It's wahoo time!

I am sooo looking forward to a weekend of low-key activities... Although I've been at work every day this week, my heart hasn't been in it as I wasn't feeling 100% and there have been some heavily obnoxious folks to deal with... I'm hoping that as I make my escape, I can catch up on some rest, kick this cold, go for some long walks with my d.o.gees, and generally recover.

I have a few projects to work on this weekend, some design stuff, and lots of reading... I'm looking forward to curling up by the fire and just reading, reading, reading. I have to go look at my stack and see what's next on the list. 'Little Bee' is shaping up to be quite the page turner, so I'll be finished with that lickety split.I never did read the Lacemakers of Glenmara, or the one Amy lent me... So there are two right off the top.

I have been so busy, so thankful, but wow, this weekend will be a good one to stop and catch my breath. Everything is going along swimmingly, so a moment to pause and get organized will be good.

Back in the game on Monday... Hope everyone has a restful and happy weekend...

Another book read! # 6 & 7 for 2010

so, I've been tremendously busy over at Songbird, which I am very glad of. I love having lots of projects, but it does mean that I have less time in the evenings to read and do random little projects... I did pick up The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley at the dollar store last week though - I ran the kids to gymnastics and didn't have anything to keep me busy while I was waiting for their lesson to finish... The dollar store! How random!

At any rate, this was a great book. There's a feeling associated with it - one that I can't quite put my finger on - subversive? haunting? echo-y? I don't know. It was a really great book, though - one about difficult relationships and the connections between people, sometimes inappropriately. It is lyrical, and beautifully written. I loved it.

I am midway through Little Bee, by Chris Cleave; a present to me for going to Costco with my husband last Sunday. The back of the book does not tell you what the book is about, but it does say that you just need to read it. And then you will recommend it to your friends. And so far, I would agree with that statement. It is, so far, the tale of two women's lives, lives that become inexplicably intertwined. It is rich and colorful, and entertaining and happy and sad all at the same time. I think so far that in the end I will love it.

Magical Superpowers I wish I had...

Guitar playing like a rock star. Not even like David Gilmour, but maybe enough that I could be like, "Oh look! a campfire. let's strum, shall we?"
Hitting high notes and yodeling (lower register is fine, but MAN! Those high notes get me. Plus, who doesn't want to yodel? Isn't that how you call mountain goats?)
The ability to condense a meal into a pill so I spent less time eating and had more time for crafting
race car driving skills. Like super mad skills, in the rain, around corners... Not in my regular car on the street, but like on a race track... I want to be a race car driver. alas, my lack of depth perception sadly misinforms my abilities. which is to say, unless it is broad daylight and/or it is not raining and/or I know exactly where I'm going, I don't get behind the wheel.
I wish that html and css coding were like English to me...
I wish that I could eat as much cheese as I wanted without eventually thinking about rennet and how much fat cheese has in it.
I would like to be able to start and stop my dreams like my mother can. She can wake up and then go back to bed and think about the dream she wanted to continue, and then continue it when she falls back asleep.
Speaking of dreams, the portion of my dreams where I dream in German (I don't speak German), write poems (I always forget them) and solve tremendously difficult math problems, I wish those were true for my waking life as well.

I'm sure there are more, but that's what I have so far.

*whew* I sure am glad Blogger autosaves these drafts, cause Firefox just shut down and I thought this thing was lost forevah! 

Tenley, I'm glad you're an Oregonian!

Dear Tenley:

You're awesome.

Jake is a tool, but that's ok, because you're a class act.

xoxo,

Emily

Um, excuse me?

Yes, Hello, Dear Desk Delivery Fairies? I am really hungry right now. And even though the rules of Game On state that I have up to one and a half more hours before I lose points for not eating, I am starving. And I already ate all the food that was here for today at work. And last time, when I made my list, it took like, two days before you brought me the fawns that I wanted. And I really appreciate that. But if you could please deliver me some delicious Indian food? Cause I would really love some veggie pakoras, some dosas with curry and chutney, some aloo gobi, and some dala and maybe some chana masala? I'm not that picky... Swagat or Bombay Cricket Club, maybe? And then for dessert I'd like to low brow it and order a dozen churros from the Costco stand.

What's that about my pants? No, no... I won't be wearing these to eat. No, I'll put on my buffet pants with the drawstring waistband. Mmm hmmm. And some furry slippers. Yeah, the ones with pom poms.

Uh, no, it won't matter for Game On. Because I will take it as my meal off. And what a meal it will be... As long as you hurry...

thanks.

xoxo

e

Worst Mother. Ever.

My response back to someone who thought she was Worst Mother of the World... For anyone who is a mother, I send you lots of love and humor to get through your day... 

