Mended Hearts

A year ago a friend of mine gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  Her name was Cora.
I am wearing pink today to celebrate Cora's short life.
Cora only lived a few short days.
She had an undiagnosed heart defect and died unexpectedly in her mother's arms.
It is possible that her congenital heart defect (CHD) could have been diagnosed had she had a simple non-invasive pulse oximetry test before she went home from the hospital.
If you are pregnant, please ask for a pulse ox test for your baby.

And now, it's time to celebrate Cora.

I am going to start with kissing and hugging my kids.
Listening to them, and cherishing.

Then I am going to do something else. I am taking a few grocery bags full of groceries to the local food pantry to help out others, because that's what Cora does. She saves lives, and she helps people.

Want to celebrate Cora with me?

Save a Life-
Donate Blood
Join the Bone Marrow Donor Registry
Remind your pregnant friends to request the Pulse Ox test before leaving the hospital

Help Someone-
Donate to a charity
Volunteer in a local soup kitchen
Donate toys to a children's hospital
Donate your time
Perform Random Acts of Kindness

Happy Birthday, Cora.
It's been a year, and we're all so proud of you.

One of these things...

One of these things is not like the other.... 

My parents have a dog. A huge dog with big paws and big teeth and big amounts of energy.  He's mostly Boxer, and giant.  I call him "Boom." That's not actually his name, but close enough.

JabberWalky both loves and fears Boom. 

There was a time when they were the same size with about the same ginger hair. Boom has grown much faster than JabberWalky.

We have cats. Two of them.  They are black. I love them. JabberWalky loves them. He loves to pet them.  Okay, he loves to poke them in the eyes and pull their ears, but he's working on "gentle."

He has clearly figured out that they're all pets.  He knows Boom is a "Dog," or more affectionately, an "ah, ah- sit." He knows the cats are "gat" or more affectionately, "kee-ee gat".  

He also knows that he can throw a ball and say "woo hoo!" and Boom will chase it like he's hopped up on pixie sticks.  

Here's the thing. One of these things is not like the other, and JabberWalky hasn't yet fully figured this out.  The other day he grabbed a ball, tossed it, yelled "woo hoo!" and waited for the cat to chase it.  Then he went and got the ball, put it in front of the cat's face, yelled "woo hoo!" and slowly threw the ball, probably thinking something along the lines of "I have to teach this pet what a ball is?"  Well, the third time he bopped the cat with the ball, said "ball," threw it, said "woo hoo!" and stared at the cat like she was defective.  Then he cried.

I'm working on explaining that cats don't fetch, but I think he thinks that if they don't fetch, they don't get pet.

Seriously, what healthy breathing creature wouldn't want to play toddler ball?

Ornament Swap!

I need to feel some holiday spirit.
So, to help get us (me) there, I've decided we need to do an ornament swap!

The Rulez-

Sign up by Friday, 12/3/10 and ship by Monday 12/15/10.  That will give your ornaments time to show up and be well loved and admired before Christmas, and give us all 12 days of Christmas ornament rushing to get it made or bought to send.

Who can participate?  You can. Do you have a mailing address? You can play.  To keep shipping reasonable, I am going to try to arrange for people within a certain country to send to people in their same country, but if you're from the US and you've always dreamed of sending overseas, let me know you're open to international swapping when you sign up.

How Much Do I have to Spend?
Shipping.
You can handmake or purchase your ornament for the swap, and spend as little or as much as you'd like, so long as it is something you feel someone would treasure and truly appreciate hanging on their tree.

My plan is to pair people up randomly and once you're paired, I'll share addresses amongst partners for the swap.

So, to sign up, you need to do the following.
Email me- fentonslee at gmail, the following info.

1. Name
2. Address
3. Blog URL (you don't have to have one of these, but hey, if I'm going to link up participants, wouldn't you want to be linked to?)
4. Twitter name (again, if I'm going to link up participants, wouldn't you want to be linked to?)
5. If you have a strong preference for handmade, say so.
6. If you have a strong preference for traditional or non traditional say so. Like surprises? Let me know.

Then, when all is said and done, you can post a picture of the ornament you sent and recieved, and link back here, and I'll set up a linky so we can all see everyone's spiffy new additions to their trees!

Belated Ribbon of Achievement

I don't know how I forgot to post this at the appropriate milestone, but nonetheless, we've been a happily functioning nursing dyad for a full 18 months and then some!

It occurred to me this morning, as I was nursing a grumpy bumped his head boy, that of all the things he's been doing in life, he's been doing this nearly the longest.

When he was born, first he learned to breathe. Babies already cry in the womb, and open and close their eyes. They hear, they taste, they move, they feel. So first, he learned to breathe. Then he learned to nurse. 

Nursing has been with him since minutes after birth, it calms him more swiftly than anything else, and I know that every day, unless he's sick, he nurses less and less, and soon it will taper off more, until one day it stops, but right now, I am fortunate to be able to spend milky snuggle time with my sweet little boy, who every day is more and more a little boy and less a baby. I am blessed to have him wake up four times in the night for a short nursing. I am blessed to be able to hold him, wear him, nurse him, snuggle him.  Some day, I'll be glad to get my body back, but I'll miss this.  I'll miss being able to help comfort and feed him in the way he's been doing since he was born.

Cover It Up

Dear Wisconsin Board of Tourism,
I'm going to go out on a limb and suppose that you might have the ability to grab a lawmaker and say "hey, tourism brings in revenue, and I just found out that a very simple new hunting rule just might mean more people want to spend their time and money in our state... so here's what I'm thinking..."
And here's what I'm thinking.
Cover Your Carcass. *
If you have a gutted deer strapped to your truck, put a tarp on it.
An eviscerated deer, still oozing on the SUV, complete with gaping bloody body cavity, is violence, gore, and death, can be very traumatizing to witness, for drivers and passengers alike.
I don't live in Wisconsin, and after a short visit to your *otherwise* lovely state, and seeing over ten deer carcasses on the highway driving home, I found myself saying to my spouse, "do we have to come back here?"  Interestingly, he responded "I wonder how people would like it if they had cut up dead people on their trucks."  I was very surprised that even my spouse was upset by having to spend many miles right behind a red dead deer, with a large deep ragged hole where it's rump should have been.
I found myself slowing down in the hopes someone would pass me. When no one did, I found myself trying to speed up to pass the truck, and I realized it was making me make less safe driving choices than I usually did.  I realized that I was so uncomfortable I had forgotten all the fun we'd had up in the Coulees, and instead was just hoping I wouldn't get stuck behind another vivisected animal.
So here's a thought.  Have hunters toss a tarp over their animals.  It'll keep road dirt out of the exposed meat, and keep other drivers from having to focus their vision somewhere other than on the traffic in front of them.

