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May
10
Here’s to the Mothers!
Filed Under blabbery, blessings, family | Leave a Comment
A small photo salute to some of the mommies in my life…
Here’s to my pretty mama, who I miss every day. That’s my awesome sister in the photo - who’s a heck of a mom also.
Here’s to my super wonderful step-mom, Sandy. She puts up with my dad, and for that, she deserves a medal! Even better, she loves me. I’m a lucky girl.
Here’s to Luchy, my lovely mother-in-law, who I’ve come to know and love and be supremely grateful for.
Here’s to my Grandma Jo, the sweetest, most wonderful grandma on the planet.
Here’s to my Grandma Grace, who died far too young and I’ve always missed knowing.
Here’s to my dad’s mom, my Nana Petters who was my kindred spirit. She taught me a great love for matching shoes and handbags and Esther Williams movies. I never met my Great Grandmother Adelaide, but I know she was well loved.
Here’s to Mama, David’s grandmother, who is feisty and funny and too far away.
There are, of course, a ton of other mothers in my life. But I don’t have all day - my husband took my son to the park! I’ve got a quilt store to go to! I just wanted to take a minute and share the special women in my life with the blogosphere. I miss you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!
(p.s., this post has been a disaster. I just couldn’t get the photos and their captions laid out the way I wanted. I put in code and wordpress takes it out. So, sorry you probably don’t know who’s in what picture. The important thing is to tell the world how great they all are, right?)
May
9
Lynette Anderson Designs
Filed Under Crafts, embroidery, quilting, sewing | Leave a Comment
As you all (all four of my faithful readers :)) know, I have been bitten by the embroidery bug. Pauline sent me this awesome link…Lynette Anderson Designs. A lot of her stuff leans towards primative - as in the style, not as in primative peoples or something - anyway, that’s not my thing. BUT, she’s got the cutest Noah’s Ark Block of the month patterns - she’s offering the PDFs for free, putting one out every month or so. I love the cows with the rainbow.
Here’s the link. Thanks for sharing, Pauline!
http://lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com/ - just scroll down, the Noah’s Ark BOM link is on the bottom of the left column.
If you do like primative designs, check out the rest of her stuff. I love some of the samplers! I’m always excited to see people taking their passion and turning it into a growing, profitiable business. Good luck, Lynette!
May
8
justtellmewhy.com
Filed Under blabbery, blogging | Leave a Comment
Here is the potential to waste hours and hours arguing with strangers! Awesome!
Check it out:
Finally, a place where I know my vote will count!
May
7
a new kind of exhibit
Filed Under amnesty international, close Gitmo | Leave a Comment
Something cool (or really not cool) from Amnesty Intl. Check it out if it’s near you!
Dear Blabby,
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Amnesty activists welcome the cell to Miami
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In the face of impossible odds, your thousands of letters made a huge impact last week.
On May 1st, Sami al Hajj was released from Guantánamo Bay prison after six and a half years in detention. Al Hajj was a focus of our write-a-thon in December and was adopted by Amnesty groups across the country.
Sami was a journalist for the television station al-Jazeera. In 2002, he was assigned to cover the conflict in Afghanistan. While traveling in Pakistan, Sami al Hajj was stopped by Pakistani police and detained.
He was handed over to U.S. forces, taken to Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, and ultimately to Guantánamo He was never charged with a crime, yet was held and allegedly tortured for six years.
Upon being released, Sami flew to Khartoum, Sudan. His health was in such bad condition that he had to be carried off on a stretcher.
Amnesty International won’t stop until everyone held at Guantánamo is given the chance to defend themselves in an impartial court of law or set free.
This week, Amnesty launches a massive new initiative to bring a life-sized replica (3D tour) of a maximum security Guantánamo Bay prison cell to cities across America.
RSVP to attend or volunteer at the Cell Tour events.
Starting in Miami with special events this Thursday and Saturday, we will show visitors what it’s like to experience the harsh realities of illegal detention and prolonged isolation. Visitors will be able to record 30 second videos protesting illegal detention from inside the cell.
Thank you again for your passion and hard work.
Sincerely,
Executive Director
May
6
can we build it?
Filed Under Crafts, accomplishments, quilting, sewing | 1 Comment
In addition to watching Bob the Builder on a seemingly endless loop (for no more than an hour a day), I’ve been getting some sewing done. I finished my Bow Tuck’s bag, thanks to the patient instruction from Marcy and excellent pressing by Lynn. Here’s a photo.
Then, for inside, I made this fun little wallet.
This cool wallet is from this pattern on craftster.com. I’ve sent it to my sister already - so she should get it in plenty of time for Mother’s Day. I also finally sent her the rice and lavender heating pad I made her for Christmas :)
After I finished up the wallet - which came together in less than an hour(!), I made us some napkins for the house. I’ve been meaning to do this, but I always find something else to work on. But since we use paper towels for napkins around here, I figured I better get a move on. I had random Surf and Sand by Marcus Brothers fat quarters with no project in mind, so following Amy Karol’s pattern in Bend the Rules Sewing, I cut them into 14×10.5 rectangles - each fq makes 2. I used a little starch when folding and ironing the first folds on each side. This made the ironing and folding the second fold really fast and easy.
In other crafting news, I’ve been working on my hand-quilted challenge quilt. I used a blue water-soluble marking pen to make some quilting lines, and even though it initially disappeared with water, the marks came back after it dried. Does anyone have experience with this? The brand is Mark-B-Gone. And all the marks are not coming back - only some. I can’t figure it out.
