Fluky Friday

Well, here are a couple random things this lovely Friday.


The weather is suppose to be nice, well compared to the 20's and snowing, 60's with a chance of rain will work! That said, the husband and I are going to take advantage of the weather and try to clean up the flower beds.(believe it or not there is actually a flower bed in that picture!) We didn't clean the leaves up last fall so it's hard to tell what's what. Now I'm sure a lot of people would give me H-E-double hockey sticks for not cleaning up the garden bed but my philosophy is that those leaves act as a mulch of sorts. Look at woodland gardens, they don't have little elves cleaning up the leaves every fall, do they? They do? OH.... well, as long as you pick them up before they start to mold it should be okay.(I hope!) Anyway, master gardener I'm not, but here are some signs of life springing up in our front flower bed.

On another note, my son has always ripped off his socks. Can't stand the things. He seems to like to be barefooted even when it's chilly. The new thing, which started yesterday, is taking off his shirt. At first I thought he was channeling my 80's fashion days(remember flashdance? YIKES!) Well it's progressed, now he's just attempting to take it all off. At least we are headed towards warm weather. Due to this quick evolution, I'm sure I won't be able to show him at all in a few short months. My little nudist!

Last but not least, even more proof that he is my child. Weird like his Mama!

Have a Great Day!!

And I have to share this...

This little boy always has to stick his bottom up in the air while he sleeps!!Don't know why but it's funny!

Angel Baby

I don't know what it is but after 18 months of having this little boy around I still can sit and watch him sleep! How blessed I am.

WOO HOO!! Let it Snow!!

The boy experienced snow first hand for the first time yesterday. All the other pictures are from today, I love the snow chapeau on the light!

I miss my blog!

For whatever reason, I like my blogger blog and have been noticing lately that I come here to blog first. Whatever....My little boy has rebounded, his teeth are still bugging him but he doesn't seem to be 'sick' anymore. If he had a cold, he's like his momma because it's gone and he's fine. WEIRDO kid, WEIRDO mom!! I'm working on a new Christmas ornament, Odette from Swan Lake. I'm hoping to add Odile too but that one may have to wait. I always loved ballerinas, too bad I'm so damn clumsy! I took ballet when I was little but my clumsiness coupled with my pigeon toes, well...let's just say it ranks right up there with my impression of a dying moose when I tried to play the saxophone way back when! NOT PRETTY! I'll stick to crafting and drawing!

The bug is sick!

First time in 15 1/2 months my little one is sick! He got it from his father (pain in the tookass! I told him to stay away from the boy!) Anyway, he has a cold, I think. He's running a fever but that may be due to his teeth coming in. So needless to say he's drooling and snot is running down to his lip(where he's licking it up....eeewww,yuck!) I guess we'll have to forgo the story time tomorrow, don't want to spread the joy! Nothing like a crabby baby! Won't sleep, won't eat, doesn't like anything, only wants mommy but doesn't want mommy at all....Great fun!!

OH BOY! It's Going To Be One Of THOSE Days!

The wee tot has only been up for an hour and this is what he has already accomplished!

[BTW: The living room was spotless when he woke up!]

My happening new wheels!

I recently realized that in the 39 years I've been on this planet I haven't owned a new bike. I've only had hand me downs. Well, I now have a new bike, but it's not the cool banana seat bike we would have wished for back in the day! Okay, don't laugh too hard! It works with my boy's new bike seat! At least it's red!!

Cleveland Metropark Zoo

We are blessed with a beautiful day today so I am going to take advantage of our zoo membership and take the Bug to the zoo. If you have never had the chance to visit the Cleveland Metropark Zoo, you really should schedule a trip, it is truly a wonderful place! As for me, my favorite animal would be the Snow Leopard. Of course, I also love the Persian Leopard, Pygmy Marmoset and Slow Loris (can you say Tai Chi? It is so fascinating watching the Slow Loris move!) I hope to take photos. If we actually get any good ones, I'll post them!

Birthday Boy

The highlight of a first birthday party! It was a great day and the only low point, besides the balloons getting tangled on the way outside, was the scraped nose. (which was really no big deal)
His cake was yummy, but didn't look over the top due to the high humidity which caused the sea anemone to self destruct over night. The good thing about working in a bakery for 1 1/2 years is I learned how to quickly decorate a cake so it looks presentable, and quite honestly after the homemade frosting separated the night before the anemone fell apart, I was pretty impressed with how good the finished cake did look. Best of all, it tasted great, which, let's be honest, is way more important!

Winding down

I love the culmination of anything. Case in point, the little boy's birthday party.
If you have been reading along, I tend to get carried away with plans of what I'm going to do. Everything starts out so grandiose in my creative mind, then reality sets in. The husband doesn't come home from work on time and doesn't call to let me know when to expect him, the dog needs to go out more often than normal, errands take twice as long as planned, the baby won't take his naps and all creative plans fly out the window. The bright side, and the part I love the most, everything still comes together, I'm usually a whirling dervish trying to get done the absolute essentials(in this case, the birthday cake) but everything does come together. Sure it's less grand than anticipated but I'm the only one who knows how grand that truly was and there's always next time. My 35th birthday party was a prime example of this, I had truly remarkable images of what it could be. It wasn't the image in my mind's eye but it was well worth the effort and memorable I would think to many of our guests. Same with our wedding 3 years ago. In that case, we were tight on cash so I had to do WAY more than I would ever take on again (feeding 35 people when you are also the bride probably not the brightest of ideas!!) But the reality of that day was many of our 35 guests commented on how wonderful our wedding was and that it was one of the nicest they had attended to date. Not because it was over the top but because it was down to Earth, accessible and heartfelt. The handmade aspect was minimal but added to the overall simplicity and lets be honest, allowed us to keep our costs down.(our entire wedding and honeymoon cost us less than $1500)It also allowed us to offer a menu we could not have afforded to get catered. We served Cantonese BBQ pork, tri colored asian slaw, dim sum, rice, vegetarian spring rolls and they were all homemade and very, very yummy! Basically what I'm saying is what's essential is what ends up coming together and all that extraneous stuff falls by the wayside. The same will be said of my little one's birthday party, but truth be told he is the most important part of the day (and the best thing I ever made and we all know I really had very little to do with that, I was basically a condo for 9 months)!

