photo copyright 2010 R Low, all rights reserved
Ah. It’s been a busy week-end, spilling over into yesterday. But I did get quite a bit done. E’s birthday party is booked and all the invitations have been sent. Now I am worrying if all the invites made it to the people to whom they were intended…but that is just me.
We went last night and picked up her loft bed. It’s nothing much. It’s all metal. I wasn’t really thrilled to buy a loft bed for her, knowing that a year or so from now she will probably want her old bed back. If we lived closer to ikea, I’d have gotten her a nice wooden one, but … I’m not planning on going back to WV until July. It’s not for the high school reunion, although there are people I am going to see while I am there. It’s for Bryn at the InkWell, knock on wood that she and Ben are still there. Yes, I am willing to leave the St Louis tattoo mecca and drive 13 hours in the hopes that not only will Bryn touch up two tattoos, one of which she did, but also to get a new tattoo.
I did surprise R the other day. I do not often think about it, but when I think of traveling that far (no, I am not driving myself—thanks anyway…I can barely make it through town half the time), I always think of the conversation Bryn and I had about the dragon I want to get. Starting at the bottom of my foot and curling all the way up my leg, across my waist, and over my shoulder…yeah. Some days R really forgets how not like anyone/everyone else I can be…
Anyway, I must say a little ode to super glue. I have taken to wearing fake nails, as my own have been so fragile and breaking. After the last round, since I don’t like to wear them all the time, my own nails were doing quite well…but w the rain here of late, I wasn’t able to paint my nails. Even just using two coats of polish in this humidity means an increased likelihood of smearing and whatnot. No matter how long I hold still…which is not always possible anyway…I gave up a long time ago when it comes to base coat and top coat. Usually my polish only lasts a couple days anyway, due to chipping, so I am used to taking off my polish at night and then polishing them the next morning, every other day or so. I try not to paint my nails on the week-end, because chasing N around is hard on everything, much less my nail polish. Plus, if I don’t paint my nails in front of N, he won’t want me to paint his nails…and his dad would have a cow if I painted his nails...even if I paint his nails black. T has a fit if I paint N’s nails clear…N would prefer red…and/or green. Those are his favorite colors.
Yesterday morning, I glued on a whole new set set of nails. All my real nails had shattered, broken, twisted, you name it…and there was no real use to paint them once they are that short. So I put on some fake nails. I should buy the shortest length, but I have the short ones, which are more like regular/natural long nails. I usually wear them the way they come the first day or two…and then clip them back to a normal for me length.
We went to pick up E’s bed. It’s a metal loft bed w a built in desk. She is way too proud of herself. R and I went to put the box in the truck…and yes, it was a heavy box, but not that heavy. I had no traction on my hands though…I rarely do. The one end of the box slipped out of my hand…and took my fingertips right off my hand. My fake nails were not stripped off my nail beds…the fake nails cracked and shattered…not one whole nail came off…although four nails were darn near ripped in half. Only one of my fingers actually got hurt from it. My pinkie…the one w the messed up thin nail bed that I really put the glue on to ensure that the nail bed itself is protected. And it wasn’t that bad either, although it is still sore and wimpy today. So, super glue…oh yeah, buddy, it works.
Yesterday was a fun day. During the day. I taught E to purl. She had the knit stitch (in knitting) down. She picked up the purl stitch *boom* that quick. I was really proud of her. She is determined to make R a pebble pillow from Two Balls Or Less by Jenny Hill for Father’s Day. He got a present from her last year for Father’s Day…hey, uncles get presents too…lol. That’s what we keep telling him. The poor man keeps fighting the whole father figure/step-father label…even though I think he is a much better parent than I am most of the time. He is that even keel, logical, emotional content not involved at the right time, loving and caring when it is needed type of parent. He can’t believe he is good for either the kids or for me—and I am telling you—he has always been good for us, before we were ‘together’…and he is even better now.
I finished up the pink horse and the blue cat. I swear, that is the ugliest horse I have ever seen. And it is not just the mane that is so scraggly because I couldn’t get the locks in the way I wanted (I did not follow the pattern…the lock and loop stitch from the pattern and my mind did not click, so I skipped it and made a fringe mane instead…). The shape of this animal’s head makes me want to laugh or cry or both. And again…I had to pop an eyeball out of that horse’s head and waste it (no way to remove the washer once it’s on)…I put it in on the wrong side…I put the eyeballs in the head (safety eyes) the day my eyes shipment came in…so I am lucky I could pull the eye out through the back …or this might have been the horse w the eye patch. Oh yeah, the pirate pony! I can see that.
What was really fun about finishing the cat and the horse was I sat right there on the floor, w E working on her pebble pillow and practicing her purl stitch, sitting very close to me. She asked me what I was doing. I told her I was finishing off these knitting projects. She asked me for whom was I making them. I told her I made lots of things for charity. Which got her off on the topic of children in homeless shelters and if they are able to pick out the toy they want or if they are just given a toy and they don’t have a choice. My little 8yo (almost 9!) has a HUGE heart. Not only does she want to make toys and hats and scarves and whatever to give to the kids in need, she wants to hold a bake sale in the neighborhood in order to collect money for the needy, the homeless and the hungry children here in our community. She tries so hard. I love that about her. For all her little quirks and faults, she is an amazing child.
I am also looking forward to doing it again today, knitting things for her without her realizing it, while she sits and knits and chats about her plans and whatnot.
