I Was Totally THAT Mother Yesterday.

You know. The one you pity if you have small children and swear you'll never be like if you don't yet have children and never remember being if you're children are 25 or older. Yep, that was me. But what did I expect, going into the city (a 2 hr drive) with a 4 and 2 yr old in tow, at 20 weeks pregnant with a still slightly sprained ankle (no crutches, thank goodness), to buy enough craft supplies for a 4 day Art-based day camp with 25 kids already registered? Well let me tell you, this trip exceeded my worst expectations.

First, we had to stop at the only gas station / resteraunt on the way there for lunch, because we did not get out of town until eleven o-clock. Add Friday afternoon vacationers line ups and a two year old who insists on doing everything HIMSELF and can't make up his mind about whether he wants ham or turkey on his sub with a LONG line-up behind him.

Second, we "had" to stop at the quilt shop in town (the only one I've found this side of Edmonton that carries Free Spirit fabrics -- and I'm just assuming someone in Edmonton does because its just a cool city). Since our local quilt shop has a toy table, the boys insisted that they DID NOT need to bring toys into the store, because fabric stores always have toys. This one had a bin of little legos. Which Aaron dumped all over the floor. And then they started fighting over the legos. And then Aaron discovered, as we were trying to pick up said legos (which included 15 or so lego guys that they had completely taken apart -- like, even removed the tiny arms) that there was a twirling display of needles and pins above his head . . . and I got out to the car to discover that he had exploded his diaper . .

Third, was the actual trip to Michaels to buy craft supplies. Which included many, many reminders that we were only buying things for ART CAMP and that no, I would not buy a volcano kit, or a worm-making kit or a crystal growing kit or a Spiderman colouring book and sticker set or . . . you get the idea. Andrew was finally sated when I told him that we would go to Burger King after this to get supper and hopefully transformer toys. After this the boys decided that the best way to amuse themselves while Mom tried to figure out what quantity of foam to buy was to head butt each other. Then the cart got too full of craft supplies to happily hold Aaron as well (and although he thought it was amusing to jump on the four margerine-like containers of clay, I didn't want clay bursting all over the store). This meant releasing Aaron into a store with long, open aisles and lots of interesting, brightly coloured things at perfect grabbing height. After this came the debacle of Aaron getting a hold of a crayola marker I was using to mark things off my list, lying down in the middle of the aisle in front of our cart and drawing all over his legs. Finally, we were done shopping and came to the check out . . . where only one till was open. And they had bins and bins of shiny plastic toy-like candy dispensers. Fortunately, I had a box of raisins in my bag, and managed to coax him into sitting in the top of the cart while we went through the check out line.

Fourth, we arrived at Burger King right at 5 pm and had to wait in a long lineup that was filtered through one of those maze-like contraptions that just happened to have three bars running along it that were perfect for Aaron to climb up and down on. We got to the counter to discover that there were NO toys at all, never mind transformer toys, and Andrew started wailing. To try to distract him and get him away from the poor workers who were just starting their supper rush and really didn't need to hear his howling, I grabbed our cups and we went to get drinks. Aaron grabbed his drink before I could put a lid on it and spilled it all over the floor. So there I am, pregnant, with one child wailing "WHY DON'T THEY HAVE TRANSFORMER TOYS? MY PLAN IS RUINED!", and a second child, covered in blue marker that I still haven't wiped off, now soaked in red Fruitopia, cheerfully wiping the floor with paper napkins. Fortunately this Burger King had a play place with a glassed in room and some seating, so we sat in there, I got Andrew calmed down eventually (after a stern, "I know you are disappointed and you had a cool plan that is ruined. You have had a chance to express that. Now eat your food and enjoy the play station.") and we did manage to eat with minimal hassle (aside from Andrew's inevitable "Why are there seeds on my bun? Who is going to swap their bun bottom with my bun top?" panic), and they did eventually play, and Andrew even made a friend.

When his new friend left, he sat down, discouraged and said, "We can leave now. My friend is gone." I suggested that he could meet some of the kids who had just entered the play area and he said, "No, mom. I can only make one friend in a day. That is enough."

Finally I got them bundled into the car and we could drive home.

