Punk

For the past few years, Eric has had the habit of calling Grant a "punk". I suppose it is meant purely in love and as a form of teasing that says "you're special" without getting ewwy-gooey (they are, afterall, guys). At least, that's my outside observation and I don't know as Eric even put that much thought into it until tonight when Grant began returning the favor:

Goodnight Punk Daddy.

Goodnight Punk Mommy.

Goodnight Punk Tiger. (he says to his stuffed animal)

Goodnight Punk Dean.

Goodnight Punk Daddy. (again)

Goodnight Punk Je-jus.

*Daddy looks up apologetically to the Lord Almighty*

I think Jesus was laughing so hard He was crying. I know we were.

Babies. Babies. Babies.

Congratulations to Mark and Keri Kornelsen and Chip and Christi Linville! Yesterday, I received the happy news that both couples are expecting! Baby Kornelsen should arrive sometime in April and baby Linville should follow shortly thereafter in May or June. This will be Mark and Keri's first (and long prayed for) child; they live in Indianapolis now, but hopefully we'll see photos and receive updates by e-mail (and who knows, maybe they'll even make a trip down here at some point so we can meet him/her in person). This pregnancy makes the third child for our neighbors, Chip and Christi (the "owners" of Grant's little buddies, Jake and Luke). I am so excited at this special news! God has blessed you all and I give Him the credit and praise!

Stepping up in the World

Dean tried his first bites of rice cereal tonight. It's considered a "first food" and I'm sure it tastes awful, but he gobbled it up. I guess he doesn't know any better- his only previous meals have been milk, milk, and more milk. He will be 6 month old on Saturday, so I figured it was time to begin "real stuff". I think it's good timing.

With Grant, we began the rice cereal at 4 months. While it seemed to help him sleep through the night, he wasn't very good about swallowing. He still had a tongue-thrusting reflex that made it hard to get the food in his mouth.

Dean, on the other hand, has had two months of extra observation. He has been looking at us longingly for some time now in hopes that we might share some of our menu items with him. (Especially jealous of things like ice cream!) Soon enough Dean, soon enough!

Speaking of food, I tried two new things today. Green Tea and a dish called Mousakka. The green tea was great (I bought Bigelow...I wonder if there are brands that are better than others?). I have previously had Green Tea Ice Cream at Japanese restaurants (Red Bean, Ginger, and Plum are also Japanese restaurant flavors- yum!) but had never made myself a cup of hot green tea. Recently read an article extolling its health benifits and figured it needed to be tried. The mousakka recipe came out of one of my Everyday Food magazines. Essentially a caserole with Egyptian or Greek influence, it has: ground meat, onion, tomato, oregano and cinnamon layered over roasted (and cubed) eggplant then topped with a creamy ricotta and feta cheese blend. Certainly repeatable but with alterations. Eric doesn't like the eggplant- maybe next time we'll substitute chunks of Portabella mushroom.

Three days in a row

My dad and brother flew in for the weekend to visit. They each have rather uncompromising schedules. Daddy has work. Colin has both work and school. Not only did this mean a short visit- but two separate arrivals. Friday my dad flew in at 2:35p. Colin flew in on the same 2:35p flight on Saturday. They both left at the same time on Sunday at 7:15p on the same flight. It is quite a blessing that we live only 10 minutes from the airport...three days in a row would have been crazy under any other circumstances.

It was a great visit. Friday, we took my dad out to the Rainforest Cafe. To my surprise, Grant ended up being a bit frightened at first by all of the animals and the large fish tanks. Grandad was able to make him feel more secure by taking him to the gift shop and buying him an over-priced trinket.

