Domesticated

Due to the encouragement of one of my good friends and fellow blogger (The Bonjour Family), I am trying to add pictures to my posts. Check out my delicious banana pudding and The Wee One modeling my awesome apron!

Some of you are my Facebook friends, and therefore might have seen my comment a few weeks back about finally being domesticated. It's really becoming true! As The Husband and I have discussed many times, he knew what he was getting into when he married me. I pretty much don't cook, bake very little, absolutely hate (therefore seldom do) cleaning - in general, my "domestic" skills are lacking.

However, from time-to-time, I jump out of my comfort zone and surprise myself (and usually everyone else). During this year, we have had a mini-baby boom among our friend base. Literally, between January to May, we had 11 friends have babies. That means 11 baby gifts. I don't know if you have been in the market for baby gifts lately, but to get a decent gift you are gonna spend a minimum of $15 and more like $20-25. Fine and dandy in a typical baby year, but when you have this many going on, it just gets crazy! Originally, I had a friend's mother make some changing pads, patterned after one we got for The Wee One. As much as I loved what she did, as more baby announcements and shower invites turned up, I realized I wouldn't be able to afford someone else making them (by the way, she was totally affordable if anyone needs a really cute baby gift).

Therefore, after a wonderful offer by another friend to take her old sewing machine, I decided I could put these gifts together myself and save a little money. After a night of cursing the machine - knowing deep down that it was most likely user-error, I got a little help and actually put together 5 really cute changing pads! I was so stinkin proud of myself!

Looking at the extra material I had on my table, I decided I would try an experiment. I got our apron out of the closet and after examining it, I figured I could put one together for The Wee One. Yes, the person who hasn't really sewn since she was forced to by her mother in jr. high, tried to put an apron together without a pattern.

Guess what?!?! I did it - and it turned out super cute. Cute enough that I put one together for my little niece as well. Now, I openly admit that they are not perfect and I need some time to develop my craft, but nevertheless I DID IT! That same night, I was so inspired that I actually whipped up a batch of banana pudding...from scratch! Yeah, I rock! Wonder how long this will last? Hum....

Pictures of my mom's art

Golden Landscape

David Facing Goliath


Bamboo Cathedral (yes, that is a sold marking on the tag!!!)

Moon Portal

Oh Momma Mia!

Running River

Parish Hill

Five Birds on a Wire

Okay, as promised, here are some pictures of the work at my mom's show. I would love to know what you think about these pieces and if you are interested in purchasing any of the work, I would love to chat with you about that as well. : ) I will post more later.

Art

For those of you who don't know, my mother is an artist. She has been painting for years - literally since she was about 14. She has even studied art and has a master's degree in the field. That said, she doesn't consider herself a professional at this point because she can't do it full-time and make a living off it - yet!

She had a show this last Friday. One of her friends owns a photography studio and asked her to be the first in a series of monthly art shows. My mother pulled out a few older paintings that she really liked and then frantically painted about 6 new ones to get the show ready. I have to say, as a complete show, this one is probably my favorite. I actually love my mom's work, and no, that's not just because she's my mom. I have always liked her art. Even the paintings that I am not personally crazy about, I always find interesting.

For this show, I honestly liked almost all the paintings. There were about 8 (out of 14) that I would actually hang in my house. The main thing that I think I am most drawn to about my mother's art is her use of and vision for color. Even her muted paintings have amazing color to them. I told her that is probably her signature as an artist - she uses color like few others. Of course, I am not an art critic, but I have been to several shows from several different artists and rarely see paintings that show the vibrant colors of our world.

As the artist, she of course, loves something different...the meanings behind each one. She does love her colorings, but she is much more drawn to the significance of the work. She does a lot of religious-based art and is deeply drawn to that. At the same time, she loves to paint more abstractly and uses that method as an outlet for her inward passions, fears, thoughts, dreams, etc. It all depends on what is "speaking to her" at the time - I guess that's how artists work. I will say that much of her work is truly inspired and holds deep meanings.

