Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Daycare

I just keep watching that movie (from prior post) because my legs look so dang good!

Well, this morning we went with my girlfriend and her kids (plus a few extra) to the beach. Let's add this up:

my kids = 5
+ hers = 5
+ extra = 2
+ adults = 2
_____________
total = 14

Now let's look at some photos. Look with me from an outsiders perspective, okay? I mean, let's pretend that we don't know that Miss Brasil (my girlfriends new alias) and I adopted, nor do we know that we brought along our friends' kids...



And, taking a look from someone else's point of view I can see that we do look like a daycare. Holy smokes! All those beautiful colors and ages and nationalities represented... Why else would we have all these kids with us!?!


*note to self. Stop getting angry every time that someone asks if you run a daycare, have foster kids, or are babysitting someone else's kids. While you're at it, don't get mad when people are shocked that you can do the twins' hair. Also, don't get frustrated when they tell you, "What a great thing it is that you're doing for those kids", like my Liberian babies asked me for a favor. Or how about not getting irked when they ask "Which ONES are adopted." (I mean, how should someone answer that? My usual response is, 'the obvious ones'.) Take a deep breath and remember this moment and how you appear from the outside. YOU LOOK LIKE A DAYCARE!


Earlier this summer on a Saturday morning, there was a knock on the door. Husband and I were soundly sleeping as it was about 7:30am. Miss Z answered the door (bad girl). Husband and I decided that we ought to get outta bed and, while making coffee, asked Miss Z who was at the door. The conversation went something like this:
"Who was at the door?" asked Hunsband
"A kid." responded Miss Z
"What kid?" silence "Were they okay?"
"Ummm... I don't know what kid they are. A boy with an orange t-shirt."
"Do you know where he lives?" panic begins to grow in Husbands voice
"No. But he's about 10ish; maybe."
"Well, honey, what did he want?"
"He said he needed help because there was someone at his house and they aren't supposed to be there. He asked if my daycare person was here."
"Let's go and find him." Husband said as he led Miss Z to put on some shoes.

So they went on a walk to find the orange t-shirt boy and to help them rid of the unwanted people at their house (I love that Husband is 6'5 and strong). It turns out that it was a boy who lives a couple of houses down and that he and his mom were trying to set up a garage sale but a pitbull wouldn't let them. This boy is the house-translator (we live within a largely latino neighborhood) and so he came for his mom because Dad wasn't home to shoo the bad dog away.
Point of the story?

We've lived two houses down from this family for over two years and they think that I run a daycare. I really must get out and introduce myself to some of our neighbors!

Monday, August 27, 2007

unbeleivably funny!

I stumbled onto this today and thought that you all would get a kick out of making one for yourselves! The kids and I laughed so hard that we had tears running down! Enjoy~!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Tibetan Dance

On Saturday, the girls and I went to my moms to meet up for a chica outing. My mom practically tiptoed to the street where I had parked the car and whispered to us (well, mostly the other three) that she wanted us to meet her friend. Can you see the little guy?
He was just a skinny little baby; brave one too. Probably would've stayed longer if Miss Z hadn't tried to pick him up. But we were off to bigger and better things anyhow! To the children's museum we go! For those of you who haven't had the privilege of sitting down for extended periods of time while your kids do activities that make you feel like they did something better than watch t.v., let me tell you a little about the layout. There's a bunch of areas dedicated to different activities. Like a dress up/theater area, a ball room where someone can shove balls into a bazillion different places and watch all of the places that they come out area, a music instrument area, a computer area, a nature area, a pretend restaurant area, ect. Usually, with all five kids, we spend a little time in each place. But not with the girls! With the girls we sat in the craft room for just under two hours! Like mother, like daughters ;)
And just by chance it was the Tibetan festival at the Science Center so we checked out all of the nagchampa, jewelry, knickknacks, and best of all ~ fabric!!! I scored two hand dyed pieces for free (late birthday present from mom)! They're just a few inches bigger than queen and oh so GORGEOUS! Ahhh the possibilities. I was thinking of a duvet cover for the down comforter or maybe some curtains? Not really sure yet but I'm always happy to add to the ever growing stash!
The kids (and Kahuna, our cat) thought that they looked like great tents.











Husband helped me to fold them after their photo shoot and he insisted that they had a poo stain on them. (There he is pointing it out). I complained a little that he said it was poo (I was extremely excited, afterall, and he was deflating my happy balloon). But to make me feel better he added, "I bet you that it's an authentic Tibetan yak poo stain!"


