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Things are going to be a bit quieter than usual around here for the next few weeks. We'll be sorting & packing up our apartment to head back east to the sweet little house pictured above (though the trees are barren right now, and the grass is probably covered in a chilly layer of frost).
Expect sporadic posts from me until about mid-to-late February. I'm hoping it won't take too long to get settled in and webified.
Molly is hosting her third annual mini-swap, and sign-ups start on Tuesday morning at 10am ET (do not forget this date & time!). This is a wonderful project where children (and their families) around the world are matched up for a little swap of creative goodness. Do head over to read all about it!
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And a sincere thank you to all of you who have left me notes of sympathy here and by email (and on facebook, and on maya's mom!). I really do appreciate your kind thoughts.
Two nights ago Ginger had a severe episode with what was at first thought to be vestibular disease. This is similar to a really bad case of vertigo, and the dog can not tell which was is up. When the children and I went to visit her at the doggie hospital yesterday it was discovered that she had a large abscess near her bladder, believed to be completely unrelated to the earlier episode. She was scheduled to have surgery this morning to remove the abscess.
When the doctor called to give me an update on scheduling this morning, she informed me that Ginger's symptoms had changed over-night, and her illness was neuropathic, not idiopathic as at first assumed. It was assumed that the cause was a tumor of some sort on the brain. She was getting progressively worse, and would not recover. Tomas and I chose to put her to sleep rather than have her live out her last days in the hospital.
She went peacefully in our arms, and we'll miss our ornery dog very much.
I know I've shared this video before, but I had to do so again this evening as it's brought me three and a half minutes of comfort. It's good to know I'm not alone.
Here's what today (a typical day) looked like for this lucky mom:
6:30 - 8:00am
Wake everyone up & get them out of bed (this can take several visits to the same groggy body.
Feed everyone.
Make & pack lunches (hot, these days because the weather has been so chilly).
Get everyone dressed (depending on the family member, this has degrees of involvement from me).
Make sure everyone has the stuff they need for the day.
Feed dog & cat (walk the dog if Tomas is sick).
8:00 - 9:00am
Drop kids #1 & #2 off at school
Drop #3 off at daycare
Drop Tomas off at work (his bike was stolen just before Christmas)
9:00am - 2:30pm
Work for fast-paced, hi-tech company (on days that the kids have after-school care this is 9-5, breaks consist of walking the dog or loading/unloading dish-washer or washing-machine/dryer)
2:30 - 6pm
Pick up #1 & #2
Take #2 to piano lesson
Take #1 to coffee shop for hot chocolate (Latte for me)
Pick up #2 from piano
Drop off #2 at playdate
Take #1 to craft store for project elements
Pick up Tomas from work
Pick up #3
Pick up #2
Get home
6:00 - 8:30
Take out the trash/walk the dog
Usher #1 to the bath-tub with instructions to wash hair
Make dinner & eat
spend 45 minutes untangling #1's hair
Bathe #3 & get him ready for bed
Usher #1 & #2 to brush & floss
(start writing this post)
Usher #1, #2, and #3 to bed
8:30pm - on
Look at the mess around me and groan.
Walk the dog.
Head to the computer to try take care of work that didn't get done during work hours.
Catch up on correspondence/blogging
Head zombie-like to bed when I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
My work schedule is a bit, uh... busy this week so I'm having to continue my stroll about the blogosphere in search of more creative inspiration instead of actually doing anything creative. My idea is that even if I don't ever actually do these wonderful projects, I'll at least have a faint memory of them embedded in my over-full noggin. Whenever the kids are desperate for something new to do, all I have to do is let the echoes of these posts inspire me. I hope they help you, too.
Write, Mama. Write. has shared a sweet heart-shaped Christmas ornament she made with her boy over the Holidays. This is one that looks so easy to replicate, I think the main thing is to have a good heart template -- my hand-drawn hearts always come out wonky & wobbly :-)
tiny happy shared (way back in December!) a link to this great no-sew tutu tutorial. We know a bunch of little ballerinas who would probably definitely like these. I'm thinking this is a perfect project for Maggie and Bjørn to help make.
Amanda (aka SouleMama) has shared the bird calendar her kids worked on all last year that she had printed by Lulu.com to send out as gifts this year. I love the idea of having a quality bound printing of a child's work and already have a number of ideas in mind (Bjørn's been telling me about the comic book he's been working on at school, and Maggie collaborated on a fairy-tale with her best friend last year). Tomas self-published his children's book with Lulu and we've been incredibly happy with the quality so far.
I've you've taken up knitting again as I have, you'll appreciate this bind off tutorial on the purl bee :-)
&, before I head to bed, I'll just state for the record how very much I still miss Kiddley, I hope Claire decides to bring it back one day!
PS ... I was off to bed but had to follow just one. more. link... to DIY Kids
Continuing on yesterday's meandering walk about the craft-blogosphere...
Amy has posted about paper cuts. Tomas (the husband) is from Denmark, and every time we visit I am mesmerized by the paper craft. We have heart-shaped paper mobiles, tree-shaped paper ornaments, Danish stars on our Christmas tree, snow-flake templates, craft-books, you-name-it. If it's a paper cut, you know I'll be interested. As an example of how happy I was at Maggie's efforts at paper-cutting, I even went so far as to buy her her own craft knife (crazy-sharp) and cutting mat to encourage her paper-enthusiasm. (this might make me the crafting variety of a stage-mom, I'm not sure...).
