The Way Things Are

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)!

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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.