Here's a few more photos from our chica outing...
(I was a little distracted while taking this last photo... some strange woman was behind me taking a bunch of photos of my kids... it was bizarre. Not sure if the right thing to do was to ask her to stop or ask her what on earth she was taking them for but I did nothing but take an off center photo. Good mommy.)


P.S. I named this Tibetan Dance because my mom and the girls all danced with a large group at the festival and I was attempting to download this video. Blogger doesn't want me to, though. Questo è la vita.

Thursday, August 23, 2007





graphic codes




Please don't ask me how I found this... it's embarrassing what I did with my time this evening. I may have woken up husband I laughed so hard... What does this say about my sense of humor?

Dear Quilt that Isn't-Quite-Yet




Dear Quilt that Isn't-Quite-Yet,

We've had some good times together... haven't we? I remember when you were just in your infancy - an idea in my head (that no one wanted to help me with... we truly were on our own!).
I planned for you! You were a quilt that was wanted from the start. Don't you ever let anyone tell you different. I spent so much time obsessing over how to put you together. No ordinry pattern was good enough for you. I even worried that using off-white as your base fabric would effect my coffee-in-the-bed habit. But I overcame this fear and decided that you were more important! I will do my best to not drink coffee whenever we're in bed together (and if I get weak, just do me a favor and don't stain, okay?).
And then a portion of you came in the mail... oh how thrilled that I was! I opened up your little ziplock cover and petted you until I began to scare myself. I just couldn't help it. You were so softy and beautiful. So softy and beautiful, as a matter of fact, that I ordered more of this portion of you so you wouldn't be anything less than perfect.
Just look at yourself! Who could resist?And then that fateful day came when I began sewing you together, piece by piece. With loving care and a moderate level of accuracy you grew from the quilt-that-isn't into what you are today...

The Quilt that Isn't-Quite-Yet.


With all my heart,
Raquel

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Honored with a tag

I'm blushing right now. Truly. It's my first official tag from another blogger. Thanks, Southerngirlmusings! You honor me.
Hey.
Why don't I know your real name...?


Four jobs that I have had in my life:
1. Jack in the Box. (it was BEFORE the ecoli break out - I swear)
2. Starbucks
3. Christian Supply
4. Family Christian

Four places that I have lived:
1. Washington
2. Washington
3. Washington
4. Washington

Four Countries that I have been to on vacation:
1. Mexico
2. Canada
3. United States
4. that's it?? sad for me.

Four of my favorite foods:
1. hummous and pita - YUM
2. avocados
3. virtually any Indian cuisine
4. anything salty/crunchy


P.S. I added a counter this morning and I discovered that if I refresh my homepage, it will add another number. So, with regret, I humbly apologize for inflating my counter numbers. I'm really not that popular.
P.P.S I changed it to a map (today the 23rd) because I was confusing myself.

Urine Adventures

As you know, this last weekend we went to PT to visit with family. A fun fact about me that you may not know is that I have the weakest stomach on the planet. Really.

