finger thumb

ouch

You know how you hear about these weird accidents and then you think, really, how could that happen. How could someone get their hair caught in a car power window? or something like that. It just seems too appocryphal and it always happened to your friends cousin in shop class or something like that. Well, urban legend no more people because now you know someone WHO SEWED THROUGH THEIR FINGER!!!!! Because IT WAS ME!

oh. my. gosh. I totally sewed through my finger tonight. I don't even know how it happened. Ok, first of all, let me assure my mom and mother in law and all the lovely people I'm related to who read this that its alright, I'm fine, I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything. But this is what you get when you sew whilst tired. Its like riding a bike when you're drunk. You think to yourself "eh, what's the worst that can happen?" And then you end up in sprawled in some bushes with a bloody nose and torn tights and you're like "oh, THAT." Not that I speak from personal experience or anything. But I have a friend who's cousin... oh, never mind. 

Anyhow, tired. Sewing. Thinking about how I'm running out of flannel and why, for the love of Mike did I not pick some up when I was at the fabric store today and *BANG* I yank my hand away and snap my needle and think "what just happened? And why does my finger hurt?" So Iooking at my finger but its not bleeding or anything, but I think I must have sewn through it because its throbbing. And like a little kid, I need to go and confer with someone before I freak out, so I went to  where Hubs was in the garage and said "I think I just sewed through my finger." And then I look at it again and turn it over and there's a big blob of blood. And then I start to cry. Because I SEWED THROUGH MY FREAKIN' FINGER! The needle went it right beside my nail bed (which is so gross) which is why I did not see it at first. And nice Hubs hugs me an pats me and gets me a band-aid and some polysporin and I calm down and watch a bit of TV and eat a little medicinal chocolate. And then I'm fine again.

And then I get back to sewing. But much more carefully this time. Because I like my fingers. A lot. 

I'm off!

Ok, so I meant to post last night but then it was the season premiere of Downton Abbey, so I HAD to watch that. So, so good. If you don't watch it already, you totally should.

And now tonight I'm running around like a chicken without a head because I'm off on an adventure tomorrow. I'll be commuting into Toronto (sans enfants, yikes!) for the next four days to do a little temporary work that I'll tell you all about when I get the chance. But for now, all I can tell you is that I'll likely be absent from this space for the week.

Which is too bad because I have so much to tell you. Did some great thrifting on my birthday. And the Baby stood all by himself for about a minute today (not with my prompting, or assistance or anything) He was just standing by the window eating a baby biscuit, and then took his hand off the window to switch hands with the biscuit and in the process was standing all alone without even noticing it. I just happened to look up and see him at the exact moment it happened, which was a lovely coincidence. Oh, and I'm doing more knitting and have a lovely little home decor crafty repurposed thing to show you how to make. But that will all have to wait for next week, because tomorrow there is a train to Union Station with my name on it. 

Now I have to go and pack some snacks and knitting (a whole hour or so to knit on the train. Heaven!) and figure out what to wear. So much to do. So exciting! How will I ever sleep? 

links and things

I almost never do this, but today I am bringing you some links to interesting things I found on the internet. As I mentioned before, my we have company this week and it is pretty much a constant whirl of (fun)activity. Lots going on, shopping, (I'll have a thrifting post for you later this week), outings etc. but on the downside, not very much time for me to get some stuff done. I have a few sewing deadlines coming up, so that's what I'm going to try and use my little bit of free time for tonight. 

And so, I take the lazy way out and bring you links.

Lodekka. I think that this is the best idea ever. A woman from Portland who took and old double decker bus and turned it into a vintage shop. GENIUS.  

And in the 'sad but beautiful' category, the winner is: 100 Abandoned Houses

Closet Visit is a very lovely concept that will make you want to spend more time with your clothing. 

Rae. I want to knit this. 

The Pioneer Woman. This is quite an enjoyable blog. Though there is much less calico than I imagined from the title. 

Dear Me: Celebrity Letters to their younger selves. My favourite line is from Gillian Anderson "follow your dreams, not your boyfriends." 

