Guess who K wants to be for Halloween?

I found them at Target.  They aren't patent leather, burgundy or >200$, but they are close enough for Halloween.  K was over the moon!

Until she put them on and realized she would not look even remotely tough teetering around with Mr. Man holding one arm and me holding the other.  She couldn't even stand let alone walk without us. And she figured the trip to the ER would be no fun at all, though at least this time she would probably get a boot, instead of a cast.

She wisely decided against the killer platform pumps.

We are now in the process of figuring out how to make an eye patch.  Polymer clay and wire to attach to her glasses.  Yeah, that'll do.

I'm so proud.

Last October, Muse Magazine ran a contest to compose a love poem to something unloved. They printed K's entry in the latest issue. Brevity is the soul of wit.

Yup, earwax. That's my girl.

We laughed till we cried at "A Free-Verse Poem to my Beloved Dandruff." She wants to meet Jo Z, Alaska. I think not.

What in the name of sanity have you got on your snowman?!?!

K was building a snowman in our surprise, White Christmas snow. She made a lovely little guy.

Love the hat!

After she called it a day and came in for a long soak in the tub, Mr. Man decided the snowman was really number 11 in disguise. 30 minutes of cutting and taping and stapling later

K was quite pleased.

Happy New Year!

"You're not the ugly step sisters, you're the pretty step sisters."

It's spring concert time at K's school, and my sewing machine is smokin'! This year K will be one of the ugly stepsisters in "the Granny Awards." She and her friend S, fight to the death over a tiny plastic shoe, all whilst singing and keeping a straight face. The director told me K needs to fight a bit harder because the other step sister, her daughter, is a red head with two sisters at home. K is loving every minute, and is so proud of her bruises.

Her costume had to be ugly and K immediately thought of a long, yellow, flowered dress, made and worn by her great Grandmother in the 70's. She dug it out of Narnia, you know the deep, dark, back of her closet, and even after years of dress up, it was still in pretty good shape. It was way too long and way too big, but after a week of pinning and tucking and fussing, it turned out quite ugly.

Turns out, bows are the epitome of ugly. So we added a sash and two big orange bows, one on the back and one in her hair. The one on her back is stiffened with netting inside and held in place with thread and snaps. When her stepsister pulls on the right side, the snaps should let go and it should hang like it was torn in battle. I desperately want to crimp K's hair to make it just wild, but she won't let me. Please comment and tell her she should let me. :D

K's one requirement was sleeves. She has to fall down, roll around, and play tug of war, so they had to be puffy, cause puffy is ugly too, but really loose. So K designed them and I cut and sewed and ripped out, and then repeated a couple of times, before I got it right. I wanted to make one of the sleeves tear away, but I realized, stepsister has two sisters , it'll just happen.

The skirt was a little too narrow, and our first thought was to cut the center front and put in an orange pleated panel. We kept pinning and folding and just couldn't get it too look right, so we opened the back seam and hid another yard of fullness in a cream colored satin that wouldn't show too much. Looks much better, ugly, but not too ugly.

K's last requirement was a higher neck line, which I added in the orange material first and then ripped out and redid in the cream, the orange was a bit too much. It's higher, but open in the back, so she won't strangle, I hope.

And she'll be barefoot, so the footman can "try on the shoe" without actually touching her. Cause this is middle school, and that just ain't happenin' people. Touch a girls,...foot! Yuck! If we can only keep them thinking that way till college.

One that note, when the parts were announced, the boy next to her, who is already shaving, whispered, "You're not the ugly step sisters, you're the pretty step sisters." K was so giddy when she told me, and is not allowed to talk to that boy again,... cause he is shaving!

I'll post pics from the performance, if I can hold the camera steady. I've seen them rehearsing and it's a hoot!

It's A Pen Valentine! Seriously, it's a Pen!

K is Percy Jackson CRAZY! She's read all the books again and again, it's all she talked about for weeks. And as a true book lover, she hated the movie to the point of planning to write a "strongly worded letter" to the director and writers.

Her whole class has the fever. Her literature class has been studying Mythology for the last two quarters and they are all so interested, their teacher just keeps finding new stuff for them to do. Way to go Mrs. C!

So, not unexpectedly, K wanted Percy Jackson Valentine's. There were, of course, none to be found. So, she got on our (virus infested) PC and designed her own.

The class LOVED them! She said there were screams of "Riptide!" and they all tore the caps off to see if a sword would pop out. They are still tucked in the back pocket of many of her classmates and Riptide is the most popular pen in the class to this day.

How did she put the name on the pen? Address labels! Yup, she printed them and put them on and they looked great! The original file for the card is lost, eaten by a Trojan, but she may redesign it and if she does, I'll post it.

And she didn't fall to her death because...

...An adorable little girl attempting to carry her big string bass down steep stairs in a long skirt and dress shoes, induces directors of symphonies, sound men and random daddies to RUN!

