( Pics! ) 

K had a field trip yesturday.  We got on the bus, drove for 2 hours, got off the bus, were sent to our seats and K was sent to join a seperate group, cause she's in the program.  The program starts, 74 minutes later, all our phones started ringing, "School Closing! Return Immediately!"  The program isn't over, but we grab our confused kids and start herding them toward the door, "Run for the bus!  No time to eat!  No time to go to the restroom!, (most of us havn't been to the restroom for over 3 hours, and I am over 40!  I nearly wet myself when we crossed the Tennessee River.)

We are out the door, down the stairs and I am counting heads, 1,2,3,... , 24,...  someone is missing,...  K?!?  Where is K!??!!,...  WHERE IS K!!!  Yes, I was out of the building and running on the sidewalk before I realized, I had forgotten my own child!!!  Mother of the year!  Yup, I'm makin' the shirt.  So I race back in, find K, jerk her out of her group, and race her to the bus, which was MOVING!  They knew we were missing, they were just trying to get out of the traffic.  We  jump on, count heads again, we're all there, off we go.  Then we start our 2 1/2 hour white knuckle drive back in freezing rain and slush, with a driver who was young enough to be my daughter, but absolutely fantastic, thank you driver for getting us home safe, to the principal and entire class of parents waiting at the now closed school.

We knew something would happen, this class has never had a year when something bad/tragic didn't happen on or before a field trip.  Parents in this class have to be begged/threatened to chaperone.   I swear they all got full time jobs, without any leave, just for this trip.  I only volunteer because I want to be there to try to save K from the calamity that will undoubtedly befall them.  We have had car accidents, parking tickets, late or just plain missing busses and bad weather so often, we just expect it now.  And the number of trips canceled due to funerals, severe weather, standardized testing, and illness are just suspicious.  The principal commented before we left that she hates it when this class leaves the building.  I think she and the parents had a meeting while they were waiting for our return, and decided we just aren't doing this ever again. Needless to say, as far as I'm concerned, they can stay at school till they leave for college.

I am scheduled to drive for two trips next month.  Someone slap me.  Pren?

Four down!

How many does it take to make a blanket for a child?  4 feet by 3 feet, so 12 squares, seems like a nice size.   What do y'all think?

I just completed my first ever Grannie Square, in Starknuts colors, purple and line green, for Ofenjen and the Linus Connection.



(Actually, this is the second Grannie Square I ever made.  My first was a complete and total disaster.)

One down!  ??? to go!

My Miss. Kitty is not doing well.  We found out yesturday she has polycystic kidney disease and is progressing toward kidney failure very rapidly.  It's a genetic thing in Persian cats and we knew she had some kind of long haired, short nosed cat in her, but she was a feral kitty so we didn't really know.  She's never been a well kitty, sick a lot, steadily losing weight for years, but lately she's been sick all the time.  The vet said it won't be long before we need to do something.  Not just yet, but soon.

She's such a great cat.  Never tore up anything, lets K pet her and love on her and hardly ever scratches or bites and used to follow me around all day and play with my yarn or pencil or paper.   She's been my shadow and my craft buddy and my stupid cat  and my little fur baby for 5 years.  Wish it could have been 10.

OK, if you want to make your own Chudley Cannons Shirt, I have uploaded the front and back stencils to my flicker account.  Just click on the image and you will be taken to the full size image on Flickr.



Now, I really don't recommend using the t-shirt transfer paper, it is very fast, but it just won't last. I only used it cause I was in an uber hurry. You'll get a much better result if you cut a stencil out of freezer paper and use black fabric paint.
 
The logo will have the CC floating in the middle of the black circle, so use care when cutting that part out.  And the slogan will of course take forever.  I was thinking if you have a Slice or other cutting machine, can you put freezer paper in the Slice and cut the letters as stencils?  Or even just cut out the letters and stipple around them.  Hum,... Hobby Lobby has the Slice on sale,... 

 
About a million years ago, a boy gave me this single,...  yes, it was a vinyl single.  I still have it.

Hope you all had a very happy Holiday season!  I've been home with family for the last few weeks.  It's been wonderful.  We baked cookies and watched hours and hours of Doctor Who.  Had a few friends over and actually ate a few meals at our dining room table, haven't done that in years, it's been covered with fabric and sewing machines, and lasers and beads and paper mache and... you get the idea. We went through our local lights display, and as always our favorie was



(Hogwarts, In the deep south, can you believe it!)
 
And I got Pride, Prejudice and Zombies for my birthday!  It's a fun read, though Elizabeth's meeting with Lady Catherine is a bit more,... vigorous than the original.   I rather approve actually.

I didn't finish my Christmas cards before school let out, we were all sick and feeling icky and then we were too busy having fun, so I'll be getting those finished and in the mail soon.  K goes back to school tomorrow and we are spending the day at home, watching Half Blood Prince and cleaning out her closet.  How many cuddly penguins can one child have?  She counted, 13. 

 


My problem:  K loves this and it took me forever to make it and I have to box and ship it today.  Oh my.

We donated a bunch of stuff to K's school for a Christmas Store, where the kids could shop for presents for Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters, friends,... I didn't have a lot growing up, one year my parents wrapped our school books and put them under the tree along with a winter coat each, for my brother and I. Very traumatic then, but oh do I get it now. Anyway, we gave some nice little things; slippers, toy cars, Barbies, a girly pink watch, beanie babies, books, that kinda thing. Nothing fabulous, just nice little, new stuff we had that we didn't need.

So, we go to the store and were looking around, and we see two little boys positively bouncing with excitement. They were soooo excited and soooo happy, they were literally dancing. As they bound past, we see they are each holding one of the toy trucks we donated and chattering about giving them to their little brothers.

We just smiled.

I'm cleaning out my basement and reliving my past fandoms. ( Oh, it's been Fantastic! )( Read more... )