Whatcha Doin'?

Ya'll I wrote an essay and sent it off to my friend - the one who has offered to publish my stories in her on-line magazine! I'll give you more details if and when this comes about, but for now, I am giddy and a little bit nauseated with anxiety. What if it's not what she wanted? What if... whatever. No more what-ifs. It's done. I sent it. Now, we wait.

While we wait, let's make some stuff!

Still on the Valentine's Day kick, Lily Ruth and I 'made' chocolates to give to her teachers at Parent's Day Out. These sort of things do not require recipes as you simply melt chocolate and squeeze it into molds. It was big fun, though. We made milk chocolate with pink (vanilla flavor), and dark chocolate with sea salt and caramel:

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

'Salt in these hearts?!' 

'Miss Briana needs a pencil, Mama!'

Everything's better with stickers.

I think that was the end of the Valentine's Day stuff. Oh, unless you count the hours wasted creating my Pinterest board...

Source: designsponge.com via Rachel on Pinterest

*sigh* Who DOESN'T need a love nest?!

Least I seem like a big whiner, I really do love Pinterest. It has inspired quite a bit around here lately! Let's see... we've made cupcake pictures:

based on this pin from 3.bp.blogspot.com:

Source: 3.bp.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

We made fireflies from pipe cleaners, glow-in-the-dark paint and glitter:

Well, I guess we really made sparkly moths as fireflies don't have round, luminescent wings... (also, my glow-in-the-dark paint sucks. Barely a shine :-/ ) they were based on several crafts that I saw when googling glow-in-the-dark crafts, but didn't 'pin'.

I also went a bit wild at Michael's today. I'm just full of excitement about color and bright things and MAKING STUFFFFFFFFF!

Clockwise from the upper left corner: 1) replacement paints for Lily Ruth - that's what we use to make the giant pictures on freezer paper that usually become full-body art. 2) adhesive foam pages so we can cut out our own stickers :-O! 3) small glass bottles and enamel glass paint - I gotta make THIS!:

Source: myyellowsandbox.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

4) magnifying lenses - things are growing, time top get a good look! 5) 2 new boxes of crayons so that I can make THIS!:

Source: theletter4.com via Rachel on Pinterest

6) face paints - that's just big fun & 7) nature themed stuff (notebook, notepad, magnets) to continue our thoughts (and document them) of exploring the Great Outdoors.

The colors outside are so new and fresh. It makes my heart sing. Yesterday, it was rainy and gray, but my aloe plant was ORANGE!

I am filled with the impulse to paint everything that will hold still with bright, fresh color. I long to cram my world full of shiny newness. I think my sap is rising. Welcome, Spring!

Felt, Felt, Felt, Pinterest.

O.k., when I decided to call myself a storyteller and try to write more stuff down, I caused an internal panic and shut-down. Typical. The same thing happened when I tried to journal one summer... and it happens every time that I try to diet... *harumpfh* Oh well. I have made a deal with myself that I must write for at least an hour while Lily Ruth is at Parent's Day Out. After all, someone has offered to possibly pay me, therefore it is my job to do it, right?

Good things have continued to happen since I last blogged, I just haven't had the time to tell you about them because (wait for it) I Discovered Pinterest (dun, dun, duuunnnnnn). *sigh* I've heard friends and other bloggers talk about it for a while. I intentionally avoided it because they ALL said that it was a huge, addictive time-suck. They were ALL right. You log in (just for a quick second) to see if anybody has cute ideas for Valentine's Day and the  next thing you know is that it's dinner time and all you have to show for your day are 23 'likes', 16 're-pins' and a bad case of eye-strain. By the way, in case you didn't know, Pinterest is basically an on-line bulletin board system. You create boards then 'pin' images or videos to the board. Much handier than bookmarking everything then scrolling through countless bookmark folders (Also, the pictures are so pretty!). My new Pinterest resolution is that I can only pin things that I find on my own - I am not allowed to troll existing boards except in emergency situations.

Speaking of Valentine's Day (nice segue, right?), did I show you the coffee cup sleeves that Lily Ruth and I made? Well, here they are!

