Must…….stay…….away……..from………computer………&………get………..stuff………..done!
Will…………check…………back………..when…………can………..see…………floor……………in………….all…………..rooms,………gigantic…………..task!
Will———miss——-you———and——-your——–bloggy——-goodness!
This concludes Green Jello’s week long Summer Loving Photo Challenge. Thanks Anne, so much fun! Wish she planned everything for me. What should I make for dinner tonight?
I’ve enjoyed digging through my “archives”, aka boxes and boxes of photographs in my closet.
Here are some photos of Noi, my nanny, and me on the beach in Pattaya my first summer.
I wish I still had that watering can and doesn’t that hat look very modern and Amy Butler-ish?
Enjoy your summer!
The store called me today, the kind of call that doesn’t need a phone. The textile portion of the store was one score after another. I went looking for something to hang at the end of the hallway to try and stop the cool air from escaping and found a thick plain white cotton curtain with big ole grommets at the top. It may have been a shower curtain in another life but will be perfect in the living room doorway. I also went looking for a some sheets to sew together and make a light summer comforter cover. Our current cover 
is dark brown with black circles and I love it but I’m feeling like something a little lighter would be good for summer. I found this and it’s already sewn on three sides. I just have to put on some button holes or more than likely, sew on some velcro to make a closure. I really like the colors and the swirly flower pattern that’s not too sickeningly floral. And then I came across these vintage gold brocade curtains. Yes! I am not usually a big brocade gal but these will do nicely, if not in the bedroom then somewhere else for sure. edit: This IKEA comforter is so scratchy. Going to have to keep looking…
As I was jamming the stroller with all this yardage, I spied this little beauty on the floor in the children’s section. I grabbed it and took it to the register to ask the price. The guy asked if it was worth $5 to me and I said it WAS marked up with crayons and so he said, “$2.99?”!!!!!!!!!!! SOLD. It also came with some wooden doll furniture and a sofa set that looks like it came from the doll house thrift store.
If you think this house is really cute and would be great in your kid’s playroom, you should probably stop reading as we have big remodeling plans for this house. She is going to be turned into a HAUNTED HALLOWEEN HOUSE! Think black paint, spider webs, blood red shutters and many more spooky surprises. We will have to do something terrifying with this television. Maybe a tiny print of this photo taken at the zoo yesterday. It was in some weird little closed off cabin. My big guy said, “That is creepy!” and I immediately thought of Lost. It’s my nod to Jacob’s Cabin:
I will share the photos once we’ve finished, closer to Halloween. I’ll also share the story of how I went from a “it’s a manufactured, commercialized, sugar-filled’ Halloween hater to a full on Halloween enthusiast.
Hold your breath.
edit: Tone check. I’m totally mocking myself. I reread the title and along with the end of my last post I was afraid I was sounding like I was getting too big for my own (thrifted) britches!
This post on I’ve Come Undone, reminded me of a memorable classroom ditty.
Want to hear it? Here it goes. (please read that in the same sing song way it sounds in my head, thanks)
I had a kid in my First Grade class, a great kid, who was entertaining a group of classmates with some letters on a scrap of paper during Choice Time. One of the kids, sensing trouble, turned him in. So I called the boy over to see what was looming on the page. He nervously handed me the paper that looked something like this, 
Don’t be scared, it’s just a replica. I only wish I had held onto to that piece of ephemera but I handed it over to the boy’s dads at pick up.
And for the record I am misspelling fkuc in the text portion of this post not because I am worried about your sensitive eyes or because it’s a “bad word” but because I do not want to see the word turn up on my Search Engine Terms in my Stats. That would be an inappropriate context for this site because then we would be getting into meaning and I’m just talking about spelling.
Still want to hear it? Here it goes again:
So I said to the kid, “Can you read me what you wrote?” He looked at me with totally alarmed eyes and nervously started to read, “Fah, Fah, Fah” and then he shoke his head like it was too much for him. So I said, “I see that you’ve written the word fkuc“. And defying the laws of nature, his eyes get EVEN BIGGER. I said, “I also noticed that you spelled it exactly like it’s spelled in the dictionary. Fkuc is not a school word but there are so many other words in the uck family that are great for school. What are some of the uck words that are okay for school?” We brainstormed, luck, stuck, muck etc. And then I told him that, “Since now I know that you are an expert on uck words I expect to see them spelled the dictionary way in your writing workshop stories!” We also added an uck family group to the Word Wall. Fkuc was not on it.
To be truthful I may have thrown the word fkuc in there a few more times. Mostly because I was working at not giving it power, it is just a word. A word that is not appropriate for school but a word that doesn’t scare me and shouldn’t hold mystical powers. And just a tiny bit because, inside, it was cracking me up.
