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July 30, 2008
The Custom Toile
Buster and Kelliane refuse to live an ordinary life, and refuse to settle for ordinary wedding invitations.
I think their "custom toile" they commissioned for their invitations is fantastic.
Posted by jana at 9:49 PM | Comments (1)
July 29, 2008
Good with Ketchup
This is the dinner we ate tonight: Garden Pasta with Spinach Pesto (from my favorite cookbook).
Here is what the kids had for dinner tonight: Garden Pasta with Spinach Pesto (disguised with marinara from a jar.)
I'm going to start taking pictures of my disguised meals and put them in a cookbook using either Blurb or Tastebook and call it Good with Ketchup. I think a collection of our family-friendly recipes disguised in ketchup would make nice gifts for my friends having babies.
At my current rate of getting things done, the estimated completion date for this project is 2020!
Posted by jana at 7:39 PM | Comments (3)
July 27, 2008
A scout is born
BB guns. Sling shots. Panning for gold. First aid training. Egg drop. Camp songs. Skits.
BOY STUFF.
I have a very happy cub scout on my hands!
Posted by jana at 10:04 PM | Comments (1)
July 21, 2008
Heart warmed by graffiti
Wow, even the graffiti gangstas are remembering my dog. At first my blood started to boil when I saw the graffiti but then I realized it was a memorial for my dog. My heart warmed, and I cried for a second time today.
Posted by jana at 9:35 AM
July 20, 2008
Goodbye Lupe
The old yellow dog that rallied could no longer rally today. He woke up and his back paw and leg no longer worked. Andy held him up him while he peed, and Lupe barked in pain. The vet said it was time for him to come in.
We held Lupe's head on our lap and said our good byes. The kids brought him toys and pillows. Karsten made him a sign.
I realized I had not seen the smile on his face (my dog always smiled) nor the wag in his tail in a long, long time. Amazingly he woke up every morning and headed on his rounds up and down the street. Sometimes he fell over and couldn't get up, but he always managed... until today.
I'll forever remember Lupe as doing things his way. Like giving the Dog Catcher hell. Wrestling with a raccoon or two in our front yard. Killing the neighbor's rooster and plucking a chicken. Breaking out of so many layers of fences. Going commando down the side of our house with broken ribs and a cone on his head. All of his trips to the liquor store in White Center. Following all the kids to school and meeting them at the bus stop. Breaking into the neighbors' houses to sleep at the foot of their bed. Getting car sick all the way to Mexico.... and then puking up steak and us wondering where he was getting better food than we were eating.
Good bye Lupe! We will forever miss the dog we called ours but really belonged to the hood.
We're planning a celebration of Lupe's life maybe next week. Andy wants to make it a bring a bottle of wine and your favorite Lupe story.
Posted by jana at 8:37 PM | Comments (7)
July 16, 2008
The wisdom of 4
With Britta's older age she has found wisdom. She figured out how to lord her birthday presents over her brother. This new found skill kicked in within 24 hours of turning 4. The toys Karsten wanted to play with are now her favorites and are not to be shared.
Karsten is fuming.
Posted by jana at 10:27 PM
Britta's cat party
Britta wanted a cat party. Big surprise, huh? Just how catty can a party for a 4 year old get? Pretty catty it turns out.
Here is the Birthday Girl getting her face painted like a cat:
Pin the tail on the cat. Andy drew the cat and the tails.
Cat cupcakes with printed out cats scanned from an old Martha Stewart Kids magazine. I am more comfortable working with paper and Photoshop than frosting!
Drinking milk out of saucers.
Cat hats (except for Avery and the birthday girl!) and cat horns.
Then the dog scared them! (If Andy's company doesn't work out I think Party Host could be an industry for him.)
And then the cat theme got old so they played on the beach.
...until they decided to put on a princess/super hero/cat show. (Several wardrobe changes happened during this two hour party.)
Whew. It was a good party.
1 hour later the family party started... which was more of a beer and ribs theme, because the Mommy Cat and the Daddy Dog needed it.
Posted by jana at 9:55 PM
Glad the kids put up with me
Karsten taped electrical tape on his shirt (I helped keep it straight) and tape around his waist so he could be "Kenny" from Ben10. I have to give him credit for being able to stay in character, even if it means altering his own wardrobe.
