laeroport

Compulsive

Anyone who sees the state of complete disarray in my house will know that I do not have issues with OCD. I do, however, feel compelled on a regular basis to make something RIGHT NOW.

In yesterday's post, I HAD to make those little bags for our aides.  Today, I am fighting the need to make a passport cover for my neighbor who leaves for Japan tomorrow.  Last week, it was Rachel who sent me off on the need to make something.  So sitting at my compter, reading her blog, I quickly wrote and sketched this:

which soon after turned into this (photo courtsey of Rachel because I didn't remember to take one):

The fact that I knew I would see her on Monday night gave me a deadline.  I worked with a frame and fabic and floss that I had on hand.  It felt so good to be struck with an idea on Friday and finish it on Sunday afternoon without obsessing over it endlessly, which is what I normally do.  

Now if only I felt compelled to clean.....

Happy Tuesday!

C-A-M, P-E-R, Campers yes we are! Hey!

Last week was a bit of a blur.  I'm happy to be getting back to our normal schedule, but thought I'd share with you a few images from Girl Scout day camp:

Hauling water is heavy work.  And a little bit hilarious as well.

 

The zip line, monkey bridge and swing saw a lot of action.

  

and I got roped into teaching flag ceremonies when the person who was supposed to run that station had a family emergency.  Not that I minded....  it is good to be able to fill in in a pinch.

  

We had two great older girls that helped out our unit all week, so I felt compelled to make them some little drawstring bags (filled with a few Thanks-A-Lot Girl Scout Cookies) as a thank you.  They were great Aides.  I'd be happy to work with them again.

The best part of Day Camp was sharing my love of camp culture and the out-of-doors with Aidin.  And I think she caught the love - it has been nothing but camp songs at our house all week. 

A-ru-cha-cha, a-ru-cha-cha, a-ru-cha-cha-cha!

7 days

The summer run of 7 days was great fun.  Feel free to join us for the next run in the fall.  I spent way to much time in the last week commenting and reading comments.  The 7 days group is a fun and strange assortment of folks from around the globe.  Here were my submissions for the week - I completely forgot to start on Saturday, so I really only did six days.

The next seven days hold for me a party, two days of Girl Scout Day Camp, the funeral of my great-uncle, some work, belly dance rehearsals, a wedding in Chanute, Kansas, and a wedding reception in Kansas City - and I feel like I've got a pretty slow week.  I am not sure how our summer got so packed!  Most of that will keep me away from the computer, so it will probably be quiet around here.  I may pop in in Thursday or Friday to say "hello".

Have a great week, everyone!  Cheers!

33 again

Dear Tin* -

A lot has happened in the 20 years that we've know each other.  Most importantly, I love you more every day.  We've both grown and changed so much - but thankfully those changes have come along with lots of love and support and have propelled us down adjoining paths.  Your creativity and hard work amaze me.  Thank you for constantly challenging me to see things from a new angle.

Happy birthday, dear husband of mine.

Love, Lovi

P.S.  I've been writing your DOB instead of the date all day today.  Whoops!

______________________________________________________

* When Tim came to visit me in India we traveled by train all over the country.  They post your names on the outside of the train carriages - and on one occasion he was listed as Tin and I was listed as Lovi.  The joke has stuck for 12 years.  I took the photo of him in Australia 11 years ago.

We've done it three years, it must be a tradition

This was the third year that Aidin made her dad a t-shirt for Father's Day.  You may remember last year's robot shirt.

I don't know why she thought he needed a dragon shirt, but I think it turned out fantastic.  She made a drawing, I cut the stencil and she painted it very carefully according to her drawing.  Awesome.

Eliot wanted to make one too, so with a little (lot) of help, he painted this shirt for Daddy, featuring Lolo, the upright bass.

Tim and Lolo will be busy this weekend, playing at the String Band Rendezvous on Friday night and at a wedding on Saturday.  

I'm totally sucked into the comment-fest that is 7 days over on flickr.  Just so you know where I am.  Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Lazy Father's Day

We spent the day out at Clinton Lake beach having a picnic.  And I took my first photo for this round of 7 days on flickr.  I'll be over there all week.  I actually missed day 1 on Saturday - ah well. 

So we spent time hanging out,

and munching.  Before we left we enjoyed a second course of watermelon and brownies.  Someone got a little carried away eating cherries.

We also ventured into the still pretty cold water and enjoyed the sun on our backs.

