Jason set off for the UK today at 1:30 pm (from our driveway that is). He got so emotional leaving us, I was quite stunned. Maybe I have just gotten so good at hiding my emotions.
(i.e. stoic).

This afternoon I set off to the park with the kids. Of course we can never stay long enough for Ella's liking, but at least we went.

This evening we went to Paradise Park assisted living. Only 3 family from our small group went with two spouses missing (including Jason). But it was good. The residents love to watch the kids and have people come to visit them. Not because they are related, but just because they want to come see them. Ella asked to go potty 3 times (and went each time). Afterwards I went to a video store and she was practically dancing out of her pants asking to go potty. We went, but she had already gone a little in her pants. I hope she doesn't have something wrong, like a bladder infection. Why would she need to go so much? She has actually had a few accidents lately. Miles seems to have an upset stomach. It is giving him a diaper rash! I just hope we don't have any medical emergencies while I am alone!

Luckily my mom is going to come up for a couple days and I can go stay with my parents later in the week if I want.

I finally got the kids to bed. Miles nearly scared everyone out of the video store with his screaming and Ella has been so hyperactive (and didn't have a nap today besides the 15 min drive to the assisted living home). She also does this annoying thing with her tongue. First she is constantly licking her lips, second she always has her tongue out of her mouth and it is always twitching around. I don't know why, but I find this totally annoying, rude and gross. I guess there could be worse things. I guess. Maybe her facination with her tongue will pass.

Well I'm off to watch "Smartest Guys in the Room", an Enron documentary to compliment the book I'm almost finished reading. Then maybe I'll take a nice long bath with bubble and candles. I sure need it!

...weird. Now Jason gets a taste of what I've described at some neighborhood Bunko parties. I just don't seem to fit in with a lot of the neighbors around here. I feel suspiciously similar to how I felt in high school. I certainly have nothing against any of these people for anything other than the fact that some of them are incessantly making fun of others/gossiping. I'm sure we are now fodder for some of the gossip. Why? I'm not sure. It could be anything. What did we do wrong? Nothing, in my eyes. It could be that we played jazz, when most people like rock or pop (we like rock and pop too, but we like jazz as well and decided to play it). It could be that at one point you could hear our daughter crying about not wanting to go to bed because there was a party going on outside her window. It could be that people discovered a hornets nest in our tree that we never saw because we don't usually have lights pointed at it at night (I heard them talking about it, but not tell us directly). It could be anything, I have learned all of this in high school and more while working in corporate America with some catty people. THE GOOD NEWS IS: while I still don't get it, I DON'T CARE what people think about me/us. We threw a classy party. We played classy music. I set the tables and buffet up nicely. I think we are classy people who don't do much gossiping/making fun of people. We talk more about deep topics than superficial things. Does that make us bad? Not in my eyes. Why are people like this? Only thing I can conclude is A) they are insecure and/or B) they fear that which they don't understand/is different than they are or C) they don't like talking about deep topics. Who knows. It just bothers me that I can't relate to some of these people. I'm not trying to generalize. There were certainly people who talked to us and who were very nice. But there seemed to be a lot of cliques too. I'm so glad I am comfortable with who I am and how I choose to act, even if I don't fit in to every crowd.

Jason is flying to England next week..........

Tonight we are hosting the annual golf outing's block party. It isn't too stressful because we are just responsible for tables/chairs and main dish. The house is pretty clean, so I'm not too worried about that.

did i even think I'd be bonding with my daughter over a baseball game on TV. I'm not a huge sports fan and rarely watch them, especially on TV.

Yesterday Ella and I had a rough spot in the afternoon. I was tired, she didn't want to nap, she was testing me, I needed to get laundry and some cleaning done. It was rough.

