Doomed I tell you!

My quirky father-in-law sent out and email today proving my long thought out theory.
That Anderson's are all loco, regardless of their age and gender.

Pictures taken in 2006:



Don's grandfather Donald and Teagan imitating:



Pictures taken in 2009:
(Same restaurant!)






I believe that we are helpless.
The nutty Anderson gene must be more dominant than my hippy Kolb gene.
But if Teagan grows up to be 98 and can still balance a tortilla chip on her lips I'll be pretty damn happy.

Undocumented elves anyone???

Are hiring elves that don't have the right papers illegal?
I need to know cause I need to get my sweatshop, um, I mean workshop flowing.

I feel a little guilty that I make things for other peoples kids, but never my own.
Of course that is not entirely true, but for the most part, yep.
Minus the retarded owl.
Oh wait, sorry, that is not very p.c.?
He is a "special-tarded" owl.

So here is my sweetshop, so far.

Felt cupcakes for niece in Australia (nice and light for shipping yo.)


Eggs, bacon and evil knife for niece with parents who understand my sick sense of humor.


Random bag for a classmate of Teagans...


Onsies made for friend and soon to be neighbor. :)


And special owl for daughter.
Notice that one wing is sewn upside-down... yeah I TOTALLY meant to do that!



See, he's just bustin' a move.

We have had a rough weekend.
Thursday night while I was a work the kids found a cat hiding underneath their playhouse.
Actually I guess Carmen found it, it had been hit by a car.
Don put him in the garage. He was incredibly loving and affectionate, and was jumping around the room wanting to be snuggled.
But he had a HUGE open wound on the side of him. I mean HUGE.
We debated what to do with him, and then a friend suggested her vet might be caring and give us help.
So we decided to pay for the visit to see what she had to say.
We had already look into all the shelters, they are all full.
I guess a sign of a bad economy is people dumping off pets left and right.
The Humane Society or Animal Shelter would put him to sleep.
We all kind of fell in love with him and made a family decision to try and help him.
We decided to pay for a visit to the vet, look for his owners ourselves.
When we brought him to the vet, we were told that first, "she" was an altered "he" (oops,)and secondly that he had been hit about 1-2 weeks ago.
His fur had all dried up and therefore it could not been sewn back.
He'd need several surgeries.
If he didn't get them the wound would always stay open and it would get infected.
We told her that we don't have the money to pay for anything like that (esp. since he's not our cat!)
The vet was nice and offer to take the cat for the weekend, clean out his wounds as much as possible, put him under and do a little stitch work at no cost, while we looked for his owners.
SO we have spent this whole weekend searching high and low for the owners of a cat!
Notices everywhere, craigslist, emails, newspapers, etc all weekend without any leads.
They kids were getting sad about not finding his owners.
Finally I put out a plea for any advice on what to do with this poor cat on craigslist.
And... late last night, someone offered to help him.
She wants us to take him to the vet she works with today.
She (or the organization she works with?) will pay for his surgery and then find him a home.
YAY!!! Teagan and Ari are so happy!!!
I was even happier.
Yay, to happy endings and second chances!!

I'm on a roll!

A rock n' roll that is!!
Hahaha, get it?!
Okay not so funny I know.
But sure nuf I am on a stuffed weird felt objects roll!

I know I'm a dork and I ain't got that witty blogger talk.


But what I do got is really cool felt 45's for my cutie-pie niece....


Also I am currently making a set of cupcakes for my other cutie pie niece (I am SO lucky!!!)

Procraftination

Okay so I've been in a funk for a while now.
I miss having friends and living in the EB where everybody knows my name.

But I did make two things today that I love, and I thought that I should share them.
A sweet little felt knife for my 5 month old niece, and a little cupcake purse for one of my daughter's friends.
Some might say "hey, send in the meds!"
But those who know and love me will appreciate the awkward/loveliness of this little duo.
I actually I kinda hate to separate them.



Okay.
So maybe I am truly starting to lose it a wee bit?

But, hey. At least my kids are growing up in a loving and nurturing environment.
And that is what really matters.
Right?

Pot n'tots

This summer has blessed me with two new babies!
OH, how I love them little babies, I do!
Plus I love the mamas. Holly and Stephanie and two of my fav peeps.

I got the pattern online on turning onsies into dresses.
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/onesie_dress_2
These dresses are made from recycled onsies I bought at the the thrift shop and fabric I just had on hand from my recent fabric hording rampage.








Besides my sewing excursion, when I've been home this summer I've spent my creative outlet in the pot shop.
Sad to say that I have not been home enough this summer, plus had to miss two classes due to sickness and kiddos (Ari and mama need a little one on one time,) so I wasn't around much in pottery.
All I made this whole summer were two pieces. Sigh.
Oh well, there always next session, right?

