Soccer Boy

It doesn't happen often, but Luke's next game was postponed due to weather. I'm actually pretty happy about this! I mean, really, it's almost February!

Here are some photos from the previous game - so far they are 2 wins out of 2 games in the state cup.

The Adventures of a Comic Book Artist

Luke was in a school play last weekend, "The Adventures of a Comic Book Artist" - they do such a great job there, the program is amazing.

There are thousands of photos on flickr, in two sets:

First part of the show

Second part of the show

Something Special

This. This is as special as it gets. I am sure that no other mother in the history of time has been gifted with something quite like this. For Valentine's Day, no less, though, it was late due to some design challenges.

A handmade, by my very own child, copper, pronged, ring, holding a big honking chunk of fossilized dino-poop. Yes, dino-poop, you did not read that wrong. Technically, fossilized prehistoric turtle poop, but dino-poop had a different kind of ring to it, doesn't it? Especially special as he found this lovely specimen himself, at Salmon Creek, WA.

Check it out, aren't you just a tiny bit jealous?

What We've Been Up to Lately

The biggest project in forever, that's what. I have to empty the lower level of the house so we can have some repairs done... which meant, either store all the guest room stuff in a pod, or upgrade the kid to a tween/teen room and give him the guest bed. You will see here what we decided to do.

Here is the inspiration photo and the finished result. We painted, had new carpet installed, new baseboard, new curtains, new bedding... the whole works. I figure he's good now until he goes to college.... at least I hope so!





You can see whole post is over on Luke's blog: Luke's New Room - all the before and after and in between shots. I'm impressed with myself, but then I had a total slave-driver project manager pushing me every step of the way (Luke, of course).

Phew, done with THAT! Now to empty the rest of the basement. Hmn.

A No-Beads Update

I know, no beads, does that make you as sad as it does me? Oh well... lots of life getting in the way of that.

Luke turned ten this year. Ten! Where does the time go? I can still see him all hooked up to everything in the NICU. He sure has come a long way. The kid is pure joy, when he's not driving me crazy. This year he requested a lobster dinner for his family party - and he helped me get everything ready - he's actually quite the project planner. I couldn't have pulled it off without him, but still, no more indoor lobster parties, no matter how cute the requester is.



Homeschool is swimming along - now that we are in a groove, it's not so scary and it's surprising how easy it is, most days. We are splitting our time with classes at the local homeschool resource center (which is kind of like college for little kids - we choose what classes to take and make our own schedule) and home work. We both agree, the home work is a bit on the boring side, and Luke informed me yesterday that I need to be better about the field trips. Apparently the zoo, Ikea, the Seattle Underground Tour and the Children's Theatre is not enough for him. It's not really enough for me either, I had planned more, but life has a way of getting in the way.

Like Frank's surgery - I guess Luke doesn't consider the days in the hospital a field trip. Oh well, we both learned a lot from that, I say it counts.

And we may be off on a very big trip soon, as his grandfather, my father-in-law, is failing fast and suddenly, after a long slow journey through Alzheimer's Disease. This, I'd have to agree, is also not a field trip. Though there are lots of life lessons to be had with a family trip like that - something we've been lucky enough not to have to learn yet. Sigh.

So... if my store closes down for a bit - you'll know why. No beads, no time. But maybe in a bit.

Another Thing to Add to "The List"

I'm talking about the list of things I said I would never do. How many things are on that list? Oh, too many to count. It’s a 10 year list, after all. What is it they say? You are a great parent before you ever have any kids? Then you have kids, and you realize you knew nothing. Nothing at all.

So... homeschooling. It wasn't my first choice - actually it was my second-to-last choice - but I'm quickly coming to terms with it and I'm starting to think it's the best choice. For now. For my kid. And it's so much better than the last choice, which was returning to one of two schools we had already tried and had not been thrilled with.

