Tomatoes

This Summer I have been growing my own tomatoes. They actual plant has gotten huge. They are all about a little shorter than me and I am 5'6". These are my first plants but I would say those are some good size tomato plants. Anyhow... I found my first ripe one this week-end. I was a little excited about it even though it's a bit defective... to say the least. It has a few underdeveloped brothers growing out of its side. Boog was not deterred by them. I just hacked them off and she ate the good part. Kids.

Now I have noticed many more starting to ripen but a few have little marks in them that look like two fang teeth (wide set) that make punctures and the middle teeth on the bottom make the bite. Does that make sense? Here's a picture to help. The two smaller circles are the punctures and the bigger is the bite. Guitarman thinks it could be a cat. Does anyone know what I can do to keep small animals away from them? I would prefer to put something around them to deter but not a wiring because they are in my front yard. I will if I have to though.

Scholastic Magnets

This is my spin on these cute little things. I
used my old scholastic magazines. I knew when I bought them that I would find some kind of use for them.

I did some with random family photos too but the mod podge still hasn't dried and its been more than 32 hours since I finished them. I tried a few with some scrapbooking glue and that seems to have dried but it probably isn't good for very long. If you want to use photos for these I suggest you make a copy on regular paper and use that. It will dry easier.

















The Final Product!

Burn Baby Burn!

Remember how I said we were goin to the pool yesterday. Oh Krikey!~ My backside and the back of my thighs are so burnt. I can't sit down without mucho pain. I think I have blisters. EEk.

Boog and Bell had fun though and Guitarman had the sense to turn over so he is fine.

I'm just gonna go get some aloe. I'll be fine. *crying*

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Loving some of the best soft-serve ice cream in Lorain County.








Good one of Abby.















We planted a tree in front of our house. I am going to take pictures of the girls next to it every year to track its growth.














One of the little bags I have been making.













Playing in the pool and being mermaids.

Aaarrrrrrgggg!

I have had a very busy week. The girls have been hounding us to get and do stuff before the Summer ends so we have been taking advantage of the nice weather and doing just that.

I had a garage sale. Nothing to rave about because I didn't sell much of anything. My signs kept falling over so finally at around noon on the second day I said forget it and packed it all in. I have alot of clothes that are in very good to excellent condition that I can't afford to send to a friend so I am going to put them on Ebay.

We have been to the pool quite a few times and we are going again tomorrow. Boog and Bell both love it in the kiddy pool. Boog tried the big pool but she couldn't touch the bottom so she didn't want to go back in. I, of coarse, can not believe I actually got my Can into a bathing suit but that's a whole other thing. We had a ton of fun and guitarman and I got burned because we are geniuses who put sunscreen on our children but not ourselves.

We bought bikes! Guitarman found a really cool bike at a garage sale and I talked the guy down to 25 bucks so it was a major deal. I had to get one for me and a child seat for Bell at Allmart. It feels so good to be active again. Our neighborhood is really cute,too so it's fun to explore it with the whole family.

That's about it for this week.

Still nothing to blog about.

It is Hot! Hot! Hot! Here in Ohio. The forecast is that it should be past us after today and cool off on Thursday. We have been spending alot of time inside the past few days because of this and I have been making a bag out of denim and blue toile. Almost done with it.

Since I have nothing but the weather to blog about I thought maybe I would do this little ditty. I found it on Maria's Clouds . The ones I have done are highlighted in red.


01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula/huntsman
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Southern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s nappy
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment ( In yoga class. They always say different things happen to people when they are doing yoga. I laugh hysterically.)
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger( This one I kinds of did. I asked a complete stranger to suck my toes and then wiggled them in his face. He was more than happy to. He later asked me on a date.)
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse(solar)
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 States
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends (still do)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater (great when you are breast-feeding mother)
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played Monopoly for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made biscuits from scratch (tasted terrible)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted a wild river
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children. (Still trying)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Helped someone while they were tripping(on drugs and falling down)
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild (hehehehehe)
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork/craftwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a stall at a street market/festival
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s lifeCheers

" Ow, Ow, Owie!"

