What There's Time For

Four Minutes

I was thinking I wasn't even going to post at all today, but then I read Peter's post at Male Pattern Boldness, which so perfectly articulates how I felt about the one episode of Mad Men that I ever watched that it made me think about how I still haven't put a list of links in my sidebar, and then I thought, "That's what I'll do for the blog today!"

But then Mr. Pants started kicking his sister so the TV got turned off and then had to be unplugged because guess who knows all the ways to turn the TV on?  And then there was rage and crying and then he hit me, so now there is a timeout on the porch (Shmoogie is way too involved in his time outs otherwise) and timeouts last four minutes, so that's exactly how much time I have to tell you that I liked Peter's post and if you wonder about why I didn't like Mad Men (not that you should care) or maybe wonder what it is YOU don't really like about it (unless, of course, you did, which I can totally understand), maybe give it a read.

And I will apparently be spending the rest of my evening explaining why I can't just "try" to make macaroni and cheese "without the ingredients."  Hope you have your own exciting plans.  :)

***

In the end, this post took slightly more than 4 minutes, btw.

Arggg!

It's a gorgeous day and we had a really nice morning with some art friends who have grown-up kids and therefore think my little ones are just adorable, which is awesome in and of itself, but especially awesome when the older one decides to be a charming gentleman and studiously paint with watercolors for half an hour at the table with all the adults.

Wish I had a picture of that, but I was plodding away on the computer creating pages and links and stuff to complete the sprucing up of this site.

Also wish I had a picture of Shmoogie standing on the end table, which is how I learned that she can now (a) climb onto the couch without help and (b) climb from the couch to the end table... without help.  Guess who's responsible for teaching her that one.  Just guess.

Hint:  Same one is responsible for waking her up early this morning to "play".

Anyway, I wanted to finish the bloggy improvements today, but I'm having technical difficulties that are seriously pissing me off, so time to walk away from the computer and enjoy the sunshine (from inside, while making dinner).

Happy Friday!

 P.S. So, I got through the worst of it.  Notice there's a "shop" over there on the right now?  But I have a trouble ticket in to Typepad about the hideous grey border around everything.  Blah.  Not my bug, at least.  

P.P.S. Actually, I think I prefer my bugs.  I can fix my bugs.

P.P.P.S.  Or maybe the best kind of bug is a bug that fixes itself.  I can't explain it, but there it is.

Every Day

At the breakfast table this morning, Mr. Pants looked at me and asked with true curiosity, "Do you like me every day?"

"Yes," I said, with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," he said, suddenly quite nonchalant, "I like you every day, too."

***

And I like you, dear readers, every day.  Especially yesterday, because you made me feel just great, which helps slightly reduce the terror factor while I wait.  :)

New banner and blog layout today, for those who are reading via RSS and might not know.  :)

For My Biggest Fan...

Obviously, that would be my mom.  To wit - in talking with her on Christmas Day, she expressed concern that "something might be wrong with the comment thingy on your blog" because no one else had commented on my last few posts.  I tried to explain that, probably, most people were busy doing things other than reading my blog on Christmas Eve and Christmas.  (I forgive you all, really.)

Anyway, Mom has also been bugging me to get this blog in some "more permanent form" so that it doesn't all get lost somehow, which is kind of paranoid, but also kind of reasonable, really.

I hunted around a bit and fiddled with a few services.  In the end, I used Blog2Print's file service - I entered the date range I wanted (everything from 2009; I started blogging in August) and manually knocked out one or two duplicate posts, then bought the resulting PDF from them as a download.

The book is so thick because (1) I didn't want to use the "space-saving" feature that changes where your pictures appear, (2) I did want to include comments (there aren't soooo many of them), and (3) I only printed on one side of the paper, partly because I didn't want to deal with double-sided printing and partly because my paper wasn't very thick and I didn't want the pictures to bleed through.