Aren't they lovely!? They're so easy to make that it's a bit silly... The pink felt with hearts and buttons was our first batch. We made two of them:

I absolutely adore the finished product, but let's face facts here, people - felt is flimsy. These single-layered sleeves felt pretty much disposable. Our next batch were double-layered and feel sturdier. We made 3: one for Miss June, one for Mr Anthony and one for Nanny (Lily Ruth chose the recipients!). She also made 'shapes' for her friends Lola & Jett :-P

In case you want to make some sleeves of your own, here's a quick almost-tutorial:


Coffee Cup Sleeve
(or Coffee Cup Cozy, if you prefer :-P)

Materials:
pattern
felt ( I used wool blend and not crafting squares)
fabric marker
decorations (felt stickers, buttons, fabric paint, appliques, anything that tickles you)
hot glue gun
thread and embroidery floss in matching or contrasting colors

Method:
My jumping-off point involved two tutorials. This one form The Purl Bee:

Source: purlbee.com via Rachel on Pinterest

And this one from The Cottage Home:

Source: thecottagehome.blogspot.com via Rachel on Pinterest

I downloaded a pattern from The Purl Bee (available here) and added 1/2 an inch to the end so that it was the same length (but a slightly different shape) as a Starbucks sleeve:

(I also drew instructions on it in case I wanted to add the elastic/button from The Cottage Home's method).

Trace your pattern onto the felt & cut it out. Adorn your felt. We used felt heart stickers and buttons on the first batch and stickers and fabric paint for our second batch. If you use stickers, glue them in place with the hot glue gun or they will lift. If you use paint, allow it to dry overnight. I would not suggest adorning both sides in hope of creating a double-sided masterpiece - it'll make the sleeve too bulky.

If you are going to use a double layer of felt (which I would suggest), sew a quick line all the way around the edges to bind your two pieces.

Glue the ends together - I found that just barely under an inch of overlap is the perfect amount (you can see it in the first picture). Now add a line of stitching with the embroidery floss (I prefer a contrasting color) to ensure that it stays put:

Hey presto - you're DONE! Now you just need coffee:

And someone to share your coffee experience with. Preferably someone who will look at the camera. If that someone is not available, you may have to settle for this girl:

But you never know - you might get lucky and end up with THIS girl!:

I have more stuff to tell you, but right now it's time to play with my daughter, so you'll just have to be patient. Happy coffee and happy crafting, ya'll!

Quintessentially Two... and a half... Almost Three

Lily Ruth has been feeling her age these days. In a good way. She is solidly and comfortably living in the lands of  I Can Do It, Why? and I Need to Help You Do That. It's been a ball - and I don't mean that sarcastically. It really has been fun!

From choosing her own outfits:

A princess skirt over jeans is never a bad choice

Mama's slippers and a felt tiara? Don't mind if I do!

 To demanding her own curlers while getting ready for Grandpa's birthday:

To getting hands-on with a glue/salt/watercolor project (from The Artful Parent):

The Finished Product

It's been a bit hilarious around here :-)

She also takes her own photos:

Makes her own Valentine's Day gifts for her class (with a small amount of help):

And keeps the tiny things that are most interseting to her in a special place:

She insisted on a Valentine's Day bag for herself as well. When it was done, she announced that she was going to 'put this away in my room'. When I went in there later, I found out that 'away' means 'in the middle of the floor'. It really cracked me up!

What with all the I DO IT activity over here, I've hardly had time to do any of my own stuff. I did manage to make a quick garland for Lily Ruth's room. It was time to replace Christmas lights, so we chose dancing hearts:

We also stole Kittyn's recycled crayon idea, and Lily Ruth took them to 'school' today to share them with her friends!

Lordy! When I look at all of this stuff, it makes me tired! No rest for the weary over here, though. I've got to finish up my contribution to the Parent's Day Out bake sale:

Since I don't really (successfully) bake, those are mini pretzel twists with chocolate hearts gently melted over the top and an m&am dotted into the center (based on an idea that I saw on pinterest). My biggest challenge is going to be not eating them all before time to drop them off! THEN I have to finish the laundry and clean up the house because my in-laws are coming - Lily Ruth's Mama and Lily Ruth's Daddy are having their first night away together since she was born! YAAAAAAAAY me!

