Storm of the Century?

Word is that we're expecting a huge-ass winter storm, not that you would know it around here. I turned on the tv this morning, and the weather was barely mentioned. However, everything you ever wanted to know about Kwame Kilpatrick, just stay tuned.

I also learned that Britney's back in the hospital. I'm just stunned an in awe, as I'm sure you are. I'm thinking of keeping my kids home from school tomorrow, so we can pray for her.

Seriously.

When did 7-15" of snow become the least exciting thing going on?

wizacky weather in the hizzouse

The weather Gods have freaked out and apparently decided to give us every type of weather in one week. Fun for us lowly unsuspecting humans! Monday was nearly 50*, and I was dragged kicking & screaming outside to throw the football with Evan. Today it's about 9* and mega windy. The kind of wind where you are sure your house is going to be swept away. Or your small car. (Reason #214 to be thankful I drive a Hummer)

I'm not really happy it's windy; I'm squinting so I'm not blinded by the flying hairs whipping around. I am, however, glad that it's cold enough to allow me to wear the softest scarf in the world all day long. It's like a fuzzy hug.

And someone (ok, it was me) forgot to bring in the plastic container of girl scout stuff off the porch last night. Luckily I had taken out all the cookie order forms, becasue our sign up sheet vanished, and the box was broken to smithereens. The lid was unscathed, which goes a long way towards explaining why we have such a weird box to lid ratio in our house.
Hey, how did that monkey get in here?

Don't be alarmed. He's not real.

I made him for this kid that I know that loves monkeys. I hope it doesn't scare him to death.
And this would be my latest project, a wraparound cari in the lovliest shade called 'embers'. It's beautiful but not fussy, and hopefully very flattering on chubby girls.

See ya!

gimme cookie (channel Cookie Monster as you say this)

This is the scene on my kitchen table today as I scurry to fill out cookie order forms. Yes, it's that time of year again...Girl Scout cookie time. I have to turn in my order tomorrow morning, so the pressure is on to make sure my math adds up and no one gets shorted cookies. People get angry when they get shorted cookies.

Our troop of 12 (with 11 selling) sold 990 boxes of cookies. Which is 75 cases. Which is a lot of cookies in my house. Add another 25 cases for the cookie booth, and I am virtually swimming in Caramel Delights and Peanut Butter patties. It's a few, I'm just sayin'.

Today I believe I hit a personal new low on the slug-o-meter. I woke up with really horrid ovulation cramps...there is too such a thing. Shut up. If you have never had them, they can be worse than actual period cramps. I didn't much feel like doing anything, so I read and dozed on my heating pad until they went away. I added cookie forms. I read a magazine. I finished my monkey. I watched Bugs Bunny on my computer. Truly exciting stuff. It's amazing that I don't have my own reality show by now.

And let's talk about tv, please. Will the writer's strike ever end, or am I going to have to have a hissy fit? Last night was the worst. The worst. The only thing on the tube all night was the State of the Union address. Snoozefest. I know I should care, and I try to. I really do. I just don't. I watched out of sheer boredom and lack of proximity to the remote control. I can't stand all the self congratulatory applause and empty promises. The best part was watching for Hillary, and the expression on her face. I was hoping to catch an actual eye roll, but I think she checked herself in time. And Ted Kennedy? was he sleeping? This is not a long address. He should be able to stay awake for it.

So nothing on.tv. It breaks my heart. At least Lost is on this week. Sing hallelujah.

Hey, did you know that Apple & iTunes rent movies now? This is exciting! I have been waiting anxiously for Netflix to get the approval to 'watch instantly' on a Mac, but so far it hasn't happened. I would be carrying my laptop with me all day, glued to the screen. Maybe this is a good thing. But I am planning to rent one just to try it out. For shits & giggles.

Tuesday out!

anatomy of my messy desk

For someone who hasn't spent a lot of time in her scrap room

I sure have managed to make it a pigsty! I went downstairs today to finish some things, but I spent more time clearing out a spot to work.

Here's a look...

overview of the desk. There are so many things going on here!

My yarn winder, attached to the right side of the desk. Also, the broken remnants of the IKEA clock. I haven't decided what to do with it yet, if anything. 