Hope your day was equally great.  And I didn't work on the costume at all.  Ah well. 

Gifts

First let me say thank you for the sweet blog birthday wishes on yesterday's post.  Your friendship and inspiration are the best gifts, and the ones that keep me blogging.

As for the birthday party, you knew there had to be gifts, and you knew that I would make them.  So here they are in all their simplicity.

Jackson asked for gifts that could be donated to their class at school.  Eliot's teacher had asked me a few weeks ago if I could make them some more napkins for use at snacks and lunch, so it was a perfect fit - and a deadline.

I used some fabric that my Aunt Sherry gave me last year - I thought it was perfect for the classroom.  Colorful, but not too boyish or girlie.  I ripped it into 9 inch squares and hemmed the edges, using up whatever remnants of thread I had.  I managed to finish off four spools of thread that way.  Yahoo!

I wanted to do something for Jackson to keep as well, so I made him a 6 shirt with Optimus Prime.

Okay, this is now officially my go-to gift for birthday parties this year.  It scored me some points on the Cool Mom tally.  The thing that wasn't cool - the way the tension on my sewing machine got all crazy on me.  I need to figure that out because this weekend I need to start on the belly dance costume.  Wish me luck, because this is all I have so far:

Have a splendid weekend!  And happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there.  You can see Aidin & Eliot's  digital Father's Day card over on flickr.

  

Friday night lights

Last Friday Eliot was invited to the birthday party to end all birthday parties, at the KU football stadium.  The birthday boy's dad is the head trainer for the football team, so he wanted to bring his friends out to play football with the guys.  And by "the guys" he meant the 2008 Orange Bowl Champion Kansas Jayhawk football team.

The kids had a great time running up and down the field and up and down the stadium steps.

They swung at a pinata hung from the goal post,

 And hopped around in sacks.

 They played duck duck goose with Baby Jay, 

 And Eliot discussed the merits of playing pac man on the video board ("my dad runs the big board") with quarterback Todd Reesing.  What a nice guy.

Seriously.  Best birthday party ever. 

And speaking of birthdays, this little ole' blog turns two today.  Thanks for reading, my friends. 

The flickr game

Hello, friends!  Happy Tuesday!

I posted this on flickr, but I thought I'd post it here as well.... With a little extra explaination.

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name? - Lori
2. What is your favorite food? - Enchiladas - doesn't really matter what kind.  Chicken, seafood, beef, bean or just plain ole cheese.  Yum.
3. What high school did you go to? - Seaman High School.  Honestly.  The worst name for a high school ever, named after Fred W. Seaman.  We had a hard time deciding what to put on the warm up suits when we got a swim team.  Seaman Swimming just didn't seem right.
4. What is your favorite color? - Just about any shade of green.
5. Who is your celebrity crush? - Cary Grant.  They just don't make them like that any more, although George Clooney comes close.
6. Favorite drink? - Coffee with Silk Very Vanilla soy milk.  Hot or cold.  I love it.  I'll drink it all day if you let me.  And no, (tic) I'm not jittery, (tic) why do you ask?
7. Dream vacation? - I am fortunate enough to have been to many of the places I've dreamed of going.  One thing that remains high on my list - Hiking the Narrows at Zion Canyon National Park in Utah.  I hope one day my kids will want to do it with me.
8. Favorite dessert? - A pan full of out-of-the-box chocolate brownies.  Fine by themselves.  Better if enhanced with chocolate or peanut butter chips or m&ms.
9. What you want to be when you grow up? - Happy.  Pure and simple.
10. What do you love most in life? - My family.  Ten years ago I would have said travel.  Times change.
11. One Word to describe you. - Optimistic.
12. Your flickr name? - laeroport.  I don't think I've ever mentioned here that laeroport came from a poem Tim wrote about me when we had a poetry writing class together almost 20 years ago. It stuck.

Come on!  Join in!  You know you want to!

Photo credits: 

1. bunt, bunter, Lori :-), 2. enchiladas with red sauce, 3. Anyer Lighthouse, 4. Green, Green, Green..., 5. Cary and Doris, 6. A cup of coffee, 7. Zion Narrows 2, 8. Best Brownies, 9. Happy easter!, 10. My family, 11. Eternally Optimistic, 12. l'aéroport

Towel time

I have managed a bit of sewing and embroidery over the past few weeks - much of it in the car.  I love car embroidery.  Something to make the miles slide by.....

