a celebratory give-away!

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recently theshop made it to (& past) its 100th sale! i had hoped to make something special for you, but there isn't enough time in a day right now. instead i'm offering one mini mushroom set to one lucky reader. these sets will only be around for a short time, as my supplier no longer makes the tall button. i know, it's my favorite one too. i will have sets of three for sale, until i find a fourth size i like. ok, enough babbling!

for one entry: leave a comment.
for a second: become a NEW fan on facebook, & leave a comment that you did.
for another: become a NEW follower on twitter, & leave a comment that you did.
and more: follow this blog, subscribe to the feed, blog about it, fb, tweet, etc - you get the picture.
ooh!!!!!!! another: send me a convo with the link showing that you'd bought from my shop, then leave a comment that you did!!! (i just came up with this one off the top of my head, hence all the exclamation points.)

this give-away will close next friday, the 17th, when i remember to get online, pst. ok, get commenting, & good luck!

~peace.
ps, i hope you win. shh. don't tell the others.

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we went to my favorite tearoom last week, to celebrate our 20th anniversary. elfling wasn't impressed by the scones, as you can see by the above photo.

twenty years! i shared our story nearly three years ago. of course, since then we have added another princeling to the faery tale. yep, we have an heir & a spare! i hope you enjoy our story.

~peace.

we partied,

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& the wee partied. now we (& the wee) are ever so sleepy. i have only this fuzzy picture of the second cake to share with you. of course i said second, one cake is nver enough. have a lovely one, do :)

~peace.

royal proclamations!

maeve popped by to tell you that:

a) there are a few valentiney things in theshop now, with more to come asap! there shall even be things if your valentines happen to be of the children variety.

~also~

2) i am working on a give-away for one oh-so-lucky reader. in honor of the teeniest boy hitting the 6th month mark yesterday, & the bigger boy's upcoming 12th (gasp!) birthday; i am sewing a special something just for you! pop back here tomorrow to enter. (if you share my swiss cheese memory, you can sign up to receive posts in your email. that way you won't miss a thing.)

i love giving you prezzies. see you on the morrow!

~peace.

showered with love

a handful of friends got together to throw us the most amazing baby shower! they transformed our backyard: tables covered in linen cloths, beneath 2 white shade structures on the lawn, another shade structure on our brick patio, covering more tables piled high with fabulous food!

i was in a bit of a daze the entire time, so never once thought to get out the camera. i wish i had photos to share - of the food, if nothing else! fruit, crudites, salads, crackers, goat cheeses, hummus & pita slices, cakes, & oh the bbq! the array of grilled veggies makes me drool just thinking about them.



i cannot explain how it felt - sitting there, surrounded by families who mean so much to us, & knowing they all came to celebrate our coming bebe.

to the mamas who worked so hard to do this for us - we shall never be able to find the words to express our gratitude. you truly are amazing friends.

to the families who spent the afternoon showering us with love - we are blessed to have you in our lives.

to those who were too far away to attend - you were very much missed.

ok enough mush for one afternoon. i'm off to sort through fabric bins.
~peace.

tea for me

last night i was treated like a princess! the dragonfly artisans took me to a tea room, to celebrate my upcoming bebe. i had neither blessingway, nor shower for thehobbit, so was giddy with delight at being pampered so.



they gave me poetry, prezzies, & beautiful beads (to create a birthing necklace); followed by a scrumptious supper.

i had a spinach/artichoke pie with chips. the pie was amazing - i salivate each time i think about it.

if you're ever in santa monica, you really must go to there for supper (i haven't been for tea). not only is the food outstanding, the owner & her son were delightful. btw: oddsox is a brit, & was thrilled by the food; so i imagine it was proper british fare. i wouldn't know, as i only play a brit on tv ;-)

what did i ever do to deserve such loving friends?

~peace.

the hotlink button isn't working at this moment, so look on the left side-bar to visit oddsox' site

who really needs that many candles?

tomorrow is my birthday, & i'm thinking it well past time to drop down to the one wishing candle on the cake. i don't want to risk a cake cave-in, nor do i want that many bees working on my behalf.

as i was make-believe shopping for myself on etsy, i came across this fabulous birthday card!

photo :: property of earmark

now i don't get upset about my birthday; in fact i celebrate it the majority of february; however that card is just the perfect amount of sassy for me. i poked around her shop a bit, & found other fun things - her sassy versions of the keep calm poster crack me up, but i still want the original.

i'm not doing anything huge to celebrate my day. tomorrow is also the unofficial homeschool day at disneyland, so we'll spend the first half of the day there. in addition to being around hundreds of homeschoolers, we'll get to see friends who moved away a few years ago. we're very excited about that! we shall leave disney early, because manlyman has to work, & i want to spend as much of my birthday with him as i can. i'm mushy that way :-)

that's all the chatting i've time for today, but before i go here is a royal birthday proclamation: tomorrow you all must celebrate along with me! you must dress in your fancies, & have more cake than is wise. the flavor is up to you :-)