A little scrape on the ankle can cause quite a ruckus around here. Abby scraped her ankle on the cement and needed a band- aid. While I was searching for them in the medicine cabinet I was completely bombarded with OWie's from both of them. By some miracle of nature Ella had gotten a scrape on her knee and needed some tending to also. Oh the Drama! It was quite a spectacle to behold.

Self Portrait: Me as a photographer

I have been doing photography since I was 15 years old. Before I came upon Self Portrait Challenge it was a rare moment for me to be in front of the camara. My favorite subject has always been my daughters, of coarse, and for the last 5 years they have been just about my only subjects. So this is me as a photographer. Not in a single shot.

Nothing at all.

I have nothing to blog about but I haven't blogged in at least a week or more so I thought I would just ramble on and see what happens.

On the crafty front, I have been making these little change purse/maybe a little make-up bag thingy's. They are really cute. I have made them with all the scrap materials I buy at garage sales. I have even been switching it up and doing some different styles for each one. I need new camamra batteries so there will be no pictures for now.

Boog and Bell have a new babysitter. She is a cute 14 year old girl. They love her to pieces. Boog even gives her hugs and kisses, she doesn't even give her Gramma hugs and kisses. I am so glad I finally found someone who is honest and trustworthy. It's been a long road.

So the last Self Portrait was such a big hit I am having trouble thinking of something that will top it.

I am finally having a garage sale. I have been preparing for this thing for about a month. I need tables though. I will have to borrow one from my MIL. I don't enjoy having garage sales as much as I enjoy going to them which is probably why it has taken me so long to get it together for this one.

My best friend, Lucy, had her 26th b-day on Saturday. She boycotted it. I didn't think you could do that but she did. Oh the hilarities! That's her in the picture.

Ella is still potty-training. It's my own fault. I get discouraged and just put a diaper on her when she has one to many accidents or a dirty one... nothing like dunking and swooshing some poopy panties to really make you feel like "maybe she's not ready yet". But she will be three in October, she has got to be ready... right?

That's really all I can think to babble about.

The Smell of Home

I hate potpourri. I think it covers up the scent of your home. I want to smell wood and cloth and cleaners and laundry detergent and bath soap and shampoo or whatever. I want to know people live here when I walk into a house. Not smell cinnamon and spice or Country Garden ( gag) or whatever.

A few weeks ago a girl knocked on my door (she was a kindred spirit on this matter) and wanted to sell me some magazine subscription. I let her in and she immediately said " Oh your house smells so good." I said "ok, thanks." Like that is going to get me to buy something... yeah right. She then went on to tell me every house she had been in had smelled like some kind of smelly crap or another but mine smelled like a home. I bought a subscruption to Rolling Stone.

It came in the mail today, that's what triggered the thought.

Subject change.

I got a new sewing machine today! I am so excited about it, too. It is nothing like the old Singer I have been using. It actually just glides the cloth right out of your hand and sews a straight line for you. I had no idea it could be like this. I am in love.

Thank you Singer Engineers. Thank you Isaac Singer for being a stubborn old bastard and fighting the good fight. Thank you sales lady at Walmart, thank you gay check-out guy who wanted to talk about quilting looms all because he saw my purchase.( I was confused about that one too.) But most of all thank you to The Guitarman for being so awesome and cool about my neverending need to craft. I'll miss you the most Guitarman.

*giggles*

Now I must create!

SPC: Me as a mug shot

I have never been arrested but if I ever do get arrested I hope my mug shot will look something like this. More Nick than Zsa Zsa. I thought the cigarette was a nice touch and the crayon on the wall behind me is classic.
















Boog said she would only take my picture if I let her do one too.

Panda Bears

You can find the tutorial for these fun little guys at Molly Chicken. She has many fun things to do. So what do you think?

A few finds

I had a fiver burning a hole in my pocket so I went to a street sale. There wasn't much that was useful to me so I picked up some fun stuff.

A book of household hints from the fifties. I think it was a gift for opening an account at a bank.










Some vintage pillowcases with a great print.








