1. Foot. My joint in my toe, which I mentioned once before, is inflamed with arthritis. It has gone back and forth between improving and getting worse for the last month, so the doctor suggested we get an orthotic to go in my shoe, that would relieve any pressure on that joint and allow it to heal.

   My insurance doesn’t cover this orthotic. It is not cheap.

   Damn insurance.

2. Next up! The AC on our main level stopped with the making of nice and chilly. One hour visit later, and there goes two car payments.
3. Next up! Last week, James’ 2006 Subaru Impreza STI died on his way to 5 Guys. A tow to our auto shop and TWO DAYS OF THEM LOOKING AT IT confirmed our worst fears that it was the engine, which would probably have to be rebuilt.

   So, obviously, it’s still under warranty, it only has 55k miles on it and is only 3 years old. Subaru to the rescue, right?

   So then we had it towed to Subaru, who are now saying scary things like, “we must have all maintenance records/this air filter looks like it has never been changed” in order to determine if they will cover it under warranty.

   First of all, we bought it used, so we don’t even have all the records, and second of all, James has done some oil changes himself. They could feasible put up a major stink.

   If they do not cover it under warrantee, an engine rebuild could run around 3 mortgage payments. Oh, and if the turbo is shot as well, that’s another month’s worth of daycare right there.

   Also? That first tow? To our shop? Turns out, we only had roadside assistance for MY car, but not for HIS car. So that was some $$$ right there. (I immediately remedied that situation, so the next tow was partially covered and much less painful.)

4. Oh and lucky us, we have birds nesting in our roofline, in two different places. I fear some of them have gotten into the attic. This has actually been going on for a while, but I’m just now getting around to getting someone to take care of it. Which I’m sure is going to cost some bucks. Urgh.
5. And finally? We’re going on vacation to Oregon in 2 weeks. Many things are already paid for (like the airplane tickets, for example) but many other things are not. Right before you go on vacation is never a good time to tighten up the purse-strings.

So… Last night, all of this was kind of weighing on James and I. The car stuff especially. If it weren’t for some good friends loaning us the use of their 3rd car, we’d be totally screwed, transportation wise. And if we have to pay for an engine rebuild ourselves? Makes you want to cry.

“Kids,” we called out, “how do you feel about going out and getting a job?”

They weren’t too ecstatic about the idea. We let them know college might not be in the cards after mommy and daddy paid for all this crap.

After moaning a lot and uncurling myself up from the fetal position, I remembered Heather, from dooce.com, when she and Jon had to face the massive bill for replacing their entire sewer line. She concocted, and I quote, the Oh My God Our Plumbing’s Fucked Cookie.

Well, last night, I concocted the Oh My God Our Car (Might Be) Fucked Cocktail.

First, some ice in a very very big glass. Big. Very big. Let’s go skimpy on the ice, shall we?

Then some vodka.

That doesn’t look like enough. MORE VODKA.

OK. That should make my liver stand up and take notice. Now a little kahlua.

And finally, we top it off with milk.

Hmm. It needs something. Something spectacular. I mean, this is a spectacular amount of money we’re hemmoraghing around here.

Ahh, much better. Hot pink BENDY STRAW!!

And there it is. The “We Might Be Fucked” cocktail.

If it turns out, we’re not fucked? I’ll make a “Yay, We’re Not Fucked!” version.

-amy, who just KNOWS her sister is going to read this and cringe every time she sees the f word. Sorry, Ellen.
-amy isn’t even going to THINK about the possibility of her dad reading this. The one who’s worst curse is, “Oh, SCRUD.”

Darn cute:

Baby Blanket

Big Footed Bunny with reversable dress (this shot was still in progress, never got a completed shot):
Dress on side A

Dress on side B

Granola (it was OK at best):

And with no photo accompaniment,
Monkey Bread

Potato soup (it was ok, but got much better as it aged)

Beef Stew (Still have some of this in the fridge, and it was Yum, despite some technical difficulties)

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (orange, with jack-o-lantern faces painted on) (I guess I could still take some photos of these) (for some reason everytime I eat one, I think of our friend Kurt, who loves anything with pumpkin – Kurt, you would love these)

I also have a bunch of things on deck that I am aching to get started on.

