oh baby!

What???Really??????

my apparent cake curse

Flamingos and snowflakes?

Man, those northern-most Ohio people

are a little cuckoo!

I know that's what you must be thinking.

A. has always fancied flamingos since she was a toddler. It's one of those mysteries of parenthood, trying to decide where these attractions come from that your kids latch on to. We obviously have no live flamingos in Ohio, not even at our zoo! A. even collects flamingo Christmas ornaments.

I am endlessly amazed by how many different flamingo Christmas ornaments there are out in the world. Her attraction to these pink birds with backwards knees is even funnier because she likes to often pair them with her birthday which is in January. In OHIO!

Two days before her birthday this last week, A. made this cake. She likes to bake. I do not. Sorry, I just don't. I teased that she was baking herself a birthday cake. I half teased.
The night before her birthday as we were running around in the Mom taxi from this stop to that activity and all around town, I said we would stop at the local small grocery that has a nice bakery and A. could pick out any cake she wanted. She chose one with nice flowers and lots of pink. Surprise, surprise. Gee, I think that would go nicely with a flamingo or 2.

Silly Mom suggested that we make it more personal (and what else says "personal" than a store bought cake chosen from the slim selection on hand at 7:00 pm, bought in haste between scurrying around town, the night before a birthday?) by asking at the bakery counter if they could write her name in icing under the plastic pink "Happy Birthday" trinket.


Here is where my birthday cake curse started to take shape. I had this old feeling before, with N's last store bought "personal" cake, last August (from a different store).

We asked two very fine friendly looking young gentlemen behind the bakery/deli counter if they could simply add the name to this cake to make it complete. "It is her 14th birthday tomorrow!", I added cheerfully. The immediate invisible tension in the air made me wonder if A. wanted to shrink behind the nearby endcap display of toilet tissue to escape her hopelessly embarrassing Mom! Can you imagine? Honestly!

One young man responded truthfully, "I can't do that. I don't do that."

The other young man chimed in quickly, "I can do it. I have done it lots of times. See, the bakery girls leave at 3:30 for the day and then it's just us. We are meat cutters."

Oh dear, this is where I should have cut bait and ran to the checkout line with the cake as is, good 'nuf! But no! I let it all play out like some Saturday Night Live skit, in the presence of my extremely embarrassed almost 14 year old daughter.

The "meat cutter" says, "How about pink like the flowers?"

I respond, "Yes, perfect!" I am enthusiastically nodding my head and so is A. This could turn out just fine after all. Have a little faith, would ya!

After too much time has elapsed he proudly emerges from behind the scenes of the bakery/deli department and presents A. with the cake, again all enclosed in it's clear plastic clam shell domed lid. As he transfers it from his hands to hers he says,

~~[get ready, brace yourself]~~

"There. I did pink AND BLUE. BLUE like your coat!!!!"

We gazed at the top of the cake and our faces fell into a strange expression as we studied the name written first in pink and then over-written in blue.

WHAT?????????????????

There is no BLUE ANYWHERE, ANYWHERE else on that cake. Does he want her to wear her BLUE coat while she is blowing out her candles???????????????????

In his defense he did give me a HUGE hint of events to come when I handed over the very "personal" cake to him to alter. Remember? He did say, "We are meat cutters."

I only have myself to blame.

I should just bake. Simple. Done. I should JUST BAKE!

Here is why I have a store bought cake curse cast upon me from some karma devil. This has happened before. Before, I tell ya!

Last August, the night before N's 9th birthday I found time to run to a different store in our town to chose a "personal" cake for my one and only son. I had plenty of time. The store wasn't closing for another 20 minutes, after all. This will work.

I scanned the case of cakes waiting to be taken home to various parties by Mom's who dearly love their offspring, but apparently not enough to bake for them on their one day each year which bonds a Mother and child.

No no! Not one masculine looking cake of any size shape or flavor. Nothing without flowers. Nothing!