Then less people who have often enjoyed spending time in your beautiful state will be thinking "maybe we should just spend the weekend in Chicago, less likely to see a bloody corpse."

I am not against hunting. I'm against having to look at gore while I'm driving.  I also would like to note that I noticed I wasn't the only driver who went out of his or her way to avoid driving behind bloody deer carcasses, and I wondered if it may have contributed to whatever driving errors led to the accidents which gave me the time to get irritated enough about the issue to take finger to keyboard.

Sincerely,
Slee

*I know, I'm a huge proponent of the right o feed infants, at the breast, without a cover, and I argue "you don't like it, don't look," but I feel this is a very different issue.

Breastfeeding is natural infant nourishment, whereas a

Pink Saturday: A Boy having Tutu Much Fun

Sometimes little boys want to play with trucks, and sometimes they want to dress up in a tutu. Who am I to judge?  The way I look at it is this- if he's happily playing, no one is getting hurt, it's safe, then why do I care if my son's wearing a tutu? I wouldn't suggest he wear one climbing trees, but I wouldn't suggest my daughter do that either. Too easy to snare it on something and that could be dangerous, right?
So Just like last week, where he was having a ball, I think it's delightful if he's ready for the ball too.

I just wish I had gotten more pictures of him. He wouldn't hold still, he was too busy spinning and turning, dancing and singing. Very sweet.

For more Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

Castle Rock

Up in Wisconsin, on I-90 is a rock formation, slowly eroding into a pile of sand, and into the base of which youths have been carving names, initials, and pledges of their eternal love.
If you see it, there's an extit to get off and you can conquer it yourself.
We stopped there once, on the way to visit family, and I have been grateful ever since that we did.

Holiday Shopping.

I don't want to go to the store to do my holiday shopping.
This isn't to say that I want to do it online, per se.
I'm lucky, because four blocks down the street today there is a huge craft fair.
I like hand made gifts.
Repeat: I like hand made gifts.
I like to handmake gifts out of upcycled materials best, then simply to give gifts I handmade, then handmade by local artisans, then handmade by artisans, then factory made and purchased locally, then USA factory made purchased locally, USA factory made and purchased online... can you spot the trend?

Here's who I'm giving gifts to this year.

My mom, my dad, my tween, my toddler, my nieces and nephews, my spouse, my mother-in-law, my aunt, my brother, a couple close friends, and then whomever receives my gift exchange present.

I think this covers just about everyone. Right? Kids, grown ups, men, women, aged and youthful.  So here are some hand made ideas for this year that might help you do some less "Made in China" and more "handmade with love" shopping.

Kidlets-
Sock Monkeys/Dolls. All children recieving gifts from me who do not already own one, will be getting a SOCK MONKEY. Actually, a Sock Punky. Why? Because I make them, I sell them on Etsy, and you're right now noticing the bizarre lack of a link.  That's because this is about suggestions and not trying to sell you something.  It doesn't have to be a Sock Monkey to be a great idea though. Handmade bears, dolls, zombies, moties, owls, octopuses, bats, three eyed monsters, they're all fantastic gifts which will be well loved.

Blankies.  This year I'm handmaking blankets for at least four of my nieces and nephews. There are lots of great handmade blanket retailers out there, and some of them will be more than happy to make one that fits the wee one in your life's personal style.  My kidlet has a great space blankie from one of them, what would yours like?

Tutus.  Another two of my nieces are getting hand made tutus this year.  They're super easy to make, and it's super easy to find quality handmade tutus online and at craft shows.

Unisex grab gifts-
This year, I'm going handcrafted artisan soaps.  Look for cold process and goat milk soaps for super rich and delightful lather without the nasty carcinogenic ingredients in a  lot of the stuff we're using to wash ourselves off.

I also love wool dryer balls.  They make great kidlet gifts too.

What about a hand-bound journal?


For the women in your life-

Handmade aprons make me smile.  There's a great deal of diversity in style and print available when you look at handcrafted, so they're delightfully unique and treasure-worthy.

Jewelry.  I'm looking at procuring some sweet steampunk necklaces this year, each hand crafted and a work of art in itself.

And for the men-

Though women love 'em too, carefully knit hats, gloves, and scarves are extra nice for the winter months.

I like t-shirts with rad designs silk screened by the designer.

Making a gift for grandpa? Maybe  the kids can help you design the perfect business card case, and maybe you can make yourself one while you're at it.

So go, be creative.  Make something or buy something someone personally made.  It'll feel good and be a gift appreciated.

Last Minute Dessert.

You bought the canned pumpkin, but you forgot to make the pie.  You've never made a pie before. You just killed the crust and the store is out. You know, because you texted your spouse and s/he's braving the madness only to find no pre-made pies and no pie shells left.
Calm down. Stop panicking.  This is not a catastrophe.

Take a white/yellow/vanilla or heck, even a chocolate cake mix, add your pumpkin. Mix it up really smooth.
Add some pumpkin pie spices if you want or skip them. No eggs, no oils, no milk, no water, just the mix and the pumpkin.
Now put that in your baking dish of choice. Bake it however long you'd bake the cake.
If it's still too soft in the middle, bake it a little longer, but remember, there's no egg or anything in it, so if it's mushy, who cares? It's still yummo, especially with whipped cream on top.