~peace.

today...

i celebrate manlyman's birthday by coming down with food poisoning. that's right - i dare to be different. i march to the beat of my own drummer. i take the path less travelled.

i wish you the happiest of birthdays my beautiful husband! i love you from here, to the moon, & back again.... if you need me, i'll be in the bathroom

~peace.

calling all embroiderers!

is that even a word? i'm sure it is, but it really does not look like it should be.

do you have a favorite embroidery site? know where all the cool patterns hang out? how about tutorials? please! send them my way. i would like to expand my repertoire beyond 3 stitches.

i've already found the tutorials over at the purl bee, as well as the fun collection of patterns at sublime stitching. look at their cute little camping trailer!

image :: property of sublime stitching

any patterns you adore would be welcome. i like seeing what others are into. i am interested in the following:

elizabethan, medieval, retro, herbals, alphabets, dark (skulls etc,) fantasy (as in gnomes, not naughty,) nature, & scroll/curls/whatisthewordi'mlookingfor.

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** blogger is messing with my spaces again **

last night we had a special tu-wednesday craft in honor of paper's upcoming birthday. everyone lavished her with prezzies - well most everyone. a certain person; who may or may not be me; has yet to finish sewing hers. there was also a decadent chocolate cake, & absinthe. it was my first taste of the previously forbidden drink. who knew something so beautiful would be that strong? i can now breathe fire.

***

that's all the babble for today. i'm off to paint birthday cards with thehobbit - for a certain gorgeous man's birthday.

go have a slice of cake (after you send me your embroidery sites please.)

~peace.

happy mama's day!

may all the mamas have health, love, happiness, safety, and peace.

photo :: property of zakkalife.blogspot.com

~peace.

'twas a wonderous day indeed!

ah sweet reader, i cannot but tell thee what fun was had... & i'm done. i am sorry. i know i threatened promised today's post would be in elizabethan, but i am so tired that i may in fact already be asleep. you're stuck with 21st century kat.

the faire was great fun, & thehobbit is still talking about it. mostly he's been talking about the treasures he found. he always finds neat things that others have lost. this faire thehobbit came away with a silver ring, a brass bell, a nickle, & a dime.

today i went to a fancy, birthday brunch, whilst manlyman wrangled thehobbit, & minipaper. it was so lovely to sit in a nice restaurant, dressed in kid-unfriendly clothing, & play grownieup. happily, the knitting bag i spoke about here, was much loved by the birthday girl. she's going to loan the bag to me, so i can photograph it for you, & make a pattern. leave it to me to forget to do both before wrapping it.

speaking of patterns: i'm happy to say i finally made a fabric version of my birthday crown. when thehobbit turned 6mos i made him a paper crown to wear - then every year after that on his birthday. the last few years i've been saying i should just make a fabric one, & today i finally did.
i finished it just as he was getting tucked into bed; so i tied it on, & went in to show him. he loved the crown! yay! i need to figure out an easier way to line it, so i can quickly sew a bunch to sell at the may fair. photos soon... i promise!

that's all the babble i have for today. i need to get some research done for an article i'm writing. or! i could poke about blogland.....
~peace.

sunday, lovely sunday

poor today. today is not getting any love around here. today we are rushing about, trying to get ready for tomorrow, as well as squeezing in all the to-dos i ran out of time for yesterday. why do i love sunday? let me count the ways...

1 - tomorrow is the big 4-0 for oddsox! joyeux anniversaire mon amie! see you at the faire :-)

2 - on the morrow we hie to the renaissance faire.

3 - manlyman got the day off work to go to the faire with us... huzzah!

4 - tomorrow's moon shall be full. thehobbit loves putting out treats for the faeries at the full moon. let's hope i don't forget. again.

i hope your weekend is a lovely one. see you on monday.
~peace, kat

she's getting mushy again

tomorrow is one of my 'versaries! manlyman is taking me to paris to celebrate. at least i'm pretty sure he is. each time i ask him what he'd like to do, he replies, "i don't know." i'm not falling for his ruse. i know that he knows that i'd like to sail to paris, so i'm certain that is what he's planned. i should start packing. or! perhaps; because he's made no mention of suitcases; he's also planning on buying me a new wardrobe once there! that must be it. ahhh... just think of it: this time tomorrow i shall be on a ship bound for france. the honeymoon we would have had all those years ago had we not been broke struggling artists. ooh la la!

