twisted blossom

Pixie perfection?

I have gone and done it, and there is no turning back! The pixie hair cut. I have been thinking about this for several years, but just didn't have the guts to do it. When I was a youngster I was not given a choice. Pixie it was, 60's style. I was asked on a regular basis by my long ponytail/pigtail-sporting friends why I wanted to look like a boy. Scarred for life!  Mom was adamant that there was no way she was going to deal with a long head of hair every day. "When I think you are old enough to take care of it by yourself, you can let it grow out." By 4th grade, it was shameful having hair shorter than the heartthrobs I was crushing on, the princes of Tiger Beat magazine: Bobby Sherman, Donny Osmond, David Cassidy, etc. By sixth grade I had shoulder-length hair and I swore I would never, ever have short hair again. Not so. In my early 20's a very bad perm (done by a "professional") burned my hair so badly that it all had to be cut off. Again, I swore never again.  In the past few years I found myself admiring women with close-cropped hair: gutsy, hip, artsy, and above all, confident. Now had I been blessed with a luxurious head of thick, beautiful hair I may have been content, but alas, I was not. I have a head full of fine hair not much thicker than duckling down or cotton candy. It took me until I hit my forties to realize it was never going to get better and I was never going to be a candidate for a Breck commercial. So I gave in and got a bob. I think bobs are cute as can be, but I felt out of sorts. The bob is not me. It is neat and organized and sometimes even conservative. With the bob hairdo I felt a bit off, like I was playing dress-up. The only time I have felt like me in my hair was back in the perm days when my hair was long and wild and permed (and severly damaged, never to be the same again). So here I am, after an amazing cut by the ever-wonderful Ms. Paula, thinking "OH YEAH!" It's totally me! I think I am in love with myself (just for now). I am indeed kicking myself for waiting so long, just as Paula said I would. I feel like me. My husband, who was a tad nervous before the scissoring, loves it, as do both the boys. Whew! I hope when the honeymoon wears off I don't look in the mirror and see my dad or Tracy the lunch lady staring back at me. For now its all about the game, whose hair is the shortest. 

Good intentions

   

I really had such good intentions! I had made serious plans to be here much more frequently, at least 2 times a week. But you know what they say:  "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." I have been keeping quite busy, and when I have not been zipping about these past few weeks I have been trying to get my whirring brain in order. We have been living cross country, car trouble, wind storm and clean up, landscaping at the in-laws, a week of all-day headaches, absess in the mouth, ... Here is a big one I can't get used to: afternoon kindergarten. Good grief, how does one budget their time around that? Seriously, I am having a lot of trouble with that. I have also started working a bit more. For ten years I have worked for my friend, Miss Jacquie, who had a business running estate sales for famlies. That required working on a Saturday when there was a sale. Recently she and her new partner have changed the business to online auctions where the contents of a household are auctioned online. Wow! This has really taken off for them. I had been working just the previews and the pick-ups, but as of a few weeks ago I have taken on being more involved in the process. Over the course of two weeks I helped with picture taking and discription writing.  There is an evening preview that is involved with each auction, and then a pick-up day. Yesterday was the pick-up day for the sale I was involved in. They also ship so the out-of-towners can bid too, though the line is drawn at some of the big, unmanageable things. I enjoyed it, but it just ups the chaos around here. I am hoping with time the schedule will feel more settled and we will have worked the kinks out at home. I would really like to keep doing this. Here is the auction website http://www.ebth.org/  just in case you would like to take a peak.  My biggest problem is not bidding on all of the tantalizing goodies!

Since I have shared "the" painting as it has progressed, I wanted to share the end result as well. My lady is framed and settled for the time being on the family room mantle. When I look at her I see so many things: the deep-felt meaning and how it reflects my emotions and the journey our family was going through during the time I was working on her. I feel a twinge of saddness when I think about the huge time gap between the time when all I did was eat, sleep, and breathe art to being forced to stop abruptly during a rough time in my life 30 years ago, which continued until I picked up the brush again a year ago. So much wasted time...*sigh* I am so glad to be back at it!!

at autumn's door...

As I sat in front of the kitchen window this morning I was struck by how much the light has changed in a few short weeks. Very evident is the clean, almost golden glow that heralds the coming of fall. I am amazed at the rapid shift from this :

 

to this:

 from this:

 

to this:

 and from this:

 

to this:

 

Without giving it much thought, I have made the shift from summer to fall, though it will not technically be fall for some time yet. I am ready for sweaters, knee socks, and a change in nature's color palette. I am feeling the twinges of a need to hibernate. Is my clock off? Am I jumping the gun here, or are you feeling it too?

back and bearing news.....

Good grief... After being gone for what (a month?) due to a computer that spent an inordinate amount of time in the shop, and the resulting tears, temper fits, and sulking that followed this DISASTER, I find that everything on the "compose new post" page has changed. I do not do well with change!!!

As my dear son mentioned in the last post, I have met with a series of unfortunate events, which is why I have been absent from my little space. I will spare you the nasty details, as I am sure they would not make for enjoyable reading, and I am quite sure it would make my blood pressure go up. Not good. I have missed you though, and am very happy to be back.