I need, nay, I REQUIRE myself to make chili in the very near future, along with some cornbread.

Butternut Squash soup

Butternut squash risotto (this one may be dropped)

Braided Challah Bread

Picture Day dress for Jocelyn
I saw this adorable corderoy jumper at Kolh’s yesterday that I am going to try to make for Jocelyn. It was a dark chocolate brown with a pink long sleeved knit shirt underneath. Pink and brown always make me swoon, so sweet. We’ll see if this actually gets accomplished. There was another one next to it, pink with cute little princess embroidery embellishments along the bottom.

It is also at Kohls.com.

Very sweet. I am not going to repeat my mistake from last year and put her in a busy print for picture day. NO SIR.

Circle Skirt for Jocelyn
This, I actually did for Jocelyn last night, using the Fold Over Elastic that Angry Chicken has been going on about. Now, with normal elastic, you measure the waist and then make the elastic 2 inches shorter. I cut the elastic about 5 inches shorter with some trepidation, and it is still too loose. I should have just not worried about the actual measurement and just stretched it as tight as I could while sewing it on. There will be sewing and adjustments made tonight. I also don’t like the look of the full circle of the skirt, so I may be fiddling around with using only half a circle as well.
Final note on this skirt, I cut into some beloved fabric that I had been saving forever, but looking at the HUGE STACK OF PINK fabric, I shook it off and cut (the fabric I used is the top right in the picture in that link). As my mother always says, there will always be cute fabric, no need to hoard. I will be showing this skirt off when I finally work out the kinks.

*UPDATE* SKIRT COMPLETED! Here it is!

Picture taken last night, immediately after finishing

Taken this morning.

Hopefully James got some good pictures with the camera, as these iphone photos leave much to be desired. Still, I am VERY proud of myself, as this sucker pretty much came directly out of my head, no patterns involved (though some tulle inspiration probably came from the dress I saw in Kohl’s).

And finally, I have ordered a bunch of stuff to start beading jewelry again. I say “again” like I used to do it last week, but I haven’t done anything with beads since high school, when me & friends used to string beads onto fishing line, melt the knot with a lighter and call it good. I have actually ordered some tools and got a book and even am going to take a CLASS! My initial order should have been here by now, but due to my recent ordering of fabric on the internet for my mother, I accidently put down an address that was half my own, and half my mom’s, for my bead order. Who knows where it is now, DOH. So this, “Did it come did it come??!” ending with deflation and RE-ordering has made me super excited to GET GOING ALREADY!

- amy will string you along with a trinket or two

I saw this one, and if Jocelyn hadn’t wanted it, well, let’s just say it was coming home one way or another. SO CUTE!!

strawberry shortcake house

I love this, I love this, I LOVE THIS! I remember being super jealous of my best friend neighbor Heidi, who had just about every strawberry shortcake doll that was out at the time. I LOVE that they’ve started putting these dolls out again. Jocelyn has a Strawberry (with a scooter, and the kitty, Custard) and a Blueberry, both of whom have lost their clothes and whose hair is all tangley. Strawberry was MIA, but Blueberry has been having a fine, naked time in her new house. I must say, best $2 every spent!

Our $2 new acquisition did however, cost us more money than that, because by Sunday, I had decided we needed, nay MUST HAVE AT THIS MOMENT, more strawberry shortcake dolls in the house. I got a Crepes Suzette doll for Jocelyn, and a Lemon Meringue doll for me. I have just 2 things to say: These little gals certainly are pricey, at $8.99 each. Secondly, I love that they are actually GIRLS. Not women with inhuman measurements, not girls trying to look like women, not… (dare I say it? I probably shouldn’t say it, oh hell I’ll just say it) dolls who look more like WHORES dressed like they are trying to make a buck or two on a Saturday night. I am happy to spend some money on Strawberry Shortcake and try to direct any obsessions in the making in that direction rather than Princess Disney, Bratz, Barbie, or whatever other skanky ho doll comes around. (And yes, she has already barbies, disney princesses, and bratz, and I also had barbies galore.. they’re not banned in this household, I am just more than happy to point my innocent 4 year old in a more girl-like direction.)

