A different kind of Christmas village

I have been debating starting one of those ceramic house village collections for quite awhile now.  The ones by Lemax at the local Michaels always seemed kind of, well, a little cheesy to me and roughly made.  However they are affordable which can't really be easily said about what I was really considering, Dept. 56 houses.  There was even a store of theirs locally where we could go and look at all the different villages they carried.  I think we ended up in there every Christmastime looking and wishing we could afford to start a village.

Now that Mister Vonkysmeed's employment status is more stable I decided to definitely start a collection this year and had even researched a local store that carries Dept. 56 villages for me to go look again.  Then I ended up on the LEGO website to request a free magazine subscription for Lil' Miss and one thing led to another until I discovered this,

LEGO Winter Village Bakery, 10216

Yup, LEGO has gotten into the Christmas village business and they have a new customer in me!  This is the third year they have produced a new building and with Mister Vonkysmeed's blessing I have ordered all three buildings to get us started.

With these buildings we get the additional fun of assembling them together as a family, always a good thing in my book!  Additionally they are not made out of fragile porcelain as the other villages are, always a bonus in this family with young kids and a 'bull in a china shop' kind of hubby!

Starting on my second quilt

fiesta de los muertos by Alexander Henry Fabrics

Since I have special ordered the fabrics off the internet I suppose I really do need to get this gift done for Mister Vonkysmeed for Christmas!  He has always been a huge fan of Oingo Boingo and has had a box full of old concert t-shirts sitting in the garage for years.  I thought it was a shame for them to be sitting in the box and suggested using them in some sort of project instead.  He agreed to this idea and I discovered a wealth of information online about t-shirt quilts.  To make sure I actually got this done I promised him a Christmas gift, and now that I have the fancy interfacing on hand and have ordered fabric I really need to get started on it!

The fabric is really amazing, part of the folklorico collection by Alexander Henry fabrics, they will definitely work with the assortment of shirts I have, 99% of which are black and at least half say Dia de Los Muertos on them.  The confetti fabric  seems almost custom made to go with Oingo Boingo!  I'll be using it for the sashing and binding around the shirts themselves, the fiesta de los muertos fabric will be used for the back.  I think I'll be using my new quilting book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman to figure out how to piece the back together.  I think I may go get a few pieces of solid fabrics to work with the patterned fabrics on the back, maybe even for the binding too, I'll have to get started piecing and see what speaks to me.

The interfacing I have is amazing!  Unfortunately I have no idea what it's called or where to get it, my friend The Quilt Master bought it through a friend of hers for me.  It is essentially a very thin cotton with the fusible stuff on one side of it.  What this means is after I fuse it to the shirts they will continue to be soft and flexible instead of stiff like regular interfacing but still stable enough to cut out properly.

Now wish me luck as I go off to start cutting and fusing!

8 Years Ago Today...

This day

I will marry my friend,

the one I laugh with, live for,

dream with, love

Happy early birthday to me!

My birthday isn't actually until next week but yesterday my dear hubby Mister Vonkysmeed brought home my birthday present and handed it over.  I've known for awhile what he was planning to get for me so it wan't really a surprise but it was certainly nice to get it (ooh, and thanks to Pops-in-law too as this gift is from both of them!).  See, I gots a brand new iPod Touch!  I finally mentioned that I might like one after realizing that the Touch could replace my dinosaur of a Palm Zire and do even more.  I admit to being slightly resistant to change, so have never actually had an iPod of any flavor before.

My only complaint is that I will miss the stylus.  I know, weird huh?  But it did take me forever to upgrade from a DayRunner (anyone remember those things?!  I could not live without mine!) to a pda in the first place, and one of my favorite tools on my Palm is a notepad feature where I can draw or write lists, impressions of something I see, etc.  Although Lil' Miss has been using this feature a lot, like while waiting in a Dr.'s office she asks for the pda so she can draw while waiting, of course this leaves me with absolutely nothing to do, but at least the kid id happy right?!  I guess I can be a little old-fashioned about some things, like I detest e-readers, give me a real book any day of the week.

out with the old and in with the new

So, does anyone have any suggestions for apps I should look into?  Mister Vonkysmeed is so sweet he even made sure there was a balance available in his itunes store for me to use to get some things for my new toy.  I know I will want a better calendar, with the two anklebiters I absolutely rely on that thing to make sure I don't miss any appointments or classes of theirs, or mine for that matter!  I'm not sure what else I should look into, so suggest away!

