If you are a skimmer please go all the way to the bottom of this post. *** Something there I WANT you to read. Yes you skimmers and lurkers. I want to link to you! Ok back to the regular post.

Sometimes I feel like I’m constantly playing catch up on my blog. Either that or I don’t have a single thing to say. It’s always feast of famine. Well right now, I’m up to the eyeballs in posts here. I sit down to write and a big sigh just comes out, siggggghhhh, thinking about all the stuff I want to say. And then I usually get distracted by Isabelle and just rush and write anything without any thought. And then when I go back to see what I’ve written I think it’s all so blah and boring and dry. Have I ever mentioned that it surprises me that people actually read what I have to say? There are some blogs where I just LOVE the way they write. I read every single word. I enjoy their stories and the way they write. I guess I just suck in the writing department. But that’s o.k. We all have our talents.

So anyhoo. Catch up post here. These pictures are from the pumpkin patch this past weekend. We’ve been trying to go for weeks and weeks. But it just never worked out, with us forgetting when we were out, or doing errands, or Isabelle falling asleep. Well this weekend everything went right and we got to go. YAY!

Isabelle had so much fun. She was wandering around the pumpkin patch while I tried to find six perfect pumpkins. Yes, you read right. SIX. See this is Isabelle’s third Halloween. The prior two years I’ve bought three pumpkins planning to carve us into the pumpkins. You know an Alan pumpkin, a me pumpkin, and an Isabelle pumpkin. But then for the past two years I couldn’t bring myself to cut the pumpkins. I like them, all squat and round. They make me happy. And if I cut them they will rot and go in the garbage. But uncut they stay around for months making me happy whenever I see them.

So Alan being the smarty that he is, thinks of stuff that for some reason don’t even enter my mind. He said why don’t you just get extra pumpkins. Then you can carve some and keep some. DUH! I did not think of that. See stuff like that, you know that makes so much sense, that anyone could think of, yeah that stuff, sometimes I just don’t think of it. Don’t ask me why not. I just don’t. So good thing Alan thought of it. So that’s why this year we got six pumpkins!

So there we were at the pumpkin patch. Me wandering around trying to find perfect pumpkins. Putting them in the wheel barrel. Taking them out. Finding new ones. And then putting those in instead. And on and on. Well Isabelle got into it too. Except she didn’t take them out. She kept piling them in, one after the other. A wheel barrel full of pumpkins. See? Six pumpkins doesn’t sound so bad now huh? Well now let’s see if I actually carve them. I mean if three pumpkins make me so happy can you imagine six?

Ok different subject. I’ve newly started reading oh my stinkin heck and love the idea of her reinvented blogroll. This pretty much sums up how I feel. There are soooo many feeds I am subscribed to. SO MANY. Right now the count is at 375. WHAT? 375? I can remember when I was at 300 and thought that was a buttload. There’s a lot of skimming I do. I do have my favorite reads and lurking spots. But my links list didn’t reflect that. I mean seriously would you click through 375 sites? So I had a short list up. Not really up to date and sort of neglected. Well thinking about the reinvented blogroll has spurred me to change what I have up now. I am impatient and cannot wait for OMSH. So I’ve changed it for now until her kick ass blogroll is working.

***READ HERE! So this is where, you, my reader comes in. I have a rotating readers blogroll in my sidebar now. I put in some of my regular recent commenters. It should show three at a time and if you refresh the page you should get another random three. So if you’re a reader and want me to link to you in my blogroll, comment here or email me and I’ll add you. I haven’t quite figured out what to do with my subscribed feeds though. I have just listed three of my favs like the reader blogroll but I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing. Well at least I have a reader blogroll. Yay! Step in the right direction. Oh and something else new too thanks to OMSH. I use feedburner for my feed now and found that you can subscribe to me by email! Ok ending this abruptly. Must stop typing now because it is soooo late!

Posted in: Bloggy Stuff, Family, Illustrations
16 Comments

You know when I mentioned I was wrastling seahorses? And then the sketch I made? What was that all about? These seahorses!

Alice from futuregirl.com asked me to test out her newest pattern. I enjoyed sewing them up so much. Even though I, ahem, didn’t follow directions correctly and screwed up the baby seahorse’s tail. But I think they turned out nicely. I like Alice’s patterns so much. They are easy to follow and satisfying. It’s joyful to make something so quickly and have this beautiful completed object.

For this photo I very moronically strung them up from this light that hangs down over the front door. I had to get up on tippy toes and struggle with the invisible thread that I not so wisely decided to use. It is very hard to try to get invisible thread over a bit of light when you can barely reach it. And then to adjust it to the correct height and tie it off when you can barely see it? Aack! I wish I had the sense to do it the way Alice did.

