Wah! Now I have the darn cold that's laid my family low for the past week. Wasn't I just complaining about being sick last month? No fair! My oldest is the only one who has remained unscathed, she's practically been locking herself away in her room to keep away from the germs. I can't do that, can I? I knew I would catch it anyway, my 4 year old is always touching my face and mouth and eyes all the time when I lay with him at bedtime.

I made the ATCs above this afternoon, just for the heck of it. I have some collage sheets with vintage images on them and I just love them. It's a gorgeous sunny day today, I must get outside with the kids to forget about my sore throat and stuffy nose.

Look, it's Clocky!

The alarm clock that runs away and hides when you don't wake up. Clocky gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off of your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide. Clocky is kind of like a misbehaving pet, only he will get up at the right time.

No stock in the company, I just think it's funny and perfect for me, the one who is impossible to wake in the morning.

It's spring, it's raining, I have 2 sick kids in the house! oooh, thunder and lightning! cool!

Well, the vomits are over but the sore throat, coughing and runny noses remain and that would be ok if not for the fact that the girls and I had some really fun plans this weekend that we now probably should cancel due to illness. I am so bummed!
We were going to go up north to my parent's cottage with 3 of my friends and their daughters for a Mom and Daughter weekend, we have been looking forward to this for months. Damn germs, I really hope we'll be able to reschedule.

Argh, I let myself get behind on a bunch of Swap-Bot swaps and I'm paying the price with bad ratings! I'm mortified, I'm usually a relatively conscientious swapper and I hate seeing those bad ratings in my profile. So I've been diligently working on them all week and feeling guilty everytime I get a cool swap in the mail. I'm almost caught up and have vowed to not join anymore swaps until I've finished everything.

Still have these to go:

1. Dragonfly ATCs make 3 for 3
2. Dollar Store Easter Swap
3. Altered Vintage Tin (this is way late!)
4. Photo Scavenger Hunt
5. Latin Matchbox Shrines 1 for 3
6. I Love Paris ATCs
7. Cute Socks and a Card

I know, I've got to get out of here and back to work!

BTW, the first ice show performance went very well last night. My girl looked so poised and confident out there. She says she wants to join the figure skating club and the sychronized skating teams now, oh boy. :-)

The biggest girl has her ice show this weekend. They are having 4 shows this year! Rehearsals have been going on since early March. Tonight is the 4 and 1/2 hour dress rehearsal, oh jeez, she is going to be so whipped. I think I'll let her go into school late tomorrow so she can sleep in a little bit.

Needless to say, this week has been rather boring, just driving back and forth to the ice rink. My parents have been great about watching the other kiddos while we're at the rink. Back in the old days (3 years ago), the ice shows weren't nearly such a big deal, the kids all wore black pants and sweathsirts and that was that. Now they are huge productions with props, curtains, fancy costumes and lighting. I think the kids like it better and it does make for a more interesting show but I've been writing checks like crazy since January.

I am way behind on a bunch of ATC swaps, I was trying to catch up last night and David was watching me slave away and he said I was running an ATC sweatshop. I was trying to crank them out as fast as I could, I hope my partners like them even though they weren't the best work I've ever done.

What does it mean when you dream Eddie Vedder comes to your house distraught because you told him his best friend Giavonni Ribisi has been murdered and you have seen evidence of it online? Then you continually try to log onto IMDB to show him and you cannot get to it no matter how hard you try. All the while poor Eddie is about to collapse from dread. Then you are in the street with your husband who is holding the plug in your stupid iBook cos it won't work unless plugged in. Real handy for a laptop. Giovanni Ribisi? WTF?

Then you and your husband are in the streets of Seattle (not San Francisco) being chased by drug dealers because you accidentally messed up their client list. Um, yeah.....

There is much, much more but I won't bore you with the rest, it involves rain drenched fanzines in alleys, vodka on the rocks and Eddie Vedder again.

I sometimes have these epic dreams and they freak me out with their realism.

Speaking of epics, Lydia and I were home alone last night and we watched The Godfather together. She sat through the whole thing, I think she liked it. It is one of my faves, of course. I made her close her eyes during some of the more gory parts, she hates blood. Needless to say, she didn't watch the horse head in the bed scene.

My new work area, I am so happy that I *finally* have one area where I can store my tons of supplies and work on my many crafty pursuits. The taple top and shelves it rests on are from Ikea as is the groovy green storage cart (on wheels) and the stool. Note that they both conveniently fit under the table when not in use.

Our house was built in 1929, a bungalow of sorts with an unfinished attic when we bought it. My husband finished the attic and we cut out part of it to have a loft area and get more light into the house. This left the upstairs as one big room and we have slowly been turning it into a more functional living space. We're gettin' there. :-)

The last pic is one the little man took, I was instructed to "look like a goofball".

Here are my cards for the Fabric ATCs swap, I used wool felt and felted the pieces on with wool yarn.

Today is Thursday and I think I'll take K to the indoor soccer field again to play, he really needs to let off some steam as evidenced by the antics I mentioned in my previous post. Crazy kid.

5 reasons why you should never fall asleep with a 4 year old around.

1. Lemons and knives are not a good mix (no blood was spilled thankfully, just lots of juice and pulp)

2. A whole bottle of glue on your brand new Ikea tabletop mixed with paper towels (well, he did try to clean it up)

3. Glue marks on your brand new Ikea footstools (yes, I went on a spree)

4. Blue Tortilla chips imbedded in rug

5. The 'fridge door left open for at least an hour

Yes, I know, I should not have taken a nap, I learned my lesson.