Allow myself to introduce... myself

Hola!

2010-01-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

There have been many goings on in the Hale/Moreno household of late, but please rest assured Dear Reader(s), that I have continued on my daily creativity path, even if I haven't been reporting. Given that I've been so seriously stretching the definition for what qualifies as creative, how can I help BUT to succeed?

Two pieces of business, if I may:

First and foremost - PLEASE rush over to this link and vote my friend Tif at dottie angel as the Favourite Handmade Crafter (the 'u' in the word means it's British) at PoppyTalk. As most of you are aware, Tif is my dear brilliant friend who got me to start blogging, and my world has been all sunshine and daisies ever since. And though my blog is not the brilliant piece of work that Tif's is (did you KNOW she was in the last issue of Artful Blogging magazine?!), I admire her every step of the way. Tif stopped by yesterday and visited me at the day job, and NOT ONCE did she try and shamelessly garner any votes from me. Tif is humble to say the least. Now VOTE! I'll wait here until you come back.....

(Click here to vote) and select dottie angel

Thing two: PLEASE visit our new blog and tell us what you think! http://thepeopleofcraigslist.blogspot.com/

Your Rice Krispies would want you to visit that new blog!

Keepin' On with the Keepin' On

2010-01-14T07:12:00.000-08:00

The thought occured to me just now while I was using the restroom (who doesn't do 90% of their thinking there??), that we are the kind of family you would see on "It's Me or the Dog", and laugh at because they're so ridiculous about the things they let their dogs get away with. Now, for those of you without children or pets, who do not spend hours of your lives watching Animal Planet: "It's Me or the Dog" is a show whereby a dominatrix pet trainer by the name of Patricia Stillwell goes into the homes of crazy people and trains their dogs to quit humping visitors.

Not that humping is our problem.... for the most part.

Argus is still a puppy with puppy energy, but he's now passed the 'delicate garden flower' weight class and LEAPED into the 'stocky bully' weight group. This is mainly a problem for his favorite playmate Jazz, who weighs fifteen pounds when she's soaking wet, with a ten pound weight vest on. So their playing in the house mostly consists of Jazz skittering through the house with Argus lumbering after her at full gallop, destroying everything in his path until Jazz hides under something... anything.

Even the Christmas tree.

I'm sure you're horrified by the thought that we still have our Christmas tree up, what with it being midway through January and all. But please let me make my case. First of all, our tree is fake, so it's not going to turn brown and drop needles all over the place. Secondly, it's decorated in a Seahawks theme (same as last year), and so we decided to keep it up until the Superbowl. And YES I KNOW that the Seahawks were no where close to being in the Superbowl this year (or anytime soon for that fact), but when you're a diehard fan as Scootchie is, you take no notice of these mere formalities.

So the tree was knocked down last night, and we lost even more of the expensive glass seahawks ornaments that I have worked so hard to amass at half price after Christmas sales. Would you BELIEVE that I had to stop Argus from trying to chew on the broken ornament glass?

Creativity:

Tuesday, January 12th - I don't remember Tuesday. At all. I'm 35 now... be gentle.
.... Oh wait! That's when I declared in those last moments before bed that we should start a new blog called The People of Craigslist, and post some of the ridiculous ads we see. Then Scootch put on his snorkel mask and we fell asleep.

Wednesday, January 13th - Not having enough commitments, I started a new blog - called... you guessed it! The People of Craigslist! I can justify this one because its been monetized, which means that any day now I can quit my job and dedicate myself full time to my vast internet empire.

Also on Wednesday, I turned an ordinary cute little purse I found on clearance for $6 into an expensive combination of purses for Brittany to carry her diabetes supplies in style and comfort. For those who don't know, Brittany is my step-daughter, and she was diagnosed with insulin-dependant type 1 diabetes this past year. Wednesday was her birthday, and so I wanted to make her something nice. So I made her these cute labels, with the help of one of my favorite blogs, Just Something I Made. I don't have Photoshop, so I have to fiddle with things a bit and they look a little messy, but I think you get the gist. This was the label I made for Brittany's bag:

I use a program called SnagIt, because it's free (version 8, which is gr8), and because I use it for a ton of stuff. You can capture and save anything on the web with SnagIt, even pesky protected pictures and stuff that pretend they can't be captured. Since I do everything only for my own personal use, I'm not really doing anything overly evil.

So I use SnagIt to capture the frame I wanted from Cathe Holden's free frames (the blog link above). Her blog is so wonderful because, not only does she always have great ideas, but she SHARES them, which makes her my hero.

Because I'm doing all of this crafting in a rather roundabout way, here's what I do:

Choose the frame and cut it out using the SnagIt webcapture.

Use the eraser tool in SnagIt to erase all of the exising text, and then paste my blank frame to a blank Word document (because I haven't figured out how to work on more than one thing at a time in SnagIt).

Find the font you want to use for your frame. I think I've explained before that I don't like the choices I have available to me in Word, and I have a computer I can't download anything to... so I go to Zazzle and "create" a product, then use SnagIt to capture my font straight from the design box.

4. Paste your words into your frame.

5. For this particular frame, I used WordArt to create the curved letters that don't quite fit into the boxes properly. If I was one of those people lucky enough to have Photoshop, I'm sure this would look MUCH nicer. In case you want to know... Photoshop is on my AMAZON WISH LIST.

Oh yeah... if you want to be hip and cool and understand the reference to the strawberry milkshake, watch Llamas with Hats2 on Youtube. It makes me laugh hysterically...

Catching Up (snippets of creativity)

2010-01-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot about my renewed efforts to keep up my blog!

Rest assured dear reader(s), that I am here now, and our time apart has only served to make the heart fonder. And so, in order to prove to you how SERIOUS I am about my Pledge for Daily Creativity, I will recap:

Friday, January 8th - Creativity involved hiding Scootchie's chair under the table at the restaurant whilst he was up at the buffet. After standing to eat on his birthday was deemed "not as much fun as it looked," Scootch refused to sit by me. Later in the evening he admitted that I actually AM as funny as I think I am.

Saturday, January 9th - Creativity was all about finding a way to protect our blind dog Blue from Argus's well-meaning-yet-vicious attacks. We decided that a suit of chainmail would not be a feasible solution, and instead made plans to make Blue an Impenetrable Coat of Protection - so we went to the store and bought a pattern to make Blue a coat out of fleece, with a duck cloth exterior for protection. You see, while chainmail may be too heavy for a 30 pound blind dog to lug around, fleece and duck cloth won't. And what dog doesn't want his own Carhartt's?

Sunday, January 10th - Creativity meant finding ways to hide the mistakes that arise when I follow a pattern. Not for Blue's Impenetrable Coat of Protection (which hasn't been started yet), but for my dear friend Sara's baby bedding, which I was hurriedly trying to finish before she had the baby. Too Late. Baby born last night.

Monday, January 11th - A creative conversation with Scootch about Luna's Safety Patrol commitments. I should probably spare you the details (which I already reenacted for my co-worker, who replied that we need our own show)... Let me just say that Scootch let me know that he took Luna's Safety Patrol commitment VERY seriously, being a fellow public safety officer (err... Corrections Sergeant at the prison, for those who were not aware). I used my creative thinking skills to remark that I was once in the patrol field myself, and that times were very different then. "My beat was the fast lane of Midway Boulevard. People didn't heed 'School Zone' speed limit warnings in those days. I put my life on the lane every day in the name of the fluorescent orange." I think we both laughed until we peed ourselves, which happens a lot more often now that Scootch has turned 41.

MMX

2010-01-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

I know it has gone terribly out of fashion to make a New Year's Resolution ('It never works to make a resolution', 'Why make a promise on that day?', 'Who do you think you are, using such big words??'), so I bring forth my Seven-Days-into-the-New-Year Resolution.

It's nothing spectacular.

E v e r y d a y.

Now, there are some days where the most creativity I will exercise, may be in determining what I did that day that could be considered creative. That's what we call a loophole.

Cut me some slack. Don't I have enough going on in my life?!

And just to hedge bets in my favor, I will give you an example of how I chose to be creative today, right here, for the purposes of this post. Please note: some examples of creativity may include enormously circuitous routes to acheive a desired result. That's just how I roll, and I consider it one of my best attributes.

Step 1. Decide that the words "I vow to be creative" should be written creatively.

Step 2. Determine that due to existing limitations (what I like to refer to as 'the limitations of our data system'), creative fonts cannot be found in Word or downloaded to current computer.

Step 3. Remember that the people at Zazzle.com let you create neat-o things with amazing fonts, with the idea that you will order your neat-o thing, and they will make it up for you.

Step 4. Create a mock up of a neat-o thing, and then use Snag-It to copy it (zazzle has a thing against letting you cut and paste your mock up elsewhere. I think they're on to me.).

Step 5. Put it on the blog and call it 'being creative for the day'!

Still keepin' on

2010-01-06T07:23:00.000-08:00

Instead of waiting to post again until I get the previously promised dancing video off the camera, I'm going to shoot out another quick one and say.... whoa.

I don't know why I said that, it just had to be done.

And again: whoa.
*****

Now for your reading enjoyment; snippets of conversation from our house this past weekend:

Luna, exasperated: "Solstice, it's called a CANDLE, not 'fire in a cup'!

*****

Scott: "Well, I think I solved the mystery of the missing sugar. The box was laying on its side in the carport, empty."

Tasha: "Empty? How can that be? It was FULL. FULL I TELL YOU!"

Scott: "Well it's empty now. Either the kids are sneaking handfuls of sugar, or you've been taking Ambien on the side."

Tasha: "Have the dogs been acting particularly chipper?"

*****

Tasha: "Do you think you'll still love me, even when I'm old and wrinkled and make funny faces without meaning to?"

Scott: "I'm pretty sure I'll love you even more then."

The Post Christmas Hoobity Doos

2009-12-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas mostly went off without a hitch this year, and aside from a bruise on my eye (think 'black eye', only purple and not quite as Rocky-esque) from a Wii related accident, everyone survived the festivities. I will have some footage to post shortly of the family embarrassing themselves in our living room. I bet you can't wait!

Cute Little Puppy

2009-12-23T07:33:00.000-08:00

As it has been awhile since last we spoke, I thought I might briefly update you on the growth progress of my delicate little garden flower of a puppy, Argus.

This is two months ago, at 8 months old. I promise I will tell you more stories about Argus in the future, as Tales of Argus have kept my co-workers in stitches for months now.

Howdy.

2009-12-22T15:04:00.000-08:00

My name is Tasha, and this is my new blog. Sure, I know what you're thinking... this looks eerily like an old blog. But you see, what I wanted for Christmas was a nice shiny NEW blog - but since I am now a wife, a mother, a step-mother, and a woman with too many pets, I must take the hand-me-downs I've been offered. And so here I am, trying to make use of this old blog, which by coincidence belonged to the Old Tasha. You may have remembered her, she was single and miserable and made bad choices. Those were the OLD days, and these are the NEW days... even if it is a recycled blog.

This Tasha may not be so polite or politically correct - because the truth is that's who she is... I mean, I am. I am a goofy, dippy, snort-when-I-laugh type of girl who is now married to the love of my life. So this new blog might get sappy sometimes, and it won't be just about one thing or another... it will just be whatever it turns out to be.

Isn't that great?!

I now present to you...

2009-08-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

The new joint venture between Scott (or 'Scootchie') and I. We thought the dogs of the world should be able to have some art to wear too, so the Art Dog collar was born.

Our experience with the potty-in-the-yard-and-not-in-the-house training led us to create these little doggie doorbells

which Argus will happily ring whenever he feels he needs a bit of fresh air.

Another Hint... (and a bonus picture for your amusement)

2009-08-14T13:54:00.001-07:00

Turning Treinte y Cinco!

2009-08-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

It's that time again, dear reader(s); the time when I am to click the ol' age belt up another notch and answer that I am now 35, if the question is ever (impudently) asked. It has not gone past my notice that this age means now checking a different box in any surveys I am given... for no longer am I "28-34", beginning Saturday I will be "35-42". Of course I will tell anyone who will listen that I am always honored to grow a year older and will never ever lie about my age (who wants to look like a very haggard 29 anyway?), but I do admit that I like the thought when I check that 28-34 box, that my income level is at least halfway as good as the other people checking the same box. Now I fear that I will always have the slightest niggling thought in the back of my head that perhaps my income is a bit low for the demographic I've been placed in, as I imagine by now everyone has become the established doctors and lawyers that they all dreamed they would be. Of course, it may also be said that I waste far too much time worrying about the "little things".

Scootchie and I have been working feverishly on our newest joint venture (the upcoming business that I mentioned in the last post), and I am proud to say that I am ALMOST ready to unveil it to you, dear reader(s). I just need to put a little more shine on some things, a bit of spit here and polish there, and then you will see what we've been working on. For now I will give you the smallest taste....

Our new business...

is called....

--- wait for it.....

Blue Chews Shoes. And I know that for most of you that will make no sense at all. :o)

Remember Me (?)

2009-07-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

I was signing in to post to my blog; knowing both that it had been too long and that I couldn't begin YET ANOTHER post with apologies for not posting sooner, when right underneath the space where I put in my name and password I saw it. The little radial box that says next to it - Remember Me (?). And for a moment I was confused. For a brief moment, my feeble, overworked, over-emotional mind thought... my blog has forgotten me already?! My heart skipped a few beats and my stomach felt a little icky sick momentarily (these things all happen much faster than you'd think), and I realized that no, my blog has not forgotten me. PEOPLE may forget, but the internet NEVER forgets. Like remember the time when your husband was bored at work and came home and said "I was so bored today that I read all of your blog from the very beginning" and you blanched a bit, because you KNEW some things are better left unread. That's when you wondered if having a blog was such a good thing, because the interwebs holds on to stuff FOREVER.

But then YOU got bored and decided to try and play catch up, so that at least if the internets doesn't forget, it can at least remember the good stuff.

Ho hum... so whats been-a-goin' on since JUNE?

This week it was so hot I almost died. I've mentioned before that I'm not built for the heat, and for some reason I feel the slightest bit betrayed that my beloved Pacific Northwest saw temperatures this week that hit 106 in this very town I'm sitting in. Ego-centric? Oh YES, I definitely am.
My little tiny adorable four and a half month old puppy was weighed by the pros, and they proclaimed him to be 55 pounds. When we got this puppy he wasn't eating and was underweight, so news like that makes us all do the happy dance. Until he knocks us over, that is...
My kids are very tan, and I don't know which of it is dirt and which is from the sun.
Scootchie and I have started a business, one which justifies my purchase of a real-life industrial sewing machine, and big important-looking cones of thread. The purchases of the thread, and the sewing machine, and future needles I'm sure, all had to be made in a giant warehouse filled with bolts of material for making sails and boat upholstery, and no air conditioning to speak of. My new friend the sewing machine man and I bonded over talk of expensive sewing machines and fools not oiling the rotating hook thingie on the bobbin, all the while pretending not to notice the sweat dripping from each other's noses.
We're still waiting to see if our offer has been accepted on a house. The term "short-sale" has nothing whatsoever to do with how long the process will take. The bank doesn't care how much you wanted to move into a house in time to put in a garden, and couldn't be bothered to learn that you wanted to marry your husband again in your very own front yard, this time with guests present.
I learned this week that even the funniest blog writer in the known universe sometimes doubts herself and writes the droll stuff the rest of us write. But if you can give her a kick in the knickers, she snaps right back into shape and becomes herself again. Thank goodness.
I learned that ten year old girls can sometimes be underestimated for how they will react to things, and 7 year old boys can sometimes be overestimated for how they will react to things. The death of a cat that was very, very sick can be felt very differently by different people, and no matter how much of a grown manly man you are, holding a cat when she is being put to sleep can make you cry.
Sometimes a new pet comes into your life when you weren't really planning on it, and that can turn out to be a pretty good thing. So now we've welcomed into our life Thuma, the beautiful brown kitty cat.
Sometimes you beg and beg, but Scootchie doesn't want you to get the OTHER pet you want because he says you have enough animals already, and no matter HOW MUCH you beg, you're NOT getting a 14 week old St Bernard puppy, EVEN IF the price is reduced.
No matter what, Scootchie is still the best ever.

Sarcoptic and Other Manges of Canis Familiaris

2009-06-15T07:26:00.001-07:00

I must have mocked Mange too much in my last post, for now the controllers of karma in the world have decided to infest my poor puppy with a case of it. I've learned more about puppy diseases in the past month than in my prior 34 years of living, as adorable Argus was already diagnosed with a case of the Parvo within days of our bringing him home. Parvo is bad stuff, and his bout with it required 36 hours of IV fluids at the vet, antibiotics, 6 different medicines, and Scootchie and I sleeping on couches so I could make sure puppy kept breathing all night. So $1400 dollars in vet bills later, now my mangy puppy is starting to get a few bald spots, and the vet (our new best friend) has confirmed he has a case of the Demodectic Mange. Now don't fret, dear reader(s), as the demodex mites are not nearly as horrible and sinister as the sarcoptic version. Whereas the sarcoptic mites are indiscriminate in their choice of host, the demodex buggers happen to be much more picky. They only like puppy meat, so even the other dogs in the house have so far been unaffected. Our dearest vet believes that poor Argus has a compromised immune system due to his bout with the Parvo monster, and this is why the armies of demo demons have chosen his poor little body. Rest assured that he is getting the proper medication to evict the horrible parasites, and we feel quite confident that he'll soon be as good as new, and happily eating us out of house and home. I hope to get updated pictures up soon, as soon as he stops trying to eat the camera.

And now...

We are busily beavering away at putting some spit and polish on the house, due to the imminent arrival of Scootchie's parents. They will be staying with us this weekend, as Scootchie's firstborn will be GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL. No one can believe Scootchie is old enough for this sort of travesty to befall him, but I assure you it is so. A great celebration will be had after the deed is done, for which I will be catering the food. And I just have to share the best thing that was ever said to me, by email yesterday from Patty, Scott's ex-wife and mother of said graduating senior: "YOU are the permanent wife.. I was just the trial run". I am overjoyed to share with everyone how truly awesome Patty is, as she is one of those rare, wonderful, truly benevolent human beings, who honestly is one of the biggest fans of Scoshie (the combination of Scott and Tashie) there is. Who could ask for anything more?

(How about a dog with no baldspots?)

House Hunting, Sarcoptic Mange, and Value Village

2009-06-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Dear Reader(s), the time has come for me to give you a bit of bad news. It seems that you won't be reading blog posts composed from the sunny Echo Lake house after all, and your favorite blogger's couch will not be located across from a woodstove on the rock floor of a sunken living room grotto. You see, for the umpteenth time, the borrowed money of the Hale family has been deemed less worthy than the borrowed money of other families, simply because our money has been labeled as secured by the Veterans Administration. For the third time in a row, we've been told that no one wants to mess with the VA. In my worst pouting fit to date about this house business, I asked Scootchie (demandingly) what ever happened to that wave of patriotism everyone had? Of course the reality is this - we have no money for a downpayment and so MUST go VA, and the buyer who "won" our beautiful house was coming in with 20% down. Our offers to the seller were EXACTLY the same in terms of the money they would end up with, but those darn sellers understand how picky the VA can be. Damn! Damn! Damn!

So this morning we have yet another appointment with Real Estage Agent George, who has 7 or 8 houses in line for us to traipse through. We already have one in line for first place, but at this stage of the game I'm beginning to worry that the dreams of home ownership may end unfulfilled for the Hales. Woe is me.