Trains, trains, trains

Lil' Misses latest setup, pretty good for a 5 year old!

 It was Christmas of the year 2007 that we were introduced to GeoTrax.  From cruising around the 'net I quickly realized that these toys can become an addiction (well at least more for the parents if not the kids!).  I think everyone bought a little something for Lil' Miss that year to add to the GeoTrax set, this happened even though she didn't quite "get" what to do with it all and certainly couldn't build herself a track yet!  So, in spite of the somewhat uncomprehending 2 year old, the collection grew exponentially at first (mommy & daddy needed all those extras to build an interesting track!) with extra track packs, bridges, and assorted buildings.  She did however rather quickly understand that the controller for the R/C train was important (still didn't know exactly what to do with it) and refused to give it up.  So what did Mister Vonkysmeed do?  If you guessed he went out and bought another R/C train for his own use, give the lady a prize, you're a winner!

We are not lucky enough to have a basement, finished or not, as they do in other parts of the country in which to put a playroom for the kids.  We also have a fairly small home (Destructo-boy & Lil' Miss currently share a room, sorry kids but the planned addition will cost about 200K, gotta wait a few more years!) so our family room where the tv and my laptop reside also house most of the toys.  Of course, fairly quickly the family room was being completely taken over by train tracks.  We adults were getting ambitious with our constructions and every time someone wanted to sit down on a couch they quite literally had to step over various parts of the layout to get there.  So I decided that the trains did not need to be out all of the time.  But what to do with all those trains?  Target (pronounce it tar-jhey so it feels fancier somehow) gave me my affordable solution of two Rubbermaid plastic totes.  They fit ever so nicely behind the end table out of sight, keeping me happy and all the parts together when not in use.

Enter child #2 to the trains and what first started as a spot on imitation of Stitch in the "Ooh, SanFrancisco!" scene starring Destructo-boy as Stitch, has evolved into more interest in actually playing with the trains instead of tearing the tracks apart and flinging them all over the family room (yes, this resulted in Lil' Miss screaming and crying trying desperately to both stop him from pulling up more tracks and recover the pieces already flung across the room which would've been much funnier if I didn't have to physically pull them apart).  He is finally starting to 'get' how to use the trains on the tracks, placing them correctly and running them back and forth with his little hands, he even got an R/C train of his very own this past Christmas.

 I love to watch them when Lil' Miss is using the R/C train and Destructo-boy is madly running back and forth to keep up with the trains progress, squealing all the while, jumping up and down, pointing and yelling "Ack-Ack" (didn't know he had watched Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!).  They have gotten a whole room of adults to sit watching them play with the trains this way, quite entertaining (or are we just easily amused, hmmm).  He is absolutely fascinated with watching it go round and round, particularly when the track has been set up with lots of elevation changes, a roller coaster track as Lil' Miss calls it.  I love it when a toy entertains the children and adult equally, talk about value for the money!

Garden Enhancement

I spent my Friday digging in the dirt to get all my new plants in the ground instead of updating my blog.  Sorry about that, if it makes you feel any better my hips are killing me after kneeling all morning bent over to get the plant holes dug.  This has it's roots in me wanting to not have to pull weeds anymore and grew to a pathway from the sidewalk to the top of the driveway with a new planter.  I just think it make for a much nicer approach to the house to walk up a path rather than up the driveway, I think it's called "curb appeal."  So my loving and sweet Mister Vonkysmeed spent a few weeks digging out sod to make room for this grand idea of mine.

To start with I had asked him to help me out with the grass weediness by our water spigot by the front door.  I just couldn't keep up with the damn weeds so asked if he could help me out with digging out some dirt, putting down some plastic and then lay pavers and river stones on top.  I liked it, a lot, and the project grew.  Next I asked for the evil vinca from heck on the other side of the front steps to be ripped out and the pavers and rocks put over there too.  With that change I would have a place for some pretty potted plants and a seating area, what fun!  Then I dropped the bomb on the poor man, I wanted a walkway, a new planting bed, and an arbor cut into the front lawn.  He sighed but agreed to the project.