I explained in detail my dilemma--I inquired of the very nice looking friendly young man (with the hair net over his beard) if he could possibly write "Happy Birthday N." in icing on the top of any of these cakes and I could scrape off the flowers when I get home and smooth out the frosting. I was sure I could handle THAT! Come on, I'm not a total loser. I could even add a Hot Wheels monster truck or a macho guy action figure or something to "guy it up".

Mr. hair-netted-beard-man said yes, and so I eenie meanie minie moe'd one of the cakes and handed it off to him.

I had faith. He could do this. I could come through with a cake for N. that would be acceptable.

Well, after way too much time had elapsed (was he multi-tasking back there and sweeping up the floor? After all, it was getting closer to closing time) he emerged from behind the scenes clutching the cake in his proud little hands, handing it to me just as the voice that comes from the ceiling speakers announced, "Please take all your final selections to the check out lines as the store will close in 5 minutes."

I looked at the cake and my expression melted quicker than ice cream in August. Yes, he had skillfully written "Happy Birthday N."
....right next to the NEW BLUE FLOWERS he had painstakingly created in the same spot where he had scraped off the purple flowers.
UGGGH!!!!
Cake curse. Bad cake karma.
At least I was still N's hero because he was surprised by a new (nearly new hand me down) shiny red bike for his birthday.

Happy birthday A., my love. Your own flamingo cake was a masterpiece.
And besides, you have decided to have your party with friends in February. Maybe I have learned my lesson on store bought altered creations, and will bake for you.
Stay tuned for that one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January thaw

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a winter kind of gal. I am happiest when it is snowy. I love the cold weather too. Yet, when it dips below the 20 degree mark on the old Fahrenheit thermometer, and decides to stay there, it is too cold for even this northern-most Ohio girl!! Last week we had some snow, which I loved, and some really cold temps that followed, which I didn't love. We had some days of single digit temps. Brrrrrrr.

I went to the movie theater with my friend to see, IT'S COMPLICATED. It was a fun movie. I love Meryl Streep in just about anything! Have you watched THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY lately? I had watched my neighbor's dvd of MOMMA MIA (I love that one!!)a few days before going to the theater--here's something kinda weird but funny... during IT'S COMPLICATED, almost at the end, someone's cell phone rang in the theater and before they frantically turned it off we could hear the ring tone was the song Dancing Queen from Abba's Momma Mia!!!!

I go to the movie theater only once or twice a year. Here's the part where the cold weather ties in with my going to the movie theater:
I left my coat in my friend's car so I wouldn't have to deal with it in the theater. I didn't put it back on once back in the car either- her car heater warms up quicker than mine! I just don't like coats, I guess you have caught on to that fact. I ended up accidentally leaving my coat in her car. I knew almost immediately after she dropped me off at home. I wasn't worried because I knew a January thaw was coming, and besides, I had other things I could wear that are somewhat the same idea as a coat. I hate coats!!

She emailed me today and said, "OMG, I have your coat!"
I didn't need it back because I only feel forced to wear an actual coat when it is colder than 20 degrees...and I knew we had a January thaw on the way. We had a heat wave the last few days. It has even gone up to 38 degrees!!!
And besides, I knew I would be seeing her again, so my coat was not lost.


For those of you that are wondering, YES! I do wear an actual coat if I am out for a winter walk or sledding with the kids. I am silly, not stupid!!! I just prefer not to wear one if I am just going from the house to the car to the store to the car.....you get the idea. I have a coat in the car in case I would ever get stranded. I'm not a total imbecile.

These are some photos I took last week when it was still single digit temps. I adore the white snow against the red building and the weathered wood of the garden fence.

Now with the January thaw, these same areas still have snow but it is that squishy, gray, yukky stuff.

I much prefer the beauty of the fluffy bright white stuff!!

Especially when it creates surprise sights, like this snow covered heart in the garden, to discover.

A trip to the museum- Chapter 3, a furniture narrative

The DIA holds many hundreds of pieces of furniture from all time periods. These are some that I snapped photos of in order to offer some incredibly silly thoughts...