Some religious books about saints and rosaries. I'm not catholic, I just liked the way they looked. Plus they were free so...








Cute books for my children.









These were the best find of the day. A vintage watercolor set that has never been used and is in great condition for 50 cents and some vintage colored pencils from the free box also.

My favorite 23 year old.

Last week I had the pleasure of entertaining a very good friend from the Good ole Colorful Colorado. Or did she have the pleasure of entertaining me? Either way we had loads of fun. We schlepped my children from one garage sale to the next on a very humid day and she loved it. You know you loved it, girl. We only had her for two days but she definitely livened up our little home while she was here.

My children adore her , I'm not sure why. HAHAHAHHAHAHHA. She is pretty much the only girlfriend of mine that can draw my brooding husband out of his shell.( That is quite an accomplishment, for any of you who don't know.) The Girl even came out of her den of moldy cups and stinky fish tanks to take a peek at this strange and wonderful new creature. It was a sight to behold.

My Weird Freind is beutiful and wonderful and I will miss her greatly until I see her again. She is the only friend I have who tolerates my dark, sick humor and even joins in the fun sometimes.

Now that she has gone we are back in our routine. Guitarman, being the only male in the house, is the main source of entertainment for all of us girlies. He has our undivided attention now. It's always fun to poke at him and get him all prickly.

The Girl found someone who wanted to buy her Camaro and we got her a nice practical Focus. Everyone is happy with this choice. I just wish we didn't have to go through 2 cars to get to this one. Oh well. I am happy that everyone else is happy. Now there will be no more complaining. Well, that's just a pipe dream, I know, but we all gotta have dreams.

SPC: My first POP ART.

When Rick and I first got out of the Army we trusted that my family would follow through with certain promises. Unfortunately they did not and we were left to have an unprosperous life while living there.

The only joy I had was my photoshop program that came with my little 1mb kodak camara. I took pictures of everything, even our little shack we called a home. The picture I chose for this week was one of the pictures that I did while we lived there.

When I look at it I do see my baby girl but it mostly makes me think of how hard we had it and yet we still managed to find things that made us very happy: Margarita night, ice cold pepsi's to try and cool off during the hottest Summer that state has ever had, Touchdown Taco Dip, five dollar pizzas (from a local joint that gave you the pizza for the price of the time that you called.) and driving around in a beat-up, old Wagoneer trying not to die from the exhaust.

Good Times.

For more Self Portraits go here SPC

June 13, 1979

June 13, 1979 I was born at 7:05 in the morning. I was born on a Wednesday.

The moon was in the Waning Gibbous phase. I am a Gemini, born in the year of the goat and my life path number is 9. My birth tree is the Hornbeam and stone is the Alexandrite.

I have no world changing insights to share you with you at this juncture in my life. The one thing I have learned from my life is that there is no need to be in a hurry. Everything happens when it is supposed to. If you rush it, you don't give yourself time to learn and be and grow into your soul.

Book purse

I have been reading posts about making these on craftster.org for a while now and decided to make one yesterday. I read a few of the tutorials and decided to go my own way with it. I am happy to report that I am much better with a glue gun than I thought I would be. The flower did not turn out great, it looks like just a bunch of material. That's ok with me because I've never done anything like it before.

As we speak Boog and Bell are running it through the gauntlet of love. I hope it survives.

Sewing

For the past 6 months or more I have been attempting to make my childrens clothes. I made the cute little pillow-case dresses they wore in Easter.After making those I wanted to try out some patterns. I am having a very hard time with it.

I can't get the hang of binding the collars. I did ok, and I am using that word loosely, on the arm binding. My ability to sew a straight line is non-existant.I know I am making this harder that it needs to be and that if I keep at it, it will just click.

It's just really bugging me because this is something I want to be really good at. My Grandmother could sew anything and had so many ideas, she is the one I emulate. I want to sew like she did. I want to make quilts and wedding dresses and toys and clothes for my kids.

I'm just frustrated with it all right now.

Love that popart stuff.

I am really enjoying the pop art. There's just so much you can do.

