Just Pure Lovely

It's Gonna Be a Good Last Day of 2008

I just noticed that it's just after midnight, so I remembered to say, as I'm sure Pooh would say to himself, "Happy Birthday to me." It just seems like something Winne the Pooh would say, doesn't it? And me. I'd say it, too.

Anyway, I'd rather you forget that I just said it's my birthday.  It's not like is a wonderful, exciting thing when you're staring 38 in the mirror.  I mean, ugh.  Not "ugh" as in, I care about the getting older.  That doesn't bother me.  We all do that.  I remember when I got my first post-high school job and the other workers in the office kept saying, "You were born in 1970?!?!"  As if that was such a recent year.  I suppose it was a recent year to them.  It would be like me working with someone who was born in 1990.  Born a year after my high school graduation.  Yeah, that would be weird. 

Anyway, the ugh is that I wish life wasn't traveling by so quickly. I don't mind aging a bit, wrinkles are just smile lines and creaky bones are just annoying, but I do mind missing out on the party of life.  Allthough I know Heaven is supposed to be all wonderfulness, I only know this bit of heaven here on Earth, and wish I could savor it much, much longer than just double my life span or whatever God gives me.

The kids have been hilarious about my upcoming birthday.  Today, they got my man to take them to the dollar store to buy me all sorts of junk treasures.  I stayed home (bliss) while they shopped, and when I opened the door to their excited faces (well, except for my man's.   He'd rather not go to the dollar store), they yelled, "Don't look at us!"  Of course, I did notice the big balloon behind our big fella's head.  It's not like I'm totally unobservant. 

Our little gal brought me a wrapped gift that I was not allowed to open, but she said, "Feel it!  It has a handle, see?!"  It was unmistakeably a mug, but I guessed wrongly that it was a hippo. 

And I saw through the plastic grocery bag that our ballerina bought 2 cake mixes and 2 cans of frosting.  That's a wholelotta cake and frosting, but maybe not to 11yo eyes.

I didn't get to see anything that our little guy bought; he was a master at stealth.  But he asked me which wrapping paper I liked best.  I had only Christmasy choices, of course.

I'll update you on how the day goes.  It sounds like it's going to be a cakey, gift-opening, fun sort of day.  If the weather is warm enough, I'll get my man to take us to the bay to kayak or to the beach.  If it's cold?  Ah, I'll think of something.

Speaking of my man - that awesomeness I married long ago - he could not stand it when his gift for me arrived in the mail on Monday, so he showed it to me!  I really did try to stop him.  Honest. 

He bought me those pearls up there, at the top of the post.  He's not normally the birthday-remembering sort of guy.  I don't blame him; not many men would like to have to buy a gift just 6 days after Christmas giving.  I'm so impressed with him this year!  But I'm vain enough to be even more impressed with my new pearls.

Happy New Year's Eve!

~ Lori

Subscribe to Just Pure Lovely here

Twitter me!

Crafty AND Enviro Friendly

I love the craft /handyman /hilariously practical projects I found tonight.  I'm not sure of the language, so I can't read the site, but I can definitely figure out how to do the projects from their simple, well-shot photos.  Each one of the projects are eco-friendly, using recycled things you have around the house. 

I can't download their photos (those smarties! how'd they do that?), so you'll just have to follow the links (do, you'll love it).  Every project solves a common problem.  Here are just a few of my favorites for those times when...

• ...the toddler won't quit the pacifier (see above photo)
• ...you want to sleep in the bumpy car or on the subway
• ...you are all dressed up to go out, but forgot to do your nails

• ...your dh should wear ear mufflers but won't go out and buy any

• ...your teenager needs to remember his homework list

And this one is so very clever and cute that I think I'll have to make it.

You can view all 30 of the projects here.

Updated to add: Thanks, Erica, for reminding me of Vista's snipping tool!  I added the cactus pacifier (yee-ouch) with your tip.

Quilting is on My Mind

 Amy left a comment saying she followed my Disappearing 9 Patch tutorial to make a quilt for her neice for Christmas.  (note later today:  I tried to post a link to, and photo of, her quilt, but it's not working this afternoon/evening, so I'll keep trying and post when able.)

I'm so proud of her for sewing her first quilt, and proud that I - a beginning quilter- was able to help another beginning quilter out.    I'm especially tickled that Amy was able to understand my instructions!