Everything's coming up Rachel around here folks! My husband is taking me out of town, my mother-in-law wants to enter my dragon mask in a contest AND an old friend is interested in my storytelling skills - as in she wants to possibly publish me in an on-line magazine!!! I freaked out at first, because I don't consider myself to be an actual writer, but Kittyn reminded me that I AM a storyteller - and a pretty good one. When I think of it that way, it doesn't scare me as much, and I may even give it a go!

Now, if I could just translate all of this good fortune and hilarity into a J-O-B, that would be great...

Ramblings of the Sleepless

"I WILL sleep tonight!" My overly-loud proclamation practically echoes off the bedroom walls. I glare ominously at each of my three bed-mates in turn. Several consecutive nights of broken, restless sleep have left me at the end of my emotional rope.

"Sorry," whispers The Snorer. "I know you are," I sigh.

"I no kick," states The Kicker as she elbows both her father and me in the ribs trying desperately to wiggle down in between us.

The Farter doesn't speak, but her belly rumbles loudly. A portent of ill winds to blow.

"I no wanna kick" states The Kicker again. I'd believe her, but she elbowed me in the boob and stole half of my blankets as she said it. She is burrowing frantically in the belief that if she can establish a beachhead in the next 5 seconds, she'll be allowed to stay. She wants to stay. She has no desire to spend the night in her own bed. The one where she can kick, thrash, moan and burrow with unimpeded impunity. No, she'd much rather be with us... kicking...

I sigh again - the martyr - and grudgingly grant her an inch or two. She smiles and arranges my share of the blankets over herself. I turn off the light and pretend to relax.

The Snorer starts in, and The Kicker sucks energetically on her thumb. I whisper "I'll be back soon" to the one who's awake, and move to stand. Before my feet hit the floor, she has co-opted my pillow. "Is nice for me" she states without apology.

I move into the other room to read. The Farter does a bit of martyr-sighing of her own, heaves herself to her feet and follows me down the hall.

When the noises from the bedroom finally cease, we make our way back in. The Snorer has his back to the door - the reason he has stopped snoring. The Kicker has flung her entire body onto the pillows. Her head is buried under her dad's. Her feet rest where my head belongs. I cover them with another pillow, and slide into what's left of my place. My eyes close and I try to regulate my breathing down to a sleep welcoming rhythm.

The Farter begins to pace. Her toenails click loudly across the room. She whuffles in agitated bursts. Then she makes her move. An exploratory front-feet-only jump onto the bed. And down. I sigh again - an expert now - and whisper "come on up, baby dog." She lands on the foot of the bed with a grunt and begins to pant loudly. We're in for some rain - the Dog Barometer has spoken.

'It's fine, just relax' I instruct myself. It's no use. I can't sleep with an agitated Farter on the bed, When she's scared, she doesn't notice who she steps on. If she hurts my baby in an attempt to hide from the rain, I'll have to kill her... sooooooo...  hyper-vigilance it is. My concern is completely valid. All eighty-five pounds of The Farter begins to creep up between us almost immediately. I hold her back with a stiff-arm to the face, but she shakes me off and lunges forward. In a few quick moves, she has her giant nose buried under the pillows - directly under The Kicker's body. She shakes and shivers in a very 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' fashion. *sigh* Her amateur dramatics are highly believable, but the air outside is still. The night is quiet and calm. The Farter remains unconvinced. Her belly rumbles again, and she burps then licks her lips in a manner which suggests that she may throw up soon.

dammit. Oh well. I'm up. If she's going to barf, she can do it out here instead of on my bed. Of course, now her stomach is silent and she sleeps peacefully at my feet.

I wonder if my spot is still even partly available?

DOOOOOOOOM!

Ya'll, hand to gawd - my dog is trying to kill me.

Where once there was a precious pup, there is now only a foul beast with villainy in her heart.

Don't believe me? I offer proof:

If this isn't true, why is her digestive tract brewing up a mixture so rank as to make the devil himself swoon?

If this isn't true, why is her dog butt parked directly next to my side of the bed with her buns up near my head?

