Etsy and Other Things

And now for pictures.

Because I have Amelie's birthday and Christmas all at once, I feel like she gets a lot of gifts at one time, and she hardly understands the concept of one minute, if time at all, so explaining it to her is nigh impossible. It is kind of fun though. I have been trying to find things that will amuse her, and amuse me (the frou frou girly stuff). I found these two items on Etsy (where you can find anything! if you love cottage industry, you'll love this site!), and I am so excited!!

Black and White (bottomless) Tights/Leg Warmers!



Skirt




And I really think she's up to this:




But my hunch is she'll be too big for it in another 6 months to a year and someone else will probably want one too. Do I just get two for Christmas? Kind of expensive. What's your ideas?

Follow Ups

So, Amelie is yet to actually do anything whilst sitting you know where. A repeat performance of random self-imposed potty sitting occured this afternoon and whilst it was mysterious to see, I kept my mouth shut about it and didn't show up until she requested a clean diaper.
"Did you do anything?" I asked, knowing full-well she didn't.
"No, I didn' poop. I did a wee-wee, and then Jenny went to lunch."

(I still don't know who Jenny is, or how she managed to creep into that sentence).

I promise my blogs won't always just be the latest cute thing my kids have said. Although that line above, I'm sure, is going to haunt her most of her life. It's just struck me lately just how imaginative she can be, and now that her vocal power is in full swing, she's become so incredibly entertaining. She has, of course, been insanely cute ever since she was born, so adding wordage to her list of charms didn't hurt at all. But for some reason, over the past week or so, her imaginative story-telling has bloomed. She tells stories constantly. At home, outside, playing by herself, telling stories to Imogen, and (the most embarrassing) to anyone at the store who happens to stop long enough to get an earful. What can be difficult about it, is that sometimes people don't realize what she is saying is made-up, and I feel like I constantly have to keep saying, "she's just telling a story".

I'm sure thousands of other women all over the world have children just as delightful, but that's ok. I just figured if you're reading this, you'd also be able to relate to my own delights.

In other commentations...

Imogen broke my blue pot, but it was my own silly fault for not removing it from harms way.
Ryan is dressing up for work tomorrow. I'll try and snap a photo tomorrow morning while he's not looking.
I'm making up 6 boxes of TJ's mac and cheese. I have no idea how Ryan's going to get it to work tomorrow.
Outside the kids are having the time of their life, however in my short-sightedness I failed to see that my precious patio space, to them, is just another place to store their toys.

Completely Out of the Blue

After months and months of coersion, bribery, begging, treats, stickers, messes, and the final conclusion that it wasn't about her, that I was failing as a mother because my almost 3 yr old was still in diapers...

We come downstairs, and I put Immi in her high-chair and I notice Amelie is stripping off her pj's and muttering something about the potty.
"Do you need to go on the potty?" I ask her.
"No, I jus' need to poop."
"Okay."
She runs in her diaper to the bathroom, grabs the seat, and starts arranging it til it fits on the toilet.
"You need a hand?" I ask.
"No, I do it."
"Okay."
She strips off her diaper, and tries to roll it like I do, but has some trouble figuring where the stick tabs are.
"Need some help?"
"I don' know how," she says.
So I show her how I roll it and let her stick the tabs down. Then she clambers, limbs askew, onto the toilet. This is a long and somewhat painful looking process.
"You need some help?"
"No, I doin' it."
So she's sitting there, buck naked.
"You want a book?"
Shaking her bed head, "No."
There is an awkward moment.
"Sooo, I'll just go get Imogen organized and then I'll come back?"
"Ok." Then "You orgize Immi."

And that was that.

A conversation overheard... by Amelie

Da cricket, it's tiiiiiiny.

The cricket's talkin' to me...

It's holdin' its mama, cos it's so tiny...

I hear it!

It's holding its tutu. It's in its mouf. It's poopin'. With da frog.

We can't stop da b'loon. Not wif hoppin'. It's all gone. I put it on da floor.

