Monday, April 27, 2015

A Monday Surprise

Today, when I picked Elijah up from school, I noticed that he had something shiny in his sweat-soaked hair (they had just been outside). I fished around and pulled out a sequin. I showed it to Elijah, and do you know what he said to me?


"I was hiding it for you, Mama!"

That kid. Anytime he sees a sequin he gives it to me - a mini sequin probably lost from a little girl's shirt at the mall play area, a bigger sequin someone dropped at the beach, and now pilfering one from school in his hair. What can I say? He knows what I like :)

It sure made my Monday, and I hope you are surprised with a little something wonderful to make your day just as sweet!

(In other news, I am surrounded by pregnancy announcements and baby deliveries...my crochet hook can not keep up, but my Facebook newsfeed is certainly exciting.)

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

March Update

Happy April Fool's Day!

Here's Elijah's idea of an April Fool's Day joke...that he did in mid-March...thanks random April Fool's Day Caillou episode!


Let me tell you, he was SO proud of himself! It was pretty cute!

In like a lion, out like a lamb...

Apparently March here in the Pacific Northwest did not get the memo. The lion decided to take some time off, and sent the lamb out early. We had beautiful weather for most of the month. That's not to say we haven't had our obligatory rainy days, but they really have been few and far between this winter. Instead of gray skies and drizzly rain, which would be the norm for the beginning of April (and May...and June), I'm looking out the window at clear blue skies and sunshine. Seriously, Mother Nature, what's up with you?

March was a pretty good month. I finished out Winter Quarter, enjoyed a week and a half Spring Break, and have been back at work for 2 days. My mind has been pretty occupied with work stuff, so there hasn't been a lot of crafty-creative things going on around here. I've been working on reading guides for a couple of different novels to use in class. Up first was updating and correcting the guide we made for The Book Thief over winter break to get it ready to use this quarter. I'm still finding a few errors in it, but every quarter it gets better and better. I'm also working on one for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet which I want to use in class in the future.

I've also been trying to find some new books to read for class, so I've been working my way through some books set in the Seattle area.
  • Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford - more difficult language as well as a more difficult story dealing with topics I would rather not discuss in class (rape, abortion, suicide)
  • The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein - cute story, relatively easy language, but not really classroom appropriate


I did manage to get one more pattern up in the shop - the Billi Beanie that I originally made for my aunt who is going through chemotherapy, so I'm still on schedule for accomplishing my New Year's goal of publishing 12 patterns this year.

The only other thing we did creatively this month was making a batch of salt dough egg and butterfly ornaments to hang on some twigs we collected from our neighbor's yard. Have I mentioned how much Elijah loves eggs? It's bizarre, but he has been obsessed with eggs since he was probably 18 months old. Easter is by far his favorite holiday! It's cute and weird at the same time.

I got a new Microsoft Band last weekend, which has been fun. I know it's mostly used for fitness, but I actually got it because I miss so many calls and texts. Either Elijah has my phone, I forget to take it out of my bag during class, or I'll have it in my back pocket where I have little feeling because of having nerves cut during back surgery when I was 12. It's been reassuring to know that my wrist will vibrate whenever I get a call or text so I don't always have to keep remembering to check my phone. The Microsoft Band isn't terribly comfortable, but it's not uncomfortable either. I think it just takes a little getting used to.

We also took Elijah to the Pacific Science Center for the first time last weekend. Man, it seems so much smaller than it did when I was a kid. Amazing how that happens, huh?

I hope you had a great March, and that your April is filled with lots of fun things and good weather!