Actually no. I haven’t taken them down and they are quite pretty hanging there. Think Alan will mind if I keep them up?

And on a different subject. I’ve solely been using Flickr for my pictures this past week. How’s that been working for everybody? No problems?

Posted in: Bloggy Stuff, Finished Project, Sewing, Softies
2 Comments

We were at Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago. I was in the craft section flipping through a stack of books. I was trying to decide which ones to buy for my birthday. I turned around to see Isabelle walking towards me, her arms full of toys. So I grabbed my books, started snapping pictures, and followed her back to the kid section.

In the kid section Isabelle had laid down all the toys. I was taking pictures of her rearranging them when a saleslady came up, rudely told me I could not take pictures in there, then walked away.

So I just stopped taking pictures, in shock. I was left speechless at the way she had spoken to me. Did you know that you are not allowed to take pictures in Barnes and Noble? I didn’t know. Was there a sign posted somewhere that I should have noticed when I walked in and was bombarded with wall to wall books? I didn’t see anything. Or was I supposed to know intuitively? I am not psychic. Do I have a problem with their policy? No. It’s their store so whatever.

What I do have a problem with: the saleslady was so rude. Don’t they know how to train their staff? Hello? Was it really necessary to be so nasty? How about not alienating your customers? Huh??? Maybe that would be smart? A little courtesy goes a long way. She didn’t need to be so mean about it. Like me taking pictures of Isabelle in their precious store is the end of the world. Oh no I’m taking pictures of how you arrange your fricking books!! Ahhhhh!! Top secret!! Top secret!!!

I don’t see what the big deal is. I just did a search seeing if there is a policy written somewhere and came across a community of Barnes and Noble employees. You would think what they wrote there for all the public to see might be a little worse than these pictures of Isabelle.

Needless to say I did not buy my books from them. And I don’t see myself ever buying books from them in the foreseeable future. I ended up getting my books from Amazon. They are less expensive and I don’t have to deal with rude salespeople. And yes that’s why I posted so many pictures of Isabelle, because of the rude saleslady. Damn, wish I had some more…

Ok how about ending on something happy. Moving on. Notice Isabelle wearing her little coat. We put it on earlier in the day when we were outside and it was chilly. Well in typical Isabelle fashion she refused to take it off. Not even when we were inside where it was nice and warm. She even wanted the hood up all through our meal and the trip to the bookstore.

Love my silly girl!

Posted in: Family
11 Comments

I’ve been trying to draw in my sketchbook more. Working on the computer all the time, I miss the texture of paper.

I love this little sketch. I think it wants to be a painting.

Posted in: Illustrations
4 Comments

Another animal from the book Sock and Glove, this time a cat. They’re so easy to make. At least I think they are. But Alan said I worked on them for hours. Really? The time just flew by. I couldn’t have been working on them for hours…I don’t think.

I wanted his head rounder. Round and fat. But it came out long and skinny. Oh well. Isabelle knows it’s a cat. What noise does a cat make Isabelle? Meeeam, meeeam!

Oooh and some gloves soon to be some other animals. But first I’m going to wrastle a seahorse, like the way I wrastled the octopus.

Posted in: Finished Project, Sewing, Softies
3 Comments

Isabelle turned another month older. And I’m late with the pictures again. I keep forgetting to write down things I want to remember. But there are always the pictures.

Being silly. Insisting on wearing a hat AND a bib. Isabelle rarely ever wears bibs. But for some reason she felt like getting all “dressed up” that day. My weird little girl.

I see you!

Cute face.

Copying daddy.

And our monthly family picture.

Go see month twenty four.

Posted in: Family, Monthly Family Picture
3 Comments

I was in the mood for ice cream. And the last time we had ice cream I shared with Isabelle. A lick for me. A lick for Isabelle. “Mama’s turn, Isabelle’s turn, mama’s turn, Isabelle’s turn.” Then I had this brilliant idea! Instead of sharing one ice cream cone why not have a whole ice cream to MYSELF and Isabelle could have her own. Great idea, right? I thought so. Well….not so much.

Isabelle ended up with both of the cones and wouldn’t give me any! No sharing with mama!! That’s what I get for being greedy and wanting a whole ice cream to myself.

I actually have video of it. I’ll have to post it when I ummm find my cord.

Go read silly parent #35, teaching Isabelle a new word.

Posted in: Family, Illustrations, Illustrations - "Silly Parent" Series
7 Comments