After lots of measuring and figuring out the project on paper, and using his construction calculator he was off to the home improvement store to get the supplies and wow what a lot of supplies!  Who know we would need so much sand, or mulch, or an entire pallet of pavers, really!?  He really wanted the pavers set right next to each other but I just didn't like that look, I was going for a very specific feel, I wanted a little bit of the Mediterranean in my yard.  I have a couple of books on Mediterranean gardening and all the patios shown are either gravel surfaced, or a mix of pavers and gravel or stones.  Since solid gravel just doesn't do it for me a mix of the pavers and rocks it is.

Need I say the man worked his ash off?  He even managed to get his part of the project done before I had my wisdom teeth removed so he could devote his time to watching the ankle biters for me while I recovered.  So for about 3 weeks we have had about an acre and a half of mulch staring at us daring me to do something with it.  I already had an idea of what to plant as I have another planter nearby that was all finished, I just needed to settle on the arrangement.  Sometimes that seems to be the hardest for me, I like the instant jungle look so I tend to over-plant.  I learned this lesson the had way after having to remove 3 lavender, 2 rosemary, and a Mexican sage form my backyard that ended up in the pots by the front door.  Once I had finally settled on a layout we went out got the plants and put them in the ground the next day (I have finally learned about planting quickly too, after a few dead plants).

In case you are wondering the plants we ended up with are French lavender, dusty miller, English thyme, santolina, and two grapes, a Flame seedless and a Thompson seedless.  In the pots are roses, a Sunset Celebration and a Black Magic.  The big concrete pavers in the middle of the planter will eventually have a pot with a geranium and a large pot with a fruitless olive tree.  The geranium will go in within the next week or two but the olive will be awhile, those suckers are expensive, not to mention the pot to put it in!

Backyard surprise!

That would be a surprise for the kids, not so much for us!  It's a water slide Mister Vonkysmeed created on an existing playground slide in our backyard.   Add a $15 plastic pool, a fountain pump (purchased at his toy store, Harbor Freight Tools), and some assorted sprinkler system drips and you too can turn your own playground slide into a super fun water slide.  Mister Vonkysmeed and I have talked about doing this for several years and finally decided to just do it because if we kept waiting the kids would be too big to enjoy it, so I told him to go be creative (within a reasonable budget of course-my standards not his)!

Both Lil' Miss and Destructo-boy love it!  Their faces when Mister Vonkysmeed turned it on were absolutely priceless, made every penny we spent worth it.  I think we do need to mark out a splash zone like they do at Sea World however as they create huge splashes across the patio every time they come down!  Although it would be awfully fun to see one of our friends get a nice wet surprise during our monthly barbecues!  We'll see how long we go without an accident, I can just see someone busting through the side of that pool and sliding onto the patio, not fun (and talk about road rash, yeouch)!

Too bad my butt's too big to fit onto the slide (yes, I have tried, unsuccessfully), otherwise I just might be tempted to try it out myself (like I did with the crib the other day on an especially rough afternoon with the kids).  Happy first week of summer!

Haven't you ever had a day like this?!

A day with no kids...or knitting even!

That's right!  I got to go to Glen Ivy Hot Springs & Spa with a couple of friends on Friday.  Chatty Cathy told me she and Missus Gordon (#24's biggest fan!  really, she is!) would be going on Friday and would I like to go too?  I'll admit that I'm not much of a spa person, for me the draw was to get away with some good friends for the day and not have to worry about the kids.  Since Chatty and I have connections and were able to get in with complimentary passes, it was kind of a no-brainer for me.  That is provided Mister Vonkysmeed would watch the munchkins for me, pretty please?!  Bless my sweetheart of a husband he simply waved his hand at me and told me to have fun on Friday.  I must've done something right in a previous life, I so do not deserve this man!

