(Parental Discretion Advised)

Legal Disclaimer: All content is simply my opinion and cannot be used to sue anyone.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

wrong side of the fence

Yesterday Mom, Dad and I were babysitting Ethie and Greggie. Ethie is no problem, make a paper doll, do some stamping, otherwise he can entertain himself. Greggie, however, is a bit... wild. When his father Andrew was a kid, the most common thing heard in our house was "Where's Andrew?" and now it is "Where's Geggie??" He is into everything, with eat anything he can find on the floor, plus he is allergic to a million things, so you have to have someone with him at all times. For most of the day, we let him go where he wanted and just had someone with him. After many hours tho, we get weak. Then we start blocking stuff so he is stuck on the main level.

Greggie also loves throwing stuff over the fence overlooking the basement, so Dad has to get out his reacher/grabber tool and pull things (like Greggie's pacifier and socks) out from behind the computer desk. He let Ethie try it last night and they were picking up all the toys with it and putting them away in the basement. Greggie was standing at the fence, watching them, trying to jam a leg thru the posts as if that would help him get down there to be with them. He has been standing at that fence many times in his life, watching others doing stuff downstairs, and I got a little sad watching him.

I commented to Mom that Greggie was often "on the wrong side of the fence" cuz there are so many things he can't do because of his multiple illnesses. Mom looked at me, kinda surprised, and said that must be why Greggie and I love each other so much- I am always on the wrong side of the fence- watching people do things I can't (like go outside! eat mint ice cream cake!) just like him.

I had never thought of that before. I am on the wrong side of the fence pretty often. Being sad for Greggie means being sad for myself too.

Have a good week,
Anne

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Barb's card

Just to prove my point, I used two paper dolls today. I did a pirate one for my Halloween scrapbook, and a nurse for a birthday card for my cousin Barb. She is a nurse, and I gave her cute print scrubs. I did a tiny bit of die cut piecing, making the cross on the hat red and doing a paper/clipboard layer also.


Have a good weekend,
Anne

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

paperdolls

The niblings had a long session in the beadroom making paperdolls Sunday, and I wanted to share Moo's. I think you could use these to make fabulous cards, or to enhance scrapbooks- especially since I have so many choices for costumes!

This is the Princess Fairy. By Moo.



I have some other stuff to post that has to wait until after Christmas. Only one guess on my contest- and it was wrong- so I am trying again:

This is a project I am making for a xmas gift. Be the first one to guess what it is and win a prize! Just comment with your guess.
Good luck with your guesses!

Have a good week!
Here's hoping my head quits hurting and my eyes quit spinning-
Anne

Friday, November 20, 2009

book of the month

I read a book lately I really enjoyed. (I also liked Quiverfull, but perhaps not enough to recommend it, lol.)

Dating Jesus : a story of fundamentalism, feminism, and the American girl / by Susan Campbell.

This tells the story of growing up female in a fundamentalist christian church. The church mirrors the one I grew up attending in many ways, and Susan had many of the same struggles- especially with the fact that women are second class citizens in bible-based churches. If you get tired of her life, I highly recommend the last two chapters.

Have a great week,
Anne

Thursday, November 5, 2009

card class

Jodi took me to a xmas card class for my birthday. We had a blast, even tho the lady tried to control us and make us sit at separate tables. Pretty sure it was less than five minutes before I was sitting next to Jodi, and we did the cards together. She also told us to "stamp only" and "not assemble" cuz she was worried that we wouldn't be out of the room by 9:30. (She also showed this by holding up random cards and checking if everyone had made that card so she could put the supplies away. Kinda irritating.) We assembled anyways and finished all our cards by 8 pm, so there lady! :)

The cards were nice, but some of the paper was cut too short. (Some was too long, but I just trimmed those off when I got home. You can't fix too short!) Plus, some of the paper she used were really poor choices for card design. Some pieces we were supposed to use had random cut off words, or not any complete designs, just cut off bits of some swirl. So some of the papers I DID NOT use on the cards, I just dumped them. Overall tho, the cards were nice designs.

