Where do the weeks go? Time is flying past me so fast, I can hardly believe it.
This is the typical Friday of driving mother back and forth and today I'm baby sitting all afternoon as the little ones are sick and d-i-l needs a break. Then at 6 we're meeting friends (the ones who were married in September) at a pub where Mike has a regular jazz gig to listen to him and have a bite of dinner. The food there, at Gate 403, is surprisingly good. Who'd have guessed. And it's snowing again.
I have finished Cody's Christmas shopping. His new phone should be delivered in a few days (just a cute little prepaid thing, but it has a camera and that will please him beyond belief), and I've paid for the shaker mp3 player he wanted, so I just have to drop by Circuit City today and pick it up. I am pre-ordering Harry Potter and if we pick it up early enough we get some special gift along with it. So yay. I just need to get a few more gifts and we'll be good. Oh and stocking stuffers .. no prob with those though.
I am SO horrible. Haven't even started Christmas shopping yet. Though I will pick up pictures today and with frames that takes care of a few presents. Which reminds me I actually need to order more Christmas cards from Walmart. I need to start buying the little things for Christmas...So I will be heading to the dollar store shortly. Did you know that they have scarves at the dollar store. And they aren't bad either. Anyways, I just got done with my English class. Had a presentation in it, didn't do too well but I got a B so who cares right. Anyways, Vinnie is having something shipped to me today so i have to sit around and wait til it gets here. Did anyone see the Babs special last night. She named the Harry Potter author the number one most fascinating person of 2007. Everyone else on her list was really rather ho hum. Didn't care too much for any of them.
KaeEll, as usual you have a very packed day ahead of you! Dinner sounds like it will be a lovely end to the day for a very tired daughter/mother/grandmother...
We had a little snow two days ago, which froze, and now we're getting a light rain on top of it. Nasty, but cozy. The problem is that I have to drive waaaay up into Maryland very early tomorrow morning for a dollmaking class. It takes me about an hour and a half to get there, and the lady's house is in a fairly rural area. She also has a driveway that goes straight up! I'm so afraid that the roads are going to be covered with that horrible black ice that you can't see until you're spinning! In some ways, I'm hoping that the class will be cancelled, but I don't think that's going to happen. In fact, I think that the instructor is flying in sometime today... WAH!
I'm in my usual "when can I have my nervous breakdown" mode that grabs me at this time of year. There's just too much to do!!! My youngest flies in again from Arizona next Wednesday which is also the day that my doll club's holiday party and elections occur. I have a dental appointment the day after, and a commitment to get a doll made for a little girl before Christmas. It's a duplicate of one that she's had since infancy, and it's in rags at this point. Her mother wants a new one for her, but there's no pattern. Consequently, I've had to create a pattern by looking at the current doll, sew it, stuff it, and see if the body parts are similar enough to pass the test. Then, I have to make adjustments to the pattern again, and repeat the process. I've made the entire doll about three times already, with more tweaking necessary. Once I get the final pattern figured out, I'll use the body fabric that I just bought, but I also have to embroider her face, and embroider a customized heart with her initial in it on her body. Then do her hair, and make an outfit. YIKES! This, of course, is in between everything else that I have to do in order to get ready for Christmas!
I'm going to try to finish decorating the tree today so that I can focus on the doll. Somewhere in here, I'm going to have to do some shopping, wrapping, and baking.
Speaking of my youngest daughter, she sent an updated picture of her apartment since the living room was painted. I can't remember if I posted earlier pictures from when we took her out there last August. Anyway, her bedroom was, and still is a very serene white with a few little touches of color, mostly purple. She and her boyfriend chose a blue for the living room, which is like a periwinkle from what she's described to me. I think that it's beginning to look very nice ...
The saga of the apartment was that our daughter was going to get a one bedroom for herself this year. The boyfriend accompanied her during her hunt. When they were being shown around, the representative for the complex told them that a two bedroom would cost less for them, if they wanted to share, than two separate one bedrooms would. They consulted with the parents, and we all agreed that it made sense. Frankly, I did a happy dance because I was nervous about having my daughter living completely alone.
