The Fabricated Goddess

I Have....

Purses for sale, oh internets people!

I'm working on photos, but I am lame at working my camera.  I really need to take a course of some kind this summer and actually learn what I'm supposed to do with it.  Unlike other things I've been able to teach myself, apparently photography is a learned skill.  Who know?

Green and Pink Pistachio handbag - SOLD!

Dark Grey and Vintage Yo-Yo shoulder bag - $35

Camo and Floral Vintage Button messenger - $35

More to come!

Or, You Know....

A really great new hair-do also helps with the funk.

Little Things....

The last few weeks have been hard.  I could give you a hundred reasons why, but I won't.  Suffice it to say that one thing is certain, I had settled into my nice hidey hole of grump all this week - slowly pulling myself out, at best.  Yesterday I woke up determined to not allow the grump to last any longer.  I purposed instead to be thankful for the little things.  So, I went for a run in a misty lovely cool rain and was thankful for feeling very alive.  I went to the sauna and was thankful for sweat - yes, sweat - envisioning each drop a purging of my little gripes.  I visited a friend who is in the midst of a rather nasty bout of postpartum depression and was thankful for my own struggle with PPD - chiefly that mine is behind me but also, that I can so well remember how it felt to be in that deep dark place.  Nothing, and I do mean nothing, helps you find perspective like stark contrast.  My little grump was no match for the full-on depth and breadth of postpartum depression.  

Late afternoon brought a delicious nap and the happy surprise of folding laundry while watching a little Jane Austen that just happened to be on (James McAvoy, swoon) accompanied by a very rare thunderstorm to perfectly match my bittersweet mood.  As, I perused my freshly rained upon garden with a wee glass of wine, in the post storm sun, smelling that glorious rainy smell I found a fully intact robin's egg in my front flower bed.   Of all things! 

Exquisite.

Little things that were miraculous.  

Goodbye grump.

-10 And Counting....

I hear people say all the time (usually when I'm complaining about being cold and isn't this damned winter over yet already??) that they sure are glad to live in Canada where there are 4 seasons.   And, you know, I hear that, I do, but I'd settle for two - summer and fall.   This fourth distinct season of trapped in an icy hell is not working for me.  I want heat!  I haven't been truly warm in two months.  Of course, being house bound with 3 sick people for the last week hasn't helped improve my outlook on winter much.  I considered giving them all to the Salvation Army, but I figured they probably wouldn't accept my donation, what with all the dying and moaning they were doing.  And now the days are getting longer and my brain is playing tricks on my telling me that it should be warmer outside because the sun has been poking out intermittently the last week or so.  But guess what?  It's not.  

I'm counting down the days till the ice age winter is over.  

Under several layers of blankets.  

Obviously.

So what I'm loving today are slipper socks and a hot matcha latte from my lovely Chai Baba.

Socks that make me happy and toasty warm.   It doesn't get much better than that, people.

(And on a totally different note, I really must learn to use my camera better....every picture I take is sort of slightly out of focus.  I'll put that on the list, because that'll ensure I'll get around to it eventually.  Right?)

Itty Bitty Purses...

What was that my father always said??  Good things, come in small packages?  These are proof positive.  I made these three itty bitty purses for my good friend Simone as Christmas pressies for her three (adorable) itty bitty girls. 

They turned out better than I could have hoped for AND they were a smash hit with the girlies.  Win/win I'd say.  I'm loving the vintage navy, green, pink and white quilted fabric that I used.  In it's former incarnation it was a ladies floor length gown.  May I just say '70's?  What were you thinking? 

Definitely making some more of these in the future.  

Just....

And just like that, the words come back.  Who knows why they left in the first place.  I'm not questioning the reasons, just rejoicing that somehow I feel just a little less stuck.

And that can never be a bad thing. 

Calling It A Day...

You know, sometimes you just have one of those days.  I've had a week of that.  Everyone in the house hacking and coughing and generally existing in a rather unpleasant malaise. The fever and chills coming and going.  The listless boredom that often accompanies colds and flues has taken a toll, and mostly on me.  I haven't been out of the house much in the last week, unless you count the trip to the grocery on Wednesday.  So today I was actually looking forward to getting out.  Mind you, volunteering to help the grade one's make it to and from swimming lessons wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but hey, it was an outing none-the-less.  So you can imagine my immense displeasure when I managed to hit another car while pulling out of a driveway this afternoon trying to get to the pool on time.  Granted, the car was in my blind spot AND it was the same colour as snow (meaning it was completely camouflaged).  Still, the fact remains that it was my fault.  

And everyone is still sick and whiney.  

Pour the wine, I'll call it.

6.40 pm - it's a day.

Maybe I Should Just Give In To Monthly Posting...

Hi!  Hello!  Yes, it's me!  and guess what I?  I'm posting!  Well, sort of.  I'm posting that stupid '25 Random Things' meme that's gone viral on FaceBook.  Because yes, FaceBook is now my brain.  

