Nine Years is Willow and Pottery.

I am not the easiest person to live with. I'll admit that. I'm a little flaky, I don't like to clean, and I am not the most organised person you'd ever meet. I'm a tiny bit of a hoarder. Maybe. I don't clean out the fridge as often as I should, and I avoid putting out the compost whenever I can help it. Because it smells, and drips, and it's just gross.

And look, I'm not saying Husband's a saint or anything, because he leaves his stubble in the sink, and keeps turning the pillow around the way I don't like it, he is constantly on his iPhone, and he looks like he hates me before he has his coffee in the morning. (That was seriously a problem when we were dating.)

But, nine years ago, he decided that he'd like to be stuck with me forever, and I agreed.

So I'd like to say thank you to the guy who has been putting up with my crap for the last fourteen years. He is kind, and patient, and loves me even when (maybe especially when) I don't feel like I deserve it.

All of that stuff that I said to you, nine years ago... still true today.




Except... you know, I'm not a man.

Love you, Sparky.

There We Go!

Here I go - cluttering up the desktop again. So nice to see my little folder with all the pictures in it. Here is the picture of the baby quilt I made. The first quilt that I ever made, start to finish, all by myself!

Something so satisfying about a fresh quilt, flapping in the breeze.

The back is a solid blue cotton.

For those of you interested in these sorts of things, it's machine pieced, and hand quilted. I'm not ready for anything fancy, and the pattern is pretty busy already, so I just stitched in the ditch along all the grid lines. Then the back looked a little plain, so I picked out a few of the larger stars and quilted around them to add a bit of interest.

It turned out pretty well and now I can get it out of my house, and covering a baby, where it belongs!

What's New?

Alrighty. No focus at all today, so let's just have a chat, shall we?

Beege is doing much better, thanks for asking. A lot of her welts turned into bruises, so she kind of looked like we were beating her with drumsticks for a little while - I assure you, we were not. She's back at school, where she belongs, thank goodness. You know how when your kid is sick, you'll do anything to help them feel better? Fetch books, bring water, let them eat lying on the couch, watch copious amounts of inane television? Well, she's just getting past the stage where she thinks I will still let her do those things. I will not. Yesterday, she made me take her for a walk around the neighbourhood holding a sign that said "Save the Earth", and was very pleased with the one lady who smiled at her and wished her a happy earth day.

Kee? She's doing fine. She didn't get sick with the vomits when B did. She seems to have decided that it's a really good idea to start screaming when she doesn't get her way. First, she looks at you to see if you really mean no. Then she makes this horrible exasperated noise that is akin to a moose's final death throes*, then she throws herself on the floor and full out wails. It's a little draining.When she's not screaming her head off though, she's charming and lovely to be around.

Husband is doing well. Very busy at work. Our anniversary is coming up - nine years (of marriage, anyway). Luckily, he doesn't follow those lists of what you're supposed to give someone on anniversaries, because I don't want any pottery, or willow. That's... what? A mug in a basket?

I'm okay too. A little .. sad? Maybe "bewildered" is more the word. I'm tired, and I'm unfocused, and I just want quiet. Which is nearly impossible to get in my house. I've been trying to focus on finishing any projects that I've already started. I've got a horrible habit of starting something, and then getting excited about something else before it's done and just moving on. I finished my first ever quilt! It's a baby quilt, and just squares, so not too difficult, but I did do it by hand, so I'm kind of proud of it. I'd post a picture, but Husband "fixed"** the computer last night.

That's about it... nothing very interesting going on over here. But considering the past few weeks, maybe that's a good thing.

How about you guys? Anything exciting happening to you?





*Probably.
**Which seems to mean "hid all my files and changed everything so I don't know how to use it."

Hang In There, Kid.

There's been a lot going on around here lately. Mostly to do with Beege.

Three weeks ago, I sent off a relatively healthy child to a play date. When my husband went to pick her up, she was lying face down on a couch, with a fever. It looked like strep throat to me, so Husband took her off to the doctor.

Despite Husband telling the doctor that it was likely Beege would have a bad reaction to Amoxicillin, that's what was prescribed. Why did we think she would have a bad reaction? Well, I am allergic to Amoxicillin. My sister, nephew, aunt, cousin, and grandmother all have bad reactions to Amoxicillin. It was just a hunch. Whenever we explain this to a medical professional, we are told that "drug allergies don't run in families." I think they are wrong.

Anyhoo. The Amox did the trick, and she was right as rain in a couple of days. Great. Until day 7 of her 10 day prescription when she broke out in a rash. Back to the doctor. Who said that it "could" be a reaction to the Amox, and if she was itchy, we could give her some Benedryl.

The next day, when her entire body was covered with welts, and her face looked like a swollen red balloon, Husband took her to the hospital. Where they said "someone said this could be an allergy?" and prescribed her some nice steroids. It took three days of steroids and continual use of Benedryl to get her looking normal again.

Then, on Saturday night, as Husband and I were settling down to watch a movie at 10:00, who wanders out of her room? It's Beege. With a bucket. Because she's just ejected what looks like a gigantic ball of wet snot from her body.

She threw up for two days. Now she's done with that, but she's going on day two of not eating.

She looks shrunken. This has been THREE WEEKS of sickness, grossness, and discomfort for her.

I'm seriously considering a plastic bubble.

Anyway. Hopefully, this will be the last of it. But while I'm been sitting around, worrying that maybe all of this is a recurrence of her HSP, I'm making her a little present.

Find the Frog.

I have seen absolutely no signs of spring yet. There was that one day, where everyone was wandering around in shorts because it hit a balmy 10 degrees, but now it's back to freezing with flurries. And I miss nature. So here is a picture of some nature that I took last summer. Enjoy.

She's a Very Busy Lady.

Last weekend, Beege lost another tooth. This one, she lost while trying to unscrew the cap of a plastic milk bottle with her teeth. While it was a little loose, I think that it was meant to hang out in her face a little while longer.

Which was actually perfect, because when the Tooth Fairy forgot to come to our house that night, it gave her a much better excuse than "I got caught up watching The Walking Dead, and then the Talking Dead. Boy, that Chris Hardwick is hilarious."

Bobs & Lolo: A review.

I don't know about you, but some children's music makes me want to rip my ears off. It's unfortunate, but a lot of it is so peppy it's manic and/or it speaks to children like they're idiots. When Beege was a baby, I made it my mission to find something that she would love and I could stand.

Enter Bobs and Lolo.

I first stumbled upon them on Treehouse TV, and I fell in love. Not only are they easy to listen to, but their songs are educational. They've got songs about everything from the water cycle ("Raindrop Pop"), to provincial birds ("Honk for Canada"), to healthy eating ("Snappy Snacks"). They manage to be upbeat without being hyper, and Husband the musician is very impressed with their musicality. I listen to them sometimes when the kids aren't home, and am not the least bit embarrassed to find myself humming any of their songs in the lineup at the grocery store.

We were lucky enough to be able to go to one of their shows over the Family Day weekend in Whitby this year, where we got to meet them and found that they are just as lovely as their music.

The show was great, despite some technical difficulties in the beginning, the kids danced around up at the front, and I wasn't the only parent who was singing along with every song. We went to their second show of the day, and I'm sure they were pretty exhausted by the time they got to the meet and greet, but they were still energetic and made a point of having a little chat with each child.

I only have one complaint, and that is that they sold out of their new album "Connecting the Dots" before I got to the merchandise table.