Creature Bug

7 Quick Takes (vol. 25)

Seven quick stories from the week...

: 1 :

Not very often do I laugh until tears are streaming down my face. Occasionally something on a tv show will set me off, but most of the time I'm a giggler, a chuckler, a quiet laugher.

Yesterday, however, I was talking to my class about verbal and non-verbal delivery. It's one of my more lighthearted lectures because I get to do all kinds of funny examples with my voice and body language. There's usually bound to be a giggle out of it.

I was talking about facial expressions and how they communicate and all that, and I said in a semi-humorous way, "We all have faces, so you are all responsible for using them."

One of my favorite dry humored students said, "So if you don't have a face..."

"Then you're off the hook," I smiled. And then mostly to myself I said, "And I don't mean off the hook like 'That is SO off the hook." I didn't think anyone even heard me.

But a student did hear me, and I could practically hear his eyes roll when he said, "When was the last time you heard someone say THAT?"

Even now there is something about that whole exchange that makes me laugh. But yesterday it really made me laugh. Laugh and laugh and laugh. Could-not-catch-my-breath, tears rolling down my face laughter. I had to stop class for a good 2 minutes to get my composure.

I love having a good laugh like that.

: 2 :

All through my drive home from school yesterday, I chatted on the phone with Andrea about all sorts of things. Just as I was pulling into town, I looked at the clock: 3:40.

3:40? !!

Normally, I leave school around 3:15 and don't get home until 4:45, so I was totally confused. What had happened to the time? Was my clock broken? Did I drive extra fast? There wasn't any of the usual traffic, and I didn't hang around after class at all, but even I can't drive 70 miles in 45 minutes.

And then I figured it out.

Owing perhaps to all those happy endorphins I got from my laughing episode, I had ended up losing track of time in class. My second class is supposed to end at 2:45, but for some reason I looked up at the clock and thought they were supposed to get out at 2:15. So at 2:10, I wrapped things up and gave some final instructions and sent them on their way.

I remember thinking, "I can't believe I didn't get through as much content as I usually do."

Serious absent minded professor moment right there.

: 3 :

Sydney was reading a book the the other day and remarked aloud, "There's a character in this book, and his name is Beef Oven."

"Beef Oven?"

"Beef Oven Jones."

"BEEF OVEN?"

"Not Beef, Beeth, with a -th." I thought about this. Beeth Oven doesn't make any sense at all. And then I figured it out.

"It's not Beeth Oven, it's Beethoven!"

"BAY-TOVEN?! It is NOT Bay toven." She clearly thought I was being ridiculous.

"It is Beethoven. That's a real person, and that character was named after him. The -th makes the 'tuh' sound."

"-TH tuh is not a rule, Mom."

"I know, but it's Beethoven. He's famous. He wrote lots of famous music."

"Well, he's not THAT famous. I'VE never heard of him."

It's true, we are more of a Tchaikovsky household, but I think we'll have to up our classical music repertoire a little bit.

: 4 :

Late last fall, Sarah hosted a craft night for a bunch of girlfriends. It was super fun, and we all made a few little crafts, mostly ones that involved an embroidery hoop.

I knew ahead of time that I was going to make one for my sister, which I did, but then I never posted here because I didn't want to ruin the surprise...and then forgot about posting it after Christmas.

My sister and I have an inside joke about cats and saying meow. It's our thing. So I made this for her to hang in her flat:

Even though she hasn't ever been to Russia, she has travelled a lot and the little Matryoshka doll seemed internationally fitting. Travel and inside jokes: two fabulous things.

I also started another craft, but didn't get it finished until this week. I'm so tickled with it.

I had the buttons and their stems sewn on last December, but then I couldn't figure out how to finish it. I tried stitching "love" and then "est. in 1997" but none of it looked right. Then I got the idea to add the sun and the grass, and it was perfect.

I love the happy accident of Jason's button flower and my button flower leaning in towards each other. I love that it captures my personal goal of growing a family. And I love how easy it was after I figured out what I wanted to do. Buttons, little stitches, embroidery hoop. My kind of craft.

: 5 :

After putting down my regular point-and-shoot camera for most of last year--aside from a few significant occasions that I didn't want to capture with my iPhone--I picked it up again a couple weeks ago. After spending quite a long time trying to get a particular picture, I gave up and just used my iPhone because my camera phone meters light better than my handheld camera.

