Tippy Toes and Tantrums

Coming Up for Air After Maker Faire 2012

We're in Maker Faire recovery today. We had a great day at the Maker Faire, but for the first time, I don't think that I saw nearly everything. I mean, it's almost impossible to really experience everything the Maker Faire has to offer in a single day, but I missed an entire outdoor area. 

Time moved really fast this year for some reason. Another limit was that we went on Sunday, which closes at 6 p.m., and several exhibits packed up early. We usually go on Saturday, which ends at 8 p.m. Sunday felt less crowded than Saturday (except in the Expo, which was a madhouse) and it seemed like there were more families on Sunday. The bummer was that it felt like there were fewer Maker Faire characters, the ones who come dressed up, fully into it. The ones who make it feel like Burning Man on pavement. Every year we pledge to return for both days the next year, but life gets in the way, this year in the form of softball playoffs. 

Lost in a light up forest that smelled like pot.

Combat gnomes!

My first computer looked just like this, without Woz's signature. 

Sadly, Eddie the Yeti did not go home with me...

...but we did take home a pet rock and an egg from NifNaks. We've bought something from Nifer's exhibit for the last two years. I love her work. 

There's a lot more to say about the Maker Faire, but it was, in one word, awesome. 

How to Send a Birthday Card Love Bomb

Today is my mom's 70th birthday, which seems downright youthful when expressed in dog years (490). She didn't want a party, which was fine because we threw her a giant 60th birthday ten years ago, where we used up the best theme available for an adult party: margaritas. It was also the party where we let her tell people that I was pregnant, which explained why I sat alone in the kitchen alternatively fighting nausea, then stuffing my face. 

This birthday we needed something different and created a birthday card love bomb. The impetus for the idea came from Jordan Ferney's postcard surprise idea, and while I thought that I could print a photo of my mom on the back of the postcards so that each one contained a section of the print, it didn't make sense. Trying to find the right photo to define 70 years would be next to impossible, plus, it would detract from the message side of the postcard, which is the meat of the project. 

We made a list of 70 friends and family members (excluding my dad, for secrecy reasons), and in late April, mailed them each an addressed and stamped postcard with a note asking them to share a memory, funny story, or birthday wish for my mom, and to mail them between May 4-9.* Her birthday is today, May 10, and the mail range made sure that she got some birthday love each day of the week leading up to the big event. 

Love bomb directions, ready to go.

We bought 70 size A6 note cards in Blush, 70 A6 envelopes in Strawberry, Strawberry printing paper, ink and 7, 0, and flourish frame stamps, all at Paper Source. We chose postcards because for many people, it can be daunting to look at a large empty piece of paper that needs to be filled. A postcard is short, sweet, and easily filled. After buying postcard and envelope stamps, we were ready to go. 

I stamped while my youngest sister addressed the postcards to my mom. I wrote up the note explaining how to participate, then stuffed and addressed the envelopes. We didn't tell our dad about it because he's not great at keeping secrets, but it's also hard to secretly get ahold of him as he rarely answers the phone and my mom compulsively checks caller ID. He's also the type of person who keeps his cell phone off until he needs to use it. The fact that people may be trying to reach him is of no concern to my dad. 

Only one person mailed her postcard early, but because it was only one, my mom didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until the second one arrived that she asked where people were finding this 70-stamped stationary. 

Our project cost just under $150, but could be done for less using materials already on hand or from a less expensive craft store. We're happy with the quality and outcome from the materials we used, which, while not cheap, is far less than throwing a party for all 70 friends and family, without any of the post-party clean up.

My mom loved the love bomb. She was touched by the notes, and one cousin even included some prime Giants tickets, making it the best birthday gift ever for my mom.  

*When googling the birthday surprise post, I found a similar adaptation in which the author asked for letters mailed to herself and she presented them to her dad on his birthday. It's another way to try this great idea. 

Deviled Egg Easter Chicks in a Rachael Ray Tray

My mom didn't repeat her Thanksgiving craftiness that made her a momentary celebrity on Pinterest last year, but she did decide to go wild on Easter with these little deviled eggs made to look like chicks. They were a huge hit, and my mother must have proclaimed a million times, "It's a Rachael Ray!" 

My mom has one chef she follows and that is Rachael Ray. I assume she watches her show each day, and she definitely subscribes to her magazine, but it wasn't until I looked up the recipe, so I could link to it, that I realized my mom buys Rachael Ray products too. That part she kept mum about when people complimented her cute egg dish. It turns out the dish is Rachael Ray's Sittin' Pretty Egg Tray. She may be going overboard with the Rachael Ray fandom thing. If she starts saying "sammies" and "yum-o," we'll stage an intervention. 

