Holiday 09

wa hoo. that's what this amazing toy santa brought is called. If you have a kid this age, get one.



December 28th

Well, I've been away from blogging for a while and part of that is to do with the utter lack of time and the preponderance of things to do. But it's also because I've been on a digestive rollercoaster since Christmas eve....maybe before. Maybe my body is looking out for me so I don't overdo it on cookies and candy, but I can't eat much. At around 2 AM Xmas morning, while I was sewing a doll for my mom I could no longer deny I felt bad. What happened next was a 12 hour hell fest of many visits to the porcelain deity, constant nausea, and well, we had to un-invite my family over. We had to cancel christmas. Not for the almost 2 year old, but for everyone else. I haven't felt this sick in a very long time. Given the fact that I was under the weather for a few days, I am sure it was a bug. But it was a lot like food poisoning.

Despite all that, I managed to make some great stuff, most of which I forgot to photograph. I'm still working on the felt nativity set for peanut. Made of felt and fabric scraps. I made my sister a glasses case, quilted, to protect her sun glasses, and my mother an art yoga doll, which she was a bit surprised by at first...not in a good way. The hedge hog for my sister my law, a shirt for my brother.

my brothers bills shirt that i made, by request!!

the hedgehog pin cushion...if you've been reading for a while, you know this is a long time coming.

BLOG POST interrupted..........picked up again 12-31....................by the flu. Seriously, while I was writing this, peanut woke up. I tried to go get him back to sleep, but he was fussy, and I got him up. Moments (and I mean moments) later, he threw up all over me and all over the living room rug. Now I was just recovering from the Xmas stomach flu. So I'm surprised how well I handled it. Also I was surprised at the volume. O Man.

Today was his first day back in the OK.

He lost weight, was really sad and threw up a lot. Worse yet, J came down with it a few hours later. So not one but 2 sick people in the house.

So I hope you all forgive me for bowing out of blogging until January. I have to get to wrk on the big craft of the xmas season. Stay tuned for that.

but before I go, I will say that the peanut has a verbal breakthrough. He talks all the time. His cute new thing though is to call himself peanut. And he says it so cutely.

Birthday Blog

Depending on my day, I might add more to this throughout the day.

Today is my birthday. I'm 36. I'm going to tell you 36 things about myself. You may already know them. You may not.

Here goes.

1. I was born on 12-22-73 at 22:22 hours.

2. I was born in Buffalo, NY

3. At sisters Hospital

4. during Hee Haw

5. i cried a lot as a kid

6. you might say I had a hair trigger temperament

7. i loved rudolf and santa

8. and my family of course

9. except my brother.

10. just kidding. i loved him too.

11. we are 14 months apart. every day with my son i realize what a big deal that is

12. since i was born my family has owned 5 dogs.

13. 2 died young. one of bloat. one of a collision with a car.

14. the collision with the car is one of my earliest memories.

15. i loved horses as a kid

16. and unicorns

17. i had a toy unicorn name uni.

18. it seemed like the perfect name

19. I also had a gazelle, named zelly

20. i was OBSESSED with the A-team

21. i was Face.

22. if you know the A-team you got that, if you don't, watch some A-team

23. I also loved bambi

24. and E.T.

25. i still love e.t.

26. we moved to NC when I was 8

27. where i acted out the A-team on a regular basis

28. you could say i was a tomboy

29. when I was 9.5 we moved to MA

30. When i was 11 we moved to germany

31. i was obsessed with the a-team still. also horses.

32. i rode my bike constantly

33. started to have boy friends

34. learned to play the flute

35. i tend to remember lots of childhood details

36. but i don't remember much about yesterday....

no time, just a little holiday cheer

a tree!!!!



I mean it...I don't have time. I'm in the midst of seeking career advancement, christmasing, mothering a very needy toddler (needy in a good way, he's just got a lot going on right now)

We are so far from being done with christmas decorations and gifts that i feel a little sick thinking about it. But that might be the chocolate i just downed too....can you say sugar high?

