2007 May « leta joy

I Heart Posie

May 31, 2007 at 4:40 pm · Filed under i buy stuff

Well, I finally did it. I have been coveting Alicia’s creations for years and I finally purchased something for myself, a little “you’ve been so hard working” treat. I was rather surprised that they weren’t sold out by the time I remembered to check her site.

And can I just say that it completely lives up to the hype? This is the Blossomie bookbag and it is simply divine. It is made of soft vintage sheets from the ’60s and ’70s and it is fully lined with an adorable inner pocket. It even smells like vintage sheets, in a wonderful summery, staying at grandma’s house, sleeping on the porch sort of way. (Yes, I did sniff it.) It has four lovely layers of pleats and hand-stitched rickrack.

It is so pretty, I haven’t even used it yet. I don’t want to get it dirty! I just walk by and gaze at it’s loveliness, pick it up and caress it gently, then put it back down. It has a special spot at the end of my bed.

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More About Me

May 29, 2007 at 5:22 pm · Filed under introspective, leta joy

Nino from Cease Cows, Life is Short! sent me this mini interview. She’s a keeper, that one.

1. Do you want more children? If so, how many? Yes, probably one more. I think we would consider having more if monetary issues weren’t a concern. However, things being as they are we will be doing well to afford one more. Our “plan” is to try to get pregnant within the next year or two. But you know how plans go.

2. What is the single-most thing you’ve enjoyed about returning to work (part-time)? Eating lunch out! Bwa ha ha ha. Seriously, its been fun to see my old work peeps, feel like a part of the working world again and have lunch with the Bubster on a regular basis without the kiddo around.

3. What do you DETEST about returning to work (part-time)? The rampant negativity at my former workplace and feeling like I am out of the loop in regard to what is going on with Arwyn.

4. If you had to name ONE thing, what would be your very favorite thing about your husband? He makes me laugh and he gets me in all my wacked out, crazy glory.

5. In your life, do you feel settled or are you still in a transitional state? Definitely still in a transitional state. I’m not really sure when I’ll ever feel settled! I felt like I was pretty settled into the stay-at-home mom gig, then I started working part-time. Now I feel like I am finding a new normal again, and once I figure it out it will probably change all over again.

Thanks, Nino! That was fun.

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Social Commentary

May 29, 2007 at 3:13 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

We visited our first (of probably many) summer social of the year. I think Arwyn was a bit overwhelmed. She was very, very, very excited. So excited that she just could not contain herself enough to listen to us and ran willy nilly from one ride to the next, freaking out if one thing did not go exactly right. At one point I chased her down as she ran to the giant slide, elbowing people left and right, terrified I would lose sight of her in the crowd. But she had a great time in spite of her antics and my close call with a myocardial infarction.

Here she is practicing her parade wave with her cousin.

Going down the giant slide with Mommy. Those 4 seconds cost us $3.50.

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnndddddddd time to go.

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I Didn’t Know They Came That Small

May 28, 2007 at 4:15 pm · Filed under arwyn dae

Bubby unearthed some treasures from his parent’s garage, one of which was his old bike. It is a gen-u-wine Schwinn “Lil Tiger”. Add a couple of cheap plastic training wheels and Arwyn has herself a new form of entertainment.

We took her down to a grade school by our house to let her ride around in an open area without threat of cars, dogs or other people. She completed many a lap around the lot, laughing and calling out, “I’m doing it! I’m driving the bicycle!” We tried to make sure she didn’t “drive” into any buildings or basketball poles without hovering too close.

She drives just like her mother: like a maniac. After this adventure a pink and purple Schwinn helmet was summarily purchased.

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I’m Back!

May 27, 2007 at 1:36 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

I hope everyone is enjoying a long holiday weekend. We aren’t doing much of anything other than detoxing Arwyn from being spoiled for a month, which is REALLY REALLY fun. Almost as much fun as stabbing myself in the eye repeatedly with a dull fork.

I finished my month of working for the man and I start a new part-time gig on Tuesday. I am supposed to be able to bring Arwyn with me, which should be interesting to say the least. Our other plans for the month of June include swim lessons. Yesterday we purchased a new big blow up pool for the backyard. I “swam” with her yesterday, which basically consisted of her bossing me around and trying to spray me with the hose.

I’m ready to get back to my normal posting schedule. I know you’ve missed me.