Ethan also lucked out, I just am not as effervescent about his purchases, because they don’t hold childhood nostalgia for me. He picked up a pretty nifty helicopter, which has a hook on the bottom, and a cool propeller that spins, as well as a firetruck that does a variety of things that I can’t quite follow, despite his showing me time after time.

James came home with a borrowed Canon 70-200 f4 IS L lens (which for the non-photography knowledgeable, DROOOOOOOOL! We’re talking over a grand on this baby.) So, the kids and I set up a little photo shoot. I need to build a light box!

The lens was very nice, but I’m still quite happy with our lens, the Sigma 50-150 f2.8. No image stabilizer, but it’s a bit faster which should even out. I think the Canon is a hair nicer with the IS and the longer zoom then ours, but I feel no need to lament our choice. The Sigma was a little more than half the cost of the Canon, it’s a great lens, especially to our very amateur eyes!

Jocelyn wasn’t feeling well yesterday morning. I took her temperature which was normal, and was coughing it up to a case of the grumpies, when she threw up. I was not in the room and I have a feeling it was more like a “spit up” situation than throw up, but I couldn’t in good conscious send her in after that, so she stayed home and I tried to work anyway.

Ethan was very grumpy at having to go to school when his sister got to stay home, so I promised I’d pick him up at school (instead of going to daycare afterward). Jocelyn and I brought their money jars, which had several weeks allowances socked away in them, and after we picked him up from school, we went to target – me, to forward my obsession with finding the perfect new dishes to buy, and them, to while away the time pointing to something that costs $80, and asking me, “Do I have enough money for that?” before settling on something they actually can afford.

I have NO IDEA why (ok maybe a little idea why), or even HOW Jocelyn spotted this, but she choose a fake hair extension. A bright PINK hair extension.

I had no idea how this fake hair is supposed to be applied, but I treated it like a very awkward pony tail elastic and muddled through anyway.

Ethan chose a light saber.

It does not have any batteries, and so doesn’t make any sounds, but that just means he gets to make the sounds himself.

He choose red, despite my pointing out that that’s the bad guys color, but he insisted (red being his favorite color).

Yes, these are taken still at Target, because Ethan had his toy open the SECOND the cashier rang it up and handed it to him, and Jocelyn insisted on getting her pink hair on.

And yes. I let her wear a tutu to target. I don’t usually allow dress up clothes outside the house, but for some reason I let her. Maybe because she’s getting to big to get away with this much longer.. might as well let her do it now while she can! (I’d like to go to Target in a tutu! Am I too big?)

After they picked out their toys, I made the mistake of walking them through the halloween section, where they decided to be NEW characters for halloween instead of the same characters as last year. DOH! Jocelyn decided she wants to be a witch (though this actually would be easy to do at home, and actually, I think I may have turned her towards COWGIRL, which I would love to make for her again) and Ethan wants to be Darth Vader. (“I already have the light sabre for it!”)

Of course, there was much moaning and groaning when I dragged them through housewares. The dishes were a bust. Although I really like this pattern, but I don’t like the shape of the dishes at all. Too traditional.

These are made by Corelle. I like a -lot- of the Corelle patterns, but finally ruled the brand out completely. No matter the pattern, the bowls only have a colored stripe around the rim. I want my bowls to look pretty too! So no Corelle.

These ones I liked too, but were on clearance and didn’t have everything available.

I especially like how I could buy them all separately, because we don’t use mugs, and invariably when we purches the 16 piece place settings for 4.. we have shelves of mugs we never use. And if we’re REALLY unlucky… saucers too. Blech.

All this culminated in a huge internet dish-hunt last night (interrupted by Jocelyn REPEATEDLY getting out of bed, long past her bedtime grrr) which if you’re curious, you can see on flickr. However, I just have to say that I LOVE THESE DISHES SO MUCH:

And look! No mugs! Sadly, they break all my rules of what my new dishes must entail (no melamine being the first rule, I’m sorry melamine, but we NEED to be able to microwave our dishes, and you don’t let us! At least, not w/out experiencing 3rd degree burns.¹), but if they ever show up in target stores, they may find their way home ANYWAY.)

Here is my #1 favorite right now, and they’re on sale, so I could get 12 place settings for cheap! However, since they’re on sale …. there are no serving dishes available in this pattern. Doh. So now I’m wondering if I should go with some other pattern that I can also get platters and serving bowls in? Our kitchen is always kind of woefully unequipped when it comes to serving dishes (even serving utensils) so I’m thinking yes, I should – especially when the “runners up” so to speak are also super awesome.