To cheer myself last night I started admiring the loot I acquired the last time my Mom visited, when we stopped at a barn sale out in the boonies. For you city folk who might happen upon this blog of mine, a barn sale is not the sale of a barn, but rather it is a load of old dusty bits that have been placed into a barn for strangers to paw through. I don't know why, but for me, a barn sale can be the Holy Grail of the weekend sale-ing experience. There's a hierarchy in the sale spectrum, and barn sale is at the top for me. Some will argue that an estate sale is actually the Holy Grail, but I contend that estate sales are often over-priced, and not containing the bargains one is usually on the search for. This barn sale had us work for it's goodies, as we had to follow about fifty neon green signs to find the location. At first upon our arrival we found nothing of note. The barn was of the metal variety (not usually a good sign), and it was filled with tables of perfectly labeled ordinary items laid out nicely. Feeling let down by our exhausting journey, we were slowly making our way to the oversized exit, when we overheard a promising declaration from the principle money-taker; "don't leave before you see the other barn in the back."

And there it was, the motherlode.

The barn in the back was the ENORMOUS old RED wooden type, with lots of tables crammed FULL of miscellaneous OLD dusty, rusty, miscellaneous STUFF! And as a person who recently decided to collect vintage bottles of various bathroom-type remedies and cures for embarrassing problems, I hit the jackpot. So that's what I gazed at lovingly last night, while pining over yet another house that has passed through our lives, and the barn and shop turned gallery and art room that will never be. My wares are still dusty, as I'm scared to clean them. But in the end, I think they really help tie the room together.

And as for the Value Village part of my post, I'll have to leave that one for tomorrow. But let me whet your appetite by saying that it's a PROJECT, and it starts with this:

Meet Argus

2009-06-03T11:32:00.001-07:00

Argus is the newest member of the Hale/Moreno househ0ld, a Neapolitan Mastiff puppy who is now about 12 weeks old. As you can see, he's not the most active of breeds, and prefers to spend most of his time sleeping. Any time not spent sleeping however, is spent either peeing or pooping, which is not my favorite part of the new-puppy experience.

It has been almost 20 years since I've had my own dog, and the only puppy I've ever had was outdoor-only. We had to give up a lot of dogs for different reasons when I was a kid, and I swore I wouldn't have a dog of my own until I could give it a good forever home.

We bought Argus from a rescue in Oregon, taking a long road trip to pick up this 9 week old puppy we didn't know much about. He sat in our laps the entire ride home, which turned out to be a bittersweet experience as he gets SEVERELY car sick. Three days after we brought him home, we discovered at the Vet's office that he tested positive for Parvo. Since I'd committed to be this new puppy's forever home, we had to at least TRY to cure him. So three days of intensive vet care and $1500 later, we got our lovable loaf back on track, eating and gaining weight like he should. In the three weeks we've had him he's gone from 12 pounds to 24-27, and never stops wagging his tail.

Life is great.

Just POST Already

2009-06-02T17:26:00.001-07:00

I'm starting to think the problem might be attention span related. Its not that I haven't been at a computer, its not that I don't have PLENTY to talk about, its not even that I don't have a whole score of pictures taken solely for blog posts. It MUST be that I'm just plain lazy. I can't make excuses anymore - I haven't posted, Because. I'm. Lazy.

So let me bring you up to date on the most recent happenings:

1. Got married. Right, you knew that already.

2. Started looking for a house. Realize that Scootchie and I both fall in LOVE with houses that are quirky and need lots of work. We like projects, for better or for worse. So far we've made offers on three houses:

The Dome House

Amazing house on 5 acres with 2 barns and an awesome front room for the art room. Lost the bid to someone going conventional (no one likes VA loans).

The Woods Creek House

We didn't fall in love with this one until we went inside. Hardwood floors, a sunroom, a GREAT east facing room for the art room, lots of light and funky corners. The real estate agent on this one let our agent know right away she hated us and our stinky VA loan, so when we saw the next house, we rescinded our offer on this one.

The Echo Lake House

We have an offer in on this one now, and Scott has kindly told our real estate agent that we want to do everything possible to get it. This is another one that doesn't look like much from the outside, but Scootchie and I both can squint enough to see magic happening. This one is only on 1.9 acres, but since it has an ENORMOUS barn (an upstairs office in the barn has already been staked out as the art room), I've been wondering what Scootchie would think about having peacocks?

I have more updates to share (including an introduction to our newest family member), but think I may have to post more tomorrow. You see right now, we're on our way to see a man about a cash register. Not that we NEED a cash register, but today I've been at home in 80 degree weather with a sick kid, perusing the Craigslist FREE ads. Who wouldn't think this is awesome?

Ahem.... May I have Your Attention Please!

2009-05-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

On April 25th of the year 2009, your two favorite bloggers were married. We are your favorite bloggers, aren't we?

And because I consider anyone who reads this blog a close and personal friend, here are the vows we exchanged (which I wrote and didn't tell Scootchie about ahead of time):

I, William Scott Hale, take you, Tasha Marie Jones
to be my lawfully wedded wife and my number one fan, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health.
I promise we'll make great art together,
I'll make you laugh until you snort,
and I'll always hold your hand when we go upstairs to bed.
I promise to love, honor, and cherish you until we grow old and senile,
and never again to say "I don't know what to say."

This I vow to you.

I, Tasha Marie Jones, take you, William Scott "Scootchie" Hale,
to be my lawfully wedded husband and Chief in Charge of Securing the Perimeter and changing light bulbs,
for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health.
I promise to listen to any music you choose unless it's Otep,
to make funny faces and speak in silly voices,
and to sometimes let you beat me at Trivial Pursuit.
I promise to love, honor, and cherish you even when you can't wipe your own behind anymore,
and to always tell you if your hair looks messed up.

This I vow to you.

PS: It was a terrible oversight on my part that I neglected to mention that it was my sister who was the officiant for our wedding. It all happened by accident, as I was calling to see if she could be one of our witnesses. "You know.... I can do weddings," she said. How the heck would I know THAT?! So she did it, and it's still just as official as if it'd been done by a judge, instead of on my Mom's front porch with her handyman as one of our witnesses.

Woo Hoo!

2009-04-24T07:50:00.001-07:00

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to this blog! I had intended to post a lovely picture of a scrumptious cake I made to commemorate this occasion, but the cake never actually got made. It's not due to laziness, dear reader(s), I assure you. I, for one, have been hard at work getting a package ready to ship off to the Half Moon Creek Gallery up in Anchorage. I'm beavering away at a collage jacket, and have seven scarves to ship along with. I promise to post pictures shortly, as a trip through my camera's little memory shows me I've taken PLENTY of pictures to share here, then haven't gotten around to sharing them. I also blame Scootchie's Stolen Cheese blog, which I happen to be the blog master of. I don't even know if that's a real title, but it's definitely one I should be getting paid for... And if you happen to be one of those people that jaunt over to Scoochie's blog from here, DO check out my special touches on each of his posts that appear when you hover the cursor over his artwork. Tashie's learned some new tricks with HTML, and had enough fun to kill two ponies one day, updating all his posts with random little comments. We also started a Stolen Cheese Etsy store, and have actually listed two of Scott's ORIGINALS for sale. Woo Hoo!

The Day Job

2009-04-15T07:58:00.001-07:00

I don't think I've talked much before about my day job, and some of you may not even know that I have a day job, which might leave you thinking I'm a lazy good-for-nothing because I can't seem to get my sewing mojo back.

I like to think I'm not lazy, but Scoochie might say otherwise.

The truth of it all is that I started my blog two years ago this month (at the insistence of my great friend Tif, who I like to think of as my textile art sister-in-arms), and then a mere four months later was promoted at work. I don't build rockets or perform brain surgery, I'm the Branch Manager at a credit union. I have responsibilities, I coach, manage, and lead people, I have many keys and programs which require constant changing of passwords that I can never remember, I hold meetings in which I am completely resonsible for the agenda, I monitor the usage of paper towels, I make sure the plants aren't blocking the thermostats, and I approve time sheets, which feels like way too much power for one person to have. I love my job, but of course this is not the job I dreamed I'd have when I was a wee grade school imp. I was sure I was going to be a ballerina until I was sure I was going to be a rock star until I was sure I was going to be an English teacher. The trouble is, I never could decide on any one thing. My college transcripts (which I had to dig out this week) wander a bit. In my brief college career I wanted to focus on Psychology. No wait - make that a double major in English and Sports Medicine. No wait... how about Nursing? I've changed my mind completely! I want to be a Zoo Keeper, and I'm pursuing a Bachelor of Science!

Almost the entire time I waffled on the planning of my career trajectory, I was actually working at credit unions. It was the best job you could get on Whidbey Island at 18 with only some college, and here I still am some 16 years later. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and this is a good job for always wanting to be the best; but it's also a career that pays quite a bit of attention to how we treat our people, which appeals to that psychologist in me.

Which is why I was so completely devastated this week when I found out I'd failed my last audit.

Me?!

So last night when I was laying in bed tossing and turning, I decided to come clean about my day job in the hopes that admitting how upset I was at failing my audit might give me a tad bit of closure.

At the very least I'd like to be able to sleep again.

Not that tossing and turning is completely unproductive. I made some decisions about some shelved sewing projects that have been awaiting new inspiration, I thought of four topics for future blog posts, I watched the dog breathe for about three minutes, I thought about the injustice of food calorie counts and the mess the Bush administration left behind, I thought about wanting to buy a house, wanting to finish my degree, and wanting the best life possible. In the end I recognized that life is about a series of steps forward and hiccups back, and as long as you make sure to keep your feet moving, you'll find yourself somewhere new in the end. Failing the audit is a hiccup, and I've had many hiccups in my life. But at the end of it all I want to be defined by how far I've come, not by how many missteps I've taken.

Let the sewing begin again!

Happy Birthday?

2009-04-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

My oldest child, Boo, had the (un)fortunate luck of being born on April Fool's Day to a mother who likes to play jokes. I did recognize a few years ago that Boo prefers to be in on the joke, so this year she was in on the surprise we played on the boys: Luna's Cat Poo Birthday Cake.

The cake was just perfectly delicious enough (no, really!) for me to post the recipe here, for your adventurous dining pleasure. Adapted from this recipe.

Before you even start, I have to warn you that you'll need to buy a brand new litter box and scoop. This is not the time to be cheap and think you can just wash out that extra cat box you have in the basement, you will definitely want to buy a new box for this. Of course when the love of your life asks you point blank with the fork at the edge of his lips, tentatively poised to take his first bite of delicious Cat Poo Cake whether you bought a new litter box, say with the most wide-eyed innocent look, "No, but I washed that one in the dishwasher!" It's really cool to see how far cake can travel when it's spit out forcefully.

And now for the ingredients:

2 boxes of delicious cake mix, whatever kind you like. We chose Devil's Food, because we live life on the edge. And don't ask what size box, because cake mix comes in one basic size unless you're shopping at Costco. This ain't rocket science.
Eggs - However many the directions on one of the boxes says for you to use, multiplied by two. Maybe this IS rocket science! I used six eggs.
Oil - Same as with the eggs, do the math. I used a cup of oil because it was Boo's birthday and I didn't feel like worrying about how much fat I was going to be ingesting. Besides, it's not my fault that the fat is the most delicious part of most food. If you didn't want to use so much oil, you could substitute something wet that splats really well, like applesauce or canned pumpkin or a Splat Pig.
Water - Once again, double whatever it says on one box. I think I needed 2 2/3 cups or something like that. Unless you're some kind of savant with measuring things with your mind, don't just turn the faucet on and 'eyeball' it. Making a cake is BAKING, and BAKING is like rocket science (it turns out).
TWO boxes of delicious instant pudding(the small size that supposedly makes 4 servings), in your favorite flavor (we used chocolate).
Powdered Sugar, which is very messy and smells funny and is really only useful for french toast.
Milk - 2 cups (plus additional).
A WHOLE PACKAGE of Nutter Butters, which are know for their magical properties.
Some green food coloring (probably left over from St. Patrick's Day).
A Metric Ton of Tootsie Rolls.

Make up the cakes like the box says. Make sure to beat for the amount of time suggested on the box, because the box has directions, and directions are important. Pour half the mix into one 13x9 pan, and the other half into another 13x9 pan. If you don't have two 13x9 pans, perhaps you could use a 13x9 and two 8x8s, or four 8x8s, or a 15x11 pan and an 8x8 pan, or even four 9" circular cake pans. I'm not picky, and you shouldn't be either.

Let the cakes cool somewhere that small children and grown men won't have a chance to pick at them.

Cut the cakes any which way you can to fit into the big, shiny, new, clean, litter box. I used two 13x9 pans and put one cake in whole, then cut the other one to fit along the top and side. This cake is only going to be one layer, and it doesn't have to stand up straight at all, so whatever happens here happens. As long as there are no witnesses to what happens during this stage, you will still be considered a genius when the cake is being eaten.

Make the frosting for the top of the cake. This is what I did, and everything I do is wonderful, so maybe you should do this:

Put both boxes of the magical pudding powder into a bowl, and add 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Sift it together with a fork so all your powdery bits are mixed together nicely. Add two cups of milk and whip together with a wire whisk for two minutes. If you do it right, this can be considered your workout for the day. The key is to use your hips. After it's all pudding'd up, fold in (that's a cooking term, you're not really folding anything) a large tub of Cool Whip. If you want to be a killjoy, you can use "real" whipped cream, but you should know now that all the really cool people love Cool Whip.

So that's the frosting, and you should put it on top of the cake and spread it around so you don't see cake, just frosting. That's the main operating philosophy behind most cake baking.

Open the bag of Nutter Butters that have been waiting patiently. Take two out for yourself, because you've been working REALLY hard so far and you deserve it! In fact, pour yourself a nice refreshingly cold glass of milk to enjoy with your Nutter Butters, because this is probably the last quiet time you'll have to yourself before you show the cake to your friends and family, who will instantly recognize how brilliant you are and will devote the rest of their lives to being in charge of a fan club for you, and from then on you'll be spending all of your free time answering fan mail.

Mash up the rest of the Nutter Butters, using anything handy for that sort of thing. I put mine in a bowl and used a potato masher, but you could use a Cuisinart if you don't mind getting the stool to get it off that high shelf, and then having to wash all those darn pieces. You could even use a hammer if you want to, but if you want to use a hammer to cook you might have problems that would best be left to the professionals. Perhaps your employer provides access to some sort of employee assistance program?

Take out a handful of the Nutter Butters and try dying them green. They won't dye very evenly, but you'll probably be the only one who notices anyway. Spread the plain Nutter Butter crumbs evenly over the frosting, then sprinkle around the green bits to look like deodorant crystals in kitty litter. Squint if you have to. When you squint it looks much better, doesn't it?

Now for the poo:

Unwrap the number of Tootsie Rolls that corresponds to the number of poos you want to have in your litter box. You can be all cute and have the same number of poos as years of your child's life, or your waist measurement (before eating the cake), or develop some kind of complicated mathematical equation that totals the amount of love you have for each member in your family and divides that by the amount of hours you've spent following overly complex recipes. In any event, you'll want to unwrap the rolls, and then microwave them a bit to get them suitably soft for shaping. I microwaved too many at once and so had some super soft ones and some barely more than room temperature ones, but I made it all work anyway. Basically you're just squeezing them a bit to look like poo, and really, no one is going to question how authentic your poo is. Put your brand new never-been-used litter scooper artfully into your litter box, then strategically arrange poo throughout your litter. I hung one off the scooper for some realism, but that might be a little bit too much for your audience. The best presentation method for this cake (if you have kids), is to wait until everyone is in another room and then yell authentically, "Who the hell put the @#$%)(@* litterbox on the @#$%^&*()@# kitchen table?! Everyone will come running (unless they're already too afraid of you), and once the joke is discovered, they will applaud you as a hero.

Last one in has to eat the first poo.

A Project!

2009-03-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post a project for quite some time, but as these things seem to go with me, stuff just kept getting in the way. But I do believe that a leopard can change its spots eventually, so here I am, finally posting a project.

What project do I choose? Towels.

The downstairs bathroom in our house has been decorated in a way that definitely suits our personalities.

When it was time to find towels for guests to dry their hands on, we had trouble finding something that would fit in. So of course the next questions is always, what can I make that would work?

I know that not everyone's tastes lean toward decorating with ninjas, but trust me when I say you could use this technique to create spiffy new towels with anything you want.

Supplies

Towel
Material
Steam-A-Seam 2
Sewing Machine
Thread
Computer and printer
Scissors or X-Acto knife and cutting mat

1. I started by finding an image to use. Since I was making this project only for personal use, I wasn't too concerned about infringing on any copyrights and just did a Google image search. If you ever decide to make a buck by making snazzy towels with these directions, make sure you don't use a picture that could get you in trouble.

2. Print your picture out on to the paper backing of a sheet of double sided fusible web. I made sure my picture would fit onto a 9" x 12" sheet of Steam-A-Seam 2, but you can cut a longer piece out of a roll of Steam-A-Seam 2 if you have a bigger picture. If your picture is directional, you will want to print a reversed image.

3. Remove the paper backing from the Steam-A-Seam side that was NOT printed on and place it on the wrong side of the material you plan to use. Place the piece of paper you removed on top of the printed side of the Steam-A-Seam, and lightly iron on a low setting. Be careful not to smear the printed image.

4. Use the printed image on the paper as your guide for cutting the picture out of the material. If your image is relatively simple, you can use scissors. Because my ninja had a lot if small ins-and-outs, I used an X-Acto knife and cutting mat.

5. If my directions weren't too complicated, after the cutting is completed you should have a lovely little applique with material on one side and paper on the other. When you peel away the paper, the backside of your applique will show the shininess of the fusible web that is going to adhere the applique to your towel.

6. Following the directions on your fusible web packaging, place your applique where you'd like on your towel and iron it on. Make sure the applique is thoroughly adhered, with no edges unattached to the towel.

7. Sew around all of the edges using what is called an applique stitch. On my machine I choose a zig zag stitch and then shorten the length quite a bit so the stitches are basically running parallel to each other. Make sure to test it out before starting on your towel, as stitches do not rip out of the towel easily. if possible, use a clear foot for your machine so you can see the edges of your applique, and sew with the needle in the down position so pivoting is easier. Your stitching needs to fully cover the edges of your design, and overlapping stitches whenever changing direction will insure that you don't have any nasty unravels.

I Might Be Too Short to Rock

2009-03-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend found Scoochie and I taking a five hour road trip to Spokane to see Black Label Society in concert (for which tickets were purchased back on Scoochie's birthday).

Back at the very beginning of our getting-to-know-you conversations, Scoochie mentioned liking Black Label Society. I decided that the time would be right to impress him with my knowledge of useless trivia, which almost never comes in handy. "Black Label Society... isn't that Zakk Wylde's band?", I asked pseudo-knowledgeably. "Yeah! Do you know who else Zakk has played with?", Scoochie quizzed me to see if I knew my stuff. "Ummmm.... Ozzy Osbourne, I think", said I. And I was RIGHT, thereby earning METRIC TONS of RESPECT from my new not-yet-boyfriend at the time, Scottie Doo. So when Scoochie's birfday rolled around and I spent HOURS searching for something monumental to do, the best I could come up with were tickets to see BLS, three months away.

Should I mention now that I didn't know ANY of their music? The fact that I knew anything at all can be attributed to the fact that I will read anything put in front of me, and often retain the knowledge for no useful purpose. This time it paid off though, and for that I feel eternally grateful to Zakk Wylde.

