Easter

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Getting some rare solo time with my mom, laughing, listening to Bossypants on the ipod while driving to the garden center.

Spending hours outside, cleaning out (or beginning to) the front garden.

Making cascarones with Kate and then, later, smashing them on patient, kind relatives before Easter dinner.

Coloring eggs with what felt like 47 (but was really just 11) beautiful, funny kids at the neighbor's.

Getting good feedback on a logo design (still not done) and feeling a little re-energized creatively.

Laughing at ourselves as we - those with young children - sat quietly talking (some of us a tad hungover, truth be told) while the older adults/grandparents had raucous good, loud fun at the neighboring table at Easter dinner.

Watching Kate and her cousin runningrunningrunning outside in the front yard with their pink, Easter dresses flying and white tights dirty with grass stains.

Buds on the trees outside giving me hope while we undergo Day 4 of a mild but necessitating school skipping GI bug.  Things change, pass, etc.

but, of course.

So, not three weeks after I completed the hand-sewn doll mentioned below, Kate informs me that she, inspired by the snotty princess doll (lesson = not learned) in a newly obsessed over book, would really, really, really like a small, plastic princess/fairy doll.  She knew I would not necessarily jump on this, mostly as I've been on cleaning-out kick.  I told her I understood why she would love a little doll like that, though, and if she wanted to spend her own hard-saved money on this, I'd help her get it.  Also, I asked that she find a toy to give away (poor snowy owl) to make room.  After spending a little time searching online, we ended up finding something - one very similar to those her cousin has been collecting - that fit the bill over at our neighborhood Target.  Was I happy to help her buy a plastic toy made by who-knows-who to add to an already enviable assortment of toys?  No, not so much.  Was I proud of her while she foisted her money onto the counter?  Yep.  Is it now naked, missing a shoe and hair all jacked-up, near the bathtub?  Of course.

promises kept...eventually

After receiving Hillary's great book some time back, I let Kate go through and pick one design she'd like me to make for her.  She chose Margot, the "topsy-turvy" doll.  That was back in December.  So, there followed three hoped for and then abandoned deadlines (Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day) only to - finally - be completed in time for a random Friday (last).  She's already undergone a braid replacement (I struggled with that hair, let me tell you) and several name changes (Marfa, Pretty, Worky...) but, most importantly, she's been dubbed Kate's "favorite doll ever".  She doesn't have a Barbie (yet) so we'll enjoy this while it lasts.

Idle Hands

Because I've not written on here in so long, I believe I will try to foster the impression that I've been knitting, sewing, crafting, in short, creating non-stop since my last post.  Please, think that.  Don't for a minute think that the sweater - my first - took me a mere 3 years to complete (though if you did think that you should also know that it was packed away for a good portion of this time).  In truth, I have been trying to get my hands busy again and the below pics show a few of the projects I've recently worked on.  I was the most relieved by the completion of the sweater, most excited about doing the screen printing but, oddly, most satisfied by the making of those small plastic, glitter-iffic wings.  These were fashioned one morning a couple of weeks back when a small someone wistfully mentioned - yet again - her desire to "some day" be reunited with a small, cheap, blue plastic fairy that she found and then lost over 3 years ago.  She said something to the effect of, "I know!  "We" could make wings for my other dolls!"  Um, no.  "We" cannot.  I'm not sure where "we" would begin and I don't really want to start a glittery mess and blahblahbadparentingblahblah.  Somehow, though, she caught me at a good time - perhaps I was avoiding cleaning the kitchen or balancing on our budget - and so we cut up an old plastic box that had once held flip flops, found some elastic cord and - voila(ish)! - some pretty good stand-ins!  Like most things I make, these (everything below, really), are best viewed from a distance and with kind eyes (or one closed).  No matter.  I'm just happy not to be doing the devils work.