A little punk rock for a little Rock Star

Little Emily's 6th birthday is approaching and finding a gift for the only girl kid in our family is so much fun.  She is really unique, blending the best of spunky, sweet, and sometimes a little shy.  (Oh, and I forgot smart and super-fast....she is both of those things too!)  A lover of creating masterpieces, singing, and giggling, Emily is easily the cutest, neatest, bestest niece in the world.  (Aunt Merry is not the bestest at grammer, but please bear with her...)

So, for such a special chica, I decided to try and tackle a special crafted gift (sewn actually...GASP!) from one of my most loved t-shirts from Korea, mostly because it is PINK and has HEARTS.  Duh.  We totally love pink and hearts.  I was inspired by this and this both from Kojo Designs blog and came up with this:

!!!

  
A skirt with pink, hearts, AND a matching mini-bag.  You know, for her phone, guitar picks, markers, barrettes, whatever.  I can just imagine her rocking out in this skirt on her Hannah Montana guitar with some cool tights and her wrist-warmers from Christmas.  And maybe a Dora pj top.  The kid has her own style and I'm proud to be her Aunt.

 

Can't wait to make her more stuff.  I love this kid.

Old Beginnings

After 17 years of being on the receiving side of education, I switched sides and got to run my own classroom for awhile.  Now I'm back to where it all started.  A jittery, overplanned teacher's pet is about to leave for her first day of school, again.  It seems pretty silly because I've taken science graduate classes (20 credits worth, actually!) but this is different.  Most of my classmates and my professor will NOT be of the science nerd variety.  I have a hard time relating to people who want to teach the Other subjects.  Instead of being fairly cool in a room full of geeks, I get to be the geek in a room full of normal people.  I think it just boils down to a basic fear of being accepted.  Growing up is still hard.  

When I was growing up, mom always made us take a "first day of school" picture.  In the spirit of first day traditions (including a nervous stomach and maybe even a few tears) here I am, ready to go.  I hope I have enough pencils and highlighters.  

 

Part Lumberjack, Part Caveman

In loving honor of my new husband, this post is all about Matt and what he loves.  Before you read the following statements, be sure to practice saying the word "love" with much emphasis on the "uh" part.  And then a big pause after the noun/verb while you contemplate just how much you "louuuuhve" the said noun/verb.  Because that is how Matt says it.

Matt:
I love food.

I love fire.
 
I love this pan.

Me:  Do you love chopping wood?
Matt:  YESSSSS.  I love Cutting AND Chopping.

And finally, last night, the statement that stole my Wisconsin heart:

I love cheese.

Of course you do dear, because you love all foods minus melons and coleslaw and that one thing you told me yesterday at the grocery store that I can't remember.  And to think that I get on your case for forgetting stuff!

Since half of his list involves fire and wood, it's only fitting for a little glimpse into our bedroom lately...

 

....because it's really cold and our house is really drafty, our bedroom is now the living room!  Matt gets up every few hours to grab the wood that he chopped and throw it into the fire he crafted.  I'm enjoying the warmth and Mia is enjoying the free snuggles.  Matt is just enjoying all of it, because he loves so much, which is one reason we louuuuuuhve him so much!

Expectations

(This posting was originally themed 'Expectations and Entitlement' but by the time I got around to entitlement, the expectations had brought me too much joy and I decided to quit right there.  Lesson learned.) 

Last week brought my friends Katie and Dave a beautiful little gift in the form of wrinkly skin, poopy diapers, and a pretty face with TWO! dimples.  After months of anticipating her arrival, Sophie showed up exactly when she was expected.  I watched as Sophie's new parents stared at her with awe, amazement, and of course love as she yawned, wiggled, and enjoyed her 1st-day-of-life-out-of-the-womb slumber.  Oh!  How an itty bitty person can carve such a gargantuan mark on our souls.

 
Later that week, Matt and I got our own little unexpected bundle of joy to the tune of sloppy water drinking, destruction prone, loves to chase squirrels doggie, Mia.  She is needy, skinny, scared, and FULL of love.  She hasn't left my 5 foot personal space bubble since Saturday.  At the first feeling of abandonment, Mia attempts to flee, victimizing anything in her way (including but not limited to: vases, plants, picture frames, window blinds, window screens). So we bought a crate.  At any rate, loving Mia means being patient, forgiving, and learning how to fix psychological issues within a dog.  But she isn't just a dog; she is MY dog, my buddy, my Mama Mia.