I have to say, despite trying to cram at least some song knowledge in during the road trip (we forgot to bring along any of Scoochie's BLS CDs, and so needed to make an "emergency" stop along the way), I still arrived knowing no songs at all, and didn't even know who the opening bands were going to be until they actually came onstage. In spite of that, I have to say this was one of the best concerts musically that I have ever been to. I have been to quite a few concerts in my day, though preparations for this particular concert caused me to realize that somehow I haven't been to a music concert in ten years. Me! The girl who has seen over the years Kiss, The Beastie Boys, George Strait, Sarah McLachland (2x), Marilyn Manson, The Violent Femmes, Ani Difranco, Dar Williams, Dan Bern, Jewel (2x), Indigo Girls (3x), U2, Depeche Mode, Reba McEntire.... well, I think you get the picture. So I thought I knew what I was doing when we finally got into the concert and I said I wanted to stand up front.

Apparently, I've never been to a HEAVY metal concert. A Beastie Boys mosh pit pales in comparison. Violent Femmes? Nope. Marilyn Manson?? A rough one, but not even close. For some reason, heavy metal fans are much taller than other fans. So when I stood up at the very front with only two strangers between me and a metal fence, I was towered over from all sides. And once the music started, that became a dangerous scenario to be in, since everyone started slamming into each other and jumping up and down. Luckily for me, I'm a slammer and jumper too, but my lack of height definitely put me at a disadvantage. Poor Scoochie had to spend the entire show with his arms wrapped around me to form a protective cage so I wouldn't get knocked over.

Did I mention we had a blast?

We have no pictures to speak of for the concert, due to the fact that I was trying mostly to stay alive, and didn't need the added worry of protecting any electronics. I have decided that I will definitely need to rethink my strategy for our next planned concert outing; Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction at the Sasquatch Festival in May. Maybe steel-toed platform boots?

Hop on over to my sister's blog to see the photos she took while watching the kids and pets during our absence. They didn't miss us at all!

The Art of Sharing

2009-03-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

In a renewed frenzy of dedication to my blog, I've been busy snapping photos today that I plan to use in future posts. I haven't had this kind of proactive plan-aheadedness since the very beginning of my blog almost two years ago. So instead of randomly blathering on about nothing, I hope to (at least for a few posts anyway), have something specific to talk about. And so I offer today's post about SHARING.

Since the very first days of Hear Me Roar! (lest anyone forget, these blog musings had their start in the fact that I have a very fledgeling business that I'm supposed to be writing about), I declared selfishly that I would not be a spread-out-on-the-kitchen-table sewer as my mother was, but I would have My Very Own SPACE. It has been different things over the years - an odd corner in an awkward living room in Alaska, the dining room in a small apartment in Redmond, a full sized room in a house in Everett; a landing here, a cast off computer room there. With so many incarnations, one thing has remained constant; the space was entirely mine. I didn't share with anyone, not a single soul. I controlled every aspect of what was included in the space, right down to the actual smell (PartyLite brand Winter Solstice scented candles, bought on Ebay due to the discontinuation of the scent).

And now, I share.

In some ways I'm better at it than I thought I would be, although there are times when I feel cramped in my corner of the room, hyper aware that Scoochie most likely feels that my disorder is EVERYWHERE. It took me longer to unpack this room than it has ever taken me to claim my sewing space, and there have been some tense moments when I try to make more pouty declarations, which are met mostly with Scoochie's hysterical laughter. "I can't bear to look at this wallpaper when I'm trying to create!" I once said at my most diva best. "Are you kidding me?" asked Scott, who's excited and appreciative about sharing this space with me. In the end I realized that if he can handle the floral grandma wallpaper, I probably should too. Happily.

Sharing has turned out to be more productive than I dreamed. Because we share the space and aim to use it quite a bit, I don't feel as guilty splurging on a new tv or containers for organizing. Scoochie has a tireless work ethic that keeps him drawing into the wee hours most nights, so in order to be with him I need to be in there sewing. He doesn't talk much, but most of the time I don't either unless I'm starting to peter out. I trust his eye for detail, and can ask him questions about how something looks and trust his honest answer. He's encouraged me to make more jackets, something I was giving up because of how time consuming they are even though I love making them.

So that's where we're at. Sharing a space and trying to get the most out of it all, with our trademark kookie senses of humor still showing up every once in awhile. How do you think we're doing?

It's FINALLY DONE!

2009-03-08T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here's the preview of Scoochie's new comic, starring ME as a superhero! Click on the comic to see the rest of this installment on his Stolen Cheese blog.

No School Day

2009-03-06T21:53:00.001-08:00

Another blog you HAVE to check out!

2009-03-02T17:25:00.001-08:00

Everyone you know is doin' it
Doin' it
Writin' a blog
and chewin' it
Chewin' it.

My sister has finally visited blogland and decided to stay awhile. She's set up her own blog all about her new business, her thoughts, musings, and whatnot. Check it out, and leave her a comment saying you got to her blog from my SUPER COOL blog!
http://newviewhypnotherapy.blogspot.com/

And just in case you forgot to look, Scoochie's blog... which will soon have a new comic starring us as the superheroes we are. The amazing adventures of Super Scooch and The Tash, coming soon! Don't forget to LEAVE COMMENTS! That's all we ask, us bloggers. No payment, just a little adulation once in awhile. So PLEASE, leave Scoochie some comments. He works super hard on this stuff!
http://stolencheese.blogspot.com/

Oh the Whomanity!

2009-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

It's been the busiest of weeks in a very busy month, which is my excuse for the lapse in communication this time. So much to report to bring everyone up to date, but the easiest way will just be to spit it all out, and details will be provided for those needing them. The overall feeling is that even the things that have seemed bad have had some good come out of them, so everything is still looking up. And who can complain about that?

Scoochie's brother-in-law ended up needing emergency surgery in the Big City, which left his sister marooned at the hospital for about a week. The good news? Spending a day with Sonja and learning what kind of kid Scoochie was. Overall report? Good kid, well meaning, but prone to accidents with fire and Starburst fruit chews.
Scoochie's amazing and wonderful daughter Brittany finally got an answer to why she was always feeling run down. The answer is that she has the Type 1 Diabetes (or "The Sugars" for those from the south), which means lots of fun with shots and math and counting of the carbs, but not-so-fun waking up at 3am to check the blood sugar. Brittany stayed with us this week for her mid-winter break, but never kept her promise to be combative at some point so Scoochie and I could try and force sugar into her mouth against her will. Maybe next time.
After the family enjoyed a wonderful shopping expedition the week before last for laughing monkey heads and wind-up nuns, a man on a motorcycle chose our car to run into after we backed out of our parking space. Fortunately none of us were hurt, but the man suffered a broken leg, which made us feel very very bad. Scoochie's new car has been in the shop for 10 days now awaiting parts to fix it, which is when we got to make the first payment. The positive side of all of this is that the car would have been getting a TON of miles on it this week as we drove around on several important missions, like searching for chili pepper lights and low carb cheesecake. Now Scoochie's car will remain in near-pristine condition, with low miles, and a new, shinier bumper.
During Brittany's stay with us this week on the ONE NIGHT I had to be out of town for work, Scoochie ended up sitting in the emergency room with all three kids until 4 am, while I lay in a hotel room in Beaverton, oblivious. The lesson is that "sharp, stabbing pain in the stomach" in a 15 year old is an emergency room golden ticket, and that for some unknown reason, throwing up in the emergency room can be very funny indeed, to both nurse AND patient.
Getting your first new grown up brand new bed when you are 34 years old is made a hundred times better when you adore the person you bought it with.
Having your 7 year old throw up in his bed in the middle of the night is made better when you have a king size bed to bring him into, instead of a full size futon with two adults and two dogs. And you can realize (as if you didn't already) that you have the absolute best, most amazing, wonderful, fantastic person ever to share your life with, when as you cuddle your sick little boy in bed, your boyfriend goes into the puke-filled bedroom and takes the Iron Man comforter off the bunk that's 6 feet in the air, and shakes the big puke chunks off into the backyard, and then puts it in the washer. And then, just to make your eyes tear up with gratitude that your life couldn't be more perfect, he lays back in bed and reaches around you to ruffle the sweaty hair of the sick little boy to tell him that he loves him and that he's sorry he's feeling sick.

Archie McPhee's is the coolest store ever, because every bathroom wall needs a pair of squirrel underpants, and every diabetic girl should get to keep her poking supplies in a tin that held band-aids with pictures of cupcakes on them.

And lastly, I FINALLY finished organizing the art room, and actually spent yesterday sewing. The best part of all, is that Scoochie's drawing table is also in the art room, and so for the first time in my life I have someone in there with me, working while I work. We are mostly quiet as we are both concentrators, but just having him there left me with that feeling of happiness and contentment that makes one think of cute and fuzzy bunnies and teddy bears dancing in verdant meadows. And that's an awfully good thing, indeed.

Blahbity Blah

2009-02-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

With Scoochie's blog up and running, I was feeling a bit at a loss for something to talk about. But then I remembered! I never showed the pictures of us at my good friend Sara's Bond-themed birthday party for her husband, Martin. The trick was that you had to dress up as your favorite Bond character, only Scoochie and I are both pretty sure we've never seen an entire James Bond movie. So, going a little off the beaten path after what seemed like WEEKS of research, we ended up looking like this:
Which is not too shabby, if I do say so myself. I am Tracy Bond, who was married all too briefly to James Bond before being killed in a drive by shooting that oddly enough resulted in one bullet wound in the center of her forehead. Scoochie dressed as Emile Largo, a Bond villain who appears in a few different Bond movies. I think we make a pretty hot couple, don't you?

The Beat Goes On

2009-02-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

I don't really have much to report these days; the art room still hasn't been organized, so for myself there have been no new projects. Scoochie has been a busy little bee though, and is working steadily at putting together his own exciting blog for the world to see his brilliance. I expect the blog to be up any day now, but mark the address now in your favorites: http://stolencheese.blogspot.com. I promise you will not be disappointed, and you may even see a few more glimpses into the daily goings-on of our lives.

Change the Subject already!

2009-01-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

I feel it necessary to admit right here for all the world to see, that I made only three gifts for Christmas this year. And since I'm feeling a little bit guilty about only making three gifts and how you, Dear Reader(s) might have your opinion of me affected by that admission (isn't this supposed to be a craft blog? you say), I thought I might redeem myself by posting the link here for one of the projects. Doesn't that give me more craft blog credibility? So here you are, the pictures of the illusion knit scarf I made for Scottie Doo, along with the instructions here. Do not be afraid to try this, it's not nearly as daunting as it looks. Just take it ONE STEP AT A TIME, and you will be super excited about what you end up with!

And just for fun, here's what I did with Scottie Doo's little ziploc baggie of Berlin Wall. If one is so excited about a ziploc baggie of Berlin Wall Bits, one surely must want everyone to see his Berlin Wall Bits displayed, yes?

The third project was a wallhanging that I made for my sister but never quite took a picture of. For starters, I was trying to be creative here in this room, which has still not yet been unpacked. Organizing this room is the first big task on the calendar for the new year, and I promise to show you all the end result.

Until next time (which I hope not to be too long from now), I hope you and yours are doing well. I'm as good as can be now that my kiddos are home, Scottie Doo has started work on the masterpiece he's making for me (can't WAIT to show you!), and the new year has kicked off in earnest. I think this is truly shaping up to be the best year ever.

-Tasha

*** A note about the Christmas cards this year... I had a stack, of which I had enough stamps for about half. I sent the ones I had stamps for, and then mislaid the remaining cards before they made it to the mail. Not having any idea which cards had actually been mailed, I'm afraid I actually look like a horrible friend to a handfull of people. My apologies to anyone who didn't receive a card but should have!

How life can be SO busy, yet not...

2009-01-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

First there was the White Christmas which started a week ahead of schedule that I didn't so much mind about, except that it gave me some extra headaches to make sure everything was covered at the day job. Then the kids went off to Alaska for three whole weeks, making me feel a little bit lost without them. Now we have flooding to contend with, and though I know I shouldn't complain because MY house isn't flooded, this is what the entrance ramp for me to get to work looks like.

This is a house about a mile down from ours on the same street...Some random marooned cows...Scoochie surveying the scenery.Are we done yet?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

I vow the following:

Create
Love
Laugh
Live

And that's all I have to say about that. Make it the best, because that's all that's worth your time!

Tis the Season

2008-12-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

Some messy snow days and a harried 2:30 am trip to the airport to see the kids off to Alaska yesterday, and the Bah Humbugs are starting to creep back in. As always happens at this time of the year, I realize that the number of projects that need to be done far outweighs the number of hours left before Christmas. And so, needing some instant cheering and needing it quick, I decided to take another look at this year's Christmas card.

The humbugs have melted away as I look at this card and recognize just how great the things that I have to be grateful for really are. Scottie Doo drew this one night in what I hope could be called a collaborative effort. First he drew the people, and, after I looked over his shoulder and remarked that we needed to look Christmassy, he took my suggestion to draw himself wearing a reindeer sweater. He didn't even cringe when I remarked that the space behind Solstice would be perfect for a snowman, and after the snowman was drawn, was completely patient when I insisted then that something needed to be added next to me "for balance".

Him: What do you think should go there?
Me: I don't know, something completely random.
Him: Like what?
Me: Well, like C3PO.

And it was done. And so this picture reminds me how wonderful life is; I have two adorable and smiley children, a man who will draw himself into a reindeer sweater because he knows it's the right thing to do, and an instant boob job for me, at least on paper. (Be careful what you wish for... "draw my boobs a little bigger so my hips don't look so big" can end up making you look even bigger.)

In case I don't get back to the blog before Christmas, I wish you an amazing and magical day, and hope you can find a way to keep the magic going throughout the year!

Napability

2008-12-14T18:31:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been two full weeks since I blogged last, but I promise you, dear reader(s), that this time has not been spent in an idle manner. I've been busy box unpacking, Christmas decorating, recipe and grocery list coordinating, and yes, a little bit of panicking; all for this weekend's Christmas party for Scottie Doo's co-workers. I'm happy to report that the big event happened on Friday, and as of yet we've had no reports of food poisoning from the attendees. A merry time seemed to be had by all, and our living room has been proclaimed "highly napable". I take that as a compliment.

I was too busy the night of the party to take any pictures, so hopefully you can get a small taste of how our little home here in Perfect Town is coming together for the Christmas season. I feel fortunate that things seem to be working themselves out, and the combining of two lives is going quite well most days.

The front of the house, showing off the collection of vintage tablecloths-used-as-curtains.

Nothing says Christmas quite like a skull and crossbones lit from the inside. And with some delicious yarns inside for good measure, it's the perfect combination of his and her tastes. You put your chocolate in my peanut butter! NO, you got your peanut butter on my chocolate!

The view from the living room into the dining room. The table is the one that Scott has been busy making for the past month, and it turned out beautifully. We found the wood in a pile outside at the ReStore in Seattle, and the legs were taken from an end table we found on Craigslist.

The Seahawks tree, which I've already confirmed will be our theme for next year also...

The wreath on the door of the art room. I got the idea last year from Tif's blog, and lucky for us she's been good enough to re-post the instructions again this year, so I don't have to hunt for the post. Yeay for Tif!

Even a wall of broken instruments needs a guardian Santa Elf to look over them...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Because if your dollhouse is on fire and you have to call in Engine No. 7, it helps if there is a Christmas tree in the back...

Standing next to the tree is a helpful squirrel with a nice little bauble for decorating...

And in this corner... the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and a helpful monkey with another ornament, hoping for some sparkle. The Santa in the frame is a Christmas card from my mom a few years ago, and she painted it herself!

Ignore the treadmill, which was too big to move. Is that the COOLEST gigantic John Belushi portrait painted the night before a Christmas party that you've EVER SEEN?! Scottie Doo is magic. Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile may remember that I started this as a 'craft' blog, because I actually used to have time to make things. So in the spirit of reminding myself that I am actually a knitter most years at this time (I'm a knitter... I KNIT), I included this lovely little garland at the dining room window. Nope, I didn't knit any of the stuff on the garland(although last year I did knit some sweater ornaments from this pattern), the ornaments you see here were all bought from one of my favorite stores, World Market.

Doesn't everyone decorate their bathroom? And yes, I want to remark that I got a great compliment on my choice of shower curtain for the main bathroom, which you can see here reflected in the bathroom mirror. And don't forget to notice the pine scented hand soap. Scottie has voted that we keep the colored lights up year-round.

My Christmas fish ornament, naturally.

And finally... even the great cinematic serial killers of our time like to get jolly around the holidays.

Gobble Gobble!

2008-12-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

The Saturday Thanksgiving went off mostly without a hitch, provided you consider a minimum of 4 "emergency" trips to the grocery store for missing ingredients normal (I do). Having Thanksgiving on Saturday means that every store is open regular hours, so there is no need to drive miles and miles on the off chance that Bob's Mini Mart might carry Cool Whip (as happened during the Christmas of 2006). Everyone knows you can't have pie without Cool Whip.

And so it's back to the grind of normal life, spent unpacking boxes (yes STILL), decorating for the December 12th Christmas party, and trying not to think about this being the first Christmas I'll be spending without my beloved kiddos, who will be flying off to The Alaska to visit their Dad. Ugh. Double ugh. Triple, quadruple, pentuple ugh.

And that's all I have to say about that. The goal is to get the studio unpacked and put together by then, so Scottie Doo and Tashie can paint and sew her blues away. Oh me oh my.

The Thankful Stuff

2008-11-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

Due to scheduling conflicts and whatnot, our annual Thanksgiving turkey feast will be held on Saturday, November 29th this year, which I believe is a perfectly fine day to have a billion calories of foodstuff. In the spirit of the season, while I was making my morning pilgrimmage to Starbucks this morning, I was thinking along the way about the changes my life has gone through this year. I am now, how you say it?, blessed. I think the religious people have taken this word and claim it as their own, but I'd like to say right now it works quite well as THE word to describe how blissfully happy I feel. Maybe not always on the bad days, but today I am definitely feeling it. Blessed.

This morning I woke up later than I should have with a day of work at the office stretching out ahead of me, but I still had a hard time dragging myself out of bed. As the minutes ticked by, I laid next to the Best Guy in the World, having another one of those conversations I love. With all the moving and the stress, we haven't had one in awhile. And my apologies to Scottie Doo for blogging our secret and private conversations again, but this one was way too good to pass up...

Him: My throat hurts this morning, and I'm not sure if it's still
from all the yelling at the [Five Finger Death Punch] concert the other night,
or if I'm getting sick.

Me: I bet it's the yelling.

Him: Well... I'm no doctor...

Me: Oh! Well I played one on TV!

Him: Oh really? I was not aware of that. Please tell me
more.

Me: Oh yes. Well it was a show called Operation. We were
a team of surgeons who demonstrated our skills and a little bit of magic, by
operating on people (mostly clowns) and taking out their organs, without
touching the sides.

Him: Sides? What sides?

Me: Welllll... Few people know this, but clowns' organs are each
located in individual compartments with sides that cannot be touched. I
myself was known for my skills at removing these specialized organs, such as the
Breadbasket, from the compartments without touching the sides.

Him: It sounds like you are very talented.

Me: Oh definitely. They used to call me "Steady Hands McGee" on
the set, specifically due to my ability to remove the extremely difficult clown
organs, like such as the Wishbone.

