Best Mother's Day... Ever!

I've been a mom for 16 years now, which means a rollercoaster of Mother's Day experiences. One forgotten, one horribly over the top to make up for the forgotten, a few obviously almost forgotten, and many spent taking care of someone else's mother.

This year goes down as my idea of the perfect Mother's Day.

I was shooed out of the house late morning with my bicycle, after presentation of kid-made cards & art projects. Came home to a basket of folded laundry, two freshly scrubbed dogs, and dinner being pulled off the grill.

It was a beautiful sunny day. A bit windy on the way out, but that just made for a good workout for the first half of the ride, and a super speedy return trip.

Just me, audiobook version of "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe", and miles of lovely trail.

Stitch & Learn

Used a vibrant print fabric from Alexander Henry, and a few scraps of black/charcoal cotton to make a sundress. McCall's M5654. (Photo doesn't do it justice - will try to swap out tomorrow, when there's more light. And with an actual camera.)

Learned a few new things - box pleats, inset pockets, a new way of inserting a zipper. Stayed up late to finish it, I was so excited.

It looks great. The set of the straps shows of my lovely broad shoulders. I love it!

It will only be worn as a swimsuit cover-up.

Why?

Because the way it hangs from the widest point of my bustline will cause folks to ponder my due date. Might even make them brave enough to ask.

Don't confuse this post with a bitch session, because it's not. I do love this, and will wear it often. Just not out to dinner. Or a lot of other places.

This is a "things I need to learn about choosing patterns" post. And, it's a perfect opportunity to play around with the pleats. I think if I take the pleats down a little lower, so the dress doesn't flair until about 4-6 inches lower, it just might work.

Bit of a dilema

The backstory:

Last night, sometime between midnight and 1 a.m., a fellow over-corrected coming around the curve, and flipped into ivy at the drop near my driveway. Neighbor across the street made the phone call.

Guy climbed out of the car on his own. Took off his necktie and walked around. Seemed pretty calm and composed, especially for having just flipped over.

Police, fire department, and ambulance came. Tow truck hauled everything away.

This morning, when I walked out to see if any trees had been battered, and to clean up any glass which could have been a problem for walkers, runners and cyclists, I noticed a few things on the ground. Large sections of the windshield, a necktie, the pocket of a door or center console, a leather folder of CDs, a business card... and a big ol' empty can of Fosters. It was shiny and on top of one of the windshield chunks, so I'm pretty darn sure it had not been hidden in the ivy before the accident.

And now, the questions:

• Do I call the police, to find out if this was an official DUI? If they didn't charge him, do I mention the Fosters can?
• As for the personal items on the ground, would this also be a call for the police? I think the name on the business card is probably the guy in the car, but I'd hate for us to contact him, only to find out it's his boss.

TV Time - Way too much time, in fact.

Between Hulu and Comcast OnDemand, I may never get anything done... ever again.

Well, I'll get some things done. My ironing basket is completely empty, and I'm very close to the seeing the bottom of the hamper most days.

Watched The Dresden Files on Hulu last week, while stitching up girl and doll clothes, along with a top secret apron for my mom. Since it's on the laptop, I carried it along to the kitchen, to entertain me while I peeled veggies and such.

This week? I'm folding and pressing my way through Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock - I mean Raylan Givens. It's over the top, but so well written, directed and acted, that you just dive right on into the story. I love it!

Givens has a much better sense of humor than Bullock, by which I mean he has a sense of humor. But the righteous anger and good heart - both there. Givens seems so like Bullock, that I keep looking for him to come across Ian McShane running a rural Kentucky town. (Heck, probably at least half the state.)

One thing I've found interesting is the lack of awkwardness seen in most new series. There's an awkwardness between characters, but only in the way you'd expect to see when somebody returns to a place and group of individuals after a long absence. There's the work to feel out how each have changed, and struggle to avoid falling into old roles... it's played quite well by the ensemble.

I noticed a similar natural awkwardness about the first few episodes of Parenthood - as everyone tries to figure out how they fit in today's group in relation to the past.

Oh, dear. Here I am, typing about TV, even when not watching. Better walk away from all screens for the rest of the day, as I have a walk/run to take, and the upstairs of the house to clean.

But, hey... at least I'm a few days ahead on the laundry :)

I want to pee alone.

(I may type it as seen above, but I say it with the accent... a lot.)

Is that really so much to want in life?

I know it's not just me. It's probably the lament of every mother on the planet.