So they picked out a beautiful place on the third (top) floor where it's nice and quiet since no one is above them.
I also think that it was enormously SMART of my daughter to go for the two bedrooms, rather than move in as a couple (and split the cost of a one bedroom), because she can still have her own space, and place to retreat. After all, her main focus is supposed to be on her college work! Right??? And, being a woman, she likes to have her own space...
Here's one picture of the living room with its new blue walls. It looks a little dark because the pictures were taken at night with the lights on rather than with light coming in through the windows during the daytime.
Moore the picture looks great, it looks so cozy. And it was a good idea for her to go in on a two bedroom instead of just one. And i can tell you, that rent in Arizona regardless of how many bedrooms is still cheaper then most places on the east coast.
I hope she is enjoying her time at ASU, being from AZ its always nice to hear people say how much they enjoyed being there.
Love the color. I told the husband that when we get taxes I want to do a new paint job in the front room and go with a blue similar to yours and mocha accents. I think it will like pretty nice especially since my aunt is handing down her barely used furniture to me that I've been in love with for months. The paint job will match the furniture set perfectly!!!
You can't tell from this picture, but there's also an extra wide chair that matches the couch. AND, these two pieces are slipcovered which I thought was practical for college aged kids who would be inclined to have lots of friends over. Spills can happen. Also, my daughter has that bunny! The couch and chair were from Pottery Barn, and since they're all over the place we didn't have to worry about shipping furniture out there. We ordered online, and the local outlet delivered it!
Shelly, she does love it out there, but also said just before Thanksgiving that she was missing our East Coast fall. She was thrilled to see all of the pretty leaves when she was home a couple of weeks ago.
PS -- I have popped in Josh Grobin's new CD, "Noel", to keep me company while I work on the tree. Celtic Woman's "A Christmas Celebration" will be next!
-- Edited by Moore ideas at 11:53, 2007-12-07
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Just popping in for a quick HI and I'm out the door again to baby sit. Had a BAD experience with the pedicurist today as she really hurt me and used a razor when I was reading an article in a magazine and didn't notice until she was almost finished. I'm sufficiently pissed off that I'm going to demand a refund. My feet still hurt. Never let anyone take a razor to your callouses! Geez!
Moore - pic is lovely. I love the blue walls - so pretty and refreshing. Can you post a picture of the dolls you make? Love to see them.
Aw, KaeEll -- I'm sorry about your feet! Doesn't seem fair...
Okay, I'm going to post two versions of a doll that is NOT one of mine, but was done by one of our best dollmakers. The black costume version is "Madame", and as you can see, she is holding a cigarette. The red version was donated to the American Heart Association (it was a club project) for auction, and she is obviously not holding a cigarette. LOL...
The whole doll is entirely handmade, including the purse, painted face, nails, etc., and I'm posting her because she is one of my favorites. Obviously, we use the term "doll" loosely!
I'll dig into my files later, and post a few of mine. They are most definitely not up to these standards, though. As I said, Lee is one of our club's very best dollmakers!
The doll I'm currently working on for the five-year-old little red-headed girl is a more tradtional doll, and is what we call a "pancake" doll. That's like a Raggedy Ann style doll where the face doesn't have any contours.
Hey -- we do it all...!!!
So, here are two versions of Lee's Madame, one wearing black, and one wearing red:
Love the dolls, Moore! Such whimsy and slightly wicked. I love slightly wicked older ladies. There's something very comforting about them. Maybe I'm heading there myself. *snort*
The evening was so much fun at Mike's gig at the pub but I came down with some cruddy bug, probably from Vanessa and her runny nose and phlegmy cough, so we had to cut it short and missed our eldest son's (the daddy of the little ones) concert that we had hoped to catch after intermission. We can have weeks on end with not much happening, then all of a sudden there are 4 events on one day. Go figure.
Kinda ironic that the reason we had to miss the concert was because his kids gave me their bug. There's nothing more virulent than a little kid's cold. They manage to get their snot all over the house in five minutes and there isn't enough hot water and soap on earth to keep up with it. No wonder Vanessa's teacher had been out all week with bronchitis. He's working in a petri dish of viruses. And now, so am I, lol.
