My baby girl turns 9 tomorrow. I love her madly yet she exasperates me like no other. She's creative, funny, generous, helpful, affectionate and talented. This is the child who will spend 3 days making a stuffie cat for her mama's birthday even though it was pretty hard and she got frustrated. She helps the younger kids in her mixed ages class, she plays with her little brother endlessly and still loves to cuddle with her precious blankie.
Happy Birthday my darling girl!

What I'm obsessed with these days:

1. The Office (US version)
I just started watching this show regularly this season. It is just so damn hilarious. I love all the cringe worthy Michael moments, Dwight's nuttiness. But what has me right now is the whole Jim and Pam saga, I am such a sucker for the unrequited love. The fact that the actor that plays Jim is really cute helps too.

2. Death Cab For Cutie
Ok, I am late to the party on this group but I am really into their latest 2 cds. My current repeat play is 'Someday You Will Be Loved'

You'll be loved you'll be loved
Like you never have known
The memories of me
Will seem more like bad dreams
Just a series of blurs
Like I never occurred
Someday you will be loved

It reminds me of my first serious boyfriend, he should have told me this. It would have saved me plenty of grief. Dork...

3. Amigurumi
These are so freakin' cute! But alas I am crochet challenged and have yet to master how to make these adorable little creatures. I can do all the basic crochet stitches (is that what they call them?) but when it comes to reading patterns I am a total moron. Picture me sitting in the corner complete with dunce cap.

4. Swap-Bot
The love continues. I have pared down the amount of swaps I joined for the summer but I still lurk about the site, reading the forums, checking out profiles of swappers and reading all the swap descriptions.

So how about you, my half dozen or so readers? What are you into right now?

We went flying today! The local airport had a 'Fly-In". They had planes rides in a 2 seater open cockpit bi-plane and 4 person Cessna. I *really* wanted to go on the bi-plane but it was just too expensive, so we divided up and went on the Cessna.
The pilot took us over the lake, we saw our cottage, it was so fun!

Look at my little man, he had such a great time. I love how excited he gets about everything.

Oh boy, it's after midnight, that means it is offically my birthday!

Well, you know it's summer around this blog, even less blogging from me than usual.

My migraines are still bad, I go for my next series of injections for this Botox as migraine prevention study I'm in. It's a blind study so I could get the real thing or a placebo. I really hope I got the placebo last time because my migraines have been as frequent and painful as usual. I have been getting migraines on a pretty regular basis since I had my oldest child almost 13 years ago. I often wonder if I would have been a much better mama if I wasn't plagued by these damn things.

So here's the list of things I've tried to reduce or eliminate the headaches and/or the triggers that cause them:

1. Feverfew taken daily
2. Regular exercise
3. Massage therapy
4. Chiropractic
5. Acupunture
6. Antidepressants
7. Talk therapy
8. Magnesium supplements
9. CO-Q 10 supplements
10. Cranial-sacral therapy
11. Reflexology
12. Physical therapy
13. Beta Blockers

There are more but I can't think if them at the moment. Some of these have helped, but were way too expensive to continue
on a regular basis. None of them eliminated the migraines completely.

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.