On the bright side, I did find a copy of the Spring/Summer edition of Stitch magazine , and I just might have picked up a lovely bundle of bright, hand-dyed felted wool and a few fat quarters . . . but let's just keep that between friends, shall we?

Craft Blog Linky

Alison at cluck, cluck sew is hosting a linky to all the craft bloggers that want to join up and "meet".

If you are here from that linky, I would like to say welcome, and please scroll down a bit. My blog is usually full of lovely photos of things I have made, but right now my camera is MIA (well, more accurately MIW - Missing in Winnipeg), so my blog has been sadly mainly photo-less for the last two months. I am almost finished a roll of film, so there should be some quilty goodness soon.

Anyway, welcome, and I look forward to meeting you all. Feel free to drop me a note somewhere and say hi.

I miss my camera.

Its been two months now since I left my camera in Winnipeg. I'm feeling a big lonely without it. No Flikr photos, no pretty pictures for my blog, no photos of boys in just underwear and superhero capes, or of their cute new matching swimmers (Aaron had to have the same shorts as Andrew). No photos of my new bathmat, or the progress on my Craft Hope quilt or my new scrap quilt or . . . sigh.

Well, in two weeks I'll be back in Winnipeg and I shall pick up my camera. Sorry for the lame blog of late, but its just not the same without my camera. Who knew an inanimate object would become such a big part of my day to day life, or that I would become so used to telling stories with pictures as the punchlines.

Ah well, I've almost got another roll of film finished, then there will be a few photos before I go on vacation. That is, when my foot heals, and I can sew and drive again . .

New Workout

Anyone want to join me in a great workout that will totally tone your upper body and core? I've only been doing it for two days and I can feel the results already.

Its called CRUTCHES

Yes, that's right. I sprained my ankle. At 19 weeks pregnant. Thank goodness I'm not at 29 or 39 weeks pregnant. It was the loosening ligaments thing that got me.

You see, I'm naturally loose jointed to begin with. So much so that I used to have problems with my wrists spontaneously slipping slightly out of joint when I was a teenager. Not so much that I would be in a lot of pain, just enough that I couldn't carry anything in that hand. My cousins are all gymnasts, but I only inherited the flexibility, not the co-ordination, of that side of the family.

I digress. Anyway, my hips started to loosen up at the beginning of this week, which means I'm a bit off balance. Then I took the boys for a long walk and wore out my leg muscles. Then I got in an argument with my son about pickles and he wouldn't go to his room, and as I marched him down the hall our feet got tangled . . . and next thing I knew I was propped up on the couch with a bag of frozen peas on my ankle.

Yesterday I thought it wasn't too bad, so I kept walking on it. But because I did it kept getting worse, so this morning I crawled everywhere until the drug store opened and Dave could get me crutches. Fortunately its feeling better today.

So send fast healing vibes my way.

Stuff White Christians Like

So, I was visiting Sharon last week, and she had a copy of "Stuff White People Like" out of the library. This is a book, based on a blog that basically is an ironic list of things upper middle class white people with libral arts educations like. The list includes coffe, Apple computers, yoga, the outdoors, organic produce, indie rock and NPR. It is a pretty funny and, as a GenX, liberal arts educated white person, pretty painful list to read.

This led me to my own riff on the topic, which is Stuff White Christians Like. To explain a little, I grew up as a Baptist Pastor's kid, so I've had my share of experiences with Stuff White Christians Like. I won't go into a lot of detail, but a few that came to mind:

Missions Trips
Pop
Buffets
Leather Bound Bibles
Zip-up Bible Cases with Handles
Arguments about Predestination and End Times
Leaving Tracts instead of Tips
Applying Singles Verses out of Context to Justify Anything
Abstaining from Alcohol
Faith Fish Jewlery
Subtly Christian Tatoos
Evangelistic T-Shirts
Christian Music Festivals
Rallies
Summer Camp
Retreats
Car Rallys
Sharing Other People's Prayer Requests
Popcorn Prayer
Singing Praise Music by a Campfire accompanied by a Guitar
Christian Replicas of Popular Music
Christian Celebrities
Being "Led"
Soup Kitchens
Being in a Worship Band

Anyone else?