The Deviled Easter Eggs were "so easy," according to my mom, who also has become a huge fan of gel manicures, which unfortunately for her, cannot be seen in this photo because she was eager to correct that weird nail photo used in the Thanksgiving post. Trust me, her nails were an even and normal length, with a pastel pink polish that will last her for weeks. "The last one lasted FOUR WEEKS!" I didn't see them at week four to know how they were holding up, but my guess is that was one week more than should have been allowed, unless her nails grow really slowly. 

She had a great Easter.

Rambling on with Down Feathers at My Back

I've wanted to make some throw pillows since last Spring when our new family room furniture arrived, but the project was low on my list of things that needed to be done. Even though I wanted to create the pillows, every two months or so, I'd consider buying them from Pottery Barn, just to end the pillow war, but my gosh, throw pillows are over priced.

I broke down and bought a Christmas pillow at Target and when I went to pack it away before the end of the year, Kevin groaned. He rolled his eyes when I bought the pillow, but losing it was now sad. As if we were going to keep out a red pillow with a snowman year round. It was time to act. I'd bought two pillow inserts at Ikea a few months along, in a feeble attempt to push the project along, so with only hours left in the year, I made a simple, striped, quilted pillowcase.

Ka-POW 2011!

But it was only one pillow, which became fought over during the next two days, so with one insert left, the ironing board still out, and sewing machine uncovered, I made a second one. The second pillow was mostly an idea of bunting and some guess work, but I love it even more.

My goal was to make the pillows in 2012, and since that's done, I can ride out the rest of the year.

That third pillow is still needed and maybe even a fourth for another spot, plus I do want to make a log cabin pillow, which means I'll be racing to beat the clock in a little under 12 months from now.

I made a point of having some quiet time to plan out some goals for 2012. Normally, I need shorter term goals, but I recently came across a list of goals for 2011 set during a planning meeting with Kevin. It was a meeting that felt like a delinquent student being ordered to see the school counselor to talk about the future, but still, we accomplished every goal, except one, which is being rolled into our remodel, and technically one other was missed, but I have no idea what it means, so maybe we did accomplish it.

With my accomplishment high, I made a new list. A list I've already managed to misplace (this is what I get for using paper from a tiny notepad nabbed from a hotel), but like last year, hopefully when I do find it, much of the stuff is ready to be crossed off. My word for the year is strive. Strive to do better, be better, and achieve my goals (the ones I can remember).

The gym yesterday so full there was only one treadmill open when I arrived. A lot of older people were there, which was a huge boost to my self-esteem because I was going much faster than them (yes, everything is a competition to me. We may be on a treadmill, but we are still racing), but one very little, very old man in a mint green polo shirt had me worried as he was going 1.2 mph while standing at a 45 degree angle. He was holding on the the handles for dear life, but I was so afraid he was going to fall on his face because his feet were so far behind him.

Here's where I was going: my trainer told me a man had a heart attack there the day before, when the gym was packed full of New Years resolution people trying to undue weeks, months, years of neglect in a few days. CPR was performed on the pulse-less man and he was saved, but it was a lesson in prolonged perseverance. Things or situations rarely do a 180 overnight, they are more likely to change over time through work. I've been preaching the benefits of hard work to my kids for some time. Neither buys it - sometimes I don't want to either - but I hope that by plugging away each day, striving to be better, that not only will good things happen, but my kids will learn the same. Because I'm tired of being the guidance counselor calling the eye rolling delinquents into my office for a planning meeting.

Seventeen

I'm grateful for craft and the adventure that comes with trying new things. These tissue pom poms (poofy balls? pom pom balls?) could not be easier to make. I made three in about 20 minutes while watching TV. My first few aren't perfect, but they are good enough to jazz up a birthday party.

Make Your Own Lapdesk (Super Easy, I Promise)

When it's not winter, I don't really appreciate my laptop giving me third degree burns on my thighs while I work at night from my cozy chair. Putting something under it would solve the problem, but I wanted my laptop raised too, to make typing easier, which required something thicker than the magazine I'd been using to protect my legs. This started my search for a reasonable lapdesk. I wanted to buy one, but I looked everywhere and could not find the one.

