Special people.

In the early years of high school I would come home everyday to a house devoid of parents for a few hours and could lounge at the television or computer at complete ease. In the summers, even the later ones when I had a part-time job, I had so much time on my hands that I now have no idea what I did with it all.

NOW summers are always filled before they begin and I wonder if this is different in regions where residents get more than a few months of good outdoor time. For us, the last half of June is *ridiculously* busy. In a good way except that I'm actually sick of eating cake.

June 14: Flag Day. Also the day Minneapolis was hit by a history-making tornado, which happened the same year that hubs was born. Here he is in all his adorableness:


This might also be a glimpse into our child's future. Hubs is my stability and also my insanity. Seriously, he drives me crazy sometimes. But his obsessiveness about certain things are a good balance to my carelessness, and vice versa. Most of the time he's actually keeping me sane. I'm trying to figure out how to impress upon him that he'll need to step it up a notch when the baby's here because my mental state at that point might end up where the unlucky Price is Right mountain climber goes.

June 19: Laura's birthday. Seven. Seven! Second grade?! She is loving, dramatic, and impatient. Sometimes she surprises you with her logic - sometimes her lack of logic. She wears her heart on her sleeve and she wants to be a teacher.


June 19: Sarah's birthday. She's the pig on the right. We've been besties for most of our lives so she knows all my secrets. She's actually the reason I wanted to do this post (even though I planned on posting it much sooner). See, she always has terrible awful horrible birthdays. To the point where you wouldn't even believe it if I told you. And this is sad because she is so passionate and open-minded and FUN! So we had a little date the day before her birthday and I think it was actually a good one. Nobody broke up or didn't show - and nobody showed who shouldn't have. No parties were ruined and I'm pretty sure no tears were cried. SUCCESS! And part of birthdays/holidays is celebrating special people, so this post was born.


Also June 19: Father's Day. My dad is hilarious. He gets me. He would do anything for me. He makes the best beef stroganoff in the world. Also the best ribs. He's the kind of dad they made Father's Day for (unless you're a cynic and believe it's just a holiday for retailers to capitalize on - shut up, just let me have this!).


June 21: Missy's birthday. I don't have a picture because I was planning on taking one at the pool party but it rained. Boo. So I wasn't able to hang out but heard it was one of her top birthdays. She's another lady who's had some rough times but deserves a good, solid, awesome birthday. Karma says rain can't stop a good birthday.

June 30: Grandma's birthday. Rounding out the month is an 89-year-old woman who loves double impatiens, Christmas cookies, and my dog. Seeing a family member grow old is not pleasant, but she still has moments of laughter and ease. She's excited to meet the baby, and I've been hoping he'll have similar memories of his grandma to my memories of mine. Sleepovers, grilled cheese, cinnamon raisin toast, watching old shows (for us it was Dick Van Dyke and My Three Sons).


Sheets and sheets of Christmas cookies.

This is why I've been neglecting the blog, but I can't use it as an excuse as to why I've been neglecting my dog.

I can't upload pictures unless I undo the hard drive connected to the desktop and hook it up to the laptop or get the freaking desktop TO JUST WORK. I've been too lazy to do the former and every time I try the latter I get the blue screen of death. So I can't share any of my fantastic new pictures of my belly, the baby room, or the tentacle trying to work its way into the house through a window moulding to use me as its alien voice box.

Someone is going to pay for this. Probably me. Like $1000 for a new computer that does what it's supposed to do. At some point you can expect the longest post ever written or a whole bunch of posts in one day that will catch us all up. In the mean time, I'll be nesting.

As for the dog, she's fine. I've just spent the last two days having a garage sale with my sister and if I had the dog with me she would just be annoying and I'd end up letting people swindle me even more and she'd probably pick a fight with my sister's dog who is a giant beast. So, you're welcome, Penny.

Drawings 29-33.

First, the "real" things.

Nature's vampire. Searching for an image gave me a shiver.

His name is Cap'n Thrice.

Honestly, is there anything appetizing about this?

Yup, it's a spigot.

Now, my "interpretations."


My mosquito wants YOU to join... Meanwhile, at least my fruit cocktail lacks the watery, sickly, pickly colors. I guess I was thinking of Captain Ron when I drew my pirate's hair. I got a little distracted with the pirate and almost ran out of room to draw the actual peg leg. Nobody cares about the dumb spigot.


And one more:


I've always liked a bird's eye view when it comes to drawing. Someday I'll share my house plans.

Rollercoaster Tycoon! Never played it myself.

Drawing 28. I'm a little ashamed, but a little more proud.

If you care to click on the drawing to enlarge it, you'll see that my nerdery reached a *ridiculous* level just five days ago. I've been slowly coming down ever since and I anticipate an epic crash into intellectualism on or around Tuesday.

Not familiar with Futurama or it's loveable drunk robot Bender? It is another of Matt Groening's gifts to the world. So I can't take any creative credit for this. I ripped off everything. From memory, with only one mistake.


Technically, Bender's most frequently uttered words are:
10. Chump
9. Chumpette
8. Yours
7. Up
6. Pimpmobile
5. Bite
4. My
3. Shiny
2. Daffodil
1. Ass

So I mixed up #7 and #8 and I really thought they just alluded to #1. So two (tiny) mistakes. Hence the shame.


Who can describe a scene/episode that involves one of Bender's accessories? Let's ride this wave of nerdiness together, and meet up later to talk about books and philosophy and stuff.

Drawings 23-27.

I think we can agree that this paperclip is the most accurate and the most boring drawing I will ever do. Moving on.


The trumpet might be more of a bugle than anything else. It seems to be lacking a lot of tubes and levers.


