Halloween Tattie

I wanted to make a Halloween Tattie for Genève but haven't been able to get out and get a nice Orange thread...
So at first I thought spider. I looked up some patterns online and didn't like where they were going and then I landed a jem.
A bat.
What a good idea. So I tried out the pattern, it was too complex for a tattie and too big. But it got my brain going
the right direction and I came up with this little bat. It's about twice the size of a normal tattie. So I will probably
refine it a little yet like take the last underside wing drop off, it gets too cluttered but other than that I do think it's cute.


And just in time. I love this last picture with Neva flying. :)
Olea wore the more complex one that I did from someone else's pattern to school today.

halloween breakfast

Gary said, I can't post what I created last week. He has a good reason. Maintain surprise
factor for certain peoples who may or may not look at the blog....

So I'll post our fun breakfast instead. Sometimes I am a nice and fun mom.
I got this idea from my friend Cyndi who calls it Eggs in Toast.
She used a mason jar lid when we did it. I rarely make sugar cookies and Sunday morning
I remembered that I had Halloween cutters and decided to make use of our morning thusly.
Step one use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of bread

Step two butter bread and shapes and place on skillet... this ancient thing is well loved.
It's a waffle-maker with the small squares, for some reason they don't make them anymore...
and crack eggs into the bread holes salt and pepper. I also salt the hole before cracking the egg into it.

Step 3 cook and flip when ready. also flip the lid shapes, buttering them before flipping (grease baby)

Step 4 put lids on. Cute.

Serve

Don't worry, there was fruit and stuff too. Just not for the picture.

The winner is...

ok I cheated.
hmm, well, not really. But I hoped Gina would win because I had something specially for her. SO I'm not really sure how that's cheating but anyway...
The lovely Gina will be receiving a humorous piece of bathroom art... because we do need to decorate our bathrooms but what do we put in them?
Bathrooms! of course.

Since Gina lives in a all girls domain it is labeled appropriately.
I admit it's small. It's the same size I put in my bathroom though and it's original art.
It's charcoal relief on bristol paper for those of you who know what that means.

For those of you who missed the little give away, I'm sneaky like that. Pay attention.

In other "news" I have been unable to find a plain yellow or gold tshirt Zurich's size so I made do with one he had by turning it inside out measuring out and using fabric markers to make it black. Zurich will be Charlie Brown this year. I did it with a Zurich on my lap... so it's well, the way it is.

Do the techy dance of JOY

I am doing the techy dance of JOY
I won't show you what it looks like...
But I am doing it!
Remember this post?
No, of course you don't.
I was spending all my time on tech support and trying to uninstall the program that I never posted my HUGE irritation.
"Let me explain, no, there is too much, let me sum up."
(I'll give something spectacular to the first person who can reference the quote correctly).

I bought an external drive. It worked. I loved it. It worked on both my computer platforms. It was great. Then I updated the software. It didn't work anymore on my Vista. I did not love it. I was mad. I spent too much time on hold and too much time trying to delete registry entries. It happened back in January. It's October right? Finally I got sent high enough up the chain... Today I called the coveted direct line (because the babies were napping and Olea was choosing to be sweet) and this pleasant fellow provided the solution I have been waiting for (which according to him was available back in JULY... I did chat with someone in July, a number of times).

My drive is backing up almost a year's worth of stuff as we speak. Thankfully the year provided no mishaps or lost files. All is right on my techy front.
Dance it up.

getting old and crotchety

I don't hide my anger or my irritation well. Especially lately.