Here's Britta sitting on a nasty loading dock under the viaduct. I thought the background would look good with her new skirt from Bestemor.
Posted by jana at 9:47 PM
July 15, 2008
Blogroll updated
I finally updated my blogroll (see right column). If you haven't been blogging for a long, long time I dumped your lazy ass. I mean blog.*
I have a ton of design/craft/cooking/photography blogs I read too but I haven't linked to those. Britta woke up so the likelihood of me linking to them anytime soon is not so good.
Also I removed the Amazon associates widgets because it didn't seem worth selling out my readers and messing up my blog for the meager $4 I made off of you.
______________
*I spared Shawnazlog from the axe because 4 little, little kids is a good excuse and I have hope she will return to blogging just as soon as she can come up for air.
Posted by jana at 7:59 AM | Comments (2)
July 13, 2008
A little late but DONE
My friend Brooke invited me to do a kids craft swap with another family. I did the mental calculations and decided I might be in a mental institution by then but oh well, the kids would love getting something in the mail. I said yes.
Sure enough, things were even crazier than anticipated when I had to shave a week off of my timeline for being sick but I got it done! Only two days late. Not so bad.
I made a concentration game out of all the photos Karsten has been taking. The photo of my mom's rooster timer in her backyard finally had a use! He's been taking my camera and posing his stuffed animals in various poses too. Those all came in handy! I made an extra game for my kids and it was a hit, and Karsten liked that his photos were used.
Now that I have it down I think I'll make another concentration game for one of Britta's friends for her birthday.
Michelle from Kids Haus created some great banners for her swap. I may have to steal that idea too.
I've never done a swap before but I can tell I will be waiting for the mail just as eagerly as the kids.
Posted by jana at 10:38 PM | Comments (2)
July 11, 2008
The anticipation mounts
Karsten is our videographer. I downloaded all of his movie clips to his laptop and started going through them. I thought this one was pretty funny in regards to all the build up for Britta's birthday tomorrow. Ignore the NPR blasting in the beginning (poor kids).
Posted by jana at 10:14 PM
July 9, 2008
Bought my first "purple" book
Amazon.com: The Post-American World: Fareed Zakaria: Books
It seems there is a new trend in political book purchases this election year. Valdis Krebs looked at books that would qualify as "red" and books that qualify as "blue." In the past purchasers of red books would only buy red books. Blue book buyers would stick to blue books. However Krebs looked at the current purchase similarities and discovered there are "cross over" books that both parties are buying this year. He made a great chart so you can see which books are which. Customers who bought Climate Confusion and "Surrender is not an Option" also bought "The Post American World" (like me). Whoa. Very interesting in a year where I've heard Republicans tell me they're voting for Obama, and I've heard rumors of Democrats voting for McCain. Kind of a geeky post, huh?
Posted by jana at 12:09 PM
July 8, 2008
Summer loving, having a blast
Summers are for crushes, right? Well this summer it is full on with Mark Bittman. (Not to mention I've been averaging a loaf or two of the no-knead bread per week for over a year! That probably qualifies for a winter crush too.) Now I'm on to his picnic menu. That's how we roll around here. The inspired non-recipe is what summer is about.
August and Becca came over for dinner tonight. She looked too cute not to snap the shutter a few times. She only cried when we took her to the beach.
Karsten is at Hair Kamp (aka drama camp) for half days this week. He's been coming home singing "welcome to the 60s!" from Hairspray. Hair Kamp is a good place for him.
Now I'm back to work after a few weeks off. Sigh. Feeling like a kid who had summer vacation end too early.
Posted by jana at 9:29 PM
What carpet tiles should I buy?
Which carpet tile should I select for my room?
1-5 are the flor samples I'm considering for my room. The other image is to show you what else is in the room. I'm thinking "urban beach."
Posted by jana at 9:48 AM | Comments (7)
July 2, 2008
A mom's day
Moooooommmm, Can I have this good unicorn vs evil unicorn?
Believe it or not, I was able to resist those big brown eyes. Unless you count the Hello Kitty pez dispenser, because then I caved.
And then there was The Meltdown at the Space Needle
"MOM!!!!!"
If my flickr batch exporter wasn't flipping out I'd upload all the shiny happy photos from the day. Tomorrow.
Posted by jana at 10:38 PM