Motherhood = insanity

Olivia is going on her first sleepover tomorrow night.  She's going to stay with the girl that came over here a few weeks ago.  At first, when it was planned, I thought it would be really cool.  I would have a little bit more attention to share with the other two that night. 

But now that it's almost here, I would love for it to fall through and keep her home.  Or for her to get homesick and ask to come home.  The one and only time she's spent the night away from us was when I was in the hospital after having Isabelle and she stayed with my sister.  Bill didn't even stay with me when I had Zoe... he stayed with the older two.  My parents can't handle keeping a kid overnight and Bill's family is too far away.  So this is new territory and I don't like it much right at the moment.

I would never describe myself as an overprotective parent.  I'm not all that paranoid.  I probably let my kids do things that a lot of parents wouldn't agree with... like let them play outside without my constant supervision.  But this... this is freaking me out.

I just imagine every possible terrible thing that could happen while she's gone, from her losing her manners to things I won't even make myself put into words.

And, at the risk of sounding really judgmental, the girl comes from a really messed up family situation.  She lives part-time with her grandparents... and that's where Olivia is going, the grandparents' house.  To be honest, I am not sure I'd want her to go to the girl's mother's house at all.  Just the things I've been told and the bits and pieces I've heard from Olivia, I just think it's a shame that the poor girl has to deal with it all.  Growing up, I had quite a few friends who came from broken homes and dealt with similar situations.... I always kind of felt that I was a bit of an anchor from them, being from a very stable, relatively drama-free home.  And Bill and I strive to provide that type of home for our kids.  I should be proud that I'm raising children who can be that type of friend, but in some ways it makes me a little sad that anyone would need an anchor.

I try to keep an open mind, but it is just very difficult for me to comprehend people handing their children over to their parents to raise.  I can't imagine going to bed at night not having kissed my kids goodnight.  I mean, I think about this cruise I'm going on in a few months and really think I will at some point have a breakdown from being away from my kids that long.  Obviously... here I am worrying about ONE kid being gone ONE night.  I don't know how I'll handle over a week without the three of them.

I am sure that all will go well.... she'll come back happy as a lark, in one piece, with a good report on how well-behaved she is.  Until she is back, I'll worry though.  It's my job....

Oh, happy day!

My husband stopped by our local camera shop yesterday while he was out and about on his day off.  He didn't have my camera, however, but they told him to bring it in with the charger so they could take a look at it.  He said he'd do it today after dropping the girls off at school, but I was pretty sure that he'd forget.  I forgot to ask him about it when I talked to him, so I certainly couldn't blame him for forgetting about it himself.

Well, I got home today, opened the door and Bill went all paparazzi on me with my now-working camera!!  It was a bad battery.  They don't last forever apparently.  He just had to buy a new battery, which has to be much less expensive than a repair and definitely less expensive than a new camera.

I'm a happy girl.  And I'm so grateful for a husband who is so supportive of something that means so much to me.  If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even have the camera... he insisted on it. 

I think one reason he was so adamant that we get the camera working is that he knows how many pictures I normally take this time of year.  We went to the state fair last night and I had to make do with the camera on my phone.  I think he was more disappointed than I was that I didn't get a lot of good pictures of the girls enjoying the rides for the first time.  Of course, I'm sure they'll appreciate one day that there aren't more pictures of their panic on the kiddie roller coaster. 

All systems are go for our pumpkin patch visit... this weekend hopefully.  =) 

I've made some serious progress on the ol' Stained Glass Window.



I actually have one more attached since I took that picture and I'm working on the 5th one today.  They way the pattern is written to attach the squares is a little confusing, and different from any other method.  But I'm still loving it.  I'm setting a goal of having it finished by Thanksgiving.  Shouldn't be a problem, I don't think.

Serial Killer

I am not one of those people who get freaked out having to be home alone (aside from the kids) at night.  I've had lots of friends who are like that and it's just not something I really understand.  And it's good that I'm not like that since my husband works nights.  5 nights a week, I'm alone.  No big deal.

Usually.

I remember one night I was reading a Stephen King book.  The title escapes me, but it's the one where the woman who gets trapped handcuffed to a bed.  I got to this one part and got so scared I slammed the book shut and threw it across the couch.  I was freaked out to be home alone that night. 

So, tonight is just a quiet night here at the house.  Me alone.  The girls are asleep.  Watched a bizarre movie that I didn't get.  Just kind of in my own little head trying to decide what to do until Bill gets home or I go to bed.  I opened the carport door and we have a porch swing right outside the door.  And it was swinging like mad.  It wasn't windy or anything, that thing was just swinging by itself.  I slammed that door like I was in a horror flick and ran to the farthest room in the house.

I thought I was going to die.

After a few minutes of trying to reason with myself, I decided that I knew what had set the swing off and I should at least go check it out.

Yeah, I'm that stupid person that dies first in the horror movies because they have to go check things out.

