Me and the boy at my work table, I was looking at the pictures in my blog of this table when I first set up my work area and it's so different. Unorganized and messy now, it took about a week to go from immaculate to disaster.

I'm listening to a recording of the old time radio show, the Lux Radio Theater version of Madame Butterfly with Cary Grant, of all people. They make Pinkerton out to be the good guy in this one, I don't think he was in the opera, was he?
Guess I should brush up on my Puccini? Is that even spelled right?

Remember that Malcolm McLaren version of Madame Butterfly? Or am I the oldest person on Blogger?

Made this guy for a felted sweater creation swap. He started off as a cat but slowly evolved into an owl. Jeez, what a bad picture.
My daughters didn't want me to mail him, but we had to. Hopefully he's reached his new home by now.

I had problems initially with this swap. I had already made a stuffed mouse from these same two sweaters a couple months ago and wanted to make something different so I decided to move out of my comfort zone and make a little purse. Oh boy, was that a disaster. It was clunky and ugly and the needle felting I attempted on it was just plain sad. So I had to go back to my old trusty stuffie making self. Oh well, I tried, right?

Our Memorial Day weekend was fun, I am bummed that I missed out on our friends and their 3 kids visiting us on Sunday because I had a day long migraine. argh....
Get a load of my adorable kayakers.

We sold the bike seat and I find myself so sad about it. That bike seat has held all 3 of our children on several different bikes and many, many memorable family bike rides. Our littlest is now 4 and 1/2 and just too big for it, so we decided that now is the time. There will be no more babies of ours to ride in that seat and kick us while we pedal to the park or the Pere Marquette trail we love so much. No more babies to wriggle their feet out of the straps, causing whoever is cycling to come to an abrupt halt and fix those feet before they get hurt. We've been reaching so many of these kinds of 'last baby' moments lately, the last 2 times I had a four year old, I also had a newborn. No wonder I am so reluctant to let this boy of mine grow up too fast, I indulge him and his whims way more than I did with the girls. So true is the stereotype of the baby in our family, he is charming and gets his way more often than not.

So now he'll be pulled in the bike trailer until he can ride on a bike himself, and then I'll be writing another post about how we sold the Burley and how sad I am to see it go. Life goes on

Thanks for the sweet comments on my whine post from yesterday. Just to clarify, I wasn't referring to any one group or any one person in my rant. I seem to feel like this about all of my social networks. Not that there are that many, but you know what I mean. I know that I make myself feel like the outsider, that rotten little voice in my head that says I'm not good enough or special enough to be included.

Ok, let's not be depressing for two days in a row.

My 8 year old went to the eye doc yesterday and it turns out she's farsighted in her right eye. She'll need to wear glasses for
reading and working (haha) on the computer. I was shocked as I thought for sure she'd take after me (as she does in all other ways) and be nearsighed. But she isn't, and I'm glad for her. The frames she picked out are kind of boring, but I didn't tell her that. I wanted her to pick out these really cute and funky ones but she went for the more school marmish ones. No, I didn't criticise her choice! I was very supportive. That's what us mamas are supposed to be, right?

I am thinking of buying a Wii for the kids (um, yeah, just the kids), it just looks so fun in the ads. they really emphasize the fact that you can be standing and active while playing. I like that. It's pricey though and I know we indulge our kiddos so much, so I am still in the thinking stages right now. we'll see, that's my motto today.

Warning, navel gazing and much whining below. Not the usual theme of this blog. Read at your own risk.

I'm feeling left out.

I used to think that being popular didn't matter once you got out of high school, but now I'm not so sure. I don't think I'll ever be that person that everyone wants to be best buddies with. Why is that? I'm funny, interesting, fairly well read, a good listener. Dammit, I'm good enough, right?
channeling some self-help guru here...

So why am I not the one being invited anywhere? Why does it seem I am the one who has to set something up for me to be included? I don't get it. Why do I seem to be last on the list? Do I have to extend myself even more than I feel I already do?
How come some people can come into a situation or a group and barely know anyone and then all of a sudden they are best pals with several others? How do they do that? I really would like to know.

I used to think not having close friends anymore was because of isolating myself when I when through episodes of depression but I have been really pushing myself to socialize for more then 6 months and things feel the same.

