Dear Rose, please forgive me for ever saying that you are a useless grey rag. It’s just not true: you happen to be quite a useful grey rag and I am enormously proud of you. For the third time in your, what, 15? 16 is it now? years, you caught and killed a mouse. And you neatly laid it in front of the door I use most often, what a good girl you are!
Now if only you could figure out how to make me coffee. Or toast, that’s easy.
As it goes with friends that have babies, I basically move in one day a week to sniff and snuggle and to give mom 5 minutes to pee on her own. This little muffin is the latest Elliott on the scene and I like her very much. 10 days old today and it was my second visit. Meet Niamh Ava who is a party girl and rocks the house from midnight to 3 am every night.
Waving! Already!
Laughing. I told her about the great battle of Rob Ford and Marg Delahunty. Hilarious!
Then I taught her how to whistle. She is pretty good.
Then she posed for a silhouette which we gave to her mom. It was a good visit, we got a lot accomplished. Next week I’m teaching her to knit and how to rig a small sail boat. Should be fun!
Back from our romantic getaway for two, I’ve got the itch to get to work on projects that have been set aside. I find flickr to be a great source for inspiration and that is where I found this tutorial on a simple quilt pattern. My squares are bigger than the instructions but it seems to have come out evenly.
I don’t know if it really is the right arrangement for this project. Eh, I will leave it on the floor for a couple days and think over…it seems a bit busy.
Lately, it seems, that I can’t have a day go by without listening to Lady Gaga. I know I’m a little old to be a fan and I’d never claim to be a little monster…out loud. Well. Ok, maybe I am one, what of it? She is GREAT. I wish there had been a musician with a similar message when I was a teenager. Every song on Born This Way speaks to me, the present and the past me. And it is a fantastic album all the way through. Sure I struggled with a few songs at first but as a whole it’s one of my favourite albums of all time.
Seriously. OF ALL TIME. That is alongside Prince, Zappa, The Who, Zeppelin and assorted musical soundtracks.
And you know what flipped me from being a casual admirer to a hardcore fanatic? Her performance on Howard Stern. Yep. Her interview was great but her lead in story to performing Edge of Glory, how and why it was written, and then singing it as a ballad (unlike the album version which is poppy and uptempo, like she did on the MTV video awards) was seriously emotional. It moved me. And I’m very confident that it wasn’t just me, I know that there are many Howard fans that love Gaga too now. If I knew how to see the embed code on this stupid iPad I’d make a link, but if you search “gaga Howard stern” it is the top result. The other song she did, Hair, was also great, a fantastic song.
Ok. So I’ve outed myself as a Gaga fan. What else do I love?
Oh yes, I love Arrested Development. It is the funniest series I have ever watched. The stupid thing is that I missed it entirely when it originally aired. I mean, I caught a few episodes here and there on satellite when I was living in Windsor, but it seems to me that it really needs to be seen beginning to end because there are a lot of jokes that carry from one episode to the next. Thankfully, all three seasons are on Netflix, that was how I watched it, basically on repeat, for a few months. Then I got these tattoos. I wanted them to be obvious to fans of the show (like the couple that was giggling behind me at the petting zoo at the CNE) but no super blatant like other AD tattoos I’d looked at online.
The first one, on my left calf, commemorates Buster’s pet turtle, Mother, that he got in a misguided attempt to make his own mother jealous. Mother dies from eating Uncle Father Oscar’s marijuana stash.
The second is the seal that was from GOB’s wife (Crindy?) that he used in a magic show but had to be set free as it had gotten a taste for blood. Buster went swimming in the ocean against his mother’s wishes on his way to army and meets up with the loose seal (see? Loose seal=Lucille) who bites off his hand.
I think I might get a few more, I have a bunch of very silly and hilarious ideas (jorts with analrapist on the banner maybe) but we will see. Oh, and darling Glennie did these at Pearl Harbor in Kensington Market in Toronto. She is super talented and fun and makes you feel like you have a new best friend at the end of your tattoo appointment.
I saw this card last time I was at Magic Pony but I was so distracted by miniature sushi and Southpark zipper pulls I forgot to buy it. Lucky for me it was still in stock when I returned this afternoon. Can’t say that for the sushi.
Has anything sillier ever existed? I can’t take it out of the plastic wrapper until I have a frame for it so I won’t get damaged by spit takes. Seriously, it’s pretty much the funniest card ever.
Well. See, I said card, not picture. Nope. As of right now this is the funniest picture:
Haha!
I took this picture the other day because I thought I looked pretty. Usually I feel tired and unkempt. Especially right now during my work vacation. With no reason to leave the house, why would I brush my hair or put on makeup? Dress?
I mean, besides the fact that we eat out every other night. Easy to do without a kid. Right now half the clothes in my laundry basket are pajamas or pajama related.
And the heat isn’t on here yet. Let me tell you, it is chilly. I slept with a hoodie on last night, hood up to keep the old ears warm. The fish aren’t fans either, they’ve been huddled at the bottom of the pond for 3 days.
I spent last weekend in Kinkardink visiting with my dear friends Ashley and Scott (and their hilarious and sweet children) and remembered that the John Lennon piece wasn’t the only cross stitch I’d ever made. Nope, there is this one too.
Silly.
I’m planning on blogging more, I’ve got a great post about my latest obsessions brewing. Honest.
When I went to Montreal with my sister a couple summers ago, we went to see an art installation by Yoko Ono about her life with John Lennon. It was incredible and had me near tears several times; what an amazing person she is. John, of course, was so great on all levels.
I’d picked up cross stitching (and put it down again, probably permanently) and after a couple small pieces, made this. The word are from his song “God” and the image of John is an iotacon.
How different the world would be had he lived. I believe that with every fibre of my being.
I finally put together the top for my yellow log cabin quilt. Yes, I’m loving it. I’ll need to order fabric for the back and then I’ll need to decide if I will quilt it myself or not. It is pretty big, 2m square, so I’ll most likely go with long arm.
I like how it looks like stained glass.
I’m also back into knitting after taking a long break. Summer never feels that yarn-y to me but when an acquaintance moved to Costa Rica to have a baby and gave me all her yarn and needles, I was inspired.
Life is certainly changing for us around here. Much quieter without Ari who is living out her dream of being full time with her mom. Lucky little lady has goats, ducks and a swimming pool full of frogs, what more could a kid ask for? ATVs? Got them too. It’s weird not having her and I have done some fun cleaning to fill my time. And we get to eat salad for supper so that is different too. The tv is on more but cable has been cancelled so that won’t last.
That the apps I use most are all blue. I really wonder why this is, why app makers all seem to love blue so much.
Yes, yes. First world problem, I know.