When the kids are home, I'm constantly shooing them out of the bathroom doorway, only to have them continue talking to me through the bathroom door. It's not like they're with me every moment of the day - I'm not even sure how they get to the bathroom door. It must be a bit like telephone calls - kids spidey senses let them know I'm about to be unavailable for a minute or two, which causes them to race in my general direction.

It is not just the younger kids who excel at this. My teen has been known to text or call me with some minor question from the basement playroom - lazy teen isn't a stereotype for nothing - at the very moment I start walking toward the bathroom.

When the children aren't home it's the dogs. They'll follow me right in. If I shut the door, they'll lie down on the other side, making a 130-lb expanse of canines to climb over three minutes later.

And, today... children are playing video games. Dogs are napping by their feet, worn out from playing outside. I head down the hall, walk into the bathroom, turn

to shut the door...

... and in rolls Annabeth, my daughter's teddy bear hamster.

...sigh...

Going [a little bit] Green

Had this post typed up several days ago, and became totally sidetracked on the way to posting. Granted, the project (request for vampire bunny, ala bunnicula) which derailed me ended up being run off track by a 2-day migraine from hell... but that's another post.

During my quest for things to keep my hands busy during TV viewing - of which I do entirely too much - I came across sweater repurposing & felting, through a link someone posted to Betz White's blog.

I read some of her posts, and the reviews of her book Sewing Green, then popped over to Borders to pick up a copy for myself.

I'm not generally one to get all warm & fuzzy about recycling, but this particular sort of Green was something which got my attention. This is Grandma's (or Great-Grandma's) way of doing things - use it up, wear it out, and then find another way to put the parts to use. The items White makes are generally useful, and they actually look presentable. Not the sloppy DIY repurposing I often see... great that they're trying, but I'd not want to be seen in public with it.

There are a few general sewing projects from the book I'll be readying for summer, such as the pool bag, which I'll be making from fabric placemats and a towel with the dog-chewed corner. And the cashmere dog & rabbit, if I can ever convince my daughter to give back the cable-knit cream sweater she snatched out of my stash. (She loves that the grownup sweaters shrink to her size in the wash. It's becoming an issue, since my 10-year old has also discovered the joys of a really good merino wool and started pilfering felted men's sweaters. I'm hoping the 80-95 degree days coming up will put a stop to it.)

I've picked through our closets & drawers for a few outgrown, stained, worn out wool sweaters, and have also picked up a few at Goodwill. There are a couple of projects in mind that will take a while - to find the right combo of colors - but I love that I'm able to snag the sweaters off the rack no one wants, and for $1-2 a piece, since the damaged sweaters always sit around long enough for the full price drop. (The red sweater - 100% wool, great quality, had two small holes and a snag in the sleeve - $1.80 at Goodwill.)

That's not to say I'm stockpiling for no reason. There are already a few completed projects:

A heart shaped purse, made for DD's valentine from less than half of the red sweater (above):

And this adorable little hedgehog, made from an ink stained sweater from the back of my own closet and the leftover felt scraps from a school project (free!):

This one is DD's, along with the inflatable flamingo from her birthday party, and the Alice-like dress & apron, made from blue shirts and leftover white muslin. I'll be making a second hedgehog next week, as I prep teacher gifts for the end of the school year. (B2's teacher has a hedgehog as class pet.)

Yep. I'm environmentally conscious alright. Except it's for reasons that have more to do with "fun on a budget," nifty DIY and challenging our creativity, and less to do with worrying about the oceans boiling.

Noet to slef:

In future, please refrain from answering work emails while turning buttermilk pancakes and packing school lunches. Replying to a question about parking & text updates on MASP is not good for raising the confidence of a client.

Plus, you'll probably burn the pancakes.

Invasion of the 3rd graders

There were moments today when I didn't think I'd make it through the day. At times, it was the ever-increasing chaos of 18 nine-year-olds in one place... and the a few times I was hoping for the ground to open and swallow me up. This is the biggest batch of kidlets I've hosted at once. Sent 20 invitations, figuring it would be the normal 5-10 that would RSVP. We had 17, plus my three children. Here's what I learned:

The work it takes to handle children's birthday parties increases at an alarming rate with each additional child... especially when you get into double digits. Look, I've made this handy-dandy, super scientific chart:

Choosing food was easy. Carrots & celery with ranch dip, apples, grapes, cookies & cream hershey's kisses, red and blue jugs of hawaiian punch, bottles of water, and... cupcakes.

The Alice in Wonderland theme made goody bags easy:

• Reusable bottles, with "Drink Me" tags attached.
• Containers filled with variety of Skittles (regular, sour & crazy core), with "Eat Me" tags. (Normally would have gone with M&Ms, but I was prepped for a child with peanut allergies.)