My #1 favorite: Mikasa Autumn Frost

Runner up: Mikasa Red Berries

I love the red berries, but I would prefer a squarish plate. This might be a deal breaker for me. This pattern however, has a CRAZY amount of serving dish choices, so I have to consider it:

Another runner up: Mikasa Wispy Floral

Isn’t it pretty?? I really do like this one a lot. Some serving dishes, but not many. This is probably my #2 choice after Autumn Frost.

I have found it amusing how my aesthetic runs from super simple, minimal design and clean lines (all these mikasa patterns for example) and the crazy psychodelic patterns with super saturated colors (the choices above from Target). I’m not going to think about what that says about me as a person. Something we don’t need to pick at, right?

I’m definitely not going to rush this, as even if these choices go away… well, there’s sure to be some more awesome patterns out soon.

- amy spent the night dreaming of dishes, and getting clawed by a kitty

We ditched DirecTV. We just couldn’t not use a tivo DVR, it’s as simple as that. The thought of having to go through a menu screen that wasn’t tivo’s? AGONY. So, right now, we have little to no HD shows, but hopefully that will change in the next few months. We had a lifetime subscription with our original (non-working) Tivo, that we transfered to the HD Tivo box using a very old grandfather “you can transfer lifetime subscriptions one time!” clause.

Our other two tivos we bought about 2 or maybe even 3 years ago. Series 2, I think 40 hours. They’ve served us pretty well. Until one day in December when our family room Tivo showed the blue Tivo screen of death. It would cycle on and show a “we’re trying to see about the problem screen” and then turn off and repeat, over and over. I called Tivo and sure enough, it was a dead hard drive.

At the time, they offered us a new box for around $150. We checked the only place for all your geeky tivo hard drives and tricked out tivos (weaknees.com) and found we could get a new hard drive for around $120. We opted to not upgrade, move our bedroom Tivo (not used THAT much) to the family room and planned to buy a new hard drive sometime in the future.

I neglected, however, to stop service on the dead Tivo, so today, in anticipation of that $10 charge to my credit card at the beginning of next month, I called up Tivo to cancel service.

They offered me a $69 upgrade to a dual tuner 80 hour Tivo! New, not refurbished!

I quickly called James, he agreed it was a great deal, and now, we have a new Tivo which will be shipped to us soon. We’ll probably move the family room box back up to our bedroom where it will not be used that often (I use it to watch Friends reruns while I fold laundry), and put the new dual tuner tivo in the family room.

I just love Tivo. Our first Tivo box was purchased for Christmas in 1999 for $500, with an additional $300 going for the lifetime subscription (which is still earning it’s money back today). $800 for a dual income couple with no kids was still a lot of money, but I must say out of all the useless gadgets that have come through this household (I’m talking about you, cat litter box that was supposed to scoop the poop for me) TIVO HAS BEEN THE BEST.

The end.

1 – big footed bunny (from Hillary Lang‘s Put Together pattern) finished up christmas eve for Jocelyn.
2 – Ethan colored in and cut out this angel at school, then one morning a few days ago, took the original, traced it, colored it in, cut it out all by himself (actually, before James and I were even up out of bed) — so that his sister would have one. how sweet is that!
3 – Jocelyn playing on the new Leapster L-Max (a dora game)
4 – Ethan playing with his new CAT excavator, with daddy looking on
5 – Christmas stockings – re-hung after all the hullabaloo
6 – general christmasness all over the living room floor

Well, Christmas day is almost over, and aside for a little bumpiness Christmas eve, it’s been very enjoyable. Everyone is thrilled with their presents. The hit for Jocelyn was the Woody and Jessie duo – upscaled even the major present, a wooden dollhouse with furniture & people. For Ethan, he really has played with everything, but the big two, excavator and firetruck, are definite hits. I am pleased that the wooden blocks and acorns that Santa put in the stockings were met with glee and not indifference (and acorns were handy for scooping and dumping) along with the watercolors and fancy edge scissors.