The squirrel design is coming slowly and sorry leslie, is kinda on hold until after christmas! hope you're still reading and not disappointed. I've scrapped a couple designs because they didnt seem cool enough.

Last weekend we got a tree, at hmo dpoe. Twas fun and easy and less stressful and expensive than a treelot. That doesn't stop me from feeling a little bad about getting a tree from a big box store...i mean we are a diy christmas family, but we just can't afford a nice tree from a lot or nursery and we can;t do the driving to the country this year, which we have NEVER done, for the record. Last year, since we were out of town from the 2oth to the 27th, we didn't get a tree at all.

E. is loving the tree. He says hi to it every day. We just got the lights on it last night, so it's not even decorated yet. It smells great. Just not as far along as it was, pre baby.

Hope you all are staying sane. I know we aren't.
some christmas pictures

smile for the camera!

Preview

where?

lights from our adventure at the zoo.

I've been completely remiss of late, not posting, not commenting. It's like I did the 30 posts in 30 days challenge (I think I did 29) and then i dropped away with little else said. I've actually been quite busy. That's the reason for my absence. Quite busy, and some of the things that fell off behind my blogging efforts needed to be caught up on. Like folding laundry. and other stuff. Seriously, i've barely even been on facebook.

So what has been going on? Our staycation was awesome. Then it ended and the week that followed was hell on wheels. Just busy and too fast. Peanut has decided to nurse all the time again. And is going through a Mama period, so I miss him, but I know it will change eventually. I just get a few fewer hugs and cuddles.

He had a well baby appointment and that was good. He is 26 lbs now...and I forget all the other vital information. He got a DTP booster and didn't even cry. Just looked at it, and then at the nurse. Said owie. He got a bandaid and that was it. J had to work so I had to take him myself. The hardest part was getting his weight and measurements since he didn't have time to transition into the room. He kind of freaked out because he was afraid. Poor guy. He made it, but he didn't like it. He did have a rather swollen spot on his leg from the injection for a few days. It went away and he seems fine now. oh, and aparently he has an extra tooth. Anyone ever hear of such a thing? It's coming in a little sideways between 2 other teeth. Good times.

This weekend, E's cousin K (who is 5) came over and stayed the night on Saturday. That was fun, as e loves his cousin. I feel bad though, because e beats on k, and k is so nice and well behaved he never fights back.

Other than all that, and folding long ago cleaned laundry, I've been working out some sketches for the squirrel. It's fun making a squirrel. My dogs loves them. I may have to make her one too.
I've also been making a lot of bread. If you want to feel like a total kitchen genius, learn how to make "artisan bread in 5 minutes a day". It's Delicious and super easy.

Ok, I'm supposed to be doing something else. I better get to it.
Thanks for reading and understanding that I'm busy!! I'll try to post more again soon.


evolution? or just another human?I love this human!!






hugging the baby gorilla

Thanks for calling me out of my cave of silence, Kristen!! You look great!!!

The Winner

So the random number generator picked .....................................

drum roll..........................................................................................................................

Leslie!!!! I know, I'm excited too.  Leslie wants a squirrel.  No problem.  I'm on it! Congrats Leslie.

 

For everyone else, sorry and thanks for reading and playing!

I really want to take a stab at making each of your ideas because they are so cool.

I have lot to say but I'm going to leave early today and catch up later.

i (nearly) did it

i missed a couple of posts, but I do have close to 30 posts in 30 days.. Yeah me. 

The Give Away

You have about 12 hours to enter the give away if you havent yet. The winner will be announced tomorrow night. I know you all can't wait. I'm looking forward to making the cool thing that you tell me to make! 

If you're reading this and youre like, whats she talking about go here: Click me!

Holiday Spirit

me (looking puffy) and e: he wanted to get down

So I have a long weekend, and we have really been taking advantage of it. Yesterday we went to the Christkindlmarket downtown for some delicious wine from a boot.

