kirstencan

Happy :: Random

(Okay, I accidentally clicked 'publish' instead of 'save draft' and published an Earth Day post a little early - and Google reader picked it up right away for once!  Oops!)

::A lovely little package arrived from Sonia - thanks, Sonia!

We love happy mail - and the kids were once again impressed that it came all the way from France!

::Playing Lego Creator with the Monkey.  He won.

::Movie night - Seven Samurai.  Aaron and I introduced this amazing classic to the girl this weekend - it took us three nights to watch all of it- she loved it (of course)!

::Strawberry Carmex.  I took a chance on this last weekend and actually like it better than regular carmex - which is a staple at our house.  It works just the same, with a hint of that strawberry lip gloss I had in fourth grade.

::My new pedometer.  Totally nerdy joy keeping track of my steps.  Anyone else do that?

::The aftermath of a collage project with the kids.  Gotta love a good mess like this!

::An awesome soccer game last weekend - Go Real!

::The girl playing hopscotch with her doll.

 

(Among the mess the boys were making at the time - and the roving gang of neighborhood little boys did NOT get what she was doing.  It's a girl thing.)

::New corners - A map for the playroom (thanks again, Chelsea!). 

I moved the baby pictures in red frames to another playroom corner and I like it much better this way!

::Camera issue - solved! Just a little something bugging me lately and starting to worry me.  And it was user error.  Of course it was!  Still grateful nothing was wrong, though!

Brighter

A few lovely things that brightened up my smoggy, cloudy, COLD January day.

Megan made me a hat!

It is gorgeous.

Happy Mail always lifts my spirits - but international mail always calls for an extra smile, somehow!  And I got out the globe to show the kids that my new hat came from a friend all the way in New Zealand!

And I wanted to show her that it did indeed fit my huge noggin'.

I love it - thank you, Megan!

 

My new pink wellies arrived.  They do not match what I have on, or in fact anything that I own... but they were pink and on sale, so I ordered them.

They're happy boots, I think.

The grocery store had most of their bouquets on sale - so why not?

January is hard, right?  I'm ready for March or April now.

What is brightening your January days?

Mobile Swap - so very late

This post is rather embarassing.  After signing up for the mobile swap, finding out my partner, and mulling over many possible design ideas... I stalled.

Ideas wouldn't pan out.  Somehow I couldn't settle on a final idea.  Then I decided to make a mobile similar to the one I made for our playroom, made from vintage children's books hung from baker's twine.  Still not working.  I'm not kidding - it sat and sat, because something just wasn't right.  I would pick it up and change one thing and put it back down - for a couple more weeks. 

One day, a couple of weeks ago when spending the day at my mom's house, I decided it had to be finished TODAY.   And so, I finally did get it sent out to my very patient swap partner. 

Here's a look:

It is extremely hard to take photos of a mobile - they're always moving slightly!

I added blue ribbons to it, because it needed something.  Kristin had said she wanted a blue/green mobile.

Thanks, Kristin, for waiting so patiently for this - I hope it looks awesome in your preschool!

An interesting thing about this swap is that you don't give to and receive from the same person.  I got this mobile from Fede in Australia.  I absolutely love it.

Check out all the great mobiles in the flickr group.

Long week...

...but we're almost done with it.

It's just been a tiring week.  Really slow and mellow, but tiring.  It always surprises me how much more quiet and calm it is when Thomas is sick.  I can definitely tell he's almost better today - if you know what I mean. :)

This week we've watched the rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  I think that maybe there's been one day in the past 2 weeks that didn't have a thunderstorm.  I think it even still rained that day, though.

We've picked (and eaten!) lots and lots of strawberries. From our garden.  I don't usually blog about our garden, but Aaron has such a green thumb, and we're lucky to get a lot of food out of it. 

We've eaten a lot of popsicles.

It's been the kind of week where the poor sick boy conks out sound asleep on the floor before 7:00pm - in the mis-matched pajamas he hadn't taken off since the night before. 

Heck, we've all been in our pajamas half the day anyway.

We've been woken up in the night - by both of the boys.  One because he's sick, and one just because.  Those kind of nights - they show up here and there, don't they?

All week Thomas has woken up before 6:00am, too - those mornings show up here and there, too.  Not my favorites.

We're tired.

Lots of vitamin C and hand washing to make sure no one else gets sick - it's worked so far!

To keep one kid still, we've all watched lots of movies - including introducing the kids to Castle in the Sky and Pokemon from the library.  I think I'm going to regret that last one, but it was slim pickin's at the library that day...

We got an awesome package from my pal Lori.  She made me this super cute bag!  I love it and have already used it - thanks, Lori!

Among the included goodies is this awesome hand-quilted coaster.  I love hand-quilting - it looks so cool.

She even made this doll quilt (!) and pillow for Princess' dolls.  Princess was thrilled, she says they 'needed' (ha!) a new quilt and especially a pillow. 
I just love the ticking stripes.  So pretty!

And here's a shot of Molly all snuggled up- for Aidin!

Thanks so much!

And now I'm going to get moving and make some pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner.  I haven't made that for years - but it's been that kind of week.

I might make cookies, too...

Mail as Distraction

GRRR, this is the second time I've posted!  Somehow I was using a new(?) Typepad interface and it ate my post with all my photos and links!!!!  And now I have the old interface again - whaaa?

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Anyway, this week has been kind of rough.  We will not be discussing the nebulizer, the nebulizer breaking, late night doctor visits, steroid shots, or walking out of the pharmacy with 4 prescriptions for one child.  We will also not be discussing the fact that another child started vomiting last night.  Which was not a symptom the first child had...

Nope.  Let's change the subject, shall we?