Uh oh. Uh oh. What we gonna do? Uh oh! It's hold together. Yes it is. She's eatin' the dragon. She's eatin' it. Aaaaah! Alli, it's huuuuge! What we gonna do? Maybe.... uh oh, what's wrong baby? Mama's chasin'. It is?? Yeah, Mama's chasin'.

I hear da frog, Mama! I hear da frog!

Misc.

I have felt rather uninspired this week, probably because I have had more sleep and less time to dwell. Sleep deprivation really is the food for senseless and inane ramblings.

Last night we were saying good bye to guests, and there was a beautiful old red flat bed truck, you know the style that's very rounded? The engine growls like an old dog, and there is a romantic/nostalgic thing with it I just can't shake.



The patio is basically done!




Now the kids have a little space to play outside. We just need to do the frou frou things, put up a trellis, a vine of some kind (we're hoping for a fruiting passionfruit vine), maybe a little bistro chair and table set, and eventually some kind of fancy schmancy barbeque, which will probably take months and months to research (and save up for!), but eventually we will get the perfect one. I put all the coloured pots I had found for cheap at the beginning of spring out there, and it brightens up the area.



Maybe some 'erbs? I was also thinking of maybe a few bulbs in a big pot. Any suggestions?

another artist i like:

Lindsay Brackeen

A Day of Cute

Amelie broke a piece on her toothbrush, and asked for a band-aid for it, which I happily complied with. Later I heard her singing this song, to the tune of the ABC song.

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G...
A ban-deed fix'ed my toofbrush."


Later, Imogen was sitting down for a snack while Amelie wandered around. Immi sternly scolded her with:
"Ah-me! Dit down!!"


I keep creating ways to make Amelie say "noodles". She pronounces them "nerdles".

canyon country fire about to consume our home

this is by a couple at our church, most of you will know who they are

Weekend...

This weekend was great and not so great.

Great: patio progess (almost done!) and clean house.




Not so great: fires. lots and lots. bad.







I was sad the colours didn't translate so well, it as a bit darker and a lot more eerie. Everything looked bruised. I half expected a vampire to leap out and fang me. Or for the end of the world. Not so lucky on either count.

Scrapbooking is not for weenies and Raging Cynicism

I don't have that much gear.

No, let me start at the beginning. I never wanted to scrapbook. When I envisioned scrapbooking I saw long denim skirt-alls, appliqued blouses two sizes too large with puffy headbands that actually matched one of the fabrics of the applique. Maybe a head scarf or two... maybe a couple of large square lace collars. I saw women whose lives were so boring, pasting little pieces of paper on other pieces of paper was fun. I saw a major recession back to pre-school, like they'd joined their kids entertainments.

I was wrong.

Now, like knitting, it has turned the way of the hipsters, with more bling than a 50 cent show and definitely (in my circles) a clear lack of skirt-alls. I started scrapbooking because I wanted to meet and get to know the women in my apartment complex who get together occasionally to craft. They were the ones who opened my eyes to a completely different world, which, when governed by the idea that it's all going to burn anyway, let's you create (something I rarely get to do these days unless I'm producing offspring) and remember (something else I have no time to do unless it's reminding myself to start dinner).

It's my only hobby. That is something I hesitate to admit for fear I do fit into the above categories of "my life is so boring pasting little pieces of paper on other pieces of paper is fun" and "I've had a major recession and only enjoy what my kids enjoy".

If this is my only hobby, has my life really become this dull? I mean, I love scrapbooking. My pages are fun and interesting (I think). I'm getting better every page I do. I feel like it helps me focus on all the good things I have in my life and I'm more grateful and content after I scrapbook a page. I pray for the people in my photos when I scrapbook. It's a peaceful time (for me) and an all too rare time of contemplation and creativity. It's the only time like it I get in my life. That is very satisfying.

So why do I feel so boooooooring?

Is it just that I need another hobby? Other outlets? A part-time job? Am I not content enough in the "Christian" female ideal of "raising my kids is the only outlet I need"? I've never fitted the whole 'wifey-mothery' mold, which is about as uncomfortable as you can get in most Christian circles, and it's not like I'm dying to leave home and get away from my children, but there never seems to be a comfortable place for me to rest. (Why I have to label it I don't know, but that does tend to be my personality. You know: categories, labels etc, i crave order in my brain, if not enough in my life)

Subsequently, I seem to be too Christian for the arty people, and too arty for the Christian people. To liberal for the conservatives, and to conservative for the liberals. I love hard-core scrapbooking, but I hate crafts.