The burrito would be the second most boring drawing ever, except that it has brought us to this:


Bwahahaha! I love puppets, but what I love more than puppets is an animal that will allow me to manipulate it. I'd like to believe that even though there's a hand holding this burrito kitty, it's only to avoid a blurry picture and the kitty-seal really loves it. Lucky me, Penny lets me cradle her like a baby and loves to be under the covers with her head poking out. Still, all this might even be trumped by a child conducive to being dressed up and posed....


Which reminds me that I need to find some baby tube socks. I know they're out there because Google Images has pictures of them. What I shouldn't have been surprised by is that the majority of the results of an image search for tube socks are "sexy" pictures.


So I chose man legs. And a picture of some delicious, brand new crayons. Not that I'd eat them, but you know how fresh art supplies make life seem organized and clean and simple and pretty? I'm sure you do.


Delicious.

Baby room preview number, like, 65.

Much of my crafting these days revolves around the baby room, naturally, so there will probably be 98 previews in total. Then get ready for years and years of crafts made for the child. If you're lucky - real lucky - I won't spend those years also posting every damn scribble the kid makes. We'll see.

Venturing once again into the world of sewing, I made this pillow out of remnants and one of the appliques that was on the crib bumper. I'm sure there are people who use crib bumpers because Carters keeps making bedding sets with them - but no one I know used one, what with everybody clucking about suffocation hazards. I'm getting a breathable one. Still, I paid for that padded bumper and I'm going to use it somehow!


Yellow gingham. It's what my blankie was made of, so I kind of love it. It will most definitely be used on another pillow.


The back is simply two fabrics that overlap for easy removal and cleaning. White with black polka dots and a scrap piece of green from the curtains. Very pleased, but here's a sewing machine question: why will my machine not thread a bobbin? I put the bobbin on there, loosen the wheely-thing, flip the bobbin winding lever over, and it still just tries to sew when I press the peddle. Bobbin does not turn. Boo.


I've also finished this ink drawing which will be part of a little wall collage. Hawaiian for "family," ohana* will be surrounded by photos of the baby's four first cousins: Laura, Sam, Max, and Finn.

COMING SOON! Lots of drawings.


*I do think Wikipedia's info is accurate, but it's funny that the first source listed is Lilo and Stitch.

"'Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten." -Lilo

Crafty shower gifts: Part 1.

Both sides of hubs's family gathered recently to celebrate my belly fruit in the traditional way. Gifts, games, and sugar. I know so many talented people - I must share here the handmade items we received that day.


Cousin Beth, of Silly Goose Designs, fashioned not only a crocheted blankie but also some onesies. Seen here: a Twins onesie with our last name and number 11 on the back (for the year of birth*) and a plain white onesie with suspenders and a necktie added. Not shown: a white onesie with a suit vest and tie added and another white onesie with an airplane applique.


Auntie Sue made a cozy blanket with some kind of magical fuzzy fleecy material with a satin binding. Finn LOVES this kind of thing and has approved the use of this blanket for his cousin.


Grandma Gray made a fantastic quilt with all sorts of print fabrics mixed with a cute giraffe fabric on one side and a cozy giraffe-hide flannel on the other. She makes quilting look easy. Amazing. It was paired with a conveniently matching musical stuffed giraffe. I'm just tickled by it all because I've been knitting a giraffe. I wasn't going for a giraffe theme, but apparently I'm not the only one who senses that the baby will like these majestic creatures.**


Becky (the hostess), made many things for the shower which resulted in a very cohesive and professional look. Seriously impressive. As favors, she had some shower elves*** fill bags with M&Ms and then top them with tags of her own design - made to coordinate with our crib bedding.


See? Very cohesive. The cake (Queen of Cakes) was topped with the cutest little banner that Becky made.


Another hostess creation: decoupaged blocks.


Cousin Kelly painted and glazed a cookie jar that reads, "thank heaven for little boys." Also in keeping with the baby room colors. Such attention to detail these people have.


Grandma B made a cart cover from some adorable fleece that says, "I [heart] grandma" all around these sweet, giant-headed bears. I know I'm a freak about germs, but come on. Think about all those carts in all those places people go even when they're sick. Cart cover. Boom.

So those are the handmade goodies I have pictures of, and I think there will be more to come.


*Maybe this is self-evident, but sometimes I need to have things explained to me. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant. Maybe not.
**Point of fact: giraffes have blood pressure twice that of the average large mammal. Also, their hearts can weight 22 pounds. Geez.
***Shower elves = Deanna, Rachel, Lauren, and Sue. More party planners extraordinaire!

Falling behind and catching up.

Well, we're at 33 weeks but I never got around to posting the pictures we took at 31 weeks or 32 weeks. This has inspired a frightening conclusion: I've spent my whole adult life running 10-15 minutes late, so once I have a kid it'll probably be more like 20-30. I really don't want to be that person. I really don't. Where do those minutes go? To last-minute bathroom breaks, running back to the cupboard because you forgot snacks, strapping the kid in the car seat and then having to take them out to change a diaper because you don't want them sitting in poo for a 45-minute car ride...


And where have these weeks gone? Mostly to planning showers, shopping for baby room goods, and putting my suddenly swollen feet up.


Meanwhile, I've accumulated several projects that various people have asked me to do and successfully let them stew on the shelf for...I'm embarrassed to say...months. I guess you don't stew things on a shelf. They were put on the back burner. There. But as birth looms nearer, some instinct is telling me I can't have obligations plaguing my conscience! I must scrape extraneous tasks off my plate! So I've matted three pictures, repaired four pieces of jewelry, and made two new necklaces I've been meaning to get to.


This one has large green jasper beads courtesy of my mom.

Next: repairing sweaters and making baby-room pillows (because, you know - they always tell you to give an infant plenty of pillows).