New ART?

New ARTiculations just had another dazzling performance last weekend and the kids got the best seat in the house. Actually, I think they got every seat in the house, because after each performance they ran like crazy to take over a different part of the theater. And did the running screaming children completely drive the ushers to suicide and get us all 86ed from PCC West? Normally it would have, but thanks to Tammy we were at the dress rehearsal and all ushers are none the wiser.

After the show, the kids were allowed on stage to run around and the the guy who did the lighting even provided them with some fun colors to help them along.

The kids loved the dance performances, the parents loved not having to tell them to be still, and all provided for a lovely evening. I swear dress rehersals are the way to go!









Thank you New ARTiculations for the fantastic show!!!

Summer Lovin'

Starting off the first week of summer with swimming, sewing, reading, and especially whiney children.
AH! Nothing says summer fun like the words "mama, I'm boooooored." ringing through your head.
This week has been espeially low key since pottery ans swim lessons haven't started yet.
Hopefully next week when we bust out a more productive schedule, the whine will subside and the wine will commence!

In my not leaving the house all week-ness I did manage to dust off the old sewing machine and make these:



A dress for Teagan



















A tutu for Pearl













I also started a painting, that one day I may even finish? But no promises :)

Bunnies and fairy rings

Easter was pretty mellow at our house.
The kids had an egg hunt twice.
Once from the Easter Bunny and one from the Easter Don along with their friend Sophie.



First of all I have to say our eggs were rockin!
We dyed them this year using men's neck ties.
What you do is get some silk ties, cut them and wrap them around your eggs, then wrap a cut up towel or other fabric over them and tie it. This is so the color doesn't run onto other eggs.
Boil the eggs for 20 minutes in water with vinegar.

And voila, tie dye!

I think they could have come out better if I was more exact about wrapping the ties, but I kinda liked the swirly effect.

After friends went home and candy was devoured, we all settled down into our own projects.

I finished these onsies for my SIL and started on her baby quilt.


...and the kids started making a fairy ring with some mushrooms we have (the bigger one I made in my pottery class.)


Luckily the ring is in the front yard, so we won't have to worry about any innocent chickens stepping inside.
We've already lost 5 chickens to the neighborhood cat, we can't afford to lose anymore to fairies.

She talks to the animals...

Ari. My budding Dr. Doolittle.


Ari put a chair in front of the playhouse blocking the entrance to the playhouse porch. She designed it so that the chickens could get through and go on the porch, but our dog Carmen could not.

Don: That's really cleaver what you did with the chair Ari.

Ari: It's so the chickens can go in and Carmen can't bug them.

Don: I see that. Did you think of that all by yourself?

Ari: No, Midnight (the chicken) told me to do it.

Don: Really? Midnight told you? Now how could Midnight tell you to do that?

Ari: Ahh... I dunno? She just had a thought in her head.


Apparently both my kids are fluent in Chickenese.

Look what I can do!

Spent an exhausting day shoveling river rock at Lupe's with Kurt and Vicki.
We shoveled a small hill, transported it over toBELL for Earth Day, then unloaded it into a pile. OH, I'm sure my muscal's will be hurtin in the morning, but it was worth it!
BTW, if ANYONE needs river rock, I know a house that is just itching to get rid of it!
Their home is surrounded with it, and it goes down quite deep.
If you are lucky you can not only score some rock, but yummy homemade salsa to boot!

After some hard labor I came home and had plans to work on the irrigation pipe I busted on Saturday while I was trying to dig a garden. But I didn't. I was pooped.

Instead I went over to Stephanie to to grab my sewing machine so that I could sew this for my niece's 1st birthday.






It's just a simple banner, but it came out pretty cute.
Yep, I'm damn proud of myself! Plus it took less than two hours to do!!

I hung out at Stephanie's for a while swamping funny websites.
She introduced me a beautiful new world of UNmotivation.
All you die-hard people who thrive on inspirational quotes please don't look at this website!!!
BUT, for all you slackers... there is a whole world out there and it's just for you.

http://despair.com/viewall.html

They will make you feel slightly less adequate than you already feel.
Or maybe they'll make you plain miserable?
Either way.

My friends ROCK!

I expressed on facebook how I was challenged of what to put on Ari's annual mixed tape. I received luckily a couple of great suggestions for songs too!
But one friend went above that and emailed me a whole birthday playlist.
First of all you need to know Stacy C. She rocks. Literally, she does.
She is infamous in the Bay Area for her mixes. And if you are lucky enough to be her close friend, chances are you have one made especially for you.

So when she read my distress email this is what she sent me within record speed:

Subject: Happy Happy...