So on Sunday morning, I climbed out of the tent and was greeted by some raindrops. I slipped on my soaking wet flip flops and headed up the hill to my cousins house. About half way up the hill, Mr P starting bellowing out my name. Since a bunch of people were still sleeping, I rushed towards the direction of his voice. There, in front of the "man cave" (this is what the boys renamed the tent they slept in) was Mr. P with a large wet spot that encompassed the area from his belly button down to his knees.
"I peed." he stated without any remorse
"I see that." I lamented with a ton of remorse, "Buddy... How come you didn't get up outta the tent last night to go pee?" I paused here, waiting for a reaction. After not getting one I continued, "I know that it's dark and probably pretty scary being up by yourself here. Let's get you changed." I helped him find some clean clothes and told him to put his dirty ones in the plastic bag that we had designated for items such as these. This plastic bag happened to be in the back of the van.
I went back up to the house and as I opened the door, I nearly walked into Miss Z who was walking out.
"Miss B peed in the tent!" she exclaimed, "and it's on me and Faith!"
"Where are you guys sitting?" I asked as I picked up my pace and entered the house to look for the girls. "You're not sitting on the furniture, right?" Just as this question was coming to an end, I saw that they all were sitting on the cloth couches with a large group of people.
"Girls! Over here, now." I said in my sternest while whispering, you-are-in-so-much-trouble voice. "What are you doing? You're covered in pee and you're getting it everywhere! Not to mention you guys stink!" Turning my attention to Miss B I say, "Darlin', why are you still wearing those clothes?"
"She said that she slobbered." blurted Miss F
"What?" I was totally confused.
"I woke up this morning with pee on me and Miss B said that it wasn't pee, it was slobber."
Shocked at this admission I stared at Miss B, trying to maintain my cool. "Slobber!?! Come on, Miss B! (pause for staring into her soul) Slobber!?! You've got to be kidding me. Girls, go change your clothes." They meander their way to the door, wanting to watch cartoons with the other kids instead. "NOW." I had had enough and I still wasn't coffee-ready. Just then my husband walked in the door. I gave him a quick recap and asked him to pleeeeease take care of it. Now, by "take care of it" I meant get the girls clean clothes, shower them, and pack the stank bedding in a separate garbage bag along with the nasty clothes. He agreed to "take care of it" and so I headed for the pot of coffee, grateful that he had showed up when he did.
The morning continued on and suddenly I realized that we were cutting it close if we wanted to leave in time to see The Big O play soccer. I grabbed my purse and Mr. P and told my husband that we were off to get gas for the drive home. I also asked if he could pack up while we were gone. He agreed, being the wonderful guy that he is. Mr. P and I put our hoods on and headed down the hill towards the van. I fished around in my purse for my van keys while we made the hike, to no avail. Once down there I began taking out the larger items (wallet, make-up bag, ect.) in order to be sure that my keys weren't in there. Nope. So Mr. P and I head back up the hill to the house to find husband and retrieve the keys from him. At this point I was trying to not get irritated and kept reminding myself that it was no ones fault that I was walking around aimlessly in the rain.
"Honey... Can I have the keys? The van is locked." He checked his pockets and something awful appeared on his face - it was bad news, I could tell.
"They're in my other shorts." he reported
"Where are your other shorts?" I asked, knowing all to well where they must be but hoping for a different answer.
"In the back of the van." He immediately got up from his seated position and began asking me if any of the windows were down, blah blah blah. My dad got up and offered to help him try and get into the locked van. So the three of us headed back down the hill in the rain while I teased husband about locking the keys in the van.
Standing there, watching my weather stripping fly off in different directions, I decided that it was bad for my health to stress out while watching them shove coat hangers into the space between the window and the door. I kept commenting about how they were electric locks and this wasn't going to work. Recognizing that my presence was a bad idea all around, I headed back up to the house for the phone book so that, if they couldn't get the van unlocked, we could call a locksmith. I retrieved it, handed it off, and went back up the hill to try and talk myself out of getting worked up. I sat down under an out of the way awning, to try and stay dry, and waited for the result of this predicament. About five minutes later I heard hoots of approval. They had succeeded. And so I rounded up Mr. P once again and we headed out for gas. On our little escapade, we got a little lost but eventually found our way back again. Taking longer was more than okay with Mr. P as he and I were busy discussing "bad guys" and talking about how their aren't necessarily bad guys but just people who make bad decisions.
Upon our return, I went into the house and found that my husband had decided to take a nap on the couch. Disappointed that husband had napped rather than pack, I walked back down the hill to get it all done. The rain had stopped and the sun was peaking through the mass of clouds, so I was feeling a little better ~ in a general sense. I packed up our tent (where husband and I slept) and all of it's innards and then began to carry them to the van. Opening up the back hatch of the van, to my dismay, I saw Mr. P's peepee clothes strewn across my suitcase. It crossed my mind to have him come down and put his clothes where I had asked him but this would require going back up the hill again. So I tucked away my middle, ring, and pinky fingers in order to get a minimal touch, vice grip on the items. Upon lifting the pants and opening the garbage bag (that already has peepee sleeping bag in it) I was accosted by the distinct and STRONG odor of 12 hour old urine. Immediately I began gagging. The quick cure for my over zealous gagging reflex is to pull my nose away from the offensive smell; following the normal protocol, I dropped what was in my hands and stepped away from the van. Normal protocol apparently didn't apply on this doomed morning...
After wiping the area around my mouth (gotta make sure that there isn't any stray vomit), I tried again. Afterall, husband is asleep and who else is going to do it? {And if you're wondering, yes I was fairly irritated with his sleeping self at this point. But again, I was telling myself that he had a rough time sleeping the night before and that he works really hard and he deserves a moment of peace.} Continuing to gag, I worked with one hand holding a clean shirt over my face and the other doing the grunt work. When the endeavor was finally completed, I headed back to the girls' tent to make sure that husband had gotten all of the shoes and clothes that tend to get left behind. I unzipped the girls tent and BLAM, there it was again. I was accosted with the smell of 12 hour old urine. I immediately stumbled backwards, gagging more, and realized that husband had a different definition of "take care of it" than I.
Meanwhile, a crowd of cousins began to form. They stood in a large, loose circle around me watching to see if I would indeed lose the rest of my breakfast. Once the gagging subsided, I had one of them go and grab a bunch of garbage bags and called Miss B down from the swing set.
"Miss B, I am not cleaning this up. I just can't clean this up. But Miss J is getting you some bags and you're going to have to put the sleeping bags into the garbage bags, tie the top so we don't have to smell it on the drive home, and make sure that all of the clothes are in the bags as well." She nodded in understanding and began her task. Meanwhile, I hiked up the hill to grab the cooler. I unloaded the ice cold water and packed it up. My dad (who felt bad for Miss B) and Miss B brought me the bags of peed on items and I shoved those into the back of the van as well. Not three seconds later, my husband walks up to the van.
"Nice timing, babe. You plan that?" I ask him.
Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he laughs and jokes that this had been his plan all along. He hugs me and we all head up the hill for lunch.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

