Family

Impromptu trip to Disneyland!
Cashing in the coins to spend a couple of days out-and-about with our
children.  My brother and his family will be there as well.  Should be
big fun!

I think I’ve been only once before.  I faintly remember climbing around in a big tree- house of sorts.

Anyhow, time to hang the hypothetical Closed sign for a couple of days.  Be back online come Thursday. 

Philadelphia in fish eye.  Isaac’s weekend.  More bulgy, beautiful photos here.

Living Room in boxes.  Heather’s weekend.  Shipment of secret product X.  Not secret for long 🙂 

The
DIY workload is out of control.  We’ll be hiring soon.  Most likely an
assistant for Isaac at first, so Isaac can assist me:  websites,
timelines, business systems, etc.  I’ll need an assistant as well soon
after.  We are laying a careful foundation so our family can happily
handle the juggle.

Many may not realize how long the lead-time is in preparing goodies
for the market.  Most product designer don’t blog about the next year’s
collection as they put it together.  Hush, hush.  Shh, shh.  I know for
a fact however, that we’re all biting our knuckles to share, aching to
tell all, but don’t want to frustrate anyone in having to wait 3, 6, 9
or even 12 months to get her hands on said goodies.  In short, I can’t
wait to start letting things Pop!  Getting much closer on a number of
things.

Two things I can share here today from my calendar:

1.  I’ve been invited to be a panelist at Country Living’s Women
Entrepreneurs event in Chicago the weekend of March 15th, 2008.
They’ll be releasing ticket & event details come October 15th.
Pop! 

2.  I’ve also accepted an invitation to appear at the Inspired
artist workshop (paper-craft) in North Carolina on April 10-12th, 2008.
Registration is already in progress.  Pop!

Loving that hand-painted "Closed" sign up there.  We should all
have one on hand for occasional use on the computer, oven, washing
machine, brain, etc.

I’m not sure what all I can say here that the title of this book
doesn’t already achieve.  Read the title once, then twice, and your
puzzled expression will inevitably bloom into a curly smirk. 

Come again?  His Muskrat Lady Housekeeper?  Uncle What?

I
can’t say how this floats my boat.  Really.  And I’m not sure it would
be wise to try.  Let’s just say that a quick glance at this book has
diffused many stressful moments for me.  I can’t help smiling.  So, there it sits, on the shelf above my ribbons, ready to cheer me up on demand.  It just wouldn’t be right to
keep such a thing to myself.

Of course, muskrat anything takes me back about six years to the night Isaac came home from work, spun me around in the kitchen and proceeded to sing, "Muskrat Suzy and Muskrat Sam do the jitterbug out in Muskrat Land…"
with all the passion he could muster. Oh to have a record of the look
on my face!  It was a classic expression of "You have got to be kidding
me, right?  You’re joking, right?"  He just kept on singing.  Me, "Oh
my gosh!  Is this a real song?  No, you’re making this up.  What are
the real words?  What is going on?" 

Isaac, of course, knew all of the words.  He spent a good five or ten minutes trying to convince me that yes, there was indeed a very
popular song in the 70s called Muskrat Love (it hit #4 in ’76), before digging up the CD
and proving it.  Poor guy, I totally spoiled his muskrat mood.  But,
what the?  I can’t be the only one to not feel the romance of Muskrat
Love, can I?  "Honey, are you sure it was a popular song?  I was only a baby, you know." 

That was a funny, funny night.  Big, healthy laughs. 

I still don’t get it.  Though I do wonder…  That picnic Uncle
Wiggily’s skipping to looks awfully romantic to me.  What is it with
muskrats?

(And, no, Isaac wasn’t serious.)

Pokin’
back in for a HELLO.  Isaac’s in Philadelphia photographing a wedding
this weekend.  I convinced him to stay an extra few days to explore (in
proxy perhaps — would have liked to stay longer last June).  His
rental car was creamed by a small truck minutes after leaving the
airport though.  Completely not his fault.  He’s not hurt at all &
the other guy’s got the tab for the damage.  But, as all other rental
cars were spoken for, he’s now in for an adventure with PA mass transit
perhaps.  Let’s hope he leaves the hotel — or at least returns well-rested, right?