I realized that even though I do love my trusty camera, I have to edit the heck out of them in Photoshop. The white balance, the highlights, the shadows--I have to tweak it all to look the way I saw the photo with my eye.

I'm done with those days of spending hours at Photoshop. I don't mind working in Photoshop, but I don't want to devote the time to editing.

So, I've begun saving for a new camera.

I want a Nikon D5100, and now I need to save up for it. We've kinda budgeted all our money from now until after our trip to Disney World (Jason would say "from now until we're 40"), so saving up is going to be tricky. I'm determined somehow to make it work, though. I keep wandering through my house wondering what I can sell.

I'll think of something. Hopefully.

: 6 :

Every school morning I drive over to Ty and Sarah's to pick up Clover, and as we wait for Clover to walk out to the car, I take a deep breath. Getting out the door and into the car is one of my least favorite things. Ever. I try not to stress out. But between a seat needing to be cleaned out so that a child can sit there, and me wrangling Addie into her carseat (she's actually really good about going in her carseat), and the 90% chance that Jules just had a meltdown over the tights that are too itchy to wear, I get a little worked up.

But I drive the length of a football field, wait a moment, take a breath, and let my eyes rest on the lovely house in front of me.

And then I'm all better.

: 7 :

This week I get to use one of my favorite TED Talks in class. I thought I'd share it with you because it's just pure fabulousness. The speaker is Sarah Kay, a spoken word poet, and she performs her poem "If I should have a daughter." Her whole talk involves another poem, but I just want you to watch the first 4 minutes. It's beautiful, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Happy weekend, friends! Let me know if you listen to any Beethoven this weekend :)

{More Quick Takes over at Jen's Conversion Diary.}

Valentine's Day Love

Even though the last few years I've made an effort to send out Christmas cards, I still send out Valentine's Day cards too, like I've done the past six years. It is as if St. Cupid showed up on my doorstep and said, "Only you can prevent your post office from going under," and I answered the call by buying up dozens and dozens of stamps.

This year, I didn't manage to get Christmas cards sent out...and in response the post office is cutting Saturday service as of August.

Obviously, I wasn't going to miss Valentine's Day.

...Which I wouldn't do anyway because I see Valentine's Day as a day to tell all my friends and family that we love their friendship and their ties to our life. I wouldn't miss sending out our family Valentine's Day cards for anything.

But before I show our family card, I should show what the girls came up with for their classroom cards. Even though Pinterest is FULL of ideas for creative and clever Valentine's day card ideas, I'm pretty much stuck on photocards. It's what I do.

Jules and I used this one as our inspiration and came up with this:

and then attached this:

A juice box! And a Iittle "jUice" tag. I gotta say, I was really tempted to go with "jYOUce" but I didn't know if kids would get it or if I would permanently ruin their spelling education. So standard spelling applied.

Jules and I were going to assemble half the cards last night (she has a M/W Kindergarten and a T/H Kindergarten which meant we had 50 cards to put together), but I got sick and couldn't do it until today. As in, the day of her party. As in, the day of her party which also happened to be the day I had a dentist appointment.

She and I might have been a little panicked. But I knew the party wasn't until the afternoon, which left me plenty of time to get my glue gun on.

They were easy to put together.

First a juice box slathered in hot glue,

which I then I pressed onto the picture.

Because I'm fussy, I made sure that the the up-side wasn't the side that has all the nutritional facts. I like nutritional facts, I just don't think they're all that pretty to look at.

Then another little spot of glue for the jUice tag,

And done!

Bonus shot of my little helper who was in charge of handing me juice boxes:

She managed to down two juice boxes during construction.

I was pretty tickled that we could put together a card that didn't include candy. Who doesn't love a nice juice box to wash all that chocolate down?

Sydney nixed the juice box idea, and went for standard heart-shaped lollipops.

She and I whipped out her cards in just a few minutes.

I got to hand it to her, she orchestrated the whole thing--the picture, the sign, the candy, the little smiley face she drew on the candy, the detail of having the candy in front of her head ("it's like I'm hiding behind the candy!").

Sydney can't wait to hand these out tomorrow. I'm so excited for her.

As for our family Valentine's Day card, I had intended to get the girls together for a picture, but it didn't happen. That's okay. We just sent our love to everybody with a Valentine's Day collage.