Hope you have a lovely day.

what's that smell.....

....I thought as I stood in front of the bathroom mirror. It was Saturday morning, and I had a big day ahead. Both the Ukranian and the United Church were having rummage sales on the same morning. I was bound and determined to go to both. I'd slept a little late (7:40) as both L.D. and the Baby had taken a turn at waking me up during the night. The Baby likes to squirm/scootch his way up to the top of his crib and then I waken to the gentle, intermittent 'thunk...... thud....' as he bonks his head against his headboard. I like to get to him and return him to the bottom half of his crib mattress before he works his way into the upper corner and wakes scrunched up there at an odd angle and crying. Then, the Little Dude, has started waking up during the night to go to the bathroom. At which point he sits up and bed and calls "mama..... I NEEEEEEEEED yoooouuuuuuu! Daday.... pee pee on the POTAAAAAAAY" Until one of us goes and gets him. And I'll bet you can't guess who goes. Yeah, its usually me unless I get my elbows sharpened and in action and give Hubs a good jab, two or three times until he finally wakes up and then I have to explain to him why he's awake because he's all disoriented and groggy. ("L.D. needs to go to the potty. He wants YOU. Go before he wakes the baby!") Which reminds me, I don't know why they say 'sleeps like a baby' because a) anyone who's ever had a baby can tell you that long stretches of unbroken sleep is not most baby's strong suit at first. and b) it should be 'sleeps like a husband'. Because if there is anyone's sleeping abilities to envy, its the man of the house for sure. I hate to generalize/brag, but I'm awake and fully lucid and halfway down the hallway to a child's room in seconds during the night at the slightest noise and most of the time when I wake up, Hubs appears to be in a coma. He insists to the contrary; that my getting in and out of bed to tend to the boys disturbs his sleep terribly, (boo hoo) but then, I always ask, if you were awake, why didn't you get up? Hmmmm? I rest my case.

Oh, but I digress terribly, my point was, that on Saturday morning, groggy but determined, I went and took a shower. And after throwing on some decent clothes, and brushing my teeth I looked in the mirror and though, 'sheesh, that's some bad hair. The least I can do is slap it into a ponytail and straighten my bangs.' So I plugged in the flat iron, helped L.D. onto and off of the potty, and then took the hot straightener to my wet bangs and....

...burned the crap out of them. Yeah, that burning smell... that's the smell of my impatience and stupidity. Sigh. 

Its hard to see in this picture*, but see how its all frizzeldy and weird over on the right side? About a third of the bangs are burned, so that the texture will never be the same. It sort of shriveled up and got crispy. I went straight to the hairdresser, who cut off as much as she could without making me look like a lobotomy patient, and then wore a hat for the rest of the day. And I put mayonaise on them and vaseline on them and olive oil on them and anything else anyone suggested would rehydrate them and make them not look like dried grass. 

The next day I washed them and dried them and then carefully used the flat iron again, and they don't look ridiculous, (though they do stick out in a funny way, and definitely feel different from the rest of the hair) so I guess I'll survive. 

But I know what you really want to know. Yes, I did get to both the rummage sales and a random garage sale that I passed on the way home. So overall, the day was a success. You can see where my priorities are. 

*please note that in real life, both my eyes are the same size, although in pictures for some reason, my right one often looks slightly smaller than my left. Another reason I'll never be a model. Along with "I like eating", "plane travel sucks" and "the hours are ridiculous". 

so. very. sick.

Well, I could not head this one off at the pass with my garlic trick. I'm officially sick. And pregnant. Which is not a very nice combination. I won't bore you with the details, but its a super rotten cold with tons of sinus pressure. I've had the same sinus headache for oh, about 15 hours now. Not fun.

Anyhow, despite all that, there is reason for rejoicing, because I am now, officially on maternity leave. Yep, did my last shift in retail today. And everybody was super nice to me, and I managed to get through it all with some good positive energy, knowing that on the other side of 5:00 there would be my Little Dude waiting to hug me, and my Hubs putting dinner on the table. And sure enough, as I collapsed into a happy (and slightly dramatic) heap as I walked in the door, the Little Dude came over to give me the sweetest snuggle, sneakily worming his way under my arm as I feigned unconsciousness. 