Him: They called you McGee, even though that's not your last
name?

Me: Well, my last name hasn't always been my last name,
remember. And McGee is the last name they give everyone who is known for
something, like "Tits McGee", only I was never called that. I was called
'Steady Hands McGee'.

Him: That's very interesting.

Me: Yes, and did I also tell you I won an Emmy for my role?

Him: Why no, you failed to mention that.

Me: Well I did. I just haven't unpacked it yet from all these
boxes.

Him: Do you think I could watch it?

Me: What's that, Operation, or the awards show when I won my
Emmy?

Him: Well both really, but seeing you win an Emmy would be very
special.

Me: Yes, but unfortunately the only known recording is on Beta.
I really never knew that whole Beta/VHS thing would turn out the way it
did. Who knew?!

Him: Luckily I know someone who still has a Beta machine!

Me: Maybe we can watch it later...

Him: Well did I ever tell you about my Oscars?

Me: No, I don't believe you ever did. You have more than
one?

Him: Oh yes, of course. I have two.

Me: Are they from different movies, or the same movie? Or was
it different movies, only with the same character. Like a series or
something?

Him: Well, it was different movies. I don't really believe in
doing sequels.

Me: Do you believe in doing prequels? Because that's a hard
thing for me to wrap my head around. It's like they make a movie, and then
they make another movie with the same characters and call it a prequel, which
means it was supposed to have come BEFORE the other movie. Are we supposed
to pretend we haven't already seen the other movie? If we haven't already seen the other movie, should we watch the prequel first?
Is time travel involved?

Him: I completely understand your dilemma, and no, I do not do
prequels either.

Me: Well please, tell me about your movie and subsequent
Oscars. I'm riveted.

Him: Well oddly enough, the movie was about time travel! I won
the Best Supporting Actor.

Me: Oh, so you were the supporting actor? Who was the main
actor, and did THEY win an Oscar?

Him: Well, it was Woody Harrelson. We were police officers,
and...

Me: Oh. Woody Harrelson. Well, did he win an Oscar?

Him: No, he didn't.

Me: Oh! That means that for the year that you won the Best
Supporting Actor, in all the movies in the whole world that year, YOU were the
very best. AND since you won an Oscar for your portrayal and Woody
Harrelson didn't, that means YOU are a better actor than Woody Harrelson.
How did that make Woody feel?

Him: Well actually, I don't think that's the way it works. Just
because I won for Best Supporting Actor, that doesn't mean that Woody...

Me: Sucks? Oh yes, you were WAY better than Woody.
Because Woody...

Him: Now wait just a second here, I happen to think that
Woody...

Me: I bet you BLEW HIM AWAY! You were voted the BEST, and
he's... not.

Him: Woody happens to be a very good friend of mine. We're very
close.

Me: But Woody has a drug problem.

Him: Well we're not THAT close. And I do not do drugs myself,
but don't feel I can...

Me: But if you're friends with a druggie, than you can seem to
condone their behavior.

Him: I wouldn't go that far. Woody's just a nice guy.

Me: I'd be nice too if I was on drugs all the time. It's easy
then!

Him: You're crazy.
And THAT was my morning. And no, I've never played a
doctor on TV, and Scott doesn't know Woody Harrelson. Scott probably DOES really think I'm crazy though.

Growing Pains

2008-11-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

I might have explained long ago how terribly fragile I can be at times, but I'm pretty sure I didn't, Dear Reader(s), so as not to scare you away. And now I find myself trying to make a go of things in this relationship with the Best Guy in the World, and not really knowing how to do it very well. If this one doesn't work out, I know it will be all on me.

The Wall of Broken Instruments

2008-11-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

The house is not coming along as quickly as I'd hoped, given that we have a Christmas Party scheduled for Scottie's co-workers looming on the horizon (December 12th!?), but every once in awhile we take the time to put something together just because it feels right. Enter, the Wall of Broken Instruments:

The first time I visited Scott's apartment, I noticed he had two instruments hanging artfully on his wall; an obviously broken violin, and a (not so obviously) broken trombone. As with all things having to do with Scott, I thought this was awesome. Not only was it exactly the sort of thing I would do, but I actually had my own collection of broken violins. Obviously, this relationship was meant to be.

Once upon a time, my mother dated a man who lived with his grandmother (my mother has, at times, also been a Sucker for Strays). Grandma Storbakken repaired broken violins, and she had HUNDREDS of them, mostly stacked in their cases in her bathtub. My mom's relationship with Grandma Storbakken lasted longer than her relationship with the grandson, and eventually we ended up with about ten broken violins. My sister and I each picked out our favorites, and I proudly displayed mine in my room until the time when I moved off to Alaska. She's pared down the collection over the years, but the last remaining holdouts have now joined Scottie Doo's trombone and violin for our wall.

And this is how we begin the combining of two lives that have been very separate until now. One little bit at a time.

The Best Thing

2008-11-11T10:54:00.001-08:00

Okay, maybe it's only ONE of the best things, but it's still a best thing nonetheless. One of the BEST things about moving in with Scott, is that once we get finished unpacking all of these damn boxes, we get to hang the art! I think I may have mentioned it in passing, but I'm sure I didn't expand on it at the time. Scott is an artist. He can actually think up a picture in his head and then draw or paint it. I think that is magic. I play around with material and shoot people scathing looks if they call me a crafter, but he is unquestionably one who makes art. And NOW I get to be a person who lives in a house that has REAL ART on the walls!

Not all of this will hang on our walls, but you definitely get to see what I mean when I say the guy is magic. How on earth did I end up with such an amazing person in my life?

OMG!

2008-11-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

I've been absent of late, dear reader(s), and the only explanation is that my life right this moment is in total and complete chaos. Let me reassure you straight away that the chaos is of the good sort however, and then settle in while I give you a timeline:

09/27/2008 - Scott takes Tasha to a town she's never been to before, and she falls in love with the town. If you had been eavesdropping on the conversation in the car on the drive back to Pleasantville, you might have heard Tasha ask Scott if he'd want to live in this perfect town, "maybe in a year or so".

10/04/2008 - Scott and Tasha decide to take Boo and Baby plus nephew to Perfect Town, for a fun day of shopping. Whilst driving around in neighborhoods off the planned itinerary, Scott spots a 'For Rent' sign and suggests Tasha should call on it. Tasha complies, thinking Scott is curious about the market in Perfect Town. Tasha tells Scott how much rent is, then admits that even though rent would be $100 cheaper than what she is currently paying, the increase in costs for the commute would not make it worthwhile to move now. Scott tells Tasha a secret, which is that he thinks he's ready to move in with her.

10/06/2008 - Scott and Tasha drive out to Perfect Town, and put in an application to rent house built in 1912.

10/09/2008 - Scott and Tasha learn they are not The Chosen Ones for 1912 house.

10/10/2008 - Not knowing where they will be moving in Perfect Town, but knowing they have to make a decision today, both Scott and Tasha put in notices to vacate their current dwellings. They have advised their respective landlords that they will be moving out by.the.last.day.in.October. Tasha is concerned she might need her head examined for making such a rash decision, however the call of Perfect Town and Best Guy Ever are very enticing. Tasha foolishly thinks she'll be able to move four people, two dogs, and two cats from two different places in 20 days, even though she doesn't even know where they'll be moving to. Tasha believes that with Scott, all things are possible.

10/12/2008 - Tasha goes out of town for a work-related overnight stay. She leaves Scott in the hands of old friend Jody, to go looking for places to live. Jody is a real estate agent, and has secret resources for such things. They find one house that seems great, and call Tasha as she sits on a chartered bus full of co-workers on her way to Oregon. Tasha is happy they found a place, but is lukewarm on the particulars. New house in a new area of Perfect Town, in a neighborhood with lots of rules. Tasha hates neighborhoods with rules.

10/14/2008 (a.m.) - The house Jody and Scott saw is not available, but there is another house in the same (ugh) neighborhood, also less than 5 years old (ugh again). Jody wants Tasha to see it after work. Scott tells Tasha there is another house they looked at on Sunday that he thinks she'll like, and tells Tasha to ask Jody to look at it. Jody says she can if they really want to, but tells Tasha that Scott really didn't seem to like it when they looked at it the first time, and must only be suggesting it to make Tasha happy. Jody says the house is on a busy street and it's old. Jody says it won't be as good for the kids. Jody says it doesn't have a park with a climbing wall next door. Tasha still wants to look at it, and has to insist about 20 times via email.

10/14/2008 (p.m.) - Tasha hates the neighborhood of the newer house, and hates the newer house itself. She stands in the backyard with Scott to discuss whether they want to apply to rent the house, and she feels the surrounding two story houses looming over her from the back and both sides of the yard, and thinks they might be taking all of the available oxygen, because she feels like she can't breathe. They decide no, and get lost trying to leave the colossal neighborhood of identical houses, complete with identical plants in identical front yards. They pass the sign that they first saw when driving in, which says "All license plates are recorded by video surveillance". Tasha shudders. Over dinner with Jody, Tasha insists they see the older house that Jody hates. Jody is reluctant, but concedes. Tasha loves it.

10/15/2008 - Jody informs Tasha that the original place, the one Scott loved so much, is available. Tasha panics a little, not knowing which one Scott will want to try for. Scott says to try for the one Tasha loves. Jody insists Scott will be miserable, and that the kids were "creeped out" by it.

10/16/2008 - Application accepted, everything looks good.

10/17/2008-10/20/2008 - Mostly packing and freaking out. With two places to pack and clean, and two deposits to get back, tension levels are high.

10/21/2008 - Indoor soccer. Scott and Tasha play for Tasha's work team, despite fear of re-injuring Tasha's achilles tendon. Everyone finishes unscathed, although the game was lost.

10/22/2008 - More packing and freaking out

10/23/2008 - The walk through with the leasing agent. He tells about the house, and Tasha falls more in love. It was built sometime between 1894 and 1901 at a different location in Perfect Town, then eventually moved to where it sits now. The lot it sits on used to be quite a bit bigger, but the city divided the lot to put in a road (which explains why it sits on a triangular piece of land). The cedar tree in the yard is hundreds of years old.

10/24/2008 - The actual moving in begins after Tasha puts in a half day at the office. Of course half as much is accomplished as was expected.

10/25/2008 - More moving of Tasha's house, and preliminary packing of Scott's house.

10/26/2008 - Moving of Scott's house

10/29/2008 - Tasha takes most of a day off to clean her house. There's a lot more to be done than she expected. When Scott gets off work they head to his house to "finish" cleaning there. There's more to be done than expected. Head home at 10pm, feeling like there's still a ton to be done.

10/30/2008 - After work Tasha decides to try and get some unpacking done at the new house. Tasha decides to surprise Scott (who is at his house again, moving the last of the boxes), by attempting to arrange the living room. The couch falls through one of the bay windows.

10/31/2008 - Tasha calls glass companies from work, and Scott spends his day off finishing up at his old house. He turns in the keys. One down, two to go!

11/01/2008 - It's Saturday, and Tasha has to put in a full day at the office. Before work they head to the Uhaul to rent a vehicle for hauling stuff from Tasha's old house to the dump. Things get a little harried when they learn that the vehicle available at 9am won't work, and they'll have to come back at 3:30pm. With the dump closing at 5:30pm it will be cutting it tight, but there are no other options. They make it to the dump with two minutes to spare.

11/02/2008 - Tasha puts in about 6 hours at the old house (including the emergency trip to Target when it's discovered that the old house has **no** toilet paper), and then calls it good. The house looks better than when they moved in for the most part, excluding the paint splatters in the dining room from the budding Jackson Pollack who we call Solstice.

11/04/08 - Tasha is trying to regain her sanity.

(This post was started November 1st, but not published until November 4th)

How to Remove Bubblegum from the Dryer (and other hints to retain your sanity)

2008-10-01T18:34:00.001-07:00

Discover mysterious black skid marks coating the interior of the dryer. Trace the origin back to the offending wad of gum, which will be lodged on the undersides of one of the fin-things in the drum of the dryer. Curse twice under your breath.
Scream at the nearest child. Remind them that they are not yet allowed to chew gum for reasons JUST LIKE THIS.
Try to scrape cold gum out from inside dryer. Recognize that the gum has fused with the metal, and has now become one with the dryer.
Recognize that the gum has only fused with the metal while the dryer is cold. Once the dryer is warm and drying a load of, say, black work clothes, the gum will fuse with the work clothes.
Turn dryer on to let it heat up the gum. Curse three more times under your breath and find yourself muttering things your mother used to say, such as, "All day I work my fingers to the bone, and this is the thanks I get?". Since no one is around to hear you say this, it's okay to laugh at yourself because you KNOW you don't really work your fingers to the bone. You're a credit union branch manager, not a coal miner.
Open the dryer and scrub the gum off with the plastic cup that you use to measure the laundry detergent.
Realize that the entire reason you need to do a load of laundry right now is that your nine year old daughter's only pair of tennis shoes are coated with dog poop. Decide that the dog poop-covered tennis shoes should do an excellent job of removing the rest of the gum from inside the dryer.
Laugh.

The Miracle of Life

2008-09-26T11:04:00.001-07:00

Meet Eric and Alexis, newest grandkids to my step-mom Cindy, and her husband, the guy I call Dad.

The kiddos are having a rough go of things, owing to the fact that they were born on September 6th five months early. I didn't get any pictures until yesterday, but the report is that little Lexie is having the tougher time of the two.

We're sending all the loving, healing thoughts we have their way, and I would be grateful to everyone else if they could do the same!

The Magic

2008-09-24T17:39:00.001-07:00

This is an actual conversation I had with Scott this morning. I absolutely adore that I can have conversations with him like this, because he understands exactly what it is I'm trying to say. That, and it proves that each of us is just as weird and dorky as the other.

Me: I wish I could tell you in some new way exactly how much you mean to me. I'm not sure the ways I've been saying it say it right. Maybe.... I think if I found out tomorrow that you were allergic to Raisin Nut Bran, and you couldn't be in the same room with Raisin Nut Bran...

Him: Or be with anyone who had eaten Raisin Nut Bran...

Me: Right, or be with anyone who had eaten Raisin Nut Bran, then I would give up eating Raisin Nut Bran forever, and I would do ALL the grocery shopping (which I hate) so you wouldn't have to be in the same building as the Raisin Nut Bran...

Him: What if I just couldn't be in the cereal aisle, or the aisles on either side of the cereal aisle?

Me: I'm not taking any chances! And if you needed to buy gas at a convenience store and the pay-at-the-pump option was not available, I would go inside that convenience store and check the shelf myself to make sure they did not stock Raisin Nut Bran in the small selection of cereals that they do have.

Him: Would you ask the clerk to make sure their was no Raisin Nut Bran in the back, or anywhere else on the premises?

Me: Yes. I would even double check anything the clerk told me, just to make sure he could be trusted. THAT'S how much I love you.

Him: Awwww... that's a lot.

Sometimes the magic is about explaining things in ways they've never been explained before...

Awesome!

2008-09-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

I just found this, and I SO want to do it!

Seriously. The directions are here.

Once upon a time I would have done this without having to find it done by someone else first. I am, after all, the girl who had a collection of Barbie dolls SPECIFICALLY so I could make my own Barbie doll chandelier - picture if you will about 8 Barbies laying on their backs with their legs in the air, balancing their own heads (or the head of a friend, who knows?) on their dainty little mutant-feet. That chandelier never materialized except in my head, but it would have ROCKED. I was the cool girl at one time in my life. The girl who made her own clothes like the infamous Superman dress and the Sonics skirt; the girl who had a purple television covered with cowboys and indians and crocodiles and insects. Where did that girl go?!

Oh. I remember. That girl met a guy who didn't like weird girls, and they got married. Ugh. The girl threw away all her cool shoes, and sold all of her cool music, and gave away all of her cool clothes. That girl had to go into hiding. All she was able to save was one small box of Nine Inch Nails cds, and the memory of how to make cool things.

And so she's figuring out what that will all mean now, because she can be the cool girl that she really is again. She's "finding herself" all over again at 34...

Sick Day

2008-09-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

It was a loooong night last night, what with Baby throwing up ALL over the bathroom floor, several times in the toilet, and THANKFULLY, not once in a bed, his OR mine. I became an amateur forensics expert, noticing that Baby had apparently eaten fast food recently, owing to the copious amounts of thinly sliced pickles present on the bathroom floor. Twenty questions later we deduced that the offending meal must have been eaten at school, and once his body expelled it all his listlessness seemed to improve a bit. But here we are, home today... doing our best to rest while we watch The Tick on DVD. I'm not complaining... The Tick is my favorite, second only to Superman.

Checking In

2008-09-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

The weather has turned a nice blustery overcast sort of raininess that’s exactly perfect for this time of year, unless you happen to need to be outside with a hammer and some nails as Scotty-Do does this weekend. I just want to be inside with some knitting or a book and a fire in the fireplace, but I’m afraid the war with the fleas has escalated, and at this point they seem to be winning. I wish I could tell if I’ve won any of the many battles Scotty-Do and I are waging, because at this point I’m ready to abandon ship and let the fleas take over this place as I move somewhere else entirely. All I want is to know we’ve done at least a little bit of damage – some sort of flea body count or something. The fleas are mum on the whole subject, but the little buggers are popping up more frequently now than in the past, so I fear soon they may be ready to team together to physically throw us out on our ears. This has led to some rather interesting conversations between me and Scott, as we hypothesize the proper way to kill fleas with a miniature machine gun or tiny sword. I can’t understand exactly why this is even happening, as the cats we own don’t even go outside!

The ideas are starting to gather for what to make for Christmas this year, and I can feel the itch that means it’s time to get moving. That’s a good thing. And now for some blurry cell phone pictures taken a week ago on Saturday while Boo was at a skating party.

NOW I Understand!

2008-09-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

The mini-vacation was as magicalificent and superfantastic as anything I’d experienced up to this point. I FINALLY understand why people take vacations. This could be addictive.

We drove our four hours to Eastern Washington , which appeared to be an entirely different country from the one we were supposed to be in. The part of Washington I’ve grown up in, I’ve come to know and love really, is GREEN. This Eastern Washington place is comprised of miles and miles of brown, with the occasional yellow thrown in to break up the monotony. We passed some sort of dust-devil-tornado things. We passed wheat. We passed rocks. The music was good, but most of the way I stared at Scott. As great as he is when I look at him from the front, I found that I appreciate him just as much when staring at him from the side. He’s pretty awesome.

We went to a Blues Festival and rented a house with seven other people for four days.

There was lots of alcohol;

There was a boat;

There was cliff diving.

People who have recently been on crutches should not try cliff diving from any point that requires a running start. That sort of thing can end disastrously if you’re not a ninja cat like me. I jumped off this cliff and showed everyone my ninja skillz by turning my fall into a sort of running-down-the-cliff move. I was pretty impressed with myself, but I think everyone else thought I was an idiot. I don’t think we have any photographic evidence of my brush with death.

Scott jumped off this rock (I didn't have a tape measure, but it was at LEAST 65 feet high. No joke),

while I sat in the boat below trying to hide my tears behind my enormous sunglasses. A guy like this only comes around once every 34 years, and I’d really like for him to stay awhile…

We didn’t get home until about midnight Sunday night, and so far the week has been mostly about assimilating ourselves back into normal society. Scott has turned my garage into some sort of organized haven completely void of any boxes of ex-boyfriend stuff, cleaned my toilets and refrigerator, joined me in the war against the fleas, and somehow negotiated a peace between the canine and feline factions of the house. He’s pretty humble and low key about it, but I’m convinced Scott is magical.