Peanut enjoyed the fact of (though not the length of time on) the train we took to get there. The market itself was very crowded, and it was too crowded for our very walkie toddler to be walking. But we had promised him he would be walking and not in the ergo the whole time, so once we got someone more clear, we let him walk. That was when we found an awesome sax player playing some great festive tunes.  As is often the case (or always the case) he had his case open for folks to put money in. I gave the peanut a couple quarters. He shyly put them in, sneaking up and then back again, and then he asked for more.  i gave him another, same thing.  then i was pretty much out of money. so he says more, does the sign for more, and jumps up and down. So i say to him, knowing it's the wrong question, more music? He looks me flat in the face, no, more Money!

it was really cute.

today we went to the free zoo. it was awesome.  we went late in the afternoon and lucked out because it was also the first night of zoo lights. So much fun. I think this christmas is going to be awesome.  Watching p watch and experience the world is probably my favorite thing about being a mom.  We want to make the lights at the zoo a yearly tradition. I will post pictures from that later.

another cute cousin shot from turkey day

sleep is for the weak

that's what peanut said yesterday, at nap time. Oh, he slept....but only for about 20 minutes.  

the beautiful start to a very short nap

Then he was up up up to party.

We went to my moms. A first in many years. We usually go to Detroit but the people we see there, J's fam, moved too far away to visit at thanksgiving. 

Dinner at my moms went better than I thought. E melted down a bunch, but when you skip a nap, that happens. He was super cute with his cousin and ate turkey, which is a big deal because he doesn't like meat very much.

 

yyyyyyuuuuuum!

with  the cousin

This good holiday makes me feel cautionarily optimistic about christmas. We are in town for both holidays this year. certain people i know who d not live in my house are a little stressie and sad at christmas, but it comes out as anger.

More on that later, or not.

For now, I'm going to leave it with the fact that we had a great holiday!

did you hear about the giveaway? You only have a few more days to enter to win your very own custom made softie. See the give it away now post for more details!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all stay safe and spend some time with your families. 

I'm looking ahead to the festivities tomorrow and the countdown to craft deadlines. 

hard day

today was so hard it felt like a monday. to top it off, it rained all night making my poorly designed bus commute home quite soggy, and annoying. without going into detail, I'll just say that sometimes things come up at work that are difficult to address and they become a headache for me. What I dislike --oh come on, Sarah-- what I hate the most is when an emergency comes up at 4 and i have to fix it before i go. many of you who read this might be thinking i have a poor work ethic. I might. I might. But that's only because I want to be home with my fam. But at any rate, I did stay at work late and then I had my usual hour plus commute. got to see the peanut for about 40 minutes before bedtime.

I really have to get cracking with my crafting. I have lots to make.

still no poptarts

The Give Away

Well, one more long day down the hatch. Mondays are the days I teach dog class after working at the office. i love it, but it makes for a long day. We have an extra dog with us for the week too. He's a cute guy, but more on edge, and barks at the drop of a hat.

I have a lot of folding to do, but I want to remind you to make sure you sign up for the giveaway if you want to win an awesome thing. click here

I'm not sure blogging every day counts when what you blog says so little.

So We have a pretty simple life, and we always try to make e's room fun. Here are some pics from one corner of his room.

piano we found in the trash and a sweet chair and xylophone

hiding house from a box we found in the trash. e likes to hide in it

snakes, from e's birthday. Ssssss. they hang out in the house

ssssnake party favors. recycled knit kids clothing.

Another weekend

As the weekend comes to a close, and I sit here, sleeping baby in bed with the start of a cold, Sleeping partner on the couch, surrounded by clean but not folded laundry, i wish we had another weekend that started tomorrow. Alas.

I'm sure everyone hopes for such things.

I made bread today and mixed up a new batch for the week. I really enjoy making bread.

Oh, and I don't know if any of my readers use cloth diapers, but if you do, have you ever had a problem with leaking? Ours are suddenly not very water proof. Which sucks a lot.

We were lucky enough to have warm weather again today. Walking without a heavy coat in mid november is fabulous.

Alright.

could i free associate more than this?