And now, I'm going to go and get unconscious for real, by going to bed early. Normally I'm pushing every last minute to get something done in the evening, but I know for sure that I am really sick, because tonight, I could not care less about my productivity, and was just waiting for it to be bedtime. 

So I'm off to sleep. And wake up. And then sleep a bit. And then wake up from congestion. And then doze some more. And then wake up because I'm pregnant and I have to pee.... You know, the drill. Its going to be one of those nights. I'll try to have something more interesting for you tomorrow. 

resolved

So, its time for New Year's Resolutions. I don't know about you, but I love new beginnings. I love starting fresh and turning over a new leaf. I was one of those dorky kids who could not wait for school to start. Mmmm, crisp fall air and new clothes, brand new school supplies, and a fresh new chance to get it all right this time. So, now that I no longer have new school years to look forward to, I look forward to the New Year and my chance to make resolutions. 

Not that I'm so Polyanna that I think they are all going to stick. I know, that most of us make the same resolutions over and over again, but I still like making them. This just could be the year that I follow through, right? Hope springs eternal. And I'm not going to make the classic 'made to be broken' resolutions (you will see nothing about gyms or weight-loss on my list). I just really, really like the idea of self improvement. And I think that's a good thing. So in the hopes of making resolutions that I can follow through on, I'm going to give concrete examples of my big general concepts. Which are as follows:

1. Completion.

2. Organization.

3. Tidiness.

4. Health.

I have a picture that sums up three of these categories very nicely.

This is the side-table in my bedroom. On it is piled a stack of clean laundry. It has been washed. It has been folded. And yet somehow, SOMEHOW it has a very hard time making its way into the drawers it should call home. This un-put-away laundry nicely encapsulates my issues with completion, tidiness and organization all at once. I should say, that this pile is even kind of a step up from the usual state of things, because the folded clean laundry usually just stays in the laundry basket for about a week, as we pick socks and underwear out of it as needed. But I had to use the laundry basket for something else the other day, and so it got piled on this side table. Sad really. 

I wish I was a better home maker. I'm kind of a stay-at-home mom right now, and in two months I will definitely be a stay at home mom, at least for the length of my maternity leave, and it'd be so nice to be, well, better at it. I've got the mom part well covered I think, its the home part that I'm a little weak on. My home is generally a little cluttered and run down at heels if you know what I mean. The housework gets a lick and a promise, more than a thorough job well done. And really, it would just take me treating it like a job. We had friends come to stay for an overnight recently, and the day before they arrived Hubs and I attacked the very messy, downright dirty house. Vacuuming was done, bathrooms scrubbed, floors washed, surfaces dusted, and you know what - it only took a morning. Not even a long morning, as we did not get down to it till about 9:00. So really, it took us three hours, together. And I'll bet we could totally improve on that time. So this year, I think I will work on scheduling the housework to be done, and try and do it once a week. I know, this is a goal my mother and my grandmother for that matter would laugh at, but there it is. It matters not how lofty the goal, it is much more important that you make one. Also, I'm going to put away clean laundry as soon as it is folded.

Also under the completion subheading, I need to finish more projects. I'm really good at starting, and terrible at follow-through. For example, there are the bedrooms (ours and the Little Dude's) that are 85% done. They are painted, and have curtains and furniture, but the furniture is just kind of plunked there and there is no art on the walls, which is just embarrassing, seeing as we are both artists. Honestly, its not like we don't have a lot to choose from. We've just got to make some choices and follow through. So, I'm planning to finish up those bedrooms. Because if we don't do it before the New Baby gets here, it'll never get done. Also, I need to finish the Little Dude's baby quilt, which I may have mentioned a million times before, but today I got my big, tired, congested, pregnant butt up off the couch, and pulled out all the supplies and got to work. And I've got 6 out of 18 blocks finished, so I'm feeling optimistic about that one. 