Best of all, there were no kids there at all!  Not only did I get a rest from mine, I didn't have to deal with anyone else's either.  It was a truly lovely day, after the June gloom that we get on the coast every morning it was a welcome relief to go inland and enjoy some sun.  During our visit we were able to enjoy all the various pools, baths, steam room, and of course the lounge pool (Missus Gordon's favorite place to be!).  The lounge pool kept us occupied for a good three hours, talking, laughing, gossiping and admiring all the cute swimsuits wandering around.  Missus Gordon complained that you can never find cute swimsuits when shopping but here there were a whole bunch of them!  The best was a red and white polka dot number with black ruffled trim all around the edges and black satin bows on the straps, sooo cute!

And when the sign says the mineral baths will make your silver jewelry tarnish, let me tell you, they aren't kidding!  I think it's going to take me a good half hour with my polishing cloth to get these suckers to shine again.  But boy did those natural hot spring waters feel good, smells bad, but feels great!

When it was finally time to go I discovered a nice little surprise message waiting for me on my cell phone from Mister Vonkysmeed, he titled it 'Looking for mama'

Although I really enjoyed my day, seeing that image definitely made me want to come home and see my little ones again.  I unquestionably needed that time without them for all that!

Cuddling with such sweet sorrow

I love cuddling with my kids, doesn't matter to me which one it is, either will do just fine by me.  I know the days are limited when my little ones will want to be held in my arms, so I try to remind myself to enjoy this too brief period of time while I can.  Some days it's hard to remember with that pile of laundry to do, furniture to dust, projects to finish, etc.

Lil' Miss is the far more cuddly of the two, willing to lie with myself or Mister Vonkysmeed for long stretches at a time (especially in her 'nest' between our legs and the back of the couch when we are stretched out in full relaxation mode).  She was always like this though, even as little baby she was perfectly happy to snuggle in with her favorite people, especially when a book was involved!

On the other hand, Destructo-Boy is not quite so willing.  Oh, he enjoys coming up and placing his head on a knee, arm, hand, whatever he can get to in order to show his affection (what's up with that? is he part tomcat?!) but he is a little mover and shaker never staying still for very long.  No sooner will he climb up on my lap then he wriggles off to go race away and get into something that he probably isn't supposed to be into. 

Which makes it all the more bittersweet with him being sick this past weekend.  When he gets sick his preferences change entirely, wanting to be cuddled by someone all the time.  He is rather particular on who that someone is too, if you are the chosen person forget about it if you are trying to knit or read or anything besides holding him!  Destructo will stand at your knee and cry pitifully (and there is nothing quite as pitiful as a tow-headed 20 month old with a fever) until you put down your distraction and snuggle him.  Both Mister Vonkysmeed and I have commented to each other during his illness that we missed being able to cuddle him as we used to (when he wasn't mobile and couldn't escape from us).  Although I'm not happy that he's sick, I will admit to relishing being able to cuddle our beloved little boy.  Gotta grab those opportunities while you can, for all too soon they will be gone.

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

Shoe obsessed?  Not me, just the rest of my family.  Don't get me wrong, I can admire a beautiful pair of shoes almost as much as the next girl, but comfort overrules fashion and I cannot stomach the thought of dropping a whole paycheck on one pair.  When it comes to my shoes I love my slides and prefer flats over heels, although I still have a collection of heels from my working days but rarely wear them.  I prefer running around barefoot the majority of the time, this is So Cal after all!  The rest of the family however, well, they love shoes enough to make up for me.

Mister Vonkysmeed seems to always be buying new shoes although some of that may be due to the fact that he is incredibly tough on them.  He does have quite a bit more pairs than I do and I am constantly tripping over a variety of shoes that have been left out.  Once they are all worn out and tired looking it is like pulling teeth to get him to part with them.  Often they go to the garage to serve as footgear whilst doing home or car repair before finally making their way to the landfill in the sky.  I honestly don't understand the attachment!  The Momster-in-Law told me a story once about a certain pair of red high heels of hers that he loved so much he hid them in his hamper, repeatedly.  Fortunately for me he seems to have outgrown this  particular attraction to women's shoes!

