toaster in the living room. As of yesterday even the microwave is out of commission. I might get that back day after tomorrow. Maybe. I get to run an obstacle course of kitchen cabinets in my bed room to get to the bed every night. Oh, so much fun at 2 in the morning while stumbling to the bathroom!

My dining room looks like this.

And to top it all off, Andy brought home a bronchitis/sinus infection plague from Green Bay and gave it to the kids and I. Welcome home honey, thanks ever so much. I feel like I'm living in some warped version of 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.' I'm calling it 'Plague City....the Construction Edition.'

Dad FINALLY putting something back IN the kitchen.

Mushroom Hunting

2010-04-27T10:37:00.003-04:00

Saturday found us wandering about Pigeon River State Forest searching for morel mushrooms, with Mimi, Poppa, Uncle Doug, and Aunt Suzan.

We climbed trees, found acorns (but only took home the ones with "their hats still on!"), played with sticks, and dicovered that you can write on birch bark with a twig. No birch trees were harmed in the making of this photo....we only took the bark off of the trees that had already fallen down. Drew confided that he thinks that "This is how the Indians wrote letters to each other, 'cause they didn't have paper." I now have two scraps of birch bark on my desk that say "I love you, Mama," next to a jar of dandelions. Perfect.

But most exciting of all, we came home with this:

Just enough for us all to have last night with our steak, and, oh gosh, were they good. After reading 'I dig dandelions (and apricot blossoms)' by 6512 and growing, we also added a dandelion salad to dinner. Ian wasn't impressed, but the rest of us thought it was great. It might have been the perfect dinner, wonderful food, fabulous conversation, and the kids even used their manners so very well. What more could a Mama ask for?

Finished Project Friday

2010-04-23T08:42:00.000-04:00

I finally finished my brothers birthday present and if I can get it in the mail today it will only be 10 days late. Bad big sister. This toiletry bag gave me major trouble. It was just one of those projects were if anything could go wrong it did. I had to rip out the zipper five times, and always because of some stupid self inflicted error. Or because I can't seem to follow instructions without thinking that I can come up with a better way to do it. It never works out for me when I try to "improve" sewing patterns...you'd think I'd learn.

I'm more successful at tweaking knitting patterns. I made these soap bags for my kids after modifying the pattern so it has more holes for the suds to come out. Probably not completely necessary, but I think it looks better too. I really like the yarn I used, Hempathy by Elsebeth Lavold. I picked it up on a shopping spree with Ani.

And last but not least, I finally got these awesome shoe organizers hung. Ani made them during our last craft night. I hate that we live so far apart now. Craft night used to happen at least once a week, now it's more like once or twice a year. I miss you, Ani!

Spring Break...sort of (part two)

2010-04-22T17:10:00.007-04:00

The second trip we took during spring break was to Lansing, to stay with the lovely Ani and family. We all went to Impressions Five Science Museum. We love this place! There's so much for the kids (and adults!) to do, from the water room, to the bubble room, to the light room, which oddly enough is a very dark place and so hard to get good pictures in. There's electrical circuits to build (Daddy's favorite part!), levers to compare, catapults to fling things, and pulleys to lift yourself or a friend with. It never seems like we have enough time there, they just about had to throw us out at closing time. We came home with model spaceships, a giraffe made from recycled pop bottles, a kit to make a soda/mentos fountain, and a rocket that, in theory, can be launched 100' into the air using baking soda and vinegar. So much fun and excitement crammed into one place!

Ani and I also went on a shopping trip to Joanne's and a LYS, of course, because we can never have too much stash. We then sent the husbands to the bar so we could get our craft on, only to find out that while I had packed a ton of supplies and even my sewing machine ('cause Ani's fancy machine scares me.), I managed to forget the machine's power cord. D'oh! The best laid plans.... Oh well, at least I managed to get some knitting done while Ani rocked out some awesome, but more about that tommorrow.

