Ok. itunes is conspiring to keep me from listening to Swedish candy pop music.

The song I need is by SMiLE.DK - "My Butterfly." It's catchy, it's pop, and my daughters love dancing to it. (Ok. Me too.)

Unfortunately, the only way we can listen to the song is to play this Youtube video over and over again. HELP!!! Does anyone have this song? Can anyone direct me to a place where I can buy/download it? The girls and I have dance parties in the kitchen while dinner cools enough to eat, and we need this song. Dancing in the craft room = dangerous. Also, Emilie keeps asking for the Samurai song in the car. (Plus: great work-out song. :D)

Ok. I finally found a copy. Phew. In the meanwhile, I also found this youtube version with Haruhi characters. OMG! The person who made this video is AMAZING. They used the movements from the ending song to create a whole new dance. Genius work with video editing. *boggles* here. Wowie.

Spoilers...
( spoiler spoiler spoiler )

We're back home after a quick Montana journey to celebrate a birthday. I spent most of the trip either editing or taking notes from my old story journals (there were three years of notes to cull). Lots of history that I forgot and good ideas/dialogue snippets that I can now use. At least 20 hours of work for the 1.5 days we were back there. E's relatives kept asking what I was doing. They didn't really get the whole not wanting to sit around telling ball jokes for hours on end thing. I probably would have joined in if there was any liquor worth drinking and the conversation was about the past or the present, but they just had martinis and thin beer. And they wanted to recount, hole by hole, some golf game from several years ago. "Then I hit the ball 250 yards into the rough. And then I took out my chipping wedge and...." "HAHAHA And then I wacked your balls. HAHAHAHAHA! I whacked em with a nine iron. HAHAHAHA!"

They're so mature. So very, very mature. Someone should keep E's uncles from the gin.

Wow, though. I can't believe how much I got done. I hated the setting and didn't much enjoy the company, but it was a good trip because I had so much space to think and work. Worked another five hours last night, after we got home.

This phase feels a bit like labor. I think the story is ready to be done. And, thank goodess, I finally know enough about everything to attack the weak section of the book. I know why things happened now, and I can't wait to get it on paper. I'll finish organizing my notes this afternoon and start on that tonight.

Have I mentioned how nice it is to have kids who let me work again? Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you, Emilie. Thank you, E, for understanding.

This will mean nothing to some of you, but... I have to share Elizabeth's two, new, fannish phrases.

1. She loves to wriggle her fingers and shout, "Phalanges, phalanges!" (Bones)

2. She loves to say, "Flameyo, Hotman!" (Avatar)

(My baby is very, very cool. Also, I watched too much tv last week.)

(She also drank half of E's beer the other night. :facepalm: She's faster than the speed of E getting up to answer the phone. Not quite light, but fast enough, alas.)

Emilie is officially potty trained. As Elizabeth would say, "I'm so excite! So excite!"

In other news, I worked almost ten hours on Oletha's story, yesterday. Ten hours. I anticipate the same from today, if the girls oblige. The only housework to do before the weekend is laundry and packing for a quick Montana trip, and my brain is consumed with story.

In retrospect, I'm glad that the last 1.5 years have been so difficult in the writing department. Before kids, I wrote about 4-8 hours a day, but they weren't as focused. Focus + Drive = Wowie**.




** "Wowie" is a technical term, but don't ask me what it means. Too much subtext. See the OED for further exploration.

After 1.5 years of trying, including many months of despair and more months of stubborn refusal on my toddler's part, Emilie has successfully used the potty chair.

I won't call her potty trained, yet, but HURRAH!


To celebrate, a link for you:

Killer Queen

This video makes me laugh my butt off. The person who made the video has a fantastic sense of rhythm and flow - it's everything that a montage of video clips set to music should be. There's a real dance to it. Plus, well, the song "Killer Queen" (by Queen) makes me grin. :)

When I'm sick, I indulge in any form of story I can access. During my latest illness (bronchitis), I read three books and watched a lot of television. First, I watched Bones from the Pilot to the most recent episode. Then, I did the same thing with Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I LOVE Bones. Can't wait to watch the latest episode...

But, Avatar. Whoa. I watched a couple disks with my girls a few months back, but E lost interest and commandeered our Netflix cue. Anyhow, I found an online site where I can watch the episodes instantly. Hoo boy. Cue the three day marathon. I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!! For the first time in ages, I cannot pick a favorite character. I love them all, even a few of the "bad guys". Aang is just too cute and funny for words, Sokka makes me fall out of my chair laughing (especially in the episode, "The Headband"), and Kataara...she's just fantastic. Prince Zukko is so crushed and broken from his childhood that I can't help liking him, and I'm just in love with his tea drinking, wisdom-spouting, fire-breathing Uncle Iroh.