Our Lil' Miss and Destructo-boy take after their daddy in this regard, both are just as crazy about shoes as he is.  Lil' Miss loves to pick out her shoes each day, often making the most imaginative sock/shoe/clothing combinations (I swear that kid is a walking rainbow of clashing shades some days!).  And boy does she love to shop for shoes!  It started pretty young, around 18 months if I had to guess, whenever we went out to get her new shoes we had to leave the new pair on her feet or else she would protest loudly at their removal, just let it be, after all they were being purchased for her!  Nowadays the crying has given way to whining, especially when we decide against a pair of shoes.  Now if I could just get her to take better care of the shoes she has as she is almost as tough on them as her daddy!  Destructo-boy, well, he is another story altogether...

If you make the mistake of entering our home and removing your shoes don't expect them to be there when you go to leave.  Destructo-boy loves shoes, all kinds of shoes be they big, little, men's, women's it doesn't matter to my boy.  He'll put them on wherever he finds them and then go running waddling off with them barely on his feet.  Both Lil' Miss and I have to remember to always close our closet doors or else return to find our shoes scattered all over the house;  although it seems to be more of a problem with hers than with mine, especially the silver sparkly ones she wore for the holidays.  I can always hear when I have forgotten to close my closet door as click-clack he goes down the hall of wood flooring on a raised foundation in his latest high heeled capture! (and I thought a herd of elephants was loud, my kids put them to shame with their racket from running up and down the hall!)  I don't know what we'll do when he discovers that Mister Vonkysmeed stores his ever growing collection under the bed within easy reach, I guess we'll have to be even more careful about keeping the bedroom door closed.

Although I prefer barefoot to shoes, maybe once I overcome my phobia and start knitting socks I'll change my mind (those teeny tiny needles and fine weight yarns are scary!).  Lil' Miss has already put in her request for me to make some handknit socks for her.  I'll have to get started on some for her soon and perhaps then I'll want to make some for myself.  I can see it now, an array of rainbow hued handknit sockies for me to slip on before I put on my slippers or my slides.  Ooh, then I'll need to buy myself some new shoes to show off the handknit socks!

Quiet Time, not just for toddlers

Truly, it's not so much for the kids anymore as it is for me.  Without that hour or two of quiet every day Mister Vonkysmeed might come home from work one day to find one or both of the munchkins dangling by their ankles from the pergola over the back patio.  A few years ago Lil' Miss outgrew her naps but I had not outgrown the need for some quiet time for myself and I need it even more since Destructo-boy arrived on the scene.  Even though she wouldn't sleep anymore during naptime, her body still needed the down time of some rest in the middle of the day (or so I told her).  So I stole an idea from my lovely neighbor and instead let her choose a movie out of our rather large children's/family collection of DVD's to watch while relaxing on her bed in her darkened room.  Yes, my munchkins have both a television and a DVD player in their room.  In my defense, there is no cable in there, nor will there ever be while children reside in there; also the components are located on a high shelf so she cannot access them other than to turn the television on and off.  Thus, the tv only gets used for an hour or two of quiet time each day (see, I'm not such a terrible mom, so there ttthhhppptt!).

Right now she is on a Looney Tunes kick, we have a few of their DVD collections and she has chosen one of them every day this week.  At least the kid has good taste, and Mister Vonkysmeed is very pleased as they were originally his DVD's!  It seems to go in cycles, she gets hooked on a movie or a series of movies and watches them multiple times (must get it from her daddy, at last count he had watched The Fifth Element about 65,488 times), I would go crazy doing that!  Last week it was the Ice Age movies that kept getting pulled out, and it was Wallace & Gromit or Shaun the Sheep the week before that.  But lets be honest here, as long as it is at least an hour and half long I really don't care what she chooses (thank gawd I don't allow the purple dinosaur in the house, that I couldn't handle!).