Spring Break...sort of (part one)

2010-04-20T11:41:00.005-04:00

The kids had the second through the eleventh off of school for spring break. On the second it was 86 degrees, so we packed up a day early and ran away to Poppa's cabin in Mackinaw. We stopped at the cabin long enough to drop off bags, pack a picnic, and grab the grandparents. Ten minutes later we were at the beach (Lake Michigan). The water was still way too cold to be in. At least too cold for adults, the boys went in up to their knees anyway, even after Poppa told us that two weeks previously the lake had still been iced over. Still, the wind was minimal, the sun was warm, and I was at the beach. Luckily there were very few other people so the boys could run to their hearts content without me interrupting their fun, telling them to stop because their accidentally kicking sand on those nice people, or worrying that their getting too far away from me, too many other (maybe not-so-nice) people between them and me. Life is good at the beach. All peaceful and relaxing. Listening to the waves, watching the sand pipers doink about, looking for great stones and beach glass.

Saturday was cold and windy but I still had to go to the beach anyway. I may have been the only one who really enjoyed it, it was really windy. We celebrated Poppa's birthday with his favorite strawberry cheesecake.

Sunday was Easter and boy, did that bunny pick some good hiding places. Still, they managed to find all twenty-six eggs in around twenty minutes. The Easter baskets were a hit, especially with Mimi adding a large amount of candy. New t-shirts, bubbles, books, games, and tiny lego sets were greeted with excitement.

Two handmade additions to the baskets were Carrot Bags of M&M's and Chucks. The pattern calls them chicks, but mine came out looking more like ducks, so Drew and Ian dubbed them Chucks. Works for me.

Bands and Bagels

2010-04-17T12:46:00.007-04:00

This morning I got to sleep in obscenely late (10:30!), I then had just enough time to quickly scramble an egg before attending the latest 'The Fox Band' concert, which the band members had graciously postponed until their sleepy Mama got with the program. Ian played songs on both the bongos and keyboard. Drew debuted a new original composition entitled "Foxes Are Mammals" while accompanying himself on the guitar.

Foxes Are Mammals

Foxes are mammals, they eat meat and hunt!
for animals for food to eat in spring

so they will not die to death
so they will never die

The mama will take care of the babies

so the babies will not die to their death
so they will never die

I just can't decide what to think about this song. On one hand, I'm glad my boys understand the whole circle of life theory. On the other, it's slightly disturbing to hear a 7 year old sing a song that seems so death centered. Neither of them seemed to think that there was anything unusual about this song and my parents had a hard time containing their chuckles during an encore performance this afternoon, so I'm trying to let it go and move on.

Husband and I made bagels together today. Mmmm, I love homemade onion bagels. Which is kind of weird, since I don't really like onions. Anyway, apparently I'm in a rather reflective mood today, because I realized just how well we can work together. Andy is a union electrician, sort of. See, he was laid off two weeks before Christmas 2008. So that means that for almost a year and a half we have been together all day, every day. Don't get me wrong we do have our small fights, but it really has been very good over all. I'm quite proud of us. Drew and Ian, of course, just love having Daddy home to play with all the time. And we eat much better with Daddy home to do the cooking. Our budget is squeaky tight obviously, but we have time to make things from food to furniture to presents from scratch and that, to me, is a very satisfying feeling.

The First Clothesline of Spring!