I haven’t really had the Christmas spirit the last few days. You know, that feeling of wonder and warm fuzzies. I really love the warm fuzzy christmas feeling, so I tried to get it back, but I guess being royally bitchy chases it away for good.. Cynicism and childlike wonder just don’t mix, especially if you throw in a really sore throat and hacking cough.

But then Christmas morning comes, and watching these kids’ little faces light up with excitement, hearing them shout, “SANTA ATE ALL THE COOKIES! AND DRANK THE MILK,” watching them be so kind to each other, “Thank you for the present, Mommy/Daddy/Jocelyn/Ethan!” and the warm cinnamon roll aroma floating throughout the house – I didn’t need any childlike wonder, because there was plenty of it to go around.

Ethan, as I tucked him in tonight: “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Jocelyn as I tucked her in tonight: “Jessie doesn’t want to sleep in her hat, mommy.”

Merry Christmas!

Mailed about $5 worth of stuff today overnight that cost many many times that. But what’s the fun of christmas presents not arriving on christmas? NONE AT ALL! So oh well.

Jocelyn turned up a 103.9 fever yesterday at school. James went and fetched her and took her to the doctor who confirmed my fear, strep. I’m glad we got it diagnosed quickly. I’m home with her today, and no fever, so that is nice. We’ve been wrapping presents, watching movies, baking cookies, watching movies, packing boxes to ship, watching movies, and also, some watching movies. I figure she’s sick! So it’s ok! We’ve gone through Cinderella, Toy Story 2 (hello! JESSIE!! The sequel is the obvious choice here!) and now we’re on Totoro. We haven’t seen Totoro in such a long time and I just ADORE it. Little girls being girls, and wonderful fantastical myth creatures. I 3> Totoro. I have an idea now to make a little black soot sprite softie. It would be super easy, flat with pokies and white, round eyes.

Our house is quite the wreck, and I know that James will come home with disappointment in his eyes that I didn’t manage to tidy ANYTHING up, so I’m going to go have a go at that now.

I WISH OH I WISH I had taken some pictures of the wooden clothespin doll cuteness I sent to my nieces Clara and Avery, but I could not find the camera. Woe is me. I’ll be making more for Jocelyn (and myself) so pictures are still in the crazymokes future.

I am feeling OK, my toes are cold, and I have realized that probably some of the funk? Reason #4, if you will? Was the messy messy house. So I really need to tackle that to fill in the hole, so to speak, rather than fall back in it.

I’m off to sort piles of magazines and mail.. wish me luck.

- amy sings, “let’s go walking you with me!!”

Yeah, I thought that’d be nice too!

Unfortunately, *I’M* the one running this blog so there’ll be none of that HERE, mister! and missy!

I was looking through the archives and it struck me that hey, I did used to be funny! And even kind of prolific! And you know what else? I took pictures of stuff! And of kids! And then I’d post those pictures here! HULLY GEE! I think that the 2006 Amy was more bloggy* than the 2007 Amy, but we’ll see how the 2008 Amy does.

Let’s see if the 2007 Amy can pull some blogginess out of her ass already even though 2008 Amy is just hovering right over there around the corner waiting to take over.

*bloggy: the turning of something mundane into interesting blog reading.

THE MOLD

HA! You thought you were saved, weren’t you? Yeah, me too, but this is about all I’ve got. HOW in the world does that mold get UNDER the caulk? Around the shower door the caulk isn’t actually white caulk (like it is in the corners) but CLEAR, and so as I’m showering, I can look right through this clear caulk and see this dots of black mold. Black mold is much scarier than just the orange normal shower grout mildew, which you can just scrub right off with James’ and old toothbrush. Black under-the-clear-caulk mold can’t be reached. So how in the world did it get there? But what is even scarier is the WHITE caulk in the corners? It’s turning a kind of dull gray. Which makes me thing that the black mold has infiltrated over there too, and not just in dot-form, but in “LET’S GET IN THERE, MOVE MOVE MOVE!” kind of form. The sad thing is when this house was built and they tell you, “write down all the issues you find and we’ll come fix it after 30 days, I WROTE DOWN MANY ISSUES ABOUT OUR SHOWER. I have this belief that someday, I will be an expert tile-layer, and in my efforts to make that dream a reality, I’ve watched many a tile-laying show in the DIY and HG networks. I examined the grout and saw pin holes. I looked at the wall and thought it looked like it was curving (and if the wallboard that the tile is on is curving, doesn’t this mean that proper cement backerboard wasn’t used? They didn’t just lay tile over drywall, did they? And if so, does that mean one day my shower is going to just fall apart?) I saw globs in the caulk, and I thought the shower leaked out onto the floor a little bit and I WROTE ALL THESE THINGS DOWN.