There is no clique for me. Which is logical and stupid all at the same time. Why would an arty person want to be labeled, and why would a labling person want to be creative?

Have any of my friends noticed I have such serious personality issues? :P

Anyway, this was going to be about the fact that I don't have that much gear for scrapbooking, and yet it's heavy to lug around and I often need at least one other person to help out, and that if you take your time and do a good job it takes a lot of concentration and a lot of thought and a long creative process (if you work on it like I do) and that can be pretty hard core sometimes. So you need to be physically strong, mentally strong, and emotionally strong to scrapbook. (I think, although now that sounds a lot more 'weenie' than I'd envisioned in my head.)

::Now on to the raging cynicism part::

But then I come home to a house that looks thrashed. Really it's just that the kids and I cleaned the kitchen of toys three times today (something that, to look at it, seems absurdly unlikely) but right before my husband got home they pulled out the toy box again. Also for the last three days they've played dress ups with my clean laundry, and I've folded it four times (that was on the first day) before I gave up and let them play with it because it was one activity they didn't fight about. It discourages me that two activities gone awry can depress me so much. Stupid things, small things that combined make me look (and subsequently feel) lazy. And of course, it's only when things are at their worst that you have unexpected guests see your house. They never seem to come when it's clean. (And believe it or not those of you who've seen my house, it does actually look clean, just not when you chose to come over). I'm tired of making excuses. "Oh sorry, the kids were playing" or "I'm sorry, we're in the middle of a project" or "I'm sorry, I've been busy taking care of sick kids for the last 5 weeks, haven't left the house in 2, haven't showered in 3 days and I feel like crap today... oh and I'm PMSing so just don't look at the mess." Even if it's true, and "life". Tired of it.

I look at these two, small, stupid activities strewn about my floors. They would probably take me 20 minutes (right now in the wee hours of the morning) to clean up. Thing is, within 10 minutes tomorrow, it'd look like this again. Do I really want to clean something up, that in 6 hrs will disappear, and while it's clean no-one can appreciate.

A better woman would say yes. Yes! Go take 20 minutes and just do it. Do it for yourself, do it for your family, do it for the Lord.

I am not that woman. God bless you, if she is you. You're a better woman than I. And I wish I could toggle that switch in my brain that keeps me from being you, so I'd fit in, stop making excuses, and finally have a perfectly clean house. All the time!

You try as hard as you can...

...not to let your kids watch too much tv, expose them to the wrong media, let them see too much advertising... and what happens?

Your two year old gets obsessed with this guy:



Ok, so she's nearly 3, but this has gone on long enough! Every day I hear Caillou, Caillou, Caillou... I have his theme song running over and over in my head. If I tell her she can't watch him, she actually breaks down and cries! I'm talking wails that would move the heart of God. We do do days without tv at all, but all day (on those days) I hear about 100 times (and I'm not exaggerating) "Mama, ki have some Caillou."

Egads! If I were literally pulling out my hair instead of figuratively, I would be as bald as that little chap.

I suppose I should be grateful that as far as obsessions go, the object of this one is relatively harmless (I say relatively because I do screen all episodes and there are some that are off-limits in our house). So there is that. She could have a thing for Barney (something I've been able to hold off so far).

Anyway, just for kicks you can go to one of Amelie's all time favourite places. "Mama, ki see Caillou on the peter?" What, you say? Exactly. Took me a few days to figure that one out. It's Caillou on the computer. Anyway, if you go to this site, pick an icon and the play with a grown up options and it will take you to a room. Pick the dollhouse, and you will enjoy Amelie's favourite activity (aside from watching the show). When you're done, click on the little girl's head and you can see little people in the dollhouse. That's her favourite part.

Enjoy!!

Long Way Round

So I found this show called "Long Way Round" on tv, and we've been watching episodes as they're made available on our free cable.

