Jin's Quilt

Zander's mom, Betsy, made Jin the cutest little quilt. We can't wait to hang it up! In fact, we went and got a crib last night, to help us figure out where to hang it. I'll definitely put up some pictures when his room is a little closer to ready.
Here's Froggie Jin.
Here's Cowboy Jin.
And Sweetie Pie Jin.

I just picked up Jin's baby book. It is the only non-dorky baby book for adoptive families that I've found. It's so adorable that I'm putting off writing in it in fear of messing it up!

Happy Birthday Betsy!

We can't wait to help you blow out some candles!

Jin

Many of you have already heard our news: Today we filed the paperwork to adopt Jin! I've looked at him thousands of times already, and I just smile every time I see his little smile. I hope we'll get to go pick him up in Korea sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we'll see when we get the call. We're so excited and happy, and thankful and yes, even a little bit scared. He's been a precious, but kind of fuzzy thought for a long while now, and it's hard to describe how it feels to see his picture. Many, many happy tears have been shed around this house today. Well, I could go on and on, but I'll save more for another day. Thank you all for rooting for us, encouraging us, listening, lending your shoulders, and telling us again and again that we'll one day be great parents. We've held on to your every word!

Baby Daddy

Zander just sent me this image from the comic convention in San Diego. Clearly this woman, whoever she is (Wonder Woman? Super Girl?) does not care so much that we know her exact identity, but her subtlety does not extend to the identity of the baby daddy. In fact, I think she looks all too eager to share the intimate details.

Gardening Hat for those with Plus Sized Heads

Aha, the days of gardening in a hat that's too tight for my head are over. I used an Amy Butler pattern and some cute fabric from Crafty Planet. It whipped together in just a couple of hours. This big thing is not only great for wiping sweat/mud off my face BUT it also prevents the sun from leaving a tan line just above my upper lip.

Seven

Well, there's been slight progress with our adoption. ...Just a little bit too slight for my tastes. It's like watching paint peel off of an old dry board, trying to pick it off yourself, and then getting it stuck up underneath your fingernail where it really hurts. You can call me Pissy-Pissy-Two-By-Four. To yourself. Not to me. I'd take it personally. Then I'd wonder what I did to piss you off. But I might not ask, I'd just wonder. And stew a little bit. And then yell at the cat for being on the table. And then have that same cat wonder what kind of inconsistent parenting I'm planning on using with this baby we're so longing for when I usually only yell at him for being on the table when I'm irritated about something else.

Just so you know, this little guy cheers me up every time. Joey is my 2 1/2 year old nephew and he can be sweaty and crabby and sleepy, and he still makes me happy.

Oh yeah, and our niece Campbell's Hockey Moves, and Dancing on the Kitchen table routine are also a very strong cure for crankiness.

Motivation

I love this print! You can buy it on Etsy. It also might be nice embroidered... Oh, and this is especially relevant because I CAN'T FIND MY PASSPORT ANYWHERE.

Dark Knight

In anticipation of the Dark Knight preview, I made a Batman skirt from a thrift-store sheet and a little Ikea fabric. I used this fabulous book to make the pattern, and it was so easy. Five stars for a really useful book. Unfortunately, I thought I'd make it to sit lower on my hips instead of at the waist, and that just doesn't work with my body type, so it hangs a bit funny. I'm excited to try it again!

Got Some Time?

Watch this. Already seen it? Watch it again, that's how good it is. And while you're at it, why don't you do a little counting?

Imagine Cramming a Hat on this Big Head

Today I took Z's parents to the airport (I'll post pictures of our weekend later), spent about an hour on the phone with my sister, watered my wilted plants, ate some left-over chocolate peanuts, brought Boo over to play with our neighbor kid, and surfed the web. This my friends is what I call the glamorous life. Now I'm heading over to the thrift store to drop off the left-overs from our yard sale this weekend. I'm hoping to find a sun hat while I'm there that fits my over-sized melon. I'm tired of looking at my sweaty red band of forehead flesh that shows up every time I take off a hat.

You might have seen this already, it has a cool story here.

Damn It

We're still #8 on the list. Could you all think some happy thoughts please?