But they brushed me off. They said, there’s no curve, and they said, pinholes are fine, and they said, your shower isn’t leaking.

So now, 3 years later, the builder long gone (ie: no longer available for me to give lists to and for them to scoff at me and not fix things) there are black spots under my clear caulk and my white caulk is going gray. And the wall still looks all curvey to me. OH, and the leak? The molding just outside the shower in my bathroom has mold growing behind it from the leak.

*sniff*

So now I think, ‘I’m going to have to redo that caulking,’ which I can do (not as well as I do in my dreams, though of course) and have done (ditto) but I have this fear. This fear of stripping away the gray caulk and finding grossness beyond my wildest dreams. Grossness that I fear has crept behind the tiles themselves and that once I strip that caulk away I will then have to hire someone to come in and re-tile my entire shower, and they will shake their heads and state in a southern drawl, “these walls are all curvey, they didn’t use the proper backerboard! sorry miss, we’re in for a bit more than we estimated..” And since I wouldn’t want to pay all that money just to put in the same boring 4″ white tiles that the builder used, I would have to pick beautiful new tiles and do the bath surround as well and of course the floors and then we would simply have to paint as well and the sinks could use updating and suddenly I’d be digging into the home equity loan for a new bathroom and we would still be paying it off three years later when the white caulk in my shower corners would start getting suspiciously gray…

Do you see my dilemma here? Obviously, I need to just leave it alone. If I do recaulk, I’ll be instituting a “dry off the shower with your towel before you exit” rule.

Was that bloggy enough you think? I even have some pictures for tomorrow. Hold your breath.

ps – james has a final today. everyone go wish him luck!

new banner

First off, this was actually in my target cart, and I DID NOT BUY IT. I got to the checkout, and put it aside. NOW THAT’S WILLPOWER PEOPLE.

FLOR at Target is just so mean. I mean, they KNEW it would be SO HARD TO RESIST. Poopyheads. *pout*

The aforementioned Amy Ruppel print over at ReForm School.

the white 5×5 expedit bookcase from Ikea. I’ve been watching for this sucker on craigslist for the last 4 months and there’s been birch, there’s been black-brown, there’s been 4×4 but NO 5X5 IN WHITE. I admit, I would own this now if James hadn’t have talked me down off the ledge. I can wait. It will show up on craigslist. I CAN WAIT– she says testily.

Now if you have a 5×5 white expedit bookcase and are ready to move it along.. please contact me!

Oh and then there’s the fabric…

I add it to my cart, but then never check out.

even though i want them..

nay.. I NEED THEM..

I MUST HAVE THEM!!

ARGH!

And finally,

LOOK AT THE SWEETNESS!!

I am kind of sort of hamming it up with all the other stuff, but I seriously had to bite my tongue down.. HARD.. to not order these. And I may give in. Alicia from Posie Gets Cozy is selling these sweet “Santa Lucia and Attendants
Clothespin Dollmaking” kits for only $20, and they would a) be awesome fun to make with the kids and b) look great on my mantelpiece (along with my martha stewart snowy village from michaels *cough*) I am aching for it a little bit. I only have a little while longer to waffle about it though, before they’re gone for good – so you go get some now, won’t you?

The sad thing is there is more that I have managed to not buy that I’m not telling you. Some things which sound kind of crazy, like polyfill in bulk. It’s hard, but I managed to not buy it.

I just want credit for my amazing will power for these things! Is that so much to ask??

that is all.

-amy is a huge talent. she’s kind of a big deal**

*a SKRUVSTA chair off of craigslist for $50 isn’t major, right? RIGHT? RIGHT?!!? I need it to put my yvestown cover pattern to use! Which I’ll of course need to buy fabric for! At least the pattern was purchased some time ago.

**isn’t that guy on Project Runway just WEIRD?! I can’t tell whether I love him or hate him!