2010-03-31T13:48:00.004-04:00

Mmmmm.....I love spring. It's currently 68 and sunny here, kinda windy but I'll so take it. It just makes the clothes on the line dry faster. And let me tell you how excited I am to be using my clothesline again. See, I hate the dryer. It's a waste of energy, it sets in stains, it shrinks and wears out our clothes faster. Since, we live in a older house we have great big, 12" square hole-in-the-floor heat vents. So all winter I have two of those folding drying racks set up over the bigger vents (and shirts on hangers hanging in random places) and dry our clothes that way. But, I can only hang one maybe two loads at a time, so I have to do laundry every day to keep up. Don't get me wrong, I love that I can heat our house and dry our clothes at the same time, with the bonus of adding much needed humidity, but, I get really tired of doing laundry every day. Needless to say, when I checked the weather this morning and it claimed the high would be around 65 (after a week in the low 40's), I was super happy. Yippee! I get to use the clothesline again! I actually like hang clothes up. It's soothing and repetitive and brainless. I like the *snap* of shaking the clothes out before I pin them up. I like that if I missed a stain I get another chance to get it out. I like the me time that I get when (after the smalls are in bed) I go outside and fold our clothes as I take them down, it's time to think and reflect without feeling like I'm ignoring my family or missing something. I LOVE the way the clothes and especially the sheets smell when I bring them in. Ooohhh, the sheets. Today as I was hanging the laundry, Husband was moving the compost pile onto the garden and working it in. My first thought was, "Don't do that now, it'll make the laundry stink." As I took a breath to ask him to do it later, I realized it didn't stink, in fact, it smelled good. Weird, right? I couldn't believe it, I think I'm still happily surprised. And it's nice to be surprised once in a while, no?

Could It REALLY Be Spring?

2010-03-09T10:27:00.002-05:00

Oh my, what a wonderful, warm, sunshiney weekend. It was actually 45 degrees on Saturday here in Northern Michigan, which is usually unheard of. I keep trying to remind myself that it can't really be spring yet, that it almost certainly will snow again before spring is actually here to stay. But my spring loving self just keeps hoping that maybe, just maybe winter is over. I mean, look, my crocuses are popping up and surely those crazy things know what their doing. They wouldn't come up just to tease me.... would they?!?

We celebrated the beginning of spring with the first bonfire of the year. This is becoming something of a tradition, which I just love, as far as I'm concerned the more traditions the better! We went out to Mimi and Poppa's because traditions are better with grandparents and that's where the sledding/snowboarding hill is. Mimi still loves sledding. Drew and Ian will go down a few times, especially if they can convince her to "do a double-decker belly whopper." Which means Mimi lays down on the sled on her belly, one of the boys lays down on her back and then they go down the hill face first. It's gotten a lot harder to convince her this winter now that they weigh about 43 lbs each. They did them all the time last winter and the winter before that she'd even do triple-decker belly whoppers, with both boys laying on her, brave woman. Now that they are good on their snowboards, though, they'd rather do that then sled.

Ian (above) and Drew (below) both liked watching the snowboarders in the Olympics this year. Before the Olympics started most of the snowboarders actually came to our town and stayed at the ski resort here to practice. Majorly big doings for this little town. Apparently we have the biggest half-pipe east of the Mississippi. Who knew!?! Drew and Ian got to go watch them practice one day and thought it was the coolest thing ever. It really made them practice on their boards more. They also discovered, while watching the Olympics that "real snowboarders wear goggles." They were pretty disappointed that we didn't have any. But when we got out the play tools last week they found their safety goggles in the bin and (note pictures) those work just fine. I love it when they come up with their own (free!) solutions to these kind of problems.

Of course, Ian (below) had to climb a tree to finish off the day. Drew ended up climbing it too but, my camera ate all three sets of batteries I'd brought with me before I could get a picture of him in the tree. Speaking of the camera, pay no attention to the dates on the pictures, obviously the camera had some sort of stroke.