This is what happened. K wanted to carry her bass everywhere during the concert, because she was told that students should take responsibility for their instruments and K is Miss Responsible. Seriously, it's her middle name. I told her that yes, she is responsible for practicing, cleaning, and packing her bass, music, stand, rosin,... but that her bass weights 25lbs in its case, 20 out of its case and no one expects her to carry it for more than 20 feet. No, she said she had to do it.


So, we arrive at dress rehearsal and everything goes fine. She's carrying her bass, and her bow and her music all over the place: down this long hall, up stairs, onto the stage, back down the stairs, back down this long hall. The sound man, who is a really nice guy, tried to help her, and we tried to help her, but no, she's got it. The sound guy joked about how he would be there to catch her just in case and we all laughed. Mr. man and I take our seats, in the middle of an aisle a few rows back.


So, it comes time for her group to play in the concert. The hall is quiet and she's carrying her bass up these steep stairs to the stage, and she bobbles,... and there's this resounding sound of expensive wood hitting hard floor, and she totters,... but there's a wall to lean on and she recovers. She makes it to her place and all is well.


Her group plays, they do a wonderful job, and we all clap. So, now she has to get back down those stairs. She tucks her music under her arm, hoists her bass and bow, takes a step, starts to teeter,... and the sound man and half the front row are out of their seats. The director of the youth symphony was the first to her aid, I think he started moving before we stopped clapping, so he grabbed her bass, and I believe the sound man held her hand on the stairs. One daddy just kinda took up a catch position.


Needless to say, we all learned something. K now understands that if the director of the symphony feels he needs to carry her bass, he can't possibly think she should carry it. And Mr. Man and I are going to sit in the front row and carry the bass up and down the stairs until she's at least 5 feet tall. Or 13, whichever comes first.

Concert number 2 is this Saturday, same stage, different orchestra. Prayers gratefully accepted.

"Mom, there's another bass player, and she's a GIRL!!!!"

K's concert went really well. She had a great time, played very well and looked lovely.

But best of all, she got to meet a another GIRL who plays bass! Yes, in the youth orchestra system there are somewhere around 200 kids, but only three bass players and two are girls! K was over the moon! The other girl is in high school, we have seen her playing the electric bass in the drum line at the local high school and she is so much like K it's astounding. I guess it takes that kinda girl to say, I want to play that big thing. Too cool!

Twirly!

K and I went shopping the other day and it was not fun. She is hard to fit and it is so frustrating for her. We just wanted to get her a skirt to wear to the Daddy Daughter Square Dance her school was sponsoring. We found a brown hoodie sweater she loves, but very few skirts and none that fit. She was especially fond of one denim skirt she found, but it was just too small. No problem, I can make that!


So she wanted a denim skirt, that would be twirly, but not too twirly, would not show her shorts underneath when she spun, and would be easy to sit in. This is what I came up with.



The skirt has 6 gores and 6 short godets, a side zipper and a bit of elastic at the back for ease. I pressed the godets, as requested, so you can only see them when she twirls!



You also can't see that I cut it too big, based on measurements from the summer, before she started to shoot up a bit, and I had to cut 4 inches out of the back gore. It looks a little funky, but she doesn't care, so neither do I.

She loved it and had a great time at the dance.

The New Boy.

K started school a few weeks ago. On back to school night she met the new boy in her class. She asked him his name and he said "He who shall not be named."

Hero!

She then asked him if he liked Harry Potter. He said "No, I hate that series."

Zero.

Hero to zero in less than 10 seconds.

TV reporters can't resist the cuteness!

Mr. Man and I took K and her friends E and T to a couple of HP premier parties last night. K went as Ginny, E as Hermione, and T as a death eater. They were really cute. (We saw Ginny's uniform at the HP exhibit and were very surprised to see how different her skirt is from Hermione's. It's very slim cut, one box pleat in the front, and belt loops. Very plain, no frills. Quite Ginny. I'll post pics and a how to, someday,... I know, I'm terrible about that.)


At the first party there were crafts, games, snacks, and raffles for prizes. E won a gift bag filled with goodies and they were asked to pose for a picture for the paper. The photographer said it might appear in the weekend section tomorrow. At the second party they followed the reporter from the news around until he interviewed them. (Seriously, they were stalking him.) We saw them on the news last night and it was cute. I even recorded it! Good thing, because I got no pictures! Plans changed at the last minute and I forgot my camera. Though T did take a few pic with his phone which I will have to bug out of him.

We're going to see the movie today! Can't wait!

We have been so busy lately! In a crafty sort of way!

We've been silent, but so, so busy lately. It's the end of the school year and K has had three performances already and one more to go. I just haven't had a moment to post, let alone breath or sleep.