Nigh-nee

Well, I missed a day, a whole day, even though I was planning very much to write last night. I had a good day, a very good day. Woke up too early with peanut and he had a bad night of sleep. Poor kid's teething right now. He has a tooth coming in between 2 others that already exist. It has less room than it needs but it's making room, as teeth do. It is making his nose itch all the time though and I think it's disrupting his sleep. Anyway, woke up early and crabby, but J let me go back to sleep for a nap which was just what I needed. So that helped my day be awesome. Then we all went for a fun walk. Then I got a hair cut, a good one, a really good one, which is hard for me. Some of you probably know what I mean. I want to walk out looking hip and cool, but I walk out looking like dorothy hammel. I walked out looking a lot cooler this time.

So why didn't I write last night? Well, peanut woke up before I could. And I could get him back to sleep, but he woke up every time I left him again. It's the teeth, I'm sure. We just had to call it an early night. I woke up freezing and in my jeans and sweater at 1am. Reminded me of newborn days.

So E has lots and lots of words now, but one he's had for a long time is this one that he seems to have made up. And more than that, it seems to be an expletive, a curse word. And it cracks me up. The word is Nighnee. He says it in distress when he's sad, or frustrated, he says it when he can't get something to work right, he says it when he stubs his toe or hurts himself in a minor way. Other than comic relief for his moms, it got me thinking about how we need expletives or how we use them to feel better. I just saw an article about this the other day.

Do your kids have one or 2 choice words like mine does?

in other news, we are not trying hard to potty train, though we encourage potty use. And e used it twice (both for pee) yesterday. And today, twice too, so far, with one of each.

Ripple Effect

I don't post about her often, mostly because I like to respect her privacy. But she gave me a beautiful son, she shares her life with me, takes care of our son while I work, and in the meantime is amazingly talented. She supports and encourages my creative endeavors, but has a whole bunch of her own. There is the novel of course, but this post is dedicated to her crochet. Before e was born, she made him a blanket. And just recently she made me one too. They are ripple blankets and so warm and cozy. They are not easy to make and crochet is time consuming. Each color is carefully planned and executed. And I love that it brings her joy to make them, since they take a long time to make and are luxury.

here they are:

e's

mine before it was done

e in his kitchen. a $15 yard sale find. Yep, she found it. See, amazing.

Impressive, very impressive

mommy & e one Sunday morning

Well first of all I want to say thanks to those of you who are taking part in my give away adventure. It means a lot to me. Other than wanting to thank you for reading my blog, I think that the giveaway is a chance for me to do what I've been meaning to do for some time...invent my own pattern. If you haven't signed up, there is still time! Details?

What's this about impressive? Well, J inspired me to do the post everyday thing because she undertook the NOV challenge to write a 50,000 word novel. She started nov 1st and she has ALREADY exceeded that goal. So yeah j!!

in an abrupt change of subject, we are hand making a lot of gifts this year,and I've been researching patterns. How cute is this? I totally want to make it for e.

Walking

the peanut point

E and I have been taking nightly walks again. The difference now, is that instead of riding him on my back, he walks (or rather runs) with me. He's so funny too, as he just starts out with an announcement "i run." And in true peanut style, he then points to me and winnie, "run?"

It's been raining on and off here, and that creates one of his favorite things: puddles. He looks for them and stomps in them. Water? Puddle? Then he points to me. Wants me to step in them too. When we run out, he says and signs "more." This is all while holding winnie's leash, of course. Remember this? that was the beginning of him walking the dog. Now he always has to have it either tied to his stroller, or in his hand while he walks. I have second leash and I hold a leash too.

It's one of my favorite things we do together. I love having a baby.

Don't forget to get the word out about the giveaway!!

Give it away give it away give it away now

Ok. For all my readers, yes, even you, I am offering a super fun for me and you (yes, you) giveaway. Not familiar with the concept giveaway on a blog? It's simple, I offer something, and you all, all my readers, you all comment, post about the give away on your own blogs, sign up to follow me, that kind of stuff (full details below) and on a given date (in this case, December 1st) a winner will be announced. Winner will be picked randomly.

