polar bears!

my other sister-in-law is expecting a baby
next month
and i made this polar bear to accompany her
shower gift for this friday...
i'm pretty happy with how he turned out,
it's my first time making anything
stuffed...

i got the pattern from this book
its called 50 toys to make
but i couldn't find it listed on amazon
anymore although other of Petra Boase's books were.

now i'm off to enjoy a day of solitude and shopping
(well, solitude until 3 when the kids get out of school, heh)
and its going to be a
beautiful day
:)

great-grateful-balls-of-friday!

so not only is today grateful friday
but it is also my
one year blog anniversary...
it is hard for me to beleive that i started this blog
a year ago
today...

so much has changed.

when i started my blog,
it was really a fluke...
a fancy...
a passing notion that
perhaps i could type my bitterness away.

i wanted a house of my own.

i blogged my frustration
and bitterness and anxiety
and fear and envy and despair.
i blogged only for me in the beginning.

but then i began to see it as an outlet
and a release and a venue...
i wrote about my sudden shock of my
grandparents house being torn down...
i wrote about the funniness of the kids in my house...
i wrote about bad memories and good memories
that came wrapped up in a bad memory box...
i dealt and imagined and played and justified...
i was funny, damn it...i was FUNNY...

and at times...it wasn't funny...
i had actually forgotten that i had written this
until i read it just now...
i feel a little flabbergasted
a little...um...did this happen to me?
this did happen to me.
hmph.

but then, i read something else i didn't remember
and perspectives shift yet again...
and i see the tides beginning to change...

so what i am grateful for today
encompasses a year's worth of blogging...

-the reality and sweetness of finally owning our own home
-the fact the ups occur with more consistency than the downs
within my marriage
-the health and happiness and funniness that are "six" and "ten"
-friends i have made along the way: michelle, liz elayne, bohemian girl,
heather, christina, so many more and new ones every day...i would love to link
to everyone but i am afraid this would become an epic novel...and i know you
don't want it to be any lengthier than it has already become!
-communities found and joined and involved in
-the possibility of a new job on the horizon :)

so...
suffice to say
this has been much wordier
and time consuming and contains
much more linkage than i ever thought
it would
but i am happy that i wrote it...

its kind of like my own personal
greatest hits album
and
who wouldn't want that?
heehee
and if you stuck with me
(not only through this long and laborious post)
but through the past year as well,
i hope you continue to come...
cause without all you guys,
its definately missing some of it's sweetness...

here's to year number two!

poetry thursday

The Taxi

When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me,
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?

From Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds By Amy Lowell

when i was in university
and a bit of an alcoholic
and on a little bit of a downward spiral
i copied poetry that
spoke to me
into a special book
reserved
for just that...
this is one of those poems.

it is interesting to me now
to look back
and wonder
"where was i at
when this appealed to me?
what was happening in my life?
who
was
i?"

in comparison
to
who
i am now.

caution: expletitives and not-my-original-idea ahead

so.

life returns to normal.

my sister in law
is alot like me.
i met her before my brother did.
we worked at the same bookstore
and very quickly learned that
we were alot alike
despite the difference in age...
(she is younger than me)

we read the same books
and get excited over pens, stickers and magazines
in the same geeky way...
we share a healthy self-deprecating sense of humor
as well as a scalding capability of sarcasm...
we see things the same way.
we had the same work ethic, the same views on
marriage and life and responsibility.
we both love my brother
(albeit, in two completely different ways, heehee)

so, in honor of my funny, sweet, odd-like-me sister-in-law's
birthday, which is coming up this very weekend
i made her this:
(disclaimer: this is not my idea..i wish it had been my idea,
i think the woman who came up with this is pure genius,
but alas, it is not my idea)

how funny is that?
the pink, the cross-stitch, the flowers...the bad words
heeheeheehee
i am loving this...

i also made her this
and it ain't no monkey,
but cute nonetheless...
the pattern came from this book



oh...it's a cell phone holder, by the way...
heehee
:)