Crisis averted.

Wordless Wednesday: Nursing my Nursling

Wordless Wednesday

Beauty

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or rather, the pet owner.
One man's hideous mutt might be another's most beautiful and faithful friend.
Similarly, my motherjust said "we had the cutest mud puppy"

Um... There's no such thing.

Do you have something fugly that is absolutely beautiful to you?

Thirty-One Things

By the time I finish writing this, I will be turning thirty-one.
It probably feels a lot like thirty, which, surprisingly, feels a lot like twenty-three.  I will wake up in a few minutes to nurse my nursling, then go back to sleep until I absolutely must be up, just like I did yesterday, just like I'll do tomorrow, just like I did a year ago today. 
But in honor of turning thirty-one, I'm going to share thirty-one spiffy things that I've seen, done, been involved with, etc, building on last years list.

1. Created Human Life. Twice.

2. Edited and published an anthology.

3. Sang in an Opera. Twice.

4. Ate dinner with Benazir Bhutto.

5. Wrote a novel in November. Twice.

6. Wrote a screenplay in June. Twice.

7. Learned to quilt.

8. Wrote a novel in a weekend.

9. Fell in love.

10. Got married.

11. Breastfed my son.

12. Learned how to play the piano.

13. Learned to ask for help when I need it.

14. Sang my way to my AA, studying music.

15. Earned my BA in history, my worst subject.

16. Joined a fraternal organization.

17. Learned to TYPE.

18. Composed music that wasn't awful.

19. Volunteered.

20. Swam in the Ocean.

21. Reclaimed my sense of self.

22. Conquered my fear of roller coasters.

23. Experienced a tornado from the inside.

24. Became a human lightning rod.

25.Learned to ride a bike at the age of:

26. Saw a water spout stop at a stop light, wait for it to turn green, and continue on it's way.

27. Learned to sew.

28. Had my artwork displayed in museums.

29. Survived a mild stroke.

30. Discovered the power of *friends*

31. Saved a life.

Thirty-one? Here's to you.

Burried in fabric

Sometimes it feels like I've bitten off more than I can chew.
I hope that isn't the case here, but I've got six blankets to make, and not a whole heck of a lot of time to make them. Sadly, the "electric blue" from fabric.com seems more like "dark periwinkle" or "cornflower." However, I don't have time to quibble, so cornwinkle it is!
Do you have any great handmade gifts on which you're working this holiday season?

Almost Winter Pie

Like I said before, not everyone is a fan of teh Pumpkinz.  

They need options. 

Almost Winter Pie

1 package Oreo cookies or store brand knock off.

1 container of Peppermint ice cream.

1 container fudge topping 

Whipped cream

Set ice cream out on counter.

Crush Oreo cookies into tiny little crumbles. I like to do this by putting them in a baggie and beating it with a wooden spoon.

Press Oreo crumbs firmly into the sides and bottom of a pie plate.

Pour and spread fudge topping over the firmly pressed crust to desired thickness.  

Scoop and press peppermint ice cream into pie crust.

Freeze at least 5 hours.  

Top with whipped cream and serve cold, preferably with hot cocoa. 

Pumpkin Haters Anonymous' Apple Crisp

Not everyone wants pumpkin pie. I get that. Spouse detests pumpkin and I can't get JabberWalky to do more than a bite or two of anything pumpkin, poor kid. If you have some pumpkin haters in your household, maybe an easy apple crisp is more their speed.

Pumpkin Haters Anonymous' Apple Crisp 

1/2 cup oats,
1/2 cup brown sugar,
1/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp cinnamon,
dash of salt,
1/4 cup butter,
2 1/2 lbs chopped apples*

Prepare apples in the bottom of an 8"x8" pan, combine other ingredients in a bowl then fork mixture on top of apples.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes.

*I don't peel my apples. I just core and chop.  If your apples are very mushy, they make mushy crisp. If they're too sweet, well, ew. A nice crisp tart apple makes a better crisp.

I think the next time I make this I'll go ahead and sprinkle on some toffee as well. I like toffee.

Transgender Day of Rememberance

I want to write about this, but I can't.  I am too angry that because of the transphobia endemic to American culture, people who just wanted to be who they are, even when it wasn't what we expected of them, based on what their genitals looked like at birth, suffer harassment, brutality, rape, and murder. These are hate crimes. I am angry that the same people are often harassed and marginalized to the point of depression, self injury, and suicide.
I'm ashamed of us, as a people.
Stop hating people because they're different.

Pumpkin Cheese Pie

Sometimes plain old pumpkin pie is just a little plain, so if you're in the mood to try something a little outside the box, this isn't a bad place to start.

Pumpkin Cheese Pie

(A.K.A. In Search of a Better Name Pie*)

2 8oz packages of cream cheese,

 4 eggs, 

1 cup sugar, 

1 16oz can pumpkin, 

2 packages instant vanilla pudding, 

3/4 cup milk, 

a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, 

2 cups Cool Whip,

 2 graham cracker crusts.

Cream the cream cheese sugar and eggs together.  Pour into pie crusts, bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until puffy in center.  Cool.  Combine pudding mix and milk, then add pumpkin and spices.  fold in 1 cup Cool Whip and spread on top of cheese layer.  Cover with remaining Cool Whip and chill.  

Yes, I know, Cool Whip isn't particularly good for you, nor is anything pre-canned or instant, but it's pie. It's not supposed to be good for you.

*I'm thinking of calling it "Thankful Ogre Pie" from now on, because it's in layers, and ogres have layers...

Pink Saturday: Have a Ball

A Boy's Gotta Have A Ball...

Even if his mom has him hanging in a room with a scary pink carpet!

All in all, he had fun throwing the ball (which is also partially pink) chasing the ball, and watching it get little and big.

He was definitely having a ball.

So, tell me what you're doing this weekend to have a ball, and then stop by How Sweet the Sound for some more Pink Saturday.