General Update

Well, I still have no camera, so I'm feeling a bit out of the blog / Flikr loop. Plus I tend to get a bit grumpy and introspective when I'm pregnant, and after the winter we had around here, I'm sure you've all had enough of grumpy and introspective Jill.

So instead, I shall give you funny / clever Jill's kids. One story from each.

Andrew longs to have a Playmobil castle or pirate ship (despite having two other plastic yard sale find castles). The other day we got out his piggy bank and counted up his money to see if he had enough yet. He has $16, because every time Dave empties his pockets, or I find change in the laundry, Andrew immediately swipes whatever he finds. So, after I told him he needed another eighty or so dollars to get a playmobil castle, he said, "You know what we should do tomorrow, Mom? We should have a Money Hunt. It will work like this. You get some money, and hide it around my room and your room. Then I will find it and put it in my piggy bank. Then I can get my castle." (I wish someone would do a money hunt for me.)

Aaron has decided that he is Batman. This means that he wears a superhero cape whenever he can, feels like he has the right to punch everyone whenever he wants to (sigh) and insists on being addressed as Batman at all times. Last night he woke up around 10pm because he had to pee (no, I don't know how you can get your kids to do this, so just enjoy your sleep and put them in diapers). I set him on the potty, and after a bit said, "Are you done, Aaron?". He said, sleepily, "I'm Batman." I corrected myself: "Are you done Batman?" Aaron: "Yes. Batman went pee."

The new baby is beginning to recognize voices. S/he has started turning and kicking whenever s/he hears Andrew or Aaron or Dave start talking after they have been silent for a while. No one else can really tell yet, but it is very cute for me.

Dear God:

Overall, your design concept "summer" is perfect. Watermelon must have been thought of on a particularly brilliant day. But mosquitos? Have you fired the guy that came up with mosquitos yet?

We have had a couple of brilliant days here: hot and sunny. Full of watermelon and waterguns and wading pools. Its been a two-bath-a-day kind of week so far. Perfect. Flawless. After such a long wait, I am loving the heat. Although cooking roast beef yesterday was not one of my brightest plans, it has otherwise been great. Hooray for summer!

Threads Together Update

I realized I haven't actually shown you guys any of my quilt blocks so far. I finally finished the infernal triangles, and they look pretty good and will hopefully stay together. Then I did my May blocks and sent them out. Ironically, I picked up the fabric for my June blocks (not finished yet) the day after I sent out the other two sets. So here goes:

These were the blocks for March. We got some beautiful Kaffe Fasset fabrics to play with. One block is improvised, and the other is a block from the "New Orleans Star Quilt" in Kaleidoscope of Quilts:




These are Betty's triangle blocks. The odd little bits of yellow peeking out of the edges are some gray martini dots I had drifting around. The grey matched with the grey background fabric I recived, so I used mostly tiny pieces of it to fill in the gaps:




This was the fabric Cris sent us for May. She said she wanted something fun, so I tried to comply. Again, I did one improvised log cabin-y block and one from a pattern found online (although I modified it -- first on purpose to use five fabrics instead of 3, and then by accident because I can't ever keep track of what's supposed to go where:




So there you go. I still don't have my digital camera. I actually used our film camera, and got a photo cd with my prints. Handy, eh? If I can learn to wait 5 days (ha!) I can even get the film processed for .99 cents. Remember when One Hour Photo finishing was a luxury, and we expected to wait 5 days for photos once we had finally finished a roll of film and taken it in to be developed at the photo shop?

Anyone feel like making a spare quilt or blanket?

Well, I have at least two baby quilts to make this summer. One for me, and one for my friend Lisa. And I have gathered a huge stack of fabric, and a huge supply of inspiration. Too much for two quilts. I was trying to decide what to do about this "problem", when I was reading about Craft Hope over at This Vintage Chica .

I'm kind of sad that I missed out on making a doll, but being in the first trimester of pregnancy and enduring the very extended winter we had this year, I didn't have the energy to join. But I think I will make a quilt, since I'm going to be baby quilting anyway. And I have all these fun kids fabrics that are just begging to be used. And I have been feeling like my store of compassion and concern for the world has been waning of late.

Anyone else want to join in and make a quilt or hat for an orphan in India? Check out the craft hope link above, if you're interested.