May
2
step it up and dance
Filed Under Bravo, addictions, reality tv, so you think you can dance | Leave a Comment
I’m predictably addicted to this dance reality show on Bravo, Step it Up and Dance. But the best part is that on Bravotv.com, they have something called dancealongs - where the choreographers break down the dance for ME! In my living room! Check it out:
Oh yeah, and counting down to So You Think You Can Dance…May 22!!! Woo hoo!
May
2
oh, and one more thing
Filed Under blabbery, parenting, parenting no-no's, toddlers | 4 Comments
about all the toys. We’re a fairly green family. Except that my husband drives an hour to and from work and works for a water-bottling company. You can bet we recycle those bottles, but still.
We compost, we recycle everything, we use reusable bags instead of plastic bags - except to hold cat poop, we buy biodegradable (read “even more expensive”) diapers.
But the packaging on these toys we’re buying our kid are undoing all the good. Two layers of hard plastic surrounded by tons of cardboard, paper instructions, a box around the cardboard and plastic, steel ties (well, maybe not steel, but ridiculously hard to cut) around each toy that has to be sawed off with a chainsaw…I now make sure I have my camping knife with me when we go to Target. I also keep a box cutter in the car.
Crazy? If you think so, perhaps you’ve never had to open a Thomas the Train package.
I think the Europeans have the right idea. Because there are limits on the amount of trash you produce (you have to pay more if you need a bigger receptacle), stores will take all the packaging for you.
But really, if there weren’t so many thieves in this country, the packaging wouldn’t be so extreme.
May
2
alligator eyes
Filed Under blabbery, blessings, parenting, parenting no-no's | Leave a Comment
As a family, we have alligator eyes and bird stomachs. Or bird bank accounts. Or a bird garage, that can’t possibly hold all the crap we buy our kid.
He often says, “Target is great!” You know what that means? It means we go to Target and buy toys TOO much. That kid is so spoiled. Today, we went to Toys R Us, and there was a sign on the wall when we walked in that said, “hurry, we have Wii’s in stock today!” I almost bought one.
My kid is 2. I don’t think he can play a Wii yet. I’m not sure why we don’t have any self control, except the fact that he’s such a good kid. He’s not bratty, he always says please and thank you, he genuinely loves all of his toys - for at least 10 minutes, anyway.
The other day, there was a garage sale down the street. The guy was selling off his Matchbox collection, and he had a huge box full of unopened matchbox cars. We bought a few, and left. William was thrilled. He played with those cars and trucks all day. My husband had a golf game that afternoon, and decided to stop back by the yard sale on his way to the course to see if there were any cars left. He gave the guy $40 and bought the whole box. There are probably 70 cars in that box.
What the hell are we going to do with all those cars?
We’ve been giving him a new car everyday. His “suprise” - he hasn’t seen the box, but he knows the suprise comes from the garage. Today, he said, “mom, let’s go in the garage and get a surprise.”
Crap. He’s onto us. Now, both Target and the garage are “great!”
Next, he’ll have a trampoline, a sandbox (even though there’s perfectly good dirt in the flower bed, a bigger plastic pool, a picnic table (have you seen the cute one at Target? With the bugs?)…you see where I’m going with this.
The poor house, that’s where.
May
2
Happy Birthday, Honey!
Filed Under blabbery | Leave a Comment
Today is my husband’s birthday. He doesn’t like his birthday. It might be because he’s a twin, and he’s always had to share it. It might be because he doesn’t like getting old. Either way, he always just says, “I just never really celebrated it.” Sad, right? I freaking love my birthday.
So the downside to him saying, “no big deal,” is that we really didn’t do anything for his birthday. I got him a cake from a new bakery, and it was really good, but he doesn’t really like cake. It was mostly for our son, who LOVES birthday cake and candles. So we did the whole song and the baby helped blow out the candle.
Even his present was kind of lame. I got him golf balls. Granted, that’s what he wants, but still. I was going to give him a hard time about getting old, like buy him magnifiers or reading glasses or Depends or something, but he doesn’t really think getting older is funny.
I don’t really care about getting older. I mean, I care about things like Alzheimer’s and incontinence and losing functions - in fact, I’d rather die young (after my son grows up, of course), but I still totally love my birthday. On my next one, I’ll be 32. My husband just turned 36. I wanted to tell him that he’s on the down-hill slide to 40, but he wouldn’t take that well at all.
Apr
30
Sign the petition…
Filed Under john mccain, politics, presidential candidates, republicans | Leave a Comment
I went on a little tirade a couple days ago regarding John McCain’s sexist statement that women just need more “training and education” - not equal pay or the ability to fight for it. In my inbox today was a petition. The Fair Pay bill will be revoted soon - let your Senators know how you feel:
Subject: Tell McCain: Stop insulting women
Dear Friend,
Last Wednesday, Senate Republicans filibustered the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that would have overturned an appalling Supreme Court decision that practically abolished remedies for gender-based compensation discrimination in the workplace. In opposing this legislation, Senator John McCain said that if women want better-paying jobs, they just need more “education and training.” Then, he didn’t even show up for the vote.
Let’s tell Senator McCain that should stop blocking an up or down vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act if he wants to ensure equal rights for women under the law.
Please have a look and take action.
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/mccain_vs_ledbetter/?r_by=-1589106-Mt_SAb&rc=paste
Thanks!