Maybe this has sparked interest for someone about my mom's art...I hope so. She is in the process of developing a web page for her work, but until then, I will post a few of her more recent works - as soon as I get home and download them from my camera. : )

Camping - with all the bells & whistles included

After a very long debate about what to do this past weekend, we loaded the car with all our camping gear and headed out to Colorado - Monument Lake and Cuchara to be exact. Sounds lovely right?

For the most part, it was a nice trip. Our main purpose to was to escape the 100 degree heat we've been experiencing at home...mission accomplished! The highest it got up there was 87 I think. Very nice! The scenery was wonderful - right on the edge of some good-sized mountains, wonderful pine trees, great lakes!

The biggest part of my trip...I caught my first fish! It wasn't a biggie. Actually, it was pretty small, but at least I FINALLY got to experience the thrill of catching one. It really was a thrill, too. I loved it. As The Husband said, I'm now officially "hooked". Poor joke, I know. I don't do the killing & cleaning part though...that's why The Husband was there, right? HA! After the fish was officially dead, we set it down while we threw a few more casts. The Wee One saw it and rather than messing with it (good girl!), she came to tell me it was "Fish...sleep...nite, nite." Love it!

So, with all this cool stuff going on, what could be bad? HA! Here we go...
1. While Little Einsteins are cool and all, I can only take so much. On the bright side, The Wee One's vocabulary now includes: "mission", "pat", "clap", "explore", and various other words that she repeats as the show plays.

2. The wind was freakin' ridiculous! For some reason, even in the mountains, the wind likes to blow and twist around me. Hum...tolerable if it weren't so dry and dusty. Oh well. The car needed a full cleaning (inside and out) anyway. : )

3. Managed to catch something in our back tire. Didn't have a blow-out - thank goodness, but tore it up enough on the side that we had to get a brand new one! Keep in mind, we just replaced all 4 tires about 3 weeks ago. Humph!

4. We were in bear country. No big deal right? Clean up your area, don't leave food out, no problem. Wrong. We did all that and still managed to get a curious visitor around midnight on our last night there.

Yeah, that might have been the coolest/scariest thing of the trip. Bears are so cute - even in the silhouette against the tent. However, it scared the poop out of us. We had all been asleep and The Wee One started to whimper from her little baby tent (it is in the big tent with us, but it is her sleeping space). I patted her back and she went back to sleep. I think it was God's way of making sure we were mildly awake for the next bit.

About 5 minutes after that (might have been longer - who knows), The Husband pops his head up and yells at me "There's a bear! I'm not *bleep*, there's a bear in our campsite!" The yell is almost a whisper, but you could tell there was real feeling behind it. I pop up and see bright lights and then...the cute little silhouette. Yikes! There's a bear in our campsite!!!

There was a large group of people camping a little way down from us and I guess they had been up talking and saw the bear come down from the woods. They had their car lights on it and were yelling at it to scare it away. Glad they did. That's what woke us up. The Husband jumped up and started hitting his fishing knife against the table in our tent. Black bears typically scare easily and I guess it worked because we couldn't see him. After a while, The Husband decided to check outside. I will admit, I was not super keen on this idea. However, he put on his super sexy head lamp and headed out. The people from down below came to talk to him and as far as anyone could tell, the bear decided to head back to the woods. Good.

While he was gone, I gotta say, The Husband and I didn't sleep all that well the rest of the night. I couldn't even bring myself to use my full air mattress. I slept on the side farthest away from the tent wall, just to be safe. : ) We moved The Wee One's little tent away from the tent wall as well. I finally crashed, but for a good while, every little movement made me jump. Crazy.

We love to camp, so we will be back out there this summer. I just don't think it will be in official bear country next time. Bears: 1...Campers: 0

My child

I haven't written about The Wee One in a while so I thought I would share a bit of her craziness with you. First off...she saves this stuff just for us. She spent the weekend with her AuntieE and was tame and lovely the entire weekend. Then when we showed up she started running around the house and being weird again. Goofy girl.

I think the funniest thing recently was the day she insisted on screeching throughout the house. For some reason, she thought it would be hilarious to run through the house and screech at the top of her lungs. Let me tell you, the girl has pipes! So she runs through the kitchen, passes to look at us and screech, and then starts to run out. As she goes, we are both making the "shhhh" sign and saying it too. Her response was to screech from the living room. Then, she comes running into the kitchen screeching. She stops. Looks up at us. Tells us "shhhh"....then runs out, screeching again. I laughed so hard.