If this isn't true, why are the barrages so close together that my eyes, nose and throat barely have time to clear the last assault before the next cloud rises?

If this isn't true, then why is the air in my bedroom so thick with dog-stink that I was driven from a warm bed to a cold, blue computer screen at 1:30 in the morning?!

Ya'll might think she's just 85 pounds of lovable goofball,

but you're all on notice - if I die 'in my sleep', it's not me, it's her.

Do-Over

I need to start 2012 over again. Mine got all messed up. Not horrible or anything, just out of whack. Since I was trying to Start As You Mean To Go On, I need to re-do the last week so that it is not replicated down the line.

There was a great trip to the aquarium:

Which somehow ended with Lily Ruth's first big skinned knee. Thank goodness for impulse-buy bandages with unicorns on them that came in a tin sturdy enough to leave in the diaper bag!

This was followed by a decent day with friends marred by a full-on face-plant and a rushing to the pediatrician's office in case of loosened teeth. Don't worry - we left without being seen as she was obviously fine after waiting for an hour... *sigh*... and now I've made my first public appearance as The Crazy Lady (in a stretched out T-shirt, old maternity yoga pants and my SLIPPERS) since we were preparing to nap when the incident occurred. In case you're worried about her reputation as a fashionista, Lily Ruth was styling in a blood-stained T-shirt/droopy diaper combo. Together, we were a pathetic sight.

The following morning (read: 3 a.m.) saw a bout of the stomach flu for my beleaguered angel. She apparently hates throwing up even more than I do. Before each round was even done, she was wriggling to get down and proclaiming "I o.k. I fine. I feel better." She's a trooper, that one. Oi.

The NEXT day, she knocked the scab off her knee, and made the sore bigger.

The next day, I had the stomach flu.

- Can you see why I ask for the do-over? We're two days out from our Five Days of Trial and Tribulation, and I just got us back in order. All of the pukey laundry is clean. All of the accumulated dishes are washed. The dog hair tumbleweeds are in the trash. Everybody is sleeping on fresh sheets (pets included - damn them).

Here's what I'll do. Since you obviously don't have the authority to grant my simple, easy request, I'll go you one better. Let's just start from here. My house is clean. My body is cleaned out (eww.). The bills are paid current. Let's just use this as the jumping off point for 2012.

Here are my guidelines:
- No more than one alcoholic beverage on a weeknight (and I must choose either Friday or Sunday as weekend nights, but not both).
- Portion control. Just slow down and pay attention.
- Keep moving. The kid and I are on a very active kick - let's keep it up.
- No beating yourself up for flubs or backsliding. Just be present and aware and move forward.

What say you?

Is It On The List?

As you may have deduced from my personality type, I love lists. I love to have my tasks laid out in an orderly fashion. I love to check things off as they're done. The whole process soothes my monkey brain into submission so that I can actually complete the tasks on the list. I have been (lovingly) mocked in the workplace for my daily to-do lists, but when I take my lists and move on, they're sorry :-P

I like lists so much that I even love spreadsheets. I've created spreadsheets for restaurants, architects, spas and just for me. When I began my massage career, I even made one that tracked each massage appointment that I had by type, commission and tip then totaled the appointments by shift, week, paycheck and month... o.k., that sounds obsessive, but a) it sounds more complicated than it really is and b) when you work solely off of commissions and gratuities, it's important to keep track so that you are compensated appropriately by your employer :-P

I even keep old lists. I pleases me to look back on past lists and remember the occasion that warranted such planning and organization. Like Thanksgiving 2007 - it was my first time to host a major holiday on my own :-)

... and my house was a WRECK. This is actually page 1 of 2. The second page has a 2-week countdown on it. I barely finished in time!

Sometimes my past holiday and event lists help me to prepare for future events as my shopping and task lists are already laid out. Sometimes they're a reminder of what went wrong or what I should do ahead of time.