Saturday morning I made blueberry muffins from scratch. We all agreed that there were too many berries (I know, I also thought how can that be?- but, sadly, it's true). They sank to the bottom and exploded with so much juice that the bread-y part of the muffin fell apart too easily. We ran some errands and then went to the airport to retrieve my brother. It was his first time meeting Dean, so that was especially exciting. I see him so rarely, that it still startles me when I see him. He is so tall and manly. Part of me has trouble visualizing him as anything other than my kid brother. And it is all even stranger being the mother to two sons. Someday, they will morph into similar bodies and aquire that rough edge. How weird that will be? Someday they will be taller than me. And maybe even taller than Eric.

We caught up for a little while at the house and then went out for dinner at Chili's since it was rather close and we were hoping to have a fun night of game-playing after a quick dinner. Monopoly was the game of choice. Once we hit that "I'm getting sleepy" stage in the evening, we called it quits and agreed that Colin was winning.

Sunday, we hung out for a bit. Ordered pizza. Got pizza for free (yea!). And watched the Titans-Colts game. We jumped on the trampoline for awhile, took some pictures out in the backyard, and then got ready to say goodbye. I was sad to see them go, but it was even sader to watch my three-year-old say goodbye to Grandad and Uncle Colin and wonder why they can just come over any old time.

"Dick Blick Ships Quick". That's what they say, and it certainly held true! I purchased the ground shipping and expected my package 5-7 days after the warehouse sent it. To my surprise, it came on Saturday...ONE day after being sent off! Yay! Double Yay! I can't wait to get going on the projects in my head...but I have a few other things to do first. That said, I did pull out everything and play a little. Colin even had a go at carving with the lino-cutters. I learned a great tip: microwave your linoleum for a few seconds and it makes it easier to cut. It really works!

method home

method home

I am doing some "touch-up" cleaning in anticipation of my dad and brother flying in for the weekend. I found this product line at Target and am really enjoying it. We now own mint scented glass cleaner. Fun. Or as fun as cleaning can be.

For two years now, I have had a Dick Blick catalog. Thick in size, it is more of a book. I've kept it as a source of inspiration. I want to try everything in it. You could purchase pratically anything in that catalog for me and it would be received with shrieks of joy. Art supplies are like candy to me (although, I also like real candy...I possess an absolutely horrible sweet tooth!). So far, I have dabbled in quite a bit due to my very creative mother who was known for doing the same. I have beaded, sewn, thrown pottery, knitted, painted, used pastels, molded polymer clay, tie-dyed, water-colored, tried calligraphy, and took a few classes in Black and White Photography. Jack of all Trades, Master of None.

So, I have finally placed an order and I can't stop thinking about it! Yea! In 5-7 days I will have all the necessary starter products for doing linoleum block printing (lino-cut). I purchased some Golden-Cut linoleum, a set of Speedball cutters with two handles, a brayer, an inking plate, and a honing stone for the blades. This artform has caught my attention for quite some time. My mom actually used this method for hand printing my baby announcements. (Technically, she did it first for my cousin and then added hearts and used the block again for when she had me...as I remember). In concept, since I've never actually done it, I like the fact that you can create one piece of art and reproduce it in various ways (different ink colors, printing on different paper...). And the carving seems as though it might be rather soothing, especially since it is silent- no machinery involved. (I enjoy sewing, but all the racket irritates me at times). So, we shall see!

Eric reminds me occasionally that I have a few unfinished projects. True. Luckily, I can only think of two. I am nearly done with a quilt that my mom started for Grant when she found out we were pregnant. I could have been done ages ago if I'd simply tied the quilt rather than hand-quilting it. But, since it is the only thing I'll have from her to any of my children, I wanted to do it "the right way". (what was I thinking?!) Tomorrow is sewing, I should probably take it with me. I also have a sweater that I began knitting after Grant was born- had a horrible mistake- had to unravel quite a bit of it- haven't picked it up since. On the bright side, it looks like my track record has been rather good ever since these two projects. And, someday, these will both be done...I just don't know when!

O-o-O-k-k-k-Kay.....

