Back to Cool

Son started 4th grade yesterday. Youngest Daughter started preschool two days a week this morning. She walked in and looked around, met the teachers, then went to the playground without saying goodbye. Two years ago when Oldest Daughter started daycare she cried like I was abandoning her forever - she went to Kindergarten testing this morning and her shyness won the day. She did write her name but she refused to count and then she wouldn't draw a picture. She starts school tomorrow.

Husband and I went to St Louis over the second weekend of August for the WheresGeorge.com 10th Annual National Gathering. We met a lot of people we've known only through the forums and facebook, and then we left early. We don't do so well in crowds and thankfully most of the people there understood that and were okay with us leaving early.

My really exciting news is that we finally decided that Youngest Daughter was never going to be potty trained if we relied on PullUps to get her through it. We went out and bought "big girl" underwear for her last week. After a couple days of accidents, she's finally made the association and has started coming to tell us when she needs to go. She had one accident yesterday morning and was good the rest of the day. Not sure how well things will go at school because she's in a new situation in a new place with new people, and she's wearing PullUps just in case, but I'm cautiously hopeful.

As for work, I'm in the midst of a project that will be a gift, and I have a couple more things planned out. Also, I've been working on my competition piece for the HBS Creatin' Contest since I'm down to about four months left. Here's where I was as of yesterday.

So that's all I've got for now. Planning to work on the roof this afternoon if I get a chance. 

April Showers bring May Flowers. Mayflowers bring smallpox.

Haven't updated much lately because I haven't felt like I've done anything. Mystery sickness is still hanging around a little bit, but I'm working on getting back in the creative saddle. So here are creative happenings from the last couple weeks.

Daughters turned 3 and 5 last week (they share the same birthday, two years apart). These were their cakes - ying and yang, light and dark, half and half, flora and fauna. They were happy and I was satisfied with my first ever attempt at drawing a koi fish. The cakes were marbled Devil's Food and butter cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercreme.

Next comes jalapeno peach, and jalapeno strawberry jam. We were out after mailing a bunch out as Pay It Forward and Christmas gifts, and they make an amazing glaze on pork or chicken so I had to make more. 

Third grade at Son's school did a mini-society project where every kid had to make something worth selling, then they earned fake money for a couple weeks and sold their stuff and bought goods from the other third graders. His project was a pillow box with three glass beads in it, tied with a ribbon. Each one was different. 

I've spent the last week or so working on seed bead projects. These are peyote stitch. I've now made three similar sets and have moved on to starting a spiral tubular piece that will be turned into a bracelet if I ever finish it. 

This table and chairs set was found by a friend in North Carolina as she wandered an antique shop. So I plan to take the stain off and re-do the upholstery. It will make a perfect addition to my Painted Lady house. 

So that's that. No updates don't mean no work, though it feels that way to me. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Feel the Burn

Yesterday was my final day at the Scholastic Book Fair at Son's school, and we had a parent-teacher conference at the same time. Mostly good news, thankfully. We'd met (or very nearly) the sales goal for the year by the end of the night and there is still all day today and tomorrow. So YAY!

While Husband and I were gone, Grandma cooked dinner. She took the chicken out of the oven and for some reason, Oldest Daughter grabbed the pan. Her had has a pretty bad burn and we're going to the doctor this morning as soon as we can get in. I didn't know about it until I got home because I'd forgotten my phone when I left. So this is what we're dealing with this morning.

I worked most of nap time yesterday on my house, but not tons of progress because I glued a couple pieces together wrong and had to go back and fix mistakes. It was probably better that I had to quit and go to the school since it wasn't going so well anyway. 

In the interim of all this book fair and kids hurting themselves, I've completely spaced that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Thankfully we never actually celebrate it on February 14 so I'm sure it doesn't matter that it will be late, especially since I already told him. We have stuff for both girls and we'll have to find something for the boy and Grandma and then we can call it good for what HAS to be on time. 

That's all I've got. I'm off to call the Dr's office and see if we can get in soon. Thanks for coming by :)

I like to move it, move it

I've made a separate blog for my dollhouse and miniature stuff, which you can find here.

Husband cut his finger with a meat knife yesterday and had to go to urgent care and get it glued and bandaged closed. I spent Saturday modifying a necklace for my neighbor. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful weekend.

This is the last week of the book fair and my only commitment is to work on Wednesday night for five hours or so and go to a parent-teacher conference. I'll be glad when it's over with for the year. Tonight I'll be driving Grandma down to Littleton so she can go to the Colorado Center for the Blind tomorrow - she's taking braille classes every week and goes to a blind seniors support group on Tuesdays.

Not much else to report. Thanks for stopping by :)

Tiny Troubles

Anyone who knows me knows that dollhouses and miniatures are one of my favorite hobbies. This year, I'm thinking about entering the HBS Annual Creatin' Contest. This indecision comes about because of my recent burnout and severe lack of inspiration or motivation. I started looking at small dollhouses on a whim a couple days ago and I've found a few I think may work for my apothecary / potion / witch's shop. I don't recall whether or not I've ever posted about it here but it's been a plan between Husband and myself for a couple of years and it always ends up being moved to the back burner and forgotten about. Anyway, I've gotten it down to the following three choices in my order of preference;

Sugarplum Cottage by Greenleaf

Buttercup Cottage by Corona

Orchid Dollhouse by Corona

It is necessary to note that by the end of the project the shop won't really look anything like the houses shown in the pictures - it will be the shell, but many design and color modifications will take place. In the mean time, I've been sporadically working on pieces to go in the shop, potions and powders and things like that. They're all currently strewn about my desk so I will have to gather some up and take in-progress pictures in the near future. 

As the Hangman says; "No noose is good noose".

Younger Daughter was born on May 4. It was difficult getting anything done in the weeks before she came, and now it's impossible to get anything done.

Older Daughter has officially turned two, and her attitude matches. We go through multiple daily temper tantrums and screaming fits. She also refuses to eat anything that isn't sugary. So she pretty much isn't eating.

Older Son finishes kindergarten today, and then it's an entire summer of telling him repeatedly to stop doing that, stop fighting with your sister, stop chasing the cat (yes, we got a kitten a few weeks ago), get out of that, please go outside and play, etc.

I'm fairly certain that come the beginning of the new school year, I'll be capable of nothing more than drooling on myself or pulling my hair out by the handful.

As an update, I taught myself the basics of crochet. I've gotten 95% of the baby blanket done, and come to a dead stop making any progress. I have no desire to finish it. I don't suppose that really comes as a surprise, though, as my unfinished projects are the basis of this blog.

Also, not surprisingly, I've taken a new interest. Dollhouses and all the miniatures that go with them. I've built a couple before, but nothing intricate or worth talking about.

What is surprising, though, is that Husband seems to have caught the bug, and he wants to build dollhouses. He's gone so far as to start looking through woodworking magazines and taking trips to Home Depot and the hobby stores just to do price comparisons for all the various materials.

On another note, the year is almost half gone and I haven't made any progress on my Pay It Forward projects. I haven't even got any ideas for most of them. I had some ideas for a couple of them, and I didn't bother to write them down, so naturally I've forgotten them.

Now, the clock is insisting that I need to get Older Son ready to go to school. I have to relish the mornings of no time commitments now, because that will all be over as of the middle of August.