Then there are the things I've tracked just since becoming a mother. The breastfeeding log that was meant to be kept up for a week or so to soothe new parent's concerns about intake and output. I obsessively kept it up until she was almost 8 weeks old:

Oooooh, here's a good one! Look at this timeline:

Looks a bit crazy, doesn't it! I see new parents who are so sleep deprived that they devise a complex system to track baby's movements in order to discern ANY possible pattern of sleep with the hope of turning that pattern into a habit. My heart goes out to those two - that was a rough time. Now we've learned our lesson - she either sleeps or she doesn't.

I almost showed you my current ongoing list that tracks our bills just like a spreadsheet but with more elbow grease because I'm pretty proud of it. Then I realized that putting all of my service provider names along with amounts and due dates would be incredibly unwise. Don't worry, I trust YOU, it's that one over there that I'm worried about :-P

I come by this naturally. Friday was my dad's birthday. Saturday, my mom hosted  a small dinner to celebrate. When we spoke Friday, she said something about not being able to go to the store until in the morning, but that it would be just fine. I could hear her list beginning in my head. When I got to her house  to help set up, I kept my eye out for it. As we puttered along, she said 'maybe we should write down what we have left... you know... just to stay organized.' The notebook was procured, and the new list was begun. As we went along, she'd say things like 'add wash dishes so I can cross that off when I'm done' or 'did you add bread dough in machines? Good - cross it off.'

It's just one of those things that I share with my maternal kin. Like our eye shape, our hands and our inability to make anything less than too much salad. We like lists. We like to lay out our tasks and our projects. We like to cross things off as we go. We like the feeling of completion when the list is done. I like that we share this small compulsion. I like that our same-ness is more than skin deep.

Stop GROWING Already!

This is a Look How Much I've Grown update post. Lily Ruth is changing so fast (AGAIN!) that my head is spinning! I'm gonna note some of it here before I forget :-)

Her vocabulary/word usage in context has exploded yet again - she recently asked "can I watch a movie on your Kindle Fire?". She also sobbed "It's just... *sob, tears, sob*... I never, never, NEVER get to sleep with my mommy and daddy" the other night when told that it was time to lay down in her own bed.

Her concentration level is up - she plays by herself for long periods of time. Only pausing briefly to give me updates or request snacks. She also tells loooong, complex stories with lots of characters, intricate plot twists and surprise endings.

She has become re-interested in blocks, and wants to build by herself for the first time. Last week, we built side by side for a while, then we pushed our creations together and connected them:

I love her attention to color placement!

The next day, she wanted to build by herself, but wanted me there as a witness/block stabilizer (she occasionally needs help pushing them tightly together). She made this entirely on her own!:

- in the second image, I pulled them apart to show the separate structures. Again, I marvel at her focus on color!

She has also shown a renewed interest in trying new foods. This is a HUGE blessing. Even she was tired of the few foods she would consent to eat recently! She ate spinach and peas last week without trickery, bribery or stern commands. I am elated... and am getting completely ahead of myself by planning all new menus again :-P

We've started some basic 'science experiments'. While looking for a distraction (so that I could start dinner in peace) the other night, I whipped up a small batch of the the old cornstarch-and-water 'is it liquid or solid?' It was a HUGE hit:

A few nights later, I had promised a cookie making experience, but was out of eggs. In desperation, I made up a larger batch of what we now call 'A Big Mess' and dyed it pink. Since she was able to use her new cookie cutters and her decorations, so it was accepted as a substitute :-):

The pictures are dark because she loathes the flash :-/

We got around to making the actual cookies last night. This was another big 'first'. Until now, she has begged off any baking because of the noise that the mixer makes. My newly Big Girl not only stayed in the room with the mixer, but held it with me through all of the steps! She also cracked eggs and squeezed in food coloring. We also cut out hearts together and iced and decorated them. There are no pictures of these processes as you need all available hands to control the situation :-P The end result are these beautiful, but bland cookies:

I'm not going to share the recipe, because it produced tasteless cookies. Unfortunately, I still have about 3 pounds of dough in the fridge. Hopefully I will be able to write it off and not feel like a gluttonous waster when throwing it out...

Add in her increased agility on the playground, and she's basically a whole new kid. It's terrifying.

Thank goodness she's still my baby

Who's toes press into my body as we snooze of a morning

Who dances without inhibition in public

Who plays very silly games with her long-suffering dog

I love you little girl.