a pretty cool life.: Festive Valentine bunting and a crash course on bias tape

a pretty cool life.: Festive Valentine bunting and a crash course on bias tape

GO TO THIS BLOG. FIRST GET MUG OF COFFEE OR TEA. BROWSE AND ENJOY.

where are the photos?

I lurk on some people's blogs just for the eye-candy. Glorious photography skills can suck me in for hours.

I pine for delicious photos. I long for a fabulous camera. I also want a lot of other junk. Perhaps I should have given up "wanting" things for Lent. forever.

polka-dot pj pants

pink rubber rain boots

floaty-flirty skirts in 6 shades of cocoa

moleskine books for every topic and whim

bistro chalk markers

perfect blonde hair

a never-diminishing amazon.com giftcard

and maybe also a card for jcrew, gap, anthropologie, and crate&barrel

I digress.

oooh, and a spring trenchcoat, hip-length. khaki. size M.

ok, there.

a camera. i don't know which one i want/need, except that it must be fast. you know, so i don't keep missing action shots of my kids flinging pillows and such around the house.

a camera that doesn't take 67 minutes to focus.

and while we are wishing, maybe a printer with plenty of ink and paper would be a good idea.

so, until the perfect camera finds its way to my grubby mitts, i'll be pirating photos from google or uploading shots from my phone.

from start to finish

March 6, 2010 marks the date my grandfather left this earth. March 6, 1928 marks the date he entered. Full circle. Beginning and end. Something about dying on your birthday seems like completion.

My grandfather Oscar was not perfect. He was not glamourous. Oscar was a good man. He built his house with his bare hands and paid cash for it as he went along. He and grandma Lorene cooked on a hot plate for themselves and 3 children while they built one house and lived in another.

After my grandparents should have been finished raising children, I came into their lives and they welcomed me as their own.

For a few days I will be posting remembrances of my grandparents and what they mean to me... and the lessons I learned from their example.

he ate tooth pieces of pizza

here's a great lesson in counting...

i LOVE learning new words, phrases, and perspectives from Kdg. people!

we had a pizza party after school today. one of my Kdg. munchkins ate a slice of pizza. after he began munching away on the next slice he yelled, "mrs. solms! i'm eating my tooth (twoth) piece of pizza!"

sometimes you just want to scoop up a small person and put them in your Lands' End Jumbo Ginormous Tote Bag.

oooohhhhh noooo!

drink me

EAT ME

love me

Lent is upon us. Or lint as some little person in our home referred to it not so long ago. This is really making me nuts. Rather my nuttiness is compounded by the cravings for sweets. Chocolate chunk cookies, mommy's minty hot-cocoa with a twist, and reese's cups are dancing over my head like some deranged movie theatre snack-bar commercial.

the song goes something like this:

let's all go to the lobby (3x)

and get ourselves a snack

As far as I am aware, the Wesleyan doctrine isn't too pushy about observing Lent. Growing up in a super evangelical, borderline legalistic congregation, I can't recall ever hearing a sermon about the Lenten season. Some of this still new to me. I'm working it out as I go.

Why am I doing this? At any given moment I will have a fresh reason for you. I want to honor Jesus' sacrifice. I want to rely fully on God to meet my needs. I don't want to use food to soothe myself. I want to prove that I can do this.

I am currently at the stage of denying myself the treats, but not quite allowing God to speak to me. I'm still trying just to ignore the cravings rather than spend time in prayer. Why do I insist upon making this so difficult? How is it that I keep missing the point?

i welcome any wise words and input you may have to send my way :)

followers? really? for me?

feelin' a bit guilty here. just noticed i have more than 2 followers. wow. thanks. gee, i don't really know what to say.

i don't have any brilliant academic theories to share. no magic solutions for your misplaced learner or your misguided coworker.

last week i taught my 9 year old to use the sewing machine. we made some simple polka-dot scarves. but i don't even have a tutorial for you. oops.

i've given up sweets for lent, so you won't find any dessert recipes here until after easter.

i promise i'll have something brilliant-- or at least worthwhile to share on this little blog very soon. very. soon. i promise. :)

maybe we should re-do the alphabet

hello all of you who misplace the apostrophe

though you don't know who you are, or you'd quit doing it

the letter S does not automatically need an apostrophe. trust me. leave the darn apostrophe alone. he's tired. worn out. bushed. beat. overworked. underpaid.

i'm not giving you a grammar/spelling lesson. you haven't paid attention thus far; i doubt you'd get it now.

just watch yourselves, ok?

i am watchin' you!