"Welcome to the club!!! I, too, am a card carrying member of the Worst Mother in the World Club… For me it occurs when I do things like RIP my daughter away from a friend’s house because she has dark circles under her eyes and looks like a zombie, and then when she is WAILING like a frigging banshee, I tell her to knock. That. Shit. Off. And then she slams my car door into a metal cart and slams it shut again and then stomps off down the driveway only to have me YELL at her (like the white trash I am) that she can just STAY OUTSIDE UNTIL SHE CAN BEHAVE and then I go inside cursing and I’m sure it sets a really good example… But whatever. I’ll just owe her some more money when she’s damaged and has to go to psychotherapy every day when she’s 18. Aside from those moments where I would like to strangle her, I find myself falling prey to the everpresent voice of MOTHER TO A DAUGHTER in my head – “Don’t dismiss her. Make sure she has good self esteem. Make certain to encourage her for her intelligence, not just her looks and humor… Make sure you take time to tell her you love her each day. Don’t just rush through and tuck her in – talk to her. Connect with her.” It’s all quite exhausting. 

Meanwhile, Andrew vacillates between being an angel child to a devil child. Seriously. Do you HAVE ADD? STOP BOUNCING!! He’s completely nuts. He doesn’t listen. And then he’s supremely attentive, empathetic to dogs and birds (?!?) and is sooo freaking smart about science and random things. He’s four. But Jim thinks there’s something seriously wrong with him because he won’t do what Jim tells him to do (uh, refer back to “He’s four,” dude…) So much of my time spent as Worst Mother also counts as Worst Wife as I defend my child against his Naval Papa (do what I say because I said so doesn’t work for smart children. Really? They’re not sheep.)

Jace is the apple of his teacher’s eye. He’s well behaved, polite, smart, and funny (the other day he came up the stairs after getting ready for bed, but just took off his pants, left his socks and shoes on, and said to me, completely deadpan “I think I’ll go for a run”). Which is formidable, considering that when he first moved in he was a completely insulated, serious  child. So yay! One out of three on the right track! (I am optimistic for Madeline, as she seems to do better in the even years. Ten is her beacon of hope right now.)

Sigh. My house is covered in muddy splatters because our golden retriever is insane and likes to pogo at the fence and scare the bejeezus out of people walking by (except Grandma, whom I suspect just tells the dogs to shut the hell up)… Let’s see… As if that weren’t enough, I keep inventing projects like blogs and art and being a semi-intrusive busy body in my friend’s store where I have a tiny little space (where I sell my art that I talk about on my blog. :P)…

Oh. And I’m trying to eat lots of vegetables because my ass is also quite impressive, and one of these days my hair might be long enough to cover it, a la Crystal Gayle… But now that I was a dumbass and decided to get a perm (don’t ask) it will be LATER rather than sooner. I really shot myself in the foot on that one.

So embrace it. Think of what funny ladies we will be when we are old. We won’t be like the ones who have too much money and not enough chocolate. We’ll look back and say, “Did I resort to a beer every now and then in order to keep from killing my children? Yes. Yes, I did. Did I forgo buying into the intellectual snobbery in my profession in order to remain a normal and relatively pleasant person? Yes. Yes, I did. Did I muddle through and raise relatively well adjusted children because I refused to buy into their whiny ass emotional blackmail, thereby creating children of character and integrity? Yes. Yes, I did. And did I end up kicking ass and taking names as an awesome wife, mother, and friend? Yes.”

Carry on.

Lots of love.

PPS: Mother says “The true measure of a successful mother is one who raises children who can eventually pay for their own therapy.” I thought it was always that you raise children whom you’d eventually like to be friends with some day… There’s a bit of discretion there…"

Wow. What a morning!

A friend sent this picture to me - I *knew* Pierre and Fred were awesome. See? I'm on it! (except see, I'm sort of biased, but Pierre and Fred are way more handsome than those two fellas below... The two guys below look kind of dinosaurish.)

 

Yesterday, when I picked up the boy from school he'd run up the stairs on the slide and smacked his cheek... This morning it progressed into a full fledged shiner... Oh, Baby Bat! 

 

 

 

The desk that I'm working on cured over night and the crackle finish created using Amy's suggestion of an Elmer's Glue layer worked like a charm! I mixed some left over cerulean blue paint that I had from the DFW project in with the leftover semi-gloss white paint from our remodel. 

Free desk + leftover paint + 2 bottles of Elmer's Glue ($4) = AWESOME... 

 

I'm going to add some vintage glass knobs and Songbird it up a little - you like that? I just made a new verb... To Songbird... It means to make something completely beautiful with the addition of a little rock and roll, vintage, Victorian, gothic and circus elements... Oh yes. 

I am so completely excited about the pieces I've found over the last couple of days. A wrought iron bookshelf, the desk, a Mad Men-esque curved front metal bookshelf and an awesome fruit crate shelf... Yee Haw! All for free! It's raining deals! 

Finally, my sweet doggie didn't want me to leave this morning. At one point she was laying right smack in front of the door, and when I left she reluctantly sat up to let me pass. Perhaps some quality snuggle time is in order this evening.When we got out to the car, I saw this sweet little guy gathering materials for a nest! Springtime is just around the corner.