From me to you, I hope your day is wonderful and lovely. Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, we canvas.

Back in December, when I was thinking about Christmas gifts and being creative and crafty and Christmasy, I somehow got the idea to print off a few pieces of canvas art for the walls. Well, the idea wasn't totally random. The inspiration came about because Grandma Sharon wanted this picture on a canvas:

That would be all her grandkids. Can you tell which one of her sons married a brunette and which one married a blond? Ha. Anastasia is only a few months younger than Addie, but alas, they live way the heck on the other side of the country. We are thankful that they are determined to visit us once a year.

In doing some research on canvas prints, I came across a few sites that looked promising, but I was hesitant to use them for a big canvas because it's a lot of money to spend on something that may or may not turn out. So I went for my default option: Costco. I know they do a good job, and they are reasonably priced. In fact, when it comes to large print canvases, I think Costco might be the best priced printer out there (I could be wrong, though).

After I ordered the granddaughter print, I got the canvas art printing bug.

Combine this with increased time on Pinterest and something was bound to happen.

My first inspiration came from seeing this picture:

In case you're wondering if this is actually some magic sequence from pi, let me clue you in: it's family birthdays and anniversary. The creator of that picture even sells customized date prints. (Just click on that link and it'll take you to her page.)

Because I'm handy enough in Photoshop, I just did my own thing and had it printed on an 11x14 canvas.

Here it is displayed on a shelf in our entry. I'm seriously crazy about it. I love the dates. I love the stripes. I kind of want to make one for everyone I know because I love it that much. In fact, if you're interested in having this particular format personalized with your own dates and don't know how to make it, just let me know. It's super easy, and I'll just email you a jpg that you can go get printed wherever you want.

Since I was already making wall art then I went ahead and did two other pieces.

This is an 8x10 canvas along with Sarah's Christmas gift to me. We've decided it's the Year of the Fox. Goodbye owls and red birds and kittens. Mr. Fox is here for 2013.

And then another.

This is also Pinterest-inspired, although not exactly like anything I saw. It's printed on a 16x20 because I figure the bigger the better when it comes to getting kiddos playing nicely together.

I had these three canvases printed at Canvas People, and I used two separate coupon codes in order to bring the prices down. For the 11x14 I used "tweet11x14" which gets you the canvas and free shipping for $25. That is a steal. For the others (which I had to use placing a separate order), I used a coupon I found on RetailMeNot(an excellent source for online coupons if you're not familiar with it). That code appears to have expired now, but a deal they have going on through January 14th is 85% off canvases, plus $20 for shipping. That's a good deal for the larger canvases because it allows you to get a 24x36 canvas for under $50.

I cannot vouch for how a photograph would turn out, but judging from the colors matching pretty well with my original design then I would assume they would do a good job. I saw some people showing off their canvases on Instagram, and they looked good, so yesterday I ordered two photo canvases. We'll see how those turn out. I will say that they aren't super fast, and their wrapping quality could be a little better (the corners are a little bunchy), but for the price...I'm happy.

Now I'm looking around trying to figure out where I can add more wall art. I just love seeing things on the walls that make me happy.

And anytime a wall can invoke a positive emotion? That's a good sign.

gettin' my valentine's day card on

I have had one of those weeks where I wish I could do it again. Not because I regret anything I did, but because I had a list a mile long of things I needed to get done this week, and didn't. My to-do list wasn't helped by me getting some sort of bug in the middle of teaching class on Thursday (Student: You look terrible. You really need to sleep more. Me: I think I have the flu. Didn't you see me leave for a few minutes in the middle of class because I was so ill? Student: I didn't notice. Suuuuper.) It was one of those days I wished I didn't work 70 miles from home. I had to stop halfway through my commute to take a nap at a rest stop area. Good times.

Fortunately, I'm feeling better.

Fortunately, Addie is feeling better too. She got what I had (or something like it) and had a temperature of 102. Poor baby.

So, yes. The week. Not what I had planned.

One thing that I knew would make me feel better? Picture cards.

Today I managed to make the girls' Valentine's Day cards (found this idea from Pinterest; I think the original idea came from here).