It's only been a week, but he's happy. As in: smiling and agreeable happy. Which makes me realize, his teachers have been getting the best part of my kid, and when they handed him back over to me, it was the tired and cranky kid who was not at all interested in telling me about his day. I like this child of mine much better. He asks questions, shares what he's thinking about, makes funny jokes, bounces around, hums and chants when he's doing his math... it's a whole new side of Luke.

The other cool part is that we are kind of free. Free to make our own rules about how we want to live our lives. Not sure what that really looks like yet, but it's going to include lots of field trips, ski days, and art. Sleeping in if we want to. Baking cookies or whatever else we come up with. Lots of soccer. Guitar lessons for the both of us. Travel. Plus some really fun classes at the home school resource center - right now he's taking a clay animation movie making class, and next week starts a science/literature combo class based on the book "How to Eat Fried Worms". (No worms will be fried or eaten, we have been assured.) There are Spanish classes to take, and drama productions to be a part of… lots of interesting things to choose from. Or not, because we are free to choose now.

Not that he isn’t going to be learning the regular stuff: math, reading, writing, history and science – there’s lots of that too, but I’m amazed at how quickly he gets through those things. He’s happy because he’s not sitting around waiting for the rest of the class to finish up before he can move to the next thing. And he’s happy because he got to choose Ancient Greece and Greek Mythology as a subject to learn about. I also let him choose his science subjects: magnets, electricity, energy, and weather too.

You may be wondering about one other important thing: beadmaking. It’s still going to happen! I don’t know how yet, or when, but it will. On a somewhat regular basis. This is *one thing* I’m not going to eat my words about. That is one thing that is not going on the list. There’s glass to melt after all!

Exciting Times!!

The Braves were undefeated this year - they just kept winning, game after game after game - and now they are the Super 9's Champions! Makes sitting out in the cold and wind and rain for the past 4 months almost worth it!

The Good Stuff

OK, OK, I can do good stuff too.

First of all, there is this "April" Treasury that Patty Lakinsmith put together - she included my bird egg necklace. April is one of my favorite months, probably because it's my birthday month, and this treasury really does make you *feel* April, doesn't it? See, that's a good thing.

Visit Patty's Store to see her great beads, if you like my beads, you'll love hers! And don't miss her "Meanie" series - those things are so cool!



What else? I have a ton of good stuff about my kiddo. You should see what a great reader he's turned into! All that hard work, and now he's just zipping through chapter books, reading some of the good parts out loud to me because he thinks I'll like the good parts too... and planning what he's going to read when he's done with the series he's on now. And you should see him crack the ball in baseball! Batting lessons are paying off. And you should hear him play the recorder! The kid can read music and really has an ear for which note is which. He did NOT get that from me! And... yeah, I could go on for ever about him, but I won't, because I'm sure you don't want to hear me braggin' on my kid for an hour.

Let's see, about the garden, you know, the weed jungle out there... well there are also tulips popping up in places I didn't plant them. I like that. And my Madrona tree is almost as tall as my house now, I bet she gets there this summer. I love that tree. And the magnolia tree has put on the best show this year, and now is sprouting leaves. And the rhodies are about to explode too. All kinds of good stuff out there beside weeds, it's true.

The diet thing. Eh. What can I say about gaining weight? Not much. But I don't really think it's the diet, because Frank and Luke both seem to be slimming down since I've been doubling up on the veggies and backing off on the starches. And I've been learning some tricks to make the veggies taste better, so people are actually eating them instead of pushing them around on their plates. So that's a good thing.

The technology bit? I love my iphone. That thing is the best thing since sliced bread. And my computer works great as long as all Apple programs are deleted... a working-great computer is nothing to sneeze at, right? I'm thinking of giving this one to Frank, and buying myself a mac book. That would be a Very Good Thing, don't you think?

Oh and speaking of buying things, I love my new Italian espresso maker! That thing makes the smoothest, yummiest coffee ever. And my new shoes, even though they are not flip flops, they are making my feet happy. And the new bag I got to go with them - love! (It's my birthday month, didn't I just tell you that? I go a little crazy spending in April. I'm not going to feel bad about it either, so there.)

