Wow

Wow. August is almost over. Well perhaps I am jumping the gun just a bit, but seriously where did August go?

We had a great vacation and then, the elephant! She was not in our yard as originally planned, but rather at the park just down the street a way. She was fabulous. I just love elephants. I find them incredibly fascinating. Plus she was an African elephant...my favorite! I love their ears! The boys and I got to ride on her, which was very slow but fun, and Eli and I got to pet her ears and neck/shoulder area. Ammon was petting her back. Their skin is so bizarre feeling. I love the color and the texture. I wonder if I could make some elephant looking fabric? Oh, I remembered my camera (yeah!) and my husband took pictures for us, so they will be headed your way. I promise :) No, seriously. I do. I will put them up here!

The boys start school in a few weeks, which I am thankful for. I think they are going a bit crazy being home with me all day. I took the time today to dig a hole in the backyard and put a tin can in it so that the boys could have a mini golf course. I have this great can opener that leaves smooth edges on the cans, so you can reuse them for whatever! At any rate Ammon played golf for the entire afternoon and into the evening. Eli just spent the afternoon stealing the ball and making his older brother mad. Ah little brothers are the best, aren't they! Oh, the best part about the golf was that Ammon was pretending to play Wii golf outside. That kid cracks me up.

On a happy note, I set up an art bar for the boys. I used some tin cans to put some art supplies in, Montessori school style, on this bar we have in the kitchen. Tomorrow I am going to dig through my stash of goodies and put random things for them to create with. I am hoping to get some great fun kid art for the walls. I predict lots of Spider-Man. Ammon did just invent a new super hero identity for himself. Fire Dude. Fire Dude is pretty cool. Just watch it...because if he yells, "HOT SAUCE!," that's when the flames shoot out of his hands. Also he can turn into a dragon AND shoot water out of his mouth, hydrant style, just in case he sets fire to something that should not be on fire. At least he is responsible. Smoky the Bear would be proud.

On a very happy note, that does not start so happy but ends that way, I have been kind of down lately. I guess you have noticed since I have not been here in a while. Anyway, I have found my inspiration again to create and get my rear in gear. Well, all of this happened after Eli pooped on the toilet ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!!!! I did not ask...he just did it. SO wonderful. I never thought that someone else's bowel movements would make me motivated to do art. Maybe it's a metaphor. I felt crappy, but that passed so let's wipe ourself off and flush the crap down the toilet. Bye-bye poopies!

So, I think that has informed you of what has been going on...at least a little bit. Oh I did get to go to a REAL tea party with REAL cloth napkins and REAL antique china for 82% Serious's bridal shower. SO great! In fact, I called her the day after and invited her and her husband-to-be over for a dinner party where I will use my Grandmother's Wedgewood China and the Waterford Crystal. I am thinking of going to find big gaudy hats and white gloves just for the occasion. Oh, and a nice frilly apron...something flirty and fun.

Anyway I must go to sleep now. I will be back tomorrow. If not, it's because I am playing with ink and fabric...or my sewing machine...or my camera...or my computer....or my dog...or my kids. No more crappy-ness allowed! Lots of love and sleep tight!

Vacation

Hello bunny readers. Sorry that I have been MIA for a long time. I am about to go on a mini vacation with my family, so I will be MIA for a little while longer. Things are pretty good over here. I have unpacked my studio, and now just need to organize it. I have made some bags and have been cooking a lot, and am going to print on some fabric and paper next week! YAHOO!!!! I also have a few collaborative projects up my sleeve with my boys. I will keep you in suspense about those. Until next time, take care and I promise to spruce up this blog with photos and such when I return!

At least the rugs are really clean now

How's that for a random post title? Well, there is a story to go behind this and it involves lots of smushed, stinky, fresh dog poop. Oh how I miss having a forest near by for the dog to go into to, well, you know. If I still had that in my backyard, then I would not have spent yesterday morning scrubbing rugs, my child's sandals, the floor, the carpet AND the doorway. How far does this stuff really go, anyway?

At any rate, my rugs are clean now and smell nice! That's enough about dog poop...let's talk about something a little less gross but equally as entertaining yet, oddly, still involving poop. My Eli has been wearing underwear for two days now! He's getting it down, this potty training thing. It's funny how we want this to happen so badly and then, when it does finally, you realize that the kid is growing up too fast for your liking. He is enjoying the vast underwear collection to choose from, however. I do have a question though...why do they put the cool pictures on the back of boy's underwear? It just makes them wear it backwards so that they can see Mickey or Lightning McQueen or the Wiggles. Perhaps tomorrow super mom can remedy this situation with some iron on transfers.

Good night, sleep tight.

I am trying to think of a post title

Oh, dear bunny readers, I have been neglecting this blog. Well, most of it is due to the crappy internet service we have now. Don't worry...Nate is already looking into getting that fixed. For three days in a row I could not log in. Ok, I'll be honest, I was not patient enough to wait for the internet connection to link to blogger. Ugh!