Took myself out to see The Kingdom on Friday night, babysitting
already in place.  A large part of that movie was filmed about a mile
or so from my house, on an old out-of-action military base.  The
baseball-game bomb-scene and big-ol’-shoot-out at the end were two of
the sets you could see from the road.   Man, some of those buildings
sure looked shabby and pathetic in the movie — nasty stucco stains,
filthy stairs, roofs teeming with satellite dishes.  They were just
facades, all plywood and braces from the back. 

My friend Sheeba was an extra on the set.  And
thank heaven for the inside scoop, as we were awakened one night by a
fearsome boom.  The house shook and grumbled and I sprung out of bed
with a comical, "What…was… that!"  It was 3am or so.  Turned out
they blew up the set that night.  For realistic tattering, I’m sure.
Whoa!  Would have been nice to get a notice on that one.  I bet it was
a busy night for the local 911 dispatchers. 

Anyhow, no!, my neighborhood looks nothing like Saudi Arabia.  Just a fun bit of this & that.

New tins above.

Oh my, Isaac erased my inbox on accident and it took a couple of
days for him to restore what he could.  Still missing much of September
and that last part of August.  So… if you’re waiting to hear from me
on something or other, I might just be in the dark a bit on your
request or inquiry.  Please resend? 

Haven’t been on the computer much this week, hence the lack of
posts.  I have a big deadline to meet on Thursday.  We have been
watching the first season of Heroes on dvd though while we work.  Wow!
good show.  But, you have to watch it from the beginning as there are a
gazillion characters and I’m not sure you could pop in and pick up on
the story line very easily.  Easy to follow if you watch from the
beginning though. 

Let’s see, what’s my tricky, one-line review…  A pound of
Unbreakable, two cups of Superman, one teaspoon of 24, and a dash of
The Matrix, creamed together and spread on a healthy slice of humor.

Food on my mind.  So hungry waiting for Isaac to finish up dinner.
I keep popping in the kitchen and nibbling.  Told Charlotte I could eat
a whale.  Her response — "But we don’t have any whales!"

Yes, there were three bouquets.  Three.  I didn’t get to the roses in time.  They didn’t give
me much time either.  Can you say "dead in one day?"  I snapped a photo
for my own amusement, but it turned out kinda pretty-looking.  Hum "The Roses are Dead" along with this catchy tune.  There, that’ll keep the dreary
wilts away. 

I’m putting the finishing touches on a couple of big things that you
guys have been waiting for for an embarrassingly long time.  I’m
hesitant to come right out and say anything specific until I’m truly
done.  Truth is, bigger, more amazing projects keep getting in the way
and none of these can really be talked about just yet because they
involve other people and companies.  Aargh. (I mean yay!  A good problem.)

I’m not twiddling my thumbs… unless it’s to massage them from overuse.  And then fun things come along that I can blog about, but I don’t get the camera out until the sun goes down.  Aargh again.  (I mean aargh.)

I have a pattern out in Sew News Holidays right now.  It’s been out
for weeks.  Have I mentioned it?  I picked up a doll house for
Charlotte for Christmas.  Have I taken "before" photos and asked for
your suggestions?  Laura made me the most amazing poppy painting while
she was here.  Have I shown you?  Have I sung her glorious praises?
(Well, maybe that last one.)

Hang in there, you.  Hang in there, me.  Big things are coming. 

Big things are slow 🙂

More fresh flowers in my world.

Isaac went kinda crazy with fresh flowers this week.  When we were
first married, I was kinda bummed when Isaac brought me flowers,
wishing he’d spent
the money on a new tool or some art supplies.  The flowers were
invitingly beautiful for a few days, but watching them wilt and die
would make me tangibly sad. It wasn’t long before the anticipation of
that sadness kept me from enjoying fresh flowers in my home, even when
they were still spritely and gorgeous.  Oh, such a complicated emotional relationship with flowers.  Woe is me.

Well, I’m over it.