After Jason came home, I calmed down a little and Ella ran up to me. I picked her up and she held tight, nestling her head in that place between my shoulder and chest. For several minutes. Meanwhile, Miles turned on the TV (we were in the basement). He doesn't watch TV, he just likes playing with the controls on it. A White Sox game was on. In my exhaustion, I carried Ella over to the glider and sat down with her on my lap. She sat real close and I held her tight. She seemed quite interested in the game, so I started explaining the rules as the game went on. We watched until someone got a home run. It was an unusual bonding activity. I love that we are very close...
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I can hardly believe it, someone pinch me. Ella has pretty much declared herself night time potty trained. From what I have read, one should not expect their child to stay dry through the night necessarily just because they are daytime potty trained. In fact, they say, it can take some children up to five years of age before they are night time trained. I felt no "pressure" to worry about her night time training and kept her in pull-ups. For the last week or so she has consistently stayed dry for naps, so I let her sleep in underwear. Now she is insisting on no pull-ups at night and her daddy bravely (well maybe he wasn't being brave - since I have to deal with any messes in the morning) did not change her into pull-ups for the last 3 nights. She has been dry. So what do we do with all of her pink princess pull-ups? Clearly, I feel, we should definitely keep them around for a while just in case. But Jason thinks we can keep them for Miles. I whole heartedly disagree. I mean, come on, that is totally not fair to the poor guy!

I don't know if I should start putting Miles on the potty just so he won't be scared of it later. That's what I did with Ella starting at 13 months. I sat her on there and sang a song about the potty. I acheived the goal of her never being afraid and also actually kind of enjoying sitting there like mommy does. Oh, I am not ready to potty train another. Luckily there are many months before I should start even worrying too much about it. Right now I have to get Miles to learn that the potty is not a place to play with the water!

Tonight, after all of my recent sewing projects, I finally sewed "Buddy Bear" back together. That is Miles FAVORITE teddy bear. He just loves that thing. The back stitches were coming undone and I was finding stuffing here and there. Ella is not that attached to much of anything really, so it is different to watch how much affection he has towards this bear. I always predict that Miles will be a very special guy, very empathetic and caring and sweet. The girls just better not take advantage of that! I need to make sure to teach him to be wise and strong as well. He is doing SO much better at child care at the Y. He only cries a couple of minutes after I leave. I think it has been really good for him bringing him there. It has been great for Ella too. She just loves going to anything like that and while she's there she enjoys coloring and painting, something we don't do enough of at home.

Well while it is still "early" I am going to go knock off some more pages from my huge book. Geeky me figured out how many pages I'd need to read per day by the due date in order to finish it by then. Hopefully I'll get more than that read each day just to be on the safe side.

This afternoon I made two pillows. This took me about 4 hours. It's those darned bias strips that take so long - that's what you have to make to cover the cording that goes around the outside edges of the pillows. It has to be cut at a diagonal and then sewn on to the cording. There is a complex, but effective method for cutting a large amount of strips.

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Made this window treatment for the kitchen in about 3 hours tonight. It's ok, I'm not 100% satisfied. Well I love the fabric. It has bees on it.
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Jason met me at Loomcraft today to help pick out fabric to re-upholster our chair and a half/ottoman. I was very pleased to find out that he, just like I, loved the place! He said "this is fun". Now he can appreciate why being in there is, for me, like being a kid in a candy store.

I am in complete shock over our bill. I was expecting it to be 3 times what it was. I also got fabric for the basement, guest room and kitchen windows!

The sale is on until the 17th. Is there anything else we need???!!!

to anyone interested in home dec fabric, or hiring me to make window treatments etc....

LOOMCRAFT (=amazing textiles=commercial grade) is having a GINORMOUS sale now. Most fabrics are 50-70% off. I almost had a heart attack trying to figure out reasons I should buy great fabrics I saw at amazing discounts. Didn't buy anything yet, need to discuss fabric for our chair and a half with Jason. But plan to go back tomorrow for that, sheers for the basment windows and maybe fabric for curtains in the guest room.

....

