13.

Good Morning Clay. Happy 13th Birthday!

Welcome.

Please welcome my most recent readers (that I know of.) My mom and dad! They are absolutely lovely and interesting people.



She's the shorter one here, with her hand on the dog.

Kaleidoscope Projector

Please excuse the cheesy instrumental music, unless of course you like watching Anime like I sometimes do and then it will just sound like a happy part of an Anime movie. This is what I want for Clay's ceilings. Just dreaming.

What sounds more fun is buying an old projector and rigging it up with something homemade to have the same affect. But I imagine that might be the kind of project that would get me in a certain situation. Like the time I tried to make a perpetual motion machine with marbles and knitting needles and other oddments. Well, I didn't know it was trying to take on such a difficult task. And that it was why it was extremely important that I met Marc before things got too haywire. When he asked what it was, I said,

"Oh, its a mobile, but I'm trying to rig it up so that it is always moving."

"You." he said, brow wobbling, "You're? Oh. You're really. You're really trying to break the third law of thermodynamics?" (Not said pompously but with compassion. And some shock. And quite a bit it of worry.)

"The third..." The...what?" I asked, thoroughly bewildered.

"Oh!" he said, "A perpetual motion machine. Its just, no ones ever done that before and not that you shouldn't try, but its just really difficult. You know, no one's ever..."

Sometimes certain people come into our lives that we really need. Like people who know about certain thermodynamic laws and how many there are and that when our perpetual motion machines don't work out we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves and that we shouldn't put dressers on top of heating vents and that when our tires go flat we should just pull over and not try to make it home first. Oh, sweet love!

Men at Work

Some little moments in Recess Duty

Frankie was shivering in his coat during recess duty so I put my sweater over him. It looked a little like a royal robe when he walked, especially with all the kids following him around as if he were the golden child. I think he works harder than I do on duty. See how tired, how windblown! (He wanted to pretend to drive for a minute before falling asleep instantly in his car seat.)

Things I love at recess duty:
-When kids tie each other's shoe laces.
-When boys fall down and roll around holding their arms with scrunched faces (they are trying to look like injured football players, I finally figured out.)
-The creative ways they find to tell on each other.
-One little boy spent his whole recess making a track out of pebbles for Frankie's train. Just, so pure and sweet really.

Frankie and I also found ourselves in lunch duty once a week. But its not too much, I like it. I do quite enjoy opening kid's pudding cups. That's my favorite part. It makes a little sound like, "fweeepsh." And Frankie gets to sit in a big chair and eat lunch beside his brother.

Christy Brown

SPOILER ALERT: From the movie, My Left Foot.


And that is why I and no one else should talk in front of my son as if he is not in the room. Because, we just never know, do we?

This still isn't what I had planned to post, but seems to be what is on my mind this morning. I saw this movie in the theater with my family before Clay was born and it is the first image that spread behind my eyes when his predicted future was laid out before me.

Even if Clay never writes my name is chalk, I think he still "deserves a jar." And I believe he has written my name in other ways. I hope I have sufficiently written his name as well.

New day, new craft: Tea Bag Ornaments

Several things, first, see why once again Indiana has grown on me over the years?

Secondly, here is my newest craft endeavor. A "tea bag" ornament. This is my first attempt. My Graphic Design professor would have called it a "prototype" or "a good start."


I was with my best craft friend in town on Thursday and she gave me spectacular suggestions and how to make these more unique. She is a craft purist and I adore her. She is always fresh from the spinning wheel and smells of lanolin.

Enjoy the day! It is cool and crisp here in Indiana. My boys are as wild and speedy as hummingbirds high on nectar.