Art of Memory

Theme of the Week: Cleaning

I have a hired hand to help with the major reorganization of the office/craft room.
She is a motivated worker with a goal. The goal is a new American Girl doll, Kit Kittredge. Cath decided that she wanted the doll, and she wants to buy her on her own. Maybe she suspects that I wouldn't want to buy her another AG doll, since she's been playing with the Build-a-Bears more than the AGs? Anyway, she presented me with her plan to make money to buy Kit. She's putting together a collection of toys and (ahem) trash that she is planning on selling to the world at large at a table outside, "like a lemonade stand but without the lemonade and with toys instead... unless you think I should make lemonade too?!"
I'm not sure what the market is for this toy stand, but she really wants to do it.
Since she also wants to see her playroom again (it's currently buried in my crafting materials great and small!), she is going to be a worker bee for a fee.
I get to do the heavy lifting, and she gets to fetch and carry all the little bits.
She's looking forward to organizing, reorganizing, playing with, touching, and making off with the embellishments.
We'll get there!

Caught Up

Lauren is in the house! We've been hanging out in my craft room... Lauren's been on the computer catching up on some work. I've been doing another kind of catching up, reading the new Stampers' Sampler Catch Up Issue.

Let's just say it is truly amazing how caught up one can feel looking through this issue and seeing work from people you know!

We're about to go get Jen at the airport, and have even more fun!

~c@

CHA Summer has arrived!

Well, it's time to get a little sleep before the big weekend. After getting Cath to camp I'll be heading out to O'Hare to pick up Lauren and Jen and Andra. We've managed to find a little bit of girlfriend time! Intruders beware!o

CHA Summer is here!

"why do you knit... it's boring!"

Notes from the beach vacation:

My five-year-old nephew asked me why I was knitting, and told me it was boring to knit. Because, you know, your average five-year-old boy is an expert on this, right? For something that's boring, my knitting sure did capture his attention. Especially when he started to suspect that the knitted thing might be for him!

Yes, Sebastian, it is knitting, it is for you, and believe it or not, it wasn't as boring to me as you seem to think.

The moment when I knew for sure it wasn't boring to knit for Sebastian?

When I started a pair of socks for Cath, and he asked when I was going to make his socks.

~c@

Aaaahhh ... beach vacation!

A couple weeks at the beach, and all is well.
Warm breezes, cool drinks, good books, fun family... all a girl could ask!

A project was completed that made a little boy pretty happy... I'll post it in a while.

The best news is, creativity is flowing again! :)

~c@

Whew!

Where I want to be spending my time is at the table doing some projects that have been simmering about in my mind.
And the mind has had PLENTY of time to simmer, while the body has been elsewhere.
That elsewhere is known as the Preschool 4 room at Cath's school.
Through a series of unfortunate-for-my-crafting events, I've ended up helping out where the help is needed.
This experience is leading to several observations that are screamingly obvious to me now:
1. I am the happiest woman alive to have a third-grader instead of a preschooler!
2. I am definitely feeling older and more tired than I was when I had my own preschooler.
3. I refuse to believe that my child was ever as exhausting and patience-trying as some of these kids, regardless of my own aging and sleep-deprivation status!
4. Despite all of the above, being there when a child really gets it about the letters on the page being words that they can read and understand on their own is a truly magical moment, and the teachers who help them get there are to be forever valued and appreciated. Natalie, you rock! And Ms. Mendoza, you rock too!

So the mind is going to have to keep simmering for a little while longer, and then that craft table is going to get a workout!

it's pouring

As in, when it rains, it pours:
lost luggage
late arrival home
sick kitty, hospitalized
rear-ended - by uninsured driver
emergency call from Cath at school - science log needed NOW, or instant F.

Let’s think about the various meanings of “instant F.”

Okay, moving on!

Had a great time at CHA in Anaheim!
It’s always good to see what companies have come up with, and where the scrapbooking / crafting trends are headed.
Even more fun is catching up with friends, and making new ones.
I spent time with Lauren, whom I hadn’t seen since the summer.
Ran into Dawn, and we are really really really going to get together when her inn isn’t too busy. (We’ve now been talking about it for two years, hasn’t happened yet!)

I participated in the Designer Showcase for the first time.
It was a really good experience! If you aren’t sure what the showcase is all about, here’s a brief description from the CHA website:

The CHA 2008 Winter Convention & Trade Show Designer Showcase gives CHA Designer members an opportunity to show their work and allows Editors, Publishers and Manufacturers (EPM’s) to privately view their displays and schedule brief, individual designer appointments.

So imagine what was in the luggage that was lost on the way home! At least it finally made its way back to me the following day. I was really worried, but everything was intact. It had gone missing, but hadn’t been rifled through and unwrapped by the TSA.

Now it’s time to get back to art and a normal home life, with Webkinz, CSI, and homework.

~c@

snow days

I’ve been working on / struggling with a few projects lately. Trying to make physical reality conform to my imagination. This is not, I repeat NOT, my favorite pastime. Not by any stretch of the aforementioned imagination. However, when it works, I am pretty happy! When it works, it is a joy and a pleasure to take a lot of time creating. It’s just the struggle part that is filled with aggro. And who needs more aggro?

Cath and I went to see Disney’s High School Musical: The Ice Tour on Friday night. I was going to surprise her by leaving from school, stopping off for early supper, and then arriving at United Center; but when the phone rang at 6:46 a.m., things changed! The call was from Cath’s teacher, letting us know that it was a SNOW DAY! NO SCHOOL! In the midst of the excitement, I decided to fill her in on the plan for the evening as well. The day was spent in anticipation of the big event, and answering numerous calls from the phone-addict best friend who wanted to spend time “phone-r-netting” ... their term for sitting on the phone and playing Webkinz games or checking out AG. I finally said she couldn’t answer the phone anymore, since neither one of us could take it anymore!

We made our way to the show, and had a great time. We even managed to stay polite and keep ourselves from telling the girls seated behind us that we paid to see and hear the ice show instead of their sing-a-long version. Whew!

~c@