I am terrified. This is usually how I feel before tackling something and usually ending up with success, and then laughing at how terrified I was. I know I want to try my hand at a home based home decorating business (sewing), but I keep making (somewhat legitimate) excuses to wait. Mainly my kids. But why not take on one job at a time and do it during naps and a couple of hours in the evenings?

I was at a party at my friend Gail's house last night. She has her own home decorating sewing business. She was encouraging me to start one. She gave me her card and her flyer to give me an idea of how to get started. She said she would even help me with time estimates and advice.

I dunno, should I start now? There's so much more to it than just sewing. Maybe it's worth a shot.


On another note... all I've eating today is chocolate. No wonder I feel like crap. That and probably lack of sleep. Jason's "Jimmy Legs" not only are keeping me from getting to sleep, but are starting to wake me up from sleep. When he gets up early in the morning, him getting ready wakes me up too. I don't want to sleep in seperate beds... but... I'm suprised I'm not sick from lack of sleep at this point.

Have I mentioned lately that I just ADORE my kids?

Ugh, I need to take my measurements from our chair-and-a-half to figure out how much fabric I need to buy to make slip covers. As much I as I love math, I am not looking forward to this right now.

That's all for now.

Please go here and check it out:

http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/dangers.cfm

especially this:
http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=258

near and dear to my heart as a scuba diver who has enjoyed the reefs in the Carribean and Australia.

I recently asked my friend for some suggestions as to where to find a nice glass bowl for salads. She responded with enthusiasm, as apparently, she has a "bowl fettish". She loves bowls. So eventually she found a great glass bowl at Williams-Sonoma and I did end up buying it.
Today I discovered a new site www.etsy.com where people sell and buy handmade items. I was thinking maybe I can sell some of my millions of pillows there. Also, while looking through the site, I found some pieces from a potter and LOVE her work. Oh gee, should I buy one of her bowls?

Oh yes, forgot to mention, I saw my first episode of 30 days and I loved it. Can't wait for more. It will especially be interesting to see the atheist who moves in with a fundamentalist Christian family. I wish they picked a Christian family that was more representative of the ones I know (and hopefully like myself). But we'll see how it goes. I really like what Morgan Spurlock is trying to do.

Today it seemed like I ran a ton of errands, but I only drop off George's urine sample at the vet (which turned out negative for an infection - so he is peeing all over the newly finished basement for some other reason...), dropped off used baby clothes at Once Upon a Child, did a small bit of grocery shopping, went to the library to return books and to try to renew the one I'm reading (what a hassle!).

After all that, we went to my friends house. Unfortunately their older daughter was acting out because they started to really crack down on bad behaviour and she was rebelling. Also, unfortunately, she scratched Ella's face, so we didn't get to see any more of her the rest of the visit. Ella is fine. Miles and her youngest daughter played together and had so much fun. Miles doesn't have any little friends, so it was good to see.

I just totally love my kids. They are, of course, not perfect, but boy are they good. Ella is a sweetie and Miles is just exploring the world (of our house). Tonight he totally reached up for a hug/hold before bedtime and we spent some time teaching him to say "ball". He did say it a few times. :-) Ella didn't say many words until a bit later (after 18 months) so I wasn't expecting much from him. BUT, he has been so different than Ella is many ways, so who knows!

Tonight we went to the gym. Miles was MUCH better in the child care than he has been and Ella, as usual was great sitting and coloring a coloring sheet. Hope to get there again tomorrow morning.

I just stopped working on a "quilt" I started for Ella's bed a long time ago. It is not real well planned so far. It is kind of patchwork I guess, just a bunch of squares sewn together. I'm not sure what I'm using for a border, or the back, or how I will quilt it. Maybe "stitch in the ditch" or maybe some hearts here and there throughout. I also washed the baby quilt and it didn't fall apart which, to me, is a sign that I did a pretty good job getting it together. So, I'd better finish Ella's quilt first, but I also need to make something for the basement windows and the guest room windows soon.