And the Good Karma Just Keeps On Coming

2008-09-02T07:11:00.001-07:00

Boo had to go to the Pleasantville Urgent Care place yesterday because she had trouble opening her jaw once again. Some mothers might see this as a golden opportunity for a break from their wee ones, but we have enough trouble hearing what Boo has to say as it is, without throwing any more adversity into the mix. The last time this happened the guy at the Urgent Care place thought it might be a blocked saliva gland and prescribed a three-times-daily antibiotic. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m not organized enough to EAT three times daily, much less remember to administer an antibiotic that makes Boo gag every time she swallows it. And for some reason the more unpleasant I find a task, the less likely I am to perform it to perfection, go figure. So I was not looking forward to going back to the Urgent Care.

After our requisite hour of waiting with people sitting in my personal space bubble, either coughing their death rattle coughs or bleeding profusely all over the waiting room periodicals, we finally were granted access to the inner sanctum of the examination area. I recognized the exam room as the one I’ve been in almost a half dozen times this year already, and I waited patiently until our Doc-of-the-Day came in. You know it’s a bad sign when the random doctor assigned to your wee one’s case walks in the room and looks at you (it’s not your chart in his hand, after all), and says, “I know you!”. What you really want to ask him is if he remembers what it is you came in for, because he’s the doctor that saw you when you had the horrible bladder infection. It’s not so much WHAT you had that is embarrassing, so much as all the details you told him to make sure you ruled out any other horrific girl problems that it could have been, because all you knew at the time was that peeing made you want to cry. A bladder infection sounded like such a normal problem for that amount of pain.

Doc-of-the-Day turned his attention to Boo and pronounced her problem as teeth-grinding related, and suggested Motrin to alleviate the pain. Yeay! And then Doc-of –the-Day took his service WAY past compliance with the Hippocratic Oath and talked to Boo about Harry Potter (which she is completely obsessed with). “Do you have all the books?” he asked my little sunshine of sweetness. “All of them except the 6th one” she said innocently. “Well then let me bring that one in for you tomorrow,” said Doc-of-the-Day, thereby turning himself into a hero for my little Luna-Boo. And can you believe this? I just called the Pleasantville Urgent Care facility, and Doc-of-the-Day DID remember to bring that particular book in today. I’m thinking that the karmic wheel of fortune has REALLY decided to make things easier on us this year, recognizing of course that last year left me feeling particularly beat up at the end of it all. So I am on my way out the door to go pick up one Harry Potter book six from the doc, tonight I need to pack for my trip, and tomorrow after work I will be dropping two children and two bicycles off at Grandma’s for four days of staying up way past their bedtime and eating cereal with chocolate milk on it, all so I can go away for four days with my Favorite Grown Up Person, Scott. We are going to a Blues Festival in Eastern Washington, renting a house with a ton of people Scott knows through work, and enjoying being with each other. NOW do you see why I don’t think things could get any better? This is bliss.

-T

Zen and the Art of Ford Maintenance

2008-08-31T23:36:00.001-07:00

Today was supposed to be all about sewing, but instead it turned out to be about getting a new battery and changing the oil in my car.

Which is not that bad, considering I had Scott to help me with it all.

Car problems turn out to not be so overwhelming when you have a reassuring voice to call and calmly walk you through a solution. And when your solution gives you problems, there's nothing better than having someone say he'll leave work several towns away to come and help. Suddenly being stranded in a parking lot with a car that won't start doesn't seem so bad.

So maybe tomorrow can be about sewing...

You Can't Go Back

2008-08-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

Me and him, 1993

Lessons for the day:

Your first boyfriend can try to come back into your life and say sorry for the way he treated you, and the only thing you can say is "thank you for that, but it doesn't change anything".

Your first boyfriend can say that it was never that you didn't love him enough, only that he was too foolish to enjoy you, and you can say "I found someone who appreciated me from the beginning," and, "I am so much happier now than I've ever been in my life".

Your first boyfriend can come back and try to tell you all the things that you would have wanted him to say 14 years ago, and none of it can matter. Because sometimes you don't just look like a grown up, you are a grown up.

And at the end of it all when you're saying goodbye and he says "Take care, I love you," you don't have to say I love you back, because you know you don't. It feels good to let go.

I'm grateful for all the right things: the man I really do love with all my heart is spending time with his daughter, and even though I miss him like crazy, I know he's happy. Next week is our vacation, and for the first time in my life, I will have a vacation that is all about relaxing with the person I love. The kids are starting school this week, and they couldn't be happier. I have the best life I could have imagined right now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Making Magic

2008-08-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted Best Guy Ever's self-portrait of himself from the front of my 8-Days-After-My-Birthday card and then he left some comments which he signed with his name, so I feel it would be pretty okay to just use his name now. Best Guy Ever is known as Scott. Scott... meet everybody.

And now that we have that all taken care of, I wanted to share just a tiny piece of what it has been like for me to have found a great guy like Scott, without really knowing how to act when you have a great guy. Sometimes I mess up. We try to talk about it though, because communication is good. We talk; in person and on the phone, and we email through regular email and myspace. Sometimes we do a combination of three at the same time. That's what happens when you really like someone, you just can't get enough of them.

From: Tasha
To: Scott
Date: Aug 24, 2008 5:33 PM
You're the greatest human being who has ever lived. I know some people would say Gandhi, or Mother Teresa, or Jesus... but for me, it's clearly you. Those other people never would have known the words to the Monchichi song.

From: Scott
To: Tasha
Date: Aug 24, 2008 10:54 PM
Love you babydoll. (Remainder of message edited to protect the innocent)

From: Tasha
To: Scott
Date: Aug 25, 2008 8:21 AM
I like "babydoll". In the history of the known universe no one has ever called me babydoll, and there's something just right about that.

"When two people meet and fall in love, there's a sudden rush of magic. Magic is just naturally present then. We tend to feed on that gratuitous magic without striving to make any more. One day we wake up and find that the magic is gone. We hustle to get it back, but by then it's usually too late, we've used it up. What we have to do is work like hell at making additional magic right from the start. It's hard work, especially when it seems superfluous or redundant, but if we can remember to do it, we greatly improve our chances of making love stay."
-Tom Robbins,Still Life with Woodpecker

I don't know much about magic since I've never had any before, but I promise not to eat it all up without figuring out where to get more first.

I love you.

From: Scott
To: Tasha
Date: Aug 25, 2008 9:32 PM
Let's keep makin' magic and I love you.

So now we work on the making magic part. We're not really sure how to do it, but I think we do a good job of trying. We have our own Mission Statement, we apply teamwork to the things we do, we have a mini-vacation planned together for next week (with pictures, I PROMISE), and we send messages like this:

From: Tasha
To: Scott
Date: Aug 28, 2008 9:37 PM
You are the greatest combination of skin, bones, blood, guts, and all that other stuff, that has been put together into one person, ever.

From: Scott
To: Tasha
Date: Aug 28, 2008 11:06 PM
I may frame this and hang it on my wall.

I'm glad the people who told me my standards were too high were wrong. I didn't want much really, all I wanted was someone who thought I was amazing, and who I could think was amazing in return. And here he is.

And next time I PROMISE to have some sewing done. I mean, I do keep saying it's a craft blog after all...

Argh!

2008-08-28T12:45:00.001-07:00

I think the children’s beloved cats have organized a mutiny, and they’ve got the fleas in on it.

Let me go back a little farther.

We have fleas. I thought I had annihilated them all with the small arsenal of almost nuclear weapons that I unleashed on them, but Dog One and Dog Two have come back for a visit and fleas have again been spotted. These new fleas appear to be of the juvenile persuasion (teenagers I think), so they are not thought to have survived the original blast, however their continued presence in my life is causing me a great deal of consternation. I have flea nightmares, I have phantom fleas crawling on me at all times, and I imagine flea parties occurring in my carpets without my knowledge. I don’t fear bugs, but I fear the fleas. They don’t leave, they have

nothing to do all day but go forth and multiply, and they’re too fast to swat, slap, or smash properly. I imagine if I were to be the sort of person who lived alone in an apartment and it were just me and the fleas, were I to die the fleas would band together and carry my body off somewhere for their own use. And usually that's the part of the flea nightmare that ends with me being stuffed into a giant cannon at the flea circus...

***Can I interrupt for a moment here? I'm sitting at my computer desk and I just happened to look at the back of a brochure from work (remnant from preparing for last month's staff meeting), and I just saw the faint pencil marks of the word "uterus" written across the back in all capital letters. It takes me only the briefest second of hesitation before I realize with relief that ahh yes, this is a word written by Him, and it makes me smile. This was done while he was making my birthday card (8 days late).

Who else in the world is lucky enough to have a birthday card made for them by the Best Guy Ever, complete with the anatomically correct drawing of a uterus?!***

Now back to the mutiny...

The cats are apparently not happy that Dog One and Dog Two have been visiting, and that Boo and Baby have also decided that, much like their mother, they prefer the company of dogs to cats. It's not that the cats have been neglected or mistreated in any way while the dogs have been here, it's just that the dogs have been more fun. Maybe we should have done a better job of hiding our glee at having dogs in the house when the cats are around, and maybe we should not have looked at the cats reproachfully and referred to them as "those things". In any event, the behavior of the cats has been downright disgraceful.

Codysaurus Rex made a poopie on my 401K statement.

He looked right at me when he did it, and I know he did it with malice in his kitty heart. He didn't stop there either, Codysaurus Rex has poopied in undesignated pooping areas three more times since the 401K incident. I also have it on good authority that Cody has organized the remaining fleas and pointed the dogs out to them, so that the dogs are mercilessly attacked immediately upon entry into our domicile.

Whatever can be done with Codysaurus Rex?

And that's all that I have to say about that.

I'm grateful that Best Guy Ever has left behind his carpet shampooer, even if it does leave telltale clean spots on the rug; that the mutinous cats are at least no longer pooing on the stairs so that Lunaboo steps in it, flings it onto the wall, walks down the stairs, and then wipes her foot on a white towel (all for Best Guy Ever to clean up so I don't run late for work); that Best Guy Ever is the Best Guy Ever, and that Sara the Dirty Smelly Pirate Hooker has slapped sense into me once again. Life is GREAT.

And the Award for Zen Moment of the Day Goes To...

2008-08-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a moment to breathe a little deeply right now, because I have my oven door hanging open downstairs with an entire pizza's worth of hot cheese currently gobbing up the space between where the door meets the oven. There's a stinging burn on my right arm where I singed it on the top of the oven while attempting to remove the delicious pizza, which is either the cause or effect that made the pizza end up all over the bottom of the oven. Despite all of this, somehow, I feel peaceful.

You see... the Best Guy Ever is already on his way over with Dog One and Dog Two, Luna and Sol's new favorite friends. So all I had to do to repair the mess made of dinner was to call Best Guy Ever and ask him to get another pizza.

I could cry at the simplicity of it all.

The week since my birthday has proven that fairy tales don't always end at midnight and dream guys really can get better and better. When I say I adore this guy, I really and truly mean it. Did I mention that the week after we go on our four day mini vacation he has offered to help me clean my garage (once and for all purging my life forever of horrible ex-boyfriend's useless belongings!) AND change my oil?! I think somehow every single relationship I've been in to this point has earned me enough karma points for this relationship right now. If that's how it had to be... well I'm pretty much okay with that. Which brings me to my interesting coincidence of the week:

Of the four relationships I consider myself to have had in my life, I've had emails from three of the exes this week. I'll be honest; obviously interaction with the kids' dad is pretty normal, since he talks to the kids on a daily basis. And my first ex-husband has been known to send me a message or two once every three months or so, so that's not that unusual. But the other one... my first love from 1991-1994, well that's different, since I hadn't actually heard anything from him since 1994. And he found me on myspace, which I don't make easy since my profile is private, my name has changed twice, and my profile picture is just of my eye. But somehow, he found me. And his message? THE message he decided to send after 14 years?

"I never said I'm sorry for having hurt you chica. Gary."

I just thought it was funny really. Obviously the universe wants to show me just how amazing and wonderful Best Guy Ever is, by reminding me of what there has been. And there is something truly great about that. Thank you universe!

And now I have some cooled down cheese to scoop up, because the replacement pizza is here...

-Tasha

Birthday Weekend!

2008-08-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

As promised it has been a weekend packed chock full of fantastic and wonderful things, all contributing to make this one of my best birthdays ever. The Best Guy Ever sat down to watch my favorite movie of all time with me, Better Off Dead, while eating pizza from Papa Murphy's, and laughing at all the right parts. The movie itself was a gift from my dear friend Sara, who almost made me cry because it was so damn perfect (did I mention I'm not really very complex? It's the simple things in life that mean the most for me dear reader(s), and a friend remembering your favorite movie is better than a truckload of diamonds and/or pearls, know'm'sayin'?). Afterwards we went out for ice cream (we put the tip in the jar and then ran, absolving us of any responsibility. Knowing they had to sing because of the tip, but not being present as actual witnesses...), then to see Tropic Thunder, which I think is one of the funniest movies of all time. The movie theater was packed (I couldn't even have my one-open-seat buffer between me and the nearest stranger!), but at some point I noticed that while Best Guy Ever and I were both laughing so hard tears were streaming out of my eyes, other people weren't finding the guy trying to shove fake innards back into his open stomach quite so funny. I don't really know why the whole movie theater full of people was wrong, they just were. That scene was hilarious, no doubt about that.

On Saturday, Best Guy Ever and I took the kids to Grandma's and drove my mom's convertible out to my hometown to visit a friend I've only seen once in the last 10 years. Cassisita was 1/3 of the troublemaking trio that moved from Smalltownville to Alaska 14 years ago at the ages of 18 (me), 19 (Krispity Krunchity), and 20 (Cassisita), and although we lost touch for awhile, I love my ex-roomie dearly. Cassisita's husband's 40th birthday was the same day as my 34th, so an enormous backyard BBQ complete with live band and bonfire was held at her brother in law's house next to the air field. Best Guy Ever was brave enough to climb a ladder 32 feet into a tree and try the zip line, but I missed out on my big chance. It was only after a lengthy discussion later that I learned how much Best Guy Ever weighs, thereby assuring me that his going first down the zip line would have been an adequate test of weight capacity. We also momentarily ditched the BBQ to drive down to the beach and sit in the open car, listening to music, talking, and maybe a little bit of making out. I think making out with a hot guy in a convertible with the top down is one of my new favorite things to do, and I'm not even going to lament the fact that I'd never done it before now.

Today I'm looking forward to a day spent with my kids, my mom, my nephew, and (maybe) my sister; celebrating for the third day in a row the fact that I was born. It feels like this is the universe's way of apologizing for that whole last year of bad luck; saying sorry for putting me through the ringer but giving me a wink and a high five for making it through it alright. The universe can be a pretty big jerk sometimes, but in the end I think his conscience does catch up. I've had enough of drinking from the tainted glass of Karmic Kool-Aid, and I think I'm going to take some time now to go back to enjoying a plastic wine glass full of the best apple wine that can be bought with a five dollar bill. Life is great, and THAT is what I want to swim in until my fingers get all pruney...

I am grateful for EVERYTHING.

-Tasha

Yippee!!!

2008-08-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

It's 92 sweltering degrees here in what used to be known as Pleasantville, and even though we all KNOW that I'm really not built for this sort of heat, absolutely NOTHING can temper my super mood today. First of all, tomorrow is my birthday. I happen to have a whole weekend full of plans that I'm sure will help make this my favorite birthday ever; starting with a half day at work, a haircut (its been 6 months), and a picnic dinner date with the best guy I've ever known. Saturday is a barbecue at the house of a friend I roomed with upon first moving to Alaska, but have only seen once in the past 10 years. The best guy ever will be attending the barbecue with me, so of course it will only be the best time ever. Sunday will be celebrating the birthday with family, surely eating more than we should and laughing until we pee our pants. Isn't that what family is for?

(What's that... did she say something about a guy?!)

She did. Not just any guy, but the Best Guy Ever. And so it is written. I've answered a couple of questions for myself that until this point in my life I had no clue on. Life is great. I don't know how long the Best Guy Ever will be in my life, but I do know this: if every single relationship pain I've ever gone through brought me to the moment of meeting him, then it was ALL worth it.

Dating questions I've answered for myself this month:

So how does it work? Do I meet someone and not hate them, and then eventually grow to like them and then love them? -

No, that's stupid. You will read something written by a person that will make you want to meet him come hell or high water. When he is slow to ask you out, you will jump the gun and tell him it's time to ask you out. The day of the first date you will spend six hours making something to give him when you meet him, because you know he will understand. When you see him your heart will do flips. And you will lose sleep that night because the thought will not leave your head that you have finally met your other half.

Will I agonize over whether I'll ever hear from him again?

Of course you will, because you're a dork like that. But he's great, and you WILL hear from him again because he's exactly as great as you think he is. And when the day comes that you tell him you're not sure how he feels about you, he will want to throw up his hands in disbelief as he reminds you that he has called in sick to spend time with you, showed up to see you when it is not convenient (since he lives a few towns away), emailed you, myspaced you, spent precious cell phone minutes on you, went to your employee picnic when he only knew you... and all of this within the first two weeks.

Will I ever meet someone I can be myself around?

Oh yes, and you will remember how much fun you are when you can just be yourself. He will laugh at all your jokes, he won't think you're retarded when you write him a rap, and you will spend the time you aren't with him smiling every time you think about him.

Will I be scared?

Terrified. Because you've always just waited for someone to like you first, and then convinced yourself to like them back. For once you will be with someone who is an amazing and complete and WHOLE person all on his own. He doesn't NEED you, he honestly likes to be with you. He isn't broken, and he doesn't need to be fixed. It feels great to know that you're not taking on a new project, this time you just get to be. And sometimes just being can feel kind of scary.

Right now I'm re-reading one of my favorite books of all time, Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins.

“Who knows how to make love stay?

Tell love you are going to the Junior's Deli on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to pick up a cheesecake, and if love stays, it can have half. It will stay.

Tell love you want a memento of it and obtain a lock of its hair. Burn the hair in a dime-store incense burner with yin/yang symbols on three sides. Face southwest. Talk fast over the burning hair in a convincingly exotic language. Remove the ashes of the burnt hair and use them to paint a mustache on your face. Find love. Tell it you are someone new. It will stay.

Wake love up in the middle of the night. Tell it the world is on fire. Dash to the bedroom window and pee out of it. Casually return to bed and assure love that everything is going to be all right. Fall asleep. Love will be there in the morning.”

I don't think we should make love stay. I think love should want to stay because there's nowhere else love would rather be.

“We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love.”

New Things!

2008-08-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've FINALLY started sewing again. Nothing finished yet mind you, but between Baby wanting me to sew him a robot, and my experiment at doggie portraiture, I think we're well on our way to finally mending the damage done by last year's horrible-terrible-no good-very bad run of luck. So without further ado:

This magazine came in the mail and got me to thinking about branching out a bit...

I particularly liked the idea of making a doggie, but the mutts of all my family members are of the curly haired variety, which I thought might be a bit too challenging for my first attempt.

Then lo and behold, this dog came into my life. And of course he has the most perfect face ever.

So I've started. And a start is better than a poke in the eye, wouldn't you say?
I am grateful for deciding to close the book on last year and begin a new chapter (FINALLY!). I'm grateful for time spent with family last week, and for choosing not to ignore someone who is amazingsuperwonderfulfantastic just because feeling that way about someone scares me. I am grateful for my amazing kiddos, and everything else that makes life pretty great. I AM happy.