Healthwise, I need more sleep. I'm tired as we speak, and its just rolling up to 10:00. Its just there is so much to do, and I love my evening down-time. Plus also, I have this blog, and I tend to remember to start writing it last thing in the evening. And it always takes longer than I think. So, starting tomorrow, I'll be going to bed by 10 o'clock, barring emergencies, and fun evenings out. Both of which don't happen very often, so surely, I should be able to do this one, at least until the new baby arrives, at which point all hell will break loose with the scheduling, and I'll just sleep when nobody needs me.  

And lastly, though somewhat randomly, I want to learn to darn socks. I have the sharpest heels in the world, and routinely wear through socks that are not that old. I'm tired of buying new socks. I'm cheap/poor, and also feel wasteful/environmentally unsound throwing away perfectly good socks that are just missing the heels. And I'm good with a needle and thread. I can knit and sew and crochet and embroider, so really, darning should be a cinch to add to my skill set. I even understand the basic concept and own all the necessary tools. I'm just unsure about what fibre type to use (Do you match the sock? Use wool for strength? Acrylic for durability? What about shrinkage?) but really these are all questions that are just a quick bit of research away, and I'm certainly capable of doing that. 

So there they are, my resolutions. How about you? What are you going to resolve to do? Big picture issues, small quirky things, I'd love to know. And how do you keep yourself to them? Any tips?

one of those days

So today, I was tired. Not because my lovely little boy got me up during the night. Oh no, he slept like a log. Its me and my crazy hopped-up-on-pregnancy-hormones subconscious. I had three separate, and equally terrifying nightmares to wake me up over the course of the night. Take a portion of every possible anxiety I could ever envision, toss them all in the martini shaker of my subliminal mind, add a soupcon of night terrors and shake until you waken, sweaty and dry sobbing. Bleah. What a crappy way to spend a night. 

And I'm telling you, I'm not fueling it with anything I can think of. No scary movies, no stressful news stories, nothin' but mommy blogs, sit-coms and parenting books for my evening entertainment. And still, awful anxiety nightmares; lost in toxic wastelands, and fires and dying infants. Although one was just about Snookie from the Jersey Shore trying to cater a wedding, which was kind of funny in retrospect, but while I was experiencing it, it felt very fraught with unease and tension. 

Anyhow, after a quick and foggy morning as I tried regain composure and feel more awake, I had to jet off to retail land for a 5 hour afternoon of post-Christmas customer returns. But before that party could start, the Little Dude, for reasons entirely his own, decided to taste one of the houseplants. I was pointing out the beautiful red bloom on our Amaryllis, and he seemed more interested in the leaves. So much so that, CHOMP, he had to put it in his MOUTH and BITE it! Are you kidding me? He's never eaten a plant in his life! Where did that come from? So I had to go and get in the car while Hubs phoned poison control to make sure that it was not toxic (it is, but only the bulb, and then in fairly large quantities, so it was all good).

Anyhow, work was not so bad, but by hour number four, I'm not such a fan of standing up anymore. The New Baby seems to have honed himself some very pointy knees and elbows and of course, my good old piriformis muscle starts to let me know about its existence in a very insistent way as well. 

But all was not crappy today. When I came home from work, the Little Dude came hopping down from the living room to meet me, calling me "Mama Mia" and snuggling up to sit next to me on the stairs. And then, we were invited out to have sushi with my Mom and Dad and both of my sisters which was really quite lovely, to see them all in the middle of the week, and for no special family occasion. And it was nice to sit next to my Little Dude at dinner, who sweetly asked me for "more susi, please", and also has developed a liking for Udon noodles. Then we went home, Hubs put L.D. to bed, and I did a little light TV watching, and some piecing for the L.D's baby keepsake quilt, which I am determined to finish before the New Baby arrives. So it ended well, thank goodness. And now, I'm off to sleep. Which hopefully will be heavy and dreamless. 