I’ve decided that I can’t afford to be so affected.  Other people
can handle the wilt and so can I.  Perhaps this is all linked up
with my love for floral patterns.  Hmmm.  Any pyschologists out there? 
Or maybe it’s because I’ve since collected every tool and art supply
known to man.  In either case, I’m enjoying these bouquets while they
last.  Really, truly now. And with a couple of quick snapshots, they’ll
last a bit longer than usual, in photographic form. 

Fresh flowers for everyone!  Just be glad you can’t smell ’em.  Lilies are stinky.

Charlotte
woke me up on Saturday, asking me to fix a broken clasp on her
bracelet.  I was pretty groggy.  She gave up and left the bracelet on
my chest. 

So,
yes, wow, mom comes through sometimes.  When I was, at last,
up-and-at-it, I pulled out my massive crate of beads and supplies from my days as a jewelry designer and re-strung her little
bracelet.  While doing so, I discovered a little purple floral box containing
sweetly-colored bell beads I had collected when I was pregnant with
Charlotte.  Oh how many projects I dreamed up when I was pregnant!
And, yikes, how many did I actually complete?  Not all of them.

Success! this time.  I can proudly say that these fun beads have made
their way into a bracelet for baby before her growing wrist has required me
to hunt down more bells for the chain.  Charlotte’s new bracelet may
not fit for long, but while it does, her unique and boundless magic is
properly accompanied by the sound of tinkling bells.

Feeling the craftera in the air (and envying the camera attention),
Elijah set about making a pirate ship from these printed cards by
Klutz.  "Oh, mom, you’ve got to take a picture of my ship!  Isn’t it
awesome?"  Yes, yes it is! 

Really.  It can be tricky to keep a 10-year- old boy engaged in
anything unrelated to video games.  You’ve got to hunt a bit.  This
card kit did the trick and it got the laundry folded as well (fair
trade — thanks, Elijah).

Good timing too.  Look what’s almost here?  Man, wikipedia has some treasures.  Or should I say, booty.  Here’s the official site:

Talk Like a Pirate Day — September 19th

And, did you see that Amy has a new pattern for sale?  And Joelle
has posted about her upcoming book?  Claudine‘s heading for Martha and
Jane‘s starting a new blog?  Congratulations, all!

∆   ∆   ∆ 

I’m still thinking about that catch-up post. I think I’ll need a sloppy red condiment graphic to go with it.  Just because.

I’m finally finding time to flip through these books I ordered ages ago.  It’s a treat to browse my copy of Bend-the-Rules
and see what Amy‘s been up to behind the scenes. It’s amazing what an
undertaking authoring a book is.  Potter Craft has done a beautiful job
translating her style onto paper.

Bend the Rules is
full of beautiful, often quirky photography and illustrations, and
entertaining text as you might expect. It’s magical. Congratulations,
Amy.

Simple Gifts to Stitch is a fun book to touch.  The paper is
more matte and stiff and the photography is peaceful and quiet.  Yes,
as a designer, I’m much more of a book browser than a book-project
maker, but if I did pick a project from this one, it’d likely be the
magic rain poncho which houses a smattering of tissue-paper confetti. 

Oh, and here is the pool I missed out on in Florida.  I always, always
pack a swimsuit when I leave town, but had to forget the swimsuit on
the this trip of all trips.  Look at that pool!  There were caves and
tunnels, waterfalls and rope-bridges.  Ay, ay, ay.  I thumbed through
the gift shop swimsuits twice.  I was ready to splurge $150 on a
one-swim suit.  Isaac even consented.  My pocketbook was saved by a
late night conversation with these guys and one of these guys. 
Sleeping in gained priority.  That was the Hyatt Grand Cypress in
Orlando.

Then, the next weekend, we were at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for Trash
Ties.  They had a wave pool!  (I didn’t take any pictures.  That’s
still The Grand Cypress over there — about half of it.)  I walked past
it to and from the convention center each day.  Yes, I packed my
swimsuit, but no, I couldn’t stay longer to dip in — I needed to get
back to the kids.  Needless to say, I think we’ll be heading to a
waterpark before summer’s over.  Perhaps with the wave of family coming
to town next week?

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned how much I like to swim.