Shopping for Spouse

I have a problem. I have like 30 billion ideas of what to procure as Christmas presents for almost everyone in my family. Except my spouse.  He's in sales. He spends a lot of time in and out of meetings and still carries his brochures in a back pack.  I've tried to replace it with a slick leather briefcase, but he doesn't want to use one.  He should, but he doesn't. I've tried.

He needs a new wallet and belt, but how many years in a row can you give someone the same thing? Seriously, we'd be going on year... how long have we been married?  Year seven. Year seven of a belt and a billfold. I have to come up with something a little better.

Nice, but is it nice enough?

It's hard. He's not the sort who asks for things.  On the one hand, I could get him a billfold, all tried and true.  It'd be easy, convenient, and since CSNstores is sponsoring a review, I could get him a nice one. But on the other hand, I keep spending way too much time on their website, since they have over 200 stores of goodies to look at. With how hard he is to shop for, I've been spending most of my time looking at the really rad toys, lunchboxes, aprons, and bakeware.  Is there a way I can convince Spouse that a nifty new giant cupcake baking pan is really for him?  Or maybe that TARDIS cut out I mentioned before?

So I start wondering, maybe he wants a nice pen set?  Or a scarf?  Shoes? My usually plentiful ideas for a DIY Christmas always seem to dry up when it comes to buying for Spouse.  Looks like we might be heading for a belt and billfold Christmas again. That said, he usually shops for me at the local gas station, so I won't feel too bad. You know, except for the ridiculous amount of time I'm spending staring at the CSNstores websites trying to narrow down all the radness into one perfect gift.

I suppose I better start looking at power tools, since he's already told me that pajama bottoms have been done into the ground as well.

Stay tuned for a follow up post where I can tell you more about their selection, customer service, and what my selection process finally was in figuring out just what to get that man for the holidays.

So, what would you buy your spouse?

Doctor's Visit: Follow-Up

Remember Mr. Didn't Want To Go To The Doctor Pants?

The fussy whiny one?
The almost 30 word speaking, even though they only cared if he had 5 words one?
Mr. walks forwards and backwards, goes up and down stairs, runs, climbs, recognizes pictures of things like balls, tries to help mommy pants, otherwise known as Mr. Developmentally Spot On Pants?
Yeah, well, he went to the doctor and started screaming the moment I started undressing him.
He didn't stop except for when I was nursing him.
He tried four times to climb off the scale and the nurse just wrote down what it looked like.
The problem with that was, it was grossly inaccurate, such that the doctor came in all panicked that my 18 month old light weight had allegedly lost four pounds.  You know, when they're supposed to be gaining?
So after a much screaming, crying, trying to get away filled nightmare of a time, we determined that mommy could get weighed, then pick up the boy boy, so we could do some math and derive his weight.
Yes, he's on track, but he was not a happy camper.
At all.
At all, at all.
He was so upset that the doctor was surprised and said that if he wasn't feeling his regular happy self in two or three days, to bring him back.
Well, since then he's had a little diarrhea and has barely eaten. All he wants to do is nurse, and I'm okay with that, other than his new penchant for giving me a TSA pat down while he's nursing. That has made me say that I'm very glad that we didn't wean him early like so many people have pressured us to do.  I don't know what we'd do if he was feeling sickly and didn't have his favorite means of nourishing and comforting.
In any case, he slept most of yesterday and today seems to be just chipper. He has a bit of a runny nose, but when do teething toddler babies not have runny noses?  So I'm not too worried about that.
My biggest concern is how much he hates going to the doctor.  A friend recommended that I procure a toy doctor's kit so he can get used to the idea of the various equipment, like stethoscopes and the ear scopes.
Any other advice on making the trip to the doctor's office less traumatic?
Or, do you have a doctor's kit you love and want me to know about before I start seriously looking for one?

Fan Girl Friday - Fabric Rosettes of Whovian Goodness

I made a pretty TARDIS blue fabric rosette headband to wear.  I took this picture at about 1AM, so don't hate on me for lookin' all tired n stuff. K?

But it's TARDIS blue, and I love TARDIS blue. Because they're rosettes, they're all spirally, like a time vortex, and you know I love me a time vortex.  

I got the idea from BabyBabyLemon on twitter when I asked what I should get my aunt for her upcoming birthday. She said she was in love with the designs by AlloraHandmade (whom you should follow on twitter, because she's got a giveaway at 1k followers), and I checked them out and found them to be radtastic.  Sadly, not quite up my aunt's alley, but right up mine.  

Of course, if it's not TARDIS blue, and none of hers are, I need to make one that is, right?  So I said to myself, "self, that is something you so can rock, especially since your paypal account is in the middle of the tedious verification process, you can't just up and say "aqua is close enough."  Also, I don't know about you, but I get a certain amount of giddy out of making something myself.

So, I googled "fabric rosette tutorial" and found these gems, though none were exactly what I was looking for.

Freckled Laundry Rosette Tutorial

Little Birdie Secrets Rosette Tutorial

MamaMonster Frayed Rosettes

 Ultimately, I pooled what I'd learned from reading them and from years of playing with scrap fabrics and started making rosettes.  I also made some radtastic black jewelry out of some, but that's not very fangirl, now is it?

Now to try to do a great big Eye of Jupiter one. Ah, Battlestar Galactica, how I miss you.  Ooh, maybe a cylon inspired necklace too. ;-)

But yeah, I'm still thinking of buying some from the woman who inspired it all anyway, just because sometimes it's nice to have something someone else put love into. 

The Post Covet Follow Up.

Remember when I was waxing covetous about a Brooke Van Gory Diaper Bag?
I don't remember if I ever got around to telling you that I bought one.
I did.
Not too long after my covety post I saved up and bought one. I went back and forth on the print for the outers and ultimately decided it should match my blog. You know, because it's rainbow paisley.

I tossed what I had left of the material, after making my pouch sling out of it, in a used Tyvek mailer and dropped it off at her house, because we were driving past on a road trip, and I hate spending extra on postage when a two minute detour can save it. Of course, I'm socially broken, so I set it in her door and texted her afterwards.  

See? Pretty.

