Poundcake En Route!

This week of insanity began with picture day chaos--an absolutely wonderful "picture day" morning... 

After accidentally burning the Dreamer's ear while attempting the hairstyle she was dictating, she fled to slam a door and lock herself away. Perfect, especially considering that we had precisely three minutes remaining before our usual time of departure and had yet to eat breakfast, brush teeth, go potty, and put on shoes... Meanwhile, the Caveman was running around the house naked, refusing to relieve himself following an eleven hour long snooze, and escaping my every grasp as I desperately, in vain, tried to coax him into using the bathroom  and resign himself to being clothed. Upon giving up in exasperation and suggesting that we just drop off in the nude, the monster was reduced to gasping hiccups of sorrow and immediately began to beg me to dress him and complain of a need to pee?! AHHHH!!! Inevitably, with maimed ears and bruised egos, we resorted to devouring poundcake en route to school.

That evening, I went out to a local pub with my friend and mother to decompress and gossip over an adult beverage and fried pickle or two.  Mimi arrived on the scene sporting a hideous new immobilizing splint on account of her most recent malady. A few weeks ago, while shoving down the garbage in the kitchen can (a task that all women who live with cavemen are likely to perform from time to time due to the lack of assistance in the domestic department of chores, such as taking out the trash), the outside knuckle of Mimi's left index finger was sliced open by a razor sharp lid from a tin can. The injury was so severe that it severed two tendons and required surgery.  Needless to say, her hand, a.k.a. "the claw" is beginning the long process of recovery with a flesh colored immobilizing device that I was asked to "tattoo"! Armed with a sharpie of every hue, I set to work.

The following morning was "crazy hair day", and the Dreamer had big ideas. Her ideas of tall colored spikes far exceeded any hair abilities in my possession, thus, we settled for pipe-cleaner braids and purple Halloween hairspray. It was a success, and she was pleased to parade off to school sporting this coif.

Tonight, hair still in the tattered remains of wired braids, the Dreamer, the Caveman, and Neighbor Boy discovered a brown mottled praying mantis on the corner of our shed. This discovery was made on the heels of the formation of the "Respect Nature Club", thus intensifying the excitement.  The three stood observing the four inch long specimen, and referring to the posture of the creature's forelegs, Neighbor Boy stated, "Look, it really is praying!", a comment which sparked my heathen child, the Dreamer, to respond, "Yeah! It really is 'preying'! Look at that bug that the mantis is hunting!".

Other worthwhile tidbits:

A discarded giant cardboard box created a thrilling hideaway for my spawn at the grandparent's house! 

Getting the little guitar restrung allowed for the Caveman and me to get a little musical! 

Creating our own chalkboards seems to have inspired more than one artist in our household! The Caveman's drawing skills have greatly improved and he is spending quite a lot of time developing his portraits of people, beetles, and black widow spiders.

And last but not least, having a big sister that can read a bedtime story might just be the most glorious thing that exists in this world!

 

Goodnight offspring, may your dreams be filled with imaginings of searching for earthworms...

 

Enchanted Mermaid Party!

My friend, the author of my blog-spiration Oh Boy Cato, just returned from a beach vacay and kindly asked me to be a guest poster on her blog! Sharing the mer-peg craft as a guest writer created the desire in me to share a little post about the Dreamer's Enchanted Mermaid Party of last year!  

In addition to the Dreamer's love of all things feline, fairy, and dragon related, she is also a lover of merfolk. At the end of  last winter, the year that she turned six, she asked for a party with friends. It was her first ever party that wasn't a small family gathering, and she wanted a mermaid event! 

We made invitations out of colored paper and a sketch I drew of a mermaid on a rock, and we printed them on our computer. 

Next, we planned some party favor/games/activities.  We decided storytelling would be appropriate, so I formulated the a tale of merpeople and pirates that would peak with my divulging an ancient map for pirate treasure with which they could go for a little hunt about the yard.  

To create the map, Mister and I walked around the yard recording footstep counts from landmark to landmark (tree to fire pit to tree).  After marking down paces, I drew a map, folded, crinkled, and burned the edges with a match to age. 

For treasures, I created mermaid tears by modgepodging little paper illustrations of mermaids to flat marble pieces, starfish wands, mermaid stamped wooden star-shaped necklaces, and golden chocolate coins.

After the treasure hunt, Mister, Auntie A, and I managed three different activity stations: messages/wishes in a bottle--consisting of writing something on a tiny slip of paper, rolling up the message, and inserting it, along with a scoop of mini shells, into a  small, corked glass bottle. They all were very secretive about their messages.

The second station was the sewing of mermaid tapestries, where a fine cotton yarn was stitched in and out of burlap scraps and included flower petals.  The children were so focused and serious about their creations, and I was sure to celebrate each very unique tapestry created! 

Auntie A manned the dress up station, where she tied tulle scraps around each ankle and painted faces.  

Food and presents were last on the agenda, and all of the children decorated cupcakes, and enjoyed fruit kabobs, goldfish, and bite-sized seaweed (spinach) quiches.  

It all turned out to be perfectly wonderful, and the small crowd of sweet friends seemed to have a marvelous time! 

Thrifty Dollhouse Miniature Mattress!

My sister is the thrifter of the family, and she spends an exorbitant amount of time filtering through garbage and junk to discover treasures. She is lucky, or more observant, or some combination of these two traits; for, when I attempt to go on treasure hunts of my own, the results are more often than not... fruitless.

Although I am far less skilled in this department, my sister, Auntie A, has a generous heart, and many times she brings magnificent second-hand treasures to our door including such finds as the following: a wooden workbench, several wooden dollhouses, a fairy cottage, a dollhouse wardrobe, kitsch cat figurines, and a set of cat-themed, Russian Matryoshka nesting dolls! 

After being the recipient or "mother-to-the-recipients" of Auntie A's thrift gifts, I decided it was time to give it another try.  On Monday, I rolled the dice and, with the Caveman in tow, headed out second-hand shopping at a location that was highly recommended by the thrifting queen herself... and... Success! 

The Caveman and I indeed found treasure!  We brought home a miniature brass cradle bed in need of a mattress, a solid wooden dump truck, and a bag of small wooden blocks.

At our house, the Caveman became absorbed in a game of loading and dumping wooden blocks, while I set to work to create a mattressy something for the toy cradle.  

I settled on a cardboard restaurant coaster from a stack that Mister insisted we pocket during our last dining out experience, and I cut it into two rectangles the perfect size to create a base for the bed.

I then raided my sewing cabinet and cut a swatch of a scrap of quilted fabric 1/4" bigger than my coaster boards on all sides.  

Next for glue. Lazily, I used the Dreamer's bottle of white glue and glued the fabric to one coaster, tucked in the sides, and glued the other coaster board on top. 

I set the mattress board under a book to dry then inserted it into the cradle--perfect fit! 

Now we know that hunting for treasure is just as rewarding as searching for earthworms...