kim’s holiday gift guide | the mustache ring

And yes, this is going to be a regular thing. Because some stuff is just too good to keep to myself. And I knew you’d want to see this.

You think I am kidding, right? I sort of love this. And I am pretty sure Kate will too. She would call it ironic (her highest compliment).

Available From Melanie Favreau at Etsy. Except I may have lied, and it may be sold out. But don’t despair, there is always the mustache necklace.

I love me a little clever.  Especially when it’s right under my nose.

P.S. To my grammar geek goddesses (you know who you are), I did agonize over the correct spelling, alternating between moustache and mustache. I finally picked this one because it’s the same spelling used by the American Mustache Institute, and I am guessing they would be the authority. Just wanted you to know I did my homework.

weekend report | won to go, please

Friday night: reception at the US Bicycle Hall of Fame, new to Davis and our new client. It’s a great honor and opportunity, and were were thrilled to win the project to create a new brand for them. Steve’s excitement might equal Alex’s.

Saturday: Three softball games, lovely weather. Two wins, one close to a win (yes, I know that means a loss, don’t tell anyone).

Saturday night: Hall of Fame Inductee Dinner. Alex came with us, and proved that she cleans up real nice. Two hours from this to this:

She was delightful and fun, and interested and interesting at the dinner. We were so happy to have her as our companion that we bid on the autographed Team Quickstep jersey for her.  And we won it.

That would be Tom Boonen’s autograph in the middle, one of her favorite riders. Before we leave this, let me say, winning a silent auction is not for the timid. It requires vigilance–furtive glances, strategy and hovering. Also, trying to not look pathetic. We excelled at all. Well, maybe three out of the four.

Sunday afternoon: Last two games of the season. We won one and we didn’t win one. But Miss Alex pitched her heart out, one of her best outings ever. She left the field smiling and laughing, and I am hoping she feels like a winner.

Because she is.

kim’s holiday gift guide | toasty toes

Who wouldn’t want these?

You can read more about them here. Had to share.

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

Sesame Street is 40. I started logging my time on the street with my brother Neal, and I became a regular with Kate. Not so much with Alex.  I don’t know whether she was a non-TV kid, or if I used 6-8-year old Kate as my stand in TV babysitter while I took a shower. But I logged plenty of hours with Sesame Street in my early parenting years. Especially the videos. Especially this.

I am guessing we watched this about a bajillion times. I thought it made us hip parents.

What did I know?

I wonder if it’s weird how happy this makes me?

Let’s call it a wrap, shall we?

This is one of those weeks where I never got my feet on the ground. I flew home Sunday night and neglected the rituals that make up my weekend– though I made a list of them, and intended to do them, I just didn’t.

I also didn’t unpack (though last night Steve wanted to put away my suitcase, and with my permission, dumped my clothes on the floor, and yes, they are still there, with the others). I didn’t clear out the debris around my chair (which included a laptop that wasn’t mine, which had the makings of an embroidery thread friendship bracelet duct taped to it, plus what seemed like about 20 newspaper rubber bands, and a pile of books and magazines that made my early morning coffee balancing act precarious…you get the idea). I also didn’t change the not-so-fresh flowers on the mantle, or put out the newspapers, or bleach the kitchen grout. Or water the plants. Or clean Toby’s food mat. Or put clean sheets on the bed. I barely made it grocery shopping, but it was without a list or a plan. I didn’t pluck, and I feel like Groucho Marx.  All small things, but somehow they make me feel centered for the week.

On top of that, Steve went back to the studio every night, so our evening rhythm was off, too. I also skipped exercise (I KNOW, I KNOW!), and evening tea.

I should have at least unpacked. Maybe that would have motivated me. But you know, those new pajamas were waiting.

I kept thinking about that John Lennon quote: Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.

This weekend is going to be busy…two events for the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame (our new favorite client), a softball tournament.

And a few rituals snuck in between the moments.

Going to start by taking an extra few hours at home this morning. To get last week started right. And then, I can call it a wrap.

And start again. This time, with the clothes off the floor. And a pedicure.