No less than 4 layouts worth of photos here, along with paper for my altered clock, 3 snowflake tins I never used at Christmas, & 2 miscellaneous alterable tins.

A 2007 'Year in Review' album that needs the last 2months added to it. Various acrylic letter stamps that didn't get put away, 3 envelopes of enlargements, 2 stamp pads, more patterned paper, & an unfinished sweater that Emma has probably outgrown.

My altered clock inner workings, the mini book that goes in the back, nail polish (I painted the gold hands with it), another unfinished mini (the scalloped one in the rear), and a pile of things that need to be returned to where they should go.
Now before you think this isn't too messy, please remember that this is only one surface of many in my room, all of which are covered. I just chose to show the one I need to sit at!

See ya!

sweet or sour?

10 year old girls may be the most confusing creatures on the planet.

All within the span of 5 days I have seen major extremes from mine. 

First the sour...

Driving home from soccer practice the other night, things were getting a little loud in the car. Snow was falling and traffic was crawling;I was trying to concentrate on not getting plowed into. Emma was singing, obnoxiously, on purpose. Evan was whining about the singing. She would not stop. So I turned off the radio in order to have one less distraction. At this point, Emma lost her mind and began screaming at me to" turn the radio on right now. I said NOW. Turn it on now.NOW! NOW! NOW!"

Because I am attempting to be a calm and rational rather than emotional person I ignored the screaming. I apologized to Evan for having to endure the torturous caterwauling. She continued to scream for the entire drive home, without pausing to breathe. I wanted to stuff my fist down her throat, or shake her until she stopped, but I just kept driving. (If ever a moment called for duct tape!) I should get a medal for my restraint, honestly. I'm sure heinous acts have been commited for far less bs than I put up with on that drive home.

Now the sweet...

Em asked if I would take her up to Target so that she could buy, with her own money, Valentine's Day gifts for the kindergarden class she is the safety for. She had some ideas of what sort of thing she was looking for. And she was armed with a catalog from Oriental Trading Company, chock full of useless crap in bright colors. But she didn't want to pay s&h. I was skeptical that Target would have what she was looking for. I should know by now not to doubt Target. They had tons of stuff to chose from! She ended up buying little play-doh containers, heart stickers with googly eyes, mini-heart stampers, & drawstring gift bags. I threw in a package of candy as a donation.

The end result- 23 perfect little bags. She wasn't asked to make these, but I wouldn't be surprised if they end up being the kids' favorite treats.

So why all the extremes? If you would have asked me Wednesday night, I would have traded her for a sack of nickels. Then today, she pulls off this sweet gesture, with no prompting or encouragement from her friends. It was the sweetest thing, and I'm so proud.

She makes my head hurt.

FYI- we watched Away From Her last night. It was truly a heartbreaking movie. I would be surprised if Julie Christie doesn't win the Oscar. Not that I have seen any of the other nominated performances; her's was just stellar. Go rent it ASAP.

Tomorrow!

ice ice baby

                                                                                  

okay, this is not turning out how I wanted it to. My mosiac is tiny! very tiny.

We went to the Plymouth Ice show this evening, right before dusk. It was lightly snowing, and everything looked so beautiful. Of course, Evan complained of being cold the entire time, and insisted on mucking thru the slush. Boys.

Anyway, if you click on the tiny box, it pops up in larger image and you can see the detail of the pictures. Hopefully.

Have a good saturday!

go fiber!

After my day of 'near scrapping' (hey, is that like near beer?) 

I spent the day in pursuit of total domination of the fiber world.

In other words, I went to the yarn store.

This is Thread Bear in Lansing. It is mecca for yarn lovers. I am in heaven. If I were to die here, that would be ok. Not to mention the cute pups that were wandering the store, looking for a head scratch.

I went to this store a few days ago, but couldn't find the cable to plug my camera into the computer.

Today I went to City Knits.

I had lunch downtown with my honey. We haven't done lunch in a long time, and I wanted to go on a day I could pop into the store. I was so proud -I managed to get there & back all by myself.

Not a small feat, to be sure. I'm usually the passenger, not the driver.