{Tootsie Pop illustration by Sarah Morrissey.}

Of course, the cards will have real Tootsie Pops in them, but I Photoshopped in a little illustrated one here so you get the basic effect. I'm pretty tickled with how the cards turned out--especially since I had a photo credit at Costco, so the pictures didn't cost anything. The girls' favorite part? The hearts. They told me where to place each of them, and the thrill of Photoshopped heart placement was almost too much for them. They were crazy with power.

And lest little Miss Addie should feel left out, I managed to put one together for her:

{Font and owl graphic free from MTF.}

Truthfully, I just wanted a reason to make this picture into a card. Is it not so ridiculously adorable? On the practical side, however, she'll get to pass them around to her college buddies on Tuesday. College kids need Valentine's Day cards too.

So, that was my Saturday. Even if "make Valentine's Day cards" was supposed to be done a week ago, at least I know that the classroom cards will be delivered on time. The family cards that I frantically addressed and mailed out today? Well, sometimes it's the thought that counts. I hope so anyway.

Pinterest Love

A few months ago, I decided to hop on the Pinterest bandwagon.

(Pinterest, for those of you who don't know, is virtual pinboard where you can "pin" all the fabulous things you find online. Any image that inspires you, that you want to "file away" for future use/inspiration? Just pin it on your board, and the pin is hyperlinked to wherever you got it. Okay, Pinterest explains it better than I do.)

My friends told me Pinterest was addicting. I was skeptical.

I am no longer a skeptic.

Here's a screen shot of a few of my Pinterest boards.

All those images are either just the inspiration themselves or they're linked to instructions on creating what you've pinned.

I find material I can use in speech class, like this one that I can use on moving past stereotypes:

I find images that just make me laugh:

When Jason was building the pergola, I found the one I wanted him to replicate:

I find things I want to do with the girls:

I find things that aren't pretty, but are helpful:

I was totally inspired by this, so I went out and bought some pegboard and zip ties, and voila! All my computer cables are now organized.

I'm sure plenty of people never do anything with their pinned images other than look at them, but that's the beauty of Pinterest. You can let the inspiration just wash over you, or you can actually go out and create.

Take this picture for example:

The picture inspired me to do something, and it feeds my love of looking at pretty things that I don't necessarily need.

I saw this and immediately knew how I could change our dining area to include a bench. We went to IKEA, got a bookshelf, turned it sideways, and now all we need to do is install wainscoting behind it.

The table? I'd love that table. The natural wood-top with the white pedestal? Yes, please. I don't think I'll be recreating the table though (even though I think it would be relatively easy to do). It'll just be one of those things that I think is beautiful.

Yep, I think it's fair to say I love Pinterest.

I love looking at all the lovely pins that my friends find.

I love searching Pinterest for images of things I want to find (which is how I found The Kitchen).

I love that it doesn't stress me out like Twitter did (before I cancelled my account) or make me wonder if I missed something important (like Facebook does).

I love my community of fellow pinners whose presence is marked by the beautiful things they're finding, the places they want to visit, the crafts they want to make, the food they hope to put at their table, the things that just make them smile (you never know you really needed to see a sweet picture of a baby panda until you actually see it).

For a visual person like me who sometimes tires of words, Pinterest is relaxing combination of really good magazine/art museum/coffee shop/boutique/dreamworld.

And that's the best way I can describe it.

[I promise to go back and add the links to where I got all these photos, but right now I'm sleepy and am going to bed.]

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol. 12)

: 1 :

I found it.

This is THE KITCHEN.

And wouldn't you know it, it's Martha Stewart's kitchen line (this particular line is called Ox Hill, named after, I suppose, the oxen that Martha raises on organic greens and buttermilk and taste beautifully in a beef stew paired with red wine).

Of course, we don't have windows in our kitchen, and the ceilings are only 7 1/2 feet tall, but the walls are already that color, we already have white appliances, and the backsplash and flooring will be done as soon as we can find a contractor who will return our calls, and then I will paint the cabinets.

My search is over. Hooray.

(Edited to add: Jason saw this picture and informed me that we can't have that kitchen because it's too big. Yes, I'm aware. So, for all the literalists out there, I'm not duplicating this kitchen EXACTLY. It's just my inspiration.)

: 2 :

I love watching Castle. It's the tv highlight of my week.

