gotta start somewhere

When i was a wee thing in catholic school I remember learning about the order of things. We had to memorize our house number, street, city, county, state, country, continent, hemisphere, planet, solar system, galaxy etc, and had to recite them on request. This occurs to me now because I'm so far behind, but I don,t feel like I can skip anything. It would mess up the order. I also think I need ti start with explaining what's going on with me before I can really go into what's happening with e. That is in an ideal ordered world, which I don't live in.

As I was walking to the computer last night, in fact, I ran into my son who had just gotten out of bed to tell me the room was too dark, but actually the heat emanating from his body and flushed cheeks told me something else...he had a fever. I did take him back to bed, J was at book group, but he stayed awake for over an hour. So much for writing. But I am writing now. Literally, its been an day of working and child care...and A certain bald 4 year old who's name shall not be uttered for the next 10 hours, at least...i hope. We don't usually let e watch much TV, but right now we feel he needs it when he is sick. he doesn't slow down on his own. So it was a long day of "I'm just a kid who's 4..."

He's sleeping now and so is J. when i blog i often get very tired. Its because the light right here is poor. So I'm working in a dark corner and can hardly read the keyboard. I try to stay awake by eating snacks and drinking decaf coffee, which isn't healthy but leads me to one update.

1. I am joining weight watchers this week.

I tried lots of other things and can't stick with them...but a recent realization that I'm much bigger than I used to be (recent, more like constant nagging). I usually put myself last, but I know that is no good for heath.

me about 10 years ago...finding this picture was a wake up call.

me post half marathon.

me now.

its not even so much how I look, though Im not happy with that. It's also that I have so little that fits me well and I dont feel strong and healthy anymore. so anyway...i know this is a superficial post, but its one of my updates. I have so much more but it's 1 am, j is sick now too, and I need to get the last of the chores done.

Thanks for reading.

I'm coming back

and I have a lot to update on. Big life stuff. not much (any) crafting, but lots of other things. If you ever read me, please keep me on task to do this update. I feel like I need to blog. Even if I don't have time to very much anymore.

E is 2. and so smart and so fun. Here is a picture of him. He's changed so much.


he did his own hair here, and ate too much sugar.


a visit to the zoo during our week on our own, that's for the update, but i love this picture.

also from our week on our own. He's walking the dog and dressed in an outfit of his own design.


Us saying goodbye to mama.


Kicking back in jammies in the yard on st. pats day.

Happy birthday peanut!

On February 20, 2008, the amazing peanut came into our lives. I am ever grateful for him. I love him more than anything.

I'm posting from my itouch, so this may(will) be a bit brief. But I still wanted to mark the day after his birth as a day to remember.

Pics soon. But I can't do those from here. Can I?

birthday cake face

moms and peanut

trains with cousin k

at the MSI

Hernia, furloughs, birthday countdown, and where the hack i've been

could they BE any sweeter?

Ok. So I've been away forever. Literally. Well, literally, a month. it feels like forever though. I've been away trying to work more efficiently at my job. That means no blogging at work. Would I actually ever have blogged at work? guilty. yes.

Because i work for a state university that is struggling through a financial crisis right now, I decided my job wasn't so much of a sure thing anymore. Why do I think this? well, it's a combination of them telling us so AND the furlough. We are all being furloughed 4 to 10 days. Thus the never blogging. That coupled with the fact that I've been doing more hours for the dog training and also coupled with the fact that my little baby is quickly approaching his 2nd birthday (which means a lot, but it means he's taking off in all kinds of directions). Link with that the fact tat J has been sick a bunch, her job ended so I'm working more hours and we're trying to sell stuff to make up or a 2 source income loss (furloughs and a lay off).

Then on Thursday of last week, something more happened. I woke up with a bad stomach ache. I felt bloated and sore al at once. Looked at my stomach and low and behold, I had a lump protruding from underneath my belly button. What the? I suffered through it Thursday. made an appointment with a new Dr. for the beginning of march and carried on. In discomfort. I also had a cold. I was coughing a lot. Every cough hurt. Went home. told J. She was like, well, maybe you should see a Dr. before that. I thought, eh, maybe. Friday. more pain. larger lump. Ok. So I went to the er to find that my suspicions were correct. I had an umbilical hernia. My brother had one too, last year, so I guess it must be genetic. They tried to push it back in. OUCH. When they couldnt, they decided to admit me and correct it surgically. Great.

What does this mean? Well, it means a lot o things. I'm on sick leave for the week. I am recovering from minor abdominal surgery. I get lots of rest, lots of olympics. I have a more normal looking belly button than I've had in years (see, it was looking funny for a while. it just started with the hard lump on Thursday).

Oh, and I can;t pick up anything heavier than a gallon milk carton for 6 weeks. E. is about 30 pounds. Which means J is on duty 24 7 and i can only talk to him. and kiss him. it's very hard. He's a very physical kid, and I find myself really missing him.

His birthday is Sat. and we have J's parents coming from MN. My mom and fam (who have been great through all this hernia business) will come too. But that's it. Small party. I can't believe he's going to be 2. He talks like crazy now (4 to 6 word sentences) and uses the potty a little. He knows when he has to poop, but has a hard time with pee. Sometimes he makes it to the potty, sometimes not. But every time is a win. And we're not in a huge hurry at all. We have switched to disposable diapers till I'm better. I'm the diapers washer, and J doesn't need that to add to her duties. The laundry is in the basement. Sorry environment.

Well this post is everywhere. For real, I hope that the promised squirrel will be done this week. I've been pretty remiss, but also, pretty overwhelmed for as long as I can think Sorry Leslie. I hope you still feel like a winner and are still reading.

Some recent cute pics!

table surfing. kid loves to climb

cousins

Hope

I have too much going on to write right now, but I wanted to put this out to any crafty people out there. Also to anyone who likes to buy handmade crafts. There is a website and an etsy shop that is donating 100% of it's proceeds to Doctors without Borders for Haiti. I am going to make some stuff for the shop. I'll letcha know more when I actually get it done.

for now visit the store and the site. and do what you can.
http://crafthope.com/2010/01/craft-hope-for-haiti/


let me never forget how safe and lucky I am.

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....