Sewing with Drew

2010-03-07T10:15:00.003-05:00

Drew came home from school on Friday, watched me knitting on my new slippers for a few minutes, and said "Mama, I want to knit." Yipee!! Finally, one of my boys wants to learn to knit! So I said (as calmly as I could) "Okay, let's go to the sewing room and pick out some yarn." To which he replied "Not with yarn, Mama, with fabric." Huh? "You want to knit with fabric?" "Yeah," he said, " I want to make a pillow for Zuzu (an alien) and my Monster Chunk." Ohhhh.... "You mean you want to sew?" "Yeah, sew. Zuzu needs a pillow and he'll share with my Monster Chunk." Okay, so it's not knitting but, wanting to sew with me is still pretty cool and some awesome Mama/Drew time. So off we went to search the fabric stash for the perfect fabric. And out of all the fabric, and you know I mean All the fabric, I have he would pick plain blue! At least he picked red thread to set it off a little. He helped me cut it out and then I had the epiphany to use safety pins to pin it. That may sound like a giant "DUH!" to some of you, but I felt so very smart to think of it. I figured he'd poke himself enough using a needle for the first time without adding straight pins to the mix.

I think he did very well for his first time. His stitches are pretty straight and not too huge. But most impressive of all is that he actually finished it all in one day. That's some serious commitment from my bouncy boy. He took it and the lucky recipients to bed with him that night. The next morning he told me, "Mama, Zuzu and Monster Chunk slept GREAT last night. They really like their new pillow!" Too cute and so much fun. Thanks for sewing with me Drew, you made my day.

Cheesecloth is mean...

2010-02-16T10:52:00.003-05:00

Today I decided to make the fruit bag from Linen, Wool, Cotton by Akiko Mano. I didn't realize that Japanese fabric is thicker than American until Ani told me. So I used a double layer and, wow, does that stuff like to stick to itself. Very obnoxious.... or as Drew and Ian say "ignoxious." Oh well, it's made although, I don't think I'll be making another, at least not with stupid American cheesecloth.

Yesterday, husband and I went to Goodwill and scored these cool wooden folding chairs. They're surprisingly sturdy and will be perfect for the game table in the living room. Or they will be as soon as they're painted some fun color and I actually find a table to be the game table. I can't believe how hard it is to find a 33" round wooden table for a reasonable price is. I mean is $150 considered reasonable now? It certainly doesn't fit in my budget at that price!

Paper Overload

2010-01-29T18:47:00.003-05:00

My kids bring home so many papers from school that I'm convinced they use a tree a week. And since our community recycling program has been closed (The guy running it closed it because he wasn't making any money doing it. Don't even get me started.) I've been trying to figure out what we could possibly do with at least some of it rather than just throwing it away. Then I caught the husband cheerfully making a list of game codes on my prettiest stationary. He tried to defend himself by muttering, "But, it was the only paper I could find!" After I realized he was right, there wasn't a notepad in sight and grudgingly admitted it, it hit me, scrap paper notepads! It's so simple I can't believe I didn't come up with it earlier. All I had to do was rip 3 sheets of paper into 1/4 stack them up and blanket stitch them together. Ta-da!!

A Very Knitty Christmas

2010-01-11T09:47:00.005-05:00

For the past few years I have attempted to make most of my Christmas presents....and failed. This year however, since the husband has been laid off for over a year, I knew it needed to be a stash-busting kind of Christmas. And so I actually started making presents in October. Here is most of what I made.

Missing are another 7 gift baskets which hold homemade raspberry & apricot jam, canned green beans from our garden, cardamom and sourdough bread. Also another baby hat in pink and two pairs of flip-top mittens that had to be mailed before I thought to take a picture. The only people who got store bought gifts were my kids, because right now legos rule and I can't make those. I did make two knit lego guys that were a big hit. A HUGE thank you to Ani for discovering this awesome pattern, even if the difficulty of actually constructing these guys made me invent new and undiscovered swear words.

Our Christmas came with the boys' "winter concert." Ian had a speaking part. One line which he repeated over and over to himself starting two days after Halloween. I'd find him building legos or drawing while muttering "When I'm feeling sad, I like to think about things that make me feel thankful." But all the practice paid off and he did a fantastic job. I admit it made me a little teary-eyed to see my baby up on that big stage speaking so carefully and clearly in front of a very large audience. Drew made up for not getting the microphone all to himself by singing "We wish you a Merry Christmas" loudly enough to be heard over all the other (100+) kids. Thank God he didn't get his father's singing voice.