The Dating Game

2008-07-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

I have been REALLY bad about getting back on track with my blog. Never fear dear reader(s), it's not that I've forgotten about you. It's simply that I've been filling in my spare moments with dating for the first time in my life, and it is a very time consuming process. This is not your grandparent's dating game anymore; the name of the game (unfortunately) seems to be quantity, not quality. Which makes one wonder how anyone can get around to finding their complimentary other half and settle down to growing old together when the world seems so full of other possibilities.

I'm at the point where I'm considering throwing in the towel, folks. Dates with the wrong people (of which I've had more than a handful now) are one thing, but going on a date with the right person is even worse. A great time is had by all, but then what? THAT question can keep you awake at night. Do I call? Do I email? Do I text? Do I myspace comment? Do I yahoo instant message? Do I ignore him all together to seem aloof and mysterious?

BLECH.

I'm grateful for meeting amazingsuperwonderfulfantastic people, and being one myself; living with and nurturing my two favorite people in the world; beginning my mini-vacation today; talking to my best friend until 3:30am; and knowing I'm lovable.

I KNOW I Keep Saying It....

2008-07-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

I, Tasha, do hereby vow that I will spend no fewer than eight (8) hours of time this very weekend in my sewing studio. The focus of any and all time spent in said sewing studio will be: completing unfinished projects, beginning new projects, cleaning up messes, and feeding the creative spirit that has been taking a nap inside me. All such undertakings should occur regardless of gorgeous weather, needed housework, or offers from eligible bachelors for meals or massages.

No more excuses.

With warm regards,

Tasha

Abandoned!

2008-07-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

There once was a story about two WONDERFUL small children who went camping with their father, a man who lived in a land far, far, away.

They played in, and under, and around the outside for days.

They enjoyed s'mores

and reading Harry Potter by headlamp
Mommy was at home feeling lonely and bored, and doing lots of driving around...

Glad my babies are home safe and sound.

(Did absolutely NO sewing this weekend)

Meh

2008-06-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

I promised to post pictures the very night of my last entry, but as you can very well see, that did not happen. Since I'm at a loss for a subject to write about today but with a great deal of things to take care of on the To Do list, I thought I'd upload the pictures on my camera (finally) and see what we have. So, without further ado...

Exhibit A:

War wound from last weekend's foolish "I'll move the nine million pound treadmill by myself so I can shampoo the carpets" experiment. Really cool bruises just don't photograph as well as one would hope.

Thing Two:Picture of now mostly grown up Lavender balancing precariously on the railing of the stairs. Soon after I snapped this photo she decided she was not very good at balancing precariously. It seems like only yesterday that we brought these two little kitties home...

And now even though it is horribly embarrassing to show the 'before' pictures, I simply MUST show the fruits of a full two days of my labor last weekend; crawling around on hands and knees going through a full bottle of stain remover, moving entire rooms full of furniture hither and yon, and carrying a two million pound rented carpet shampooer while limping up a flight of stairs.

Before:
After:Furniture Moved by still-a-bit-gimpy Tasha:

Solstice (who was not feeling well). Notice the dry toast Nurse Luna made for her brother:

And lastly, pictures of all the Qubicle Quilts I've had here at the homestead while listed on Etsy, which I feel would be doing a much better job of selling if they were at the gallery in Alaska. So anyone traveling up there this summer be sure to check out my lovelies at Half Moon Creek!
So you see, even when I'm silent it is not that I am doing nothing.

I am grateful for life.

New Mantra

2008-06-17T08:27:00.001-07:00

I've decided to take up a new mantra, one of those oldies but goodies that can serve quite well when used properly. The new mantra began in earnest this morning; "everything is temporary."

It's serving me well as my leg is swelling up again, keeping me from properly exercising the way I say I want to; it's serving me well as I went out to my car yesterday morning and found some heathens had taken my stereo again; and it's serving me well as I weighed myself on the scale this morning and found it creeping up quite a bit due to the leg (and my return to poor eating habits, but shhhh).

I did get the carpets shampooed this weekend (perhaps moving all the furniture by myself wasn't the best thing for the leg), and spent some lovely time outside on a blanket reading, in lovely view of Lake Pleasantville. About seven Qubicle Quilts and four QQ Teenies will soon be on their way to Alaska, which can only mean a renewed fervor in the sewing studio is not too far behind.

And I promise to post pictures for this post tonight....

I'm grateful that I have a leg that can swell up and that I'm alive and well otherwise, that even though the kids keep getting sick it's an excuse for them to cuddle up next to me in bed, and that I have a job that challenges me to the point of exhaustion some days. Yee haw!

Signs: a Recap of the Week

2008-06-14T07:37:00.001-07:00

I was laying in bed this morning trying hard to make myself sleep in and thinking back on my week, realizing that if there was a theme to the week it might be that there's still time to make my future so bright I gotta wear shades.

Work - It started earlier in the week when I spent some time at the other branch, talking to the other manager about where we see ourselves in the next year. We both see good change on the horizon, which I of course can't talk about here.

Kiddos - Things have worked themselves out for how the kids are going to spend their summer, and I couldn't be happier for a great number of reasons, the biggest just being that I feel I made the right choice for my own peace of mind. For their first summer ever they'll be in a structured program with weekly field trips and actual fun. Of course at this age they still think Mommy is fun, and I'll need to make sure they think that as long as possible.

Business - I'm going to put my Etsy store on hiatus for a bit while I focus on some things close by, and I'm going to mail whats been listed up to the gallery. They do a much better job of selling my stuff than I do, and maybe having empty cupboards in the sewing studio will make me feel like getting back into the groove of things and creating again. I need to get back into a rhythm, and creating has to be a part of that rhythm.

Home - Today I will be shampooing the dining room carpets! That may not seem like it fits into this post, but it does, oh MY how it does. The dining room is an area I've been avoiding at all costs because it seems to be an area that has gone through several incarnations since we've lived here, ALL of them messy. I think the art room for the 4, 5, and 6 year old junior Picasso has been the most disastrous. Or perhaps junior Jackson Pollack might be more apropos. But in any case, my avoiding this area is very detrimental to my goals for the future since it's the area that holds my exercise bike and treadmill. And yes, I still have some serious physical therapying to do so I can quit walking like Loerch.

Home (part 2) - My arch nemesis at work (located in another state) has been playing nice lately, and shared with me his own plan for world domination, and how that would mean I could fulfill my dreams of homeownership even here in Pleasantville. Isn't that the way with archnemesi (I'm POSITIVE that's the plural even though blogspot spell check simply refuses to see my way), they always dream super big. But I have to admit that PARTS of his plan made sense if I can only get some money saved...

Education - This has been a big one for me for quite awhile, a theme that keeps returning. No matter what the underlying reasons it's a very powerful thought for me that I will not feel satisfied until I have a bachelor's degree in something or other. The "which" is not important, it's the "what" that is, and that's my wanting to have a bachelor's degree. Framed... I'd wear it as a necklace. Last night was the pinning ceremony for my own dear mother at SPU for her BSN, and I can't tell you how happy I am that she has stuck this all out. For me (and this may be delving a tad too deep), when you grow up poor there are a whole lot of things that make you feel "less than" the people around you. Not being able to go to college has always been a huge one for me, and I vow to take that away from my own Baggage from Growing UP by just getting a darn degree. It can only HELP me in my professional life, since I have a whole lot of trouble understanding some of the language our CFO speaks. And he speaks to us frequently, in groups of 3 or 4, making it awkward that I won't make eye contact for fear he'll ask me if I understand.
So a degree at this point would still be a win/win. Right?

So all in all I would say things are looking up, as long as I take steps toward making them better when they aren't going so great. An easy enough concept for most people I know, but sometimes it takes me a bit of time to remember the simple things. I am almost HALF Polish you know...

Gratitudinous - My two favorite people, along with the other people that make up my family. My friends both near and far who appreciate me for the mess I am, but especially when I can find the humor in it. Health - I know it has been one of the cliches of life that people say they're grateful that they have their health when everything in life is going seemingly bad, but REALLY think about this one. I've seen too many people who I care greatly about have their lives turn on a dime in the past three months; don't wait for something bad to happen to appreciate how wonderful your life really is. Breathe in the air; appreciate what's happening around you whether rain or shine, and dance.

The Dream House

2008-06-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

At some point in every girl's life she finds herself a dream house, and she spends her time mentally moving in dream furniture, decorating windows with dream drapery, and hanging dream family pictures on the walls. For many girls this is done when she is a child playing with her Barbie and Ken dolls, but for me the dream house was found when I was 33.

One has to dream big here in Pleasantville, because houses are not cheap. So my dream house may not be a mansion, but it is exactly the kind of place I want to raise my wee ones, and all at the recently reduced price of (gasp!) $1,490,000. Maybe this is why my dream house hasn't sold yet?

I PREFER to believe that my dream house is waiting for me to scrape up enough change in the couch to put together a good down payment....

The TWO Best People in the World

2008-06-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

Positives

2008-06-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

Part of getting back into the habit of writing is finding some things worth writing about. I’ve looked at some of the blogs out there, and notice that not everyone writes something that is pure genius each day, so in the spirit of blogging, I am now using one of my Free Blogger Passes, entitling me to a day of genius-free blogging. Since this blog is essentially my world and I can make up the rules as I go along, I reserve the right to use the pass whenever I feel like it. I also would like to make a commandment that anyone who comments on my blog at least PRETEND that each entry has at least a tiny element of genius, if only to stroke my fragile ego. No one has to abide by my rules, but they sure make me giggle and feel powerful to make them…

On my desk at work I have framed a piece of paper, which contains the anonymous opinions my employees at the time had of me. I was reading these snippets today and thought it would be worth sharing, at the very least so any readers I have left might know that at least somewhere, I do a good job at things. Not here on my blog always… but at least somewhere….

And so, recorded verbatim for all posterity:

“Sensitive but strong. Very knowledgeable, eager to help but always encourages everyone to explore to discover their potential and gain more self-confidence. Sense of humor and makes everyone feel a part of the team.”

“Very creative, fair and friendly.”

“Tasha is such a great supervisor, she is so hard working, easy to talk to and help our team whenever it is needed.”

“Extremely calm with members! Your patience level is amazing. Upbeat, smiling, and always ready to help anyone and everyone.”

“Tasha has more creativity in her little finger then I do in my whole body. I am amazed at how well she balances work with home life.”

“Tasha looks at things from all angles, she rarely gets worked up, and she handles problems eagerly, efficiently and well. She is funny with a great sense of humor and keeps things fair.”

“Fair and balanced, no spin zone, kind and attentive, supportive and sensitive.”

“This girl has got some phone skills! She has one of the toughest jobs in case y’all didn’t know. You know those negative comments that we occasionally get back on our comment cards or surveys? Well guess who has to call these people to try to smooth things out…. That’s right, miss Tasha! And let me tell you, she does one heck of a job! I can only imagine what’s flowing into her ear on the other end, but through all of it she remains very friendly and completely understanding. Very impressive Tasha!”

“She really has lots of patience with me and members also. She has soothing and calm voice just listen to her. But whenever I look at her she thinks I have questions or problems ;o).”

“Very knowledgeable.”

“She is the most patient person I am lucky enough to know. She is so creative and talented. She manages to juggle work and profitable fun and family and life. WOW!”

And so it goes that at least once in my career here, I have been liked.

Hello Hello

2008-06-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend Jennifer for reminding me that I'm not dead, and so have no real excuse for not posting to my blog. I don't know what has kept me away for so long, except to admit that I've been stuck in a bit of the doldrums for some months now. Not wanting to exert any energy into putting negativity out into the world I though it best to hold back for a bit... A bit that turned into a month and a half. But here I am again, saying hello to anyone that will still have me. I feel an upswing is on the horizon and things will soon be shiny and happy once again. Probably as soon as I start sewing again, which begs one answer the creative person's chicken/egg dilemma - do I have to be happy to create, or does creating make me happy? Riddle me that, Batman!

Grateful things: My two favorite people in the world are thriving and loving life; it's always darkest before the dawn; Sara and my other friends who let me work through things out loud; and my job, which has become every bit as challenging as I need it to be. I am learning some amazing lessons about needing to dance now, because you only have one life.

The Way Things Are

2008-04-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

Today's horoscope (courtesy of Sara), which kind of sums things up...

Today's Leo Horoscope: Apr 11, 2008
Everyone must once in a while analyze
their lives. But when you ponder over your life, you tend to be too
pessimistic. You get carried away easily and often exaggerate. Today, as you
think about your life, try not listening to that little voice in your head.
Your life is far from being the way you think it is.

Hmm....
I'm greatful for Sara, the other wonderful friends in my life, the healthy and amazing kiddos, and of course the possibilities. Life would be nothing without the possibilities.

I'm Still Standing(ish)!

2008-04-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

The last month has FLOWN by, and I only wish I had more exciting news to report. The truth of the matter is that (as every stranger on the street has felt compelled to tell me) this injury is a doozy to heal, and you aren’t out flipping cartwheels (or cleaning house) while the process is taking place. Quite honestly most of my energy is spent during the hours I’m at the day job, and by the time I crutch my way from the front door to the couch I’m literally spent. Being the single mother of two kids when you’re on crutches can really be trying when all the light bulbs in the house start going out at once in some kind of synchronized taunt. Should we even MENTION the disastrous attempt at Easy Mac by the two enterprising young children of mine; an attempt which resulted in a small fire, the smell of burnt plastic indelibly permeating the entire house to this day, and blackened lumps of macaroni being scraped out of the previously brand new microwave.

Circumstances being what they are though I have no REAL complaints worth anyone’s time reading about… I am healing very well and any pain has been completely bearable. According to the surgeon I have an incredibly high tolerance for pain, which seems to be serving me quite well for the time being. The light bulbs have been refreshed thanks to a surprise visit from the 6’7 ex a week ago, and the dishes have been done by a surprise visit from the 5’11 ex (and father of the kiddos) for this week’s Spring Break. Tomorrow marks the official 7 week anniversary of “the accident”, and though I’m still on crutches I’m fortunate enough to keep losing weight on them… which was one of the more vain of my concerns if you’ll remember… LOL

I’m grateful that I remain friends with my exes, that the kids haven’t completely lost patience with me yet, that I can still wear at least one cute shoe at a time, that I’ve made some new friends due to being out of commission for so long, and that through it all I see definite signs of promise on the horizon. Now if only we could MEET….

- Tasha

Monumental

2008-03-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

The surgery is over, and I have survived mostly unscathed... with virtually all of my pre-surgery fears proven unfounded. Having pre-surgery fears cannot be helped really, when you have the type of doctor who says in your pre-op appointment "You don't need to worry about the anesthesia at all, if you REALLY want something to worry about, you need to worry about the actual surgery. THAT'S where all the really bad stuff can happen...". And if that wasn't enough, at about 2am the morning of surgery the thought occured to me that I'd be operated on lying on my stomach in one of those back-baring hospital gowns. I couldn't sleep after that, and quickly sent messages to anyone who would talk to me at that hour asking whether I would be able to wear underwear during surgery. The universal answer which got my heart pounding erratically? No. The actual truth? Yes. Never listen to your friends at 2am... they're not likely to be comforting.

So I'm recuperating nicely at my Mom's house, spending my time between the couch and a chair and the occasional torture of having someone put an 8 hour recorded-from-PBS VHS tape into the tv and leaving me, helpless. I haven't had to take any of the doctor prescribed pain medication, and other than only sleeping an hour the first night, things seem to be going along just swimmingly. Now if only I could shower!

I'm greatful for the remote control, the first two seasons of Arrested Development on DVD, cherry Pop-Tarts, and having painted my toenails two days before surgery. Oh yeah, and my family has been pretty great too. Woo Hoo!

Bright One

2008-02-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention that I used to be funny... not just regular run-of-the-mill funny, but the kind of funny so BRILLIANT, that when I read some of my own letters I didn't recognize the girl that had written them. Where did that girl go?

Maybe the surgery tomorrow will reattach my funny bone. What's that you say? Surgery? Oh yes... when I fall down I fall down BIG. No half ass twisted ankle for me... no ma'am. TORN achilles tendon plus a fracture... the whole kit and kaboodle so they say. I'm playing up the "sports injury" part of my idiocy so I can seem more cool. And when people ask me how good I was at soccer, I insist that I was cut down in my prime and that I was on the verge of being discovered. After all... ANYTHING's possible. So where IS the funny bone located anyway?

I'm grateful for Supes, lunch with Khumo, working with a GREAT bunch of people, and kids who are amazingly helpful. Now I'm off to recuperate on my Mom's couch!

Oh the Humanity!

2008-02-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from a WHIRLWIND two day trip for work to Beaverton Oregon, which meant that I spent my Valentine's Day in a room full of other Branch Managers and People of Importance and couldn't spend the day crying into my Cheerios. At our catered lunch of pizza and salad, I did decide to choose for myself the HEART shaped cookie out of the plastic clamshell of choices, and felt that somehow my heart shaped cookie was a sign that NEXT Valentine's will be much better. I mean really... it can't get any worse than the year husband number one told me weeks in advance that he had a "surprise" for me, then told me on THAT day (he waited until VALENTINE'S DAY???! Yep... that's the kinda gent I married at 20) that he was leaving me. Ahhh.... memories. So I'm holding out this time for the kinda guy that won't send me messages that require a translator, that doesn't drive a Hummer, that can keep up with my acerbic wit, that picks the RIGHT 5 songs, and that doesn't save bad news for momentous occasions, thereby ruining said occasions for the remainder of time. That's a good list to start with!

So now I feel a duty to share with you the embarrassing events of Friday/Saturday; in which I injured myself playing soccer with the big boys when I've only played twice, sat for 4 hours at the "Urgent" Care facilities to see what the heck I did, and hobbled out on crutches to dinner with my kiddos, Aunt, Mom, and Grandma and flirted with the waiter.
How the heck am I going to lose 30 more pounds in the next three months if I'm on crutches?!

Star Stuff and Babel Fish

2008-02-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

Apparently it takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round, and the particularly TRYING kinds like to send me messages. I’ve been having a bit of trouble lately with translating the actual meaning of what some of these people were trying to say, so leave it to wonderful Sara once again to show me the light. The AltaVista Babel fish is another useful tool when one is out alone navigating the dating world, especially if one is getting messages from crazy people. To illustrate the usefulness of one such tool, let me please begin by showing you an ACTUAL message I received (edited for my poor mother’s sake)…

First, the SUBJECT line:

you so the star stuff an what i want to get to know a
lot an what i dream of

Naturally, I was intrigued. So I proceeded to the body of the message…

From: Aundrez
Date: Feb 4, 2008 10:20 AM

ok so what are you doing an is you up to an do you have going on ? I so want to get to know you . Like what is up good morn an tell me some thing good love .

I couldn’t resist, so I responded…

From: Tasha
Date: 05/02/2008

Something good eh? I can't say anything really comes to mind at the moment. Can you think of anything?

Would you believe it? He thought of something! AND at four o’ clock in the MORNING!