: 3:

I know many of you are wondering how Jules is doing, and some of you have been so sweet as to inquire on how we're all doing with her. The short story is this: she's getting better. She is still (mostly) gluten/dairy/red dye #40 free. She still visits a naturopath every other week. She's on vitamins and homeopathic remedies, and has even taken up yoga (seriously. she does it on her own in the living room to calm down). I'm working on a longer write up on her, but she's improving. It's not all roses and fairy dust, but you know. Perspective on where we were last June and where we are today.

: 4 :

The Occupy Wall Street movement confuses me. There's an Occupy Portland movement now. I'm not against them; I just don't understand what they're hoping to accomplish. Are they just protesting just to protest? That's fine, if that's what it is. I'm not sure though. Someone please explain to me what they're doing. Thank you.

: 5 :

I got Addie's silhouette done. Tomorrow I'm printing them and hoping they look nice on photo paper.

I love that I captured her two chins. Scrumptious.

: 6 :

I took a nap today with Addie and Jules. Jules doesn't take naps anymore, but she decided to humor me. It's rare I get to do two of my favorite things at the same time: cuddle my girls and nap. Bliss.

: 7 :

Stumbled across this image this week, and I loved it. 

G. K. Chesterton is right.

: 7 1/2 :

This is my 1300th post at Typepad. I don't know where that ranks in terms of anything, but there you go.

(More Quick Takes can be found at Conversion Diary.)

Silhouettes

I mentioned last week that I wanted to make silhouettes of the girls, frame them and hang them over the piano. I had a general idea of the steps I would need to do it, but wasn't sure what method I would use. At this point, I think I'm going to print the silhouettes as 8x10 photos (at Costco) and then hang them in white IKEA frames.

Here's what I have so far.

Sydney's silhouette. Possibly needs to be redone with me asking her to please stop slouching.

Jules's silhouette. Excellent posture from that girl.

Addie's silhouette photo wasn't the right angle, so I'll have to redo hers tomorrow. Other than needing to even out the bottom parts of the silhouettes, I like how they've turned out.

(It occurs to me now that I could probably post a tutorial of this if there are any Photoshop users who would be interested.)

PS: The background pattern is from WebTreats Etc.

Pumpkin Craft

I'm not particularly crafty, unless you're speaking in terms of sneakiness, in which case you'll have to ask Jason. This is not to say that I can't do crafts. It's more to say I can't of my own creative accord dream up any sort of crafty ideas.

And yet, somehow that didn't stop me from volunteering to be the creative activities person for my MOPS group. (I have mentioned this group several times. MOPS stands for Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers, and exists to offer support and encouragement for all moms who have kids under the age of 5.) I figure I'm smart enough to find projects. I'm organized enough to coordinate craft projects for 30 women. And, if need be, I can operate a glue gun with the best of them.

So, with autumn on the brain, I set out to create an easy pumpkin making craft. Since what I found turned out to be really easy, and since it was also kind of fun to put together, I thought I'd pass along my how-to tutorial. It's a good one for kids because it doesn't involve glue guns, or (once you have the supplies ready) scissors.

Supplies:
-one 22"x22" square of fabric
-one double roll of toilet paper
-some kind of stuffing, like the kind for pillows or stuffed animals
-one paper bag or stump of wood
-one yard of raffia

1. Place roll of TP and stuffing in middle of fabric square

2. Take corners of fabric and stuff them into the middle of the TP. As you do this, move the stuffing around so that your "pumpkin" will take on a more pumpkin look, rather than look like a roll of TP. You may have to experiment a little bit to get the fabric lines to look pumpkinish.

3. After getting the fabric stuffed, you'll want to anchor it in the center. I took a small paper bag, cut it in half, stuffed part of the bag in the TP hole, exposing the top half of the bag to resemble the pumpkin's stump. When I did this with the other moms, some of them used the bottom half of the bag because they liked the jagged edges (rather than round). If you have a small stump of wood, you could use this instead of a paper bag.

5. Take the raffia and tie it around the stump. To make the spirals, wrap the raffia around a pen and gently pinch the paper together before releasing it.

Truly, it's nothing spectacular, but they do end up looking pretty cute. And I think I might go out and pick up some other fabric types and make a couple other complimenting pumpkins (I saw some orange velvet that would look rather festive).

So, there you go. Happy Pumpkin Day!

(If you're interested in the specifics of this craft for a group project, click on the link below.)