This is the sweetest thing I've read in a long time.
BloesemKids was launched in December -- how is it possible that I was so preoccupied as to miss it?! This is guaranteed to be the place to go in 2008 for impeccable design, and gorgeous inspiration.
I happened upon Cheeky Beaks this weekend, and I'm hooked. It was one of those moments where I found myself thinking *I could do that*! And then realized acknowledged that, no, I really can't, and isn't it a wonderful world we live in that there are people walking about with real talent? Do take a moment to click through her archives, there's a ton of loveliness there to discover.
Melissa has posted the cutest House and Car toppers, going so far as to share her templates. CUTE!!
Gabriella shared a link to design your own snow-flake. At first I was irritated with the site, but when I saw my completed snowflake, I'll admit I was hooked. They made my random clippings look incredible!
Ok... I can see my list of inspiring posts and sites is just going to grow-and-grow, so I'm going to break it up yet again. I'll post some more tomorrow, but I'm thinking after that I'll have to come up with a weekly-round-up. If you find any links I ought to check out, please share them in the comments :-)
Lookee what I did! Today is Tomas' birthday. I tried to put together a little party but he went and got sick on us (again!). Good thing I had this little number ready to help keep his aching noggin warm. Probably not the flat-panel TV he was dreaming of, but it was in my budget and helped me feel better about flunking my pledge to buy/make handmade over the holidays
It took me two evenings to make using circular knitting needles. I didn't use a pattern, and just winged it by measuring my own head and calculating how many stitches I would need (80 in this case). After the green rows I dropped one stitch every eight, knit a whole row, then dropped a stitch every seven, then knit a row ... I kept this pattern up until I hit five & the wool was stretched out so tight I couldn't possibly continue. I haven't chrocheted since I was around Maggie's age (she's 9) so I did a test run off the hat to figure it out. Once I had the hang of it, I crocheted the hat off the knitting needles and worked my way in spirals until it was closed up tight.
I was inordinatly pleased with myself. I even forced the kids to come try it on and admire my work.
In the end this was an easy and crazy-satisfying project. I hope the kids weren't lying when they said they liked it, 'cause I'm planning to make more for the whole family so we can all be matchy-matchy :-)
It's been such a busy time recently (new job, holidays, round-robin sickness, etc. etc...) that I haven't had much time to sit & read my favorite blogs, let alone post to my own or discover new ones. This past week I carved out a bit of blog-time and I am so happy I did. Here are a few highlights:
Outi completed her ripple blanket recently and it is GORGEOUS! I've been watching this thing grow all year and it is so exciting to see the final result. I am almost inspired to do the same, but the thought of such a drawn out project fills me with dread. Maybe I could make one for Mamie?
Patricia posted about making crepes for her daughter and I was so inspired I hauled out my crepe pan (a gift from Mom years ago) and taught Bjørn how to make them. He has since asked to make them just about daily, and is turning into an eager chef -- since starting with the crepes a week ago, he's added fruit salad, and omlettes to his repertoire. He's also asked if I would teach him to make one new thing each day & I'm happy for the help in the kitchen even if I do get a bit flustered with him so close to the hot stove and with Tor underfoot, wanting to help , too. If you've never checked out Patricia's personal blog, you should. It's a favorite of mine: Good + Happy Day
I've a bit of a love-hate thing for embroidery. Sometimes it can just be a bit too ... precious, for me. Molly has posted a sweet Gnome that I adore. I'm not sure I'd want Gnomes about the house longer than Christmas-time, but this little guy would be a welcome addition to our holiday swag.
This week I discovered A Number of Things, I can not believe I have gone as long as I have without crossing this path before. I'm thrilled to have it in my blog reader now, and am looking forward to keeping up with the creative goodness Alice shares there.
Amy has posted the coolest terrarium, and shares links to plenty related resources and photos to inspire. As soon as things settle down a bit, I think I'm going to have to make some with the kids. Maybe in the spring-time?
Ali posted last week about some stamps she made for a friend of hers. I'm thinking this would be a fun project to do with the kids -- I'd have them draw small pictures with a Sharpie on big pink erasers, and then I would do the carving with our lino-tools. I'll have to noodle over this one, but I know a project is going to come from this!
Oh, my!! My list of inspiring posts and sites is getting so long, I think I'd better break this one out so you actually have time to visit them all! I'll be back tomorrow with more :-)
For Christmas we gave Maggie a jewelry making kit that I am thrilled about. Terrible, eh? She's been busy making me gorgeous dangly earrings (I have another beautiful pair not pictured here). I tried to take pictures of them on, but the shots all came out so pathetically awkward that you'll just have to take my word for it, they look incredibly lovely on, and very festive.
Looks like our holidays are handmade after-all!
A couple days ago I started to knit a scarf for Tomas. Maggie had other plans for it as soon as she saw it start to emerge from my knitting needles. Her treasured Mamie now has a new blanket. Tomas will have to wait a bit for his scarf ... not too long, though, because I really enjoyed the quiet time I had whipping this one up. Nothing beats a simple craft for catching up with your daydreams :-)