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Happy Mail.  Ahh, gotta love it.  My birthday just keeps coming. ;)

Lori sent me this awesome quilt book - because of this pattern:

A Jane Austen quilt!  How cool is that? 

New friend, Jen, sent me a box packed with Daiso goodies!  Just because! (Daiso is like a Japanese dollar store, and there aren't many in the U.S.)  I was shocked by all the great stuff she sent!  We had such a great time digging through the box!  Thanks so much!

(click on the photos to see them bigger - there is a LOT of goodness going on here!)

My SIL Eva sent a selection of her letterpress cards - gorgeous stuff!  I esp. love the Mother's Day card, Eva!

Littlest sister, Kellie, sent me two rocking mix cd's.  I really like them!  She made covers for them out of paper bags - with collaged paint chips on front!

My brother, Kris sent an old California State reading text.  It has awesome illustrations that I'm itching to cut up, but the boys actually like listening to the stories - so in one piece it will stay... for now.

I like how he illustrated the back cover, esp.  I think the face in the middle was already there... since the sixties? :)  Kris has a thing for aliens...

Don't I have a creative family? ;)

Also just received or will soon some new etsy purchases! And more packages on the way, as I'm getting ready for Monkey's birthday.   

Happiness is in the Mailbox

*Sorry I haven't been good about replying to comments lately - I try, I swear!  Some weeks I just have more time for it than others.  Thank you for stopping by and commenting anyway!*

I've ordered some new fabric recently - all from etsy:

Amy Butler's Cherry Lotus fabric.  Soon-to-be new kitchen & Dining room curtains.  Sweet.  (From Still Spaces).

Uber-cute robot, train, and cloud fabric (from Plumtickled Fabrics).  I don't know what these will be for ... yet.  But does it really matter?  How cute are these?  They make me happy.

Folklore Forest and Garden prints (from Mountain of the Dragon).  These are too cute + really match my living room - I couldn't resist and was happy to find them in the colorway I wanted in fat quarters on etsy.

I've already made a small cushion out of one of these for my couch.  I love how the dots and the squirrel print set each other off! 

A little more color for inside the house - since it's still completely dreary outside...

Miniswap 3 - Received

The Miniswap package arrived!  My partner was Michelle of Greetingarts.

It was a blur of paper and goodies... the kids were so excited.

For Princess - markers, stamps, stickers, notebooks - good, girly, crafty stuff for my girl - and she loves it.

For the boys:  sidewalk chalk, books, and...

A rocket!

And aliens!  Michelle says the pattern is modified from a free one found here.  Since I don't knit or crochet, I'm always in awe at the cool stuff people can do with yarn!  These are awesome!

My boys (and Princess, but the boys especially) LOVE the rocket.  And Michelle, thanks so much for making two aliens!  I'm happy to report that the rocket flies well, the aliens have had lots of important missions, and are getting along well with spacerobot.

Thank you so much, Michelle!  This swap was fun!

(Hopefully she'll get my package today - and then I'll post what I sent to her girls).

MailMamaMail

I was super lucky and won Beth's (of WriteMamaWrite and SewMamaSew)giveaway recently.

Her pretty pretty package arrived today. 

Inside was a beautiful bag, in a really cool shape (another view here) that would make such a pretty dance bag for Princess - but I think I'll keep it for myself - at least for a while!  It's nice and girly and I love it.

Also included was fabric (I'm dying to put the puppy fabric on the bottom to good use!), cute appliquéd birdies in a frame (probably destined for Princess' room), halloween cards (which I don't think I can give away!), and she wrote a note in a TinyHappy card!  I thought that was pretty cool - I love all of Melissa's stuff.

Everything was packaged beautifully, and she remembered to send some kiddo treats - which they loved, and they were stuff that Thomas could eat!  I doubt she knew about his diet.

Thank you, Beth!  What a fun package to open today, you spoiled me and I really don't deserve it!

Belated Monkey

The best surprise was in my mailbox today.  A little box covered with cute drawings - like this monkey:

It was from Katurah of Luckybeans!  Way back when, I won her giveaway, which was this amazing sock monkey (tights monkey?) + monster.

She tried to mail it to me, but (African Post) it was returned to her.

I told her not to worry, that it was an honor just to be nominated, but she tried again, this time from the states on her trip this summer.  That's above and beyond, if you ask me.

I love the details that didn't show up in the picture she posted - like the house button and the ric rac on the little monkey's apron.

She also sent the dotted silk scarf (already a fave of Princess') that is shown in the first photo, some super cute drawings from her children and, of course, some luckybeans.

Thanks, Katurah!  Nakka & Ipa are already well-loved!

One More Reason...

...why I love blogging - happy mail!

I lucked out in Soo's giveaway recently and got the best little package the other day (and all the way from Australia, which never fails to impress me)!  A Japanese apron book, one of Soo's handmade cards (love!) amazing chocolate, and equally amazing fabric - look - Anne of Green Gables!

Anne is one of my best book-friends, so I will be thinking hard about how to use this fabric best.  A pillow for my bed, possibly, or part of a quilt, I think.  Something to keep close.  And just for me.

...

One more reason...
...to buy etsy:  good packaging.  I bought some baker's twine from Cristina at String theory for a project I'm working on, and it came packaged so nicely!  sticker, twine, cute tape, postcards.  I was going to buy some twine from the Martha line at Michael's, but the kind I wanted was always out of stock.  And now I'm glad.  Thanks, Cristina!

...
   
And now, for your viewing enjoyment, some amazing apron photos from my new book (ISBN 4579109724)  - to kick off your weekend.

Courtesy of me and Soo.

Thank you, Soo!