slowness

Today we officially got one of our five kids choiced into the best school within our district!!! I'm SUPER happy. The poor just might overcome! The chances aren't 100% that all of them will get in next year, but bit by bit, I will BEG them to let all of my kids in! The school that the girls are attending is ranked #546 in our state. The one that I got Mr. P into is ranked #287 and it's 5th grade WASL scores almost double that of the girls' school. So incredibly happy right now!

You may be asking yourself, what in the heck that I was thinking when I bought all of these freakin' zippers. Well, I was thinking that zippers don't go out of style (at least to my knowledge) and they were a total score from the Zipper Store in Portland. $10 for 100! As for storing all of this crafty stuff... I'll have to look up a blog on organization... heheh.

P.S. Titled slowness because I haven't worked on the quilt-that-isn't. Don't be a hater.

Monday, August 20, 2007

lovely

Port Townsend was lovely as usual... Here's a few pictures from the craft fair/farmers market that just happened to land on the weekend that I was there ~ teehee



That quilt that was up for raffle had over 400 hundred hours of work done on it (I bought three raffle tickets)! All hand appliquéd and hand quilted... made me feel lazy just looking at it. Then I, of course, opened my big ole' mouth and told the ladies who worked on it that I too am a quilter! Once I had their interest peaked, I realized that I had to admit that I indeed am a machine quilter. Not so hard core.

And the earrings make me oh-so-happy. Sporting them now. A chica hand made them and I was OH SO TEMPTED to get more than just one pair. She's got an etsy site and she made promises that more of her stuff would be up there soon. Her earrings are cute cute cute. Turquoise and corral and silver ... my personal favs. I had to walk away, though. Just kept thinking grocery thoughts (they sound something like this: "Don't forget that you guys need to eat in two weeks. Would you rather have food or earrings?")

Got the rest of those charms in the mail and so I now have no excuses on finishing the quilt-that-isn't. Uhhhh... nope. That's about it for today. Uhhhh... yep.


No wait! The coolest article about redheads is in the latest National Geographic! Here's some fun facts about us:
  • 2% of the worlds population are estimated to be natural redheads
  • 13% of Scotland's population are redheads and 2 out of 5 carry the gene
  • $123 million was spent on red hair dye in 2006
  • By 2100, redheads are thought to be extinct
  • Only about 4% of people possess the redhead gene
  • But it is popping up in "far flung places" like Jamaica
Now I know why I look like no one. Although I might find others like me if I made a trip to Jamaica ;)

Friday, August 17, 2007

We're off again..

Out of town again!?! You ask yourself.

Well, it is August, after all.

We're off to Port Townsend to visit with the Italian side of the family. We're bringing our Liberian side, our Samoan side, and the redhead (that's me) with us. We'll be leaving behind the Bulgarians. I love our family! Anyhow... My hubby works for an awesome juice company and we're bringing some pomegranate juice and some OJ which got me thinking that I might make this yummy drink to go with the Saturday night feast... Doesn't that look oh-so-num? I'm not one for drinking but I thought that it would be oh-so-Martha of me to bring along a treat ;)

I also thought that I would mention some sad news. Last night I sported my latest wallet and when I pulled it out at the grocery store (without doing a Vanna White display) NO ONE GASPED! What's wrong with them!?! They must have had their eyes closed... or maybe they were too stunned at it's beauty to find the words that would perfectly compliment it's beauty. Don't shatter my dreams here, folks.