For the past 4 years we have gone to the same cut your own tree farm, with my parents, to pick out our Christmas trees. This year Andy, who apparently misses using his power tools at work, decided that his saws-all would be the perfect thing to cut down said trees with. I think my father was a bit surprised, however he made no objection to Andy cutting down his tree for him, instead of using the hand saw he had brought. After the trees were put in/on the trucks we had our anual snowball fight. Then we headed to Mimi and Poppa's house to help put up their tree and have some much needed hot cocoa.

THE SKY IS ON FIRE!!!

2009-07-03T14:30:00.007-04:00

After a week of heavy clouds and just enough rain to keep everyone inside forever, the sun finally worked up the ambition to come out for a measly 15 minutes. Husband, attempting to make a joke, remarked, "I think the sky is on fire, there's this weird light outside." Of course, the six year-old crowd heard only, "THE SKY IS ON FIRE!!!!" Which prompted Drew to say, " I need a stick!" Presumably to put on the fire, these boys are nearly as much of a pyromaniac as their father. Ian, who is on yet another Care Bear kick, yelled "I think it's the Care Bears!" in a tone of perfect glee that I haven't heard since Christmas morning. When we finally got them to understand that Daddy was just joking and that the light was only the plain old ordinary sun, the level of disappointment was mind-blowing. I had to promise them we could go to Chris and Nikki's for dinner to get the crying to stop. They love going to Uncle Chris's house because he has a very large collection of Star Wars Lego's that he is kind enough to let them destroy...I mean play with. Aunt Nikki has informed me, privately, that she thinks Chris lets them take apart the ships just because he has such a good time putting them back together after we leave. We all have a guilty pleasure, no?

Getting back to Ian's latest Care Bear obsession, his favorite bear is Laughs-a-lot, aka Orangey, since he's had the bear since the beginning of (his) time and Laughs-a-lot is rather hard to say. Anyway, he's been after me for the past few days to make the bear a bed. So today during nap time he and I made Orangey a bed....and a pillow....and a quilt.... and even a mattress since, apparently, a Kleenex box wrapped in contact paper isn't nearly comfortable enough for a stuffed animal. Oh well, he loves it, we had some quality Mama/son time, it was all made from items I already had, and I got the satisfaction of actually completing a project all in one go. And really, how often does that happen.

Update, 1 hour later: Ian has lost his bed with the bear in it and is sobbing. LOUDLY. Drew has found his favorite Care Bear, Funshine, know around here as Sunny, and is demanding that I make him a bed, too. LOUDLY. Are you sensing a theme here?

Update, 3 hours later: Drew and I have finished his bed and he insists that I share it with you. I would just like to state for the record that I had nothing to do with the fabric choices, the boys picked them out of my scrap basket all on their own. It's rather unfortunate that they seem to have inherited their Daddy's color matching skills. After helping me sew these they are very interested in learning how to use my sewing machine all by themselves (as opposed to sitting on my lap, with their hands on top of mine for the actual sewing and helping by pushing the back-up button) and that makes me more than a little proud.

Disappearing Coasters....

2009-06-30T13:38:00.006-04:00

So for my first foray into quilting I made myself a set of 4 coasters from scraps of my favorite fabrics. Unfortunately, my twins have already disappeared half the set, hopefully they'll show up during the next house cleaning. I really want to make a crazy quilt, but I have a feeling that it might be more than I can handle. I'll probably make the attempt anyway, so any hints or tips will be much appreciated. I haven't had much time for crafting lately what with all the baby-sitting I've been doing to make ends meet. (Husband has been laid off since two weeks before Christmas. Being an electrician in Michigan sucks.) The lack of creativity is turning my brain to mush and the lack of progress on projects already in the works is making me crabby. I think I need to go try to finish Drew's tooth pillow before the daycare kids get here, 'cause I'll feel really guilty if I don't have it done when his first tooth falls out and, honestly, that could be any second now.

