there is a secret about our little old house that i don’t volunteer to friends and visitors. a dungeon lurks underneath our sweet dollhouse. you would never guess that under all the character is such a place. but yes. and it comes fully equipped with broken stairs, frightening dark walls and a broken-up unfinished concrete floor. it is also where the washer and dryer are found. a little drawback to the place’s charm, but i hardly think about it. i am down those rickity stairs to throw in a load, and up again to safety before i let it get to me.
but as i was diligently going about my housework saturday morning, a little amphibian decided to scare the living daylights out of me. and i was carrying a full load of clothes when he made his appearance, dancing towards me in leaps and bounds. after my heart attack was over…laundry all over the place…i calmly collected the little stowaway (how did he find his way down there anyway?) and put him in a clear blueberry container and walked out to the front steps to set him free. max tried ever so hard to hold him, but i think the little brown frog was the one having the heart attack. i hope he found a better home than our secret dungeon.
adding up to a grand total of $1.95 each. what a great find!
one of our wedding photos, done by the famously talented rhonda addison. my parents have a collection of these hand painted black and white portraits in large sizes in their home.
my marcus and i share six years together of happy, perfect, wedded bliss on this very day! looking back, we have experienced so many things by each other’s side. there has been many a change of address, friends coming and going, birth and loss, graduations and job transitions, success and failure, and lots of supporting one another.
at the beginning of our adventure together we jumped into the unknown, knowing that we would be alright because we had each other to ride through this crazy life with. there are so many things we both want to accomplish for our future, both in our relationship and on personal levels. traveling is a big one on our list. living with complete security, financially. raising our little family with a consciousness of the purpose of life and the nature of a loving creator. giving max (and hopefully other little people to come) all opportunities, open mindedness, knowledge to share with others and a sense of humor to combat struggles.
the most satisfying part about making the commitment to be together is that the connection we have eases up life just enough to where i never have to struggle alone. i still have my dark times, fallbacks and moments, sure. but i remember when we first met how things just came together like a puzzle. we were truly reserved for each other. i had a new sense of security with him. i knew how much i was worth through understanding that a man like him could adore someone like me. it is still hard to believe.
The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through eternity. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
soon, we will be able to go outside again max. until then, we will move all of our toys onto my bed in and live in front of the window unit.
whew! the mercury has been rising. last night i got up to get a drink of water and ran back to bed when i saw a strange phenomenon in the sky. i shook my marcus out of sleep to come and explain the “weird lightning” to me. heat lightning, he said. they have it all the time in florida. now come back to bed sweetie. oh. so the world isn’t ending then? it kept me up for a while, watching the windows. it was like a strobe light shooting onto my bed. kind of spooky. intense summer heat doesn’t agree with me. i love mild. weather you can actually enjoy, not avoid! the national weather service has put out a heat advisory, with heat indexes up to 114. ughy. i miss my winter coat, my warm tea, being able to walk outside without collapsing! it’s no exaggeration, the salvation army is even opening up shelters for those who need a cool place to stay. sheesh.
so today we briefly escaped the heat wave and found an indoor mall playground, art supplies for a three year old at targe, and browsed through the book store. on our way home, exhausted little mister m fell asleep through: out of the carseat, into the stroller, a trip to the post office, out of the stroller, back into the carseat, and carried up into his bed. i wish i had known that he had bubble gum in his mouth when he dozed off! (yes, it ended up in his hair. i came on here trying to figure out how to get it out) max wanted to say the family prayer this evening, “and please bless us to sleep good tonight with no gum in our beds. amen.”
my painting is not being ignored…i just cannot help feed my new embroidery addiction though! “four-and-twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie” will be added to my shop! cute, eh? i could do a whole bunch of these! sew nice. (note to self: purchase one of those transfer-washable-disappearing ink pens next time i’m out…sketching my design on fabric in pencil doesn’t allow for goof-ups!) i heart birds. flying birds. resting birds. singing birds!
a cordouroy (durable!) carry-all (full of pockets! and zippers!) for my portable supplies: my watercolor case and pad, pencils and brushes stored in my favorite batik fabric box from my grandma, my current read on hand, camera, notepad for jotting down drive-by ideas, then some various things that travel in and out like lipgloss, gum, healthnut snacks, max toys…and then ipod of course! (thanks to giant dwarf and craftlog for providing some patch and mini button decor) my bag is great for even around the house, hauling everything up or down the stairs (where ever the a/c window unit is on at the time) and then i can just grab it at a moment’s notice to take max to the park or run some errands.
made these out of a vintage pile of beads, pearls and paraphanelia. i don’t think i’ll be able to part with them for a while! (sometimes that happens.)
we started off on a goofy mood tonight and someone noticed how everyone had taken off their shoes at the door, look! we’re all barefoot. how would all of our feet look in a photo? it has become second nature for me to carry around my camera now, so we posed! we were giggling as our host’s son was requested to come and take the pictures, he asked no questions and obediently followed our direction to stand on a chair and take some shots of all of our summer sandal tan lines, manicured (or not), dark and light feet. (can you guess which are mine?)
on our way home, a friend and i joked about how most of the time our monthly talk is about ten percent book discussion and ninety percent life in general. mostly, i come because it’s nice to have a girl’s night out to gather and talk with food! i am just stuffed with delicious indian food and chocolate delicacies, so full i’m falling asleep writing this! goodnight.
here are the onesies i’ve been doing. i love stitching while watching movies, or when max wants me near him. i first found the tree idea at another shop on etsy, then free-formed a likeness. the rest i’ve made are my own designs. they will be sew cute baby presents welcoming all the new little people into the world, clothed in softness.
i found out about this french film a common thread from somewhere…can’t remember…but it’s about embroidery! i want to see it just to awww at the beautiful needlework shown in the movie.