Happy Friday everyone.

more philosophy fit for a napkin

So I am thinking, I might be able to work this theme for a bit. Oprah has her “This Thing I Know for Sure”, and plenty of writers have published their thoughtful wisdom in lovely little books. Me, I can manage napkins. And for the heavy stuff, paper towels.

I remember that my life got easier when I figured this part out:

I don’t remember if it was during meditation, or a low point, or a morning walk….but a while ago I recognized that the sun doesn’t rise and set on my actions, that whether or not I accomplish my goals for the hour/day/week/month/year is irrelevant to most of the planet.

It’s a big world, but I am not such a big deal. And that led to a big sigh of relief.

I have a small corner to tend to….sometimes it’s a really small corner that includes me and my chair. On a good day, it’s a bigger corner, and includes family and friends and clients, the grocery store bagger, and Toby the Wonder Dog. On an exceptional day, it includes poor women and their adolescent daughters in rural India. But that’s a really exceptional moment.

There are a few folks (Barry and Michelle, perhaps) who are a big deal, and everything they do matters to all of us (even if we aren’t on their team, it matters). But the world doesn’t revolve around my list….and that combination of reality and humility takes the pressure off of my imagined grand performance, for sure. Self-importance isn’t necessary for self-esteem, and it let’s you off the hook a bit, especially at the end of the day.

stand back girls, grandpa’s got a glue gun

Today is my dad’s birthday. Grandpa Bill was born to be a grandpa, I think. He’s clever and funny and creative and has a well-enhanced inner child. Grandpa draws cartoons to illustrate his grandchildren’s stories, he built a train set to entertain them (yes, of course it was for them), he has helped build school projects (he helped Alex build a cardboard and plastic cup spray painted castle when she was in the second grade). He makes boxes for their stuff, kites for their classrooms (as in, Grandma and Grandpa are coming for show and tell and we will all be building our own kites), cages for their bugs. All of the grandkids have benefited from the Grandpa with the Gluegun….but because mine are the ones who get him for Christmas, we get something special.

The graham cracker candy gluegun structure thingymajigs.This is how we spend the days before Christmas. Most of them were pre-digital camera (though my mom has documented all), but here’s last year’s.

In case you don’t recognize it, it’s the Golden Gate Bridge. The year before, we did the Eiffel Tower. I think Fenway Park was the year before that. It was a very specific inning of a very specific World Series game. We’ve done Maui, a ski resort and plenty of horse stables. In our early years we did trains, merry-go-rounds and cruise ships. Mere childs play.  We are now moving into structures that require engineering, wired licorice and as much cardboard as graham cracker. This is serious business, and not meant for sissies.

Last weekend we brainstormed this year’s project. An amusement park. With a rollercoaster, and a tilt a whirl, and a carousel and one of those swinging arms of death. And a lake, and a train.  He has warned me that it will take several days, and we may have to build it in several parts to make it 6 feet long. He’s got the industrial glue gun, and he’s pretty anxious to use it. I’ll make sure I have the industrial strength wine as a counterbalance.

I don’t want to give the impression that he only has a gluegun to entertain us. He grows beautiful orchids, makes killer eggs for breakfast and flies model airplanes (including the one that recently flew 13 miles without him, and was actually returned, somewhat intact).  But we’ll save those stories for another birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad. You rock as a dad, and you really, really rock as a grandpa.

Nuthin’

Folks, I have nuthin’ for you today. Nuthin’ good, nuthin’ bad, and certainly nuthin’ inspirational. Which means, by past nuthin’ mornings, I should be working on a Five Good Things post. Because that’s the deal for November, feeling grateful and all that. I see it on Facebook and in my church newsletter, and all this gratitude just makes me feel…well, kind of shallow. Because if I had to write a Five Good Things post, right this minute, at 6:30 am on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, it would look something like this:

1. New jeans. Oprah had a special on jeans for girls with a booty. She had the expensive $200 jeans, and then the $40 Lee jeans from JC Penny for the rest of us. I found them for $30 and haven’t taken them off.