Soon, I found these directions (downloadable at the bottom of her post), which are truly easy and require minimal sewing. A lot of DIY templates involved screws or building a cup holder, all bells and whistles I did not need. This was straight up cutting, sewing, and hot gluing. I decided to make three: one for me, one for Clover, who is always writing, drawing, or reading, and one for Rocket, who would feel left out otherwise.

The hardest part was getting the wood cut at Home Depot. They'll cut it for free, but tracking down an employee to do it is almost impossible at our local store. I nearly gave up, which is when an employee who is not the usual cutter took pity on me (or felt his life threatened when I trapped him in the pre-fab fence aisle) and cut them without quite knowing what he was doing. The measurements are a little off due to the guy's inexperience, and he used black Sharpie to make his measurement marks, but I got my slab of wood cut into threes, which is what mattered.

Kevin sanded the edges for me, to make them perfect and to avoid sharp corner pokes. I tried sealing the top of the boards, but it was absorbed by the MDF wood and made it look kind of streaky, so I made that the bottom and used the unfinished side as the top. I went with MDF instead of real wood because of the weight. I held other boards at Home Depot, but they had too much heft for something I wanted on my lap.

I wanted my pillow part bigger than those used in the directions, so I experimented a little with each one until I got it about right with mine. I may have gone overboard slightly, as the kids make fun of my large pillow. But screw them, because I have full coverage and they don't. I glued the fabric (with sewn corners) to poster board, filled the pillow with bean bag filler (after I debated for days over the merits of foam, Polyfill or bean bag filler until Kevin told me I was over-thinking it), then hot glued it all to the pre-cut board.

It's an easy project and the perfect solution to my problem. The kids love theirs, and they're portable, so they can move them from room to room and potentially even into the car, if I felt remotely okay with pens or Crayons in my car.

She's Crafty: Embroidery Fever Claims Clover

It's kind of funny and a little annoying how kids learn in spurts, and generally only when ready. I've long asked Clover if she wanted to learn to sew or knit. Her answer has always been a decisive "no." A booth at the Maker Faire was teaching people how to make simple draw string bags. Clover said she'd give it a try, but then she saw the sewing machines - and a girl her age learning to use one - and quickly changed her mind. "Sewing? Forget it."

The girl cannot turn down a dessert, which must be why her attention was caught by a woman with an ice cream cart full of ice cream plushy kits.

"I want one of those!"

"Those aren't real. They're felt. You know that, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's a kit. You'd have to make it."

"Yeah. I want it."

I couldn't say no. She barely mentioned it again until this week when she asked to make it. I dug through the bag of ignored kits I'd bought for myself at the Maker Faire to find her blue Popsicle. She made it on Sunday, with me helping here and there, but mostly acting as an adviser. At least one person finished a craft project around here.

The next day, after camp, as I turned off the car in our driveway, she said, "Mom, I'm feeling...(long pause)...I just...(heavy, rapid breathing while she held her stomach)...I feel..."

She's got to be sick. Don't throw up in my car! No, wait, maybe something happened at camp. I turned my full attention to her because clearly something big was going on.

"I feel like I need to MAKE SOMETHING! Like yesterday. (Deep breath and exhale) I want to embroider something!"

I practically ran into the house to set her up before the moment passed. Like Sunday, I had a million other things to do, but felt I needed to do this while she was interested.

She's working without a pattern, deciding to make a dog. I've tried to talk about different stitches, but she doesn't care and I'm not pushing it. This phase will probably end soon, but I love that she's learned a little bit about sewing and expressing her creativity using a thread, needle, and a 10 cent Ikea pillowcase.

Home Gallery: The Wall of Frames 2.0

Soon after we moved in to this house, I bought a big frame and print for our living room wall. It seemed huge until I put it on the wall where it looked sadly disproportionate to the room. But still it stayed there, much like my half finished wall mounted shelf in my office. I'll get to it...eventually, I'd think.

About two years ago, I ditched the big print, bought a few smaller frames and put them up, but they didn't fill the space either. I bought a few more frames and made Kevin re-hang the whole thing. (He loooved that. There is nothing he loves more than hear me say, "A little more to the left, more, more, that's too much, back, back. Oh this is all wrong. Forget it." Ahem.) Eventually, it happened. It took the entirety of my 40x40 year, but the frames are up and filled. Filling them turned out to be the hardest part.

All of the art was purchased on Etsy. The only piece I created was the papercutting at the bottom center. I've wanted to try papercutting for some time, but it wasn't until recently that I pulled out my X-Acto knife and got down to work.