None of these feelings are being helped by the fact that my cousin, who has been my very closest friend since we were kids has pretty much dumped me for a guy she met last summer. They were living together after 3 months and got married after 6 months. She has not told me any of this herself, I've heard it allthrough the grapevine. real, nice, huh? I'm really hurt and cannot even bring myself to think about it too much.

The Craft Extrvaganza was awesome, we bought tons of loot. I will post pic in another post. My camera batteries are recharging at the moment.

I found a great tutorial for a coin/credit card holder at this site
http://www.splityarn.com/

I made 3 of these for a small handmade item swap at Swap-Bot. It was scanned so it looks a little flat, but I really love the way they came out. I must make more.

The girls and I are going to this today, I think we'll find lots of cool goodies. I'll try to post pics of any if we do.
My two men are up north, the big man called and said they were going mountain biking on a trail close to my parent's cottage. Little man will be in the Burley trailer, I hope he likes the bumps. I can't write too much about him because I miss him too much. Why is it when they're little, it's so hard to be away. Ok, he's 4 and 1/2, some may not consider that too little but he's still my baby. *sniff*

It's only words.
You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.

No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: relaxed
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): eating
3. Your hair: longer
4. Your mother: generous
5. Your father: mysterious
6. Your favorite item: yarn
7. Your dream last night: weird
8. Your favorite drink: Coke
9. Your dream car: Mini
10. The room you are in: upstairs
11. Your ex: forgot
12. Your fear: balding
13. What you want to be in 10 years? graduate
14. Who you hung out with last night? husband
15. What you're not? confident
16. Muffins: poppyseed
17. One of Your Wish List Items: stare
18. Time: 7:16
19. The last thing you did: questionnaire
20. What you are wearing: tank
21. Your favorite weather: summer
22. Your favorite book: fiction
23. The last thing you ate: cereal
24. Your life: unfulfilled
25. Your mood: annoyed
26. Your best friend: nope
27. What are you thinking about right now? finishing
28. Your car: boring
29. What are you doing at the moment? thinking
30. Your summer: fun
31. Your relationship status: married
32. What is on your TV? photos
33. What is the weather like? sunny
34. When is the last time you laughed? afternoon

Your turn!

A friend made lunch for me yesterday, it was delicious and we had some great conversation. Then, to top it all off, she took my 4 year old for the rest of the afternoon. Yes, she's one of those good friends. :-)
Then that evening we met up at a really fun park, where all the kids played and my 12 year and her 13 year actually spoke to each other for once. Heh, adolescents of the opposite gender can be so weird with each other at times.

So, it was a good day, then why did it end up with me being mean and unsympathetic to my 8 year old? Granted, she was being unresonable but so was I and since I'm the adult, I figure I should be the one to suck it up sometimes when it's late and she's obviously tired. But I didn't, and she cried and I felt like a crappy person. We made up before she went to bed, but I was stewing about it until I went to bed. Why can I be so understanding about some things but such a creep about others?

Today we spent the day straightening up this mess of a house. My fabulous husband cleaned our youngest kids' room. It was a total disaster. You know the kind where you can't see the floor? While he did that, the 8 year old helped me clean up the living room. My oldest was nowhere to be seen. She was upstairs making something and I was nagging her every few minutes to come down and help. Boy, did I feel dumb when I found out she was up there making me a Mother's Day present. She was so excited about what she made that she gave it to me early and it is the cutest thing. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see a picture.

The 5 of us are going out to brunch for Mother's Day tomorrow and then off to Tess' piano recital. It should be fun. I can't wait to hear my persnickity 4 year declare that nothing at the brunch is good for him to eat. lol

I am still sleeping way too much, I know it is an avoidance tactic. Could it be more obvious? haha
What am I avoiding? hmmm, that's not as obvious. Let's see, housework, talking animals for the 50th time,
exercise, cooking. I was just not cut out for the life of a housekeeper. Stay at home mom, yes, I can do that
when it involves playing with the kids, doing arts and crafts, reading books to them.

But I'm just lousy at housework, I can't keep up, I get annoyed and oh so bored and the husband is
really getting oh so frustrated with me. I am home all day, why can't I get some laundry done? Why is the
house a constant mess? It isn't fair, I feel guilty, fall into spiral of self-loathing and then do nothing.

I am so predictable.

