I’m having a showing of some of my latest pieces tonight for First Friday. I’ll have embroideries and little lady dolls. I went by the venue yesterday to set up and it looks really good.
Here are a couple close ups –
I hope there’s a lot of interest! Wish me luck!
I am a sucker.
Want to see:
That tiny grey fellow is the newest member of our house. His name is Mr. Squeakers. He’s been cuddly and sweet so far, and the kids are madly in love with him but there’s one old biddy who is very unhappy-
I feel bad for Myra Ellen. I try to make a point to pet her every day but that’s hard to do when I’m her least favorite – which is ironic because I’m literally the one who saved her life. Oh well…
This post isn’t so much about the kids’ visit to the dentist – which went well, but more about the surprising thing that happened in the waiting room beforehand.
The dentist we take them to has a very small waiting room, maybe 5-6 chairs. I was on one side with Bea and my husband was on the other, opposite me, and Lucien was like the triangle point away from us in the tiny kids area (which is actually just 3 puzzles with missing pieces). Lucien was trying to do one of the puzzles when the woman next to him leaned over to help, that’s when he noticed her. She was older, and had a giant gash on her forehead with stitches and a black eye.
“What happened to your head?”
My husband and I looked at each other, you know the look, like “oh shit!”
The woman told him that she fell on her carpet, a bit coldly because, I think, she was unsure of where it was going next. Lucien then asked if it hurt and she laughed and I was able to breathe. He kept asking her what happened next, and she told him all about her ambulance ride, her CT scan…and wouldn’t you know that at one point, he reached out and touched her arm and said “that must have been scary for you, I’m so sad you hurt your head.”
I think that’s when she fell in love with him.
By the time her husband came out and it was Lucien’s time to go back, they were fast friends. When she left, he again told her he was sad she was hurt and that he wanted her to be better. She had cartoon hearts in her eyes.
It surprised me because he’s six. He’s active and seemingly doesn’t seem to pay attention to anything, yet he’s so empathetic. I hope he doesn’t lose that as he gets older.
My class was cancelled this past Saturday so we took the kids to a local state park where they were having an “insect safari.” Basically it was a nature hike for an hour where a park ranger gave them butterfly nets and little boxes to trap insects and other crawling bugs.
At first Bea didn’t want to do it, but then she caught a really big katydid and got way into it! Lucien, of course, was all in from the get go. I think he was a little too intense for the park ranger, who was an old lady, but by the end of it she seemed to have warmed up to them.
We ended up going to buy the kids some butterfly nets on Sunday – they’re a buck at Five Below, the only place I could find them! I can’t wait to take the kids back out to find more bugs.
My kids spent a few weeks at a summer day camp this year and while at day camp, Bea learned about rainbow loom bracelets.
She is obsessed.
I bought her a kit, and plenty of extra pink elastics, and she has been going to town every day making bracelets. She had me look up new techniques for her and I found this fishtail thing. I started it and tried to show her how and she said “that’s good mommy, now you finish it!”
That’s my bracelet. Bea didn’t like it because the pink quotient wasn’t high enough.
And not to be outdone, I taught this fellow how to make the fishtail bracelets and he’s making them!
That’s some concentration.
So, here’s the weird thing though – they don’t wear them!!! Bea puts hers into a purse, and Lucien’s are in a pencil case, and they constantly count them and bring them everywhere – but never wear them. It is so weird.
Bea had a birthday this week, she turned 6. She has been excited to tell everyone about it. I’m finding it hard to believe that our tiny peanut is now a leggy six year old.
We kept it fairly low key for her birthday. We went to lunch and ice cream, then she had swim later that night. I’d say she had a good day because she didn’t stop smiling all day long.
I couldn’t help taking a picture of her at swim, I’m so proud of how well she’s doing! Lucien is doing well, too – he’s just in a different class.
I guess you could say I’ve been busy. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
My husband and I decided to get our house painted this summer. We live in an old Victorian, and the paint was all peeling and chippy, so it was time. We also had these shakes at the top of the house that were black and we wanted them a brighter color.
We got lucky in that the painter we ended up going with was amazing and trusted what I picked for the shakes color and the door color – unlike the other painters we had in for estimates. Seriously, I’ve spent so much time with our painters in the last couple weeks that they are my two new bffs.
Anyway, here are the pictures:
That’s the old black, that had faded to grey. The painter noticed the sun detail and suggested we paint it yellow – awesome, right?
That’s the awesome painter, putting on “hot lips,” on the shakes.
My front door. I’m so in love with this! I can’t wait to paint the inside of the house now!!
I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m taking classes on Saturday, year round. Well, I got kind of lucky and just had a full three week break – that hasn’t happened since Christmas. I originally thought about just sleeping while the kids are at camp, but then I felt guilty so I started making things. Lots of things.
This was first, I’d heard the song and made the embroidery and didn’t know what to do with it. 
I love this song.
Then I got hooked on making foldover zip clutches, I’ve been making them non-stop. I ran out of the amazing (vintage, yard sale purchased) blue with white polka dotted fabric! But here are some pictures:
I’m obsessed. I’m also running out of zippers – something I never thought would happen.
What’s your latest craft obsession?
Summer is usually a pain because it involves a lot of my husband and I trying to figure out how to keep the kids busy.
Any ideas?
Anyway, this year, they went to camp for a week. They would come home and fall asleep by 7pm. INSANE! They loved it so much they’re going back for three more weeks – thanks to two very generous grandmothers.
We’ve been keeping them busy in other ways too. I spent about 4 days combing out Lucien’s hair – he hates the comb, and putting his hair into two strand twists. I loved it and thought he looked adorable, but he wanted a haircut. 
Do you think he’s into his haircut?
The kids also have been working on their fort making skills. They built this epic one the other day. Well, Lucien built it and Bea kept saying “I love my new apartment” and “I can’t wait to decorate my new place!” Then they gave me 40 cents and two frisbees as rent. Hahahaha! 
What have you been doing for fun this summer? My next post is about what I’ve been doing besides school.
This is where I yammer on about things I find interesting. You might agree, then again you might not.
Crafternoon Tea 