From the hall you could peek through a period window sash to get a glimpse of another time. My thoughts: No room in my house would ever stay this tidy for more than 5 minutes with my kids around!

Once inside the room you can see the set up of finely delicate yet grand furniture. My thoughts: I would have to keep a step stool tucked away inside another fancy piece of furniture in order to have something to stand on to find out what I had put in the top drawer of that tall dresser!

What a masterpiece of craftsmanship this settee's carvings are to behold. My thoughts: Were it in my house, N. would not appreciate it's masterpiece or craftsmanship and would spill something on it for sure while laughing at something Bart Simpson said on TV! Or...he would appreciate it's horsehair stuffing for it's springability while using it for a trampoline!

This oriental piece is truly full of detail and the more you look at it the more you see in the painted images. My thoughts: My sister-in-law Sue would love, but her movers would have taken a chunk out of it like they did her beautiful desk! Yikes!

This desk/sideboard kind of thing (I'm sure it has an official name) is an intricate study of skill in furniture making- carving and inlay. My thoughts: Wow! Think of the stuff I could store in/on that! Could I make it into a computer desk somehow and would anyone mind if I painted it??

Here is a very old cabinet that tells a story in it's colorful paintings over every inch of it. My thoughts: That's quite an impressive lock on there, what the heck were they locking inside? And would YOU want a cabinet with a painting of someone getting their head cut off??

Now, this next cupboard thing was so hugely humongous that it even looked massive in the museum where the ceilings go half way to the sky, not to mention how much it must weigh. My thoughts: Even though this is not my kind of decor, nor could it ever fit inside my house, let alone through any doorway (I think it is as tall as the roof of my ranch house), I would love to live with this piece for a while and put stuff inside it and just look at it. Wow, did I mention it's big!!**Sigh**

Snap back to reality....

time to go wipe the dust from some of my own treasures, much less fancy, much more humble, and much much more kid friendly!

pearls of wisdom

(A. dressed in the "cool"

junior high school fashion, or so I am told!

Converse sneakers and striped knee socks!)

Do you ever throw little pearls of wisdom in the direction of your kids? I tossed some little lustrous ideas towards my A. in the car on the way home last night from the library.

It's her 14th birthday.

How can that be even possible that 14 years have passed? When she was born, it was 2 1/2 days of labor, ending with an emergency c-sec., to meet a sweet almost 10 pound baby...Oh, and a horrible ice storm.

Every year since then there has been a snow storm or ice storm either on the day of or the day before or after her birthday. Not this year. Nope. For the first time -as they would say on Mary Poppins- the winds are changing. I am not really talking about a weather report. It is more symbolic than that.

This year she is having even more fun with school and her group of friends and all their activities than ever before. But I feel the winds are changing. She is no longer a little kid, she is a smart young woman.

So here is how the pearls of wisdom conversation went in the car last night:

__________________________________

Mom: A., you will find that after 14, the time will start to go by faster now. I don't know why it does, but it does. Before you know it you will be 16 and then 18!

A.: And then 20 and then 50?????!!

Mom: No, it seems to slow down for a while in your twenties and thirties....But then yeah, it does speed up again. But I mean the time between 14 and 18 seems to really speed right by.

A.: **silence**

Mom: You are not a little kid anymore. You are a young woman. It is the best time in your life because you get to have more responsibilities than you do as little kid but you don't HAVE TO have the crappy responsibilities of being an adult.

my boy N., age 9 1/2 -annoyed voice comes from the back seat of the car: Yes she IS still a little kid!!!

Mom: No she isn't. Not anymore.

my boy N.: **silence**

Mom: All I'm telling you is make sure to have lots of fun in these next few years while you are 14, 15, 16, and 17. You'll find you spend the whole rest of your adult life wishing you could be those ages again!

A.: But I still have to do Algebra homework.

____________________________________

As a Mom, all you can do is throw those pearls in their general direction. What they do with them is their part.