Happy Birthday to MEEEE!!!!

2009-05-19T11:38:00.002-04:00

Look at the pretty my Mama got me for my birthday. I knew if I was patient I'd find something wonderful. I can't wait to see what else I get. If I have to turn 30 there'd better be good presents!

These are a few of my favorite new things...

2009-02-04T09:37:00.005-05:00

I finished my mittens. I love the flip top on them. It never fails, I just get my mittens on and a boys will ask, "Mama, will you zip my coat for me?" Never mind that they are perfectly capable of zipping their own coats, I've been told that I "do it better!" And now I don't have to take my mittens off to help them zip or put their gloves back on after they get snow in them. Total SCORE!

I decided that I needed a new knitting bag. I finally used the adorable hedgehog fabric that I bought off etsy months ago. The lining and straps are made from an old shirt of my brothers that he ripped the elbows. I even took off the breast pocket and reattached it inside. When making the straps I discovered that I am out of stabilizer but that cross stitch fabric works very well instead.

The beaded candle holder is KNIT! I think it turned out awesome. I got the pattern for it and also the mittens out of "Handknit Holidays" by Melanie Falick. Of course modifications had to be made to the pattern to make it work with the size glass candle holder that I could find at the dollar store. The designer Annie Modesitt claims "knitting with wire and beads can be a spiritual experience." In the beginning all I could think was " unless my own personal hell counts as a spiritual experience, Annie is not the sharpest tool in the shed." But by the end knitting with wire and beads won me over, mostly, I think, because it's just so pretty.

After photos

2009-02-03T09:23:00.003-05:00

Since I showed some "before" photos in my "Treasures!" post I thought I should let you all see some "after" pictures as well. And I must admit that thinking I would have room to increase my stash was just plain silly. Of course that won't stop me from buying new things.....just ask the nice ladies at the local Ben Franklin! I'm thinking of trying needle felting as my next new hobby. Does anybody know how easy/hard/expensive/frustrating this might be?

DPN Bags

2009-01-20T12:53:00.003-05:00

I got tired of my DPN's being in the cheap plastic baggies that they came in so I made pretty new ones. Finally I found a use for those little scraps of my favorite fabrics that I couldn't bear to throw out. (I am not a packrat!) I made my first button hole in this project and tried out several different closure methods. The easiest was sticky back velcro but, I think the prettiest is the button. I even embroidered the neddle size on the bags. FYI - much easier to do before you sew the bag up. *embarassed face* At least I figured that out on the first bag instead of the fifth.

Maybe now the coats will be hung up.....

2009-01-12T17:05:00.003-05:00

My boys needed some encouragement to get their coats hung up with out me having to ask them 5 times. Plus my mudroom is kinda a yucky room, not much going on in there but mess, it needed something cool. So I took a peg rack (made by husband), added my favorite color orange, and Drew and Ian's (Uncle inspired) obsession with snowboarding, and created this.

Finally something to do with all the extra issues of "Snowboarder Magazine" that I get from my brother. I know he's art director and everything but, do I really need to save more than 1 copy of the same issue? Please tell me I don't because I'm feeling a little guilty for cutting up his magazine. How would I feel if someone cut up something I made and used it in their art? Of course my art isn't mass produced so that makes a difference.....right?
Now I just have to nag husband into actually hanging it up. Wish me luck.

TREASURES!!!!