Pretty amazing. I don't know what is more interesting to me, the countries, the people, their friendship, the lessons they learn. I usually hate reality tv, (ok that's not quite true - but I won't tell you where I usually am on wed nights at 8pm), but this show actually seemed to have some substance (unlike the other one on wed nights that I may or may not watch).

Apparently going across Europe, Russia and around the world wasn't enough. Now they're going down through Africa too. These guys have cajones! (Can a wee little white girl say that?)

Anyway, they're very very er... brave.

And in my reality tv defense, most people have at least one superficial vice... so what's yours?

Sigur Ros - Glósóli

This has cheered me up over the last few days...

For those of you who don't know...

there is a tiny part in my brain that is actually retarded. It's a kind of social/creative/smart part, that is easily flummoxed and connected to all kinds of other parts of my brain that want nothing to do with this outcast clump of cells. Why do I bring this up now?

It's late. What better reason? I'm up with a cough that only gets worse with cough syrup. I've been sick for over a month, and I have no filters in my brain right now. (Okay maybe some, but most are trying to sleep).

So tonight, I take advantage of our new phone scheme that lets me call Australia for free. So I talk to my mum, and hear about my family. They all got together last weekend for the 1st Birthday of my niece, whom I've never met. Tonight they're going out to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday, and I won't be there to give her my present. I hear my father's voice and realize he isn't as young as when I left. Will I be surprised when I see he's aged? My mum talked to me about places that had changed, and some that hadn't, and how excited she is for me to be able to see all my old haunts. And I think about how my children are going to see those places I knew as a child and I feel suddenly old. She tells me about my grandparents being sick, and how she skipped church to try and minister to them this last weekend. About my sister's job grief and how badly she's been treated - oh and I got an email from her that just about made me want to cry I felt so bad. My poor sister whom I couldn't comfort. And then there's the fact that our dog, Connie, won't be there when I go because, as we suspected, she died while I was gone.
Then I talked to a friend of mine in Australia, because I wanted to give her our new phone number, and we talked a little while, maybe 30 minutes, before she had to go... because she has a lovely boy and her family needed her. And hearing how she's in this mum's group with girls who we used to go to high-school with - and I thought to myself how if I'd stayed, how I'd probably be in that group.

(What is it with these 'if's?)

But no I wouldn't because God put me HERE. In this place, in this time. HERE. And so I started feeling weird and homesick. R said, "What is homesick anyway?"
And you know what? I don't know anymore! You know why? Because THIS is my home. My family, my home. This is it.
So what is this undefinable feeling then? This longing for something that isn't mine, that might have once been, that is part of me but not anymore. I fear going home now, because I know it won't be the same, and the strangeness of it will make me want to flee back here, which apparently is home enough now. R says, "Why can't you just enjoy it for what it is?" And all I could think to say is, "What is it?"
All I know is I'll have that strange feeling of familiarity and strangeness, and me feeling like a stranger in it, like I don't belong anywhere anymore.
I think it was because my friend has a beautiful voice that conveys the accent so strongly that I can feel it coming back to me as I talk to her, and by the time I get off the phone I feel more Australian. But there was so much I wanted to ask her, so much I wanted to know, and the giddying effect on me was so delerious that I didn't want to let her go, and I think I made the whole thing more of a mess than it needed to be because I was feeling all woozy and "homesickwhateverthatis" and I realized how lonely I am for things of my own culture - as much as I've tried to assimilate and get over the embarrassment I felt about my own culture - I'm so lonesome for it. And just thinking about what a giant idiot I've been about it - the culture stuff, the homesickness, the desperate way I tried to keep my friend on the phone, the way I nearly cried when I found out I'd missed not only Beirut's show but also their Amoeba in-store appearance (see how retarded this is getting) well I just wanted to crawl into a ball of mess and cough myself to sleep.