Remind me never to do this again. I have known for a long time that I am sensitive to caffiene and that it keeps me from sleeping well. Tonight, I had some sewing projects and things around the house that I wanted to accomplish without interruption. So, I drank two cups of yummy coffee with wonderful intentions of gettting a lot done while everyone else was in bed. I don't feel the teensy-ist bit tired right now and was doing pretty well until I started shaking about 10 minutes ago. Bad shaking. I feel so silly because I am now having trouble sewing (and typing for that matter). And I can't just go to sleep, either. It seems like wasted time...and there's not even any good TV on!

Earlier this week, I received a call from Barbara across the street. Her daughter, Caity, is in the first few weeks of Freshman Year. Having signed up for Band, she has uniforms to wear that need a bit of alteration. They are kept and used each year on countless students and nothing can be permanently tailored so, I was asked if I could take up the pant legs that have probably been at all of the various lengths before. Up. Down. Up again. Couldn't the generations of McGavock High students coordinate their height so that parents wouldn't have to go to such trouble? Or how about height requirements to participate. "Sorry you play a mean tuba, but you are far too tall." Ha. So, I went over for a fitting and had such flashbacks. Mom was struggling to get daughter to try on pants. "Go put some shoes on with them". Struggle again. "Not those shoes." Struggle. Struggle. You can be the best and smartest kid...but what is it about that age that makes you give your parents such a difficult time?! Oh, if only my mom were still alive so that I could ask for forgiveness. For all of the struggling. All of the rolling of eyes. All of the typical teenage weirdness. (has anyone ever read Zits? They always hit the nail on the head! My mom loved that comic.)

But, in standard adolescent This Is So Uncool tone, Caity nearly apologized for the polyester slacks… as though they were a less-than-fashionable cousin that insisted on showing up uninvited to the popular kids birthday party- embarrassment by association. I didn't think they were bad, but I'm not 13 and I don't have to wear them. I told her that she was lucky her school at least had good colors (blue, red and white). A neighboring school when I was growing up, El Camino, had brown and yellow. My friend Heather went there and she handled it with dignity. Honestly, though, even I remember being less than proud of my high school track warm-ups.

My junior year, I joined track partly due to High School Boyfriend. We had multi-generational warm-ups much like Caity's band uniform. They were gray sweats with read silk screened print that had been worn year after year by numerous students. Other schools had sporty nylon suits with zippers. My sweatshirt even had a different player number than my pants, everything was mismatched by the time it got to me, I guess. The next year they began introducing some new jackets and pants in the highly sought after, previously mentioned nylon. Not enough to go around, though, so only the better runners/jumpers/throwers were given the cream of the crop. The rest of us were able to keep the reliable gray sweats. (Yes, crazy as it may seem to you, I was a terrible hurdler. But just wait ‘til tennis season came around! Much better at tennis.)At the end of the season, and the end of my high school career, I was told there was no need to return the sweats- they were being completely phased out. Finally. So, I kept my #25 gray sweats.

I don't know what happened to the jacket. Maybe I left it in the locker room. But, I still have the pants. They have elastic, but there are holes in the waistband where a drawstring must have been...maybe for the Class of '79. Without it, they are loose and seem to fit better with the top folded down a bit. They are extemely soft and I find myself wearing them around the house because they are more comfortable than the majority of my wardrobe. I was even able to wear them during both of my pregnancies due to the pathetic fit. There is even footage of me on the phone with my dad the day went went to the hospital for Grant's birth ("yes...this is it") and I was wearing those pants! And I was BIG. Whew, I was big. There is something so sweet to me about that; would I ever have believed it when I was issued them ("you can wear them now, but you'll really enjoy them when you are married and pregnant with your babies”)? Ha.

And they are even “stylish” now as places like Abercrombie & Fitch are doing athletic-type T-shirts in that retro-esque print. I guess things have a tendancy to come full circle:

What was once in style, is hip again if you wait long enough.

And the hard time you gave your parents as a teenager comes to haunt you when you, yourself, become a parent to an adolescent.

I can't wait.