Hey Ya’ll! July 13, 2008

Just a quick note to say that things will be quiet here for the next week and a half or so while I am in North Carolina. I plan to take some photos of the family quilts and other familial and regional points of interest. If I find the time and energy I will blog from here. In the meantime I am enjoying hearing family stories, taking naps, reading and hitting the FLEA MARKETS!

My dad told me tonight that my granddaddy, who owned his own junk shop and after whom I am modeling my etsy shop, had a business card that read, “We buy junk and sell antiques”. Photos of him and his shop to come! As well as the grand opening (and wine tasting) of my shop in August. I scored some cool finds here that I am excited to share with you!

Hope you are all well and are surviving without my blathering - you must soldier on!

And the Winning Name is… July 9, 2008

You can check out the geogreeting here, and see where on earth these google map images are from.

The whole contest almost did not take flight because when I told my oldest that we were finally going to find a name for our little lovey , he looked at me funny and said, “You mean Jose?” Who knew?

But PottyMouthMama is a winnah. What a week, a rainbow crystal statue and a prize I haven’t though of yet!!! It’s a virtual world, baby! And just in case anyone questions the choice or fears favoritism may be in play, I will admit to trying to influence my son away from wonkatonkamoose because I was trying to imagining postage to Australia in my head (sorry Lexi). But I said he was the judge and so he was, postage be damned. Thank you all for playing the name game. We eagerly checked to read the new suggestions and laughed throughout the whole process! The little guy went through many name changes and just about all your suggestions were tried on for size.

On a kinda related note. It is nice to type without searing pain and fire shooting from my fingertips. I made these Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers for our 4th of July cookout. I see the blog I got the recipe from has been suspended for violating WP’s terms of service. Maybe they were sited for failure to post a proper warning??? I’ll leave the link in case it pops back up. Anyhoo, remember my whole “right tool for the right job” deal? I used my thumbs to de-seed and de-vein the peppers, all 25 of them (that makes 50 halves for those of you who are math challenged). They were a hit but I spent the whole party with my thumbs either in a saucer of milk. wrapped in a cold cloth, or clutching ice cubes. Not my smartest move. I will highly recommend this lemonade punch though, a definite party maker and thumb soother to boot! (bet you can’t say that fast 3 times. Or slowly once even!)

I Got an Award and It’s Not from my Mother!!! July 8, 2008

Tracey from Giggle Face Studios, doll maker extraordinaire and supreme judge of good blogging, bestowed upon me this little baby this morning. Thank you for thinking of me! I am still figuring out how to make this into a temporary tattoo, you know, for the kids.

Along with the accolades, this award comes with some rules. Unfortunately it does NOT come with a gift bag.

The rules for receiving this award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

I may have mentioned to my husband that I received an award and that I had to pass it along. He said, “You should just keep giving it to yourself, 7 times!” There was mockery in his tone and he is perfect for me.

I am passing it along to these worthy blogs:

Yummy Goods - The photos on this site blow me away and look for Melissa’s fabric line coming soon!

Green Jello- Anne is creative as all get out, funny as heck and has Lost wrap-ups that are second to none.

Funny Magic- Paige keeps it real, sews cool stuff and makes me laugh. I like to pretend to went to elementary school together!

Whatknot - Melissa shares the most delicious looking recipes. Check out her famous black bean brownies and all her fun kid project ideas!

Potty Mouth Mama - Alexandra is a girl after my own heart. I want to be in a play group with this woman, the kind of playgroup where mimosas might be served!

Vintage Rescue Squad - Sue is a proofreader to the stars and a vintage Blood Hound. Check out her funky finds and flawless text!

Fresh Vintage - This is kind of what I want to be when I grow up. Click here only if your jealous is seriously in check. Colleen’s finds are AMAZING.

I actually read all the blogs listed on my blogroll and they all entertain, amuse and educate me differently. A big thank you to the chosen seven and really, to you ALL!

P.S. - don’t feel like you HAVE to play along.  Just enjoy the cheesy shout out and carry on!

Happy 4th of July: Photos from the Town Carnival July 4, 2008

True Story June 30, 2008

One time I was walking home through Harvard Square (like the way I dropped that name in there) and I heard someone running up behind me. A woman, around my age (then early 20’s) said, “I’m looking for a friend.” So I asked her if she could describe this friend, maybe I had seen him or her. She said, “No I am looking for a new friend!” oh. She was in the States for a couple of months from Japan doing some sort of exchange and she was looking for someone to hang out with. uh. ok. So we went to dinner a few times and went to a couple of movies and turns out we both found a friend that day. I wish I could say we were still in touch but what has stayed with me is her courage. It takes guts to do something like that, balls and faith.