**sigh**

Stay tuned for some birthday photos to come.

yes, I know what the calendar says...

but I just found this image and thought you may want to save it for next year's holiday season --or get started early with your creative endeavors!
Please play nice and use this for only your own art or for gift art, but not to sell. Thanks.
(click image to enlarge and right click and save)

A trip to the museum- Chapter 2

Don't you love these mannequins dressed in Michigan Birch bark, pine cones and burlap? They were artistically displayed in honor of one of the special exhibits at the DIA ( we did not view the exhibit due to having to pay extra ) about the fashions through the decades.

The nature dressed mannequins were flanking the entrance to the cafeteria on the lower level of the huge museum. One thing about being in a metropolitan area museum having already paid for your car to sit in a parking lot across the street for one (fairly reasonable rate) whole day ( oh and factor in that the windchill outside the cozy temperature controlled building was single digits) is that you are more willing to pay the jacked-up prices of lunch fare and find something that will satisfy your tummy even though you would not necessarily choose that dish otherwise. Whew! That was a terribly long run on sentence. *catch your breath*

After a break for lunch we continued to view the wonders and treasures that awaited us in each new room, hall and corridor...

Like this chapel. Very old and very ornate and if these walls could talk! I love when things are reconstructed and you can step into a room like a time warp.

I continue to be mostly disappointed with this camera's abilities to photograph areas of low light without the flash. In all fairness, it could have more to do with the female behind the camera. Hmmm.

I am sure the self esteem of the camera's memory card breathes a sigh of relief when I say, "Oh well, this one will stay even though it is blurry." Heehee.

Then after the chapel we moved on to find this breathtaking ceiling. I was trying to photograph it and not be in anyone else's way. It was decorated with such detail I could have put myself flat down on the floor in the middle of foot traffic in order to view it.

Guess what?After craning my neck to study it for many minutes, N. announced, "Mom!? Hey, Mom! Look! This is a big mirror that you can look in to see the ceiling better."

Good thing he couldn't read my mind before to know I was ready to lie down on the floor. Oh the embarrassment of an over exuberant museum visitor named MOM.

Stay tuned for another chapter to come soon.
You can read chapter 1 of our trip (here).

reality has set in- and a FLASH BACK- learning to iron to television

If you are in your forties or older you may have had some of those nagging thoughts creep into your brain when you least expect them, no matter how young you feel (and I personally feel about 30!!) ... you know the thoughts. Like the one I had last week.

It won't matter how many more years I am on this Earth because it cannot possibly be long enough to use all my fabric!!!!!

I began to sort and evaluate my stash and thus have begun the DESTASH! Hopefully I will live at least 50 more years so I have enough time to freshly launder and press all the fabric I have decided must be gone from my space and sold to some younger (or just much more motivated) sewing person.

Yes I have a sewing room. I always dreamed of a sewing room. I had one made and then had my own sewing business for many years. The official business was dissolved. I still have the sewing room. It has become more of a catch-all storage space. I still have some baby and child sized dresses I made that I never tried to sell, beyond the hundreds I did sell. Following through and selling the rest of them should be a future goal. I still have enough fabric to circle the Earth several times. I am beginning to make a dent in that as an immediate goal.


Strangely enough, I actually enjoyed doing the first 2 batches of fabric washing loads. The smell is wonderful. I wanted the fabric to be fresh after sitting patiently, folded up and forgotten on a shelf. I very much enjoyed the ironing process too. I know, I need some serious counseling, right? But I found myself very relaxed while making the wrinkles disappear.

When I was little my Mom would iron almost daily. It seemed just about everything needed to be ironed, and even if it didn't, it was ironed anyway! I was the baby and only girl after 3 boys and a space of about 8 years, so I wore plenty of those non permanent press ruffly dresses from the 1960's, you can bet!!
I was taught to iron by pressing pillow cases. I loved it. I felt so grown up and important. Wielding a hot housewife appliance was apparently my idea of being grown up and important at age 7. Mom would iron in front of the TV and watch The Mike Douglas Show, or Dick Cavett (they came wayyy before Jay Leno), or The Edge of Night or The Secret Storm, or The Guiding Light (they came wayyy before The Young and the Restless or Desperate Housewives), or Phil Donahue (he came wayyy before Oprah. and he was first based in Ohio!)