I didn't take any pix in the store, but it was nice. Not as nice as Thread Bear, but then again, how could it be. Still enjoyable.

This is my latest finished project, cabled fingerless mitts. They are made from variegated wool, and are very cozy. I like these a lot. The cuffs are much longer than the first pair of fingerless gloves I made. I can see wearing these when I'm trying to take pix outside in the snow. Or walking the dog. Or taking out the trash.

the kids have the day offtomorrow. I'm thrilled. Evan has a birthday party, and we are going to go hang with the 'rents. Nothing much will get accomplished. It's all good.

Happy Thursday!

CZ on my left and AE on my right

Don't get too excited, because I haven't completed anything, but I actually sort of scrapbooked yesterday and today! I say 'sort of' because I don't have any actual projects to show you, just beginnings of projects.

I need to replace the Christmas LO's in the family room. There are 4.

I have 13 10"x10" frames (which reminds me, I need to go get 2 more) that I am going to put some favorite pix in. Sounds easy enough. But when I upgraded to Leopard, iPhoto is all different in how it organizes your stuff. So right now, I just have 5,000 pix all over the place, in next-to-no-order. I have been chipping away at ths mess little by little. It's time consuming. And I'm easily distracted and going off in another direction.

I did manage to upload a few to Costco, process and pick them up. Now I need to see if Michael's (or someone) can cut some of the mats to the sizes I want. I suck at cutting mats.

I spray painted my watch tin to make an altered clock. It's drying. I chose my papers & theme. There is going to be a little mini accordian book in the back, with pictures of Em & her friends. A few quotes. Cute embellishments. That sort of thing.

The most telling thing, however, is the fact that I dreamt about scrapping last night. I was at some sort of weeklong camping/crop thing. There were many layers to this dream. But the part I remember the most vividly is being at a table with Cathy Zielske & Ali Edwards, and we were all laying out our stuff. We were all working on water pictures of some sort. Cathy was wearing a cape (yes, a cape), and we were just laughing and having fun and not getting a lot done. And it was the best time ever.

I would normally think this was very pathetic, but I have cropped with Ali before, so I'm not a total wishful thinking stalker. And I have met Cathy, briefly. I read their blogs daily. I feel like I know them.

Apparently I need to get out more!

wake up call

So I had one of those moments the other day

when I went to the doctor to get some antibiotics to rid me of my ick.

The cute lil' nurse practitioner led me to the scale

(which is the best part of every doctor visit)

and I was smacked upside the head with the number that popped up.

That can't be right.

There is no way that this number is me.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream.

I wanted a brownie.

I AM FAT.

I AM OVERWEIGHT.

I HAVE NO CONTROL.

I am heavier than I have ever been in my entire life, even while pregnant.

I am heavier than probably all three of the family members in my house put together.

I am heavier than a few of the contestants on 'The Biggest Loser'.

In three months I will be forty, and I can't live the way I have been living for the last 40. Something has got to change. Starting now. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now.

Now.

the good, the bad, and the alpaca

the bad: I have a sinus infection

the good: antibiotics, baby!

the good: I took a 3 1/2 hour nap yesterday

the bad: it followed Evan's 7:40 AM soccer game

the really bad: only 6 kids showed up, and they got killed.

the good: Tracey & Greg are coming over today.

the good: My Dad & Carol are coming over today.

the bad: We are watching football all day.

the good: Bart has Friday & Monday off.

the bad: Bart has Friday & Monday off. (just kidding honey)

the bad: it's about 12* outside.

the good: I don't need to be outside.

the good: it's beautiful and I love it.

the bad: I didn't leave enough yarn to finish it and had to frog it TWICE.

the alpaca:

the bad: one of the cats is sick

the good: took Ben to the vet with little trouble (you'd be surprised...)

the bad: I have to pill him twice a day for a week.

the good: wrapping him up in a blankie and getting this photo!

And now I'm off to the grocery store so that we have food to feed the guests!

Have a good Sunday. Stay Warm!

Happy Friday!