And, dang it, I wish I could talk about the latest episodes and squee with some of you...but I can't. :wince: The site I found is updated to four episodes beyond what's released in the states. Meep! I've seen up to Boiling Rock Part 2. Is there anyone out there that I can squee with? :is hopeful:

And, did I mention that I love Bones? Yeah. Fantastic fun.

Usually, I enjoy listening to NPR. We have no television access and do not subscribe to a newspaper, so NPR provides me with some idea of what's happening in the world.

Today, I found myself swearing at the radio as loudly as I swear at the right-wing radio hosts, one of whom recently called Obama an Afro-Lennonist. Seriously. Another host said that Obama was a, "Nothing, a NOTHING, who just... hey, hey, hey, how about some Jello Pudding?" UMMMMM. The last was some guy named Rusty. I can't remember who the other guy was. They both made it sound as though people who voted Dem or Lib were idiots who couldn't think.

Oh, I've heard people call NPR elitist, and I do tend to poo-poo their sections on books and literary critique because the books sound so dull. But I've never found the rest of the programming elitist. Until today.

For the record, ( ... )

I have a new friend to keep me company at my writing desk. She's a bit ugly. She's extremely tacky.

( My tacky, winking friend... )

She was only $5, the poor orphan.

( And Lizzie has some new jammies... )

And now, off to clean my house.

Everyone should own HEM's Rabbit Songs. Everyone. That's an opinion, but it's a good one. ;)

We've been on vacation, which only partly explains my absence. I've also been hard at work on my plan to take over the world with homemade crafty things. Since March 23, I: painted and re-upholstered a piano bench, painted a cabinet, sewed a fabric basket with the old ladies from church, sewed half a dozen pincushions, made two more bonnets, zipped through the mending pile again, sewed a new gym bag, and made myself one crazy-ass house dress with pockets large enough to accommodate my clothes pins. I also started hand-quilting my brother's (much belated) wedding quilt, but I need to pick out what I did. My basting job sucked. The Tekoa ladies at quilt group today loved the piecework, but were appalled at my efforts to butcher the handquilting job. They commanded me to do it over.

And, no, you do not say no to these ladies. Not when it comes to quilting.

lol Oh, well. Better to waste twelve hours than...um. I refuse to calculate how long it will take me to do the job "right".

Anyhow. That's as far as my communication skills go for now. I'm feeling a bit down. Is it any wonder, then, that I'm turning to color, cuteness, and polka dots?

I don't have photos of everything yet, but here's a taste.

( Pic-spam )

Isn't Bessie a nickname for Elizabeth? ;)

Anyhow, I've had bonnets in the sewing queue for ages, but had no motivation to make them. Enter, yesterday's exciting news: I might have another place to consign stuff! Yay! It's a shop up in Spokane that deals (at the moment) exclusively in Amy Butler fabrics. So, I'm going to do two things: 1) Sell projects, and 2) sell patterns. Granted, that's a bit premature as I haven't a pattern to sell at the moment, but that's my plan. ;)

Anyhoot. So, I worked up some bonnets from the 1940 McCall's pattern I found last year. I'm using this as a base for a pattern - I like the idea of a one-piece pattern. And I really love this one. It takes two fat quarters to make, which means I finally have a way to use up my old quilting stash. My tastes have changed in the last ten years...

Elizabeth modeled for me.

Beware: very cute baby alert. ( Tooth-Rotting pictures )

I also found some stunning little spring jackets and skirts, but here are pictures of the thrift finds that made me squeal.


( Fiesta ware and a danish modern chair... )

I should be sick of snow by now, but I'm not. I am, however, anxious for the end of May, at which time it will be safe to plant my garden. At the moment, I have a few seeds starting on the kitchen windowsill - some bush thyme, cilantro, and the red poppies I'm planting under the pine tree. The seedlings are up and leggy. I fret over them. I've never been very good at starting seeds indoors.

I did laundry today, and Emilie took Elizabeth to outer space. She packed a backpack with the essentials: mushrooms (stolen from the fridge), a water bottle, some diapers, wipes, a few changes of clothes...and a pickle. The pickle was very important.

( My pickle-wielding space explorer vs. flesh-eating crocodiles from outer space. Really. )

Death by pickle. Oh, yes. That's my child.

Maybe I'll have photos tomorrow - I've been a busy girl again, but I also found some outrageously wonderful things at thrift stores last week. But I didn't want to forget today. The days when my monkeys use their powers against imaginary crocodiles instead of against me...well, those are good days.

Also... ( Electrical tape... )

I was stung by a yellow jacket, yesterday. They've infiltrated our house, and we kill upwards of five or six a day, now. This yj was in Emilie's shoe and stung me when I tried putting them on her feet. Better me than her, I suppose.