Date:Feb 6, 2008 4:09 AM

Subject:

RE: you so the star stuff an what i want to get to know a
lot an what i dream of

I can an i do an i want to think of an do lots of things good wit an for an to you . Muah to your most wanted face an curls an just most deliteful style. I so want you do not tease me please me . your to much the art work to be half ass or not did all good. I so want you in me life. I am grown an i know what is up ok . How was your sleep? Like for sure i am trying to be your give you five an wax on an wax off man . I so want to hold your every thing an inbrace your love an beauty an feel the glory of your be me douty. Muah

Now that last message was a lot for me to handle, and WAY too much for me to understand. What exactly is a wax on wax off man? So we took a guess on what language might be correct (unfortunately Pirate isn’t available) and plugged it in to the Babel Fish. THEN we translated it BACK to English to see if it would clarify anything. Here’s what we came up with:

French - I put out of box I make I want to think of make a good number of good spirit of things for to you. Muah with your more desired face curves a model deliteful just. I want you thus does not tease me to satisfy myself your much the work of art to being half of ass or not to make good. I thus want you in me the life. I am developed I know what is to the top of ok. Go did how your sleep? Are you foutu approximately or you were make you you project it or is there a call of spoils until you wait with interest one to want? As for sure I try to be your elasticity you five a wax on a wax in addition to man. I want to thus hold your each thing a inbrace your love a beauty one to feel that the glory of your is me douty. Muah

Oh yes… “desired face curves a model”… THAT sounds promising…

Dutch - I can I do I want think of much things well verstand for to you do. Muah your face wanted most to curl correct most deliteful style. I do not want this way you me please to tease me your to the much art work to be or already well half do rest. I want you this way in me living. I am grown I weet what is omhoog o.k.. How was your sleep? If without doubt try I your to be give you five was on was of people. I want love this way your each thing inbrace your love a beauty a feeling the glorie your douty me am. Muah

Yes… What IS omhoog?

Italian - Inscatolo I make I wish to think next to I make the lotteries of good spirit of things for you. Muah to yours makes wished curlings one deliteful more just style. Therefore I wish them I do not take in turn for soddisfarlo. yours to the a lot the work to it of art for being average ass or in order not to make all the good ones. Therefore me I wish life to them. Me development I know that what is on the approval. How it was your sleep? As for sure I am trying to being your give you five one wax on one wax outside of the man. Therefore I wish to hold your every thing inbrace a your love a beauty a tact that the glory of yours is me douty. Muah

Ahhhh… “Me development I know that what is on the approval”. Would this sound better if it was whispered into my ear?

Russian - I preserve I make I want to think I make a series of the wit of the things of good for to you muah to your, is which they want to the side of curl valid deliteful type. 4 so I want you I do not tease me in order to please to me your to much work of iskysstva, it is which necessary to be with half ass or not to make at all good. 4 so I want you in me life. I grow I I know upward on o'keyu. How there was your sleep? As for confident I attempt to be your pliability you 5 wax on wax from the man. 4 so I want to hold your each thing inbrace your love beauty chyvstvo, is which the glory of your by me douty. Muah

Oh I get it now – “As for confident I attempt to be your pliability”. He’s CONFIDENT he wants me to toy with him like Play-DOH! I think four trips through Alta Vista has helped me see the light… this is DEFINITELY the guy for me!

The Best Question of All

2008-02-05T05:44:00.000-08:00

When you're a Single Mom out in the free world trying to determine what's real and what's not, you need a quick and easy test to know who's right for you. I do believe I have found it! This simple test can be used any ANY stage of a relationship, and is also useful to use on friends, neighbors, and complete strangers you might want to get to know a little better. After this test, you will KNOW with absolute certainty whether anyone is worth your time. What can this magical test possibly be? It's so easy you will THANK ME for dispensing such useful advice. Are you ready for it? All you have to do is ask one simple question:

"What 5 songs would you put on an Ipod for me?"

The faint of heart will run at the task, the truly cautious will put much thought into it, and the lurking lothario will quickly spout out a list of cheesy yet inappropriate (for you) easy listening love songs. If there's any Roberta Flack (and that's not your thing) then you have clearly been misjudged. The person who is right for you will know that this is about telling your FEELINGS, but also about finding music that is RIGHT.

With that ALL being said, here are the 5 songs that my friend Sara so adeptly chose for my current state of mind, after I'd told her the songs that had been picked for me by others. When I'm ready to date again, I definitely think I'll let Sara do the choosing....

1. Home by Sheryl Crow

2. This Love by Maroon 5

3. Thinking about you by Norah Jones

4. It's no good by Depeche Mode

5. Up against the wall by Patti Rothberg

I am grateful to be a person who takes chances sometimes, and stays inside looking out at other times...

Norah Jones - Thinking About You lyrics

And It Doesn't Stop!

2008-01-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

After my 6 month hiatus sewing, it seems now that I just can't seem to stop! There are new things in the shop, birthday gifts a-brewing,"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
and even a new sewing machine from Grandma to figure out with Boo. Will the fun never end?!

Here's hoping you're all getting the chance to do what brings you joy, whether because you made it a resolution, or because you're taking better care of your Self.

It Really IS a Craft Blog!

2007-12-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

I think I mentioned before that the problem with posting craft pictures before Christmas is that most of the gift recipients have a chance of getting their surprises ruined if they happen upon the blog. So I've been patiently waiting until the day that I could show you that yes, I have been sewing again with a gusto, and I even have the fruits of my labor here to prove it. Let us all cross our fingers and consider this to be a sign of the things to come for 2008, and consider the 6 month hiatus from creating a distant memory from the disastrous second half of 2007. And with that I present to you...

One little boy who wanted nothing more than to dress like Santa for ChristmasAnd yes... that IS a Target clearance red hooded sweatshirt ($3.48) with 2 yards of fake fur basted on (for easy removal after the holidays) and some black knit gloves ($1.48). The look on my son's face when he saw this ensem' was indeed priceless.

Like most workplaces at the holidays, ours traded names for a Secret Santa exchange. I happened to draw my friend Sara, so in order to throw her off the trail I made this lovely pillow with her initial. In real life it squashes itself down in the perfect imitation of a very lovely '2', but Sara was nice enough to say she loved it anyway. Her real gift was this little gem which is based on a very inappropriate game we play. The people that know the game thought this was hilarious...

I needed a gift for our janitors, a lovely Russian couple who I don't really know too well since they usually come after I'm gone. I have no idea whether it was a hit or not, but I'm certainly proud of how this turned out since it's not really my style at all. It seemed sort of perfect... but who really knows?
I made this for my boss, and luckily she appreciated the wisdom... which is a direct quote from Homer Simpson. Everyone deserves a boss who appreciates truly genius wisdom.

Boo and Baby each received handmade gifts from me this year also, and I have to say with no small amount of pride that I think they were also a big hit. It's a wonder I never thought to do this before...

A jacket for Luna; why did I never make her one before? I've made probably 30 of these for strangers...

This is the quote on the inside left front of the jacket, the rest are on the outside
Luna has her jacket, and Sol was ecstatic about meeting this little guywho was knit from a pattern I found here. The monster himself is very nice and well-behaved, however he was (excuse my language) a bitch to knit. It doesn't help that the pattern and I had a bit of a misunderstanding, hence the monster's freakishly large head. If you click on the link to the real pattern you'll see a much better formed monster... luckily my son has not seen what the monster should look like, and therefore has no idea that his mommy is a knitting reject.

I didn't get pictures of the Urchin hat I knit for my sister out of a beautiful soft baby blue thick and thin yarn, or the lampshade I knit for my Mom that, after an hour of help from my local knitting store, actually turned out amazingly fantastic. I've included the links for THOSE patterns here also in case you're feeling productive.

And so with the holidays over, I've decided I need to kick my butt back into gear and get back to focusing on making things to sell. I am a single mother who would like to develop a very nice yarn stash after all, so I better get to work. I have a goal to make 5 things to list on Etsy before I go back to work on Wednesday, and here's what I have so far:
It's a small start, but it's a start. Now if anyone has any really great quote suggestions I could really use some!

I am SO grateful for new beginnings, two wonderful kids who also happen to be my favorite people in the world, spending the holidays with family, Kyle still safe and grouchy in Iraq, and Travis finally making it to L.A. My world is good.

-Tasha

O Christmas Tree!

2007-12-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

My Mom goes ALL OUT when it comes to decorating for Christmas, so I feel like I've spent the past week in some kind of show house... which is what it actually was, since my Mom's mini-town does a Christmas Home Tour ever year of which she was a part. So for your viewing enjoyment, I have a small sampling of the splendour that is Grandma's Home for the Holidays...

The french doors from the living room to the sunroom, where the tree (and presents!) were:

This is our Santa, Guardian of the Christmas Tree. This year we let him sit down, but normally he stands about five and a half feet tall holding a lantern. My Mom made him a few years ago

The view from the living room coffeetable (which my Mom made over 30 years ago) toward the sun room

Can you believe this is just the spot over the kitchen sink?

This is the dining room...
Doesn't every house have a snowman collection in the dining room?
Shouldn't every house decorate with cake domes?And of course no Christmas would be complete without plenty of Santas...

Um... does anyone else decorate their bathroom also?
So I was fortunate enough to spend my holidays surrounded by all that you see here (and more!), knitting. Could it get any better than that?

This, That, and the Other

2007-12-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

I KNOW I need to be better at posting to my blog, if for no other reason than that it helps me see things in a humorous light. But are any other crafty bloggers finding it hard to blog about what they're doing right now because they're making gifts for people who read their blog? I mean honestly, if I blogged all the wonderful projects I'm working on, Christmas would be ruined! So let me dig through my pile of possible-things-to-blog about and see what I come up with...

Ah yes, I know just the thing! The sewing room extreme makeover (well for me anyway). Those of you in the know may remember that I foolishly decided that it would be a simple weekend job to switch out my sewing room and my office, so the sewing room might actually be a ROOM (gasp!) with a DOOR (shock!). Who knows how many months later, I was finally able to begin sewing in my lovely new space last Friday. Now everything is not as perfect as my head like to think things up to be, but I am finally able to share with you all what I have. But first I want to start with the material I bought to make a quilt sometime after the holidays, because I am so absolutely in love with these colors:The quilt will be for a guy, so I hope I've straddled the line of masculine and amazingly gorgeous well.

Any material that has a very specific project picked out for it now resides here, in this cabinet I stole out from around my meager collection of sheets for the actual beds in our home.
Now the sheets are probably laying in a corner in a pile somewhere, but doesn't the material look lovely? The bit of material hanging down the front was a wonderful gift given to me by my friend Tif. It's a bit of silk covered in hand embroidery that she found somewhere, and I have to admit that the back of it is my favorite part to look at (and I get to see the back every time I open the cabinet... see, GENIUS!).

The material that I stare at when I'm trying to figure out what to make next, is all arranged nicely like this now, and I can get to every single piece without reaching past a table or going on my tippy toes!
And just so that I never have to worry about one of my cutting tools going AWOL (it happened to Tif and the very thought of such a thing had me losing sleep for weeks), I "repurposed" ( a new word that spell check does NOT like) an Ikea candleholder to make my piece de resistance...

"I don't know much about art, but I know what I like".

I dug this out of a box and have displayed it proudly, in case I ever forget what I'm supposed to be doing when I'm in that room:(My art book of Botero is hiding behind the giraffe, the giraffe is from OrangeWillow on Etsy)

And just in case I STILL need inspiration, I hung one of my very own Qubicle Quilts
And when I'm done sewing for the night and it's time to turn out the lights and close the door... I have my friend Andre to hand me my coat
Andre once had a distinguished career at the Bon Marche, but sometime around 1987 or so that once esteemed shopping mecca determined that Andre was past his prime and no longer worthy of their employ. He found a new home in our house on Hunt Road, and has moved around with us ever since. Now Andre is really feeling the years, and seems to be stuck in a permanent pose which requires some sort of vertical assistance to maintain full upright-ness.

So that's the new sewing room. It won't win any design awards or a spotlight in Quilting Arts, but it's not too shabby for a single Mom in Pleasantville. Not too shabby atall.

And now for my gratefuls: The stack of books I've been able to read now that I'm not falling asleep in front of the TV every night, my new glasses so I can see when I'm driving in the rain and not do that driving-by-Braille thing anymore, Great kids who really should be asleep right now but who I still hear talking, and an hour of text messages from Iraq disputing the texture of lobster.

Obsessive Knitting

2007-11-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

It’s been in my head lately that Christmas is right around the corner and I have **NO** presents for any member of my family or friend circle bought, made, picked out, or budgeted for. I’ve been entertaining fantasies of finishing up my sewing room move for some time now, and I still have yet to replace the broken chair that I need to sit in while sewing that some of you may remember from my blog several months ago. I console myself with the fact that I’ve been nudging my way back toward my creative endeavors, albeit somewhat obsessively, by picking back up my needles and knitting away...

Unfortunately all I’ve been knitting lately are black hats. I haven’t dissected this yet with any of my panel of advisers, but I’m pretty sure they’ll call me on my wackiness. And the reason for my manic knitting spell? One of the Great Loves of my Past(insert melodramatic hand-to-heart gesture here) has been sent off to Iraq in the last couple of weeks, and this time I’m determined to be the dutiful friend sending off well timed, appropriately astonishing care packages full of the perfect items that he doesn’t know well enough to ask for. That was the aim of course, but somehow I’ve been sidetracked into maniacally knitting black hats. This one’s too soft, that one’s too itchy, this one’s not machine washable… you see the point? And yet I’ll be just finishing up with what I SWEAR will be the last black hat, and another yarn combination will pop into my head and I think I simply MUST try it out. Cotton, wool, cashmere, bamboo… I just know the perfect fiber combination to keep someone immortal is out there. For some reason all the fear and paranoia I feel at having one of my oldest friends over there has manifested itself in this incredibly impractical way. I mean honestly, how many black hats can one man own?

I am grateful for: text messages from Iraq, growing kittens, visiting Sedro next week with Tif, getting back in the creative spirit, and two amazing kids who can just be kids. Life is wonderful.

Practicing Random Acts of Kindness (for selfish reasons)

2007-11-18T08:19:00.001-08:00

There's a story here, but I suspect before we get to it that the path might meander a little. Bear with me Dear Reader(s), there might be wisdom to be had (um... but I'm not making any promises).

The thought has occurred to me that 80's television may had an adverse affect on my upbringing. In the 80's we had a neighbor that had kindly rigged us up some cable television (with Showtime!), which we promptly sat in front of for hours on end. When we moved out of that house we didn't have cable again until I bought it as an adult a year and a half ago. I was thinking about this last night while watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids on my own modern day cable. I remember watching the movie when it came out at the movie theater, and having fantasies of my own that some errant scientist-invention-gone-awry would shrink me and the neighbor down so we could fall in lust with each other. No wonder I have problems with relationships... I grew up on a diet of Knight Rider, Mr Belvedere, Small Wonder, and Who's the Boss. Let's not even discuss the damage that years of watching Cheers and The Cosby Show back to back caused me. I think somewhere along the line I must have figured I could have it all... and I've spent my life looking for that perfect combination of Sam Malone and Cliff Huxtable in one man. Ugh! And let's not even discuss the irony involved in finding out that apparently in real life Ted Danson is a much better husband than Bill Cosby. This will take me years of therapy as reality and fantasy get mixed up in my mind, and I think that a man like Sam Malone can change into a man like Ted Danson with the right love of a good woman... Because the day I realized that the "allegations" against Bill Cosby and his sexual proclivities were true, I felt like I'd just found out there was no Santa Claus.Are you still with me, because I promise I'm getting to the story...

Eighties TV sitcoms were big fans of the dilemma plotline. A crisis of conscience in which our beloved main character has a choice between doing the right thing or the wrong thing... in the first two acts it looks like they might choose the wrong thing... but then... whew! After the last round of commercials they would pull it out of the hat and claim victory over temptation. What I believe I picked up from this story arc is that we usually don't want to do the right thing in the beginning, but that if we do it eventually, we'll still get the karma points. Given any tough decision, I have about 22 minutes to figure out the right way to go. And so it was yesterday while waiting in line at the Starbuck's drive-thru. With a full day of cleaning to go before the arrival of the ex (long story), the kid's and I needed a pick-me-up at coffee mecca. After telling the speaker my order, I pulled my gigantic SUV (if I could afford a Ford Escape HYBRID I would have one) as close to the car in front of me as possible, in order to make room for the gigantic SUV behind me to pull up to the speaker and shout their order. APPARENTLY I wasn't able to pull forward far enough to suit the yahoo in the Yukon, because the driver honked at me. Now because of the angle the driver may not have been able to see how I was almost touching the bumper of the tiny car in front of me, the driver may not have even been ABLE TO SEE the tiny car in front of me... but to my way of thinking, honking at another car in the Starbucks drive-thru in the middle of sunny happy latte land is definitely bad form. I won't lie, I looked through my rearview mirror into the pouring rain to see if the driver was big enough for me to open a can of Whoop-Ass (patent pending) on, but I couldn't see through his or her tinted windows. Seeing my wonderful children in the backseat though caused me to pause for reflection (a seething reflection, but I DID at least pause). When Boo asked why the car behind honked at us... I actually answered "maybe they're having a bad day". And then something happened... I actually started to believe what I had said. I thought to myself that even though I in all my infinite wisdom would never DREAM of taking my own bad day out on an innocent caffeine addict, perhaps their bad day was bad enough to cause them to display such a complete an utter lack of decorum. I wasn't going to let completely go of my own anger yet, but I thought maybe there would be a way for me to turn the situation around, and thus be a Hero Mommy. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to get to the altruistic moment though... I sized up the SUV behind me and noticed it was much newer, bigger, and shinier than mine. And since the median income of the households in my town is $80,000 with only 7% of the houses run by single mothers, I had a feeling the person in the car behind me had WAY more money than I did. BUT in the interest of being HERO MOMMY, I paid for their drink order. By doing so I was able to release all the bad energy inside me, and either help them with their bad day.... or make them feel guilty they were such a schmuck. Is that so wrong?

Of course there's always the chance they just bumped the horn with their elbow, but then what would I have to blog about?

-Tasha

A Sucker for Strays

2007-11-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

And the day started thusly: one kiddo wants to ride the bus, the other wants to be dropped off at school so he can sleep in a bit... not too much of a problem there as I have an appointment across from the school at 9am. So 5 minutes before we have to be out the door I decide to scoop the litter box which is now in it's new location, without the benefit of a door to shut it behind. Let me just tell you folks, when I bought this litterbox I went for the absolutely supreme deluxe model. The litterbox not only has a dome over it to hide kittywaste, it also has stairs going up into it, so I don't have to see the kitty poking it's head out making grunty faces. It takes about forty pounds of litter a week, but it's well worth it (or so I thought). So I ask Baby to get me one of those little plastic grocery bags so I can change the litter, but when I lift the dome I see that kitty #2 has been ripping the plastic liner with her wee bitty kitty claws. So I make a split second decision to change the bag also, which means lifting the forty pounds of SOILED litter out of the litterbox, and squeeze it (for security) into the plastic grocery bag. All went well with nary a grain of spillage, so I prepared to heft my load down the stairs, out the door, and into the garbage bin. Luck of all luck! On my way down the stairs (2 minutes before needing to leave the house) the bag broke and about twenty pounds of soiled litter and CLUMPS (you cat owners know what I'm talking about) went merrily rolling themselves down the stairs. With Baby standing not two feet behind me I'm ashamed to say that all I could do was stand there and say SHIT! about a hundred times while the mess unfolded itself in front of me. Now here's the good part; all I could think about while cleaning up this mess was that I finally had something worth blogging about.

Now THAT my friends, is healing.