I have a doctor's appointment today at 2 pm, so naturally I'm feeling a little better. Or at least I think I am. My face isn't hurting the way it did for the past few days, and I can actually taste a bit, which is nice. Nothing is more disappointing than needing to eat because your tummy is growling, but knowing that you won't taste a bite. It sucks.

I'm sure to spend several boring hours waiting to be told that I have an infection, here's your antibiotic, see ya. I can't wait.

I'm going to meet my friend Jan this morning for expensive coffee and cheap conversation (her words). Two friends in one week! Dang, I am popular.

She doesn't know but I will be bringing this lovely little piece with me :

It's a beautiful little ruffle edged scarf made from baby alpaca, which may just be the softest thing on earth. The picture doesn't do justice to the color either. It's remarkable. Who knew baby alpacas came in so many hues?
And here is Savannah, who came to investigate the shooting of the yarn. She is so pretty. And she hates to be photographed. Ha!

Have a great day!

The fashion police have been alerted...

I'm risking death by posting this.

It's a good thing she doesn't know my blog address.

Here's my beautiful daughter, Emma. She is criminally infashionable. She may even be fashionably insane. It's that bad.

In this particular photo, she is wearing a bathing suit, red sweatpants, and brown faux-leather knee high boots. I find it necessary to add that the tags are still on the suit.

When she was a toddler, she love to throw on half her clothes and play dress up. We laughed at her wacky combinations, saying how much we would miss her sense of style as she grew up.

Apparently she hasn't grown out of that phase. Maybe she never will.

I'm trying my best to guide her into making good choices without coming off as the overbearing mother who picks out her 10 year old's clothes daily. I think we are making progress, and then she choses to wear this. All day. Sigh.

Yesterday during Evan's soccer practice we ran up to Plato's Closet to return the jeans I had bought her. No refunds, only exchanges, so we had to browse thru the store to find $33 worth of something to take home. She doesn't need any shirts, but these are so much easier to shop for. She can conceivably wear a juniors size small or medium, because they are making the tops so short & snug (don't even get me started), they fit a 10 year old frame perfectly. This is so not right, but not the topic at hand.

We ended up taking home 3 shirts, all of which are very cute, stylish, and way too grown up for her. One was Juicy Couture. I kid you not. Very cute & sporty, not at all slutty. But still.

Today she paired up this green/green striped low cut hoodie with a purple tank (with beading on the top), brown denim Limited Too pants, and tennis shoes.

The sarcastic person in me wanted to scream "MY eyes! My eyes!", but I was kind and just told her she was very colorful today. And then I sprinted out of the room.

I know I am not a fashionista. I don't claim to be. I love my Uggs, my Crocs, my Life is Good tees and my hoodies. But I am not a 10 year old girl in the harsh world of 5th grade. I don't want the other kids to start picking on her and lowering her self esteem.

Is there a fashion camp nearby?

And don't even get me thinking about her hair.

test

beep beep beep beep....

this is a test. It's only a test.

If this had been an actual emergency, you would be directed on how to proceed.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

it's late.

It's late and I am the only one not sleeping.

I wish I were sleeping, because I still feel crummy and

I have umpteen things I want to do tomorrow.

I think the trifecta of a 2 hour nap, American Idol try-outs, and not knitting have left me wide awake, yet unmotivated to actually do anything.

I'm sure the three doses of non-drowsy daytime cold medication haven't helped my cause.

I was reading; reading a great book, in fact. Eat, Pray, Love. Right now I am in an Ashram in India, trying to get my mind to quiet down so that I can have a transcendental meditative breakthough. And just like the author, I can't get it to slow down. So I figured I had better get up and stop willing myself to sleep, because it's not gonna happen.

So, what's on my mind?

-thinking about going downtown tomorrow to have lunch with Bart, and maybe stopping into City Knits. I've never been and really want to see it. I also want to pop into Pure Detroit, which seems to be closed every time I go to the Ren Cen.

-I've had a headache all day, so I'm pretty sure I have a massive sinus infection. Since August I have been taking meds to stabilize the debilitating headaches I was getting way too frequently. I haven't had any pain for 4 months. Today I had non-stop pain. And pressure. Time to suck it up and go to the doctor, I suppose.