At least I'm still creating, the only positive thing I am doing, apparently. Can you guess the theme?

Two new postage stamp ATCs, I like the praying mantis one the best. LOL


Ten Two Studios is offering free downloads again. There will be a new download from today until May 13th.
Have fun! http://www.tentwostudios.com/countdown/

Been finishing up a lot of ATC swaps. The first set is Postage Stamp Head People, the second set is for Candy.
Aside from the ATC making, this has been a very unproductive weekend. I've been plagued by 2 migraines and spent half of today in bed. Not fun when the weather is so beautiful and your whole family is over all their various illnesses. Oh well, I popped an Imitrex and all is well now. Too bad it's 6:30 pm.

We went up north for Easter and spent the whole week afterward there at my parent's cottage. My husband took the week off, it was a lovely time. The girls and I were very crafty with polymer clay, I finished the Lucy bag I had been knitting for months and the Boy and his daddy had a lot of male-bonding. LOL

Check out this photo of the annual Easter Egg hunt at the town's historical village. Yep, sneakers in the snow, no gloves and the Easter Bunny looms creepily in the backround. We take good care of our youngin's 'round here. LOL

But really, they all had a great time, even though mama forgot to pack the snow boots and snow pants.
Dang Michigan weather, it's supposed to be spring!

oh, go check out this site, each day from April 1st to April 8th they are sharing images you can downlaod.
I still haven't figured out how to link so her eis the URL.

http://www.tentwostudios.com/countdown/

Cool, huh?

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.

It's winter break here at our house this week and we've done a whole lotta nuthin' and no one seems to care. We went to Kai's play group yesterday and off to Border's so Lydia could use her giftcard, I love shopping at bookstores but it's not as enjoyable with 3 kids who only want to look in the children's section and that other problem of being broke and not being able to buy anything anyway.

Tess had her best friend over today, she spent the night last night. She is really a sweet litttle girl and they've been having a lot of fun together. Lydia is having her best bud over tonight for a sleep over, they will inevitably end up in her room with the door closed all night. You know how those tweens need their privacy.

We had a bunch of friends and their families over for a fondue party last Saturday, there were 10 kids and 8 adults and 4 fondue pots. We had 2 cheeses, one hot oil and one chocolate. yes, it was delicious and fun. The thing that got to me was the older kids, 3 girls and 1 boy, all 11 or 12 years old and I've known all of them since they were babies. One of them being my own 12 year old daughter, of course. It's such a bittersweet time, they are still kids that like to play and goof around but at one point they were all in Lydia's room just talking for over an hour. Just talking.....oh, to be a fly on the wall in that room.

Wah, I have a crummy cold and I'm so struffed up I can barely hear out of my ears. Yucko, it is no fun to have a cold when it's below freezing outside. I have been in an ATC mood. Quite contrasting ones at that. The one with the cicada image is for a Haiku ATC swap, the other set was for a Sideshow Freaks and Geeks swap. Anyone ever see this creepy movie from the 1930s?
*shudder*

The Haiku goes on the back:

In the cicada's cry
No sign can foretell
How soon it must die.

-Matsuo Basho

More ATCs, these were for a No Glue ATC swap. I like sewing on the cards, it's fun.

Kai and I are off to Target, then Jo-Ann's and the post office. Very exciting, right? I have an idea for some No Paper ATCs I need to make and I have to buy a felting needle. Have a great day!

Cutesy alert! I made these ATCs for a We Love Hello Kitty swap at Swap-Bot. I know, you either love her or hate her. The girls and I fall into the first camp.

So instead of just doing whites sorting all day on my husband's birthday, we went to Ikea where he exchanged a defective transformer and I took Kai and Tess to the cafeteria for a snack. Good thing I did because after that we decided to go out for Indian food and of course, the Boy child would not eat anything there. So the not so healthy PB&J Uncrustable he ate at Ikea turned out to be his dinner. Mine and David's on the other hand was delish, Vegetable Pakora, Samosas, Channa Masala, Onion Kulcha, Naan, Vegetable Biryani and Chicken Tikki Masala. Oh so good. I was disappointed in the side of pickle, but you can't have everything, I guess.