What a hoot! :)

---

THE CD THAT STACY WOULD MAKE FOR ARI'S BIRTHDAY PARTY:

1  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
2  Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite - The Beatles
3  Music Box - Regina Spektor
4  Suki Yaki - Kyu Sakamoto
5  I Think I'm Turning Japanese - The Vapors
6  All Over The World - Electric Light Orchestra
7  Private Eyes - Hall & Oates
8  Alley Cat - Bent Fabric
9  Shish Kebab - Ralph Marterie
10  Iko Iko - The Dixie Cups
11  Click Song Number One - Miriam Makeba
12  Whistle Stop - Roger Whittaker
13  Jolly Roger - Adam and the Ants
14  Start Wearing Purple - Gogol Bordello
15  Little Drop of Poison - Tom Waits
16  Summer Nights - John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John
17  The Battle of 1814 - Johnny Horton
18  Queenie Wahine's Papaya - Elvis Presley
19  Ulupalakua - Hui Ohana
20  Pipeline - The Chantays
21  Rock Lobster - The B-52's
22  Walk, Don't Run - The Ventures
23  Apache - The Shadows
24  Mr. Custer - Larry Verne
25  Running Bear - Johnny Preston
26  Stranded In The Jungle - The Cadets
27  Beep Beep - The Playmates

How cool are my friends?
I love them, each and every one.
(This means YOU!)

What tha F...

Today we spent a slow Saturday lounging around the house.
The kids played, I made a couple shrinky dinks and we all had a hard time motivating.
We finally made it over to the the Festival of Books around noon.
WOW!
Tucson festivals always cease to amaze me.
Never in Berkeley would there be such an amazing family friendly event!!
It was actually too big and the kids were a bit over stimulated.
We went to a few booths, said "hi" to a few friends, and visited Rebecca at her booth.
Then quietly snuck into the sweet World of Words library that she works at. I highly recommend visiting it if you go. It was like a little bit of tranquility underneath the super highway of people. PLUS fyi, it's a good place to pee!
(NO, I did not squat in the aisles of your library Rebecca. I swear that smell did not come from me!)

The whole thing was so very cool.
It makes me a proud Tucsonian to live in a place that has such devotion to learning and to it's children.
Every festival in Tucson always has children's activities.
In the Bay Area festivals were rarely kid friendly much less kid oriented.
I blame this "love of children" crap on our proximity to Mexico and their child loving culture.
Damn them!

Tomorrow the Festival of Books continues.
At 11:30am the monk in the bookstore will be erasing the sand mandala and giving away the sand to people so they can bless their homes with.
We just may have to go back for that!

And to prove I'm not making this all up....

Viola!

I had a super hard week this week.
Actually "super hard" doesn't give it justice.
Anyway I've been meaning to post a picture of my finished purse.

Actually, I've been meaning to do a lot of things.. like take my sickly cat to the vet and buy my kids much needed shoes.

Oh, my poor cat.

But off the subject of cats and onto birds!

My lovely new purse...

I bet my kids ballet school could beat up your kids ballet school!

Here's a recent article about the ever funny and talented Mr. Rodger's ballet class!
Teagan and Ari love, love, LOOOVE Mr. Rodgers!
This is a lot coming from two kids who have never liked any of the classes I've dragged them to in the past. But they get so excited when they get to go to class at Dancing in the Streets.
Joseph Rodgers just makes dancing fun!!!

http://elindenews.com/features/12-features/101-south-tucson-studio-keeps-kids-dancing

Check it out and look for the cute red-head.

my so-called life.

I swear I didn't just sit on the computer all day blogging, looking at etsy, and lurking on facebook. I really do have a life. I do, I do!

Okay, I did skip my pottery class. For no good reason, I just didn't feel like going.
Instead I sat on my rump ordering Amy Butler fabric (which I never actually bought.)
Then I blogged some.
Then I tried calling Jen (hint, hint...)
Then I lurked on facebook.

But later I got my rear-in-gear and had a productive day.

I went to Stephanie's and we lurk on etsy.
PLUS, I brought my sewing machine over and actually sewed something.
We both made purses. Neither are finished, but so far so good.

Here's Stephanie bag:

(She even made her own handles!)

Here's my bag:


Steph and I thought we were SO F'in clever when we thought about what was going to be on our next bag.
But we looked it up on etsy, and apparently we aren't as smart as we think we are:

Look this one is even a shrinky dink!


Hmf!

So after Steph's I even went to library and then came home and planted a cactus garden.
I do have a life, I really do!

Proper etiquette

Say you are invited to a fancy Tea Party or something.
It is always proper etiquette to bring something to the host.
Like flowers or a fifth of everclear or something classy like that.

But why butcher innocent flowers?
What have they done to you?
You don't want your host to think you are a killer do you???

Here's the solution:
Duct Tape Roses.

Beautiful. Simple. Practical.

My kind of tea party!