my present to him shall be magic. i am going to take the filthy sty in which we live, & turn it into a home that is clean. mountains of things blocking pathways - poof! things everywhere to trip over - poof! piles of clean & dirty laundry becoming one - poof! poof! poof! once i dig thehobbit out of his playroom, & locate my wand.

so you see i have manlyman on the brain today. 18 years together, 16 years married, & 9 years publicly wedded, & still he makes my heart go pitter-pat. to my lover, my split-apart, my raison d'etre, my wonder twin, my husband: you have stolen my heart, & brought me more joy than even i could have imagined possible. i am happy that you are mine. & you are mine. aaaall mine. i have a legally binding piece of paper to prove it. that's right my gorgeous man - i own you.

our song
our other song (to which i later walked down the aisle.)
~peace.

my feet fell off.

firstly: thank you for the birthday wishes, & the de-lurking! it was lovely! as to those who stayed hidden & quiet? we are not amused.

why am i footless you ask? yesterday we went to san diego, & walked, walked, walked, walked. ate a little greek food, walked, walked walked. sat for a bit in the gaslight district, then walked, walked, & ended the day walking a bit more. i do think that we could have walked from los angeles, to san diego... & still not walked as much as we did in those 5 hours.
& so my feet fell off in the night. i shall miss shoes.

the train ride was all that we hoped it would be! the kids had run of an entire car, & made every inch of it count. thehobbit & minipaper carved a little bit of the car for themselves, turning their seats into a hidden fort. it was very sweet, & one day i hope to stop imagining the zillions of feet germs they were soaking up down there. ew.

the day was beautiful! sunny, & warm, nice ocean breeze... mmmm. as much as i stopped enjoying the walking a few hours in; i loved seeing the buildings - late 1800s through the 1920s. i joked that i took more photos of the architectural details than of my family. it turns out that i did just that! sorry loved ones.

that's all for today. i'm utterly exhausted. thank you to all who made yesterday such a wonderful birthday! especially you... my manlyman... how i do love you so.
~peace.

to to, or not to to...

today is going to be too busy! i had no idea that ditching my to-dos yesterday; to spend the afternoon at disneyland; would mean that i'd have to still to-do those things today. today's to-dos too. simply too much to do today. all i've to do today is making me looking toward tonight. or tomorrow even. heehee. too, too funny.

all silliness aside, my to-do list is long... which means i'd rather be sewing. i have to clean the kitchen, print labels, ready bags for an auction, read/play/create with thehobbit (who just walked past with a box on his head,) & get everything ready for tomorrow's trip. & i must weed the front lawn... the city keeps sending us notices about the weeds. but we love dandelions! the tall, thin stems, topped with those sweet, yellow flowers - it's why we named our home dandelion cottage. i don't want to weed.

tomorrow we are going with other homeschoolers to san diego. on the train! it shall be thehobbit's first train ride!! most importantly... tomorrow is to be my birthday! oh how i love my birthday! birthweek is great fun, but my actual day of birth has always filled me with great joy. & i get to point out all day how it is my birthday, therefore all about me. me. me!

i have decided what your prezzie to me shall be. i want you to de-lurk! i know you are there, you've told me so. i expect comments from here on out. daily. & no more of this anonymous business please, this is not a secret society. be loud & proud! thehobbit just came in with his jumprope to jump for me... jump! jump! "i know i'm not allowed to jumprope in the house mama, but look at me jump!" jump! jump.! ???

i'm off to to-do! remember.. post!
~peace.

9 years, 12 months,

& 1 day!!! yesterday my sweet hobbit turned 10!

my plan was to have a nice, quiet, family day... get some of thehobbit's kitchen done, eat delicious food, be mellow, & silly together. manlyman had something else in mind.
he decided that 10 was just too big to be treated as any other birthday. so my amazing husband sold some golf bags & clubs, & used the money to take us to disneyland! no, not just for the day... he bought annual passes, so we can celebrate all of 10!! i doubt i need tell you how thrilled thehobbit was.

because we knew we had all year; & because i was still sick; we went on only a handful of rides, played quite a bit on main street, & saw a few shows. we lingered everywhere we went. it was truly a magical day.

day 5 :: celebrate my child

so what does one do the day after such a momentous occasion? if one is me, one is sick. i knew i should have asked that we go another time, but i just could not do it. there is something magical about your actual day of birth; most especially for children. besides, i had spent all of tuesday resting. apparently i should have done the same all of wednesday, or at least not spent it walking about, well into the very cold eve. today i am simply miserable.

to make things worse, i had to postpone his birthday tea party, & family dinner. :-(
i'm too sick, & just haven't the strength to do all that i would need to for either, let alone for both.

all three of us took photos at disneyland, so i shall look through them, & choose some to share with you (when i'm feeling back to normal.) time for more hot tea & honey.
~peace.