With the onset of summer and twice daily swimming at Aidin's summer camp, I thought she needed a new towel.  The school recommends regular bath towels instead of beach towels for swimming as they are easier for children to manage.  She had been using the same towel since she started at school the summer she was two.  It was ratty, so we picked a new towel and some fabric to match her new swimsuit.  A little embroidery and VOILA!  A towel she won't mix up with every other kid.

Aidin's friend, Richa, also had a birthday, so I made her a towel and washcloth as well since she already had a tote bag and pencil roll.   We gave it along with some bubble bath foam and some sparkle lotion.  Doesn't every girl need sparkle lotion?

While I was busy sewing these, Eliot said, "Where is mine????"  so on Tuesday night at 9:30 I started one for him using stash fabric and an old towel.  It was ready for him to take to school on Wednesday morning.

Nothing like getting dry in style.  Wet or dry, I hope you have a great weekend!

In the meantime....

Since you last heard from me, I have been to a concert (They Might Be Giants), and a movie (Indiana Jones) dropped in on some campers, celebrated a high school graduation (for which I made a present which wasn't photographed) and remembered my relatives with visits to four cemeteries with my folks, kids and four cousins.

I've had time off with my kids going to the Topeka Zoo, having a picnic in the park, riding the train and playing putt put with my brother's family.

We visited the KU Museum of Natural History, said "Hi" to Comanche, climbed on some Jayhawks, played here there and everywhere at Science City, and cheered on the Kansas City Royals on buck hot dog night.

We drove to Nebraska for the funeral of my Uncle Dave, who passed away at 63 thanks to cancer (stupid cancer).  He took our wedding photos.  Since he was always behind the camera, I have no photos of him.  That makes three uncles I've lost in a year and a half - all went way too early.  Despite the sad occassion, it was good to see everyone.

We drove home and another hour south for a family reunion for Tim's side of the family.  We don't see those folks often enough either.  I was so busy chatting and eating that I never even got the camera out.

Monday Aidin started summer camp.  Tuesday I had lunch with Michelle.  Eliot went back to school today.  Monday night we celebrated my grandma's (ahem) birthday with dinner out, and Thursday we will lay my sister-in-law's grandma to rest.  Thursday is also my mom's birthday.  And between all the coming and going I've had three belly dance rehearsals and a costume consultation.

Whew!  It's been a tough, happy, busy, sad, chaotic few weeks.  I hope it will all be back to normal soon.  Thanks for checking up on me.  Mwaaaaah!

Cheers! ~L

Welcome home

Yesterday we had the most fitting start to the Memorial Day weekend.  We welcomed our friend Joe home from a year's National Guard deployment - 9 months of which were spent on MP duty in Iraq.

They were welcomed home at a moving ceremony.  Flags flying out front, the Patriot Guard on duty.  Our lovely Governor spoke.  She reminded us all of the meaning of Memorial Day and asked us, as we celebrated with joy the return of our brave soldiers, to remember those who were not coming home - from this war and all the ones that have come before. 

And then the best part.  Reuniting with family and friends.  Welcome home, Joe!  We are so proud of you!  And happy to have you home safe and sound.

Redeemed

Our cactus truck finally made it into the Car Art parade.

You may remember our dismal disappointment from last year.

The Oilcloths rode along with us,

and we met some interesting characters.  (more on flickr)

Next year, we're going to make a joint family project of it.

And in case you're hitting the road this holiday weekend, via cactus mobile or some more reliable form of transportation, here's a little car bingo game at we always take on car trips.  Print it out and keep the peace!

Download car_bingo.doc

The fix

Remember that wee nick I took out of Aidin's birthday skirt last week?  Here's how I fixed it:

I fused another flower over the seam and then embroidered around it - and embroidered around all the dark orange flowers on that same tier.

I made matching three tier skirts for Aidin and Kit, loosely based on the tutorial found here, but I winged it instead of doing so much math.  I have made this type of skirt for myself for a gypsy belly dance costume, so I already had an idea of what I was doing.

I also embellished a t-shirt for Aidin and Kit using the same method of fused and embroidered flowers.

The final thing I did was add some embroidery to the pocket of a white sweatshirt/hoodie in the colors of the skirt and top.

And a special detail to tell the back from the front.

 

She loved it.  And it was finished in time for her to wear it it school on her birthday.  Mission accomplished.

Dinner & Dancing

Don't all seven year old girls celebrate their birthday by dancing in a Middle Eastern restaurant?

No?  Just my kid?

Well, okay then.