Birthday cake

Let me just say, just because you are capable of doing something doesn't necessarily mean you should do it! Case in point, my boy's cake topper. In hindsight, I wish they made a Finding Nemo cake pan that I could have decorated with my little star tip and we'd be done. Oh no, that would be too easy. My topper has taken on a life of its own. I have started recreating a coral reef, while it is fun, I have a one year old I have to keep entertained and engaged. This is not an easy task while covered in gumpaste! It really goes back to me and why I have to recreate the actual environment in Nemo and the only answer I can come up with is that I can. So going back to my opening sentence, just because you are capable of doing something doesn't mean you should do it!

birthday preps and a monkey on his back

Well, I'm trying to make headway on the little one's birthday cake. Here's a picture of my first (failed)attempt at royal icing coral. I need to thicken the icing a little more. It was very damp yesterday so I think that's why it didn't work well. Very soupy! Today I hope to find a store open that has fondant or marzipan so I can start making his Nemo and Squirt cake toppers. Also, the bug and I went to the store yesterday and I let him walk on his own. I bought him a monkey backpack harness with a leash of sorts, yeah, I know, some people think it's ludicrous to put a leash on your child but I worked in a mall for years and I think it's more ludicrous to let your child run out in front of you unattended!! He loved it! He walked the entire perimeter of the superstore and tired himself out! Here's a picture of Bug with his monkey on his back!

a new adventure!

OK, my baby turns 1 in about a week, give or take a day or two. I splurged! My little one LOVES to go on adventures, usually they are of the errand variety but for his birthday I bought him a front mounted bike seat and bike helmet so when daddy's away at work, mommy and boy can play.Now mind you, I haven't biked for awhile but I used to and quite honestly I missed it. I think it is good to show your kids an active lifestyle and lately mine has been anything but! SO! Bike we will. I'll let you know how it goes, I'm sure the bug will love it, I'm just hoping I don't give myself a heart attack peddling an extra 25 pounds around!!:)

Brief Hiatus

Well the baby's first birthday is in a couple weeks so I'm going to take a brief hiatus so I can work on his birthday cake and party plans. I'll continue to be working on my projects so I may post some pictures if they warrant it.
If you're in the USA, have a happy & safe fourth of July. Lovely Canadian neighbors, Have a wondrous Canada Day!! I love your Country and your people, such a fine lot you are!!!

our little squirt!

So the little one turns 1 in a month. He loves Nemo(we think because he loves orange) and has both Nemo and Squirt plush from the Disney Store. Squirt seems to be his buddy, we take him everywhere (I actually panicked once and even called daddy at work because I couldn't find him when we were getting ready to leave one day. After looking everywhere, I found him under the floor of the pack n play!!!) Anyway, this was the invitation I came up with for his party (since they don't seem to make any with Squirt) I'm going to make his cake with a Nemo theme, get balloons in orange and ocean blue and of course get all the cute party supplies with Nemo et al. If the cake comes out nicely I'll post photos of it and instructions, too!

Big Day

Well, it's a big day for my little boy. He's getting his first haircut :-( I was trying to wait til his first birthday but he never lost his newborn hair and it's been hanging in his eyes for over a month now.
My husband has been complaining about it for a few months and I kept saying 1 year, first cut 1 year. Well, it's 11 months and quite honestly, people keep calling him 'her'. So...my friend Dee is cutting his hair today (Dee is not only my friend but the best hairstylist in the entire world, I should know because she's been cutting my hair for 20 years!!) My big argument with getting his hair cut before one year was why make the boy conform to society at such a young age, he'll be required to look and act a certain way soon enough.... I still feel that way and when he's 16 and wants a purple mohawk, and his father says no, well I'll fight for his right to express himself then.
It's just hair and it'll grow out eventually! I should know(and so does Dee!) I did some wacky things to my head and I look pretty darn normal now...depressingly normal now....I'll have to do something about that!! Hi my name is Kelly and you may not be able to tell by looking at me but I'm a non-conformist and darn proud of it! Have a splendid day!!

lil' bruiser

Well the little boy weighed in today at the dr. office. He's still hovering around 75%, which my mother told me I was when I was a wee tot. I'm not as worried anymore, he's happy, he's gaining weight and he's developing the way he should be. For goodness sake, he's trying to sing the alphabet song at 10 months. (so far A, G, H are the only truly understandable letters but he's trying his darnedest to sing his alphabet song!) Today we start on Xmas ornaments (polymer clay) and I hope to set up the studio for papier mâché. Tomorrow should be a very productive day (unless the little one needs a ton of attention!) I hope to be able to take photos within the next couple of days. You'll see them as soon as I snap them!!