hello?

i'm here. I'm only mostly dead.

This poor blog has been a little neglected. Sorry.

We are slowly on the up and up as far as the germ infestation goes, we hope. It's been brutal. We dropped like flies, one after the other. Conan is luckily the only one who has escaped the infiltration with mere sniffles.

I've been in the dumps. Sick and confined to home; not feeling like cooking, or cleaning, or concentrating. The sewing machine sounded like a jack-hammer in my head, so not even a finished project to show for it. No inspiration, no ambition, nothing to report. Big, fat, bummer. It was the dumps.

You know the place, where you just feel...well...dumpy, for no justifiable reason. Just tired, and dumpy. Focusing on the fails and not forcing any wins. And then you feel even dumpier because it's no fair for the kids to have a mom who's a dump. It gets ya down.

The good thing about the dumps is you have to come out of them. Climbing out of the trenches isn't ever clean, or convenient, no matter how deep they are. But it's a good workout.

And you make side-dishes again.

I'm grateful this has been a very shallow trench. It's a lot easier to see others when you're looking, rather than just staring at your own hands and feet trying to get out of your own lame-o hole. Actually, once you look around a bit and see someone elses dump, your ditch isn't really so bad anymore. And then you feel silly. And grateful. And compassion.

And you get out. Then you can see how you got down there in the first place. I'm pretty sure I was pushed. By selfishness. And flu season.

So no finishes of the un-finished to report. But progress was made. It was good.

I'm grateful for the dumps.

Push on, dumpy soldier. Wipe yourself off, and march.

With a much stronger step.

And cheesy analogies.

I wanna go back to NY.

Real bad.

'Cause I'm real hungry. And I wanna make a new big bag.

And I love Elmo.

And I'm tired.

two words.

sinus. infection.


the computer screen makes my head explode. I'm typing with my eyes closed.

great etsy gift idea.

I love etsy. I'm already searching for cool Christmas gifts.

A blog friend, Shelane, just opened an etsy shop selling cool stained glass pendant necklaces. Wouldn't this image be cool for my mom? That's a swing in the old church yard my mom used to play on when she was a little girl. I spent many summers on that swing; and here she is swinging with three of her grandkids. Nostalgic.

Here is part of Shelane's growing library of images, or pick your own.

Check it out.

I think I'll order one for myself with one of these:

because I love laundry. and pyrex.

a messy party.

they also dug in the dirt, smeared cupcakes all over their bodies, and cleaned up with giant buckets of bubbles and a good hosing.

it was such a mess.

pure success.


{paint fight idea here. i added too much water to mine.}

{glurch.}

{i love buttercream frosting.}

big day.

I asked Andy what he wanted for his birthday, and he said, "Mom. You can get me whatever you just want me to have." I wanted to give him everything for that.

He decided on a bike. with a basket and a bell.

So I spray painted Jake's old bike, {and the basket} green, added training wheels, and gave him a bell.

a messy party will ensue this afternoon.

I love this kid.

i'm sick and need some therapy, and typing is soothing. the click of the keys, the speed. I feel powerful. I've always been a really fast typer; i finished my highschool keyboarding class in two weeks because my teacher noticed i was a fast typer and so she gave me a packet of tests and i finished them, so she gave me a new packet of advanced keyboarding tests, and I finished it. So she let me eat snacks in the back of the room and type whatever i wanted for the rest of the semester. So i love to type. fast. my mom used to pay me to type out her papers for her classes. my mom is really smart.

so i'm typing fast about not much because i like it. I've been thinking about Winnie Draper lately. YOu know, Winnie. Fred Savages girlfriend in the show I watched all the time and can't remember the name of even though it's painfully obvious, because i can't remember ANYTHING anymore. {I totally used my pinky on the shift key the whole time I typed ANYTHING. There. I did it again}. I don't remember simple embarrassing things, like my age. I think I'm 32 but I'd have to do the math. I was thinking that I really think {what's his name} was unfair to Becky. The blonde girl he "dated" for a while. Poor Becky. Winnie was over-rated I think. No time for links if you're lost. I'm typing fast.

I haven't seen Twilight yet. does that make me a poor representative of the mom bloggers?

I'm sick today. YOu've got to make a decision when you get sick. {I mean real sick, not just sick and tired. There's a difference} Do you put on makeup and hope it makes the guck go away because you're pretending to ignore it...or do you give in, take the drugs, put on the zit cream and watch design shows all day.

I have no recomendations. I've got a big zit on my chin and therefore needed covergirl so as to not cry over adult acne every time i passed a mirror. And I watched two episodes of Dear Genevivie {no time to fix typos. fast}. make up and HGTV, and I still feel sick.

I like to type in the dark. I feel like a hacker.

I think I need to do this again and time myself. Bummer. Is there a WPM tester out there? Oooh, I love that. I"m googling.

Wonder YEar.S

the winner.

JEIGH.

I love Jeigh.
{email me}

Thanks for all your
very nice comments!
So many cool people out there.

I love giveaways.

And now...
Labor Day.

Have a good one.