The funniest thing we've made lately is a ball and chain. K had a costumed part in her schools Spring Concert, first time ever. She was a prisoner on a pirate ship, and she had two whole lines, with many words, and several minutes of acting and singing. And she had the tricky line, it went like this:

Stowaway: "No?!?"

Prisoners: "YES!"

Stowaway: "No?!?"

Prisoners: "YES!"

Stowaway: "No?!?"

Prisoners: "YES!"

Stowaway: "YES!?!?"

K: "No!"

Prisoners: "WHAT???"

K: Big Shrug

*Big laugh*

*proud mommy and daddy cheering*

Her performance went like clockwork, all the prisoners did a great job, and her teacher said she was fantastic!

K it turns out is a bit of a ham. And possibly slightly evil. She did a marvelous job of taunting the poor Stowaway, who I can never see without thinking of him as a tiny little 2ND grader dressed in jeans, white shirt, tie, scar, and robes at a costume contest. He was the best little Harry I've ever seen and played the part to perfection. K was Violet Incredible and he won first and she second prize. OK, I have to show a picture.

Too cute and she put together her own costume, from bits and pieces. Even made her own mask that magnetically clipped to the front of her glasses. Isn't she clever. Oh yes!

Anywho, naturally, as a prisoner, on a pirate ship, she needed a ball and chain. We checked Party City and the like, but alas, no ball and chains so, we made one. Fun foam strips, stapled into rings with the sharp bits covered with black Duck Tape for the chain and a small, slightly deflated playground ball covered with black fleece for the ball. Some torn strips of black cotton to tie it to her leg and there your have it, one Ball and Chain.

The chain was long enough that she could pick it up and carry it easily. The ball was not so light as to look bouncy, but not so heavy as to be cumbersome or hurt whomever she might want to hit with it. I understand a bit of that took place back stage. Overall, she loved it and it looked great.

And can't you just see the possibilities for the Half Blood Prince premiere. SQUEEEE!!!!

K can only play instruments bigger than she is.

K outgrew her first bass. It only took 6 months and I suspect it has more to do with future growth than anything. She moved up from an eighth to a quarter size and I can't stop laughing.

I love how you can only see her feet from the back. No, she can't carry it by herself. She's quite strong actually, but not that strong. Her father and I are full time roadies, transporting "Big Baby" with care to her many practices and lessons. I really don't mind, my upper body strength is now the best it's been in years.

She also plays piano. She can't carry that either.

That's my girl.

K's new favorite saying: She will admit that only most boys are stupid. The rest are pretty cool.

K and V were on TV!

K and her friend V attended the Deathly Hallows book release back in July 2007. They went as Padme and Hermione, respectively and they were so very cute.

One of the local TV stations was covering the event and arrived while we were standing in line outside, waiting to be sorted. I saw the reporter scanning the line and when he saw K and V he smiled, said something to his cameraman, and and headed right for them. He interviewed them for about 5 minutes and they ended up on the news as the lead story.

When asked if Harry would survive V very calmly said, "Of course, he's the boy who lived, not the boy who died."

Needless to say, they had a wonderful time.

Valentine's Day prep: Rock Candy!

We're getting a jump on Valentine's day by starting the treats K will hand out early. She loved the Rock Candy idea from February's Family Fun Magazine.

We decided to go with Kisses instead of peanut butter cups, cause we just thought they were cuter. And we used white yarn, instead of string, cause we had yarn.

We cut one piece of yarn about 14" and the other about 9", tied them together so the ends were even and used low temp hot glue to glue the Kisses to the ends. We didn't bother covering the kisses with foil, the Kisses looked fine without it. We taped the other end of the yarn to the top of one small side of the candy box. We had pink paper so we cut two strips, 4" by 8.5" from each sheet, and taped the paper to the candy box.

The print out Family Fun provided is great, but if you want to do more than one, or 30 as is our case, it's a bit wasteful. So I made a couple of sheets, one with 24 of the keypads and the other with 28 of the screens. We just print them on white paper, cut them out, and glued them in place. K is going to write her name on the back of the box and they'll be all done. The end result is really cute.

Have fun and Happy Valentine's Day!

My Lil' Mummy!

Took me a while to find this picture. Yes, mummies do come in multicolored wrappings.

K has actually stopped coughing!!!!!!

Party Time!!! Lamp Shades on Heads People!!!!

"Be the bass!"

K's practicing her bass in the living room, and I'm in the kitchen making dinner.

I hear "Mom, I can't see!"

I do not panic,... because I live with her,... everyday. I walk calmly to the living room and this is what I see....

I told her I thought her Halloween costume looked great.

After she extricated herself, I got the obligatory "Oh Mom," eyes and everything. I told her I'd be here till she's 18 and to remember to tip her waitress.

She looked at me like I was insane.

Coming from a kid wearing an imitating vinyl string bass case and gaucho pants. Please. Gaucho pants are so last year.