What did you first learn to iron? What did your Mom watch on TV? Ok maybe those two questions only go together from MY CHILDHOOD. But I am curious about those two things anyway, so let me know!!

A Trip To The Museum- chapter 1

I recently took the kids on a road trip, about an hour North, to Detroit. It had been quite a few years since we had been to the DIA, Detroit Institute of Arts.
E. was 8, N. was a new baby, and A. was about 4 and now she is less than a week from age 14! So you get the idea.
We love going on day trips when we can and this was our only one planned during the kids' Christmas break. It was enjoyed by all.


The DIA had closed for about a year several years ago to redo many areas. I was anxious to see the changes amid the beautiful things they have within the stone walls of this very large museum.

So here is my first installment of the museum trip and our adventures there. This post is mostly about the architecture that caught my eye and interest, with a few other items shown too. I am attracted to architecture for some odd reason, always have been. Maybe I was some famous architect in a former life. Ha!

We were happy to see this beautiful painting in the museum because a copy of it is painted in our own church from floor to ceiling. Our reproduction painting was done by a member of our church back in the 1940's and the models for the cherubs faces were children in the church at the time.
I love doorways and gates and arches. This view intrigued me as it showed the hint of other beautiful things to come as we wound around through rooms like a maze, afraid we would make a wrong turn and miss something wonderful.

A ceiling reconstructed . The modern lighting amid the chandelier is somewhat a distraction, but was needed to illuminate the detail in the complex wooden construction and intricate gargoyles which peeked out from immense brackets. I could imagine being in a grand place long, long ago and drinking some kind of grog at a 50 foot long table beneath this ceiling.

Many ancient carved wood artifacts were displayed in this room. Can you imagine the stories these could tell of the years they have survived and things they have seen?

I was really fascinated by this gate and archway! Such grand detail. I find I am always drawn to anything that has swirly, scrolly movement in it's design. Some of my favorite fabrics in my sewing room have background designs that have such swirls and curves. Are you a straight line or curved line kind of person? Think about it.

N. bumped me while I took a photo of this gate, so it's all blurry. I thought I had snapped an additional photo of it too, but when I got home and reviewed my memory card I was disappointed to see that I didn't have a nice clear shot . That's why I didn't hit that ol' delete button on this one. Oh well, an excuse to go back!! Right?

My boy N. is at that age were he sheepishly wants to look at the nudes in the museum but doesn't want to be found out. Age nine! Whenever we often went to our own museum closer to home, in years past, he never seemed to even notice the nudes. How funny!

I made a comment that he would probably go back to school and write in his journal that he had seen LOTS of boobies on Christmas break and I would get a call from his teacher!

His oldest sister E. -age 17- said to N.,

"It's not naked people. It's ART, N.!! You dork!!"

You gotta love siblings and the life lessons they toss your way, right?!

I reassured N. that yes, it was ok to look at "the art".

I couldn't even guess how high the ceiling is in this area but I loved the perspective of this arched window and the staircase beyond. The photo above is in my Studio blog.

Above and below is a grand sized painting showing some great architecture. You really can't get a true idea of the size of this from my photo. I could study paintings like this for hours!

The museum itself is art to be appreciated. Photo above is featured in my Studio blog.

More architecture in painting, above. This painting took up a whole wall and this was just one tiny portion of it. That's a monkey on the steps.

Sparkle and glow! So many different kinds of crystal chandeliers. Some were incredibly massive in size and still seemed small due to the ceiling height. This photo above is featured in my Studio blog.

I could not keep a count of how many gorgeous stained glass windows were displayed. Each one more breathtaking than the last. Have you ever noticed that things like paintings and tapestries and stained glass windows are very different when viewed both close up and far away? I enjoy viewing the different perspectives and experiencing the seemingly optical illusion some provide.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the tour as seen through my camera.

Stay tuned for more lovely items and rooms to come.