4th of July Weekend

In addition to having such a great time with everyone at the cottage in Wisconsin, we were lucky enough to have a real-life-professional-photographer in our midst. There are so many good pictures of the weekend. Thanks Ben!

This picture reminds me that life has been stressing me out lately and how good it feels to get out with good friends and laugh. Lots and lots.

I really like this shot because I think it brings out the natural athlete in me. And it is flattering besides.

Look how tough Z looks.

And here's Zander's BFF. His wife is a bit camera shy, but you can find pictures on her blog.

1. We had an amazing holiday weekend, and as soon as I can find my camera charger, I'll post some pictures.

2. I sold my first print on Etsy!

I love hollyhocks. The bugs nibble at them, their petals are ruffled and transparent, the birds land on them only to weigh them down and poop on their leaves, and despite the fact that they're an annual, they just keep coming back. A little bit fragile, a little bit hearty. A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. Oh hollyhock, I can relate to you on so many levels.

Sorry for the crap picture, I'm not sure what happened and no amount of photoshopping is going to fix this one up. Anyway, here's some recent thrifty-action. I already have one good pitcher, but this one is so perfect I couldn't resist.
More thrifting here... This dress is organic silk IN MY SIZE for under $5. And yes, it will look oh so cute with a little something red and frilly sticking out from the hem.
Today, I'll be:
1. Thinking about what a sweet movie WALL-E was. It might be the best Pixar yet.
2. Picking up our third load of veggies from the CSA. Lots of lettuce so far.
3. Getting ready to head up to our friends' cabin for a few days. I'm so excited for a bit of reading on the dock, hiking, playing board games and swimming!
4. Fret about having to wear a swimming suit in front of these friends.
5. Check out a couple of things at the library.
6. Bake some bread from that 5 minute book.
7. Listening to Jason Mraz and The Weepies. Maybe a little bit of Sia thrown in there.
8. Running late for my noon appointment because I'm killing time on the web.

Just Perfect

This is just one example of the quality blogging that goes on around here. Zander hasn't seen this fine sample of my dabbling in the digital arts yet, but I have a feeling he'll think it's just perfect.

Build your own Blingee

Eight

How many legs does an octopus have? Eight. How many maids a milking? Eight. How many days a week? Eight. (According to the Beatles) What number are we on THE LIST? As of this evening... Eight.

Summer is lovely when you live in Minnesota, but especially when you live in Minnesota and get summers off, and especially when you live in Minnesota, get the summers off, and love to dork around in the garden. These poppies are so ugly when they're not in bloom that when they are blooming, I take about a thousand pictures of them.

And here's some more of our funky honeysuckle vine that I thought was a trumpet vine.

Today I'm going to...

Go back to school (boo) and find some artwork that one of my students left behind and now wants to show off at his graduation party tomorrow. Cross your figures that I wasn't in a "pitch everything" mood the last time I ran across it.

Go pick up our first CSA veggies. I'm pretty excited about this, and can't wait to see what we get!

Go pick up some rocks with one of my girlfriends... Might sound boring to you, but I love this girlfriend, and I seriously really like picking out rocks for the yard. They'll each be about as big as a loaf of bread, maybe that makes them stones.

Find a clothesline that'll suck back into itself like a tape measure, so I can hang some wet laundry out on the deck.

Check the Korea forum approximately 100 times today and see if there are any referrals that will bring us further (farther?) down the list. We're still chillin' at #9. And chillin' really means not at all chilled out but instead slightly to moderately agitated at all times.

frilly under-things

I thrifted this slip about three years ago, and I love it so much because it transforms my somewhat boring teacher clothes into something that my inner saloon girl would wear. My sister-in-law always has a perfect bit of sparkle, and another friend wears v-neck t-shirts and adorable shorts too short for my stubbs. And they both rock that look. While my gardening overalls are so comfy, maybe I need to leave them in the garden more often. As I write this entry, I can just feel Eckhart Tolle reminding me (in his very soothing books-on-tape-voice) that clothes don't define me. Hello, duh, but still going to remember to get out my saloon slip a bit more often.

Big Bike Bec

My dear friend Rebecca is saying her final** goodbye to the MS ride, and any little donation helps the cause. It's easy to donate and to read about the why, how, what and who, just click here.

**I'd never actually come out and say that she's gone into retirement before, but final just sounds so final.