What I love the most about my Brooke Van Gory bag, other than it's spaciousness, is Brooke's attention to detail. I've tweeted about it, I've Facebooked about it, I'm always impressed by it though. And knowing me so well, without even my asking, she did rainbow stitches, because she knew I heart the rainbows, and it's the perfect accent.

Pretty rainbow details on the inside.

Pretty rainbow details on the outside.

Here it is, overfull of toys while JabberWalky plays in the sitting room of our local performing arts center.

Not the best picture in the world, but you can see where the brilliant wet bag clips to the outside so I don't waste internal space on stinky diapers.

 I've had my BVG about six months now, and I still love it.  I went with the up-sized Expedient Weekender, and I love it, but I have to say, unless you travel a lot, which we do, or you're rockin' two in diapers, i'd recommend going with the standard size.
Now, I don't expect you have time to get one of these sweet bags, which she makes with materials specifically sourced from the USA whenever possible, for Christmas, unless you order it nowishly, but it sure would be a lovely way to greet the new year.

Disclaimer- Nobody is givin' me anything to post this, I just thought some of you might like to know that I coveted, I acquired, and I love, just like I thought I would.

Abomination Pie

We have one week left until Thanksgiving, so I'm sharing some of my favorite recipes.
I'm torn on this because I don't know if I'll be making it this year.  I need to find a new source for my canned pumpkin, or make my own pumpkiny goodness out of a pie pumpkin, but that takes all the easy peasy out of this recipe.  You see, apparently Libby's, the ready to go canned pumpkin at my grocery store is part of my NoNestle boycott.  Sad, no?
So I'm looking for options.  But nonetheless, here's what my brother has lovingly termed "Abomination Pie," which he says with an eager and full mouth.

Abomination Pie  

Crust:
1 box Yellow cake mix(-1 cup which is reserved for topping)
 1 egg
1/2 cup melted butter.

Mix & press into a 9"x 13" cake pan.

Filling:
 1 large can of pumpkin   (This usually involves eggs and some spices.)

Follow directions on the can to make filling. Pour onto crust.

Topping:
1 cup Yellow cake mix,
1/4 cup turbinado or raw sugar
1/4 c soft butter
1 tsp cinnamon.
OPTIONAL- 3 Tbsp crushed toffee bits or nuts

Mix together and sprinkle on top.

Bake 45 minutes at 350.  Serve with your whipped cream of choice.

Wordless Wednesday: My Musician

Wordless Wednesday

Words

There are different sources out there who all have opinions on just how many words your 18 month old should be saying.

That's right. 18 months.

"Did you say DOCTOR'S VISIT?!"

Some say it's more important that they're seeming to understand what you're saying. Some say five to ten words is good. others say five to twenty. Some include animal sounds.
Is he supposed to be imitating animals? I'd better get on that one.

In any case, tomorrow is our well child check up, and last time the pediatrician's office wanted to make sure he had a certain number of words.  So, tomorrow I want to go in prepared with a list in case they ask.

Jabberwalky says:

1 Mama
2 Dada
3 Dee Dee (formal name for sister)
4 Sissy (for sister or any other young girl)
5 Shoe
6 Wawa (cup of water or anything else)
7 Baba (nursing- and no, he hasn't had a bottle)
8 Bye Bye
9 Hi
10 DayDew (thank you)
11 yeah
12 yay!
13 Sit
14 Ah ah (like ah ah ah, you shouldn't be doing that)
15 My/mine
16 (ba)nana
17 na-na-na (the N song with the "na-na-na-na..." refrain)
18 ceedee (please sing the alphabet song)
19 ice
20 gam gam (my mom)
21 gama (spouse's mom)
23 nie-nie (night night)
24 ball
25 blue
26 eye/s
27 gkagka (cracker)

I think he's good, but man, that's a lot of words.  I just had to learn his language to know what they were. ;-)

In other news, he has learned how to open up the CD player and switch disks, though he forgets to hit "play" sometimes, and gets very irritated, reopens, and repositions the CD, thinking he had it in wrong.
Too cute.

What do you do to prep for your kids' check ups?

If I were to NaNo

I love NaNoWriMo. I've done it two years and found both experiences extremely rewarding.  I don't feel I can do it this year for a lot of reasons, including toddlers needing time with mommy more than they need mommy to write a story.  This year it's more like NaNoNoMo. So, in brief, if I were going to be writing a story for NaNoWriMo this year, it'd be best summed up as the following-

Time traveling single mom takes on the powers that be to restore the broken time line which killed her spouse, only to realize that though she and her kidlets  got the bad guys, saved daddy, and the timeline, that her family really was okay on their own.

Why?  Because A. I like time travel.  I just do. And yes, it would be totally steampunk-tastic. B. I think there are few motivators more powerful than love, and that when someone is lost, we'd all change space and time to get them back. However, C. Sometimes the person you become in fighting to get back what you lost leaves you changed enough that if you do get it back, sometimes it isn't what you need anymore.

So yeah, that's what I'd write. Anyone else want to write it for me? I'd love reading it too.

Are you going to NaNo? What are you writing about?

This is not enough.

This is not enough.

However, the new TSA guidelines which involve what is more and more commonly being referred to as molestation and groping are completely a violation of basic human rights.

So first and foremost, stop flying. I know we can't all stop flying, but I do know that I can.  I am not going to set myself up to be sexually assaulted. And don't tell me that just because they are supposed to tell you what they are going to do that it's not molestation or sexual assault, as you've been stripped of the right to refuse consent. (Arguably you can say, "heck no, don't touch me, i'm not getting on the plane anyway, screw my ability to get home and the money I spent before I knew that buying a plane ticket was entering a genital fondling lottery," but arguably, in the moment, most people are going to just be shocked at what is going on, taken aback, and too busy worrying about how to get through the moment than coming up with alternate travel arrangements.)

So, please, rehearse this before you book your flight.