Green Leaf In Drought - Isobel Kuhn Quote 1

Alone in the kitchen amid her drab tasks Wilda suddenly remembered two tracts. One was by A.B. Simpson entitled, "The 'If' in Your Life." The other was by Hudson Taylor on "Second Causes."
If only that letter had not come, inviting us here. What about the "if"? She got them and read: "'Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.' And He could have been there; He was not far away. He knew all about it, and He let him die. I think it was very hard for that woman... I have come to think that there is an "if" in every life... It is something that God could have made different, if He had chosen, because He has all power; and yet He has allowed that 'if' to be there.
"I do not discount the 'if' in your life. No matter what it is... Come to the Lord with your 'if', and let Him say to you what He said to Martha. He met her 'if' with His 'if'! Said I not unto thee that IF thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? The glory of God is to come out of the 'if' in your life...
"Do not be thinking of your 'if'. Make a power of your 'if' for God...
"Do you know that a light is to fall on your 'if' some day? Then take in the possibilities and say 'Nothing has ever come to me, nothing has ever gone from me, that I shall not be better for God by it...'
"Face the 'if' in your life and say, For this I have Jesus."

The second tract said: "The secret of Hudson Taylor's rest of heart amid such tempests of hate was his refusal to look at second causes... He believed it was with God, and God alone, he had to do." When his dear wife died, Hudson Taylor wrote, "If satisfied with His will and way, there is rest."

Ruth 3:18: Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall.



Do you have an if? Two, three? Do you look at second causes, instead of dealing directing with God? The answers to those questions made me very uncomfortable. I'm still processing.

I'm Such A Girl!

Option One



Option Two





Mary-Janes and Payless are a match made in heaven!

Hairclips & Housekeeping

So today I had a couple of errands to do and I took Amelie with me to the mall. One of the things I wanted to do was go to Gymboree and take advantage of a 50% off coupon I had, and raid their sales rack. Given that I have two girls, I feel a bit more like I can buy better quality clothing because I know that it'll see two kids, but I'm still a stingy queen of cheap and buy stuff uber discounted. (quick question, is "uber" too 1999?)

Well first we went to see the puppies, because it's a treat when we do that, and Amelie always has great stories about it when we get home. (Is that selfish, to take her there just because I want to hear her stories?) Anyway, seeing a living, breathing creature in the middle of the mall makes it feel a little less like it's sucking the life force out of me. She very much enjoyed the puppies. She saw one with a rather cute nose and it very much wanted to touch her. "I want it," she says in this innocent kind of way, which sounds more like she wants the joy of being with it as opposed to a demanding toddler kind of way. So I tell her, "pray and ask God to give mama and papa a house with a backyard and then we'll get you a puppy". (later on, R asked me if that was a good idea. what if God suddenly did give us a house, then she'd expect a puppy, and right now she's too young for a puppy. he's right. but 1. it reflected our confidence that God can do amazing things like that, and so comforted me instead of chastising me and 2. if God answered a prayer like that for her, I'll start getting her to pray for other things! and faith like that deserves a puppy. ok maybe not exactly but you get my drift).

So on we went to Gymboree and boy did I make that coupon stretch. All my fellow clearance junkies -holla! I did you proud.

But there was one thing I saw that I didn't pay bottom dollar for... although it was still on clearance. I just couldn't resist and so to justify it, I'm going to give them to Amelie for her birthday (which is only 2 months away so I don't have to wait long).




She loved them, and so I can't wait to give them to her!

Also, I was very proud of myself. I spent way less than usual at the grocery store today. One of my goals right now, to reduce waste and focus on being a diligent budgeter is to buy less when I got shopping... seems logical right but here's the deal. Because of our car situation, I could only go grocery shopping maybe twice a month. So I'd try and buy a ton of stuff to last us 2 weeks or so, which is fine with things like cereal, or meat I can freeze, but you just can't buy produce and expect that romaine lettuce head to be as fresh two weeks later as the day you bought it. So I'm just going to have to figure out how to do this but here are my goals:

1. better meal planning. this way I can a) not be so stressed out when it comes to 5 pm and I have to think about food for the 10th time in the day and b) buy what we need for the meals we're having, and not a random cupboard crapshoot. won't always work perfectly, but hopefully...
2. buying less = spending less + wasting less

...so I feel better, not just about meal preparation, but also about the state of my fridge, and plugging the hole that (I feel like) keeps hemorrhaging money and food.