Oh, and also, I'm congested. If I get a cold..... 

cold remedy

So Hubs has a cold. The Little Dude has a cold. I am surrounded by hacking coughs and runny noses. And both of them keep trying to kiss me/share their food. Which is sweet, but I DON'T WANT YOUR COLD! I'm a little busy this week, and its sort of paramount that at least one of us is able to function, since having a cold means that my normally awesome-sleeping-through-the-night-toddler is up about 3 times a night. And Hubs being at deaths door means that I'm the one to go and administer cold drops/cough syrup/water/baby beluga. 

Anyhow, my point being that when I felt the first stirrings of a cold, my heart just sunk. I had the runny nose, and the ominous lump in the back of my throat whenever I swallowed. So I took action. Natural remedy action, since I'm pregnant. And it WORKED! And I'm so psyched about not being sick this week when I'm in the craft show crunch, that I wanted to share my good cold remedy with you.

First of all, take lots of vitamin C. I know, hardly breaking news, but I recommend three a day. But that's not really the remedy, any pharmacist will tell you that. THIS is my remedy.

I call it Garlic Shots. I know, gross, but really, it'd have to be vile to work right? You'd be disappointed if I told you to drink melted Hershey's kisses, wouldn't you? Or is it just me and my Calvinist upbringing? Anyhow, Garlic Shots. Here's what you do:

First pour yourself a large glass of water and have it at the ready. Take a large spoon. Like a soup spoon. Pour on just a little bit of olive oil. This is basically just a lubricant so that the Garlic Shot will come off the spoon easily. Trust me, this step is worth it. So you want the spoon coated in olive oil. Then you put on a generous dollop of honey. So it'll look like this:

Then get your clove of garlic. It doesn't have to be the biggest one in the bulb, but don't take the little baby ones either. Peel it and cut it carefully, into three or four bits, like this: 

Lay them on top of the honey dollop. Now, the next step is key. Because the grossest thing about swallowing raw garlic is tasting it, so what you're trying to do here is seal the garlic in a protective layer of honey. Which is also very good for sore throats and colds. If you can get organic or unpasteurized honey, so much the better. So pour your honey over the garlic, covering it as completely as possible. It'll look like this. 

Now you're ready to ingest it. Remember that big glass of water? Have it close at hand. Stand over the sink, because if you have a sensitive gag reflex... well, its just good to be by the sink. Spoon in mouth, and down the hatch. It should just slide off the spoon like an oyster because you put the olive oil on there first. Its a big mouthful, that's why you have that water chaser. Use the water to help you get it down. 

And voila! You did it. Wasn't that bad eh? Ok, I know it wasn't great either. But I'm telling you, if you do this before bed for three nights as soon as you feel that cold/throat thing coming on, you just might head it off at the pass. It works for me about 90% of the time, and those are pretty good odds, since once you've got a cold there is nothing much you can do for it except suffer through it. 

Oh, and you'll have wicked bad morning breath too. Unless you're pregnant and your digestion is working over time. When I used to do this I would wake up smelling like I spent the night warding off vampires, but this time, my breath was fresh as apples. I'll let you know if the baby smells like garlic when he's born. 

 

its beginning to look a lot like....

...Armageddon? That's all I could think of today because we had the weirdest weather. End-of-the-world weather. I was sitting at the computer about mid-afternoon, and all of a sudden I heard what sounded like a really, really heavy rain start up. It is really coming down out there, I thought, and looked outside only to see this:

Yeah, that's not rain. Look closer.

That's hail.

Now it wasn't huge hail or anything, just these little tiny pellets, but still, hail is one of those things that I find thrilling and scary and awe-inspiring every time. Hail is always an event, as far as I'm concerned.

Especially when it happens like this. No other snow cover on the ground, nothing, just a normal green grass late fall kind of day and then all of a sudden out of the blue, ice pellets falling from the sky. You have to admit, that's kind of other-worldly when you think about it.