NOD

Name - get the name of the party who will be performing your search. Write it down or repeat it over and over again while they're doing it.
Options - Ask if there are any alternatives such as full body scan. (I am going to try to find out what happens if you just say "No."  In any other scenario, you have the right to not have your genitals palpated.)
Document - This is the tricky part. Enlist someone, even a stranger if you are traveling alone.  Hand them your phone or camera and have them photograph or film what is done to you.

It is not enough. It won't stop them from feeling your parts, possibly undoing years of therapy and requiring another series of trips to the therapist, but if they violate the law while molesting you, you have their name, you have documentation, you can take legal action.

Me? I won't be flying. I won't be letting my children fly. No form of transportation is worth it to me.

As a side thought, how does that work if your job requires flight? "No, I'm not going to sexually harass you, I'm just going to require that you frequently put yourself in a position to be sexually assaulted."

Seriously, TSA, this is across the line.

Things that irritate me.

In both my writing and my speech, I frequently make grammatical errors.
I do not believe that perfect grammar should necessarily be anyone's goal, but there are a few things I keep hearing misused.  So please, STOP IT.

Item One

To WHOM it may concern:
There is a difference between who and whom.  I promise.
Example.

WRONG Who did you give it to?
RIGHT To whom did you give it?

Whom is an object, who is a subject. Not that hard to remember.
When in doubt, answer the question in the masculine. If you would answer "him" then you should be saying "whom," and if you would answer "he," you should be saying "who."

As above, you probably gave it to "him." If you gave it to "he," this blog post should be meant for you, but there are a lot of things you need to brush up on before worrying about who and whom.


Item Two

I could care less.

Really? You could?  Well then that means you care.
Repeat after me, "I couldn't care less."

Item Three

You don't got it.
You have it.

WRONG What's he got in his mouth?
RIGHT What does he have in his mouth?

There are times when "got" is appropriate.
Example:

Lex Luther "Where did you get that spandex suit anyway?"
Superman "I got it from Santa."
Lex Luther "You still believe in Santa?"
Superman "Yeah, I fly up to visit him weekly, just because you never got anything from him doesn't mean he's not real.
Lex Luther "Have you been drinking the kryptonite kool-aid?"
Superman "What does the kool-aid have in it?"
Lex Luther "I forgot."

Now tell me what people say that bothers you, then go forth in confidence without saying silly things which make you sound like the previous president.

Limerick

Because today is a HUGE day around here- my tween and I are both singing in Carmina Burana with the local symphony with a snazzy international conductor, after a full day of rehearsals, plus she has a morning set of rehearsals and a mid-day performance for a local music festival (can you say someone needs ice cream before bed?) I want to quickly share with you a limerick we collaborated on.
It was for a school project she was doing, and I think by now her teacher will have finished googleing to see if the kids plagiarized their limericks off the interwebz, so it should be safe to post it.

**Background info- we're Doctor Who fans around here, big time Doctor Who fans, and I'm so proud of her wit, her singing talent, and her enthusiasm, I feel the need to share this.**

Gallifrey - "The Sound of the Drums" - Doctor Who, BBC

A long time ago, far away,
Was a planet they called Gallifrey.
Lost in the Time War,
You can go there no more,
Lousy for tourism, eh?

:-)

She's awesome, isn't she?

Making My Own Cards

All the way back in 2006 I decided to make photo books from Shutterfly for the grandparents' Christmas gifts.  (Secret: I'm working on a cookbook one at the moment) Back then, I pulled pictures from the entire year and put together two different books telling the story of the fabulous year our then seven year old Mongoosine had enjoyed.  This year spouse suggested that I do it again, but it turns out that the energy to create photo books is inversely proportional to the number of offspring to be featured.  This is true for most grandiose projects.  You can call it "Slee's Law" if you want to.

Regardless, I'm a big fan of making my own cards for the holidays. It's become a bit of a tradition around here. Last year I went the tabula rasa thing, designing cards completely from scratch with online picture editing programs.  I found it's fun to design your own card, but a little time consuming.  Most of the time being taken up in selecting the picture to use.

Chosing photos for greeting cards is a political endeavor.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  There's a certain amount of "hey, he's in more pictures than me," that can muddy the joy if you aren't very careful.  This means, for me, sorting through all my  "good" pictures looking for ones that include both kids. This is much harder than I would have thought.  

I started with a  current photo of all my offspring, and a plaster giraffe. Yes, the giraffe was an important element of the design.

Which I cropped, and colour corrected.

Then I added a boarder and words.

All in all, I spent about three hours on it. But then I got the "brilliant" idea that I'd print it myself.   Guess who didn't get around to replacing her ink cartridges unitl her last minute holiday shopping was in full swing?  Me.  Therefore, they didn't go out in time. Oops. (lookey, I could have had them printed instead, even as proper cards.)

So this year, while I'm all about the personalized kidlet bedecked picture cards that capture a bit of what has been going on in our household, I am NOT printing them myself. I'm having them printed.  I'm going the "ooh, I like this layout, I can add this picture, and have THEM print it" route.  See what about 15 minutes of hemming and hawing over which picture to use on Shutterfly can make me?

Isn't that pretty?

So yeah, I'm thinking I'll use this one for our Christmas Cards unless I get a fabulous picture of the kids this weekend that would look even better there.  I love the rainbow colors and the non-Christmas specific use of the word "Holidays" on this one. It's my favorite.

I love that I can personalize the insides instead of just going the self-printed postcard route. 

Of course, it was a hard choice. I also love the rainbow "Merry" on this one. (Yes, I am still thinking of making some Dalek-y "Merry Exterminate" cards too... just not for family.)

Of course, now I'm tempted to make a Calendar for my grandparents, as per usual.  I've made them one once, but every year since it's always seemed like a lot of work, so I put it off, but it's such a useful gift! Plus I'm in love with the "Bright and Bold" theme.  If you can't tell, I sort of like bright colors.

So go forth, make your own cards.

Also, right now, Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly:http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Fan Girl Friday

That's not really a carnival, but it should be.
I want to show you my geeky fangirl stuff today, because that's just the sort of mood I'm in.