Made by Berlin-based artist Yvonne Lee Schultz.
It makes me smile inside.


And every tea party needs the perfect table cloth, am I right?


Ha!

The fab Stephanie Fuchser

I spent the whole day hanging out with the fabulous Stephanie Fuchser (formerly Stephanie Lynn.)
We always have so much fun crafting together and hanging out, but we both get in our reclusive phases and don't get together enough.
We always talked about opening up a shop.
Unfortunately, another Stephanie and Annie beat us to it.
No really. Just look one does mosaics and the other paints.
Damn them and their togetherness and stuff!



So our plan today was to sew.
Did we sew? Hells no!
Instead we spent the day getting coffee and hanging out at JoAnns.
All day at a cheesy fabric store.
The day couldn't have been better!
On Friday we will actually sew. I swear.
Stephanie Fuchser is an amazing mosaic artist.
I always brag about her talents.

Just look.
My friends they got skillz, yo.

Friends, how many of us have them?

I've had a very uplifting week.
I come to realize how important my friends are and how much I love them.

I've been too caught up in my own depression about something that one person did to me a couple months ago, that I really haven't fully appreciated all the good people in my life.

This was my fab weekend:


I went to Carnaval and saw great peeps while enjoying the fabulous weather and amazing music. Then I went to a kid party and enjoyed some good parent company while laughing at the kids having a water fight.

I went out for the first time in a while with Cassandra and had a blast!

Jen and Jared came over and hung out and check out the chicken and the coop.
I was a little bored when they left. Next time I'll bolt the doors!

I spent the day emailing Holly and talking to her about the crazy family we unknowingly married into.

I talked to Stephanie for a long time and made a coffee date for tomorrow.

Yippee!!!

Good Friends, great weekend!!

tagged

My friend Jen tagged me.
I never respond to tags, not because I hate them, but because I'm too blog illiterate to figure it out.
I'm not sure how many times I was tagged in that facebook 25 Thing About Me thingy, but a bunch? And it wasn't that I didn't want to share my deepest secrets with people I hardly know... oh wait?
JK, actually I can't figure out how to even write a note in facebook.
Or most things in facebook.
I can comment and I can change my status.

So here is an example of my tag lameness.

The object is to go into your 6th picture folder and pull out your sixth picture.
Then you describe what is going on in the picture.
Easy-peasy? Not for moi.
I saved my picture, but then I lost it.
I thought I downloaded it, but this picture came up instead.

Sorry Jen, I tried.
At least I can try to explain this picture?
It was taken two years ago at Agua Linda farms.
We meet Catherine and Guillermo there and road the wagon out to pick pumpkins with the kids.

...and you can't believe what we saw!


hehe.

Etsy mishap

I have a problem.
Okay I have several problems, really.
But this particular problem is what we are delving into today.
This problem involves never reading directions.
I can never follow a recipe exactly.
I have a hard time putting together the complicated toys, and I leave all wiring and computer issues to my husband. He is the opposite of me. He'll be online fer days looking up directions and rereading them before trying to do a project. Not me! I have to just do it and figure it out for myself.

I guess this is because I'm an active learner. I can only learn by doing.
I can read the same paragraph over and over, but I won't figure it out until I do it for myself.


This is my rationale for my Etsy mishap, and I'm sticking to it!
Because I didn't read the etsy listing all the way through.
I reacted and I bought.

Here is what I did.
I thought I was buying a really cool scarf at a bargain price.
STOOPID.
Really, why would this scarf be only $5 and there is no shipping?


Hmm.... maybe because I just bought the pattern and not the actual scarf?
Now I'm trying to teach myself how to crochet ala youtube and kids books (because I can't follow the directions of grown-up books.)

Anyway, I'm sticking to my guns here, and I think this mishap was solely because I'm an active learner. Now I've actively learned to read postings carefully before purchasing them.
So if'n anyone out there knows how to crochet?

Monster Booty

Today I went on a brief excursion to 4th Ave in hopes to find myself a cool hand bag.
All mine are currently broken or in bad shape. Plus I got myself a little Birthday money.
Ye-haw, for that once a year BDay allowance from mom!!!
I ended up buying a cute little handmade purse from Monster Booty. I love her things and her new store is way cool.
Most of her stuff I really admire, but I often walk away thinking "I could make that."
Well, probably not the purse? Okay, maybe that too? But just maybe?
So today I actually did it!
Teagan really liked a certain cat pillow at the shop, and I went home and made a similar pillow out of fabric scraps I had around the homestead. And guess what? It didn't even suck!
It did come out a little more elongated than I had meant and I still may add to the eyes.
But all in all I am very proud of myself.
Plus it was free and took me only an hour to complete.





Teagan loves it, and Ari wants a dog one.
And I'm feeling preeety dang nifty!