Activities were a little harder, as I wasn't sure until Saturday how many children were coming, or what my girl/boy mix would be. Plus, third graders are at a funny age. They consider themselves too old for many party games, but they don't want to just "hang out" like the big kids. I had a couple of things in reserve, but we ended up not needing backup, since there was a good bit of random running and flinging of water from bottles in between the three main planned games.

• Croquet. Small group, while kids were still arriving, and most of the others were chasing down DD's big brother (he's such a great sport).
• Balloon Pop - Tag. Tied balloons to everyone's ankles, and let them work out a strange boys vs. girls thing, which I never quite understood, since the prize went to the last person with an unpopped balloon. (This is the perfect game for that age, by the way. It combines two favorite activities - running and stomping balloons.)
• Painting the Roses Red. In hindsight, I think I'd hand out red stickers if I did this again. If you placed bets on how long it would take the kids to start painting each other instead of the rosebush... well, let's just say it happened sooner than I expected.

I am so very glad we had the big party for DD's birthday, but I am even happier that she let me know she'd like a girl's-only thing with pizza, movies & pedicures next year. A sleepover such as she described will put us much lower on the chaos curve.

After a week of playing with power tools, I still have all my fingers. I'm calling that a WIN!

My daughter's birthday is this weekend, as mentioned in last post. She wants Alice in Wonderland, which is good, because we have a front yard perfect for croquet. I found an amazing setup at a California party planner's website. It was for younger children, my budget (and time) is quite limited in comparison, and I'm nowhere near as talented as she is... but I got a lot of great ideas for how to make a 6-wicket setup a little more festive.

A lot of ideas.

This has made for one darn busy week of preparation. It didn't have to, but I tend to jump into things with both feet. Before thinking things all the way through.

What started as two double-sided wickets and a sign, has become:

• 2 wickets, hearts on one side, spades on the other
• hand-lettered Royal Croquet Court sign
• caterpillar wicket to place by final stake, or used by chess table
• cheshire cat, to be placed in dogwood tree by court
• heart shaped rosebush with white roses*, which will be used in blindfolded "Painting the roses red" game

Not bad for three $5 pieces of 4x4 plywood (floor underlay) and $8 of paint.

*Now that I think about it, maybe I should hold off on the finger count. I still need to cut out the rosebush.

Super Clutz + Jigsaw: What could possibly go wrong?

That's plain ol' orange juice in the glass... I'm clumsy, not stupid.

The munchkin is turning 9 next week. For the past four years, the "Party or trip?" question has been answered "Trip". Not this year. This year, Alice in Wonderland. But, DD decided she's too grown up for a little girl tea party.

Yep.

This is why, in the middle of a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, I am learning how to use a jigsaw, so as to cut out a sign for the croquet field.... and two playing card wickets. If I don't lose any fingers, I may try a large caterpillar arch, to go by the start. We'll see.

Picked up a flamingo ring toss last week, and tonight I'll be hunting for cookie cutters shaped like chess pieces.

Attitude adjusted.

I was not at all happy about running this morning, for many reasons.

I have a list:

• Legs have been sluggish and heavy since the marathon three weeks ago. And, I tire easily. It's like I have nothing in reserve.
• Since taking the short runs up to 7 miles, and the medium/long routes to 12-20 miles during marathon training, it now takes me 2-3 miles just to get warmed up and into a good rhythm. I only had time for a 3 mile run today, which is frustrating.
• It's peak pollen season around here. Runny nose. Itchy eyes. Scratchy throat.
• I've been playing with kids & gardening during spring break, so it's been over a week since my last real cardio workout.

So of course, when I headed out the door this morning, my attitude was less than cheerful. Stayed that way, until I came upon this:

A full block of running past a wall formed by big clusters of wisteria... Problem, solved.

Back to normal

The suspiciously agreeable kidlets have returned to their regularly scheduled bickering. Didn't even have to wait until after the requested trip to see the beautiful cars. They started in on each other before we made it through the first five cars.

As for the exhibit... Wow.

My kids are up to something.

I'm not sure what my trio is planning, but something is in the works. How do I know this? They are getting along.

We're most of the way through spring break. They should be at each other's throats by now, fighting about who's in charge of feeding the dogs today. Or maybe over someone hogging all the yellow legos to build a robot/spaceship/house. Instead, I have only to ask (once) for the stacks of folded clothes on top of the dryer to be put away, and it happens. There was minimum whining during our hike Tuesday. Yesterday's yard work was handled with happy cooperation between children responsible for pick up, mowing, and bagging. They even ate all vegetables last night.