(Don't worry, I obviously didn't get murdered... in case you were getting concerned)

I turned on the outside light and eased the door open.  And I was right about what caused my heart attack (my reasonable guess, not the serial killer first conclusion).



Please excuse my messy carport... the girls were out there playing earlier today. 

This cat has been hanging around for a few weeks.  And it's not the first time she has scared me.  I actually don't know if it's a boy or girl, but for simplicity's sake, it's a girl.  She likes to chill out on the car booster seat at night.  She likes me.  When I convinced myself that Michael Myers was not about to jump out at me, I opened the door and stepped out.  The kitty came up and rubbed against my legs.  She has no collar, but she's fat and fairly clean, so someone takes care of her probably. 

As much as I would love to have a cat, the landlady would have a stroke, so I'll just have to enjoy the Carport Kitty when she's not scaring the bejeezus out of me.  I even gave her a name. 

Serial Killer. 

That way I won't feel so silly the next time I think a serial killer is outside.  She probably will be.

Since Zoe's a punk...

Well, you know that Zoe decided that we cannot give my boss the Daisy afghan after all.  I felt a little bad, since my boss really liked it.  But then I had a brainstorm.

I've had the idea to make a sample of the afghans when I complete them, so when I was making the Daisy afghan, I made 4 extra squares, one in each color.  Then I joined them into a big square and added the border. 

Did you know that tomorrow is Boss's Day?  Yeah, on a Sunday of all days....  I realized it earlier this week and we forgot last year, so I wanted to make sure we didn't forget this year.  And as part of our gift, I put my little sample afghan into a shadow box and am giving it to her.



I told them that it would be about 12" square, in hopes that they'd get a 15x15 box, but they got a 12x12.  It fit, but just barely. She'll come in Monday to this and a gift card to a local salon. 

She's still getting the Stained Glass Window afghan... I've been working on it today, in fact.

I think when I remake this sample for myself, and for my future ones, I will just use a picture frame and take the glass out.  Or not.  I'll just have to see how it looks, I guess.  It might be a while before I do it anyway.  I'm a little worn out by it right now.  =)

The Sky Is Falling!

One of my oldest friends requested that I make her a hat.  This is what she asked for:  a pink hat with a cute little face, simple flirty eyes and a cute mouth.

This is what my hook created:



I thought at first that it was just me being my usual overly critical self.  Then the girls started asking me who the chicken hat was for.  So it isn't just me.  It is a little bit Chicken Little.  It's cute... it fulfills the requirements, so long as you think a beak is a cute mouth.  It's supposed to be puckered lips, really.



Putting it on didn't make it any less foul.  *snicker*  I'm a dork, sorry.  But there's a picture of me in all my unbrushed glory... it wouldn't fit over my half-bun, half-pony I had going on.  A picture of me with a chicken on my head.

Bock.

Goin' down to South Park...

My husband's aunt has commissioned my newest project.  One of her daughters is a huge South Park fan and Aunt A wants me to make the boys - amigurumi style - for a Christmas present.

There is a pattern for them, but it's kind of steep.... $12 for the set of 4.  They're not very big, so I just thought that was a little more than I would like to pay.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for  a pattern.  But I've studied the pictures on Ravelry of the finished dolls and I've studied pictures of the characters and I think I can do this without the pattern.  Kenny might give me fits with his hood, but I'm going to give it a try.

I've been stockpiling the different colors for a few weeks and I sat down today to do some serious planning.  Just a side note... I like South Park, but I rarely watch it.  Until today I don't think I would be able to tell you which was Stan and which was Kyle.  And after this is all said and done, I probably would still not be able to. The girls came in while I was sketching and asked if they could watch a video.  That would be a negative, girls.  Believe it or not kids, not all cartoons are made for the innocent.  Especially South Park.



I decided to start with Stan.  I finished it and now, looking at pictures again, my proportions are way off..  He needs a bigger head and smaller body.



Sure... he's Stan-esque, but he's just not shaped right.  No big deal.  The girls were dying to get their hands on him.

Back to the drawing board....

The Daisy Afghan... complete!

I had hoped that this afghan would take me less than the 5 months that it took me to complete Babette, but it's been 5 months.  But it is finished!



I am going to try to get better pictures.  But I'm just so excited to show it off.



I decided to bring the yellow and white from the flowers out into the border.  I tweaked it slightly from the pattern so it was a little more petal-like.  I still think this would be amazing in a solid background color (like the green, especially).  Maybe one day, but not anytime soon.  It's time to move on.



I am going to make four more squares, one of each color, and make a little sampler of it.  I've decided I might do this will all my afghans from now on... make a little sample version to frame.  I think it would be a neat decoration and a good way for me to have a reminder of the afghans I give away.

And, of course, Zoe has decided she can't live without it, so it looks like the SGW is back to being my boss's gift again.  I have neglected that for a few weeks, so I need to get back on it.  Can we beat 5 months on this one?  It is possible... it's only been a little over 2 months since I started it and I've made good progress.  I have a bunch of other projects to work on at the same time, though, so we will just have to see.