Today I let the kids play in the leaves after picking up Olea from school. I live in an area where property is shared. There are plenty of rules to keep the place nice.
Sadly, there are a number of people who either think they are above the rules or are lazy or something... anyway....
So, the kids are using the rake to relocate the leaves, and discover feces, due to a dog owner who has let their dog and their three year old run free for at least the last hour. The three year old starts whining and screaming because the dog is biting his hand. I start rounding up the kids, because it's apparent mom isn't coming to her child's aid fast enough and I am not going to deal with a snappy dog. Finally mom calls from an open window and the kid runs inside, leaving the dog outside. I figure surly the dog will not be left out so I let the kids continue to rake in an area feces free. I hoped at first that mom would hear me telling the dog to go home (since her window was open) and come get her dang dog or at least the kid would let him in the house, so I was still trying to enjoy the nice weather with the kids, when it became apparent that no one was going to fetch the dog. I have a baby tied to my chest and am trying to gather our stuff and the kids into the house and the dog starts testing the water with me and my kids. I keep telling the dog to go home and stay away from the kids, but he thinks Olea's stick is a game and keeps going to her. Zurich is of course undoing what little progress I make with gathering book bag and coats etc, as well as trying to get close to the dog, because he LOVES dogs and doesn't understand why I keep telling him "owie, stay away, no touch."
The front door is open and Zurich is inside and I am trying to get Olea to put down her stick long enough to take the scooter from me but she is wary of the dog and wants her weapon, when lo and behold the neighbor comes to get the dog. Ten minutes...
By this time though the dog is on my steps and I can't get around her to my own house as she calls and snaps at her dog who is trying to get around Olea and into the house....
Long story short dog gets in my house and the neighbor asks, "can I go get him?"
"You better."
She chases the dog and gets it out and apologizes saying that he's a baby that's why he's not being obedient and that she's so embarrassed. I am so annoyed I don't say anything. I'm not going to pretend that I don't mind that your animal that pooped on the lawn 5 minutes ago and peed down his leg is running around on my carpet. I'm not going to pretend that I am not irritated. I can't.
Seriously, your pet and your child were unattended for at least 45 minutes, that kind of stuff irritates the Hades out of me, esp when you know your dog bites.

So I am sure my neighbor thinks I am a snotty lady. I don't care.
Take care of your stuff, your kids, your animals and all their forms of feces.

I do like some of my neighbors. In case you were wondering.
and I don't mind all dogs or their owners. We do have some neighbors that are exceptional about taking care of their animals. And I even like, nay, love some dogs.
Cheer up, self, here are some pictures of the kids enjoying in the beginning.

The dolphin

you know the sound it makes when you clear your throat?
Zurich does it and it sounds like a dolphin or something, it's so dang fast.
It cracks Gary and I up.
take a gander:


Olea and Gary went on a date last week.

Olea was SO excited. She decided she wanted to get all dressed up. When Gary saw her like that he figured they better go somewhere nice for dinner. Olea kept saying, "this is so beautiful" and she was pleased that they still had chicken fingers and french fries at a fancy restaurant.
After they left I was looking at the picture, they totally match. Cute.

Wounded

Gary came home last night and laughed with pity.
Can you do that?
I suppose you can
he did.

Olea had to stay home from school since she had pink eye. And sadly enough she was moaning the fact that she already had a 4 day weekend.... lets make that six baby and we'll stay indoors too since it's crappy weather and you can't go anywhere with pink eye.

Lets bump it up a notch.
Monday I broke a toe. I will refrain from posting a picture since toes are DISGUSTING even when they are clean and perfectly manicured.
And I got pink eye shortly after Olea, in both eyes. I guess it usually spreads to both eyes. Olea has it in both eyes this morning too. Last night Zurich was trying to step into Gary's shoes and lost his balance and smashed his upper gums against the shoe rack. Ya, we all look totally abused.

But at least Genève, Zurich and Gary don't have pink eye. And we have antibiotics and Olea is getting better at singing her ABCs as she washes her hands. Hopefully we'll have life back to normal soon.

Gary said we were "so cute," with our matching pink eyes.
cute
He got pictures but that's not going to be posted here either.
At least I beat Gary on Guitar Hero (borrowed) last night over and over in Face-off even with goop in my eyes... lets leave out the fact that he was playing a level harder than I was.

rest-dinosaur-ant

I suck at spelling.
no surprise, I am sure
spell checking is a good thing
still though, sometimes the way I misspell things leaves my spell check at a complete loss
I have tried many times to learn to spell the word that means public eatery,
you know:
Restaurant
Tonight, trying to caption a picture I asked Gary how to spell it.
"like dinosaur"
oh my gosh
that helps
it really helps
I can remember that: Rest-dinosaur-ant

which by the way, there is such a thing as a dinosaur ant.

This ant used in my lovely mnemonic device here is,

as far as I know, actually a dino ant which means I could do

without the dinosaur but Gary said I needed the dinosaur.

Genève's hat

It's the season again for hats.
If I was smart I would have started on them earlier but...
I needed to make one for Genève and Zurich since they will out grow theirs this cold season... Genève already has.
I finished Genève's last night.
The hat part doesn't take long, it's the ear flaps,

flowers

and pompoms

that take the most time, but oh how they dress it up.
Tada!