yup, I got rid of my site counter. I definitely feel like the amount and quality of my posts had gone down, down, down since I added it. So, I added some of my favorite tunes instead. Listen or turn it off-it's your option. My music box had really closed down since kids, and now I've started listening a bit here and there depending on snippets I hear as openers and closers when I listen to my XM radio. I guess it's an XM/Sirius radio now. I'm hugely dependent on the Ron and Fez show. They used to be local in D.C., and in Tampa, and now they're on XM 202. I record the show and listen at night, while hubby is watching all his crime/drama/medical shows. All of which give me a complex. Ron and Fez are funny, topical, controversial, and very, very smart. All with a twist of "lets get in the gutter and roll around" that I can't explain. However, there's no "putting people down" which is great, and they are real.
Okay.
I've started a new job. I'm ending my library job. I'll be teaching preschool (3's) starting tomorrow. I'll post pics of my classroom probably later today. It's very exciting. Plus Lola is right across the hall. Which is fantastic. And, we can walk to school/work, and then walk to the bus stop for Ava.
Ava gets braces tomorrow. It's also back to school night for her. So, big, big, big day all around in the Felt house. I'll definitely need my Ron and Fez fix tomorrow night!
I took a tip from posy and bought some fairy lights for my "substitute mantle". Trying to perk myself up as well. I'll post pics of that also.
Thanks for the support about my Nanny.
Have you ever tried link surfing? Yes, link surfing....( link surfing: Traversing the Web by clicking links within web pages. This technique is often used on encyclopedia sites like Wikipedia.) Or in other words, going from random page after page... starting on one web page and clicking on another link in the next page, and so on, and so on. It can be pretty interesting at times! Here's a list of pages I went from starting today and just kept going for awhile. Start on a page yourself and keep clicking and see where you end up! Blogs are good for this, because most times people link other people's blogs. Sometimes you can find the most unusual things and something totally unrelated from where you began!
Here is where I started:
http://sweetfigments.blogspot.com/ took me to papergirlproductions.etsy.com then
http://www.etsy.com/community.php, then to the storque, then to how tos section, then to brepettis, brepettis profile, http://imakethings.com, page 2, Bathsheba, http://makerfaire.com/, http://makezine.com/magazine/, http://makezine.com/community/, http://forums.makezine.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=3254, http://blog.makezine.com/, http://www.flickr.com/groups/craft/pool/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/globulorojo/2835015074/in/pool-craft, http://www.flickr.com/photos/globulorojo/, http://www.flickr.com/explore/, http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
which left me with 7 days explore, and that always changes.... start at one page and keep clicking on things and see where you end up!
Hey there peeps! If you haven't found it yet, I must share this find with you. If you have a crafty biz or are need in of a refresher on marketing you have to check Modish and sign up for their newsletter.
The patio is tiny. It fits one chair or one Weber's bbq. I'm not sure if we could fit a regular bbq out there.
I just got these in the mail and I'm excited to start painting them!!
Today, the hubs and I were finally able to go back to the condo I like so much so that he could check out the digs for himself. I predicted his reactions to a "T."
1. "It's nice, kinda far inland though, we might as well move to RSM."
2. "For this price, we could be a brand new SFR in Tustin."
3. "I don't feel comfortable paying this price for a condo, it's nuts."
4. "No yard?! That much money and not even a little courtyard?!"
5. "Meh."
As much as I love the condo, all of his points ring true. The listing price is redonk for you what you get, especially when you factor in the HOAs and taxes. There are a ton of other options in the same city, so we just need to keep our eyes peeled and keep looking. I'm hoping though, that the prices for these guys will drop more. It's already gone down 20%, maybe as we head into the slower selling season, they'll drop prices even more. We'll see.
Anyhoo, I was able to take some pics and realized that we need a wide angle lens fo' sho.'
Kitchen + Living Area
Besides the kitchen is the eating nook and that hallway leads to the laundry room, half bath and closet. Lookie at how bright it is.
Another view
View of kitchen from dining area:
View of living space from kitchen, I love how well it flows:
Hallway from kitchen/living space to bedrooms:
Hallway from master to loft + second bedroom:
Second full bath, I lurve the wall paper
No good pics of second bedroom and loft, but they are a good size. The second bedroom has a fab walk in closet, perfect for a nursery! What I love about the loft is that it's open and you can see into the living area. This from the living room into the loft. The wall can be closed up and made into a 3rd bedroom in the future if you please.