And on an unrelated note, here is a sneak peak of something going up in the soon to be shop! edit:  Opening in August.  You are invited to the Grand Opening & Wine Tasting!  Good thing about a virtual wine tasting is you don’t have to have a designated driver!

It’s a pair of metal deer bookends that, I think, are quite fetching. Out of curiosity, how would you price these? And I will be taking different photos of these for the shop, FYI!

Junk Explosion June 29, 2008

And not the cool kind of junk either.

We had a yardsale on Saturday and it was a plastic mess. I am embarrassed to say it wasn’t even everything that needed to go but it was a good start. The things that didn’t sell are boxed and awaiting a trip to Charlie and Pat’s for donation. Feels good to make space for the avalanche of stuff that steadily heads this way.

While hauling stuff out of the garage we found the signs I had saved from our last yard sale but couldn’t find earlier so I ending up making some of the half-assed signs I always complain about when other people make them. My son enjoyed being a walking billboard and asked if he could keep the signs to put them in his “treasure box”. Maybe now we will know where they are for the next sale!

Funny I didn’t choose to take photos of this stuff when I was playing along with Toy Week at Green Jello. Keeping it real, real JUNKY, ya’ll!

I was happy (but surprised) these did not sell. I’ll tuck them away for my future kitchen that doesn’t suck.

At one point I was thinking I should charge admission as a playzone to supplement slow sales.

My favorite part of the day was talking with all the friends and neighbors who stopped by and meeting nice new neighbors. One of which gave me $2 for a truck I offered to sell him at $1. My new FAVORITE neighbor is what I like to call him.

Some of the Friends & Neighbors

Look at those legs!

My boys and their buddy had a blast playing with all the forgotten toys. We negotiated a bring back ONE policy and overall the boys did a great job of hanging out, playing, and seeing their stuff go.

Here was my favorite yard sailor of the day. She pulled up in style and bought what would have been the item that made ticker tape fall from the sky with a big neon sign saying, “You picked a winner!”, if I had that kind of power.

Rumor has it my mom is a big reader of the blog, so I need to take a moment to say, “Mom, this was a great hat. The boys loved it but it was time for it to move on to a new home. You understand.”

She was such a sport to model the hat for me. She bargained hard but in a non-obnoxious way. Thumbs up for kindness and fun at yard sales!

And here is my tribute to a treasure lost.

I got this trunk for a steal in Davis Square many years ago. A woman I worked with and I managed to get it in her convertible and we got it up to my 3rd floor apartment. For a long time I used it as a linen closet and then we used it to put the television on. It had a mystery drawer that was locked and we enjoyed imagining what riches were in that drawer. My parents even hired a locksmith to open it but no dice. When we moved to this place I stored it in the basement and then the garage, always planning for it to have a place of honor when we get our own place. Unfortunately it got alarmingly moldy and beyond help. My downstairs neighbor took his power tools and crow bar to it and we solved the mystery of the formerly impenetrable drawer - empty. But I did get some of the hardware off and may go back down to the curb for the rest of it.

Here is my favorite shot of the day. My little guy poached this from our neighbor’s portion of the sale.

Yard Sale wrap up - it is not nearly as exciting to HAVE a yard sale as it is to GO to them. I never really thought about it until yesterday but wouldn’t it feel so much more satisfying to parade your best treasures in your front lawn for friends and neighbors to admire? But then I wouldn’t have 130 bucks burning a hole in my pocket now would I?

Captain Huggy Face June 28, 2008

Fish Sticks & Ichthyology June 25, 2008

We have visitors who are summering with us.

Not only are they hard to catch with the net, but apparently they are elusive to the camera as well because this tank has about 30 fish and a gang of snails. These little guys usually live in the school library but we “volunteered” to fish-sit for the summer. I am really glad we did and for a number of reasons.

1.) We are not pet people (allergies, poop aversions, etc.) but I am glad the boys are experiencing being responsible for another living creature.

2.) I told my 5 year old today that he was born to be a fish namer. He immediately named the fish with the most identifiable markings, Moses. And another fish, Sister Moses. For the record, he has been to Temple all of once and that was for a Bat Mitzvah. Now, in an effort to more easily classify the fish, he has named them all the “Moses Clan”.

3.) They have inspired our first “summer study”. My eldest and I brainstormed a fish study plan tonight at bedtime. We’re going to do some fish crafts: fish printing, fish hats, fish observational drawings and imaginary fish scrounge sculptures. We’re going to learn more about the kinds of fish represented in the tank. We’re going to dissect a fish (not from the tank). We’re going to learn about fish skeletons (bones, a very exciting topic in this house). We’re going to eat some new types of fish. We are going to freeze some plastic fish in huge chunks of ice and have a super fishy tub time. We are going to go on a field trip to the aquarium. I am so excited to see the look on my little guy’s face when he’s surrounded by all sorts of swimmy creatures. He kisses the tank often and takes his feeding turn very seriously!