I made a Whovian Sock Punky. I suppose you could call it "Socktor Who" even. I even made him out of a pair of BLUE Rockford Red Heel Socks.

I know he's kind of dorky, but I heart heart him.

Isn't he cute?

I gave him two hears and a bow tie because I'm a nerd like that.  On the one hand, I hope someone buys him, but on the other hand, I don't mind him hanging around with his radtastic bi-cardialness.

He's not my first Socktor. I made this one for my daughter's birthday.

See?  Just red outlined embroidered hearts.  But the idea was still newly formed, and I'm sure will continue to evolve over time.

What? Are we really that Doctor Who geeky?  Yes, yes we are.

I even tried to make myself a mid-sized diaper bag this summer with a TARDIS on one side and a crack in the universe on the other.

No really, a crack in the universe on the back. I am very geeky.

See? I am vastly geeky.

My next project on the geeky fandom horizon? I'm learning to knit because I want to make a scarf like Tom Baker wore as the fourth doctor, preferably the season 12 scarf, since it's the most iconic and least lengthy.

Must have one.

In any case, that's how I've been geeking it up around here.

What about you?

Carnival

When I was in high school, my German teacher, Frau K., made a huge deal about the Carnival season, which starts on 11/11 (today) and culminates on Shrove Tuesday.
Her interpretation, and therefore my interpretation of said dates are not up for debate at the moment. I don't care if they're wrong, I just love the idea that today kicks off the next few months of living it up and enjoying yourself.
So, I would like to propose, for you, that tonight we all set the table festively, and do something fun, even though  it's a school night.
Daughter and I will be going out for ice cream sundaes after rehearsal tonight, even if it puts us home ridiculously late, because the Carnival season is all about living now. So by golly, we're going to live now.

So party it up. Make those Shirley Temples to go with dinner.  Serve chicken strips AND lasagna because everyone has their own favorite. Have dessert, even though it's just a Thursday.  DVR Gray's Anatomy and instead do some wild and wacky karaoke with the fam.  Wear your glitzy jewelry that you have absolutely nowhere to wear without feeling ridiculous.  Hula-hoop in the living room and don't be afraid to put that tutu on.

Do it.  Make tonight a Carnival night. Make it special.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeasy decadent dessert of special occasion only goodness-

One half of a package of premade chocolate chip cookie dough (not Nestle' though, because we're boycotting them)
Favorite icecream
Whipped cream
Hot fudge or chocolate sauce topping
Caramel topping
sprinkles
A spoon for each family member.

Preheat oven per cookie dough instructions
Take one pie tin or glass pie plate (glass will look nicest) take half the package of pre-made cookie dough and mush it into the pie plate.
Pop this in the oven for about twice as long as the instructions, you know, because it's one huge cookie.

Remove from oven, quickly scoop icecream onto giant cookie (still in pan) top with whipped cream, drizzle with sauces and toppings.

Serve by setting on table and encouraging everyone to just dig in.  If you're afraid of germs or can't imagine your littlest one not burning his/herself on the hot pie plate, you can divvy it up, but it's so much more fun to share.

Optional- toss some nuts or toffee bits on it too.
Optional and keep a fire extinguisher handy- got a sparkler to put in the top? That might rock.


Just don't party quite til you pass out.

Wordless Wednesday: Fire

Wordless Wednesday

How weird is that?

If I too a picture of my bed right now, you'd see a king sized mattress on the floor with two child or baby sized blankets on it, and one lightweight double bed sized comforter, a remote control, and my pajama bottoms.  Hence me not taking a picture.  I'll give you a very slightly tidied up picture instead. You know, because you don't need to be staring at my PJs.

But what's missing?
Maybe I should mention that this is the bed my 18 month old and I sleep in.
There are no toys.  There are no pillows.
Ironically, he loves pillows.  I just find them stressful with him in the bed.
Last night I woke up groggy and disoriented to find that we were laying sideways in the bed.  Without a headboard or pillows, sometimes it gets hard to tell which way we're facing with the lights out and yes closed.
Where is spouse?  In the adjacent room on a twin sized bed, complete with a twin sized comforter, a king sized quilt, and four pillows.  Yeah.  That's where most of the pillows went.
Don't worry, he's in there because I can't tolerate having the television on at night when I'm trying to sleep, and sleeping with the kidlet makes it hard for him to actually rest, so it's a good for now compromise for us.

The truth is, we put JabberWalky in his own big boy bed, and he was okay with it. He'd sleep there the first half of the night, and then he'd come cuddle into mommy's bed.  I wanted the space back, and I like having my cuddly little sweet boy right where I can hear him breathing.

Who wouldn't want to snuggle this?

So, is it weird that we're all pillow-less and floor bound, or is it just right?
I think it's just right.

What's on your bed?

Mix Tapes and Love Songs

So there's this fabric out there that's a total blast from my past- a bright take on pastels and cluttered with Mix Tapes. 
'80s much? 

Well, I love it.
I love it on diapers. 

Love it on diaper bags.

Love it on blankets.

Love it.

Currently am planning to make a blankie out of it for Jabber Walky for Christmas.  Love it love it love it.

I love it because it reminds me of being a kid and sitting by the radio to record my favorite songs and singing them into the clunky microphone, then erasing them in embarassment. That, and all the mix tapes boys with crushes gave me. ♥

I repeat, I love mix tapes.  I love listening to carefully picked songs designed to tell someone something.

I think, if I had to pick just five love songs to put on a mix tape, they'd be these ones.

Moondance- Michael Buble

Love Song - Tori Amos

Everything I do - Brian Adams

Ich Liebe Dich-  Schubert

Year Without Rain - Selena Gomez (yeah, I've got kids and an ear worm)

What would you pick?

Up and Away

Does it ever feel like they're growing up and away, much too quickly, and all you can do is try really hard to capture it?