My favorite part of the house, the master bath! Look at how long it looks. Straight back is a walk-in closet #2. It has a separate bathtub, shower and toilet.
View of the sinks:
All the living space is one the second floor. Here's a shot of the stairs. Bad Feng Shui, stairs straight out to the door. Means all our money will go out, right? So many the condo is over-priced.
My grandmother, Nanny died this week. I was very, very close to her when I was young. I drifted away after my mom died, which is a long story. Here's a piece of a letter I wrote to my aunt, who had been caring for her. I'm so thankful that she died fully medicated and peacefully. No pain, no worry, no lingering. Nanny lived a long, hard life. She was given to a convent to be raised after her mom died giving birth. She went to work with her dad as a grave digger ( I can't imagine...until she was 3). After the convent, she worked as a housecleaner and driver to a wealthy family in New York. She married my grandfather and serviced him for too god-damned long. They worked in a seasonal carnival because my grandfather couldn't get a steady job. She then worked in a factory. They lived in a trailer park all the years that I knew her. Somehow, that trailer seemed to me to be the best way to live; she made it the coziest place imagineable. Her favorite things in life were a damn-good hamburger with a hot cup of coffee.
So, I'm going to try to give you what Nanny gave to me when I was young. Pure magic. It must have been. Because Nanny cast a spell on me that was incredible. I loved Nanny more than anyone. ANYONE. When I was young and impressionable, and just beginning my emotional journey, I would spend hours worrying about when Nanny died, "just what would I do?" "where would I go" "who would help me (besides my mom, who obviously would be too overcome to be much help") So, endless hours of internal worry there. When I wasn't away from Nanny, and therefore worrying about her, I was with her and oh, the JOY of that!
Here's what I recall getting to do with Nanny:
getting to try on ALL her shoes. Do they fit since last week?
getting to drink tea out of real tea cups, with lemon! (lemon comes in a squirt bottle? will wonders never cease?)
Making butter balls (so rich...you can only eat them on holidays)
Getting my nails done bright red. and toes too. and then turning around and doing Nanny.
Getting the "call" early on a summer day, "Fran, bring the girls over into the air, it's too hot outside." For Nanny had the air conditioning and we didn't. Gosh, I hung around the phone waiting for that call.
Running around the outside of the trailer. Being timed. over and over and over and over and over.
Learning to crochet. Just one stitch. Making a chain of "chain stitch" that was so big and so pink that it went out my bedroom window and down and around our house two times. I'd hold one end and Noelle would RUN with the ball until it ran out. I only mastered other stitches recently!
Just being "in the trailer". It was so little. so safe. so contained. Nanny's world. I never wanted to leave that little bubble. In my mind, it was the perfect way to live. There was never anything scary in that house when Nanny was around.
Being invited over for dinner. spaghetti, salad, and jello with whipped cream. and I loved it! I thought dessert served at the table as part of dinner was something that royalty must have done. French people at least, because wasn't Nanny an actual FRENCH person? She spoke it, didn't she? (it wasn't until I took French that I learned she was saying things that weren't so nice...)
If there is a heaven...she is in it. In a fluffy twin-set, having her nails done, and eating salty, fatty, bad for her blood pressure food. Because, in heaven, really...blood pressure is no longer an issue, right?
Ali, from buttonhead.org, made some great points about buying handmade!! Watch her great videos on her channel, indie5collective! I may *try* and get a video up with her channel soon, as she has contributing artists on her page :)
This really might be the fastest i've ever knit anything. I wrapped this up in two days - it's simple, sure, but even the simplest things, as we've seen, can take me months.
As is typical with everything I knit, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though it's now blocking in an effort to get my crappy brim ribbing to even out a bit.
Incidentally, I did something this morning - while waiting to go have coffee with a friend of mine, I stopped in a local yarn shop he happens to live just a few blocks from.
As you can see - I was um, completely spot on with my choice and at $6.50 a skein, not feeling horribly guilty about it. I am happy knitting hats, as I can, apparently, finish them - and I'm going to need knitting projects and ways to kill time on a tour bus for a couple of weeks. So, now, off to find a pattern.
this dress made it to the finalists on etsy kids sweepstakes. very exciting!
