Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Last Day

Every time we enter the door of our house or anyone else's house, Arwyn says, "Phew! We made it!" I made it all the way through November, posting each day. Now for a few housekeeping issues. We are (hopefully) procuring a new computer. This means I will be offline for a few days as we transition over. Please don't cry, I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, you can check us out at flickr.

Here are a few things to keep you busy during my break. Hannah over at haeshu has started another blog, this time relegating her talents to the field of cooking.


I've recently discovered some foodie blogs. What can I say, tis the Christmas season and that means it's time to eat! Oh, yeah AND I've been interested in buying more organic products and feeding our family well. I think that's a long-term goal. Check these folks out.

See you soon!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

In the Mood

When I was a kid I only ate oatmeal when it was freezing out or I had a sore throat. As an adult, I have discovered its fibrous filling properties, and soon tire of it after eating it every day at breakfast for weeks on end. When I saw this post over at Alicia's, I suddenly became in the mood for oatmeal again.


As luck would have it, on a trip to the grocery that evening I gave the oatmeal section a glance and found the very same oatmeal that she wrote about. So, naturally, I had to give it a try.


I'd never had steel-cut oats before and the texture was very different from what I was expecting. It still tasted delicious, but I liked it better the next day when I added lots more milk and cooked it a bit longer so the oats were softer. Arwyn took one bit and spit it out, so I'm taking it this won't be a staple of hers.


I'd fancy myself to be either English, Southern, or both. Is this how Brits take their tea (Twinings English Breakfast Tea with milk and honey)? On a trip to the organic market today I picked up a box of Yogi Tea Green Tea Energy. I'll let you know if I suddenly feel like running a marathon (as if).

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Visa Will Be Calling Me Any Minute

Number of times today she's asked "What are you doing, Mommy?": 16*

Number of times today she's asked "Where's Daddy?": 6*

2:00 - 4:00 pm naptime: priceless

*Yes, I actually kept track. That was just from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm.

Monday, November 27, 2006

Lions and Tigers and ... Barbies???

We took Arwyn to the Hadi Shriners circus Thanksgiving night. I had never been to it and Bubby hadn't been since he was a kid. That mofo is LONG. It started at 7 pm and we left at 9:45 and it still wasn't over. Arwyn LOVED it. She talked of nothing else for three days.

If you came early you could take a ride on an elephant (if you wanted to pay $5 for a 30-second ride). Arwyn wasn't too sure about the whole thing, so we saved our money for popcorn and a coloring book. She looked like this the whole time we were down watching the elephants:


... very worried. Like we might just toss her out there and let the elephant chow down on her precious toddler limbs. The elephants, and all the animals really, looked kind of sad. It was a bit depressing. Not that I expect them to be happy about their situation, but it was just ... sad.


When the bear act was on, I just kept thinking, "Those bears should not be wearing a red sparkly vest and riding a motorcyle. They should be catching a fish in a stream somewhere." I appreciate the work the Shriners do, I just wish there was another way.


Luckily, Arwyn is too young to have angst about the circus animals. She ate German kettle corn and clapped and yelled "Woo hoo!" She called the acrobat girls "Barbies" and collected a sticker from a clown at intermission.


Maybe next year we'll make a donation instead.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Go Upstairs

This was the invitation I made at age 12 for my sister's baby shower. I can't believe my sister was so nice that she actually let me make these and send them out to people. People that we knew.


Perhaps I was just sorely lacking in quality art supplies. It looks like I painstakingly wrote every word in pencil, then went over the pencil in marker and pen.


I especially like the pleading "Please come!" as if my sister had no friends and I didn't want her to have a baby shower and nobody show up so I begged people to attend the shower. On the back it says that everybody gets $5 for attendance. KIDDING.

Now this baby is an 18-year-old know-it-all freshman in college who'd better get his grades up by the next time I run into him.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Model Citizen

Arwyn has been having fun playing with some of her hats of late. She wears one, I wear one, then she runs around until the hat purposely falls off and says, "Oh no! Hat fell off!" Then I put the hat (and fuzzy pink gloves) back on her and we do it again 18 million times.


We just returned from a long day at my parents house for our family's Thanksgiving. Arwyn played with and was tormented by her cousins, we ate and played games all afternoon. After a too short nap in the car and an ill-fated trip to Target, we are home ready to crash.


Coming soon: the circus trip!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Retro Friday is Back!

I dug up this old Polaroid from an album that my mom gave me for my 21st birthday. I'm not sure how old I was, possibly around 5 or 6. The picture didn't have any info on it, so I'm guessing. This was during my dad's Pickle Farm Period (similar to Picasso's Blue Period). The fields behind our house were planted with cucumbers which were then sold for pickles. He built the sled contraption that was pulled behind the tractor, slow enough for everyone riding to pick cucumbers and throw them into the bushel containers.