I should point out that I did indeed still have a job the next day. The boy’s parents picked up what I put down in terms of minimizing the reaction.
We apply the same principle in our house. There are generally not bad words but just appropriate and inappropriate times and places to use them. If my kid says, “What the hell?” every now and again in the correct context at home I’m not going to freak.
We talk a lot about ways of being powerful. You are powerful when you are thoughtful, you are powerful when you figure out how to find information you didn’t know before, you are powerful when you share. Sometimes you are powerful with your mind, other times with your body, sometimes with your heart, sometimes with your actions and sometimes with your words. I just asked my oldest to give me an example of a way he is powerful and he said, “When I say Thank You.” I’d much rather the focus be on what he can say and the impact it has on others.
Have you ever had your mouth washed out with soap and do you continue the tradition? Do you just use “potty words” in the bathroom? How do you handle this issue in your home and what in the hell should I make for dinner?
***And welcome to my new Delightful Blog friends. I hope you find me delightful, potty mouth and all!***
We were reading a book watching t.v. and my son said, “This is a funny show.” I asked what he thought was funny about it and he replied, “Because princesses don’t wear skates.” I was all ready for a discussion about gender equality but when I asked, “Oh, really? Why?”, precision boy struck again with, “Well they didn’t have skates in medieval times!”
uh, yeah - of course!
Still sick, so the little one has taken over the kitchen duties. Yummmmmm.
Things were quiet in the playroom and when I went to check on him, he had put on this thrift store apron and was in full chef mode!
And check out the T.P. on the menu, high in fiber and low in flavor!
This vintage Creative Playthings kitchen is my favorite Craigslist find evah. Good deal and came in the original box!
I haven’t made anything in ages but a while back I did paint this table I rescued from the curb. Got to get my crafty in where I can!
My oldest son is very into Ancient Egypt and chose an Egyptian party for his 5th birthday (and currently says he wants the same for his 6th). We had so much fun working together as a family to make this one happen.
I made this birthday banner using muslin fabric that I tea dyed for an authentic ancient Egyptian look. Click here to see craftastic examples and to get inspired. Check this out for a great tutorial. Freezer paper stenciling, all the cool kids are doing it!
My husband made craft clay, an idea from The Crafts and Culture of the Ancient Egyptians. Each child made their own self hardening pyramid to take home.
I made a Egyptologist bag for each kid that had all the “tools” they’d need for the birthday adventure. I found these cool rulers that had the”Rulers of Egypt” listed on them that the kids used to add steps and texture to their pyramids. They each had a pair of binoculars made from toilet paper rolls and painted black by my son. Each kid also got an egyptian tattoo. We did some more freezer paper stenciling on the bags, a stylized pyramid with a 5 in the center. The tiny bags on the left are for the little kids.
We bought scarab beads and encased the necklaces in more of the sand plaster ahead of time. Each little treasure was then buried in the sandbox and marked with a little flag. The kids unearthed their archeological finds and had a scarab necklace to take home. It was fun to hear them wonder how they got there.
My huband organized a game of “What’s Missing”. We had a tray of ancient Egyptian “artifacts” and each child got a chance to take one away and the rest of the kids had to guess what was missing. He also read a developmentally appropriate book about Ancient Egypt. Can you tell we are both Early Childhood Educators and total dorks?
The kids got to wrap each other in toilet paper to make “mummies”. I debated whether to do this activity or not as it’s kind of wasteful but I bought the cheapest I could find and used the t.p. to clean down the tables when we were done, still wasteful but hella fun. The kids were pumped to wrap each other. My child, who is very much into things being authentic (if he were a superhero he’d be PRECISION BOY), kept saying, “There shouldn’t be a space for the eyes! Wrap me up completely!”
For food we served mummy dogs, both the barking kind (hot dogs) and the chanting kind (tofu pups). Wrapping these was harder than I thought and I didn’t win any points from my son for leaving a space for the little food faces but they were eaten and enjoyed.
My son has food allergies and making cake that looks like cake can be hard (other people are much more successful at this than me but I’m impatient and not nearly as precise as my son). I bought pyramid cupcake molds (they turned out more like diamonds but hey) and made cupcakes that we covered in graham cracker “sand”. Buried under the sand was a white chocolate mummy. Chocolate molds are my new favorite party tool. They are easy, cheap and look like you tried much harder than you did.
I took a photo of everyone at the party with their face in the Tutankhamen mask I painted on an IKEA box. We made a collage to send out as the Thank You card. As I’m typing this whole thing out I’m thinking maybe we’ll do Chuck E. Cheese for the next birthday.
And here’s my final birthday photo (for at least 2 more months):
This has always been one of my favorite photos of me and my brother. Not sure which birthday it is (dad? mom? you still reading?) but it’s a cute shot and I’m rocking the rick rack.