So, without further ado, here are the FIRST 25 random things you never needed to know about me...

1.  Although I've been tagged by no less than half a dozen people to do this meme, I have been reticent to do it because I don't believe I can come up with 25 things to write about myself.  And even more problematic, 25 interesting things.

2. I moved a lot as a kid living in countless houses and attending 12 odd schools from k to 12.  In Grade 1 a went to 3 different schools.  

3. I am really comfortable meeting new people and I don’t have trouble making friends.    See #2.

4. I’m only on number 4 and I feel like I may be running out of things to say about myself.

5. I have a little grey streak coming in the front of my hairline which I rather like.  I found the first of those greys in that spot on my honeymoon when I was 21.  I surmise this was the telltale sign that boys would always be the cause of my grey hair.

6. I was a chubby teenager.  The kind of girl people called ‘healthy’.  I was very self conscious.  

7. I lost all my chubbiness after I had children.  I weighed less 3 weeks after my first child was born than before I got pregnant.   I don’t feel even slightly guilty about that in light of #6.

8. My mum sewed a lot but wouldn’t let me use her machine.  Consequently I didn’t know that I could sew until I was 32.  I haven’t stopped sewing since then.

9. I’m an intuitive cook.  I hardly ever use a recipe for anything other than baking.  It’s hard to intuitively bake, I’ve learned.

10. I’m a good cook, in spite of my flagrant disregard for recipes.  I find it ironic that I live with a husband who wouldn’t be disappointed if food came in pill form and two very picky children.  I make a lot of cheese sandwiches.

11. I have never liked my nose.

12. I used to sing all the time, publicly, in musicals and concert choirs.  I stopped abruptly at age 19 when I went to university and didn’t have time for extra  curricular activities.  I’ve completely lost my nerve now and nothing terrifies me more.

13. I have never had a job I loved.  

14. I haven’t had a ‘real’ job in over a decade.

15. I lived on the island of Borneo, in Indonesia as a kid - right on the equator (really there was a sign there and everything).  I came home to Canada to start high school in 1985 because I didn’t want to go to boarding school.  I lived with my grandma and grandpa Deighton.  I trained myself not to talk about living abroad very much because the kids in my high school thought it was weird.  Now, I’m surprised when people find this an interesting fact about me.

16. My grandpa Deighton died suddenly when I was 17.  I was very close to him.  I don’t think I’ve ever fully recovered from that loss.

17. I saw him the day he died.  I was leaving my parents business to walk to school and he was just getting there to go to work.  We were both crossing the street heading in opposite directions.  We met in the middle.  He said, ‘Good mornin’, honey.  Have a good day.  I love you.’  I can still hear his voice in my head.

18. I’m not all that graceful.  I have taken some spectacular spills.  Usually this makes me laugh so hard I cry, which alarms whomever I’m with at the time.

19. I’ve worked in an ice cream shop and a candy store.  

20. This completely cured me of my sweet tooth.  I’ll take salty over sweet any day.  See #19.

21. The worst job I’ve ever had was managing a lingerie store.  I can’t even begin to tell you the horrors.

22. I used to joke that ‘exercise’ was a four letter word. Now, I’m addicted.  I never  expected to be one of ‘those’ people.  

23. I had big babies but didn’t get any stretch marks on my tummy.  I feel this makes up so of my other physical flaws.  Like the fact that my boobs shrunk a whole size after breast feeding.  I mean, you give and you give and what do you get?  A reduced cup size.

24. I hate throwing up.  I’ve only done it twice in the last 27 years.  It makes me panic.

25. Being a mother is the hardest thing I have ever done.  It is also the thing that has taught me more than I ever expected.

I think I'll keep adding to this.  In the end I kind of enjoyed examining my life in a quirky random way.

You're turn.

Green

Well, hello Monday!  The sun is shining here and I am trying to make hay.  However, there is the rather pressing matter of two rambunctious, not so small boys that keep turning my haymaking into shepherding of sorts.   It’s awfully annoying.   Still I wanted to share this completed project - the first of the new year - my new green dress.  

It’s a lovely green and blue jersey wrap dress and I’m happy with the outcome.  

(picture to come....)

Now if I could only figure out how to prevent fisticuffs from breaking out while I try to be productive I’d feel like I’d really accomplished something significant.

Counting Down...

Just wanted to post a quick note to say that as 2008 draws to a close, I am thinking of each and every one of you who has popped in throughout the past year to post a comment, to commiserate with and encourage me (as the case may be) or who just kept on faithfully checking in to read even when the weeks of silence dragged into months.  I am reminded today as I look back on another year of how much I've grown and of how much of my journey I still have left.  And I am grateful that it's not over.   

Learning to enjoy the process just may be my motto for 2009.  

I wish you all happiness, prosperity and joy.  

I pray you hope and peace.

May 2009 be a year brimming with possibilities.