Anyway I may be going MIA for awhile again soon. I have to design the wedding invites ASAP, I have to print on some fabric for the swatch swap AND I have some sewing projects to finish. Wow. Plus I have these really plain area rugs that keep whispering to me to paint on them. I wonder how that would work or look? Boy do I really want to experiment. I think I will, too, because they were really cheap rugs and they are old. Plus, I have this dream of having them turn out SUPER cool and everyone who comes to my house will ask, "Where did you get that fabulous rug?" Then I can reply, "I painted it." Brilliant!

Thankful Thursday Is Here Again

I like thankful Thursday. It makes me focus on the positive rather than the negative. Today I chose to disregard cleaning and organizing and focused on hand printing some fabric and just playing with ink. I do love ink! I got a few cool samples that I will take pictures of later...most of them were experiments. Some worked and some need tweaking. I think tweaking is a better choice than a failed experiment. Who knows, I might like them next week.

I am thankful, also, for my boys who played nicely today so that I could play with my stuff. Eli took an incredibly long nap and Ammon was enamored with his "How to Draw Spider-man" book I got for him from the library. I showed him how to use the techniques in the book and told him that he would have to practice A LOT. Well, he did. A LOT!

I am also thankful that I get to see my dad this weekend. I miss that guy!

Well, now I am thankful for towels that will, inevitably, soak up the flood on the bathroom floor from the tsunami in the tub that just occurred. Hopefully it is not as bad as the last one. Yikes.

My super hero alter ego (and others)

Actually, I think most of us would benefit from this service, thus giving us more time to do the things we would rather be doing. Sigh. Anyway I am about to go on a cleaning and organizing rampage so that I can play with fabric and paint tonight. I did think that a new post would be a lovely, so here it is.

This weekend I went dress shopping for 82% Serious's wedding. We found one and it looks great! We also bought some bling to go with it, which I cannot wait to put on with the dress. I had a great time shopping with the girls. The best part of the day was when we arrived back at 82% Serious's pad, I got to see the very elusive and sneaky bunny negro that roams, or I should say hops, around 82% Serious's neighborhood. He/she is too cute! I knelt down to watch that cute little bunny nose wiggle as he/she was munching on some grass. I told the boys about it...they did not care as much as I thought they would.

And now for the grand finale...my super hero alter ego! Ammon is currently organizing a super hero party. Right now is the training session so that he and his guests can properly "stop the bad guys, mom." I am currently living with hand drawn, very colorful targets poster puttied to the walls in various rooms of the house and at varying heights. Some you kick, and some you punch (I did tell him that he could not actually do that to the wall. He just aims for the target and then kicks or punches the air). The best part is that he told me what my super hero name is, the Aproness. I fight mold, mildew and dust bunnies. Excellent. I even have a sidekick (which is 82% Serious) and her name is Apron Super-Girl. Want to know what our super power is (we share the same one)? We turn our enemies into aprons. How's that for conquering crime...I mean grime...in and out of the house!

Thankful Thursday (I like this)

Today (and everyday) I am thankful for my boys, who "made" me go outside to play football, frisbee, bean bag toss (well actually a game Ammon and I invented for him to practice math) and show off my excellent jump roping skills. I bet you did not know that I was on a jump rope team in elementary school, did you? Needless to say I impressed the boys with my jump roping tricks. Now I need to find a speed rope to show them double unders, forwards AND backwards. I wonder if I can still do a triple under? Yup. I still got it.

I am also thankful for shovels. They are very handy, especially when ridding the backyard of dog poop piles. I have never had to do this in my adult life. I have always been fortunate enough to live near the woods...which is where my dog would go to take a, well you know. The best part was my Eli telling me where the poop piles where. He's a funny kid.

Last, I am thankful for library books and pop art. This was EXACTLY the answer to help me with my book addiction. Just borrow them and THEN buy them if you really like it...plus most of the books I like are way out of my price range right now. Why do art books have to be so expensive? Anyway, I checked out an Andy Warhol book (I do love pop art) and had a totally different reaction to his art than I have had previously. I have seen his work in person at two different shows now, one focusing on his portraits of Jewish people and the other sort of a retrospective or "greatest hits" of sorts. I have to say that the portraits of Jackie O are so powerful...they give me chills. The last show I saw had all of the Jackie O portraits (both before and after his death) in a room with the JFK ones as well as part of Warhol's Death and Disaster series. Seeing art in person is so much more meaningful than looking at it in a book. I really feel like the viewer does not get the pleasure of having an emotional reaction to it or interacting with it face to face when you just look at it in a book...not that books are bad, though ;) I also rediscovered an old favorite of mine that I had somehow forgotten about...the portraits of Ethel Scull. LOVE IT! I love the photo booth idea for generating silkscreens and I love the big blocks of color. And, of course, there's the Cow Wallpaper. Oh how I love the Cow Wallpaper! I remember one Warhol show had the Cow Wallpaper right as you entered the exhibit, in all its magenta and yellow glory. My husband went with me to that show and simply smiled when I squealed and yelled, "Look, honey! It's the Cow Wallpaper!" As you can tell, I can go on and on and on about art.

The other reason why I am thankful for library books is that my mother, who is also addicted to books and a librarian, just ordered "A is for Apron" for her library because she thought I would like to look at it. Thanks, Mom!

And now, I am thankful for my fat cat who sleeps on my feet and my fluffy, warm down comforter.

What are you thankful for?