Feels something like an Alien

When you get married, things change.  Some people choose to change their names as a symbol of unity, becoming one flesh, one family.  I did it to prevent my kids from having to endure cheering at their basketball games..."Yeah!  Put it in the bucket, Bird-Pfister!"  "Bird-Pfister, Bird-Pfister, defense, defense!"  It was just the nice thing to do.

I had to change my name on my bank account, credit card, drivers license, social security card, and other important accounts, like my Facebook profile.  Surprisingly, most name-change applications inquired about employment.  The bank lady actually asked me TWICE about my job.  Usually, the painful exchange goes something like this:

"Where are you working?"
"I'm currently unemployed."
"Oh, I'm sorry." (said with much empathy/pity)
"No, really it's ok.  I'm unemployed by choice for now."
"Oh.  So, what do you...do?"

As in, how can you possibly contribute to society by NOT working?!  What do you...do?  It cracks me up.  And then it makes me feel bad.  So, in keeping with relishing and appreciating the time allowed by my unemployment, this post is dedicated to stuff I do, did, or have done lately that I would have not otherwise been able to do during a teacher's workday.

-gave moral support to a friend at 11:00am while she was applying for jobs

-baked bread for the neighbor who just lost her husband

-drove to Houston to see new nugget

-made applesauce

-found cheap couches on craigslist at 1:00pm

-carried couches into house at 1:30pm

-got couch cushions refoamed

-wrote a zillion thank you notes

-gchatted with a friend at work in crisis

-finished these projects:

Matt's arm warmers and 3 pairs of wrist warmers, goes well with unemployed status.

  Sophie's sweater...she should be coming any day now!

I am dually proud and ashamed of this sweater.  Proud because I finished it, ashamed because there are a lot of unexplained bumps and holes.

Things I will do in the future:

-complete job application.

If Bruno says it, it must be True.

My good friend, Bruno, often tells mini-stories that are kind of unbelievable and then ends his statement with, "No, really.  It's true."  He is from Brazil and I think they like to tell the truth in Brazil.  While chatting with him online today, he wrote:  If a good cook is too thin, you can't trust her food.  In my quest to be a good, respectable cook, I will NOT go jogging today.  Baaaaaah!  The idea of me being 'too thin' has never entered my mind before today, but he is my friend and I must heed his advice. 


Thanks, Bruno.  I think I'll go start cooking dinner!

note: Bruno is my very first Brazilian friend, and the only blue eyed Brazilian I know.  I assumed he was Scandinavian when we first met, and thought he was lying to me.  I should have known better.


Me - "What?  You're Brazilian?"  
Bruno - "No, really.  It's true.  I am from Brazil."  

See?  They always tell the truth!

Jog Blog

Since jogging alone is not a social activity, mentally stimulating, or plain entertaining for me, I like to have some company; my little green second hand iPod.  Today was a little different.  While running jogging around my newly discovered lake route, I took out the ear piece closest to the lake, as if to try and hear what the lake was saying.  "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?  My iPod was turned up too loud."  I think it said something like, "You should get out more." 

Talking to Rosa is now an hourly occurance.  Frankly, I think she understands me, which also means she is learning the full extent of just how nutso her Human is.  Case in point; when the Hershey's squeezy bottle refuses to give up it's last tablespoon of chocolate, I open it up and stick my finger in it and pretend it's a bowl of brownie mix.  I HAVE GOT TO GET OUT AND SEE SOME NORMAL PEOPLE. The real problem?   Matt just laughs when I talk to my cat or shamefully lick the last bit of chocolate from the bottle.  And I laugh at him when he rounds the kitchen corner looking like this:

It makes me laugh so hard whenever I see it.  He was training for the Northern Blizzard Smog Jog.  OR He was working on our fireplace and didn't want stuff in his lungs or his eyes.  The result?

 

No wait, that's my applesauce...which was also very enjoyable.

 

The fruit of his hard labor was this:

So maybe my days of solitude aren't so bad; a warm fire, knitting goodies, and eating applesauce.  I'll see what the lake has to say tomorrow.