SPC: POP ART

My hands have long been a point of contention for me. I have often been embarrassed by how un feminine and quite large they are. This is my therapy. Get over it, me!

The Thing About Parenting

I often wonder if we are over-thinking parenting. Is it ok to turn every little food issue into a well thought out blog? Isn't it normal for children to be picky eaters? Why does it have to be a so serious. They aren't going to let themselves starve. Barring any serious illness they will eat when they get hungry. I don't need a book or a doctor to tell me that.

Is a degree in psychology necesary to be a parent? I don't think so. Not everything my children do merits my evaluation of what kind of impact this moment could have on their futures.If I swat a tooshy after having exhausted other means of trying to gain control, am I going to scar her for life? I doubt it.

Why has potty-training become something that has to be taken so seriously, that it can make a mommy literally breakdown crying? I mean sometimes it's just not gonna work out. There will be accidents, there will be lots of poopy panties that will need to be swished around in the toilet until acceptably clean enough to launder. Life is not over.

I'm not on a high horse here.I have stood in a public bathroom, on the verge of tears, and begged a toddler to "pleeeeeaaaaaassse go in the potty." I have felt bad about not breastfeeding long enough. I have even wondered if I lose my temper to much. I have thought the thought that never seems to can never be answered ( when it is answered, its to late) "Am I a good mother?" I am guilty of taking it to seriously.

I just wonder why does all this have to be taken so damn seriously. Growing up is what it is. No matter what, their going to do it. As long as they are given love and attention they will be ok. Right. I think so.

Lets all just relax about the peas and carrots, the potty, the mean little friends, the scrapes and bruises, colds and coughs. Just breathe. They will survive. They have no other option.

SPC: Last Introduction

I took this picture of myself as a joke. My eyebrows don't always look like that. It's turned out to be my favorite self-portrait.

My eyes are prominant, which has always been.

My nose is obviously not perfect, a little crooked. Me and Macey Cayfield dropped some acid together in the 11th grade. The one thing I remember about the experience is her telling me that she looks at me and thinks I am totally beautiful..."but then I look at your nose and realize you're not perfect." ~o.k.

Love the cheeks. My uncle called me squirrel cheeks when I was a kid because, he said, it looked like I was smuggling acorns in there. How da' ya like me now? hehe.

I use this picture the most for internet purposes. It is most often what you will see as my avatar.

I think what I like best about it is that it looks like me. It shows my flaws and it shows off the goods.

The Children's Museum of Cleveland

If you live in the Cleveland Metro Area I highly recommend you head out to the East side to visit The Children's Museum of Cleveland. Guitarman and I took the kiddos yesterday. He got free tickets from one of his customers who is an administrator for the place.

The place is amazing. It doesn't look like much from the outside but what they have done on the inside is amazing. They have a barn room with lots of soft fun for toddlers and babies. There are lots of corn and potatoes that need to be gathered in little wheel barrows and put down the silo shoot. There are horses, cows, pigs and even a little mock pond with turtles and frogs just for babies. The best part is the barn slide. The girls had a blast on that.

The room called Bridges To Our Community has a RTA bus they can play on, a grocery store where they can shop and play cashier. It also has a hospital with a nursery and an office for admin. stuff. There is a dentist section to look at x-rays of teeth. The Post Office is also there and they can use the ATM if they are short of cash.

The nutrition room is fun and has lots of facts about portion sizes for children and the food group. There is a dress-up with a stage to entertain on. Exercise areas with mirrors so they can watch their bodies move, which always results in a breakdown of lots of giggles. The big castle in the middle of the room is a play area. Lb xfAEGR" plzots of jumping and moving on that. This room also had alot of flyers with nutritional information on it that you can take with you.

Saving the best for last, I can not forget to mention the Splish Splash room. This is the room we were in the longest. They have little raincoats for kids to put on and play with this huge water table. It kind of looks like the massive, metal sinks that they have at schools. It has little areas where you can build a damn, create your own little geyser or you can just play with all the fun water toys. There were also little section to learn about weather and nature or be the weatherman. For the smaller children there was also a coloring area and little lockers with clothes in them for each season.

