Saturday, July 31, 2010

My Lesbian Summer (Sort of)

I may have mentioned my friend Lauren to you on occasion. We spent close to every waking moment together this summer. We even shared a booth at the Bloomington Farmer's Market. We began to notice that when we talked to people we were saying things like 'Between the two of us we have four kids' and 'When we were making lunch the other day...'. We had even started finishing each others sentences. We were rarely seen one without the other. A light clicked one day when we realized that some people probably thought we were a 'couple'.
It sort of became a running joke. People even tried to convince our husbands that if we were a couple then they probably were to. My husband's response to that was that they were just guys who liked lesbians. Whatever... We were cool with it. It didn't seem to bother the people who didn't know better. It didn't seem to bug our gay friends. Although my husband tried to convince our friend Louisa to start an 'anti-Cheryl-and-Lauren' group on Facebook to out our straightness...
Truth is... I LOVE my girlfriends with all my heart and if I ever had to Kate and Allie it I would soooo... live with Lauren but I like my husband. Most of the time. I think I rather like NOT knowing what's going on in his head half the time. I think I would be too catty in a relationship with another woman, especially at that time of the month and then there's that whole synchronizing of the cycles thing. TWO women on the same cycle can't always be a joyous thing...

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: In the Summertime









Thursday 13- 13 Favorite Kids Books

I am trying out a new MEME where I make a list of 13 things... ANY 13 things... on Thursdays. Here is my first go at it...

FAVORITE KIDS BOOKS (in no particular order)

1) Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell Illust. by David Catrow
2) Something Queer is Going on by Elizabeth Levy
3) Who's a Pest? by Crosby Bonsall
4) Free To Be You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends
5) Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
6) My Friend Is Sad by Mo Willems
7) Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book by Lauren Child
8) Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
9) Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
10) Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
11) True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
12) Prom Dates From Hell by Rosemary Clement-Moore
13) Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt





Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Living With a Princess

So Claudia is creeping up on three. She tells me often that she is a princess. Her favorite color is pink. For the most part she's a good kid. She's funny. She's cute. She's creative. She's sneaky. She's way too smart for her own good. I know everybody thinks their kids are smart but I'm not talking about book smart I'm talking about 'Evil Genius' smart. She can lie without blinking an eye. She'll blame things on her big brother and, unless I've seen what's happened, I can never be sure. Clyde... Terrible liar. He smirks. He looks away. He almost always stammer as he begins a story about how his sister was being goofy and just happened to bump her head on the toy in his hand. The worst part is that my daughter has no fear of me. NONE. I yell. She laughs. I put her in time-out. She laughs and crawls away over and over again. I don't normally spank but when I do I want a reaction. Clyde would bawl if you tapped him ever so slightly on the leg. Claudia finds it humorous. I try to stay firm. I try to be strong. I try to look her in the face and tell her no but when I do I often get a face like this...
What's a mom to do?

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Kindergarten


In one month my little boy starts kindergarten. He is very excited. I am too. I almost feel like a bad mom because I am so excited to have my son out of the house for 7 1/2 hours five days a week. I have my anxious moments but they are few. Clyde is a social kid who learns much better from other people than he does his mom. When I try to teach him something it's too hard and he can't remember things from one minute to the next. His pre-school teacher says he's a joy and ready to learn. Kudos to those of you who are able to successfully homeschool. I don't think I'm cut out for it.
I worry that when he gets to school people are going to expect more from him because he's a tall kid. I worry that he'll never learn to hold his pencil correctly. I worry that the other kids will learn to read and he'll still be trying to learn his letters. I worry that he'll get his feelings hurt.
On the plus side going down to one kid during the day sort of seems like a blessing. I may get something done. Maybe I'll be able to get some crafting done and get some stuff sold. Maybe I'll be able to keep the house clean... That's sort of a pipe dream. I know damn well that I am no Martha Stewart.
Either way we will be starting a new era. I think we're all ready for it. I just hope the school is!

Friday, July 23, 2010

What a Great Summer

So sorry that it's been a while. I've been busy with the Farmer's Market and with moving back to Texas. This has been a crazy busy summer but I wouldn't have changed much about it. I may have placed some kids in individual plastic bubbles from time to time but other than that it was pretty amazing.

I had a great time working with Lauren. She is so organized and has so many awesome ideas that it really inspired me. If you haven't checked out her way cool stuff you need to. http://lmlowel.etsy.com Plus you can check out our joint Facebook page under Funky & Feisty and loved again.

The Farmer's Market was a truly incredible experience. Sure there were days when I barely broke even but I almost always at LEAST broke even. Babysitters were probably my biggest expense. I met wonderful people and got to talk... A LOT!

There was Sarah AKA Hula Hoop girl who makes and decorates her own hula hoops. I now have one and have been trying to learn how to use it. It's tons of fun and I swear that one day I will get the hang of it. You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SarahLousCustomHoops Ya know ya wanna...

Sarah hared a space with her brother CJ who is an incredible photographer. You can check him out here http://cjzimmerman.carbonmade.com/ I hope you do check out his stuff. I really liked it and I'm picky. ;)

Then there were the Medici girls and all their delicious bread. I will miss that bread but if you are in the Bloomington/Normal area you can find them at the Farmer's Market. You can also visit the wonderfully tasty Medici restaurant and Bakery in Uptown Normal.


Not at the Farmer's Market but equally amazing is The Zoo Lady. She is an INCREDIBLE face painter. The kids begged for their faces to be painted whenever she was near. Of course I gave in.

I also had a chance to meet Emily Busha who makes the cutest ever PJs and library bags you've ever seen. She dyes her own shirts and then creates great designs for them using freezer paper. I swear the girl must never drink caffeine! The library bags are sturdy... We've tested ours out... retro cool and have two pockets inside; one for your library card and one for Change for your library fines. You can check out her blog which has a link to her etsy shop that I think is empty right now... Work on that Emily! ;) http://apronwings.typepad.com/apron_wings/


I also got to meet Monica Innis. She makes beautiful jewelry. She uses great colors and everything is unique. I don't think my descriptions can do her work justice but you can check out her etsy shop http://www.innisms.etsy.com and see for yourself!

I am going to miss all of this about IL but I will be back next summer and will hopefully have bigger and better things planned.
Please at least give these folks a nod. They all work really hard to create some really fun and amazing things. They wouldn't be on here if I didn't really respect them and what they do!