...chocolate air...

ding! ding! ding!

And we have a winner! Laeroport guessed the letter Q. You know, I like that little letter so dang much, I kind of assumed that it would be immediately guessed. I mean really... can any other letter compare? This image is a page from my sketchbook when I was a young teenager.

The funny thing? I apparently never mentioned it to ANYONE. Just a private love... but now you know. I first started liking it when I was about seven, and if any of you recognize the little Q in the upper left-hand corner of my sketch, you'll know that it all started with Ramona Quimby and her kitty Q.

I'll get to work on your little package, Lori! Thanks for playing, guys.

girlie crafts.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K L  M  N  O  P  Q  R S T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Still no winner in my quirky letter contest (just guess my favorite letter of the alphabet, and I'll send you a fun prize), so the game continues! I'll keep a running tab here of the alphabet... I'll mark out what's been guessed. Just hit the comments button, and give it a try...

I'm in full craft mode again. I'm participating in Mommycoddle's Miniswap, and I have birthdays coming up, too... so I've been working on gifts. So fun! I am loving getting to do some girlie stuff, and I'm excited that some of my never-tried-before sewing endeavors are turning out pretty well. I want to share, but until the gifts are given, you'll have to settle for some work-in-progress photos.

Don't you love the fabrics? The first is from a couple of thrifted wool and tweed blazers, and the second has a couple of flannels I picked up at Joann's for $1/yd the day after Thanksgiving. They were calling out for a little girl project.

Oh, and I finally printed out Hillary's wonderful magnetic paper dolls! They make me oh-so-happy. Zachy likes to change her outfit once or twice a day, but he doesn't really play with them. But that's totally okay, because the real purpose of them is to make my fridge look adorable. And that's all.

quirky.

I've been tagged by Kirsten to list 6 weird things about myself. I actually asked Mike that question in an email around the time we started dating... "What are the weird little things about you?" He asked for examples of what I meant, because, as he said, "This could be a dangerous question for me to misinterpret and answer..." Haha!

But I am seriously having a hard time thinking of what to put. Am I really that boring?! Hmmmm... on with the list:

1. I've eaten buffalo hoof candy. Yeah, you read that right. It was involuntary, believe me. I had only been in Brazil a short time when someone gave me a piece. I was in the middle of eating the dang thing when the translation sunk in. Then I got to go into the kitchen to help whip up the next batch... and there were the hooves, boiling away on the stove. Ugh, gag me.

2. I have a thing about the scent of books. Most of them just smell like paper or whatever, and that's fine... I just go back to reading those normal. A few stink, and that makes it difficult for me to read them. But a select few just smell right, like old children's library books or something. And oh, man... I love those. I actually went on an all-out search online for a book I'd read as a child, because I remembered that smell in connection with it. And when I finally got it? A disappointment. Just a regular book, without the nostalgia.

3. Umm... I totally can't type. I quit typing class after a few days because I couldn't stand the noise. So now? Two fingers pecking at the keys, and continual use of the backspace...

4. I saw only one scene from the movie Roots when I was about ten. But that was enough... for the next ten years, I couldn't sleep with my feet uncovered or hanging off the end of the bed, for fear that my toes would somehow be chopped off. I knew it was irrational, but... you know. I'm pretty much over that one.

5. I've never had an argument with my husband. (I'm told that that's weird.) I chalk that up to his incredible patience and good nature.

6. I have a letter of the alphabet that's been my absolute favorite since I was maybe seven years old. Really, really love it. The first person who comments to this post and correctly guesses the letter will get a fun little package from me. Care to make a guess? Go on... you know you want to...

Tag! You're it!

Angela

Moki

Raesha

Renae... yes, this means you have to update your blog...

over my head.

Yet again. If you see some weird, apparently unfinished things going on here on my blog (like the "our favorites" section on the right side) over the next few days and weeks, please just be patient. I'm making a stab at figuring out the whole html thing so I can add some cool new things here. I'd like to add pages with links and happy things, but this will unfortunately require a few headaches on my part as I try to learn to write code... eeeeek!!

But hey... I did manage to figure out a couple of things! My children's books section is nice and neat, albeit extraordinarily short at the moment. And well, that's more than I thought I could manage!

just to say...

I love this face.

And I love this man.

art.

Now I have to say... THIS is making me so happy. Some of the most original creations I've seen, amazingly crafted... and they combine literature and art. What could be better? I wish there were more.

Oh, wait... something similar from another amazing paper artist.

Wow. Wow. And double wow.

partner.

So the other day Zach and I were in the kitchen. Mike came in and talked to me for about thirty seconds while Zach just observed us. When Mike headed back downstairs, this was the conversation that ensued:

Z: "I need a partner, Mommy."

Me: "You need a partner?"

Z: "Yeah. There's you and Daddy, and then there's me... I don't have a partner."

And then he adds, in a plaintive little voice... "I need someone to talk to ME." Break my heart. I pointed out that I talk with him most of the day, and offered to talk with him more. He seemed unimpressed, as I knew he would be.

Because I knew immediately what he meant. He doesn't want just anyone... he wants a partner. A little person. An equal. A child. A sibling.

Mike and I are well aware of our own desire to have another child, and I knew Zachary would like having one, too... but I never realized that he was longing for one the same way that we were.

The good news? Our adoption paperwork should be turned in within the next month. It's been a long time coming, and it's time.

(And don't worry, kiddo... when we do get to bring your little partner home, I'll try hard to share her.)

literate.

A cat sat on a hat.

A dog sat on a cat.

A hat is on a dog.

A duck is not a cat.

Is Zach a cat?

Mark is not a duck.

I sat on a duck.

What do these little sentences have to do with anything? Zachy read them!!  Last night I showed him how to spell some words, using a combination of repeating the letters aloud while doing the fingerspelling, and then letting him create the words on the fridge with his magnetic letters. Then I formed sentences with the magnetic letters... and suddenly my baby was reading.

Now for a bibliophile like myself, this is big news. I am so excited about his new words, his new ability to piece it all together. Zach is just taking it all in stride. "Zachy, you can read!!!! You're a reader! That's so great... gimme five!"

"Yup, I can read."