The Reals: The Toffs

Super Stylish couple and cutey-patootey lil' pups.

Cheeky at Home

Hello!  I am still lion crazy over here.  I know myself well enough to not close down my shop and start a whole new, lion-centered shop, but I love making them nonetheless.  I have started making hoops for other creatures, too, the more forest dwelling ones.  Last night, when I was picking up my husband from school, a baby bunny crossed the road.  It was such a sweet, tiny, vulnerable thing.  I hope it's still out there and not eaten up by an alligator.  I was a little confused to see it roaming around at night.  From what I remember from junior high, only vampire bunnies stay up that late (did anyone else read the Bunnicula books?).

My daughter has gotten really fast.  She is watched by a dear friend several hours every day, but during the other hours that she is here, I still need to work.  To work from home with a speedy baby who has no sense of her own fragility means sacrificing all sanity.  When I see her heading to danger (most of the time, the choking hazards of little dog food), I usually break out into song and dance to distract her enough so that I can outpace her to the danger zone and alter the surroundings.  She's such a rascal.

The weather is really beautiful down here in Louisiana.  It's gorgeous out, and breezy.  It's like this for a brief moment, and then the sun gets angry and tries to attack us.  Every Sunday, we've been spending time at New Orlean's City Park.  Last time we went there was a hula hooping event.  Hula Hoops every where, like being in a bowl of fruit loops.  Some people are very good at hula hooping.  I mean, very, very good.  Did you know that it is possible to hula hoop with your big toe?  People can do it!  The person I saw doing it was also super pregnant.  This world, and the people in it, are amazing, folks.

Cheeky at Home

I have been dreaming about these for a long time.  I finally set aside a couple of days to work on them.  It's a wonderful feeling getting something outside of your brain and into physical form.  Then, of course, once you start getting things out of your brain and through your hands, your brain explodes with more ideas.  Through work, comes ideas.  I am working hard to set time aside in my schedule to explore these ideas.  That means sometimes saying no when people ask for things sooner, which I feel weird about.  I like to say "Yes!", but I guess in a way I am saying "Yes!" to golden, majestic lions!  Somebody has to make the lions.  I put the white haired one in my shop, already.  You can find him here!

Aren't you proud of me for sticking to my goals?  I wanted to make some ready-made things in my shop, and now I have some ready to go.  The pattern, though?  Not quite.  When I do free aside some time, I want to make something new and unscheduled immediately.  The idea of writing out steps, and methodically documenting different stages of sewing drives me to chocolate.  And, it's lent, so I can't be putting myself on the path to chocolate.  This is where having a boss would come in handy, for me.  I need someone to drop the hammer, give me a good lecture about work ethic, and maybe whip out a written notice.  I need to be on notice.

In other news, Walter's Star Wars birthday party was fun.  I tried to hover around and lead some structured games, which the kids did enjoy, but I think their favorite part of the party was the time right before parents took them home, when they were in the yard just picking oranges off the tree and playfully pelting them at each other.  I love my boy.  He really does love Star Wars.  He knows more than I do.  I am pretty excited to take him to the next movie when it comes out in theaters in December (I think).  Maybe we'll really nerd it up and camp out in line for tickets to the midnight showing.  In costume!!

Cheeky at Home: My Weekly Post About Working From Home

     The past few weeks have been full of Strong Men, Ninjas, and Circus mobiles.  Sometimes they all seem to line up and I have to make a bunch of them at once.  It makes for a nice rhythm---working on these guys.  There's less thinking and sketching.  I can probably make them blind-folded.  I watched the entire Friends series on Netflix while working this past month.  Comedies have gotten so much better.  I usually take my lunch breaks with Michael Scott or Leslie Knope.  It takes me awhile before I feel Office and Parks burnout.
     For the past few weeks it has been Mardi Gras season.  You can't say this down here, I've noticed, but I have a love-hate relationship with Mardi Gras.  I love, love, love spectacle and celebration and joy on the street.  Love it. But, the throws: plastic beads, inflatable bananas, plastic swords.  The very best of the throws are like those things you try to get with a claw out of a vending machine.  They are thrown out of the floats in a constant stream.  It puts a funny feeling in my stomach.  All this junky junk that I wish didn't exist in the world being thrown out to eager hands.  Walter eats it up, he loves it.  Then we go home with bags full of the stuff.  If someone knocked on my door, asking me to buy all that stuff, I would pay him to keep it out of my house.   I wish the parade riders would pool all the throw money together and spend it on spectacle-type of things.  Take some flame throwing lessons! Buy some stilts!  Make giant puppets!
    Also, everyone gets a week off of school down here for Mardi Gras.  In a few weeks, they will have another week off for spring break.  There's a mid-western curmudgeon inside of me that wants to wag my finger at everyone and tell them to "Get to work!".
     My dislike of Mardi Gras was making me disappointed in myself.  That doesn't sound like me.  Who is this old, grumpy woman swatting beads away and spitting on King Cake (not really)?  I figured I was just seeing the wrong parades.  There are so many, you know?  So, we went to one in New Orleans.  It was called the Krewe of Chewbacchus, and it was everything I ever hoped for.  It's a greener parade, mainly walking, with some contraptions and bizarre, dressed-up bikes.  The throws are all handmade, my favorite being a crayon melted into the shape of Han Solo frozen in carbonite. It's sci-fy and fantasy-based.  So, within the Chewbacchus Krewe were sub-krewes of Star Trek, Unicorns, Ninjas.  It was amazing.  The costuuuuuumes, the spirit, the funk, the joy.  Andy Richter was there, triking by with little fanfare, and so was the guy who plays Chewbacca.  There was so much creative energy.  I loved it.  It made me want to call up Mardi Gras on the phone and give it a heart-felt apology for my attitude.  I'd love to join the Krewe.  I would make a sub-krewe of robots!
Anyway.  Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!!

The Reals: The Crains

 Look at these beauties.  If you're like me, you're wishin' you could have cut the rug with these two at their colorful wedding.  You just know the music selection was spot on!

The Reals: Ramos!

This family is so gorgeous!

The Reals: The Littles

Too much, too much.  This family is so cute they are too much!