The printing took a looooong time.  And used a LOT of ink (this would be the time-sensitive project I was kind of in the middle of when we discovered that printer companies won't let you use European-bought ink in your North American-bought printer; there was barely enough for the pages and none left over for an iron-on picture and title for the cover, which is what I had planned).  Despite the ink expense, it was still a much better deal than any of the purchase-a-finished-book options.

There was some patience involved.

And some brawn.  (Not shown - my hands sore after pulling the stitches as tight as I could get them, the blood welling up from a forceful needle stab to the finger-tip, and the almost-callouses from trying to grip the needle hard enough to pull it through each hole twice - I think I ended up grabbing with a thick rubber band between my fingers.)

It is not a classic handsewn binding, since the pages are all separate sheets and the stitching is visible on the outside cover.  (I had neither the 11X13" paper nor the knowledge of printer dark arts needed to get the pages to print in exactly the proper mixed-up order, side by side.)  But it works.

Quite well, actually.

And as long as I keep blogging, I'll never have to worry about gift ideas for Mom.  :)

Christmas G(ift)uest Post

This Christmas, Santa brought What There's Time For an internet domain of its own....

www.whattherestimefor.com

Someone even learned from past experience and decided to hold off sharing details about Mommy's gift with Mr. WhatsASecretPants.

With a bit of tinkering we even got things working so the blog appears in cyber space where it ought now to be!

Eventually though the very determined web service provider's dozenth or so email slipped past the defenses and provided a bit of unwanted advanced notice of Santa's intended surprise. 

Meanwhile, Mr. WhatsASecretPants is very happy to help arrange our collection of alphabet tiles, a game we have played several time now since someone sought assistance describing this blog

Here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and hoping, no matter how near or far we may be, you will continue making time to join us for tales of this continuing adventure in 2011!

Sincerely, Mr. Right

Defies Description

This is the half-sandwich that is waiting for Mr. MeanyPants when he gets home today.  It's the half-sandwich I made for him this morning after he ate his first sandwich (that's what he wanted for breakfast) and asked for another one.  Which he took to his seat at the table and then left there while he wandered off to do more important things, like see how hard he would have to press down on his baby sister's hand before she would start to cry.

The fact that the resulting timeout lasted long enough that the "leave for school" alarm went off, meaning chance to eat sandwich = over, gave me some satisfaction, I'll admit.  He wailed, of course.  Wailed and wailed and wailed.  Drama on the scale of, say, a Blue whale.  Or at least an especially wide-waled corduroy.  (Forgive me.  Couldn't help it.)

"I'M HUNGRY!  I WANT TO EAT MY SANDWICH!!!  BUT I'M STILL HUNGRY!!!!  GIVE ME BACK MY SAAAANDWICH!!!!!!!!!!"

Eventually, presented with enough rounds of, "I can't hear you when you talk like that," and already at the car (far away from the sandwich), he hauled himself back from the emotional brink, dramatically wiping the tears down his cheeks with both hands, patting them dry on his chest and holding his arms out at his sides in a perfect plea-stance to say almost reasonably, "But I need my sandwich.  See?  I'm not growing!"

I gave him a hug and told him that hugs help us grow, too.  I felt like a really excellent mother at that moment.  And then we went to school.

***

As has been pointed out, this blog is perhaps a bit overdue for one of those official summary things blogs usually have, a hi!-thanks-for-visiting!-if-you're-new-here,-would-you-like-a-clue-to-what-this-is-about? kind of thing.  Which is a lot harder to write than you might think, mostly because of the oh-God-I-sound-like-the-most-annoying-person-on-earth factor.  I figure that can be avoided by sticking with the facts:

What There's Time For chronicles the life of an expat stay-at-home mom-of-two who knits and sews in her spare time.  (Let's call this one "Dry".)

But that's really boring.  Isn't it?  I mean, would you hang around to seriously check out that blog?  So, I thought, maybe just go with it, actually try to sound like the most annoying person on earth!  Just to get the creative juices flowing, you know?