This morning, was classic. I was pouring my morning cup of coffee and we had a Nickel Creek cd playing. She decided it was time to show off her dancing skills in full force. She came into the kitchen and stood directly in front of me and said "dince" (dance). She started to shake her hips - let me tell you, the girl can shake it. She says "shaka shaka shaka". She was really getting down today. She has some serious rhythm and was shaking her hips and shoulders like a pro. Then she adds in her silly arm pumps and it is just a riot! She was grinning so big and was just so stinkin happy. You couldn't help but laugh.

Right now, she is just being sweet. As I sit at the table typing, she has decided to sit in the chair next to me and just talk and color. That is, she's doing that when she isn't standing up in the chair trying to pull the sheer curtains over so she can play peek-a-boo ("paku") with them. Precious little girl.

It's all about the shoes

In no way do I want this read wrong, but...I loved having the weekend without my child! The Husband and I went to celebrate our 7 year anniversary and left The Wee One with The Sister 1. It was lovely (that was my word for the weekend).

We got to rest, do some wine tasting, go to a bookstore without chasing a child around, eat delicious meals, and spend some good quality time together. : ) Only bad thing...it was a high of 110 degrees (108-111 depending on who you listen to - to me, anything over 99 is a bit insane). Man it was hot, but it was a dry heat. For anyone who lives in a dry heat, you know what I mean by that. It truly makes a HUGE difference. When we were at the family wedding a few weeks ago, it was only in the low 90s, but do to the humidity, it was so stinking HOT!

I "dressed" for the entire weekend and loved it. I should do that more at home, but I just don't really see the point. And definitely not wearing sexy high heels at home. I don't really believe that the women of the 50s even did that. I firmly believe that they were either barefoot or in slippers all day and then threw on their heels right before their hubbies came home. I do think I need to dress up at least once a week - not church dress stuff...more the "I'm a sexy, hot momma" dress. It really made me feel good and I know The Husband liked it.

Funny what a pair of heels can do. Friday night I was just in denim carpi's with a black tank and a white button down tied around my waist but...with the strappy little heels, I rocked it. If I had put the ever so much more flip flops with the ensemble, it just wouldn't have been the same. Nevertheless, while I loved the feel and the looks (yes, I actually got "checked out" - that hasn't happened in a while), my feet have paid the price. Oh my goodness, they were killing me every night and still a little on Sunday. Oh well...worth it.

So, it was a great weekend - we had fun, The Wee One had fun, The Sister 1 had fun...good times.

Blood makes the grass grow...kill, kill!

I hate snakes! Yes, I know there are very few people out there who have a different opinion on that issue, but I really, really, really hate them!

With that information in hand, you can imagine my reaction to the near-death run-in I had today (okay, it really wasn't that bad, but in my mind it was). The Husband, The Wee One, and I had been on a little walk, and as we returned to the house, he went around back while The Wee One and I went inside. I took my shoes off and then noticed The Wee One's nose was running. Her tissues were outside on the stroller, so with her in my arms, I opened the door...

I lifted my bare foot...

I started to lower my bare foot...

I saw the snake directly under my bare foot...and quickly ran back into the house.

My fear of snakes is just not something I can get over. I can tell myself as many times as I want that they are more afraid of me that I am of them, but when I see a snake I freak out! So I turned to my best defense - The Husband. While holding The Wee One, I ran to the kitchen and yelled out the window to the backyard..."SNAKE!" "SNAKE!". I should mention that in my panic, the fact that the window was closed managed to escape my attention. Poor man. He looked up at me, but couldn't figure out what the heck I was saying. I'm sure he thought something had happened to The Wee One since I was holding her and jumping around like a freakin' monkey on crack.

He comes running to my rescue and once he finds out what I'm freaking out over, he calmly goes to the front door (which I left open like an idiot) to check things out. He tells me that creature that has turned my insides to jumping beans is officially a rattlesnake. Lovely. I will admit that it was little - about 3-4 inches long - and moving slow, but it's still freaky.