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May 16, 2007 at 10:30 pm · Filed under crafty

My sister (Aunt Banana) celebrates her birthday on Saturday. We’ll be kind and not reveal her age. This was her card. I’m not even sure when this all began, but her husband used to write “You know we think a lot of you.” in my cards while my sister would gush “We love you!” He’s kind of the quiet, buttoned-up type while my sister and I tend to get rather giggly and goofy when we are together. His response is to sigh, roll his eyes and count the minutes until he can escape our silly silliness. I wrote both sentiments in her card this year and she didn’t even see it until four days after I’d given her the card. Maybe she needs glasses. Or maybe she needs to actually wear the ones she has.

This was my mother-in-law’s Mother’s Day card. The gift I ordered her still hasn’t arrived. Thanks, Crocs! According to the FedEx tracker, they are currently in Nashville, TN. They shipped a week after I placed the order. I find this time frame slightly excessive. Those had better be some freshly made Primas.

This was my mom’s Mother’s Day card. I should have written “You’re the Berries!” on it somewhere, but something tells me she wouldn’t get the Strawberry Shortcake reference. Is it wrong that the majority of my pop culture reference are aimed at the 5 and under set?

This hastily made bag held her flowery treasure. Flower seeds, more flower seeds and a seeded hanging basket. I never have much luck with seeds, so I am unsure why I continue to purchase them for her. I refuse to give up on the idea that you can just throw a seed in some dirt and later a flower will magically appear.

You might think it has something to do with science, but really it’s magic.

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Mama

May 14, 2007 at 9:22 am · Filed under arwyn dae

We spent the day together, just the three of us, with no real plans. We started off with breakfast at Cracker Barrel. The wait was 45 minutes, so we decided to make a quick trip to Target instead of waiting there. I got some cute napkins and new blue Solo cups. I have a thing for Solo cups. I can’t explain it.

Then we headed to the park to play on the playground and feed the ducks.

All of the pictures can be seen here.

After naps we played and worked outside in the yard. My gifts were a framed picture of me and Arwyn from the beach last year, all of the proofs from our wedding six years ago and a certificate for a family portrait. Thanks, Bubby. It was a really nice day.

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Enough with the Swappage Already

May 10, 2007 at 11:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

A little sampling of my black and white swap from Angela. My very first retractable Sharpie! Don’t think I haven’t been using it on everything in sight.

I haven’t tried out the headband yet, but I will. Oh, I will work the polka dot headband. I will own it.

Lots of other goodies that I haven’t had time to play with. Um, this working thing? It seems to be taking up a lot of my free time. I’m way behind on very important things, like my television viewing.

I called Arwyn tonight. She’s been staying with her Aunt Banana this week. As soon as she got on the phone she said, “I’m not going to your home. I’m staying at Aunt Banana’s house.” I don’t think she misses me at all. Hmmm.

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Doofus

May 7, 2007 at 7:23 pm · Filed under leta joy

Well, here’s what happens when you don’t sleep much and you work a lot more than you are used to. You know that cool flickr group 07-07-07? Well, I somehow got it into my head that the magical day was 05-05. So, all day Saturday I stuck my camera in my family’s face and took photos of their every move. I think I’ll consider this a practice run for the real thing. Yeah, I meant to do this! I was practicing. If you would like to see everything we did on Saturday, lookie here! I guess it is still pretty cool that I have a photo montage of a typical busy day out of our lives. Although there is not a single shot with me in it. Maybe by July I can do a self-portrait holding one of these.

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Swap Fever

May 3, 2007 at 4:35 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

I recently participated in this swap. I was an over-achiever and got my package out a bit early because I was leaving town. I know my partner has received it, so I’m going to show off what I sent to her.

I had a lot of fun putting this together, probably because I worked on it a little bit at a time and didn’t leave it all for the last minute like I have in the past. I felt like I put some creative thought into it, when with previous swaps, I’ve felt like I could have done better.

I haven’t participated in a whole lot of swaps, but I feel like I’m getting better at it. Is this a marketable skill? Experienced swapper? I tried to include things that I love, things that I myself would be thrilled to receive. For example, I really liked the magnet with the Alice in Wonderland quote. Maybe I should have bought one for myself. Inside the black & white envelope I included all sorts of ephemera which could be used for a variety of crafty projects.

The day before I mailed out the package I started to feel inspired and decided to include some cards made especially for this project.

Black and white is not a color combination I would normally gravitate towards, so it was a nice way to feel like I was coming up with fresh ideas. I sent along three “hello” cards that are blank on the inside.

I included items found at Target (of course), Barnes & Noble, thrift stores and my ever-growing craft stash.

The final item shown is a sheet of self-stick labels that I drew on and turned into stickers. I believe these labels were originally purchased to be used as yard sale tags. I really liked how they turned out and have thought about making some in different colors. They might make it into my etsy shop by next month?