Rick has the camara right now but I will add the pictures later.

The Boog

My Boog is is a strange and wonderful creature. Sometimes she seems so much older than 5 and sometimes she seems to be so much younger than the other kids her age.

Not even a full month after she turned 5 she insisted that I take the training wheels off her bike. I did. Then she insisted that I put them back on. I did. Then it was back to taking them off and I did making it clear that this would be the last time.

I tried to hold the bike and run along side of her. She would not have it. So I just sat ont he porch and watched as wiped out many, many times. With-in 3 days she had tought herself to ride a bike. I was in awe but a little shocked. That incident really gave me an insight into what kind of person she is ( going to be).

A few months ago I had to force her talk to anyone. Age did not matter. She wouldn't even say goodbye to her grandparents. She wouldn't talk to other children either. In the past two weeks she has made friends with two new children in the neighborhood. All on her own, of coarse, she went to their house and said "hey, ya wanna play?" That was it. (I wish it was only so easy at my age.)

Last week we visited Hey Jude ( her grandma) and she pulled her chair really close to her and said " Grandma, I have to be this close to you because I love you so much." I was shocked. Hey jude was even a little taken aback. It was a definite moment for them.

The point is that I realize this child, like many others will not be pushed into anything. She will do it on her own, when she feels like it. It's not a bad thing.

What is IT about self portraits?

Really its my second entry but I think its week three for intros (could be week 4) so i'll just go with that.

Not so long ago I was the girl with the great smile. My best friends boyfriend, at the time, said I had a smile so big that you could see me coming a mile away. I don't feel like that girl anymore, but I do think she's still here somewhere. How do you find yourself in the chaos of life? Where am I? I know I am somewhere inbetween the loads of laundry and the vacuuming the floor. I try to find myself in that small space of time just before filling a cup just before they wake up from a nap. Sometimes I can see a reflection of me in a girl that walks home by herself everyday. All alone but she looks like she has a secret, quietly content. I want to have a secret again.

In reality I am just going through what every 26 year old goes through. I am at a place in my life where I have to figure out who I am. I mean I know who I am but I keep thinking I didn't let myself be who I am. I rushed into being MOM and WIFE. I never would have thought that being a young mother would be this hard on me. I am not an unhappy woman. I don't want to mislead you. There's just this one thing that is not fulfilled. It has nothing to do with my children or my husband. It's about me.What is IT ?

Self Portrait Challenge

Yogurt

Boog: Mom I want to exercise.

Me: Ok, what do you want to do?

Boog: Lets do the dog. (downward facing dog)

Me:*assumes the position while she crawls under me and pats my belly.*
Thanks Boog.

Boog: Mom, I love doing yogurt with you.

Me: I love it too Boog, I love it too.

So just let me introduce myself

My name is Humpty, pronounced with an umpty. No just kidding. I always think of that song when I have to introduce myself to someone. The pressure of an introducuction. How do you sum yourself up? I have children, I am a proficient but messy housekeeper. I get a little crazy if things aren't where I want them when I want them. I much prefer the mountains over the metro parks. I used to be an interesting person, now I am a silly mother and wife. It's not a bad gig, it definitely has its moments. I try not to take life to seriously. So I guess thats kinda me... in a nutshell.

Oh... if there are any actual readers of this blog, all of this was for my introduction to my new friends at Self Portrait Challenge. It's going to be fun to participate.

It took a few tries but I finally got it uploaded... correctly. Now I gotta figure out the damn button.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Never has there been a kiss as gentle and sweet as the one shared between a woman and her child. ~ Trisha Buck

How do you decide what to post about?

I have started about 10 different blog entries in the past two weeks and all have been dumped. One was slightly negative and I thought it wouldn't be great to make my blog into a place where I can complain about daily happenings. One was about all my great thrift finds and I scratched that because I didn't take a picture of it all before placing the items in their proper homes. The last was on the joy of parenting and I'm not sure why I tossed that one but I did. I was also mapping out an idea in my head on being a step-parent of a late-teen year old. Looking through my posts it would seem to be that my blog is about blogging.