Halloween... And then there were POP TARTS

2007-11-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't been the best Mom when it comes to Halloween (I've been told by well meaning adults). First of all in Alaska where the kids spent their early years it's too darn cold and dark to go trick or treating. Then there's the fact that I'm not a big fan of candy gorging, and that I hate the idea of begging at the houses of strangers, and then you'll get to why this is the first year the kids have ever gone trick or treating. It started when my Mom had the kids last weekend, and called me asking why they don't have any costumes. I do believe she was horrified when I admitted that I was trying to let Halloween pass by unnoticed. So two costumes later...
It was up to me where to take this beautiful "I don't know" and her gallant knight. So during work on Wednesday I did a google search and realized that everything fun had happened the weekend before Halloween. Just imagine how happy I was as the candy-hating-Mom to see that Whole Foods was handing out things to kids in costume. "I can kill two birds with one stone!" I thought, always trying to do just that. So I raced out of work and dressed the kids up, then tore over to the Whole Foods to parade them around with their free Whole Foods Trick-or-Treat bags. But midway through something happened. I started to feel guilty at trying to short-change the kid's Halloween experience about the time Boo took a sample of grapes from the omni-present Whole Foods sample dome and Baby said (with a mouth full of sample pineapple) "Mommy this is the Best Halloween EVER!". So we went trick or treating in the neighborhood of my dear friend Sara, who actually had troops of trick or treaters tromping around everywhere. I hadn't seen that kind of Halloween activity since I was a kid, so I know I must've hit upon Trick or Treat mecca.

So now we're at today. I've arranged a delightful and healthy breakfast (cherry pop-tarts count as fruit, right?)
Hey... I had to bribe the kids for a day spent moving the sewing room into the office and the office into the sewing room. Hold on kiddos, mama's gonna start sewing again!

It has to happen now, because the kitties are taking over...

The Progress

2007-11-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

If there's a new motto to be had, it would be something along the lines of "Do it Yourself Instead of Waiting for Others to Do it For You" or something more poetic but essentially the same. And since that is the new motto, I thought it only right if I re-evaluated my Christmas wishlist to see what I could do for myself... and would ya just LOOK at the results!

Treadmill - it's okay Santa, I got this one myself on MONDAY. It's a rickety starter treadmill from Craigslist, but I figure if I have 3 months of walk/jogging on this thing at least 4 days a week without using it as a clothes hanger then I owe it to myself to upgrade...
Truckload of Partylite Winter Solstice scented candles of all sizes - not much to be done here since the Partylite people saw it in their infinite wisdom to discontinue this scent sometime between now and when my son SOLSTICE was born. Darn it all anyhow! I did try an Ebay search, but then decided that might be a tad bit crazy to become so obsessed with something I was just going to burn. Call me kookie but.... well no, you'd be right. That's kookie.
A trip to Tahiti - Okay, this one can stay on the list. Let me also interject that a trip ANYWHERE WARM would be welcome Santa, and I already have two weeks of vacation scheduled at Christmas with no place to go. Not hinting or anything, just... well... trying to make things easier.
An intelligent, funny, sexy man who does not drive a Hummer for pleasure purposes or wear hats made of straw, and would never DREAM of saying "Good Luck finding a man who loves your kids as much as I did" after he has cheated on me. - Yeah, well a girl has to have her standards...
Enough snow to build a proper snow man, but not so much I can't safely get to work - Take or leave this one Santa, if it doesn't snow I can convince the kids that it snowed inside by ripping up tiny bits of paper and strewing them all over.
Someone to organize my sewing area, so I can make up for lost time - Yeah, I better not wait around on this one and just tackle it myself. How else can I get Christmas presents for other people done? So I've decided I'm going to take over the former office and turn it into my sewing area. That's my own little gift to myself: that out of a three bedroom house that I pay ALL the rent on I deserve TWO of the bedrooms. Me, mine, NO SHARING. And if one day I meet a man who would like to WOO me away from all of this he will have to prove to me that I can continue to live in the luxury to which I have accustomed myself. Do you hear that futureman? MY OWN SEWING ROOM!
That all my knitted presents fit everyone they're made for (without me having to fool with knitting a gauge swatch first) - I give up, I've started (after 11 years of knitting) to make gauge swatches. It's a whole new world.
World Peace - Still on the list
Hillary Clinton in the White House. NOW! - Still on the list, but I'm considering downgrading to the much more urgent "Just get that man out NOW!"

And so there you go, progress can be good for the soul.

I'm grateful for the old friends that keep popping up out of nowhere - first Kyle, then Kristy, Mick, and now Khumokins. You know nothing has been in vain when the boy you had a crush on in 5th grade calls you up out of the blue because you've always been great at talking to each other; the boy you had a crush on when you were 15 wants you to believe you and he can live happily ever after; you hear from the one you never really got a good chance to know because the timing was wrong, and to top it all off you have weekly chats with the best sister-friend that listens to you talk about them all and can laugh and snort and cry and lift you up all the same. And that's what it's all about.

All I Want for Christmas

2007-10-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

My DEAR Mother asked me to "start thinking" about what I want for Christmas this year. START thinking?! Oh Mommie, that's ALL I think about these days! And since I have nothing else to blog about, I thought I could share with all my dearest friends here...

Treadmill
Truckload of Partylite Winter Solstice scented candles of all sizes
A trip to Tahiti
An intelligent, funny, sexy man who does not drive a Hummer for pleasure purposes or wear hats made of straw, and would never DREAM of saying "Good Luck finding a man who loves your kids as much as I did" after he has cheated on me
Enough snow to build a proper snow man, but not so much I can't safely get to work
Someone to organize my sewing area, so I can make up for lost time
That all my knitted presents fit everyone they're made for (without me having to fool with knitting a gauge swatch first)
World Peace
Hillary Clinton in the White House. NOW!

Please Forgive Me

2007-10-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's a week later and there have still been no street performers. As my dear Mother has pointed out however, I have felt much more like dancing. Now, I have to confess that in this mood of merriment I happened to hear the Rocky Theme Song playing, and realized that for most of my life I've had no idea what the singers are saying in that song. I have harnessed the Power of Google, and much to my surprise what they actually say is MUCH (and I mean MUCH) different from what I'd always heard in my head. So for anyone else who has always wondered what they're saying, here it is for the taking:

DeEtta Little & Nelson Pigford - Gonna Fly Now (Theme From "Rocky)

Trying hard now, its so hard now, trying hard now..
Getting strong now, wont be long now, getting strong now..
Gonna fly now, flying high now, gonna fly, fly, fly.

This makes SO much more sense than what I thought, which was the much less appropriate "chinese whore town" repeated over and over again...

-Tasha

What the Heck?

2007-10-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Just had to share my horoscope for the day, courtesy of my crazy friend Sara:

Leo (July 22 - August 22)

This is one of those days when you may be walking along, dear Leo, and all of a sudden there is a street performer on the sidewalk playing music. Suddenly your normal footwear turns into a pair of dancing shoes and you find yourself boogying down the rest of the road. It won't take much to get you groovin', and once you start, it may be hard for you to stop.

- Still no sign of any street performers -

Tasha

Lavender and Codysaurus Rex

2007-10-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

The kitties are settling in nicely and taking over the one room they feel comfortable claiming as their territory. For some reason they refuse to go past the doorway of the office, and I'm starting to wonder if they know something I don't know. Sitting here now I watched them both run at a full gallop toward the door and then both stop right at the threshold. They looked out into the hallway for a second and then turned around and ran back in to their kingdom of the office. Now I'm wondering if I should move my bed in here too...?The kitties taking over the office chair...

And now I PROMISE my next blog post will have some exciting pictures of material, for I am going to be embarking on a new project for the first time in a zillion months! A very easy no frills quilt project will be just what the doctor ordered. And wait 'til you see the colors we've picked!

I'm grateful for distractions, Krispity Krunchity, kittens, family, and great kids ("Mom, getting these kittens was the best idea ever!").

Tasha

She's Baaaaaack

2007-10-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded some pictures from the borrowed camera into the computer today, and shocked myself at how much time had passed since I'd written about anything fun here. I missed out on showing you all my new office, complete with fresh flowers I bought for myself...
Gone was the trip to the aquarium on my birthday in August when we had a behind-the-scenes tour from Sarah and saw our very first squid dissection...
And the freezer where they keep the fish food...

the first day of school...

the trip to the fair in September where Travis won at the only game he played, and then had to carry a five foot tall frog through the fairgrounds...

And Sol's first go at being on a soccer team...

And that about catches us up to this weekend, and the new family members. Not one, but TWO cute, cuddly, and rambunctious kittens. A surprise for the kiddos that I don't think they really believed until they'd stayed a full night in the house. These two cuties were found abandoned in an apartment with their emaciated mama and no food or water. The kids have named them Cody (Rex) and Lavender.
And so Fall begins, and we start seeing our family take a new shape. But just so you know... I'm still a DOG person...

I am grateful for new beginnings, great friends, fall colors, hope for the future, playful kittens, and wonderfully amazing kids.

Tasha

The BIG Love

2007-09-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

I had a great conversation with a very wise woman today, and I won’t tell you much about her to protect her innocence (ha!). Let me quickly go off on a tangent and say that if it hadn’t been for the wise women in my life, I don’t think I could have made it through the last three months. I hope that whoever you are, and whatever you’re going through, you always have someone wise to point out the little truths that your tears are blinding you from, because if you don’t you will find yourself lost.

And now to today’s nuggets of wisdom. The very wise woman (who I think can peer into people’s souls… not that you always want her to because she will tell you what she sees) told me in a way that bore no discussion, that what I had lost was my “BIG Love”. “The ‘BIG’ Love” she said (she has an Eastern European accent) “is the one that will make you FEEL the most.

"It will make you hurt the most sometimes, and it will make you soar with love sometimes, but you will be FEELING. "I would much rather have a short time of this freezing and burning than an entire lifetime of being lukewarm.”

She said this and it made sense. She doesn’t always make sense you see, but sometimes the sense she makes is so very TRUE, and today was that day. So this was her explanation why after loving and caring so much for a man that had broken my heart three months ago, a man that I continued to wake up next to every day, I finally had enough. She said that the really great ones are the ones that make you so angry that you throw them out in the rain with nothing but the clothes on their backs and you lock the door behind them. And that’s exactly what I did.

“They have to be this way” she said, “because it is with the ‘BIG Love’ that you cannot be friends. "It will end in flames, because this is the way it has to be or your heart will continue to bleed slowly away. "Maybe someday he will be back, but it has to be right or it cannot work.”

And that is the way things have to be. She’s right you know, and I KNOW she’s right. Finally. And according to her, some people never have this great big love that is so powerful and strong that you feel your highest highs and your lowest lows… but I think I may have had it twice, at least. So I guess for all my wishing for a nice quiet life with a picket fence I know that I have always liked to FEEL more, to drink it all in and spit it back out. I remember when I was with Walter, my conversation with my dearest Krispity Krunchity… “I wish he would just get MAD or something, he just wants to do whatever I want to do and it’s so irritating that it makes me want to punch him”. Ah yes… and I married that one. So it is what it is. At least I’m FEELING things, and that’s not such a bad thing after all. "This is how we know we're alive." And to be with a person who is so completely different from the person you fell in love with can't be the right thing to do. As my Brilliant Mother said, "I'm damn proud of you for not seeing how to make ordinary work."

I am SURROUNDED by wise women...

Looking Up

2007-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

The thing about life is that it's always changing. It may be too late to have a perfect childhood, but it's never too late to become the person you want to be. So that's where it's at. I'm stripping life down to the bare essentials (buh bye toxic "friendships", holey underwear, and making my bed) and working on doing the goofy things I like to do. So I'm going to the fair this weekend and I'm going to ride a ride for the first time since high school, and I'm going to re-read all of my Tom Robbins books (except the ones I don't want to), and I'm going to buy my own flowers for my office every week, and I'm going to listen to all the 80's music I love so much, and I'm going to burn scented candles and take bubble baths and go to bed early. I'm going to be alone for awhile, and I'm going to enjoy it, every minute of it. I'm going to laugh so hard at goofy silly things that I can't hold in the snorts, I'm going to go puddle jumping in the rain, and blow bubbles while on the carousel, and I'm going to be FUN. Because THOSE are the things that define me and say who I am. I am true, real, and good, and I aim to make the world a better place. And that's all I have to say about that.

A Face Like a Chubby Ballerina

2007-09-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

So we've been negotiating the realities of this move for the past few weeks now, and there have been some good moments among the bad days. If life were black and white these things would have so much more clarity... a person and their actions would be either all bad or all good, and that would be that. I understand why Hillary Clinton stayed with Bill. And for some reason or another this is how things have tended to go for me. I have never made a clean break, not ever ever ever. This has been the fourth of the major defining relationships in my life, and I have a tattoo to mark the passing of each of the others. My relationships have all burned so brightly that the end never was the end. Gary left for Japan a full year before he finally got the letter from me saying it was over, and he called my mother crying afterwards. Walter left me for Alaska and I followed him to work it out... another year of trying but not trying before I decided we were done. And when it was finally undecidedly over, after the judge declared it over, we sat sobbing together over lunch wishing we'd been stronger people. There was David who brings me so much sadness to think about how that ended. How we knew it was over but stayed in the same house like really bad roommates for months and months. And now this. You think that when you meet that person who you know is your soulmate that the hard work is done. You think nobody in the world has ever found what you have found, and that everything you have is so much better than what everyone else has. You find out one day that everyone is human, and the injustice of it all is overpowering. So that's where we are. The end is in sight but our hearts are still intertwined some days, which is making the pain so much greater. For some reason I have never let go easily, but in the end I've always kept a friend...

Now for my assignment, given to me by Wonderful Sara: heal by making a list of all the things you want next time. Sara assumes there will be a next time, and of course I beg to differ. But just because she said so, here's the beginning of "The List". PLEASE leave me your comments with the things I MUST add...

The perfect man:

Passionate about life

Tall

Sexy

Attentive

Funny

Witty

Good credit

Sensible

Sensitive

Smart

Understanding

Has complete faith in me

Will let me decorate our house

Supportive

Optimistic

Does not drip down the front of the toilet when he goes to the bathroom

Takes care of himself

If he’s gassy, it mustn’t smell
Showers regularly

Keeps fingernails trimmed

Knows how to be goofy

Will look ridiculous if it will make me laugh

Will surprise me with a puppy

Wants to go on DATES with me

Understands the need for fresh flowers

Will take out the garbage

Will appreciate me above all others

Would never ever ever cheat on me

Believes I am the most amazing woman in the world

Will try different foods

Will hold me when I cry, no matter what the reason

Likes avocado and Van Morrison

Will listen to a song and say “that’s how I feel about you”

Will adore Luna and Solstice as much as I do, and always want what’s best for them

Will appreciate going out to eat every once in awhile

Takes care of himself, not bent on self destruction

Has health insurance

Will understand that I want a ring and a thought out proposal, and will know that I’m worth both

Will challenge me sometimes, but only when I deserve it

Understands that I get grouchy when I don’t eat or haven’t had enough sex

Will make sure I always have enough sex

Will talk dirty to me

Wants to hold my hand or be in contact with me constantly

On the NO list:

Cherry Chapstick

I'm Still Here

2007-09-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

I have so appreciated the comments I received from my last post; friends I've met and some I've never met both sending love my way as I deal with stuff. I haven't meant to fall off the face of the earth, it's just that sometimes life can take a lot of energy and there's none left to spare. It's September 1st though and right about the 29th of August I decided that I'd had so much bad luck come my way this summer (starting in June) that I had to explore the possibility that I might be doing my own part to perpetuate it. So I sent a message to the universe that I would accept no more bad luck at all after August 31st, and I'm holding the universe to her end of the bargain. I've been hammering out some details and mentally preparing myself as we get ready for Travelous to make his big life-changing career-defining move to Los Angeles, and the kids and I get ready for our own life ahead. It's taken awhile for me and Travis to realize that this was the reason our paths needed to diverge at this point, but supporting this person I love while he follows his dreams has always meant a fair bit of sacrifice. Sometimes this is just the way things go... insert devastatingly sad love song here...

And now I'm putting one foot in front of the other as I try to get things back on track. The kids are back at school in 3 days, and I have a sewing area with a layer of dust on it about two months thick. I'm sure I'll start making my regular appearances here in the blog world, and my list of things to be grateful for will continue to grow. I consider myself to be a very lucky woman even through all of this, because I've spent two wonderful years sharing my world with an amazing AMAZING person. It wasn't the lifetime we thought it would be, but there are never any guarantees in this world are there?

Gratitude: Of course I still have my children, who give me a reason to get out of bed every day; my job has become more wonderful than I could ever have imagined; and I had a really touching e-mail from my Dad (who I've always had a strained relationship with) on my birthday. At this point in my life I have a few more options than I did two years ago, and I know that I can handle anything that comes my way.

"I would rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not." -Lucille Ball

Oh Lordy

2007-08-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

I have been in the worst disposition of late, and the only thing I could possibly do Dear Reader(s) was to save you from me and not post to my blog. As sunny as I try to be here in blog world, there are times in everyones life when the rain moves in for a bit and one must hunker down to weather the storm. Nothing too drastic mind you, just can't seem to find my raincoat and galoshes for the moment. I expect that this too shall pass, as anyone who knows me can attest that I'm no stranger to rain. Of course at some point that starts to feel like a bit of the problem itself, but oh my how I digress.

And just so you know, this has nothing at all to do with my becoming a year older tomorrow. I would rather get older every year than not, and I welcome any onset of gray hair and laugh lines that plan to come my way. It's just that I thought my life would be different right now, and it's gone quite far off the track I thought I was on. Not all bad mind you, just different. Finding the business card from the engagement ring store is a shitty piece of luck on a day like today. Shitty indeed.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Peace

Lazy Bones

2007-08-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been the exact and utter polar opposite of last weekend in that I have accomplished absolutely nothing. I had a dream where I thought about getting some sewing done, but when I woke up I realized the dream itself had tuckered me out. It's rainy out and it's been a helluva a month or so for me, so maybe that will be my excuse...

We did go to the Saturday Market yesterday, where I bought gorgeous bouquets of flowers for home and work. Since my birthday is coming soon, here's one item for my wishlist:

They're handblown drinking glasses with dichroic glass in the bottom made by Marcia Ann Siam Wiley of Wileyware. The picture is not doing them any kind of justice of course, but they are simply gorgeous. A set of four is over $100, so this is not the kind of thing I can splurge on for myself. Besides, ultimately I'd need more than 4 for guests of course! What's the point of having something so beautiful if you can't show it off?

I wish Boo was still small enough to wear these gorgeous dresses...I debated buying one for Trav's niece (the only girl among Trav's total of 8 nieces and nephews), but that would have been the last of the market money we had to spend that day, and I wanted some scented candles. Do you see what I mean when I say it's been a TRULY lazy (implied: SELFISH) weekend? Here's hoping this week is more productive, with some good news and a brighter future looking my way.

Gratitude: A farmer's market just down the street that sells giNORMous bouquets of flowers for $7. This TOTALLY makes up for those flower-starved years in Anchorage. The ice bucket to put my flowers in when I realized I don't have a vase... artfully arranged flowers in an ice bucket make you look vaguely Martha Stewart-ish in my estimation. Shannon, who let me cry on her shoulder when the PMS overcame me, along with the check that didn't come and the babysitter whose plans changed. All things that were fixed or made better by one truly great next-door neighbor. Gratitude!