It was relaxing and meditative. I thought it would be fun, but I didn't expect to be so peaceful. Which is a good thing when taking up a craft featuring a knife.

Butterfly Butterfinger Snackerz Valentine

My annual agita over Valentine's Day is well underway. I don't know why I put so much emphasis on creating something great for the kids to bring into school, but I do. It was easier during Clover's first year of preschool when I sent to school the little packs of candy with Dora on the bag, purchased at Target a few days before. I was pregnant and tired, and Dora saved me, but I wanted to do something more unique.

I love last year's candy boxes so much that I keep one on my desk. Just after school resumed this month following the holiday break, one of Rocket's teachers asked what I was going to give out for Valentine's this year, which upped the pressure a notch. Other than the gloriously easy Dora year, I like to give something homemade, but with candy. It has to have candy. Stickers or other trinkets may do, but we've received more pencils from Halloween and Valentine's Day than I could count. They either sit around unsharpened forever or they are used as a weapon by a certain little boy I know. So candy it is.

I've been kicking around ideas, and while I have some great ones, they quickly get rejected due to work load. Rocket goes to preschool five days a week, which means two parties (some kids only go MWF and some Tuesday, Thursday, so two parties ensures all kids get to participate), equalling nearly 50 Valentines for his classmates alone. Save me, Dora!

With a bag of Butterfinger Snackerz around, I kept coming back to the idea of a butterfly. It's easy, homemade and involves candy. Clover's only concern is that I give out candy better than conversation hearts. I love the cuteness of conversation hearts, but she said they taste gross. Enter the Butterfinger Snackerz, which would stand out among the heart-shaped hard candies. Valentine's Day and chocolate go hand-in-hand, and the Snackerz are lighter than a candy bar, which makes them a good fit.

With 70 Valentine's cards to make, I'm still up in the air. The good news is that I have a long list of more time consuming things to make next year, when Rocket only needs to take 16 Valentine's cards to school.

Disclosure: A bag of Butterfingers Snackerz were sent to me for free from Nestle.

In Like a Lion, if Lions Sit Around Watching Football

New year, new lens. This photo is shot from about 30 miles away. It's a big lens.

The calender for January looks as white as snow. We have next to nothing scheduled! Hooray! Actually, I would be happy about that if I didn't know that it was because I didn't write down all of the many things we have to do this month. Prior to Christmas, anything after the holidays may as well have been a year away, so I pushed January activities out of my mind in favor of scanning Amazon for the last minute gifts I'd forgotten. Now I have to pay for my forgetfulness...and the ease of Amazon Prime.

I'm not one for making resolutions, but I love the fresh start that each new year brings. Maybe I should focus on the Chinese New Year because I was not prepared for the start of 2011.

This year I want to get my shit together. I need to cut back on commitments so I have time to do the things I want to do. And if I'm judging by the books I received for Christmas, I want to make a quilt. I received four crafting books, two regular nonfiction books, and one cookbook (Cake Pops - after waiting on the library hold list for two months, I decided to purchase it. Well, to be fair, my father-in-law purchased it for me, really for Clover, who is obsessed, but since I'm the one who will be balling - best misuse of a word thus far in 2011! - it's for me.)

Last year I dropped my two books a month personal requirement because I got a little nutty over it. It became a race and not something enjoyable, but when I took the deadline out of it, I took away my motivation. This year: one book a month. That will keep me reading and will make me feel less illiterate when friends ask what I've been reading and Entertainment Weekly is all I can muster.

I asked Clover if she had any goals for herself during 2011 and after a pause for thought, she said, "To make progress in becoming a ninja. I need to start jujitsu."

Rocket has no plans, but then he told me that he wants to learn to ice skate, but instead of hockey, he's going to play football. I told him that daddy said no football because he was worried about his brain. Quickly Rocket said, "But it's okay! I'm going to move my brain out of the way!" Maybe we shouldn't worry about brain injuries so much.

During one of their many, many squabbles this vacation, Rocket lowered his voice and told Clover, "You're not my grown up!" He meant you're not the boss of me, but I liked his version better. It takes the pressure off. It makes me feel more like a mentor than The Person in Charge.

Rocket's been thrown by the many holiday car commercials, specifically the Lexus commercials because he thought the kids bought the cars for the surprised parents. While I liked where this misunderstanding had gotten him, I explained that it was the other parent who paid for the new car and that only a few children in the world have enough money to pay for a brand new Lexus. His response: "Well, I have enough to afford the dollar store!" Great. Some moms get a Lexus, I can look forward to gum made in Mexico.