The Husband goes to get a killing device - a garden hoe - while I moved to a safe location on top of the step stool, with The Wee One. He proceeds to chop the head off the beast that has terrorized my life, and remove it to the dumpster. He is truly my hero! Upon returning, he patrolled the outside of the house, checking for any other snakes or signs of snakes. Nothing.

While that makes me mildly more comfortable, I am still freaked out and have already ordered liquid snake repellent. I know that it does not work 100%, but I have been told that it does work somewhat. The next step is to get the kayak off the ground, but other than that, the house is in a good snake-free state. Thinking I might start feeding the cat that keeps checking out our garden...every safety precaution helps - at least in my mind.

Part of my snake-phobia has always been there. I don't know what it is, but I have an involuntary reaction of running like the wind whenever I see one. Even dead ones can make me run. Nothing can make you feel so wimpy as running in circles in a parking lot after seeing a dead snake. Anyway, I actually have a true-life reason for my phobia.

The Husband was bitten by a copperhead a few years back. To be fair to the snake, it was The Husband's fault. For some reason, he felt he needed to get something out of his outdoor box at 11:30 at night...in his flip-flops...without a head lamp. Therefore, he stepped on the snake and was bitten. Here's the kicker...I got to be the hero that time.

I was sitting inside and I heard a horrible yell. The Husband came running in, jumping around, with blood on his foot. I moved like lightening...first to stand on the futon and then after realizing he needed help, to find a bandage to put on the bleeding foot. Within minutes, we had the foot wrapped lightly and head lamps on our heads shinning brightly. We ran to the Jeep and I drove like a mad-woman the 25 miles to the hospital. The road was a windy, two-lane road in the middle of a national forest (therefore, surrounded by trees). For the first few minutes, The Husband was totally lucid and calm enough to find this somewhat funny. He started calling his brothers and friends to tell them he just gotten bitten by a snake.

Then all of the sudden, he got quiet. I looked at him and he had slumped over, almost passed out. So while driving over the speed-limit, on this windy, dark, tree-lined, two lane road, I started screaming at him and slapping his face. He woke up, but was groggy so I tried talking to him. It quickly progressed from a conversation to a question/answer session. I was asking him simple things like "What's your mom's name?", but he was having a hard time processing almost anything. I finally got him to repeat the alphabet over and over till we got to the hospital. By the time we actually pulled up, I was having to remind him what the next letter was through about half the alphabet. I was outwardly totally under control, but inwardly losing it! Once we got to the hospital, all was well. He got sick about 30 minutes after we got there and then was just exhausted for a long time. They kept him over night in the ICU to monitor him (they don't give the anti-venom unless you really need it). The next day he was released with a swollen foot, but that was all. Thank God!

About all I can say for my heroism this time is that I didn't drop The Wee One when I saw the snake. Go me!

She's growing too fast!

Okay, so anyone with kids can attest to this statement: Goodness they grow quick!

Last week, The Husband and The Wee One left me for 3 nights to visit family. I had a prior engagement so I couldn't join them till Friday. When my baby left she was...well, adorable of course, but she amazed me when I saw her on Friday. Within 3 days she had not only changed in her appearance...I swore her face looks different and she has to be taller...but she had new sayings and words. How does this happen?

So, the newbies...100% precious. "Bless you" "Excuse me" "Sorry" "Oh gosh"

I don't even know where the "Oh Gosh" came from - it's not something we say around here, but I love that she has picked up on the polite ones. Yippee!

The "Oh gosh" was a total trip the first time I heard it. We were at our niece's high school graduation reception and The Wee One had a little glass of tea. She wanted a sip and tilted it just a bit too much. The tea spilt on her pants and in a very desperate voice she said "Oh no...oh gosh". I so wish I had a recording of it because it was HILARIOUS!

Okay, that was Friday. On Saturday, we joined some more family at the local amusement park. Of course, there are only about 4 rides that she is tall enough for her to ride, but that didn't matter. She only really cared about one...THE BOATS! Sure she enjoyed herself on the other ones, but any time we let her out of the stroller, she would run with total abandon to the boats. Yeah, she is her father's daughter.