Sorry, that got even a bit too "housewifey" even for me. This really was just meant to be a post about how much I loved being with Amelie today, and that I got to buy her some fun, funky hair clips!

Imagine if praise and worship was like this...

#60.9 - 60.10 - Zach Condon feat. Kocani Orkestar - Sunday
Uploaded by lablogotheque

...especially the second song!

One of my favourite things - Silver Jewelery

friend of a friend of a friend blog surfing today and found this. Beautiful work!

Wooohooo!

I did not think my previous Sigur Ros experiences could be improved upon, but apparently they can!

Check out the trailer here!

And we're going on Sunday!! (My husband is THE MAN!)

If the trailer alone can make me teary, I have no idea what watching the entire movie will do. R will probably have to scrape me off the floor and carry me home in his arms.

(Which I guess wouldn't be such a bad thing, eh?)

Communion at Pottery Barn

On Being Pretentious

Somebody, (I won't say who because most of us know him), but somebody said something about blogs and soul sucking pretension.

He may be right. He may well be. But I just wanted to say, I do this because so many people who I care about and who care about me are far, FAR away. I've moved a friggin' country, and with the rate our friends move away... well let's just say you have to become uber diligent about keeping up, and sometimes a catch up call or letter doesn't cut it. IT can be just as soul-less as a blog. When you catch a glimpse of little things in someone's life, it becomes personal, and that is what I'm trying to do for my distant relationships in a genuine attempt to nurture what few relationships are afforded me.

So I hear-by give you all permission, if I get at all pretentious, to call me out on it.

How to feel "American"

sit on the floor in your living room, drink a starbucks latte, listen to radiohead, look at romantic getaways in far away destinations on your wireless cable internet, kill a spider, give your child cough syrup, feel American, feel proud, feel sick.

Happy Things

I don't know what blog to put this one in, it's kind of all encompassing...

We have a computer!



And internet!




And now I am here...

When Amelie first saw the computer, she exclaimed and pointed at the lid of it and said "Look, someone take a bite! On the apple!" It was quite humourous.

If I did another...

I'm thinking of making up a "happy moments" journal type thing, for every day. I think I need it. What do you think?

Sick Day (cont.)

A slow day, full of lazy photo-taking and seemingly fruitless googling. However, we did establish that baldness caused by stress is not permanent.

p.s. i'm having formatting issues with blogspot. particularly with photos. sorry if they're funky at times.

p.p.s. yes, their pj's match, and yes, i know i said i'd never put them in matching pjs but there are a couple of reasons for that. 1, the print and 2, they were super clearance at gymboree. price won over my priss.

We're all at home sick today

Amelie, Me, Imogen

Sweet Land

I just got done watching the movie. Worth a view I'd say. It's like photographs sometimes... lovely photographs of life.

The reason I mention it mostly, was because love stories that are born out of hardship inspire me to greater things. Suffering is not the end, it can be a comma...

They quote Keats - from Book 1 of Endymion

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Lately

Whitney's obtainment of some outstanding produce reminded me of my quest for healthier living, which I have been pondering of late.

Right now I am researching local produce, hobby farms, inner city gardens, milk delivery from local dairies, and how to start my own garden in the "backyard", along with my own compost heap.

Amongst other kicks that I'm on, this past week I have been trying to watch some good b&w films, as you may be able to tell from my recommendations to the right, whilst my kiddos nap, and I type. As a result, I suggest that these two men are rather dashing, and I like the cut of their jib.

For Naomi:

even if you've already seen this, it will cheer you tremendously!

News Hopping

ever do this some days? I did it on msn today, and found this, which explained a lot, and led me to this, which made me feel like I didn't have it so bad, which then led me to this, and that made me wonder what the world was coming to!


But earlier, R showed me this and that has kept me happy all day!

(I'm not so shallow, I just needed some cheering)

I don't know...

...why I dread it so, because bath time is so much fun!

love it, love it, love it

check her out: mixed media artist Julie Molina

Because I Can

add to R's job description: freelance editor and personal dj
add to my job description: image management co-ordinator

i was thinking today about apologies, and being bull-headed, and being friends

thank you rogue wave