Ok, that's enough good for now, I don't want go all Pollyanna on you or anything... besides, I need to go try to find that Muse of mine. She needs to get to work so I can start saving up for that new computer.

Photo Friday: Children

This week's Photo Friday is Children and for once I have the perfect shot for it. I love this, cheesy as it is. Done with one of my iphone apps.

New Glass, New Beads

Last Friday Luke had the day off from school and we decided last minute to take a ride out to the ocean. You know we pass Frantz Glass along the way and had to make a stop there, right? Yes, of course. $300 and a box of new and old colors later, we were back on the road. Driving through the rain and hail and clouds on the way to the beach. Oh wait? You want to know what was in that box? Oh, of course you do! Sorry!

In the box... was some delicious Clio, a silver glass that is supposed to go pink, orange, milky shimmery pretty. I've been wanting to try it for awhile now. And also, some new OX, a green luster glass that I though might have some fun potential - it had just been put out on the floor that day. Some silver pink that I'd never tried, more opal yellow, not enough junky clear (need to order more of that asap), some 14K gold (color, not metal), some more Gaia, new mandrels, and I don't know what else. Oh some of the good Hades, and some Multicolor.

Ok, back to driving to the beach. In the rain and hail. We kept going even though... it didn't look promising. Who doesn't like a stormy beach, anyway? But when we got there! The sun came out and it was amazing. The best beach day ever. This year.





And then, I came home and played with my new glass. So far, I don't like the OX at all, all it's good for is getting a nice metallic luster and maybe storming if you like green storms. It would make nice accent beads... but I don't make them, do I? Not enough magic reactions for my taste, but I'll try again sometime.

But oh, the Clio! I do like the Clio. Here are a few of my beads from yesterday, all available on Etsy now.

Fall is Fun by Luke

Fall is fun
It tastes like pumpkin pie
It smells like wet dogs
It sounds like crunchy leaves
It looks like jack o lanterns
It feels wet

By Luke

Luke Draws on the Walls... with a Sharpie

...but it's ok ;-)

Happy Valentines Day!

Luke delivered some stargazer lillies to his little girlfriend, her name is Lilly, and when he handed them to her he said "Lillies for my Lilly". He also brought over two chocolate hearts, and said he was going to say "Hearts for my heart" but he didn't end up saying that part. He came back skipping and grinning. I could just eat this little boy of mine up, he's so darn cute and it all comes from inside. Sweet talker, just like his dad. What a pair I've got, huh?

Troll Mania

I've only got myself to blame... I put a story about a troll into my kid's head a few weeks ago while we were stuck in a 3-hour traffic jam and now it's troll, troll, troll... everywhere we go.

Here is Luke with our local Fremont Troll, the subject of most of my story. The finger up the troll's nose was completely his idea... I swear it. I don't know where he got that idea, but he wasn't leaving until he managed it.





And here is a side of Luke I've never seen in person before, but thanks to Frank's new camera phone, we get a glimps into the life and times of... this:

Jedi Light Saber Spoon

It is ONLY because of this article that we have sugar coated cereal in the house and that Luke is the Very Proud Owner of his own Jedi Light Saber Spoon. If you could tell from the very blurry photo he is not actually eating the pure sugar cereal that even HE says is "junk food", but instead is eating "kid-tested, mother-approved" Kix, with Dora the Explorer on the box. Which is still not a really great cereal by any means... they get you no matter what. I did tell Luke though that that was the Very Best Cereal Box Prize EVER, and there had never been such a great prize before and never would be again... his dad backed me up on this, so I HOPE that the cereal isle does not become a nightmare isle from here on out. But at the moment I am for sure, one "cool dude mom" and that is all that matters.

Luke Learns to Ride a Bike!

It was a very busy day today. Action packed. The biggest and best thing was that Luke learned how to ride a bike! I wasn't sure if it was going to happen, but then it all clicked and he was off. He is so proud and I am too.