And then as soon as it was over it got all bright and sunny, and all the trees had these little white halos of hail on the ground all around them where it was shady. It looked so pretty. And so weird. And really, that's my favourite combination.

blackout

So, we'd just finished up dinner, and potty time and were making our way out of the bathroom when all of a sudden, things went black. Pitch black. Can't see your hand in front of your face black. Luckily, the Little Dude is not afraid of the dark, and luckily Hubs is the kind of man who is generally prepared. So it was only a matter of minutes before the flashlights were found and some candles rounded up. There was a crazy wind storm going on outside, and most of our town had lost its lights. The entire subdivision across the street was dark, but a quick phone call to my parents (three country concessions out of town) told us they still had power. Anyhow, even if their power did go down, they'd still be fine. My Dad is uber prepared, so they are pretty much ready for the Apocalypse; generators, solar panels etc. Plus my mom has, like, four times the freezer capacity that we have, so by the time people in town are eating their cats, my mom and dad would still be tucking into fine home made reserves. 

But I digress. My point is, we had no power. But we did have candles, and some flashlights, and its not that cold out yet, so after briefly debating it Hubs and I decided not to flee to the comfort of my parent's home, but to stay put and deal. How bad could it be? We filled some pots with water and tidied the kitchen (but did not do dishes) and then.... we sat. I'd been to the library with the Little Dude just recently, so we had some new picture books. We pulled a couple of chairs up to the front window, and watched the cars go by, and looked for blinking planes in the sky, and watched the houses across the road, as occasionally a flashlight would make its way from room to room as our neighbors negotiated their way through the dark. And then.... we were bored. Well, not the Little Dude, he had his own flashlight (Joy!) and the occasional car to point at and a little hand crank food mill that he'd pulled out of a drawer while we were looking for the candles. He told me that he was "makin' djus for mama" as he industriously turned the handle. 

But I must admit that Hubs and I were a bit at a loss. I was pretty bummed. I look forward to my evenings as a time to be productive and relax (at the same time, oxymoronic, I know; I blame my Calvinist upbringing) so I usually like to watch TV (on the television) and sew (on my sewing machine). Clearly, those options were right out. I thought I might read. But I'd finished my really good book, and am now just reading a couple of non-fiction parenting books. Good books for filling up a little space here and there as I wait in doctor's offices, or for photoshop to load up on my very slow computer. But not the kind of thing that I'm dying to sit down and read for a couple of hours. I could crochet at my blanket, but I'm still a little stumped by the colour quandary, and candle light does not exactly make for optimal colour nuance viewing. And even if I could decide on a colour scheme, crocheting would only occupy my hands. I'd be bored if I wasn't also watching or listening to something. Right? I folded laundry by candle light while I thought it over. Hubs was busily writing at the kitchen table. "What are you working on?" I asked. "A list of emergency preparedness items we should have for next time" he said. Right. There's my practical man. Then we remembered that we had an Ipod and a passive amplification speaker, so we put that on, and Sufjan Stevens helped us not feel so silent and weird. I must admit it was creepy, especially watching the cars go by in the silence. I mean what were we going to do otherwise? Talk to each other? Finally, after an eternity passed (about an hour all together) it was bedtime for the Little Dude. We all went downstairs to his room together, to read stories by flashlight, and tuck him in. And just as we were beginning our new library books - fwoosh, the lights came back on, just as suddenly as they'd gone off. 

We were so relieved! Or at least I was. My evening would not be wasted after all, I'd get stuff done! Plus, we could microwave some popcorn for a snack. Yay!

So tuck in was accomplished, popcorn popped, and a PVR'd episode of Glee cued up. But... I feel... um, bad I guess. I've always thought of myself as a person not totally dependent on modern technology. I can cook from scratch, I'm an avid reader, I don't have a cell phone, I KNIT for Pete's sake! But when actually faced with a complete lack of electricity, I hardly knew what to do with myself. Its obvious that not only do I rely on technology, I am also a shameless multi-tasker. When handed the opportunity to do nothing, I can hardly handle it.

So, I'm going to have to think about this. I'm always singing the praises of 'simplifying' but I have a feeling now that it entails a bit more than having an (admittedly) half-assed garden and knitting the occasional pair of mittens. Food for thought. 

Now, excuse me while I go and plug in my sewing machine.