Now, why is my (MY) giveaway special? Well, I'm giving you the chance to tell ME what YOU want. That's right. But wait...it's not, "i want an eye-phone." the giveaway will be a dance peanut softie and this gives you chance to think up a softie you want to see, and have me take a swing at creating it.

Winners will be selected randomly. You have to enter to win.

several ways to enter.

• need some ideas? ask your kids, tell me your dream monster, think of a ridiculous combination (cat-horse or, um, elephant-fish --you know a fishaphant)

• what the hecks a softie?

• where's peanut? you're sweet to ask. asleep right now, but here he was in a leaf pile.

How to enter the "Dance Peanut Softie Adventure Giveaway":

1. Comment on this post and leave a detailed suggestion for a softie, for ex.: "wow sarah! I'm so excited about this giveaway that I wet my pants. Please make a rhino, a pink one."

a comment will give you one entry

2. if you Follow me that will give you 1 MORE entry. (but only if you comment. I wont know what to make you, otherwise.

3. Post about this Dance Peanut Softie Adventure Giveaway on your blog and that will get you 2 more entries.

So you could have a potential of 4 entries!!! right now, based on current comment trends, that would really make you have an unfair advantage, dear reader. But i won't tell if you won't tell.

full disclosure: since i started posting every day, I have felt a need to receive more comments than i generally do (oh, seeker of approval). I'm hoping this giveaway will bring quiet readers out of the woodwork and will also draw more readers to my blog.

And for those of you wondering, still no pop tarts. Today was hard but my resolve was strong.

thrifty

My girl is thrifty. She finds awesome finds at thrift stores and they become parts of our lives. True, we have more stuff than we need, but this is true of many people in america. Well my thrifty goddess found this for $1.50 at the thrift store sunday. just the house...no furniture.

I was reading finding chaos, and they were also talking vintage toys. I have such vivid memories of my fp play sets. I love playsets.

I am too tired to talk bout them right now. But I plan to.

I'll just say, i almost hit a deer tonight and I'll be announcing my giveaway on wednesday. So stay tuned.

Leaves

So e and I raked leaves this morning and he loves leaves. He loves jumping in them, throwing them, filling buckets with them...everything! We ran out of bags so more fun will ensue next weekend I'm sure. Here's a cute pic of our fun time. I love how focused he is!

I am not sure what else to say right now other than that I'm in the planning stages of a giveaway of a craft. So stay tuned. For real. It's the kind of giveaway that you don;t want to miss. Let's call it, choose my own adventure. That's right. Oooooo, you're going to love it.

thwartsville

i do, i do....i do, i doooooooo.

thwart

1. To prevent the occurrence, realization, or attainment of: They thwarted her plans.

2. To oppose and defeat the efforts, plans, or ambitions of

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

Today, I had an early appointment training a dog. I got all parked and got my stuff, went in the trunk to get my alternate bag, set my keys in my bag(thinking literally, "i will bring this bag"), decided 3 moments later I didn't need said bag, forgot keys were in there, closed the hatchback went into front of car again, locked the doors, began to walk away, realized I wanted the bag afterall, reached in pocket for keys, and remembered location of said keys. Thankfully, I had my phone, so I called j right away and she and peanut hopped on a bus to meet me. pretty thwarted. I went to my appointment and it was good. I got out and J and e were just about there. so I met them walking, got the biggest hug ever from e.

The reason I feel like I'm in thwartsville now is in part due to a general sense I've built up all day.

Like right at this moment, I'm trying to blog and I'm having a hard time. i'm sleepy and hungry, but before that I had to feed the dog, before that the cat was pestering me, before that the baby had woken up and was having a hard time getting comfy again. All of that started to happen as soon as i sat down to blog.

other thwarts arts of the day?

little old ladies at the grocery store in front of every thing i needed

peanut tried to thwart everything

ok' I'm actually dozing between lines. I'll post more tomorrow.

foto story friday: fall frollic

c'mon!

this way!

a buck!!

cool, i climb

yeah!

help from mommy is good too

and mama

under, i fit

another deer, time to rest against this tree