Last thing, I promise.
Don't tell my girlfriend that I made this apron for her...
Good photography is hard to come by when everyone at the house is 6 and under... who needs a head anyhow?

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Blackberry Cobler

This is a short story about blackberry cobbler.

Once upon a time 10 kids got together and decided that I should make some cobbler. Because I'm not a baker, I struck a deal. If they would do all of the picking, then I would do all of the cooking. The men all met in a tight circle and discussed which part of the big forest that they would begin their hunt for the elusive blackberry.
After the decision of heading south was made, the big walk began.

"Wait! Does everyone have an over sized stick?" I gasped
With a sigh of relief, I noticed that all were well prepared. And so they continued on.

Where oh where could those blackberries be? Suddenly a mammoth spider arrived on the scene! It began to attack Mr. H!Oh no!!! It's lunging at his forehead! Who will save us??
Super G! After the battle went on for a few hours, Super G finally overcame the ferocious beast. Unfortunately the Big O was a casualty of this war. Picking himself up, the Big O thought he heard something... It was Mr. H shouting "Over there! It's good for your body!"

The hunt was over for blackberries was finally over. Let the picking begin.
And the taste testing.
With everyone safe and sound, I took a moment to enjoy the fruits (pun intended) of their labor. Such tenuous times that we had that day and yet we all somehow survived.
With that thought in mind, I baked away.
And we all ate because we all worked ever so hard.


















THE END

New Wallet

I spent a couple of days sewing sewing sewing (i.e. making tons of mistakes) before I finally came up with this long wallet.


..Teehee..









The kids and I made some felt pets the other day and allow us to show you how it IS possible to maintain a high level of cool while sewing stuffed animals. Oh yeah!
WARNING: Making felt animals with your five kids takes substantially longer time that what you will set aside. They will drop their needles, lose their needles, someone will find the needle by stepping on it, knot their thread, split their thread, and ask for help a bazillion times while you are amidst helping two other kids. You have been warned.


A little while later an alligator head was getting so hungry that it ate some over ripened (do veggies get 'over ripe'?) broccoli. And can I just say that outta the garden broccoli is SOOOO much better than store bought! Yummm. We were all fighting over the stems! The other beauty of growing broccoli is that I really put zero thought into the whole deal. Planted, watered, and they grew. Kinda like squash :)







And last but certainly not least, as promised, is the twirly skirt that I made for Miss Z. Here it is prooving it's twirl-ability to the world!

Monday, August 13, 2007

how many

I wonder how many of these bad boys that I could push out in a day. They are the cutest dang make-up holders and they take 1/2 an hour (possibly less if you aren't on the phone while making it)! Yah!


Open sesame and you have... make-up... whatta surprise!

mohawks are in?!?

I promised myself that I would stay FAR away from politics on this blog and so my apologies for being weak yesterday. But just in case you want to hear my not-so-humble opinion on human rights then listen to this and we'll be straight.

Onto my projects from the weekend...
I made this pursey from this tutorial














My husband thinks that the birdy is juvenile... but what can I say? I like the same things that nine year old girls do! Here's the reversed side of the same purse:














And since I had some extra fabric, I figured that I'd mess around and try to make my own pattern. What I came up with definetly needs some... help. BUT not bad, if I do say so myself, for my second purse ever. Right? This one is also reversible. I want to give another style a shot because I missed my pockets when sporting the top pursey on Saturday. Reversible is fun and yet not as useful. And yes, Dawne, I was already planning on making you one ;) Will you email me your new address?














It's the closure that's all wrong on this one. Also the fabric that I chose to frame the purse just doesn't do it for me. But I went a little outta control while purchasing fabric so I have enough to mess around with for a while. And last but not least, I made a twirly skirt for Miss Z. I'll take a photo of her in it a little later today.
I adjusted the pattern an eensie bit. Miss Z wanted a lapa but I figured that a tuck-type closure wasn't a smart idea for a six year old. So I made the twirly a little longer and I also gathered the skirt portion before sewing on the waste band. I followed the directions the first try, but the skirt wasn't quite as full as I was hoping. It's probably the added length.
And since you were holding your breath over the weekend, waiting to find out what I was going to do about the quilt-that-isn't, I thought that it would be best to inform you that I decided to buy more charms. Sad for me. I have to wait a few more days for them to show up in the mailbox. Don't cry for me. I'll make it somehow.
Here's Miss B with her latest hair style. She almost wasn't going to let me take photos of her with a hawk. But don't worry, I braided the whole thing down (picture on right) so she could "go to her friends house and them not make fun of me."