Day 51 - Hooooooooooooooooo Lawzy!

Oh yes - it has been one of Those Weeks. Now, on the up side, it's been very productive: got the young 'un his first passport (may devote a whole post to this if I can bring myself to relive the crazy), sewed a sparkly romantic/medieval themed costume for a gig, did the gig, got a Huge Scary Mole removed from my face (that someone actually called a growth - I am offended), and finished marathon proposals for three more events. I also managed to shower most days - WIN.

So why squeeze all that sewing, gigging, and showering into one week? 'Cause we're going to the Caribbean, baby! Woooooooooooooooooooooo! We'll be joining my hubby on the Allure of the Seas, where my sweet baboo is doing the lighting design for some of their shows. A whole five days of awesomeness, and it's all mine! This ship is so big it has it's own park! Again - WIN.

So this has been a week of treading water. I DID manage to use up some of my costume stash fabric, and check two huge things (passport and Mutant Mole) off my list that have been there since the beginning of time. But Mama is tired - deeply, deeply tired. So tired in fact that I'm hallucinating mice running across my floor, which means one of two things: I've suddenly got a really big rodent issue or I've absolutely got to get some sleep. I'm praying it's the latter, because the only pitter-patter of little feet I want to hear belongs to Sebastian. Nighty night!

Day 50 - The Great Abyss of Toys

You haven't LIVED until you've stepped on a Lego barefoot, discovered blocks and a half-chewed Wheat Thin in your bed, or found a melted crayon in your dryer. What is it about childrens toys that makes them multiply and proliferate wildly around your home? Sebastian is going through a phase where he's hiding his toys in fun places like the VCR, the toilet, behind the radiator, and in my shoes. Did I mention how much fun this is?

This has been Pack Up the Baby Crap and Put it In Storage week since my little man is now officially a toddler. This included going through the toy box and culling all the toys he no longer plays with, and getting rid of the ones he never did. Funny thing about ankle biters - they love the wierdest stuff, don't they? For all his fancy toys, his very favorite thing to play with is an empty tube of Butt Paste. Butt Paste, people. File that under "boys will be boys"? Whatever, I've given up.

In any case, I've instituted a one box rule for his toys, meaning that they all have to fit in the small canvas toy box we gave him. As Major Kill-Joy parents, we also have said no to:

- electronic toys - a) he's too young b) batteries = pain in the butt c) those tinny electronic noises MAKE MAMA CRAZY
- "closed ended" toys/toys that only do one thing and limit creative play
- branded toys like Sesame Street or Toy Story - it's a money making machine, more on this down the road

So, we let him raid the recycling for coffee cans and water bottles, unpack drawers of clothing, and give him free reign with all the wooden spoons and wire whisks he can handle. If he's lucky, one day we'll give him his very own cardboard box to play with. I can already see how hard it's going to be to keep to the one box rule since Oma brings him a present every time she comes over, but we are steadfast. Once upon a time, kids had maybe one or two toys, and made do with sticks or ribbons or dead rats found objects; now, if a child doesn't have a toy box stuffed to overflowing (with Educational Toys, of course) and a Wii, well, what chance do they have of making it in this world? A very good one. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and fish a teething ring out of the toaster.

OK, NOW We Have Pictures!

A picture of the charging station I'm sewing from the book "One Yard Wonders":

The fabric I'm using:

The filing cabinet cover I made using the same fabric (also from "One Yard Wonders") - he looks vaguely peeved that he's been thwarted.

Coffee table cover I made (read: pinned together)



Day 49 - Fabulous Weekly Wrap Up!

Ah, Daylight Savings. Love the extra hour of sleep (HA HA, Silly Reader - Sebastian can't tell time), but not loving the fact that it practically got dark at noon yesterday. And what's with all the stores getting out their CHRISTMAS stuff and playing carols already? Bah, humbug! You can expect a Righteous Rant about this in the weeks to come. On a cheerier note however, this is one of my favorite times of year; there's an invigorating chill in the air, the leaves are changing into their autumnal finery, and every coffee place in Creation is breaking out their own version of The Delicious and Irresistible Pumpkin Thing that Will Make Laura's Jeans Too Snug by Christmas Thanksgiving. Hooray to that!

So, this week we tackled the coat closet and Things With Cords (I didn't get to my junk drawer, sue me). The cords thing has proven to be more of a project than I had envisioned, but it's puttering along. I'm sewing a small charging station using the pattern from "One Yard Wonders" - awesome book, highly recommended. Lookie see - here are pictures!

... Ugh, hang on... stupid camera....

Day 48 - Things With Cords

From some of my previous FB postings and my much-proclaimed love for the Amish, you may have gotten the impression that I am somewhat anti-technology. No, no dear reader! Au contraire! I think that, so long as technology serves us and not the other way around, electronic gizmos can genuinely make our lives easier and more fun. But lemme tell ya - it's a fine line. Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

Remember when:
- we dragged walkmans around? And 50,000 tapes?
- we had to dig out a quarter to make a phone call?
- we wrote addresses down in little books that we repeatedly lost? Or if we wanted to change books, we had to copy everything over?
- we hand-wrote our essays for school and thought it was super fancy to use a typewriter?
- we didn't have the internet?

Feel free to add your memories from yesteryear here. Now, I think that MP3 players, smart phones, and computers are a big step up from the Dark Ages, but I am awash in cords. What with my e-reader, iPod, cell phone, laptop, etc, it's starting to look like an HR Giger painting on my desk. Add to this the eco-guilt of leaving the plugs in all the time (in case you're a borderline eco-slob like myself, you're supposed to put them on a power strip & only turn it on when they're actually charging), and you've got the makings of some serious crazy. So, my mission for today:

- sew a "charging station"
- plug the damned things into a power strip already (and then lose my mind when I forget to turn it on and am 5 minutes from walking out the door and the cell phone isn't charged - this oughta be good for a laugh).

A few months down the road, I'm actually going to do an experiment where I go for a week one whole day without using anything electronic. But that day is so not today.

Day 47 - The THING in the Closet

Sebastian is obsessed with the vacuum cleaner which lives in our hall closet. When I say obsessed, I mean alternately terrified and fascinated. You see, on the rare occasion when I actually vacuum something, he follows me around OH-OH-OOOOOOOH-ing in his very best "I am the alpha baby" voice trying to intimidate it (never works - the vacuum just looks at him). He's now dexterous enough to open the hall closet, which he does on a daily basis, JUST to yell at the vacuum cleaner. It's awesome, and one of these days I'm going to get it together enough to video it so I can show it to his prom date.

Onwards. Today I tackled my hall/coat closet. I was pleasantly surprised to find a minimum of stuff for Purge-atory. In fact, the most taxing thing I did was put all those free-floating hats, gloves, and ear warmers in a hanging bag - whew! Had to lie down afterwards. I was hoping to pare down to the most minimal of coat wardrobes, but NY has 4 distinct seasons ( most years...), and a small range of coats really is a necessity if you don't care to freeze or wilt. So, I purged two and kept five (one down, two wool, one jean, and one mod embroidered).

Well, I'm off to vacuum something since I've gotten The Thing out of the closet. Perhaps I'll chase after some little toes...