Pink Saturday: My Adventurer

I have been meaning to share these photos for a while now.  A few months ago, on our way to visit relatives up in the Coulees, we came across this beautiful rock formation called Castle Rock.  When we got there there was a sand "path" around it and so we started to walk around it, and it was absolutely breathtaking.  However, at some point it became evident that the sand path was not actually a path, but rather the erosion of the rocks, as the path disappeared and left us somewhere about 40 feet higher than we'd like, without a good way to turn around. Fortunately, we were all feeling sure footed and managed to make our way back around to where we started without injury.  Mongoosine had a great time discovering crevasses, climbing, and showing off her agility.

"Oh no! It's a crack in the universe!"

"Look mom, I'm a tree"

"I'll take the stairs" 

 "Best seat in the house"

For more of Beverly's Pink Saturday, head on over to How Sweet the Sound.

You can also check out this nifty blog I found while on the Pink Saturday page- Bubblegum and Ducttape.

Poetry

Last night was Mongoosine's school poetry slam.
It was held in the school library.  The kids and the teachers dressed like Beatniks. We snapped rather than clapped and I felt moved to use words like "deep." Had they bothered to include the time on the invitation, there probably would have been more in attendance, but as it was, it was fine with me. We had to balance slam with choir anyway.  So, in honor of the slam, I will leave you with some poetry to ponder, if you can dig it.

Mama Dada

mama clock I when sun bright
hold early window blankie change
table shirt coffee skirt glasses fluffy on
and nurse we she when tug smile eye
curl laugh pillow kiss chirp sky

Beading Party

I love a good jewelry party, but I don't really love all the Made-in-China and possibly lead tainted, hopefully not slave labor, and cost more than I should be spending parts of it.
Fortunately, I have a brilliant mother who came up with an idea. A Beading Party.

What you need-
a group of friends
all your and their broken beaded necklaces
some cord/wire/whatever you want to string something new on
new clasps
wire cutters
jewelery or needle nose pliers
creativity
snacks
bowls
baggies

It'd be nice if you had
ear ring hooks
a couple of those special beading trays that let you lay out your beads in order first
everyone bring a package of new beads to play with
background music
a big long table

Once you have your guest list together, it's pretty simple.  Invite your friends, make sure they know what to bring, and when everyone gets there have fun making new jewelry out of your broken old jewelry.  At the end of the day, everyone has their own new creations instead of a hostess gift, and all the left over beads can go in little baggies and go home with whomever brought them.

It's easy, and your friends will probably be relieved to be able to create something new for free or maybe four  dollars in new beads rather than getting the high pressure sales pitch to buy something they really don't feel they can afford.

So go, plan a beading party, have fun, and save some broken but loved pieces of jewelry from sitting there waiting for you to get around to fixing them, or worse, from winding up in the garbage.  You'll have a great time, and in the end you'll be able to be proud of what you've created.

That Darn TV

The other day I was asked how much television my toddler watches.
The short answer? He loves to turn the TV on, change the channels, play with the volume, and wander off.  The TV is on a lot, but he doesn't really watch it.
I joked that it was okay since he probably shouldn't be watching Caprica with me.
What I didn't realize that tonight, after looking forward to watching Caprica with a toddler climbing all over me, that it would, in fact, have been suddenly cancelled, mid-season.
Apparently SyFy felt that well written science fiction wasn't worth continued support on the basis that ratings were down.
I understand that ratings determine how much advertisers are willing to pay for air time during a particular program, however, might not a better solution have been to switch it to a time slot where it might have performed better than a Tuesday night?  It did well enough on Friday nights for them to bring it back this fall, so why bury it on Tuesdays and then cancel the show outright when the time slot and the audience don't perfectly mesh.
Don't even get me started on the fact that *my* viewing choices aren't reflected in ratings, nor are most of yours.  Don't get me started on the fact that great shows are regularly cancelled because the people whose viewing habits are monitored don't have the same tastes.

TV execs? There has to be a better way.  First Firefly, and now this?  Not to mention the long litany of excellently written shows which have been canned in the interim.

So if you're in Canada, where you get to finish out the last filmed episodes, you're lucky and probably think I'm rattling on about nothing, but if you're here, pining for your complex plot science fiction hit, you're not alone.

Caprica- toddler and I missed you tonight.

Wordless Wednesday: A Fairly Wonderful Weekend

Wordless Wednesday

Where's the Sparkle?

Motherhood is great.  I love being a mommy.  Love almost everything about it, but where's the sparkle?
I don't mean the sparkle in my kids' eyes, or the giddy joy of playing a new game, but the pretty sparkley shiny things that made me feel feminine and decorative.  Glitzy earrings and expensive necklaces. Bracelets that the offspring can't teethe on.
I admit it. I miss it.  I miss wearing jewelery that isn't childproof.
There's one piece in particular that I miss wearing.
It's nothing particularly fancy, but it has a lot of meaning for me.

I made this necklace about five years ago.  I made it out of a cheap clasp, some cord that I probably picked up at a local crafts store, beads from two broken necklaces, and a couple extras left over from the last time my mom hosted a "beading party."  What makes it special is the well polished stone hanging in the center.
I don't know what this stone is.  It was some sort of geode my grandmother cut and polished herself many years ago.
She was a stained glass artist, and she also enjoyed cutting and polishing stones and slabs into beautiful jewelry. When she passed after a bitter struggle with cancer, my mother inherited some of the unfinished stone pieces she'd begun, and this one passed to me.
When I first held it up to the light and saw it's swirl of inclusions and imperfections, I knew I had to make a special home for it, and was actually rather pleased to find that the beads of two of my irritatingly broken necklaces serendipitously would work together to make a perfect necklace to showcase this stone.

So yes, some of the beads are glass, some plastic, some wood, some metal.  None of it is particularly worth anything, but to me, it's worth more than a diamond, because when I wear it, I'm a little girl again in her art studio being admonished not to touch anything, because everything was sharp and dangerous, still catching my breath at the way light passes through red and gold glass.


So I miss wearing jewelery too precious to have broken by pulling little fingers.  I miss the sparkle. The sparkle of light bouncing off multifaceted and brilliantly colored gems, and the sparkle of memories far too dear.  I miss wearing this, because when I wear it, she's still alive.