something new

My good friend asked me to make a flower girl basket and a head-piece for her daughter. Of course, this is something I love to do and loved the challenge of this one. The flowers for this wedding are these unusual purple and turquoise orchids...

Now since it is highly unlikely I can find a silk/fake version of this amazing flower, I did the next best thing... I improvised. The bridesmaids are wearing dresses in this deep turquoise color...so, for some reason I felt like I could go fun and funky with this task. I hope I succeeded and that she loves it. The purple isn't quite as vibrant as the orchids, but is more so than the pictures indicate. (fingers crossed)

And since I don't have a little girl to model for me to see how it's gonna look, the 2 year old I do have seemed the right size. (he didn't love it so I bribed him with cookies...)

schizo templates and DELIGHTful dishtowels

My designer hubby is creating a new look for me on this blog. But rather than wait, I am trying out all sorts of new looks from templates I find. Therefore, each time you visit, you may see something new. :) (You just never know what you will find here.)

Let me know if something strikes your fancy.

On another, completely separate, totally random and unrelated note....

I found more dishtowels to light up my life (and kitchen):

the paci fairy and other oddities

Well, it's official. Little a. will not be heading to kindergarten with a pacifier. Thank goodness. (Or maybe I'm being a bit dramatic here since he isn't quite 2 and a half. )

It's been a few weeks since we sent the remaining 2 pacis to "THE PACI FAIRY". Never heard of her? Apparently she takes the pacis from all the big boys and girls and "recycles" them (ewwww!) on to new babies that might need them. A. was very good about all this. No tears. No fits. No severe emotional distress. He'll occasionally ask about it...and then remind himself, "oh, yeah..I a big boy.... and Paci Fairy"....will come out of his mouth.

Okay, so another hurdle in the process of growing up. We also removed his crib rail and he's been pretty excited about "his brand new bed"! And he's only fallen out twice!! :) I have peeked in a few times and pushed him to the wall so as to intercept a potential crisis.

Now...POTTY TRAINING.

(good grief.)

hotter than....

In the spirit of this excruciating summer heat, I asked my southern bred husband for his take on some funny country idioms. Here we go:

It's hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch.

It's hotter than 2 bears fighting in a forest fire.

It's hotter than 2 rats "wrestling" in a wool sock. (this one is particularly funny when you input the verb of your choice)

It's hotter than a monkey's uncle.

(and the one I alluded to previously...)It's hotter than a 2bit "ho" in a country church.

It's hotter than Justin Beiber. (added by the 8y/o)

You go now.....give me some of your favorites. Make me laugh.

greetings from the crypt

Um...hello?

Helllll-ooooo?

Anybody out there??

Woh. Hey. Hi-ya.

How ya been?

I'm surfacing from the hell , fun that was summer.

Gosh, has it been an entire summer vacation since I last visited here? I have been so delinquent! Hmmm....how do I summarize the past few months in one blog post?

Well, j. did it again. He turned another year older. I can't believe he's 8! We're about to embark on 3rd grade in a few days and are counting down the hours, minutes, days...

He had a fun, chill bday with friends and a movie on our lawn with some backyard olympics.

It lasted into the wee hours (well, 10pm or so) on account of that pesky fact that it doesn't get dark until 9 or so and we still had a movie to watch.

There were camps, a beach trip with 17 people, a lot of pool time, books, books, and more books and HOTTER than a 2bit...oh, wait...nevermind...summer. So hot the pool is not much of a respite at 85 degrees. Yeah, refreshing.

I managed to maintain sanity (sort of) with a bored 8 year old and a testy 2 year old towards the end. And I have had loads of mommy guilt over how I handled some of these days. Such is life...and it goes on.

I am currently getting reenergized in my creative business...of which has completely fallen by the wayside and is practically non-existent but the ideas are starting to flow again. And that is a good thing.

So, what's new with you? And are you still there? I wouldn't blame you for ditching....

OH gosh, AND we'll be able to bless the world (with a little help from ABOVE) with a new little face come March. Yes, Lord help me....

So, besides being hot...I've been pukey, migrainey, and full of joy. ;)

details, details...

The last week of school is always super fun. And it's always super busy! Today is the last day. I am going to lay out my agenda here (mostly so I can get a big picture of how I need to lay out my day)

10a- pack up stuff I need to take to school (supplies for ice cream party, teacher gifts, and lunch for j)

11a-lunch w. j at school

11:40-12-deliver teacher gifts

12-12:30- ice cream party for first grade class that won Reflections Class Contest

1-1:30-clean up/bring 2 yr old home for nap

2-3- blissful rest (hopeful for a nap??)

3- bus stop/big kid home from last day as a second grader!

4-5-Chiropractor

5-6-take kids to grandmommy to play and eat dinner and meet daddy

7-midnight- go to work

When I lay it out, it doesn't seem so bad?... I just tend to get kind of flummoxed by the details...like, how am I going to keep the ice cream frozen all that time before the party....and how am I going to haul all this in while keeping one eye on the 2 year old trailing behind...?

hmm...sounds like a typical day for a typical suburban mom, doesn't it?

On another note.. j's Honors Day this year was a bit more satisfying than the rant I had last year...(sorry you had to witness that.) j had an AMAZING teacher this year who is actually leaving teaching to be an Instructional Technology Specialist at another school next year. We should all be sad when a great teacher leaves the classroom. It is a collective loss.

She really took her time to consider the best aspects of each child to honor and created a wonderful little presentation of certificates as well as a fabulous/sweet slide show.

If I can figure out how to show it here, I might post it.

So, here we are. Ready for summer. Next on my list....planning j's 8th birthday party. NEXT WEEK! (yikes.)

To be continued.....

LOST

For the past, hmmm....9 years(?), hubby and I have had a long-standing date night once a week that consisted of settling on the couch and tuning into a J.J. Abrams drama. With, first, Alias, then LOST, we were able to formulate predictions and wrestle with conclusions to these highly intelligent and interesting shows that elevated prime-time television and got us to think about crazy conspiracies and unimaginable plot-lines. We would count down the hours until the next episode, especially the season openers. J even had an email blast that he would put together to "debrief" Alias plots.

But. Now. They're done.

Now what? Nothing, nothing, is as good.

I am more than a little sad.

( And yes, this is pathetic. :0)