My brother is beside me, my sister is in front of him and our mom is in front of her in the stylin' do-rag. Everyone but me would get up early to start harvesting the pickles. I got to sleep in since I was little and couldn't really help much. When I woke up, I'd get dressed and run out to the fields to find them. I'd jump on the sled and ride around making mud pies and "communion bread" from cucumber leaves pressed into the mud while everyone else had to pick cucumbers and my dad drove the tractor.

I can remember driving somewhere far away (to me) to deliver the cucumbers. The back of the truck was packed with bushels and bushels of cucumbers. Wherever we delivered them (the pickle factory??) had a conveyor belt running up into a barn with thousands of little cucumbers zooming along. Just think, we could have been the next Klausen!

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Giving Thanks

Family, friends and loved ones. I'm thankful for all of you.





Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Family Party & Loot

Sunday we had Thanksgiving dinner for Bubby's mom's side of the family. It was my actual b-day and Bubby surprised me with balloons and icecream cake. Of course, Arwyn thought the balloons were for her and I did share.


The cake was from a local icecream shoppe and it is yummy. There are still two pieces left. They won't last long. It is vanilla cake on top and chocolate chip icecream on bottom.



Juju sent me a surprise also. This baby arrived Thursday night. Now I won't have to borrow hers all the time.


iMollie gave me these awesome books. I'm still looking forward to digging into them. They are on the top of my To Read pile.


Bubby completely blew me away. I wasn't expecting anything because we just bought a new bed and had a $1,000 car repair. But when it comes to my happiness, money is no object. Right, baby? Hello??



I've worn this totally cool soccer jacket almost every day since I got it. Love it and I look like I'm cool and know something about soccer, which I do not.



Bubby got me this wildly different (for me) purse, which I like to call my carpet bag, even though he thinks it is hideous. It is HUGE. I could stick a cat in there, if I still had one.


And inside the pocket of the bag was this little number. I didn't even see it until about 10 minutes after I opened the box that the bag was in. I kept hearing a rustling sound and thought there was some paper stuffed inside the pocket.


Yep, I'm spoiled. Or well loved, however you want to look at it. Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Grown Up Par-tay

We went out Saturday night with some friends from work to celebrate my b-day. We had pizza at Deerhead, arguably the best pizza in town. Double decker pizza rocks!


Everyone looks bored in these photos. Perhaps they were just trying to dissuade the photographer from taking so many pictures.


Don't fruit the beer.


Somewhere in the evening, we all drew our family trees on napkins. It seemed like a good idea at the time.


Then we found out the Miller girls were coming by. Two people in our group were drinking Miller Lite, so we HAD to stay for the photo op.


They had these nifty belts that said Miller on them, in case they forgot?


But I did get some free loot out of the deal.


Here's one of Bubby's fruity girl drinks.


I'm not sure what I said here, but it was really funny! This was right before I spilled a glass of water all over myself and went home looking like I wet myself.

Monday, November 20, 2006

The Letter L

A while back I participated in Moki's initial swap. I was waiting until I received all of my packages before I posted the pics. Last week I got the final one and here they all are.


Thanks, everyone, for such a great swap. Everything has found it's own special place in my studio corner. I'm taking a break from swapping for awhile. I don't foresee myself having much time with the holidays taking over shortly.


These two shots are of the cardboard I use to cover my drafting table. I change it out when it starts to get sticky and the cards pick up debris from it.


I thought they were interesting and I'd get one last look before they hit the recycle pile.


I know I said there would be birthday pics today. We can either say I forgot, or we can blame blogger for difficulty in posting photos, or both.







Sunday, November 19, 2006

Mood Altering Images

I've been playing around with this book and branching out style-wise.


I may have attempted too many style changes at once. This was Papaw C's birthday card. His b-day was Friday.


This was his present. Pumpkin cookies.


Grandma C's birthday is next Friday and this is her card. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read the ol' blog, so I feel pretty safe showing this.


My birthday celebration pics still to come!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Blogging on the Run

We've had a super busy weekend and are dropping off Miss A at the in-laws while we go OUT to celebrate my b-day (which is tomorrow). No time for pictures. Will have much more tomorrow!

Friday, November 17, 2006

Proof of Life


When you have children in your home, their belongings tend to overrun the entire house, unless you spend countless hours putting everything back in its place or you have a giant playroom and they will actually leave their things in one room (highly unlikely). I found one of Arwyn's necklaces on the kitchen counter the other night after we put her to bed. I try to pick up toys every night and contain the mess to her room and the living room since we don't have a playroom. Sometimes I like to see something of hers in an odd place. It lets me know she was there, playing, observing and learning, whether I was aware of it or not. Now if I could just get her to use the KitchenAid ...