Oh yes, and I am sore, I think, from my massage on Saturday. Blech. Now I want to go read my book, even though what I really need to do is try to sleep!

I was planning to renew my 700 page library book (The Conspiracy of Fools) because I am only half way through it. You can renew online. Well it won't let me renew. Please don't tell me I have to return it and check it out again later! I just can't! This book is so good, I can't wait to keep reading it! I will go in person tomorrow to see what I can do!

Tonight I headed out to the JCPenney Sale with "additional 15% off already marked down item" on hand. Little did I know, the store was having its own liquidation sale. I somehow convinced the cashier to take my 15% coupon, even though they technically weren't supposed to. I walked away with more than I had planned to buy. I was just going to get some sheet sets for the kids since they were advertised at 13.99 plus coupon. Well, I got them for even less! Plus two blankets (one for each), two throw pillows for out futon in the basement, 4 place mats, 4 cloth napkins, 4 wrought iron (I love wrought iron) napkin rings. What a Sale!

Even though we haven't painted our guest room yet (nor have I decided on a color I like), I hung up the flower photos I just got back from Winkflash. They look ok, I am not ecstatic though. I am nervous that I am not going to put this room together very well. I have a lot of odd pieces to work with and make cohesive (if that is at all possible). Jason hung up a wire system to display Ella's artwork on in the basement in the kids play area. I love it. I am a bit sad though. I had just cleaned up the kids play area really nice. There was so much room. Then Jason's parents so kindly brought over a huge play system of tunnels and rooms and it takes up the whole open space in the room. Well, it is collapsible. So I guess we can put it away and take it out once in a while. I am just overly anal about it I suppose especially with my de-cluttering/simplifying streak.

I'm in that mode/mood again (when am I not?) The kid's area in the basement was a disaster, so I organized it again. All the puzzles were pulled down and the pieces everywhere. I actually liked cleaning that up. It meant doing a lot of puzzles (even though they were tres facile). Now I am wanting to do something with toys and gear that we will no longer need. I think I have concluded that Miles will be our last child. But I did say that if we have a "suprise" pregnancy, I will not be upset at all. And if that happens, we can make do and buy stuff second hand etc... I also want to start getting rid of clothes since this is the case. Ella is only 2 and she has a truck load of clothes in bins in our storage area. At this rate...well there is already not enough room for anymore!! I will call Once Upon a Child to see how long they are taking fall/winter clothes and bring some there, maybe sell some good ones on Ebay and keep a FEW for prosperity. And everything else will go to charity.

Here is Miles in his cutest PJ's (and his Cubs socks)...

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I have a little, yet annoying, headache. Miles has been on a screaming rampage today. I don't think that is the cause of my headache, but the headache does not assist in making me patient with him! The house is a mess and I feel too tired to clean, but I am. Well, I'll get right back to it after this little break. Miles wouldn't sleep today, so I didn't get the nap I so needed. I don't get it. He always takes his nap.

Just when I started feeling good about my weight, the italian dinner last night seemed to pack on 3 lbs instantly. And Jason forgot to take the cake to work today. In the midst of my headache/crankiness/grogginess, I let my guard down and had a piece. What happened to my amazing will power? Yuck! I need to get back on track again.

Now I have "misplaced" the (empty) pack for a prescription, I'm sure Ella put it in some secret hiding place, and I need to get a refill, TODAY! Guess I'll be looking for that too. Yesterday my new earrings were missing and I found them in Jason's running clothes laundry hamper. Thanks again Ella! I need to put my jewelry up higher now...

Jason is running after work. This is one of those days I wish he was not gone. Boo hoo, poor me, I know.

Here is my family and our special guest...my cousin Katie!

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I saw this print for the first time in my life at a flea market. I wish I would have bought it then. Today I saw it (a probably cheaper reproduction) at Michaels when I was buying some frames. I snatched it up! I don't know why, but it makes me feel happy and warm.