-I spent a few hours with Kim today, and one of the things we did was go to Lifetime Moments.

Haven't shopped for scrap supplies in a long while. (Haven't scrapped in a long while either). Now I have an overwhelming urge to play with paper and pictures and words.

-I have a clock that I am going to alter for this challenge, and have been playing around with the how in my mind. How to physically put it together, and how to decorate it. My creative muscles have been underused lately. It's a struggle.

-I'm frustrated by the picture options on Blogger. I know there has to be a way to do the things I want to do, yet I can't seem to work it out.

-I need to get my scanner in working order again. After I upgraded to Leopard it hasn't worked, and I have some things I want to scan. It should be easier than it is. I should be able to fix it.

-I'm going to make a fancy header if it's the last thing i do.

Okay, maybe I can sleep now.

Cross your fingers.

ugh

sick.

tired.

achy.

coughing up green.

must.fight.illness.

I'll take my do-over tomorrow, thank you.

that kind of day

Today has been that kind of day.

In fact, the weekend was pretty much the same.

One step forward, two steps back.

Last night I was going to blog, and check a few of my favorite places only to find that our internet connection was kaput. Earlier in the day it had been working fine, of course. I had just settled into the sofa all cozy and ready to stay put. No internet. I know a thing or two about re-establishing the connection. Trial and error has made me proficient at it. I'm not an expert or anything, but I can ususally do it by myself.

And because my husband likes to do things the hard way, the router is in the basement ceiling. (Right where you would expect to find it, I know.) So I go to reset the connection, and the modem has no power going to it. Dead as a doornail. Who knows why it chose to die at that moment. So until I dragged my sorry butt to Radio Shack, there weren't gonna be any internets. Phooey.

I woke up this morning intending to spend the day with Kelley, and instead felt like crud becasue I didn't sleep well at all last night. I had terrible cramps for starters, and the tickle in my throat has returned. I couldn't stop clearing my throat or coughing. This in turn gave me horrific heartburn, which made sleeping near to impossible. To make up for my lack of sleep, I slept until noon.

Yeah, I said noon.

I'm unemployed, remember?

To cap off my day of fun I bought Emma two pair of pants that don't fit and need to be returned (naturally), bought a new adapter plug, cleaned up the shattered remains of my new Ikea clock,

(who knew glass could fly that far?), reset the router, dug out some bins of hand-me-down jeans, cleaned cat poo off the floor, and made dinner.

I know you wish you were me. Admit it.

And just because nothing is better than shopping to cure what ails you, I bought a bathing suit today. You can stop laughing now. My hot tub suit is practically transparent. It was needed.

So here's to tomorrow and do-overs, and plastic clocks & the magic that is the internet.

this box

came in the mail today and manohman am I going to have one happy ten year old when I pick her up from Girl Scouts. 

This box contains two Christmas gifts, for which she has been (mostly) patiently waiting.

It was ordered the first week of December, and is just now getting here.

So much for internet shopping being faster.

These were two of her highest requested items and I know she will enjoy them.

I'll even let her open the box for herself!

fetching!

Look what I made!

This fingerless glove is called 'fetching' and it represents a  lot of firsts for me!

-it's my first glove

-it's the first time I tried magic loop, and I have mastered the technique!

-it's the first time i made cables, which I love but am scared of. They are ridiculously do-able.

And the best part is that you can make a pair in less than a weekend. Seriously!

I am going to make many pairs in many colors and yarns.

So now I am going to try another first-a sweater for myself!

My house smells delicious right now, because I am making this for dinner. It's Sharyn's fault. She made it first and talked it up so much I just had to try it. And her kids ate many helpings of it, so I figured it was worth a try.

It really smells fantabulous.

Dinner is a long time from now.

FLARG!

Guess where we went this weekend? Does this give you a hint?

Yes, we went to the mecca of home decor, IKEA.

I love IKEA. I could spend all

 day there.

Wait, we pretty much did.

It had been awhile since we browsed the showroom (and Bart had a secret plan in mind), so Saturday we trekked to Canton. I could tell it was going to be packed by the parking lot. Wowza there are a lot of cars in Southeast Michigan.