Julie asked to see some, so here you go:


This one I liked. It is more "winter" theme, so I can use if for birthdays or something besides xmas. (I already have all the paper cut for mine and Mother's cards, so I am not using these for that.)
I did have to pull it out of the scanner to see what was at the top- apparently I got an extra pearl up there somehow. (I also shot one down my shirt trying to use the tweezers she gave with the pearl sheet, and resorted to fingers after that.)

I just thought this one was cheery.
Actually loved this card. It is strangely reminiscent of the cards I am making for myself...
This was my fave. Loved the snowflake/whatever the design is.

This was an example of badly cut paper. See the arrows to see how short it was- we just ended up centering the piece. Also, the ornament paper got a bit boring after the billionth (felt like) time we had to use it...

Overall, good fun, nice cards. Of course I did list my concerns on the evaluation sheet she forced us to fill out. :) We did 50 cards, 2 of each design. I have divided them up into "winter" and "christmas" so I can use the winter ones anytime all winter.

If anyone needs a couple christmas cards and likes these samples, come on over and see the rest!
Have a good night,
Anne

Sunday, November 1, 2009

feeling ugly

So, I made myself what I thought was the coolest hat in the world. I worked hard, even did a bunch of hand sewing, which I hate, and was very pleased with the finished project. Until I tried it on and made the mistake of looking in the mirror. My face is just too fat. The hat is too fitted and just is too pretty for my face. Have you ever felt too ugly to wear something?

If I hadn't looked in the mirror, I could have went on quite happily and wore it daily. Big mistake, one that I usually avoid by never looking in the mirror!
Sigh.

I still think the hat is pretty tho....

Here is a close up of the fringe.
Here is a close up of the pattern on the top.


(Please don't email me and say I am not ugly. I am fat. It is true. In America, fat=ugly. Open any magazine, turn on the tv.)

FUN NEW GAME:

This is a project I am making for a xmas gift. Be the first one to guess what it is and win a prize! Just comment with your guess. Note: I will NOT announce the winner if there is one, cuz I don't want the intended recipient or their family to know what it is. :)


Good luck with your guesses!

Have a good week!

Anne

"new" math

I have been discussing the "new" math with Jodi for a while. We both are totally math-brained, but don't understand why the normal way to do math is banned.

Last night between trick or treaters, I had my nieces explain some of it to me. We did double digit multiplication. They showed me one way where you draw a box, put the numbers on adjacent edges, draw diagonal lines, then multiply the individual digits, write the answers in the correct half-box, then add them up on the diagonal. They did get the right answer, but when I did the same problem the normal way, it took me about as long as it took them to draw the diagram. The second way involves setting it up like a normal problem, but then only multiplying individual digits, adding varying numbers of zeros, and giving each their own line. You end up with four lines of numbers to add.

I understood their ways, but they completely were lost at mine. I think if you are going to teach multiple methods, why can't you teach the normal way too?

So, if you come across any notes with cryptic diagrams, they may not be secret spy notes but just some kid's homework.


Catching up:

Here is the hard project I have been working on. It is a double knit hat for Ethie. Basically you knit the inside fabric and the outside fabric at the same time, using two colors of yarn, reversing the pattern from side to side. It is designed to be worn either way out, with the bottom folded up to the reverse.



I took a picture during the beginning when you fold the fabric in half to form the two sides. (It was on my phone, sorry.)

Here is the finished product- I thought I had close-up pics but can't find any.
This is the 2nd hat I made Senj, with the super expensive ribbon yarn. Pretty cool, and I got a deal on the yarn so I can make a bigger one when she grows more.
Here is the finished UPS costume. Can't see the badge, but you can see the box with the "official" mailing labels I made for O!
Have a great week,
Anne