Does anyone have any suggestions for us? Any craft, science, math, music, or any general fish fun to share? Any good developmentally appropriate links?

More fishy updates (hopefully no eulogies) to come…

Edit: I decided to add a photo that I didn’t take at bedtime, not much better.

Since my camera doesn’t have a “fish in tank” setting (seriously, it has a “soft flowing water” setting), can someone tell me how to take a decent photo of captive fish before we hit the aqaurium?

The Right Tool for the Right Job June 24, 2008

This is one of my catch phrases as a mom. I always feel proud of myself as I use it to depart a lesson on say patience. I often put off art projects with the kids because we don’t “have the right tool for the job!”. No styrofoam printing yet because we are still waiting for that rubber brayer to fall out of the sky (or freecycle). We talk about it in terms of math and science thinking. I use it ALL the time.

Typically, I do not follow this rule in the slightest. I tear off store tags with my teeth (once it is home and paid for, of course) and use paint brushes for the glue knowing full well I’m not going to rinse them and they will end up as frozen evidence of my neglect, to name just a couple.

I am the queen of jimmy-rigging. I am only now going to tell you that the number of helpful people at my son’s school who went to open the car door for my son only to shockingly find themselves a few steps away from my car holding my door handle firmly in their grasp, door still firmly shut is greater than 1. I am telling you now because after months and months of the spit and muscle technique we took it to the shop. edit to say a big Thank You to the Auto Shop for making me feel less like a lazy fool. My five year old ripped the “fixed” handle off the car today. Turns out that new handle they “ordered and installed” was a big ineffective dollop of super glue. I choose lazy-lite over shady & illegal every time!

Today my first born suggested we do an art project together so I braved the “craft room” (I’m still sitting on those “before” shots because I’ve yet to achieve the “after”) thinking we’d do Anna Marie Horner’s animal silhouette project. I grabbed some cardboard, felt, modge podge, paint brush, and vintage patterns. I then realized this was going to be a project “inspired” by her project because it needed to be done fast and by me and a 5 year old. So we downloaded some simple silhouettes from the internet, just google imaged it, and started to cut out the shapes. I then hit my first roadblock. I have 2 pairs of tiny tiny scissors, perfect for scherenschnitte even. They have been swallowed by the craft room and I am hoping they will turn up (not in my foot) when I do my big clean. So I went ahead with my clunky fabric cutting scissors even though I knew I DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB. While my son worked on his puma, color pencil, glue and felt creation (as yet unfinished) I worked on this:

It’s not finished either. I had planned to add some old text and maybe another couple of layers to it but all the white bits that are ever so obvious at the hands and wings (if you click, you will see) are bumming me out. I think I am going to have to stop thinking of myself as a “free spirited” crafter and own up to being disorganized and a touch lazy. (edit: To all my potential employees who may be perusing this as part of the hiring process, let me just say that, PROFESSIONALLY, I am organized to a fault (almost) and am full of pep. Lastly, I would like to say, “pick me!”)

And before you analyze me too deeply, Dear Reader, via the big swoop going down in the collage, let me say that I am on day 3 of being housebound with a ridiculous summer cold. A cold I am trying to pretend isn’t strep throat but will go get the right pills for the job tomorrow!

(Has anyone noticed I am an avid over & mis user of parenthesis? ) My husband said this post is too self critical. I am leaving the house tomorrow, sick or not!

Summer ToDo List June 22, 2008

I’m fighting that feeling like summer is almost over and I am not going to accomplish all I’ve planned. It’s not so much that it’s almost over but more like our summer is booking up fast.

So here is my list of things to do. Hopefully it will hold me a little more accountable to put it in writing.

1. Clean and organize craft room.

2. Put stuff up for sale on Ebay.

3. Start Etsy shop.

4. Have yard sale.

5. Make place mats for swap I foolishly signed on for.

6. Sew new pillow case for my bedtime pillow (embarrassingly, it’s my lovey and I can’t sleep without it but it is BUSTED).

7. Make car organizer for trip. Oh so much easier. Never figured I’d find the lazy answer from Martha but thank you!

8. Make tri-corner hat prototype for birthday party.

9. Switch playroom and boys’ room.

10. Paint curbed desk with big guy for his “work”.

This list is a work in progress. Hopefully most of the editing will be crossing off jobs well done not just adding more!

What are you working on this summer? And as usual, any tips or tricks are appreciated.

Now I’m going to stop writing about stuff to do and go try and do something…