And guess what? We saw Carmen Harlan, of WDIV channel 4 fame. Shopping. Cool.

The plan was to get Emma the loft bed we promised her for her birthday (in September). To make a long story short, she doesn't take care of anything in her room, much to our great annoyance. We rearranged her closet to make it more user friendly. There are still clothes on the floor. So, she was told she gets the bed when she proves to us that she actually cares about her belongings. Still not great, but she has made an improvement.

We came across the home office stuff before the bedroom stuff, and Evan asked if he could have a desk. Sounds reasonable. He is better at taking care of his room, and he will need a place (without TV) to do homework. Or whatever. So we said yeah, let's pick one out.

At this point Emma turned green with Envy and declined to speak the rest of the shopping trip.We came to the part where the bedrooms were, and she wouldn't offer an opinion on any of them. We gave her like 10 chances to pull herself together but she chose to be miserable. We stopped for meatballs & beverages and she sat there miserably not eating or speaking. I cornered her and tried to talk her out of her funk, but she wasn't budging. She said "Dad won't let me have a loft bed so there is no point in even looking. I never get what I want". Even told point blank we came to buy one, she still was being a stubborn ox.

About an hour later (still in IKEA) she whispered to me that she knew she was wrong but couldn't admit it to her dad.

Dang, 10 year old girls are a pain in the butt.

I had my share of moments just like this as a young girl, but I was forced to go with my dad on the weekends, and there was a lot of animosity between my parents. I needed to rebel. What does she have to rebel against?

We also helped my Mom de-Christmas her house, so that was pretty much our entire weekend. I have packed up all of our things until next year. Just the tree is left, and I'm not about to take apart that sucker by myself. No way.

Tomorrow!

Brrski!

So I just dropped the kids off at school and the thermometer in the car reads 2*.

Wow, that's cold.

And isn't that a fab picture, by the way? (I had a hard time focusing on the mirror clearly.)

I de-Christmased for most of the day yesterday. The upside to doing it alone is that I can go at my own pace, and quit when I want to. The downside is that it takes 10 times longer. I filled and rearranged 10 bins and I've hardly made a dent.

I bought myself some Miracle Balls yesterday at Costco, and plan on entering a state of relaxation later on this afternoon. Peace out!

All is calm, all is bright

The kids are back in school. Bart is back to work.

The neighborhood is shiny and white from the recent snowfall.

I am blissfully alone.

Not that this winter break was a tough one. It wasn't. Em & Ev managed to be nice to each other more than on average. I didn't have to cook much. Bart & I only had one argument. All in all, it was good. If we hadn't spent so much time sick, it would have been near perfect. There is just something wonderful about the day the routine returns.

There is, of course, lots to do this first week of January. Many hours of de-Christmasing are in my immediate future. Lots of things to organize and clean. One thing at a time.

After I finish my cup of tea :)

On a sad note, it hardly seems fair that the sun should be shining so brightly on the day when a neighbor and friend of ours is leaving for Iraq. I only learned of his deployment yesterday. My emotions are all over the place for my friends, and their children. 400 days is a lifetime over there. If you have any extra room in your thoughts and prayers, send them to the Coe family. I know they will greatly appreciate each and every one.

Happy New Year

Last night, as I was watching the snow fall, I was thinking of fresh beginnings and all that they entail. I had about 25 meaningful things to say, none of which I can recall right this moment.

Isn't that just the way life is?

The power went out at 5:15, for less than a minute. It was long enough to wake me and get my mind going. It was beautiful outside. My dad & stepmom were flying to Florida this morning-would they be able to make it out? Were the plows ready? Please don't tell me school is going to be cancelled on Wednesday. It was nearly 8 before I fell back to sleep. Lots of things rolling around in there. It was the most awake I have felt in 3 weeks.

I need the awakeness and alertness to follow me into 2008. I want to accomplish more on a daily basis than I have been. I want to start walking again. I loved the long walks I used to take. Not just for the exercise aspect of it, but the aloneness was wonderful too. I miss that. I want to become better organized and less wasteful. I want to try new things.

Here's a few of the pix I took today-some of our yard and some of the kids sledding.