Crafty withdrawls

My craft room is a mess (again), and I hate it! I seem to be one of those people who feel all out of whack if I'm not making something. It might not be good, but I made it myself, and there is something to that. I embroider now, which is tiding me over a bit, but I also enjoy my new found paper mache hobby, as well, and am dying to combine the two. I also enjoy my stamp carving, which I cannot do outside my craft room thanks to the mess I make doing it.

My craft room has become a "catch all" room, thanks to lack of storage in our house. I walk by daily, and just sigh. There is something new in there every single day! I have become overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in there, but I have got to get started. My Mom has asked me to do a project for her, and I'd like to be able to do it for her rather quickly. It isn't hard, nor will it take long, but I need to do it IN THERE!

I miss my craft room, darn it, and all the weird and wonderful things in it. It's my getaway. It's where I stash my Anime figures (we are weird enough without those being out in public), My Alfred Hitchcock Barbie (The Birds!), my kids wonderfully abstract art, and hopefully soon, a Coraline doll (sigh). I need to be in there at least once a day to help calm the waters.

So...starting tomorrow, I will begin the tedious, and time consuming task of cleaning it out (again). Yay! Wish me luck!!

Ballet Slippers and Diva-ish Behavior

My youngest, Moongazer, has been taking Ballet through our Home school group for about 6 months now, I think. She enjoys it, but it hasn't become her passion. She preferred to show me the stretches they do in class, than the actual moves! I think that might have all changed last night.

She had her first recital, and looooved it! She wasn't nervous, "Not one little bit," she said. She did a wonderful job for someone who refused to practice at home. I'm not kidding, either, she flat out refused! She remembered a lot more of the dance than I thought she would. We stayed backstage the whole time, since we had seen the performances two days before, at dress rehearsal. I wanted to take pictures backstage, and she liked watching from there. I really enjoy backstage, although, I think we might have been in the way some. We weren't the only ones, believe me!
She was absolutely gorgeous in her costume, and I'm not partial at all I tell ya. Her hair is thin and short, so it took me awhile to figure something out. Especially, since I'm not a big Girly-Girl, and have loathed doing my own hair since I was young. We had to fix it backstage thanks to the rain, but it actually turned in to a blessing. It looked so much better the second time around. And honestly, I'm secretly hoping that there will be more of these sorts of things to come. Whether it be ballet, or theatre, I loved getting her all dressed up. I think having a little girl is starting to bring out the inner girl in me, as well! And being backstage was so much fun. I have secretly had a dream to work on sets and things, but have been too scared to go through with it.

Although, it seems like the costume had some sort of effect on my sweet, darling, daughter. There was more than one instance (as you can tell by the first picture) of Diva behavior. Frowns, foot-stomping, the dreaded "tsk" noise, the whole thing. It was weird, I tell you!

The rest of the girls (and one boy) were wonderful, as well. I loved seeing them all dressed in their costumes, giggling nervously backstage with their classmates, and watching in quiet awe as their lovely teacher danced a solo. Standing there, surrounded by giggles, tulle, props, and my little munchkin glowing with excitement, I was in Heaven. And I think I might not have been the only one.

Poor Sadie

My lovely greyhound Diva is depressed. And it's our fault. We brought home another grey, and man was he a sweetie! Sadie had met him while staying at her former Foster Home while we went on vacation, and they got along sooo well! She was already teaching him bad habits, and loving it. My husband and I went back and forth about it, and finally took him home. We were having a wee bit of a money thing (stupid economy, stupid us), but we thought we would be able to manage. Well.....being a one-income, homeschooling household, money for adopting another dog wasn't really there. So, it was either Wylie, or the kids' education. We are really trying to keep them home, and they have to have books. I feel horrible. We are all upset, especially our youngest who had become very attached to Wylie. The adoption group was very sympathetic, and luckily, they were able to place him in his new Forever Home 3 days after we called them. I know that some people won't understand how we could have given him back. But, homeschooling is something that we are very commited to, and believe me, it was sooo hard to do it.

But, in the past few days, I've noticed that Sadie is sleeping a lot. Now, for most greyhounds, that is normal, but Sadie didn't race, and is a little more active than most greys. She sleeps or lays around, but she has been doing it longer, and more often than usual. And today, she doesn't even want to really go outside. I hope that this is just a mourning period, and that she will come out of it soon. I feel so horribly guilty when I look over and see her just laying there. I'm sorry, my poor, lovely Sadie. I really am.

School starts back when?!!!

I've been talking about the summer quite a bit lately. To my Mom, the hubby, other homeschool Moms....and the question inevitably comes up; "When are you guys going to start back?" My answer is always, "Oh, probably in July, maybe the middle. I want to have time off at Christmas and stuff." And we go on with whatever else we're doing.

Well, I just realized that July is only a month away. One Month!!! What?? When did that happen? Where did May go???!!!! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

I am FREAKING OUT!! We haven't bought the curriculum yet, I haven't made any plans.....I have nothing! And believe me, I am the most unorganized person on the face of the planet. I need time to figure out HOW to get organized, THEN do it. One of the biggest problems we ran into this past year, was the fact that I didn't plan out and organize our weekly work very well. It was a sort of "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of year, and it bit me in the butt. I don't want a repeat of that.

Soooo, it looks like my nights will be busy with curriculum research, books, forms, and "How To Organize Your Home" tips. Ah, Internet, I love you.