Birthday presents for Daddy.
The girls got out their polymer clay and made these adorable creations for their daddy. The 8 year old made the two bears and giant birthday cake tableau and the 12 year old made the bear with neck tie and cute little 'Happy B-day' sign.
Hee, hee, don't look too closely or you'll see some fuzz attached.

Happy birthday to my dear husband! We are the same age now until my birthday in July. Birthdays sure do change as you have children and get older. As he left with Lydia to take her to ice skating lessons, he told me what he really wanted for his birthday.
Was it a nice dinner out? A new power tool? A night at the movies?

Nope.

The poor guy said he really wanted for us to sort through the whites wash and get all the socks paired up.
Pathetic, no? What have we become? LOL

Yes, I am a dork.
I just got this in the mail today and boy, am I excited! I am a total Columbo/Peter Falk fangirl. I own seasons 1-5 and now 6 & 7 on DVD and I watch at least one episode a week. I can quote episodes, I know how many times Jack Cassidy played the killer (that would be 3), which episode starred Martin Sheen as the murder victim (that would be Lovely But Lethal).

I am a complete and total Columbo nerd and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Should I be?

I've always wanted to make microscope slide pendants, here is a sample of my first few tries. I need more practice with the putting on the silver foil tape. Some people use solder to hold the pieces of glass together but I don't mind the look of the tape. I made the group of 3 last night and Lydia did the one with the giraffe. They are really fun and I will definitely make more soon.

I somehow ended up with a subscription to Body & Soul magazine, I think I got it from a freebie site. All I know is that I never paid for it. Anyway, I was reading an article about an American woman who married a Swedish man and now they live on some Scandinavian island with their twins. She wrote a book about Scandinavians and their relationship with the outdoors. The article said that instad of nesting and hibernating in the cold weather months, that we should embrace the change of seasons and go out into the cold and experience winter to the fullest.

Well, my first reaction to that was, yeah, not a bad idea. I get depressed in the winter, I should go out and become one with nature and all that. So this morning I decided that Kai and I should go out for a walk around the block. We bundled up, headed out and I was miserable the whole darn time. It was even sunny but I just could not get into the spirit of it. Kai was fine but I was grumpy and mad at the cold. Yes, a 4 year old was more mature about being cold than I was.

Moral of the story? We won't be moving to any Swedish islands anytime soon and that's the last time some free magazine is going to get me outside in below freezing weather.

Another swap completed. This was a Recycled Stuffie/Softie, the point was to re-use materials. I made a sock doggie out of 3 of my little boy's mismatched baby socks. hee hee, I like the way he came out.

My oldest daughter has had a milestone moment in her life, I won't go into exact details of what that is. Suffice to say, she's growing up and it's bringing all sorts of different feelings up for me. The first one I felt when she shared this news with me was happiness, she's passing into a new world now, something that we can share, she's becoming a young woman and while I am first and foremost her mama, I also feel like I am her friend. We talked about my passing onto this stage of my life, I just happened to also be 12 and in 7th grade at the time. I told her how her grandma reacted when I told her. Not much hoopla, of course, my mom is not known for being very emotional, just very practical. That's ok.

I made her a bracelet and told her I hoped she would remember this day when she wears it. She was very reserved about it and non-plussed, like it's no big deal. Maybe it is no big deal, maybe she talks about it with her friends, I doubt it though. She is not one for talking, I wish she was but I can't force her to be something she's not. I do keep yapping at her about growing up and changes and yes...boys...ugh, she still seems uninterested but I told her I hope she's never embarrassed to ask me anything.
I wish my mom would have told me that, I never talked to her about anything personal, I wish she would have opened that door just a crack.

Oh well, one more daughter to go through this. Not for awhile, I hope, she will be another story entirely.

Happy 2007!

Meet my mouse for the Recycled Stuffie Swap at Swap-Bot, he's made out of two old wool sweaters that I felted and his fancy rhinestone button eyes are from my mom's stash. I hope he goes to a good home.

Getting more personal that I usually do here, but what the heck, I have like 4 readers? LOL
Went out with the kids to visit some friends today. I've been feeling blue and this perked me right up. It's amazing how therapuetic a bit of baby holding, watching your kids play with friends they haven't seen in a while and catching up with your own good friend can be. Why do they have to live an hour away?