It is possible this ceasefire is temporary. The High Museum has an exhibit of rare and beautiful cars on display, and they all want to go. The Allure of the Automobile could just be that strong. If the bickering doesn't start in the car on the way home though, I'm not sure how I'll handle it. It's a bit like waking up to find the laws gravity doesn't apply any more.

How I spent my blogging vacation

Staying away from the computer except for work & bookkeeping for a few months left me with more than a little extra time. There was home organization, half marathon and marathon training, experimental cooking, big volunteer projects at the school... but I'm not one to sit idle. To put that extra time to good use, I chose something off my "Someday, I'd like to_____" list. I picked Learn to Sew.

My mother sews. Not just the simple hems and repairs - she made costumes for halloween and school history fairs, dresses, curtains. (She's quite handy.) My grandmother was even better, tailoring her own suits, making fancy window treatments, doing her own reupholstering. Me? Nothing since I was an 8-10 year old in 4H Club.

I have a 3rd grade daughter. She, like many 3rd grade girls, has an American Girl Doll. She wants her AG doll, Molly, to have an extensive wardrobe. A wonderful thought, until you go into the AG Store and take a look at the prices for each outfit. $20-30 a pop... OUCH!

Then I found out McCalls, Butterick and Simplicity all have patterns for 18" dolls. Not just period costumes - shorts, shirts, dresses, tights, track suits, coats, etc. The fabric requirements are 1/4-1/2 yard, making bargain hunting in the remnant section a breeze.

Add that to my love of handmade aprons, and the fraying status of my favorite two vintage models, the approach of holiday gift giving, and sewing seemed to be the right skill to learn. Bought a sewing machine and set to working my way through the first few projects.

I figured I could manage a few things, but had no idea I'd end up loving the process. The planning, measuring and order of sewing a garment appeals to the same part of me that loves making maps. (With only a handful of map projects the last several months, I think the sewing helped keep my brain from stagnating.)

What started as a dabble, became something a little bigger. I've now got a stack of finished AG clothes, some of which have been bought by other moms, and a uniform wardrobe which did fairly well in the school auction. DD has a growing wardrobe of skirts, peasant tops, and dresses from both current and vintage patterns. Aprons and bags are making great gifts, when I can bear to part with them. I've even managed a couple of 1950s pattern dresses for myself, with plans for a couple more, now that the weather is warming.

Learning how to sew has made changed the way I look at some other parts of daily life, too. What's even better, it's making my daughter look at things differently. More about that next week, though. I have an A-line summer dress to cut out for DD, a hem to let down on a pair of B1's pant (he's hit 6'1", when did that happen?!), and a zipper to add to my soon-to-be favorite summer dress.

Happy weekend! And a blessed Easter to those celebrating.

Sorry, sweetie. Bacon is not a vegetable

DD has hit the "animals are cute and fuzzy, so I can't eat them" stage. This leads to someinteresting discussions during dinner prep. Fortunately, this wasn't the "but cows are soooo cute, so I can't eat that" sort of conversation.

DD: What's for dinner?

Me: Pasta with bacon & cauliflower.

DD: Yea! Finally, a vegetarian meal!

Me: ... (staring at DD)

DD: Oh, yeah. (sighs heavily) Well, bacon should be a vegetable.

Pasta With Bacon and Cauliflower - Recipe from RealSimple. It's quite good, though I prefer roasting the cauliflower and tossing with gnocchi.

Sometimes, avoiding a problem works wonders.

Several months ago, it came to my attention someone I've known for a very long time was reading my blog to keep tabs on my life. It sounds ridiculous, given the amount of information I made available to complete strangers, but this was different.

I read a few blogs, and a few people have read mine. Some days are just reading, but some days become a conversation. You share a similar story from your life or thank the blogger for providing you with a good laugh, a yummy recipe, or for a glance at life from a slightly different viewpoint.

This particular person though, was just keeping tabs on me. To have access to my thoughts and life without needing to make it a two way conversation. I didn't like it. I let it eat at me for several weeks, then walked away from my computer.

With a month or so of perspective, and a few months of a super busy family schedule, I realized how silly it is to let someone have that kind of power over my behavior.

So, I'm back on the blog, and looking forward to jumping back into reading & commenting at my favorite blogs, too.

Listen carefully... hear that sound of laughter?

That's my mom, half-way across the country, after I called to complain about my daughter springing the need for a full costume for a school presentation on me, the day before it was due... when she hadn't even started the speech yet.

Mom was kind enough to refrain from reminding me of all the times I did the same thing, since that would have kept us on the phone way too long to have started the project.