Quilting has been on my mind lately, thanks to the arts & crafts display at our local library.  On display, along with a smocking book and a how-to-make-books book I discovered the Elm Creek Quilts series by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Don't tell me you already knew all about those books!  I wish I had known of them years ago.  They are well-written, inspiring, and twaddle &  smut -free! 

Have you ever become interested in something, only to find yourself surrounded by it all at once?  Or maybe it's just that we're finally paying attention, and it was already there. Anyway, that's the way it has been with quilting lately.  I keep bumping into quilting conversations, fingering my grandma's 60-something-year-old quilt, finding extra moments to read about the Elm Creek quilters, and today I took a nearly-forgotten doll-size quilt top to the movies (to stitch on the way, not in the dark theater!  I prick myself often enough as it is).  Quilting has been on my mind!

I'm wondering:  what's interesting you?

Merry Christmas!

I'm taking a bloggy break this week.

I'll be back  on or around-about Monday the 29th. 

I hope you have the Merriest of Christmases! 

Enjoy your family!

~ Send me a Tweet!  @ justpurelovely

Handmade Christmas (& a tutorial on how to make a puzzle)

I told you we're trying to have a handmade Christmas this year.  "Trying," meaning "I'm not entirely sure we'll pull it off," meaning, "I haven't finished what I wanted to make," but we have been busy with our trying, anyway.  Our children have really gotten into this idea of making gifts.  It's been good for them to have to think creatively.  

Our ballerina likes to sew and bake, so deciding what she wanted to make everyone was easy. Our boys, though, needed to do some thinking.  Our little guy (8yo) decided to make stickers with my old Xyron sticker-making machine.   After drawing on cardstock with markers, he simply puts the paper into the machine, turns the dial, and voila!, stickers!  I've had that machine for years, but seldom use it, so I'm happy he's getting such enjoyment from it.   I'm also glad it's so easy for him to master alone.  Before he had the idea of stickers, he wanted to sew pillows.   That would mean that his mama (me, yes) is doing the sewing and he's telling me what to do.  I'm behind on my own need-to-do list, so I am especially supportive of his sticker-making idea.

Our 13yo asked if he could learn to use the scroll saw the other day.  Why not?  After laying out a few rules and making him quote them to me at least five times, he thought he'd use the saw to make puzzles for his sisters and brothers.  This is the one he made for his brother:

Step One:  Draw a picture outline on thick cardboard or thin wood (this cardboard was from the back of an old dresser, but any cardboard or thin wood would do - you can buy it new if you don't have an old dresser to tear apart)

Step Two:  Paint the picture.  The entire surface should be covered in paint.  We chose acrylic paints -- those that you find in the little bottles at the craft store.

Step Three:  Cut that picture into puzzle pieces (note to his Nana, my mom:  you might not want to see the next photos of his hands so close to that saw blade.  But we don't need to worry. He said the rules at least five times, remember.)

Step Four:  See if you can put the puzzle back together again!

If you're working on projects, too, leave a link so we can see what you're doing!

 

Holiday Days are Short Days

It's hard to get everything done when the sun goes down by 4:45pm.  I like long evenings, but I like sunshine, too, and sort of need it for some of the things I want to do, like, you know, pinecone collecting.  Things like that. 

I'm just popping in here to let you know that I'm working on a post of how our 13yo made a puzzle for his sister and brother.  I hope to get it posted tonight!

Meanwhile, it's 2:45pm, so I'd better enjoy our last two hours of daylight!

Our Readin' Teen

I wrote about this kid of ours and his love of reading on FreelyEducate.com, my pay-it-forward, education-can-indeed-be-free blog.  Visit Freely Educate if you want to read about it and enter the giveaway for five copies of the book he's reading.

I Don't Know How to Draw, Either...

...as in, I haven't ever taken drawing lessons, or anything like that.  But when our first kid was old enough to start drawing things on paper, I realized something Picasso also knew,

"Every child is an artist." ~ Pablo Picasso

And about the same time, it occurred to me that art is subjective.  So subjective, that there is room for

Van Gogh

Picasso

Vermeer

Mary Cassatt

and ...me?

Those artists are So Very Different from one another and yet there are many who love each style of art.  So, then, if art is subjective, then there is no "right" or "wrong" about it, correct?  It's hard for me, as an adult, to accept that in regard to my own drawing abilities, but it's easy to encourage the kids.  When ours ask how to draw a sky or a house or a tree, I say, "What do you see? Only you can draw what you see." *

After saying that "every child is an artist," Picasso also said,

"The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." 