2009-01-06T11:48:00.004-05:00

The husband and I went thrifting today. It's not quite as much fun as thrifting with Ani but......LOOK what I found! I needed a new storage piece for my craft room since cardboard boxes were taking over and the plastic drawers were screwing with my creative powers. Mass produced plastic items are my kryptonite ;) I try very hard to avoid them but, sadly it's not always possible, especially now that my boys want the toys that everyone else has instead of homemade toys. Anywho.....back to the finds. I'd been eyeing this cupboard at my local Goodwill for several weeks but, it was priced at $60. A bit much for me to justify with the husband laid off again. However when we went today it was half off, and I got a 10% off coupon for making a donation so, SCORE! I can fit so much into this baby I might get to increase my stash!

Then we went to a resale shop. It's not my favorite one. Shopping in it is very much like shopping in someones garage, not much organization and you never know what you might find. Today though, my angels knew I needed something special. I found this awesome old typewriter for $10. The paper spool thingie is stuck all the way over but, husband thinks he can fix it. Even if he can't this thing is so cool, I just had to have it. Yipee for a good thrifting day!

Yesterday I made myself an inspiration board. I really like the fabric, it has little umbrellas or parasols all over it. I covered a piece of cardboard with the fabric and then stapled it into an old frame. Pretty and recycled....does it get any better?!?!

Stupid Friday the 13th

2008-06-20T21:11:00.000-04:00

My husband got laid off last Friday.....can anyone say "Happy Friday the 13th?" The kids are uber excited that they get to play with Daddy "all day!" He'd been working 10 hour days six days a week with a hour and a half commute each way......so he wasn't home so much. Ahh, the life of an electrician. He seems to either be working his butt off or at home sitting on it! No normal 8 hours 5 days a week for us! The really stupid thing is that he can make more collecting unemployment than doing anything here in town, even though unemployment is only about a third of what he makes weekly when he is working. At least, I managed to set aside some money this time so we aren't completely screwed the instant his paychecks stop coming. My new mantra is "Everything will be okay"......repeat until the words stop sounding like words.

FINITO

2008-06-17T18:00:00.001-04:00

I finally got a few projects finished. The blue thing is a baby doll moses basket. I made two - one in blue and one in green. And since I don't have girls they're for my twin sons.....who absolutely love their "new baby beds." Hey, boys need to learn to be nurturing too! Or so I keep telling myself.

The bags are for a beach bag swap I'm doing, I couldn't decide weather to sew or knit so I did both. The owls are for another swap. My best friend really likes owls and I already made a set of these for her so I thought I'd do the swap and send her whatever I get. It's a good way to earn extra friend points, right? Especially since I want her to paint for me! What with being broke and all, I've decided that the barter system is awesome. And I am now willing to barter almost anything with almost anyone.

Drew & Ian

2008-05-31T14:53:00.000-04:00

Meet my twins Drew (in blue) and Ian. Don't they look cute all dressed up for their Spring concert. You'd never know from this picture that we have hit the bathroom humor stage....with a vengeance. Who knew that they would turn into my father-in-law at age 5 1/2?!?

Twins are so much fun....even when they look so much alike that sometimes even I have trouble telling them apart. Drew has always weighed just a couple of ounces more and Ian has always been about 1/4" taller. Always. (Ian is standing on a riser in the picture.) Sometimes they amaze me. Frequently they make my head spin. They can get along so well for so long.....but, when they fight, dear Lord, get out of the way. But they are my little miracle babies (They were born 14 weeks early.) and I don't know how I could ever do without them. It also amazes me just how much they look like their father. Seriously, my husband created himself a couple of Mini-Me's. If I hadn't been there for the c-section I would wonder if they were really mine.

Oh shite, apparently bath time is over, at least the two wet, naked boys running around have given me that impression....Mama's free time is over.

Prettiest Room in the House

2008-05-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I finally got the rug I've been wanting for my dining room. Of course that means that most of my child free time today was spent intensely cleaning afore mentioned room. But I am now finished. I really love the new rug....but, I think the art work still makes me happiest. I was done by my very favorite artist, Ms. Ani. Now as soon as she finishes (or starts...what a busy girl!) the new artwork for that blank back wall, I will finally have one room in this house complete.