Come along with me as I share my creative endeavors with fabric and fiber, laugh-out-loud stories about my two adorable kids, and inspiring musings on society, history, religion, and the best tools for washing the dishes!  ("Wince")

And the opposite kind of annoying person...

I'm snatching at scraps of time in my day to have some semblance of a hobby while also keeping my family clothed, fed, and housed in a reasonably hygienic manner.  Blogging about it all helps me stay motivated, or at least partially sane.  ("Mildly Depressed")

Or maybe that was really the opposite of this:

I'm stitching my scraps of time together to stay creative and happy while raising two small children!  I'm thrilled to have you join me!  (I could dot the i's with little hearts in that one, don't you think?  We'll call it "Cute and Peppy")

Which is clearly cousin to this:

Thanks for visiting my little home on the web!  I hope to make you laugh and inspire you to be your most creative and happy self as a stay-at-home-mom!  ("Inspirational")

Help me out here, dear readers.  I know you are a smart and thoughtful bunch who have quite the way with words.  Plus, I feel it's easier to write this kind of thing if you're not talking about yourself.  HELP!

I do think I'm pretty happy with the tag-line I've come up with for the banner, though (we'll see when I find the time to add it...):

blogging, knitting, exploring, cooking, wondering, cleaning, mothering, sewing, exploring...

    and squeezing 60 minutes out of every hour...

        day after day after day...  

That's maybe kind of annoying, but also kind of humorous, so.

Click Here!

I'm still under this rock of a cold (and so is Mr. IckyCoughPants), plus we're trying to show DiDi and PaPa at least a bit of a fun time while they're here (today?  IKEA!  Woo-hoooooo!)...

Point is, I'm going to curl up on the couch with the new mitten cuff I just cast on (at least until Shmoogie wakes up for a nightcap) instead of trying to get my foggy brain to write you a proper blog post.

Lucky timing, though, because I have a guest post over at Frugal Mama today!  I feel really honored to have been invited; my friend Amy clearly puts a lot of thought and effort into every one of her posts and I tried hard to meet her standards!  Cloth diapers are the main 'mama' thing I feel I can give any 'frugal' advice about (even if there've been quite a few disposables in our lives) and I hope you enjoy reading it.  :)

If you've clicked over from Frugal Mama, Welcome!

In other news, I keep forgetting to tell you the circus-themed aprons are up for viewing at Tie One On, so check those out, too!  I did finally wrestle GIMP to the ground, fabric has been ordered, and there's a decent chance I'll manage an apron for the "Apple Cider" theme before the deadline...  Stay tuned!

Woo Hoo!!!

 Look at that there custom banner!!!  Bet you weren't even sure this was the right blog, eh?

I've been wanting to do a custom banner for a long time, but I hadn't had a really great idea for one and to have one at all required upgrading my Typepad account and that costs money (not lots, but if I didn't have an idea, anyway, why bother?) and I hadn't found time to figure out how to actually get a custom image up there anyway (I am not unversed in computer code and yet I found the experience not simple).

Then, last night I had a flash of inspiration and completely raided DS's Duplos and... there we are.  The banner is my (and DH's) best attempt so far, not the best imaginable rendition of my creative masterpiece, but one that would fit in the banner space and be basically legible.  I'll try to see if I can improve the resolution soon.

Here's a failed attempt at a naturalistic setting (I did eventually get them all to stand up, long enough for a real picture, but the green grass was too busy a background, anyway):

And a detail of my favorite bit of cleverness (that blue crane arm has long been DS's very favorite piece of Duplo):

Even though I got things to stand up in the grass, it was all a bit topsy-turvy, which combined with the low-contrast went a little too far in the hard-to-read direction...

But adorable, right?  Right??  I'm sure someone's had this idea before.  (I'll google it in a sec...)