That is so true!  We become inhibited by our insecurities, comparing our work (and ourselves!) to others, until we are no longer brave enough to try.

With a why-not-I-don't-have-to-let-anyone-see attitude, and spurred on by not wanting to be a hypocrite, I started buying a few art supplies now and then.

I take that little watercolor set (purchased at Hobby Lobby) with me when we go to the bay, the beach, or kayaking.  It's tiny, it's travelable and best of all, it's hideable (I'm not that self-confident!).  I don't know what I'm doing - as in, technique - but am learning as I go.  It's yet another of those rewarding learning journeys in life, there for the taking if we'll just try.

Usually, no, always, one or another of my little people comes up to me to ask if they can paint, too.

The answer is always "yes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Later, we can learn perspective and some techniques together.   I've read somewhere that age 9 is a good age to start learning the fundamentals of drawing.  Before that, self-confidence and enjoyment are the top priorities. 

This Reindeer is Not Rudolph

We found a pair of Reindeer. 

Neither one is Rudolph, I'm pretty sure. We are no where near the North Pole, and on our balmy subtropical December days like today (75 degrees), I wonder if they wonder where in the world their Santa is?

The pair was at our local Christmas tree farm.  They weren't very friendly or very pretty (sorry.  it's true.).  I moved on to other views...

It was a (very. hard.) choice, but we ended up with a Carolina Sapphire tree, a live one, one that we don't have to say goodbye to when Christmas is over.  That makes our little gal happy, as she's become quite attached to the tree.  We'll plant it in the back yard.

She assumes it will always be "pretty" (meaning, it will always be full of her and her siblings' handmade ornaments-and-whatnots they put on it.  It is quite a jumbled-up-happy-messy sight!).  I haven't broken the news to her that the tree will be planted naked.

Daddy can let her know.

Giveaway! $30 to spend at The Children's Place

The Children's Place is one of my favorite stores for buying kiddo clothes.  It is.  I'm not just saying that because they sent me something cozy and warm for my little fella...

...my little fella who is supposed to be sitting and posing in his new pajamas, not making a fire.  But by the time I said, "Wait a sec," and came out with a new camera battery, there he was.  That kid is a pyromaniac.  Since he  could walk.  Today, I read a mom criticize another mom for the "violence" of "letting her boys take an ax into the back yard and chop on a tree." 

Guilty.  I am.  My boy takes an ax into the back yard, too, and he lights fires and he tries out the magnifying glass on leaves and the fire ant pile.  We don't think of it as violence, but as boyhood.  His boyhood, anyway. We teach him safety and watch out for him out there, but for the most part, he's free to be who he is.  Even though he sometimes has my hair standing on end.

But this time, although it's a cold morning, this is not the time for making a fire.  It's time for an attempt at a photo shoot of his new pajamas...

Even though he's a tough guy, I know he's cold, so I let him hold Packer, his kitten-cat (he's a cat-teen).  But Packer has other plans...

That will have to be good enough.  I have pity on my boy, who doesn't complain, but says quietly that his toes are "shivering."  If you want to see a better shot of these pajamas, have a look here, at The Children's Place online.  They didn't try to photograph a child inside of them. 

Do you want some new pajamas for your tough-and-tumble little guy, too?   Or maybe a new coat for a certain ballerina who lost hers at the last 4H meeting?  (yes.  she did.)  Or how about some tights for your little gal who wears them every day and does not care if they match her outfit or not? 

If you do want any of those things (or something else), guess what?  One of you will get to go shopping at The Children's Place (online or locally) with a $30 giftcard they sent me to share. 

$30

Don't make me keep it!  All you need to do to enter the drawing is leave a comment (just one, please), saying that you want it (or whatever you'd like to say).  Your email address is required, but only I will see it.  I will snail-mail the giftcard to the winner, after Random.org selects one of you.

Deadline:  Thursday, December 11, 2008, at high noon CST

I hope you win! ~ Lori

Updated December 11th:

Well, I know Random.org is random, but still!  Look at the winning number...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

1	

Timestamp: 2008-12-12 04:11:47 UTC

That seems unusual, even though I guess it randomly shouldn't be. 

Anyway, congratulations, Mabel, for being the first to comment and win this $30 The Children's Place giftcard!  Here's Mabel's comment:

"I hope I win, too. I have two little boys that would look adorable in any of their outfits. Thanks!

Posted by: Mabel | December 08, 2008 at 06:06 PM "