• artsy fartsy,  Bug,  party party,  Shop Talk

    pinkkkkkkkkity!

    Smells like a party is brewing around here. Not a christmas party or a new year’s party but Baby Bug’s first birthday!!!! I’ve been looking forward to this party my entire life. The trick is to not go overboard because she’s just a little kid afterall. So the guest list is pared down to only close friends and family, the decorations are simple AND I’m not even cooking forcing my mom to cook any kind of theme centered meal. Easy does it, right?

    But I am going crazy with the pink kitties. YAY!!! PINK KITTIES!!!! I figure this is my last year to rock the pink. Sooner or later she’s going to be the one dictating what color and what theme her parties are, so I might as well squeeze every pinkity drop out of the whole “girly foo foo” thing while I can. I love pink so much right now. It just makes me happy. You’d think it would have worn off after this party, but it hasn’t.

    The invitations were a blast to make. I’ve always wanted to make circle invitations but it was never really practical until now. Cutting circles by hand is laborious and messy (actually it’s impossible by my standards because unlike everything else I make, I do not like lumpy circles). Having a custom die-cut made is expensive and way too over the top even for a freelance designer like me. But now there is the circle cutter!

    Even though I hate the whole scrapbooking industry (because they put people like me out of business and other reasons…) I have to admit the tools they offer to the mainstream customer are wonderful. It took some instruction from Toby and his amazing mechanical engineer guy brain but after a few rounds, I had circle cutting down. I recommend this tool to anybody who has a steady hand and a desire for happy paper discs in their life. Circles are fun. Customized cup coasters anyone?

    I can’t wait for the party. Even though I actually like planning parties better than I like attending them, this one is going to be special. The moment I am most excited about is watching her dig into her very own cake. A round cat face cake of course, with pink icing. I have a picture of me eating my first birthday cake somewhere… I wish I could find it so I can post it but the baby is sleeping and I don’t want to wake her up so I can go fishing for it. It’s in the closet somewhere hidden. Anyway, it’s a great picture with chocolate icing all over my face. I think. Maybe it was white icing. I’ll post it one of these days.

    I chose pink kitties because she seems to really like cats, obviously. What kid doesn’t? But it’s my lucky break that she learned to say “kkkkkkkkittttty” as her first word after “daaaaah daaaah”. I don’t even want to count “daaah daaah” as her first word because she says it for everything, not necessarily just “daddy”. But Toby wants to call it her first word because well, he’s her dad. So I guess I’ll give him that pleasure. Meanwhile you and I will know that “kitty” with a super rolled “k” sound at the beginning was her first word.

    So anyway, that’s what’s brewing up in my brain these days. I wish I was better at solving world peace or something useful.

  • Bad Mom,  Bug,  domesticity,  Slow News Day

    the forbidden basket

    The forbidden basket is just a little basket sitting on a tv tray beside my “nursing chair”. By looking at it, you’d never know it held so much importance and mystery in the baby’s room. It started out as just a place to stash the large collection of pacifiers, cloth diapers (for wiping clogged tear duct eye goop), baby fingernail clippers and what-not… but it has turned into soooo much more.

    Why? Because it’s the basket that the baby is not allowed to touch. Except for important times, like when I need to make a phone call or finish up a blog post or speed read through 27 babysitter applicant emails. Then the forbidden basket becomes prime time optimum baby entertainment. She loves the forbidden basket. She could sort through the fifty-some pacifiers, testing each one out over and over, for hours! And then there’s mommy’s lotion (with the cap screwed on securely of course) and combs and baby brushes…all kinds of great things to put in your mouth–so much fun!

    This basket saves me. Every once in a while I have to throw in a new forbidden object (like a mini stapler {the horror!!!} or a roll of scotch tape or a dead remote…) just to keep it interesting. I always keep one eyeball glued on her though because the beauty of the forbidden objects is that they are forbidden and slightly dangerous. Who wants to play with toys that are soft and boring when you can play with sharp things!

    So, yes, this is a post about a basket of junk. What can I say? It holds that much importance in our daily lives.

    Everybody should have one.