2. Mrs. Dash Chili and Lime seasoning. On 94% fat free popcorn. With any reality TV dance show.

3. I skipped Halloween candy this year. I was with mom and dad, and we handed out pretzels (which horrified Alex, but she wasn’t with us, so there), and Steve and Alex evacuated all candy from our house by the time I returned home. Which was really quite nice, because the Halloween candy is never as good as I want it to be, and then I have to feel guilty, and suger-laden, and well, it just feels better to have skipped that part.

4. Magazines. I know I said I would cut back on paper, but if I can’t have ice cream, I can have glossy magazines with shoes and belts, and makeup and recipes and stories about Reese Witherspoon.

5. Ouch. I am having trouble mustering up #5, which is also shallow and pathetic. I could cheat with being grateful for my health and my family blah, blah, blah (yes, I am stalling).  Or that I have health insurance, and food on the table (still stalling…waiting for inspiration…bear with me…..it may come….or I may have to stall some more). Weather. That’s good.  Fall leaves. Purple sage and yellow daisies in my backyard. Target in my neighborhood…well, I do enjoy a good Target run. A slow by steady weight loss (very slow, but at least consistent). The blue and gray plaid flats I wore every day last week.  Ackkkkk, still nuthin’.

So ending the way I began. Just a small day, with nice weather, and swine flu-free. That’s something, eh?

my sew called life

I spent a lovely weekend with my mom and dad, mostly sewing.

There was also cooking, but that was Dad, cooking for us. It was his birthday weekend, after all.

There was also some movie and play-going, and tapas and sangria enjoying and aunt and uncle visiting. But for three days, Mom and I worked on a quilt for Alex, designed around her childhood t-shirts.

Sewing is part of my female heritage and genetic make up. Except that it sort of skipped me and went right to Kate. I love the concept of it, and I want to sew, but issues like changing the bobbin, broken needles and backwards patterns confuse and frustrate me. So I visit fabric stores, and then beg my mom to help me.

She made a quilt for Steve, out of his t-shirts, and it’s a family favorite. I decided it would be the perfect Grandma-to-Alex 16th birthday present. She wasn’t so sure, and there is an issue of arthritis in her hands (and upcoming surgery). But she was a good sport, and indulged me.  We started off at Joann’s on Friday afternoon. I jokingly asked the saleslady/ cutter if this was the country’s largest Joann’s, and she very seriously said yes it was.

Alex had requested a quilt the same size as Steve’s (that would be 48″ x 72″) and that it was blue and cozy. She picked 20 t-shirts. London, Yellowstone, Kaua’i, baseball, turtles (lots of turtles), Goofy, Costa Rica butterflies, Toby’s Feed Barn… they were all there.

Mom and I  pulled every single bolt of blue flannel and fleece (three shopping carts worth) and laid out our t-shirt samples. Mom did the math (once a schoolteacher), and I found more fleece for scarves (the kind that require no stitching, just straight cutting, which also proved to be a challenge).

I was responsible for cutting the t-shirts, and backing them, and trimming the backing, and pinning the 1/4″ border, and unpinning the 1/4″  border, and ironing Wonder Under to the 1/4″ border.  And eventually laying out the shapes and pinning them. I believe I spent more time with an iron that I have in the past year. I loved thinking about Alex with each piece, the trips and teams, and experiences that each t-shirt represented. Not a bad life for that girl, at least according to the t-shirts.

Mom was in charge of anything that had to do with math (though she pretended to consult me) and the machine itself (the gathering stitches and the long stitches, and the consideration of a final blanket stitch or zig zag).  Her work isn’t done yet….because there is still the quilt itself.

We chatted about our family and friends, we cursed the curves and the bumps (on the t-shirts), we talked about growing older (for both of us). We listened to music. We drank some wine.

I can’t show the whole thing to you, because Alex sees this. But it’s going to be wonderful.

And it was wonderful. Even if I never actually touched the machine, I spent the weekend sewing with my mom.

i’m just saying…

By Jennifer Ramos at Madebygirl.com and for sale at her Etsy shop.

I’m headed to southern California for a quick weekend with my mom and dad.  Hoping for some quality time on their  patio, sipping wine, coffee and getting lots of lovin’.

I apologize for the lack of Halloweenieness. I had a plan, but it will have to wait until next year. I do have a small treat over at re:design, so wander over if you dare.