The family that runs together... is a pretty cranky bunch by 10 am

First off:

Look. At. This. Photo.

My eyes are open. I'm not obviously huffing and puffing... in fact, I'm almost smiling. No double chin mysteriously appeared, or odd flashes of stretchmarks from a shirt/safety pin/belt conflict. Better still, it looks like I'm running, not race-walking. (Granted, my legs look AWESOME in the other photo with the horrifying items mentioned above, but I'm going to look at this photo as almost as big of a WIN as running the 13.1 miles.)

Halloween was quite fun this year. Wet, cold and tiring too, but fun.

The Silver Comet Half Marathon & Fun Run were on October 31, and we all went. I ran the Half; kids ran in the 2 mile Fun Run - in just a little over 20 mins - and Dad supplied children with hot cocoa and crackers while they waited in the rain for me to finish.

Everyone was up and eating breakfast shortly after 5 am, and we made it out to Mableton with plenty of time to get a parking space at the race start this year. (Last year, we were half way along the shuttle route between start and finish, and had to walk a mile... and figure out which neighborhood side street we'd been directed down hours before, when it was too dark to see street signs.)

Other than the race starting 15-20 minutes after 7:30, I think it went so much better than last year. Number and chip pickup was speedy and well organized. The lines for the last minute pitstop were moving quickly - though that could just be my choice of the line that had to be short, since it was in the parking traffic pattern.

There were volunteers spread out with pace times, which helped the initial crush tremendously. Instructions for the fun run participants were called out with the HM race info from the "witches' station", which made getting family to the shuttle buses much less confusing than in 2008.

The rain started just about the same time as the race. Not droplets, drizzle or heavy mist. 20 minutes of actual rain. And it kept raining off-and-on, as the temperatures dropped.

Managed to maintain a pretty solid 10:00 pace, which I was pretty happy about. My watch time was 2:12. Chip time - 2:17:59. The 5-1/2 min difference was due to the line for the potty after the turnaround. (I didn't actually spend that much time in line, but saying it was a long line is better than talking about the struggle to pull up a wringing wet spandex running skort in the small space of a portalet... without bumping into anything too horrifying.)

Met my long suffering family members at the finish, lined up for food... and the rain started back up. At this point, we decided to stop at Starbucks on the way home, and headed for the shuttle bus.

By 11:00, we were all warm, dry, and very, VERY irritable. Fortunately, the kids were too tired to do any bickering, so we curled up with blankets on the sofas for television viewing and naps. By 6:30, they were fully recharged for an evening of trick-or-treating in the drizzle... a little over two hours of walking. Amazing, what kids will do for candy. (And what parents will do for their kids.)

My toes have (mostly) recovered from 13 miles in wet socks and squishy shoes, so this Sunday will be the Zooma Atlanta Women's Half Marathon & 5k. Just the half marathon though, and just me. I figure everyone else deserves to sleep in this weekend.

Seriously though... for as awesome as my legs look in this 2nd photo, the rest of me looks like there's some combination of seizure, violent death, asthma attack, and imminent explosion about to happen all at once.

...brains....

I remember when the answer to "What should we carve this year?" elicited characters from Disney, various comic books, Nick Jr and Nickelodeon. Blue, Dexter (the labcoat wearing 1st grader, not the serial killer), Bob the Builder & Pilchard, Spiderman... even Bender & Zorak have been on the list, along with aliens, black cats and spiders. Not this year.

"Cannibals!"

"Zombies!"

"Zombie cannibals... that eat baby pumpkins"

So, after a little bit of time on google, they presented me with a few options from ExtremePumpkins.com. Here's what happened:

And, I don't remember what was going on right at this particular moment, which is probably for the best...

After many hours, and a whole lot of squishing about in slimy pumpkin guts...

There are no cows in space.

(***Nerd Alert***)

I had so much fun watching Monday night's episode of Castle on ABC. (Don't judge too harshly... it's a fun show. And, it has Nathan Fillion. The stories are clever and rather campy, which makes it a perfect show for kicking back and disconnecting from the chaos of a typical Monday.)

The show was everything you want a Halloween week episode to be. Supernatural references, graveyards, curious subcultures, hauntings, and extra camp. As much as I enjoyed the whole episode though, this opening made my day. From the brief flash of the gunbelt, I knew exactly what we were about to see.



And, in a brief follow up to yesterday's bookshelf post, I placed the show's tie-in novel Heat Wave in my Amazon shopping cart last weekend. With my next purchase, I'll be indulging in a bit of guilty pleasure reading about one Nikki Heat. Just out of curiousity, what do you call the fictional character in a book who is the fictional version of a fictional character?