Smileys and Pottys and Snails

Brandon's nephew has begun a new business venture making incense, and I volunteered to make a smiley face logo for him.  It's really simple, and nothing like what Jess can do, but he's really happy with it and so I am too.  I think I am going to go back and put "Chef" across the front of the hat, since that's his nickname.  Heck, that's the reason for the hat in the first place.

Last night, I ordered a potty for Elora, so we can start on the road to potty training.  I looked at a couple, but in the end it came down to the BabyBjorn Potty Chair, or the Fisher Price Pink Princess Potty Chair.  The first takes a simple, minimalist approach, while the second tries to make it fun.  I went for the fun one.

photo from fisher-price.com

It has 4 different little songs that it can play when she does her business, the seat comes off and can be used on the big toilet when she gets older, the bowl is removable for easy cleaning, and the back folds down to make it a step stool so she can reach to wash her hands.  Seriously, how cute is that?? 

We had a nice thunderstorm early this evening.  Thunderstorms are one of those things that I took for granted in Florida, and that I've missed terribly since coming here.  I wish I could have been at home to sit and enjoy it, butI was thankful that the angry looking sky didn't open up on me as I was running around Patch trying to get dinner, get cash for the babysitter, and get Elora.  I got to hear a bit of thunder, see a bit of lightening, and felt a few cool sprinkles before I drove out from under it one the way home.  

When I got there, I saw this guy cruising around the drive in front of my house.  I thought he was cool, so I ran upstairs and deposited Elora with her dad so I could run back down with the camera.  These are straight out of the camera, I didn't even crop them.

He obliged me by continuing to cruise,and I even caught him sticking out his tongue (I assume it's a tongue, I'm not really sure) to sample the tastes/textures/smells around him.  I always feel so special when I get to see things like this.  Maybe I would get to see these things more if I paid more attention, but then, perhaps they wouldn't be so special to me?  He's really neat, and I sincerely hope that some oblivious person didn't step on him before he could make his way back to the (relative) safety of the garden.

So, about that toilet paper...

Remember the other day, when Kara posted about Silas playing with toilet paper?  And remember how I said in my comment that when Elora tries to play with the TP, that "I take it away from her before she can make a mess with it"?  Well, within 30 minutes of typing that comment, this is what I found in my hallway.

I still haven't done any sewing, but I did finish another LO.  Slow but sure, I'm catching up!

I've also got  tri-strand black and gold necklace in the works, and I've been commissioned to do another bridal set! I so love doing wedding jewelry, and I love it even more when the bride wants something interesting.  The supplies for that are on order, I'm really excited about getting my hands on the stuff and getting to work. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Recently...

Elora loves it when I brush her teeth.

She likes to "help" me with the laundry.  She actually managed to restart the washer before I could get the clean clothes out and into the dryer.  Since it locks itself once a cycle starts, all I could do was change it to "rinse and spin" and let it go.

Pictures from playing outside on Tuesday, when the weather was still being agreeable.

My newest Elora Book spread.  I went really simple this time.  I'm trying to escape the patterns I keep going to in my LO's.

Schloss Solitude

Now that the sun has decided to come out and play, we've been trying to get out to play too.  Brandon has been wanting to take us to see Schloss Solitude for a few weeks now, but this was the first weekend that the weather was nice for it.  It was wonderful!  I don't know why we've never gone before.  Apparently Brandon does runs out to the Schloss with his unit sometimes, but I didn't even know it existed until he mentioned something about it a few weeks ago.

The walk from the parkplatz to the Schloss was just as nice as the Schloss itself.  There was a narrow road, with matching paths to either side of it.  We strolled on up the sun-dappled, gravel path, stopping to take pictures here and there.  I actually lagged behind them a bit, because I was stopping more than they were.  There was a large open field on the other side of this little road, and a horse pasture on our side.  We pointed the horses out to Elora, but she didn't really pay them much attention at this point.

I was a little disappointed in the Schloss at first, because I saw this and thought it was the front of the building, but it was only the side of it.  The front of the building faces a gently sloping hill, and has a splendid view of (we think) Ludwigsburg in the valley below.

Schloss Solitude was built in the late 18th century as a secluded, palatial hunting lodge.  It was so expensive to maintain , however, that it was sold or rented to house various schools and academies through the years and is now a museum and special event venue.  This is where Mary had her Junior Prom--this totally trumps the Space Center, any day!  I could just imagine flowing up those curving stairs in a formal gown...  I'd have felt just like Cinderella at the ball.  Oh well, it's lovely to dream, right?

Anyway, we had a good time checking it out.  This is the valley view from the balcony:

We decided to skip on the tour this time, and head on back to the car after exploring around the outside. This time, Brandon lagged behind with the camera.

We lucked out; a couple of the horses had moved closer to the fence, probably to take advantage of the shade there.  Elora showed more interest in them this time.  

She kept saying "cat", just like she did when she saw people with dogs.  (Apparently, all quadruped mammals are "cats", as far as she is concerned.) So I kept saying "horse".

 

We stopped on the way home to take a picture of our little town and the surrounding fields, now that the sun has come out and all is green.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and I hope our fair weather holds!

Which One?

Ok, I added a bit to my Snow Days LO.  Which do you like better, the "original", or the "original + penguin and snow"?

the original

the original + penguin and snow

Clicking on the picture will enlarge it.  I put up a poll to the left.  Please vote!

"Hello Big Girl Baths!"

I'm still charging forward, playing catch up on my digi scrap book.  I had a hard time with this one too, for whatever reason it just took forever for it all to click into place.  But at least this one did click.  Still not sure about the last one.  (Thanks for your input on that one, ladies!  You know I love to get feed back.)

Do you recognize those frames, Kelly?  I tweaked the color a bit, but they're yours.  :)

It seems I didn't accomplish much this weekend.  I spent a lot of time stretched out on the couch, or puttering with my Farmville farm.  But then again, I also played with my daughter, did the laundry and swept and cleaned the kitchen--those last 2, I did twice.  Oh, and let's not forget the scrapbook pages.  So I guess it wasn't a waste after all.

My First 2010 LO

I skipped over Christmas morning for now, because I'm stuck on those pages.  I did a snow spread instead.

I had a hard time with this one too.  I'm still not totally happy with it, but I've been looking at it too long.  I may come back to it later, I may not.  What do you think?