So, on to the good stuff: I have news, big, big news!! Our Manny is here to stay! I have been awarded sole guardianship. Whoo hooo!! Of course this is more a case of winning the battle, not the war, and things could change, but for now we celebrate! The little man has settled into his room that he "decorated" himself and is happy as a clam. It is amazing the change that has occurred due to his feeling safe and secure. Tomorrow  Mr. Manny will be  boarding the big yellow bus and heading off on a grand new adventure. We will be experiencing our first day of kindergarten.  He is so excited!! Life is good!! For now we can all breathe a bit easier.  I must be off: There is a Marvel superhero backpack that needs to be packed, a snappy outfit that needs to be picked out, and a little dirty boy body that needs to be scrubbed squeaky clean.

Update

Mom will return shortly, so exhale that held breath. Things have been rather crazy the past few weeks. Due to the fact that the Detroit courthouse was struck by lightning, caught on fire, and was flooded (yes, at the same time), the court date was postponed, so little Anthony had to return to Detroit for a month. While we were still recovering from the grief, Mom's computer broke down and needed a wireless card replaced. Then we went on our vacation to Naples, Florida. The first three days of our vacation were spoiled because of hotel trouble, but the rest turned out okay. Upon our return, we retrieved Mom's computer from the shop to discover that they replaced the entire motherboard. Fine, right? Wrong. Only a few of the files were backed up and she lost everything else, we were not even notified that this could be a problem. She cannot even stand to look at the computer at this moment, but I am coaxing here to get back into the swing of things, at least blogwise. ¡Adios!

A Quick Note

You may be asking yourself, "Oh, where has our beloved blogger vanished to? Could she be entertaining the relatives that just don't leave? Was she abducted by aliens? Accosted by gnomes?" I, her son, am here to calm your troubled hearts. My mothers plate is extremely full right now and there is little time for anything but court business and a four-year-old. Do not worry, she will return. Now you can all take a deep breath since nothing gnome related has plagued said blogger.

This is what a killer lemon pound cake looks like....

Sorry I couldn't show you more, but it didn't last long enough to get a full-body photo of it. This was by far the best pound cake I have ever eaten. Not too heavy, but just dense enough with the right amount of lemon to give it some zing.  This dynamo was one of those last-minute, "Oh, friends (the brandolina clan) are dropping by in a few hours for an impromptu visit, I need to bake something. Hmm... what to make?" Here is where I should have pulled out a tried and true recipe that I had all the ingredients for, but nooooo, I decided I needed something lemon (with not a lemon in the house). I hunted around the Internet, and after some digging I found "the" recipe. The only thing that was a tiny bit off, at least to my way of thinking, is the lemon drizzle stuff. It was very, very thin. It worked great as far as soaking into the toothpick holes, but I needed to add a bit more sugar to make the glaze and to keep some of it on the top of the cake. I did make a run to the store for lemons, and I am so glad that I did. I am sure using the bottle type would not taste as good. This is a great summer cake! I will be testing and retesting this cake for a while.

a birthday celebration and keeping busy

Busy, busy!

 

We had a big birthday to celebrate around here! My sweet guy Max turned 15. FIFTEEN!!!!! I can't get my head around that. How did my baby and partner in crime get so old? Good Lord, in a few months he will be able to get behind the wheel of a car and actually drive it. How awful that when you feel desperate to hold on the tightest it is the very time you need to pull back a bit and let them find their own way. Still shaking my head!

We have also been busy with other things (besides endless worry about the little guy, lawyers, battles with insurance companies and such), some of them fun.

 

More freezer paper stencils.

 

Riding in the co-pilot seat of the Fastrax plane while the skydivers jump (the men folk, not me).

 

Chillin' at the pool.

Trying to put an etsy shop together.

Working on the painting.

How are you kicking off the summer?

anchors aweigh, my boy......

  

This is my eldest son, Bradley, and his new fiance, Miss Carolyn. Aren't they sweet together?  We are so happy and look forward to having her as part of our family. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to have another woman in our clan, someone who "gets it!"  Congratulations, you two love birds!!

On the heels of that wonderful news, we had to say a teary goodbye. Last Monday, Bradley's ship pulled out of San Diego and headed out on deployment. We expect him to be gone a very long six to nine months. Though I cried like a baby during our last phone conversation before he boarded the ship, it still did not seem final, as I knew he was headed to Hawaii for his first stop. I found comfort knowing that he was still in the States. Today we got a call from our sailor. He was preparing to leave Pearl Harbor for foreign shores. Now I know he is really gone, and serious uneasiness has set in.  Not a day will pass during his travels that I will not be thinking of him.

Godspeed, my son! 

"easy" pattern does not = quickly finished

 

Today was my niece, Kira's, 1st birthday party. She is such a precious little one! Her mom loves handmade things, so of course I was thrilled to put together a "gotta make" list.  Being a mom of boys, I have not had much of a chance to make girlie things. I wanted needed to make something cute, sweet, all-girl. Well, ahem.. I bit off more than I could chew (at least in a day and a half). The pattern said "easy," right on the front in no-nonsense lettering. So, I'm thinking piece of cake, right!? I am sure for you awesome, experienced sewing ladies this would not be a big thing, but for me, oh dear. I really needed to have started on this much sooner. The directions were a bit confusing. I suppose if I had not struggled with the directions and had a bit more confidence it would have gone a little faster. I am too embarrassed to admit to how many hours this took me, but I will say I was finishing up minutes before we walked out the door. I am pleased with how it turned out, very cheerful!  I had been so inspired by the beautiful sofa make-over done by Ms. pink picket fence, I was thinking perhaps I could try to make-over a couch in need that I have here. After this dress experience, I believe I will rethink that plan.

How about those onesies? I just love everything about freezer paper stenciling!!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Forgot to mention the pattern info: Simplicity, New Look #6796