Cleaned for twelve hours today, stopping only for lunch. Yeah. Twelve hours. Amazing what can accumulate when you're sick for a few weeks. Oh, and....well, this happened:

( Poop on the stairs... )

I think I might just lounge and read a book tomorrow.

A List: With Pictures

1. I fell asleep on the couch with my coffee cup in hand. I dreamed very odd dreams, the worst being that I opened a deep freezer and discovered 20 tightly packed left buttocks with the skin stripped from them. Yeah, pretty gross. There were other freezers, too. I was in Oakesdale, and the community finally let me know that they were cannibals.

2. Anyway. I didn't spill my coffee, but I woke up to this:

( A day in pictures...with naughty monkeys AND cabbage! )

I would pay twenty dollars for a croissant right now. :is pathetic: When I finish this project, you'll see why. In the meantime, every stitch is making my stomach long for buttery carbohydrates.


I started and finished this little guy for Emilie, yesterday - it took an hour/hour and half or so to make. Talk about fast! Now I see why so many people make small amigurumi cupcakes and the like: they're cute, they're fast, and they don't require a person to buy an entire skein of yarn.




Note the buds on my lilac bush. Yay!

Some days are better than others, don't you think?

My pride is recovered (somewhat) today. Last night, I watched Casino Royale with E and stitched/embroidered a drawstring bag for sewing machine parts. I currently have four sewing machines (I know, I know), and I'm tired of sorting through one box for each machine's parts. Hence, the baggie. It's got stripes, red-lettered words, and a tiny bird on it...happiness restored.

And just in time! I needed the bags because I acquired my new favorite machine foot: a ruffler! Woot! This machine foot automatically gathers fabric in precise, even lengths - you can even adjust the depth of the pleats. I spent the last hour getting acquainted with it - figuring out which thread tensions to use on various fabrics. Whipped up a little doll skirt while I was at it.

But, honestly, I'm in a good mood because I did four hours of editing this morning. The girls were absolute angels. Hurrah! I guess, if you sit down to the same task every day, your kids *can* actually get bored of bugging you. Well...also, I had a plate of leftover garlic bread on my desk. Everytime Elizabeth came to me saying, "Up, up, uuuuuuuuup! Neeeeeeeeed!" I'd hand her a piece. Probably not the best parenting method. Hmm...

Now, time to sew a few bags...

I finished Emilie's Satsuki dress and was going to make Elizabeth a Mei dress (Mei is Satsuki's little sister in Totoro), but we found a perfect substitute at Target, today. So, since E went to bed at 8, I thought I'd make something for myself. My last several attempts have been failures.

I failed again.

You know, Cinderella never failed like this. She always had a team of little birds or mice or whatever to make her clothes fit nicely. That is so unfair. *stomps foot*

Tomorrow, none of this will matter, not even Cinderella and her stupid birds. Tonight, I'm looking at the clock and wondering why I didn't use my hands to some other purpose - drafting the patterns I'm supposed to draft, embroidering Totoros, dragging my editing down to the dining room table and making a pot of tea to go with the work. At the very least, I could have gone to bed at 8 with my husband.

Honest to goodness, the last thing I need is yet another skirt that I won't wear because I misplaced my razor and my legs are hairy. Again. I wear jeans to church so often that people think I've truly dressed up if I'm wearing trousers - and, oh my, if I wear a skirt, people exclaim, "Well, you're dressed up today, aren't you?"

I'm so...cranky. Sullen. Angry. It's like I earned a grade that I didn't like or something (And a B-, honestly, because the only failure here is the body meant to climb into today's creation). lol Thank goodness there's a part of me that's whispering, "Oh, Silly Jenn! Go to bed, you idiot."

Totoro: finished.

Now, I'm making a little yellow Satsuki dress. I had the yellow linen and cut apart an old white pillowcase for the white. I should have the dress finished by tonight, but we decided that the hem needs a Totoro on it. Not sure how long it will take me to sketch and embroider that, but we'll see.

Maybe I'm over-indulging my kids this week, but that's only because they're sick, and I'm sick, and we're all in need of a little fun.

At any rate, Elizabeth's stuffed toy collection just got a whole lot cooler and measurably cuter.

( Chu Totoro )

I saw the doctor today. All three of us (Elizabeth came down with something last night) are on antibiotics. The girls have ear infections on top of their sinus infections. I've got strep. Boy. How lucky can a girl get?

Anyhow, here I am, sipping tea and crocheting more body parts for Totoro: two arms and a white belly to go. He looks more like himself now that he has his cute eyes and ears and, while I work, I find myself wishing that big Totoro would come perch in our pine trees instead of the horned owls. Usually, I love listening to the owls, but the insistent "too-wooo, too-woooo"s aren't helping me sleep.