Can anyone tell me what a 7th grade art teacher bases her students grades on? Lydia chose art as an elective this year over chorus. She is very creative, finishes all her projects on time and does all the requirements, yet she got a B- this term. I am not hung up on grades at all, but Lydia was really shocked at getting this grade in her favorite class and is kind of disappointed.
It's 7th grade, not art school! I would think if you finished your assignments within the time period, showed interest in the subject and behaved in class, you would get the best grade. She always got As from this same teacher last year, I wonder what happens when you hit the magic 7th grade level. Oh well, I just happen to think she's very talented and creative but I am her mama after all. I told Lydia that grades really don't matter in the long run, especially if you enjoy what you are doing.
My parents were always disappointed if I ever got less than an A in any subject and I don't want to be that way with my children.

BTW, this baby I got to hold today is impossibly cute and sweet and her smile will melt your heart. She has blended into her family like she was always meant to be with them. It's a beautiful sight. *sniff*

Here are the Artist Trading Cards Tess made for the swap, the pumpkin one is not actually felt. It is a photo she cut out, she added the paper underneath. I really like the collaged one, she's so free with that type of thing. I'm kind of bummed with the swap because we haven't received anything from our partners yet. It's a kid's swap! You should not flake out on a kid. I hope they show up someday, what a bummer for their first swap.

The oldest girl fencing, she's on the left. Such a cool sport!

I signed the girls up for a kid's ATC swap at Swap-Bot, we made some together. It was really fun. These are Lydia's first ever.
I'll post Tess' tomorrow.

Happy Halloween!

I always sing to the kids before they go to bed, the littlest always seems to get the most songs and I was getting tired of our old ones so I decided to expand my horizons and pick a few new ones, but the boy is rather choosy and most of the new numbers didn't go over so well. Except for My Funny Valentine, which instantly became a favorite and must be sung every night at least twice now. Fine with me, I like it and it's not super long.

I was laying in bed with him last night, I read to him, sang him some songs, told him how happy I was that he was born and wished him a happy birthday one more time. He was silent for a few minutes and then started singing to me:

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favourite work of art

Is your figure less than greek
Is your mouth a little weak
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

But don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is valentines day

Sure, he needed a tiny bit of help and he skipped the 'when you open it to speak' line but my heart melted listening to his sweet little boy voice. On his birthday, he gave me the best gift.

I created a Halloween Softie swap on Swap-Bot and here are the two I made for it. The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls.

Poor lonely blog, getting ignored in the summer. We were all very busy the past few months and we capped them off with a wonderful trip to Seattle for a family wedding. In crafty news, the girls and I went softie crazy and Lydia (12) has been on a polymer clay kick and what she's making is so darn cute, I just have to show them off.
Note to self: Dust before taking pictures on Macro setting.

We're home from up north, we had a wonderful holiday. Yesterday we rode on the Pere-Marquette Rail to Trail. David had Tess on the tandem and Kai was on the bike seat with them. I was free and easy. We started off at the trailhead in Coleman and for 3 miles, all Kai would do was whine about getting ice cream. We finally arrived in Loomis and saw they had a little play structure at their rest stop so we decided to let the kids play. There happened to be two boys playing there also and David asked them if there was any place in town where we could get ice cream. Well, there was a party store just over a hill. We rode over and not only did they have ice cream, but they had freshly made sandwiches and even string cheese for the kids. So we had lunch and dessert and headed off for Clare. Then we turned around again and went to a place called the Herrick Recreation Area. It was a little lake with a sandy beach, a huge playground, a campsite and indoor plumbing. What a good find! We hung out there for a while and then took the long ride back. I was really tired at that point and was thankful we were riding with the wind. We ended up riding for 20 miles total, I love cycling the rail to trails because they are relatively flat. Hills are murder on this out of shape body of mine. The only thing that would have made yesterday perfect was if Lydia had been there. I miss her so much. Only 2 1/2 more days until I go get her at camp!

I finished the Elephant from the Animal Friends book while I was gone, he is gray with a green and pumpkin striped sweater. His ears came out odd, but he's a cutie. Tess made two owl stuffies also. I taught her to sew on my mom's old, old Singer. She picked it up right away, she was following the curves and keeping her seam allowances straight. I think she's a natural. My mom couldn't remember how old I was when she taught me to sew, but I'm sure I was older than Tess. I am really proud of her.