What I love about this arrangement beyond the quiet I get (no Mommy do this, Mommy I need that, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy for a little bit!), is that I get to catch up on tv shows I can't watch with the munchkins, well at least the elder one, around.  After the first time Lil' Miss, at age 2, described an autopsy while asking a question I informed Mister Vonkysmeed there would be no more crime shows on while she was in the room such as our favorites CSI, NCIS, Castle, Lost, or V.  During their quiet time I sometimes even get a chance to lay down for a little bit of a nap myself (gasp!), but usually I'm working on the computer, knitting, cruising the internet or blogging, while the tv is simply providing background noise.  Unfortunately quiet time is always over much too soon with Lil' Miss bounding out of her room asking if she can have her afternoon snack now.  Oh well, there is always her computer time!

My mini-me, aka Lil' Miss

It was clear to us as soon as we saw her in profile during an ultrasound, Lil' Miss is a tiny little version of me.  Some days it is truly frightening to see a miniature version of yourself running around, all the good is just fine it's the bad stuff that's not so terrific.  Grumpy has stated that not only did the apple not fall far from the tree, it simply fell straight down, thud, no rolling away, nothing.  This isn't just the striking physical resemblance between us either, it's that she often acts just like me, the same turns of phrase, the same gestures and mannerisms, yikes!

To give you an idea of just how much she looks like me, one day Mister Vonkysmeed was looking at old pictures on the computer (don't ask me why) he came across one of me when I was the same age as Lil' Miss, about 4 years old.  He was immediately struck by the strong resemblance between us, exacerbated by the fact it was a black and white picture.  When she came into the room and was asked who was in the photo she immediately replied that it was her.  Then she realized that she didn't know the other two people in the picture and had never owned that dress, hmm, does not compute!  We explained that it was actually Mommy in the picture and she still looked a little confused than just accepted it and went on with her day. Which goes to show she is definitely her own person in spite of looking like me, I would never just accept something so cavalierly, I must have full disclosure to be truly happy!

Beaded stitch markers: Adventures in crafting

After seeing many beautiful pictures of beaded stitch markers and having an elevated view of my own craftiness, I decided to try making some myself.  You see, I have a whole bunch of beads along with head pins, and know how to make a wrapped loop;  I don't really make jewelry for myself (maybe I should start you think?!) and I love finding uses for items I already have stashed.  The first attempt involved purchasing (gasp!) toggle clasps and using those for my rings.  The beauty of this method is that the clasps already have a place to attach the beads to and the toggle itself is a seamless circle so nothing will catch on the yarn.  They came out great, and I immediately put them onto several projects already in progress.  Here is where I learned the failings with this method, they work just great for lace work (currently being used for my liesel scarf and working quite well) and would probably be okay with heavier weights of yarn but for my hell-sweater they created a laddering problem so I had to abandon them in favor of the plain rubber ones I have from Clover.  So back to the craft store to peruse for more supplies.

small toggle clasp markers

On my next trip to the craft store I purchased some 12mm split rings to try, (you know, like miniature key rings) not sure how well they will work but I'll give them a shot.  I need to make a handful at least as I will be starting a clapotis scarf soon and I understand it needs at least ten markers.  After making some of these and casting on my clapotis I learned that the jump rings are definitely lighter in weight than the toggle clasps, which is very desirable when using nine markers on a straight needle.  I also used lighter beads for these and I find that is helpful also with the weight issue, I had on seven of my toggle clasp markers and I could definitely tell the difference when I switched between the two. 

Huntin' Easter eggs

It never changes, every Easter that dang rabbit comes hopping around leaving eggs everywhere.  Why couldn't he just leave the basket of goodies next to my bed but no, he had to leave an egg with a hint leading to another egg, which would lead to another and so on.  Oh, I guess it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without the hunting part would it?  Oh all right, it would have been kind of boring to not have to hunt around for it.

The Momster (yes, I now know it was her and not some demented furry creature) would spend hours working out clues for me and older brother Grumpy to track down Easter morning.  After our 5 minutes of racing around the house from egg to egg she would complain about how quickly we went through the egg-clues and got to our baskets.  Granted, we worked it out pretty quickly, but do you think maybe there are more hiding places for an Easter basket than the dishwasher, the clothes dryer, or the tv cabinet?  We cottoned onto that ploy pretty quickly so there were several times we actually discovered the basket before we were supposed to by 'mis-interpreting' a clue.